The Digital People |
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Most of them have never blinked, moved their lips or even smiled and a few of them have never even spoken, but we love them all the same. From Mario to Snake, from Link to Master Chief, they're the digital people who've captured our imaginations and our hearts.
Mario: Even the fact that he's been played by everyone from Captain Lou Albano to Bob Hoskins hasn't managed to stop the red and blue Italian Stallion from the Land of The Rising Sun. For many gamers, Mario was the first digital character that they really developed a connection with, for some (myself included) it was his underdog brother Luigi. Either way the entire cast and crew of the Mario franchise has grown close to gamers hearts, yes, even you Iggy. Mario's not just a mascot for Nintendo, he's an ambassador for videogames, an icon for gamers everywhere, a symbol of our common heritage, and cherished and respected the world over.
Cloud and Aeris: Ho, ho, boy! At a time when many of us were angst ridden teens Squaresoft came along and gave us a hero we could all identify with, an angst ridden teen with a ludicrously huge sword and a chip on his shoulder. If you want proof of just how popular this reluctant freedom fighter is, do a google image search of the word "Cloud" and see what the first image is, it won't be the puffy white things that float in the sky. And then there was Aeris, poor sweet, ill fated Aeris. Parents the world over must have been a little confused and perhaps even a little scared as they witnessed their kids bawling their eyes out at the death of a videogame character. The first time I saw that E3 2005 Final Fantasy VII tech demo with Aeris holding the bouquet of flowers in her hands, it just broke my heart.
Snake: Snake is real and almost tangible in a way that few videogame characters ever dare to be. Not only is he a layered, emotionally complex dude with more than his fair share sibling rivalry issues, but he also does something that few other franchise characters do, he ages. Face it, at some point in the future (possibly the near future?) whether it's from a cold, hard bullet, or the ravages of time Snake's going to die. He was born on the battlefield, and over time Snake has wrestled with his nature, with his genes and with his very fate. Whether his death will be a lonely one on some random battlefield, or on a quiet bed surrounded by what few friends he has remains to be seen. 
Link: I have to admit, I never thought of of Link as a real character when I played the first few Zelda games, great as the games themselves were, he was always the generic questor fellow for me (didn't help that I thought his name was actually "Zelda" for the longest time). But then his world came alive on the Nintendo 64 with the Ocarina of Time. As soon the game opened in the enchanted Kokiri forest, life was breathed into Link. From his summoning by the Great Deku Tree to the final battle with the hideous monster Ganondorf, Link undergoes a journey that sees him grow from a naive little boy, to a stalwart young warrior.
The Prince: Few characters have gone through such huge changes in such a short span of time. In the Sands of Time we listened to his quiet, egotistical, somewhat chauvinistic internal monologues. The words of a young naive Prince searching for glory and the favor of his fathers eye. In the Warrior Within, the Prince wrestles with being a man marked by death, an ordeal that changes him so fundamentally that by the time we see him again in The Two Thrones, he is a far different man than that young impetuous Prince of old. Tempered by the dark promises of fate and death he is a humble man, a stronger man literally struggling against his own inner demons. The Prince embodies a struggle which rages within all of us, the desire to be noble, humble and altruistic, and the lingering darkness that drives us to selfishness and arrogance.
Cortana: I know I'm gonna get flailed for not really adding Master Chief to the list instead, but here's my reasoning. When you're playing Halo you are the Master Chief, he is an extension of your consciousness and Cortana is your AI. But, she's become so much more. Over the course of the first two Halo games Cortana developed a personality that endeared her to us all, humorous, concerned and maybe even a little sexy too. Which is why her slow descent into madness (apparently) has been hard to watch. Like Snake, Cortana's end is near, and I have a bad feeling the Master Chief will play some sort of terrible role in her eventual demise. "I have defied gods and demons. I am your shield, I am your sword.I know you; your past, your future. This is the way the world ends."And now, as we step into the next generation we're capable of rendering every pore, every bead of sweat, freckle and sorrow filled tear, you have to ask yourself, "will they be more real?" The simple answer is no, they wont, at least if they do it won't be because of that, you see it's not the pixels that make the characters, it's the he(art). Of course this list is by no means definitive, everyone has characters that they love for whatever reason, as always we'd like to hear your favorites in the comments.
36 Jumps PSP homebrew - MHUSPEED v3
25 Jumps Sony helping fix Bayonetta for PS3?
22 Jumps PSP homebrew - MacroFire v3.0.12
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Comments [refresh]
damn man you own at thinking up ideas for articles...
good job...im always interested in what you write
second post wooot woot woot...
whyd u put mario the movie picture in thier, thats the worst mario affiliated thing .
and cortana shouldnt be there , nobody likes her , halo 2 sucks . what about sonic ? what about lemmings ,,,the lemmings should bethere ,,,what about paperboy...he delivers papers forthe good of everyone...what about rastan , what about turrican ....why r u only mentionin people from the presnt era ?...its like those :best albums of all time feature where u get something like robbie williams or britney spears in the top ten ....
nocomment
I always look forward to your articles Christopher C., they are definitly different and thought provoking. I would add Fox (Starfox) because he's an interesting character, his father died and it makes him all mad... Not alot of emotion from him, but he has an interesting story. Donkey Kong, he went bad to good, and he's an interesting character. Well... I cant think of any right now, but alot of the Big N characters I actually cared for (In a digital way), never really played many other system games... I did have Xbox though, and I love PSP. And the #2 you are an idiot. Chris is talking about characters who actually have depth and meaning. Lemmings are not characters that have any meaning. The game is not about a single Lemming! Also learn to capatalize, and grammar work... Sonic might be a good candidate though.
Man your articles are always the best. Ever thought of working for a site like gamespot.com or ign.com or even a magazine like Game Informer? I agreed with what you said about Snake. He is the only person to make feel emotion toward. For example, when Big Boss broke Snake's arm, and threw him over the bridge, I said "You little b**ch!"
Anywas I don't think Cortana belongs there because there are more important people than her. The the one think should replace her on the list is Jak from the Jack and Dexter series. He's gone through so many dramatic changes in every new game, almost like how The Prince evolved.
Again thanks for this entertaining articles and I'm looking forward to reading more of insights and opinions.
Thanks guys, I'm glad you enjoyed the article, and yeah, there are a ton of characters not on the list, from dudes like Abe, to the above mentioned Sonic, to Jak (though I'd rather put Daxter on the list myself)
I have to admit I'd never thought of adding DK to the list, but it makes sense, he's changed a lot and quite dramatically as well.
" I agreed with what you said about Snake. He is the only person to make feel emotion toward." Could not have said it better myself.
Sure Mario, Link, Sonic ect. are cool but that's not because they have any kind of personality but just because they were out when the hole gaming thing was new and that they happen to be the best games at the time. What I mean is that Mario could have been some other guy and it wouldnt really have changed anything.
You mention snake, of course you do because else you would have a lot of dudes bashing you
I hope you guys know what i mean
nocomment
lol #5 i said the same thing at that moment... snake has to be the most interesting character of the current gen systems (IMO) i almost shed a tear during the last scene in the graveyard.....
I almost shed a teer too! It was sad having to kill her at field with all of the flowers dropping, my favorite ending of a game. When he saluted her showing his repsect, and puting her gun next to her grave, it was sad watching the game end. I'll never ever forget that salute.
OK, like Cloud and Aeris, this character only appears in a single title IIRC. But this mad female is one of the most remarkable characters in gaming history for me. Grandia II had many great personalities, but Millenia was the one that really blew some extra life into the game. As a player you realised the true nature of her being the daemonic self of Elena, the well behaving religious choire singer, even if the rest of the party would take some time to understand their relationship. And as a player you would miss her in the scenes that had to happen without her and anxiously await her return during the nights. Her ever changing mood and sanity are far from forgettable. Great char, really. Makes me wanna fire up my dreamcast again ;)
lol, I think we all thought that at one point
yeah I thought the same thing up until the N64 days even though I played Link's Awakening all the time.
Oh and by the way John Leguizamo made a great Luigi =D
At first Sonic was just a cool character but then Sonic Adventure came into my life and I fell in love with all of the characters. Each character has a unique personality and coolness that is unmatched by any other franschise I have come across. Mario is a personal favorite but I love the sonic franschise alot! hehe ^^
The underlying theme of the article is so true. Its definetly not the polygon muscle that will endear gamers to future game characters, but the life the creators are able to breath into them. For instance, heavenly sword which has a fantastic art style and uber poly muscle behind it is only as exciting as it is because the characters in it seem compelling (for christ sake did anyone see the andy serkis performance)
Good job Chris, keep those articles coming because its thinking like this that will allow the gaming community to evolve.
there's an octopus in final fantasy (6?) called ultros (or orthros)... he's one of the funniest characters i've come across.
i like mario being part of this, he's actually quite the character, play paper mario or something like that...
That was a great article
#16 lol I remember that funny octopus, kept popping up everywhere right? I havent played that game since... I dunno.
Would anyone else agree that Colton White from Gun is a good character? I dont really know anyone else who likes that game :(
I hate it when soemone just decides to call someone else an idiot especially when they try and correct grammer and *****, you are a *****
, ofcourse lemmins qualify , why the hell else do u take em to the end of the level. and they do the little lemmingisms etc etc
just want to clearify something: Lemmings normally don't tend to jump off a cliff... It was DISNEY who made them do it... and since DISNEY published the video where the Lemmings jump of the cliff (forced by Disney...) everyone things, Lemmings would naturally do that... but they don't
poor Lemmings...
And I kind of miss the ball from "Pong"... in my opinion, he made the most drastical change.. I mean, without him, the first character moving across the screen ever... video games would be nothing ;)
as usual, that was a very well thought out and presented article, and i really think you should try and head into journalism for gaming magazines, as your insight into games is deep, but objective. unlike a lot of other writers here on QJ.net, you seem to be able to put your personal preferences aside, or present and fair and evensided face to what you write about (such as the numerous PS3 articles that fly in the face of the "it's so cool and trendy to bash Sony!" fad that's been ravaging the net lately). i may not always agree with you, but the reads are always well written and joy to peruse.
Gun was a good game i liked it #17. the title was kinda gay but the game was fun. i beat it then went around killling everyone on the armored horse and big as canon gun.
To FIGBOY: Thanks for the kind words! I used to be a big Sony fan, and in truth still am (the PS3 will be my first next gen purchase) but have since broadened my horizons to try and encompass everything the gaming world has to offer without prejudice.
As far as writing for other publications, QJ actually satisfies my needs quite well at this point, both financially and creatively. They give me a lot of freedom on what to write, and how I write it, and offer nothing but support. I've also grown attached to the community here look forward to your comments on various articles written by myself and other writers on the site.
TO MACH: I have to agree with you on GUN, I actually really, really enjoyed that game a whole lot more than I thought I would. The gameplay was simplistic but there was something primally satisfying about being able to roam the wild west. The story was also handled extremely well with wonderful voice acting and some amazing motion capture work. Shame about the graphics though
just so everybody knows why lemmings jump of cliffs.
Lemmins dont intend to jmp off cliffs, but male lemmings really dislike each other and avoid each other as much as possible (contrary to the game where they co-operate ) . When near another lemmimg they instinctively run away without taking stock of where they are ....so if they were near the edge of a cliff they just repel each other like likesides of a magnet and the one that went off the cliff would obviously die .
when they were first observed to do this it wasnt noticed that it was the repulsion of another lemming that was doin this...the observers just witnessed these lemmings go flying off the cliffs.
I hope this helps explain lemming behaviour. thankyou.
Kain has to be my favorite character ever. Total BAMF. Especially in Blood Omen II.
Cloud Strife....enough said..