Super Roster Maker - Xbox Superstar Deathmatch

Nintendo and Sony both have large rosters of first-party characters and a good number of third-party developers willing to do business with them. So, seeing them create crossover fighting games with the large stable of characters they have access to would make sense to drum up a lot of attention for them. Nintendo’s Super Smash Brothers series has now become one of the developer’s heavy hitters and PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, while not as big, still has a cult following. One would think that Microsoft and the Xbox would jump on that bandwagon, but interestingly, they didn’t.

Despite the jokes about the Xbox One having no games, Microsoft has its own roster of exclusive, first-party series and characters that they could use to form their own big crossover blow-out. However, one could argue that platform fighters don’t seem to be their thing. What is their thing though would be shooters and since the characters would be the focus of a game like this, it would probably make more sense for an Xbox crossover title to be a hero shooter similar to Team Fortress, Overwatch, or Paladins.

That’s what we’ll discuss as the topic of this Super Roster Maker, Xbox Superstar Deathmatch.

For this article, we’ll focus mainly on Microsoft’s first-party series, picking one or two characters from each to add to the roster. Then at the end, we’ll pick a few third-party characters that would fit well with the main cast to add as well. We’ll also touch a bit on what kinds of weapons or abilities each character might bring into battle.

Now, let’s select our characters.

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The Big Names

This section will talk about the big first-party characters to include. Including big blockbuster franchises and series that Microsoft acquired the rights to, these are among the first characters that gamers think of when they think of the Xbox.

The picks are:

Master Chief (Halo)

First and foremost among these characters is Master Chief from Halo. He is so well-known that he is practically the mascot for the Xbox. He is not short on weapons either, with some stand-outs for his loadout including the Spartan Pistol, Battle Rifle, Needler, Energy Sword, Bubble Shield, and the Spartan Laser.

Marcus Fenix (Gears of War)
Agent Alpha (Crackdown)

After him, we have a couple more shooters with Marcus Fenix from Gears of War and “Agent Alpha” from Crackdown, standing in for the Agent characters that players control in the Crackdown games. Marcus is more of a military styled character with the chainsaw-machine gun hybrid, the Lancer, being his main weapon. While Agent Alpha could use basically any kind of firearm for this, the main draw of this would be his enhanced physical abilities, which could make more obvious use of his heightened agility, speed, or strength.

Sparrow (Fable)
Steve (Minecraft)

The first of the more fantastical picks is a main character from the Fable series. Sparrow from Fable II was selected for being the only named player character. He can use a sword or an old flintlock pistol and, for his abilities, can cast magic spells. Another fantastical pick is Steve from Minecraft, the first character to really clash stylistically against characters like Master Chief and Marcus Fenix, but that’s what games like this are about. He could use a sword, pickaxe, or bow as weapons and could even include a digging mechanic or have a Creeper appear as an ultimate attack.

Black Orchid (Killer Instinct)
Joanna Dark (Perfect Dark)

Banjo & Kazooie (Banjo-Kazooie)
Zitz (Battletoads)

A good place to pull some quirky characters from would be the franchises of Rare. It is here that we get our first female additions to the roster, Black Orchid from Killer Instinct and Joanna Dark from Perfect Dark. Orchid could use her tonfa to shoot lasers, use fighting moves when close to an opponent, or use her Firecat ability to become temporarily intangible. Meanwhile, Joanna has an arsenal of different futuristic guns and spy equipment to pull from. Continuing with Rare properties, two more characters are Banjo & Kazooie (counted as one character) from Banjo-Kazooie and Zitz from Battletoads. Banjo would essentially use Kazooie as his gun firing different kinds of egg projectiles like in the second game, while Zitz would be a mostly melee fighter, using his shapeshifting abilities to morph his body parts into different weapons.

The Fan Favorites

To get a slot in this section, a series can’t just be beloved by Xbox fans, they also need to have unique characters that can fit well within the mechanics of a shooter, preferably without being too similar to other characters. To get the characters for this section, I looked at different Xbox fan forums that talked about potential crossover games and tallied which characters were mentioned frequently, then from those characters, determined which ones would actually work well in a shooter. Some popular characters like Voodoo Vince and Alan Wake didn’t make the roster because the way their games are set up don’t lend themselves to shooters very well.

The picks are:

Arbiter (Halo)

General Raam (Gears of War)

Jack of Blades (Fable)

Fulgore (Killer Instinct)

First are the secondary reps for popular franchises, Arbiter from Halo, General Raam from Gears of War, and Jack of Blades from Fable. While there is a chance they might have some moves similar to Master Chief, Marcus Fenix, and Sparrow respectively, there should still be enough variety within their franchises to draw enough material from to set them apart. Another secondary rep would be Fulgore from Killer Instinct, a robot character that could use lasers, claws, or any number of special moves from his series.

DeMarco Singh (Sea of Thieves)

Joule Adams (ReCore)

DeMarco Singh was a character from the recent Rare-developed Xbox title Sea of Thieves, introduced through tie-in comics and the PvP expansion The Arena. He can potentially use pirate-centric weaponry like flintlock pistols, blunderbusses, bombs, and cutlasses, or even call in pirate crew members or off-screen cannon fire for abilities. Similarly, Joule Adams from ReCore has several weapons she could use, as well as a grappling hook and rocket shoes for mobility, but she can also call for help from her corebot companions (robot helpers within her game’s world).

Ori & Sein (Ori and the Blind Forest)

Cuphead (Cuphead)

A couple of Xbox-exclusive indie games that made a big splash on the platform were Ori and the Blind Forest & Cuphead. The protagonists from both games would add some more variety to the roster and show some love to the indie scene on Xbox. Ori, with his companion Sein, would work as a pair, like Banjo and Kazooie, and use magical spirit attacks in a battle. Cuphead would use his finger guns to shoot projectiles and possibly use his super moves from the game.

Conker (Conker)

Kameo (Kameo: Elements of Power)

Two more Rare protagonists to add to the roster are, from their own self-titled series, Conker and Kameo. In Conker’s Bad Fur Day, Conker has a wide variety of weapons to pull from, including guns, throwing knives, raptors, and more, some of which can be found in the game’s own deathmatch multiplayer mode. As for Kameo, she can use her shapeshifting abilities to take on various monstrous forms to fight against her opponents.

Blinx (Blinx: The Time Sweeper)

Samson (Fuzion Frenzy)

As two of the first games for the original Xbox, these older titles hold a classic status among Xbox fans and characters from these games can be throwbacks to the early days of the console line. From the platformer Blinx: The Time Sweeper, Blinx could use a modified version of the TS-1000 Vacuum Cleaner to perhaps suck in and blow out items from the environment or simply shoot out some on-theme ammunition and use it to manipulate his own time flow in a match. From the party game Fuzion Frenzy, Samson (one of the playable characters) could use power-ups in the game like a hammer or a lightning bolt to aid himself in attacking or moving around or have one of the props or vehicles from one of the game’s minigames appear around him to ride as part of his abilities. (They could digitize around him since Fuzion Frenzy has a somewhat futuristic tone.)

The Third-Parties

Our last characters to add to the roster are third-party characters from games or seires that have sold well on Xbox platforms. All developers involved here have had games that have sold at least a million units on Xbox consoles and characters that would work well in the gameplay of a first or third person shooter.

The picks are:

For Activision: Capt. John “Soap” MacTavish (Call of Duty)

For Bethesda: Dovahkiin (The Elder Scrolls)

For Capcom: Frank West (Dead Rising)

For EA: Commander Sheppard (Mass Effect)

For Rockstar: Franklin Clinton (Grand Theft Auto)

For Tecmo: Ryu Hayabusa (Ninja Gaiden)

Soap and Franklin are the most conventional of these characters, with both having access to more modern weaponry and equipment. Dovahkiin, like Sparrow and Jack of Blades, would be likely to use medieval weapons and magic, Sheppard has several high-tech weapons that he could use or he can even call in support from the Normandy, Hayabusa has several powerful weapons or Ninpo Arts (which work like magic) he could use, and Frank has perhaps the largest arsenal of any character mentioned here, able to use conventional weapons, strange items, combinations of different items, and even an exosuit that increases his physical abilities.

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FINAL RESULTS

The Roster: Master Chief, Arbiter, Marcus Fenix, General Raam, Sparrow, Jack of Blades, Black Orchid, Fulgore, Agent Alpha, Steve, Joanna Dark, Banjo & Kazooie, Zitz, DeMarco Singh, Joule Adams, Ori & Sein, Cuphead, Conker, Kameo, Blinx, Samson, Capt. John “Soap” MacTavish, Dovahkiin, Frank West, Commander Sheppard, Franklin Clinton, Ryu Hayabusa

The final roster has 27 characters from a total of 23 different franchises, a somewhat big number for a hero shooter and a few characters more than when Overwatch first launched. Halo, Gears of War, Fable, and Killer Instinct all had two characters while all the other series only had one. Rare got a lot of love in this roster with seven characters being from Rare titles, and third-party characters take up another big chunk of the roster with six.

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What did you think of this roster? What characters would you want to see in a large first-party crossover game for the Xbox? Do you think having it made as a shooter would make more sense than a fighter? Make your voice heard in the comments below. Thanks for coming!