Red Arremer
Member
Don't forget, Red Arremer, that Sonic was added late in the game and likely had some sort of effect on who eventually got in and who didn't. I'd imagine Sonic's inclusion was more of a factor as to why Mewtwo was dropped than anything particular about Mewtwo.
You're right, I totally forgot about Sonic's inclusion that might've affected Mewtwo's position. That might be the reason, but... then why have another character added? It just doesn't make sense to me from a logistical standpoint - it's very clear that Wolf was added after Mewtwo was scrapped, and it seems likely that this also could've included Dixie and Toon Zelda/Sheik as possible stand-ins. That's why I don't think that Sonic actually was the reason, something not related to the roster itself at all, and rather to the character of Mewtwo.
I think that Sonic's spot was basically like "Yeah, let's keep up one character slot for a fan choice based on polls, because we have the time to develop a moveset", but then Mewtwo had to be scrapped for whatever reason, and they were like "Oh fuck, what do we do now. We'll have to whip up some new character to fill in the slot. Quick, let's make a character that is similar to an existing one.", so they whipped up early concepts of Wolf, Dixie and Toon Zelda (unless she was in the second character draft and was dropped with Doc and Pramai), and decided to go with Wolf.