Why is Sora in Smash Bros. Important?

To us humans, 1095 days or about 3 years may not seem like a whole lot of time. Yet for video games, 3 years can be a long time to keep the hype for the said game going. No video game is a better example of that than Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for the Nintendo Switch. Since its release in 2018 Nintendo and specifically game creator Masahiro Sakurai have kept the excitement going with the reveal of 12 new characters for those 3 years. Each character was a surprise to be sure but if you look at all the characters as a whole you see a very interesting picture. Super Smash Bros. has always been a fighting game that celebrates Nintendo in fun and imaginative ways.  Ultimate, however, isn’t just a celebration of Nintendo but with all the characters included it is now a celebration of video games as a whole. Sora from Kingdom Hearts is the last DLC character that was just introduced and people all over the internet were crying tears of joy. So why though? Why is Sora such a big deal? 

In 2002, the world was introduced to Kingdom Hearts, a game that no one saw coming nor knew what an impact it would make on gaming. Kingdom Hearts was created by Square Enix, a company known for its RPGs and inventive world-building with games like Final Fantasy with input from The Walt Disney Company. The game was an action role-playing game (RPG) that combined the worlds of Final Fantasy characters with Disney characters and worlds. Sora was created as an original character that could bridge the gap between the two worlds and be an avatar for the player. To say it was a big hit would be an understatement as its success spawned countless squeals which include games on almost every system in the last couple of generations from the Nintendo’s Gameboy Advance, DS, 3DS, and Switch as well as Sony’s PSP, Playstations 2,3, and 4, Microsoft’s Xbox One, and of course mobile phone games. Because of the gameplay and the fact that Disney characters have such a wide appeal to a generation of gamers around the world. For that generation, Kingdom Hearts was their introduction to RPGs and to some their introduction to video games in general. So it is no wonder that Sora was the winner of the Smash Ballot a few years ago as revealed by Masahiro Sakurai during Sora’s reveal. 

Now that Sora has been added just look at the final roster of over 82 playable fighters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and something is very clear. What was once a celebration of Nintendo’s characters and history is now a celebration of all video gaming history. Where else can you have Pac-man, Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, Mega Man, and now Sora in the same game? Now I am aware that there are many more historic characters that could be added by both Nintendo and other companies but now is not the time to complain but to celebrate the big deal that Sora is being added to. If for nothing else but because Sora is a character owned by both SquareEnix and Disney. To do anything with Sora outside of his own games is tricky legally and to know more check out this video I saw by Virtual Legality about more legal information. Just speaking historically though Disney is not known for sharing characters with other companies. 

I myself am very excited for Sora’s inclusion in my favorite fighting game because of how much Kingdom Hearts means to me. I know there are people who feel the same way so it has been a new favorite thing of mine to watch other people’s genuine reactions on social media. So why is Sora from Kingdom Hearts being added to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate a big deal? Because of how much the Kingdom Hearts games mean to a whole generation of gamers, what a celebration of video gaming history that Super Smash Bros. has become, and how hard it was to get him in the game in the first place. It may have taken 3 years to get to this point but it has been an exciting 3 years. So let’s celebrate this amazing news and thank Sakurai and all the people who worked on this amazing game and were able to make the impossible happen.