Assemble! - Fighting Game Archetype Roster - The Rival

This is Assemble, where we look at several different characters across multiple series to form a perfect team-up. Whatever the case may be, whether it’s a fighting game roster or an RPG adventuring party, we’ll find the best team for the job. In a change of style from the more long-form articles featured here, these articles will be shorter entries, focusing on one or two characters each, and spread out over time until the complete roster is formed.

What would a fighting game be without a roster of several different, powerful, and engaging characters? In this batch of articles for Assemble, we will be assembling a fighting game roster using characters from several different fighting games based on different character archetypes. The picks will be based on where the characters fit in terms of game mechanics and their place in the story and world of the game. Only characters that originated in fighting games will be observed here. That means no guest characters, no licensed fighting games (unless their roster includes original characters), and no crossover titles. Finally, I’ll only be discussing games or characters that I am at least somewhat familiar with. While this means I won’t discuss all the fighting games out there, there should be at least some variety from just the major titles.

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THE RIVAL

This is the alternate to the main hero, in a sense, the “Player 2” to the hero’s “Player 1”. This character can be the hero’s actual rival or possibly a friend or sibling. However, this character is a clear companion piece to the hero. Sometimes, they are even a palette swap of the hero, sharing some similar moves or even the same move-set. This is the character fighting alongside the hero against the villain or trying to outdo the hero when the world is not in danger.

For this pick, we are looking for the character that serves as the best rival to their hero, a character that shares a good connection to the hero and can possibly be their partner or foil, be they a complete opposite or a mirror image of the Hero.

Our choice for the Rival is…

Johnny Cage from Mortal Kombat.

Whether you consider Liu Kang, Raiden, Scorpion, or Sub-Zero to be the true hero of Mortal Kombat, the Hollywood action hero turned real action hero is perhaps the best counterpoint to all of them. Compared to just about every other character, Johnny enters the first Mortal Kombat tournament for selfish reasons and he has a loud, playful, and obnoxious personality that most of the cast finds annoying. But while he is the group goofball compared to everyone else on the cast, he is just as powerful of a fighter as everyone else. He is one of the fighters strong enough to stand up against the forces of Outworld and the Netherrealm and, in Mortal Kombat X, he is one of the veterans leading the heroes against Shinnok and his allies.

Lethal joke character, indeed.

As for his connection to the other characters, he was directly allied with Liu Kang, Raiden, and the other Earthrealm fighters in the first Mortal Kombat tournaments, and in Mortal Kombat X in the new timeline, he, through the Special Forces, has ties to the Lin Kuei (for Sub-Zero) and an implied alliance with the Shirai Ryu (for Scorpion). And of course, he gets on all their nerves.

For carrying those ties to the main heroes and serving as an effective narrative counterpoint to them, but still managing to be a heroic character in his own right, we are now adding Johnny Cage to the roster.

ADDED!

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What did you think about this article? Want to see what other characters get picked for our roster? Do you think someone would fit this role better besides whoever got picked? Make your voice heard in the comments below. Thank you for coming.