The "smash" hit for the Nintendo Switch, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, has been selected to be one of the titles to appear at EVO 2019 this weekend, and who isn't excited?
Joining the Smash club as new, paid, DLC content is the main character of Dragon Quest, the aptly named "The Hero", who first made an appearance at Nintendo Direct during E3 2019. Nintendo made the new fighter available for download on July 30th, at 10pm.
Like many other characters, the hero has a place on the official FIghter Introduction Page.
Sakurai's Live Introduction
WIth the release of "Hero", SSB director Masahiro Sakurai gifted fans with an introduction video about how to use the new fighter. Unlike a normal video with cuts, Sakurai said that they wanted to go for more of a livestream approach, even telling some lighthearted jokes during the video, which no doubt makes fans feel more in touch with the director who's in charge of one of the most successful games in the world.
Four Playable Skins
The skins of Hero make appearances from different games across the era, from Dragon Quest III, IV, VIII, and the newest , Dragon Quest XI, each voiced by different voice actors!.
Mitsuki Saiga voices the Hero from XI, and while she also voices him in Dragon Quest XI, she gives the character a bit more oomph since the action here is different from the original game.
The Hero from III is voiced by Nobuyuki Hiyama. Besides voicing Link in the original SSB and SSB Melee, he also voiced Hiei from "Yu Yu Hakusho".
Dragon Quest IV's Hero is voiced by Takeshi Kusao, who also voiced Trunks in Dragon Ball.
VIII's Hero is done by Yuki Kaji, saying that it was a dream come true to be able to voice a Dragon Quest Character in Smash Brothers.
This is the first time for the heroes of III, IV, and VIII to have voices, so there's no doubt that fans of the Dragon Quest series will be excited.
Although the fighter is named "Hero", each of the characters have actual official names, with XI's being 'Eleven', III's is Erdrick, IV's official name is 'Solo', and VIII's hero being called 'Eight'.
The individual characters even have separate color palettes based on other characters in the series. True fans will definitely know the character just by the colors.
The Hero's Basic Actions
The Hero moves pretty well, and he has an energetic feeling to him, giving justice to his title.
Attacking with the sword, protecting with his shield, like a true hero.
Of course, with The Hero's projectiles, he can cancel out other projectile attacks.
They've even included the infamous critical hit, plus their critical hit graphics from the Dragon Quest series.
THe Hero's Special Technique
The Hero's special spells and techniques that use up his magic gauge have also been included, allowing for a more dynamic play style.
The player can see how much mMP they have by looking at the bar above the Hero's icon. With a max of 100, the player can fill the bar by landing hits.
By pressing the B button, the player can release a Blase attack, but charge up the attack and you can take Blaze to Blazemore and even Blazemost.
Blaze is the only spell that can be charged.
Even if the attack is on the ready, it won't execute if you don't have enough MP.
Side B allows for the Zap spell, and charging it results in Zap going all the way up to Thordain.
Up B allows the player to execute a wind spell, Infernos. This launches the player into the air, with Infermost being the strogest version of the skill.
The spell can be used for recovery or getting enemies caught in an attack at a close range, and since the skill uses such a small amount of MP, it's undoubtedly convenient.
Bringing back the Command Menu
All of the Hero's special attacks can be selected with his command menu.
Pressing down B brings up the command menu.
Four spells and skills are displayed at random in the command menu, and when selected, MP decreases when the attack is executed.
There's "Thwack" which can one-hit KO opponents,
along with "Zoom", which allows the player to recover from almost anywhere,
and then "Hocus Pocus," where anything could happen. The command menu is full of spells and skills that Dragon Quest lovers will no doubt be familiar with and excited to use, so use the command menu as much as you can!
Should there be no spell or skill in the command menu that you want to use, you can always press the shield button to cancel the selection.
Opening the command menu again reshuffles the command options, so you're bound to get what you need!
Final Smash: Gigaslash
The Hero's Final Smash borrows from the original Dragon Quest games, being the final an d most powerful attack the protagonist learns.
Gigaslash borrows the power from past Dragon Quest heroes of the franchise, making for a pretty powerful Final Smash.
With a wide and high attack range, this FInal Smash is bound to hit.
New Stage: Yggdrasil's Altar
This new stage is from the world of Dragon Quest and is called "Yggdrasil's Altar", which is from Dragon Quest XI S and flies around different areas of the world while the fighters go against each other.
Players can see Cetacea and the Yocchi from DQXI, and the infamous Slime also make an appearance.
Treasure chests also make appearances on the stage at times.
Normally, treasure will be found in these chests, but if you're unlucky, there's also a possibility of it being a Mimic, so be cautious!
But, in classic JRPG fashion, if you take down the Mimic, you're awarded with an item to use during the match!
New BGM and Spirit Board!
Although Yggdrasil's Altar is based off of a location in Drgon Quest XI, there are tons of songs from other games in the Dragon Quest series that make an appearance!
With the addition of a new Spirit Board...
also comes a new Classic Mode especially for the Hero!
New Mii Fighter Outfits!
To go along with the release of The Hero from Dragon Quest, Nintendo has released new outfits for Mii Fighters!
From DQXI comes a Veronica cameo, and Erdrick from the first Dragon Quest game makes an appearance through wearable armor for your Mii Fighter. From DQIII comes the Martial Artist, and Slime makes a small cameo through a wearable hat.
At $0.75 each, these are a steal!
Version 4.0 Release
Along with all this newly released content, Nintendo will also be releasing Version 4.0 of SSB Ultimate.
4.0 Details:
- Final Smash Meter Time Limit
- Very Easy Mode added to Adventure Mode
- Ability to predict the winner in Spectator Mode and exchange points for special items.
- Online Tournament Mode
- Add Screenshots to Edited Videos
- Auto-Play For Shared Content
Many new changes and features are in store for Update 4.0!
New amiibo figures are also set to be released, with Isabelle, Pokémon Trainer, and Pichu available for $15.99 each!
"The Hero" release date
The Hero was released on July 30th, so at the time of writing this article, the Hero is already available for download!
Users that own the Fighter Pass will be able to download the new fighter as soon as they update to Version 4.0.
Of course, all fighters are available by themselves for $5.99!
With this new character, EVO will definitely be an interesting sight!
For more details, check the Official Super Smash Bros. Site!
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Original Game: © Nintendo / HAL Laboratory, Inc.
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