Say hello to the new mascots of Netto's Game Room!
It has been a long time coming, but after a couple of years of planning, we are finally ready to fully announce Roby and Shout.
When we first relaunched the website in 2024, one of the earliest discussions our team had was, "What could we do that was unique and all our own?" Of course, our main focus would continue to be on sharing gaming-related news and creating original articles and reviews, but we also wanted to do something a little extra. Previously, in 2013, we had played around with the idea of creating cartoon versions of ourselves for use in a comic, but that idea never fully came to fruition. So, when looking at what we could do for our revival, we took that idea and went in a slightly different direction.
It was Jonsku who originally pitched introducing mascot characters to the website, and he is also the one who led the charge on the project. Rather than completely scrapping the cartoon avatar idea, he repurposed it into our new and improved profile pictures, and instead set his sights on creating new characters that could serve as icons for the site—ones that our readers could look at and think, "Oh, that's from Netto's Game Room." But of course, this was easier said than done, so we got to work on brainstorming ideas. Little did we know, our starting point had already been created nearly 25 years prior.
Say Hello to Roby:
The first of our two mascots we are revealing today is a robot named Roby (as seen on the right). This is a character I personally created around 2001, with hopes of one day turning him into a video game character. I've had a deep love of robots for nearly as long as I can remember, and Roby himself incorporated a lot of my own interests at the time. His design was inspired by an unlikely source—something we'll discuss in the future—but his powers and abilities were conceptualized for use in a 2D action platformer. It wouldn't be until around 2004 that I would attempt to make my indie game a reality, but before then I had notebooks and notebooks full of designs, along with a supporting cast of characters. At one point, I had even outlined an entire story that could be used for a "cartoon." Though I never expected anything to truly come of it, as I was quite young, hearing stories of other creators getting their start in school kept me inspired and dreaming of the day Roby could maybe become something more.
As for the Roby indie game, which was in development under the working title of Project 2000, the alpha version contained dozens of stages and multiple boss fights. It even had a crossover fight with the main character of the game my friend had in development. Gameplay-wise, basic movements and jumping were finished, with an ability to fly for a short amount of time—though the alpha build didn't have a limit set on flight—and the basic "energy shot" mechanic was in place as well. Enemies were mostly placeholders and could be taken out with a single hit, but bosses had more advanced attack patterns and movements, though their animations were nowhere near complete. No sound effects or music had been created for the game, though with my dad being a composer who has written dozens of songs in his life, I had hoped he could assist me in this department. The only true sound effect was a cheesy version of myself saying "Press Start" at the title screen, but this wasn't planned to stay in the game. By 2005-2006, Project 2000 had its general concept design completed, but that is as far as it would go. I put the project on hold because I simply lacked the skills and resources to bring it to a close, and Roby then faded mostly into obscurity. Though I would go on to create a 3D model of him around 2010 using my college's new "rapid prototyper" for my modeling class's final, I didn't reveal too much about him to the class and simply used him as a way to graduate. For me, however, it was a fun way to create a physical representation of the character I had spent roughly nine years creating, and still to this day, it is a mainstay on my shelf at home.
For today's version of Roby, things have changed quite a bit. The updated design was created by Jonsku himself and has the appearance of being a video game controller. He also took other liberties as well to revise the character to be a bit more modern, but the general concept is still here. Jonsku himself will be revealing more about the design process later on, but for now, you can get a look at his finalized design as seen above.
Shout Has Entered The Game Room:
Shout is our second mascot, and an entirely original character created specifically with Netto's Game Room in mind to act as a companion to Roby. With Roby being a robot, it only made sense to create Shout as one as well, but with a very different design to help her stand out. She was one of a handful of concepts created by Jonsku, and voted on by our entire staff before moving forward. From there, her design was eventually finalized into the version you see before you today.
With this moment marking her beginnings, there isn't a lot to reveal at this time; however, we plan to share more about her character, personality, and design in general in the near future. In the meantime, just know that she is the outgoing type who is a bit too reckless at times, and someone who truly loves her job. She's an employee at our fictional representation of "The Game Room," with a younger-sister-like relationship with the manager, Roby, and someone who will often get into trouble the moment Roby takes his eyes off of her. Together, the two make a great team, but that's not to say they don't bicker from time to time as well.
Future Plans:
At the moment, we cannot fully reveal our future plans for these characters, as that future is not completely set in stone. However, we will be sharing monthly illustrations, which will be themed around current events within the industry. While there's always the chance of official collaborations (developers and indie devs, please always feel free to reach out!), these will mostly be parodies, and many will be focused on the major releases of the given month.
The first illustration, as seen in this article, is just the beginning and is reflected by showing both Roby and Shout hard at work setting up The Game Room. As previously described, Roby has stopped to take a break, and the moment his eyes are focused elsewhere, Shout is seen carrying more than she can handle.
In addition to these illustrations, we'd love to possibly return to our initial idea of having a comic, but it is still a bit too early to officially announce. That being said, we do have some big plans for these characters, and we hope everyone enjoys seeing them become a part of the site from here on out!
July 2026 Illustration:
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