10 Video Game Character Re-Designs We All Hated (2025)

Character designs are the bread and butter of any game character's identity. They tell us who they are, what they do, and cement their image into gaming history.

As games start to modernize and update their visuals, character designs also need to follow suit with a little bit of an upgrade to suit the times.

Unfortunately, some redesigns can fall flat. At best, they feel like a pale imitation of the original, but at worst, a mockery that will draw the anger of many die-hard fans.

Bad character redesigns barely resemble what the original used to look like. Even if the designer had a completely different direction in mind, fans are a fickle bunch, and these changes certainly didn't sit well with them.

10 Viktor

A Contentious Evolution

This one's a pretty recent controversy. Viktor from League of Legends was introduced as the leader of a cult of robots and cyborgs, adopting the moniker of the Machine Herald and preaching the truth of the "Glorious Evolution."

He was created as a rival/villain for Jayce, and fans loved his robotic look, complete with the Adeptus Mechanicus-inspired aesthetic and bulky cybernetics. Fans were even more excited when Viktor's character arc was teased to go in the direction of the Machine Herald by way of Hextech, but Viktor's transformation ended up a different way.

Instead of cybernetics, Viktor's machines became more biomechanical. Fused with the Hexcore, Viktor tapped into the Arcane, and the imagery was almost one-to-one biblical. The Machine Herald was now the Herald of the Arcane.

Okay, fans thought, maybe this was just going to be a skin. But when Riot announced that Viktor was getting an in-game update, people were none too pleased, angry that their beloved robot cult leader was being taken away. But more eloquent fans would argue that this change takes away what makes Viktor stand out from a world full of sorcery and swords.

I, for one, love this new look. Maybe it might grow on people someday.

9 Chris Redfield

Get Back To Punching Boulders!

While most other Resident Evil characters like Leon or Ada have iconic designs that make them instantly recognizable, Chris Redfield has never had a consistent look other than his Resident Evil 5 iteration, where he has the typical gruff soldier look.

Time hasn't been kind to Chris. Similar to his previous iterations, Chris retains his gruff and muscular look, but it would seem that the higher graphics in RE7 and RE Village have rendered him a much older man.

Considering he'd be a little more than 48 years old during the events of RE Village, this aging makes sense. He's been such a mainstay in the Resident Evil franchise that seeing him look anything outside his usual design is jarring.

8 Joanna Dark

Three Games, Entirely Different Looks

Five months ago, Xbox Games Showcase featured a trailer for a new Perfect Dark reboot, an old cult classic, and a spiritual successor to Goldeneye 007. The trailer featured its protagonist, Joanna Dark, with a completely new look and removed from the sex appeal she used to be portrayed with.

Predictably, many people weren't happy about it, letting loose angry comments quickly devolving into culture war tirades.

No matter your opinions on this, the core issue behind Joanna Dark's design is that it lacks distinctive features that carry through each iteration. The designs in all three games are not consistent with each other and lack iconic power.

Because her design mainly relied on femme fatale sex appeal in the first two games, the reboot's decision to make Joanna Dark look more realistic has people seething, just like how it was when Tomb Raider's reboot was announced. Lara Croft was no longer wearing her iconic booty shorts.

But who knows? Maybe lightning can strike twice, and this redesign might grow on people. I guess we'll see in 2025.

7 Frank West

He Has A "Fivehead" Now

Have you ever seen a beloved mascot of a franchise get so ruthlessly butchered? If you're actively involved in gaming circles, then of course you have.

Frank West has always been the loveable photographer of the Dead Rising series, even an unofficial mascot. So imagine fans' pleasant surprise when he was announced as the protagonist of Dead Rising 4. People were hoping that Dead Rising might get revived into what it used to be.

But there's always a catch. Frank's original voice actor Terence J. Rotolo was not going to reprise his role, and the developers wanted to give him a more "grizzled take" on the goofy photographer. Talk about a buzzkill.

Capcom got a lot of backlash for this decision, and even Dead Rising 4's decent gameplay and story couldn't save it from fans' anger.

6 Ken

Ahead Of Its Time

Ken Masters has always been Ryu's rival, but their outfits and designs have been the same since Street Fighter's inception. Cue SFV, when Capcom decided to update poor Ken's design after years of mockery from fans.

His redesign actually looks nice in concept because it largely differentiates him from Ryu, but the problem with the generation of consoles and the oversaturated colors in the art style made the in-game models look worse than expected. This, unfortunately, made him look like he had bananas for hair.

But SF6 seemed to have improved upon that mistake, as Ken looks much more visually distinct, and the graphics support that update.

5 Megaman

A Gaming Icon Turned Into A Joke

An 8-bit classic, Megaman has always been a mainstay in platform games. While he's gone through many different iterations, one thing has remained consistent: cartoony proportions with oversized hands and boots, a blue color scheme, and a sleek look on a young face. It makes sense because he's supposed to be a kid robot a la Astro Boy.

But someone at CAPCOM seemed to have completely missed the memo when they pitched Megaman to be a DLC fighter in Street Fighter X Tekken, because they went with the terrible design he had in the original box art localized for U.S. audiences.

With such a cultural influence in the gaming world, Megaman's design was made a laughingstock, suffering from middle age and a grotesque beer belly while wearing a ridiculous yellow suit. His Megabuster has also been replaced with a pathetic pea shooter.

4 Spyro

What Happened To Him?

Spyro was unquestionably one of Sony's mascots during the PlayStation days. Along with Crash Bandicoot, he was unfortunately shelved when their respective developers moved on to different projects.

While Crash got some decent treatment after his retirement as a PlayStation mascot, Spyro wasn't so lucky. As the new face of the Skylanders game,Spyro went through a makeover where his design became much grittier and "realistic" to match the game's tone.

Unfortunately, it did not serve him well, because he looked awful. He looked aggressive and a lot less friendly than his previous iterations. Thankfully, the Reignited Trilogy has since fixed that, giving the purple dragon a much-needed visual upgrade.

3 Dr. Eggman

Four. Golden. Nipples.

Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik has got to be one of gaming's most iconic villains of all time. Throughout his tenure in the Sonic franchise, his design has largely remained the same: a cartoonishly bulbous body and a red nose that would make Rudolph jealous.

But it would seem that Sonic Team decided they wanted to deviate from the classic design while making the now universally hated 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog reboot.

SEGA was really trying to go for a more grounded, gritty look for a silly villain, which ironically backfired on them. When you're trying to make a cartoony villain realistic, there's no version better than Jim Carrey's portrayal in the Sonic movies.

Seeing Eggman's eyes behind his shades feels just like seeing Sonic without his gloves or shoes on. Terrifyingly uncanny.

2 Bomberman

Everything Is Gritty!

Since its creation, the Bomberman franchise has been known for its lighthearted tone and chibi art style. With a maze-like arena for players to navigate and fight each other with bombs, it was a pretty simple premise for the perfect party game.

That is until the mid-2000s hit (starting to see the pattern here?). At that time, everything had to be realistic and gritty, and Bomberman could not escape that phenomenon. Act Zero was a huge departure from its predecessors, featuring a dark, dystopian sci-fi setting and edgy designs that looked nothing like that original.

Unsurprisingly, Act Zero didn't do well, and the Bomberman franchise moved on from that fiasco. The mid-2000s was an age of experimentation and forgotten games, and Konami learned that sometimes the wheel doesn't need reinventing.

1 Dante

Crazy How They Missed The Jackpot

The number one theme in any Devil May Cry game is that each character is a teenage boy's idea of "badass." Unfortunately, it fell victim to the 2000s "gritty and dark" curse in the form of DmC: Devil May Cry.

It was the first Devil May Cry entry made by non-Japanese developers, intended as a reboot of Dante's story. What Ninja Theory gave us was an edgy bad boy stereotype with short black hair and a sailor's mouth.

This redesign was almost apocalyptic for the franchise as a whole, as DmC ended up getting a lot of hate from fans who were used to the lovable wacky woohoo pizza man, and this was released after Nero was introduced as a new arrival in DMC4.

Many fans consider this version of Dante a savage middle finger to the original. Ninja Theory even included a scene where a white wig lands on Dante's head while he checks himself out in the mirror, to which he responds "Not in a million years."

Despite it being a functionally enjoyable game with interesting mechanics and sick skills, DMC fans have mocked this game incessantly. It wasn't until 2019 that DMC5 was released with a smokin' sexy style that blew fans away.