Out of a morbid sense of curiosity, I downloaded the leaked art and opened the PSD files. There are the original pixel frames resized on a layer behind Udon's work. They have already taken liberties, not exactly matching the shapes and positions of the limbs, so that argument is bullshit.
One of the major problems I'm seeing is the difference in design philosophy between low and high resolution work. I can forgive many of the quirks in the original sprites. The priority was making the sprites read, giving them bigger heads and hands to accommodate the detail that conveys the personality of the characters. In high-res, these sacrifices don't need to be made, which is why the Udon sprites look like grotesque mutants. No offense, Blanka.
