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The 50 Greatest Video Game Characters (Empire)

This was inspired by this thread Alyx Vance is the best female character in a game...

I did an exhaustive search for this:

http://www.empireonline.com/features/50-greatest-video-game-characters/default.asp?film=50

Empire said:
With this in mind, and after much soul-searching, arguing and quiet contemplation, we have painstakingly assembled our list of the greatest gaming characters ever devised. Most will be old friends, some will be new acquaintances but each and every one is a standout - be they cultural icon, inspired innovation or a masterpiece of character design. The rogue's gallery of gaming legends starts here...

I must admit there are quite a few I had not heard off, and as with most lists there will be a general discordance with it.

Here is the list:

50. Ryu Hayabusa
49. Dirk the Daring
48. Donkey KOng
47. The Horned Reaper
46. Vault Boy
45. Marcus Fenix
44. Leon Kennedy
43. HK-47
42. Sam & Max
41. Pyramid Head
40. Dr. Fred Eddison
39. Mr X
38. Dante
37. Pac Man
36. Big Daddy
35. Prince of Persia
34. Alucard
33. The Announcer (Unreal Tournament)
32. Miner Willy
31. Kane
30. Manny Calavera
29. Garrett
28. Harman Smith
27. Ryu
26. Samus Aran
25. Arthus Menethil
24. Sabre Man
23. Bowser
22. Nathan Drake
21. Agent 47
20. Duke Nukem
19. Solid Snake
18. Alice
17. Illidian Stormrage
16. Brucie
15. Kratos
14. Sonic
13. Cloud Strife
12. Glados
11. Minsc & Boo
10. Sephiroth
9. The Lemmings
8. Master Chief
7. Guybrush Threepwood
6. Link
5. Lara Croft
4. The Nameless One
3. Shodan
2. Mario
1. Gordon Freeman
 

glaurung

Member
They say Master Chief is better than Solid Snake - list invalidated.

Oh, and they also misspelt Arthas from Warcraft.
 

Majmun

Member
I can live with Gordon Freeman being #1. But I'll still shit on this list because Raziel from Soul Reaver hasn't been mentioned. One of the best game characters out there.

And yeah, Pac-Man is way too low.

Oh well...
 
Why did we need both Cloud and Sephiroth in the same damn list? There are plenty of Final Fantasy games out there. Some actually have good and interesting characters, as well.
 

Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
At least they got #1 right.
 

Darkman M

Member
I can taste the tears already yum!

osstpf.jpg
 

Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
Hakkuei said:
Wtf is Mastershit doing here ? And #8 ?! C'mon...
What are you doing Chief?!

"Finishing the fight"

That got him up at least 30 places.
 

Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
McBradders said:
Gordon Freeman isn't a fucking character
:lol :lol :lol
 
RichardAM said:
Master Chief is one of the leading characters of our medium? When did shit get this bad?

It's been that way for a long time now.

McBradders said:
Gordon Freeman isn't a fucking character.

Come on, Gordon, crank that thing!

The worst she might do is attempt to "couple" with your head, fruitlessly.



This is where I get off....
 

McBradders

NeoGAF: my new HOME
Yoshichan said:
:lol :lol :lol

Tell me something about Gordon Freeman that doesn't take place within Half Life or its sequels. It's just the name of a floating crowbar, man. A crowbar that has a beard and glasses.
 

jorma

is now taking requests
Second said:
Brucie over Solid Snake? what?

A lot of obscure PC characters on that list.

Brucie is a good and memorable character, there are a lot better candidates for "What?! How can they put x over y?"-outrage than him.
 

szaromir

Banned
Monocle said:
Quite possibly the worst list in history.
Ummm... what's so wrong about this list? A bunch of great characters didn't make it (Gabriel Knight, April, Alyx), a bunch of shitty characters did make it (e.g. Square Enix ones, Blizzard ones), but you'll never agree with an arbitrary list of "50 greatest something" unlessit's your own list and even then you might still not agree with it the day after making such a list.
 

BGBW

Maturity, bitches.
Another list by people who have most likely never play a videogame in their entire life. They most likely compiled this list from searching videogames in Google and finding the first 50 unique names and then let Wikipedia do the rest. Where are the classic characters like White Unicycle from Uniracers or the Cola Cans from Llamatron?
 

Joe White

Member
DeaconKnowledge said:
Normally I don't care about stuff like this, but Mario not being number one is some serious bullshit.

If I remember correctly, there was recently an voting for greatest gaming hero or something similar on gamespot, where Mario and Gordon were the finalists. Gordon won that too, so there might actually be some reason for his winnings.
 

BobsRevenge

I do not avoid women, GAF, but I do deny them my essence.
List is surprisingly good.

You know.

Considering its one of those lists.

edit: OH SHIT! Brucie is the guy from GTA4! I completely forgot. Dude deserves it. What a great character. One of the funniest ones in gaming.
 

plasmasd

Member
I know everyone complains about placement, but, but, Snake at 19? Wtf? He's only saved the world multiple times, always comes with a standard pack of smokes and has been relevant for 23 years. LOLz I shall not complain anymore about stupid lists
 

Igo

Member
Anyone willing to do a list? No way i'm going through 50 pages. I hate when sites pull that shit.

I don't get the Freeman love. He's the least interesting thing about Half-life. GLaDOS is the best 'character' that universe has to offer.
 

Yoboman

Member
The list doesn't seem to know if it wants to be naming the best character or most recognised character, especially towards the end
 
Igo said:
Anyone willing to do a list?

Working on it, I will update the OP soon.


Yoboman said:
The list doesn't seem to know if it wants to be naming the best character or most recognised character, especially towards the end

Quite, I think that needs to emphasised when reading the list. It is not the most iconic/recognisable characters.
 

Widge

Member
Gordon fucking Freeman? You may as well have a mouse pointer for the emotional attachment you get from him.
 

JoeBoy101

Member
Interesting list. People can bitch, but it strikes me as a well-formed list with a diverse selection not just from the 'big names'.

Also,

If you're looking for the one of the most original, inspired and fascinating character since gaming began, then look no further than The Nameless One, star of Black Isle's game-changing RPG, Planescape: Torment.

Did they correct it?
 

Yoboman

Member
Lara Croft number 5? Come on, not only is she completely irrelevant now but she was never a good character to begin with. It's like putting the cast of the 70's Charlies Angels in the top 10 TV characters of all time
 
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