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00:00 Negative for Blue Hedgehog.
00:02 But positive for Red Echidna.
00:05 Red Echidna irrelevant.
00:07 Welcome to Mojo Plays, and today we're looking at some updates to classic video game characters that made everyone go, "What the hell were they thinking?"
00:17 Time for Rebellion.
00:23 Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
00:29 [Ding]
00:31 Frank West, Dead Rising 4
00:34 Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
00:36 Alright, some ground rules. This is my story now.
00:41 Frank West is undeniably the face of the Dead Rising franchise, despite having only appeared in the first game and some DLC.
00:49 But the lovable photographer connected with fans of the series in a way the other protagonists never could.
00:55 So, understandably, there was a lot of hype and expectation when it was announced Frank West would be returning for the series' fourth installment.
01:04 That is, until it was revealed that the original voice actor, Terrence J. Rotolo, wouldn't be returning as Frank as the developer wanted a "more grizzled take" on the character, leading to quite a lot of backlash for Capcom.
01:18 What the hell did you do? What happened?
01:20 To get the story and get out!
01:22 While the rest of the game ended up being a mostly average experience, with an inconsistent tone throughout, specifically when it came to Frank West in particular, who longtime fans found irritating and lacking the charm of the character's original incarnation.
01:37 You just love making me look like an asshole, don't you?
01:39 Shelob, Middle Earth, Shadow of War
01:43 I called you here for a reason.
01:51 Now we're messing with not only video game characters, but characters from established literature and lore.
01:58 The Middle Earth series already took more than a few liberties with Tolkien's masterwork, but the introduction of Shelob into the game's canon might have been a step further than diehard fans were willing to accept.
02:09 Within both the novels and the movies, Shelob is well established as a monstrous spider thing living in the cavernous past of Mordor.
02:18 What she most definitely is not within the literature or films is a dark-haired, sexy woman.
02:24 The developers had already played a bit fast and loose with the established lore of Tolkien's work, and while the team did admittedly do a fair job of explaining her transformation within the universe, this one was a bit too difficult for longtime fans to overlook.
02:39 You will suffer. You will suffer. You will fear.
02:48 Knuckles, Sonic Boom, Rise of Lyric
02:52 Let's jump ahead to the part where I ambush you!
02:54 Great! Metal Sonic has to show up right when Eggman is springing a surprise attack on us!
03:06 In the mid-90s, Knuckles was the epitome of cool.
03:10 His stoic nature and villain-turned-hero arc was one of the best things about the original Sonic games back on the Sega Genesis, and the character has retained a loyal fanbase ever since.
03:21 Which is what makes Sega's decision to redesign the entire Sonic team for Sonic Boom all the more infuriating.
03:28 While every character in the game suffered from these decisions, none suffered more than Knuckles.
03:34 Gone was his no-nonsense attitude and dark, mysterious nature, and was instead replaced by an overly buffed version that skipped leg day and instead played into every single dumb jock trope imaginable.
03:47 Somehow, his character managed to fare better in the animated series, but this redesign remains a stain on the Echidna's legacy.
03:55 Amy, Knuckles, go left!
03:57 Give me a sec.
03:58 I'm on it!
04:03 Joanna Dark - Perfect Dark Zero
04:05 Three against one. Seems fair.
04:08 Following up one of arguably the most seminal first-person shooters of all time, GoldenEye 007, is no easy task.
04:19 And somehow, Rare managed to outdo themselves with their N64 classic follow-up, Perfect Dark.
04:25 Swapping 007 for a sleek futuristic spy thriller full of espionage action and aliens, Perfect Dark improved on everything that GoldenEye laid the groundwork for and remains one of the highest rated first-person shooters of all time.
04:40 Fans were understandably excited when Rare announced a return for Joanna Dark and as a launch title for the Xbox 360.
04:47 Sadly, however, this was not the same confident spy fans adored and was instead replaced by a typical mid-2000s surfer-style babe who looked like she just walked off the set of a Mountain Dew commercial.
05:00 Bizarrely, this version of Joanna is somehow supposed to be only three years younger than the version fans know and love.
05:07 Soon, I'm going to teach you what humiliation's like. Consider this our rematch.
05:14 "Ain't that nice. You made a friend."
05:17 Conker. Young Conker.
05:19 [music]
05:22 Despite his cute and cuddly appearance, Conker is most definitely not for the young or faint of heart.
05:29 His crude and crass outing on the N64 stood out for its mature and obscene take on the standard platformer, and many parents would easily mistake him for another Nintendo mascot.
05:40 Acquiring Rare in 2002, Microsoft did little with the many properties from the studio, but saw fit to resurrect the squirrel for its new peripheral, the HoloLens, in 2016.
05:51 The redesign of the crude rodent drew immediate criticism by longtime fans who had been waiting for a new Conker game only to be met with this abomination of the beloved character.
06:02 Thankfully, the game came and went with many completely disregarding the title entirely, but young Conker remains one of the biggest insults to the character for fans of the two-decade-old series.
06:14 Do better, Microsoft. The win is right there.
06:18 [music]
06:21 "So, you want some great stuff?"
06:25 Chris Redfield. Resident Evil 7 Biohazard.
06:30 [music]
06:33 "I'm Redfield. I'm glad we found you."
06:37 Few characters within the Resident Evil universe have gone through as many radical transformations as Chris Redfield.
06:44 Originally your standard action movie fare in the original Resident Evil, by the time Chris reappeared in Resident Evil 5, he seemed to have spent all his time off fighting the zombie hordes, hitting the gym with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
06:57 However, Capcom overcompensated the reaction to this new version of Chris by slimming him down again for his cameo appearance at the end of Resident Evil 7, ironically making him even more unrecognizable.
07:10 Thankfully, Capcom managed to finally nail down a perfect balance of realistic but beefy with his appearance in Resident Evil Village, and this has widely been accepted as the best representation of the character since his incarnation.
07:24 "When does it end?"
07:27 "What's that, sir? The mission?"
07:31 "All of it."
07:33 Samus Aran Metroid Other M
07:36 "A simple report. Almost all even. But it felt momentous to me."
07:43 Samus Aran has undeniably gone through a number of changes over the years, but these redesigns were mostly reserved for the famed bounty hunter's instantly recognizable armor rather than the character herself.
07:55 All of that changed, however, with the release of Team Ninja's take on the character in Metroid Other M.
08:02 Instead of the confident and capable bounty hunter, fans were instead introduced to an overly emotional Samus who constantly second guesses herself, and had to wait for direct orders before making any decisions, even if her life was in the balance.
08:17 While attempting to directly address the numerous near-death experiences and likely PTSD Samus had endured during her many adventures up to Other M, the developers leaned into this aspect of Samus' backstory too heavily, and in turn, betrayed everything the character represented.
08:34 "Life, no matter what form it takes as it's born into this often cruel universe, should not be tampered with."
08:42 Bomberman Bomberman Act Zero
08:46 "Ahhhh!"
08:49 Throughout the mid-2000s, there was a trend in which developers felt the need to take whatever were once cute and recognizable characters or mascots and give them a dark and edgy makeover.
09:00 And by far the most egregious of this trend was Bomberman Act Zero.
09:05 Gone was the cute, bubbly, and colorful Bomberman, replaced by a generic robot android power mech, and the vibrant worlds were instead replaced with bland, dystopian arenas barely distinguishable from one another.
09:18 The gameplay itself remained largely unchanged, but fans couldn't overlook the drastic changes to the beloved character, and this bomb remains an unexploded dud in the Bomberman's storied history.
09:29 "New way."
09:33 "Your leg."
09:35 Dante DMC Devil May Cry
09:38 "Who are you? What do you want?"
09:40 "You were careless. You left a trail. Now he's onto you."
09:43 "What are you talking about? Who's onto me?"
09:45 The backlash for this one was swift and immediate.
09:48 With development of the renowned hack and slash series switching from Capcom to Ninja Theory, the developer decided to update the character to near disastrous results.
09:58 Many bemoaned not only the character's lack of stylish white hair, but also the changes to his character, which changed his laid-back and cool attitude to a more unlikable asshole than a cocky demon hunter the series had been known for.
10:12 Adding insult to an already frustrated community, Ninja Theory seemed to throw shade at fans upset over the redesign and openly mocked them with Dante donning a white wig and proclaiming...
10:24 "I'm a millionaire."
10:28 Fan backlash over the new Dante, or as the community dubbed him, "Donte," caused many to overlook what was a decent game in its own right.
10:37 "What have you done to him?"
10:47 Spyro the Dragon Skylanders
10:50 "By Pythagoras' theorem, you're a Skylander, aren't you? Good thing you're here. I've got a big brain, but pretty puty muscles."
10:59 During the golden age of the PS1, there were two unquestionable mascots of the platform in the form of Naughty Dog's Crash Bandicoot and Insomniac's Spyro the Dragon.
11:09 After both developers left those IPs behind, these characters both went through some drastic overhauls under their new developers.
11:17 But Spyro, unfortunately, got the shortest end of the stick when it came to redesigns.
11:22 As the face of the Skylanders series, Spyro's young and energetic appearance was replaced with a darker and moodier generic dragon design, complete with scales and much sharper edges, as well as an eternal scowl etched onto his once cheerful face.
11:38 For a product aimed specifically at children, why did the friendly dragon need to suffer such a fate that arguably made him far less approachable than his original incarnation?
11:49 Thank God for the Reignited Trilogy, as it returned the dragon to his former adorable glory.
12:04 Which redesign of a beloved character did you hate the most? Let us know down in the comments.
12:10 Did you enjoy this video? Check out these other clips from Mojo Plays, and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.
12:19 [music]