Blizzard Entertainment is giving the cyborg ninja Genji a Genos-inspired skin for Overwatch 2’s One Punch Man crossover event.
In addition to the legendary skin, there will be a spray based on Genos-Genji in Overwatch 2. The developers have previously added new skins for other heroes, such as The Terrible Tornado Kiriko, Mumen Rider Soldier 76 and Saitama Doomfist.
One punch is all it takes 👊
Introducing Saitama – Doomfist! The Overwatch 2 x One-Punch Man collab lands Mar 7! 👀 pic.twitter.com/uA4fjoK25N
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Developers’ opinion on Genos-Genji skin
Quoted from the PlayStation Blog, associate director Aimee Dennett said that Overwatch developers are obsessed with anime.
“Much like our player base, we have fun thinking about crossovers and similarities shared between characters from our favorite shows,” she said.
Dennett then described the commonalities between Genos and Genji’s pasts were a significant source of inspiration for her. They are humans who were nearly killed before being rescued and converted into cyborgs by doctors from their universes.
Similarly, art director Dion Rogers shared the same view of the two characters. He explained that Genji and Genos are cyborgs with intense and solemn demeanors.
Rogers explained that the team wanted to ensure players understood that their “characters are essentially cosplaying the OPM heroes.”
He also explained that Genos’s spiky blonde hair was an exciting challenge — the more closely the team matched the style, the more Genji they lost.
"Genos’s spiky blonde hair was an interesting challenge, the closer we matched the style the more we lost Genji in the process."
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Rogers emphasized that the team’s concept artists took great care to merge the two heroes’ distinctive visual styles without diluting either.
Dennett also noted how encouraging it was to observe coworkers discussing ways to incorporate their shared love of One-Punch Man into their regular duties. The director said it was “rewarding to see the reactions” of other gamers who share her enthusiasm for One-Punch Man.
Genji in Overwatch 2
Overwatch players who value mobility, speed and versatility often choose Genji, making him one of the game’s most popular characters.
While Genji isn’t the most outgoing or chatty of Overwatch heroes, his compelling history attracts players. To prevent Genji’s death at the hands of his brother, the Overwatch team intervened and upgraded him, turning him into a cyborg ninja.
Among the many advantages of his cybernetic enhancements is his Cyber-Agility, which Genji uses to scale walls quickly and double jump away from or toward danger. He can also give his enemies difficulty keeping up with his lightning-fast, decisive strikes. Even though he has lower HP, this weakness is surmountable with the proper support.
Genji is a relatively new addition to the library of video game cyborg ninjas with whom he shares some characteristics. For example, cyborg ninjas from other games also prefer shuriken for long-range attacks and opt for wakizashi and katana in close combat.
They almost always wear stylish clothes that cover all or part of their faces. Certain cyborg ninjas, like Zer0 from Borderlands, can have extensive cybernetic enhancements that make them look almost unrecognizable from humans.
Comparable to Genji’s reliance on katana, Zer0 also uses a sniper rifle — although he also keeps a sword handy.
Genji and Zer0 may be the most well-known cyborg ninjas, but there are also notable ones, including Metal Gear Solid’s former special forces soldier and cyborg ninja, Raiden.
After being captured, Raiden was subjected to severe cybernetic transformations, making his story almost as horrific as Genji’s.
