If this is your opinion in a nutshell, then I know you're just talking mess. HugS does so much more than wd ftilt. We're talking platform wavebomb, cc jab pressure into accurate reads, pivot fsmash, dj reads into raw charge shot... I could go on and on. He even pioneered the fake ledge hop. Those are the kinds of things I respect. I really hope that you can see these things, because they're kinda big parts of Samus's game.
I happen to be of the opinion that flashy isn't interesting. Consistently working into someone's head is interesting. In this light, HugS is one of the most interesting players I've ever seen. You just have to be in the mindset of not looking for combos, or moves that have two frame execution windows, or whatnot. I'm looking for the way the player manipulates the opponent with the tools they have. In a game where you shouldn't be relying on the opponent's ignorance of a particular tool, you have to rely on their inability to know which tool you're going to use, and your ability to know what tool they're going to use.
It's important to note I don't think phanna is a bad Samus. I just think that nostalgia, hype, and not actually having been there have blown up his image in other people's minds. He was a helpful member of the Samus boards, and anyone would say he was the most technical Samus. But very few Sami in the know listed him among the top five. Now, maybe phanna's gotten better since I last saw a video of him, or saw his results in tournament. I don't know. Like you say, I haven't played him. But I do know, that if he has gotten, SWD tricks and double bombs aren't what made him better, because he always did those--it was learning how to do the above more effectively.
Think of phanna like you think of Silent Wolf. The rest flows from there.
This video is interesting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rjlc1k2qxs0
If you don't think so, you should watch it until you do.
