00:00Ladies and gentlemen, presenting the King of Pop, Michael Jetson!
00:12Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we're taking a look at 10 of the most unexpected characters
00:18to ever appear in fighting games.
00:27Before we begin, we publish new videos all week long, so be sure to subscribe to MojoPlays
00:32and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.
00:37SPARTAN 458 – Dead or Alive 4
00:44The Dead or Alive series is known for having risque ladies and a good handful of buff dudes,
00:49so it was kind of wild to see screenshots of what appeared to be Master Chief from Halo
00:55fighting the likes of Kasumi and Hayate.
00:58However, this isn't exactly what many of us initially presumed.
01:02This is actually SPARTAN 458, and no, she does not come from any other piece of Halo
01:09media prior to this.
01:11During Dead or Alive 4's development, Tecmo had contacted Bungie, the studio that created
01:16Halo, for permission to include Master Chief as a playable character.
01:20Though certain narrative elements would complicate things, Bungie was on board with the idea, and
01:25the two teams collaborated to create an original character, a Filipino woman named Nicole, aka
01:32SPARTAN 458.
01:40Unfortunately, Bungie has since deemed Dead or Alive 4 as non-canonical, and the character
01:45has not been used or even referenced in any way by Halo, nor Dead or Alive.
01:50As for Koei Tecmo's flagship fighter, Dead or Alive has since gone multi-platform, so we're
01:56likely never going to see a guest character like this ever again.
02:08Earthworm Jim Battle Arena Toshinden
02:20Initially, there wasn't anything super remarkable about Battle Arena Toshinden aside from the
02:26hilariously atrocious voice acting.
02:29That all changed in 1996 when Playmates Interactive published the game for PC, and allowed their
02:35own Earthworm Jim to appear as a guest character.
02:45Sadly, he ended up just being a reskin of Rungo Iron, which means Jim didn't have his handy
02:51blaster with him for this outing.
02:53But hey, they did use his voice, and even gave him his own theme song for when he's fighting.
03:07Bad Box Art Mega Man – Street Fighter X Tekken
03:16During development, producer Yoshinori Ono approached Mega Man co-creator Keiji Inafune about putting
03:23Mega Man into Street Fighter X Tekken.
03:26However, Inafune was against the idea, as Mega Man had been featured in several fighting
03:31games before, and asked Ono to come up with something original.
03:35What we got was, as you can see, not the blue bomber we know and love, instead we have this
03:50odd, middle-aged old fart who seems to be wearing some really bad cosplay.
03:56Well this is actually Mega Man, as he appeared on the box art of the original game's North
04:01American release.
04:02According to Ono, it turns out that Inafune loved the idea, if only he wasn't such a horrible
04:09fighter in this game.
04:10Truly, he's bottom tier.
04:29Yes, this Pepsi mascot, whose main purpose is to deliver
04:36refreshing beverages, is now delivering refreshing haymakers.
04:40But believe us when we say that there was a reason behind his inclusion.
04:44In the mid-90s, PepsiCo was aiming to compete with Coca-Cola in Japan, their strategy being
04:49to create a superhero mascot.
04:51Along with a litany of commercials featuring other Pepsi men and Pepsi women, the company
04:55entered a licensing agreement with Sega.
05:06Not only would Sega develop an entire Pepsi Man video game, but they would throw him
05:11into Fighting Vipers, along with a handful of Pepsi product placement throughout the game.
05:16So, if you ever wound up feeling thirsty after an intense ladder, you can blame it on Pepsi
05:23Man!
05:28Win!
05:30Pepsi Man!
05:32Norimaro, Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter.
05:43Just about any MVC fan knows about Norimaro.
05:46He has become the meme of the community alongside Roll.
05:50But the strange thing about this clown is that he was only available in the Japanese version
05:54of Marvel vs Street Fighter, and the reason for this involved some behind the scenes turmoil.
06:00See, some of the staff at Capcom were big fans of Japanese comedian Noritake Kanashi, and
06:06wanted to create a fighter based on one of his characters.
06:09Kanashi would assist in Norimaro's development with ideas and live action recordings to help
06:13with animation.
06:14However, Marvel was vehemently against the idea through and through, as the comic book
06:20giant did not like the idea of a gag character possibly beating Spider-Man and Wolverine in
06:26a fight.
06:36Capcom and Marvel went back and forth on Norimaro for quite some time, until both companies agreed
06:41to just region lock the character.
06:44However, he did become available worldwide when Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection launched
06:49in 2024.
06:59Fighter's Megamix
07:10Yes, you can play as a stock car in a fighting game.
07:14Not just any stock car, it's the Hornet from Daytona USA.
07:19The Hornet is now ready to throw tires, and why was this even a thing in the first place?
07:24Well, to be honest, there actually isn't really a good reason.
07:28See, Fighter's Megamix was this random hodgepodge of various Sega characters and assets fighting
07:34each other.
07:43At first, you start off with Virtua Fighter and fighting Viper's characters, but over
07:47time, you unlock bizarre fighters like Bean the Dynamite, and a Mexican Bean named Deku,
07:54and Panda-Chan, and of course, as you see here, The Hornet from Daytona USA.
08:01And oddly enough, The Hornet is an S-tier character.
08:05Somehow.
08:06I don't get it either.
08:16Negan Tekken 7
08:18Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
08:22When Negan was revealed at EVO 2018, the FGC was pleasantly confused.
08:28In what world does Tekken have any reason to cross over with The Walking Dead?
08:34And does Harada's appearance in the trailer indicate The Dead was going to be playable, too?
08:38Well, no.
08:39But according to producer Katsuhiro Harada and game designer Michael Murray in an interview,
08:44both of them were huge fans of AMC's The Walking Dead show.
08:55And so, while the two were at a convention, they got in touch with some of the folks from
09:00AMC, made their pitch, pointing to their work on Akuma from Street Fighter, and AMC was
09:05immediately on board, and the rest was history.
09:08And not only does Negan feel good to play, he sounds good, thanks to that sultry voice
09:14of Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
09:25Blarney the Dinosaur
09:27Alien Bloodsport
09:36Xenophage Alien Bloodsport features a wealth of menacing aliens with vicious moves and finishers.
09:42But hidden within its files is the famous purple singing dinosaur, Barney, uh, excuse me, Larny the Dinosaur.
09:50And what in the ever-loving hell is this gentle giant doing in an ultra-violent fighting game like Xenophage?
10:05Well, in the 90s, Barney went through an extensive period of hatred where terminally online adults would express
10:13bizarre hatred for a character that was made for toddlers, appropriately dubbed as Barney Hate.
10:19Blarney could have been put into Xenophage as a means to capitalize on this phenomena, and possibly get more eyes
10:26on the game.
10:27Alas, Xenophage never fully caught on and remains a rather obscure and niche corner of the fighting game community.
10:38Cristiano Ronaldo
10:40Fatal Fury City of the Wolves
10:49The return of Fatal Fury was something to celebrate, and indeed, folks did, up until the last couple of months
10:57when one real-world figure was revealed as a playable fighter.
11:00Soccer athlete Cristiano Ronaldo.
11:03Why exactly was this controversial celebrity being put into a game of street brawlers, kunoichi, and supernatural fighters?
11:11Well, here's the thing.
11:13Developer and publisher SNK is owned by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund through its subsidiary, the Electronic Games Development
11:21Company.
11:22Great name, by the way.
11:23Way ahead of you.
11:26Yep!
11:30And as of this video, Cristiano Ronaldo still plays for the Saudi Arabian football club Al Nasser FC, which is
11:37also owned by the Public Investment Fund.
11:40Many fans saw this as a major overstep on the Saudi royal family's part, and Ronaldo's legal troubles, which range
11:47from accusations of tax evasion to sexual assault, did not help.
11:52Needless to say, this painted a dark picture for both Fatal Fury and SNK's future, and it was even more
11:59telling when SNK's CEO stepped down less than a month after City of the Wolves launched.
12:06Hey! I want more!
12:08And finally, Michael Jackson.
12:11Ready to Rumble Boxing, Round 2.
12:14Michael Jackson!
12:21You can't win. The title's mine.
12:24During its brief time in the spotlight, Ready to Rumble Boxing, Round 2 was known for its roster composed of
12:30exaggerated characters and celebrities.
12:33But MJ was reportedly already a huge fan of the first game, which was the catalyst for this entire collaboration.
12:41The King of Pop assisted in Round 2's development by providing motion capture for his character, complete with his trademark
12:48dance moves.
12:55It's an extremely hilarious and strangely cool guest character to have in any type of game.
13:01Honestly, of all the guest characters to appear in fighting games, this iteration of Michael Jackson might be the coolest.
13:09Miracle Johnson from Yakuza 0 is a close second.
13:11You ain't seen nothing yet!
13:15Hey, I gotta do this game for a real match!
13:17Tell us, have you played any of these characters for yourself?
13:20Let us know down in the comments and be sure to subscribe to Mojo Plays for more great videos every
13:26day!
Comments