Personal favorite video game villains?

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Sander Cohen from Bioshock 1.

His mad personality just makes his character.

He wasn't so much a villain as much as he was a gatekeeper, someone who prevents you from progressing further until you complete x amount of tasks.

That said he was for me one of the most memorable characters in Bioshock.

As for actual villans,

GLaDOS and Wheatley (Portal series)
Dr Breen (Half Life 2)

 

[Fredvdp]

Ripburger in Full Throttle, Count Bleck in Super Paper Mario, and Sovereign in Mass Effect.

 

[cynicalandbored]

I love Sarah Kerrigan as the Queen of Blades in Starcraft and Brood War. Not so much in Starcraft II. She was evil, sneaky, manipulative, surprising, and massively ruthless and genocidal. But you still couldn't hate her like you should, because you remembered her before she became Zerg. One of the best villain storyline arcs in any medium.

Soulblighter in Myth II. And Myth I, for that matter. In fact, any of the enemies in that. Shiver, The Deceiver, The Watcher... Balor was kind of boring to be honest. The others had much more character. But Soulblighter... The man cut off his own face and removed his heart as part of some kind of arcane ritual. He can transform into a murder of crows. And when he feels like he's about to be defeated he attempts to destroy the whole world by shattering an entire mountain range.

But yeah, Kerrigan first. Just entirely evil, without conscience, without mercy... Perfect.

 

[JemothSkarii]

Probably Virgil from DMC3, just mainly because he's a badass, and not ENTIRELY evil.

 

[dimensional]

If this wasnt a general best villian thread I would say Magneto but my favorite videogame villian come down to

Kain from Legacy Of Kain: Who is just plain evil.

Yup same here I absolutely loved that guy except for in Soul reaver where he wasnt that great but in the original Blood Omen he is awesome and I even finished the pretty bad Blood Omen 2 just because his character was so brilliant he is just a complete bastard and one of my favourite video game characters ever although I suppose it could be argued he wasnt a villain as such, damn I wish they would continue the story after defiance.

Selvaria Bles should also get a mention a sympathetic villain who has a strong character and is just a ridiculously powerful adversary, when you first meet her she is invincible and will completely decimate you if given an opening.

Golbez from FFIV would also be up there for the same reason as Kain except they completely ruined him right at the end the idjuts.

 

[Leopard]

Kain from Legacy of Kain. Evil, smart, manipulating, vampire, bastard.

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

Saren from Mass Effect has been mentioned and i'd agree for the same reasons.

Conversely I didnt like the Collector General/Harbinger from ME2 because there is absolutely no character there and apart from some cool catch phrases there are no villainous characteristics about him other than he's on the opposing team.

 

[DrunkWithPower]

Jackal from Far Cry 2, De Santa from Read Dead Redemption, and Baron Flynt from Borderlands. I'll even throw Whetley and the defunct turrets from Portal 2 up there.

 

[Vuavu]

Sephiroth, anyone?! haha and of course Ganondorf. And who could forget the Dahaka :O

 

[-Samurai-]

Vladimir Makarov from the Modern Warfare series.

The guy is responsible for the deaths of over 35,500 people, has killed 5 playable characters with 3 different pistols, and has the voice of a badass.

 

[rightoberto]

i know it's a comic book villin aswell but the joker from batman arkham city

 

[LittleBlondeGoth]

Kefka. Because he doesn't just threaten to destroy the world, he actually manages it halfway through the game, which takes some beating. He also cemented my fear of clowns. As if we needed any more proof that clowns were evil.

 

[SlaveNumber23]

Albert Wesker from Resident Evil, hes simply too cool for school.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqFUEyvxdvc

 

[CrashBang]

Kefka, Two-Face (my favourite Batman villain) and Wheatley.

 

[LawlessSquirrel]

Skull Kid, from Majora's Mask.

I enjoyed that you were taught to sympathize with him very early on in the game...a villain that's not evil, just mischievous and lonely. It's like Arthas' story, but from the perspective of a child.

He's a dark character, in a fairy-tale sort of way, and is only really a villain because his childish nature is making him act out against those that hurt him.

I don't know, maybe I just like it because it was a nice change to the whole 'I'm evil because I want more power/money/destruction' formula.

 

[Phil McCracken]

Borderlands
<img src="http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/12/129223/1782869-2011_05_07_00002.jpg" height=200>

But seriously, all the Batman Arkham Asylum/City villains were amazing. The Joker was better than any of the movie versions.

 

[Mannayz]

Huge toss-up between Kefka and GLaDOS.

Why Kefka? Every other villain I've seen in video games has failed at trying to take over the world or destroy it. Kefka pulled it off without a hitch. And he did it because he freakin' could.

Why GLaDOS? Because she was a great villain to listen to throughout my romp in Portal. I was actually a little sad when I incinerated her cores. She was such a joy. Why couldn't we have been friends?