Massive Multiplayer Crossover: Difference between revisions

More often than not, this is a mash up of series which do not have a strict sense of continuity or a clear [[Universe Bible]]. To lessen [[Canon]]-faulting, especially with series that do have strict continuity, a new 'neutral' setting is made that offers equal footing for all the characters.

 

 

It also becomes more viable the farther you get from [[Canon]], such as one-time TV specials and especially video games (''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'', ''[[Jump Super Stars]]'', ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'', etc.)

In spite of its recently emerging prevalence, this trope is [[Older Than Feudalism]]. The ''[[Argonautica]]'' by Apollonius Rhodius (3rd century BCE) features nearly every ancient Greek mythical hero all going on a quest to find the Golden Fleece.

 

* [[Crisis Crossover]] (a company-wide '''Massive Multiplayer Crossover''')

** [[Cross Through]] (a company-wide event that affects every series involved without having them cross over)

 

{{examples}}

* USA Network's commercials play this for laughs, having various combinations of characters from their shows (''Burn Notice'', ''Monk'', ''Psych'', others) encounter each other and make idle conversation.

* UK example: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCfGC_dGn4M The Greatest Minds In Advertising Join Forces] in a 2009 viral for ''[[Comic Relief]]''.

 

* The ''[[Giant Robo]]'' [[OVA]] series featured characters taken from several other series Misuteru Yokoyama—the original creator of ''[[Giant Robo]]''/''Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot''—had written. This included adaptations of the medieval Chinese stories ''Romance Of The Three Kingdoms'' and ''The Water Margins'', which led to many main and secondary characters in ancient Chinese clothing coexisting with people in three-piece suits [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]]. It also included the very first [[Magical Girl]], ''Mahotsukai Sally'' (''Sally, the Witch''), under her original name "Sunny", as Shockwave Alberto's daughter.

* Legendary Manga creator [[Osamu Tezuka]] similarly uses [[Reused Character Design]]s, wherein a character from a previous work will actually play a different role in another story, [[Animated Actors|as if they were an actor or actress]]. The Game Boy Advance game ''[[Astro Boy]]: Omega Factor'' pulls nearly all of them into one massive story.

** ''Chibi Chara Go Nagai World'' was a crossover which featured SD versions of ''[[Mazinger Z]]'', ''[[Devilman]]'', and ''[[Violence Jack]]'' (with in-story explanations for the characters being SD).

* The ''[[Pretty Cure All Stars]]'' movie series allows the Cures from the past seasons to meet (and be friends with) the new team.

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* Dark Horse comics had ''[[Alien]] versus [[Predator]] versus [[The Terminator]]''.

* ''[[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Fantastic Four]]: True Story'' has the FF traveling to the realm of fiction, that is attacked by Nightmare, lord of the dreamworld. To fight him they join forces with [[The Divine Comedy|Dante Alighieri]], [[Sense and Sensibility (novel)|the Dashwood sisters]], [[Faust]], almost all [[William Shakespeare]]'s protagonists, [[Frankenstein's Monster]], [[Robin Hood]], the [[Ivanhoe]] cast and others, while Nightmare gains allies in the Sheriff of Nottingham, [[Dracula]] and [[Treasure Island|Long John Silver]]. Many other characters like [[Tarzan]] make cameos and in the end Johnny summons [[Lawyer-Friendly Cameo|lawyer friendly versions]] of [[James Bond]], [[Transformers|Megatron]], [[Steven Seagal]] and [[Chuck Norris]] to defeat Nightmare's army.

 

== [[Film]] ==

* ''[[The Monster Squad]]'' had Dracula as the [[Big Bad]] who controlled all of the other classic movie monsters: [[Frankenstein|Frakenstein's Monster]], the [[Wolf Man]], the [[Creature from the Black Lagoon]] and the [[Mummy]]. There is also a cameo by Abraham Van Helsing.

* [http://video.yahoo.com/watch/411762/2393937 The Area 52 scene]{{Dead link}} in ''[[Looney Tunes: Back in Action]]'' involved the heroes facing off against Marvin the Martian, who led a group of sci-fi aliens which included [[The Day of the Triffids|a Triffid plant]], the eponymous ''[[Robot Monster]]'', the mutant from ''[[This Island Earth]]'' and even ''freaking [[Doctor Who|Daleks]]!''

* A version of this in ''[[Star Trek Generations]]'', which featured the captains of two Enterprises from completely different eras (Kirk and Picard) in the same film. ''[[Star Trek]]'' has done this numerous times, if you consider the different series separate entities of the same intellectual property.

* ''[[Van Helsing]]'', which features the eponymous monster hunter battling Dracula, a werewolf, Frankenstein's Monster, Igor and Mr. Hyde.

* In 1959 a movie was released called ''[[Alias Jessie James]]'' starring [[Bob Hope]], who was a big fan of TV westerns; he used his clout to include characters from nine different shows in what would turn out to be the first of three Western massive multiplayer crossovers. People appeared in that movie from ''[[The Lone Ranger]]'', ''[[The Gene Autry Show]]'', ''[[Annie Oakley]]'', ''[[Davy Crockett]]'', ''[[The Life And Legend Of Wyatt Earp]]'', ''[[Gunsmoke]]'', ''[[Wagon Train]]'', ''[[Roy Rogers|The Roy Rogers Show]]'' and ''[[Maverick (TV series)|Maverick]]''.

* In the 40th Anniversary ''OOO, Den-O, All Riders: Let's Go [[Kamen Rider]]'' has all of the main riders from [[Kamen Rider (TV series)|Kamen Rider #1]] to ''[[Kamen Rider OOO]]''.

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* James A. Owen's ''[[The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica]]'' does this with pretty much every major work of fantasy, history, and real life. It's awesome.

 

* The "Night of Elizabeth Taylor", broadcast on CBS around 1995-96, saw a diamond necklace lost by [[Elizabeth Taylor]] became a common plot element linking four [[Sitcom|SitComs]] -- ''[[The Nanny]]'', ''Cant Hurry Love'', ''[[Murphy Brown]]'' and ''High Society''—in one massive crossover. It was intended as an embedded advertisement for Taylor's new perfume, Black Pearls.

* Disney did a triple-episode MMC with three of its shows. The show was entitled ''[[That's So Raven|That's So]] [[The Suite Life of Zack and Cody|Suite Life Of]] [[Hannah Montana]]'', with one classed as a Suite Life episode, one as a Raven episode, and one as a Hannah Montana episode, where Hannah and Raven visited the hotel the twins live in.

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060824200044/http://home.vicnet.net.au/~kwgow/crossovers.html The Tommy Westphall Hypothesis] states that dozens if not hundreds of television series have all happened within the mind of [[St. Elsewhere|a young autistic boy living in Boston]].

** [[John Munch]] is a central figure in this Hypothesis.

** Also in 1990, ''[[Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue]]'', the ultimate [[Very Special Episode]] combining well over a dozen Eighties cartoon characters. Aired once and only once, it's full of [[Narm]] yet also bizarrely entertaining. Rumor has it that it's never been aired since because Jim Davis claimed he hadn't authorized [[Garfield]]'s inclusion in the show.

* In the ''[[CSI]]''-verse, the original series crossed over with the Miami series in 2002 to serve as the pilot for the latter; the Miami series then crossed over with the New York series in 2004 to serve as that series' pilot, and the series crossed over again in a two-hour storyline in 2005. The original series also crossed over with ''[[Without a Trace]]'' in 2007 a two-hour storyline across both series. Following the departure of William Petersen (who opposed the spinoffs and did not appear in any scenes featuring the Miami team in "Cross Jurisdictions"), CBS put together a massive crossover in 2009 spanning all three series that involved the Las Vegas series' Raymond Langston going to Miami and New York while investigating a human trafficking organisation.

* The final western MMC took place over 30 years later in the made for tv movie ''The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw'', where the title character crosses over with 10 different series. During the course of the film [[The Gambler]] meets people from ''[[Bat Masterson]]'', ''[[The Life And Legend Of Wyatt Earp]]'', ''[[Maverick (TV series)|Maverick]]'', ''[[Cheyenne]]'', ''[[Kung Fu]]'', ''[[The Rifleman]]'', ''[[The Westerner]]'', ''[[The Virginian]]'', and ''[[Rawhide]]'', plus the main game was in honor of the main character from ''[[Have Gun — Will Travel]]''.

 

* The ''[[Argonautica]]'' (a.k.a. ''Jason and the Argonauts'') by Apollonius of Rhodes (3rd century BCE) is one of the very first Massive Multiplayer Crossovers, arranged in what would become a fairly classic method—basically throwing one or two dozen heroes from various separate Greek myth cycles together on a boat with a common mission. This of course makes the Massive Multiplayer Crossover [[Older Than Feudalism]].

* According to some religious studies texts, this has also gone on in many, ''many'' other myths: the most notable involve various saints meeting each other. This goes on even today.

* [[King Arthur|Arthurian Myth]] formed this way, starting with stories about a Celtic chieftain and slowly incorporating other works into itself, including ''[[Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight]]'' and an entire cycle of French poetry that introduced Lancelot.

** [[The Weirdstone of Brisingamen]] Adds in [[Norse Mythology]] to the mix.

* Similarly, the [[Robin Hood]] stories started with a poem about a outlaw (sort of a medieval version of "The Ballad of Jesse James"), and turned into a collection of stories which kept getting characters from other contexts added to it—like Maid Marian, who originally appeared in generic May Day songs.

 

== [[New Media]] ==

** There's an [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjbahK6Rk0U updated version]. It is as though the internet gave birth.

* The Machinima "Beans". Firstly, it crosses over characters from three different series and is made by three different machinima directors, then the storyline involves various internet memes... Oh. And it's made on ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]''. Making it a crossover on a crossover.

 

== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==

* On several occasions over the past couple decades, cartoonists from the same syndicate have indulged in special events in which their characters migrate to each other's strips.

 

* There's a ''[[Star Trek]]''-related comedy routine in which Mr. Spock, the HAL 9000 computer, and Obi-Wan Kenobi all appear on ''Jeopardy'', in a mental variant of an [[Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny]]. {{spoiler|Kenobi is declared the winner, but only because he uses the [[Jedi Mind Trick]] on Alex Trebek.}}

* Stand-up comedy troupes sometimes feature a series of comedians who usually headline their own shows:

** ''The Comedians of Comedy''

 

* The [[Spelljammer]] and [[Planescape]] settings were designed with this in mind. Spelljammer in particular has rule books dedicated to detailing the Crystal Spheres of settings such as [[Dragonlance|Krynn]], [[Forgotten Realms|Abeir-Toril]], and [[Greyhawk|Oerth]]. Where as Planescape has portals to every type of world imaginable.

* [[Collectible Card Game]]s that operate off of a [[Universal System]] allow for this; the Universal Fighting System lets you pit [[Street Fighter|Chun-Li]] against [[Soul Series|Nightmare]], the VS System crosses over [[Marvel]] and [[DC]], and the Crusade System lets you pair [[Cowboy Bebop|Spike Spiegel]], [[Fullmetal Alchemist|Edward Elric]], and [[Cutie Honey]] with [[Humongous Mecha]] from ''[[Macross]]'', ''[[Super Robot Wars Original Generation]]'', and countless others.

 

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* Speaking of which, Shounen Sunday and Shounen Magazine are looking to take a bite out of ''Jump Super Stars'' together with ''[[Sunday VS Magazine Shuuketsu Choujou Daikessen]]'' (Also known as ''Sunday vs. Magazine'') on the PSP.

* ''[[Quake]] III'' (and by extension, ''[http://www.quakelive.com Quake Live]'') included the ''[[Doom]]'' guy, the ''Quake'' marine, the ''Quake II'' marine and the guy from ''[[Wolfenstein 3D]]'' (named Sarge here) among other characters as playable characters. Of course, they were all of the [[Silent Protagonist]] variety to begin with, so this didn't make a huge difference.

** And that's not even including custom skins, with which the crossovers skyrocket through the roof.

* [[MUGEN]] is a customizable 2D fighting engine that permits end users to homebrew reproductions of any other character in the entire genre, and create unique ones. Fighters already exist for every "vs" title released and almost every fighting games, and can be crossed over in unique ways.

* [[Nippon Ichi]] has recently released a new one in Japan with a release coming in summer 2010 to the US, [[Trinity Universe (video game)|Trinity Universe]]. It's made in conjunction with Gust and Idea Factory.

** Also, [[Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice]] has characters from almost all [[Nippon Ichi]] Series. Including the entire cast of the earlier Disgaea games. [[Makai Kingdom]], [[Soul Nomad]], [[Phantom Brave]] and [[La Pucelle]]

* The [[Square Enix]] board game series ''Itadaki Street'' has character crossovers of [[Dragon Quest]] with either [[Final Fantasy]] or [[Super Mario]] depending on the game. Though traditionally [[No Export for You]], a Western release has been announced for the [[Wii]] as ''[[Itadaki Street|Fortune Street]]''.

* The fan-made ''[[Mushroom Kingdom Fusion]]'' combines a wide variety of classic and contemporary video game characters and universes together into one game. For starters, playable characters include [[Super Mario Bros.|Mario and Luigi, Wario]], [[Sonic the Hedgehog|Sonic and Tails]], [[The Legend of Zelda|Link]], [[Ghosts 'n Goblins|Arthur]], and [[Mega Man (video game)|Roll]].

* ''[[Indie Brawl]]'', a [[Fighting Game]] à la [[Super Smash Bros.]], but with characters from the Indie Gaming culture.

* The ''Macross Frontier'' PSP game series allows you to play all [[Macross]] universes. The recent title, ''Macross Triangle Frontier'', covers ''[[Macross Zero]]'', ''[[Macross]]'' (as well as '' Do You Remember Love''), ''[[Macross Plus]]'', ''[[Macross 7]]'', ''Macross Dynamite 7'', ''[[Macross Frontier]]'' (as well as ''Macross Frontier: The False Songstress'') and ''Macross 2''.

* In a more literal example, ''[[Minecraft]]'' allows anyone to make their own character skins, which leads to 20+ characters all working together to build a house/civilisation and mine for diamonds.

* [[Konami]]'s [[MSX|MSX2]] Mahjong game ''Hai no Majutsushi'' featured eight mascots from various other Konami games: [[Maze of Galious|Popolon, Aphrodite]], [[Antarctic Adventure|Pentarou]], [[Ganbare Goemon|Goemon]], [[Gradius|Dr. Venom]], a [[Snatcher]], a [[Eenie Meenie Miny Moai|moai]], and a perverted version of [[Castlevania|Simon Belmont]].

* NES pirate cartridge ''Kart Fighter'' drops the characters from ''[[Super Mario Kart]]'' into a fighting game, while ''World Heroes 2'' (not to be confused with the actual ''[[World Heroes]]'' games) includes [[Street Fighter|Ryu, Chun Li, M. Bison]], [[Final Fight|Haggar]], [[Fatal Fury|Andy Bogard, Lawrence Blood, Mai Shiranui]], [[Super Mario Bros.|Mario, King Koopa]], [[Sonic the Hedgehog]], [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|Leonardo]], and [[Dragonball Z|Goku]].

* The ''[[Warriors Orochi]]'' games has the characters of both [[Dynasty Warriors]] and [[Samurai Warriors]] dropped into the same setting due to the [[Big Bad]] messing around with time to seek out powerful warriors to challenge him. Along for the ride are some mythical beings exclusive to the series and by the third game, [[Dead or Alive|Ayane]], [[Ninja Gaiden|Ryu Hayabusa]], Achilles of [[Warriors: Legends of Troy]], Nemea of [[Trinity Souls of Zill Oll]] and Jeanne d'Arc of Bladestorm.

 

* There have been at least two webcomic Massive Multiplayer Crossovers: ''[http://www.dragoneers.com/crossovers/index.php?comic=Greatescape The Framed!!! Great Escape]'' and the recently{{when}} ended ''[[Crossover Wars]]''

* Though it never crossed over with both at the same time, ''[[Walkyverse|It's Walky!]]!'' had crossovers with both ''[[Melonpool]]'' and ''[[Fans]]!'' that established both as part of its universe (or multiverse in the latter case) and which ended up having a lasting impact on its storyline.

* ''[[Kevin and Kell]]'' and ''[[General Protection Fault]]'' had an arc where two GPF characters wandered into K&K's Domain world. The artists managed to work the events into ''both'' their storylines that were running at the time, and apparently drew a strip each day—both had two-strip days where the storyline advanced.

* ''Starslip Crisis: Alterverse War'' is a mashup of a large number of science fiction webcomics, and had just started as of October 2007.

** Choo-Choo Bear hired the Pet Professional from the webcomic of the same name to kill his homicidal cousin Twitchy-Hug.

** Choo-Choo Bear later had kittens with Sprinkles of ''Girls with Slingshots'', one of whom Davan gave to Roz of ''[[Walkyverse|Shortpacked]]!'', and another is by Hazel to her cousin Robyn from [[All New Issues]].

*** Even better, none of those strips have been shy about crossovers of their own. QOW drags in [[Punch and Pie]], which stars its [[Breakout Character]] Angela; ''It's Walky'' pulls in [[Fans]] and [[Avalon (webcomic)|Avalon]].

** The cast of Shortpacked has visited the Coffee of Doom coffee house from QC on occasion, including once when both artists did a take on the [http://www.shortpacked.com/2009/comic/book-10/03-the-comedy-laugh/coffeehouse/ same] [http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1550 scene]. Combine that with the S*P [[Intercontinuity Crossover]] Nexus mentioned above, along with all ''their'' respective crossovers, and we have a massive webcomic universe that could give Marvel a run for its money.

* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' hosted one of these during the [[Filler Strips|Filler Arc]] "[https://web.archive.org/web/20160130122754/http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=000327 Sluggy Freelance: Where Are You?]" When all of ''Sluggy's'' [[Animated Actors|actors]] are kidnapped (a.k.a. Pete Abrams decides to take some time off) characters from several other webcomics are hired to fill in for them and/or find the kidnappers.

* [[Least I Could Do]] recently finished the Ultimate Final Civil War Invasion Crisis Thing, which featured the gaming webcomic characters trying to kill the slice-of-life comic characters. ([[Order of the Stick]], meet [[Xkcd]].)

* [[Ménage à 3]] and [[Sore Thumbs]] crossed over at some point and are implied to be in the same universe, and [[Ménage à 3]] crossed over with [[School Bites]]. If this keeps up we'll wind up with every webcomic crossing over to one another.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Better Than It Sounds/Comic Books]]

[[Category:Creator Speak]]

[[Category:Fanfic Tropes]]

[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]