Biles, the hero of Fire Emblem Three Houses, will appear in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The fifth downloadable fighter for this title will be available on the Nintendo eShop on January 28, and like the other fighters, can be purchased for $6.

Biles is the eighth character from the Fire Emblem series to appear in Smash Ultimate, but the first from the latest "Three Houses," which was released last summer. Like Robin and Colin, the playable protagonists of Fire Emblem Awakening and Fate, respectively, Smash Ultimate allows players to choose between a male or female version of Biles.

Fire Emblem is traditionally a turn-based strategy, and characters can wield a variety of weapons based on their class. Biles' equipment consists of four heroic relics, which are powerful weapons of divine origin that only they can wield.

Depending on the direction of the attack, Biles uses different weapons. They use spears for lateral attacks, axes for downward attacks, and bows for neutral movements.

Masahiro Sakurai, director of Smash Ultimate, called Biles a "distance demon" when a live video of the character was released. Given the character's wide variety of attacks (some, like the bow and spear, cover incredibly long distances), this description seems accurate. On the flip side, Byleth's low mobility would not be ideal for players who prefer a faster, closer fighting style. They will need to keep their distance in order to maintain their advantage.

"Fire Emblem Three Houses" fans will notice that many of Byleth's costume variations actually represent other major characters in the game. In this case, they are the leaders of the houses that give the story its title: the Black Eagles, the Blue Lions, and the Golden Deer Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude, respectively. It's a cool but totally unnecessary touch, but one that is par for the course for Smash.

As is typical of Smash's DLC fighters, Viles also has a new stage, dubbed "Garreg Mach Monastery," which refers to a base location where players can interact and train with their friends. In Smash Bros. terms, it is a dynamic stage that cycles through several areas of the monastery during a match, like Delfino Square in Super Mario Sunshine.

Byleth is part of the $25 Fighters Pass bundle, which also includes four other DLC characters released so far: the Joker, Hero, Banjo Kazooie, and Terry Bogart. If you already have the Pass, you do not need to purchase Byleth separately. However, any new DLC characters that appear after this will not be included in the existing packs.