Altais
Smash Champion
Welcome to the Sora social thread. Formerly the Sora support thread.
Sora is the optimistic main protagonist of the long-lived, bestselling action RPG series known as Kingdom Hearts. He possesses the Keyblade, a mystical weapon that grants its wielder great magical power as well as the ability to open any lock. Though originally a Sony-exclusive series, Kingdom Hearts has made its way on Nintendo systems, thus paving the way to his inclusion in Smash Ultimate. Despite the overwhelming odds against him, especially Disney, Sora has finally made his way into Smash.
With Sora's inclusion in Smash Ultimate, we are also getting the entire Kingdom Hearts series on the Nintendo Switch in the form of cloud gaming.
Feel free to discuss in this thread anything concerning Sora or his game series, Kingdom Hearts. What is your favourite game? Whom is your favourite character? All ideas are welcome.
Try to avoid posting any plot spoilers in the Kingdom Hearts series. If you wish to discuss the plots, characters, etc in depth and you think your message might reveal any major plot details, be sure to conceal or compress the details with a spoiler warning.
Last but not least... Since mods are nothing new in the Smash Bros games, who else could be an alternate costume of Sora?
For those whom are unfamiliar with Kingdom Hearts, here is a full list of the currently released games in the series:
Kingdom Hearts (Playstation 2, 2002)
Kingdom Hearts Final Mix (Playstation 2, 2002)
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (Gameboy Advance, 2004)
Kingdom Hearts II (Playstation 2, 2005)
Kingdom Hearts: Re: Chain of Memories (Playstation 2, 2007)
Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+ (Playstation 2, 2007)
Kingdom Hearts: Coded (Mobile, 2008)
Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days (Nintendo DS, 2009)
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (Playstation Portable, 2010)
Kingdom Hearts: Re:Coded (Nintendo DS, 2010)
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep Final Mix (Playstation Portable, 2011)
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance (Nintendo 3DS, 2012)
Kingdom Hearts X (PC, 2013)
Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix (Playstation 3, 2013)
Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix (Playstation 3, 2014)
Kingdom Hearts Unchained X (Android, Release TBA)
Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue (Playstation 4, 2016)
Kingdom Hearts III (Playstation 4, Xbox One, 29 JAN 2019)
Sora is one of the most interesting candidates to analyze the chances for in Smash Switch. I know it is easy to dismiss the possibility of Sora getting in the game with Disney fully owning the rights to Sora/Kingdom Hearts, but I think there is more favoring Sora than some people might think. I have gained an unusual amount of confidence for Sora being in Smash Switch and I cannot let go of him in my predictions, so I might as well explain.
One notable positive in his favor is Sora likely ranking massively high on the Smash ballot. Back when the ballot voting period started, I saw a colossal amount of fans campaigning for Sora on social media platforms such as Twitter. The support is MOST apparent on YouTube, where Kingdom Hearts YouTubers would consistently encourage people to vote for Sora on the ballot. I have seen Sora campaigned more than any other third-party voted in the West, that I would not be so surprised if he was the #1 ballot choice voted in the region of North America. Sora's demand likely surpasses far more than other Square candidates (aside from maybe Geno), and those amount of votes will definitely get Sakurai’s attention to consider Sora for Smash.
The other matter to consider is Sakurai’s current relationship with Square Enix and Nomura. Sakurai has been notably close with Tetsuya Nomura many times ever since Cloud’s reveal in Smash 4, from the Creator interview regarding Cloud’s reveal in Smash, Nintendo Dream interview briefly discussing Cloud’s inclusion to Sakurai’s recent statement he made about Nomura for KH’s 15th anniversary. Sakurai is definitely aware of KH and at least enjoys playing the KH games, based on his participation of the latter event. He would also be aware of the possible licensing issues when thinking about Sora. But, there are noteworthy statements from Sakurai in the Nintendo Dream Smash interview that makes me think Sakurai would willingly go for Sora:
*Taken from Part 2 of the Creator interview.
Sakurai: Oh, is that so? But really, when you take a step back and look at it, when you see all of these different characters in the same place, Smash is pretty crazy. I suppose that’s pretty ridiculous of me to say, though, given that I’m the creator (laughs).
Nomura: Whether it’s crazy or not, you’ve assembled quite a number of characters.
Sakurai: Honestly, when we revealed Solid Snake for Brawl, I thought, “There’s no way we’ll be able to stage a bigger surprise than this.” But, as a creator, you just keep making more while trying to surprise and delight your audience as much as possible.
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Nomura: The element of surprise is very important.
Note the bolded, italic statement. Given the openness of Sakurai doing another collaboration with Nomura…:
*Also taken from Part 2 of the Creator interview.
Interviewer: Would you like to make another game together in the future, or do another collaboration?
Sakurai: It seems like it would be difficult to decide who would have what role, though.
Nomura: If we were to work together, I think I’d leave most everything up to Mr. Sakurai.
…and noting Sakurai’s relationship with Square Enix at the time:
*Taken from the Nintendo Dream interview.
Sakurai: Those third-party characters are huge icons of their respective companies, so such an opportunity is hard to come by. That being said, now that Smash has grown into a well-known franchise, the creators recognize the merits of allowing us to use their characters, so negotiations have tended to go rather smoothly.
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All of these statements from Sakurai lead me to believe that there is a real possibility of Sakurai negotiating Sora with Nomura right after doing an interview with him and Sakurai notcing Sora's high popularity in the ballot. With how ambitious Sakurai is with adding surprise fighters such as Cloud, Villager, and Wii Fit Trainer, if he wants to keep pushing for surprises in this new Smash (Especially with third-party choices), then choosing someone like Sora that would be seen as impossible for a hardcore speculating audience would definitely be the next transitional step of surprise. With Sakurai having the experience of negotiating with Square Enix with Cloud, the game history KH carries with the franchise with being critically and financially successful (Selling over 20 million units total as of this 2014 statement), Sora’s distinct upbeat appeal/characterization, and the moveset potential he has with keyblade powers, he seriously feels like a choice that Sakurai would pick next.
In terms of Nintendo's relationship with Disney, their relationship is pretty strong with games like Disney Art Academy and Disney Magical World 1+2, both of which are published by Nintendo. For Disney Art Academy in particular, the game was developed Headstrong Games, whose franchise is owned by Nintendo, of which franchise has gotten representation in Smash 4 in the form of a trophy and music (Swan Lesson). For Nintendo and the studio to be able to collaborate with Disney for this game shows how close Nintendo's relationship with Disney actually is.
Disney would definitely know how profitable Sora appearing in one of the biggest fighting games would be, that is one of the biggest opportunities they would have in establishing a great profit while also forming an even closer relationship with Nintendo. With the relationship Nintendo and Disney have grown up to this point, they would have an easier time adjusting the amount of profit both companies would earn for both of their benefits, that includes Sakurai.
For Kingdom Hearts, there have been multiple instances where KH collaborations in other franchises have been more frequent, like Sora appearing in a recent FF title (World of Final Fantasy) and Mickey’s KH costume in Disney Infinity. These situations have shown Disney’s recent growing openness towards KH content appearing in other games. But, the person who will have the biggest influence and convince Disney to have Sora become a playable fighter in Smash would be none other than Tetsuya Nomura himself.
There is not one doubt in my mind that Nomura would love to see another of his creations become a fighter in Smash. With Nomura’s enormous reputation in the gaming industry and his 16-year long gaming relationship with Disney ever since creating KH1, I do feel Nomura alone could convince Disney that Sora appearing in a party fighting game like Smash would be a great idea.
I see the process of negotiating being as simple as:
1. Sakurai thinking about third-party surprises for Smash, becomes willing to negotiate Sora for Smash.
2. Talking to Nomura for creator permission, possibly asking Square Enix's permission too.
3. Talking to Disney for a Sora negotiation, negotiating possible business deals that would benefit both Nintendo and Disney, with Square Enix and Nomura possibly aiding the negotiation for JP to EN communication purposes. Given Nintendo's relationship with Disney now, I see business deals going rather smoothly, rather than ending up in chaos.
4. Making a finalized deal and developing Sora for Smash.
Everything I say here is what gets me unusually confident about Sora in the same way I felt Bayonetta was a very possible choice when Smash 4 DLC was announced. I think this will be Sakurai’s next wild-card choice for a third-party after Cloud. I feel Disney is LESS of an issue than people initially think. Sora has a legitimate shot and is arguably in the best position now to get in Smash Switch.
To me, Sora is one of the most interesting characters to predict because his pros and cons provide so much complexity and layers, filled with things would favor or go against his inclusion. Exploring Sora's chances is fun and is like figuring out a difficult puzzle in Professor Layton or sliding the Rubik's cube in a way that has same colors on all sides. Right now, I am craving for that delicious, different perspective.
Arguments:
Disney stopped Dissidia from becoming a KH fighting game:
The reason for the rejection of KH fighting game is not because of Disney's strictness, but because Nomura did not think it was a good idea. This creative decision had nothing to do with Disney having strict control. Even if that was really the case, recent cases of Disney allowing KH content in other Square games have shown Disney's openness of utilizing the KH IP, showing major growth in relationship of Square Enix and Disney. Whatever potentially happened back in Dissidia would no longer be an issue due to that growth.
Disney would not allow Sora to be punched or kicked in a fighting game:
That it is not a problem. Smash Bros. is not a gory fighting game where heads and feet falter off like in Mortal Kombat. That kind of content is something that Disney would have legitimate strictness of because how it would make people perceive their properties. Smash Bros. is of same level of violence as most of the Kingdom Hearts franchise. Smash Bros. is a cartoony fighting party game. Sora being featured in that kind of game is not going to be a major issue.
Disney will be strict when using their actual IPs in Smash:
Even if Disney was strict with allowing Disney characters present but not Sora, there is enough interesting original content in the KH series for Sakurai to get a substantial amount of solid representation of the franchise. As far as Disney powers go, Summons are probably the closest thing, but they act more like side-things rather than being integral to Sora's gameplay like Flow-motion or Keyblade powers. Sora characterization wise, personality wise, and gameplay wise provides enough tools like magic, keyblade moves, and drive forms to be a stand-out and fun character in Smash. Disney content is not integral to implementing Sora correctly.
Disney will have full control of Sora and how he plays out in Smash:
If Disney is going to be stingy about anything, it would be portraying Sora correctly characterization wise, much like with Nintendo when they were concerned about Bowser's characterization in Wreck-it-Ralph. And since Sakurai is about integrating characters in the most faithful way possible, both would have the same goals. In that matter, it is hard for me to imagine a scenario where Sakurai and Disney would fight out hard to choosing every move and manner Sora has to have in Smash.
The advisors of Disney would not be able to translate Sora into Smash gameplay as well as Sakurai. The best they could advise is looking over if Sora looks and feels accurate on a surface level and trust in Sakurai's talent to be able to envision the character well in Smash. Their potential complaints would go as far as accurately portraying the character, just like Square Enix with Cloud's addition. It is very hard to imagine a worse case scenario where Sakurai and Disney have so many creative differences in gameplay.
Both would be addressing feedback for the sake of implementing Sora in Smash in the best way possible. Meeting the potentially high demands of Disney of how Sora should be implemented in Smash would be a great fun challenge for Sakurai. Everything that Sakurai has done in each new Smash game has been stepping up with more surprises that lead to more interesting challenges. Implementing fighting game mechanics in Smash with Ryu, being able to translate a "peaceful" Nintendo character like Villager into a fighter, and the challenge of implementing Bayonetta's powers without having to lose the core aspect of Bayonetta's power of letting out skin while being able to pass the ratings.
The amount of work Sakurai would have to do for Sora to meet Disney's potentially high demand would be one of the greatest challenges Sakurai would have to face, and that would make the inclusion of Sora all the more satisfying when he is finally fully implemented into Smash Switch's gameplay.
There would be other Square Enix characters for competition:
I personally do not see other Square characters like a Dragon Quest character being actual competition. If Sakurai is going to aim for Sora, then it is him or nothing else. I cannot see Sakurai going for an alternate Square option, especially when Sora's degree of popularity likely outnumbers a number of SQ candidates by miles. What third-party choices will be chosen will be heavily based on very top ballot rankings. The only actual obstacles Sora really has is possible licensing issues with Disney.
One notable positive in his favor is Sora likely ranking massively high on the Smash ballot. Back when the ballot voting period started, I saw a colossal amount of fans campaigning for Sora on social media platforms such as Twitter. The support is MOST apparent on YouTube, where Kingdom Hearts YouTubers would consistently encourage people to vote for Sora on the ballot. I have seen Sora campaigned more than any other third-party voted in the West, that I would not be so surprised if he was the #1 ballot choice voted in the region of North America. Sora's demand likely surpasses far more than other Square candidates (aside from maybe Geno), and those amount of votes will definitely get Sakurai’s attention to consider Sora for Smash.
The other matter to consider is Sakurai’s current relationship with Square Enix and Nomura. Sakurai has been notably close with Tetsuya Nomura many times ever since Cloud’s reveal in Smash 4, from the Creator interview regarding Cloud’s reveal in Smash, Nintendo Dream interview briefly discussing Cloud’s inclusion to Sakurai’s recent statement he made about Nomura for KH’s 15th anniversary. Sakurai is definitely aware of KH and at least enjoys playing the KH games, based on his participation of the latter event. He would also be aware of the possible licensing issues when thinking about Sora. But, there are noteworthy statements from Sakurai in the Nintendo Dream Smash interview that makes me think Sakurai would willingly go for Sora:
*Taken from Part 2 of the Creator interview.
Sakurai: Oh, is that so? But really, when you take a step back and look at it, when you see all of these different characters in the same place, Smash is pretty crazy. I suppose that’s pretty ridiculous of me to say, though, given that I’m the creator (laughs).
Nomura: Whether it’s crazy or not, you’ve assembled quite a number of characters.
Sakurai: Honestly, when we revealed Solid Snake for Brawl, I thought, “There’s no way we’ll be able to stage a bigger surprise than this.” But, as a creator, you just keep making more while trying to surprise and delight your audience as much as possible.
Nomura: The element of surprise is very important.
Note the bolded, italic statement. Given the openness of Sakurai doing another collaboration with Nomura…:
*Also taken from Part 2 of the Creator interview.
Interviewer: Would you like to make another game together in the future, or do another collaboration?
Sakurai: It seems like it would be difficult to decide who would have what role, though.
Nomura: If we were to work together, I think I’d leave most everything up to Mr. Sakurai.
…and noting Sakurai’s relationship with Square Enix at the time:
*Taken from the Nintendo Dream interview.
Sakurai: Those third-party characters are huge icons of their respective companies, so such an opportunity is hard to come by. That being said, now that Smash has grown into a well-known franchise, the creators recognize the merits of allowing us to use their characters, so negotiations have tended to go rather smoothly.
All of these statements from Sakurai lead me to believe that there is a real possibility of Sakurai negotiating Sora with Nomura right after doing an interview with him and Sakurai notcing Sora's high popularity in the ballot. With how ambitious Sakurai is with adding surprise fighters such as Cloud, Villager, and Wii Fit Trainer, if he wants to keep pushing for surprises in this new Smash (Especially with third-party choices), then choosing someone like Sora that would be seen as impossible for a hardcore speculating audience would definitely be the next transitional step of surprise. With Sakurai having the experience of negotiating with Square Enix with Cloud, the game history KH carries with the franchise with being critically and financially successful (Selling over 20 million units total as of this 2014 statement), Sora’s distinct upbeat appeal/characterization, and the moveset potential he has with keyblade powers, he seriously feels like a choice that Sakurai would pick next.
In terms of Nintendo's relationship with Disney, their relationship is pretty strong with games like Disney Art Academy and Disney Magical World 1+2, both of which are published by Nintendo. For Disney Art Academy in particular, the game was developed Headstrong Games, whose franchise is owned by Nintendo, of which franchise has gotten representation in Smash 4 in the form of a trophy and music (Swan Lesson). For Nintendo and the studio to be able to collaborate with Disney for this game shows how close Nintendo's relationship with Disney actually is.
Disney would definitely know how profitable Sora appearing in one of the biggest fighting games would be, that is one of the biggest opportunities they would have in establishing a great profit while also forming an even closer relationship with Nintendo. With the relationship Nintendo and Disney have grown up to this point, they would have an easier time adjusting the amount of profit both companies would earn for both of their benefits, that includes Sakurai.
For Kingdom Hearts, there have been multiple instances where KH collaborations in other franchises have been more frequent, like Sora appearing in a recent FF title (World of Final Fantasy) and Mickey’s KH costume in Disney Infinity. These situations have shown Disney’s recent growing openness towards KH content appearing in other games. But, the person who will have the biggest influence and convince Disney to have Sora become a playable fighter in Smash would be none other than Tetsuya Nomura himself.
There is not one doubt in my mind that Nomura would love to see another of his creations become a fighter in Smash. With Nomura’s enormous reputation in the gaming industry and his 16-year long gaming relationship with Disney ever since creating KH1, I do feel Nomura alone could convince Disney that Sora appearing in a party fighting game like Smash would be a great idea.
I see the process of negotiating being as simple as:
1. Sakurai thinking about third-party surprises for Smash, becomes willing to negotiate Sora for Smash.
2. Talking to Nomura for creator permission, possibly asking Square Enix's permission too.
3. Talking to Disney for a Sora negotiation, negotiating possible business deals that would benefit both Nintendo and Disney, with Square Enix and Nomura possibly aiding the negotiation for JP to EN communication purposes. Given Nintendo's relationship with Disney now, I see business deals going rather smoothly, rather than ending up in chaos.
4. Making a finalized deal and developing Sora for Smash.
Everything I say here is what gets me unusually confident about Sora in the same way I felt Bayonetta was a very possible choice when Smash 4 DLC was announced. I think this will be Sakurai’s next wild-card choice for a third-party after Cloud. I feel Disney is LESS of an issue than people initially think. Sora has a legitimate shot and is arguably in the best position now to get in Smash Switch.
To me, Sora is one of the most interesting characters to predict because his pros and cons provide so much complexity and layers, filled with things would favor or go against his inclusion. Exploring Sora's chances is fun and is like figuring out a difficult puzzle in Professor Layton or sliding the Rubik's cube in a way that has same colors on all sides. Right now, I am craving for that delicious, different perspective.
Arguments:
Disney stopped Dissidia from becoming a KH fighting game:
The reason for the rejection of KH fighting game is not because of Disney's strictness, but because Nomura did not think it was a good idea. This creative decision had nothing to do with Disney having strict control. Even if that was really the case, recent cases of Disney allowing KH content in other Square games have shown Disney's openness of utilizing the KH IP, showing major growth in relationship of Square Enix and Disney. Whatever potentially happened back in Dissidia would no longer be an issue due to that growth.
Disney would not allow Sora to be punched or kicked in a fighting game:
That it is not a problem. Smash Bros. is not a gory fighting game where heads and feet falter off like in Mortal Kombat. That kind of content is something that Disney would have legitimate strictness of because how it would make people perceive their properties. Smash Bros. is of same level of violence as most of the Kingdom Hearts franchise. Smash Bros. is a cartoony fighting party game. Sora being featured in that kind of game is not going to be a major issue.
Disney will be strict when using their actual IPs in Smash:
Even if Disney was strict with allowing Disney characters present but not Sora, there is enough interesting original content in the KH series for Sakurai to get a substantial amount of solid representation of the franchise. As far as Disney powers go, Summons are probably the closest thing, but they act more like side-things rather than being integral to Sora's gameplay like Flow-motion or Keyblade powers. Sora characterization wise, personality wise, and gameplay wise provides enough tools like magic, keyblade moves, and drive forms to be a stand-out and fun character in Smash. Disney content is not integral to implementing Sora correctly.
Disney will have full control of Sora and how he plays out in Smash:
If Disney is going to be stingy about anything, it would be portraying Sora correctly characterization wise, much like with Nintendo when they were concerned about Bowser's characterization in Wreck-it-Ralph. And since Sakurai is about integrating characters in the most faithful way possible, both would have the same goals. In that matter, it is hard for me to imagine a scenario where Sakurai and Disney would fight out hard to choosing every move and manner Sora has to have in Smash.
The advisors of Disney would not be able to translate Sora into Smash gameplay as well as Sakurai. The best they could advise is looking over if Sora looks and feels accurate on a surface level and trust in Sakurai's talent to be able to envision the character well in Smash. Their potential complaints would go as far as accurately portraying the character, just like Square Enix with Cloud's addition. It is very hard to imagine a worse case scenario where Sakurai and Disney have so many creative differences in gameplay.
Both would be addressing feedback for the sake of implementing Sora in Smash in the best way possible. Meeting the potentially high demands of Disney of how Sora should be implemented in Smash would be a great fun challenge for Sakurai. Everything that Sakurai has done in each new Smash game has been stepping up with more surprises that lead to more interesting challenges. Implementing fighting game mechanics in Smash with Ryu, being able to translate a "peaceful" Nintendo character like Villager into a fighter, and the challenge of implementing Bayonetta's powers without having to lose the core aspect of Bayonetta's power of letting out skin while being able to pass the ratings.
The amount of work Sakurai would have to do for Sora to meet Disney's potentially high demand would be one of the greatest challenges Sakurai would have to face, and that would make the inclusion of Sora all the more satisfying when he is finally fully implemented into Smash Switch's gameplay.
There would be other Square Enix characters for competition:
I personally do not see other Square characters like a Dragon Quest character being actual competition. If Sakurai is going to aim for Sora, then it is him or nothing else. I cannot see Sakurai going for an alternate Square option, especially when Sora's degree of popularity likely outnumbers a number of SQ candidates by miles. What third-party choices will be chosen will be heavily based on very top ballot rankings. The only actual obstacles Sora really has is possible licensing issues with Disney.
Alright guys, I'm gonna do something I should've done a month ago and post the core arguments being used against Sora and my counter-arguments against them. This will contain info that has already been stated in this thread though( for the most part) So you can choose to utterly ignore it. If you do read it though and feel that some points need to either be argued against or hae certian things added to the over all argument, feel free to post a response. I'm trying to cut off as much of the fat as possible from this:
"Sora is owned by Square Enix and Disney, even if they weren't strict with their IPs, Nintendo wouldn't want to pay two different organizations for just one character"
This is a simple enough mistake to make as the Kingdom Hearts series has always been promoted to be a crossover between Disney's multiple franchises and the Final Fantasy series. But Sora is indeed owned by just Disney. Evidence of this are as follows:
"© Disney Developed by SQUARE ENIX" a copyright claim that can be found on both the official case for every Kingdom Hearts game( specifically on the back near the bottom) and in all of the official web pages for the series. For those of you who don't know, this simply means that Kingdom Hearts is a series that Square Enix is allowed to develop, but doesn't own (much like how Koie Tecmo and Capcom were allowe to develop Legend of Zelda games).
Tetsuya Nomura himself has stated that Kingdom Hearts is a Disney title.
Disney had a Kingdom Hearts game made called "Kingdom Hearts V-cast". This game starred Sora, had no Final Fantasy characters featured, and
Square Enix was completely unaware of it's development, further proving that Sora is their character.
"Disney is extremely strict with their IPs, they'd charge alot of money for his inclusion."
This is an argument that was spawned due to previous transactions involving Disney and their far more popular characters! In the grand scheme of things, the reasons as to why companies like Disney keeps close tabs on their IPs is because they can make alot of money off of their popularity. To be clear, Sora is fairly popular within the gaming community, but when you compare his popularity to the likes of Mickey Mouse, the little mermaid( a.k.a Ariel), Simba, Tarzan, Alice, Hercules, Aladdin, or even Jack Sparrow( to name a few) then it's simply no contest, he's just not well known to a majority of non-gamers. Anybody who makes this claim is literally making a mountain out of a molehill and to further prove this:
Yes, you're looking at this correctly, Sega was able to get the rights to a lesser known Disney character, and if Sega of all companies can get the rights to use a Disney character in their game, then I'm not putting anything over Nintendo.
"Disney wouldn't wan't any of their characters in a fighting game, they prevented Square Enix from making Kingdom Hearts Dissidia."
No they didn't, I've thoroughly searched high and low for an article that verifies this and the only one I've ever found that "confirmed" the info sourced another article that didn't make that claim. As it stands, this is just a false statement.
Even IF( and this is a bigger "if" than I'm implying) they did shut that concept down, there are way too many factors to put into consideration when thinking about why they would do it, and Sora being one of those factors is an impossibility considering the the type of game he comes from.
"Kingdom Hearts 3 isn't coming to the Wii U"
Neither is street fighter V. As of this point Ryu makes this and any other related argument irrelevant.
"Sora is owned by Square Enix and Disney, even if they weren't strict with their IPs, Nintendo wouldn't want to pay two different organizations for just one character"
This is a simple enough mistake to make as the Kingdom Hearts series has always been promoted to be a crossover between Disney's multiple franchises and the Final Fantasy series. But Sora is indeed owned by just Disney. Evidence of this are as follows:
"© Disney Developed by SQUARE ENIX" a copyright claim that can be found on both the official case for every Kingdom Hearts game( specifically on the back near the bottom) and in all of the official web pages for the series. For those of you who don't know, this simply means that Kingdom Hearts is a series that Square Enix is allowed to develop, but doesn't own (much like how Koie Tecmo and Capcom were allowe to develop Legend of Zelda games).
Tetsuya Nomura himself has stated that Kingdom Hearts is a Disney title.
Disney had a Kingdom Hearts game made called "Kingdom Hearts V-cast". This game starred Sora, had no Final Fantasy characters featured, and
Square Enix was completely unaware of it's development, further proving that Sora is their character.
"Disney is extremely strict with their IPs, they'd charge alot of money for his inclusion."
This is an argument that was spawned due to previous transactions involving Disney and their far more popular characters! In the grand scheme of things, the reasons as to why companies like Disney keeps close tabs on their IPs is because they can make alot of money off of their popularity. To be clear, Sora is fairly popular within the gaming community, but when you compare his popularity to the likes of Mickey Mouse, the little mermaid( a.k.a Ariel), Simba, Tarzan, Alice, Hercules, Aladdin, or even Jack Sparrow( to name a few) then it's simply no contest, he's just not well known to a majority of non-gamers. Anybody who makes this claim is literally making a mountain out of a molehill and to further prove this:
"Disney wouldn't wan't any of their characters in a fighting game, they prevented Square Enix from making Kingdom Hearts Dissidia."
No they didn't, I've thoroughly searched high and low for an article that verifies this and the only one I've ever found that "confirmed" the info sourced another article that didn't make that claim. As it stands, this is just a false statement.
Even IF( and this is a bigger "if" than I'm implying) they did shut that concept down, there are way too many factors to put into consideration when thinking about why they would do it, and Sora being one of those factors is an impossibility considering the the type of game he comes from.
"Kingdom Hearts 3 isn't coming to the Wii U"
Neither is street fighter V. As of this point Ryu makes this and any other related argument irrelevant.
Sora Palette Swaps by Venus of the Desert Bloom:
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Double0Groove said:![]()
I said:
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