Sora Is Really Stupid. Good. 

Clarification: I've had some comments telling me Sora _can_ cancel his side B before all 3 hits come out. I actually know that, what I meant was that doing so still sends you into freefall rather than letting you take more actions afterwards, but probably could've phrased that better. Sora is, if nothing else, really interesting, and I'm flat-out ignoring any tier list placements on him for quite some time haha, he's got a really distinct play style that we've never quite seen before in the series. Definitely not as straightforward as he first looked, even if my crusty gameplay isn't the ideal way to show that off. Let me know your early thoughts on Sora and thanks for watching! -Main channel: ru-vid.com -Twitter: twitter.com/MrMockRock -Twitch: www.twitch.tv/mockrocktwitch -Patreon: www.patreon.com/mockrock -Teespring: teespring.com/stores/mockrock

Sora is for the most part is just a really fun character, and I think that's what Ultimate needed to close off with. Not every DLC needs to be just this crazy character with a ton of inputs or a unique gimmick. Sora is still pretty unique though, but I'm glad that he isn't the new Bayonetta.

"The good stuff about him is stupid, the bad stuff about him is stupid. He's just... a really stupid character in an interesting way though." So then the smash team has perfectly represented Kingdom Hearts in its entirety. That's why I love the series

"Interestingly stupid" is honestly one of the best ways to describe this character. I think he's really fun personally. I do agree on the sound design for some moves though. Bair and Up air always feel like they should be doing less than they actually are. Also I've noticed Thundaga can be very unreliable at times speaking from personal experience. One thing I do really like are his animations. Very flowy and joyful.

This take on making an "air fighter" really resonates with me, it feels like the air is Sora's domain, with some absolutely bonkers floatiness, huge air-stalling multihits, and obviously up and side b. It's like he isn't bound by gravity, to polar opposite of someone like Fox.

The sound design on him is very faithful to Kingdom Hearts. Also, the reason Sora is as floaty as he is is because he had Tinker Bell's pixie dust sprinkled on him in KH1. As for the other games, its just a move that you tend to relearn, but he's generally just as floaty in those games as he is in Smash.

"If you are treating him as a fundamental sword character". That's the exact wrong way to use him. He's anything but fundamental.

I really really like sora. I don't know why, but his weird playstyle and physics just kinda fit me, really well in fact, and his combos seem like they're not TOO hard, but not braindead easy which I like a lot. As well as his weird pseudo-resource management game with neutral b? He's just cool.

He feels like KH1 Sora, right about the time you unlock guard. Not the crazy Sora of the future; I guess I should've guessed as much. I'm happy he's in though, would consider picking him up and actually putting hours into the game to get good if I weren't so f-ing stupid.

I LOVE Sora, I grew up playing Kingdom Hearts so I was always gonna pick him up as a secondary. I've played Mewtwo so his floatyness didn't take long for me to adapt to and i love his combo game, already finding some fun stuff with him, particularly with nair fastfall shenanigans

Everyone in hungryboxs chat was like hes low tier and i thought it was funny

Sora is Hella fun and really strong, but no kidding his disadvantage is awful. Not only does he die super quickly but cause of how slow his attacks are, he really doesn't have many options against speedier opponents. All that said though, I think his insane advantage and edge guarding will land him comfortably in high tier

Regarding Sora's Down Smash, it does say in game (Tips) that the beginning of the attack has some intangibility to it, but I don't have the tech to know to what extent that is.

Sora is really fun imo, and i genuinely think his strengths outpace his weaknesses. His ability to do drag down cancel combos makes mr think he'll do really well in the hands of a skilled and dedicated player, and his standard playstyle is easy enough that pretty much anyone can pick him up and enjoy playing him, regardless of experience in the game. That pretty much makes him one of the best dlc characters imo, at least in terms of game design.

Sora feels incredibly awkward but also fun to play as. I main Robin, so his slow mobility didn’t really off-put me, but his floaty air mobility really did. Like… Sora’s double jump caught me off guard at first. Some of his moves like dair are kind-of stupid, but I get the feeling that Sora is a bit too honest. Definitely very fun, but I don’t think I’ll main him.

I've been pretty busy with my job, so I haven't touched ultimate in a very very long time. But because i've been a KH fan and have been wanting him since even the brawl days, I can say that he legitimately feels like classic KH Sora. He's floaty, his attacks are snappy, and his ground and air mobility is JANK AF. So i feel right at home with him.

You CAN cancel side b by letting go of the stick and button.

1:13 you pretty much summarized Sora's character all trought the kingdom hearts series

Something I'd like to add to the discussion about his neutral b is that while not perfect, is a good move for him to use in disadvantage, particularly thundaga. Like say if you're knocked off stage, you can use it to halt your momentum (during double jump animation and while falling) and potentially keep him from getting edge guarded by some characters. Thundaga while facing the stage is actually a good way to keep characters away from the ledge and most characters can't or don't want to deal with that because of thundaga's knockback. Something I have incorporated into my playstyle with sora and it has worked well for me personally.

He's a magic swordfighter, I love this sort of character personally, especially with the crazy physics

"Sakurai described him as a bare bones fighter, but I don't think that's true" Well Sakurai also said that Min Min struggled against jumping approaches, but then they gave her one of the best up smashes in the game

From what I have played as him he is not low tier like Hbox and the chat seemed to think. He is a pretty strong character with good essential moves that is very punishable when he starts to lose due to weight. He will only be as the player who has the essentials down themselves and won't carry anyone on his own and that is okay.

Sora to me feels like if a Toon Link just dropped zoning to go on the aggressive. I'm seeing a lot of top players pick up how I play Toon for Sora. Especially that tendency to favor Up-B as a kill move in the corner screen, very similar feeling smash attacks, a nasty back throw that goes for distance over height with it's launch angle and a reliance on D-Air as the preferred method of fast falling since they're both pretty floaty. Watch out for the aggressive Toon Link picking up Sora, the skillset will transfer and they already know how to kill with that Up-B. Source: Me, a gremlin of a Toon Link who doesn't know what zoning is.

Thundaga is going to be a noob killer that noobs can use. Three very tall lightning bolts that are spaced out enough to have serious horizontal range, it is one of the best and easiest onstage edge guards in the whole game.

I like that you talked about his moves being deceptively powerful when I’ve thought the exact same thing about his f smash

It really feels like I'm playing Kingdom Hearts fighting game since most of Sora's fighting style is air combos which fits his name meaning sky making him well a sky fighter

The first thing I thought during Sora’s presentation was that his key blade feels weightless

I don't know why everyone is having so much trouble with him. He handles almost identically to Mewtwo. He's swordfighter Mewtwo. It's not that awkward lol.

I love his sound effects and I've honestly gotten very easily used to how strong his aerials are despite it Idk they were misleading at first but I found it easy to accept the fact that his moves kill

He's much different than I expected him to be, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it is something that I'll have to get used to. This is a character that I really wanted in smash, so I'm not just gonna give him up today to solely for the fact that I have to learn how to use them personally. Also, his crawl... i've been a kingdom hearts fan for almost all my life, and I don't know if that's a reference to something, or if Sakuria just wanted to add something funny and random to him, but it's ridiculous.🤣

I started playing Smash again just for Sora. He’s so much fun to play

Sora’s down smash spends all but 2 frames at the start untouchable from below. He gets full-body invincibility for a few frames starting frame 3 and his legs stay invincible even longer, and the moment he lands from the jump, he can immediately act out of it. Basically, at ledge, do not use a ledge getup attack vs it.

I've been having so much fun with sora. Like a lot if fun.

Bro Mkleo doesn't predict just top tiers, he creates them with sheer force of will

I was a little let down during the showcase, but it feels great to actually play him. Sora is such an odd character. It's like Sakurai went into this with the philosophy he used with sm4sh Cloud (very simple that anyone could do well with) but gave us just enough wiggle room to do nonsense with.

“Interestingly stupid” oh so it’s just like kingdom hearts, perfect!

Sora is exactly what I hoped- honest, with glaring flaws and strengths on his sleeve. It'll be a while before we'll really see where he lands, but he brings a unique feel to play with and against so far. I mean sure he's light enough that he dies low and going into disadvantage can end poorly quick, but never have I been so afraid to follow someone off ledge if the combo doesn't kill.

So fun, so whimsical, so floaty, so confusing... All I wanted from this lovely guy.

Daily reminder that Sora's up-B makes him sound like Doodlebob

At this rate, can Sora ever be defeated out of the ring? HE'S A FRIGGIN' FLYER THROUGH AND THROUGH!

Sora isn't my favorite DLC Character, but I love him

I love this floaty boy and his ridiculous physics

it took seeing Sora in smash to realize that yeah, his natural home is in the air. I haven't played anything other than KH1 and 2 but the game always more fun when you're in the air even from just one jump. They did him so right here, I love that the lock on is exactly what it is in the games.

What you talk on in 1:36 is to prevent Bayo’s smash 4 fair strings, a change that her fair got in the transition to Ult as well. It’s not an ultimate issue, and very much an intentional design choice

"Sora is stupid" Tell me something I don't know

about the sound design: in KH every weapon in the game has it's own unique hitting sound, the kingdom key being the first keyblade you get in the game it's sound effects are pretty basic

Great video man!

The sound design not matching the actual power of his moves (basically saying that they don't feel weighty) is pretty much how he feels in his home series. It sounds like they used the bumper item sounds for all of his keyblade moves lol.

i'm kinda new to playing ssbu but i've been playing as sora for hours now so i've grown so used to him that his moves aren't any more awkward than whenever i try to play as a new character

As a mewtwo main I'm mad jealous of his edge guarding/recovery 😤 I'm like woody in toy story and I'm thinking about pushing him out the window. Only problem is he can actually fly unlike buzz

I feel Sora is very fun and is a great last character. I had the same issue of thinking his moves are weakish cuz of the sounds, but after a bit, it wasn't that bad. Sora's alts look good (especially the cartoony one), his sound effects are really good, he's pretty smooth to play as, his stage is really pretty to look at. Sakurai and the Smash team did an AMAZING job with Sora. Many thanks to them!

Part of the reason why I think Sora's down air is inconsistent (besides the spinning) is because it's a swinging move while traveling into the swing. As he moves downward, the swing hitbox sort gets "squished" because the very next frame he's closer to where the tip of the swing was. Since the main area you're worried about when using such a move is directly below you it doesn't work well. Also you don't have a choice, you have to move straight down with the move. It's actually better from behind because he's swinging it downward from behind him at the cost of making it worse in front and below him (effectively dragging the hitbox down with him). This can be beneficial when you have more control over you're air movement such as fast falling with the beginning of Ike nair. The point (as you probably already know) is to drag the hitbox in front of him so the initial part of the swing becomes a kill confirming wall. If you drift away it makes the danger zone larger in font of you at the cost of making the swing behind you smaller which ultimately doesn't matter because your opponent is in front of you and you're probably landing before that part of the move even comes out. Drifting in while doing marcina bair vs drifting away is the most visible one to me. Double jumping immediately before for better airspeed makes it more noticeable. I guess it's just part of the nature of spacing but it's most recognizable with swinging hitboxes where most of the swing is in the main 2D plane. I like Sora a lot honestly. He's has quite a few similarities to Falco of all characters (besides being extremely floaty of course) so he checks most of the boxes in my enjoyment catalog.

His down smash is one of the best in the game. He not only jumps, he's legit fully invincible for like half of the move, and is really hard to punish since the hitbox is so big, does so much shield damage, and knocks you so far back. You shield it, try to punish, and then he just does it again

It just all makes sense from a Kingdom Hearts perspective if you’ve played the games with him. His whole shtick is “absolute nonsense that somehow works beautifully”. And that’s what I love about KH as a whole. And that is what KH and the fan base is about.

Don't forget that Sora d-smash is actually a solid shield break move too. (Bc almost every dlc character needs at least one solid shield breaker option nowadays, lol)

his disadvantage is nuts, that side b can take him anywhere, so much mixup potential

Im glad everyone had the issue of "none of these moves look like they should kill"

That Downsmash is also a good shieldbreaker :)

I genuinely love Sora’s physics. Being a longtime player of KH, his physics feel almost EXACTY like he does in the games, so I felt right at home playing him.

Late, but yeah. The sound effects are KH sound design. When you block/parry in the KH games it doesn't sound like the Dark souls parry, it sounds like a "sparkly" sound effect is the best way I can explain.

I like that he is more extensions and neutral, it feels like the character defines ultimate. You need a good oos, poking, recovery, a strong aireal and a combo one and, you also need a good zoning tool and safe on shield options

sora's air moves can catch even smaller opponents, his down air can be used as a kill move when really high near the ceeling (im not kidding his down air is actually really powerful). his down smash if positioned right can shield break. his f smash has good launch strength, his floatyness makes him incredibly good at maneuvering in the air. he can spam his air moves and it becomes extremely difficult to approach. his neutrals are really good: his fire can apply decent pressure and can stagger attacks, lightning is really useful for launching and anti air from the front, his freeze just gives him a chance to get bonus damage in, his side b comes out really fast and deals 21 damage, his up b is a great kill move and his down b just disables you

Sora's hitboxes are so ridiculously.... *_exactly_* what the graphic shows with no leniency. If people are standing in between the thunderbolts they walk straight past them unscathed... If people fall through his Up-B or jump upwards through his D-air and the keyblade is not literally ontop of them as they do so they'll pass through the attack unscathed... It feels like he has Pit hitboxes, a very far cry from Pythra's "close enough, that counts" hitboxes. Something I have noticed however is that Sora has some very huge hitstun modifiers... not quite as much as Pythra's but similar.

Sakurai did a good job making Sora's moves faithful to the original games.

I like these generally positive videos! It's nice

The issue with foward air you described is not ultimates inputs. The way combo moves like that work and jabs too is that they actually have very long animations, but you can cancel the animation with the next hit of the combo. If the move didn't work like that, then nothing would come out at all and you would still lose the situation.

"Stupid in a really interesting way" is probably the best way to describe sora and kh in general lol

His kill power is what's crazy to me, good soras seem to always get kills under 100 with his smashes, up b or thundaga. He kind of seems like a glass canon in how his disadvantage can be taken advantage of

Down smash sends at such a brutal angle that Little Mac might as well fast fall to the blast zone if he gets hit by it almost mid stage. I love my boy Sora already.

Sora feels like if sheik was floatier than Mewtwo.

Sora feels like Lucas with a sword and good burst options

Sora being stupid is actually a really inspired design choice, given that Kingdom Hearts is very stupid

I clicked this video because the title read "Sora is Rally Stupid. - " and that's all I read. I came here to agree. Then I remembered that Sora just came out for SSBU, lol. Yeah I guess he's pretty good in that too. bwahaha

He feels really good at reversing the momentum of fights before there's even time to react.

He's a pretty accurate representation of Kingdom Hearts. Combat is wack and there's insane things you can pull off.

His side b works from the left stick, u can do it once or twice but u have to go back to neutral

MkLeo is killing it with a character I find amazingly slow and clunky....he carries the characters.

He's absurdly fun to me. I think he's solid and unique. Also, as for top player differing on tier lists, I feel like that's more prominent in Ultimate due to the characters and matchups.

my brother said the same thing about sound design yesterday. They don't sound or feel like they have much impact despite the opponent flying away.

He is so fun to play as

Down air is the forbidden move. We don’t speak of it. Anyways I think Sora will be a sleeper threat and neutral B as well as his recovery is his DLC factor. And his kill confirms.

theirs another thing about sora that’s kinda weird. you mentioned that his combo aerials are kinda weird, but if you turn it correctly, you can kinda infinite basically, walk up to a opponent and use nair 1 and nair 2. pause long enough to where it will not go into nair 3 and hit a again so it goes into nair 1. repeat this and you can drag somebody from center stage to off screen do your lucky. is it escapable? yes. but you can do this twice and if they don’t have double jump, they can kiss a stock goodbye

Sora is definitely a “B button” character for me. The Spells are great for mix-ups and edge-guards, the first hit of Sonic Blade is great for approaching as well as being the primary recovery, Aerial Sweep kills ridiculously well, and honestly, Hurricane Blast (down air) feels like it should’ve been the Down Special, but I guess the counter is a pretty good defensive option. All and all, I’m just glad we got another character with great mobility.

Great video!

So, basically like the series he comes from then? Perfect. (Btw, KH is my favorite series.)

Now you have to do another one of those massive overview videos for Smash Ultimate now that we have all the characters... Actually wait a few months first since we barely know how Sora will settle, but that should definitely be on your itinerary!

I took to Sora like a glove personally- being a Zelda main, I'm already used to very floaty, lightweight characters that love the air and get away with living way too long off stage. Felt like a natural extension, and I love him.

I picked him up because I couldn’t decide on a main but sora had a lot of similarities to other characters I liked and I played KH1

I think he's one of the most fun characters FP2 and the DLC in general had to offer. Maybe not a character I'd take to brackets like Terry or Wolf but definitely in that pool of "dumb fun" characters I play like Alex or Incineroar.

You don't know how many people I made commit "a connection error has occurred" after during his down smash, up smash, jump combo, then side b them off the map

dude, what microphone do you use lmao. you sound smooth as butter. if anyone knows please let me know lol

Smash Community: We’re sick of anime swordfighters! Sakurai: Another one. Another one. Another one. Another one. Smash Community: Okay, we’re cool with it now.

Sora is the best person in the world. NOT S T U P I D.

You CAN cancel side b by letting go of the stick and button

I believe that people fall out of the 3-hit aerial combos mainly because you have to drift forward for all the hits to connect

The reason people are falling out of up b is because they are using sdi due to multi hits on some aerial options. Was getting out of Sora up b on wolf.

The biggest issues I’ve had with Sora are not being able to do other aerials instead of the the combo follow-ups (which stinks because his aerial combos have great potential) and not being able to act out of side B. I think that you should be able to act out of it if you cancel it before the third hit, but I guess Nintendo didn’t want another Bayonetta situation. Also Sora’s up air combined with his floatiness gets him so crazy early kills which is a lot of fun.

I feel like Sora is one of those characters that's extremely easy to pick up, but difficult to master. However the road to mastering him don't feel as long as you expect. He's how I'd expect him to play like the Kingdom Hearts games, freaking all over the place with his combos & jumps. The super lightweight with heavy knockback trade off is the most interesting thing about him. Me personally loving rush down characters, you have to go in, and kill fast, or else you're in deep trouble. If not that, just spam, and edge guard a lot, but that's never been my style. Even in Kingdom hearts games. Then all, I can't wait to see how chaotic he can truly be once pro players pick him up.

As someone who hates how Floatys feel, Sora is probably the most fun character I have ever played. Usually by now I know what I'm doing but Sora is Sora and we all know how Sora still feels. Min Min took me 3 days to learn and one break to forget. I'm not sure about Sora, but I certainly hope it's not like that. Quickplay has given me enough pain that I'm at the point where the way I get used to characters is training mode, arena with friends, the spirit modes, and fighting cpu's.

It seems that his timless river custome is the most favourite. I totally understand its my favourite too