No, it really was closer to Smash with PS characters. It flopped mainly for 3 reasons:

1) Its direct competitor, Smash, is one hell of a beast to take on, and they predictably failed at living up to the challenge.

2) Even without Smash comparisons, the game's premise was simply not appealing. The main villain was completely forgettable and the interaction between characters was virtually non-existent. And;

3) Most characters were not nearly as iconic as most Nintendo characters. A lot of them were at Olimar levels of popularity at best, so making a crossover game with all of them did not feel nearly as special as it does for Smash.

"Why must I fail at every attempt at every attempt at imitating Nintendo"

This phrase feels weird because it looks erroneous but is actually completely grammatically correct.