The cast of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is often cited as one of the most diverse and legendary, with several faces and companies from the gaming industry being represented. There are not many games that include so many iconic characters under one banner, especially those from not only Nintendo's library, but several third-party companies as well. Late last year saw the final DLC character being added to the game's roster, with a huge amount of anticipation behind it too. When it was confirmed that Sora from Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts franchise would be coming to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, fans were overwhelmingly happy.
For many fans, Sora was a hotly requested character for the game for the longest time. This was even confirmed by Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's director, Masahiro Sakurai, noting that during the Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS Ballot, Sora was the one who got the most votes. It was widely believed that including Sora would come with tons of legal work due to him technically being a Disney character and needing the media giant's greenlight to add him in, but that apparently wasn't the case, according to a recent interview with Kingdom Hearts' creator.
In a recent interview with GameInformer, series creator Tetsuya Nomura was asked about a variety of topics regarding the status of Kingdom Hearts. One of these questions was Nomura's feelings on Sora being included in Smash. He was obviously quite happy, although noted that most of the comments online were something along the lines of "I can't believe Disney allowed this" among others. In actuality, Nomura was the one who was incredibly picky about Sora's inclusion in the crossover, while Disney was fully supportive of it.
The reason as to why Nomura was so picky was due to how it could possibly "clash" with the established lore of Kingdom Hearts and the Disney worlds that were a part of the game. Despite Nomura's initial hesitance, Sora did make it into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, with him stating that the end result was great, especially with how warmly the fans welcomed Sora.
Many fans who saw the interview passage noted that there was a possibility that Nomura was seriously considering how to make Super Smash Bros. Ultimate canonical to Kingdom Hearts, especially with how much consideration was taken before his inclusion. Some fans even joked that if the game is canon to the series now, future games would include worlds to other Nintendo franchises like Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda. Others were surprised to see that it was Nomura and not Disney who were the biggest obstacles in getting Sora into the crossover.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is available now exclusively on Nintendo Switch