ABSTRACT
This chapter explains how game characters are transmedially constructed when narrative continuity is not the dominant ideal across works. For this reason, the chapter looks at the fighting game genre, which relies less on linear storytelling, instead using a set of transmedia techniques to construct its fighter characters. First, I will discuss the ambiguity of how media and video games construct characters. Then, the chapter moves to a discussion on transmedia game characters in the fighting game genre, and presents a close reading of the fighting games Soulcalibur VI, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite to show how their use of transmedia techniques depends on the player’s repertoire of knowledge of the fighters across different works.
