Fighting Game Characters - Separated at Birth

PART 1

"Casual" Morrigan and Remy

"Casual" Morrigan is a reoccurring alternate outfit for the iconic Darkstalkers succubus appearing in a wide variety of titles, from the Darkstalkers series, to Marvel Vs. Capcom, to Card Fighters Clash, to the Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge anime. It's pretty much her "2-player" outfit if there ever was one. In Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, Remy made a fashion statement with his cool KOF-style threads — including his perfectly tailored red pants and tight jacket. Not only are their clothing styles comparable, but they both have shoulder-length teal hair! Could Remy be Morrigan's bastard son? Have succubi even have kids?

Kage & Lucky Chloe

Remember that "awkward time" during the lifecycle of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures toy line in the 90's (or really any popular action figures line), when they started heavily milking the popularity of it by introducing brainless rehash designs like "scuba dive action Raphael" and "Chef Leonardo"? It seems that's about where SFV's lifecycle is... near the end. Kage looks like one of those overpowered MUGEN characters... but he also looks like Lucky Chloe from TEKKEN 7. Ryu has gone kawaii.

This is no "Evil" Ryu. This is the type of Ryu that gets kicked out of a hardcore German goth club and told to go down the street to the "ravers club" where the furries and glow-light-wearin' anime folk are hanging out. Kage? More like Kah-gay. This character doesn't look evil at all. Lucky Chloe wants her cat ear headphones back. The decision to give Ryu a long red ribbon around his neck only makes him look more like Lucky Chloe.

I'm marking this one as coincidence... only because Ryu could never have as much fashion sense as Lucky Chloe.

Freeman, Carmine & Tsukikage

Freeman debuted as the "freak" of Garou: Mark of The Wolves in 1999. He's a dark, evil badass, yet some might say he was a "sleeper" character in Garou. However, Freeman definitely seems to have inspired a couple of "wannabes" over the past 15+ years he's been around. In 2012, Carmine appeared in Under Night-In Birth, boasting mannerisms and attacks quite similar to Freeman (his walking animation is exactly the same, too).

Yeah... I'm suuuuure that's a coincidence. The designers of Xuan Dou Zhi Wang had a similar idea around the same time, as Tsukikage made his debut in early 2013. Tsukikage is even more of a Freeman clone... with tons of "claw attacks" and very very similar mannerisms. Call them rip-offs maybe, but Carmine & Tsukikage are actually pretty cool fighters in their respective games. In a cross-over alternate universe, it's pretty clear that all 3 of them are part of the same gang or cult, and trained under the same master... (who hasn't debuted in a fighting game yet).

Phoenix Wright & Captain Commando

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Captain Commando debuted in 1991... Phoenix Wright exactly 10 years later in 2001. Hmmm. Same hairstyle? Uh huh. They both wear blue. Hmph. And wait a second, is Captain Commando doing the iconic "Objection" pose in his Namco X Capcom artwork? This could only mean one thing... Captain Commando IS Phoenix Wright from the future (2026 to be exact).

Sarah Bryant, Nina Williams, Jill Valentine, Zero Suit Samus Aran & Cassie Cage

This is ridiculous.... just ridiculous. First off, Sarah Bryant, you were indeed the first hot blonde in skin-tight blue spandex in the fighting game universe, so no one is blaming you. Nina Williams, you were the second, but you had some badass moves that Sarah could never dream of doing. Nina & Sarah had their fair share of similarities in the 90's, but were different enough when it came down to brass tax.

Then... about 15 years later, in RE5 (and later in MVC3) Capcom decides to reinvent the iconic brunette from Resident Evil, Jill Valentine, by slapping some blonde hair on her and giving her a skin-tight outfit that's nearly identical to Nina's.

Seriously Capcom? And then... there's Zero Suit Samus by Nintendo. *sigh* Alright, it's official... LISTEN UP FIGHTING GAME DESIGNERS - You are no longer allowed to create any more blonde-haired girls wearing blue spandex suits.... NO MORE.

[UPDATE] I said NO MORE... but of course, in late 2014... NetherRealm Studios had to do it. They just had to. The blonde-haired chick in a bluish spandex suit is just too tempting... I know. No other hair color or suit color could've possibly worked. Congrats Johnny Cage & Sonya Blade..... you assholes.

Kitana & Psylocke

Considering the rising popularity of Marvel comics in the early 90's, it'd be hard to make a case that the Mortal Kombat 2 designers weren't 135% inspired by Psylocke when they created Kitana (along with Mileena & Jade)... whether or not they were conscious of it.

Any way you shake it, the similarities here are too obvious. It's actually almost surprising Kitana became so popular, as she was almost a total ripoff of Psylocke. Thankfully, Katana's iconic weapon... her bladed fans... add quite a lot to her design and enable her to stand out on her own.

Quan Chi & Kratos

A past MK9 video interview revealed that the creators of Kratos did acknowledge their character's likeness to Quan Chi back when they created him, and were even "slightly worried about a lawsuit". Quan Chi and Kratos definitely have obvious likenesses, even though they're very different when it comes to fighting style and storyline. It's also pretty damn ironic that they eventually appeared in the same game (MK9)!

Miguel & Joe The Condor

While these two don't have much in common at first glance, if you've played TEKKEN 6 and Tatsunoko VS Capcom: UAS... you'd immediately get it. Condor Joe's "lazy" fighting stance in TVC is nearly a replica's of Miguel's. That begs the question: Was Capcom inspired by Miguel's stance when they were animating Condor Joe's? There's a very good chance. This is why this particular likeness is possibly intentional. Also comparable are their messy hairstyles. Other than that, their fighting styles are mostly completely different. Both characters are very "cool" dudes on their own.

Haohmaru & Mitsurugi

The similarities between these two badass samurai are easy to see. An untrained eye probably can't even tell them apart. Most notable is Mitsurugi's awesome 2-player outfit in Soul Calibur 2, which is pretty much an artistic "homage" to Haohmaru's default attire. For old school Samurai Shodown fans, Mitsu's 2P costume was a surely an added bonus in the game.

In any case, both Haohmaru and Mitsurugi are badass character designs in their own way, and two of my favorite fighting game characters of all time. For the record, Mitsurugi and Haohmaru are both based on the famous samurai and author of the Book of Five Rings, Miyamoto Musashi.

Continue To Part 2!

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