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 guaranteed 12th character for 2XKO. This is not fake news or some rumor. 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 in a couple of my posts I made, but apparently, it's not the case. Instead, it's someone else. Ladies and gents, the next 2XKO character, Caitlyn Kiramman, the Sheriff of Piltover, is officially announced at the Game Awards as the 12th character.

Like Jinx and Teemo, Caitlyn is a Marksman character who is known wielding her powerful Hextech rifle. She is announced to come to 2XKO. As I typically knew, Caitlyn is confirmed because of that one video that talks about Warwick and Caitlyn being confirmed. See, there is something about Caitlyn being the character I wished for. She is Vi's best friend and they're looking forward for her to duo up with her best friend.

But Caitlyn is not the first character who brings a projectile weapon in 2XKO. Jinx was the first character who brings projectles 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 an FPS game like Call of Duty, but with Caitlyn, and you would believe that she would make a great Overwatch character.

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.

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 zoner like Jinx, indicating that we're gonna experience the most frustrating duo consisting of Caitlyn and Jinx. It's gonna be the most annoying team we have ever dealt with. I usually hate playing against zoners, but Caitlyn can be a decent champion to play as. So, Riot, when are you gonna release us the Caitlyn trailer? Are we gonna find out how she would play in a fighting game?

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. 2XKO's Wikipedia page now has Caitlyn's name listed on the list of confirmed characters with a [b] icon after it for post-launch characters, meaning that future characters will have it.

Season 1 character roster:

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

Here is the official character roster during Season 1 that has 12 characters listed in ABC order. Now, let's divide the current roster by two sides of the character select screen, the SEGA and Capcom sides.

For the SEGA side, Ahri and Braum will remain on the SEGA side, but because Caitlyn is confirmed, Darius, Illaoi, Teemo and Warwick will be on the SEGA side with Ahri and Braum. For the Capcom side, Blitzcrank will remains on the Capcom side, but thanks to Caitlyn, who will be on the Capcom side, Ekko, Jinx, Vi and Yasuo will be on the Capcom side with Blitzcrank and Caitlyn.

SEGA side:

Ahri
Braum
Darius
Illaoi
Teemo
Warwick

Capcom side:

Blitzcrank
Caitlyn
Ekko
Jinx
Vi
Yasuo

We now have six characters on each side, totalling it to 12 characters. And to be honest, I think Teemo being on the SEGA side is perfect because of that spinball dash. So, SEGA and Capcom, do you have a character in one of your IPs not in the fan game that wields a rifle and will be a zoner like Caitlyn will be for a change?

And finally, Caitlyn is officially the fifth character to have her Arcane 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, though their planned Competitive Series is nothing like Capcom Pro-Tour or Tekken World Tour as it brings direct support to Riot-sanctioned events rather than creating their own league.

There has been some concerns if we're gonna see more Arcane characters after Caitlyn in 2026, but Riot has announced that after Caitlyn, they're done bringing Arcane characters for now, basically meaning that Riot is planning to launch one Arcane character per year, meaning that we can expect the sixth Arcane character in 2027.

While we didn't get an official trailer yet, hoping they drop it next week before they go on holiday break, Caitlyn is guaranteed and slated to launch on January 2026 along with the console launch and a new stage while PC players can get it on the same day.

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 come out.

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 across 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 come to 2XKO in 2026, list the predicted 2026 roster and imagine the left side as the SEGA side and the right side as the Capcom side of the character select screen that would have the predicted 2026 roster of 16 characters. 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 made her debut. So if Jinx can make her debut after she was cut from the game in its early stages, then Katarina can.

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 swing her rifle with normals and have not just Yordle traps, but Hextech grenades in her arsenal as well. So what is really cool is that like 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

As I have said, since Sarah Fortune is a Marksman character, she'll have innovations to kit and personality that fits in 2XKO that would involve swinging her twin pistols. 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 Star-Lord in the upcoming Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls to deem her a rushdown character, but she'll be a short to mid-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. 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

We now have the predicted roadmap of Champions coming to 2XKO by order of seasons. Now let's move on to compiling the predicted characters of 2026 with the current roster.

Predicted 2026 character roster:

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

And here's the predicted roster for 2026. On to the final phase, imaging the left side as the SEGA side and the right side as the Capcom side of the character select screen.

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

Again, this is just my imagination because they are not actually from both companies, so don't report me for defamation.

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 is 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 free-to-play 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. Of course, they would still be able to allow the competitive scene to be the backbone of the FGC with 2XKO.

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 company being WB Games has a small chip on their shoulder on what happened to the free-to-play multi-platform crossover platform fighter like MultiVersus when it launched. It's a couple of things. It's because of predatory microtransations, player dissatisfiction and not listening to player feedback; they are the reasons why MultiVersus' fate was sealed after a year since launch. See, the leadership at Riot probably don't want 2XKO to suffer the same fate Multiversus has suffered. They listened to player feedback, kept microtransactions less predatory and fair by leaving Credits alone and multiplied and amplified what made the invite-only trilogy of playtests so appealing, basically meaning that they have learned from MultiVersus's failure and will continue the game's full potential when 2XKO launches on console January 2026.

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.

How Weapons Can Be Used:

First off, we need to talk about weapons and how they are used. The Mana franchise is known for characters that use weapons. Trials of Mana handles characters that wield one weapon and while Visions of Mana has three weapons for each character, depending on the Elemental Vessel they equipped. And this can be innovated so that each character would have three weapons, but would switch between three weapons in their arsenal on the fly and during a combo, like in Tower of Fantasy where characters switch weapons on the fly.

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. But if this indie game comes to fruition, we'll go with the way on how all characters in a party earn the same amount of XP in Visions of Mana, but instead of a party of five, we'll go for a party of seven. That sounds nicer.

The Characters:

Now that I talked about the party and weapons, let's talk about the characters. When it comes to an idea of a Trials and Visions of Mana-esque indie game, the characters in a party would be three male characters and three female characters like in Trials of Mana. 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 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.

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 so that all seven characters can be in battle and would earn the same amount of EXP. Think of Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness where it has all characters in a party in battle. It's something that this game can really have as this is an innovative approach.

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 the player character must use. But I think an indie game can consolidate that so that each character would have their own Weapon Strike gauge like in Trials of Mana and would only have one cinematic Weapon Strike that would depend on the equipped weapon like in Visions of Mana.

Elemental Vessels:

They have been useful in Visions of Mana when it comes to what elementals enemies are weak, resistant and immune to 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.

The Synergy System:

And why would I forget about this one feature that I thought would be nice? Escape from Ever After, a Paper Mario-inspired game I came across, is known for having the Synergy system that has abilities that function and measure how strong they are based on the current party and a gauge that fills up when complimenting each other and nailing actions. Honestly, I think this could definetely work in an indie Mana game. Here's how would the Synergy system work in this game.

What is really cool is that the like how the Synergy system in Escape from Ever After uses a gauge that holds up to five bars of SP, generic and character-specific abilities that measure how strong and effective the are based on the current party, there would be a gauge that holds up to five bars of the Synergy gauge that is filled up when a player character impresses their allies with their performance and only the player character uses the gauge and general and character-specific abilities. Think of .hack//G.U. where it uses a Morale gauge that fills up when Haseo impresses his allies with his performance. And there is one thing that could apply to having a Synergy system in this game.

If you're unaware, subsequent volumes of the series introduced powerful and cinematic Awakening. Vol. 2: Reminisce introduced Divine Awakening, and Vol. 3: Redemption introduced Avatar Awakening. I think we can use both of them for the Synergy system in an indie game inspired by Trials of Mana and Visions of Mana. As I have said, there would be character-specific and general Synergy abilties, so Synergy abilities that consume four bars would work similar to Divine Awakening with a timing of a button press and Synergy abilities that consume all five bars would work similar to Avatar Awakening, but with a different twist that would fit the game's ecosystem to convert enemies into special materials. And they would be specific to each character and measure strength and effectiveness based on the current party. I seem to have a future post that talks about how would an indie game inspired by .hack//G.U. work, so stay tuned for that.

Skill Tree:

Most RPGs have skill trees and they are intended to upgrade 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 learn new skills, new magic and new Synergy abilities. Each character would have a skill tree, and just one, and they earn points from levelling up needed to unlock max stats and learn new 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 risks to provide innovation 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 six 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 to add a little bit of .hack//G.U. gameplay. 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

Why NOW Is the Time for a NEW SNK vs. Capcom

SNK vs. Capcom is a game that I think needs to come back from hibernation. And because of the popular characters that were released in both fighting games, I think now is the perfect time for SNK and Capcom characters from their fighting game IPs to clash once more, so today, I'm gonna be diving into a classic crossover fighting game that has been dormant for 26 years, SNK vs. Capcom.

I'll be the first to say that I am a huge fan of fighting games. SNK vs. Capcom or Capcom vs. SNK, in particular, brings the magic to the FGC. I like to investigate some details and hints towards a brand new Capcom vs. SNK. Will it come back? Is there's any evidence for it? Are the rumors true? Let's find out now.

Now, I like to preface that since SNK vs. Capcom was founded in 1999, 2024, the previous year marks SNK vs. Capcom's 25th Anniversary, so something did good happen in 2024. But for context, I'm gonna rewind back to 1999 when the series was founded, so I'll be right back into the present.

In 1999, SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium was released for the Neo Geo Pocket Color as the first title of the franchise. Then it was ported to the Nintendo Switch in 2021. This is a game that features two on two tag battles and three on three queue battles from the King of Fighters franchise. The game was met with positive reception over the representation of SNK and Capcom characters battling it out. This franchise has characters from their fighting game IPs unlike in the Marvel vs. Capcom franchise where the Capcom side has various IPs.

Back in 2000, Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000, the first title published by Capcom, released on Arcade, Dreamcast and PlayStation. It uses a ratio system that has up to four characters, but the combined ratios must equal and can't go any higher than four and two Grooves, with the SNK Groove based on the Extra mode used from KOF '94 to KOF '98 and the Capcom Groove based on the gameplay from the Street Fighter Alpha series. When 2001 came, Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001, another Capcom published title, came out for Arcade, Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, GameCube, original Xbox and PlayStation 3 through the PS2 Classics and uses the expanded Groove system that utilizes the core gameplay seen in classic Capcom and SNK titles. 2003 saw the release of SNK vs. Capcom: SvC Chaos, which received a mixed reception over a bland representation and then it was ported to PS4 and Switch in 2024 by Code Mystics with modern features.

After the release of SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS, the series has went on a hiatus for 18 years and fans are demanding for a new one. In 2021, Hideaki Itsuno had confirmed at one point that they were plans for Capcom vs. SNK 3 to use 3D models, but it was cancelled due to SNK's bankruptcy. There were interviews with SNK that it would be possible to renew their contract with Capcom for more titles, but both companies had agreed to not agree to collab with each other ever again in another interview and it's on the fault of games that are developed by SNK being met with mixed reception, but not the ones developed by Capcom and they're met with widespread positivity.

But fast forward to 2022, Eisuke Ogura and Shinkiro have done the hypest thing. They created special promotional posters that feature both companies' characters to celebrate EVO 2022, the first live tournament since the COVID-19 pandemic. The artwork at EVO paved the way for further collaborations between SNK and Capcom, sparking speculation and fan demand for SNK vs. Capcom's revival.

To push the speculation and fan demand even further, if we fast forward to 2024, multiple crossovers between SNK and Capcom came throughout the year in time for the franchise's 25th Anniversary. During the Summer Game Fest in June, Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui were announced as guest characters that are a part of Street Fighter 6's second season, and during the Tokyo Game Show in September, Ken Masters and Chun-Li were also announced as guest characters as DLC for Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. These announcements have sparked speculation and fan demand for a new Capcom vs. SNK game. The fan demand is very high and the odds for a revival weren't impossible, but in an interview, Oda stated that there were hurdles in the way.

However, while there was a big hurdle as Oda stated, SNK vs. Capcom could come back from hibernation because fast forward into today, the present time. If you have been living under a rock like Patrick, Mai Shiranui and Terry Bogard from Fatal Fury have been released on Street Fighter 6 while Ken Masters and Chun-Li from Street Fighter came out in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. These four popular characters have received innovations in two respective fighting games, with Terry and Mai's usage of the Drive system and Ken and Chun-Li's usage of the REV system. Their gameplay was universally met with total praise in both games, fueling fan demand and speculation for a potential a new game even further.

And because of Terry and Mai's debut to Street Fighter 6 with their usage of the Drive system and Ken and Chun-Li's debut to Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves with their usage of the REV system, it's safe to say that a new Capcom vs. SNK is likely to come into fruition instead of a new SNK vs. Capcom. Now, the reason why a new Capcom vs. SNK could be confirmed is because of not just Terry and Mai's usage of the Drive system and Ken and Chun-Li's usage of the REV system, but the ones published and developed by Capcom were met with acclaim while the ones developed by SNK were met with mixed reception, so I think it's best for a new Capcom vs. SNK to come to fruition since Capcom vs. SNK is very appealing.

Street Fighter 6 and Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves have shown that with the rich innovation, the right studio behind it, the right environment and the right controls, a fighter-esque masterclass of a game outside the AAA line of companies can be made by Capcom's small teams. They can take a crack at developing a new game with the freedom to develop the new Capcom vs. SNK title however they want without the shareholding shackles and constraints of a big AAA company. After all, bigger doesn't always mean better and smaller companies have agility and can take risks, but less money to mean that small or indie studios have no place for greed so that their games would be reasonably priced. However, playing as Terry and Mai in Street Fighter 6 and playing as Ken and Chun-Li in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves could be used as an example to pitch a brand new title and to get that title approved by Capcom.

Both games featuring Terry, Mai, Ken and Chun-Li as guest stars have already shown that it serves as a masterclass of a crossover fighting game. In that masterclass is already gonna be the blueprints and DNA for a modern Capcom vs. SNK as playing as Terry and Mai on Street Fighter 6 and Ken and Chun-Li on Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves on Training Mode could serve as tech demos for a modern Capcom vs. SNK. And that modern Capcom vs. SNK game can use the RE Engine and must be based off of Capcom vs. SNK 2 to have a KOF-style 3v3 queue battles format and the CAPSNK Grooves format to have Grooves that utilize the gameplay based on Capcom and SNK's 2.5D games, two control types consisting of Arcade and Modern control types and a huge roster with an even number of characters.

This is a perfect legitimate way to confirm a brand new Capcom vs. SNK game that uses the RE Engine, six Grooves that utilize all of the core aspects from both companies' 2.5D games with Arcade and Modern controls and English voices in mind, so a new game like that sounds like an absolute blast to not just me, but to the rest of the FGC. So will it be a Capcom vs. SNK 3 or whatever it's gonna be called? I don't know and I don't care. I just want to see SNK and Capcom characters face each other again in a modern era with Grooves that utilize the core aspects used in 2.5D games and the RE Engine.

I think we're at the point in time when the Game Awards is fast approaching, so I think that a potential new Capcom vs. SNK might be announced at the Game Awards. We'll just have to wait and see.

The thing is, wanting SNK vs. Capcom to come back in a modern twist is not the only thing that we, the members of the FGC. Porting classic fighting games to modern consoles are also what we wanted. If you want to know more about it, here is the link below.

https://rpggameroom.blogspot.com/2025/10/blog-post-%20companies-plan-of-porting-classic-fighting-games-to-modern-platforms.html