You couldn’t scroll through Twitter or hop into an Overwatch voice chat last week without hearing excited whispers about one thing—Cowboy Bebop. Ever since that tantalizing teaser cropped up at the end of the Season 9 trailer, speculation about a crossover with the legendary anime has reached a fever pitch within the game’s massive fan community.
Cowboy Bebop has long been hailed as a masterpiece of the sci-fi genre, blending pulse-pounding action with moments of melancholic beauty. Over 15 years since it ended, Spike Siegel, Jet Black and the rest of the Bebop crew’s interstellar adventures still enchant new generations of viewers. So when that familiar electric bass riff kicked in over Route 66, longtime Bebop buffs nearly lost their minds at the implication.
A Cosmic Crossover
Players have been endlessly debating which Overwatch heroes might channel their inner cowboy in homages to Spike, Faye and the crew. Could cool-headed McCree take on Spike’s charismatic lone wolf charms? Maybe chipper D.Va would suit up as the fast-talking Ed? The hype around uncovering these answers is making this one of the most anticipated crossovers in gaming.
Of course, there’s always a chance this was all just an elaborate red herring. But given Blizzard’s track record for epic partnerships, most fans figure it’s only a matter of time before Overwatch blasts off on a Bebop adventure of its own. As the community eagerly awaits official confirmation, Cowboy Bebop fever shows no signs of leaving the skies over Watchpoint: Gibraltar anytime soon.