Fighting games are no stranger to crossovers and guest characters in its roster. This even extends to spin-offs of their franchises, such as SNK's action RPG mobile game, The King of Fighters All Star. Released in 2018, this free-to-play mobile beat-em-up RPG brings together many characters across SNK's libraries, including the sagas from KOF's mainline entry games. While many characters from the franchise like Mai Shiranui, Kyo Kusanagi, and Terry Bogard have been playable characters, All Star occasionally has crossover events.
There have been plenty of limited-time events for The King of Fighters All Star, seeing it crossing over with other video game franchises. Some of the most notable video game franchises that collaborated with this game include Dead or Alive, Guilty Gear, and Tekken. Some non-video game crossovers for this game have also been present, with one of the collaborations even being with the WWE, with playable versions of famous wrestlers such as John Cena, The Undertaker, and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. The latest collaboration with All Star will be with fellow fighting game franchise Street Fighter.
The first promotional art of this event for The King of Fighters All Star was posted on a special website by developer Netmarble, where the faces of each respective series is present. Kyo Kusanagi and Ryu can be seen standing back to back in the sun, with the classic stage Suzaku Castle being seen in the background. Six characters from Street Fighter will be coming to this mobile title in the future.
The teaser site already shows off three of these characters that will be arriving at King of Fighters All Star, with the wandering warrior Ryu being one of them. Street Fighter's resident Interpol agent Chun-Li will also be playable, with two variants. One puts Chun-Li in her classic outfit, while another attire is based on her younger appearance in Street Fighter Alpha, known as the Nostalgia variant. The event is slated to begin on March 15, with pre-registration now open.
This isn't the first time these major fighting game franchises are collaborating, as there have been crossover games such as Capcom Vs. SNK 2 back in 2001 and SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium. This is the first time since 2007's SNK vs Capcom: Card Fighters DS where these two legendary fighters crossed over. This event has some pretty notable timing since King of Fighters 15 will be releasing this year and Street Fighter celebrating its 35th anniversary as well.
The King of Fighters All Star is available now on Android and iOS mobile devices, with a PC version in development.
