zangoose :O

[Skull]

the secret's the palette. compare the palettes between your sprites, and how they correlate to their pixel clusters:
(imageshack link, if it doesn't work for you please say so, i'll try something else)
top half are your sprites, with their palettes.
bottom half are your sprites, but i edited captain falcon to try and put him into leon's style. notice how i tried to keep the same shape for the palette.
i hope this helps you, and i am expecting an excellent samus sprite now!

The new color palette on Captain Falcon fits it better but the shoulder pad looks odd for some reason, though I can't point it out.