The Argument For RPG Mascots

Following the kickoff of the Mongil: Star Dive test a couple of weeks ago, I came across a review video someone had done for the game. Unfortunately, I can’t remember which creator it was, but there was one thing that stuck with me about the video. That was his commentary on the game’s mascot, Nyanners.

If you’re not familiar, Nyanners is a chubby black cat creature. (Seen above.) It’s not an ordinary cat. It might even be something that just looks like a cat. Either way, it has special abilities that aid in taming the monsters players find themselves up against. Once the monster has been beaten into submission, Nyanners swallows it Kirby-style and then effectively poops out a smaller version that the characters can carry around like a charm, at which point the monster is “tamed”.

The streamer’s commentary wasn’t really about Nyanners’ abilities, though. Rather, it was about the creature’s status as the game’s mascot and how it’s tolerable here despite their tendency to dislike mascots in games. I can see where they’re coming from. I’m not sure I agree.

Maybe it’s just my affinity for small, cute things (That would certainly explain the three cats staring at me from their positions around my desk), but I mostly like the mascots. In fact, I’m just the tiniest bit obsessed with Eous, the special bangboo owned by the proxy siblings in Zenless Zone Zero.

That said, some mascots can be a bit more extra than others. And, I’m pretty sure some of them would balk at being treated like a child, which Eous is. In fact, while most Bangoo refer to their owners as masters or bosses, everyone refers to the Proxies as Eous’ parents.

I would say that that’s typically a big part of the point behind mascots – other than the fact that they’re cute and marketable. In a lot of games, the character players take the role of are wanderers. Yeah, they make a lot of friends along the way, but they then leave those people behind when they move on to the next place. Of course, you get to go back and visit. But that’s a lot of time on the road, and it would likely get pretty lonely for the character pretty quickly. Having a small, cute companion helps.

Considering a lot of action RPG protagonists don’t talk much, for reasons, these same entities can also function as the character’s voice. It’s not necessary – as the relationship between the Rover and Abby in Wuthering Waves proves. And the previously mentioned ZZZ is a bit more complicated since the Proxies take over Eous’ body to navigate dangerous areas. (Don’t worry, they’re super protective of the little bangboo, even telling their questionable tech-loving friend to stay away from their son.)

But these characters do still act as a sort of family for the player characters. Even Paimon, as annoying as some players find her, is family to the Traveler. Just family that the Traveler teases a lot. Granted, the teasing was a bit meaner earlier on. The Traveler hasn’t really referred to Paimon as “emergency food” for a while.

But, of course, there are situations where the mascot isn’t needed as a companion for the player character. Pom Pom remains on the Astral Express in Honkai: Star Rail. If anything, he’s Himiko’s companion (or the embodiment of the train). Thanks to joining the Astral Express crew, the Trailblazer has plenty of family to drag along on their adventures. And in Mongil: Star Dive, you start out with two characters, Cloud and Verna, already traveling with each other. Nyanners joins after the fact. But the cat-like creature does still serve a purpose. It helps convert the monsters.

Don’t get me wrong. I understand some mascots can be irritating, very often because they talk too much. Isn’t that why people still cringe when someone says, “Hey! Listen!”? Particularly with Paimon, there is a lot… and I mean a LOT of talking. She’s effectively the Traveler’s voice in the game. And sometimes you just want to strangle her and tell her to shut up for five minutes.

The good news is that developers have improved on that particular mascot quirk over time. Pom Pom only talks when you visit the train. Eous mostly talks when you decide to talk to it. Abby’s asleep in the Rover’s hand more than half the time. Really, Abby kinda sleeps too much.

All this is to say that I’m arguing in favor of mascots – at least in single-player RPG games where the main character roams a lot. If nothing else, they make the world less lonely. They also help in creating interesting interactions with other characters and show us a bit more about the personality of our own characters. I think the real trick is just designing them so that the player doesn’t want to knock them out with a baseball bat to keep them quiet for a bit.