Nintendo has historically been rather careful with whom they lend out their characters and properties, which is why the likes of Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle and Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer Featuring The Legend of Zelda are such a recent breath of fresh air.
That's not to say there were instances in the past where Nintendo's characters were used – or at least referenced – in third party games, which is handy because we made a whole video about it; if there were no examples it'd be quite a short and dull affair.
Games such as Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Scribblenauts Unlimited, and even NBA Jam V3 all feature cameos from one or more of Nintendo's IPs, so give that video a quick watch if you want to see the whole kazoo, and drop us a comment in the place where comments go letting us know what classic examples you remember.
Comments 29
I hope another third party gets a go at a first-party property, Cadence of Hyrule was brilliant.
Friendly reminder that we had three Final Fantasy characters in a very niche Mario game called Mario Hoops 3 on 3 as guest characters - They were all playable and also appeared in an enemy team.
I liked how that one piece game featured mario costumes.
Considering how protective Nintendo is over what Mario is included in and represented by, it's strange to see it present in an anime well known for the female characters with big bahongazongas on display 24/7. Then again, Bayonetta had a peach costume if I'm not mistaken. If Miyamoyo knows this happened, I'm sure he would be SUPER pissed
@Ephralance They also appeared in Mario Sports Mix, I believe.
I remember how delightfully hilarious it was to see Nintendo costumes on Tekken characters.
I had no idea about the Samus cameo in Dead or Alive: Dimensions, and I played that to death back then. I absolutely loved the game, and being my only DOA experience for years, it absolutely stings that Tecmo Koei hasn't ported any main series games on Switch. I bought Xtreme 3 to show my support, and I was expecting to get a nice volleyball game out of it, but it's really just a mini-game collection with some extremely grindy mechanics (littered with microtransactions) to incentivise players in to forking over either countless hours or real-world currency for pole-dancing vouchers and outfits. I did manage to score myself one pole-dancing voucher through normal gameplay (I've put in over 15 hours in to the game), but apparently the girls can refuse it, and the voucher will then disappear, so I don't want to risk losing it, as the girls have an extremely annoying habit of refusing almost all of my gifts. Those predatory mechanics aside, it is a casual and laidback sort of experience that I have enjoyed quite a lot (with absolutely beautiful graphics, albeit with an inconsistent framerate).
I eventually caved and bought DOA6 on PC, but I would much rather be playing this on Switch.
The omission of Nintendo crossovers in the Switch versions of Scribblenauts is also extremely disappointing. It sort of makes me regret ever supporting them.
I'm a bit fed up of cross-overs and cameos... Even Link, Splatoon and Animal Crossing characters in Mario Kart annoys me a little.
I can't help but think it cheapens Nintendo's characters, their story and the worlds they live in a little to see them appearing here, there and god knows where...
@Silly_G There’s something strangely ironic about predatory mechanics involving girls refusing to give you a pole dance in exchange for a voucher 😂😂
Wait, Peach Panda? WHERE CAN I BUY THIS GAME?!
Link in Soul Calibur II is still one of the best guest appearances for a Nintendo character in a third-party game and made that version the best one of the three.
Plus, Link's appearance in Soul Calibur II marked one of the rare times that a Gamecube version of a game outsold it's Xbox and PS2 counterparts.
@Ephralance
Five actually. Moogle and Cactuar were also playable. This is because Square Enix wanted to make a spin-off basketball game but Nintendo came in and had them slap Mario on it.
Can you imagine Sephiroth and Kefka shooting hoops lol.
@GigaMermaid
Sports Mix also contained the Slime from Dragon Quest. As did Fortune Street.
@Caryslan
Imagine someone like Dimitri or Edelgard from FE3H in SC6 on Switch.
@JR150 : Slime's appearance in Fortune/Boom Street wasn't a cameo though. I believe Itadaki Street (as it is known in Japan, which is a series with multiple installments) is a primarily a Dragon Quest spin-off, but it has also crossed over with Final Fantasy, and obviously, with the Mario series as we have seen on Wii (and the Japan-exclusive DS installment).
@JR150 Oh, I forgot those two - You're right, lol!
If only we had Sephiroth that would've been hilarious.
@GigaMermaid Never heard of that game - I just googled it though and you're right. They look amazing in Sports Mix !
@JR150 No, I cannot imagine Kefka shooting hoops.
Unless by shooting, you mean obliterating the hoops. That man has no concept of "friendship" or "teamwork".
At least Sephiroth might show some kind of emotion, if only to ultimately troll you or ego-boost.
Tekken Tag 2 on WiiU is still so hilarious, and such a good fighting game. I still kinda can't believe they got it.
@KingMike @Ephralance @Silly_G
Another fun fact: Masayoshi Soken was the composer for this game. He later would go on to compose music for Final Fantasy 14.
@Clyde_Radcliffe I totally agree. Why are there goombas in links awakening and why is Mario’s mask in majoras mask. Is the mushroom kingdom what’s through the clouds on a top down hyrule map? Is it the mushroom kingdom what’s on other side of the moat surrounding hyrule in botw? Is hyrule a post apocalyptic mushroom kingdom of is the mushroom kingdom hyrule in modern times. It makes no sense and needs to stop. We get it your made by the same guy.
@Luigisghost669 The odd Easter Egg is okay but it's gone too far these days IMO. Those hideous Rabbids in Mario clothes, urgh...
Was waiting to see bayonetta in the various nintendo outfits, but i was disappointed!
@Clyde_Radcliffe That game was amazing...
This video sorta made me want to play Rayman Legenda again. Game was fun and still need to unlock a few more skins which I call them.
I dunno if you can call costumes amongst the times these characters appeared in the games. Rayman dressing up as Mario is Rayman dressing up as Mario but it's not Mario and as such does not count in my book. Unless you change the article title to "cameo'd" rather than "appeared", anyway!
Diablo 3 has a lot of Zelda goodies!
Skyrim on Switch had the champions tunic and hylian shield
Rocket league on switch has Mario, Luigi and Samus cars
Probs on a par with the Rayman Mario costume at least
@ObeseChihuahua2 Tekken Tag Team Tournament for Wii U.
Link's throw in Soul Calibur was ridiculous.
@Clyde_Radcliffe Link's Awakening was a fanservice game long before fanservice was even a commonly spoken term.
Even Iwata was surprised Kirby was in that game, and Kirby's first game had only been released about a year earlier.
Seemed like about the only Nintendo character who WASN'T in that game was Zelda.
Let's not forget Mario and Nintendo stuffs inside LEGO CITY UNDERCOVER on Nintendo machines.
There's also Link costume in Phantasy Star Online 2 Cloud version, Fire Emblem and Xenoblade characters in Project X Zone 2, the Star Fox crew in Starlink, Takamaru and the Murasame Castle in Samurai Warriors 3, Wario in Bomberman GB which stateside called it Wario Blast but technically it's a Bomberman game and was made by Hudson, and Bowser in SimCity for Super NES. Also Minecraft on Wii U and Switch had a ton of Nintendo DLCs too I believe.
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