a href="http://www.namco.com/games/katamari_damacy/">Katamari Damacy yesterday and was reminded again what a great character the King of All Cosmos is. He's outrageous, he's flamboyant and he's completely off his rocker. If you've not had the pleasure, you must check out this video of the intro. It is insane. So, quite frankly, is he.
So that got me thinking about other characters in computer games who have a few dominoes short of a full set. As a fanatic of Terry Gilliam, Tim Burton and John Waters films, I rather think that mental eccentricity is highly enjoyable to watch. If you can add to this list, please do. It would be nice to have a complete deck.
The King of All Cosmos (Katamari Damacy) According to Gamespot, the King of All Cosmos was a drunk in the original Japanese version. In other regions he's just a loon. A giant, guitar-strumming, bonkers-style loon. It's worth it to get to the end of every level just to see what madness he has to share with you, his Prince, charged with clearing up the mess after the King had a truly rambunctious night.
Tingle (Legend of Zelda: Windwaker) Another dude in a funny hat, also completely la la. Tingle traipses around in his green, skin-tight outfit spouting riddles and malapropisms, adding to the already bizarre endeavours of little Link in his cell-shaded world.
Michael LeRoi and the inhabitants of Hell (Shadowman) Less loony and more nefarious, the main character in the N64's Shadowman flipped between the light of day and the disturbing asylum of the Dead. Wandering through the flesh-covered walls of the digital bin was too much for me and I had to put down the controller after too long.
Harry Mason (Silent Hill) One of the endings in the first Silent Hill exposed hero Harry Mason as a father sent into madness after the death of his daughter in a car wreck. It was a nice twist to an engrossing story; the zombies and freaky animals you had spent hours hacking and slashing your way through were actually the normal villagers of sleepy Silent Hill, caught up in the deranged psychosis of a disturbed mind.
Alice (American McGee's Alice) American McGee, the Tim Burton of interactive entertainment, added a nice Roman Dirge-like twist to the LSD-inspired Lewis Caroll tale of a little English girl lost in a bizarre land.
Torque (The Suffering) The muscled hero of last year's Death Row horror title has landed in the most haunted prison in the universe after murdering three people during "blackouts". As the plot sickens (my mother would say), these moments of disassociation are punctuated with bizarre hallucinations which make for another behind-the-couch gaming experience.
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