Who has the best Retro Video Game Mascot?
Alex Kidd - Sega Master System
A monkey-like boy with big ears in a red jumpsuit and was Sega's mascot until Sonic the Hedehog debuted in 1991.
The game for which he is best known,
Alex Kidd in Miracle World, was released in 1986. It was rereleased in 1990 and was built into the Master System II model itself.
Miracle World replaced the Snail Maze/Safari Hunt/Hang On (depending on the version) game(s) of the first model. This version reversed the attack and jump buttons from the earlier version to conform to that of other popular action games of the day.
Unlike the Sonic the Hedgehog series, where changes in game mechanics between games are minimal, most games in the
Alex Kidd series differ dramatically from one another. While most games in the series were still platform-based, the only things that tied the series together was the name and the title character. The fact that fans of the first game were completely lost with the rest of the series may have been a contributing factor to the failure of this series.
Bonk - Turbo Grafx-16 (PC Eengine)
Known in Japan as "PC-Genjin" - which means Pithecanthropus Computerurus Caveman and sounds similar to PC Engine, the Japanese name for the Turbo Grafx-16 system.
A large-headed, bald caveman, his favored form of attack was the headbutt. Bonk had way more attitude than the average retro video game mascot and won several awards when he first was released in 1990.
In 1992 he was sadly replaced by Air Zonk, a cyborg descendent of Bonk. Perhaps designed as a response to Sega's new Sonic mascot, Zonk was intended to be a "cooler" punk version of Bonk and sported sunglasses.
Mario - NES
Nintendo's mascot and the typical protagonist of the company's best selling video game series. Therefore, the character, aside from a few exceptions, only appears on Nintendo's consoles. With over 193 million units sold, Mario is not only Nintendo's most successful franchise, but the most successful video game series of all time. Mario is considered the most well-known video game character in the world.
Mario is depicted as a five-foot (155 cm), pudgy, Italian-accented, mustachioed man with a blue pair of overalls, red shirt, white gloves, and red cap with an 'M' emblem on it. Some of his typical catchphrases are "Mamma mia!" and "It's a-me, Mario!"
At first answering to the name of "Jumpman", he was a carpenter in the successful arcade game Donkey Kong, he first attained the worldwide title of "Mario" and became a plumber in Donkey Kong Junior
.
The franchise was developed further by constant extension of the freedom of movement for Mario, and exerted crucial influence on the platformer genre of video games. A largely popular series due to its easily-accessible gameplay and exceptional level design, Mario's mascot image was cemented, and he quickly went on to appear in many forms of merchandise. Today, Mario is a global household icon.
Pac-Man - Coin-Op
First released in Japan in 1979. Immensely popular from its first release through today, Pac-Man is universally considered as one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games, and an icon of 1980s popular culture. Upon its release, the game became a social phenomenon that sold a bevy of merchandise and also inspired an animated television series and a Top 40 pop single.
When Pac-Man was released, most arcade video games in North America were primarily space shooters such as Space Invaders and Defender or Asteroids; the most visible minority were sports games (mostly derivative of Pong). Pac-Man succeeded by creating a new genre and appealing to both males and females. Pac-Man is often credited with being a landmark in video game history, and is among the most famous arcade games of all time. The character also appears in over 30 officially licensed games and sequels, as well as in numerous unauthorized clones and bootlegs.
Pikachu - GB
Pikachu are one of the 493 fictional species of Pok?mon creatures from the multi-billion-dollar Pok?mon media franchise - a collection of video games, anime, manga, books, trading cards, and other media created by Satoshi Tajiri. The purpose of Pikachu in the games, anime, and manga, as with all other Pok?mon, is to battle both wild Pok?mon - untamed creatures encountered while the player passes through various environments - and tamed Pok?mon owned by Pok?mon trainers. Pikachu is among the most recognizable of Pok?mon, considering a Pikachu is one of the main characters in the Pok?mon anime series.
The name Pikachu is a portmanteau of the Japanese words "pika", an onomatopoeia for electric sparkling, and "chuuchuu", which is the Japanese onomatopoeia for a mouse's squeak. The name may also come from a real life species, the pika. The name refers to both the overall species, and to individual Pikachu within the games, anime, and manga series. Pikachu is also the name of an individual character that belongs to this species and is the Pok?mon companion of the anime's main protagonist, Ash Ketchum.
In the Pok?mon franchise, Pikachu are often found in forests, plains, and occasionally near electrical sources (such as power plants), on most continents throughout the world. Pikachu often travel in packs, and are rarely territorial; however, when threatened, a group can generate an intense electrical offensive, and the electro-magnetic forces exerted by the resulting field can even produce a short lived, localized thunderstorm.
Sonic - GG
After 1990, Sega decided to abandon Alex Kidd as its mascot in favor of Sonic the Hedgehog, a blue anthropomorphic hedgehog, whose ability to run faster than the speed of sound[6] is a major part of the gameplay of the series. The first game in the franchise was released on June 23, 1991 (also Sonic's birthday) in order to provide Sega with a mascot to rival Nintendo's flagship character Mario. Since then, Sonic has become one of the world's best-known video game characters, with his series having sold over 44 million copies.
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