WARNING: this is a long one.
Many years ago on the original OPCFG, I attempted to compile a list of videogame heroes and heroines that had seemingly been forgotten, for whatever reason, by the game companies that created them. This was, in the end, a futile undertaking, as game companies do revive long-dead IPs from time to time. So eventually I gave up on it.
After re-reading the original article recently, I decided to go ahead and take another crack at it, to see how far I’ve come with both my writing and my editing abilities. But this time, I’m narrowing it down to characters that haven’t had a new game in their respective series in at least a decade (re-releases don’t count). There are seventy-seven of them in total. Of course, it’s nearly impossible to list every single videogame character that’s come and gone, but there’s a decent selection listed here.
If you really want to read the (laughably out-of-date) original article, go here.
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Rick Taylor
Created by: Namco
Games featured in:
Splatterhouse – multiplatform
Splatterhouse 2 – Sega Genesis
Splatterhouse 3 – Sega Genesis
Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti – Famicom
Splatterhouse (Xbox 360/PlayStation 3)
Hours later, Rick awoke to a fantastic horror – he was alone and drenched with blood. But, the most terrifying thing of all was that a hideous mask covered his face. He had read tales of this “Terror Mask” in Dr. West’s writings – it was said to have ancient spiritual powers.
Rick Taylor was the star of Namco’s Splatterhouse series. Resembling Jason Voorhees from the Friday The 13th movies, Rick charged through the series dismembering zombies and other monsters trying to save his girlfriend Jennifer, and later on his son David, from the Evil One. After years away, he returned in the 2010 Splatterhouse for the XBox 360 and PlayStation 3. However, that game ended with a cliffhanger, and due to the poor sales of the game, Namco hasn’t attempted to follow up on it.
Hayate and Lady Kaede
Created by: Natsume
Game featured in:
Shadow of the Ninja – NES
Hayate and Lady Kaede are ninjas of the Iga clan. Their mission is to infiltrate the fortresses of Garuda and destroy his wicked empire.
Natsume created one of the best ninja action games when they created Shadow of the Ninja for the NES in 1990. It’s widely regarded as one of the best action games on the NES, and was one of the only ninja games to feature two player simultaneous action. Hayate and Lady Kaede vanished after Shadow of the Ninja, though. Rumors of a sequel circulated for years, but it never appeared. There was going to be a GameBoy version of Shadow of the Ninja, but Tecmo acquired it and turned it into the Ninja Gaiden prequel, Ninja Gaiden Shadow.
Alex Kidd
Created by: Sega
Games featured in:
Alex Kidd in Miracle World – Sega Master System
Alex Kidd: BMX Trial – Sega Mark III
Alex Kidd and The Lost Stars – multiplatform
Alex Kidd in High-Tech World – Sega Master System
Alex Kidd in The Enchanted Castle – Sega Genesis
Alex Kidd in Shinobi World – Sega Master System
Many centuries ago, on the planet Aries, there lived a boy named ALEX KIDD. For seven years he lived on Mt. Eternal studying Shellcore, an ancient art that makes one strong enough to break rocks into pieces.
Alex Kidd was Sega’s original mascot, appearing in no less than six games. Before Sonic The Hedgehog came along, Alex was the character that everyone identified with Sega, as far as their home consoles were concerned. However, upon Sonic’s arrival, Alex was drop-kicked to the curb by Sega. Alex even made an appearance in the Japan-only Dreamcast RPG SEGAGAGA, telling the player the sad story of his fall from grace, which explains why he’s been reduced to being a convenience store worker. In 2021, the original Alex Kidd in Miracle World was given an HD facelift and released as Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX, which was a nice surprise.
Yuko Ahso
Created by: Telenet Japan
Games featured in:
Valis – multiplatform
Valis II – multiplatform
Valis III – multiplatform
Valis SD/Syd Of Valis – Sega Mega Drive/Genesis
Yuko Ahso, who up until recently, was a student living a normal life, is the heroine of our story. One day, not long ago, she discovered that her destiny was to become a warrior in the land called “Dreamland”.
Yuko was the star of the first three Valis games, as well as Valis SD (although she appeared in Valis IV, she was not the main character of the game). Wielding the Sword of Valis, she fought the denizens of the Dark World in order to save the Human World and Dreamland from destruction. In Valis III she joined forces with her sister Valna and the resistance fighter from the Dark World, Cham. Unfortunately, Valis III was the last game to star Yuko, and after Valis IV, the series was put to rest (not counting those hentai abominations released for Japanese PCs almost twenty years ago).
Anett Myer
Created by: Wolfteam
Games featured in:
El Viento – Sega Genesis
Anett Futatabi – Mega CD
Anett is a sorceress who has an accursed blood relation with Hastur; she is the only person capable of containing Hastur. She has become a master of wind spells ever since she first contained Hastur and took possession of his tremendous energy two years ago.
Anett was the star of the underrated Genesis game El Viento as well as its Mega CD-only sequel, Anett Futatabi. In both games, she fought the Hastur Group, who had plotted to revive the evil god Hastur and take over the world. A colorful cast of characters populated both games (among them Earnest Evans, who had his own game that connected to the El Viento story and did feature Anett in a non-playable role), but Anett herself was undoubtedly the star. After El Viento came and went in the U.S., no one seemed interested in localizing Anett Futatabi (understandably, as the game isn’t that great), and the series was forgotten.
Flicky
Created by: Sega
Games featured in:
Flicky – multiplatform
Bloxeed – arcade
Help Flicky the bluebird grab all the Chirps and save them from the Tiger Cats and Iggy Lizards.
Flicky was the star of the 1984 arcade game of the same name, which was ported to the Sega Genesis in 1991. The goal was simple: gather all of the Chirps and get them to the exit while avoiding the Tiger Cats and Iggy Lizards. Sega gave a nod to Flicky by naming the bluebirds that Sonic the Hedgehog must rescue in his various games “Flickies,” however, Flicky herself has not appeared in her own game since Bloxeed.
Alyssa
Created by: Compile
Game featured in:
The Guardian Legend – NES
Now, you must battle your way deep within Naju’s labyrinths to destroy the alien world. You are the guardian of Earth and your saga will become The Guardian Legend.
Alyssa was the star of The Guardian Legend, a unique adventure/shooter hybrid for the NES (the best way to describe the game would be a cross between The Legend Of Zelda and Zanac). Alyssa herself was unique due to the fact that she could transform from a woman into a starfighter and back again. Her human form let her explore Naju in the overhead adventure scenes, and her starfighter form enabled her to go out and destroy the monsters in the shooter scenes. A sequel to The Guardian Legend was rumored to appear for the Super NES for quite some time, but it never happened. Alyssa hasn’t been seen since.
Hayato
Created by: Sega
Game featured in:
Kenseiden – Sega Master System
You are Hayato, a fearless Samurai Warrior. You must get back the sword and scrolls… and defeat the evil awaiting in the Black Castle!
Here’s my pick for “Most Obscure Hero Ever”. Hayato was the star of Kenseiden for the Sega Master System, a Castlevania-like adventure set in feudal Japan. Hayato’s goal was to defeat the Warlocks and recover the Sword of the Dragon King, as well as the scrolls that would teach him various sword techniques. It was a great game, loaded with secrets, technique and deep gameplay. Unfortunately, Kenseiden was overlooked in favor of the more popular Master System games. Because of this, Hayato vanished, never to be heard from again.
Jack Avery
Created by: Data East
Game featured in:
Captain Silver – multiplatform
You are a sailor named Jack Avery. One day, an old man spoke to Jack about Captain Silver’s treasure. He handed Jack a map and disappeared. Jack then headed off on an adventure to retrieve Captain Silver’s treasure!
As if Hayato wasn’t obscure enough, here’s Jack Avery, star of Data East’s pirate-themed action game Captain Silver. Pirate-themed games alone are fairly rare (the only ones I can think of offhand besides Captain Silver are Skull & Crossbones and Pirates!), and this one was a decent sidescroller that is mostly remembered because of the Sega Master System port, and to a lesser degree, the Famicom port (if it’s remembered at all). No sequel to Captain Silver was ever made, and Jack was forgotten as quickly as Hayato was.
Elta
Created by: Alpha
Game featured in:
Magician Lord – Neo-Geo
Elta must defeat Az Atorse and recover the eight Books of Wisdom from the clutches of his minions.
Elta was the star of one of the Neo-Geo’s launch games, Magician Lord. In his quest to defeat Az Atorse, Elta could transform into several different characters, all of which had their own unique attacks and abilities. However, Magician Lord was the only game to appear featuring Elta. He’s languished in obscurity since.
Dr. Ferdinand Social
Created by: SIMS
Game featured in:
Master of Darkness/Vampire: Master of Darkness/In The Wake Of The Vampire – multiplatform
There was an investigator of the paranormal, a young psychologist named Ferdinand Social. On the night of the full moon, he received a mysterious message while using his Ouija Board.
Sega’s lone attempt to clone Castlevania for the Master System (no, I don’t consider Kenseiden to be a Castlevania clone) featured intrepid psychologist Dr. Ferdinand Social trying to get to the bottom of a mystery in 19th-century London. Even though Master of Darkness copied Castlevania in many respects, there were enough differences between the two games to help Master of Darkness stand out from your average Castlevania clone. Master of Darkness remained relatively unknown, despite being released all over the world, and became a bit of a sleeper title for Sega. However, a sequel to Master of Darkness never appeared, and Dr. Social was soon forgotten.
Albatross and Leila
Created by: Namco
Games featured in:
Rolling Thunder – multiplatform
Rolling Thunder 2 – multiplatform
You are Albatross, an agent of Rolling Thunder, and your mission is to stop the criminal organization Geldra.
They were the original video game secret agents. Albatross first appeared in the classic Namco arcade game Rolling Thunder, trying to stop the terrorist organization Geldra from taking over the world. Leila, who was captured by Geldra in Rolling Thunder, returns as a playable character in Rolling Thunder 2. After Rolling Thunder 2, though, they both vanished, aside from a brief mention at the beginning of Rolling Thunder 3.
Jay and Ellen
Created by: Namco
Game featured in:
Rolling Thunder 3 – Sega Genesis
By destroying the top two links in the chain of command, Geldra should be permanently eliminated. So who is this third agent? He’s a new guy who goes by the name Jay.
According to the opening story of Rolling Thunder 3, Albatross and Leila are busy with the Geldra case, but an agent is needed to take out a character called Dread. Enter Jay. This is the only Rolling Thunder game he appeared in (on a side note, Rolling Thunder 3 was never released in Japan, for some unexplained reason). After Rolling Thunder 3 he vanished completely. There was another secret agent named Ellen that you could select, but only by entering the password GREED. She too was never seen again after Rolling Thunder 3.
Alisia Dragoon
Created by: Game Arts
Game featured in:
Alisia Dragoon – Sega Genesis
Alisia Dragoon is the daughter of the mage that once contained Baldour. Her father was tortured and killed before her very eyes when she was young. Alisia is now of age and possesses power that rivals her father. Fueled by anger over his death and the desire for revenge, Alisia treks out to battle Baldour.
Alisia Dragoon was an action platformer released in 1992 for the Sega Genesis. Alisia was a magic using, monster summoning heroine on a quest to destroy the demon that killed her father. This was one of the only cartridge games by Game Arts that was released in the U.S. (most of the other Game Arts games released in the U.S. were released on the Sega CD). Unfortunately, like so many of the other great platformers that were released for the Genesis, it didn’t do as well as Sega hoped, and Alisia was quickly forgotten.
The Nameless Ones
Created by: Capcom
Game featured in:
Forgotten Worlds – multiplatform
Armed with their anti-gravitational units, invincible satellites, and a never-say-die attitude, these warriors, the Nameless Ones, face the alien invaders to restore the name of Earth to the… Forgotten Worlds.
The Nameless Ones were the heroes of Capcom’s Forgotten Worlds. Their goal was to save the Earth from the aliens that had conquered it and turned it into the Dust World. According to the story, the two Nameless Ones were raised by a group of human resistance fighters for the sole purpose of destroying the aliens. The game itself seemed to be a followup to Capcom’s earlier shooters Section Z and Sidearms, but there were no connections to either games other than the fact that all three were side scrolling shooters. Other than a brief cameo appearance made by one of the Nameless Ones in Marvel Vs. Capcom (the blonde guy, under the name Unknown Soldier), neither of them have been seen since.
Sparkster
Created by: Konami
Games featured in:
Rocket Knight Adventures – Sega Genesis
Sparkster – Sega Genesis
Sparkster – SNES
Rocket Knight – multiplatform
Ten years back, his master Mifune was permanently disabled by the Black Knight Axle Gear. Sparkster arrived in the Kingdom of Zebulos after searching all over for Axle Gear, upon whom he seeks revenge. He poses as a wandering outlaw, but is in fact a strong defender of justice.
Sparkster was the star of one of the first games Konami produced for the Sega Genesis. Titled Rocket Knight Adventures, it was released when mascot games were seemingly everywhere. It sold well enough that Konami decided to bring Sparkster back in a second game. Somewhere along the line, though, Sparkster ended up in two completely different games on two competing systems, yet both game had the same title, Sparkster. After that, Sparkster disappeared for many years, relegated to the occasional cameo in games like the Sega CD version of Snatcher, the Super Famicom game Ganbare Goemon 2: Kiteretsu Shougun Matsuginesu and the PlayStation 2 game Contra Shattered Soldier. Sparkster finally returned in the 2010 digital-only game Rocket Knight, but sadly, it didn’t sell nearly as well as the previous games, and Sparkster went back into retirement.
Super Joe
Created by: Capcom
Game featured in:
Commando – multiplatform
“Super Joe” and your skill must defeat the evil enemy army. Armed with a rifle and limited grenades, your assignment is to rescue hostages and keep the evil army from controlling the world.
Super Joe was the original video game super soldier. Commando set the standard for overhead “South American Commando Slaughter”-style shooters, such as SNK’s Ikari Warriors and Data East’s Bloody Wolf. Super Joe himself only appeared in the original Commando. A sequel was produced, MERCS, but it featured a team of three mercenaries, rather than Super Joe. Super Joe also made a cameo in the NES game Bionic Commando. He had been captured by an organization called the “Badds” after trying to stop them from setting their master plan into motion, and the Bionic Commando, Radd Spencer, had to go behind enemy lines, stop the “Badds” and rescue Super Joe. It took years, but Super Joe finally returned as a non-playable character in the 2009 Bionic Commando. However, the less said about that, the better.
The Centurion
Created by: Sega
Game featured in:
Altered Beast – multiplatform
I command you to rise from your grave and rescue my daughter.
Altered Beast, released by Sega in arcades in 1988, was a fairly big hit. It was popular enough that when Sega released the Genesis in the U.S. in the fall of 1989, Altered Beast came packaged with it. The nameless Centurion that you took control of was brought back to life at the beginning of the game by Zeus, king of the gods. He commanded the Centurion to go forward and rescue his daughter Athena from the evil god Neff. The Centurion would transform into various werebeasts throughout the game by picking up three spirit balls, each one making him bigger and more muscular until the third altered him completely into a beast (hence the title of the game). Despite the popularity of the game, it was replaced as the Genesis pack-in by the even more popular Sonic The Hedgehog just two years later. Sega created the sequels Altered Beast: Guardian Of The Realms (GameBoy Advance) and Project Altered Beast (PlayStation 2); however, new characters took the lead role in both. The Centurion remains MIA.
Allen and Sheena
Created by: Hori Electric Co., Ltd.
Game featured in:
Run Saber – SNES
Welcome to the dark future of Earth. The last hope of mankind rests in the hands of an elite force of cyborgs code named: Run Sabers. Created with a superior strength, powers, and abilities, these warriors are sent against impossible odds to stop a warped scientist from fouling the entire planet.
Run Saber was, for all intents and purposes, an Super NES version of the legendary Capcom arcade game Strider. Using near identical play mechanics and new innovations, Run Saber was the game that Strider fans that only owned an Super NES wanted. Allen (the Thunder Saber) and Sheena (the Ice Saber) could easily have been Striders themselves, as they certainly looked and acted the part. However, by all accounts, the game didn’t do very well and never received a sequel, so Allen and Sheena faded into obscurity.
Mark and Bert
Created by: Shinsei
Game featured in:
Monster Party – NES
Mark must help Bert free his planet from the evil monsters.
One of the strangest games ever created came in the form of Bandai’s 1989 NES game Monster Party. It was arguably one of the best games that Bandai released for the NES (aside from the Namco games they published). Unfortunately, the game didn’t do as well as it should have (perhaps people were turned off by the sheer psychotic quality of the game), and the heroes, Mark (the little boy with the baseball bat) and Bert (the winged laser-firing alien), were quickly forgotten. As probably the world’s biggest Monster Party fan, I would love to see them come back, but I seriously doubt that will ever happen.
Radd Spencer
Created by: Capcom
Games featured in:
Bionic Commando – arcade
Bionic Commando/Bionic Commando: Rearmed – NES/multiplatform
Bionic Commando – GameBoy
Bionic Commando – Xbox 360/PlayStation 3
Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 – multiplatform
One brave man was sent to the empire with a special mission: to rescue Super Joe.
Bionic Commando was initially released in 1987 in arcades. Variations of the game appeared for both the NES and GameBoy several years later. What made the game unique was that Radd, the hero, could not jump. He had to use his grappling hook to swing over obstacles. Every game in the series was called Bionic Commando, even though they were all different games. After the GameBoy game was released, Radd was replaced when Capcom created Bionic Commando: Elite Forces for the GameBoy Color. In 2008, Capcom teased Radd’s return with a reimagining of the NES game for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, titled Bionic Commando Rearmed. This led to Radd’s return in a completely new game, Bionic Commando, for the 360 and PS3 in 2009. However, Radd (now renamed Nathan) was given a ridiculous redesign and the story of the game could best be described as asinine. Sales suffered, despite the fact that once you look past all that, it’s actually a pretty fun game. Capcom brought Radd back one last time in the 2011 game Bionic Commando Rearmed 2, which gave Radd the ability to jump, but also stuck him with a goofy looking mustache. That aside, it didn’t sell nearly as well as the first Rearmed, and with that, Radd was retired, aside from appearing as a playable character in the later Marvel vs. Capcom games.
Blade and Striker
Created by: Data East
Game featured in:
Bad Dudes/Bad Dudes Vs. Dragon Ninja/Dragon Ninja – multiplatform
The President has been kidnapped by ninjas. Are you a bad enough dude to rescue the President?
Bad Dudes was released by Data East in arcades in 1988, during the height of Double Dragon mania. It featured Blade and Striker, two “bad dudes” who were out to rescue President Reagan (President Bush in the NES version), who had been kidnapped by the Dragon Ninja. It was one of the better side-scrolling beat ’em ups released. An attempt was made to bring the Bad Dudes back for a sequel, Bad Dudes 2, in 2012 via Kickstarter, but it didn’t reach its goal in time.
Kelesis
Created by: Compile
Games featured in:
Golvellius: Valley Of Doom/Maou Golvellius – multiplatform
Super Cooks – MSX 2
Then a wandering lad with wild green hair and a taste for adventure came into the village. His name was Kelesis, which in the language of the kingdom of Aleid meant, “Bane of Demons.”
Compile created their own version of The Legend Of Zelda for the MSX, Golvellius: Valley Of Doom, in the late ’80s. Most American Sega fans became acquainted with it through its Sega Master System incarnation. A spinoff, Super Cooks, appeared for the MSX 2, but after that Kelesis was forgotten.
Stanley The Bugman
Created by: Nintendo
Game featured in:
Donkey Kong 3 – multiplatform
As Stanley the Bugman, you must spray repeatedly to get Donkey Kong up to the top of the vines and to zap the bees.
Instead of following up the platforming action of the first two Donkey Kong games, Nintendo attempted to create a Galaga-esque shooter starring not Mario, but Stanley the Bugman. The game was not very well received outside of Japan, and despite receiving a port to the NES, it – and Stanley – were quickly forgotten, only resurfacing in the occasional re-release. Hudson created an updated version of Donkey Kong 3 in 1984 for the Sharp X1, NEC PC-6601 and PC8801 computers, titled Donkey Kong 3: The Great Counterattack, but it was never officially released outside of Japan.
Edgar, Mary, Joe, and Lee
Created by: Sega
Game featured in:
Quartet – multiplatform
Lee, Mary, Edgar, and Joe must find and destroy the level boss, collect its key and move onto the next stage.
Quartet was initially released in arcades, then later ported to the Sega Master System (known as Double Target for the Mark III in Japan). It was unique in the fact that it was a four player game in a time when there were very few four player games (it should be noted that the Master System game only featured two of the characters from the arcade game, Mary and Edgar). There was a Quartet 2 that was released in arcades; however, it was only a two player version of the original game, like the Master System game. Sega never created a true sequel to the game, and the group from Quartet has been long forgotten by now.
Psycho Fox
Created by: Vic Tokai
Game featured in:
Psycho Fox – Sega Master System
Now an evil fox has gained control of a shrine and plans to conquer the world using strange creatures he created. He is known as Madfox Daimyojin. The other foxes of the Inari shrines chose Psycho Fox to go out and defeat Madfox.
Psycho Fox was Vic Tokai’s attempt at creating a Super Mario-esque platformer for the Sega Master System. The ability to change into three other animals – a tiger, a hippo and a monkey – was fairly unique at the time. Unfortunately, this was the only game Psycho Fox ever appeared in, as he never returned in any other games. Psycho Fox was the second game in Vic Tokai’s “inertia-based gameplay is fun!” series, the first being Kid Kool/Kakefu-kun no Jump Tengoku, Speed Jigoku for the NES & Famicom. The third game, released for the Mega Drive and Genesis, was Magical Hat no Buttobi Tābo! Daibōken/Decap Attack Starring Chuck D. Head. Beyond using the same engine, none of these have any connection with each other.
Bin and Pin
Created by: Sega
Game featured in:
Dynamite Dux – multiplatform
Achacha, an evil sorcerer from the Achacha dimension, has kidnapped your girl and changed you into a duck! Now, as Dynamite Dux, you must follow Achacha and get your girl back.
One of Sega’s goofier arcade titles, Dynamite Dux was later ported over to the Sega Master System. The story was changed a bit for the Master System release, but the basic gameplay remained unchanged, despite the loss of the two player mode. However, the Master System game was never released in the U.S., and the arcade version, although released worldwide, wasn’t really well known. After the Master System release, though, Bin and Pin were never brought back. As a side note, Bin’s son Bean did turn up in both the arcade game Sonic the Fighters and the Saturn game Fighters Megamix as a playable character (with Bin as his second outfit!).
James Pond
Created by: Vectordean LTD.
Games featured in:
James Pond: Underwater Agent – Sega Genesis
James Pond 2: Codename Robocod/Super James Pond – multiplatform
James Pond 3: Operation Starfish – Sega Genesis
James Pond’s Aquatic Games – Sega Genesis
James Pond and the Deathly Shallows – iOS
You are James Pond, an underwater agent of an anti-crime organization called F.I.5.H. You must save the world from the evil Dr. Maybe.
James Pond: Underwater Agent surfaced (no pun intended) on the Sega Genesis back in 1991. An obvious spoof of Agent 007, Pond would fight his way through two sequels (and one abysmal sports spinoff, James Pond’s Aquatic Games) before finally being retired. In 2011, Pond returned in the critically panned iOS game James Pond and the Deathly Shallows. Following that, Pond sank without a trace (pun intended).
Jay McCray
Created by: Sunsoft
Game featured in:
Journey to Silius/[rʌf] WORLD – NES/Famicom
As Jay worked on the project, he realized the terrorists were still out there and even more determined to destroy the SSS colony plan. Jay then vows, “I have no choice but to fight the terrorists to defend the colony development and to avenge my father’s death.”
Sunsoft’s Journey to Silius began its life as a Terminator game, but when Sunsoft lost the Terminator license, they turned the nearly finished game into Journey to Silius. Jay’s quest to avenge his father’s murder proved to be one of the better NES games that Sunsoft released, but it never received the kind of high-profile attention it deserved. Sunsoft never saw fit to give Journey to Silius a sequel, and as such Jay never reappeared.
Bayou Billy
Created by: Konami
Game featured in:
The Adventures of Bayou Billy/Mad City – NES/Famicom
Bayou Billy. Raised by a family of gators, you’ve grown into a legend. You’re a regular swamp superhero and all the southern belles love your brute strength and Cajun charm. Of course, your heart is reserved for only one belle.
The Adventures of Bayou Billy was Konami’s attempt at merging three entirely different game genres: fighting, driving and shooting. Unfortunately, the end result was less than stellar. Still, Konami hyped the game to no end, even going as far as to sign a deal with Archie Comics to create the short-lived Adventures of Bayou Billy comic book series. After everything was over, though, Konami made no attempt to move forward with a sequel.
Hiromi Tengemji
Created by: Namco
Games featured in:
Burning Force – multiplatform
Namco x Capcom – PlayStation 2
Hiromi must pass her final test to graduate from the Space University.
Burning Force was Namco’s answer to Sega’s Space Harrier. However, unlike Space Harrier, there were additional weapons and powerups to be had, as well as two different types of vehicles to pilot, a hoverbike and a jet. On top of that, the heroine of the game, Hiromi, was a blue haired anime girl (that looked a lot like Yuko from Valis) instead of your usual macho space pilot. At the end of the game, Hiromi graduated and headed off into space to go on a new adventure. It took years for her to return, but she finally returned as a playable character in the Japanese-only tactical RPG Namco x Capcom in 2005. She later resurfaced as a non-playable character in the short lived browser-based dating sim Namco High in 2013, but she hasn’t been seen since.
Quinn Hart
Created by: Aicom
Game featured in:
Vice: Project Doom/Gun-Dec – NES/Famicom
You’re Vice officer Quinn Hart, a no-nonsense sledgehammer for the law. You pack a vicious .44, crushing grenades, and a lightning fast laser whip that gives you an edge over anything on two feet. Your mission: Take-down the big boss of this operation.
Vice: Project Doom is the best multi-genre game you’ll find for the NES, featuring not only side-scrolling action, but also overhead driving sequences that play like Super Spy Hunter, and shooting sequences similar to those found in The Adventures of Bayou Billy. Quinn, a badass cut from the some cloth as Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry and Charles Bronson’s Paul Kelsey, fights his way through these stages to stop the production of the super-drug “Gel,” only to discover that there are more like him out there – literally. Vice: Project Doom slipped under the radar upon release, and as such, never received any kind of a follow-up.
Mr. Do!
Created by: Universal
Games featured in:
Mr Do! – multiplatform
Mr Do’s Castle – arcade
Mr Do’s Wild Ride – arcade
Do! Run Run – arcade
Neo Mr. Do! – arcade
Mr Do! is a clown who moves around a maze. You can dig new paths to avoid monsters and collect cherries. Kill monsters with a ‘powerball’ or drop apples on them. Kill them all or eat all the cherries to go up a level.
The original Mr. Do!, while appearing to be a clone of Namco’s Dig Dug, actually had a bit more strategy involved than its more famous competitor. Rather than just destroying all of the enemies in one area, you actually had to fight an Alphamonster and its henchmen to clear a board. On top of that, you also could build traps to kill the monsters, as well as using the Powerball against them. After numerous sequels, Mr. Do made one last appearance in arcades in 1997, in the game Neo Mr. Do! He has not been seen since.
Moonlight
Created by: Irem
Game featured in:
Ninja Spirit/Tsukikage: The Legend Of The White Wolf/Saigo no Nindo – multiplatform
Moonlight’s father has just been murdered right before his very eyes. So, he does what other ninjas seem to do in these types of situations – he seeks revenge against the culprit.
While more people are probably familiar with the Turbografx-16 incarnation of Ninja Spirit, the game was released in arcades first sometime in 1988. The hero, Moonlight, could get shadow ninjas to follow him and mimic his every move (a trick later used in the NES game Ninja Gaiden II) on his quest to avenge his father’s death. Unfortunately, Irem never saw fit to create a sequel to Ninja Spirit, and Moonlight soon faded from memory.
Jinborov Karnovski
Created by: Data East
Games featured in:
Karnov – multiplatform
Karnov’s Revenge/Fighter’s History Dynamite – arcade
Jinborov Karnovski, also known as Karnov, is a fire-breathing Russian who is a former circus strongman. His quest is to find the lost treasure of Creamina by collecting pieces of the map which lead to it at the end of each stage.
Most people were familiar with Karnov because of the NES port which, while a decent game, was infamous for its absolutely stupid ending (all it said was “CONGRATULATIONS THE END” on a completely black background, although if you’re playing the Famicom version, you get cutscenes and an ending). While there was never a direct sequel to the original Karnov, Karnov himself was the final boss of the one-on-one fighter Karnov’s Revenge, which itself was the sequel to the arcade game Fighter’s History. Aside from several cameos in games released between the original Karnov and Karnov’s Revenge, Karnov has yet to resurface in any other games.
Ristar
Created by: Sega
Game featured in:
Ristar – multiplatform
In a distant galaxy not too long ago, the forces of evil were hard at work. The evil tyrant Greedy had taken over and enslaved the people, even going so far as to capture and imprison their legendary hero. A desperate plea for help was sent out, and answered by the hero’s own son Ristar.
Ristar was released in 1995 for both the Genesis and Game Gear. While being a great Sonic The Hedgehog meets Bionic Commando-style platformer, the game went unnoticed for the most part, more than likely because people were focused on the new technology that had arrived that year in the form of the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation, and were ignoring most new 16-bit games (and most Game Gear games, for that matter). Ristar came and went, and to date Sega has not seen fit to bring him back in any new games. He barely even rates the occasional cameo.
Zonk
Created by: Hudson Soft/Red
Games featured in:
Air Zonk – Turbografx-16
Super Air Zonk – Turbografx-16 CDROM
The evil King Drool has sent forth powerful cyber robots to carry out his evil designs. But a team of cool, sunglass-wearing warriors led by Zonk have discovered his plot and risen against him.
A spinoff of the Bonk series, Air Zonk dropped the platforming format of the earlier games and became a comedic shooter. Unfortunately, Zonk did not prove to be as popular a character as Bonk, and after one sequel he quietly faded away. Of course, this could also be due to the fact that the Air Zonk games were released during the Turbo’s final days.
Mike Jones
Created by: Nintendo
Games featured in:
StarTropics – NES
Zoda’s Revenge: StarTropics II – NES
Listen! Try not too be upset… Your uncle, Dr. Jones… has been… abducted!! Mike, you are the best hope of rescuing Dr. Jones.
StarTropics was one of the later NES games. It was a Zelda-like adventure taking place on a tropical island. The hero, Mike, was just an average high school kid trying to find his uncle, Dr. Jones. StarTropics was fairly successful, spawning one sequel, titled Zoda’s Revenge: StarTropics II. However, Nintendo never released another StarTropics game after Zoda’s Revenge. Even with the release of the Super Smash Bros. series, which brought back just about every Nintendo character ever made, Mike has yet to resurface.
Kid Niki
Created by: Irem
Games featured in:
Kid Niki: Radical Ninja/Kaiketsu Yanchamaru – multiplatform
Kaiketsu Yanchamaru 2: Karakuri Land – Famicom
Kaiketsu Yanchamaru 3 – Famicom
Kid Niki, Radical Ninja, has to rescue Princess Margo from the clutches of the evil Stone Wizard.
The original Kid Niki was released in the arcades in 1986, and followed by a NES port a year later (the game was originally by Irem, but was released in the U.S. by Data East on all formats). Despite the “Radical Ninja” subtitle, Kid Niki was only superficially a ninja game. It was more or less a Super Mario Bros. style platformer. After the original game came and went, Kid Niki himself resurfaced in two Japanese-only Famicom games, but after those were released, that was it for the Radical Ninja.
Pit
Created by: Nintendo
Games featured in:
Kid Icarus – NES
Kid Icarus: Of Myths And Monsters – GameBoy
Kid Icarus: Uprising – 3DS
Pit succeeded in his escape and set out on his long adventure to rescue Palutena. Yet to defeat Medusa he had to get the Three Sacred Treasures. Will Pit be able to restore Palutena’s light and return it to Angel Land?
Pit was one of Nintendo’s most loved characters from the NES days. The original Kid Icarus was one of the first home games to ever have a password feature, along with Metroid. While not quite as popular as any of Nintendo’s huge franchises, Kid Icarus is still fondly remembered. Nintendo did see fit to release a GameBoy version in the early 90s, and rumors circulated for years about an Super NES sequel to the original NES game (especially after Super Metroid hit). A new game in the series finally debuted in 2012 for the Nintendo 3DS, Kid Icarus: Uprising, and Pit continues to be a playable character in the Super Smash Bros. series, but there’s been no new Kid Icarus game since then.
Captain Ace Gunn and Major Rock Hardy
Created by: Atari Games
Game featured in:
Xybots – multiplatform
A vital space station has been taken over by Xybot warriors. Captain Ace Gunn and Major Rock Hardy must infiltrate the station and defeat the Xybot warriors and their leader, the Master Xybot.
Xybots was one of the most interesting games to come out of Atari in the late ’80s. It resembled a futuristic, 3-D version of Gauntlet, and was a hit upon release, although it never gained the amount of popularity that Gauntlet and a lot of the other arcade games that Atari produced did. Technologically it was ahead of its time. No other arcade game up until then had put the player into a 3-D, third-person perspective world, at least without using vector graphics, anyway. Because it was so advanced, there were almost no home versions of the game released. It was planned for the NES, but that fell through, and it did finally show up for the Atari Lynx. After that, Xybots occasionally showed up on the occasional arcade compilation.
Madison/Mania and Crystal/Maria
Created by: Vic Tokai
Games featured in:
Trouble Shooter/Battle Mania – Genesis/Mega Drive
Battle Mania Daiginjō – Mega Drive
Madison and her faithful sidekick, Crystal, go through five stages of violent combat to rescue the Prince. They encounter all sorts of fearful creatures in Blackball’s domain. Will Prince Eldon survive? Can Madison destroy Blackball? Will the girls emerge from Blackball’s evil empire safely? Only time will tell……..
Trouble Shooter was released during the great shooter deluge of the early ’90s. Playing very much like Forgotten Worlds, but with a wacky storyline and much more of an anime style, Trouble Shooter was a lot like the classic anime series Dirty Pair. Madison and Crystal worked together as a very close team, complete with snarky remarks and other comedic elements. Unfortunately, it didn’t stand out as much as it could have, and was lost in the crowd as a result. The sequel, Battle Mania Daiginjō, never even crossed the Pacific. There were plans to develop a Battle Mania arcade game, but those fell through. The last time Madison and Crystal were seen was a cameo appearance in SEGAGAGA.
Winky
Created by: Exidy
Game featured in:
Venture – multiplatform
Guide your brave explorer Winky through the depths of different dungeon levels while collecting treasures from each room and avoiding the dreaded Hall Monsters.
Ah, Winky. One of the earliest identifiable heroes to ever appear in a game, he strode through the dungeons of Venture carrying his bow and arrow, smiling inanely at everything. Venture was ported to several of the video game systems of the time. The version I first played was the Atari 2600 version, released by Coleco. Venture never received a sequel, and Winky, like a lot of the other early video game heroes, was subsequently forgotten to all but a few of the most hardcore arcade vets. Several homebrew reimaginings of Venture have surfaced in the last few years, even one titled Venture II, but of course none of those are official.
Gogan
Created by: Victor Musical Industries
Game featured in:
The Legendary Axe – Turbografx-16
You are Gogan, a muscular powerhouse with enough guts to enter the Pits of Madness. Your mission: rescue the beautiful red-haired Flare. You are strong, but you also have Sting, a sacred axe to help you battle strange creatures and Jagu’s savage cult – through mountain, jungle and cave.
One of the first action/adventure games released for the Turbografx-16, The Legendary Axe starred Gogan, the barbarian who was on a mission to rescue his woman Flare from the evil cult of Jagu. Despite the praises heaped on The Legendary Axe when it was released, after one sequel, The Legendary Axe II, the series ended. Gogan never reappeared, and is still MIA to this day.
Prince Sirius
Created by:
Game featured in:
The Legendary Axe II – TG16
Now, Prince Sirius stands before the gates of the Royal Palace with the Legendary Royal Sword in his hand, determined to destroy the evil within and to restore peace to the Ancient Kingdom. And thus the curtain rises on another tale…
Thought by many to be an unrelated sequel to the original Legendary Axe, due to the many changes between the two, The Legendary Axe II was in fact the sequel to the original game. This time around, there’s no damsel in distress to rescue; rather, Prince Sirius is seeking revenge against his brother, Prince Zach, for challenging him as heir to the throne and nearly killing him in the process. The Legendary Axe II ends on a cliffhanger, with Prince Sirius having defeated Prince Zach and taking the throne, only to be attacked by a mysterious female assassin. The Legendary Axe III never materialized, though, so Prince Sirius’ fate remains unknown.
Steve, Billy, Bob & Cormano
Created by: Konami
Game featured in:
Sunset Riders – multiplatform
Steve, Billy, Bob and Cormano, the Sunset Riders, must apprehend Sir Richard Rose and his gang of criminals – dead or alive.
Konami’s tribute to the spaghetti western proved to be quite popular when originally released in arcades (as a four-player machine), and was later ported to both the Super NES and Genesis (the consensus being that the Super NES version is the superior of the two). Much like Capcom’s earlier game Gun.Smoke, the heroes of Sunset Riders had to get to the end of each level and apprehend a criminal, usually by blasting the crap out of them. Sunset Riders was never given a sequel, though (the closest it got was Konami’s later arcade game Mystic Warriors, which played very similarly), and as such the four heroes rode off into the sunset, never to be seen again.
Nick and Tom
Created by: Toaplan
Games featured in:
Snow Bros. – Nick & Tom – multiplatform
Snow Bros. 2 – With New Elves – arcade
Snow Bros. Jr. – GameBoy
An evil beast has kidnapped their girlfriends and turned Prince Nick and Prince Tom into snowmen! Now they must travel through the fortress to get their girlfriends back… but the only weapon they have is snow!
Snow Bros. is a game so much like the arcade classic Bubble Bobble that one might expect to see a Taito logo on the game. Surprisingly, it’s by Toaplan, who are not known for cutesy puzzle games. They’re known for their shooters. But everyone needs a change now and then, and Toaplan delivered quite the addicting little game. Snow Bros. was followed by a sequel, Snow Bros. 2 – With New Elves, and a GameBoy game, Snow Bros. Jr. Unfortunately, Toaplan didn’t make any more Snow Bros. games after Snow Bros. 2, and Nick and Tom were lost to the mists of time.
Gordon, Karla and Slammer
Created by: Sega
Game featured in:
Alien Storm – multiplatform
Vicious predators from the far ends of the universe are invading our planet! They’re mean and wicked, creating havoc everywhere they go! No one is able to end this turmoil, until a group of courageous citizens known as the “Alien Busters” takes charge!
Alien Storm was once described as “Golden Axe in the future’s clothes”. That’s a pretty good way to describe the game. This time around, three citizens known as the “Alien Busters” – Gordon, Karla and Slammer – have to save the Earth from a marauding band of aliens. Out of the three “big” brawlers that Sega created (Golden Axe and Streets Of Rage being the others), Alien Storm is definitely the least remembered. Therefore it’s no surprise that after this outing, the three “Alien Busters” have failed to resurface in anything.
Ricky and Mary
Created by: Sega
Game featured in:
Alien Syndrome – multiplatform
Only two soldiers are brave enough to step forward. They are Earth Command Troopers RICKY and MARY, the meanest combat troopers in the galaxy! Armed with only a short range combat rifle, they must infiltrate all seven alien ships, rescue the hostages and escape… alive! The odds are against them. The aliens can appear anytime… anywhere. The hostages are depending on RICKY and MARY… and on you!
On initial inspection Alien Syndrome seemed to be another Commando variant, this time set in space. However, aside from the overhead perspective and use of heavy weaponry, Alien Syndrome was a different kind of game. It was a search and rescue: as either Ricky or Mary, you had to rescue trapped scientists from seven different alien spacecraft, and destroy the boss in each one. The game was ported to several consoles & PCs, and it was remade for the PlayStation 2 as part of the Sega Ages 2500 line. A sequel was released for the Nintendo Wii in 2007, but it was set a century after the original game, and starred a completely new character, Aileen. As such, Ricky and Mary joined the long list of Sega characters that have been almost completely forgotten.
Yohan and Ben
Created by: Alpha Denshi
Game featured in:
Time Soldiers/Battle Field – multiplatform
Gylend, the alien conqueror, has arrived on Earth and has imprisoned your comrades in different time periods! You must travel back in time, rescue your friends and then defeat Gylend to save the Earth!
Time Soldiers was one of the better Commando variants that was released in arcades in the late ’80s. However, in order to make the game stand out from the crowd, Alpha Denshi added the novel aspect of time travel to the usual formula. Yohan and Ben would contend with cavemen, dinosaurs, Roman centurions, Egyptian gods, Axis soldiers and heavy artillery on their quest to rescue their comrades and destroy Gylend. After a port of the game appeared on the Sega Master System, Time Soldiers faded from memory, taking Yohan and Ben with it.
Paul and Vince
Created by: SNK
Games featured in:
Ikari Warriors – multiplatform
Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road – multiplatform
Ikari III: The Rescue – multiplatform
Paul and Vince, the Ikari Warriors, are on a mission to save the Colonel from the enemy forces that have captured him.
The original Ikari Warriors was yet another Commando variant. Paul and Vince, two soldiers cast in the same mold as Rambo, had to free the Colonel from the enemy forces. Things changed a bit in Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road, as Paul and Vince found themselves battling the alien minions of the evil Zang Zip in the future. Ikari III: The Rescue took the series in an almost completely new direction, dropping most of the Commando overtones in favor of brawler-like gameplay. Ikari III was the last of the Ikari Warrior games, although Paul and Vince have shown up in a couple of the Metal Slug and King of Fighters games.
Kuros
Created by: Rare Coin-It
Games featured in:
Wizards & Warriors/Densetsu no Kishi Elrond – NES/Famicom
Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II – NES
Wizards & Warriors III: Kuros: Visions Of Power – NES
Wizards & Warriors X: The Fortress Of Fear – GameBoy
You are Kuros, the only knight warrior brave enough to enter the woods of Elrond. Strong enough to wield the Brightsword. Powerful enough to ward off the demons, the undead, and the caverns of fire. And clever enough to discover where Malkil has hidden his prisoner.
The original Wizards & Warriors was one of the better games to come out for the NES. As Kuros the knight, you had to rescue the Princess from the evil wizard Malkil by braving the forests and caverns of Elrond and Malkil’s fortress, Castle IronSpire. Kuros would battle Malkil again in the sequel, Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II, but this time he would have to defeat the four Elementals before confronting Malkil. Kuros returned yet again in Wizards & Warriors III: Kuros: Visions Of Power, where we learned that after defeating Malkil at the end of Ironsword, Malkil had cursed him and he’d lost his memory. Eventually Kuros would regain his memory and fight Malkil, who had taken over the throne of the country of Piedup, again. Kuros also appeared in one Gameboy game, and even starred in the animated segments of the early ’90s TV show Video Power, along with Tyrone from Arch Rivals, Max Force from NARC and Kwirk from Kwirk: The Chilled Tomato. Kuros vanished after Wizards & Warriors III, though. There were plans for a fourth game in the series on the Super NES, titled Lasersword, but it was cancelled.
Astyanax
Created by: Jaleco
Game featured in:
Astyanax/The Astyanax – multiplatform
You are Astyanax, a 16-year-old student at Greenview High, and you haven’t had a whole lot of sleep lately. A beautiful girl has been invading your dreams, along with something sinister. She is being held captive; you’re not sure where. All you know is you’re running late for Algebra and can’t worry about strange fairy tales.
Astyanax seemed to be the arcade and the NES’s answer to The Legendary Axe when it was released, as the two games played almost exactly the same. Astyanax had more of a story than The Legendary Axe, though. Animated cut scenes, like those seen in Tecmo’s Ninja Gaiden NES games, were used to move the story along, although this was exclusive to the NES version. Also much like The Legendary Axe, Astyanax came and went, and to this day Astyanax himself has yet to reappear.
Nova
Created by: Taito
Games featured in:
Power Blade – NES
Power Blade 2/Captain Saver – NES/Famicom
When New Earth’s Master Computer is attacked by aliens, only NOVA, lord of the ancient Power Blade, can hope to battle through to the Control Center and restore the Data Base.
Power Blade was one of the better side scrollers to come out for the NES, despite being based on a below average Famicom game, Power Blazer. It was popular enough to warrant a sequel, although neither of them were anywhere near as popular as, say, Castlevania or Mega Man. However, like a lot of other NES action games of the time, Power Blade was never updated for any of the later consoles, and Nova soon faded from memory.
Tempo
Created by: Red
Games featured in:
Tempo – 32X
Tempo Jr. – Game Gear
Super Tempo – Saturn
Can Tempo dodge Mussi Productions, thwart Dirge’s dirty schemes, and take home the trophy? Maybe… with your help.
Tempo never had a chance. It was one of the best platformers for Sega’s Genesis add-on, the 32X, but the add-on was an abysmal failure, being abruptly discontinued when the Saturn was released. As such, Tempo never got the attention it deserved. Sega later released Tempo Jr. for the Game Gear and Super Tempo for the Saturn, but neither of those left Japan. Because of this, Tempo remains virtually unknown to most people today.
The OPCFG 