These Video Game Character Redesigns SUCK!

A classic video game character design is something like a fine wine, in that if you've managed to balance things just right, it's only going to get better with time. Mario, Sonic, Kirby, all are instantly recognizable mainstays of the video game industry, and their sleek and simple designs convey everything about them in as minimalist a fashion as possible.

However, sometimes you need to shake things up with even established characters. Maybe it's to try and save a flagging franchise with a bit of revitalization, or maybe even to usher in a soft reboot of the cast in order to cut the dead weight and streamline the franchise.

However, it's not as simple as feeding your beloved icon through the "make cool" machine as by adding in extra gubbins, edgelord hairstyles, or maybe even just ridiculous attires you risk losing what made the character so popular in the first place. Remember when Sonic went to the leg store and picked up some Xtra Longs? People lost their minds, and it goes to show that even the simplest of redesigns can end in catastrophic failure.

SO LET'S WHEEL OUT THE PUNCHING BAGS!

So when you think of the Bomberman series of games, chances are that your heart is going to melt a little when you remember how utterly adorable the little marshmallow headed protagonist is, and it's quite possible that his design is up there with some of the most iconic of the industry.

I tell you he's so adorable that you often forget he's literally trying to obliterate his friends with explosives.

Still, something even more harrowing than this realization is the redesign that Konami forced upon the series with their 2006 Hindenburg Disaster of a title Bomberman: Act Zero. Maybe one of the higher ups at Konami wanted the mass-murdering tone to match the visuals, or maybe it was yet another example of the company lighting a pile of used condoms on fire, huffing the chemical vapors and throwing up any idea that came to mind into a bucket such is their usual business practice, but either way what we got was as if a BDSM club opened in the Edgelord Realm aka Squall from FF8's mind palace.

It's quite fitting that every character here looked as if they were wearing bin bags, because the visuals and gameplay of this title were sweaty garbage, and it hit the market with all the impact of stepping onto a landmine, except replace the resulting explosion with a deluge of pig offal. Critics hated it, fans despised it, and all one could do was shake their heads at Konami once more.

Zero by name, absolute zero by nature.