Personally said, Tankman. I prefer going with someone else as Mega Man and Simon's rivals like Bomberman and Arthur respectively, maybe Chris or Spencer against Snake and
Oolong from Yie ar Kung Fu (
AlRex
-
) alongside Ryu.
Job #2:
Capcom Character - Momotaru (Pirate Ship Higemaru)
Now this one is a very obscure pick, that's for sure. At least it would be a example for those kinds of choices in future.
Momotaru is the main protagonist of Capcom's 1984 arcade classic
Pirate Ship Higemaru (
walkthrough), which involves a courageous Norwegian sailor himself (as a European myself, I found this fascinating) trying to get rid of the titular evil pirate crew, the Higemaru Corps, themselves led by Captain Bows from his ship/vessel, the Anchor, by grabbing and throwing barrels, drums, large bags and various other items into them. The game was ported a few times in Capcom's arcade collections such as Generations 3 (SEGA Saturn/PlayStation), Classics Collection (PlayStation 2/Xbox), Arcade Cabinet (PlayStation 3/Xbox 360) and Arcade Stadium (PlayStation 4/Xbox One/Steam/Switch). It also got a Famicom/MSX2-exclusive sequel,
Higemaru Makaijima: Nanatsu no Shima Daibōken (
walkthrough), which has Momotaru sailing the seven islands alongside one of them having Ghosts 'n Goblins elements such as various enemies and Red Arremer (Firebrand's race/species) appearing as the final boss.
Momotaru himself,
Beard (long-dead pirate legend from Higemaru Makaijima) and
Bows (who are both ret-conned as his younger siblings) were given profiles in the
Shadaloo Combat Research Institute character guide in August 2016, being established as the older brothers of a character adapted from Ruby Heart (who appeared in Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes) and fought Ryu at some point in the past. He was even
considered as a playable character for Street Fighter V, using his barrel as his main source of attack, before he was cut in favor of Birdie instead, however.
Indeed, this would apply for
his moveset in Konami vs. Capcom, able to use a large barrel with a chain attached to it by whipping it around to batter opponents or throwing different kinds of projectiles (such as normal non-chained/explosive barrels or boulders like in Higemaru Makaijima) across the screen towards them. He can even use an anchor to either grab airborne opponents and slam them back onto the ground, tossing it up into the air to make it crash down or turn himself invincible for a limited time, referencing it's usage as a power-up in Pirate Ship Higemaru.
According to Shadaloo Combat Research Institute, Momotaru is also an avid fan of darts, and will not hesitate to use these to taunt his foes, so this would be referenced as one of his projectile attacks which may do weaker damage compared to others, but can be spammed by pressing the attack button repeatedly. He also used
the Satan Sword in Higemaru Makaijima to finish off various bosses such as Red Arremer itself.
For his rival who I didn't submit, but wanted to share out for others back there, I thought of Frogger, since both of their games are rather simple in gameplay (Frogger has to cross the river by dodging obstacles and Momotaru has to defeat pirates by throwing objects), related to water and they're also made early in both companies' starting careers (1981's Frogger as one of Konami's first popular games and 1984's Pirate Ship Higemaru, being Capcom's third game after Vulgus and SonSon, released months before their first world-wide hit, 1942). And besides, Frogger himself was kind of a pirate in The Great Quest.
Konami Character - Sparkster (Rocket Knight Adventures)
This one immediately came to my mind once Konami was submitted there. Despite being popular on it's own as pointed out below, it's not actually in the same level as Metal Gear, Silent Hill and Castlevania.
Sparkster is the main protagonist of the
Rocket Knight Adventures series, which was created for the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive console by Nobuya Nakazato in 1993, who designed many Contra games such as Contra III: The Alien Wars, Hard Corps and Shattered Soldier.
The first game later got three sequels;
Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2 on Genesis,
Sparkster on SNES and a 2010 revival,
Rocket Knight on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 (One/Series X & S via backwards compatibility; was
given for free via Xbox Live Gold months ago) and Steam.
The series became
successful enough to inspire multiple indie games such as
Freedom Planet,
Shovel Knight, etc. and even got a
very own story arc in Fleetway's UK-made comic book, Sonic the Comic, thus making Sparkster the only character who didn't originate from SEGA. It's
soundtrack (some of which are composed by Akira Yamaoka herself of Silent Hill/Contra fame) is also
very awesome and
underrated to listen out, such as a well-known
first stage theme (which was remixed for the 2010 game), a
iconic boss theme,
Lakeside from the SNES game, etc.
While he may look like a Sonic character, Sparkster's actually an opossum knight with a jetpack, so he's certainly
not going to play dead to face off all of these armies consisting of pigs, robots, wolves,
a literal counterpart of Death Star, etc. (all led by
Emperor Devilgus Devotindos,
King Gedol,
Colonel Wolfheim and
Generalissimo Lioness) to save the peaceful Kingdom of Zephyrus (ruled by
King Zephyrus and
Princess Sherry) and avenge his deceased adoptive father
Mifune Sanjulo, who adopted him when he was a orphan, trained him in the way of the
Rocket Knights and was killed by his rival, the corrupt "Black Knight",
Axel Gear (who may potentially work as his alternate costume in this project).
As a fighter, Sparkster's
playstyle/moveset focuses on his swordplay with a usage of his jetpack, having lots of mobility thanks to it, being very awesome at aerial combos with a fuel meter (which fills overtime and depletes depending on what attack button the player uses) and having various techniques such as:
- Rocket Burst - Sparkster's signature move, in which he ignites his jetpack and charges in 8 different directions with his sword pointing forwards. When performing a diagonal Rocket Burst while hitting a wall, he will bounce/ricochet off it. For one of his Hyper Combos, Sparkster can perform a overdrive attack by charging up his jetpack and firing off super-fast, ricocheting himself all over the screen akin to Spider-Man's Maximum Spider.
- Burst Drill - While performing a Rocket Burst by pressing any attack button, Sparkster will spin around like a drill for more damage, which briefly slows him down.
- Burst Shot - Sparkster swings his sword forward, sending out a spinning crescent-shaped energy projectile. While a projectile itself is weak, it's quite fast and can be spammed repeatedly.
- Burst Vortex - Sparkster will charge up his jetpack and then spins around in-place for a whle, able to hit multiple times and deflect projectiles back. The attack can also be done in the air.
- Burst Assist - While in the air, Sparkster will ignite his jetpack in order to hover for a short period of time. This can be applied as a flight move akin to some characters like Iron Man in the Marvel vs. Capcom series.
- Burst Beam - Sparkster holds his sword over himself while it shines with energy and then points it forwards, firing a barrage of crescent-shaped projectiles out of it, acting like a laser beam. This may obviously work the best as one of his Hyper Combos.
Besides all of these, Sparkster can also use the Flame Orb item from Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2 for a flaming slash attack, his giant boxing mech,
the Sparkrobo, to attack opponents from the background (like how it's implemented as Axel's
Level 3 Hyper Combo in this deviant) and even being able to transform himself into
Golden Sparkster (similar to Super Sonic) with Keys to the Seal (seven legendary swords), buffing himself for a short period of time with super armor, slight power boost, Burst Assist lasting for a much longer time and his Rocket Burst being both cancelable mid-flight and will bounce off walls three times than just once.
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