50. Samanosuke Akechi
First appearance in a game: 2001
Notable appearance: Onimusha 3: Demon Siege
Known as Tenkai Nankōbō to the people/demons he doesn’t brutally slay, Samanosuke takes the starring role in the first and third games of the Onimusha series. While he initially comes over as a fairly generic hero in Capcom’s original samurai slasher, Akechi blossoms into a kickass co-lead in Onimusha 3: Demon Siege, in part because acclaimed film actor Jean Reno does such a stellar job as the preposterously named Jacques Blanc.
Steered by justice and a sense of honor, it’s a real pity Onmishua died a relatively early death. Despite claiming reasonably good reviews and sales figures, the franchise just didn’t have the legs of a Resident Evil, or even Devil May Cry. Loosely based on the historical figure, Akechi Hidemitsu, we can only hope we see this noble warrior reappear on modern consoles one day.
49. Sylvanas Windrunner
First appearance in a game: 2002
Notable appearance: World of Warcraft
First introduced in Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos, Sylvanas has gone through one of the most satisfying story arcs in WoW history. Once a high elf ranger who died heroically protecting her homelands, Windrunner was turned into a banshee after her soul was ripped out during battle.
Going on to play a pivotal role in World of Warcraft's superb Wrath of the Lich King expansion, the leader of the Forsaken faction is driven by the need for power and revenge. Happily, she becomes a teensy bit less consumed by her hatred of the living after she regains her free will. Regardless of whether she has undead agency or not though, Sylvanas remains an utterly iconic badass.
48. Ratchet
First appearance in a game: 2002
Notable appearance: Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time
One of PlayStation’s most likable mascots, the mechanically gifted Lombax has been wowing gamers with his incredibly fluffy space ears since the early ‘00s. Forming an all-time great duo with the tiny, impeccably polite robot Clank, Ratchet has saved the universe a ludicrous number of times. Despite being humble and heroic, the good-natured Lombax has always been a little glum, no matter how irresistibly chipper his dinky droid pal is.
Up until A Crack in Time and Rift Apart fleshed out his backstory, Ratchet was thought to be the only surviving member of his species in all of the galaxy. Hoo-boy are we glad Rivet stole the show in the series’ first PS5 adventure to finally pick up the lonely Lombax’s spirits.
47. Doomguy
First appearance in a game: 1993
Notable appearance: Doom (2016)
John Romero’s icon goes by many names. "The Doom Slayer". "The Hell Walker". "Unchained Predator". "Mr Hugglebug". And we’ve only made one of those monikers up, promise. Debuting in iD’s formative FPS back in 1993, Doomguy’s snarling face was a pixelated wonder back in the days when Jurassic Park was awing cinemagoers worldwide.
Without Doom’s legendary, incredibly violent marine, there would be no BJ Blazkowicz or Sam "Serious" Sam, let alone Microsoft’s iconic Master Chief. The daddy of the shooter genre, the shotgun-toting, chainsaw-revving legend made a triumphant reappearance in the series’ brilliant 2016 reboot. Three years later, the mute murderer was finally given some lines, delivered with grizzled panache by actor Matthew Waterson, in Doom Eternal.
46. Dorian Pavus
First appearance in a game: 2014
Notable appearance: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Now this is what we call a soup strainer. Captain Price may have a pretty respectable ‘stache, but it’s got nothing on the gloriously twirly piece of hair sitting above Dorian’s beautiful face. A playful flirt from the off, the former Enchanter is a dreamy, expertly groomed romance option for those who choose to play as a male Inquisitor.
One of the few truly iconic characters in Dragon Age, Dorian’s magical ability and sharp wit make him a great RPG companion. The hunky spellcaster has lived quite the life, too. Born to the fancy-pants House of Qarinus, Dorian studied magic at the Circle of Carastes, but despite being a prize student, his love of dueling landed him in all sorts of bother. From roughing it in the elven slums of Tevinter Imperium to joining the Inquisition to help stop societal ills, Pavus is as complicated as his mustache is magnificent.
45. Dog
First appearance in a game: 2008
Notable appearance: Fable 2
Thanks to Fable 2’s See the Future DLC, this iconic Albion pupper can come in several shapes and sizes. Whether you raise it as a dalmation, bloodhound, or the original "mutt" breed, Dog plays a crucial role in the Xbox RPG. Found near Bowerstone at the beginning of the adventure, your Hero and Dog form a bond that defines the game.
As the journey unfolds, your behavior and choices affect the look and mannerisms of Dog. Play like a total jerk and you’ll quickly have a devil dog on your hands; one that acts aggressively and develops jet black paws. If the Hero remains a do-gooder though, the pup will be a very happy boy who children rush to pet. Regardless of your moral choices, Dog proves itself iconic through a legendary act of sacrifice, taking a bullet for the Hero as the dastardly Lucien tries to shoot your character. And yes, we do have all the things in our eye.
44. Bella Goth
First appearance in a game: 2000
Notable appearance: The Sims 2
The most stylish Sim ever used to have such a lovely, boring life. Growing up in the Bachelor family, she was a good student whose Gothic side shone through in the collection of skulls she adorned her bedroom with. The iconic, impeccably dressed Sim’s life gets a lot more eventful in The Sims 2, when she marries Mortimer Goth, a b-movie star with an… um, unusual love of insects.
Though Bella shares a happy relationship with her bug-hugging hubby at 165 Sim Lane, Goth vanishes from Pleasantview after being abducted by aliens. She’s been missing ever since – though a version of her does appear in The Sims 4, admittedly in an alternate timeline. Prior to being beamed up by E.T. and pals, Bella was last spotted hanging around Don Lothario’s deck, hinting at an extramarital tryst between the pair. Juicy! Beam this oh so stylish Sim back, you alien jerks!
43. Alduin
First appearance in a game: 2011
Notable appearance: The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
This surprisingly loose-lipped lizard is a deadly dragon king, and easily the most iconic monster your Dragonborn encounters. And talk about an entrance. During Skyrim’s brilliant execution opening, Alduin saves your warrior from losing their head during a relentless attack on Helgen Keep. How? By acting like a dragon… that, and by summoning storms of meteors with his iconic roar. We never saw Drogon pull that off in Game of Thrones.
Such is his appetite for destruction, Alduin is often called "World Eater" – presumably by the soon-to-be charred corpses of his latest victims. Mercifully, the Dragonborn and a trio of Nordic heroes send Alduin packing through time thanks to the power of an Elder Scroll. Still, before he’s Back to the Future-d to oblivion, this iconic dragon is an awesomely grand, gloating villain.
42. Steve
First appearance in a game: 2011
Notable appearance: Minecraft
Who? Yup, Mojang’s blocky cover star actually has a name. Rocking one of the most instantly recognizable silhouettes in all of gaming, this man-shaped stack of bricks is the enduring symbol of Minecraft. He may be a man of few – or more accurately - zero words, yet Steve’s role as a mute protagonist makes him the perfect blank slate to take in all the wonders of Mojang’s endlessly imaginative sandbox world.
Also, that dude has not been missing shoulder day at his presumably block-built gym. Thanks to the game’s staggering popularity and a Steve-centric YouTube series made by Rise Animation, the Minecraft man is now so iconic, he even nabs a fighting cameo in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. That’s it, Stevie boy; give Mario and his cronies a brick-based beatdown.
41. Chloe Price
First appearance in a game: 2015
Notable appearance: Life is Strange
Starring in the most iconic time-fiddling friendship since Marty McFly and Doc Brown, Max Caulfield and Chloe Price form quite the duo in Dontnod’s disarming episodic adventure. When Max uses her magic juju to reverse time to save Price’s life after years of estrangement, the pair almost instantly rekindle their friendship.
Tenderly played by Aloy actress Ashley Burch, and by Rhianna DeVries in the prequel Life is Strange Beyond the Storm, it’s Chloe’s complexity that makes her such an iconic character. Fiercely loyal but quick to blame others, brave while still crippled by fear, compassionate yet cold, Price is a complete one-off. The sensitive handling of Chloe’s mental health and addiction issues makes her not only one of the most iconic characters of the 2010s but one of the most truly three-dimensional to ever appear in a video game.
40. Cayde-6
First appearance in a game: 2014
Notable appearance: Destiny 2
Everyone’s favorite quip-cracking Guardian is a brilliant example of how the right voice actor can completely make or break a character. Pitch perfectly played by Nathan Fillion, this Hunter Vanguard goes through one of the most satisfying character arcs in Destiny lore. Though he was underwritten in Bungie’s original looter shooter – who wasn’t?! – the constantly sarcastic Cayde really gets a chance to shine in Destiny 2.
The driving force of the plot in the sequel’s excellent Forsaken DLC, the Hunter is given a truly ennobling, against all odds death scene. To this day, Destiny’s Tower has never quite filled the hole this charming lover of loot left behind. We’d be sadder, but we’re just relieved he bequeathed our Guardians his incredible Ace of Spades exotic hand cannon.
39. Dogmeat
First appearance in a game: 1997
Notable appearance: Fallout 4
Who’s the best (slightly irradiated) boy?! Though his breed and appearance has never quite stayed the same throughout Bethesda’s legendary RPG series, one version or another of this pup has always acted as a loyal companion to the Vault Dweller. Inspired by the unnamed pooch that appears in the first two Mad Max films, Dogmeat’s original name was.... ahem, "Dogsh*t"... at least around the offices of Interplay Productions back in the late ‘90s.
Thankfully, the iconic dog got a more PC-friendly nickname, alongside a considerably more cuddly redesign, in Fallout 4. Whereas previously he’d been portrayed as the sort of mangy, slavering mongrel you’d expect to run into during the nuclear apocalypse, the most recent version of Dogmeat to hit our screens is a gorgeous, totally unkillable German Shepard. You better believe he deserves all the treats.
38. Garrus Vakarian
First appearance in a game: 2007
Notable appearance: Mass Effect 2
Shepard’s Turian BFF might just be the best virtual sidekick ever. Strangely though, Mass Effect’s most popular character initially makes an underwhelming first impression. At first, he comes across as a stuffy C-Sec officer, but as the original trilogy evolves and improves, the avian-looking alien’s backstory becomes more nuanced and satisfying.
Despite his professional obligations, Garrus is a natural-born rule-breaker, which is why he and Shepard get on so famously… providing you don’t choose to kill him on the multiple occasions the trilogy dangles the choice in front of you. Keep Vakarian alive right until the end of Mass Effect 3, and one of the most effective portrayals of wordless, video game friendship reveals itself in arguably the series’ best cutscene.
37. Captain Price
First appearance in a game: 2007
Notable appearance: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
The most famous mustache in video games belongs to the most charismatic character ever to appear in Call of Duty. As cockney as a plate of gun-toting jellied eels, John Price is the breakout star of Activision’s landmark rebooted shooter, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Though he’s really only playable via flashbacks and the ridiculous ending sequence of Modern Warfare 3, the good captain steals every last second of screen time he appears in.
Unflappably loyal, a little jaded, and never anything less than an undisputed badass, Price was the first Call of Duty character who was really worth paying attention to. Initially voiced by veteran English actor Billy Murray, a younger version of the character once again stole the limelight from the series’ conveyor belt of mute protagonists in 2019’s rebooted Modern Warfare, this time portrayed by Liverpudlian actor, Barry Sloane.
36. Isaac Clarke
First appearance in a game: 2008
Notable appearance: Dead Space 2
Waaaaaay before The Mandalorian, Isaac Clarke made hiding your face carbonite cool. Even though you don’t see his mug until the sequel, this near-mute systems engineer makes an indelible impression in EA’s survival horror series merely by having one of the coolest costumes we’ve ever seen.
Part Darth Vader, part slimmed-down Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine, Clarke always looks awesome, whether he’s floating through the debris of a ruined intergalactic station, or being sliced and diced by one of Dead Space’s rotting Necromorphs. He may not have the one-liner skills of Resident Evil 4’s Leon, but Isaac makes up for his lack of chat by being one of the keenest crack shots in the galaxy.
35. Tom Nook
First appearance in a game: 2001
Notable appearance: Animal Crossing
The most ruthless businessman since Gordon Gecko… and don’t let that fact he’s a cartoon fuzzball fool you. First appearing in the original Animal Crossing on GameCube, this economically-savvy scoundrel is one of the canniest, most conniving characters in Nintendo history. He may seem all sweetest and light when he’s selling you that first house, but the mortgage payments come along soon enough. Who says Nintendo never handles adult issues?
Hilariously, Nook becomes an even more brutal negotiator as the series goes on. You thought he was a tough customer to deal with in the first Animal Crossing? Wait until the house he initially offered you is downgraded to a tent in the likes of Animal Crossing: New Leaf. Greed is good… and the surname is Nook.
34. Niko Bellic
First appearance in a game: 2008
Notable appearance: Grand Theft Auto 4
GTA’s most emotionally conflicted lead character is a Balkan badass with a twitchy trigger finger and a tortured past. Rocking a cheap sweatsuit more effectively than any other character in gaming history, Niko is a far more complex individual than any of the one-dimensional leads that appeared in the original Grand Theft Auto trilogy.
Unable to shake his shifty past and overwhelmed by the excess of modern American life, Bellic steamrolls through Liberty City like a perpetually downbeat bull in an incredibly violent china shop. If it wasn’t for his cousin’s love for bowling and other, more X-rated pastimes, Niko would barely lighten up during GTA 4’s 93 story missions.
33. Kassandra
First appearance in a game: 2018
Notable appearance: Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
Though you technically don’t need to choose her as the main character of Odyssey, we’d rather play a stare-off with Medusa than pick Kassandra’s half-brother, Alexios. Her baby brother may be fine(ish) - if a smidge dull - but it’s Kassandra who really shines when you start exploring the vast lands of Ubisoft’s Ancient Greek kingdom.
Played with a smile and a wink, this Spartan mercenary is as charming as she is homicidal. Whether rubbing shoulders with iconic historical figures like Socrates or slicing and dicing enemy soldiers like a Terminator in a toga, Kassandra is both a furious warrior and a slightly murder-y maker of mirth. As the first female player character in a mainline Assassin’s entry, Melissanthi Mahut absolutely nails the role, giving Kassandra a serious yet also charmingly sassy side. After AC II’s legendary Ezio, this kickass, quip-loving Greek is easily the most popular character in Ubi’s long-running series.
32. Parappa the Rappa
First appearance in a game: 1996
Notable appearance: Parappa the Rapper
As far as mascots go for the original PlayStation, Parappa is definitely a left-field choice. This skinny cartoon pooch is obsessed with rap… and wearing blindingly bright beanies. The cuddly hound is also one of the most relentlessly upbeat characters on the PS1. As he tries to out rap the likes of Joe Chin, Parappa chirps “I gotta believe” if he’s struggling during a beat battle.
The rapping pooch’s name means “paper-thin” in Japanese, which neatly explains Pappa’s ultra expressive, almost origami-looking 2D art style. The unique look and premise of the first game made Parappa a breakout star, earning him sequels, his own anime series, and even a slightly strange face-slapping rivalry with Ape Escape’s Spike in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale.
31. Pyramid Head
First appearance in a game: 2001
Notable appearance: Silent Hill 2
With a noggin the shape of a scalene triangle, one of the most infamous monsters in the history of survival horror was initially known as “The Bogeyman” in Japan. Brandishing a knife roughly as long as a school bus, the relentless butcher sinisterly scrapes his sword-like weapon across many a surface in pursuit of James Sunderland in Silent Hill 2.
Introduced to players through one of the most heinous acts of violence in video game history, the bloodstained abomination is the main threat of Konami’s classic horror sequel. In a heartless (and kind of ingenious) “f**k you!” to players, the game actually throws two Pyramid Heads at you during one of Silent Hill 2’s closing battles. To this day it remains a triangular act of gaming treachery.
30. Guybrush Threepwood
First appearance in a game: 1990
Notable appearance: The Curse of Monkey Island
Guybrush Ulysses Threepwood is a rarity in the video game world: a comedy character who’s actually funny. He’s a great example of a protagonist who thinks he’s more capable than he actually is but is still fun to play, as you quip, spit, and flail your way through five Monkey Island games, facing down the evil undead pirate LeChuck and romancing the spirited Elaine Marley. His forename comes from the Deluxe Paint tool used to create his sprite, and his surname is lifted directly from P.G. Woodehouse’s Blandings stories. Guybrush is famous enough that he’s featured in numerous other games, including Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2, Sea of Thieves, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, and even an oblique reference in the Uncharted series.
29. Arthur Morgan
First appearance in a game: 2018
Notable appearance: Red Dead Redemption 2
One of the hardest things to do in a game that lets you go anywhere, do anything and hogtie innocent strangers is providing some sense of depth and realism to your protagonist, no matter how they behave. But somehow, Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2 manages to bring a nourishing sense of humanity to almost everything he does. Actor Roger Clark provided motion capture and voiceover for the troubled outlaw, and he took his inspiration from Toshiro Mifune, the legendary Japanese leading man who starred in many of Akira Kurosawa’s samurai films. It’s a leftfield choice until you remember Kurosawa was deeply influenced by classic John Ford Westerns, and that many of his films were adapted again for a wild west setting. Those layered subtleties are just part of what makes Arthur Morgan stand out as a stoic, amusing, often tragic character.
28. Max Payne
First appearance in a game: 2001
Notable appearance: Max Payne
Think of Max Payne and the chances are you’ll visualize slow-motion dives and hear the desperate rattle of painkillers. He’s trauma in a leather trench coat; a man who, having lost everything, somehow contrives to lose even more. Across the course of three games he’s battled every kind of mafia organization conceivable, worked as a private security contractor and even shaved his head in an ‘I can’t take this sh*t anymore’ cutscene. In the first game he’s played by writer and designer Sam Lake, largely because the Remedy team couldn’t afford to pay actors (Lake’s mother even portrays the game’s villain), but he was remodeled in the second game to resemble actor Timothy Gibbs. Mark Wahlberg played the role of Max in 2008’s critically-eviscerated movie adaptation, which holds a 16% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. A different kind of trauma altogether.
27. Sam Fisher
First appearance in a game: 2002
Notable appearance: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
Sam Fisher is the reason most gamers can’t walk through a narrow corridor without looking up to check for three green dots. He’s got the sort of career history that makes Solid Snake look like a wheezy recruit in the Territorial Army: a highly decorated Navy SEAL, former CIA clandestine officer, member of a top-secret NSA initiative, and commander of his own covert unit. He’s been performed by chainsaw-voiced veteran actor Michael Ironside in five of the six Splinter Cell games but in the more action-focussed Blacklist, Canadian actor Eric Johnson took over voice and performance capture duties. Fisher is a big enough deal that a film adaptation of Splinter Cell has been in pre-production since 2005, with Bourne director Doug Liman briefly attached, and Netflix is currently producing an anime series adaptation with John Wick writer Derek Kolstad serving as executive producer.
26. Big Daddy and Little Sister
First appearance in a game: 2007
Notable appearance: BioShock
There’s
something magnificently weird about your first encounter with Little
Sisters and their protective Big Daddies in 2007’s BioShock. There’s a
sense that they have a purpose outside your firsthand experience - that
you’re an outsider intruding upon something real. And BioShock is
brilliant because it doesn’t let you ignore them: if you want to
succeed, you have to engage. The fights that follow are the game’s best -
desperate, terrifying arm wrestles, which require you to throw all of
your dwindling resources at your lumbering, elephantine opponent in an
elemental fight for survival. And that shocking eruption of violence
serves to frame your treatment of the Little Sisters: Do you rescue them
and make the game more difficult for yourself? Or harvest them for
improved magic bee hands? You rescue them, obviously, you monster.
25. Ezio Auditore da Firenze
First appearance in a game: 2009
Notable Appearance: Assassin's Creed 2
Whatever your favorite Assassin's Creed game, it’s hard to argue against Ezio being the face of the series. He embodies everything the games do best: infectious swagger, near-superheroic abilities, and an absurd proliferation of belts. But he’s not just cool for the sake of it: we get to go on a journey with Ezio, a man who hones his craft over time and grows as a character. And the fact we get to see so much of his life makes everything more poignant: like the montage scene from Up, but with more brutal melee takedowns. His experiences are chronicled over the course of four main games and he also made guest appearances in Soulcalibur 5 and For Honor.
24. Leon S Kennedy
First appearance in a game: 1998
Notable Appearance: Resident Evil 2
As well as being the proud owner of a haircut you can date to the precise month in the 1990s, Leon S Kennedy of Resident Evil 2 holds the award for ‘worst ever first day at work’. He finds his new home overrun with flesh-devouring reanimated corpses, his mysterious new paramour Ada betrays him and his welcome party has been canceled. He handles it well, however, helping to save the young Sherry Birkin and escape the city with the help of student Claire Redfield. He lands a promotion after that, getting bumped up to government special agent by Resident Evil 4, this time on a mission to save the president’s kidnapped daughter from cultists infected with a mind-controlling parasite.
23. Glados
First appearance in a game: 2007
Notable Appearance: Portal
You know a villain has to be pretty special to earn a place on this list alongside the gallery of fully fleshed-out protagonists. But then you could argue that Glados is the central character in 2007’s Portal and that Chell is merely a delivery method for Valve’s flawlessly scripted, unhinged AI. Her manipulative turn in the first game would likely have justified her inclusion here, as she degenerates from a sassy guidance personality construct to a belligerent overlord. But Glados’s face turn Portal 2 - which even includes an undignified spell as a sentient potato battery - brought a surprising degree of pathos and relatability to a machine that spent several hours trying to kill us.
22. Commander Shepard
First appearance in a game: 2007
Notable Appearance: Portal
If you’re reading this having already played Mass Effect, you’ll likely have a specific image in your head when we talk about Commander Shepard. Perhaps it’s the ruggedly generic Default Shepard. Or perhaps it’s some bug-eyed, character-slider abomination. But whatever your choice, Shepard resonates with so many of us because they’re the central point in one of gaming’s great stories - a moral nucleus that lets you change the fate of planets and galaxies in one breath and punch abrasive reporters with the next. Bioware does such a fine job of building a believable universe in Mass Effect that you begin to believe your own legend as you play, and the strength of Shepherd’s characterization - paragon or renegade - is a huge part of that.
21. Samus Aran
First appearance in a game: 1986
Notable Appearance: Metroid
Samus is rightly regarded as a breakthrough character in games. The big reveal at the end of the first Metroid game, in which it was revealed we’d been playing as a woman all along, was so unexpected that many players simply didn’t understand it. Some even attributed it to a legendary cheat code that unlocked all the items in the game. In fact, the cultural significance of that reveal is now only obvious in hindsight - not just because Samus is a woman, but because her gender didn’t have any over effect on her appearance or behavior. And while Samus wasn’t the first playable female character in a video game, despite some assertions to the contrary, she was certainly the one with the highest profile. She’s starred in nine Nintendo games since - including, most recently, Metroid Dread - and has been a playable character in all five Super Smash Bros. games.
20. Rayman
First appearance in a game: 1995
Notable Appearance: Rayman
Much like Mumford and Sons or Worcester sauce-flavored crisps, few people publicly admit to Rayman being their favorite. But there’s an enduring appeal to Ubisoft’s cheerful magical hero. Rayman first appeared in 1995, and has gone on to star in four other major releases, including the critically lauded Origins in 2011 and Legends in 2013. He’s also starred in an absurd number of spin-offs - including golf, gardening, and kart games - as well as ‘gifting’ us with Ubisoft’s mischievous, screaming mascots in 2006’s Rayman Raving Rabbids. His unique design - essentially a head with floating hands and feet - is based on sketches drawn as a teenager by creator Michel Ancel. One can’t help but wonder what’s underneath those white gloves. Terrible violence, probably.
19. Gordon Freeman
First appearance in a game: 1998
Notable Appearance: Half-Life
Many characters in games get saddled with the ‘everyman’ tag, but few wear it with the same grace as Gordon Freeman. Since his appearance in 1998’s Half-Life, he’s cemented his place as gaming’s most aspirational theoretical physicist - a man as handy with a crowbar as he is with complicated science things I’d struggle to explain here. He’s helped along by Half-Life’s effervescent cast, particularly Alyx Vance, who makes us love Gordon more just because of the way she looks at him. Yes, the idea of a guy in a beard and glasses saving the world and getting the girl might be the ultimate geek glow-up fantasy, but Freeman has an understated x-factor that makes it somehow seem more believable.
18. Cloud
First appearance in a game: 1997
Notable Appearance: Final Fantasy 7
On a purely superficial level, it’s easy to dismiss Cloud Strife as if you’re playing a game of hack journalist cliche bingo. Big hair! Big sword! Amnesia! LOL. But the truth is that Cloud endures because he’s a complex, nuanced character, and his appearance in Final Fantasy VII might be the first example of an unreliable narrator in games. In a game famous for its twists and tragic deaths, it’s the lead character’s trauma that leaves the most enduring mark, and that’s a testament to how ahead of his time Cloud was. His cultural significance might have lessened over recent years, purely because he’s so ubiquitous, but it’s worth taking a moment to remember he’s about more than just decadent hair and a preposterous sword
17. Chun-Li
First appearance in a game: 1991
Notable Appearance: Street Fighter 2
It seems mad to write it, but back at the time of release in 1991, Chun-Li was the first playable woman in a fighting game. Fast forward a few years and it’s almost impossible to imagine the competitive landscape without her. As an Interpol agent out to avenge her father’s death at the hands of M. Bison, she’s one of Street Fighter’s most fleshed out fighters, which is likely why she ended up with her own live-action movie, 2009’s The Legend of Chun-Li, in which she was played by Kristin Kreuk. Since her conception, Chun-Li has inspired obsessive devotion: her meticulous design almost caused 1991’s Street Fighter 2 to be delayed because designer Akira Yasuda, also known as Akiman, was so obsessed with her legs he resprited them five times, pushing the game right up to their final deadline.
16. Agent 47
First appearance in a game: 2000
Notable Appearance: Hitman: Codename 47
How important is Agent 47? The chances are that you can no longer see a bald man in a black suit without imaging a barcode on the back of his head - or, better yet, drawing one on him while he sleeps. We first met him in 2000 in Hitman: Codename 47, which established him a the ideal, emotionless vessel through which to execute your elaborate murder plans, and he’s gone on to feature in eight main games and two spin-offs. Agent 47’s utter coldness just makes it even funnier when you dress up as a flamingo to bludgeon a villainous industrialist. 47’s total lack of personality makes the decision to cast Timothy Oliphant - a man so charming his teeth can cause delirium - to play him in the 2007 film adaptation even more inexplicable.
15. Nathan Drake
First appearance in a game: 2007
Notable Appearance: Uncharted
If you’ve ever wondered why modern game characters never stop chatting to each other (or themselves) while you play, look no further than Nathan Drake. Since his first charmingly-disheveled appearance in 2007’s Uncharted, Drake set the standard for humanizing, in-game banter, whether it was a wry chat with a friend and mentor Sully or, more famously, a desperate ‘oh crap’ before being crushed, dropped, exploded or a combination of all three. He’s the archetypal loveable rogue: a troubled man with a murky past, who inevitably ends up doing the right thing despite his outward reluctance, and he’s the reason Uncharted shines brighter than other games that offer similar, treasure-thieving thrills. Drake will - finally! Finally! - be played by Tom Holland in the Uncharted movie, scheduled for release in 2022.
14. Spyro
First appearance in a game: 1998
Notable Appearance: Spyro the Dragon
A gaming mascot should be like an excellent cake: sweet, but not so sweet that you want vomit. Spyro gets the balance right. His appearance is all about function, not form: he was changed from classic dragon green to purple to avoid him blending in with the greenery and given the ability to glide to make the game stand apart from other platformers. Insomniac even hired NASA rocket scientist Matt Whiting to perfect his in-air movement. Since his first appearance in 1998, Spyro has appeared in six main series games, as well as three in the Legend of Spyro reboot series. He’s also appeared in two Skylanders games, albeit after a slightly upsetting redesign. One parting Spyro fact: he was initially called Pete, but the name was changed to avoid the wrath of the ever-litigious Disney. Smart.
13. Geralt of Rivia
First appearance in a game: 2007
Notable Appearance: The Witcher 2: Wild Hunt
In a landscape full of dashing heroes striving to do the right thing, Geralt of Rivia stands out as a peerless example of grey morality. The world around him contains every kind of cruelty and evil, and it’s fruitless to try and fix it all. Instead, Geralt provides a believable lynchpin around which The Witcher’s unflinching fantasy world is built. Geralt has starred in three main Witcher games from CD Projekt Red, the Gwent spin-off, and has made guest appearances in Soulcalibur 6, Monster Hunter: World and Daemon X Machina. In the Netflix series - which takes its cues directly from Andrzej Sapkowski’s books rather than the games - he’s played by Henry Cavill. Wherever he turns up, Geralt thrills as a complex, reviled outcast, pushed by destiny and circumstance into conflict he can’t escape.
12. Ellie
First appearance in a game: 2013
Notable Appearance: The Last of Us
Ellie may be the emotional heart of The Last of Us, but her origins lie in Uncharted 2. She was inspired by a proposed sequence in which Drake would meet a mute girl in a war-torn city, and the two would form a bond through gameplay, not dialogue - things like Drake following her through the city and learning her secrets. The concept was so compelling that Naughty Dog built an entire game around it. Over the course of two titles, Ellie provides resolve, humor, truth, and vulnerability to a world that would otherwise be unrelentingly cold. Ashley Johnson understandably won critical acclaim for her portrayal of Ellie, for whom she provides motion capture and voice acting, and Ellie will be played by Game of Thrones’ Bella Ramsey in the upcoming TV adaptation of The Last of Us, written and produced by Chernobyl’s Craig Mazin.
11. Z-shaped Tetris Block
First appearance in a game: 1984
Notable Appearance: Tetris
The Z-block, alongside her less glamorous sibling the S-block, came into our lives in 1984. Affectionately known as the ‘squiggly’, this tetromino neatly encapsulates the delicious torture of Tetris. Yes, you might be able to find the correct alcove in which to nestle the Z-block, but you can kiss your pristine, smooth surfaces behind. With that in mind, you might expect we’d pick the O-block or the I-block as the MVPs of Alexey Pajitnov’s legendary puzzler. But no. The O-block is literally just a square - you can find those anywhere - and the straight, simple I-block is so basic it’s the pumpkin spice latte of the tetromino world. All hail our difficult but interesting friend Zed.
10. Solid Snake
First appearance in a game: 1987
Notable Appearance: Metal Gear Solid
Solid Snake has many names, David, Old Snake, Iroquois Pliskin, and honestly trying to condense this icon's biography into a pithy paragraph is every writer's worst nightmare. Born from the complicated mind of Hideo Kojima, Solid Snake is a mercenary and spec ops solider and a clone of FOXHOUND founder Big Boss. Through his complex life, he has saved the world, fought the titular tank Metal Gear, tried to retire, joined the CIA, and become a competitive dogsled racer. Outside of the Metal Gear series he's appeared as a corpse in Silent Hill 3, in the Game Boy Advance game, Yu-Gi-Oh! 7 Trials to Glory: World Championship Tournament 200, Ape Escape 3, and LittleBigPlanet, to name just a few of his cameos. This oddly busy man is also set to be immortalized in a movie from Kong: Skull Island director Jordan Vogt-Roberts.
9. Kratos
First appearance in a game: 2005
Notable Appearance: God of War
From frenzied frat boy of violence to an emotionally conflicted dad, few characters in gaming have ever pulled off such a surprising narrative arc. When Kratos arrived on PlayStation he was a Spartan warrior filed by a lust for vengeance, but not averse to a sex mini-game now and again. He was a hero, but not one you'd introduce to mom. The reboot in 2018 under creative director Cory Barlog gave Kratos a new son, Atreus, and a soul. Gone were his double-chained blades (at least at first) and in came the Leviathan Axe and its elemental powers. As well as new gameplay, Stargate SG-1 gave a new voice and pathos to Kratos. Father and son will return next year in God of War: Ragnarok.
8. Crash Bandicoot
First appearance in a game: 1996
Notable Appearance: Crash Bandicoot: Warped
Mobile mutant Crash Bandicoot is actually the victim of genetic experimentation, bit doesn't let that get him down. His signature move since is his tornado spin, but since his debut in 1996, his skills have expanded to include new fighting moves and even a bazooka. In his most recent adventure, 2020's Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, Crash could use Quantum Masks to slow time, reverse gravity and get a temporary invnicibility buff. Perhaps the greatest honor bestowed on this icon is that an extinct species of bandicoot discovered in northwestern Queensland was named after him by a group of paleontologists.
7. Link
First appearance in a game: 1986
Notable Appearance: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Link the silent Hyrulian twink is the creation of legendary video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto and has been battling Ganon for 15 years through The Legend of Zelda series, as well as popping up in spin-offs, cartoons, and manga. While his appearance has changed significantly through the games, some things remain true for every link. His signature weapon - the Master Sword - his close relationship with Princess Zelda, and his fearless nature. Link has always been multiskilled, using boomerangs, bows, shields, musical instruments, and gliders to defeat enemies and explore dungeons, and even had the ability to transform into a wolf in Twilight Princess. Despite his legacy, he's one of the few icons on this list not to have his own movie.
6. Master Chief
First appearance in a game: 2001
Notable Appearance: Halo: Reach
Full name Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, the Halo hero is a Spartan supersoldier, conscripted by the United Nations Space Command (UNSC) as a child and trained for battle. With the help of his AI sidekick Cortana, Master Chief has been fighting a collective of aliens called the Covenant for 20 years. With the success of the original trilogy, Master Chief became the face - or at least the helmet - of Xbox, and has gone on to appear in 15 Halo games, and Halo Infinite will be released on December 8, 2021. He's also starred in novels, comics, anime, has a Paramount+ television series produced by Steven Spielberg in the works, and almost had his own feature film with Peter Jackson, Guillermo Del Toro, and Neil Blomkamp all involved before the project was canceled.
5. Pac-Man
First appearance in a game: 1980
Notable Appearance: Pac-Man Championship Edition DX - 93
You probably can't remember the last time you played a Pac-Man game, but you'd recognize that little yellow circle anywhere. Inspired by a slice of pizza with a piece cut out, Pac-Man's raison dêtre is eating dots and escaping ghosts in a simple maze. Despite these simple mechanics, Pac-Man has remained one of the most enduring characters of the arcade era, with the merchandise and media profile to match. He's had a cartoon - featuring the entire Pac family and pets - and even today is referenced in movies like Wreck-It Ralph, Pixels and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
4. Lara Croft
First appearance in a game: 1996
Notable Appearance: Rise of the Tomb Raider
The pin-up archeologist has been through a massive evolution since her creation as the pointy-breasted sex symbol hero for 1996's Tomb Raider. She was always a badass, traversing ancient tombs and taking on villains and dinosaurs, but the 2010 reboot introduced a new, more modern Lara Croft, giving her a more complete origin story and a new streak of humanity. Across the various games Croft's biography has changed, but her smarts, bold spirit and parental tragedy are recurring themes. Away from the games, Lara Croft has been touched by movie magic twice. In 2001 Angelina Jolie portrayed her for two movies, and in 2018 Alicia Vikander stepped into her hiking boots. Vikander will return for Tomb Raider: Obsidian, with Lovecraft Country's Misha Green as writer and director.
3. Sonic the Hedgehog
First appearance in a game: 1991
Notable Appearance: Sonic Mania
Sonic is the instantly recognizable mascot for Sega, but in another timeline, it could have been very different. In the concept stage of making a rival for Nintendo's Mario, Sega developers considered a rabbit, a dog, and even an armadillo. Luckily they went with the blue hedgehog, who has since appeared in over 100 games on a range of platforms, from the Sega Genesis to arcades to phones. He's also been immortalized in animation, on the side of Formula One cars, on soccer kits, and scientists working on genetic mutations in fruit flies have even named a protein after him. In 2020 Sonic got his own live-action movie (after some edits to his controversial CGI look in the trailer) and a sequel is due for release in April 2022.
2. Pikachu
First appearance in a game: 1996
Notable Appearance: Pokemon Gold and Silver
If Pokemon has a spokesperson, it's the adorable and electrifying yellow fuzzball. First appearing in Pokemon Red and Green in Japan, the mouse-type pokemon was chosen by Nintendo to be one of the mascots for the game series' marketing and merchandising and has since appeared at international football matches, as a balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, on the side of Boeing 747 and as a MacDonald's dessert. For millennials, his fame was secured not just by the games but as Ash Ketchum's faithful companion in the cartoon, and for the newest generation of pokemon trainers, there's the movie Detective Pikachu where his cute squeaks are replaced by the Ryan Reynolds repartee.
1. Mario
Notable appearance: Super Mario Bros.
First appearance in a game: 1981
There's
never been a better time to be Mario. It's been forty years since the
plumber first appeared in Donkey Kong, and now he's the face of Nintendo
with a star-studded movie due in 2022, a Super Mario World theme park
in Japan, and over 200 video games to his name. Even now, Nintendo is
still finding new ways to innovate on the adventures for their stocky
Italian plumber, with games like Super Mario Odyssey and Mario + Rabbids
Kingdom Battle proving there's plenty of life in the little guy yet.
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