Gaming is struggling to find new mascots in the modern age. Seemingly sure-fire winners like Sackboy, the Miis, and Master Chief aren’t capturing people’s imagination (and more importantly their wallets) like Pac-Man, Mario, and Sonic used to. It’s good that games need to do more these days than have a marketable face on their covers, but gaming without mascots is like Uncharted without frail floorboards; it just isn’t right. In an age of reboots, remakes and reimaginations, why try to come up with something new when gaming can offer a litany of old-school heroes who deserve another day in the spotlight?
Here are five of gaming’s most notably forgotten mascots along with suggestions for how they should make their glorious returns to the fore.
Mick and Mack in PHOENIX WRIGHT: SUPER SIZED
M.C. Kids typically gets dismissed as an opportunistic clone of Super Mario Bros. 3 that was designed to shift more burgers than copies. Thing is, McDonalds barely even promoted the game. The design team made it harder than a month-old Big Mac, so reportedly the fast food chain was absolutely furious that it was too difficult for kids. Minus all the shameless in-game promotion, M. C. Kids was actually aunique and fun game that even made Mick and Mack oddly likeable. They then resurfaced in the platformer-shooter Global Gladiators, but despite good reviews, the kids soon fell off the radar and into obscurity.
Now, the big M doesn’t need any more moolah, but perhaps the kids could return another way…
How it would work: Two decades have passed since Global Gladiators, and the kids have been going to their favourite restaurant every day since. And now they’re morbidly obese. A certain clown banishes them for fear of association, but luckily a friendly lawyer called Phoenix sees the downtrodden blobs and takes them on a thrilling, family fun adventure of frivolous lawsuits and exciting resultant legislation.