‘Kingdom Hearts’ Sora Is ‘Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s Final Fighter

After spending the better part of a decade as being Super Smash Bros. fans’ most requested addition, Kingdom Hearts’ beloved hero Sora has finally come to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The big announcement comes as a part of today’s Sakurai Presents, a series of live streams hosted by Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai in which the studio legend unveils new characters, maps, cosmetics, and various changes coming to the Nintendo Switch title. The latest Sakurai Presents marks the last one for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, as Sora is confirmed to be the final piece of DLC headed to the 2018 game. However, the momentous, shocking, and surprisingly emotional reveal gives us far more reason to celebrate everything the Super Smash team accomplished rather than lament the game’s completion.

For starters, just getting Sora in the game was a feat in itself. As Kingdom Hearts is in-part a Disney property, a lot of fans wrote off the possibility of Nintendo ever acquiring rights to the character. However, obtaining Sora for the game became a priority for Sakurai, late Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata, and the rest of the Super Smash team following a roster request survey sent to fans on 3DS and Wii U several years ago that revealed the character was the most requested to join Super Smash by a lot.

The big reveal shows the team did not take Sora’s demand lightly, as nearly unparalleled attention to detail went into designing the character and his assets. The light and flighty fighter uses his keyblade as well as his various spells to attack opponents, and appears to be a pretty solid choice for those seeking a character able to recover from powerful smash attacks with ease. Sora also comes with 9 Kingdom Hearts tracks, a new level that showcases Hollow Bastion and the iconic stained glass stages from the series, and his various outfits from all the series’ mainline games.

Oh, and last but certainly not least, Sakurai also snuck in another huge Kingdom Hearts announcement in his final Presents: the series is headed to Nintendo Switch. Shortly before the live stream came to a close, Sakurai revealed the Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 Remix, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, and Kingdom Hearts III are all headed to the console via cloud streaming. As of right now, prices and release dates for each of the games have yet to be announced, but Sakurai stated more information is coming soon.

Sora hits Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on October 18 and, just like the game’s previously-released fighters, can either be purchased individually for $5.99 or as part of the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Fighter Pass Vol. 2 for $29.99. While you can expect some push-back from Super Smash fans who are tired of the series adding weapon-wielding characters (or sword-fighters), I gotta say, I think the outpouring of love, support, and tears from long-time Kingdom Hearts fans (and Sakurai himself) truly make up for it.