Skip to main content

Final Fantasy’s Cloud Strife is coming to Super Smash Bros.

Super Smash Bros: Cloud Strife Trailer
Everyone’s favorite Buster Sword jockey is joining the brawl in the latest installment of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS. Cloud Strife, whose fame extends far beyond his 1997 introduction in Final Fantasy VII, was revealed in a trailer from Nintendo. He will be available as a DLC character. The Japanese language clip is the final segment in a 45-minute Nintendo Direct update.

The new challenger approaches with a range of moves and swordplay that includes Limit Breaks and an Omnislash Final Smash. Cloud also brings along a change of clothes from his Advent Children days, and more costumes are expected to be added. No word on whether or not players will have the option to dress Cloud in drag.

The summons make an appearance here as part of Cloud’s move set. We spotted Odin, Leviathan, Ramuh, Ifrit, and Bahamut. With these powers, Cloud can literally tear a stage in half.

Did you catch the Aerith reference in the clip? Hint: it involves a famous young lady from another series.

The city of Midgar is being added as a new stage, complete with original soundtrack and Mako reactor. The designers really captured the somber tone of the original world here.

The end of the trailer reveals a set of Mii Fighter costumes inspired by the Final Fantasy series’ Chocobos.

Cloud is the first character to be revealed since Streetfighter’s Ryu was announced in April. Cloud’s appearance is unexpected, as Final Fantasy VII was never officially released on any Nintendo systems. Cloud himself has appeared before in the Theatrhythm and Kingdom Hearts series.

We expect that the Amiibo tradition will continue, complete with a a hysterical scramble to obtain a Cloud figure.

Nintendo posted that the next update for Smash Bros. will be revealed in December.

Editors' Recommendations

Albert Khoury
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Al started his career at a downtown Manhattan publisher, and has since worked with digital and print publications. He's…
Forget the haters, The Super Mario Bros. Movie actually looks awesome
mario-and-co.-driving-on-rainbow-road-the-super-mario-bros.-movie

The latest trailer for The Super Mario Bros. Movie has reignited hype for the animated blockbuster and then some. Featuring a plethora of Easter eggs, new characters, and memorable moments, this trailer has convinced audiences that this controversial video game movie will become Hollywood's next big thing.

Though many people slammed this movie before it even premiered, everything the studio has shared so far seems to have sent all that hate and doubt down the drain pipe. Here are reasons why The Super Mario Bros. Movie will have moviegoers cheering when it premieres in 2023.
The humor

Read more
Nintendo’s Wii Shop Channel and DSi shops are back online
Nintendo 3DS close-up.

After months of service outages, Nintendo's Wii Shop Channel and DSi Shop are back online.

Nintendo's two virtual marketplace services went down in March of this year. In a statement to Kotaku on the outage, Nintendo acknowledged the downtime but had nothing to report other than that the shops were undergoing maintenance and that it would provide updates on them at a later date. It seems it completely skipped the update and simply put both back online instead.

Read more
Final Fantasy VII Remake is (almost) perfect on Steam Deck
Final Fantasy VII Remake running on the Steam Deck.

Square Enix surprise-launched Final Fantasy VII Remake on Steam during its 25th anniversary livestream, and it leaned heavily on the fact that the game is Steam Deck Verified. For good reason, too. Final Fantasy VII Remake is over two years old, and it's only been available on PC through the Epic Games Store for six months.

I bit the bullet and bought the game for a third time to answer one question: Is it worth spending $70 again just to play Final Fantasy VII Remake on the Steam Deck? It's a solid version of the game, much better than I expected it to be, but it still has one major flaw that I hope Square Enix addresses in a future update.
Playing on Steam Deck

Read more