Smash Brothers 4 General

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Apparently Falcon Punch goes back a ways.

[Sith_Happens]

Then again, I have no idea of the canonical size of the various Pokemon.

Charizard: 5'7" (1.7 m)
--Mega Charizard X: Unchanged
Greninja: 4'11" (1.5 m)
Ivysaur: 3'3" (1.0 m)
Jigglypuff: 1'8" (0.5 m)
Lucario: 3'11" (1.2 m)
--Mega Lucario: 4'3" (1.3 m)
Mewtwo: 6'7" (2.0 m)
Pichu: 1'0" (0.3 m)
Pikachu: 1'4" (0.4 m)
Squirtle: 1'8" (0.5 m)

So yeah, Smash Bros. Pokemon are not to scale. Of course, you're far from the only one to not know the sizes of most Pokemon off the top of your head even approximately, while most people do know that Ridley is approximately "friggin' huge."

Apparently Falcon Punch goes back a ways.

That's from 2004, five years after the first Smash Bros. As for the actual origin of Captain Falcon's move set, according to Wikipedia it's based on a comic included in the first F-Zero's manual.

[Rodin]

Charizard: 5'7" (1.7 m)
--Mega Charizard X: Unchanged
Greninja: 4'11" (1.5 m)
Ivysaur: 3'3" (1.0 m)
Jigglypuff: 1'8" (0.5 m)
Lucario: 3'11" (1.2 m)
--Mega Lucario: 4'3" (1.3 m)
Mewtwo: 6'7" (2.0 m)
Pichu: 1'0" (0.3 m)
Pikachu: 1'4" (0.4 m)
Squirtle: 1'8" (0.5 m)



So yeah, Smash Bros. Pokemon are not to scale. Of course, you're far from the only one to not know the sizes of most Pokemon off the top of your head even approximately, while most people do know that Ridley is approximately "friggin' huge."

Interesting. It's pretty easy to scale up by a couple feet (Pickachu is, what, 3-4 feet tall in Smash?), rather than scaling down by 20 feet or so. I think the biggest other character is Bowser, whose size varies from game to game anyway. In SMB3 he's about his Smash size, in 64 he's ginormous.

That's from 2004, five years after the first Smash Bros. As for the actual origin of Captain Falcon's move set, according to Wikipedia it's based on a comic included in the first F-Zero's manual.

I actually remember that. Ooh, and I found it, too!

Not seeing where his moveset comes from there. Maybe the Japanese version was longer?

Off-topicness ahead relating to Super Smashing Sale:

What's up with Nintendo's pattern of releasing Virtual Console content? I was looking at the sale and dismayed to see that all the SNES games were Wii U exclusive...but then Kid Icarus is a NES game that is Wii U exclusive, and the GBA game Minish Cap is also Wii U exclusive. It's not like the 3DS can't handle SNES games either, since there's a Link to the Past DS game.

What gives, Nintendo? I can't imagine that there's a huge market of "people that wouldn't buy a Wii U but will because SNES games", but I'm fairly certain there's a significant market of "people that already own a 3DS that would love to buy older titles".

[Zevox]

I think the reason we haven't seen more F-Zero characters is that it's a hard series to add characters from. The games have basically no plot, and all of the characters are entirely characterized by their racing machine. Most of the other characters have a platformer to their name, and almost all the rest are from RPGs where you can pull attacks from. Was the famous Falcon Punch even a thing before Smash Bros 64? Who else would you add from F-Zero? I believe Samurai Goroh is the only other guy with any characterization at all from that series, and maybe Black Bull as the villain of GX. Other than his name and that he pilots a really heavy machine, I couldn't tell you a darn thing about him though.

I've never played F-Zero, so all I have to go on is what I've seen others say. That said, I've seen no less than three candidates put forth - though two for the same reason. One is Samurai Goroh, whom you mentioned. The other two are called Black Shadow and Blood Falcon, both of whom I've seen given as candidates to take Ganondorf's clone moveset so that it stays in the game after Ganondorf gets a proper moveset of his own. Not a big fan of the latter, but it's out there.

Ridley's problem is likely just one of size. He's always big enough to pick Samus up and fly around the screen with her. It would be very weird to have a mini-Ridley, I'd think. Then again, I have no idea of the canonical size of the various Pokemon.

I'm told his size varies from game to game. A friend of mine likes to point out that he's actually the same size as Samus in the first game. Which is a very old 2D sprite-based game, but eh, it's there. And if memory serves, then in the one Metroid game I've played that had him, Metroid Prime, he's actually not that much taller than Samus, mostly just longer, due to being quadrupedal. Which I think they could make work - make him about Bowser's height, but twice as long or so.

Or, you know, just make him fairly big. There's not typically tiny enclosed spaces to worry about in Smash stages, and size is typically actually a drawback in fighting games, not a benefit. Especially for someone like Ridley, who has relatively short limbs for his size.

[OracleofWuffing]

Size discrepancies really don't bother me much, given that Mario, Snake, and Mr. Game and Watch are all generally accepted as being adults. But, I guess they matter to the people developing the game. For me, you'd be just fine making him as big as Charizard, heck, one could probably get away making him a Charizard clone, he's got Mecha-Ridley for his Mega-Evolution. It'd be a big let down, yeah, but it'd still work. It's probably even been done in the Brawl mods... Oh wow, they did me one better and actually just put a scaled-down model with a moveset attached to it. I guess the neck and limbs look kinda lanky, but that could be tweaked in actual development much more easily than in post-development.

Likewise, the issue of F-Zero racers not having much to base their movesets off of is kind of disingenuous with the presence of Duck Hunt Dog. Even when characters have an established base, that base sometimes gets thrown out for a different idea, like Jigglypuff's Rest being a HP recovery move in its game, but a close-up-propelling attack in Smash, or Ness having access to a number of attacks that he doesn't have in his game.

What's up with Nintendo's pattern of releasing Virtual Console content? I was looking at the sale and dismayed to see that all the SNES games were Wii U exclusive...but then Kid Icarus is a NES game that is Wii U exclusive, and the GBA game Minish Cap is also Wii U exclusive. It's not like the 3DS can't handle SNES games either, since there's a Link to the Past DS game.

I can't speak for the rest of it- I loathe going through the 3DS eShop- but Minish Cap was released for the 3DS as an Ambassador-Exclusive title, alongside 9 other GBA games.

[Tvtyrant]

Charizard: 5'7" (1.7 m)
--Mega Charizard X: Unchanged
Greninja: 4'11" (1.5 m)
Ivysaur: 3'3" (1.0 m)
Jigglypuff: 1'8" (0.5 m)
Lucario: 3'11" (1.2 m)
--Mega Lucario: 4'3" (1.3 m)
Mewtwo: 6'7" (2.0 m)
Pichu: 1'0" (0.3 m)
Pikachu: 1'4" (0.4 m)
Squirtle: 1'8" (0.5 m)

So yeah, Smash Bros. Pokemon are not to scale.

Is it weird that I always refluffed them as a kid as being a few inches to a few feet long? I just kind of assumed that Onyx was about the size of a small dog and everything else was tiny, which is why they fit in the balls. I'm not sure why a cartoon would use an artistic depiction, but I thought it was one.

[BeerMug Paladin]

I've never played F-Zero, so all I have to go on is what I've seen others say. That said, I've seen no less than three candidates put forth - though two for the same reason. One is Samurai Goroh, whom you mentioned. The other two are called Black Shadow and Blood Falcon, both of whom I've seen given as candidates to take Ganondorf's clone moveset so that it stays in the game after Ganondorf gets a proper moveset of his own. Not a big fan of the latter, but it's out there.

I'd suggest Draq. An alien gamer nerd.

Probably the only reason why Captain Falcon is in the game in the first place is because he's the mascot for the series. If they took another person from the series, it would probably be either Stewart, Pico or Goroh. The characters from the first game, and thus, more of a longstanding representative for the franchise.

I'm told his size varies from game to game. A friend of mine likes to point out that he's actually the same size as Samus in the first game. Which is a very old 2D sprite-based game, but eh, it's there. And if memory serves, then in the one Metroid game I've played that had him, Metroid Prime, he's actually not that much taller than Samus, mostly just longer, due to being quadrupedal. Which I think they could make work - make him about Bowser's height, but twice as long or so.

Or, you know, just make him fairly big. There's not typically tiny enclosed spaces to worry about in Smash stages, and size is typically actually a drawback in fighting games, not a benefit. Especially for someone like Ridley, who has relatively short limbs for his size.

It's not like Nintendo ever really makes a point of consistency in their game franchises in general, or Smash Bros. in particular.

I mean, there's a pickup item that makes a virtual puppy look at you from the TV screen or makes a rousing game of Pong break out. I doubt there'd be much attention given to having the character being the exact right size. The whole game is already a mess of non-canonical hilarity.

They probably just couldn't think of anything interesting to do with the character. There's already a dragon in the game, and as neat as having laser-space-cyborg-dragon would be, he's not exactly the most iconic unadded character from that particular franchise.

It would be hard to add A Metroid, though.

There's no shortage of characters they could add if they really wanted to do so (Just from one relatively character-minimal franchise, consider A Metroid, Space Pirate, Adam Malkovich, Chozo Warrior, Ridley, Kraid, any other bounty hunter from Hunters or Prime:3 (forget all of their names), Samus variants/copies). The issue is probably entirely whether they can come up with a move set interesting and balanced enough to justify the added characters.

I'm sure when it's been 5 years or so and another Smash game is going to come out, they'll figure out something to do with more of the characters they could use. Maybe then they'll finally know how to implement Balloon Fighter!

[OracleofWuffing]

Is it weird that I always refluffed them as a kid as being a few inches to a few feet long? I just kind of assumed that Onyx was about the size of a small dog and everything else was tiny, which is why they fit in the balls. I'm not sure why a cartoon would use an artistic depiction, but I thought it was one.

Onyx was actually the largest pokemon in the first generation, 28'10" as per the in-game pokedex. Though, nowadays we have Wailord at 47'07" weighing only 877 pounds.

Maybe they didn't expect us to think about it that much.

E: I kind of wonder how you pictured surfing on a pokemon smaller than a dog, though But then again, Pidgey could fly you around everywhere, so maybe I should stop talking.

[Sith_Happens]

I actually remember that. Ooh, and I found it, too!

Not seeing where his moveset comes from there. Maybe the Japanese version was longer?

Given the way that video game marketing and localization worked back then, I'm going to guess that the Japanese version is completely different.

[Zevox]

They probably just couldn't think of anything interesting to do with the character. There's already a dragon in the game, and as neat as having laser-space-cyborg-dragon would be, he's not exactly the most iconic unadded character from that particular franchise.

Um, what? There's not a dragon in the game. The only thing I can think of that you might mean is Bowser, and he's some kind of monstrous turtle, not a dragon. Also, given the list you gave, I'd have to say that yes, Ridley is the most iconic Metroid character outside of Samus.

It would be hard to add A Metroid, though.

There's no shortage of characters they could add if they really wanted to do so (Just from one relatively character-minimal franchise, consider A Metroid, Space Pirate, Adam Malkovich, Chozo Warrior, Ridley, Kraid, any other bounty hunter from Hunters or Prime:3 (forget all of their names), Samus variants/copies). The issue is probably entirely whether they can come up with a move set interesting and balanced enough to justify the added characters.

Metroids, Space Pirates, and Chozos aren't unique characters though, they're entire species/groups, in the former two cases of dime-a-dozen enemies. They wouldn't be made playable.

Eliminating them from the list, you've got the bounty hunters from a couple of games, who are minor characters; Samus variants, whom they thankfully don't seem eager to use (I really would rather not see more additional versions of the same character in Smash, especially since they usually end up as clones); and that Adam guy from Other M, who is a much-hated character from a badly-received game. Not really good options.

Which leaves Ridley and Kraid. One of which has a large fanbase that has been hoping to see him in for some time now, the other of which is just sort of there. And as far as the size issue goes, Kraid is much worse than Ridley. So yeah, it does seem pretty obvious who the best candidate is.

[Maryring]

Um, what? There's not a dragon in the game. The only thing I can think of that you might mean is Bowser, and he's some kind of monstrous turtle, not a dragon. Also, given the list you gave, I'd have to say that yes, Ridley is the most iconic Metroid character outside of Samus.

There's Charizard. He's about as dragon as they come too.

[Hytheter]

A friend of mine likes to point out that he's actually the same size as Samus in the first game.

Yeah, but so was Kraid, who has taken up like 5 screens in every other appearance, including the remake of Metroid.

That said, I think Ridley could be scaled down, just making him a little bigger than who would otherwise be the largest character.

[BeerMug Paladin]

Um, what? There's not a dragon in the game. The only thing I can think of that you might mean is Bowser, and he's some kind of monstrous turtle, not a dragon.

There's Charizard. He's about as dragon as they come too.

I was referring to Charizard. He's going to fill all my dragonny needs. Despite not also being a space-laser-cyborg.

Also, given the list you gave, I'd have to say that yes, Ridley is the most iconic Metroid character outside of Samus.

Metroids, Space Pirates, and Chozos aren't unique characters though, they're entire species/groups, in the former two cases of dime-a-dozen enemies. They wouldn't be made playable.

Pokemon are not unique characters. Doesn't stop them from being included. Come to think of it, Link and Zelda aren't unique either. Technically. Ganon sort of is.

Eliminating them from the list, you've got the bounty hunters from a couple of games, who are minor characters; Samus variants, whom they thankfully don't seem eager to use (I really would rather not see more additional versions of the same character in Smash, especially since they usually end up as clones); and that Adam guy from Other M, who is a much-hated character from a badly-received game. Not really good options.

Different power armor users (or setting-close approximations). For all the variations of sword users or martial artists they've had, there's only one power armor user and no cyborgs, etc...

Which leaves Ridley and Kraid. One of which has a large fanbase that has been hoping to see him in for some time now, the other of which is just sort of there. And as far as the size issue goes, Kraid is much worse than Ridley. So yeah, it does seem pretty obvious who the best candidate is.

I seem to remember fighting a mini-Kraid in Super Metroid. Anyway, I dismissed the size issue.

The reason why I brought these up in the first place was to demonstrate that Nintendo has a HUGE pool of characters to draw from they could potentially fill their roster with. The number of characters in just this one franchise are tiny, but there's still tons of valid possibilities that could be used. Of which only 2 have been used. (Half of which is not even a different character. Gotta have the hot girl in the skin-tight bodysuit, though.)

If Snake's out, I'm surprised they didn't just give his moveset to a Snake clone. Adam Malkovich. He uses explosives like Snake does. Only he blows himself up too.

[Tectonic Robot]

I was referring to Charizard. He's going to fill all my dragonny needs. Despite not also being a space-laser-cyborg.

Pokemon are not unique characters. Doesn't stop them from being included. Come to think of it, Link and Zelda aren't unique either. Technically. Ganon sort of is.

Different power armor users (or setting-close approximations). For all the variations of sword users or martial artists they've had, there's only one power armor user and no cyborgs, etc...

I seem to remember fighting a mini-Kraid in Super Metroid. Anyway, I dismissed the size issue.

The reason why I brought these up in the first place was to demonstrate that Nintendo has a HUGE pool of characters to draw from they could potentially fill their roster with. The number of characters in just this one franchise are tiny, but there's still tons of valid possibilities that could be used. Of which only 2 have been used. (Half of which is not even a different character. Gotta have the hot girl in the skin-tight bodysuit, though.)

If Snake's out, I'm surprised they didn't just give his moveset to a Snake clone. Adam Malkovich. He uses explosives like Snake does. Only he blows himself up too.

Hey, don't be so jaded about Nintendo and them having Zero Suit Samus! They're miles ahead of other companies when it comes to female characters! Give 'em some respect!

[cobaltstarfire]

Um, Lucario isn't similar to Mewtwo at all. The only similarity they have is Shadow Ball and Aura Sphere being fairly similar, and that's just one move.

I can't remember mewtwo very well anymore, but I've always also been of the impression that lucario is similar to mewtwo, but that's just my personal impression from playing them. Yeah they have some differences, and they handle very differently. But so do Fox, Falco and Wolf, or Ness and Lucas, or Mario and Luigi and I'd still say they are also very similar to each other.


I don't much have a vested interest in who is or isn't added to the game though, whoever is in the game will be in it, and I'll have fun playing....(unless they remove Yoshi...). I think I'd be excited if they were to bring back squirtle, but I don't care if they don't, and I feel even more apathetic about adding Ridly, or some random fellow from Fzero.

[DaOldeWolf]

I have never understood the "Ridley is too big" argument. As far as sizes go, smash is a mess. Both bowser and ganondorf are smaller in their designs compared to how they usually look in games. While its true that they have been smaller in some games, I must point out that so has ridley.

Another point to bring out about this size argument is that Olimar is a whole lot smaller in his canon game and yet he appears in smash without any issues.

But size infidelity isn't a single incident, Link is usually seen in his game as a tiny bit on the short side. Meanwhile Falco´s a 6'2" tall while Fox is a 5'8" and yet they look similar in size to Link who is actually a bit taller than them in smash. The pokemon point has already been brought out so no point in repeating.

And if this isn't enough, even Sakurai has this to say.

If ridley isnt in the game, the reason isn't because he is too big.

[Xondoure]

The easiest explanation was everyone was either scaled up or scaled down so they would fit on the trophy bases.

[cobaltstarfire]

The easiest (in game) explanation is that they're all still actually just toys that weren't made to scale in the first place.

[Zevox]

There's Charizard. He's about as dragon as they come too.

I was referring to Charizard. He's going to fill all my dragonny needs. Despite not also being a space-laser-cyborg.

Forgot about him when making that post. Still, that's not a good argument against Ridley. It's akin to people arguing that new sword-wielders shouldn't be included because we already have several.

Pokemon are not unique characters. Doesn't stop them from being included. Come to think of it, Link and Zelda aren't unique either. Technically. Ganon sort of is.

Pokèmon don't have any other options, since the entire focus of the franchise is on the monsters, while the humans have almost no characterization, and don't do anything that could be used for Smash besides use the monsters. Link and Zelda are a reincarnation thing, which isn't even remotely the same.

The reason why I brought these up in the first place was to demonstrate that Nintendo has a HUGE pool of characters to draw from they could potentially fill their roster with. The number of characters in just this one franchise are tiny, but there's still tons of valid possibilities that could be used.

That's the thing - most of those possibilities aren't really good ones when you stop to think about it. They're minor characters, ones nobody likes, or just generic enemies. That's why I narrowed the list of options you gave down to Ridley and Kraid: they're the only really logical choices in the bunch.

I can't remember mewtwo very well anymore, but I've always also been of the impression that lucario is similar to mewtwo, but that's just my personal impression from playing them. Yeah they have some differences, and they handle very differently. But so do Fox, Falco and Wolf, or Ness and Lucas, or Mario and Luigi and I'd still say they are also very similar to each other.

Of those you cited, only Mario and Luigi and Fox and Melee-version Falco are actually very similar. Mario and Luigi deliberately so, since Luigi's whole thing is that he's Mario's more awkward brother, so that we're kind of stuck with. Falco was very similar to Fox in Melee, but got a number of his moves changed in Brawl, so he's now better differentiated (though they could certainly still do more, as the two do still share some moves). Wolf and Lucas only ever shared a few special moves and their Final Smash with Fox and Ness, and were otherwise wholly different. Lucario and Mewtwo are even more so, sharing only one similar move, Aura Sphere/Shadow Ball, and otherwise having nothing in common at all.

[Xondoure]

The easiest (in game) explanation is that they're all still actually just toys that weren't made to scale in the first place.

Yes this is what I meant.

[cobaltstarfire]

Of those you cited, only Mario and Luigi and Fox and Melee-version Falco are actually very similar. Mario and Luigi deliberately so, since Luigi's whole thing is that he's Mario's more awkward brother, so that we're kind of stuck with. Falco was very similar to Fox in Melee, but got a number of his moves changed in Brawl, so he's now better differentiated (though they could certainly still do more, as the two do still share some moves). Wolf and Lucas only ever shared a few special moves and their Final Smash with Fox and Ness, and were otherwise wholly different. Lucario and Mewtwo are even more so, sharing only one similar move, Aura Sphere/Shadow Ball, and otherwise having nothing in common at all.

They're all similar to me, you can say "no they aren't they're different" as much as you like, but that doesn't change that for me. They all play differently from one another, but it's extremely obvious where the roots of their move sets are.

[Zevox]

They're all similar to me, you can say "no they aren't they're different" as much as you like, but that doesn't change that for me. They all play differently from one another, but it's extremely obvious where the roots of their move sets are.

You're simply wrong, I'm afraid. Aside from the mentioned special moves, Lucario/Mewtwo, Fox/Wolf, and Ness/Lucas do not have similarities in their movesets. Lucario's normals are focused on quick kicks and blasts of his aura effect, where Mewtwo's were focused on claw and tail attacks; Wolf's normals were focused on claw swipes, where Fox's are almost all kicks; and Lucas' are predominantly attacks with psi energy, where Ness uses short arm thrusts, kicks, his yo-yo, and only a couple of psionic energy moves (dash attack and fair), and those couple neither look nor operate anything like Lucas' moves.

You can say they're similar "to you" all you want, but it doesn't change the facts. Special moves aside (and only one of those in Lucario and Mewtwo's case), those characters simply do not share movesets.

[Dienekes]

You're simply wrong, I'm afraid. Aside from the mentioned special moves, Lucario/Mewtwo, Fox/Wolf, and Ness/Lucas do not have similarities in their movesets. Lucario's normals are focused on quick kicks and blasts of his aura effect, where Mewtwo's were focused on claw and tail attacks; Wolf's normals were focused on claw swipes, where Fox's are almost all kicks; and Lucas' are predominantly attacks with psi energy, where Ness uses short arm thrusts, kicks, his yo-yo, and only a couple of psionic energy moves (dash attack and fair), and those couple neither look nor operate anything like Lucas' moves.

You can say they're similar "to you" all you want, but it doesn't change the facts. Special moves aside (and only one of those in Lucario and Mewtwo's case), those characters simply do not share movesets.

Eh, to be fair tail or foot doesn't actually matter if they both hit a single low attack, or whatnot. It'd be interesting to break down the clones and the changes made to see how different they are attack by attack. I might actually do this if I have time over the weekend.

[Zevox]

Eh, to be fair tail or foot doesn't actually matter if they both hit a single low attack, or whatnot.

If you go that broadly, most characters would be clones. Most everyone does a single hit low attack for their d-tilt, a single hit attack with moderate reach for their f-tilt, and so on. That's mainly determined by the direction of the attack.

But one of the things that differentiates each is the shape of each attack, and thus their hitbox, which is determined by the kind of attack it is - a vertical sword swipe covers much more space than a typical punch, or even than a horizontal sword swipe, for instance. And that's where clones start to feel similar: even though they're often given at least somewhat different properties to their moves on hit, they recycle the same animation of their original character's attacks, leading to their attacks covering the same space. But there's almost none of that with the ones I mentioned, especially Mewtwo and Lucario.

[Qwertystop]

Video of all Final Smashes.

For reference, veterans who got new Final Smashes are Luigi, Kirby, Dedede, Pit, Charizard, Lucario, Zero Suit Samus, and ROB. Also Ness, sort of - his is still PK Starstorm, but works differently.

In the extreme disappointment category, veterans who did not include Falco, Sheik, and Toon Link. Also, Lucina just has Marth's, and Doctor Mario has Mario's but with pills instead of fire. And while Dark Pit does have a different one than Pit, it's basically just a copy of Zelda and Sheik's.

Notable minor change: Fox can fly people off the top with Landmaster (previously limited to Falco's Landmaster).

[Dienekes]

If you go that broadly, most characters would be clones. Most everyone does a single hit low attack for their d-tilt, a single hit attack with moderate reach for their f-tilt, and so on. That's mainly determined by the direction of the attack.

But one of the things that differentiates each is the shape of each attack, and thus their hitbox, which is determined by the kind of attack it is - a vertical sword swipe covers much more space than a typical punch, or even than a horizontal sword swipe, for instance. And that's where clones start to feel similar: even though they're often given at least somewhat different properties to their moves on hit, they recycle the same animation of their original character's attacks, leading to their attacks covering the same space. But there's almost none of that with the ones I mentioned, especially Mewtwo and Lucario.

Hit boxes would be taken into account. Honestly, I don't really care how they look like when determining how similar clones are. Though, I disagree that everyone would be a clone, as you do get swipes or single spikes of damage or whatnot. So I think you might find more variation than you'd expect among random champions, but even for clones there are differences in Brawl, Ganon's singular powerful kick to Capt Falcon's double kick.

Mostly, this is just an experiment. Get a whole big list of what the actual differences are between champions attacks and decide for yourself what makes a clone or not. I have a feeling different people will respond to different things on what they consider clone material.

[Bucky]

Notable minor change: Fox can fly people off the top with Landmaster (previously limited to Falco's Landmaster).

Uh, what? Are you sure that's new?

[Mando Knight]

Notable minor change: Fox can fly people off the top with Landmaster (previously limited to Falco's Landmaster).

It was always possible with Fox's Landmaster. Not every single platform was close enough, but you could definitely blast them off the top of Battlefield, for instance.

[OracleofWuffing]

I seem to remember fighting a mini-Kraid in Super Metroid.

Mini-Kraid (I guess he's called Sclayd?) also appeared in the original Metroid, though it was easy to beat the game without going to that room and he was the same size as the real deal in that game so he was colloquially referred to as Fake Kraid. I guess it would also make for a nice final smash to summon real Kraid all up in the background, regardless of the level.

I actually do like the idea of playing as one of the mobile Chozo statues, as impractical as it may be as an actual Smash fighter, though.

[Zevox]

Notable minor change: Fox can fly people off the top with Landmaster (previously limited to Falco's Landmaster).

Um, that's not new. All three could do that in Brawl.

Hit boxes would be taken into account. Honestly, I don't really care how they look like when determining how similar clones are. Though, I disagree that everyone would be a clone, as you do get swipes or single spikes of damage or whatnot. So I think you might find more variation than you'd expect among random champions, but even for clones there are differences in Brawl, Ganon's singular powerful kick to Capt Falcon's double kick.

It's less that everyone would be a full clone than that everyone would be similar enough for someone to call them that. Broadly speaking, most characters' attacks of the same type serve similar overall functions - jabs are fast forward attacks that can be repeated for three or more hits, down smashes have lower hitboxes and hit on both sides of the character, bairs are fast attacks with strong horizontal knockback, so on and so forth. It's part of the game's basic design, keeping things simple to make the game more accessible.