LoC #39 - Top 50 Video Game Characters - HIGH SCORES

[Compound]

Sister Miriam Godwinson (Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri)

Evil lurks in the datalinks as it lurked in the streets of yesteryear. But it was never the streets that were evil.
-- Sister Miriam Godwinson, "The Blessed Struggle"

List Of Games:
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri

Trivia:
Born 2014, Athens, Georgia, father a high-ranking member of the Evangelical Fire. Baptized in River of Fire at age 7; attended series of religious schools, including College of the Covenant. Received Ph.D. in psychology from Yale University.

Abundant charisma led her to position as ranking Psych Priest of Heavenly Diocese; later appointed U.N. Honorary Psych Chaplain for Re-integration Forces sent to countries decimated in Crusader Wars. Reassigned stateside when native populations elevated her to a cultlike religious figure (the 'Prophet Phenomenon' often coinciding with post-nuclear madness).

Political pressure for the reconciling of the secular and the spiritual led to her appointment as Psych Chaplain, U.N. Alpha Centauri Mission.
Following the destruction of the Unity and the fractionalization of the colonists, Godwinson formed the faction than became known as "The Lord's Believers."


Why I Be Hatin':
Alright. This one actually requires description. Miriam was disliked for two reasons. One, she was an overtly religious character in the game, and some folks get a bit wonky anytime religion shows up. But more people disliked her due to gameplay.

See, Miriam's faction were (pre-expansion) the spy masters of the game. She'd send a constant stream of probes toward you to steal your tech, then to destroy your buildings and disrupt your production. This drives many players crazy as if you're unable or unwilling to start a fight, you can't do anything about it, other than try to stop it with probes of your own. And hers are better than yours. It's the gaming equivalent of someone continually slapping you, claiming that they saw a bug.

But then Godwinson's personality came into play. See, most factions could be reasoned with. The Spartans won't attack you if your military is strong. The Gaians will get along with you if you're being nice to Planet. But Miriam is nuts. She starts off surly and gets less pleasant over the length of the game. To make matters worse, her disadvantage in the game is that she dislikes the evils of technology, so she'll be behind in the tech race throughout the game. But she never recognizes this.  You can be decades ahead of her, with grav tanks to her little laser armed speeders a dozens of cities to her handful, but she will still think that she can take you. She's the ten year old who keeps trying to start a fight with an MMA fighter.  And as a result, after a few games many SMAC players quickly developed a "Kill her first" strategy. Not because she was the most dangerous. Just because she was the most annoying.

[Compound]

Garrosh Hellscream

Crawling in my skin. These wounds they will not heal....

List Of Games:
World of Warcraft


Trivia:
Garrosh Hellscream is the son of Grom Hellscream, a former chieftain of the Warsong clan, who freed the orcs from their demonic curse by killing pit lord Mannoroth. With the reopening of the Dark Portal, Garrosh was invited into the Horde by Thrall himself, quickly advancing to the position of personal advisor of the Warchief. Garrosh led the Horde troops into Northrend.

Garrosh is well-known for his fierce hatred of the Alliance and frequently expresses his desire for the Horde to go to war with its rival faction - a notion Thrall has always opposed.



Why I Be Hatin':
Garrosh is one of those "author's pets" characters that the folks behind the game love but the actual players intensely dislike.  When you first meet him as a member of the Horde, he's sitting in front of a fire, being one of the world's only emo orcs. (Alliance players who meet him instead get attacked and guards appear. I did often see nearby Horde players clapping as we attacked though.) During that time, you run quests for Mr. Whiney for about 4 levels before thankfully heading elsewhere.

And then in the expansion, you run into him again, and this time's he's backtalking to the actual Horde leader, a character people actually like. He gets more and more responsibility throughout the expansion, much to the players' disgust. And in the next expansion, he's become the leader of the entire faction. And he's the mouthpiece for a viewpoint in the game that the players who actually pay attention to the lore generally roll their eyes at. (As in "The real enemy is the Alliance, not the throngs of undead ice warriors lead by the Lich King who want to kill all living and bring back the elder gods.")

Dealing with the guy is an immense pain, and it's only going to get worse soon.

[ColeStratton]

Game over, man!

Here's my list...you can tell I kinda stopped playing video games heavy duty once I got past high school, so it's a lot of 8-bit NES stuff (and Turbo Grafx 16, Sega Genesis, etc.)


1. Mario (Super Mario Brothers)
2. Bald Bull (Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!)
3. Bonk (Bonk's Adventure)
4. Link (The Legend of Zelda)
5. Toad (Super Mario Brothers II)
6. Carmen Sandiego (Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?)
7. Samus Aran (Metroid)
8. Chung-Li (Street Fighter II)
9. Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic the Hedgehog)
10. Pac-Man (Pac-Man)
11. Pitfall Harry (Pitfall)
12. Simon (Castlevania)
13. Sir Arthur (Ghosts n' Goblins)
14. Dirk the Daring (Dragon's Lair)
15. Q-Bert (Q-Bert)
16. Kid Icarus (Kid Icarus)
17. Thyra the Valkyrie (Gauntlet)
18. Hiryu Lyons (Strider)
19. Lizzy (Rampage)
20. Guybrush Threepwood (The Secret of Monkey Island)
21. Rygar (Rygar)
22. Mike Haggar (Final Fight)
23. Max (Sam & Max)
24. The Lemmings (Lemmings)
25. Lara Croft (Tomb Raider)

BALD BULL! He's keeled over on the floor from the stomach punch you all just gave him...

[Compound]

I did an entry for Navi as well (Hey!) but Pak already got that one, meaning I wasted my time writing that one up last night. Grrrr...

Anyway, here's my list.

1) Kyle Katarn (Dark Forces/Jedi Knight)
2) Adell (Disgaea 2)
3) The Nameless One (Planescape: Torment)
4) The Murlocs (World of Warcraft)
5) Kane (Command and Conquer)
6) Frank West (Dead Rising)
7) Etna (Disgaea series)
8 ) Alexandra Roivas (Eternal Darkness)
9) Alex Munro (Star Trek: Elite Forces)
10) The Spemin (Starflight 1 &2)
11) The Space Marine (Doom)
12) Prinnies (Disgaea Series)
13) The Prince (Katarmari Series)
14) Tali (Mass Effect)
15) Ellis (Left 4 Dead 2)
16) Jade (Beyond Good & Evil)
17) Minsc & Boo (Baldur's Gate)
18) Alan Wake (Alan Wake)
19) Elise Riggs (SSX)
20) Alicia Melchiott (Valkyria Chronicles)
21) Bernard Bernoulli (Maniac Mansion/Day of the Tentacle)
22) Gordon Freeman (Half Life)
23) Claptrap (Borderlands)
24) Ben (Full Throttle)
25) Faith Connors (Mirror's Edge)

Worst:
the Dog (Duck Hunt)
Navi (Zelda)
Tingle (Zelda)
Any Character that I Have to Escort in a First Person Shooter
Sister Miriam Godwinsson (Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri)
Teddy (Persona 4)
Garrosh Hellscream (Warcraft)
Magikarp (Pokemon)

But seriously? No Sora?  No one from Left 4 Dead? (And I've seen people here playing it.) No Kratos? (Okay, that I can understand. He is unlikeable.) No one from TF2?  Or Mass Effect? Come on folks. Go. Hunt. Kil Skuls. Er, Play More Games.

[Compound]

21. Moby (SSX)

Hrmph. Heretic.

[spaceforarent]

But seriously? No Sora?  No one from Left 4 Dead? (And I've seen people here playing it.) No Kratos? (Okay, that I can understand. He is unlikeable.) No one from TF2?  Or Mass Effect? Come on folks. Go. Hunt. Kil Skuls. Er, Play More Games.

I considered Sora, didn't make it though.. Did have someone from both L4D and TF2 though, Bill and the Scout. BONK!

[Johnny Unusual]

Wow, that was a really good list.  Great job Pak-Man.

I lost my list but I remembered that I had Ico at number one.  Great character who is very subtle and is great to play as.  I also included the King of All Cosmos (from Katamari Damacy) who was a god who basically destroyed the universe during a particularly bad bender.  Also CJ from GTA San Andreas (my favourite GTA protagonist) and the following:

Um Jammer Lammy

Ryu Hayabusa

The Ouenden (Osu! Takatae! Ouenden! is one of the most fun game series ever)
Basically the premise is the Ouenden (manly, male cheerleaders) find people who are in trouble and cheer them on to greatness.

(Tripe will probably want to check this one out)

[Invader_quirk]

Love Ouendan more than anything. I bought Elite Beat Agents and just had to import Ouendan 2.

[Tyrant]

Well, I didn't think she'd pull #1 (I think we all knew that spot would be claimed by Mario), but I'm happy my girl Samus made the top 5.  I can say from first hand experience that Pak's main love in life (besides me*) is videogames, so he made a huge effort to make the list as cool and special as possible. I think he did a great job. 

*If he knows what's good for him. 

[Asbestos Bill]

11) The Space Marine (Doom)

Who's a man and a half? I'm a man and a half!

[Compound]

11) The Space Marine (Doom)

Who's a man and a half? I'm a man and a half!

Hey, that's outside of the games. It doesn't count. Besides, I could drag the Doom novels into this, and they're even stranger than the comic.

[Compound]

And, BTW:



I have no idea if John means the video game version of Space Hulk, or the earlier and then later board game version. (Or maybe he means the upcoming card game. Space Hulk's been around the block a bit. I'm pretty sure that Jane Austen used  it as a setting in one of her books.)

[PsychoGoatee]

Fun topic, a lot of my favorites didn't make it though, no love for Max Payne? That guy is a poet.  Here's my list.

01. Solid Snake (Metal Gear Solid)
02. Duke Nukem (Duke Nukem)
03. Max Payne (Max Payne)
04. Terry Bogard (Fatal Fury/King of Fighters)
05. Mai Shiranui (Fatal Fury/King of Fighters)
06. Otacon (Metal Gear Solid)
07. Chun-Li (Street Fighter)
08. Revolver Ocelot (Metal Gear Solid)
09. Claire Redfield (Resident Evil)
10. Big Boss [Naked Snake] (Metal Gear Solid)
11. Guile (Street Fighter)
12. Roger Wilco (Space Quest)
13. James Sunderland (Silent Hill 2)
14. Tifa Lockeheart (Final Fantasy VII)
15. Leon Kennedy (Resident Evil)
16. Meryl Silverburgh (Metal Gear Solid)
17. Mega Man (Mega Man)
18. Garrus (Mass Effect)
19. Kratos (God of War)
20. Simon Belmont (Castlevania)
21. Princess Peach (Super Mario Bros)
22. Commander Shepard (Mass Effect)
23. Sub-Zero (Mortal Kombat)
24. Tommy Vercetti (Grand Theft Auto: Vice City)
25. Mario (Super Mario Bros)

[Asbestos Bill]

1. Alyx Vance - Half-Life 2
2. GlaDOS - Portal
3. Dog - Half-Life 2
4. Dr. Breen - Half-Life 2
5. Maya Fey - Phoenix Wright
6. Fawful - Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
7. Fox McCloud - Star Fox (Especially the first two and Command)
8. Leon Powalski - Star Fox
9. Ridley - Metroid
10. Midna - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
11. Andrew Ryan - Bioshock
12. Phoenix Wright
13. Kaepora Gaebora (the owl / sage) - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
14. Donkey Kong
15. Wario
16. Samus Aran - Metroid
17. Kirby
18. Spitz - Warioware (I could see doing Dribble and Spitz as one entry, but if I have to pick...)
19. K.K. Slider - Animal Crossing
20. Bowser - Mario games (especially in the RPGs, where he gets to talk more and has a completely different personality)
21. Tetra - The Legend of Zelda: Windwaker
22. Yoshi - Mario games
23. Weighted Companion Cube - Portal
24. 9-Volt - Warioware
25. Master Hand & Crazy Hand

I thought Dog had a chance, but I guess two characters from Half-Life is enough.

Bonus votes:

"Gang A" - Hogan's Alley
Error - The Legend of Zelda: The Adventure of Link
Tingle - The Legend of Zelda: Windwaker
"Stranger" (The guy who sells you stuff) - Resident Evil 4 (Great video related to this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oXx0qwe0wc)
Bouhammer (not sure how to spell it. The sassy lady who flies one of the Pelicans in Halo)
Freecell - He plays cards and doesn't afraid of anything.
The Qix rainbow...thing. Or the sparks.
Bad Dudes (I don't know their names)
CATS - Zero Wing
Evil sun - Super Mario Bros. 3
Glass Joe - Punch-Out!!

No CATS? Inconceivable!

[Relaxing Dragon]

21. Moby (SSX)

Hrmph. Heretic.

Moby Jones doesn't need your love