User:Aidanzapunk/Spirit analysis

Inspired by Sir Teatei Moonlight's look at the Xenoblade spirits, I figured I'd look at the spirits for some series that I'm familiar with. I could just do one series (and, in fact, was originally just going to do the Kingdom Hearts spirits), but where's the fun in that?

By the way, for at least one series here, I will be delving into spoiler territory, so read at your own risk. Not like this wiki's spoiler-free anyway, but still.

I'll be looking at seven things, six of which are retained from the original page:

• Type (whether you're main or support doesn't seem fair to count - just the four battle types)
• Rank/Slots/Power
• Ability
• Battle character(s) and stage
• Music
• Battle conditions

Also like that page, each note is given a loose rating.

• +3: Genius
• +2: Fitting
• +1: Fair
• ±0: Neutral
• -1: Curious
• -2: Unfitting
• -3: Failure

Sonic the Hedgehog

Spirit	Type	Rank/Slots/Power	Ability	Battle character(s) and stage	Music	Battle conditions	Rating
Sonic the Hedgehog	Fighter spirit. Out of all the renders across the series, this just had to be from Lost World, didn't it?						—
Dr. Eggman	0.58 A : 0.42 D (= Dr. Crygor + Tamagon + Chansey + 2 Grab cores) Eggman's very good at kidnapping things, particularly animals, so that's fitting. Makes sense to have Dr. Crygor (mad scientist) and Chansey (egg Pokémon), but I find it particularly funny that 卵 is Japanese for egg; whether that was intentional or not is up to you, I guess, but for the sake of this, I'm counting it. [+3]	★★★★ ⬡⬡⬡ 13,200 (4,047 - 10,118) He's the big bad of the series and frequently the final boss (at least, in games after 2006), so he should be a powerhouse. [+2]	Electric Attack ↑ I suppose, since he's a robot enthusiast. [+1]	Bowser Jr. (Roy)+metal Sonic, Green Hill Zone The Junior Clown Car is a good representation of the Egg Mobile already, but Roy has the shades to make up Eggman himself. A literal metal Sonic is also a nice touch. Green Hill Zone's okay, but I can't complain too much because it is where you first fight Eggman and his giant ass wrecking ball. [+3]	Green Hill Zone I'm shocked they didn't use Scrap Brain Zone here, but I suppose it's more fitting to have the theme for Green Hill when you're already here. [+1]	Shooting items only Bob-ombs will rain from the sky after a little while The enemy's shooting items have increased power Items will be pulled toward the enemy A lot of his mechs have explosives and energy shots, so yeah. [+2]	+12
Tails	(= Andy + Vulpix + 1 Support core) I suppose the typing is evocative of him being able to use his tails as extra appendages and grab stuff with them. Making him a mix between an engineer and a fox is very on the nose, though. [+2]	★★★ ⬢ 9,600 Despite what Sonic Forces would like to imply, Tails is indeed a super capable character within the series, but I don't think he's this strong. [-1]	Up Special ↑ Hah, because you have to press up and one of the buttons on the Genesis controller to get him to fly in the old games. [+3]	Fox, Windy Hill Zone They're really leaning into the fox aspect with Tails, but then again, it's not like there are a whole lot of options. [+2]	Emerald Hill Zone Yep. [+2]	Gravity is reduced Hostile assist trophies will appear (Knuckles) The enemy starts the battle with an enhanced Ray Gun Knuckles being here is a tiny bit odd, but not questionable. Everything else checks out. [+2]	+10
Super Sonic	0.58 A : 0.42 D So, on one hand, Grab beats Shield, and Super Sonic is Sonic's most powerful form (or, at least, one of them). On the other hand, he's literally invincible and impervious to nearly all forms of attack, and the only real way to stand a chance is to hope you can outlast the form's Ring consumption (or, y'know, siphon the energy of the Chaos Emeralds right out of him, but that only really happened once). As an aside, though, I find it a little odd in an amusing way that, in terms of attack and defense, Super Sonic has the exact same stats as Eggman. [±0]	★★★★ ⬡⬡⬡ 13,700 (3,970 - 9,927) Yep. [+2]	Speed ↑ Something invincibility-related would've been nice, but once again, yep. [+2]	Gold Sonic, Windy Hill Zone For the third time in a row, yep. [+2]	Live and Learn I mean, it was between this and Open Your Heart. [+2]	The enemy will suddenly have a Final Smash Say it with me now: yep. [+2]	+10
Amy	It's a little funny to think that Attack beats Grab, because I guarantee you Amy's been taking extra precautions (including picking up that hammer) to make sure Metal Sonic can't kidnap her again. [+2]	★★★ ⬢ 9,400 Read issue 58 of the IDW comics and tell me this is wrong. [+2]	Shield Damage ↑ A hammer's gonna break your defenses. [+2]	Inkling, Windy Hill Zone This would've been a lot better if Sega didn't have a stick up their ass and let Smash recolor their mascot. A pink Sonic representing a pink hedgehog would've fit a lot better than this. [±0]	Open Your Heart I weirdly feel less strongly about this with Metal Sonic, but how is it that neither character from Sonic CD has Sonic Boom playing in their spirit battle?? [-1]	The enemy starts the battle with a Hammer The enemy can swing the Hammer for a long time The enemy has increased move speed Get Piko Piko'd. [+2]	+7
Metal Sonic	0.5 A : 0.5 D This feels right, given that not only does Shield beat Attack, but Metal's got a lot of both power and durability. [+2]	★★ ⬡ 4,600 (1,859 - 7,465) I don't buy this. Metal's is one of the only adversaries of the blue blur that's able to keep up with him on all levels—he was literally built to do exactly that—and despite how powerful some of the other cast members are, he's not below them by any means. [-2]	Speed ↑ There we go. [+2]	Metal Sonic, Windy Hill Zone I'd sure as hell hope so. [+2]	Sonic Heroes Again, I'm confused at the lack of Sonic Boom, but at least Sonic Heroes still fits, since Metal is the twist villain of that game. What we really need is What I'm Made Of, and don't let Omega Tyrant tell you otherwise. [+1]	Timed stamina battle The enemy is metal The enemy starts the battle with a Rocket Belt The time limit makes me think of the Stardust Speedway race, so if that's intentional, that's cool as hell. Big Blue would've been a more fitting stage for that, but oh well. [+2]	+7
Knuckles	0.54 A : 0.46 D (= Gordo + Muddy Mole + 1 Grab core) As mentioned with Super Sonic, Grab beats Shield, and Knuckles is one of the more physically powerful characters in the series, so this fits, but I don't know if I'd say he's necessarily weak to attacks, at least not any more than anyone else. The combination of the spiky ball and the mole is cute, too. I might've made the numbers a bit more lopsided, though. [+2]	★★★ ⬡⬡ (2,778 - 8,360) Like I said, he's one of the more physically powerful characters in the series. [+2]	Fist Attack ↑ Rougher than the rest of them. [+2]	(no battle)			+6
Chaotix	0.44 A : 0.56 D Erm, actually, it's Team Chaotix, and they're detectives you want on your side. Joking aside, they're more on the defensive side to help those in need, so this fits. [+2]	★ ⬡⬡⬡ 1,600 (805 - 4,027) They're one of the most competent teams in the series (even if they're one of the only teams in the series), so this feels like it's underselling it. [-1]	(no ability) I guess they didn't want to emphasize any one character with an ability, and chose to avoid it altogether. [±0]	Sonic+Pichu+King K. Rool, Windy Hill Zone I don't get why K. Rool's blue here, considering Vector is full-on green, but at least he's here to begin with. [+2]	Sonic Heroes Not like there's gonna be any Knuckles' Chaotix music in here anytime soon, though that game's soundtrack did rise from the grave for Frontiers, so who knows. [+2]	The enemy is invisible Hey, that's cheating, Leaf Swirl didn't turn everyone else invisible in Heroes. [+2]	+7
Big the Cat	0.43 A : 0.57 D Bro's literally just chilling, fishing with his froggy friend. [+2]	★ ⬡⬡ 2,600 (848 - 4,247) Big certainly isn't a weak fighter (he is the designated Power character of Team Rose in Heroes), but he's not the most competent fighter. [+2]	Weight ↑ He's big, all right. [+2]	Giant Incineroar, Windy Hill Zone (BF) Don't show this battle to the alternate costumes page. I'm appalled by the absence of a Froggy stand-in, though. [+2]	Open Your Heart How is this the only song here from Sonic Adventure? That game has an incredible soundtrack. [+2]	The floor is sleep-inducing The enemy is giant When he's not fishing, he's sleeping. Livin' the life with those lazy days. [+2]	+12
Gamma	0.48 A : 0.52 D I guess his weapon in Adventure is fast enough that it could break someone's defenses. That, or it's supposed to represent how he's tracking down his bird family. [+2]	★ ⬡ 1,700 (953 - 4,768) Gamma was literally designed for battle, what the hell is this? [-1]	(no ability) Oh, come on, don't do my boy Gamma like that. [-1]	R.O.B., Frigate Orpheon About as good as you can get with both Gamma and Final Egg, though Halberd would've also fit for a Sky Deck shoutout. [+2]	Open Your Heart Smash is seriously missing out on some Sonic Adventure bangers, especially in this battle, which could have used Gamma's theme, but it didn't. [+2]	Stamina battle The enemy's shooting items have increased power The enemy starts the battle with a Ray Gun God, could you imagine if Gamma's shooting mechanics were transferred into Smash? That would suck. [+2]	+6
Chaos	0.45 A : 0.55 D His entire shtick throughout Adventure is that he's grabbing up all the Chaos Emeralds and absorbing their negative energy, so yeah, he's pretty grabby. [+2]	★★ ⬡ 4,200 (1,751 - 7,033) If we're strictly considering Chaos 0, then this is fair, but you progressively watch this blob of water evolve into a lizard that becomes the final boss of the game. [+1]	Water Attack ↑ erm actually Chaos isn't made of water, it's water-like energy [+2]	Metal Inkling, Fourside (BF) The metal is as close as you can get to a liquid, but it's kind of ironic that the Inklings are weak to water. Poor suckers wouldn't even last a day in Station Square. [+2]	Open Your Heart For as many complaints as I've given towards the lack of more Sonic Adventure music, I'm still glad that this song is in here at all, and if any battle is going to use it, it should be this one. [+2]	The enemy is giant when the enemy's at high damage The enemy is metal Weird that they effectively give you this battle twice, since Sonic's Classic Mode route does the same exact thing (albeit representing Chaos through a giant metal Sonic instead of Inkling), but hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. [+2]	+11
Chao	0.56 A : 0.44 D Pretty even in terms of attack and defense, and someone who will protect their friends. Yeah, this checks out. [+2]	★ ⬡⬡ 2,100 (945 - 4,729) They're just little guys. [+2]	Enhanceable (Hero Chao) Yeah, that's how the Chao Garden works. Speaking of, it's funny that this and Frontiers are, like, the only modern instances of that being acknowledged since the Adventure games. [+2]	Squirtle team, Windy Hill Zone Squirtle's shape is probably the best match you're gonna get for the Chao. I wouldn't even know what else to use. [+2]	Escape from the City It's the first stage you find Chao in (including that bastard Omochao). [+2]	Food only The enemy becomes more powerful after eating The enemy is easily distracted by items Yeah, they absolutely leaned into the Chao Garden aspects here, which was the right call. [+2]	+12
Hero Chao	0.52 A : 0.48 D In a way, I'm slightly disappointed that the Dark Chao isn't here, but I guess branching evolution paths is a Pokémon thing and not a Spirit thing. [+2]	★★★ ⬡⬡ (3,706 - 11,151) Either I'm missing something and Hero Chao are super cracked, or I'm right in thinking this is too much. Until someone proves otherwise, I'm going with the latter. [-1]	Fast Final Smash Meter I guess this is supposed to be indicative of the Chao races? I actually didn't mess around a whole lot with the Chao Garden stuff in Adventure 2 (I don't have too high an opinion on Adventure 2 in general). [+1]	(no battle)			+2
Shadow the Hedgehog	0.61 A : 0.39 D It all starts with this, a Spirit containing the ultimate power. [+2]	★★★ ⬡⬡ 9,100 (2,702 - 8,147) Shadow's easily one of the strongest characters in the series. Strictly because of the enhancement, though, I forgive him for not being a Legend-class Spirit. [+2]	Enhanceable (Super Shadow) It's a shame that Shadow's the only hedgehog whose Spirit can go super, though Sonic does have his as a separate Spirit since he's playable. Basically I'm complaining about the lack of Super Silver, though any other super form—Hyper Knuckles, Burning Blaze, Perfect Chaos (yes, this counts), etc.—would've been nice as well. [+2]	Sonic, New Pork City (BF) It's kind of weird that Sonic's representing himself and not Shadow, especially since I'm fairly certain most Spirit battles for Assist Trophy characters have puppet fighters who represent the Assist Trophy and not anyone else. I also would've chosen Fourside for an Adventure 2 reference, given the moon in the background, but I guess they wanted to use Fourside for Station Square (a decision I also disagree with; swap the two and they'd be fine). [+1]	Live & Learn I'd be insane to suggest that this is a bad pick for a song, far from it. But Adventure 2, much like the previous game, deserved better in the music department. For True Story would've gone crazy here. [+2]	Timers only The enemy's dash attacks have increased power Hostile assist trophies will appear (Shadow) The enemy is easily distracted by items Yes, we get it, Chaos Control. I'm so sad this game came out before Shadow Generations, because that very likely would've meant peak for Sonic representation in Smash. [+2]	+11
Super Shadow	0.53 A : 0.47 D How do you have a more even attack:defense ratio than your base form? [+1]	★★★★ ⬡⬡ (4,781 - 11,954) See, there we go. Super Sonic is obviously powerful, but Super Shadow might actually be more powerful considering his Chaos abilities. [+2]	Undamaged Attack & Speed ↑ I think the intent here is to tie it with an invincibility spirit to get the most out of your attack and speed bonus, especially since Super Shadow is, well, invincible and fast. [+2]	(no battle)			+5
Rouge the Bat	Well, yeah, she is a jewel thief. [+2]	★★ ⬢ 3,700 This feels right. She's capable of holding her own, but probably not better than either member of Team Dark. [+2]	Air Attack ↑ She's also a bat. [+2]	Fox, Fourside Missed opportunity to use Bayonetta. At least Fourside fits. [-2]	Sonic Heroes Another victim of "there needs to be more music from Adventure 2", but I have to imagine there could be something even in the base game of Ultimate that fits better than this? It could be worse, though—Heroes is at least one of her most prominent appearances. [±0]	The enemy's kicks and knee strikes have increased power The enemy's melee blows will heal them when they hit The enemy has increased jump power The healing for attacks is a nice touch, since it's like Rouge is "stealing" your health. [+3]	+7
Cream & Cheese	I'm kind of surprised she isn't Shield or Neutral, given that she's a literal child who doesn't really get involved in a lot of danger lest anyone incur the wrath of Vanilla. [-1]	★★ ⬢ 3,500 Again, she's a literal child, but maybe they're counting both her and Cheese? [-1]	Jump ↑ Shockingly, she can use those ears to fly. Though, I guess stranger things have happened in the series. [+2]	Isabelle+tiny Squirtle, Green Hill Zone Yeah, this is the way to do it. [+2]	Rooftop Run I guess they didn't want too many battles using Sonic Heroes? Can't think of any other reason why this song in particular would be used. [-1]	Gravity is reduced The enemy takes less damage while in the air I suppose this fits. [+1]	+2
Omega	0.47 A : 0.53 D Absolutely not. Omega is the textbook definition of "shoot first, ask questions later" (potentially even "never"). [-3]	★ ⬡ 2,200 (1,053 - 5,270) Seriously, what the hell? Omega's the designated Power-type member of Team Dark. [-2]	(no ability) Oh, you are doing Omega so dirty. [-1]	Giant R.O.B., Green Hill Zone (BF) I guess if you're thinking of Seaside Hill as the token "Green Hill" of Heroes, this makes sense. [+2]	Sonic Heroes It's his debut game. Though, keeping with the "add more music from Sonic games" trend, This Machine would've gone hard. [+2]	Stamina battle The enemy starts the battle with a Drill The enemy is giant I don't entirely get why he's giant—he's not all that much different in size compared to the rest of the cast, and, in fact, it's Gamma who's significantly taller than even Dr. Eggman—but everything else at least somewhat fits. [+1]	-1
Blaze the Cat	Honestly, Blaze is a little too protective at times, but I don't take issue with that. She's a princess, after all. [+2]	★★ ⬢⬢ 4,100 This is kind of underselling it, especially since she's effectively the Sol Dimension equivalent to Sonic himself, but then again, Sega doesn't really let her do cool things anymore, so. Unless Advanced class is supposed to be what Sonic himself would be if he weren't playable (perish the thought). [+1]	Mouthful of Curry This feels weird because Fire & Explosion Attack ↑ was right there, but I suppose they wanted to have some variety. [+1]	Robin, Green Hill Zone (BF) Even though the literal fire cat with a purple alt might seem appropriate, I can't say that it fits better than Robin does. [+2]	Reach for the Stars So, here's the thing. Even though Reach for the Stars is literally my favorite song of all time, I can't say its appearance here is all too fitting. This Spirit battle makes the loss of Right There, Ride On—a song that I frankly don't even have that high of an opinion on—all the more apparent, since it was the one song we had from Sonic Rush, but what's honestly even more upsetting is the complete lack of music from Rush Adventure, a game that I consider to have a substantially higher quality soundtrack than Rush. Any song from that game would've been just as fitting for Blaze's Spirit battle given how Rush Adventure is entirely set in the Sol Dimension. All this to say, give us A New Venture, you cowards. [-2]	The floor is lava The enemy's explosion and fire attacks have increased power The enemy starts the battle with a Fire Flower This is how you lean into the fire stuff. Almost surprised there isn't a "the enemy favors side specials" condition. [+2]	+6
Jet the Hawk	(= Pidgey + Akari Hayami) In spite of my otherwise loud complaints about the lack of a Spirit battle here (the usage of a similarly cocky rival anthropomorphic bird was right there), "bird + snowboarder" is very funny for Jet. [+3]	★★ ⬢ Yeah, all he's really got is his Extreme Gear. [+2]	Move Speed ↑ On one hand, this could've used something to do with air movement because, again, Extreme Gear. On the other hand, given his rivalry with Sonic to be the fastest, I can't fault this. [+2]	(no battle)			+7
Silver the Hedgehog	Silver's not inherently the confrontational type, I feel. [-1]	★★ ⬢ 3,600 The dude is from the future and has psychokinetic abilities. This is underselling him. [-1]	Strong Throw As mentioned. [+2]	Sonic, Green Hill Zone I never really got why Silver, out of all characters, cameos on Green Hill Zone. Maybe it's because 06 was the most recent big game at the time of Brawl's release (note the specification because Secret Rings, unfortunately, existed at the time too), but I'm shocked that several more impactful and significant characters, like Amy or Dr. Eggman, have only made trophy and Spirit cameos. [+2]	Rooftop Run I know His World is Sonic's theme in 06, but why didn't they use that here? Rooftop Run isn't unfitting, though, since it's in the same area of Generations as Silver himself. [-1]	Throwing items only The enemy starts the battle with a Black Hole The enemy is easily distracted by items I'm almost surprised they didn't throw in a bunch of crates to give a shoutout to 06's physics engine. [+2]	+3
Sonic the Werehog	(= Togedemaru + Werewolf) Given that the Werehog was the first time a mainline Sonic game had dedicated combat, this makes sense. The combination of a hedgehog Pokémon and a werewolf is also cute. [+3]	★★ ⬢ 4,200 You're putting this on the same level as several other more powerful characters, but lower than objectively not as powerful characters? [-2]	Physical Attack ↑ Again, the Werehog levels are combat-heavy, so you might as well. [+2]	Wolf, Luigi's Mansion A Night of the Werehog reference is unexpected, but welcome. [+3]	Knight of the Wind What, they didn't want to subject you to blaring brass? [±0]	The stage is covered in fog The enemy's physical attacks have increased power The enemy has increased attack power The fog is an interesting choice, but I guess it's meant to evoke a "dark and spooky night" emblematic of a werewolf transformation? [+2]	+8
Infinite	0.61 A : 0.39 D For someone so insistent on not being weak, those are some pretty heavily skewed stats. [-1]	★★ ⬡⬡ 4,200 (1,790 - 7,185) In a way, I'm shocked this got approved, because Forces was the most recent game to come out at the time of Ultimate's release, and that game very clearly made him out to be a big bad that was a force to be reckoned with. Granted, the dude got his teeth kicked in (by more than one hedgehog, at that), but still. [-1]	(no ability) Boo. [-1]	Metal Sonic, Big Blue You know what, if this is a jab at the level design of Forces, then that's more than okay in my book. [+3]	Fist Bump This probably would've been made better if Infinite's theme itself was in, but I'll take this over Sunset Heights, not that I think the latter's a bad song. [+1]	The screen will suddenly flip after a little while Stamina battle The enemy is metal The mask, the Phantom Ruby, the boss fight mechanics, all here so it checks out. [+2]	+3

Conclusion: Put more Sonic music in, it would've made these a whole lot better.

Kingdom Hearts

Spirit	Type	Rank/Slots/Power	Ability	Battle character(s) and stage	Music	Battle conditions	Rating
Sora	Fighter spirit. I personally like other outfits more than this one, but if you're going to stick with one as the "default", then it should be this one.						—
Sora (KINGDOM HEARTS II)	Now we're talking. Love this alt, and love this game. Kinda cursed to see it with KH1 hair, though, but I guess that's fair game considering the beginning of KH2 has a grown-up Sora with KH2 hair in the KH1 outfit.						—
Sora (KINGDOM HEARTS 3D [Dream Drop Distance])	My opinions on Dream Drop Distance are rather low, but yeah, you might as well have this outfit in here if you're going all the way.						—
Sora (KINGDOM HEARTS III)	It's also cursed to see this outfit with the KH1 hair, but it's even more cursed to see this outfit with the KH1 proportions. You can tell Sora's gotten taller because of how the Keyblade lines up differently with his body when comparing this spirit and the actual fighter render.						—
Sora (Timeless River)	Putting aside any bias that I have for this series, I still think that this is the best alternate costume in the game, because this is just such an incredible pull. I would've been down for more world transformations (like Halloween Town, The Caribbean, and, if it were solely up to me, Space Paranoids), but I'll take what I can get, and if it's going to be any, it might as well be one that embodies Disney itself the most.						—
Riku	0.63 A : 0.37 D He acts as an antagonistic force towards Sora for almost the entirety of KH1, so I guess he's literally attacking you, but it also makes sense when considering Attack is low in defense, as Riku has left himself very susceptible to the powers of darkness. [+2]	★★★ ⬡⬡ 9,500 (3,410 - 10,259) Both as an early game boss and an endgame boss, Riku is definitely a hurdle to overcome (especially in his third fight, I know some of you KH oldheads have that cutscene engraved in your brain). [+2]	Sword Attack ↑ Well, yeah. [+2]	Corrin, Hollow Bastion Corrin's probably the best representation of the outfit he wears during his first boss battle in Hollow Bastion. [+2]	Hollow Bastion What baffles me is that they chose the standard HB theme for the fight, when Scherzo Di Notte (HB's battle theme) plays during said boss battle. [-3]	Stamina battle The enemy has increased move speed The enemy starts the battle with a Black Hole Stamina battle's cute (it's an RPG, everyone has a health bar), and the increased move speed makes me think of his attack where he dashes at you repeatedly, but where the hell does the Black Hole come from? Is it just because it's darkness? Because if so, then I guess, but... [+1]	+6
Kairi	Be real here. Kairi doesn't do jack in the series, and, if anything, is the one who needs to be defended. [-3]	★ ⬢ 2,100 Yeah, this is more accurate. Granted, she does have some badass moments later in the series (chief among them being the final boss fight of the ReMind DLC, where you actually get to play as her for the first time), but still: use her for once, Nomura. [+1]	Critical-Health Defense ↑ So, in spite of my critique towards Kairi being a Shield spirit, this part feels accurate, especially in the context of KH1. Long story short, Kairi's heart has been inside Sora's body for the entire game, and when Sora frees it, he himself falls to darkness and turns into a Heartless, which Kairi recognizes and (somehow) returns him to normal. If that's the intended reference, then that's pretty damn clever in my book. [+3]	Daisy+Sora, Tortimer Island Might as well use the flower princess for the character who's pretty heavily associated with flowers and is a Princess of Heart. [+2]	Hand in Hand Of the tracks in Smash, Hand in Hand feels the least "locked in combat"-like, which is fitting for Kairi regardless of game. [+1]	Defeat the main fighter to win The enemy starts the battle with a Lip's Stick Lip's Stick is about as good a representation of Destiny's Embrace as you can get. [+2]	+6
Roxas	Roxas kind of is the middle ground of the series, especially in both KH2 and 358. By default he's associated with the bad guys since Xemnas scooped him up, gave him a coat and a new name, and sent him on his way, but more than anything he wants to find his own place in the world and his reason for existing. [+2]	★★★★ ⬢⬢⬢ 13,800 He's far from the toughest boss fight in KH2, by the standards of both the game itself and Organization XIII, but as an individual, he is pretty damn overpowered, since he can use two Keyblades and is also, y'know, effectively another Sora. [+1]	Weapon Attack & Move Speed ↑ ↑ Hmm. I don't know if I'd say anyone in Kingdom Hearts is particularly known for being fast (with the only exception being someone like Go Go), but while the weapon attack boost is appropriate, it's perplexing that this is a unique ability they assigned specifically to Roxas's spirit. [-1]	Sora, Hollow Bastion (Dive to the Heart) Like I said, he's another Sora. Dive to the Heart is a nice touch though, since that's where he and Sora fight in KH2. All we need now is The Other Promise playing. [+2]	Fragments of Sorrow Case in point. Though, this isn't unfitting, since this is the track that plays for combat in Dive to the Heart in KH2, which is part of the famous seven-hour Roxas prologue. [+2]	Stamina battle The enemy has increased attack power after a little while The enemy has increased move speed after a little while The enemy starts the battle with a Killing Edge Again, I know that Roxas has fast attack speed and that he moves around a lot, but I'd hardly say that he needs that boost in speed. Maybe it's to increase the difficulty of the battle? The Killing Edge is also appropriate though, since, again, two Keyblades. [+1]	+7
Axel	0.65 A : 0.35 D This is fair. His methods are a bit forceful, but then again, that's par for the course for Organization XIII. [+2]	★★ ⬡ 4,300 (1,998 - 8,021) 0/10 should've been two support slots since he's friends with both Roxas and Xion. Jokes aside, he's a boss at the end of the KH2 prologue where Roxas finally gains his memories back and has access to two Keyblades for the first time (throwing first-time players for a loop), and sets the arena on fire and does some other "how is this only one of the first bosses of the game?" type crap, but he's not too much of a threat, all things considered. [+1]	Fire Attack ↑ Sounds about right. [+2]	Roy, Kalos Pokémon League (Blazing Chamber transition) The fire guy with the red hair represents the fire guy with the red hair, go figure. Should've used the orange alt to give a shoutout to Lea's outfit in Birth By Sleep, but it's whatever. I also would've gone with Frigate Orpheon myself for the computer room and added the lava floor, but, again, it's whatever. Not like the battle isn't still fitting, since it is evocative of the Organization XIII boss arenas in Chain of Memories. [+2]	Destiny's Force It's an okay pick, but seriously, how did no song outside of KH1 make it in here? [+1]	Stamina battle Fire and explosion attacks aren't as effective against the enemy The enemy starts the battle with a Hothead Fire attacks actually heal Axel in Chain of Memories, so good call. [+3]	+11
Xion	Xion's kind of in the same boat as Roxas since she's mostly just doing what she's told despite how much she may not want to do it. [+2]	★★ ⬢ 3,700 I feel like this should be higher, but I can't say this feels entirely inaccurate either. [+1]	Trade-Off Attacks ↑ A nice implementation of the boss fight mechanics. [+2]	Robin (female)+Robin (male ×2), Delfino Plaza (rooftop) Robin's coat is about as good a fit as you could get for the Organization XIII coats, but I gotta say, missed opportunity to include the coat itself as a Mii costume. Relatedly, a Mii Swordfighter actually would've been a little better for Xion for reasons that'd take too long to explain, but I can't complain too much here—it's the Sea Salt Trio at the top of the clock tower, just like they've always been. [+2]	Shrouding Dark Cloud This song actually does play during her boss fight in 358/2 Days, so nice touch. [+2]	Defeat the main fighter to win Stamina battle Meh. Obviously the focus of the fight is Xion herself, so I guess. [+1]	+10
Terra	0.67 A : 0.33 D In any other context, I'd be more critical towards a Spirit's typing, but Terra, Ventus, and Aqua are each associated with the colors red, green, and blue in Birth By Sleep, so it's rather appropriate that that same coloring convention would be carried over. Terra in particular has the strongest physical attack, so this is doubly appropriate. [+3]	★★ ⬡ 3,800 (1,944 - 7,807) I kind of like how he only has one support slot, since he's a little more sheltered than either Ven or Aqua. He also decidedly has fewer D-Link characters to use than either of them, which is a crying shame—though, I wonder if any of my musings are intentional or if I'm just speculating. [+2]	Battering Items Power ↑ I guess they didn't want to have another Sword Attack ↑ Spirit? That actually would've been more appropriate, given that Terra was the one to bequeath the Keyblade to Riku. [+1]	Chrom, Hollow Bastion (Dive to the Heart) So, Radiant Garden (Hollow Bastion's original form) isn't all that significant to Birth By Sleep, but even less significant, especially in Terra's campaign, is Dive to the Heart. You could've gone with anything else, really: give us, I dunno, Unova Pokémon League for the Land of Departure, or something like that. Chrom also feels like not as good a fighter of choice, because yes, he has the pauldron, but consider: Ike. [-3]	Hollow Bastion Again, why use this track? I love this theme and it's great that it's on Hollow Bastion, but don't use it for Terra. [-3]	Stamina battle Hostile assist trophies will appear when the enemy's at high damage (Ashley) A Terranort shoutout is nice, but if you think about it, a witch could just as easily represent Maleficent, who Terra is briefly controlled by. [+3]	+3
Ventus	0.49 A : 0.51 D Continuing from Terra, Ven serves as the "middle" between Terra and Aqua, lacking any one-sided efficiency in both attack damage and magic damage. [+3]	★★ ⬡⬡ 3,900 (1,817 - 7,274) Ven being higher than Terra feels wrong, lol. [±0]	Speed ↑ Despite my earlier comments about Roxas, this actually makes sense, since Ven has the highest speed stat out of the three (with Aqua in the middle, and Terra being the slowest). It's to the point where Terra D-Linking with Ven makes him so much better to play as because now, he's powerful and fast. [+2]	Sora+Dark Samus, Gerudo Valley (BF) Yes. Sora for Ven is appropriate, Dark Samus coming in for the Vanitas reference is great, and while I personally would've chosen Find Mii for the Keyblade Graveyard, Gerudo Valley is still a damn good choice. [+3]	Shrouding Dark Cloud This track plays occasionally in Birth By Sleep, but I feel like there were better options, even with Ultimate's limited KH music selection. [+1]	Defeat the main fighter to win Stamina battle Reinforcements will appear during the battle Simple and clean. [+2]	+11
Aqua	0.34 A : 0.66 D Further continuing from Ventus, Aqua is efficient in spell-casting with weak physical attacks. Overall, I'd say that not only was sticking to the color coordination a smart move, but it works out even better stats-wise. [+3]	★★★ ⬡⬡⬡ 9,400 (3,001 - 9,005) In Birth By Sleep, Aqua and Terra are vying for the status of Keyblade Master, and Aqua's the one who gets it. Makes sense that she'd be a step above both Terra and Ven, since she literally is. [+2]	Magic Attack ↑ As mentioned. [+2]	Lucina+Mr. Game & Watch ×4, Find Mii (FD) Name me one other blue-haired female swordwielder. The group of Mr. Game & Watchs representing the Heartless is nice, but I don't know if I would've chosen Find Mii as the Realm of Darkness equivalent. Put Wave of Darkness I as the theme and this spirit battle would've been great. [+2]	Night of Fate This track plays when the Heartless invade Destiny Islands, which is fitting for a battle meant to utilize the Realm of Darkness and the Heartless themselves. [+2]	Stamina battle Hostile assist trophies will appear when the enemy's at high damage (Krystal) Reinforcements will appear after an enemy is KO'd Lucina appearing after the Mr. Game & Watchs is nice, feels like you're fighting through the Heartless to get to Aqua. What's Krystal doing here, though? [+1]	+12

Conclusion: the team was definitely limited by the restrictions of what they could include from the Kingdom Hearts series, but I gotta say, they did a good job making do with what they had.

Other

Spirit	Type	Rank/Slots/Power	Ability	Battle character(s) and stage	Music	Battle conditions	Rating
Sagi	0.56 A : 0.44 D Given that you, the player, are the influencer of Sagi's actions and can change the narrative any which way depending on your responses to his questions (with negative responses even netting you poor card draws in combat), this is fair. [+2]	★ ⬡⬡⬡ 1,600 (759 - 3,800) Sagi only gets progressively more busted as you go through the game (to the point of having an auto-win combo once you get his level 4 special), so this is severely underselling him. [-2]	(no ability) Oh, come on. [-1]	Roy+Corrin, Gaur Plain (BF) This has a lot of sauce to it. Firstly, the fact that it's a fellow Monolith Soft stage (that had the song playing in the fight on it to begin with in Smash Wii U) is fitting enough, but the flat nature of the stage is also very fitting given how battles in Origins take place in flat arenas (though, on that note, the Ω form would've worked better, if you ask me), and you can even interpret this as a Hassaleh shoutout given how that's also one of the first locations you visit. Nice touch with Corrin for the Guillo shoutout, too. [+3]	The Valedictory Elegy God, this remix kicks ass. Sucks that it's shorter than the original song, though. [+2]	Timers only Reinforcements will appear during the battle The enemy is easily distracted by items So, Lingering Time is an attack that traps the opponent in a pentagram-shaped area and suspends the time within it, which is probably what they were going for with the Timer item, but...that attack is only in Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean, a game to which Origins serves as the prequel. For that matter, you can't even use time-based attacks in Origins at all, so this is an even more perplexing inclusion. [-3]	+1
Milly	0.55 A : 0.45 D This could also very well be the case for Sagi as well, but this for Milly is fair for a different reason, since you can customize your deck in the game to be however you want it to be, and you can even upgrade your abilities to be able to create other decks beyond your default one and have different strengths and weaknesses. [+2]	★ ⬡⬡ 1,700 (855 - 4,278) Even if not quite to the same extent as Sagi (or Guillo, for that matter), owing to the fact that Milly does not have access to a level 4 special, she's still pretty damn strong, even helping Sagi out in the early game when he was cornered by Giacomo and his men. [-1]	(no ability) Seriously, could they not think of anything for these two?? [-1]	Lucina, Gaur Plain (BF) Lucina's fitting and all, at least when it comes to strong female combatants (and also the two have a shared Japanese voice actress), but this battle should've used her white costume, since Cordelia has a closer color scheme to Milly than Sumia does. Same commentary for Gaur Plain as above. [+2]	The Valedictory Elegy " " [+2]	The enemy starts the battle with an Ore Club Give the club wielder a club, and you've done right by the best character in Origins. [+2]	+6
Shovel Knight	0.35 A : 0.65 D If anything, I'd imagine he'd be Shield, which begs the question as to why he's Attack when his stats are so clearly defense-heavy. [-1]	★★★ ⬡⬡ (2,963 - 8,933) A little high, but in-universe he's a famous adventurer, so. [+1]	(no ability) Man. [-1]	(no battle)			-1
Shield Knight	Missed opportunity to make her a Shield spirit, especially if you weren't going to give her a battle anyway. [-1]	★★ ⬢⬢ Feels weird putting her below Shovel Knight, the two were pretty clearly on equal footing and a damn good pair. [+1]	Weapon Resist ↑ Shield Durability ↑ was right there. [+1]	(no battle)			+1
Plague Knight	Grab beats Shield, which is fair given how his potions can mess you up. [+2]	★ ⬢ 1,700 (855 - 4,278) He's a midgame boss, so this feels a tiny bit low for him, even if he is my least favorite of the four Knights to play as. [±0]	Fire & Explosion Attack ↑ Potions go boom. [+2]	Dr. Mario, Unova Pokémon League Might as well use the doctor for the plague doctor-looking knight, and Unova fits for the Explodatorium aesthetic-wise. Not much else to say. [+2]	Flash in the Dark (Dr. Wily Stage 1) This sentiment is held for all three battles, but Mega Man 9 was, to my understanding, kind of the start of a renaissance for "modern games that look like NES games" that Shovel Knight became famous for, so this makes sense. A damn shame that no Shovel Knight music made it in though, that game's soundtrack goes hard. The Vital Vitriol, or even Flowers of Antimony, would've been great for this. [+2]	Bob-ombs only The enemy's explosion and fire attacks have increased power Items will be pulled toward the enemy The enemy is easily distracted by items It's kind of funny that Dr. Mario has no explosion or fire attacks, yet this condition applies here (I get it's for the Bob-ombs, but still). [+2]	+10
King Knight	0.4 A : 0.6 D Once again, Grab beats Shield, which actually works against this spirit battle; King Knight's one of the least willing to be apart of the Order of No Quarter (though no one's beating Black Knight in that regard). [-1]	★ ⬡ 2,000 (855 - 4,278) Potentially the second boss you face in the game (or third, it really depends on whether you go for him or Specter Knight after Black Knight), and one of the easiest of them, so yeah, this is pretty fair. [+2]	Weight ↑ He'd deny this, for sure. [+1]	King K. Rool, Mushroom Kingdom U (Slide Lift Tower) A spirit battle fit for a king. [+2]	Flash in the Dark (Dr. Wily Stage 1) This battle especially would've been better off with Shovel Knight music, because In the Halls of the Usurper is one of my favorite tracks in the game. [+2]	The enemy's dash attacks have increased power The enemy starts the battle with a Star Rod Both his shoulder barge and his little scepter are about as good as you can get. [+2]	+8
Specter Knight	0.62 A : 0.38 D Should've been grab, since he's the one going around nabbing all the knights to form the Order of No Quarter for the Enchantress. He's also not particularly weak in terms of defense—the only one who has any sort of real weakness is Tinker Knight when you fire the Mobile Gear at him. [-1]	★★ ⬡⬡ 3,900 (1,795 - 7,206) Another early game boss, but Specter Knight's made so much cooler in his playable campaign. [+2]	(no ability) Damn, not even giving you Death's Scythe? [-1]	Richter, Bridge of Eldin (hazardless) Ah, yes, someone else who gets manipulated into doing shady stuff for a weird villain. Ironically, it was actually Shield Knight who was possessed, not Specter Knight, but I digress. Bridge of Eldin works for the Lich Yard, I guess. [+2]	Flash in the Dark (Dr. Wily Stage 1) I'm less a fan of both La Danse Macabre and The Apparition, personally, but they're far from misses. The only miss in Shovel Knight's OST is A Cool Reception. [+2]	The enemy starts the battle with a Death's Scythe The enemy has increased move speed Yeah, there's the Death's Scythe. [+2]	+6

Conclusions:

• Baten Kaitos stuff could've been cooler, but I'll always appreciate that the characters and a badass remix of the standard combat theme are even in this game at all.
• I dislike when spirits don't have battles, so the lack of one for both Shovel Knight and Shield Knight sucks for me. What's there works for the most part, though.