Fall Guys: Ultimate Crossover
It's no surprise that Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout became the massive hit that it is. With its colourful, cartoony style, fast-paced action, and chaotic battle royale elements, it has taken the internet by storm since it dropped on August 4.
But it turns out that only half of the fun comes from playing the game, the other comes from creating and conceptualising skins for the in-game characters. Much like Animal Crossing: New Horizons' massive crossover appeal, Fall Guys also has tons of opportunities for fans to get imaginative. In fact, they actively encourage their fans' imagination on their Twitter account, where they repost and retweet countless fan interpretations of their characters.
One of their most popular tweets was a retweet of Fall Guys and Fortnite fan art, where they tagged Tim Sweeney and the official Fortnite Twitter account. They asked for a crossover and still, to this day haven't gotten one, but they've had countless other opportunities from other games. Valve has crossed over quite a few times with Fall Guys, first with the PC-exclusive Team Fortress 2 Scout costume, which became available to PS4 players too in their August 20 update.
August 20 also brought a couple of new Valve skins to the game, such as Half-Life's Alyx Vance and Gordon Freeman, complete with a headcrab hat.
The Fall Guys Twitter account referred to this as a "sneaky update," since players didn't think that the Valve skins would ever make it to PS4.
Other popular games, such as Enter/Exit the Gungeon, have also made their mark on the Fall Guys world. Bulletkin is an available skin as of August 16, and is able to be purchased with dubs on both the PS4 and Steam versions of the game.
But the biggest mark to the game has yet to be made - because outside of the colourful, candy-coated world of Fall Guys, a massive brand war is taking place. On August 17, the Fall Guys Twitter account started a massive brand war to support the charity organisation Special Effect.
Special Effect is a non-profit group that donates technology and gaming supplies to kids and young adults with disabilities. It helps struggling families afford gaming and computer equipment specially tailored to the child's special needs.
This seems like a humble charity event, but it launched a massive brand war. The reason for such a massive war becomes apparent when you see the bottom of the tweet. In no uncertain terms, the Fall Guys tweet reads: "Prize - Your brand inside Fall Guys as a costume!"
After this Tweet was launched, chaos ensued. Indie games, such as Rivals of Aether, were the first to start the bidding, pledging $10,000 to Special Effect for a Ranno skin.
The bets would only get crazier as time went on, as Warframe bet $20,000 to include both the Rivals of Aether character and The Lotus from their own game. Then, Tushy Bidet upped the bid to $40,000.01 to add a simple, yet controversial skin to the game.
This single bid from the Tushy Bidet Company gained a viral following, cluing many other brands into the massive war that was ensuing online. G2 Esports entered the brawl with a $130,003 bid, and then Beast Coast fought back with a gigantic $133,769 bet to include Crest in-game.
Ninja upped the bid to $200,000, which made him seem like he'd be the winner of the war, for sure. His bid overshot the previous bid by tens of thousands, so it seemed like the streamer had secured his spot in Fall Guys history. He even teamed up with Aim Lab once Mr Beast, another popular streamer, took a brief shot at the crown. With Aim Lab, Ninja betted $420,069, outclassing his previous donation by over $200,000.
But what no one was expecting was the return of Tushy Bidet, who refined their controversial design to make it look even more hilarious. This time, the bidet company was back with more arsenal, betting a whopping $420,069.69 to knock any other competitors out of the ring. As of the publication of this article, Tushy Bidet is the highest bidder in the Brand War. The bidding ends on August 31, though, so fans shouldn't count other brands out so soon.
Players that don't have as deep of pockets as the brands involved in the firefight for charity have been using the Twitter thread for the bids to drop a lot of fan art. Some even tag the brands they made fan art of, trying to encourage them to crossover with the up-and-coming game. Games that fans are crazy about crossing over with Fall Guys include Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Crash Bandicoot, Dragon Ball: Z, and Spyro the Dragon.
But creativity from fans doesn't stop there. Much like the Animal Crossing craze that kicked off Spring Break, Fall Guys has taken over the summer. In fact, a lot of Animal Crossing: New Horizons players have switched over to making Fall Guys content. Take Gary Whitta, for example. He kicked off Animal Talking back when Animal Crossing: New Horizons was at its peak.
He featured celebrity guests, such as T-Pain, on his live virtual talk show. Now, he's bringing his star-studded venture to Fall Guys, calling it Talk Guys: Ultimate Chatting.
His show even received recognition from the official Fall Guys Twitter, who retweeted and commented on the endeavour. Mr Whitta states that he'll be announcing the special guests later today, after this article's publication.
Whether fans are hosting talk shows, urging brands to bet it all for charity, or creating their own crossover fan art of Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout and their favourite properties, one thing is for sure - Fall Guys is everywhere. Its massive presence and crossover potential have drawn many people and properties to it. This universal appeal has spawned a lot of creativity, a creativity that will only grow as the game does. Fans will just have to wait and see which fan idea becomes the next in-game costume!
Images via Mediatonic | Twitter