This is his story.
The cast ofStreet Fighterhave done their share of networking.
Theyve crossed paths with nearly everyone under the sun.
Akuma has thrown fireballs at Galactus.
Chun-Li has traded kicks with Mai Shiranui.
Zangief has manhandled Heihachi Mishima.
E. Honda crushed obscure superhero The Ferret.
Dhalsim has stretch-kicked Duke fromGI Joein the face for the sake of selling action figures.
Hell, Ryu has even punched Mario in his stupid, mustachioed face.
Yet theres one property people have wanted to see them go up against since 1992:Mortal Kombat.
While Japan thinks little of the blood-soaked franchise, US pop-culture has always seenStreet FighterandMortal Kombatas rivals.
The Coke and Pepsi of fighting games.
Will we ever see Akuma vs. Shao Kahn or Dan Hibiki vs. Mokap?
Probably not, though never say never.
When money is the outcome, theres always a chance.
Regardless, there was thatone timeStreet FighterandMortal Kombatofficially had a crossover!
NO, IT WAS NOTWRECK-IT RALPH!
His name is Cyborg.
While theStreet Fightercast is theStreet Fightercast, Cyborg is more of a reference.
Ergo,Wreck-It Ralphdoes not count.
What Im talking about is more obscure.
Its the story of this man, the Warrior King.
I can assure you that thats an orb hes holding and not a dinner plate.
It was November 16, 1996.
Saturday morning cartoons were still a thing and USA had quite the lineup of oddball shows.
The hell was that about?
The show was mostly based on the Jean Claude Van Damme movie, but used designs from the games.
It was about Guile leading a team of world-class martial artists against M. Bisons terrorist organization Shadaloo.
The second season is comparatively less terrible.
The Warrior King is an episode that I imagine looked great on the written page.
All things considered, its a really well-written episode.
We begin in the Warrior Kings world of…um…Warrior World.
Warrior Kings warrior kingdom is under attack by a squadron of evil sorcerers riding dragons.
Turns out that Warrior World is sustained by a magical orb of unlimited power that controls the weather.
It immediately lands in theStreet Fighteranimated universe, more specifically in a fictional Middle Eastern country.
Or at least I hope its fictional or else I look like a real jerk.
Let me look up Kampfer just to verify… Ah ha.
Its a German word meaning warrior.
Okay, thats pretty clever.
The orb hits the desert ground and immediately makes plant life grow.
Nearby farmers are pretty stoked and decide to bring it to their prince.
This is an artistic choice thats always silly.
Bison has strong-armed his way into being in charge of the country and goes into full Wilson Fisk mode.
He acts like a good dude in front of the camera, but we all know the truth.
Rather than wear her trademark blue slit dress, Chun-Li shows up wearing this!
Another blue slit dress!
All the while, Zangief is wandering around in his wrestling speedo.
She cuts to the chase and insults Bison.
Yeah, I dont know.
On one hand, Bison still retains the magical orb.
Its all up to Chun-Li now.
Chun-Li and her new boyfriend.
See, during that earlier fight, Warrior King started hitting on Chun-Li and her Seriously?
Youre really doing this now?
reaction was pretty priceless.
After escaping Bison, they talk about their own backstories and why theyre out to stop Bison.
Chun-Lis all, Yeah, I can take care of myself, thank you very much.
Stillllllll, you might totally get it.
As they make their way through Kampfer, fighting Shadaloo goons, they start bonding.
Otherwise, he just uses his magic laser staff and inherent brawn.
They sneak up on Bison and knock the orb out of his hands again.
Warrior King gets the orb, summons a portal, and the orb accidentally gets knocked in there.
Reluctantly, he leaves Chun-Li behind while she gives him cover.
Guile, Ryu, and Ken show up in a tank and compliment Chun-Lis survival.
For real, it was.
Okay, not thebeststart, but lets keep it going.
Eric LarsensSavage Dragoncomic series got its own cartoon for a couple seasons.
The show is about a big, green superhero guy who decides to use his powers by the book.
I honestly dont know why this episode is called Endgame.
I guess it just sounds cool, so why not.
Our villain of the week/half-hour is the Fiend.
All the while, he talks like hes writing a five-star Yelp review.
Oh, how my mouth waters at how you seethe.
Yes, you will be the perfect form of sustenance for me.
I must have you now.
Thats every scene with him.
It gets old real fast.
The Fiend gets his hands on the orb and uses it to increase his power.
No longer does he need to actively possess people.
Now he just finds people being mad about stuff and devours the souls of everyone in the nearby area.
Warrior King shows up and he and Dragon have your usual superhero team-up.
Theres a misunderstanding, the two fight it out rather evenly, and they eventually see eye-to-eye.
He gets booked in a police precinct, hes fed his first chili dog, and so on.
She begins to come onto Warrior King and he turns her down because hes spoken for.
Rare piece of continuity between these shows.
Its the one show in this four-parter where they wouldnt look at him funny.
Mortal Kombat: Defenders on the Realmis a cartoon sequel to the firstMortal Kombatmovie.
Johnny Cage is never mentioned.
Being that its a Saturday morning cartoon, nobody gets torn apart or killed in general.
So dont expect any Fatalities or anything.
Remember, this is a follow-up to the movie and in the movie, peoplediddie.
Dude died and theres a reason this episode is called Resurrection.
Shao Kahns priests use a magic elixir on Shangs bones that causes them to reform into a standing form.
Tsung then talks about how he paid for his failure by suffering in Hell.
Christ…
Kahn has come into possession of the orb and points out how it can control the weather.
If he is able to kill Raiden and the Earthrealm brigade, then hell be redeemed.
If not, more damnation.
I mean, Shangs figured that out easily enough, but Kahn just goes about his business.
It even takes the crossover and uses it logically to give us some good drama.
The orb has power over nature, right?
Raiden starts feeling the effects of Shang Tsungs weather rampage and Jax notices.
The Defenders of the Realm face Shang Tsung and it doesnt go well for them.
At the same time, hes always had it in his heart to root for the underdog.
As expected, Raiden gets his ass handed to him against Shang.
While Shang plays with him, Jax attempts to rescue the others.
Shang notices this and turns his attention to Jax.
Jax catches it, hands it to Raiden and hes back to full power.
That leads to a wonderful exchange between Raiden and Shang Tsung.
Now, Shang, lets see how you do without nature backing you up.
Youre nothing without YOUR powers!
It appears Ive gotten them back.
Tell you what, though.
I wont even use my special talents.
Im gonna kick your sorry tail mortal-style.
Even with Shang using his fireballs, Raiden casually evades them and overwhelms him purely with martial arts.
He literally throws it with an exaggerated baseball pitch becauseDefenders of the RealmRaiden is kind of awesome.
Theres a bright flash that temporarily blinds everyone.
During that, we get a very quick cameo by our ahem hero.
Thats the entire use of the Warrior King in this entire episode.
A silhouette of him runs through a portal during the last thirty seconds.
A reminder that theres nothing in the episode that suggests that its part of something bigger.
But we know better, dont we?
It is a neat segue into the next and final installment, though.
Raiden mentions how he threw it into space because the next show up isWing Commander Academy.
I dont know much aboutWing Commander.
Flight games arent my thing.
Thats about as far as my knowledge goes on the subject prior to watching this episode.
There are two big things I notice from the start.
First, the animation is very crisp for this era.
It makes the other three shows look all clown shoes.
Second, it pulls no punches.
Death happens on-screen and its important.
Enemy ships are blown up in space and its not likeGI Joewhere we see parachute escapes to assure us.
Thats really unique to me.
Im so used to seeing cartoons sidestep murder that seeing the ethical and emotional repercussions talked about is mindblowing.
Maybe when the HARDAC Batman robot thought it committed murder and went haywire, but thats pretty much it.
Its the Warrior King in cryosleep.
Its a beautiful, peaceful planet and is kind of a neutral no fight zone.
Even when the Kilrathi do show up, its agreed that neither side is supposed to combat the other.
Oasis is a planet that defies scientific explanation.
And we can figure out what the Kilrathi have really shown up on Oasis for.
Gone is the good-humored and honorable hero.
Now he seems weary, frustrated, and coldhearted.
He escapes, overpowers Maverick, and forces him to fly him there.
It wasnt Maverick that he truly recognized but one of his ancestors from Earth.
Warrior King has been searching for the orb for a long, long time.
Even before being frozen, he had been on his quest for several centuries.
Warrior World is fuckinggone, man.
There is no rescue from the clutches of evil.
There is no hope.
If the sorcerers didnt destroy it, the unbalanced ecosystem without the orb wouldve done it.
All of his people are long dead.
Even his sacrifice of leaving Chun-Li so he could continue looking for the orb was a completely hollow gesture.
That is so harsh.
Now all he wants is to find the orb so he can bring back Warrior World.
Cool thing here is that theres a really clever double meaning of the episode title.
Way more thought went into that than Endgame, Ill tell you that much.
Everything comes to a head on Oasis.
Warrior King gets the orb and uses it to wipe out the Kilrathi enemies with a big tornado.
If he does, then Oasis will return to a barren rock planet like it was ages ago.
Warrior King threatens to wipe them out, but Maverick finally gets through to him.
You cant destroy one world to create another.
You cant buy it back with innocent lives.
I have fought for so long…but I had forgotten what I was fighting for.
One world has been destroyed.
It must not happen again.
He steals a ship and flies off into space.
When asked where hes going, Maverick answers, The same place were all going: forward.
And thats how his adventure ends.
But anyway, as I was saying,Street FighterandMortal Kombatcrossed over one time.
It was pretty cool.
They should do it for reals some time.
