I know Saber is classified as a.........Saber and can only use swords based on the lore but....does it REALLY matter for here? I think Saber shouldn't just represent the original Visual Novels but the Fate Series as whole much like every other DLC character so far(even Terry doesn't just represent Fatal Fury but also KOF via his stage and probably also some music and spirits.) and I think the best way to do that would be to incorporate the version of her from the 2nd most well known Fate media and also one of the best mobile games ever. (if that happened then she would would technically represent 2 genres. Better her then wasting a slot on some cringeworthy mobile game rep) Arturia is still Arturia no matter which one you're talking about, they just use different weapons. They've done more or less the same stuff. Smash isn't afraid to do that sorta stuff. Simon uses moves that belong to Richter. The Koopalings are all alts for Bowser Jr. even though they all have unique boss fights from him. Kaptain K. Rool and Dr. K. Rool are actually different poeple and yet King K. Rool can use thier moves. Are Mario Wario and WarioWare Wario even the same person?
What trying to say is that it's not impossible to have a character be based upon more then one of thier appearances that may or may not be different. They could totally use Saber Lancer as part of the moveset and a costume because they're technically still the same character and wouldn't be considered weird becuase they've done stuff like this before with other characters.
Also, I dont think size is a major problem in Smash. Some characters are bigger and smaller then what they actually are for game purposes. In fact, that was one of the biggest discussions regarding Ridley and look how that turned out. If they want to her in then they will regardless of hight difference or do a middle ground where they make her taller then the original but shorter then the Lancer.
First off, I want to start off with your saying they can just make her an alt. Which makes me think you've /never/ seen Lancer Artoria before. Since if you have you'd know why she couldn't be an alt for Saber Artoria in a Smash setting. It has a whole lot more to do than Saber being 154cm tall and Lancer being 171cm tall.
Here's them side by side.
Saber:
Lancer:
(then also ascension 1, ascension 2 is just this without the helmet).
apologies to Smashboards staff if the picture of Lancer Artoria's third/fourth ascension is considered too risque for the site, only good piece of official artwork I could find showing off the differences.
Clearly from these, you can see they have /heavily/ different styles of armors and outfit, and some rather large... "assets". even if one it's covered up more in armor. All alts in Smash bros. have basically done the same things Echo Fighters do, fitting the silhouette of the character, some like Mario do have drastic costume changes but they still fit the silhouette and their hitboxes. Lancer Artoria would not able to do that for Saber Artoria, and thus would be ineligible for being an alternate costume. If you suggest more changes than just her height however, I'm just gonna have to tell you no there buddy as you'd basically doing a whole re-design. While we did get that with Pit in brawl, the difference is he was a first-party character from the NES, while Lancer Artoria is a kinda recent addition to FGO and is owned by a third party, that won't' fly.
Also, you're wrong on that DK lore there buddy, it's been known and confirmed the Smash Trophy descriptions saying they were different were wrong and based off of a non-canon T.V. show. Kaptain K Rool and Dr. K Rool are indeed still King K Rool just using different personas.
That said, back to Saber Artoria using the Lance. All those things with DLC you've been stating are still /canonical/ and true to the lore of those characters. All of Joker's stuff is true to his character and abilities in Persona 5 and its upcoming remix and spin-off. Hero and his alts are all true to their game and fit the hitboxes set by the Luminary and all use abilities they can and are true to them. Banjo and Kazooie have the same thing going on, and so does Terry. Also, ain't really that hard to imagine why that's the case when you realize the first game Terry appeared in was literally titled "Fatal Fury: King of Fighters". Also ain't really hard to imagine Simon being able to do the same things Ritcher can and contradict lore, and besides the final smash and one I believe, I think a remake of Castlevania 1 gave Simon some of Ritcher's abilities beforehand as well.
So... since this is /SABER/ Artoria we're talking about here and sticking true to the lore here, /SABER/ no matter WHAT can't wield her Lance when summoned as a /SABER/ class servant. Which she is and what would be used in Smash Bros. If you want her to use her Lance, advocate for Lancer Artoria or Gray since she's a Saber-face and her whole backstory has to do with the fact her village was trying to turn her into a second coming of King Arthur before Waver saved her and her Scythe is literally the lance in disguise via a mystic code. Otherwise: the Heroic Spirit version of her /might/ have it, and yes they're actually two different things, the heroic spirit is always stronger than the servant version in fact. But they can't be summoned at all besides from the world itself I believe, thus, it'd be lore breaking to slap a master on her of some sorts while also probably being differently designed as well.
That said... I wouldn't call FGO cringe-worthy and I see no reason why they couldn't add Mashu in if they ever desired to. Especially due to the fact we're soon going to be getting the Lost-belts in NA and the events that came with those that aren't holiday based (which you should know, the holiday and summer events aren't even considered hard-canon) which are essentially almost on consistant quality with Camelot and Babylonia, some of the best written singularities and works for Fate, heck its why fans in Japan voted for those to get adapted into an anime and movie. Fun Fact; Mashu's whole character design was a scrapped concept from Stay Night due to time restraints.
That said, if you /really/ want more Fate/ representation just wait for Artoria to get in normally and who knows, maybe she'll be bundled with Mordred as an Echo Fighter or in a future game, or if you're not a fan of her or the Extra servants besides Nero, Nero could be an Echo Fighter, or in a future game we get another Fate/ rep like as I've said, Hakuno (F & M) with Nero, Tamamo, and Nameless or another protagonist from their other works like Arcueid or Shiki, etc. etc.
Technically speaking, Artoria Lancer would be perfectly summonable in the Fuyuki Grail War, she still qualifies as a Lancer under normal circumstances, it's just that the Lancer we can summon in FGO is explicitely stated to be one from a diferent timeline that used Rhongomyniad as her main weapon(not the Lion King from the Camelot singularity, who is an Artoria whose Bedivere never returned the sword to the lake, Fate is complicated)
Iirc, under normal circumstances she qualifies for Rider as well and "possibly Caster" though she can't be summoned as one due to "magecraft not being the way of the king" and not having the patience to learn it.
Its actually impossible to summon Artoria under anything but Saber in the Fuyuki Holy Grail Wars actually for reasons I've stated, the woman herself even admits so canonically. While Excalibur overshadowing everything else in the Nasuverse plays a part, specifically the main Artoria we know of, theoretically if lancer could be summoned, she still couldn't be summoned in that form due to the fact in that main timeline the weapon still exists and is use by Gray before, during, and after the Fuyuki Holy Grail War somewhat similar case to why she wasn't summoned with her scabbard. I cannot say anything for reasons against a actual Rider Artoria that isn't Summer Artoria Alter besides it has to do with the fact her accomplishments on horse-back just weren't enough alongside the numerous NPs Riders have besides just the ones you see in FGO. While that may be another explanation to it, the one I had heard was because she had no potential in mage-craft since she can't actually use her mana in that sort of way thanks to how her unique circuits are, but Caster and Rider are a bit iffy due to the lack of proper information.
Otherwise... our canonical (probably if she was ever summoned) Caster Saber-face is her "dear" sister-slamming sister Morgan le Fay who basically has good magical circuits that work and function properly.
