sakurai literally said that clones don't take up slots and are just more content, if they weren't in the game, then the slot they occupied would be empty
why is this attitude still a thing it's been debunked a trillion times
"There are three clones on the roster. Initially they were created as alternates, but during development they started to develop their own individual traits related to balancing, so we ended up making them different characters in order to separate their records. However, it was of the utmost importance that the workload on the project was not increased. They wouldn’t make it in if balancing had to be done from the start, so they were balanced relative to their original.
Lucina is Marth but with different properties on her sword. Dark Pit is nearly identical to Pit, but his side-B and Final Smash are different, so they ended up becoming separate character records. If Doctor Mario was the exact same as Mario, it would probably upset fans of the old Doctor Mario, so we included customs that can be used to make him more like he was in the past, if you would like.
To make an analogy, it’s as if you were prepared a luxurious, extravagant meal where the cost wasn’t a factor, and on top of that, you were served a free, worthwhile dessert. If this happened at a restaurant, I don’t think any patrons would make a ruckus and say, “change this to the main course!!”
However, this does happen with Smash. I understand that children may not understand the situation, which might be unavoidable. But can you please leave decisions regarding production to me? No matter how you think about it, it’s already a game that’s a bargain."
~ Sakurai Masahiro
, I'll break, .03 seconds.
