Exactly! Always found the idea kind of insulting that Sheik could have a totally unique style, yet Ganondorf was innitially added as a clone! I see no logic in that, and Ganondorf was way more requested than Zelda / Sheik and Young Link.
But yeah, glad he could make it in the end... Still, very dissapointed with his moveset thus far (especially Brawl's for obvious reasons). Hopefully Sm4sh will fix this.
Sheik has indeed no future relevance on the series besides her one-off role in Ocarina of Time. She might've been planned for Twilight Princess, but like all Sheikah characters she got scrapped. The next major console Zelda had Impa instead of Sheik, and she was the sole Sheikah in the game. Appearing in a double role even.
Impa has made a significant relevance boost through this role, and is sort of 'revived' with this appearance as a longlasting Zelda character. Plus, she is portraited as a strong warrior, with unique fighting abilities and a figure to balance Sheik's moveset out.
If she serves as a solo Sheik character, she already could be well received, through the fan's knowlegde of the Sheik persona in previous games. But she doesn't even need to have Sheik's
complete moveset anyway. Impa has enough moves worthy of her own.
The Barrier for example:
Which could work as a new Side B. Blocking attacks for a period of time, and is a 'buidling move' much as Wario Waft. It needs time to recharge and cannot be used so much. But still an useful technique, and still not used in Smash yet. Thus unique.
And she als has a Magic Ball / Bomb kind of attack (aka Rasengan clone as GoldenY calls it) as seen here:
(Note she drops the ball instead of throwing it as an attack, but she still has acces to it as an ability. And it's strong enough to close the Gate of Time- hence I like to think of this attack working as a Timer item, but weaker. And it would do damage besides the slight slowdown)
So that would already give her two attacks unique from Sheik. Also a plus is Impa could have a Down B attack, which Sheik would never be able to have normally. I thought Deku Nut would be a nice additional attack. As it's iconic to her appearance in Ocarina of Time, and even Sheik did this trick. So it's a must-have for a Sheikah character in Smash I feel. Wether it's Impa or Sheik.
The attack would benefit the character for it's stunning effect. And in Impa's case, that coupled with her Magic Ball would make Impa quite a more defensive character. She wouldn't need the extra strenght buff from Sheik's Brawl moveset, plus her longer legs would add in range.
Sheik herself with her current moveset would need to have itself restored to Melee's Sheik to regain usefulness, but that character was far better than most. So let's not go that route again. It's a good thing Fox and Sheik where nerfed, but the extent of Sheik's moveset nerfs where more apperant as seen by the Brawl community. I think balance is harder for very fast character as Sheik, cause well, it's either overwhelming or underwhelming. And for balance issues and reasons to believe Smash (unfortunately) will be based more on Brawl than Melee, I feel a revamp is needed for Sheik's moveset. And Impa seems as the perfect sollution.
Also, Impa could have the Chain from Sheik as a grabbing attack. Think that also would be awesome.
We all know just about everyone would've traded Sheik's spot in Brawl for Mewtwo, easily.
