Nintendo officially revealed Steve, the player character from the sandbox survival game Minecraft will be the seventh DLC fighter to join Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as part of Fighter Pass 2. Steve's inclusion generated some online controversy that may have contributed to Twitter users being temporarily unable to send tweets.  However, Minecraft is a game that absolutely deserves the honor of joining some of gaming's biggest all-stars.

Since the announcement, many fans have been questioning the sandbox builder's inclusion. While seeing Steve get priority over personal favorites may certainly be frustrating, it's important to understand Minecraft's significance on gaming as a whole, and why Steve deserves his spot in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. just as much as any other character.

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Minecraft is by no means the small indie game that it started out as. Once developed by only one person, Minecraft has since been ported to eight consoles, mobile phones, TVs and even the Raspberry Pi. This, combined with Mojang being acquired by Microsoft, had lead to Minecraft becoming the best selling video game of all time, selling over 200 million copies. That puts Minecraft's popularity up there with entire game franchises, such as Tetris, Final Fantasy and even Nintendo's flagship franchise, Super Mario Bros.

Minecraft gameplay still

While other indie-games like Undertale and Cuphead been recognized in Smash through Mii Costumes, Steve is the first playable fighter who originates from an indie game. His inclusion serves as a reminder of how far indie games have come and how important they are the the industry. While few think of Minecraft as a indie title now, there's no denying the game's origins as a one man development project. It's original creator and solo-developer, Markus Persson, worked on the game from it's early tech demo in 2009 up until Minecraft was purchased by Microsoft in 2014 for $2.5 billion.  Much like how Super Mario Brothers helped get the platforming genre recognized, Minecraft has done the same for indie games.

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What makes Minecraft such an important milestone for indie gaming is the level of mainstream success that it has received. Minecon, a national convention celebrating all things Minecraft, sees thousands of people attend every year. Minecraft has been used in schools as an educational tool, has received two spin-off games and may even see a movie hit theaters sometime in the future.

Minecraft went from a tech-demo created for the Ludum Dare game jam project to a multi-billion dollar franchise with over 100 million active players as of May 2020. It has proven that it's possible for a small development team to make games that it is passionate about and to find massive success doing so. This is a huge milestone and inspiration for game developers everywhere.

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Minecraft is not only an amazing indie success story, but it also serves as many people's childhood introduction to gaming. It's been over a decade since Minecraft launched, with many fans who discovered the game at a young age through YouTube Let's Plays now being in their teens and mid-twenties. It provided so many kids with a place to explore and adventure due to its unique and sometimes fantastical worlds, much like the land of Hyrule in The Legend of Zelda.

Part of Minecraft's success and longevity should be attributed to the community it's created. Much like how friends would get to together to share secrets in old SNES and NES games, Minecraft fans have formed communities around sharing their Survival Mode houses, demoing elaborate redstone wiring projects and showcasing their creativity through fan-content on YouTube. The fans who continue to value and love Minecraft are the reason why the game -- and Steve -- is such a valid inclusion for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

KEEP READING: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Everything We Learned From the Minecraft Reveal Trailer