| AngryLittleAlchemist said: Do people generally consider Crash and Mario as good mascots when they take away their advertising? Like if Mario didn't do what he did for gaming, and if Crash didn't have the best marketing of the 90's, would they both be lovable simply from their designs? I'm not trying to make a point or say I don't think they have good designs, I'm genuinely curious. |
Whether or not a mascot catches on depends heavily on the success of the game they're in (fairly obvious). The whole point of a mascot is to be immediately likable, approachable, and to provide a marketable face for a company.
With that in mind, it's clear that timing plays a huge role in that success as well. For instance, the design for Mario was very cute and, combined with his powers and such, made for a very memorable character in the era of 8bit graphics. Still, he was also featured in, you know, the Super Mario Bros games, so I do wonder if he could have looked like a lazily scribbled turd and still caught on to some degree lol... Either way, his design looked great in the pixelated era that he took off in, and by the time hardware improved he was about as recognized worldwide as Mickey Mouse. If his first appearance was, say, Mario 64, it's unlikely he'd ever reach the same heights he has now, but he really does just seem like the perfect avatar for you to just take control of and start jumping. Too much personality might get in the way of that simple, straightforward approach to his games, which might be why they've generally provided his supporting cast with most of the personality.
Likewise, there are many eras that the Sonic design wouldn't work, but it so perfectly captured the attitude and mindset of the time that he was immediately loved. Yet again, timing plays a huge role, and once a mascot goes mainstream it seems like they're just permanently "cool" from that day forward (unless they receive hideous transformations like Sonic Boom).
Still, the biggest role in the staying power of mascots is largely who they belong to. Mario is inescapable as he has become the corporate mascot and face of Nintendo, just as Sonic has with Sega. Chances are Crash Bandicoot would be their equal had Sony fully adopted him in the same manner that Mario and Sonic were, much like how the first image/character that comes to mind when thinking of the Xbox brand and even to some extent Microsoft itself is usually Master Chief. In this way indie mascots will never be able to compete, as even when designed brilliantly it is extremely unlikely that they'll receive anywhere near the same levels of exposure unless they're exclusive to one platform or another.
