Worst redesigns in gaming

[bigstinkie]

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5 years of meth
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i am kind of surprised at this inclusion of cloud strife - the first image you posted was of his redesign in the final fantasy spinoff fighting game, dissidia, which is already a pretty strong stylistic departure from cloud's original design and art direction

and for the bottom picture you posted a screenshot of the initial final fantasy vii remake trailer - a design that was not used in the game itself, as his look in that trailer was a work in progress

i forgot what kind of point i was trying to make with this

 

[Bacon Eater64x]

Mario needs a shitty redesign fr.

Granted unlike Simon and other characters at least he LOOKS like Mario, but it is still ugly as fuck.

Or maybe its just the artstyle that's problem.

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

View attachment 64731 Sadge

Soul vs SoulLESS fr…
They gachafied em

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It isn't so much a visual redesign, but what they did with Valis is a shame

Talking about Valis X? Fair that game was a game that existed

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You guys are tweaking with this, the Castlevania Judgement designs are pure fire. Honestly, the one in the thread post is fire as fuck too. People are too scared of different iterations or alternate timeline designs. Yeah, OG Simon is my favourite and I prefer it over Judgement's design, but you're crazy as hell if you think that's a bad redesign. Its dope as hell.

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Example of actual dogshit redesign, this and Donte.

Donte is actually peak smh

 

[ShadowsofCreation]

That guy doesn't come even close to what Simon Belmont went through

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Let's be real, no Belmont besides Richter has ever looked like anything other than an idiot in any version xD The dumbass original Conan design is equally hilarious, just on the Western end of the Art Spectrum instead of the Eastern end.

 

[Bacon Eater64x]

If that's what everyone else looks like, and as long as the setting is like that, then I don't see why not. Also, that's a FAAAAAAAR stretch from what Simon looks like Judgement, he isn't albino, or a goblin... I just think people need to accept that different iterations of their favourite stuff exists and should take the nostalgia glasses off...

I used that Mario statement as an example of hyperboly to get the point the across. It's better for a character to have a consitent design in order to be recognizable, which is something Simon and other characters have suffered from. Simon in the 90s depicted as Long haired, stocky and muscular and with a more adult face (most of these aspects also apply to Chronicles Simon minus the face where he instead has a bishonen face). Judgement insead makes him slender and like a Light Yagami on steroids.

If you are gonna be including characters from another games and make them unrecognizable then it beats the entire point of using that character unless you want to reinvent them for a reboot or something (at least Mirror of Fate Simon belonged to a new continuity, which is why i don't rage on him)

Also nobody is saying they don't ackowledge other incarnations of the characters, they just say they DON'T like them (hell i ackwoledge Instruction Manual Simon which is somethign Castlevania fans don't tend to know about) maybe you should ackowledge that people are gonna express dissdains to bad and unecessary changes instead of using "Le nostalgia" as a shield to defend them, how do i know you are just not a nostalgic DMC fan who is angry Dante was changed?

 

[Viviana Santos]

Another Rareware character who also suffered from a bad redesign is definitely Joanna Dark, whose redesign in Perfect Dark Zero is absolutely hideous:

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Worst of all, the concept art is even WORSE:

 

[WesternYokai]

View attachment 64731 Sadge

This one sparked a tragicomic discussion about art on twitter

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

Hard disagree. All of the character designs in Judgement are awful except for the OC Aeon, and even then he pales (heh) in comparison to Ayami Kojima-original characters like Leon and Hector who are far more eye catching. The Judgement character outfits are unappealing and overly exaggerated (even by Castlevania standards) and the fact that some of them look like Death Note characters doing cosplay makes them look dumber.

Also "YoU JuST don'T LikE ChaNGE" is an observation, not an actual argument. If you are gonna make such heavy changes to a character with an established look, there's a point you might as well make a new protagonist instead if you want something unrecognizable. Also Donte is not that bad of a redesign, he is just missing the Iconic White Hair.

This.
It ain’t the fact that the characters are alternate takes I hate, it’s that the designs just suck in general.
Shanoa being the biggest example because they could’ve gone all out and yet they just decided to stick to the original design and remove everything interesting about it. The aforementioned Simon is even an example because it’s just Chronicles Simon but they decided to make the outfit so weird. Ironically the game is at its best when it’s NOT reusing ideas, like Death

 

[snes9x]

This might rustle some feathers, but I hate how Sonic Team redesigned the Puyo Puyo cast.

 

[destinyduelist]

I used that Mario statement as an example of hyperboly to get the point the across. It's better for a character to have a consitent design in order to be recognizable, which is something Simon and other characters have suffered from. Simon in the 90s depicted as Long haired, stocky and muscular and with a more adult face (most of these aspects also apply to Chronicles Simon minus the face where he instead has a bishonen face). Judgement insead makes him slender and like a Light Yagami on steroids.

If you are gonna be including characters from another games and make them unrecognizable then it beats the entire point of using that character unless you want to reinvent them for a reboot or something (at least Mirror of Fate Simon belonged to a new continuity, which is why i don't rage on him)

Also nobody is saying they don't ackowledge other incarnations of the characters, they just say they DON'T like them (hell i ackwoledge Instruction Manual Simon which is somethign Castlevania fans don't tend to know about) maybe you should ackowledge that people are gonna express dissdains to bad and unecessary changes instead of using "Le nostalgia" as a shield to defend them, how do i know you are just not a nostalgic DMC fan who is angry Dante was changed?

I guess my final example would be from different medium, Johnny Joestar is supposed to be an alternate universe Jonathan Joestar. They're so different in design, hell, one is a cripple, and yet they're both great designs in their own right for their own tonal differences in their respective stories. It's the same here. But hey, at the end of the day art is subjective, but from a purely character design standpoint the Judgement designs are perfectly executed.
I guess in the end we agree to disagree, or I guess a more proper answer is like I said:
Art is purely subjective. Nice debate though, I'm glad we could talk and debate normally on this forum, ya don't see it often

 

[DanVzare]

The Sonic Boom redesign, while not the worst, is definitely up there as a bad one.
For the most part they looked ok... except for the sports tape on absolutely everything! Also, the design they chose for Knuckles was just straight up bad.

 

[WesternYokai]

What about KOF XIII?

 

[Viviana Santos]

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What about KOF XIII?

Nah, these designs are good.

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

This might rustle some feathers, but I hate how Sonic Team redesigned the Puyo Puyo cast.

Guessing you mean Fever onwards. I never really noticed myself, though granted 4 was a huge art style departure from every other game

 

[ciro64]

Mario needs a shitty redesign fr.

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

Mario needs a shitty redesign fr.

They’re all shitty compared to Malleo and Weegee

 

[ciro64]

They’re all shitty compared to Malleo and Weegee
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How dare you insult my gods

 

[WesternYokai]

Nah, these designs are good.

I'm fine too. Maybe characters are more muscular than I would like, but yeah I'm fine.

 

[Viviana Santos]

Another Rareware character who also suffered from a bad redesign is definitely Joanna Dark, whose redesign in Perfect Dark Zero is absolutely hideous

Her redesign in the upcoming Perfect Dark reboot is also very bad:

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believe me I don't hate this redesign because of hurr durr Wokeness or whatever, I just find it very ugly.

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

Her redesign in the upcoming Perfect Dark reboot is also very bad: View attachment 64801View attachment 64802

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believe me I don't hate this redesign because of hurr durr Wokeness or whatever, I just find it very ugly.

That ain’t even the same character anymore

 

[AkiraSO4]

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What about KOF XIII?

Ralf, Clark, Elisabeth, Athena, Mature, Vice, Leona, and Iori.

Not a lot of redesigns besides those I listed. If anything, this game is guilty of going back to old designs. Like Andy, Ryo, Robert and Bily returning to their KOF 95 selves, just to name a few.

But then again, Athena gets a redesign in every goddamn game she appears, so...

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I wait for the day for devs to realize that not every character needs a beard to show that they aged up.

 

[HextarVigar]

 

[Leo-Dash]

 

[ciro64]

I don't know what Microsoft is thinking going forward with this design

 

[Pandaprewmaster325]

i am kind of surprised at this inclusion of cloud strife - the first image you posted was of his redesign in the final fantasy spinoff fighting game, dissidia, which is already a pretty strong stylistic departure from cloud's original design and art direction
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and for the bottom picture you posted a screenshot of the initial final fantasy vii remake trailer - a design that was not used in the game itself, as his look in that trailer was a work in progress
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i forgot what kind of point i was trying to make with this

Looks the same really just new boots for dissidia and some hair coloring he did at the barber , he still has the shoulder pad and same hair style Idk whats so distinct here...