Summary
Warner Bros. is promoting the release of its fighting gameMultiVersuswith Happy Meal toys at McDonald’s. Through April 4, customers can get their hands on one of six toys featuring familiar characters that will be playable when the game comes out. As with all McDonald’s Happy Meal toys, these can be purchased a la carte without the requirement to consume a hamburger, fries, and soda.
MultiVersusis a 2D platform fighter that is releasing to PlayStation, Xbox, and Steam May 28. In 2022, it released to those consoles as a free-to-play game under an Open Beta label. The brawler fighting style is emblematic ofSuper Smash Bros.andNickelodeon All-Star Brawl. Characters attack each other to build up enough damage to knock the opponent off the screen. The game mashes up characters from multiple Warner Bros. franchises: DC, Scooby-Doo, Cartoon Network, Looney Tunes, and some surprise properties likeThe Iron Giant.
The promotion with McDonald’s gives each Happy Meal a miniature tin containing a six-piece puzzle. The tins pair up ten playable characters: Superman, Harley Quinn, Bugs Bunny, Finn the Human, Black Adam, Shaggy, Velma, Batman, and the Tasmanian Devil. Batman and Taz each get two match-ups. The characters are all depictedas they appear inMultiVersus.
MultiVersus Happy Meals
The puzzles show four more playable and featured characters from the video game on each side. Finn’s companion Jake the Dog as well as Garnet and Steven Universe can be seen in more than one puzzle. Roughly 14 of the 23 revealed characters are featured on the tins and puzzles. Playable characters not featured on the Happy Meals include Arya Stark, Lebron James, Rick, and Morty.More playable characterswill be revealed in the future.
Multiverse fighting games have been popular for decades, crossing over franchises from comics and cartoons to movies and video games. It is such a popular trend, Warner Bros.' ownMortal Kombatcrossed over with DC. Capcom matches Ryu against Magneto whileSuper Smash Bros.pits Mario against Cloud. The combinations are constantly expanding as more characters are added, with their unique moves and sounds.
There isn’t any in-game content that is associated with these Happy Meals. Their promotion is purely cosmetic to draw excitement over the game’s full release on May 28, almost a year after its beta was closed. There are stillno plans for a Switch version, andMultiVersusis expected to return to the same systems it was available on last year.
