Deep Dive Disney: Wes Builds the Roster for a Disney Channel Fighting Game

Welcome all, to a something very different for Deep Dive Disney. What originally started as a Twitter thread that I put together when I was bored on a Sunday afternoon, today, we’ll be building the roster for a Disney animation TV show based fighting game. Why? Well, the short answer is why not, but the long answer is, I’ve been playing a lot of old SNK games in my spare time lately and I’ve recently discovered a YoutTube channel called Thorgi’s Arcade. Said channel features a series called Build the Roster, which builds the roster for a hypothetical fighting game, I.E. Injustice 3 or Tekken X Street Fighter. By the way, seriously check out this guy’s channel if you like Fighting Games. Not only has he reignited my love of the genre, but he’s also somehow finally gotten me to break down and watch One Piece. I’m as surprised as you are at that one. So, a little while ago, I came across a rather interesting piece of Disney Channel Animation fan art (which we’ll describe in detail a bit later) that invoked thoughts of the King of Fighters three-person team format. From there, things kind of spiraled out of control and I ended up putting together a full roster for this hypothetical fighting game, so, with respect to Thorgi and the original artist, I’ve decided to share my own variation of Build the Roster with you fine folks. We’ll be exploring the various teams, detailing how they would fight, why they’re paired together and some of the other gameplay mechanics such as bosses and secret fighters. Warning though, there will be some spoilers for the shows being discussed so read at your own peril. And of course, we have to start with…

Team Gravity Falls:

- Dipper Pines

- Mabel Pines

- Soos Ramirez

The Pines Twins are pretty much mandatory for this game and I don’t feel that I have to explain why. For the third man, while Grunkle Stan is the more obvious choice, I’m going with Soos, partially because he’s my favorite Gravity Falls character but also because I have plans for Stan further down the line. Let’s start with Dipper. Dipper is not much of a fighter, in fact, there was an entire episode dedicating to showcasing this fact, so physically, he’d be pretty weak, but where he’d shine is in his use of gadgets and magical items from the show. Dipper would be a strategy-based fighter, someone who can utilize his move set and take his time earning a victory. He’d summon Dipper clones with the cursed copy machine, shrink opponents with the magic flashlight and for his ultimate, I suggest he call forth a stampede of gnomes, manataurs and multi-bears from the show. Mabel on the other hand would be a lot more aggressive and a lot of her offense would be based around two words, “GRAPPLING HOOK.” Yeah, Maple would make great use of the grappling hook of hers. I’d suggest giving her a few Scorpion “Get Over Here" moves. She’d also have Waddles run across the screen and for her Ultimate, she downs a bunch of Smile Dip and summons a multi-headed Laser-Dolphin. As for Soos, he’d be a bit more of a straightforward grappler. It’s canon that Soos is a wrestling fan and a gamer so give him some moves similar to Zangief and E. Honda. For his ultimate, I was thinking Pac-Man Soos from the stinger of the Fight Fighters Episode, and for flavor, Soos could pull out a controller and input a cheat code to make it happen. But anyway, let’s move on…

Team Amphibia

- Anne Boonchuy

- Sasha Waybright

- Marcy Wu

I wanted to put Anne on a team with Sprig, but after the Amphibia finale, this team pretty much felt mandatory. These three would be significantly more straightforward than the Gravity Falls Trio. They’d all fight relatively similar, but I’d say Sasha would be more Melee focused while Marcy would be more of a ranger and main character Anne would be a bit of a balance between the two. For their super moves, they’d definitely go into their weird Music Box Crystal Super Saiyan forms (I’m sure these forms have proper names, but I don’t feel like looking it up) While in this form, they’d temporarily hit harder, move faster and have a few new projectile moves. So we have Gravity Falls, we have Amphibia, the next team can only come from…

Team Owl House

- Luz Noceda

- Amity Blight

- Hunter

Yup, while there are other popular modern Disney Channel animated shows, the big three always seem to be Gravity Falls, Amphibia and, of course, Owl House. And these three seem to be the most popular characters in the show, so they feel almost as mandatory for this game as the last trio. We have main character Luz, her rival turned girlfriend Amity and enemy turned ally Hunter. As for how they’d fight, Well for Luz, I see her using her glyphs to fight. A light glyph as a flash-stun trap, an ice glyph for a defensive wall, and a fire glyph for an offensive attack. Her ultimate would be her combining an ice and fire glyph to create a mist to hide her, then while the opponent is fumbling around, in comes Hooty and King to mess with the victim. For Amity, I'm thinking of her as a puppet fighter and zoner. She summons an Abomination that fights on her behalf, with it having a small health bar of its own. Deal enough damage and the Abomination breaks, forcing her to fight solo for about 5 seconds, giving the opponent a way to get close. And like Luz, she can call in other characters for an assist, in this case Willow. As for Hunter, he would basically be the rush down character of the team, with a lot of staff attacks and dashes, and he could call in Gus to buff him. So, we got the representation for the big three out of the way, now let’s get the characters who are mandatory because this is MY blog.

Team Manhattan Clan

- Goliath

- Brooklyn

- Elisa Maza

For the most part, this list is focusing on modern shows, or at the very least, shows that came about in our current millennium, but you all know me and you knew that Gargoyles was going to be a part of this one way or another. Besides, Gargoyles recently received a comic book revival, so there’s a lot of renewed interest in the series at the moment so it’s not like it would be out of nowhere to include them. Goliath would fight exactly how you’d expect him to. He’d be a tank, with a lot of emphasis on heavy damage and punishing grapples. Brooklyn, his second in command, would have a similar move set to Goliath, but he wouldn’t be nearly as powerful and would instead have a greater emphasis on speed. And as much as I want Lexington or Broadway on this team, they’d fight too similar to the other two Gargoyles so for variety sake, let’s throw in Elisa as the third fighter and, since she's a cop, we'd basically make her fight like Stryker from Mortal Kombat with a lot of projectiles with her service pistol and a few solid melee attacks for up close. Alright, so far we’ve only discussed teams that come from the same universe, now let’s try something creative…

Team Old Mentor

- Stan Pines

- Eda Clawthorne

- Hudson

One of my favorite teams in King of Fighters ’98 is the Masters Team, in which the wise mentors that trained the major characters across the franchise form a team of their own. Since this hypothetical game is inspired by the KOF franchise, let’s carry that energy over. Also, this gives us an excuse to put Stan and Eda on the same team. Not only are they both great characters, but also, despite being from two completely different shows, it’s more or less canon at this point that that they used to be married, so this game could finally let us see them interact. As for the third man, there were a lot of candidates, but… Hop Pop from Amphibia felt out of place alongside Stan and Eda, Ford would have given us too many Gravity Falls characters and Scrooge fit better on another team, so that ultimately just leaves Hudson. I see Stan as a straightforward Brawler. Give him a pair of Brass Knuckles, a baseball bat and let him go to town. For his ultimate, let’s have his opponents drown in a CASH SHOWER! Eda would be more of a ranged fighter, hanging back and fighting with various spells, but when she hits her ultimate, she takes her Harpy form and now has a lot more melee power and can tear opponents apart with her claws. As for Hudson, he’d fight a lot like Goliath, which makes sense since Hudson taught Goliath everything he knows, but he’d have a lot more melee range with his sword and give him a couple counter moves to showcase his patience and wisdom. Alright, for this roster, I tried my best to keep it restricted to shows I’m familiar with, but this next one, well…

Team Phineas and Ferb

- Phineas Flynn

- Ferb Fletcher

- Agent P

So, confession time, I’ve barely seen any Phineas and Ferb. They’re only here because their show was insanely popular, so I kind of felt obligated. So… don’t expect as much detail for this one. For Agent P, he’d be a more straightforward fighter, but since he’s on the smaller side, he’d have a lot of jumping attacks like Yoda or King Mickey. As for the other two, well… they’re not exactly fighters, but I’d still load them up with a bunch of moves that reference past episodes and various “Plans of the Day.” Also, while they’d each have an individual ultimate, say Phinneas and Ferb are on a Team together. Well, provided neither have been KO’d yet, they would have a shared super where they’d combine into their superhero persona, The Beak. Anyway, enough of that, on to a team I actually do know about.

Team Possible

- Kim Possible

- Ron Stoppable

- Shego

No way in hell was I leaving Kim Possible out of this, However, including her was trickier than you may think. See, Kim and Ron were a given, but they don’t really have a third man, or at least not one that would work for this format. Rufus is only a few inches tall, and, even given the smaller characters we’ve included so far, that’s pushing it. Wade is rarely seen standing up, so he’s not exactly fighting game material. So here’s what I suggest. Let’s throw Shego on the team with Kim and Ron. Yes, Shego is a bad guy and many ways, more of a rival to Kim than Drakken himself, but you can get creative and come up with a story reason for her to team up with Kim and Ron. Maybe she was arrested and has to join Kim’s team in lieu of a prison sentence, or, the scenario I find funnier, Shego wanted to win the tournament and decided Drakken had no chance so she decided to team with Kim. Speaking of, Kim would be a relatively standard fighter, with a lot of fast paced martial arts moves, kind of like a Chun-Li type. For her Ultimate I see her getting her power suit from season 4. Shego would be all about pressure. She’d be super unga bunga both up close and at range, the drawback being a lack of defense so Shego would be tough, but she’d be a glass cannon. Ron would be a little different. He’s got some martial arts skills, but he’s not really a fighter on the level of Kim and Shego. He’d have a few melee moves, but he’d be more comfortable hanging back and throwing nacos as projectiles and calling Rufus for an assist attack. For his ultimate, he’d summon up his hidden mystical monkey power and unleash it all in one big blast. But moving right along, let’s get another team from the big three out here…

Team Plantar

- Hop Pop Plantar

- Sprig Plantar

- Frobo

I had to get the Plantar family in on the action. Sprig would be the most standard fighter on this team, with a lot of melee range with his long tongue, kind of like Dhalsim. He’s a frog, so he’d also jump a lot higher than a lot of the other fighters. Hop Pop is not really a fighter, but he is a farmer, so I see him having some moves where he grows vegetables and uses them as projectiles. As for Polly, she wouldn’t fight at all… because she’s a tiny purple ball with arms and a bow. So instead, she’d be piloting her pet robot, Frobo. Now, if you’re still looking at our last entry, you’re probably thinking I left Dr. Drakken off the roster. I assure you, nothing could be further from the truth because our next team is…

Team Mad Scientist

- Dr. Drakken

- Dr. Doofenshmirtz

- Old Man McGucket

Yeah, I wanted to put Shego and Drakken on the same team, but sometimes you gotta shuffle people around to get the roster you want. Plus, I love the idea of a team up between Drakken and Doofenshmirtz, two clueless mad scientists who want to take over the world but have no idea what they’re actually doing. The interactions between these two would be wonderful. For their third man, I’m going with Old Man McGucket, the feral hillbilly mad scientist from Gravity Falls. McGucket isn’t evil, but he is insane and once built a giant robot for one of the actual villains of the show so he fits in with this team, and the idea of Drakken and Doof being creeped out by this guy is hilarious to me. As for how he’d fight, well, he’s completely out of his mind, so he'd be scrappy brawler who fights like a mad animal and would also have a Sindel hair grab with his beard. For his ultimate, I’m thinking he’s summon his Gobblewonker Robot to attack the opponent. As for Drakken, he’d be more of a zoner, hanging back throwing explosive devises and laser blasts but would be really weak up close on account of his tiny hands. And Doof, well, one thing I do know about Phineas and Ferb is that Doof puts a self-destruct button on everything, so I suggest he’d have the ability to lay explosive traps around the arena that explode after a certain amount of time. If they explode near the opponent, it would do a ton of damage, but Doof could also be potentially damaged by this as well, so he’d be a very high risk, high reward type of fighter. The roster is looking good so far, but I can’t help but feel that we’ve forgotten one of the major staples of Disney animation, a series that transcends generations. Let’s fix that…

Team Ducktales

- Huey

- Dewey

- Louie

Brace yourselves folks, the next three teams are all about Ducktales. And since this roster is based around three person teams, we need to throw in the triplets first and foremost. Now, the 2017 Ducktales reboot did an excellent job of finally giving the nephews separate personalities, so let’s have their fighting styles reflect that. Huey would lean into his Jr. Woodchuck side and make him the more technical of the group, but for his ultimate, he’d summon his Duke of Making a Mess persona for a massive attack. Dewey wants to be the center of attention, so let's have him be the one who charges in head first. All of his moves would be flashy and loud, but since he doesn't think things through, he doesn't have great defense. Finally, Louie is a con artist, he's usually several steps ahead of everyone, so let's give him a bunch of counter moves, demonstrating that he planned ahead before the fight and was ready for them, and for his ultimate, he accidentally summons Bombi the Zombie. So there’s the triplets out of the way, so now, let’s give it up for the previous generation…

Team Scrooge

- Scrooge McDuck

- Donald Duck

- Della Duck

Scrooge is a given for this roster, and I love the idea of him reuniting his original team of adventurers. Scrooge would fight exactly the way you’d expect him to, Using his cane as a pogo stick for jumping attacks and as a melee weapon up close. Della, the long lost mother of the triplets, would be a lot more straightforward with a lot of heavy melee attacks and gadgets and for her ultimate, the Spear of Selene would come crashing down onto the opponent. As far Donald is concerned, he’d have a very unique mechanic. I’d lean hard into how clumsy and unlucky Donald is and have almost all of his attacks blow up in his face, but he still somehow ends up doing damage, literally failing so hard he succeeds. However, Donald would also have a rage meter that’s unique to him that fills up over time and once it’s full, he’d snap and become this Unga Bunga Beast who hits like a truck. So, we’ve got plenty of Ducktales representation so far, but there’s one more character who needs her own team…

Team Webby

- Webby

- Lena

- Beakley

We need to throw Webby in this. She was arguably the breakout character of the 2017 Ducktales and a great character in her own right. And joining her would be her best friend Lena in her magical girl form from the final season and her adoptive grandmother Ms. Beakley. Lena with all her spells would be a zoner and Beakley, as a former secret agent built like Brock Lesnar would be a tanky grappler with an emphasis on martial arts. As for Webby, Beakley taught her how to fight at an early age, so I see her a rush down character who’d be quick and would hit surprisingly hard for a girl her size. And for her ultimate, I like the idea of her trapping someone in a ball pit like she did to Ma Beagle in one of the early episodes. Alright, we’re done with Ducktales, at least for now, so for our next team, I say we kick it old school with…

Team Disney Afternoon

- Baloo

- Bonkers

- The Rescue Rangers

Even though we’re mostly focusing on newer shows on this roster, I wanted one team that represents the Disney Afternoon, the proverbial old guard of Disney animated television. So first up would be Baloo from Talespin and I say, cargo pilot or not, Baloo is first and foremost a Bear, so I suggest having him fight like a slightly less bestial version of Kuma from Tekken with a few assist moves where Kit Cloudkicker swoops down on his board. As for Bonkers, he’s a toon, so I say let’s make him a zoner who uses pies, anvils and other stereotypical cartoon shit in his attacks. That just leaves The Rescue Rangers and here’s where things get tricky. See, the rescue rangers are as much a staple of Disney Animation as Uncle Scrooge and the gang AND they just had a movie come out so we need them in here. However, there are two major problems with that. One, the rescue rangers are small, like, really small. If I couldn’t make Rufus a fighter then I certainly couldn’t do it with the rescue rangers. The other problem is, even if size weren’t an issue, the rangers are a four person team (five if you count zipper) and with the three man team format, to include them as their own team would mean leaving one of them off the roster, and that just doesn’t feel right. My solution, take a page out of the book of another heroic team of rangers and have Gadget rig up a human-sized mech suit that all four of the rangers would pilot like a megazord. And what’s more, make this thing a stance fighter than mixes up its play style to reflect each of the Rangers’ personalities. When Chip & Dale are in the pilot seat, it'd be a straightforward all-rounder. Gadget would be more focused on weapons and projectiles and Monty would be an in-your-face brawler. For an ultimate, let’s say Gadget slingshots some stinky cheese at the opponent, Monty goes berserk and jumps after it, distracting the opponent long enough for Chip and Dale to land a critical blow, that way, all of the rangers get in on finishing move. A great way to include a staple of the Disney afternoon. Speaking of staples of the Disney afternoon…

Team Darkwing

- Darkwing Duck

- Lauchpad McQuack

- Gosalyn Mallard

This is another given. Darkwing Duck is my favorite superhero, remains an extremely popular character to this day and was prominently featured in the Ducktales reboot. And of course joining him are his loyal sidekick and Ducktales mainstay, Launchpad McQuack and his adopted daughter Gosalyn. Darkwing would be an all-rounder with an emphasis on stealth and surprise attacks. Give him a few smoke bomb teleports and grapples and we have a solid move set for the Terror that flaps in the night. Launchpad, being a bigger guy would be a brawler, but his fighting style would just be him flailing around to show that he’s not overly skilled, and for his ultimate, have him crash the Thunderquack in the middle of the arena. Finally, Gosalyn I see having a similar mechanic to Cody from Final Fight and Street Fighter. There would be weapons scattered around the arena like her bow and her hockey stick that she could pick up and use for stronger attacks, but if she gets hit, she loses them and has to pick them up all over again. It sounds annoying, but she’d be very fast so she’d be able to pick her weapons back up quickly. Also, to keep things current, all of these characters would be in their outfits from the Ducktales reboot, but we could always have their classic outfits as unlockables. And next, we’ll be rounding out the base roster with a series we haven’t even discussed yet…

Team Star

- Star Butterfly

- Marco Diaz

- Tom Lucitor

We had to get some representation for Star vs. The Forces of evil in this game. Main character Star and her love interest Marco were a given and to round out the team, I’m going with Star’s ex-boyfriend Tom Lucitor, because he’s cool. Star would fight the way she does in the show, filling the screen would crazy nonsense like rainbow narwhals, spiders with top hats and more. For her ultimate, she would briefly go into her Butterfly form. Marco would be a more straightforward martial artist and sword fighter and I would try to find a way to incorporate his older form from the Hekapoo dimension. As for Tom, he’s a Demon who specializes in pyrokinesis, so I say let’s have him fight in a similar fashion to Iori Yagami from King of Fighters. And that about wraps it up for the base roster, but before we get to the bosses and sub-bosses, let’s include a secret fighter who wouldn’t have his own team but would instead fight solo, and I can’t think of anyone who fits this spot better than

Secret Fighter

- Rumble McSkirmish

I think this game could use a Reptile. A character who would be hard to unlock during the arcade ladder, so if you reach them, you feel like you accomplished something. Let’s say, if your score is high enough, then when you get halfway through the arcade ladder, the words “HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER” would appear on the screen and you’d then fight Rumble McSkirmish. Since Rumble is from a Gravity Falls episode what was essentially a simultaneous parody of and love letter to fighting game tropes, putting him in this game as a special unlockable just makes too much sense. As for his move set, honestly, it’s the easiest one so far. He'd just be a clone of Ryu from Street Fighter. He looks like Ryu, poses like Ryu, fights like Ryu, just make him Ryu. We’d throw in a few more iconic moves from popular fighting game protagonists like Liu Kang’s bicycle kick or Terry Bogard’s Burn Knuckle, but for the most part, he’s just Ryu. Alright, that’s out of the way, now let’s start talking boss characters.

Team Fearsome

- Negaduck

- Megavolt

- Quackerjack

Like I’ve said, this game is heavily inspired by the King of Fighters series. Well, in many KOF games, the bosses and sub-bosses you fight would depend on how high a score you get in the arcade ladder. So, let’s carry that over to this game. For our first sub-boss team, let’s go with a classic group made up of members of Darkwing Duck’s rogue’s gallery, the Fearsome Five, or, I guess… Fearsome Three. Yeah, sadly Bushroot and Liquidator drew the short straws here and will have to sit this one out which leaves us with Megavolt, Quackerjack and of course, DW’s nemesis, the evil Negaduck. Just because Ducktales didn’t follow up on that plot point doesn’t mean I won’t dammit! Anywho, these guys would be the default sub-boss team. They’re a threat, sure, but they’re still ultimately just Saturday morning cartoon villains. Megavolt would be a mid-range zoner with a lot of lightning bolts and electrified appliances flying across the screen. Quackerjack would be all about traps, leaving exploding teddy bears and like all over the arena. Kind of like Doofenschmirtz, but slightly different. His explosives wouldn’t do as much damage, they wouldn’t hurt him when they go off, and he could control when they blow up. As for Negaduck, I see him as a semi-echo fighter for Darkwing Duck, but for his melee attacks, he’d lean hard into his chainsaw. Also, I’d give him a unique ultimate that he could only use if he’s on a team with Megavolt and Quackerjack and those two have already been KO’d. That being, he’d pull out a magic crystal and transform into Mega Negaduck and unleash all the powers of the Fearsome Five in one huge attack. So that’s the first Sub-Boss team, but let’s say you get a slightly better score in the arcade ladder. Well, then you’d fight…

Team Pack

- Wolf

- Jackal

- Hyena

For our next Sub-Boss team, we’re still in Saturday morning cartoon villain territory, but these guys are a much more serious threat, at least compared to a guy who once fell in love with a neon sign and a guy who talks to a ventriloquist dummy with a banana for a head. The Pack are deadly mercenaries and fighting them instead of Negaduck and company would show the escalation of the threat. As for which members of the pack I chose, Jackal and his sister Hyena are a package deal and the only two members of the group who are still together by the end of the series so they’re definitely in. Dingo is my favorite member of the team and Fox is the most recurring but the former gave up his life of crime and the latter was only a full-fledged member of the pack in one episode so they’re both out. That just leaves Coyote and Wolf and while Coyote is cool, one of my Twitter followers is a big fan of Wolf so Hector J, this is for you. As for how they’d fight, Hyena I see fighting a lot like X-23 from Marvel vs. Capcom with a heavy emphasis on wild claw strikes. For her ultimate, I’d have her call in Coyote for a big attack, that way Coyote still kind of gets in on the action. Wolf, believe it or not, would be a stance fighter. One stance would be his regular fighting style, where he’d basically fight like a wild animal. For his other stance he’d pull out a battle axe, showing that he’s now possessed by his Viking ancestor, Hakon. Finally, there’s Jackal. He’d fight kind of like his sister, but with a heavier emphasis on projectiles and stretch moves. For his ultimate, I’d have him take his Anubis form. In this form he'd be incredibly powerful, but the trade-off would be that his health would slowly drain over time so it’s not something you’d want to use if you’re low on HP. Also, if you input certain commands in this form, Jackal would be able to perform a guilty gear style insta-kill move. I know insta-kill’s are broken as hell but A. this would be insanely difficult to pull off and the only time you could do it was in a state where your health is slowly draining and B. if any character is going to have an insta-kill move, it should be the guy who’s absorbed the power of the actual god of death. Anywho, that’s the mid-level sub-boss team, but now we get really serious with…

Team Bad End

- Belos Hunter

- Darcy

- Bipper

Friends, this here piece of fanart from Twitter User @the_nightarts, was what inspired this whole crazy idea. I took one look at this and felt it invoked the same energy as characters like Evil Ryu, Devil Jin and Orochi Iori. And since they were a three-person team, why not build a King of Fighters style roster around it. Because that’s totally a logical conclusion. In any case, these guys would be the Sub-Boss team you’d reach if you have a super high score. And, when you defeat and unlock this team, they’d be selectable by pressing special buttons when selecting Hunter, Marcy and Dipper respectively. As for how they’d fight, Darcy would get a lot of use out of that scythe of hers, making her Rekka Fighter or a Combo Fiend. Belos Hunter was tricky to figure out since he’s fairly recent, but I see him using a few Dhalsim like stretch moves and some shapeshifting abilities. As for Bipper, well… he’s already dressed like a priest and possessed by an eldritch terror, let’s just make him fight like Goenitz, the final boss from King of Fighters ’96. He’s have some crazy fast melee moves and he’d also be able to zone you out, but instead of Goenitz’s tornados, he’d turn his opponent into a sock puppet. However, he’d also have a fatal weakness. Bill doesn’t understand the limitations of Dipper’s body, so his defense would be absolute garbage. So, we’ve got all the sub-bosses, so now, let’s meet our final bosses, and like the sub-bosses, who you fight at the end would depend entirely on your score in the arcade ladder. First up…

Final Boss #1

- Andrias Leviathan

For the first of the three potential Final Bosses, let’s go with the Mad King of Amphibia, Andrias Leviathan. Even if you don’t know the show, one look at this guy and you’d be like, yeah, this dude is a Tank with a capital T. He’s absolutely massive and would likely be the largest character in the entire game. Given his size and his long sword, he’d have some insane melee range and he’d hit like an express train, but since he’s so huge, he’d also be easy to hit if you get in close. For an ultimate, I see him putting on his huge mech suit from the final battle. Next up…

Final Boss #2

- Belos

So Belos would actually have two forms. In his normal form, he’d be a basic zoner, like many of the magic users in this game so far, but once he gets down to half health, he’d transform into his monster form and now he has a lot more powerful close ranged attacks and he’d be able to recover his lost health with a few moves that absorb his opponent’s HP, similar to how he drains the energy from Palismans to sustain himself. But now, on to the last of the Final Boss trio, and I think no character created by Disney more embodies the spirit of an SNK Final Boss than…

Final Boss #3

- Bill Cipher

Yeah, who else could it be? This guy was ranked as the most-evil villain in Disney Channel history and is perfect for the roll of Final Boss. In fact, storyline wise, I see him being the true mastermind behind this entire tournament, bringing together fighters from across the multiverse to steal their energy and restart Weirdmageddon, recruiting Andrias and Bellos as his agents along the way. As for how he’d fight, well, there’s a thing called SNK Boss Syndrome, which is basically a way of saying that SNK final bosses tend to be insanely hard, borderline unfair and have a tendency to fill up the screen with all manner of crazy bullshit. That certainly sounds like Bill Cipher to me. He’s the embodiment of chaos and weirdness and so his fighting style would reflect that. He’d summon his henchmaniacs, shuffle the functions of his opponents faces, and take his monstrous red form as an ultimate. Bill would be the perfect final boss, but…

The True Final Boss

- Cyber Xanatos

Even though this game is inspired by King of Fighters, in my heart of hears, I’m a Street Fighter boy, so I say this game needs an Akuma, a final big bad who, once you think it’s all over, comes out of nowhere with the sole purpose of kicking your ass, but only if you have a perfect, or near perfect score in the arcade ladder. But who would it be? Well, you all know me and know that I am an unapologetic David Xanatos fanboy so I had to work him into this game somehow. The problem is, while Xanatos is a great character, he’s not really evil. Opportunistic, self-interested and manipulative sure, but not final boss in a fighting game evil, and even if he was, he’s not a crazy SNK boss level threat like Bill and the others. However, there was an episode of Gargoyles called Future Tense which sees our heroes travel to a dark future in which an insane computer program that believed itself to be Xanatos but possessed none of his restraint or his humanity had taken over the entire world and transformed it into a nightmarish dystopian hellscape. There’s your Final Boss! And yeah, I know that the Xanatos program was ultimately just a puppet for a now evil Lexington who was in turn just an illusion created by Puck to screw with Goliath, but with the multiverse crashing into itself, you can easily hand wave that and say that the power of the multiverse brought this being into our reality or something. So, let’s say you defeat one of the standard final bosses with an insanely high score. Then, instead of cutting to the arcade mode ending, your team would be sucked into cyberspace like in Tron and now you’d fight the real final boss, and he’d be one tough son of a bitch. Cyber Xanatos would show off a lot of the abilities he had in the episode he showed up in, such as electrocution, turning his opponents to stone and transforming into a spiked drill. Truly the stuff that Final Bosses are made of!

And that wraps it up for the base game, but no modern fighting game is complete without DLC these days, so we are not even close to done yet. Let’s keep it going with…

Team Emperor’s New School

- Kuzco

- Kronk

- Malina

For the base roster, I actively avoided characters who originated in movies. Okay, there was Baloo, but he barely counts (or… BEAR-ly counts, hehe). Anywho, now that we’re into the Downloadable Content, all bets are off and we’re kicking things off with The Emperor’s New School, the sequel series to one of my favorite Disney movies, The Emperor’s New Groove. Kuzco is an obvious pick, and for his play style I have something unique in mind. Just because this is based on the TV show doesn’t mean we can’t borrow from the film, so I’m thinking have Kuzco fight with various animal transformations. Give him a charge attack with his Llama form, a quick dodge as a rabbit, a huge drop as a whale and so on and so forth. As for Kronk, he’d be a big tough brawler/grappler, but he’d also be able to heal himself with spinach puffs and he’d also have a move where he pulls a lever and drops the opponent into a gator pit or drops a rock on them. I actually like the idea that it would be random every time. Malina is a character invented specifically for the show. Her fighting style would be a lot more standard than the others, but I need to include her because she has a pretty big fanbase and Micah Hirsh of The Emperor’s New Podcast, a podcast dedicated to all things Emperor's New Groove, would kill me if she wasn’t on the roster. So, that out of the way, let’s move on to another team of characters that originated from a movie.

Team Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure

- Rapunzel

- Eugene Fitzherbert

- Cassandra

If you haven’t seen Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure, do not write it off because this show, about a Disney Princess of all things, was awesome, like, Avatar Awesome! And of course, to represent the series, we’re going with the main trio from the show, Rapunzel, Eugene (or Flynn Rider if you prefer) and new character created for the show, Cassandra. We’ll start with Raps, who, when I looked at what she was capable of, no joke, has the potential to be the most broken non-boss character in the entire game. Who the hell saw that one coming? I know we said we’d give McGucket a couple Sindel like throws, but if any character would be the Sindel of this game, yeah, obviously it’s the character known for using her indestructible hair as a weapon, so naturally she’d have a lot of hair based attacks but would also be able to heal herself with the healing incantation. In addition, she’d also have some strong close range Melee attacks with her signature frying pan, and for her ultimate, we’d have to give her the Hurt Incantation. Look it up, it’s one of the most gnarly moments from that show or any show we’ve discussed so far. So, she’d be pretty broken, but we’d balance that out by giving her some low defense. As for Flynn and Cass, they’d both be fairly standard sword fighters, but Cass would be a lot faster and Flynn could have the ability to stun opponents with The Smolder and an ultimate where he calls in Maximus. That rounds out these characters, but we’re going to add a twist for this team…

DLC Bosses

- Moonstone Cassandra

- Zhan Tiri

Okay, let’s say you select Team Rapunzel’s Tangled adventure and meet the requirements to reach Team Bad End. If you manage to defeat them and then go on to complete arcade mode, then, every time you fight Team Bad End after this, there would now be a chance that one of the members would be replaced with Cassandra in her Moonstone form, (the Moonstone being a sort of Yang to the Sun drop Flower’s Yin) and now, she’d still have a lot of her sword fighting skills but she’d have more melee range and the ability to zone out her opponent with the moonstone spikes that come up from the ground. And of course, once she’s defeated, she’d now be playable by pressing a certain button when you select Cassandra. Now, let’s say you reach Team Bad End again, and Cassandra is a member of the team. If you meet certain requirements that specifically involve Cassandra, then you’d fight an entirely new final boss, the ultimate villain of Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure, the Demon Zhan Tiri. Since Zhan Tiri draws her power from both the Sun Drop Flower and the Moonstone, she’d borrow moves from both Rapunzel and Cassandra. I see her being able to heal herself with the sun power and zone out the opponent with spikes using the moon power. Alright, let’s keep going, and since we’ve just covered a couple villains, let’s keep that energy going with…

Team Classic Villains

- Magica DeSpell

- Flintheart Glomgold

- Ma Beagle

One of my favorite moments from the Ducktales series finale was the moment where we saw the three classic villains from the original show standing together to vanquish the big bad once and for all. So, let’s make them a team in this game. Magica would fight a lot like a darker and more aggressive version of Lena which makes sense if you know the lore the show and their connection to one another. Ma Beagle wouldn’t really do that much fighting herself but would instead call in the Beagle Boys to do most of her dirty work, sort of like Captain Ginyu from Dragon Ball FighterZ. And as for Glomgold, honestly, I don’t know how this would work, but I have this idea where he’d be an echo fighter for Scrooge, but worse in almost every way. We’d have to find a way to balance this so he wouldn’t be entirely useless, but trying to be Scrooge and failing miserably pretty much sums up Glomgold’s entire character. Alright, let’s get a Team together that incorporates more characters from the big three we started with...

Team Special Assignment

- Mr. X

- Stanford Pines

- Lilith Clawthorne

So why are these guys together? I’m glad you asked! In the story of this game, there would be multiple universes colliding into one another like billiard balls and naturally, this would catch the attention of Mr. X, a flamboyant FBI agent obsessed with finding extraterrestrials. Mr. X would naturally wish to investigate the cause of all this, and to that end, he’d recruit Stanford Pines, who’s done extensive research into strange supernatural occurrences, and Lilith Clawthorne, a powerful magic user who would act as a consultant. As for how they’d fight, I see X being a rush down fighter. He rides around on roller skates, so he’d have plenty of speed, and he wields a lightsaber like weapon for melee attacks. Ford would be more of a ranged fighter who makes use of laser blasts and the like but could also set up traps and gadgets. For his ultimate, I’d say he’d roll his infinity-sided dice and a random ultimate would occur. Maybe it would be a huge explosion, or a full screen tornado attack or maybe he’d summon Probabilitor the Annoying. As for Lilith, she’d have a lot of the basic magical abilities you’d expect her to have and would use them accordingly but Lilith also has the unique ability to share pain, so I suggest we incorporate this by giving her a counter where, if executed successfully, she would still take damage, but half the damage she would have taken would be transferred to the opponent. Alright, there’s one more Disney Channel show that I feel we’ve left out so let’s fix that with…

Team American Dragon

- Jake Long

- Lao-Shi

- Rose

So, when I was putting together the base roster, it came down to either American Dragon Jake Long or Star vs. The Forces of Evil and since Star is the much more recent series, it ultimately won out. So, here we are with Team American Dragon relegated to DLC. Jake would fight similar to Goliath, a big bruiser with an emphasis on power, with some fire breath for good measure. Lao-Shi, or Gramps, as a Chinese style dragon as opposed to a western style dragon like his grandson, would be much quicker, but he’s also a wise old master and would know when to be patient, so let’s load him up with a few counter moves. Come to think of it, Gramps would have been a great fit for Team Old Mentor. Oh well. As for Rose, she’s a ninja so I see her fighting like Strider Hiryu from Marvel vs. Capcom with some added Melee range from her staff. Alright, just two more DLC teams, and I say, let’s throw in another team of villains.

Team Villains Afternoon

- Fat Cat

- Don Karnage

- The Collector

I wanted a team that was basically the Anti-Team Disney Afternoon, which means a team made up of the respective villains from those shows. Don Karnage, being a pirate, would be a ruthless sword fighter and since he also loves the spotlight, he’d have a lot of moves that are big and flashy in exchange for low defense. Fat Cat, well, he’s a big boy so let’s give him plenty of power moves where he throws his weight around, and unlike Don Karnage, he’d be a lot tankier with a lot more emphasis on defense. Now, those two make sense. But, who the Hell is “The Collector?” Well, here’s the thing, Bonkers never really had a main recurring villain so I decided to go with the villain from the two part pilot, mostly because I like his design. Not to be confused with The Collector from The Owl House, who was intentionally left off this roster since the show hasn’t yet revealed the extent of his abilities at the time I’m writing this, this Collector was essentially the reserve Judge Doom, in that he was a human masquerading as a toon. I’d say make him fight like Bonkers, but not quite as cartoony, showing that he’s desperately trying to be a toon, but can’t quite pull it off. Also, he’d have a technique where he’d freeze the opponent in laminate, basically making him the Sub-Zero of this game. Alright, we have one more DLC Team to go, and for this last one, I’m thinking we go completely off the rails with…

Team Nightmare

- The Summerween Trickster

- Fox

- Paddywack

So, imagine that around Halloween this game releases one last DLC pack themed to the holiday. It would contain plenty of Halloween treats within, such as new costumes, like Dipper and Mabel’s Peanut Butter and Jelly Costumes or Launchpad’s Hockey Mask, a few new spooky stages, and of course a whole new team. But these guys wouldn’t just be a new team of playable characters, they’d also act as a new potential sub-boss team. First up, the Summerween Trickster, the vengeful spirit of Halloween, or… Summerween, I guess. He’d start off in his scarecrow like form where he’d be slow, kind of like a horror movie monster moving ever closer, but he’d hit hard and have some grab moves where he swallows the opponent and spits them out. Like Belos, when he gets to half-health, he’d transform into his more monstrous form and now he’d be a lot faster and hit a lot harder. Since it’s been a minute since we’ve added a Gargoyles character, let’s throw in Fox in her werewolf form since she was also from a Halloween episode. I see her fighting a lot like Blanka from Street Fighter. Her moves would not be about martial arts prowess or finesse, just pure savagery. Hell, in the episode, the Eye of Odin zaps anyone who tries to remove it, so we can even give her something similar to Blanka’s electric abilities. Rounding out this team, it’s Paddywack. For those not in the know, Paddywack was a one-off villain from an episode of Darkwing Duck who was apparently popular enough to warrant a cameo in the Ducktales reboot. Paddywack is basically a child friendly version of Pennywise who specializes in childish pranks that typically have devastating consequences that he’s entirely indifferent to. He would have a lot of moves that utilize his ghostly telekinetic abilities and I would give him a move similar to Dimitri Maximoff’s Midnight Bliss from Darkstalkers, only instead of turning the opponent into a busty woman, he’d turn them into a clown. And for this ultimate, I see him sucking the opponent into his cursed jack-in-the-box. Alright, so that’s the end of the DLC… or is it. We have one more character to go and he’d be the last character unlocked as part of this Halloween DLC pack. Let’s finish this off with probably the most unlikely pick yet…

DLC Secret Character

- Dr. Vile

Agatha, my friend, this is for you. I’ll admit, out of all the characters I’ve put into this roster, this one is by far the most obscure and the least likely to make it in if this were a real game, but Frankly, at this point, I don’t give a crab. Let’s say once you’ve downloaded the Halloween DLC pack, anytime you meet the requirements to fight Rumble McSkirmish, you now have a one in three chance of fighting Dr. Vile instead. Dr. Vile’s move set can best be summed up in two words… CRAB EXPERIMENTS. Like Ma Beagle, he wouldn’t really do much of his own fighting. Instead, he’d call in various horrifying crab monsters to attack the opponent on his behalf. And for his ultimate, I see him blasting the opponent with a big science laser which, if the opponent is KO’d with this attack, would show them transformed into a horrible hybrid crab creature.

And that will do it for what has, by far, been my strangest and possibly longest article to date. I had an absolute blast writing this and would love to tackle something similar in the future. I want to thank my main man James for helping me map out the move sets for a lot of these characters, @the_nightarts for drawing the kick ass picture that inspired this project, Aaron of Thorgi’s arcade who reignited my love of fighting games enough for me to try my hand at emulating his style (please don’t sue me) and of course, all of you for reading this article. It means the world to me that people care what I have to say. In any case, stay tuned, because later this month, we’ll be celebrating a milestone anniversary for one of the most beloved Disney classics of all time.