Your Favorite Video Game Characters: Then and NowRant Gaming

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Your Favorite Video Game Characters Then and Now

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Your Favorite Video Game Characters Then and Now: Mario

Donkey Kong vs New Super Mario Bros. U.

Mario (Donkey Kong 1981)

When Mario first appeared in 1981, he was neither a plumber or the titular character. Rather, he showed up as a portly carpenter nicknamed "Jumpman," in Donkey Kong. He might have stayed Jumpman as well had Mario Segale, the landlord of a warehouse Nintendo was renting, hadn't showed up demanding some overdue rent.

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Your Favorite Video Game Characters Then and Now: Slime

DQ1 vs DQX.

Slime (Dragon Quest 1985)

I may or may not be biased for slimes. I have a healing slime hanging on my rear view mirror, I have a gaggle hanging from phone, and my room is littered with stuffed versions of them. If only I could eat them, then my life would be complete. The adorable little slime made its first appearance in 1986 in Enix?s RPG, Dragon Quest.

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Your Favorite Video Game Characters Then and Now: Link

The Legend of Zelda vs The Legend of Zelda Wii U.

Link (The Legend of Zelda 1986)

Link originally appeared back in 1986 on the Family Computer Disk System, in a somewhat obscure game called The Legend of Zelda (perhaps you?ve heard of it?). Although the game celebrated it?s 25th anniversary just last year, Link still hasn?t graduated from his love of green suede and over-sized belt buckles it seems.

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Your Favorite Video Game Characters Then and Now: Kid Icarus (Pitt)

Kid Icarus vs Kid Icarus: Uprising.

Kid Icarus (Kid Icarus 1986)

Kid Icarus (also known as Pitt-kun), made his first appearance on the Family Computer Disk System back in 1986 in a game name after him, which I both love and hate for its infuriating platforming. The years have definitely been good to Pitt, and he?s looking younger and hotter than ever. Work that skirt! (Toga. Dress. Whatever.)

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Your Favorite Video Game Characters Then and Now: Samus Aran

Metroid vs Metroid Other M.

Samus Aran (Metroid 1986)

Although it?s now common knowledge that Samus Aran is indeed a woman, back in 1986 when Metroid first made it?s appearance on the Family Computer Disk System, boys found themselves dumbstruck whilst girls cheered with joy upon discovering the identity of the game?s bad ass protagonist.

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Your Favorite Video Game Characters Then and Now: Solid Snake

MGS1 vs MGS4.

Solid Snake (Metal Gear 1987)

Despite his somewhat youthful appearance, Hideo Kojima has been making games for at least as many years as a good number of today?s biggest Metal Gear fans have been alive. The original Solid Snake first showed up stealthily on the MSX2 in 1987 in his trademark olive drab camo.

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Your Favorite Video Game Characters Then and Now: Ryu

Street Fighter vs Street Fighter 4.

Ryu (Street Fighter 1987)

I was too little to go to the arcades when the original Street Fighter first showed up back in 1987?according to my mom, it was a BAD place with BAD people). So I had to wait until Street Fighter II before being introduced to one of the literal grand daddies of the fighting game genre back in, karate-ka, Ryu. And yes, that foot does indeed belong to his long time rival, Ken. I?m all for bringing back them sexy red shoes.

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Your Favorite Video Game Characters Then and Now: Chocobo

FFII vs FFXIV.

Chocobo (Final Fantasy II 1988)

Although the yellow birdie didn't show up until Final Fantasy II in 1988, it's inspired enough songs (from mambos to waltzes to sambas) and almost as many spin offs than the actual game itself. Couldn't imagine a Final Fantasy without one!

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Your Favorite Video Game Characters Then and Now: Kazuya

Tekken 1 vs Tekken Tag Tournament 2.

Kazuya (Tekken 1991)

By 1994, I was finally able to visit my first real video game arcade (gasp!) where the original Tekken was introduced by Namco. I know the graphics are awfully blocky now, but back in the day, the game was one of the first 3D fighting games out on the market and an amazing sight to behold (if there wasn?t a crowd of 50 people around the arcade box.)

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Your Favorite Video Game Characters Then and Now: Kasumi

DOA1 vs DOA 5.

Kasumi (Dead or Alive 1996)

Even back in 1996 when Dead or Alive first appeared, Team Ninja proved themselves to be huge supporters of furry fan service. I?m slightly afraid of what DOA 6 might bring as adorable kunoichi Kasumi?s outfits have gotten shorter and skimpier throughout the years. (Are they just going to bamf ninja disappear?)

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Your Favorite Video Game Characters Then and Now: Chris Redfield

RE1 vs RE6.

Chris Redfield (Resident Evil 1996)

Chris Redfield and the Resident Evil franchise which began in 1996 have gone through a number of incarnations over the years. (Remember the live actor who portrayed him with the massive widow?s peak?) Although I don?t care too much for the extra Roid ragey version of Chris from RE5, I have to admit he?s looking a lot more proportional in Capcom?s newest offering, Resident Evil 6.

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Your Favorite Video Game Characters Then and Now: Lara Croft

Tomb Raider 1 vs Tomb Raider the Reboot.

Lara Croft (Tomb Raider 1996)

Over the years, Lara Croft has probably seen the biggest make over of all since first popping up?and out?on the gaming scene on the Sega Saturn and PlayStation back in 1996?s Tomb Raider. her designers have definitely ditched the Indiana Skank look, and I for one appreciate her evolution into a real woman in the newest reboot of the franchise.

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Your Favorite Video Game Characters Then and Now: Grand Theft Auto

GTA 1 vs GTA 5.

The Car (Grand Theft Auto 1997)

The original Grand Theft Auto launched to a somewhat mixed bag of reviews back in 1997 when it first arrived on the PC. I enjoyed it a lot more in it?s later, console incarnations, but I do have to give props to Rockstar (then known as DMA Design) in keeping true to the open world destruction which allowed layers to wreck havoc on the denizens of Liberty City throughout the years.

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Your Favorite Video Game Characters Then and Now: The Zerg

Starcraft 1 vs Starcraft II.

Zerg Rush (Starcraft 1998)

For almost 15 years now since Blizzard released the their revolutionally RTS and global blockbuster, StarCraft, Zerglings have been doing what they do best. No, not dying in horrible ways 1v1 a Terran Marine, but Zerg Rushing.

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Your Favorite Video Game Characters Then and Now: Captain Price

COD 1 vs COD: MW3.

Captain Price (Call of Duty 2003)

Those who have read my deranged ramblings before know that my top video game crush of all time is Captain Price from Infinity Ward?s Call of Duty franchise. Captain John Price originally appeared in 2003?s Call of Duty as the current Captain Price?s ?grandfather.? One of the baby franchise of this article, but I made an exception for the ?stache.

Then and Now:? The Evolution of Video Game Characters

Then and now are concepts which not only carry through the real world, but into the virtual world of video games as well.? Back then, some of you might remember listening to cassette tapes on your Walkman and going to school with Trapper Keeper folders hugged tightly to your chest, where as now, students listen to their iPods and hug their iPads and Notebooks close by.

As gamers, we are hardly immune to the then and now either, and many of us have come to take the stunning high-definition graphics of this generation consoles and games for granted?heck, we may even condemn what could be an amazing experience due to average graphics.? But a long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there was something called 8 bit and 16 bit graphics, and once upon a time there was a silly little system called the PlayStation which could handle astounding resolutions anywhere from 256??224 to 640??480.

So to commemorate the then and now of gaming (aka, I was feeling old as all fudge because someone called me ?ma?am? at the gas station), here are some side by side comparisons of some of our favorite video game characters, from a dozen of gaming?s longest lived franchise, from the portly carpenter/plumber, to some of our top fighters; from the cutest bunny girls to the creepiest crawling aliens.

I?m not gonna? lie,? when I look back now after however many years, I?ve asked myself, ?WTF was I thinking.?? The characters are so pixelated and so blocky after all, it?s hard to believe anyone spent hours and hours playing those games.? But the thing is, I never thought those things at all back then?those were the games we had after all.? And for the time, they were cutting edge.? I honesty do not recall even did I think about the graphics then?heck, I even remember being in awe of how beautiful everything looked, even stunned sometimes that the game makers could create such art in their game out of so little.? I simply enjoyed what I enjoyed for more than some pretty pixels.

I have no doubt that in a few more years, someone will look back at something like the Tomb Raider Reboot and say, ?Ugh, what horrible graphics.?? I?m sure that one day my children or grand children to come won?t even know that pixels once existed.? But I?ll be all too happy to bust out the old Famicom and show them a thing or two?like how to perfectly get 5000 points each time, sliding down the flag poles in Super Mario Bros.

What do you guys think of the changes?? Miss the old graphics at all?? Sound off below, because sharing is caring.

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Source: http://www.rantgaming.com/2012/10/11/ideo-game-characters-then-and-now/

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