It's Time for a Change

Mario has been given a lot of love elsewhere on this site, but this list wouldn’t be complete without him. Not only was he one of the first characters to transform in a game, but his transformations are easily the most iconic and well-known. He has been one of gaming’s most beloved heroes since his debut in Donkey Kong, but Super Mario Bros. allowed him to reach new heights – literally. By obtaining a power mushroom, Mario doubles in size and gains enough strength to break bricks with his fists! The transition from Mario to Super Mario was pretty radical, but it wasn’t even his final form. The mega mushroom allows him to grow even larger and fire flowers let him throw fireballs. Special suits and power-ups are now staple of the Mario series, but it’s easy to forget how groundbreaking his original transformations were in 1985.

Transforming robots serve as the basis of many popular media franchises (lincluding Macross and Transformers), and the gaming world is filled with its own examples. Thexder might be an obvious choice for this list, but there are a number of reasons why I’m choosing to recognize Miria instead. The English translation doesn’t give her a proper name and refers to her simply as the Guardian, but Miria was pretty progressive as far as heroines go. The 8-bit era wasn’t known for strong female leads, so it was cool to see a character kicking ass in a bikini and high-heel boots. I also appreciate how The Guardian Legend highlighted both sides of her character. The game broke the action up into exploration and shooting sections, so Miria’s humanoid and spaceship forms were both given proper attention.

Sonic the Hedgehog is known for his intense speed and extreme attitude, but everything is amped up when he becomes Super Sonic. After harnessing the power of the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic’s blue fur turns gold and he is surrounded by a glowing aura. While transformed, Sonic is nearly invincible and becomes even faster than he already was. He even gains the ability to fly! Most people reading this will likely draw comparisons between Sonic’s transformation and Super Saiyans from Dragon Ball Z, and Super Sonic was indeed created as an homage to the popular anime. He doesn’t earn many points for originality, but Super Sonic has his advantages over Super Saiyans. In order for Goku to go Super Saiyan, his best friend had to die. All Sonic has to do to unlock his full potential is gather a bunch of shiny gems.

Nowadays, elaborate multi-phase final boss battles are about as surprising as encore performances at rock concerts, but Ganondorf’s transformation into Ganon at the end of Ocarina of Time was an amazing sight to behold. Most characters on this list have an innocuous default form and will only transform as a means of gaining more power or new abilities. In Ganon’s case, he was depicted exclusively as a boar-like beast in the early Zelda games. The series was over 10 years old before we saw his human form first-hand, and we weren’t even aware that he had a human form until the thrid game in the series. Ganondorf’s transformation worked on both a physical and metaphorical level, and it highlighted the darkness of his heart. Players can now expect to encounter Hyrle’s king of evil in both his human and beast forms.

Unlike the other individuals on this list, it was never Wonder Boy’s intention to transform. The ability to transform is usually seen as a blessing, but poor Wonder Boy was cursed by a dragon and turned into a fire-breathing lizard against his will. As he set out to restore his humanity, Wonder Boy fell victim to several other curses along the way. To his credit, he made the most of his situation. Each new form that was forced upon him had unique abilities associated with it, and Wonder Boy used these new skills to reach new areas. The mouse form allowed him to climb walls and ceilings, the piranha form gave him enhanced swimming capabilities, and the hawk form let him take to the skies. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When life transforms you into a mutant lion-man, use your new powers to destroy your enemies.

A half-genie hero responsible for the protection of her hometown, Shantae relies heavily on transformation spells to fend off attacks from a nefarious pirate lady. By performing magical belly dances, Shantae can take the form of various animals and gain new abilities in the process. She can climb walls as a monkey, smash through walls as an elephant, and fly through the air as a harpy. She can also take the form of spiders, mermaids, crabs, bats, mice, and blobfish. She can even transform into a fruit-producing dryad! If nothing else, her transformations give her an excuse to perform her fanciful belly dances. Shantae can fight with pistols, scimitars, and even her hair, but all bets are off when she starts moving her hips. Shantae is one of gaming’s greatest heroines, but her adventures wouldn’t be nearly as exciting if she couldn’t transform.

Banjo and Kazooie have dozens of unique abilities at their disposal, but the bear and bird can’t do everything on their own. The duo occasionally has to rely on the wonders of shaman magic in order to change their forms. It’s easy to see how turning into a crocodile or a dinosaur would be beneficial to their cause, but many of their transformations border on the ridiculous. At one point, they transform into a pumpkin in order to squeeze into tight spaces. At another point, they turn into a snowball that can either grow or expand depending on the environment that its in. Perhaps their most unique transformation is a washing machine that fires underwear as projectiles. (At least you know they’re clean.) To their credit, Banjo and Kazooie make effective use of their transformations regardless of how absurd they seem at first.

One of the cornerstones of the Pokémon series is the concept of evolution. If Pokémon reach a high enough level (or if other conditions are met), they can evolve into different Pokémon and gain new abilities in the process. It’s common for Pokémon to grow larger after they evolve, but they usually retain some resemblance to their original form. In the case of Magikarp, his evolution into Gyarados is so drastic that some have questioned if something got mixed up during the design phase. Magikarp is famous for being unreliable and is only capable of flopping and splashing. Gyarados, in contrast, is an enormous sea serpent who is capable of destroying entire cities. Magikarp is one of the weakest Pokémon that you will encounter in the wild, while Gyarados is one of the strongest. No Pokémon evolution is more dramatic.

The Inklings are peculiar creatures who can alternate between humanoid and squid forms. They begin their lives as squids, but apparently gain the ability to transform at age 14. In their humanoid form, Inklings spend most of their time following fashion trends and spraying everything with their ink. (Typical teenagers, amirte?) As squids, the Inklings gain the ability to swim through the splattered ink. This allows them to hide from enemies, pass through grates, and travel up walls. The squids can swim much faster than their human counterparts can walk, so its important for Inklings to exercise foresight while spraying their ink in order to create path they can swim through. The ability for Inklings to transform from kids into squids is not only the defining feature of their mysterious race, but the defining feature of Splatoon as a whole.

Released on the NES in 1989 and re-imagined on the Wii 20 years later, A Boy and His Blob follows a young boy and a shape-shifting alien blob (named Blobert in the NES original) who work together to save the planet Blobolonia. The NES and Wii versions feature different transformations, but both versions revolve around the Blob’s uncanny ability to change his form by eating jellybeans. The Blob can turn into a ladder, a trampoline, or rocket to help the boy reach new areas. He can also smash things as an anvil, lift up objects as a jack, and transform into a portable hole that allows the boy to pass through floors. The boy’s only purpose in the original version was to feed the Blob jellybeans, but the Wii version introduced the revolutionary “hug button” and gave the boy a more adorable way to interact with his friend.