Sora From Kingdom Hearts Series Revealed As The Final DLC Fighter For Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

After three years of updates and over 80 different fighters, Masahiro Sakurai has finally announced the identity of the final character that will be joining the Super Smash Bros. roster during a special 40 minute Mr. Sakurai Presents presentation. The heartfelt send off took place on October 5th, 2021 at which point Sakurai himself, who served as Game Director for the popular Nintendo title, revealed that Sora from the Kingdom Hearts franchise was finally coming to the game as a playable character while jokingly saying: “What?! I was shocked too!” on camera with a large smile on his face.

Fans have long been requesting his addition to the game and Sakurai certainly saved the best surprise for last… poor Waluigi. Sakurai has known that Sora was the most requested fighter since 2015 when Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U was released. Fans filled out the Smash Bros. Fighter Ballot to explain which character they believed should get an invitation with a 500 word explanation for their nomination. Sakurai met with Satoru Iwata before his passing in 2015 to discuss the results and agreed to keep them a secret so as to not bring any sort of inconvenience to any of the parties involved from fans demanding that their choice be added to the game.

For those unfamiliar with the series, Kingdom Hearts originally launched back in 2002 and was developed by Disney and Square Enix exclusively for PlayStation 2 consoles. The fan-favourite franchise allows players to travel to different worlds from the both the Disney and Pixar universe including Little Mermaid, Toy Story, and Hercules with unique gameplay, battle simulations, and characters across the thirteen different games available on a variety of gaming platforms with more on the way.

Since Super Smash Bros. Ultimate launched on December 7th, 2018 exclusively for Nintendo Switch consoles, players have amassed over 2.2 billion hours of gameplay with 11.7 billion offline matches and 7.8 billion online multiplayer battles. The beloved Nintendo title has also seen the inclusion of 12 DLC fighters across three separate bundles including Piranha Plant, Banjo & Kazooie, Min Min, and Kazuya from the Tekken series. Sora will be the final fighter to join the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Fighters Pass Vol. 2 on October 18th, 2021 which can be purchased for $37.79 CAD directly from the Nintendo eShop with Piranha Plant and Vol. 1 DLC available for $7.55 CAD and $31.49 CAD respectively.

Sora is a fitting end to the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate lifecycle and his signature look and airborne moves were able to be translated over from the Kingdom Hearts series with ease, allowing him to be an approachable fighter for players with a unique feel that helps him stand on his own. While fighting in the air, Sora is quite good at taking down opponents with a combination of high jumps and soft momentum. Generally, lighter characters are easily susceptible to launch attacks but the powerful and combo-based Keyblade will make quick work of anyone trying to knock him out of the battlefield.

Having a fan-favorite character like Sora join the ranks of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the perfect way to close out the Fighters Pass expansions. With a dozen fighters added since the game launched, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate now boasts 86 total fighters spanning the entire history of video games, giving players an unprecedented amount of gameplay choices and options.

Nick Chavez, Senior Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Communications, Nintendo of America

Once players download Challenger Pack 11 – single character pack at $7.55 CAD – nine additional music tracks will be available which have been taken directly from the Kingdom Hearts series including “Dearly Beloved -Swing Version” from Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory which released worldwide back in November 2020 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Windows PC. Nintendo has also announced that three popular entries in the Kingdom Hearts series will be making its way to the Nintendo Switch via cloud gaming including:

• Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX (Cloud Version)
• Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue (Cloud Version)
• Kingdom Hearts III +Re Mind (Cloud Version)

Challenger Pack 11 will also include a NEW stage called Hollow Bastion which fans of Kingdom Hearts will immediately recognize from several Kingdom Hearts titles including Kingdom Hearts III which features one primary platform in the centre of the stage. Towards the end of the battle, players will be transported to a special area inspired by the Dive to the Heart realm with a few special appearances from past Kingdom Hearts alumni which fans will surely enjoy.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is available now exclusively for Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Lite consoles.