One could argue that the reason it's so difficult to call to mind characters of this nature is that a lot of post 2000 titles assume that gamers want total immersion and as such the player becomes the protagonist.
This is fantastic if you enjoy customising your appearance or really living the story but this has left a brightly coloured, cartoonish and possibly anthropomorphic hedgehog shaped gap in the gaming industry.
Remember all of those epic characters from our childhoods? Pac-Man, Sonic, Mario, Link. I'd like to see someone today try to sell a game about two plumbers who have to continually save a princess from a dragon/turtle/thing. Not to mention the fact that they eat mushrooms to grow, which is odd considering they have a friend who is essentially a talking toadstool. Or what about Sonic? Sega's heroic blue hedgehog is just as bizarre. Perhaps the last truly big icon from my own youth was Lara Croft - PlayStation dominated the CD based video game market and their wasp-figured heroine became their poster girl.
Despite their eccentricities, these character were very memorable, unlike many of their contemporary counterparts.
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