Sora in Smash

 Finally, indeed

And so it has finally come to pass, the clock has turned and the final Super Smash Bros. Character to be added in the largest crossover game of all time has come. I was actually late to the reveal (take a shot for me being late to a gaming event for the fiftyist time) so when I logged in all I saw was a couple of characters duking it out on a by-the-numbers stage and I remember thinking "Okay, so when does the cool stuff happen, who's the new character. All we've got here is Samus and Sora. Wait, wait a second... one of these guys isn't supposed to be here!" And that's how I learnt that our finale hero is going to be the bearer of the Keyblade himself; Sora of the Disney Square Enix divide. Aspirant of Kingdom Hearts, slayer of Heartless, friend to every single major Disney character ever, and remover of puberty during that one chase at the end of Kingdom Hearts 1 but the beginning of 'Chain of Memories'. And may I just say it's about time.

I mean the only reason I didn't recognise him straight away was because I assumed he was already part of the cast, that's how much of a no-brainer Sora was, but I guess the fact that we have him now is going to be an achievement to rest laurels on, huh. Does this make for that explosive finale we all were waiting for? I mean perhaps, for a few, but this isn't so much the mind-blowing "Oh my god, they got ____?" As it is the head scratching, "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Doesn't it?" Then again, looking at Fortnite and the lackadaisical way they've handled crossovers throughout the years, I guess we really shouldn't just be down for anyone showing up anyway. Without Sakurai and his team of professionals leading the way, we'd be getting a procession of low effort skin jobs and not the all encompassing character creation which makes Smash Bros. creation so very special.

Whatsmore, when you really stop and think about it, putting Sora in any other video game is quite the huge deal when you consider that he is a creation of a property owned by Square Enix as well as the notoriously difficulty-to-work-with Disney. In fact, I think the only reason this deal was able to go through is because Disney relinquished it's reign of video games quite a while ago, and so Square have majority control over the direction of the series. The request for this crossover was likely just a document shoved on the desk of Chapek that he signed off on without reading a single word of it. Nintendo and Disney getting into negotiations together sounds like a recipe for abject litigational disaster as far as I'm concerned, and all the courts in the world have been spared a horrible death by paper cut.

That last livestream was a pretty emotionally charged moment for a lot of people out there, not least of all for Waluigi holdouts who don't seem to grasp the concept that the guy is already an assist trophy, thus he actually cannot become a fighter now. (I know most are just memeing, but some people get actually upset and it confuses me.) Seeing Sakurai build up to the moment was a big deal, seeing as how this game has been the ultimate culmination of all his work on Smash up until now. (And the fact that the final DLC character was supposed to drop at the end of the last DLC pack.) Though given the part of the industry he hails from it was obvious we weren't going to see any outward emotion,  I think the gravity of the finality surrounding the reveal touched us all. (Of course, for me that was in retrospect, because I turned up late.)

As for the reveal video itself, that was pretty much as sweet and emotional as it could have been; watching the fire of the Smash logo snuff itself out for one final invitation and then seeing that Invitation be the Keyblade unlocking Kingdom Hearts to release Sora. Or rather, I think that's what they were going for. The whole 'Door to Kingdom Hearts' thing has shifted over the years to the point where I legitimately have no idea what they were fighting over at the end of the first game anymore, so speculation abounds. But seeing Sora drift into the void and float above the dozens of his now contemporaries, was heart-warming to see. And I was even more excited to see that this was Kingdom Hearts 1 Sora. Or rather, Kingdom Hearts 2 Sora in 1 Sora's clothes, for whatever reason. A real call to the past from the team there, nicely done.

Sora's moveset was also touched upon with great detail, but anyone who has played the original games to their completion probably knows a great deal of these moves anyway. A lot of it just naturally flows from the combos in the old games just fine, because these franchises have been destined for each other for so long now. The only move I would personally call to question would be that Final Smash, which has Sora trapping his enemy inside of Kingdom Hearts (as it's identified in KH1, not the KH2 Moon) and then exploding it? Is that- is that a good thing? Isn't Kingdom Hearts integral to the fabric of the universe or something? And since when can the Keyblade blow up doors? I thought that keys opened things in much more traditional ways.

Yoko Shimomura's wonderful suites make for a much welcome edition to the Smash Bros. line up of tracks, and the fact that there won't be any original compositions is just fine when we're talking about tunes this iconic and great. (Except, of course, for the victory fanfare which was composed especially by Shimomura herself.) Swashbuckling adventure pieces really do highlight the similarities I find, and I mean this in the best of ways, between Sakurai and Tetsuya Nomura. Both are visionaries who dance to their own tune, for better or for worse. Both created fabulous and memorable series' that touched the hearts of millions. And now both have their DNA within Smash Bros. given that Nomura's baby, Sora, is fighting inside of Sakurai's baby colosseum game.

If you've been around here for any length of time you'll know that I'm a huge Kingdom Hearts fan (except for Chain of Memories) and thus I couldn't think of a more fitting end for the Smash Bros. lineup than what we've seen today. Except for, I dunno, a crossover with 'Heritage from the Future', but let's not go talking any more craziness up in here. Heck, I already got Pyra, I shouldn't start getting greedy with demands and such. Putting Smash Bros. to rest is a surreal thing to be doing, especially as I, for one, was sure that a third character pack was due to be announced anyday now, and who knows how many years it'll be until a follow-up. (if, indeed, there ever is one.) But all good things must have an ending, and I think we can all agree to some extent that Smash Bros has had this one a long time coming. Till the next one, Sakurai.