What in the heck possesed him to make the same character three times, essentially, with only a fresh coat of paint? And from the same game series too!

The world may never know

Yet they got rid of Roy. :'(

I blame the hardcore. Fox, and falco were two of the highest tier characters in the game, and along with Marth just about all major tourney matches were pretty much falco and marth with the occasional Fox. I'm guessing wolf was thrown in for yet another fox option, a slightly slower more powerful fox.

I say be thankful there aren't five versions of Final Destination.

I dunno. Aw, well. R.O.B & Toon Link makes up for everything. ;)

I want Roy in smash, is better than Marth

 Again, I think a large potential flaw your logic is that the hardcore will always primarily main the best characters -- whoever they may be.  Does Sakurai really intend for the space animals to be better than all  the other characters?  I at least hope not (though maybe he intends them as "advanced characters" or some BS like that).

Meh, it's not a big deal if you ask me, I like Wolf, I hate Fox and I only lightly played with Falco, but a slower more powerful version would seem better for my playing style, to each their own in this case.

Stop complaining. My god. You will love the game. Who gives a shit if there are 3 clones?

Whoa, calm down there Loadedstatement. Nobody is complaining. I'm just wondering, thats all. There is nothing wrong with that. Plus I intend on using other characters anyway, I just don't see the logic is all.