Capcom finally bit the bullet and added guest characters to their own Street Fighter series. While they have been okay with Ryu and Akuma in other fighting games like Super Smash Bros. and Tekken, they’ve been notoriously protective of adding characters from other fighting games to Street Fighter’s official canon games. Sure, they’ve had crossovers games like the Marvel Vs. Capcom and Capcom Vs. SNK games. But it was still a major shock for them to announce that Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui from the Fatal Fury series to show up as part of the official roster for Street Fighter 6’s Year 2 DLC characters. This is readily apparent with prominent gamers losing their minds when they realized it was Terry freaking Bogard walking into Buckler’s.

As good as this reveal was, this wasn’t the strangest guest character to appear in an official mainline fighting game. So, let’s take a look back at the weirdest guest characters to appear in fighting games. Of course, I will not be including official crossover games like the aforementioned Capcom Vs. SNK games as they are supposed to be this big collaboration between different companies. I will also not be including games like the King of Fighters series as they’re not exactly major crossovers as they’re going to be characters from within their respective license holders.

#1 Gon (Tekken 3)

Let’s start off this list with the character who inspired this list. Gon appeared as a secret character in the PlayStation version of Tekken 3. Gon is a tiny dinosaur who can breathe fire and cause damage with his noxious farts. He’s extremely strong for his size as he’s able to lift his opponents who are around three times his size. His size also gives him a slight edge against most opponents as, because he’s so small, he cannot be thrown!

What’s even crazier about Gon is he’s a character from his self-titled manga series! While he was popular enough to receive his own platformer on the Super Nintendo, he was still pretty obscure, especially to Western audiences. In fact, I bet a lot of people thought Gon was just some crazy fever dream the folks over at Namco dreamt up!

#2 Snake (Super Smash Bros)

The Super Smash Bros. games have been known for their guest characters as it seems like every company is looking to pimp out their characters to appear in this fun Nintendo brawler. I felt like I could have picked from any of them, from Sonic the Hedgehog to Bayonetta to Cloud Strife, and it would’ve made sense. However, none of them ever felt as weird as seeing the legendary solider from the Metal Gear franchise, Solid Snake, being selectable in this game.

What makes Snake feel out of place within the Super Smash Bros. universe is the games he’s appeared in have always had this air of seriousness to them. While there are some goofy moments mixed in, the Metal Gear games has tried to still keep things very grounded. So, watching Solid Snake grab a puffball like Kirby in a chokehold just doesn’t seem real, does it?

#3 2B (SoulCalibur and Granblue Fantasy)

When Nier: Automata was released, it was hard to predict how much of an impact it would have to the gaming world. After all, it was a spiritual sequel to some cult classic game, which, in turn, was a spin off to another cult classic. Yet, Nier: Automata became one of the biggest games of 2017. Its main character, 2B, also became a huge fan favorite, making her prime fodder to be added in other games.

And she was! Not only did she appear in SoulCalibur VI but she was also later added to GranBlue Fantasy Versus!

While, on paper, it does seem very logical to add 2B in both games. Both SoulCalibur and GranBlue Fantasy are weapons based fighters and 2B is a character who just love using sharp, pointy objects to stab and slash at her foes. However, she also is out of place in these games as they’re both set during a more medieval period of time.

Sure, you can say they’re set during this fantastical time period but they’re definitely not set in the far flung future where robots have taken over the world and have destroyed all of humanity like in Nier: Automata, right? Both SoulCalibur and GranBlue Fantasy don’t have buxom androids who are accompanied with tiny floating bots who can self-destruct, do they?

I didn’t think so.

#4 Akira Yuki, Pai Chan, Jacky Bryant and Sarah Bryant (Dead or Alive 5)

The last official Virtua Fighter game, Virtua Fighter 5, was released way back in 2007. That’s more than a decade and a half. So, by the time Dead or Alive 5 was released in 2012, it was thought that SEGA has given up on the fighting game series. Well, that may have been the case but it seemed like the folks over at Tecmo hadn’t as they brought in Akira Yuki, Pai Chan, Jacky Bryant and Sarah Bryant to face off against their very own Dead or Alive characters!

While the Dead or Alive franchise would get other guest characters like Mai Shiranui and Kula Diamond from the King of Fighters series, seeing the Virtua Fighters was weird as, while they fit right in when it came to the combat, no one really expected to see these fighters anymore as, like I mentioned earlier, it seemed as if SEGA themselves didn’t believe in them anymore. I can’t help but think this is the reason why they did remake Virtua Fighter 5 in 2021 with Ultimate Showdown.

#5 Akuma (Tekken)

This was a big one. While this isn’t the first time Akuma had gone toe-to-toe against the Tekken cast as he was one of the playable characters in Street Fighter X Tekken, that wasn’t a mainline title. No, this was big news as, not only was no one expecting to be made playable at launch, Akuma was going to be a canon character! He wasn’t a dream character or just another person you can pick who didn’t matter in the story. Akuma was going to be a central pillar of the game’s official story!

What makes Akuma’s entry to the King of Iron Fist Tournament even more amazing is how Bandai Namco actually made a huge concession in doing so as he kept everything he had from Street Fighter IV! Does he have his regular special moves like his Gou Hadoken and Gou Shoryuken? Yes! Can he enhance these moves? Yes, because they gave him an EX bar! Does he have Super moves? Yes, he does! Can he do a Focus Attack? Yep! Can he enhance his combos with a Focus Attack Dash Cancel? Of course, he can! Akuma was not only a pleasant surprise but also a pretty darned unique character as he mechanically can do things differently from the rest of the Tekken roster!

BONUS: Norimaro (Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter)

Nope, he wasn’t a fever dream. Norimaro was indeed a real playable character in Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter… who had no connection to either Marvel or Street Fighter. Rather, Norimaro was a “joke” character and based on Japanese comedian Noritake Kinashi. His basic description is he’s a high school otaku who loves everything Marvel and Street Fighter and, somehow, he got sucked into this enormous battle involving both franchises.

Norimaro was only available in the Japanese versions of Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter due to licensing agreements. Although he was indeed created by Capcom, as his general likeness and mannerisms were based on the aforementioned actor. they They even documented him visiting Capcom to see how his character was being developed for the game. Basically, Capcom can’t really use his likeness unless they pay him for its use. So, rather than to that, they just cut him out of the Western release. This makes a lot of sense as I don’t think anyone outside of Japan is even familiar with Noritake Kinashi so it wouldn’t be a big deal if he was selectable or not.

This technically does make him a “guest” character as he’s neither a Marvel nor Capcom character. However, as things are very murky due to the entire licensing thing, I’m just adding this as a really weird bonus entry.

Who else made other weird guest appearances in fighting games? Let me know in the comments section below!