For reference, what Rico is aiming for would be something similar to Fairy War (1), which can be found here
http://toffisama.wordpress.com/ as well as an faq about how he achieved the stuff and the like(not to be confused with Fairy War 2 which is a fighter). The reason I recommended it was because 3dcg has scout models that can be posed in many suggestive ways and wouldn't require a pixel artist to make up a number of a sprites for each animation. Also, what Rico was describing made me instantly think of it. It could basically be a template, the only real thing that needs to be addressed is turning it into a larger brawler(like Double Dragon), which shouldn't be too hard(I Hope). Also, this could allow for some nice cut-scenes.