The way I see it, characters can be clones in animations/skin and playstyle. That seems hard to dispute. If two characters share extreme similarities in animations, they are at least semi-clones. If two characters play the same but have different animations and stuff then that is a coincidence, so what if Falco and Dedede use dthrow to chaingrab all of the time? They certainly aren't clones. If two characters share extreme similarities in both categories however, we have what I call a TRUE clone, where the differences between the two characters (if any) are negligible and as a result they end up playing the same.

Fox and Falco from Melee are examples of characters that have similar animations on EVERY attack (and since Fox came first, Falco is a clone of Fox), but due to subtle changes in physics and how the attacks actually work, they end up playing absolutely nothing alike. They end up being semi-clones, which is fine since they aren't REALLY clones (if anything, it's a testament to how different two characters that are extremely similar can be). They split up in Brawl, no longer sharing every animation and playing very differently. I argue then that Falco became a completely different character in Brawl, no longer even a semi-clone. But I digress. An example of true clones is Marth and Lucina. They share the same animations on every attack, and play the same. Their stats are extremely similar, and the subtle differences between the two means that only very specific things have to be done differently, but the game plan is practically the same. Since Marth came first, Lucina is a clone of Marth. Since they share extreme similarities in animations and playstyle, Lucina is a true clone.

If you don't agree with Marth/Lucina, then take a look at Pit and Dark Pit (they even share the same name). Dark Pit is a true clone of Pit.

Anyways, my main point is that true clones are practically the same character. They only serve to pad the roster and to, sadly, advertise that character. If they are practically the same character, and do not benefit the depth of the game, then I say that true clones should NOT be in smash. Any developer is perfectly capable of coming up with a unique moveset for a character, to remove the clone aspect, which is perfectly fine by me.

tl;dr Semi-clones like Fox and Falco from Melee are fine (although de-cloning the characters is generally better imo), and true clones like Marth/Lucina and Pit/D.Pit are not fine at all.

Wolf is ABSOLUTELY a different character than either of the other space animals. His up-b functions differently albeit following the same trajectory. Side-b looks similar as well, but it goes on a different angle and is a kill move. Laser is bad in neutral, but the only similarity with his fellow spacies is the fact that he HAS a laser. Shine is the same as Fox, nothing else really to say about it other than the new animation. And then ALL of his neutrals are different.

He's also da coolest space animal so far.

He's a completely different character, so different it does not match Wolf himself (see Up-Smash to know what I'm talking about)
He's not a clone, granted, but I still think he was a pretty unneeded adittion.
If he is getting in, at least give him a different Final Smash.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=37915502&postcount=7506

He also mentions that Wario was dropped in favour of Dr. Mario as the Mario clone because he felt Wario "deserved better"