They Come From a Land Down Under

Sheila is a mountain kangaroo known for her easygoing personality and her smooth Australian accent. She made her first appearance as a playable character in Spyro: Year of the Dragon and is still the only playable female character in the series. She’s usually laidback, but is willing to fight with invading rhynocs and dragons if the situation calls for it. Her oversized feet are ideal for kicking her opponents and are often used to stomp them into the ground. She can also perform a double jump to reach higher altitudes than Spyro can. The main reason why Sheila made it onto this list is for the sake of variety. There are no shortages of kangaroos in video games, but Sheila is one of the few that doesn’t wear boxing gloves. The boxing kangaroo has been used in pop culture since the late 1800s, so Sheila really stands out.

Willy is apparently a very common name for wombats, so it should be noted that the obscure wombat in question is completely unrelated to a similarly-named character from the 1990s animated series, Taz-Mania. (Crash Bandicoot was originally going to be named Willy the Wombat as well, but he is also unrelated.) Willy Wombat is an obscure platform/adventure game that was developed by the company behind the Wonder Boy series. The game was made for the Sega Saturn, but was never released outside of Japan. Willy has a sinister side to his character and could be described as an anti-hero of sorts. Given that wombats are native to Australia, it only makes sense that Willy would fling boomerangs at his opponents as a primary method of attack. Like real wombats, Willy also has the ability to glide for short periods of time.

The Tasmania tiger is the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern times. If you are unfamiliar with them, it might be because they were hunted to near-extinction in the 1930s. Seven decades later, mankind decided to set things right by modeling a video game character after the animal. Ty the Tasmanian Tiger is pretty stereotypical and spends most of his time finding opals and rescuing his friends in the Australian Outback. His primary forms of attack are biting and throwing boomerangs at his enemies. He actually has nearly a dozen boomerangs at his disposal – each with its own ability. For instance, one boomerang will freeze enemies in place while another can set them ablaze. It’s unfortunate that the Tasmanian tigers of the 1930s didn’t think to arm themselves with boomerangs, but I digress.

One of the original 150 Pokémon, Kangaskhan’s name was derived from “kangaroo” and the infamous ruler of the Mongol Empire, Genghis Khan. Unlike most kangaroos on this list, Kangaskhan is not renowned for jumping abilities. They do, however, have pouches with which they carry their infants in. Kangaskhan tend to rely on powerful punching attacks in battle, and they are particularly protective of their offspring. They are resilient too, and will never give up or run away from battle regardless of how badly they are injured. Infant Khangaskhan rarely venture outside the confines of their protective pouch, but on the rare occasion that they are allowed outside to play, the mothers keep a close watch on them. It is not advisable to approach an infant Kangaskhan in the wild, as it will enrage the mother.

Kangaroo is a 1982 arcade game that was developed by Sunsoft and distributed by Atari. The game is comparable to other early platformers like Donkey Kong and Popeye, and was ported to several home consoles, including the Atari 2600 and Atari 5200. The game’s plot revolves around a baby kangaroo who has been kidnapped by monkeys. As the mother kangaroo, it’s up to the player to climb through jungle environments and beat the shit out of said monkeys in order to rescue the captive joey. This is easier said than done, as the hostile monkeys are constantly throwing fruit to keep you away. Kangaroo is often overlooked as far as classic-era arcade titles go, but the game was successful enough to warrant an animated series as part of CBS’ Saturday Supercade cartoon lineup.

Known as “Victy” in Japan, Roo is a boxing kangaroo (is their any other kind?) who fights alongside his trainer, Bruce. Together, Bruce and Roo act as a mini-boss in the second level of Streets of Rage 3. If the player manages to defeat Bruce without killing Roo, the kangaroo will escape and become a playable character. Alternatively, players can unlock Roo immediately by entering a code at the character select screen. Roo has a full set of moves, including jumping kicks, tail whips, and team-up attacks. He’s the fastest character in the game and, naturally, he has the best jumping abilities. Some Streets of Rage fans argue that Roo was too preposterous and feel that his presence in the game made a mockery of the entire series, but I guess some people just won’t be hoppy with anything. (I really hate myself sometimes.)

If asked to name an animal associated with The Legend of Zelda series, most gamers would immediately mention Link’s horse, Epona. However, I feel that Ricky from Oracle of Ages doesn’t get the attention he deserves. Like any respectable kangaroo, Ricky allows his friends to travel in his pouch and is an expert in boxing. While carrying Link around, Ricky can attack enemies with powerful punches or effortlessly jump over pits in the ground. He can even charge up his power in order to release an impressive tornado attack. (Let’s see Epona do that!) Ricky is vital to Link’s progression in the game, and can get to areas that would otherwise be impossible to reach. Ricky is not only helpful, but he’s extremely loyal as well. In fact, all Link has to do is play a flute in order for Ricky to come to his aid.

After the notorious Kazuya Mishima took over the family business, he began to dabble in assassination, extortion, and drug dealing. Smuggling and experimenting on endangered species were also on the docket. The shady organization recruited the brilliant Dr. Boskonovitch, who created Roger from kangaroo DNA. Boskonovitch felt that Roger was a useless creation and wanted to have him destroyed. Thankfully, Roger was able to escape from the laboratory. After meeting Armor King, Roger was trained to wrestle and entered the second Iron Fist tournament. Roger was later found by a wildlife officer named Jun Kazama who made arrangements for him to live a safe life in Australia. Much to the chagrin of his wife and son, Roger later arranged his own kidnapping so he could watch television for the rest of his life.

The launch of the PlayStation had been extremely successful for Sony, and sales of the console had easily eclipsed those of the Sega Saturn. Sony was well on their way to redefining the entire industry, but they weren’t talking anything for granted. Super Mario 64 was the game on everyone’s mind in 1996, and Sony wisely decided to steal some of the thunder. Much in the same way Sega countered the release of Super Mario World with Sonic the Hedgehog, Sony’s answer to Super Mario 64 was in the form of an edgy anthropomorphic mascot based off a relatively obscure animal. He’s lost some relevance in recent years, but the Crash games were a big success from both a commercial and critical standpoint. The character himself was the de facto face of the PlayStation for several years.

After Sega hit a home run with Sonic the Hedgehog, seemingly every other video game developer tried to replicate the success with an obnoxious animal mascot of their own. From Bubsy the Bobcat to Rocky Rodent, the market was flooded with uninspired Sonic wannabes. This is not to say that every animal mascot from the ’90s was detestable, however. Sparkster, for example, is an opossum knight who saves the world by beating up onslaughts of robots and pigs. He’s armed with a sword and equipped with a jet pack, and he can also pilot various mechanical vehicles. Sparkster’s adorable facial expressions and emotive body language make him more appealing than most of his contemporaries. The fact that Rocket Knight Adventures and its sequels were quality games makes Sparkster even easier to like.