How Kingdom Hearts' Sora poetically made it into Smash

This story about elevator pitches, boiled down, in 1:48 minutes.

What's the fuss?

A recent interview reveals how one of gaming's most beloved characters got into Nintendo's ultimate fighting game, being eerily reminiscent to how that character's whole series began in the first place.

The situation

If there was only one video game ever that will remain a household name for all eternity, there's a good chance it would be Super Smash Bros..

Originally released in 1999 for the Nintendo 64, the fighting game featuring all of Nintendo's most famous characters (as well as some external ones) has been a smash hit every iteration.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the latest game in the series, is a love letter to the franchise with every single character ever featured in the series being playable.

The last ever character released for this game was revealed to be Sora, the protagonist from Japanese action RPG series Kingdom Hearts.

Kingdom Hearts is a special series to many, as it uniquely combines the worlds of Disney and Final Fantasy.
The creator of Super Smash Bros. revealed that getting the most requested character into the game was the result of a chance meeting with a Disney executive at an awards show.

Boiling it down

The way that Sora got into Super Smash Bros. is quite poetic, since a similar event occurred that brought his series Kingdom Hearts into existence.

A chance elevator interaction between a Disney executive and a video game producer led to the birth of the series - a "leap of faith" as regarded by Disney.
Since then, the franchise has become extremely successful with over 30 million copies sold across all of its games.

It is a huge honour to get into Super Smash Bros., especially from outside Nintendo's backyard.

For the character in question to take one of the limited spots available for non-Nintendo characters, it signifies that they have made a massively positive impact with gamers and are even recognizable outside of gaming.

Thank you so much for reading! Please consider subscribing if you enjoy stories like this delivered directly to you every Tuesday and Friday morning!

Any and all feedback is valid and welcome.