I've yet to hear a convincing argument as to why Steve? shouldn't be included. I know it's no time to be piling on characters, but seriously, it's Minecraft... IT'S MINECRAFT!
Here's a mockup of a sprite, I know he's hella tall right now, but that's because I was trying to give him the exact same proportions he has in Minecraft. It would be very very easy to shorten his legs, arms, and torso a few pixels in order to fit him in with the rest of the cast, but I just wanted wanted to post this sprite as an initial proof of concept. I used minimal shading in order to emphasize the "blocky" look and also to mark the places where he has joints so that the animators have an easier job.
He would be slow and have pitiful jumps, but make up for it with a wide range of unpredictable attacks and a difficult approach. Here's just a few of the numerous possible moves he could have:
A- Steve? whacks away at his opponent first with his fists then whips out his pickaxe for a devastating finisher that sends the opponent straight downward if in the air (like a "spike" in SSB)
>A- Steve? draws his sword and swats at his opponent for minimal knockback but a good amount of damage. Good for starting combos.
vA- Steve? Throws a random block underneath him (could just be random texture, could have different properties), and leaps off of it just before it smashes into pieces, dealing damage and knockback to those nearby. Used for recovery.
^A- Steve? lifts a TNT block above his head and can carry it around inactive but cannot attack. Pressing A will drop the TNT where he stands and start its countdown, which is about 5 seconds, giving Steve? a chance to run like hell. Pressing S will make Steve? throw the TNT and it will detonate on impact. If Steve? is hit while holding the TNT, he'll drop it, it will explode, and both he and his attacker will be caught in the blast.
S- Bow and arrow. Can be charged an released to increase firing distance but cannot be held down indefinitely or else it will just release automatically.
>S- Steve? places a random block in front of him, obstructing battle and mixing things up. WILD CARD! Blocks can be destroyed when hit repeatedly, but different block types can take different amounts of damage. The strength of the block Steve? puts down depends on how much damage he's accumulated. The more hurt he is, the better a chance he has of putting down something like obsidian or diamond as opposed to wood or dirt.
vS- Flint and Stone. Steve? lights a fire on the ground in front of him. This should be exactly like Ness's PK fire.
^S- Lava Bucket. A very slow attack for when an enemy is standing still right in front of you just asking for it. Steve? lifts a bucket of lava over his head and slowly pours it directly in front of him for massive continuous damage as long as the attack lasts on whoever is unfortunate enough to get caught underneath the bucket. No knockback, but the damage ought to make up for it.
D-Steve? throws an egg at his opponent. It doesn't do any damage but they have an egg on their face until they die.
Again, pretty much unlimited potential for movesets here, this is just my attempt at one. Also, why haven't we been doing taunts? (The egg throw)