They did it. They really, really did it.
In a distant age, there were certain characters that were just sort of always assumed would never set foot in a Super Smash Bros. game. Ridley was too big, Banjo belonged to Microsoft, Minecraft Steve was a meme. And yet, one after another, those seemingly impossible characters made their way to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on the Nintendo Switch. The only one who was still missing was Sora of Kingdom Hearts, whose partial position as a Disney property would make acquiring his rights a logistical nightmare. Apparently, though, it was a nightmare the developers were willing to work through, because the final Smash character has been revealed, and it’s the Keyblade-wielder himself.
During the final Super Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC character presentation earlier today, hosted once again by the game’s director Masahiro Sakurai, Sora was unveiled as the last character on the second Fighter’s Pass DLC. According to Sakurai, Nintendo has known about how badly fans wanted Sora ever since the Super Smash Bros. on Wii U and 3DS days; the Smash character ballot that ultimately resulted in the addition of Bayonetta was actually won by Sora, but they weren’t able to get him at the time due to legal snafus. For this last character, though, they put in the work, and managed to secure him, albeit at the cost of nearly all of his Disney-related iconography. Gotta take what you can get, I guess.
BREAKING: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's final DLC character will be Sora from Kingdom Hearts. https://t.co/J8HI7lsg5G pic.twitter.com/YtSmYKOTlo
— IGN (@IGN) October 5, 2021
Compared to the other DLC characters, Sora doesn’t have any insane gimmicks, and according to Sakurai, this was by design. They wanted Sora to be a straightforward, accessible character, so most of his moveset revolves around Keyblade attacks and a bit of magic. He’s also got all of his costumes from the Kingdom Hearts series, plus skins based on his Drive Forms and the old timey Timeless River from Kingdom Hearts 2.
Sora’s DLC pack will release on October 18. He comes with the Hollow Bastion stage, as well as 9 music tracks straight from Kingdom Hearts, plus a bonus track for anyone with Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory save data on their Switch.
