Most of which were introduced before we had Ryu on the roster, so are a moot point.
The point was that it's a very common archetype; I didn't even list every character in the game that falls under that category. Sakurai isn't going to avoid it; he used it as inspiration before and after Ryu. It's a staple.
I never said she played like Ryu. Ken dispute having the same moves as Ryu plays nothing like Ryu
You said that she's the same mechanically. She's far from it. I explained why.
Terry wasn’t high on my list but Terry was clearly going to have enough differences from Ryu and Ken to stand out as a separate character. He’s from a different series with different mechanics. He doesn’t have a defacto dragon punch or fireball — rising tackle is a charge move not a DP motion
Morrigan is also from a different series with different mechanics. And unlike Ryu, she's even had simplified double crouch inputs.
and power wave travels the ground not the air. He is more traditionally a rush down character, Ryu is more balanced and Ken favors rush down but still has Ryus basic tool kit.
Morrigan is essentially an airborne-heavy anime fighter. She takes the fight to the air.
This is basically what I’m getting at, I just wasn’t sure anyone here would know the term. If they were going to add a shoto anyway, you could do worse; you could do a lot better too.
Fortunately, this is a videogame forum, so we can freely use common FGC terminology; most people here are familiar with it.
Better is subjective. Also, you can seriously name another Capcom shoto that isn't from Street Fighter as prominent as Morrigan?
I love Morrigan, don’t get me wrong. However, if I was a game designer looking at a short list of Capcom characters to add, it would have to be a pretty bad list for me to choose Morrigan.
Considering the sheer number of crossovers she's been in, the influence her series had on its genre, her highly unique take on a solid archetype, her popularity, etc. I think she'd be fairly high on a list for something like Smash. Terry was super obvious for SNK, but a lot of people here, myself included, entertained the idea that other SNK mascots might be chosen over him.
And from a game design standpoint, reusing an asset or two might save them some hassle. TBH, it seems like there's things you aren't factoring in to come to your conclusion.
In any case, I try to focus on why I think characters would be cool instead of why I think they wouldn't be in.