Fighting Game Characters Who Were Brought Back From The Dead, Canonically

Fighting game series tend to focus on both a roster of playable characters, and a narrative in which to involve them. However, the two goals can sometimes run counter to each other. An overarching narrative may lead to the death of a certain character, even if they are a fan-favorite. Some fighting games, usually crossovers or other non-canon events, will briefly circumvent this and have dead characters be playable.

Other times, however, fighting games will reverse that death and return a character to the world of the living in canon. The exact method by which this is achieved may vary. Sometimes a character’s death is directly undone, other times it’s merely retconned. Either way, these fighters have all been given another lease on life.

5 Liu Kang

Mortal Kombat

In perhaps one of the most infamous examples, Mortal Kombat has killed off and revived its flagship hero on more than one occasion. As this series revolves around literally killing the competition and has a revenant as its breakout fighter, this is somewhat less shocking in context.

Liu Kang was initially killed before Deadly Alliance, by the titular pairing of Shang Tsung and Quan Chi, making it the first game in the series where he was unplayable. However, his “death” was short-lived as his spirit and body returned separately in Deception. While his spirit was still heroic and teamed up with Ermac, his resurrected corpse was used for evil purposes. In Armageddon, he was one of many characters to die once more.

The first reboot had Liu Kang killed around the end of the first game, Mortal Kombat (2009). This is the unfortunate result of a fight he has with Raiden where the God of Thunder tells him they must allow Shao Khan to merge the realms. This leads to Liu Kang becoming one of Quan Chi’s many undead servants in Mortal Kombat 10. This undead version of Liu Kang is fused with another counterpart, as well as Raiden, leading him to become the Fire God Liu Kang in Mortal Kombat 11. It is this incarnation of the character that we see in Mortal Kombat 1.

4 Yūki Terumi

BlazBlue

The longstanding BlazBlue antagonist was killed during Chronophantasma. His killer was Hakumen, a warrior whose soul was housed in an armored samurai body known as the Susanoo Unit. Hakumen used a time killer technique which eliminated all of Terumi’s remaining time as a living being. However, by focusing on a small bit of time which was not eliminated, he is able to preserve himself in Centralfiction, but he is still in desperate need of a body before the time ends, with his past vessel, Hazama, refusing to re-fuse.

Terumi eventually destroys Hakumen’s soul and merges with the Susanoo Unit, becoming his original form, Takehaya Susanoo. However, even in this form, he becomes weakened enough for Ragna the Bloodedge to kill him once more. With Centralfiction being the last mainline game in the series so far, it is unclear if Terumi or Susanoo will stay dead permanently in the main timeline or resurrect themselves once again.

3 Jinpachi Mishima

Tekken

This wealthy industrialist was unseen during his time spent initially alive. Instead, the majority of the conflict across the Tekken franchise was left up to his descendants. Originally a profiteer during World War 2, Jinpachi regretted this direction for the Mishima Zaibatsu and instead wished to focus on martial arts. Unfortunately, his son, Heihachi, stole his company from him, and imprisoned him in the Mishima family’s temple, Hon-Maru. He existed mostly as a lore character, with his friend, Wang Jinrei, fighting the surviving Mishimas for his sake in earlier Tekken games.

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He was later reanimated by an unspecified “devil” or “spirit” in Tekken 5 (not to be confused with the devil gene), where he serves as both the final boss and the host of the fifth King of the Iron Fist Tournament. Unlike many characters who took their resurrection in stride, Jinpachi sought to end his own life, aware of the devil taking him over. If the player decides to quit after losing to him, his own ending shows him being consumed completely by the evil spirit possessing him. However, canonically, he was killed once more and turned into dust.

2 Charlie Nash

Street Fighter

Like Jinpachi, Charlie also existed as a lore character before becoming playable. He was a captain in the United States Air Force and a close friend of Guile, who was killed by M. Bison. This becomes a motivating factor for Guile’s personal grudge against Bison in Street Fighter 2. Charlie himself later becomes playable in the Street Fighter Alpha trilogy, a series of games taking place between Street Fighter and Street Fighter 2. He is killed off in most endings that involve him across the three games. The ending in Street Fighter Alpha 2, ironically the one where Bison is the least direct in killing him, was retroactively considered the canon ending.

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He returns in Street Fighter 5, after being declared dead by the US Army. It is revealed he was resurrected by Gill, the leader of the Illuminati, for the purpose of wiping out Bison. Instead, he sacrifices himself in an effort to aid Guile and others in destroying him, by absorbing a large amount of his psycho power and exploding. It is unclear if Charlie is currently alive. His death is all but stated outright, yet his official status is “unknown.”

1 Many SNK Characters

The King Of Fighters

For a while, The King of Fighters managed a long-running story where characters, typically major antagonists, were regularly killed off across the timeline. This was accomplished in part due to “Dream Match” games like King of Fighters ’98: Ultimate Match and King of Fighters 2002: Unlimited Match. These games take place outside the timeline, allowing for popular characters who were technically no longer alive to be playable in a certain capacity.

However, the “Dream Match” model seems to be retired for the moment. The King of Fighters 13 was not followed by an anthology roster consisting of every character from the Tales of Ash saga. That said, this was the game Vice and Mature, previously killed in 96, returned in a tangible form to team up once more with Iori Yagami. However, they are still technically considered “dead.” The King of Fighters 14 set the stage for many more returning villains with its own final boss, Verse.

Verse was an entity created by the erasure of Ash Crimson erasing himself in 13. It consists of negative energy and numerous souls. When faced with certain foes, souls associated with them emerge from Verse. Examples include Krizalid telling K’ he is the original and Leona Heidern’s birth father, Gaidel, saying he will always watch over her.

After its defeat in 14, many previously deceased or disappeared souls burst out of the creature and were reborn on Earth. Many of these characters became playable in King of Fighters 15, including Rugal Bernstein, Goenitz, Ash Crimson, and the New Faces Team from 98. Those are just the characters who are currently playable. Many others previously thought to be deceased now have the potential to return in future games in some capacity.

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