L-Cancelling isn't some bug or glitch. It's a full mechanic/tech purposely added by Sakurai. He outright talks about it as a natural thing on the original Smash 64 website. Wavedashing is a specific exploit of the game's engine, and for whatever reason, he decided to leave it in the game regardless. Now, it didn't go off as intended, as a usable mechanic that can help win games instead of just a silly move. But he didn't intended Melee to be super competitive either. I'm not bothered by its removal, since there was no intention of it being focused on as a tech. L-Cancelling was intended to be used, however. I think the bigger issue is not the use of it, but that auto-cancelling only affects some moves, furthering their tier gaps than a natural use of it ever did. Players can easily get such an easy tech down. There's no challenge in using it. Not using it however does cost you, but at least it's there. When you use a character with immense lag and can't even prevent it, anyone who has lessened lag has a severe advantage. That's something that only Brawl did. In other words, Brawl actually made the tiers more noticeable than the other 3 games because it had severe inbalance and just bad design in many areas. Don't get me wrong, the game is fun by all means, but it was pretty clearly not designed around competitive play. I understand why Sakurai did that, however, competitive play is created by the players in the first place, and it only needs to have some balance to achieve it to any degree, or at least the mechanics available to attempt it. Brawl still clearly has this. It has defensive and offensive options, just not a halfway decent or balanced mix of the two. Smash 4 is way better in this regard. To say the least, for a competitive fighting game, too much defense as a major thing for everyone just slows down the tournaments. More offensive play speeds it up. Of course, an ideal balance/middle ground is just plain better as it evens out the playing field and still creates exciting matches while not allowing anyone to severely be more powerful.
I can say with honesty that Smash 4 has the best character balance, even if it could definitely have less defensive options and a bit more offensive ones. Approaching is still way too difficult and rolls are far safer than they should be. It's not perfect, but it's getting there.
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As for Pokemon, I really don't want anyone other than Gen II/III/V playable characters for this installment. Gen I is more than repped well enough(including NPC Pokemon). I think it'd be best to get one from each if we wanted to get anyone(or some combination. Although I do realize that just about any viable Gen V Pokemon was turned into a NPC, so...). I'm okay with Pichu only because he has great potential for a new twist on his gameplay gimmick(like now only Electric moves would hurt him, and they would increase in damage a bit as he takes damage. Simlar to Lucario, but a little different. Namely cause he can hurt himself, something Lucario can't. Also, could get a more unique Final Smash, or even the anime variant of Pikachu's. Never mind a few different Specials). Squirtle is no longer needed with Greninja, and a Grass type would be nice. I don't feel Squirtle or Ivysaur has much of a good gimmick to give as they are in Brawl. They need a bigger revamp to actually feel fresh enough. I don't care about popularity here, I care about how interesting they can be. Without PT(who is dead in the water for Smash 4, and was cut solely due to the 3DS' limitations), I don't see a really good reason to bring them back. Tether recoveries are no longer an option(what would it even have for an Up B with Tethers gone?), and Ivysaur didn't even bring a notable thing to the table either besides being a Grass type. Hir Poison moves were... basically nothing of note. Now, if they could make them better, maybe. As for Squirtle, being a turtle means little when Bowser decently covers that, and Greninja beautifully covers Water moves too. Also, bringing it back without Ivysaur is just a travesty, and they were only put in due to PT existing. Charizard earned his spot because he's just that popular. He could've gotten in very easily regardless of PT. I do not feel Ivysaur could do the same, and I'm still quite iffy on Squirtle getting in on his own. Seems unlikely to me. PT was a fun idea, even if executed rather badly. But it's done till potentially Smash 5. Another factor is Custom moves. Try giving one to a Tether recovery... not so easy. The character process is quite a bit different now. Not even counting new Final Smashes. It'd be weird to go Mega with both, and Solar Beam may work, but Hydro Pump is already a move for Greninja, meaning something entirely new is needed for Squirtle(and I can't see it using the Anime variant, which Squirtle essentially has as some of its moves already). Just not as easy as people are making it.
