A big trend in fighting games over the last decade or so have been “unexpected crossover characters”. Soul Calibur II had Link (Legend of Zelda), Heihachi (from Tekken), and Spawn (Image Comics) appear in different versions of the game. Super Smash Bros has had numerous surprise 3rd party characters. And many more have done the same. But you could argue that Blazblue: Cross Tag Battle had one of the most shocking crossovers ever when it brought in the ladies from RWBY into the mix.
If you don’t know, RWBY is an American anime made by Rooster Teeth. In fact, it was a series made just after their 10th anniversary by visionary Monty Oum. It started out as a simple show, but has grown into something much bigger, and much more beloved. They have fans all over the world, and even had a major presence at conventions like New York Comic Con and C2E2. But still, how did they get into Blazblue: Cross Tag Battle?
Well, it turns out some of the team at Arc Systems are fan of the series, and of the late creator. So much so that when the time came to try and make it happen, they did their best to do so. Producer Toshimichi Mori noted this to GamerHubTV:
“As you may know, Monty has created various exciting videos in the past, and unfortunately he passed. But Mori-san was always a fan of RWBY and he enjoyed all the videos that Monty created, so he was hoping that there would be a chance to meet, but unfortunately that did not happen. Then there was an interview with Forbes where the question is, “Is there any specific character or IP that you really like or you are a fan of?’ And Mori-san answered, ‘RWBY’. And with that, it led to taking on this spirit of Monti … and that kind of started this whole discussion. And after meeting, Mori-san was really confident that he could have a really good partnership. They made a trip to Texas – Mori-san and the president – and they made a presentation about BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle and asking, ‘Could we have RWBY?’ And the answer was, ‘Of course.’ So that’s how this happened.”
Just goes to show, nothing is ever impossible, especially when it comes to fighting games.