There is something fundamentally fun to see one of your favorite game characters turn up somewhere you didn’t expect, and although cameo and guest appearances are the standard now, go back a few years and it was a novel concept. Then there are those times when crossovers go beyond a cameo and become a full-blown, bizarre game concept, and those are what we’re looking at today.
Battletoads/Double Dragon
Cast your mind back to the land of 1990s video games. You’ll likely have heard of both separate titles in this crossover already. Battletoads was an infamously difficult yet inexplicably popular beat ’em up from 1991, while Double Dragon was the gold standard of all side-scrolling beat ’em up games from the late 80s, with multiple sequels and imitators.
Naturally, developers thought that success could only multiply, and in 1993 the heroes from both titles got one combined adventure. What’s truly bizarre is that somehow, developers Rare actually managed to make it work, getting decent reviews both at the time and in retro eyes. It even made it recently onto the Nintendo’s switch online stores, showing that it’s still holding up with nostalgia lovers as well.
Poker Night At The Inventory
Seeing gaming brands in the context of gambling and casino games is nothing new. In Japan, major IPs like Resident Evil frequently appear on pachinko machines, you can buy official playing cards with Red Dead Redemption designs, and there are more than a few video game slots including both recent releases of Tetris and Space Invaders lovingly recreated in the form of bingo crossed with slots. What’s less common is seeing an assortment of unrelated gaming characters sitting down for a game of poker, and yet that’s the entire concept behind Poker Night at the Inventory.
With a mixture of classic characters including the legendary Sam & Max from their eponymous series, the Heavy from Team Fortress 2, and Claptrap from Borderlands amongst others, it’s a bizarre idea that holds up thanks to some hilarious banter and chill concept. It also doesn’t hurt that beating characters unlocked unique cosmetics for a whole range of other games.
Alex Kidd in Shinobi World
Most retro gamers will know the slightly sad tale of Alex Kidd as a console mascot, trying over and over to be the face of a gaming generation but never really taking off in the way that later icons would. His games are still highly regarded today despite this, although the last entry in the original series is probably the most odd, being somewhere between a crossover and parody of the legendary Shinobi series.
The game was basically Shinobi in the more cartoony style of the other Alex Kidd games, although jarringly, the dark and somber music and settings from Shinobi were preserved. Still, it proved to be the character’s swan song, getting glowing reviews and now being one of the most expensive and sought-after Master System games out there for collectors.
Newer titles have meant that virtually no crossover is off the table any more, as IP holders realize just how much demand and potential profit there is in it. Still, for a brief moment in time, we got the special gems above and many more as fascinating looks at things to come.
