Just what can developers and publishers do to create lasting franchise characters? Next-Generation speaks with leading game designers and executives to find out.
As of September 2006, Nintendo had sold 275 million Mario games worldwide easily making the little Italian plumber the best selling game character of all time. To put that into perspective, imagine all other notable game characters, combine them, and you still won't account for half of what Mario has sold. Not Halo, not Gran Turismo, not even Nintendo's own Pokemon or Zelda come close.
And he's still selling. "Mario is a gaming icon that has had and continues to have a huge impact on the gaming world," admits once Nintendo rival Takashi Iizuka of Sega. But even though single game sales may never resurface to the level of 1980s gaming, Mario isn't the only franchise character still thriving. The franchise formula continues to work to this day assuming the playable characters maintain their appeal.
So how do game characters achieve lasting appeal? "In order for a character to really take hold they need to be in a string of quality games," says Morgan Gray, a senior producer for Tomb Raider. "Over time the game and the characters within take on a life of their own. It's at that point where we as the fans feel both a connection to the character and a sense of ownership that a franchise character really becomes something special."
And while the games must be good, they don't all have to be blockbusters says the Eidos producer. "Basically a game needs to be highly regarded, not necessarily a huge hit, but very good."
"Very good" can deteriorate with age, however, given a publisher's inclination to merely re-hash sequels instead of truly enhancing them. "It's important to keep changing the fundamental game experience while keeping the character intact," says Sony's Mark Cerny who has been involved in the creation of Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, Ratchet & Clank, and Jak & Daxter to name a few. "Ideally, you have a series of games that combine familiar elements with something new."
"It is obviously a tough balance though because you have to retain the essence of what makes a character appealing while at the same time evolve them enough so the experience is current," says Capcom's director of brand marketing, Jack Symon.
But assuming developers complete the daunting task of creating a very good game, how does a game character become more than just an on-screen identity?
Iizuka, who is currently trying to reinvent the cult classic NiGHTS into a Wii game, believes the only way to maintain appeal is to treat the franchise as something more than just a game in addition to fresh gameplay. "Animations series, toys and comics all propel these characters to pop culture icon status," he says.
Though the effectiveness of plastering character faces onto cereal boxes has long faded, the idea is still the same. Microsoft's Master Chief, perhaps the newest franchise character on the block, is no different. The Halo protagonist can be found on t-shirts, as an action figure, on stickers, MP3 players, and even an adult-sized plastic helmet through the likes of Halo 3's $120 premium edition.
The result increases exposure, reach, and excitement surrounding a given game's upcoming release. Successful franchise characters have all been branded and promoted as something more than just a game, helping them transcend the very medium in the process.
How important is familiarity to franchise success then? "Nostalgia is immensely important," says the Sonic designer. " The same way walking into a kitchen that smells of your grandmother's baking takes you to a happy place, an unforgettable gaming experience can do the same thing. It is important to be able to, on some level, replicate that."
Sony's Mark Cerny agrees. "Despite extremely poor reviews, Frogger was one of the top selling titles on the original PlayStation," he says. "In that case, I think it was gamers who played the original arcade Frogger at age 13 returning to buy the PlayStation version at age 28."