Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's next DLC character is releasing today

As promised, Nintendo published a video today that was packed with details about the next DLC character for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Hero from the Dragon Quest franchise. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai sat down for nearly 22 minutes to talk about the character in depth, going through his abilities and giving us a good idea of what he'll be capable of on the battlefield. Sakurai also told us when Hero will be releasing, and as it turns out, that launch is happening today.

As you'd expect for any character ripped straight from an RPG, Hero has a bunch of a different spells in his toolbox. Hero relies on MP to cast his spells, which slowly regenerates over time. It seems that managing MP will be key to playing Hero effectively, as he's capable of dishing out some significant damage when he's got the MP to cast charged up spells.

It looks like Hero can cast a pretty wide range of spells from the Dragon Quest series. For instance, his neutral special attack is Frizz, which can be charged up to cast higher-tier spells in the family like Frizzle and Kafrizz. The same is true for his side special, which comprise Zap-type spells, and up specials, which comprise Woosh-type spells.

Things get particularly interesting when Hero's down special gets tossed into the mix. Using down special will pull up a Command Selection menu with randomized spells. Judging from Sakurai's walkthrough, Command Selection can offer up a pretty wide range of spells, including Oomph, which boosts attack for a limited time; Bounce, which reflects projectiles; Kaboom, an explosive projectile; and Snooze, which puts opponents to sleep. There's even a spell called Hocus Pocus that has a random positive or negative effect, so use that one with caution.

Through Command Selection and the ability to charge up his other special attacks, Hero sounds rather unique among Ultimate's roster. As revealed at E3, Hero has a collection of skins based on protagonists from four different Dragon Quest games. He's also arriving with a new stage called Yggdrasil's Altar, along with a collection of new music tracks from the Dragon Quest series.

Hero will go live today for anyone who owns the Fighter's Pass, but he'll also be available separately in Challenger Pack 2 for $5.99. Hero is arriving alongside a new update to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which Sakurai covered toward the end of the video. This new update is adding an online tournament mode and a "very easy" setting for Adventure Mode. There's also another collection of Mii costumes rolling out today for $0.75 each, if you're a fan of buying those. Be sure to check out the video above for more on Hero and the incoming version 4.0.0 patch for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate!