Sans

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Sans
Sans's sprite from Undertale.
Universe	Undertale
Debut	Undertale (2015)
Smash Bros. appearances	Ultimate
Most recent non-Smash appearance	Deltarune: Chapter 1 (2018)
Console/platform of origin	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X
Species	Skeleton
Gender	Male
Place of origin	Snowdin
Created by	Toby Fox

Sans (サンズ, Sans) is a character from Undertale who is represented in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate via a Mii Fighter costume and a DLC music track.

Origin

Sans is a skeleton monster who lives in the frosty town of Snowdin, alongside his brother Papyrus, underneath the surface of the Earth. The player character, Frisk, first encounters him after leaving the Ruins. He is seen tagging along with Papyrus as the latter attempts to capture Frisk, but consistently fails. His schemes are half-hearted, appearing more as attempts to encourage Papyrus's fantasies rather than actual malice, which garners sympathy towards the duo. After befriending Papyrus, Frisk has the option to visit his and Sans' house.

At first, Sans appears to be a laid-back, flippant character; he has a fondness for practical jokes and speaks in an all-lowercase font resembling Comic Sans MS. However, as the game progresses, it becomes clear that Sans is more self-aware than he lets on.

In the "Neutral" route of the game, Sans is encountered in the Last Corridor late in the story. Here, Sans "judges" the player (distinct from Frisk), revealing that experience points and levels are directly linked to how willing they are to inflict pain and death on others. His speech will change depending on the course of action that the player takes throughout the game, with special dialogue if they killed Papyrus. He also reveals that he is aware of the game's saving and loading mechanics, and encourages the player to do the right thing. At the end of this route, Sans phones the player and informs them about the end result of their actions, dependent on which boss monsters were killed.

In the "True Pacifist" route, meaning every monster is spared from defeat and befriended, Sans is one of the monsters whose soul is absorbed by Flowey, a diabolical flower who seeks to absorb the souls of every monster. The player must battle him and Papyrus, along with the rest of the boss monsters, to free them. Sans then joins the rest of the now-freed monsters on the surface world.

If the "Genocide" route is taken, meaning every other monster is killed, Sans engages the player in battle as a last-ditch effort to stop them. This is significantly more difficult than the battle against the captured Sans in the "Pacifist" route. In this fight, he uses highly unpredictable and speedy attacks, typically utilizing "Gaster Blasters" (laser guns that resemble skulls). He also avoids all of the player's attacks until the very end, where he decides to simply not attack, thus never ending his turn in the battle. The player can attack him after he falls asleep, however, and he is defeated in a single hit. He then crawls away, dying off-screen.

In Deltarune: Chapter 1, Sans makes a cameo appearance as the player character Kris's next door neighbor, now owning and operating a grocery store.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

The Sans Mii costume in Ultimate.

Sans appears as a downloadable Mii Fighter costume as part of Wave 3 for Ultimate, with one of his Gaster Blasters as the arm cannon. Along with the costume, a new remix of Sans' boss theme, MEGALOVANIA, was added as one of the "Other" music tracks. Notably, in contrast to most other Mii Costumes, Sans appears as a fully modeled character, and his "mask" is just his head, instead of a mask with the Mii's face visible like other characters, such as Tails or Knuckles.

Trivia

• Sans' Mii costume trailer holds multiple references to Undertale:
  • When he is introduced, he is shown standing in a black background with PictoChat 2's textbox below it. This is referencing the battle GUI in Undertale.
  • Next, he dodges a Villager's up tilt, and then a female Villager's Killing Edge swipe. These two Villagers reference Frisk and Chara respectively.
  • Behind the male Villager is a plate of spaghetti, likely referencing the food Papyrus comments on cooking. Behind the female Villager, a hot dog can be seen, referring to the hot dog stand in Hotland run by Sans.
  • Finally, he is seen fighting a yellow Piranha Plant, which references Flowey, another character from Undertale.
• Sans is the first Mii costume to be packaged with additional music.
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate marks Sans's first video game appearance in 3D.
  • This is also the first time Sans' slippers have been depicted as pink in-game. In his sprites, they are depicted as white, even in his full-color overworld sprite; in official art, they have been variously depicted as blue slippers or sneakers. The pink slippers were a concept created by the Undertale fanbase, and eventually became "canon" through the official merchandise.
• The official image for the Sans Mii costume features him on Magicant, likely in reference to the EarthBound-related origins of Undertale.
• The update text for the Mii costume in European regions is noticeably written from Sans's perspective.
  • The update text for American regions instead references a recurring phrase from Undertale: "It fills you with determination."
• Sans is the first character playable in any capacity that originates from an "Indie Game", or a game made by an individual developer. He is not the first appearance of Indie Game content, however, as Commander Video appeared as a trophy in Smash 4, and Shovel Knight and Shantae appear in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as an assist trophy and spirit, respectively.

External links

• Article on the Undertale Wiki.