A long-forgotten trend that hasn't been seen in almost a decade, combining two popular gaming series has made for the most outstanding experiments. Whether it's a hit or miss, you can always expect something interesting out of the title, from watching your favorite personalities go head to head or work together as a team.

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It's a rare event when games can come together and make something special - usually it turns into a circus that fans remember for strange reasons. Some games were never meant to cross paths because the energy just doesn't match, sending the crossover into a tailspin no matter how good the mechanics are. Successful examples only come around once in a blue moon, standing out amongst the crowd and leaving their mark.

7 Soul Calibur IV

Darth Vader Sword Battle

Contrary to its title, Soul Calibur IV is the sixth installment in the series, leading them to experiment in their character lineup. Surprisingly, the developers came to an agreement with LucasArts that saw two of the franchise's most popular characters fighting alongside the original cast. For Playstation 3, you could only get Darth Vader while Xbox 360 saw Yoda hop on board - Galen Marek's character later became available too for both consoles.

While it was a novel idea that saw the lightsabers put to good use, porting in players that belong in a galaxy far, far away seems to throw the ambiance off. Every stage lies in stone ruins or a gothic castle, making the intergalactic intruders seem out of place with their glossy armor and laser swords. The gameplay even reflects this with their disproportionate power levels, making the rest of the Soul Calibur cast look weak in comparison, something you never want in a fighting game.

6 Lego Rock Band

Singing the blues

LEGO has dipped its cubic toes into just about every franchise willing to take the deal, making this less surprising than other titles. Fans of the LEGO series probably won't see anything odd about the crossover, but Rock Band fans were hardly brimming with excitement. When it comes to rock'n'roll, LEGO is the last thing to come to your mind.

While the game definitely opened itself up to the younger audience, that also meant toning down the difficulty level and throwing a questionable aesthetic on the whole thing. The tracklist is surprisingly one of the best in the series, shielding the title from a lot of criticism, but it still looks strange rocking out to Jimi Hendrix while LEGO people dance in the background.

5 Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle

Mario and Rabbid dressed as Mario

More unexpected than anything, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle manages to patchwork together unlikely pieces into a smooth-flowing game. Teleporting the Raving Rabbids from their Rayman adjacent universe into Mario's using a VR headset, not the easiest plot to follow. Once you weave your way through the stretched-out introduction, the game's art is one of the best in recent memory.

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The Rabbids will dress up as the iconic Nintendo cast and help Mario fight through the story, tackling all kinds of obstacles - even other Rabbids - along the way. While the combination came out of nowhere, the gameplay mechanics represent one of the best introductions to the tactical genre available. Preparing all newcomers in squad-based combat in a stress-free environment, highlighting all the best parts of the Mario franchise.

4 Monster Hunter World: Iceborne

Mr X in the monster hunter world

Only players of Monster Hunter World: Iceborne during this special event would have seen the weird and wonderful fusion of Resident Evil 2 characters, thrown into the tropic world. Complete with their own custom quest and armor sets, you'll have to collect S.T.A.R. badges to unlock the full look.

While you're on the hunt, you'll notice that they also added an exclusive ''zombified'' effect, slowing down your movement and taking away your usual healing effects, leaving you with a slow automatic heal. The slowed movement is enough to steer any normal player away, mixing up the mechanics and providing veteran players with a new obstacle to overcome.

3 Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict

Raiden holding the shotta

Unreal Championship 2 took the arena shooter mechanics and wrapped it in a futuristic Egyptian skin, a very unique theme that hadn't been explored before. You could even get your hands on the Mortal Kombat character Raiden, accompanied by the famous announcer of the series. Raiden is inspired by Japanese culture, a stark contrast from the gun-toting habits of Unreal Championship 2.

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The announcer taken out of his natural environment is exciting for the first couple of matches, slowly losing its charm in the foreign land. These novelty additions did their job by drumming up publicity for the game, but putting them to use in the game seemed awkward. Raiden has been one of the most powerful characters in the franchise, hardly in need of a machine gun.

2 NBA Street V3

nintendo crossing with the nba

NBA Street represented the gritty and relatable side to basketball, how many fans remember the game being played themselves. With a big increase in popularity in the early 2000s, the third title moved to the Nintendo GameCube, home to Mario and friends waiting to shoot some hoops. However, seeing the trio of much shorter characters out on the court made for some awkward gameplay and optics.

Playing three on three with Shaquille O'Neal, Princess Peach looks a little out of her comfort zone. Trying to get the short characters to look good playing against some of the NBA's biggest names isn't an easy task - you've been used to playing with regular physics when all of a sudden, Luigi's flying over your head and slamming it home.

1 Playstation Move Heroes

Jak and ratchet fighting

Taking PlayStation's golden era of duo characters - the likes of Jak and Ratchet - and throwing them all into a series of mini-games in the shape of an action-adventure game. Luckily, all these characters had similar mechanics to combine in the first place, cutting out the visual disturbances. Once you start getting into the entertaining storyline, you'll appreciate the way the characters manage to interact in a way that doesn't feel too scripted or forced.

The gameplay definitely left something to be desired - taking jumps away from the company's best platforming characters was a strange choice. All the level designs felt like individual games that got patchworked together to make a coherent story, a functioning Frankenstein of gaming. You're better sticking to their respective series, the stories add up to more epic experiences in the long run.

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