How NOT To Redesign Characters

Added: 2026-05-25

[00:00:02]We got trouble.

[00:00:14]The Star Fox series has been on life support for the better part of a decade.

[00:00:18]Ever since the disaster that was Star Fox Zero, the series didn't get any sort of representation outside of Smash Brothers. It's one of those series like F-Zero that everyone wants desperately to come back, but realistically if it did, nobody would even play it. But if the Star Fox series was on life support, then Fox Mloud's appearance in the Mario Galaxy movie was the series waking up from a coma, only for the doctor to then immediately put a bullet in the patient's head. I don't want to go.

[00:00:48]Hey.

[00:00:49]>> Hey.

[00:00:50]That's a that's a plug. You You pulled the plug on me. Part of the Star Fox series being brought back is the cast of characters being completely redesigned and the designs that they went with are well, they are interesting. Look, I know that I'm not the biggest Star Fox fan, but you don't need to be a super fan to recognize that these are not good designs for a game like Star Fox. It reflects a pretty big problem that's consistent with most modern games or remakes. That being a prioritization of realism over artistic creativity. What made the original Star Fox design so good were how each character were designed according to their personality.

[00:01:31]Take a character like Wolf Donald for example. Even if you know nothing about Star Fox and its characters, you can look at his design and immediately tell what kind of personality he has. The way that he has designed, modeled, collared, all of it signals to the type of character he is. His design points to him being a villainous and treacherous character. Not to mention his scruffiness and scars, indicating his veteran status as a star pilot. You can also indicate from his design that he is bisexual. Look at characters like Falco.

[00:02:00]His design is smooth and sllicked back.

[00:02:03]His demeanor and style indicates that he is an arrogant and cocky character. This is why a good character design is important. It tells you everything you need to know about the character without even needing to hear them speak. So, with that being said, let's go ahead and take a look at the new designs for these Star Fox characters. Starting with Wolf that's that's just a dog. Okay. Okay. Let's look at Falco's new design then. I'm sure it's a lot better.

[00:02:31]He's he's not he's he's not even a Falcon in this one. His his his name is Falco because he's a falcon. Why Why does he have a seedbeak? HE'S NOT EVEN A FALCON. WHY IS FALCO NOT A FALCON? E.

[00:02:44]SO, I have a lot of concerns about the upcoming Star Fox remake. It's not just the designs, but also the fact that it's a remake of a game that has already been remade four times at this point, and it's being sold for $50. The only way that Star Fox game is worth $50 is if there's a $40 crystal in there. The Star Fox franchise has always been in this permanent time loop of retelling the same events from the first game over and over again. As of writing this, only four of the eight games that exist are unique narratives from the SNES Star Fox game. And with this next game coming out, that would mean the majority of Star Fox releases are remakes or remasters of a game from almost 30 years ago. And Nintendo wonders why these games don't sell well.

[00:03:30]>> What's going on? Why don't they like it?

[00:03:33]WE SPENT $250 MILLION on this.

[00:03:35]>> As far as the designs go, the art style of Star Fox has changed numerous times in the past. And while I personally believe that the art direction peaked with Star Fox Assault, the designs never conflicted with the atmosphere of the games and who the characters are meant to be. But now, when you look at the new designs for this upcoming game, sure you can look at them and recognize that they are wellmade, but this isn't Star Fox.

[00:03:59]This is not what Star Fox is meant to look like. These designs do not fit the aesthetic of the Star Fox games. In fact, when I first saw Falco's new design, it immediately reminded me of the RTOS from Breath of the Wild. But even then, the design of the RTOS didn't lean towards realism as a top priority.

[00:04:17]The design of the Star Fox characters ultimately do not fit in a Nintendo game. And look, I do think some of the designs look all right. I like how Andros, Slippy, and Peppy look, but they aren't really designs you can mess up.

[00:04:30]The rest of the designs look either uncanny or out of place, especially Cat Monroe.

[00:04:44]Man, tragic. Another former child actor's life ruined by drug addiction.

[00:04:49]Look, even if you disagree with me on all of this, you have to admit that Cat's redesign is horrible. Okay, so why do they even look like this? The answer is pretty simple, but also not at the same time. We have already seen time and time again how much AAA game companies prioritize graphics over stylized art direction. And yeah, it's cool to see the progression that graphics and detail has gotten in the past two decades. But the cost for this is that realistic graphics will be prioritized over any actual art style or substance. This trend of making games look as realistic or as gritty as possible was probably at its worst during the late 2000s. I mentioned this in my GTA 4 video that everyone hated. But games around this era were plastered with a color palette of grays and browns to make everything look desaturated. And Nintendo games around that time were not immune from that trend as well. Games like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Super Smash Brothers Brawl carried that same art direction. and the result was both games being devoid of color and life. I had to least forgive Twilight Princess for this as it was arguably the darkest installment in the Zelda franchise narrative-wise. As for Smash Brothers Brawl, I don't think we needed to give Mario Denim Denim.

[00:06:10]>> It's clear that realistic art direction is the biggest priority when it comes to AAA games nowadays. It's not about having charm or style anymore. It's about impressing tech gurus and gaming journalists. See, look at how much power our system can have. The whisker on Wolf's nose has over 500,000 polygons.

[00:06:29]The Switch 2 is so great, right? It has SO MUCH POWER. BUY IT NOW. MOST of the games that come out now are less about making good quality titles and instead trying to have the best eye candy imaginable. I kind of blame Red Dead Redemption 2 and the fan base behind that game for this. Every time a new game comes out, hundreds of videos comparing the game's graphics to Red Dead 2 get released. Star Wars Outlaws in Red Dead Redemption 2 sideby-side comparison. Watchdog 2 and Red Dead Redemption 2. Sidebyside comparison, Assassin's Creed Shadows, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Crimson Desert, Ghost of Yatoy, Mafia: The Old Country, LAST OF US PART TWO. I GET IT. RED DEAD Redemption 2 was a once- ina-lifetime experience, and it deserves all the praise in the world. But not every game needs to be a Red Dead Redemption 2 and it doesn't need to be held up to those standards. I love the game, but it's almost 10 years old. Can we please move on? If I am being honest, I think this is why some people like the new designs of the Star Fox characters. It looks more realistic. Therefore, it's good. It doesn't matter if it doesn't fit the aesthetic of the Star Fox series because look, Falco looks more like a bird.

[00:07:39]Except not a Falcon. even though that's in his [ __ ] name. This is what I mean by realistic art direction kills creativity. The charm of the Star Fox franchise is ultimately lost and instead replaced with husks that don't actually represent the characters that they are meant to be. Now, I have seen people defend these designs, saying that they look like the puppets that were on the box art for the original Star Fox.

[00:08:04]That's not a good thing. Those puppets were uncanny and terrifying, and they were never good in the slightest.

[00:08:22]And besides, they aren't how the characters look in the original SNES game. I don't think we should be treating box art like it's the definitive design for characters. Or do we need to bring out the Mega Man box art again? And then there is the argument that the design of the character doesn't take away from what the overall game is meant to be. I understand this one a little more, but it still doesn't work. If Mario's design, for example, was changed to be more realistic of an Italian plumber from Brooklyn, you would not recognize that as a good character design because of what the overall atmosphere of the Mario games are. It doesn't matter if that realistic looking Italian plumber has a good character design because it doesn't fit with the overall aesthetic of the Mario franchise. I do think a lot of the defending that goes into these designs has to do with just the usual Nintendo fandom [ __ ] because I know for a fact that if a gaming franchise like Sonic did this, we would not hear the end of it.

[00:09:19]Oh, wait. They did do that and we did not hear the end of it 7 years ago. The trailer for the first Sonic movie was released, and it featured a redesign of Sonic's character to make him appear more realistic of a hedgehog, and people hated it, rightfully so. So much to the point that it caused an entire VFX studio to shut down and for the movie to get delayed while they redesigned Sonic.

[00:09:42]Now, I bring this up because it does seem like people recognize that realistic art direction kills creativity, but when it comes to a property or series that belongs to Nintendo, it's a different story. You did not see this level of outrage with the Detective Pikachu movie. And I would argue the Pokemon designs in that film were just as uncanny. And the reason for why is because Nintendo has a very loyal fan base.

[00:10:08]Well, that and nobody gives a about Detective Pikachu. Don't worry, I'm not going to offend any Detective Pikachu fans because they don't exist. I want you to find one person, one Pokemon fan who says that their favorite Pokemon game is Detective Pikachu. You can't.

[00:10:23]You can't do it. It's impossible. They don't exist. Even with all of that, I do think the trend of redesigning characters to look more realistic truly peaked at its worst with the Lion King remake.

[00:10:34]>> Wow, dude. Pride rock. The original Lion King is one of my favorite animated films of all time. And part of the reason why I love the film so much has to do with the direction it took with its art and animation. The film is vibrant with colors and personality.

[00:10:50]Each character is designed according to their archetypes and roles to the story.

[00:10:55]Now take a look at the vibrance and beauty of the original 1994 film and compare it to the 2019 remake.

[00:11:05]Do you see what I mean?

[00:11:08]>> Dude, pride wrong. There's no such thing as color in Africa. Everything needs to be gray and brown. After all, our main prioritization is being as realistic as possible. Never mind the fact that the movie is about talking animals. No, no, no. We need to make everything as unappealing as possible. Man, I love Disney. The minute you start to worry about what's more realistic rather than what's good, you end up with a movie like Lion King 2019. The focus on realistic art direction will inevitably take over every aspect of your creation, right down to the personalities of characters to even the world they reside in. All of the life that was in the original Lion King movie was stripped away. And what's been replaced is a husk that feels more like a CGI showcase rather than a movie. The biggest issue you can have with making a movie about talking animals realistic is that you can't convey any sort of emotions whatsoever. In the original Lion King, the art and animation did an amazing job at capturing the facial expressions and emotions of the characters. Meanwhile, in the remake, because animals in real life don't have vibrant expressions like humans do, that means it would be unrealistic for the characters to show any emotion whatsoever. Let's play a game. Here's a picture of Simba. Can you tell me what he is reacting to?

[00:12:27]If you guessed the antelope stampede that kills his dad, no, you didn't.

[00:12:31]Because the movie chooses to focus on realism instead of creativity. That means every single lion in the movie looks the exact same to each other.

[00:12:39]Here, I have another game for you. Which of these lions is Simba and which is Nala? I'll give you a second. I know this is a hard one.

[00:12:55]Is your answer locked in? Awesome.

[00:12:57]Because neither of these is Simba or Nala. In fact, this is Mufasa and Taka from the Mufasa movie that came out in 2024. They're not even from the same movie, but you wouldn't be able to tell because all the lions look the exact same.

[00:13:09]>> What' you say about my brother? There's not a trade that's my brother. You stay away from my brother cuz I say so.

[00:13:16]>> Dude, pride rock. I don't really want to talk about Lion King anymore. The trend of realistic art direction is probably never going to end. Consumers have very low standards and will always prefer eye candy over substance. That's just kind of the way it's been when it comes to movies, games, and even TV shows. The same people who say things like, "I don't care about graphics. I just want good gameplay." are also the same people to complain when the new Skate doesn't look exactly like the Skate from 16 years ago. And yeah, people are hypocrites. That's nothing new. Oh, I want games with worse graphics. No, you don't. No matter what, people are still going to show up and watch the upcoming Moana remake. People are still going to post Red Dead Redemption 2 graphic comparison videos, and people are still going to buy the new Star Fox. And it doesn't matter if it'll be the same game that was remade four times already. It doesn't matter if the game looks ugly, and Fal's design isn't even that OF A FALCON, WHICH IS LITERALLY in his name.

[00:14:15]None of that matters because to corporations like Nintendo or Disney, what's more important than creating art is making money and impressing shareholders. Realistic art direction is a symptom of capitalism in the film and games industry. That's right. This was a political video all along. I tricked you. If you're excited for the new Star Fox game, I'm glad you are. Go buy that game and have fun with it. Even though I'm not going to get it, I still understand why some people would. If you're excited for more Disney remakes, why?

[00:14:46]>> Wow, dude. Pride.

[00:14:51]>> Wow, dude. Brock.

[00:14:53]>> IF YOU SMELL what The Rock is cooking.

[00:14:58]>> I'm sorry, this video is starting to derail. I just want to share my opinion and why I feel like the trend of realism and art direction is an all-around poison to actual creativity. Some of my favorite games that I have ever played all had a unique or at very least creative art style. And that's part of the reason why so many people have gravitated towards indie games. They have a lot more soul attached to it more than any of the recent stuff that's coming out from big AAA game studios.

[00:15:24]So, if you're watching this, I encourage you to start branching out and engage with more creative works past whatever the big major studio is making. There's a whole world out there and it can be really depressing just seeing the same stuff being pumped out again and again.

[00:15:38]Dive deeper and find something special.

[00:15:41]With that, I've been Limus and never be normal.

[00:15:47]His name is Falco. Like Falcon. I still can't believe he isn't even designed like one.

[00:15:52]>> My number must be mistaken.

[00:15:55]It's in your head. My letters they can't describe. You are already dead. It's fantasy that it takes to every moment and I can't seem to make it.

[00:16:11]>> Hey, Napoleon, can you hand me those games?

[00:16:13]>> I'm Nelson.

[00:16:14]>> You all right?

[00:16:15]>> I'm Nelson.

[00:16:16]>> I'm Matt.

[00:16:17]>> Napoleon. Who's that?

[00:16:18]>> I'm Nelson.

[00:16:19]>> He looks just like Nelson.

[00:16:21]>> What are you doing here, Nelson?