Earlier this month, there was the bombshell announcement that Sora from the Kingdom Hearts franchise would be rounding out the roster of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as the last character in the game's second Fighter Pass. There was much rejoicing for the fans of the lead character of the Square Enix series. While it wasn't impossible, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai has made it very clear that it was far from easy to get the character in the game. He explained the process of getting Sora in Smash in his latest column at Fumatsu. The column, titled “The Final One,” was translated by Twitter users @PushDustIn and @KodyNOKOLO.
The column begins with Sakurai reiterating that Sora was the most requested character to be added to Ultimate, which was something that was stated during the character's reveal. While Sakurai and his team were fully aware of the fan base's desire for Sora's inclusion, the process of getting him in the game was going to be very different compared to other characters, believing that the legal hurdles that would half to be jumped through to get the character would make it impossible to get him as a character.
At an award venue (PushDustin doesn't specify which one, so it is likely Sakurai doesn't either) Sakurai was able to have a discussion with a Disney representative who agreed that it would be great for Sora to get into Smash. Despite that conversation, it still took long and careful discussions between Square Enix, Nintendo, and Disney, before the greenlight was given for Sora to be the sixth character on Fighter Pass 2, which Sakurai also revealed was originally meant to have only five characters.
Sakurai continued by explaining the high standards that went into adapting Sora for Smash and how the process of his creation was overseen by Disney and Square Enix. “The first Sora model that the Smash team sent to Disney/Square Enix was very quality and there weren’t a lot of issues...just kidding. It was quite difficult.” He also noted that Sora had a high focus on aerial combat and combos in the Kingdom Hearts games, so he wanted to make sure that that feeling was carried over into Smash.
Due to the demands of the DLC and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the development time felt the same as working on an entire game. With Sakurai feeling that he will work on only a few more games, he’s "worried about the future." Sakurai closed out the column by saying how happy he was to work on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, calling it a celebration of gaming as a whole. He will be officially ending his long-running bi-weekly column with the next one, rounding it at an even 640 columns.
Sora was released in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on October 18, bringing the total roster count in the popular game to a staggering 89 total characters. You can find the entire thread translating Sakurai's column down below: