I'm currently looking into some of the "all character" categories, and startet wondering about some of the technicalities of these runs. Specifically...

• Can you use SoPo instead of Ice Climbers?
• When does it count as beating a stage with Sheik/Zelda?
  • Do you have to play the entire level with only Sheik or only Zelda?
  • What if you start out as one and then transforms into the other one before you complete the stage?
  • What if you start out by immediately transforming into the other character?

I feel like the SoPo case is a bit weird, because SoPo isn't banned and is a (somewhat) unique character that you can play as, yet, it doesn't seem like he is required in the "all character" categories. This makes sense, as he is a "hidden/bonus" character, and unlike Giga Bowser and Wario-Man, he isn't inherently broken. But if he isn't a requirement to play as in this character, can we still choose to play as him as a replacement for Ice Climbers if we so wish? Seeing as how he shares his time with Ice Climbers (and even in-game counts him as them) and isn't banned, then I don't see any reason not to allow to use him instead of Ice Climbers if someone would want to do so (seeing as it actually makes Target Smash level 5 easier and more consistent with SoPo).

And about the whole Sheik/Zelda mess. I can see it going either way, tbh. On one hand, the entire point of all characters is to show off all the characters, but then again, part of Sheik and Zelda's moveset is the ability to change between them, so why shouldn't we be allowed to highlight this mechanic as well? This of course sparks the discussion of what counts as Sheik and what counts as Zelda. If you start with Zelda and transform into Sheik during the run, does that count as beating the level with Sheik or Zelda? Does it matter when you transform (i.e. if you immediately transform vs transforming right before beating the level)?

I know that when viewing replays, the game only shows the character that you start the level with. In this case we could argue that the one you start the level with is the one that counts. But if I recall correctly, when beating Classic mode or All Stars, it counts as the character that you end up with (i.e. if you start with Zelda, but win with Sheik, it counts as winning with Sheik, same goes for Samus/ZSS in brawl). By this logic, it only matters what character you end up with when beating the level. This would imply that when I get to Sheik, I can beat the same stage twice with Sheik, only that I transform to Zelda at the very end, before beating the level. Alternatively, I wouldn't have to exit the stage to select Zelda, and could immediately change forms to quickly start out with Zelda, instead of having to leave the stage, selecting Zelda, and then starting the level.

...So any thoughts on all this?

Here's what I think about those:

• I'd say yes to being able to use Sopo instead of Ice Climbers since it is effectively a worse version of the same character. The moveset and mechanics for that character are pretty much the same and as far I know, using Sopo over Ice Climbers doesn't save time.
• Beating a level with Sheik and Zelda would be hitting all the targets in it.
• Since they are separate characters on the select screen, I would say do the entire level with both characters. Additionally, they're also very different from one another which further cements them for all characters.
• If no targets were hit with the transformation, then it would be alright. If any were hit though, I'd say it's invalid because it's doing the target level with a separate character.