Video Mascots Who Never Took Off

Mascots can be found everywhere in Pop Culture; Disney has Mickey Mouse, Studio Ghibli has Totoro, Star Wars has RD-D2 (among others), and the list is very long indeed. When it comes to video gaming, Sonic, Super Mario, and Master Chief are the S-tier icons, and below them are some other contenders: Rayman, perhaps, and Nathan Drake. Spend enough time in the archives, and there are less fortunate entries.

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Across the history of video games, there have been many stalled attempts at creating video game mascots. Some were created to represent a development studio, while others represent a single game that could be a potential hit franchise. There are many reasons why they were never quite to hit the big time; bad timing and an unsatisfactory video game are just some of the reasons.

7

Alex Kidd

You’ve Got To Be Kidd-ing Me

Somewhere out there in the multiverse, Alex Kidd is a superstar, and his image adorns pillowcases, cups, and lunchboxes. Perhaps he has his own CGI feature-length movie. In this timeline, however, Alex Kidd will mostly be remembered as an attempt by Sega to create its own Super Mario, only to fall at some crucial hurdles and then abandon the project in favour of a certain blue hedgehog. As it stands, Sega heads fondly remember him, but not many more outside of that.

The first Alex Kidd game for the Master System, Alex Kidd In Miracle World, was a cheerful, reasonably entertaining platformer, but it lacked the paradigm-shifting qualities inherent to Super Mario Bros. (released one year previously) and all its sequels. The character was used as a skin for Japan-only games that got a Western release and even popped up in the cult classic Alex Kidd In Shinobi World, but he never quite got the proper opportunity to shine.

6

Captain Commando

More Like Captain Commandon’t

As a titan of the video game industry, Capcom boasts a storied history and some of the biggest IPs in the business, so it stands to reason that the Osaka company would want its own mascot. Captain Commando was charged with such a task, right down to the first three letters of his first and second name, which spelt out the name of his parent company. He made his debut in the 1991 arcade beat ’em up of the same name.

Unlike some of the other entries on this list, Captain Commando was a character attached to a solid, enjoyable video game, but for whatever reason, he couldn’t quite become the megastar that Capcom had in mind and was relegated to the status of cult hero. No need to feel too despondent, however – he would make appearances in more than one Marvel Vs. Capcom game, as well as SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash.

5

Bubsy

Paws For Thought

The arrival of Sonic The Hedgehog in video games had a huge impact on this industry, but to quote W.B. Yeats, “A terrible beauty is born.” A slew of copycat games came out of the woodwork, each featuring some twist on the edgy-90s-anthropomorphic-animal formula. One of these was Bubsy The Bobcat, who debuted in 1993 with Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind for 16-bit consoles.

Bubsy was a wisecracking feline and loveable rogue with a penchant for getting into trouble. His first game was decent enough, with an emphasis on fast-paced gameplay and colorful graphics. Such an auspicious start, however, was not enough to prevent him from sliding into decline with a string of terrible games, including an especially horrendous effort for the first PlayStation. Some recent attempts were made to bring him back from the dead, but they were mediocre efforts at best, and Bubsy is best left in the past.

4

Knack

Meme Fodder

Knack

6/10

Released

November 15, 2013

The full corporate might of Sony Computer Entertainment was thrown behind Knack, intended as an attempt to jump-start a vibrant franchise akin to Crash Bandicoot while at the same time showing off the horsepower of the PlayStation 4. With some of the best talent and biggest bucks in the industry, there was seemingly no way it could fail. But the result, while competent, fell short of the can’t-miss experience that its creators were presumably hoping for.

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An action platformer with a firm emphasis on combat, Knack did some things well, but its overall design and difficulty felt off-putting to gamers. It also came with a worrying lack of personality and a central hero that didn’t have any charm whatsoever. It made enough of a splash to get a sequel, which made a few tweaks and improvements to the formula, but Knack has little staying power other than as an in-joke for meme connoisseurs on the internet.

3

Gex

The Retro Reptile

Another game that cashed in on the post-Sonic gold rush, Gex the Gecko was a contemporary to Bubsy, whose USP was that he loved watching television and had a penchant for wisecracks. His first game was released on Panasonic’s ill-fated 3DO console, but he had managed to escape the confines of doomed hardware and eventually migrated to PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and even PC. The games featured dry humour and creative-level design, endearing them to gamers.

Interestingly, the Gex games were mostly well-received and regarded as solid action platformers, with the later games owing a huge debt to Super Mario 64, thanks to the emphasis on free-roaming gameplay. While the lizard still has a cult following, and the Gex Trilogy is currently available on Steam, there doesn’t seem to be enough popular support for him in the present day, so the revival that fans are hoping for is still some ways off.

2

Jazz Jackrabbit

This Bunny’s Gone To Heaven

While mascot platforming games dominated consoles, the personal computing space was something of a wasteland for such titles, and PC gamers had to rely on meagre provisions. Some of them came from unlikely sources; gaming giant Epic Games is now famous thanks to Gears Of War and Fortnite, but one of the studio’s earliest gigs (under the name Epic MegaGames) was an action platformer released for MS-DOS.

The star of the show was Jazz, a green, sunglasses-wearing jackrabbit armed with a variety of high-tech weapons. Equal parts Star Wars and Aesop’s Fables, it featured a unique mix of platforming and shooting elements, not unlike a mix of Sonic The Hedgehog and Mega Man. It got a sequel that was well-received, but by this time, the PlayStation was ascendant, and home computers were struggling to catch up. A third title was cancelled while in development, so Jazz must languish in obscurity.

1

Croc

A Beloved Character That Struggled Against the Competition

A cruel twist of fate befell the first Croc game. It was originally conceived by developer Argonaut as a revolutionary 3D platformer featuring Nintendo’s Yoshi, and a proof-of-concept was thrown together for Nintendo executives, who greeted it with enthusiasm. Sadly, it was eventually rejected as the company was working on its project in the same vein, which had similar gameplat elements to Argonaut’s demo and would eventually become Super Mario 64.

Its original dinosaur protagonist was reskinned as a cartoon crocodile, and the first game in the series, Croc: Legend Of The Gobbos, launched for several platforms in 1997. It was met favorably and, for a short time, looked as if it might be a franchise that could stand the test of time, with a sequel and some spin-offs for Game Boy and Game Boy Colour, but no new installments were released after that. Nostalgia fans can enjoy the remaster, though, which improves the visuals and, more importantly, the controls.

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