I am interested in playing Riot Shield Guy, Bearded Nunchuk Dude, and Fat Island Tribesman.

One of them looks like Captain Commando, and another looks like a human version of Armor Joe from the Mega Man series.

In the second image, is he wearing a Templar robe in one of those poses?

Wow, that's so amazing. 
Can you believe video games were made like this back then? Artists had some creativity in there... 
It always surprises me when I hear that Miyamoto would actually draw the characters in all those old games he made. 
 
Also, the characters look a bit like Fist of the North Star dudes.

I guess those first images were created before they had the vision that they would stick to a fist to fist, no weapons based fighter.

Some of those preliminary designs look pretty awesome.

Excellent!