History ReplacementScrappy / VideoGames

* Emil from ''[[VideoGame/TalesofSymphoniaDawnoftheNewWorld Tales Of Symphonia]]: [[ElectricBoogaloo Dawn of the New World]]''... is a subversion because Lloyd never had that much fans and the problem the fandom has with his is his {{wangst}}, not being unable of living up to Lloyd's non-particularly high standards. Emil's game came around the same time as [[VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia Yuri Lowell's]]. Yuri himself is so popular, he managed to knock EnsembleDarkHorse [[VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny Leon Magnius's]] long-held #1 spot on the annual Tales of Popularity poll.

** Natsu, one of the newcomers in ''Soulcalibur V'' shaped up to be this, as she's replaced the beloved series stalwart Taki. Fans were not pleased.

* Johnny from the third installment of the ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'' series was a poor stand in for Yuri, the protagonist of the previous two entries.
** However, any fan of the series would realize Yuri is unavailable for the non-trivial reason that [[spoiler:he's dead, damn it. He's not coming back. No one found the body. He's got his StableTimeLoop and he's happy]].

** This gets leveled against all the SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute additions to ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'' in some circles, although most of the removed characters were just duplicates of other characters who remained. Perhaps the one who gets the most heat is Lucario, though, as he's believed to have replaced Mewtwo, who didn't have any clone in the game. [[BrokenBase The fanbase still has arguments]] as to whether Mewtwo was a [[JokeCharacter hopeless character]] that got replaced by a superior character in every way, or replaced by someone meant to hype the at-the-time latest versions of the Franchise/{{Pokemon}} games and abandoned instead of retooled.

** In ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'', Steven Stone is the Champion of the Hoenn region, and he becomes one of the most popular Champions in the series among fans. However, in ''Emerald'', Wallace replaces Steven as the Champion, and Wallace's role as the Champion is not very well-received, due to Steven's greater popularity, Wallace being generally considered an easier boss ''and'' being the Water-type Champion in a region already ''infamous'' for the large amount of water routes and Water-type Pokémon the later parts of the game contain — and comes after both a villainous team based around Water-types (which does not help that Team Aqua has more focus in ''Emerald'') and a Water-type Gym Leader. It does not help that despite no longer being the Champion in ''Emerald'', Steven still gets more screen time than Wallace and becomes a BonusBoss in the post-game, with his team's level being much higher than Wallace's.

** Applies to some of the Pokémon themselves, albeit mostly in ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' due to its reboot-ish nature. Examples include the Timburr/Conkeldurr line for the Machop/Machamp line, and the fairly weak Pidove/Unfezant line for the much more versatile Starly/Staraptor line. [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in many cases, however; many fans were happy to see the [[GoddamnBats Zubat and Geodude lines]] replaced with the Woobat and Roggenrola lines, respectively (with the latter also getting an unusually badass-looking final evolution in Gigalith).

** For some, the next ''generation'' of Pokémon (i.e. whenever the newest games with new Pokémon are released) are seen as replacement scrappies for the previous generation. This is especially the case for "[[FanNickname Genwunners]]," fans who hate the newer generations of Pokémon simply because they're not Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Eevee, or especially Charizard.

** Perhaps the most infamous of these is the Spiky-Eared (or Notched-Eared in the original Japanese) Pichu. She essentially replaces Celebi in an in-game event in ''[=HeartGold=]'' and ''[=SoulSilver=]'', is unable to evolve, has poor stats and a poor moveset, and cannot even be transferred to games other than HGSS.

** In ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire]]'', Steven Stone is the Champion of the Hoenn region and he becomes one of the most popular Champions in the series among fans. However, in ''Emerald'', Wallace replaces Steven as the Champion, and Wallace's role as the Champion is not very well-received, due to Steven's greater popularity, Wallace being generally considered an easier boss ''and'' being the Water-type Champion in a region already ''infamous'' for the large amount of water routes and Water-type Pokémon the later parts of the game contain — and comes after both a villainous team based around Water-types (which does not help that Team Aqua has more focus in ''Emerald'') and a Water-type Gym Leader. It does not help that despite no longer being the Champion in ''Emerald'', Steven still gets more screen time than Wallace and becomes a BonusBoss in the post-game, with his team's level being much higher than Wallace's.

** In ''VideoGame/PokemonLetsGoPikachuAndLetsGoEevee'', the main story of the game was slightly rewritten. For instance, there are more CallForward moments (like [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldSilverAndCrystal Archer]] being Giovanni's Number One). Some of these changes included removing Red as the protagonist, to be replaced with Chase and Elaine, and Blue as the rival. This change wasn't received badly by fans, and neither was the replacement rival, Trace. But fans ''did'' take issue when Trace ended up as the Pokemon League champion instead of Red or Blue, especially because Red, Blue, and Green were all shoved into the postgame for little more than glorified cameo appearances, when Blue's appearance as the Champion after beating Lance had become one of the game's most memorable plot twists, and many felt Trace was not nearly as effective at selling the twist as Blue had been.

** Many fans of Master Chief were not pleased that he wasn't the main playable character in ''VideoGame/Halo5Guardians'' (he only appears in three levels). They find his replacement, Jameson Locke, to be boring.

** The case of Bowser Jr. has zig-zagged over time. The character was seen as the replacement for for the original seven Koopalings, with their distinctive appearances and (slight) personalities; at least for a while. Once he appeared alongside them in ''New Super Mario Bros Wii'', it tended to dissipate. But when WordOfGod confirmed the Koopalings aren't Bowser's children anymore, the hatred towards Junior returned ''with a vengeance''. The situation was reversed once again when Bowser Jr. was cut out of the ''Mario Kart 8'' roster while the Koopalings got in, amplified even further when the Koopalings were included as all seven of Bowser Jr.'s alt skins. ''Bowser Jr. fans'' started baying for the ''Koopalings'' blood.

** In ''PokemonLetsGoPikachuAndEevee'', the main story of the game was slightly rewritten. For instance, there are more CallForward moments (like [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldSilverAndCrystal Archer]] being Giovanni's Number One). Some of these changes included removing Red as the protagonist, to be replaced with Chase and Elaine, and Blue as the rival. This change wasn't received badly by fans, and neither was the replacement rival, Trace. But fans ''did'' take issue when Trace ended up as the Pokemon League champion instead of Red or Blue, especially because Red, Blue, and Green were all shoved into the postgame for little more than glorified cameo appearances, when Blue's appearance as the Champion after beating Lance had become one of the game's most memorable plot twists, and many felt Trace was not nearly as effective at selling the twist as Blue had been.

** If there is a new Legendary Pokémon, or even just a next-gen Pokémon being featured to promote the newest games, you'll be sure they'll be seen as replacement scrappies for older generations. Zoroark, in particular, was seen for the longest time by some people as being little more than a "Lucario Clone." It doesn't help that both are bipedal canine-like Pokémon (Lucario being a jackal and Zoroark being a fox) and that both of their pre-evolved forms are obtained via event (You're given an egg containing a Riolu in Diamond/Pearl/Platinum and a Zorua offers to join your team if you have a Celebi on hand in Black/White and a former Team Plasma member will give you N's Zorua as a gift in ''Black 2 and White 2''). Not to mention that ''both'' Pokémon were used as EarlyBirdCameo for their respective generations in the films (Lucario for Gen IV and Zoroark for Gen V).

* The first ''Franchise/SpyroTheDragon'' reboot, ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfSpyro'', only included three characters from the original series. No revised versions of Bianca, Professor, Elora, Gnasty Gnorc, or Ripto. It has its own cast of characters, which hasn't settled well with old fans.

** A character aversion is Wrex's replacement, Grunt. Wrex was a BloodKnight, DeadpanSnarker, and a fan favorite. At first, the trailers for ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' show Grunt as a simple BloodKnight, the krogan [[PlanetOfHats hat]]. However, Grunt was [[DesignerBabies grown in a tank]] to be the ultimate krogan, leading to some [[CloningBlues existentialist angst]] (not {{Wangst}}) that helps flesh him out, and goes away as part of his [[ComingOfAgeStory loyalty mission]]. Additional CharacterDevelopment led to fans accepting him as a good character in his own right. Ironically, the reveal that James Vega is a Soldier who's skillset focuses on defense at first led to him becoming a proper replacement scrappy for Grunt. Like Grunt, however, he has since become an aversion once the game was released.

** In ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld'', Plessie is one to some Yoshi fans, although others think he's a worthy {{Expy}}, especially after his bigger role in ''VideoGame/BowsersFury''.

** In ''3D World'', Plessie is one to some Yoshi fans, although others think he's a worthy {{Expy}}.

* The cast of ''VideoGame/Left4Dead2''. Rochelle, whom almost everyone hates because her personality comes off as dry to most...or because she's not like Zoey.

** Tiny in ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'' for replacing Dixie. She has since been RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap due to her later redesign and Dixie appearing in future games.

** The Ustanak wants so hard to be the next Nemesis, but falls flat. Unlike the Nemesis, whose set and random locations made him feel like he was legitimately hunting you and making the player desperately devise any way to fight him off temporarily, Ustanak only shows up in set cut scenes or boss encounters. Said boss encounters tend to be filled with conspicuous, bright red exploding barrels that the game wants you to use to do damage. Problem is, the second you see those barrels after the first encounter, you know EXACTLY who is about to show up. Thus turning it from a Nemesis style "Where is he? Will he be here? Oh no he's here!" into more of a "Oh... this guy again" response.

* Some were annoyed by Anders' apparent attempt in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening'' to take over Alistair's 'adorkable' role. But the most hate was leveled at Velanna for replacing Morrigan's DarkMagicalGirl, mixing in OurElvesAreBetter and a half-hearted attempt at WellIntentionedExtremist, only lacking the good intent. Or any redeeming qualities at all.

* ''VisualNovel/NewDanganRonpaV3'' has some, due to FranchiseOriginalSin kicking in brutally.
** The Monokuma Kubs are hated by the fans (save [[EnsembleDarkhorse Monodam]]) for being an annoying Monokuma aide substitution for Monomi of the previous game.

** If there is a new Legendary Pokémon, or even just a next-gen Pokémon being featured to promote the newest games, you'll be sure they'll be seen as replacement scrappies for older generations.
*** Zoroark, in particular, was seen for the longest time by some people as being little more than a "Lucario Clone." It doesn't help that both are bipedal canine-like Pokémon (Lucario being a jackal and Zoroark being a fox) and that both of their pre-evolved forms are obtained via event (You're given an egg containing a Riolu in Diamond/Pearl/Platinum and a Zorua offers to join your team if you have a Celebi on hand in Black/White and a former Team Plasma member will give you N's Zorua as a gift in ''Black 2 and White 2''). Not to mention that ''both'' Pokémon were used as EarlyBirdCameo for their respective generations in the films (Lucario for Gen IV and Zoroark for Gen V).

* ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia2008''. Some fans disliked the new Prince's cocky, Han Solo-esque, one-liner spewing personality compared to the charismatic yet somewhat naive Prince from ''[[VideoGame/PrinceOfPErsiaTheSandsOfTime Sands of Time]]''.
** It has more to do with the Prince's new companion being capable of exactly the same acrobatics as the Prince, as well as having access to powerful magic, which is the mechanism you are rescued with when you screw up, along with the plot critical powers needed to undo the corruption. Also, that magic is how all boss fights are best dealt with. In short, the new Prince is more or less extraneous and serves as little more than a meatshield, and is probably closer to being a damsel in distress what with him constantly having to be rescued from fatally stupid acrobatics.

* After Nintendo's contract with Mike Tyson expired (which, contrary to popular belief, was unrelated to Tyson's legal troubles at the time), they replaced him in the game formerly known as ''[[VideoGame/PunchOut Mike Tyson's Punch Out!!]]'' with Mr. Dream, a fictional boxer, while retaining the boxing style. To say the least, fans were unhappy with the perceived generic character.

** Naoto Kurogane, mainly for being a pretty blatant SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute to Ragna, right down to having similar names for their moves. Interestingly, this sentiment is shared in-universe because [[spoiler:Naoto is so similar to Ragna that he can potentially override the latter's existence and the cast are trying to kill him on sight for that reason, since they either don't want Ragna to be wiped from existence or can't afford it to happen]].

* In the ''Franchise/DonkeyKong''

* The first non-expansion sequel to ''[[VideoGame/DawnOfWar Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War]]'' gave us the [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep Force Commander]], a fresh-faced and newly appointed superior officer whose characterization hinges almost entirely on being [[TheAce incredibly skilled despite his relative youth]] and thus in charge of the grizzled veterans. He was less than well received after the charismatic Captains Gabriel Angelos and Davian Thule of the initial DoW series, and Chaos Rising really didn't help much. Then came ''Dawn of War II: Retribution'', where the Space Marine campaign was headed by Apollo Diomodes, the [[TheDragon captain of Chapter Master Kyras' honor guard]], who unknowingly served as an antagonist during the prior expansion throughout Kyras' secret descent into Chaos worship. [[FanNickname Force Commander Vanilla Ice]] and about half of the less-popular members of the support cast are on the run, declared "renegades" by Kyras, and the fans [[InvertedTrope seemed much happier]] with Diomedes and his positive CharacterDevelopment than his predecessor.
* {{Invoked|Trope}} in ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' with Joshua. Replacing Shiki from the first week, his attacks are much harder to use, weaker, and don't do damage until the end of a combo (where Shiki's lay hits every step of the way), and he can't jump or block. Even though he [[MagikarpPower gets much, much more powerful later on]], to the extent that he becomes easily the strongest partner in the game, by that time the damage is done and the player is probably very annoyed with him-- perfectly mirroring [[TheHero Neku]]'s feelings about this smug, condescending, secretive, JerkAss little ''prick'' who took the place of his new, much nicer friend.

** ''Advance Wars: Dual Strike'' has Von Bolt, the BigBad replacing Sturm. Being a crippled asthmatic old man in a hovering wheelchair, and a subpar CO that was ludicrously easy to defeat on top of it, rankled somewhat when compared to Sturm; Sturm being essentially Darth Vader with a paint job who dropped meteors on people and had a {{leitmotif}} with [[EvilIsCool an electric guitar solo]].
** Andy was bland, but his replacement Jake's JiveTurkey routine is grating and borderline insufferable.
** There are those that look upon the entire ''Days of Ruin'' cast in the same way.

** This is adressed in the "Hoxton Breakout" DLC, where Old Hoxton has as much contempt for New Hoxton (Now Houston) as the fans did.

* ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia2008''. Some fans dislike the new Prince's cocky, Han Solo-esque, one-liner spewing personality compared to the charismatic yet somewhat naive Prince from ''[[VideoGame/PrinceOfPErsiaTheSandsOfTime Sands of Time]]''.

* Some fans of the original ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'' are very vocal about how little they like James Heller, the [[VideoGame/{{Prototype 2}} sequel's]] protagonist replacing the original's Alex Mercer. The fact that Mercer appears in the game as the villain with a completely different personality from the original makes it worse. Heller doesn't really have much of a personality outside of being a stereotypical angry black man.
* After Nintendo's contract with Mike Tyson expired (which, contrary to popular belief, was unrelated to Tyson's legal troubles), they replaced him in the game formerly known as ''[[VideoGame/PunchOut Mike Tyson's Punch Out!!]]'' with Mr. Dream, a fictional boxer, while retaining the boxing style. To say the least, fans were unhappy with the perceived generic character.

* ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'' suffers from this, and quite intensely. Fans are not hesitant in vocalizing their vehement hatred of the end of the game, wherein [[spoiler: the player gains control of Jack after his father, protagonist John Marston's, death]]. Fan either hate [[spoiler: Jack]] for not being John, or for being too ''much'' like John. Either way, finding fans who don't outright swear off the game after the twist is a difficult feat indeed.

** The Ustanak wants so hard to be the next Nemesis, but falls flat. Unlike the Nemesis, whose set and random locations made him feel like he was legitimately hunting you, Ustanak only shows up in set cut scenes or boss encounters. Said boss encounters tend to be filled with bright red exploding barrels that the game wants you to use to do damage. Problem is, the second you see those barrels you know EXACTLY who is about to show up. Thus turning it from a Nemesis style "Where is he? Will he be here?" into more of a "Oh...this guy again."

* Possibly intentional in ''[[VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice Sam & Max]]'': Season 3 Episode 3, where Sam is forced to animate Max's body with the brain of a boy pharaoh, thus replacing him. Sam likes the pharaoh enough (he refers to him in dialogue as a 'nice kid'), but the player is supposed to hate him because of [[FaceHeelTurn what he spends the third act doing]].

** However, any fan of the series would realize Yuri is unavailable for the non-trivial reason that [[spoiler:he's dead, damnit. He's not coming back. No one found the body. He's got his StableTimeLoop and he's happy]].

** When Silver got a starring role in the MilestoneCelebration ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006 Sonic '06]]'' with Sonic and Shadow, fans felt he was usurping worthier characters like Tails or Knuckles and accused Sega of being biased against their non-hedgehog characters. Silver's cameo in ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Brawl]]'' also led to claims of this. Him being ThatOneBoss supreme in the game didn't help matters, either.

** The Sonic of latter years was starting to face some criticism for its dearth of playable characters, [[VideoGame/SonicMania usually]] featuring only Sonic in some form or another and completely abandoning even the better-received diversity of playable characters seen in ''Sonic 3 & Knuckles'' and the ''Sonic Advance'' trilogy--so when the Custom Hero/Avatar was revealed for ''VideoGame/SonicForces'', a whole lot of fans were incensed that Sega had essentially decided to make [[SailorEarth everyone's OC ever]] playable over anyone from the existing cast.

* In the ''[[VideoGame/SoulSeries Soul]]'' series, rabid Hwang fanboys (and [=HwangxMina=] fangirls) won't stop bashing Yun-seong for replacing Hwang in ''Soulcalibur II''.

** Cassandra was one for a very short time when she was thought to be replacing Sophitia. Once the latter was brought back to the console version of ''SCII'', fan opinion quickly improved.
** Natsu, one of the newcomers in ''Soulcalibur V'' is shaping up to be this, as she's going to replace series stalwart Taki. Fans are not pleased.
** Plenty of the new characters in ''V'' are getting this. Xiba for replacing Kilik and being a [[Literature/JourneyToTheWest Sun Wukong]] {{Expy}} who only ever thinks about food, the above-mentioned Natsu for being arrogant and cocky rather than Taki's cold, get-the-job-done attitude, Patroklos for being a self-righteous {{Jerkass}} (even though he does get better later on in the story mode), along with Pyrrha for replacing their mother and aunt, and being a massive SpotlightStealingSquad to the rest of the characters... the list goes on. Leixia and Pyrrha have avoided this more than others by not having such drastically different personalities from their predecessors.
** An in-universe example occurs between Tira and the new Nightmare. While Tira had UndyingLoyalty to the Nightmare of ''III'' and ''IV'', that Nightmare was destroyed by Siegfried. Tira has since refused to accept the new and more subtle Nightmare, considering him a coward; instead, she plans to bring the OLD Nightmare back by using Sophitia's daughter Pyrrha as Soul Edge's host.

* ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'' attracted a lot of ire from fans of the old main character, Phoenix Wright; partly because Apollo simply wasn't Phoenix, and partly for necessitating Phoenix to become arguably [[NotAsYouKnowThem Not As He Was Known]] in order to allow him to shine. No one can quite seem to decide ''what'' the problem with him is, though; depending on who you ask, the complaint is that he's "almost a carbon copy of Phoenix" or "not enough like Phoenix". The [[ResetButton unexplained absence]] of well-liked support and secondary characters important to Phoenix's character (especially the Feys, Gumshoe and Miles Edgeworth) also upset many fans, which means poor Apollo gets even more dislike directed towards him. In the tutorial case, Phoenix solved the case himself (leaving players feeling cheated and making Apollo look like a bigger idiot). [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap Alleviated]] by ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies Dual Destinies]]'' where Apollo works together with Phoenix and TookALevelInBadass.

** [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII Connor]] from the third installment gets heaped with ''tons'' of this by virtue of not being [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII Ezio]] what with being a near polar opposite character and 3 full games worth of character development behind him. He's got his fans of course, but finding them takes a ''lot'' more work than finding his detractors. His successor character -- who's also his grandfather -- [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIVBlackFlag Edward]] doesn't seem to be getting hit quite as hard, helps to be JerkWithAHeartOfGold pirate one can assume, instead of a [[TheStoic Stoic]] Native American warrior. This even gets something of a lampshade thrown on it in the latter game.
** One of Edward's successors, Arno, also gets this. He's seen as a very 'safe' character composed of the more popular protagonists, Ezio and Edward. Like Ezio, his father was an Assassin who is killed and thus part of his motivation for joining the order, and he's also a flirtatious nobleman. And like Edward, he's an alcoholic (right down to a scene where you play him drunk, just like with Edward) and self-destructive. He's also seen as very bland, especially in comparison to some of his supporting cast. And finally, Connor fans dislike Arno for just not being Connor, since this means Connor only got one game to himself, with his story not really getting any closure, while Altair and Ezio got at least two each (they shared ''Revelations''), and Edward's story was decently wrapped up.

* In the ''VideoGame/BackyardSports'' series, Samantha Pearce. This was probably because some other girls had the natural athlete personality, but didn't look the part, and was removed in favor of a new character. Soon after Samantha's debut, she became the most annoying character in the ''entire series'' (besides [[CreatorsPet Joey]], of course).

** The second game seemed to be setting up [[{{Sadist}} Hazama/Yuuki Terumi]] and [[MadScientist Relius Clover]] to be the main villains of the whole series, but then [[VideoGame/BlazBlueChronophantasma the third game]] came along and pretty much threw them under the bus in favor of their boss, the Imperator: Hades Izanami. Naturally, many fans weren't pleased about this, mainly because Terumi and Relius were already pretty popular villains in the first place for playing EvilIsCool and LoveToHate to their fullest extent and how the cast all had personal conflicts with them. Izanami is considered [[GenericDoomsdayVillain pretty boring]] by comparison, having nothing that made the former two characters stand out and that her motives and goal are pretty shallow. She also doesn't really have any personal ties to the cast outside of [[TheProtagonist Ragna]] and [[TheRival Jin]] due to [[spoiler:Izanami possessing their little sister Saya]]. [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap Izanami's reception among the fanbase did improve]], however, when she was announced as a playable character starting from the second part of [[VideoGame/BlazBlueCentralFiction the following title]], getting a chance to show [[NightmareFuel just how scary a goddess of death can be]] and [[CreepyAwesome living up to her moniker]].
** Naoto Kurogane, mainly for being a pretty blatant SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute to Ragna, right down to having similar names for their moves. Interestingly, this sentiment is shared in-universe because [[spoiler:Naoto is so similar to Ragna that he can potentially override the latter's existence and the cast are trying to kill him on sight for that reason]].

** ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'' and "I'm-not-Dante" Nero. Possibly made worse by the revelation that he's [[spoiler:actually supposed to be "Not-Vergil" rather than "Not-Dante."]] Although when the below character made an appearance, some people have been taking back what they said about him and are outright '''apologizing'''.
** Dante from ''[[VideoGame/DmCDevilMayCry DmC]]'' reboot is not having a good time either, especially since this Dante has black hair and looks like an emo poser. It certainly says a lot when the main feature that everyone's waiting on is the shifting environments as opposed to the story or even playing as Dante again. Pick any random review site or video game magazine; chances are the ''[=DmC=]'' article will showcase the "non-static" setting while taking only a minor note of everything else. The initial models of Dante's new look had an ''uncanny'' resemblance to Tameem Antoniades, Ninja Theory's Art Director and head of the project. The fact that he then spent subsequent interviews after the announcement bashing on the Dante's previous iconic look ''definitely'' didn't endear this new game to fans. In fact the amount of dislike towards him have made the previous replacement scrappy seem like a much better alternative with many apologizing for what they said about Nero.

** Tiny in ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'' (for replacing Dixie). She has since been RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap due to her redesign and Dixie appearing in future games.

** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns'' was announced to much rejoicing. Then it was announced that the Kremlings were going to be replaced by the Tiki Tak tribe and the fandom went insane. Prior to that, this was the reaction towards a lot of the cast of ''Videogame/DonkeyKongJungleBeat'' for replacing the other Kongs, Kremlings and long time enemies. It was only one game, but ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' fans have not at all forgiven most of them for this (especially the animal buddy replacements).
* Some were annoyed by Anders apparent attempt in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening'' to take over Alistair's 'adorkable' role. But the most hate was leveled at Velanna for replacing Morrigan's DarkMagicalGirl, mixing in OurElvesAreBetter and a half-hearted attempt at WellIntentionedExtremist, only lacking the good intent. Or any redeeming qualities at all.

* Example mostly occurring because of gameplay reasons in ''VideoGame/DungeonKeeper'', where in the 2nd game the dragon, considered to be amongst the best creatures in the original, is replaced with a much less useful creature called the salamander. Fans weren't pleased.

** Averted in ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' with Noble Six, who was basically as badass as Master Chief and enjoyed customizable armor. His only flaw? He was unlucky. Part of this stems from the fact that Noble Six is YOU. The Rookie from ''VideoGame/Halo3ODST'' also tends to avoid this; the worst thing anybody has to say about them is that [[OvershadowedByAwesome they're not quite as cool as Master Chief and Noble Six]] (which, amusingly enough, [[LifeImitatesArt fits pretty well with how the ODST are frequently overshadowed by Spartans in-story]]).

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'' has Galuf [[spoiler:die and]] be replaced (at his insistence) by his TokenMiniMoe granddaughter Krile. Many players felt the switch to be a downgrade since they preferred Galuf's humor and standing as a badass to Krile's non-existent and generic TagAlongKid personality, and/or dislike how this makes the player party three-fourths princesses (since princesses have a negative stigma of their own). She does, however, get all of his skills, jobs and stats, so it doesn't affect gameplay much (Krile's base stats are '''''slightly''''' different than Galuf's, but it's just a few points here and there).

** On the basis of K', his Scrappy status died out by the time of ''XIII'', when the fanbase collectively squeed [[TheBusCameBack for his return]]. Ash, on the other hand, may have been RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap by [[spoiler:revealing his true nature as a GuileHero [[FakeDefector fighting to counteract]] his {{evil|Twin}} [[UncannyFamilyResemblance identical ancestor]] and then commiting a HeroicSacrifice that ''[[RetGone erased himself from existence]]'']]. Debating his status as a GodModeSue, however, is less negotiable by a country mile.