Doing my post a bit earlier today since I'm gonna be busy. This is gonna be a long one but this is my favorite DLC addition so far/
SEPHIROTH:
This is for sure the best DLC addition to Smash. Everything from reveal to moveset to music to mii costumes, it's all amazing. I've mentioned a few of my friends in this daily reflection posts. I want to highlight two in particular. The Persona fan I mentioned in my Joker post and the Fire Emblem fan I mentioned in my Byleth post. These are two of my closest friends and we lived together this past year of college. We ere watching the game awards live at our house and like everyone else were shocked they dropped it so early. Needless to say we figured out who the character was like two notes into One Winged Angel. We lost our ****. The trailer really is the best one they've made. The build up, the music drop, Cloud's CG debut, the wing appearing, slashing away Greninja and Bayonetta, stabbing Mario, and culminating in crazy Advent Children shenanigans. So good. It was hype trailer and we all knew who Sephiroth was, but none of us had actually beaten FFVII. My FE friend had gotten partially thru it but me and my other friend had never played it. I had bought it on the eshop like a year prior but never touched.
Shortly after Sephiroth's release, all three of us independently started playing FFVII on our switches. We never played together but we would check in on each other, seeing where we were and making jokes. All three of us fell in love with the game, it's world, and especially it's characters. Sephiroth became something of a household meme for us. The Sephirpoth "t-pose" that he does throughout the game became a common sight in the house lol. Something remotely out of place would be met with a "Did Sephiroth do this?". Dumb and childish? Yes. But ****posting was a common occurrence in our household. Once we had all beaten the game, us newly converted fans had an Advent Children movie night. Such a bad movie, but watching while riffing with two close friends who are all FFVII fans? That's a magical experience.
Then in March this year, FFVII Remake was one of the free games offered through PS+. My friend got it on his PS4 and we decided we'd play through it together. Every time we played all three of us would be present and we'd pass the controller around, usually when one of us died or got tired or wanted to do a specific part of the game. It was one of my favorite experiences playing a video game. That communal feeling as we all re-experienced a game we loved so much was magical, especially the night where we stayed up late and played the final two chapters. People back in the 90s have stories about late nights in college playing FFVII. Well my friends and I did just that with remake. it's become one of those quintessential college memories.
But back to Sephiroth, I was already super hyped over his inclusion from the beginning but playing FFVII, Remake, and watching AC evolved it to a whole new level. It might still be a little early to call Sephiroth my main since I'm still a little torn between him and Chrom, but Sephiroth is one of my favorite characters to play. I love playing swordies and Sephiroth feels satisfying in a way I almost can't describe. Each sword swing feels weighty, every stab is deadly, and the specials, especially neutral B are so good to land. Octoslash is a contender for favorite move in Smash. The way each hit lands and drags the opponent along, oooooh that's good. He also has perhaps the best final smash in the game. Like so many pof the DLC characters you can just feel the love that went into designing the character.
One other factor that pushes Sephiroth into being the best DLC addition is his challenger pack. Perhaps the biggest sin committed by Ultimate (besides netcode of course) was the sheer lack of FFVII content. For a soundtrack as transcendent as FFVII's only having two MIDI rips is a crime. Luckily Sephiroth fixed all of this. They added a lot of the must have tracks like One Winged Angel, Bombing Mission, and JENOVA, but also some stuff you wouldn't expect like Cosmo Canyon and a more upbeat Aerith's theme. Well my two favorite songs in FFVII are JENOVA and Cosmo Canyon so I'm a happy camper. Could definitely use some music from Remake, which is a contender for my favorite game soundtrack of all time. Northern Cave is my favorite DLC stage partially because of the music but also its non-intrusive layout and striking background. Having this soundtrack on a competitively sound stage is a massive win. And thank god we finally got Mii costumes and spirits! Really makes FFVII feel whole in Smash. Just missing an assist trophy at this point, which Tifa or Aerith could definitely fill nicely. But I love all the characters (except Cait Sith) so I'd be fine with anyone.
Sorry, I know that was a lot but I had to gush. This is without a doubt the best challenger pack. I kind of already thought that beforehand, but now that I'm an FFVII super fan, it's evolved into something even more. FFVII and it's remake are now some of my favorite games of all time and Sephiroth is probably my new main. I'm so glad Smash has once again introduced to a new world and game to fall in love with. I hope everyone has gotten to have an experience like mine. Be it with FFVII, or any game added to this monumental crossover.