Be Our Guest

Dante is over-the-top and completely self-aware. He never takes himself too seriously, and this makes it easy to place him into other franchises. Dante and his gal-pal Trish were featured as guest characters in the PlayStation 2 version of Viewtiful Joe, but I’m focusing on his Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Maniax appearance instead. Demons are a central theme in Shin Megami Tensei, so a renowned demon-hunting mercenary like Dante is a perfect fit for the series. Players assume the role of a demon in the game, so Dante is naturally depicted as an enemy at first. Things eventually cool down, however, and Dante even offers to join your party before it’s all said and done. Dante may have been ranked higher on this list if he had more screen time. As an optional party member, Dante’s role is relatively trivial.

Vyse and Aika blend into the world of Valkyria Chronicles so well that it’s questionable whether their Skies of Arcadia counterparts can even really be considered the same characters. Valkyria Chronicles assigns them new surnames and places them in new roles, so it would be easy to argue that they are merely allusions to the pirates from Skies of Arcadia. At the same time, Aika’s dialogue in Valkyria Chronicles contains subtle nods to Skies of Arcadia and Vyse’s profile indicates that he’s from a far off land. Their love of treasure is also apparent throughout the game, and the duo leaves in search of adventure after the game is completed. Pirate’s Isle is never specifically mentioned, but regardless of the canonical standing of Vyse and Aika, it’s nice to see Sega acknowledge Skies of Arcadia in some capacity.

Battletoads was released at the height of Ninja Turtles mania and the titular toads had a lot in common with the half-shelled heroes. The anthropomorphic toads were radical to the max and had ‘tude to spare, but they faded into obscurity like so many other mascots of the era. Microsoft has expressed interest in reviving the franchise and renewed the “Battletoads” trademark in 2014. Since then, the Battletoads appeared as a bonus boss encounter in the Xbox One version of Shovel Knight and Rash was added to the roster of Killer Instinct. Everything you remembered about Rash from the 8-bit era was faithfully recreated for his Killer Instinct revival. He can grow ram horns to headbutt his opponents, turn into a giant wrecking ball, or kick with an oversized boot. He can even summon his iconic speeder bike!

Gon is a tiny dinosaur and the title character of a Japanese manga series created by Masashi Tanaka. The manga is largely focused on Gon’s interactions with the natural world and is noteworthy for containing no dialogue whatsoever. Gon somehow survived the extinction of his fellow dinosaurs, so he comes across as a stranger in a strange land. This theme is also apparent in his Tekken 3 appearance, as he doesn’t really seem like he belongs. (He’s the only licensed character to appear in the Tekken series thus far.) Gon has no links with any other Tekken characters and his moveset borders on the ridiculous. He is fireproof, he has the ability to spit fireballs, and he occasionally surprises his enemies with toxic farts. In a franchise populated by bears, robots, and boxing kangaroos, Gon stands out as the most unusual of them all.

Takamaru is the star of a Japan-only Famicom Disk System game called The Mysterious Murasame Castle. The brave samurai traveled far and wide, rescued numerous damsels, and infiltrated a mysterious castle before eventually stopping an alien invasion. Despite his heroics, Takamaru’s adventures were all-but-forgotten for decades and he was seldom mentioned outside of the occasional cameo appearance. The Wii version of Samurai Warriors 3 marked Takamaru’s first playable role in 23 years! Takamaru appears as a playable character in a special mode based directly on The Mysterious Murasame Castle, but he becomes available in “Free Mode” after certain conditions are met. Takamaru is one of Nintendo’s most under-utilized characters, so it was nice to see him doing his thing Samurai Warriors style.

X-Men: Children of the Atom was the first fighting game from Capcom that featured characters from Marvel Comics. Marvel had requested that a Street Fighter character be included in the game, and Capcom took the opportunity to shine a spotlight on someone who could believably hang with the X-Men. His appearance in Children of the Atom marked Akuma’s second appearance in a game (after Super Street Fighter II Turbo) and was something of a dry run for subsequent crossover titles that would feature both Capcom and Marvel characters. Akuma continued to gain experience as a guest character in the years that followed. In addition to a plethora of proper crossover titles, Akuma had a guest role in Asura’s Wrath and Tekken 7. A cybernetic version of Akuma was also featured in Cyberbots.

The decision to include outside characters in Mortal Kombat was largely informed by the success of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. Thus far, the guests have all been appropriate for the franchise. Kratos from God of War is violent and visceral, and horror movie icons like Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees fit nicely with the gory themes the series is known for. The eponymous Predator is perhaps the best fit of all since he helped inspire the series. Five years before Sub-Zero was ripping out spines in the first Mortal Kombat game, Predator was doing the same thing on the silver screen. For a more direct example of Predator’s influence, look no further than the three cyborgs who were introduced in Mortal Kombat III. If you were going in blind, you might mistake the Predator for a regular member of the Mortal Kombat roster.

SoulCalibur was the most acclaimed fighting game of its day, but the sequel had a larger reach since it was released on multiple platforms. In an effort to make each version of the game stand out, Namco elected to include console-exclusive characters. The PlayStation 2 version featured Heihachi from Tekken while the Xbox version had Todd MacFarlane’s Spawn. Heihachi was a fish out of water since he had no weapons and Spawn had no real ties to the video game world, but Link was a perfect fit. He looked right at home with a cast of medieval-themed characters, and his unique moves added even more depth to an already-diverse roster. The PS2 outsold the GameCube at a rate of 7:1, but SoulCalibur II still sold best on the Cube. It’s fair to say that Link’s inclusion in the GameCube version generated the most enthusiasm by far.

The Super Smash Bros. roster was comprised entirely of Nintendo characters in the beginning, but Brawl opened a new door by including characters from third-party publishers. Fans now expect to see third-party companies represented in the series. It was surreal to see Sonic going head-to-head with Mario, Cloud Strife’s inclusion was shocking given his association with the PlayStation brand, and many thought that Bayonetta was too sexy or violent to ever be featured in the series. As the first third-party character announced for the series, Solid Snake stands as the most unexpected guest. When his debut trailer was played on the floor of the 2006 E3, the building erupted in a chorus of cheers and voices of disbelief. Super Smash Bros. is no longer just a celebration of Nintendo, it’s a tribute to gaming is a whole.

Dead or Alive has welcomed many guests over the years. In addition to Ninja Gaiden‘s Ryu Hayabusa, DOA has also featured characters from Virtua Fighter and Samurai Warriors. In most cases, the guests looked better in DOA than they did in their original games. Ultimately, the incomparable Mai Shiranui (of King of Fighters fame) was the most fitting addition of all. Dead or Alive revolutionized jiggle physics, and Mai Shiranui was also a trailblazer in this area. Simply put, Mai was to sprite-based breasts what the DOA girls were to polygonal boobs. Mai’s legendary rack belongs in Dead or Alive. When Mai was announced for Dead or Alive 5: Last Round, the trailer basically consisted of a wink and a jiggle. What more could you ask for? Team Ninja knows their audience and they obviously understand why Mai is so popular.