Amazing game crossovers imagined as striking fan art

When worlds collide

Fan art is one of the most fantastic ways you can express your love for pop culture. Whether you're a fledgling artist or a master with a virtual paintbrush, it's great to be able to portray existing characters as you envision them and share your perspective with the world. And while fan art of individual games is great in its own right, crossover fan art takes the awesomeness to new, brain's-pleasure-center-stimulating heights. When done right, it sparks the imagination like an oversized lighter, evoking visions of an entire game world with nothing more than a single, gloriously illustrated image.

What follows is a gallery of some of the finest crossover fan art on the Internet, combining two game properties with incredible results. Remember: if you're on a computer, you can scroll through images with your arrow keys, and maximize any image to full resolution with the icon in the upper right. If you want to see even more amazing fan art crossovers, be sure to visit the artists' pages via the links below each pic. Now with that, get ready to look upon these images and weep--mostly because of how beautiful they are, but partially because these game ideas will probably never exist in reality.

Artist credit: ta2nb

Catherine Shepard

Should Garrus romance the seductive, renegade Commander Shepard, or pledge his heart to the adorable, faithful Tali? "Saren has appeared. It's the killer! Do not die."

Artist credit: Nobunaga-chan

Ace Assassin

Why go around stabbing people in the throat when you can just solve your conflicts with words, logic, and deductive reasoning? I also love the dejected Desmond in place of the original art's nondescript convict.

Artist credit: doubleleaf

Welcome to the club, kid

I absolutely love the idea of other strong women in gaming showing Ellie the ropes in their respective worlds. I'm sure she'd be a quick learner.

Artist credit: Amber (jrpghero)

Portal Jack

Before she fought back against the Reapers, Subject Zero had to make her way through a series of Aperture Science test chambers. At least she got to wear an actual shirt while doing so.

Artist credit: Jessie Lam (axl99)

Bayonetta VS Dante

This is the quintessential video game couple that isn't in a relationship (but should be). With their theatrical flair, penchant for long combos of destruction, and impossibly acrobatic moves, Bayonetta and Dante are indubitably soulmates.

Artist credit: Reinaldo Quintero (ReiQuintero)

The Shepard Siblings

GENIUS. Two sides of the same coin: an apt description for both the Luteces and Shepards. The chalk-lines tallying up Mass Effect 3's endings (and the little messages that accompany them) are an excellent touch.

Artist credit: Charles Wilcher (bigcman321)

1st Annual Shake-a-thon!

I love this one because it's such a deep cut. Appreciating it fully requires familiarity with Wario's money-bag-shaking ways in Wario World and the method Marina Liteyear uses to obtain gems from the bodies of enemies in the obscure N64 game Mischief Makers. Intense!

Artist credit: rtil

Companion Cube Head

All the inanimate lovableness of the Companion Cube, mixed with the pure terror of Silent Hill's hulking Pyramid Head. Clearly, Chell has some issues to work out.

Artist credit: Robert Chew (CrazyAsian1)

Dragon Effect

The majesty of this group photo cannot be overstated, and it MUST be maximized. The details are amazing, and the medieval-ification of each and every character is superb. The artist got literally everything right. If BioWare didn't offer him a job immediately upon seeing this image, there is no justice in the world.

Artist credit: Andrew Ryan (AndrewRyanArt)