8 Video Games That RUINED Great Characters
These characters got assassinated with extreme, infuriating prejudice.
Crafting an indelible, unforgettable, even iconic video game character is no easy feat - it requires a concert of great writing and neat design in tandem with gameplay that actually makes it all worth a damn.
And when players en masse embrace a character, of course developers are going to do everything within their power to foster that popularity moving forward, to service the relationship and ensure the fondness only blooms further.
But sometimes a game misjudges what the fans want so catastrophically that they end up ruining the character in a new game, enough that folk quite literally can't believe what they're witnessing.
Yes, we're talking about good ol' character assassination, where a beloved video game character's firmly established personality and virtue is tossed out the window without warning, leaving fans positively fuming about it.
While some of these franchises did manage to mend things with a frantic course-correct in the next game, in many cases the damage was already done and said character sadly never recovered.
The lesson here? If you're lucky enough to create a character people love, you need to be really careful about their future development...
8. Frank West - Dead Rising 4
You know a character has been totally ruined when the fans come up with a nickname to distinguish them from the superior previous iteration.
And that sure is the case with Frank West in Dead Rising 4, who strays so far from the original depiction of the series' beloved protagonist that fans quickly dubbed him "Hank East" instead.
Basically, the "Frank" featured in Dead Rising 4 doesn't look, sound, or act like the one fans know and love - he's got a new voice actor and is decidedly more quip-happy than before, almost like a shambling, soulless parody of the Frank West fans actually wanted.
As such it just felt like someone who resembles a distant cousin of Frank West stole his name, enough that some fans flat-out refuse to accept Dead Rising 4 as part of the series' canon.
Considering that Dead Rising 4 was a serious commercial disappointment for Capcom, in turn causing the franchise to be put on ice ever since, one can point to its bizarre reimagining of Frank as a prevailing reason.