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Post by phediuk on Mar 14, 2021 16:26:02 GMT -5
What's the first instance of a "guest character" in a game? By this, I do not mean an intra-company crossover, such as Ryu Hayabusa in Dead or Alive, the Daytona USA car in Fighters Megamix, or Cloud Strife in Ehrgeiz. I mean a character owned by one company being playable in a game owned by another company. The appearance must be authorized, i.e., not a bootleg or knockoff.
The term "guest character" is usually applied to fighting games, so I'll start there. The earliest fighting game example I am aware of is Earthworm Jim in the PC version of Battle Arena Toshinden (1996), with the earliest console fighting game example perhaps being Gon in the Playstation version of Tekken 3 (1998).
In non-fighting games, Konami Wai Wai World (Famicom, 1988) provides an early example with King Kong being one of the five selectable characters, Konami presumably still holding the license that they obtained for their 1986 King Kong 2 game. I guess I can also give a nod to the SNES version of Simcity (1990) here too, which lets you summon Bowser to obliterate your city, though this is not, strictly speaking, a playable appearance. Also, maybe I should mention the unusual case of Spiderman in Revenge of Shinobi (Genesis, 1989), who appears only as a boss, but was actually officially licensed in later revisions.
What are some other early examples of guest characters?
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Post by windfisch on Mar 14, 2021 21:27:39 GMT -5
As for fighting games, Akuma in X-Men: Children of the Atom comes to mind. That's from 1994.
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Post by Bumpyroad on Mar 15, 2021 0:51:08 GMT -5
Billy and Jimmy in Battletoads & Double Dragon - The Ultimate Team '93
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Post by windfisch on Mar 15, 2021 12:50:08 GMT -5
I've been wondering how to treat crossover games like the above-mentionen Wai Wai World and Battletoads & Double Dragon or King of Fighters and Parodius, to name a few more. Most of these arguably revolve around some sort of core series: King of Fighters -> Fatal Fury, Parodius -> Gradius and Battletoads & Double Dragon is at least 70% Battletoads. On the other hand, combining elements from different series is what these games are all about. So I'm not sure whether the term "guest character" still applies in these cases.
edit: Speaking of King of Fighters: Art of Fighting's Ryo Sakazaki appeared in Fatal Fury Special in 1993.
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Post by phediuk on Mar 15, 2021 13:38:00 GMT -5
I've been wondering how to treat crossover games like the above-mentionen Wai Wai World and Battletoads & Double Dragon or King of Fighters and Parodius, to name a few more. Most of these arguably revolve around some sort of core series: King of Fighters -> Fatal Fury, Parodius -> Gradius and Battletoads & Double Dragon is at least 70% Battletoads. On the other hand, combining elements from different series is what these games are all about. So I'm not sure whether the term "guest character" still applies in these cases.
edit: Speaking of King of Fighters: Art of Fighting's Ryo Sakazaki appeared in Fatal Fury Special in 1993.
The KoF / Fatal Fury example is a same-company crossover, so it doesn't apply here. We want crossovers of characters owned by different companies for this thread.
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Post by windfisch on Mar 15, 2021 14:01:09 GMT -5
Oh, I see. I, guess I was a bit tired when reading the introduction. Based on your SimCity example, X-Men Children of the Atom would still apply, I suppose (a company-owned character appearing in a borrowed-franchise game). But how do you feel about dedicated crossover games like X-Men vs Street Fighter? Do those count? And who would be the guests?
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Post by phediuk on Mar 15, 2021 14:08:45 GMT -5
Oh, I see. I, guess I was a bit tired when reading the introduction. Based on your SimCity example, X-Men Children of the Atom would still apply, I suppose (a company-owned character appearing in a borrowed-franchise game). But how do you feel about dedicated crossover games like X-Men vs Street Fighter? Do those count? And who would be the guests? Yes, X-Men vs. Street Fighter-style crossovers are good for this thread. Are there even any earlier examples, though?
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Post by lurker on Mar 15, 2021 15:21:12 GMT -5
Anita in Marvel Super Heroes. She's the only non Marvel character in the cast.
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Post by toei on Mar 15, 2021 15:43:12 GMT -5
I've been wondering how to treat crossover games like the above-mentionen Wai Wai World and Battletoads & Double Dragon or King of Fighters and Parodius, to name a few more. Most of these arguably revolve around some sort of core series: King of Fighters -> Fatal Fury, Parodius -> Gradius and Battletoads & Double Dragon is at least 70% Battletoads. On the other hand, combining elements from different series is what these games are all about. So I'm not sure whether the term "guest character" still applies in these cases.
edit: Speaking of King of Fighters: Art of Fighting's Ryo Sakazaki appeared in Fatal Fury Special in 1993.
King of Fighters's original concept was Fatal Fury + Art of Fighting. Both series already took place in the same universe and both involved the "King of Fighters" tournament, so it was kind of bound to happen. In time, Fatal Fury probably took more space because it turned out to be the more popular and longer-lasting series, but the first KOF had elements from both. I'm sure it's the first crossover fighter, too, so that's worth something. But you're right that crossovers tend to resemble one series more than the other in terms of mechanics and feel. Usually that's down to who's making it. DD & Battletoads plays like Battletoads because it was made by Rare. Fighters Megamix plays a bit more like Fighting Vipers because it was made by the Fighting Vipers team. Etc.
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Post by spanky on Mar 15, 2021 19:39:31 GMT -5
I'll admit I don't know a ton about the stories in SNK fighting games but I think KoF is non canon in the AoF and FF games, mainly because AoF takes place in the late 70s, which is why you get the weird "Young Geese" in AoF 2. Or maybe they're alternate universes. Or maybe it was retconned, I dunno!
KoF also has the Ikari Warriors and the Psycho Soldiers in it.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2021 6:23:18 GMT -5
The SimCity example is one I find interesting since where most of these occasions occur through a developer licensing outside characters and adding them to their own game, SNES SimCity was the opposite where Nintendo gained license for the SimCity game, developed their own version and added their own character to it.
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Post by magic89 on Mar 17, 2021 19:26:45 GMT -5
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Post by toei on Mar 18, 2021 6:16:21 GMT -5
The SimCity example is one I find interesting since where most of these occasions occur through a developer licensing outside characters and adding them to their own game, SNES SimCity was the opposite where Nintendo gained license for the SimCity game, developed their own version and added their own character to it. Same thing happened with Earthworm Jim appearing in the DOS version of Toshinden. Same publisher, so they just put their guy in the game.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2021 8:04:41 GMT -5
The SimCity example is one I find interesting since where most of these occasions occur through a developer licensing outside characters and adding them to their own game, SNES SimCity was the opposite where Nintendo gained license for the SimCity game, developed their own version and added their own character to it. Same thing happened with Earthworm Jim appearing in the DOS version of Toshinden. Same publisher, so they just put their guy in the game. That's interesting, I didn't know that game existed before. I have to admit though my first time hearing of Toshinden was through the PS Classic.
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Post by toei on Mar 18, 2021 11:37:09 GMT -5
excelsior Toshinden was a big hit when the PSX first launched, and was even briefly considered a "killer app" because of how it showed off a bunch of graphical effects that were new to consoles. By the time the sequel came out, less than a year later, people were starting to realized the gameplay sucked, though, and the series rapidly lost popularity and critical acceptance. The 4th game didn't even come out in North America. So it was really a you-had-to-be-there (in 1995) game.
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