Imma say it right now, with the way a lot of KH fans acted, they didn't really deserve this, but it's good to see Sora in Smash

Well I'll be god damned... it actually happened folks. Just watch, you know that Nomura is going to make this canon somehow.

The power Sakurai has, he was able to negotiate with Disney to get Sora in Smash Bros.

The inner Kingdom Hearts fan in me is over the moon. The minute I heard that music I wanted to tear up in joy even though I can hardly do that these days. Sakurai deserves the best kind of rest after this.

Poor Donald and Goofy getting shafted though, I knew Disney would throw a catch into it.

Haven't visited these forums in years, but came out today to exclaim how exciting this announcement is!!! Voted for Sora years ago, never thought he would make it in the game; & nonetheless be the most popular vote! So sweet

Awesome. And I love that his player options are his different appearances in the series. Also while I get why it had to happen I kind of hate that Donald and Goofy were removed from his Station of Awakening, lol.

He looks phenomenal. Just from the overview, it seems the team put a ton of work into making him feel special. I’m pumped to try him out

Timeless River Sora is the most bizzare thing about it, since it's a costume related to a Disney world.
Hollow Bastion as the stage is what I always wanted to see. You can see the castle Gates, Great Crest, and High Tower areas all merged and seamless.

The low track count is a shame, but I'm still freaking out about this whole thing. A very great end to Smash Ultimate.

I don't play smash but that was amazing. Even I was rooting for fellow KH/Smash fans to get their Sora4Smash dreams come true.

I threw up but in the best way possible AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Time to finally retire Melee as my primary SSB game ;)

The best part of any new fighter is the Kirby hats!

IT'S JUST AS THE PROPHECIES FORETOLD!

this had to be the best thing i'd ever wake up to. i was like "did hell suddenly freeze over or something?!"

Clean renders of his main outfits:
[IMG width="250px"]https://www.smashbros.com/assets_v2/img/fighter/sora/main.png[/IMG][IMG width="250px"]https://www.smashbros.com/assets_v2/img/fighter/sora/main2.png[/IMG]
[IMG width="250px"]https://www.smashbros.com/assets_v2/img/fighter/sora/main3.png[/IMG][IMG width="250px"]https://www.smashbros.com/assets_v2/img/fighter/sora/main4.png[/IMG]

Did not know I needed an updated render of sora's pose on the KH2 strategy guide advert...... But I desperately did

The boi looks so good!

Can't believe the Mickey Mouse head on the keychain is still there.

Can we aknowledge how good is his model and animations here??? The way they created his hair is much better than KHIII's model of KH1's Sora

This is somehow canon to the main Kingdom Hearts series now too.

The video in the post is a bunch of Minecraft announcements?

From what I've seen over the years (some with causes I've supported, others where I've just wanted the fans to go away) fans being unrelenting obnoxious about demanding something works much better than being polite about it. So while I don't approve of such behavior I can see why it happens.

as a fan of both series, this did not excite me at all lol at least i can say people can stop complaining about sora for smash. too much hype kind of ruined it for me tbh

The character model is amazing!

I wanted Goku but since he's a manga/anime character, Sora was my reasonable choice. Fans have been asking for him for a long time.

Smash Bros fans connecting EVEN MORE series together like
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Literally the first thing they showed. They knew.

Of course it's still there, Sora's a Disney character. In fact, everything original to Kingdom Hearts is owned by Disney.

DLC #13, comes out in 13 days. Nomura demanded this, didn't he?

I didn't think this day would ever come,

After the abysmal day I had yesterday, to see what has effectively been a pipe dream for the longest time, Sora joins the fight, with the right moves that make sense and clearly show that they did their homework.
I mean, THEY ADDED THE LOCK ON TO SONIC BLADE!

Words cannot express the elation that I feel right now, Kingdom hearts has now entered the mainstream with this revelation. I just wish my sister was still around to see this...
We did it folks, we did it.

This is amazing! I’m so excited!

NGL I've never seen a fanbase so negative about their main character getting representation in a game before. I'm def glad he made it in to prove the naysayers wrong (i can still hear the comments now. Disney would Never..... ).

That cinematic was absolutely stunning. Incredible job and care went into that.

Beyond excited with his inclusion, really the only character that would make me excited.

Really guys?! All these replies but no “floaty” jokes? Cmon, I expected better from y’all.

I cackled when Sakurai said they made him intentionally floaty. ?

I KNEW someone would post that pic of Sakurai-san after the dorky keyblade master was announced

Also knowing Nomura and the fact that he's the biggest f*cking troll in the entire universe, I can guarantee he insisted on something along these lines. I for one am BEYOND ECSTATIC THAT THE DORKY KEYBLADE MASTER IS FINALLY IN SMASH BROS!!!!! I voted for him when they did the Smash 4 Fighter Ballot and my six years of waiting as FINALLY paid off and this MORE then makes up for f*cking MINECRAFT STEVE being one of the DLC fighters. When Sakurai-san said that Sora was the top requested character when they did the Fighter Ballot I was internally screaming like a banshee so all the people who are whining/b!tching/complaining about "ANOTHER SWORD FIGHTER" can go choke and die on Sephiroth's giant dick...and by that I mean his sword. All I have to say to them is the following:

I've been wanting him in forever and I could barely believe it actually happened! My only real complaint here is that Scala Ad Caelum is not among the music choices as it's my absolutely favorite KH track (and second favorite boss music tied with Cannonball from MegaMan Zero).

I don't reeeeally like Hollow Bastion as the stage either, being honest, but I understand why they went with it. But I think Traverse Town would've looked a lot cooler.

Scala could have been a real cool stage now that I think about it. You could of had Xehanort and his armored replicas attacking you while fighting your opponent. Plus the stage could change like with his boss fight

i can’t believe it took another game developer/franchise to fix Riku’s Heart Station mural. Sadly I imagine copyright had something to do with it.

That would have been really cool but I'm not surprised that they picked Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden for the stage. It's literally one of the only locations that have been in EVERY entry in some way, shape, or form. Also happy they got Yoko Shimomura to rearrange Hand in Hand into a victory theme for the game. Literally, the only thing that could make this perfect IMO is if they also had ALL THE THEME SONGS, but let's be honest that was never going to happen with how popular Utada Hikaru is. Good god, I can't even begin to imagine how much Sora. Ltd would have to fork out for ANY of the song they did for the franchise xD

Well, at least they didn't put Olympus Colliseum in smash in any way shape or form.

So when Sora arrives, I can already see people just taking his models and the Riku heart station and just modding them into KH3

We now live in a world where Sora plays better in a crossover party fighter than in his own games.

Beyond hyped.

idk if anyone's mentioned it yet but the fact that the animation slows down just like in kingdom hearts when Sora wins a game is one of my fave details of this! I love small details like that, shows how much care was put into it. Then again maybe smash usually slows down at the end, I haven't played in years, and never bought the current one :,-) might have to buy it now tho lol

I didn’t notice that on the first watch

Sweet bby boy saving them from becoming Amiibos

Speaking of, you know I'll grab that Sora amiibo if/when it comes!

It's a shame I'll never have a Disney Infinity Sora to put next to my future amiibo Sora like I can with amiibo Sonic & Lego Dimensions Sonic.

(God, I've spent way too much on toys-2-life games)

I don’t know about you guys, but with how rough the past couple years have been, this was truly a joy to see a dream like this come true for our fanbase. I’m not even a big Smash player, but just seeing our boy up there alongside most of gaming’s biggest icons is surreal.

In elementary school, when all the other kids were obsessed with Smash Melee, I was obsessed with KH1 and felt like an outsider. So this feels like everything has come full circle in a way.

I also stayed up late last night finally unlocking all the remaining Smash characters and downloaded Hero and Sephiroth just in case Sora got revealed. ?

this reminded me of what it feels like to be young and excitable. how good

Sora releases in 13 days with Smash Bros updated version 13.0.0 and apparently he is the 13th DLC character (DLC characters Pyra/Mythra were released together but fight separately). All according to Nomura's keikaku.

Was hoping for Rayman or Rambi, but I still looked forward to reading reactions here and elsewhere!

Why am I so proud of this little doofus?

And Radiant Garden/Hollow Bastion on top of it at a battle stage? So cool.

I'm so fucking happy. They all said (including me) it would never happen. Holy shit, were a lot of us proven wrong ?

Also yes this is my head canon now. Sora got in Smash after KH3 Re: mind ending and before meeting Yozora. That's cool as fuck to me.

Same. I've never owned a Smash title, but will play socially. I'm god awful at fighting games. However, the magic of the moment isn't lost on me. Watching the cinematic got me misty-eyed, in traditional KH-opener fashion.

If anything will make me become a Switch/Smash owner it's the news that Sora, and now all of KH, is available and portable.

With the expectation of no news for the series this year, we've gotten some real surprises.

I just want to say that Sakurai and the team reeeeeeaally did a espectacular job with the level of detail Sora has! Like, wow!

Someone online mentioned that scene was a reference to Disney INFINITY figures and now that's my headcanon.

Sora fights against Pikachu and Lucario.I could only imagine this in my most unrealizable fantasies.
This is the crossover we deserve.
Now officially, thanks to Smash, KH is associated with Pokemon,Mario,Sonic and even Persona. ;-)

Sorry, Kairi. There’s a new girl in town ?

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Unfortunately this is probably just the beginning for Sora cameos in other games. Which is why I was hoping that this never happened. I'm happy for Smash fans that they got their wish though, but I'm bracing for Sora in Fortnite.

Just look at the date I joined. That's still not how long I've been waiting for this day. Vindication and victory never felt so sweet! LONG LIVE SORA!

Unfortunately? I'm honestly glad this broke the dam. I want to see Sora in everything under the sun--even Fortnite.

I want Sora in a traditional side-scrolling fighting game like idk Soul Caliber. I want Sora in a bunch of mobile games just because. Whenever the hell Mirrorverse comes out in the US officially, he should be in that. Disney Heroes: Battle Mode? Fuck yeah. Sorcerer's Arena? Yes please. Marvel's Midnight Sons? Whatever! Go for it. Genshin Impact? FUCK.

Do it all, SE xD

You still have the modified Moogle image in your signature from many many years ago. You have waited for this for a long time!

I'm just... so happy. I'm so glad it finally happened. And it must have been a legal nightmare. Kudos to everyone involved in making this a reality, like Sakurai and Nomura, I'm sure.

Eep!

Never gonna happen. KH in Robot Chicken was purely cuz parody laws protect them from having to deal with the mouse, and Sora in Smash was basically a six year long negotiation.

That and Fortnite's still a shooter.

With IRL guns. Like the AK-47.

I don't think Disney or Nomura would be fine with the MC of what is still considered a Disney kids game to be basically a glorified reskin running around shooting people with an AK-47 compared to someone like Venom or Guile doing the same thing.

Think of it like a reverse version of the Mai situation when Terry Bogard was revealed for Smash.

Also here's a big thing.

In Smash, he's an actual character.

In Fortnite, he'd basically be what some people thought he'd be in Smash, a fucking Mii Costume.

I play smash sometimes at parties, etc, but I don’t actually own it. I’m a casual player, but this is actually freaking awesome and I might just buy it for our boy Sora???. It looks so good!!

Hah guess i have a reason to dig up my copy of Smash Bros. I'm planning on trying to get a good handle on him, seems like a good choice for my main.

If Sora does get into Fortnite - imagine Sora in a squad with Naruto, Goku and Peter Griffin

I think we're all missing the reasoning for KH 1 Hollow Bastion being a stage. Typically, they choose a stage that is representative of the franchise in question such as Midgar for FF7, with all the summons and what not, Bayonetta's umbran clocktower, etc. Scala ad Caelum, while visually beautiful, only really ties into the Square Enix / Final fantasy side of Sora, while ignoring the Disney half. Instead of putting him in a Disney world (which would be impossible and a copyright nightmare), they went with Hollow Bastion which is a Disney/original world hybrid in the KH 1 incarnation. Think about it, it's a beautiful castle twisted with Maleficent's thorny influence, but still displays the magic that is endemic to both franchises, such as the rising falls. I think that's more important than just giving us a pretty area to fight in, choosing what makes the most sense for the character it represents.

Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale 2 is looking pretty good, guys. Shame they still couldn't get Crash.

I'm happy for those who play Smash, own Nintendo, whatever. My only thought was it's amazing to me that SE is aware enough that the Hollow Bastion castle is the series' most iconic location... And yet we haven't been able to traverse that castle or the falls since the first game.

Technically, we HAVE been able to access both the castle and falls. KH 2 has us go to Ansem's computer room, which is in the castle's basement (not the castle itself, but still pretty important, I'm sure most of those corridors cluttered with pipes and debris lead to the upper levels). As for the rising falls, KH 2 FM gives us a taste of what they look like now in the garden of assemblage, as that area is in the exact same position as it was in KH 1, complete with the upside down waterfalls.

Scarcity is key to value.

Well, it's been 20 years. I don't think we'd be getting overdosed if we see it again at this point, lol. Should've been in 2 and 3 both.

The necessary parts were in KH2, were they not? I don't think a gratuitous dungeon run through the castle that doesn't serve a narrative purpose would have been of any benefit, myself.

As for KH3, same feeling. There doesn't seem to be any narrative reason to go there but is kept on the periphery of the plot for later use.

Naturally, you can figure out that I don't agree with either of your points, but this one in particular is striking to me. I think that's /exactly/ what KH2 needed instead of 20 worlds of nondescript hallways. It's omission in KH3 is more a case of the game needing a midpoint as well as the lacking sense of completion to the trilogy its absence leaves; Hollow Bastion is sort of a key point in all that's happened in that series on top of all the characters that come from there, nevermind its significance to fans as evidenced by its inclusion here which would have been reason enough all by itself for them to want to have it there at the end of the arc. But whatever floats your boat?

Significance to fans is completely irrelevant and should have zero impact on the storyteller.

The kingdom hearts fandom would spontaneously combust if Nomura did a Lynch and Frost. 25 years after Season 2 ended on a cliffhanger, S3 of Twin Peaks comes out only to spend the vast majority of its 18 hours outside the town of Twin Peaks with a brand new cast, have its old main cast from the town itself be glorified cameos, have the main, iconic, beloved character appear for like 20 minutes in the whole season, give zero mysteries an answer, create 800 new mysteries, end the season (and whole series) on an even bigger WTF than the one 25 years prior, and put the whole genie back into the bottle by making those answers given before invalid.

It infuriated and broke the hearts of many fans.

It was a devasting demonstration of why nostalgia is not enough. How you can't go back home. How the past only haunts. It was a masterpiece and one of the greatest artworks ever made. Imagine they tried to appease fans while making it.

I get what your getting at but there area few locations i kind of just would like to revisit and think could be nice places for side quest Radiant Guarden's Castle and Destiny Islands being such places.

I kind of just would like to see the worlds our heroes call home in more detail.

It's only irrelevant if you're writing into the void with no audience. Otherwise, you're wanting people to buy something and that requires incentive. And I'm not going to indulge this line of thought that KH3 is better off as a story because of Radiant Garden's absence. On the contrary, it's much weaker for it. I thought then and still think that there was no sense behind its omission; it was entirely personal, tied up in Nomura being fed up over the FFXIII drama, which he himself was to blame for because he couldn't get off the pot after years of development and he decided to take it out on KH fans. Twilight Town would've suffered the same fate if it didn't have a few original characters there that would allow it to function even with him cutting the FF characters there out of it.

To those disappointed about Hollow Bastion, or who wanted more interactable spectacle-- The fact that they made Hollow Bastion, as the final stage in Smash, COMPLETELY NEUTRAL is crazy good for everyone. Now Hollow Bastion is most likely going to be one of the few tournament legal stages in Ultimate. Finals in huge tournaments will be fought with Riku in the background.

Can't stop admiring the different character models for Sora. They are all so good!

Holy crap my dude, stop (pls don’t) ? I want that so bad. KH deserves this sort of exposure and imagining this happening is so huge

You're welcome to indulge or not indulge whatever you see fit. I wholeheartedly support you in not indulging my views.

I've said this before on another thread but making arguments based on omission, exclusion or lack of presence is futile from a rhetorical standpoint.

I can claim til tomorrow that KH3's story was weaker for the refusal to go back to Agrabah again and everyone would rolls their eyes because If A had B then it would be C not D arguments are literally infinite, mostly based on personal preferences, and generally not worth dwelling on.

Fyi, I think KH3 has some of the worst screenwriting in the whole series. But I base my critiques on what's present in the text, not on the infinite amount of things (many of them I'd like to have seen) that weren't present.

Well, if Kairi, the apprentices, and half the Organization all came from Agrabah, if Aqua disappeared there, Ansem the Wise ruled there, Roxas and Namine were revived there, and SDG's base level of operation with the FF characters had been there, then, yes, I'd be arguing it should've been in 3. As it is, Agrabah is just one random Disney level, so, yes, that would be stupid.

So, according to your argument, if Sora just randomly disappeared and was completely absent from 3, and Riku or Mickey became the main character, we couldn't criticize the game for lacking the main character or failing to resolve his plotline because we can't criticize it for what's not there, only what is there. Or if D&G were killed offscreen and never appeared as party members again with nothing filling their absence, we could never criticize that or say the game is hollow without them. That's a pretty insane line of defense you're making.

This gave me a good laugh:

I suppose that technically counts as them in smash, as Sora's borrowing their strength whenever he goes Valor or Wisdom.

I saw that earlier. I don't have the money for both whole packs, but I plan on getting Sora at least. It seems the bonus counts for each individual fighter and not just each pass, thankfully.

A little late for me there.

So true, I don't think I could handle it if Hades decided to f*ck up YET ANOTHER TOURNAMENT!!!!!

THIS!!! THIS IS NOMURA IN A NUTSHELL!!!!!!! xD

Poooooooooor Kairi...not like she had a chance when Sora has his boyfriend Roxas now (feel free to flame me for being a SoRoku shipper OTL)

Sora: I've been having these weird thoughts lately

Thoughts:

So Valor Form is using the KH2 alt while Wisdom is using the 3D alt.

Yup, and technically Timeless River is an alt of KH1 Sora.

Oh, I just remembered my Sonic-is-Sora's-dad fan theory. Father and son are finally reunited!

For those who are wondering why Mickey, Donald and Goofy don't appear in the Station of Awakening, it's because they did not originate in a video game.

That does seem like a very likely answer, but is there a source that makes this the official statement? I mean theoretically, it could also just be Disney not wanting those characters to appear in Smash.

Pretty certain it is because Nintendo didn’t want to have to pay any extra licensing fees to use Donald and Goofy and Disney wouldn’t have agreed with it.

Also that particular Station is an existing one that did not have Donald and Goofy on it from UX as an EX medal I believe.

I’m still not over the fact Sora was able to get into Smash Bros. I never thought they’d be able to get him, but I’m so happy they could.

Considering they also removed the Mickey “Lucky Emblem” symbols from Aqua’s Station, it’s much more likely Disney restricted them to only having the keychain as a direct Disney reference aside from Sora himself.

Wait, I’m confused. Didn’t KH2 confirm that Villain’s Vale (the castle that Maleficent resides in during the first game) and Ansem’s castle are two different castles? Could’ve sworn that was a plot point… (sorry for going a bit off topic)

This is a common misconception that I once had as well. Villain’s Vale is an entirely separate and original location from what we saw in KH1. The castle of Hollow Bastion in KH1 and the main castle in KH2 are one and the same.

Exactly, the villain's vale where maleficent resides is what's left of the corrupted portions of the castle when maleficent took over. It can be seen in the junk that lines the area near it, most of which is aqueducts and pieces of buildings.

OH GOD YES!!! THIS IS ABSOLUTE PERFECTION!!!!! xD

Just a Pancake would be so proud.

I absolutely love that they recreated so many KH moments using Smash characters/stages. And it continues on Sakurai’s Twitter! Pretty sure this is DDD Dive Mode reference:



You can tell there’s truly a love for the series driving all this.

He did say he played all the games, and he obviously knows what and how to reference different scenes from all the games. Seems like Sakurai is a huge KH fan, the smile he had on his face the whole presentation was so heartwarming.

One of us, one of us.

Not many people have mentioned how over the top excited Sakurai acted compared to other reveals. I really believe he too wanted Sora and loves this series.

I suppose additional licensing fees for the Disney cast and the strict guidelines for using Mickey, Donald and Goofy in video games meant that they were out of the question to be included with Sora.

That being said, referencing characters who didn't originate in a video game would technically cross the line of adding content that didn't originate from a video game.

Some of Sora's Smash moveset is being modded into KH3 already.



That Hurricane Blast actually looks clean af

This is the first Smash reveal I actually watched so I didn't know if Sakurai was always like this or not. But I've seen quite a few fan reactions now and they're all commenting on how giddy Sakurai seems to be this time.

Reminds me of this one Kirby game that had Master Hand as a boss and copying him gave Kirby his SSB moveset.

Giddy that it's finally done and he can go on vacation.

But Disney, and moreover Mickey and Donald specifically, have been referenced before in Smash, I believe in Melee. Certainly the more predominantly they are showcased, the more murky the water becomes, but I honestly don’t see MD&G appearing in the background of a stage as crossing the line, especially given how distinct their KH iterations are when compared to other versions of the characters.

So Mario touched Soras Keyblade in the reveal trailer. Is Mario a Keyblade wielder now or what

#Marioconfirmed!!!!

I think this is up for debate, to be honest as TECHNICALLY the Keyblade didn't form until AFTER Mario tossed it. I guess it's up to each individual to decide for themselves on this front...I'm personally going to say, "Mario isn't a Keyblade wielder as the only thing he touched was fire, which he can shot out of his hands to begin with" xD

If I remember correctly the inheritance ceremony requires the Wielder and the Inheritor to hold the Keyblade at the same time. So I'd say Mario isn't marked for bequeathment.

Maybe Mario is the Master of Masters, since he "created" the Keyblade to bring Sora in lol

I for one saw this incredibly good and emotional reveal and subsequent content as the perfect Launchpad to once again discuss how KH3 was bad. It was horrible! So bad. it wasn't any better or worse than the other numbered titles

Just wait... they're gonna use this as an explanation for why his stats are back at level 0 in KH4.
"Unfortunately, your battle with Bowser left you too drained... go to more Disney Worlds, thank you and goodbye."

I love that even though Sora's KH1 design was chosen as the base, the Smash team acknowledged that his other main designs were also iconic to the point that they had to give each of his main outfits their own renders. Even better that they basically view Dream Drop Distance as important as KH1, KH2, and KH3 through this.

Sakurai giving DDD a lot of love and attention in general gave me so much vindication, you have no idea, like with this tweet:


EDIT:

Look at this! ?

It's been a while, but I just thought I'd come in and celebrate and say my piece...

I was so happy seeing the reveal it brought a tear to my eye. This game will never be topped by another fighting game in terms of roster or care given to guest characters.

I don't have a problem with the Disney characters and content being omitted from the game, but I do take issue with the music tracks that were brought in. Kingdom Hearts has some of the best music in all of video games.

I wish Square/Disney would have for one, allowed more tracks, and for two, allowed a better variety, or if Sakurai was allowed to choose any of the non-Disney tracks I wish he would have picked some of the better ones, such as Darkness of the Unknown and Vector to the Heavens. It's annoying that they stuck to only KH1 tracks.

Still, Sakurai always shows a tremendous amount of respect for the guest characters and Sora looks great. Just wish Square/Disney would have allowed a bit more to go with him, even thought it was a monumental achievement to even get him in.

I still don't understand why they didn't at least pick KH1 final boss theme. the music choices are really weird to say the least.

I just wish they didn't waste a slot by having both Destati and Fragments of Sorrow, which are practically the same song lol

I like the selection but I would’ve added Sora’s theme before adding the Gummi theme.

Didn't exist in KH1.

I think it makes sense that they chose one of the Gummi Ship themes for the soundtrack since they wanted to focus on KH1 a lot and the Gummi Ship was a lot more relevant back when it started out and was arguably at its most integral for figuring out how the KH universe worked at the time.

I sadly don't care about this anymore...

I love how happy everyone is. Rn everyone is just
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I really do like how good all the Soras look in Ultimate. His smile gives me life.

Can anyone tell me why this is such a great news? I never cared about smash. All I see is a game where characters fight on platforms. Can someone help me to see the beauty behind it?

Smash is meant to be a celebration of video games, so video game characters from all eras of video game history getting in is a big deal. Stickers, Costumes, a piece of music. It's also a big deal because it shows Sakurai being able to convince Disney to let Nintendo work with them. Disney acts just like Nintendo when it comes to IPs and things they own. And they both own a lot of things.

Oh yes, on the legal side, this is a masterpiece. Convincing disney is an insane achievement.

It's one of the most popular games ever with over $20 million copies sold. A new character in Smash is as big a deal as entire game announcements. & unlike say, new character skins in Fortnite, the character actually plays like themselves.

Plus the game rolls out the red carpet whenever there's a new third party character, giving them incredible reverence. With each one, we get:
-The character himself
-A moveset modeled after the series' history
-A stage from the series
-Multiple music tracks for the stage (when most other fighting games would just have 1)
-Spirit battles where you can collect the spirits of other characters from the franchise (basically a form of collectables)
-A lavish cg trailer celebrating the character

I think this question could be asked about any game genre if it's the kind of genre that doesn't interest you, but I'll try to explain for Smash anyway.

I think first and foremost, the character roster is a huge draw for people. You like Mario? Zelda? Fire Emblem? Persona? Fire Emblem? Unless you're strictly into sports games or first person shooters, there's a good chance somebody from some game you like is represented here.

Where this representation really gets amplified is if you're a fan of multiple game series' that are represented in Smash. I love Zelda, and I love Metal Gear. At no point in my life would I ever have imagined I would get to play a game with both Link and Snake in it though, to me that's awesome.

This also allows for a lot of dream battles. Wow, what if Mario was sucked into Hyrule and had to fight Ganon? For a fan of Mario and Zelda, this crazy "what-if?" becomes a reality.

This doesn't only cover dream characters though, but there are stages pulled straight from these games as well. You could literally make these battles take place in Hyrule, or you could have Cloud fight Sephiroth across dimensions while a Metal Gear is wreaking havoc in the background. On top of that I can pick some of my favorite music tracks from across any of these games as well and mix and match all of this as I please? That's badass.

It becomes even more epic when you're playing with friends. Once I've had my 40 or 50 hour fill of a new Smash, I don't play it as often unless A) A new character comes out or B) My buddies come over or I go to their house. Then we all have a blast picking each of our favorite characters and trying to destroy each other with them, or working together on a high difficulty level on Classic to try and combine our skills to take out the toughest of enemies.

I think this segues great into gameplay. The gameplay for Smash is some of the most incredibly complex, oh my gosh Sakurai is the only man I think could really pull this off and pull it off this well. Anyone can jump into Smash, pick a character they like, and have a good time jumping around the stage fighting and easily figure out A and B provide different attacks. It's incredibly welcoming to newcomers and casual players. On the other hand, if you're someone who wants to dig deep, there are so many layers behind the characters and the way the can maneuver and link attacks together and I can't possibly describe the amount of depth that can be found in this combat system, but it's incredible to me how perfectly this game can cater to someone who just wants to pick up and play and someone who wants to really challenge themselves and master a complex system. You aren't punished for playing one way or the other, there really isn't a "right" way.

To go more in depth on the stages, it's easy to say it just looks like characters fighting on platforms, but a lot of care really goes into the stages as much as they do the characters. Stages are built differently with different environmental hazards and events that happen within them, all harkening back again to the game they originate from. Some of the stages feel like they're full of life around you as you fight and compete and are forced to jump out of the way of lava or avoid being taken away by the rush of a river. You have to pay attention to these things all the while keeping an eye on your opponent.

There is also so much game history to be found and appreciated across the series, with collectible trophies and spirits providing background info and art and all kind of information about the games and characters they originate from. This is something you can ignore if you don't care, or relish in if you want to learn more about the games you love or even learn about games you didn't know anything about. It also adds a collectible aspect to the game, trying to gain every trophy or spirit.

Speaking of spirits, in Ultimate spirits can be used to alter the stats of your characters as well to take on tougher battles with an added layer of strategy. You equip them similar to how you might equip weapons and armor, and they can help you to buff yourself against an opponent in a rock paper scissors fashion or to give you a speed boost or a laser sword, there is an incredible amount of customizability here if you decide to fight spirit battles or play Ultimate's campaign mode.

Honestly, I could go on and on. You may not have even wanted or read this book I wrote. I wouldn't even call myself a Smash expert by any means, but as someone who has played every entry in the series, I think it's safe to say there is a lot to love about these games and there are different reasons for different people. Even if someone doesn't like Smash though, I think it would be hard for them to argue that the game hasn't had a lot of love and passion put into it resulting in an incredibly well-made game aimed at fans of video games in general.

Thanks for your detailed thesis on the game. XD

I can see the appeal, but as you mentioned it is a what-if scenario and for me, the non-canonicity of it is what always kept me away. There is no story justification as to why they are meeting and fighting (am I mistaken? is there a story? I genuinely do not know).

i would totally be on board if characters would talk to each other and there would be some basic plot that could explain the reasons for their presence in each universe.

I am sure I would have a lot of fun for like 8 hours, but then, it would become super repetitive. I can hardly see a scenario where I would play this game for 50 hours without blinking.

I don't think this sort of games are for me, but I can clearly see the appeal and I am happy that Sora got in it. :)

So there is kind of a story in some of the games, but it isn't anything deep or crazy and it doesn't explain why all of these characters have crossed over.

In my opinion the third game, Smash Brothers Brawl, had the best story mode. A lot of it was akin to playing a sidescroller but with the combat of the main game implemented, and you would take out the grunt enemies along the way like in Mega Man or Mario, but then got to experience the combat with it's real potential during bigger or boss battles. And this story mode implemented all of the fighters into the campaign except for 2. You would jump between viewpoints as different characters teamed up and traveled together at different parts of the world, all ultimately heading the same direction. So one minute you were playing as Pit from Kid Icarus descending from the heavens when stuff is going awry down below, and another minute you're playing as Lucas and Pokemon Trainer after something horrible befell Ness and Wario shows up. This is accompanied by a lot of really fun cutscenes all throughout the story mode too. There isn't much in the way of dialogue unfortunately, but the game does a good enough job without it showing rather than telling when the cutscenes come around.

The only other one with any kind of real "story" mode is the newest one, Ultimate. It doesn't go nearly as in depth as Brawl and only has a handful of cutscenes altogether, but it at least provided a challenge that slowly ramped up as you made your way through. It kept from getting stale to me because you actually felt a kind of growth as you played and had to level up and equip new spirits, and the different battles came with different rulesets and almost puzzles as to how to complete them. I genuinely got stumped on a handful of those fights for a while haha.

I get it if it's not the game for you though, not everything can appeal to everybody.

Story wise Smash isn't super intense (usually). Brawl attempted to craft a story mode that involved all the dimensions being raided by an evil entity trying to destroy everything.

But the major thing I've seen in every game is this theme that the fighters aren't the literal actual characters themselves. In the original game on the N64, Mario and such were toys pulled from a toy box that these "hands" played with, like a child exacting their fantasies. This continues as a sort of metaphor throughout the series, as fighters seem to revert to Trophies (think Amiibo), either at the hands of an enemy or due to the "flame' going out in Ultimate's Sora trailer. One could argue that each game represents a stage in the life of someone who owns a bunch of toys of their favorite characters, and how they come up with new scenarios and fantasies with those throughout their life, eventually moving on but having given said toys a bit of soul on the process. It's hard to describe, bit there's a sort of beauty in it.

It isn't for everyone. I can say that if you don't play games with friends, it wouldn't be as appealing. But it is pretty much the perfect couch coop game. I spent a very long time playing through Brawl with my brother and two stepsiblings. We'd fight each other to settle disputes, see who had to do chores, etc. We'd cooperate to unlock all the fighters and collectibles, a d we'd imagine who else they could possibly add to the game in a later installment. Smash is a party fighting game first and foremost.

And now I am tempted to try. Your passion transcended my close minded spirit, haha.
My wallet doesn't thank you. :LOL:

Smash is its own universe lore wise. Think of it like how KH is a separate continuity from the Disney films & FF games. It's not the same Cloud, not the same Peter Pan, not the same Aladdin. Nothing that happens in KH is ever going to effect any potential sequels that of those films may ever get. (hell, Monsters at Work has already contradicted the Montropolis world in KH3). If you're fine with KH being like this, why should SSB be any different?

Well that's awesome, man! I really hope you end up having fun and enjoying it!

Like I said, Smash Brothers Brawl was the highlight of the series from a story perspective in my opinion, that one was for Wii. I don't know if you have access to that or not, but I wanted to throw that info out there.

Otherwise though, I don't think it would be a bad call at all to give Smash Brothers Ultimate a go instead should Brawl's accessibility be an issue. Plus with Ultimate being the current iteration, you of course get the multiplayer aspects if that's something you're interested in, you get the full roster of characters (which is quite impressive, hard to imagine them ever topping Ultimate's roster), and it does still have a story mode, albeit much lighter than Brawl's in terms of cutscenes and character interaction, but it instead has more diverse battles.

It depends on what you're looking for most here, the battle variety or the character interactions, but either way I think both are solid games!

I would be interested in a fighting game that was based on KH itself, using a mixture of original, Disney, and FF characters for the roster. I do know some of the characters involved in Smash, just as far as basic brand icons from when I was growing up (Kirby, Mario, Zelda, etc.), the same way I know most of the cereal logo characters. They were games everyone had played in some capacity back in the '90s. I'm not attached to any of them though. Hopefully negotiations over this could make Disney more agreeable to the idea of a KH fighting game in the future.

who wants to get walled when this man Sora comes out? I promise I will take you straight to the blast zone like "We'll go together"

Hit the nail on the head right here.

And yeah, Brawl is really the only game in the series to actually give it a story. We coulda had a story for 4 and a full one for Ult, but Sakurai apparently didn't like that Subspace Emissary's cutscenes were uploaded onto the internet and thus he kinda ditched the story/adventure mode aspect for 4.

I'm vastly more satisfied with high budget trailers over high budget cutscenes. The trailers really seem to represent the excitement of a character joining Smash more than anything else ever could. Smash 4 and Ultimate have been truly joyful in that regard, ever since Mega Man's reveal.

I thought of another cute reason Sora's inclusion is a perfect capstone to the Smash Bros. series so far as a whole.

It connects to my earlier assessment of the toys metaphor storyline. In Smash 64 the characters were toys a pair of hands played with. Melee expanded on the roster some more as the child's interests grew Brawl would be the child growing up a bit and getting more elaborate with their fantasies. Wii U/3DS would be getting into adult life and their lives being "split" between work and their interests. Ultimate would be the grand culmination of a life's work, maybe at a much older age when you reminiscence about all the good times.

At the end, the fire fades, and the toys go back to just being toys. Only a small spark remains as the toy box lid is closed overhead, throwing them all in darkness. That small light is a key, and who should find the toy box but Sora, who would be a new kid with a new interest in playing with these toys.

Sora is a representation of a new generation taking on the fun that a previous one had. The key Mario picks up brings him in, and he brings the toys some new soul.

Kind of cute, right? Well what if I told you that the child who originally owned the toys, who had grown up giving the soul and stories and adding more and more, was Sakurai himself, maker of Smash Bros.?

If Sakurai retires after this one then this would be a very lovely way of seeing the Smash Bros. games. In my opinion at least.

With the way they designed Sora and his alts in Smash, now I really wanna see how KH1!Riku and KH1!Kairi would look like in their KH2 and KH3 outfits, as well as how they'd look like in Timeless River.

Salt in the wound:

Why couldnt they show Kirby with the actual Keyblade? Another Disney restriction?

They could've been cheeky & gave him the BBS wood training keyblade.

If anything this kind of reminds me of how the summons in KH3 had to be elemental and not speak, lol

Not everyone is worthy to wield the keyblade. Just Sora.



& Mr. Game & Watch




& Mario



& Ganondorf.

And Pac Man has the strongest Strike Raid in the entire multiverse. His key has knockback for days.

Only for about 358/2 though.

Yooo Valor form using magic? Immersion ruined, preorder cancelled. BRB making a Twitter Tread why this is the worst thing done in gaming.

He doesn't even have a 2nd keyblade!

For those that don't know, the Nintendo Versus Twitter has been sharing direct gameplay from the presentation without Sakurai's commentary near daily. Hearing all the sound effects they gave him sound so satisfying to hear. <333

When I first saw that Sora got in I swear my heart popped.

Some more clips from the presentation.




EDIT: Two more clips just released today.

I was one of the people having the biggest simultaneous nerdgasm the universe has seen so far when the presentation was live. I also happened to be at the art studio/work when it happened and one of my co-workers came over to me and was like, "that was WAY too loud" xD

A clean look at his Magic Taunts.

TOMORROW CAN'T COME FAST ENOUGH!!!!! x3

I hear you, we all do. Tomorrow, the gaming world will never be the same.

Less than 24 hours or so now... God, I love that Sakurai used Hyrule to reference Neverland, especially since Link's original design was based off of Peter Pan. At least, that's what I think the tweet is referencing.

The Wind Waker stage would've been a better fit.

Yeah I can see that. One of my friends thought that it referenced Tangled and I think that works too. Zelda's on the edge of the Sheikah Tower and she's the only one there. Hyrule Castle is also very far away and that could reference the castle in Kingdom of Corona.

There's a chance that the tweet doesn't even reference anything in particular, but even then, it's so cool seeing what it'd look like if Sora was able to explore Hyrule.

The fact that this is a matchup in a legit fighting game at all...God I love Smash.

I'm so happy my boys, Sora and Joker (I'm also a big Persona fan and adored P5), are in Smash Bros together. Like many of us, I bought the DLC and beat Classic Mode already. His campaign was fun (all the music played was from KH1 and the opponents were appropriate) and like his playstyle. Who else put Sora against some of the villains (especially Sephiroth, Ganondorf, and Kazuya Mishima)?

I was a little surprised by a couple of things. None of the Xehanort incarnations are featured at all as spirits (not even their boss themes are here). It was kinda strange to make Roxas (of all people) the Legendary Spirit (though I've heard at least one person found Riku harder) Also all the KH music (aside from a "Dearly Beloved" remix and the version of "Destati") is from KH1. I feel they should've included some tracks from the other games like "Rage Awakened", "Another Side" (or its many variants), Xion's Theme, "Darkness of the Unknown", "Dark Impetus", "The 13th Struggle", ect (there's many more I could've mentioned). Still can't complain too much as I'm beyond happy that Sora finally made it in.

I'm dying

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Look at that big ol’ smile.

Soo Sora’s internal code name is “Trail”. C’mon theory makers let’s get cracking.

So playing through classic mode right now and round two references Olympus, because of course it freaking does.
EDIT: So I was wrong, it's actually round 3 that we get the obligatory Olympus reference, Nomura really needs a hobby....

It’s so good. Also the boss at the end is such a treat and it makes so much sense xD

Yeah I've got to hand that one to them ... Bad pun but it was worth it.

Final boss spoilers with no context:

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Now I will always wonder if Master Hand inspired Master Xehanort’s hand movements lol

Tabuu is the Space Paranoids counterpart program of MX!

I have a different idea xD Bit that is funny.

So that's where Master Xehanort's body went after he discarded it in BBS: it became a Nobody called Tabuu, named for the straight up abomination that was the method of his creation. He carried out a similar plan to that of Xehanort's heartless "Ansem", merging destroyed worlds together to gain incredible power. After his destruction at the hands of the Smash crew, the body remerged with Xehanort's freed heart in DDD, stronger than ever due to the energy it had absorbed from the multiverse. This is why Xehanort was happy to go back to it instead of staying in Terra.

Guys.... I'm honestly kinda freaking out right now.

This was posted a couple YEARS ago.

I don't wanna rain on anyone's parade but there was a whole lot of memes around that time where either Smash ultimates opening was replaced with other game themes or other game openings had life light playing over them, it really is just a coincidence

"New life draws its first breath" just as Roxas appears is SO good though.

Even after 2 years, I'm still not over this. He finally made it!