The 15 most bizarre crossovers in gaming

Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe

With Marvel vs. Capcom already proven to be wildly popular, DC Comics and Midway Games were starting to feel left out in the cold. In an attempt to recreate that kind of success, they joined forces for a not-quite-canon crossover, introducing the Justice League to the Netherealm and Raidens entourage to Metropolis. In an undeniably cool twist, Darkseid and Shao Kahn merged to create one super-bad supervillain, aptly named Dark Kahn.

But there was one problem: how do you make a franchise thats most famous for spine-ripping and aorta-slicing fatalities fit in the teen-friendly DC setting? The solution didnt satisfy bloodthirsty, long-time MK fans: instead of Superman ripping his defeated opponent in two, he simply punched them really, really hard in a heroic brutality. We get that Supes and Batman have sworn not to kill, but cmon dudes like Scorpion are already dead!

Segagaga

Segagaga is a game that sounds almost too strange to be real, both in name and concept, and is oddly prophetic about Segas dark post-Dreamcast days. The story takes place in the Sega Tower, where youre a young kid tasked with uniting the unruly Sega staff so they can win back more marketshare. Youll encounter scads of references to Sega games with every step as you explore Segas dungeon-like offices wrangling up developers and random employees. You dont beat the staff to death during battles; instead, you insult or provoke them into getting back to work.

Its no wonder that the game was never published outside Japanese shores the bizarre concept, Japanese games industry in-jokes, and obscure references could only be mentally processed by the most diehard Sega fans. The games director, Tez Okano, pieced together the game with a shoestring budget; weve got to applaud him for making such a heartfelt, albeit weird, sendoff games from the Dreamcast.

Tatsunoko vs Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars

Fan demand can be a beautiful thing. Without it, we mightve never had this already-improbable crossover to our stores, and American Wii owners would be left without one of its best fighting games. This game is what you get from mashing together fairly-recognizable Capcom icons like Ryu and Frank West, sprinkle in some lesser-known characters like Alex and Viewtiful Joe, then dump a gigantic vat of unknown substances in the form of the heroes and villains of properties put out by Tatsunoko Production. Chief among these was the Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (which, coincidentally, is also the name of our band), which included the eagle- and duck-helmeted folks you see above.

Despite not knowing who in the blue blazes half of these characters are, TvC was quite the enjoyable fighter, paving the way for work on Marvel vs. Capcom 3. The mere fact that you can pit a lighter-shaped mech named Golden Warrior Gold Lightan versus one of Lost Planets PTX-40As giant mobile suits justifies the existence of this game.

Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman!

Warios proven that hes more than capable at handling his own games see Wario Land or WarioWare for examples but here, hes inexplicably stolen the spotlight in this Game Boy title thats 100% in Bomberman territory. Theres a reason for that this is actually a port of Japans Bomberman GB, which Nintendo artificially jammed Warios likeness into for the American and European releases. The gameplay is identical to Bombermans past; the only difference is the presence of Marios portly, villainous doppelganger.

We can only imagine the reasoning behind Hudson Soft letting Wario take the wheel of Bombermans own game. Perhaps Wario threatened to send them a mailbomb, or maybe he was holding the companys vault full of gold bricks hostage. Alternatively, Nintendo was trying to decide if Wario was the ideal front man for puzzle-like games, as Warios Woods was released that same year.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

The Nintendo 64 Super Smash Bros. was a celebration of all things Nintendo, bringing together characters from every major Nintendo franchise into one brawl-filled fighter. Over the years, though, the series moved from honoring Nintendo mascots to popular game characters in general, climaxing in the Nintendo Wiis Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Brawl mixed and matched characters that we never, ever expected to see sharing a screen to create a shockingly strange amalgamation of gaming royalty.

And for as strange as it was to see characters like Solid Snake, Sonic the Hedgehog, and ROB the Robot in a Nintendo game, the real weirdness was when they showed up during the story mode. The Subspace Emissary linked each characters story together, finding ways to explain why theyd all be sharing a stage. It was absurd, and though it made no attempts to actually make sense, the fact that it was even presented in a somewhat serious way made it truly bizarre.

Pokmon Conquest

Pokemon is one of the most famous franchises on Earth, so you wouldnt think it would team up with a barely remembered strategy RPG series set in 1500s Japan thats only relatively popular in its native country. We were intrigued when Nintendo and Tecmo Koei were creating Pokemon's first ever strategy adventure, but instead of combining with the pocket monsters with the more popular Dynasty Warriors franchise, Pokemon met up with the ancient Nobunaga's Ambition.

Dating back all the way to the NES, Nobunaga's game is a complex tactics that most game publishers would think is a hard sell even without the setting. Despite all those obstacles (not the least of which its on the nearly dead DS), it came to America, which is good because we really enjoyed it, as you can tell in our Pokemon Conquest review.

With your powers combined

For more wishful thinking on the subject of gaming, check out the top 7 games that deserve their own theme park attractions, or the franchises we hope to see in Sonys upcoming crossover extravaganza, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale .