With consoles and PCs booming, it was only natural for some of the best video game characters to rise among others. When talking about the legendary video game franchises, the best video game characters of all time played a vital role in the story and set the tone for the upcoming sequels. But with so many to choose from, what separates a best video game character from the more forgettable ones?
When talking about the bests and the greats of video games, we are talking about characters like Agent 47, Mario, and Doomguy — the faces of the games they are in. The factor that the great characters in video games share is their memorability. When you turn on the game, their face might be the first you see. The same goes for the marketing material — other video game characters are left on the side while the more important ones take the stage.
Want to test out your knowledge on the subject of video games? Well, we have compiled a list of the most famous video game characters that have graced the world of computer storytelling. Upvote the characters you recognize, and if you want to share anything related to the characters, do so in the comments below.
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#41 Rayman (Rayman)
The upbeat magical hero from Ubisoft has an enduring allure. Rayman debuted in 1995 and has since starred in four more major installments. His distinctive look, which consists mostly of a skull with floating arms and legs, was inspired by sketches the inventor Michel Ancel drew as a young adult.
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#42 Samus Aran (Metroid)
Samus, the character, can be considered a gaming industry pioneer. Many gamers were just unable to comprehend the huge surprise in the first Metroid game, which showed we had been playing as a woman the entire time. That reveal's cultural importance is just now becoming obvious.
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#43 Leon S Kennedy (Resident Evil 2)
Starting as a rookie Racoon City cop in Resident Evil 2 and then rising through the ranks to become a daughter-saving agent for the US president, Leon S. Kennedy is as legendary as the Resident Evil franchise. While other S.T.A.R.S members might have come first, Leon S. Kennedy is a much more memorable character than all of them combined.
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#44 Guybrush Threepwood (The Curse Of Monkey Island)
While he might not be Jack Sparrow level of funny, Guybrush Threepwood is still funny on his own, a rarity in video games. A pirate with an array of talents to boast, Threepwood has become quite an icon in the works of fiction related to pirates. He got referenced in Star Wars, Sea of Thieves, and Indiana Jones games.
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#45 Dog (Fable 2)
This Dog is special because he reacts to what the protagonist does. A devil puppy will appear if you play like a complete jerk. However, if the Hero is kind, the Dog will be a very content boy who kids race to pet. Despite your moral stance, Dog establishes its iconic status.
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#46 Pit (Kid Icarus)
Pit leads Palutena's royal bodyguards and is her most devoted servant. Medusa converts all of Palutena's angels to stone before the events in the first game, sparing only Pit since he couldn't fly. Due to the conflation of his name with the English series title, he sometimes gets referred to as "Kid Icarus."
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#47 McCree (Overwatch)
Known more for his often spammed quote “it’s high noon,” McCree is quite a cool character. Through his outfit, weapons, and mannerisms, McCree captures the image of a western cowboy in the game Overwatch. Thanks to his charm and wits, he became a subject of a lot of memes.
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#48 Ryu Hayabusa (Dead Or Alive)
Ryu is the perfect example of a modern ninja; his sleek Legendary Black Falcon suit is identical to that of a contemporary special ops operative. He has a strong frame and is in excellent physical shape. His eyes, one of his most defining traits, are mostly hidden by his ninja garb and outfits.
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#49 Mae Borowski (Night In The Woods)
Mae is complicated, sincere, and struggling with an elusive problem. Besides the fact that this is very realistic, many people can relate to the place where she resides. People who the player may know in real life are her pals. Additionally, Mae occasionally makes poor decisions and now she must face the repercussions of her deeds.
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#50 Sam Porter Bridges (Death Stranding)
Nobody likes to walk as much as Sam Porter Bridges from Death Stranding. He is a renowned porter and a Bridges member who plays a crucial part in growing the Chiral Network and uniting the United Cities of America. Carrying the weight of the world on his back, he walks to save the world.
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#51 Master Chief (Halo: Combat Evolved)
A Spartan soldier and a member of United Nations Space Command, Master Chief is the hero in the Halo series, but also the mascot of the Xbox gaming console. Master Chief has spent the last 20 years battling an extraterrestrial group known as the Covenant with the assistance of his AI partner Cortana.
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#52 Big Daddy And Little Sister (BioShock)
Would you kindly remember the first time you saw a Big Daddy character? Scary and menacing, they acted like the guards of the underground Rapture City. Wearing heavy diving suits, they are accompanied by one or several Little Sisters — children who help the Daddies collect plasma from bodies.
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#53 Isaac Clarke (Dead Space 2)
When the game focuses on cutting off limbs, your protagonist has to be unique to be interesting. Known more for the armor that he wears, Clarke was an engineer for the CEC before he got thrown into a “marker” created incident. Since then, he became a Plasma Cutter-carrying Terminator.
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#54 Captain Price (Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare)
John Price, a captain, is one of the most memorable characters in the Call of Duty series. His military history is full of epic missions where his decisions wrote the future of other games. His most memorable mission took place in the radioactive setting of Pripyat, where he had to gun down a terrorist.
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#55 Garrus Vakarian (Mass Effect 2)
Garrus is a compulsive rule-breaker despite his duties to his job, which explains why he and Shepard got along so well. Keep Vakarian alive until the end of Mass Effect 3, and one of the finest representations of wordless, in-game friendships emerges in the best sequence of the whole series.
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#56 Cayde-6 (Destiny 2)
Cayde-6, an Exo, is one of the most recognizable figures in Destiny. Cayde was the holder of the Ace of Spades, and despite his dedication to his profession, Cayde yearned for a chance to return to battle. His casual attitude gets replaced with one that is more serious and even vindictive when he is upset.
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#57 Ratchet (Ratchet And Clank: A Crack In Time)
Since the early 2000s, the mechanically skilled Lombax has dazzled players with his extraordinarily fluffy spaced ears. Ratchet and the small, flawlessly polite robot Clank have formed an all-time great team that has miraculously rescued the universe several times. The pleasant Lombax remains a tad downbeat despite appearing humble and heroic.
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#58 Doomguy (Doom)
The most iconic character in the first-person shooting genre, Doomguy was a talented marine on Mars and then a slayer of demons with only two goals in his mind — rip and tear. Carrying an arsenal of weapons and limitless rage inside, Doomguy is like a grandpa for other brilliant FPS characters, like Master Chief and Serious Sam.
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#59 Earthworm Jim (Earthworm Jim)
Earthworm Jim is just a worm with a space suit, but this didn’t stop him from becoming an iconic character with his own game. Though he frequently rushes into battle without thinking, Jim can occasionally be rather smart and naive. Jim is extremely trustworthy and has even believed villains wearing questionable disguises.
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#60 The Lich King (World Of Warcraft)
Jailer of the Damned, Lord of the Scourge, officially known as the Lich King — this character is as legendary as the Warcraft series itself. Ruling the Scourge through the Helm of Damnation, this title suited several other characters, most notably Arthas Menethil and Bolvar Fordragon. The Lich king rules from his frozen thrones on the Icecrown Citadel.
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