When Lucina was revealed for Super Smash Bros. yesterday, you may have noticed that her moves bear a striking resemblance to Marth’s. In fact, they are exactly Marth’s, from her neutral air, to her dolphin slash, to her dancing blade and counter. This has lead many people to believe that Lucina is just a different costume for Marth.
However, Sakurai has stated that this is not true. She is, in fact, a separate character, however her moves are exactly the same as Marth’s. How is this the case? Well Lucina is the first revealed “clone” character for the new Smash Bros. She is slightly smaller than Marth and some of her movement options are slightly faster.
More importantly, Marth’s power is concentrated at the tip of his sword. This “sweet spot” allows for very low percentage knockouts while still allowing for heavy combo-ability if hit toward the center of the blade. Lucina, on the other hand, has the same power throughout all of her blade, no sweet or sour spots. This makes her easier to control, her hits being more consistent, but reduces her combo-ability up close and her power far away.
Unfortunately, Marth wasn’t very good when we tried him at E3 2014 this year. So people are asking, will Lucina make the Marth archetype better, or worse? Without his sweet spot, he may be unplayable, but having increased strength overall might help Lucina out in the long run. Some are calling Lucina the second coming of Roy, and in a slower and more power based smash, like the new Super Smash Bros. is, that might be a good thing.
Source: Siliconera