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Who's the most famous video game character introduced after 2000?
- Thread starter Phediuk
- Start date
#1 Angry Birds
#2 Raving Rabbids
Seriously grandmothers know about Angry Birds.
Raving Rabbids are huge in France thanks to the Wii success, is it the same elsewhere?
Miis are not characters. Minecraft is hugely popular for kids but not that much for others, plus the character is not that recognizable.
Every gamer knows Master Chief, outside of that not so much.
Assassins clothes are known, but not a particular character.
I assume Ellie could be huge if a good movie is done.
#2 Raving Rabbids
Seriously grandmothers know about Angry Birds.
Raving Rabbids are huge in France thanks to the Wii success, is it the same elsewhere?
Miis are not characters. Minecraft is hugely popular for kids but not that much for others, plus the character is not that recognizable.
Every gamer knows Master Chief, outside of that not so much.
Assassins clothes are known, but not a particular character.
I assume Ellie could be huge if a good movie is done.
It's either Steve from Minecraft or the Red Angry Bird.
Any other answer is polluted with personal bias. Everyone with a smartphone since 2009 recognizes the bird. And every child that was gaming since 2009/2010 (not to mention their parents, who are buying them the games and toys) knows who the Minecraft guy is, even if they don't know his name (which doesn't really matter).
Ask yourself: would your grandma recognize Master Chief or even the game he came from?
Any other answer is polluted with personal bias. Everyone with a smartphone since 2009 recognizes the bird. And every child that was gaming since 2009/2010 (not to mention their parents, who are buying them the games and toys) knows who the Minecraft guy is, even if they don't know his name (which doesn't really matter).
Ask yourself: would your grandma recognize Master Chief or even the game he came from?
I had no clue minecraft dude even had a name. Everyone that plays a video game, meaning those that play minecraft knows who master chief is. It's master chief, he's at the mascot level where he is instantly recognizable by name.
I'm looking at this as knowing a character by name like Mario or sonic. Saying minecraft guy or angry birds bird i don't count.
I'm looking at this as knowing a character by name like Mario or sonic. Saying minecraft guy or angry birds bird i don't count.
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Both of my sisters know Minecraft because they're both mothers with kids. So yeah, you're right that a shit ton of kids know about Minecraft but every last one of those kids have at least 1 parent/guardian and many of them will know of Minecraft just by how crazy their kids are about it. Anecdotal, but I don't know a non-gamer who knows Master Chief by sight. And yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if it was Angry Birds, though I would imagine just aesthetically speaking Minecraft would be more recognizable than a standard cartoon bird.
This.
Might as well put Fortnite guy and Lvl3 Helmet dude from pubg in there too , if minecraft guy is in. Since anyone can instantly tell you the game when they see them. After all these games have like over double the player base of Minecraft right?
Sales is not the be all end all of determining iconic character. Mortal Kombat franchise has only sold like 35m but Scorpion and Subzero are easily among the most iconic characters in gaming.
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It almost could have been Ratchet if that movie hadn't been such a dud. It wasn't even a bad movie per se, it just felt a solid 5/10 for me. The characters, animation, VA and dialogue were all really good, but something just felt missing. The Ratchet & Clank reboot was such a great game, I feel like if the movie could have been half as good it would have spawned a decent series of films. Lost opportunity for Sony there.
Definitely the Angry Bird or Minecraft guy. Master Chief is pretty famous, but not on the level of the other two.
That definitely shouldn't be the criteria.
Masses of people can be aware of something (i.e. it's famous) without knowing EXACTLY what it's called.
Edit: I'm not convinced by the argument that people only recognise the style, and not the the actual character, either. But that could be the case.
I'm UK and I'd say Chief easily.
Halo had a big physical presence here, whereas a lot of Minecraft's presence in public knowledge is more from online things, like YouTube videos etc.
You also have to remember that sales of the Xbox were basically entirely down to Halo 1 and 2. The only killer app that I can think of where a single game could justify a console purchase for the masses would be Pokémon for the GB, and I guess you could argue Wii Sports, but that was bundled.
Zambian here - Lived in the UK, US and Aus for while.
Still vote Master Chief.
Even in Zambia where the Xbox wasnt all that popular (never officially launched in Southern Africa) people still knew he was the Halo guy.
Curiosity got alot of people to actually find out his name.
Minecraft guy doesnt count because so few people actually know he is a character.
Like I actually used run an after school computer camp for kids with Aspergers and post class most of them wanted to play MineCraft so I would set up servers and all.
I still didnt know the MineCraft guy had a name....I thought it was just the default avatar/name and you could alter it.
And the Angry Bird?
I legit havent played Angry Birds since i think the first one....are the birds actually characters I thought they were all just ammo like a billiard ball.
It's Minecraft Steve and his only real competition at this point is the Creeper.
I get the suggestions of Masterchief, and maybe at one point it was him. But that time has passed, mainly because of the sheer proliferation of Minecraft.
Give it a year of this momentum and whoever emerges as the preeminent mascot for Fortnite. Whether it is the llama or whatever I think has a chance of hitting that level.
But given that the most recognisable Pokemon were from pre-2000 it's definitely Steve.
I get the suggestions of Masterchief, and maybe at one point it was him. But that time has passed, mainly because of the sheer proliferation of Minecraft.
Give it a year of this momentum and whoever emerges as the preeminent mascot for Fortnite. Whether it is the llama or whatever I think has a chance of hitting that level.
But given that the most recognisable Pokemon were from pre-2000 it's definitely Steve.
Master Chief is shunted out there in front of Xbox as he is literally their only system character. Even with that amount of pushing, he has nowhere near the popular culture impact of something like Steve. Red Angry Bird is also a good shout, the film was actually pretty decent.
Master Chief is nowhere near the Mario or Sonic level in terms of being an icon.
Master Chief is nowhere near the Mario or Sonic level in terms of being an icon.
It's definitely Angry Bird or Minecraft guy, depending on the age of the people you're asking.
"Who the fuck is mario? What kind of boring ass video game character name is that??"
"Who the fuck is mario? What kind of boring ass video game character name is that??"
Slenderman hangs with Steve and Red Angry Bird. It has gotten something those two didn't get to the common person who has zero interest in games: Negative press.
It even got its own HBO documentary. Parents sort of know this because of the creepypastas made for this thing and it just looks creepy to any same ol' Joe or Jane.
Easily the most recognizable horror character in gaming, over any STARS members from RE Or Pyramid Head from SH. I don't know if it surpasses the Red Angry Bird or Steve but it is up there.
Edit: OK looking at the character it can be argued it isn't an original video game character but it's game has taken this character to new heights so I will stick by it.
It even got its own HBO documentary. Parents sort of know this because of the creepypastas made for this thing and it just looks creepy to any same ol' Joe or Jane.
Easily the most recognizable horror character in gaming, over any STARS members from RE Or Pyramid Head from SH. I don't know if it surpasses the Red Angry Bird or Steve but it is up there.
Edit: OK looking at the character it can be argued it isn't an original video game character but it's game has taken this character to new heights so I will stick by it.
This.
Might as well put Fortnite guy and Lvl3 Helmet dude from pubg in there too , if minecraft guy is in. Since anyone can instantly tell you the game when they see them. After all these games have like over double the player base of Minecraft right?
Sales is not the be all end all of determining iconic character. Mortal Kombat franchise has only sold like 35m but Scorpion and Subzero are easily among the most iconic characters in gaming.
I don't think being able to name a character is very important in regards to them being famous (for example many memes feature people almost nobody can name, but will instantly recognise).
The main reason I wouldn't consider random PUBG guy or the Fortnite characters to be on the level of even the Overwatch roster, is because not only are people not able to name them, but they'd likely be unable to distinguish when something is NOT them (and wannabe mobile apps will abuse this). So if you show a random person a character from Agents of Mayhem or Battleborn, they will likely accept them as being a Fortnite character just as readily as any of its actual characters. In this case Fortnite itself is huge, but most aren't actually recognising its cast at all. This wouldn't be the case for characters like Master Chief (where people would likely recognise Doom as not being him), some of the more popular Overwatch characters, or the Mortal Kombat characters you gave as an example.
As for the Mii suggestions. Miis aren't a character. Not even in the way the Steve is. There isn't a single prominent Mii to actually recognise. they're just an artstyle.
No way it's Kratos. God of War as a franchise didn't sell anywhere near Halo. Its probably the Minecraft dude, Miis, or Master Chief. I was going to think of stuff like Laura Croft but shes from the 90s as are a lot of the major ones. The Assassin Creed assassins would probably be up there too if they didn't keep changing every game.
Ok I think there needs to be more explanation.
Minecraft is more recognizable than halo sure. Minecraft Steve in the other hand isn't. So while a group would be able to say oh that's Minecraft over oh that's halo. I'd think more people could actually name Master Chief than Minecraft Steve. So it comes down to the game is more recognizable but not necessarily the character. Like of course angry birds is super popular but I for the life of me couldn't tell you any of their names except for exploding bird fat bird red bird
Minecraft is more recognizable than halo sure. Minecraft Steve in the other hand isn't. So while a group would be able to say oh that's Minecraft over oh that's halo. I'd think more people could actually name Master Chief than Minecraft Steve. So it comes down to the game is more recognizable but not necessarily the character. Like of course angry birds is super popular but I for the life of me couldn't tell you any of their names except for exploding bird fat bird red bird
It's always interesting to see how much the popularity of certain characters/games differs between the different regions.
I would say top contenders are:
globally: the Minecraft Guy/Creeper or the red Angry Bird, maybe the Miis and Tracer.
US/UK/AUS: Master Chief
Japan: Inklings
China: No idea, maybe one of the Lol characters? or the PUBG guy.
Europe: same as globally
Germany: the farming simulator truck
I would say top contenders are:
globally: the Minecraft Guy/Creeper or the red Angry Bird, maybe the Miis and Tracer.
US/UK/AUS: Master Chief
Japan: Inklings
China: No idea, maybe one of the Lol characters? or the PUBG guy.
Europe: same as globally
Germany: the farming simulator truck
Miis themselves aren't really valid. There's no Mii "character" that anyone can recognise.
I consider Steve's fame to be somewhat contestable as I'm not convinced most people can differentiate him from any other random Minecraft avatar (e.g. how many would recognise that's not him on the cover for Minecraft Story Mode), however at the very least there'd be a decent number of people that can. There are no official Mii characters to even recognise.
Knowing his name isn't really the issue. It's that I imagine a lot of people don't actually recognise HIM at all, and only recognise the Minecraft aesthetic.
That's kinda where I fall on it. The game has such a unique aesthetic that you can recognise it from a piece of dirt. I think Steve almost falls under the Space Invader and Pac-Man in game sprite category, rather than an actual character, if that makes sense?
Yea, I was actually going to mention Space Invaders myself as a comparison. I think even Space Invaders and Pac-Man are different cases though. I feel if you create a new Space Invader and slot them in with the rest, few people would notice it happened, whereas I imagine most would notice something similar to Pac-Man (or the ghosts) that isn't actually Pac-Man.
Or another way to look at it, I don't think many people could draw a reasonably accurate Space Invader from memory.
I agree with this. Had no idea he had a name either. I thought that game used create a character. Anyway, yeah, the game may have sold gangbusters, but he isn't iconic if people who live video games have no idea he as a name or is a character.
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