Collabs are amongst the most hyped-up events for a gacha game. Throughout the history of gacha games, collabs can get pretty…bizarre. I’ll be sharing my pick of the top 10 wildest and most out of place gacha game collabs.
Note that before we get into business, I’ll be setting some restrictions for what goes into consideration:
- MUST be a gacha game (Something like Fortnite isn’t a gacha game)
- Only one collab per gacha game on this list
- The collab must feature a new unit (or song, in the case of rhythm games). Collabs that only feature skins like KFC collabs don’t count.
Finally, the collab should be considered out-of-place. Tile-matching puzzle games like Puzzle and Dragons are notorious for featuring just about any IP imaginable, partly because most of them require fewer animations for event characters. As such, for games like Puzzle and Dragons where bizarre collabs are considered the norm, a Kamen Rider collab is not considered as out-of-place as say, a Kamen Rider collab in Fate Grand/Order.
With that out of the way, let’s start off with number 10:
10. Caravan Stories x Beastars
Beastars is a rather underrated anime commonly associated with the furry community (Note: it’s for everyone). When Legoshi, Louis and Haru, students of a modern-day Cherryton Academy get isekai-ed to the fantasy world of Caravan Stories, you know it’s bizarre. Besides, Louis has only been featured in a minor physical altercation while Haru has not been in a fight. How are you going to expect them to survive in a world of fantasy monsters, besides the power of gacha?
9. Girls Frontline x Dropkick on my Devil!! Dash
It was a tough pick between this and the VA-11 HALL-A collab, but this one takes the cake. In a game featuring anthropomorphized firearms like UMP5 and M16A1, a lamia summoned from hell itself is a completely out-of-place character.
7. The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross x Stranger Things
It’s safe to say that no one expected that Seven Deadly Sins, a shounen anime set in a medieval fantasy setting, will feature Stranger Things, an American sci-fi horror drama in a collab. How exactly do you scale the power of characters from both series? True to its name, this is a strange collab, but they’re about to get even stranger.
6. The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls x Code Geass
For a game about singing and idols, a terrorist like Lelouch from Code Geass is definitely not an obvious pick, but lo and behold, Idolmaster x Code Geass is a thing. Thankfully, being able to vibe to “JIBUN WO” as we tap on the screen is very satisfying.
6. D4DJ Groovy Mix x Shin Godzilla
What could possibly be stranger than idols and terrorists? Why DJs and Godzilla of course! Even the iconic kaiju isn’t immune to the power of the DJ beat as seen in this collab.
5. SINoALICE x Batman
SINoALICE is a game about (mostly) cute waifus inspired by fairy tales and how they start to kill everything just to meet their creator. While there are a few male characters, one of the last people you’d expect to see in a waifu game is Batman himself. Furthermore, because of the game’s class system, Batman—who’s famous for not using guns—is awkwardly placed in the Gunner class. To make the collab even weirder, Joker, Harley Quinn and Catwoman also appear alongside the Caped Crusader.
4. Granblue Fantasy x Doraemon
Just look at the characters above. Who in their right mind would think that the innocent cast of Doraemon would call the dangerous and monster-filled world of Granblue Fantasy their home? Cygames apparently. Granblue Fantasy was host to many weird collabs, but the Doraemon collab easily takes the cake.
3. Heir of Light x John Wick
Heir of Light is a dark fantasy gacha RPG with magic and monsters. Obviously, only a man of commitment, focus and sheer will can survive—John Wick. In his Keanu Reeves-likeness, the dog-loving former assassin takes on demons with his assortment of guns. As if that’s not enough, Sofia from John Wick 3 (played by Halle Berry) is also recruitable.
2. Tower of Saviors x BIGBANG
I know I made that earlier stint about how tile-matching puzzle games feature strange collabs a lot more than your typical gacha game, but this is arguably the most ludicrous. While their heyday has passed, G-Dragon, T.O.P, Taeyang, Daesung and Seungri of K-Pop boy band BIGBANG were turned into recruitable characters in Tower of Saviors, each with their own element. Having featured as a gacha game character is an honour usually reserved for fictional characters, but for this group of artists, it’s something that they can boast about.
1. Final Fantasy Brave Exvius x Ariana Grande
It’s a choice between this and Katy Perry, but I went with Ariana as she came before Katy’s collab. World-renowned singer and judge of The Voice Ariana Grande is also a recruitable character in Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. Complete with her own sprites, animations and even her own song, Ariana Grande makes her debut in the game as Dangerous Ariana and later as Chic Ariana. The next time someone asks you who is your favourite Final Fantasy character, know that Ariana Grande is a valid answer.
That is all for this top 10 list of the wildest gacha game collabs. Obviously, there are a lot of bizarre gacha game collabs out there, but this is my pick of the 10 wildest ones.
Let us know if you feel that there should be a gacha game collab that deserves to be on this list instead!