Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a 2018 crossover fighting game developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the fifth installment in the Super Smash Bros. series, succeeding Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U.
Sora from the Kingdom Hearts franchise was added to the game as its final DLC on October 18, 2021 after being revealed on October 6 earlier that year.
== Gameplay ==
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a platform fighter for up to eight players in which characters from various video game franchises must try to knock each other out of an arena. Each player has a percentage meter, which raises when they take damage, thus increasing the knockback they take and making them easier to launch in the air and out of the arena. Standard battles use one of three victory conditions: Timed, where players aim to win the most points by defeating opponents within a time limit; Stock, where players have a set number of lives and must aim to be the last player standing; and Stamina, where players must simply reduce their opponent's health down to zero to defeat them. 
== List of Disney elements ==
=== Sora ===
On October 5, 2021, Sora was announced as the game's final downloadable character, and was released on October 18, 2021 as part of Challenger Pack 11. Sora's default appearance is based on his outfit from Kingdom Hearts, and he wields the Kingdom Key. His alternate costumes are based on his Kingdom Hearts II outfit, his Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance outfit, his Kingdom Hearts III outfit, his Timeless River outfit, Valor Form, Wisdom Form, and Ultimate Form. Haley Joel Osment and Miyu Irino, who respectively voice Sora in English and Japanese versions of the Kingdom Hearts series, reprise their roles via archive audio from Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance and Kingdom Hearts Re:coded.
According to game director Masahiro Sakurai, Sora was the winner of the Smash Bros. Fighter Ballot, a ballot held in 2015 for players to vote for their favorite characters as an upcoming DLC character for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U. However, Sora was not realizable and negotiable at the time, and while Bayonetta was announced on December 15, 2015, as the ballot's winner and the game's final DLC character, Sakurai still wanted to get Sora in Ultimate, leading to discussions between Disney, Square Enix, and Nintendo that would culminate in Sora becoming the final DLC fighter in Ultimate.
Tetsuya Nomura revealed that while Disney was eager about Sora's inclusion in a Super Smash Bros. title, he was very picky; thinking it would be hard to pull off regarding the lore in the series. Eventually, the game's director Masahiro Sakurai received permission to include Sora after a chance meeting with a Disney executive at a "certain game awards venue".
=== Stage (Hollow Bastion) ===
Hollow Bastion appears in the game as a playable stage and is included with Challenger Pack 11. It consists of a large platform designed after Hollow Bastion's walls, with pipes, stained glass, and a Heartless emblem on the front. A smaller platform floats above, with sides of stained glass, and a pattern resembling the lifts on top. The background of the stage travels through the Rising Falls, and around the castle, before returning to the Rising Falls.
When time, stocks, or health are running low, the stage transforms into Dive to the Heart, which keeps the same layout, but features one of seven Stations of Awakening appearing in the background, with cameos from different characters and objects:
*Sora's station has Riku, Kairi, a Paopu Fruit, and the Highwind. Its background depicts Destiny Islands, and its ring border features the series' famous crown design.
*Riku's station has Sora, Naminé, and Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. Its background depicts the Realm of Darkness, and its ring border features cards from Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories.
*Roxas's station has Axel, Xion, and Riku, as he appears in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. Its background depicts Twilight Town's clock tower, and its ring border features the Nobody emblem.
*Xion's station has Axel, Saïx, Xemnas, and Sora. Its background depicts Where Nothing Gathers from The World That Never Was, and its ring border features the Nobody emblem.
*Terra's station has Ventus, Aqua, and the Wayfinders he and they possess. Its background depicts a checkered pattern with the series' famous heart and crown designs along with the Unversed emblem, and its ring border alternates between a Wayfinder and Terra's own emblem.
*Ventus's station exclusively has Wayfinders, uniquely lacking any other characters. Its background depicts the Keyblade Graveyard, and its ring border features Terra's emblem.
*Aqua's station has Terra, Ventus, Vanitas, and Xehanort. Its background depicts a checkered pattern with the series' famous heart and crown designs along with the Unversed emblem, and its ring border features a Wayfinder.
=== Music ===
Challenger Pack 11 comes with nine music tracks that can be played on the Hollow Bastion stage, and any of the original stages in the game.
*Night of Fate
*Destiny's Force
*Shrouding Dark Cloud
*Hand in Hand
*Blast Away! -Gummi Ship II-
*Hollow Bastion
*Scherzo Di Notte
*Fragments of Sorrow
*Destati
*Dearly Beloved -Swing Version- (Have a save data for KINGDOM HEARTS Melody of Memory.)
=== Spirits ===
*Sora
*Sora (KINGDOM HEARTS II)
*Sora (KINGDOM HEARTS 3D [Dream Drop Distance])
*Sora (KINGDOM HEARTS III)
*Sora (Timeless River)
*Riku
*Kairi
*Roxas
*Axel
*Xion
*Terra
*Ventus
*Aqua
===amiibo===
amiibo are a line of interactive figurines and cards that use near field communication technology to interact with Nintendo consoles. A Super Smash Bros. series amiibo of Sora was announced during a Nintendo Direct held September 14, 2023 and released on February 16, 2024. The amiibo is compatible with the game and creates a Figure Player that can participate in battles, learning from the matches and adapting its combat style while leveling up to level 50.
==Gallery==
===Character artwork===
Sora SSBU.png|Sora's Kingdom Hearts design artwork
Sora-Alt 1 SSBU.png|Sora's Kingdom Hearts II design artwork
Sora-Alt 2 SSBU.png|Sora's Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance design artwork
Sora-Alt 3 SSBU.png|Sora's Kingdom Hearts III design artwork
===Screenshots===
Sora-Smash.jpg|Sora's splash art for his trailer.
Sora and Mario SSBU.jpg|Sora shakes hands with Mario at the end of the reveal trailer.
SSBUStainedGlass01.jpg|Sora's Dive to the Heart station, showing Donald and Goofy replaced with icons from Sora's original station in Birth by Sleep.
SSBUStainedGlass02.png|Riku's Dive to the Heart station, showing Mickey replaced by Sora.
File:Mii and Sora in Smash Ultimate.png|A Mii Gunner with Sora in-game.
==Trivia== 
*Sora's inclusion in the game makes him the first and only character in the series owned by a company that does not primarily make video games.
*Disney has previously collaborated with Nintendo on multiple occasions, having done so as early as the 1960s with several products such as playing cards and board games.
*Miis, avatars that are prominent in certain Disney video games, appear alongside Sora as playable fighters.
**Additionally, Disney is the only third-party company represented in the game to not offer any collectible Mii costumes based off their properties.
*While Masahiro Sakurai has a strict rule of only allowing video game characters into the Super Smash Bros. series, Sora's Keyblade still retains the Hidden Mickey Keychain. This makes Mickey one of the very few characters to make any sort of appearance in the series who isn’t a video game character.
*The game's key artwork is referenced in the film Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers through a billboard for the fictional video game "Disney Afternoon Fight Fest".
*Disney is the second oldest company represented in Smash, with only Nintendo debuting first by 34 years.
*Coincidentally, Sora was revealed in the same month Disney was founded, with his release only falling 2 days after Disney's 98th anniversary.
*Disney is the second major Western third-party company to be introduced to the Super Smash Bros. series, after Microsoft.
*In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Mickey Mouse and Mickey and Donald, both Game & Watch games based on the eponymous Disney characters, are listed in the Chronicle in all regions. Three additional games are also included exclusively in the Japanese version, those being the Nintendo 64 version of Mickey's Speedway USA, Disney's Magical Quest Starring Mickey and Minnie, and Disney's Magical Mirror Starring Mickey Mouse.
*At the end of Sora's trailer, he shakes hands with Mario, the first Smash fighter. Incidentally, Super Mario 64 played a role in the creation of Kingdom Hearts. While trying to work on a new game, one worker at Square (before it merged with Enix) said that only a Disney character could possibly rival Mario.
==External link==
*Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on Smashpedia.
Category:Video games
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Category:Nintendo Switch games
Category:2018 video games
Category:Non-Disney
Category:Nintendo games
Category:Crossovers
Category:Kingdom Hearts