the insert credit cold fifty: videogame icons: compiled by tim rogers -- with a foreword by chris kohler, fulbright scholar

8. Rayman

Before Rayman came out, no one would have believed you if you'd said French people could make videogames. By the time Rayman 2 came around, after everyone had stopped ignoring the original Rayman, or else arguing over what, exactly, Rayman is, everyone stood up and took notice. The game had great graphics. People wondered why Rayman didn't have arms, or legs. People bought or rented the game, and some even beat it. Most everyone, however, had the same idea: what's with the language these characters are speaking?

It takes a lot of work, to be certain, to create a videogame world. It takes a lot of work to make intriguing characters and interesting challenges. It takes a lot more work to make up some kind of freaky fake language to put into a game, and to keep that language consistent. For the evident effort and boldness alone, Rayman has earned his slot.

7. Plok

Being a game mascot in the early 1990s was a dangerous field. Lots of mascots were climbing over one another with angry looks in their eyes. Lots of companies looking to cash in on the Mario-clone craze were going about it the wrong way -- creating furry little monsters, wolves, bobcats, aliens. What they didn't realize was that less was more: Tradewest hit upon genius when they invented Plok. Plok, you see, is a yellow-bodied little freedom fighter with the head of a red executioner's cap with googly eyes. He has eyebrows, yet no nose. No mouth. No ears. His hands float dismembered from his body. When the player presses the attack button, Plok's fist launches out, and punches. It is because he has no arms, you see, that his fists can fly so far. The genius behind Plok's limbless design -- years before Rayman, no less -- is that it shows a sign of artistic editing: deletion of parts that are of no importance. Whereas one mascot of yore had a mustache because his artists could not render a mouth, and gloves because his hands wouldn't show up otherwise, Plok was made by artists confident in their medium. The unnecessary things -- shoulders? knees? -- were eliminated in favor of a more edgy, artistic look. That alone scores Plok a place in the record books. Mix in an original dialect in his captioned dialogue -- "Oops! I've been diddled again!" -- and a heavy dose of attitude -- look at the curve of those eyebrows! -- and you get one heck of a significant game hero who's not to be messed with.

6. Jak and Daxter

Naughty Dog made a decision that rocked the world in 2001, when they announced they were dropping their trademark mascot Crash Bandicoot for something more reflective of their ever-present mature attitude. When Crash was appropriately farmed out to Konami, Naughty Dog finally laid out their "Megaton" new character, the one that was supposed to "change the world of videogames for good."

What we got was Jak and Daxter, an item-collecting adventure for PlayStation2 that put many small children to sleep and many adults reaching for Grand Theft Auto III. Sure, the game was pretty, and it had a pedigree -- it's just, the characters weren't interesting enough. Jak, the hero, has hair of too bright a yellow color. He still looks like a child. Daxter, the weasel, is furry and annoying.

Oh -- this all changes with Jak II. Now with a more mature-sounding title, the game has grown up. Walk the streets of a bustling city, now, stealing flying cars and other vehicles. Use guns and a jet board when on missions. And witness Jak use such swear words as "Damn" and "Hell" and "asshole," and even "bastard." Now with a goatee and longer hair, something in Jak has transformed. Once the hero of a plucky 3D platform adventure, Jak has now done time in an alien prison, and grown appropriately more grizzled. This is the kind of thing Naughty Dog promised us when they subtitled their first game The Precursor Legacy. Well -- the Precursor has ended. It's time for the Legacy. Jak and Daxter may change videogames yet.

[almost there: 5-3]