I brought him up because hypothetically, what would happen if something similar happened with Kliff and Justice? And I don't mean robo-copies and holograms that Crow used to replicate them.

You swe, in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, Nightmare Geese actually isn't Geese's spirit, but a manifestation of Geese's living regrets as well as the Destruction of the Jin Scrolls. So basically, it is Geese, but actually not him. Just his regrets taking on a physical form while mirroring Geese's worst qualities and even copying his fighting style to a perfect T.

So, imagine Justice (Nightmare Justice) and Kliff's (Phantom Kliff) regrets manifesting themselves in a physical corporal form seeking to resolve whatever they left behind.

How would the StrIVe cast react to seeing a Ghost Version of those two running around?

(Not saying Arc System plans to bring them back in StrIVe, but if they do, making them Nightmare Spirits like Geese is the best bet that they'll return as playable characters that isn't a robot knockoff of Justice or hologram of Kliff.)

I have begun to see a recent trend in more traditional fighting game legacies like Street Fighter 6 and Fatal Fury:

In such games there is a healthy veneration for the tradition of a character, including their presence, presentation, and background atmosphere.

Terry Bogard is one such character, who had a ton of references to his games placed in SF6 alone. But he also more recently took a darker shift with Shadow Wolf (Kage Wolf in Japan). Much like Evil Ryu, he featured a lot of legacy moves and enhancements as a hidden boss character. He is basically Terry under JP’s control.

Obviously, Guilty Gear (and BlazBlue) have their own legacy of famous (or infamous) boss characters, however unlike Capcom or SNK, there has been far less veneration to that history.

If you look at Gold or Unlimited boss mode characters in Accent Core or Chrono Phantasma respectively, there are quite a lot of ideas presented in each and every character and their movelist.

In more recent years, Capcom has treated their Boss characters like special event battles that players earn a trophy or badge when successfully completing. This includes hidden characters like Shadow Lady Chun Li and Shadow Charlie-Nash from the Versus Series.

SNK has their own boss character events, like with God Rugal in King of Fighters. Nightmare Geese in particular is a what if scenario character in the KOF Timeline that suggested that Geese Howard became immortal because of Jin Scrolls you mentioned.

However in Fatal Fury’s timeline, Geese actually did die, and the scrolls he would have consumed had to be dealt with by his son, Rock instead.

Nightmare Geese does exist as a boss in Fatal Fury, but not in the exact capacity as he did in KOF, much less how he existed in Tekken 7.

What is true in one game may not necessarily be true in subsequent games, and there is quite literally a timeline split between KOF and Fatal Fury (to say nothing of World Heroes or Art of Fighting, or even Samurai Shodown continuity).

In Guilty Gear however, the legacy of boss characters was far more tangible than more recent games portrayed. They weren’t simply missions to overcome with paltry badges or trophies: they came with artwork unlocked and playable boss characters as rewards in and of themselves.

BlazBlue’s infamous Unlimited Mars Mode was a deadly gauntlet of this, and players were rewarded with an Unlimited boss version of the character they completed the Mars Gauntlet with. Though because of the challenge ceiling, such features were revised both as DLC and as gallery unlocks via in-game currency.

Tekken 3 was also a game full of characters who unlocked through various means. Soul Calibur 3 as well, though only one boss in particular has managed to survive the purge of that legacy: Inferno.

Much as it is implied that Tekken and Soul Calibur share alternate yet still connected histories of similar events like KOF and Fatal Fury, not many games save Mortal Kombat and Killer Instinct tend to play those tropes with the characters they use, even as guest DLC!

I would argue that boss characters have deliberately lost their edge in recent years in order to preserve a fighting game’s balance, though Toshimichi Mori used an ingenious approach to subverting boss nerfs by creating a boss that gradually buffs himself: Dark Susanooh!

Even Dark Susanooh’s legacy alone can be felt in BlazBlue Crosstag and Entropy Effect, but he is also whispered of in M.u.g.e.n. dream matches and as a possible Smash Bros mod character!

Ah, but! I must remind people that Dark Susanooh is a legacy built upon a legacy: he features moves from other bosses:

Sundering Claws > Hell’s Fang / Rock it! (Order Sol / Ragna)

Towering Flame > Raging Storm (Geese Howard)

Megalith > His version of Baiken’s Tatami Gaeshi, but with Guard Break properties

Hunter’s Fang > If Sol’s Bandit Bringer and Breakdown Kick fused and suddenly had more destructive overhead power, alternately a REALLY NASTY version of Shadow Terry’s Crack Shoot / Power Dunk

Dancing Dual Kick > If Sol’s Ground Viper Night Raid Vortex was a multi hit low in to air launcher attack

Inevitable Calamity > His version of Lust Shaker or Hundred Hand Slap, only it’s a Projectile (Kliff Undersn does something similar too)

Splintering Thrust > God Press (Rugal)

Blade of Judgement > Michael Sword (Justice)

Liberating Dagger > Michael Blade (Also Justice)

Strike of the Possessed God > Basically Geese’s Deadly Rave but it ends in Justice’ Gamma Ray

Bloodspiller > His version of Heavenly Potemkin Buster, only it’s an Exceed Excel

Roar of the Mad King > A laser sword version of Cloud Strife’s “Omnislash” (Or Hakumen’s Astral)

WHAT I AM GETTING AT is that certain bosses play a very respectful homage to the history of arcade games.

But it’s the playable versions that fighting game fans remember the most.

Whether as a Nightmare, a Zombie Ghost, a Cyborg, a Robot, a Clone, a Vampire, or just a fever dream phantom dream match, it doesn’t matter.

Players remember these characters for their legendary power, the fun when unlocking them, the triumph when beating them, and the power trip when playing AS THEM.

Such characters exceed the logic that even remotely created them.

Nagoriyuki of course being the most recent addition, though it is my hope his boss form will become something players can enjoy using.

Revolver Oscelot, Sniper Wolf, Vulcan Raven, Psycho Mantis, Liquid Snake

For now this is where I’m going to keep a master list of my Cuphead OCs. Might be a bit sloppy as reference sheets keep coming in and updating it and the final roll-call sheet I’ll put as a page on my blog all it’s own. And you can ask them stuff! (RPs are gonna be out of the question until the end of the semester, and ones in progress will be picked up as priority)

Around Inkwell Isle:

Oliver, a stork who works with the power that be known as The Illustrator to bring life to the Isles (toon logic in full swing here.) Often called Grampa Bird and works very well with babies and children.

Lala Wooldust, a sheep who lives in Inkwell Isle Two and is usually sleeping and dreaming. Has a Soul Contract with The Devil, rendering her a boss character, that results in her Nightmare Form.

The Dream Kingdom Cavalry, Lala’s legion of soldiers and helpers in her boss fight. Including the noble and loyal Sir Eventide Radiance, the steadfast Roosevelt, the darling Bunny Color Guard, the adorably devoted Poppy Army, and the frightening Nightmare Bat Girls.

The Inkwell Prairie Trio, a family who lives in Inkwell Prairie blazing trails, ranching, and maintaining law, order, and peace in the land. (Final designs to come later)

Montana Davy: A cattle rancher trying to make ends meet by braving the elements and blazing trails. Has a Soul Contract, which makes him a boss character, that he didn’t want to have to agree to and has kept secret from the other two.

Cheyenne Jane: Montana’s kid sister who moved in to help on the ranch. Considers her friends, like Cammie and the Cup Bros, as close family, and makes friends by making them a batch of their favorite food.

Dakota: A native inspired by the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes in real life who primarily maintains peace between the tribes and incoming settlers. Considers Montana his best friend after he got him out of a serious jam (that’s when he started going by the name Dakota), though when I choose to include him in a drawing or comic will be at my discretion.

The Felt/Billiards Mafia:

Boss English, a crime lord conducting various rackets and operations across entire dimensions. All of it seems to be part of some kind of ridiculously complicated and elaborate revenge plot against The Devil, who he has ties with that will be revealed later.

Lucius Tordici, English’s primary underboss and a keystone minion. Possesses the ability to hop between continuities to locate the other keystones, and though he likes his position as a mobster, he’s a bit hesitant to commit fully to the bigger scheme in the background. Might be developing a crush on Claire, I don’t know for sure.

The Cup Family

The Highlander Clan:

Cerrel Amic, Cuphead and Mugman’s father who was born and raised in the Highlands of Inkwell until he moved to Isle One during his childhood. Was taken in by Elder Kettle after his mother passed away and grew up training to become a knight.

Nana Amic, Cerrel’s mother and the Cup Bros’ grandmother steeped in Celtic heritage. Diligently and lovingly raised her son until she passed away during his childhood.

Lynn Manor:

Claire Lynn, the eldest of the Lynn children who left her parents’ faction to start her own alcohol bootlegging operation following what happened to her younger siblings. She has no knowledge that Cuphead and Mugman are her nephews but will meet them in the future.

Alston Lynn, the middle child of Lynn Manor who has been devoting his life to compiling information regarding the family lineage. Had knowledge of Cuphead and Mugman’s existence at the time he was taken out on the inter-island bridge that he had not shared with Claire because of the circumstances.

Porcia Lynn, the youngest of the Lynn siblings who is Cuphead and Mugman’s mother. Her parents made it very clear she was not wanted and ended up serving time in Hell because of their backing out of a deal to shirk responsibility.

“NWEE-HEE-HEE! You don’t think you’ll be getting that battery that easy, now do you? We’re gonna ramp it up, with some AC/DC Shock Treatment, courtesy of yours truly, the DJ of mini-madness, the Oct In The Crock!”

Yep, another boss pastiche character, inspired by Splatoon based on @therealhungryreader‘s request, she’s basically an Octarian; or a more general octopus-person when in other settings, who did mad epxeriments on herself to link her superior (At least how she says it) mental capacity to her ink production to produce more psychoresponsive ink than ever before!

She lost her head in the process, both figuratively and literally, and now she gets around in a puddle of her ink carried by another of her mad machines, which may or may not have been improvized out of an actual crockpot, by which she gets her nickname.

She’s basically Jan In The Pan but also a mad scientist, who pilots much larger machines with her main “pot” ala Dr Wily or Dr Robotnik!

And, as per usual, this character is free to use as anyone sees fit as long as I, Thomas F. Johnson, am credited as the creator somewhere.

(For Fighting Game Examples: GG1 has Justice, Testament and Bailen, but they can't be used in Arcade Mode and in Power Stone on Dreamcast and PSP, Final Valgus can't be used for Arcade Mode either.)

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds - Super Sonic Thoughts Poll

In the context of what you’re asking, I think it largely depends on the direction the game devs want to go with a game.

BlazBlue, for alternative example, has Unlimited Boss Style Characters, and these were ALL Online playable, though restricted to Lobby Matches outside of Ranked, with Lobby Specific Rules enabled.

In other words, it’s okay AND ACCEPTABLE to run exhibition matches with Boss Characters in an online setting. That in and of itself is perfectly fine. Even Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R permits the use of Gold, Classic, and EX settings in casual online lobbies when the setting is enabled.

But Ranked is more competitive in nature and adheres to stricter rules of risk and reward, and the points system applies to a player’s earned skill rank, meaning they have to earn it fairly.

Even Smash Bros. Ultimate restricts the use of Items and Stages for competitive and tournament level matches. This eliminates a lot of the meta “noise” that interferes with highly focused and trained skill level play.

Dipswitch modes in Street Fighter and Marvel Versus games also have similar rules you can adjust for online multiplayer, such as the Juggernaut Assist buff setting in Marvel Versus Capcom 2. Some are very specific, though it’s largely about replicating the experience some versions of various games had in previous patch versions. A key motivation for this is preservation of nostalgia, like Slash and Bust characters in Samurai Shodown, or Aggressor Mode in Mortal Kombat Trilogy.

Bosses by their nature can be very unbalanced and absurdly powerful, but there is also a unique feature in fighting games that allows for Boss versus Boss gameplay, which ups the ante in the game’s back and forth meta: pushing a character’s potential to their theoretical limits!

Even TAS (Tool Assisted) gameplay can script out a fight to theoretically bring the best plays out of both characters, though most TAS videos are actually proof of how much meta knowledge the person scripting the fight actually has about the game!

We now have Replay Playback features in Guilty Gear that let players replay their greatest mistakes and see if they can’t train themselves to never make the same mistake ever again! Other games have Rewind and Save States as well!

So, I started digging around for Color Mod tutorials for uMod on Steam, and came across the Unused Palettes from Xrd Sign courtesy of Friedslick6 over at Nexus Mods.

https://www.nexusmods.com/guiltygearxrd/mods/6/?

Gold Colors were pretty obviously used as Boss versions of characters in both Survival and Mission Modes in older Guilty Gear games, that much I get.

Darkside Colors (also in this case Elphelt Valentine’s boss form) were also pretty common for having Full Tension as trash characters throughout Survival Mode.

But the mystery is the THIRD unused color set... which I think I’ll dub “Chaos Bedman” (after Happy Chaos)... is it a color exclusive to Bedman?

We’ve been told throughout Story Mode that Bedman has only thus far used 8% percent of his power... so is this some form of Nightmare super-powered version?