This was, of course, a parody of characters like Crash Bandicoot ... but they've actually started putting him in real games. Gwimbly has even retroactively been put into The Simpsons, as shown ...

Not only is Gwimbly a 3D character living in a 2D world - he was also painstakingly designed by artist Dave "Hoolopee" Post to invoke the crude video game protagonists of the '90s and early 2000s.