The best, worst and weirdest Fortnite crossovers ranked – from Star Wars to Stranger Things
This month sees the world of NBA arrive on Fortnite, as Fortnite x NBA: The Crossover debuts on May 21.
Epic Games announced its latest in-game collaboration on the 19 May, making fans of both basketball and Fortnite very excited indeed. The crossover is planned to coincide with the 2021 NBA Playoffs, giving its fans and players a chance to suit up and represent any of the 30 NBA teams in the league.
But how will it measure up against the crossovers of the past? Will it be a slam dunk, or a missed shot? To help you compare, we thought it might be a good time to look at all of the crossovers that paved the way for NBA, from Star Wars to Avengers, ranked best to worst. Enjoy.
9. Stranger Things
To celebrate season three of Stranger Things, which was released in 2019, The Upside Down came to Fortnite island. Offloading a bunch of in-game easter eggs from the show – from the ‘Scoops Ahoy’ ice cream store that any Stranger Things fanatic would of course recognise, to iconic orange glowing portals that appeared across the Mega Mall in the game.
These gave players the ability to walk through them and teleport to other parts of the map. As soon you crossed over, the world turned dark for a second before you continued to engage in battle. The main issue players had with the crossover was the lack of character skins, with only Jim Hopper and a Demogorgon skin available, leaving out other fan favourite characters in the show like Eleven and Dustin.
8. IT: Chapter 2 / Pennywise
Before the release of IT: Chapter 2, players spotted an odd invasion of floating red balloons appearing near drains across the battle royale playground. Any Stephen King fans playing would have recognised them as belonging to the one and only Pennywise clown from the IT franchise.
When players popped the red balloon, the spooky sounds of the Pennywise theme song would play in the background, leading fans to believe that the scariest clown in modern-day cinema was coming to Fortnite. Unfortunately, the full crossover never happened and it turned out the red balloons appearing was just the developer’s way of paying homage to the film. It was a bit disappointing.
7. John Wick: Wick’s Bounty
Just before the release of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, Fortnite collaborated with Lionsgate to bring one of the best cinematic assassins known to exist – John Wick, of course – to Fortnite. Modelled exactly after Keanu Reeves, the skin was available in the store for purchase alongside a pickaxe, John Wick-inspired emotes, a wrap and a new LTM called Wick’s Bounty that players could use in-game to kill each other and collect the gold Continental coins. The disappointing part of the crossover was how short it lasted (which was literally a week), only giving players a small amount of time to kick ass as John himself.
6. God of War
When Kratos entered Fortnite, a lot of fans thought it was going to be epic but in fact, it was quite underwhelming. Whilst the Kratos skin was beautiful to look at and came accompanied with the Guardian Sheild Gilder, Mimir Back Bling, and Leviathan Axe Pickaxe, the crossover that launched with the new season didn’t quite work for Fortnite. Fans of the game seemed more eager to play as the Baby Yoda than Kratos.
5. Deadpool
Marvel’s wildest superhero Deadpool arrived in Fortnite last year, and became available to be unlocked when you bought the chapter two season two battle pass. The clever crossover saw players engage in several tasks throughout the season as Deadpool, which included being called by E.G.O to take control of The Yacht as a boss, complete several weekly challenges, which unlocked different cosmetic options and even saw him appear against Wolverine in his crossover.
4. The Default Dance – Poison Turk
If there’s one thing that Fortnite is known for, it’s their in-game dancing emotes. Players often attach these emotes to their characters of choice and use them whilst engaging in combat with opposing players as a way of expressing themselves – as well as distracting your enemies on the battlefield. In season one, Fortnite introduced their default dance, which just so happened to be a mimic of the ‘Poison Turk Dance’ created in the popular medical comedy TV show Scrubs.
The dance became so successful, and a key feature of the game, that the developers decided to add more options as the season continued. From the infamous Napoleon Dynamite dance to the Say So dance from TikTok, crossover dancing in a battle royale has officially become a thing.
3. Avengers Infinity War & Endgame
“AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!” The Infinity War and Endgame crossover brought two epic limited time mashups from the MCU to the Fortnite battleground. Teaming up with Marvel, the game not only gave fans the chance to play as Thanos but also capture and wear the famous Infinity Gauntlet. In Infinity War, any player who picked up the Gauntlet transformed the mighty villain, Thanos, acquiring his abilities dominating the warzone.
With there only being one Gauntlet in each match, players had to outsmart each other to obtain it. In Endgame, the battle royale lobbies were split into two teams, putting some of the familiar Avengers like Iron Man, Captain America, Groot and Black Widow against Thanos and his army. In order to win, the Avengers needed to beat Thanos fair and square, collecting all six Infinity Stones that he uses in the gauntlet to control the Marvel Universe.
2. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
The Fortnite x Star Wars mashup has been considered one of the most successful crossovers in the history of the game. Promoting Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker, fans of the franchise could purchase multiple items that related to the films plus new and old characters. Bringing back lightsabers, resistance fighters, first-order villains, and more, the live event took place at Risky Reels, a brand new location on the Fortnite map.
1. Travis Scott x Cactus Jack present the ASTRONOMICAL concert – ?
Coming in at number one is the Travis Scott x Cactus Jack present the ASTRONOMICAL concert crossover. For the first time in gaming, Fortnite threw a concert, and who better to headline it than one of hip-hop’s biggest stars – the one and only Travis Scott. Teaming up together to bring an astronomical other-worldly experience, players were rewarded in-game items such as his concert outfit, emotes, Astroworld Cyclone Glider, flaming microphone and two loading screens.
The concert was a perfect easter egg to the lead up to the announcement of the Icon series, which includes many different skins of popular YouTubers, streamers and musicians who have all supported the game since its debut in 2017.
The concert saw Travis premier brand new tracks, and was the most successful edition to date with more than 27.7 million unique in-game players and 45.8 million live views across the five events, which, Fortnite themselves confirmed in a tweet from their official account. Well done, Travis!
Thank you to everyone who attended and created content around the Travis Scott event!
Over 27.7 million unique players in-game participated live 45.8 million times across the five events to create a truly Astronomical experience. 🤯🔥 pic.twitter.com/LSH0pLmGOS
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) April 27, 2020
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