Awesome / Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Everyone is finally here, and everything is truly ULTIMATE!

Every soul contains a whisper of light
Growing louder as it calls to unite
From the distance sings a chorus of souls
Rising slowly, stirring heat from the coals
Colors weave into a spire of flame
Distant sparks call to a past still unnamed
Bear this torch against the cold of the night
Light will guide you, on your way to the ultimate fight!

— Lifelight, the theme of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Being the biggest Smash Bros game yet, it has their own awesome moments.

For other awesome moments in the Smash Bros series, go here.

Moment Subpages are Spoilers Off. You Have Been Warned.

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Pre-Release

• Nintendo Direct Presentation on March 8, 2018:
  • It is announced that there is "one more thing" to be shown before the end of the presentation. The Inkling Boy and Girl are shown fighting in an identical snippet from the Wii U trailer... only for Inkling Girl to notice that the lights have gone out and look around in confusion, before both Inklings see that a burning Smash logo alongside with the original cast has appeared behind them, their faces backlit with flames.
  • The trailer heavily teased the appearance of the Breath of the Wild incarnation of Link, who, while not a new character on his own, did imply some new costumes for certain characters.
  • Props have to be given for the animation in this trailer. Aside from the epic fire logo, there's also the crisp and bright animations of the Inklings and their ink. While it didn't fool everyone (why would they port a multiplayer ga— hey, wait a second), there were still plenty that thought this remade trailer was signifying a port of the original Splatoon game and were caught off-guard.
• The E3 presentation answered the three pivotal questions fans had about the game, and every single one of them sent the fandom into frenzy:
  • Is it a new game? Yes — packed with brand new stages, mechanics, and redesigns for many characters. There are also plenty of old fan-favorite stages such as Princess Peach's Castle, Kongo Jungle (now named Kongo Falls), Great Bay, Frigate Orpheon, and even Saffron City.
  • Who's coming back? Everyone. And we don't mean everyone from the 3DS/WiiU edition — no, we mean EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER who ever appeared in the series. Yes, this includes the Ice Climbers and Snake! Even Pichu and Young Link are back! As of E3 2018, that brings the total number of characters available to play to 65, including Pokémon Trainer's three Pokémon and not even including Echo Fighters, which bring the total to 68!^note And if characters as palette swaps and female versions are included, the total number increases from 68... to 82!
    • Snake coming back especially, considering that all of the Metal Gear content that was in Brawl was cut out from 3DS/Wii U, and the general consensus was that very few people were expecting him to make a return at this point. Also, Mario, Snake, Sonic, Mega Man, Pac-Man, Ryu, Cloud, and Bayonetta can finally all duke it out together.
    • Ditto for Pichu, Young Link, and the Pokémon Trainer. Since the game is Switch-exclusive, it was only natural that the Ice Climbers would come back, and Wolf's following was more than strong enough for him to make a return as a fighter. In addition, there was just as much of a reason to make Squirtle and Ivysaur their own characters. People had little reason to believe that any of these three would be returning due to Pichu's status as an intentional Joke Character, Toon Link effectively replacing Young Link, and Charizard going solo in the last installment. But they're back in full force and ready to fight again, and the Pokémon Trainer even got rid of the penalty mechanic and made the process of switching much faster, allowing you to not only play as one main out of three, but also giving more possibilities for combos should you decide to main all of them!
    • Speaking of the Pokémon Trainer, not only has Red (re-)joined the battle... it would appear that he didn't come alone, either! After nearly a decade and a half of going without any mention to her existence whatsoever, Leaf makes a surprise appearance as a Palette Swap for the Pokémon Trainer!
    • Just like Red who brought Leaf along for the ride, Pichu also brought along Spiky-eared Pichu (from Pokémon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life and Pokemon Heart Gold And Soul Silver) to make a surprise appearance as a playable character via Pichu's alternate costumes, marking her first official appearance in any form of official media in nearly a decade.
  • Is there someone new coming (besides the Inklings)? Of course — and it's none other than the Cunning God of Death himself, Ridley, one of the most requested characters in the series' history! Samus and her nemesis finally have a chance to personally duke it out!
    • Doubly so once you realize that Ridley was never playable in any Nintendo game up to this point, which makes it even more awesome; that fearsome Space Pirate leader, who provides amazing boss fights, an incredibly imposing influence, a kickass battle theme, and a mutual hatred for his Arch-Enemy? He's all yours. And his playable debut is the one place where he was requested to be in, from hell and back, for nearly twenty years. Hell yes.
    • His introduction is nothing to laugh at, either. In a beautifully animated segment, we see Samus, Mega Man, and Mario walking down a metal bridge, before Mega Man vanishes with a strike of lightning, and gets impaled. Mario gets snatched and and ends up on the receiving end of the stiff arm, leaving nothing but his hat, with a grossly nightmarish sound effect. Samus soon realizes this, and aims her gun at Mario's fallen hat. Then, Ridley bursts from underneath the bridge, ready to finally join the battle with a triumphant screech, taunting Samus with Mario's cap.
    • The end of Ridley's reveal trailer has one for Samus as well, leaping out of an explosion towards Ridley after losing her Power Suit and becoming Zero Suit Samus. Even when facing Ridley without her suit, she's not going down without a fight.
    • Ridley isn't the only one: Daisy is coming to the game as an Echo Fighter like Lucina and Dark Pit. After so long of just being an alternate costume for Peach, the princess of Sarasaland is finally ready to duke it out with Nintendo's greatest! That also means almost the entirety of the Mario franchise's big stars (Mario, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Dr. Mario, Wario, Diddy Kong, Rosalina, Bowser Jr. (with the Koopalings), and now Daisy) are fully playable in Smash!
  • Take a look at Toad when he's summoned by Peach. He's now fighting alongside her instead of being held in front of her forcefully as a shield!
  • After so many years, Ganondorf has his sword for Smash Attacks now. Not to mention, with him returning to his Ocarina of Time design, plus the return of Young Link, displays a massive celebration of what is commonly considered one of the greatest games ever, just in time for Ocarina of Time’s 20th anniversary.
  • At the end of the trailer, we're treated with a big, beautiful panoramic artwork◊ showing every damn character together at last. The ultimate crossover in gaming history thus far has begun, and Everyone is Here.
    • The artwork itself is◊ growing◊, as more newcomers are revealed.
  • Rather minor compared to everything else, but what we currently presume to be the game's main theme is just stunning.
• With August 8th's Smash Direct, not only do we have two Castlevania characters, in the form of Simon Belmont and Richter Belmont, along with new Echoes in Chrom and Dark Samus, but as a much requested fighter, King K. Rool finally joins the battle after three years as a Mii Brawler costume and a decade on the sidelines, along with many years of demand!
  • The reveal trailer for King K. Rool was pretty neat, too. At first, the shadow of K. Rool looms over Kong House causing fright amongst DK and Diddy... but it turns out to be King Dedede dressed up as K. Rool, who proceeds to laugh his ass off to the shock of the Kongs. Then the all-too familiar shadow of K. Rool shows up right behind Dedede and swats him away with one hand... and the Kongs really freak out!
  • While this is K. Rool's trailer, DK gets a moment of badassery of his own near the end of the trailer: as he's sent sprawling at high speeds, he catches himself by slamming his bare hands into the ground, then starts charging at K. Rool on all fours, all in one swift movement.
  • The reveal also emphasizes K. Rool's status as DK and Diddy's Arch-Enemy, starting by showing off different images of Smash characters facing off against their respective enemies, then ending the trailer with a shot of K. Rool performing a Punch Parry with DK and Diddy after charging at each other at breakneck speed. Complete with anime-style shockwave.
  • And to top all of this off, a triumphant remix of "Gangplank Galleon", K. Rool's boss theme from the first DKC game, plays for most of the trailer, celebrating the return of the Kremling king in a grand style.
  • Also compared to other character reveal trailers which were mostly Curb Stomp Battles from either side. This feels more like a neck to neck battle between two arch enemies who hate each other and won't let the other overwhelm them no matter what.
  • The Castlevania reveals were both awesome as well.
    • First we have Luigi exploring Dracula's Castle when he comes face-to-face with Death, who disembodies his soul and picks it up to harvest it... then a chain whip comes out of nowhere smashes into Death's face hard enough to dislocate his jaw. Simon then arrives, shedding his cloak to reveal himself, and begins to whale on Death.
    • Then later, Simon is face-to-face with Dracula, as he has been many times before. This time, though, he gets help. As a fire attack makes its way towards Simon, Richter arrives, his whip cutting through the roaring flames.
    • Bonus points for Richter delivering his famous line from Castlevania: Rondo of Blood and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night:
      "Begone! You don't belong in this world, monster!"
    • The fact that Kid Dracula is teased as one of the monsters you can encounter at Dracula's Castle.^note Okay, he didn't actually do so, but at least he's got a Spirit.
    • Even if Konami has neglected it in recent memory, how dedicated is the effort behind adding Castlevania to Smash? By including 34 music tracks, of which the series is known for having stellar music to begin with. Even better, Sakurai mentions how Smash's music team is filled to the brim with Castlevania fans who were completely ecstatic to pour their hearts and souls into the new remixes.
    • A minor detail, but the Vampire Killer used here is not a mere whip like the classic Killer was, but rather a variation of the Combat Cross from the somewhat contentious Lords of Shadow reboot series^note specifically Gabriel Belmont's version, which would be known as the Vampire Killer in that timeline. Even with Simon's super-retro style harking back to the very first game, there is still that little extra tidbit for people who did enjoy the newer games for what they were. That is very much dedication.
  • Also hidden in the announcement was the Foreshadowing of another one: It was noted by a few fans that the backpack Luigi was wearing is pretty different than the Poltergust models in the Luigi's Mansion series. That's right, Luigi's Mansion 3 is indeed coming to Switch.
  • Luigi's Classic Mode reveals that he Took a Level in Badass after the reveal trailer because his final boss is Dracula, meaning he returned to the castle and won!
  • The Echo Fighter reveals were awesome in a minor way. First, it cuts to the Castle Siege stage, where a familiar face drops in to the tune of "Id (Purpose)". It shows off both Falchion and the Mark of Naga on his shoulder, before revealing that Chrom finally got his chance.
  • Second, it gives us a somewhat familiar-sounding Scare Chord before cutting to a black screen with a dark portal. And out of it comes a terrifying foe from the era of Samus' prime: the feared Metroid Prime, better known as Dark Samus, has joined in.
• Rathalos has a banner year as he follows up his appearance in Final Fantasy XIV with an appearance here as an Assist Trophy...and as a boss in a Monster Hunter stage (more specifically, a Classic Mode/World of Light boss)!
• Another debuting Assist Trophy is Shovel Knight, breaking yet another threshold that not even 3DS/Wii U dared to touch: the inclusion of Indie game characters in gameplay. The closest 3DS/Wii U came to this was a single Commander Video trophy. While Shovel Knight is, as stated, an Assist Trophy (read: isn't playable), being one of those is in itself a huge badge of honor from Sakurai and Nintendo since he's now part of the biggest crossover in gaming history.
  • Shovel Knight makes his debut by tanking a falling Moon. Mind you, this is the game where Assist Trophies can be hurt or even defeated. But when the blast fades, he's the last one standing.
  • Another thing is that Shovel Knight is the first true western property to play a bigger role than a trophy in Smash. ^note Diddy, K. Rool, and Dark Samus are still derived from Japanese IPs.
• As of the August 8th 2018 direct, it bears repeating that a large number of popular and highly-requested characters were showcased, both playable (Ridley, Dark Samus, Simon Belmont, Richter Belmont, Chrom, King K. Rool) and as Assist Trophies and Pokéball Pokémon (Waluigi, Bomberman, Shovel Knight, Mimikyu, Callie and Marie, Zero, Krystal, Gray Fox, Alucard). These were within the first two directs, and Sakurai mentioned that he's not done with character reveals yet. With the aforementioned Indie barrier broken, nearly anything could happen by the next four months.
• After spending four years as an Assist Trophy, Isabelle joins Smash as a full-fledged fighter! And the fact that she doesn't get hit at all in the gameplay segment from her reveal trailer is itself a feat^note getting caught by Kappn's bus notwithstanding (realizing the rest of the revealed non-Echo Fighters, even Ridley, got hit at least once makes it astounding)!
  • Banjo & Kazooie would later repeat this feat, as would Terry in his full reveal. Min Min also repeated it, even parrying and dodging hits in her trailer.
• The November 1st Smash Direct begins with a boxing match with Little Mac and an unknown opponent... unknown, anyway, until he belts Mac in the face, at which point, the camera cuts to the opponent in question... Ken Masters. That's right, the original Echo Fighter is fittingly joining the fray!
  • Ken proceeds to pummel Little Mac before launching him into the large screen, but waiting in the wings to take on Ken is another fighter with power over fire. A large bipedal tiger from the Alola region... you guessed it, it's Incineroar!
  • Even better in Ken's reveal is how they establish him defeating Mac: recreating EVO MOMENT #37 (better known as the Daigo Parry) through parrying Mac's punch and going for Shippuu Jinraikyaku to send his opponent flying. If that's not enough, with the right timing thanks to the parry mechanic, it's possible for one to actually make this moment possible.
  • When Incineroar jumps into the ring, what does Ken say?
    Ken: So, you wanna fight fire with fire, huh?
• After tons of supposed leaks, speculations, well thought-out arguments, and flame wars all over the internet about who would be appropriate for Smash, the very first DLC fighter turns out to be the least expected character in the entire series. Going against the grain of every conceivable thought that fans could think of: a Piranha Plant. A humble Piranha Plant. A common Mario enemy^note and not even a significantly popular Mario enemy like a Koopa Troopa, Goomba, Boo, Chain Chomp, or Shy Guy, either. Not Waluigi, not Bandanna Waddle Dee, not Geno, not Isaac, not Banjo & Kazooie^note (YET). Not anyone from the supposed "Grinch Leak" that was roaming out in the public eye at the time. Most of the fanbase was so smug that they understood Sakurai's thought process on how to design his own game, but most guesses turned out to be wrong. Well played, Sakurai. Well played.
  • Just the sheer bewilderment on everyone who watched the reveal showed that it'd done its job.
  • As a bonus, this makes the plant the first mook to ever be playable in Smash. A simple potted plant with teeth is able to go toe-to-root with warlocks, martial artists, master swordsmen, and even gods. This flower just scored one for the little guys.
  • What's more is that up until this point, the Piranha Plant had never been a playable character before (if you don't count Petey Piranha). All of the mainstay Mario enemies (Goomba, Koopa Troopa, Boo, etc.) had been playable in at least one Mario game, but the plant? Nothing. Its first time out as a playable character, and it's in one of the biggest fighting games of all time. There's Promoted to Playable, and then there's THIS...
• At the 2018 Game Awards, we get this last surprise before the game launches. The lights go dark, and then...a familiar calling card stating "TAKE YOUR HEART" appears, followed by it turning around to show an envelope with an all too familiar logo as the wax seal. Ladies and gentlemen, Joker has come to steal the show in Super Smash Bros.!
  Arsène: I am thou, thou art I. Show the strength of thy will, and rage against all challengers!
  • What's even greater is that, at this point, there are now eleven third-party characters in total. And seeing how Joker was just the first character in the Fighters Pass, that number likely would go even higher!
  • On top of that, it was stated by Sakurai himself that it was Nintendo who chose the DLC characters, showing that it isn't just Sakurai who knows how to surprise the fans. It also speaks about how much clout Nintendo has in the games industry as Sakurai has stated in past interviews that one of the most difficult things when it comes to producing Smash is securing rights to characters/IPs, as he's a freelancer and his company (Sora Ltd.) is still relatively tiny. These things are obviously much easier when you're a big company like Nintendo where other developers are practically begging to have their IPs included in the game.
  • Best of all, it's been implied that the DLC character selection was approved and done recently. Meaning that in the event Joker's appearance in Persona Q2 for the Nintendo 3DS has been taken into consideration, the decision to include him was done before Ultimate's release.
  • Also, since Joker is stated to have gone alone, this means he A. Pulled off the whole thing singlehandedly and B. Did the hacking of the lights and screen for his reveal, rather than the group's hacker Futaba.
  • The trailer has the Persona 5 cast talk about what Joker is stealing at the Game Awards. Rather than send over the usual "Phantom Thieves" Calling Card, Morgana says that they were actually invited to steal "the greatest treasure of all". Said treasure is none other than a Smash Bros. invitation, proving the point that getting in Super Smash Bros. is an honor for gaming overall.
  • To coin a phrase from Ridley's trailer, Joker's inclusion here following the critical acclaim Persona 5 attained well and truly meant that the Persona series had hit the big time after years of being a relative niche JRPG franchise. Consider also that despite just barely being over two years old as of Ultimate's release — beating Bayonetta out as the youngest third-party fighter (at the time of his reveal; the Luminary of Dragon Quest XI took this record due to his game being released a year after Persona 5, and then Byleth of Fire Emblem: Three Houses not long after their reveal due to it being out after Ultimate) and officially being the fifth youngest fighter overall just behind Incineroar, the Luminary (specifically him since he's the one that shows up in All-Star mode), Pyra/Mythra, and Byleth, Joker himself has become a gaming icon in the vein of his opponents here, further enforcing the idea of this being an honor for them and Atlus in general.

Post-Release

• Fans of the long-running Dragon Quest series were in for a treat at E3 2019 — after all, it was announced that the hero of the series would be next to join the battle!
  • And not (just) The Luminary, as shown in the trailer—multiple incarnations of the character! And his Final Smash also summons all the rest of them!
  • Their reveal trailer has Eleven, the Luminary, pulling a Big Damn Heroes when Link is about to be killed by Puppet Fighters. The way he does it is nothing short of badass: he jumps from horseback like Link would in Breath of the Wild and intercepts the Puppet Marth and Meta Knight midair, followed by the Dragon Quest Overture playing as he's revealed, the sunlight shining off his blade, as he readies himself for battle.
  • Speaking towards Dragon Quest's status, the inclusion of any Dragon Quest hero is a true CMOA for Sakurai. In the following interview regarding his inclusion, he openly admits to nervousness in approaching with this at all, and there's a damn good reason: if you look in any spinoff or crossover of the series, you'll notice that no main entry protagonist is ever featured. That's because they're off-limits, period. Nobody gets to feature them, not even the Square side of the company in Itadaki Street! Masahiro Sakurai has the chief honor of getting to feature not just one, but four of the Dragon Quest Heroes (with the other 7 appearing in the Final Smash) in his game, one of whom being the most influential of them all! He even got to request one of them specifically!^note That being "Eight", whom he knew would be the most-recognized in the west. For Super Smash Bros. to command such respect that a borderline-sacred cultural phenomenon will break one of its longstanding rules for it speaks the greatest of volumes for how far the series has come!
• Then comes the very next character reveal, basically a sequel to K. Rool's. It generally hits all the same notes at first, but this time, King K. Rool joins the Kongs. But then, a familiar puzzle piece bounces on the floor, waking all 3 up. Then, instead of King Dedede trolling them, it's Duck Hunt imitating a certain duo from a seemingly extinct franchise. Suddenly, that very same duo surprise attacks them from above. Oh, yeah, you saw that right. After being shelved by Microsoft for over a decade... BANJO & KAZOOIE ARE BACK!!!
  • For many, the jig was up (Pun intended) as soon as the Jiggy was thrown through DK's window. The bear and bird are iconic enough that a puzzle piece is enough to generate excitement.
  • As soon as their splash screen showed up, it is followed with DK, Diddy and K. Rool not in utter shock (like DK and Diddy were with K. Rool), but all three cheering and hollering at their reveal, likely mimicking the reaction of most western viewers who have been clamoring for their inclusion for years.
  • And of course, what better music track to use for a BGM here than a remix of Spiral Mountain's theme that turns into a triumphant orchestral masterpiece halfway through — and with Grant Kirkhope himself as composition supervisor, no less?
    • The story of Grant Kirkhope's remix is nothing short of incredible. According to the man himself, he randomly got an email from Nintendo saying that they appreciated his composition work for Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle so much, that they wanted to recruit him for another project. He felt a bit skeptical, seeing as how this was a bit out of the blue, but he cautiously accepted the offer. Once he was told that they wanted him to compose a remix for Banjo & Kazooie's inclusion in Smash, his jaw hit the floor in sheer disbelief.
• The reveal of two completely different characters admired by different sides of the Pacific on the same day is this for Nintendo. Though both characters still have their detractors, the east and west sides of the Smash Bros. fanbase were collectively brought together in one fell swoop, showcasing just how big the franchise has become across the world.
• The fourth member of the Fighter Pass was revealed in the September 4, 2019 Nintendo Direct.
  • It starts off with a little timeline showing Nintendo's consoles and the years they were released in reverse chronological order. However, the camera soon ratchets back up to 1991's SNES... then shifts to the right to reveal another console released that same year: SNK's Neo Geo. As the iconic Neo Geo intro starts up, an invitation is rendered in the olden graphics of the system, inviting someone from SNK's interconnected universe to Smash. As Sakurai's invitation floats throughout the various franchises of the console, Kyo Kusanagi, Ryo Sakazaki, Joe Higashi, Andy Bogard, Geese Howard, Nakoruru, and Iori Yagami all try to grab it — and all fail (in Geese's case, he falls to his death (again)!). The invitation soon lands on the ground, where someone finally picks it up. As the Neo Geo's graphics shift back to the Switch's, the challenger finally makes himself known with a "Come on!" Realizing who it is now? Joining the battle next, it's the Legendary Wolf himself, Terry Bogard!
  • With this announcement, it's now possible for Mario, Solid Snake, Sonic the Hedgehog, Mega Man, Pac-Man, Cloud Strife, Joker, Banjo-Kazooie, and Terry Bogard to fight together. Nine (technically ten) characters, mascots from nine video game companies through sheer star power. This is truly a crossover for the ages!
• Terry gets to share the ring with a pair of old rivals in Ryu and Ken. Everybody rumored, nobody believed... but you see, it's true. CAPCOM VS. SNK IS BACK.
  • Also, with Steve, a battle of the old Super Star against the newer face of gaming is ready to take action!
  • With the added reveal of Sephiroth, you can also have the fated Cloud Vs. Sephiroth rematch in Smash as well.
  • Plus, with Kazuya around, the three man fight of fighting game legends can now become a four man free-for-all! Not to mention the bonus of Kazuya returning to beat down both Ryu and Ken after previously being in Street Fighter X Tekken together, and that's after taking down both Akuma and Geese Howard in Tekken 7 since then!
• Disappointed that the Fighters Pass is being wrapped up so soon? Well, don't be... BECAUSE THEY'RE ADDING MORE DLC FIGHTERS!
  • Stop and take a look at how gigantic the roster is already (69 original fighters in the base game if the Pokémon Trainer is counted as three separate characters, 76 if Echo Fighters are counted, and 82 when Piranha Plant and the Fighters Pass are downloaded), and then factor in that there's going to be EVEN MORE characters coming. Hell. Yes.
  • The Sakurai column that was posted shortly afterwards explained that he's not working on any other games or taking long breaks, and is dedicating himself to including as many characters as possible, while pushing the record roster number further. All this to make this game the best it can be, and make even more people happy with each added fighter.
• Then the unexpected happened: Sans of Undertale fame is here as a Mii Gunner Costume, complete with Gaster Blaster-shaped Arm Cannon and a brand new remix of Megalovania by Toby Fox himself! At this point, all three of the most famous Indie franchises (the others being Shovel Knight and Shantae) are represented in some way! Everyone may not be playable, but ''everyone'' most certainly is here!
  • The fact that Megalovania is in at all is this for Toby. It's essentially his Signature Song, being used for both The Halloween Hack and his work in the Homestuck fandom before making its way into Undertale. That one song made it all this way into an official game by Nintendo, let alone the biggest celebration of gaming ever conceived. Especially considering the fact that the former work was a ROM Hack of one of their own games, which is something that Nintendo typically dislikes.
  • The inclusion of Sans and Megalovania shows how much Sakurai's penchant for unexpected characters has borne fruit. Because he included Ness as a playable character in the first game, EarthBound went from "obscure game no one has heard of" to "beloved Cult Classic that inspires creators and games that get Smash representation of their own".
• For fans of Konami's Ganbare Goemon series, fear not: though he's not playable, the Mystical Ninja also gets acknowledgement as a Mii Costume, this time for the Swordfighter.
• Tetris finally gets some visual representation! Even if it's just the Tetriminos as event Spirits to promote Tetris 99, just seeing such an iconic franchise get anything after so long of being Screwed by the Lawyers is a huge bone to throw!
• During the November 6, 2019 Direct for Terry Bogard, Sakurai plays through a run of Terry's Classic mode route and finishes up reaching 9.9 Intensity. He does it again for Sephiroth's presentation, which was a Boss Rush mode for his Classic mode route.
  • The reveal of not only twenty different cameos in Terry's stage, but the fact that the stage itself includes fifty potential music tracks from various SNK series.
• Whether you loved or hated his reveal, you still can't deny the fact that Byleth is the final fighter of the first Fighters Pass!
  • While their trailer has a rather comedic slant to it (with the Smash invitation apparently having the power to cut through an endless void dimension), the reveal of the other Heroes' Relics is rather awesome. Sothis smugly states that she will reward Byleth's decision to become a swordswoman amongst all the swordsmen. A few glimmers shine in the dark sky to reveal three mysterious objects come crashing down in front of Byleth. The dust settles, revealing them to be none other than the House Lord's own Relic weapons, crackling and shining with unbridled power.
  • And that's not all — like Robin and Corrin before him, Byleth will be playable in both genders.
  • This was apparently kept a secret from even Nintendo themselves. How Sakurai managed that with one of the company's first-party characters, we'll never know.
  • You have to give Sakurai and his crew props on this character selection (whether begrudgingly or otherwise). Between an opening statement that pares down to "even if this wasn't what you wanted, please bear with us" and the Meme Acknowledgment in the trailer, he knew what the overall reaction to another Fire Emblem character would be. And yet he and his crew felt that Byleth was a worthy addition anyway and went through with it. And as proven by the above point, it was the choice of him and his team, not Nintendo^note though it was confirmed that Nintendo did all the selections, Sakurai still had the final say on who could be made a fighter, so it was still up to him. Not only that, but by making them a Walking Armory, he's made them notably different than the other Fire Emblem fighters, despite lacking Dragon blood and spell books, and gave them a move set that looks actually quite fun for those willing to give them a chance.
  • And on that Walking Armory subject, Fire Emblem fans FINALLY get a character that wields the entire classic weapons triangle that makes up the core of the series' gameplay (with a bow added for good measure)! Byleth takes full advantage of the trend of making non-Echoes more unique than the last that Robin and Corrin laid out, fully realizing the series' potential when it comes to Smash!
  • Sakurai goes into Squad Strike for a tag team battle between the entire Fighters Pass roster and every non-echo Fire Emblem fighter. He then self-destructs as everyone but Byleth and proceeds to beat the Fire Emblem team with just her.
  • As the video closes, Sakurai notes that Ultimate recently became the best-selling fighting game of all time. He declares that this is open to debate (such as whether the many versions of Street Fighter II all count as the same game), and brings up the now familiar question of whether Smash can truly be called a fighting game. While the common phrasing of this question is usually with the unspoken, "Smash isn't good enough to be a real fighting game", Sakurai instead emphasizes that this celebration of gaming from all eras and numerous companies should not be considered a mere fighting game, but something more.
  • They came out swinging with the next batch of Mii Costumes, with Ubisoft's own Altaïr and the Rabbids getting acknowledged and the Mega Man X and .EXE costumes returning from Smash 4. The biggest whammy was, like Sans before it, the inclusion of a Cuphead costume. And also like Sans, Cuphead comes with a song from his game as well.
  • Despite the mixed reaction, Sakurai's Byleth presentation managed to reach number one on the trending page for gaming and the top 3 in the general section.
  • When the map for Fighter Pass 2 is shown off, a sixth spot suddenly appeared, bumping up the current total of DLC characters to 11. It goes to show how much Sakurai really wants to support the game and surpass himself. Despite no big breaks.
    • This now bumps the total number of Ultimate newcomers, including Echo Fighters, up to 23! Keep in mind, this was a game where the base newcomer count (11) started as less than the entire roster of the original game (12); it then grew to surpass the post-DLC newcomers from its direct predecessor (21)! There is no longer any doubt of this being the biggest crossover in gaming history!
• The first fighter from Fighters Pass Vol. 2 is from ARMS! Sure, we didn't know which one when it was first revealed in the March 2020 Nintendo Direct Mini, waiting until June 22, 2020 to eventually find out who exactly it was, but that's still pretty epic!
  • So, who managed to get the esteemed Smash envelope? While Captain Falcon and Kirby are busy eating at a familiar ramen shop, Spring Man and Byte & Barq are fighting when the invitation arrives. After defeating Byte & Barq, Spring Man notices the envelope and tries to receive it, only to be stopped by Ribbon Girl. She tries to take the invitation, but Ninjara swipes it before she even touches it. As the rest of the ARMS roster arrives to fight for the invitation, the ramen shop's proprietress suddenly leaves, wanting to get in on the action. Eventually, only Kid Cobra and Twintelle are left standing. Their fight is interrupted by the arrival of the ramen shop's proprietress. Transforming into her battle outfit, she wastes no time in defeating both the snakeboarder and the actress, allowing her to win a place in Smash. Proving that Spirits still have a chance to join the fight, the ARMS fighter is none other than Min Min!
  • Easy to overlook, but the fight over the envelope was a frenzy of stretching, tangling limbs, with every conceivable ARMS fighter using their full power. Min Min calmly grabbed the envelope with her normal, human hands, and only then transformed them into ARMS to take out her rivals.
  • The other ARMS characters join Min Min in her Final Smash, showcasing themselves as Graceful Losers from the reveal trailer battle.
  • Once again, Sakurai shows his Smash prowess by taking on Kirby and Captain Falcon with Min Min alone and, despite tanking both Final Smashes and losing a stock, manages to defeat both of them.
  • This really bears repeating: Min Min was already a Spirit in the game. Her ascension opens up so many possibilities for the rest of the Fighters Pass, the only appropriate term would be astronomical.
  • For her arrival, Min Min even got a special treat that hasn't been seen for other newcomers since the previous game: not just one, but two special pieces of guest artwork from the creators of ARMS!
• Sakurai brings up how he got the voice actor for Captain Falcon to record voice clips just for a scene where he slurps up ramen. He then brings up that this is actually the first time he was brought in to record a new line for Falcon since the N64, even confirming that Final Smashes were going to be in the original Smash Brothers when mentioning the "Come on, Blue Falcon" line, waiting until Brawl for that feature to finally be implemented properly.
• Following the surprise releases of Sans and Cuphead, we have a Mii Gunner Costume in the form of VAULT BOY!
• After a rather long, arduous wait from Min Min's announcement (first hinted back at March before being confirmed by June), we finally got a new fighter revealed to us on October 1, 2020, proving that development for Wave 2 hasn't died, despite COVID-19's best efforts otherwise.
  • And as for the fighter itself? Well... in the trailer, after Mario is pummeled by Sonic, he finds himself in a dark room, surrounded by glaring eyes. Soon, our new fighter breaks into the dark room — a certain man of blocky figure. That's right, they went there — it's STEVE! All those rumors finally paid off!
    • And he isn't alone — Alex, Zombie, and Enderman are all joining him!
    • With Steve's inclusion, the Super Smash Bros. franchise has finally reached a highly-anticipated milestone. After being acknowledged by Assist Trophies, Spirits, and Mii Costumes^note plus a trophy in 3DS/Wii U, we finally have a proper playable Indie^note yes, we know that Microsoft owns the game now, but Minecraft earned its place in gaming history on its own long before that. And it's inclusion is no less monumental. character in the series! And fittingly, they're from not only the most famous Indie title of them all, but also the absolute best-selling game of all time! We're not just getting any Indie characters: we're getting the Indie king and queen, plus some mooks for good measure!
    • The cherry on top? This is the second time, after Banjo & Kazooie, that a character officially owned by Microsoft got into Super Smash Bros.^note The ZeniMax/Bethesda acquisition for Fallout wouldn't be announced until a few months after the Vault Boy costume was revealed. This is one of Nintendo's most long-standing competitors, having stood tall since the tail end of 2001, and they have two fighters to their name. Nintendo and Microsoft's now Friendly Rivalry has been made official.
    • There's also the backstory behind Steve getting in at all: After Sakurai explains what goes into making a character for Smash, including presenting the character in question and him determining if a viable moveset is possible, he recounts how one day, someone from Nintendo asked if he could put a Minecraft character in Smash. After describing his frustration that people think adding characters into Smash is done "by magic or something", he states that he agreed without hesitation. Meaning that, yes, Steve made it into Smash purely because Sakurai wanted to see if he could.
    • One thing Sakurai brought up about the seeming impossibility of bringing Minecraft to Smash, they had to go in and make adjustments to every single stage in the game to ensure that Steve and co's block dropping would work properly in all of them.
    • And just for the record, Steve's out of left field announcement caused such a colossal stir on social media that it temporarily broke Twitter, something that had never happened to the site ever since the death of Michael Jackson back in 2009.
• Joining Steve are Mii Costumes of two highly-requested characters. The first? Bomberman, with a costume similar to Sans, Cuphead, and Vault Boy. It also comes in eight colors! The other character? Travis Touchdown, the No More Hero himself!
• Early in the 2020 Game Awards Show, they revealed the third fighter in the DLC set. This one had Galeem preparing to destroy characters new and old in a cutscene similar to what's seen in the World of Light intro... only to then get cut in half! But who in the hell could possibly do such a thing? Why, it's SEPHIROTH, the One Winged Angel himself from Final Fantasy VII, ready for not just everyone in Ultimate, but also Cloud Strife for good measure!
  • What makes this moment especially awesome is that Sephiroth effectively just Worfed the same entity that Worfed the ENTIRE non-DLC roster sans Kirby. Badass doesn't even begin to describe it!
    • The sheer audacity of Sephiroth's One-Hit Kill on Galeem needs a bit more elaboration to emphasize just how insane this feat is. Galeem in World of Light is spawned from an attack that spread past the resident galaxy at an insane speed - responsible for an immeasurable toll upon the multiverse (even beyond the world of Smash in-universe). Galeem wipes the spirits out of an insane diversity of beings, many of them godly beings themselves, while at least threatening what would be billions if not trillions of even sapient lives near-instantly, for the selfish goal of a world in its arrogant image... and Sephiroth comes in, completely uninvited, mind you, to cut down the murderously greedy, reaching-beyond galactic-level omnicidal threat of a GOD like he's swatting a mosquito! This should tell you of the sheer frightening strength that Sephiroth holds!
  • And it doesn't stop there. Not only does he show up by one-shotting Galeem, but he proceeds to hand EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER WHO ATTACKS HIM their collective asses, barely even breaking a sweat before tricking Mario into thinking he impaled him, only for it turn out to be a feint, with him literally dangling Mario by one of his overall straps, then, if you watch carefully, he proceeds to block an attempt to take him out by Cloud with zero effort... WHILE MARIO IS STILL HANGING OFF OF THE TIP OF HIS MASAMUNE. And it doesn't even end there...
  • When Cloud tries to use Omnislash Ver. 5, the attack that's always managed to take Sephiroth out, it appears to have damaged the latter. But not only does Sephiroth get back up, he then proceeds to unveil his Final Smash, transforming into Safer Sephiroth, his final boss form from the original game! The Trope Namer for One-Winged Angel is here, and he's going to show everyone how it's done!
  • Crosses with Awesome Music: how does one introduce one of the most iconic villains in video game history? Well, with his Signature Song, of course. Many immediately knew it was Sephiroth being revealed only a few notes in, and it absolutely speaks to the strength of "One-Winged Angel" as one of the greatest music tracks in gaming history to be recognized as fast as it did.
  • Playable villains is nothing new, but Sephiroth is the very first non-Nintendo one in Smash... and it's hard to name a third-party bad guy more worthy of the honor. His inclusion also marks another important milestone: remember how King K. Rool's trailer depicted many Smash veterans facing off against their respective arch-nemeses? Well, Cloud and Sephiroth's long-standing blood feud can now lay claim to be the first true hero/villain rivalry from non-Nintendo games included in the series — a testament to how iconic their clashes over the years have been.
  • How did Sakurai reward early adopters for those that bought the Wave 2 DLC Pack (or Sephiroth's specific DLC only)? By giving them a special, limited time challenge dubbed the "Sephiroth Challenge", which pitted whatever character you manned best by that time going up against Sephiroth in a special Stamina battle. The battle is a stamina match where you're stuck at 150 HP, but Sephiroth is given 100 HP on easy, 150 HP on normal, or 200 HP on very hard mode. If you won your fight against Sephiroth between December 17-22, 2020, you could unlock him and his stage and songs (but not yet Spirits) early for all to see! Now that's certainly a nice gift to give a week before Christmas Eve of that year!
  • For five years, Final Fantasy was absolutely notorious for its very limited representation (one fighter, one stage, and two songs in Cloud's Smash debut, ripped straight from Final Fantasy VII). Ultimate didn't help matters initially, with no new songs or stages being added and only two Spirits from the series added—those being Cloud's official Smash renders for both the original game and his Advent Children variant. Square Enix apparently listened to those complaints, because the DLC accompanying Sephiroth has nine new songs from both FFVII and Advent Children, including four brand-new remixes!
  • Additionally, the DLC also comes with thirteen Spirit battles confirmed Spirits from FFVII (16 overall, including Cloud's original two and Sephiroth)—this time taken from Tetsuya Nomura's official artwork for these new Spirits. And yes - the DLC even retroactively gives Cloud his original artwork as well (though not for Advent Children Cloud). Not bad for a franchise that used to have only two songs there!
  • Both Square Enix Mii Costumes from Smash 4 (Chocobo and Geno) return—and with them come three brand-new costumes based off of characters from FFVII—Barret, Tifa, and Aerith!
  • Sakurai plays through Sephiroth's Classic Mode, which ends up being a Boss Rush, and not only clears it without taking a single loss, but manages to get a 9.9 score before even taking on the final boss of the run.
  • Speaking of audacity, Sephiroth can unfurl his now-signature single black wing. You know, the one he doesn't have in FF VII. He has it in Dissidia, and appears with it in Advent Children, but his first appearance with the wing is not in a Final Fantasy game. Sakurai, you sneaky son of a...
• The first full-length Nintendo Direct in nearly a year and a half (other Nintendo Directs between those two were considered Mini-Nintendo Directs) began with the reveal of the tenth DLC fighter. One day in Alrest, Rex finds out that Pyra suddenly went missing. Deciding to search for her, Rex seeks out his friends to try and aid him, but they couldn't help him. Rex then went to the ship where he first met Pyra—and still, she wasn't found. Eventually, Rex found himself on a familiar battleground, where he finally finds the Aegis. Apologizing to Rex, Pyra reveals the big secret that made her disappear: she was invited to Smash. Throwing everyone (and Rex) for a loop, the long-awaited Xenoblade Chronicles 2 fighter is not Rex, but Pyra, the Aegis herself!
  • And it doesn't stop there. As Pyra finds herself overwhelmed by her brand-new opponents, someone else decides to lend a helping hand. Yep—not only is Pyra playable in Smash, but Mythra is as well!
  • Link actually manages a good trap on Pyra here. He drops a bomb at her feet, the Boomerang is coming from behind, and he's about to come down from above. But there's a tiny window of opportunity, which Mythra exploits ruthlessly to not only get out of the trap, but prematurely detonate the bomb in Link's face.
  • At the very end of the trailer, we see what fans have been clamoring for ever since Xenoblade Chronicles 2's release. Arriving at Gaur Plain, Mythra runs into Shulk. Remembering their past adventures together, Shulk prepares to show Mythra no quarter as he unleashes the Monado. Switching into Pyra, the Aegis meets Shulk's blade in combat. So begins the battle between the Monado and the Aegis.
• E3 2021. It's the beginning of the Nintendo Direct, and it shows a dead Ganondorf being carried by someone. They approach a lava pit and throw him in... at which point it is revealed that it is none other than Kazuya Mishima himself, King of the Iron Fist Tournament champion, joining the battle and finally giving representation to Tekken and a second fighter from Bandai Namco Entertainment. His trailer then shows him performing a number of moves and combos Tekken fans would recognize, with a stage based off of the Mishima Dojo that even has Heihachi in the background as a cameo. And that's all without mentioning that he can use his Devil Gene form for standard attacks and his Final Smash.
  • Kazuya doesn't stop with just Ganondorf. He later has the pleasure of throwing Captain Falcon, Pit, Min Min, and Marth off that same cliff, implying that he had defeated them all in battle beforehand. And each time he does so, he doesn't even look like he's broken a sweat!
  • Doubling as a Funny Moment: The last fighter Kazuya is shown throwing off the cliff is Kirby... who flies away behind Kazuya while he isn't looking.
  • And much like Terry before him, Kazuya also gets to reunite with his old rivals in Ryu and Ken. Are you ready to cross the line? STREET FIGHTER X TEKKEN HAS RETURNED.
• The artwork for Kazuya's reveal has him conquering Ryu, and preparing to throw him off the cliff as well while several members of the cast stare in horror. But Mario, Samus, Pit, Captain Falcon, and Fox are all prepared to take him down, with Samus and Pit already moments away from shooting him in the back. Min Min is also reaching out one of her arms to catch Ryu.
• While the tenth wave of Mii Fighter costumes mostly consisted of fan-favorite requests^*(one of which also being a costume that fully completed the original DLC set included from the previous Smash game), there was still one surprising addition hidden among them—Miis can now dress up as the Dragonborn. Or in other words, you can "FUS RO DAH" with the Dovahkiin himself (as a costume) in Smash.
  • Similar to the Sans and Cuphead costumes, Shantae's costume comes with a music track—the ever-popular "Burning Town", taken straight from Half-Genie Hero!
• With the September 23, 2021 Nintendo Direct, it was confirmed that one last Sakurai Presents presentation will be had by October 5 that year. While that announcement brought about the end of the DLC fighters at hand, it still made for one Hell of a closing ride for Ultimate all the same!
  • And after all the speculation, all the supposed leaks (including one in 4chan that began in July, although they later feared that they announced it earlier than expected), and all the hype, who does end up rounding out this legendary roster? We go back to where it all began over three and a half years ago. As the Smash Logo extinguishes, the fighters all turn back into trophies. But the light's not completely out: one little ember remains, whose light revives Mario. He gets closer with a wary expression on his face, but it's quickly replaced with one of steely determination. Mario grabs the ember and throws it with all his might, and the flame transforms into...a familiar key with a very familiar keychain on it. The key fires a ray that creates a giant keyhole, through which the rest of the roster is revived in its light. The final fighter emerges, swooping through the air with a grin on his face and an absolutely magical fanfare in the background (the orchestral version of Hikari/Simple and Clean), before landing on the ground and claiming his legendary weapon. That's right! After a lifetime of being one of, if not the MOST requested fighter in Smash history, at long last, SORA IS FINALLY HERE!!! Even Sakurai himself and the people in his office were shocked!
    • Yeah, that "most requested" bit needs some clarification. Remember when Bayonetta was revealed after the Smash 4 ballot? Sakurai clearly stated that she was the most requested fighter that they could include. But overall, it was Sora who won the vote (and Banjo-Kazooie was number two, in case you're wondering). Out of every video game character, out of every series possible. And now he gets his due.
    • To further underscore how much time and effort went into Sora's inclusion, Sakurai notes that Iwata was in the licensing negotiations - this was a reveal at least six years in the making.
    • Despite not being rearranged for the reveal, the usually slightly bittersweet orchestral version of "Hikari" sounds downright powerful here. It fits beautifully with Sora joyfully flying over the other fighters, returning the lost light.
    • Then there's how Kingdom Hearts lore is incorporated into this. When someone who isn't explicitly a Keyblade Wielder holds a Keyblade, the Keyblade will make its way back to the original Wielder. As such, Mario isn't able to wield the Keyblade. However, it came to Mario in a form that he can wield: fire. And rather than returning to Sora, the Keyblade summoned Sora. In a way, while Mario isn't deemed worthy enough to be a Keyblade Wielder, he is worthy enough to call Sora to his world via his own Keyblade.
  • First however, the Mii Costumes are presented. An Octoling Wig and Judd Hat... and then the Doom Slayer makes his grand entrance by blasting Bowser (representing a Pinky) with his charged pistol in a first-person perspective!
  • Easily the single most awesome part of the trailer is the end, where Mario, Mister Video Game Himself, shakes hands with Sora, a hero who many people thought could never make into Smash due to being owned by Disney, a company best known for their animated films and having one of the most aggressive image-protection legal teams on earth. A handshake is such common gesture, but so many pieces of fiction have made it a very meaningful one, and you'd be hard pressed to think of one as meaningful as Nintendo's mascot shaking the hand of a boy who has visited and saved so many Disney worlds.
    • Even better is that, for once, Mario and the newcomer are portrayed as friends. Mario has been the punching bag of nearly every newcomer for this game, but here, in the final trailer, Mario is the one who brought Sora to Smash, and instead of fighting each other, they shake hands. This is also very fitting for Sora, a character so defined by The Power of Friendship that it's practically one of his superpowers.
    • With Sora's inclusion, we have now gone full circle. Kingdom Hearts began when Shinji Hashimoto and Hironobu Sakaguchi were chatting about how they wanted a game similar to Super Mario 64. Now, the end result of that conversation finally gets to shake hands with the plumber who inspired him.
    • Another element to Mario and Sora's handshake is that it heavily parallels the one shared by Ryu and Cyclops at the very beginning of X-Men vs. Street Fighter, one of the first major crossover fighting games that led to the Marvel vs. Capcom series of games. It almost fitting that the final shot of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's cinematics is used to pay tribute to one of the franchises that made Smash possible in the first place.
    • Considering that Sora's KH1 outfit was inspired by Mickey Mouse, and with said design being used as the default costume, in a weird way, this is probably the closest we'll ever get to seeing Mario shaking hands with Mickey Mouse!
    • And to top it all off, the fact that it's happening in front of the reignited, burning Smash symbol that we first saw all the way back in March 2018 when the game was first announced, all while the orchestral rendition of "Simple and Clean" from the original game reaches its beautiful conclusion, perfectly bookending this chapter in the franchise's history.
  • It truly cannot be emphasised enough, but it really has to be said in its absolute glory: Disney, now one of the biggest entertainment companies in the entire world, is celebrating their massive legacy and at their near-100-year anniversary of The Walt Disney Company with their immense work paying off, by giving the young Keyblade wielder, Sora, the chance of a lifetime and the opportunity to show how far they’ve come by being seen as one of the legends of not just video games but fiction itself. In other words, DISNEY IS IN SMASH!!
  • This means that, once more, after the fight was omitted from Kingdom Hearts III, Sora versus Sephiroth is now happening in Smash.
  • Sakurai plays Sora against both Cloud and Sephiroth where he catches both of them in Sora's Final Smash (accidentally revealing it there after saying he wants you to see it for yourself), then successfully baits them into using their Final Smash on each other, which finishes Sephiroth off. Sakurai then eventually finishes Cloud off, revealing a special effect fashioned after the boss kill effect seen in Kingdom Hearts.
    Sakurai: (as he uses Sora's Final Smash on Cloud and Sephiroth) Stay where you belong, behind this door!
• Something that’s cool about some of Sora’s outfits are his drive forms (Valor and Wisdom) which are used in Kingdom Hearts II with Goofy and Donald Duck respectively. It can be argued that while they don’t show up physically, they help Sora on his Smash journey. His friends are quite literally his power!

Gameplay and Mechanics

• Special Zoom and Final Zoom. When landing a particularly powerful attack, the background will flash blue and the game itself will freeze for dramatic effect. It's fairly simple, but it makes landing the moves that trigger it (which are often Awesome, but Impractical) magnitudes more badass — especially since the zoom more often signifies a KO. Final Zoom is similar, except it only triggers when a game-ending blow is dealt — which, more often than not, makes every game's finish absolutely spectacular.
• Once again, the new Final Smashes are absolutely stellar:
  • Mii Brawler's hard-hitting Omega Blitz is surprisingly brutal, with pumped-up audio that makes it sound like they're breaking bones with every punch!
  • Both Donkey Kong and Giga Mac both flat-out pummel their opponents into a pulp at blindingly fast speeds with Jungle Rush and Giga Mac Rush. As a bonus, DK finally has a move that flat-out references Donkey Kong Jungle Beat!
  • Link's new Final Smash, Ancient Bow and Arrow, switches out his Triforce Slash for the titular bow and arrow from Breath of the Wild, which functions much like Zelda and Sheik's Light Arrow. It also makes sense, considering he originally wielded the Light Arrows in Ocarina of Time and the Silver Arrows in the first Legend of Zelda and A Link to the Past.
  • Dark Samus' Phazon Laser is pretty much the same as the Zero Laser, but this time you're hitting everyone with a massive amount of Phazon.
  • Remember the massive herd of Yoshis from the opening movie from Melee? Yoshi now summons them to form a Stampede to trample his opponents!
  • All three Star Fox fighters retire the Landmaster... and instead shoot at everyone with an Arwing/Wolfen formation with the rest of Team Star Fox/Team Star Wolf! And yes, Falco really does prefer the air!
  • Volt Tackle and Super Sonic got quite the overhaul. Now, those two attacks zip across the screen at blindingly fast speeds! As Sakurai put it:
    "Either you're too slow, or he's lightning fast!"
  • After Poo apparently taught Ness how to use PK Starstorm for Smash, he and Paula show up to help Ness finish the job.
  • Additionally, Kumatora and Boney arrive to help Lucas! As a bonus, this is their first (official) western appearance not as stickers, but as characters! Complete with their own 3D models!
  • Daisy Blossom is much like Peach Blossom, except instead of giant peaches appearing on the battlefield, it's giant daisies.
  • Just because transformation-based Final Smashes were streamlined doesn't make them any less awesome. One example? Bowser still has Giga Bowser as his Final Smash, except he grows bigger than the stage itself (with Sakurai directly referencing when Bowser first did this as a child), moves behind it, and pulls off his own version of the Dragoon where he aims and punches any unlucky fighters he strikes away, or, if they have enough damage, directly at the screen, completely ignoring the blast line! ^note Bayonetta's Infernal Climax was the only Final Smash (and one of the few gameplay mechanics, period) to be able to score KOs even in a largely or completely enclosed arena before this point. All other Final Smashes, even incredibly powerful ones such as Marth's Critical Hit, were still bound to the rule that KOs can only be scored by Ring Out, and so even the ones with such ridiculous knockback as to practically ensure a One-Hit Kill could still be survived with a solid wall between the victim and the blast line they were being launched at, coupled with obstacles that would redirect the redirected momentum to keep the character away from blast lines for long enough to lose the momentum from the knockback — especially if the victim was able to tech off of something, which would eliminate the knockback momentum instantly and only require the one wall to tech off of. Bayonetta's Infernal Climax acts like a Danger Zone; in contrast, Bowser's new Giga Bowser punch bypasses the blast lines entirely and sends its victims directly into a Screen KO. (In actual practice, opponents do need to be appropriately damaged for the instant death, like Bayonetta's Final Smash, but it's still really satisfying to land.)
  • The Ice Climbers' Iceberg now moves across the stage instead of remaining stationary the entire time. What kind of training have our little mountain climbers been doing between Brawl and Ultimate?
  • Sheik drops the Light Arrow and instead opts for cutting foes to ribbons with her kunai with her brand-new Sheikah Dance.
  • Zelda also swaps her Light Arrow for using the Triforce of Wisdom to trap her foes within, delivering a One-Hit KO if their damage is high enough.
    • Oh, and only a few characters can escape it.
  • Pichu's Volt Tackle manages to be more awesome than Pikachu's in the fact that it's risking a great deal of damage in doing so. The little guy's giving it everything he's got to ensure that the opponent is out. Of note is Satomi Koorogi's delivery of Pichu's scream during the attack, who manages to make him sound utterly pissed off during the attack. Even Maximilian was impressed with it.
  • Ganondorf's Beast Ganon form, now called Ganon, the Demon King, now borrows from his Ocarina of Time look instead of Twilight Princess, meaning he comes with his dual-wielded BFSes. Not only does he ram into opponents, but he also slices them right up!
  • Chrom slices up his opponent(s) to keep them stunned, then does a backflip and delivers a powerful blow with Awakening Aether. Doubles as a Call-Back to his game of origin.
  • Mr. Game & Watch's Octopus now grabs its enemies and drags them clear off the screen.
  • Meta Knight's new Final Smash, Darkness Illusion, is just VICIOUS. He grows an extra pair of wings, then launches any opponents near him into the air before ravaging them in mid-air at super speed and launching them away with one last strike. Who hurt you, dude?
  • Pit retires the Three Sacred Treasures and straight-up rams into opponents with the Lightning Chariot in a similar fashion to the Dragoon item. And since the Dark Pit Guidance is unchanged, that means Viridi is still in possession of it, meaning they've at least gained enough respect for one another for her to let him use it.
  • Zero Suit Samus puts her armor back on, hops on top of her gunship, and unleashes the Zero Laser, using the ship to rotate her aim and chase down anyone that tries to run from it.
  • Wario-Man now engages in a Big Ball of Violence with his opponent before finishing his combo with a super-powered Wario Waft.
  • What's better than Snake using a grenade launcher? Throwing a smoke bomb? No, that's just the start of it. That's just so a Macross Missile Massacre can barrage anyone Snake targeted. Ladies and gents, you just witnessed Covering Fire.
  • Triple Finish apparently got quite the upgrade. Fire Blast and Solar Beam remain the same, but Hydro Pump looks more like a raging whirlpool!
  • Diddy Kong's new Hyper Rocketbarrel involves him zipping across the screen, but this time he dive-bombs one of the opponents for the finishing blow! And if you end up next to anyone when it's over, the Rocketbarrel explodes which will also damage enemies!
  • King Dedede's Final Smash was first him spawning Waddle Dees to tackle everyone, then it went to him smacking opponents and then blowing them up with a bomb. Now he REALLY takes his revenge with Dede-Rush by sending any unlucky fighters he catches to his caged boxing ring, showing up as Masked Dedede, launching missiles at them, then using his original jet hammer to pound them into a paste, which ends up denting the cage.
    • If you use it on Giga Bowser, it apparently hits him square in the groin, as seen here.
  • Aura Storm returns, but this time, Lucario Mega Evolves before doing so.
  • R.O.B. comes bringing a brand new toy: the Guided Robo Beam. In it, he locks onto his opponents before firing small lasers at them, then blasts them with a powerful green beam of light!
  • As if Mega Man's Final Smash, Mega Legends, consisting of him launching a Black Hole Bomb and teaming up with his four other incarnations to unleash a technicolor firestorm on anyone who got trapped, wasn't already epic enough, now Proto Man and Bass get in on the fun!
  • The Wii Fit Trainer's Final Smash, Wii Fit, appears to remain the same, as the trainer summons numerous silhouettes to attack the opponents. Then he/she summons a huge silhouette that pushes them even farther back!
  • Greninja's Secret Ninja Attack is now preceded by using Battle Bond to turn into Ash-Greninja to do the job!
  • Pac-Man's Final Smash was reworked, ultimately giving the player less control over it. Why? A good reason. Rather than being traditionally controlled like the original arcade games and 3DS/Wii U, Pac-Man outright abuses the edge-warping mechanic used in both games and charges straight forward as Super Pac-Man, leaving the player to control which way he'll turn.
  • Even though Chrom is playable, he still does double-duty as part of Robin's Pair-Up! Never underestimate the Exalt of Ylisse again!
  • Shulk's Final Smash still has Dunban and Riki assisting him for a Chain Attack. This time, Fiora joins in the fray, not only adding another one of Shulk's True Companions, but exceeding the limit on playable party members in Xenoblade Chronicles 1!
  • Like Ryu, Ken gets to choose between two Final Smashes — a Marvel vs. Capcom-style giant Shinryuken summoning a pillar of flames, or a brutal sequence of kicks with his Shippu Jinraikyaku.
  • With the Sephiroth DLC, Cloud gets a new Final Smash if you use his "Cloudy Wolf" costumes: Omnislash Ver. 5. This has Cloud surround the opponent with the Fusion Swords, then dart to each one and cut the foe to ribbons with them before driving the opponent into the ground.
  • The Inklings bring out a Killer Wail which blasts any enemies in its path! And just like the Zero Laser, you can actually guide it!
  • Ridley's Final Smash, Plasma Scream, is astounding to see! It's simply him smacking someone onto Samus's ship and then firing a beam at the ship, causing it to explode!
  • Simon and Richter trap the opponent in a coffin, grab the coffin with their whip, and unleash a barrage of energy crosses that bombard the opponent under the moonlight. Looks like Richter taught Simon how to use Grand Cross!
  • King K. Rool's Final Smash? After dashing into the opponent, K. Rool reappears in the Blast-o-Matic, laughing maniacally. And unlike its source game, we actually get to see the effects of the Blast-o-Matic, which is unfortunate for the player since they're stranded on Kong Isle, which promptly is destroyed by the laser blast!
    • Side note: This is the first time the Blast-o-Matic has ever been depicted firing. Think about that for a while.
  • Instead of building a Dream Home like Villager, Isabelle instead builds and blows up a Dream Town Hall with her victims inside.
  • Incineroar unleashes a souped-up version of its Z-Move, called Max Malicious Moonsault, throwing its opponent into the turnbuckle of a wrestling ring, launching them towards the ceiling of the wrestling hall with repeated strikes, then landing on them and headbutt-dunking them into the ring. Which then explodes.
  • In a callback to the Subspace Emissary, Piranha Plant's Final Smash is to summon Petey Piranha with two cages, just like he appeared in that mode, and catches two of the players in said cages. After ensnaring the unfortunate foes, he then proceeds to breathe fire on the cages before slamming them on the ground! And if he's summoned close enough to the edge of the stage, he may even just jump off the side with his prisoners in tow, effectively killing them even at 0%!
  • Joker slashes through his opponents before calling his partners-in-crime and performing a good old All-Out Attack from his original game— complete with his signature "THE SHOW'S OVER" splash screen! For added attention to detail since this is a "KO at 100%" Final Smash, if All-Out Attack ends the match, the splash screen sticks around and becomes the results screen just like in his home game!
    • And, unlike Shulk's Final Smash, Joker's will not summon the same set of party members every time. Any three other Phantom Thieves (Ryuji, Ann, and Morgana or Yusuke, Makoto, and Haru) can join in on the All-Out Attack and either Morgana or Futaba can cheer them on.
  • Disappointed your favorite Dragon Quest hero wasn't playable? Snatch that Smash Ball and bring all the other heroes in to supercharge your sword for a mighty Gigaslash!
  • Banjo & Kazooie summon the Mighty Jinjonator which, along with the other four Jinjos racing by, flies around and absolutely decimates his target(s).
  • Terry combines several of his iconic moves by first launching his victims with Triple Geyser, then knocking them back down with Power Dunk, and finishing the job with the one and only Buster Wolf. In his own words, "Here's a big one"!
    • On a related note, Terry also has two Desperation Moves: At over 100% damage, or down to a third of his Stamina, you can do the Power Geyser or Buster Wolf alone by inputting their commands like in his own games.
    • What's more, Terry is the first character in the history of Smash to have TWO different side specials, one pressing toward his opponent (Burn Knuckle) and one pressing away from them (Crack Shoot).
  • Byleth summons the power of their friend Sothis to perform the Progenitor God's Ruptured Heaven, brutally whipping their foes six ways from Sunday before blasting them off the screen.
  • Min Min launches an opponent outwards with her dragon ARM followed up with attacks from Spring Man, Ribbon Girl, Twintelle, Mechanica, Ninjara, and Master Mummy. After all this, she finishes it up with a giant laser from the same ARM, complete with a gong crash sound effect.
  • Steve places a giant piston in front of the opponent, launching them into a dark jungle temple and locking them inside with an iron door. As they look around, a group of mobs (including three Creepers) come towards them...and then we get an outside view of the entire temple exploding. While Steve eats a "victory steak."
  • Sephiroth slices through opponents, before showing why he's the Trope Namer for One-Winged Angel by transforming into his Safer form. Then he casts his ultimate magic spell: Supernova. Cue a comet hurling through space and destroying Jupiter before it collides with the sun, which then explodes and turns the Earth into a pile of space rubble. For extra detail, the equations used for the spell are kept for the animation, and the move inflicts all manner of Status Effects on foes that are hit, just like in the original Final Fantasy VII game.
  • Pyra calls in Rex to attack with the Aegis itself, and the two team up to incinerate their opponent with Burning Sword. Likewise, Mythra's Final Smash also calls Rex in, but this time they use Sacred Arrow to strike from above.
  • Kazuya launches a beam to trap his opponents. Then, the background becomes a volcanic zone and he transforms into his full demon form seen in the story mode of Tekken 7, announces "This shall be your burial ground!", and begins throwing lasers everywhere. Kazuya only used this form against Heihachi and Akuma, meaning that the gloves are off this time around.
  • Sora creates a giant keyhole to trap his opponents. Then, he seals them inside a giant door with the Smash logo, uses the Keyblade to lock it, then faces the camera as the door explodes. Sakurai hints that it's referencing the climax of Kingdom Hearts III there.
• Sudden Death now involves the screen slowly closing in with a flaming border around the fight. It makes the idea of the concept seem a lot more tense and epic. Also, Bob-ombs will still drop after enough time.
• The mural for Classic Mode slowly ramps up the badassery as you travel further to the right of the image. For an example of just how elaborate this is, it starts out with Daisy, Isabelle and other cutesy characters befriending some confused dark spirits in a forest, to K. Rool and Incineroar locked in combat while the spirits get mischievous, Bowser and DK working together to hold a serpent in place for Bowser Jr., Mii Brawler, and Sonic to take it down, to Link and Corrin leading the charge against an army of hostile spirits, and it ends with Simon, Mega Man, Palutena, Ganondorf, Mewtwo, Mii Gunner, Marth, Cloud, Lucario, Falco, Ken, Mario, Yoshi, Zero Suit Samus, and, of all people, Princess Peach fighting the huge demon from the intensity gauge for 3DS/Wii U.
• For the first time in the series, you can stun Master Hand and Crazy Hand, rendering them helpless while you safely pile on the damage to (maybe even) defeat them.
• It would be one thing if Banjo and Kazooie had most of their standard abilities learned throughout the first game and Tooie, but what really drives it into the realms of awesome is their forward smash, the Breegull Bash. In Tooie, the move was locked behind the notorious Stop 'n' Swop mechanic, meaning very few people learned it unless they went out of their way to get it. The fact that such a Secret Art is incorporated as a major part of their moveset speaks volumes as to how faithful and well-researched Smash actually is.
• Mixed with Funny, the reveal of Sephiroth leads to some incredible gameplay awesomeness. Not only do you get to slaughter your opponents with the single most powerful character in the game, you can fight and even defeat an entity that can One-Hit Kill a Physical God beyond Physical Gods. Even better, you can defeat him as anyone. Want to humiliate Sephiroth with Pichu or Jigglypuff? Or how about having Cloud and Link team up against him? You can even give Mario some cathartic revenge by setting Sephiroth to Level 1 and going to town on him... or have Sephiroth finish what he started. Or better yet, how about taking on Sephiroth with Steve and fighting one of the most feared and revered villains in all of gaming with an ordinary, blocky man that has nothing at his disposal but what he can mine out of the ground? And with Sora later being the final fighter added to Smash, no doubt one final rematch between them after missing out on the chance in Kingdom Hearts III can be in mind. Or even having Sora join up with Cloud and/or Link as well. Or even having Mario join in on the fun from that. It's all possible here!
• To celebrate the final Smash fighter reveal, Sora's moveset showcase had him being featured with every single playable fighter in the game to help show off his moves to you, the viewer. Mixed with Heartwarming, the fact that everyone is really here for this truly says a lot for how incredible this journey has been here!

World of Light/Spirit Board

• The trailer/intro for "World of Light", which is the main story mode:
  • It starts with Fox leading the entire roster against a fearsome sight: An entire army of Master Hands. All of them being led by some angelic thing known as Galeem, who is an incredibly bizarre malevolent being.
  • Marth estimates that they're all outnumbered by 10-to-1 (meaning there are, at most, despite about a hundred seen, over 700 Master Hands). Zelda's response is basically Bring It!
    Zelda: Stow your fear! It's now or never!
    • According to Sakurai, Zelda's line was intended to indicate that the heroes have already been battling Galeem for a long time and this was his last-ditch effort to stop them. So he just didn't show up out of the blue one day and destroy everyone — the heroes might have beat him back with all their might and he about ended the world and out of desperation.
    • Also, the fact that Marth is able to calculate how much they're outnumbered in a split second should be appreciated. It's also a really cool call-back to his home game. Of course a Fire Emblem character would be able to size up the enemy numbers—Robin himself states he has that ability in Fire Emblem: Awakening!
  • Then the mysterious entity absorbs all of the Master Hands, and Shulk has a vision... Of an attack he has no hope of saving anyone from. Cue the massive One-Hit Kill attack overwhelming mortals, legendaries and gods alike. Only Kirby escapes by a hair's breadth. The story basically starts with the Smash cast's Darkest Hour and a Near-Villain Victory, as the fighters are imprisoned to be used as casts for evil copies with red eyes or turned into spirits either wandering the world aimlessly or used by the copies as tools in battle.
  • On a brighter note, the World of Light trailer also features another Indie cameo, who made her debut on the Game Boy Color years ago — Shantae!
  • While Link ultimately gets captured, his Hylian Shield actually manages to block three of the beams of light, something even magic, psychic powers, and gods are helpless against. Truly, the Hylian Shield is Made of Indestructium.
  • Zelda and Mewtwo stand their ground and try to reflect the beams back. Even though they fail, their attempts are admirable.
  • Sonic slows down to try and help Pikachu. As a guy who's often arrogant and cocky, he puts himself in even greater danger to help out someone who is slower than him. Bonus points for the fact that he could have at least bought a few more seconds by going ahead at full speed and even more points for the fact that Sonic often has animal buddies and was likely thinking of them.
  • Bayonetta manages to dodge one of the attacks with Bat Within.
  • Bowser and the Pokémon Trainer also get huge points in that they don't try to evade the beams like most other characters, but they actively try engaging in a Beam-O-War with the beams of light. What's even greater is that the both of them show positively no fear whatsoever — the most reaction Bowser shows is when he gets inevitably blasted into dust, and even then it could just be him feeling the disintegration. It almost seemed as if that they knew they were going to get blown to hell, but immediately decide to pair up and simply fight back like the others, to see if they can at least do something to the beams. They failed, but their efforts were valiant. Out of a slew of Defiant to the End characters, Bowser and the Pokémon Trainer stood out quite a margin.
  • Captain Falcon attempts to escape in the Blue Falcon.
    • Considering how his Final Smash works, he might have well been preparing to charge Galeem head-on.
  • Palutena trying to block the beams so that Pit and Dark Pit can try to escape.
  • And after the dust has settled and everything has been consumed, we see that Kirby beat the odds and escaped the assault. The super-tough pink puff is the last hope to free the other fighters and push back the darkness... and, knowing the little guy's track record, if anyone can pull it off, it's him.
  • To top it off, the second half of the trailer is set to "Lifelight" — a beautiful, vocal version of the game's main theme.
• Just the sheer effort that went into crafting each and every spirit battle goes into this category. The Mythology Gag count is so huge that they got their own subpage for it. And then that subpage got a subpage!
• The moment you discover that Spirits can help you in a different way. Even after losing their bodies, that won't stop them from fighting for your cause. You could go through the adventure alongside Bomberman who blasts rocks in your way as well as Hal Emmerich hacking into a computer terminal so you can storm a military base to potentially save his friend Snake and fight against Galleom once more.
• Let's just cut to the chase and say that fighting and defeating a Legend Spirit^note  or really, any character's spirits if you're a big fan of them is undoubtedly this. But for specific examples:
  • Both Geno and Mallow appear as Spirits. The Geno battle in particular is especially a great one as you fight against representatives of all of the playable party members in Super Mario RPG. It's a tough fight, but well worth the victory.
  • Trevor Belmont comes equipped with Grant, Sypha, and Alucard as a proper Shout-Out to his game. It's only fitting that one of the oldest-recorded Belmonts get treated with such respect.
  • Another good one is The Boss, whom you have to beat within a time limit while your health is ticking down from a poisonous floor. It's a beautifully-crafted reference to her fight, and a real testament to your skills as a fighter.
  • From the same series, the Naked Snake fight takes place in the rain, with a tree-frog, and he's joined by three clones in the battle.
  • Viridi is technically no longer The Unfought; she comes assisted by Cragalanche and manages to actually put up a decent fight. Oh, and you have to beat her before she Reset Bombs the arena. Bonus points if you beat her as Pit (or Palutena).
  • The original Link from the very first The Legend of Zelda. He's represented by Young Link with a red tunic, referencing the Red Ring from that game, and is among the most powerful fighters in the main story. You will feel like the ultimate hero after defeating him.
  • James McCloud has you fighting him atop the Great Fox in Venom, with boosted stats when he gets into the high percentages. Trust your instincts, and you'll be fine.
  • Akuma is a straight one-on-one fight in Suzaku Castle. And he hits like a truck, without being a Glass Cannon, meaning you're dealing with his original Super Street Fighter II Turbo Superboss incarnation. Oh, and bonus points for him being located in the Dark Realm (specifically in the Castlevania section), because of course he'd be there, wandering around looking for a good fight.
  • Tabuu is back, and the fight is every bit as difficult as the real deal. You fight a Giant Metal Bayonetta in a Stamina battle, taking unavoidable damage every so often, on Final Destination.
  • Dr. Wily is a Stamina battle against not one, not two, but eight Metal Mega Men, two at a time, before the doctor himself. It's an endurance match like no other, and you will feel like a champion after landing the final blow on the Doctor.
  • Kaptain K. Rool is one of the last spirits fought in Adventure Mode in a Stamina battle, and not only does he do stronger damage with his blunderbuss AND turn invisible just like in his boss fight in Diddy's Kong Quest, he's even brought his boss theme Crocodile Cacophony with him. Truly worthy of a four-star legend.
  • The Phantom Thieves of Hearts each have a detailed spirit, complete with their own Persona backing them up as well as an environment representing their Palace. However, the spirit for all of them at once is something else entirely. It consists of Morgana, Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke and Makoto as they all start to pile up, little by little, and team up to kick your ass six ways from Sunday. The whole thing becomes a gauntlet with Joker himself waiting at the end, and he's just as formidable as you'd expect. By the end of the whole thing, you'll feel much like a Phantom Thief yourself. As the icing on the cake, this spirit gives you the "Item Autograb" ability (something exclusive to this spirit), allowing you to enact swift thievery in battle.
  • The Hero's Comrades has something similar to the Phantom Thieves of Hearts spirit fight earlier, where the spirit representations of Erik/Camus, Veronica, Serena/Senya, Sylvando/Sylvia, Jade, Rab/Lord Robert, and Hendrik (played by Link, a small Robin, Zelda, Sheik, Zero Suit Samus, a small King Dedede, and Ike respectively) all come after you bit by bit, trying to take you down through any means necessary, with little help beside one Maxim Tomato accompanying you along the way. As a gauntlet run against seven different characters under a stamina battle, the Hero's Comrades gives off everything they represent while also providing quite the challenge to boot.
  • Gruntilda is certainly a treat, especially if you're playing as Banjo & Kazooie. It's a stamina battle like the fight in the original game, with a giant King Dedede representing Grunty and some giant Dr. Marios representing Klungo trying to take you down. In addition, a Smash Ball will appear partway through the fight. If Banjo gets it, you can finish her off with the Mighty Jinjonator like way back then.
  • For SNK fans, Terry Bogard's Spirit Board has quite the treat for them. Not only are most of the usual Fatal Fury crew displayed prominently (with Mai Shiranui missing due to her being a naughty girl), but there are also Spirits showcasing The King of Fighters, Art of Fighting, Samurai Shodown, Ikari Warriors, and even Psycho Soldier as a part of SNK's history. Geese Howard's spirit fight is also fitting as a real bout worthy of the Fatal Fury series with a giant Mii Brawler fighting on an omega version of Fourside, loving his grabs on you. Beating him with Terry Bogard as he knocks the brawler off the stage makes for a fitting conclusion for Geese's fight.
  • Byleth's Spirit Board is also a loving treat for the fans of Fire Emblem: Three Houses with a bunch of characters from Three Houses being spectacularly represented in-game. However, the Legendary spirit battle against Sothis is something that really tests your body and mind as one as the big spoiler of the game not only heals Byleth up after taking enough damage but can also activate Byleth's Final Smash early and use it multiple times, if necessary. Beat Sothis, and you really can say your will and mind truly are as one.
  • Min Min's upgrade to playable fighter means that not only does the earlier characters from ARMS have some new content included, either with new fights (for Ribbon Girl and Ninjara) or sporting some of the same ones from earlier (excluding Min Min's own spirit fight, we have Spring Man and Twintelle moving there), but it also comes with new spirits from the game showing off the entire, base cast of the original game. However, the Legendary fight against Max Brass, the champ of ARMS in-game, brings out King K. Rool with his brute force and power (and growth of size for the initial Hedlok addition) as the perfect choice for Max Brass. Beating him with Min Min will showcase why she's not only the ARMS fighter for Smash, but also the in-canon new champion of the game.
  • With Minecraft's Spirit Board for Steve, Alex, Zombie, & Enderman, it not only is a loving tribute for the highest selling video game of all time, but it also features a few of the hardest Advanced level Spirits yet with the Skeleton, a Ghast, and the Piglin fights in mind, especially if you're playing as one of those characters mentioned above. However, with the Ender Dragon's spirit fight, you not only have a giant Ridley to take care of in the Find Mii stage, but also have to deal with a couple Enderman fighters for good measure, with all of them regenerating health if you don't take care of the Endermen first. Still, if you beat all of them, depending on which character you might have used from Minecraft, you'll have either finished your journey similar to the main game for Steve & Alex, showcased your might as a Zombie to be the new big bad there, or proved your rebellion as an Enderman and show the Ender Dragon off as your own master in the end. (Bonus credit is also in mind if you used one of Minecraft's Mii costumes there as a pig, a Creeper, or a diamond armored swords person.)
  • With Sephiroth's addition, Final Fantasy VII finally got itself proper Spirit representation around here (and additional tracks for good measure). A good mixture of heroes and villains are included here for both Cloud and Sephiroth to go up against. However, since Sephiroth is a playable fighter, the closest figure to the One-Winged Angel himself in terms of legendary power is Bahamut ZERO himself, the most powerful creature one could summon in Final Fantasy VII^note (Plus he can also be summoned on the Midgar stage for good measure.). With Bahamut ZERO's Spirit battle, you better watch out for giant Meta Ridley and his ability to use his Final Smash on you twice for good measure to his power. Still, beat him as either Cloud or Sephiroth, and you can prove that you can beat the One-Winged Angel himself on your own or just further prove how nothing can stand in your way, depending on who you use there.
  • The inclusion of Pyra & Mythra from Xenoblade Chronicles 2 actually broke the mold of Legendary Spirits in its section by including two Legendary Spirit fights for you to go up against!
    • Of course, the Spirit Board for Xenoblade Chronicles 2 feature a greater treat with both older and newer Spirits from the game being included for this one, similar to the one for ARMS. However, there are two battles of great challenge that you need to overcome to beat this one instead of a big one at the end. For the first battle, the fighter has to defeat at least two out of three giant metal Ridleys before you have the right to face off against Malos (represented by a giant Richter Belmont with a light beam). While you do play that match on the Guar Plains (which makes it easier to take care of the Ridleys), you might also have to deal with Metal Face showing up later on in the match as well, depending on whether you can defeat Richter and the Ridleys fast enough. As for the second battle, Pnuema (who had to be given special, unique art of her full body just for this game), it's a stamina match on the Cloud Sea of Alrest where you go up against both Shulk (being the representative of Rex in this fight) and Pyra/Mythra in their ascended form costumes, with Pyra/Mythra also having a sudden Final Smash after a while and being able to occasionally turn into metal if they're at high damage. Defeat both of them in their respective matches, and you can prove yourself worthy of being the core player to beat both Malos and Pnuema in this game. Bonus points for Pyra & Mythra being able to defeat Malos on their own and for them both to later become separate entities by the end of it all.
  • For Tekken fans, they got a fantastic inclusion of Spirits included for the series' Spirit Board. However, who else would have fit the legendary spirit rivalry for Kazuya better than that of his father, Heihachi Mishima? If you bought Heihachi Mishima's Mii costume from Wave 6 back when Min Min was first confirmed exactly one year before Kazuya was released, you have a Mii Brawler in Heihachi's gear representing his character well, with many of the moves Heihachi would have likely had combined with a final smash coming at high damage to make your life Hell. However, beat either him or a Mii Brawler wearing a Dragon Helmet and a black Fighter Uniform (depending on whether you had the Mii costume earlier on) while being Kazuya yourself, and you can show why the son was much worthier of Smash than his father was.
  • Last but not least in the final Fighter Pass is Roxas, Sora's Nobody. Between his famous Dual Wielding style, being That One Boss in the later rereleases of Kingdom Hearts II, and having the most aggressive and ruthless AI of any ally in Kingdom Hearts III, it's no wonder he gets to be this pack's Legend Spirit. Here, he's played by Ultimate Form Sora on the Roxas-themed Dive to the Heart. For added fun, remind Roxas why Sora, in his own words, makes a good other. The back and forth Sonic Raids that are possible also evokes the Air Jousting prevalent in the final battle of Dream Drop Distance.
• For those who didn't like Adam Malkovich in Metroid: Other M, beating the crap out of his Spirit manages to be a massive Catharsis Factor. Especially if you do so as Zero Suit Samus, who was constantly portrayed as childish and naïve in light of him. And to top it all off, he's just a Novice Spirit, meaning he's piss-easy to beat. Any objections, Adam?
  • As a bonus, Young Samus from the same game is an Advanced Spirit. Even back then, Samus was superior to her former boss.
• The Rathalos fight. An epic boss fight that involves lots of weaving/dodging like its origin series and waiting at the right moment to deliver strikes. Rathalos even goes into the background for some cool looking attacks. The fight is also on point with Rathalos' tail and various other body parts stunning it and Deku nuts drops acting as flashbangs.
  • Fight Rathalos as a fighter who uses a sword, especially Link, and try not to hear “The One They Fear”. Or "Proof of a Hero".
• The battle against Marx. On top of being a faithful, lovingly-made recreation of his fight, down to the battlefield, he has been given new attacks that further emphasize how horrifyingly, yet awesomely creepy Marx is. And yet, longtime fans of Kirby need not fear the psycho jester—the cutters, the ice bomb, the laser, the shadow uppercut, the teleporting, the vines and even the black hole are all back, so if you’ve had experience fighting Marx before, you’ll have no problem teaching him a lesson once more.
• The various dungeons implement several of their home game mechanics very well, especially Dracula's Castle. It is a faithful recreation of the map layout of the first Castlevania with excellent fights, transitioning music for each area/stage, a fun puzzle, and the climactic fight against Dracula himself at the very end. The dungeon itself is easily a solid highlight of World of Light.
  • The Street Fighter map is a sight to behold: several fights against many famous fighters from the franchise, culminating in battles against all of Shadaloo's members from the second game before coming to a head with M. Bison. And the terrorist group's leader is not going down without a fight. At the end of the whole ordeal, you finally get to fight and rescue Ryu.
  • The moment when you get the Master Sword in the Legend of Zelda map. First of all, it's guarded not by a Spirit Battle, but a Character Battle. One wonders who this could possibly be, as process of elimination removes any of the Triforce Wielders. Well, it turns out to be none other than Cloud Strife. Once you win and get the sword, the music reaches a triumphant swell as the sword strikes the clouds from the Gerudo Desert portion of the map, destroying them and revealing the whole section.
• Before taking on the true final boss, the player finally gets the chance to play as Master Hand himself in cleaning up most of the rest of the clone armies created by Galeem and Dharkon. Even better, it's Master Hand vs 50 Puppet Fighters at once, seven at a time, and he can attack at quite a faster rate than he has as a boss. Master Hand wins, implying the only reason the Fighters are able to beat him is that he lets them.
  • Master Hand was controlled once already by Tabuu, and as soon as he was free, he launched an attack on his captor. Now that Master Hand has been freed from control once again, it’s not hard to imagine the Aspect of Creation, the architect of the World of Smash, upon seeing his domain perverted into a battleground for two invading deities, as just a little bit ABSOLUTELY LIVID.
• The true final battle against both Galeem and Dharkon. The first stage is a Rise to the Challenge while avoiding their attacks and dealing with a few fights of clones. The second is a Boss Rush against the six main bosses, those being Galleom, Giga Bowser, Ganon, Dracula, and the previously-mentioned Rathalos and Marx. And the final fight is against both Galeem and Dharkon at the same time while they try to kill each other as much as they try to kill you, creating the true climactic fight that began as a Back from the Brink moment with Kirby as the "sole survivor" from Galeem's initial onslaught.
  • The music that plays during the entire battle (even including the boss rush!) is a tremendously epic composition that incorporates both boss themes and the Lifelight theme — female voices represent Galeem, while the male chorus represents Dharkon. The composition perfectly emphasizes the destructive battle between two godlike titans; which is interrupted in the midst of the chaos by a powerful surge of the main theme, beautifully performed by a lone viola before being accompanied by the entire choir, all representing the player, the heroes, and the villains as they attempt to end the conflict once and for all, and save the multiverse.
  • The player can choose any three characters for the final battle, allowing for many awesome potential thematic team combinations. Want to see heroes teaming up? Villains saving the day? Heroes and villains uniting? A Captain N reunion? Third-party characters saving the Nintendo universe? Nintendo, Microsoft, and (sort of) Sony characters working together as a team? Three of the most iconic fighting game characters teaming up? Or even Lethal Joke Characters taking down Eldritch horrors? You're free to make whatever dream team you can imagine!
• As awesome as Kirby being the sole survivor of Galeem's beams of light may be, the way they've integrated the DLC characters into World of Light brings up one other possibility. While they still needed some leg work to be done by having a certain amount of characters join the party (10 in total, excluding Kirby), the fact that a Piranha Plant, Joker, the Dragon Quest heroes (from III, IV, VIII, & XI), Banjo & Kazooie, Terry Bogard, Byleth, Min Min (though she was a spirit at first), Minecraft's Steve, Alex, Zombie, and Enderman (the last two also being spirits themselves); Sephiroth, Pyra & Mythra (who were both separate spirits at first), Kazuya and Sora can all be recruited without being fought or even Spirits who use clone bodies based on them is enough evidence to point towards them have also survived the near-destruction of the Smash Bros. universe.^note Or, in a somewhat metaphysical way, arrived after the fiasco to help out. Which is still cool.
  • Really, that bears repeating. The beams swarmed the entire universe. Sonic couldn't outrun it. Palutena couldn't block it. Bayonetta couldn't dodge it. Only Kirby warping space and time via his Warp Star gave anyone a fighting chance. Escape otherwise should have been impossible. But a freaking house plant, an outlaw high school student, a gaggle of magic swordsmen, a lazy bear and sarcastic bird, an American man with nothing but his chi, a mercenary-turned-professor, a girl with spring-like ramen arms, some creative, cube-composed survivalists and dastardly antagonists, a former hero-turned-psychopathic doom bringer, a pair of literal sword women, a half-demon martial artist, and a kid with a giant key for a weapon did it anyway.
  • Min Min, Pyra and Mythra are very special cases. Why? They're already in the game as Spirits—and ones that could be fought in World of Light, mind you! Given the context of the story and Spirits as a whole, they shouldn't have been playable, given that Min Min and Mythra's bodies were destroyed and they were then forced to possess Puppet Fighters of Corrin, while Pyra met the same fate with a Puppet Fighter of Lucina... and yet they managed to become playable anyway!
  • Zombie and Enderman (two alternate costumes for Steve) are even more impressive, as they were announced as playable characters... then were revealed to have their own Spirits on the Spirit Board a couple of days later! This makes Zombie and Enderman the first and only post-launch characters is to be playable characters and fightable Spirits at the same time!^note While Min Min got in as DLC herself, her original Spirit fight was not only in the launch of the game, but her Spirit fight still has a female Corrin in her place as of Version 12.0.0. Though considering neither Pyra nor Mythra had their Spirit battles updated to include either respective character instead of Lucina and female!Corrin respectively, it's possible that was kept as intentional. Not only that, but both the Zombie and Enderman (especially the Zombie, who could be killed by sunlight in his home game) joined the Piranha Plant as the only Mooks to be playable fighters!
  • With Sephiroth's reveal trailer, it turned out he not only survived Galeem's first attack somehow, but he also stopped a second wave from happening in the first place! Kind of explains why no one else outside of Cloud became spirits the first time around if that's the case!
• With regards to the Min Min reveal, one thing that should be noted is that it revealed a surprise update to the Spirit List. Mainly the fact that in addition to listing every single Spirit available, any Spirit that has a battle that you could actually fight in for either the entire World of Light or somewhere on the Spirit Board, regardless of whether it's in the original Spirit Board or is a DLC Spirit Board fight, will be available for rematches at any time!
  • Remember, this was at a time where Sakurai stated that the Home Run Contest would be the last big thing included for future updates of the game. Now if you've shown any genuine interest in a certain Spirit for whatever reason, you no longer have to resort to waiting for the Spirit Board to get you the right fight or wasting any rematches on a bad fight or even have to travel all over the World of Light to find that one Spirit in question. As long as your Spirit had a fight, you can rematch it at any time you wish, which is a Godsend for anyone wanting to get 100% on all Spirits.
  • Note that in addition to no longer having to wait on the main spirit board, any battles exclusive to World of Light, like Dr. Eggman, can now be played without having to travel all the way to that spirit.
• Disappointed earlier that Final Fantasy had no Spirits for you to unlock outside of Cloud? Well, worry no longer! With the addition of Sephiroth, there are now new Final Fantasy VII Spirits (and music) finally coming over to the party!
• The fact that Kingdom Hearts was even able to get spirit fights at all for their DLC spirit board should also say a lot, considering how protective Disney usually is about their IPs. While the amount of spirits available were the same amount that Hero from the Dragon Quest series got, with none of the spirits being from the main Disney cast that hold greater presences like King Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, or even Yen Sid the wizard, or even from the main antagonist(s) revolving Organization XIII (though some now-former members were included), the fact that we were even able to get spirit board fights for this franchise at all says a lot with the dedication on board here.
• The January 14, 2022 Street Fighter Spirit Board event gave fans still playing the game/event a rather unexpected surprise in store. Despite the claim that there would be no more added updates to the game after Sora's addition, the Spirit Board event from that week gave an extra spirit on board in Evil Ryu from the Street Fighter Alpha series! The reason for the update was to give a special celebration for Street Fighter's 35th anniversary, but even if this update was only a one-time thing, this just goes to show that spirit battles aren't quite over just yet!
• On December 7, 2023, as a celebration of the game's 5th year anniversary, a brand new Spirit Board event called "SSB Ultimate Is Five Years Old!" was announced and released. In addition, four new Spirit Board and Online Tourney events were announced for January 2024!

Other in-game Moments

• The opening. Is it just gameplay interspersed with story cutscenes? Yes. Would we have liked an original cinematic a-la Melee? Of course. Is this still an astounding showcase of what Smash Bros. is all about? HELL TO THE YES.
• Several of the Challenge Board posters have some awesome pics for some of the harder challenges.
  • Zelda of all people utterly destroying Ganondorf AND Ridley with a blast of fire while wearing an expression that just says "I'm done playing nice".
  • A determined Link and Zelda standing side by side.
  • Mewtwo radiating with intense power.
  • Link facing off against both the Fierce Deity and the Black Knight at the same time. And given the steam coming off of them, he's winning.
  • Little Mac and King K. Rool clashing in the boxing ring.
  • Lucina, Inkling, and Shulk taunting over their defeated enemies.
  • Ike jumping up to face Galeem.
  • R.O.B. using his Final Smash against Dharkon.
  • The Inkling girl reaching to grab a Smash Ball. While it sounds mundane, the effects give it a triumphant feel.
  • A recreation of Ryu and Ken's special intro from Street Fighter 3 in front of a sunset.
  • Yoshi pulling off his best Akuma impression in front of a defeated Ken.
  • While also funny, Incineroar charging the Spirit Train is a damn good metaphor for taking on opponents stronger than yourself and winning.
  • Snake armed with his RPG-7 defending a wounded Zero Suit Samus and Bayonetta.
    • Alternatively, since the scene is sometimes said to actually be recreating Snake's having just killed Sniper Wolf (who Zero Suit Samus would represent here while Otacon is represented by Bayonetta), it brings a morbid sense of awesome in that the relatively human (albeit supersoldier human at that) Snake was able to take on the galaxy's strongest warrior who is far above superhuman and win.
  • Wario taking on all of the Fire Emblem fighters at once.
• Mario's Classic Mode. It has him face off against Nintendo’s biggest series^note The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Pokémon, and Fire Emblem, and his archenemies^note Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings, followed by Bowser and then Giga Bowser, proving once and for all why he’s the face of Nintendo.
• Bowser's Classic Mode The Red One. Ever Red One! has Bowser facing various red-colored fighters on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against Mario. On the way, he faces a RATHALOS, who is not even a final boss like he is in other Classic Modes.
• Bayonetta's Classic Mode, where the opponents represent her first game's plot. Dark Pit is an Applaud, Falco is a Fairness, Ridley is an Allegiance, Charizard is Fortitudo, Meta Knight is the Masked Lumen, The Pit swarm are Affinities and Palutena is Jubileus, The Creator.
• Terry's Classic Mode. He faces multiple teams with three fighters each, on his own without any backup, and wins. Even better when you realize that he has 50% more stamina than each individual fighter, implying that from the viewpoint of the teams, he's actually a (reasonably balanced) SNK Boss.
• Byleth's Classic Mode. After dueling with all seven of their franchise predecessors, the Professor of Garreg Mach faces off against the Hand Brothers... but they're not alone. The Fire Emblem theme blares out, overriding the Final Destination music as the entire FE crew all spawns in beside you. Sure, they have much less health than you and will likely perish mid-battle, but they will definitely rack up loads of damage in the process... so long as the hands don't do a particularly devastating attack on you early, of course.
• Sephiroth's Classic Mode doesn't have him fight a single playable fighter, not even Cloud. Instead, he fights every mini boss and actual boss from the game in a row, concluding with Master Hand & Crazy Hand facing Sephiroth in the Northern Cave stage instead of the usual Final Destination stage most other fighters are transported to for their Classic Mode matches.^*(Joker had his fight with them in Mementos, which fit his Classic Mode adventure, but the hands journeying through Sephiroth's stage meant the hands were bringing the fight to him personally there.)

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