Hero (SSBU)

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Hero in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
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Universe	Dragon Quest
Availability	Downloadable
Final Smash	Gigaslash

“	The Hero Draws Near!	”
—Introduction Tagline

The Hero (勇者, Hero) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and the second third-party representative from Square Enix following Cloud. He was announced during the E3 Nintendo Direct alongside Banjo & Kazooie on June 11th, 2019 as the third DLC fighter and is the second downloadable character from the Fighters Pass. The Hero's default costume is the hero from Dragon Quest XI (Luminary), while the heroes from Dragon Quest III (Erdrick), Dragon Quest IV (Solo), and Dragon Quest VIII (Eight) also appear as alternate characters like Alph and the Koopalings, though unlike those alternate characters, here they are all listed simply as "Hero." The Hero was released on July 30th, 2019, and is classified as Fighter #72.

Mitsuki Saiga reprises her role as the Luminary, voicing him in all regions in place of his English voice actor. Nobuyuki Hiyama, Takeshi Kusao, and Yuki Kaji debut as the voices of Erdrick, Solo, and Eight, respectively.

Attributes

• The Hero's shield can block incoming projectiles, akin to Link, Young Link and Toon Link.
  • His crouch also resembles the aforementioned characters, where he kneels with the shield protecting his legs.
• He has a fighter ability in the "MP Gauge", which is used by several of his spells.
  • The maximum amount of MP is 100.
  • The MP Gauge recharges overtime (at a rate of one point per second) or by landing an attack (relative to the damage of the move dealt).
• He has a second fighter ability in the form of "Critical Hits"; smash attacks used by Hero have a random chance to do more damage than usual.
• Slime appears in some capacity, possibly as part of the Hero's taunts.
• Just like Cloud and Bayonetta, his weapons will change depending on the alternate costume.
  • The Luminary uses the Supreme Sword of Light and Erdwin's Shield.
  • Erdrick uses the Sword of Kings and Shield of Heroes.
  • Solo uses the Zenithian Sword and Shield.
  • Eight uses the Dragovian King Sword and Dragovian Shield.

Known moveset

Smash attacks

• The Hero's smash attacks have a 1/8 chance of being a critical hit effect, triggering a Special Zoom and dealing bonus damage.

Standard attacks

• A three-hit neutral attack, with the first two hits being slashes going straight up and straight down and the final hit having him swipe his sword inward.
• A jumping slash attack similar to Link's. This is his dash attack.
• A two-hit attack, a back-handed shield bash followed up by an outward slash. This is his forward tilt. The shield bash resembles Blockenspiel. The shield bash can also block projectiles.
• An attack where he performs a two-handed downward slash in front of him, resembling Ike and Ganondorf's forward smashes. This is his forward smash.
• A single, strong upward arc slash while jumping upward. This is his up tilt.
• An attack where he kicks forwards while leaning on the ground with his arm. This is his down tilt. Resembles Leg Sweep.
• A kneeling inward slash in front of himself followed by a kneeling outward slash behind himself, similar to Link's down smash, which is also his down smash.
• A single upward thrust, which resembles Marth's up smash. This is his up smash.
• A neutral aerial where he swings his sword around him, resembling Ike's neutral aerial.
• A forward aerial that is a downward slash, similar to Roy's forward aerial.
• A back aerial that is a sword swipe behind his back, which resembles Toon Link's back aerial.
• A down aerial (where he thrusts his sword downwards, similar to Cloud's down aerial. Like said move, this attack meteor smashes.
• An attack where he performs an upward kick, featured as both his up aerial and up throw. Somewhat resembles Ken's up aerial.
• A forward throw which has him knee the opponent away.
• A back throw which has him kick the opponent behind him.
• A down throw where he slams the opponent on the ground.

Special Moves

• Neutral Special: Frizz: A fireball that can be charged up to become Frizzle and Kafrizz, which are stronger variants.
• Side Special: Zap: An electric bolt that the Hero shoots from his sword. Can be charged up to become Zapple and Kazap, stronger variants.
• Up Special: Woosh: An attack that creates tornadoes beneath the Hero and launches him upward. Can be charged up to become Swoosh and Kaswoosh, stronger variants.
• Down Special: Command Selection: The Hero chooses between a variety of randomly-selected spells from a menu, even standing in a "thinking" position. These spells require MP to use. Several of the moves that have been showcased so far include:
  • Oomph, a temporary buff that increases the Hero's attack power, akin to Revenge. However, it also slightly decrease the Hero's defense.
  • Snooze, which is a projectile that sends opponents to sleep if it connects. The projectile grow larger as it travels but puts opponents to sleep for longer at close range.
  • Bounce, which reflects projectiles. The move lingers for a little while, acting like a Franklin Badge. The player can move while this spell is in effect.
  • Flame Slash, which is a physical slash with a flame effect.
  • Kacrackle Slash, which is a physical slash that freezes opponents.
  • Kaclang, which encases the Hero in metal and prevents him from taking both damage and knockback, but also prevents him from taking any action. It cannot be cancelled once activated.
  • Zoom, which allows the Hero to fly up vertically from anywhere before landing straight back onto the stage. It is unknown what happens if he hits his head on a ceiling.
  • Kamikazee, which has the Hero self-destruct, doing massive damage and knockback to nearby opponents. It appears to be unblockable and also appears to make the Hero intangible during the move's startup. In 1v1 battles, the opponent will get credit for the KO.
  • Sizz, which is a flame projectile sent forward.
  • Sizzle, which is a flame projectile sent forward quickly.
  • Psyche Up, which dramatically increases the knockback dealt by Hero's next attack while slightly increasing the damage.
  • Heal, which heals the user for a small percentage. Repeated use will cause it to disappear from the menu until a KO is scored.
  • Acceleratle, which temporarily buffs the Hero's movement speed by a significant amount, similar to Lightweight; it also makes the Hero easier to launch.
  • Bang, which is a small explosive flame projectile sent forward.
  • Kaboom, which is a projectile that explodes after a certain distance, similar to Stealth Burst.
  • Hatchet Man, which is a forceful, physical slash that triggers Special Zoom.
  • Whack/Thwack, which is a piercing slice that has a chance of OHKOing. The probability increases the higher the opponent's damage. Thwack has a wider range than Whack.
  • Metal Slash, which OHKOs opponents that are metal or under the effects of Kaclang, but only does 1% if they are not metal.
  • Hocus Pocus, which is a spell with random effects. One of them causing the user to slow down, similar to the effects of a Timer.
  • Magic Burst, which is a powerful blast that hits multiple times, and uses up all of the user's MP. The power depends on how much MP the user has.
• Final Smash: Gigaslash: Contains the other seven Dragon Quest heroes who are not playable, charging the Hero's sword with bolts of electricity, before the playable Hero unleashes it in the form of a slash.

Taunts

• A taunt where he charges in place as a purple aura envelops around him, referencing the original Psyche Up animation.
• A taunt where the Hero raises his sword vertically into the air.
• A taunt where the Hero fumbles in place as a Slime meanders in front of him.

Victory Poses

• The Hero raises his sword in the air, slashes twice and finishes in a pose.
• The Hero performs Kazap and strikes a pose.
• The Hero walks up to three Slimes, kneels down and looks at them with a smile.

MP cost

Move	MP cost
Frizz	6
Frizzle	16
Kafrizz	36
Zap	8
Zapple	18
Kazap	42
Woosh	5
Swoosh	9
Kaswoosh	18
Sizz	8
Sizzle	20
Oomph	16
Psyche Up	14
Bounce	14
Heal	7
Flame Slash	12
Kacrackle Slash	11
Hatchet Man	15
Acceleratle	13
Bang	9
Kaboom	37
Snooze	16
Whack	10
Thwack	30
Zoom	8
Kaclang	6
Metal Slash	6
Hocus Pocus	4
Magic Burst	All remaining MP
Kamikazee	1

Hocus Pocus

Effect	Type
Positive	One of Hero's commands is granted for only 4 MP instead of the value it usually consumes.
Positive	Makes him giant.
Negative	Slowed down movement.
Negative	MP is reduced to 1.
Negative	Inflicts poison damage to himself.
Negative	Inflicts sleep on himself.
Neutral	Turns him invisible.

Classic Mode: A History of Heroism

Every battle aside from the last one is a stamina battle, referencing the HP system in Dragon Quest and most RPGs. Additionally, every battle uses a song from the Dragon Quest universe regardless of stage.

Round	Opponent	Stage	Music	Notes
1	Kirby (×3) and Kirby	Gaur Plain (Battlefield form)	The Hero Goes Forth with a Determination	A reference to Slimes and She-Slime.
2	Hero and Robin	Yggdrasil's Altar	Unflinchable Courage	References the Hero and Veronica from Dragon Quest XI.
3	Hero (Solo)	Temple	Wagon Wheel's March	A fight against the Hero from Dragon Quest IV, Solo.
4	Rathalos		Fighting Spirits - DRAGON QUEST III	Dragons are recurring enemies in the Dragon Quest series. Rathalos could also be specifically referencing a Red Dragon, an enemy from the original Dragon Quest.
5	Hero (Eight) and Pikachu	Gaur Plain (Battlefield form)	War Cry	References the Hero from Dragon Quest VIII and his pet Pig-Rat, Munchie.
6	Hero (Erdrick)	Castle Siege (third transformation)	Adventure - DRAGON QUEST III	A fight against the Hero from Dragon Quest III, Erdrick.
Bonus Stage
Final	Male Robin and Giant Charizard	Dracula's Castle (Ω Form)	Fighting Spirits - DRAGON QUEST III	References the fight against the Dragonlord from the original Dragon Quest. In that fight, the Dragonlord starts off in his human form, but upon defeat he turns into a giant dragon for the second phase, much like here.

Role in World of Light

The message that shows Piranha Plant's availability in World of Light

Due to his status as downloadable content, Hero does not have a legitimate role in World of Light. Instead, he is unlocked for use in the mode after freeing 10 fighters from Galeem's control. If loading an existing save file that meets this condition prior to downloading Hero, he is immediately unlocked.

Fighter Battle

No.	Image	Name	Type	Power	Stage	Music
70		Hero	There is no fighter battle for Hero, this fighter is obtained by awaking 10 fighters after it is downloaded.

Alternate costumes

Gallery

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  The Hero's splash art.

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  Luminary crouching on Great Plateau Tower.

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  Luminary on Yggdrasil's Altar.

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  Luminary using Heal while Cloud uses his side taunt on Spear Pillar.

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  Luminary attacking Incineroar on Coliseum.

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  Luminary using Frizz on Gaur Plain.

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  The other Heroes (Solo, Erdrick, and Eight) on Palutena's Temple.

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  Luminary attacking Robin and Erdrick attacking Wario on Yggdrasil's Altar.

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Trivia

• When the Hero originally began development, he was planned to be silent, similar to previous Dragon Quest protagonists. However, with the addition of voice acting in the Japanese version of Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition (as the localized version of Dragon Quest XI had voice acting from the beginning), plans were changed and voices for the Hero were added.
• This will be the first game with official voice acting for Erdrick, Solo, and Eight, and Masahiro Sakurai shared some interesting pieces of trivia about each of the Hero's voice actors and their recording sessions:
  • The Luminary's voice actress, Mitsuki Saiga, reprises her role from Dragon Quest XI S (thus technically making Ultimate her debut voicing the character), but was directed to have more energy in her vocals to better fit the style of Smash.
  • Erdrick's voice actor, Nobuyuki Hiyama, had also notably voiced Adult Link in Ocarina of Time, Smash 64, and Melee. Of the four Heroes, his recording session was completed the fastest due to his extensive experience. Sakurai also notes that his performance can be recognized as Guy Shishioh from The King of Braves GaoGaiGar.
  • Solo's voice actor, Takeshi Kusao, asked for a lot of detail on the backstory of the protagonist to help improve his performance.
  • Eight's voice actor, Yuki Kaji, apparently dreamed of doing voice work for the Dragon Quest and Super Smash Bros. series, and he was enthusiastic to fulfill both at the same time in Ultimate.
• Even though the Luminary has a voice actor in English, Rasmus Hardiker, he is played by Mitsuki Saiga in all versions of the game. Unlike Cloud, who couldn't be voiced in English because his voice actor is part of a trade union, the Luminary's English voice actor does not have this similar restriction, making the reasoning for not voicing him in English unknown. This makes him the second playable character in Ultimate to have an established English voice actor but is played by a Japanese voice actor in all versions of the game, the first being Cloud, both of whom are properties of Square Enix.
  • Additionally, this makes all versions of the Hero and Cloud the only characters to speak Japanese in non-Japanese versions of the game.
• According to a column by Masahiro Sakurai, there are restrictions from Square Enix that prevent certain Dragon Quest protagonists from encountering each other. However, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was given special exception in order to have the different Heroes as alternate character costumes.
  • Eight's addition as an alternate character costume was particularly due to requests from Western fans for the character.
• The Hero is the only DLC and third-party character to also have other characters appear as alternate costumes.
  • Additionally, the Hero's fourth and eighth alternate costumes are the first and so far only alternate costumes to feature a separate character that is not part of the default costume. In this case, it is Munchie.
• The Hero and Pokémon Trainer are the only characters to have a generic "descriptor" name while representing nameable characters that have optional canon names. Both the Hero and Pokémon Trainer also represent multiple individuals with different canon names via their alternate costumes.
  • While none of the Dragon Quest heroes have canonical names within their own games, Sakurai gave names to each hero in their demo video: Eleven, Arusu, Solo and Eight.
    • While many people call the Dragon Quest III protagonist "Erdrick" due to his earning of the title, "Arusu" originates from a cutscene in Dragon Quest III, where the hero's father calls out their name right before he dies. Within Ultimate, "Erdrick" is used for the Mii Swordfighter costume based on the protagonist of Dragon Quest I.
  • While Ice Climbers also use a generic name in-game, their actual names (Popo and Nana) are recognized in the tips.
• The Hero is the first character to have a move that will always cause a self-destruct.
• The Hero's reveal trailer is the first and currently only reveal trailer to make references to World of Light, due to the presence of Dharkon and his puppet fighters.
  • It is also the first of any DLC character trailer to be completely 3D CGI-animated, as all previous DLC character reveals were done with the game engine or 2D animation.
  • It is also the only instance where a Square Enix character appeared in any CGI animation for the game, as Cloud has never appeared in such for either this or the previous entry.
• In Hero's reveal trailer, spirit versions of Meta Knight and Marth are seen teaming up. This is a reference to the Subspace Emissary, where the two characters are prominently featured in the level The Battlefield Fortress.
• The Hero's reveal trailer makes multiple references to the Dragon Quest games.
  • The scene where the Luminary rides a Gogoat is a reference to the horse riding mechanic in Dragon Quest XI.
  • The scene where the Luminary, Zero Suit Samus, and Zelda are sitting at a campfire references the camping mechanic in Dragon Quest XI.
    • Zero Suit Samus and Zelda also reference the party members Jade and Serena respectively.
  • The scene where Eight walks through poison to pick up the Beam Sword is referencing that players will often times have to walk through poison in dungeons and on the overworld to obtain items in the Dragon Quest games.
    • The Beam Sword could also be a reference to the Dragovian King Sword, a powerful sword (usually being the ultimate one) that appears in multiple games and is also the sword that Eight uses as his weapon in Smash.
    • It is also a reference to the first Dragon Quest game where the Mark of Erdrick, a mandatory item, was located in a poisonous swamp on the world map.
  • The introductory tagline, "The Hero Draws Near!", refers to the text that appears when the Hero encounters an enemy in battle.
  • The scene where the Luminary throws a barrel upward to reveal a Franklin Badge references the Mini Medal, a collectible item that serves as the currency for particularly rare and powerful items.
• The Hero's CGI trailer features a slight rendering issue: when the Luminary falls on the ground causing some Slimes to scatter, one of them appears in transparency through the Hero's hair for a few frames despite being behind a pillar itself being behind the Hero.
• The Hero's artwork pose in the panoramic banner is similar to Young Link's pose in his official render, but mirrored.
  • Similarly, the Luminary's artwork greatly resembles Young Link's artwork from Ocarina of Time, which is used for his fighter spirit; however, the positions of the sword and shield are flipped, since the Luminary is right-handed.
• In Japanese, Hero has a chance of calling out a spell's name, excluding the Command Selection spells. This makes him the first character outside of Melee to have specific lines in the Japanese version of a game replaced by generic grunts outside of Japan.
  • Kirby also follows this trait as well, making it the first Copy Ability of his to have such a distinction.
• The Hero is the third playable character to feature a non-playable character in the panoramic artwork with them, featuring Slime alongside him. The first two are Olimar and Joker who feature Mr. Saturn and Morgana with them respectively.
• Eight is the second playable swordfighter to use a katana after Mii Swordfighter.
• Solo is the only one of the Hero's alternate costumes who does not hold a shield in his artwork.
• The Hero has 21 different spell commands, giving him the second highest amount of special moves behind Kirby and the highest amount of special moves at any one time of any character, as Kirby can only copy a maximum of 7 different special moves total in a single round of 8-player Smash.
• In Japanese, the announcer reads the pronunciation of the kanji, "Yusha", despite the game displaying the translated name of "Hero". This is unlike other characters, who display the romanized version of their names (such as "Reflet" instead of "Rufure"), and Villager, who uses the name "Murabito" instead of its translation (being "Villager").
• Hero's Classic Mode is one of only three to feature a fight against a boss (in this case, Rathalos) outside of the boss round, the others being Bowser and Mega Man, and one of the few whose boss round does not feature a designated boss, instead fighting characters who are otherwise playable (in this case, Robin and Charizard).