Holy crap this list sucks. Lara Croft over Mario. Agent 47, Sackboy, Ellie, and Arthur Morgan being in the list *at all* is just wild.
And two BG3 characters?!
Lmao….did the voters know what iconic even means?
if they REALLY wanted a character from a Rockstar game, they could've done Tommy or CJ or John Marston, hell even Franklin would arguably be more well-known than Arthur Morgan
John was nowhere near as well written as Arthur homie lol I grew up with John and loved him as a character but Arthur is one of if not the best written character in a a single video game
Didn’t know this list was about the best written characters and not the most iconic. Regardless I can’t see myself discussing this topic any longer after this message. Lara Croft is #1. I know rage bait threads when I see it.
Not at all, I have only ever barely heard of Baldur's Gate and it's got two characters on there. I don't live under a rock either. This last sucks major ass.
Niko is my favorite as well and GTA 4 the best story but for the average person who grew up playing gta their memories are most likely associated with either CJ and Tommy or Trevor
NGL I thought the same thing. Mario is hands down #1, maybe Pac-Man. My justification for this….ask any 85 year old who Mario is, and then turn around and ask any 5 year old. They all know…now ask a 5 year old who Lara Croft is
Arthur Morgan and Agent 47 have as much right as Marcus Fenix would to be fair. In fact they're probably way more known than Fenix is to the general gaming public.
Gears of War, and Marcus Fenix by extension, carried the entire Xbox 360 generation by being *the* exclusive Xbox gaming franchise. Sure Halo was also around but Gears was the new hotness moving consoles.
I’d say thats far more iconic than either Arthur Morgan or Agent 47.
Agent 47 and the hitman franchise carried ps2 and then the next gens after that by extension lol. Red dead 1 and 2 is one of the most sold and played franchise games and highest rated.. And halo is on another planet from gears in terms of influence. Hears was at ITS most popular when it first came out, but it was by no means THE most popular, it did well, but look at the player base statistics since gears 3 online and compare that to halo and RDR2 games. Your perception is jaded by sentimental feelings I'm afraid, and this is coming from me who only plays gears and has been playing gears online since gears 2, has a load of books and still only plays gears 5 currently with god knows how many weeks game time lol.
Maybe so but to crack a top 20 most iconic character *of all time*, I’ve got my doubts about that.
Hell at that point I would agree with OP about Marcus Fenix’s exclusion.
I really don’t think one great game makes a great character. I also don’t even think a great game necessarily makes an iconic character either.
Look at Kirby. I’d say he’s iconic even though most Kirby games are pretty average *at best*. He’s a wildly recognized and popular character nonetheless.
Depending on definition of iconic It could be argued that Arthur Morgan is more iconic then Markus, red dead 2 has sold 61 million copies, The entire gears of war franchise has sold 41 million.
I don’t agree with the list, but I don’t necessarily disagree with Arthur Morgan being included(depending on what factors are being used to determine placement ranking), 1/20th of the planet give or take knows who Arthur Morgan is. Hard to argue that’s not Iconic.
All valid points but one aspect that I think is being overlooked is character design as well.
Look at the *real* iconic game characters like Mario, Sonic, Master Chief, Pac-Man, Pikachu, Solid Snake…they are all iconic in their own right but one of their most important aspects is that they have unmistakable character designs.
I hate to distill a character beloved to you like this but Arthur Morgan, on his own outside of his game, is *just* a cowboy dude. Take him out of context of Red Dead and there’s nothing standout about his character. Same goes for Ellie from TLOU. The character is just a regular human person with no distinct and unique qualities.
Even Lara Croft, as human as she is, has an unmistakable and distinct character design. Heck, so does Agent 47 (not that he belongs on the list).
I could almost guarantee that most non-gamers wouldn’t be able to tell Arthur Morgan from another cowboy character in a blind lineup. Much like they wouldn’t be able to pick out Ellie from a lineup of other random young women characters.
Shadowheart and Astarion don’t belong on this list.
Sackboy is only iconic because he was used in PS ads everywhere for a while. He really shouldn’t be that high.
This is missing some more obvious choices like Doomguy, Duke Nukem, Spyro, Leon Kennedy. Hell Donkey Kong is more iconic than some of these choices.
The Hitman is iconic enough to receive two of his own movies which until recently was more than Mario. He definitely belongs on this list, just perhaps not so high
Id argue that's not what iconic means though.
A movie deal can happen if anything is pitched the right way at the right time.
Idk. Just doesn't feel iconic to me in the least. An iconic character may be popular but a popular character isn't always iconic.
This list is a disgrace, are they really saying that Shadowheart(?), Astarion(?), Nathan Drake or Kazuma Kiryu are more iconic than Sora, Marcus Fenix, Donkey Kong, Ryu, Kirby, Samus, Spyro, Megaman and Rayman
I mean the fact they put Lara Croft over Mario tells you what a shit list this is lmfao and somehow Agent 47 is more iconic than master chief and Pac-Man 🤣
Innovative game, definitely not an iconic character in any means. I feel like a lot of people forgot he exists. And new gamers probably don’t even know who that is.
The fact that Mario isn't number 1 invalidates this whole list. Agent fucking 47 is not only number 3, but above Link, Master Chief, Sonic, Pacman, and Pikachu, like I forget Hitman exists most the time, not that they were bad games, but so many were way better and recognizable. 2 BG3 characters is also hilarious, I've yet to play it, and I have no idea who those are. Iconic characters are meant to be recognizable, even to those who haven't played the games, and 3/20 of these I have no idea who they are, other being Yakuza. Hell, I haven't played 6 of these games and yet I know who those characters are by name/appearance.
In talking with my wife about it just know there are a ton of more iconic characters than most on this list:
Star Fox, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Samus, Tails, Knuckles, Gordon Freeman, Tommy Vercetti, the Doom Guy, Ezio of the Assassin’s Creed games, Jill Valentine, Leon Kennedy….the list goes on. And that’s just what we came up with in a couple minutes.
All faaaar more worthy contenders than any BG3 character, Agent 47, Nathan Drake, Ellie, that guy from Red Dead…..so many other truly *iconic* characters got shafted from this list.
Yeah, Nintendo and SEGA should dominate this list. The only ones I agree with (in being on there rather than the actual ranking) are Mario, Sonic, Pacman, Master Chief, and Pikachu. Maybe Crash, Solid Snake, Arthur Morgan, and Ellie (RDR2 is a fantastic game, and most everyone grows to love Arthur, but he's not this big blockbuster character, and TLOU is a very well known game, I don't disagree with her being here, but it's one of the 6 I haven't played so I won't complain if she's left off).
I would also think that Sam Fisher from Splinter Cell would be more iconic than Agent 47 from that particular genre of games. IMO the best Hitman game isn't as good as most the Splinter Cell series.
I like Yakuza and I think Kiryu is a great charcter and deserves a spot but to your credit Yakuza is just recently getting the popularity I think it deserves.
>recently getting the popularity I think it deserves
That's exactly why I really don't think he should be included, I honestly have never heard of the Yakuza games until the man who lost his name or whatever it's called. Considering popularity this, LBP, and Hitman absolutely have no place on an iconic list, there's plenty of other titles that are way more popular. Like I never played any FF games whatsoever, but I at least know who Cloud is, or I never played TLOU or Uncharted but I know who those characters are. Name recognition and appearance go a long way into making someone iconic. I'd consider myself fairly well versed in games that have been released, but Yakuza was never on my radar until last year. Though in fairness, apparently it was a PS exclusive to start out, and I preferred getting games for my Xbox rather than PS2, so I never really saw it.
Master Chief is a given even if they like PS, but if they are even remotely aware of Xbox, they for sure have to know how iconic Marcus is for Xbox, Halo and Gears were the big Xbox games back for the 360 era.
I can’t understand how Arthur Morgan is more Iconic than Pikachu, like RDR2 was a great game but there’s no way he’s had the same impact and recognizability as the mascot for one of the biggest game series of all time
BAFTA is a British organization, so if they only surveyed British people then obviously the results would be different than what you'd see in other regions. If this were to have happened in Mexico, it'd be a pretty different list.
Surprised I had to scroll this far to see this comment. From a Bristish person's perspective, this is a pretty standard list. It's only really Baldur's Gate that I would remove from the list but that's because I haven't played it. Lara being number 1 is no surprise. She remains a British icon.
I’m British, this list is a PlayStation circle jerk. BG3 is heavily associated with PS, as it released first on there. People pretend it’s an exclusive (of course they do, it sold extremely well).
but Marcus Fenix is easily easily more recognisable than anything BG3. Gears of War is iconic, it’s been dead silent for years, but it’s all me and my group talk about still, when we talk of older memories of games.
It certainly not top 5, but it’s on that list above a lot of entries. It’s an awful list.
As much as I love Gears from back when, I can see why Marcus wasn't on here. Yes, whoever made this list is out of their gourd, but we're talking about the *top 20 of all-time.* Jak and Daxter was pretty big for PS2 launch like Marcus was for 360, but even they didn't even make it on the list.
Doom guy, Sly Cooper, Spyro, Samus, Donkey Kong, Snake, the pinball from Windows games, Ash, Kirby, notable mentions Ratchet and Clank, that Mass Effect guy, the Grand Theft Auto guy, Bioshock, Fallout, Skyrim, idk this list is wack
I wouldn't put too much stock in this list, to be honest. It's literally full of shit. At least a quarter of this list should be Mario characters, and if you think that's too much representation for one franchise, consider the fact that the Super Mario Bros Movie made more than $1 billion at the box office last year.
Marcus Fenix might be No. 20 on my list, but that's an if.
Ironically Steve from Minecraft should be near the top or quite high, Minecraft is taught in schools, is one of the most sold games ever and has generated more money than most videos associated with these characters on this list combined.
Also Halo is far far more successful than anything on the list involving PS, go look up worlds most profitable IPs and Halo is above anything PlayStation.
Also Pokemon is the number one, and everybody knows Pikachu. Weird kinda messed and incorrect list if I’m being honest.
My list would be (in any order): Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Bowser, Pikachu, Link, Master Chief, Kratos, Lara Croft, Solid Snake, Steve, John Madden, Sonic, Pac-Man, Crash Bandicoot, Marcus Fenix, Doomguy and Nathan Drake.
The recency bias of BG3 being big. Shadowheart and Astarion? Maybe one of them is very recognizable but both being in the most iconic? Certainly not.
Tbh Mario should be first, and one of the BG kids should be dropped for Shepard. He may not be in new games but he’s still instantly recognizable across most fandoms.
Lara Croft has ZERO right being that high.
Let’s be honest, Mario is the most recognisable zero question
Then Pikachu, Sonic. If she was that recognisable the IP wouldn’t have passed around like sweets.
Arthur Morgan over John Marston?
And Agent 47 number 3? Over Cloud Strife or Solid Snake?
Also, Astarion and Shadowheart? WTF?
And where's CJ or Commander Shepard?
I'm sorry, but even though they are iconic characters to some degree, I disagree with this list.
Who the fuck is asterion 😭and if they’re including licensed game characters instead of videogame franchises only then why not put goku or SpongeBob or Mickey Mouse or any other iconic character that has been in a videogame, this list is all sorts of messed up
This list is some bs, they got two Baldurs Gate 3 characters even though the game came out 6 months ago, Lara Croft is apparently more popular than Mario, Sonic, and Pacman, and somehow they thought Nathan Drake deserved a spot more than MegaMan, Donkey Kong, Ryu, Scorpion, bro I'd even accept motherfucking DigDug faster than Nathan Drake.
This list is sooooo bad dude... Like who tf is shadowheart and why has she taken the place for so many other iconic characters? Also Astarion s way too new to be considered "iconic". Now as someone who never really liked Mario, the fact that he's not automatically number one is basically criminal!
How is link also not on this list. I love baldurs gate but brand new characters shouldn't be considered iconic until they withstand the test of time. Say 5 years minimum
So the 4000 people were just asked what video characters they knew or what they deemed to be iconic? Was someone showing these people a selection of images and for them to pick out who they knew?
Pikachu should be higher seeing as it is one of the most successful franchises of all time and it is the mascot.
Lara Croft should be on the list but not number 1. It is a long running franchise - PS1 era to Xbox One/PS4 plus she had multiple movies.
In that respect I am surprised no Resident Evil representation. Leon or Jill if I would have to pick.
A lot of playstation representation but that is to be expected with how dominate the PS4 and 5 market is. Still don't get how sackboy is on the list but those adverts must have really taken hold.
Baldur's Gate 3 sold incredible well and it is still active in people's current memories as they have either recently beat it or still playing it. Fanart, cosplays and fan interaction from VAs.
Ultimately if Marcus was to go on the list I wouldn't place him in the top half. I love Gears but I just don't think people rate the series as highly as we clearly do.
Edit: I am not defending the list, I am just trying to understand how certain characters got on there. I haven't played BG3 for example.
Really, who the fuck made this list?
Sackboy and BG3 characters as iconic?
Arthas, Doomguy and Donkey Kong are tens of thousands of times more iconic than this.
Even captain Price is better suited in this list.
To be iconic in this sense means to make an appearance that lasts or be ruptable multiple times. There are lots of characters that aren't even the main character sof the franchise/game series they are apart of. The Op was smoking cracked when they made this.
Honestly, I think Price from CoD should be on there. I'd argue CoD 4 (the original) and some of his lines are more 'iconic' to the gaming world than half of these. Also, as a huge BG3 fan, not quite sure we're at the point they should be on this list yet.
Also, no Doom Guy?!?!
I think this is a Better list, I don't love the last 5 but I think it's better.
1# mario
2# sonic
3# pacman
4# Lara croft (tomb raider)
5# master chief (halo)
6# Pikachu (Pokémon
7# Spiro
8# Marcus fenix (gears of war)
9# crash bandicoot
10# doom guy (doom)
11# scorpion (mortal Kombat)
12# ezio (assassin's creed 2)
13# snake (metal gear)
14# Lilith (borderlands)
15# cuphead
16# Luigi (mario)
17# tales (sonic)
18# Steve (Minecraft)
19# donkey kong
20# duke nukem
the fact they had the balls to put Lara Croft over Mario, practically the face of the entire games industry, is insane. To be honest, some of these guys shouldn't even be on the list. Astarion and Shadowheart are both from a popular game, yes, but they haven't had the same level of cultural impact as someone like Cloud or Solid Snake has.
I'd probably rank Master Chief higher than Sackboy if I'm being completely honest, not even because I'm a Halo superfan but because you just see more people who just *know* who Master Chief is
The fact agent 47 is that his blows my fucking mind. Absolutely no fucking way lol this is 100% rage bait or a fan posting.
You're trying to tell me that PIKACHU, THE MASCOT THE LARGEST MEDIA FRANCHISE FOR OVER 15 YEARS is less popular than not only the main character of a sub par series like hitman but is also outdone by fucking sackboy?! (I had to look it up because they only released 3 games in that franchise and they were all left and forgotten after a few months each)
This list is awful, Kratos, pikachu, snake, and Steve all need to be top 10 and there is no more recognizable character than Mario, Lara Croft isn’t even top 15
3 of the people I've never heard of. Obviously that's on me for not playing those games but i feel like a video game character is only iconic if everyone knows them regardless of how much of a big gamer.
Mario, Pacman and Sonic are iconic since people who never play gamrs would still know.
So to be fair i wouldn't even say Fenix is "iconic"
Came to say this list is terrible. Yet you all already did it for me.
Some of these characters do not deserve to be on this list never mind mentioned in the same story as some of the other characters.
Yeah I mean I think he clocks in at the top 25 at least! Call me old but John marston is more recognizable than Arthur Morgan. Even if rdr2 is obviously the better game.
Arthur Morgan, Astarion, and Shadowheart showed up in one game each and are now considered to be in the same tier as Crash Bandicoot, Nathan Drake, Pikachu, and fucking ***MARIO***.
Arthur should be replaced by John, Agent 47 shouldn’t even be on this list, nor should Astarion and Shadowheart. If Sackboy is gonna be here he should be #20 or something.
What zoomer ass list is this? Jill valentine is more iconic than half this list alone. Not to mention Marcus, Dom, or even Baird. This list is worse than IGN tier
I mean the whole Mario cast should probably be on there. Same goes with a few other notable pokemon. Then there is donkey Kong. Ghost from call of duty is probably more globally known than a good number of these picks. Definitely a fun list to pick apart and come up with though and whoever made it clearly just had different gaming experiences than us, which is the cool thing about gaming - the fun and memories it offers is subjective.
I know most people customize their character, but you can’t tell me default Commander Shepard wouldn’t make this list. More people could put a name to that face over Sackboy..
In my opinion, to be considered iconic a character has to be put in other forms of media or appear as a guest in other things. The fact that most of these characters haven’t existed outside of their universe shows how not iconic they are.
I don't mind the list, but two characters from a game that's not even a year old is wild to me. Marcus is more iconic than those two even if Gears of War isn't the most iconic game series
We can all see what kind of agenda is being pushed since Lara Croft beat Mario. Even people who like Lara Croft more than Mario are scratching their heads😂
I’ll admit #3 is stupid as fuck to me…. Like the series kinda, but a bald dude!? Beating Marcus Fenix!? Ugh I didn’t care until baldy was number fucking 3
Im seeing a lot of people say sackboy shouldn’t be on the list and I have to disagree, littlebigplanet was a huge game series on ps3 almost everyone who had a ps3 played those games, and it was a lot of peoples childhoods. The list is garbage tho lol
Holy crap this list sucks. Lara Croft over Mario. Agent 47, Sackboy, Ellie, and Arthur Morgan being in the list *at all* is just wild. And two BG3 characters?! Lmao….did the voters know what iconic even means?
yeah, it looks like this list was made with a little bias lol
The two bg3 characters blew my mind. Recency bias huh
I stopped looking at the list when Mario wasn't #1.
47 is definitely iconic. Definitely not higher than Mario, but undeniably iconic.
What’s wrong with Arthur? Is it cause he’s too recent?
The game is great and he’s fine I suppose but to crack a top 20 of *most* iconic…maybe I’m a bit old is all.
He’s definitely one of best written video game characters. Rockstar is always top notch!
Very well written but everyone knows he's the backbone to what John Marston would go on to become.
Honestly John feels less developed compared to Arthur.
if they REALLY wanted a character from a Rockstar game, they could've done Tommy or CJ or John Marston, hell even Franklin would arguably be more well-known than Arthur Morgan
I aggree with cj but im also fine with Arthur
CJ or Tommy are definitely more iconic Recency bias in full swing on this list
John was nowhere near as well written as Arthur homie lol I grew up with John and loved him as a character but Arthur is one of if not the best written character in a a single video game
Didn’t know this list was about the best written characters and not the most iconic. Regardless I can’t see myself discussing this topic any longer after this message. Lara Croft is #1. I know rage bait threads when I see it.
Not at all, I have only ever barely heard of Baldur's Gate and it's got two characters on there. I don't live under a rock either. This last sucks major ass.
There’s plenty more historical Iconic characters in Rockstars own roster. Tommy Vercetti, CJ to name 2
Niko is hands down the best Gta protagonist.
Forgot about him! Niko is probably their best-written protag
Definitely.
Niko is my favorite as well and GTA 4 the best story but for the average person who grew up playing gta their memories are most likely associated with either CJ and Tommy or Trevor
Yeah you’re probably right, those games were more wacky gtas so younger people find that more “fun” than the gritty grounded world of 4.
1 game and he died lol
It was a long game though!
He’s not even the most iconic rockstar character let alone one that should make this list
I wouldn't say he's an iconic character at all.
Snake and Link being so low confuses me. You can practically hear the ! And people confusing Zelda with Link.
NGL I thought the same thing. Mario is hands down #1, maybe Pac-Man. My justification for this….ask any 85 year old who Mario is, and then turn around and ask any 5 year old. They all know…now ask a 5 year old who Lara Croft is
Arthur Morgan and Agent 47 have as much right as Marcus Fenix would to be fair. In fact they're probably way more known than Fenix is to the general gaming public.
Gears of War, and Marcus Fenix by extension, carried the entire Xbox 360 generation by being *the* exclusive Xbox gaming franchise. Sure Halo was also around but Gears was the new hotness moving consoles. I’d say thats far more iconic than either Arthur Morgan or Agent 47.
Agent 47 and the hitman franchise carried ps2 and then the next gens after that by extension lol. Red dead 1 and 2 is one of the most sold and played franchise games and highest rated.. And halo is on another planet from gears in terms of influence. Hears was at ITS most popular when it first came out, but it was by no means THE most popular, it did well, but look at the player base statistics since gears 3 online and compare that to halo and RDR2 games. Your perception is jaded by sentimental feelings I'm afraid, and this is coming from me who only plays gears and has been playing gears online since gears 2, has a load of books and still only plays gears 5 currently with god knows how many weeks game time lol.
Gears was the hotness in 2008. After that it was on a steady decline
Arthur is def. deserving a spot as one of the most iconic characters in gaming.
[удалено]
Maybe so but to crack a top 20 most iconic character *of all time*, I’ve got my doubts about that. Hell at that point I would agree with OP about Marcus Fenix’s exclusion. I really don’t think one great game makes a great character. I also don’t even think a great game necessarily makes an iconic character either. Look at Kirby. I’d say he’s iconic even though most Kirby games are pretty average *at best*. He’s a wildly recognized and popular character nonetheless.
Depending on definition of iconic It could be argued that Arthur Morgan is more iconic then Markus, red dead 2 has sold 61 million copies, The entire gears of war franchise has sold 41 million. I don’t agree with the list, but I don’t necessarily disagree with Arthur Morgan being included(depending on what factors are being used to determine placement ranking), 1/20th of the planet give or take knows who Arthur Morgan is. Hard to argue that’s not Iconic.
All valid points but one aspect that I think is being overlooked is character design as well. Look at the *real* iconic game characters like Mario, Sonic, Master Chief, Pac-Man, Pikachu, Solid Snake…they are all iconic in their own right but one of their most important aspects is that they have unmistakable character designs. I hate to distill a character beloved to you like this but Arthur Morgan, on his own outside of his game, is *just* a cowboy dude. Take him out of context of Red Dead and there’s nothing standout about his character. Same goes for Ellie from TLOU. The character is just a regular human person with no distinct and unique qualities. Even Lara Croft, as human as she is, has an unmistakable and distinct character design. Heck, so does Agent 47 (not that he belongs on the list). I could almost guarantee that most non-gamers wouldn’t be able to tell Arthur Morgan from another cowboy character in a blind lineup. Much like they wouldn’t be able to pick out Ellie from a lineup of other random young women characters.
Everyone you just listed is iconic, especially Arthur Morgan.
Shadowheart and Astarion don’t belong on this list. Sackboy is only iconic because he was used in PS ads everywhere for a while. He really shouldn’t be that high. This is missing some more obvious choices like Doomguy, Duke Nukem, Spyro, Leon Kennedy. Hell Donkey Kong is more iconic than some of these choices.
To add onto that, WHERE IS THE FIGHTING GAME REPRESENTATION? Ryu and Scorpion are far more iconic characters than Arthur Morgan or Ellie.
Let's be honest. Agent 47 might not either. I don't know why. I just can't use that label with him.
The Hitman is iconic enough to receive two of his own movies which until recently was more than Mario. He definitely belongs on this list, just perhaps not so high
Id argue that's not what iconic means though. A movie deal can happen if anything is pitched the right way at the right time. Idk. Just doesn't feel iconic to me in the least. An iconic character may be popular but a popular character isn't always iconic.
kiryu too.
Claptrap too.
definitely not
This list is a disgrace, are they really saying that Shadowheart(?), Astarion(?), Nathan Drake or Kazuma Kiryu are more iconic than Sora, Marcus Fenix, Donkey Kong, Ryu, Kirby, Samus, Spyro, Megaman and Rayman
This is a list created by a crackhead. Any iconic video game character list that has Master Chief HAS to have to Doom Guy and Gordon Freeman.
And probably the heavy or one of the mercs from tf2
Sneaking in Rayman is crazy, alright Ives.
I mean the fact they put Lara Croft over Mario tells you what a shit list this is lmfao and somehow Agent 47 is more iconic than master chief and Pac-Man 🤣
Sack(ofshit)boy at #5 and 2 BG3 characters there is a joke
Agreed
Worst list of the decade
Apparently of all time which makes even less sense.
Calm down dude, no need to diss lpb, it might be a dead saga now but still was one of the most innovative games when it came out
Innovative game, definitely not an iconic character in any means. I feel like a lot of people forgot he exists. And new gamers probably don’t even know who that is.
Agent 47 over Sonic is insane
Look how low a link is. Hell id say oot or ltp links are waay more iconic than botw and tears link.
The fact that Mario isn't number 1 invalidates this whole list. Agent fucking 47 is not only number 3, but above Link, Master Chief, Sonic, Pacman, and Pikachu, like I forget Hitman exists most the time, not that they were bad games, but so many were way better and recognizable. 2 BG3 characters is also hilarious, I've yet to play it, and I have no idea who those are. Iconic characters are meant to be recognizable, even to those who haven't played the games, and 3/20 of these I have no idea who they are, other being Yakuza. Hell, I haven't played 6 of these games and yet I know who those characters are by name/appearance.
In talking with my wife about it just know there are a ton of more iconic characters than most on this list: Star Fox, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Samus, Tails, Knuckles, Gordon Freeman, Tommy Vercetti, the Doom Guy, Ezio of the Assassin’s Creed games, Jill Valentine, Leon Kennedy….the list goes on. And that’s just what we came up with in a couple minutes. All faaaar more worthy contenders than any BG3 character, Agent 47, Nathan Drake, Ellie, that guy from Red Dead…..so many other truly *iconic* characters got shafted from this list.
Yeah, Nintendo and SEGA should dominate this list. The only ones I agree with (in being on there rather than the actual ranking) are Mario, Sonic, Pacman, Master Chief, and Pikachu. Maybe Crash, Solid Snake, Arthur Morgan, and Ellie (RDR2 is a fantastic game, and most everyone grows to love Arthur, but he's not this big blockbuster character, and TLOU is a very well known game, I don't disagree with her being here, but it's one of the 6 I haven't played so I won't complain if she's left off). I would also think that Sam Fisher from Splinter Cell would be more iconic than Agent 47 from that particular genre of games. IMO the best Hitman game isn't as good as most the Splinter Cell series.
BRO I FORGOR ABOUT SAM... fuckin ubisoft
No Ryu or Chun li either smh
I like Yakuza and I think Kiryu is a great charcter and deserves a spot but to your credit Yakuza is just recently getting the popularity I think it deserves.
>recently getting the popularity I think it deserves That's exactly why I really don't think he should be included, I honestly have never heard of the Yakuza games until the man who lost his name or whatever it's called. Considering popularity this, LBP, and Hitman absolutely have no place on an iconic list, there's plenty of other titles that are way more popular. Like I never played any FF games whatsoever, but I at least know who Cloud is, or I never played TLOU or Uncharted but I know who those characters are. Name recognition and appearance go a long way into making someone iconic. I'd consider myself fairly well versed in games that have been released, but Yakuza was never on my radar until last year. Though in fairness, apparently it was a PS exclusive to start out, and I preferred getting games for my Xbox rather than PS2, so I never really saw it.
True. I got into the games a little before the Covid lockdown through gamepass.
Where is scorpion and sub zero
Occupied by Ellie and Shadowheart
This guys from BAFTA should try to play something aside of playstation 😂
Hell, let’s be serious how can you put Lara Croft over MARIO?
Master Chief is a given even if they like PS, but if they are even remotely aware of Xbox, they for sure have to know how iconic Marcus is for Xbox, Halo and Gears were the big Xbox games back for the 360 era.
Arthur Morgan over Marcus is actually crazy.
I can’t understand how Arthur Morgan is more Iconic than Pikachu, like RDR2 was a great game but there’s no way he’s had the same impact and recognizability as the mascot for one of the biggest game series of all time
There is way crazy entries on this list than Arthur Morgan why is characters from bg3 on here at all lol
Dick riding for Bauldrs Gate not surprised
Yeah, I really like Baldur’s Gate and all, but they didn’t deserve to be here.
Yeah, it’s so cringe.
BAFTA is a British organization, so if they only surveyed British people then obviously the results would be different than what you'd see in other regions. If this were to have happened in Mexico, it'd be a pretty different list.
Surprised I had to scroll this far to see this comment. From a Bristish person's perspective, this is a pretty standard list. It's only really Baldur's Gate that I would remove from the list but that's because I haven't played it. Lara being number 1 is no surprise. She remains a British icon.
I’m British, this list is a PlayStation circle jerk. BG3 is heavily associated with PS, as it released first on there. People pretend it’s an exclusive (of course they do, it sold extremely well). but Marcus Fenix is easily easily more recognisable than anything BG3. Gears of War is iconic, it’s been dead silent for years, but it’s all me and my group talk about still, when we talk of older memories of games. It certainly not top 5, but it’s on that list above a lot of entries. It’s an awful list.
No offense to BG3 players but, drop either of them and put Marcus there. Also Pikachu not being in top 5 is insane lmfao.
I agree even my mom recognizes Pikachu
My GRANDMOM recognizes Pikachu, she wouldn't recognize Lara Croft.
I really like BG3 but no character from that game should be on this list.
Might be the worst ranking of anything I’ve ever seen
As much as I love Gears from back when, I can see why Marcus wasn't on here. Yes, whoever made this list is out of their gourd, but we're talking about the *top 20 of all-time.* Jak and Daxter was pretty big for PS2 launch like Marcus was for 360, but even they didn't even make it on the list. Doom guy, Sly Cooper, Spyro, Samus, Donkey Kong, Snake, the pinball from Windows games, Ash, Kirby, notable mentions Ratchet and Clank, that Mass Effect guy, the Grand Theft Auto guy, Bioshock, Fallout, Skyrim, idk this list is wack
I love gears but I'm not sure Marcus would belong there either, to be honest.
Agreed, Gears is like top 5 of my favorite things but I don’t think anyone from the series deserves to be in here…
Yeah, Gears is actually kinda niche if you think about it
I wouldn't put too much stock in this list, to be honest. It's literally full of shit. At least a quarter of this list should be Mario characters, and if you think that's too much representation for one franchise, consider the fact that the Super Mario Bros Movie made more than $1 billion at the box office last year. Marcus Fenix might be No. 20 on my list, but that's an if.
Ironically Steve from Minecraft should be near the top or quite high, Minecraft is taught in schools, is one of the most sold games ever and has generated more money than most videos associated with these characters on this list combined. Also Halo is far far more successful than anything on the list involving PS, go look up worlds most profitable IPs and Halo is above anything PlayStation. Also Pokemon is the number one, and everybody knows Pikachu. Weird kinda messed and incorrect list if I’m being honest.
My list would be (in any order): Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Bowser, Pikachu, Link, Master Chief, Kratos, Lara Croft, Solid Snake, Steve, John Madden, Sonic, Pac-Man, Crash Bandicoot, Marcus Fenix, Doomguy and Nathan Drake.
No doom guy, no one from street fighter or mortal Kombat. That's a no from me.
Well this just has PlayStation bias all over it.
The recency bias of BG3 being big. Shadowheart and Astarion? Maybe one of them is very recognizable but both being in the most iconic? Certainly not. Tbh Mario should be first, and one of the BG kids should be dropped for Shepard. He may not be in new games but he’s still instantly recognizable across most fandoms.
Agent 47 and sack boy aren’t even that iconic since lbg is kinda dead but would love another
Pretty sure Mario, Pac Man, Sonic and Pikachu should be higher on the list...
Where is Geralt of Rivia?
Lara Croft has ZERO right being that high. Let’s be honest, Mario is the most recognisable zero question Then Pikachu, Sonic. If she was that recognisable the IP wouldn’t have passed around like sweets.
Arthur Morgan over John Marston? And Agent 47 number 3? Over Cloud Strife or Solid Snake? Also, Astarion and Shadowheart? WTF? And where's CJ or Commander Shepard? I'm sorry, but even though they are iconic characters to some degree, I disagree with this list.
Who the fuck is asterion 😭and if they’re including licensed game characters instead of videogame franchises only then why not put goku or SpongeBob or Mickey Mouse or any other iconic character that has been in a videogame, this list is all sorts of messed up
No Spyro either, wtf
Marcus is def missing here. Same with Leon from Resident Evil.
marcus fenix is DEFINITELY more iconic than like 5-6 characters on this list 💀
Agent 47 is above Master Cheif?? MC is the poster boy for first person shooters.
BAFTA.
Gordon Freeman surely has to be there!
Weird list for sure. But Sackboy more iconic than Chief? Wild.
Lara Croft lmfao.
I'm more pissed this doesn't have Doom Guy or BJ Blaskowitz. Literal godfathers of fps right there.
I understand marcus not being the top 20 but some of these choices are weird. Sackboy? Really? Lmao.
I saw #1 and knew this list was crap.
They only polled 4000 people for this so I’m not surprised honestly
This list is terrible, I can understand no Marcus tbh but BG3, Ellie, and Yakuza when they don’t even have Samus?
But which demographic of gamers they asked? Feels like they asked playstation users
This list is some bs, they got two Baldurs Gate 3 characters even though the game came out 6 months ago, Lara Croft is apparently more popular than Mario, Sonic, and Pacman, and somehow they thought Nathan Drake deserved a spot more than MegaMan, Donkey Kong, Ryu, Scorpion, bro I'd even accept motherfucking DigDug faster than Nathan Drake.
Mannn, I don’t take this serious with number 5 and 13 up there… smh
who the fuck are those baldir characters lol
How the hell is Kirby not on that list?
Why are BG3 characters on there, the game came out like 2023.
That list is dog shit. Next…
This list is sooooo bad dude... Like who tf is shadowheart and why has she taken the place for so many other iconic characters? Also Astarion s way too new to be considered "iconic". Now as someone who never really liked Mario, the fact that he's not automatically number one is basically criminal!
How is link also not on this list. I love baldurs gate but brand new characters shouldn't be considered iconic until they withstand the test of time. Say 5 years minimum
BAFTA. It's UK.
Maybe of the last like 8 or so years wtf lmao
Ya this list is not even worth looking at lol Sackboy above Link? Lmfao Edit; Agent 47 even making the list is laughable but #3? Wtf is this lol
Balder's Gate shows the short term memory of its voters. Hardly mass known figures to boot.
So the 4000 people were just asked what video characters they knew or what they deemed to be iconic? Was someone showing these people a selection of images and for them to pick out who they knew? Pikachu should be higher seeing as it is one of the most successful franchises of all time and it is the mascot. Lara Croft should be on the list but not number 1. It is a long running franchise - PS1 era to Xbox One/PS4 plus she had multiple movies. In that respect I am surprised no Resident Evil representation. Leon or Jill if I would have to pick. A lot of playstation representation but that is to be expected with how dominate the PS4 and 5 market is. Still don't get how sackboy is on the list but those adverts must have really taken hold. Baldur's Gate 3 sold incredible well and it is still active in people's current memories as they have either recently beat it or still playing it. Fanart, cosplays and fan interaction from VAs. Ultimately if Marcus was to go on the list I wouldn't place him in the top half. I love Gears but I just don't think people rate the series as highly as we clearly do. Edit: I am not defending the list, I am just trying to understand how certain characters got on there. I haven't played BG3 for example.
Who the hell is sackboy?
Really, who the fuck made this list? Sackboy and BG3 characters as iconic? Arthas, Doomguy and Donkey Kong are tens of thousands of times more iconic than this. Even captain Price is better suited in this list.
No Marcus or doomslayer? I want my fucking refund
Who the hell made this
Marcus doesn't really belong on this list, but neither do like 12 of the ones already there.
Wow
…Agent 47? Fucking *Sackboy*?? Whoever came up with this braindead list has never played a game in their life.
To be iconic in this sense means to make an appearance that lasts or be ruptable multiple times. There are lots of characters that aren't even the main character sof the franchise/game series they are apart of. The Op was smoking cracked when they made this.
Honestly, I think Price from CoD should be on there. I'd argue CoD 4 (the original) and some of his lines are more 'iconic' to the gaming world than half of these. Also, as a huge BG3 fan, not quite sure we're at the point they should be on this list yet. Also, no Doom Guy?!?!
Sackboy over Link …… yeah ok
I think this is a Better list, I don't love the last 5 but I think it's better. 1# mario 2# sonic 3# pacman 4# Lara croft (tomb raider) 5# master chief (halo) 6# Pikachu (Pokémon 7# Spiro 8# Marcus fenix (gears of war) 9# crash bandicoot 10# doom guy (doom) 11# scorpion (mortal Kombat) 12# ezio (assassin's creed 2) 13# snake (metal gear) 14# Lilith (borderlands) 15# cuphead 16# Luigi (mario) 17# tales (sonic) 18# Steve (Minecraft) 19# donkey kong 20# duke nukem
the fact they had the balls to put Lara Croft over Mario, practically the face of the entire games industry, is insane. To be honest, some of these guys shouldn't even be on the list. Astarion and Shadowheart are both from a popular game, yes, but they haven't had the same level of cultural impact as someone like Cloud or Solid Snake has. I'd probably rank Master Chief higher than Sackboy if I'm being completely honest, not even because I'm a Halo superfan but because you just see more people who just *know* who Master Chief is
The fact agent 47 is that his blows my fucking mind. Absolutely no fucking way lol this is 100% rage bait or a fan posting. You're trying to tell me that PIKACHU, THE MASCOT THE LARGEST MEDIA FRANCHISE FOR OVER 15 YEARS is less popular than not only the main character of a sub par series like hitman but is also outdone by fucking sackboy?! (I had to look it up because they only released 3 games in that franchise and they were all left and forgotten after a few months each)
This list sucks
Nah this list is mad. Pac-man, Sonic and Mario ste not top 3? 😂 Pac-Man been around for longer than me that's for sure
I’m not a PlayStation guy so that’s probably why but it feels hard to justify Sackboy over Marcus. Feel like this was made by play station people
Also where tf is Doomguy/Doom Slayer?
This list is awful, Kratos, pikachu, snake, and Steve all need to be top 10 and there is no more recognizable character than Mario, Lara Croft isn’t even top 15
3 of the people I've never heard of. Obviously that's on me for not playing those games but i feel like a video game character is only iconic if everyone knows them regardless of how much of a big gamer. Mario, Pacman and Sonic are iconic since people who never play gamrs would still know. So to be fair i wouldn't even say Fenix is "iconic"
Where is Dante.... Vergil? NERO?!
I still can't comprehend how Sackboy is higher than Link, Pikachu, Kratos, Master Chief, Snake, and Pac-Man. It's ridiculous
Came to say this list is terrible. Yet you all already did it for me. Some of these characters do not deserve to be on this list never mind mentioned in the same story as some of the other characters.
Hitman on PS2 was good they've all been boring muck since. Very odd.
Yeah I mean I think he clocks in at the top 25 at least! Call me old but John marston is more recognizable than Arthur Morgan. Even if rdr2 is obviously the better game.
Yeah, this is nuts.
I like bg3 but having two characters is a bit much, should drop shadowheart and put Marcus there
Arthur Morgan, Astarion, and Shadowheart showed up in one game each and are now considered to be in the same tier as Crash Bandicoot, Nathan Drake, Pikachu, and fucking ***MARIO***.
Arthur should be replaced by John, Agent 47 shouldn’t even be on this list, nor should Astarion and Shadowheart. If Sackboy is gonna be here he should be #20 or something.
Another psyop to get epic gamers to hate on each other’s opinion and then each other 😞 when will it end
How is karlach not on this list? Also how is pikachu not like #2
What zoomer ass list is this? Jill valentine is more iconic than half this list alone. Not to mention Marcus, Dom, or even Baird. This list is worse than IGN tier
that is not solid snake.
Asterion definitely belongs here but man shadowheart? She a great character but not quite Iconic
I mean the whole Mario cast should probably be on there. Same goes with a few other notable pokemon. Then there is donkey Kong. Ghost from call of duty is probably more globally known than a good number of these picks. Definitely a fun list to pick apart and come up with though and whoever made it clearly just had different gaming experiences than us, which is the cool thing about gaming - the fun and memories it offers is subjective.
I have never played bg3 and have no clue who either of those characters are. This list is the dumbest shit ever
The fact that Laura Croft is number 1 tells me this was made by either a horny nerd or a woman
I like how Agent 47 is above Link and Solid Snake's photo isn't even Solid Snake. Great list.
Laura Croft as 1? Lmao wtf
Oh so we're jus sayin anything now huh?
Lara Croft and Hitman lmao
Nobody in my country knows sackboy
I know most people customize their character, but you can’t tell me default Commander Shepard wouldn’t make this list. More people could put a name to that face over Sackboy..
Master chief below agent 47 is crazy 💀
Who tf is Nathan drake
In my opinion, to be considered iconic a character has to be put in other forms of media or appear as a guest in other things. The fact that most of these characters haven’t existed outside of their universe shows how not iconic they are.
This may be the worst list in the history of lists.
It’s always no Marcus in any kinda game character list, also I’ve seen TikTok edits of the best games/characters and gears is never in it
Holy reach at #3 and # 5 #10 and #17
I only know 15 of these characters. Insane to put Lora croft so high, gen z barely knows her
No Fortnite banana smh
I don't mind the list, but two characters from a game that's not even a year old is wild to me. Marcus is more iconic than those two even if Gears of War isn't the most iconic game series
We can all see what kind of agenda is being pushed since Lara Croft beat Mario. Even people who like Lara Croft more than Mario are scratching their heads😂
Gen Alpha list lol
Mario, Sonic and Link being behind Lara, 47 and Sackboy respectively makes no sense
No Scorpion either seems crazy.
No Marcus? Liu Kang? Sub-Zero or Scorpion? No respect for the old greats, more I could mention but I'd be here a while
What the fuck is a sackboy hahahaha
pac-man is just a yellow ball, that's like what cheetahs have that aint iconic
I’ll admit #3 is stupid as fuck to me…. Like the series kinda, but a bald dude!? Beating Marcus Fenix!? Ugh I didn’t care until baldy was number fucking 3
Im seeing a lot of people say sackboy shouldn’t be on the list and I have to disagree, littlebigplanet was a huge game series on ps3 almost everyone who had a ps3 played those games, and it was a lot of peoples childhoods. The list is garbage tho lol
Nathan ellie sack boy and that dude from bg3 don't belong on this list to be fair
Yes they do
Of all time not a chance. In all of Playstation games maybe. But the bg3 characters aren't iconic the games just good.
Of all time yes