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video game mascots that got fired (and replaced)

Rocket Elijah

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Video game mascots have defined entire generations of gaming, but not every mascot gets to keep the job. In this video, we’re looking at video game mascots that were replaced, forgotten, or pushed aside as companies like Nintendo, Sega, Xbox, PlayStation, Ubisoft and more searched for the characters that would represent their brands.

From Alex Kidd being replaced by Sonic the Hedgehog to forgotten mascot experiments, unexpected successors, and characters that became bigger than the ones who came before them, this is the strange history of gaming mascots that lost their spot.

We’ll explore some of the biggest mascot changes in video game history, why these characters were replaced, and how icons like Sonic, Pikachu, Isabelle, the Rabbids and others ended up taking over.

#VideoGameHistory #GamingHistory #VideoGameMascots
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20 Comments

@curiouscreationcostumes 2 weeks ago

Rabbids were basically Minions before Despicable Me came out. Not quite as widespread, but a simple yet iconic design that could easily fit into just about any cartoon property. And I think that illustrates the two extremes of a mascot. You have the type where it's a specific character that always looks the same, has the same clothing/accessories, and that whole look becomes iconic, or you have the simple versatile character can be inserted into anything, dressed up differently, and still be recognizable. If you changed Mario's signature colours, or moustache, it wouldn't really be Mario anymore, but Rabbids and Minions can be anything and you'll still recognize them.

@ZiiziiviiPriv 2 weeks ago

On Poliwhirl, it’s Pokémon creator Satoshi Tajiri’s favorite Pokémon so there was a fairly consistent push to make it the mascot by Tajiri specifically.

@lucaribro 2 weeks ago

Rabbids are to Ubisoft as Minions are to Illumination Entertainment

@tossingturnips 13 days ago

The pre-Pikachu takeover Pokemon comics sure had a way of making Clefairy look unhinged. She was basically a constantly screaming face.

One other forgotten mascot that Nintendo had was Disk-kun, who was the face of their Famicom Disk System add-on when they were trying to pivot away from cartridge-based games in the late 80s. The last I remember seeing him referenced was as a spirit in Smash Ultimate.

Great video! As much as I will instantly click on any new Animal Crossing video you release, I dig this expansion out into other games as well. Keep it up!

@monopolyrubix1875 2 weeks ago

Man loves talking animals so long as they speak at an appropriate volume and are not rabbits.

@joeyjoejoe1394 10 days ago (edited)

Nobody ever said Poliwhirl was THE mascot but it was definitely A mascot thru like 2000, one of Red’s main pokemon in the Adventures manga, on all kinds of merchandise etc.

EDIT: Also Sony tried to push Battle Arena Toshinden as the big launch title for the PlayStation and thus used Sofia in advertising for the console itself, making her effectively the first official PlayStation mascot — one who was replaced by a succession of unofficial ones as the video goes into.

@Lanseair-w5g 13 days ago (edited)

Also I think Astro bot has definitely became a “mascot “ now especially after the game earned game of the year 🎉🎉🎉🎉

@downbadlulu6730 13 days ago

You can tell that master chief his Xbox’s mascot because a couple weeks ago, I had to take my Xbox series X apart to clean it, and I saw on the inside, there’s a little picture of master chief on parts of the plastic itself inside the Xbox

@GoatandWatch 6 days ago

21:24, no, from what I’ve heard Poliwhirl was considered the early mascot because he was Satoshi Tajiri’s favorite, thats also why Red received a Poliwhirl in the manga from what I know.

@pink-a-palouza7888 8 days ago

15:09 I don’t know I think the little robot guy is gonna be staying for quite a long time because like I’ve seen so much merchandise of him specifically just related to PlayStation’s lineage

@undercoverduck 4 days ago

The mascots pretty nicely reflect PlayStation's struggle with identity as a whole. They don't set the tone, they follow the market.

@joshscott6514 6 days ago

One note on Atlus:

I think the use of Jack Frost over Sonic makes a ton of sense because SMT and Persona were already well established franchises with Jack Frost as the mascot before Sega bought the publisher of Atlus games back in 2013.

I’d argue that up until Persona 5 Royal went super mainstream, most Atlus players probably didn’t know they were a subsidiary of Sega, or at least didn’t consciously recognize it.

@Mari_Izu 4 days ago

4:23 It's because they wanted an animal that could curl into a ball to keep the speed going and people liked the hedgehog design, nothing to do with the animal's speed.