Among the stunning revelations at the 2025 Xbox Showcase was Invincible VS, a fresh three-on-three tag fighter jointly developed by Skybound and a relatively new game studio named Quarter Up Games. Despite being labeled as a “new startup,” this team boasts extensive experience in fighting games. In fact, they were the ones who revived a beloved niche title for a grateful fanbase more than a decade ago.
On this occasion, Quarter Up and Skybound are aiming to revitalize not just a series, but an idea – Invincible.
A Killer origin story
In the year 2013, Double Helix Studios revived Rare’s Killer Instinct series for the Xbox One community. The intense and powerful combat system of the 2013 version quickly gained favor among fans. However, shortly after its release, the studio was acquired by Amazon Games. Many of the key developers behind KI 2013 moved on to different projects, but Mike Willette, who was the producer for the reboot and provided the iconic “c-c-c-combo breaker!” sound effect, still had a passion for fighting games. He aimed to reunite the team.
Willette shared with TopMob during their recent Zoom conversation that there was still some work left undone. “I couldn’t shake off this feeling,” she explained, after her tenure as lead of the world design team at Amazon on New World. So, she reached out to many veteran colleagues and posed the question, “I’ve been considering starting a studio. Would you be interested in joining?” Surprisingly, many were eager to hop aboard, replying enthusiastically, “Sure thing, Mike! We had such a great time together. We value the team and the community. If you manage to set it up, count us in!
Shortly afterwards, Willette wound up in Skybound’s offices, the studio behind the bleak and intense Invincible superhero series. “Skybound asked me, ‘Mike, which game would you like to create here?’ and my response was instant. ‘I want to develop an Invincible fighting game, and I’ll create a tag fighting game,'” Willette reminisced. Being a devout fan of the show and the comics, he found himself drawn to the wealth of material available. It’s raw. It’s brutal. It encompasses the consequences of superhero actions. His enthusiasm for the project was so strong that he exclaimed, “This is it, this is what I want to work on!
Developing a three-on-three tag fighter was an obvious choice for the team, given that Invincible’s roster of superheroes fits flawlessly with this type of fighting game format, as stated by Willette. Tag battle games have been gaining popularity lately. They offer immense creativity in terms of combo systems, diverse character archetypes that allow players to customize their own teams instead of relying on a single character, and they are simply amazing,” said Willette. With no major game like Dragon Ball FighterZ released since then, we drew inspiration from our experience with KI and the lessons we’ve learned over the past decade, which forms the basis for Quarter Up’s creation.
Becoming Invincible
Invincible uses a streamlined adaptation of the four-button control system from Marvel vs. Capcom 3 for attacks. This system features four buttons – light, medium, heavy, and special. The specific special attacks you can execute with each button depend on the direction you move the left joystick, similar to Super Smash Bros. Repeatedly tapping the light attack initiates an auto-combo that links into a super move if the player has built up enough energy for it.
Fortunately, the team has struck a nice balance between an easy-to-grasp control system and one that offers rich depth and intricate strategies for exploration. For those concerned about players repetitively pressing the combo button, there’s good news: a classic Killer Instinct element is making its return – the combo meter. This feature ensures that players will need to vary their moves to prevent being forced out of a combo if they use the same move excessively.
The fundamental combat mechanics are reminiscent of other fighting games: A feature called Heroic Boost enhances the power or number of hits in special attacks, much like EX moves in Street Fighter, while super meters enable more potent moves as they’re built up by attacking and blocking. However, some aspects have been creatively reimagined: For instance, “snapback” moves not only force opponents to switch characters but can also propel them into a completely different stage in Invincible VS. This results in the character being transported losing temporary access to their support characters because, narratively speaking, those characters need time to catch up while the attacking team is prepared for action.
For Willette and his crew, integrating the Invincible series into this particular style has proven surprisingly straightforward, even simpler than their past endeavors.
As a gamer, I’ve got way more hands-on experience with this new property compared to Killer Instinct, since with KI, all the previous devs had moved on. We did have Ken Lobb, our Xbox partner creative director, to consult, but now I can literally dive headfirst into the source and it feels like an endless pool of knowledge!
In these character introductions before a fight, each character combination within the game has exclusive dialogues with every other character, regardless of whether they’ve had any interactions in the official Invincible series.
As a devoted fan myself, I can’t help but feel privileged to be part of this creative powerhouse! We tap into decades of comic lore, collaborate closely with the show team, and constantly bounce ideas off one another. It’s truly exhilarating to contribute to such an exciting environment.
Battle scars
In a less conventional way for tag team fighters, Invincible VS exhibits a gruesome aspect alongside its authenticity, often characterized by its high blood-and-gore factor. This is particularly evident in Overkills, where some special and super moves can result in decapitation, dismemberment, or even the explosion of an opponent’s body into fragments when executed as the final blow.
According to Willette, this degree of violence was essential to express the core themes of Invincible, however, there’s a boundary that should not be crossed.
He clarified that our intention is to portray an intense, yet not excessively gruesome, depiction of superheroes engaging in combat. We aim to illustrate the raw brutality through scenes like battlefields churning up dirt or costumes becoming damaged and stained with blood. It’s crucial for us to maintain authenticity to the original source material.
Willette further discloses that the team creatively reimagined the idea of battle damage by introducing both “offensive” and “defensive” variations of it. In a situation where one character has an advantage over another, the dominant character will display signs of injury such as blood stains on their attire or fists smeared with red, but this is actually the blood of the other character, not their own.
Willette stated that they are mindful of how these elements influence both combatants. For instance, if a character has low health, their idle animation would change to reflect fatigue, symbolizing “I’m hurt, but I’ll press on.” They aimed to incorporate these details as a means of storytelling within the fight scenes.
At Quarter Up Games, the team is aiming to make Invincible VS attractive to a wide range of players by ensuring that each player feels incredibly powerful or cool, in other words, making every player feel like a true badass.
Willette explained that when someone tries a new game controller for the first time and they can easily press buttons and feel fantastic about it, that’s wonderful. It suggests they’ll keep playing for longer. If you’ve never played a fighting game before, we hope this becomes your introduction to the genre. And if you’ve taken a break, we invite you back to experience our love for fighting games, as we aim to make you passionate fans.
Hey there! As a big fan myself, I wanted to express how much my friends and I adore Invincible and fighting games. We’re extending an invitation for you to join us in the fun!
Invincible VS is set for launch in 2026 for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC.
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2025-06-11 00:10