In a battle between swordsmen in Super Smash Bros., who would win, Link or Cloud? (That's Link from The Legend of Zelda series and Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII, of course.)
Does it matter? That battle can actually be a real possibility now as Cloud Strife and his trusty Buster Sword will be joining the character lineup of Nintendo's Super Smash Bros.
Announced during Nintendo Direct, Cloud was revealed during a new trailer for Super Smash Bros. From the recognizable musical sequence at the beginning of the trailer reminiscent of Final Fantasy's opening credits score to the all too familiar battle theme song, Cloud's first opponents in the video include Kirby and Samus from Metroid.
Cloud, his gargantuan Buster Sword and a new stage based on Final Fantasy VII's Midgar are listed as "Coming Soon" on the official U.S. website for Super Smash Bros. Cloud's arrival to the franchise marks the second time Nintendo has worked with a competing publisher, this time with Square-Enix.
Last June, Nintendo worked with Capcom to bring Ryu to the stable of playable characters dueling it out on Super Smash Bros. Ryu also arrived with his own special stage, as well. Even though Final Fantasy VII never made it to any of Nintendo's systems, he has made other guest appearances in other Nintendo platforms like Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories for the Game Boy Advance.
In the game, Cloud also brings along an Odin summon, an alternate costume based on his Advent Children look, and his limit breaks. The influence of Final Fantasy VII spreads out to other characters on the Super Smash Bros. roster, too. The trailer teased new Chocobo costumes for Mii Fighters.
So far, no release date has yet been confirmed for the availability of Cloud as a DLC for Super Smash Bros., but Nintendo did share that another Nintendo Direct focusing specifically on the game is scheduled for next month in December.
Earlier in the year, Nintendo asked its gaming community to vote on which characters they wanted to see most come over to Super Smash Bros. as DLC. Obviously, the choices weren't just limited to Nintendo characters. Cloud's coming to a Nintendo franchise hopefully brings better gaming news for the rest of us in the future as maybe, just maybe, we'll see the return of Final Fantasy back on the Nintendo platform. But for now, checking out the trailer below might give some comfort.
Photo: Farley Santos | Flickr
