First of all, Nintendo has their own set of Iconic characters. Characters like Link, Mario, Luigi, Zelda, Kirby, Pikachu etc are all characters that are well known within the videogame community. These characters have all withstood the test of time, having existed since the 1980s. The fact that Mario is still a household name to this day is a testament to how good Nintendo are at making mascot characters, and maintaining their image throughout the years. Not only do these characters make their games the more iconic, but the player can get a good idea of what to expect when they purchase the game. With Mario the player can tell that the game they’ll be playing will be happy, quirky and have a variety of creative levels. Then with Link in the Legend of Zelda games the player will get the impression that they’ll be taking part in an adventure.
Another example of a company that uses mascots to maintain strong brand recognition would be Sega, much like how people associate Nintendo with Mario, people associate Sega with Sonic the Hedgehog, a character that they created in order to compete with Nintendo in the console wars of the 90’s. Like Nintendo, Sega used an iconic character in order to promote their gaming console. Sonic the Hedgehog was considered the “killer app” and the main reason why people bought the Sega Megadrive (aside from the increased graphical power, which was also showed off in Sonics 16bit design). Much like Nintendo mascots, Segas mascots also give you a good idea of the sort of gameplay they’ll be taking part in. With Sonic the Hedgehog for example, the player will get the impression that Sonic has an attitude due to his design, and that they will be running and that speed will be a main factor of the game due to the shoes that sonic has.
However, it’s not just big multi-million companies that can make use of a mascot character. Smaller companies and development houses can also use iconic characters to their benefit. I think that the indie development team Team Meat, the development team that created the hit indie title “Super Meat Boy”. Super Meat Boy was their first commercial title and therefore served as a bit of a mascot for the indie dev team. Their character “Meat Boy” and iconic antagonist “Dr. Fetus” sets the tone of the game perfectly, and that being a crude, crass game with dark humour. The characters in Super Meat Boy also had a distant artstyle, setting them apart from many other games on the indie marketplace.
As you can see from the above, having an iconic character can be very beneficial to your company due to it creating a strong brand recognition which can help sale games, and also communicate what your game will be about.
