The Fighting Games With The Most Guest Characters

As the genre continues to grow and expand, fighting games become more defined by the size of their rosters. In an effort to simultaneously add characters and player hype around the game, guest characters are often introduced into the mix. A guest character is an established outsider to the game.

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If the game revolves around a single series, these characters are distinguished by not being from it. If a game revolves around multiple series united by a platform or corporate ownership, then these characters are not present within that platform or corporation. It is also worth noting that most guest characters will only make a singular appearance in a series, and rarely become recurring fighters themselves. However, this is by no means a requirement. This list will look at fighting games with the most guest characters.

7

Street Fighter X Tekken

Five Guest Fighters On PSVita & PS3

Systems

Released

March 6, 2012

ESRB

m

Street Fighter X Tekken is a fighting game crossover that pits characters from both series against one another in teams of two. The game was available on multiple platforms, but the version with the most content at launch was on the PlayStation Vita. In addition to the downloadable characters from either series, the Playstation Vita also featured five guest characters; one representative of each company tied to the game, and three more closely associated with the PlayStation.

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For Capcom, there was Megaman, specifically a joke version of the character, influenced by infamous box art which portrayed him as an awkward-looking grown man with a gun. Namco had Pac-Man riding a mech based on Mokujin, the training dummy commonly found in Tekken. On the PlayStation side of things, Toro Inoue and Kuro from Doko Demo Issyo were guest characters. Toro is a white cat who is notably Sony’s Japanese mascot. Kuro is a black cat who serves as Toro’s friend and occasional foil. As the pair are not fighters by default, their moves instead are largely derived from those of Ryu and Kazuya respectively. For a more Western ambassador from Sony, Cole MacGrath of Infamous fame is the final guest character. His electrokinetic abilities make up a good portion of the moves he uses. Notably, Heihachi Mishima of Tekken would appear alongside Toro and Cole soon after this game in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. As DLC, all five characters could be downloaded on the PS3.

6

Mortal Kombat 11

Five Guest Characters

Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath Kollection

Released

August 23, 2019

ESRB

m

Since the original reboot of the series, Mortal Kombat has continually integrated guest characters into its roster. These tend to be a mixture of characters from other forms of pop culture; most commonly movies and comics. Mortal Kombat 11 featured The Joker, Spawn, The Terminator, Robocop, and John Rambo. In addition to securing the characters, notable previous performers reprised their roles to varying degrees for each one.

The Joker was voiced by Richard Epcar, who previously played the role in the infamous Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. Spawn was voiced by Keith David, who previously portrayed him in Todd McFarlane’s Spawn on HBO. David has noted the character as one of his favorites to voice. Arnold Schwarzenegger was the model for Terminator, with voice actor Chris Cox performing his vocals instead. Finally, Sylvester Stallone (Rambo) and Peter Weller (Robocop) were both the voices and models for the characters they originated.

5

Dead Or Alive 5 Last Round

Six Guest Characters

Systems

Released

February 17, 2015

ESRB

M For Mature: Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Violence

Prior to the widespread adoption of downloadable content, most fighting games re-released earlier installments, with additional content tacked on to justify getting the new game. Dead or Alive 5 included three guest characters in its initial release, namely Akira Yuki, Pai Chan, and Sarah Bryant of Virtua Fighter fame. Sarah’s brother, Jacky, was added to Ultimate, an earlier reissue of the game.

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Last Round kept the four Virtua Fighter characters and added two other guests from separate series. One was Mai Shiranui, a kunoichi from Fatal Fury, who is also a mainstay in King of Fighters. The final character originated not from a fighting game, but from a separate Tecmo Koei property; Naotora Li from Samurai Warriors.

4

Mortal Kombat 1

Six Guest Characters

Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns

Released

September 24, 2024

ESRB

Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language

Base Game

Mortal Kombat 1

The second reboot of Mortal Kombat has made an effort to include more guest characters than the number present in the final installment of the first reboot series. The roster largely focused on comic characters adapted for television; namely Homelander, Omni-Man, and Peacemaker. Also present were Conan the Barbarian, Ghostface from Scream, and the T-1000 from Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Once again, there was a concentrated effort to get notable performers to reprise their roles.

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Chris Cox did the model and voice work for Conan, respectively. Jake Green voiced Homelander, with Anthony Starr’s likeness being used as a model for his face. Most of the other notable guest performers, namely John Cena (Peacemaker), J.K. Simmons (Omni-Man), and Robert Patrick (T-1000) were both the voice and model for their characters. Ghostface was voiced by Roger L. Jackson (who has done his voice since the original Scream), with Skeet Ulrich serving as the character’s facial model once unmasked, confirming this incarnation of the character is meant to be Billy Loomis from the original film.

3

Super Smash Bros. For Wii U And 3DS

Six Guest Characters

Systems

Released

October 3, 2014

ESRB

e

The Super Smash Bros. series first made an effort to introduce guest characters in Brawl. Solid Snake from Metal Gear, as well as Sonic the Hedgehog, Mario’s longtime rival in the console wars, debuted to great acclaim. Various cuts were made from the roster after Brawl, due to limitations being imposed. Sadly, this meant Snake did not return. That said, the following installment—Super Smash Bros. for Wii U—kept Sonic and also added other guest characters alongside him. Pac-Man was present, which is less surprising when considering that Bandai Namco helped develop the game.

Other notable inclusions were Ryu from Street Fighter and Megaman (both owned by Capcom), Cloud Strife of Final Fantasy 7 (owned by Square Enix), and Bayonetta (also owned by Sega). This signaled a transition from the Super Smash Bros. series being only about Nintendo games, to encapsulating gaming as a whole.

2

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

18 Guest Characters

Systems

Released

December 7, 2018

ESRB

E for Everyone: Cartoon Violence, Comic Mischief, Suggestive Themes

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate lived up to both its title and the tagline, “Everyone is Here!” Along with many other Nintendo characters, every previous guest character from the series was added to this game. Additionally, virtually every third-party character had one or more companions from their company alongside them in this new installment.

Simon and Richter Belmont from Konami’s Castlevania series were among the first characters announced. Ken from Street Fighter was also an early addition. DLC added even more guest characters to the series. Joker from Persona 5 was the first guest character to be DLC. Four different male Dragon Quest protagonists (namely Luminary, Erdrick, Solo, and Eight) were grouped into a composite character known as Hero, with each individual’s appearance being the basis for a different palette. Banjo and Kazooie, who previously achieved prominence on the Nintendo 64, returned for Smash Bros. Ultimate, acting in tandem as usual. Terry Bogard from Fatal Fury also made an appearance. The King of Fighters, another series that features him prominently, was attributed as an influence to Smash, due to it revolving around several originally separate SNK protagonists coming together to fight.

Steve from Minecraft was also added to rapturous acclaim, alongside Alex, his female counterpart, as a palette swap. The Zombie and Enderman, two hostile mobs in the game, are also palette swaps. Sephiroth, a major antagonist from Final Fantasy 7, also appeared, becoming early access if the player could defeat him in a battle. Namco’s second character, Kazuya Mishima, the hero and later villain of the Tekken series, was the second-to-last guest character added. The final guest character was Sora from Kingdom Hearts, a collaborative effort between Square Enix and Disney.

1

Brawlhalla

Over 80 Guest Characters*

Released

October 17, 2017

ESRB

E10+ For Everyone 10+ due to Fantasy Violence

Brawlhalla is a platform fighter that arguably has the most guest characters out of any single fighting game. From Street Fighter to Star Wars, Brawlhalla has it all when it comes to guest characters. However, the existence of these legends is built upon a single fact; almost no guest character is an individual entity. Except for two guests from Ubisoft, the current owner of Blue Mammoth Games, the vast majority of characters are palette swaps.

Only Ezio Auditore da Firenze from Assassin’s Creed 2 through to Revelations, and Rayman of the eponymous series, were developed as fully fleshed-out playable characters. The others are merely “crossover skins” serving as promotional tools for their respective series, all the while sharing their moves with one of the 64 characters made for the game. That said, how little the characters affect gameplay is likely the primary reason why so many are available in this manner. Similar to Fortnite, the purely cosmetic change makes it easier to add many different characters into the game, rather than developing special abilities for each one of them. However, even as mere palette swaps, there is an active effort to present these costumes as the characters themselves, rather than mere alternate outfits for existing characters with a passing likeness.

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