What do you think of clone characters?

[MacDaddyNook]

I hate clones. Their inclusion makes it feel like the developers got lazy and just slapped filler to pad out the roster. Since they have virtually nothing to really set them apart than some stat changes and little tweaks (the direction of Falco's Deflector's knockback) that they're redundant. I know there's the whole "don't like them, don't use them argument," but that falls apart when trying to complete challenges or using the Random Select. Personally, I rather that, albeit tiny, development time used elsewhere, even if it means the roster is a couple characters less.

Now, I'm fine with Semi Clones like those we got in Brawl. I'm ok with a single character sharing some elements of another. I do draw the line when we get a second derivative character using a character with a clone as a base. One Semi-Clone for a character is ok, but more than that is too many.

 

[Yoshister]

Honestly, I really don't care that there are clones in these games, as long as there is some kind of justification for it. For example: because of some mechanics like his height differentiate him from , and that he represents different stylized games from the Zelda franchise, and theres mainly because if you think about it, her being a clone makes sense kinda provided that you played Awakening and knew her character.

I'm perfectly fine with most of the clones but the only ones I can't stand are ,, and.

I don't like because it's just, but weaker and it can hurt itself with its own attacks.

I don't like or not just because they are virtually identical to the originals, but because I don't like THEM in general (but that's another debate for another time).

Lucina is just Marth with different hitboxes. Dr. Mario and Pichu at least have some different moves.

 

[LuluTheBean]

The problem is see with Lucina and Dark Pit is that their chances for returning in future installments is under 1%, while Alph's chances of returning either as an Olimar alt or as his own clone is a coin flip, which outcome depends on the developers stance on alternative costumes.

Yeah that's probably true, but maybe the new developers would like to keep all the characters in memoriam of Sakurai's development. x3

 

[Miikon]

Yeah that's probably true, but maybe the new developers would like to keep all the characters in memoriam of Sakurai's development. x3

Unsure whether you are joking, so to make it clear: there will be cuts for Smash 5 (unless its a direct expansion of 4) assuming there will be a fifth installment. Lucina, Dark Pit and Doctor Mario are the most likely to be cut, while Alph has a great chance of returning in some playable form.
That is why I feel Lucina and Dark Pit should have stayed costumes instead of lazy clones, as their chances of returning would have been greatly increased and maybe someday, the developers could give them a shot and make them memorable clones that people would have liked to stick around.

 

[LuluTheBean]

Unsure whether you are joking, so to make it clear: there will be cuts for Smash 5 (unless its a direct expansion of 4) assuming there will be a fifth installment. Lucina, Dark Pit and Doctor Mario are the most likely to be cut, while Alph has a great chance of returning in some playable form.
That is why I feel Lucina and Dark Pit should have stayed costumes instead of lazy clones, as their chances of returning would have been greatly increased and maybe someday, the developers could give them a shot and make them memorable clones that people would have liked to stick around.

That's... Weird logic, but that's fine. Let's just hope there actually is a Smash 5!

 

[Deleted member]

In Melee, I was OK with the clones. If I had to choose 6 clone characters or 1 unique one, I think I would prefer the 6 clone characters. Melee's roster wouldn't be as big with just the one new character and it's not like cutting the clones would have given us Wario; for him to be added a whole character and a clone would have to be cut (such as Roy and Mewtwo or Marth for example). The 6 characters were added because that was all the time that there was left in the first place... I remember reading from Source Gaming that they didn't have too much time adding in another unique character.

Now in Smash 4... I guess I am indifferent? I was mystified when Lucina was announced and saw the leaks featuring Dr. Mario and Dark Pit in the game. At that point, especially when Brawl only had semi clones and 4's newcomers are absolutely unique, I thought that we wouldn't get any clones. Even then, those characters are merely extras; they didn't take too much development time and cutting them wouldn't have another unique character be on the initial roster, like King K. Rool or Ryu.
Though, I am not OK with Ganondorf being a semi clone again. With so much material to work with and being one of Nintendo's most popular villains, seeing him as a semi clone of Captain Falcon is a disgrace; it made sense in Melee due to its development cycle, but not now. The only of the three clones that I am not OK with is Dark Pit. Dark Pit's gameplay changes are so small that it isn't really worth adding him; making two of his specials slightly different and making him more powerful isn't as dramatic as getting rid of the tipper for a balanced sword (Lucina is arguably more of a clone than Dark Pit, but not having a tipper is a massive change in gameplay) or making a character more powerful and heavy, changing two of his moves, and changing overall properties of the moves. That and I just outright hate Dark Pit.

EDIT: In terms of DLC though, I am against clone characters. If we see a character like Pichu or Young Link and they don't have any new moves, then I think it would be a waste of time and resources to make them playable. I feared that Roy would be a clone for this reason.

 

[Sir Gengar de Èctoplasma]

I voted for option 3, but I was mainly referring to DLC with it: If the clone is added to main game, it's fine. If the clone is going to be DLC, then it's waste of development time.

While I think it's a good thing that Luigi, Falco, Ganondorf and Roy were decloned into semi-clones, I'm against the idea of decloning Dark Pit (I dislike the character and he would be fine as an alt) and Young Link (unneeded when we have Toon Link), and I'm not keen on decloning Lucina (I doubt she'd be decloned, they'll probably just focus on newest FE lord(s)), Pichu (there are better Pokemon) or Dr. Mario (there are better Mario characters) either. Ironically, I would've accepted the idea of Alph being decloned: however, he stayed as alt instead of becoming a clone, and I doubt he'd be separated in future games. It's a shame that he didn't make it over Dark Pit and Lucina.

 

[D-Man9293]

I don't think clones are a waste at all. If one person likes a characters moveset, but not the way they play, a clone can change that. I play as Lucina and Roy way more than Marth because they're easier for me to use. As for Semi-clones or former clones, I don't think they count. If they have some similar moves, saying that that makes them a semi-clone is not always correct. Wii Fit Trainer and Samus both have charge-up specials and recoveries that do more on the ground. Does this mean they're semi-clones? By this logic, yes. How about Wolf. He can do a flip, and his down smash hits on both sides, so he's a semi-clone of Captain Falcon. In other words, I don't think semi-clones truly exist, just characters with a few similar moves.