Super Smash Bros. Ultimate fans and Final Fantasy VII fans were in for an early Holiday present with just how much care was put into Smash Ultimate's latest DLC fighter, Sephiroth. Not only does he bring long-requested Final Fantasy 7 tracks to the game and heavily references several Final Fantasy titles, but he also has one of the craziest Final Smashes in the game. Supernova may be one of the flashiest and terrifying moves in the game.
Sephiroth's Final Smash starts with him swinging his sword forward to trap opponents in the attack. Anyone hit with this start-up attack will be transferred to a recreation of the final boss fight against the One-Winged Angel's true form, Safer-Sephiroth. Safer-Sephiroth will perform Supernova, a devastating summon that shows a meteor crash into the Sun and trigger a supernova that destroys several planets in the Milky Way, including Earth.
The incredibly flashy Final Smash is pure eye-candy and fittingly horrifying, but the craziest part is what happens after the attack. Anyone caught in Sephiroth's opening strike will be launched back with a random status effect applied, such as having their controls reversed, their health draining away, having their shield broken or being put to sleep.
The Smash Ultimate version of Supernova is clearly inspired by its effects in Final Fantasy VII. The animation in FF7 was much longer, showing nearly every planet annihilated by either the summoned meteor or the resulting supernova. The original version could apply the Confused, Slow or Silence status effects onto the player's party and was often reserved as a party-wipe move. Whilst Supernova isn't exclusive to Sephiroth in Final Fantasy, it is one of his most iconic attacks that's appeared with several incarnations of the character.
These status effects make Sephiroth the only character able to inflict more than one status effect with a single move. As series director Masahiro Sakurai explains during the gameplay demonstration, there are multiple ways that an opponent with no damage could theoretically be killed due to a status effect limiting their recovery. Even the effects that don't launch opponents, like shield break and sleep, set opponents up for a devastating zero-to-death Gigaflare into a side-smash combo.
This clearly sets Sephiroth up as having one of the most powerful Final Smashes in the game. It may only deal ~34% damage itself, but there's certainly a lot of potential for follow-up attacks. The least dangerous effect out of all of these is probably Health Drain, but that still means a player will end up taking far more damage than usual. It's one of the few Final Smashes in the game that almost guarantees a kill after using it.
There are two other instant-kill Final Smashes in Ultimate. The Critical Hit Final Smash belongs to Marth and Lucina from the Fire Emblem series and will almost always guarantee a KO, no matter how much damage an opponent has taken. Players may be able to survive these on larger stages, though even then, it's a dangerous move to be up against.
Dealing with Sephiroth's Final Smash is also a difficult prospect. With Marth and Lucina, it's fairly easy to dodge Critical Hit due to its limited range. Sephiroth doesn't really have to worry about his sword lacking range, which means simply running away isn't going to work. For what Sephiroth's blade has is length, it lacks in width. It seems the best way to avoid Supernova is to try and anticipate the attack and air-dodge upwards or off-stage.