2026 is BIG for Fighting Games

2026 is set to become a big year for fighting games and the whole FGC. And because we got a handful of things coming on the docket for fighting games, 2026 is going to be one heck of a year for fighting games. So today, I'm gonna be talking about how 2026 is going to be a big year for fighting games.

Before we talk about what several things are coming in 2026, we need to talk about something good has happened in 2025 when it comes to fighting games. Tekken 3 has launched into the classics catalog on the PS4 and PS5. It was the final game to ever release on the PS3 before Bandai Namco moved on with the series to produce games on the PS2. It is indeed one of the classic fighting games I have played back in the day. Then Soul Calibur III came along, another classic fighting game I played back in the day and the first PS2 fighting game to come to the catalog. These threequels were the games I wished for and that met with excitement among the FGC that they want to revisit these games. These games are now available on the classics catalog, so go check it out.

Now let's move on to something interesting. It's about the two fighting games, Street Fighter 6 and Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. What is so special about them? Well, there are four popular characters, Ken Masters, Chun-Li, Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui. So these characters have became guest stars in both respective games and they are available now on the store. With these characters, a fan demand for a new Capcom vs. SNK is very high and we could see it announced any day.

With that out of the way, we can now talk about exciting things coming in 2026 for fighting games. Now, I know that everyone's initial reaction would think that I'm gonna start with Skullgirls. But it's gonna be later on in this post because I need to talk about the bigger stuff first.

Back in June's State of Play, Sony has announced the upcoming new fighting game being developed by Arc System Works, Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls. This is an innovative 4v4 tag fighter that features characters from Marvel Comics. Arc System Works had brought the Marvel fighting game foundation back into the limelight following Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite's poor reception and sales that had soured the relationship between both companies. Then the series has went on a hiatus for over eight years and we've been begging for a new Marvel vs. Capcom or a new Marvel fighter until Arc System Works has fulfilled our wish and took the mantle of developing a new Marvel fighter being Marvel Tokon: Fighting Sōuls.

While Marvel Tōkon is a 4v4 tag fighter, the four members of each team share with one health bar and uses multiple rounds unlike others where multiple teammates have their own health bar. But no new characters beyond the first eight characters were announced this year other than Spider-Man and Ghost Rider's re-introduction to the roster. However, there aren't any news for Marvel Tōkon at the Game Awards and no firm release date was announced yet.

These statements were cranked up when the second Closed Beta was announced to actually have Spider-Man and Ghost Rider in the roster with other characters. Since Sony announced that 2026 is gonna be big and they're going to bring in new characters beyond the first eight, including their all-time favorites, there are requests for Venom, Wolverine, Deadpool, the Punisher, Psylocke, Hulk, Luna Snow, and well, probably the loudest of them all, Emma Frost. These characters are great and I would like to see them. Who knows? Maybe these characters can potentially make their debut.

And do you know what else is coming out in 2026? Invincible VS. It is an upcoming 3v3 tag fighter that features a handful of Invincible characters intended for mature audiences due to it being an M-rated game because of the gore and frequent swearing at a severe level, living up to the fact that the comic book series and its animated series are meant for adults. The game had its Closed Beta couple weeks ago and launching in April with a launch roster of 18 characters, with more characters to come.

What I love about Invincible VS is that it is anything like Marvel vs. Capcom 3 because it uses 3D models and has 3v3 tag battles, air combos and a four-button control scheme. But the only difference is that the since it's an M-rated Marvel vs. Capcom 3-esque 3v3 tag fighter, there is a ton of blood and gore in it and uses lv. 3 supers that mutilate and dismember opponents' body parts when their HP is at 0. They are similar to Mortal Kombat X's Brutalities, but flashier. So basically, you can't play Invincible VS when you're not of age since it's an M-rated game, living up to the fact that Invincible is only appropriate for mature audiences. That's what the "MAY CONTAIN CONTENT INAPPROPRIATE FOR CHILDREN" warning is for.

Marvel Tōkon and Invincible VS coming out in 2026 comes with the 2026 Competitive Series and the full launch for Riot's free-to-play fighting game, 2XKO. Ever since Closed Beta, the competitive scene for 2XKO has grown and unleashed its full potential that Riot has even went the extra mile to bring online and offline events into the spotlight with the First Impact program, coming to a close. To push the competitive scene even further, Riot is bringing direct support to 20 offline tournaments, divided by five seasons tied to 2XKO's ingame seasons sporting four events on each season, with one major and three challenger events through the 2026 Competitive Series.

Since 2XKO is launching on console in January, basically meaning that 2XKO will be officially released on PC and console beyond PC Early Access in January, that's where they come in to bring PS5s into offline events going forward. The first major event is Frosty Faustings XVIII to kick off the Competitive Series with 12 characters in Season 1, including Caitlyn, who will be legal from the get go in Frosty Faustings and is one of the characters I have theorized. While their experience is most definetely an issue, it's actually great news that we're getting Caitlyn before Katarina. It's because I am eager to find out how will she play in 2XKO since she's a Marksman in League of Legends. Yeah, step aside, Erron Black, we're getting a new sheriff in town. Wow, so banter.

Since 2XKO is launching on console in January, basically meaning that 2XKO will be officially released on PC and console beyond PC Early Access in January, that's where they come in to bring PS5s into offline events.

Riot has released the console trailer. Then it was immediately put on private after they spotted the release date for when 2XKO is officially launching on PC and console. So, Riot, why are you putting the trailer on private all of a sudden? Was there something we weren't supposed to see?

Fortunately, Knoebel first spotted the leaked console and trailer art, with Gematsu confirming the multiplatform shift after Riot put the trailer in private. The art with 11 characters that are launch characters shows that 2XKO will leave Early Access on PC and officially launch on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S January 20, looking at the remaining time on Season 0. Since Early Access won't involve any more progress resets, our progress we made during Early Access will be kept when the game officially launches. This art has something we're not supposed to see, the official release date for 2XKO being January 20th.

Riot could've just at least redacted the release date at the end of the trailer before publishing it in the first place. When there are a lot of fans just excited for 2XKO coming to consoles on that day when they watched the trailer, Riot had to put the video on private without an explanation, like nothing happened.

There is something exciting regarding the Competitive Series, but before we get to that, let's talk about Evo. The Evolution Champion Series has become the most prestigious fighting game convention filled with events, tournaments, cosplays, art stations, demos, booths and reveals, being the E3 of fighting games. Back in the day, they had nine games in the lineup, until in 2023 when they had eight games in the lineup. The event has cranked up to 11 when there are 12 games in one lineup in not just Evo 2026, but also Evo Japan 2026.

Here's a look at the lineups for both Evo Las Vegas 2026 and Evo Japan 2026. Both events are having 12 games in one lineup to have 12 champions to crown, the first time and the biggest step up since Evo 2023 when it had eight games in the lineup. I'm gonna take both lineups for Evo 2026 and Evo Japan 2026 and decipher the games across the board. Since there are a dozen games, it'll have the top six games with the most amount of signups being played in the arena where Top 8 takes place and the bottom six games with the least amount of signups being played outside of the arena during Top 8 in Evo 2026. This lineup is so grand that BlazBlue: Central Fiction piggybacked off wanting BBTAG in the lineup so that we can see the 3.0 Character Pack or BBTAG 2 and both events have a free-to-play fighting game like 2XKO in the lineup. Let's get to deciphering the lineups. We'll start with the games that are in both events.

Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, Guilty Gear Strive, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, Under Night In-Birth II: Sys:Celes and Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising are in both lineups as returning faces. The new faces in both events are Virtua Fighter 5 REVO: World Stage, Vampire Savior and 2XKO. Trust me, this is important to understand that since Vampire Savior is in both events, they need to boot up Capcom Fighting Collection 1. It's faster than setting up the arcade cabinet for this game.

Now for the games that are in one event. BlazBlue: Central Fiction is the only returning game being played in Evo while KOF XV and Melty Blood: Type Lumina are the returning games being played in Evo Japan. Invincible VS and Rivals of Aether II are the new games being played in Evo while Hokuto no Ken, means Fist of the North Star in Japanese, is the only new game being played in Evo Japan.

Games in both Evo events:

Street Fighter 6
Tekken 8
Guilty Gear Strive
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves
Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising
Under Night In-Birth II: Sys:Celes
Virtua Fighter 5 REVO: World Stage
Vampire Savior
2XKO

Games in one Evo event:

BlazBlue: Central Fiction (Evo 2026)
Rivals of Aether II (Evo 2026)
Invincible VS (Evo 2026)
Melty Blood: Type Lumina (Evo Japan 2026)
King of Fighters XV (Evo Japan 2026)
Hokuto no Ken (Evo Japan 2026)

Returning games:

Street Fighter 6 (Both)
Tekken 8 (Both)
Guilty Gear Strive (Both)
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves (Both)
Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising (Both)
Under Night In-Birth II: Sys:Celes (Both)
BlazBlue: Central Fiction (Evo 2026)
Melty Blood: Type Lumina (Evo Japan 2026)
King of Fighters XV (Evo Japan 2026)

New games:

Virtua Fighter 5 REVO: World Stage (Both)
Vampire Savior (Both)
Rivals of Aether II (Evo 2026)
Invincible VS. (Evo 2026)
2XKO (Both)
Hokuto no Ken (Evo Japan 2026)

So we now have the games listed separately to have a clarification of which of these games are in both Evo events, in one Evo event, returning and new games, making it 15 different games being played in Evo 2026 and Evo Japan 2026 without a subjective listing. I am quite surprised that Marvel Tōkon isn't in any of the Evo events. It's because the firm release date has not been announced yet. Since both Evo and Evo Japan are gonna have a dozen games in the lineup, can Evo France have a dozen games in its lineup too? We will find out.

Now we can get to the exciting news regarding the 2026 Competitive Series. Both Evo 2026 and Evo Japan 2026 have 2XKO in the lineup. What this means is that since 2XKO is being played in both Evo events, they are both chosen to be major events for the 2026 Competitive Series, with Evo Japan 2026 as the Season 2 major event and Evo 2026 as the Season 3 major event. It even came close to how exciting the part where Skullgirls was chosen to actually be in the main lineup for Evo 2022, the first event since the COVID-19 pandemic has hit was. It is hopeful that 2XKO is being played in both Evo and Evo Japan in 2026 as major events for the Competitive Series, but it is unknown that 2XKO will also be played at next year's Evo France as a major or challenger event. It is ways to go and it's proven to be far from my sight.

Regardless, what would be amazing is that if there is a duo of Vi and Caitlyn, both outside and inside the competitive scene, it's gonna be very exciting as as watching all-female matches in 2XKO, which I have been wondering if that has more kicks than women's tag team wrestling. And since Caitlyn is the fifth female Champion, the chance of experiencing an all-female match has increased a bit. Don't worry, more female characters after Caitlyn will make their debut to the game.

But 2XKO will not the only tag fighter coming in Evo 2026 because Invincible VS is also being played. With 2XKO and Invincible VS being played at Evo for the first time, it's gonna be a blockbuster and a Cinderella story despite Mortal Kombat 1 being absent since Invincible VS has taken that spot because they knew that the lineup needs to have at least one M-rated fighting game that children under 17 can't play. But one Invincible character being Omni Man made his debut to Mortal Kombat 1 and that could serve as a tech demo for an Invincible fighting game that came into fruition.

Speaking of, did you know that there is a Mightykeef skit that covers the Evo 2026 lineup, but also covers everyone's reaction to how Mortal Kombat 1 couldn't be chosen? It came out on Christmas Eve and became so emotional that for years, Mortal Kombat has been on the lineup and it was rejected from next year's Evo. But that's not the first time it happened. The first time it happened was when they had an Evo 2020 lineup announcement, until the pandemic hit to relegate Evo to an online format to have online tournaments for games with rollback netcode and brought Mortal Kombat 11 back into the mix.

I think that in almost every Evo skit, I kept on hearing, "He ain't even out yet. He could flop," which has been the trope that has been used about games that came out before Evo. 2018 was BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle, 2019 was Samurai Shodown, 2020 was Granblue Fantasy Versus, 2021 was Guilty Gear Strive and 2026 will be Invincible VS to come out before Evo.

And here's another thing. Back in 2007, Nintendo has worked with Evo to bring Smash into the events. It has grown for years until in 2022 when Nintendo has announced that they are pulling Smash from Evo in its entirety following Sony's purchase of the event. Evo 2022 was the first event since Nintendo has announced that they won't be a part of Evo. But one platform fighter being played in Evo 2026 is Rivals of Aether II, an indie platform fighter that is released exclusively on PC. And there is an indie tag fighter that is akin to 2XKO. I'll tell you more about it in a future post. Stay tuned for that.

Now we're ready to move to familiar territory. Someone ring up Valentine because it's time to operate. Back in 2021, Hidden Variable has taken over 2nd Encore development with the inception of the Season 1 Pass containing Annie and three characters. They released one character per year, but not during crunch time. 2021 was Annie, 2022 was Umbrella, 2023 was Black Dahlia, and 2024 was Marie being the cherry on top, literally, if you look at the character select screen. With all four characters in the Season 1 Pass and the update with the Season 1 Pass for the Nintendo Switch and Xbox ports came out, the general balance patch came to bring balance changes to the whole cast as the cherry on top.

The only thing that made me excited about it was the innovations introduced to Star Power, with H specials offering EX special moves and all that. That made me feel like I was playing BlazBlue, but with Annie that wanting her in BBTAG is like wanting her in Melty Blood: Type Lumina. By the time the update came out, Annie was having an audio issue on PlayStation, which I why I didn't record her tutorial and edit it to play Justice Sword in the background until the hotfix came. I made posts at the Skullheart Forums that praised how the general balance patch became so well done, but I got straight up humiliated by that pig slop low content post penalty smear. It makes no sense at all whatsoever. I praised the devs for their hard work on the general balance patch and they dare humiliate me, penalizing me for a low content post? No, humiliation is NOT a good thing.

Originally, Hidden Variable said that they would release the additional VO content consisting of English and Japanese VO for the Season Pass characters' story modes, Japanese VO for the Season Pass characters during combat and Annie's alternative voice pack. But they had to delay it to 2025, which is the year we're on now almost coming to an end. But we didn't get word about it because of what happened.

Back in November 1, 2024, payments started rolling in for Autumn to pay what they owe, but refused to make a single payment. They had until January 21 to make payments. However, when none of the payments came, Hidden Variable provided Autumn with login information needed to provide community support so that it wouldn't cause any damage, then filed a lawsuit against Autumn for alleged breaches of contract, et al. This exposed the main reason why we haven't gotten word about the additional VO content for 2nd Encore because Hidden Variable is no longer involved in the development of Skullgirls due to that legal dispute with Autumn.

Thankfully, Skullgirls is staying alive that Autumn is leading the development of this game and that's a good thing. It's definetely a good thing because there are couple pieces of content left over like Roxie, the third guest star, additional VO content consisting of Annie's alternative voice pack and English and Japanese VO for the Season Pass characters on Story Mode and for combat. However, we didn't get word about any of them because they were working on the long-awaited feature, Guilds. They have been promising this feature since they have taken over in the past few months. And now that the Guilds have launched back in November, the next chapter of Skullgirls development can REALLY begin in the New Year for both 2nd Encore and Mobile. In fact, it's gonna be a fresh new chapter since 2nd Encore is now available on PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Switch.

The Skullgirls Community Tour has been announced to have a year of online and offline tournaments, like 2XKO's First Impact program, which has tournaments for the rest of the year since Early Access launched. 2nd Encore's X account has posted their first message on X since Autumn has taken over. Because of the Skullgirls Community Tour to energize the community after the delay of the additional VO content that frustrated us and with the Guilds have launched, it's a case to say that Autumn is gonna pick up the pieces Hidden Variable has left over. And not just that, but also grow as a team and make changes to their database to speed up development going forward for both Mobile and 2nd Encore.

The difference between the Skullgirls Community Tour and the 2XKO Competitive Series is pronounced. While the Skullgirls Community Tour has offline events, it also has online events, with TNS Online as the first online event starting in January 4, unlike the Competitive Series, which only has local tournaments. And while TNS Online is the first event for the Community Tour, it's actually a warmup event before the first offline tournament, Frosty Faustings XVIII, which is the event to kick off both the Skullgirls Community Tour and the 2XKO Competitive Series that the new chapter of Skullgirls development really begins while 2XKO launches on console with Season 1 in January 2026 and fair enough. If we get announcements for both games, it'll be exciting, and wouldn't that be cool?

Additionally, I'm going to innovate listening to BBTAG music while playing Skullgirls. I play the theme of the stage at the beginning of the match until one character dies on both teams and solo matches. On teams, I play the point character's theme upon arrival after the death of a teammate, while on solos, I play the stage's theme at the beginning and play the theme of the character who won that round, like how 2XKO plays the theme of the character that takes the round. But it's gonna be on certain stages.

I want to show you some palettes I made on the Skullheart Forums to honor the upcoming new chapter of Skullgirls development. First off, we'll start with the elephant in the room, an update regarding my projects. Here's a look at the BBTAG palettes for Skullgirls characters. You will notice that it has a gradient to give slots flair and updated some of the characters' images as they are in HD. These palettes are so neat that Zone-Tan is actually eligible for her Yukiko Amagi palette. I'm sorry that no new characters were added beyond Zone-Tan because submissions are temporarily closed as they are reworking submission progress. But don't worry, they'll reopen soon. Probably in the New Year.

I find it weird that big sisters usually boss little sisters around, so I made the Renoir sisters the palettes of Pelekai sisters, with Parasoul in her Nani Pelekai palette and Umbrella in her Lilo Pelekai palette and Hungern in his Stitch palette. When I first made them, I was intrigued by the flair and happy with how well they turned out. Shout outs to watching the live action Lilo and Stitch for driving me to do this endeavor. I didn't have the time to look for a Hawaiian background to give it flair because I was lazy to do that.

Why stop at the Renoir sisters' Linda and Louise Belcher palettes when I have more Bob's Burgers' palettes to share here. Here is Cerebella and Feng in their Jocelyn and Tammy Larsen palettes. After I made them, I find them intriguing and the quality is astonishing as those of the Pelekai sisters palettes.

And finally in the Bob's Burgers palettes department, Beowulf and Annie in their Bob and Tina Belcher palettes with Sagan in his Gene Belcher palette. We have a clear look at these palettes as new submissions were added. Just look at the quality. It's so much better.

I wouldn't dare announce what I have been working on behind the scenes until the time is right. And now that the time is right as Autumn is bringing the development of Skullgirls to the next chapter really beginning in 2026 as they set their sights on new features as they grow as a team, here it is, the Skullgirls X Bob's Burgers collection. We have a full view of these palettes without a subjective viewing. A special shoutout to 20th Century Fox, now renamed to 20th Century Studios as Disney now owns Fox and even a dream combination of Wilo Productions, Buck & Millie Productions, DiC and Buena Vista International, Inc. Autumn is going to take Skullgirls to the next level.

And speaking of taking it to the next level, Madxruler has announced something very big for their fan project, Sega vs. Capcom: The Next Level.

Right off the bat, the trailer starts out with Sonic and X getting an update to their art style, indicating that each character is having an update to their art style that fits with the BG of the stage. The trailer also shows new moves for existing characters and two new characters, Vyse from Skies from Arcadia and Morrigan from Darkstalkers. We also saw Sonic shooting waves out of his kicks like in Sonic Frontiers and even Vyse using the Skull Shield as his Persona.

But that was just a tease on what to expect, so the full trailer will drop in January while the full game will come out in July 2026 for Season 1 with the possibility of releasing the game at Dream Con, which would be way after 2XKO's launch in January 2026 for Season 1 and the kickoff of the Competitive Series with Frosty Faustings XVIII.

Now, because it was a teaser, they haven't shown any new features, new characters beyond Vyse and Morrigan or when is the next Beta yet. We will see when the full trailer drops. I was gonna do a reaction video regarding the short trailer, but decided to wait until the full trailer comes out.

We are approaching the New Year and headed into 2026, the year that is gonna be a strong and a big year for fighting games because we got 2XKO launching with the Competitive Series, the next chapter of Skullgirls development with the Community Tour, Evo and Evo Japan having 12 games, Invincible VS and Marvel Tōkon coming out and Sega vs. Capcom: The Next Level going to officially launch with an overhaul in 2026. Here's to a wonderful New Year. Now, the moral of the story for the FGC, never win one match and then just dip or rage quit online.

2XKO 2026 Characters Theory (UPDATE 1)

Caitlyn Kiramman, the renowned Sheriff of Piltover, noble member of the Kiramman family, Vi's best friend, has been announced at the Game Awards as the 12th character for 2XKO. This is not fake news or some rumor. In a not cursed timeline imaginable, we're getting Caitlyn before Katarina and this is actually great news. Let's jump right in.

Well, time is broken, war has been declared, Hell has turned blue and the nomadic tribe is enslaved. I want to give you all an update about my theory about what are the five characters coming to 2XKO in 2026. Now, if you have been living under a rock, I originally said that Katarina would be a guaranteed 12th character and is likely to be revealed at the Game Awards in a couple of my posts I made, but apparently, it's not the case because it's someone else, but is indeed one of the characters I theorized, though. Ladies and gents, the renowned hitwoman, Caitlyn Kiramman, the Sheriff of Piltover.

Like Jinx and Teemo, Caitlyn is a Marksman character who is known wielding her powerful Hextech rifle. As I typically knew, Caitlyn is confirmed because of that one video that talks about Warwick and Caitlyn being confirmed. It's actually great news that we're getting Caitlyn Kiramman, the Sheriff of Piltover, before Katarina, the Sinister Blade of Noxus. There is something about Caitlyn I am quite excited for. The one that is obvious is that she will be the fifth female character and the fifth Arcane character and I want to find out how our rifle chick is gonna play in 2XKO.

Now, this is the part where you might say that I'm an Arcane shill, but before you do, I gotta explain myself. Why is it great news? It's actually not the fact that Caitlyn is the fifth Arcane character and I want to find out how she would actually play in a fighting game. But better yet, Caitlyn and Vi are BFFP, which stands for best female friends of Piltover.

A lot of people are willing to have a team that involves the Piltover duo. It lives up to the fact that Caitlyn is often paired with Vi, acting as a cool counterpoint to her partner's impetuous nature. The duo is pretty much bullets and punches, with Caitlyn all about the bullets and Vi all about the punches. That's why it's great news that we're getting Caitlyn before Katarina. Adapting a ranged character like Caitlyn to a fighting game is indeed possible and it's legally in accordance with the Geneva Convention, or in this case, the Piltover Convention.

But Caitlyn is not the first ranged character who was adapted to 2XKO. Jinx was the first character who brings a minigun, and a rocket launcher in 2XKO. And she didn't just bring guns, she also brought a hammer seen in Arcane. Then Teemo came to bring not just his blow dart, but also his slingshot, a frying pan, a small axe and even a Sonic Spinball dash. And I think that Caitlyn is gonna have the same treatment as Jinx and Teemo, with firing her rifle with S1, firing a net with away S1, throwing Hextech grenades with S2 and placing Yordle traps with down S2. Sure, it'll feel like you're playing a shooting game like Call of Duty, Battlefield, Rainbow Six, Overwatch and even ARC Raiders, but with Caitlyn.

I made a post on X explaining how Caitlyn would play in 2XKO, including the Hextech grenades part. You might be saying, "Wait a sec, why would you think that Caitlyn would carry grenades in 2XKO?" Well, because she is a sheriff and sheriffs typically carry grenades in their arsenal, but they are only less lethal to not kill victims. Since Caitlyn is the sheriff of Piltover, she would carry Hextech grenades like how Teemo carries his slingshot in 2XKO. This is a perfect example of innovations exclusive to 2XKO. See, Caitlyn is indeed the character I wanted anyway. When I saw her, I felt the same way when one of the games that use Sofdec and ADX is launching on PlayStation Plus.

However, her gameplay remains a mystery because her trailer hasn't been dropped yet, but we can expect her moveset to be similar to the MOBA counterpart and she's gonna be a long-range character like Jinx, but no zoning play as she's is going to deliver headshots, indicating Caitlyn can be a decent Champion to play as. I do want to pop some heads with this chick. That is the dopamine rush I need as a fan of shooting games.

Predicted 2026 character roadmap:

Season 1 - Caitlyn ✅
Season 2 - Katarina
Season 3 - Kennen
Season 4 - Akali
Season 5 - Miss Fortune

While the predicted character roadmap has changed a bit as Caitlyn is actually coming to 2XKO in Season 1 as the first 2026 character, not Katarina, she is one of the characters that I have theorized and wished for, so I put a checkmark next to her and that's one for one. If Katarina or any other predicted character actually comes in Season 2, it'll be two for two.

Season 1 character roster:

Ahri
Blitzcrank
Braum
Caitlyn
Darius
Ekko
Illaoi
Jinx
Teemo
Vi
Warwick
Yasuo

Right off the bat, I'm gonna take the Season 1 character roster and divide the current roster by two sides of the character select screen, the SEGA and Capcom sides, across the board. The Season 1 character roster has an even number of 12 characters that it has an Ionian on each end of the list. But don't worry, it's benefical.

Now, I went to 2XKO's Wikipedia page and discovered that Caitlyn's name is listed on there as she is confirmed with a [b] label like with Katarina, basically meaning that future characters beyond Warwick will have it. I'm leaving out Katarina because she's not in the roster yet. Now, let's get to dividing the roster. We'll start with the SEGA side.

Ahri and Braum will remain on the SEGA side, but Darius, Illaoi, Teemo and Warwick will move to the SEGA side with Ahri and Braum. The SEGA side will have Ahri, Braum, Darius, Illaoi, Teemo and Warwick. Now, this is important to remember as the characters are listed in ABC order.

Blitzcrank will remain on the Capcom side, but Ekko, Jinx, Vi and Yasuo will move to the Capcom side to pave the way for Caitlyn to be on the Capcom side with Blitzcrank, Ekko, Jinx, Vi and Yasuo. That puts Blitzcrank, Caitlyn, Ekko, Jinx, Vi and Yasuo on the Capcom side.

SEGA side:

Ahri
Braum
Darius
Illaoi
Teemo
Warwick

Capcom side:

Blitzcrank
Caitlyn
Ekko
Jinx
Vi
Yasuo

So we now have six characters on each side, totalling it to 12 characters as Caitlyn is the new gal on the Capcom side at the moment. An even number of 12 characters Season 1 will have without a subjective information. And to be honest, I think Teemo being on the SEGA side is perfect because of that spinball dash. It has one Ionian on each side, with Ahri on the SEGA side and Yasuo on the Capcom side.

This has been a natural deal because both SEGA vs. Capcom: The Next Level and 2XKO have announcements this month. But there is a difference between Vyse and Morrigan's launch in SEGA vs. Capcom and Caitlyn Kiramman's launch in 2XKO. And that difference is pronounced.

See, when Caitlyn launches, she'll be obtainable through redeeming Battle Pass XP to complete a Recruitment Event or purchasing the Ultra Battle Pass tier and in the store for 1,000 KO Points or one Champion Token. Then she gets available to purchase for 10,000 Credits in the store once the first three weeks of Season 1 is up. But Vyse and Morrigan get available from the get-go.

As stated before, Caitlyn will be the fifth Arcane character to have her special skin like others before her. However, it won't be obtained through the pack. It'll be obtained by purchasing the Ultra tier of the Battle Pass like Warwick's. 2XKO now has five Arcane characters, all polished up on a silver platter with their special skins and ready to go for cosplaying at Evo 2026 and Evo Japan 2026, which are chosen to be major events for 2XKO's 2026 Competitive Series, indicating that they might announce a character before Top 8 at Evo 2026, Evo Japan 2026 and even Frosty Faustings XVIII being the first major event to kick things off, though their planned Competitive Series is nothing like Capcom Pro-Tour or Tekken World Tour as it brings direct support to 20 Riot-sanctioned events rather than creating their own league since Shaun stated that they already have Caitlyn and a lot of future characters locked in for quite some time, which is by no means a bad thing.

"Oh my god, another Arcane character?" Riot has said that after Caitlyn, they are done with bringing Arcane characters for now. But that doesn't mean we're not gonna see anymore Arcane characters after Caitlyn. It's likely to be in 2027, because if you look at each phase that introduced one Arcane character. Ekko was introduced in Alpha Lab 1, Jinx was introduced in Alpha Lab 2, Vi was introduced in Closed Beta, Warwick was introduced in Early Access, and Caitlyn will be introduced in 2026 as the fifth Arcane character to increase the chances of experiencing an Arcane match.

While we didn't get an official trailer yet, likely to drop in the New Year, Caitlyn is guaranteed to not only have the same treatment as Jinx and Teemo, be slated to launch on January 2026 along with the console launch and come with a new stage while PC players can get it on the same day. She could also have the same treatment and performance as Erron Black, with using her fists with low normals, swinging her rifle with medium, high and launcher normals, throwing Hextech grenades and getting her rifle out to shoot and then putting it away, but gonna have unlimited ammo. I'm speculating that Caitlyn might be the Erron Black of 2XKO. We will see if my speculation is true or not once the trailer comes.

And soon, Caitlyn will follow Jinx's path and get armed and ready reporting for duty. 2XKO now has two characters with guns. Jinx is known her set of guns and Caitlyn is known for her Hextech rifle. If Jinx and Caitlyn can be well-adapted into 2XKO, then any other character who uses guns can be well-adapted into 2XKO, including the one character I'm theorizing that is red-headed like Katarina and Vi, and uses not one gun, but two guns, who goes by the name of Sarah Fortune. But thankfully, since Shaun has announced that they already have Caitlyn and numerous future Champions planned well and locked in way ahead of time, and with the Brazen Hydra having pirates in the background and a decorative pirate ship, Sarah may have more of a chance to make her debut to 2XKO.

Predicted 2026 character roster:

Ahri
Akali
Blitzcrank
Braum
Caitlyn
Darius
Ekko
Illaoi
Jinx
Katarina
Kennen
Miss Fortune
Teemo
Vi
Warwick
Yasuo

Predicted 2026 character roster on the SEGA side:

Ahri
Blitzcrank
Caitlyn
Ekko
Jinx
Kennen
Teemo
Warwick

Predicted 2026 character roster on the Capcom side:

Akali
Braum
Darius
Illaoi
Katarina
Miss Fortune
Vi
Yasuo

And because Caitlyn is the character I theorized, all predicted lists above remain unchanged. But this is only the first update about my theory, so the next update will release when the next two characters after Caitlyn are announced.

2XKO 2026 Characters Theory

We're approaching the time when Riot is gonna announce the next 2XKO character at the Game Awards that is a Season 1 character of 2026, and they don't have to just announce the next character, but also show us some sort of Season Pass-style yearly character roadmap that has five characters, each labelled with a Season and also pull a Tekken 8 and reveal the Season 2 character at the end of the Season 1 character trailer. That or reveal the rest of the characters right off the bat. So today, I'm gonna list five characters potentially coming to 2XKO in 2026.

Before I begin, I need to make a statement that this post does not provide a firm information on who are the characters will actually be or confirm that these are actually the 2026 characters coming to 2XKO. This provides educated guesses and a theory on which of the five 2026 characters could be coming. But there are some small pieces of information I came across on the Internet that can draw us closer to seeing who the characters will actually be in 2026.

That said, I'll be listing the five characters that I think could hypothetically come to 2XKO in 2026. If you don't think that my theory could be true, it's fine. Just refer to the pieces of information I came across that can confirm it.

1. Katarina

If you remember what happened to Katarina, she was Thanos-snapped from the game's early stages of development because Riot had to go back to the drawing board after looking at the art style from League of Legends and changing the art style to something that fits well in a fighting game. But look at the game's Wikipedia page that is now updated to reflect when the game is launching on console, which is January 2026, a perfect date for the game's official launch, her name is on the list of confirmed characters with a [b] mark after her name representing that she is guaranteed to be announced at the Game Awards as the 12th character.

And it's not just her name being listed in the game's Wikipedia page that confirms this, but Arucelli did her magic in working on a concept art for Katarina and submitting it to the designers as well to also confirm this. The part of the video shows the game's early phase of development and it turns out that Katarina wasn't the only victim of being Thanos-snapped from the game because Jinx was also Thanos-snapped from the game in its early stages as well, but thankfully made her debut. So if Jinx can make her debut after she was cut from the game in its early stages, then Katarina can. Thankfully, Katarina is confirmed because of her name being listed on the game's Wikipedia page and Arucelli's work on her concept art to submit to designers for her redesign process.

2. Caitlyn

The Piltover Sheriff and the noble member of the Kiramman family is known for wielding her Hextech rifle. You would know that Caitlyn is a Marksman character, so if she comes to 2XKO, her kit will be innovated into something that fits in the fighting game genre so that she can use her fists with normals and have not just Yordle traps, but Hextech grenades in her arsenal as well. So what is really cool is that like when Teemo uses his slingshot with S1, Caitlyn would throw her Hextech grenades with S2.

There was one video on YouTube that talks about Warwick and Caitlyn being confirmed. Like, we know Warwick is confirmed, so I think that our rifle dudette of Piltover could potentially be confirmed to be in 2XKO as the guaranteed fifth character to come with an Arcane skin at launch. And I think it's also because she is Vi's best friend.

3. Kennen

As you watched the Teemo trailer, there is a Yordle in the background of Bandlewood Crossing. Since Riot has stated that no character is deconfirmed, this indicates that Kennen is likely to have a guaranteed chance of making his debut with 2XKO in 2026. But since Kennen is a Mage character, he'll swing his lightning and maybe have a Sonic Spinball dash Teemo has, but with lightning imbued in it. And he'll be a decent and less annoying Yordle than Teemo would be. But I do believe what Teemo did is offering a shining light of hope to any Yordle fans out there.

If you have doubted that your favorite Yordle could never make their way into 2XKO, whether if you're a fan of Rumble, Poppy or Lulu, a precedent has been set that if Teemo can be well-adapted into 2XKO, then any other Yordle can be well-adapted into 2XKO. Does it really sting that we found out that Teemo, of all characters, has confirmed to launch in 2XKO? Yeah, it does, but just a little. That includes that one Ionian Yordle in my wish list, Kennen, the Heart of the Tempest. But thankfully, because of the cameo in the background of Bandlewood Crossing, Kennen is confirmed to be one of the planned 2026 characters and he's gonna be a savage Yordle with lightning.

4. Akali

I have came across some fanart regarding what would Akali look like in a fighting game after Googling fanart of Akali in 2XKO. I think that Akali could have more a chance of coming to 2XKO, because of not just the fan art of her, but she banks on missing mechanics or aesthetics and has a unique matchup with Ahri in League of Legends in terms of builds. She may be hard to learn in terms of combos like Yasuo is. We can find out if she's gonna be easy or hard to learn. Either way, Akali would be peak and savage.

5. Miss Fortune

What is interesting is that Caitlyn is not the only gun character I'm theorizing because I am also theorizing another gun character being Sarah Fortune, the Bounty Hunter of Bilgewater, to have innovations to her kit that fit in 2XKO. Because of the twin pistols she wields, not only she'll be mobile and agile and have the same performance and playstyle as Noel from BlazBlue, Eltnum from Melty Blood and/or Star-Lord in the upcoming Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls to deem her a rushdown character, but she'll be a short ranged character as well. This is a great definition of a missing mechanic or aesthetic from the current roster and also a little nugget of information that may confirm this.

And one Bilgewater stage being the Brazen Hydra has a decorative pirate ship attached to it and has couple pirates in the background. I think it's a safe case to say there is enough evidence that our red-haired pirate lady can have a guaranteed chance of coming to 2XKO as one of the 2026 characters. We do have one Bilgewater character being Illaoi, but she's not a pirate.

I was gonna put Gangplank in as one of the 2026 characters, but decided to put Miss Fortune on the list instead and he might come as one of the 2027 characters in Season 1 to pick up where Sarah's arrival in Season 5 of 2026 left off. We'll see.

Predicted 2026 Champion roadmap:

Season 1 - Katarina
Season 2 - Caitlyn
Season 3 - Kennen
Season 4 - Akali
Season 5 - Miss Fortune

Here's the predicted roadmap of planned Champions coming to 2XKO. Trust me, this is important to understand that this is a theory that it may not be a planned roadmap I am theorizing.

Predicted 2026 character roster:

Ahri
Akali
Blitzcrank
Braum
Caitlyn
Darius
Ekko
Illaoi
Jinx
Katarina
Kennen
Miss Fortune
Teemo
Vi
Warwick
Yasuo

I'm gonna take the predicted 2026's 16 character roster and divide them by two sides, the SEGA and Capcom sides, imaging the left side as the SEGA side and the right side as the Capcom side of the character select screen across the board. Because these characters are listed in ABC order, it holds a SEGA-Capcom-SEGA-Capcom pattern, and the 16-character roster for 2026 is perfect for a 2v2 tag fighter like in X-Men vs. Street Fighter. Let's get to dividing the roster. We'll start with the SEGA side as usual.

Ahri, Ekko and Jinx remain on the SEGA side, but Blitzcrank, Teemo and Warwick move to the SEGA side with Ahri, Ekko and Jinx to pave the way for Caitlyn and Kennen to be on the SEGA side with Ahri, Blitzcrank, Ekko and Jinx, Teemo and Warwick. The predicted 2026 SEGA side now has Ahri, Blitzcrank, Caitlyn, Ekko, Jinx, Kennen, Teemo and Warwick.

Darius and Illaoi remain on the Capcom side, but Braum moves to the Capcom side with Darius and Illaoi, paving the way for Akali, Katarina, Miss Fortune, Vi and Yasuo to be on the Capcom side with Braum, Darius and Illaoi, putting Akali, Braum, Darius, Illaoi, Katarina, Miss Fortune, Vi and Yasuo on the predicted 2026 Capcom side.

Predicted 2026 character roster on the SEGA side:

Ahri
Blitzcrank
Caitlyn
Ekko
Jinx
Kennen
Teemo
Warwick

Predicted 2026 character roster on the Capcom side:

Akali
Braum
Darius
Illaoi
Katarina
Miss Fortune
Vi
Yasuo

So we now have the predicted SEGA and Capcom sides for 2026's 16 character roster containing eight on each side. Again, this is just my imagination because they are not actually from both companies, so don't report me for defamation. And honestly, I'm not surprised that the red-headed female characters known for wielding dual weapons would ALL be on the Capcom side.

As I said before, this post does not provide a firm information on who would actually be the 2026 Champions for 2XKO nor confirm the full 2026 character roster or the actual order of launch. This is just an educated guess for what I believe on who they are and which Season that they will launch in. And honestly, I'm not surprised that the red-headed female characters known for wielding dual weapons would all be on the Capcom side.

2025 is coming to a close as we're approaching the New Year and the Game Awards is fast approaching. Just to be honest, I watch the awards show for game announcements and that's what the show is known for. Once 2026 comes, we'll find out if my prediction is true or not in couple updates regarding my theory in future posts.

This month is gonna be a strong Cinderella story because we have announcements regarding not just 2XKO, but SEGA vs. Capcom: The Next Level as well, as Madxruler is announcing something big and ambitious for their fan project that has something to do with the "Alpha" sign from the Street Fighter Alpha logo. But what does the "Alpha" sign mean? I don't know, maybe it's the game having an Alpha Lab test or being akin to Street Fighter Alpha. But either way, we do know one thing for sure. One that obvious and factual is that SEGA vs. Capcom: The Next Level can learn from the things 2XKO has done to become a phenomenal game. If you want to know more about this, here's the link to the post.

https://rpggameroom.blogspot.com/2025/12/what-sega-vs-capcom-can-learn-from-2xko.html

What SEGA vs. Capcom Can Learn From 2XKO

2XKO came out strong with a very large player base and it has been nominated for Best Fighting Game at the Game Awards that if it wins Best Fighting Game, the fan frenzy would go wild. Riot has confirmed that they will give us an announcement at the Game Awards about revealing the 12th character, likely Katarina, and maybe also showing us a 2026 characters roadmap or graphic that contains the five 2026 characters, one on each season. It isn't just a fighting game. It is a very special tag-based fighting game that became a huge success. And it's set to launch on console January 2026, a perfect time when 2XKO officially launches with the start of Season 1.

This means that if any developer can take a crack at developing a tag fighting game, they must use 2XKO as a masterclass of a successful free-to-play fighting game. That includes one developer that is behind their fan game being Madxruler and their fan game, SEGA vs. Capcom: The Next Level. It is essentially a fan made vs. Capcom fighting game with characters from SEGA and Capcom's IPs. Tag team battles, Exceed feature and all that. It pretty much lives up to the Sonic vs. Mega Man thing. It is arguably one of the great fan games.

I realized why the game became ghosted before I go to a match. It's because I didn't had enough RAM that the game is memory-intensive. But I was able to upgrade my gaming computer to a 32GB RAM. The announcement regarding what's next for SEGA vs. Capcom is coming this month. This month is gonna be big for both games. We're getting an announcement regarding 2XKO during the Game Awards and an announcement regarding SEGA vs. Capcom this month.

The Modern Setting

Many modern fighting games weren't hated because they have innovations. 2XKO is an innovative tag-team fighting game with multiple rounds, characters having their own super gauge, you get the picture. Currently, SEGA vs. Capcom takes place in the setting where it involves pressing any button to choose a character. But we can modernize that so that they can pick a character with the button that chooses a character and go back with the the button that takes them back to the previous section. If they pick a character, they would be prompted to choose a palette. I believe that this can be done in the form of Invincible VS.

But this just the first thing, so in this post, we're gonna go over the following things that 2XKO did that SEGA vs. Capcom: The Next Level can learn from.

Duo Play

2XKO introduced Duo Play, a feature that allows each player on their team to control their character. Solo is when a player controls both characters. When you go on a lobby, you would find someone to duo up with because there isn't a feature that allows players to randomly duo up with someone through matchmaking. The survey has that and I put that on top of the list of potential features because duos are way more fun than solos and we want to duo up with a random player through matchmaking, especially when we're grinding the First Steps missions.

While SEGA vs. Capcom has four players on the Cross Fever game mode, I believe that this can be cranked up to eleven that it can have up to four players across multiplayer game modes, training mode and online play, have duo co-op on Arcade Mode and follow 2XKO's footsteps so that one player would choose Sonic as the point character and the other on the same team would choose X as the assist character and vice versa. This requires the role select screen to take place before choosing our characters in most game modes.

Competitive Scene

Riot knocked it out of the park with their First Impact program that brings offline and online tournaments dedicated to 2XKO into the spotlight. The program became a hit and the game has unleashed its full potential on the competitive scene that it became a core backbone of the FGC. And now, Riot is set to offering direct support to existing local tournaments dedicated to 2XKO through the announced official yearly Competitve Series with monetary support, promotion on official Riot channels, buffs to prize pools and a format of one major and three challenger events tied to each of 2XKO's five in game seasons, with Frosty Faustings XVIII being the major event and Genesis, Texas Showdown and Viennality being challenger events for Season 1, making it a total of 20 events per year, divided by five in game seasons to each have four events.

It's perfect timing along with 2XKO coming to console in January 2026, meaning that TOs will have to bring PS5s into venues where offline tournaments take place at going forward. And it won't just alleviate the technical issues when it comes to setting up controls, but make it so that the console versions would automatically be on offline mode when there is no Internet connection, also easier than launching the game on offline mode through the separate executable, especially since we can't launch the game on offline mode through the Riot Client while there is no Internet connection. If 2XKO is chosen to be in the main lineup for EVO 2026 and EVO Japan 2026 and if they are chosen as major events for the Competitive Series, 2026 is gonna be one heck of a year for 2XKO with esports action.

SEGA vs. Capcom was showcased at Combo Breaker 2025 as part of the Mystery Tournament, which is my favorite kind because it don't have to be limited to fighting games, but games with multiplayer as well. The part where SEGA vs. Capcom was showcased at Combo Breaker was met with widespread praise that it driven a lot of people to try this game out. And this can be amped up a bit so that the game can have its own tournament like others and can be showcased in multiple events. But since it's a fanmade game, it won't use the Competitive Series format that has 20 events divided by five seasons to have four events or have their own league. Instead, TOs can set up offline tournaments for this game if it's chosen.

Rollback Netcode and Lobbies

Rollback is a type of netcode that offers buttery smooth online play and predicts the inputs instead of waiting for the signal to hit it before a character's action. 2XKO offers rich rollback netcode and lobbies. Riot did online servers before having offline game modes in Closed Beta and they're looking to improve netplay in Early Access and beyond with new features, including the ones I saw on the survey. SEGA vs. Capcom already has netplay available and it can be amped up significantly so that it can have rollback netcode and casual and ranked lobbies that use dedicated servers so that there wouldn't be disconnects and Duo Play across online game modes. This gives players a smoother online experience and they can simply enjoy netplay without any problems and offers an amped up experience.

Attention to Detail

There is a LOT of attention that 2XKO has. When Alpha Lab 1 has concluded, they missed this game. When Alpha Lab 2 launched, a lot of people didn't get invited, including myself because it was a disappointingly small playtest. Closed Beta opened the gates to being a final invite-only phase that those who participated in Alpha Lab 1 or 2 will automatically gain access to the game, including console players, who would automatically gain access to the game on the Riot Client on PC.

One of the companies being WB Games has had a small chip on their shoulder on what happened with MultiVersus and why it had to be sunset early with the intention of bringing their characters to Fortnite as skins. It's because of aggressive monetization tactics that alienated a lot of players, devs' refusal to listen to player feedback and player dissatisfaction, but remains available for offline play since it's a fighting game for those who downloaded it. See, the leadership at Riot is avoiding this practice. Look at 2XKO. Like in the invite only trilogy of play windows, the monetization mechanics are being less aggressive, they're listening to player feedback, a lot of players are being satisfied and the player base has grown a lot in Early Access when the game launches first on PC. That trend will continue when the game launches on console beyond Early Access in January, but will not bring their characters to Fortnite as skins with the same art style. If we don't want 2XKO to suffer the same fate, we need them to avoid putting the emphasis on monetization and listen to player feedback.

SEGA vs. Capcom also has attention, but not as much as 2XKO. Deen and Noid played this game for their Father and Son Beatdown and it was showcased at Combo Breaker. My favorite part is the characters being locked out. Vyse and Morrigan are next in line and now that Vyse is finished, they're now doubling their efforts on finishing Morrigan, who shouldn't take too long to develop.

If the remaining characters are finished and the game gets esports-worthy, this game is gonna have even more attention, but hit close to the level of attention 2XKO has since Early Access.

Character Archetypes

Fighting games in particular has characters that are unique by archetypes. The characters in 2XKO come with unique archetypes of some characters in 2XKO having the same playstyle as characters in other fighting games, like Teemo's rolling dash to indicate that Teemo is the Sonic in 2XKO with it and it serves as an innovative approach.

But remember that I said in the last post that there is one of the planned characters in SEGA vs. Capcom is going to have the same playstyle as Yasuo in 2XKO? Well, one of the planned characters in SEGA vs. Capcom is most likely to hypothetically have the same playstyle as Yasuo is Sakura Shinguji from Sakura Wars. But how would Sakura play similarly to Yasuo when she is finished? Well, she is a samurai of the cherry blossom and she is likely to be a mid range character and this is the dopamine rush the game needs. But we won't know if it's true or not until Vyse and Morrigan are finished. But we do know one thing for sure. Sakura is likely to come out in 2026 alongside Linn Kurosawa, whose development time takes the longest due to her being multiple characters in one and none of the characters in League of Legends are faithful to her performance when they debut to 2XKO.

But here's another thing. The 11th and 12th characters have been already confirmed to be in development. If they ask who do we think the 11th and 12th character would be, I have two characters that I think can do well.

First off, for the SEGA side, I say Gilius from Golden Axe. Now, Gilius is the main protagonist in the Golden Axe series on the successive SEGA Genesis. If our axe wielding warrior is confirmed, I think he'll likely to have the same playstyle as Darius. There's no other axe swinging character in 2XKO.

Now let's go on to the next character that is a Capcom character, Jon Talbain from Darkstalkers. Why Jon Talbain, the wolf in Darkstalkers, would be a great addition? Well, there is one obvious reason. Warwick. Vander became a wolf to be called Warwick. He became a decent and less annoying character to play against than Teemo. There is a fresh concept that if Jon comes to SEGA vs. Capcom, he'll be able to do well and come close to how well Warwick performed in 2XKO.

And since Katarina is likely to be announced at the Game Awards, I wonder if any of the SEGA or Capcom characters that are not in the game can have the same playstyle as her if they make it into the fan game?

Combo Trials

2XKO has introduced Combo Trials in Early Access. The game mode helps you learn combos for each character. They earn you credits and they are rewarding depending on the difficulty. I think SEGA vs. Capcom needs to have Combo Trials to help them learn combos. It's something that players must do. Learn combos.

Peripherals

There are a lot of peripherals 2XKO uses, like controllers and arcade sticks across most brands. That unlocked endless possibilities for players that prefer to use a controller or use a stick. SEGA vs. Capcom allows controllers, but this can be amped up a bit so that the game wouldn't be only playable on controllers that it can also allow the use of arcade sticks across most brands.

These are the things that SEGA vs. Capcom: The Next Level can learn from 2XKO so that it can be a phenomenonal game. This is more important than you think. Madxruler is an independent developer. They can develop their fan game however they wish and want. They don't have the burden of a big company and be riddled with the shareholding shackles of a AAA company. If Madxruler pours their hearts into this game, then I believe it can have much of a guaranteed chance to be featured as a core backbone of the FGC and have the same treatment as 2XKO.

If you like to play both SEGA vs. Capcom: The Next Level and 2XKO on stream or off stream, it's cool. Don't let me stop you. It's how you prepare yourself for both games' announcements coming this month. It won't be terrible like how SEGA had to restructure themselves to becoming a third-party developer like Capcom, Bandai Namco and even the 3DO Company and Atari before them following the failure of the Dreamcast. The link to the post covers it all.

https://rpggameroom.blogspot.com/2025/11/why-sega-quit-the-console-business.html

Can an Indie Game Like Trials and Visions of Mana Work?

Indies are indeed better than AAA games because of the fact that indie game developers bear no burden or influence of a AAA company so they would they take risks, their games are reasonably priced and they can develop their games however they want. There are indies that feel like AAA, so I have thought to myself that if I could suggest an indie title, I say an indie game like both Trials of Mana and Visions of Mana. But will an indie game like Square Enix's games work? Let's jump right in.

I am back with another creative post. So probably, it has come to my attention that indie games are better than AAA games. One of those things is wanting an indie game like both Trials of Mana and Visions of Mana. I talked about this in private, so I'm going to monologue in how would it work in this post as a concrete answer.

Weapons:

First off, we need to talk about weapons and how they work. The Mana franchise is known for characters that use weapons. Trials of Mana handles characters that wield one weapon and Visions of Mana has three weapons for each character depending on the Elemental Vessel they equipped. And I think we'll go with having three weapons for each character instead of one, but with an innovative approach.

The Party:

Now let's go on to another important thing when it comes to an indie title inspired by the Trials of Mana remake and Visions of Mana, the party. You would know that in Visions of Mana, the party has up to five characters in a party while Trials of Mana has six characters, but can only choose three to be in the party. If this indie game comes to fruition, we'll go Visions of Mana's party of five. I was gonna go with a party of seven, but I think a party of five is adequate, but with an innovative approach that weapons would have.

The Combat System:

The Trials of Mana remake has an innovative combat system that Visions of Mana has that finishing battles earns you EXP, money and items. It involves a border that appears during combat and can escape battles. But not in certain battles where the border is red, meaning that you can't escape. A combat system in an indie game like Trials and Visions of Mana can work like that, but can be innovated to have the following approaches, switching weapons on the fly and during a combo like in Tower of Fantasy and putting the whole party in combat like in Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness.

The Characters and Their Arsenal:

Now that I talked about the party, combat system and weapons, let's talk about the characters and their arsenal of three weapons. There are a lot of possibilities for characters this game would have. Imagine if the indie devs make a character that would have dual fans, a spear and gauntlets in their arsenal like Careena, a character that would have cards, a sword and dual knives in their arsenal like Morley and a character that would have a flail, a scythe and boots for kick attacks like Palamena. And maybe they can also make a character that would have their original performance of having an original arsenal of weapons and maybe a character that would have dual knives, a broadsword and a scythe like Haseo from the .hack franchise, which I think could add a little bit of .hack//G.U. gameplay.

Plus, there's a deep breath of fresh new ideas when it comes to developing characters and coming up with different combinations of three weapons in their arsenal and that's something that indie devs that can take a crack of developing this game can really do without any constraints from a AAA company.

Weapon Strikes:

You would know that Trials of Mana offers four Class Strikes and each character has their own Class Strike gauge and Visions of Mana has one cinematic Class Strike and one Class Strike gauge only the player character uses. But in this game, they would be called Weapon Strikes and it can consolidate that so that the player character and the teammate characters would have their own Weapon Strike gauge like in Trials of Mana and would only have one Weapon Strike that would depend on the equipped weapon like in Visions of Mana and be in the form of Kingdom Hearts.

Elemental Vessels:

They have been useful in Visions of Mana when it comes to what elementals enemies are weak, resistant and immune to, activating Aeries and they change their class and appearance. But this can be innovated so that if characters are equipped with an Elemental Vessel, they offer elemental powers to their arsenal and appearance to change the way how Weapon Strikes work, but they would still switch weapons on the fly. And without an Elemental Vessel equipped, there are no elemental powers on their arsenal and appearance. You would get Elemental Vessels along the way when progressing through the story.

Synergy Awakening:

If you're unaware, the .hack//G.U. series introduced the Awakening system that involves the use of the Morale gauge that fills up when Haseo impresses his allies with his performance. Vol. 1: Rebirth introduced Beast and Magical Awakening, Vol. 2: Reminisce introduced Divine Awakening and Vol. 3: Redemption introduced Avatar Awakening. Now, the indie Mana title is gonna answer with having the Synergy Awakening system that would involve a gauge that fills up when the player character impress their allies and only the player character use called the Synergy gauge and measure by effectiveness based on the current party. Each character would have two Synergy Awakening abilities, with the one that requires a full bar of the Synergy gauge and the cinematic one that requires two bars of the Synergy gauge and their effectiveness would be based on the current party, like how Escape from Ever After uses the Synergy system to have abilitles based on the current party.

The catch is, the gauge is unlocked when the party has at least two characters. Let me give you a clarification.

Now, Character A begins their journey. Then Character B joins the party and the Synergy gauge would unlock. Synergy Awakening is unlocked when Character A and Character B are in a party. When Character C joins the party, the effectiveness of Synergy Awakenening is increased by one, meaning that Character C would increase the capacity of it. When Character D and E join the party, the effectiveness of Synergy Awakening is at max.

Skill Tree:

Most RPGs have skill trees and they are intended to increase a character's stats and learn new skills. Trials of Mana uses class switching and Visions of Mana uses points you receive from activating Elementites using Elemental Vessels and levelling up. But I think an indie game like these two games should use a skill tree to have increases to max stats and new magic and new Synergy abilities to learn. Each character would have one skill tree and they earn points from levelling up needed to increase max stats and learn new magic abilities and Synergy abilities. Think of Tales of Xillia where you earn points for levelling up to increase max stats and learn new Artes through the Lillium Orb.

The Pilgrimage to the Mana Tree?:

I would love to see an indie game like Trials and Visions of Mana that would involve going on a pilgrimage to the Mana Tree, but it might have copyright issues. But I think we can change that so that the destination would be the Magic Fountain instead of the Mana Tree to avoid copyright issues. That said, the story would involve the party going on a pilgrimage to the Magic Fountain in the Sanctuary to see the world's goddess that maintains life and mana in the world needed for elementals to thrive. Along their way, they'll come across Elemental Vessels. But let's not forget about the threat that could tarnish the world if the fountain falls into evil hands.

I think this could lower the chance of an indie dev of this game getting sued by Square Enix over copyright infringement in terms of the story.

The Story:

I had to talk about this after highlighting the journey to get some details on how would the story unfold and now that the details I need, I can highlight how would story unfold.

The game's storyline would involve a protagonist, who would go on a pilgrimage to the Magic Fountain. Along the way, they meet companies who would join the protagonist on their journey. The forces of evil would come to awaken the threat that can plunge the world into a void of life when the fountain falls into evil hands. Once the fountain falls into evil hands, the threat would emerge and the world would tremble before the threat, which has been a trope villains embrace. It's up to the party to stop the forces of evil from awakening the threat and save the world.

These are the things that I think could work in an indie title inspired by Trials of Mana and Visions of Mana. If this game goes into production, they can be able to develop this game however they want without the shareholding constraints from a AAA game company and release it on both PC and console. And without the shareholding constraints, they will never be laid off, which has been the bone of contention and an ongoing issue among the game industry for years, or rely heavily on microtransactions and greed so that this game would be reasonably priced below $30, appease fans and they'll take some creative risks to provide unique innovations to this game. I think people might want this to happen to reflect the fact that people prefer indies over AAA games.

See, when you watch the official trailer and look at the screenshots of this game, you might say, "Dang, this indie game feels like Trials of Mana and Visions of Mana, but why all five characters are in battle?" and "Hold on a sec, am I seeing this character... play like Careena and... Haseo?! And how are they able to switch weapons?!" And that's because it will feel like Trials of Mana and Visions of Mana and have unique innovations that would be callbacks to Tower of Fantasy and Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness like switching weapons in game, even during a combo and having the whole party in battle. Devs that can take a crack of making this game can literally make a character that feels like Careena and another that feels like Haseo. This applies to that Mightykeef video about Ananta being an upcoming free-to-play anime GTA clone with combat taken from Spider-Man, Sleeping Dogs and the Batman Arkham trilogy. Except that it's not a free-to-play indie title.

Indie games that feel like Square Enix's games are not as common of the game industry today, and it's largely dominated by Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 with its entry of being an indie Final Fantasy game nominated for Game of the Year at the Game Awards. To have indie games inspired by Square Enix's games is a great choice as there is a lot of attention, feedback and not a lot of money, especially to avoid greed. Now, if I recall, there is one indie game that is inspired by Kingdom Hearts and Devil May Cry and it's not an action RPG, and that is Geno Kids, which is now in Early Access. The only game that is purely inspired by Kingdom Hearts coming next year is Duskfade. There is literally one indie title that an indie Mana title can compete with if it goes into production. This means it'll likely do well if this game comes out to bank on the fact of attention.

Some of the things I mentioned in this idea of an indie Mana title can be used for the next Mana title, which may or may not be announced at the Game Awards. If you're interested in knowing more about my pitch to the next Mana title that is called Seasons of Mana or whatever it will be called, here's the link.

https://rpggameroom.blogspot.com/2024/10/seasons-of-mana-pitch.html