Top 25 Video Game Heroes of All Time

There are any number of things that make a video game memorable: excellent gameplay, breathtakingly gorgeous graphics, an engaging story, unexpected full-frontal male nudity, etc. But one thing that is guaranteed to make games stick in players' heads like a pickaxe after a mine explosion are quality characters. A visually distinct hero with a great personality (and nowadays well-delivered dialogue) can change a game from just being a fun diversion to something that is an absolute blast to play. And don't doubt for a second that well-designed characters are responsible for changing some of the best games into some of the best franchises. It's high time that some of these folks got the credit they deserve.

[Bonsai1214]

but if Master Chief is #1, i will stop coming to this site...

i'll edit and post my thoughts after reading this.

EDIT: ahh, i'm actually glad they didn't just put all the mainstream characters in there.. while the top three were essentially give, i was happy that the "Longest Journey" characters were in the top 5, along with Jade from BG&E. I'm a little shocked that they didn't put Cloud in, but the inclusion of Vivi and Kain made it all better. (i'm surprised they remembered Kain)

but the inclusion of Master Chief and the exclusion of Gordon Freedman just angers me..

[Kleptic]

completely agree with you...I was suprised that Dante from DMC was missing too, as well as cloud...but they hit a more classic FF hero, so it would be tough anyway...and yeah...Gordy should have been in there, as well as BJ blaskowitz if they are going to have any FPS people invovled...he kind of started it all...

[Dr Pepper]

Why is there no Garrett from Thief? Why is he not up there? He is definitely a hero...and he has a green mechanical eye, which is badass.

The master-thief is not up there. This list is flawed.

[THAMMER1]

I list from game lemon? Good thing they are nobody because this list is all wrong(IMO).

[gta_cb]

what does IMO mean?

[Dr Pepper]

It stands for: In My Opinion

[gta_cb]

oh right, cheers mate lol, must seem like a weird question as i have been here for a while, but i never bothered to ask till now =D

[Charlie2688]

Link ranks 1 you know the list is a joke...

there were so many characters that I dont know what the hell were they doing there...and so many missing

[Dr Pepper]

At least it wasn't Master Chief

[Charlie2688]

Agreed :D

[FadeToBlack]

At least Master Chief isn't a fairy.

[gta_cb]

lol, i havnt read it yet, but is #1 a fairy?

[tony]

sam fisher? riddik? Gordon Freedman? hello?

[toughNAME]

you seem so desperate/scared

halo series isnt even over

[Dr Pepper]

What? I was just saying I'm glad he wasn't first because it would seem like every list would do that. I'm not saying Halo is a bad game or that Master Chief is a stupid character, I'm just saying it would seem very cliche.

I know the series isn't over and I plan on playing the third one. I'm just mad that the master thief was beat by the master chief.

[Charlie2688]

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

"you seem so desperate/scared" that doesn’t even makes sense in the context...well coming form a fanboy...we cant expect much from you do we?

[eques judicii]

number one no nonsense badass

damn straight.

[ngg12345]

kratos owned master chief.

[darkdoom3000]

so sad...dante's not in there..
Snake was beaten by link? WTF?
zelda is so overated...

[Uganda64]

Mario AND Link over Snake?

Correction: Mario AND Link on a top 25 heroes list?

[iceice123]

Saving the princess is clearly more important than the world...

[Daxx]

Lol, that chart is so biased.

[Leathersoup]

Where was Kate Archer?! Damn she had more games than Jade did...

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

At least Master Chief is there

[gogators]

in a hero verses hero cage match? I'd probably have my money on HK-47.

[MySwordIsHeavenly]

Here's some:

Dante (devil may cry)
Wanderer (shadow of the colossus)
Leon S. Kennedy (resident evil 2 & 4)
Sora (kingdom hearts)
Cloud...COME ON!!!
Chick from NOLF

Seriously though, Wanderer takes it...

A hero does what a hero was destined to do in an epic quest of courage and passion. You guys honestly think Master Chief shows that??? You obviously don't know what a hero is. He's just another marine...he doesn't help anymore than any of the other marines. He's INSIGNIFICANT!!!

I dare master chief to scale that 16th colossus, dual Vergil to the death, or take down Sephi!!!

[Charlie2688]

if we go to include MasterChief why not include

the marine from Doom
the ranger from Quake
the marine from Quake 2
Corvus from Heretic
the warriors from Hexen

etc.

[The BS Police]

Heros are not perfect, they lose more battles than they win them.

The Masterchief has fought many battles, but at the sametime the Covenant would obliterate UNSC fleets and glass human colony, after human colony.

The Masterchief has been fighting and winning battles since grade school, then he was kidnapped by ONI (Office Of Navel Intellegence) and that was when he began traning to become a Spartan.

He is not invincible, but at the time he is deadly and profficient in war.

Untill another videogame character can do waht the Masterchief did in this video, you can't diss the Masterchief.

[dominusbellum]

do you even know what the master chief is there buddy i have a small feeling you have no idea what The Chief is capable of?

[Xi]

seriously,
ryu from ninja gaiden
gordon freeman
tommy(gta3)
conkers
cloud

personally i don't think kratos should be on there.

[silent ninja]

where ryu hayabusa?????????????????

[Dr Pepper]

Garrett (Thief)
Sam Fisher (splinter cell)
Agent 47 (Hitman...can he be a hero? whatever)
Agent Thomas (Condemned)

well, that's what I have at the moment.

[Charlie2688]

I think agent 47 counts as an antihero...you could also include Kratos as one too

[Dr Pepper]

But 47 is still an awesome character, maybe if there was a best character list instead of hero list it would be better.

[mcintosh233]

HE'S MY HERO

He's a nice compassionate helpful guy

[BIadestarX]

I think we can all agree that this list sucks. I mean... Mario... Link the biggest Heroes of all time!? Why? Cause they both saving a stupid princess? AHHH AHAHA! Yeah... sure... Mario you are my hero... cause you get to save the same stupid pricess on every single game... and to make thing worst... against the very same bad guy.

[00]

How the hell did a plumer and a fairy be first and second? somethings not right.

[gta_cb]

oh yeh lol, and another thing is Mega man! i mean yeh ok i seen my lil brothers watching it on TV months ago, and yeh i even watched a couple episodes (not my choice) and there was some good ideas which could be used well in a game, but seriously number 11?! there are soo many characters which should be higher then number 11 yet there not even included.

i am glad it didnt say anything like, the nation voted these the best or something as i couldnt see it being like this.

[Genki]

I now GoW is fairly recent...but saying that the game made waves is even an understatement...

This man took down a God, took his throne and then embarked on yet ANOTHER epic quest...sorry Link, but Kratos > you. For the record though, I wouldn't put either at the number 1 spot, but I still think Kratos is better than Link.

Interesting read though.

[Bonsai1214]

he was included

[Sashy]

...that Snake should be on the number One. how many super missions havent he completed to save the entire world :P ? Well, I havent played non of the Link games but It seems to me that you are the greatest hero if the whole world know that you saved the world (panjoras mask?) while nobody knew who Snake was when he saved the world (Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater?).

Dont ya think so?

[MK_Red]

Terrible and weak list. Where are classics? WTF where is Sonic? Lara Croft? Scorpion and Sub-Zero? Gordon Freeman? Jak and Daxter / Ratchet and Clank? Planescape Torment characters?
And Where in the time and place is DUKE NUKEM!??

And why the hell there are weaker characters like Roger Wilco and Minsc. Dont get me wrong, I loved those games and Baldurs Gate 2 is one of my all time favorites but there are far better characters in that game and many other series.

[Quicksilva]

BEST HERO OF ALL TIME IS SOCKY.....

Fact ^_^

[Maldread]

Snnnaaaaaaake... no doubt about it. I can`t see how Cloud isn`t in this either.

Even though each can make his own list and there`ll always be some disagreements, i must say i find it strange to see Mario as number two. As far as i`m concerned he can be flushed down the toilette he was supposed to fix (but didn`t).

[InMyOpinion]

What about Sub-Zero or Scorpion? The list sucked anyways...

[gta_cb]

got to say that i cant believe with Halo being such a huge game for Xbox/ Xbox 360 that hes number 21.

anyway when reading why hes not higher then number 21 i got to say this kinda made me laugh

"Actually, the only things we really know about the Master Chief is that he's some kind of elite cyborg soldier and that he's really, really good at killing. Just like grandma."

like grandma?... wow didnt realise she was so kick ass ;)

[pandarus]

would have to say i have no problem with MC being where he's at. my main concerns are how a ryu hayabusa, dante, or sam fisher aren't on the list. those guys are seriously just bad-ass. i guess if/when another NG comes out, ryu may make a list like this, even though you could include his old NES games that were hard as hell.

[AbyssGravelord]

I believe that Master Chief should have been in the Top five IMO, and where the hell was Fox?!!?? I mean fox is one of the most badass aircraft flying foxes!!!

[Clinton514]

Lame character. Not to mention poor and not so witty one liners.

[The BS Police]

Actions speak louder than words.

[toughNAME]

they may not be witty but MC has some kick ass one liners

"To give the Convenant back their bomb"

"Sir, finishing this fight"

"I wouldn't wanna piss this thing off"

[NYG009]

WTF where the hell is Marcus, Dom, Baird and of course the unstopable Cole.

[PS360PCROCKS]

Wooooo BABY!

[jaOSYH261nsw29m]

No Particular order really

PS Heroes

Jak and Daxter
Tidus
Sepiroth(?)
Snake
Sora, Donald & Goofy

Xbox Heroes

Master Chief
Sam Fischer
Banjo & Kazooie
Revan & Malak
HK-47

Nintendo Heroes

Link
Mario
Luigi
Samus

PC Heroes

Illidan
Arthas
Tassadar
Vivec and Dagoth Ur
Martin (Akatosh)

[mcintosh233]

This is blatently an individual's favourite characters.

I very much doubt if a proper survey was carried out it would yield the same results.

(ps Balls list most of my 'heroes' aren't there, but then again if i had wrote the list the same reaction probably would have followed)

[Xi]

i just want to see conkers, and Cloud strife.

[BitbyDeath]

I didn't even know who half of them were.... Obviously this was done by a Nintendo fan as that was where 99% of the characters came from.

How's Leisure Suit Larry a hero? Where's ICO?

[wolfgang]

Well its not everyday you see an ugly midget banging so many ladys, thats where is hero statut came from :)

[The Snake]

Happy to see Solid Snake, HK47, Kratos, Minsc, Master Chief, Samus, and Earthworm Jim.

Would have liked to see Sam Fisher, Tanya from the Command & Conquer Red Alert games (that broad is hardcore,) Dante, Raziel from Soul Reaver, the Prince of Persia, Sweet Tooth, Blasto, the wolf from Okami, Cloud or Barret (gotta love the gatling gun arm,) Leon Kennedy, Boogerman, and Nick Scryer from Psi-Ops to name a few.

[Eagle Eye]

I dont agree with that list Mario second? Where is the GREAT Lone Wolf Squall from FF8. lol When I was a kid I wanted to be like him cool calm and cold to everybody lol. THE good old days.