The death of the game mascot

Hey come on, I thought Bubsy was funny... er, kinda funny. Hehe.

Holy freak, I loved Mr. Domino. I remember finding a new copy of it at KB Toys for like five bucks back in like 2000 or 2001. My friend had just gotten a Dreamcast, but we ended up playing Mr. Domino all night instead. Good times.

How about Alex Kidd. Thank Sega's stars that Sonic came fast after that to take over the Sega mascot-ship. I wonder about the Saturn's mascot. Will it ever return?

Here's a small glimpse as to where a few ended up:

http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=109

~HotShotX

I thought Bubsy and B.O.B. were both multi platform?

You know who I actually found funny a while back? Gex. Friggin Geico. I wonder if that series tanked on account of that friggin gekko.

What follows = sarcasm

"I don't need cutsy little queer mascots, I'm a man M A N, MAN! I play games on the Xbox 360, and i only play games where strong, strapping steroid-men are prevalent, mascots are teh kiddie and for that gay-ass Wee thing, or whatever the hell its called"

Don't ask questions that you already know the answers to... (people want realism, not mascots, for some twisted reason)

Isn't that picture of Izzy, the Atlanta 1996 Olympics mascot?

The only reason that many of the 'mascot characters' like Jaks and Ratchets of today are still around is because their base formulas keep changing. It keeps them popular but it doesn't lend credibility to their original design.

Older ones like Sonic and MegaMan started to rely on 'cooler counterparts' to maintain the original's image (for example: Shadow the Hedgehog, Zero).

Just tell me how 'good' or 'enjoyable' Bomberman Act Zero was.

The idea of a mascot doesn't lie exclusively in platformer heroes, but they were the most common.

There are characters who aren't seen again because the creators decided not make anymore or just wasn't a tremendous cause for a sequel.

Then there are characters that were never popular to begin with but for one reason or another became a company mascot.

RYU has been relegated to a mish-mash of enjoyable VS. games (though with recycled sprites for most of them), mediocre 3D outings, and remakes and 'fighting collections' since 3rd Strike. :(

Whats that guys name?

The fat guy, plumber. Saves princesses?

Captin Plumface?

I really don't think Zero qualifies as an attempt to boost up the badass factor of Mega Man. He served a purpose and ultimately turned into a really fun to play character. And I really don't think Mega Man or Sonic should be included on that list. Sure, they've lost their luster (een though I still love Mega Man and always will) but most of the other mascots with them didn't even make it off of the gound. At least Mega Man and Sonic have produced good games.

Where the hell does the term "platform game" come from anyway?

I think mascots were created in order to account for 2D game mechanics. Let me explain a bit. In 2D, the character inevitably will have to do some jumping, usually greater than it's own height, just because of the nature of platformers. As well, defeating enemies usually required more high-jumping. To use a realistic character in a platformer situation would look absurd. So 'mascots' had to be invented in order to make the actions in a platform seem plausible (much better than the realism of Mario Brothers The Movie, right?).

Today, with 3D, we're able to make so many more types of games than just platformers (to me it seemed like 80% of all games from 1985-1995 were platformers). Marcus Fenix is just as much of a mascot as Sonic, but isn't considered one because he exists in a more realistic game, and isn't very cute, cuddly, and/or cartoony.

So basically what I'm saying is, is that in order to have a typical 80's & 90's mascot you need unrealistic games (typically platformers) set in fantasy worlds. These type of games just aren't as popular (or as necessary) as they once were.

First off, I remembered when I looked at this kind of thing over two years ago:

http://www.netjak.com/review.php/698

Man, some bloggers are behind the times.

Anyhow, these guys are a bit nuts because in order to really be a mascot, you've got to make at least a couple sequels. Mr. Domino, Billy Hatcher, Blinx, Roscoe McQueen... these and several others on the list were just characters for a one-off game. You gotta earn the title of mascot, and these guys didn't. Heck, Captain Commando was more of a mascot than these guys, and he missed the list.

And if you're going to crack on Sega mascots, you gotta start at the granddaddy of them all - Alex Kidd. His headstone was one of the earliest in the mascot graveyard.

@32_Footsteps

Blinx had a sequel. I believe it was called Blinx 2.

Mascots are dead? But then... how is Master Chief not a mascot? A slightly abstracted avatar, who acts as a stand-in for the whole game in the consumer's consciousness (note how most Halo ads are based around MC's impassive visage as surely as Mario or Kirby ads are built around their iconic images). Yes, he's less cuddly than Sonic and less chatty than Daxter, but for all intents and purposes, he's a mascot.

With Gears of War about to become a trilogy---or at least a franchise---Marcus Fenix looks on his way to mascot-hood too. So mascot's are still around, just in beefier form, as surely as a G.I. Joe is an action figure is a doll.

Now here's a thought: Is there some distinction to be made between franchises built around a character---like Halo---and franchises built around an approach, like Grand Theft Auto (a different lead character in every game, but a similar approach). Of course, these are fuzzy lines---if the Halo RTS is a success *and* has no Master Chief, Halo will have become a very different kind of franchise---but it's an interesting distinction, especially when one considers the Mario franchise, where a mascot exists mostly to win consumer trust in the context of often wildly different games.

2D platformers may not be at the forefront, but that doesn't mean mascots have to die with them. Master Chief and Marcus Fenix (very original Cliffy B) are very much the mascots for the more grown up 360 crowd.

Sony never held a mascot for long, since its origins were consumer electronics and their 1st party and exclusive games were so broad and varied.

as for mascots being all cutesy well, i think it has less to do with the graphical limitations of the 2D genre and more to do with the console's general audience.

Mario certainly lives on. we'll never escape that stereotype. even when nintendo goes full on HD.




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Hunh. Okay, #9, that's actually a really good response to what I said. Even though it was posted while I was still putting my post together. There's only one explanation---YOU'RE IN A TIME-LOOP, #9! RUN!!!

Not a platformer, but weren't the marketing gears in motion to turn Master Chief into a kind of Mascot?

And I don't think the Mascot is dead- Mario is still instantly identifiable and is insperable from the Nintendo brand. I don't think a new "cutesy" game character has stepped forward as a brand identifier recently because there haven't been any great games with really memorable/ likeable/ marketable characters. That, and market oversaturation with way too many games. It takes a TON of advertising money to create a mascot.

They're be a new "star" character in the future that'll dethrown Mario. Mark my words.

What? No Bonk?!!! That list = fission mailed

His name is Izzy.

Izzy was created as the mascot for the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta. Ten or so years ago at the Busch Gardens theme park in Williamsburg, VA, they built a new roller coaster and named it 'Wild Izzy' after him. Last time I went, though, the Izzy name had been taken off, but the coaster's still there. It's 'Wilde Maus', the small yellow one with enough violent hairpin turns to give you headaches.

Uhh, you talk about game mascots, and you show in your art an Olympic mascot ("Whazzit", I think, from the Atl. games in 1996), who was never in a video game? ?!?!?!

Sparkster should be up there. He should of gotten alot more attention than he did back in the day.

"Sonic: Any long-time Sega fan must surely now wish their cherished childhood hero be left to rest in peace after countless hedgehog debacles."

It seems someone obviously hasn't played Sonic Rush.

One platformer I'm really glad hasn't died yet is Rayman. Great series, in my opinion, and I love the universe it's set in. Raving Rabbids had me cracking through the entire game and I love showing it to people (I especially love the mini-game where you have to smack the baby rabbit singing out of tune in the choir).

However, there are plenty more that I hated from the moment I played them, with my title of most overrated mascot ever awarded to: Crash Bandicoot. It's main targets where aimed at Mario and Sonic and I think it failed miserably.

We are in an era where video games are exploring the depths of the Uncanny Valley. I prefer the charming cartoon characters are yesteryear over the zombie-like attempts to render real people in modern games.

>Isn't that picture of Izzy, the Atlanta 1996 Olympics mascot?<

That it is. My sister had a stuffed toy of that hideous thing.

8. GeoEnvi asked:
Where the hell does the term "platform game" come from anyway?
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Many side-scrolling 2D games of yesteryear heavily depended upon having your character jump from platform to platform. Hence the name "platform game" came to be.

Don't forget Gex! I dug those games.

"They're be a new "star" character in the future that'll dethrown Mario. Mark my words."

Not really. Look back at history. The best you can assume will happen is that someone comes along who can stand alongside Mario.
No one has "dethroned" Mickey Mouse as the most identifiable cartoon character ever. Bugs Bunny, however, can stand alongside Mickey.
Same goes for Superman. No one is more identifiable than Superman. But Batman and Spider-Man have proven their iconic worth.

Mario wasn't the first video game mascot, just like Mickey and Superman weren't the first cartoon and superheros. But they were all the first popular ones, who turned into an iconic status.

I must've missed the second Blinx game... interesting.

As for the comment about the '96 Olympic mascot, two things. One, as others have said, it was called "Izzy" (as in "What is he?" said fast). And two, he was in a video game, that was released on both the SNES and the Genesis. Here's a link to the Amazon page for the SNES version:

http://www.amazon.com/Izzys-Quest-Olympic-Rings/dp/B000CS9BDW

What about "Zool". He was so cool. And "Shadow of the Beast", the games were pretty, but crappy.

Mario, Link, Mater Chief, Gordon Frreman, Solid Snake.. yeah.. mascots are dead alright. *cough*not*cough*