Spell-casting dudes are popular these days,.

Harry Potter, Gandalf, Merlin, all major pop culture sorcerors.  How about their video game counterparts?

Speaking of Merlin, remember that episode of MacGyver when he traveled back in time to the Arthurian Legend and met Merlin?  A very believable episode.

Dave: Back in the heyday of 2D fighters, Sega attempted to a bring a new IP into the genre, Eternal Champions for the Genesis.  I actually enjoyed this game, despite its clunky controls and impossible-to-pull-off fatality system.

One of the fighters was Xavier, a wizard.  He had the hood and the staff and his stage was some Puritan colony with a fiery stake in the middle, presumably where wizards and witches would get burned.  That was the stage fatality, by the way, hitting your opponent at the right time at the right location and sending them into the flames.

As a character, he was fairly overpowered.  Xavier could turn people into gold statues (?!) and then beat them mercilessly with his staff.  And he can turn his staff into a magic snake that bites enemies.

There’s not nearly enough wizards in fighting games.

S-s-s-s-s-snake bite!