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.
That is true for KH1 Sora as at that time he isn't as offensively capable as he is in the later Kingdom Hearts game, but if Sora's gonna be a defensive fighter he should have more defensive options and counterattacks to make up for his lack of initiation capabilities, and he's significantly lacking in that. Not to mention that in the best fighting games a character being fun and effective takes precedence over accuracy of the lore.
why his move set is not good for smash, his attack system was even awkward in original KH, KH2 truly fixed his combo system i had far easier time destroy enemies with sora more in that game then first game, just he felt less janky, he was pure jank in original KH
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
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
I'm so glad Hallow Bastion is legal, it's such a nice stage and I love Kingdom Hearts & Kingdom Hearts music. I always counterpick it at locals if its not banned.
Hollow Bastion is such an awesome stage, and my mains benefit from it (Corrin LOVES this stage lol). I pick this stage to fight zoners or certain brawlers.
@@arianagrandebayo I wish they added more songs though for kingdom hearts like for example sinister shadows or 13th struggle or even the roxas boss theme from kh2fm
I dont agree at all as a sora main as i found the ultimate cheese on basically any map cant hit what you cant touch and soras side b is broken just get gud at not falling off the side of the map you can cancel jump after any side b Pikachu mains will understand sora alot better as playing pikachu you want to be slippery
Is it weird I wish down air/D-air has either super armor or invincibility with a multi hit down air/D-air instead of that 1 hit that feels ngl underwhelming and the reason y i wish D-air has something that makes u Unflinchable why? Because of 1 of his best khaki moves is pretty much useless and for a fast fall it's not even safe to use as a quick fall recovery
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
My case is kinda the opposite, i used to hate sora on release and hated his slow rythm. But after playing him for loosing a challenge i ended up enjoying him more than Byleth, wich was my favorite character
@@yerixglx9906 to me byleth is just bad not my style I do wish sora was faster though like a bit like let's say sora is like idk dr. Mario speed I wish he was similar to like for example marth/roy/lucina/chrom speed
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.
Same, I used to main cloud as a replacement for sora before he was even announced, and now that he's out I've been doing better than ever with him, even so far as to win multiple tourneys
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.
You can't call a fighting game that tries really hard to be balanced casual. Your explanation for things also made no sense. Sora's release time and it being a casual or competitive game makes nonsense connecting the two.
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.
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.
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.
Yup i play nothing but characters like that sora , chrom , bayo , sephiroth all while being called ass by my friends while i get cheesed out by their ZZS , Wario , Snake , PT , R.O.B
That’s pretty accurate to his original character though especially against bosses. A lot of the hardest challenges in KH (besides 1 and _BBS_ and Sora isn’t even in that game) rely on your ability to recognize patterns and attack as soon as your opponent makes a mistake. The better your opponent, the harder it is to find an opening
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.
@@ReconNarwhal That is pretty fast. It's one frame from being completely unreactable. If you're wondering why that is, it's because of input lag. You have a one frame notice to smash an input or just watch Sora pull a counter on you.
@@Manganization yes but reactable isn't frame 1, for any human. Even input delay aside, a normal person reacts anywhere from 12-16 frames (around 200-270 milliseconds, the average human reaction time). You'd be reacting after it had come out, whether it worked or not. If you then add Ultimate's native 5-6 frame offline input delay, you get 17-22 frames in which you're never reacting to anything.
@@sinfinite7516 it’s a slower counter that only works facing forward (also can’t be b reversed), but it kills really early, deflects projectiles (e.g. it will change ownership of link’s boomerang so it will hit link when it comes back), and it stops attacks altogether meaning that invincible options such as Banjo’s wonderwing can be countered
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)
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
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.
Very sad thing that the most requested characters (Ridley, King K. Rool, Banjo & Kazooie, and Sora) all ended up losing a lot of fans very quickly. Ridley has a decent kit but a mediocre recovery and a less than stealer defence that consistently puts him in low tier or low mid tier. King K. Rool is only really relevant as a meme pick or a designated WiFi character because he's just combo food for most of the cast. Banjo & Kazooie had the largest fall from grace because his moveset is just not that great in the grand scheme of things and he's a mostly honest character offline (there's even some debate on whether Banjo & Kazooie or Piranha Plant should be ranked as the worst DLC character in Ultimate). Sora, despite being a genuinely good character and often placed in high tier, just doesn't have the same sauce or cheese that the rest of FP2 has.
People forget how much metas can change over time. Just because sora is not some crazy insanely overpowered character doesn't mean that his kit isn't pretty insane
@@onetakehoovie5955 yeah. Mind you, when Steve came out, people thought he was just good, now look at him. Not saying Sora is gonna be the next Steve, but I think we are gonna see someone put a good amount of time into him and surprise everyone
Facts. I only play him because he is hard. I have never struggled to get good with a character as much as Sora. And I have main countless characters in this game. I'm getting better but it's gonna take a lot of time before I master Sora.
@@taelin-rh3wi you can hit your enemy instantly with the lightning if you spawn the clouds on them after knocking them up a bit if you can memorize the positioning then their in the air and ready to be finished. You should also watch a video on his hit boxes because he has more than most characters by a huge margin. Memorizing them will secure kos .
@@BrosBGaming Ya. I do that a lot as well. I've been playing more grounded lately since he whiffs so much in the air and gets blown up for it against certain characters because of his lack of range. Sword fighters heavily outrange him. Zoners make Soras life hell. Small character low profile everything. He's even combo food for brawlers. Heavy characters can one tap him with one good read. Life is so hard for Sora.
@@taelin-rh3wi actually the key is to play him in the air and just know his moves since he has an answer for everything. He can even walk an enemy of the stage with an endless 1 2 combo. He just takes constant effort but his ability to juggle someone from 0 to of the screen is very real once you know what your doing. Damage is irrelevant to sora since his knockback stays the same. Master his moves and combo them and you can force anyone to back off and juggle them till they give up.
@@taelin-rh3wi a good strategy is constant pressure. Fireball spam till they either rush you or jump. Of they rush 123 combo. If they jump, lightning or blizzard will catch since their jumping towards you.
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
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.
But my friends swear to God his recovery busted because they don't know how to edge guard him & cause they can't tap him off stage at 10% for a free kill
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”.
I have an answer: MYTHRA and STEVE. What Sora has to offer are combos on a disjointed character, something they do as well as having insane kill power.
@@ekh.123 Don't think there's a right side to Twitter. But Sora is a very high skill ceiling character with some pretty flashy combos. Just check out anything Opana does.
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 💪
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
Ironic,the Smash community had been begging Sakurai since Brawl to add in Sora fighting tooth and nail making petitions having a wholesome ending in Ultimate and what not finally he got in he's quickly forgotten about it makes all their hard work seem pointless like with Simon,Ridley,and Banjo Kazooie
@@albertthepeacock8020 sadly I 100% agree with you. I wanted Sora in Smash since Smash 4. It's truly a shame that these characters that were heavy requested were just push away. I personally think Sora is really good but man
@@nightsladerayx9145 Its like bruh the people who did all that work especially in the Smash ballot back in Smash 4 basically wasted Sakurai's time,money,and resources now we see the true colors of the Smash community can't believe the most highly requested character is overshadowed by Great Value Lego guy because he's from a popular franchise and also I think Sora is better represented in SSF2
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.
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.
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...
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
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.
My cousin and I double team as Sora and Cloud. Or Sora and another defensiv-heavy character. We like to use rhe strengths of each character to help the weaknesses of them. So i like to use the magic freeze to stop opponents while they smash the enemy off stage.
So true unfortunately. Whereas the non-requested characters like Byleth, Kazuya, & Steve, a lot of people I see play as them more than Sora surprisingly.
Well, there's a reason for that. Sure, everybody wants him, but - like was stated in the video - he was released three years into the game's lifespan. Most people aren't going to drop their mains they've put years into for a character that's extremely different and doesn't garner immediate results in competitive play.
@@BlazenPowers A lot of people still do play Sora. It just happens to be casually. Which is a LOT bigger or a demographic that people think it is. In reality, the competitive side of Smash makes up a smaller crowd. And the top Smash players of the world are a VERY small minority.
@@darienb1127 You see that's just casual. In casuals, everyone plays everyone. According to competitive play where you are playing to win, not a lot of top players are playing Sora. Online wise is different compare to offline where reaction exist and none of that input lag crap.
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".
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.
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
Everyone was just expecting KH 2 or 3 version of Sora when people was wishing for him. Not KH 1 Sora. Think about it if you take away the gimmicks that Sora has in 2 and 3 he will plays like KH 1.
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.
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.
As a Hero main who gets some flack occasionally, I agree. I play all kinds of characters, but Hero is just my favorite. His kit is fun to me, and I love Akira Toriyama's artstyle.
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.
@Pain honestly above comment is outdated. Didn't play smash for months and preferring Sephiroth instead of the dweeb 💀 Maybe should also mention I had to stop attending locals bc of something out of my control that'll hopefully be resolved this year, I wasn't a free win back then, tho prob would be now but don't care much 😅
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 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!
“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
@@yourheroes5874 Wadi? Didnt hear it before lol, nice. Although you do say "so many people" and I still only see Kameme. Who else are you talking about?
@@PikablueRay yup and Wadi heavily believes Sora is top ten potential with notable players like ESAM and Zomba backing him. Notable players who are using Sora are Unleashed, DTP, Alastair, C-Live and now joing Hikaru. Many of these players have been popping a lot in locals and showed their skills in majors. Believe it or not most of these players actually discover new techs which are adopted by Kameme and Wadi. Although it seems that the community of Sora is small atm, it is growing especially since many players actually cover the potential of Sora and explaining why he’s a good character
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
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
I haven't played Ult in a couple years. I am considering picking it back up purely to optimize the hell out of Sora and prove that this character is cracked.
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
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!
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
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.
Here's the thing: Sora isn't bad. His playstyle and timing is hard to get used to compared to other fighters. which means most people give up on using him before they get his playstyle down. The only ones who genuinely play Sora for long enough to get used to him are the Die-hard fans of KH who are also new players. Most whom don't play competitively. Which is lowering his reputation even more causing many to not even try using him. His status as DLC does not help him here. Sora is an fighter who is best used in the air, off stage,combos and in edgegarding and not on the stage which is the opposite of every sword fighter and most top fighters which is why competitive players like him even less as he is very different from almost any playstyle they are used to. TLDR Sora has a Lot of potential but no one actually puts in the effort to properly use him. But with time may become meta.
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'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
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.
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
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
Yeah, waste of DLC pick especially this late into the game. The most expensive character from a licensed franchise, and yet ironically he feels bland compared to the other DLC characters.
@@Eddycut Okay, buddy😂 If that's the best we're getting for the most overhyped character compared to others like Steve, Kazuya, Sephiroth, or Banjo. Then that's kind of disappointing with the limited amount of moves we're given compared to others like Hero.
@@doclouis4236 lmao more over hyped than banjo? Literally a character nobody uses even less than sora 🤣 Also better to have an honest high tier character than a dumbass rng character like hero lil bro
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
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.
That is true for KH1 Sora as at that time he isn't as offensively capable as he is in the later Kingdom Hearts game, but if Sora's gonna be a defensive fighter he should have more defensive options and counterattacks to make up for his lack of initiation capabilities, and he's significantly lacking in that.
Not to mention that in the best fighting games a character being fun and effective takes precedence over accuracy of the lore.
@@gauntlet8026 PERIOD!!!
same with Kazuya
Nothing defensive about this pan infinite lmao
why his move set is not good for smash, his attack system was even awkward in original KH, KH2 truly fixed his combo system i had far easier time destroy enemies with sora more in that game then first game, just he felt less janky, he was pure jank in original KH
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
He's still extremely popular in casual play though
Rip nair lol
His best move is nair and people eventually adopted to that. Also his recovery is ass
I still say ike is top tier, but he’s one of those characters that are figured out now
Ike is very easy to counter, IMO. He was OP when nobody knew how to fight him, lol.
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
I'm so glad Hallow Bastion is legal, it's such a nice stage and I love Kingdom Hearts & Kingdom Hearts music. I always counterpick it at locals if its not banned.
Hollow Bastion is such an awesome stage, and my mains benefit from it (Corrin LOVES this stage lol). I pick this stage to fight zoners or certain brawlers.
@@arianagrandebayo I wish they added more songs though for kingdom hearts like for example sinister shadows or 13th struggle or even the roxas boss theme from kh2fm
@@Spyder-Marth I just pick hollow bastion because it's the closest we can get to dive to the heart stage we can get
@@bruh_ruok4081 cmon man. Gotta put respect on Roxas' boss theme, The Other Promise
Vars: "No one plays Sora"
Kameme: **proceeds to make top 2 at a major with solo Sora**
As a Sora main, I have never been so offended by something I 100% agree with
Honestly lol
I dont agree at all as a sora main as i found the ultimate cheese on basically any map cant hit what you cant touch and soras side b is broken just get gud at not falling off the side of the map you can cancel jump after any side b
Pikachu mains will understand sora alot better as playing pikachu you want to be slippery
Same here hahah
@@roxaskinghearts I have little Idea what our talking about but ok then
Is it weird I wish down air/D-air has either super armor or invincibility with a multi hit down air/D-air instead of that 1 hit that feels ngl underwhelming and the reason y i wish D-air has something that makes u Unflinchable why? Because of 1 of his best khaki moves is pretty much useless and for a fast fall it's not even safe to use as a quick fall recovery
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
Best of luck, brother. 👍
I salute you my friend :) do it for all KH fans!
Best of luck, man. Love the enthusiasm
please make onin being remember for losing against sora
I'll be rooting for you
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.
My case is kinda the opposite, i used to hate sora on release and hated his slow rythm. But after playing him for loosing a challenge i ended up enjoying him more than Byleth, wich was my favorite character
@@yerixglx9906 that interesting and also nice to hear you never know who your main actually is never thought I’d be good playing with pit
@@yerixglx9906 to me byleth is just bad not my style I do wish sora was faster though like a bit like let's say sora is like idk dr. Mario speed I wish he was similar to like for example marth/roy/lucina/chrom speed
Nah.
@@bruh_ruok4081I feel like the Smash team was trying to make Sora faithful to KH 1, where he was more limited than the other games.
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.
Same, I used to main cloud as a replacement for sora before he was even announced, and now that he's out I've been doing better than ever with him, even so far as to win multiple tourneys
@@Eddycut dope bro I was also a cloud main as a place holder for Sora since I experienced KH before Any FF games
Pretty much. I think if you cap out what sora can do, in theory you could almost 0 to death most of the characters.
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.
also to one shot Nick Brawl.
You can't call a fighting game that tries really hard to be balanced casual. Your explanation for things also made no sense. Sora's release time and it being a casual or competitive game makes nonsense connecting the two.
@@RighteousnessWillPrevail did you read the comment with your eyes open?
@@puffpurp Your comment was not constructive. So you gain no ground over my previous comment. If your going to say something. Please be constructive.
@@RighteousnessWillPrevail im sorry your mother named you timothy
Kameme after watching this video: "And I took that personally"
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.
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.
Ooof. That means no more updates to smash ult? 🫠 oof our boy got the short end of the keyblade
@@zephyrias Not unless Ult gets a port of somekind and they return to update some things, like a smash 5.5
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.
Yup i play nothing but characters like that sora , chrom , bayo , sephiroth all while being called ass by my friends while i get cheesed out by their ZZS , Wario , Snake , PT , R.O.B
That’s pretty accurate to his original character though especially against bosses. A lot of the hardest challenges in KH (besides 1 and _BBS_ and Sora isn’t even in that game) rely on your ability to recognize patterns and attack as soon as your opponent makes a mistake. The better your opponent, the harder it is to find an opening
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.
It’s really not that fast. It comes out frame 7
@@ReconNarwhal That is pretty fast. It's one frame from being completely unreactable. If you're wondering why that is, it's because of input lag. You have a one frame notice to smash an input or just watch Sora pull a counter on you.
@@Manganization yes but reactable isn't frame 1, for any human. Even input delay aside, a normal person reacts anywhere from 12-16 frames (around 200-270 milliseconds, the average human reaction time).
You'd be reacting after it had come out, whether it worked or not. If you then add Ultimate's native 5-6 frame offline input delay, you get 17-22 frames in which you're never reacting to anything.
I thought his counter was ass compared to other counters but maybe I heard wrong
@@sinfinite7516 it’s a slower counter that only works facing forward (also can’t be b reversed), but it kills really early, deflects projectiles (e.g. it will change ownership of link’s boomerang so it will hit link when it comes back), and it stops attacks altogether meaning that invincible options such as Banjo’s wonderwing can be countered
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)
Ultimate nuttered MK so freakin hard
Sora at least has projectiles, though.
Basically, he is skill-based instead of steve’s brainlessness
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
then kameme said "hold my beer"
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.
ridley too, don't forget ridley.
Except sora is high tier. People just suck with him
@@Eddycut eh. fair.
Very sad thing that the most requested characters (Ridley, King K. Rool, Banjo & Kazooie, and Sora) all ended up losing a lot of fans very quickly. Ridley has a decent kit but a mediocre recovery and a less than stealer defence that consistently puts him in low tier or low mid tier. King K. Rool is only really relevant as a meme pick or a designated WiFi character because he's just combo food for most of the cast. Banjo & Kazooie had the largest fall from grace because his moveset is just not that great in the grand scheme of things and he's a mostly honest character offline (there's even some debate on whether Banjo & Kazooie or Piranha Plant should be ranked as the worst DLC character in Ultimate). Sora, despite being a genuinely good character and often placed in high tier, just doesn't have the same sauce or cheese that the rest of FP2 has.
His kit is just boring af, doesn’t have any of the cool stuff he had in kh2 and after.
I've been playing Sora more and more as time goes on. I feel like he has a lot of untapped potential.
People forget how much metas can change over time. Just because sora is not some crazy insanely overpowered character doesn't mean that his kit isn't pretty insane
True, definitely underrated. I have a mean pocket sora. I think he is fun to play.
@@onetakehoovie5955 yeah. Mind you, when Steve came out, people thought he was just good, now look at him.
Not saying Sora is gonna be the next Steve, but I think we are gonna see someone put a good amount of time into him and surprise everyone
No
@@onetakehoovie5955 hes fine but far from an insane tool kit, too many ppl can do his job easier and more effective
Sora is just hard. He plays entirely different from any other character but he has attacks for every situation with mastery.
Facts. I only play him because he is hard. I have never struggled to get good with a character as much as Sora. And I have main countless characters in this game. I'm getting better but it's gonna take a lot of time before I master Sora.
@@taelin-rh3wi you can hit your enemy instantly with the lightning if you spawn the clouds on them after knocking them up a bit if you can memorize the positioning then their in the air and ready to be finished. You should also watch a video on his hit boxes because he has more than most characters by a huge margin. Memorizing them will secure kos .
@@BrosBGaming Ya. I do that a lot as well. I've been playing more grounded lately since he whiffs so much in the air and gets blown up for it against certain characters because of his lack of range. Sword fighters heavily outrange him. Zoners make Soras life hell. Small character low profile everything. He's even combo food for brawlers. Heavy characters can one tap him with one good read. Life is so hard for Sora.
@@taelin-rh3wi actually the key is to play him in the air and just know his moves since he has an answer for everything. He can even walk an enemy of the stage with an endless 1 2 combo. He just takes constant effort but his ability to juggle someone from 0 to of the screen is very real once you know what your doing. Damage is irrelevant to sora since his knockback stays the same. Master his moves and combo them and you can force anyone to back off and juggle them till they give up.
@@taelin-rh3wi a good strategy is constant pressure. Fireball spam till they either rush you or jump. Of they rush 123 combo. If they jump, lightning or blizzard will catch since their jumping towards you.
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
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.
I would've said he's the ultimate glass canon, but then there's Sephiroth
@@Spyder-Marth nah, his OWA just carry his survivability.
@@Spyder-Marth also g&w
But my friends swear to God his recovery busted because they don't know how to edge guard him & cause they can't tap him off stage at 10% for a free kill
@@BlueAizu_ Colddddd 😂😂😂
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”.
I have an answer: MYTHRA and STEVE. What Sora has to offer are combos on a disjointed character, something they do as well as having insane kill power.
No sauce? Dude is like a top 3 combo character. He's hard as hell to optimize but the dude has some of the most satisfying kill setups in the game.
13:18
@@Capta1nTD Just seems to be a common opinion that Sora is a corny, lame character. That, or I've been browsing the wrong side of Smash Twitter.
@@ekh.123 Don't think there's a right side to Twitter. But Sora is a very high skill ceiling character with some pretty flashy combos. Just check out anything Opana does.
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 💪
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
Still a Sora main til this day. I just think he's really fun but sadly not many people play as him.
Ironic,the Smash community had been begging Sakurai since Brawl to add in Sora fighting tooth and nail making petitions having a wholesome ending in Ultimate and what not finally he got in he's quickly forgotten about it makes all their hard work seem pointless like with Simon,Ridley,and Banjo Kazooie
@@albertthepeacock8020 sadly I 100% agree with you. I wanted Sora in Smash since Smash 4. It's truly a shame that these characters that were heavy requested were just push away. I personally think Sora is really good but man
i love being a sora secondary main and i love playing him but yeah he’s not great
@@TDay-uk6dq that's fair
@@nightsladerayx9145 Its like bruh the people who did all that work especially in the Smash ballot back in Smash 4 basically wasted Sakurai's time,money,and resources now we see the true colors of the Smash community can't believe the most highly requested character is overshadowed by Great Value Lego guy because he's from a popular franchise and also I think Sora is better represented in SSF2
“hopefully not too long” aka 2 days we got our wish
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
Hopefully people are going to see Sora’s potential this weekend. Kameme is coming to a big tournament in the U.S. this week
@@Sergio-wc1wn what’s the tourneys name and when is it?
@@floufusion1519 Glitch Infinite, happening this entire weekend
He isnt bad but his hype train was derailed long ago and his play style isnt that fun lr as effective to most ppl
After this video, Kameme goes to get 2nd at a Major tournament...
Coincidence? I think not!
Just when you post this video , Kameme have this insane run with Sora looool
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'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.
Coming to this after Kameme’s HUGE run at Glitch is amazing 😭
Who’s here after Kameme’s run at Glitch Regen?
Me playing sora to this day: 👀
Yessir
We just not gunna talk about Kameme? Dude got 2nd at Glitch Regen with basically only Sora
I want to have a secondary and not just rely on Jigglypuff
That’s why I like how Sora made it
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 really think you get something out of having played KH 2. Everything in smash feels like a QuickTime
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...
i play sora just with my friends and they swear that sora is banned for some reason.
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
I stopped playing Sora when I got him to elite smash lmao, I don't wanna lose it again 😂
Same, although I still play with him. Well; not on elite smash, I'm not risking to lose all the effort it took for that GSP, I'm not a masochist.
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
Sora's lightning and ice (neutral B),are great edge guarding tools if used properly
And fire is fun for spacing
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.
I feel like I optimized Sora on day 3 and couldn't do much more with him. His skill ceiling is average in my opinion.
My cousin and I double team as Sora and Cloud. Or Sora and another defensiv-heavy character.
We like to use rhe strengths of each character to help the weaknesses of them. So i like to use the magic freeze to stop opponents while they smash the enemy off stage.
@@BBB-pe3ip IDK. Please Specify what you optimized. You might need a bit more than just combos and such.
good thing I didn’t look into tournaments before I became a Sora main
Everyone: Wants Sora
Also everyone: doesn't play Sora
So true unfortunately. Whereas the non-requested characters like Byleth, Kazuya, & Steve, a lot of people I see play as them more than Sora surprisingly.
Well, there's a reason for that. Sure, everybody wants him, but - like was stated in the video - he was released three years into the game's lifespan. Most people aren't going to drop their mains they've put years into for a character that's extremely different and doesn't garner immediate results in competitive play.
That's why we shouldn't be wishing for characters that we really not gonna play. Talk about waste of space.
@@BlazenPowers A lot of people still do play Sora. It just happens to be casually. Which is a LOT bigger or a demographic that people think it is. In reality, the competitive side of Smash makes up a smaller crowd. And the top Smash players of the world are a VERY small minority.
@@darienb1127 You see that's just casual. In casuals, everyone plays everyone. According to competitive play where you are playing to win, not a lot of top players are playing Sora. Online wise is different compare to offline where reaction exist and none of that input lag crap.
Hey just came here from watching Glitch and a Sora (Kameme, JPN) just won 2nd place!
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 love how the opposite happened to Steve
People definitely believed it at first tho. Like basically every new dlc. Nobody knew the counterplay.. so
@@BlueAizu_ That’s not true
@@BlueAizu_ You did. Also you forgot about Rivals of Aether
@@djandjb1 What does RoA have to do with anything here lmao
Kameme is showing the community how effective and usable is
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 play Sora because my cat that died 3 years ago was named Sora
Why no one plays Sora:
Kameme at Glitch: 2nd place with Sora
Heh, algorithm. Seeing this after seeing Kameme whooping ass with Sora.
This video feels a little bit outdated just after 2 days
I'm a sora main and this is so accurate, I love him nonetheless and will keep maining him till the day I die
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
Just like every other character in the NO ONE PLAYS series
@@yoder6162
Looks at Kazuya and Steve
Okay
@@ZeeBlueShork Kazuya doesn't have an episode. Steve was on EVERYONE PLAYS series
Everyone was just expecting KH 2 or 3 version of Sora when people was wishing for him. Not KH 1 Sora. Think about it if you take away the gimmicks that Sora has in 2 and 3 he will plays like KH 1.
@@ZeeBlueShork Goofy
Just because of this video I’m going to dedicate my game time to learning sora as of now
Interesting this video being made considering recent tournament results with Kameme at Glitch Regen.
“Very low skill floor, but a very high skill ceiling”
THE RETURN OF KIRBYISM
I hate dlc characters but sora was the perfect finale for the series. Nothing couldve top that.
Waluigi
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.
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.
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.
As a Hero main who gets some flack occasionally, I agree. I play all kinds of characters, but Hero is just my favorite. His kit is fun to me, and I love Akira Toriyama's artstyle.
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.
@Pain honestly above comment is outdated. Didn't play smash for months and preferring Sephiroth instead of the dweeb 💀
Maybe should also mention I had to stop attending locals bc of something out of my control that'll hopefully be resolved this year, I wasn't a free win back then, tho prob would be now but don't care much 😅
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
imo, he's high tier to me but i can see why people don't see him that way
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!
I'm a sora main and I'm so grateful you made this. Thanks bro.
“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
100% agreed on underrated
@@PikablueRay not to mention we now have Wadi bring a Sora main. So many players are now using Sora more than ever
@@yourheroes5874 Wadi? Didnt hear it before lol, nice.
Although you do say "so many people" and I still only see Kameme.
Who else are you talking about?
@@PikablueRay yup and Wadi heavily believes Sora is top ten potential with notable players like ESAM and Zomba backing him. Notable players who are using Sora are Unleashed, DTP, Alastair, C-Live and now joing Hikaru. Many of these players have been popping a lot in locals and showed their skills in majors. Believe it or not most of these players actually discover new techs which are adopted by Kameme and Wadi. Although it seems that the community of Sora is small atm, it is growing especially since many players actually cover the potential of Sora and explaining why he’s a good character
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
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
I haven't played Ult in a couple years. I am considering picking it back up purely to optimize the hell out of Sora and prove that this character is cracked.
Who's here after watching Kameme's Sora?
me
👋🏽
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
Meister getting the confetti after that win is the single greatest Smash tourney memory I will ever have. It's so perfect.
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!
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
And here I thought that Sora was a popular character at a Roy & Wolf level
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.
Mods will propeller it forward
Here's the thing: Sora isn't bad. His playstyle and timing is hard to get used to compared to other fighters. which means most people give up on using him before they get his playstyle down. The only ones who genuinely play Sora for long enough to get used to him are the Die-hard fans of KH who are also new players. Most whom don't play competitively. Which is lowering his reputation even more causing many to not even try using him. His status as DLC does not help him here. Sora is an fighter who is best used in the air, off stage,combos and in edgegarding and not on the stage which is the opposite of every sword fighter and most top fighters which is why competitive players like him even less as he is very different from almost any playstyle they are used to.
TLDR Sora has a Lot of potential but no one actually puts in the effort to properly use him. But with time may become meta.
Thanks kameme
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'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
I think the biggest problem is that floaty combo swordfighter isn’t a combination most people would be attracted to.
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.
As a Sora main I would like to say, never cook again or else you will be sent to darkness…
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
Yeah banjo is really bad competitively and seems like a waste.
Although bear and bird DO do well online
I don’t get how so many people can be upset with Sora when he was the #1 character the fanbase wanted.
it's not that he's here i think it's that his moveset isn't ideal for those people but he's my main regardless lol
@@_Lostinthesky his moveset is mostly for spammers I have played against some Sora players online and they spam the same moves over and over again
@@SamuelJohnsonYT that’s my sister lol
@@_Lostinthesky Sora is a terrible character in smash bros anyway
@@SamuelJohnsonYT oh fr? I’ve always seen him pretty high on tier lists… it’s a shame
Absolutely tragic, the character we collectively and a lot of us individually wanted most and we aren't appreciating him much.
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
*still mains Sora regardless of competitive standing*
Sora was the perfect ending to Smash Ultimate
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
Yeah, waste of DLC pick especially this late into the game. The most expensive character from a licensed franchise, and yet ironically he feels bland compared to the other DLC characters.
yea, twas sad to see ridley in such a state.
SORA!! sora! I mean sora!
@@doclouis4236 nah Sora was the best dlc pick ever. People just suck and don't want to spend the time learning him. Btw he's a high tier
@@Eddycut Okay, buddy😂
If that's the best we're getting for the most overhyped character compared to others like Steve, Kazuya, Sephiroth, or Banjo. Then that's kind of disappointing with the limited amount of moves we're given compared to others like Hero.
@@doclouis4236 lmao more over hyped than banjo? Literally a character nobody uses even less than sora 🤣
Also better to have an honest high tier character than a dumbass rng character like hero lil bro
Ya'll arent using sora correctly... all I'm saying is up air into fair/bair right away. Do what u will with this info.
[Kameme has entered the chat]
What a perfectly timed video after KAMEMEs OD performance!!
Day one sora main and I still play him I think he's a great character
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