Lifelight

Spirits returning to their worlds during the "Restoration" cutscene in World of Light, a literal depiction of the song's opening line

Lifelight (命の灯火, Life's Light) is the main theme for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The full vocal version and the theme's title were first revealed at the end of the November 1st, 2018 Super Smash Bros. Direct during the trailer for Adventure Mode: World of Light. Prior to this, an ominous snippet of the first verse was heard during the game's initial teaser in the March 8, 2018 Nintendo Direct, and an instrumental “remix” of most of the complete melody played during the "Everyone is Here!" trailer at E3 2018. Neither of these variants can be played in the final release. The theme is composed and arranged by Hideki Sakamoto and sung in Japanese by Erina Koga and in English by Abby Trott.

In the game proper, an abridged version of Lifelight plays during the opening movie and is played in full during the true ending. The Japanese version is used if the language is set to Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese or Traditional Chinese, while the English version is used for English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Russian and Dutch. Both the English and Japanese versions of Lifelight can be selected as alternate menu music in My Music after clearing World of Light, and can be used as music for custom stages. Lifelight's melody is also incorporated into most of Ultimate's original music tracks such as "Menu" and "Battlefield," as well as the Mii Fighters' victory theme.

Specifics

• Music Composition / Arrangement Supervisor: Hideki Sakamoto
• Lyrics Supervisor: Masahiro Sakurai
• Lyrics Translator: Eric M. Smith / Ryan N. Kelley
• Recording Manager: Mahito Yokota
• Musician Coordinator: Norito Sekiya
• Japanese Vocalist: Erina Koga
• English Vocalist: Abby Trott
• Performance: Super Smash Bros. Orchestra

Lyrics

The song's lyrics can be found on the game's official website, on the Music page. The lyrics can be accessed by clicking on an animated twinkling star in the background of the theme's banner. The lyrics can be viewed in English and Japanese regardless of the language chosen on the website.

English

colors weave into a spire of flame

Distant sparks call to a past still unnamed
Bear this torch against the cold of the night
Search your soul and reawaken the undying light

On that day, when the sky fell away
Our world came to an end
In our eyes, did a fading sunrise in the dark?
Glimmering shadows

Silence grows, in the spaces between
stretching out beyond time
Rising up, as a chorus of souls find a voice
flickering through the void

These little sparks, cling on to life,
everyone caught in the struggle
And then the storms of change, they fan the flames
scattering ashes to the wind

Every soul contains a whisper of light
gleaming faintly as it dwindles from sight
No escape, no greater fate to be made
In the end, the chains of time will not break

Colors weave into a spire of flame
Distant sparks call to a past still unnamed
Bear this torch against the cold of the night
Search your soul and reawaken the undying light

As fate spins a thread without end,
new life draws its first breath,
Blossoming in a soil reclaimed from the past,
where destiny holds fast,

Here where we stand, hand clenched in hand
everyone caught in the struggle,
This is the day we finally find our way
stepping into our tomorrow

Every soul contains a whisper of light
growing louder as it calls to unite
From a distance sings a chorus of souls
rising slowly, stirring heat from the coals

Colors weave into a spire of flame
Distant sparks call to a past still unnamed
Bear this torch against the cold of the night
Light will guide you, on your way to the ultimate fight

Every soul contains a whisper of light
growing louder as it calls to unite
From a distance sings a chorus of souls
rising slowly, stirring heat from the coals

Colors weave into a spire of flame
Distant sparks call to a past still unnamed
Bear this torch against the cold of the night
Light will guide you, on your way to the ultimate fight

Japanese

Kana	Romaji	Translation
とりどりの色たちがつむぐ　炎の螺旋 果てしなく続いてく　はるかから受け継いだ光	toridori no irotachi ga　tsumugu honō no rasen hateshi naku tsudzuite ku　haruka kara uketsuida hikari	A rainbow of colors spins into spiral of flame Continue onward with the distant, inherited light
空が落ちたあの日　目にしたのは 朽ちる明星か　尽きない宵闇か	sora ga ochita ano hi-me ni shita no wa kuchi ru myōjō ka tsukinai yoiyami ka	On that day, the sky fell away before our eyes Is there a fading sun in the endless night?
永遠(とわ)に続くような　しじまの中 無数の魂が　ほのかな鼓動を打つ	towa ni tsudzuku yōna　shijima no naka musū no tamashī ga hono kana kodō o utsu	In between the everlasting silence A myriad of souls, a faint heartbeat
命の灯火　全ての人たち 吹き抜けてゆく風に　身をゆだねたまま	inochi no tomoshibi　subete no hitotachi fukinukete yuku kaze ni mi o yudaneta mama	Everyone's lights of life Left their bodies in the wind blowing through
生けるものが　かすかな光を放ち消える 悠久の刻の中駆ける　運命と絆	ikerumono ga　kasukana hikari o hanachi kieru yūkyū no toki no naka kakeru sadame to kizuna	These living things release faint light Unable to escape time, the chains of destiny
とりどりの色たちがつむぐ　炎の螺旋 果てしなく続いてく　はるかから受け継いだ光	toridori no irotachi ga　tsumugu honō no rasen hateshi naku tsudzuite ku　haruka kara uketsuida hikari	A rainbow of colors spins into spiral of flame Continue onward with the distant, inherited light
めぐる因果の中　息が芽吹き 新たなる命が包む　この大地で	meguru inga no naka　ikiga mebuki arata naru inochi ga tsutsumu kono daichi de	As fate spins, a breath will sprout New life will cover this earth
戦い　交わる　全ての人たち 立ち上がり踏み出して　明日へ進みゆく	tatakai　majiwaru　subete no hitotachi tachiagari fumidashite asu e susumiyuku	Everyone is caught in the struggle Together we step forward, facing tomorrow
生けるものが　かすかな光で織りなす星 悠久の彼方まで　魂たちは歌う	ikerumono ga　kasukana hikari de orinasu hoshi yūkyū no kanata made tamashi-tachi wa utau	These living things are faint light, weaving into a star Until the end of time, our souls will sing
とりどりの色たちがつむぐ　炎の螺旋 果てしなく続いてく　どこまでも流れゆく光	toridori no irotachi ga　tsumugu honō no rasen hateshi naku tsudzuite ku　doko ma demo nagare yuku hikari	A rainbow of colors spins into spiral of flame Continue onward with the boundlessly flowing light
生けるものが　かすかな光で織りなす星 悠久の彼方まで　魂たちは歌う	ikerumono ga　kasukana hikari de orinasu hoshi yūkyū no kanata made tamashi-tachi wa utau	These living things are faint light, weaving into a star Until the end of time, our souls will sing
とりどりの色たちがつむぐ　炎の螺旋 果てしなく続いてく　どこまでも流れゆく光	toridori no irotachi ga　tsumugu honō no rasen hateshi naku tsudzuite ku　doko ma demo nagare yuku hikari	A rainbow of colors spins into spiral of flame Continue onward with the boundlessly flowing light

Gallery

Theme video in English
Theme video in Japanese
E3 2018 version (unused in the final game)

Trivia

• This is the first main theme to have an official title.
  • It is also the first main theme to have its main version be officially revealed a significant amount of time after the game's reveal.
• While the main theme of Super Smash Bros. Brawl has vocals in Latin, this one has vocals in both English and Japanese, a series first.
  • As a result however, and unlike Brawl, the vocals are not subtitled in any language when sung during the final credits. This causes Ultimate's main theme to have official lyrics in two languages, while Brawl's main theme had official lyrics in eight languages (including Latin) depending on the language of the game.
  • The Brawl and Ultimate main themes are also the only main themes that can be used as alternate menu music in their original forms (as opposed to remixes).
• The English lyrics of the song on the game's official website used to contain an inconsistency in the seventh verse: the sung lyrics are "where destiny holds fast", while the printed lyrics were "where our future holds fast". On November 6th, 2018, this inconsistency was fixed on most English versions of the website, but it remained on the North American version, until it was fixed approximately two weeks later.
• The ominous non-vocalized first verse of Lifelight heard during the game's first teaser trailer can also be heard in the World of Light opening cutscene as Kirby looks over the desolate landscape.
• The E3 instrumental version of Lifelight, heard during the "Everyone is Here" trailer and on the Music section of the game's website, is absent in the final game, although as the second to last vocal part of the song was used for the final boss fight between Galeem and Dharkon.
  • Prior to the official reveal of Lifelight, this version of the song was used as the main theme instead.
  • This version cuts out half of the first verse, and replaces the fifth and sixth verses with the instrumental at the end of the final version.
  • Despite not being used in the actual game, the chorus at the end of this version plays during advertisements on YouTube for each fighter on the Fighter's Pass Vol. 1, and the announcement of more DLC fighters after the Fighters Pass Vol. 1.
    • The beginning portion of the E3 2018 song also plays in a Nintendo UK ad for the Fighters Pass Vol. 1 as a whole.
• Abby Trott, the English vocalist of Lifelight, said in an interview that she had no idea she was auditioning for the role of the main vocalist in Ultimate. As a life-long fan of Nintendo, she stated that she cried when she realized exactly what she was auditioning for, and that the opportunity was "extremely special".
• There is a grammatical error in the song's English lyrics. In the line "as a chorus of souls find a voice", the verb "find" doesn't correlate with the head of the noun phrase "chorus", but with its adnominal "of souls" instead.