One of the major changes between Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and previous entries in the Super Smash Bros. franchise is the online connection offered by the Switch, which ensures regular patches can be made to the game, whether for new characters, balance changes, or both. It was some of those changes between patches that led to the discovery of something unusual about Zelda’s model.
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The discovery was made while finding data on changes made in the latest Super Smash Bros. patch. A Super Smash Bros. Ultimate player and frame data labber who goes by Masonomace on Twitter was editing a video comparing the sizes of fighers’ shields between versions 6.1.1 and 7.0 of the game when he came upon something interesting. Going to the last frame of Zelda’s roll where she is still invincible, he was briefly able to see the rest of the Zelda model through her dress. It turns out the legs and butt of Zelda’s model are much more muscular than anyone would have imagined, to the point where she looks more like Street Fighter’s Chun-Li than any of Zelda’s more traditional looks.
As surprising as this is, there is a very good reason for it, especially considering Zelda’s legs are specifically meant to go unseen by players. Although models have come a long way since the days of Smash on the N64, they often still need to be oddly proportioned in ways that are not visible to players in order to make sure that the parts that are visible to players function correctly. In this case, Zelda’s large butt is actually just a shape there to make sure her dress flows more realistically, ensuring that it moves like it should without looking uncanny. It’s the same reason her head’s silhouette, seen in the same picture, looks so bizarrely malformed: to make her hair flow correctly.
This sort of thing may shock more casual Smash players, or those who are new to the Smash Bros. franchise, but it’s nothing new in terms of discovering weird stuff in the games, as there have been far, far weirder discoveries made about the games themselves and the models within. Many players probably still remember how, back when Daisy was a trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee and not yet a playable character, she had a bizarre eye on the back of her skull.
Weirdness like this has always been there and will continue to be there when it comes to Smash’s fighters, models, stages, and mechanics. So just remember that, if by some miracle, Sora manages to get into the game, he will most likely have some bizarrely huge knees just out of sight to make sure the physics of his shorts work the way they are supposed to.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is available for the Nintendo Switch.
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