One of the problems there, I would say, is that the Smash Bros series is both a love letter to fans of all types of games, and as a representation to the general audience. It tries to juggle both an attention to detail to appease core fans of that character/series, while also appealing to the wider demographic. This is why you'll have a character who is both representative of their core self, and also featuring subsets of that self. Examples of this notion would include Mario's utilization of F.L.U.D.D. and the Cape (both of these being tools he has not used in awhile) and Bowser's more primal attitude in comparison to his son. In the case of the former, this comes from the character (Mario) being both older and more varied over his appearances, but also having his maintained core of being an adapt and nimble man who primarily fights with punches, kicks, and stomps; that has not changed over the years, even if he mostly fights by jumping on people's heads nowadays. Bowser is just weird, let's get that one out of the way, and return to Mario. Mario, in his 'normal state', moves as you would expect him to move, but brings with him a few of his tools from the past...but these tools do not alter that perceived Normal State in comparison to, say, giving him a hammer to swing around...or, to use another character as an example of mishandled Normal State; Zero Suit Samus. What is with the rocket heels, anyways? It's dumb. I don't get it. The Paralyzer I understand, but- Rocket Heels?
I digres. It is for this reason I brought up the nature of Lucina and Chrom, as depicted in their 'Normal States' : When viewed normally by both Fire Emblem fans and the general outsiders looking in, these characters are noted as being sword wielders (and namely that of their variant of the Falchion) above all other things...unless they've seen that side of the fandom. You know the one. There exists additional depth and other concepts to the two characters, such as their Great Lord promotions, Holiday or Celebratory variants (EX. Bride Lucina in Warriors or all of those swimsuit characters in FEH. You know, that other side of the fandom), but these are not representative of the core of those characters, and detract from their 'Normal State'. You could go even further beyond and make the case that Robin should be a Cavalier, since they can class change to...well, everything that their gender has available to them, to be honest. That gives Robin an insanely large pool of moves to draw from...but none of them are indicative of Robin as Robin. When it comes to Nosferatu, again: When there's no difference in how magic is cast, then it is readily interchangeable. As all tomes are utilized the same way in the games, it is easier to do this than it would be to replace a tome with a staff, or a sword with a lance.
While unopposed to the notion of Chrom, Lucina, or even Ike using more than one weapon type, it still goes against how they are perceived within their Normal States. But, as we've seen with other characters, this can indeed be expanded upon...but one would then have to figure out how to add this new feature into their currently existing moveset, without changing how they are represented (as they are all represented fairly well as it is) or dramatically altering how they play (as these characters now all have fanbases that exist around their playstyle).
For example, Chrom and Lucina fight at fairly close range...how would the addition of spear moves alter this playstyle; a playstyle that is already enjoyed by current users of the characters? If the change is as simple as a new Special move (EX. F.L.U.D.D's addition) or altered Smash moves (EX. Ganondorf's Sword) how impactful is this change to the character's playstyle? Is it even a good change to begin with? If you overhaul the character entirely, how does this impact their original playstyle and their Normal State? For those who are not privy to the details of the character, how will the addition of these features change their view of the character? You might end up alienating the players of this character by making such dramatic changes in the name of 'expanded representation'. I would say that this is why Roy, despite the visual changes he has received, still feels like Marth at the end of the day; if Roy did not look like Roy as seen in Smash, or played like Roy as seen in Smash, people would not see him as Roy...despite Roy now being more accurate to himself.
All the Four Marths suffer the most in this regard, with Ike escaping thanks to his unique fighting style. I personally see no need for an added gimmick or major alteration to any of them, even if I think they still all need something more to help them stand out...and be more true to their Normal States. Lucina? I can get being a Marth echo; it makes sense for both FE Fans and outsiders. Chrom? Doesn't quite fit as a Roy echo, but it's much better than if he was a direct Marth Echo.
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Circling to the main topic at hand, this concept of the 'Normal State' carries over to other echo or semi-clone concepts as well, since you will be building one character's playstyle off of another...and is especially true if you're trying to transplant the moveset of one character (EX. Captain Falcon) onto a character from another series (EX. Ganondorf); failure results in the creation feeling inherently untrue to itself. But, if that echo or semi-clone has existed for an extended period of time, dramatic alterations to them might alienate their playerbase.
Except for Donkey Kong. However, I would want Funky to be at least different from DK with his Up B, with Funky Kong using his surfboard instead. But that can basically be the same move, except for the animation. So am open for anything here.
