10 Best Guest Characters In Fighting Games, Ranked | Game Rant
Fighting games (and, well, video games in general) are no stranger to having crossovers between their franchises, such as the Capcom vs. SNK games. But, sometimes the crossovers bend space, time, and possibility to find a way to get some of the strangest and coolest characters to guest star in a game.
Let's take a look at 10 of the Best Guest Characters In Fighting Games and rank our favorites. It took a lot of effort to not just put 10 fighters from Super Smash Bros. and call it a day.
10 Yoda, Darth Vader, And The Apprentice In Soulcalibur IV
Let's start the list off right by cheating and including three in a single entry. In Soulcalibur IV, Yoda, Darth Vader, and The Apprentice were included as the guests from a galaxy far, far away. Yoda, begin green, made him an excellent Xbox 360 exclusive and Darth Vader's black motif worked for the PlayStation 3. The Apprentice, now known to be Starkiller or Galen Marek, made his debut in the fighting game in all versions as a great cross over to introduce the new Star Wars The Force Unleashed character. Eventually, Yoda and Vader were released as DLC on the opposite console to be able to have all three available.
9 Akuma In Tekken 7
Akuma's addition to Tekken 7 wasn't too much of a surprise or stretch. He's shown up in multiple crossovers and guested elsewhere before. Originally appearing in Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Akuma has found his way into games involving SNK, Marvel, and even Power Rangers.
As for his appearance in Tekken, the game Street Fighter X Tekken set both games in the same universe for the first time, only to have Akuma join the Tekken 7 and Tekken mobile rosters as a guest character. Who knows where Akuma could end up next, but Akuma fits right into Tekken like he was meant to be there all along.
8 Earthworm Jim In ClayFighter 63 1/3
A normal earthworm was crawling along one day and a super-suit landed face down on it, making the main character of the Earthworm Jim series, going on crazy space adventures to rescue Princess What's-Her-Name. That's, well, the entire story. It was a crazy platformer and the 1990s were a weird time. Jim showed up on the fighting game ClayFighter 63 1/3 as a playable brawler.
The game is notable for looking like a claymation movie (think The Nightmare Before Christmas) and including another 1990s superhero platformer character, Boogerman. Just going to reiterate that the 1990s were a weird time and move on.
7 Arbiter, General RAAM, Rash In Killer Instinct
In a true testament of company synergy, Microsoft put out a full remake of RARE's Killer Instinct early in the life of the Xbox One. Not content with just bringing back a bunch of old characters from the game, they added three new guest characters to the roster: The Arbiter from Halo, General RAAM from Gears of War, and Rash from Battletoads. Each was unique to play as, but the inclusion of Battletoads' Rash became a fan favorite out of nostalgia on its own. The game stands as a great example of a game company utilizing characters in unique ways.
6 RWBY In BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle
BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle features a ton of playable characters across multiple popular franchises, including Persona 4 Arena, Arcana Heart, and Senran Kagura. But, the most out-there addition to the game was the American-produced RWBY Series. Made by famed internet-based company Rooster Teeth, RWBY was originally created by Monty Oum. It's anime, but American.
In any case, Team RWBY all appear in BBCTB and Ruby Rose herself plays a pretty pivotal role in the game as a whole. Some of the team was added as DLC afterward, but all four are available at this point.
5 Spartan-458 (AKA Nicole) In Dead Or Alive 4
Dead or Alive had to make the list in some way. Since Ninja Gaiden's Ryu Hayabusa is a mainstay character in the franchise at this point, the Halo Spartan-458 needs to be talked about. Originally, Team Ninja wanted to use the infamous Master Chief, but Bungie turned the idea down. Instead, Bungie created a new SPARTAN that could work for terms of story purposes. She was eventually dubbed to be named Nicole-458, similar to Master Chief John-117, and fights with heavy-fisted hand-to-hand combat. Being from the Halo universe, she also utilized technology like plasma grenades and active camouflage. She may not be the OG MC, but she's there to finish the fight.
4 Horror Icons In Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat, as a series, has its fair share of crossovers and guests. But, none are as fitting as including some of the most iconic horror killers in cinema history. Starting with the 9th installment of the franchise in 2011, Freddy Krueger (of Nightmare on Elm Street fame) started a trend that just hasn't stopped.
In Mortal Kombat X, Jason Voorhees (from Friday the 13th franchise) and Leatherface (from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre series) both appeared as playable guests. Additionally, both Alien and Predator were guests in the very same game. Cutting to the newest iteration, Mortal Kombat 11, The Terminator and Spawn both are playable. If you want some horror or action in your life, play Mortal Kombat.
3 Link In Soulcalibur II
Link's appearance in the Gamecube version of Soulcalibur II marked an early example of Nintendo letting other developers utilize some of their star characters in new ways. Being a sword and shield wilding fighter, Link fit right in with the cast of characters that also use large named swords and weird weapons. Rightfully so, Spawn and Tekken's Heihachi should be included in this entry as well for Soulcalibur II, being in the Xbox and PlayStation 2 versions respectively. But, it was Link that gained the most attention due to Nintendo allowing their Hylian Hero to be in the series. Spawn was pretty sick though.
2 TMNT In Injustice 2
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles being in crossovers is nothing new. But, notably, this was a great jumping-off point for the TMNT to have more DC Comics-related crossovers, such as the comic Batman vs. the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (and the animated movie of the same name). Where many know the Turtles from goofy cartoons and live-action movies, their origins in the original Eastman and Laird comic book were much more terrifying and violent.
They fit right in with the tragic alternate universe that the Injustice series has created and work as a single character in the game. Then again, they could always have a face-off against guest character Hellboy in a battle for comic book notoriety.
1 Cloud Strife In Super Smash Bros. Wii U, 3DS, And Ultimate
Look, Super Smash Bros needed some sort of inclusion on this list and Cloud Strife is the best soldier for the job. He deserves recognition for multiple reasons, historically. Not only is he a surprise inclusion that opens up a huge can of worms for future potential fighters in the series, Cloud's inclusion is Nintendo and Square Enix making up over the Final Fantasy series making the move to PlayStation in the 1990s. Also, with the Nintendo Switch, Final Fantasy VII is officially on a Nintendo platform, so there's that.
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