I guess whoever came up with these characters was really pissed that the game got cancelled, and wanted them to be used somehow anyway. Maybe it was like this unused/used tile business in a couple of Zelda titles. :P
That is always a good thing in my book.
But hey, the ALttP skull eventually made its appearence in the GBA re-release, within the Palace of the Four Sword.
_________________ Metroid: Other M - As in "There's the good Metroid games... we chose to do one of some Other Make altogether."