Nintendo has finally revealed the last DLC character of the Fighter Pass for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The fifth character in the pass will be Byleth, the playable protagonist in Fire Emblem Three Houses and will release on January 28. Note: This article contains minor SPOILERS for Fire Emblem Three Houses.
Fire Emblem Three Houses is now the most recently released game to have a character featured in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which is significant because the game is frequently regarded by many, including acclaimed game director Masahiro Sakurai, to be a celebration of the video game industry as a whole. Some fans have come to take this definition as implying that DLC characters for the game should be those who come from classic video game franchises from much older consoles (Crash Bandicoot comes to mind), but with the inclusion of characters from recent games like Incineroar and Joker from Pokemon Sun and Moon and Persona 5, this is clearly not the case.
Still, many fans were upset at the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct, due to the fact that the number of Fire Emblem characters in the game (which is now eight) has become somewhat overwhelming. With so many characters in the game (now 80, ten times the amount of Fire Emblem characters in the game), there are bound to be a bunch that people do not like for some reason or another. However, for fans of both Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and the recent hit Nintendo Switch game, Fire Emblem Three Houses, the inclusion of Byleth has become celebrated news.
In Fire Emblem Three Houses, Byleth (the player can pick between male and female, like in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate) is the silent son or daughter of veteran mercenary, Jeralt. He used to serve the queen and religious leader of the continent of Fodlan, Lady Rhea, who Byleth and Jeralt eventually cross paths with at Garreg Mach Monastery, one of the oldest structures on the continent that lies directly in the center of it. As Jeralt is whisked away to deal with various other tasks, Lady Rhea takes a liking to Byleth and makes him or her a professor at the monastery, where the titular three houses, the Blue Lions, the Black Eagles, and the Golden Deer, have taken up residence in preparation for the next semester.
As a professor in Fire Emblem Three Houses, Byleth confers with their students almost every day and the player is able to build up character relationship bonds this way. Near the beginning of the game, the player is tasked with having Byleth pick one of the houses to teach at for the semester. This choice leads to one of three storylines (technically four, depending on certain circumstances). Though each storyline is fairly unique from the others, all of them share certain key plot points that the player will experience with the house that they have chosen. These plot points were hinted at by Byleth’s alternate costumes, as Sakurai mentioned in the Direct.
The Nintendo Direct also showed off an in-depth look at most of Byleth’s moveset and noted that the Direct itself was recorded back in November, so there will more than likely be some slight changes to the character before they release. As it stands,though, the gameplay shown puts Byleth in a bittersweet light. For casual play, Byleth looks like a lot of fun.
However, for those who play at a competitive level, even though there are a good amount of promising moves that can make the battle, Byleth is not likely to be favored in the meta game because of their slow speed, high count of move frames, and incredible susceptibility to counters. Sakurai stated in the Direct that Byleth has approximately the same walking speed as Robin, who is among the slowest of slow walkers, up there with Super Smash Bro. Ultimate's Incineroar. Like other slow characters, this is balanced by giving them really powerful moves to offset the speed disadvantage, but Byleth still has a major problem with facing counters.
Sakurai also stated that it is not a good idea for Byleth players to fight against other Fire Emblem characters as these characters can easily counter Byleth's big moves. However, this is true for all characters that can counter or reflect. Byleth requires reading opponents further in advance in order to set up combos or finishers properly. When using the bow (Failnaught), Byleth can charge up a shot and quickly release it or shield-cancel to fake out opponents. On top of that, if Byleth charges the bow further to a second level (indicated by a beam of light), then the player could unleash a devastating charged arrow that could kill off opponents at lower than average damage percentages.
The problem, though, is when Byleth is matched up against characters with counters or reflectors like Joker, Fox, or most of the other Fire Emblem characters. If the player uses Byleth’s second level charged arrow against Fox (and the second charge forbids cancels), the player would have no choice but to fire an extremely powerful shot, potentially risking their own stock if the Fox player is able to predict the move and reflect in time (which, because of Byleth’s slow speed, they most likely will).
Where Byleth excels is in side smash and recovery. When Byleth side smashes, they use a giant swiping spear (Areadbhar) to cover directly in front of and above them guaranteeing temporary safety. Basically, if an opponent tries to run at the player or jump over them, this forward sweep has more than enough range in order to keep them at bay. The frame recovery for this move is not as bad as some of the other moves that Byleth has.
Byleth’s off-stage recovery is nearly identical to Joker’s albeit with a shorter weapon (Sword of the Creator) which is great but the real secret weapon is connecting the Up-B with an opponent, allowing Byleth to climb over the opponent and jump over them, damaging them badly in the process. Not only can this move help Byleth reach certain areas they could not otherwise, the move is also an excellent means of ledge-guarding.
If an opponent is off of the stage to the right, for example, Byleth can jump off and fast fall under them (or if the opponent is foolish enough to jump over them), giving them the perfect opportunity to Up-B and send the opponent flying downward. Byleth seems like an overall balanced character, and now fans just have to wait for the second Fighter Pass' characters.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is available now for Nintendo Switch. Byleth will release on January 28.