What makes Nintendo characters so universally appealing and iconic?
A mountain of great games
>>12425873Was this image made to bait comments like why are there two oot links, why are they out of order chronologically, why did they put the smash bros melee (or brawl?) DK next to the N64 characters when they could have picked DK64 DK. So many problems.
>>12425873>monkemonkeys are funny>mariomustache>linkI don't really like him. Recognizable, but not very interesting.
>>12425873Donkey Kong is basically just inspired by King Kong which was created by an American. He's just an ape and only iconic because he's part of the Nintendo lineup.Link was just a little elf, but designed well for the limited color palettes on the NES. Everything iconic about Link comes from the NES design except maybe the blue shield.
>>12425873pixel limitations forced them to think of character design the tried and tested Disney way, simple and appealingLink is similar to Peter Pan but aside from that, he looks like a classic archetypal hero, and if you alter any part of their designs in any major way it would throw them off
Fox McCloud's design is the best
What makes you a brainwashed moron?
>>12425873American millennials posting about them
>>12425873Good designs paired with good games across at least 3 gens
>>12426035the helmet thing always looked off to me
>>12425873the fact that the row's generations don't match up is making my autism flare up. i know why it's done but i can't help it
>>12425874/threadThat's literally it.If Mario games weren't so fun, the only place you would see this character is on Ross's Game Dungeon.
What game is that 5th DK sprite from?
>>12425879>>12426478I was thinking the same thing, but I only looked at the mario and link columns and ignored the dk one.
>>12426674I'm going to guess the coffee shop in Mario and Luigi superstar saga. A shit load of Nintendo characters make cameos in there if you do some kind of bean collection I think. Could be totally fucking wrong though.
Nintendo bad
>>12425873Mario reminds me of a mix between Mickey and Popeye, which is a winning combination. The red color in particular is to me necessary for a good mascot, which you can also see in the tie they gave to Donkey Kong and Sonic's shoes for example. There's also the stocky body that both Mario and DK have on their sprites/models that complement the mascot feeling. As for Link, I legit think it's nothing special for a design, just good enough, and got popular because the games are popular.
>>12428824He's a cartoony everyman.>>12426035If Mario and Link are the designs you get from being forced into a low-res pixel environment with limited colors, Star Fox is an angular, low-poly design. Not surprising he's nowhere close to as iconic as the 2D designs.
>>12425873imprinting on children. thats it.
I think their extreme simplicity gives them a sort of universality that you don't get with say a Sonic. You can transpose yourself onto them using your imagination since they're so basic but with a character like Sonic it's more like a separate entity that's letting you control it all the while winking at you and making sassy comments, which I get has its own appeal but it's not quite universal. Also obv like another anon said the top notch gameplay helps lol.
>>12425873brand worshipmario is just an average cartoon man, link is an average anime hero and DK is king kong
>>12425873strong silhouette, identifiable elements (mario hat, link hood, dk tie), proportionseven if you don't have brand loyalty, if someone told you to draw them from memory, you'll probably have an easier time drawing mario than someone like dante
>>12432381I only played the 1st DMC and only for a couple hours like when it first came out. I rember Dante enough to draw him like cloud from ff7 holding his sword but with a red trench coat and an bluish gray mop top but maybe a little longer, down to the cheeks. How close am I?
>>12432391yeah you got the iconic stuff down but you'll likely fudge up on the details unless you've drawn him a lotnintendo characters are usually really simple, made up of a few big and medium shapes. dante on the other hand is made up with a lot of medium and small shapes
No one would care about a fat plumber or a pantless elf boy in a short tunic if their games weren't good
>>12426009>Everything iconic about Link comes from the NES design except maybe the blue shield.I think it took Ocarina to finally formalize his blonde hair, I mean particularly the 90's Leonardo Decaprio style that influenced his look there.
>>12432352>sort of universality that you don't get with say a SonicMore people care about Sonic as a character than Mario. I don't mean writing, I mean as visually appealing and memorable, the character traits just add more to his personality beyond bing bing wahoo. He was specifically designed to be that way, and Sega looked at old cartoons in an attempt to reach the same appeal. I don't think he would be as popular if his look wasn't iconic.
>>12432357>link is an average anime heroHe's Peter Pan, design wise according to Shiggy
>>12428824Mario was originally meant to be Popeye, which I think explains a lot. Being a cartoony working man in some kind of uniform, maybe even the red blue(and black) pallet from the earlier colored Popeye cartoon. Definitely the aspect of a character that can transplanted into any scenario like an episodic cartoon though. >As for Link, I legit think it's nothing special for a design, just good enough, and got popular because the games are popular.He's a very ideal fantasy hero. Just a boy with a sword and shield. A really practical, earthy green outfit with a belt and boots, and goofy hat you'd see centuries ago, and knife ears to show you he's not human and engages in otherworldly adventures. Not to mention that the stereotypical elf is usually dressed in green and blonde.
>>12426035He's iconic to me damn it. He just wasn't given more time to shine.Some people complain about them being furries, but I don't think it would've been the same with humans. Animal characters kinda give an immediate understanding what they're about, and some needed levity in a game about warfare and space drama. Foxes being clever, Pepper being one of those dogs that always look old, lizards are bad, the conflict being the Japanese version of cats and dogs fighting each other, etc. And the Star Fox team uniforms always looked cool.
>>12432431This. Meanwhile Sonic is a decades enduring international phenomenon despite the games being shit.
>>12432443I think a way better example would be Bubsy Sonic has an eye catching color scheme, his shapes are round and cute and look simple to draw, his spikes let you know what he's like. Bubsy doesn't really have that, that's a character that needs a good personality to like and that isn't what we got
Mario is a typical cartoon man like Fred Flintstone while Sonic is a typical cartoon animal like Felix the Cat
>>12425873deviant porn for every taste>>12432463>sex: men
>>12432463They sex human men???
Samus should be in third placeYeah she's hot and sexy too but the Varia suit has an iconic silhouette
>>12436241I think samus is an interesting case of a barely considered easter egg actually ending up being the perfect choice for the premise. when they had artists seriously dig into the female power suit concept for metroid 2, it obviously was the more interesting look, the huge pauldrons balanced against a subtle hourglass figure, wouldn't be nearly as striking with a squat male torso.
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