Nintendo has kicked off a stellar new year of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with their recent Nintendo Direct announcement of Pyra and Mythra coming to the game. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate fans have been abuzz with excitement since the announcement showed that Nintendo are still devoted to its Smash Bros. audience. Now, a Cowboy Bebop fan has given Smash Bros. enthusiasts something else to enjoy.
The first Smash Bros. game released in 1999, roughly one year after the first episode of Cowboy Bebop aired. That is not the only parallel between the two IPs though. Cowboy Beebop’s US publisher, Funimation has been publicly hounding Nintendo for some time to include one of its characters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Nintendo also own shares in Bandai Namco, the sister company to Bandai Visual, the company that Cowboy Bebop director, Shinichirō Watanabe credits as the reason the show was produced. So Smash Bros. and Cowboy Bebop have almost met several times, yet never collided.
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A YouTuber by the name of “harthur” has stepped up to change that though. The Smash Bros. and Cowboy Bebop fan has married the two IPs with a gorgeous recreation of the Cowboy Bebop opening. The reimagining is put together with Smash Bros. visuals, perfectly synched up and stylized to look like the original Cowboy Bebop opening. Perhaps the best thing about the recreation is the effort the creator put into remaking the placement and style of all text for the opening. The video replaces the original versions production credits with introductions of Smash Bros. characters. It features several humorous introductions, including: Fox “My Name Isn’t Starfox” McCloud, Falco “Call Him Starfox. It’s really funny” Lombardi, and “Slave to Capitalism” Olimar.
Smash Bros. fan content is certainly nothing new. Nintendo is known for its devoted fanbase due to its all-ages gaming content raising children to be Nintendo fans from a young age. Just a couple weeks ago a fan made an ultra-creative Mario themed case for their switch games. However, Nintendo are not always appreciative of fan content. In early January, the company ordered the DMCA take down of more than 300 Nintendo themed games fans had made.
Still, so long as Nintendo does not place a take down order on this video, it is sure to delight fans of both series. It is likely the reimagining will soon have fans rallying for Spike in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, as they have done with many fan favorite characters like Crash Bandicoot. Devoted fans might find some of the character digs in the video a little too poignant. However, overall, it is an awesome mash up of the two series.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is available now exclusively on Nintendo Switch.