Debating the 10 Best

wijg

wijg

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The Old Same Place
I hope this doesn't start an all out war, but I wanted to offer some opinions. I think the list is pretty good. I would debate the inclusion of Max Payne and Sam Fisher. Now, before I elaborate, I will make the caveat that I have played none of the games that feature these two characters. Therefore, those that have may fully understand the reasons that they make their appearances.

After reading the comments about Max Payne and Sam Fisher, I realized one thing that made them memorable was their personalities. Jason talked about demeanors and wits, and I believe that is what may have distinguished them enough to make the list. Almost all modern video game characters have a voice now. Everyone on the 10 Best has had a voice whether in the game or in another medium like Sonic, Link, Mario, and Mega Man. (Didn't Gordon Freeman have a voice? I played Half-Life my freshman year of college, but that was 5 years ago).

With this distinction, I can understand why my favorite video game character, Samus Aran from the Metroid series, did not make the list. Except for the grunts of the Prime games, we have yet to hear Samus speak. I think it is interesting, however, that the Metroid games still have IMDB pages and a voice actress is credited for those grunts. I think Samus has a better resume than all of the characters 6 and above except for maybe Laura Croft. No one can deny the impact Halo or Half-Life had on the gaming world, so I will not debate their inclusion. Thus, it brings me back to the two I mentioned earlier. Perhaps Samus does not have the depth of character the others have because she lacks a voice. If John Woo ever makes the Metroid movie, and I hope he doesn't until I am famous enough to get him to read my script, then the Chozo saviour may finally have a voice.

So my critique of the list is to knock off either Max Payne or Sam Fisher and add Samus.
 
That really wouldn't fly, though. As iconic as Samus is.

Jason's list, by definition, is a Top Ten Characters retrospective. Including a silent, personality free Samus would leave the door of debate open on equally 'empty' game characters such as Cloud from FFVII, or the central protagonists in Fable, and/or Sudeki.

I'd rather have seen Tommy Verceti in the list over Solid Snake...or even Sam Fisher. Sneaking and smouldering does not a personality make.

However, even though mighty Mario holds the number one spot, he kind of destroys the continuity of the list (as does Sonic). Their positioning on the list is based on history, not their character. When have either of them interacted with the player to inspire a feeling of 'oneness' while providing a central narrative drive? Hmm, never?
 
I would debate the idea that Samus is personality free, but I don't want to turn this topic into an argument for why Samus should be on the list. Come on everybody. Someone else has to have a favorite that was left off.
 
I'd personally put Jade from Beyond Good and Evil in the mix...if nothing else but for the hopes that there will be a sequel.
 
Well the list was suppose to take into account the last twenty years of gaming so was it more of a list of influential characters or just memorable?

I've never played Max Payne but reading his bio sounds a lot like Frank Castle(The Punisher)

Now if I'm just naming my favorite characters I'd have to say Crash should be on the list. He is the reason I bought a PlayStation.

For iconic purposes, how can you leave off Donkey Kong? Mario owes him a lot...;) and what about Pac-Man/Ms Pac-Man? Had it not been for him(along with galagy(sp)) I probably wouldn't have returned to the arcade.

Lynn
 
Have you read some of the threads here? How they start out as one topic and then rapidly deterioate(sp) into something completely different?

heh...guess that's what's happening here as well ;)

Lynn
 
everyone, dont mind afro, he comes from a time when MG didnt have many topics, so alot was changed quickly...

and afro....thats the very definition of spam, and dont ever say "doll" again
 
If I were to put all the characters that have been famous and made a fairly large impact in gaming on the list it would no longer be the top ten but rather the top 50.

There are so many characters out there that I'd like to have put on the list but I just didn't have room. Donkey Kong belongs on the list, so does Samus. To tell the truth, I actually did have Samus on the list to begin with but later replaced her with Link. Why? Frankly because I know jack-shit about Samus and Metroid. Pac-man is someone who should be there, same with Ms. Pac-man. Dig-Doug. That yellow duck/dragon thing from the Adventure game for Atari. Jimmy and Billy Lee from Double Dragon. The list goes on.
 
Has everyone forgotten about 47. He may not have transformed any genres but he is one hardcore assassin: he definitely makes Sam Fisher look like a boyscout.
 
Well, I don't think the Half Life guy, Fisher or Max payne are particularaly impressive. When it comes down to it, I'll remember Dante running on walls in DMC, Gray Fox going down the hall in Twin Snakes and Percival from Suikoden 3 (he didn't do much....but he's cool).
 
I agree you really can't make too many of these characters memroible cause they had no real personalities. Gordon Freeman was essentialy you the player cause he did not say one word. Max Payne could be considerd memorible because he was so damn depressing. Even thou Master Chief talked he seemed kind of emotionless.
 
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