Arrayed along the pantheon of gaming icons is a veritable panoply creatures: gorillas, hedgehogs, plumbers, foxes, inflatable pink blobs, adorable dinosaurs, and men in combat armor to name a few. If we were to draw comparisons to the film industry, we might say that, despite all of the work Shigeru Miyamoto has done, he is no more than the Martin Scorsese behind the camera with Mario standing out in front of the audience like Robert De Niro. While adherents to the medium will know and appreciate the work of the creator, it is the man with the most camera time that becomes the locus of celebrity. One of the common laments of the gaming industry is that there is not enough original intellectual property being developed, but a corollary to this complaint is that new gaming icons are few and far between. Are gaming icons an endangered species?
In the halcyon days of the two company duopoly of Nintendo and Sega, the impending release of the SNES was such a threat to the Genesis' control on the market that Sega felt the need to introduce a rival mascot to counter Nintendo's beloved Mario. Thus Sonic the Hedgehog was born. A mascot was considered absolutely necessary for a gaming company. It provided gamers something to rally behind other than a faceless corporate logo or a collection of disparate titles. Sega became the edgier gaming company through the Sonic-focused marketing. In many ways, the mascot came to shape the identity of the company at least in the eyes of gamers.
The mascot was so essential, so firmly entrenched in the gaming culture, that when Sony launched PlayStation, a new, even edgier mascot had to be created: Crash Bandicoot. While he wasn't developed by Sony, he became the early face of the console, and Sony never made any effort to provide a more formal mascot. Perhaps it was the utter failure of Crash Bandicoot to catch on as a friendly face for the PlayStation that precipitated the downfall of the mascot, but when Microsoft muscled into the gaming market, they did so without a clear plan for a mascot.
In some ways, it was a stroke of luck for Microsoft that Master Chief became such a recognizable icon, and it certainly provided an easy marketing solution for the Xbox 360. In the minds of some gamers, the Xbox 360 was just waiting around for the new Halo. Aside from that, it was a fancy DVD player.
Setting aside the role of mascots for a moment, there are only so many characters in gaming history that reach icon status. Never is this more evident than examining the playable roster for Super Smash Bros. Brawl:
Bowser, Captain Falcon, Diddy Kong, Donkey Kong, Dr. Mario, Falco, Fox, Ganondorf, Ice Climbers, Ike, Jigglypuff, King Dedede, Kirby, Link, Lucario, Lucas, Luigi, Mario, Marth, Meta Knight, Mewtwo, Mr. Game & Watch , Ness, Olimar, Peach, Pichu, Pikachu, Pit, Pokémon Trainer, R.O.B., Roy, Samus, Sheik, Snake, Sonic, Toon Link, Wario, Wolf, Yoshi, Young Link, Zelda, Zero Suit Samus
Granted, this only encompasses icons from Nintendo's past as well a few willing, third-party participants, so it doesn't cover every single icon in recent years, but it does touch on many of the major ones. Of the characters in the game, only a few can be considered icons: Bowser, Donkey Kong, Kirby (maybe), Link, Luigi, Mario, Pikachu, Samus, Snake, Sonic, and Yoshi. The most recently created of those? Pikachu in 1996.
Expanding out from that slate of characters, we have Master Chief and, if you're being generous about what constitutes a gaming icon, a Mii. If you're being extremely generous, you could include Altair, but he doesn't have much of a presence outside of the hardcore gaming community.
Are we nearing the end of the era of video game icons?
I don't think it's a matter of video game designers avoiding original IP, but I do think that gaming icons may become, permanently, a thing of the past. In the film industry, actors age and are eventually replaced by newer, younger models. In the game industry, video game characters exist outside of time. The case of Snake aging in MGS IV is a rarity.
Gamers only have room in their hearts for so many icons. With Mario and Sonic looming large, every other character takes a small share of the pie. There is a saturation point past which players are less accepting of brand new characters, at least in terms of marketability and recognition.
I know that no new character will push my plush chocobo off its coveted place on my bedspread.
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