While never one of Sony’s most popular mascots, I spent many an hour with Sir Daniel Fortesque the first time around. Drawn to him the way I’m inevitably drawn to the happy-go-lucky losers – you know the ones – I fell fully and completely for 1998’s MediEvil. Stuffed with charm and colour and soft, gentle humour, its hack-and-slash gameplay easy to play but tricky to master. Though not particularly cerebral it was somehow both accessible and rewarding, with Fortesque himself – a hapless but memorable hero with a mile-wide cowardly streak and misplaced jawbone – leading the charm offensive.
I remember a lot about the original. Its music was sublime, as was its colourful, Halloween-y world, Gallowmere, but it’s Fortesque’s story that stuck with me the most. The comparisons to Tim Burton’s seminal Nightmare Before Christmas are predictable enough – not least because of Fortesque’s skeletal frame, appealing character, and “failing-upwards” hijinks – but doing so is a tad unfair because MediEvil truly crafted an identity all of its own.
The history books of Gallowmere tell of a hero, Sir Daniel Fortesque, who single-handedly defeated Zarok the Sorcerer. Thing is, our Danny has a penchant for exaggeration. His ego fanned by the frequent, if erroneous, retelling of his courage, Fortesque was left with no choice but to lead the charge when Tarok returned from exile. Sadly, Danny was the first to die in that mighty battle and embarrassed by that fact, the King revered him as a hero, anyway.
