Making a video game list this time, please comment on what you thought of these, but I really would like your opinion on any of these before you suggest your own ideas. This also applies to my comic book ones, please comment on the ones I have written down as that is what I want to see more of, opinions on the thought process of these suggestions and if they fit or not

Most shooter characters wouldn't work simply because... There's no legendary or vassal Gun in the world of shield hero. Sure, you can give them the bow but can you see someone like Master Chief, Samus, Doom guy using a bow? (yes the mental image is awesome, but really the only characters from shooters I can see using the bow are the far cry protagonists, or Takkar from Primal as the spear) This also applies to Ratchet and Clank, though Rivet could be the vassal hammer heroine

Fighting game characters of any type would work, a few examples that come to mind are Ryu from Street fighter, Jin Mishima from Tekken and Scorpion from mortal Kombat(which I wrote a proof of concept for). But the problem is how limiting the shield is towards fighting as the one attack limitation is already a bother, but then it has a rule against martial arts as well? This makes it impossible for any character with a unique fighting style to do what they do best, plus it feels like a contrivance.

The Mario series only problem in adapting to the shield hero world is the tone, sure Mario games had dark moments but those were vastly scarce, and I pretty sure the more whimsical nature of their world and characters could become lost in the setting so focused on revenge, political scandals, slavery and racism and violent death. There's a fanfic that puts Mario and Bowser as the hammer and claw heroes, while a fun that was explored fairly well I can't say it's good to read (not the author's fault, but since it's in a language I don't know I have to use fanfiction net built in translator, which sucks and makes the grammar of the story worst) so I think it would be more interesting to see Mario & Luigi in the setting.

Sonic is interesting, I saw someone do a Sonic fic as the shield but that was Archie comics Sonic, which breaks the narrative by being so absurdly fast just like the Flash but I have trust that they will find a good way to limit his speed(that's its own can of worms, shield hero doesn't have good feats of speed) but what about game characters? Well, it would be interesting to see someone who isn't Sonic, like Knuckles, Blaze, Silver and Shadow. With the two hedgehogs having the most potential due to their personalities and power sets, Silver with his telekinesis and Shadow with his Chaos powers plus the new Doom abilities. We can even technically include the IDW characters since they are in some level canon, so Surge could be really cool as she has all the traits to make the history interesting if she was selected as a hero(the weapon doesn't really matter but probably the sword)

Kirby... Is Kirby, don't really know how the history could go, especially since he doesn't talk. Meta Knight as the sword is a novel concept but I wonder how it would be in execution. Kirby villains like Magolor, Susie and even Marx could be fun but it might not work for a full length story (maybe a One shot?)

The legend of Zelda series would fit right in, I'm surprised there are so few of them, Link as the sword hero is the obvious answer but I say having him as the shield but being able to use a sword (the master sword in particular) thanks to the tri-force of courage would be dope. Though then the thing becomes which version of Link to use, the hero of time, the hero of twilight and the hero of the wild are the best options in my opinion. Finding time to write it would be my biggest concern other than what type of narration to go with

MegaMan time, Zero as the sword hero is obvious, probably the version from the Zero series, he is the only character that comes to mind (saw that someone did a Protoman one, he is probably the only other character that fits as one of the heroes, Base Megaman from archie could fit a different weapon but I think X would go well with the Bow)

From Castlevania, a Belmont, in this case Richter as the vassal whip, it could be interesting seeing how someone so experienced in dealing with monsters deals with the waves, he would probably cause the others to become jealous at his skills, having him as a vassal heroes mean he could be paired up with any of the other heroes, though most likely Naofumi since the history revolts around him. Alucard as the sword is the true option in my mind, someone already did one of the anime series as the shield hero and I thought it was good with some bumps here and there. But seeing the other heroes grow increasingly more frustrated over him because he takes the mission seriously and has skills, magic and swordsmanship to vastly outmatch them (and the good looks to make the others look plain in comparison) would be funny and good cause of conflict

Ghost of Tsushima is one of my favorite games from Playstation and I was very happy to platinum it, Jin Sakai is the sword would be a perfect fit and the idea has great potential, however I can't really bring myself to write it as Jin had a very complete arc throughout the game and I feel like I wouldn't bring justice to the game's narrative as writing Jin would be a much more complex challenge than my other stories

I have like the smallest motivation to write a Splatoon one with the deep cut as the heroes, but that has too many problems to work as a full story

Sly Cooper is interesting, he would be the spear since not only it is the closest weapon that could emulate his cane and allow his fighting style to not be too compromised, but the spear seeks those with a strong sense of trust and loyalty, and Sly more than demonstrates this with his relationship with his gang. The fact that he is a anthropomorphic raccoon means he is a prime target for Melromarc's racism but since he is the spear, it puts the church in a compromising spot and thus they would want to get rid of him and the other heroes to summon new ones, but Sly is a master thief used to being on the run so he could give them the slip, as now the public of the kingdom has not just the threats of the wave on their hands and the shield devil among them but the brewing rumors of some master criminal demi-human that is targeting the church and various nobles, with the mystery of who and where is the spear hero that nobody in the world has seen. The only problem is getting Sly's character right

Jak and Daxter is interesting since Jak has access to both dark eco and light eco, those two forms could manifest their own shields, even being blessed or cursed series. It has to include Daxter, because without his loud mouth a lot of charm is gone

Skylanders is weak in possible story potential but I think it would be funny if a Giant like Eye-brawl or Tree rex was a summoned hero

Bioshock, it has potential but suffers from the shooter problem as the main characters use mostly guns and unfortunately wretch, drills and sky hooks aren't part of the legendary weapons quartet, but you actually could look pass that because guns aren't the main draw for a fic about this franchise. It is the Plasmids/Vigors, chemically and genetic super powers that already can cause some changes to the story, Plasmids and Vigors like Electro Bolt or incinerate could be simply be passed as elemental magic, in the case they are a hero, when questioned by the other heroes or by the common folk they could just justify by saying something like "being a legendary hero gives you access to all types of magic, as long as you go and learn it. Why do you think this people call us legendary?" Though then this excuse can be questioned once they see Telekinesis, Murder of crows, Insect Swarm, Target Dummy, Scout and others

Now for the characters, Jack is a great character for the story he is in and a good player insert once you get to the twist but outside of a interactive media... He falls flat, we simply have very little to work with in personality, as a silent protagonist for a video game that doesn't matter that much but in non-interactive story

(The following ideas were sent to me by a close friend who is much more into Bioshock than I am)

Delta has a similar problem to jack in the sense his personality is unknown but we actually have stuff to work with from what we know of his past. Him being a big daddy opens a lot of possibilities, Alpha series can technically remove parts of their suits as seen with subject Sigma but it is still implied that it is a difficult process that might leave them close to death as the suit is also their life support. The legendary weapons can fix and heal their users when bringing them to another world but it is never shown how they would handle a case such as Delta. Motoyasu, Itsuki and Ren had deaths with physical injuries being inflicted upon them that lead to them dying, but Delta was spliced in a genetic level to the point that he was perhaps more monster than human, and considering that Itsuki's Esper gene which we don't know if it is a mutation or not was kept with him after getting summoned to the shield hero world, we don't know how much or if they could fix delta's condition, though a compromise could be met in making him the least fucked up big daddy in history. His armor is also a possible weakness and advantage since it is pretty tough but he can't replace it, only repair and upgrade it, while still wearing it. If he is the shield (although he also fits the spear) then the rape accusation could fall flat since he can't take the suit off because of his mutated body and he would probably kill Malty if he did rape her since big daddy's are heavy as hell

Booker Dewitt is the most vocal protagonist and the one we have more of a personality to work with as well as a backstory to pull from, but in the end he is kind of similar to other shooter characters as it was his dynamic with Elizabeth and the way they bounced off each other that helped elevate his character. There is stuff to do with him though, perhaps getting help from the Lettuce twins in the form of Vigors or potions, and if he encounters a alternative Elizabeth, alternatively he could be one of the other heroes instead of the shield to change the structure of the story

Bioshock's villains in the setting could also make for a interesting story to follow though one I simply can't write due to my own capabilities, Atlas/Fontaine would in a strange way be just like Naofumi as some tactics he used I can totally see Atlas pull (listing down some examples off the top of my head: intimidated shopkeepers with threats and acted on them; involved himself with slavery and traffic of living beings as a way to get people to fight for him, later evolving to wanting to build a army of slaves; used of people in desperate situations as to make a profit (PS I know Naofumi helped them but that could just as easily be twisted into something more malicious as he was still demanding payment and compensation for his actions), use of cheap and dirty tactics while fighting because you cannot convince me smuggling live creatures to be used in the duel against Motoyasu wasn't cheating of some kind), though he would be much more cunning and brutal in execution.

Andrew Ryan would be interesting due to his personal philosophies already putting him against the entire kingdom from the start but I haven't seen or heard of any shield hero fanfic that puts a philosopher character in the setting, who challenges the narrative with his very vocal beliefs and has the gulls to act upon them to enact his goals and dreams

Comstock would be weird in a interesting way, as he could be the greatest ally or enemy of both the Church of the three heroes and the king since they have allying ideologies and beliefs, as the only factor that determines this is the weapon he wield, he aligns in a strange way to all the weapons as the spear represents trust and loyalty to one's allies but also their own beliefs and ideals; the sword represents power and courage, things Comstock demonstrates as he is not only the highest power in Columbia but his demonstrated courage in the two times he faces booker head on, with the final encounter in particular as he was unarmed; the bow represents justice and Comstock was the one that decided on the punishment of most citizens as we see how his society punish those that go against it, with the Firemen (criminals put in suits inflicting them immense pain as they are burn constantly) as a example. And the shield represents protection and empowerment to others, something Comstock does as he is very adamant about ensuring the safety of Columbia and Elizabeth so that she may inherit it and his beliefs as to enact his plans of raining down fire to the surface

if he is the shield it puts a lot of things in the table, as then you could make it so the other heroes are the ones standing against the church's and king's ideals while Comstock supports it, making it so the devil they despise supports them while the angels they revere despise it. Though since the church and king would much rather go with their original plan of turning the kingdom against the shield, which would be a huge mistake as Comstock is similar to pope Balmus in many ways, being conniving and charismatic enough to make people follow him blindly, how would the pope deal with someone who is as good as him in his own game? He has home field advantage and the established hatred of the shield, but Naofumi was turning people around to see him as good guy even though he wasn't trying and with the other heroes sabotaging their reputation, with that in mind, imagine someone who was actively working to win public trust, that had the capability to inspire and manipulate people without them knowing, and could use the church's own beliefs against them, how fast do you think someone like that could force the Pope's hand?

Another idea, this one inspired by the fanfic: The Paramecia heroes. Where the heroes drink a bottle of Vigor and gain that power, the idea was Ren with Murder of crows, Undertow or return to sender for Naofumi, charge or devil's kiss for Motoyasu and possession or bucking bronco for Itsuki. I don't see me writing this because the paramecia heroes already exist but it could be interesting to explore how painful some of those Vigors can be or how the heroes become addicted to the power they give, with maybe them becoming obsessed with unlocking more and strengthening the ones they already have

I had one very stupid idea with Plants vs zombies, where the heroes instead of having weapons, they instead can summon different types of plants, with the shield in this case being defensive and supportive plants, that's it, it wouldn't work much more than as an Idea but I had to get it out

To Infamous now, Cole canonically dies so he already has a method to get Isekai into the setting, his electrical powers give him a variety of tools that could compensate for the shield's lack of offensive capabilities and could just be excused with being electrical magic and when the heroes or king confront them on how his abilities work in such more powerful or different ways than normal lightning magical he can just lie and reply with "modern day knowledge of how electricity works mix with magic allows for a whole lot of stuff"

Delsin is fun, I actually like him more than Cole. His powers are very unique in how he has four conduit abilities by the end of the game, his personality is what really would make the story of the fic pop, his care free attitude and rebellious personality already can turn the whole narrative on a new direction as he could start a war with both the king and church like he did with the DUP, as Melromarc starts to get filled with provocative graffiti (by using a spray paint shield). He could keep his powers charged by giving certain materials for the shield and using those unlocked forms as batteries (as a example, he could use a cellphone shield to recharge video or a campfire shield to recharge smoke). His powers are very strong and unique, though some abilities could be locked through levels, but some could pass as natural magic abilities in the world (like concrete and smoke) while some could be passed as skills (imagine Delsin summoning angels or demons from video during the pope fight as a form of fuck you to the the pop)

Kingdom hearts already has some fanfics with shield hero and all of them are alright in my opinion, though there is only one that puts goofy as the shield hero instead of Sora that has just one chapter of 700 words which is a shame, like I know Sora is the protagonist but common guys goofy literally only uses a shield!

I don't know much about Spyro but it could be interesting to follow what a dragon being the shield hero could cause to the world, especially to the Dragon faith religion and possibly Galileon if Spyro encounters his undead self, maybe with Galileon ghost trying to possess Spyro's body to reborn himself more powerful and get his revenge or request Spyro to find his daughter due to some level of respect for the young dragon defeating his zombie body and giving it a proper burial of sorts

Asura's wrath is the only case where I see the 1 attack penalty as a necessity since Asura is literally too strong for the entire verse, and Asura himself is a much more complex character than people give credit for. But the problem comes from the cursed series of wrath, because since it causes the user to go berserk and we know EXACTLY what happens if asura loses control

Pac-Man, more specifically the ghostly adventures incarnation was an admittedly crack pot idea I had but one I find mildly amusing, I'm very fascinated by what happens in the shield hero setting if one of the heroes isn't human, specially the shield hero. Now for Pac-Man, His strange anatomy allows for a multitude of things that primarily involve eating, such as being able to stretch his tongue to even turning it into a vacuum to suck in food (never understood how that works), his rubbery like body allows for him to take blunt force damage less painfully and since he clearly doesn't have the "member" he can't be accused of rape, but being something that is not human already makes up for that, and once he encounters glass and discovers she is a ghost, he could threaten her that he will eat her, with her not taking that seriously until realizing that Pac-Man can not only hurt her without the use of skills but that his mouth feels just the same as a soul eater (or perhaps she just sees him swallow the first soul eater boss whole). His main gimmick in that show was eating power pellets that give special powers, the only problem being that they all grant flight but it could be removed for the sake of the story, the powers of the pallets vary but they are always temporary and since they grow from a tree, giving Pac-Man a shield that grows pellets for him and his allies to use could make him be a even bigger priority target for Melromarc and the other countries.

I like Prototype and it already has three fanfics with shield hero but the problem comes that one, those fanfics are short and two: they are very edgy which isn't a bad thing and fits with prototype but... It really derails the story when you have a villain like Alex Mercer who doesn't give a damn any more about humanity and is capable of single handheld take over a entire country with ease with the black light virus, I would really enjoy a either more good and hopeful Alex that doesn't just wipes out every person he meets or something or someone with the black light virus since it gives some incredible powers

Cuphead would be funny, I can see Mugman as the shield and Cuphead as the gauntlets, thanks to the Netflix show we have a basis for their personalities. The fact that both are still kids could be a good or bad thing, though their innocence and obliviousness to the dark reality around them slowly cracking as the story goes on could be interesting. Even if we age them up a bit more, there has to be some cartoony zaniness to the story, minor uses of toon force and such

Moving on to Indie games, we have to start with the cameo king himself, Shovel knight. He would be the spear, no way he could wield the shield because then he couldn't use any shovel as a weapon and at that point, is it even Shovel knight? It could be fun if Shield knight was also there as well The shield! And they could work together, even standing up for her when some absurd accusation is thrown at her by the church and Malty. Though it would be interesting seeing some of his villains in the setting, particularly Specter knight for his story and ghostly power set and King knight due to his sheer jerk personality. Indie heroes has a good shovel knight, but he doesn't really get as much time or development as the other indie heroes in that fic mostly for being the most bland one in comparison as he already comes from a fantasy medieval setting.

Hollow Knight... We have to wait for Silk song, Hornet is the only character with a personality for us to follow, the Knight and the Hollow Knight have been literally conditioned since birth to have no thoughts or emotions so I don't know how they could carry a history like shield hero. They would all be the sword

Skul the hero slayer has one of the skulls already be a shield only transformation focused on defense so our little boney protagonist already knows how to use a shield as a defensive and offensive tool, what I think could make a Skul fanfic interesting is expand the amount of sentient monsters in the shield hero world, adding Orcs, goblins, trolls, undead and living inanimate objects like golems into the mix with demi-humans to the racism of Melromarc, with Skul trying to rescue and establish a settlement for those creatures while unintentionally becoming their leader and the next "demon lord"

Undertale is one I actually did once, my first ever fanfic in fact. I made Toriel the shield because I liked her and wanted to see what would a female hero would change, I should go back to that one in the future but I got other stories to focus on. Anyway, Frisk is the least interesting amongst the other characters as Undyne as the spear hero sounds interesting, Sans as the shield hero feels like it would have been done by now but I only saw him as the bow hero in a fanfic about skeleton heroes, maybe his personality is the problem? Like you have to be funny to write him right?

Shantae is interesting, she could be the shield or sword, though I can see a point for the spear. Her magical powers, in particular her hair whip, many transformations and special dances could make fight scenes really interesting. If she is the shield we might lose the hair whip since the shield is very annoying about anything counting as a violation or not, but her ability to turn into animals and being a half-human could give the church some advantage in their mad preachings in claiming she is the devil, though without the capability of accusing her of rape, her reputation might not be as ruined as it was for Naofumi, and she could probably score Motoyasu as a ally for what that's worth

Don't Starve has some insane potential! Imagine if the waves, which are rifts and cracks of space time continuum are causing stuff from the Constant to leak into the shield hero world, imagine the bosses from the game as either Wave bosses or creatures roaming around causing havock, and the shadow monsters and nightmares could absolutely reign terror, though light magic might counter them. To the characters, just popping the survivors in the world could be interesting since some possess very strange and even powerful abilities or knowledge that could reshape the world, as heroes? It could be very interesting, a few ideas are Wilson as the shield (he might fare better than Naofumi since Wilson has experience in surviving off the land on horrible conditions and knowledge of how to produce items through science and alchemy) Wigfrid the actress that believes herself a Valkyrie as the spear(obviously, she literally spawns with a spear and is the only one who can craft them), Wolfgang as the sword (he is very strong and mighty thanks to the power he gained from Maxwell's shadow powers, but easily scared of anything, but he usually pushes through his fear for the sake of his survival and his companions due to his big heart), and Walter(and his pet companion woby) as the bow since he is the only character with a inbuilt long range weapon in the form of his slingshot. For vassal weapons now: the embodiment of Canada, Woodie as the axe is obvious, and his were-beaver/moose/goose curse lends him a intriguing position as a human who can turn into a demi-human form, for the vassal claws is a tie between Webber and Wurt for me though I'm leaning towards everyone's favorite Merm, Wurt, though maybe Wilba from the Hamlet DLC? Due to her werepig form. Winona as the hammer since that weapon has a close relationship with blacksmithing and Winona is a modern day blacksmith, a mechanic. WX-78 would be the gauntlets and they might actually be just an antagonist, he hates anything flesh and blood after all, he might go on rampages to grow his levels. If Kyo is killed, his Vassal book could go to Wickerbottom or Maxwell, though it is probably better for the librarian to have the magical book full of knowledge instead of the guy who trapped everyone in an eternal purgatory for his amusement. For villains, Charlie the shadow queen and Wagstaff could be great antagonists that could put high stakes in the story with the shadow monsters and dangerous machinery, additionally Them and Altar are good end game threats. Though one thing is for sure, no matter how or when, Wes has to suffer during it from his bad luck.

Bigby from the fable series but more particularly the Wolf among us telltale games could be a great story to write, he is like wolverine in his powers and doesn't particularly breaks the power scaling since he is weak to silver. He also has a enhanced healing factor and is extremely tough to kill so the story has many chance to be brutal in the fighting scenes, the big turning point would be if his lycanthropy was to be revealed, even if he tries to excuse it as "a shield power I got from a werewolf" that would be enough to make his live even worse and give the church and king the perfect excuse to try and kill him for being a filthy beast, definitely considering this.

Dead Cells, the Beheaded's immortality and inhuman appearance already set interesting effects for the story, He can be the shield since he is actually able to use shields in his game, it would be interesting to see parrying attacks being used more often, base shield hero almost never used this iconic shield ability almost every game includes.

Hades now, Zagreus can literally be the sword, shield, spear or bow! Though how would a demi god like him affect the setting? I feel like he should have a way to use multiple weapons or swap the ones he has though with some heavy setbacks and consequences

There is already a cult of the Lamb one about the bishops, so is only time until someone makes it about the lamb himself. Personally I am not going to attempt writing for this franchise as I don't know enough of it nor is it high on my list, I know a another writer that is a big fan of the game so maybe I'll convince him to give it a try on writing the fanfic himself.

Platinum this game a few months back but a simple one could be Elizabert "Lizbert" Megafig from Bugsnax as the legendary hunting tools could be a mildly interesting One-shot.

Harry Du Bois from disco Elysium just because a schizophrenic, barely functioning individual as one of the Heroes would be nice to follow, plus I like the writing style of the game and have only seen one other fanfic do it called Masked Bloodshed which is a Disco Elysium inspired crossover fanfic of Hotline Miami and Shield hero, might not be for everyone but I recommend it as the story feels like a break from the norm of shield hero fanfics

Please give me your thoughts on the ideas I wrote here before suggesting your own, that way I know you're interested in the conversation as well