Games: Blinx: The Time Sweeper (Xbox/2002), Blinx 2: Masters of Time and Space (Xbox/2004)
Mascot for: Microsoft
Blinx was created to be the face of the Xbox console (because Halo was seen as too violent, and Master Chief didn't have much of a personality). Blinx is a cat with a vacuum that can manipulate time. He is a member of a group called the Time Sweepers. Honestly, the premise here is so bizarre that I think it contributed to the game's unpopularity. However, the game sold just well enough to warrant a sequel. Unfortunately, the sequel makes no sense. The Time Sweepers join forces with the Tom-Toms (pigs) in order to fight glitch monsters to retrieve time crystals, and along the way there's a "Time Angel" and a "Scissor Demon." Yeah, somebody's on drugs.
What happened: Both games received mixed reviews, the second being the worst of the two. Developer Artoon didn't seem to realize that the furry mascot craze ended in the '90s. Blinx was doomed to fail right out of the gate. The early '00s was a strange time as different mascots were thrown at the wall, and not too many stuck (Remember Billy Hatcher?). It didn't help that these games made no freakin' sense. What's funny is that Blinx was pushed to be THE mascot for Xbox, and after that failed, they just gave up and let Master Chief have the spot. Hey, Master Chief is cool.
I never played Blinx because I didn't own an original Xbox.
I think a lot of people could say the same thing (like me)
I definitely missed out on these, but I remember them being advertised.
Xbox should just have made it simple and bought the Bubsy franchise as a mascot.
LOL that would have been very interesting to see how they handle that character. They would probably have tried to make Bubsy "cool" which I don't think would work
I remember the EGM previews for Blinx. I was too much of a Gamecube fanboy to care, but I do like the weirdness you described. I get why it failed though.
And yes, I do remember Billy Hatcher ... well the cover and an oddly positive review, if memory serves. That was on Gamecube, right?
Yes, Billy Hatcher was a GCN exclusive. It's not a bad game (I beat it), but it's super weird (it's made by Sega, and Sega games tend to be weird).
I played this on a demo disc from The Official Xbox Magazine. Remember demo discs with magazines? I like the mechanics of it but something about it just didn't grab me as Ratchet & Clank did. Can you imagine Blinx topping Master Chief? Haha. That would be funny.
Demo discs were the best! It's a shame they're gone, but now you can just download demos directly from the console.
Very few furry mascots have managed to survive into the 2020s. Sonic has, although most of his games are still mediocre. Pokemon is still huge. Ratchet & Clank is still very successful. Maybe Kirby too (although he's not furry). It's a very interesting era we're living in, isn't it?
No fuzzy ones. Now it's Fortnight, Apex Legends, Minecraft, Roblox, what else. I know I'm forgetting one.