I'm not denying that clones are made very close to the end of development. I'm just saying it doesn't really say anything about the characters other than that the don't take long to develop.
When people say "close to the end of development", that pretty means last minute addition. But I was wrong about that bit, anyway, since we don't know when Lucina was started to be de-cloned. Assumably around when Robin was made is many people's guesses. And again, this is a theory, not a claim that it actually happened.
They don't have a lot of time to be made, because they don't NEED a lot of time to be made. It's not like if Pichu or Luigi were planned at the beginning of development they would have been entirely different characters. They are clones for a good reason.
Need is a poor term to use because you're assuming you understand Sakurai's philosophy on this "need" stuff. There's nothing to suggest he wouldn't make him more unique if he had the time either. We don't know, but we do know he puts a lot of effort into stuff if he has the time to do so, so many think it's likely he'd do more if he had the time.
Like I said, Dark Pit didn't have time to be made unique because he didn't need time to be made unique. Sakurai never implied that he would have made more changes to Dark Pit if he had more time. All he said was that it was necessary that they're development did NOT increase man hours. You make it sound that Sakurai wished he could have made more changes to Dark Pit. That claim is unfounded.
We know Sakurai well enough. He makes them more unique if he can because he always does that. It's part of his design philosophy. That's where I'm basing it upon, what he does. I think that if Dark Pit had more time, Sakurai would make him more unique. So yes, it has a basis for the theory. I don't think you understand exact claims VS theories, which is the problem here. Theories are not reality, they're thoughts.
You know, there's not really even one article that suggests that any clone in the series was a "last minute addition". These articles only suggest that clones did not take a lot of time to create and were merely added after the main roster was complete. Not that they were rushed.
As for Alph, we don't really know why he wasn't a separate character. It is most likely because he doesn't have anything that would have made him different. While Dark Pit had a different arsenal and personality, Alph didn't really have anything potentially new at his disposal. In my opinion, Sakurai could have added Olimar & Louie. Two characters with different physiques and the Pikmin could have been separated into two different characters. Olimar, the main character who uses the original Pikmin (Red, Yellow, and Blue). And Louie, the cadet who uses the special Pikmin (White, Purple, & Rock). Both would use Winged Pikmin and both could have alternate costumes: Alph for Olimar and Brittany for Louie. Creating A wide representation from Pikmin. Two characters from the first generation with differences, featuring alt costumes that represent the new generation.[/QUOTE]
You are aware I said the last minute addition part was a mistake? I outright admitted I remember it wrong. I'd appreciate it if you'd fully read everything far more carefully.
Alph did have potential. Rock Pikmin. The problem was whether it could be separated from Purple Pikmin or not, which, while possible, would clearly take a lot of time to properly balance. That's why the theory exists that Alph was too hard to make in the time given for clones. So, he stayed as an alt and was treating as his own character, just with no slot.
Something to keep in mind about Sakurai; alts and transformations are treated as separate characters by him. Slots do not equal characters. Slots are only there for characters with different movesets to inhabit. Only transformations ignored the slot point, and allowed two unique characters to share the same slots. It should go without saying that unique means having different moves(that is, moves that clearly affect another character you're facing).
