I agree, it seems like it... Why else did we have two FE characters debut in Melee, but no Isaac?
Golden Sun was released August 1 2001
Melee was released November 2001, there was plenty of time to add Golden Sun to Melee within those few months, yet we didn't even get a trophy, which wasn't fair because two other new Nintendo IPs Animal Crossing and Pikmin did and they were released the very same year.
Here's one Earthbound is similar to Golden Sun with its fanbase, it got two characters, Golden Sun still has none.
Keep in mind Olimar was added to Brawl as a playable character, Villager was intended to be a playable character, but scrapped... All Isaac got was being a Assist Trophy, why wasn't Isaac intended to be playable?
Lucas was supposed to be in Melee, but scrapped...
Something isn't right...