I was working on something like this recently, too. Recognizing Street Fighter 6 and Mortal Kombat “12” coming out the same time inspired me to start a paper about how and when this crossover might have been the most possible. I had just spotted a VERY unique window that suited both franchises very well.
Taking a break from that and looking back on it, it’s clear I was overly influenced by my alternative history story about 90’s hardware. I incorporated the karaoke and 32XCD attachments for the Sega Heartbeat with various custom controllers. Yeah… no way that could have gone through. But the initial linchpin is still significant. That one development at a single point in time that created the opening I was writing about. 1994’s Muscle Bomber 2: The Body Explosion (Slam Masters II in America). I like the well-thought out system you’ve developed. It’s more on point than my own. But because of the clash between the two moving in different directions for 30 years, I will prioritize the simplest method. This makes it easier for both parties to agree on what they prioritize the most. And it should be a little more on the terms of any country where either franchise is illegal. It’s probably the only practical step moving forward to have SNK and other Japanese 3rd party publishers license their characters first. I’m thinking Scorpion or his forebears in the Shirai Ryu should be first. (My own lists and revised rosters will be coming later. I have to design around when this was the most possible and what would fly the best now, and post my prior two-part plan I was so excited about AND THEN get to the most practical roundabout method. …gonna need to take a little more time on that one.)
This “groove system” you came up with does make my proposed strategy a bit obsolete, but I’d still like to share. Capcom’s own Saturday Night Slam Masters uses control inputs with much overlap with MK Klassic titles, so I’d want to follow it’s design as the template. HP/LP, HK/LK, with grab and taunt buttons in lieu of a block button. The prior Slam Masters was 75% wrestling and 25% fighter. This sequel took it to 25% wrestling and 75% fighter. The (undead) character Wraith stands out because of all the blood across his attack animations. Especially his finisher. You say do not use fatalities. So look at these finishers. The burning mode function they have is interesting, but not necessary (would go well with the Heartbeat, though). And the rope functions enable them to interact with their stages and environments. Gomez even gains an attack boost from his. The roster’s designed by the author of Fist of the North Star, so there’s your guest fighter if you’d have one (And that series was also a gory good time).
And they feature Mike Haggar, who’s seen a lot more deaths than Zangief, and Gomez is Blanka’s prior draft. Even comes with a talking monkey who features in his attacks. He is also meaner and aggressive enough to play into Outworld and such a fit better than Jimmy Blanca. Jimmy’s too sweet and a natural crybaby, good with kids. Bad with Takatan culture, I’d bet.
Speaking of Jimmy Blanca, I know you hate Street Fighter The Movie The Game, but was once on track to be Street FIghter III. There were a lot of characters, some of them from Slam Masters, that the developers wanted to throw into the arcade version but could not for various reasons. Chiefly because it was going from a sequel of a game to an adaptation of an(other) adaptation of said game. If you could throw in characters meant to be included in that, you’d have something for your groove system.
Did I lose you at bringing up Street Fighter The Movie? I know you really hate that game, and I apologize if that goes too far. But back to Blanka, here’s an opportunity to have Shadow from Marvel VS and Blanka on the same slot. Referring back to your groove system, Shadow was sprite exclusive, so he’s on the SF side. “Carlos” Blanka was pixelated Sprite-exclusive, so he’s on the Mortal Kombat side. I’m not going to pull a MVC: Infinite and say it’s all functions. But most of Mortal Kombat is strict in upholding themes and aesthetics incompatible with much of Street Fighter. Just look at returning classic Birdie and newcomer Fang in SFV. These franchises are moving in opposing directions. A “Netherrealm vs Capcom” crossover might fit better in the face of that. An example for this might be Gunloc. He was considered during the SFIII phase of planning, then relegated to an ending reveal. …the same ending for all four palette swaps of Blade.
It was a missed opportunity giving them the same ending, instead of a four-part tragedy of becoming a mechanized parallel to Carlos Blanka. Perfect for the MK side, so the hand-drawn Pro-Wrestling side was good for the SF side. And for Darkstalkers and SFIII fans, he’s part of a tag-team. In Darkstalkers, Morrigan, Felicia, and Talbain each summoned a 2nd fighter like themselves to double up for specific moves. In SFIII the Kung Fu Twins were representatives of one style. There was also supposed to be Dmitri Maximoff from Darkstalkers. Just imagine the Midnight Bliss using actors (cue “Girls on Film” montage). But in lieu of using digitized Sprites, this could be one more alternative to Fatalities. Darkstalkers has had a few combos that would fit that bill. But that does bring up the 3rd party franchise fighters who would fit. Which goes into DLC and Japanese-exclusive content. Also known as my favorite subject of tangents and rabbit holes.
(And for Blanka, the fix for that is obvious, but probably unpopular.
The Movie has gone from point of… 😠 😡 👿 to cult classic. And in their SFV character sheets, Capcom has (perhaps hesitantly) acknowledged the film’s existence. Make this a Revenant Charlie, he’s come back from the dead recently enough. The Street Fighter side could be Shadow from VS. The Mortal Kombat Side could be Carlos Blanka, given his mind back and pissed at being left to die.)
Of course the ideal Japanese title for Mortal Kombat to cross over with is Samurai Showdown. It’s moved to 3-D, uses high/low strikes, uses Fatalities, and is set around the same time as Liu Kang’s Aftermath ending. Not too far away geographically from the Great Kung Lao. And since Samurai Showdown has fighters from far and wide, there’s no reason they couldn’t act like they were in the same universe all along. We know next to nothing about the Japan of Kung Lao’s time. Perfect time to learn.
MK12 could use more comics characters, and this could be a good way to explore them. Maybe even some Malibu comics characters. Definitely some Conquest characters. Without prior gameplay coding, both groups would lean well into either system. And that’s not counting those introduced in animated series. Street Fighter had 2 to work with.
Your groove system would be interesting with Cassie Cage. In one route, she could be Cassie, Sonia Blade plus Johnny Cage. But in the other she could be Kira from the 3-D era, Sonia Blade plus Kano. The crosspoint between her and either her greatest love, or her greatest enemy. Frees up one more spot on the roster. Because I’m looking at Capcom’s heavy use of semi-clones in the 90’s. Sakura. Karin. Rainbow Mika. Roy Bromwell. Juli. Juni. 10 other dolls. So I would like to explore that on the Mortal Kombat side. Frost and Sub Zero, Hanzo Hisashi, Kenji and Takeda. And again, Sonya Blade and the Cassie Kira hybrids. That should pique Capcom’s interest. But that’s 6 (or more) slots on the roster right there.
Speaking of Street Fighter the (GI Joe version) and Mortal Kombat Conquest, both of these have interesting characters introduced in exterior media. Then there are others that never made the cut. Someone I’ve wanted to see a lot of for a long time. It’s Queen Mai of the Shokan. She’s Goro and Durok’s mother, and both were Princes of the Shokan. Shokan are infamous for being anti-range fighters, with that horrible homing stomp. Since we’ve never seen her, she could be a tiger and a dragon just like Kintaro, who’s original draft couldn’t be pulled off with a costume. If you look at the 1st street fighter, Sagat is named after a tiger, and all of his moves are named after a tiger. Ryu’s name and some of his moves also translate to dragon. The Shenlong design (that also couldn’t work as costume) featured a body partially transformed INTO a dragon. The tiger and the dragon rivalry is a very popular motif in Japanese storytelling. Aggressive, no-nonsense focus for the day (and various dramas) is symbolized by the tiger. And the opposite, the whimsy, carefree creativity, and idealism of the dragon. Kintaro combines both in one. I don’t know anyone else who does. How would the Market of the Rising Sun react to that?
Meanwhile, once we have a working model of her, we can start speculating how Mai, Queen of Shokan would fare against Mai, Queen of Fighters. And I’m not going to lie, that’s a very big part of why I’m interested in her specifically. If we need to feature MK fighters as guest fighters in various Japanese properties first, then guest pack DLC for SNK, or Bandai, or even Capcom might be step one. I want to make a list of King of Fighters style groups of three to be offered up for different series. 3 Shao Lin, 3 Special Forces, 3 Lin Juei Cryomancers, Taketa and his 2 dads, etc. But composing these of the least-detailed MK could grant creativity to a 2nd party. So that’s one Kanceled Kombatant, one non-Kanon Kombatant, and one brand new fighter from any of the factions.
If these same titles also had a DLC Pack from Capcom, then we’d have a chance for an indirect crossover. Proto-Kintaro, the Dragon-Lady of the Black Dragon, and Queen Mai against the Gal Fighters Team Vs Master Shenlong, Celia, and Simone*? Sounds like a good time to me.
I don’t think Street Fighter 2010 or Mighty Final Fight neatly fit like Ring of Destruction and Captain Commando do as verified parts of the Street Fighter Shared Universe. Not only are they iffy or nonexistent on the timeline, but they are NES exclusive. Final Fight’s sequels are also console exclusives for that company. Captain Commando’s arcade first, but it’s set in Metro City 2026. So it counts in that universe, but anyone appearing here would have to be 30(ish) years younger. We’re coming up on that year, and Street Fighter 6 is set in Metro City. But we’re looking at a very different Metro City than the one that they thought of. Other guest fighters couldn’t be included because their games are plugs for movies and comics. The Kunoichi from Capcom’s The Punisher, or Linn Kurosawa from Alien vs. Predator. We have The Terminator in MK11, but Capcom’s take on an Arnold character is a cyborg also. In the far future. (In 1993)
So there it is, as I start to ramble on. I kept coming up with new methods and avenues as I was writing this. So thank you. I had a lot of fun. Do you have any thoughts on building a SNK Gals Fight 2 roster?
*You asked for someone deadlier from Cammy’s team. In Cannon Spike Linn Kurosawa is given a palette swap and new name, Simone. And in SFV, a place on Cammy’s team. Celia from the animated series (and Cammy’s MI5 buddies) was quick to pledge “never forgive” when Bison unlocked Cammy’s dormant processing, and in UDON comics her counterpart is a maniac with a big knife.
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