Nearly three years after its initial launch, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is getting its twelfth and final DLC fighter on October 18: Sora from Kingdom Hearts. As the representative of an iconic franchise blending Square Enix's Final Fantasy characters with Walt Disney movies, Sora has been long requested - even winning the Smash Bros. Fighter Ballot that ran in 2015. Many believed it wouldn't be possible because of Sora's Disney connection, but that makes his inclusion as the final new character much more satisfying.
Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai outlined Sora's moveset during a presentation on October 5, and his abilities do a solid job representing his home series. Sora is a floaty aerial-focused fighter with longstanding melee techniques like Sonic Blade that combo off basic attacks with his Keyblade. His neutral Special cycles between three elemental magic attacks: Firaga, Thundaga, and Blizzaga. Sakurai also showed off Sora's Up Taunt, which pays homage to more of Sora's magic: Stopga, Aeroga, and Curaga. While Sora looks unique in his own right, it's hard not to imagine how much more he could have stood out by subbing in those taunts as part of his main moveset.
JRPG Magic in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Firaga, Thundaga, and Blizzaga are actually spells pulled directly from the Final Fantasy series; evolutions of basic fire, thunder, and ice (Blizzard) magic. In fact, most RPGs on the market utilize variations of the same basic magic, with video games drawing from a long tradition of such techniques used in tabletop games like Dungeons & Dragons. With Super Smash Bros. Ultimate being a celebration of video game history, it's not hard to find numerous examples in fighters - particularly from JRPGs.
The most obvious case study is Hero from Dragon Quest, which is actually four different protagonists from across that storied Square Enix franchise. Their moveset includes a range of spells building off the fire and thunder-based Frizz and Zap. Robin, a representative of the tactical JRPG series Fire Emblem's magic users, also has fire and thunder-based spells, plus an electrified Levin Sword to contrast the fire-imbued blades of Roy and Ike. Even one-off JRPG characters like Ness and Lucas from the Mother series use PK Fire and Thunder; and that's not to say anything of Pokemon like Pikachu and Incineroar.
An equivalent to ice magic is harder to spot but still exists, as Lucas uses PK Freeze in place of Ness' PK Flash. Beyond that there are plenty of non-RPG characters who use equivalent elemental techniques, from the fiery breath of Bowser and Ridley to Simon and Richter Belmont's blazing Holy Water. This is a well-trod territory in Super Smash Bros., as even Final Fantasy villain Sephiroth has Flare in his arsenal. Sora could have been different.
How Sora Could Have Stood Apart
There are plenty of spell types Sakurai and his team could have utilized for Sora beyond the basic fire, thunder, ice trio; the Stop, Aero, and Cure in his taunt, as well as others like Magnet, Reflect, or Gravity. None of these would have been wholly unique in the totality of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's roster, but the fact that comparisons can be drawn means there's something to imagine for how Sora's diverse spell set may look.
Stop magic could parallel Bayonetta's Witch Time for example, even if this specific usage has drawn criticism from fans in the past. Meanwhile, Aero could pull from the playbooks of Robin or Hero, adding to his airborne prowess; and Cure could act like Wii Fit Trainer's Deep Breathing Special. Magnet is an idea similar to something like Ness' PSI Magnet or Rosalina's Gravitational Pull in that it draws objects toward Sora. Perhaps the only spell that would not work in the rotation is Reflect, which may have been better served as a part of Sora's counterattack Down Special.
These are all basic ideas for what Sora's magic could look like on paper, but of course there's something to be said for the difficulty of balancing such techniques. It's likely the Super Smash Bros. developer ran through a lot of possibilities and settled on what worked best for Sora's overall moveset, which looks commendable prior to his release. Still, the character's taunt leaves one wondering what could have been if Sora strayed further from the more traditional JRPG magic conventions.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is available now on Nintendo Switch.