5 most innovative crossovers in video game history

The video game industry consists of a multitude of franchises, series, and IPs from various publishing companies. These offerings generally stick to their own titles and functions within their specific set of universes.

However, sometimes, a video game property crosses over with another or an IP from a different media franchise altogether.

Such crossovers are some of the biggest events in video games, as they see characters from different series and franchises interact with each other. For fans of both franchises of such crossovers, these events have become something of a surreal experience as they see some of their favorite characters finally meet each other.

Video game crossovers are not uncommon these days, as many titles include additional content that features characters from outside of their world. Although not all such events turn out to be a big deal, this list looks at five of the most innovative crossovers in video game history.

Note: This article reflects the writer’s opinions.

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Five most exciting video game crossovers ever

1) Mortal Kombat vs. The DC Universe

Mortal Kombat games have for long been developed by Midway Games, and this installment was the final entry by the company. Partnering with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, the developer crossed over with DC to release Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, where the various realms from the world of Mortal Kombat were merged with iconic locations from DC.

The gameplay was similar to any Mortal Kombat title, with different characters having a distinct fighting style and featuring finishing moves. While MK characters delivered their iconic fatalities, DC’s characters were given ‘brutalities,’ intended to be non-lethal versions of fatalities, in keeping with their comic book status.

The narrative sees the MK antagonist Shao Kahn being merged with DC’s Darkseid and forming one being which threatens both worlds. While both worlds initially blamed each other for this predicament, they had to put their differences aside to work together and defeat the forces of Dark Kahn.

After Midway sold the rights to the franchise to WB Interactive Entertainment following the game’s release, Netherrelam Studios took over the development of Mortal Kombat titles. After rebooting the series, they also released a DC fighting game, Injustice, which also garnered quite some success and popularity.

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2) Street Fighter x Teken

Developed by Capcom, the title saw two of the most prominent fighting games go head-to-head against each other. As the name might suggest, Street Fighter x Tekken sees Bandai Namco’s Tekken characters and Capcom’s Street Fighter lineup being thrown together in an original story.

The title features a large selection of characters, with both franchises faithfully represented. Unique fighting styles of different characters across both franchises are retained, and players get to experience both the iconic combat from Tekken and the supermoves-centric Street Fighter style all in one game.

The larger narrative surrounding this game and how the two franchises come across each other is somewhat lackluster. The story is explained in a hand-wavey manner and is best left to the sides, as users can simply play the versus modes to make the most out of this video game.

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3) Super Smash Bros.

From developer Nintendo comes this spectacular crossover event of epic proportions. Super Smash Bros. is a video game series that sees characters from across Nintendo’s expansive collection of IPs, as well as other third-party franchises such as Street Fighter, Final Fantasy, Castlevania, Sonic the Hedgehog, etc., compete against each other.

This is a 2D fighting title where gamers can select any character from the impressive roster and play locally with another player or online.

Unlike most fighting games, Super Mash Bros. does not feature a health bar. Instead, a damage total is represented by a percentage.

As users get hit, this percentage increases, which raises their knockback range, ultimately seeing them being knocked out of the arena when the percentage hits maximum.

There hasn’t been any real explanation for why all of these different video game IPs and franchises have crossed over. However, ex-Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata had his own headcanon for it. He believes these are simply toys being pitted against each other by their owner.

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4) Marvel vs. Capcom

Publishing company Capcom broke many pop culture barriers in 1996 when it crossed over the Street Fighter universe with Marvel’s X-Men. This was a 2D fighting game that saw many famous characters from the X-Men lineup face off against iconic Street Fighter characters.

The title launched a new series for Capcom to follow up with, ultimately named Marvel vs. Capcom.

Succeeding games in the series further increased the roster on both sides, including Marvel characters aside from just the X-Men. Characters like Spider-Man, various Avengers, and even relatively obscure characters like Blade showed up in future games, expanding the Marvel lineup.

In terms of an overarching narrative, it generally sees the two separate universes collide in some form or another, more often than not orchestrated by one or more villains from either franchise.

The most recent title in the series was Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, which saw Ultron from Marvel team up with Sigma from the Mega Man X series to plot a nefarious scheme.

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5) Monster Hunter World x The Witcher

As seen earlier, Capcom is not shy about its inclination to crossover with other franchises, and another example of this comes in the Monster Hunter World video game. Originally released on January 26, 2018, this action role-playing title saw several additional updates to promote other Capcom properties.

While much of this has been in the form of costumes and other elements inspired by IPs such as Mega Man, Street Fighter, and Devil May Cry, a few other updates have included full-character crossovers.

Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn appears as a playable character for PlayStation 4 users, as they can unlock her armor and head as equipable gear.

Another significant event was the inclusion of Geralt, the Witcher from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. During this crossover, gamers can take up a few quests with this famous monster slayer from another fictional reality and later unlock his look to role-play as Geralt himself.

Note: This article is subjective and reflects the author’s views.