Hey guys, I know this is a quick break from my normal videos, but I wanted to give some
quick thoughts on a franchise I have a history with. As you guys have probably seen by now,
all over the internet, Sora is the final Smash character. Now I'm sure there's going to be
some grunts and groans from the audience, and trust me, Sora wasn't exactly my pick
for the last one (RIP Geno), but then again I'm glad he wasn't because I think would've
been wrong and Sakurai clearly did it better. This is my opinion on why Sora is the Perfect
Final Smash character.
First, let's look at the history of Smash. I grew up in the 90s so I'm fairly familiar
with the Smash franchise and especially the first game that came out for the Nintendo
64. It was a mind blowing concept in gaming at the time – nobody as a kid would ever
expect to settle a debate of “Pokemon is better than Mario” by beating your friend
into oblivion with Pikachu. And honestly, I owe this game for introducing me to one
of my favorite games of all time – EarthBound (another video I plan to make in the future).
When Melee came out in 2 years later in 2001, it left a lasting impact not only on the Smash
franchise, but the fighting game culture itself (and yes, I called Smash a fighting game.
If you have the core mechanics of a fighting game in a fighting game despite how it looks,
it's still a fighting game), as tournaments are still held to this day. It had updated
graphics, a larger roster, more stages, improved mechanics... everything you could want in
a perfect sequel.
While it would be 7 years before we got another sequel, fans were antsy as they waited. People
wanted all sorts of characters in Smash – Sonic, Banjo, Cloud, Geno, Ryu, etc. A lot of us
were thinking, “well, if they could pull obscure characters from games we've never
even heard of, like Roy & Marth, or bring in characters like Mr. Game & Watch and Ice
Climbers, anything's possible, right?” A popular fan game called Super Smash Flash
was made and even had some of the characters, I mentioned – hell, they even threw Naruto
and Mega Man X in the mix. I even remember hearing rumors back in the day that Melee
originally had Sonic and Tails planned for it, with fake April Fools' screenshots “proving”
it's existence.
When Brawl came out, despite how you feel about the game... it made another impact.
Once again, it had new graphics, new story mode, larger roster, and for the first time
ever, 3rd party characters. Solid Snake and of course, Sonic the Hedgehog. Yeah that's
right, Mario's ultimate rival from another company in the 90s was now here to settle
the score with Mario. And of course Konami's own Solid Snake, breaking into Smash Bros.,
was huge news as well.
Smash 4 came out in 2014 for the 3DS and Wii U. In my opinion, this game is what helped
saved the Wii U from being scrapped earlier than it could've been alongside Super Mario
Maker. Because I didn't own a GameCube and came to Brawl really late when I finally got
a Wii, 4 was the first game I really took time to learn from (outside of) the 64 days,
and boy did I have a learning curve. This is something I'll talk about in a future video
but 4 again, updated graphics, new story mode, larger roster, bringing back stages and fighters
from the past, balanced gameplay, etc. But not only that... in what was a shock to myself
and other fans since the 2000s, we got characters we never thought we would see in official
Smash games – Cloud and Ryu. And let's not forget Pac-Man, Mega Man, and Bayonetta, because
those are also notable names too, but Cloud and RYU... not to mention, Ryu carrying over
his mechanics from Street Fighter.
That brings us to Smash Ultimate. I don't even have to give this game an introduction,
largest roster to date with now a total of 89 characters. We got characters that definitely
were wanted also in the days past – King K. Rool, Banjo Kazooie, Simon Belmont, Isabelle....
but little did we know we had some shocking times ahead of us as far as DLC. First...
Joker. This one made sense because Persona 5, at least among my peers, was still very
popular at the time. Then came Hero, again made sense because of Dragon Quest's popularity.
I mentioned Banjo & Kazooie earlier as also a long time coming, but because Rare owned
the characters and moved to Xbox a long time ago, this just didn't seem possible at the
time. Then we got Terry Bogard... another favorite of mine, and what people don't realize
is Sakurai is a true fan of the fighting game classics. The next notable one was Steve...
and despite how you feel about this, I thought it was smart. Fire Emblem characters were
over done at this point and while he was nowhere near my picks at the time, all of the DLCs
at that point were fun to play. And even talking about other games outside of Smash, we saw
all kinds of crossovers we never thought possible – Akuma, Noctis, and Geese in Tekken, Robocop,
Terminator and Predator in Mortal Kombat... you really could say anything was possible
at this point. Hell, even SANS from Undertale was in the game (as a skin at least), and
funny enough, I called it a year ago that it was going to open more doors for franchises
to trust Smash in handling the characters. If Minecraft, the powerhouse that it is, could
now trust Sakurai... who else could we get?
And then we got Sephiroth. I had never honestly expected we would see another Final Fantasy
character, but it was very fitting that Sephiroth would be here to antagonize Cloud once again
in a separate franchise. But no, it didn't stop there... KAZUYA MISHIMA, was here to
throw people off cliffs! And in a sick & funny way, his CPU became notorious for being hard
to beat as a flashback to Tekken 2, and Sakurai once again treated the franchise right by
having his moveset and similar input just like he did with Ryu and Terry.
This now brings us to the meat of the discussion, and why I think Sora is the perfect final
Smash character. The first reason is that it's super fitting. Smash was a radical concept
back in the day as I mentioned before, and Mario giant swinging Link went together like
Peanut Butter and Jelly. I remember when Kingdom Hearts first came out in 2002; people dogged
on it so bad and thought it was never gonna work. But it did. Disney and Final Fantasy
went together like bacon and eggs. What better way to end the Ultimate roster, a game notable
for being one of the biggest crossovers of all time, than to have the protagonist of
an equally notable crossover franchise? 2 of the biggest games back in the early 2000s
have now finally come together 20 years later.
That brings us to the 2nd reason, he's been a wanted character for almost 20 years now.
It's crazy to think that I have been alive and been aware of how long he's been wanted
as a Smash Bros. Character and as the saying goes, “what a time to be alive.” Also
it turns out Sora won the poll back in 2015 as the most requested character. He's been
up in there in the picks for a long time, along with others that have been wanted such
as Geno, Waluigi, Goku, Naruto (and yes, I'm being dead serious about those last two, I
have seen people request those names), and now Sora has made it. I remember seeing him
in Smash Bros. fan games and parodies as “man, this would be cool to happen someday, I don't
know if it ever will.” To me, this is about as great as being there when Edge returned
to wrestling in 2020 after a career ending neck injury.
The 3rd reason is competition. I don't know if Sora being the final pick was a jab at
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, which comes out today, but it couldn't have been a more perfect
time. All-Star Brawl has looked promising since the teaser dropped, and it looks to
be a solid alternative to Smash Bros. Considering the fact that Disney and Nickelodeon have
been butting heads for years, Disney allowing Sora to be used in Smash was the boost it
needed to take on All-Star Brawl. As we've seen in many things, competition brings out
the best in everybody and it pushes each person to its limits. I think Sakurai also wanted
to give the fans something that they wanted, coming back to the poll that was taken during
the height of Smash 4.
What does this mean for the future? Well, for one, Disney may be open to more crossovers.
Disney is notably very protective of its intellectual property. Even seeing Mickey Mouse and Bugs
Bunny together in Who Framed Roger Rabbit was mind blowing at the time, regardless of
Disney owning the film rights. As I mentioned before, I really think Steve was a turning
point as so many different franchises have been apart of the Smash universe for some
time. Minecraft is a powerhouse of its own and to trust Smash was a huge step. Most importantly
this could be the last Smash Bros. Game, and I'm fairly certain it will be, though I could
be mistaken. Sakurai notably has had health problems since working on the franchise; in
2013, he was diagnosed with calcific tendinitis near his right shoulder which slowed down
his work. While working on Ultimate, he had stomach issues and used an IV Drip to help
him get through development. He's worked long hours and his health had taken a toll so much
that he had to reshift his work-life balance to leave the office by 10PM, no matter what.
Thankfully, a little over month ago, he is no longer struggling with calcific tendonitis
and his health has seemingly improved. As someone who has had my own issues with overworking,
not taking care of myself and burning out, I hope Sakurai takes the proper rest that
he needs, as he's done amazing things with the franchise over the past 22 years.
Let me know what you guys think – what were some of your picks for the final Smash DLC?
If you enjoyed the video, please give it a like and subscribe, as these help my channel
grow. Thanks for watching, stay beautiful, stay awesome, and we'll catch you around next
time.