When I was a kid who saw Quint"et" in Nintendo Power I thought he was cool and mysterious. But he's too easy. He's just too easy and fights nothing like Megaman. What's worse is that his weapon isn't even too useful in the game, which coulda saved him. So all that robs him of his initial coolness.
And the future stuff really feels ... tacked on. Yeah, I know it's the backstory to MM2GB. I know. But, background to Wily's fortress aisde, I don't see it. If I hadn't been told Quint was a future MM, I would never have guessed. And that's the problem with Quint. He has this cool origin and a cool design (even on the US box art) and it's all executed poorly.
Inafune thinks MM2 GB missed the mark as a whole, I dunno what he thinks about Quint himself. But the ending shows MM gunning down a fleeing Dr. Wily, so I'd have to agree with Inafune. It's the coldest I ever saw classic MM. I don't hate 2GB, but looking back I do feel it's done poorly in comparison to other MM games.
As for RM Shadow, he's much better than Quint. He just has more powers and he can slide and has his own buster. So he's much more connected to MM than the original was. But his origin seems needlessly complicated and the writing for that game seems as lousy as the RMs.