As cross-over centered games like Super Smash Bros, Marvel vs Capcom and Blazblue Cross Tag Battle turn out to be increasingly more prolific within the combating game style, it’s no shock that over time extra fighters are embracing the idea of the visitor character – thrilling additions from outdoors their very own universe.
In current years we’ve seen SoulCalibur double down on friends, Mortal Kombat pull in basic film villains, and even Killer Instinct dig into Microsoft’s steady of characters for just a few surprises – however that are the very best?
We’ve determined to compile slightly listing of our favourite combating game cameos and visitor appearances ever – with just a few guidelines. We determined just one entry per collection – so we’ve picked only one MK and SC visitor as their greatest ever, as an example – and we determined no characters from precise devoted cross-over games. What are your favourite combating game cross-over moments? Let us know within the feedback under.
The Clintons, Shaq and Michael Jackson go boxing
There was a time, imagine it or not, when Ready 2 Rumble Boxing felt like a serious collection. I bear in mind the unique entry as a stand-out title within the early, difficult days of Sega’s Dreamcast, and I additionally fondly bear in mind it as a form of religious successor to Nintendo’s Punch-Out. It’s additionally memorable for its sequel, nonetheless – which had some fairly wild visitor character cameos.
Publisher Midway was no stranger to placing celebrities in its games, shoving presidents and different main figures into titles like NBA Jam. In Ready 2 Rumble Boxing Round 2, Michael Jackson and Shaquille O’Neal really lend their likenesses and names to the game, with Jackson even allegedly doing slightly voice over and movement seize work. Also included are Bill and Hillary Clinton, although for copyright causes they’re as a substitute referred to easily as Mr. President and The First Lady.
Cloud and far of Final Fantasy 7’s solid brawl in a Tekken knock-off that’s practically a secret FF game
God bless the ring, and god bless the experimental Squaresoft of the late ’90s. Back then, spurred on by the success of Final Fantasy 7, Square was making something it thought may catch on. Mario Kart was massive, so how a few FF kart racing game? Chocobo Racing. Resident Evil and Silent Hill are common, so why not a game that mixes survival horror with RPG mechanics? Hi, Parasite Eve.
Ehrgeiz isn’t strictly an instance of 90s Square branching out because it was really made by DreamFactory, an unbiased Japanese developer based by an trade veteran who labored on each Virtua Fighter and Tekken. Ehrgeiz has a good bit in frequent with each these 3D fighters, however when the time got here for it to leap from arcade to dwelling consoles, Square picked it up – a Tekken-alike certainly match its growth beliefs fairly nicely.
As nicely as including a RPG-like quest mode (after all), the Square-published PS1 model of Ehrgeiz additionally crowbared a bunch of Final Fantasy into the roster. Cloud and Tifa have been already playable within the arcade, however on PS1 Sephiroth, Yuffie, Vincent, Red XIII and even Zack Fair are playable.
Zack is an fascinating addition as he barely seems within the authentic FF7, so this marks his most important look till he acquired his personal game a decade later. Similarly, Vincent seems as a Turk – a part of his backstory that’s talked about however by no means really proven in FF7. Basically, Ehrgeiz is a bizarre little FF7 lore dump in its personal proper. All advised, over 40% of the solid of Ehrgeiz is from Final Fantasy 7.
Arbiter and Rash in Killer Instinct
Microsoft’s fashionable reboot of Killer Instinct is a superb, underrated gem of this console technology, and I actually hope it both will get an enhanced model or a brand new entry on subsequent technology {hardware}. As nicely as mining the basic KI characters and including just a few new ones, it additionally turned a game not afraid to have enjoyable with Microsoft’s catalogue – and it selected its friends correctly.
First up there’s Halo’s Arbiter, who’s only a good match for the universe of KI because of his look and Halo’s iconic power sword. Then there’s General RAAM from Gears of War, who’s much less thrilling than Arbiter but additionally matches completely. Finally, Rash from Battletoads is a superb out-there comedy character, animated gleefully and faithfully in an over-the-top ’90s cartoon fashion. He’s a superb tribute to Rare, creator of each collection. On the down-low, Killer Instinct is considered one of this technology’s greatest combating games.
Incidentally, whereas we’re speaking about Halo and fighters…
Spartan Nicole in Dead or Alive
The developer of Dead or Alive four initially requested to incorporate Master Chief as a visitor character, however feeling severe concerning the Halo collection lore, Bungie stated no – as a substitute, the collection might have an all-new Spartan as a substitute.
Thus Nicole, Spartan 458, was born. Nicole comes with the strikes you’d anticipate from the Chief, together with sticky grenades and even a transfer known as the Pillar of Autumn, however she remains to be a singular character in her personal proper that has been outlined as present within the Halo lore, although her DOA exploits aren’t technically canon. Given she’s really in a swimsuit of armor, she additionally holds the honour of being essentially the most battle-dressed feminine character in Dead or Alive historical past.
Alien, Predator and Al Dillon in Mortal Kombat 10
Mortal Kombat has been dwelling to a number of nice cameo appearances – Freddy, Jason, Leatherface, Kratos and so forth – however the ones that actually stand out in case you ask me are the sci-fi slasher icons Alien and Predator within the tenth entry. Pretty a lot all the cameos developed by NetherRealm Studios are created in a extremely loving method that has a terrific eye for element – however just a few little issues push MK10’s Alien and Predator over the remaining.
Part of it’s really right down to the announcement and reveal. When Predator was confirmed, individuals assumed the Xenomorph from Alien needed to be coming because of their historical past of dealing with off – however the announcement trailer was a improbable troll all the identical. MK collection favourite Baraka was absent from MK10 (he’s again on the MK11 roster), and the trailer opened in such a method that followers may’ve believed for a second he was making a return… then a child Xenomorph bursts from his chest. It’s simply nice.
Then there’s Al Dillon. The Predator pack additionally got here with some different skins for different characters – and one turned metal-armed badass Jax into Colonel Al Dillon as performed by Carl Weathers in Predator. This isn’t only a pores and skin – utilizing it replaces Jax’s voiceover work with new strains recorded by Weathers. You may even recreate the “You Son of a Bitch” second from Predator within the character choose display screen with sure match-ups. Amazing.
Link makes the GameCube model of SoulCalibur 2 the one to personal
Like Mortal Kombat, the SoulCalibur collection has made one thing of a reputation for itself by way of its visitor characters. While together with the Yoda and Darth Vader on this listing appeared important, if I’m limiting myself to only one game per collection getting a shout out, which means the likes of Geralt and 2B in SoulCalibur 6 and, sure, Yoda and Vader, have to fall by the wayside. When we’re speaking about cameos, Link is the one that actually appeared to matter on the time.
Each platform had its personal unique for SoulCalibur 2. PS2 had Tekken’s Heihachi, which is sensible. Xbox hilariously had Todd McFarlane’s comedian guide character Spawn. Nintendo, after all, had Link. Link is an ideal match for SoulCalibur, a combating game constructed round use of melee weapons, however nonetheless his inclusion appeared insane. The Nintendo of these days didn’t really feel like the kind that’d fortunately mortgage out its most beloved characters – however it did for SoulCalibur.
Despite the GameCube’s far smaller userbase, that model of the superb SoulCalibur 2 went on to turn out to be the best-selling – and it’s doubtless all right down to that green-clad lad on the quilt, recent from his look in Ocarina of Time, one of many best games ever.
Akuma joins the Tekken universe – and is definitely canon
The factor about most of those character appearances is that they’re irrelevant to the tales and worlds of the games in query. Japan’s two largest fighters crossed over in Street Fighter X Tekken, as an example, however neither impacted the continued tales or characters of both collection. But then Tekken 7 occurred.
The look of Street Fighter’s Akuma in Tekken 7 makes a number of sense from a growth perspective. When Street Fighter X Tekken was introduced, the expectation was that later we’d get a Namco-made Tekken X Street Fighter, a Tekken-style game that added Street Fighter characters. Development work was seemingly underway, however then the undertaking was paused – and presumably the work already completed helped to make Akuma work in Tekken 7, fireballs and all. He performs brilliantly and doesn’t really feel misplaced in any respect – Akuma even works at a event stage.
What’s completely nuts is that Akuma is canon to the Tekken collection – and is definitely a key participant within the life occasions of a few of Tekken’s most necessary leads. He has a big presence in Tekken 7’s story mode and has a serious affect on occasions – and can forevermore be part of the Tekken backstory.
That first time Akuma battered the X-Men
As we’ve simply touched on, Street Fighter martial arts grasp and throughout evil bastard Akuma has had a bunch of cameo appearances, even in his personal collection – however Akuma’s most notable visitor slot is such as a result of it actually helped to kick off an entire new collection in its personal proper.
Akuma seems in X-Men: Children of the Atom, a Marvel fighter developed by Capcom. The game doesn’t even hassle to clarify why Akuma is there, and on the time he wasn’t even that well-known – he’d solely made his Street Fighter debut in Super Turbo earlier that very same yr. Everything about his inclusion seems like a little bit of a last-minute joke on the a part of the builders, like how his story endings are very primary – however there he’s, playable.
Akuma’s look might sound minor then, however the repercussions can be felt for years. Players cherished his inclusion, and that led to the event and launch of X-Men vs. Street Fighter – which in flip would spawn sequels with expanded scope, Marvel vs. Capcom. Those games would assist encourage others like SNK vs Capcom and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. One foolish little cameo led to all that – which is nuts, actually.
That time a Daytona USA automobile realized martial arts
Look, I stated I wasn’t going to incorporate any characters from games which might be particularly based mostly round cross-overs, however I’ve to make one final exception to shout out Hornet in Fighters Megamix, a Saturn title that allowed varied heroes from a spread of Sega combating games to battle one another. There’s a bunch of actually silly stuff on this game together with a playable palm tree (no, actually), however the very best is the Hornet.
Hornet is a automobile – quantity 41 to be particular – from Daytona USA, Sega’s arcade racer collection most well-known for its all-time great soundtrack. This automobile stands on its rear wheels and punches with its entrance wheels, contorting its bodywork to carry out martial arts strikes. This is a personality and game that means that you can burn tyre rubber instantly onto the face of considered one of Sonic the Hedgehog’s associates. It seems silly as something, and it’s sensible.
Source
