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For the Zelda character, see: Link at Zelda Wiki

A fictional link is something that ties two series together. Sometimes the word Crossover is used in general for any fictional links, but the crossover is actually a specific type of link.

For a list of links see Category:Links.

What is a fictional link[]

Every intentional and official connection between two fictional series, specifically:

  • Any reference in a series to another series. This includes direct cameos of characters, but also minor references such as phrases or elements that spoof, pay homage or in general are based on elements from other series. (Examples: The Green Hornet making an appearance in the Batman TV show; items in Team Fortress 2 that are based on elements from other series; Mario Auditore saying Super Mario's catchphrase "It's-a me! Mario!" in Assassin's Creed 2)
  • Direct crossovers between two series. (Examples: the Archie Meets the Punisher comic; the Alien vs. Predator series)
  • Any kind of connection between two series outside their releases themselves, such as episodes from two different series being released together in a bundle, or sharing some history.

What is NOT a fictional link[]

Every connection that is not intentional, specifically: Incidental references, including:

  • Elements in a series bearing some resemblance to elements from another series, without a significant sign that it is an intentional reference. (Example: Terminator and The Matrix both taking place in a future where machines have overtaken humanity and there is a war between the two).
  • Extremely small appearances of elements from a series in another series, if they are only used as background elements in general. These are actual, but not intentional. (Example: every time in a tv series the inside of a comic book store or a game shop is shown, featuring existing comics or video games in the background.)
  • Elements in a series that were created because of inspiration from another series, but don't directly reference it. This is classified as a kind of incidental reference. (Example: elements from the Hero's Duty universe in Wreck-It Ralph being created after drawing inspiration from series such as Alien or Halo, while not having direct references other than generic si-fi elements such as space marines and aliens.)

Certain out-of-universe connections that are too weak. These tie too many series together and aren't exactly "fictional crossovers". Specifically:

  • Different series being created by the same company or sharing some crew/creators (Example: Lilo & Stitch and Wreck-It Ralph both being Disney movies.)
  • Different series starring the same actor or actress. (Example: Pulp Fiction and the Die Hard series both starring the actor Bruce Willis.)
  • Different series, or different releases within different series, belonging to the same genre. (Example: Star Wars and Star Trek both being science fiction series.)
  • Series or IPs sharing irrelevant factors, such as having similar titles, or being broadcasted on the same network or being released the same day.

User-created content, which includes:

  • Content in media that is created individually by the user (such as avatars created from a template, stories created in-game, etc). User-created content in a medias copyright is treated as a whole (Example: Miis and Xbox Avatars).

Connections that happen outside of copyright laws, specifically:

  • Fictional crossovers created by fans and not authorized by the IP holder, including all types of fanfiction.
  • Crossovers between two "unregistered" series, even if authorized by their respective creators (since those are not considered actual series in this Wiki).
  • References to a series or IP after it went into public domain and are no longer part of a copyright, and therefore can be used by anyone. (If the IP was used in a collaboration/crossover before it went into public domain, then it is counted as an official crossover.)
  • References to the real world, such as cameos of actors as themselves, or appearances of real life places (since real life is not a fictional series).

Links between more than two series[]

It might happen that more than two series are connected together. This either means a massive crossover (such as the Super Smash Bros. series, featuring elements from many different series), a direct crossover between more than two series (such as the Superman and Batman versus Aliens and Predator comic), or a bundle (such as the Dreamcast Collection compilation game, including games from four different series).

  • Massive crossovers are usually considered regular series, only with references to many other series. They are identified as Crossover series.
  • Direct crossovers or links in general between more than two series are considered as groups of singular links between two series. (So, for example, Superman and Batman versus Aliens and Predator will be treated as a link between Superman and Batman, a link between Superman and Alien a link between Batman and Predator and so on.)
  • Bundles or collections of works from different series are generally considered Compilation series. Compilations only included works from two different series can be considered links between these two.

Types of links[]

In this Wiki, fictional links are classified into three types or categories, from the more notable to the less notable:

Link type Description Directional? Example link
1 In-universe link (Sometimes "crossover") An element from a series A appears in a series B as a real element. Is directional In an episode of the Example TV show, that show's characters meet Superman.
A crossover story is created that is part of both series A and series B. Is not directional A TV movie Superman vs Example is released.
2 Sub-universe link An element from a series A appears in a series B as a fictional element. Is directional In an episode of Example, that show's characters are reading a Superman comic.
3 Out-universe link Two series A and B are linked through elements only present in the real world. A series B contains elements that were inspired by elements already existing in a series A. Is directional In an episode of Example, that show's characters meet a character that bears some resemblance to Superman.
Two series A and B are tied together in any other way. Is usually not directional A 2 DVD boxset is released containing episodes from both Example and Superman TV series, but the two series are never directly linked.

Links may be identified by either their name or simply by their type number (e.g. type 1 link is an in-universe link)

It might happen that an element only inspired from a series appears as a fictional element in another series (e.g. In an episode of Example the characters are reading a Randoman comic that resemble Superman). This is actually two subsequent links (a type 3 link between Superman and Randoman, and a type 2 link between Randoman and Example), but because is something between a type 2 and a type 3 link, it will be considered an extra type 2.5 link.

Additionally, a special type of link is the unreleased link, being a link that was originally planned, but later removed from the series. This is technically a particular type 3 link, but is considered a type of its own on this Wiki.

Also, when something that is fictional within a series appears as a real element within another series, it's considered an extra type 1.5 link.

When talking about link types, and specifically confronting them, since talking about "higher link type" might create confusion (does it mean the link type with the higher significance, that would be the highest in the table, or the one with the highest number, that would be the lowest in the table?) it should be more appropriate to talk about the "stronger" links, when referring to the ones that are higher in the table, and to "weaker" links, when referring to the ones that are lower in the table.

Recognizing the link type[]

Main pages: Type 1 link, Type 2 link, Type 3 link.

Recognizing the link type is important to properly tell, for example, if a character making a cameo in another series is the actual character or an imitation, if a character's statement implies that events from another series also happened in their series or not. The lack of a proper categorizing of link types often causes inaccurances between fans of fictional series, sometimes leading to the belief that two series take place in the same universe while they don't.

To properly know how to distinguish each link type, read each of their pages, however the general rule is:

When a link between two series happens, it's considered one of the weakest types possible.

This means that if a series references another series, then it's considered a type 1 link only if that reference implies a type 1 link, otherwise it's considered a type 2 link, or if that's not implied, a type 3 link.

Other sites often rush to consider everything a type 1 link, because they want to prove, or just like to think, that as many series as possible are connected and take place in the same universe, but since we want to report links between series as they really are, and not try to demonstrate anything, we want to only cite what is truly implied.

For example, let's say a fictional character says "I want to be a Superhero!" and starts going around dressed in blue with a red cape and an 'S' on his chest. This is a clear reference to Superman, but the fact that he considers this a good superhero costume doesn't imply anything from the Superman series to actually exist in that universe, so this is just a Type 3 link: the creators of that series made an out-universe reference; but what if another character looking at him said: "Oh my gosh! You look just like Superman!" This sentence implies that the characters do know Superman, but it doesn't imply him to be real in their universe, since that's what a person in real life could say, with Superman just being a comic book character, so this is just a Type 2 link: Superman is considered fictional within that series; but what if he responded: "Yes! I saw Superman fight Lex Luthor while I was returning from shopping and I wanted to be like him!" this finally implies Superman to be real in that universe, since the character actually saw him, so this is a Type 1 link.

Of course, there always is a degree of arbitrarity in deciding the link type (in the last statement the character could have been joking, could have been hallucinating, or maybe he meant that he saw Superman on TV, making him fictional), but this is where a thoughtful judgement must be applied, in an effort to imagine what the message that the creators of the series wanted to give is:

Say that this series is a DC comic and already had other supernatural beings in it, we can assume that the creators wanted to suggest the series takes place in the same universe as most other DC comics; say it's a realistic TV show about a group of people obsessed with comic books, we can assume that the creators just made a joke about their obsession, and Superman doesn't actually exist.

The most arguable cases can be discussed in talk pages, but even without a discussion, once a contributor has decided to consider a link of a certain type, it should always be explained that it is an arguable case and why.

Directions[]

Some types of links are directional, that means that an element goes from a series to another series, in a direction.

This includes every link type, since that element could be real in-universe, fictional or may come in the form of inspiration, with an element of a series taking only the idea from the other series.

There could also be undirectional links, when two series are somehow tied together, that may be through a bundle release (type 3 link), or a crossover episode taking place in both series (type 1 link). Another type of undirectional link might happen in an Undirect link, and that's usually a revelation about two series being connected, either by a type 3 or a type 1 link.

The direction is important to note (while being often ignored in other sites), because it identifies what series references the other, and it sometimes influences continuity. For example if a character from a series makes an appearance in another series, it might mean that the referencing series considers canon the referenced series, but not the opposite.

A special link direction happens when a series takes an element from another series, but also keeps it as its own. This is considered a spin-off:

Spin-offs[]

Main page: Spin-off

Basically, a spin-off is a series that takes elements from another series to make them defining elements in its own. Spin-offs are therefore considered a category of series, but they also create a particular interaction between the parent series and the spun-off series. The difference between the interaction between two unrelated series and between a parent series and its spin-off is that after the spin-off series takes elements from the parent series, they become associated to the spin-off even if they are originally from another story.

For example the Mario series was created as a spin-off to the Donkey Kong series, but the character Mario gained a much higher popularity than the original ape, so many series referenced him without even knowing that he was originally from another series.

In these cases it might happen that a third series references an element appearing in both series, and depending on the case it might be referencing the parent series or the spin-off.

For example a statue of Mario appears in SimCity for SNES: that's to be considered a reference to him being the greatest Nintendo hero, so it's a link to the Mario series. In a 2005 episode of The Simpsons, Homer meets a Mario look-alike and fights in a Donkey Kong fashion, so as recent as it is, that's a link to the Donkey Kong series and not to the Mario series, since Mario is there only as a Donkey Kong character.

Stronger links to weaker links[]

As said in the Types of link section, the In-universe link is the stronger, followed by the sub-universe link and then by the out-universe link, which is the weakest.

The type 1.5 link and 2.5 link can be placed where the names suggest, respectively between type 1 and 2 links and between type 2 and 3 links.

Aside from the type, to properly classify each link, especially to find the overall link between two series (see below), is necessar to also sort by strenght the links in the same type based on their direction. Specifically:

  • The status of a series being a spin-off of another series, is considered a stronger connection than any reference that might happen between the two, so in the same link type, the spin-off is considered stronger than any other link, and therefore the type 1 spin-off is the strongest kind of link between two series.
  • In type 1 links a direct crossover is considered a stronger connection between two series than a cameo or a guest appearance, so the direct undirectional type 1 link is considered stronger than the directional type 1 link.
  • The revelation of two series' universes being undirectly connected (undirect link) is considered weaker than an actual connection within the series, so the undirect type 1 link is considered weaker than any direct type 1 link.
  • In type 3 links a theoretical connection between two series (either in a direct link or an undirect link) is considered weaker than an actual reference, so the undirectional type 3 link is considered weaker than the directional type 3 link, and is therefore the weakest kind of link.

To recap, the complete chart of links between series, from the strongest to the weakest, is:

  • Type 1 spin-off;
  • Direct undirectional type 1 link (direct crossover);
  • Directional type 1 link;
  • Undirect type 1 link;
  • Type 1.5 spin-off;
  • Type 1.5 link;
  • Type 2 spin-off;
  • Type 2 link;
  • Type 2.5 spin-off;
  • Type 2.5 link;
  • Type 3 spin-off;
  • Directional type 3 link;
  • Undirectional type 3 link.

Additionally Unreleased links are technically undirectional type 3 links, but between various unreleased links the same strenght chart is considered, going from unreleased type 1 spin-off to unreleased type 3 link. For the sake of listing, all unreleased links are listed below (are considered weaker) than an undirectional type 3 link.


Overall link between series[]

For "Overall link" we mean the resulting link between two series created by considering all links that happened between them as a single link. This is used to check the resulting relation between two series that had more than one link between them.

For example if we want to check what kind of relation there is between the Street Fighter series and the Final Fight series, we have to look all kind of references between them, put them together and see the result what kind of link it is.

To do so it's applied te general rule stated in the Recognizing the link type section, so a link type is considered only if directly implied, which means that the overall link between two series is considered a type 1 link exclusively if a type 1 link happened, otherwise is a type 2 link or, if none of those happened, it's a type 3 link. This might seem obvious, but failing to realize this has resulted in people believing two series to be connected by a type 1 link (happening in the same universe) just because a high number of type 3 links happened between the two (constant but minor references to each other in every episode of them).

Basically the rule is:

The overall link between two series corresponds to the strongest link that happened between the two

The strenght of each link type is classified in the previous section.

If the stronger links between two series happened in both directions, the resulting link will be considered bidirectional. Note that the bidirectional link type doesn't exist as a single link, but only as an overall link.

For the seek of classification, the moment the overall link happened is considered the moment that the first stronger link between the two series happened, because that's the moment the two series were actually connected, every later link of the same type doesn't change the overall interaction between the two, so it's not notable. For the identification of the moment, the direction of the link is ignored, and only the link type is considered.

Using the Street Fighter and Final Fight example, let's see the interactions between them as described in the page Final Fight X Street Fighter: the first interaction between the two series happened in December 1989 and is Final Fight originally being titled Street Fighter '89, creating an ideal link between the two series, so the first and for now only link between the two is considered an undirectional type 3 link happening in December 1989; the next connections are references to Final Fight in the American release of 2010 Street Fighter in September 1990 and in Street Fighter II in March 1991; since these are of the same type, the date of the overall link won't change, but since the directional type 3 link is stronger than the undirectional type 3 link, the overall link between the two at this point is a directional link toward the Street Fighter series, happening in December 1989; next is the cameo of Chun-Li (and arguably Guile) in Final Fight 2 on May 22, 1993, and since this is a type 1 link, it is the strongest, so the overall link is a directional type 1 link toward the Final Fight series happening on May 22, 1993; finally in Street Fighter Zero released in June 5, 1995 some Final Fight characters made an appearance in the game in a type 1 link toward the Street Fighter series, so the overall link between the two series is a bidirectional type 1 link happening on May 22, 1993; now the only release that could force us to update the overall link between the two series is a direct crossover between the two, in which case the overall link whould change to undirectional, but the date would remain May 22, 1993, since it's still of type 1.

Links in Crossover Wiki pages[]

In this Wiki we try to list all links that ever happened between two fictional series, concentrating on series that are already connected to other series already featured in the Wiki, trying to create a net of connections (it's kind of unnotable if a totally indipendent series, say a single, original children book, has inspired and is therefore connected with another children book that has no connection to any other series) (the starting point of this net has been arbitrarily decided to be the Mario series).

Either way, once a contributor has decided to consider a reference between two series there are tree places where it should be written:

  • In a specific link page;
  • In the Links to other series section of the first series;
  • In the Links to other series section of the second series.

Graphical representation of links[]

To ease the reading, when describing links between series in this Wiki, they may also be represented graphically, by writing the names of the two series with an arrow between them, such as:

Series A Arrow R Series B

The type of link is identified by the style of the name of the linked series:

Bold indicates a type 1 link.
Underlined indicates a type 2 link.
Italic indicates a type 3 link.
Bold and underlined indicates a type 1.5 link.
Italic and underlined indicates a type 2.5 link.
Checked indicates an unreleased link(may be of any type).

The direction of the link is identified by the kind of arrow:

Arrow R: an arrow means a directional link toward the direction of the arrow.
Dash: a dash means an undirectional link between two series.
Arrow L & R: Arrows in both directions mean a bidirectional link between two series. (see Overall link between series for details)
Double Arrow R: a double arrow means that the series pointed by the arrow is a spin-off of the other series.

So, for example:

Series ADashSeries B means that an undirectional type 1 link happened between the two series;
Series ADouble Arrow RSeries B means that Series B is a type 2 spin-off of series A;
Series AArrow RSeries B means that a directional type 3 link happened from Series A to Series B.

Additionally, explanation images are also used in link pages (see below) along with the arrows, using the Link template.

The image is shown above the series names and link arrow, and shows both series as white circles with the name "Series A" and "Series B" on them, with a smiling face representing a generic element from one of the series and an arrow between them representing the link. Highlighting the image with the mouse cursor makes a brief descriprion of the link type appear, and clicking on it redirects to the link type's page.

For example Series B being a type 1 spin-off of series A is represented as:

In-universe spin-off: Series B is a spin-off of Series A, featuring some of the same elements

Series A2 Double Arrow R Series B

a directional type 2 link happening from Series B to Series A is represented as:

Sub-universe link: Elements from Series B are fictional within Series A

Series A4Arrow L Series B

and an undirectional Type 3 link between two series is:

Out-universe link: Series A and Series B are ideally connected in some way

Series A6 Dash Series B

For a detailed description of each image read each link type's article.

Link pages[]

Link pages describe the interactions between two series, and their title should always be the name of the first series in alphabetical order, followed by a space, an uppercase X (which is read "cross"), another space and the name of the other series.

For example interactions between the Mario series and the Zelda series are described in the page Mario X Zelda, which is read "Mario cross Zelda".

It's been chosen to order them exclusively in alphabetical order because each series has the same exact importance to this Wiki, regardless of its genere, popularity, number of releases, number of crossovers or anything else.

To help readers find the page more easily, each link page also has a redirect link page (see below), named with the series swapped.

Every link page is divided in a section for each link that happened between the two series. Every release featuring references is usually considered a single link, so if for example a movie features many characters from a comic book series, that is considered a single type 1 link, however for the seek of a better reading, some pages might specify various links within the same release, for example if in a scene in the same movie a character is also seen reading those comics, it might be specified that this is a type 2 link, while the presence of the characters is a type 1 link (however it's right to consider the overall link in this release a single type 1 link).

Each section and therefore each link between two series should have a graphical representation of the link, using the Link template, and therefore showing the series'names with an arrow between them and an explanation image.

Every link page is classified in the Links category, and also in a specific category specifying the Overall link type between the two series (for example Category:Type 1 links).

Each regular link page (that is excluding redirect link pages and summary link pages) should also be classified in the Direct links category. (note that the categories of Wiki pages are always written in plural, so the categories are for example "Direct links", not "Direct link")

Redirect link pages[]

The redirect link is not a proper link type, but just a type of page, consisting in the name of an already existing link page with the name of the series swapped, that consists in redirecting toward the correct link page.

For example the redirect link page for Mario X Zelda is Zelda X Mario

This way readers are redirected to the correct page if they mistake the series' order, and possibly more important, they have the link pages for a series suggested in the search bar also if the series is the second in alphabetical order.

For example by typing "Zelda" in the search bar the suggestions are F-1 Race X Zelda, Donkey Kong X Zelda, Mario X Zelda and so on.

This is particularly useful for series that don't have a page in the Wiki, but they already have pages of links with other series.

Redirect link pages are classified in the Links category, but they are not in the Direct links category, since they don't properly describe the interactions between two series and are only a mean of exploring the site. They are also classified in the Redirect links category.

In case of the direct link page being a redirect page itself (it happens whenever the link is only described in a summary link page, or if it's a link about a summary series), its relative redirect link page should redirect to the destination of the direct link page, to avoid a double redirection.

Links in the series pages[]

In every series' page, all other series to which it is linked are listed in a sortable table, in the Links to other series section. The table can be preceded by some notes describing how some particular cases are considered to that series.

Every series is only listed in the table once, so if it linked more than once, only the overall link between them will be listed.

The table header can be created using the Table template, while its row in the table, corresponding to a link between the two series can be created using the L template.

A table for a Series A that only linked once to a Series B looks like this:

Direction Series Date Description Type


5Arrow R Series B 20011009 October 09, 2001 A character from Series A made an appearance in an episode of Series B. 1

The arrow and the series' name style indicate type of link and direction as indicated in Graphical representation of links. Before the arrow would be the name of the page's series, but it's not indicated since it's the same for all links and would be a waste of space to indicate it each time. It's followed by a date indicating when the link happened, a description of the link and the link type in number, mainly to be able to sort the table by link type. For additional information on how to write the table read the template's page (here).

Summary link pages[]

In case of links between more than two series, even though we always consider the single links between each two of them, it might come useful to have a single page about it. That's a Summary link page.

Summary link pages are treated exactly like regular link pages, but the graphical descrpition of the links might be readapted to feature more series at the same time.

In some cases a summary link page might be created because readers might be interested in knowing what links happened at the same time, but is usually an extra page, and doesn't replace regular link pages. An example is the Futurama clip "Raiders of the Lost Arcade", part of the episode "Anthology of Interest II", which features many videogame references. The reference to each series is listed in a link page for each of the referenced series, for example in Futurama X Mario are listed all references to Mario in the Futurama series including the "Raiders of the Lost Arcade" references in the section Futurama episode Anthology of Interest II. Readers however might be interested in knowing all videogame references in the episode without having to search for them in singular link pages, so in the section there also is a link to the summary link page, Raiders of the Lost Arcade references. Here, readers can find information about all game references in the episode, but not about other references in other episodes. Also some references might be less detailed than in singular link pages, so the summary page should always redirect to each link page.

There might be however cases of summary pages that actually replace regular link pages. This happens when two link pages would have the same content, so it's right to instead have a single summary page for both. This usually applies when a crossover between two series references a third series, when a series references two other series at the same time, or for direct crossovers between more than two series.

In these last cases the reguar link page is changed into a redirect page, redirecting to the summary link page, but it keeps the categories of a regular link page (Links, Direct links and link type).

There might also be cases of Sub-series not consdered notable to this Wiki, while the links between them are still considered notable. In those cases there might be a summary link page listing all links between the various sub-series of the series, and not between each two of them singularly. In this case the singular link pages between the involved series don't need to exist, not even as redirect pages, since the pages themselves don't exist.

Each summary page is classified in the Links category, in the Summary links category (since is not a direct link), and in the category corresponding to the overall link between all involved series, for a better classification and to have pages of the same type in the "Read more" section at the bottom of the page.

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