Monolith Soft

Monolith Software Inc.
Type	Subsidiary
Founded	October 1st, 1999
Headquarters	Tokyo, Japan
Industry	Video Game Development
Products	Video Games
Employees	209
Parent	Nintendo
Website	Monolith Software Inc. (Japanese)
Article on Wikipedia	Monolith Soft

Monolith Soft (株式会社モノリスソフト, Monolith Soft kabushiki gaisha) is a Japanese game developer. They were founded on October 1st, 1999 by a group of former Squaresoft employees. Formerly a subsidiary of Namco Bandai Holdings and a developer of games for multiple systems, the company was acquired by Nintendo in 2007 and since that time has made games exclusively for Nintendo systems. Their debut games under Namco were the Xenosaga series, a spiritual successor to Xenogears, which many staff members worked on while employed at Square. Other games developed while under Namco include Baten Kaitos and Namco x Capcom. While under Nintendo, Monolith Soft has created the Xenoblade Chronicles series, itself a spiritual successor to Xenosaga. Other games include Soma Bringer, Disaster: Day of Crisis and Project X Zone, which is a spiritual sequel to Namco x Capcom with the addition of IPs from Sega. Monolith Soft also has a division dedicated to assisting other studios with game development. This division was involved in the development of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and also in other Nintendo franchises including The Legend of Zelda, Animal Crossing, and Splatoon. The company's main representation in Smash is through the Xenoblade Chronicles franchise, which is represented in Super Smash Bros. 4 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a major series through the inclusion of Shulk, the main protagonist of Xenoblade Chronicles, and Pyra and Mythra, two forms of the deuteragonist in Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Other Monolith Soft-developed games and series with lesser representation in Smash include Xenoblade Chronicles X, Baten Kaitos, Soma Bringer and Disaster: Day of Crisis.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

The support team, which assists in development of games made by other studios, co-developed the game along with Sora Ltd. and Game Arts.

In Super Smash Bros. 4

After being leaked on August 19th, 2014 as part of the ESRB leak, Shulk was officially revealed on August 29th, 2014 as a member of the base roster. With him came a stage based on Gaur Plain, several trophies and eight music tracks from the series. Riki appears as an assist trophy and Dunban appears as a DLC Mii Costume. Additionally, the tracks "The Valedictory Elegy" from Baten Kaitos: Origins, "Attack (Soma Bringer)" from Soma Bringer appears exclusively on the Wii U version.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Shulk returns in the base roster of Ultimate, along with Gaur Plain and 11 new and old music tracks, including new tracks from Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Fiora now appears as a cameo in Shulk's updated Final Smash. Dunban returns as a Mii Costume along with a new Nia costume. Pyra and Mythra appear as DLC fighters alongside the Cloud Sea of Alrest stage and 16 additional music tracks from Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Monolith Soft created the reveal trailer for Pyra and Mythra as well as a short "thank you" video featuring the two in-house. A Mii Costume of Rex is obtainable after purchasing Fighters Pass Vol. 1. Multiple spirits of characters from Xenoblade Chronicles, Xenoblade Chronicles X, and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 also appear. "The Valedictory Elegy" returns, along with characters Sagi and Milly from Origins appearing as spirits. "Attack (Soma Bringer)" returns along with characters Welt and Idea appearing as spirits. Raymond Bryce, protagonist of Disaster: Day of Crisis, appears as a spirit.