Sheik... is already different from Zelda, so I don't really understand the point you're making here...?
SS Impa has a different body shape and could be even tougher than what people expect from Sheik. Not every Zelda has to be Sheik just because one Zelda was Sheik once.
Plus, it might be fun to see Impa or Zelda watching the other fight as a tag team, like Pokemon Trainer.
Lucario 'replaced' Mewtwo, who was also seen as a similar, 'cooler', character to some people. I don't recall people ever liking the end result of it despite how many fans, initially, were clamoring for the idea of it to happen (because it sounded 'right', doesn't mean it was right).
Mewtwo is an entirely different character. If whatever replaced him was a maybe an evolution of Mewtwo (or a lighter version in the form of Mew!), that would've been acceptable.
Lucario is a Fighting/Steel type. They made him slightly different, but that they fought similarly at all was an error.
Mewtwo was also undisputedly the ultimate Pokemon of the original series, and ultimate antagonist in the Stadium games. Lucario has never had such a high position in the franchise.
Impa has been Zelda's handmaiden since the original. She is as much a staple of the series as the Triforce holders.
Eh, I just think that 'removing' Sheik is like removing part of Zelda. I mean, if they go with the SS Zelda then whatever I understand why Sheik wouldn't be in the game (though she could very well be as simply a different slot, freeing up a Down B for Zelda and Sheik to use).
It just doesn't sit right with me to be replacing characters with other characters just for the sake of 'attention'. Keep the old characters, it's a sequel, everyone knows it is, so there's absolutely no excuse to axe characters at all. Sakurai has the move sets, all he has to do is smooth the animations, hitboxes, change some stats around to fit whatever physics engine he's working on and what kind of 'balance' he wants and then a new model. It wouldn't be too much work other than rigging the animations to the new model.
Axe someone and you make a whole bunch of people upset, I don't think we need that again ala Mewtwo, Roy, Pichu, Dr. Mario, Young Link. 'Clones' (seriously hate this term, you have to play the characters differently because of the way their moves work) or not, a character is a character and this is a fighting game and I feel they should be trying to have as many old characters as they can all the while adding as many new characters as they can (making reaching that 50 character mark much easier in the process).
I'm bringing up Impa because we're discussing characters, but since it's getting to be about dramatic roster changes, I want to add the following.
I don't want Smash 4 to be yet another revision of Melee's engine. The best way to make Smash Bros. 4 feel like a complete package is to rebuild it from the ground up, much like the jump from SSB 64 to Melee.
They need to re-build the characters from scratch. No modifying assets and move data from Melee/Brawl.
SSB 64 and Melee's characters referred to the characters as they were in their latest games. Some of Brawl's character problems are beyond its control (as they're reliant on Nintendo's actual game output).
Some things I would suggest they do are:
-Replace Samus with the Fusion version of Samus, as she's the latest canonical version
-Re-model Marth based on his DS game
-No arbitrary 'new characters', ie. a non-existant version of Sheik
-No arbitrary moves, ie. give Ness PK Rockin rather than Starstorm
-Demise/Ganondorf should get his own sword moveset and doesn't need to be a Captain Falcon derivative anymore
Speaking of Ness, yeah, he doesn't learn some/most of the moves he knows in SSB, but he has less of a chance of Paula or Poo appearing, and no later Earthbound games expand on his potential abilities. That's when some changes can be acceptable.
I think Brawl is a worth successor to Melee, but I can't disagree that it's full of cracks. In a fanservice game, the cracks are even more apparent. I'm saying that relying on old iterations of the game and assets will make it a worse product. Brawl almost got away with it because everyone was expecting a refinement of Melee, when it should've been its own cohesive package.
If they have ideas like SS's Impa/Demise/
Link, they should run with them.
