While many hoped for it, nearly everyone doubted that Sora — the main character of Kingdom Hearts — would actually make his way into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the reason being that he's the property of Disney, a corporation known for being very protective of its assets. So, it pretty much took everyone by surprise when Super Smash Bros. Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai revealed that Sora would, in fact, be Ultimate's final DLC release, but how the Smash creator pulled it off remained a mystery — until now.
For about 18 years now, Sakurai has written a weekly column for the popular video game magazine Famitsu, using it as a platform to share his thoughts on the latest video game industry news, which, of course, includes what's going on with Super Smash Bros. While his latest column has yet to release, a leaked, translated snippet of it provided by Twitter user @PushDustin, reveals how Sakurai managed to get Sora into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
According to the leak, Sora got into the game by sheer coincidence. While attending an undisclosed awards show, Sakurai stumbled upon one of the managers of Disney and informed the individual that he wanted to invite Sora into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. This manager obliged by bringing Disney in on the conversation between Nintendo and Square Enix regarding how to make Sora's Smash appearance work, and after some long negotiations, the rest is history.
The exact details of Sakurai's encounter with the Disney executive will likely come about when the Famitsu issue containing the column officially releases. How PushDustIn managed to get his hands on this particular leak remains a mystery, but he's known for accurately translating Sakurai's Famitsu columns, so there's no reason to doubt him in this instance. As such, even without the full issue, PushDustIn's translations get across the gist of how Sora got into Smash.
Sora getting into Smash Ultimate by chance is somewhat appropriate, as Kingdom Hearts' story tackles themes about destiny through Master Xehanort, its first major villain. From his point of view, everything happens as it's supposed to; he doesn't believe anything is ever left to chance. In the end, it seemingly turns out that he was wrong, though, as Sora forces fate to do what he wants to win, a feat Sakurai basically replicated by getting him into Smash. Players can decide for themselves how they see it.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is available now on Nintendo Switch.