I have to ask for a link on that one, too, Bill.
Last I heard, Sakurai said that all unlockable characters would be made known on the site, prior to the release of the game.
Also, I thought I remember hearing November 20-something for Japan, but I'm far from certain.
I also remember the bit about Snake having to be unlockable since he was a "guest" in the game, but I never heard anything that suggested that he and other 3rd party characters wouldn't be acknowledged.
If this is the case, I'd like to know because it'll give me another week to hope that some of the unlockable characters don't suck ass until Japan dumps a massive pile of screenshots of the full roster all over the internet.