Adventure Mode: World of Light

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World of Light
The World of Light logo.

Adventure Mode: World of Light (灯火の星, The Star of Light) is a single-player mode in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and the successor to the Adventure Modes in Melee and Brawl. The mode is accessed from the Spirits main menu item and revolves around the fighters teaming up with Spirits to defeat an "ultimate enemy" named Galeem.

Elements

• At the beginning of the mode, a cutscene shows all the fighters except Kirby being defeated by Galeem, followed by the World of Light logo. A second cutscene then shows the fighters, now imprisoned by Galeem, being used as molds to create puppets to contain spirits of non-playable characters who did not survive the attack. Afterward the game transitions to the world map, with Kirby, the only available fighter, at the starting point.
• Similar to The Subspace Emissary, the mode features a world map that may be navigated. Map navigation is unlike The Subspace Emissary but somewhat resembles Smash 3DS's Classic Mode: the player character has a fully rendered model on the map, and the character themselves (rather than the player) navigate on predetermined paths between map locations. Galeem appears at the top center of the map, surrounded by what appears to be a forcefield.
  • Both spirits and imprisoned fighters appear on the map as rendered icons, with one type of icon for spirits and one type for fighters. Moving up to and interacting with an icon will reveal which character it is. Opponent fighters (including puppet fighters) appear with distinctive red eyes both on the map and in battle.
    • Defeating an opponent puppet fighter obtains that spirit, and may (but not always) reward the player like in a Spirit Battle, with G, SP, and snacks. Unlike a Spirit Battle, the player may also be rewarded with Skill Spheres. In one piece of footage, an item labeled Health Drain with unknown significance appears on the reward screen.
    • Defeating an opponent fighter (not representing a spirit) unlocks that fighter both in the mode and in the main game. The player may swap to any unlocked fighter through the mode's menu. Uniquely, this is the only way to see the character selection screen with fewer than the starter characters.
      • Mario will always be the first fighter to be unlocked, followed by a choice between Marth, Sheik, and Villager.
  • Items and obstacles appear on the map, including:
    • Treasure chests (resembling those found in Crazy Orders)
    • A waterfall that is swum through by interacting with it
    • A red ! Switch that vanishes when stepped on, transforming a row of Dotted Line Blocks on the map into a bridge of red ! Blocks over lava. The same scene also shows golden ! Blocks, Donut Blocks, and a Warp Pipe.
    • Diamond-shaped objects that teleport the player character to a nearby identical teleporter
    • At least three buildings labeled with the Primary Spirit symbol
    • Various drawn elements that resemble cave entrances and roadblocks
  • Some type of minigame system appears to be present:
    • In one map, the player character collects Food items by moving through them, adding to a counter in the bottom right of the screen. The counter is not seen anytime else.
    • In another map, the player character uses a Zapfish on some type of machine to cause it to emit electricity, decreasing a similar counter in the bottom right of the screen.
  • Bosses are present, but in a few different ways:
    • Rathalos is shown flying next to a treasure chest.
    • Master Hand appears to have some kind of role in creating obstacles for the player: after the player chooses between the previously mentioned Marth, Sheik, and Villager to unlock, he creates two forcefields that block off the paths to the other fighters. In another scene, he destroys a bridge over a river.
    • Galleom does not appear as a rendered model on the map like the previous two, but instead appears as a larger version of the icon used for spirits.
  • The player may zoom out to view the full map by pressing the L button. Areas not yet visited are obscured with clouds.
    • When fully zoomed out, the player character's model is replaced with their stock icon, opponent fighter icons similarly become flat, and various other icons appear on the map. Spirit icons do not appear on the zoomed-out map. In addition, the predetermined paths between map areas become explicitly drawn. Certain paths are drawn with dotted lines; what this means is currently unknown. The other icons resemble a "no entry" sign, different-colored Warp Pipes, a switch with an exclamation point, some type of building, and an unknown swirl-shaped symbol.
      • Some type of non-planar world map travel appears possible, as the zoomed-out map shows two disconnected areas that have been accessed.
  • At least three sub-maps may exist, as these screens show the Back and Menu options but no Full Map option. (In all other scenes, all three options slide off and on the screen together.)
  • Certain other means of transportation are seemingly available via the use of certain spirits, as one clip shows Pokémon Trainer use Lapras to traverse a body of water, while another clip shows the Great Fox traveling through a part of the world map resembling outer space. The bus belonging to Kapp'n also appears parked near a sign drawn on the map labeled "bus stop", and the front car of the Spirit Train appears on some train tracks.
  • One scene shows a shadowy object disappear in a burst of light, followed by a nearby crystal shattering. The significance of this is currently unknown.
  • Numerous drawn elements on the map heavily reference various Smash universes. One building in particular resembles Nintendo's headquarters in Kyoto, Japan.
• The mode contains three endings in total; two of which are bad endings and one being considered the true ending. Initially, the player is given a choice to fight either Galeem or Dharkon, depending on the tree of levels the player chooses; if the player chooses a path that leads to Galeem or Dharkon, this gives one of the two bad endings, depicting the surviving antagonist disposing of the defeated one and consuming the world. If the player chooses a tree of levels that does not lean too far towards either antagonist, Master Hand and Crazy Hand help the player advance; the latter creating a giant rift for the former to enter. Thus, the player is given the ability to play as Master Hand himself, engaging in a Mob Smash-esque match where it defeats 50 enemies similar to False characters from the Subspace Emissary. Although some are colored light blue (Galeem's clones) while others are dark red (Dharkon's clones), both are required to be KOed. If this level is completed successfully, the player is now given the option to fight both Galeem and Dharkhon simultaneously.

Skill Tree

The Skill Tree is a menu item in World of Light. In it, the player can spend Skill Spheres (スキルのかけら Skill Fragments) in order to learn Adventure Skills. These are effectively power-ups, and appear as icons resembling the stat boost icons found in Smash 4's Smash Tour and Smash Run. Obtaining a power-up also makes power-ups further down the tree available. The player can spend SP to forget a power-up and gain back all of the Skill Spheres spent on it.

Unlockables

Characters may be unlocked through this mode. Playing this mode is required to unlock the ability to train spirits in the dojo or have them explore for treasure. Completing the mode with the true ending requrements grants the player spirits of Galeem and Dharkon, and unlocks the ability to change the menu's theme in My Music.

Plot

Opening: Creation of the World of Light

Galeem and his Master Hand army

The story begins with a close-up of a Blaster aimed at the horizon, revealing its wielder to be Fox, who gives the command of "Don't let a single one get away!". The camera then zooms out and pans to the left, revealing that Fox is addressing the entirety of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's playable cast, all of whom have been summoned to the edge of a cliff. The camera then pans upward to reveal Galeem, who is currently accompanied by a looming army of Master Hands that is slowly approaching the mount. After Marth, Zelda, and Pit each comment on their reassurance over the upcoming battle, every Master Hand surrounding Galeem slowly disintegrates into a glowing, blue streak of light that ends up being absorbed by him. As the fighters prepare for the god-like being's next move, Shulk suddenly envisions the downfall of his comrades and immediately looks at them all in shock and despair. The singularity between Galeem and his now-absorbed Master Hand army creates a black hole, which soon collapses, creating an array of beams of intense light.

“

With an army of Master Hands under its control, Galeem sought to create a new world. The fighters and their countless stories... came to an end as the light consumed them.

”

The beams of intense light quickly extrude from the black hole, rapidly approaching the cliff where the fighters are situated. As they aim downwards to consume the fighters, Link successfully reflects three beams with his Hylian Shield before succumbing to another. Samus attempts to fire at the beams, but it's to no avail before she is engulfed by one. Both Zelda and Mewtwo simultaneously attempt to reflect the beams with Nayru's Love and Confusion respectively, before being immediately decimated. Sonic and Pikachu attempt to outrun the beams, with the former attempting to assist the latter in escaping, but both are ultimately disintegrated. Bayonetta successfully dodges three beams at once using Bat Within, but she is disintegrated by yet another beam of light as soon as she retains her original form. Both the Pokémon Trainer and Bowser attempt to fight off Galeem's beams of light, with the former ordering his Pokémon to use Triple Finish, and the latter uses his Fire Breath respectively, only to fail and be consumed by the light. Captain Falcon is briefly shown attempting to get into his Blue Falcon in order to escape the onslaught, but both he and his vehicle are destroyed just as quickly. Lucario is shown successfully teleporting away from one of the beams with Extreme Speed, finding himself behind Greninja, who jumps upward to successfully escape from a beam. Unfortunately, this was all for naught as the beam Greninja hops over ends up engulfing Lucario instead, and yet another beam of light reaches Greninja in midair. The female and male Inklings use their Splattershots to shoot ink onto the ground and then try to hide in it, only to have yet another of Galeem's beams of light ram into the ground, decimating them. Falco is shown in his Arwing attempting to make his escape, but his exceptional flying skills are just not enough to evade the persistent tendrils of light, and he ends up getting taken down by multiple beams all at once. Both Pit and Dark Pit are seen flying away with the Power of Flight, bestowed unto to them by Palutena, who attempts to buy the two angels more of a chance to escape by summoning a Reflect Barrier in the hopes of suppressing Galeem's attack. With little effort however, the goddess of light is simply vaporized by a beam, which ends up activating the unfortunate chain reaction of causing the (normally flightless) angelic duo to lose their ability to fly, resulting in each angel getting wiped out by a beam of light in midair. A lone cardboard box is shown on the cliff's edge, hiding away Snake, only to have a beam prove the espionage expert's attempt futile. Both Rosalina & Luma and Diddy Kong attempt to fly away from the onslaught using a Launch Star and his Rocketbarrel Pack respectively, but both are eventually swallowed by the beams. A group consisting of the Wii Fit Trainer (who simply strikes a yoga tree pose), Duck Hunt (which consists of the dog cowering in fear of Galeem's attack as the duck attempts to fly itself and its canine companion away to safety with Duck Jump), and the Villager (who simply runs around in circles in a blind panic over his and the group's impending doom) with all of three of them eventually getting engulfed by the light.

Amidst the massacre, Kirby is shown flying away from a legion of Galeem's beams of light via his Warp Star. After deviating from many of them, the frequency of the Warp Star's blipping noise increase in rapid succession and intensity as Kirby attempts to push its power to its absolute limit, resulting in it moving at warp speed, temporarily warping Kirby to another plane of existence just before the aforementioned series of beams could swallow it and Kirby along with it. From this point onward, the beams are then shown atomizing multiple non-playable characters into oblivion (which would result in every non-playable character losing their bodies completely and being left as nothing more than mere spirits, unlike the playable fighters). The scene then transitions from the planet in its entirety being engulfed by Galeem's light (and promptly getting vaporized into nothingness), with said light slowly expanding throughout the galaxy, engulfing and vaporizing multiple planets. Eventually, the deadly light produced by the deity-like being soon erases the entire universe, leaving nothing in its wake. The planet on which the ordeal started is now left as nothing more than a barren wasteland, with its remains currently inhabited by the now-hostile souls of non-playable characters. A glimmer of light is seen on the horizon, later revealed to be none other than Kirby (still on his Warp Star, just returning from his temporary trip into warp space), who has ended up becoming the sole survivor of Galeem's onslaught upon the universe. Kirby ends up making a rough emergency landing into a nearby canyon (which also results in his Warp Star disappearing as soon as it touches the ground). As Kirby recovers from his crash-landing, he looks towards a vast landscape consisting of various areas, both fantastical and realistic. The landscape, constructed by Galeem, is none other than the World of Light.

“

Thus, the world was crushed in the hands of Galeem. Those who fought the light were devourered. The others lost their bodies and became spirits. Only one survived... A star of hope twinkles faintly as the dust settles on the new world.

”

The scene then cuts to a dark room, in which the only source of light found in it reveals that of a now-unconscious Mario being held captive by a series of fibers made out of pure energy. A golden liquid resembling that of molten metal is poured upon Mario's body, which is then absorbed by the fibers holding him. The liquid then passes through the stand on which he is situated to create a monochrome clone of him, which forms on the stand's opposite end. The resulting puppet fighter then disconnects from the stand and falls to the ground, motionless. The spirit of a Smoky Progg then weaves around the dark room and, coming across the lifeless Mario clone, is forced by Galeem to possess it, thus giving life to the previously inanimate statue, which now dons distinctive red, glowing eyes. The camera slowly zooms outward, revealing that Galeem has already made puppet fighters out of every single playable character, with the intention of unleashing this army upon the planet. The scene then cuts back to Kirby, now about to take his first steps into the World of Light.

“

Galeem copied the fallen fighters, creating empty puppets in their likenesses... Then, Galeem forced the captive spirits to pull the puppets' strings. This army of puppet fighters spread themselves across the last remaining world. Can anyone free the spirits from Galeem's control? Is there any hope for the fallen fighters? The journey to defeat Galeem begins...

”

Galeem's Defeat; the World of Darkness appears

Dharkon and his Crazy Hand army

Kirby rescues many fighters and spirits and defeats Giga Bowser, Galleom, and Rathalos powering Galeem's shield. The fighters defeat Galeem, but this victory is short-lived as a crack appears in the sky. The crack shatters and Dharkon and its army of Crazy Hands emerges, taking advantage of the situation and forcing Galeem to retreat. The World of Light is then swallowed by darkness, with Dharkon taking control of Galeem's remaining spirits and fighters.

“

With Galeem, the lord of light, defeated, darkness takes hold. In the blink of an eye, the land is swallowed by shadow. Galeem's spirits and puppet fighters fall under its control. The embodiment of chaos and darkness... Dharkon.

”

Dharkon's Defeat; Light and Darkness Clash

The fighters continue to free the puppets and spirits under Dharkon's control, and defeat Ganon, The Demon King, Marx, and Dracula to force Dharkon to appear. After the fighters confront Dharkon, Galeem returns and launches an assault with a new army of spirits and puppet fighters, with the fighters caught in the middle.

Navigating through the battlefield between light and darkness while attempting to preserve the balance of power between the two, the fighters free Master Hand and Crazy Hand. The hands pave a way for the final confrontation with Galeem and Dharkon.

Endings

• If the fighters choose to defeat only Galeem by defeating too many of the light spirits before freeing the hands, Dharkon will enchain and impale Galeem, eradicating the Master Hands and swallowing the universe in darkness. Mario is also shown dropping lifelessly on the floor.
• If the fighters choose to defeat only Dharkon by defeating too many dark spirits before freeing the hands, Galeem will vaporize Dharkon before consuming the universe in its light once more. Mario and the others are shown being vaporized by Galeem.
• If the fighters confront both Galeem and Dharkon by freeing the hands without pushing the balance between light and dark spirits too far in either direction, the pair will continue to battle each other before turning their attention to the fighters in a three-way climactic clash. When both Galeem and Dharkon are destroyed, they fall into the ocean and explode, cleansing the universe of their influence and releasing the spirits to return to their original worlds, making a true form of light.

Trailer

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Gallery

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  Galeem

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  Master Hand

Trivia

• If World of Light's Japanese name has its characters reversed, it can be read as 星の火灯, which is pronounced very similarly to 星のカービィ (Kirby of the Stars), the Japanese name of the Kirby series. Sakurai has stated, however, that this was coincidental.
• The cliff appearing at the start of World of Light's reveal trailer is a reference to the opening cutscene from Brawl and the cliff overlooking the Isle of the Ancients and is even used borderline identically, showing all the fighters before changing perspective to look over a sunrise/sunset and an ocean.
  • Also in the reveal trailer, the location where Kirby's Warp Star crash-lands strongly resembles the cliffs used in the reveal trailers for Mega Man, Greninja, and Bowser Jr. prior to the release of Super Smash Bros. 4. This cliff area is further shown to overlook the area in the background of Battlefield.
• The premise of World of Light is identical to an idea that Masahiro Sakurai considered for The Subspace Emissary in Brawl. He had initially envisioned a story in which a single character survives the annihilation of their squadron and must fight back while rounding up his allies. In World of Light, Kirby is this sole survivor. In Subspace Emissary, there were three survivors (Luigi, Ness, and Kirby, all due to a Dedede Brooch).
  • According to Sakurai, the reason Kirby, a character he created, was chosen as the sole starting character in World of Light was because he was one of the few characters who could plausibly escape Galeem's attack (the others being Bayonetta and Palutena, although it would contradict the fact spirits of similar powers did not survive), but was also the most suitable as an introductory character among them.
• Due to the Werewolf, Balder/the Masked Lumen, and King Bulblin's artwork appearing when this mode is highlighted from the Spirits menu, meany thought that meant they would have some sort of opponent presence in the mode aside from being Spirits, if not as a boss.