Earlier this month, Nintendo released Pyra and Mythra from Xenoblade Chronicles 2 as DLC fighter(s) for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

The initial reveal of the characters back in February was quite a surprise to many, especially fans of Xenoblade Chronicle 2 who were expecting the main hero Rex to be chosen to represent the series. In his most recent Famitsu column, Sakurai explained that although they originally did plan on having Rex & Pyra appear as a duo character like the Ice Climbers, this was ultimately scrapped in favor of the form changing Pyra/Mythra due to development challenges.

You can read translated excerpts from the column below (via Siliconera):

• “When it was decided that we were to create a character from Xenoblade Chronicles 2, the very first thing I thought about was to show and move Rex and Pyra at the same time on screen. But a conclusion that it’s impossible came at a mach speed. I somewhat requested the team to inspect it, but it was impossible.”
• “When we talk about 2 people who move as a single group, there are the Ice Climbers. They have the same looks and can only do the same things. When we tried Rex + Pyra, it was clear that we could not do an essential task to have their [data] capacity exceed a processing load threshold.”
• “The system to have Rex as the main fighter and Pyra overseeing him was also determined to be difficult. The design was so complex that a lot of things would have to be done.”
• “Rex would have to be moved on his own. But then I thought it would be better if we can change between Pyra and Mythra.”

Although Sakurai briefly touched upon this topic in the Pyra/Mythra Smash Presentation, his comments in the Famitsu column shed a lot more light on how Rex ended up being passed over in favor of Pyra/Mythra. Perhaps in the future, like Chrom, he will get his chance another day.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.