8 Best Character Redesigns In Video Games

Summary

• Character redesign in video games is a delicate balance between innovation and respecting the legacy of the character.
• From Sonic's edgier look to Kratos' dad beard, character changes reflect shifts in storytelling and gameplay.
• Cloud Strife actually has fingers now.

Sometimes, change is good. Video game characters are no stranger to change, not only in terms of their storylines or abilities within gameplay, but also when it comes to how they actually look.

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Accomplishing a successful character redesign is a fine balancing act. On the one hand, the chance to innovate the look and identity of a character is certainly an exciting prospect. But on the other hand, the redesign needs to honor the established legacy of that character so as not to upset the dedicated fan base. These video game character redesigns achieve that balancing act with flying colors.

8 Joe Musashi – Shinobi

Somebody Cover Up That Ninja

If one of the core tenets of being a ninja (or a Shinobi) is to conceal your identity, then Joe Musashi in the original arcade Shinobi may as well hand in his shurikens and find a different career path. His full head is on clear display throughout the entirety of the first game, even though many of the ninjas he encounters cover up better than he does.

Thankfully, by the time Joe returns in The Revenge of Shinobi, he has got the memo and has adopted a more traditional - and anonymous - ninja garb. Sega would continue tweaking the design of its Shinobi protagonists, peaking with the red scarf-adorning Hotsuna in the 2002 PlayStation 2 game.

7 Cloud Strife – Final Fantasy 7

Who Knew What You Could Achieve With A Few More Polygons?

Cloud Strife has a strong claim of being the most instantly-recognizable character in the Final Fantasy series - and, let’s be honest, in all of gaming. With that said, the main protagonist of Final Fantasy 7’s original in-game design was severely held back by the limitations of the PlayStation 1.

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Yes, the iconic golden spiky hair is still in full swing, but Cloud’s purple SOLDIER suit and blocky proportions have been well and truly erased from more recent iterations. His look in the Remake games is slick, modern, and, most importantly, doesn’t look like a Lego figurine.

6 Alucard – Castlevania

From Sidekick To The Main Hero

Alucard first entered the Castlevania series as one of the optional playable characters in Castlevania 3: Dracula’s Curse. His velvet cape and dark hair adhere to a traditional vampire aesthetic, which is appropriate, given he is meant to be the son of Dracula.

He would benefit from a major glow-up in Symphony of the Night. Not only was he now the star of the game – a game that many consider the peak of the series, no less – but his androgynous silvery hair and soft facial features would become instantly iconic, almost completely erasing everyone’s previous perception of the character.

5 Sonic – Sonic The Hedgehog

Gotta Go Edgier

The original Sonic character design is just about as iconic as they come. The blue spiky hair, the large red sneakers, and the expressive cartoon eyes (or is it singular, given it’s technically only one eye?) are all instantly recognizable for people both inside and outside the gaming community.

When Sega decided to modernize Sonic’s look, they mainly focused on trimming some of the fat. Sonic is now taller, less pudgy, and has sharper angles in his eyes, hair, and ears. All of these decisions were to make his character appear more “edgy” – a choice that is still being debated by fans of the series to this day.

4 Jak – Jak And Daxter

A Goatee Worth Celebrating

Much like the series of games that he is the star of, Jak's character design is constantly undergoing change. Most of the more noticeable changes in his design happen in the hair department.

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His bold anime-style hair in the first game is replaced with some luscious locks in the second (and paired with a goatee, just for fun) before finally settling for a trimmed-back look come the third entry. Whatever the look, it’s hard to argue that Jak doesn’t pull it off.

3 Kratos – God Of War

Rocking That Dad Beard

In the original Greek God of War games, Kratos was designed to look as mean and threatening and possible. There’s a visceral quality to his permanently scowling, scar-covered face – perfectly capturing the look of someone you definitely do not want to get on the wrong side of.

A switch to Norse mythology and the introduction of Atreus meant that Santa Monica Studios needed to tweak Kratos’ design. Just like with the rest of his character, Kratos has lost that brutal edge in his design. Not necessarily because he has mellowed with age but more due to the overwhelming fatigue he feels after a lifetime of bloodshed and vengeance.

2 Lara Croft – Tomb Raider

Changing With The Times

Lara Croft’s original design has been criticized in more recent times for being overly sexualized – and probably rightly so. It’s hard to look at her original look and not see the male gaze written all over it – even if you do find it ironically nostalgic for retro gaming sensibilities.

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While Lara’s design received a number of revisions across the Tomb Raider games, the most notable came with the 2013 reboot. Considered one of the best games in the series, this redesign reflected the more mature and grounded tone of this origins story and was reused for its two sequels.

1 Link – The Legend Of Zelda

The Many Faces Of Link

While the core tenets of Link’s design remain largely consistent across the entire series – green clothes, blond hair, pointy ears, you get the idea – the way it has been interpreted has changed with nearly every game.

From the hyper-expressive design of The Wind Waker’s Link to the blue-clothed adventurer in Breath of the Wild, seeing what Link will look like is always one of the highlights of every new Zelda game announcement. It speaks volumes about the consistent quality of his character redesigns, which have made him such an icon of gaming as a whole.

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