Pyra and Mythra join Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Pyra (left) and Mythra (right) representing Xenoblade 2

 

The enormously popular Xenoblade Chronicles 2 has its first representative in the popular Nintendo fighter Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. On February 17, 2021, the first announcement of the Nintendo Direct was the inclusion of the female lead of Xenoblade 2, Pyra (Homura in Japanese) and Mythra (Hikari in Japanese). Xenoblade 2 was first released on the Nintendo Switch in December 2017, and would eventually become the highest selling game in the franchise, selling over 2.1 million copies (as of the end of 2020).

Xenoblade 2 Mythra

Xenoblade 2 centers around the journey of Rex in a world called Alrest. The living beings of the world live on large creates called titans over a cloud sea. In this world, people summon immortal creatures called blades that reflect the summoner's heart. When the summoner dies, the blades go back into their crystals. In this world, there are two ultimate blades, called the Aegis, two special blades created by The Architect, the god of Alrest. Unlike the regular blades, the Aegis is immortal and lives on after the death of their summoner. After rescuing Pyra, one of the legendary Aegis, from an ancient ship, he travels with Pyra to the World Tree called Elysium. Xenoblade 2 is the intense journey of Pyra, Rex, and the rest of the crew as they deal with warring nations, a powerful world religion, and a secret organization. The game also had a prequel release, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 ~ Torna the Golden Country that tells the story of an ancient civilization, and provides the much-needed origin story of Mythra and Pyra.

Both stories centered on different characters, unarguably, the main character for both games is Mythra. Her story arc grapples with her being a sort of demi-god in a tortured and conflicted world. Her interactions with the casts of both of the games change her and give her a greater understanding of her powers and responsibility.

Smash Bros. Ultimate Mythra

Currently, we don't know much about Mytra and Pyra's inclusion in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. What we do know is that the two characters will have distinct movesets, and like the game, the player can change between Pyra and Mythra at will. Also, a noticeable change is that the characters have more clothing compared to the Xenoblade 2 versions, which is understandable considering that Smash Bros is aimed at a younger audience.

Nintendo will release the DLC on March 2021, with Sakurai doing a deep dive into the control and movesets.

Links
Mythra/Pyra Engish Reveal
Homura/Hikari Japanese Reveal
Nintendo Direct - Feb 2021
Super Smash Bros Ultimate Website
Smash Bros Ultimate Mytra/Pyra Website
Xenoblade 2 USA Website

 March 4, 2021 update

Today, Masahiro Sakurai did an presentation on Pyra/Mythra. Here is the English presentation and here is the original Japanese presentation. Pyra is the power character, and Mythra is the speed character, which is fascinating since Mythra is more powerful and faster than Pyra in Xenoblade Chronicles 2, but then that would just negate Pyra's existence in the game. So balancing out Mythra's attributes to Pyra makes sense. He goes into great detail about the regular attacks, the power attacks, the smash attacks, and the final smash. It's much better seen than described in words. As a Xenoblade 2 fan, it was great seeing all of Mythra and Pyra's special attacks translated perfectly to the game, no detail is spared. It was also fun listening to Sakurai point out his bias towards his favorite Xenoblade 2 character, Pyra. This is an amazing addition to Smash Bros. Ultimate and they are both available for download later today for $5.99.

Links
Mr. Sakurai Presents Pyra/Mythra
ホムラ/ヒカリのつかいかた
Celebrating Pyra & Mythra in Smash Ultimate by MONOLITHSOFT