The Most Iconic Gaming Characters Of All Time Posted Mar 1, 2022
Gaming is big business. Whether it's on a PC, smartphone or video console, people of all ages across the world enjoy gaming as a way to relax, have fun and socialise with friends or strangers.
Games are made fun by their creative themes and characters. Online slot games are a great example of this, taking inspiration from many industries such as films, TV and even other video games. Now, online casino players can find slot sites in Ireland with a huge range of themes to suit all interests.
The video game market is now worth over $86 billion dollars in the United States alone, globally the market is expected to reach $268.8 billion dollars by 2025.
There are some game characters that are instantly recognisable to gaming fans, even characters from games made decades ago are still fondly remembered by players across a number of generations.
Here are just some of the most iconic gaming characters of all time:
Mario
You do not need to be an avid gamer to know who the character Mario is. Developed by game designer Shigeru Miyamoto for Japanese gaming giant Nintendo, Mario has now appeared in over 200 games, the first of which was Donkey Kong in 1981.
Mario is styled as an Italian plumber from the fictional Mushroom Kingdom. Many of his adventures focus on the challenge of rescuing Princess Peach from dangers and evil villains such as Bowser.
Mario has since made appearances in a huge range of games, from the puzzle title Dr. Mario to sports genre games like Mario Kart and Mario Tennis. There is even a film set to be released this year about the character, who will be voiced by renowned actor Chris Pratt.
Tom Nook
Tom Nook is an iconic fictional character from the Nintendo game series Animal Crossing. He is a non-playing character who is best known for his role as the manager of the town shop.
In one of the later games, New Leaf, Tom Nook instead runs the estate company Nook Homes, while his nephews Tommy and Timmy are put in charge of the shop. In New Horizons, he becomes leader of the island and is tasked with carrying out upgrades.
Nook is a raccoon with brown fur, he is seen in a variety of different uniforms and outfits depending on his role, and the upgrade level, in the game. Due to his popularity with players, he has also made appearances in other games outside of Animal Crossing.
For example, he appears in Super Smash Bros. as himself and in the Nintendo Collector's Edition of Monopoly. The character even has a role in the film Geijōban Dōbutsu no Mori, where he is voiced by actor Naoki Tatsuta.
Spyro
Spyro is a very recognisable purple dragon from Spyro the Dragon series and used to be a mascot for Sony PlayStation. This dragon has starred in ten separate games and made cameo appearances in Crash Bandicoot.
In the early design development of Spyro, the character was depicted as being green. However, the bright purple colour was eventually chosen as it contrasts well to the greenery often used in the game’s backgrounds.
Despite being a creature that is usually depicted as fearsome and aggressive, Spyro is comparatively cute. He was designed this way to suit the original game’s target audience of eight- to ten-year-olds.
Spyro develops a number of skills, for example he is capable of charging at his opponents with his horns. While he lacks flying skills, he is able to glide from point A to B and spit balls of fire.
A little-known fact is that Spyro and Crash have been voiced by two of the same actors. These voice actors were Jess Harnell and later Carlos Alazraqui.
Pikachu
Japanese character Pikachu is one of the most well-known animated characters on the planet. He is a Pokémon from the Pokémon series of games, television shows and films.
Pikachu can be described as a small, cute mouse-like creature that is covered in yellow fur. On their back they have two brown stripes and a lightning shaped tail that shoots electricity. They also have red circular areas of their cheeks that surge with electricity when Pikachu is mad or defensive.
In battle, one special ability that Pikachu has is static, by using this it is able to cause paralysis during combat. Pikachu came in 20th place in the 2011 Guinness Book of Records’ “Top 50 Video Game Characters of All Time” category.
Master Chief
In contrast to the characters above, this character is far from cute. Master Chief is an iconic main character from the Halo video game series. He is a huge super soldier that is highly trained in combat.
The character is described as being a man of few words and for many of the games we do not see his true identity or much of his personality. The reason the developers give for this is it allows players to fully immerse themselves in the game and play as if that character was them. Master Chief has developed a close relationship with the AI Cortana. Cortana is seen as the character’s guide and also his loyal companion.
