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We’ve talked many times about what elements go to make a good game. Of course, there’s the actual game engine and gameplay, then lifespan and graphics. On top of those important factors are the actual characters that inhabit the game world, because without a good character to star in a game, that game ends up not having a ‘soul’.
One of the often-overlooked factors in character design is the actual clothes that these heroes/villains wear.
Due to the increased power we have in today’s consoles and PCs, even more detail can be put into the characters clothing. One of the best examples is Mario; in Mario 64 the portly plumber has simple textures on his dungarees, but in Super Smash Bros Melee on the powerful Gamecube, we can zoom in to see the denim texture and even the stitching on his trousers.
The detail in the character’s clothes in Final Fantasy X looks amazing too, if a little strange, and I’ve always liked the character detail on the Soul Calibur characters clothing.
So where does fashion come into character design?
Well, would Max Payne be as super cool if he were wearing beige nylon slacks and a tanktop whilst wiping the scum of society off the streets?
No, though the baddies might laugh themselves to death.
Would Solid Snake look as cool if he abandoned is sneaking suit in favour of a Roger Moore style bright blue safari suit with matching neckerchief?
Definitely not (but I think neckerchiefs should come back into fashion one day....)
So character fashion is quite important. In the great Dead or Alive series, fashion even became semi integral to the game, as you could unlock bonus costumes for good gameplay.
Designer fashion labels even creep briefly into games every so often; if memory serves me correctly, the character costumes in G-Police 2 were designed by Diesel?? The cool snowboarders in 1080° wore clothes designed by Tommy Hilfiger and wasn’t Tanners suit in Driver 2 designed by a famous fashion designer??
With the increasing popularity of games, it’s surprising that more clothes designers haven’t designed video game characters costumes.
Will any more designer names put their fashion into games I wonder? How about if instead of the ‘M’ on Mario’s cap, he could have ‘D&G’? Or Princess Peach’s dresses designed by Vivian Westwood...No, on second thoughts, maybe not.
The new look Zelda (which looks great and WILL be the best game ever) hasn’t gained 100% support due to it’s new look, with gaming know-nothings thinking they’re too mature to be playing with cartoony games, but how about if Nintendo gave Link an alternate costume to wear? Burberry seems to be popular with many confrontational kids/thugs these days, so maybe the idea that if Link were to be wearing their uniform instead of his usual boring green jerkin and tights, he and the game would be more accepted and the game would sell better.
Lets have a look then at some video game character fashions as they walk down the virtual catwalk:
Mario & Luigi: although the Mario Brothers seem to share the same tailor as the Chuckle Brothers with their garish colours and dungaree combo, but Mario & Luigi did one thing that numerous mid-90s homeboy rappers couldn’t do...they made dungarees cool again. After Mr.T had so famously worn the jeans with straps on in The A-Team, there was a bit of a slump in dungaree sales when the show finished its TV run. But then, the Mario Brothers appeared and the rest is history.
Today, at any one time, 65% of the world’s population enjoy the comfort and freedom of movement that dungarees allow, and it’s all thanks to the influence of Mr.T and the Mario Brothers.
If Nintendo decided to release a range of clothing, Mario dungarees would come with waist sizes ranging from XL to XXL.
Donkey Kong: he’s big, he’s hairy, he likes bananas and HE’S NUDE!
Why doesn’t DK wear any clothes?
Donkey Kong is a big time naturist who likes the airy feel of nakedness, but so as to appear smart and not totally nude, he wears a tie as well, but lets just hope this fashion trend doesn’t catch on too much.
Michael Jackson: star of a few video games, namely Moonwalker, Michael has had his problems over recent years, but back in the 80’s Michael was the king of cool and the ultimate fashion trend setter. Who else could wear a single silver glove or white socks with black shoes and still look cool?
Max Payne: he may be a depressing man who spouts pretentious and stupid metaphors about snow and drugs, but Max is quite a fashionable guy. If black leather trench coats, leopard skin look shirts and 50’s style gangster shoes are your bag, then Max fits the bill.
Lara Croft: tight t-shirt and tight micro sized shorts.....’nuff said!
Ryu and Ken: rock hard fighters they may be, but the kung fu buddies from the Street Fighter series wear pyjamas, so any idea of them being complete hard nuts comes crashing to earth with a thud.
George Stobbart: star of the excellent Broken Sword series, George likes going for the mid 90’s look of jeans and a blazer, though he’s not really a fashion conscious guy, but he looks like he’s just won the Masters Golf green jacket.
Ryo Hazuki: despite not being the best character in gaming due to his monotonous voice and passion for collecting little plastic toys, he does wear a cool leather jacket with emblem, nice looking jeans and big 80’s style white trainers.
Jimmy White, Steve Davis and James Bond 007: what links two of our best-loved snooker players with Ian Fleming’s famous suave super spy?
Dinner jackets.
Jimmy and Steve have both had their own snooker video games, and there are numerous 007 games, and in each of these games, the guys wear stylish dinner jackets.
(But why is it that in every James Bond video game does 007 always wear the black penguin suit when he doesn’t wear the tuxedo much in the films? Shouldn’t we have more 007 games with Bond wearing the aforementioned Roger Moore blue safari suits?)
One of the often-overlooked factors in character design is the actual clothes that these heroes/villains wear.
Due to the increased power we have in today’s consoles and PCs, even more detail can be put into the characters clothing. One of the best examples is Mario; in Mario 64 the portly plumber has simple textures on his dungarees, but in Super Smash Bros Melee on the powerful Gamecube, we can zoom in to see the denim texture and even the stitching on his trousers.
The detail in the character’s clothes in Final Fantasy X looks amazing too, if a little strange, and I’ve always liked the character detail on the Soul Calibur characters clothing.
So where does fashion come into character design?
Well, would Max Payne be as super cool if he were wearing beige nylon slacks and a tanktop whilst wiping the scum of society off the streets?
No, though the baddies might laugh themselves to death.
Would Solid Snake look as cool if he abandoned is sneaking suit in favour of a Roger Moore style bright blue safari suit with matching neckerchief?
Definitely not (but I think neckerchiefs should come back into fashion one day....)
So character fashion is quite important. In the great Dead or Alive series, fashion even became semi integral to the game, as you could unlock bonus costumes for good gameplay.
Designer fashion labels even creep briefly into games every so often; if memory serves me correctly, the character costumes in G-Police 2 were designed by Diesel?? The cool snowboarders in 1080° wore clothes designed by Tommy Hilfiger and wasn’t Tanners suit in Driver 2 designed by a famous fashion designer??
With the increasing popularity of games, it’s surprising that more clothes designers haven’t designed video game characters costumes.
Will any more designer names put their fashion into games I wonder? How about if instead of the ‘M’ on Mario’s cap, he could have ‘D&G’? Or Princess Peach’s dresses designed by Vivian Westwood...No, on second thoughts, maybe not.
The new look Zelda (which looks great and WILL be the best game ever) hasn’t gained 100% support due to it’s new look, with gaming know-nothings thinking they’re too mature to be playing with cartoony games, but how about if Nintendo gave Link an alternate costume to wear? Burberry seems to be popular with many confrontational kids/thugs these days, so maybe the idea that if Link were to be wearing their uniform instead of his usual boring green jerkin and tights, he and the game would be more accepted and the game would sell better.
Lets have a look then at some video game character fashions as they walk down the virtual catwalk:
Mario & Luigi: although the Mario Brothers seem to share the same tailor as the Chuckle Brothers with their garish colours and dungaree combo, but Mario & Luigi did one thing that numerous mid-90s homeboy rappers couldn’t do...they made dungarees cool again. After Mr.T had so famously worn the jeans with straps on in The A-Team, there was a bit of a slump in dungaree sales when the show finished its TV run. But then, the Mario Brothers appeared and the rest is history.
Today, at any one time, 65% of the world’s population enjoy the comfort and freedom of movement that dungarees allow, and it’s all thanks to the influence of Mr.T and the Mario Brothers.
If Nintendo decided to release a range of clothing, Mario dungarees would come with waist sizes ranging from XL to XXL.
Donkey Kong: he’s big, he’s hairy, he likes bananas and HE’S NUDE!
Why doesn’t DK wear any clothes?
Donkey Kong is a big time naturist who likes the airy feel of nakedness, but so as to appear smart and not totally nude, he wears a tie as well, but lets just hope this fashion trend doesn’t catch on too much.
Michael Jackson: star of a few video games, namely Moonwalker, Michael has had his problems over recent years, but back in the 80’s Michael was the king of cool and the ultimate fashion trend setter. Who else could wear a single silver glove or white socks with black shoes and still look cool?
Max Payne: he may be a depressing man who spouts pretentious and stupid metaphors about snow and drugs, but Max is quite a fashionable guy. If black leather trench coats, leopard skin look shirts and 50’s style gangster shoes are your bag, then Max fits the bill.
Lara Croft: tight t-shirt and tight micro sized shorts.....’nuff said!
Ryu and Ken: rock hard fighters they may be, but the kung fu buddies from the Street Fighter series wear pyjamas, so any idea of them being complete hard nuts comes crashing to earth with a thud.
George Stobbart: star of the excellent Broken Sword series, George likes going for the mid 90’s look of jeans and a blazer, though he’s not really a fashion conscious guy, but he looks like he’s just won the Masters Golf green jacket.
Ryo Hazuki: despite not being the best character in gaming due to his monotonous voice and passion for collecting little plastic toys, he does wear a cool leather jacket with emblem, nice looking jeans and big 80’s style white trainers.
Jimmy White, Steve Davis and James Bond 007: what links two of our best-loved snooker players with Ian Fleming’s famous suave super spy?
Dinner jackets.
Jimmy and Steve have both had their own snooker video games, and there are numerous 007 games, and in each of these games, the guys wear stylish dinner jackets.
(But why is it that in every James Bond video game does 007 always wear the black penguin suit when he doesn’t wear the tuxedo much in the films? Shouldn’t we have more 007 games with Bond wearing the aforementioned Roger Moore blue safari suits?)
Ryo Hazuki is the man.
(He could wear anything and still look hard)
Good post.
(He could wear anything and still look hard)
Good post.
We’ve talked many times about what elements go to make a good game. Of course, there’s the actual game engine and gameplay, then lifespan and graphics. On top of those important factors are the actual characters that inhabit the game world, because without a good character to star in a game, that game ends up not having a ‘soul’.
One of the often-overlooked factors in character design is the actual clothes that these heroes/villains wear.
Due to the increased power we have in today’s consoles and PCs, even more detail can be put into the characters clothing. One of the best examples is Mario; in Mario 64 the portly plumber has simple textures on his dungarees, but in Super Smash Bros Melee on the powerful Gamecube, we can zoom in to see the denim texture and even the stitching on his trousers.
The detail in the character’s clothes in Final Fantasy X looks amazing too, if a little strange, and I’ve always liked the character detail on the Soul Calibur characters clothing.
So where does fashion come into character design?
Well, would Max Payne be as super cool if he were wearing beige nylon slacks and a tanktop whilst wiping the scum of society off the streets?
No, though the baddies might laugh themselves to death.
Would Solid Snake look as cool if he abandoned is sneaking suit in favour of a Roger Moore style bright blue safari suit with matching neckerchief?
Definitely not (but I think neckerchiefs should come back into fashion one day....)
So character fashion is quite important. In the great Dead or Alive series, fashion even became semi integral to the game, as you could unlock bonus costumes for good gameplay.
Designer fashion labels even creep briefly into games every so often; if memory serves me correctly, the character costumes in G-Police 2 were designed by Diesel?? The cool snowboarders in 1080° wore clothes designed by Tommy Hilfiger and wasn’t Tanners suit in Driver 2 designed by a famous fashion designer??
With the increasing popularity of games, it’s surprising that more clothes designers haven’t designed video game characters costumes.
Will any more designer names put their fashion into games I wonder? How about if instead of the ‘M’ on Mario’s cap, he could have ‘D&G’? Or Princess Peach’s dresses designed by Vivian Westwood...No, on second thoughts, maybe not.
The new look Zelda (which looks great and WILL be the best game ever) hasn’t gained 100% support due to it’s new look, with gaming know-nothings thinking they’re too mature to be playing with cartoony games, but how about if Nintendo gave Link an alternate costume to wear? Burberry seems to be popular with many confrontational kids/thugs these days, so maybe the idea that if Link were to be wearing their uniform instead of his usual boring green jerkin and tights, he and the game would be more accepted and the game would sell better.
Lets have a look then at some video game character fashions as they walk down the virtual catwalk:
Mario & Luigi: although the Mario Brothers seem to share the same tailor as the Chuckle Brothers with their garish colours and dungaree combo, but Mario & Luigi did one thing that numerous mid-90s homeboy rappers couldn’t do...they made dungarees cool again. After Mr.T had so famously worn the jeans with straps on in The A-Team, there was a bit of a slump in dungaree sales when the show finished its TV run. But then, the Mario Brothers appeared and the rest is history.
Today, at any one time, 65% of the world’s population enjoy the comfort and freedom of movement that dungarees allow, and it’s all thanks to the influence of Mr.T and the Mario Brothers.
If Nintendo decided to release a range of clothing, Mario dungarees would come with waist sizes ranging from XL to XXL.
Donkey Kong: he’s big, he’s hairy, he likes bananas and HE’S NUDE!
Why doesn’t DK wear any clothes?
Donkey Kong is a big time naturist who likes the airy feel of nakedness, but so as to appear smart and not totally nude, he wears a tie as well, but lets just hope this fashion trend doesn’t catch on too much.
Michael Jackson: star of a few video games, namely Moonwalker, Michael has had his problems over recent years, but back in the 80’s Michael was the king of cool and the ultimate fashion trend setter. Who else could wear a single silver glove or white socks with black shoes and still look cool?
Max Payne: he may be a depressing man who spouts pretentious and stupid metaphors about snow and drugs, but Max is quite a fashionable guy. If black leather trench coats, leopard skin look shirts and 50’s style gangster shoes are your bag, then Max fits the bill.
Lara Croft: tight t-shirt and tight micro sized shorts.....’nuff said!
Ryu and Ken: rock hard fighters they may be, but the kung fu buddies from the Street Fighter series wear pyjamas, so any idea of them being complete hard nuts comes crashing to earth with a thud.
George Stobbart: star of the excellent Broken Sword series, George likes going for the mid 90’s look of jeans and a blazer, though he’s not really a fashion conscious guy, but he looks like he’s just won the Masters Golf green jacket.
Ryo Hazuki: despite not being the best character in gaming due to his monotonous voice and passion for collecting little plastic toys, he does wear a cool leather jacket with emblem, nice looking jeans and big 80’s style white trainers.
Jimmy White, Steve Davis and James Bond 007: what links two of our best-loved snooker players with Ian Fleming’s famous suave super spy?
Dinner jackets.
Jimmy and Steve have both had their own snooker video games, and there are numerous 007 games, and in each of these games, the guys wear stylish dinner jackets.
(But why is it that in every James Bond video game does 007 always wear the black penguin suit when he doesn’t wear the tuxedo much in the films? Shouldn’t we have more 007 games with Bond wearing the aforementioned Roger Moore blue safari suits?)
One of the often-overlooked factors in character design is the actual clothes that these heroes/villains wear.
Due to the increased power we have in today’s consoles and PCs, even more detail can be put into the characters clothing. One of the best examples is Mario; in Mario 64 the portly plumber has simple textures on his dungarees, but in Super Smash Bros Melee on the powerful Gamecube, we can zoom in to see the denim texture and even the stitching on his trousers.
The detail in the character’s clothes in Final Fantasy X looks amazing too, if a little strange, and I’ve always liked the character detail on the Soul Calibur characters clothing.
So where does fashion come into character design?
Well, would Max Payne be as super cool if he were wearing beige nylon slacks and a tanktop whilst wiping the scum of society off the streets?
No, though the baddies might laugh themselves to death.
Would Solid Snake look as cool if he abandoned is sneaking suit in favour of a Roger Moore style bright blue safari suit with matching neckerchief?
Definitely not (but I think neckerchiefs should come back into fashion one day....)
So character fashion is quite important. In the great Dead or Alive series, fashion even became semi integral to the game, as you could unlock bonus costumes for good gameplay.
Designer fashion labels even creep briefly into games every so often; if memory serves me correctly, the character costumes in G-Police 2 were designed by Diesel?? The cool snowboarders in 1080° wore clothes designed by Tommy Hilfiger and wasn’t Tanners suit in Driver 2 designed by a famous fashion designer??
With the increasing popularity of games, it’s surprising that more clothes designers haven’t designed video game characters costumes.
Will any more designer names put their fashion into games I wonder? How about if instead of the ‘M’ on Mario’s cap, he could have ‘D&G’? Or Princess Peach’s dresses designed by Vivian Westwood...No, on second thoughts, maybe not.
The new look Zelda (which looks great and WILL be the best game ever) hasn’t gained 100% support due to it’s new look, with gaming know-nothings thinking they’re too mature to be playing with cartoony games, but how about if Nintendo gave Link an alternate costume to wear? Burberry seems to be popular with many confrontational kids/thugs these days, so maybe the idea that if Link were to be wearing their uniform instead of his usual boring green jerkin and tights, he and the game would be more accepted and the game would sell better.
Lets have a look then at some video game character fashions as they walk down the virtual catwalk:
Mario & Luigi: although the Mario Brothers seem to share the same tailor as the Chuckle Brothers with their garish colours and dungaree combo, but Mario & Luigi did one thing that numerous mid-90s homeboy rappers couldn’t do...they made dungarees cool again. After Mr.T had so famously worn the jeans with straps on in The A-Team, there was a bit of a slump in dungaree sales when the show finished its TV run. But then, the Mario Brothers appeared and the rest is history.
Today, at any one time, 65% of the world’s population enjoy the comfort and freedom of movement that dungarees allow, and it’s all thanks to the influence of Mr.T and the Mario Brothers.
If Nintendo decided to release a range of clothing, Mario dungarees would come with waist sizes ranging from XL to XXL.
Donkey Kong: he’s big, he’s hairy, he likes bananas and HE’S NUDE!
Why doesn’t DK wear any clothes?
Donkey Kong is a big time naturist who likes the airy feel of nakedness, but so as to appear smart and not totally nude, he wears a tie as well, but lets just hope this fashion trend doesn’t catch on too much.
Michael Jackson: star of a few video games, namely Moonwalker, Michael has had his problems over recent years, but back in the 80’s Michael was the king of cool and the ultimate fashion trend setter. Who else could wear a single silver glove or white socks with black shoes and still look cool?
Max Payne: he may be a depressing man who spouts pretentious and stupid metaphors about snow and drugs, but Max is quite a fashionable guy. If black leather trench coats, leopard skin look shirts and 50’s style gangster shoes are your bag, then Max fits the bill.
Lara Croft: tight t-shirt and tight micro sized shorts.....’nuff said!
Ryu and Ken: rock hard fighters they may be, but the kung fu buddies from the Street Fighter series wear pyjamas, so any idea of them being complete hard nuts comes crashing to earth with a thud.
George Stobbart: star of the excellent Broken Sword series, George likes going for the mid 90’s look of jeans and a blazer, though he’s not really a fashion conscious guy, but he looks like he’s just won the Masters Golf green jacket.
Ryo Hazuki: despite not being the best character in gaming due to his monotonous voice and passion for collecting little plastic toys, he does wear a cool leather jacket with emblem, nice looking jeans and big 80’s style white trainers.
Jimmy White, Steve Davis and James Bond 007: what links two of our best-loved snooker players with Ian Fleming’s famous suave super spy?
Dinner jackets.
Jimmy and Steve have both had their own snooker video games, and there are numerous 007 games, and in each of these games, the guys wear stylish dinner jackets.
(But why is it that in every James Bond video game does 007 always wear the black penguin suit when he doesn’t wear the tuxedo much in the films? Shouldn’t we have more 007 games with Bond wearing the aforementioned Roger Moore blue safari suits?)