Ten years later and Mario's still on top. Although as Yahtzee said there's nowhere the series can go now that they've gone to space.
Top Videogame Heroes of the Decade. First in a series
- Thread starter bioshockedcriticjrr
- Start date
Recommended Videos
Gordon Freeman.
Gordon Freeman again.
Gordon Freeman for a third nomination.
I mean, who else can liberate the planet from aliens and recite Ohms Law?
Gordon Freeman again.
Gordon Freeman for a third nomination.
I mean, who else can liberate the planet from aliens and recite Ohms Law?
The Smith Syndicate. Seriously, a dude in a wheelchair who can either kill you himself or use any of his 7 alter egos to do the job? Awesome.
All right, let me top eleven it. Why top eleven? Because watch the Nostalgia Critic, that's why.
Heroes:
Villains:
Moments: Oh Boy
Some Runners Up:
There's my top three top elevens (sort of). You don't like 'em, I could care less, they're just my opinions.
Heroes:
1. Commander Shepard. Always your own character, and yet always badass
2. Master Chief. Simple reasons of distinctiveness
3. The TF2 guys. Not any particular one, but they all are such memorable designs
4. Gordon Freeman. Because I would be crucified if I didn't include him (I actually prefer Chell and the L4D1 team, but then I'd sound like too much of a Valve fanboy)
5. Colton White from GUN. Not well known, but he expressed so much of the gritty western for me that I couldn't not include him
6. Batman. Because I finally felt like I could legitimately add him to a list of video-game characters
7. Marcus Fenix. See Master Chief.
8. James Sunderland. Oh come on, he's in one of the greatest games ever and you have to ask why?
9. I'm gonna say Prince of Persia for the new generation, because he's one of the most successful reboots of a character I've ever seen, and I remember the original. (sort of)
10. Razz from Psychonauts, more on the strength of his game than him in particular, but there's something memorable about him nonetheless
11. Max Payne, for proving that you can do a good noir game on a console.
2. Master Chief. Simple reasons of distinctiveness
3. The TF2 guys. Not any particular one, but they all are such memorable designs
4. Gordon Freeman. Because I would be crucified if I didn't include him (I actually prefer Chell and the L4D1 team, but then I'd sound like too much of a Valve fanboy)
5. Colton White from GUN. Not well known, but he expressed so much of the gritty western for me that I couldn't not include him
6. Batman. Because I finally felt like I could legitimately add him to a list of video-game characters
7. Marcus Fenix. See Master Chief.
8. James Sunderland. Oh come on, he's in one of the greatest games ever and you have to ask why?
9. I'm gonna say Prince of Persia for the new generation, because he's one of the most successful reboots of a character I've ever seen, and I remember the original. (sort of)
10. Razz from Psychonauts, more on the strength of his game than him in particular, but there's something memorable about him nonetheless
11. Max Payne, for proving that you can do a good noir game on a console.
Villains:
1. Sovereign. For delivering the single most badass speech I have ever heard from a villain. 'You exist, because we allow it, and you will end, because we demand it.'
2. The Joker, because once more I feel like I can legitimately include him as a video-game character.
3. Kreia. Because I'm a Bioware fanboy, and because she actually seemed to represent what the Dark Side was about for me. Not the rage of Sion or the pointlessness of Nihilus, but the manipulation, and the inability to understand human decency.
4. Pyramid Head. Because he doesn't bloody do anything, yet he's so bloody well known. Alright I'm overexaggerating, but still. He's one of the most memorable villains of any geneation of consoles, and I actually find it hard to even definitively classify him as a villain.
5. I'm gonna cheat and say the zombies in general from Left 4 Dead. I would say the AI Director, but then I might as well blame the programmer, who isn't in the game. The zombies are terrifying, and if I may paraphrase Yahtzee, they actually feel like zombies, rather than obstacles to clear.
6. Lou from Guitar Hero III: Oh come on, you need a reason? how about he's the motherfrakking DEVIL! And that you play against him during THE DEVIL WENT DOWN TO GEORGIA! The most epic song ever. He's in there dammit.
I'll get back to you with the rest.
2. The Joker, because once more I feel like I can legitimately include him as a video-game character.
3. Kreia. Because I'm a Bioware fanboy, and because she actually seemed to represent what the Dark Side was about for me. Not the rage of Sion or the pointlessness of Nihilus, but the manipulation, and the inability to understand human decency.
4. Pyramid Head. Because he doesn't bloody do anything, yet he's so bloody well known. Alright I'm overexaggerating, but still. He's one of the most memorable villains of any geneation of consoles, and I actually find it hard to even definitively classify him as a villain.
5. I'm gonna cheat and say the zombies in general from Left 4 Dead. I would say the AI Director, but then I might as well blame the programmer, who isn't in the game. The zombies are terrifying, and if I may paraphrase Yahtzee, they actually feel like zombies, rather than obstacles to clear.
6. Lou from Guitar Hero III: Oh come on, you need a reason? how about he's the motherfrakking DEVIL! And that you play against him during THE DEVIL WENT DOWN TO GEORGIA! The most epic song ever. He's in there dammit.
I'll get back to you with the rest.
Moments: Oh Boy
1. It would be so easy to cheat and just put Mass Effect examples all the way down here, so instead I'm just going to give them this spot right here, and say that the entire first two games were a moment.
2. Halo 1, destroying the first Halo, and having to drive out of the damn base. Sure, some people hated the Warthog, but I liked it, so it's one of my moments.
3. Silent Hill 2: James Sunderland and the stairs. Oh God, the stairs...
4. Batman Arkham Asylum: Not a major story moment, but when you have all the fighting abilities, and you wade into a fight with ten or more armed thugs, and kick the everloving crap out of them as Batman. Runners up include the moment when you've taken out an entire room of guys, and there's only one left... It's that moment of dawning comprehension I live for.
5. Path of Neo: I know, I know, but I liked it, and especially the final fight against Smith, before he turned into the annoying as hell Monster Smith, was just badass. I loved it.
6. Saints Row 2: Not so sure, because the moment isn't exactly a moment. But the end, when you can finally look out and know you own everything, just makes you smile a little psycho smile.
7. Winning Guitar Hero (I'm going with 3, for consistency) playing Through the Fire and Flames while atop a flaming tower of rock just says something to my inner rock-star.
8. Max Payne: The first game that let us bullet time like we were in the Mstrix. There is no way this cannot go on the list. The first time you shoot dodge through the air and riddle your first thug with bullets. Sublime.
9. Tomb Raider Underworld: Yeah, I went there. In the grand finale, you face off against a demi-God while armed with the Mjolnir, and crash a gigantic mechanism which should bring about the end of the world, while playing as the greatest female heroine (IMPO) ever. It rocked for me.
10. Portal: Again, it's hard to choose, but if I had to I'd go with the first time you get out into the backstage areas, and find the now-meme scrawled on the walls. To realise what that means just makes you sit back and go, 'well that's not good.'
11. I'm kind of stuck for a final moment, because there's a lot of games I never played, and I also have a tendency to not count moments in cutscenes, but in the end I give this spot to Metal Gear Solid 4. The reason for this is that I didn't play the game much, only once on a friend's PS3, and so watched all the cutscenes on YouTube. For someone who played through all the other games, and had kept track of all that baffling story, and all that horrifically annoying, ever increasing cutscene to gameplay ratio, the ending, while all spelled out in cutscene, was satisfying to behold. It had closure, and that was all I ever wanted.
2. Halo 1, destroying the first Halo, and having to drive out of the damn base. Sure, some people hated the Warthog, but I liked it, so it's one of my moments.
3. Silent Hill 2: James Sunderland and the stairs. Oh God, the stairs...
4. Batman Arkham Asylum: Not a major story moment, but when you have all the fighting abilities, and you wade into a fight with ten or more armed thugs, and kick the everloving crap out of them as Batman. Runners up include the moment when you've taken out an entire room of guys, and there's only one left... It's that moment of dawning comprehension I live for.
5. Path of Neo: I know, I know, but I liked it, and especially the final fight against Smith, before he turned into the annoying as hell Monster Smith, was just badass. I loved it.
6. Saints Row 2: Not so sure, because the moment isn't exactly a moment. But the end, when you can finally look out and know you own everything, just makes you smile a little psycho smile.
7. Winning Guitar Hero (I'm going with 3, for consistency) playing Through the Fire and Flames while atop a flaming tower of rock just says something to my inner rock-star.
8. Max Payne: The first game that let us bullet time like we were in the Mstrix. There is no way this cannot go on the list. The first time you shoot dodge through the air and riddle your first thug with bullets. Sublime.
9. Tomb Raider Underworld: Yeah, I went there. In the grand finale, you face off against a demi-God while armed with the Mjolnir, and crash a gigantic mechanism which should bring about the end of the world, while playing as the greatest female heroine (IMPO) ever. It rocked for me.
10. Portal: Again, it's hard to choose, but if I had to I'd go with the first time you get out into the backstage areas, and find the now-meme scrawled on the walls. To realise what that means just makes you sit back and go, 'well that's not good.'
11. I'm kind of stuck for a final moment, because there's a lot of games I never played, and I also have a tendency to not count moments in cutscenes, but in the end I give this spot to Metal Gear Solid 4. The reason for this is that I didn't play the game much, only once on a friend's PS3, and so watched all the cutscenes on YouTube. For someone who played through all the other games, and had kept track of all that baffling story, and all that horrifically annoying, ever increasing cutscene to gameplay ratio, the ending, while all spelled out in cutscene, was satisfying to behold. It had closure, and that was all I ever wanted.
Some Runners Up:
1. Given that I sing her praises to the highest mountains I feel cheated at not being allowed to include Lara Croft, but she is from a previous decade. While I could have claimed the rebooted Lara Croft as a candidate, I still feel like she's the character from the old days, whereas the Prince of Persia had changed as a character for me.
2. Indiana Jones. Again, a toughie, since the games I liked the best of Indy were the LEGO game and the Temple of the Dragon Emperor's Tomb or whatever it was called. But again, he's still Indy Jones, he hasn't been changed significantly for a reboot or anything, so I couldn't include him.
2. Indiana Jones. Again, a toughie, since the games I liked the best of Indy were the LEGO game and the Temple of the Dragon Emperor's Tomb or whatever it was called. But again, he's still Indy Jones, he hasn't been changed significantly for a reboot or anything, so I couldn't include him.
There's my top three top elevens (sort of). You don't like 'em, I could care less, they're just my opinions.
Although the first and best game came out in 1999, it's sequel came out in 2006 so the character counts.
April Ryan from The Longest Journey.
She's one of the only characters ever portrayed in a videogame who I would genuinely like to meet if they were real. Most game characters tend to be overly butch murderous bastards, even the hero! But April, well, she's just an art student who gets drawn into something much, much bigger than herself. She reacts like a human would; she's insecure, afraid, confused, and often sarcastic all while still doing the best she can. And when the whole world decides to screw her over, she becomes bitter and cynical as any normal human would although that quirky sense of humor remains.
It's a matter of fantastic writing and spot on dialogue working together with excellent dialogue and an endearing personality. I genuinely *want* good things to happen for her, I want a 'happily ever after'. That's something books and movie strive to achieve and something games almost never do. Most games are content with 'badass' or 'cool', few bother to try and make a personality people can care about.
And for that reason April Ryan remains probably my favorite game protagonist ever, nevermind the decade. Zoë Castillo from Dreamfall: The Longest Journey is also extremely well done, but April remains my favorite.
Ragnar Tørnquist, the writer for the games, really needs to work on a few new projects. Even if it isn't the promised continuation of the Longest Journey series, I just enjoy the characters he creates and wish more game developers would try to do what he does so easily.
April Ryan from The Longest Journey.
She's one of the only characters ever portrayed in a videogame who I would genuinely like to meet if they were real. Most game characters tend to be overly butch murderous bastards, even the hero! But April, well, she's just an art student who gets drawn into something much, much bigger than herself. She reacts like a human would; she's insecure, afraid, confused, and often sarcastic all while still doing the best she can. And when the whole world decides to screw her over, she becomes bitter and cynical as any normal human would although that quirky sense of humor remains.
It's a matter of fantastic writing and spot on dialogue working together with excellent dialogue and an endearing personality. I genuinely *want* good things to happen for her, I want a 'happily ever after'. That's something books and movie strive to achieve and something games almost never do. Most games are content with 'badass' or 'cool', few bother to try and make a personality people can care about.
And for that reason April Ryan remains probably my favorite game protagonist ever, nevermind the decade. Zoë Castillo from Dreamfall: The Longest Journey is also extremely well done, but April remains my favorite.
Ragnar Tørnquist, the writer for the games, really needs to work on a few new projects. Even if it isn't the promised continuation of the Longest Journey series, I just enjoy the characters he creates and wish more game developers would try to do what he does so easily.
[quote}
My favourite Villian would have to be the Jackal from Far Cry 2. The game had many flaws but one of it's best features was how it fleshed out the villian and made you understand his motivations and state of mind. While most games have incredibly cliche and typical villians, usually just evil-crazy or evil-greedy arseholes, Far Cry 2 gave us a better and much more interesting character. Props also go to Sarren from Mass Effect, he seemed evil-crazy throughout the game until the final confrontation in which he revealed he was trying to save the galaxy through less confrontational measures, you were both going for the same goal.[/quote]
kinda jumped the gun there, but I agree with you on Saren, but I'll say why in my villains segment
My favourite Villian would have to be the Jackal from Far Cry 2. The game had many flaws but one of it's best features was how it fleshed out the villian and made you understand his motivations and state of mind. While most games have incredibly cliche and typical villians, usually just evil-crazy or evil-greedy arseholes, Far Cry 2 gave us a better and much more interesting character. Props also go to Sarren from Mass Effect, he seemed evil-crazy throughout the game until the final confrontation in which he revealed he was trying to save the galaxy through less confrontational measures, you were both going for the same goal.[/quote]
kinda jumped the gun there, but I agree with you on Saren, but I'll say why in my villains segment
The left paddle in pong. Ahhhh memories...
Well my vote is for Serious Sam.
A game where earth is dominated by aliens and it is up to you and your guns to save the world.
He was the Doom Guy for for the 2000s.
Well my vote is for Serious Sam.
A game where earth is dominated by aliens and it is up to you and your guns to save the world.
He was the Doom Guy for for the 2000s.
Um, while i think Gordon Freeman desrves his place, Link is my favorite, because he is the one i grew up with, OoT was the first game i got, and ive loved it ever since
Edit: 500th post, woo
Edit: 500th post, woo
Seriously. You know that a dev team knows what it's doing when they can give a wolf that can't talk a distinct personality.Daystar Clarion said:
I know what you mean, and I'd agree if this were based solely on how well known the character is, but since we're talking about how good they are overall, I'd have to agree with what you said at the beginning: the Arbiter. While the MC is not quite as bland a character as everyone says, it's still nice to have a protagonist who's actually a good, well written character, rather than a just not-bad one.Vrex360 said:
Top Hero: Shepard
Top Enemy: Atlus from Bioshock, for the fact hes the biggest dick in gaming to me.
Top Enemy: Atlus from Bioshock, for the fact hes the biggest dick in gaming to me.
I'm not going to make a comment on top hero or villain because that is going to be one great big skewed everloving shit-storm, but I will put my two cents in for a memorable moment:
The scarecrow sections of Arkham Asylum
The scarecrow sections of Arkham Asylum