I'm just here to list the top 5 video game archetypes for characters that people like. I give examples and what-not. You know characters that all are similar in personality and all that stuff. Read on.


5. The Cardboard Hero: This one is the honest truth, also I'm not necessarily insulting the guys in this one. Let's face it we all enjoy heroes who have barely any personality at all. Basically they're just: brave, strong and that's it. Are they sarcastic? Wise-cracking? Serious? Need an example?

Link hasn't said a goddamn line of dialogue for 14 games! No, really! And yet he's still commonly cited as one of the greatest video game heroes ever. Need more?

Aside from those closing lines at the end of SM64 and SMG, I haven't heard Mario utter a word either. Other examples include Samus, Pit and well pretty much everyone in SSBB's Subspace Emissary mode.

My Opinion: This is one of the things that I feel Nintendo can improve on. Don't get me wrong, Link is one cool badass at times but I think Nintendo really needs to capitalize on developing personalities for their characters. This is why my personal favorite video game hero ever is Jak.


4. The Megalomaniacal, Evil Dark Lord: Basically this is the evil Dark Lord who is out for world domination. In other words it's how you say "cliched". Somehow they're still popular. This is possibly best exemplified with the guy who has appeared in the # 1 spot of more villains list than any other bad guy in video game history.

Other guilty parties include FFV

the aforementioned Zelda series

Kingdom Hearts (Ninja's going to put my head on a pike for this one)

Gears of War

and Jak.


My Opinion: Like the previous category, I think this archetype normally works but needs to be retired badly. Hopefully video game makers can get that through their skulls after the abysmal villains that were Ganondorf in Twilight Princess and Yu Yevon in Final Fantasy X.


3. The Sociopathic Anti-Hero: This archetype doesn't come along often but when it does, that character is often prestiged by the fan base. A Sociopathic Anti-Hero is just that: basically they're wise-cracking, sarcastic, acting for their own selfish methods and tend to kill others if push comes to shove. It's semi-rare to find these kind of guys but perhaps the best example would be Axel from the Kingdom Hearts series.

Another good, but underrated, example would be the main character Crypto from Destroy All Humans 2, perhaps the funniest game in existance.

If you want me to begin grabbing at straws here, I could possibly include Jak, Falco and Conker.

My Opinion: These guys always add some color to the game but for other reasons. Whereas Crypto's violent and selfish desposition is used primarily for comic relief, Axel is portrayed as a villain for much of his screen-time. Considering how hard it seems to pull off these guys without making it ridiculous I think this is one video game character archetype that's fine the way it is.


2. The Wise-Cracking and Sarcastic Companion: This comes semi-often. Basically while you play as the protagonist you probably have a companion. While normally they're just there to help the guys making the game sometimes decide to make them wise-cracking and sarcastic. More often than not this actually makes the character cool. The most famous example is probably Midna from Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

However the Zelda series actually just pulled that one out of the vault since it happened earlier (and perhaps better) with Tatl in Majora's Mask and Ezlo in The Minish Cap. The Zelda series however is not the only game series that uses this and in fact it happens quite often. Perhaps the earliest known example would be Banjo-Kazooie although whether or not Kazooie could be considered a companion is somewhat debatable.

However out of all of them the one who pulled it off the best is definately Daxter from the aforementioned Jak series, who is furious about his current form (particularly his lack of pants) and will often blame Jak for his deformity.



1. The Psychopathic, Genocidal Clown Villain: I only have a good 3 examples but here's the up and down of this archetype: the main villain is a total psychopath and has a clownish appearance. They're totally insane and decide to kill everything for nihilistic or sadistic reasons. Perhaps the best example would be Kefka from Final Fantasy VI who is commonly cited as the best Final Fantasy villain for good reason.

This was repeated again in LoZ: Majora's Mask, with the eponymous main antagonist. Whether or not Majora could truly fit into this category is certainly debatable but I tend to count him/her as such. In case you don't see why, just fight Majora's Incarnation.

The most recent exemplification (yes, it's a word) is Dimentio from Super Paper Mario. This guy is probably an interesting spin since this tends to be a very dark archetype and this is Mario we're talking about. Plus Dimentio is the guy who's treating his total genocidal dream as a magical show. Even though we'd all die I think it's safe to say that it'd be better than those ones that your parents shell out $10 to the drunk carnies who hang out behind the local railroad tracks.

"Ladies and gentlemen, get ready for the greatest magical show you'll ever see!!!" Come on who doesn't love that quote?

My Opinion: You're kidding right? If anything this archetype needs to be use more often.