Actual gameplay:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nmg8E51cn_U

I'm suddenly a thousand times more excited for Mastodon Sentry. Oh my god

Is this the final roster? Because if so...The fuck?

Okay, the game is starting to look promising now.

This is the trailer they should've led with IMO.

What implies this is the final roster?

It says the final starting roster so I assume it is. Remember though, it's a budget game that's 20 bucks so we shouldn't expect much. Although I completely understand disappointment

I'm reading articles stating it's the expected final roster.

The gameplay looks super fun for a budget game, so I'm not too bothered. I just don't like the character choices. Drakkon and Ranger Slayer are cool to see, but Mastodon Sentries? SPD Kat over Shadow? No Zedd (Likely to be DLC, though)? No Billy?

It's just...For a franchise filled with so many iconic characters, it legitimately feels like they did their best to avoid them. Niche character choices are always fun for crossover fighting games, don't get me wrong. But when you're likely to have a roster of less than 15 characters, including DLC, you kind of end up walking a very narrow line.

Which articles? I'm not saying it's impossible but I can't find any official source stating that's the case.

I misread the articles, and it seems that the 15 character thing is the primary roster, not including DLC.
So there's still hope for the final six.

Description of the video says starting