Games like PSASBR, Digimon Rumble Arena, and CNPTEXL didn't inherit their flaws from being too similar to or different from Smash - they inherited them from a common misunderstanding of Smash's appeal at the time. The common assumption then was that the reason that Smash works is simply because it's a fighting game that less experienced players can understand with unusual stage layouts and Mario Kart items, when in reality Smash gained its appeal - even casually - from a lot of different mechanics not found in other fighting games, particularly related to movement, stage layouts (not inherently of the wacky variety), and ring-outs, alongside (not "as opposed to" or "in spite of", mind you) the pick-up-and-play control scheme and casual bonus content - think of it like the Pac-Man ghost AI, very few people fully understand it, but everybody who plays the game experiences it too, and it contributes positively even if not noticed - and that applies to the modern Smash games as well as the first 2 games. While Project M definitely contributed a lot to quelling this misconception, Rivals absolutely crushed it.
