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

[Pak-Man]

It's time at last for the list of the:

TOP 50 VIDEO GAME CHARACTERS!!!

Here we gooooooooo!

[Pak-Man]

#50 Ratchet and Clank

(37 Points) 2 Lists - Highest Ranking - #4 spaceforarent

Clank: What are stones? Do I have them?
Ratchet: I'll tell you later, and, no.

List of Games:

Ratchet & Clank
Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando
Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal
Ratchet: Deadlocked
Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters
Secret Agent Clank
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty
Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time
Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One
Ratchet & Clank: Going Mobile
Ratchet & Clank: Clone Home (Canceled)
Heroes On The Move (Upcoming)

Just the facts/Stuff I wiki'd:

Ratchet is a Lombax native to the planet Fastoon and is the main protagonist of the Ratchet & Clank series. Ratchet is 15 years old, 5 feet tall and, as of Ratchet: Deadlocked, weighed 97.5lbs (44.3kgs). In Ratchet & Clank, Ratchet is voiced by Mikey Kelley. In the following Ratchet & Clank games, he was voiced by James Arnold Taylor. He is also the son of Kaden, who was killed shortly after Ratchet's birth.

Clank, real name XJ-0461[2], is a small robot, programmed with artificial intelligence, and Ratchet's long-time companion and best friend. He was born at the robot plant on the Planet Quartu but he was created in the Great Clock. While Clank's serial number was B5429671, the name "Clank" emerged when Ratchet made his handmade ship rock while flying to Planet Novalis, causing the small robot to hit the side of the ship and making a clank sound. This became his nickname throughout his adventures with Ratchet. The Zoni referred to Clank as the "Chosen One". Clank's father was a Zoni named Orvus.[3] After meeting Orvus for the first time Clank became the senior caretaker of the Great Clock but later Clank promoted Sigmund to be the senior caretaker in his place.

Originally, Clank had been part of a production line of sentry-bots at the Robot Plant on Planet Quartu, which had sentry-bots that were meant for Drek's assistance. However, due to what was believed to be a mishap but may actually have been the manufacturing robot gaining a conscience, Clank appeared on the conveyor belt as a small, harmless robot, instead of a large, dangerous sentry-bot. Clank watched an Infobot video of Drek's plans to create a new planet using other planetary components, and was then forced to rush off Quartu; robots had begun chasing him, classifying him as a production error. Clank seized control of a spaceship and took off in space, but was shot down and crashed on the Kyzil Plateau of Planet Veldin, where Ratchet found and took him back to his handmade ship. Clank showed Ratchet the infobot video of Chairman Drek and informed him that he wanted to contact Captain Qwark - Clank believed that only the famous captain would be able to stop Drek's menace over the galaxy. Clank proposed to start Ratchet's ship using his latest robotic ignition system, in exchange for a ride to planet Novalis where he would begin tracking down Captain Qwark.

Trivia:
Ratchet is voiced by James Arnold Taylor, who has provided voices for CGI and Video Game versions of Obi Wan Kenobi and Plo Kloon, from various Riffed Star Wars movies and "The Fallen" from the video game version of the riffed Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

Clank is voiced by David Kaye, who has taken turns voicing both Megatron and Optimus Prime in various cartoons.

Pak's Thoughts -  Ratchet and Clank is one of those game series I've always meant to tackle head-on, but never quite got around to it. The fact that some fairly well-known characters are sitting at #25 bodes well for the rest of the list! Stay tuned!

[Pak-Man]

#49 Razputin

(37 Points) 2 Lists - Highest Ranking - #3 Relaxing Dragon

Sasha Nein: Young man, I hope you've learned a lesson here today.
Razputin: Yes, I have. That shooting things is fun and useful!

List of Games:

Psychonauts

Just the facts/Stuff I wiki'd:

Raz is a ten-year-old boy who was raised in the circus. He showed considerable psychic potential at an early age, but was forbidden to use his powers by his father, who commanded him to constantly practice difficult acrobatics , leading Raz to believe that he hated him for having psychic abilities. (In truth, his father was himself a psychic and feared for Razputin's safety, hoping that demanding physical training would help him develop discipline over his mental powers as well.) Shortly before the events of Psychonauts, Raz runs away from the circus and breaks into Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp, where the game takes place.

For reasons not explained in the game, a family of gypsy psychics from a rival circus family cursed Razputin's family to always die in water. Whenever Raz enters water deeper than a few inches, a supernatural liquid hand attempts to grab him and pull him beneath the surface. The Psychonauts manual refers to this eerie hand as the Hand of Galochio, which is named for the family that imposed the curse.

Trivia:
Raz is the only major character in Psychonauts whose surname is not mentioned (many minor characters' last names are given as well), but one level features a poster depicting the name "Aquato" and a group of acrobats, one of whom resembles Raz's father, and one of whom wears goggles like Raz himself. If this is Raz's last name, it is quite ironic in light of the Curse of Galochio his family bears.

Raz is voiced by Richard Steven Horvitz, who is best known as the voice of Invader Zim.


Pak's Thoughts -  Psychonauts is one of the coolest games ever made, and I have a feeling this entry is going to have a lot of people smacking their foreheads for forgetting Raz (I know I did.). I'm really glad he managed to squeak onto the list.

[Pak-Man]

#48 - Niko Bellic

(37 Points) 5 Lists - Highest Ranking - #6 - Rattrap007t

War is where the young and stupid are tricked by the old and bitter into killing each other.

List of Games:

Grand Theft Auto IV
The Lost and Damned
The Ballad of Gay Tony


Just the facts/Stuff I wiki'd:

Niko Bellic is the main protagonist of Grand Theft Auto IV. He is 30 years old, and grew up in the Balkan country of Yugoslavia in Eastern Europe, where he fought in the Yugoslav Wars. Michael Hollick (main), Sam Glen, Bas Rutten, Amir Perrets and Mario D'Leon (the main voice/motion capture actor of Luis Fernando Lopez) performs Niko's motion capture.

Niko is very protective of his family and loved ones, particularly his cousin Roman, whom Niko constantly has to worry about due to his gambling habit, and Roman has an indiscreet nature of frequently getting the pair into trouble. He is withdrawn among strangers, but has good manners, and shows a softer side with love interests like Kate McReary and Michelle; that said, the horrors of war, both witnessed and perpetrated by Niko, have given him a great sense of guilt, and an ambivalence about the value of human life — he warns away pursuers and expresses regret over his past violence, but also feels that killing is all that he can do, readily taking on jobs which necessarily involve murder. He has an explosive temper when he is betrayed, manipulated, or his loyalty is questioned, but he is also quick to help the defenseless and unfortunate, even those he merely meets in passing; he apparently possesses a sense of idealism which was wounded by his wartime experiences. Unfortunately, such a split attitude leads to hypocrisy — Niko, for example, appears to genuinely sympathize with the McRearys' grief over the demise of one of their brothers, despite having secretly committed that murder himself.

Niko's bitterness at the murder of his friends during the war has consumed him, and he is unable to let it go, taking on several highly dangerous jobs merely to enable his quest for vengeance. Several of his friends, most notably Roman, urge him to find a new reason to live, and there a many morality choices for Niko to emphasize his trait.

Niko's businesslike manner usually leads him to behave more maturely and cautiously than his acquaintances, although with acquaintances like Brucie Kibbutz, Bernie Crane and Roman, this is no surprise. He has an apparent distaste for illicit drugs, turning down Little Jacob's offer of marijuana and warning against Packie's cocaine habit; he also finds it distasteful to traffic in cocaine and particularly heroin, although this may be due to the heavy jail sentences they attract as much as any moral qualms. He is skeptical of American mainstream culture, which he sees as shallow, hypocritical and debauched, and has trouble relating to Roman's fascination with the country.

Niko has a certain degree of pity for other people, even random strangers, and feels obliged to help others who cannot help themselves. Most missions involve Niko doing jobs for money, particularly one occasion, after meeting a troubled young girl; Marnie Allen, he even gives her some of his own money multiple times to help her out.

Niko almost always refuses alcohol when it is offered to him (he asks for water in the mission Ivan The Not So Terrible) except for the mission The Holland Play where Playboy X pours him a glass but immediately before taking a sip, Niko changes his mind and puts the glass on a table. There is a scene where Niko does drink a glass of Vodka (on the rocks) in the mission One Last Thing while talking to Jimmy Pegorino, but this is understandable considering what he has just been through. Niko does however enjoy a drink, but knows the time and place for it. He refuses alcohol outright in instances where he needs to keep a sharp mind, such as during missions.


Trivia:
Niko is voiced by Michael Hollick, who hasn't done much outside of GTA and various Law and Order characters.

Pak's Thoughts -  The Grand Theft Auto series just never grabbed me. The addition of the "Sandbox" style of game was an important addition to the history of games, and the games seem to get bigger and bigger with each new one, but I just can't get in to it.

[Pak-Man]

#47 - Lord Fawful

(37 Points) 2 Lists - Highest Ranking - #6 - Asbestos Bill

Your lives that I spit on are now but a caricature of a cartoon drawn by a kid who is stupid!

List of Games:

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time
Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story

Just the facts/Stuff I wiki'd:

Fawful (known as Lord Fawful by his minions) is an eccentric Beanish character who is a recurring antagonist in the Mario & Luigi series. He is notable for speaking in grammatically incorrect English and making obscure food metaphors (e.g. "And this battle shall be the delicious mustard on that bread! The mustard of your doom!"). Fawful is a mechanical genius, but his common sense suffers due to his extreme fury which often causes him to act in a delusional manner.

There are multiple theories as to the origin of Fawful's name. One theory is that his name is based upon the word guffaw, which means "hearty laughter", something which Fawful engages in on numerous occasions. Another common theory is that his name is a pun of awful, upon which his personality is built. It could also be based on both. It could also be a word play with the food falafel, as many of the characters are named after bean based foods.

Fawful's extreme rage makes him a psychopath, often harming others without cause or sympathy. Fawful only cares for Cackletta in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and frantically helps her when she is hurt. Yet, Fawful's speech prior to his final battle against Mario and Luigi reveals that he's very disturbed at how it was his genius that allowed Cackletta to live on while he remains a lackey and lets her obtain all the power and glory. This was apparently the start of Fawful's true lust for greater power and gratification, having had enough of serving others and allowing his genius to be used for their own gains and not getting anything back in return, not even recognition.

Fawful delights in taunting his enemies before obliterating them Fawful is quite deranged, he has several megalomaniac desires, and aspires to create great chaos in the world. He lusts for the ultimate dark power and does not care for the consequences that it would bring to the rest of the world, willing to let it be plunged into endless chaos with millions of lives being consumed by his warped desires.

Fawful is also arguably the most self-absorbed villain in the series, building statues in his honor wherever he goes, hosting shows about him, speaking of himself in third person in honor, constantly making speeches on his genius, and even giving his army his own likeness. To further show off his image, Fawful created several Fawful merchandise sold to his minions.

Trivia:
In Japanese versions, Fawful adds strings of "ru" onto every sentence, sometimes even saying "Fururururu". In French versions, Fawful speaks with a strong accent, exaggerating when aspiring the letter R, and frequently saying "Fuyuyuyuyu" ; he also does strange metaphors. In German versions, he stutters. In the American Spanish Versions, he speaks a literal translation of Engrish to Spanish. In the European Spanish versions, he speaks in a very refined Spanish with a lot of set phrases. He speaks, also, with a slight tone "enthusiastic".

Pak's Thoughts -  Another great character I didn't expect to make the cut. Lord Fawful MAKES the Mario & Luigi series. My brain does this weird thing where when I've been doing a lot of reading (Or playing a lot of text-heavy games) my internal thought processes (The voice in my head as I perceive it) starts to mimic the speech patterns of  any distinctive voices in whatever I've been reading. Lord Fawful always gets right into my head, and the phrase, "I have chortles!" has actually run through my brain on more than one occasion. Am I the only one this happens to?

[Pak-Man]

#46 Eddie Riggs

(38 Points) 2 Lists - Highest Ranking - #6 - FLOCK of RABID SHEEP?!?!

It smells like a whale... ate some cabbage... and died in your mouth... like a year ago.!

List of Games:

Brutal Legend

Just the facts/Stuff I wiki'd:

Eddie is proclaimed as the "greatest roadie of all time", and supports that fact throughout the game. He is able to build the Deuce from spare parts summoned at the Temple of Ormagoden, and later organize and lead the armies of Ironheade.

He is also a skilled guitarist, able to perfectly read tabulature and shred with Clementine surprisingly well. He can use the Separator almost perfectly, even though he admits that he'd never used an axe before. Eddie is also very strong. As he was assembling the Druid Plow he lifted its body and frame with ease. He's also shown carrying large amp towers for the Roadies to carry when gearing up to assault Lionwhyte's stronghold.

Eddie's personality can be immature at times, and he is almost always sarcastic and snarky. However, he also knows when it's time to be serious, and is an efficient and capable leader of men. He also knows that, as a roadie, his place isn't in the leadership of an army - a fact proven upon his initial meeting with Lars Halford. Eddie is also friendly and a good advisor, when people (Lita, Kage, and the Headbangers) have doubts of what they can do, Eddie supports them and helps them realize how strong and powerful they really are. Eddie also has a strong sense of justice in him when someone is being attacked or discriminated, like when Doviculus killed both Lars and Ophelia, Eddie would stop at nothing to defeat him and avenge his friends.

When it comes to Ophelia, Eddie can't help but feel strongly about her. He was partly jealous of Lars when Ophelia acknowledges him instead of Eddie, but he doesn't let it change the way he thinks of his friends.

Trivia:
Eddie is, of course, voiced and modeled after Comedian/Actor/Musician Jack Black, who hasn't been in anything that's been riffed, which is surprising if you look at some of his movies on IMDB.

Tim Schafer (Game Designer) explains that he got the idea for using a Roadie as the main character for a video game when he met one of Megadeth's roadies, Tony.

Pak's Thoughts -  Confession Time: we got this game for Christmas and we're still only about an hour in. This will have to be remedied soon. I can tell I'm going to love this game, and I can see why Eddie made the list. Tyrant (Being the metalhead of the two of us) has declared that the game rocks SO hard she can't play it, and can only watch me play it.

[Pak-Man]

#45 - Big Daddy

(38 Points) 2 Lists - Highest Ranking - #5 - lassieface

Poor things... what a life. Marchin' around playin' Daddy until some splicer manages to kill off their Sister... and then if the coma doesn't take 'em they turn maniac... nothin' left to do but scream. - Augustus Sinclair

List of Games:

Bioshock
Bioshock 2

Just the facts/Stuff I wiki'd:

Big Daddies (originally named as Protectors) are genetically-enhanced human beings who have had their skin and organs grafted into an enormous diving suit, with Alpha Series being an apparent exception to the grafting process but still heavily spliced. Their primary purpose is to protect Little Sisters while they escort them around Rapture.

Aside from the Alpha Series, Big Daddies communicate by haunting sounds similar to that of whale calls. Alpha Series communicate with low, inhuman moans. For easier interpretation, lights were added to the helmet to display what state of emotion or mind that the Big Daddy is in. Big Daddy helmets have three light colors: green indicates the Big Daddy is hypnotized and friendly, yellow indicates awareness of but indifference to his environment, and red indicates a rage towards assailants. If the first few attempts to drive away potential threats prove futile, Big Daddies will become enraged, unlike Alpha Series who always begin enraged.

There are currently 5 distinct types of Big Daddies:
Bouncer


Bouncers are clad in a very unique heavy diving suit, the entire torso of which is covered by a high-gauge metal carapace. The head protrudes directly forward from the upper chest area, and is encased in a hemispherical helmet studded with eight lit portholes. A large, fully-functional conical drill is attached to the right arm just forward of the elbow, and is used for powerful melee attacks. The Bouncers get their name from an attack they use, in which they strike the ground with their drills, resulting in a tremor that gives close-proximity enemies unstable footing.

The Bouncer is a very offensive kind of Big Daddy, and his charge attack can be both annoying and effective. These Big Daddies focus on brutal close range attacks. With the five-in-a-row technique (five trap bolts in a row) it is very easy to kill this type of Big Daddy.

Both a regular and a red striped Elite version with a harpoon-like drill appear in BioShock and BioShock 2.

Rosie


Rosies are clad in a basic heavy diving suit, the upper torso of which is covered by a high-gauge metal carapace. The head is guarded by a high-gauge metal diving helmet welded to the torso carapace, and has three large lit portholes. They wield large rivet guns and Proximity Mines at long range, and use the rivet gun for powerful melee attacks as well.

The Rosie is both a defensive and offensive type of Big Daddy, so it is a good technique to use armor piercing rounds or rocket propelled grenades (RPG) on it. The proximity mines he throws can also be sent back to him with Telekinesis. These Big Daddies focus on long range attacks and evasive maneuvers.

A red striped Elite version is present in the original BioShock.

Rumbler

The Rumbler is the newer type of Big Daddy. It debuts in BioShock 2. His arsenal includes deployable Miniature Turrets and RPGs. This Big Daddy type seems to be more mobile than the other two types, although less armored. Its combat style gives it an advantage in open spaces, unlike its two counterparts, and it seems to fare well in long to mid-range combat. Its attacks are designed to keep the player on the move, and it can quickly turn the environment to its advantage and give the player as little cover as possible.

Alpha Series


Like Subject Delta, other failed prototypes of the Alpha Series of Big Daddies survived. They have long since lost their Sisters, and have devolved into something vaguely like a Splicer. These are barely sentient monsters that attack anything near them. Like Delta, they can use plasmids and regularly emit bursts of Electro Bolt, Incinerate!, and Winter Blast from their malfunctioning suits. They tend to use Launchers and Machine Guns in addition to their plasmids. Their armor is similar to Delta's, but have more decayed armor with part of the arm exposed.

Their bonds are to a single Little Sister, Delta being the first successful. Because of this they are believed to not have undergone some of the modifications modern Big Daddies have such as the ingestion of pheromones since there is no need due to their physically enforced bond to a single sister and they weren't fused to their suits (as Subject Delta could remove his helmet when he was ordered to by Sofia Lamb when Hypnotized). A lot of the Alpha series appear to have had incomplete or otherwise faulty bonds in that instead of slipping into a coma, a lot simply went mad.

Lancer

Minerva's Den, the upcoming Single Player DLC for BioShock 2, will feature a new type of Big Daddy. This Big Daddy is much slimmer, slightly taller, and more decorated than his counterparts. He holds a Ion Laser, and holds a striking resemblance to the Deco-Rosie, as seen in concept art and a Single-Player statue.

Trivia:

There are five "named" Big Daddies so far in the BioShock series:

* Knuckles, a friend of Louie McGraff, was apparently turned into a Rosie
* Mark Meltzer, who was turned into a Rumbler after being captured by Sofia Lamb in BioShock 2
* Subject Delta, the Alpha Series protagonist of BioShock 2
* Augustus Sinclair, who was turned into the last Alpha Series, Subject Omega, after being captured by Sofia Lamb in BioShock 2
* Subject Sigma, the Alpha Series protagonist of the Minerva's Den campaign for BioShock 2


Pak's Thoughts -  Some games are defined by the hero character. Some games are defined by the end-boss. Bioshock is one of the only games I can think of that's defined as much as it is by one of the more standard bad guys. They have this perfect blend of awesome and terrifying that make for an awesome video game baddie. There's an actual sinking of the chest that takes place when you hear that wonderfully awful moan/roar.

[spaceforarent]

Geez, Ratchet and Clank pretty much only made it because I didn't bother to organize my list. Though I guess they would have been pretty high anyways.

[mr.b.natural]

I debated Razputin but I was still mad at the game for being to hard at the end to beat it.  And then the game froze.   

[Pak-Man]

BONUS ENTRY

The Adventurer

List Of Games:
Adventure (Atari 2600)

Let's hear it for the Adventurer. This One-Pixel (Pixels were BIG back then) character has slain fearsome duck-looking dragons in his quest to obtain the golden chalice! His game is believed to have launched the adventure gaming genre, so without this brave adventurer, we might not have had many of the game characters that made this list!

Trivia:
The internal angles of The Adventurer add up to 360 degrees!

To determine the area of The Adventurer, multiply his length by his width. (Your TV screen may vary!)

[Smoky]

Ok, then. Nothing from my list yet. In fact, nothing I've even heard of yet.

[Pak-Man]

And that's all you get for today. I'll post more at the same time(ish) tomorrow! (Maybe another bonus entry tonight if you're good and I'm up to it. :^))

[Invader_quirk]

Only Fawful from my list so far. Hope they're higher up!

[mrbasehart]

Razputin wasn't on my list...

[FLOCK of RABID SHEEP?!?!]

Yay one of mine got on there already lol