History ReplacementScrappy / VideoGames

** ''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 CoolOldGuy to Krile's 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).

** The case of Bowser Jr. has zig-zagged over time. When the character first appeared in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'', he was seen as the replacement 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 ''VideoGame/MarioKart8'' roster while the Koopalings got in, amplified even further when the Koopalings were included as all seven of Bowser Jr.'s alt skins in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForNintendo3DSAndWiiU''. ''Bowser Jr. fans'' started baying for the ''Koopalings'' blood. The whole situation calmed down when Bowser Jr. was made playable in ''[[UpdatedRerelease Mario Kart 8 Deluxe]]''.

** 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 ''VideoGame/MarioKart8'' roster while the Koopalings got in, amplified even further when the Koopalings were included as all seven of Bowser Jr.'s alt skins in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForNintendo3DSAndWiiU''. ''Bowser Jr. fans'' started baying for the ''Koopalings'' blood. The whole situation calmed down when Bowser Jr. was made playable in ''[[UpdatedRerelease Mario Kart 8 Deluxe]]''.

** In ''VideoGame/TeamSonicRacing'': The Chao replacing Cream in Team Rose hasn't gone over well. This alongside her conspicuous absence in ''VideoGame/SonicForces'' has left many fans to question if she'll be phased out of the cast altogether. Making matters worse is that one of the playable Chao is Omochao, who is often seen as one of the most hated and annoying characters in the whole franchise.

* Johnny from ''VideoGame/ShadowHeartsFronTheNewWorld'' was seen as a poor stand in for Yuri, the protagonist of the previous two entries in [[VideoGame/ShadowHearts the series]].

* Johnny from the third installment of the ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'' series was seen as a poor stand in for Yuri, the protagonist of the previous two entries.

** In ''VideoGame/TeamSonicRacing'':
*** The Chao replacing Cream in Team Rose hasn't gone over well. This alongside her conspicuous absence in ''VideoGame/SonicForces'' has left many fans to question if she'll be phased out of the cast altogether. Making matters worse is that one of the playable Chao is Omochao, who is often seen as one of the most hated and annoying characters in the whole franchise.
*** Zavok's reveal to be playable has had a less-than-positive reception, with many incredulous that a character very few people actually like (and has no reason to work with Eggman) was chosen over the roundly mocked but still more fitting (and more relevant) Infinite or Eggman's lackeys, Orbot and Cubot instead.

** Blue Toad and Yellow Toad (otherwise known as Ala-Gold and Bucken-Berry, or Wolley and Yvan) in ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosWii'' and ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosU'' were this for [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2 Peach and Toad]] as well as [[VideoGame/SuperMario64DS Wario and Yoshi]]. This was because Nintendo didn't want CompetitiveBalance, but they listened for ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld'' and brought back the former pair.

** [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII Connor]] from the third installment got heaped with ''tons'' of this by virtue of not being [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII Ezio]] what with being a near polar opposite character, and Ezio having 3 full games worth of character development behind him. Connor'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]] didn't seem to get hit quite as hard, helps to be a 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.

* ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'': Each game is headlined by a different group of idols, who deliver a newscast summing up the current stage rotation when you boot up the game. However, fans were not aware that this would be the series' modus operandi until ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'' revealed that the duo greeting us at the start of every play session wouldn't be the Squid Sisters, Callie and Marie, but Off the Hook, consisting of Pearl and Marina. The new musicians got hit with this hard during the game's first year, being viewed as underdeveloped, flat characters who couldn't hope to match the charm of their predecessors. This wasn't helped by the fact that they were completely uninvolved with the main campaign's narrative (only bookending the mode by reporting on the Great Zapfish and Callie disappearing/returning), and the English localization originally trying to copy-and-paste Callie and Marie's old dynamic onto them (Marina, in particular, was uncharacteristically snarky towards Pearl in light of later character reveals). It wasn't until the ''Octo Expansion'' DLC campaign that the characters got more fleshed out, establishing their backstories and the deep nature of their friendship, [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap that Off the Hook's popularity among fans skyrocketed]].

* ''VideoGame/Splatoon3'' has Deep Cut, who take over news and Splatfest hosting duties. [[DownplayedTrope They're popular in their own right]] due to the strength of their designs and the charm of what interactions they do have, helped by the fact that they star in the Return of the Mammalians campaign alongside the Squid Sisters; however, many fans view them as flat and poorly defined compared to the previous idol groups, as ''Splatoon 3'' heavily pares down the news conversations from seven or eight per stage to three or four each for Turf War and Salmon Run, and Splatfests aren’t frequent enough to make up the deficit. Not helping Deep Cut's case is that they debuted at the same time that Off the Hook — by now nearly as popular as the Squid Sisters — [[PutOnABus Super Jumped onto a bus]] to return in the game's paid DLC, causing their fans to lament their absence and resulting in inevitable comparisons (nearly always unfavorable toward Deep Cut).

* ''VideoGame/Splatoon3'' has Deep Cut, who take over news and Splatfest hosting duties. [[DownplayedTrope They're popular in their own right]] due to the strength of their designs and the charm of what interactions they do have, helped by the fact that they star in the Return of the Mammalians campaign alongside the Squid Sisters; however, many fans view them as flat and poorly defined, as ''Splatoon 3'' heavily pares down the news conversations from seven or eight per stage to three or four each for Turf War and Salmon Run, and Splatfests aren’t frequent enough to make up the deficit. Not helping Deep Cut's case is that they debuted at the same time that Off the Hook — by now nearly as popular as the Squid Sisters — [[PutOnABus Super Jumped onto a bus]] to return in the game's paid DLC, causing their fans to lament their absence and resulting in inevitable comparisons (nearly always unfavorable toward Deep Cut).

** 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]]'']].

** The FunnyAnimal [=NPCs=] in ''Forces'' is this to the human [=NPCs=] in previous games, especially ''Adventures'' and ''Unleashed''. It's mainly due to the characters signifying a change in ''Sonic'' canon from LionsAndTigersAndHumansOhMy to WorldOfFunnyAnimals. They're also disliked because they use designs from the customizable player, meaning they look [[NonstandardCharacterDesign off]] compared to the main characters to the point of UncannyValley.

** 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 Hoenn Champion, and Wallace's role as the Champion is not very well-received, due to Steven's greater popularity, Wallace being generally considered to be the 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 (not helped by Team Aqua getting more focus than Team Magma 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 {{Superboss}} whom can be battled against in the post-game, with his team's level being much higher than Wallace's.

** 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 ''VideoGame/MarioKart8'' roster while the Koopalings got in, amplified even further when the Koopalings were included as all seven of Bowser Jr.'s alt skins in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForNintendo3DSAndWiiU''. ''Bowser Jr. fans'' started baying for the ''Koopalings'' blood. The whole situation calmed down when Bowser Jr. was made playable in ''[[UpdatedReRelease Mario Kart 8 Deluxe]]''.

* Emil from ''VideoGame/TalesofSymphoniaDawnOfTheNewWorld''... 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.

* ''VideoGame/PacMan'': Due to [[ScrewedByTheLawyers legal and royalty issues]] surrounding the rights to Ms. Pac-Man, Namco would phase her out of the franchise in favor of a CaptainErsatz version of her called Pac-Mom, who would go on to replace Ms. Pac-Man in new titles and even rereleases of older titles. Fans did not react well to this change and have quickly begun to hate Pac-Mom due to her replacing one of the oldest and most iconic female characters in gaming, on top of finding her design to be ugly and out of place.

* ''VideoGame/PacMan'': Due to [[ScrewedByTheLawyers legal issues]], Ms. Pac-Man would become ExiledFromContinuity and get replaced with an CaptainErsatz version of her called Pac-Mom, with rereleases of older games and ''VideoGame/PacManWorld Re-PAC'' using her in place of Ms. Pac-Man. Fans did not react well to this change and have quickly begun to hate Pac-Mom due to her effectively replacing one of the oldest and most iconic female characters in gaming, on top of finding her design to be ugly and out of place.

** 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]]", die-hard fans of Generation I who hate the newer generations of Pokémon simply because they're not Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Eevee, or especially Charizard.

** Ironically, the announcement that the last patch of ''Mists of Pandaria'' would feature a raid in Orgrimmar in which Horde players would seek to oust Garrosh Hellscream and restore Thrall as Warchief was also met with disdain. This was not because Garrosh had been RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap, but rather because Thrall has become something of a Scrappy himself (mostly due to his [[SpotlightStealingSquad spotlight stealing]] plots that bordered dangerously close to BlackHoleSue territory in ''Cataclysm''). Instead, players have been asking that Garrosh be replaced by [[OnlySaneMan Vol'jin]], [[EnsembleDarkhorse Saurfang]], or even [[DracoInLeatherPants Sylvanas]]. Blizzard actually delivered, once everything's done, Thrall relinquished his Warchief status to Vol'jin.

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

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfDragoon'':
** Inverted. The substitute for [[spoiler:Lavitz]] is often considered to be just as good if not better. Part of the reason is that [[spoiler:Albert]] came into the game early and had some time to get development in.
** Played straight with the substitute for Shana. Miranda ''does'' have a small fanbase who adamantly believe she deserves more love, but she also has detractors because she didn't make a good replacement for Shana. Miranda came in at a bad time and didn't have that much of a chance to be developed. She plays exactly the same as Shana, and is the only character who cannot use additions. Both are undoubtedly the best healers in the game (Can be almost ''permanently'' in dragoon mode) but she can be just as easily substituted by items (or even Meru) for almost everything outside of her ultimate dragon attack. On top of that, Miranda's personality is rather abrasive and while she ''does'' get a few scenes where she isn't (and is even called out on being annoying!) it's a little harder to appreciate them. The final dungeon does have a scene where she actually [[CharacterDevelopment develops over her abrasive attitude a bit]], but it came a bit too late to appreciate.

* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry''

** Dante from the ''[[VideoGame/DmCDevilMayCry DmC]]'' reboot did not have 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 clamored for was 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 that their ''[=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 the previous Dante's traditional and iconic look ''definitely'' didn't endear this new game to fans. In fact, the sheer amount of dislike towards the new Dante made the previous replacement scrappy Nero seem like a much better alternative with many apologizing for what they said about Nero.

** Dante from the ''[[VideoGame/DmCDevilMayCry DmC]]'' reboot did not have 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 clamored for was 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 that their ''[=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 the previous Dante's traditional and iconic look ''definitely'' didn't endear this new game to fans. In fact, the sheer amount of dislike towards ''DmC'' Dante made the previous replacement scrappy Nero seem like a much better alternative with many apologizing for what they said about Nero.