The 10 Best Video Game Characters

Since the beginning, video games have been filled with characters that we either love or love to hate.  From that crazy explorer guy in Pitfall to the goofy Rabids in Rayman Raving Rabids generations of gamers have spent billions of hours dropping coins into slots and staring into television screens and computer monitors in horror, awe, and (dare I say) lust at these icons of the gaming universe.  For the first time, all of these epic figures are gathered in one spot—right here in this list.  So without further ado, let us make our way through The 10 Best Video Game Characters of All Time!

10)  The Vault Dweller – the non-complacent inhabitant of Vault Tec’s underground bomb shelter, the Vault Dweller (well various vault dwellers to be accurate) has been the main protagonist of 3 core games and a number of spinoffs in the Fallout Series dating back to 1997’s release of Fallout on PC.  The Vault Dweller has always been an ambiguous figure due to his/her post-apocalyptic environment where morality is never as important as survival.  Indeed, the Vault Dweller has been the subject of great debate because of the excessive violence, gore, and general bad vibes produced by the Fallout games.  However, the games themselves (and the Vault Dweller) have never failed to display their signature black humor in the face of mutant attacks, cannibalism, gibletification (yeah I made that up), and gloriously unbound homicide.    

So our my hat is off to this icon of dystopian society and I can only hope that when the nuclear winter comes I have even half the iron will and steely resignation that the Vault Dweller has displayed over the years.  How else could I choke down Rad Scorpion meat and shoot unsuspecting raiders in the face without feeling bad about it?


9) Lara Croft — much like Helen of Troy (who launched a thousand ships with her beauty) Miss Croft has launched a thousand digital daydreams of her own with her signature . . . attributes, acrobatic antics, and outfits that would make Indiana Jones blush.  She’s been one of my favorites for years and is one gold digger (quite literally) who Hugh Hefner would be hard pressed to keep up with.  The tomb raider series, consisting of nine games as of this date, have sold over 35 million copies and launched two movies (with a third in the works.)  It would be hard to find another game character that has such mass appeal.

Miss Croft has been accused of being a marketing ploy created especially to target gaming’s most sought after audience, males between 13 and 30, but let’s face it, men have been putting oversized breasts on artful depictions of women since Neanderthal was painting on cave walls in France.  Don’t hate on the hot archeologist.


8)  Samus Aran — every gamer still remembers the shock and awe they felt when Samus removed that armor at the end of Metroid and revealed the long hair and feminine features.  Haha!  We’d been playing as a girl and hadn’t even known it!  Since then, Samus has become somewhat of a gaming legend and pop icon, not to mention Japanese goddess and cosplayer’s dream.  Who knew that the side scrolling game which featured one of the first instances of non-linear gameplay (allowing gamers to actually retread the levels they had previously ran through and gather previously unreachable loot) would be such a monumental hit?

Look for Samus’s triumphant return in the upcoming title Metroid Other M on the Wii in 2010 (brought to you by the sad remains of Team Ninja.)


7)  Sonic the Hedgehog — when Sega needed a hero to help them overcome Nintendo’s dominance of the gaming world, they turned to an edgy little hedgehog with fleet feet and an attitude.  Since the release of the first Sonic game on the Sega Genesis in 1991, the loveable little critter has become an international television star as well as the central character in over 190 games on platforms ranging from PC to mobile phones.  True he was specifically created as a marketing device (with a blue skin tone to match Sega’s logo and Michael Jackson’s boots) but Sonic quickly grew into his own skin and became a true gaming icon.

He is truly one of the most widely known characters in the world and while newer sonic games are looked upon with distrust by old schoolers, many of Sonic’s younger fans are too young to even remember the Genesis.  That’s a testament to his longevity right there.


6)  Pac-man — there’s no other character that’s more widely associated with gaming throughout the world than Pac-man.  Created by Namco in 1980 the little yellow blob had a cheerfully bright outlook on life and stomach that seemingly had no bottom.  With level after level of munching white pellets and gobbling ghosts unlucky enough to get in his way, Pac-man quickly overtook nearly every gaming system he’s ever been on and launched several sequels and spinoffs.  However, as a testament to the strength of gaming especially in America, Pac-man quickly became a pop culture icon appearing on everything from tee shirts to glassware.  I grew up in the eighties and can’t tell you how much Pac-man truly influenced my life.  Let’s just say that my sisters (who I don’t think have ever played a video game) had Pac-man stickers on their mirrors right next to Shawn Cassidy (Google him.)

Pac-man is widely acknowledged to be the most recognized gaming icon of all time.


5)  Gordon Freeman — the unwitting hero of the 1998 incident at the Black Mesa facility, Gordon Freeman’s antics in Valve’s classic Half-Life have proven once again that heroes come in all shapes and sizes.  Ostensibly a scientist (though his duties seemed to be confined to pushing potentially hazardous materials around in deadly situations while being bossed around by superiors safely hidden away behind blast shields), Gordon wore glasses and spent most of his time beating off enemies with a crowbar.  Indeed, Freeman was a welcome change from the beefy, brain dead protagonists of the shooters of the day.  Sort of a thinking man’s hero you might say, Freeman had to use his wits as much as his might to survive the incident and escape from the Black Mesa Facility. 

Freeman reappeared in Half-Life 2 which has since been voted one of the best video games of all time.


4)  Carmen Sandiego — Miss Sandiego was a “sticky finger filcher” who globe trotted with the best of them, always one step ahead of me and the other fledgling members of the ACME Detective agency in Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego.  She had us all learning our geography and studying up on social studies in grade school so we could track her and her henchmen around the world.  Not only was Carmen one of the most influential characters in educational gaming, she was also responsible for jumping mediums into television with cartoons and even a game show! 

Wow, a hottie with a femme fatale vibe that teaches grade schoolers about geography and gives Alex Trebek a run for his money. . . how does it get any better than that?


3)  The Master Chief — the super-deadly and stoically silent master chief earned his place in gaming history by single handedly launching Microsoft’s gaming system into the stratosphere.  Tied directly to the success of the Xbox, Halo set a new bar for every shooter to come after with its revolutionary gameplay, epic sci-fi story arch, and witty one-liners.  Indeed, Halo felt a bit like a classic war movie (Platoon or even Navy SEALS) with the Master Chief playing the role of Charlie Sheen . . . something like that.  The iconic green armor and mirrored visor have become status symbols for the Xbox and gamers alike.

While the Halo franchise’s star has somewhat dimmed, the Master Chief will live on in the hearts of gamers as one of the most unique characters ever.


2)  Donkey Kong — can you believe that Donkey Kong started out life as a career criminal?  That’s right; the beloved icon of the Nintendo gaming empire got his start by kidnapping a woman and holding her against her will.  That was the premise behind the game of the same name, released on Atari and in arcade form in 1981.  He spent the formative years of his career tossing barrels and laughing maniacally at the character who would become Mario (yeah that Mario.)  The big hairy ape successfully made the transition from evil to good beginning with Donkey Kong Junior in which his son had to release him after he was captured by Mario (yeah that Mario) and spent the next twenty years building a better reputation with comical games such as the SNES version of Donkey Kong Country and Nintendo 64’s Donkey Konga series.

It’s not unheard of for modern game characters to go through character changing events but for an Atari veteran it’s a rare thing indeed.  Whether you see Donkey Kong as a laughable sidekick or a maniacal villain will probably depend on how old you are (and on which system you began gaming.)


1)  Mario — no list could ever be complete without the little Italian plumber who repeatedly rescues princess Toadstool from the evil half-breed critters of the Mario franchise.  However, many gamers don’t know that Mario actually started out as a carpenter named “Jumpman” in Donkey Kong.  When Nintendo ported the little mustachioed guy to their own console, they changed him into a plumber and adopted the Mario name (originally the nickname given to the Jumpman character by Nintendo's Minoru Arakawa after an alleged confrontation with his landlord Mario Segale) and transported him to the Mushroom Kingdom where he was destined to become the absolute most recognizable gaming character in the world.

Mario has appeared in over 220 games on a dozen different platforms and launched multiple televisions shows, a movie, and even a huge product line ranging from clothing to toys to memorabilia. 


So there you have it, the ultimate list of the best characters in gaming history.  Those listed above have risen through the ranks to become recognizable icons of the gaming industry and have had impacts that reach far beyond the closeted world of gamers.  Indeed, they’ve affected the very popular culture of mankind!  It will be interesting to see what characters emerge in the next 30 years of gaming to claim the title of best characters ever.