1w ago

Kids nowadays don't have many (if any) videogame heroes...

These days I have been playing the catalog of the PlayStation 1 and 2 games that marked me when I was young or at the time I couldn't play: the trilogy of Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Rayman, Jak and Daxter, Sly Cooper, Ratchet and Clank, etc.. And I realized that nowadays you practically don't see characters like that in video games anymore.

Just as there was a time when all games were made for children, nowadays it seems that all games are made for teenagers and adults. Even those that don't seem to be, such as Astrobot, appeal to the nostalgia of the more adult public.

What kind of heroes does my nephew have, for example? There's Sonic, and it's something in which we have a connection, but Sonic and other heroes that still remain current, like Mario or Link, are from an era that long predates him and perhaps for him they feel more like a thing of the past, similar to how I feel about Sailor Moon or Mazinger Z, which were heroes of my older siblings and parents respectively.

I don't know of any heroes that are specifically intended to appeal to young people like my nephew, at least not in a "wholesome" way. Much of what he likes was not made with the child audience in mind, such as Five Nights At Freddy's or Among Us; and what does, was made for more predatory motives, such as Poppy Playtime or Garten of Banban. The only thing I can think of is Minecraft and.... I don't know, it just doesn't add up for me.

My nephew doesn't have a Crash, a Spyro, a Sly to be nostalgic about when he gets to my age.

It's a little... Bleak...

85 comments

I literally made an indie game to fill in this gap. It's local coop and was designed for kids and parents to play together.
It's called:
INK INSIDE (PC now, all consoles soon)
Brain David Gilbert voices the lead: Stick the stick figure. The whole cast are children's drawings come to life living in a kids notebook that's getting corrupted by a slow leak dripping water into their world and warping them into "sog" monsters.
It's a game based on a lost pilot to a Nickelodeon show, and as such is both a cartoon and action RPG with a narrative that follows the first season of what you used to see on Saturday Morning.
It's pretty much what you're looking for imo, but since we're indie, marketing has not been treating us well 😅
Reception from our intended younger audience has been glowing. Just harder to sell to kids as they don't have money 😑
- This looks awesome!
  It checks a lot of boxes for me:
  Indie
  local co-op
  playable demo
  Brian David Gilbert?!
  I've never heard about this before, so I'm glad you shared. It looks like it'd be great to play with my nephew. Hope you can make the sequels!
  For the rest of you's: https://www.inkinsidegame.com/
  
  Thank you so much! Very proud of what we've made, as we made it exactly for people like you! 🙂 Hope you enjoy and thanks for sharing the link!
- Sweet! Now i have something to gift my nephew and play together!
  
  Awesome! Thank you so much! We love the support! And I'm sure you'll both get a kick out of it 😁
- I thought the name of the game sounded familiar, so I ended up looking at the Steam page and I was right when Stumpt did a video on it, pretty sure. Definitely gonna have to at least check out the demo because it looks interesting enough.
  Looked it up and they definitely did a video on it. Sk definitely gonna at least check out the demo. Hope sales pick up.
  
  Thank you so much! 😁
  We lucked out and got some love from some great streamers like Stumpt, Atlas Anarchy, Blazekin, and some others. All organically through promoting the game at places like PAX and LA Comicon.
  But since a good amount of that attention was before we launched, it mostly translated to wishlists. (Which certainly still helps).
  Regardless, BOTH wishlists and reviews do amazing for us - so if you enjoy the "First Page" demo, let us know! 🙂
  And thanks again!

Gaming is an grownup hobby for adults. Under 18yo are less than a quarter of gammers.
This idea that games companies don't understand their customers is a myth. They know who plays their games and more importantly who buys their games.
When games companies act in ways that disappoint, cheat, or exploit their customers, it's not because they goofed (usually). It's because they're business assholes and customer satisfaction is subordinate to plenty of sinister things that are opaque to the gaming public.
- No, it's because consulting companies like McKinsey tell Microsoft, ea, and Ubisoft that micro transactions will make stock go up, then they go to investment groups and say micro transactions are the sign of a gaming company about to make money
  They have all the metrics, they aren't doing what makes them the most sales or revenue. They're doing what makes the stock price dance
- They know who plays their games and more importantly who buys their games.
  Is this not a bit of a "chicken and egg" argument though? Adults have pretty much always been the ones buying games, but they haven't always been making them for adults. Even if kids are less than a quarter of all gamers, they're still a sizeable chunk of the audience. Doesn't really make sense to just ignore them.
- yeah kids that do game play free to play games for the most part

This world needs a new Leisure Suit Larry.

Sony is trying to make Alloy from Horizon a mainstream titular Sony franchise character....poorly (LEGO horizon was the last straw)
- Astrobot

I think Astrobot is an example of what you're talking about.
Also really good observation about FNAF. I've noticed the same. What's interesting is that the longer the franchise go the more they push Purple Guy/Afton as the main antagonist and even make Freddy into a hero at times. It's like this big unexpected success and they need to make it more acceptable but sort of painted themselves into a corner over time lol.

I'd argue that xennials didn't really either. I certainly didn't think of Mario, Sonic, Doom Guy, etc. as heroes. The closest that jumps immediately to mind as a named person is the protagonist of Wolf3d whose name I won't attempt to spell here, but even then I didn't give a shit about his story which, if memory serves, amounted to a blurb in a manual.
My heroes were in print in books and I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with that.
- The closest that jumps immediately to mind as a named person is the protagonist of Wolf3d whose name I won't attempt to spell her
  BJ Blazkowicz. Grandfather of Billy "Blaze" Blazkowicz.
  
  According to John Romero and Tom Hall, Billy is also the ancestor of B.J. Blazkowicz, AKA Doomguy. It's Blazkowicz all the way down.
- I thought doomguy was me. The silent protagonist is kind of the new hero.
  
  I was angry when Dragon Age 2 released and the main character was voiced because it made me feel like I couldn't self insert. It's such a foreign concept to me now.
- This sounds more like your experience, than anything over-arching. PC games had less 'heros' than console gaming at the time but by 1992 there were tons of characters to latch on to. Dragon quest and Final Fantasy where running on full steam by the early 90s. Mega Man had his 5th game out by then, Mario was getting into karts, multiple Street Fighter games, Sonic in his second outing, and the list goes on. I think the point OP is making is not that every kid had a video game hero, but that they didn't have to look very far to find one.
  
  I don't know that FF had a specific hero as it were. DQ I suppose did in that they were at least named and had some story. Megaman is a good callout, though. We did have them in the computer gaming world in the more nebulous sense (like how I see FF). I guess I'm also thinking about how hero is used here; is it an existing character with a backstory (more like DQ or even megaman) or some character you create (FF again but also all the old SSI games on PC and many others).
  I was thinking of fighting games but OP said nowadays it seems that all games are made for teenagers and adults. and I kinda threw the early SF and MK games into that bucket.

My favorite modern video game hero is John Elden Ring.
- I'm a bigger fan of Bill Gates' son, Baldurs Gates the Third.

I think a lot of it has to do with how we game. Older generation games we tended to play an actual character. Then gaming shifted to be immersive, where you, the player, are the main character.
- This.
  Maybe that's why I personally get irritated by games that aren't hardcore RPGs (like New Vegas) where the character is an empty canvas with no personality of its own. I'm more used to being told "You're this hero. You need to go to this place and defeat this villain. You like chillidog and freedom. Have fun!"
  
  Sorta like Master Chief?
  
  Immortals Fenyx Rising?

I think there are still plenty of protagonists aimed at kids. But since the industry has grown so much since we were kids, and because media is so fractured and niche these days, you and I just don't play those games as adults.
- I mean didn't they just make a Minecraft movie, seems like Steve might count
  
  Minecraft isn't exactly new though, and he's barely even a character let alone a hero.
  
  No no no. You're thinking of Seaseme Street. The count. He counts.
  How many times can I make bad jokes? 1....2.....3!!!! Ah ah ah!

Du Bois from Disco Elysium?
- Damn, you're right. I forgot about him.
  
  A role model for any child

It's also partially because the gaming market has just gotten a lot more adults with us growing up. But I agree it'd be great to have more games directed to children that's not from Nintendo.

There's a character in Clair Obscur that could definitely be classified as a hero. Moreso than most, actually.

A little off topic, but if you're interested in recs for other games from that era, I highly recommend the early PS2 title Dark Cloud. It's not exactly a mascot game like the ones you named, but it's kinda close; the biggest comparison it had at the time of release was the Zelda series.
- But it does have such amazing characters as thirst trap (age appropriate), thirst trap (age inappropriate), fat kid, your friendly neighborhood drug dealer, Actual Racism^tm and you play as the jock theater kid.
  Absolutely amazing game and I’ve been playing and replaying it since it came out, would recommend.
  
  Holy fuckin shit actual racism is the best description i've ever heard. Where can i sub
  
  HAHAHA! 🤣 Those character descriptions are brilliant!
  
  Dark Cloud was my PS2 launch game I bought. I have fond memories, but hated the weapon durability mechanic. I gotta replay it to find these characters you're talking about.
  I remember loving Dark Cloud 2 and taking pictures of absolutely anything and everything trying to find recipes for powerful items.
- I'll check it out, Thanks for the recommendation! 😁

...
I mean, the last Crash game came out in 2020. Ratchet was 2021, Spyro 2018, Rayman all the way back in 2013, but... you know you can still buy it. Sonic was 2023, just like Mario. Zelda starred in a game in 2024.
And of course Astrobot was last year's GOTY.
Consider the possibility that you aren't as aware of the characters that will stick with this generation because you're not playing the games they are.
Although it's entirely possible you are. Kids in my life are quite obsessed with Minecraft, Animal Crossing and Pokemon in extremely familiar ways. I semi-successfuly introduced Professor Layton to some of them, but I may have jumped the gun on that one, as they found it a bit too hard still.
- I am referring to new heroes for this generation, not to the ones that have been around for more than 20 or 30 years...
  
  Why make the distinction?
  Can they not be considered video game heroes for kids just because they have existed for a while?
  
  Yeah but... the only reason you had new heroes then is that videogames didn't exist before.
  We also got games with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck and Bugs Bunny. It wasn't depressing to my parents that I was watching Road Runner cartoons from the 50s. They were new to me.
  There ARE new games, too. I mentioned Astrobot, you mentioned Minecraft. Just for as long as I've been alive kids have gotten into Pokemon Ben10, Splatoon, a bunch of Lego games, Animal Crossing, Spongebob...
  But why would it be invalid for them to discover Sonic and Mario and Crash and Spyro in the 2020s? It's new to them. They can be nostalgic about the same stuff you and I are, just like I am nostalgic about Daffy Duck or Star Trek even if they were technically before my time. Spider-Man is as popular with kids now as it was when I found out about it, and the whole thing was 20-30 years old when I got around to it.

Super Earth is the only hero I need!
- Um, the point of Helldivers is that we are the baddies.
  I feel like we have more than enough death-cult machismo fascism in real life.

Are you saying Steve isn't a videogame hero?
- Steve is a blank canvas, even more devoid of autonomy than, say, Link. Even though Link never speaks or expresses ideas of his own, one can get an idea of what he's like based on certain clues given in the games, and we know at the very least that he's a classic hero who sacrifices himself for the common good.
  Steve is a pure avatar, if he has his own name just because even objects have one. Steve is everything the player wants him to be, hero, explorer, slaver, exploiter... and there will never be a conflict; contrary to Link, who cannot stop being a hero.
  My point is that, in my opinion, a hero must have his own character and autonomy, however minimal it may be, so that one can see in them an ideal to which to point to (Link's bravery, Sonic's love of freedom, etc.).
  
  Link also has a personality via other media. (Which, I suppose Steve now has, too, what with the movie and other story based games that aren't the main game itself)
  "Excuuuuuuuse me, Princess!"
  One of my favorite things in TOTK is how several NPCs talk about Link's activities and life from between BOTW and TOTK and they very much make it seem like the one in the games has the same kind of personality as the one from the TV series.
  
  Just to add to this, for a very long time, he wasn't even called Steve - he was called "Steve?" for the precise reason that they're not really a character at all.
- Steve isnt even the default character of the game
  
  ......?
  What am I missing here?
- CHICKEN JOCKEY
  
  Flint and steel!

Why are heroes so important? Role models are one thing, but hero worship is an incredibly problematic concept especially at a young age. The idea of an unquestionably good person is a myth that lends itself to authoritarianism, and that should die a slow agonizing death. It’s a little much to get deep into stuff like that for a kids game, but I’m certainly not sad to see “blindly good” characters go - it’s why Bluey is nice for how imperfect the parents are, even if they’re still an unrealistic ideal with how much time and energy the parents have.
- Ok, but my idea of "hero" is more based on the "role model" that you say. I totally agree with what you say that hero worship is one of the points that leads to the proliferation of fascism, it's just that I get the impression that children now have no role models, at least not as we had back then, models for them, of their time. Not in video games at least, in series maybe there are, like in Bluey as you say.
  (I was thinking of mentioning Paw Patrol, but that's Copaganda and it's a nono for me).

Bring. Back. Maximo.

My little sibling would fight tooth and nail to play as Rayman in Rayman Legends. While the gaming audience has become a lot older in recent(ish) years, you can still find something very much kid-friendly AND memorable.

They aren't really heroes, just mascots
- Like... Yeah. Heroic mascots.

I agree it's bleak, but it's just different. They have youtubers to rally behind. They'll be fine.
- Fine?! Have you seen those YouTubers?!
  Bunch of greedy sociopaths trying to con people into buying drinks with manufactured scarcity. There's something to look up to there.
- Dude, That's what worries me the most. Some of those guys are weirdos and really awful people.
- Yuck.

85 comments

CHICKEN JOCKEY

(I was thinking of mentioning Paw Patrol, but that's Copaganda and it's a nono for me).