History Awesome / SuperSmashBrosUltimate

*** The [[RefugeinAudacity sheer audacity]] of Sephiroth's OneHitKill on Galeem needs a bit more elaboration to emphasize just how insane this feat is. Galeem in World of Light is responsible for the immeasurable death toll of the multiverse (even beyond the world of Smash in-universe). Galeem wipes out billions if not ''trillions'' of lives, many of them omnipotent beings themselves, for the selfish goal of a world in their arrogant image... and Sephiroth comes uninvited to [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu cut down the omnicidal murderous GOD like he's swatting a mosquito!]] This should tell you of the sheer frightening strength that Sephiroth holds!

** Meta Knight's new Final Smash, Darkness Illusion, is just ''VICIOUS''. He grows an extra pair of wings, then launches any opponents near him into the air before ravaging them in mid-air and launching them away with one last strike. Who hurt you, dude?

** Banjo & Kazooie summon the Mighty Jinjonator which, along with the other four Jinjos, flies around and absolutely decimates his target(s).

* Sudden Death now involves the screen slowly closing in with a flaming border around the fight. It makes the idea of the concept seem a lot more tense and epic.

** Marth estimates that they're all outnumbered by 10-to-1 (meaning there are over ''700 Master Hands''). [[BadassAdorable Zelda]]'s response is basically BringIt!

*** According to Sakurai, Zelda's line was intended to indicate that the heroes have already been battling Galeem for a long time and this was his last-ditch effort to stop them. So he just didn't show up out of the blue one day and destroy everyone — the heroes beat him back with all their might and he ended the world out of ''[[GodzillaThreshold desperation]]''.

* Before taking on the true final boss, the player finally gets the chance to play as ''Master Hand'' in cleaning up most of the rest of the clone armies created by Galeem and Dharkon. Even better, it's Master Hand vs ''50'' Puppet Fighters at once, seven at a time. [[OneManArmy Master Hand wins]], implying the only reason the Fighters are able to beat him is that he ''lets them''.

* The true final battle against both Galeem and Dharkon. The first stage is a RiseToTheChallenge while avoiding their attacks and dealing with a few fights of clones. The second is a BossRush against the six main bosses, those being Galleom, Giga Bowser, Ganon, Dracula, and the previously-mentioned Rathalos and Marx. And the final fight is against both Galeem and Dharkon ''at the same time'' while they try to kill each other as much as they try to kill you, creating the true climactic fight that began as a BackFromTheBrink moment with Kirby as the sole survivor from Galeem's initial onslaught.

* One last reminder at hand with Wave 2: the development cycle for pretty much ''all of Wave 2'' had to be done while Japan was ''dealing with the real-life problems of the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic.'' While the virus made a serious dent on development due to it resulting in Sakurai and his crew working on the game at home for a bit instead of in an office (later renting a bigger office for the rest of the Sakurai Presents videos after the first two characters were revealed), not even it could stop Sakurai and everyone else involved with the DLC from being completed on time. And with an early release period of October 18, 2021 being ahead of the soft deadline of December 2021, we can certainly say they earned their vacations going forward.

** Easily the single most awesome part of the trailer is the end, where Mario, Mister Video Game Himself, shakes hands with Sora, a hero who many people thought could '''never''' make into ''Smash'' due to being owned by Creator/{{Disney}}, a company best known for their animated films. A handshake is such common gesture, but so many pieces of fiction have made it a very meaningful one, and you'd be hard pressed to think of one as meaningful as Nintendo's mascot shaking the hand of a boy who has visited and saved so many Disney worlds.

** Who's coming back? '''[[TheBusCameBack Everyone.]]''' And we don't mean everyone from the [=3DS/WiiU=] edition — no, [[ExactWords we mean]] '''''EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER who ever appeared in the series.''''' Yes, this includes the Ice Climbers and Snake! As of [=E3=] 2018, that brings the total number of characters available to play to '''65''', including Pokémon Trainer's three Pokémon and not even including [[MovesetClone Echo Fighters]], which bring the total to '''68'''![[note]]And if characters as palette swaps and female versions are included, the total number increases from 68... to '''82'''![[/note]]

** Who's coming back? '''[[TheBusCameBack Everyone.]]''' And we don't mean everyone from the [=3DS/WiiU=] edition — [[ExactWords we mean]] '''''EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER who ever appeared in the series.''''' Yes, this includes the Ice Climbers and Snake! As of [=E3=] 2018, that brings the total number of characters available to play to '''65''', including Pokémon Trainer's three Pokémon and not even including [[MovesetClone Echo Fighters]], which bring the total to '''68'''![[note]]And if characters as palette swaps and female versions are included, the total number increases from 68... to '''82'''![[/note]]

** And after the dust has settled and everything has been consumed, we see that Kirby beat the odds and escaped the assault. The super-tough pink puff is the last hope to free the other fighters and push back the darkness... and, knowing the little guy's track]l record, if anyone can pull it off, it's him.

* As awesome as Kirby being the sole survivor of Galeem's beams of light may be, the way they've integrated the DLC characters into World of Light brings up one other possibility. While they still needed some leg work to be done by having a certain amount of characters join the party, the fact that a Piranha Plant, Joker, the ''Dragon Quest'' heroes (from III, IV, VIII, & XI), Banjo & Kazooie, Terry Bogard, Byleth, Min Min (though she was a spirit at first), ''Minecraft's'' Steve, Alex, Zombie, and Enderman (the last two also being spirits themselves); Sephiroth, Pyra & Mythra (who were both separate spirits at first), Kazuya and Sora can all be recruited without being fought or even Spirits who use clone bodies based on them is enough evidence to point towards them have ''also survived the near-destruction of the Smash Bros. universe''.[[note]]Or, in a somewhat metaphysical way, arrived ''after'' the fiasco to help out. [[BigDamnHeroes Which is still cool.]][[/note]]

* After tons of supposed leaks, speculations, well thought-out arguments, and {{flame war}}s all over the internet about who would be appropriate for ''Smash'', the very first DLC fighter turns out to be the least expected character in the entire series. Going against the grain of every conceivable thought that fans could think of: a Piranha Plant. A humble Piranha Plant. ''A common Mario enemy''[[note]]and not even a significantly popular ''Mario'' enemy like a Koopa Troopa, Goomba, Boo, Chain Chomp, or Shy Guy, either[[/note]]. Not Waluigi, not Bandanna Waddle Dee, not Geno, not Isaac, not Banjo & Kazooie[[note]]though the latter would show up later on in Wave 1[[/note]]. Not ''anyone'' from the supposed "Grinch Leak" that was roaming out in the public eye at the time. Most of the fanbase was so smug that they understood Sakurai's thought process on how to design his own game, but most guesses turned out to be wrong. Well played, Sakurai. Well played.

** Also hidden in the announcement was the {{Foreshadowing}} of another one: It was noted by a few fans that the backpack Luigi was wearing is pretty different than the Poltergust models in the ''[[VideoGame/LuigisMansionSeries Luigi's Mansion]]'' series. That's right, ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion3'' is indeed coming to Switch.

** [[Franchise/StreetFighter Akuma]] is a straight one-on-one fight in Suzaku Castle. And he hits like a ''truck'', without being a GlassCannon, meaning you're dealing with his original ''Super Street Fighter II Turbo'' BonusBoss incarnation. Oh, and bonus points for him being located in the Dark Realm (specifically in the Castlevania section), because ''of course'' he'd be there, wandering around looking for a good fight.

** For five years, ''Final Fantasy'' was absolutely notorious for its very limited representation (one fighter, one stage, and [[MemeticMutation two songs]] in Cloud's Smash debut, ripped straight from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''). ''Ultimate'' didn't help matters initially, with no new songs or stages being added and only two Spirits from the series added--those being Cloud's official Smash renders for both the original game and his Advent Children variant. Square Enix [[AuthorsSavingThrow apparently listened to those complaints]], because the DLC accompanying Sephiroth has ''nine'' new songs from both ''FFVII'' and ''Advent Children'', including four brand-new remixes!
** Additionally, the DLC also comes with thirteen Spirit battles confirmed Spirits from ''FFVII'' (16 overall, including Cloud's original two and Sephiroth)--this time taken from Tetsuya Nomura's official artwork for these new Spirits. And yes - the DLC even retroactively gives Cloud his original artwork as well (though not for Advent Children Cloud). Not bad for a franchise that used to have only two songs there!

** Speaking of audacity, Sephiroth can unfurl his now-signature single black wing. You know, the one he ''doesn't'' have in FF VII. He has it in ''Dissidia'', and appears with it in Advent Children, but his first appearance with the wing [[{{Foreshadowing}} is not in a Final Fantasy game]]. Sakurai, you sneaky son of a...

** Speaking of audacity, Sephiroth can unfurl his now-signature single black wing. You know, the one he ''doesn't'' have in FF VII. He has it in ''Dissidia'', and appears with it in Advent Children, but his first appearance with the wing [[VideoGame/KingdomHearts is not in a Final Fantasy game]]. Sakurai, you sneaky son of a...

** Is there someone new coming? Of course — and it's none other than '''[[Franchise/{{Metroid}} Ridley]]''', one of the most requested characters in the series' history! Samus and her nemesis finally have a chance to personally duke it out!

[[caption-width-right:350:Everyone is ''finally'' here, and '''everything is ''truly ULTIMATE!!!''''']]

* Nintendo Direct Presentation on March 8, 2018
* At the end, the [[Franchise/{{Splatoon}} Inkling Boy and Girl]] fighting in an identical snippet from the Wii U trailer... only for Inkling Girl to notice that the lights have gone out and looking around in confusion, before both Inklings see that a '''''burning Smash logo''''' alongside with the original cast has appeared behind them, their faces covered in flames.

** Though the real props have to be given for the ''[[SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome animation]]'' in this trailer. Aside from the epic fire logo, there's also the crisp and bright animations of the Inklings and their ink. While it didn't fool everyone (why would they port a multiplayer ga-- [[SpottingTheThread hey, wait a second]]), there were still plently that thought this remade trailer was signifying a port of the original ''VideoGame/Splatoon1'' game and were caught off-guard.

** Who's coming back? '''[[TheBusCameBack Everyone.]]''' And we don't mean everyone from [=3DS/WiiU=] edition — [[ExactWords we mean]] '''''EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER who ever appeared in the series.''''' Yes, this includes the Ice Climbers and Snake! As of [=E3=] 2018, that brings the total number of characters available to play to '''65''', including Pokémon Trainer's three Pokémon and not even including [[MovesetClone Echo Fighters]], which bring the total to '''68'''![[note]]And if characters as palette swaps and female versions are included, the total number increases from 68... to '''82'''![[/note]]

*** His introduction is nothing to laugh at either. In a beautifully animated segment, we see Samus, Mega Man, and Mario walking down a metal bridge, before Mega Man vanishes with a strike of lightning, and gets ''impaled.'' Mario gets snatched and and ends up on the receiving end of the stiff arm, leaving nothing but his hat, with [[SickeningCrunch a grossly nightmarish sound effect.]] Samus soon realizes this, and aims her gun at Mario's [[DeadHatShot fallen hat]]. Then, Ridley bursts from underneath the bridge, ready to finally join the battle with a triumphant screech, taunting Samus with Mario's cap.

-->--'''Lifelight''', the theme of ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate''

* At the end of a Nintendo Direct Presentation on March 8, 2018, we are treated to the [[Franchise/{{Splatoon}} Inkling Boy and Girl]] fighting in an identical snippet from the Wii U trailer... only for Inkling Girl to notice that the lights have gone out and looking around in confusion, before both Inklings see that a '''''burning Smash logo''''' alongside with the original cast has appeared behind them, their faces covered in flames.
** A [[https://twitter.com/AllSourceGaming/status/971886565872955393 subsequent tweet]] [[WordOfGod from Sakurai]] also confirmed that this upcoming ''Smash'' title will be on the Nintendo Switch, which is something fans have been chomping at the bit for since the 3DS' performance issues and the Wii U's sales flop. Also stated in the tweet is that the game is under a WorkingTitle, so it was not yet clear at the time if this is an UpdatedRerelease of [=3DS/U=], which is also something fans have clamored for... or a brand new entry in the series.

* With August 8th's Smash Direct, not only do we have ''two'' ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' characters, in the form of [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaI Simon]] [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaIISimonsQuest Belmont]] and [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaRondoOfBlood Richter]] [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Belmont]], along with new Echoes in [[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Chrom]] and [[VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy Dark Samus]], but as a much requested fighter, '''''[[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry King K. Rool]]''''' finally joins the battle after three years as a Mii Brawler costume, along with many years of demand!

** Shovel Knight makes his debut by tanking a [[ColonyDrop falling]] [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Moon]]. Mind you, this is the game where Assist Trophies ''can'' be hurt or even defeated. But when the blast fades, he's the last one standing.

-->'''Arsène:''' [[ArcWords I am thou, thou art I.]] [[BadassBoast Show the strength of thy will, and rage against all challengers!]]

* Fans of the long-running ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' series were in for a treat at E3 2019 — after all, it was announced that the hero of the series would be next to join the battle! And not (just) [[VideoGame/DragonQuestXI The Luminary]], as shown in the trailer—[[VideoGame/DragonQuestIII multiple incarnations]] [[VideoGame/DragonQuestIV of the]] [[VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII character]]! And his Final Smash also summons ''all the rest of them!''

* The fourth member of the Fighter Pass was revealed in the September 4, 2019 Nintendo Direct. It starts off with a little timeline showing Nintendo's consoles and the years they were released in reverse chronological order. However, the camera soon ratchets back up to 1991's SNES... then shifts to the right to reveal ''another'' console released that same year: Creator/{{SNK}}'s UsefulNotes/NeoGeo. As the iconic Neo Geo intro starts up, an invitation is rendered in the olden graphics of the system, inviting someone from SNK's interconnected universe to Smash. As Sakurai's invitation floats throughout the various franchises of the console, [[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters Kyo Kusanagi]], [[VideoGame/ArtOfFighting Ryo Sakazaki]], [[VideoGame/FatalFury Joe Higashi, Andy Bogard, Geese Howard]], [[VideoGame/SamuraiShodown Nakoruru]], and [[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters Iori Yagami]] all try to grab it — and all fail ([[Funny/SuperSmashBrosUltimate in Geese's case, he falls to his death (again)!]]). The invitation soon lands on the ground, where someone finally picks it up. As the Neo Geo's graphics shift back to the Switch's, the challenger finally makes himself known with a [[GratuitousEnglish "Come on!"]] Realizing who it is now? Joining the battle next, it's the Legendary Wolf himself, [[VideoGame/FatalFury Terry Bogard]]!
** With this announcement, it's now possible for ''[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]], [[VideoGame/MetalGear Solid Snake]], Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog, Franchise/MegaMan, VideoGame/PacMan, [[Franchise/FinalFantasy Cloud Strife]], [[VideoGame/Persona5 Joker]], VideoGame/BanjoKazooie, and [[VideoGame/FatalFury Terry Bogard]] to fight together.'' Nine (technically ten) characters, mascots [[Creator/{{Nintendo}} from]] [[Creator/{{Konami}} nine]] [[Creator/{{Sega}} video]] [[Creator/{{Capcom}} game]] [[Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment companies]] [[Creator/SquareEnix through]] [[Creator/{{Atlus}} sheer]] [[Creator/XboxGameStudios star]] [[Creator/{{SNK}} power]].
*** Not only that, but Terry gets to share the ring with a pair of old rivals in [[Franchise/StreetFighter Ryu and Ken]]. '''Everybody rumored, nobody believed... but you see, it's true.''' '''[[VideoGame/SNKVsCapcom CAPCOM VS. SNK IS BACK.]]'''
*** Also, with Steve, a battle of the old Super Star against the newer face of gaming is ready to take action!
*** With the added reveal of Sephiroth, you can also have the fated Cloud Vs. Sephiroth rematch in ''Smash'' as well.
*** Plus, with Kazuya around, the three man fight of fighting game legends can now become a four man free-for-all! Not to mention the bonus of Kazuya returning to beat down both Ryu and Ken after previously being in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterXTekken'' together, and that's ''after'' taking down both Akuma and Geese Howard in ''VideoGame/Tekken7'' since then!

*** With Steve's inclusion, the ''Super Smash Bros.'' franchise has finally reached a highly-anticipated milestone. After being acknowledged by [[VideoGame/ShovelKnight Assist Trophies]], [[VideoGame/{{Shantae}} Spirits]], and [[VideoGame/{{Undertale}} Mii]] [[VideoGame/{{Cuphead}} Costumes]][[note]]plus a [[VideoGame/BitTrip trophy]] in ''3DS/Wii U''[[/note]], we finally have a proper playable Indie[[note]]yes, we know that Microsoft owns the game ''now'', but ''Minecraft'' earned its place in gaming history on its own long before that[[/note]] character in the series! And fittingly, they're from not only the most famous Indie title of them all, but also the '''''absolute best-selling game of all time!''''' We're not just getting any Indie characters: we're getting the Indie king and queen, plus some mooks for good measure!

* While the tenth wave of Mii Fighter costumes mostly consisted of [[VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia fan]]-[[VideoGame/DevilMayCry favorite]] [[VideoGame/{{Shantae}} requests]][[labelnote:*]](one of which also being a costume that fully completed the original DLC set included from the previous Smash game)[[/labelnote]], there was still one surprising addition hidden among them--Miis can now dress up as the ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Dragonborn]]''. Or in other words, you can "FUS RO DAH" with the Dovahkiin himself (as a costume) in Smash.

--->'''Sakurai:''' ''(as he uses Sora's Final Smash on Cloud and Sephiroth)'' [[ShoutOut Stay where]] [[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren you belong]], ''[[PreMortemOneLiner behind this door!]]''

** Byleth summons the power of their [[PalsWithJesus friend]] [[PhysicalGod Sothis]] to perform the Progenitor God's Ruptured Heaven, brutally [[WhipSword whipping their foes]] six ways from Sunday before blasting them off the screen.

** And after the dust has settled and everything has been consumed, we see that Kirby beat the odds and escaped the assault. The super-tough pink puff is the last hope to free the other fighters and push back the darkness... and, knowing the little guy's [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu track]] [[OneManArmy record]], if anyone can pull it off, it's him.

* The battle against [[VideoGame/KirbySuperStar Marx.]] On top of being a faithful, lovingly-made recreation of his fight, down to the [[AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield battlefield]], he has been given new attacks that further emphasize how [[NightmareFuel horrifyingly,]] [[CreepyAwesome yet awesomely creepy]] Marx is. And yet, longtime fans of Kirby need not fear the psycho jester—the cutters, the ice bomb, the laser, the shadow uppercut, the teleporting, the vines and even the black hole are all back, so if you’ve had experience fighting Marx before, you’ll have no problem teaching him a lesson once more.

** Master Hand was controlled once already by Tabuu, and as soon as he was free, he launched an attack on his captor. Now that Master Hand has been freed from control once again, it’s not hard to imagine the Aspect of Creation, the architect of the World of Smash, upon seeing his domain perverted into a battleground for two invading deities, as [[WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged just a little bit]] '''''[[RoaringRampageOfRevenge ABSOLUTELY]] [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown LIVID]]'''''.

** The player can choose any three characters for the final battle, allowing for many awesome potential thematic team combinations. Want to see heroes teaming up? [[EvilVersusOblivion Villains saving the day?]] [[EnemyMine Heroes and villains uniting?]] A ''[[WesternAnimation/CaptainNTheGameMaster Captain N]]'' reunion? Third-party characters saving the Nintendo universe? Nintendo, Microsoft, and (sort of) Sony characters working together as a team? Three of the most iconic fighting game characters teaming up? Or even {{Lethal Joke Character}}s taking down Eldritch horrors? You're free to make whatever dream team you can imagine!

** A more meta example, but the fact that the announcement '''existed'''. Most people were taken surprised by this sudden teaser, since announcements this big are mostly done at E3, instead of a normal Nintendo Direct.
*** Not to mention that no one expected any news on a Smash Switch game ''this soon''. The past few games weren't officially announced until a few years after their respective consoles debuted, with the game itself coming a year or two after that. This was announced literally days after the Switch's first anniversary and the game's coming out ''the same year''. Nintendo has matured so much that they don't even need E3 to generate hype.

*** On a meta front, the fact that Eleven is able to save Link ''at all'' is this. Remember how a good chunk of the reveal trailers entailed someone getting killed (Mario and Mega Man in Ridley's trailer, Luigi in Simon's, etc.)? It looks like a similar situation as Link is getting absolutely ''destroyed'' by the Puppet Fighters... and Eleven arrives right in the nick of time. He really ''is'' the Hero after that.
*** However, the tables quickly turn on him as Eleven is knocked to Yggdrasil's Altar by several more Puppet Fighters. Just as [[DarkestHour they surround him, murder in their eyes]], another light shines forth as [[VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII Eight]], [[VideoGame/DragonQuestIV Solo]] and [[VideoGame/DragonQuestIII Arusu (the fabled Erdrick)]] arrive to back him up. Eleven stands again, and the four of them proceed to rush the Puppet Fighters. Bonus points for Arusu standing in the background, the camera beginning to focus on him; it's fittingly implied that ''he's'' leading TheCavalry.
** On a meta level, this has to be one of the most detailed newcomers yet. Not only does the Hero consist of '''''four''''' newcomers instead of just one, and not only do they retain Creator/AkiraToriyama's art style, but it even comes with a standard RPG menu interface full of spells to choose from. They spared no details whatsoever in making this one of the most faithfully represented fighters in ''Smash''. Being unbelievably popular in your home country has its perks.

** On a meta note, the fact that the video trolled everybody [[BrickJoke in the exact same way as K. Rool's]], and it was ''still funny''.

** As a meta example, Kazuya has often been overshadowed by either his father Heihachi[[note]]Indeed, many streamers initially believed Heihachi to be the rep.[[/note]] (whom Kazuya absolutely ''despises'' for [[AbusiveParents throwing him off a cliff that first time]]), or his son Jin in terms of being the face of ''Tekken'', despite Kazuya being the first game's protagonist. Heihachi even got a playable slot in ''VideoGame/PlayStationAllStarsBattleRoyale'', another crossover fighter, though that ended up falling to the wayside. With Kazuya's inclusion, not only does he finally get to be the playable fighter of his own franchise, but as a bonus, he gets to one-up his father in terms of crossover appearances. Further bonus points for Heihachi being relegated to Mii Costume status ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForNintendo3DSAndWiiU again]]'' four (technically five) characters ago.

[[caption-width-right:350:Everyone is ''finally'' here, and '''everything is ''truly ULTIMATE!!''''']]

** The moment when you get the Master Sword in the ''Legend of Zelda'' map. The music reaches a triumphant swell as the sword strikes the clouds from the Gerudo Desert portion of the map, destroying them and revealing the whole section.

* At the end of a Nintendo Direct Presentation on March 8, 2018, we are treated to the [[VideoGame/{{Splatoon}} Inkling Boy and Girl]] fighting in an identical snippet from the Wii U trailer... only for Inkling Girl noticing that the lights have gone out, then both Inklings seeing a '''''burning Smash logo''''' with the original cast standing before them, their faces covered in flames.

** Though the real props have to be given for the ''[[SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome animation]]'' in this trailer. Aside from the epic fire logo, there's also the crisp and bright animations of the Inklings and their ink. If it weren't for the Smash logo, you would've thought this was a port of the original ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' game.

* As of the August 8th 2018 direct, it bears repeating that a large number of popular and highly-requested characters were showcased, both playable ([[Franchise/{{Metroid}} Ridley]], [[VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy Dark Samus]], [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaI Simon Belmont]], [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaRondoOfBlood Richter Belmont]], [[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Chrom]], [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry King K. Rool]]) and as Assist Trophies and Pokéball Pokémon ([[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Waluigi]], VideoGame/{{Bomberman}}, VideoGame/ShovelKnight, [[VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon Mimikyu]], [[VideoGame/{{Splatoon}} Callie and Marie]], [[VideoGame/MegaManX Zero]], [[VideoGame/StarFoxAdventures Krystal]], [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid Gray Fox]], [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Alucard]]). These were within the first two directs, and Sakurai mentioned that he's not done with character reveals yet. With the aforementioned Indie barrier broken, nearly anything could happen by the next four months.

** First however, the Mii Costumes are presented. An [[VideoGame/{{Splatoon}} Octoling Wig and Judd Hat]]... and then '''[[Franchise/{{Doom}} the Doom Slayer]]''' makes his grand entrance by blasting Bowser (representing a Pinky) with his charged pistol in a first-person perspective!

** What's better than Snake using a grenade launcher? Throwing a smoke bomb? No, that's just the start of it. That's just so a MacrossMissileMassacre can barrage anyone Snake targeted. Ladies and germs, you just witnessed Covering Fire.

[[folder:Meta]]
* One for Sakurai himself. He knew that licensing every third-party character would be a challenge, [[{{Determinator}} and yet he was determined to make sure that every character that was in the series would return for this game]]. When he announced this to the development team, the whole room was in StunnedSilence.
** To emphasize: the current roster meant that he would have had to approach Creator/{{Konami}} for ''Metal Gear (Solid)'' and ''Castlevania'' (twice if you include the echo fighter), Creator/{{Sega}} for ''Sonic The Hedgehog'', ''Bayonetta'' (with Creator/PlatinumGames) and ''Persona'' (sometime during development for DLC with Creator/{{Atlus}}), Creator/{{Capcom}} for ''Mega Man'' and ''Street Fighter'' (twice for including the echo fighter), Creator/BandaiNamco for ''Pac-Man'' and later ''Tekken'' for DLC, Creator/SquareEnix for ''Final Fantasy'' (twice) and later ''Dragon Quest'' for DLC, and for later DLC, Creator/{{SNK}} for ''Fatal Fury''[[labelnote:*]]and by technicality, ''The King of Fighters''[[/labelnote]], rivaling gaming company Creator/XboxGameStudios for both ''Banjo-Kazooie'' (with Creator/{{Rare}}) and ''Minecraft'' (with Creator/{{Mojang}}), and even ''Creator/{{Disney}} itself'' for ''Kingdom Hearts'' (with Square Enix yet again being involved) with regards to playable characters '''alone'''. ''Smash'' has the rare distinction of getting these many varied third-party franchises and companies under a single roof, giving a lot of credence to the fact that the series itself has well and truly evolved from being something that simply celebrated Nintendo's history alone to celebrating the history of gaming as a whole.
*** And that's not even taking into account other properties not represented by playable characters, such as ''Shovel Knight'' (Creator/YachtClubGames), ''Shantae'' (Creator/WayForwardTechnologies), ''Virtua Fighter'' (Sega), ''Monster Hunter'', ''Resident Evil'', ''Ghosts 'N Goblins'', and ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' (Capcom), ''Bomberman'' and ''Ganbare Goemon'' (Konami), ''Rayman'', ''Rabbids'', and ''Assassin's Creed'' (Creator/{{Ubisoft}}), ''Fatal Frame'' (Creator/KoeiTecmo[[note]]Nintendo does co-own publishing rights; however, they do not own the IP in any way.[[/note]]), ''The Wonderful 101'' and ''Astral Chain'' (Creator/PlatinumGames), ''Daemon X Machina'' (Marvelous Inc.), ''Undertale'' (Toby Fox), ''Tetris'' (The Tetris Company), ''River City Ransom'' (Arc System Works), ''Cuphead'' ([=StudioMDHR=]), ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'' (Creator/DigitalExtremes), ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'', ''VideoGame/WorldOfMana'', ''VideoGame/OctopathTraveler'', and ''VideoGame/BravelyDefaultII'' (Square Enix), ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' and ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' (Creator/{{Bethesda}}, [=ZeniMax=] Media, and later Creator/XboxGameStudios), ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'' (Creator/GrasshopperManufacture), ''Sakuna: Of Rice & Ruin'' (Edelweiss & Xseed Games), ''Franchise/{{Doom}}'' (Creator/IdSoftware, with Bethesda and its upper management once again), and all the various Namco games such as ''Galaga'', ''The Tower of Druaga'', and ''Tales of Symphonia'' and SNK representation beyond ''Fatal Fury'' and ''The King of Fighters''. In total, that's at least 40 different franchises with around 20+ different companies and one sole individual to negotiate with. '''And they did it.'''
*** Just the fact that there are ten third-party fighters (Snake, Sonic, Mega Man, Pac-Man, Ryu, Ken, Cloud, Bayonetta, Simon, and Richter) ''at launch''. Compared to ''Brawl's'' two and ''3DS/Wii U's'' three, six if DLC is included, that's already a staggeringly impressive count. Then the first Fighters Pass gave everyone four more (Joker, Hero, Banjo & Kazooie, and Terry), with the second one giving ''another four more'' (Steve, Sephiroth, Kazuya, and Sora), bumping the number up to a whopping 18 (24 if the Hero's skins from III, IV, & VIII and Steve's skins of Alex, Zombie, and Enderman are included).
* The fact that Sakurai had been working on the game undercover for a lengthy time; even with his tendinitis, he had worked himself to hell and back to make the game all in secret; initially just revealing its existence... and then [=E3=] came, as he unveiled the majority of its mountains of content and its gameplay, in one massive burst, to show that it was already at a playable state. He quite literally showed a ''Smash Bros.'' game, playable and already mostly completed... just straight out of the blue. This man is a ''legend.''
** When did he start planning this game? ''While he was working on the DLC for the previous game.'' A video game producer who sees a lukewarm reception to his previous effort and responds by immediately planning a crowd-pleasing followup is as wonderful as it is rare. After Bayonetta was released and we all thought, "well, that's it for Smash for a long while", he was hard at work.
*** The reason the game exists? It was a personal request from Creator/SatoruIwata himself, which makes the whole game an even bigger SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome, as one could see it as Sakurai's tribute to the late head of Nintendo. But also consider that due to Iwata's death in July of 2015, it means that the game had probably been in development since around the time of E3 2015, when Ryu was released. This game had been in development before the last game's final three DLC fighters had even been revealed, and only a few months after the Switch, then known as the NX, had been announced to be in development.
* Many pro players considered '''Pichu''' to be [[LethalJokeCharacter the best character in the entire game]]. Though patch 3.0.1 nerfed him severely, a character originally added in ''Melee'' as a joke was upgraded so much ''he had to be nerfed''. Could anyone imagine the sentence [[ARareSentence "Pichu OP, please nerf"]] being uttered unironically before it happened?
* The franchise's current treatment of Creator/{{Konami}} in general, especially when considering the less-than-favorable treatment of two of their top franchises during TheNewTens. When Snake was removed from the fourth game, he took his entire franchise and any and all potential Konami-related material with him. Konami's return in ''Ultimate'' is seen as a ''huge'' makeup for that. Not only has Snake and all ''Metal Gear''-related content returned, Bomberman (who is now owned by Konami following Hudson Soft's demise) ''finally'' makes his ''Smash'' debut as an Assist Trophy (and later on, a Mii Fighter costume). But the biggest bombshell of this is the debut of the ''Castlevania'' franchise. With two playable characters, over 30 songs for their stage, several enemies for that stage, and least one item, boss, and Assist Trophy of their own (Death's Scythe, Dracula and Alucard, respectively), ''Castlevania'' ends up having the biggest ''Smash'' debut of ''any'' other 3rd-party franchise (including ''Mega Man'', ''Sonic'', and even ''Metal Gear'', itself), and also pushes Konami to (so far) have the biggest presence of any 3rd-party company in ''Ultimate''. This is an outstanding feat, but it's also fitting considering that Konami is the first 3rd-party company to have a GuestFighter in ''Smash'' to begin with. It's all come full circle!
* ''Ultimate'' really is one major Crowning Moment of Awesome for both the series and Sakurai himself. The first game started as something Sakurai would work on his own time that didn't have Nintendo characters, and even once Nintendo got involved they gave him a small budget and didn't plan to release the game outside of Japan. Things sure have come a long way since then.
* Some of the combinations of legendary video game music composers and the iconic tunes from across video game history have been nothing short of astounding. Ever wanted to hear an over-the-top Eurobeat version of F-Zero music done by the composer for Daytona and Virtua Fighter? [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3qmEh9jWbM&feature=youtu.be Here ya go!]] How about some Mega Man tunes performed by the guitarist behind some of Sonic's most memorable ballads? [[https://youtu.be/uG5NSiPzfx8 Enjoy!]] Didn't know you wanted a heart-pounding rendition of "Gangplank Galleon" by the high energy composers of the Xenoblade series? [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wlb-dr84nrQ&feature=youtu.be Well you've got it anyway, with a rap verse to boot!]] It's almost like the Ultimate crossover of video game composers!
* It says a lot about how much good will Sakurai has built up in the video game industry that Nintendo would let him kill off their flagship duo and that Capcom would let him do the same with their beloved blue bomber in trailers for the game.
** It's brief and very obviously non-canon, but must be emphasized that in a scenario where [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Mario's old rival]] is buried in mandates (the Post-Reboot Archie/IDW Sonic comics being a good example) disallowing him to fail or die for a lengthy period of time owing to a strong backlash against [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006 the most controversial aspects of the game that tanked the franchise's image]], Nintendo and Capcom having so much certainty in their mascots' good standing that they can actually show them getting killed on-screen is rather daring.
** In the first cutscene for the adventure mode World of Light, almost the ''entire roster'' is killed off. Not turned into statues: '''Killed''', including the mandate-buried Sonic mentioned above. Sakurai had the permission from Nintendo, Sega, Square Enix, Capcom, Creator/PlatinumGames, Bandai Namco, and Konami to put their characters in a CurbStompBattle where 99% of them are brutally turned into ash ''on-screen''. If that doesn't prove that companies trust Sakurai and his vision, nothing will.
* Nintendo's history is on full display with Spirits mode, but not only are they representing the game's biggest series of games, they're also paying respects to ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'' from the Gamecube era, with Alexandra Roivas as a spirit. The fight you need to win to be able to rescue her even incorporates an InterfaceScrew as a reference to that game's infamous "Sanity Effects"!
* At this [[https://youtu.be/25697W2jgZI?t=2398 reaction video]] at Nintendo NY, when the watchers saw Kirby drop out of the sky, they ''immediately'' started chanting "KIRBY! KIRBY! KIRBY!" knowing he's the last hope for our fighters.
* The sales figures for the game have arrived, and boy did they [[IncrediblyLamePun smash]] records. In Japan alone, the game managed ''at least'' 1.2 '''million''' sales, making it the highest debut of the series and the biggest for a non-Pokémon game.
** Speaking of sales, it also managed to do surprisingly well over in the UK, a place where Nintendo doesn't exactly have a strong foothold in the market. In its debut week, it not only managed to become the fastest selling Switch game, it also managed to top the sales charts not just in individual games, but also ''for all games that week, period''. Considering it's an exclusive game in a land where multi-platform games like FIFA dominate the charts on a regular basis, that's an impressive feat in its own.
** ''Smash Bros Ultimate'' also sold 5 million in its weekend, making it the fastest selling Nintendo game on a console of all time. In addition, it sold better than ''VideoGame/GodOfWarPS4'' and was 7 million less than ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'''s opening weekend, which was on multiple consoles, and the [=PS4=] sold over 91 million compared to the Switch's 32 million. ''Smash Ultimate'' is certainly a system seller!
** This isn't even getting into the best part. The game later sold 12.08 million copies from December 7th to December 31st. It is outright the fastest-selling game that is exclusive to a console ''ever!'' This also puts it at ''Brawl''’s level in just under a month, meaning it has likely outsold ''Brawl'' already — and ''Brawl'' was the best-selling game in the series if you count the Wii U and 3DS version separately!
** Near the end of April 2019, Nintendo announced that ''Ultimate'' had sold 13.81 million copies, meaning that not only has it surpassed the sales of the Wii U version of its predecessor, it has outsold the ''Wii U console itself'' (which only sold 13.5 million units around the world, but any single piece of software outselling an entire console is still an amazing feat). In addition, it's now both the best selling game in the series AND the best selling fighting game of all time!
*** On top of that, this latest figure means that ''Smash'' as a franchise has surpassed ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' as the best selling fighting game series of all time, too!
*** ''Tekken'' is developed and published by Creator/BandaiNamco. Bandai Namco also helped develop ''Smash 4'' and ''Ultimate''. A moment of awesome for them when you realize that they have bragging rights to having developed the two best selling fighting game franchises of all time.
* With this game, Creator/CharlesMartinet officially holds the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-XUZE--qU8 Guinness World Record]] for "Most Video Game Voiceover Performances as the Same Character." He has voiced [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]] in '''100''' different games.
* ''Ultimate'' being selected for the EVO 2019 and EVO Japan 2020 lineups.
** Heck, ''Ultimate'' being such a good and balanced game that EVO ''retired Melee''.
*** Not only that, but it was later announced that ''Ultimate'' would be the headlining game of finals night, and as a result, it would be the headlining game of EVO 2019. To put this into perspective, the headlining game of EVO for ''more than a decade'' has been ''Franchise/StreetFighter''. This is the first time in a very, very, very long time that the headlining game isn't an installment in the ''Street Fighter'' series. Not only that, but ''Ultimate'' is the game with the highest attendance at EVO.
* During a stream by Yacht Club Games, they consistently screwed around with Assist Trophies because they were looking for one specific character; ''their beloved VideoGame/ShovelKnight''. Upon finding him, they basically let him finish off the match. Even as an Assist Trophy, seeing your character in Smash ''at all'' is enough to entice hype.
* While ''Dragon Quest'' is an immensely popular franchise in Japan, in other countries such as the States its popularity is more niche especially compared to its [[Franchise/FinalFantasy sister series]]. With the inclusion of the Hero in ''Ultimate'', overseas fans were hopeful that ''Dragon Quest'' would receive a decent ColbertBump in the West thanks to a ''Smash'' inclusion, like ''Fire Emblem'' and ''Xenoblade Chronicles'' before it. Sure enough, shortly after the Hero's release, ''VideoGame/DragonQuestXI S'' [[https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1524692-super-smash-brothers-ultimate shot up to #1 on Amazon's Best Sellers list of Switch games]].
** On a similar note, it also helped gain similar traction for Banjo-Kazooie and the Xbox in Japan when the duo were first announced and showcased in Japan.
* [=AQWGhostFace=] makes videos involving amiibo training since the Smash 4 games, and in Ultimate, the amiibo training continues. However, one instance involved him getting his preorder of the Pichu amiibo... and that reminded him of a certain Pichu duo from the ''Pokémon'' anime and ''VideoGame/PokemonChannel'' known as the Pichu Brothers. With that, he got a second Pichu amiibo to train, resulting in him doing Team Battles with those two Pichu on the blue team, thus making something similar to a DualBoss.
* Creator/TobyFox gets one for just hanging out with Sakurai. They played some ''Smash,'' listened to some music and before we knew it, Sans was a Mii Costume in ''Ultimate''. The fact that two of the most respected individuals in the market just got together one night is a meeting never thought possible, but it just happened so casually.
** The fact that Toby ''beat'' Sakurai at his own game more times than Sakurai beat him. It becomes better in hindsight after the Terry Bogard showcase direct, in which Sakurai demonstrates in spite of his modesty, he's actually good enough at the game to get a perfect Classic Mode score while multitasking with commentary.
* Fan reception for the Sans costume has been surprisingly positive compared to most other costumes. His detractors are happy because that means he's not taking up a fighter slot, and his supporters are just happy that he's in to begin with. Considering several other Mii Costumes were met with vitriol upon their reveal, such as the costumes for King K. Rool, Geno, Lloyd, Rex, Travis Touchdown, Dante, and Shantae, it's an example of the Mii Costumes succeeding in what they were intended to do: provide a suitable alternative to having the character as a fighter.
** It's also worth noting that, even if it is just as a skin for another fighter, Sans is the first ''playable'' Indie character in Smash. Not the first Indie overall, considering Shovel Knight is an Assist Trophy, Shantae is a Spirit (and would later get a Mii Costume of her own), and later Minecraft made its iconic characters actually playable over a year afterward, but still the first Indie fighter (even if only by technicality). Small steps from Trophy to Assist to Mii Costume - the future truly looks bright for Indie representation in Smash Bros.
** VideoGame/{{Cuphead}} would join in on the fun four months later, proving that there's more plans for Indie representation in the near future.
** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'''s Vault Boy also received positive reception, showing that the costume love isn't limited to Indie characters; even Triple-A characters can get some appreciation this way. Not only that, but at the time of the costume's reveal, ''VideoGame/Fallout76's'' infamous reputation was still fresh in people's minds. For Vault Boy to get this level of positive reception despite ''everything'' really speaks volumes as to how beloved the ''Fallout'' franchise really is.
*** The same can also be said for the Dragonborn from ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim''. While news of Dante from ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' and Shantae might have been met by vitriol due to them not being in as playable fighters, the fact that the Dragonborn was even included at all left fans of Skyrim yelling for joy at his inclusion as the special Mii Swordfighter fitting of the fan roles that Sans, Cuphead, and even Vault Boy enjoyed as the special Mii Gunners of Ultimate.
*** Even ''Doom'' can be seen as a positive despite it not being the main man himself as the final fighter for Ultimate. While the Doom Slayer appears as a Mii costume like everyone else there, the fact that he even appeared ''at all in Smash'' can be considered a win for Doom fans in and of itself. Or in other words, Bethesda's big three of game franchises are all here!
* Terry's inclusion becomes one from a long-running {{Meta}} perspective. In one of his Famitsu columns, Sakurai not only admitted to being a fan of old-school 2D fighters, but got the idea from ''Smash'' partially because of one incident: when playing in the arcades in the mid-90s, he had amassed a large win streak against an opponent who he was clearly better than, but upon finding out that he was playing against a young couple out on a date who appeared to have little to no experience at it. The game they were playing? ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters '95''. That one incident helped Sakurai try to create ''Smash Bros.'' as a fighting game that could easily be accessible by anyone, and putting the flagship mascot of the company responsible for ''The King of Fighters'' now looks a lot more fitting in retrospect.
** Not only that, but consider many of the staple game mechanics of ''Smash'': side dodging, rolling, the Rage mechanic in ''Smash 4'' onwards as a ComebackMechanic, etc. — all of which were introduced by games developed by SNK themselves.
** On the topic of Terry's inclusion, SNK themselves deserve a lot of credit for the sheer scale of what they let Sakurai use. Sakurai presented a list of 50 song ideas to SNK for them to choose which ones to use. Their response? '''All 50 of them.''' That's not even including the massive amount of character references they let Sakurai use for the stage and spirits, with only one character, [[MsFanservice Mai Shiranui]], being unable to show up, and that was only because they couldn't find a way to get her past the ratings board. When SNK get their properties in other games, they make sure to go hard. To put it another way, the amount of representation seen here means that Terry isn't just representing ''Fatal Fury'' or ''KOF'', ''he's fighting on behalf for SNK as a whole.'' Not that many characters in the roster get to say that they utterly represent the library of their entire company's output, and even the ones that do don't have the sheer depth seen with Terry and SNK.
* Despite being a 2018 game, the game ''still'' got nominated for three categories in 2019's The Game Awards! Including Game of the Year! [[VideoGame/SekiroShadowsDieTwice Even though Ultimate didn’t win that category]], it still ended up winning the award for Best Fighting Game!
* In light of the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, the game's staff had to transfer into a work-at-home structure for most of the Wave 2 DLC development, leaving Sakurai with more limited direction for a time while Japan was steadily recovering, so it was uncertain that he'd be able to do his presentation for Min Min at all. Undeterred, Nintendo shipped some recording equipment ''directly to his house'' so that he could be able to pull it off.
* Nintendo's ability to hold onto archived audio for future use is impressive by industry standards — but it's in the Min Min showcase that Sakurai reveals just ''how'' impressive it is. Namely, when discussing Captain Falcon's VO session, he states that it was a one-time thing, for the Nintendo 64 original, and there'd never been any new Falcon recordings until the Min Min trailer. But wait, how does that [[LimitBreak account for...?]] That's right: Final Smashes were a concept as far back as the very first game, and the Blue Falcon line was recorded for it way back then, ''three console generations apart'' before it'd actually be implemented in ''Brawl''!
* In ''Ultimate''[='=]s 8.1 update released on August 4, 2020, the developers released a nice stage called "Small Battlefield" to the game, making it the first time the game released a new stage without a new character joining first. The stage itself is simple enough, with its best description being "Battlefield" with minor changes or like "Final Destination" with two platforms on the left and right side of the stage. But that's not all they did. With this update, they managed to not only add both "Random Battlefield" and "Random Ω" (Random Final Destination) buttons next to the Battlefield stage, but also allowed for '''every single song in the game to be playable in all Battlefield stages and Final Destination without limitations!''' Now instead of being limited to just a certain amount of songs on those stages, you could play ''any song there'' to your heart's content!
** Combine that with improvements in their online mode to help improve the game there, and you got a fantastic update given out of nowhere in a time where employees still had to work at home due to the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic! Not bad, Nintendo!
** Made more impressive once it was revealed that in order to allow for every song to be played on those stages, [[https://www.eventhubs.com/news/2020/sep/09/masahiro-sakurai-got-permission-all-rights-holders-involved-super-smash-bros-ultimate-ability-choose-any-song-certain-stages/ Sakurai needed to get permission from ALL of the IP holders involved]]! And possibly also the individual owners of specific music, such as the first two ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games, ''Dragon Quest'', ''Final Fantasy VII'', ''Xenoblade Chronicles 2'', and Toby Fox's ''Undertale''!
** Not to mention agreements with future DLC included from games like ''Minecraft'', ''Tekken'', and even ''Kingdom Hearts'' as well. Considering how many companies have content in this game, it seems like an extremely daunting task, but thankfully, it was one he was able to pull off.
* In his rather extensive career, Creator/YuukiKaji has considered two particular possibilities to be dream jobs: A role in ''Franchise/DragonQuest'', and a role in ''Smash Bros.'' In voicing [[VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII Eight]] for ''Ultimate'', he managed to score both jobs at once!
* So what caused a ''Minecraft'' character to finally get into ''Smash''? Why, nothing more than an inquiry from a Nintendo employee on making it happen, which Sakurai took as a challenge to make it work for them![[note]]Keep in mind, that also included things like '''rewriting code for existing stages to allow Minecraft's Steve, Alex, Zombie, and Enderman to place their blocks on said stages properly!'''[[/note]]The best part? Despite how challenging creating the fighter and his costumes were, he still managed to do it while still dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic at hand and make it work for a proper release in 2020.
* The extremely unexpected reveal that Steve, Alex, the Zombie, and Enderman from ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' were joining the party caused such a traffic spike on social media that it lagged out several platforms such as Website/{{Twitter}} for a brief time.
* The fact that Kazuya's level 9 A.I. is so good that it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9YEUH5E-UI has been featured as an opponent in]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNDOp1EgREE actual Smash tournaments]], and in some cases, has even managed to pick up wins over pro Smash players.
* While Doom Slayer from ''Doom (2016) and Eternal'' is not officially included as a playable fighter, the reveal of him as a Mii Costume allows the crossover between that character and Isabelle of ''Animal Crossing'' to come true to some extent thanks to the MemeticMutation, based on their games' simultaneous delayed releases.
* The fact that '''Sora''' made it in, despite being owned by Creator/{{Disney}}, who is notorious for being very protective of its properties, to the point where even Square Enix is careful when using Kingdom Hearts characters themselves. Seeing that it was also revealed that he was the most voted character for the previous game's poll and that Sakurai said that his team had been working on the character for years really shows that he was intended to be a gift for the player. Many call his spot as the last DLC character a well earned one.
** The fact that they were able to use Creator/HaleyJoelOsment's voice in the English version shows how much effort they were willing to put into getting Sora into the game. With Cloud & Sephiroth, they were unable to secure their English voices due to [[ScrewedByTheLawyers legal red tape involving voice acting unions]], but for Sora, who is voiced by a [[CelebrityVoiceActor celebrity]], no less, they went all out.
** Sakurai's showing as Sora in his final Mr. Sakurai Presents was fun and flashy as heck. He pits Sora against Cloud and Sephiroth in a stamina stock battle, and while Sora loses a life, the match ends with a good showing for everyone. Sora uses his Final Smash first, dealing some damage to his opponents. Then Sephiroth captures Cloud and attempts his Final Smash, Cloud gets enough points to fire off ''his'' and eliminate Sephiroth with it, and in the end Sora takes down Cloud for a slow motion photo finish as they reveal his special game-winning animation.
** Fun Fact, originally the second Fighters Pass was gonna consist of five characters just like the previous pass (meaning Kazuya would have been the official final challenger at first), but when Sakurai had a chance meeting with a Disney employee during a game awards show, which eventually resulted in Disney finally giving the thumbs up on Sora, Sakurai bumped it up to six. So you have a chance encounter with someone from Disney to thank for giving [=FP2=] an additional fighter. Rather fitting, considering [[HistoryRepeats Kingdom Hearts first existed because of a chance encounter between a couple of Squaresoft guys and a Disney employee many years ago]].
** Daring players can reenact Sora's BonusBoss battle against Sephiroth, similar to either ''Kingdom Hearts'' or ''Kingdom Hearts II'', by adjusting the latter's CPU Level and HP for Stamina Battles and make him NintendoHard. As an added bonus, they can use either the original or ''Advent Children'' version of ''One-Winged Angel''.
* Just when we thought it was all over, Ultimate provided at least one last surprise in store for fans with their January 14, 2022 Spirit Board update to help celebrate Street Fighter's 35th anniversary. That surprise, you might ask? The addition of an '''[[EvilDoppelganger Evil]] [[VideoGame/StreetFighterAlpha Ryu]]''' spirit battle!
** While we don't know if it's just a one-time thing for celebration's sake or if there's still a few more extra spirits to add beyond just Evil Ryu, the fact there's ''still'' some extra stuff added to this game despite all of the characters being confirmed now shows there's still some life left in this game.
[[/folder]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Everyone is ''finally'' here, and '''everything is ''truly ultimate!''''' '''''[[TitleScream SUPER SMASH BROS. ULTIMATE!!!''''']]

* [[VideoGame/MonsterHunter Rathalos]] has a banner year as he follows up his appearance in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' with an appearance here as an Assist Trophy...''and'' as a ''boss'' in a ''Monster Hunter'' stage! (more specifically, a Classic Mode/World of Light boss)

* After spending four years as an Assist Trophy, [[VideoGame/AnimalCrossing Isabelle]] joins ''Smash'' as a full-fledged fighter! And the fact that she doesn't get hit at all in the gameplay segment from her reveal trailer is itself a feat[[note]]getting caught by Kappn's bus notwithstanding[[/note]] (ealizing the rest of the revealed non-Echo Fighters, even Ridley, got hit at least once makes it astounding)!

Light will guide you, on your way to the ultimate fight!''

[[caption-width-right:350:Everyone is ''finally'' here, and '''everything is ''truly ultimate!''''']]

** Even though Chrom is playable, he ''still'' does double-duty as part of Robin's Pair-Up! Never underestimate the Exalt of Ylisse again.

** The Inklings bring out a [[WaveMotionGun Killer Wail]] which blasts any enemies in its path! And just like the Zero Laser, you can actually guide it.

** Joker slashes through his opponents before calling his partners-in-crime and performing a good old All-Out Attack from his original game-- complete with his signature "THE SHOW'S OVER" splash screen! For [[ShownTheirWork added attention to detail]] since this is a "KO at 100%" Final Smash, if All-Out Attack ends the match, the splash screen sticks around and becomes the ''results'' screen just like in his home game.

** Sephiroth slices through opponents, before showing why he's the TropeNamer for OneWingedAngel by transforming into [[AngelicAbomination his Safer form]]. Then he casts his ultimate magic spell: Supernova! Cue a comet hurling through space and destroying Jupiter before it collides with the sun, which then explodes and [[EarthShatteringKaboom turns the Earth into a pile of space rubble]]. For extra detail, [[FormulaicMagic the equations used for the spell]] are kept for the animation, and the move inflicts all manner of StatusEffects on foes that are hit, just like in the original ''Final Fantasy VII'' game.

** The inclusion of Pyra & Mythra from Xenoblade Chronicles 2 actually broke the mold of Legendary Spirits in its section by including '''two''' Legendary Spirit fights for you to go up against! Of course, the Spirit Board for Xenoblade Chronicles 2 feature a greater treat with both older and newer Spirits from the game being included for this one, similar to the one for ARMS. However, there are two battles of great challenge that you need to overcome to beat this one instead of a big one at the end. For the first battle, the fighter has to defeat at least two out of three giant metal Ridleys before you have the right to face off against Malos (represented by a giant Richter Belmont with a light beam). While you do play that match on the Guar Plains (which makes it easier to take care of the Ridleys), you might also have to deal with Metal Face showing up later on in the match as well, depending on whether you can defeat Richter and the Ridleys fast enough. As for the second battle, Pnuema (who had to be given special, unique art of her full body '''just for this game'''), it's a stamina match on the Cloud Sea of Alrest where you go up against both Shulk (being the representative of Rex in this fight) and Pyra/Mythra in their ascended form costumes, with Pyra/Mythra also having a sudden Final Smash after a while and being able to occasionally turn into metal if they're at high damage. Defeat both of them in their respective matches, and you can prove yourself worthy of being the core player to beat both Malos and Pnuema in this game. Bonus points for Pyra & Mythra being able to defeat Malos on their own and for them both to later become separate entities by the end of it all.

** This isn't even getting into the best part. The game later sold 12.08 million copies from December 7th to December 31st. It is outright the fastest-selling game that is exclusive to a console ever! This also puts it at ''Brawl''’s level in just under a month, meaning it has likely outsold ''Brawl'' already — and ''Brawl'' was the best-selling game in the series if you count the Wii U and 3DS version separately!

*** Then there's how ''Kingdom Hearts'' lore is incorporated into this. When someone who isn't explicitly a Keyblade Wielder holds a Keyblade, [[ClingyMacguffin the Keyblade will make its way back to the original Wielder]]. As such, Mario isn't able to wield the Keyblade. However, it came to Mario in a form that he ''can'' wield: [[PlayingWithFire fire]]. And rather than returning to Sora, the Keyblade ''summoned'' Sora. In a way, while Mario isn't deemed worhty enough to be a Keyblade Wielder, he ''is'' worthy enough to call Sora to his world via his own Keyblade.

--->'''Sakurai:''' ''(as he uses Sora's Final Smash on Cloud and Sephiroth)'' [[ShoutOut Stay where]] [[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren you belong]], ''behind this door!''