With the massive success of the new hero shooter on the block,Marvel Rivals, it got us thinking. If Marvel can take their huge array of heroes and villains and put together a balanced and engaging hero shooter, why can’t the other gaming mega franchises?
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Well, the simple reason why not for many major franchises is because they just don’t have a strong enough roster of varied characters to pull it off.
You need a lot of different potential powers, weapons, and locations to make use of, and even then, that’s not always a surefire recipe for success,as Ubisoft’s XDefiant proves.
However, we think that there are a select few franchises out there that could absolutely launch a hero shooter and reap the rewards.
So, join us as we fantasize about a world where all these behemoth franchises give in to our wishes and produce a hero shooter game.
10Final Fantasy
Picturing Life As A Sephiroth Main
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
Kicking things off strong, we havea series with sixteen mainline entries, loads of well-received spin-offs, and a cavalcade of characters to choose from.
This isn’t always a guarantee for a good hero shooter blueprint, but when you have a roster of larger-than-life characters like those in Final Fantasy to work with, there’s more than enough to craft a winner.
You have iconic locations like The Gold Saucer, The Hideaway, and Salikawood that would make awesome maps. Then you have a wealth of varied character types, such as shooters like Squall and Garrett, melee users like Cloud and Sephiroth, and evasive characters like Cait Sith and Noctis.
It’s easy to draw up a roster of tanks, support, and healers with Final Fantasy’s catalog of iconic characters, to the point that we wonder if this is an inevitable release just waiting to happen. We have our fingers crossed, regardless.
9Mortal Kombat
Finish Them!
Mortal Kombat 11
One word. Fatality. It just has more of a zing to it than ‘Ultimate.’
Mortal Kombat is all about violence, so much so that many folks in the 90’s wanted this game banned for its gory, over-the-top finishers. Yet, decades on, this fighter is still going strong, and I reckon it’s about time it stepped out ofthe traditional fighter genreand tried something new.
Granted, past attempts at spin-offs have received a mixed reception, to say the least, but I remain hopeful here in this wish-fulfillment-fueled fantasy in crafting.
You want a Roadhog Character? How about Scorpion and his classic ‘Get over here’. How about a Mei? That’s a role that Sub Zero could slot into. Or if you want someone who can do some ranged attacks with lightning from their fingertips, Raiden is your guy.
It would be a struggle to make this one more than just a massive beat-em-up. But with the depth of the roster the series has, it’s definitely possible.
8Super Mario
Just Think Of The Power-Ups
New Super Mario Bros.
When you think of long-running and successful franchises, the most obvious answer for anyone, even those with zero gaming knowledge, would be Mario.
It’s a series that has enjoyed hit after hit and transcended generations by offering a perfect blend of old-school platforming and modern-day innovation. Plus, it’s a series partial to the odd spin-off here and there, so it’s actually rather surprising we haven’t seen a Mario hero shooter already.
Just think about it, you have Mario Kart style Power-ups to repurpose as abilities, a back catalog of levels and games to help forge the maps, and, of course, you have Laiku who can hold the camera while you get stuck into the action.
The one drawback may be that it’s a family-friendly series with minimal violence and no guns to speak of. But Nintendo, if memory serves, is pretty good at thinking outside the box, so I reckon it’s doable.
7Kingdom Hearts
Donald, As A Healer, Obviously
Kingdom Hearts
Before you roll your eyes, I don’t include Kingdom Hearts on this list in the hope that it would come as a package deal with all the licensed Sony IPs. Although, a Disney hero shooter would undoubtedly be cool.
No, I include KH because the original cast has plenty to offer. Obviously, you have the Keyblade wielders who would make awesome melee characters, but that only scratches the surface.
Marvel Rivals: 10 Best Heroes For Conquest Mode
These Heroes thrive in the chaos of Conquest.
You could have Organization XIII members make up the ranks, like Xigbar as a sniper, Lexaeus as a tank, and Demyx as a summoner of sorts.
Plus, think of all the different drive forms and awesome versions of each character there are to flip between. Give me an edgy Chakram-wielding Axel over his human form any day.
You could even make some iconic Heartless playable, too. It’s a nailed-on hit in my eyes, but one thing needs to happen. For the sake of irony, they need to make Donald a healer.
6Borderlands
Guns Galore
Borderlands
A lot of the entries on this list would need to do a lot of contorting to fit into the mold of a hero shooter on account of having little to no guns within their games.
That is not a problem thatBorderlandsshares, because as any fan of the series will know, there are more gun variations than you could ever come close to memorizing.
This, along with the colorful cast of Vault Hunters and the colorful NPCs and villains you met in Pandora, all make for a convincing argument that this one would be an awesome hero shooter.
You already have defined roles as Berserker classes could be tanks, snipers as, well, snipers, and Sirens would be support. Plus, if you’re a little short, you could always throw a few psychos or Claptrap into the mix.
For me, it’s a no-brainer with the batch of iconic locations, weapons, and much more. But if it ever does happen, dibs on playing as Handsome Jack.
5Sonic The Hedgehog
Green Light This One,Fast
Sonic X Shadow Generations
If you were ever looking for a cast of characters with a very diverse set of powers, then theSonic The Hedgehog franchiseis a prime candidate.
You’ve obviously got those with access to firepower, like Dr Eggman and Shadow the Hedgehog. But you’ve also got speedsters like Sonic, melee brawlers like Knuckles, airborne characters like Tails, and big tanks like Big The Cat.
There’s just so much you could do with this one, and there’s something about the idea of causing hero shooter chaos in the Green Hill Zone or the Chemical Plant that leaves me smiling from ear to ear.
The eventual hiccup might be that the character roster is more or less set and limits the ability to throw in new playable characters, but I’m not a how guy; I’m the ideas guy. Maybe the chaos emeralds hold the answer.
Forget Heroes, Give Me Monsters!
Pokemon Violet
A good hero shooter is only as good as the roster of heroes you can play, and this roster, when working with a license, is dependent on what the game in question has to work with.
In this department, Pokemon is blessed with over 1,000 very viable options that all have incredible powers that could easily be tweaked into a playable hero. Well, maybe, except for Magikarp, but you get my point.
The variety of movesets, typings, regions, items, and more make this one so malleable. This is perhaps why the series has ventured into so many different genres over the years via its many, many spinoffs.
But hey, what’s one more to add to the pile? Just let me play as a little Cubone, throwing a bone boomerang around, and I’m sold.
3Dragon Ball
Give Me Your Power
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero
I might be stretching what constitutes a gaming franchise here, but in my defense, the Dragonball series has consistently been a part of many fighting game fan’s gaming libraries down the years.
This is courtesy of old gems like Budokai Tenkaichi 3, right up to the modern greats of today like Sparking! Zero. But I personally think the series could be a lot more than just a fighter that rehashes the anime.
Instead, it could be a team-based epic akin to Marvel Rivals that makes the most of the various characters' skills. Goku’s Kamehameha, Cells regeneration, Bulma’s tech-savvy ways. There’s lots to work with here.
Granted, I don’t know what they would do to make Yamcha a viable character, but that aside, Dragonball would make for an interesting option.
Overwatch Meets Olympus
Why make a hero shooter with heroes when you could make one with literal gods instead?
I’ll concede that this is essentially asking for a hero shooter where the roster borrows the powers of the Greek gods from mythology, but specifically, I think Supergiant’s take on the mythos would make for an excellent game in this genre.
This isn’t only because, stylistically, Hades is a marvel, it’s also because of the various established skills and abilities tied to the various gods of Olympus, not to mention the other characters encountered on your travels like Meg, Cerberus, and Big Daddy Hades.
It would be a struggle to pivot this one from 2D to 3D if that was how they decided to go with it, but if they gracefully leaped that hurdle, then this series could easily roll out as a hero shooter.
1League of Legends
A Stone’s Throw Away Already
League of Legends
Then, to wrap things up, let’s go with a game so beloved that it has transcended gaming courtesy of the very successful series Arcane.
That alone shows that this series is capable of moving outside the parameters of its MOBA roots, not to mention that the series has a tonne of spinoffs to its name as well, from Deckbuilders to cozy Yordle-based affairs. So, a hero shooter hardly feels like a massive leap.
The LoL roster has a wealth of iconic and interesting champions with powers that feel like they would barely need any tweaking at all to fit in a hero shooter context.
Plus, there are so many established champions already with rather fleshed-out kits that everything feels like it would be plug-and-play. It’s easily the best candidate out there for this hero shooter treatment, and maybe off the back of Arcane, it might just happen.
