Summary
One of the most shocking reveals wasFatal Fury: City of Wolvesadding superstar soccer player, Cristiano Ronaldo, to its roster. LeBron James had been featured in Metaverse, an arena fighter, but Ronaldo’s addition to Fatal Fury is the first time an athlete has been added to a traditional fighting game, opening up a bunch of possibilities.
Adding athletes to a game seems unintuitive, but part of the fun of fighting games is how unpredictable and zany the roster is. Sports celebrities can be used to attract more people to experiment with the niche genre and grow the community larger.
Accolades
World Cup Champion, 8 Ballon d’Ors, 4 UEFA Championships
With Ronaldo mixing it up with the SNK universe, it just makes sense to add his rival, doesn’t it? Soccer’s version ofRyu vs. Ken, Lionel Messi has been considered the best player in the sport for 15 years. His popularity only grew when he moved to America and dominated Major League Soccer.
Adding Messi to City of Wolves is unlikely, but it would be incredible to see him go head-to-head with Ronaldo. Perhaps they could both appear in a King of Fighters game. As for Messi’s attributes, he was a more cerebral and team-oriented player compared to Ronaldo. A slower character with a stronger focus on zoning, rather than raw power, would be a fitting design for him.
16-Time World Champion
Recently, John Cena has taken the world by storm by turning heel in preparation for WrestleMania 41. Cena has been the icon of WWE for the last 20 years, and his colorful attire has made him instantly recognizable worldwide.
John Cena already resembles a cartoon character, so his muscles wouldn’t need to be overly exaggerated to adapt him into a video game. His moveset, featuring flying shoulder bumps and big throws, would make him aninteresting grappler type of character, potentially thriving in a 3D fighting game like Tekken.
7 Olympic Gold Medals, 19 World Championships
Biles broke beyond the sports world when she was open about her mental health struggles, making her more relatable than the average Olympian who is often seen as a deity. Simone Biles is not only a great role model but also has a natural charm and energy that could match the zaniness of the fighting game world.
Gymnastics seems like an easy transition into a video game, with characters like Spider-Man from Marvel vs. Capcom or Chip from Guilty Gear serving as inspiration. Flips, triple jumps, wall bounces, and a tiny hurtbox are all the elements needed to make Simone Biles an unpredictable rushdown character.
Track and Field
8 Olympic Gold Medals, 11 World Championships
Every fighting game has a speedster, so adding the world’s fastest person as a guest star seems like a no-brainer. Usain Bolt took the world by storm when he captured eight Olympic gold medals, solidifying his legacy as arguably the greatest sprinter of all time.
It would be worth seeing Usain Bolt in a game just for his victory pose. His moveset could be similar to Makoto from Street Fighter, a character who covers a lot of space very quickly while throwing out attacks.
UFC Bantamweight Champion, 3-Time World Champion, Olympic Bronze Medal
Similar to John Cena, many people know Ronda Rousey from her time in WWE. However, before she was pinning opponents for the three count, she was a legitimate cage fighter, reigning as a bantamweight champion for three years.
With her strong background as an Olympic judoka, her move list would have to focus on grapples and submissions. Goh Hinogami from Virtua Fighter is an excellent example of how a judo practitioner would look in a game.
23 Olympic Gold Medals, 26 World Championships
Adding a swimmer may seem like a strange choice for a fighting game, but just about any real-life figure in such a game is already in bizarre territory. Michael Phelps is arguably the most decorated Olympian of all time and is often part of the conversation for being the best athlete ever.
A dose of Aquaman couldn’t hurt either. Giving Phelps the ability to shoot water projectiles seems like a natural way to put him in league with other superpowered beings. It would require a lot of creativity, but borrowing from Project Justice’s Nagare and making Phelps essentially swim in the air would be a clever way to capture his swimming attributes.
4 Stanley Cups, 9 MVPs
Hockey is filled with fast-paced movements and is typically associated with strong tackles and fighting. While Wayne Gretzky wasn’t the enforcer-type player, he is by far the most famous hockey player and would make a lot of sense as a character in a fighting game.
Since Gretzky isn’t very well-known in Japan, it would probably have to be an American studio adapting him. Given hockey’s association with ice, borrowing from Mortal Kombat’s Sub-Zero’s moveset, like throwing ice on the floor to make opponents slip, seems like a fun way to incorporate Gretzky. Incredible speeds, shoulder tackles, launching pucks, and hitting people with his stick would all provide unique offensive options for his character.
World Series Champion, World Baseball Classic Champion, 3 MVPs
Essentially the modern-day Babe Ruth, Shohei Ohtani has accomplished feats as both a batter and pitcher that no one has done in a hundred years. He further established his legacy as a global icon when he won the World Series in 2024. Ohtani is not only famous in the U.S., but he is an absolute phenomenon in Japan, the home of fighting games.
Project Justice, with its unique roster of characters, already showed how a baseball-oriented character can work through Shoma Sawamura. Shohei could throw baseballs as projectiles while utilizing his bat to gain an advantage in footsies.
Undisputed Heavyweight Champion
Boxers are one of the most common tropes in fighting games. Balrog, the most iconic fighting game character, was directly influenced by Mike Tyson in the first place. Tyson has already carved his way into'80s video game historywith Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!, and the next step would be him throwing a devastating hook at Sol Badguy.
Mike Tyson was an explosive athlete with incredible speed and movement. His ability to bob and weave made him highly elusive while darting in with gigantic punches. A character like Steve Fox already has many of the elements that would make a Mike Tyson-inspired character flow beautifully.
6 NBA Championships, 5 MVPs
LeBron James made a lot of headlines when he was added to Multiverse. The most popular candidate for greatest of all time, and at one point one of the most popular athletes on Earth, Michael Jordan would be a major draw for any fighting game.
Michael Jordan has already tussled with animated characters when he starred in Space Jam. Lucky Glauber is a fighting game character from The King of Fighters who has become obscure but has the built-in set revolving around basketball that could serve as a template for Michael Jordan and other basketball players in the future. If Jordan has a super, it absolutely has to be an iconic free-throw line dunk, with a splash of fire involved in the animation, of course.
