Multiverse Tournament

Multiverse Tournament is a fighting game co-produced by Namco, Team Ninja, Sega, Midway and Capcom. The game aims to unite characters from the franchises of all 5 companies for the first time ever. The franchises being Tekken (Namco), Dead or Alive (Team Ninja), Virtua Fighter (Sega), Mortal Kombat (Midway) and Street Fighter (Capcom).

Storyline
While the game does have a storyline with it, it is considered non canon within the context of the separate franchises. Each franchise has been taken from specific points within their universes' timeline. The Tekken cast have been taken from their Tekken 5 incarnations. The Dead or Alive cast are taken from their Dead or Alive 5 incarnations. The Virtua Fighter cast are taken from their Virtua Fighter 5 incarnations. The Mortal Kombat cast are taken from their Mortal Kombat 9 incarnations (storyline wise, around Mortal Kombat 2). And the Street Fighter characers are taken from both their Street Fighter Alpha and Super Street Fighter II incarnations (likely some point between the two, possibly Street Fighter Alpha 3). As such, the game represents the characters' storylines from those games, and how they differ with the inclusion of the other series' characters.

Characters
The game has a total of 68 characters taken from all five franchises. Each universe has at least 10 ordinary playable fighters and 1 boss character representing it. Some have additional characters that can be unlocked, as well as more than 1 boss character as well (but it depends on the franchise). Nethertheless, the game does it's best to try and give equal representation, while still accomodating for the fact that some franchises do have more characters in their backlog than others.

Street Fighter
The initial playable Street Fighter roster features Ryu, Chun Li, Guile, Cammy, Zangief, Dhalsim, Blanka, and Sagat (all taken from their Super Street Figher II incarnations). Balrog and Vega (also from Super Street Fighter II) were later included as unlockable characters. To save space, taking into consideration there are characters from four other franchises to cram in, the game crackes down on what it deems to be characters that are too clone-y. Thus, Ken is absent. M.Bison and Akuma are present in the game, but as currently unplayable boss characters.

Also included as DLC are Gen and Rose from the Street Fighter Alpha series, as well as Rolento and Sodom (originally from Final Fight, also from the Street Fighter Alpha seres). Due to popular demand, Capcom were able to bring back fan favourites from the Street Fighter Ex series, the Arika owned characters Skullomania and D.Dark, as DLC too. Garuda, also from the Ex series and also Arika owned, returns as a currently unplayable boss character.

With the 12 from SSFII, 4 from SFA, and 3 from SFEX, that brings the total amount of Street Fighters characters to 18.

Tekken
The initial playable Tekken roster features Jin, Paul, Law, King, Nina, Xiaoyu, Hwoarang, and Steve (all taken from their Tekken 5 incarnations). Bryan and Asuka. (also from Tekken 5) were later included as unlockable characters. Ogre and Jinpachi are present in the game, but as currently unplayable boss characters. Also included as DLC are Lee and P.Jack (as bonus characters, taken from their Tekken 1 incarnations).

With 8 initially playable, 2 as unlockable, 2 as DLC, and 2 as unplayable bosses, that brings the total amount of Tekken characters to 14.

Mortal Kombat
The playable Mortal Kombat roster features Liu Kang, Sub Zero, Scorpion, Raiden, Johnny Cage, MIleena, Baraka and Kung Lao (all taken from their Mortal Kombat 2 incarnations). Quan Chi and Cyrax (presumably from around Mortal Kombat Gold) were later included as unlockable characters. Shang Tsung and Goro are present in the game, but as currently unplayable boss characters.

With 8 initially playable, 2 as unlockable, and 2 as unplayable bosses, that brings the total amount of Mortal Kombat characters to 12.

Dead or Alive
The playable Dead or Alive roster features Kasumi, Ayane, Lei Fang, Zack, Bass, Tina, Rig and Hitomi (all taken from their Dead or Alive 5 incarnations). La Mariposa and Mila were later included as unlockable characters. Raidou and Tengu are present in the game, but as currently unplayable boss characters.

With 8 initially playable, 2 as unlockable, and 2 as unplayable bosses, that brings the total amount of Dead or Alive characters to 12.

Virtua Fighter
The playable Virtua Fighter roster features Akira, Pai, Sarah, Jacky, Wolf, Lau, Lion and Shun (all taken from their Virtua Fighter 5 incarnations). Lei Fei and El Blaze were later included as unlockable characters. Dural is present in the game, but as a currently unplayable boss character.

With 8 initially playable, 2 as unlockable, and 1 as unplayable bosses, that brings the total amount of Dead or Alive characters to 11.