Sonic the Hedgehog
What can you say about Sonic? He represented the might of Sega way back in the 16-bit era. He was the Sega mascot, the character to push the sales of the Mega Drive beyond its competition. Sonic had attitude, he was fast and was the epitome of the word “cool.” This directly resulted in children thinking the Mega Drive was the system to have, as it was faster, had the attitude, Nintendo’s Super Nintendo lacked and was the system to own if you were “cool.” Sonic simply showed Nintendo’s mascot Mario for what he was, a fat, slow Italian plumber, which then ensured the rivalry between Sega and Nintendo for years to come. Sonic, just goes to show you, how a video game mascot, can influence sales of a console.
Mario
While Sonic may have dominated early on, Mario simply has lasted the test of time. Sure there have been a few recent sonic games, but they don’t draw in the number of gamers like Mario’s latest endeavours have. You have to give credit to Nintendo; only they could turn an ordinary Italian plumber into a legendary gaming icon. Mario will forever symbolize Nintendo’s creative genius in creating an everyday ordinary character and transforming him into a video game character which to this day is still going strong.
Pac-Man
If you ask your parents who Pac-Man is, they will probably be able to give you an answer. One of the first recognised video game characters, Pac-Man consisted of a yellow circle with a “pizza cut” taken out for a mouth. Pac-Man was a relatively simple game, involving eating dots and evading googly-looking ghosts in the process, but like many early arcade games, it was strangely addictive. Today Pac-Man lacks the bump mapping and polygon count of most other video game characters, but when it comes down to one of the oldest characters that will be remembered through time, you can’t beat Pac-Man.
Duke Nukem
Come get some, yep that’s good old Duke, the alien ass-kicker, the saver of babes. So why is Duke remembered? Well he managed to inject a healthy combination of humour and attitude into his game. While plenty of humorous video game characters have been seen, Duke was one of the first to introduce sexual orientated jokes. His attitude and one-liners, such as “Come get some” and “Hail to the king baby” also established himself as one guy who wasn’t afraid of killing some alien scum. Sure, some people might say Duke is just a carbon copy of the zombie slaying hero, Ash played by Bruce Campbell, in the Evil Dead movies, but Duke will always be known as the humorous hero of babes.
Wario
Making his first appearance in Super Mario Land 2, on the Game boy, Wario played the evil, greedy enemy of Mario. From there, no one could imagine that Wario would go from evil villain to likable larrikin and appear in several successful titles, all by himself. Now this is quite an achievement for a secondary video game character. You don’t see other secondary characters like Sonic’s sidekick Tails with his own game do you. Wario has been in several games to date, and this will most likely continue. He will be remembered as the secondary character which became a star in his own right.
Grand Theft Auto 3 Guy
So we come to the Grand Theft Auto 3 Guy, someone who never speaks, and remains nameless. He was the silent (anti)protagonist, someone who didn’t need a name or the need to speak. He let his skill do the talking for him; if there was a job to be done, he got it done. Actually the fact that he didn’t speak is an old developer technique. By making a video game character a mute and removing all personality, the player can assume his identity and feel as if they are the actual character in the game. It was used long before Grand Theft Auto 3, but the Grand Theft Auto 3 Guy will always be remembered as the silent criminal, who portrayed your actions and ideals whilst you played through the game.
Pikachu
Yes, the yellow rodent does get a mention here, as he will always be well remembered. When the animated series of Pokemon began, there was one Pokemon that stood out from the rest. It was different from the others, as it hated being stored within a Poke Ball and had a nasty habit of shocking anyone who held it with vicious electricity. However over time, its trainer, a young boy by the name of Ash, grew a special bond with it and viewers everywhere could identity with their friendship and trust. This Pokemon’s name was Pikachu, a yellow stripped mouse, and today is still one of the most famous Pokemon to date. The animated series could have made any Pokemon famous, but Pikachu got the break. He will be remembered as the video game character which was made famous by a television series and today reminds us of the craze that Pokemon is.
Snake
Snake, Snake, Snaaaaaaaaaaaaake. To finish up we are reminded of Snake, someone who could of been a movie actor rather than a video game character. The first Metal Gear Solid game to appear on Playstation introduced a story plot that was worthy of the big screen. Using dramatic cutscenes and long-drawn out codec conversations, Snake established a story(with many unexpected twists) which kept the gamer on the edge. Some people may of complained about the lack of action between these long "movie like" sequences, however it was a welcoming change to many games which feautured no such storyline at all. Snake demonstrated how video games could include a memorable storyline, rather than one we would tend to forget.
And I wish he wasn't "memorable". 
)
Well, Capcom certainly aren't ones for originality, I'll say that. 
And the anime isn't bad 
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