The Best Anime Crossover Games

Like the rest of the world, Japan was fascinated by animation in the early 20th century. They saw people like Winsor McCay and Walt Disney(‘s staff) bringing cartoon figures to life and thought they should give it a try too. There were a few early shorts that still survive today, like 1917’s The Dull Sword, but to the rest of the world, Japanese animation came into its own during the post-war era when the likes of Astro Boy and Speed Racer started catching on.

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Since then, Japanese anime has become a fixture of TV schedules, cinema marquees, and a ton of video games. It seems like there’s at least one game for every anime franchise ever made. Even then, it hasn’t been enough to have just a set of One Piece games, some Naruto beat ’em ups, or a Dragon Ball-based RPG here and there. Sometimes, they’ve managed some crossover encounters, where the biggest names in Japanese anime have either joined forces or fought against each other, with these being just some of the best anime crossover games around.

Updated on December 27, 2024, by David Heath: This list originally looked at some truly awesome anime crossovers, but it needed a refresh. Some of its original entries were mobile games that have since been shut down, making them inaccessible without either emulation or hacking. As such, those entries have been replaced with some new, equally intriguing options, the old entries have been given more detailed blurbs to show what they’re all about, and the list has been reordered to show, in descending order, which anime crossover games are truly the best.

9

DreamMix TV World Fighters

When Smash Clones Get Bizarre

• Developer: Bitstep
• Platforms: Gamecube, PS2
• Release: December 2003

It feels like companies have only really tried to beat Nintendo at their own game of creating mascot fighters in the past decade or so, with the likes of PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, MultiVersus, and Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl coming, going, and coming back again. If people look further, they can find some truly odd games that tried to take on the Super Smash Bros. series, like when Hudson Soft got Bitstep to make a game where their characters battled it out with figures from Konami and the Takara toy company.

Bomberman, and Bloody Roar‘s Yugo, could go toe to toe with Castlevania‘s Simon Belmont and Beyblade‘s Tyson Granger. Or Metal Gear Solid‘s Solid Snake could see if his Stinger missiles are just as effective against Optimus Prime and Megatron from Transformers as they are against Metal Gears. DreamMix TV World Fighters even comes with a story mode, where the characters are fighting to…increase ratings for the DreamMix TV channel. It’s a surreal little game that’s worth dabbling in, despite it being a Japan-only release.

8

J-Stars Victory VS+

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A lot of the most famous franchises in the anime medium made their debut in the pages of Shōnen Jump. Its publishers, Shueisha, haven’t been shy about showing off its characters either. Famicom Jump on the NES brought together its biggest stars for its 20th anniversary in 1988, while its sequel, Famicom Jump 2, trimmed things down to letting players control seven of its key protagonists, like Goku from Dragon Ball Z, Jotaro Kujo from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, and, um, Kankichi Ryotsu from KochiKame.

Nowadays, Shōnen Jump is a more familiar name worldwide, so fans got to see what their brawl-for-all would be like in J-Stars Victory Vs+, an arena fighter made by the people behind the Budokai Tenkaichi series. They can pit Gon Freecss from Hunter X Hunter up against Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star, with Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z as their partner, or the Sket-dan team from Sket Dance as their support. That’s not to mention characters from One Piece, Bleach, Bobobo-bo-Bobobo, and more waiting in its roster.

7

Battle Stadium D.O.N

Jump’s Biggest 3-Way Rumble

• Developers: Eighting, Q Entertainment
• Platforms: Gamecube, PS2
• Release: July 2006

Jump‘s brawlers are all well and good, but what if fans aren’t interested in the comic’s more obscure characters? What if they’d prefer a game where it just focused on three of its biggest hitters and had their classic characters take each other on instead? With help from Q Entertainment, future Marvel Vs Capcom 3 developers Eighting did that for Dragon Ball, One Piece, and Naruto in Battle Stadium D.O.N.

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It’s a 2.5D platform fighter akin to Smash Bros., where players have to beat the orbs out of each other. The winner is either the first person to get all the orbs in a stage, beat all the orbs out of their opponents, or have the most orbs once the time limit runs out. Up to four players can get in on the action, using their special moves and transformations, alongside the occasional helpful item. Although anyone spoiled on their bigger games before and since might find its 20-character roster rather slim.

6

Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel

A Visual Blast That’s Quite Novel

• Developer: Team Arcana (Examu)
• Platforms: Arcade, PS3, PS4, PC
• Release: February 2016

To those not in the know, Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel sounds like an anime spin-off to some long-forgotten 90s toy line, but it’s actually a fighting game made by the same team behind the cult moe fighting series Arcana Heart. Only this time, Heart Aino is joined by characters from the different visual novels published by Nitroplus. Ever wanted to see her beat up Saber from Fate/Zero? Or watch Super Sonico take on Homura from Senran Kagura? It’s all possible with this game.

Still, not all of its visual novel representatives had anime series of their own. Luckily, it features assist characters from a variety of different anime series, so Heart can be helped by Yuki Takeya, the girl gaslighted into thinking a zombie invasion is just another school day in School-Live, or by Amy, the chirpy guide from Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet. If that wasn’t odd enough, its mix of heroines can be aided by characters from heavier sci-fi hits too, like Akane from Psycho-Pass and Angela from Expelled From Paradise.

5

Sunday VS Magazine Shuuketsu! Chojo Daikessen

There’s No Sunday Rest in This Game

• Developers: Konami Computer Entertainment Aomori, Hudson Soft
• Platform: PSP
• Release: March 2009

Shōnen Jump is perhaps the most famous manga magazine around, but it isn’t the only one. In fact, the likes of Weekly Shōnen Sunday and Weekly Shōnen Magazine (which, despite their similar names, are two different magazines by different publishers) have been around since 1959, nearly a decade longer than Jump, and have featured some classic characters of their own. To celebrate their 50th anniversaries, Konami and Hudson Soft put their best and brightest together to battle it out in Sunday Vs Magazine Shuuketsu! Chojo Daikessen.

Shōnen Sunday‘s Hayate the Combat Butler, Kenichi (of Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple fame), and Recca from Flame of Recca can take on Shōnen Magazine‘s Devilman, Lucy Heartfilia from Fairy Tail, Ippo Makunouchi from Hajime no Ippo, and Cromartie High School‘s Mechazawa, among many more. It was a Japan-only release, but it’s a very import-friendly game for English speakers and has straightforward, simple, combo-based gameplay that’s perfect for beginners to fighting games.

4

Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax

When Light Novels Get Heavy

• Developers: Ecole Software, French Bread
• Platforms: Arcade, PS3, PS4, PS Vita
• Release: October 2015

To celebrate Dengeki Bunko’s 20th anniversary, French Bread and Ecole Software (of Melty Blood and Under Night In-Birth fame) put together Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax, a 2D fighter featuring characters from some of their most famous light novels. It’s a one-on-one fighter, but characters can call in assists Rival Schools-style to attack or provide a pick-me-up. So, Kirito and Leafa from Sword Art Online could join forces to take on Toradora‘s Taiga, who’s being helped in battle by the infamous Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan herself.

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They’re also joined by characters from Oreimo, Boogiepop Phantom, A Certain Magical Index, Kino’s Journey, Spice and Wolf, and Shakugan no Shana, among others. Each have their own special abilities and surreal super moves, like Oreimo‘s Kirina using a UFO Catcher crane to grab her opponents. To top it off, it has Akira and Pai from Virtua Fighter, perhaps the most sober, strait-laced fighting game around, turning up to demonstrate some normal kung-fu amid the fantasy chaos.

3

Jump Ultimate Stars

When Having Two Screens Was Better Than Going 3D

J-Stars Victory Vs+ was great for anime fans, as its bold, colorful presentation and different character interactions would have them finding Easter Eggs for days. However, it was also when the malaise over 3D anime arena fighters started to set in. Running all around an open space and blasting projectiles might resemble some shows better, yet it didn’t help keep the gameplay fresh for long. It made some wonder if things were better back when Jump‘s brawlers were 2D, like in Jump Ultimate Stars.

It was essentially a 2D Smash Bros. clone on the Nintendo DS, but with additional strategy via building card decks. If players can get the right deck together, they can overcome their opponents mentally as well as physically, gaining attack buffs along the way. Neither it nor its predecessor, Jump Super Stars, left Japan, but people who got it on import felt that it was one of the handheld’s best hidden gems. It’s certainly one of the more interesting ones, as people probably didn’t expect there to be a game where One Piece‘s Luffy could be backed up by the cast of I”s.

Perhaps Capcom’s Most Underrated Crossover Game

• Developer: Eighting
• Platforms: Arcade, Wii
• Release: January 2010

Given most people’s reaction to the game’s release back in 2010 was “What’s a Tatsunoko?”, chances are that Tatsunoko Vs Capcom wasn’t originally meant to get a global release. The game came out in Japan two years before the West with an exclusive challenge mode and with endings animated by the famous anime studio itself. However, thanks to Nintendo, and perhaps to the success of Street Fighter 4 on rival consoles at the time, Capcom was able to negotiate with the anime’s different license holders abroad to co-operate.

Well, all except one. Hakushon Daimaoh would remain a Japan-exclusive character and would be replaced with Tekkaman Blade (aka Teknoman), Yatterman #2 from Yatterman, and Joe the Condor from Gatchaman/Battle of the Planets/G-Force/Eagle Riders in the West. Even if players were unfamiliar with them, Hurricane Polymer, Casshern, or Karas, they’d recognize its tag gameplay, as it was heavily inspired by the Marvel games. However, the game remains trapped on the Wii, and due to its tricky license deals, is perhaps unlikely to get a fresh release.

1

The 3rd Super Robot Wars Alpha: To The End Of The Galaxy

A Truly Super Game

• Developer: Banpresto
• Platform: PS2
• Release: July 2005

When it comes to anime crossover games, it would feel amiss not to mention the Super Robot Wars series. It’s been pitting mechs from Mobile Suit Gundam, Getter Robo, Mazinger Z, and more against each other since 1991. However, it can be hard to pick which entry in the series is the best, as it has its own range of spin-offs, reboots, and reworkings alongside its main series games. It’s like looking for a piece of hay in a stack full of needles. So, this list will go for just one of its most popular entries in The 3rd Super Robot Wars Alpha: To the End of the Galaxy (SRA3 for short).

The Super Robot Wars Alpha series is particularly well regarded by fans of the series, with SRA3 being considered one of the best. It’s a tactical RPG where players must organize their units of famous mechs to take on the Ze Balamary Empire. MSG‘s Stardust Memory to Gundam SEED are represented, as are Getter Robo, Mazinger Z, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Space Runaway Ideon, The King of Braves GaoGaiGar, and more, alongside some original characters, producing one of the largest cast of mechs in the series.

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