 Well, it's finally happened! Beloved Undertale skeleton Sands has come to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. No, he's not a wholly original character in his own right, being simply a costume for the Mii Gunner fighter, but that's beside the point. Everyone's favourite character from Undertale is now playable in Smash Bros. Sorry Undyne. Toby Fox's journey from amateur developer to Nintendo collaborator is incredible. We've previously detailed how Toby made his first game Undertale and the first chapter of its successor, Delta Roon. But how exactly did Toby's work in Game Maker Studio lead to his inclusion in one of gaming's most celebrated fighting games? Believe it or not, this is all thanks to you. Provided you're a fan of Sands, that is, if you don't like Undertale, don't worry, this isn't your fault. But also, why don't you like Undertale? And why are you watching this video? In April of 2015, before Undertale had even been released, Nintendo asked fans to submit suggestions for characters to be included within Super Smash Bros. Requests began flooding in, with Western fans particularly demanding characters like Ridley, King K. Rool and Banjo Kazooie. So that seems to have worked out nicely. Apparently I was the only person gunning for Alex Kidd. When in September of the same year Undertale was released, fans immediately began to wonder whether Toby Fox's love letter to Earthbound could also feature in Smash Bros. in some way. It took a few years for this movement to really gain traction, but slowly the memes spread far and wide. Nintendo fans in their thousands began calling out for the inclusion of Sands in the game. Meanwhile, Toby Fox was living his best life. In January of 2018 while in Tokyo, Toby got to meet Shigasato Itoi, the creator of Earthbound. Shigasato is a very famous creator in Japan, having worked on a variety of different successful media projects beyond Earthbound, so he could almost be forgiven for overlooking a game like Undertale. Not so though. According to Toby, today when I was walking around Tokyo I happened to find a Hobonichi event, Shigasato Itoi's company. Then I happened to meet Shigasato Itoi, mother's creator. He told everyone I was an awesome game designer. I'm happy. This world is made of strange coincidences, huh? Toby also got the chance to spend time with none other than Masahiro Sakurai, who invited him to his house. According to Toby, this was an intimate affair. There was no translator, so their conversations weren't stiff and disjointed thanks to the inclusion of an intermediary. This did however mean that Toby had to do his best to use his own broken Japanese to try and communicate with Masahiro. The pair played Smash Brothers, and Masahiro was very impressed at just how good Toby was at the game. He was among the best players that had been invited to Masahiro's home. They played over and over, letting the computer choose random characters for them to play each round. Half the time Masahiro won, half the time Toby won. They were fairly evenly matched, and Masahiro even suspected that Toby might be just a little better at the game, at least picking random characters. When their time together was over, Masahiro personally drove Toby home. As they travelled, they listened to a CD of music from Super Smash Brothers, and they laughed and joked. Toby decided to name Masahiro's car the Batmobile, which… sure, why not? It's canon now. Masahiro Sakurai drives the Batmobile, and listens to Smash Brothers' music at every available moment. Quite aside from anything else, this certainly does show how much he cares about his game, that he's so absorbed by it even during what is theoretically his time on. But then, work-life balance has never been his strong suit. It was presumably following their time together that Toby was invited to compose a new arrangement of megalovania for Smash Brothers, but this wasn't all he was asked to do. Game Freak, another orbital Nintendo company, was working on their brand new original game, Little Town Hero. If you're wondering why Game Freak doesn't have more resources to pour into modelling every single Pokémon for Sword and Shield, bear in mind that they are also trying to reinvent the role-playing game genre with this nifty looking title. Little Town Hero is apparently what would happen if Majora's Mask was a turn-based role-playing game, in which you explore a small community, make friends with various people, help them with their problems, and then use their loyalty to hurl them against monsters that get in your way. Just like how real friendship works. With development on Little Town Hero and Pokémon Sword and Shield running concurrently, Game Freak needed to expand and to work with new creators. Additional artists and developers were hired, but to give Little Town Hero a distinct feel from their other work, the studio decided to hire an outside composer for the bulk of the game's music. That composer was Toby Fox. Speaking about his experience working on the game, Toby said that it was an honor to be included. Toby initially composed the music, and then it was arranged by veteran Game Freak composer Hitomi Sato, best known for his work on Pokémon Black and White. Said Toby, though it was a very small team, I felt a lot of passion from the people working on it. I'm looking forward to finally trying the game myself and seeing how it turned out. Toby's journey over the past few years has been incredible. He's made a small passion project that he didn't really expect anyone would care much about, but after it blew up on Kickstarter and then wide release, he's gone from strength to strength. Now his character and music has been included in Super Smash Bros., and he's been able to compose music for the guys who make Pokémon games. The moral of the story is that you never know where your passion project might take you. You might not end up with the success that Toby Fox has achieved, but your own personal development goals are no less valid. Make things you can be proud of. Develop talents that make you happy. Learn, grow, and most importantly, stay determined.