GalacticPetey
Donkey Kong
One of the most controversial aspects of the franchise is the implementation of clone characters into the game. Smash 64 had Luigi and arguably Jigglypuff (really stretching for that one), but Melee was the game that really went to the extreme with clones. Luigi received changes which turned him into a semi-clone and Kirby received new moves that distanced him even further from Jigglypuff. In addition, we received Dr. Mario, Young Link, Ganondorf, Pichu, Falco, and Roy who were clones of existing characters. Ganondorf had three unique moves, Pichu had one, but the rest had copied moves. However, the clones had different physics and properties on their moves that greatly changed how they played. Fox and Falco in melee play nothing alike and Marth and Roy are worlds apart on the tier list.
Brawl did away with a few clones. Getting rid of Doc, Young Link, Pichu, Roy (and Mewtwo, but that's another story). Falco and Ganondorf stayed due to them being more relevant characters and they got more changes to promote them to semi-clone status. Luigi got altered even further. We received two new semi-clones, being Toon Link and Lucas. Unlike the Melee clones, these two had much more variety in their moveset. Now I'm sure you're wondering, what about Wolf? Well, I don't even consider Wolf to be a semi-clone. This page does a great job breaking down the differences between clones in games and formulates a percent base don how similar they are. As you can see, only about 28% of Wolf's moves are derived from Fox. Even then, they differ greatly in their usage and appearance. One other interesting thing to note is that Dr. Mario and Roy were actually planned for Brawl. Make you wonder how, or even if, they would have been decloned.
Smash 4 brought back the more Melee-like clones. Dr. Mario made his return alongside Dark Pit and Lucina. Sakurai has gone on record saying these three were planned as alts and were made into their own characters for a number of reasons. He felt Dr. Mario using fire and FLUDD would look weird and he didn't want to alienate and offend the people who played Doc in Melee. Do to changes to Mario as well as a few new tweaks to Doc, he doesn't feel as much like a 1-1 reskin of Mario. Not enough to be considered a semi-clone though. Dark Pit was altered because it would be odd for him to use the Three Sacred Treasures. Dark Pit has a slightly different side b and a different final smash, but for the most part, he plays identically to Pit. Hell, Smashboards actually combined their character boards. Lucina's moves are all identical to Marth's except for the damage done. Marth's blade has a sweetspot at the tip and Lucina's is the same throughout. Unless you're bad at spacing, not much point in playing Lucina. It's interesting to note that Alph was planned to be a semi-clone that used Rock Pikman, but was cut.
Luigi returns, with even more changes. A new down throw, some more unique animations, and vastly different customs from Mario are really seperating the two characters. Toon Link, Falco and Ganondorf don't receive as many changes as they did during the transition to Brawl, but they all have unique custom moves unlike Doc, Dark Pit, and Lucina who share customs. Roy and Lucas return as DLC. Not much has changed with Lucas, but Ness now has his moves as customs. Roy has received many changes in animation to his attacks, along with a new ftilt, fsmash, and down air. Marth's changes to his neutral b have also separated the pair.
So what do you guys think of clones? Love 'em? Hate 'em? Indifferent? Here are a few topics for discussion:
-Do you mind the addition of clones? Do you enjoy them or see them as a hindrance to the game?
-If Doc and Roy did come back in Brawl like intended, how do you think they would have been changed?
-How would you change any of the clones?
-What clone characters would you potentially want to see?
-Should Doc, Lucina, and Dark Pit have been kept as alts? Should Alph have been playable as well?
Brawl did away with a few clones. Getting rid of Doc, Young Link, Pichu, Roy (and Mewtwo, but that's another story). Falco and Ganondorf stayed due to them being more relevant characters and they got more changes to promote them to semi-clone status. Luigi got altered even further. We received two new semi-clones, being Toon Link and Lucas. Unlike the Melee clones, these two had much more variety in their moveset. Now I'm sure you're wondering, what about Wolf? Well, I don't even consider Wolf to be a semi-clone. This page does a great job breaking down the differences between clones in games and formulates a percent base don how similar they are. As you can see, only about 28% of Wolf's moves are derived from Fox. Even then, they differ greatly in their usage and appearance. One other interesting thing to note is that Dr. Mario and Roy were actually planned for Brawl. Make you wonder how, or even if, they would have been decloned.
Smash 4 brought back the more Melee-like clones. Dr. Mario made his return alongside Dark Pit and Lucina. Sakurai has gone on record saying these three were planned as alts and were made into their own characters for a number of reasons. He felt Dr. Mario using fire and FLUDD would look weird and he didn't want to alienate and offend the people who played Doc in Melee. Do to changes to Mario as well as a few new tweaks to Doc, he doesn't feel as much like a 1-1 reskin of Mario. Not enough to be considered a semi-clone though. Dark Pit was altered because it would be odd for him to use the Three Sacred Treasures. Dark Pit has a slightly different side b and a different final smash, but for the most part, he plays identically to Pit. Hell, Smashboards actually combined their character boards. Lucina's moves are all identical to Marth's except for the damage done. Marth's blade has a sweetspot at the tip and Lucina's is the same throughout. Unless you're bad at spacing, not much point in playing Lucina. It's interesting to note that Alph was planned to be a semi-clone that used Rock Pikman, but was cut.
Luigi returns, with even more changes. A new down throw, some more unique animations, and vastly different customs from Mario are really seperating the two characters. Toon Link, Falco and Ganondorf don't receive as many changes as they did during the transition to Brawl, but they all have unique custom moves unlike Doc, Dark Pit, and Lucina who share customs. Roy and Lucas return as DLC. Not much has changed with Lucas, but Ness now has his moves as customs. Roy has received many changes in animation to his attacks, along with a new ftilt, fsmash, and down air. Marth's changes to his neutral b have also separated the pair.
So what do you guys think of clones? Love 'em? Hate 'em? Indifferent? Here are a few topics for discussion:
-Do you mind the addition of clones? Do you enjoy them or see them as a hindrance to the game?
-If Doc and Roy did come back in Brawl like intended, how do you think they would have been changed?
-How would you change any of the clones?
-What clone characters would you potentially want to see?
-Should Doc, Lucina, and Dark Pit have been kept as alts? Should Alph have been playable as well?
