A lot of people are excited for Sephiroth in Smash and I understand why. He's an iconic character and he's more relevant than he's been in years thanks to the release of FF VII Remake, plus he's got a moveset that will translate well and he's just a badass creation.

On the other hand while FF VII is now technically available on the Switch, as a game it is associated not just with Sony but specifically with how Sony defeated Nintendo during the 5th generation (the defection of RPGs and especially FF VII are a large part of why the PlayStation was such a megahit) and it already has a representative in Smash Brothers anyway. I guess there's symmetry to having both Cloud and Sephiroth in a fighting game (though this is not the first time that's happened) but that also means that a lot of the iconic FF VII music is already in the game and all the other stuff that a new character brings is dampened a little.

Smash has clearly transcended being a celebration of Nintendo to being a celebration of video game history in general. Solid Snake and Joker are only on Nintendo systems through spinoff games, so it's not unprecedented or anything, but to have two representatives from one game that's not strongly Nintendo associated just seems a little strange. He's also another sword guy so...

This is not some big post about the sanctity of Smash or anything. They should do what they want. And Sephiroth is a big iconic name and a lot of people will get excited so it's fine, not that anyone cares what I think. It just makes me wonder whether there's still a philosophy behind what gets included in Smash Brothers or if they just grab characters they think are cool and have a lot of fans. Minecraft Steve felt like an acknowledgement of a massive part of gaming (and even Nintendo system users, since Minecraft has been a top seller on the Switch) while Sephiroth just feels kind of random to me.

I'm just excited because we'll hopefully actually get some FFVII music and some remixes this time. Cloud only gave us the original versions of the regular and boss music from 7, and they didn't add any more in Ultimate, it was a real bummer.

I feel like this point kind of came and went years ago after Cloud came in and then again returned. Everything you say about Sephiroth representing an era when Sony won out over nintendo could be said for cloud. Nintendo doesn't seem to care about those limits anymore if they ever did. As you said they also have Joker who is from a hit game on the playstation who hasn't appeared on a Nintendo console outside of a spin-off Musou game that to my knowledge still hasn't released in the west.

In general it seems like they're more willing to reach across those gaps and shake hands which is a good thing for everyone involved in my opinion. I agree with you that there's no sanctity of Smash or anything that's being broken. At least for me there's not. I just like seeing popular or historic characters join the roster.

I don't think it's odd, if anything, I think it's kind of a boring and unsurprising choice.

Sure, he is popular and iconic, but at the end of the day, he is a dude with a big sword... it is not like Smash was lacking in dudes with swords, even edgelordy ones. It doesn't help that Cloud is already there, so it seems more like they are completing a set instead of thinking interesting choices. It's like the new characters where Akuma (because Ryu is there) and Big Boss (because Snake is there)...

I agree that Smash has become a wider celebration of brands than just Nintendo (even when it is zealously guarded by them), and that is why I love when they think outside the box. Minecraft Steve was a great idea... why not more like that. If the only real condition is that it has to be in switch games, why not Rabbits, Spiro, Barbarian from Diablo 3 or Jonesy from Fortnite.

Does he? Odd stance to take but ok

He's a dude with a sword, fits perfectly.
It's just a shame they're not interested in some lesser known characters, something surprising.

Cloud and Sephiroth have been blindingly obvious picks/fits since Sonic showed up in Brawl.

They should've put Kenny Omega in Smash instead.

I think its good to go with a mix between older and newer characters. After Minmin and Steve I'm glad they went with an older character as opposed to Fortnight Jonesy or someone.

I think that people got over the weirdness after Cloud was announced for the last game. At that point I wanna say the only time any FF7 character appeared on a Nintendo console was in Theatrhythm.

I haven't booted up Smash in about a year, but I remember being upset at the lack of final fantasy stuff actually in the game despite having Cloud in there. I thought there were only two song tracks, one stage and Cloud has two costumes to choose from. I think the only Assist Trophy for it is Barrett also. Which is miniscule compared to the amount of references someone like Sonic or any of the other characters had.

So I hope this helps and more final fantasy 7 music/stage/items are added because of it. Like make a Summon/GF an assist trophy or something.

When the Light Lord was cut in half, my heart skipped a beat cause I seriously thought we were getting Future Trunks for a moment, so at this point: I'm thrilled if Smash just becomes "videogame celebration battle royale."

I mean MK11 is slowly becoming '80s Action Movies: The Fighting Game, and I'm great with that too. As long as there's effort behind them, I have never been against guest characters, especially in fighting games.

@brian_: At LEAST as an assist trophy!

First, rumor has it this was supposed to be announced as a tie-in with the 7 remake, but got pushed back for Minecraft day. Second, Sephiroth probably has an easy moveset they can translate into the game.

From the sounds of it, Square-Enix has asked Disney twice to add Sora to Smash and Disney continues to say "no." The reasons of which are incredibly petty and have nothing to do with Square-Enix.

@undeadpool: As much as I'd love that I think one of Sakurai's only rules is not to use characters that don't originate from video games. Or that's what I've heard over the years at least.

That...makes sense and is totally fair. Still, I'd have loved the response to all the "put Goku in Smash" fervor to just be a total head-fake to another character.

Its a dude with a sword he is the perfect smash character