Smash Bros Ultimate – Final Character Announcement Sora from Kingdom Hearts

 

Today, Masahiro Sakurai announced the final character coming to the Super Smash Bros Ultimate line-up. A roster already sitting 88 characters now hits 89! This is counting the Pokemon Trainer as 3, and Pyra/Mythra as 2. It is already one of the biggest fighting game rosters to date. I almost wish there was one more to bring it to an even 90. Still, 89 is massive!

 

After we got to see the new Mii Fighter costumes, the final fighter was revealed. In a trailer mimicking those of his own series, Mario opened a keyhole to reveal the final fighter for Smash Ultimate to be Sora from Kingdom Hearts. He will be joining the battle on October 18^th, 2021. If you have the Fighter Pass Vol 2, he'll be added automatically. If you have been getting the characters individually, Sora will cost $5.99 (US). The price is likely to vary region to region. The presentation has Sora using his English voice, but the final product will have both English and Japanese voices.

 

Time for some information on how Sora will handle, what his moveset will be like. Not to mention, what his Final Smash is. There is a lot of information here, so buckle up.

 

As implied by his name Sora is focused on Airborne combat. He has a high mid-air jump. Unsurprising, he has a floaty jump and has a hover run. However, this does put him in the Light Weight character class because of these characteristics. He'll be easier to sending soaring. His attacks are a bit slower, but this means the timing window for the attacks is longer. This makes it easier to chain your attacks together to get the basic 3-hit combo from any of the Kingdom Hearts games.

 

These are Sora's A attacks. The launch in the attack varies based on the length of combo and style. He's a spinning upward attack for his basic Up+A. It makes for some aerial defense and can launch nearby opponents. His Down+A is a Keyblade swipe which can trip opponents to draw them in. Sora's Side Smash is a powerful Keyblade swing. Like many other Side Smashes, this will be your basic component for getting KO's. Sora's Up Smash is a Keyblade Flash. It has a surprising range and a good launch but leaves Sora vulnerable to aerial attacks. Sora's Down Smash has him hop and send a blast of energy into the ground. With the shockwaves from that, it has a wider range and the hop helps protect Sora from some low attacks. In the air is where Sora excels. His back aerial has nearly the same power as many other light weight character's smashes. The Up aerial has a wide arc as Sora sweeps with his Keyblade. This attack can offer some aerial defense when used properly. The Side Aerial attacks has Sora performing his basic combos. Sora's Downward aerial is based on the Hurricane Blast, which will quickly ground him. Next, throws. The forward and back throws are simple. Forward, Sora grabs then hits his opponent with his keyblade. Sora's back throw has him spin a few times with his opponent before throwing them. These attacks can hit others if they're close enough. With Sora's Up Throw, which has some good launch, he can chase and continually attack his opponent if all conditions are met. Finally, Sora's Down Throw just has him slam his opponent into the ground, with a bit of bounce.

 

Next we get to Sora's Special (B) moves. The neutral B has Sora cycling through his powerful spells: Firaga, Thundaga, and Blizzaga. Whichever spell is at the ready is shown just above Sora's accumulated damage. Firaga can be used in a rapid-fire fashion by pressing the B button. Once you shot shooting it is when it will cycle to Thundaga. Thundaga will have 3 lightning bolts strike down in front of Sora, at increasing distances. It has its best range on the ground, with a slightly reduced range when used mid-air. The last of the spells is Blizzaga. While it has the shortest range, it can also freeze your opponent and has a built-in multi-hit. The closer the opponent is, the more effective this spell gets. This freeze does have a downside. If Sora hits someone he froze, he'll only be doing half damage until they break out. Keep in mind that these spells can be reflected, pocketed and absorbed. Sora's L/R+B is Sonic Blade. This attack can be chained mid-air to launch Sora in any direction up to 3 times. If you need to move in a particular direction, just tap the stick. If you want to home in on your opponent, tap the button from the second input onward. Sora's Up+B has him perform Aerial Sweep. He spins with the Keyblade, rising up into the air. This move will always result in Sora becoming airborne, even when used on the ground. Sakurai was sure to point out the Up Special and Side Special can be chained together to maximize recovery or aerial assault. But it has to be Up Special then Side Special to get both. Finally, Down+B has Sora take a Counterattack stance. Unlike all other Counterattacks, this one will throw your opponent off balance as it initiates. The power of the Counterattack scales up with the power of the incoming attack. This can also be used on projectiles, which will be shunted behind Sora with a slight power boost to it.

 

While the Final Smash wasn't shown, we got the name: Sealing the Keyhole. While Sakurai didn't have a specific clip to show it off, he did use it while showing off gameplay. It reached at least half-screen distance. This final smash hits a target and has a keyhole appear behind them. The target and any nearby opponents are pulled into the Keyhole. A white door with the Smash Bros logo on it closes on them. After that, Sora uses the Keyblade's magic to lock the door. Of course it does high damage and has moderate launch at least.

 

Sora's Taunts also have an order to them. They have him casting spells that are not in Smash, but are iconic. We saw Stopga, Aeroga, and Curaga. The spells don't have their effects, just the awesome animation.

 

When it comes to costumes, the basic player 1-4 all draw from the games, Kingdom Hearts I, Kingdom Hearts II, Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance, and Kingdom Hearts III. Sora's displayed pose will also change with the outfit selected, showing an iconic pose associated with each of those 4 games. The other costumes borrow from the different forms Sora can take in the games; P5 is unique in that this outfit is the Timeless River design. P6 is Valor Form and P7 is Wisdom Form, both from from Kingdom Hearts II. P8 is Ultimate form from Kingdom Hearts III.

 

The stage itself has a beautiful montage of iconic sites. It starts in the Rising Falls, leading to Hollow Bastion in the distance. During most of the battle, the stage will simply fly around the castle. Hollow Bastion is as it appeared in Kingdom Hearts I. If time or stocks get low, then the world will transform to something else. This will bring the combatants within the familiar world within the heart, Dive to Heart. While here, the circular portait can display any number of characters: Riku, Roxas, Xion, Terra, Ventus, Aqua, etc.

 

Of course, more music is coming with Sora that we'll be able to enjoy. While no World's music will be used, the tracks featured are tied to the central themes of the series. There are 9 tracks getting added to the game: “Night of Fate,” “Destiny's Force,” “Shrouding Dark Cloud,” “Hand in Hand,” “Blast Away! - Gummi Ship II-,” “Hollow Bastion,” “Scherzo Di Notte,” “Fragments of Sorrow,” and “Destati.” There is another track as well, “Dearly Beloved – Swing Version” that will be unlocked if your Switch as a save for Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory. All the full music tracks tracks are the originals. Sora's victory fanfare is an unique arrangement of “Hand in Hand” that Yoko Shimomura created specifically for Smash Ultimate.

 

Just like with any character, Sora has his own unique Spirit Board. Going through and completing the challenges within will unlock the spirits that all the Smash Characters will be able to use. Revealed on the board, you can see 8 iconic characters from Kingdom Hearts: Kairi, Ventus, Aqua, Terra, Riku, Xion, Axel, and Roxas. Sakurai made a little note here about the Japanese version, that Aqua and Axel share their names with other characters. They will have their Game title in parentheses next to their names to help distinguish them from the others. Sora will, of course, have his own set of 5 Spirits. There are Kingdom Hearts I, Kingdom Hearts II, Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance], Kingdom Hearts III and the Timeless River from a few of the Kingdom Hearts games.

 

This display of Aqua and Axel revealed their Spirit Battle conditions. For Axel, it is a Stamina battle against Roy with Fire and Explosions likely getting a boost in damage. For Aqua it is a stamina battle against Lucina with hostile assist trophies that will appear when the enemy is at high damage. The final condition is that reinforcements will appear when an enemy is KO'd. She has 4 Mr Game and Watch shown as her reinforcements. More will be revealed when it is released in about 13 days (as of time of writing).

 

The final part of the presentation was about upcoming Amiibo. First, there is a Steve Amiibo and an Alex Amiibo coming in Spring 2022. Sakurai also revealed that Amiibo are planned for Sephiroth, Pyra, Mythra, and Kazuya. He also mixed in the announcement that using Cloud gaming, “you can play all the way up through Kingdom Hearts III.” This revealed the collections that will be using the Cloud gaming feature: Kingdom Hearts HD I.5+II.5 Remix, Kingdom Hearts HD II.8 Final Chapter Prologue, and Kingdom Hearts III. These collections cover all of the Kingdom Hearts series one way or another. You will be able to play Kingdom Hearts: I Final Mix, II Final Mix, Re:Chain of Memories, Birth by Sleep Final Mix, Dream Drop Distance HD, and Birth by Sleep – A Fragmentary Passage. These other games are there as well as a series of cinematics: 358/2, Re:Coded, and χ (Chi) Back Cover.

 

The presentation wrapped with a summary of what is within Super Smash Bros Ultimate. There are now 89 characters (using the counting method established in the opening), 340 stages (counting all forms), 201 Items (counting Assist Trophies and Pokemon), over 1,100 songs, 1,496 Spirits (with 8 more coming), over 450 games features, over 2,200 characters featured in-game (including stage guests), and 140 Mii Fighter Costume Sets. It did go on to give stats from data shared about offline and online matches which were very impressive for a game that's been out for over 3 years.

 

It almost feels like an end of an era with the final Super Smash Bros Ultimate character announced. It is only a short wait for Sora to join the fight itself. I look forward to playing through the Spirit board and unlocking all of them. I don't think we're done with DLC for Smash Ultimate just yet. I suspect we'll be getting plenty more Mii Fighter Outfits over the years. It's hard to move on from a game that has Ultimate in its title and has gotten as much attention as Smash Ultimate has. It's only a short wait, and one I'll be plenty busy during. Sora looks to be a great character to play as. With his strong aerial game, I'll definitely be trying to build some proficiency with him! This is a great surprise for a final character being added to Smash Ultimate. It's back to Smash on October 18^th for me.