10 Awesome Video Game Characters REPLACED In Sequels
1. Almost Everyone (Street Fighter III)
The first entry in this article discussed how Tekken 3 successfully introduced its new cast of replacement characters to the world, in a manner that appeased older fans and brought in new ones.
It had a good teacher in Capcom who, two years prior to Tekken 3's release, showed how not to replace famous characters in a franchise.
Street Fighter II had one of the greatest rosters of any game ever made, stuffed with gaming icons like Chun Li, Guile, and M Bison. (The latter of whom inspired the greatest ever performance in a video game adaptation). Street Fighter III's fighters, on the other hand, failed to inspire the same level of devotion in the gaming public. Indeed, such was their antipathy that SF III only sold around 1,000 arcade cabinets. (The original SF II sold about 60,000, by way of contrast).
So why did Tekken succeed where Street Fighter failed? Because contrary to the popular adage, familiarity breeds contentment.
Tekken 3's replacements were familiar variations of classic characters - Forest Law played like his father, Julia Chang played like her mother Michelle, etc. Street Fighter III's bunch of weirdoes, however, were totally separate from SF II's cast and suffered from offputtingly bizarre designs. (What was up with Necro?). When coupled with the game's punishingly deep combat, SF III managed to alienate older fans and frighten away any newcomers to the series.
And seriously, what was up with Necro?!