What I mean is Toad couldn't have been on the table due to not being a clone character in any way. He doesn't share a similar enough bodyshape to be even a Luigi at that point.
I get what you mean, though, now. Thanks for clearing that up~
It's possible he wasn't considered, true. Though it feels like him not having a unique ability may be related, but honestly, I feel like it's more(as someone pointed out a while back somewhere) a unique ability in Smash to use, not that they can't have the same abilities otherwise. I.E. He could bring item power-ups to the table, despite it not being a true unique ability. Though it helps Captain Toad has his own separate abilities, so he could get chosen instead.
Toad I definitely want to see already(admittedly I expected Dr. Mario before him when it came to returning characters in 4 and Brawl. But he's easy to make, so it makes sense). I'm not the biggest fan of Captain Toad, as some may know, but I'd take both in just to show off how unique they are from each other anyway. Hell, I wouldn't mind if they were a duo transformation character(like Zelda/Sheik are), having two movesets with two focuses. They could have various alts related to Toadette and Captain Toadette too? Toad is a fast jumping character, but less power, and Captain Toad is a power character, with horrid jumping(or special jump animations to make it look like he can't jump in itself).
Not that I honestly support them as a duo, but it's just an idle thought of "this could be cool".