Smash Bros. Ultimate's Sephiroth DLC Releases This Week, But You Can Unlock Him Early

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai gave us a much closer look at the game's next DLC fighter, Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII, during Thursday's video presentation. In addition to detailing the fighter's moveset, Sakurai revealed that Sephiroth will officially go live this week, on December 22--but you have a chance to unlock him right now.

Ahead of Sephiroth's official release, Nintendo is giving players a chance to get the new fighter early through a special limited-time event. If you've purchased the Fighters Pass Vol. 2 or Sephiroth's character pack, you can challenge the One-Winged Angel as a boss fight. Defeat Sephiroth and you'll unlock him ahead of his official release date.

The Sephiroth Challenge event runs from December 17-22, and fortunately, it's very easy. All you need to do is defeat Sephiroth in a stamina battle on any difficulty to unlock him, effectively ensuring that everyone who purchased his character pack or the Fighters Pass can add him to their roster right now.

Like other DLC fighters, Sephiroth arrives alongside a brand-new stage, Northern Cave, as well as a handful of unlockable Spirits and nine new songs. The full song list includes:

• Opening - Bombing Mission
• Those Who Fight (Advent Children version)
• Those Who Fight Further (Advent Children version)
• Aerith's Theme
• Main Theme of Final Fantasy VII
• Jenova
• Cosmo Canyon
• One-Winged Angel
• Advent: One-Winged Angel

As previously mentioned, you can get the One-Winged Angel either as part of the game's $30 Fighters Pass Vol. 2 or by purchasing his fighter pack individually for $6. Nintendo is also releasing an assortment of new Mii Fighter costumes inspired by Final Fantasy VII and other Square Enix characters on December 22. As usual, each costume can be purchased for 75 cents apiece.

Sephiroth is the third character to arrive as part of Smash Bros. Ultimate's second wave of DLC, following Min Min from Arms and Steve from Minecraft. There are still three more DLC fighters in development for the game, although Nintendo hasn't hinted at who those will be or when fans can expect them to arrive.

In other Smash Bros. news, Nintendo is offering another free item pack for the game. Switch Online subscribers can now claim the Spirit Board Challenge Pack 7, which includes a handful of items that will make it easier to battle some of the tougher opponents in the game's Spirit Board mode. You'll need to have an active paid subscription in order to claim the freebie.