Image via Complex Original
Being a sidekick is a solidly 'meh' gig.
It certainly isn't the worst inside the world of video games—that distinction goes to minimum-wage flunkies like Goombas, Foot Soldiers and Glass Joe—but it's also pretty damn far from the best.
Heroes get to enjoy real action—wild missions, plot revelations, rushes of victory, showers of praise—while sidekicks usually only handing out aid here and there or, even worse, bide their time waiting for a call-up. Yeah, heroes are the ones ultimately risking life and limb for big goals, but when all it takes to reincarnate a dead protagonist is the press of a reset button, what's so great about warming the bench?
In the past, sidekicks have made it into the titles of their partners' games (Jak and Daxter,
Ratchet & Clank, Banjo-Kazooie) and even headlined their own adventures (Luigi's Mansion,
Tails' Skypatrol, Yoshi's Island), but by and large, those instances are anomalies. Not every
video game companion is worthy of a spin-off, of course, but a handful sure deserve the
opportunity. Here are 13 characters who fit the criteria.
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Launchpad McQuack
Series: DuckTales
Here's an attempt to approximate what you're probably thinking upon seeing this name: 'Uhhhhhhhhh, what?' (Alternates: 'Uhhhhhhhhh, who?' and 'Uhhhhhhhhh, why?') Believe us, there is meaning to this madness.
In 2011, GameSpot ran a massive user-voted tournament for All-Time Greatest Game Sidekick. Participants included names famous and obscure from gaming history. But by the final match, Yoshi, Luigi, Zero, Clank, Alyx Vance and other giants had been eliminated. The last two competitors were Launchpad, repping DuckTales on the NES, and Albert Einstein from his Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 appearance. Ultimately, Launchpad won by 61.6 percent, which added up to 19,568 votes. Just how did the guy who transported Scrooge around back in 1989 get the W?
Turns out, 4chan's video-game-focused /v/ board hugely skewed the polls for the sheer joy of it. (It's fuzzy on what methods they used to accomplish this, though.) In the post announcing the winner, GameSpot maintained a half-bewildered, half-apathetic tone. 558 comments would follow.
The original DuckTales game's glossy return is forthcoming, which means that it's now time to bow to the public's will and give it the Launchpad McQuack killer app it so clearly desperately craves.
Claptrap P. Claptrappington
Series: Borderlands
Borderlands' resident high-maintenance, smart-ass robot started out as one of several Claptraps, but with his star-making turn in his own web series and his role as the only Claptraps representative in Borderlands 2, Claptrap P. Claptrappington has earned a run at his own series.
This Jewish robot (He once had a Bar Mitzvah) strikes the right balance of lewd and lovable, letting his obnoxiousness ride for only so long. Mr. Claptrappington has already represented his home franchise in Poker Night 2 well, so it'd be wise to let him lead a tongue-in-cheek WarioWare- or Mario Party-style series.
Falco Lombardi
Series: Star Fox
The multiple appearances of Fox McCloud's snappy bestie/rival in the Super Smash Bros. series indicates great promise in this character's future. Falco, who has been Fox's wingman since the starting line, has enough attitude and liveliness to eventually run his own side missions under his own banner. Give him a starring role and let Fox be the one contacting him to rattle off some quips.
Cortana
Series: Halo
The Halo brand is a license to print money, and Microsoft has taken advantage of its cash cow by milking it for games, novels and comics. (You just know that a movie isn't too far off either)
But along the way, the company has maintained serious quality control as it has let Halo threads go off in various directions. The ideal next move between flagship games: a Cortana spin-off. Master Chief's blue-hued, artificial-intelligence-born companion might be a two-dimensional hologram, but her look, story, and fan base all have enough juice to propel her forward with a solo title. Use a tie-in title to dig deeper into Cortana's connection to Dr. Catherine Halsey and let Cortana play in and out of the boundaries of a Matrix-like universe.
Otis
Series: Dead Rising
Speaking of characters no one likes, how about ol' Otis Washington?
A quick YouTube search turns up multiple videos of players going about the tasks of beating and killing the janitor of Willamette Parkview Mall. All those instances of needling Frank West during tense situations and then scolding Frank for cutting him off (“It's rude!”) have taken their toll on the collective psyche of Dead Rising fans and meant gruesome results for Otis. Dropping him into a survival horror scenario might create some empathy for the guy or, if nothing else, allow resentful players to discover new ways to hurt the guy.
Waluigi
Series: Mario Bros.
Waluigi is an annoying prick. We all know it. He looks obnoxious, acts obnoxious and doesn't have much to add to the world that Wario didn't already accomplish.
But that opinion shouldn't stop him from scoring his own game. Luigi and Wario—both variations on Mario—have been getting separate titles for years, so fairness only dictates that this purple-and-black-wearing bastard should get one, too. Of course, we'd implicitly encourage Nintendo to design a really awful Waluigi game, ensuring that it would tank and Waluigi would receive more public scorn. Maybe that will be enough for the twit to get lost for good.
Robin/Nightwing
Series: Batman
There has never been and will never be a comic book sidekick as synonymous with the hero as Robin is with Batman. Robin is notable enough to warrant inclusion in the title of a live-action movie—a claim no other comic book sidekick can touch. Granted, Batman & Robin isn't the kind of thing you go around bragging about, but hey, an abysmal thing nevertheless still counts as a thing.
It's mind-boggling, then, that Robin has yet to receive his own game despite supporting Batman so many times over the decades. Just picture how good a plot-heavy Arkham Asylum-style game focused on Dick Grayson could be. Start with him learning fighting techniques and detective skills after Bruce Wayne takes him in, then move on to recreating famous sequences from the comics while adding in original missions—all while letting Batman and the major villains play big roles. Throw a Teen Titans scenario or two in there, too.
At the game's half-way mark, transition a mature Dick into Nightwing, unraveling a mess of plotlines involving Blockbuster, Nite-Wing, Oracle and characters who are otherwise unlikely to ever get serious time in video games. If this enterprise is really ambitious, it could extend as far as Kingdom Come and have an aging Grayson reprise his original role as Red Robin.
A Robin game must come to fruition. We'd even take Tim Drake or Damian Wayne alternatives if need be.
Alyx Vance
Series: Half-Life 2
Video game characters have rarely felt as intuitive, brilliantly true-to-life and emotionally three-dimensional as Alyx Vance, Gordon Freeman's crack shot second-in-command from Half-Life 2.
Alyx is adept at hacking, fighting and shooting—plus she already has a big enough back story to justify a large role—so she could realistically carry a whole series, if not a single game. Imagine what could be revealed about this key player in the Resistance if you learned about her from her own perspective. Her sizable charisma justifies a sizable reward.
Doc Louis
Series: Punch-Out!!
When a 17-year-old Little Mac needed his Mr. Miyagi (or Mickey Goldmill, if you want to keep the boxing theme), he called on Doc Louis.
According to the instruction manual for Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, Doc is “an ex-heavyweight who was a famous hard hitter in the U.S. around 1954,” although his in-ring skills sure didn't translate to his role as trainer. Doc's duties in the iconic Punch-Out!! included wearing a permanently freaked-out expression, biking around NYC while Little Mac trailed him, and using breaks between rounds to share dialogue that ranged from the mildly useful (“Watch his left!”) to the pointless and grammatically awkward (“Join the Nintendo Fun Club today! Mac.”).
Still, Doc has always had some weird charm. Just who was this middle-aged fella so dedicated to the cause of Little Mac when Soda Popinski was likely to smash his face in? Some kind of origin game could flesh all that out while adding a fresh round of semi-offensive racial stereotypes for opponents.
Even though the Punch-Out!! franchise contains only a few games, both the masses and Nintendo have indicated interest in a Doc-themed spin-off. The cats over at I-Mockery created a super-entertaining pictorial called Punch-Out 2: Doc Strikes Back, and Nintendo itself released Doc Louis's Punch-Out!!, a WiiWare game where Mac takes on his trainer, around when the Wii version of Punch-Out!! hit in 2009.
Meryl and Otacon
Series: Metal Gear
Meryl Silverburgh and Hal Emmerich (a.k.a. Otacon) each occupy key and distinct roles as sidekicks in Solid Snake's world.
Meryl fills the role of a romantic interest and female Snake equivalent and Otacon delivers doses of sharp-minded exposition and comic relief. Seeing as the Metal Gear series is always willing to tinker with its cast's roles and juggle lineups to tell different stories, each character could feasibly handle a solo title.
Alternately, the pair could team up, sort like how Sonya Blade and Jax did in Mortal Kombat: Special Forces (except this game won't suck). The second situation could present the problem of one character potentially falling behind the other in importance, but we'll leave the logistics up to Konami.
Rush
Series: Mega Man
There sure have been a lot of dogs as in-game companions: the dog from Duck Hunt, the dog from Fable II, Dogmeat from the Fallout series, Dog from Half-Life 2 and Peter Puppy from the Earthworm Jim series.
But our pick for the hound to receive the shine is Rush, Mega Man's robotic buddy who joined the franchise back in 1990. Rush's various abilities—digging up hidden items, turning into a skateboard, transforming into a motorcycle and so on—make him an ideal candidate for his own old-school platformer and a whole new gallery of outlandish villains. He's got the look, the energy and the history to pull off the solo thing.
Plus, since it's clear that Capcom doesn't care for the Blue Bomber nowadays (licensing him out for the new Super Smash Bros. aside), why not at least use one of his cohorts to keep the Mega Man brand vitality intact?
Garrus Vakarian
Series: Mass Effect
The lovable, disfigured Turian warrior and right-hand man to Commander Shepard has kept up a steady flow of character development through the Mass Effect games, tweaking his role as the plot has progressed and evolving both physically and philosophically.
Now would be an opportune time to let the multi-skilled Garrus steer a sci-fi epic of his own. Just be sure to retain his blue and black costume palette and Brandon Keener's calming voice-overs.
Toad
Series: Mario Bros.
Imagine asking a random group of people—gamers and non-gamers alike—to name a Mario sidekick off the top of their heads. The answer would be Luigi, right? Maybe Yoshi if they're feeling adventurous. Whether the respondents mean to or not, focusing on those two names is an insult to the OG of video game assistants: Toad.
Depending on what source you believe, Toad in Super Mario Bros. is one guy who delivers the bad news that Princess Toadstool is in another castle seven times or one of seven guys passing along the message. Either way, Toad takes on mortal danger without a care, diligently stationing himself near a mighty pissed-off Bowser in order to give Mario an update on his mission, some words of gratitude and a smile. Everything about his job looks like it sucks, but our man in the mushroom headpiece always heads off to work anyway.
When you think about a two-player Mario game where Luigi enters the mix and reaches the end of a castle, that only makes things worse. Toad then becomes a sidekick to a sidekick—the ultimate bottom rung on the good guy ladder. The dude's name even sounds a lot like 'toady,' which we will assume isn't a coincidence. Poor schmuck.
Luigi and Yoshi have already been receiving starring roles since the SNES days, making this hard worker very much overdue for his spell in the spotlight.