When there is a Type of Guy

Gaagaagiins · October 11, 2022, 6:13pm

In some games, there is a Type of Guy. This is one of those trends or tropes or conventions that is in a lot of things and in a lot of places, but I felt I noticed it quite viscerally while watching a bit of a Longplay of Mischief Makers:

In Mischief Makers, the Guy that there is a Type of is so omnipresent that the guy is even a part of the level design.

Perhaps this kind of expression fits well with the Treasure sense of humor, or I’ve just got Treasure on the brain, but there’s a bit of this in the Empire Soldier guys running around in Gunstar Heroes. They’re omnipresent throughout the game, and are found in all sorts of little weird situations doing weird funny things. I also like the itty bitty one who acts as a mini-boss in the Dice Palace (controversial opinion but the Dice Palace is funny).

Note that guys like the Servbots from the Megaman Legends spinoff series are perhaps not quite a type of guy, as there are not enough individual permutations. Prinnies might be…

Arguably as well that the Sonic pantheon of characters are too different to be a type of guy, despite having a lot of standardization of character design.

A minimum of replication but also differentiation might be something like the Dragon Quest slimes, as there are a few pretty discernably different but definitely stylistically replicated kinds of the guy, such as the Bubble Slime, Metal Slimes, King Slimes, She-slimes, Liquid Metal Slimes, Metal King Slimes…

Cynics might say that when there is a Type of Guy, it is a way to reuse and recycle one good character design or reuse a sprite or model or whatever, but at this point, there being a Type of Guy has become trope in of itself.

What is the origin of this trope? What are some great examples? Do you like when there is a Type of Guy, or loathe it?

KingTubb · October 11, 2022, 6:41pm

This made me think of Kingdom Hearts heartless and nobodies, but I think that falls into the Sonic camp of “too different” even tho those groups are easily differentiable from each other.

I'd reckon that Shy Guys are a Type of Guy:
[upl-image-preview url=https://i.imgur.com/ddSKdTV.png]

But that can be said of a lot of the Mario baddies.

A classic example of ToG in gaming has to be the beat-em-up, right? It's essentially a rule that if a recolor of an enemy I saw on a previous stage shows up, it's going to have more health/hit harder/have a new move or something like that.

Like imagine if all these guys:
[upl-image-preview url=https://i.imgur.com/ZVoUvd3.png]
were the exact same. I'd need institutionalized.

Edit: I like type of guys. I think they help with world building, in so far as these NPCs exist and have roles past being a roadblock for the player. They have specialties and abilities independent of each other.

yeso · October 11, 2022, 6:54pm

The Do Re Mi elves

Gaagaagiins · October 11, 2022, 7:02pm

Yes, and I think I love that for them. Paper Mario basically makes multiple rosters of party member buddies for Mario through even further Guy Typification of already existing Types of Guys. For instance, Lady Bow asks the age-old question: what if this type of guy was a sexy lady?

A very rich vein of Guy Typing.

Lunarchivist · October 11, 2022, 7:19pm

RubySunrise · October 11, 2022, 8:11pm

@Gaagaagiins heck, even yoshi is a Type of Guy, even though green is the yoshi.

Chopemon · October 11, 2022, 8:45pm

The ants in Earth Defense Force are definitely That Type of Guy. They may not be larking about like the Metal Slug soldiers but they are almost omni present and come in different colours.

Grey are standard but there are red, yellow, brown, green, large, orange, hairy and probably more.

They rule.

TheFragranceOfDarkCoffee · October 11, 2022, 10:09pm

I’m not 100% sure they count given the body diversity, but I do love the consistent visual cues of the Reaverbots from Mega Man Legends. They all share a similar visual language (summed up here by a Capcom employee when asking fans to design a new one)

They all, more or less, share these traits (minus the Rooster’s Crest, which was just for this design contest).

They have such a wonderful vibe to them. The “teeth” motif makes them all a little bit skeletal, the single red eye makes them a little bit alien, the mysterious markings makes them a little bit pottery/circuit board. What cool stuff!

Though the closest Mega Man gets to a true Type Of Guy is a Met, which are numerous

rootfifthoctave · October 11, 2022, 11:14pm

shade-y guys from nier

treefroggy · October 12, 2022, 12:20am

I love guys. I know exactly what you mean in the OP. I think the key is that they seem to be ubiquitous in the world they inhabit. Like all the guys in oddworld. Shy Guys are a great example. My avatar is another… definitely a type of guy, by definition, in every sense of the word.

gnO9YkV

chazumaru · October 12, 2022, 12:35am

Shinjuku’s seemingly endless chimpira population. I wouldn’t be surprised if most of them are cameos from the dev team.

Funbil · October 12, 2022, 1:29am

treefroggy · October 12, 2022, 2:39am

@[deleted] chao informational charts have come a long way since 2001

whatsarobot · October 12, 2022, 3:14am

really interested to hear from anyone who might loathe when there is a Type of Guy, and hear the reasons why. can’t fathom harbouring that kind of hate in my heart.

would the canonical first Type of Guy be those ghosts from Pac-Man? they don’t feel quite various enough to be considered Guys though. hmm. interested in hearing takes on this as well.

some types of guys i have enjoyed:

the guys from Astro Boy on the GBA. Treasure really went wild with the re-colouring and re-sizing of those guys.
Pikmin.

whatsarobot · October 12, 2022, 3:20am

@Gaagaagiins

i think about this question all the damn time in my everyday real life, in various situations. also, its inverse! “what if this sexy lady was a type of guy?”

fun things to think about, no matter how you slice it.