Overwatch 2: Check Out the Kiriko One-Punch Man Collaboration Skin (and How It Was Made)

Xbox Wire will only reveal one. Overwatch 2’s upcoming One-Punch Man collaboration skins – support hero Kiriko in the form of Terrible Tornado. This legendary skin is part of a larger collaboration between Overwatch 2One-Punch Man has seen Doomfist in his skin, which is based on Saitama, the superhero.

The Legendary Terrible Tornado – Kiriko skin will arrive as part of a bundle, available for 2,100 coins in the Overwatch 2 in-game store. It includes the Terribly Impressive Victory Pose skin and the Terrible Tornado card. The skin – and the rest of the One Punch Man collaboration – will be available from March 7 until April 6.

It’s the first major in-game collaboration for OverwatchIn 2019, a LEGO-inspired Bastion skin was launched. I met up with Dion Rogers the Art Director of Bastion to discover how this partnership evolved.

“It’s something we’ve been wanting to do for a while,” he begins. “You know, Overwatch’s art style is kind of a marriage of West-meets-East aesthetics and values – there’s a bit of an anime look to Overwatch. We were anime fans and we wanted to work with a collaborator. We looked into various studios and One-Punch Man was the one that came up. It was amazing how many of the people in the team were familiar with anime. They loved it. Aaron Keller is our game director and knows every character and detail.

“So it was pretty surprising. We felt like that’s a great one because the team would be very excited by this idea – because the team knew the anime so well, and they were so excited, it’s at that point that it really felt like the right fit.”

Rogers wasn’t wrong. He says that the collaboration was so popular in the studio that, on the very first team meeting about it, the character artist for the Saitama – Doomfist skin began drawing designs During The call was over and he shared them shortly thereafter. If you wanted some measure of how much the Overwatch team likes One Punch Man, consider the fact that Doomfist had a voice line referencing the show for years – “One punch is all I need” – before this crossover came together. “Yeah, we were inspired,” Rogers laughs when I ask about it.

So, what about Kiriko’s costume specifically? Terrible Tornado, a powerful psychic from the One-Punch Man world, has a unique personality. Kiriko was the perfect fit for her costume.

“Part of the challenge of bringing some of the heroes in is basically [because of] a silhouette change. We need to be cautious gameplay-wise. As Saitama, Doomfist gets a cape. Doomfist, we never give him a cape, in any of the skins, so that his silhouette – the shape that players are used to seeing – remains. We were careful with how we applied it.

“Kiriko – on top of needing some more skins, because she’s a newer hero in the game – she fits the silhouette of [Terrible Tornado]Pretty well. So it just felt like a natural choice – we could do her hairstyle, but a lot of Kiriko’s base silhouette comes from her skirt, the little kind of angled parts on her clothing. We could capture that same look, but we wanted to keep it. [Terrible Tornado] in kind of cosplay form.”

Rogers raises an interesting point about this collaboration – in most games, you’d kind of assume the heroes were meant to BeA version of One-Punch Man, but in Overwatch 2, they’re CosplayAs they.

“Our heroes are basically aware of the anime and are fans too. And they’re cosplaying as the heroes.”

“That’s our approach; that our heroes are basically aware of the anime and are fans too. And they’re cosplaying as the heroes. So when you see Doomfist wearing the Saitama outfit, he’s a fan too.”

It raises the question – is this a one-off, or could we see more cosplay-esque collaborations for Overwatch 2What do you see for the future?

“We definitely want to do more collaborations over time, but with the right opportunity [because] it took us a long time to reach here – hopefully it doesn’t take us as long for the next one. Our goal is to achieve more. The team had a lot of fun. It’s surprising, I think our approach overlaps with Overwatch very well.”

“And what I like about the new game is it’s seasonal, we have the seasonal cadence of things now. It’ll allow us to pursue more things like this, because we have targeted seasons that we can plug these things into.”

I can’t let Rogers go without asking the obvious follow-up: what would his dream collaboration be once One Punch Man is done? “Oh yeah. Dragon Ball – that’s one of them. Actually, Street Fighter, I’d love to combo with Street Fighter at some point.” Here’s hoping one (or both!) happen one day soon.

Overwatch 2S as well as Xbox One.|S and Xbox One. The Overwatch collaboration event, including the Legendary Terrible Tornado – Kiriko skin, will begin on March 7 and run until April 6.

Overwatch® 2

Blizzard Entertainment

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1997

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Overwatch 2 is a team-based free-to-play action game that is always on and evolving. Each match is the ultimate 5v5 battlefield brawl. You can team up with your friends to dive into this reimagined experience in PvP. Be a freedom fighter or a battlefield DJ. Or one of the over 30 unique heroes that you will face as you fight it out across the globe.

EVER EVOLVING HEROES, NEW MAPS, NEW WAYS TO PLAY AND UNIQUE COSMETICS! Lead the charge, ambush your enemies, or aid your allies as one of Overwatch’s distinct heroes. You can lead them to battle on 24 futuristic maps that are inspired by real-world places, as well as mastering multiple game modes.

SEASON THREE NOW LIVE
In seasonal updates, new heroes, maps and game modes are added every nine weeks. Season Three will allow you to discover new territory on the ANTARCTICA map. There are also over 20 tiers worth completely free Battle Pass rewards. The Premium Battle Pass unlocks 60 additional Tiers of cosmetic rewards, including legendary skins and sprays as well as weapon charms, voice lines, voice lines, voice lines, and the new Mythic Kiriko Skin.

For Overwatch to be played, you must have a Battle.net account linked to your mobile phone.