Nintendo’s Masahiro Sakurai has lifted the curtain on the latest Super Smash Bros. Ultimate update and DLC character.
Version 4.0 and the Dragon Quest Hero are Zoom-ing into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate later today. The update brings with it a time limit for the Final Smash meter, a lower difficulty mode for the World of Light, Spectator Mode betting that can be used to purchase Spirits and other items with a new point system, and online tournaments with pre-set rules. There are also some minor upgrades to the video editor, compatibility for a few new amiibos, and some kind of method to port your old replays forward.
However, the main talking point of the day is the Dragon Quest Heroes. These four champions of light hail from different games across the historic, genre-shaping JRPG franchise. Beginning in 1986, Dragon Quest is a cultural phenomenon so big in Japan that unofficial holidays have resulted from everyone lines up to purchase the newest installment.
It looks like DQ is going to have a similar effect on the Smash community, as fears of the Hero being too powerful have already began cropping up. The Hero has an extremely versatile moveset that covers every situation, and that’s before applying his RNG-dependent mechanics. The Hero’s smash attacks have a small chance to crit, dealing more damage and knockback, and potentially allowing him to kill the lightest characters at 0%. However, of even greater importance is his down-B special, which brings up a command menu with 4 random spells pulled from a pool of around 17. Almost every spell is good in its own right, and some can result in extremely quick KOs. Every special move is limited by an MP gauge, but it doesn’t look hard to regain MP, so we’ll have to see just how balanced this fighter is.
The Hero, his stage, and his eight (as opposed to Cloud’s two) music tracks are coming to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate later today as part of Challenger Pack 2, which is available as part of the Fighters Pass for $24.99 USD, or $5.99 USD as a standalone. There’s also a new set of Dragon Quest-inspired Mii costumes dropping today for $0.75 USD apiece. The Version 4.0 update, which has no patch notes yet, will show up at the same time as a free update. None of this will be legal at this weekend’s EVO tournament, but you can bet we’ll see the ramifications of 4.0 and the Hero very soon!