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Top 10 Character Changes That Made Gamers Rage Quit

Top 10 Character Changes That Made Gamers Rage Quit
VOICE OVER: Riccardo Tucci WRITTEN BY: Callum Janes
Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the Top 10 Video Game Character Changes That Made Fans Rage Quit. For this list, we'll be looking at changes to the design of characters in video games that garnered an adverse reaction from fans. Our countdown includes Bomberman in "Bomberman: Act Zero" (2006), the Prince in "Prince of Persia" (2008), Knuckles in "Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric" (2014), and more!

#9: Prince of Persia

“Prince of Persia” (2008)

When Ubisoft released “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” in 2003, audiences were wowed by the combat and time reversing mechanics. But as the sequels came out, the charismatic and swashbuckling Prince became darker and edgier with each iteration. By the time “The Warrior Within” came out, the series had become so dark and bloody that it robbed the character of his charisma and likability. It was practically a different genre of game. While the reboot of the series in 2008 was met with mostly positive reviews, it wasn’t able to capture the magic enough to warrant continuing the Prince’s adventures.

#8: Pac Man

“Pac-Land”

Pac-Man became an arcade legend because of two simple things: his addictive but easy to approach gameplay and basic design. Kids didn’t think twice why a pizza-looking circle was going “waca-waca” and eating ghosts because they didn’t need to! It was weird enough that Pac-Man was placed into what we can only assume was an attempt to capitalize on the platforming trend. But why did Namco think it was a good idea to give him a feather cap, legs, and worst of all, a Pinnochio-like nose? You hit gold with the first design, guys! There’s no need to give this guy a massive sniffer on top of his gargantuan-sized mouth!

#7: Conker the Squirrel

“Young Conker” (2016)

Whenever a company owns the rights to an old but popular character, sometimes they’ll just leave it gathering dust until they want to tack it on to a new product. Unfortunately, that’s precisely what happened with the Microsoft HoloLens and poor, poor Conker. If you played Rare’s genre-blending, adult platformer, you’d know Conker’s mean tendencies all too well. But when Microsoft decided to port him over to their new mixed reality smart glasses, they completely trashed his design. He looked like something you would see on a kid’s channel, airbrushed to hell! While Chris Seavor did return to voice the character, this design, on top of the HoloLens inaccessible price point, meant that “Young Conker” never stood a chance.

#6: Crash Bandicoot

“Crash of the Titans” (2007)

Crash Bandicoot is a legend among video game fans of the 2000s and arguably still one of Naughty Dog’s most uniquely designed characters. His unhinged but foolish demeanor was accompanied by an equally harebrained appearance, which accompanied him throughout the Playstation era. But the problem with handing iconic characters off to new developers is that you can’t control how they will use them. So Radical Entertainment attempted to give Crash what seemed to be a “cooler” feel, tattoos included. While it remained for “Crash: Mind Over Mutant, “this redesign didn’t stick for very long, with Crash returning to form for the “N.Sane Trilogy.”

#5: Spyro

“Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure” (2011)

Spyro was one of the many mascot characters that came out of the golden age of Playstation platforming games. He was instantly recognizable with his unique, approachable, and cartoonish aesthetic! While he did fall out of the mainstream, his return in “Skylanders” offered the opportunity for fans to play with the beloved purple dragon yet again. But then he showed up, almost unrecognizable. Whatever this redesign was trying to do, it failed. While they might have been trying to make him more “dragon-like”, they completely stripped the character of his old likeability, making him into a frighteningly goofy mess.

#4: Knuckles

“Sonic Boom: The Rise of Lyric”

Sonic has gone through countless console generations with tiny tweaks to his design and gameplay. While his “too cool for school” aesthetic has remained consistent throughout all of these iterations, some creative choices have baffled audiences. Remember when Sonic was a werewolf? Yikes. Having not learned from any of this, when SEGA decided to bring Sonic and gang up to date with the times, their solution was to throw on a bunch of bandages, turn them into bland one dimension versions of themselves, and for some reason, stretch Knuckles into a giant. While the animated series has its good points, fans were unhappy with what they did to our favourite Echidna!

#3: Bomberman

“Bomberman: Act Zero” (2006)

One of the standard practices when “modernizing” a popular game is to give it plenty of edge; the more dark shadows and drama the better. Of course, you’d never do that to a colorful character like Mario. So why do it to Bomberman! With the release of Hudson Soft’s “Bomberman: Act Zero,” the feeling was unrecognizable. Now, instead of his adorable and simplistic aesthetic, we have a generic and gritty power armor anti-hero set in a dystopian future. It wouldn’t be controversial to say this ISN’T Bomberman, not even close.

#2: Banjo and Kazooie

“Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts” (2008)

The Banjo-Kazooie games contained excellent platforming and collect-athon gameplay, with Banjo’s friendliness complemented by Kazooie’s biting wit, all set in a rich and comically cheesy world. Rare struck the tone just right! But after the second Banjo game on Nintendo 64, the series vanished, with fans eager to play a sequel. They thought they had their answer with “Nuts and Bolts,” but how wrong they were. What was released was a mess of a game that completely misunderstood what the core game’s appeal was. And to top it all off, their more “modern” looking forms seemed just out of place, along with flanderized versions of the character’s personalities.

#1: Dante

“DmC: Devil May Cry” (2013)

It wasn’t a simple hair dye job that angered fans on this one; it was a complete reshuffle of the character. Dante has had his design evolve since the first game in the series but has always stayed true to his “care-less” personality. After Devil May Cry 4 was released, Capcom had decided to reboot the character, with a not very respectful nod to his origins. Dante was no longer the sarcastic badass people had come to know, but instead came across as try-hard and juvenile. This wasn’t taken very well, leading to the game receiving a lot of flack. Luckily, DMC5 would come around to set the record straight!

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