Kingdom Hearts
A long and often quite melancholy tale of clones, dreamworlds and lost friendship, Kingdom Hearts is a series that really shouldn’t work. Inserting Goofy and Donald Duck to any scene ought to have made it ridiculous enough, but to then sincerely mix that universe with the somber, spiky-haired likes of Final Fantasy’s Cloud Strife seemed like a recipe for disaster. Despite this, fans took wholeheartedly to the game and its myriad spin-offs/sequels. As a testament to its appeal, Kingdom Hearts 3 (around the fifteenth game to be released in the series) is one of the most hotly anticipated releases of the year and adds the likes of Toy Story and Monsters Inc. to the unholy punch bowl of characters.
Rocket League & Every franchise ever.
Fortnite’s appeal being large enough to pull a licensed Infinity War event might seem impressive, but one popular indie game has been quietly pumping out superb licensed DLC packs for over three years now. Psyonix’s successful rocket-car soccer game started small in terms of expansions, adding vehicles from its awkwardly named predecessor, Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars (that’s SARPBC for short). But in October 2015, Rocket League surprised everyone by releasing the Back to the Future Car Park which included none other than the film’s iconic Delorean, complete with unique boost sound effects and flaming tyre tracks (time travelling powers were understandably absent).
Since then Rocket League has proven itself the champion of mashup packs. Filled to the brim with cosmetics from other games, later updates introduced the Batmobile, vehicles from The Fast and the Furious, and toys cars from Hot Wheels. Even Rick & Morty got in on the action, adding cosmetic toppers and boost effects from the show. Play on the Switch and you’ll also have access to Mario and Luigi skins alongside Samus Aran’s gunship in car form. It’s one thing for a behemoth like Fortnite to pull in these kind of connections, another entirely for a smaller studio like Psyonix. Rocket League's marketing team deserves a solid pat on the back, and we can only hope the crossovers will continue for some time to come.
