Board 8 > Time to count down my Top 50 Video Game Characters

(+) Yeah! (+)

12. Chloe Price (Life Is Strange)
Okay, even right up to posting this write-up, I was really tempted to put Chloe higher than this. There's absolutely no denying that objectively she's one of the best characters ever. We've seen her backstory before a hundred times - tragic event turns the sweetest person in the world into an angry rebel. But what sets Chloe apart from the pack is that because of the way Life Is Strange plays out, we get a very rare glimpse that this was actually the much better route that this character's life could have taken. And behind all the anger and sadness is still a person who wants to do right by the people she loves - she goes through hell and high water to find Rachel and I swear to God I was actually crying when they found her body, not necessarily because Rachel was confirmed deceased, because we all knew that was coming. No, Chloe's fucking reaction was what set me off. Fucking props to Ashly Burch and the writers and directors. Then her character totally comes full circle and she makes the completely selfless decision to sacrifice not only her life, but the memory of the happiest week of her life to save the town. Again, couldn't hold back the tears.

Seems like Chloe should be higher than this, and yeah she probably should. The truth is though I actually JUST played Life is Strange a few weeks ago and am still processing everything, and I didn't want to overrank a character that I might not feel as strongly about a few months or years from now, especially since I plan to play Before the Storm at some point. I don't think that's going to happen; give it another year or so and I'll probably have Chloe in my top 10. But I also want to take this time to give an honorable mention to Max, who I neglected to put on this list, probably somewhere in the 30s or 40s, not only for the same reason, but also because I initially felt like her personality was more a reflection of my own choices in the game, as is frequently the case with this kind of game. After watching some LPs on Youtube where players made a lot of different choices though, I realized that this wasn't as strongly the case as it is in many other games, and Max is the character I played and enjoyed as opposed to a reflection of me, so yeah, if I revised this list she'd be on here somewhere in the bottom half.

11. I honestly don't know why I'm having such a hard time coming up with a hint for this character that doesn't give them straight away because I shouldn't be. So I'll just leave it as a complete wild guess. Take your best shot.
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uh, Link?
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kirby
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11. Phoenix Wright (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney)
It just wouldn't be a Board 8 list if Wrighto himself didn't show up now, would it? And I almost feel evil placing him literally just outside of the top 10. But damn do I love the Ace Attorney series, but more specifically the original trilogy. As good as the other games are, they just can't match the magic of those first three, and I'm pretty sure a lot of that is the fact that the other protagonists just don't do it for me the way Phoenix does.

I want to start with the way Phoenix interacts with the world around him. He tries to be a very serious person, but the world around him is anything but. The justice system is a mess, and most of the people he deals with are a few grains short of a rice bowl. He has to put up with some of the most irrational characters (and worst liars) ever, and the way he struggles to keep his composure sometimes is hilarious. Particularly his facial expressions and accompanying dialogue in parenthesis are priceless. One of my favorite running gags is him being the recipient of ridiculous nicknames that he hates.

But it's not all silly. Phoenix develops some pretty deep relationships with some of the characters, particularly with Miles Edgeworth. This is just one of the best friendly rivalries ever. The fleshed-out history between these two was a great way to build and motivate some of the Vs. Edgeworth cases (or saving Edgeworth cases), especially since that's the reason he ever became a lawyer. But his most admirable trait, no doubt, is his undying faith in his clients. He provides hope to the abandoned and trust to those with no one to turn to. And he never ever gives up on them, even when he's about to give up on himself. And he does this as a tribute to his late mentor, which is amazing. It's very easy to see why this board became so attached to this character.

10. Fights with water

Any full top 10 guesses?
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Dance, water, dance!

But really I have no idea.
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10. Crono (Chrono Trigger)
9. Donkey Kong (Donkey Kong)
8. Nathan Drake (Uncharted)
7. Fox McCloud (Star Fox)
6. Samus Aran (Metroid)
5. Zael (The Last Story)
4. Aiden Pearce (Watch_Dogs)
3. Kirby (Kirby)
2. Zelda (The Legend of Zelda)
1. Link (The Legend of Zelda)
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oh hey i randomly got an itch to play LiS yesterday so i did for like an hour. well, more like watch.

10. Crono
9. Samus
8. Cloud
7. Sephiroth
6. Luigi
5. Snake
4. Link
3. Edgeworth
2. Auron
1. Squall

Who is Johnny? I can only think Johnny Cage...
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yeah i dont know why i put johnny

i was thinking of crono

Squirtle
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this topic makes me want to update my own list

I want to go out on a limb and predict Miles Edgeworth in the Top 5.
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Six of the ten have been correctly guessed so far (albeit not necessarily in the proper order).
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10. Squirtle (Pokemon)
Those who know me well should have seen this coming. I have long-toted Squirtle as my favorite Pokemon, and when two others already showed up, no question Squirtle was going to as well. Squirtle and I go way back. I didn't have a Game Boy when Pokemon came out, and the TV show didn't immediately interest me. At least in my area, the phenomenon didn't boom right away. In the earliest months there were just a few dedicated fans and that was it. My cousin was one of them, and at Thanksgiving he showed me his guide and was pointing out some of his favorites. Then we got to "#7 - Squirtle." Not only did I love the design, a cute little turtle, but the name was very fitting as well once I found out it squirted water.

Then around December I finally started watching the show and Squirtle quickly became my favorite of Ash's Pokemon. A little mischeivous, but loyal as hell and powerful in battle. As the series progressed I loved how he and Bulbasaur became best friends despite being very unalike. It was a nice contrast. Christmas 99 (so a year late) I finally got a Game Boy and Pokemon Red and of course I chose Squirtle as my starter. And it was one of the best experiences of my gaming career. There are 10 or so games, not necessarily my top 10 either, that I wish I could forget everything about and go back and experience again like it was my first time, and that's one of them. I wish I could still have that original little Squirtle that became a monsterous Blastoise all those years ago in my current games. I think he might be on my brother's Stadium cartridge somewhere. But it's fine because X/Y offered you a R/B starter early in the game and who do you think I chose? Once again, all those years later, that Mega Blastoise became part of an amazing team.

I've grown quite attached to Squirtle over the years, but I'm fairly certain I don't have a plushie of him, which is weird considering I do have some of other Pokemon. Regardless I still love the little guy and always will.

9. A character associated with dancing
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Samba de Amigo
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Agent J
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Dance water, dance!
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9. Shantae (Shantae)
I am a huge fan of this series, particularly the second and third games. Some of the greatest Metroidvanias ever. They are so fluid, look fantastic, and 100%ing them is challenging but not excruciating. Just enough to look in little nooks and crannies that you may have overlooked in a quick playthrough. The magic and transformation system is awesome, and even the gameplay anomaly of the third one is still very cool.

But that of course means nothing in regards to list if Shantae herself isn't a great character, and she is. She's strong-willed, but a bit naive, and it gets her into trouble a lot. She's positive and helpful, but often gets frustrated with the people around her, leading to a lot of great facial expressions and groans, much like Phoenix Wright. And despite these being little 6-10 hour sidescrollers, she actually has to make fleshed-out and mature decisions at the end of most games that are going to greatly impact herself and the citizens of Scuttle Town. It's pretty neat to get to see these games build to a satisfying conclusion when some other such games just show the characters cheering and then roll the credits.

But Shantae is also a really fun character to play as. Yeah the hair-whipping and such is fun, but of course the most fun is transforming into various creatures and finding new ways to get around (or destroy) the stage. Like any good Metroidvania, she gets more fun to play as the further you get in the game and the more you collect. Please put her in Smash, please put her in Smash, please put her in Smash... I can dream...

8. Usually wears a green outfit and their name begins with the letter L
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Lan Di (Shenmue)
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Linkle
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Luigi
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Ltingle
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Lloyd of the Four Fangs
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Link

8. Luigi (Super Mario Bros.)
Were you the younger brother? Were you stuck playing as Luigi? Not me. I was the older brother and I chose to play as Luigi. I guess I was just different like that. He was one of my go-to's in Mario Kart 64, and when he wasn't, I noticed a pattern - the computer SUCKED with him. Seriously, he finished in last place 90% of the time. I truly thought the computer was biased against him. But here's the weird thing - he ROCKED on Yoshi Valley. If somebody was like uncatchably far ahead on Yoshi Valley, it ended up being Luigi. I eventually chalked it up to the fact that he was actually so far behind and the computer glitched and skipped him a lap. And I wondered why? Why did that computer hate Luigi so much?

Enter 2001, and for the first time ever, Luigi is given a distinct personality - a bloody coward and complete buttmonkey. And it was awesome. I honestly couldn't think of a better route that they could have taken with Luigi. His whole gimmick for 16 years (at least in most families) was being Player 2, the neglected one, the one that got a chance when mom said to let your brother have a turn. So he basically got turned into Nintendo's red-headed step child and has been treated as such ever since. You win an award? Guess what, it's a haunted mansion filled with dangerous ghosts AND you have to rescue your brother. You wanna be in Smash? You get the jokiest of joke attacks with one that shoots you head-first into enemies and you do a trippy bellydance for your Final Smash. Even in the most recent trailer showing off EVERYONE he's treated as an afterthough, a joke after the logo is revealed. And the joke is still funny to this day.

Of course I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the RPG series, where he's either treated as a complete afterthought by barely appearing at all, or is just the butt of all the slapstick like in Mario & Luigi, which by the way he sounds hilarious in. Oh Luigi, don't ever change. I feel bad for you, but please keep doing what you're doing.

7. Usually wears her hair in a ponytail
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*flips table*

that was too obvious!

Samus

Zero Suit Samus
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Samus
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7. Elena Fisher (Uncharted: Drake's Fortune)
My experience with Uncharted was interesting, because I didn't play it until all four mainline games were out, and I got so drawn in that I pretty much marathoned through the series, and went in completely blind and unspoiled. And at the onset I thought I was going to hate Elena. A blonde chick with a slightly-annoying voice who seems to be a bit out of her element and just a tad bit spoiled? I got flashbacks to Ashley Graham and just prayed she wouldn't be in THAT much of the game. Boy did I turn out to be wrong.

Elena turned out to be one of the best parts of the series. In the first game she served as a great foil to Nate. A little more sensible, kind of the voice of reason, often frustrated with his antics, but always having his back even though she really didn't have any reason to other than survival.

Then the second game came around and we got introduced to Chloe. And I, like I'm sure many others did, simply assumed for the first third of the game that she had replaced Elena as the female deuteragonist. Then when I least expected it, Elena shows up and takes over the same role as before, with a bit of a twist - now she and Nate have actually had an emotional connection, so their relationship gets a bit more complicated. You can tell that they both have things they want to say to each other, but are also struggling to survive and save the day, and it makes great drama. After she got caught in the blast from Harry's grenade, she became my primary concern for the rest of the game. At the time I had never been more scared for a character's survival in a game (that has since been surpassed), and after the climax the game actually fakes you out and makes you believe that she DID die. But she didn't and she has a really sweet moment with Nate that's part of my all-time favorite game ending.

Her role in the third game is eh. We all know that one was about Nate and Sully. But in the fourth game she's back to a great role with Nate. Now they are finally married so their relationship is a bit more complicated. And yet even after Nate lies to her big time and she begins to doubt who he even is, she STILL sticks by him because she knows that he was doing it for love and not just to go back to adventure. It's one of my all-time favorite video game romances and Elena was just as much a part of that as Nate was.

6. From a game that takes place in the 1970s
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Delilah (Firewatch)

edit: oh crap, that's late 80s.
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Too low for Kyle Hyde
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Heavy (Team Fortress 2)
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6. Kyle Hyde (Hotel Dusk: Room 215)
Hotel Dusk is yet ANOTHER game that I was late to the party on but when I finally played it I got totally immersed. Games that take place in a relatively small, closed environment always intrigue me, because I know I'm going to be discovering a lot of secrets as the game progresses, and it's especially a lot of fun finally getting into places I couldn't get into earlier in the game. Furthermore, in a game like this I know there's generally going to be a lot of character interacting, and I loved interacting with all of them, but this is definitely an instance where the lead is better than any individual in the ensemble.

From the onset, we know that Hyde is a former NYC cop who quit after shooting his traitor partner and dumping him into the Hudson, and then suddenly starts getting letters from him as if he's alive. So we know he's going to be complex, because he can pull the trigger when he gets angry enough, but deep down he really just wants to know exactly what happened. And this is pretty much his story in both of his games - getting to the bottom of Bradley's betrayal and the death of his father.

Here's another guy who gets easily annoyed by others and especially doesn't like kids, but even though he grows tired of running around and solving other people's problems when he'd rather just get to the root of his own, he does get a strange satisfaction knowing he's helped so many people. But he doesn't get quite as frazzled as, say, Phoenix Wright. As annoyed as he is, he's generally good at keeping his composure, and while that takes away from the comedy element of it, it fits him right in with the tone of the story. He even eventually warms up to some of the more eccentric characters like Louis, and in the second game Tony, that he'd otherwise never associate with, which is really cool. The satisfied look on his face when he takes a sip of scotch or hears a jazz tune is so cool, it makes you feel like you get to enjoy life for a bit at the end of a stressful but successful day. I really really wish they'd make a third Kyle Hyde game. Even though the company went backrupt, a few individual members of the team have expressed interest in continuing the story. But the second game ended on a great note, so even if there isn't, I still feel like Hyde has had a nice adventure and arc.

5-1. No more hints.
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The Riddler (Batman: Arkham Asylum)
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I'm really actually kinda sad that most of the guesses were just jokes throughout this.
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Average B8er
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Nate and Elena were married before the third game iirc, but were separated or something.
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5. Squall Leonhart (Final Fantasy VIII)
Yep, that's right. After some further reflecting and being introduced to a couple of characters I took a long time to play the games of, Squall is no longer my #1 and has in fact dropped to #5. But 5 is still not too shabby. I still remember the first time I was truly aware of Squall was when he beat Luigi in Character Battle 2 in one of the biggest upsets ever. Now, I had never played FF8 at that point and as you know I was a HUGE Luigi fan, so my reaction was just anger and swore to hate Squall, saying I would never play FF8. Well, what do you know, eventually I did.

And I immediately identified with Squall. I was 14 years old, I was very introverted, I hated being told what to do, I was very depressed, I was annoyed by people who were constantly upbeat and happy, and yet somewhere among all that I thought I was just the shit. So I boot up FF8 and meet Squall and think, man, here's a character who gets me. Not only that, but FF8 as a game just really drew me in - I loved the backgrounds, the gameplay came naturally to me, I thought that the adventure was fun, and the music especially kept my attention, so I got to see more and more of Squall's adventure play out, and grew to love him even more.

I loved that he was thrusted, barely qualified, into this leadership position of a band of misfit rebels that he really didn't like all that much and honestly didn't care what happened to, but slowly grew attached to. I loved how he slowly opened up to and eventually fell in love with this girl that he hated at first. And the whole time I felt I was Squall. There was one point where the party split up and I sent Selphie, Rinoa and Zell to fight a tough boss that eventually got the better of them, and when faced with certain death Rinoa simply asked, "Why do you hate me, Squall?" I almost said out loud, "I don't hate you." I get that some protagonists are supposed to "be you." Silent RPG heroes. Leads in games like Telltale series where you have almost total control over their personality as they interact with others. But Squall was a rarity for me in which I identified with an almost completely scripted character.

So what has made Squall drop from the top? Well as I said before, further gaming and reflecting. Two of my top 4 are from games/series I had never even touched a few years ago when I was most vocal about Squall being my #1. I've also long grown out of my borderline-emo Squall phase, so even though I do look back fondly upon him, I don't identify with him quite as much as I used to, allowing two others who have long been in my top 5 to surpass him. I still love Squall and FF8 though, and I feel like he'll be sticking around in my elite group for a long time.
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oh.

The hints were my favorite part D:
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Oh damn how could I forget Squall in predix
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well now i don't know who 1-4 could possibly be

This IS getting finished tonight.
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4. Miles Edgeworth (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney)
In my opinion, Edgeworth is by far the best character in the entire Ace Attorney universe, and that's really saying something considering just how fantastic most of that cast is. What starts out as a seemingly standard antagonists develops into one of the most complex rivals, some would even argue a straight-up hero, in gaming history.

Edgeworth doesn't start out all that amazing. Up until the very end of Case 3, he seems like just a cocky, occasionally flustered anti-hero. The only things we really know are that he is bent on perfection and he has some sort of history with Phoenix Wright. Then near the end of Case 3, he shifts. He suddenly starts to undermine his own case and try to help prove Phoenix's client innocent. Why? Because he realizes that he IS innocent and it reignites his passion for actual justice instead of simply perfection, an ideal that was instilled in him by a man who as it turns out was never really looking out for his best interest.

Edgeworth is very secretive, and for a good reason - he believes that he accidentally killed his own father, and thus is willing to go to jail (or worse) for another crime he didn't commit, knowing that proving his innocence in that crime would bring up his past. It leads to one of the best cases in the entire series, and Edgeworth struggling to let go of his perfectionist ideals after von Karma is disgraced, but Edgeworth's REAL shining moment is in my absolute favorite case, 2-4. After disappearing for months and leading the audience to believe he has died (which nobody believed), Edgeworth comes back for the ultimate case, worth both with AND against Phoenix, by helping him rescue Maya, as well as stalling the case as long as possible, while still fighting for a guilty verdict and urging Phoenix to let go of the innocent verdict. They end up uncovering the real villain and saving both Maya and Adrian together despite being pitted against each other because ultimately they are fighting for the same thing from different angles - justice. This is further proven in 3-5, when Edgeworth briefly sits in the defense attorney's seat.

Just like Phoenix, Edgeworth's frustration with those around him is another big part of his character. Although he has significantly less patience for foolishness and ignorance, his facial expressions and occasional breakdowns are still fantastic. He also delivers some of my favorite objections in the entire series, particularly, "I was hoping to come up with an objection while objecting," and, my all-time favorite, to a rambling Larry, "GO AWAY!" Ace Attorney remains one of my all-time favorite franchises, and no doubt the biggest part of that is Edgeworth.
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Indeed! Verily, I say... ergo!
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Well I did NOT expect this next write-up to take up multiple posts. I thought only my #1 was going to do that...
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3. Nathan Drake (Uncharted: Drake's Fortune)

No doubt about it, a huge, huge part of what drew me into the Uncharted games and made them one of my all-time favorite series was Nathan Drake himself. Aside from having a design that just LOOKS like he should be a treasure hunter, he serves perfectly as a modern-day Indiana Jones. But there's so much more than that.

Drake himself is not unlike a lot of chaotic-good heroes - a little carefree, very reckless, and a mouth that frequently gets him in trouble with his friends and enemies. But he's also extremely loyal, even to people that he has no reason to be, like when he tries to save Eddy in the first game or Jeff and later Chloe in the second game. He'd do anything for Sully, Elena, or Sam, and despite all his flaws, seems like an all-around wholesome person. The lengths he's willing to go to save the day even when faced with seeingly unsermountable odds and the way he's willing to give up treasure to do what's right just make him a really great, if a bit cliched, protagonist.

The third and fourth games though really give us some much needed backstory on him. We get to see that this treasure hunting isn't just a hobby of his, but a passion that goes back to childhood - going on small adventures with Sam. One of my favorite chapters in the entire franchise comes late in the fourth game when they break into the old lady's house and find out the truth about their mother, and adopt the name Drake and vow to continue her work. Everyone always says that the fourth game really ties everything together nicely, and that's a big part of why.

Now here's something that happens to Drake that really got my gears working and that sets him aside from most other protagonists, even those in the moral grey - It's actually pointed out, in the narrative, just how many lives he has taken over the course of his adventure. At the end of the second game, Lazarevic points out that he and Drake aren't so different in how many people they have killed to get to where they are, and it does make you question if taking all those lives, innocent or not, is worth what Drake has accomplished. It really puts into perspective that in-universe, grunts are still people, still lives. I just thought that was a really cool moral dilemma that few other main characters in games have experienced.
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I'm not going to go into the romance between Drake and Elena again, but everything I said about it in my Elena write-up applies here too. The only thing I'll add is that, in spite of all the groaning he does when he first runs into her each time, they do a good enough job with it to make me actually believe he loves her. But one of the best little things about Drake as a protagonist is all the little bantering he does over the course of the games while you're just moving along, whether it's with his partners or if he's just on his own. He's always got something witty to say, and it's ALWAYS situational - never any stock quotes like a lot of other such characters have. It just makes the game flow by so much nicer because you feel like you're really playing a character instead of an avatar, even when you're just traversing the level. And here's the thing - I didn't much care for it when Chloe did this in Lost Legacy, so it really was Drake's not-so-serious nature that made this the gold that it was.

Overall I just really love Drake as a character and I know Naughty Dog said his adventure is over, but wouldn't it be cool if they make an Uncharted 5: Drake's Legacy, where Cassie becomes obsessed with her parents' adventures and goes out in search of, I don't know, Atlantis, and there's a subplot where Drake and Elena go after her? That would be so awesome. I definitely hope this character's story isn't truly done. Oh, and movie. Movie movie movie movie movie. Please. Even just adapting the games into movies. The first game is short and contained enough that it could easily be made into a two hour movie without cutting anything significant. The rest would have to be closer to 2.5 hours and cut some stuff, but still. Just do it.
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props to Naughty Dog for making what couldve easily been a bland Indiana Jones knockoff into one of the most lovable and compelling protagonists of last generation
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Drake is absolutely a great and lovable character. Really helps to sell the game on the strength of his charisma alone. Props too to Nolan North for his great performance

Not sure where he'd be in my list but top 10 seems certain.
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