Rathalos

A Rathalos (, Liolaeus) is a type of flying wyvern from the series, created by Capcom. They are one of the most well-known monsters in the series, and can appear in many varied habitats.

Origin
A Rathalos is a recurring monster from the Monster Hunter series and is both the flagship monster for the original Monster Hunter and the mascot of the series as a whole. While many monsters of varying types are referred to as "Wyverns" in the Monster Hunter universe, the Rathalos closely fits the real-world classical definition of a wyvern, like an armless, winged dragon with fire breath and poisonous claws. It is sometimes known by its epithet "King of the Skies", and belongs to the Flying Wyvern family of monsters. In addition to its female counterpart Rathian, there are a number of Rathalos subspecies in existence, such as Azure Rathalos. Its description in Monster Hunter World states that "Rathalos descends upon invaders from the sky, attacking with poison claws and fiery breath", which is reflected accordingly in its attacks in Smash.

Various weapons and armor can be created from materials procured from hunting Rathalos in its home series.

Much like Charizard, Rathalos is not explicitly referred to as a dragon in Western versions of its home series, but is treated as one in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. This discrepancy is mostly due to the Western localization of Monster Hunter, as Flying Wyverns (such as Rathalos) are referred to as ("flying dragon species") in the original Japanese, while Elder Dragon boss monsters simply use a different, antiquated kanji for "dragon" (, "old dragon species"). The Rathalos is also weak to Dragon elemental attacks, a trait possessed only by Elder Dragons and dragonlike wyverns. Spinoffs such as crossovers with Puzzle and Dragons and the series make it clear that Rathalos and many other wyverns are considered to be dragons outside of the taxonomy used in their home universe.

As a costume
Monster Hunter armor created with Rathalos materials, called the Rathalos Blademaster Armor, appeared as a downloadable content costume for s. The armor's design is derived from ' and later entries in the series, excluding '.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Rathalos appears in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, playing a role as a boss in and in the Adventure Mode: World of Light, and as an Assist Trophy.

As a Boss
As a boss, the Rathalos fights as he did in his home series. He fights using his talons, tail swipes, fireballs, and flying into the background, and can stun his enemies with a screeching roar. During the fight, certain items will appear, those being Explosive Barrels, Bob-ombs, Deku Nuts, and Pitfalls. The Rathalos is vulnerable to all of the mentioned items, which will open him up to free damage before he recovers. The Rathalos can also be stunned briefly by breaking the armor on either his face or back, triggered by dealing sufficient damage to that area first. Attacking his tail will cause him to drop an item, a reference to how his tail can be severed for extra items in his home series.

When his Stamina drops to 0, the Rathalos will drop the ground and flail around before lying still, as in his death animation in the Monster Hunter series.

The Fighters that are assigned to fight Rathalos in Classic Mode at the end of their round are, , and. , and  are also assigned to fight Rathalos, but not for the final round. Bowser fights afterwards, then Metal Mario (upon Mario's defeat); Hero has two more regular rounds before fighting, then a giant  (upon Robin's defeat); Sephiroth fights Rathalos in the first round in his route. Usually, ' plays during the battle, but when Hero fights Rathalos, ' plays, and  plays during the boss rush.

World of Light
Rathalos is encountered in the Forest Hill sub-area found on Tortimer Island, where the player can see him as soon as they enter. The player must chase Rathalos around the Forest Hill, approaching from specific directions whenever he flies away and lands in a new spot; if the player does not approach from the correct direction, then Rathalos will return to his starting position. If the player successfully chases Rathalos, then he will eventually retreat to the plateau in the northwest corner of the map, where the player can finally corner the boss and fight him. Defeating Rathalos is necessary to weaken the shield protecting Galeem, and rewards the player with the Rathalos spirit.
 * When Rathalos is at his starting position, approaching from the right will cause him to fly to the camp; approaching from the left will cause him to fly towards the bridge.
 * When Rathalos is at the camp, approaching from the front will cause him to fly towards the lake.
 * When Rathalos is at the lake, approaching from behind will cause him to fly towards the bridge.
 * When Rathalos is at the bridge, approaching from the front will cause him to fly to the plateau.

Rathalos is later fought again during the true final stage's second phase, where the player must fight every boss except and. He is the last of the Light Realm bosses to appear onscreen during this phase. If no other bosses have been defeated yet, then Rathalos will be clashing against Marx. If the Light Realm bosses outnumber the Dark Realm bosses, then Rathalos will begin firing light spheres at the player.

As an Assist Trophy
This giant beast will appear when summoned, spreading its wings to create a powerful attack. Rathalos has fire breath and a roar that stuns opponents. Finding an opportunity to get an attack can be difficult! Upon being pulled from an Assist Trophy, a Rathalos is summoned by flying down from the sky and begins to attack his summoner's opponents. He uses the same attacks as the boss version, but he does not fly into the background for any attacks. Additionally, he is immune to Explosive Barrels, Deku Nuts and Pitfalls. He can be KO'd for a point, though he is very durable, has flinch resistance, and cannot be grabbed.

Rathalos cannot be summoned on 3D Land, Brinstar Depths, Fourside, Kalos Pokemon League, Living Room, Luigi's Mansion, Lylat Cruise, Mario Bros., Mementos, Minecraft World, Mushroom Kingdom U, Mushroomy Kingdom, Mute City SNES, Palutena's Temple, Princess Peach's Castle, Reset Bomb Forest, Spear Pillar, Spirit Train, Temple, The Great Cave Offensive, Tomodachi Life, Wrecking Crew, and Yoshi's Island Melee.

As a Costume
The Rathalos armor from the previous game makes a return, once again being downloadable content.

Spirits
Rathalos appears as an Advanced-class Support spirit, and and is featured on the spirit.

Rathalos can be obtained by defeating the Forest Hill sub-dungeon in World of Light.

Razewing Ratha's spirit was initially only available through Presents for those who own  by detecting its save data. As with other such gift spirits, it was later made available for all players, in this case as of Version 13.0.0 on October 18, 2021.

Razewing Ratha uses a puppet fighter and is fought on the Gaur Plain stage's Battlefield form. He is fought along a puppet fighter wearing a Ninja Headband and a brown Standard Outfit representing Leo. If the player has already purchased the Rathalos DLC costume, Leo will use a Mii Swordfighter puppet fighter wearing the Rathalos Helm and Armor instead. During the battle, the fighters' attack power will increase.

Trivia

 * The Deku Nuts, Barrels, and Pitfalls that appear during the fight serve as a reference to the Rathalos' home universe's Flash Bombs, Barrel Bombs, and Pitfall Traps, respectively. Flash Bombs disorient monsters and cause flying monsters like Rathalos to crash to the ground, Barrel Bombs deal heavy damage to monsters caught in their blast radius, and the Pitfall Trap is one of the two trap types used to immobilize monsters so they can be either attacked with impunity or captured alive for extra rewards.
 * The Rathalos boss fight is the only one in Ultimate with item drops.
 * Rathalos is the first character in the series to appear both as an Assist Trophy and a boss.
 * Despite making his debut as a boss in that game, Ridley was planned to be an Assist Trophy in Brawl, but the idea was scrapped to keep him as a boss instead.
 * Rathalos' eye color differs from the main Monster Hunter series and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
 * Rathalos is the only sub-world boss whose fight is not indicated by a dark circle with eyes on the map or is silhouetted on the menu before fighting. This is because he always appears fully.
 * Rathalos is the only boss in The Light Realm that didn't originate from Smash.
 * Rathalos is the only boss from a universe with no characters, items, stages, or series symbol.
 * As of patch 10.0.0, Rathalos is the second most common boss in Classic Mode who isn't Master Hand, being fought by 7 characters, with Galleom being fought the most by 8 characters.