The death of the game mascot
Anyone who was a gamer in the '80s and '90s remembers the days when you couldn't turn around without running into some sort of new platformer with a furry and/or cheesy mascot. These days, the selection is somewhat more limited. Sure, the Sony triumvirate of Sly, Ratchet and Jak are still going relatively strong, and occasional breakouts like Viewtiful Joe and Alien Hominid keep the 2D-platformer on life support, but it's pretty clear that platforming mascots' best days are behind them.
The Age's Screen Play blog was inspired by a page of forgotten advertising mascots to post up a list of some rightly forgotten platformer mascots of the recent past. Some fans might be mad to see big names like Sonic and Mega Man alongside true hasbeens like Bubsy and Aero the Acrobat. Personally, we feel the list could use some more additions. Where are Sega's Vectorman, Kid Chameleon and Chuck D. Head? Where's gun-wielding robot B.O.B.? Where's the Saturn's extremely appropriately named Bug!? Where's the useful information that could be in our brains instead of this obscure trivia?
