Antagonist Research
For this section of research, I plan to look into look at some of the different antagonists that are in games relevant to my audience.
My main reason for carrying out this section of research is because I wasn't too sure on what to do with my antagonist since I had a few concepts which I felt could each work for my audience. Hopefully, by carrying out this section, I will be able to come to somewhat of a conclusion.
Super Mario Series - Bowser
The Super Mario series has had a reoccurring antagonist throughout the many different games. The antagonist of most of the games, at least main series Mario games, is Bowser/King Koopa.
Bowser is part of a race known as Koopa which are similar, in terms of visuals/designs, to turtles. Semiotics has been used for this character, as his design makes use a number of different aspects to make him look more menacing. Some of these areas being the sharp claws, horns, teeth, and spikes.
During the games, Bowser almost always has the same intentions, which are to take over/rule the Mushroom Kingdom, which he normally aims to do by kidnapping Princess Peach.
In most of the games, this antagonist doesn't actually speak. However in one of the latest games, Super Mario Odyssey (2017) this character did, in fact, speak (although the voice acting for it was just grumbling).
(Super Mario Wiki, Date unknown)
The other enemies that appear in the game are the minions of this character. A lot of these enemies are Koopa Troopas, which are of course the same race of Bowser (this being the link between them).
Usually, the player will encounter Bowser a few times before actually carrying out the final fight. In quite a few of the early games the final fight consisted of dodging Bowsers attacks and making him fall in the lava. However, as the games have progressed, so have the final fights. Now, most of the final fights make use of the specific games unique mechanics (since most of the games have a unique mechanic). As an example, in Super Mario Odyssey (2017), the final fight involved the player throwing Cappy and stealing Bowser's hat to hit him (so the unique mechanic being the hat throwing).
Legend of Zelda Series - Ganondorf
Much like the Mario series, The Legend of Zelda series has also made use of a reoccurring antagonist, being Ganondorf. However, this character has appeared in many of the games in different forms with different names. Ganondorf is the name given to his human form which appears in games such as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998). Other names have been given to him depending on the form he takes, such as Ganon (for his beast-like form).
This character is part of a race known as the Gerudo, who live in the deserts of Hyrule, and is their king. However, being the king of the Gerudo is not enough for him, and so he wishes to rule over all of Hyrule. This being his motive/story in Ocarina of Time.
During this game, the character was human-like (had a human form) and was capable of speech, which is shown when he interacts with a number of characters during the games cutscenes/story.
However, as previously mentioned, this antagonist has taken a number of forms throughout the different games of the series.
(Zeldapedia, date unknown)
In 'The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild' (2017), the antagonist takes a number of different forms and is known as Ganon.
The first form of the antagonist which is shown circling the castle early in the game is a ghost-like boar (similar to encountered during the beginning. During the first encounter with the antagonist during the final boss fight with him, he is known as Calamity Ganon. This form is an incomplete form caused by the incomplete transformation that occurred during his resurrection and is somewhat comparable to a spider and a human (top half being human).
After beating the first section of the boss fight, Calamity Ganon transforms and becomes 'Dark Beast Ganon' which takes the form of a large boar (this being similar to the forms
he's taken in previous games when using the Triforce of power).
The forms that the antagonist take in these games cannot talk, and therefore there is no communication between the protagonist and antagonist. However, this works rather well as the protagonist is a silent protagonist, and doesn't talk during any of the game's cutscenes (although even in the games where Ganondorf/human formed antagonist has spoken, the story wasn't ruined by the protagonist being silent).
Types of Antagonists / My Antagonist
From looking at some of the antagonists used in games that are relevant to my audience, I have been able to create and narrow down on some concepts for my own antagonists. Because of this, I feel as though this section of research was somewhat useful to me (although I'd like to continue this a bit to gain a further understanding of characters/antagonists if I can find the time)
At first, I felt as though my antagonist needed to speak, but after seeing that it is acceptable for the antagonist to not talk and be more comparable to a monster lacking in human qualities, I feel as though I have been able to make some concept decisions that I couldn't before.
These decisions were to change my antagonist from a shark that talks to a character that is more like a shark and doesn't talk. However, both concepts were somewhat developed and experimented with, but I feel as though I am now more set on going with the concept where my antagonist doesn't speak.
(Zeldapedia, 2017)
(Zeldapedia, 2017)