7 Randos That Became the Face of the Franchise

when you make a video game you have to surrender some control for instance over how the game is received or what rival games might also come out that same year or if moders will fill it with Shrek characters or should that be when moders will fill it with Shrek characters the point is there are a lot of unknowns and one is which character in your game will resonate the most with players often it isn't the protagonist or even someone that's given particular prominence but is what's known in TV as a breakout star a character with a certain charismatic Edge that means they rise from relative obscurity to become the face of the franchise itself they are the sheldons of the Video Game World at least until someone mods Sheldon into Starfield I give it 45 [Music] minutes [Music] pikik pikik Pikachu is the king of the Pokémon franchise even more so than Kingler even more so than slow King who wears a false Crown to rule over a kingdom of Lies the fact that Pikachu the electric Mouse is the most iconic of all the pokes is not even remotely Up For Debate but what might surprise you is that this was by no means the case when Pokemon first arrived on the scene in 1996 because in the original games Pikachu was by no means special Not only was he not the series mascot or one of the three possible stter Pokémon for players he wasn't even that common to encounter being catchable in only a few locations in the game and even then you had to be lucky and even then he had a weird Sprite that made him look like an overstuffed knockoff Pikachu you'd win as a fun fair so how did Pikachu little more than number 25 on the list of 151 Pokémon get his face on an airplane because everyone realized he kicked ass Pikachu's irresistible rise to the Pokémon Throne began when the franchise started cranking out spin-off Works in which it was thought wise to put one particular Pokémon front and center and after a brief manga diance in which Clefairy is Ash's partner Pokémon sidebar Clefairy what were you thinking Pikachu was settled upon to be the rosy cheeked face of the spin-off anime which didn't air until over a year after the game's debut Pokémon creator Satoshi Tajiri said in a 1999 interview with Time magazine that making Pikachu the mascot wasn't his idea and instead it seems the credit must go to the studio who produced the Pokémon anime who noticed the electric Mouse's breakout popularity with kids who were actually playing the game so Pikachu owes his Fame to Japanese animation studio olm and if you think the fact omm has a suspiciously Pikachu esque lightning bolt in its logo is evidence of an underhand deal struck between Pikachu and the studio to make Pikachu famous well that's an opinion you can hold I couldn't possibly comment sorry not Everyone likes a space cowboy the Steve Miller Band understood it George Lucas understood it even jiri understood it do you get what I'm saying even Jamiroquai understood it so in retrospect it's not surprising that Cade 6 the robot Gunslinger voiced by nerd culture icon Nathan fillian would become the breakout star of Destiny the prototypical 2014 looter shooter that was a lot of chaotic multiplayer fun interspersed with solemn Moon Wizards explaining the collapse the darkness The Traveler and other proper nouns of presumably Galactic importance it speaks now because orx has a red come to fulfill the final Covenant of his son in the midst of this Cade 6 was refreshingly relaxed Cade our discussion is not yet concluded oh I know that's why I'm leaving one of the three Vanguard that nominally governed over the game's character classes alongside Zavala and aora Cade 6's actual role in the original Destiny was not much more than an armor vendor but one who immediately impressed by frequently expressing his boredom at being stuck indoors doing paperwork and never being above bending the rules how about an unsanctioned OP using modified Stealth Tech to infiltrate a dreadnut above Saturn's rings so we can knock out its weapons create a transmat Zone and send in the Cavalry publisher Bungie clearly recognized Cade 6's immense popularity among Destiny players and the enigmatic robot became the Leading Edge of all Destiny 2 promotional materials look long story short I get busy and I'm thinking I've got this you know when you're in that you go I got this but man I so did not have it perhaps there's no greater evidence of Kade 6's runaway popularity than the shock value Bungie knew it could extract from killing him which happened in the destiny 2 expansion forsaken when Cade 6 was killed by villain Aldren who was able to best the charismatic robot because Kade 6 had been significantly weakened by having carried the entire Destiny franchise on his back for several years this moment of high emotion for Destiny players was one that could only be equaled by the reveal several years later that Cade 6 was somehow to return in the unreleased at the time of recording this video the final shape expansion I wish you could have been [Music] there yeah me too kiddo but hey I'm here now wherever the hell here is and while there's no scientific way to measure cage 6's popularity compared with the other significant Destiny NPCs here's an unscientific one a few years ago we published a video about video game inspired tattoos we would get if we weren't so scared of needles and many hundreds of commenters piled in with their own thoughts suggestions and descriptions of tattoos they have a search of those comments reveals zero tattoos mentioning Zavala one tattoo mentioning aora and five that mention Cade 6 making Cade 6 the most popular Vanguard in Destiny by a margin [Music] of it starts at zero by a significant [Music] margin [Music] Animal Crossing is an impressive series for many reasons but not least because it survived over a decade in which its main mascots were an extortionist landlord and a naked dog who appears to be high indeed Tom Nook and KK Slider respectively can claim to have been part of Animal Crossing since its Inception back in 2001 serving as memorable faces to this cozy anthropomorphic life Sim Series in which the main character is always a custom [Music] avatar both were also present in 2005's Animal Crossing wild World and 2008's city Folk remarkably it wasn't until 2012 that the world was introduced to the character who is now probably the most recognizable and beloved face of the franchise [Music] Isabelle serving as an assistant to you the mayor in Animal Crossing new Leaf for the 3DS handheld Isabelle's cheerful attitude and enviable love of calendar admin hit the hearts of Animal Crossing players like a balloon gift hurtling from the sky and quickly made her the surprise star of new Leaf hi I'm Josh's Digby Amo and I'm Isabelle since her humble Origins is one of the many NPCs in that 3DS game Isabelle's Legend has only grown in 2015 Isabelle stole the Box Arts Center Stage for amiibo Festival on the Wii U then in 201 2018 she became the only named Animal Crossing character to make it into Smash Bros the highest badge of honor for any Nintendo [Music] character then of course being given a deservedly prominent role in the earth shatteringly popular New Horizons and for a brief time in March of 2020 being the focal point of a meme about her being best friends with doom guy from the Doom series and if you think why the world would want to devote so much energy to imagining Isabelle and doom guy being best friends in March of 2020 I encourage you to think harder please allow me to introduce myself my name's aarian I was in Boulders gate when those beasts snatched me Boulders Gate 3 has perhaps the greatest roster of RPG companions ever seen in a video game there's the wizard addicted to eating magical items the high half elf with a mysterious past the romanceable Druid with an erotic bear transformation that we absolutely cannot show you because we'd be demonetized but you can probably judge it fairly from this squirrel's [Music] reaction so imagine how compelling a companion you'd need to be to be the standout hit companion of Boulders Gate 3 and while the game has only been out a few months and it's possible in time opinion will shift it seems like the most beloved of the game's roster right now is aarion hurry I've got one of those brain things called at first appearing to be a hapless Bop you find lost by the roadside estaran is quickly revealed to be an extremely capable Rogue able to deliver Bonkers damage up close or at range and more pertinently he's a blood sucking vampire spawn come on then probably should have led with that on reflection sorry aarion shouldn't mention Reflections really often complaining and vocally disapproving of anything you do that even approaches kindness to others asarian Sharp thoughts have nevertheless made him the favorite of many players really we're Messengers now perhaps players are just responding to aaran being emblematic of what makes Boulders Gate 3 a good game engaging and charismatic characters whose motivations become more not less complex the more time you invest in them then again perhaps it's the nighttime bouts of sexually charged blood letting which is not a phrase we ever ever thought we'd use in a positive or even neutral context let's make ourselves comfortable shall we aarian play is highly on every companion ranking article we've read since the game came out but perhaps the greatest evidence of his scen stealing power and that developer laran recognizes that power is to compare the artwork for balers Gate 3 when people started playing it in Early Access way back in 2020 with how it looked upon release in 2023 3 years later asarian has well and truly staked his claim Sorry asarian probably shouldn't mention Stakes either really enough by what power do you dare command me me mortal I need only reason and failing that Ebony and Ivory here can be very persuasive or Dy we were only playing why is Morgan from dark stalkers the breakout star of the dark stalker series of fighting games well there are different theories perhaps it's that her move set was pretty accessible being similar as it is to that of Ryu and Ken from Street Fighter perhaps it's because she is as Kaku once called her one of capcom's qu least dressed female characters or perhaps another Factor could be our own theory that Morgan was always going to be the surprise hit of dark stalkers because the other characters in dark stalkers are things like a Sasquatch a magic Pharaoh a weird fish man and a punk rock zombie I wonder why Lord Raptor didn't get invited to Marvel versus Capcom said no one ever by comparison Morgan the succubus despite being simply one of the 10 default starting characters in the first dark stalkers game was clearly destined for more in fact over the years Morgan has become the only representative of the now all but abandoned dark stalker series that it's common to see a feat achieved by receiving invites to approximately 1 million other fighting games in the year since including a huge number of crossover fighting games most recently Marvel versus Capcom infinite ah you speak of the stone of souls I've seen it in Lord jeda's possession and when a Capcom game is released without Morgan it's a reasonable bet that somewhere in there you'll at least find her famous outfit squeeze into the new Morgan outfit from darkstalkers and take Frank style to devilish New Heights armed with powerful new attacks including the awesome finishing shower you'll show those zombies the true meaning of being Undead is Lord Raptor represented in Dead Rising 4 asked also no one ever [Music] Sans from undertale is one of very few skeletons who when you see them you hear their music in your head along with the spooky scary skeletons and Eddie from Iron Maiden you've doubtless seen Sans before even if you haven't played the video games he's found in undertale and Delta Rune this wise cracking sardonic skeleton is undoubtedly the most recognizable figure from these beloved indie games and if you disagree we'd just point out that Sans is the only undertale character that wrestler Kenny Omega has entered the ring dressed as Kenny Omega Halloween starting early for him as he calls on the power of sans undertale this is in stark contrast to sans's actual role in undertale he's not the main character he's not even the most prominent character out of the roster of charming monster weirdos you'll encounter in the game at least on a normal or pacifist playthrough yet in this constellation of genuinely terrific characters sans's star shines brightest perhaps because if you play the game as evly as possible he serves as a sarcastically difficult boss fight at the end or because he wears a jacket that can only be described as a [ __ ] good jacket or his iconic megalovania theme music or his passionate love of skeleton [Music] puns it's probably all of these plus the fact that if you disappear down the undertale and Delta Rune Rabbit Hole s's backstory is the most mysterious of all seemingly aware of the fact that he's in a video game and perhaps trapped in some kind of time Loop through it all this 8bit skeleton seems weirdly determined to look out for his brother now that's love seriously the only other way you're going to cry over this few pixels is if your 55in OLED TV gets a dead pixel just outside of warranty am I right oh right you like jokes about bones but not OLED comedy Pearls Before Swine ah hello you don't look Hollow far from it I am Soler of asor an adherent of the Lord of sunlight now that I am Undead I have come to this great land the birthplace of Lord green to seek my very own son with dark souls proving as popular as it has there was always going to be an instinctive need to find a figurehead for the series and thank God the community decided to Rally around cair of aora and not say the gaping dragon cair with his famous love of sun praising is one of those characters who transcends the series they hail from and even if you're one of the many video game enthusiasts who would rather eat a bicycle and suffer the equally difficult and no more nourishing task of completing Dark Souls you probably still recognize him praise the the truth though is that cair is just one of many equally quirky NPCs a player can encounter in in 2011's Dark Souls and compared to some of the others doesn't even have that intricate or rewarding a quest line please take this the symbol of my appreciation unless you think it's rewarding to watch cair have his brain eaten by an evil maggot which is the default way his brief story line ends you can prevent this terrible outcome by a significant effort to kill the maggot before it latches onto cair unlocking the marginally less terrible outcome where he ends the game distraught all his dreams in tatters but can be summoned to tank aggro for against the final boss if you can call that a pleasant ending nevertheless the fact cair is briefly cheerful was unusual enough to see this one NPC win his way into the hearts of Dark Souls players although cair is certainly more of an unofficial figurehead seeing as developer from software would never do anything so generous as acknowledging his immense popularity he's nowhere in Dark Souls 2 and only his armor can be found in Dark Souls 3 unless you choose to believe the fan theory that between games he degenerates into this gigantic hell worm I choose not so those were some total randos who ended up becoming the face of the franchise can you think of any more examples if so drop outside extra out outside EXT of course I forgot outside extra the the really went on to steal the show with the momentum of a runaway freight train the undeniable Charisma their star well is it done Rising we don't know but this video is done and I may be fired so hey check out these other videos and if you really enjoyed this then why not go the optional extra mile of supporting the video Work We Do by going to patreon.com xclub where you can join our patreon uh there's a cool Discord that you get access to that is just for oxc members and we have a lot of fun on there there's a lot of different threads lot of cool chitchat and stuff all about video games and all sorts of other stuff it's a good time all right take it e folks see you later bye

Channel: Outside Xtra

Views: 443,529

Keywords: Ellen Rose, Luke Westaway, Outside Xtra, video games, gaming

Id: zPn4S52sxmE

Length: 18min 12sec (1092 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 28 2023