Web Animation / Ultimate Heroes For Hire

Created by Amaletz The Shark, member of the Smash Bros. Machinima Group SmashingXIII, Ultimate Heroes for Hire is a machinima filmed in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

The series follows Pichu who, after being left alone with other Nintendo characters (and Snake) that didn’t return in The Brawl Initiative and Project 4, finally rejoins Smash in The World of Light, and takes down the top reigning champ Bayonetta that was unbeatable for years on end. He’s then recruited to join the Ultimate Heroes for Hire, who try to keep the peace in the world and constantly combat the Board of Evil consisting of many of Nintendo’s famous villains. But this being a comedy series, shenanigans ensue and nothing usually goes according to plan for them.

As of January 2024, 15 episodes have been released. The series can be viewed here.

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• Arch-Enemy:
  • Pichu and Bayonetta
  • Yoshi and the Dark Star
  • Bowser and Ganondorf
• Big Damn Heroes: Subverted. The Ultimate Heroes try to do this for Pichu when he's cornered by the Blades in the dark but he ends up solving the problem himself by awakening a hidden power and one shotting them on his own.
• Cerebus Syndrome: The first few episodes are played as wacky comedic entries with only a little bit of drama sprinkled into the midst. But the drama gradually builds up as the episodes go along, with Episode 10 being the starting point where the drama and comedy are mixed together more evenly. Episode 11 gets special mention as the comedic moments are few and in between.
  • Cerebus Retcon: After being beaten within an inch of his life by Bayonetta, Ridley becomes deathly afraid of her, so much so that even when he isn't aware she's present, he is filled with fear when she stands right behind him. Fast-forward to Episode 9, where Ridley explains that he began contemplating his Heel–Face Turn after the battle. Now that he knew what it felt like to be on death's door after being on the receiving end of a Curb-Stomp Battle, he realized that this is the exact same fear he inflicted on all of his previous victims, and it changed his entire outlook on life. On top of that, he even expresses Tears of Remorse as he is explaining his backstory to Samus and Blue.
• Double Entendre: A few of these here and there
  • Episode 6. When Ridley talks about the time he pet a puppy, Bowser mistakenly thinks that the "puppy" Ridley is referring to is Fox. And it just escalates from there.
    Bowser: "You pet Fox? That's a little forward, don't you think?"
    Ridley: "No, no. There was this guy in the park, and I asked if I could pet his dog."
    Bowser: "Falco let you pet Fox? I never thought them to be the open relationship kind."
    Ridley: "No, I'm talking about a puppy! Like the kind that walks on four legs and was on a leash."
    Bowser: "Oh my god! Falco had Fox on a leash and made him walk on all fours?! Have they no decency?! I mean more power to 'em but you don't do that in public!"
  • Episode 11. Cassandra expresses a desire to spar, but the words she uses imply something else. Lampshaded by Pichu.
    Cassandra: "Come on, Yoshi! I want you to take my breath away! I want you to make my heart race. I want you... to show me what a real good time is!"
• Even Evil Has Standards: Ridley confesses to Bowser about having "good" feelings, such as wanting to pet a puppy. But Bowser reassures him that wanting to pet cute animals is a universal reaction, even for villains.
• Everyone Can See It: Yoshi and Cassandra's feelings for each other are as obvious as they could possibly be... except to each other. It's gotten to the point where Bowser gets visibly annoyed when Yoshi doesn't realize that Cassandra is in love with him
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: Captain Falcon's official Rulebook of Heroes & Villains, aside from one of the actual rules about being a hero, contains several assorted pieces of text. This includes:
  "Darth Vader is Luke's father."
  "I said steamed hams! That's what I call hamburgers."
  "Heroes cannot save a Damsel in Distress if she is not in distress.
  No cheating, no spitting, no poking each other's eyes out, no politicizing, and no teabagging.
  "Sonic will appear in SmasherZ Season 3"
  The preamble to the Declaration of Independence.
  "Picking one's nose is considered unheroic. Any hero who proceeds to pick their nose will face cruel and unusual punishment."
  "When an enemy surrenders, it is paramount that a hero ceases all forms of battle and does not kill said enemy, unless the enemy feigns surrender. If such a case occurs, use the Rule of "Fool Me Once, Shame on You", in which case it is okay to kill an enemy who has surrendered."
• Go-Karting with Bowser: Though most of the Ultimate Heroes and Board of Evil are constantly fighting each other, they have a truce at Wario's pub to not fight there, and Cassandra and Yoshi actually have friendly talks with Bowser and Ridley. This also happens in a later episode where the two groups meet again at Peach's castle and decide to hang out and goof around rather than fight, making a lie later that Pickle and Cassandra's group "beat" Bowser and Ridley.
• Heel–Face Turn: Ridley decides to reform and defects from the villains as Bowser returns to them.
• Limited Wardrobe: Averted with Captain Falcon and Pichu, who wear a different outfit every episode, and with Cassandra, who dyes her scales on occasion. Downplayed with everyone else in that they simply don't wear any clothing.
• Medium Awareness: The cast on a regular basis does this, whether it’s referencing Sonic’s old atrocious movie design, or various jabs at Nintendo, they’re all very aware of their status as game icons.
• The Mole: Bowser has been working for the Ultimate Heroes for Hire all along, posing as a villain.
• Noodle Incident:
  • “We don’t talk about Colin.”
  • Whatever tweet Bayonetta sent in response to her initial defeat at Pichu's hands
    Meta Knight: "I don't think I've ever seen so much profanity in a single tweet before."
• Oh, No... Not Again!:
  • When Pickle bites Captain Falcon's nipples after Pichu's comment that they look like Hershey Kisses.
    Samus: "Oh man, did Pickle bite your nipples again?"
    Pichu: "Again?! This happened before?"
    Pickle: "Yeah, but last time was because I was mad at Cap because he wouldn't let me have ice cream for breakfast."
  • When a gay frog enters Wario's studio while filming INFOWAHS.
• Only Sane Man: Mewtwo is the only villain in the Board of Evil that’s actually fairly competent. Douglas is a self absorbed tool, Bowser isn’t very smart, Ganon is Douglas’s right hand man who is too blinded by his evilness to be much more competent than him, K. Rool only really cares about food, and Ridley is focused more on his hobbies. Mewtwo’s plan was also the only one to actually nearly succeed. Subverted in that Bowser is actually competent and was working to undermine the villains all along.
• The Password Is Always "Swordfish": The password for the Pennywhacker's security system is "I forgot", which Captain Falcon said by accident when trying to remember it.
• Precision F-Strike: The language in the series rarely exceeds a PG-13 rating, but there are two instances of characters saying "fuck".
• Pretentious Pronunciation: In episode 9, the characters have a debate about the pronounciation of "Arceus" after Pichu learns that he has Master Hand's spirit inside of him.
  Pichu: Sweet Arceus! (Pronounced Ar-kee-us)
  Cassandra: Wait, what did you just say?
  Pichu: You know, the God of Pokemon?
  Cassandra: You mean, Arceus? (Pronounced Ar-kay-us)
  Pichu: Uh, no, it's Ar-key-us!
  Cassandra: Ar-kay-us!
  Pichu: Ar-kee-us!
  Pickle: Both of you are wrong! It's RC Car! (Beat) Vroom vroom!
• Running Gag: The series has a few of these
  • Starting from Episode 5, whenever a character breaks the fourth wall, their Screen KO plays for a split second.
  • Snake’s split personality in his head that he constantly bickers with.
  • Throughout Episode 3, Pickle believes that Yoshi is depressed because he thinks everyone forgot his birthday (This joke is meant to throw shade at the Not-So-Forgotten Birthday trope). Even when Yoshi confirms it's not his birthday, Pickle continues to mention this.
• Second Episode Introduction: A sizeable chunk of major characters don't appear until episode 2. Such examples include Vanessa, Yoshi, Sonic, Pickle and the entire Board of Evil.
• Sexual Euphemism: Doesn't shy away from these either.
  • Episode 5:
    Wave: "So, care to show this girl just how much of a 'champ' you are?"
    Pichu: "Wait, what do you mean?"
    Wave: "You know what I mean. Give me a good 'jolt'!"
  • Episode 14:
    Yoshi: "Promise me from now on you'll be more understanding if I step in and that you won't just let someone pound you."
    Cassandra: (Under her breath)"I'd let you pound me."
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: Quoted word-for-word by Yoshi and Cassandra when Bowser mentions it.
• Sixth Ranger: Pichu, Cassandra, Snake, and Ridley.
  • While Pichu is the protagonist, he joined the Ultimate Heroes after they were already an established group.
  • Technically, Samus and Bowser qualify as this as well from an audience viewpoint, but it is revealed that they were two of the founding members.
• Wham Episode:
  • Episode 5 has the first Downer Ending of the series. Although Pichu wins the battle against the Blades in the Dark and discovers a new power, he is left heartbroken after Wave betrays him. Wave herself is left remorseful for her actions, realizing too late that Pichu was legitimately in love with her.
  • Episode 9 reveals that Pichu is The host for the Master Hand's spirit, which is why his power seems to have amplified since his return to the World of Light. The Master Hand is able to channel Pichu's inner strength when he should normally be unable to, and now Pichu has to work in order to bring out that power on his own. The Dark Spirit also appears in The Stinger, preparing for his role as the new Big Bad.
  • Episode 11 is universally agreed to be the darkest in the series so far. Introduces the Dark Star and provides a Dark and Troubled Past for Yoshi, explaining his depression from Episode 3.
    • Yoshi bonded with the Dark Star to save Birdo after she was mortally wounded in a battle. But in order to heal her wounds, Yoshi needed to take the life force of other living creatures, leading him to kill multiple friends, including Corrin, Rosalina, and the original Charizard.
    • Birdo dies anyway By Yoshi's own hand no less after an argument triggered a fit of rage on the latter's part and was fueled by the Dark Star.
    • The Dark Star had been feeding on Yoshi's life force during the time it's been bonded to him. Now, Yoshi has become dependent on it, to the point where if he separates from the Dark Star, he'll die.

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