Worst Videogame Mascot Ever?
Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2004 1:04 pm
I've been thinking about this for a while, and I just can't make up my mind!
Let's look at some of the candidates:
Crash Bandicoot
Why? Well, he's not so much a character in himself as he is an amalgamation of a bunch of different things the developers thought were popular. For the most part, he resembles the Tasmanian Devil. His spinning attack reflects this even further, as does his body shape and austrailian heritage. However, they apparently tried to go with a very Sonic-ish direction with this character, considering the supporting cast of the Crash games is almost indenticle to Sonic's. But the game itself plays like a 3-rd rate Mario. I can't make up my mind. He copies styles from so many places, and can't really do anything as well as the original.
Blinx
It's a goddamn time-traveling cat in goggles.
Bubsy
Bubsy was actually a kind of interesting character. Not so much for his games, but for his personality. He was a loser. Everyone knew it. Everyone treated him that way. That WAS his character. He got smashed, drowned, kicked, punched, slapped, spayed, ran-over, and electricuted. And that's why I loved him. He needs another game. Just take out the gameplay aspects and replace it with hours and hours of being able to torture Bubsy.
Aero the Acro*Bat
While the idea of a bat as a main character has lots of appeal, they just didn't do it right. A bat in a fucking circus makes NO SENSE. I've never been to a goddamn circus with a "Bat Performance". Also, his abilities royally sucked. He could hover in the air for like three seconds, and shoot a limited amount of stars. The only good thing he could do was a mid-air dash/screw attack. But using the attack itself was so cumbersome and useless, it made it worthless. Looking back at the game's theme and character design, it truly seems like Aero was the bastard spawn of NiGHTs and Sonic. Which is possible, ya know, because NiGHTs can turn into a girl.
Sparkster
Horrible name. But he's a fucking possum in a suit of armor with the sword and a jetpack strapped to his ass. That fucking ROCKS. And the way the jet packed worked made the Rocket Knight games a blast. And like possums, our protagonist could actually use his tail to HANG onto things! Sparkster, where did you go? We miss you.
Rocky Rodent
While using one's wildhairdo to attack villains is certainly and intersting concept - Rocky is ugly as fuck. And his actual execution of moves sucked too.
Sabreman
It's an old man in a pithelment. What the hell?
Croc
Actually, not that bad. Even if the character himself was a little boring. The franchise overall played and felt like a 3-D crash with better designed levels.
Gex
He was actually quite funny at times, and his levels were certainly interesting to look at. But someone always just felt . . . WRONG about this franchise. I can't quite put my finger on it. It just felt like a gimmic better suited for a shitty show than a mediocre videogame. Also, playing as a lizard got boring pretty fast.
That seal dude from High Seas Havoc.
If you're going to rip off a Sonic Game, don't do it with a fucking pirate seal. That's all I'm saying.
Rayman
The idea of playing as a living molecule is awesome. And most of the Rayman games have been fairly polished and beautiful. But They're not really using this idea to the fullest extent. It would be cool if you could launch out your hands, grip the enemy, and pummel him into tears - all from long distance.
Glover
It's a damn glove that plays with balls. There's nothing more to say.
Sprocket
Awesome game. Somewhat intersting character, with a pretty cool design, and a pretty cool set of moves. Robot on Wheels was, in my opinion, one of the best platformers on the N64. And considering that 90% of the games for the N64, that might be saying something if they weren't mostly shit. But Sprocket's beautiful and lovingly crafted worlds full of tons of interesting vehicles and objectives made it feel far beyond the capabilities of an average 64-bit game. The setting of the game in a futuristic themepark added lots of character and fun to the game. Spy Cooper's OK, but I would love for Sucker Punch to revisit their first son. Fat chance of that, though.
Billy Hatcher
It's a little boy in a chicken suit.
That's all for now, I can problably think of more in a little while, but I'd like to hear your opinions/experiences with platforming characters besides Sonic.
Let's look at some of the candidates:
Crash Bandicoot
Why? Well, he's not so much a character in himself as he is an amalgamation of a bunch of different things the developers thought were popular. For the most part, he resembles the Tasmanian Devil. His spinning attack reflects this even further, as does his body shape and austrailian heritage. However, they apparently tried to go with a very Sonic-ish direction with this character, considering the supporting cast of the Crash games is almost indenticle to Sonic's. But the game itself plays like a 3-rd rate Mario. I can't make up my mind. He copies styles from so many places, and can't really do anything as well as the original.
Blinx
It's a goddamn time-traveling cat in goggles.
Bubsy
Bubsy was actually a kind of interesting character. Not so much for his games, but for his personality. He was a loser. Everyone knew it. Everyone treated him that way. That WAS his character. He got smashed, drowned, kicked, punched, slapped, spayed, ran-over, and electricuted. And that's why I loved him. He needs another game. Just take out the gameplay aspects and replace it with hours and hours of being able to torture Bubsy.
Aero the Acro*Bat
While the idea of a bat as a main character has lots of appeal, they just didn't do it right. A bat in a fucking circus makes NO SENSE. I've never been to a goddamn circus with a "Bat Performance". Also, his abilities royally sucked. He could hover in the air for like three seconds, and shoot a limited amount of stars. The only good thing he could do was a mid-air dash/screw attack. But using the attack itself was so cumbersome and useless, it made it worthless. Looking back at the game's theme and character design, it truly seems like Aero was the bastard spawn of NiGHTs and Sonic. Which is possible, ya know, because NiGHTs can turn into a girl.
Sparkster
Horrible name. But he's a fucking possum in a suit of armor with the sword and a jetpack strapped to his ass. That fucking ROCKS. And the way the jet packed worked made the Rocket Knight games a blast. And like possums, our protagonist could actually use his tail to HANG onto things! Sparkster, where did you go? We miss you.
Rocky Rodent
While using one's wildhairdo to attack villains is certainly and intersting concept - Rocky is ugly as fuck. And his actual execution of moves sucked too.
Sabreman
It's an old man in a pithelment. What the hell?
Croc
Actually, not that bad. Even if the character himself was a little boring. The franchise overall played and felt like a 3-D crash with better designed levels.
Gex
He was actually quite funny at times, and his levels were certainly interesting to look at. But someone always just felt . . . WRONG about this franchise. I can't quite put my finger on it. It just felt like a gimmic better suited for a shitty show than a mediocre videogame. Also, playing as a lizard got boring pretty fast.
That seal dude from High Seas Havoc.
If you're going to rip off a Sonic Game, don't do it with a fucking pirate seal. That's all I'm saying.
Rayman
The idea of playing as a living molecule is awesome. And most of the Rayman games have been fairly polished and beautiful. But They're not really using this idea to the fullest extent. It would be cool if you could launch out your hands, grip the enemy, and pummel him into tears - all from long distance.
Glover
It's a damn glove that plays with balls. There's nothing more to say.
Sprocket
Awesome game. Somewhat intersting character, with a pretty cool design, and a pretty cool set of moves. Robot on Wheels was, in my opinion, one of the best platformers on the N64. And considering that 90% of the games for the N64, that might be saying something if they weren't mostly shit. But Sprocket's beautiful and lovingly crafted worlds full of tons of interesting vehicles and objectives made it feel far beyond the capabilities of an average 64-bit game. The setting of the game in a futuristic themepark added lots of character and fun to the game. Spy Cooper's OK, but I would love for Sucker Punch to revisit their first son. Fat chance of that, though.
Billy Hatcher
It's a little boy in a chicken suit.
That's all for now, I can problably think of more in a little while, but I'd like to hear your opinions/experiences with platforming characters besides Sonic.