Top 10 Guest Characters in Fighting Video Games

The in-game story behind the Assassin's Creed lead’s inclusion into the Soul series is a strange one indeed. After stealing an artifact from a group of templars, Ezio Auditore da Firenze was flung 100 years into the future according to the Animus. Despite literally using weapons and tactics from a century prior, the Italian assassin more than held his own. Quick, elusive and armed with several bladed weapons, a crossbow, smoke bombs and a hidden gun, Ezio proves he has no limit to his skill, everything is permitted.

Despite already having a stacked roster, Cole’s inclusion in Street Fighter X Tekken. shocked everyone. Once revealed, the hero/villain?, the electrokinetic protagonist of the first two inFamous games wasted no time dishing out beatdowns. Cole only becomes more dangerous with his electricity harnessing sword, the Amp, and power boost of red karma caused by the mysterious Pandora. As one of three exclusive characters for the crossover game’s PlayStation 3 and Vita ports, Cole certainly delivered.

It’s like reuniting with an old friend and now it’s time to catch up. The Battletoads seemed to be gone forever, but then it was like Microsoft finally realized how memorable Rare’s old IP’s are, and decided to give us this nostalgic blast. Faster than his buds, Zitz and Pimple in their beat’em up adventures, the shade wearing amphibian is actually quite the bruiser here. Transforming his body into big boots, ram horns, and a wrecking ball, Rash can be one tough toad to take on. He also can summon his classic speeder bike for an assist, or to get a lift after the match.

Ok so 63 & 1/3 may not have been as good as some of the other games on this list, but as one of the earliest examples of a guest appearance, It’s hard to deny that honor. Vacationing on Klaymodo, Jim found out fellow guest character, Boogerman was there as well. Not wanting, the pick and flick adventurer to show him up, Jim fights the island residents like Bad Mr. Frosty and the Blob. With his trusty plasma blaster and the ability to use his head as a whip, Jim will make these clay combatants eat dirt or eat cow, whichever comes first.

One of the biggest stars on the NES, the Blue Bomber’s inclusion in Smash Bros. is well deserved. While Mega retains his default attacks like the Mega Buster and slide kick, it’s the use of weapons from several Robot Masters that makes up most of his offense. His special attacks can be altered to become even more weapon choices with special properties of their own. Finally, his Final Smash is not only cool and effective, but one of the best shout outs to the entire Mega Man franchise.

The pairing of the supernatural serial killer with the fatality fighter was a dream come true for gamers but a nightmare for his victims. Challenging Shao Kahn for muscling in on his soul stealing racket, Kahn pulled Freddy into the Earthrealm, making him mortal. Freddy’s out for blood and with his razor tipped gloves, much of it will spill on his quest to kill Kahn and return to the dream realm. With the Elm Street eliminator’s inclusion, the door was open for other iconic movie killers Jason Voorhees and the Predator to appear in Mortal Kombat X.

Namco’s legendary mascot is no stranger to cameos, but his first fighting game outing in the hands of Capcom was perhaps his creepiest appearance ever. Pacster controls a wooden mech that looks like Tekken’s Mokujin and has enough power to crush it’s opponents. With his creepy smile and ravenous appetite in addition to the massive mech, the ball-shaped hero comes off legitimately terrifying. This would not be Pac’s last guest appearance in a fighter. In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and WiiU, he’s a lot more friendly but no less of a challenge in battle.

For this game, Namco released an exclusive character for each existing home console. PS2 users received Tekken’s Heihachi Mishima, while XBox owners were graced with Todd McFarlane’s anti-hero Spawn and GameCube players got Link. While we love all three exclusives, there’s no denying the Nintendo fans got the best deal here. Link fits the Soul series really well as his looks and fighting ability blend with the games’ overall narrative. Link is armed to the teeth, with his sword, shield, bow, boomerang, and bombs. Plus Link took a portal to another world just to destroy the Soul Edge and save Hyrule. That’s epic.

Continuing the trends of displaced characters and Shao Kahn being hopelessly evil, the God of War wants to kill the conqueror after Kahn abducted him from ancient Greece and attempted to enslave him. Using his Blades of Exile as his go to weapons, every one of Kratos’ specials contains other familiar weaponry he obtained over his long path of vengeance against the Greek Gods. Violent, Gory and bloodthirsty, Kratos found the right place for “anger management”.

Before we reveal our guest of honor, here are a few honorable mentions.

Pepsiman
“Fighting Vipers” (1996)

Scorpion
“Injustice: Gods Among Us” (2013)

Akuma
“X-Men: Children of the Atom” (1994)

Cloud Strife
“Ehrgeiz: God Bless The Ring” (1996)

Darth Vader
“Soulcalibur IV” (2008) (PS3 Version)

In Brawl, the Mario vs. Sonic dream match that fans had been wanting for years, finally became a reality. While the portly plumber and the fastest thing alive at the Olympic games was fun, we all finally saw the two gaming icons in combat. Sonic, along with Solid Snake from the Metal Gear series, were also the first third-party characters to be in Smash Bros. Sonic is easy to learn but tricky to control due to his trademark speed, though his final smash is all so devastating. Unlike Snake though, Sonic would return in Smash Bros for Wii U and & 3DS making him the only character on this list to go from guest appearance to series standard.


Do you agree with our list? What’s your favorite guest fighter? For more inviting top tens published daily, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.