In addition to the instant recognition factor that Mario and Sonic enjoy being missing from any character IP on this platform for the most part, there's also this little issue: Nintendo and Sega are/were game system manufacturers that also had their own internal development teams. Nintendo (specifically Nintendo EAD) created Mario and developed the games in which Mario appeared when the character was introduced (Donkey Kong, Mario Bros., and the game that shot Mario to super stardom - Super Mario Bros.). Sega as well (specifically AM8, later to be known as Sonic Team) created Sonic the Hedgehog and the game that brought him to superstar status (also named Sonic the Hedgehog). Apple has internal teams that make one or two games (Texas Hold 'em, that tube shooter on original iPod devices), but they've never created a "mascot" IP. And while some will point to Crash Bandicoot on Playstation, honestly Crash has NEVER had the status Mario and Sonic have had. Sony's "mascot" is their hardware, owing to them being a hardware focused company. Are there any that are "recognizable" IPs for the App Store (that is, against other App Store games rather than the game industry as a whole, which isn't a "fair" comparison for the reasons stated above)? Perhaps. Is it Rolando? IMHO...no. Pack in free download cards notwithstanding, it wasn't internally developed nor does it have the instant recognition factor. And, honestly, as much as I dig the game, something like DoodleJump has more recognition. After all, more people have bought DoodleJump. Even when the cards were given away for free Rolando never cracked the top spot like Doodle has. But Doodle or whatever that thing is isn't among the most probable "recognizable" character IPs on the App Store, IMHO. So which is? I brought it up before, and had plenty of naysayers against it, but, IMHO...it's Papi from the Sunflat Papi games. Some may scoff at such a statement...but think about it. PapiJump has pretty much always had a spot on the free download section, and we all know the free download section games are downloaded in much higher numbers than the paid games. And it's not just PapiJump that has been there, but pretty much any free Papi game. And the paid games have made numerous appearances on the paid charts as well. How many iPhone/touch device owners downloaded the PapiJump game vs. those who downloaded Rolando? I'm guessing the numbers would surprise some of you, because Papi would likely have the higher numbers. Furthermore, the character has been in a variety of games in a variety of different genres, not just platformers, just like Mario and Sonic. Sunflat creates interest in paid Papi games, some in different genres, through the usage of the character alone, because that first game was so good. That's the same template that Nintendo and Sega used for Mario and Sonic. Stellar intro game, and milk the IP to sell other sorts of games. Influence on the platform? Despite the fact that it wasn't the first platformer, Super Mario influenced a bunch of Super Mario Bros. clones. Although influenced by earlier platformers (including Mario to some extent) Sonic influenced a ton of animal starring platformer rip offs (anyone remember Bubsy?). PapiJump? What did it influence? Well...have you seen how many vertical moving accelerometer controlled platformers exist on iPhone/touch? Hell, the vaunted DoodleJump probably owes PapiJump some debt of gratitude for paving the way for such a game on this platform. Influence is part of the equation. Again, not saying that he's as recognizable as Mario and Sonic, or a "mascot" like those two or anywhere near as influential. No iPhone/touch original IP on this platform is as recognizable, and none are an Apple "mascot" as none were developed by Apple themselves and I wouldn't state that there are any as influential to the industry as a whole. But...among the peers in the App Store for Games...Papi is probably the most recognizable in that small pond, and most wide ranging in terms of genres, and most influential to other games. To me that makes Papi closer to a Mario and Sonic than Rolando is, great game that Rolando is notwithstanding.
The iPhone platform is probably not going to have a mascot character nor need one. To riff on spiffyone's comments, Apple in some ways is like a better run version of Sony. Both make hardware and their hardware is the star at the end of the day. Also, unless you're Nintendo, the days of game console mascots are over, due to the tremendous dev/marketing cost it takes to launch a successful character and to maintain the character during the lifecycle of the platform and beyond. I also think this is a sign of the shifting demographics of the platforms. In other words, game consoles aren't for kids any more. For example, Microsoft consciously stayed away from character driven kiddie mascot games on Xbox 1, with probably the exception of Blinx, which was more or less a half-hearted attempt to sell the Xbox in Japan. The real winner for Microsoft was Halo, which was perfect for their demographic. I'll also add that their purchase of Rare and their Nintendo published IP's like Banjo and Conker really didn't factor into their platform strategy at the end of the day on Xbox 1 and Xbox 360. Nope, games like Halo 2/3 and COD4 were the clear sales winners and wound up becoming the platform "mascots." 20 years ago, game mascots were essentially a marketing gimmick to get tween/teen kids to buy into the platform. In the 21st century, Nintendo is the only console manufacturer that continues the tradition with their Pokemon series (it helps that they really have their shit together when it comes to creating and marketing mascot characters). When you come to think of it, what new and memorable game mascot was created during the last non-portable console generation (PS2/Xbox/GC)?
