Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Mr. Sakurai Presents

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Mr. Sakurai Presents (のつかいかた, How to Use), known as Battling with in Europe and Oceania, is a series of unscripted video presentations hosted by Super Smash Bros. series director Masahiro Sakurai that were released at irregular intervals and detailed upcoming downloadable content for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. These presentations are similar to Super Smash Bros. Directs, though they feature lower budgets than a traditional Direct. These presentations also briefly discuss the history of the series and how it was adapted to Ultimate. Sakurai revealed in an interview that the format for Mr. Sakurai Presents was suggested by Nintendo due to Joker's introduction video being unexpectedly expensive to produce.[1]

The presentations for the Fighters Pass Vol. 1 characters took place inside Sakurai's studio, featuring an English voiceover in the North American versions. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the format of the presentations for Fighters Pass Vol. 2 was slightly changed, with Min Min, Steve, and Pyra/Mythra's presentations taking place in Sakurai's house and all of them having subtitles for all overseas versions.

General format

  • What is [series name]?: After briefly introducing himself to the viewers, Sakurai talks about the series that the fighter is from, the various games in the series, the style of the games, and the fighter's role in them. Steve and Sephiroth's presentations are the only ones that did not have this section.
    • In the latter's, however, instead of talking about what Final Fantasy VII is as a whole, Sakurai instead specifically talks about Sephiroth himself, and called the section, Who is Sephiroth? as a result.
  • As part of Challenger Pack [number]: [Character] joins the battle!: Sakurai goes into details about the character's moveset, including standard attacks, smash attacks, aerial attacks, special moves and Final Smash, which is always shown last. Unique mechanics for certain characters, like Hero's MP Gauge, Terry's command inputs, or Steve's mining and crafting abilities, are also shown off and explained. In many cases, most fighters' non-special moves are given names during this section that are usually not present in the tips.
  • New Stage: [stage name]: Sakurai talks about the stage that comes with the fighter, including its design, unique elements, and any background characters that may appear in the stage.
    • Cameos: In both Banjo & Kazooie's and Terry's presentations, this section was split into one section about the stage itself and another section about the background characters on the stage.
  • Let's see them in action!: After showing off just the moveset, Sakurai shows full gameplay of the character in one of the various modes of the game. For Hero, Banjo & Kazooie, Min Min and Sora, he played a regular Smash battle. For Terry and Sephiroth, he played their Classic Mode routes. For Byleth, Pyra/Mythra, and Kazuya, he played Squad Strike. For Steve, he played a few spirit battles on his DLC Spirit Board.
  • Song Collection/List: Sakurai goes over the music that is included with the fighter and shows a list of tracks on-screen, with new remixes being labelled with an icon. During the presentation itself, whenever a new song is being played, the corner of the screen will show the name of the song for reference.
  • Version [update number]: After discussing the main content of the DLC, Sakurai then talks about the update that will release with the DLC and the extra content that comes in it, including new modes (like Stage Builder and Home-Run Contest) as well as smaller changes (like a time limit for the Final Smash Meter). This segment was not featured in presentations for fighters whose updates did not feature major changes besides the release of the DLC.
  • Mii Fighters: Each presentation includes a trailer showcasing the next round of Mii Costumes that can be purchased separately. After the logo of the costume's game (occasionally being replaced by a wordmark of the character's name) is shown next to the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate logo, the costume is then shown in action, usually with music from their series usually accompanying them. In the case of special Mii Fighter costumes (like Sans, Cuphead and Vault Boy), a small cinematic is usually shown before their game's logo appears, similar to an actual reveal trailer. After all Mii Fighter costumes are shown individually, they are all shown together at the end. In Sans, Cuphead, Vault Boy, Bomberman, Shantae, Dragonborn, and Doom Slayer's cases, after the trailer ends, Sakurai briefly talks about their inclusion and, in the cases of Sans, Cuphead, and Shantae, the music tracks that come with them. In Sephiroth's and Sora's presentations, Sakurai started with the Mii Fighter costumes rather than showing them at the end.
  • amiibo: Towards the very end of the presentation, Sakurai shows what Super Smash Bros. series amiibo are next in line for release and when they will release. This segment was not in Sephiroth or Pyra/Mythra's presentation, however, likely due to a previously-announced amiibo wave not having released yet.

New Content Approaching (Joker)

This presentation was uploaded unannounced on April 16th, 2019, and featured content from the upcoming 3.0.0 update, including Joker. A gameplay reveal trailer, known as "The Masked Rebel", played at the start of the presentation. While this presentation does detail the gameplay aspects of Joker, it is technically not an official Mr. Sakurai Presents due to the overall format being drastically different to future installments.

Video

Fighter

  • Joker's moveset was first showcased during this presentation. When he fills his Rebellion Gauge, his Persona Arsène will assist him in battle, powering up his attacks.

Stage

  • Mementos was first announced during the presentation. The stage will change its color scheme and appearance depending on the music playing. The other Phantom Thieves will watch the battle from the background.

Music

Bolded tracks indicate new remixes.

Spirits

  • Morgana
  • Ryuji Sakamoto
  • Ann Takamaki
  • Yusuke Kitagawa
  • Makoto Nijima
  • Futaba Sakura
  • Haru Okumura
  • Goro Akechi
  • Caroline & Justine
  • Igor
  • Phantom Thieves of Hearts

Modes

  • DLC Spirits is a group of special Spirit Boards available after downloading a Challenger Pack, themed around the series of origin of the challenger. Unlike the standard Spirit Board, spirits available here do not expire.
  • Stage Builder returns from Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, with many new options available for creating stages.
  • Video Editor
  • Shared Content is an online mode that allows browsing for stages, replays, video montages and Mii Fighters created by other users. Content uploaded to Shared Content can also be browsed through the Nintendo Switch Online app service Smash World.

Mii Fighter costumes

Trivia

  • This was the only character presentation to not have been hosted by Masahiro Sakurai.
  • Sakurai would state in a Famitsu column[2] that the format of this presentation had an unexpectedly high budget that made one for every fighter infeasible. Nintendo approached him to make a new format that could work with a smaller budget, which resulted in the format of every subsequent presentation.

Mr. Sakurai Presents "Hero"

Mr. Sakurai Presents "Hero" (A Heroic Presentation in Europe and Oceania) was announced on July 28, 2019 for an upload date on the 30th. Unlike future Mr. Sakurai Presents videos, this video was not premiered via live stream. It detailed information about Hero, previously confirmed during Nintendo's E3 presentation, and other content that would be coming to the game as part of his Challenger Pack. It is officially the first presentation in the Mr. Sakurai Presents series.

Video

Fighter

Stage

Music

Spirits

  • Slime
  • Dracky
  • Golem
  • Liquid Metal Slime
  • Great Sabrecub
  • Cetacea
  • Hero's Comrades

Modes

Mii Fighter costumes

amiibo

Other

  • The FS Meter now has a time limit.
  • Very Easy difficulty setting has been added to World of Light.
  • The ability to bet on the winner has been reintroduced to Spectate, although there is no longer a risk component in betting on the wrong player.
  • Screenshots can now be inserted into video clips made with the Video Editor.
  • Videos can now be played consecutively in Shared Content.

Trivia

  • Unlike future Mr. Sakurai Presents videos:
    • this one features little music from the series the character is from, instead using various remixes of Lifelight heard in the game (including the ones for Battlefield and the Online Practice Stage). The only time any Dragon Quest music is heard is during the in-game fight demonstration, which uses War Cry, and the showcasing of Yggdrasil's Altar, which uses The Hero Goes Forth with a Determination. The series' famous Overture is also briefly heard twice, shown in two separate victory poses for Hero (as it is his victory theme).
      • The Mii Fighter costume section uses the standard Battlefield remix of Lifelight (otherwise heard at the beginning and end of the section), rather than any of the Dragon Quest music; it is the only presentation to have no other music in the Mii Fighter costume section, due to there only being Dragon Quest-based Mii costumes included in update 4.0.0. Both of these are likely due to the Dragon Quest music being owned by the late series composer Koichi Sugiyama, rather than Square Enix.
    • this one does not have Sakurai discuss the inclusion of any specific Mii outfits.
    • the section that is usually titled "As part of Challenger Pack #: [Character] joins the battle!" in Joker's video and future presentation instead uses Hero's trailer tagline (The Hero Draws Near!).
    • after Hero's general introduction, his moves are introduced in a sub-section called "Hero's Moves". In future presentations, the character's introduction and moveset are part of the same section.
    • Sakurai does not individually talk about Hero's standard attacks (like smash attacks, aerial attacks, grabs, etc.). While he talks about special properties like the smash attacks' Critical Hit and the side tilt's shielding abilities, he does not talk about every move as a whole.
  • Bang and Whack are the only Command Selection spells that Sakurai does not talk about in the presentation.
  • While most of the Dragon Quest heroes do not have canonical names within their games, Sakurai provides names to each Hero in their demo video, corresponding to their most popular fan names in Japanese: Eleven, Arusu, Solo and Eight.
    • Though "Eleven" and "Arusu" are more commonly used names for the first two Heroes in Japan due to "Luminary" and "Erdrick" being titles, the latter two are more commonly used for them in English.
    • Though the Dragon Quest III hero is commonly referred to as "Erdrick", the title they earn at the end of the game, "Arusu" is occasionally used in promotional material for Dragon Quest III. Within Ultimate, "Erdrick" is used for the Mii Swordfighter costume based on the legendary armor that the same character later wears.
  • When mentioning the voice actor for Erdrick, he jokes that the King of Braves is voicing the Hero, referencing Guy Shishioh from The King of Braves GaoGaiGar, whom Hiyama has also voiced. This is also a reference to the Japanese word 勇者 (Yūsha), which can be translated as both Hero and Brave.
  • This is the only Mr. Sakurai Presents video not to be called Battling with in Europe and Oceania, being called A Heroic Presentation instead.
  • The Simplified Chinese subtitles in this video contain a typo, misspelling 帕鲁朋特 Pàlǔpéngtè (Hocus Pocus) as 珀鲁朋特 Pòlǔpéngtè. This error is not present in the Traditional Chinese subtitles.
  • The presentation was produced by Gascoin Company, who also produces GameCenter CX.
  • According to Sakurai in a Famitsu column[3], there was no script for this presentation. He wrote down a basic outline of what he wanted to talk about and ad libbed the rest. The gameplay footage shown in the final video was controlled and captured by him in real time during the recording session.
    • Sakurai also edited the video himself, with the entirety of post-production apparently taking less than two hours. He attributes this smoother and more straightforward production process to the lower budget and quicker turnaround compared to the Joker presentation.
  • In the YouTube thumbnail for the Mii Costumes video, the borders around the text "Extra Mii Fighter Costumes Round 2" is indigo instead of the purple in the video itself.

Mr. Sakurai Presents "Banjo & Kazooie"

Mr. Sakurai Presents "Banjo & Kazooie" (Battling with Banjo & Kazooie in Europe and Oceania) was announced during the September 4, 2019 Nintendo Direct, and premiered immediately after the Direct finished. This video contained an overview of Banjo & Kazooie's moveset, along with other content in their Challenger Pack.

Video

Fighter

  • Banjo & Kazooie were showcased during the presentation.
  • Gameplay footage of Terry was briefly teased at the end of the presentation.

Stage

  • Spiral Mountain was showcased during the presentation, with its rotating properties detailed. Characters from Banjo-Kazooie will appear in the background.
  • King of Fighters Stadium was teased for the first time at the end of the presentation, with a brief segment of gameplay of Terry being showcased on this stage. The name of the stage, as well as its unique mechanics, were not revealed.

Music

Sakurai has talked about how this time he had worked with two Western composers, Grant Kirkhope and Toby Fox, who arranged remixes for tracks that they composed for the original games. Because Kirkhope was the first composer from out of Japan he worked with, he was a bit nervous about communication difficulties, but in the end, he was pretty satisfied with the final result.

Bolded tracks indicate a new remix.

Modes

  • Home Run Contest was revealed as a returning mode. It was said to be "pretty much" the final mode added to Ultimate.

Mii Fighter costumes

amiibo

Other

  • Mii Fighters downloaded through Shared Content can now be edited.

Trivia

  • During the presentation, Masahiro Sakurai encouraged viewers to play the Banjo-Kazooie games through Xbox, specifically through Rare Replay on Xbox One. This subsequently sparked a surge of searches in Japan, a market where Microsoft historically struggled to establish a foothold, causing the word "Xbox" to become the #1 trending word on Twitter in Japan during that day.[4]
  • This Mr. Sakurai Presents video is notable as the least in-depth of the Sakurai-hosted fighter presentations so far. Sakurai speaks less about the origin series than he does in any other presentation (with the exceptions of Presents "Hero" and Presents "Steve & Alex"), much of the fighter's moveset is omitted from the explanation, and no Mii Fighter costumes related to the origin series are revealed.
    • Battling with Sora is the only other presentation to not feature the fighter's entire moveset in the moveset explanation segment.
  • This is the first presentation to not reveal new spirits, forcing the spirits to be discovered in-game upon the update's release.
  • With its brief showcase of Terry, this is the first of two times a Mr. Sakurai Presents showcases more than one DLC fighter, the second time being Pyra and Mythra.
  • This is the first Mr. Sakurai Presents video where Sakurai does not talk about any of the fighter's alternate costumes.

Mr. Sakurai Presents "Terry Bogard"

Mr. Sakurai Presents "Terry Bogard" (Battling with Terry Bogard in Europe and Oceania) was announced on November 4, 2019 as Mr. Sakurai Presents "Terry Faces the Fury!" for an upload date on the 6th. This presentation included a detailed overview of Terry's moveset, content coming in his Challenger Pack, as well as the fourth batch of Mii Fighter costumes. At the end of the video, an extended version of Terry's trailer seen in the September 4, 2019 Nintendo Direct was shown.

Video

Fighter

  • Terry was fully showcased during the presentation. Like Ryu and Ken, he possesses command inputs much like those from his home series. He has access to two Super Special Moves after he takes more than 100% damage (or has less than 1/3 of his HP remaining in Stamina Mode).

Stage

  • King of Fighters Stadium was named and showcased during the presentation. The stage features two invisible walls on the side that can be destroyed if they are hit by a character suffering enough knockback. Characters from various SNK series will watch the fight from the background.

Music

Originally, Sakurai wanted to include a few music tracks outside of the Fatal Fury and King of Fighters series. He sent a selection of 50 songs to SNK, expecting only around 10 or 20 to be picked, but to his surprise, the whole selection was approved. Additionally, certain music tracks guarantee the appearance of a corresponding character on King of Fighters Stadium.

Bolded tracks indicate a new remix.

Spirits

  • Andy Bogard
  • Joe Higashi
  • Kim Kaphwan
  • Geese Howard
  • Ryo Sakazaki
  • Kyo Kusanagi
  • Iori Yagami
  • Haohmaru
  • Nakoruru
  • Athena Asamiya
  • Ralf & Clark

Mii Fighter costumes

amiibo

Other

  • Online Arenas have been improved.
    • It is now possible to send short pre-made messages.
    • Rules can now be changed from inside the Arena by the host.
    • A setting for picking both Battlefield and Ω form stages has been added.
    • Elite Only has been added as a type of Arena.

Trivia

  • At nearly 49 minutes in length, this is the longest Super Smash Bros. video presentation to date.
  • The newly-introduced "Elite Only" type for Battle Arenas is discussed, but its counterpart, the Beginners Only type, goes unmentioned.
  • When justifying the absence of Mai Shiranui—a character largely recognized for her revealing outfit—as a background character in King of Fighters Stadium, Sakurai jokingly stated that "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is for good boys and girls of many different ages". The statement quickly became memetic within the community, partly since it contradictorily does not account for characters who possess similarly revealing outfits, such as Zero Suit Samus and Bayonetta, as well as characters that come from a primarily M-rated franchise, such as Snake and Joker.
    • In the Japanese version of the presentation, Sakurai additionally mentions that this omission complies with Ultimate's CERO A rating. This mention was removed entirely in international localizations.
  • When the Mii Fighter Showcase video ended, the sides on the purchase were tangerine instead of blue, this also applies to the separate Mii Fighter costume showcase video.

Mr. Sakurai Presents "Byleth"

Mr. Sakurai Presents "Byleth" (Battling with Byleth in Europe and Oceania) was announced on January 14, 2020 under the title of Mr. Sakurai Presents "???" for a premiere date on the 16th. For the first time, the subject of this video was not announced in a separate presentation beforehand and was instead revealed alongside the video. Byleth from Fire Emblem: Three Houses was confirmed in this presentation, with a release date of January 28, 2020, and Sakurai went over his moveset and other content coming with him. When this presentation was reuploaded as Mr. Sakurai Presents "Byleth" on the exact date the original premiered, it removes the beginning introduction by Sakurai where he tells viewers not to be upset at the character choice, instead beginning immediately with Byleth's reveal trailer.

Video

Fighter

  • Byleth was announced and showcased during the presentation. Like Robin and Corrin, both male and female versions are playable. In battle, he wields their signature Sword of the Creator, as well as the sacred weapons of the house leaders, known as Heroes' Relics, each assigned to a specific directional input.

Stage

  • Garreg Mach Monastery was announced and showcased during the presentation. It is a travelling stage that will move around various locations in the monastery. Characters representing the titular three houses and the Church of Seiros will appear in the background watching the fight.

Music

Bolded tracks indicate a new remix.

Spirits

  • Dorothea
  • Ingrid
  • Hilda (Fire Emblem)
  • Seteth
  • Edelgard
  • Dimitri (Fire Emblem)
  • Claude
  • Rhea
  • Sothis

Mii Fighter costumes

  • Altair (Swordfighter)
  • Rabbid hat
  • X (Gunner)
  • MegaMan.EXE (Gunner)
  • Cuphead (Gunner)
  • Ancient Soldier Gear (Swordfighter), available as a bonus for purchasing the Fighters Pass Vol. 2.

amiibo

Other

  • The Fighters Pass Vol. 2 was formally announced during this presentation. It would feature six new characters, to be released by December 2021. Similarly to the first Fighters Pass, each challenger pack also includes a stage and additional music tracks and was announced to be sold at the same price as the prior packs.

Trivia

  • In the thumbnail for Mr. Sakurai Presents ???, Sakurai is seen doing a mysterious hand gesture. During the presentation, he does this gesture while hand counting to 17 in binary, as Three Houses is the 17th game in the series if Heroes is counted. When Sakurai was showing how to count in binary, the hand sign for the numbers 10 and 11 had him only sticking up a middle finger, which caused many memes to spawn of Sakurai "flipping" the viewer off (as the middle finger is considered an obscene gesture in the West), even though his pinkie finger (and thumb in the former) was sticking out as well.
    • In addition, during this segment in the North American version, the release year for Three Houses is mistakenly labelled as 2017, when it actually released in 2019.
  • Following the reveal trailer, Sakurai is seen hanging up the presentation's poster, and his expression upon turning around and looking at the camera has become a minor meme, used to emphasize Sakurai's playful personality.
  • Oddly, even though the Altaïr Mii Costume is listed as coming from the Assassin's Creed series in the Japanese and European/Oceanian versions of the video, the North American version instead describes his universe as being "Altaïr," which is the name of the character himself. It is unknown why this change was made.
  • Before this video, all Mr. Sakurai Presents gameplay demonstrations were played using the Japanese version of the game. However, in this presentation, while much of it is played in Japanese, the Squad Strike demonstration was played in English.

Mr. Sakurai Presents "Min Min"

Mr. Sakurai Presents "Min Min" (Battling with Min Min in Europe and Oceania) was announced on June 19, 2020 for a premiere date on the 22nd as Mr. Sakurai Presents an ARMS Fighter (Mr. Sakurai Presents a Fighter from ARMS in Europe and Oceania). Similarly to the previous presentation, the exact character was not known beforehand, although it was already announced that they would come from ARMS.

Video

Fighter

  • Min Min was announced and showcased during the presentation. In battle, she is capable of extending her ARMS to deliver long ranged punches. Her left ARM is assigned to the A button, while the right ARM is assigned to the B button and can be changed between Ramram, Megawatt and Dragon.

Stage

  • Spring Stadium was announced and showcased during the presentation. The stage has three launchpads that can allow fighters to leap while inflicting damage, and two ceiling arches that can block vertical KOs.

Music

Bolded tracks indicate a new remix.

Mii Fighter costumes

amiibo

Other

  • The ability to play Spirit rematches has been added to the Spirit List in the Inventory. Playing a rematch will increase a score, although it will not award additional copies of the spirit.

Trivia

  • Because of lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan, this is the first Mr. Sakurai Presents to be recorded outside of Nintendo's office, namely taking place in one of Sakurai's homes. Sakurai also indicated that the message had been filmed on May 2, 2020.
    • For similar reasons, Sakurai is not translated into English by a voiceover in the North American version of the video, instead having subtitles accompany him like in the international versions of prior presentations.
  • The beginning of the presentation showed two shots of Sakurai's video game consoles, including a Mega Drive Mini with a Mega-CD Mini plus a mini cartridge of Space Harrier II inserted. The closer shot clearly showing the cartridge was removed from the American broadcast.
  • Similar to the reveal of the Altaïr Mii Fighter Costume not listing Assassin's Creed in the broadcast for America, Vault Boy is just listed as "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate X Vault Boy" rather than Fallout in the North American version.
  • During the presentation, Sakurai mentions that image results when searching for "Spring Man" in Japan "show a certain enemy from a certain manga", referring to the character Springman from the Kinnikuman manga series.
    • Coincidentally, Springman was defeated by Ramenman in his Mongolman persona, matching how Spring Man was passed over for Min Min. Min Min's Japanese title in ARMS also parodies the Kinnikuman spin-off, Tatakae!! Ramenman.
  • Although Sakurai can be heard mentioning social distancing, it is not written in the subtitles in the American broadcast.
    • In Japanese, Sakurai begins this line with "密です", literally translating to "it is dense", but often used to mean "too close". This was famously said by Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, resulting in it becoming a popular meme in Japan in April 2020.
  • Sakurai mentions that Ryō Horikawa, Captain Falcon's voice actor, is also the voice of Vegeta in the Japanese dubbing of Dragon Ball, making it the first time a non-video game series has been directly referenced in an official Smash presentation.
    • Sakurai also revealed that Horikawa has not done new voice recordings for Captain Falcon since Smash 64. All of his voice lines, including those first used later in the series, were recorded during its development. Addressing the recordings used for his Blue Falcon Final Smash in particular, Sakurai reiterated that Final Smashes were first conceptualized for Smash 64 before debuting in Brawl.[5]
  • Unlike previous Mr. Sakurai Presents and like the Squad Strike demonstration in Mr. Sakurai Presents "Byleth", seemingly all of Min Min's gameplay was demonstrated using the English version of the game.
  • As in Banjo & Kazooie's presentation, none of the new DLC spirits were revealed in this presentation. They were instead revealed in the update itself.
  • This is the second presentation not to talk about any of the fighter's alternate costumes.

Mr. Sakurai Presents "Steve & Alex"

Mr. Sakurai Presents "Steve & Alex" (Battling with Steve & Alex in Europe and Oceania) was announced on September 30th, 2020 under the title Mr. Sakurai Presents "???", similar to Byleth's presentation before he was announced. Unlike previous Mr. Sakurai Presents videos, the presentation is broken down into two videos. The first video was released on October 1st, which only contained the reveal trailer and a brief message from Masahiro Sakurai discussing Steve's challenging development process. The second, more in-depth video covering all of the content was released on the 3rd.

Video

Fighter

  • Steve was showcased during the presentation. His neutral special allows him to mine materials on the ground, craft weapons near a Crafting Table and create blocks in the air. Alex, Zombie and Enderman appear as alternate costumes.

Stage

  • Minecraft World was showcased during the presentation. The stage features six randomly selected biomes, each with a different arrangement of blocks that can be mined by Steve or destroyed by other fighters.

Music

Bolded tracks indicate a new remix.

Spirits

  • Zombie
  • Creeper
  • Skeleton
  • Slime (Minecraft)
  • Enderman
  • Villager & Iron Golem
  • Ghast
  • Piglin
  • Ender Dragon

Mii Fighter costumes

amiibo

Trivia

  • This is the second Mr. Sakurai Presents video to initially go by the title Mr. Sakurai Presents "???", the first being Byleth's.
  • Despite a Zombie and an Enderman also being playable as alternate characters alongside Alex, they are not mentioned in the presentation's title.
  • Sakurai stated that when Nintendo approached him about adding Minecraft content, he was at first skeptical of the idea, before deciding to go through with it. This has been misinterpreted by some to mean that he did not desire to do so.
  • This is the only Mr. Sakurai Presents to not include a brief discussion about the franchise/game the newcomer is coming from, possibly because of Minecraft's status as the best-selling game of all time.
    • This is also the first Mr. Sakurai Presents to have two videos dedicated to one fighter.
  • Despite no music from the Tumble minigame being included alongside Steve, it is mentioned along with Battle and Glide during the Song List portion of the presentation.
  • Much like Altaïr and Vault Boy, Travis Touchdown is just listed as "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate X Travis" rather than No More Heroes in the North American version.
  • This is the first Mr. Sakurai Presents where all of the newly added music is played.
  • This marks the first time that the Alex skin is explicitly referred to as female in any officially sanctioned Minecraft media. Previously, it was only implied in one video's description on the Minecraft YouTube channel.

Mr. Sakurai Presents "Sephiroth"

Mr. Sakurai Presents "Sephiroth" (Battling with Sephiroth in Europe and Oceania) was announced on December 10, 2020 following the official reveal at The Game Awards 2020 and premiered on the 17th.This Presentation details Sephiroth, other content coming in his Challenger Pack, and the limited-time promotional mode, the Sephiroth Challenge, which launched later that day.

Video

For an unknown reason, the Nintendo of America version of the video is set as age-restricted, making it the only Mr. Sakurai Presents video to be age-restricted and viewable exclusively on YouTube. The version uploaded by Nintendo UK is not restricted.

Fighter

  • Sephiroth is showcased during this presentation. He attacks with his long Masamune sword and various spells. If he's at a disadvantage, he will sprout his wing, giving him a boost.

Stage

  • Northern Cave is showcased during this presentation. Though a fairly simple layout, the background goes through a story of the ending of Final Fantasy VII, with notable elements such as the Highwind, Meteor, and the Lifestream.

Music

Bolded tracks indicate a new remix.

Modes

  • The Sephiroth Challenge was announced as a limited time mode available from December 17 to 22, 2020. The Challenge consists in a stamina battle against Sephiroth on Northern Cave; completing the challenge will allow the player to unlock Sephiroth early ahead of his official release.

Mii Fighter costumes

Trivia

  • The date of the presentation coincides with the release date of the original Final Fantasy in Japan: December 18th, 1987.
  • Sakurai was able to return to his office to film this presentation, after filming within his house for the last two due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, he was still unable to provide an English voiceover for the overseas presentation.
    • Unlike in Min Min's presentation, Sakurai's mentioning of social distancing actually is written in the English subtitles, possibly because it was mentioned in a serious context instead of a joking one.
  • Unlike previous presentations, the Mii Fighter costumes that were releasing alongside this Challenger Pack were featured at the very beginning of the presentation, rather than towards the end. As the Mii Fighter costumes for Barret, Tifa and Aerith were later used during the gameplay demonstration, they were likely revealed in the beginning as revealing them at the end would have been redundant.
  • The Mii Fighters used during the demonstration are shown to be given the generic name "Mii", similar to the default Mii Fighters unlocked through World of Light.
  • This is the second Mr. Sakurai Presents to not discuss the series the character is from, the first being Steve's. Sakurai instead talks about Sephiroth's origins specifically, however, calling the section "Who is Sephiroth?"
    • Later on in the video, he does, however, go in depth into the endgame plot of Final Fantasy VII, albeit in order to describe the basis of Northern Cave.
  • This is the third presentation to not reveal new spirits. Like the Banjo-Kazooie and ARMS spirits, the Final Fantasy VII spirits were left to be discovered in-game instead.
  • This is the first presentation in which Sakurai does not discuss upcoming amiibo.
  • When talking about Sephiroth's neutral special, Sakurai states that Gigaflare cannot be used in midair since it takes too long to charge. However, in-game, if Sephiroth is in the air long enough and charges the move, it is shown the Gigaflare can be used in midair.
  • During the final match, just before landing the final hit on Crazy Hand, Sakurai says "We'll each need to take down about ten", Marth's line in the opening cutscene of World of Light.
  • During the presentation, Sakurai demonstrates the technique of turning around, that quickly jumping and performing a Back aerial attack. This is colloquially known among the competitive Smash community as the Reverse aerial rush, or "RAR."
  • During the presentation, Sakurai starts explaining the frame data of Sephiroth, particularly the startup of forward aerial and back aerial. Sakurai then stops himself, coyly explaining that he shouldn't be saying such things in public, as he is "just the guy who thought he wanted to make a fun party game," and will leave the small details to competitive smashers.

Mr. Sakurai Presents "Pyra/Mythra"

Mr. Sakurai Presents "Pyra/Mythra" (Battling with Pyra/Mythra in Europe and Oceania) was announced on February 24, 2021 and premiered on March 4, the same day Pyra and Mythra themselves were released. This showcase talked about the two fighters and other contents of Challenger Pack 9.

Video

Fighter

  • Pyra / Mythra are showcased in this presentation. They can be swapped between each other, with Pyra being the fire-based "slow but powerful" half and Mythra being the light-based "weak but fast" half. Rex appears to assist both of them during certain cosmetic animations.

Stage

  • Cloud Sea of Alrest is showcased in this presentation. It takes place on top of Azurda's back, and he will constantly move his head around, changing the size of the battlefield. Various Titans appear in the background, while Rex's party members will watch the battle from the sidelines.

Music

Bolded tracks indicated a new remix.

Spirits

  • Rex (Master Driver)
  • Lora
  • Amalthus
  • Jin
  • Malos
  • Pneuma

Mii Fighter costumes

Trivia

  • Unlike Sephiroth's presentation, Sakurai once again had to record the presentation from his house, much like Min Min and Steve's presentations, due to rises in COVID-19 cases at the time of recording.
  • Unlike the previous Fighters Pass Vol. 2 presentations and like the entirety of Fighters Pass Vol. 1 (minus Byleth), Sakurai's gameplay demonstration was done using the Japanese version of Ultimate, rather than the English version.
  • This is the first presentation to focus on more than one fighter at the same time, as Pyra and Mythra are counted as separate fighters.
    • While Terry was briefly showcased at the end of the Banjo & Kazooie presentation, he was not showcased in full.
  • Despite Pyra's spirits using her uncensored design in Ultimate, both she and Mythra's models in the game (alongside the latter's spirits) are censored due to age ratings, giving them tights and covering up the latter's cleavage. Despite this, figurines of both Pyra and Mythra are present on Sakurai's desk, using their uncensored designs, while gameplay of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 shown also uses their uncensored designs. This is likely due to the presentation not being bound by the same age rating restrictions as the game itself.
  • During the presentation, Sakurai played using Xenoblade Chronicles 2 themed Switch Pro Controllers.
  • This is the first Mr. Sakurai Presents video to not have the character's splash art tagline from their reveal trailer captioned on the thumbnail, instead simply saying, "Pyra/Mythra Join the Battle!" This is likely due to Pyra and Mythra being two distinct characters and thus having two distinct taglines (while Byleth also had two taglines, they are two genders of the same character).
    • This is also the first video to feature a character aside from the playable one on the video's thumbnail, namely Rex.
  • Oddly, when Sakurai explains what Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is, the words "What is" don't appear next to the game's logo in the North American presentation, despite being present in other regions.
  • Sakurai mentions that he collects figures of characters that will be implemented into the game so that the design team will have a model to reference for obscure details, such as what the bottoms of a character's feet look like. This was previously mentioned at a developer panel regarding the game's lighting engine.
    • Sakurai also mentions that he hides figures of unreleased fighters in a locked drawer at his office, to keep information on future development confidential.
  • This is the second presentation where Sakurai does not discuss upcoming amiibo.
  • Much like the Tifa, Aerith, and Barret Mii fighters used during the Sephiroth showcase, Sakurai briefly uses a Rex Mii saved under the generic name "Mii" during the Squad Strike match. He also reiterates that this costume is available for players that purchase Fighters Pass Vol. 1.

Mr. Sakurai Presents "Kazuya"

Mr. Sakurai Presents "Kazuya" (Battling with Kazuya in Europe and Oceania) was announced immediately after the showing of Kazuya's trailer during the E3 2021 Nintendo Direct on June 15th, 2021 for a premiere date on June 28th, 2021. In a similar vein to Steve's presentation, after Kazuya's trailer was shown in the Nintendo Direct, Sakurai briefly appeared to talk about him and the date of his full presentation. Afterwards, a short video showing each of Kazuya's moves and their names was presented.

Video

Fighter

  • Kazuya was showcased in this presentation. Coming from a fighting game, he brings with him a lot of different moves and combos from his home series. He can also transform into his devil form for several of his moves. When sustaining enough damage, he will be powered up by Rage.

Stage

  • Mishima Dojo was officially named during this presentation. At the start of the fight, it is enclosed by walls and a ceiling, which can be broken off by fighters sustaining enough knockback. Once broken, the blast zones will become accessible until the walls are rebuilt again.

Music

Bolded tracks indicated a new remix.

Spirits

  • Paul Phoenix & Marshall Law
  • Nina Williams
  • King & Armor King
  • Ling Xiaoyu
  • Kuma & Panda
  • Asuka Kazama
  • Yoshimitsu
  • Jack-7
  • Jin Kazama
  • Heihachi Mishima
  • Devil Jin

Mii Fighter costumes

amiibo

Trivia

  • After being stuck in his house for Pyra and Mythra's presentation, Sakurai is shown to have returned to his office for this presentation, much like Sephiroth's.
    • In the Nintendo Direct, Sakurai was shown with his English voiceover, Raymond E., for the first time since Byleth's presentation. However, the voiceover was not used in the actual presentation.
  • Sakurai mentions during the video of himself briefly going over Kazuya's moveset in the E3 2021 presentation that the official Mr. Sakurai Presents video had yet to be recorded as of the completion of said video.
    • This marks the second time a teaser to the official video was made, the first being made for Steve.
  • This presentation was announced the longest in advance of its premiere date, with 13 days in between.
  • Unlike other presentations, rather than revealing one Mii Fighter costumes before the logo and music tracks, all Mii Fighter costumes were shown before the logo and music tracks.
  • This is the only time Sakurai is shown losing a match during the "Let's See Them in Action" segment.
    • Interestingly, Min Min, the fighter that Sakurai lost to, was nerfed in the update corresponding to the presentation (12.0.0); a large number of internet memes were spawned as a result.
  • Much like other presentations, all M-rated series only have the name of the character from that series (in this case, Dragonborn and Dante). Unlike before, however, the European versions also censor the names, similar to the how the North American versions do it.
    • Despite this, Sakurai can be heard saying "Skyrim" when talking about Dragonborn's inclusion, though it isn't referred to by name in the subtitles.
  • At the beginning of the presentation, Sakurai jokes that a "voice from the heavens" told him to put a Tekken character in Smash. In Japanese, this is a pun on how the name Nintendo features the kanji 天 (ten), which means "heaven", and is a reference to how Nintendo decides all of the DLC fighters for the game before Sakurai approves them.
  • Much like Pyra and Mythra's presentation, the thumbnail for the North American presentation simply says, "Kazuya Joins the Battle!" rather than his trailer tagline ("Kazuya GETS READY FOR THE NEXT BATTLE!"), though this may be due to it being too long to put the entire caption on screen.
  • Sakurai revealed in a YouTube video that he suggested adding a red and green reticle to visually emphasis how the Smash series is "a game of location."[6]

Battling with Sora

Battling with Sora was announced during a Nintendo Direct on September 23rd, 2021 under the title of The Final Mr. Sakurai Presents (The Final Battle in Europe and Oceania) for an airing date of October 5th. It showcased the last challenger in Fighters Pass Vol. 2. Once again, the fighter's identity was kept secret and would be revealed during the presentation.

Video

Fighter

  • Sora was showcased during this presentation. Wielding his signature Keyblade, he specializes in air combat and utilizes certain Magic spells to turn the tide of battle. The magic that he can use for his neutral special rotates after each use.

Stage

  • Hollow Bastion was showcased during this presentation. A platform travels around the Hollow Bastion castle, and when the battle is about to end (either with time, stocks, or health running low), the stage will transform into Dive of the Heart, which shows artistic backgrounds with different Kingdom Hearts characters on it.

Music

Spirits

  • Sora
  • Sora (KINGDOM HEARTS II)
  • Sora (KINGDOM HEARTS 3D [Dream Drop Distance])
  • Sora (KINGDOM HEARTS III)
  • Sora (Timeless River)
  • Kairi
  • Ventus
  • Aqua
  • Terra
  • Riku
  • Xion
  • Axel
  • Roxas

Mii Fighter costumes

amiibo

Trivia

  • This is the only presentation where the North American version is not called Mr. Sakurai Presents, instead using the European name, Battling With.
    • However, the presentation is correctly titled as Mr. Sakurai Presents "Sora" on the official US website.
  • Unlike Mr. Sakurai Presents "Byleth", the brief intro before Sora's trailer is retained in the full archive of the stream.
  • As with Mr. Sakurai Presents "Sephiroth", the featured Mii Fighter costumes were shown at the beginning of the presentation, rather than towards the end. However, unlike Sephiroth's presentation, the costumes did not reappear in the showcase afterwards.
  • Sakurai made it a point to include the entire Ultimate roster in the gameplay demonstration, making this the only Mr. Sakurai Presents to do so.
  • During the match between Sora, Cloud, and Sephiroth, when Sora catches the latter two in his Final Smash, Sakurai parodies Cloud's line from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, "Stay where you belong, in my memories." with "Stay where you belong, behind these doors."
  • Much like other presentations, the logo for Doom, the series the Slayer hails from, is absent in the American version of his Mii Costume reveal trailer, being replaced with a wordmark featuring the character's name, in this case, Doom Slayer, despite featuring the franchise's name. However, like Kazuya's presentation, the European versions also censor the names, similar to the how the North American versions do it. Furthermore, Sakurai does not mention Doom by name unless one counts "Doom Slayer" or "Doomguy", but refers to it as "the series that originated the first-person shooter genre".
  • After presenting the Mii Costumes, Sakurai mentioned that he has heard the original Doom can run on any computer. This is a reference to It Runs Doom, a meme involving programmers trying to port the original Doom on to as many devices as possible, due to its low system requirements and having its source code officially released.
  • At the brief roster overview at the beginning of the video, Piranha Plant is added with the base roster characters instead of the downloadable newcomers, despite it also being a downloadable character, albeit the only one that is not part of either Fighters Pass and had gameplay shown off before release.
  • This presentation is the only one to have a reveal not directly related to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, namely that various titles in the Kingdom Hearts series will become playable on the Nintendo Switch sometime in the future in the form of cloud versions.
  • Similarly to Mr. Sakurai Presents "Banjo & Kazooie", Sakurai does not detail all of Sora's moves in his dedicated moveset explanation segment (he intentionally did not show off his Final Smash so it could be seen later, but unintentionally forgot to show his dash attack, though it could later be seen during the demonstration). This was acknowledged by Sakurai on Twitter following the presentation.[7]
  • Like with the Sephiroth presentation, Sakurai demonstrates the Reverse aerial rush technique.
  • The day after the presentation, the archived livestream reached #1 on the YouTube Trending page, becoming the first and only Mr. Sakurai Presents presentation to achieve this.
  • Though Dragon Ball's Vegeta was mentioned (and Kinnikuman's Springman was alluded to) in Mr. Sakurai Presents "Min Min", several characters from Disney and Pixar properties appear during the presentation—namely, from Mickey Mouse & Friends, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Hercules, Toy Story, Winnie the Pooh, Monsters, Inc., and Big Hero 6—marking the first visual appearance of non-video game characters in an official Smash presentation. Additionally, the Kingdom of Corona from Tangled appears in gameplay footage of Kingdom Hearts III (though no characters from the film appear), and Sleeping Beauty's Maleficent is also mentioned when Sakurai discussed the origin of Hollow Bastion.
  • Following this presentation, the hashtag #ThankYouSakurai began trending on Twitter and reached #1 later that day, thanking Sakurai and the Smash team for their work on Ultimate as well as the series at large. This went on to be acknowledged by Sakurai.[8]
  • In the YouTube thumbnail for the Mii Costumes video, the borders around the text "Extra Mii Fighter Costumes Round 11" is yellow instead of the white in the video itself.

See also

References

  1. ^ https://twitter.com/KodyNOKOLO/status/1455945465409773577
  2. ^ https://twitter.com/PushDustIn/status/1166746910910111746
  3. ^ https://twitter.com/PushDustIn/status/1166746910910111746
  4. ^ https://kotaku.com/smash-bros-creator-just-made-xbox-trend-on-twitter-i-1837892382
  5. ^ https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/wii/ssbb/4/0
  6. ^ Odds and Ends of Supervising [Graphics]
  7. ^ https://twitter.com/Sora_Sakurai/status/1445540577525657607
  8. ^ https://twitter.com/Sora_Sakurai/status/1445431158238441475
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