Quote: MesuxelfQuote: sonicbrawler182 And in a way, IS Pikachu.
ZSS and Samus are the same people. That doesn't seem to bother Sakurai.
Metroid is also a series that is successful partly because of it's emphasis on Samus as a lone, isolated bounter hunter exploring unknown territory, so it makes sense to just throw in a drasitically different version of the main character as a second rep. And at least Samus and ZSS not only have a completely different movesets and a different feel, but a very different design too. Furthermore, ZSS only has her own character slot in this game due to the transformation mechanic being axed.
Pokémon is literally a series with what is close to 1,000 playable protagonists. If we have to get yet another Pokémon character (which I don't really want - the Pokémon roster feels complete), why do we have to pick a clone of one we already have that will just be inherently bad competitively anyway? And if it has to be a clone of an existing Pokémon rep, why not at least get a bit more creative with the choice than just the younger version of Pikachu? (for example, you could probably make one of the other Fighting type Pokémon a Lucario clone - same rough moveset, but no Aura mechanic and not as floaty).