9. Street Fighter - Tekken - Mortal Kombat
Fighting games are where most crossovers take place. Street Fighter X Tekken already happened a few years back, Marvel vs. Capcom has become a successful franchise, Super Smash Bros. is iconic and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe was a big success. All of these games were/are critical and commercial successes, proving that crossover fighting games are a profitable market. This notion was only solidified by the huge success of 2011 reboot Mortal Kombat and the recently released Injustice: Gods Among Us. With all these fighting games, the majority of which are quite successful, it stands to reason well see more crossovers as time goes on. Street Fighter originated in 1987, Mortal Kombat in 1992 and Tekken in 1994, each become huge successes on their own and each playing quite differently. While Street Fighter has stayed true to its 2D side-scroll style fighting, Mortal Kombat and Tekken both evolved and became 3D fighters, sometimes with open-world campaigns. All different approaches but all successful. Seeing as these iconic franchises have been around since the early 90s, it begs the question why it took until 2012 to finally get a crossover. Street Fighter X Tekken relied on the Street Fighter graphics and gameplay of recent years, including the 2D side-scroll element. A sequel is under currently development, Tekken X Street Fighter, which takes the Tekken approach of 3D graphics and fighting style. This is good news as the original was successful enough to warrant a sequel and fans of both games get to experience both styles. Now the question remains where does Mortal Kombat fit into all of this. The MK franchise is possibly more successful now than ever, having had a great crossover game, successfully rebooted the series and another fantastic and successful DC based game. While Tekken and Street Fighter are quite compatible, Mortal Kombat is a lot more violent. If such a crossover were ever to happen it must have fatalities for all characters, theyre a fan favourite mechanic and would be a hugely entertaining element of killing the opposing series member. I personally prefer the MK gameplay to the other two series so Id like to see them take that approach, and then they could switch things up and have the Tekken approach etc., again giving fans of each their own preferred version. Regardless of how it is achieved or when, for that matter, the prospect of seeing Scorpion vs. Ryu, Raiden vs. Heihachi, or Baraka vs. Blanka is much to appealing to never happen. Seeing as weve already gotten a crossover between two of these titles it isnt out of the NetherRealm, (Yeah I went there), of possibility that these three giants could one day go head to head.