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Some video game mascots are actually the enemies of the player in the games they’re from. Sometimes this is because the game is first-person, so the most commonly seen characters are those being fought. Other times it’s just because these enemies are so notable in their presence they become unforgettable.
10 Big Daddy – Bioshock
Bioshock is a game with many excellent qualities, but a memorable protagonist is not one of them. Jack is largely invisible, never speaks, and it’s also easy to miss what his name is. This is probably why the game’s cover is instead handed over to the Big Daddy.
The Big Daddies are powerful enemies that appear throughout the game and guard the Little Sisters the player must either harvest or rescue. Their presence is intimidating, being so huge that their steps cause the screen to shake. These interactions proved so notable that they would become the face of the series, and one of them would become a player character in the sequel.
9 Pipo Monkey – Ape Escape
During the era of the original PlayStation, Sony put out quite a few candidates for a Mario or Sonic of their own. While Crash Bandicoot was the seemingly obvious choice, other characters from Sony-owned titles tried to take the spot too, with Parappa the Rapper and Japan’s Toro Inoue being possibilities, alongside the Pipo Monkeys from Ape Escape.
These monkeys were the enemies of the player in Ape Escape, as they were the apes that were escaping and needed to be captured before they caused havoc across time. However, their varied personalities and cheeky attitudes made them lovable, and they would show up across Sony’s marketing for years. They’ve been absent for a while, but a recent re-release of the first two games on PS Plus could change that.
8 Jack Frost – Shin Megami Tensei
Shin Megami Tensei is a series full of demons, all based on real-world folklore from around the globe. While many are memorable, such as Pixie or the NSFW Mara, Jack Frost has ascended above his demon brethren to not just become a mascot for the series and its spinoffs, but for publisher Atlus themselves.
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A cheerful snow imp, he can usually be found among the enemies of any given Atlus RPG and can usually be recruited with a cry of “hee-ho!”. He’s been given a ton of time in the spotlight, including a spinoff dungeon crawler staring him and his brothers, and a story sequence in Persona 5 Strikers where an army of Jack Frosts prevent entry to one of the game’s Palaces.
7 Slime – Dragon Quest
Slimes are common enemies in RPGs, usually basic-level enemies that do little damage and are easily dispatched, suitable for low-level players looking to learn basic mechanics without being crushed by dangerous foes. None are quite as iconic as Dragon Quest’s Slimes, though.
Usually fought as some of the first enemies in each game, these little guys are adorable and squishy rather than menacing, so it’s not really a surprise that they’d become popular enough to become the face of the entire series. They’ve appeared in every game to date and there is an unending amount of merchandise based on them, making them even more recognizable than the heroes of the series.
6 Servbot – Mega Man Legends
Mega Man Legends was a spinoff from the main Mega Man franchise that took the series in a drastically different direction, turning the run and gun shooter into an RPG. One major foe in the game, the air pirate Tron Bonne, also brought an army of robots that would go on to become mascots for the games, and eventually Capcom as a whole.
Servbots were little Lego minifig-esque robots, happy to serve their mistress in any task, whether it’s cooking and cleaning, piloting machinery, or maintenance. While the Mega Man Legends games have sadly been left in the past, the Servbots have made cameo appearances elsewhere, including Street Fighter x Tekken and the Dead Rising series.
5 Cactuar – Final Fantasy
With each game in the Final Fantasy series taking place in different worlds with different characters, they need something to tie them all together. The solution is to bring back familiar creatures with each game, such as the Moogles who act as fluffy-friendly NPCs, or the Chocobo mounts. This also includes enemies, which usually come back with unique twists to blend them into each world.
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One enemy remains the same across most of the series, however. The cactuars are tiny cactus men who look like they’re posing for an exit sign and have a tendency to blast needles at the party before running away. They’re goofy and iconic, and always fun to encounter in each title.
4 Turret – Portal
Portal is a game that became iconic the instant it was released. From the comically sinister voice of GLaDOS to the meme potential of statements like “the cake is a lie,” Portal won over gamers everywhere and became hugely influential in the industry. It’s not surprising then, that the adorably murderous turrets would become iconic mascots.
With their simplistic design and cute high-pitched voices saying “there you are” and “is anyone there” when they see and lose the player respectively, they went from a frustrating obstacle to something players wanted to buy merchandise of.
3 Goomba – Super Mario
The Super Mario series is so full of iconic enemies that this whole list could be filled with them exclusively. Even deciding on the most iconic is difficult, so the best option is to pick the enemy that led the charge – the humble Goomba.
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These mushroom-shaped little guys shuffled along the screen in the original Super Mario Bros and offered up the player’s first indication of how effective jumping on enemies was. They’ve shown up in every Mariogame since and continue to shuffle along trying to bump into Mario, fast becoming a staple of the franchise.
2 Creeper – Minecraft
Minecraft has a wide array of enemies looking to end the player’s attempts to build the perfect base. However, while the zombies and skeletons are annoying, no enemy ruins the day as comprehensively as the Creeper.
A strange green creature with no arms, the Creeper is essentially a walking bomb that will detonate when it gets close enough to the player, blowing up most of the nearby scenery in the process, usually whatever is being built at the time. This explosive destruction and unique design have become an iconic image for Minecraft to this day, an enemy famous even to people who’ve never played the game.
1 Dopefish – Commander Keen
Sometimes an enemy becomes so iconic that it becomes more famous than the game it originated from. Commander Keen was id Software’s game-changing side-scrolling platformer released for PCs in the early 1990s, starring a small boy who becomes a space-faring hero. One enemy, the Dopefish, could be found in underwater areas, looking goofy and harmless right up until it swallowed Commander Keen whole.
The Dopefish was so popular that it began to appear in id Software games for decades after, even showing up in games from other studios. These cameos are still going, as the Dopefish’s most recent appearance was in 2020’s Doom Eternal (pictured), even as Commander Keen has largely disappeared into obscurity.
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