Hero (Super Smash Bros. Ultimate)

This article is about Dragon Quest Hero(es) appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. For other uses, see Heroes.

Hero
Universe	Dragon Quest
Availability	Downloadable
Final Smash	Gigaslash
Tier	B- (44)
Character Statistics
Number of Jumps	2
Character Stats
Weight	Middleweight
Voice Actors
Voiced by (Japanese)	Mitsuki Saiga (Luminary) Nobuyuki Hiyama (Erdrick) Takeshi Kusao (Solo) Yuki Kaji (Eight)

Hero (aka The Hero) is a downloadable newcomer in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate from the Dragon Quest universe. He is classified as fighter #72. His inclusion was revealed at the Nintendo Direct presentation during E3 2019, and was released on July 30th, 2019.

Attributes

To be added.

Strengths

• Passive shield blocks projectiles while standing still, crouching, or walking.
• Wielding a sword gives Hero disjointed hitboxes, allowing for many neutral attacks, tilts and aerials without sour-spots or sweet-spots on many basic attacks.
• Fully charged Kafrizz and Kazap are good for securing KOs, while uncharged versions are good for poking.
• Woosh can be charged depending on how far you need to recover and has extremely good vertical recovery potential at full charge.
• Excellent kill power in most specials, critical smash attacks, and a down aerial capable of spiking enemies.
• Wields a shield that can be used to block most projectiles.

Weaknesses

• Some spells such as Hocus Pocus and Metal Slash are extremely situational. Hocus Pocus is risky as it can trigger a variety of negative effects.
• Up Smash has no side hitboxes.
• Characters who can reflect, absorb, or pocket projectiles can be difficult for Hero to deal with, as Kafrizz is a powerful projectile that can be problematic if turned against you.
• Significantly less options are available if Hero runs out of MP. Fully charged specials use a lot of MP.
• Kamikazee can be unreliable, seeing as it kills Hero before the opponent.
• Most if not all of Hero's projectiles can be blocked by the following fighters and their shields; Link, Young Link, Toon Link, Hero

Summary

To be added.

Moveset

Hero possesses four different variations as alternate costumes, specifically the Heroes from Dragon Quest XI (the Luminary, who serves as the default outfit), Dragon Quest III (Erdrick), Dragon Quest IV (Solo), and Dragon Quest VIII (Eight). Hero's sword and shield will also change depending on the outfit, similarly to Cloud and Bayonetta, although this is purely aesthetic.

Hero possesses a mechanic known as the MP Gauge, located above his damage meter and having a maximum of 100 MP. By using a Special Move the MP Gauge depletes by the move's MP Cost, shown by the Command Menu and visualized by a portion of the bar being colored green (with the exception of Frizz, Zap, and Woosh). A Special Move cannot be activated if the MP Gauge does not have the sufficient amount of MP, and it will reset if Hero is KO'd. The MP Gauge refills over time, though it fills faster when landing attacks, with the amount of MP regained equalling 90% of the damage Hero deals.

Attributes

• Hero's Shield can block incoming projectiles similarly to Link's shield by standing, crouching, or walking, though only for a short amount of time, as indicated by the shield darkening the longer it shields a projectile.

Ground Attacks

Normal

• Standard Attack: Slashes upwards, slashes downwards, and then an inward swipe with his sword.
• Forward Tilt: A back-handed shield bash followed up by an outward slash. The first hit can block projectiles and clank with other attacks.
• Up Tilt: An overhead arcing slash while jumping.
• Down Tilt: Kicks forward while leaning on the ground with his arm.
• Dash Attack: A jumping slash.

Smash Attacks

Hero's Smash attacks have a 12% chance to deal a critical hit, where they deal double damage and knockback, and trigger the Special Zoom and a unique sound effect. If shielded, the sound effect will still play to indicate the smash attack being a Critical Hit, though it only deals extra shield damage.

• Side Smash: Performs a two-handed downward slash in front of him.
• Up Smash: A single upward thrust. Unlike similar Up Smashes, it does not possess a horizontal hitbox, and therefore can only hit opponents directly above him.
• Down Smash: A kneeling inward slash in front of himself followed by a kneeling outward slash behind himself.

Aerial Attacks

• Neutral Aerial: Swings his sword around him.
• Forward Aerial: Swings his sword in a downward arc in front of himself.
• Back Aerial: Turns around and slashes upwards.
• Up Aerial: Performs an upward kick.
• Down Aerial: Thrusts his sword downward with one hand. Causes a relatively weak Meteor Smash if the sword thrust makes contact. It is impossible to double-jump until long after the sword strike happens.

Grabs and Throws

• Grab: Reaches out with his left hand.
• Pummel: Knees the opponent.
• Forward Throw: Tosses the opponent away.
• Back Throw: Rolls on his back and kicks the opponent away behind him.
• Up Throw: Heaves the opponent upward.
• Down Throw: Slams the opponent on the ground.

Special Moves

Hero's Special Moves
	Ultimate
Standard Special	Frizz	Frizzle	Kafrizz
Side Special	Zap	Zapple	Kazap
Up Special	Woosh	Swoosh	Kaswoosh
Down Special	Command Selection
	Sizz	Sizzle	Oomph
	Psyche Up	Bounce	Heal
	Flame Slash	Kacrackle Slash	Acceleratle
	Bang	Kaboom	Snooze
	Hatchet Man	Whack	Thwack
	Zoom	Kaclang	Metal Slash
	Magic Burst	Kamikazee	Hocus Pocus
Final Smash	Gigaslash

Taunts

To be added.

On-Screen Appearance

• Drops onto the ground and holds his sword above his head while shouting.

Idle Poses

To be added.

Victory Poses

• Performs Kazap.
• Holds his sword into the air before slashing twice and standing upright and holding his sword close to his body.
• Three Slimes bounce around on the ground before Hero runs in and crouches next to them.

In competitive play

Hero's place in competitive play has been controversial even before his introduction into the game, players were immediately divided due to the sheer amount of randomness in his toolkit, which some argued as too unpredictable for him to work as a competitively fair character. However despite the controversy, Hero initially had little impact on the metagame; while it was common to see him in pools and small-scale tournaments, he has not gone far in high-level tournaments, with his most notable national placements coming from Salem and Tsu, players who either used him as a co-main or eventually dropped the character. This can be attributed to his slow frame data, lack of reliable combo breaking options, and his reliance on MP, all of which can be exploited by opponents. Hero's randomness also plays a part in his unreliability, as it can be just as common to roll an undesired move as it is to get the best option. As a result, most players initially considered him a mid tier character at best.

More recently, however, Akakikusu had made waves with Hero by placing top 8 at several Japanese nationals, and even defeating several top Japanese players. These placements, despite being during the pandemic, were nonetheless more impressive than anyone else up to that point, leading some players to believe that Hero is better than what the general consensus is.

Classic Mode: A History of Heroism

Every battle aside from the last one is a stamina battle, referencing the HP system in Dragon Quest and most RPGs. Additionally, every battle uses a song from the Dragon Quest universe, regardless of stage. When fighting against all of the Heroes, they will use that costume even if the player is using one of them, which was unique to Hero until the release of Byleth.

Palette Swaps

Gallery

Hero's Stock image.

All 3 alternate characters for Hero. Solo (Left), Erdrick (Center), Eight (Right)

Eight along with Kirby in the Yggdrasil's Altar stage.

Eight using his Gigaslash Final Smash.

Erdrick and Eight

Luminary with Joker

Erdrick unleashing Gigaslash

Solo at Fountain of Dreams

Trivia

• Hero's code name within the game's files is "brave", the direct translation of their Japanese name Yūsha.
• Hero is the second fighter to represent a franchise from Square Enix, the first being Cloud Strife.
• Hero is one of the five characters whose palette swaps are different characters, others being Bowser Jr., Olimar, Pokémon Trainer, and Steve.
• Hero possesses the second highest number of Special Moves, totaling 30.
• Hero possesses many unique traits in his moveset, being the only fighter to:
  • Possess a move outside of a Final Smash or item that instantly KO's an opponent, being Thwack and Whack.
  • Possess a move which renders him completely immune to most forms of attacks including grabs, being Kaclang.
  • Possess a move that can specifically affect metal opponents, being Metal Slash.
    • Mega Man and R.O.B. are metallic beings, yet remain unaffected for gameplay purposes.
  • Possess a self-destruct move, being Kamikazee.
  • Possess a constant reflector around himself similar to a Franklin Badge, being Bounce.
  • Possess a move that can initiate status effects such as Flower, Timer, Poison, or invisible, being Hocus Pocus.
• Hero is one of the few characters to posses unique sound effects:
  • One can be heard when they are unable to perform a spell
  • The sound effect used when landing a Critical Hit or a Hatchet Man spell comes from that Hero's respective game
  • The "player attack" sound effect can be heard when they charge a Smash Attack
  • When K.O.'d, the "enemy critical hit" sound effect from Dragon Quest XI will play alongside the regular K.O. sound effect
• Hero is one of four characters to have Stamina battles in their Classic Mode route, the other three being Ryu, Terry, and Byleth.
• Hero is the first DLC character to have a unique CGI trailer, as all other DLC reveal trailers prior were recorded in-engine, used 2D animation (with Joker), or used pre-existing animation (with Corrin).
• Hero's reveal trailer is shown to be set during the events of World of Light, specifically during the Dark Realm storyline. This implicates that he either, like Kirby, survived Galeem's attack, or was rescued by Kirby along the way.
• Hero has a chance of calling out the name of the spell being cast, though this only occurs in the Japanese version. This makes them the fifth character to have Japanese-exclusive voice clips following Mewtwo, and Fox, Falco, and Sheik in Super Smash Bros. Melee
• Hero and Banjo & Kazooie are the first fighters to appear in the CGI portion of another DLC fighter's reveal trailer, being Sephiroth's. Min Min would follow suit in Kazuya's.

Videos

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – Heroic Encounter – Nintendo Switch

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – Mr. Sakurai Presents “Hero”