IGN turns 25 this year, and what better way to celebrate this momentous occasion than with a video game? We're partnering with the creators of the 2020 Game to make our very own mascot platformer, featuring the best moments in gaming and entertainment history.
Titled IGN 25: The Game, this new 2D platformer will journey through the 25 years since IGN was founded, featuring nods to moments like IGN's first trip to E3 and our first live broadcast from Comic-Con. It will star Iggy, an anthropomorphic version of our familiar d-pad mascot. And it'll be free to play, of course (no microtransactions. Like, actually free.)
In the spirit of the occasion, we made a trailer that would be right at home on a cable station circa 1996, which you can see above.
While games have long since moved on from the heyday of mascot platformers — our user-driven bracket just recently named 2018's God of War the best of all time — it's fun to look back on this very particular moment in gaming history, when Mario, Sonic, Crash Bandicoot, and many other colorful characters were jockeying for space in the hearts of console gamers.
Apart from the new game, we've been celebrating IGN's 25th anniversary in various other ways, from merch to a variety of special features. Just today we released a piece about the marketing of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace — the movie that dominated the discourse in 1999.
IGN 25: The Game will be available to play on browsers via both desktop and mobile. Expect a release date soon.
Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN.