10 Awesome Video Game Characters REPLACED In Sequels
5. Rosalina (Super Mario Galaxy 2)
In 2007's Super Mario Galaxy, Nintendo added Rosalina to the Mario canon and she became an instant success, largely thanks to her emotional backstory.
Told in picturebook form throughout the course of the game, Rosalina's tale revealed a hitherto unseen talent from the Mario developers for tugging on the player's heartstrings. A beautifully illustrated fairytale with a genuinely tear-jerking twist, it carved Rosalina's name into the hearts of Mario fans all over the world.
So naturally, after ensuring their audience formed a strong emotional connection with the character, Nintendo replaced her in the sequel.
Instead of Rosalina, Super Mario Galaxy 2 gave us Lubba - a fat purple star so utterly forgettable this writer completely forgot he existed between his first and second playthroughs of the game.
To be fair, Nintendo seem to have forgotten he existed as well. While Rosalina has made playable appearances in various Mario spin-offs and the Smash Bros series, Lubba's only appearance of note is in Mario Golf, where he appears in the background of one character's victory celebration. That character being, of course, Rosalina.
Sorry Lubba. You may be a literal star, but Rosalina is a star.