I understand Sakurai as an explanation but why was Japan to blame for this? And is the Halberd that appears in ultra different than the one that appears in the snes version? Brawl's Halberd didn't just take from SNES super star?
I was half-joking. The Japanese are weird.
And yes, Brawl's Halberd is based on SNES Super Star, but they did use the same model/design from Brawl for Kirby Super Star Ultra.
Man, I agree with a lot of this. Brawl was... very very strange. Some of it in a cool way (KI getting revived, NES accessory playable for some examples), some of it in a very bad way (the game wanting to be more casual but mixed with a gritty/drab art style, SSE taking itself too serious, World 1-1 and 1-2 being wastelands)
World 1-2 is actually true to source material since you know, it's a cave.
Still has realistic graphics that look odd for a Mario stage.
In retrospect, Brawl was trying a bit too hard to be "epic". That aspect has aged a little bit.
Pit's Brawl design that is now currently used is how Sakurai imagined if the Kid Icarus series kept going on and had an art evolution similar to, for example, Link. It's a more detailed take on his cartoon design from the first two games (NES and Of Myths and Monsters).
Compare the first artworks of Link from the first three or four Zelda games with current designs like those from Twilight Princess or Skyward Sword.
I think that's where Sakurai was going with Pit's current design.
For comparison's sake:
[collapse="NES Link vs. Smash 4 Link"]
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[collapse="NES Pit vs. Smash 4 Pit"]
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Overall, they look the same and possess the same features, but they are more detailed and given more flair in the newer designs.