PSA: Sora is Never Coming to Super Smash Bros Ultimate

It's always fun to debate and speculate about who will and won't get invited to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. As long as Nintendo is opening DLC slots to the game industry's most famous characters, fans of Smash will be having heated debates about whether Master Chief or the Doom Marine is more likely to make the cut. There's really too many beloved characters out there for Nintendo to get into the game; it can only make so many deals. It also has to be said that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate just doesn't have room for certain characters anymore. Unless Smash Ultimate's state of development changes drastically, one of those unlucky characters is probably Sora.

Kingdom Hearts fans have wanted Sora to come to Smash pretty much ever since Sora was first introduced. He seems like he'd be a perfectly suitable pick for Smash, too, considering his notoriety and Nintendo's good relationship with Square Enix. Unfortunately, it's starting to look like the window for Sora joining Smash Ultimate has closed. Nintendo's other picks would make it a strange display of Square Enix favoritism to add Sora at this point, and there's certain reasons that Nintendo might not want Sora to be in the game at all.

The problem with Sora joining Smash in one of its final DLC fighter slots is that Square Enix just got another DLC fighter. Final Fantasy 7's Sephiroth shocked the game community when he was revealed as the third character joining in Smash Ultimate's second Fighters Pass. If Sora were a part of this Fighters Pass, it would show an awful lot of preference for Square Enix characters that goes against the spirit of Smash's broad range of guests. Sora and Kingdom Hearts have some significant ties with Final Fantasy that would also clash with Sephiroth's appearance. It seems likely that Cloud, Dragon Quest's Hero, and Sephiroth have choked Sora out of a place in Smash Ultimate.

It should also be noted that Square Enix doesn't have sole control over Sora. Kingdom Hearts is famously a series of games in an original universe that frequently crosses over with not just Final Fantasy, but Disney products as well. Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy are three of Sora's closest allies, and there's very little chance that they or any other Disney property could some to Smash with Sora. Nintendo has said before that it only wants video game characters in Smash, meaning Disney's stars have no hope of being in the game. Even if Nintendo has tried to get Sora into Smash, it's entirely possible that Disney doesn't want Sora in Smash and has prevented a deal with Nintendo somehow.

Even in a hypothetical situation where Sora made it into Smash Ultimate, it's hard to imagine how Nintendo would design him for the game and appease everyone. The Mickey-shaped emblem attached to Sora's main Keyblade means a deal with Disney is unavoidable, unless Nintendo trimmed Sora of any Disney references, which would surely make Kingdom Hearts fans upset. It also has to be said that adding Sora would mean adding another swordfighter to Smash. No matter how many Kingdom Hearts fans want Sora in the game, a lot of other Smash fans would be angry to see Nintendo add yet another person with a sword to the game. Sora wouldn't introduce the diversity that a lot of the Smash fanbase wants.