Welcome to...What the Spirit?! An on-going series in which we uncover the origin of each
and every Spirit & Spirit Battle in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Spirits are based on
characters and items from either the history of Nintendo or video games in general, and
each battle against them is specially tailored to reflect that Spirit and its origin, whether
through the character it possesses, the stage, music selection, or even the items--they all
serve as clues and connections to the Spirit’s origin--sometimes in surprising ways. It’s
all incredibly clever and often even more obtuse. So in Volume 1, we’ll be breaking
down ten of the characters we’ve encountered in these Spirit Battles to uncover exactly
What the Spirit is going on with them?!
Reyn from Xenoblade Chronicles is Shulk’s best friend and the Tank of the party. So
naturally he possesses Ryu who best matches his bulky, up-close fighting style. Going
one step further, Ryu is dressed in his orange outfit, which matches the color scheme of
Reyn’s default clothes. In addition, the Spirit begins the battle with a Beam Sword
which is a reference to Reyn’s weapon, the Gunlance. Although we can’t help but think
the Back Shield would’ve helped emphasize his weapon even more in terms of his Tank
role.
The fight takes place on Gaur Plain and the music is “Time to Fight!” both of which
make sense for Reyn as they’re from his game. “Time to Fight” in particular was
the battle theme for many of the areas in the first half of Xenoblade Chronicles. But
all the conditions surrounding the Reyn Spirit Battle match his character and role as well.
The Spirit has super armor but moves slower, again referencing the Tank nature of Reyn.
It’s also a timed Stamina Battle which is perhaps aimed at fitting the RPG aesthetic
with how you must drop opponent’s HP to zero. Finally, the Spirit loves to taunt and
anyone who has played Xenoblade Chronicles knows how often it’s Reyn Time. And if you
don’t, Reyn will tell you again and again. Once the Spirit Battle is won, the actual
Reyn Spirit is a Primary and lacks any special abilities.
Chespin from Pokémon is the Grass starter for the 6th Generation, X & Y. For its Spirit
Battle, it possesses the only Grass Pokémon in Smash Ultimate, Ivysaur. The battle takes
place in Kongo Jungle which is likely meant to represent a wild battle against the Pokémon.
This is further emphasized by the choice of music, “Battle! (Wild Pokémon)” from
Pokémon X & Y. But the conditions of the fight show more of Chespin itself. Poké Balls
are the only items that spawn and they all contain Chespin which, yeah, that makes sense.
No better way to get him in there after all.
But the Spirit also favors Neutral Specials which is the Bullet Seed attack, a move that
Chespin cannot learn. However, this could be a close approximation of his Seed Bomb
move, which the Chespin from the Poké Ball uses, or the Bulletproof Ability that Chespin
can have in the Pokémon games, protecting it from ball and bomb moves. Another mystery
though is why there are three Ivysaur to fight. Is it a reference to Horde Battles in X & Y
where 5 Pokémon attack at once? Well there’s only 3 here, but World of Light does cap out
at 4 enemy characters so having 5 is simply impossible. Maybe the other two are there
to represent Chespin’s evolutions, Quilladin and Chesnaught? At any rate, the Chespin Spirit
that is earned is a Primary with the Ability, Fire Weakness, which Chespin is also weak
to in the Pokémon games.
The Bonus Fruit from Pac-Man is also a Spirit and a unique one at that. It possesses the
body of Pac-Man and takes place on the Omega version of Pac-Land. This is key because the
battle itself is only 20 seconds long and there are two Spirits to defeat. If the player
doesn’t, they’ll have to try again. But this itself is a reference to the Bonus Fruit
as they only stayed on-screen for between 9 and 10 seconds as it was variable in the
original arcade release. So the player only has 20 seconds to metaphorically get both
fruit. Of course, the other condition of the battle is that Spirits favor Neutral Specials
which literally tosses the Bonus Fruit. And fittingly enough, the music is “Pac-Man”
which is a remix of the original arcade song. The Bonus Fruit Spirit that is obtained for
winning is a Support that allows players to start battles with extra stamina when in Stamina
Battles. I mean, they are bonuses after all.
Blaze the Cat from the Sonic series is a princess from another dimension with the ability to
channel fire. So of course her Spirit Battle is filled with the stuff. She possesses the
body of the pink Female Robin, which is the closest to Blaze’s color scheme, and Robin
makes extensive use of her ArcFire special. The fight itself takes place on the Battlefield
version of Green Hill Zone where the base floor is filled with lava while her own explosion
and fire attacks have increased power. And in fact, she even begins with a Fire Flower.
Yeah, it’s not too hard to get Blaze’s theme in here, but the choice of “Reach
for the Stars” is rather interesting.
Not many of the Sonic songs in Smash Ultimate are from games where Blaze appeared. The only
three are “His World” from Sonic 2006, “Knight of the Wind” from Sonic & the
Black Knight, and “Reach for the Stars” which was also featured in the DS version
of Sonic Colors. For my money “His World” has the closest connection to Blaze, but Sonic
2006 did retcon Blaze’s origin so maybe this stays away from that mess. Finally, the
Blaze Spirit that you can equip is a Support that allows the Player to start with Superspicy
Curry breath and continuously spit out fire. Again, the connections to Blaze and her fire
powers are pretty obvious.
Another unique Spirit is the Gravity Suit from the Metroid series. This armor upgrade
for Samus increases her defense while allowing her to move freely in water and survive intensely
hot rooms. The Spirit naturally possesses Samus in her Gravity Suit outfit. The stage
is the underground cavern portion of Castle Siege and its lava filled background is meant
to invoke the lava areas of the Metroid games, which necessitate the Gravity Suit in the
first place. Likewise, the music is “Sector 1’ from Metroid Fusion which also required
the Gravity Suit to fully explore its fiery depths. The conditions of the fight also highlight
the Gravity Suit’s advantages as the player’s jumping power has been decreased, which effectively
emulates Samus’s poor jumping ability in water prior to obtaining the Gravity Suit,
while the Spirit itself is unaffected by the condition. When the Gravity Suit Spirit is
earned, it is a Support that reduces the damage players take from lava floors. Again, this
suit is all about protecting you from fire.
Charlie is one of the three main characters in Pikmin 3 and his Spirit possesses Alph,
one of the other characters from that game. Alph is in his green outfit matching the green
suit Charlie wears in the game. The fight takes place on the Battlefield version of
Garden of Hope which is an area featured in Pikmin 3 while the music is “Mission Mode”
from that game as well. This might be an indication that this is considered an extra mission for
the Charlie Spirit rather than referencing a specific section of the game. This might
also be the reason Charlie wields a drill as some treasures have to be dug up.
However, the slippery floor condition is likely a reference to the cold location that you
find him in the game, Distant Tundra, and how it was filled with snow and ice. Charlie’s
reinforcements come in the form of two other Alph fighters, one with the default color
indicating Alph himself and one with a pink suit referencing Brittany. So the entire trio
from Pikmin 3 is here in this Spirit Battle! But the Charlie Spirit that you earn is a
Master Spirit with no special abilities.
Master Belch is a boss from Earthbound that’s supposed to be simply gross. So it’s rather
fitting that he possesses Wario for the Spirit Battle, especially since both battle using
gas, just a slightly different kind. Wario is even wearing his green outfit to match
Master Belch’s coloring. The fight takes place in the Battlefield version of the Mario
Bros. stage which resembles a sewer and perhaps even Belch’s Factory from Earthbound. The
song is the mash-up of “Unfounded Revenge” and the “Smashing Song of Praise,” which
is the only boss theme from the Earthbound series to make it into Smash Ultimate, which
seems appropriate enough given Master Belch is a boss.
The conditions for the battle seem to refer to the fight against Master Belch. The floor
is sticky making it difficult to quickly move around. This might be a reference to the Fly
Honey that’s used to distract him as it would be quite sticky. Or it could be related
to the sticky Zombie Paper that you needed to use on zombies in order to get that honey.
It could even relate to the fact that he’s just an animated pile of vomit and would naturally
slow everything down. Look, a lot of things are sticky around Master Belch. But the other
condition is that the player has reduced defense after a while, which is likely a reference
to Master Belch’s burp attack that causes Nausea, resulting in taking damage every turn.
The Master Belch Spirit that is earned is a Primary and lowers the player’s speed,
likely referring to Belch being a blob that doesn’t move that fast.
Gryll is the final boss of Kirby’s Super Star Stacker, a Super Nintendo puzzle game
that was never released to the west due to the arrival of the Nintendo 64. As Gryll comes
from a puzzle game, the fight takes places on the Battlefield version of Greens Greens
which is a little odd as that doesn’t have the falling blocks that the normal Green Greens
does, which would be a perfect fit for a puzzle game based around falling blocks. Music-wise,
“Green Greens” from Smash Bros. Melee plays which fits the stage more than any kind
of theming with Gryll. But the Spirit does possess Jigglypuff with her green hat. This
matches Gryll pretty well as they’re both pretty much a head with and arms and legs
while the green hat fits with Gryll’s green tuft of hair.
The conditions of the battle have Warp Stars appear frequently with the Spirit constantly
trying to grab them. This is a reference to the story of Kirby’s Super Star Stackers
which has Kirby challenging other characters to puzzle battles in order to gather the scattered
pieces of Mr. Star. Gryll only appears if this is done without using a continue. So
gathering stars is kind of the point of the whole game. The equippable Gryll Spirit is
a Primary although it doesn’t have any special abilities.
Don Bongo is a boss in Yoshi’s Story and a rather tough Spirit to fight. He possesses
the body of King Dedede in his green costume, better matching Don Bongo’s own large size
and green appearance. Fittingly, the fight takes place on the Yoshi’s Story stage with
the “Yoshi’s Story” song from Smash Bros. Melee. There are three songs from Yoshi’s
Story in Smash Ultimate, but this one best fits Don Bongo as one is the credits theme,
“Yoshi’s Tale” while the other is “Yoshi’s Story” from Smash Bros. 64 which is based
on the title screen and first level. The Melee version fits the motif of Yoshi’s Story
as a whole so it’s likely that’s the reason it was chosen.
The conditions seem a little paradoxical at first with the enemy having reduced movement
speed but also getting increased movement speed after a little while. This a reference
to how Don Bongo’s movements are slow at first, but then pick up speed after getting
hit twice. And since he’s so big, it makes sense that the Spirit would be giant-sized
as well. The Don Bongo Spirit that is obtained is a Primary and grants a boost to the Player’s
fire attacks. But we’re not sure why that is as Don Bongo doesn’t fight with fire
attacks at all and his level isn’t based on fire either. Perhaps it’s related to
how his lips swell when hit with Yoshi’s eggs? That swelling would be pretty hot to
the touch!
Roll Caskett is a mechanic and Mega Man’s friend in the Mega Man Legends games. She
possesses the body of Isabelle in her red outfit, better matching Roll’s own clothes.
Isabelle was likely chosen because she has a plethora of different items to use much
like Roll’s gadgets and mechanics. The battle takes place on the Pilotwings stage which
is meant to match the flying airships common to the Legends games and Roll’s own Flutter.
The music is the “Light Plane” Pilotwings remix from Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and
3DS and is used to match the feeling of the Pilotwings stage since there’s no Mega Man
Legends music in Smash Ultimate.
The conditions are kept simple as the game simply advises to take your strongest team
into a no-frills battle. That said, there are a few elements here to spice things up.
For one, Hocotate Bombs will frequently appear which are likely cheeky callbacks to the end
of Mega Man Legends 2 where Mega Man finds himself stranded on the moon. So the Hocotate
Bombs are kind of like Roll’s efforts to build a spaceship to go rescue him. She’s
also joined by a small Diddy Kong who’s supposed to represent the little monkey, Data,
which allowed Mega Man to save his game. Equipping Roll Caskett’s Spirit slightly increases
the power of projectile weapons like bows or guns, another nod to her mechanical knowledge
and how she powered up Mega Man’s Mega Buster.
And that’s only 10 of the battles featured in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. There’s an
incredible attention to detail here that might not be appreciated at first glance. But thought
is put into every one of these fights. Which is your favorite though? And which Spirit
origins would you like us to cover in the next episode? Let us know in the comments
and of course be sure to subscribe to GameXplain for more on Smash Ultimate and other things
gaming.
There’s an incredible attention to detail here that might not be appreciated at first
glance, with an impressive amount of thought and research put into each and every Spirit
battle. And we've only covered 10 so far, with hundreds and hundreds more to go. Yeah,
we're going to be here for a while. Which one is your favorite so far though? And which
Spirit origins have you asking...What the Spirit?! Let us know what Spirits you’d
like us to cover in the next episode by posting in the comments below. And of course be sure
to subscribe to GameXplain for more on Smash Ultimate and other things gaming.