It wasn’t Lara Croft, either. Or Master Chief. Or Link or Snake or even Mai Shiranui.
No, the winner in a surprisingly tasteful – and thus highly enjoyable – contest was Half-Life’s Gordon Freeman. I say surprisingly because Shodan, the terrifying villain from System Shock 2, came in third, while Planescape Torment’s “Nameless One” was fourth. Those are straight out of Awesome Stadium’s left field.
The Empire staff compiled a list of 50, and you can read the results at the link below. Sadly, the cantankerous old “WANT SOME RYE” guy from Return to Zork didn’t make the cut.
The 50 Greatest Video Game Characters [Empire]
Jimu_Hsien
Tuesday, June 1, 2010 at 2:45 PMThe dog from DuckHunt.
Junkz0r
Tuesday, June 1, 2010 at 3:20 PMDUKE NUKEM! No brainer really.
Paul
Tuesday, June 1, 2010 at 3:33 PMBoos Miller didn’t make the cut? Outrageous.
The Cracks
Tuesday, June 1, 2010 at 3:36 PMThat picture of Mario makes me think of some Russian uber-god figure leaving destruction in his wake…
EzyLee
Tuesday, June 1, 2010 at 3:56 PMPretty surprised to see PacMan at 36!
Doug Sherry
Tuesday, June 1, 2010 at 4:12 PMThe stereotypical Italian plumber can suck it, our silent theoretical physicist is number 1!
Tertius Zyl
Tuesday, June 1, 2010 at 4:19 PMLets not forget Roger Wilco!
EzyLee
Tuesday, June 1, 2010 at 4:45 PMJason from Heavy Rain.
“JASON! JASON!….. JASON! JASON!”
Jimbo
Tuesday, June 1, 2010 at 5:44 PMJimmy and “Bimmy” from double dragon or perhaps cats from zero wing.
Michael
Tuesday, June 1, 2010 at 6:10 PM“Want some rye? ‘course ya do!”
Loved that game.
Dire Wolf
Tuesday, June 1, 2010 at 6:29 PMWhy the hell does everyone like Gorden Freeman? He is a terrible character in a terrible game.
El Phantasmogoro
Wednesday, June 2, 2010 at 2:57 PMGood to see you posting on the razor’s edge again, Wolfie, my man! Everyone in the world is wrong and you are the only one who sees the truth.
Also: HOLY SHIT SHODAN YESSSSSSSSS
Benjamin Sutton
Tuesday, June 1, 2010 at 7:51 PMHonestly, I thought it was a terrible list. But like Luke said, it’s totally subjective.
AussieSniper
Wednesday, June 2, 2010 at 12:27 AMIt’s a shame very few of those characters actually have “character” if you know what I mean.
Richard
Wednesday, June 2, 2010 at 12:36 AMI think this needs to be split in two – “characters” and “avatars”.
Those who speak are characters, those without voice are avatars.
i.e., Gordan Freeman = Avatar
Sephiroth = character
They’re different kettles o’ fish.
Shane
Wednesday, June 2, 2010 at 8:14 AMGordon Freeman and Mario were the last two standing in the Gamespot best character thing too, IIRC.
Nathan Holmes
Wednesday, June 2, 2010 at 8:58 PMBub and Bob were.
Jake
Wednesday, September 1, 2010 at 8:02 PMNo, I’m sorry – but the biggest game character of all time REALLY is Mario. As a whole – the Mario series of games is the most popular series of all time – and therefore I believe that this countdown was somehow rigged.