Fighting Games Friday: The Ultimate Living Blades

Nintendo and director Masahiro Sakurai revealed that Pyra and Mythra from Xenoblade Chronicles 2 would be the new characters for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on the first “traditional” Nintendo Direct since September 2019 a couple of weeks ago. They fit what’s become a tradition with roster additions for the second Fighters Pass: Characters few fans had on their wish lists. If you pursued those lists before June 2020, it’s unlikely that Min Min and the pair of Steve and Alex from Arms and Minecraft, respectively, would have been on them, especially the latter. Sephiroth might have graced some due to his sheer popularity, but he still didn’t compare to the likes of Waluigi, Dante, Sora, and Goku, fans for which can be insufferable.

Speaking of insufferable stuff: I will not venture down the rabbit hole that is the reaction from Smash Bros. fans and others to Pyra and Mythra being the new characters for Ultimate in this post, which drew a ridiculously virulent response. That’s even though these come with the added twist of being two anime ladies with swords. This will be about their release following Sakurai’s presentation.

Pyra serves as a living legendary Blade for protagonist Rex in XC2, while Mythra is eventually revealed to be another being sealed inside Pyra. Both characters fight together in SSBU, and can be switched at any point when the person controlling them can do so. Some of their attacks overlap, while others have different hit and damage properties depending on which one is being controlled. Pyra’s attacks, for instance, tend to be more powerful, while Mythra has improved speed. All of this means learning how to play the characters will entail using two move sets in one, and knowing which among their many moves are better for particular situations. Learning how they work will take more time and dedication compared to others on the roster.

To give an example (that Nintendo previously gave): It’s possible for players to switch between the characters in the middle of juggle combos and block strings to trip up the other players. Other combos only work with Pyra or Mythra given their speed, power, and property differences

XC2 is stuffed full of fanservice, some of which qualifies as Too Hot for Smash Bros. Both characters’ outfits have been given modifications as a result, though some fanservice is kept. Pyra is now wearing tights while Mythra is using the updated design she previously received for her Spirit, which also gave her tights. The team made sure not to remove all the fanservice, like their cartoonishly large breasts and the minor jiggle animations that had to accompany them. Mythra’s updated design was added as an option in XC2, and perhaps the same will happen with Pyra’s in the near future; but now would have been a good time to announce that.

The stage that’s accompanied the characters’ arrival is called the Cloud Sea of Alrest, in which fighters battle on top of a creature that flies through the clouds known as Azurda. Azurda will fly by several characters from XC2, none of which will be distracting to fighters on the foreground. They’ve also come with a whopping 16 new tracks from XC2, three of which are new arrangements. You can’t say they didn’t bring the content.

Pyra and Mythra released hours after the presentation from Sakurai, and players are already finding good tricks with them when they aren’t complaining about the character choices not being those popular with internet types. (Yes, I’m aware those can often be two different people, if you’re thinking of yelling at me.) They came with a slew of balance upgrades for the game’s many characters. Amiibo prototypes for them were interestingly not showcased, so the question of whether they’ll both get the miniature figure treatment remains to be answered, but they likely will.

New Mii Fighter outfits also arrived, though not as many compared to previous updates. A series of Monster Hunter-themed options were included, just ahead of this month’s release of Monster Hunter Rise. There’s a chance this means the Monster Hunter character from Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite won’t be thrown into Smash Ultimate considering her outfit is among them, but don’t rule out the chance of getting some kind of character in the future. They could always arrive with a different design. The other outfits are based off Arthur’s from the Ghosts ‘n Goblins series, following the recent release of Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection. The outfits this time are noticeably all from Capcom.

Two more characters remain for the second, and likely final, Fighters Pass, the speculation for which will only grow more intense from here. I’m not convinced the vocal Smash community will survive any further roster disappointments. In the meantime: Sakurai mentioned on the stream that he keeps figures of all Smash characters between his work office and at home, including those for characters that have yet to be revealed. It would be a shame if someone happened to “find” those.