Hero (Super Smash Bros.)

"The Hero Draws Near!"

—The Hero's tagline from his reveal trailer.

The Hero's four alternate costumes.

The Hero in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a playable character and the main representative of the Dragon Quest series, being the third DLC character and the second to be part of the Fighters Pass. He was announced alongside fellow DLC newcomers Banjo & Kazooie at E3 2019, and was released on July 30th, 2019, where he was also made available for individual purchase for $5.99 USD, or downloaded automatically with the purchase of the Fighters Pass.

When the Hero originally began development, he was planned to be silent, similar to previous Dragon Quest protagonists. However, with the addition of voice acting in the Japanese version of Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition (as the localized version of Dragon Quest XI had voice acting from the beginning), plans were changed and voices for the Hero were added. As a result, each Hero has a different voice actor - Mitsugi Saiki for XI's Hero (reprising her role from Dragon Quest XI S), Nobuyuki Hiyama for III's Hero, Takeshi Kusao for IV's Hero, and Yuki Kaji for VIII's Hero.

Attributes

• Despite the name referring to a single hero, the Hero actually consists of multiple characters, with the XI's Hero being the default, and III's Hero, IV's Hero, and VIII's Hero as alternate costumes.
• He has a shield that can block projectiles, much like the Links' shields.
• His smash attacks occasionally act as critical hits, accompanied by the critical hit sound effect.
• His unique Fighter Ability is an MP Gauge that drains each time a special attack is used, with the max amount of MP being 100. The MP Gauge automatically recharges over time, though using standard attacks also fills it up.

Moveset

• His standard attack is a three-hit neutral attack, with the first two hits being slashes going straight up and straight down and the final hit having him swipe his sword inward.
• His dash attack is a jumping slash attack, similar to Link's.
• His forward tilt is a two-hit attack, a shield bash followed up by an outward slash. This attack can block projectiles, just like his shield.
• His up tilt is a single, strong upward arc slash.
• His down tilt is a grounded kick in front of him.
• His up smash is a single upward thrust, which resembles Marth's up smash.
• His forward smash is a two-handed downward slash in front of him, resembling Ike and Ganondorf's forward smashes.
• His down smash is a slash in front of him, followed by a slash behind him, resembling Marth and Link's down smashes.
• His neutral aerial is him swinging his sword around him, resembling Ike's neutral aerial.
• His forward aerial is him slashing downwards.
• His back aerial is a sword swipe behind his back, which resembles Marth's back aerial.
• His up aerial an upward kick.
• His down aerial is a stab downwards, which can meteor smash opponents if hit at the beginning.
• His pummel is kneeing the opponent.
• His up throw tosses his opponent into the air.
• His forward throw heaves his opponent forward.
• His back throw is a backwards judo throw, where he uses his leg to push the opponent behind him.
• His down throw is a slam into the ground.
• In conjunction with his new MP Gauge, the Hero has a plethora of magical attacks:
  • His neutral special is Frizz, but it can be charged up into Frizzle and Kafrizz.
  • His side special is Zap, but it can be charged up into Zapple and Kazap.
  • His up special is Woosh, but it can be charged up into Swoosh and Kaswoosh.
  • His down special is Command Selection, which brings up a random set of four spells each time it is used. To exit the menu, the player can press the shield button, and use it again to bring up a different set of spells. The different spells that Hero is able to use are:
    • Bang and Kaboom, both of which fire off an orb of energy that explodes upon contact with an opponent, with the latter being a larger explosion.
    • Sizz and Sizzle, both of which fire a spark that bursts into flames, with the latter covering more area with the flames.
    • Whack and Thwack, both of which have a random chance of KOing the opponent, the odds of which increase as the battle progresses. Thwack has more range than Whack.
    • Kamikazee, which acts as a powerful attack, but causes the Hero to self-destruct.
    • Magic Burst, which uses the Hero's remaining MP to create a devastating attack. The amount of MP the Hero has determines the effectiveness of the attack.
    • Snooze, which puts any opponents it hits to sleep.
    • Heal, which heals Hero's damage percentage.
    • Oomph, which can power up attacks for a limited amount of time.
    • Acceleratle, which increases the Hero's movement speed.
    • Bounce, which acts as a reflector. Other attacks can be used while Bounce is active. If two Heroes use Bounce, the projectile will eventually break Bounce.
    • Kaclang, which turns the Hero to metal, and makes him invulnerable to damage, but he cannot move.
    • Zoom, which has the Hero fly upwards to the top of the screen, before landing on the stage. Ceilings above the Hero will stop him from using the attack.
    • Hocus Pocus, which causes a random effect, be it good or bad.
    • Flame Slash and Kacrackle Slash, both of which have the Hero slash outwards, with the former dealing flame damage and the latter freezing opponents.
    • Hatchet Man, which has the Hero perform a powerful overhead slash.
    • Metal Slash, which instantly KOs a metal opponent, but deals low damage to non-metal opponents.
    • Psyche Up, which powers up the Hero's next attack, but doesn't go away if the attack misses.
• The Final Smash is Gigaslash, which has the other seven Dragon Quest heroes who are not playable, charging the Hero's sword with bolts of electricity.

Taunts

• The Hero raises his sword into the air.
• A Slime appears at the Hero's feet and hops, causing the Hero to lose his balance.

Trivia

• The Hero's tagline references the message shown when encountering a monster in many Dragon Quest games.
• In the alternate costume for IV's Hero, his Slime earring turns metal.
• Prior to patch 2.0.0 of Ultimate, there existed hidden data for future downloadable characters nicknamed "packun", "jack", and "brave"; "packun" referred to Piranha Plant, and "jack" referred to Joker, though, at the time, it was unclear as to who "brave" was referring to, though a Dragon Quest character was heavily speculated to be filling the slot. Hero's Japanese name eventually confirmed this, as 勇者 (Yūsha, 勇者) can be literally translated into English as "brave".
• The Hero is one of three characters to change weapons in his alternate costumes, with the other two being Cloud and Bayonetta.
  • XI's Hero wields the Supreme Sword of Light and Erdwin’s Shield.
  • III's Hero wields the Sword of Kings and Shield of Heroes.
  • IV's Hero wields the Zenithian Sword and Shield.
  • VIII's Hero wields the Dragovian King Sword and Dragovian shield.

Gallery

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  XI's Hero render.

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  III's Hero render.

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  IV's Hero render.

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  VIII's Hero render.

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  XI's Hero, as seen in the splash art of "Heroic Encounters", the character trailer for the Hero in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.