Wolf is as much a clone of Fox as Jigglypuff is of Kirby.
No really,
and
share the same forward smash, back air, down air, and down tilt, as well as probably other moves.
Wolf only shares a similar neutral B and the same down B as Fox, but even then the functionality of the neutral B is entirely different. The neutral B for Wolf is a slow moving project you can combo into and trap foes with, whereas Fox's blaster is used for zoning outside of opponent's reach and Falco's is for pressure to get foes into combos.
Wolf's up B is about as different as Pit's compared to Fox's and Falco's shared up B. Wolf's side B is additionally entirely different from Fox and Falco's. The only other thing he shares in common with Fox is a similar "space animal" style (and a Final Smash if you care about that), but quite frankly it's the most well made style in Smash, so what's the harm=???
If we're gonna nitpick like that we should point out that like 10 characters have the sex kick neutral airs, 4 characters have the sex kick back airs, and 4 characters have the "spin around" neutral air.
While I'm on the same subject...
-Lucas and Ness in Brawl only share 5 attacks (their 4 specials + a similar forward smash). One could argue their neutral B's are different though.
-Ganondorf and Captain Falcon in Brawl share 3 aerials (all but the down air and forward air, although the neutral air is quite a bit different between the two), 2 tilts (the up tilt is different), 2 smash attacks (the up B is different), 3 specials (the side B is different), and the same getup attacks and grab throws.
-Toon Link and Link in Smash 4 share 3 aerials (up, down, and forward, although the down air are very different in functionality), 3 tilts, 2 smash attacks, 4 specials, and a grab throw or 2.
-Luigi and Mario in Smash 4 share 3 aerials, 2 specials (although the up B's and neutral B's function very differently), 2 tilts, 3 smash attacks, and all their grab throws.
-Lucina and Marth share all the same moves, except the hitboxes, functionality, length, and strong points of many moves are changed. Also, Lucina has a timing effect (similar to most characters) where when in the attack determines the strength of the move, whereas Marth has a tipper mechanic (where it matters what part/hitboxes of the attack lands).
This subtle difference between
and
is huge. It changes the entire dynamic you approach these characters in every aspect of the gameplay. And for the record, no attack is both timing based and has a tipper. It's one, the other, or neither.
So considering all that, after Lucina and Marth, Ganondorf and Captain Falcon (in Brawl) are the closest to one another, while after that it's either Toon Link and Link or Mario and Luigi (discounting Melee clones).
Pretty much this.
On top of that, clones become less and less alike in each smash game.
The only time we've ever had definitively bad clones are as followed:
(64 only) : This is controversial perhaps, but I say this because all of
's changes from
make
weaker (sans
's up B and slightly better speed).
In Melee
got several big fixes. In Brawl
got a few minor improvements. Fortunately Smash 4
got many improvements, so there's no reason to oppose
now.
in many ways doesn't even feel like a Smash 64 character, actually.
: A super last minute addition meant to pad the roster with minimal differences. At the last minute it probably came down to
being playable or us getting a trophy of
's nose.
has some power differences and hitbox differences from
that essentially just make
a slightly better
. Also,
can dunk with his forward air (which
and
don't do nearly as well), which is always super hype.
If
had more offensive changes like that for all of his moves and got a few unique moves, I wouldn't see why people would object to having
be playable again instead of having more trophies of Kirby hats.
: Designed to be a stronger
with a middle of the sword tipper, that didn't work. He did less damage than
, had less combos than
, and had a weak "water noodle" tipper that made him vastly inferior to
.
If
had his original design be a success in the same way
was, we would have a
/
situation where both characters are popular. I think if
ever comes back
should have more stab attacks, more actual strength, and a finesse minimal pre-lag, higher than average post-lag style that separates
from
and
.
: Was a joke that was meant to be a weaker version of
. It sucked because
could have been the purest glass cannon smash has ever seen. It's a crying shame that never happened.
)
