I could type a dissertation on this. Seeing as I don't have anything better to do, I think I will. Buckle in.
First of all, I agree about eliminating the clones. There are more than enough incarnations of Link, F-Zero racers, and what have you to facilitate a distinctive move set for everyone. A few examples follow.
Ganondorf Dragmire, the King of Evil
Don't get me wrong, I love Captain Falcon; I'm a huge F-Zero fan. But Ganondorf is far too badass of a character and has too large of a mythology backing him to just be a Falcon clone. He's the first memorable true villain in the history of video gaming (as opposed to comedic villains like Bowser) and still one of the best. As such, he deserves his own damn move list, and there's plenty of stuff to go around with that. He's proficient with several different types of weapons, including two-handed swords, sais, and polearms, in addition to his magic, though in his human form a large two-handed sword would be best, specifically, his unnamed and exceedingly 1337 zweihander from the Spaceworld 2000 video that was present in his victory pose in SSBM. That thing was seriously the size of a Buster Sword, and since Ganondorf's as big as a damn warehouse, it doesn't require any special circumstances to allow him to use it. For his magic, if you'll recall Mortal Kombat II, Shang Tsung possessed a ranged attack named Flaming Skulls; I'm not big on the series in general, but I do remember that. As it happens, Zelda's Fire Bubble enemies are just that; flaming skulls that attack Link. Ganondorf could easily conjure those and send them flying, much like Mario's fireballs. He also demonstrates a very powerful earthquake attack achieved by hovering and them slamming into the ground, and shoots lighting at his foes, either in a concentrated blast or in a powerful multi-attack. Quite simply, there are too many moves not to use.
Link's Incarnations
There have been multiple Links throughout Hyrule's history, each featuring different weapons and techniques. Some of them have even been present in the same era, but simply put, there are enough sufficiently unique forms of Hyrule's hero to last from now until Doomsday. The Ocarina of Time incarnation is of course a mainstay, and is going to be in SSB Revolution regardless of what anyone thinks; I think he should get the sword beam attack this time, since he got jipped out of that in OoT (other than the lack of the main Zelda theme, that's probably my only gripe with the game). However, the four alternate mask forms in Majora's Mask are quite easily viable player characters. The unnamed Deku Scrub is an extremely light and nimble character with a capacity for hovering in the air as well as stunning his enemies; the Goron war hero Darmani's powerful attacks are sufficient to smash through rocks; the Zora guitarist Mikau has martial arts, razor fins, and Zora magic to see him through. There's also the fearsome Oni Link; the origins of the Fierce Deity's Mask are currently unknown, but he's got that kind of Mandalorian aura of awesomeness/mystery about him. He'd easily be a fan favorite. There's also the unnamed wolf that Link turns into in Twilight Princess; with Midna's help, he could accomplish quite a lot. Zelda/Sheik will probably make a reappearance.
Vaati, the Wind Mage
Though not quite on the same notoriety level as Ganon, Vaati, the apparently pedophiliac villain from the Four Swords Zelda games (in canon chronological order, The Minish Cap, Four Swords Adventures, and Four Swords), is a fearsome fighter in his own right. Someone ought to give him a few wind-oriented moves and stick him in the ring.
The F-Zero Grand Prix
Captain Falcon isn't the only F-Zero racer with a knack for getting in trouble; many other racers have the makings of great warriors in them. It's notable that James McCloud, in his younger days, was a racer in the Grand Prix; though he had a human face in the game, it was clearly meant to be a reference to the martyred father of Fox McCloud, the leader of the Star Fox team and a perennial SSB combatant. There are easily several other characters capable of assuming the roles of fighters; the notorious death-soldier Pico, whatever that huge lizard thing is, and especially Deathborn would all make awesome combatants. I'd also like to see the classic katana-wielding Samurai Goroh; no one else in Nintendo games packs a katana. There's also StarTropics' Zoda; Zoda was a selectable racer in F-Zero GX for the GameCube. If you haven't played that, YOU FAIL. If you've played it and you fail at the game itself, NO ONE IS GOING TO BLAME YOU. That is THE HARDEST RACING GAME EVER, BAR NONE.
The Universe at Large
It's notable that the government in Metroid, the Galactic Federation, is the same as the galactic government referenced in F-Zero. The F-Zero units' G-diffuser technology is also incorporated into the combat and propulsion systems of the (highly unlikely albeit masterfully engineered) Arwing aerospace superiority fighter; there are a number of connections between the storylines of different game series. Samus is of course going to be present in SSBR, though there's no reason why she can't have multiple forms just as Link does, and I'm not referring to Samus clones; Dark Samus is an excellent fighter, and so is Samus' Phazon Suit incarnation. In fact, there's a spare button in the SSBM control scheme; in order to incorporate multiple forms of different characters, it could function as a "style switch" button not unlike the past two Mortal Kombat games. Samus can also acquit herself admirably without her suit, packing a blaster and martial arts. Fox is also going to be present, though it's worth noting that in Star Fox Adventures, General Pepper didn't allow him to bring his blaster to the planet because he thought the nature of the Sauria mission was diplomatic. Admittedly, that's something of a cop-out, but the game was good enough that it can slide. Fox proves himself to be an adept melee fighter with a staff; incorporating this as a possible fighting style would present a character almost completely different from Fox's mainstay form. Finally, Meta-Knight from Kirby has a damned 1337 sword and cape that could easily be put to good use in a fighting role.
Acid Trip
Face it, that's what Mario is. And we love it every single step of the way, even as we know that Mr. Potatamoto likes our money. Wario and Waluigi are probably going to be in SSBR, and Super Mario RPG has a big enough fanbase to justify the inclusion of Geno and Mallow. SMRPG isn't exactly Final Fantasy VII in terms of its depth, but how many other RPGs do you know where you can cause a holocaust with a pan?
...well, OK, there's Chrono Cross, but all the good characters used conventional weapons. Nobody ever used the stupid ones, anyway.
Peach is probably going to be back, and Mario and Luigi are obviously going to be there. Tough Italian-American bastards, those guys. Maybe they could have alternate forms depicting their primary GameCube incarnations, Sunshine Mario and Vacuum Luigi, with altered movesets to match their powers.
Potpourri for 200
Now we come to everything else, the leftovers, the outcasts, everything that isn't a mainline character that deserves a spot in SSBR. Dude, if friggin' Mr. Game and Watch got in, anyone can.
First off, we come to Fire Emblem. As you know, Fire Emblem was a Japan-only game (short for "Legend of the Fire Emblem") that managed to sneak in Marth and Roy, two of its most popular characters, for the release of SSBM. Several Fire Emblem games have since been ported to America, and have been well-received. Marth and Roy need to stay, but I don't know enough about the Fire Emblem mythology to proclaim an alternate moveset for either.
Next is a revisiting of Zelda. As huge as its mythology has gotten, there are a number of minor characters that get overlooked. I suggested being able to play as Darmani earlier, but when you get down to it, I'd rather be Darunia. Rauru is just creepy, and all the other sages are hormonal chicks who are hot for Link, and not only that, he's still got Malon to deal with beyond that. Darunia's the only one that'll give him any respite; not only that, other than the Deku Tree, he's like a second father to Link. He's deeply loyal, incredibly courageous, and possessed of a righteous heart. I pity the fool who tries to pull some jackassery when he's around; Darunia is gonna LAY DOWN THA LAW, fools! He's the kind of guy you'd want to get wasted with, and other than Link himself, there's no one you'd rather have on your side in a fight, at least as far as Nintendo characters are concerned.
Also, I'm not sure how many of you remember the A Link to the Past serial that was printed in Nintendo Power way back when, but that stuff was CLASSIC. I deeply regret not buying the compilation when I had the chance. DEEPLY. But anyway, in that incarnation of ALttP's story, there was a heroic, anthropomorphic denizen of the Dark World known as Roam. Taking the form of a humanoid eagle, he was a total badass. There's also a character in an extra chapter of the Majora's Mask manga named Raven, who's related to the history of the evil mask itself; he's a rogue warrior like Link who packs a huge sword. Impa also packs quite a punch in Ocarina of Time's manga; she trains Link to "master the Master Sword." It's revealed in the manga that the sword's actual destructive power increases commensurately with the skill of its user; this explains why the Biggoron's Sword and the Master Sword do the same amount of damage to Ganon's final form in the end of Ocarina of Time, whereas in the rest of the game the Biggoron's Sword does twice the pain at the cost of using a shield.
Finally, we get the opportunity to branch outside of strictly Nintendo stuff. Of course, probably none of these will be in the game; this is more or less my personal "what if" list. I'd rather like it if Eternal Darkness' Pious Augustus was a playable fighter in SSBR; he's much more feasible than most of my other choices given that ED's a GameCube exclusive. In truth, despite the much darker (pardon the pun) tone of ED, he's not really any worse in his intentions than Ganondorf. Both basically want to commit genocide, and brutally murder anyone or anything that gets in their way. Plus, he's got some sweet moves, and the way he taunts the characters of Eternal Darkness would carry over perfectly to a tournament environment. That and I'd piss myself laughing if he got beaten up by Pikachu. Next come Mega Man X and Zero, which are more or less unworkable, though the results would be entertaining. Both characters, as well as the Mega Man series itself, got their start with Nintendo. But despite their partnership, their styles of play are completely different, as anyone who's played the X games knows. Zero's main offense comes courtesy of his Z-saber, and Mega Man X pulverizes foes with his X-Buster, a vastly upgraded and more powerful Mega Buster. Both have the Acceleration System that lets them dash; this could be converted into a dash'n'slash attack or a ramming maneuver against enemies, which would easily double as a recovery move. Zero has a number of powerful sword techs and a stun-oriented Buster shot, and X can copy enemy powers -- and unlike his predecessor, he can charge them up. He'd be a hell of a lot more useful than Kirby, considering his X-Buster (there'd be separate keys for the regular X-Buster and the powerup move). The sturdy metallic structure of the fathers of the Reploid race would make it extremely difficult to knock them off the stage, but also difficult for them to recover when they finally are. It's worth noting that Mega Man and Rush were two of the characters present on the classic (and incredibly corny) children's cartoon show Captain N and the Video Game Masters. Dudes, that show was the S**T! Speaking of Captain N, why not have Simon Belmont, the original vampire hunter of the game world, as a playable character? That alone might give reason to shoehorn Mega Man in. And might I add: KID ICARUS DAMMIT. Hell, we could make Captain N himself a playable character. Unlikely, yes. Freakin' sweet? Also yes.
Many have wanted Sonic to be playable, even before EGM's April Fools stunt with Sonic in SSBM, and considering that Nintendo and Sega have an amicable relationship, it might even be workable. Sonic's sheer blinding speed would allow the player to evade almost any attack, but he'd be rather difficult to control. He has several dash attacks and the Homing Attack that serve as offense, and Chaos Control to teleport out of emergency situations. Knuckles, Tails, and several other characters could easily serve as companions for Sonic.
That about does it for characters and moves, but there's some other stuff.
Gameplay
First, GET RID OF ALL THE DAMN CLONES. You'd expect Luigi to have similar moves to Mario (hence the Mario BROTHERS) but other than that, it doesn't fly. Fox, Pikachu, and Mario shouldn't have clones, because they don't have enough of an arsenal to warrant it, unless you want to start putting in multiple forms of Mario. Also, Pokemon suck, and no one likes them. So burn.
Next, we need even more stages. My God, there are so many locales and styles of play to be exploited I couldn't list them all if I tried. So start exploiting. The porn industry pays good money for that kind of thing.
