Clone character

A clone character is a character that is created by copying another character's files and making adjustments. It is a concept used in many video game series to quickly increase the size of the playable roster. They are far easier to create than a character made from scratch, but in exchange, have many of the same attacks and animations as their source, though their properties may be adjusted to give them an altered gameplay style from the parent. Overall, a clone's status as a clone is usually primarily aesthetic.

Historically, clones have proven to be controversial additions to the roster, both in the official ' titles and in the ' series, as they are often erroneously perceived to be taking the place of a more unique character. The error lies in that the time and labor required to add a clone is incomparably low compared to that required to create a character from scratch. For example, was able to be created within a two-month period between the release of Super Smash Flash 2 Beta in late May 2017 and Super Smash Con 2017 in early August to be released in a relatively minor patch, something that would not have been possible with a more independent character.

The term semi-clone is occasionally used for characters such as that are clearly inspired by another character but have too many significant differences to have been directly copied. However, the line drawn between clone and semi-clone is typically completely arbitrary, and the term has no firmly agreed-upon definition.

In Super Smash Flash
In the original Super Smash Flash, there are four clone characters, all unlocked by beating a single-player mode with their parent characters.

In Super Smash Flash 2
Clones in Super Smash Flash 2 are more difficult to add than they were in SSF, mainly due to the larger roster and higher-quality sprites. However, they do exist, as a part of the labor of initially creating hitboxes and physics is still saved.

Every character has had a direct file connection to, as he was the first character to be programmed. Even with entirely independent characters, copying an existing one is often done first as a template to minimize the possibility of missing animations, bugs, and crashes during the character creation process. For example,, when initially shown at APEX 2014, periodically appeared to turn into when the game tried to load animations that had not been made at the time. However, despite this, Chibi-Robo is not a Samus clone, as none of Samus' design remains in Chibi-Robo's final character.

There are no full clones in SSF2, although Luigi and Falco have slightly fewer differences compared to  titles (Brawl onwards). However, Ganondorf and Pichu have been given many differences that are not present in the Smash Bros. titles, especially Ganondorf, who is a pseudo-clone (meaning almost a unique character).