Sora was a good choice for the final fighter. I remembered Nintendo didn't reveal the results of their poll, stating merely in the Wii U version's final presentation that Bayonetta – the last character to join that game – was the most requested character in Europe. I'd chalked the worldwide most requested character up to a "Scroll Of Truth" moment for Nintendo, but it seems their plans for this moment ran that deep, that deliberately. I've never played Kingdom Hearts, but the appeal of combining the legacies of Disney and Square is clear. Plus, I've gravitated daily to an ambient mix of Kingdom Hearts' emotional music while working, so the trailer still found a way to reach me.

In another corporate cynicism-defeating display, Smash Ultimate must be one of Nintendo's main sources of revenue with its worldwide player base and extensive DLC collection, because it spoke like a laser to players' hearts from the first "everyone is here." The effort involved in adding an additional dozen characters to the roster was deceptively large, as a single character's arrival sometimes implied rippling modifications or capacities for others (for example, Kirby's penchant for copying anyone's ability).

Smash Ultimate started huge and became enormous, with over seven dozen playable fighters, tons of stages, and most of a thousand pieces of music. More importantly, it lovingly glorifies characters found much of the way back to the earliest video games, including many that aren't Nintendo's. I've played every version of Smash, but played much more seriously starting on the Wii U, when the online mode became robust and pseudonymous rather than anonymous. Preferred rules and omega stages have made my 25,000-plus matches mostly joyful, and I thought I might consider myself to have "beaten the game" when my "Global Smash Power" hit ten million, but I believe I will continue to dabble and improve.

I'm not a huge fan of DLC (and I'm gratified Iwata insisted Nintendo's approach was to insist on a retail game's full value), but I did spend 75 cents on the Goemon Mii outfit. It was my fondest hope that the deserving Goemon would join as a character, but now that we know he won't, the fashion-formed nod feels all the more worthwhile. I have yet to smack an opponent with his proud pipe (which is most definitely not not a pipe).

Mr Sakurai's sign-off was touching, and he deserves a good breath. Before whatever he does next.