I think a big part of that is that Nintendo was around way back when you didn't have a lot of technological tools to actually characterize your characters. It's pretty difficult to give something that looks like this:Gamerforlife wrote: They've never been good about characters and story. Gameplay is what really made Nintendo a big player in our industry. I mean if we're being completely honest, Mario is one of the dorkiest, silliest characters of all time. When I often say that I enjoy Zelda-inspired games like Okami and Beyond Good and Evil more than Zelda games, that's a big reason why. Those games give me characters I can give a crap about. I've yet to play a Zelda game where I liked or felt emotionally invested in any character
Though to be fair, there are some charming NPCs in Skyward Sword like the shop keeper who hovers over you and slumps his shoulders when you leave without buying something. What can't the main characters be that charming? Fi just makes me want to shove a knife through her face. I find the most likable characters in that game to be NPC characters that are just bit players in the game
(is that eyeliner?)Much of an emotional bearing. Part of this is simply left over from an age were there wasn't a lot of room for the development of characters. For this reason, the way that characters in Nintendo games are used is fundamentally different. A lot of what made people come to like Nintendo characters so much is the feeling of simple joy they convey. What was great about Nintendo games was that there was no real barrier of entry, you just simply hopped in and explored what the game had to offer. A perfect example of this is Metroid. The feeling of being isolated on an alien world was so much stronger when it was just that, completely alien and unfamiliar. The Chozo were all the more mysterious and the Space Pirates and monsters were all the more ominous, because you and Samus were both experiencing the game's world and setting for the first time. In a way, the characters on the screen are simply a placeholder for the player themselves entering and enjoying the game. Is Mario a complex character? No, the opposite really. Truthfully, we can't say that we relate to Mario as a study or example of the human condition. We relate to Mario because we can see and experience him as joyful and positive character. The gameplay experience itself is what characterizes Mario, and really that's the experience to be had with the character. The point of a lot of these games isn't really to tell a deep or intricately crafted narrative, it's to simply immerse you in the game's world on your own and see what it has to offer you the player.
Another element to this is the timelessness that's been established with these characters for the previously stated reasons. The player has certain expectations to the way the games are going to feel. I mean, they tried adding a narrative and backstory to Other M, and people reacted very negatively to it. These characters almost don't even need a backstory, because the meaning of their roles in the game and to us the player are already more or less assumed. There are also a lot of growing pains to be had when new personalities are suddenly given to characters that people find unappealing, just look at the aforementioned Other M Samus or a worst case scenario: Sonic the Hedgehog. It's true that the timelessness and ubiquitous nature of these characters can be fallen back on to avoid characterizing them within new installments of their games, but these characters are so thoroughly known and perceived by their audience that that's really all they need. Mario may be a guy that rescues the princess, but he's the guy that rescues the princess. It's not just Mario, it's the Mushroom Kingdom, the strange powerups, the rows of koopas, smashing your face against a block to squeeze out more coins, an ever determined Boswer, and Princess Peach waiting to be saved. Likewise for Zelda, it's Hyrule, the Master Sword, a story of a profound but potentially disastrous governing power, ever changing puzzles with more and more new tools to solve, numerous dungeons guarded by monsters that make you use those tools to their greatest potential, defeating the evil king's ambition in the darkest hour, and saving the girl. These scenarios aren't unique to these characters and universes, but they've become so synonymous throughout the course of gaming history that they're practically inseparable at this point. The gameplay and settings that we so closely link with these characters is what really give us such a strong affinity for who would in other circumstances be comparatively bland characters.
Side note: This is ridiculous, what am I? Original Name or something? Sheesh.
Side note: If you've ever played Wind Waker, Ganon is a much more complex and deep character in that one.
