Smash Ultimate’s Sakurai reveals why Rex is an “impossible” DLC fighter

Rex and Pyra attack in Smash UltimateNintendo

Super Smash Bros Ultimate creator and director Masahiro Sakurai has revealed new information about the game’s newest fighters, Pyra and Mythra, and why adding Rex to the game proved to be “impossible.”

For many Xenoblade fans, Rex seemed like a good character to include in the game – so much so that his exclusion was played up for laughs in Pyra and Mythra’s reveal trailer, as well as their Sakurai presents showcase.

In his most recent Famitsu column, Sakurai delved into why the team opted against adding Rex and instead went with the dual transforming fighters we see today.

Article continues after ad

In the column, provided by ryokutya2089, Sakurai explained that he really wanted to incorporate Rex and Pyra together and have them move at the same time.

This idea has been done before: The franchise’s second installment, Melee, added the Ice Climbers, who could move and attack together resulting in some crazy attacks and downright broken combos.

However, that seems to only have worked because of how similar the two are. According to Sakurai, when the team tried this with Pyra and Rex, there was a risk of their data capacity exceeding a processing load threshold.

Article continues after ad

Despite the team’s best efforts to fix this, it was proven to be very complicated to the point where Sakurai says having a fighter like that is “impossible.”

Rex and Mythra in Smash UltimateNintendo
Rex may have to wait for the next Smash Ultimate game.

While this meant Rex would need to be his own fighter, Sakurai felt it was best to instead change course and opt for Pyra and Mythra as the dual DLC instead.

This was probably for the best, as Pyra and Mythra’s design has impressed a lot of the Smash world. Legendary Smashers Jason ‘Mew2King’ Zimmerman and William ‘Leffen’ Hjelte have called the Xenoblade fighter “the best character in Ultimate.”

Article continues after ad
Pyra gets the inviteNintendo
Better luck next time, Rex!

It also goes without saying that Sakurai’s comments suggest that the remaining DLC in Fighters Pass Volume 2 won’t be featuring multiple characters at once, unless their design is similar to Ice Climbers.

That said, it’s unclear what the future of the franchise will be like after Ultimate – and if there is another Smash title on more advanced hardware, these fighter designs could be implemented down the road.