Spyro Reignited Trilogy was officially announced yesterday, and we can barely contain our surprise. That’s a joke, by the way; even your nan knew that Spyro was being remastered, with it being one of the worst-kept secrets in gaming. Still, it’ll be good to see the purple dragon back again and playing second fiddle to Crash Bandicoot, a mascot that was itself playing second fiddle to Mario. I guess that makes Spyro third fiddle or something. Actually, no — Sonic the Hedgehog is second fiddle, so Spyro is the fourth fiddle, I guess. Look, I don’t know the exact number of fiddles — all I know is that there are a lot of them, and Spyro definitely isn’t the leader of this entirely fiddle-based orchestra.
With Spyro now being given the regenerative powers previously afforded to Crash, it got me thinking about the other PlayStation-era mascots who deserve a similar treatment. With that being said, here are 10 mascots from the PlayStation generation that need their own version of the Spyro Reignited Trilogy.
Mascots That Deserve Their Own Spyro Reignited Trilogy
10. Polygon Man
You can’t have a list of PlayStation-era mascots without including the OG; the indomitable, inimitable Polygon Man.
If you are looking at Polygon Man and thinking “what the fuck is a Polygon Man?” then you are not alone. Polygon Man may be an obscure and forgotten character these days, but he’s a crucial part of PlayStation history after being the brand’s original North American mascot. That’s right; before Crash Bandicoot, Sony instead wanted this aggressive pineapple to be the face of their promotional material.
Fortunately, Polygon Man was euthanized as Sony came to the conclusion that being Nintendo’s “edgy” competitor didn’t mean that they had to introduce a character that was literally a collection of edges. Polygon Man later returned for PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale as the fighting game’s final boss, with him forcing its characters to fight one another in one final act of revenge.
9. Kula (Kula World)
Look, I’m going to level with you: this one is literally just a beach ball. There’s not a lot of personality to this particular mascot, though honestly, I can’t think of anything much more interesting than a sentient ball stuck in a 3D Escher painting, and that was the premise of Kula World.
Games such as Marble Madness have utilized this concept since with similarly addictive results, though marbles aren’t a worthy alternative to this bright beach ball. #BringKulaBack2018.
8. Gex (Gex)
In a world that is now more-or-less a parody of itself, a new Gex game could be pretty fun, if you choose to completely forget how mediocre the original games in the series were. Crystal Dynamics may have now moved onto bigger, better, and more financially viable things with the Tomb Raider series, though like all those people who plead for Naughty Dog to return to Jak & Daxter as if that’d ever be a possibility, good luck with getting Gex‘s creators to return to this forgotten series.
7. Glover (Glover)
Video game boardroom meetings must have been much simpler in the ’90s. These days, developers need to approach publishers with ideas for games that can be monetized for the next 5 years, creating games-as-a-service wherein you’ll feel compelled to purchase randomized loot boxes from now until the end of time. Back in 1998, some guy showed up at Nintendo, threw a piece of paper with the word “GLOVER” scrawled on the top of it in red ink, before delivering the pitch: “It’s just a glove with eyes on it.”
Glover was a game in which you took control of a glove as it scraped the very bottom of the barrel in terms of what a 3D mascot could offer. It wasn’t good by any stretch of the imagination, though I personally want to see a return to an era where it seemed like anything could get the green light from publishers, instead of living in a world where developers need to prove that they can convince us to keep throwing money at their cosmetic items in order to get an idea approved. If we see a return from Glover, we know that this era is making its comeback.
6. Klonoa (Klonoa: Door to Phantomile)
When discussing video game mascots, you have to mention Klonoa as he’s the star of one of the few actually decent series that was birthed from the platformer heavy ’90s. However, as I haven’t actually played Klonoa, I can only tell you that a lot of other people really like it, and that including it on this list makes it look like I played better games during that decade than Croc: Legend of the Gobbos.
5. NiGHTS (NiGHTS into Dreams)
NiGHTS into Dreams was one of few highlights from the Sega Saturn’s library, with it managing to transcend the unpopular hardware it was trapped inside and become recognized as one of the best games ever made.
Developed by Sonic Team, NiGHTS into Dreams replicated the Sonic series’ focus on speed and precision, requiring you to make your way to the end of each level before the time limit expired, collecting points by way of flying through hoops, collecting stars, performing stunts and a variety of other methods. The game’s titular mascot has been thoroughly brushed under the carpet, though she did make an appearance in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, which is better than all Mario Kart games aside from Mario Kart 8 and Double-Dash (don’t @ me).
4. Rayman (Rayman)
Where does Rayman keep disappearing to? Ubisoft’s friendly collection of floating body parts appeared in one of the greatest platformers ever made in the form of Rayman Legends, then promptly disappeared off the face of the Earth aside from starring in a couple of underwhelming mobile games.
Rayman’s an odd-looking mascot. Kinda like how famously terrible comic book artist Rob Liefeld has a tendency to hide feet in his illustrations as a result of him not being able to draw them, Rayman appears to be the end result of a team of developers not being able to animate limbs, saying “fuck it” and opting to instead create this hellish monstrosity. Though his earlier games did receive praise, he was mostly overlooked in the ’90s when compared with some of the heavier hitters in the platformer genre, though given the character’s resurgence in Rayman Legends and Origins it’d be great to be able to revisit some of the original entries in the series with high-res visuals.
3. Conker (Conker’s Bad Fur Day/Live & Reloaded)
I’m going to level with you here: I don’t really care about Conker the platformer being given a modern day makeover. Sure, it was funny back in the day when we were all young and naive, though I highly doubt it would hold up in 2018. What I really want is for someone over at Microsoft to pull their finger out and give me an updated version of Conker: Live & Reloaded, an original Xbox game with an underrated squad-based multiplayer mode that I need to play again.
Conker: Live & Reloaded was one of the toughest but most satisfying multiplayer experiences of its time, with it tasking players with either attacking or defending a series of points across its variety of maps, offering six unique classes to choose from and some of the most brutal headshots ever seen in a game. Seriously, lining up a perfect shot with the sniper rifle will cause your enemy’s head to explode in a spray of blood, while running around with the sword-wielding Sneeker can see you lopping a head off its shoulders if you time it just right. It was heaps of fun, and remained one of the most popular games on Xbox Live two years after its release. Someone, please, remaster this!
2. Banjo and Kazooie (Banjo-Kazooie)
The Rare alumni over at Playtonic Studios released Yooka-Laylee back in 2017, a game which received a collective “eh” upon release. Though it borrowed heavily from Banjo-Kazooie, it lacked that spark of imagination that was present in the ’90s collectathon, and instead felt like a weary retread of stale design choices that were perhaps best left behind in the ’90s. So naturally, one of the mascots we’d most like to see return in a Spyro Reignited Trilogy-esque remaster collection would be Banjo-Kazooie, complete with those design choices we found tiresome in Yooka-Laylee. We have a problem.
1. Raziel/Kain (Legacy of Kain)
Legacy of Kain is one of those series that has a wide selection of die-hard fans who want to see it revived, yet there’s also the worry that if a reboot or remaster is ever released, no one will go out and buy it. Still, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver remains a favorite from the PlayStation era, and if a remastered collection was to be put together there would be a whole bunch of material for its developers to work with. Let’s give this one a shot, and if no one plays it, then at least it will stop Legacy of Kain fans from clinging onto the hope that this series is going to be revitalized any time soon.
