» Mario's Supporting Cast from Super Mario Brothers. - Underrated
I guess I wanted to do some SMB characters in a Final Fantasy-ish style. Succeed? Fail? That's up to you, dear viewer. But really, who cares?

 

» A Boy and his Blob from A Boy and his Blob. - Obscure
A Boy and his Blob. The Boy has been eating some of those candies himself, it would seem.

 

» Spew from Mutant League Football. - Underrated
Speeewwww.

 

» Tweeter from Super Mario Bros. 2. - Underrated
TWEEEEEEEEEEEEETER. The pathetic, low-level bird character from SMB2 whose primary method of attack is hopping toward you like... well... a baby bird. I'm not sure what exactly made the Shy Guys and their ilk so shy, but I figured in this image I'd give Tweeter a reason to play dress-up. He's about as imposing as a plucked chicken, but his mask gives the impression of some ancient predator.

 

» Docken from Mutant League Football. - Underrated
That's right, another Mutant League Football character. This time it's Human player "Docken". There were other such humans in the game such as "Brocken", "Shocken", etc. but Docken always struck me as the coolest name, so here he is. Human beings acted much like amped-up steroid-abusing idiot jocks, which is entirely acceptable when competing against skeletons, aliens, robots, and trolls.

» Inky, Pinky, Blinky, & Clyde from Pac-Man - Underrated
What would Pac-Man be without the ghosts? A maze. A maze with yellow dots, cherries, and a depressed little yellow head with no one to play with. That's right, I contend that the greatst thing about this classic game is the ghosts you now see before you. Inky, Pinky, Blinky and Clyde effectively overcame their rediculously wondeful monikers and - for a brief, shning moment in history - became the most feared and loathed of childhood villains. If I had to pick a favorite, it would have to be Clyde. His name is Clyde for Christ's sake. As for the remakes you see before you - I wanted to go with a design that fit mournful otherworldly creatures which forever haunted this boring-ass maze, only to be repeatedly devoured.

 

» Sgt. Skyhigh from N.A.R.C. - Obscure
Yeah. I guess I like NARC a lot. Sgt. Skyhigh here was one of the the later villians. He would manically rush at you while firing an assault rifle. I assume he was having a flashback to 'Nam... which may or may not have been the actual backstory for this character. He seemed somewhat out of place in the scumbag rogue's gallery of NARC, so one can reasonably assume that he may have been a reference to some actual burnt out and drugged out soldiers. No matter how he was first envisioned, he remains one of the monst interesting characters in the game, and was seemingly charged with the job of guarding various growing facilities.

 

» Max Force & Hit Man from N.A.R.C. - Obscure
I've already done a NARC remake below, (Kinky Pinky) but really the stars of the game are Max Force and Hit Man. As you can see, these were simply palette-swiped avatars representing two Police Officers. (Bike cops, I believe?) These crazed, frothing vigilantes left a trail of blood and severed heads in their wake on the ay to a Drug-Free America! Even though the only difference between these chaps was coloring.. Everyone I knew always wanted to play as the Red Guy, AKA Hit Man. He seemed to be the rebel, while Max Power - in his plain ol' blue - looked more like a "by the book" type. Of course, that book simply read: "Explode the holy Hell out of anything and everything in your way!" in heavy block lettering.. but you get the idea.

 

» Baron Von Blubba from Bubble Bobble - Underrated
Baron Von Blubba was, and still is, the most hated character in Bubble Bobble. If you spent too much time completing any given level, the Baron here would suddenly appear like a phantom of dread. His unquenchable blood lust caused him to persue you - even through walls - until one of two things occurred. You had to complete the level while constantly dodging his kamakaze attacks... or you had to die. Totally immune to your awesome bubble-blowing abilities, unhindered by the laws of nature, and completely bereft of any sense of pity, Baron Von Blubba was a serious dick.. But also one of the coolest characters in the game. He's a friggin' Ghost Whale! Kids feared Blubba. Deeply. When you saw his grim visage appear onscreen, it pretty much meant "Game Over". Like all monsters, however, I believe he simply wanted to be loved.

 

» Kinky Pinky from N.A.R.C. - Obscure
NARC. The game in which you blow away drug dealers with a rocket launcher and it's perfectly acceptable because.. hey.. they're drug dealers! Well, the exception to that rule is Kinky Pinky here. Apparently it's also alright to run around murdering perverts, though that bloody knife he always carried seems to imply he has more homicidal leanings. I tried to make K.P. a little more disturbing, (which was tough if you've seen the original) so I brought in a bit of Marylin Manson. Oh and I gave him a little dolly friend because he was lonely.

 

» Chuck D. Head from Decap Attack. - Obscure
Okay, I'm not sure why this game wasn't more popular.. simply for the fact that Chuck D. Head is a Mummy with a face on his chest who throws his own decapitated skull at enemies. Kids should have been all over this character like Link on a blissfully slumbering Zelda. It's weird, it's gross, and your enemies turn to bones when you hit them! Bones!! Oh, well.

 

» Bones Jackson from Mutant League Football. - Underrated
Best football video game ever. You could kill the other team's players. You could kill your own players. You could kill the Ref. You could throw exploding footballs. EXPLODING FOOTBALLS! Where is 3D Mutant League Football '06 for the XBox? WHERE IS IT, GOD DAMN YOU!? Fools.

 

» Shy Guy from Super Mario Brothers 2. - Underrated
Yeah. Not many people I've talked to like SMB2. I know it was basically another game with Mario and his friends hacked in and all that.. but come on! Where's your love for the little perverty looking Shy Guys? They were awesome. Plus they came in a couple different varieties. That damned fish gets much more recognition than poor Mr. Guy here.. This is, admittedly, very different from the previous Shy Guy incarnation. As a kid I always pictured the character as more mysterious and twisted than it was intended.