Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - DADDY SAKURAI'S WILD RIDE HAS CONCLUDED

[expansivelovestories]

 

here are some thematically relevant musics for the occasion   they are from the years before video games had this sort of soundtrack, but, there is a lot of similar energy evoking complex and unique characters and adventures!!

[Ryannumber1gamer]

5 minutes ago, JezMM said:

Music is one of my favourite aspects in Smash too so I'm a bit cheesed off they locked a song behind owning another product, even when it's a franchise I have no connection to.  The exclusive Spirits are at least added to the random rotation after a certain period so this song lockage feels a little unprecedented.  And yeah, KH is well-known for it's beloved vocal songs, so of course they aren't here lol.

The vocal songs have a reason - they're licensed tracks created by a popular Japanese pop star, so getting them in would've made them jump through more hoops.

[Dr. Detective]

I didn't realize how happy I'd be that it actually happened. Probably because I did the thing I usually do and expect it to be something I don't necessarily care about. 

The fact that it not only was but it was Sora didn't feel totally real but as time is ticking by I'm starting to feel the excitement creep in.

Definitely happy its mostly KH1 centric. Despite KH2 being my first Kingdom Hearts game, KH1 feels more nostalgic to me. Plus, I think he looked his best there, personally.

It would have been cool if they had reached out to other games for the tracks though. The Encounter would have been an excellent choice.

[JezMM]

16 minutes ago, Ryannumber1Scarer said:

The vocal songs have a reason - they're licensed tracks created by a popular Japanese pop star, so getting them in would've made them jump through more hoops.

Ah, fair enough. I figured getting the actual vocals would be an issue but was kinda surprised we didn't even get instrumentals - if the entire thing was a licensed song though, that makes sense.

[KHCast]

I think it still manages to be fan-service-y enough, at least personally speaking. They still kinda have some Disney representation via the keychain and his Timeless River form (a literal steamboat willie reference), and other his costumes and the stage clearly have a lot of care put into them. The fact he finishes a character like he does in the games is also a detail I would have never expected they’d do.
 

I do wish, we had background stuff like heartless showing up. That, and maybe having some actual background characters instead of just the stained glass would have been nice, but overall, I’m still extremely happy he’s in, and seems to have gotten immense love and care put into him. Like Max Dood said best, this is a character that, in any normal circumstances, should not be here, yet here he is, and that’s awesome 

[Zaysho]

I'm kind of floored how good he looks. I felt like if he was gonna show up, it was gonna be with a huge asterisk and feel lacking like Cloud did, but this is far beyond what I expected. It's not the bare minimum, and maybe it's not everything an actual fan would like, but shit, they got Osment's voice in some form when they couldn't even do that for Cloud, they got the real Keyblade, they got the best looking alts including Timeless River.

I'm not even a big fan of the series anymore but you can tell just how much care went into him and I'm so happy they did right by him. And I know the kid who graduated high school the month after KHII came out in the states back in '06 (me) would be overjoyed.

[expansivelovestories]

Yes; i also think like the simple yet really dynamic moveset, as the final character to be added, serves as a wonderful tribute to the style of the very first Super Smash!!

in terms of "how did games this deep in terms of physics and gameplay complexity exist this early in history?", the original Smash still seems absurdly far ahead of its time; the physics, the dynamic environments, the responsiveness of the controls, the sheer madness of how the items could be used, and of course the expressiveness of the characters' motion and emotion alike!!

[Wraith]

As a fan I'm overjoyed. If this ever happened I expected countless compromises but it seems like they did the best they could with the time and resources they had. There are a lot of things they could improve if they get the opportunity to do this again, but they might not. I say just enjoy it.

[KHCast]

Well one of my friends on Twitter sure is taking the Sora reveal…well.

 

 

Spoiler

In other news:

 

 

Bro, hearing them say those words…what reality am I in? I still feel like I’m dreaming

 

[KHCast]

So moving on from Sora for a second, hard as it is, so uh…this means we’re probably getting Crash and Ace Attorney spirit events huh? I’d wanna see them get in somehow 

 

 

This is real…fuck I’m still in awe

 

 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I’m not gonna lie, the trailer kinda gave me diabetes…lol

Gotta love how they’re promoting it.

[Waveshocker Sigma]

Here's a cool tribute video to Ultimate as a whole I found to celebrate. This is absolutely incredible. It's been one wild, fun and crazy ride, ladies and gentlemen. Let's just chill and enjoy the game together from now on into the future.

[Zaysho]

All right, I wanna be goofy for a minute. I jokingly renamed this thread "DADDY SAKURAI'S WILD RIDE HAS CONCLUDED" because it's the kind of shit I know Etika would've said. It's funny and satisfying. I don't have to think or speculate or argue or even care anymore. The game is done. And I look back to the years, that goofy N64 commercial, EGM's Sonic in Melee prank, Sonic actually making it into Brawl, the 2014 hype cycle and then the moment Inkling was announced in 2018 when a friend and I joked the night before Smash ain't coming any time soon.

It's crazy thinking how long I've watched this in some form, casually or otherwise. Brawl was a turning point with the Smash Dojo. I can't ever forget how it felt seeing Sonic announced. Since then there's always been one thing that said to me "yep, this package is complete and great. I'm good."

Look at this

(these were in order of release before I swapped Sora and the girls in terms of personal importance LOL)

Each time I've gotten something that felt like it's for me and something that felt extremely meaningful to me. Sonic is my OG. Mario was my first game, Sonic was the first time wanting to know a character and being inspired to draw. Xenoblade, and the Xeno meta series, holds a lot of personal importance to me in my adult life, with Shulk getting in when westerners barely knew about Xenoblade and Pyra and Mythra getting in when it seemed impossible. My favorite games, my favorite worlds, my favorite characters. XC2's story of self-acceptance resonates so strongly with me and seeing my girls made me so happy when I just plain gave up. Incineroar is one of my favorite Pokemon, and Sun and Moon came at a time of grief from losing a pet, with a Litten playing a role in getting me over it. Banjo is an actual lovable skrunko that I was happy to see again after so many years. And finally Sora--I don't have to be a big fan of his series anymore, by the time 3 came out I stopped caring, but seeing him gives me such a nostalgic buzz for simpler times in high school when my biggest concern was if KH2 was even real. I can't not be happy seeing him even if I try to lie to myself. Making him his original appearance makes it even better.

I know he's never actually said it, but if Sakurai actually ended the presentation with "Never ask me for anything ever again," I don't think I would need to. He's delivered time and again, one-upping himself every time. I'm good. I'm glad he's out of the Smash dungeon for now, and hope he gets to make more cool things down the line. I can't expect another game in this line with this much stuff again. This one's truly been Special. This one's truly been the Ultimate.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

I just realized.

Not only is this the perfect ending, with the new character shaking hands with Mario, instead of trying to kill him.

But it's also the very first character literally greeting the very last character of this game.

Quite an amazing roundabout venture.

[KHCast]

Just to give an idea of how difficult this had to have been for Nintendo and Sakurai to pull off, not even Square Enix care to bother to try and get KH content in their games most of the time. The idea scares them.

 

 

World of Final Fantasy, the only console FF title to have Sora, had to come with a LOT of caveats that wouldn’t be surprised, turned most of the devs off future attempts.  He was only released when the game (WoFF)was exclusive to PlayStation, timed DLC, had NO actual KH music attached to him, it was some mega generic shit, and he was *mute* in the western versions of the game. All that, and Sora was STILL expensive as fuck to get

I wouldn’t be surprised if FFXV initially had plans to have like a Sora or Riku costume for Noctis (Gladiolus definitely would have been Terra), and some music for the Regalia, but got spooked by how WoFF turned out with that, and so opted to just do a easy to miss Easter egg where prompto briefly alludes to it.
 

 

Hell, I’m sure the Dissidia games JUST having Cloud, Sephiroth and Leon’s KH outfits must have been quite a mint. Even if they wanted Sora in, there’s probably no way in hell they would have attempted it, even if fan demand was high 

The fact we have Sora, a bunch of detailed alts, a stage, 10 songs, and other characters being referenced, all in a non-square Enix environment is fucking beyond impressive and I have to seriously again, give my props to Sakurai and his team, for doing what not even Square Enix were brave enough to do.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

24 minutes ago, KHCast said:

The fact we have Sora, a bunch of detailed alts, a stage, 10 songs, and other characters being referenced, all in a non-square Enix environment is fucking beyond impressive and I have to seriously again, give my props to Sakurai and his team, for doing what not even Square Enix were brave enough to do.

I mean, hell. Smash gave us the Sephiroth vs. Sora fight that Kingdom Hearts 3 utterly failed to give us (among many other things).

[KHCast]

1 hour ago, Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon said:

I mean, hell. Smash gave us the Sephiroth vs. Sora fight that Kingdom Hearts 3 utterly failed to give us (among many other things).

It really be like that.

 

Im re-watching the trailer a few times right now. God, can we just appreciate how just foreboding and unsettling the beginning of it was to give everyone a sense of unease and curiosity. That little musical bit that played when Mario was looking into the fire…wow. It’s like Mario was at first scared, knowing what that potentially opened up, but knew he had to do it to save everyone. And holy shit, it really paid off, since no one saw it coming even with the leak because the trailer just looked like it could have been for 5 other characters. 

[KHCast]

So this was my character prediction list for pass 2:

 

man, if I had to get one right, thank GOD it was the one that mattered most to me lol.

 

Also, I just realized…do you think beating bosses with Sora will do the animation???:o

 

 

 lololol 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

You know, I just realised something - Simple and Clean was used in the trailer - the orchestra version used for the credits of the first game, more specifically:

(timestamped).

This is honestly a really weird thing. It's one thing that they didn't wanna go through the licensing hoops for Simple and Clean, Sanctuary, or Face My Fears/Don't Think Twice, which is understandable enough, but why go through the loops to get this specific version of Simple and Clean to use as Sora's reveal trailer? Better yet, this version of Simple and Clean doesn't seem to be in the game proper, as it's not listed among the track list.

Pretty bizarre, honestly. 

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

21 minutes ago, Ryannumber1Scarer said:

This is honestly a really weird thing. It's one thing that they didn't wanna go through the licensing hoops for Simple and Clean, Sanctuary, or Face My Fears/Don't Think Twice, which is understandable enough, but why go through the loops to get this specific version of Simple and Clean to use as Sora's reveal trailer? Better yet, this version of Simple and Clean doesn't seem to be in the game proper, as it's not listed among the track list.

Pretty bizarre, honestly. 

It's the same thing that happened with Cloud Strife and Dragon Quest's Hero. 

Hell, even happened with Joker from Persona 5 as well, when his trailer had Life Will Change, which was missing from the actual Smash game album.

At the very least, you'd think they'd have included the orchestral version of Simple and Clean, but alas.

[KHCast]

Don’t forget the mii costume trailers that have music from the game

27 minutes ago, Ryannumber1Scarer said:

You know, I just realised something - Simple and Clean was used in the trailer - the orchestra version used for the credits of the first game, more specifically:

(timestamped).

This is honestly a really weird thing. It's one thing that they didn't wanna go through the licensing hoops for Simple and Clean, Sanctuary, or Face My Fears/Don't Think Twice, which is understandable enough, but why go through the loops to get this specific version of Simple and Clean to use as Sora's reveal trailer? Better yet, this version of Simple and Clean doesn't seem to be in the game proper, as it's not listed among the track list.

Pretty bizarre, honestly. 

keep in mind, and I said this during the leak in a few places, licensing out music for digital events and trailers, is not the same and does not correlate to the licensing out of that music for the game. It’s possible they wanted to get it for the game, but Disney music said no, but said yes for using it in the trailer 

[Zaysho]

2 hours ago, KHCast said:

keep in mind, and I said this during the leak in a few places, licensing out music for digital events and trailers, is not the same and does not correlate to the licensing out of that music for the game. It’s possible they wanted to get it for the game, but Disney music said no, but said yes for using it in the trailer 

It's not uncommon for Smash to do things like this specifically for presentations, either. I don't think the Forest Maze music was ever added to Smash 4 or Smult despite accompanying the Geno costume announcement both times. And Hero's trailer uses the orchestral Dragon Quest themes but the final game only has the synth versions. A more minor example is Pyra and Mythra's trailer using "Drifting Soul" but that was all to play into making the sequence feel like Xenoblade 2 for the first minute.

I can't imagine introducing Sora without "Dearly Beloved" accompanying, honestly, even if it's not in the game for understandable reasons so I'm glad they worked that out. It just wouldn't feel right otherwise.

[KHCast]

2 minutes ago, Zaysho said:

I can't imagine introducing Sora without "Dearly Beloved" accompanying,

Just wanted to clarify, it’s Hikari (the orchestral version of Simple and Clean) that was used. Dearly Beloved is the menu music lol

[Zaysho]

8 minutes ago, KHCast said:

Just wanted to clarify, it’s Hikari (the orchestral version of Simple and Clean) that was used. Dearly Beloved is the menu music lol

Oh huh. I always thought "Dearly Beloved" was the title of the orchestral version (could swear I'd seen it credited as such in the CG openings of the early games) since I thought "Hikari" is the JP version of "Simple and Clean." Was really confused when I saw the video referring to the theme as that but couldn't check lol.

[KHCast]

This is sending me over the moon right now lol. I can’t stop laughing haha 

for the record, this only covers up to KH1 lol