Adding Sora to Smash Ultimate will make him the most epic of the game’s DLC characters, but it will be a bit of a puzzle to get him in.
If you’ve been asking for the Kingdom Hearts protagonist Sora to be added in as a DLC character for Smash Ultimate, you may have hope yet for the Keyblade Wielder’s Smash invitation letter.
The protagonist of the Final Fantasy/Disney JRPG mashup wears big shoes, has a goofy grin, and has won the hearts of millions. He has a moveset ready to be translated into a Smash character, and the fan following to prove his inclusion successful.
He is often at the top of fan-voted lists, and for good reason. Fans are waiting for Kingdom Hearts 4, and after Kingdom Hearts 3 turned out to be such a fantastic end to the Xehanort Saga, we can understand why.
Our Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Unofficial Fighter's Ballot: DLC Edition has finally concluded! Here are the results: pic.twitter.com/IeV8UCO4tz
— Super Smash Bros. Ultimate News (@SSBUNews) May 6, 2019
The KH series is back at the forefront of pop culture, making this the best time to introduce Sora in Ultimate as a DLC character. We have more characters than the original five coming in future Smash DLC character releases, meaning that there are more opportunities for fan-favorites like Sora to be added in.
Copyright nightmare
You may be asking yourself, “Would Disney ever let their character into Smash Bros.?” It’s a good question because Disney hasn’t really let Sora outside of the Kingdom Hearts series before. Could the first time Sora leaps out of the KH games be within the Smash universe? Without Donald and Goofy (let alone Mickey Mouse), sure, why not.
As it turns out, Disney isn’t that turned off from allowing one of their IPs into Smash.
Word on Sora in Smash has also been referenced by VP & General Manager at Disney Japan, Justin Scarpone. Scarpone stated the following (summarized on the KHInsider Forums):
-Scarpone has really close ties with Tetsuya Nomura and Shinji Hashimoto.
-From the most pivotal legal standpoint, the copyright of Sora belongs to Disney.
-Disney cannot leisurely use Sora freely. When using Sora for any type of marketing, Disney always has to ask permission from Tetsuya Nomura and Square Enix themselves to allow the use of Sora’s character, whether it be in Disney or Square Enix. They want to make sure Nomura would be 100% comfortable with the idea.
-Disney would have to get the invitation from Nintendo and have fan-demand to really get the process of Sora being in Smash going. This would also need major approval from Square Enix and Nomura.
-Disney is not very restrictive, but rather very particular. So Disney would not have crazy strict control as people like to say.
-If all those things came together, then Sora in Smash would be something Disney would consider.
–Kingdom Hearts 3 is currently Disney’s biggest priority, anything after KH3’s development, that is something Disney can seriously consider afterwards.
TL;DR: There’s hope. Sora was in Chain of Memories for the GBA, along with 358/2 Days for DS, and Dream Drop Distance for the 3DS. He has been on many a Nintendo platform, and his next is bound to be the Switch.
Word on the street
Square Enix has some stakes here as well, but seeing as Cloud from the Final Fantasy series has been included, the door for Square characters is already wide open. Rumblings of the company’s interest in bringing Sora to Smash can be found, if one knows where to look.
A student that interviewed Shinki Hashimoto, the co-creator of the Kingdom Hearts games and Brand Manager for the Final Fantasy series, shares the following:
About Sora, of course I know there could be NDA things and all, and the fact that he could lie to us, but I wanted to precise that his exact words was : "He's not planned into the game". And I precise as well that he seems pleasantly surprised by the question.
— Forest (@Forest_ier) May 28, 2019
However, eagle-eyed fans were able to screenshot a retweet by Hashimoto back in September of 2018 that seemed to confirm at least some interest in including Sora in Smash. Peep the below tweet of Hashimoto’s response to some Sora Smash announcement fan art.
Also keep in mind this happened. Not saying Sora will actually happen or not but the fact that he deleted his response to this tweet after it started getting attention is kind of saying something to us fans pic.twitter.com/ttjLfjPASP
— f (@cloutgang97) May 27, 2019
Was Hashimoto’s response to the tweet a peek behind the curtain? Or was he simply exclaiming that he loved the fanart/concept of adding Sora in Smash Ultimate? If I was a betting man, I’d put this at 50/50.
It’s still too soon to see whether or not Sora will be added into Smash Ultimate, but if he does, he will break the internet, even more than Banjo did. Watch this space for any word on Nintendo adding Sora as a DLC character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.