Frank West (Nintendo vs. Capcom)

Frank West is the original protagonist of the Dead Rising series, debuting in the 2006 title exclusively for the Xbox 360. A freelance photojournalist by trade, Frank worked to cover controversial leads and stories that were generally hidden by the mainstream press; namely cover-ups and warfare events. However, the greatest break in his career came from a source detailing civil disorder in a small isolated town: Willamette, Colorado. Frank bypassed a military quarantine and discovered the city had been overtaken by an apocalypse of savage, flesh-eating corpses; the citizens of the now fallen town. Seeking refuge in the Willamette Parkview Mall, Frank allied himself with DHS agents Brad Garrison and Jessica McCarney to rescue former government scientist Dr. Russell Barnaby and discover the culprits behind the zombie outbreak. As the case unfolded, it was revealed that the zombification virus originated within a genetically modified wasp from Santa Cabeza; siblings Carlito and Isabela Keyes were utilizing them to enact revenge for the U.S. setting ruin to their hometown when Dr. Barnaby's cattle production experiments released the hoard of wasps to infect the entire population. Though Frank's efforts to uncover the story were valiant and utilizing his survival skills to undertake hoards of infected undead and psychotic survivors alike proved substantial; he soon discovered after allying with Isabella that Carlito already set in motion a plan to infect all of America with infected orphans from Santa Cabeza, turning the Willamette Incident into a country-wide epidemic.

Team Nintendo's invasion grants another opportunity of a lifetime for Frank; though his efforts to expose the government's faults in the zombie epidemic were null and void, there were new, mysterious circumstances that couldn't be explained through rational means; a dimensional tear was appearing right before their eyes. In light of the new events, Frank took a leave of absence from journalistic teaching at the university and began investigating in secrecy what lay behind the incident; slowly he began to make out a child with seemingly otherworldly telekinetic powers.

Frank's rival in this cross-dimensional war is Ness.

Rival
Name: Ness

Reason: Frank's attention to the dimensional tearing caused by Team Nintendo's invasion draws him to Ness's presence. Knowing psychokinesis defies the laws of physics in his own world, he sees Ness as a potential invader originating from the other side of the distortion. Ness makes out Frank's world in the distortion, and witnesses the chaos that this newfound dimension holds. Ness isn't sure who is responsible, but Frank's hostility forces him to take arms against his rival.

Connection: The Dead Rising and Earthbound franchises share many similarities in both composition and reception during their initial releases; while they are both RPGs, Dead Rising was well received in North America but poorly in Japan while Earthbound's first release had the complete opposite effect. Both series have been known for their unique depictions of western culture, and have also notably providing a humorous outlook of their chaotic situations. Frank and Ness both lived normal lives until a powerful force caused calamity to strike their worlds: Frank found himself in arms against hoards of the undead caused by the malpractice of his world's incompetent government while Ness's world was thrown into turmoil by the alien Giygas; turning the citizens of his world into malevolent beings corrupted by darkness. Frank and Ness are both known for their adventurous bravery, despite the travesty brought upon both of them by grotesquely horrific beings, they both dive into their adventures headstrong and unwavering.