Wow @roundbeargames,
I have been following this for a while and the background makes a big difference. I like the crawl up the block and the character is so skinny compared to the challenger. Although he was short, Mario was an Italian Stallion. He is like look in the sky. Its a pencil! It's a giraffe! No, It's super wimp! Reminds me of playing Neo Geo.
yo i only used that character for testing, but seems like a lotta people like it.
i actually had something like a diablo3 barbarian in mind.
on the other hand, there's something about wimpy protagonists that makes the game interesting.
i dunno what i'm gonna go for, but clearly there's audience for both :)