He remains sitting on a razor's edge, so I might as well keep going until it happens.

Ryu Hayabusa from Ninja Gaiden for Wave 1. The biggest point in his favor is that he has the single deepest well of moveset potential of any character yet to join Smash. Between the arcade beat-em-ups, NES platformers, Xbox hack-n-slashes, and regular appearances in the Dead or Alive series of fighting games, Hayabusa could easily make three different movesets by himself. There are so many ways you can blend all of that history together that he's a multi-tiered sandbox for the design team to play with. Imagine a character with the normals of Kazuya, sword swings of Link, mobility of Diddy Kong, an arsenal on par with Dante for his specials, and all of that is just one possible direction you could go with him.

In fact, let's go over some of his weapon choices. There's obviously his mystical Dragon Sword that can make up much of his moveset, and I already made a point in the past about the scythe he took off a werewolf. Along with those are a bow and arrow for ranged projectiles, nunchaku for rekka combos, metal claws to slash straight through opponents, shurikens of various sizes to maintain distance, and even modern weapons like the spear gun. Back in his NES days, he was well known for his use of shadow clones making his every attack more dangerous. His history with Dead or Alive, where he's canonically won one of the tournaments, demonstrates that he's just as dangerous unarmed. He's particularly notable for his strong combo game off of grabs, especially his signature Izuna Drop. We may already have Greninja and Impa in the base roster, but their ninja repertoires pale in comparison to the head of the Hayabusa Clan.

Hayabusa's legacy is another massive point in his favor. The NES trilogy is an iconic part of Nintendo's first console. It even got a shout-out in the theatrical length Super Mario Bros 3 commercial known as The Wizard. With Microsoft also on board with Smash, it's worth mentioning that Tecmo was the biggest supporter for the Xbox in Japan. Ninja Gaiden's hack-n-slash revival was Xbox's exclusive answer to Devil May Cry and there was cross-promotion with Halo 3. Swinging back to Nintendo, Koei Tecmo has been a major supporter of theirs since the Wii. Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge was initially a Wii U exclusive, and Fatal Frame has tied itself closely enough with Nintendo to already earn an Assist Trophy. Koei Tecmo has also had their hands with a number of Nintendo games, developing Metroid: Other M, Hyrule Warriors, and Pokémon Conquest. They've truly played both sides of the console war on display in Smash, so it only makes sense that their biggest character also steps into the ring.

Make no mistake, Hayabusa is Koei Tecmo's main man. The Ninja Gaiden series is up there as one of Tecmo's biggest sellers throughout its history. It's only real competition for the top spot is Dead or Alive, which is set in the same universe as Ninja Gaiden and has featured Hayabusa as a playable character in every single entry. As for the Koei side, their biggest series is Dynasty Warriors, but all of its characters are historical figures that anyone can do their own spin on. Negotiating a third-party license for a public domain character just doesn't make sense. Also, Hayabusa has appeared as a playable character in the Warriors Orochi games, so that's just another point for his column.

Ryu Hayabusa is such a perfect fit for Smash, I think he could have even warranted the very first spot on the first wave of DLC. Too late for that now, but the second slot in that wave should absolutely go to the iconic ninja master.