Past Icons & Modern Heroes

The past decade or so has brought us so many great games and memorable characters that will likely be fondly remembered for many more years. However, there’s also been an increasing trend to see some of these character’s stories “coming to a close” and/or at least pass on the torch to a successor.

Some examples would be Raiden’s initial taking over for Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid 2 or Nero for Dante in Devil May Cry 4. There’s also the upcoming sequel to The Last of Us with Ellie taking the lead from Joel. Then there are characters who’ve have aged quite a bit from their first appearance like Kratos and Nathan Drake on what looks like their last few adventures.

Insert BOY joke here

It’s a natural thing when the games these characters revolve around are grounded in a certain level of realism. I say that because despite a number of the games I mentioned are far from realistic (we’re totally looking at a zombie apocalypse though) they are all still bound by the passage of time in their respective worlds.

Compare that to some of gaming’s most enduring icons like Mario, Kirby, Sonic, Pac-Man, Megaman, etc. They have been around for decades but still have the potential to pump out a game or two without worrying about some kind of timeline. Though sometimes these releases come with varying degrees of success.

(I’m looking at you, Sonic. I love your stuff but you gotta figure out your 3D games)

Let’s turn back to Nathan Drake who looks like he finally(?) hung up is holster by Uncharted 4. We’ve also got Naked/Venom/Punished Snake who seems to have come full circle with Metal Gear Solid V. Even Master Chief seems to be pushing the envelope of his narrative with Halo’s Reclaimer Saga. A lot of modern characters, bound by the realism today’s meta seems to expect, have a shelf life built into them by design.

Square-Enix and Capcom have tried to revitalize their modern heroes with the reboots of Tomb Raider and DmC respectively; the former being much more successful than the latter. That approach has very limited applications though. You can only reboot a franchise so many times before it bites your ass.

Some franchises have taken interesting approaches though. One example is revealing that the main characters were actually different people bearing the same name. This was the case for The Legend of Zelda with their official timeline and Metal Gear Solid on Naked Snake’s true identity.

Little did we know…

Now before the angry comments start coming in (or am I too late?), I’m not trying to say that they’re bad characters because of it. Not at all. A lot of modern characters have given us great experiences that only they are capable of. But they do appear to come at a price: their longevity.

I understand that not every character can be expected to be a long-lived franchise. There are those who have a set story to tell and will damn well deliver it with an impact of a hurricane. But while we may hold dear many of them now, how many of them will stand the test of time once their adventures have long ended? How many of the contemporaries of Mario, Sonic, Pikachu, or Pac-Man do we still remember today?

Give yourself a pat on the back if you remember these

With everyone consuming so much media nowadays, it’s all too easy to jump from one thing to another and forget the last. So this Halloween, let’s take a couple moments to remember those great games and game moments who may never get another sequel.

After all, like FFIX’s Freya said, “To be forgotten is worse than death.”