Billion $$ Video Game Characters: Humble Origins Quiz

Answer: Puck-man

Japanese company Namco started making arcade games consoles in the late 70s. Software engineers were employed to develop video games to compete with market leader Atari. "Pac-Man" was one of the first games they developed based on the concept of eating. Japanese onomatopoeic phrase "paku-paku" is the sound of eating, the closest English equivalent is the word "chomp".

The Pac-Man character has always looked like a pizza with a missing slice but the developers later admitted that the design was also influenced from rounding out the Japanese character for mouth "kuchi" (which looked like a square). To attract girls to this video game, the developers added a maze and enemy ghosts.

The eating concept was inspired by the character Popeye who gained power by eating.

The finished game was called "Puckman" as the designers thought this would suit the intended American market, as the character design also resembled a hockey puck. However before the American release, the design team realised the arcade game consoles could be easily vandalised and the "P" could be turned into an "F".

The name was changed to "Pac-Man" and after the initial American release the "Pac-Man" name was adopted globally.

Answer: It did modestly well in Japan but became a global hit after it was released in the US

In 1980, "Pac-Man" evoked a lukewarm response when first released in Japan because "Space Invaders" and other shooting games, (led by Atari) were far more popular. "Pac-Man"'s success in the US took everyone by surprise: the game was the first with "power-ups", the ghosts had rudimentary artificial intelligence and the game had "cutscenes" (Fixed storyboards between levels). Maze-chase games then exploded onto the market.

In the US alone 30 million people played "Pac-Man" regularly and it became the biggest arcade game of all time, overtaking Atari's "Asteroids" in 1982.

In that year it grossed over $US1 billion in income, at a quarter (25c) a time per play. In 2016 "USgamer" calculated that the games earnings (adjusted for inflation) were over $US7.6 billion.

In 2001, "Pac-Man" was voted the greatest video game of all time in the UK.

Answer: The planned release name was "Monkey Kong"

In 1980, Nintendo's intended surge into the US Arcade game market failed with the otherwise successful "Radar Scope". An industrial designer, Shigeru Miyamoto was assigned the task of making a new game for all the unsold arcade game consoles. Miyamoto originally wanted to have a game based on a love triangle between Popeye, Olive Oyl and Brutus but could not obtain the necessary license.

He therefore created his own love triangle game with an unnamed protagonist who needed to rescue his damsel in distress Pauline (originally named Lady).

The protagonist had to jump over gaps and barrels thrown by Donkey Kong, the antagonist. The naming of "Donkey Kong" is interesting. "Kong" is Japanese for "Ape" (Universal Studios unsuccessfully sued Nintendo for copyright infringement for the use of the "Kong" name because they owned the rights to "King Kong"). Nintendo then wanted a forename meaning "stubborn", so Donkey Kong meant "stubborn ape". Donkey Kong was seen as the strongest character of the three characters used in the game so he received the naming rights.

In later versions Donkey Kong became the protagonist. The game was a massive success in the US and Japan. The game was available on many platforms and ingrained itself into popular culture with Donkey Kong's features adorning everything from cereal boxes to pop songs. As an arcade game, "Donkey Kong" netted Nintendo $US2.45 billion in its first three years.

Answer: He was given a big moustache which moved to mimic mouth movements

Mario was the first (unnamed) protagonist, (initially became Mr Video), before the 1981 release of Nintendo's "Donkey Kong". In this game he was known as Jumpman. He was re-named Mario when he gained his own series. Initially he was called Jumpman as he had to jump over barrels and springs thrown at him by Donkey Kong.

He was depicted as an Everyman, a popular Japanese trope and was a carpenter by trade as the original Donkey Kong setting was a construction site (He became a plumber when he became the main character in "Mario Bros" which was played in underground settings).

In 1981, when he made his debut, graphical limitations and low pixel resolution of the era made compromises in animation inevitable: A moving mouth was not feasible but a big black moustache and big nose that both moved when he spoke mimicked mouth movements. Similarly he was given a cap to cover his hair which could not be animated and avoided drawing the character's hairstyle, forehead, and eyebrows. To make arm movements visible he was given red overalls to contrast with his blue shirt which were reversed on future revisions. (Serendipitously these two colours are the preferred colours for superheroes' costumes as they portray strength, speed and wisdom.) If Mario was born later in the video games era, his appearance might have been a whole lot different to his low resolution start.

Answer: Yoshi

Yoshi is a good example of of how a secondary character became so well developed, he was given his own video game franchise (e.g. "Yoshi's Cookie" and "Yoshi's Island"). Yoshi was the anthropomorphic dinosaur ally for Mario and green-shirted brother Luigi. He was named after the island on which he was first discovered, according to the "Super Mario World" manual. After "Super Mario Bros.", the developer wanted Mario to ride a horse but this was technically difficult. The next Mario installment was "Super Mario World" which was to be set in "Dinosaur Land", so instead of a horse, a large lizard was designed. Between series, Yoshi's design was developed so the long neck and short arms were replaced so he is stouter with arms with human proportions and better developed hands. In "Mario Kart 64", he was given an upright stance. This design was retained but more refinements were made in "Mario Party 4".

Mario himself was named after Mario Segale, the landlord of Nintendo of America's office, who crashed on a company meeting demanding overdue rent. Only then did Mario became an Italian-American from Brooklyn which was the brief given to his voice-over actor Charles Martinet. His brother Luigi was named after a local restaurant "Mario and Luigi". Because the two brothers are known as the "Mario Bros", this makes Mario's name, Mario Mario, a name was refuted initially by his creator but acknowledged in 2011.

Princess Toadstool soon replaced Pauline as the main damsel in distress character.

Wario is a portmanteau word of Mario and "warui" the Japanese word for "bad" and hence the arch-rival of Mario. He was portrayed as a caricature of Mario replete with (cowardly?) yellow shirt zig-zag moustache and muscular body, Bowser is the head of the Koopas, a race of anthropomorphic turtles, and is the main arch enemy of Mario.

By 2011, the "Super Mario" video games alone had exceeded $US12 billion in sales and with 500 million copies of the games sold by 2018; it is in the top ten of highest-grossing media franchises of all time.

Answer: She was neither the protagonist nor the antagonist in the game

While this video game was one of the most innovative video games when it was introduced, with its combination of puzzles, action, adventure gameplay, and even exploration, the game was at its most elemental, a rescue-the-damsel-in-distress type of game. The games (available on at least 18 different Nintendo platforms) centred on a green clothed character called Link (the player's "link to the real world") who can be renamed but remained a silent protagonist (so you as a player could have your own link-thoughts). Princess Zelda, named after Zelda Fitzgerald, was the princess of Hyrule and also the guardian of the Triforce of Wisdom, the latter of which was coveted by Ganon/Ganondorf who kidnapped the princess to gain this power. The princess appeared under various aliases / alter egos, including Sheik ("Ocarina of Time") and Tetra "The Wind Waker". While she wasn't the main protagonist of the series, she appeared in several of the "Super Smash Bros." games and the game "Hyrule Warriors" as a playable character.

Zelda was a playable character in series of video games that was developed for the Philips CD-i in the early 90s. These games created independently with input from Nintendo. These games included "Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon" and "Zelda's Adventure". Nintendo did not acknowledge them in the Zelda timeline.
"The Legend of Zelda" franchise has received exceptional acclaim from both public and critics. "Ocarina of Time", "The Wind Waker", "Skyward Sword", and "Breath of the Wild" have all earned a perfect 40/40 score from a highly regarded Japanese video games magazine. "Ocarina of Time" was listed by Guinness World Records as the "highest-rated video game in history". By the time "Breath of the Wild" was released in 2017, total franchise revenue exceeded $US3.1 billion putting it in the top 30 media franchises, worldwide.

Answer: Electric mouse

In an interview published in "Time" magazine in 1999 (November 22, 1999, Vol. 154, No. 20), Tajiri told the interviewer that 'Pika' is the sound Japanese say an electric spark makes. And 'chu' is the sound a mouse makes. So Pikachu is like an electric mouse". Pikachu has become the most well-known Pokemon, and his image can be found on much of the marketing for the franchise.

His close relationship with Ash, the main character in the . Like Pikachu, many "Pokemon" names are combinations of words.

Some popular ones are: Charizard, a fire type Pokemon whose name comes from 'char' and 'lizard', Squirtle, a water type whose name comes from 'squirt' and 'turtle', and Bulbasaur, a grass type whose name comes from 'bulb' and the suffix '-saur', Greek for lizard/reptile (think 'dinosaur').

Answer: Insect collecting

The original "Pokemon" games were released for Game Boy in 1996. In Japan, they were released as "Pocket Monsters Red" and "Pocket Monsters Green". The idea behind the games was that players would need to catch different 'monsters' in capsules and collect them. The games' initial success was not stellar, but the game developers had placed an unattainable Pokemon, Mew, in the game. They then held a contest for players to enter and win this Legendary Pokemon, which helped boost the games' success. The games followed a traditional pattern for Japanese role-playing games, but they included a system for trading Pokemon with other players. This social aspect also contributed to the games' popularity. With the popularity of the games growing, the games were released internationally in 1998 (1999 in Europe) as "Pokemon Red" and "Pokemon Blue".

The social and trading aspect of the "Pokemon" games has continued to make the game one of the most successful and top grossing franchises. This was made apparent with the popularity of the mobile version of the game, "Pokemon GO", which was released in 2016. "Pokemon GO" broke several records for mobile apps, and it became the Apple Store's top grossing app. The game took the social aspect to a new level by having players get out of their house and explore the world in order to catch Pokemon, meet people to join teams, and to find gyms where they could compete and train their Pokemon. "Pokemon GO" is a great example of the types of innovation the top video game franchises are using to expand even more and to venture into new markets. It is just one of many reasons why "Pokemon" has reached the top of the list of media franchises with over $US90 billion in total revenue from the sale video games, an anime series, movies, manga, licensed merchandise, trading cards, and more.

Answer: Because a hedgehog could curl up into a ball, roll around, and do damage with its spikes

Early in the 16-bit console era in 1990, Sega and Nintendo battled for commercial dominance. Sega wanted a character that could match Nintendo's Mario and they wanted that mascot to represent Sega as a whole. Alex Kidd was an early Sega mascot but considered unsuitable when he competed with Nintendo's Mario. Characters that were considered included an armadillo, porcupine, dog and "an old guy with a mustache" (who morphed eventually into Eggman) and a hedgehog. Early drawings were taken to the public who favoured the hedgehog followed by Eggman. Sega wanted an affectionate type of character that kids could draw. According to an interview with Sonic designer Naoto Ohshima by Brandon Sheffield in 2009, Mr Osima stated "He's blue because that's Sega's more-or-less official company color. Unlike other video games characters whose backstory emerged as a player, progress through game levels, Sega was creating a mascot, so as well as defining required characteristics which were developed as "cool" and "challenger" (as Sega at the time were a long way from a "Mario" character).

They also defined a third requirement: they wanted to create a history. This history was centred on the Japanese impression of American cool which was "leather jackets and airplane nose art". A backstory was created about a pilot who loved to fly at high speeds causing his hair to stick up in spikes. The nose art on his plane and the pilot's flying jacket contained a hedgehog (from the spiky hair). The pilot married a children's book author who wrote a story about her a hedgehog based on her husband. The book story is the premise of the first incarnation of Sonic the Hedgehog. The development team also used influences from 90s trends such as environmental awareness and eco-friendly attitudes to create a soft furry mascot battling technology-based robots: nature vs environmental development.

Answer: The cost to develop Dreamcast II almost bankrupted the company

One of the smartest moves Sega made to promote "Sonic The Hedgehog" was to including the "Sonic the Hedgehog" game into the Sega Genesis console purchase bundle as well as making the console cheaper than its main rival, Nintendo's Super NES. This gave Sonic a shot at toppling Mario as the most popular video game character.

However with the next generation of hardware, Sega's Dreamcast released in 1998 with good software like "Crazy Taxi", "Jet Set Radio" and "Shenmue", could not compete with the hype and expectation of the impending release of PlayStation 2 by Sony, Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo Game Cube (the latter succumbing to PlayStation's dominance within a decade).

In 2001 a decision was made by Sega to stop producing hardware and concentrate on software development, particularly the Sonic brand. Sega then produced Sonic games for the various successful platforms of the early 2000s.

This decision was prudent given the Game Boy Advance and its replacement Nintendo DS were released in 2000 and 2005 respectively.

In 2013 Sega announced a partnership with Nintendo to exclusively produce the next three Sonic games. This led to joint Mario and Sonic characters being developed into the same game games being developed. When "Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games" was released in 2016, the "Sonic" brand had earned over $US7 billion in revenue.