Fire Emblem's Byleth revealed as 5th Smash Ultimate DLC fighter

It looks like Fire Emblem: Three Houses main protagonist Byleth is the fifth and final DLC character of Super Smash Bros Ultimate's Fighter Pass.

TJ Denzer

January 16, 2020 6:40 AM

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The Super Smash Bros Ultimate Nintendo Direct has brought us the last character of the Super Smash Bros Ultimate Fighter Pass. Whoever you were expecting, few probably could have prepared for when Smash Director Masahiro Sakurai showed us new character Byleth - the main protagonist of the recent strategy RPG, Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

Masahiro Sakurai announced Byleth as the much anticipated final fighter of the first season of Smash Ultimate’s Fighter Pass on January 16, 2020 during a special Smash Ultimate Nintendo Direct on the Nintendo YouTube channel. In a deep dive by Sakarai, Byleth is described as a strong, long-range fighter. He has a lot of moves that could be considered slow, but have a great deal of range to them. His specials include special weapons from the Fire Emblem series like the Areadbhar spear, which can reach quite far to jab foes, or the Ymir Axe, which is a super-hard hitting attack with super armor and devastating power comparable to the Falcon Punch. You can check out the gameplay video below.

Byleth rounds out the full slate of the Super Smash Bros Ultimate DLC. Though many probably expected quite a different character, Byleth is still quite a surprise. Even so, Fire Emblem: Three Houses was quite a popular game in 2019. We thoroughly enjoyed the game in our Shacknews Review, and though we never would have guessed that it would have figured into the final Smash Ultimate DLC, Byleth is nonetheless another interesting RPG addition alongside previous additions like Persona 5’s Joker and Dragon Quest’s Hero.

Sakurai mentioned that Byleth is not launching today, but will be coming to Smash Ultimate on January 28, 2020. For those who were hoping for much anticipated favorites like Waluigi and Super Mario RPG’s Geno, there’s always a possible Season 2 of Fighter’s Pass DLC. What did you think of the reveal of Byleth? Are you interested in playing the character? Which characters were you hoping to see as DLC in Smash Ultimate?

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.