Shared universes are the new sequels. Instead of always having to start a franchise from scratch in order to set-up furthers sequels with diminishing returns, the modern trend in entertainment is to sell us pieces of a collective dream using recurring characters in different stories and contexts. It’s all the familiarity of sequels with none of the fatigue.
It’s nothing new, though. Video games regularly feature shared universes, such as fighters or brawlers featuring a bunch of characters with nothing in common except they are trademarks owned by the same company.
Maybe it’s a novel idea for audiences as a way to geek over obsessions for a protracted period of time. Maybe audiences can’t get enough of an actor in a starring role, and need to see them in another movie in a supporting role. It’s neat that the closed nature of movies is opening itself up to greater possibilities, but it still boils down to the reason why people watch big budget movies: for movie stars, and not as a way to substantially make storytelling better.
No, to shake thing up you need a shared universe between two unlikely participants whose meeting has earth-shattering implications. This is the crossover.
Long a staple of comic books, crossovers are when two genre franchises unexpectedly share the same universe in a single product, usually for the altruistic reason of deciding whom can beat up whom. The trend of crossovers in video games has been a Johnny-come-lately by comparison, but there are so many successful games that use this formula that it’s a wonder why there isn’t any more of them.
Such an example is X-Men vs Street Fighter (1998), the game that helped paved the way for the Marvel vs Capcom series.
While Marvel Super Heroes is more concerned with making cool poses, X-Men vs Street Fighter plays more like its latter namesake despite being a little rough around the edges. As it is, the really great thing about X-Men vs Street Fighter is that even without tight gameplay to really make it work, it’s a winning combination that is more than the sum of its parts.
Wow. The premise is so good in your head upon hearing it that watching it unfold before your eyes is like convincing yourself you have manifested your geek dreams come true.
The X-Men has a storied legacy of hard-fought battles, and to put them to a practical test with the video game medium’s most iconic fighters is no better context. In on package, the epic nature of comic books meets the instantaneous gratification of video games, and it could not have been better.
And the hits don’t stop there. Disney and Square-Enix made Kingdom Hearts, and added the grandeur and depth of adventure of the latter with the nostalgia and familiarity of the former. Soul Caliber IV gave us the chance to play as big daddy Big Bad Darth Vader, although most decided to go with a jumping Yoda.
Unfortunately, not as successful was DC’s gritty take on its characters in a team-up with a bunch of buzz-kill ninjas in Mortal Kombat vs DC. At the same time, the game disappointed fans by restricting its comic book heroes to perform a “Heroic Brutality’ at most..
It remains that crossovers are what audiences want. In this version of a shared universe, fun just happens from the ridiculousness of having two franchises intersect when they would otherwise suffer a loss of credibility.
This kind of thing may be out of the range of mega-franchises, but we can still dream: A cart racer featuring the gang from Top Gear facing off against the Toadstool Kingdom. A Parappa the Rapper remake featuring mini-bosses (!) Eminen and Dr Dre. A playthrough of the Sims encounters neighbors from Perfect Strangers, and the cast of Friends at the coffee shop. The new World of Warcraft expansion features NPC questgivers like Neil deGrasse Tyson and Bill Nye the Science Guy who send you out to disprove evolution and Hollywood special effects.
Video game industry: please subvert our tastes. Please give us stuff we never thought we wanted. Challenge us, and win our approval through our money-bucks.
It’s all not as crazy as it can get, because it’s clearly not as crazy as we deserve. While an inter-connected universe is great for comic book movies, video games need more cross-overs to shake up a tired status quo.
How far I got in 15 minutes: I just got my X-Ass kicked
The good: Cyclops is a good fighter, not like how he is in X-Men: Legends
The bad: What, no Professor X?
Would I play this again once this year is up: Actually, I’m looking forward to Children of the Atom
Days so far in Year of the Play-a-DayStation: 19
Play-a-Daystation 