Nova

Nova is a 90s animal mascot platformer character. That's the core idea of who she is - she can jump high and doesn't take fall damage, she respawns, and she tolerates a wide range of temperatures well for ice and lava levels to make sense. She's affected by video game logic and mechanics and they stay with her no matter where she is.

Nova appears in real video games! They're even typically on real retro game consoles - her debut game Nova the Squirrel is for NES, and she has a sequel in development for SNES! Typically in her games she is depicted as having the ability to copy abilities from enemies, similar to Kirby, but through the use of a projectile. But she would still be able to copy things if she was in a different setting. She usually does her own twist on different abilities the same way that the Animal Friends in Kirby each express abilities in their own way.

Aside from her own games, she has a guest appearance in Petal Crash as a secret character, and she's playable in Super Homebrew War! And you might find her in Shield Cat.

Her games are supposed to take place at some point in the past, and the lore is that she and Maffi work together to make them based on their past adventures. "Present-day" Nova (in addition to continuing to have some adventures) takes care of a nation she named Toasterland which is a post-scarcity world that exploits video game mechanics in order to ensure everyone has enough of everything they need. It's really more of a mayoral role but that doesn't stop her from playfully treating it like a princess thing, including dressing the part. That doesn't mean everyone she meets is always in on that, though.

Nova is really into playing the role of a hero and she loves going on cool adventures where she's able to put her abilities to use (and help people while having fun). She doesn't handle being bored too well and she feels like she always has to be doing something. She really enjoys amusement parks and other thrills that allow her to go really fast.

Nova has a video game style inventory, allowing her to carry lots of items with her! It has a quick-access section that displays a small set of items she can just tap on, but to access everything else she has to search for its name or to tags that apply to what she's looking for, by typing it in. She may pick the wrong autocomplete suggestion when she's in a rush.

Extended character information on my site!