Some video game mascots will live forever for game companies, franchises, console makers, and so on. Mario is the be-all and end-all character whom most companies strive to replicate in terms of market share and presence. There’s not a kid or adult alive who doesn’t know who Mario is or what he looks like on some level.
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While there are plenty of mascot characters who are on the level of Mario, like Pikachu for Pokemon and Sonic for Sega, other mascots have come and gone. Some were successful and faded out of existence, while others were never that popular to begin with. Let’s go through the forgotten and obscure video game mascots who may never return.
Bonk
The PC Engine’s Caveman Icon
- First Major Game Appearance: Bonk's Adventure
- Developer: Red Company/Atlus
- Publisher: Hudson Soft (Japan)
- Platform: PC Engine
- Debut: December 15, 1989 (Japan)
Bonk was the mascot character for the PC Engine console, one that didn’t get much fanfare in North America. That said, the series of Bonk games on the PC Engine and other consoles was excellent. They featured the titular Bonk, a caveman, who gained various weird powers throughout his platforming adventures. Bonk's Adventure was the first game in the series, released in 1989 in Japan for the PC Engine and a year later in North America.
Even after the PC Engine went away, Bonk maintained a decent decade of relevance, but the last known titles that he appeared in were a series of basic mobile games released in Japan around 2008. Konami has owned the Bonk franchise since it acquired the parent company, Hudson Soft, in 2012, but they haven’t done anything major with the franchise or character since.
Toro And Kuro
PlayStation’s Japanese Mascots
- First Major Game Appearance: Doko Demo Issyo
- Developer: Bexide
- Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment Japan
- Platform: PS1
- Debut: July 22, 1999 (Japan)
Sony has had a lot of mascot characters over the years, as they never really found their Mario equivalent. The white and black cat duo, Toro and Kuro, come close, for Japan at least. They were featured in various PlayStation ads in Japan, along with appearing in several games dedicated to them, usually based on mini-games. Toro’s first game was Doko Demo Issyo for the PS1 in 1999, while Kuro’s debut was in Doko Demo Issyo: Toro and More Parties for the PS2 in 2004.
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Toro's Friend Networ k for the PS Vita in 2013 was the first game in the series to make its way to North America, and it was more like a glorified app to find friends than a true video game. The characters appeared in other games too, like PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, Everybody's Golf 6, and Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten. They certainly got around, and they even appeared in Astro Bot in 2024, albeit in robot form. So, they are technically still around, but they don’t hold the mascot status to promote PlayStation like they used to. One of their last games was a mobile app in 2019 called Toro and Friends: Onsen Town, which was taken down in 2021.
Segata Sanshiro
The Sega Saturn’s Biggest Reason To Exist
- First Major Game Appearance: Segata Sanshiro Shinken Yugi
- Developer: Ecole Software
- Publisher: Sega
- Platform: Sega Saturn
- Debut: October 29, 1998 (Japan)
Segata Sanshiro was the Japanese fictional human mascot for Sega Saturn commercials and print ads starting in 1997. They are some of the funniest video game commercials ever made, which made this mascot a trending meme long after the Sega Saturn went away. He may not be a drawn mascot, but he is still an important character in Sega’s history. His final ad appearance saw him literally sacrificing himself to save the Sega Dreamcast before its launch in 1999. Decades later, Sega ran some ads with Segata Sanshiro’s fictional son, Sega Shiro, in 2020, but that didn’t take off.
Beyond being an ad man, Segata Sanshiro appeared in some games as well. He appeared in a mini-game collection released for the Sega Saturn in 1998 in Japan called Segata Sanshiro Shinken Yugi. Other examples include making a cameo in 2012’s Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, and becoming a party member in Project X Zone 2, which was a tactical RPG that was released in 2016 in North America. Sega could bring him back in more games, but Project X Zone 2 will probably be his last big hurrah.
Titus The Fox
A Forgotten Developer
- First Major Game Appearance: Titus the Fox: To Marrakech and Back
- Developer: Titus France
- Publisher: Titus France
- Platforms: Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, MS-DOS
- Debut: 1992
Titus the Fox will be recognizable to anyone who grew up in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s. It was a red fox mascot character for Titus Interactive SA that went through several names and iterations, but this version of the company lasted for twenty impressive years, between 1985 and 2005, before going defunct. Anyone who grew up in this time must have seen the familiar red fox on game boxes or startup screens. The developer didn’t have a lot of good games, as they mostly worked with licenses, but they certainly created some infamous titles.
Those include Superman: The New Superman Adventures for the N64 and the 2003 RoboCop game, both of which are considered to be some of the worst games ever made. There were some gems in there, though, like Incredible Crisis, which they only published in North America for the PS1. Titus the Fox did get his own game, Titus the Fox: To Marrakech and Back, which is currently available on Steam as just Titus the Fox. Originally, it was a 1991 game on obscure platforms like the Amiga. So, while the company and mascot are now dead, Titus the Fox will at least live on in infamy.
Nester
Nintendo Power’s Early Icon
- First Major Game Appearance: Nester's Funky Bowling
- Developer: Saffire
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Platform: Virtual Boy
- Debut: February 1996
Nester was a child character who started appearing in Nintendo Power comics. His biggest run lasted from 1988 to 1993, so readers got used to seeing his face. He wasn’t just in comics either; he appeared in other Nintendo advertisements within the magazine. He became so iconic that he even started appearing, or being mentioned, in Nintendo games.
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Technically, his first appearance was in 1990 in NES Play Action Football, wherein Nester announced the results of each game. That’s more like a cameo, but Nester did get his own game in 1996 called Nester's Funky Bowling for the ill-fated Virtual Boy. It wasn’t the worst game on the system, but no one could save the Virtual Boy, not even Nester. While his run did come to a close, Nester appeared randomly from time to time to celebrate big milestones in Nintendo Power’s legacy, which also went the way of the dinosaur in 2012.
Jazz Jackrabbit
An Epic Debut
- First Major Game Appearance: Jazz Jackrabbit
- Developer: Epic MegaGames
- Publisher: Epic MegaGames
- Platform: MS-DOS
- Debut: August 1, 1994 (Episode One)
Before Epic Games became the gaming juggernaut that it is today, it began humbly in 1991 as Potomac Computer Systems. In 1992, it was rebranded as Epic MegaGames, and then finally as Epic Games in 1999. They never had an official mascot for the company, but Jazz Jackrabbit was the first mascot character that started appearing in games and became a hit for them. The mascot is notable because Cliff Bleszinski helped design it, who is best known today for creating the Gears of War series.
The titular character's first game, Jazz Jackrabbit, was released in 1994, followed by new episodes debuting afterward. This then led to a sequel in 1998, Jazz Jackrabbit 2, and then to a 2002 Game Boy Advance game that Epic did not develop, simply called Jazz Jackrabbit. There were plans in-between the second game and the GBA title to make a 3D Jazz Jackrabbit adventure, but it was canceled. Save for some Easter Eggs here and there, including one in Fortnite, the character has ceased being anything meaningful to Epic Games for decades now.
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