Sephiroth (SSBU)
| Sephiroth in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate | |
|---|---|
  
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| Universe | Final Fantasy |
| Availability | Downloadable |
| Final Smash | Supernova |
| Tier | B+ (37) |
| “ | Sephiroth Descends to Battle! | ” |
| —Introduction Tagline | ||
Sephiroth (セフィロス, Sephiroth) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and the third fighter from Square Enix after Cloud and Hero. He was revealed on December 10th, 2020 at The Game Awards 2020, and was released as part of Challenger Pack 8 on December 22nd, 2020 as the third downloadable character of Fighters Pass Vol. 2. However, Sephiroth could also become playable as early as December 17th, 2020 by defeating him in the limited-time Sephiroth Challenge that was made available from December 17th-22nd.[1] Sephiroth is classified as Fighter #78.
Toshiyuki Morikawa, who has voiced Sephiroth as of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, reprises his role as the character in all regions.
Sephiroth is ranked 37th out of 82 on the current tier list, placing him in the B+ tier. Sephiroth's greatest strength is his unrivaled range and spacing game, the latter of which is courtesy of the Masamune, which grants him the ability to reach farther than most fighters and apply pressure against his opponents without having to risk getting up close. This range is complemented by Masamune's sweetspots, which deal high damage and possess incredible KO power. Furthermore, Sephiroth has a strong set of special attacks, with Flare Variations helping his ledgetrapping abilities and Shadow Flare being an excellent pressure, combo and kill setup tool. Finally, at higher percents, Sephiroth will gain access to his unique Winged Form, which grants him increased attack power, higher mobility, armor on his smash attacks, and a second double jump throughout the form's duration.
However, Sephiroth has some glaring weaknesses, the most prominent being his endurance and slow frame data. He is a lightweight, and paired with a relatively tall hurtbox, it makes him easier to hit and KO than other characters. Furthermore, a large portion of Sephiroth's kit is afflicted by slow frame data, with most of his attacks aside from his neutral attack coming out at frame 14 or more. This slow frame data also affects Masamune, which combined with its lackluster, narrow hitbox, means Sephiroth has more trouble when fighting up close or against smaller opponents. Lastly, due to being a comeback-oriented mechanic, Sephiroth's Winged From requires him to be at a noticeable disadvantage in order to be accessed, and upon dissipating, it can only be reactivated after Sephiroth is KO'd.
Overall, Sephiroth's range and power allows him to pressure from a farther range than most fighters, however his weaknesses when fighting up close means that he is also rather susceptible to the opponent's pressure. He saw above-average representation in his earlier years in competitive play thanks to the efforts of players such as KEN, Ned, and Tweek, however his weaknesses became more apparent over time, leading to a decline in representation.
Attributes
Sephiroth is a tall, lightweight fighter, tied with Kirby, Mewtwo, Pikachu and Olimar as the 7th lightest in the game. He has the 14th slowest walking speed, yet his dashing speed and traction are both above-average, with the former being marginally faster than Hero's. Despite his height, Sephiroth's crouch is deceptively low. In the air, Sephiroth's overall jumping force and air acceleration are both average, he has slow air speed and below-average air friction, and yet he has the 11th fastest falling speed and above-average gravity. Notably, Sephiroth's short hop is tied with Steve's for the lowest in the game, which aids him very well in the neutral game.
Sephiroth's possesses a unique fighter ability: the Winged Form. Like Aura and Super Special Moves, it is a comeback mechanic that activates when Sephiroth has received sufficient damage. This threshold is influenced by the score count/stock count; it activates at ≈90% when the score/stock count is even and will activate earlier or later if Sephiroth's score/stock count is behind or above the opponent's, respectively. Upon activation, Sephiroth's wing unfurls and grants him a third jump, a 1.3× damage multiplier, and much higher mobility overall. In particular, Sephiroth gains the 7th fastest dashing speed (tied with Zero Suit Samus'), the highest traction (surpassing Sonic's), as well as higher air speed, air acceleration and air friction. Sephiroth's smash attacks also gain damage-based armor that can withstand up to 20%, making them incredibly risky to challenge, save for a few exceptions. Winged Form deactivates after a cetain amount of time based on attacking and especially KOing opponents.
Sephiroth's ground game offers him fairly crucial tools, with a moveset reminiscent of Cloud to similar effects. Neutral attack, despite having the shortest range of his grounded moves, is Sephiroth's fastest move while having decent melee range for a neutral attack, making it one of his few reliable tools to quickly ward off an opponent. Forward tilt has incredibly long range (comparable to Simon's) and can be angled, making it a superb spacing option and a viable KO option at high percentages when fresh, especially in Winged Form. Up tilt boasts incredible vertical range, a decently long duration, can scoop opponents in front of him and renders his upper body intangible for a brief period. Down tilt is Sephiroth's fastest tilt attack and, although it is slightly slower than Cloud's down tilt, it functions almost identically to his: it boasts great range by propelling Sephiroth forward and significantly lowers his hurtbox, giving him a way to punish more ranged attacks. Dash attack, despite being fairly punishable due to being his slowest melee attack, covers a lot of ground and has respectable power, making it useful as both a burst option and a situational but potent KO option.
Sephiroth's smash attacks also boast varying degrees of utility. Forward smash is a very long-ranged slash that is potent at punishing and spacing, especially in Winged Form, and boasts excellent KO potential at the middle of the blade, but is very slow and easily punishable. Up smash is an overhead arcing slash, much like Ganondorf and Ike's up smashes. Although it is weaker than theirs and slower than Ganondorf's, it is Sephiroth's best anti-air option due to sporting more range overall, to the point that it allows him to cover an area wider than an entire platform of Town and City. Down smash only hits in front of Sephiroth, but it is faster than his forward smash and has the unique property of becoming even stronger if the Masamune's blade hits the ground, dealing immense shield damage. This makes it a good mix up tool to break shields and a niche edgeguarding option due to how low the hitbox extends.
Sephiroth's air game also comprised of long ranged options. Neutral aerial has the shortest range, but is his fastest option in the air, covers his entire body, and its overall low lag allows it to be used very flexibly, such as for warding off close-ranged opponents, including from out of shield, or for starting or continuing combos. Forward and back aerials serve similar purposes as spacing options in the air. Forward aerial comes out faster and is a stabbing attack with a tipper sweetspot and has a unique property where it can be used to pierce solid walls and perform a pseudo-wall cling up to three times in a row before landing. Back aerial is Sephiroth's strongest aerial and is a slashing attacking with a middle sweetspot, making it incredibly deadly in Winged Form, even if used from a short hop. Up aerial, like up smash, covers a wide arc above Sephiroth, though its sluggish frame data makes it punisable if used recklessly. Sephiroth's down aerial, Hell's Gate, is a powerful stall-then-fall that is a meteor smash at the start; when combined with its massive range, going an incredible distance underneath surfaces, it can reliably 2 frame punish an opponent.
Sephiroth's grab game is surprisingly effective compared to other sword users. He holds the distinction of having three combo throws, though each gradually becomes less effective the more damaged the opponent is. Down throw is Sephiroth's most varied combo throw until mid-percentages, as it can lead into neutral, forward, back and up aerials, or be used for mix-ups. It also becomes even more effective in Winged Form in spite of rage, as Sephiroth's enhanced mobility can allow him to catch up to the opponent faster. At low percentages, up throw can set the opponent up for a neutral aerial or up tilt, the former of which can lead to longer combos and the latter of which can lead to juggling. Back throw launches at a favorable angle while having low ending lag. This makes it notable for leading into follow-ups until high percentages, including an infamous KO confirm into back aerial, which becomes especially dangerous when he is in Winged Form. In stark contrast to his other throws, forward throw lacks combo potential, but is nevertheless useful. Thanks to being a semi-spike, it can be used to set up an edge-guard or a tech chase, which could potentially allow him to score an early KO.
Sephiroth's side special, Shadow Flare, is unique among chargeable projectiles in that, while the initial projectile deals little damage and cause flinching, it generates larger, darkness projectiles that do not immediately attack the opponent, but instead orbit around them and deal damage by homing in. Depending on how long it is charged, one to three projectiles can be generated by a single Shadow Flare, and up to five projectiles can be orbiting a single opponent at a time. Its range is also comparable to his sword attacks on top of having low lag all around, making it easily spammable and useful for spacing.
Sephiroth's neutral special, Flare, is a more traditional projectile that can be charged between three different projectiles of different properties: Flare is the quickest and travels slow but has the longest range; Megaflare is stronger overall and has a larger blast radius, at the cost of some range; and Gigaflare has the shortest range and the longest charge time, but has the largest blast radius and deals the most damage (enough to instantly break a shield while in Winged Form) and the strongest knockback, making it an effective way of pressuring at the edge for an edge-guard, or as a way to extend the damage the opponent takes as punishment from a shield break.
Sephiroth's up special, Blade Dash, is a dashing blade attack that functions differently depending on if the button was tapped or held. Tapped Blade Dash is a single-hitting move that sweetspots edges easily. When held, the move becomes Octaslash, which travels slightly farther, has huge range and hits multiple times, dealing higher damage and knockback at the cost of sweetspotting edges.
Lastly, his down special, Scintilla, is unique among counterattacks in that it will always produce a hitbox regardless of whether or not any attacks were countered, while its multi-hitting nature allows it to pressure shields, and is one of the strongest counters in the game with a 1.5× damage multiplier. However, Scintilla only covers in front of Sephiroth and has a damage cap of 25%; any attack that exceeds this cap will break the move, doing no damage but putting Sephiroth in a flinching animation and pushing him slightly backwards.
One of Sephiroth's most defining traits is his range. He notably sports among the longest overall range in Ultimate, thanks to his signature weapon, the Masamune, and surpassed only by Min Min in this regard. This gives him a great advantage in terms of safety and pressure. Unlike other swordfighters, Sephiroth's sweetspot hitboxes differ between his stabbing and slashing attacks: his stabs (up tilt, down smash, forward aerial, and down aerial) have sweetspots positioned along the tip of Masamune (very much like Marth and Simon's own tippers) with a mediumspot at the center of the blade, whereas his slashes (forward tilt, forward smash, up smash, back aerial, and up aerial) have sweetspots positioned along the upper center of its blade (similarly to Roy's inverse tipper, but with better range overall) with mediumspots at the tip. Opponents can be deterred from approaching over fear of being hit at any time, and the various sweet spots force opponents into certain positions to avoid the most damage, which Sephiroth can use to trap and punish them. Sephiroth's extremely low short hop also helps him in the neutral game, as it allows him to mix up whichever attack he will use, allowing his other attacks to be kept fresh until he is in a prime position to use them. Said tools, combined with his grounded mobility, can sometimes even help him counteract opponents with good zoning games, such as Toon Link, Villager, or Simon. Sephiroth's range can also allow him to effectively poke opponents, gradually whittling away at both their health and patience until they are forced to take drastic actions that could easily backfire. Thanks to Shadow Flare, the opponent can also eventually be put into said disadvantage more easily at best, or simply force them to avoid the damage and thus reset the neutral game at worst. His Winged Form helps significantly on both regards, as his increased mobility allows Sephiroth to reposition himself more easily while also increasing the damage he can deal and, unlike other fighter abilities like Limit Gauge or Rebellion Gauge, it will not disappear until Sephiroth is KO'd or has inflicted a lot of damage, which can potentially lead to him turning the tables on the opponent should they try to play around him carelessly.
However, Sephiroth also possesses a notable amount of weaknesses. The most notable is his frailty: Sephiroth's tall frame results in him being prone to get more easily hit by most attacks, which is further compounded by him being a fast falling lightweight. Much like Mewtwo, these traits collectively result in Sephiroth being easy to combo and KO compared to many other characters of his size and/or weight. Adding to this is Sephiroth's recovery: his polarized air physics result in him covering a mediocre distance midair, meaning that careless use of his resources can lead Sephiroth to be easily edge-guarded or gimped, in spite of both of his recovery options having their perks. Blade Dash, his quickest recovery option, does not cover as much distance as other recovery moves and does not fully protect Sephiroth other than from the front, which can leave him vulnerable to sufficiently disjointed moves. On the other hand, Octaslash offers excellent protection that can deter opponents from edge-guarding Sephiroth because of its range and power making it useful for edge-guard breaking, but has the slowest start-up, leaving Sephiroth vulnerable to being put at a worse position in the air. Semi-spikes can also be especially deadly for Sephiroth, as his air physics do not give him too much air time.
Furthermore, Sephiroth's overall frame data is unimpressive to compensate for his long range. Even his fastest aerial attack, neutral aerial, has mediocre start-up for an attack of its kind. This means that opponents can easily punish Sephiroth if certain moves are spammed or used carelessly. On top of this, Sephiroth's sword moves at the base of the Masamune all deal poor damage, knockback, and pushback, meaning that if improperly spaced, Sephiroth's moves can be easily punished at close range. Moves like up tilt and forward aerial have narrow ranges that can easily be avoided or shielded, while up aerial and down aerial are highly commital attacks that are sometimes difficult to reliably connect. Outside of neutral aerial, Sephiroth's melee-based moves also tend to have high ending lag, which results in him not having much in the way of mixing up his pressure at close range. Adding to this is Sephiroth's grab game, which is polarized in spite of its respectable utility; his grabs are short-ranged, his pummel is merely average, and his throws lack KO potential due to their meager damage outputs, average knockback, and/or unsuitable launching angles. All of these issues result in a poor close-quarters game that, when combined with his frailty, collectively culminates in Sephiroth being vulnerable to rushdown-based pressure if the opponent is able to keep up with his defense, such as Captain Falcon or Pikachu.
Another prominent issue on Sephiroth's moveset is his inconsistent KO potential. Due to his moves' sourspots, Sephiroth must always be at a distance from the opponent in order for them to KO reliably. His differing sweetspot mechanics can also work against him, due to how varied their locations are. His stab attacks possess narrow ranges and require the opponent to be at their longest range in order to be effective, which can result in them missing. On the other hand, his slash attacks do not require perfect spacing at long range to be effective, but their sweetspots are harder to land as a result of being located between the weaker sourspots and mediumspots. In regard to sword attacks, Octaslash should also be noted in that it only becomes consistently reliable for KOing while the Winged Form is active. Outside of his sweetspotted sword attacks, Sephiroth does not have many reliable ways to KO an opponent. Although dash attack's clean hit KOs at reasonable percentages, its slow start-up can make it easily predictable.
Flare's decent damage output is mostly counterbalanced by its middling knockback and slow start-up and speed, making them easy to shield, absorb, or reflect. This results in it failing to KO at reasonable percentages like Megaflare and Gigaflare, which themselves are compensated by even less range and even slower start-up. As a result, Sephiroth must be careful when it comes to being able to secure KOs in spite of his impressive damage racking potential. Although Shadow Flare has low overall lag, it still must be used wisely, especially if used by a character with a reflector, as it can result in Sephiroth being struck for high damage himself and allow the opponent to capitalize on it. While Octaslash covers a great distance on its own and is risky to edge-guard, characters with counterattacks can easily use this to their advantage, which can leave Sephiroth at an even worse spot for recovering. Finally, despite its animation suggesting otherwise, Scintilla cannot reflect projectiles whatsoever (although it can stop them without effort). It also does not directly protect Sephiroth (especially from behind) and its damaging hitbox is treated as a projectile, making it a double-edged sword if reflected.
Last but not least, Sephiroth's Winged Form suffers from its own limitations. Despite the wide array of benefits it grants, including being able to mitigate the previously mentioned weaknesses, it only activates whenever Sephiroth receives damage, and is further dependent on his standing relative to the opponent. While the Winged Form can activate as low as 30% if Sephiroth is 2 stocks behind the opponent, it conversely activates as late as 110% if Sephiroth is 2 stocks ahead. Thus, the Winged Form suffers from consistency issues similarly to Aura in that Sephiroth will have to play very carefully if he is to keep his advantage, which is easier said than done due to his noticeable frailty. Although the Winged Form's damage-based armor on Sephiroth's smash attacks can definitely help him power through incoming offense, reckless usage of his smash attacks can render him predictable and open to being punished. Additionally, Sephiroth cannot regain the Winged Form until he gets KO'd, which can result in Winged form going to waste if Sephiroth is not able to capitalize on its benefits properly.
In the end, Sephiroth is arguably the most unique swordfighter in Ultimate, as his playstyle is a polarizing hybrid of the glass cannon and turtle archetypes, resulting in a high learning curve. His high overall damage output, immense range, varied sweetspots and effective projectiles grant him a respectably solid ranged melee playstyle, as it can become difficult for the opponent to approach Sephiroth should he consistently make the right choices, and it is equally difficult to surmount him should he break through the opponent's zone or defense. However, Sephiroth's inconsistent KO potential, polarized grab game, and poor close-quarters game can leave a much-to-be-desired offensive playstyle, and he is just as susceptible to pressure as much as he can dish it out himself. The benefits offered from his Winged Form can seriously help him on this regard, as it can help him greatly recover from a deficit should he be able to survive long enough, but his frailty means he also must play carefully in order to retain this advantage.
Update history
Sephiroth was buffed slightly via update 11.0.0, in which Scintilla's last hit was enlarged in order to link more reliably with its looping hits. Aside from this, Blade Dash's angle was adjusted and a glitch involving Shadow Flare was fixed.
As a result, Sephiroth's competitive standing has been virtually unchanged since his release.
Blade Dash has an altered launch angle (73° → 107°), but forces knockback towards Sephiroth's front instead of his back. As such, its effective angle remains unaltered, but it launches opponents facing the direction Sephiroth hit them from instead of the opposite.
Scintilla's last hit has a larger hitbox (9u → 11u (not activated), 16-22u → 18-24u (activated)), allowing it to connect more reliably from the multi-hits.
A glitch involving Shadow Flare and Pokémon Trainer causing the visual effects of moves to not play was fixed.
Moveset
- Sephiroth has a unique fighter ability called the Winged Form. While active, it increases his overall damage output by applying a multiplier of 1.3×, improves his mobility by applying multipliers to his attributes, and grants him both a third jump and damage-based armor to his smash attacks. The following moveset list details the properties of all attacks when the Winged Form is not active. The conditions for the Winged Form to activate can be read here.
- Sephiroth's sword, the Masamune, possesses extremely long range, yet a generally slow attack speed. It has different sweetspots depending on the attack used.
- For slashing attacks, the sweetspot is located approximately at the middle of the Masamune's blade, a sourspot covers the handle and inner portion of the blade, and a mediumspot covers the tip of the blade. The sweetspot for slashing attacks is signified by a glowing area in the middle of the swing.
- For stabbing attacks, the sweetspot covers the tip of the Masamune's blade, while a mediumspot covers the blade.
- For simplicity, if the handle deals 8.5%, the blade deals 10%, the tip deals 11%, and that part of the attack has no other hitboxes, it is formatted on the table as 8.5%/10%/11%.
- Sephiroth's forward aerial can pierce walls and cling to them, similarly to Dragon Lunge and a misfired Green Missile. After piercing a wall, Sephiroth can choose to jump and thus boost his recovery by moving up or pressing the jump button/attack button, or let go of the wall by pressing away/down or waiting long enough.
For a gallery of Sephiroth's hitboxes, see here.
Note: All numbers are listed as base damage, without the 1v1 multiplier.
| Name | Damage | Description | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neutral attack | 2.5% | A mid-level roundhouse kick, followed by a mid-level side kick, followed by a forward thrust with the Masamune's pommel. It is Sephiroth's overall fastest attack; when coupled with its third hit having slightly above-average knockback and launching at the Sakurai angle, it is decent for setting up tech chases and warding off pressure from a nearby opponent. It is based on some of Sephiroth's moves from Ehrgeiz: the kicks resemble the second and third hits of his Jenova Linkage DEATH, while the pommel thrust is almost identical to his Hilt Attack. | ||
| 2% | ||||
| 4% | ||||
| Forward tilt | 7.5%/12%/9% | An outward slash. The move can be angled up and down. Has rather slow start-up (the slowest of Sephiroth's tilt attacks), but great KO potential at the middle of the Masamune's blade. Thanks to a combination of long range and its ability to be angled, as well as being safe on shield when connecting with the sweetspot, it is one of Sephiroth's most reliable spacing tools. It is almost identical to his Cruel Strike from Ehrgeiz. | ||
| Up tilt | 1% (ground), 11%/12.5%/14% (clean), 7%/8.5%/10% (late) |
An upward thrust. Its hitbox reaches very high, able to reach through the top platform of Battlefield, although its very narrow range makes it difficult to land as an anti-air. It has a weak grounded hit that has transcendent priority and launches opponents into the Masamune's blade, similarly to Marth's up smash. Its tipper is stronger than even Snake's up tilt, and KOs Mario at 85% from Battlefield's top platform, thus making it the 3rd strongest up tilt in the game (surpassed only by Mega Man and Ganondorf's). It also has a decent number of active frames, making it surprisingly difficult to avoid if the opponent tries to challenge Sephiroth from above. Unique to Sephiroth's stab attacks, the tip and blade hitboxes have higher priority than the sourspot at the handle. Sephiroth's upper body is intangible while the clean hit is active. It is based on a rapid series of upward thrusts a flying Sephiroth performs against an airborne Cloud in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete. | ||
| Down tilt | 8% (clean), 6% (late) |
A baseball slide. Has the fastest start-up of Sephiroth's tilt attacks, propels him a good distance forward, launches opponents vertically, and significantly lowers his hurtbox, allowing him to low-profile many projectiles and even mid-level attacks. However, its combo potential is limited due to the general slowness of Sephiroth's frame data; its only true combos are into up tilt and neutral aerial, both of which often require reads due to requiring specific timing and being dependent on the opponent's DI. All of these traits make it very similar to Cloud's both aesthetically and mechanically, although its lower overall knockback makes it slightly more effective for setting up aerial pressure compared to Cloud's (especially while his Winged Form is active) at the cost of being slightly slower. It is almost identical to his Slide Charge from Ehrgeiz. | ||
| Dash attack | 13% (clean), 7% (late) |
A lunging, energy-infused palm thrust. Has somewhat slow start-up and moderate ending lag, but it covers a decent distance. The clean hit deals respectable damage and can KO at reasonable percentages, especially while his Winged Form is active. Although it is very similar to Mewtwo's dash attack both aesthetically and mechanically, it is actually a magic attack instead of a darkness attack. | ||
| Forward smash | 13.5%/20%/15% | Spins to perform an inward, horizontal slash. Has the slowest start-up of his smash attacks and considerable ending lag, but the sweetspot boasts powerful knockback and KOs at medium percentages at the edge. It also becomes one of the strongest smash attacks in the game in his Winged form, KOing even the heaviest characters at less than 30% at the edge when fully charged. The tip hitbox is somewhat safe on hit, but the sourspot at the hilt has below-average knockback, not KOing until around 80%. While in Winged Form, this move gains damage-based armor that has a maximum threshold of 20%. It resembles his Sudden Cruelty, which debuted in Ehrgeiz and is used throughout the Dissidia Final Fantasy series. | ||
| Up smash | 10.5%/15.5%/11.5% (early), 12%/17%/13% (clean) |
A spinning, overhead arcing slash. Similar to Ganondorf and Ike's up smashes in terms of functionality. Has fairly slow start-up, but covers an extremely wide area in front, above and behind Sephiroth, making it his best anti-air attack and giving him the ability to cover an entire platform with one move. Despite its incredible range, its relative ending lag is only moderate, which may make it very hard to punish at farther ranges. While in Winged Form, this move gains damage-based armor that has a maximum threshold of 20%. It resembles the second hit of his Heaven's Light from the Dissidia Final Fantasy series. | ||
| Down smash | 16.5% (piercing tip), 13.5% (debris), 10.5% (handle), 11.5% (blade), 13% (non-piercing tip) |
A downward thrust. This stab attack is unique, as Sephiroth will pierce the ground in front of himself should there be any, making the move larger, stronger and giving the more powerful hitboxes higher priority. Otherwise, the move's hitboxes will behave normally, with the tip being difficult to land and the hitbox being narrow. Should the move pierce the ground, it deals immense shield damage, having the capability to instantly break a damaged shield if the tip and the debris connect. It also has the fastest startup of Sephiroth's smash attacks, though still slow for a smash attack, although its ending lag is somewhat short in relation to its power and startup; this makes it hard to punish when spaced. While in Winged Form, this move gains damage-based armor that has a maximum threshold of 20%. It is almost identical to the last hit of his Hell Quake Slash from Ehrgeiz. It also resembles the cutscene in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII in which Sephiroth stabs a downed Cloud. | ||
| Neutral aerial | 8.5% | Snaps his fingers to emit a circular burst of energy around himself. Has the fastest start-up and ending lag of Sephiroth's aerials, as well as the lowest landing lag, thus making it his safest aerial. Although its hitbox also covers the entirety of his body, it is his shortest ranged aerial and its hitbox only lasts for 2 frames. Thanks to its launching angle and its overall lag being reasonably low (especially in regard to interruptibility), it is one of Sephiroth's best combo starters: it can combo into forward aerial, up aerial, Shadow Flare and back aerial, with the lattermost being a reliable KO confirm at around 40%-80% depending on the character's weight and DI. It can also combo into itself multiple times without the need to even land on the ground, similarly to Mario's up aerial. It resembles a combination of Heartless Angel's depictions in Kingdom Hearts II and Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, albeit surrounding Sephiroth instead of the opponent, and is fittingly magical both in type and effect. | ||
| Forward aerial | 8.5%/10%/11% (clean), 5.5%/7%/8% (late) |
A forward thrust. Has somewhat slow start-up, but very long range in front of Sephiroth; as with other stab attacks, its hitbox is narrow. The tip can KO at high percentages at the edge. The move is also unique in that it lets Sephiroth pierce walls and cling to them, similarly to Dragon Lunge. After piercing a wall, Sephiroth can choose to jump by moving up or pressing jump or attack, or let go of the wall by pressing away or down or simply waiting long enough. Sephiroth can pierce a wall this way up to three times before landing on the ground, and the jump option does not use up his double jump. However, the move will fail to pierce a wall below a stage's camera bounds, or any wall that disables wall jumps, or is too close to a floor. It resembles his Sudden Strike from Ehrgeiz. | ||
| Back aerial | 9.5%/14.5%/11.5% | Turns around to perform an outward slash behind himself. It has somewhat slow start-up and very high horizontal range like his forward aerial, while possessing more vertical range. Unlike forward aerial, it does not possess a lingering hitbox and its hitbox only lasts two frames. However, it is one of the strongest back aerials in the game, especially in his Winged form, often KOing very early when sweetspotted (it starts KOing middleweights at the edge at around 70%, and the KO confirms into it can happen potentially as low as 40%). However, it has an extremely strict auto-cancel window, only doing so on the first frame of Sephiroth's full hop without his Winged Form, and not at all with his Winged Form active, making it punishable to land with unless if spaced. It resembles his Flying Air Strike from Ehrgeiz. | ||
| Up aerial | 7%/11%/8% | A backflipping overhead slash. Very slow start-up at frame 16, but its immense range covers a very wide arc above, in front of and even behind himself, making it exceptionally hard to avoid in the air if the opponent exhausts their landing options. It also possesses high knockback, with the sweetspot KOing at around 110% on Battlefield's top platform. However, it has the highest landing lag out of any up aerial in the game (22 frames), and it cannot autocancel out of anything but a double jump. As a result, while its early and late hitboxes can hit opponents while Sephiroth is landing, it is very punishable as a landing option compared to other aerials. | ||
| Down aerial | Hell's Gate (獄門) | 15% (clean blade), 10% (clean handle), 10% (late), 5% (landing ground), 7% (landing sword) |
A downward thrust. A stall-then-fall aerial, it powerfully meteor smashes aerial opponents during its initial frames. The blade extends through the ground, allowing for opponents under platforms and edges to be hit by the move. It has excellent vertical range below Sephiroth, as it is able to pierce through the edges of Battlefield form stages, and even the entirety of Town and City. As a result, it can consistently 2 frame punish opponents with good timing and often KO them very early, even without the need to go offstage to land the move. Unlike other stab moves, it deals the same damage at the blade and the tip, making it more consistent. It also emits a unique stabbing sound on hit. Conversely, its landing hitbox is located at Sephiroth's legs and is indicated visually by small fissures of dark energy. It is based on his infamous murder of Aerith Gainsborough in Final Fantasy VII, while the landing hitbox's fissures are based on the massive fissures of energy that Hell's Gate emits upon hitting the ground in the Dissidia Final Fantasy series and Final Fantasy VII Remake. | |
| Grab | Grab (つかみ) | — | Reaches out with his right hand, which is infused with energy. It has poor range despite Sephiroth's tall height, and its speed in comparison to other non-tether grabs is slightly below-average. | |
| Pummel | Dark Shock (ダークショック) | 1.3% | A point-blank burst of dark energy. Average power, but it is marginally slower than other similar pummels due to its higher hitlag. He shares this distinction with Hero. Although it is very similar to Mewtwo's pummel, it is actually a magic attack instead of a darkness attack. It resembles a spark of energy Sephiroth uses to render Cloud unconscious during a cutscene in Mobius Final Fantasy. | |
| Forward throw | 3% (hit 1), 3% (throw) | A point-blank burst of energy. Due to being a semi-spike, it is very useful as a setup into an edge-guard or a tech chase. At medium to high percentages against most characters, Sephiroth has the opportunity to follow up with Octaslash for a KO, which covers nearly every possible option when timed correctly. | ||
| Back throw | 3% (hit 1), 3.5% (throw) | Teleports the opponent behind himself, then pumps his fist to hit them with a burst of energy. Unlike the majority of back throws, it forgoes KO potential in favor of possessing combo potential until medium to high percentages. Due to it launching vertically instead of horizontally or diagonally, it can combo into neutral, forward and back aerials or Shadow Flare until around 70%. If the opponent fails to DI properly in time, Sephiroth can follow up with back aerial at around 50% for a true KO confirm. This combo is especially potent while the Winged Form is active, due to his higher air speed and damage output. It is based on Sephiroth's ability to teleport himself and others in Mobius Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy VII Remake, although its visual effects resemble the former's depiction. | ||
| Up throw | 4% (hit 1), 3% (throw) | An upward slash. It has a collateral hitbox useful for fights with multiple opponents. Launches the opponent upward and behind Sephiroth, which can reliably lead to an up tilt or neutral aerial at low to medium percentages. It also works as a 50/50 KO setup into up aerial at around 110%; the opponent's only escape route out of this combo is to jump out of it, which either gets caught by up aerial's hitbox, or it puts them further into a disadvantage state due to Sephiroth's huge range being able to usually catch their landing afterward. It is almost identical to the second hit of his Heaven's Light from the Dissidia Final Fantasy series. | ||
| Down throw | 4% | Telekinetically slams the opponent onto the ground. Its low damage output and ending lag collectively grant it excellent combo potential at low to medium percentages. It can combo into Shadow Flare and neutral, forward, back and up aerials at low percentages; at medium to high percentages, Sephiroth can perform a reverse aerial rush back aerial near the edge as a KO confirm, which is even more effective when the Winged Form is active due to his higher mobility and power. It is also Sephiroth's strongest throw overall, but remains moderately weak as it fails to KO until around 210%. It is based on the cinematic in Final Fantasy VII Remake at the beginning of phase 3 of the boss fight against Sephiroth, in which he uses his Boundless Void to pin down Cloud and Tifa Lockhart/Aerith. | ||
| Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge |
— | — | ||
| Techs | — | — | ||
| Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front) |
7% | Performs a legsweep around himself while getting up. | ||
| Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back) |
7% | Performs a legsweep around himself while getting up. | ||
| Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip) |
5% | Performs a legsweep around himself while getting up. | ||
| Edge attack Edge getups |
9% | Kicks in front of himself while climbing up. | ||
| Neutral special | Flare / Megaflare / Gigaflare | Flare: 3% (hit 1), 10.5% (hit 2) Megaflare: 3.5% (hit 1), 3.7% (hits 2-5), 9% (hit 5) Gigaflare: 6% (hit 1), 3.7%/2.7%/2.0% (hits 2-7), 11%/8%/4% (hit 8) |
Charges Flare, an explosive fireball, in his right hand that travels slowly when fired. A chargeable projectile as long as the special button is kept pressed, it can be charge canceled (but the charge is not stored). It has three different variations, each producing incrementally stronger projectiles with larger explosions, but also significantly lowers their travel distance.
All three versions can be reflected and absorbed; it should be noted that despite Gigaflare's extreme power, all three are relatively unrewarding to absorb due to their initial hits dealing very low damage. When releasing Megaflare, Sephiroth may say 行け ("Go."), and when releasing Gigaflare, he may say 焼き尽くす ("Burn to nothing.") | |
| Side special | Shadow Flare | 1.5%-4.5% (surge), 6.5% (sphere's explosion), 7% (sphere's orbit) |
Snaps his fingers to emit a thin, short-ranged surge of dark energy at the opponent. If it connects, spheres of dark energy will orbit the opponent, then home in on them and explode after the spheres make at least two revolutions around the character. The initial surge can be charged, increasing its damage and range while creating more spheres on hit. An uncharged surge creates only one sphere, whereas a fully charged surge will create three spheres; up to five spheres can orbit an opponent at once. During the charge, Sephiroth can turn around and unleash the move by holding the control stick down in the opposite direction; quickly flicking at the start allows the move to be used similarly to B-reversing. The spheres can also hit bystanders while they orbit around the opponent, with each sphere being able to collide twice before disappearing. The spheres can be reflected and absorbed. If Pocketed, the sphere is thrown as a standard projectile. In comparison to Sephiroth's other moves, Shadow Flare is very spammable, thanks to its fairly low interruptibility, and it pierces through enemy projectiles without being destroyed, making it capable of negating any projectile within its priority range despite the initial hit's low damage. As a result, it can be used frequently without fear of retaliation, and allows him to set up follow-ups or condition the opponent into picking an option. However, the move has very low safety in close quarters even on hit due to it causing minimal hitstun and shield damage.
When using the move, Sephiroth may say 目障りだ ("Pathetic."), 焼き付けろ ("Burn."), 跪け ("Kneel."), 滅びよ ("Perish."), くらえ ("Take this.") or simply chuckle. | |
| Up special | Blade Dash / Octaslash | 7% (Blade Dash), 2.3% (Octaslash hits 1-7), 7% (Octaslash hit 8) |
An omnidirectional slash with a brief charge time, indicated by a pair of arrowheads that point toward Sephiroth's travel direction before he begins moving. It travels similarly to moves like Fire Fox. Grounded versions of both moves will stop at edges, and the aerial versions can pass through platforms if down is held on the control pad. Its functionality changes based on whether the special move button is tapped or held.
If the special move button is tapped, Sephiroth performs Blade Dash, which is an outward slash that deals a single hit, travels a fairly short distance and can snap to the edge. It deals low damage, but has moderately low ending and landing lag, allowing it to be used as a movement option. If the special move button is held down, it becomes Octaslash, a dashing flurry of slashes that, true to its name, hits 8 times, gaining significantly more power and slightly increased travel distance. It deals high damage and is an effective combat move, but has high ending lag and extremely high landing lag (one of the highest for an up special). It is unable to grab the edge until the attack has ended; however, its large hitbox can be used to deter opponents from camping an edge. If Sephiroth starts a midair Octaslash and aims diagonally at the ground, he will travel along the ground as he moves, similarly to Fire Wolf. If he aims directly down towards the ground, however, Sephiroth will cancel the attack and enter landing lag. Octaslash's hits also have significant hitlag for visual effect when successful, causing the move to slow down and last longer. Octaslash has great range overall, not only extending far in front of Sephiroth, but also having great reach above and below him; when combining this with the fact that every successive hit has only a 1 frame gap, this makes the move excellent for 2 frame punishing nearly every character when timed correctly. When using Octaslash, Sephiroth may say 消え去れ ("Disappear."), 愚かな ("Foolish."), or 恐怖を刻もう ("I shall carve terror.") | |
| Down special | Scintilla | 1% (hits 1-3), 5% (hit 4) 2-4% (counterattack, hits 1-3), 6.5-18% (counterattack, hit 4) |
Erects a honeycomb-shaped barrier in front of himself. It hits multiple times upon counterattacking, yet only counters an attack that is in front of Sephiroth. It is unique for a counterattack in a few ways: for one, it will activate and deal minimal damage even if an attack does not connect with it, though it still grows stronger like a normal counterattack depending on the damage it has taken. Second, rather than growing stronger by multiplying the damage dealt by the attack that triggers it, a successful Scintilla's damage output linearly increases on a range starting from 2% (multihits) and 6.5% (last) off of a hypothetical attack dealing 0% and caps out at 4% and 18% on attacks dealing 18% or more. Third, it has a damage cap of 25%, after which the barrier will shatter, negating the damage and causing Sephiroth to stagger briefly. Finally, the counterattack is considered a projectile, meaning it can be reflected and absorbed. Despite its appearance suggesting so, Scintilla cannot reflect projectiles. Like most counterattacks, Scintilla freezes the opponent right before the retaliating hit. Its unique properties make it excellent for edge-guarding any sort of recovery due to its ability to automatically trigger. This move can deter most opponents from sharking with their recovery move, making it effective against attacks that do not snap the edge as quickly.
When using the move, Sephiroth may say 来い ("Come."). When performing the counterattack, he may say 目障りだ ("Pathetic."), 消え去れ ("Disappear."), 愚かな ("Foolish."), いい顔だ ("I like the look on your face."), 打ち砕く ("I will crush you."), 跪け ("Kneel."), or simply chuckle. | |
| Final Smash | Supernova | 7% (slash), 10% (Supernova), 15% (ending) |
Performs a diagonally upward slash while saying 星に帰れ ("Return to the Planet." / "Return to the stars.") Up to 3 opponents hit by the slash will be put in a cutscene where Sephiroth transforms into Safer∙Sephiroth (his final boss form) to summon Meteor and trigger a supernova, wiping out the world and causing random status effects to foes who are not KO'd. These status effects include an automatic shield break, being slowed down, having reversed controls (indicated by a mushroom on the victim's head), having a flower planted on the victim's head, being put to sleep, or simply using the darkness effect alongside more knockback than usual (albeit still below-average for a Final Smash). Fighters caught in the Final Smash face toward him with their backs to the camera, much like Cloud and his party do in his final boss battle in Final Fantasy VII. The attack is also based on the attack of the same name in Final Fantasy VII. Once the move successfully concludes, Sephiroth assumes his fighting stance from Final Fantasy VII and then performs an animation based on his victory pose as a guest party member during the Nibelheim flashback. | |
Stats
| Stats | Weight | Dash speed | Walk speed | Traction | Air friction | Air speed | Air acceleration | Gravity | Falling speed | Jumpsquat | Jump Height | Double jump Height |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | 79 | 1.92 – Initial dash 1.86 – Run |
0.9 | 0.11 | 0.008 | 0.95 | 0.01 – Base 0.07 – Additional |
0.108 | 1.84 – Base 2.944 – Fast-fall |
3 | 30.5 - Base 10 - Short hop |
34, 28.9 |
Announcer call
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English/Japanese/Chinese
On-screen appearance
- Slowly descends onto the stage while emitting a blackish purple aura and losing a few feathers.
Sephiroth's on-screen appearance.
Taunts
- Up taunt: Uses his right hand to gesture to the opponent to approach him, saying 来るがいい ("Come after me.")
- Side taunt: Assumes the kasumi-no-kamae, a stance in kendo. It is based on his fighting stance as a guest party member in Final Fantasy VII, as well as the climax of the game in which the metaphysical Sephiroth assumes the stance against Cloud before being defeated by him.
- Down taunt: Shifts the side of his body forward and chuckles sinisterly while emitting a blackish purple aura. The pose heavily resembles the one he assumed during the cutscene in Final Fantasy VII where he destroyed Nibelheim, while the aura is based on the one he emits during his entry cutscene before his boss fight in Final Fantasy VII Remake.
Sephiroth's up taunt.
Sephiroth's side taunt.
Sephiroth's down taunt.
Idle poses
- Holds the Masamune downward with his opposite arm under it and his heel up.
- Shifts his position to the other side.
Sephiroth's first idle pose.
Sephiroth's second idle pose.
Crowd cheer
| Cheer (English) | Cheer (Japanese/Chinese) | Cheer (Italian) | Cheer (Dutch) | Cheer (French) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cheer |   | ||||
| Description | Seph - i - roth! | Seph - i - roth! | Seph - i - roth! | Seph - i - roth! | Seph - i - roth! |
| Cheer (German) | Cheer (Spanish) | Cheer (Russian) | Cheer (Korean) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cheer | ||||
| Description | Seph - i - roth! | Seph - i - roth! | Seph - i - roth! | Seph - i - roth! |
Victory poses
All of Sephiroth's victory screens occur in a fiery area instead of the standard area where most of the victory screens occur. This is a direct reference to the Nibelheim Incident from Final Fantasy VII and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. Instead of having a colored background behind him when his name appears, the screen will be tinted red. If Sephiroth is the leader of a winning team, he will use his special victory screens without any of his teammates being seen, similarly to Joker.
If Cloud is present during the match, Sephiroth has a chance of saying 思い出にはならないさ ("I will never be a memory.") during any of his three victory poses. This is a reference to his final line of dialogue from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and, by proxy, his reveal trailer for Ultimate.
- Left: With his back turned, Sephiroth turns his head toward the camera while chuckling. He then turns around and slowly walks deeper into the flames until he disappears. It is based on the second scene of the Nibelheim Incident cutscene.
- Up: Slowly raises his head and glares at the camera, saying 何度でも導いてやろう。 ("I will usher you as many times as you want.") It references the first scene of the Nibelheim Incident cutscene.
- Right: While turning his back to the camera, he swings the Masamune and assumes his Winged Form, saying その痛みで私を思い出せ。 ("Remember me through your pain.")
- Team: In Team Battles where Sephiroth is not the leader, he faces to the side in the same pose as his up-inputted victory pose, keeping his face away from the camera. This resembles his victory animation in Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia.
In competitive play
Most historically significant players
See also: Category:Sephiroth players (SSBU)
KEN - Began playing Sephiroth alongside in Sonic in 2022 and became one of the two best Sephiroth players of all-time. He won Battle of BC 4 exclusively using Sephiroth in top 8, which remains the only major win for the character. Following a string of inconsistent performances, Sephiroth became a rare counterpick.
M4E - The best Sephiroth player in Europe and a top 10 player in Europe for the first half of 2023, best known for his runs at ICARUS 2023, where he placed 3rd and defeated Bloom4Eva; and King Of Fields 95 3, where he once again defeated Bloom4Eva to place 25th. Outside of those results, he has also placed 5th at GLORY 3 and 25th at VCA 2022.
Ned - One of the earliest Sephiroth players to perform well offline, most notably placing 2nd at InfinityCON Tally 2021. He remained one of the best Sephiroth players in the world in 2022, placing 5th at Rise 'N Grind and 9th at both Port Priority 6 and Super Smash Con 2022, but since then has been playing other characters alongside Sephiroth with less success.
Sriks - Plays Sephiroth alongside Roy and is the best Sephiroth player in Australia and one of the best players in Australia, placing highly at many Australian events including winning The Action and placing 4th at Phantom 2022 with solo-Sephiroth. Outside of Australia, he had notably placed 4th at BOSS BATTLES: Phase 1 defeating Chag and 33rd at Kagaribi 9 defeating Miya.- Tweek - Uses Sephiroth as a secondary or counterpick for Diddy Kong and is one of the two best Sephiroth players of all-time. He has placed 5th at CEO 2022 with solo-Sephiroth and 2nd at Mainstage 2022, Scuffed World Tour and Smash Ultimate Summit 6 with Sephiroth as a secondary.
Tier placement and history
Initial reactions to Sephiroth were positive overall; players such as MkLeo, Zackray, Dabuz and Tweek believed him to be a top tier fighter. Dabuz and Tweek, in particular, claimed that Sephiroth could potentially be a top 5 fighter, citing his incredible range, his unique and powerful projectiles, Scintilla bolstering his advantage state, and his Winged Form being a very strong comeback tool when mastered. However, other players (such as Marss) believed that Sephiroth's frailty, poor disadvantage state, inconsistency and generally slow frame data could prevent him from reaching such status. Although he was released during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sephiroth saw success in online play, thanks to players such as Ned.
Following the return of offline competitive play, opinions on Sephiroth mellowed out as players identified how his light weight, tall stature, and unimpressive frame data were noticeable weaknesses. In addition, many players believed Sephiroth was more difficult to consistently play at a top level than most fighters, which led Sephiroth to garner a rather small playerbase compared to other top-tier fighters. Despite this, Sephiroth's overall representation remained strong thanks to performances from players such as KEN, Ned, and Tweek, all of whom have achieved respectable placements and wins at majors while using Sephiroth; this was most notably demonstrated by KEN's win at Battle of BC 4 where he used only Sephiroth throughout the top 8. These results helped general impressions of Sephiroth, and he would end up placing 27th on the first tier list, ranking in the high tier.
However, these results were either set back by the players' inconsistency with the character or were complemented with other characters. For example, KEN mostly played Sonic at Battle of BC 4 prior to top 8, while his Sephiroth became less consistent as time went on, including going 1-2 at the invitational L'Odyssée - Chant I; he has since regulated Sephiroth to an occasional counterpick. Sephiroth's smaller playerbase compared to other top-tier characters, as well as his general inconsistency at higher level play, has led many to reconsider his placement. Most players generally started to agree he was the weakest of the Fighters Pass Vol. 2 characters, some even believing Sephiroth might belong in mid-tier rather than being in high-tier. He would fall to 37th on the second and current tier list, notably seeing one of the largest drops between the first and second list.
Classic Mode: The Chosen Ones
Uniquely, Sephiroth's Classic Mode route functions similarly to Super Smash Bros. Brawl's Boss Battles Mode: each of his opponents are the bosses of Ultimate (excluding Galeem and Dharkon), referencing his status as the final boss in Final Fantasy VII. The title of his route also references his leitmotif from Final Fantasy VII, "Those Chosen by the Planet".
| Round | Opponent | Stage | Music | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rathalos | Forest Hill | Roar/Rathalos | |
| 2 | Galleom | Base | Boss Battle - Super Smash Bros. Brawl | |
| 3 | Marx | Mysterious Dimension | Vs. Marx | |
| 4 | Dracula | Dracula's Castle | Phase 1: Nothing to Lose Phase 2: Black Night |
|
| 5 | Ganon | Sacred Land | Calamity Ganon Battle - Second Form | |
| 6 | Giga Bowser | Final Destination | Giga Bowser | |
| Bonus Stage | ||||
| Final | Master Hand and Crazy Hand | Northern Cave (Ω form) | One-Winged Angel | References the final battle of Final Fantasy VII where multiple characters team up to defeat Sephiroth. |
Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Sephiroth has JENOVA accompany the credits.
Role in World of Light
Due to his status as downloadable content, Sephiroth 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 before downloading Sephiroth, he is immediately unlocked.
Interestingly, Sephiroth's trailer takes place during World of Light, where he makes his presence known by slicing Galeem in half and fighting the heroes himself. Additionally, other DLC characters that have no role in World of Light are present fighting Galeem before Sephiroth makes his entrance, including Erdrick, Banjo and Kazooie.
Spirit
Sephiroth's fighter spirit can be obtained by completing Classic Mode. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold, but only after Sephiroth has been downloaded. Unlocking Sephiroth in World of Light allows the player to preview the spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a fighter spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. His fighter spirit has an alternate version that replaces it with his artwork in Ultimate.
1,439. Sephiroth
Alternate costumes
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Reveal trailer
Gallery
Sephiroth's splash art.
Sephiroth's amiibo.
Sephiroth's unlock notice after downloading him from the Nintendo eShop.
Sephiroth's appearance in the Sephiroth Challenge title screen.
Sephiroth standing and holding Masamune on Northern Cave.
Attacking Captain Falcon with Octaslash on Umbra Clock Tower.
Casting Flare on Dracula's Castle.
Using his coatless alternate costume on Northern Cave.
Sephiroth with Kazuya on Northern Cave.
Fighting Cloud, Sora and Mario on Hollow Bastion.
Sephiroth alongside Sora and Cloud on Midgar.
Sephiroth alongside all of the other DLC fighters of Fighters Pass Vol. 2.
Trivia
- Sephiroth's internal codename is "edge".
- Sephiroth is the second fighter to be revealed at a non-Nintendo event/presentation, the first being Joker. Both of them were revealed at The Game Awards (Joker in 2018 and Sephiroth in 2020).
- Oddly, Sephiroth's English trailer shown during The Game Awards is slightly different from the one uploaded subsequently to Nintendo's official channels: the crossover card states Super Smash Bros. Ultimate × Final Fantasy during The Game Awards, whereas in later uploads it displays Super Smash Bros. Ultimate × Final Fantasy VII, in line with Cloud's trailer for Super Smash Bros. 4.
- According to Masahiro Sakurai, Sephiroth was developed to feel like a boss character while having boss-like strength for players to enjoy when using him.[2]
- Sakurai also mentioned that the incorporation of the Masamune and making Sephiroth's attacks easy to use were two problems that occurred during Sephiroth's development.
- According to Naoki Hamaguchi, Sephiroth's inclusion was extremely confidential. Neither he nor the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth dev team knew about this until Sephiroth's reveal trailer.[3]
- Sephiroth is one of three characters to fight Master Hand and Crazy Hand on a stage other than Final Destination in Classic Mode, with the others being Donkey Kong and Joker.
- Sephiroth's introduction tagline is a reference to his leitmotif, "One-Winged Angel". It may also reference one of his battle quotes in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II in which he says, "Descend, heartless angel."
- Sephiroth's trailer makes several references to both the original Final Fantasy VII game, the game's remake, and the CGI-animated film Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, with much of his and Cloud's dialogue being adapted from the latter, including him nearly impaling Mario using his Masamune. Several shots in the trailer are direct recreations of shots from Advent Children.
- His introduction tagline pose references his official artwork from Final Fantasy VII.
- Like Cloud, the Super Smash Bros. series marks the third time that Sephiroth has been playable in a fighting game/series, with the first two being Ehrgeiz and the Dissidia Final Fantasy series.
- Sephiroth's render resembles a flipped version of his original Dissidia Final Fantasy render, albeit in 3D and with his wing displayed.
- Sephiroth is the only character from an already-represented third-party universe to not be an Echo Fighter of the former, as Richter and Ken are echoes of Simon and Ryu respectively.
- Sephiroth is the first DLC character who must be unlocked through fighting him, although this is only for early access and not a permanent feature.
- Sephiroth is the only fighter whose Classic Mode consists entirely of bosses and, by extension, lacks any fighters as opponents.
- Sephiroth is the only DLC character to have a unique quote when winning against certain characters. He is also the second third-party character with this distinction, following Simon.
- Also, Sephiroth is the only character who does not show the other characters on the Victory Screen when he wins in a Team Battle.
- Sephiroth, Meta Knight, Inkling, Joker, Hero, Banjo & Kazooie, Pyra, Mythra, and Sora are the only fighters who use their walking animation when navigating through the map in World of Light.
- Sephiroth's victory screens load much faster than other characters, likely due to the fiery background being pre-rendered instead of a modeled setting.
- Sephiroth is one of three fighters who are not featured in any Spirit Battles whatsoever, with the other two being Piranha Plant and Terry. This makes him the only fighter in Fighters Pass Volume 2 not to be in a Spirit Battle.
References
 Final Fantasy universe
| |
|---|---|
| Fighters | Cloud (SSB4 · SSBU) · Sephiroth (SSBU) |
| Stages | Midgar · Northern Cave |
| Other | Aerith Gainsborough · Bahamut ZERO · Barret Wallace · Chocobo · Ifrit · Leviathan · Odin · Ramuh · Tifa Lockhart |
| Trophies & Spirits | Trophies · Spirits |
| Music | SSB4 · Ultimate |
| Related universe | Kingdom Hearts |
