 The most recent Smash Bros Direct has revealed a couple of interesting surprises. It didn't take a psychic to predict that Byleth from Three Houses would be added to the game, but who could have guessed that Cuphead would be included as a costume for a me-gunner? Surely nobody could have seen this coming, right? Well actually fans have been speculating since before Cuphead even released in Japan that the game might eventually end up being referenced in Super Smash Bros Ultimate. These rumours haven't exactly been hurt by the fact that Masahiro Sakurai has been raving about Cuphead for years. According to Source Gaming, Masahiro made a point of shouting about the joys of Cuphead in his weekly Famitsu column all the way back in 2017. At this point, Cuphead haven't even been released in Japan, but despite the game being an Xbox exclusive, Masahiro had been following its development for a while. Masahiro was captivated by Cuphead's endearing art style and its wonderful music, but the thing he really enjoyed was the fact that it was such a challenging title. He liked Cuphead's old-school action-shooter design and how the player gets sent back to the start of each battle when they die. At around the same time, the SNES mini had just released, and Masahiro was a bit disappointed at how the Rewind feature robbed super ghouls and ghosts of some of its challenge, even if he'd struggled with the game himself when it was new. Masahiro noted that modern games don't give the player that kind of challenge very often anymore, even in Fire Emblem Warriors. If the player dies, they get to keep all of their experience points. But Cuphead is different. Paraphrasing Masahiro's comments, Source Gaming says, In Cuphead, the only thing that amasses with playtime is the player's skill. Considering that Masahiro is such a big fan of Cuphead, it's not surprising that, if given the option from Nintendo, he'd want to include the character in Smash in some way. With so many glowing words from Masahiro at the time of Cuphead's launch, fans began pondering how the character would fit into Smash. Cuphead has become one of the most requested and discussed possibilities for DLC within the game. But what about Cuphead's creators, the Moldenhauer family? Unsurprisingly, they were also open to a crossover. In fact, Cuphead co-creator Jared Moldenhauer said all the way back in March of last year that getting Cuphead into Smash would be a literal dream come true. Said Jared, I've dreamed of Smash Brothers. Cuphead and Mugman belong in there. So basically, if fans want it, I couldn't see how Nintendo wouldn't want the fans to get what they wanted. I think they would, because they support their fans a lot. So if Nintendo was keeping their fans happy, then I'd be more than pleased to make that the easiest transition. Just a piece of paper? We don't need anything. You can have those characters make an appearance. With so much enthusiasm from both Masahiro and the Moldenhowers, it's no wonder that this collaboration eventually took place. The character's inclusion has also been helped greatly by the growing partnership between Nintendo and Microsoft. As we saw with the relatively easy inclusion of Banjo Kazooie and Smash, Microsoft is very happy to lend Nintendo whatever characters they might want to include. As we noted in our video on Banjo and Smash, Microsoft's Phil Spencer has been keen to support getting as many characters as possible into the legendary fighting game. Said Phil, obviously we're one of the biggest third-party publishers on Switch, so we have great relationships with their third-party team, and you've seen the ambition they've heard with every character that's ever been in Smash and even more. So it was just kind of part of the partnership relationship we have with them. Masahiro's comment is worth repeating as well. Speaking of Microsoft, it originated as a rival to Nintendo. With that said, however, there's no sense in throwing salt at former business enemies. So why did Cuphead end up in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate? Because… why not? It was something that everybody, both the developers and the fans, wanted. It was an easy licensing deal to arrange, and including Cuphead as a me-fighter meant that Masahiro's Sakurai's team didn't even need to create an entirely new moveset in order to make it happen. This is just another little reminder that everyone involved with Smash really does want it to be a celebration of the high points of video gaming, including the success of quirky indie darlings. Although, as the team have now announced yet more DLC fighters in the near future, and Masahiro has expressly stated that he's not going to take a break, we can only hope they can keep on top of the workload.