Adventure Mode: World of Light

Adventure Mode: World of Light (, The Star of Light), also called "The World of Light", is a single-player story mode in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The mode is accessed from the Spirits main menu item and revolves around the fighters teaming up with spirits to defeat an "ultimate enemy" named Galeem.

Overview
On November 1, 2018, a dedicated Ultimate-themed Nintendo Direct was released. This direct was capped off by a special trailer of several characters on the Ultimate roster on a cliffside facing several Master Hands and a mysterious new entity. This unknown enemy fired several beams that wiped out everyone and engulfs the universe in a blinding light. The only survivor is Kirby, who looks upon a ravaged world as a version of the main theme with lyrics starts playing (later officially named Lifelight.) The trailer then cuts between gameplay footage and more pre-rendered scenes before revealing this game mode as World of Light. The pre-rendered scenes were later revealed to be abridged versions of cutscenes found in the mode. The Ultimate website and all affiliated outlets were updated later that day to include information about this mode, which released alongside the base game on December 7, 2018.

A total of 25 challenges were created specifically for this mode. To receive the challenge rewards, the player must complete certain objectives within this mode. These challenges vary in difficulty and time necessary, with some requiring an incredible amount of effort, are only achievable after progressing a certain amount, or are impossible without completing other challenges first.

This mode was updated a few times with post-launch game updates. Hard difficulty was introduced with update 1.1.0, though this update was released the same day as the base game. DLC fighters were made playable in this mode starting in update 2.0.0 after freeing 10 characters in the mode. Very Easy difficulty was introduced in update 4.0.0.

Gameplay
Similar to The Subspace Emissary, World of Light features a navigable world map. Map navigation is unlike The Subspace Emissary but somewhat resembles Smash 3DS's : the player character has a fully rendered model on the map, and the character itself navigates on predetermined paths between map locations.

Both spirits and imprisoned fighters appear on the map as rendered icons, with one type of icon for spirits and one type for fighters. Moving up to and interacting with an icon will reveal which character it is. Opponent fighters (including puppet fighters) appear with distinctive red eyes both on the map and in battle. Spirit fights consist of fighter characters with battle conditions that largely mimic the spirit in their home series; for example features  in his black alternate costume with the ability to occasionally turn metal. Defeating an opponent puppet fighter obtains that spirit, along with, SP, snacks, and Skill Spheres.

is the only available fighter at the start, as he is the only one to have escaped his own fate from Galeem. Defeating an imprisoned fighter unlocks that fighter both in the mode and in the main game, which can be swapped through the mode's menu. Mario is the first fighter to be unlocked, followed by a choice of, , or. After defeating one of the three previously mentioned fighters, the other two are then blocked off. This leads to several branching paths that can be tackled in several orders depending on the player's decisions.

Defeating "master" spirits does not yield a collectible that joins the player, but instead unlocks "activities" to aid the player and their collected spirits. The Gym trains spirits until they reach their maximum level; explorations send spirits to find SP, snacks, and Spirit Board items; dojos train spirits that provide a stat modification when equipped to the correct fighter; and shops sell snacks, Spirit Board items, and other collectible spirits in exchange for SP. The world map also features many items and obstacles, such as treasure chests (resembling those found in ) which yield various rewards (including Spirits, music tracks, SP, and Skill Spheres), waterfalls that can be swum through, Warp Pipes and similar teleporters, and es that transform rows of s on the map into bridges of red over lava. Certain spirits are required to pass through obstacles, such as needing a spirit that can use bombs like to remove large rocks, or  to traverse an ocean. Early on, the player will likely not have the necessary spirit for an obstacle, forcing them to move on to another area and backtrack once they find said spirit. Some areas also have minigames and puzzles, such as a Gourmet Race that reveals spirits after collecting a certain score, or the Power Plant's on various power generators that open up pathways so that they may reach the main reactor. There are also several mazes that lead to either several dead ends or back to the beginning if the wrong path is taken.

Bosses are present in subareas. While Master Hand, Crazy Hand, Rathalos, Galeem, and Dharkon have rendered models, the other bosses simply appear as an icon of swirling darkness with glowing eyes and their portraits shadowed before fought. Master Hand also often plays a role in creating obstacles, such as forcefields or smashing bridges, before disappearing.

The player may zoom out to view the full map by pressing the button; the  can also be used to scan over the map on a smaller scale. Areas not yet accessible are obscured with clouds. When fully zoomed out, the player character's model is replaced with their stock icon, opponent fighter icons similarly become flat, and various other icons representing activities, warp pipes, inaccessible obstacles, and swirling subareas appear on the map. Spirit icons do not appear on the zoomed-out map. In addition, the predetermined paths between map areas become explicitly drawn, with dotted lines showing paths that can't be traversed without the aid of a spirit.

Additionally, the mode’s final stage features some platforming gameplay akin to that of previous Adventure Modes.

Skill Tree
The Skill Tree is a menu item in World of Light. In it, the player can spend Skill Spheres ( Skill Fragments) in order to learn Adventure Skills. These are effectively power-ups akin to the skills granted by Support Spirits (and can stack with their equivalent Spirit skills), and appear as icons resembling the stat boost icons found in Smash 4's Smash Tour and Smash Run. Obtaining a power-up also makes power-ups further down the tree available. The player can spend SP to forget a power-up and gain back all of the Skill Spheres spent on it.

World of Light
The story begins with a close-up of a Blaster aimed at the horizon, revealing its wielder to be, who gives the command of "Don't let a single one get away!". The camera then zooms out and pans to the left, revealing that Fox is addressing a massive army of fighters - all of whom have been summoned to the edge of a cliff, a cliff similar to the one shown in the intro of Super Smash Bros. Brawl and in the end cutscene in Subspace Emissary. The camera then pans upward to reveal Galeem, who is currently accompanied by a looming army of s that is slowly approaching the mount. As explains that every fighter present will most likely need to take down at least ten,  displays her resolve, exclaiming that the time has come to stow their fear and that it's now or never. reassures himself and his fellow fighters that they'll win the upcoming battle. As the fighters prepare for battle, every Master Hand surrounding Galeem slowly disintegrates into a glowing, blue streak of light that ends up being absorbed by Galeem. As the fighters prepare for the god-like being's next move, suddenly envisions the downfall of his comrades and immediately looks at them all in shock and despair. The singularity between Galeem and his now-absorbed Master Hand army creates a black hole, which soon collapses, creating an array of beams of intense light.

With an army of Master Hands under its control, Galeem sought to create a new world. The fighters and their countless stories... came to an end as the light consumed them.

The beams of light quickly extrude from the black hole, rapidly approaching the cliff where the fighters are situated. As they aim downwards to consume the fighters, successfully deflects three beams with his Hylian Shield before succumbing to a fourth beam. attempts to fire at the beams, but it's to no avail before she too is engulfed by one. Both Zelda and simultaneously attempt to reflect the beams with Nayru's Love and Confusion respectively, before being immediately decimated. and attempt to outrun the beams, with the former attempting to assist the latter in escaping, but both are ultimately disintegrated. successfully dodges three beams at once using Bat Within, but she is disintegrated by yet another beam of light as soon as she retains her original form. Both the male and  attempt to fight off Galeem's beams of light, with the former ordering his Pokémon to use Triple Finish and the latter using his Fire Breath, only to fail and be consumed by the light. is briefly shown attempting to get into his Blue Falcon in order to escape the onslaught, but both he and his vehicle are destroyed just as quickly. is shown successfully teleporting away from one of the beams with Double Team, finding itself behind, who jumps upward to successfully escape from a beam. Unfortunately, this was all for naught as the beam Greninja hops over ends up engulfing Lucario instead, and yet another beam of light reaches Greninja in midair. The female and male s use their Splattershots to shoot ink onto the ground and then try to hide in it, only to have yet another of Galeem's beams of light ram into the ground, decimating them. is shown in his Arwing attempting to make his escape, but his exceptional flying skills are just not enough to evade the persistent tendrils of light, and he ends up getting taken down by multiple beams all at once. Both Pit and are seen flying away with the Power of Flight, bestowed unto them by, who attempts to buy the two angels more of a chance to escape by summoning a Reflect Barrier in the hopes of suppressing Galeem's attack. With little effort, however, the goddess is simply vaporized by a beam, which causes the (normally flightless) angelic duo to lose their ability to fly, resulting in each angel getting wiped out by a beam of light in midair. A lone cardboard box is shown on the cliff's edge, hiding away, only to have a beam prove the espionage expert's attempt futile. Both and  attempt to fly away from the onslaught using a Launch Star and his Rocketbarrel Pack respectively, but all three are eventually swallowed by the beams. Finally, a group consisting of the female (who simply strikes a yoga tree pose),  (consisting of the dog cowering in fear of Galeem's attack as the duck attempts to fly itself and its canine companion away to safety with Duck Jump), and the male  (who simply runs around in circles in a blind panic over his and the group's impending doom) eventually end up getting engulfed by the light.

Amidst the massacre, is shown flying away from a legion of Galeem's beams of light via his Warp Star. After deviating from many of them, the frequency of the Warp Star's blipping noise increases rapidly in intensity as Kirby attempts to push its power to its absolute limit, resulting in it moving at warp speed, temporarily warping Kirby to another plane of existence just before the aforementioned series of beams could swallow it and Kirby along with it. From this point onward, the beams are then shown atomizing multiple non-playable characters into oblivion. The scene then transitions to the planet in its entirety being engulfed by Galeem's light, with said light slowly expanding throughout the galaxy, engulfing and vaporizing multiple planets. Eventually, the deadly light produced by the deity-like being erases the entire universe, leaving nothing in its wake. The planet on which the ordeal started is now left as nothing more than a barren wasteland, with its remains currently inhabited by the now-hostile souls of non-playable characters. A glimmer of light is seen on the horizon, later revealed to be none other than Kirby, who has ended up becoming the sole survivor of Galeem's onslaught upon the universe, and makes a rough emergency landing into a nearby canyon. As he recovers from his crash-landing, he looks towards a vast landscape consisting of various areas, some of which are recognizable as coming from the fighters' old worlds. The landscape, constructed by Galeem, is none other than the World of Light.

Thus, the universe was crushed in the hands of Galeem. Those who fought the light were devoured. The others lost their bodies and became spirits. Only one survived... A star of hope twinkles faintly as the dust settles on the new world.

Army of Puppets
Following Kirby's arrival in the World of Light, the scene cuts to a dark room, in which the only source of light found in it reveals a now-unconscious being held captive by a series of fibers made out of pure energy. A golden liquid resembling molten metal is poured upon Mario's body, which is then absorbed by the fibers holding him. The liquid then passes through the stand on which he is situated to create a monochrome clone of him, which forms on the stand's opposite end. The resulting puppet fighter then disconnects from the stand and falls to the ground, motionless. The spirit of a then weaves around the dark room and, coming across the lifeless Mario clone, is forced by Galeem to possess it, thus giving life to the previously inanimate statue, which now dons distinctive red, glowing eyes. The camera slowly zooms outward, revealing that Galeem has already made puppet fighters out of every single playable character (except for Kirby), with the intention of unleashing this army upon the planet to stop Kirby from freeing his comrades. The scene then cuts back to Kirby, now about to take his first steps into the World of Light.

Galeem copied the fallen fighters, creating empty puppets in their likenesses... Then, Galeem forced the captive spirits to pull the puppets' strings. This army of puppet fighters spread themselves across the last remaining world. Can anyone free the spirits from Galeem's control? Is there any hope for the fallen fighters? The journey to defeat Galeem begins...

From Light to Dark
Kirby rescues many fighters and spirits (with Mario always being the first fighter rescued) and defeats Giga Bowser, Galleom, and Rathalos powering Galeem's shield. A puppet appears to intercept but is destroyed. The fighters eventually defeat Galeem, but this victory is short-lived as a crack appears in the sky. The crack shatters and Dharkon and his army of s emerge, taking advantage of the situation and forcing Galeem to retreat. The World of Light is then swallowed by darkness, with Dharkon taking control of Galeem's remaining spirits and fighters.

With Galeem, the lord of light, defeated, darkness takes hold. In the blink of an eye, the land is swallowed by shadow. Galeem's spirits and puppet fighters fall under its control. The embodiment of chaos and darkness... Dharkon.

The Final Battle
The fighters continue to free the puppets and spirits under Dharkon's control, and defeat Ganon, Marx, and Dracula to force Dharkon to appear. After the fighters defeat Dharkon, he retreats, but Galeem soon comes back and launches an assault with a new army of spirits and puppet fighters. Both of them try to defeat the other, but Mario, Simon, Pit, Zelda, Kirby, Fox, Greninja, Bowser, Samus, Sonic, and the rest of the fighters soon catch up in the middle with both Dharkon and Galeem noticing. The final battle is about to begin.

Gameplay-wise, The Final Battle takes place on a map that uniquely has no sub-areas and no obscuring clouds, with the player at the center bottom, Dharkon at the top left, and Galeem at the top right. Initially, there is no path to reach either Galeem or Dharkon, and the background is split in half with Dharkon controlling the dark side and Galeem controlling the light side. As the player defeats more dark spirits, the background moves so that more of it is covered with light, and vice versa.

Consumed by Light


This bad ending is achieved if the fighters defeat enough dark spirits, and few enough light spirits, allowing Galeem's light to dominate enough of the background that it covers Dharkon, creating a path to fight him. Alternatively, if the paths to both bosses are clear while the background is balanced, the player may choose to fight only Dharkon.

With Dharkon and his army of darkness defeated, Galeem blasts Dharkon with beams of light, vaporizing him. Galeem then consumes the universe in his light once more, engulfing Mario, Samus, Fox, Greninja, Bowser, Zelda, and all of the fighters in the process.

Swallowed by Darkness


This bad ending is achieved if the fighters defeat enough light spirits, and few enough dark spirits, allowing Dharkon's darkness to dominate enough of the background that it covers Galeem, creating a path to fight him. Alternatively, if the paths to both bosses are clear while the background is balanced, the player may choose to fight only Galeem.

With Galeem and his army of light crushed, Dharkon then engulfs the world in darkness, destroying the Master Hand army in the process, and piercing Galeem with chains. Mario is then shown dropping on the ground, seemingly dead, as the screen turns to static, then black. The world then rots into a necrotic desert, and Dharkon's eye is then shown in the corrupted world (watching the player), now completely dark forever.

Restoration


The fighters rescue and  and defeat a Master Hand and a Crazy Hand. Galeem calls on and the original  as reinforcements, while Dharkon calls on  and the original. The fighters also free all four from Galeem and Dharkon's control.

At this point, the Hands appear at the top center of the map, but there is no path to reach them unless the number of dark and light spirits on each side is equal or nearly equal. Once this condition is met, interacting with the Hands causes them to come to the fighters' aid, creating a fissure in the background where Master Hand dives in. He becomes a temporarily playable character as he defeats an onslaught of 50 puppet fighters consisting of, , , , , , , and , destroying the former light and dark background and replacing it with a golden backdrop. This opens up the paths to fight Galeem or Dharkon solo (as seeing both bad endings is necessary to obtain 100% clear), but also creates a new path in the middle where Galeem and Dharkon come together from their previous positions, face to face, for the final confrontation, which leads to the true ending.

The fighters climb the long stairwell while being attacked by Galeem and Dharkon and defeating more puppets. Afterward, they fight all six bosses once again. The two deity-like beings continue to battle each other before turning their attention to the fighters in a three-way climactic clash. Even in the midst of a shared enemy, the two deities still wage war against one another. When both Galeem and Dharkon are destroyed, their armies vanish as they fall into the ocean and explode, cleansing the universe of their influence. Now free, the spirits return to their original worlds. The imagery of this last scene strongly mirrors the lyrics of the main theme. The credits will then play.

Overworld
All who opposed Galeem (aside from Kirby) are scattered among three realms, each being ruled over by Galeem and/or Dharkon, and must be defeated before joining the fight. 42 characters (with Pokémon Trainer counting as one) can be found in The Light Realm. 27 more characters can be found in The Dark Realm after defeating Galeem. The final 4 characters are found in The Final Battle following Dharkon's defeat. Several characters require more than just reaching their location on the map, such as King Dedede requiring collecting 11 foods in a minigame. Purchased DLC characters will join after awakening at least 10 fighters. In total are 73 base game characters (with Pokémon Trainer counting as one) to rescue.

The maps below show the location where the player can find the characters within Adventure Mode.

Sub-worlds
Sub-worlds are additional maps that are separate from the main maps. There are eleven in total, eight in The Light Realm and three in The Dark Realm. They tend to have a puzzle in order to advance the area, and each has at least one character trapped within. Six of them also contain bosses, three per each realm; every sub-world of The Dark Realm has a boss. They are themed after certain games, many of which are related to the captured fighters hidden within.

In The Light Realm
Characters that are trapped within The Light Realm's sub-worlds are: All other characters in The Light Realm are encountered outside of sub-worlds. They are (right at the beginning),  (middle of the western jungle),  (the Sheikah Tower in the south),  (just beyond the light breach),  (in the ribbon hills),  (before the red button in the heart pond),  (the rapids above the wall),  (beyond the light breach, in the pink clouds),  (race track east of the starting area),  (forest north of the starting area),  (bottom of the icy mountain),  (on the northern starter route),  (north of the city towards the ribbon hills),  (the space area, on the yellow planet),  (on the western starter route),  (beyond the light breach, in the maze),  (beyond the light breach, on the volcano),  (beyond the light breach, east of the coastal town),  (in the western village),  (the mushroom forest),  (along the wall, near the light breach),  (on the eastern starter route),  (near the Base entrance),  (northern part of the city),  (in the city's stadium after clearing Power Plant),  (north of the eastern town),  (beyond the light breach, on the southern island),  (between the mushroom forest and Base),  (beyond the light breach, atop the waterfall),  (in the shrouded forest),  (southern part of the city), and  (east of the town by taking the bus from the western village).
 * and (as Giga Bowser) in the Molten Fortress (with Giga Bowser as boss)
 * in the Power Plant
 * and in the Temple of Light
 * in
 * in Gourmet Race, after obtaining a score of 11
 * in the Base (with Galleom as boss)
 * in the Forest Hill (with Rathalos as boss)
 * in the World Tour

These maps show where the player can find the characters in the sub-worlds of The Light Realm.

In The Dark Realm
With the exceptions of (south-eastern path),  (northern path, 2nd path from the left), and  (south-western path), all fighters trapped inside of The Dark Realm are located inside sub-worlds:
 * Trapped inside of the Mysterious Dimension are (in the flames),  (in the red-leafed trees),, ,  (eastern optional path),  (on the crashed plane), , , and  (the pirate ship optional path). The boss is Marx.
 * Trapped inside of are,  (through a fireplace), , , , , and  (after killing all evil ghosts). The boss is Dracula.
 * Trapped within the Sacred Land are (in Kakariko Village),  (in the Sacred Land sub-area, in the Lost Woods),  (in the Gerudo Fortress),  (by jumping into a treasure chest),  (between Kakariko Village and the Lost Woods),  (in Kakariko Village after setting the clock to 4:40),  (on top of a pyramid in the Gerudo Desert), and  (before the Master Sword). The boss is Ganon.

These maps show where the player can find the characters in the sub-worlds of The Dark Realm.

In area
There are no sub-worlds in The Final Battle map, although (dark side) and  (light side) need to have Master Hand (dark side) and Crazy Hand (light side) defeated to appear respectively; this does not happen with  (light side) or  (dark side).

Fighter Battles
Each fighter must be unlocked through a fighter battle, with a few exceptions:
 * is always available from the beginning.
 * is unlocked after defeating Giga Bowser within the Molten Fortress sub-world in The Light Realm.
 * Downloadable fighters are available once they have been downloaded, after freeing a total of 10 fighters. If a file is loaded where those conditions have been already met previously before downloading them, they will be made instantly available.

The fighter battles all feature the same single condition: Win the battle to awaken the fighter

Unlockables
Characters may be unlocked through this mode. Playing this mode is required to unlock the ability to train spirits in the dojo or have them explore for treasure. Defeating bosses in this mode is the only way to get their spirits. Completing the mode with the true ending requirements grants the player spirits of Galeem and Dharkon which makes attacks more powerful against puppet fighters controlled by Dharkon and Galeem respectively if used, and unlocks the ability to change the menu's music in My Music.

Completing the mode also unlocks New Game+ which allows the player to begin a new save file while carrying over any fighters and Activities they unlocked.

Spirits required to overcome obstacles

 * Cyrus & Reese, Guts Man, Bord & Cord & Barst, or Dion, Max & Jack - Bridge Repair
 * Mouser, Link (The Legend of Zelda), Bob-omb, Bomb Man, Bomberman, or Poppy Bros. Jr. - Boulder Destruction
 * Ho-oh - Rainbow Creation (used to connect the Magicant area with the Sky area in the Light Realm, activated from the Sky area)
 * Lapras - Beachside Town Transportation
 * Kapp'n - Southern Great Plateau Boat Transportation
 * Kapp'n (Wild World) - Northwestern Town Bus Transportation
 * Pico - Raceway Entrance
 * Susie, Porygon, MegaMan.EXE, ProtoMan.EXE, or Hal Emmerich - Base Entrance
 * Great Zapfish - Power Plant Activation
 * Slippy Toad or ROB 64 - Great Fox Activation
 * Alfonzo & Engineer Link - Train Transportation
 * Lip, Kammy Koopa, Kamek, Celebi, or Viridi - Rain Conjuring (used to grow the mushrooms leading to Olimar's fighter battle and to grow a giant beanstalk leading to the Sky area in the Light Realm)

The Light Realm
There are five bosses present in The Light Realm, with three of them fought in sub-worlds. Giga Bowser is found in the Molten Fortress, Galleom is found in the Base, and Rathalos is found in the Forest Hill. After defeating the previous three bosses, will then guard the two paths to Galeem. If the player defeats Master Hand on one path and then approaches Galeem on the other path, Master Hand can be fought again.

The Dark Realm
There are five bosses in The Dark Realm with fought three separate times. Marx is fought in the Mysterious Dimension, Dracula is fought in, and Ganon is fought in the Sacred Land. Defeating every boss lets the player fight Dharkon.

The Final Battle
There are no new bosses in The Final Battle. Rather, the area faces the player against Master Hand twice, Crazy Hand twice, Galeem, Dharkon, and both Galeem and Dharkon together in the final stage. The final stage lets the player choose any three currently available fighters and pits them against the sub-world bosses before fighting Galeem and Dharkon simultaneously.

Trivia

 * If World of Light's Japanese name has its characters reversed, it can be read as, which is pronounced very similarly to (Kirby of the Stars), the Japanese name of the Kirby series. Sakurai has stated, however, that this was coincidental.
 * After Galeem is defeated for the first time, the title screen will feature Dharkon alongside him.
 * The cliff appearing at the start of World of Light's opening cutscene is a reference to the opening cutscene from Brawl and the cliff overlooking the Isle of the Ancients, and it is even used borderline identically—showing all of the fighters before changing perspective to look over a sunrise/sunset and an ocean.
 * The location where Kirby's Warp Star crash-lands strongly resembles the cliffs used in the reveal trailers for Mega Man, Greninja, and Bowser Jr. prior to the release of Super Smash Bros. 4 (between the releases of the 3DS and Wii U versions in Bowser Jr.'s case). This cliff area is further shown to overlook the area in the background of.
 * In the opening cutscene, Kirby crash-lands, faceplants and skids to a halt in a similar fashion to his appearance in the Smash 4 trailer.
 * The premise of World of Light is identical to an idea that Masahiro Sakurai considered for The Subspace Emissary in Brawl. He had initially envisioned a story in which a single character survives the annihilation of their squadron and must fight back while rounding up his allies. In World of Light, Kirby is this sole survivor.
 * Coincidentally, Kirby is one of the few characters to revive himself after Tabuu's attack.
 * As with The Subspace Emissary, Kirby and Mario are the first characters to be playable in World of Light; additionally, in both modes, Mario is attacked or captured near the beginning, leaving Kirby more prominent during the early portions of the story.
 * According to Sakurai, the reason Kirby, a character he created, was chosen as the sole starting character in World of Light was because he was one of the few characters who could plausibly escape Galeem's attack (the others being Bayonetta and Palutena, although it would contradict the fact spirits of similar powers did not survive), and was also the most suitable as an introductory character among them.
 * Incidentally, Bayonetta and Palutena are the last two fighters to be freed, being placed right before the final battle between Galeem and Dharkon.
 * Due to World of Light, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is one of two Super Smash Bros. games where characters can be unlocked without challengers approaching, the first being Super Smash Bros. Brawl in The Subspace Emissary.
 * While the mode effectively encourages players to save every character in the game, it is possible to complete World of Light saving as few as 21 characters, or barely one-fourth of the base roster, with only Kirby, Mario, Fox, Bowser, Simon, Pit, Samus, Sonic, Zelda, Young Link, Cloud, Ganondorf, Greninja, Ike, Meta Knight, Roy, Dark Samus, Bayonetta, Palutena, and one of the following pairs of fighters (Marth and Pac-Man, Sheik and Yoshi, or Villager and Lucario) being mandatory to reach the true ending.
 * For this reason, cutscenes following the first two only feature fighters who are required to be saved.
 * Young Link is, therefore, the only one of the three Links whose unlock is required even though he isn't featured in the opening cutscene.
 * This also makes Dark Samus the only Echo Fighter to be a required unlock.
 * Out of the three sub-realms in The Dark Realm, Dracula's Castle is the only one that doesn't have mandatory fighters to unlock.
 * As few as 198 spaces cleared out of 615 are needed to complete World of Light, which is 32.19% completion.
 * Some spirits possess puppet fighters of Kirby, even though he was never captured by Galeem and could not have puppet fighters made from him. Masahiro Sakurai addressed this in an interview, stating that Galeem managed to analyze Kirby halfway through the story, making it possible to create puppets of him.
 * When fighting off the fifty puppet fighter army as Master Hand in World of Light, there are eight fighters fought there, each being affiliated with Galeem and Dharkon by four.
 * Specifically, the "light" puppet fighters fought are Mario, Link, Samus, and Snake; the "dark" puppet fighters encountered are Meta Knight, Sonic, Cloud, and King K. Rool.
 * Some of the buildings in the city on the World of Light are the past Nintendo consoles, such as the Famicom, Nintendo 64, GameCube, and Wii; other Nintendo paraphernalia such as the Nintendo 64 logo and a Super NES Mouse are also present. Additionally, a building resembles Nintendo's headquarters in Kyoto, Japan. Moray Towers is also present.
 * All Echo Fighters are found affiliated with Dharkon, whereas their original fighters are all affiliated with Galeem.
 * 's reveal trailer is the first to reference the events of World of Light, with Dharkon appearing at the beginning, and several puppet fighters appearing under his control. This was followed by 's trailer where he enters by slicing Galeem in half, and also featured and.
 * 's character poster shows him holding Ryu over the cliffside from the first cutscene, along with many other characters including.
 * ,, , Banjo & Kazooie, Sephiroth, Pyra, Mythra, and are the only fighters who use their walking animations while navigating through the map in World of Light.
 * It is implied that spirits not appearing in World of Light are also victims of Galeem's attack. In the Direct that revealed World of Light, when Sakurai mused before the trailer that revealed the mode on what caused the characters to be turned into spirits, some spirits such as K.K. Slider (obtained after enhancing the DJ K.K. spirit) and the Moon (which must be summoned) were shown, which are unobtainable in World of Light. Additionally, the spirits of (exclusive to the Spirit Board) and  (exclusive to shopping) are explicitly known to be victims of Galeem, with the former being mentioned by Sakurai in an interview, and the latter being shown during to the World of Light opening cutscene as one of the non-playable characters vaporized by Galeem.
 * This is the first Adventure Mode in any of the games to involve every base game character in the main story, as Melee's Adventure Mode only featured a select few unlockable characters upon their unlocking and the Subspace Emissary did not include, , or in the main story.
 * The light vs. dark theme was previously shown in 's Smash 4 poster.