Time to Shine

Barry Burton

It’s been a long time since we’ve seen Barry in a main Resident Evil game, too long in fact. Barry’s biggest role came in Resident Evil, and he really hasn’t had much of a presence since, despite being a really popular character. He had a very brief scene at the end of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, but has had absolutely nothing since then. I think it’s about time we were able to play as Barry and see things through his perspective, like what he was doing during the Raccoon City incident, or what he did after that. There may be hope, as he was released as a downloadable character for Resident Evil 5‘s Mercenaries, along with Rebecca Chambers, another underused character. Rebecca has been confirmed as a playable character in Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, so odds are good that Barry will show up as well. However, that game has nothing to do with the Resident Evil story. Whether it’s Resident Evil 6 or Resident Evil: Revelations, it’s about time we took control of Barry. Capcom did say that Revelations had more than Chris and Jill, so maybe Barry, Rebecca, and if they’re really feeling generous, Billy Coen will have another role in the story as well.

Bowser

Yes, yes, I know that some parts of Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story required you to take control of Bowser, but he’s still on this list for a couple of reasons. One, that wasn’t even his own game, and two, that game wasn’t even that good. The game that gave us the best idea of what Bowser’s really like was Super Paper Mario. As Bowser, you could thrash your way across levels, and beat and burn every enemy to your heart’s content. Once you were able to use Bowser, you could take control of him whenever you wanted, but that’s still not good enough. Bowser needs his own game. Mario doesn’t necessarily need to be the enemy, as he’s got plenty of enemies aside from Mario. Or better yet, what if Peach and Mario get kidnapped and it’s up to Bowser to save the day? Bowser has to fight himself over what to do, as he wants to save Peach but can’t do it without saving Mario. It’s interesting that Peach has her own game, and yet Bowser still lacks his. Make it happen, Nintendo!

Colin

Some Zelda fans may cry blasphemy at hearing this, but I don’t think it would be a bad thing if you didn’t play as Link in every game. After all, Link isn’t the name of the game, it’s Zelda, and Colin has a special place among the Zelda conspiracy theorists. After Link leaves Hyrule in Twilight Princess, Colin is Link’s apparent heir. He idolizes Link and wants to grow up to be just like him. But the problem is his name isn’t Link, so he doesn’t have the triforce. Therefore he’d be at an even bigger disadvantage on his adventure. Some Zelda fans used to believe that Colin may have tried to stop Ganondorf before the events of Wind Waker. While this is probably not true, as it twists the two timelines of the split timeline theory together, Colin nevertheless seems to have a special place in the hearts of Zelda fans. An older, more adult Colin would bring an interesting change to the Zelda formula.