By Rob Bricken in
Daily Lists, Video Games
Tuesday, Jun. 9 2009 @ 5:00AM
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Nerds love crossovers. It's a fact. And whether or not it's an extension of nerdkind's inherent obsession with collecting, or some biological need to make like Willy Wonka and condense worlds of pure imagination, this truth isn't about to change. Comic book publishers, animation studios and especially videogame companies understand this, and thus, they cater to their audience's insatiable lust for fictional characters from different universes to meet...and hit each other. This train of logic has culminated in a video game industry rich with crossover titles - many of which borrow from the other media with crossover expertise. Really, it's kind of like videogames crossing over with comics crossing over with cartoons, which is probably the best thing in creation. Pick up the pieces of your freshly exploded head to celebrate ten of the greatest videogame crossovers ever concocted.
10) Battletoads and Double Dragon
It's a simple formula. Take one gaming franchise where two brothers beat up the same four bad guys for hours on end and combine it with another gaming franchise where three bro-ish frogs beat up the same four bad guys for hours on end. The result is, like, five badasses cracking the skulls of at least eight bad guys of varying color patterns. Isn't fake math awesome?
9) Famicom Jump: Hero Retsuden and Famicom Jump II: Saikyō no Shichinin
Two of the most ambitious games on the list (especially considering the first in the series was released more than 20 years ago), Hero Retsuden brings together 32 different Jump manga series, letting players control 16 of their favorite protagonists including Son Goku, Kinnikuman and Joseph Joestar. Graphically, the games don't have much to offer compared to 2006's Jump Ultimate Stars on Nintendo DS, but the sheer novelty of seeing these characters interact in a special storyline during an era before manga was an American commodity is nothing short of wonderful. At least, wonderful enough to inspire a generation of kids who don't read Japanese to download pirated roms of each of these games and mash buttons until good things happen onscreen.
8) Sega Superstars / Sega Superstars Tennis
Not so much a full-fledged crossover as a sort of Sega company picnic, Sega Superstars mashed together a bunch of licenses to make use of PlayStation 2's Eye Toy. It's not quite as flashy as its quasi sequel Superstar Tennis, but the movement-tracker had its moments. Superstar Tennis picks up the slack with more action, better graphics and a wider roster, which includes Super Monkey Ball's Aiai and Sega's original mascot (y'know, before Sonic ousted him) Alex Kidd. Kidd is easy to recognize. He's the creepy washup in the back hoping Ulala has daddy issues. Wish him well. It's all he has left.
7) Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
Green Lantern crushing his foes to death in a ring-made energy ball? Wonder Woman slinging sparring partners head-first into pavement? What could be better? That's what Midway must have thought in the making of this crossover game. Unfortunately, despite fun gameplay, most players remember MK vs. DC mostly for its cheesy storyline, which fused two universes with, uh, rage? The heroes act kind of like D-bags most of the game and the logic behind constraining power levels comes off a bit heavy-handed. Violence is censored in certain fatalities by showing murder off camera and DC's good guys have "brutalities" instead of "fatalities." Yeah, all of that's kind of lame for mature gamers, but it's a bit asinine to make fun of a game for its writing when it has Mortal Kombat in the title. The bottom line is, this crossover is worth the price of admission and anyone who picked it up for its literary value has spent too much time in the Netherrealm. Still, there's a reason it's not higher on the list.
6) Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games
Sure, Sonic hanging with Mario isn't the biggest deal in the world since Sega gave up competing with other consoles, but this game still gives the blue blur some serious love by including his allies from other games. Mario fans have been spoiled over the years. For every cooperative Sonic title, there are five middling Mario sports games, which means the lesser-known characters from SegaSonic the Hedgehog and Knuckles' Chaotix are a welcome sight. Aside from that, the assembled cast can compete in gaming events players rarely see outside of Olympics-themed titles (fencing, table tennis) making this crossover a well-rounded nerd fest. Another plus? The game doesn't test its players for performance enhancing drugs. This is much to the benefit of Mario, who without shrooms, radishes, stars and tanooki skins, seems somehow less athletic than his hedgehog rival.
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Tags: Capcom, DC, Dragonball, Kingdom Hearts, Marvel, Mortal Kombat, One Piece, Sega, Shonen Jump, Sonic, Super Mario
27 comments
Comments
McTool said:
Now the question still remains... which was the BEST Capcom vs. Someone Else game?
(The answer is of course MvC2)
Stonecrow said:
Capcom VS. GTA!!!
jestergoblin said:
Solid list all around, I personally may have placed Kingdom Hearts higher only because SSB is like Captain N.
Derp said:
Wait, Battle Stadium D.O.N. and neither of the Jump _____ Stars games? That makes little/no sense.
varrior said:
Battle Stadium D.O.N.? I always thought that game would be weird to work with (i've never played it). Mostly because a few of the characters (re: Naruto) are ridiculously overpowered. So the only way to make it a fair playing field is to nuke some of the characters' abilities.
And of course, SSB deserves the top spot. Great one.
MattK said:
See...I'd have switched up Capcom Vs. and Smash Bros. Granted, the Smash Bros. characters have been around longer (somewhat) and it is definitely some sweet crossover gold (especially when Sonic finally joined the roster), but the concept of Capcom vs. has been around longer, both in theory and in practice. Why, who can forget the first "Capcom vs." match: Capcom vs. Data East (oh wait...that was a court battle over IP...oh well, the characters were near identical, you could create the crossover in your mind).
As soon as the first true contender to Capcom's crown as king of the coin-ops arose (Mortal Kombat), school-yard discussions quickly changed from Freddy vs. Jason to Ryu vs. Scorpion. And even though such a beast could never exist (at the time, since SF was animated sprites and MK was digitized images...though now that both have dipped toes in each other's pools, it's surprising that it hasn't happened yet), that didn't stop the speculations...and the hopes.
Little did we hope that something even MORE awesome would come of it. First Marvel, then SNK (which, honestly, was not all that big here in Georgia since SNK machines were not as prominent here as elsewhere...and Fatal Fury played like cheap butt), now Tatsuniko. Of course...I'm still...STILL waiting for the day that Guilty Gears vs. Darkstalkers becomes a reality (though considering where the GG series went with the official sequel, probably more apt for BlazBlue vs. Darkstalkers).
Sure, we all wanted a crossover of Nintendo's mascots to frolic together on some grand adventure, but SURELY no one would imagine that the crossover of the Big N would be a fighting game (and one that has a more simplistic play mechanic than Mortal Kombat)?
And taking a page from jestergoblin, would adding Captain N to Smash Bros make it more or less awesome? I'd vote less, because that'd probably be around the same time Mega Man and Simon Belmont are added to the roster, and we'd probably have a mix-up and their designs would be based on their gawdawful animated counterparts.
Ah well, awesome list regardless.
ANON said:
hey. i used to make my toys talk out loud. shut up.
Stephen said:
Those Mario Sports titles are far from middling - EGM had Mario Tennis for the GBC on its Top 100 Games of All-Time, for instance.
Between Kart and the Camelot-made Golf / Tennis games, all have been very good at the bare minimum.
AnarCHris said:
D.O.N. was a pretty crapp SSMB knock off, where only Naruto, One Piece and Naruto related characters were in the game (hence DON)
The Jump SuperStars/Ultimate Stars were better overall in terms of nearly everything outside of the graphics department, and featured just about every series to appear in Shonen Jump, as well as Fist of the North Star, which was published by a different company.
Bard said:
I can't believe none of the Super Robot Wars made the list. They are the ultimate mash up/cross over/greatest turn based strategy games of all time!
LBD "Nytetrayn" said:
Nice list. I approve. :)
However, it's a shame Tatsunoko vs. Capcom was not mentioned in the Capcom vs. entry.
Also, Alex Kidd wasn't really SEGA's mascot. People just sort of decided he was, since he was the closest thing to a Mario game they had.
At one time, I'd have loved to have seen Captain N in SSB, but now? Maybe with some refinements. SSB seems to have developed its own little universe of sorts, and I'm not so sure that Captain N would necessarily fit... at least, not the TV show version.
Captain N, or rather, Captain Nintendo predates the cartoon of the same name, and was a bit different to start. So a reimagining might be good.
My ideal vision for it?
Fight a Captain N much like the one in the cartoon, with NES "Power Pad" belt and Zapper, then beat him. Once that's done, his powers get an upgrade: Classic Controller belt, Wii Remote and Wii Zapper, allowing for some cross-up lightsaber/blaster action.
PossibleMisnomer said:
Uh, Sonic vs. Mario @ the Olympics on a "best" video-game crossover list?
This is list is absolutely worthless.
You're putting a shameless double cash-grab game up as a best crossover ever? Get out of here.
chad said:
suprized the capcom vs game was not higher like number two and can see why dc vs mortal kombat did not make it into the top five. otherwise the list fits of best crossover games.
Rush said:
I'd have Kingdom hearts out of that list...mostly because I hate KH.
I'd put King of Fighters in it's place.
SparHawk said:
Kingdom Hearts should've been #1
MLKshake said:
smash is for tween bros w/ no actual skill at fighting games.... its just a fact... and the powerstone series was a much more interesting take on the genre... save no jigglypuff.. bummer brosef
grant said:
fighter's megamix for the sega saturn!!!!!!
Katie said:
I remember when KH first came out. I thought it was the most ludicrous thing I had ever heard of. I think I said something to the effect of "It's going to be a steaming pile of shit. How stupid." I'm glad I turned out to be incredibly wrong.
Gabbie18 said:
I personally think that Kingdom of Hearts should've been #1 but awesome list!
Victor Delacroix said:
Whether it be writing, gameplay, or what have you, there is nothing good about Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe. I suggest either a revision of the article or suicide.
EtrnlRulr said:
Am I the only one that thinks the hero/protagonist from Star Tropics should be included in an SSB game? I mean aside from the obvious weaponized yo-yo you can also summon some of those creepy skeleton-emus and incorporate aliens and a submarine in the mix (ok maybe that would make a better stage/arena but man it practically writes itself). That reminds me, in this age of little or no ideas hence remakes of classic games, how come Star Tropics seems to be on no one's "re-make" list? It's a crying shame if you ask me, I mean that game was so freakin difficult for an 8 bit RPG (excluding Link's Adventure, but Link's adventure was more difficult due to the fact it was rather shoddily put together by a non-Nintendo 3rd party). Ok my screed is done.
Davidh said:
I haven't had a chance to play with Mortal Kombat vs. DC U yet, but I'm suprised it made this list, considering how often that video game was derided before it's release.
I would love to see a DC fighting game, considering that one of their most popular characters flies, it would be kind of awesome to have a fighting came where Superman takes on Black Adam and they crash through skyscrapers, brawl into space, plunge into the ocean and take some time out to laugh at Aquaman, etc.
Gino said:
Nice list.
However, I'm surprised that "Konami World" for the famicom was not mentioned. (not so sure if that was really the title)
That game was awesome. It featured all the Konami characters of the 80's. It had Simon Belmont, Goemon, the Goonies kid, King Kong, Gradius, Twinbee, a Moai, the Konami mascots (the guy who looked like superman but had a K on his chest and a helmet. He used to make cameos in Konami games), and the Samurai guy from "Moonwind Devil" (or something like that).
Malcadon said:
I cant believe ACE 3 (another century episode) did not make the list! It had crossovers from dozens of different mecha-themed anime. The into (which you can find on youtube) is just awesome, with robot-on-robot action so epic it like porn! The actual gameplay is a bit repetitive, and plays alot like Robotech Battlecry, but still fun - plus, hearing Isamu's "yeh-hoo!" never gets old! =D
By the way, how did Battletoads & Double Dragon made the list? Its sucked ass, even back then!
Xenomorph said:
Not quite sure if it counts (all the characters are from different games, but they're all from the same company), but I really think King of Fighters should have made the list.
Anonymous said:
you can add this one:
SUNDAY VS MAGAZINE CHOUJOU DAIKESSEN (psp)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMoDyHOoN2Y
anyone knows a saga called king of fighters or something?
Anonymous said:
KINGDOM HEARTS
