Super Smash Bros. Ultimate x Kingdom Rush

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate x Kingdom Rush is a collaboration between Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Kingdom Rush, announced on 23 February 2020 and released on 3 June 2020. It is also the first Fighter Pack in the third Fighters Pass of the game, titled Fighters Pass Omicron.
The pack includes two playable characters, a stage, 42 music tracks, a Spirit Board of 20 Spirits and 6 Mii costumes.
==What is Kingdom Rush?==
Kingdom Rush is a tower defense game series that began as a flash game published in 2011 on Armor Games and various other less noteworthy websites by Ironhide Games. Thanks to its innovative gameplay, distinctive artstyle, catchy music and creative worldbuilding, Kingdom Rush the first quickly rose to the top, today standing as the most played game on Armor Games, having about as much plays as there are people in France. Following this overwhelming success, the game received ports on mobile devices, and, as this showed to be not only another huge commercial success but an extremely good fit for the series' gameplay, mobile versions became Ironhide's main concern. In 2013, a sequel titled Kingdom Rush Frontiers, which served as a complete change of setting from the first game rather than a straightforward, expected follow-up, and enhanced every already great thing about the original, released, first on mobile and then on Flash (currently standing as the 4th most played on Armor Games, with about as much plays as there are people in Iraq). Colossal praise ensued, a strong community started forming around this strangely elaborate and polished series of flash games and over the following years, the first two games received new heroes and campaigns as well as rather successful Steam ports that removed all paywalls. In 2014, Kingdom Rush Origins was released for mobile devices only, and, while Origins was an excellent game that received its fair share of praise especially for a mobile game, the series went into hiatus for a while.
In 2017, a then untitled fourth entry was teased. The following year, Kingdom Rush Vengeance, a completely new entry that took our pre-conceived ideas of the series and flipped them inside out, , was released on mobile to universal acclaim, reviving the series and opening the door to an Origins Steam port only a month after. To this day, Vengeance continues to receive new campaigns, heroes and towers, most of which reference or build upon elements from the previous games as homages to components of the seires now iconic among the community. Recently, a Nintendo Switch port of Kingdom Rush: Frontiers was released - marking Ironhide and Kingdom Rush's first installment on consoles - with plans to port every other game onto the platform.
Now, as for the games themselves: the series' gameplay follows a basic model, that of a map with paths, entry points from which enemies arrive, exits points where enemies take lives - leading to the player losing the level - and, most importantly, pre-determined strategical points where the player can build towers. There are four tower types in KR: Archers, that shoot arrows to deal physical damage (affected by armor but not magic resistance), Mages, that deal magical damage (affected by magic resistance but not armor), Artilleries, that can either deal physical or magical damage but all share the trait of dealing damage to multiple enemies at once and Barracks, which are really where KR's originality comes into play: in most tower defense games, enemies simply progress towards the exit and are damaged by towers on their way, the goal being to damage enemies enough so that they die before reach the exit. Kingdom Rush adds a layer of complexity to that template, can be blocked along their path: indeed, Barracks don't actually do anything by themselves but produce units that go on the path and block one enemy at once. The enemy then cannot move again until the unit that has blocked him is dead. Units also attack enemies they have blocked, and vice-versa, so most special enemy traits are built on their interactions with units: whether they have the ability to fly to completely avoid being blocked, to attack multiple units at once or from a distance, to explode upon dying to damage units, etc. In addition to units generated by Barracks, the player also chooses a Hero before the level starts from a large roster that expands as the game progresses (and unfortunately requires micro-transactions to be completed in the mobile versions). The Hero will appear as a fully controllable unit on the map, that acts as a stronger footsoldier with both passive and special abilities, such as being able to teleport across the stage, inflict debuffs upon foes, summon ally units, one-shot certain enemies, buff nearby towers... While most heroes use melee and special attacks as their main way to deal damage, some are ranged heroes, and though they can still block enemy units, they most likely have lackluster health, melee damage and cannot use their special attacks when blocking. Other, rarer heroes are flying units, that cannot block enemies but deal damage to them from above, and can themselves only be damaged by ranged enemy units.
Story-wise, the games have a rather standard fantasy setting and lore: after all, the first game was not designed to take place in a particularly unique universe but a generic, conventional one that left room for the gameplay to really shine. As such, the first game had three main areas: green plains, frosty mountains and dark wastelands. Further updates introduced extra areas that re-used elements of the other three, namely haunted graveyards and literal Hell. The second game, appropriately titled Frontiers, pushed the frontiers of the world of KR as it took place outside of the main and titular Kingdom, and introduced a strangely populated desert, a supernatural jungle, a lizard-inhabited underground and a sea monster-infested beach. The third game, which also had a very appropriate title (Origins) as it took place a few decades prior to the other games in the series, had a more dream-like, magical setting, and less distinct environments, being a woodland, an enchanted forest and flying ruins. The final game mainly revisited locations from the previous game with some added flair: a volcanic dwarf kingdom, frozen mountains and the familiar plains from the first game being the main areas, with further updates adding mystical ponds, more frozen lands and the graveyard area from the first two games. As for the deadly inhabitants of those areas - enemies and bosses -, they are numerous and quite diverse, ranging from goblins, orcs, spiders, demons, treants and zombies to scorpions, wasps, voodoo wizards, saurians, amphibians, ghosts, gnolls, satyrs, boars, dark elves, etc. You can find a detailed and informative list of enemies and bosses on the Kingdom Rush wiki, which is the best way to learn more about the series besides playing the games.
==Playable characters==
===#1===
The first character in the pack is King Denas, the titular Kingdom's bumbling, lumpish ruler constantly carried in his own throne by servants. His default skin retains his appearance from Kingdom Rush Vengeance, as seen above, although two of his alternate skins give him the purple pajamas of his original look. Denas seemed appropriate as the first Kingdom Rush representative, since, aside from being the overlooking protagonist and the driving force behind the entire series, he is the only character to appear in all 4 games, even if only as an ending cameo in the second one.
While the source material to pull from is, as such, somewhat richer than other characters that could've been chosen, KR is still a Tower Defense series where singular heroes are not the focus. Still, Denas is shown to have a very... bombastic fighting style, throwing food and cups at foes, calling on catapults to do the work for himself and even swearing as a way to buff nearby towers. Though he rarely uses it as his older self, he is also constantly seen carrying a sword and wields it skillfully in Origins. In the same game, as his younger self, he is also shown to be able to lift and smash a giant mace, this, coupled with his large stature, hints at him having formidable strength. But, much like his worst enemies, the King's minions are the real threat and the ones who evidently do all the work for him. Not only do they carry him around, but, extrapolating from Denas' size, supposed strength and his visible discontent for his servants, he also uses them as portable weapons in-game, lifting them up and swinging them around like flails.
To mimick the tower construction system of the original series, his Neutral Special, most complex attack and main "gimmick", if you consider he does have one, is exactly that: he leaves a peasant on the ground, another comes out of a magic portal to keep him... lifted, and the first one starts building. Just like in-game, one of four type of towers can be built as explained in the full detailed moveset and they can all be upgraded into four special and very powerful towers each. Besides that, magic is also shown to be used on various instances throughout his movesets, presumably coming from an off-stage wizard employed in Denas' army. Overall, his set of abilities and attacks is a healthy combination of canon appearances and extrapolation/adaptation.
In-game, Denas is, as expected, a defense-oriented character who focuses on keeping the enemy away from him while he stacks up towers, builds up Swear Meter (it's going to make a lot more sense when you read the moveset below, I swear) and his Royal Guard. Still, and thanks to his insane stage-control tools, he isn't exactly annoying to fight against more than he is challenging, as spamming attacks is not a viable solution for Denas players due to their relative clunkiness (the attacks', not the players').
===#2===
The second character in the pack is Vez'nan, the most powerful sorcerer in the titular Kingdom, the main antagonist of the first game, the indirect antagonist of the second one, the secondary anti-hero of the third one and the overlooking protagonist of the fourth one. His default skin retains his appearance from Kindgom Rush Vengeance, although two of his alternate skins give him the bulkier, cloaked look from the first and third games. Aside from Denas, Vez'nan is undeniably the driving force of the entire series, as most enemies you fight, and later on most towers you control are his very own army.
Thanks to the overabundance of creatures under Vez'nan's control showcased throughout the series and his vast array of dark magic powers, the hardest part of making his moveset wasn't so much finding references as it was choosing which ones to include. Indeed, the Dark Lord's army is extremely diverse, consisting of a motley crew of bandits, outcasts, tyrants and beasts taken from every corner of the Kingdom Rush universe, and most of what they do, Vez'nan himself can't really do. This manifests in his moveset by a very heavy use of teleportation to bring various monsters in and use them as attacks, as well as constantly phasing his staff from the third game in and out of existence to use it as a blunt weapon and a vessel for dark spells.
To mimick the tower construction system of the fourth game, the one where Vez'nan is the overarching protagonist, his Neutral Special works as a faster, more nervous version of Denas' with a card system giving it a unique element of versatility and randomness.
In-game, sharply contrasting with Denas, Vez'nan is an extremely aggressive character with erratic mobility, being able to quickly bounce all around the stage while summoning Towers and enemies, and unleash devastating though hard to pull of combos. While Denas' stage control tools are used as a zoning tool and a way for him to create himself a large area on control on the stage, Vez'nan's allow him to make the stage his area of control, trading durability on his minions for speed and (though temporary) damage.
==Stage==
===Linirea===
LINIREA
Linirea is a transformation or travel-based stage featuring three iconic locations from the titular Kingdom of Linirea taken from the first game. All three locations are major boss fights in the game, and all three have some kind of significance both in-universe and in-game.
The first location used is the Citadel, the very first boss fight of Kingdom Rush. For many players, the Citadel was both the first level to present a real threat, with the infamous Juggernaut and his seeking hand missiles that spawn enemies right next to the exit point, as well as the first to provide the player with unique ways to overcome those challenges, with the introduction of the Arcane Wizard and Holy Order as specialized towers. In Smash, the Citadel stage is depicted as an arcing hill with a large royal castle on top of it, with a similar aesthetic to Denas' Castle as portrayed in Vengeance. The hill curves downwards and its lower, unseen part forms bottom blast zones using the steep curve. The castle cannot be entered , despite having doors on both sides as invisible walls block the entry. Two unmoving royal guards defend each door, although they will not attack players.
The hazard of the stage is in the form of waves, mimicking the tower defense system of the games; there are three waves, each lasting about 30 minute. All units can be damaged by players regardless of teams and in-oppositions, and failing to prevent units form entering the castle will result in global debuffs for all players, requiring them to cooperate in order to win a game of Kingdom Rush inside of Smash. All of them will slowly move up the hill towards the door, and the royal guards will attack incoming enemies.
The first wave is made of Goblins, Orcs, Ogres, Shamans and Gargoyles. Goblins, Orcs and Ogres are all increasingly powerful and slow ground enemies with melee weapons. Shamans are identical, but weaker in health and heal themselves and allies. Gargoyles fly above other enemies but are otherwise somewhat weak. The second wave is made of Bandits, Brigands , Marauders , Wulves and Worgs. The first three all correspond to better versions of first wave enemies: Bandits and Brigands are faster than Goblins and Orcs, while Marauders have better weapons than Ogres. Wulves and Worgs are both extremely fast, but rather weak, with Worgs being bigger and stronger than wWlves. The final wave is made of Dark Knights and Shadow Archers, with The Juggernaut leading them. Dark Knights are very resistant but sluggish while Shadow Archers attack from a distance.
The Juggernaut is a large and imposing foe who walks very slowly but has several special abilities: firstly, he deals tremendous damage and knockback to players. Second, he shoots missiles on top of the castle, a normally safe zone, that spawn small minions that will not seek the entry but only attack players. After all waves are complete, buffs (if they have been completed with a minimal number of enemies entering the castle) or debuffs will be dealt and KR1's Vez'nan will swoop in and change the stage to the next area.
The second area is the Stormcloud Temple, the second boss fight and final level of the Mountains area in KR1. In the game, this level is a tricky one, utilizing the various gimmicks of the area to their full extent, such as curved paths, mine entrances that essentially teleport enemies, as well as a unique special tower that only this level has and a boss with the ability to one shot units and immobilize towers easily. In Smash, the stage is similar to the Citadel but much larger, and has several spiky mountains forming a chain rather than one curved hill. Rather than being a solid construct, the Temple is in the background, with protruding statues that can be interacted with by attacking them, and a Sunray Tower also in the background to the right of the mountain chain that regularly one-shoots a random enemy.
The Stormcloud Temple also has 3 waves. The first wave is made of Trolls, Troll Champions, Troll Chieftains and Winter Wolves. All three types of Trolls regenerate with time, while Troll Champions throw ranged hatchets and Troll Chieftains beat on their drums, making other enemies faster and stronger. Winter Wolves are faster versions of Worgs. The second wave is made of Rocket Riders, Dark Knights and Dark Slayers. Rocket Riders are essentially Gargoyles that can do high speed dashes, while Dark Slayers are all-around tougher Dark Knights. The third wave is made of Yetis led by J.T.. Yetis have very high health and can deal area damage. J.T. is extremely strong, durable, and has the ability to freeze players. After all waves are complete, buffs (if they have been completed with a minimal number of enemies entering the castle) or debuffs will be dealt and KR1's Vez'nan will swoop in and change the stage to the next area.
The third area is the Dark Tower, the third and final boss fight of the main campaign in KR1. In the game, the level is not only the culminating point of tension of the entire narrative but a recurring location in the series, being the tutorial level of Vengeance as well. It also, as usual with boss levels, utilizes various mechanics from the rpevious levels, such as Summoning Circles from which enemies spawn or a cemetery that constantly spits out weak, slow skeletons in large numbers. In Smash, the stage is slightly less large than the Stormcloud Temple, but much larger vertically. Most of it consists of a large tower mimicking the aesthetic of Vez'nan's in the level, with 9 floors each representing a boss from the first 3 games in reverse order (1st Origins boss, 2nd Origins boss, 3rd Origins boss, 1st Frontiers boss, etc.). Unlike every previous stage, the lower part of it has walk-offs rather than a bottom blast zone, composed of volcanos on each side and a cemetery on the left side.
The first floor represents Hi-Hi Enha. It appears as a desecrated grove with a large, old Gnoll (Enha, years after his first appearance) running around wildly knocking players away. The second floor represents Malicia. It appears as a green-blue tinted pond in an enchanted oasis with a dark purple aura. An old Malicia overtaken by the grass is responsible for that aura, which makes all player attacks weaker in it. The third floor represents the Spider Goddess, and appears as a series of floating platforms that enemies jump to to climb up the floor, as opposed to simply walking up the stairs, making the floor much shorter than other ones. Spiders are also crawling all over it, and will immobilize players if the stay on the floor for too long - the decomposing corpse of the Spider Goddess is visible in the background. The fourth floor represents Nazeru, and appears as an oriental palace with the genie in the background on a throne. Nazeru will randomly snap his fingers, teleporting a random enemy to another random floor. The fifth floor represents Quincu, and appears as a small jungle with Quincu in the background beating his chest, making enemies move faster. The sixth floor represents Umbra, and appears as a dark cavern with an almost dead Umbra quickly rushing itself from left to right, left to right, left to right again and again sending players flying. The seventh floor represents the Juggernaut, and appears as a furnace with a disassembled Juggernaut in the background producing damaging fire from its chest. The eighth floor represents J.T. and appears as the inside of an iceberg with J.T. exhaling freezing air from his comically large mouth onto enemies. The ninth, final floor, has Vez'nan sitting on his Vengeance throne. Vez'nan does not do anything but make demeaning comments to the players through black and orange speech bubbles before the final wave.
The stage has three waves as well. The first wave is made of Demon Spawns, Demon Imps, Demon Hounds and Demon Lords . The first three are powered up versions of respectively Goblins, Gargoyles and Worgs that blow up when killed and the Demon Lords can summon magic shields for other units, and also blow up when killed. The second wave is made of Necromancers, Magma Elementals and Flareons. Necromancers are ranged attackers who summon hordes of weak skeletons from the ground, Magma Elementals are massive creatures with the highest health of any enemy in Linirea and big area damage out of their fist slams, while Flaerons are fast and powerful ranged demons who spit out flames and also blow up when killed.
The final wave is composed of three mini-bosses and the final boss: the Demon Legion, the Gulaemon, the Cerberus, and Vez'nan. The Demon Legion is a single armored demon soldier that can duplicate itself massively, its clones also being able to duplicate though to a less extreme extent, and every Demon Legion produced blows up when killed. The Gulaemon is a single obese demon with a tiny pitchfork that is able to lift iself up using comically small wings and come crashing down on the ground, generating large fire shockwaves. The Cerberus is an osteoderm-armored, colossal three-headed Demon Hound with very high speed, health, and damage, making it the biggest threat of the three.
All mini-bosses will spawn at the same time, while Vez'nan will spawn after all three have been defeated. Vez'nan is a level 3-9 (depending on how well the players have performed throughout the stage) A.I. using the playable character Vez'nan. No matter its level, the A.I. has a noticeable preference for grabbing players and continuously pummeling them, never throwing them. One of two unique characteristics the Boss Vez'nan possesses is the ability to deal large chunks of damage by doing so, referencing the character's Soul Burn in KR1. The other ability he has allows him to summon any enemies from the stage, including ones from the Citadel or Temple, from various summoning circles around the stage. He also constantly has super armor, essentially making him a regular enemy despite being a full playable character. After Vez'nan is defeated by sustaining 250% of damage, he triggers his Final Smash and becomes the Archdemon. Instead of being a temporary transformation for a massive attack, it becomes a permanent transformation until another 250% is dealt to him. During the transformation, Vez'nan is able to execute weaker versions of all attacks he would normally do during his Final Smash, but separately.
After Vez'nan's true form is defeated or it reaches the exit, the stage automatically ends whether all stocks have been lost/the timer is over or not. In the case of the former, stocks will be counted like points in a Time battle.
==Music Tracks==
Kingdom Rush 	Kingdom Rush Frontiers 	Kingdom Rush Origins 	Kingdom Rush Vengeance
Main Theme 	Frontiers Theme 	Menu Theme (Origins) 	Vengeance Main Theme
Battle Preparations 	Frontiers Map 	Origins Map Theme 	Dwarves Theme
Under Attack 	Desert Preparation 	Elven Woods Preparation 	Ice Theme
Creatures of the Forest	Desert Battle 	Elven Woods Battle 	Humans Theme
Icewind Pass 	Jungle Preparation 	Fairy Grove Preparation 	Endgame Theme
Winter is Here 	Jungle Battle 	Fairy Grove Battle 	Map Theme
Dancing With Skeletons 	Underground Preparation 	Ancient City Preparation	Tutorial Theme
Unholy March 	Underground Battle 	Ancient City Battle 	Anurians Theme
Battle With Vez'nan 	Boss Theme 	Final Boss Pre-Battle 	
 	Rising Tides Preparation	Final Boss Battle 	
 	Rising Tides Battle 	Credits Theme 	
 	Before the Moon 	 	
 	Before the Battle 	 	
 	Shadowmoon Battle 	 	
==Spirit Board==
===Primary Spirits===
 
==Support Spirits==
 
==Mii costumes==
 	 	 	 	 	
Gerald	Lord Blackburn	Cronan	Grawl	Lynn	Jigou
Note: Cronan is considered a Gunner because he uses his whip as a harpoon, firing it and pulling it back in place of regular projectiles in the moveset and spinning it around rapidly in place of explosions. His various animals, as well as unique organic projectiles, are used in place of special attacks that would normally require an actual gun.
For this pack, no Mii costumes from franchises other than Kingdom Rush were chosen, as a separate pack of 6 costumes of various 3rd-party characters (Solaire from Dark Souls and Kratos from God of War as Swordfighters, Claptrap from Borderlands and the Bullet Kin from Enter The Gungeon as Gunners and Madeline from Celeste and the Tragedian from Pathologic as Brawlers) was announced at the same time and released shortly after.
==Credits==
* for making, or at the very least ripping off various tables throughout the article.
* for making the template used in the Spirit Board.
* Smashwiki for various spirit effect descriptions, and providing stock icons for SSBU characters.
* The Kingdom Rush Wiki for making this entire process a thousand times easier than it could've been if less dedicated people were in the community, and more tangibly speaking for providing most images in this article.
* Pakky/Bongoman/Polipede for making Denas' stock icon.
* for making Vez'nan's stock icon.
* Ironhide Game Studio for making and releasing Kingdom Rush games for almost a decade as of writing.
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