Sakurai Presents Pyra / Mythra for Fighters Pass Vol. 2

72 days since the presentation and release of Sephiroth as a fighter, Sakurai has showcased the upcoming fighting duo of Pyra and Mythra from Xenoblade Chronicles 2 as the next downloadable fighter for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Contrary to his previous presentation, Sakurai presented Pyra and Mythra within the confines of his home once again. A state of emergency had been declared in Japan due to the coronavirus pandemic at the time that this presentation was recorded, which prevented Sakurai from being able to visit his studio to record.

The Pyra and Mythra duo is the second representative of the Xenoblade Chronicles series after Shulk, who was released as a fighter in Super Smash Bros. 4. While Shulk originates from the original Xenoblade Chronicles game, Pyra and Mythra are from its sequel. Even though Rex is the main character of Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Sakurai noted that it's already chaotic with 8 Ice Climbers battling at once, so he opted for Pyra / Mythra who were much easier to create.

As they appear in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Pyra and Mythra have a gimmick similar to how the characters Sheik and Zelda functioned in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl; in other words, both sets of characters were able to swap between themselves during the course of the game by using their respective down special moves. Sheik and Zelda were expanded to have their own character slot each in later games, and could no longer switch between themselves. However, Pyra and Mythra now inherit this ability after it was absent during Super Smash Bros. 4.

Pyra and Mythra have generally similar movesets in Ultimate, but with differences in speed and damage output, as well as a difference in special moves. Mythra is all about attack speed and agility, being able to perform their moves quite quickly while sacrificing high damage output in her moves. On the flipside, Pyra is slower both in the air and on the ground, and does not have as many options for recovery as Mythra does. The main advantage that Pyra has over Mythra is that her moves deal more damage and have higher potential for KOing opponents. While sticking to just one of the characters is certainly viable, swapping between the two wherever and whenever they are needed can allow players to take advantage of both of their strengths and weaknesses.

The stage that arrives with Pyra / Mythra is called Cloud Sea of Alrest. In its standard form, the battling will take place on Gramps, the Titan that initially serves as Rex's home while he works as a Salvager, and before he eventually meets Pyra and becomes a Driver. Gramps will occasionally move his head in different directions, which changes the layout of the stage and can have ramifications on recovering if unprepared for them. The stage also features guest appearances from other characters from Xenoblade Chronicles 2, as well as other Titans from the game roaming in the background. The battlefield and omega versions of this stage feature a floating platform with engines, as Sakurai didn't want to shrink Gramps to meet his needs.

With Pyra and Mythra's inclusion comes a new assortment of songs from Xenoblade Chronicles 2 that can be played on any stage from the Xenoblade Chronicles series, being Gaur Plains and Cloud Sea of Alrest. With this in mind, songs from Xenoblade Chronicles 1 can also be played on Cloud Sea of Alrest. The 16 new songs that arrive with Pyra / Mythra (with remixes denoted with asterisks) are:

• *Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Medley
• Argentum
• A Ship in a stormy Sea
• Exploration
• Crossing Swords
• Incoming!
• Gormott
• *Tiger! Tiger!
• Death Match with Torna
• *Counterattack
• You Will Recall Our Names
• Driver Vs
• Mor Ardain - Roaming the Wastes -
• Bringer of Chaos! Ultimate
• Praetor Amalthus - The Acting God -
• Battle!!/Torna

This update will also bring 4 new downloadable Mii Fighter Costumes available to be purchased, being:

• Hunter Equipment (Swordfighter, from Monster Hunter)
• Rathalos Equipment (Swordfighter, from Monster Hunter)
• Felyne (Hat, from Monster Hunter)
• Arthur (Swordfighter, from Ghosts and Goblins)

Pyra and Mythra will launch later today, March 4th, for $5.99 USD.

Credits:
Editing: @Sari
Graphics: @Zerp

 

First, I love the way they look and play. I'll probably pick them up as maybe not my primary main, but definitely in my roster of characters I play.

Second, for time reference, the State of Emergency in reference was probably January 7th, 2021. (There was one in April of 2020 in Japan too, but that wouldn't have been the one in question here.) They looked mostly finished in the presentation that Sakurai gave (at least no obvious unfinished part), so these last two months they've probably been working on finishing up another fighter. Obviously there's no way of knowing for sure their progress, but it sure does seem like they're on schedule to finish long before the original Dec 2021 placeholder. I'm guessing we'll see the next reveal and release Summer and then Fall to finish it off, unless they really make progress and have some sort of finishing E3 double reveal type thing, which the last one they did was pretty hype.

Excited to play Pyra and Mythra later today!

 

CRASH LIVES ON!

 

Fun fact: with the release of the Hunter equipment and Rathalos equipment, the SSB Hoodie and Lloyd Irving costumes (both of which are from Wave 3) are the only DLC Mii Fighter costumes from SSB4 to not be in Ultimate in any way.

There is still hope for Lloyd, but I personally think they are saving the DLC costume for a later time.

As for the Aegis girls, they seem quite exciting to play!
They look like what Zelda & Sheik was trying to be in Melee/Brawl, but the dynamic seems like it actually works in execution this time.

 

First, I love the way they look and play. I'll probably pick them up as maybe not my primary main, but definitely in my roster of characters I play.

Second, for time reference, the State of Emergency in reference was probably January 7th, 2021. (There was one in April of 2020 in Japan too, but that wouldn't have been the one in question here.) They looked mostly finished in the presentation that Sakurai gave (at least no obvious unfinished part), so these last two months they've probably been working on finishing up another fighter. Obviously there's no way of knowing for sure their progress, but it sure does seem like they're on schedule to finish long before the original Dec 2021 placeholder. I'm guessing we'll see the next reveal and release Summer and then Fall to finish it off, unless they really make progress and have some sort of finishing E3 double reveal type thing, which the last one they did was pretty hype.

Excited to play Pyra and Mythra later today!

To be more specific, the greater Tokyo area is under a State of Emergency until March 23rd and has been in affect since shortly after the start of the new year after cases exploded following New Year’s celebrations. That being said, the city of Tokyo had seen conditions like this for over a year. My buddy works at a company and he’s been working from home since the end of January 2020. He has only been to his office like four times since this whole thing started at the beginning of January 2020.

 

Thank GOD Elma and KOS-MOS survived...

now all they need is an announcement of more DLC-

“we only got two more presentations to go”

...well ****.

 

Why were Arthur and Geno not deluxe costumes? People were enjoying them too much so they had to go away? "Oh, gotta save more dev time for the anime swords"...

CRASH LIVES ON!

... were you expecting him as a costume or something?

 

Highlight of the presentation was Arthur costume. As a huge GnG fan and Capcom content in general; this made me beyond happy. Salty though at the Deconfirmation of Monster Hunter but hopefully we get Chun-li, Dante, Amaterasu, Phoenix, or maybe even Morrigan as a replacement. Not a Xenoblade fan in the slightest so all the content sort of went by my head but I still enjoyed it. They look very fun and I’m a bit more positive about this stage. I originally didn’t like it.

 

Fun fact: with the release of the Hunter equipment and Rathalos equipment, the SSB Hoodie and Lloyd Irving costumes (both of which are from Wave 3) are the only DLC Mii Fighter costumes from SSB4 to not be in Ultimate in any way.

There is still hope for Lloyd, but I personally think they are saving the DLC costume for a later time.

As for the Aegis girls, they seem quite exciting to play!
They look like what Zelda & Sheik was trying to be in Melee/Brawl, but the dynamic seems like it actually works in execution this time.

I will kill for that hoodie

 

Why were Arthur and Geno not deluxe costumes? People were enjoying them too much so they had to go away? "Oh, gotta save more dev time for the anime swords"...


... were you expecting him as a costume or something?

I WAS WORRIED!!!!!!

 

I WAS WORRIED!!!!!!

I mean, there was hardly any chance this presentation would have any effect on him anyway.

 

Why were Arthur and Geno not deluxe costumes? People were enjoying them too much so they had to go away? "Oh, gotta save more dev time for the anime swords"...


... were you expecting him as a costume or something?

Why would Arthur be a deluxe costume? Deluxe costumes are costumes that change the character basically into someone else entirely, like Sans, Cuphead, etc. Arthur's just a dude in a suit of armor, nothing that can't be accomplished by a Mii costume and a Mii. Geno though, sure I'll give you that one, but they just ported the costume over as it was from Smash 4.

If you're asking why neither got music, then who knows. So far, only 2 Indie costumes have gotten music, nothing else.

 

Why would Arthur be a deluxe costume? Deluxe costumes are costumes that change the character basically into someone else entirely, like Sans, Cuphead, etc. Arthur's just a dude in a suit of armor, nothing that can't be accomplished by a Mii costume and a Mii. Geno though, sure I'll give you that one, but they just ported the costume over as it was from Smash 4.

Mario's just a dude in overalls so why can't he just be a Mii? Why can't Link be a Mii, or any other human character for that matter? Any character who isn't a deluxe is just going to be noticeably bootleg at the end of the day... so basically you're just advocating for less effort... nice.

Not to get too serious about a trivial matter, but your logic is just flawed because a humanoid character like Vault Boy got a deluxe while Tails and Knuckles just got ugly hats... there is no rhyme or reason to it like you're trying to pretend. Vault Boy is literally worse than Arthur in that you could pretty much make a 100% accurate Vault Boy Mii head; the fact that he was a deluxe literally just destroys your argument.

 

Mario's just a dude in overalls so why can't he just be a Mii? Why can't Link be a Mii, or any other human character for that matter? Any character who isn't a deluxe is just going to be noticeably bootleg at the end of the day... so basically you're just advocating for less effort... nice.

Not to get too serious about a trivial matter, but your logic is just flawed because a humanoid character like Vault Boy got a deluxe while Tails and Knuckles just got ugly hats... there is no rhyme or reason to it like you're trying to pretend. Vault Boy is literally worse than Arthur in that you could pretty much make a 100% accurate Vault Boy Mii head; the fact that he was a deluxe literally just destroys your argument.

That's not the point. The community, not I, has decided that the term "Deluxe Mii" is basically akin to a mascot suit, like you'd see in Disneyland. Ask literally anyone here on this site what they consider a "Deluxe Mii" to be and they'd tell you the same 4: "Sans, Cuphead, Vault Boy, and Bomberman", with maybe some difference between the first and last 2, since the first 2 came with music.


I didn't make up the term "Deluxe Mii", that's this community's deal, so if you have problems with it, take it up with the people who make up this kinda stuff.

Regardless, Arthur isn't a character where a mascot head fits, he's a dude in a set of armor. Vault Boy fits as a mascot costume, he's got an exaggeratedly large head and overtly cartoonish features, he's quite literally a company mascot with Vault Boy mascot costumes in the Fallout universe, while Arthur is just a man in armor.

 

That's not the point. The community, not I, has decided that the term "Deluxe Mii" is basically akin to a mascot suit, like you'd see in Disneyland. Ask literally anyone here on this site what they consider a "Deluxe Mii" to be and they'd tell you the same 4: "Sans, Cuphead, Vault Boy, and Bomberman", with maybe some difference between the first and last 2, since the first 2 came with music.


I didn't make up the term "Deluxe Mii", that's this community's deal, so if you have problems with it, take it up with the people who make up this kinda stuff.

Regardless, Arthur isn't a character where a mascot head fits, he's a dude in a set of armor. Vault Boy fits as a mascot costume, he's got an exaggeratedly large head and overtly cartoonish features, he's quite literally a company mascot with Vault Boy mascot costumes in the Fallout universe, while Arthur is just a man in armor.

When did I ever once say you made up the term deluxe Mii? I literally said twice that Vault Boy is a "deluxe"...

Arthur has a unique and cartoonish enough head that a deluxe could suffice... I fail to understand why you would want less effort on something. God forbid he actually looks like himself instead of a Mii. We didn't get any deluxe at all so why are you so against it? I don't understand why you would want a character to look less accurate given the option.

 

When did I ever once say you made up the term deluxe Mii? I literally said twice that Vault Boy is a "deluxe"...

Arthur has a unique and cartoonish enough head that a deluxe could suffice... I fail to understand why you would want less effort on something. God forbid he actually looks like himself instead of a Mii.

The same could be said of every single Mii costume of a humanoid character that we've gotten. Tifa could have been deluxe, Barret could have been deluxe, Goemon or Team Rocket could have been Deluxe, but at this point, it's fairly obvious that normal-ass humans are not going to be deluxe costumes since the design philosophy seems to be that the Miis themselves are good enough for a head.

I never said I liked this, all I said is I don't understand why he'd be when no other human soo far has been one. You can say Vault Boy, but again, he was already basically a walking mascot suit, it fits.


I'm not sure where you're getting this "less effort" narrative though. I buy the Mii costumes sure, but I literally never use them. I do so for a sake of completion, but they may as well not exist to me. Mii costumes are probably the least interesting form of content to me, with their only interest being that they show who got deconfirmed tbh.

 

The same could be said of every single Mii costume of a humanoid character that we've gotten. Tifa could have been deluxe, Barret could have been deluxe, Goemon or Team Rocket could have been Deluxe, but at this point, it's fairly obvious that normal-ass humans are not going to be deluxe costumes since the design philosophy seems to be that the Miis themselves are good enough for a head.

I never said I liked this, all I said is I don't understand why he'd be when no other human soo far has been one. You can say Vault Boy, but again, he was already basically a walking mascot suit, it fits.


I'm not sure where you're getting this "less effort" narrative though. I buy the Mii costumes sure, but I literally never use them. I do so for a sake of completion, but they may as well not exist to me. Mii costumes are probably the least interesting form of content to me, with their only interest being that they show who got deconfirmed tbh.

I picked Geno and Arthur because they are the best candidates just from the Sephiroth and Pyra costumes... there are obviously better deluxe candidates than Arthur but I am just choosing between him and Monster Hunter. What I really want to know is why we don't get deluxes anymore.

I sort of finally get the point you're getting at in that to you deluxes are like a costume that would be worn at Disney World and regular costumes would be face characters, but I don't believe that's how they view it. I don't believe there is a deluxe "philosophy"... they just do whatever they want. Franchise popularity is more important than if the character is human enough; they're just limited by the Mii's body type, otherwise they could make a human a deluxe if they had the accurate proportions. Goemon for instance was not a Deluxe because he's from an old-ass N64 game, not because he's any less of a "costume" than Vault Boy. Vault Boy got the deluxe because Fallout is massive.

 

I picked Geno and Arthur because they are the best candidates just from the Sephiroth and Pyra costumes... there are obviously better deluxe candidates than Arthur but I am just choosing between him and Monster Hunter. What I really want to know is why we don't get deluxes anymore.

I sort of finally get the point you're getting at in that to you deluxes are like a costume that would be worn at Disney World and regular costumes would be face characters, but I don't believe that's how they view it. I don't believe there is a deluxe "philosophy"... they just do whatever they want. Franchise popularity is more important than if the character is human enough; they're just limited by the Mii's body type, otherwise they could make a human a deluxe if they had the accurate proportions. Goemon for instance was not a Deluxe because he's from an old-ass N64 game, not because he's any less of a "costume" than Vault Boy. Vault Boy got the deluxe because Fallout is massive.

I mean, to be truthful with you, I think the "concept" of Deluxe costumes is dumb to begin with, because "Deluxe" implies some kind of premium, when we pay the same for them as we do for normal costumes. I kinda think that this is just the community overthinking things when they're really just normal Mii costumes at the end of the day.

But that's my stance on it. Even though I personally think that "Deluxe" costumes are akin to mascot costumes, I'd be lying if I said I put a whole lot of belief into "Deluxe" costumes even being a thing behind the scenes, ya know?

 

I mean, to be truthful with you, I think the "concept" of Deluxe costumes is dumb to begin with, because "Deluxe" implies some kind of premium, when we pay the same for them as we do for normal costumes. I kinda think that this is just the community overthinking things when they're really just normal Mii costumes at the end of the day.

I love Deluxe costumes. It is literally night and day being able to wear a 100% accurate model of a character opposed to some weird hat or something. To me, Deluxes are worth using, whereas regular costumes are not just because it looks so jank at the end of the day, so I wouldn't say they're just "normal Mii costumes".

But that's my stance on it. Even though I personally think that "Deluxe" costumes are akin to mascot costumes, I'd be lying if I said I put a whole lot of belief into "Deluxe" costumes even being a thing behind the scenes, ya know?

I mean, well they're certainly not a thing anymore. Hopefully Sakurai one day will talk about them and why they went away.