History CharacterizationMarchesOn / VideoGames

** Live-action, animated and comic adaptations have gone with the premise of Mario and Luigi as two Brooklyn plumbers who ended up stuck in the Mushroom Kingdom, making references to life on Earth as if they are longing to return to their home at some point. The games have not been focusing on this characterization, and have implied the two were originally born in the Mushroom Kingdom.

* While some vestiges of her original personality remain, the ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' character Marisa Kirisame was significantly different in the first five (PC-98) games. She was originally fairly bland, distinctly feminine, and moderately evil. Following the shift to Windows, she became the tomboyish LovableRogue we know and love. To some extent, Reimu had it worse, as she didn't really have a defined personality in those games at all.

** The series has a pretty shaky history of consistent characterization, which makes sense since multiple writers are working on the series and some never communicate with each other. Because of this, characters tend behave very differently between games DependingOnTheWriter, with very broad traits to keep them recognizable. This especially evident when one compares how the plot is handled through years. Starting out, the games had as much plot as you would expect from a 2D platforming series in the '90s (As in, [[ExcusePlot barely]]) and characterization was very minimal (Sonic was the MascotWithAttitude, Tails was his sidekick, Knuckles his rival, etc) but starting in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' the series adopted a more cohesive and serialized narrative not unlike common Shonen Anime/Manga, and characters and relationships became much more dynamic. (Series BreakoutCharacter Shadow the Hedgehog debuts here, and has the most fleshed out background of any character to date,) but after much criticism over that direction, starting with ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' the series is back to simpler characterizations and plot to allow for more broader narratives but mostly ignored the character development that took place before. (I.e. Tails is mostly back to being Sonic's sidekick despite his bout of independence before.) However, after the pre-Unleashed type of narrative ends up becoming vindicated, and a backlash against the LighterAndSofter type of storytelling grew, ''VideoGame/SonicFrontiers'' went back to the more cohesive and serialized narrative, and the core quartet of the series regained their character development.

** ''VideoGame/SonicBoomRiseOfLyric'' portrays Sticks the Badger as a somewhat naive and childish character who uses YouNoTakeCandle-style dialogue, a far cry from her later appearances in the rest of the [[Franchise/SonicBoom ''Sonic Boom'' sub-franchise]] where’ she’s a pint-sized ConspiracyTheorist who speaks in proper English.

* Compare the first ''VideoGame/StarFox'' game with its ContinuityReboot ''VideoGame/StarFox64''. Fox and Falco didn't change much, if at all, but the other two members of the team are noticeably different. Slippy had a VerbalTic and showed no signs of the GadgeteerGenius tendencies he would eventually develop, but Peppy is almost a completely different character. In the SNES game, he was far more excitable and came off as HotBlooded in some instances, demanding to know "Who's next?!" after each stage. In ''64'', he's the oldest member of the crew and typically acts as a calm mentor figure of sorts.
** Star Wolf are shown as more obviously villainous {{Evil Counterpart}}s in ''Star Fox 2'' and ''Star Fox 64'' than in ''Star Fox: Assault.'' Between the presence of arrogant [[TheRival rival]] Wolf, [[SoftSpokenSadist smooth voiced assassin]] Leon, Andross' nephew {{Overlord Jr}} Andrew and [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder treacherous]] Pigma, their mocking and/or murderous dialogue, and accepting a job from Andross to hunt the Star Fox team Star Wolf were introduced as the series' {{Psycho Rangers}}. Come Assault, we learn that Andrew left Star Wolf to lead Andross' leftover forces while Pigma was kicked out of the team for being a treacherous swine, [[DashingHispanic dashing rogue]] Panther joined the team, and Wolf himself was presented as more of a {{Worthy Opponent}} who even saves Fox from the Aparoids.

* ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'':
** Paul Phoenix in the first two games was (barring Marshall Law’s ending in 2) a serious fighter with Ken Masters-vibes, being TheRival to Kazuya. Come later titles however and Paul is firmly placed in the PluckyComicRelief role having wacky hijinks with Marshall Law and Kuma. He no longer has any connection to the Mishima conflict beyond being treated as an nuisance by Kazuya and his legitimate strength, having defeated Ogre in his first form isn’t even considered noteworthy InUniverse.
** Lee Chaolan went through a similar journey, in the first two games he was portrayed as a menacing SmugSnake rival to Kazuya who was planning to overthrow his adoptive father and brother Heihachi and Kazuya as head of the Mishima Zaibatsu. His overtly evil depiction in ''Anime/TekkenTheMotionPicture'' reflects his more sinister role in the early games. By the time ''Tekken 4'' however Lee’s sillier LargeHam “EXCELLENT” personality got established and he became a LighterAndSofter character who helps the good characters out, making his earlier depictions almost unrecognisable compared to the character he is now.
** Eddy Gordo took much longer to become a goofier character like aforementioned two [[RuleOfThree but still became one]] by the time of ''VideoGame/Tekken7''. Starting in ''Tekken 3'' Eddy was a serious hero who got framed for the murder of his father by Kazuya and spends at lot of the later games seeking vengeance, before shifting gears into looking after his sick OldMaster the grandfather of his LoveInterest Christie, even joining Jin’s Tekken Force to get resources to cure him. In ''Tekken 7'' however he’s only there to have goofy hijinks with Lucky Chloe with his vengeful pursuit of Kazuya being used a bait for Chloe to goofily mess with him.
** Asuka Kazama while always a light-hearted character still had pretty damn important plot significance in ''Tekken 5'' being able to suppress the Devil Gene like Jun giving her a strong connection to Jin. However by the time of later games, Asuka’s ties to Mishimas is [[AbortedArc severely]] downplayed in favour of her beating up gangs as a HotBlooded vigilante and having LesYay [[DesignatedGirlFight Designated Girl Fights]] with Lili as a goofy side character. ''Tekken 7'' even mentions her role in 5 as “getting dragged into the Mishima mess” like it’s a minor detail.
** Ling Xiaoyu compared to Asuka is actually an inverted case of this, having a non-serious role in the story at first before getting a real connection to the Mishimas in later titles. In ''Tekken 3'' Xiaoyu’s entire goal was winning enough money to build her own theme park, in later games she’s presented as a granddaughter figure for Heihachi ([[PetTheDog who genuinely cares for her]]) and is a DoggedNiceGirl towards Jin, acting as his MoralityPet in 4, 5, 6, 8 and in ''Anime/TekkenBloodVengeance''.
** Nina and Anna’s SiblingRivalry was much less violent and more playful earlier on, with Nina stealing one of Anna’s shoes and taking photo of her in shower. In later games they’re outright trying to murder each other, with only Anna’s ''Tekken 6'' ending having the sisters spend non-murderous time together. This marked a change in Nina’s personality too, with her being more lighthearted and less cruel character in the first two games who actually smiles after meeting Anna at their father’s grave in 2. From ''Tekken 3'' onwards Nina is decidedly crueler and more abusive to Anna with her sociopathic DarkActionGirl traits getting played up to the hilt.

** When DamselInDistress [[VideoGame/SuperMarioLand Princess Daisy]] made her reappearance in ''VideoGame/MarioTennis'' for the Nintendo 64, she was made out to be an adorable [[TheKlutz Klutz]] as shown in her [[https://youtu.be/ctpvor3o8jw?t=2m44s trophy celebration]]. This characterisation was kept until the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube GameCube]] era, which gave her a more energetic, tomboyish personality while dropping her clumsier moments. It's best shown with her [[https://youtu.be/70xFTWguDOc?t=1m18s trophy celebration]] in ''Mario Power Tennis''.

** Ling Xiaoyu compared to Asuka is actually an inverted case of this, having a non-serious role in the story at first before getting a real connection to the Mishimas in later titles. In ''Tekken 3'' Xiaoyu’s entire goal was winning enough money to build her own theme park, in later games she’s presented as a granddaughter figure for Heihachi ([[PetTheDog who genuinely cares for her]]) and is a DoggedNiceGirl towards Jin, acting as his MoralityPet in 4, 5 and 6 and in ''Anime/TekkenBloodVengeance''.
** Nina and Anna’s SiblingRivalry was much less violent and more playful earlier on, with Nina stealing one of Anna’s shoes and taking photo of her in shower. In later games they’re outright trying to murder each other, with only Anna’s ''Tekken 6'' ending having the sisters spend non-murderous time together. This marked a change in Nina’s personality too, with her being a more lighthearted and less cruel character in the first two games who actually smiles after meeting Anna at their father’s grave in 2. From ''Tekken 3'' onwards Nina is decidedly crueler and more abusive to Anna with her sociopathic DarkActionGirl traits getting played up to the hilt.

** Dante back in ''[[VideoGame/DevilMayCry1 DMC1]]'', was a laidback guy who spouted a more than a few one liners ("Flock off Feather Face"), but mostly took his journey seriously. In ''[[VideoGame/DevilMayCry2 DMC2]]'', he dropped even the quips and besides the very occasional GrinOfAudacity, was sullen and emotionless. For ''[[VideoGame/DevilMayCry3DantesAwakening DMC3]]'', ''[[VideoGame/DevilMayCry4 DMC4]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/DevilMayCry5 DMC5]]'' however, Dante is an outright ThrillSeeker BloodKnight ManChild who given the opportunity [[LargeHam will happily chew the scenery to pieces]] with massive dance numbers to the immense embarrassment of his allies.

** Most of the villains to some degree became more goofy and hammy as games passed, especially Cortex and N. Gin. The exception to this is N Tropy in ''Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time'', who went the other way, going from TheComicallySerious and a ReplacementFlatCharacter for Cortex in earlier games to a KnightOfCerebus who is genuinely as grand and menacing as he originally only ''[[SmallNameBigEgo thought]]'' he was. He keeps ''some'' comical narcissism, but unlike previous games, it rarely bites him the same way as [[TheChewToy the other villains]].

** In his first appearance, Tiny was a more terrifying silent associate of N. Brio working to stop Crash from helping Cortex. From ''Warped'' onwards, he is Cortex's most loyal follower, and upon gaining his HulkSpeak patterns, more emphasis is put on his childish, clumsy personality compared to his fierce one as games go on. The Radical Entertainment games reinvent Tiny completely, making him a soft spoken, intelligent, and somewhat wimpy cohort of Cortex, almost a complete antithesis of his original self.

** Most of the villains to some degree became more goofy and hammy as games passed, especially Cortex and N. Gin.

*** Amy Rose in ''VideoGame/SonicCD'', while clearly having romantic feelings for Sonic, doesn't display much of the StalkerWithACrush personality that would infamously become her main character trait for the next two decades starting with ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure''. She's also a rather generic DamselInDistress incapable of fighting for herself in this first outing, rather than being an AllLovingHero in her own right with a signature weapon [[DropTheHammer in the form of a giant hammer]].

** Needles Kane, the driver of Sweet Tooth, was also less of a MonsterClown. He was still an insane murderer, to be sure, but it was presented as a mix of sinister and [[AffablyEvil kind of goofy]] rather than monstrous. He didn't even get his FlamingHair until the second game. It wasn't until ''Black'' that he got his most recognizable characterization as an irredeemably evil SerialKiller straight out of a SlasherMovie.

* ''VideoGame/{{Yakuza}}'': When introduced, Goro Majima was a notorious madman who liked to bash on his underlings for laughs. As the series progresses, his more insane traits are gradually downplayed: while he is still nuttier than a squirrel, he's more an eccentric genius, becoming the leader of one of the biggest and most powerful branch families in the Tojo Clan and inspiring UndyingLoyalty in his ranks.
** Series protagonist Kiryu was a rude thug who wasn't above using threats of physical violence to get what he wanted in the first game, even threatening civilians that got in his way. In the later games, Kiryu is largely defined by his sense of honor and respect for the GoodOldWays, only ever fights those that have directly antagonized him in some way or another, and never even thinks about attacking civilians.

** The series has a pretty shaky history of consistent characterization, which makes sense since multiple writers are working on the series and some never communicate with each other. Because of this, characters tend behave very differently between games DependingOnTheWriter, with very broad traits to keep them recognizable. This especially evident when one compares how the plot is handled through years. Starting out, the games had as much plot as you would expect from a 2D platforming series in the '90s (As in, [[ExcusePlot barely]]) and characterization was very minimal (Sonic was the MascotWithAttitude, Tails was his sidekick, Knuckles his rival, etc) but starting in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' the series adopted a more cohesive and serialized narrative not unlike common Shonen Anime/Manga, and characters and relationships became much more dynamic. (Series BreakoutCharacter Shadow the Hedgehog debuts here, and has the most fleshed out background of any character to date,) but after much criticism over that direction, starting with ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' the series is back to simpler characterizations and plot to allow for more broader narratives but mostly ignored the character development that took place before. (I.e. Tails is mostly back to being Sonic's sidekick despite his bout of independence before.) However, after the pre-Unleashed type of narrative ends up becoming vindicated, and a backlash against the LighterAndSofter type of storytelling grew, ''Frontiers'' went back to the more cohesive and serialized narrative, and the core quartet of the series regained their character development.

** The series has a pretty shaky history of consistent characterization, which makes sense since multiple writers are working on the series and some never communicate with each other. Because of this, characters tend behave very differently between games DependingOnTheWriter, with very broad traits to keep them recognizable. This especially evident when one compares how the plot is handled through years. Starting out, the games had as much plot as you would expect from a 2D platforming series in the '90s (As in, [[ExcusePlot barely]]) and characterization was very minimal (Sonic was the MascotWithAttitude, Tails was his sidekick, Knuckles his rival, etc) but starting in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' the series adopted a more cohesive and serialized narrative not unlike common Shonen Anime/Manga, and characters and relationships became much more dynamic. (Series BreakoutCharacter Shadow the Hedgehog debuts here, and has the most fleshed out background of any character to date,) but after much criticism over that direction, starting with ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' the series is back to simpler characterizations and plot to allow for more broader narratives but mostly ignored the character development that took place before. (I.e. Tails is mostly back to being Sonic's sidekick despite his bout of independence before.)