I'm not sure if he is that original... I'd probably say he is more like Ganon, which is not a complete clone, but still fairly similar to Capt Falcon.

I dont get the hate. The more Fire Emblem characters the better.

Wish there were more from Path of radiance/Radiant dawn actually.

Here's a FE bro who gets it ; ) Micaiah for smash!!!

Lyn, Hector, or Eliwood from Rekka No Ken would be nice as well.

I rated clone/similar characters from a 1-10 in the past. 1 being a Complete Clone.

Roy is a 6/7 out of 10 imo. His properties are completely different than Marths (you have to fight very close up rather than reach like Marth) they have different Aerials and similar moves are altered in direction. (like Mario/Luigi's Neutral B and Up B)

Roy before in Melee was like a 2/3 out of 10. Much better improvement :P

Nothing wrong with fire emblem characters, but Roy is underwhelming as all hell. 

What about tharja? She has a pretty big following and could have had a unique moveset 

Roy had already appeared on a past Smash title and had already established fans. Its not a terrible choice, but it wouldnt have been the one i woulld've gone with aswell. Actually, they should introduce the main character from Fire emblem If. It would raise the hype for the game and awereness.

This all just leads us to the conclusion that they have way too many good fire emblem characters and should make a Fire emblem fighting game.

I'd probably put him as a 5/10 myself. He still has some Marth in him, but he does seem less clonish, which is great : ) I'll need to get more of a feel for him when I get him...

I'll be buying as soon as eShop is back up in Europe.

Should be fun to try out then!