Masahiro Sakurai, the director for Super Smash, has gone on record now (via this week’s Famitsu magazine), saying why Zelda and Sheik (and Samus / Zero Suit Samus by extension) are completely separate characters.

It’s nothing really surprising, truth be told. Many gamers had surmised that this was in fact the case upon the release of the info originally.

Of course, clarification is always welcome!

“It’s basically due to the 3DS’ limitations,” said Sakurai, when asked why Zelda and Sheik are different characters. “It was impossible to have both characters exist together [as one] on 3DS.”

He continued, “However, reaching that limit can sometimes lead in good directions. Transforming characters had the drawback of ambiguous tactics and such, and I believe that they have become more fresh now.”

A little bit of additional information came out of this interview too –
The New 3DS c-stick operates as such, while the circle pad pro does not. This is due to CPU limitations of the 3DS vs. the New 3DS.

In addition, if your control input is lagging during an online match, it’s likely that you’re connection speed is low. If everything is lagging, on the other hand, there’s probably a problem with your connection.