Sephiroth hits Super Smash Bros. next week, or today if you’re good enough

During The Game Awards, it was revealed that Final Fantasy VII’s one-winged angel would be making an appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as the next DLC fighter. Today, we know when he’ll release — and it’s a bit weird.

During a presentation from series director Masahiro Sakurai this morning, a bunch of new information about Sephiroth in Smash was released. We got to see how he played, his victory animation, his new stage, and 9 new Final Fantasy VII tracks (including 4 new arrangements). But perhaps more importantly, we learned about his release date: the 22nd of December, which is next Tuesday…

… or if you’re good enough, you can play as him today. People who’ve purchased the Fighters Pack Vol. 2 will be able to participate in a special limited-time challenge mode called the Sephiroth Challenge, starting from today. Complete the challenge, and you’ll be able to play as Sephiroth early — but be warned, it’s quite difficult.

In other Smash update news, the Sephiroth update will also contain four-ish new Mii Fighter costumes: Barret, Tifa, and Aerith from FFVII (plus a Chocobo hat), and Geno from Super Mario RPG. It’s not yet known if those will become available today with the challenge update, or next week when Sephiroth is “officially” available, but we’d assume the former.

We’ll bring you more information as it becomes available, but if you’re keen on watching all the nitty gritty details, you can watch the video below.