Forgotten Video Game Characters.

[Kriven]

That... makes me so sad, Aura...

But at the same time, it makes me wish there was an MvC monthly series, cripes.

[miyabi95_]

I can name a few game gals off the bat:
Valkyrie: One of Namco's classics who only ever saw a localization in Museum Vol. 5 for PS1. Oh, and she's an assist character (*sigh*) in Project X Zone.
Asha: From Monster World IV. I guess you can say she was Shantae before Shantae was around...But she shakes her butt while opening a chest. Beat that, dramatic Zelda chest sequences!

Lucia: From Sunsoft's Wing of Madoola for the Famicom. Nothin' too special other than (I assume) she was too scantily clad for the game to be localized . Aaaaaaand meanwhile, Samus wears a bikini if you beat Metroid 100%.

Mail: From Popful Mail. I think if SEGA went along with their original Sister Sonic project, whatever character Mail would have become would be more popular since...Ya know. Hedgehogs that run fast have become quite a thing these days.

Athena: SNK's game about a cute goddess girl did release in the US...But I don't think it deserves as much credit as the game didn't really meet the game design standards of the time (Yeah, even for 1986). At least she turned out to be a formidable street fighter in a later life.

[Koopaul]

Obscure Japan-Only characters from old-school days? Yes, I approve.

[Gors]

Popful Mail is unplayable though due to the camera scroll only activating when you're in the second walf of the screen

[TomGuycott]

What is the criteria for this thread? Because I'd categorize it more as "Game characters 3 people have heard of" or "IPs that people still really like, but their owners don't use them much anymore".

Eh, I guess they all still count on different levels.

[miyabi95_]

What is the criteria for this thread? Because I'd categorize it more as "Game characters 3 people have heard of" or "IPs that people still really like, but their owners don't use them much anymore".

Eh, I guess they all still count on different levels.

I think it's about taste as well. People enjoy Spyro and Crash because they grew up with them. Then there are people like me who are more enthusiastic about games from Japan that were never localized like Magical Pop'n for the Super Famicom.

[psychospacecow]

Heishin in Forbidden Memories.
Slysheen in Dark Duel Stories.
Richard Slysheen of York in Duelists of the Roses (Technically a different guy but come on. He even kept the Egyptian chin decoration.)


Haysheen in Falsebound Kingdom.

Dude only really appeared in early Yu-Gi-Oh! games that were running on historical themes.
Speaking of Duelists of the Roses, this is Henry Tudor.
http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Henry_Tudor

[Koh]

What is the criteria for this thread? Because I'd categorize it more as "Game characters 3 people have heard of" or "IPs that people still really like, but their owners don't use them much anymore".

Eh, I guess they all still count on different levels.

I'd say they count.  Jack and Ryu from the Super Chinese series were popular enough in Japan to spawn a big series, which those outside only got a small taste of.  There's quite a bunch of games in it, but the series just sort of died off in the mid 2000s, even in Japan.

[safetyninja]

Now i will tell you guys about a other forgotten character, "goemon" he appears in a game called: The Legend of the Mystical Ninja. The story is about Goemon and his friend Ebisumaru  investigating weird things happening in their town, they later find out a ghost woman took over their town.  (Weird right?) The game did not sell well in America because of the cultural differences from japan.

[miyabi95_]

Now i will tell you guys about a other forgotten character, "goemon" he appears in a game called: The Legend of the Mystical Ninja. The story is about Goemon and his friend Ebisumaru  investigating  weird things happening in their town, they later find out a ghost woman took over their town.  (Weird right?) The game did not sell well in America because of the cultural differences from japan.

It's sad how nothing related to Japanese folklore made it across...It makes sense, but still sucks. I think the last thing Konami could have done before leaving the console gaming industry was port the four SNES platformers to Wii-U Virtual Console (the first one was what became localized The Legend of the Mystical Ninja).
I've seen some of the anime as well. I believe there is a complete boxset for DVD that exists somewhere. It's kidna like the old Nintendo cartoons in terms of the cheesy "video games meet real life" situation, but I thought it was pretty decent from what I saw.

To be honest, I'd love to see something involving Nakoruru/Rera from SNK's Samurai Shodown franchise. Yeah, she's appeared in every game as the female lead and even starred in the two animated movies (as well as an OVA series that was cancelled), but I still haven't learned enough about her. Maybe SNK should create an RPG revolving around their interesting characters, rather than shovel out more fighting and shooting/platforming games. Characters like Athena, Yuri, Mai and Nakoruru/Rera should have made larger impact on female leads in video games (not to get political, I'm just stating an opinion).

[~DrakoRero~]

I dunno, dude... you're 19. I've got friends in your age group, I see my siblings' friends. They all know about Mega Man and Crash... They have for a while. You're also right on the tail end of MMX and the beginnings of Legends, MMZ and MMZX... and for Crash, he didn't really go away until the current generation.

Characters like Ty, I can see your generation not readily recognizing. Glover, Croc...

Anyway, my favorite forgotten retro character is Dino Riki from the NES title of the same name. He's pretty high up on my "If I could revive" fantasy list.

I actually remember Ty, Glover and Croc, also Rocket: Robot on Wheels and Tonic Trouble, anybody remember those? they're two pretty old Ubisoft games, the former also being Sucker Punch haha ( I loved all of these games.. ).

[miyabi95_]

I dunno, dude... you're 19. I've got friends in your age group, I see my siblings' friends. They all know about Mega Man and Crash... They have for a while. You're also right on the tail end of MMX and the beginnings of Legends, MMZ and MMZX... and for Crash, he didn't really go away until the current generation.

Characters like Ty, I can see your generation not readily recognizing. Glover, Croc...

Anyway, my favorite forgotten retro character is Dino Riki from the NES title of the same name. He's pretty high up on my "If I could revive" fantasy list.

I actually remember Ty, Glover and Croc, also Rocket: Robot on Wheels and Tonic Trouble, anybody remember those? they're two pretty old Ubisoft games, the former also being Sucker Punch haha ( I loved all of these games.. ).

I played Ty on PS2 for a while. It was fun to play with friends, as I remember it having a kart racing mode.

Anyone here play Arkista's Ring for the NES? It's basically if you give Pacman a range weapon.

[AuraLancer]

I rented Arkista's Ring once as a kid. I remember liking it but it eventually got too hard.

[Dolphman]

Here's some of my picks.


Before Worms, Team17 created a platformer called Superfrog. The game itself is decent, though it borrows elements from Mario and Sonic.
Official artwork and cut-scenes were created and animated by perverted furry artist Eric W. Schwartz, who also made cartoons on an Amiga.
The game was remade for PlayStation Network and Steam, but it sucks really bad due to sloppy HD artwork and butchered music.


Jazz Jackrabbit. Another mascot platformer type character, but one of the few to admit copying elements from Sonic and parodying it.
A decent series parodying the Tortoise and the Hare, with the tortoise being an intergalactic (and racist) terrorist hellbent on extinguishing every rabbit off their home planet, kidnapping the rabbit princess in the process. While our hero is the green bunny bounty hunter who decides to hunt him down. The manual has a prequel comic that explains the plot of the game. Sonic even cameos in the comic requesting for his lawyer!
Epic Games created the series for MS DOS in 1994 way before Unreal became the only product they gave a shit about. Only got one sequel released four years later when the shareware format started to decline and everyone wanted 3D graphics.
Had one expansion pack that was released only in Europe oddly enough. It was pretty rushed though as it only adds an incomplete new character, and one new episode with only a two new worlds and two new enemies, with one being unused.
Another sequel made in Unreal Engine 1 was cancelled in 2000 due to the lack of publisher. All we know about it is that an alpha build has been circulating around the net and not too hard to find either. Who knows how it got leaked.
One more game came out on the GBA, of all things. Epic had no input in it other than licensing it to an unknown developer named Game Titan and Jaleco for some reason. It's a terrible in name only platformer that's best to avoid.
For years people have been begging Epic to release the damn games on Steam and GOG.com, and continues to this day. I reckon they should because both games are rare to obtain physically, especially the first one. Your only second option is to find them on an abandonware site.
The games do have an active community at the website Jazz 2 Online. I recommend trying out the stand-alone mod Sonic with a Gun which puts Jazz in the levels of Sonic the Hedgehog 1 with all six zones and artwork done in Jazz's art style, and fun secrets too.
Another bit a trivia: Dean Dodrill who did the cutscenes for Jazz 2 and the new character Lori, also created Dust: An Elysian Tail.
Sorry if this one got a bit wordy for anyone.


The Lost Vikings! A puzzle platformer from 1992 for consoles and computers made by Blizzard Entertainment before they were even called that.
Vikings Erik the Swift, Baleog the Fierce, and Olaf the Stout get captured by an Alien named Tomator who wants them in his zoo.
The game involves escaping a space ship while traveling through time. Each level is based around teamwork which you need to select one viking for certain puzzles. One of the fun parts is the many and humorous ways to die. Fortunately, there's now lives system.
Besides gameplay, the series is also known for it's funny dialog between the Vikings. A lot of Snarky quips and some forth wall breaking as well.
Had only one sequel, for SNES, then later PlayStation, Windows/DOS and Saturn. the non-Snes versions feature prerendered graphics and decent voice acting with Rob Paulsen, Jim Cummings, Jeff Bennett, Frank Welker, Kath Soucie, and Tress MacNeille.
Blizzard still fondly remembers them. With cameos in World of Warcraft and became playable characters for Heroes of the Storm.

[miyabi95_]

I rented Arkista's Ring once as a kid. I remember liking it but it eventually got too hard.

I just got back to playing it again. You aren't lying, the controls are rather wonky and kinda hinder on the playability. I feel like I have to approach an enemy to a point where I'll receive damage from touching it, otherwise they won't come towards me so I can shoot them. Other than that, it's a fun romp. I'm actually impressed to see a western-developed game have that fantasy anime feel to it.

But I digress. Anyone played this game? It's actually been capturing the attention of fighting game enthusiasts on Tumblr. It is only playable via emulation, and highly resembles Street Fighter III. I'd probably say the most clever thing about it would be the roster. The boss battle is horrible, because you fight some bad guy and while he isn't too hard in the first round, he pulls a final form Frieza on you and starts cheaply kicking your ass.