Sakurai explains how Fire Emblem characters came to be included in Smash Bros.

The following interview comes from Making of Fire Emblem: 25 Years of Development Secrets and was translated by SourceGaming...

Interviewer: So, can you tell us the story about how Marth and Roy became playable characters in Super Smash Bros. Melee?

Sakurai: Well, I wanted to include Marth in the original Smash Bros. game, as a sword-wielding character. But for Smash 64, there were some features we barely finished in time, and the four hidden characters were created only on the premise of being able to reuse some movements and parts of the models of pre-existing characters, so in the end Marth couldn’t make it in.

Interviewer: As for the rationale behind wanting to add Marth, was it because you felt that out of Nintendo’s many franchises, Fire Emblem is one that should be included?

Sakurai: That is a big part of it, and in terms of character diversity I did want more variation in terms of sword-wielding characters. I thought in comparison to Link—who’s more of a strong, direct swordsman—someone with finesse, a swordsman who relied more on technique, would be a lot of fun. On top of that, when we narrowed the possibilities down to the popular franchises of the time, we felt some restrictions. So among the possibilities, Fire Emblem was a franchise boasting multiple popular titles, and I thought there was more than enough value in including a character from Fire Emblem. So, in the next installment, Super Smash Bros. Melee, I had decided to include Marth at the start. Then, while thinking about a potential clone character, Roy came up. His game was in development at the time, and so he was added.