One of
the many interesting findings in Bond University's Interactive Australia 2007
report was that platform games are now Australia's least favourite gaming genre.
It's a
big fall from dizzying heights - platform games were once the most popular
gaming genre. But after Mario 64 seemingly perfected the art form a decade ago,
there was precious little interest from either gamers or developers until Super
Mario Galaxy turned the genre literally on its head last Christmas.
The
decline of platform games, as well as this Orphanage of Cast-off Mascots site, got Gamesmaster thinking about all the gaming heroes now confined to
obscurity.
See how
many of the heroes below you can remember, and nominate your own fallen stars destined
never to shine again…
- Zool: Tragically uncool and much-hyped "ninja
from the nth dimension" provided desperate Amiga owners a Sonic-style icon
and Chupa Chups plenty of shameless plugs.
- Rascal: Try-hard, committee-designed "star" of one of PlayStation's
worst 3D platformers, reminiscent of Poochie from The Simpsons.
- Blinx: (pictured above) Much-hyped Xbox vacuuming cat that
sucked harder than a Hoover.
- Bubsy: A reasonably popular, platform
agnostic bobcat that never lived up to early hype as a rival to Sonic.
- Agent Armstrong: Tediously stereotypical
gun-toting walking cliche from Virgin.
- Blasto: Chisel-chinned champion of yet
another failed early 3D platformer.
- Alex Kidd: The simian-styled shrimp
served as Sonic's mascot until Sonic ran rings around the poor kid.
- Earthworm Jim: Shiny's wonderfully
charismatic, whip-cracking, pistol-firing invertebrate with attitude left fans
squirming with delight and is still sadly missed.
- Rosco McQueen: "Firefighter
extreme" from PlayStation-era Psygnosis.
- ToeJam and Earl: Sega's cult hero aliens
from the MegaDrive made a long-awaited return in 2002, but Xbox owners yawned
in unison.
- Cool Spot: Mascot for 7-Up fizzy drink
and reasonably popular multi-platform gaming hero from the early 90s.
- James Pond: Unfunny 007 aquatic parody
best forgotten.
- Voodoo Vince: Unheralded star of a
surprisingly entertaining and clever Xbox romp.
- Croc: Surprisingly popular, but tediously
generic anthropomorphic 3D platform hero.
- Frogger: Companies like Hasbro and Atari
repeatedly tried to turn the roadkill victim into a platform star during the
last 20 years with little success.
- Gex: 3DO's wise-cracking gecko who relied
on pop-culture gags rather than sharp gameplay.
- Klonoa: Namco rabbit/cat Frankenstein
that starred in some of the best PlayStation platformers.
- Lomax: Lemming who dared to break from
the crowd.
- Mr Domino: The game box proclaimed
"No one can stop Mr Domino!" but they were certainly wrong.
- Q*Bert: One of the icons of the arcade's
golden era, but never able to make a successful comeback.
- Aero the Acro-Bat: Yet another tedious
mascot with 'tood who had limited success on the MegaDrive and SNES.
- Thing on a Spring: More memorable for its
toe-tapping tunes by C64 legend Rob Hubbard.
- Pitfall Harry: Videogaming's first real
action hero, rescued by Activision from a deep dark pit in 1995 and once again
in 2004.
- Boogerman: Burping, farting and
boogie-flicking MegaDrive anti-hero that pleased kids and horrified mothers and
tabloid journalists.
- Puggsy: Shaped like a space-hopper, this
orange hero from Psygnosis jumped around the Amiga and Megadrive in 1993.
- Chuck Rock: Prehistoric,
platform-agnostic hero from the creators of Lara Croft.
- Joe & Mac: More prehistoric
platforming, this time with "caveman ninja".
- Dizzy: Anthropomorphic egg from a very
early Codemasters outfit.
- Horace: An Australian videogaming icon
from the pioneering Melbourne House era, with a penchant for skiing and
imitating Pac-Man.
- MegaMan: Once-popular Capcom hero run
into the ground with a string of tedious, near-identical sequels.
- Blagger: Popular early home computer
burgling hero created by legendary bedroom coder Antony Crowther.
- Bomb Jack: Tecmo's cape-wearing one-trick
Pony.
- Bonanza Bros: Robo and Mobo stole their
way from the arcade to various home computers and consoles.
- Rockford:
Star of Boulder Dash and regular visitor on the margins of Zzap 64 magazine.
- Captain Dynamo: This generic Amiga hero
was just one of literally dozens of videogame characters called Captain in the
80s and 90s.
- Radical Rex: Melbourne-made fire-breathing
Tyrannosaurus on a skateboard.
- Wiz 'n Liz: Early Psygnosis Amiga heroes
for the kiddies that shunned the usual platforming violence.
- Wonder Boy: Still much-loved
skateboarding, axe-throwing deviant from Sega.
- Ardy the Aardvark: Very obscure C64
"hero" from Datamost, typical of the era.
- Billy Hatcher: Pushed around a Giant Egg
in dressed in a rooster suit before disappearing never to be seen again.
- Bert the Bug: Very annoying C64
protagonist.
- Michael Jackson: "Sega do what Nintendon't"
- let pop stars moonwalk on their consoles.
- Malice: After astonishing hype and
countless delays, this gaming heroine disappeared into obscurity quicker than
K-Fed.
- Duke Nukem: Fans have been waiting
forever for the potty-mouthed hero's next game, which will probably never come.
- Sonic: Any long-time Sega fan must surely
now wish their cherished childhood hero be left to rest in peace after
countless hedgehog debacles.
- Superman: The man of steel has starred in
several of videogaming's worst-ever games, and will be lucky to ever fly again.