As we prepare to welcome John Cena’s Peacemaker into Mortal Kombat 1 it seems a decent time to reflect on an increasingly popular fighting game trend: bringing guest characters into the fray.
Recently MrTopTenList produced a fairly in-depth video counting down the top 10 fighting game guests of the better part of the last decade, and while his focus is on the successes, he certainly contrasts them with other guests who didn’t quite find their footing.
Capcom did a lot to get this particular ball rolling back in the 1990’s when they not only ported characters from their Final Fight series over into the Street Fighter Alpha games, but also started in on their widely acclaimed Marvel vs. Capcom franchise.
Soul Calibur famously stuck the likes of Heihachi, Link, Yoda, Darth Vader, and others in some of their earlier entries, and Mortal Kombat surprised fans by inviting horror and 80’s action cinema icons over the last decade or so.
This trend has become much more commonplace and all but an expectation for many franchises, but with the multitude of foreign fighters invading rosters, which ones have proven to be the most successful? In fact, what exactly sets a guest character up to be successful in a fighting game?
Answers to these questions become clearer as MrTopTenList goes through and explains his 10 favorites while contrasting them with those that wound up being closer to duds.
Let us know if you agree with his picks in the comments after you watch, and which crossover appearances you’ve been most impressed with in the last 10 years.