Examples of Iconic Characters - Bubsy, how your "iconic character" can go wrong.

Having a mascot character for your game can help significantly boost its sales due to strong brand recognition. However it is very easy to accidentally create a  mascot character that is visually unappealing, annoying, bland or just seeming like a knock-off of another existing mascot trying to just capitalize on their success. Here we will be looking at Bubsy.

Bubsy is a very infamous mascot who has a history of being criticized as a Sonic the Hedgehog knockoff both in the gameplay of his games (Bubsy 1 + 2 had him moving very quickly) and in design (the large feet and shape of the eyes are very sonic-like). However Bubsy wasn't just hated because he was a "knockoff", Bubsy was created in an era where most mascots tried to appeal to kids by having an "attitude" and being "cool", "radical",  and whatever other word from the nineties that describes a one liner spewing character.

In the games Bubsy never shut up, constant sound clips bombarded the player in his irritating, ear piercing voice, and due to the limited technology of the consoles at the time they couldn't have a lot of voice clips for Bubsy, so players had to listen to the same few one liners over and over again in the same low quality digitized voice.

Not only this but the games were also very low quality. The controls were sloppy and Bubsy 3D is very infamously unplayable.

In an attempt to keep Bubsy relevant (and possibly to ride off the success of the Sonic the Hedgehog and Mario Bros cartoon spinoffs) the creators of Bubsy tried to get him his own cartoon, however only the pilot episode was created and the series was never picked up. Those who have seen the pilot generally review it low due to how annoying Bubsy is and how non-nonsensical his world is.

All of these factors have lead to Bubsy being considered one of the most terrible game mascots of all time. He was over marketed and shoved into everyone faces in the hopes that his games would overtake Sonic and Marios in popularity. However in the end this just made people resent Bubsy, and a mascot character who makes an audience resent him has failed as a mascot.

Ironically one of Buby's catchphrases is "What could possibly go wrong?", and as we see there is a LOT that can go wrong when it comes to making an 'iconic mascot' for your franchise.

Examples of Iconic Characters - Solid Snake, an example of a more realistic Mascot which is aimed at an older auidence

Not all mascot characters are cute, small and child friendly. It's very possible to have a mascot character for a series while keeping the character more realistic, perhaps even less child friendly and aimed at an older, more mature audience. For this example we will be looking at Solid Snake from the Metal Gear Solid series.

Solid Snake is a genetically engineered to be the perfect solider for the government and is a member of the FOXHOUND organizational. His appearance matches what many people imagine of a grizzled war veteran who has seen his fair share of combat. His outfit also matches this with the sneaking suit he iconiclly wears that perfectly fits the stealth espionage game play very well. His appearance is something that appeals to teenagers and adults, conveying that the game they are going to be playing will indeed cater to an older audience.

Snakes design much like Sonic and Mario has changed slightly over the years, however this was only due to graphical upgrades, making the quality of Snakes model much more high quality, however even the PS1 version of Soild Snake is iconic, so much in fact that in Metal Gear Solid 4 it's possible to unlock a mask that replaces snakes head with his low-poly PS1 equivalent.

Much like Sonic and Mario, Solid Snake has a very recognizable silhouette and shape. This is mostly thanks to his iconic bandanna making his shape stick out a little more.

As for how Snake is a 'mascot' for the metal gear franchise? He's usually on the gamesboxart, examples shown below should illustrate this point:

Examples of Iconic Characters - Sonic the Hedgehog

Considering how iconic that Mario became, it was no surprise that many other companies wanted to recreate that level of success with their own iconic character. Here i'll be talking about one of the more successful attempts, Sonic the Hedgehog.

Sonic was created for the videogame Sonic the Hedgehog which was released in 1991 for the Sega Megadrive, and he was created as a direct competitor to Nintendos Mario Bros franchise. Sega wanted to create a character that was "cooler" than Mario and had more of an attitude, and because of this they could capture the teen demographic, as well as drive in the younger demographic considering how kids often like what teenagers like. Since Sega was able to appeal to both demographics, they successfully created an icon that was adored by both teens and kids alike.

Considering how Sonic was created in retaliation to Mario, the strong use of Blue as a primary colour for hsi design helps set him apart from Mario who has a very striking use of Red as a primary colour for their design, as well as any other character within the Mario games. This is very important as mascot characters like Sonic can easily be shunned in the eyes of the public if they appear to just be a 'ripoff' of an already existing mascot (in this case Mario).

Another thing that helps Sonic stand out as an iconic game character is how his character design ties in with the gameplay. In Sonic games the player can run at high speeds and often the goal is to beat the stage as quickly as possible. The running shoes that Sonic has reflects this rather nicely. Sonics general shape also reflects this considering that he has an 'aerodynamic' quality to him. He seems like he wouldn't give the air much resistance as he runs through it.

Much like Mario, he also has a very recognizable Silhouette:

Like Mario again, considering how long Sonic has been around his design has been changed over the years. Before he used to be much shorter, however he still had the same attitude that he is known for, as well as those iconic shoes.

Examples of Iconic Characters - Mario

Since Shiney Money aims to create their own iconic character, I feel as if it's important to research other Iconic characters first of all. Below I'll write about a couple of different Iconic characters, and discuss why they are iconic. This should help me get ideas as to what sort of character I should create for Shiny money, and

First of all, let's discuss Mario from Nintendos popular Super Mario Bros franchise.

Mario is the title character from the Super Mario games, first appearing in Donkey Kong in 1981, he has since then stared in his own games, the first being "Mario Bros" which was released in 1983, however Marios breakout game was Super Mario Bros which came out in 1985 for the NES. Due to Mario existing for a long peroid of time, he has underwent several changes as the years went on. Some examples of this are below:

Here is an example of how Marios character design has changed through his ingame sprites. Due to the colour limitations of the NES his trademark blue overalls had to be sacrificed due to limitations. However once Mario hit the SNES with Super Mario world, his overalls were blue consistently from that point in time. Here we can see that once Super Mario Bros 2 came out. the ingame graphics of Mario started to closely resemble the promotional artwork that appeared on the games boxart.

The images found on the Suepr Mario Bros 2-Super Mario World were used ont he games boxart. Once Super Mario 64 came out the majority of the games promotional artwork was 3D renders of Mario.

Now onto what's appealing about Marios design:

We can see that Mario is a character that appeals a lot to kids. He seems very kid friendly and cartoony. Parents who are looking to buy a video game for their child could tell that a game with a character like Mario would be very appealing to their kid. Marios design also tells you that he'll be a Happy, cheerful and friendly character. The artstyle that Mario is presented in also gives him a recognizable silhouette as shown below:

The Artstyle that Mario is presented in also compliments the game play quite well considering how physics in Mario games are rather toony. Mario can jump high, flatten enemies into a pancake (or even be flattened himself) for example. It should also me mentioned that Marios design is quite mangaish, which is no suprise considering how his creator, Shigeru Miyamoto was originally going to draw manga. However this gives Mario an edge in Japan, making him very appealing to the Japanese market.

Who are Shiny Money Entertainment

Shiny Money Entertainment is an independent gaming company which has three operating studios across the UK, and Europe. Shiny Money Entertainment has a wide range of expertise across many genres and gaming systems, PCs, handled and mobile devices!

Shiney Money is now keen to develop a videogame that will have its own iconic character that will lead into a wider range of media franchises and merchandising opportunities Comparable to the Tomb Raider franchise by Core Designs Toby Gard, or the Super Mario Bros created by Nintendos Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka.

Their goal is to challenge its internal design and development teams by asking smaller, more niche players in the market to create an action - adventure videogame that is a mixture of action, puzzle solving, and adventure/battle gameplay. The main requirement is for the series to centre on a main character/protagonist who is given a variety of tasks within the series. Another requirement would be that the series needs to include a primary antagonist (boss) for enemy for the protagonist to go up against. This can include a number of strong secondary antagonists (mini bosses) too. A stealth mechanic could also be implemented into the game so the player can avoid conflict while proceeding through the level.

Rewarding the player for exploring and completing sidequests is also an aim that Shiney Money aims to do, though of course ensuring that the game is still very much playable and completable without needing to sink time into such things, though of course making sure that the player is rewarded with items and increased abilities if they do decide to explore and complete sidequests. Role Playing elements may also be included, though Shiney Money is keen to make a hack and slash styled combat game rather than strategic turned based combat.