by franzlska
Every once in a while, games and game series will feature fictional species of animals which show up throughout the game and scream marketing, whether because they were designed for the sole purpose of marketing or because they just happen to be perfect for it. In fact, quite a few of these have appeared in video games over the years, begging the question: "what's the best mascot species ever made?"
Note: In the case where something is an established mascot character rather than part of a mascot species (ie: Ash's Pikachu instead of just Pikachu, or Tamadra from Puzzle Vs. Dragons), they are not eligible for the list. Also, some of these species have concept pages, some don't. In cases where they don't I'm just going to put the game on the list, and denote the species in question.
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Okay, I know I just said "market potential" but I'm honestly not sure what the plan was here. They clearly intended these things as some kind of mascot, considering they had a whole game named "Croc: The Legend of the Gobbos", but I can not in any way imagine someone having an attachment to these nightmarish balls of hair with eyes. Even having played Croc as a kid does nothing to redeem these things, because there's just nothing to latch onto with them. It's honestly a bit impressive.
In their original property, the kopin are said to bring happiness and good fortune to anyone who sees them. It's ironic, then, that any time I look at them I feel an acute malaise and discomfort wash over me.
Some people have a soft spot for the rabbids, and I can almost understand it. Rabbits with a T are pretty cute... but once you get past the rabbit ears these things might as well just be weird human men. They have had a couple of surprisingly good games, but the rabbids games that succeed do so in spite of the rabbids, definitely not because of them.
Some would disagree, but NiGHTS into Dreams was actually a pretty okay game. I genuinely believe that NiGHTS has one of the best character designs in video game history. I can't extend that to the nightopians though, because they're just sort of babies with large conical heads. Mildly offputting in drawings, terrifying when they make the swap to 3D.
Look one of these things in the eyes and tell me you would want to buy a stuffed animal of one of them. I'll wait.
Real-life worms are among the most unpleasant creatures out there, so some credit is definitely due for making these things a bit endearing, but they just aren't for me.
I've always been pretty much perfectly neutral on Mr. Saturns. They make for good comedic effect when tossing things at others in Smash Bros., so there's that.
Tims The tims don't have much going on, but they do have big floppy ears and pastel colored fur, which is kinda cute I guess. For everything thats wrong with this game, the tims aren't it.
Okay now what if someone made tims but way before Balan Wonderworld, and they had a bit of personality to them?
The dream eaters are a bit of a weird mixed bag. Meow Wow is an amazing design, and if I were just considering Meow Wow, the dream eaters would rank much higher. That said, all of the other dream eaters in Kingdom Hearts 3D feel like they desperately want to be the next Pokemon or Digimon, only to have nothing much to show besides an overly complex color palette and too many small details.