Matt Jasiel

COM 350

February 27th, 2017

Ryan Lizardi

Why Character Redesigns are Important in Video Games

The game industry has produced some of the most memorable characters to

date. There are many characters that stand as icons such as Pac-Man, Mario, Sonic

and Crash. There is a chance that if the character has been around for years and has

had multiple games, that character may have changed in appearance as time went on.

When a character is redesigned, they are normally changed for one of three reasons: A

change in technology, a change in developer/artist, or a change in time within the game

world itself. There are rarely any characters that arent redesigned in anyway, as with

time consoles get stronger and the developers want to see their creations in the best

way possible. Some people do not agree with how a character looks in a sequel and

wonders why they may have changed their appearance. In many cases, a change in

look shows the passage of time within a universe. Finally, the original look of a

character may be changed when the development team hires a new artist or if the IP is

transferred to a new developer, and they decide to mold the character in their own

fashion. No matter which way the situation can be looked at, character redesigns are

very important. Without these changes, developers may not have the proper tools to tell

the story they want to, and the game suffers as a whole.

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 When looking at character designs, there are characters who have kept a

constant look throughout numerous year. A prime example is Mario. Mario is known for

wearing his signature red cap, red short, while gloves and blue overalls. Mario has a

timeless appearance, but has been subjected to graphical redesigns over the years.

When Mario first showed up in Super Mario Bros., he was comprised of pixels. As

consoles evolved, Mario eventually became more and more detailed. A big change was

the release of Super Mario 64, where Mario made his first appearance in 3D. This

change was made to show that Mario is not staying on the NES and SNES, but will

evolve with the gaming world itself. In 2002, Marios design was once again changed

from a graphical standpoint. The release of Super Mario Sunshine for the GameCube

not only changed the way Mario looked, it also made his model more detailed than his

appearance on the Nintendo 64. This continues to show on the release of Super Mario

Galaxy for the Wii, Super Mario 3D World for the WII U and Super Mario Odyssey

coming to the Nintendo Switch in Late 2017. Each generation of consoles allows for

characters to show up in more detail, keeping them modern and relevant. Keeping

characters relevant means that people are still interested in the series itself and will

want new games to be created for the series.

Aside from graphical redesigns, there is also character redesigns from a

perspective view. When looking a perspective view of the topic, an original character

like Crash Bandicoot or Dante of the Devil May Cry series may look different in some of

their games. This is because the original artist or development team was changed, and

the ideas have been tweaked. With Crash, Naughty Dogs original image for the

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character was an orange bandicoot with blue shorts and gloves on his hands. As

Radical Entertainment got a hold of the Crash series, they decided to remove Crashs

gloves and give him tattoos. This example of perspective change is minor, but the

outcome did not go over well with fans. Another character redesign due to a similar

change was when Devil May Cry was moved from Capcom to Ninja Theory. Dantes

original Capcom design had him sporting medium length white hair, a red trench coat,

his sword Rebellion, and his guns Ebony & Ivory. Although his appearance did change

from game to game, the overall look was not changed. When DmC: Devil May Cry was

released, Dante was completely redesigned. Now sporting short black hair, a black

trench coat, a grey tank top, and revamped versions of his signature weapons, Dante

was not well received by fans. Even if Dante and Crash werent well received by their

respective fanbases, their redesigns did impact their series in a good way. Not only

does it show that fans love their older designs, it show developers what they might want

to stay away from when making another entry in the series. With the Crash: N. Sane

Trilogy returning to its roots, the current developers of Crash know what is okay for them

to do and what to stay away from. There are examples of redesigns that did work out,

which comes in the form of Lara Croft. Laras redesign from the original Tomb Raider

series to the rebooted Tomb Raider series has received positive feedback, and the

rebooted games have also seen critical success. Perspective redesigns can impact a

game tremendously and can either help or hurt a franchise.

Chronological redesigns are a third type of redesign that is justified by a change

in look due to the character aging or for the sake of expanding upon the story. During

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the course of any story, all dynamic characters change in a variety of forms, whether it

be emotional or physical, and a redesign of the character can help. Some characters to

show the wear of time are Ezio Auditore from the Assassins Creed series and Marcus

Fenix of the Gears of War series. Ezio is the protagonist of Assassins Creed II,

Brotherhood and Revelations. Throughout these 3 games, you live Ezios life from 1476

to 1512, and see noticeable changes with Ezio as time goes on. In II, Ezio is very

young, and as he grows older his beard starts to grow in. In Brotherhood, Ezio now has

a thin beard, new robes, and overall more mature look. In Revelations, Ezio is 52, and

now has a full graying beard, shorter gray hair, and a new set of robes that match his

new locale, Istanbul. Ezios life story would not be able to be told if Ezio did not change

song with it. Throughout each Gears of War game, Marcus shows considerable aging

between each game, as the tolls of war and life catch up with them. Throughout the

series, Marcus physically shows differences in both appearance and armor. Marcus

armor does change from game to game, whether he has sleeves, and armband or not

wearing any at the beginning of Gears of War 4. Marcus also shows signs of aging by

his hair becoming more and more gray as the games continue. Even with the small

gaps in games, the stress Marcus goes through noticeably grays his hair, and 25 year

later has become a old man. This use of redesign drives the point that there is a

concept of time within their respective series, and that the characters are not static, but

ever changing and will continue to evolve with the series.

The purpose of redesigns vary from game to game, as do the reasons behind it.

Many famous, popular and iconic characters have been redesigned in a graphical,

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perspective or chronological way to further the franchise the character belongs to, and

keep it alive for as long as possible.

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