Do you know about these most influential video game characters

Updated on September 08, 2022 11:16 AM by Andrew Koschiev

There was a time when Mario and Sonic would be the first characters to cross your mind when talking about amazing video game characters. But the times have changed. Now, everyone has a different taste. Yes, we agree! The most influential personalities range from super spies to arch villains to brawlers to redoubtable heroines.

But wait! Before we dive in, a note about 'influential' that we try not to be confused with similar terms such as innovative or beloved. We tried to measure simple characterological impact, whether in gaming or beyond.

While a legend like Nintendo Mario usually tops such lists and deservingly so, it might overshadow his converse lack of impact in the gaming world. However, the list below has one character from every series to avoid overrepresentation.

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Let us dive into the list of the most influential gaming characters.

The Z-Shaped Tetris Block

Long before 2048 or Candy Crush touched us, we had Tetris. It was an addictive, timeless loggia puzzle by Alex Pajitnov, a Russian game designer. The game was first released back in the year 1984.

Out of all the tetrominoes, the Z-shaped block is, without a doubt, the most annoying; one wrong place, and you'll never be able to get hold of it again. That's why such games are so irresistible – the impression is that winning or even losing is just a choice away.

And when you err one time, you convince yourself you'll rectify it the next time, encapsulating the gamers in a self-enforcing, time-consuming black hole. It is true for almost all the puzzles, but no other game can exemplify the concept the way the Z-shaped Tetris block does.

Diablo

Beating the devil can be hard, and Bizzard's legendary wicked sovereign can be a brutal adversary if not properly paid attention to. He is the lord of terror, the most powerful of the supreme evils, the liar disguised as the dark wanderer, and the impulsive rival at the core of the apocalyptic chapter in this Judeo-Christian mythos-filled gothic fantasy series.

Not only this, but he is also the gaming world's standard blunder, a limitless damage sponge in which all the gamers put a game's strategical preparation, informed by massive looting, shrewdness catalog shuffling, and potentially streamlining – the finger-cramping signature against which all the gamers' hack and slash mesh are measured.

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Vault Boy

Most of the blackly and penetrating comedy in the modern-day video gaming world feels as if it is standing on the shoulders of this fearless, cheerful, and full-of-determination mascot Fallout series.

A blue-eyed, blonde-haired, cartoonish young man following Mr. Monopoly (nee Rich Uncle Pennybags), his character epitomizes chance actions, character stats, and otherwise boring math in post-catastrophe roleplaying capers of Bethesda.

But, his irreverent spectrum of disposition and glorious absurdity and gate, ranging from horrible segmentation to enlarged giggling, makes him a Pythonesque icon of the gaming world.

Big Daddy/Little Sister

It doesn't feel right to divide this character binary which lies at the core of Irrational's cosmologically frightening BioShock games. Therefore, we included both – the series' prohibited jumping suit-imprisoned mutants (Big Daddies) and their flexible, electric-eyed urchin wards (Little Sister).

The duo's dynamic investigations (producing magical stem cells from the dead bodies), brutal retaliation, and symbiotic cooperation, when irritated by catalyzed tides of experimental A.I. ecologies in the sequel games, stressed gamer messing and coming results.

But we shouldn't forget how much they enhance the type of Cronenbergian building body horror we all have seen in games such as Inside, Soma, and Dead Space.

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Shodan

Deranged conscious computers, long antecede gaming, and cyber-terrorist corridor crawler System Shock's stinging, glitch-tongued Shodan should be in debt to its precursors such as HAL of Kubrick and Clark.

Yet, there was something both distinct and exquisite about Tribe's alt-rocker-inspired voice by Terri Brosius to the character. Shodan was just like a black widow spider, a godlike presence, a paralyzed whose seductive amazement and stammering mischief made her one of the most memorable antagonists of the gaming world.

She would no doubt endorse that she is chained in the commencement of the plenty of game villains since it looks like a type of poetic immortality.

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Solid Snake

Traditional wisdom says that Metal Gear Solid by gaming director Hideo Kojima's surreptitiousness series basis' Solid Snake took inspiration from badass mutterer Snake Plissken of Escape from New York.

Kojima disagrees, attributing his glum, cigarette-smoking super-cunning spy's codename to banal zoological literalism (and the adjective "solid" as little more than an alliterative gimmick for toughness).

In any case, Kojima's landmark 1998 PlayStation masterpiece Snake's paradoxical vice-virtues and Eastwoodian calmness resonate across a lot of what has since arisen.

One of the fascinating antiheroes in video games is Snake, a peculiar, identity-scrambled mercenary genius who is contemplative and passionate, stern and cynical, simultaneously pacifist yet military-minded.

Scorpion

The PG-13 rating you see on the front of every video game you buy these days? You can credit Mortal Kombat, a game that was so brutal and graphic (even in its crude 16-bit form) that it sparked congressional hearings on video game violence and ultimately led to the creation of a games rating board.

Of The PG-13 rating that you see on the front of every video game, you buy these days? You can credit Mortal Kombat, a game that was so brutal and graphic (even in its crude 16-bit form) that it sparked congressional hearings on video game violence and ultimately led to the creation of a games rating board.

Scorpion, a spiteful undead ninja infamous for thrusting a chain-linked spear into adversaries' chests, is the most representative of its colorful murderers.

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The Sims

How would it feel to play God? With The Sims, a series of games where you have a significant influence over the outcomes of the computer characters you create, you can get a taste of that awesome power.

Nobody ever "beats" The Sims, unlike other computer games, but much like in real life, the point is in the social connections made along the way.

The immensely successful series created by original designer Will Wright gave rise to the life simulation subgenre, which has since spawned everything from virtual reality experiences like AltspaceVR to the forerunner of simulated reality, Second Life.

Master Chief

Microsoft's first gaming console, the Xbox, would likely have failed if the company hadn't acquired Bungie. Why? Halo: Combat Evolved, a sci-fi shooter released in 2001, and its instantly likable lead character, Master Chief, arrived with Bungie.

Halo had excellent voice acting for the time, but "Chief" kept to himself, providing players with a blank canvas on which to express their personalities. The abundance of Master Chief cosplayers you'll see at any gaming conference proves they have.

Since then, every space-based shooter, from Mass Effect to Destiny, owes something to Master Chief (as does Microsoft, whose Xbox brand strongly relies on the Chief's notoriety to sell games and systems).

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Sonic

Sega felt it needed a game to compete with Nintendo's Mario during the console wars' peak in the late 1980s. Thus, the speed demon hedgehog known as Sonic was created. Sonic is the antithesis of the jovial Italian plumber.

Sonic was a blue-and-white punk rock rocket that moved quickly across colorful levels while displaying a strong sense of independence and attitude. His gruff grin and edgy haircut summed up Sega's approach: to target the teenagers growing out of Nintendo's family-friendly games.

The dude-with-a-influence dude gave rise to a variety of quirky video game characters, including Bubsy, Conker the Squirrel, and Rayman, in addition to Crash Bandicoot and Earthworm Jim.

Link

Link, the main character in each game in The Legend of Zelda series, personifies the selfless hero on a transforming journey, a storytelling pattern we've seen in innumerable games, from Commander Shepherd in Mass Effect to Master Chief in Halo.

He portrays the reserved chosen one in most of these games, making his presence known by his willingness to undertake dangerous missions to save those significant to him (most notably Princess Zelda).

But the Zelda video games also place a lot of emphasis on reincarnation: Each game has a different hero. He is forced into a dilemma and does not know the previous cycles of the series (also highly useful if you want to focus on gameplay iteration).

Everything, even Hideo Kojima's video games, is permeated with the idea of the hero returning with no powers.

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Pickachu

This electric mouse with lemon fur and zigzag tails became the symbol of a franchise that is still quite successful 20 years after its inception.

With 20 seasons and as many films, Pikachu has become one of the most known and well-liked sidekicks in pop culture thanks to his role as the mascot of the Pokémon franchise and his bond with his master in 1999's Pokémon Yellow.

His impact can be felt in everything from Atlus' Persona series to Bandai Namco's Ni No Kuni games. He represents a series about collecting magical creatures and using them in combat.

Pac-Man

It is said that a pizza missing a slice, or simply a change in the Japanese character for "mouth," served as Pac-inspiration.

Man's No one can dispute the impact of this fabled Wakka-walking, dot-swallowing, homophobic hero, though. Nothing about the character was revealed in his 1980 arcade debut other than an implied, insatiable need to eat everything.

He nonetheless chewed his way into players' hearts, conveying a message to aspiring designers that a standout, instantly known protagonist coupled with an absurdly straightforward gaming mechanic may go a long way toward making something a smash.

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Lara Croft

Unlike a few other characters, Lara Croft, the protagonist of the Tomb Raider franchise, has undergone drastic changes. When she first appeared in 1996, she was a weird mashup of female empowerment and objectification: an obnoxiously busty daredevil sporting a pistol and wearing shorts and a skintight top.

After a dozen games, the franchise's 2013 remake, at last, gave females realistic body proportions, the same badass fortune-seeking attitude, and the kind of dispositional subtlety usually associated with male heroes.

In an interactive medium where women make up more than 40% of users as of 2016, old-school Lara Croft represents much of what is wrong with female representation, but new-school Lara Croft has a lot to say about what is great.

Peach

Peach, the recurring victim of princess kidnapping in Nintendo's Mario franchise, epitomizes the problematic stereotype of the damsel in distress, which has been present in various forms of popular culture since antiquity. Bowser is typically kidnapped by her Super Mario appearance and used as fuel for Mario's advancement.

Her dialogue mainly consists of calls for aid, making her a dimensionally flat character (in, to be fair, generally dimensionally bland storylines).

That's not to suggest Nintendo hasn't made an effort to improve things recently: She is a playable character in Super Mario 3D World and has skills that could put her ahead of Mario and Luigi.

She is also a fan favorite in numerous spin-offs, including the Mario Kart racing games and the Super Smash Bros. brawlers. Arguably, it is