Something went wrong. Try again later

Mento

Check out Mentonomicon dot Blogspot dot com for a ginormous inventory of all my Giant Bomb blogz.

4966 551636 219 905
Forum Posts Wiki Points Following Followers

Heroes of New Game+

I discussed this a little in a recent blog, but it's been an established trope that a new game+ mode of several games will allow you to play as a "guest" protagonist. Usually, this version of the game is a little tougher, because the character has a markedly different style, lacks many of the benefits of the original protagonist or is simply a joke character designed to get their ass whupped as a genial way for the developers to troll fans who felt the game was too easy.

I've tried not to include: DLC characters, bonus characters from ensemble games like most RPGs and hidden characters in Fighters (because I'll be here all week..). I'm sure I'm missing plenty of obvious candidates, regardless.

List items

  • The inspiration for this list. Luigi's normally content to be the second player's silver medal, a high-leaping but less footsure alternate or the star in off-beat spin-offs (spin-off-beats?) heavily featuring the three scary Gs: Ghosts, ghouls and geography. The Mario Galaxy games and Super Mario 3D Land give players the opportunity to beat the game a second time as the craven green wonder, often with slightly tougher level arrangements.

  • Dante was very much the Ezio Auditore of his day, moonlighting - however inexplicably - in all manner of games. Notably, he is a playable character after beating Viewtiful Joe once (in the PS2 version only, mind) and is scaled to match the super-deformed dimensions of that overzealous hydrocephalic. He's also an optional recruit in SMT:Nocturne too.

  • Julius Belmont, the bearded modern-day Belmont clan member, has a playable mode in both the Sorrow games. Interestingly, they canonically follow the "bad" ending of either game where protagonist Soma Cruz switches to Team Evil and needs to be taken down before we start seeing future Belmont descendants with laser whips fighting zombies with rayguns. Hell, that sounds pretty sweet actually. Maybe it would be best if Julius took a dive this time?

  • While Julius mode is an interesting side-story that follows an intriguing a "what if?" timeline, Pumpkin's journey is anything but. Appearing in Lament of Innocence, that of "I'll kill you AND THE NIGHT!" fame, he's a tiny little guy with a lot of heart but, paradoxically, not a lot of health. Along with former boss Joachim, playing as him provides a greater challenge for all the diehard 3D Castlevania fans to enjoy; I'm sure both of them are appreciative of the extra content.

  • Okay, I don't want to fill this list with Castlevania, but that franchise is very fond of this concept. You have the Sisters Mode with Stella and Loretta in Portrait of Ruin, leading up to moment where they get vampirized before the main game begins. The Old Axe Armor, also from that game, with its ponderous gait and risky insta-kill move for bosses. There's also the many playable characters of the less well-received Harmony of Dissonance too. They generally don't add much, but it lets the player have fun sequence-breaking and not having a whole inventory of healing items to rely on for boss fights.

  • Hunk and Tofu, while their scenarios are hardly as lengthy as those of Leon and Claire, have their own important little plotlines for the truly dedicated Resident Evil 2 fan to follow. Tofu is armed only with a combat knife, a squeaky voice and a lot of moxie as he escapes the zombie-ridden police station of Raccoon City intact.

  • Resident Evil 2's Tofu isn't the only bean curd hero of note, of course. Infamous joke character Tofu Boy - created in response to PETA's usual knee-jerk lunacy with anything regarding meat or fur - cannot actually complete most levels, being too sluggish and largely unable to jump. But at least those mouthy hell monsters are at less risk of heart disease when they eat him? I guess?

  • I suppose I should give lip service to the many other cameos in Super Meat Boy, many of which make decent - if not preferred - alternatives for many of the tougher stages. Indie heroes such as Commander Video, Captain Viridian, The Kid and many others get their chance to die horribly on sawblades a thousand times over, should the player be skilled enough to even unlock them in the first place.

  • Likewise, Edmund McMillen's other, other weird franchise is rife with bonus characters should the player meet the conditions to unlock them. My favorite is the fez-sporting Cain, who is able to pop the usually capricious pills with immunity. A useful skill to have in such a horrible situation; a strategy I'm sure both Luis and Max Payne can attest to. Sounds like the new add-on, "The Wrath of the Lamb", may add even more. Perhaps a good reason to revisit that peepee-soaked heckhole?

  • Bayonetta, being the perfectly rational game it is, also has two optional characters you can choose to play as after the main game has been completed once: That of frenemy witch Jeane and Little King Zero, a small floating skeleton with a beard and crown. Zero can take a hit about as well an ice sculpture, as he will die almost instantaneously if you're weirdly determined enough to try him out. But he sure is cute for a skeletal monarch.

  • I haven't even attempted the Spelunker Mode of 3D Dot Game Heroes. For one thing, you need to have beaten the game twice and found the excavator in question. Then it's the wonderful world of one-hit kills from there on out. But what you would expect from From Software? Leniency? Where have you been?
Load Comments