Listmas

Listmas 2021: The Duck’s Favorite Gaming Mascots

Posted by duckofindeed on

This week’s Listmas theme covers mascot characters, those characters that are so darn iconic that they actually represent an entire company or franchise.  Today’s post shall cover the Duck’s favorite examples of mascot characters in gaming, in no particular order.

  • Spyro: This adorable purple dragon used to represent PlayStation, and he did a mighty fine job of it because I liked him long before I ever even played my first Spyro game.
  • Crash Bandicoot: Another iconic character from the PS1 era was the orange marsupial himself, Crash Bandicoot.  Strange lack of a neck aside, he was just as well-known as Spyro, if not more so.  I only regret not playing any of his games until many years later.
  • Ratchet & Clank: After Crash and Spyro, it seems the big platforming mascots of PlayStation were Ratchet & Clank, Jak and Daxter, and Sly Cooper.  While I like all of the above, I’m just picking the Lombax and robot duo, Ratchet & Clank, as the iconic PS2 mascots, whose franchise managed to outlive those of the others.  Jak, Daxter, Sly, I miss you guys.
  • Isabelle: Isabelle can be considered a mascot of sorts for the Animal Crossing series and for good reason.  She’s so friggin’ adorable.  She, too, was a character I knew about long before I ever watched my mom play New Leaf.  I’m just glad I got to meet her in New Horizons, even if her role isn’t quite what it used to be.
  • Link: Sure, Mario may be Nintendo’s main mascot, but he’s not the only iconic character that comes to mind.  My personal favorite Nintendo mascot would have to be Link (our only human entry on the list), who can also count as the mascot for The Legend of Zelda, even if poor Link isn’t even the titular character.
  • Rayman: Rayman is the mascot for Ubisoft, though he is a bit more obscure than the others, considering I had never heard of him prior to playing my first Rayman game, Rayman 2, which I just happened to notice at a Best Buy or some such place many years ago.  It’s a wonder Rayman isn’t more well-known, considering his lack of limbs make him the most unique character on this list.