SUPER SMASH BROS. FEUD - BIG update in latest post.

[iyenal]

I just need to find the motivation to finish my Mario model so I can rig him up, ready him for the engine, and resume gameplay scripting.

You're welcome.
You make yourself the characters models ? Because otherwise I think you can find easily already rigged models. If you want I have one from MKAGPDX (MK Arcade GP DX) that I found directly in game contents rigged in XSI Softimage format.