Why NO ONE Plays: Sora | Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 

As a Sora main, I have never been so offended by something I 100% agree with

Sora’s inclusion at least wasn’t completely irrelevant in the competitive scene in smash, Hollow Bastion is widely considered beloved stage by most and was quickly but on the stage list seamlessly, not a huge deal but a positive influence nonetheless

Sora's gameplan in Smash is super faithful to Kingdom Hearts by and large. In Smash, he's a defensive character. In KH, especially against superbosses, you have to memorize your opponent's attack patterns and wait for an opening to counterattack. Many characters in Smash reflect their playstyle from their home franchises and Sora is one of the best examples of that, in my opinion.

Would love to see one on Ike, as people thought he was really OP at first but he dropped off harder than anyone else in the roster, and is rarely seen at high/top level these days

Vars: "No one plays Sora" Kameme: **proceeds to make top 2 at a major with solo Sora**

I still play Sora every now and then. I always knew that I was never going to be a Sora main, but it's still great to have him here in Ultimate.

I'm never gonna stop maining Sora, you're all going to be seeing the tag Molotov XIV fighting at majors getting results with Sora someday, no matter how long it takes I'm not gonna stop

It’s worth noting that Sora’s release was timed the way it was for a reason. It can be easy to forget, but remember that Smash will always be a casual game first, and a competitive fighter second. Sora was released last because he’s meant to be the finale. He was the single most requested fighter, and they wanted to go out on a high note. Yes, that hurt his representation in the competitive circuit, but that’s never been their first concern.

I think the counter was downplayed in this video because most people forget how fast his counter is, or expect him to do something else. This happens with all characters with a counter.

Sora has definitely become for Ultimate what people said Smash 4 Shulk was: he has the potential to be one of the best characters in the game, but it's a big "has", if it even exists. I personally love playing Sora. Gotten my best local results using him than I have... Ever, and I just find him fun as hell to play.

Sora having a slow and large double jump really hurts his disadvantage. This combined with a fairly linear recovery can make him blow up and lose stocks early. He’s got everything besides survivability.

Kinda depressing that Sora and Banjo were requested by so much people only to not really be played because they're considered as "mid characters" in terms of their kit.

Characters that rely entirely on your opponent making a mistake, but not having the tools to "force" those mistakes, are characters that will often never see any serious play.

Kameme after watching this video: "And I took that personally"

I've been playing Sora more and more as time goes on. I feel like he has a lot of untapped potential.

Hearing this instantly made me think of Meta Knight. On paper he has really good moves, an amazing recovery, and good range for a smaller lightweight. However, he's stuck in that same limbo between combo character and swordfighter, and his moves don't really link into each other (besides up air and dair)

Okay, I know being released last probably hurt Sora's competitive representation, but I don't think anyone else would have been a better pick to end the DLC with. Sora was the most showstopping impossible character that was being heavily requested. Nobody thought it could happen. Sora represents just how far Smash has come in its reach, and there can be no more impressive inclusion.

Basically, he is skill-based instead of steve’s brainlessness

Sora is just hard. He plays entirely different from any other character but he has attacks for every situation with mastery.

I love playing sora, he's a day one main for me alongside terry, but there's no denying that he's a big time commitment, and due to him coming out so late, he doesn't get any chances to be tweaked or altered in a way that's more favorable to players, he's just stuck as he is. While I don't think he's bad as he is, it does hurt the potential of others picking him up which sucks.

then kameme said "hold my beer"

Still a Sora main til this day. I just think he's really fun but sadly not many people play as him.

Coming to this after Kameme’s HUGE run at Glitch is amazing 😭

Just when you post this video , Kameme have this insane run with Sora looool

“hopefully not too long” aka 2 days we got our wish

Pre-post video comment: as a Bayo/Link main at the start of Ultimate to a Sora main when he was out , I'm hype for the video that its coming, I'm really fond of your style of videos about debunking why a character of a video game are overused or not so used, I'm looking forward to it when the video will be published! Sora is a character of my childhood from the Kingdom Hearts series and I really loved him, I wanted him to be a character in this game and the wishes of the fans came true! To this day, I'm loyal to the character and I found in Sora a kind of the mix between Link and Bayo, having combo potential, enough disjoint with his keyblade, a good recovery, projectile and kill confirm to be able to take stocks.

What a timing to post this video, Kameme just got top 8 at glitch regen and he's poised to reach grand finals as of right now.

I think top level sora play is really fun to watch and I hope more people can see his potential he has because he ain't that bad

Who’s here after Kameme’s run at Glitch Regen?

After this video, Kameme goes to get 2nd at a Major tournament... Coincidence? I think not!

The funniest part of Sora was definitely how hard people were trying to sell him as a top 10 character for the first few months after he came out. It was so obvious that he wasn't and yet they still kept trying to deny it simply because they liked the character and the game he's from. Anytime they pulled out the Sora in a tournament it was like wearing a neon sign saying "I'm a KH fan in denial".

I really love your analysis style, which delves way more into the psychological/metagame reasons as to why characters don’t get played, over just looking at frame data,hitboxes, etc

Remember that time period when everyone had a pocket Sora? Yeah… I’m glad Kameme still reps the character because I do like seeing Sora make it far in spite of, ahem, Sora Stats. But I honestly couldn’t say specifically why he’s not played much other than he “has no sauce”.

Me playing sora to this day: 👀

I have been played Sora since day 1 and I can say that the lacks of speed is my big problem when I play against other people. This is worst when the rival plays hit and run, Sora had a lot of troubles catching the rival. However, a well play Sora in the edge can kill way to early, I manage to kill rivals with 60% of damage because I push them to the end of the screen with Sora

I want to have a secondary and not just rely on Jigglypuff That’s why I like how Sora made it

This video feels a little bit outdated just after 2 days

Hey just came here from watching Glitch and a Sora (Kameme, JPN) just won 2nd place!

We just not gunna talk about Kameme? Dude got 2nd at Glitch Regen with basically only Sora

Hey Vars, you should do a "why someone plays" segment where you interview players who are heavily invested in a certain character (Fatality, Peanut) and ask them why and how they play the character

Would love to see a video on Lucas. Hes one of the most unplayed characters professionally. I feel like I see Sora reps a decent amount

This was a pretty good breakdown! What I maybe would have liked to hear about more is the play style and neutral strategy of a floaty character. I say this because the unique property of his multi-hit aerials to bounce on hit or shield is a callback to Bayonetta in Smash 4. This helps him take advantage of his floatyness like Jiggs, Peach, or Olimar. He’s indeed a combo character, but for how floaty he is he has more range and speed (thus more unreactible situations) for his mixups. Typically the meta and Smash minds favor a fast falling, fast frame data, rush down character. He is not that, though he shares some common traits

Smash will always be at its best as a party game. Friends goofing around, not worrying about wins/loses. Tiers or viability. Just picking your favorite characters and having fun.

I'm still a sora main to this day because he's the character I've always wanted even if his moveset is not how I would have imagined it to be. And I'll be sure to master him so I can make people see his potential.

Sora's lightning and ice (neutral B),are great edge guarding tools if used properly

Heh, algorithm. Seeing this after seeing Kameme whooping ass with Sora.

This is gonna sound a bit odd but your voice is perfect for these kind of videos Nice and calm but with enough heart behind it to know you truly care about the content you make Keep up the good work, man 💪

*Makes video about no one playing Sora* *Kameme places 2nd at high tier tournament with Sora the same weekend* Ironic

Interesting this video being made considering recent tournament results with Kameme at Glitch Regen.

If you are watching this video, Just remember that every single character has pros and cons. Every single character will always be better or worst then another, but with the right strategies and moves... any character is one that you can win with.

I'm a sora main and this is so accurate, I love him nonetheless and will keep maining him till the day I die

I stopped playing Sora when I got him to elite smash lmao, I don't wanna lose it again 😂

Everyone: Wants Sora Also everyone: doesn't play Sora

Kameme is showing the community how effective and usable is

Ironically enough the character "everyone" wanted is generally considered weird and not many people wanna play him. Not to mention 75% of people who wanted him in probably played him for an hour or two and then dropped the game again....no I'm not bitter

Why no one plays Sora: Kameme at Glitch: 2nd place with Sora

In my eyes, Sora has the effect that he’s plain difficult. You gotta master everything of him if you wanna use him, That goes with how his combos, Frame, and Hitboxes work, Using his Magic Optimally, or his specials and what not. He’s a lot more neutral driven Like Link. Using Sora takes tons and tons of Learning and work. Because of this, not many people use him at all, plus the fact that Online makes him look bad. Not only that, It could also be the fact that the community doesn’t like how Sora got reduced to his KH1 appearance, since that game gives Sora very limited things in terms of combat. Moveset is pretty solid, and good, just requires WAAAAAY too much work. He’s pretty much Link and Bayo mixed into one. Also, If you hate Sora, please make it seem less kiddish, Whiny, and Toxic. I dislike some characters. But i know How great they are. Even if its a matter of opinion (Which i gladly accept anyones opinion), it still sometimes comes across as unnecessary, and could have been said a better way.

Just because of this video I’m going to dedicate my game time to learning sora as of now

Thanks kameme

Alot of characters in smash starting with sm4sh play like how they do in there game series. Sora's entire kit is Like KH1 where there is the a wrong way to play him (rushdown, defensive stalling. Etc) But people only like to play smash one of two ways and the fact people have to put more effort in with Sora is why he's not as popular. As a KH fan I can say Sora is one to one with his game counter part which is why I find him fun and he is my primary main to this day

Meister getting the confetti after that win is the single greatest Smash tourney memory I will ever have. It's so perfect.

I hate dlc characters but sora was the perfect finale for the series. Nothing couldve top that.

I gotta say seeing what sora is doing in the smash scene now is kinda crazy carrying the opponents across the stage then finishing into a forward smash or up smash I hope to be able to do that one day

Wouldn't have it any other way tbh. The less people play as your main, the more that main feels like an extension of you as a person rather than you riding some kind of a meta or hype train.

I remember the hype when Sora was revealed. I wanted him in caus he was fun in Smash Flash 2 then it happened. I freaked out and saw the reveal live in class with a friend right after taking a test. Shortly after the reveal I loved his gameplay and then my birthday came in November and a friend bought me the series and now I'm in love with Kingdom Hearts

As a Sora main, this video put perfectly to words what i was feeling as i played Sora. Very good analysis. Hopefully there will be top players who crack the code on Sora sooner rather than later so we can see him repped in some top tourneys. Also after seeing your video i am now 100% convinced Sora's counter should be made like a normal reflctor that sends projectiles back instead of what it does now (which is reflect projectiles but they keep on going in the same direction past Sora). That change alone would probably make Sora way more appealing to play. If he's gonna be stuck in this limbo of an "oppurtunistic playstyle" he should at least have the means to fight back against zoners. Bc trying to get in on zoners with Sora's low mobility & floaty double jump is a living nightmare. & when i DO finally get in, as you said in your video, Sora doesn't have the tools to properly stay in. So one mistake & now i'm back to square one...reliving this nightmare again...

Great work on this! Subbed~

Aged like milk.

He’s a hard to master character who struggles heavily to gain advantage and keep it due to being slow. But I am a Sora main to the end.

I wanted to main Sora when he first came out cause I love Kingdom Hearts and the mobility and multihit aerials reminded me of Bayo, but it ended up not working out lol. He's still one of my favorite casual characters now though!

7:25 i will say he does have the ability to mix up how many times he hits your shield, like so many people just drop shield after you land with a well spaced nair 1-2 then you can go for f-tilt, the main problem with this is characters with good oos like lucina can punish it still

[Kameme has entered the chat]

Who's here after watching Kameme's Sora?

“Kameme is think of dropping the character” *Gets second place in Glitch, top 8 in Big House, and winning a local against another top 8 placed player* Sora is pretty underrated. The main reason why “no one” plays him is his style of play. Reliant on arial attacks and spell which people would use ness. In NA we see Sora as mid compared to Japan who views him as a top tier in top 15. I want to point out that 3 fighters in fp2 are infamous for not playing smash and rather their own game that being Min Min, Steve, and Kazuya. Sora plays like as if he’s playing Kingdom Hearts. Japan is known for experimenting characters we see as non viable and completely destroying the competition with them. Sora is no stranger which Zackray won a major, Kameme being consistent at top level. Komorikiri also beginning to main the character. Kameme also influenced NA players like Unleashed, Pink Fresh, DTP, and Opana to represent character more. Not only that, Kameme is winning with Sora with just simple fundamentals. Beating Jake, Sonix, and Cosmos who’s characters would “easily” beat Sora. And thats not even using a fully optimized Sora! Imagine just out of the blue a newcomer with a Sora who can pull IDJ’s, can easily win neutral, and unitizing all the spells winning majors. Sora is just a ticking time bomb Edit: this vid has aged poorly due to more Sora players being present in the meta

This video is so fucking outstanding. You breakdown the contradictions in Sora’s kit and what would be needed to overcome those contradictions at a competitive level in such a smooth and digestible way. This video will definitely make me an avid sub of the channel awaiting future content. Thank you!

I'm a sora main and I'm so grateful you made this. Thanks bro.

Been a Sora main since the day he released. Not based on anything beside my simple love for the character. People need to understand a character is only as viable as you make them. Your sheer love for a character can increase your desire to take your main to levels beyond what has been seen from them. Stop caring about what character is the "best" and just focus on a character you naturally gravitate towards and have a connection with. This especially goes to newcomers of fighting games. You WILL get better, trust me. As a matter of fact this is probably the fastest way to get better because your love for your character will keep you motivated to keep playing.

*still mains Sora regardless of competitive standing*

I did try out Sora for a while and he was a blast. He's actually #8 in my little tier list of characters I'd like to main. So he has a lot of competition, especially since even like 10 characters below him are all characters I wish I had an excuse to play more as well. My current main is Sephiroth. Funny thing, one of the main reasons why I got interested in the Kingdom hearts series is because of the Sephiroth fights. Love the gameplay of his game but I don't really remember Sora that much, and while I'm a completely different person from when I played that game and would probably love Sora now if I got to spend time with him, I don't really have the time to spend 100 hours on another game (trying to catch up on BOTW stuff, playing through FF7 new to learn more about Sephiroth, VR stuff, and many other games). So even his own series makes me rather play Sephiroth. This'll probably be the only time I get to play either character, so Sephiroth is probably going to be the one I stick with. Then we got other characters like Pichu, Lucario, Meta Knight, Ridley, Inkling, Rosalina who are all above him in how much I want to main them. Then on top of that, Sora is one of those characters that feels like you lose all progress if you take too long of a break from the game. I got a very busy life at the moment, so that's a major strike against him right now. With all that said, one of the easiest characters for me to get into Elite Smash, and he's quite an interesting pocket character. I'll definitely use him for casual play due to his uniqueness, and a lot of my friends probably view my personality to be like Sora's. Which is funny because when I first played Kingdom Hearts all those many years ago, I was trying so hard to be edgy and what-not that I probably hated Sora. =p

I think the biggest problem is that floaty combo swordfighter isn’t a combination most people would be attracted to.

Here’s how to fix Sora if we still got patches. He literally just needs faster frame data. That pushes him more to the combo character side without making him OP and it fits his combo character origins in Kingdom Hearts.

Mostly because, in a DLC pack filled with absolutely overtuned characters, Sora's fair but unorthodox playstyle and movement makes him unappealing for the tippy-top of competitive play.

I came back to Ultimate recently as an old Melee/Brawl player and needed a new main since luigi didnt fit my playstyle anymore. Sora immediately became my favorite just for the sheer aerial combo game and floatiness felt great just dancing around them in the air. I hope he gets some good representation soon.

I really think you get something out of having played KH 2. Everything in smash feels like a QuickTime

Sora is the character that I feel like I click with the most and it's hard to say that. I always really enjoyed the Swordfighter archetype and never mained them because it just didn't click with me. At the time what filled the gap for me was Bowser Jr, a very disjointed fighter with set ups and unique combo routes to punish with. Sora coming out was a character with the perfect movement for me to be comfortable, along with being a disjointed and combo oriented fighter that heavily rewards good advantage state. I love all of that. Yet something still feels incredibly off with finding the way to do all of that and I drifted away from smash for most of the year because the character I vibed with most has too many problems to solve in little time while also requiring very high execution I'm not used to having. I'd also have to add the communities reception on Sora being one of the most annoying characters and also being bad wasn't exactly a good thing to have on mind. It all felt too toxic to stick with, while I understand every character gets hate for something it felt so much louder for Sora and disrespectful. Who wants to put time proving a rude crowd wrong when it takes so much time to do so? I'll have to give him another shot when I return to competing regularly. This video gave amazing insight once again as why no one plays is consistent with.

I think something a lot of people in this comment section are missing is that they assume that everyone who desperately wanted Sora in the game, and don’t play him now that he’s here, are only doing so because he isn’t high tier. I’m sure for many many many of those people it’s simply because they didn’t enjoy his (undeniably very unique) playstyle. He can be your favorite character in the world, if you’re not having fun playing him then its silly to keep at it. Idk why everyone in this comment section is assuming such negative things

I dreading what I was gonna watch when I saw the title of the vid but a lot of what you said were things I also thought of in regards to Sora's inherent weaknesses. The only subject that I hadn't even considered was the length of time it would take to make Sora viable at all, which in itself is an interesting topic. If you ask me, I'd give a good 3 months at the very least before we see an adequate Sora main who pushes his meta forward in a big way.

Even if he wasn’t able to make it to Fighter Pass 1 maybe Sora should’ve been used in Fight Pass 2 first to build up hype for the last of the new characters?

I'd love to see one on Banjo-Kazooie. They were just below Sora in the fighter ballot and are FAR FAR below him in usage

I would LOVE to see your take on Falco

I run into sora all the time in smash bros

Sora is the only reason I still play smash I'm not a super competitive player But I'm so happy that sora is in the game that I'm trying to get into competitive again since sora is in the game

You say he came out too late because he takes a lot of time to optimize. Yet to me that makes him perfect for the last pick. He's the last content we get so it makes sense to give us something that will take a long time to chew on. It keeps the game going longer. Its great they saved Kazuya to the end for the same reason. It's not like time is gonna stop for this game.

I really like how everyone wants all these super hype characters and suddenly, when they get in, no one gives a crap about them anymore (for the most part), it really tells a lot about Smash fans.

I play Sora in friendlies because some of his recolors change his portrait into one that’s staring into your soul, which actually intimidates my opponents because of how creepy he is

i play sora just with my friends and they swear that sora is banned for some reason.

I've been maining Sora since he came out, I'm probably the lowest skilled out of my friends and with Sora I can get consistent wins even against our best player, and I don't even use the side b let alone spam it

You're right about Smash being a game of influence. When I first picked up the game, I knew I wanted to main Falco cos I played him in Brawl and had loads of fun with him then. This was then solidified after watching a bunch of Larry Lurr combo videos which taught me how to play Falco and a bunch of cool combos

Can't wait till your update video

What a perfectly timed video after KAMEMEs OD performance!!