My top 10 videogame characters

Honestly I'm not too comfortable with picking favorite characters in gaming. Its just not something I'm good at or take to heart. Gaming has some great potential like any other to set up amazing characters, and in a couple ways it even stands potential to make you care more so than other mediums. Some of these games, especially now more than ever, are letting you make big defining choices for these characters. Games like Last of Us and Walking Dead especially come to mind here taking emotional appeal to a high level with player interaction and story telling done in a way rarely seen. Even some simpler things, like just being able to call and chat a buddy into action like in Saints Row 3 or getting data from someone in MGS help push you closer to the character in a way movies and books can't do. Yet... I never walk away with much care. Very few characters in the history of gaming have my attention for a long time, and overall I seem to look at them in a short term way. I sort of see them as part of the "experience" side, which sort of turns off when I hit the switch. Meanwhile I take strong note of the gameplay, the options, and the culture surrounding the game, but the characters..... meh.

However this list is still something really fun to try and make. So at the risk of making dumb decisions I'll later regret (like another ancient favorite character list of mine floating around on the net), I'm going to try and name my top 10 list. Of course I don't expect others to agree. As I've sort of said before, I'm not a major fan of admiring really cinematic games and even in character and plot points that often remains. So try not to set the usual expectations.... oh, but first some honorable mentions. Because again, I feel like better characters exist but for some reason or another I didn't find a spot for them in my top 10 spot.

Honorable Mentions:

Bowser (Mario.... duh!)

Bowser is a classic example of a cool basic villain. I thought about adding him for that in its own right, as its honestly respectable to have such a solid basic villain stay memorable and enjoyable across several years. Sometimes less is more, and Bowser is a good case of that. He's an evil fire breating cartoon turtle monster thing that lives in lava filled castles, and pretty much invented that cliche of lava filled castles to begin with. That's pretty awesome. Still as this list went on, I found it difficult for myself to seriously leave this guy in. At the end, I found a better cheesy classic villain to throw deep into the list and wanted to make some more room for better general roles. Plus I just can't say he stands out that special to me personally. He looks cool, has nice sound effect, but his fights and the general mario franchise don't resonate with me quite as much as they should for this villain to be on my real list. Much like his post-game status, I'm going to have to say better luck next time Bowser.

Ezio Auditore and La Voulpe (Assassins Creed Brotherhood)

I loved this main character from the AC2 trilogy. Hearing him speak, his attitude, and his ways all make him the classic romantic rouge style hero which is my favorite archetype of all. Maybe this is just me though, but I can't remember a damn thing he really did though... and that's what really makes me against having his character on here. He was an assassin, doing his job, but in between doing mission to mission stuff I can't really say I care about his motives. In the end, his character doesn't stick, its just a charm in itself. Maybe that's really good writing and stands to help the character because he was highly enjoyable to see on the screen, but at the end of the day I have trouble bringing him up in time for this list. I nearly cleared a space for him at the last second when I suddenly remembered why I had a hard time remembering him. Ezio proves my point clearly about characters being more of an experience role, when they go off the screen most of them go out the window as you just remember the fun things the game did as a video game. Meanwhile La Voulpe... he impressed me even further. The way he unintentionally and faded from visibility, to even the way he simply snuck around the place, and his back story, and his care for his people all made him a fascinating character that really showed off his nickname (Italian for "The Fox"). He really was somewhat of a personified fox drawn into character, making him an enjoyable trickster character that compliments the same game Ezio was in. However... his screen time.... seriously, its just a waste. I'm willing to bet his time was about 10 minutes, and he nearly didn't exist in the running game, so how can I really put him on this list? Maybe this is all my fault since I missed out on AC2, a key element for both characters, but either way I really can't find myself putting them on this list. Regardless, they were amazing and I am glad to say I've played a game with people like these in them.

Rico (Killzone)

Seriously he's not all that bad. I kind of take sympathy for him just because the entire internet just despises him so much for little explained reasons. Sure he's a trash talking trigger happy marine, but we see that quite a lot without hating it so much... heck sometimes we're practically playing the role of Rico in other games. Even without that though, I enjoyed rico before the internet because he had a massive gun and straight forward attitude. In future games I loved his cyncism against commanders, because honestly I don't trust them to make the right moves for the same reason that our politics and government keep screwing people over. Its a very relatable and interesting input to see compared to the usual lack of care or personality given to soldiers. Still at the end of the day Rico isn't all too great, and there's a much better side of Killzone's characters I'd rather give attention to.

Samus Aran (Metroid)

Samus used to be my favorite character of all time at one point. Honestly she had an amazing background, story, and was just an awesome sci-fi character all around living as a traveling bounty hunter in a dark and interesting space world, especially by Nintendo standards. However I have to admit as time went on, I began seeing her as increasingly dull, and honestly she's a bit outside of her game when it comes to some of the best of story. You can honestly enjoy this character more based on a wiki page, meanwhile in game she's some silent sprite in a suit that moves forwards and shoots.

Now the real list begins...

10) Sly Cooper

I didn't actually play Sly's games in the proper time, he just sat on shelves while I was gaming on the PS2. Fast forward to a month after he became one of the first HD ports, and I picked it up and enjoyed it. Well ok, that's a bit rushed. Truth is the games felt like a fun but flawed mix bag, with me mostly enjoying them more as they progressed. I didn't truly love the series up until Thieves in time, which was kind of odd considering some disappointing moments during its hype. Either way though, I enjoyed my time seeing the cast on screen. Just choosing sly is a bit unfair really, but I don't plan on gushing about the full cast and sly clearly is among the best of the bunch. He really feels like a proper cartoon character, taking on a romanticized thief role while staying true to that strict archetype while being surrounded by people with other loud contrasting archetypes. He just so happens to be both the main character with plenty of screen time, and possibly my favorite archetype. On top of that his character was just designed to perfectly suit a specific style. From his nice hook cane, to his tip-toe creep when approaching enemies, his intentions are among the most clear and well realized I've ever seen out of a platformer. His jokes are funny, his morals are interesting, and his friends complete him. On top of that he's hands down my favorite character in Playstation All-stars. In the end I actually feel kind of bad leaving him at number 10. He's a great character honestly, and I could see him going from 1-10 with ease to be honest, its more of the sort of mood I'm in. However he could also be kind of forgotten at the end of the day as I reminded myself of him in the middle of this article. There's just something about him that doesn't exactly make him as incredible as he should be, even though I can't think of a single flaw. Maybe its the fact that he just isn't surprising or impressive enough to me. Still he's worth getting on this list in some way, so here he is.

9) Spyro & Hunter

Ok so this duo isn't exactly the best character development ever. Regardless I really enjoyed their time on screen. The voices were great, the lines were good, and they had basic but effecient personalities that were fun to enjoy. Being a big part of my childhood, and enduring them throughout a lot of playthroughs, I would have to say that they clearly hold a place on this list. Especially for me personally. Also Hunter in his own right was great. He's just one of the more clever written and interesting slackers, but he could still get work done and provide you with some real help in the games. Speaking more on Spyro, he was kind of a small dragon with a dorky voice and hot headed yet chilled mentality, but that's kind of what worked for him. He was realistic to what the player could do with him and fit well within his world's style. Being two key characters delivered effectively from one of the better game franchises I've ever played, their names pop up in mind all the time when it comes to game characters. No question about it, they're going on this list... even if I have to hold them pretty far back compared to other characters.

8) King

Here we go, the Jaguar masked fighting champion! Ok to be fair this is partially similar to Samus, and I suppose for that reason he doesn't make it very far. Like most fighting games, the story is surprisingly there and interesting enough to grip some people and get folks arguing over cannon and whatnot. For the most part character story is not a real big deal in the game, yet the character still is. Either way I look at it, I loyally choose King as my favorite fighter from my favorite fighter series. Yoshimtsu, Paul, and the sillier chooses like alex the raptor are awesome to, but King is the sure way to go. His moves aren't anything super fantastic in style, but the execution and power put into them are perfect, and his appearance is pretty awesome as well. His mask is oddly a bit realistic at times, while still giving off the illusion that he's just a mask wearing wrestler, and while his default costume is just dull he has some of the best alternatives and suits out there. Ranging from priest robes and business suits, to tapout Tshirts and Sheik's clothes, he has some awesome things to compliment the awesome Jaguar mask. Also where recoloring is allowed, like in SFxT, there's always the ability to change his mask fur to a panther which looks just as awesome.

As for the story side, he is still interesting even if its not that major big of a deal. He's a guy brought up under the influence of the Catholic church, and ended up turning to wrestling for charity and good will as well as out of the respect for his mentor Armor King. As a result he takes on more of an honorable and protective light compared to the majority of any fighting cast, and his Tekken 2 ending was even giving an orphanage Christmas gifts. However he has his own dark parts to the story to... as you can imagine it gets convoluted and weird to follow like most fighter stories do after 8 or whatever entries. Apparently Armor King went missing, original king died while searching, and new king (raised by old king like old king was raised by the church and armored king) is the current king with the same goal and no real differences, and suddenly a "fake" armored king is playing tricks in the competitions so now he has to go and beat up the guy who's posing for a guy he's looking for. Yeah weird... but either way I'm strangely interested, and its to the point where King is often a thought that comes up in my mind for great gaming characters. I would even say he's naturally more cool and interesting than the hero of my favorite old series ever, and even though that's not saying quite as much as it seems its quite an achievement. However he doesn't go much further than that, so sorry King. You'll be #1 in the ring, but you'll have to settle for #8 on this list.

7) Ellie

Ellie from the Last of Us is a weird pick for me. I don't usually like the idea of gaming going cinematic, and while many games do it fine and still remain fun I often like more gamey alternatives to nearly everything. Including characters. However to be honest when gaming does something, it often has a way of just being better... and now its done so with its cinematic characters. Ellie kicks several typical and predictable character routes right in the teeth, and ends up taking on (and winning) one of the most irritating problems within our society thanks to a realistic attitude under dire circumstances. The whole gun scene on its own is worth mentioning in this article, but it goes further. Joel was a cool character for capturing the realistic and horribly overused adult mentality of underestimating people and being a "because I dictated it so" sort of parenting mentality. I've always held a sort of grudging tone towards that trait of thoughts, and don't ever plan to use it if I have kids. Meanwhile Ellie... takes on that argument, proves her point that she deserves more trust and respect as well as better reasoning from Joel's part. When he tries to escape still refusing to give anything but the "I say so" argument, she stays appropriately mad, irritated, and pokes around at the logic until he drops the mess. She ends up saving his life, and gets repaid with better trust and her first gun, and the relationship generally improves and is even felt in the gameplay.

It goes beyond that though. She also beats the survivor cliches around, and is just a far more complex character than most people would settle with. She's tough, spiteful, swears, and gets up close into fights if she has to, but at the same time she still shows appreciation and a common factor with the expected age group of her type. She isn't the tomboy archetype she's probably expected to be within the first hour or two, but she isn't exactly anything else either. She totally breaks free of all formulas whatsoever to create a very fluid, protective, reasoning, argumentative, and unpredictable human being all while still being a scripted game character within one long escort mission. That gun scene, as mentioned above, is more than just something that personally resonated with something I hate but it also is an example of just where her character goes. She reasons, she has arguments, she's clever, she doesn't do what is expected, and yet she still manages to be a calming and mild person at the right moments. Movies and television are still stuck making character too stupid to argue back without making it a comedy routine or some generic break up scream-fest, but the Last of Us shows everyone how its done through a video game character and a 12 hour adventure through the apocalypse. I guess Joel deserves some credit, because even though he has his moments of despicable bits they were realistic and interesting bits that paired well with Ellie's counter parts. He's gruff, talks about how he hung out with killers, and has this blind sense of grumpiness in his watchful views over Ellie, but that's supposed to be the case and you aren't supposed to like him all the time. However on his own he's quite generic. Meanwhile Ellie makes him change, fights to put more reasoning into him, and yet provides some interesting troubles of her own where Joel clearly improves her. The two work together in a way we hardly ever see in fiction, however Ellie is more of the one that kicks in the main plot and surprises.... even if you mostly play as Joel. So I'm putting Ellie on the list, even though I was originally leaving her out only thinking of a couple good things at first. It takes me a second to recall all the good in the story, writing, and adventure, but once I did it was clear she is worth a good spot. The main reason she isn't higher like most would do? Because to be honest, I'm still not a massive fan of the big time movie and heavy realism approach done. Even though her character outdoes it by far, she's still a part of this "serious" act and sometimes a really incredible use of an archetype can beat that... even if she feels very real, relate-able, and interesting, I don't play games to get that and so I can't really be but so dazzled. Yet she still manages to impress quite a bit either way, so I feel comfortable leaving her at a near mid-way point.

6) Captain Qwark

Speaking of archetypes, its becoming a very strong cliche to see a fake hero role. I suppose at one time it was a revolutionary satire, but now its become such a major character type its been all over the place. Dreamworks has like 3 different names using it! Still that doesn't mean they all come off tired, or worn. Sometimes you can still find the very best in a very stale batch. Captain Quake would be this spot. He's been a staple side character in the Ratchet and Clank series, and while he may have his missed joke moments and some childishly predictable bits, for the most part he's a good thing to see and puts a smile on my face. He has his own spin-off video games within the main video game, puts badly done crown drawing for his "master" plans, ran a silly and unreliable agent group, became president of a galaxy only to screw that up horribly, served the villains while being clueless multiple times, has been a death match arena host, and has one of the best nemisis characters I've ever seen. To put it more simply, his character archetype goes far and wide into some very strange situations each game, and manages to hit on a ton of satires and good joke opportunities along the way. Whether he's your friend, enemy, or fumbling man pretending to be your companion, he's always been there to bring a great sense of humor and casts a good amount of the light hearted nature the series has had over the years. 

5) Imperial Chaplain

Ah, the Emperor's professional troll as we know and love from Dawn of War and Warhammer 40'000 fiction. Ok now I guess this is a bit off and feels wrong to put on the list for two reasons. One is that he's a broad unit rather than a real character, and the second problem being that he's existing outside of gaming and is in one for the same reason SpongeBob has his own games... licensing. However I'm willing to put this guy in for several reasons regardless. For starters, this character role was the first I really ever took notice and care in the Chaplain's role. Also Dawn of War was for many things, including the chaplian, the start of countless fans and voice acting expectations within the entire source of fiction. Without DoW we would not have the same outlook on the franchise as it stands, and that includes the Chaplain's tone and enthusiasm. Furthermore even if this guy is a supportive hero role with a title more than a character, his voice and status just sells you on the investment. Personally this is always one of my goals in any match I play as a space marine team... I work up to the tech tree to produce one of these guys, and put him in a well protected and checked squad. He's so awesome I've even found a way to get him on my ringtones on my cell phone... yes, seriously. If I can't put this character on my list, and show how much I appreciate this guy's effect on the game, then I would instantly lose enthusiasm to make this list at all. May you lead us into battle Chaplain, and your faith prevail against the xenos and heretics of the Warhammer 40K world.

4) Everything about the Helghast

Ok I warned you about this being a weird list that bends your expectations. As I was making this, I just have to put in the Helghasts. What about them though? Radec, the most iconic villain role on their part despite such little screen time? Well what about Stahl, his performance and disputes were unquestionably awesome! No wait, I was rooting for Orlock to prevail and liked him a bit more. Oh, but lets not forget Visari's charisma and acting that fueled the Helghast war to begin with and made me so excited to see the intros of the first 3 games. Heck even Hakha, a half breed who was a helping hand in Killzone one, was a somewhat forgotten favorite from the original. Yet its the Helghast iconography in itself that stays so strong amongst the fans and even the general internet, and is an undeniable icon that gets recognition in nerd culture even if its confused with the Anime it likely stole from. Not to mention the awesome undertones of how the Helghasts have been one of the first and most notable antagonists to sympathize with, and get the fans caring more about them than the heroes. In the end I'm choosing them all. Even the lesser guys that are hard to recall, like Lente and Kratec, have special moments that make them ok. Usually when they're done like that though, people complain about more screen time because they actually commanded a special sense in what little attention they got. So even in bad times, I can't help but say the Helghast side of Killzone is nothing short of noteworthy for this list. The developers were too lazy to fully realize their own potential and actually hurt themselves a bit when it came to designing the full story and detail behind the war of Killzone and the Helghast, and yet part of its essence still bleeds through and people who pay attention to detail want to know more.

Speaking personally, I just adore the way they've been done save for that complaint about potential being wasted. I love their voices, their fictional propaganda, their military suits, their combat in game (even their worst AI from the original or shadow fall is fun to fight), their commander voice overs, and their planet's fusion of grim dark shooters meets Steampunk aesthetics. Even their civilians look freakin' cool. Every big scene with them on screen is a moment to appreciate. If I'm bored and need a video to watch on youtube I watch back on some cut-scenes or tribute videos, I rewatch Killzone 2's ending to death, as it just entertains me that easily. In game I try to play with the AI long enough to hear lines, some of which will occasionally surprise me as new or in-frequent. Someone once ripped open the files on that game and said there were nearly 300 separate lines of in-game dialogue, some of which hardly ever are heard even for the most hardcore replaying fans like myself (I have to have over 45 hours worth in a 6 hour campaign by now). In the end of the day the Helghasts have gathered a group of fans for a darn good reason... they just ooze an essence of awesomeness that probably best demonstrates a well done faction in a gothic war setting. Ultimately they're one of the faces of gaming I best know, and I consider it a great achievement in FPS settings. No other shooter enemy I can name gets this kind of attention, devoted fanbase, discussion, all while staying very fluid and normal to the base game itself. They've provided the perfect mix of cartoon-ish villainy and yet a deeper and sympathetic sort of self-righteous war machine attitude that its just become such a joy to see the many characters and solider of the Helghast army in action. The Helghast have stormed this list and gotten a very well respected spot as the 3rd greatest bit chunk of cast in all of the games I've played. Now here, have a running 13 minutes of propaganda speech from stahl mixed with tribute footage. Why? Because its fucking awesome and one of the best representation of what this whole spot is talking about!

3) Dr.Nefarious (and Laurence)

Remember when I mentioned Cpt.Qwark has an amazing nemesis? Yeah him and his henchmen are worth their own spot on the list, far ahead the captain himself. Doctor Nefarious is easily among my favorite villains out there. He's hilarious, has an awesome voice, has entertaining though cheesy super villain plots, but mostly its the humor. He's just a geniusly constructed character that is pleasing to hear and laugh at. He has a ton of cut-scenes, a worthy plot, lots of good jokes, and several games to help flesh out his character, and even if he was just left in his original appearance that would still be enough to please me. I really loved this character, and for a long time he stood out as one of the only ones I would seriously remember for his writing rather than just something as basic and dumb as "well he looked cool" like most characters at the time came off. Whether he planned to turn the world into robots, completely destroy time, or just seek plain vengeance, he was a great villain to see on the screen. His sidekick/henchman laurence as well as some other occasional minions would add extra flare and humor onto his style, and often worked to make him angrier and sillier while adding to the ecentric Doctor's attitude. Oh yeah and then there's the running gag of his radio re-workings. He wasn't always a robot, but now that he is his gears have a side effect of picking up radio soap operas. Not a pleasant thing, but funny never the less.

2) Solaire

"Oh, hello there. I will stay behind, to gaze at the sun. The sun is a wondrous body. Like a magnificent father! If only I could be so grossly incandescent!"

This line touched me a bit, especially given the "father" comparison to the sun. It was a proper analogy to old pagan and shamanic connections with the sun representing a higher sense of godly and masculine presentation. The fact that Solaire wants that sort of status, and has such a friendly and happy attitude makes for a character that sort of has his head in the clouds. While trying to achieve his goal, and chase his dreams, he fights along other warriors and helps them to give them hope so that they may follow their dreams. Despite his cheery optimism and heroic lifestyle, he's surrounded in a very dark, wet, cold, yet full of many creative and interesting creatures, and generally its a very "feminine" theme world in terms of similar shamanic symbolism (though a bit extreme). That's what sort of makes him that much more of a "head in the clouds" sort of fellow, even to the point where he misses the awkwardness of his lines that leads to humorous memes and images like the one above. Even though he strives to feel closer to god(s?), or even be godly, he's ultimately just an optimistic fellow fueled by hope and friendship. He sadly turns towards a pretty sad ending, possibly (probably) even death. While many think chasing the sun + Tragedy = Icarus I actually think of him under a different light (har, har, get it? Light.... sun.... bonfire?). In a weird sort of way that is extremely close to how the player may feel, and personally I know I can certainly feel a strong connection towards this character personally. In a very dark and grim world where most are so insane that they've lost most conscious decision and just hack away at you, Solaire is hopeful and dreams of things beyond actual existence (uh... spoiler: Sun is an illusion in Dark Souls). Much like how the player may feel a little foreign and out of place in the dark world, with only hope fueling them and a need to co-op with others for the best results in tough areas. I run wild with my own personal imagination, and usually would love the ideas of flight, air ships, and similar such things. Yet personally I can't ever match up what I want in my head to anything

exactly in the world, or by my own physical creation, so its kind of a blind dream to keep on chasing while I live in a contrasting reality. The average gamer that likely enjoys something such as Dark Souls probably also enjoys immersive worlds that serve escapism. Either way though we all live on the earth and make the best of it. We all live in a world with great success and tragedy, and imagination and culture exist more as dreams and artificial creations to enjoy while on the journey of life in a truly real world that is separate of our direct dreams. Still like the game itself, the world has its opportunities, risks that hold rewards, and an element of surprise and wonder that doesn't leave you for a long time. Also like Dark Souls there is that person or people like Solaire that knows hope of some kind to help share it and lift your spirits... even if his core hope comes from something that may not be achievable and physically real. In the end we must embrace the real world, and Solaire shows us both what happens when we do and succeed.... and yet when we don't, and how it makes us lose ourselves and our grasp on things. In this way he's a very realistic and fascinating character that builds an interesting relationship with the player that I haven't really seen in games.

...yet at the same time, its funny I say that because the opposite is actually kind of my only complaint and why he doesn't quite make the very top of this list. He still manages to be somehow predictable and very basic as a game NPC. Even if he's programmed and written perfectly for his world, lore, and the game's theme, he's also going to repeat the same line over and over again, stay stiff in place as he stares awkwardly or out of sync, and he has a very anti-climatic sort of role as a generic summon. There is no true immersion or interaction with him other than the possibility that you go all hostile on him in an act of cruelty. Apart from that he's just some stiff guy with the same lines, scripts, and very basic instructions. Furthermore, the game has no cut-scenes or real answers for him, and possibly the greatest tragedy of his set up and place in the game is that his "good ending" is not a real ending at all and he leaves no closure because of the game's cryptic and low production style NPC system. Still this guy is one of the ideal "best gaming characters" and one of the first to come to mind. He's one of the few I actually find myself glad to say I can relate to, and he does so in a way that is interesting and unique to his character as well as myself (considering its partially interpreted by me, so duh). His lines, although limited, are emotionally loaded to a person like myself and

deliver a serious impact that had me thinking of him long after I met up with him and turned off the game. There's never been any single character so thought provoking, so relate-able, so interesting, and so unintentionally humorous all at once. I've enjoyed him so much that in the sequel I've honored him by joining up with the remnants of his clan, and I haven't left for my entire run even though it is 100% counter-productive to my melee only build. I wont forget Solaire soon, and he's one of my top favorite gaming characters out of one of the best games ever made.

1) Team Fortress 2's cast

Its hard to compete with a cast that is so good the internet has practically used their attitude and personalities to make a fan driven cartoon series across youtube and mods. I'm not sure if TF2's character set is truly the best, but they're so clever, so stylish, so interesting, and have opened up so much potential and community driven fun that I don't think they'll ever stop being enjoyable and fun to see. They all play up some silly and 2 dimensional character personality, but in a way and world that fuses together with game logic, video software, and community to make a truly unique experience and infinitely fun. Now it may seem like a problem that they don't actually hold up much on their own, nor have a traditional sense of character development, but that's also kind of the point and part of the reason they're done so well... they don't have to have that.

They work so well within the game itself, and feel so fluid and attached that they don't need their own wiki page, they don't need a background, and they don't need your sympathy or morals to enjoy them. They just need you to understand the game, and once you do its a major canvas for them to portray their style and deliver some good comedy or drama. I can't really find much more to say, but I don't think I need to. Watch their original footage, go play the game, and then spend an hour or more watching some great fan videos whether done in Gmod or source movie maker. 

Well that wraps up my list. As I said this is probably not a very well done traditional idea of "top 10 characters" but I still think I got the closest I could to naming it from my perspective. I hope you enjoyed reading the list as it actually took a while to complete but was fun to work on.