The Sonic Knockoff Extravaganza!

Nerd of Mouth

The Last Podcast Network

Society & Culture, Leisure, Video Games

4.7 • 649 Ratings

🗓️ 2 March 2026

⏱️ 92 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

To paraphrase Tony Montana: First you come up with a mascot, then you make the platformer game, then you make the money. Yes, with the advent that little blue meth/ring imbued hedgehog had dozens of game publishers thought to themselves: Hey, that looks easy, I could also do that. And so we had a swarm of Bubsys, Gexs, and acrobatic bats flood the shelves in the hopes your grandma couldn't tell the difference between the game you wanted and Awesome Possum. Many companies tried to get their own platforming mascot star, most failed, and now Holden guides Jake and Mike through the virtual pet cemetery of crappy characters that didn't even last long enough to get a catchy rap April could hit. Want even more Nerd of Mouth? Support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/nerdofmouth

Transcript

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0:00.0	Nerd of mouth.
0:19.0	So then I says she gives me dynamite headie till I, uh, zool on my wild Woody.
0:25.1	Whoa.
0:26.7	What?
0:27.6	That's how we're starting this?
0:29.2	What?
0:29.5	I'm just talking about beloved mascot characters in video game history.
0:33.3	Why is it awesome possum working?
0:36.0	Eugene Naka made Sonic the Hedgehog with a pile of scripts.
0:41.5	Jazz Jack Rabbit deserved more.
0:44.5	That's all I'm saying.
0:46.5	That's all I'm saying.
0:49.6	It's, we're here today to talk about, we're here to talk about the failures, not the
0:54.0	Marios, not the Marios, not
0:55.0	the Sonics, not the Spirows. They get all the love. They get all the nostalgia.
1:00.0	We're talking not even Croc. Like, this is the bottom of the barrel we're dealing with.
1:04.5	I mean, I do have Croc mentioned on my list. Did you know that Crock was actually a,
1:11.2	initially a failed 3D Yoshi game pitch?
1:14.0	I do know that,
1:15.1	but that's because I have a terrible,
1:16.7	like, budget of my free time on this planet.
1:19.4	Yeah, Crock, 1997 came out for the PlayStation.
	...

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