What's going on guys it's Mario and Sonic gamer and today I'm going to be going over a new Top 5 and that is the Top 5 matchups in a different light this is a list of matchups that I either didn't like at first, wasn't interested in, or I thought was okay and see them in a new light, likely because I'm no longer a death battle fan so without further ado lets get started

5. Sasuke VS Mei (Naruto VS Honkai Impact 3rd)

When I first saw this matchup I was a bit confused at first even after reading the connections although at the time I haven't played Honkai Impact 3rd but after playing series for the first time and doing some more research I finally understood the connections are especially after playing Chapter 17 during the Nagazora arc. For those who are confused in Chapter 17 Kiana and Mei had their battle on top or the same rooftop where they fought on 3 years ago when Kiana was trying to save Mei from herself after being possessed by her Herrscher persona. Now their fighting again however the only reason why they were fighting is because Kiana is trying to stop Mei from joining World Serpent, early on in the Chapter, Mei was desperate to save Kiana who had only 2 months left to live after a Honkai energy infection she recited an offer from Kevin Kaslana to become a Herrscher to save Kiana. Lament of the Fallen arc came out back in 2020 a lot of people had compared this fight with Naruto and Sasuke specifically during the events of the Final Valley in the Sasuke Retrieval Mission arc. While I've done a chapter comparing Kiana and Mei to Naruto and Sasuke that you can find on my table of context to keep things brief both duos involve a protagonist and a deuteragonist having common experiences of loneliness the deuteragonists are prodigies and while the protagonists are knucklehead and slightly bratty and often fall behind but as the series the deuteragonists started to be the ones who fall behind the protagonists making them insecure feeling that they are unable to achieve their goals, this lead them to making deals with major villains who offered them power after that the protagonists and deuteragonists had one of their most emotional fights in their respective series with the deuteragonists winning and leaving to join the villains giving a protagonists a goal to one day bring them back. They remained separated for the remainder of the series before teaming up in the final arc against a bigger threat and they rekindled their relationship. While their motives are different the fact of the matter is that Mei is literally the female video game version of Sasuke they have almost so much similarities even in their respective adulthoods the similarities continue with both training new protagonists and battle aliens weather it'd be the Otsutsuki clan or the Sky People like there's just so much going on like it's in same. Because of this I actually believe that Mei is a better match for Sasuke than Hiei. I know someone said that hack then HI3 wasn't big in lore and Sasuke was inspired off of Hiei however if I learned anything about not being a Death Battle fan anymore it's that not having enough lore and being inspired doesn't mean jack shit for example Akko VS Coco. Coco is the main protagonist of this manga series called Witch Hat Atelier and as of right now yet that didn't stop Coco from being a much better opponent for Akko than Luz and also despite Luz being injured off of Akko, Deku and Anne are better opponents for both of them and also it's worth mentioning that Sasuke was on inspired from Hiei via the Sharingan everywhere else he's more like Killua and Kurapika from Hunter X Hunter and also despite some of the similarities in reality Sasuke and Hiei are mostly polar opposites one gave up on revenge by his own free will and the other didn't give up until someone stopped him that should tell you the clear differences between the two. While Hiei wasn't a bad matchup, Mei has simply proven to be the superior one because both are incredible lightning users, which makes sense because Sasuke is more of a lightning user than a fire user anyways, Hiei was Sasuke's best until he wasn't. But that's just my opinion.

4. Hiei VS Vergil (Yu Yu Hakusho VS Devil May Cry)

Speaking of Hiei I actually used to hate this MU on sight I just didn't think it made sense but then as I was developing Mario, Sonic, Mega Man DEATH BATTLE season 5 I was actually really shocked at how good this fight is. We have 2 half demons whose lives were screwed up because of what they are, for Hiei it's due to being a half ice and half fire demon that lead him to being thrown away by his own people and for Vergil is being the Son of Sparda which as a result made him a target for several demons Sparda defeated and his mother died in the process. They have shockingly similar personalities snd have a almost similar dynamic with the goofball protagonists Yusuke and Dante starting off as enemies before eventually becoming their allies albeit they're just rivals but nonetheless they prove that they have redeeming qualities. Honestly I don't know why Vergil was pinned against Sephiroth to begin with like other than having white hair and large swords I don't get the MU at all. Vergil may have been an enemy to Dante in the past but as we saw in Devil May Cry 5 as of right now he's proven to have some form of respect for Dante even though they still have their rivalry but are willing to put it aside and work together on many different occasions proving that Dante and Vergil are just simply rivals that could be but more healthy. Sephiroth on the other hand was Cloud's arch-nemesis through and through sure they started off as allies but after Sephiroth went mad they were enemies from then on, unlike Vergil who at least cared for Dante in some way, Sephiroth never cared for Cloud in the slightest as he went to great lengths to kill him even going inside his head. That should tell you the difference between Sephiroth's relationship with Cloud and Vergil's relationship with Dante. This is why Hiei VS Vergil makes sense because both of them are just anti-heroes who started off as villains with a similar personality albeit different goals but eventually changed and are just simply rivals to Yusuke and Dante. And much like with Sasuke VS Mei, in my opinion I'd say that this was better than Sasuke VS Hiei again not saying it's bad but looking back, narratively speaking Sasuke and Hiei aren't really as similar as people made them out to be sure both had a lust for vengeance against family members but Hiei gave up on revenge by his own free will whereas Sasuke had to get an ass whooping from Naruto to give up on vengeance. But overall Hiei VS Vergil just started to grow on me.

3. Rex VS Bronya (Generator Rex VS Honkai Impact 3rd)

Going back to Honkai Impact 3rd, after playing the game series I was scrambling around the internet to see if there are other MUs for Honkai the ones that are interesting anyway at the time I only found Kiana VS Noel and Sasuke VS Mei as for Bronya the only MU I found her being pined against Rex from Generator Rex, I've heard of the show but never watched it. I thought it was interesting because they both are orphans as a result of devastating event that changed humanity forever and was regarded as one of the worst events in history weather it'd be the Nanite Event or the Second Eruption not to mention said events became the result normal humans either died or became infected and turned into monstrous beings thanks to Nanites and Honkai like EVOs or Honkai Zombies there's also the issue with Nanites that takes the forms of mechs and robots as well as EVOs who don't turn into monsters instead they weaponize them or people who aren't Honkai Zombies but instead are Hereschers. On top of that both lost their loves as a result of an experiment weather like with Rex's brother, Caesar or Bronya's friend and lover, Seele and have either lost memories or can't express emotions both would join entire gangs before joining an organization dedicated to fighting the Nanites and Honkai, recovering stuff they lost, making new friends, reunited with loved ones, battle final villains like Black Knight and Kevin Kaslana and saving the world. While yes to be fair unlike Rex's world was very much peaceful until the Nanite Event whereas Bronya's world had already been through more than 50,000 years of Hell with Honkai before the Second Eruption in the Current Era and not to mention according to Caesar the only reason why they caused the Nanite Event was because to prevent the Meta-Nanites from falling into the wrong hands where as the Second Eruption happened because Otto's selfish desire to revive Kallen and as a result several children were experimented on and one of them became the Herrscher of the Void and snapped and retaliated against humanity as vengeance the point still stands that both of them are orphans of post apocalyptic events and have powers where they can control technology to their will I mean that's what makes this fight a lot more interesting especially when you add their respective godly forms into the mix. Now I know someone's going to point out that Rex also has an opponent in Max Steel but in all honesty I don't really care about that one it looks kinda ass especially since Max is basically a cartoon version of Star Force Mega Man I mean take away Rex's Meta-Nanite Gode Mode it could works but since I prefer fights where characters are at their best it would not work because unlike Rex and Bronya, Max doesn't have a god form or any form of that matter that could work well with Rex.

2. Hyakkimaru VS Gabimaru (Dororo VS Hell's Paradise)

Before Hell's Paradise came to existence the only matchup Hyakkimaru had was Tanjiro. After I saw Hell's Paradise I immediately wanted Gabimaru to appear in my series which ultimately led to me discovering this matchup and I was utterly shocked at the amount of similarities between these two. Both of them were born in historic Japanese eras where it was a terrible time to be alive. Hyakkimaru was born in the Sengoku period an era of all out war and Gabimaru was born in the Edo period an era filled with corrupt politicians. Both of their lives were screwed from the moment they were born Hyakkimaru lost most of his body parts as a result of his father sacrificing him to demons and Gabimaru's parents were murdered by Iwagakure Chief and was forced to go through Naruto's backstory except much worse due to being trained as a ninja since infancy. Both of them are cold hearted and became ruthless until they met women who changed them unfortunately tragedy struck rather it be Hyakkimaru losing Mio to samurai who they mistook for a spy of Gabimaru being separated from Yui as a result of being set up and arrested by the chief. Throughout their journey they've made many friends but they ultimately suffered through loss yet despite they push through and in the end regained their humanity. This was honestly sad on multiple levels and while I did managed to find them the best MU for both I was even sadder when I repeated Tanjiro VS Jonathan where Gabimaru kills Hyakkimaru as a result of a misunderstanding and as a result now has to promise Hyakkimaru to keep Dororo safe just like Jonathan did. It was really sad as it just shows that there is no sparing lives on Death Battle. As for Gabimaru VS Roland that MU can go to Hell it never really made any sense to me especially since Hell's Paradise is almost exactly like Dororo.

1. Pac-Man VS Bomberman (Namco VS Konami)

I know I've praised this matchup in the past but before that there was a time where I didn't get this. When I used to be a Death Battle fan I saw Luigi VS Pac-Man trending and I was confused than I found out it only exists is just to be video game ghostbusters which immediately turned me off especially since Luigi is only a ghostbuster in the Luigi's Mansion games outside of that you don't really see him using his ghostbuster gear in the mainline Mario games and on top of that it only exists because people don't like the fact that Luigi was done dirty in Season 2 when he fought Tails when okay but I can name several other characters who were done dirty by Death Battle like Godzilla yet nobody's scattering across the internet looking for a matchup he can return in. Now back on topic I saw Pac-Man VS Bomberman and intentionally I didn't really like it but then I saw the connections and saw that they have similar gameplay maze styles back in the 1980s it's a really interesting concept of both maze fighters using.... Unusual methods to saving their worlds. I honestly didn't expect it to be that good and it makes me realize that it makes much more since for Pac-Man to fight Bomberman than Luigi which is exactly what happened on My Death Battle. It has a pretty unique dynamic. But that's just me.

Anyways guys that's it for the chapter let me know in the comments below what do you think of this and I will see you all next time. Peace.