The announcement of Sephiroth coming to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate at the Game Awards 2020 came as an unexpected, but pleasant, surprise for many people. With a second Final Fantasy character now joining the ranks, a lot of Super Smash Bros. fans have a lot to look forward to. Although, surprisingly, Final Fantasy's presence in Super Smash Bros. had a few more hurdles than some may have initially realized.
The inclusion of Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy 7 back when Super Smash Bros. For Wii U was still at its peak had a lot of people excited for what was to come. Though, for some fans, it was rather unfortunate, considering that until the arrival of Sephiroth, Cloud was the only playable Final Fantasy character, and the subsequent Final Fantasy 7 stage came with only two songs from the series.
In the recent gameplay showcase for Sephiroth, Masahiro Sakurai, the director for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, explained why there weren't as many songs for Final Fantasy compared to the dozens of songs from series like Castlevania and Fatal Fury. It essentially boiled down to some songs requiring certain kinds of permissions in terms of copyright. A number of songs require multiple copyright holders to give permission, while others only require one holder to give permission.
Thus, if Sakurai and his team can't get permission from all of the respective copyright holders, then the song cannot appear in the game. This truly is unfortunate, considering that one of greatest strengths of Final Fantasy is its music. There are multiple tracks throughout the entire Final Fantasy game library that resonate heavily with a number of players, with Final Fantasy 7 in particular having a significant amount of memorable songs.
Luckily, the arrival of Sephiroth as the next DLC character came along with a wider variety of music to choose from. Including the two originally included on the Wii U/3DS version of Super Smash Bros., nine new songs are being added to the game, bringing the total number of Final Fantasy songs up to eleven. This will be sure to satisfy a great deal of Final Fantasy fans.
For many fans, it's nice to know that Final Fantasy will now have a greater presence in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The recent success of Final Fantasy 7 Remake will definitely give players greater incentive to want to play as Sephiroth and Cloud in the future. Perhaps, more Final Fantasy characters will make an appearance in Smash Bros.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is available now exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.