Random: BAFTA's 'Iconic Game Characters' Poll Has Us Scratching Our Heads

Weird that Laura Croft won, given that she isn't really all that prominent.

Absolute scandal! Trogdor the Burninator should be at the very least in the top 5.

@VoidofLight the fact people still can’t get her name right says it all!

Lara Croft: I would like to thank Ubisoft, Crystal Dynamics and most importantly, recency bias!

lol @ "8. Master Chief - Halo"

That's the opposite of "iconic" and more "random futuristic uninspired robot suit" design, this character doesn't even have a proper name. Looks like people just voted for "which character reminds me of a game that I like".

Given that this is UK centric I can see Lara being ahead of Mario. My parents were definitely more aware of Lara than Mario.
In no world are Agent 47 and Sackboy more iconic than Donkey Kong or Pikachu though...

@PosterBoy I think you are mixing up iconic with … something else. Master Chief is definitely Iconic. And yea he is a “man in a robot suit” but Mario is a man in overalls. Still doesn’t exclude them from being iconic.

The whole awards stuff these days is a joke.

The fact The Super Mario Bros. Movie wasn't even nominated in the best animated movie category at the Oscars is utterly absurd. Some of the actual nominations were genuinely worse movies in pretty much every way other than whatever message they were trying to send out into the world. I mean, this is the animation category, and the 3D visuals and actual animation in The Super Mario Bros. Movie are up there with the very best the medium has ever produced in that regard. And I say that as someone with an honors degree in animation. To not even get a nomination, especially given some of the other animations that did make the list, is a complete and utter joke.

I'll tell you this for nothing, Elemental was so meh that both me and the wife couldn't even make it through the whole movie, and Across the Spider-Verse is actually a kinda ugly film with some terribly lazy art and animation. It doesn't get a free pass for looking like some animation degree student's final project and whatever presumably very deep and important thing it was about (I honestly can't even remember, other than it being the slightly lower quality sequel to Into the Spider-Verse).

And, yeah, Mario is by far the most iconic video game character of all time. It's not even close. These people have absolutely no clue. What were they doing, trying to tick boxes or something.

Hitman? Who, outside of gaming, knows that he is called Agent 47? I barely know that. Mario and Sonic can probably be named by non-players at this point.
Sackboy? Again, I just about know that he is from Little Big Planet, but I can't tell you what he looks like. Lol. Strange list.

That list is one of the worst I have ever seen -
Sackboy that high?
Hitman in third!
never heard of no. 10,17,18,19

Shocker, they should be embarrassed, but actually they are just richer!

The weirdest part here are the two Baldur's Gate 3 characters. Neither have been around for long enough nor are prominent enough outside of their own sphere.

Iconic characters tend to be those that are recognisable even to the people who don't play the games they are a part of.

A lot of iconic characters tend to represent a brand; For example, Master Chief is one of the most iconic characters for Xbox, Mario on Nintendo systems etc. Back in the day I'd say stuff like Ratchet and Clank, Crash Bandicoot on Playstation etc.

Then you've franchises that are so large their characters are naturally iconic, such as Pikachu from the Pokemon Company.

Personally, I wouldn't put characters such as Ellie/Nathan Drake on these sorts of lists, because quite simply they're too generic. It's like that brand recognition test where you remove the text and see if you're still able to recognise the brand. If you plucked these characters out of their games, would the average person still recognise them?

I would say I know alot of characters in gaming but sackboy and agent 47?! I thought it was just Groot or something and hitman?

@VoidofLight One word: Britain.

I'm mostly baffled by Pikachu being so low. Also really strange having no Ryu or Scorpion.

@Erigen YES!!

It's really nothing to get worked up about, it's just a poll, and has all the advantages and disadvantages of any poll.

It's a poll on the Bafta website, which is a niche location for many 'gamers' it's a more arts/film focused audience and will trend older and very British.

Surprise entries may be ones that have won bafta awards in the past and are more prominent in the memories of users of that website etc.

@Draelyn

Agreed. I haven't paid any attention to Baldur's Gate 3 so I couldn't pick those characters out of a lineup, and didn't even know their names (except Astarion is very close to Asterion, the name of the Minotaur from the Labyrinth of legend).

Your point about standing the test of time is spot on, that's a huge part of what defines something as iconic. It's a bit like when Ubisoft released Watchdogs and claimed the protagonist had an 'iconic hat' and it was just a black baseball cap. A few years down the line and people barely remember the game, let alone the PC's headgear.

All it tells me is how old the people are deciding this list.

Yep the BAFTAs does have a UK bias, and Lara Croft was created by a UK studio.

Then again if the poll was made by a Japanese organization I'd expect plenty of characters from Dragon Quest, SMT, and others that are less popular in the West.

You would think Mario and Sonic are on the two top positions. Wether or not you have played any of their games, everyone knows who they are and what they represent in gaming history.

Sackboy being more iconic than Pikachu
Sure

I don't believe for a second this is what people voted for.
The results are just whatever BAFTA wanted them to be.
I could absolutely see Pikachu being higher than Mario, and he is lower than Suckboy, lol.
Also, sorry, no disrespect to BG3 (great game), but a game that came out less than a year ago should not be in an iconic character game list.

I’d put every other character on the list ahead of Mario, he’s just so boring.

@Draelyn
i agree, i don't see what is Iconic about Ellie, she is so generic.

Even the Guards from Skyrim with their Arror in the Knee are more iconic

The Baldurs Gate Charakters also way too new, they have to stand the Test of Time.

Lara being even on Advertisments and one of the first Characters being so present outside of Video Games, really belongs to the iconic List besides of Mario.

@Switch_Pro

I'm struggling to work out what sort of benefit BAFTA would gain from fiddling the results of a meaningless poll.

It looks to me like you've got a poll run by a non-gaming dedicated organisation which has drawn responses from a group of mixed age-ranges and gaming experience.

For example, Lara Croft was absolutely massive in the UK in the 90's. She was everywhere and crossed over into non-gaming media in way that Mario and Sonic didn't, simply because they were more child-friendly characters and she was the face of gaming become 'acceptable' for adults. So for plenty of people in the UK who grew up in the 90's but don't have much interest in games, I can see them voting for Lara over Mario.

@akeshwar81 Recency bias, as opposed to Mario who had a movie and two games coming out last year?

A non Nintendo game character won a popularity contest. What a disaster! I’m looking forward to the next Tomb Raider much more than the next Mario game.

It's the British. Of course the results are going to be overwhelming skewed towards PlayStation

Like others I also think these results are rigged. It just had to be a woman at the top. Lara Croft is absolutely not the best known or loved character in gaming.

As others have said it's a UK based poll and Lara-mania was huge here and went into the mainstream and would be hard to miss for anyone who lived through that time.

In the US Mario consistently polled as the more popular character than Sonic but in the UK Sonic came out on top. I doubt thats the case anymore but it does show how even in English speaking regions there are differences.

The BAFTAs are very Britain centric. Tearaway won like 6 BAFTAs awards when it came out despite being on the PSVITA and flopping. But was developed in England.

Just look at Sackboy as #5, again by Media Molecule from the UK.

Pikachu at #12 is ridiculous given its the face of the world's biggest media franchise. Yet Shadow Heart from BG3 is more iconic?

There's almost no way this poll wasn't biased. They mustn't have distributed it evenly because even in the UK those results arent believeable.

Surely Street Fighter or MK would get in before Yakuza?

Don't care much about this poll, but I sure am glad that Super Smash Bros is not a Brittish IP...let's hope it is not a "leak" for the next instalment in the series .

How is Pikachu so low?

Is there a list of BAFTA members somewhere? Because with some of the results I've seen from them, I can't imagine them representing any group's actual opinions.

I guess you could argue Mario/Sonic/Pikachu have the handicap of competing with other characters from their own series, but the numbers still seem weird.

I'm sure Lara is double as iconic as Mario, if you catch my drift.

I'd go so far to say Samus is more recognizable and iconic than Laura Croft. But these lists are purely tabloid fan fiction. Only Mario or Pikachu could realistically be #1, and a good chunk of that top 20 would be filled with the Smash Ultimate roster (I guess 8/20 is not terrible).

link no 7 at least he did better than Zelda who isn't even on this list mind boggles not blown lol.

Like so many others here, pretty baffled by those results. Not so much about the top 4 more about some of the inclusions. No Donkey Kong, Kirby or mega man? They definitely deserve to be on the list more than some of their picks!
Anyway, as asked, my top 5 gaming characters:-
1.Hitmonlee (Pokemon)
2.Chibi Robo (Chibi Robo)
3.Jimmy T. (Wario ware)
4.Tom the cat (Animal crossing)
5. Waluigi (Waaahaahaa!)

Mario just needs some bolt ons

@Erigen thank you for this trip down memory lane. Burninating the peasants had me in stitches.

Whilst Lara is a great character.. not only is she winning/stealing most iconic character, according to the BBC and Shelley Blond (Lara's voice) she's the first female lead in a computer game!! Shocking lol.. sorry Samus or Billie Sue.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-68721939

@RetroGames Super Mario Bros was fine film, but in no way did it do anything Oscar worthy.

Spider-verse actually set a new bar in terms of what animation can possibly do to the point you had other films aka "Puss in Boots" follow suit.

Mario didn't push any boundaries, nor took any risk with it's animation, story, or characters. It pretty much played it safe in all categories.

Ricky Winterborn!!!

I mean, the only character who could possibly come close to Mario is Sonic. After that, Pac-Man maybe depending on the average age of the respondents - but, MAN, this list is just nuts. Agent 47 - As someone else said, I don't even really know that's his name! I do think Lara should be on the list, maybe even top 10, but above Mario, Sonic, etc.? No way!

Well, my iconic video game character choice is Slugger from Yokai Watch 3.
I really love his design as muscular baseball Yokai.
Even I hand drawn him as fan art on Deviantart.

I prefer the unpopular character that become popular in my heart.

Also, my other iconic character choice from Pokemon games is Sawk, not Pikachu.

Tomb Raider was HUGE in Britain, especially the PS1 games so it's not that surprising to me

@Multi Man, I hate when they say stuff like that! Sure, it wasn't that common to have female leads in games back then, but Lara was hardly the first. Forget Samus, how about Ms. Pac-Man or Katie Kangaroo? I mean, they're not human, but still.

@Bratwurst35 Following suit does not mean something was good or bad, just currently trending, so it inevitably gets copied.

The quality of art, character design, world design, and animation in The Super Mario Bros. Movie really is leagues beyond both the Spider-Verse films. And if animation films can't get recognised for that, then there's something very wrong with how they're being recognised, hence my point. I think the Spider-Verse movies got an easy ride for other reasons that aren't really a whole lot to do with the quality of art and animation, but really just because it was simply visually something different (but not necessarily in a good way: There's many moments I can directly point to where that movie just looks noticeably bad) and some other fluff stuff. It ain't enough to pull the wool over my eyes.

If playing it safe means we get brilliant animated films like The Super Mario Bros. Movie, I'll take that over the likes of Spider-Verse and Elemental every single time. As did and I expect will however many people who helped take The Super Mario Bros. Movie to number 16 on the top grossing movies of all time chart with over $1.3+ billion at the worldwide box office. I honestly pray Illumination does pretty much exactly the same job next time around and basically doesn't change their formula at all for the next Super Mario Bros. Movie.

But, hey, each to their own.

Playstation bias. Gotta be that.

@VoidofLight No doubt this will give the antiwoke crowd some fodder

Let’s be real the top 5 are:

Pac-Man
Pikachu
Mario
Sonic
Steve/That Minecraft Guy

Then you probably have

Lara Croft
Cloud
Solid Snake
Masterchief
Kratos

The idea that Red Dead Redemption guy is more recognisable than Pikachu is so laughable!

And this is only characters off the list already, otherwise Luigi, Peach and Bowser say hi.

I don’t think the voters understand the definition of the word iconic. It’s not just Mario it’s the whole list that’s bad. People voted for their favorite characters not the most iconic.

What??? Who were these people that participated in this poll? How do we have characters from Baldurs Gate 3 and Red Dead Redemption 2 yet no Donkey Kong, Mega Man, Kirby, Samus, Spyro, Ryu, Scorpion. Even Banjo-Kazooie (not sure if you can count them as one character though but I digress) or Simon Belmont would be more fitting on this list. This is supposed to be the most iconic characters of all time not your favorite characters.

Even in the UK Lara Croft isn’t as ubiquitous as Mario, I can guarantee it.

Even if that were the case though it’d still be bogus, Pikachu is clearly more iconic. Think this is a case of a small pool of voters choosing their favourite characters as opposed to those with more cultural significance. Like, Sackboy and Agent 47 are great but top 10 most iconic video game characters? Uhhhhhhhh, no.

Lara Croft is genuinely not a bad shout. She is iconic, even if Mario is video gaming’s Mickey Mouse.

This is a poll that only 4,000 people seem to have been aware of. At least they’ve picked some interesting games, like Yakuza.

But yeah, Street Fighter II, Metal Gear, and a dozen or so mascot platformers have way more clout than half this list. Agent 47, honestly…

No Yeti from Skifree?

I'm surprised link is even on this list considering how many people still think his name is Zelda.

Looks like a lot of PC players were polled. There’s no way I, a gamer of 40+ years could pick out anyone from Baldur’s Gate 3 from a crowd. They don’t belong there at all. I’d probably say the same for Arthur Morgan; he’s no John Marston and really more Iconic than Kent Paul or Lance Vance?

Agent 47 I kind of get but he’s a little bit generic.

It’s the UK, Lara Croft being number one is absolutely understandable, she was a cultural icon. Agent 47 being that high is cool though, those games were big and obviously there were the crap movies too.

@K1LLEGAL It's not enough to have one iconic aspect ("futuristic warrior in robot suit") for a character to be regarded as highly iconic. By that criteria, any random werewolf character would be iconic (which is the level of Master Chief "character design", his "iconicness" stopped at "futuristic soldier in armor with helmet concept art", try typing that into your engine of choice and get bored out of your skull). Go and study how Capcom turned "mummy", "werewolf" and similar abstract concepts into truly iconic characters (edit: in Darkstalkers) in order to understand what I'm talking about.

Samus is a good comparison, she's also meant to be a "futuristic warrior in a robot suit" but is like 100 % more iconic than Master Chief.

Also if you see Mario as "dude in overalls"… you're ignoring a whole dimension of what makes Mario iconic: sound effects, voice acting, body language, poses… Mario's "jump with raised hand" pose is more iconic than the whole Master Chief. Not to mention Mario's colors and so on.

Mario, Sonic and Pikachu should be the top three, simple as that.

Here in the UK a lot of people have terrible taste in games (Fifa and Call of Duty are nearly always at the top of the sales charts) and Playstation is the top brand because of it's "lad culture" vibe and unfortunately, most people think Nintendo is childish and in the same ball park as Dora the Explorer, or Pepper Pig. It seems that will never change sadly.

This is almost certainly guerilla marketing and probably worth investigating.

It’s a public vote which means popularity contest. Lara got a make over (reboot got me into the series) but she is still known for her 90’s popularity and why. Her character is also British so there is that factor as well. So this isn’t surprising. Especially considering who is more likely to vote for something like this. If they were gonna vote a female icon I would have done Chun-Li or Samus Aran for their history. That being said this list doesn’t match sales.

@PosterBoy You completely missed my point. I don’t see mario as dude in overalls. I know he is iconic. Same as Master Chief. You’re the one who said man in “robot suit”…?

I also thought of Samus as a good comparison to Master Chief - I would argue Master Chief is more iconic.

Respect the heck out of Baldur's Gate 3, would be playing it obsessively like everyone else if I had the means to, but nobody can convince me that two characters from it being on here is anything other than recency bias.

Let's face it, we're all just happy that the real Core Lara is back and not those dreary reboots.

@PosterBoy His "actual" name is John-117. As far as I know, he doesn't have a canon full name because he was abducted as a child and forced into the Spartan supersoldier program. He's gone through a few different sets of armor, but for my money the MJOLNIR Mark VI is the most iconic. In terms of being an actual character, he's probably more fleshed out than most other entries even with being a mostly silent protagonist because of the various books/shows/etc. the series has gotten, though you're better off just thinking of everything after the Bungie/Microsoft split as non-canon.

@K1LLEGAL Alright, if you think Master Chief is more iconic than Samus… then we have different interpretations of the word "iconic"

I can understand Lara Croft's popularity, even though I've never played any of the Tomb Raider games, but there's a few characters on this list that I've never even heard of.

I guess if a character is truly iconic, people will know of them even if they haven't played the game they are in.

@Rambler I mean, those DS and Wii numbers are mostly casuals who fell off. It's not a sociological stat that can easily be tracked, but the UK will always have an association with PlayStation due to it's loudest talk show types growing up with a PlayStation. Like how people think Ducktales NES was super important because Screwattack said it was back in the day, and how Vinny and The Completionist gaslit the world into thinking Banjo-Kazooie was a major milestone when it was outsold by Croc. England will always have this association with the early PlayStation; just look at how long the N'Sane Trilogy stayed in the top 10 there.

@Anachronism To be honest I stopped paying attention to anything Master Chief related a long time ago because there was a point where it just turned into "alright, freelance writers are now just coming up with some retcon crap because the marketing told them to 'build character' and 'expand universe' ".

I'll follow your advice and "think of everything after the Bungie/Microsoft split as non-canon."

Mario: Is more recognizable than Mickey Mouse
Lara Croft: Was in three good games and a couple of bad movies
I'm feeling like there's some bias here.

I'm more surprised to see Pikachu, Cloud and Crash Bandicoot so low.

I think Baldurs Gate 3 characters shouldn't be included, the game is 6 months old and nothing iconic about them. For me iconic characters are those that have been around for years and come to mind straight away when thinking about certain games series or genres.

Personally id swap the BG3 characters with Sora (Kingdom Hearts) and Bayonetta or Ryu (Street Fighter)

Should have been Sans at number 1... /j

I guess most of the Brits didn't own for example NES in their childhood. And Tomb Raider is a British game. That's probably why.

@VoidofLight Since it was a BAFTA survey, I'd guess it was mostly British people of a certain age who were asked. Lara Croft was pretty much the omnipresent face of the booming UK games industry for a good few years, so it's not a big surprise.

Im far more flummoxed about agent 47.

And what’s that Gordon Ramsay cooking show doing in there?

The 90's and PlayStation were so awesome. Loved Tomb Raider, but was also scared to play it.

Here in Germany, the band Die Ärzte, made a really cool song, featuring Lara Croft. The song is called " Männer sind Schweine".

@Jhena : I was more a Tic Tac Toe fan.

@Rhaoulos What? My favorite video game characters are Zelda, Metroid, and Halo!

We all know Lara won due to two very... prominent... factors.

@PosterBoy I have a question, have you even played a Halo game?

You may not like Master Chief's design but he is for sure iconic, especially for Xbox fans. Is he the best designed character? Heck no. But he is iconic (if you believe the dictionary's definition of the word is real).

@Clammy
Too rude for my taste. I loved eurobeat music.

@akeshwar81 Not sure who you were mocking here. It's the internet, after all.

Do these folks even know what "iconic" means?

@CammyUnofficial Hahaha, that brings back memories. Yeti would be my number one if the list were about antagonists from my very early years of gaming .

@PinderSchloss It was just a joke. I don't care who 'wins' polls like this. My position is to play the games you like, on the consoles you like. We can leave the fanboy stuff to the little kids.

What a bizarre list!
Who is BAFTA and why are they doing video game lists anyway?? 🤷🏻‍♀️

I'm honestly surprised that people are surprised about Lara Croft being the first. It's either the age difference or being in the Nintendo bubble. Lara Croft and Mario are the most iconic gaming stars ever in my opinion. But Hitman at #3 is seriously strange.

This list will change in the next 10 years, if even that long. A lot of recency bias, but once the flame of those games die down a bit you'll still see the likes of Mario, Pikachu, Master Chief, Crash Bandicoot, Link, Sonic, Cloud, etc. An individual character still being heavily talked about a decade(s) later is proof of living beyond the honey moon phase and is the true definition of iconic.

The key question is how was this survey conducted. That can impact the results substantially - to the point of making them non-reflective of reality.

@GOmar Yes, but not much.

I think Master Chief has some iconic elements, just… not much, and definitely not enough to qualify for any "Most Iconic Video Game Characters of All Time" lists. Especially not when compared to, say, Samus: that's an iconic character. Oh right I just noticed, Samus is not even on the list.

For the record, I don't hate Master Chief design: personally, I think it's solid but boring and run of the mill character design. Nothing wrong with that. Fits with the IP and everything related, that's great and I appreciate that! But… one of the "Most Iconic Video Game Characters of All Time" he isn't. At least according to me

Is this a joke? Lara Croft more known than Mario???

There is NO way this is accurate, esp with "Agent 47" being number 3? No way is that more iconic than many other options below that...and of course Mario is way more recognizable than Lara Croft, and always has been, even back in 1996!

@PosterBoy Ah yes, as opposed to Italian stereotype in a jumpsuit with no discernable character or backstory at all.

@Erigen Trogdooor!

I mean, I feel like Pikachu should probably have won by a landslide if we're talking about public awareness.

The Baftas are British (as was Lara Croft although they have taken away her hilariously posh Emglish accent). Nintendo has never been as big in the UK as we are known for having a huge preference for dumbed down violent games.

Mario is not only the most iconic video game character, he is apparently more recognisable to young kids than Mickey Mouse now so I would not take this list seriously.

There is definitely some regency bias.

I will say that this list is one of the few times I feel “old”. As I don’t recognize everyone on this list. But there are a few franchises up here I am unaware of/don’t play.

Pit from Kid Icarus.

Fight me!!!

The order of that list is certainly a choice.

To really be iconic, I think my Grandma has to know who they are. In which case only Mario, Sonic, Pacman, and Pikachu should have won.

@Rambler US marketting all centered around Crash and Twisted Metal. I've seen the UK's Playstation ads.

In retrospect, the foreshadowing to the current state of that nation was rather obvious.

Didn't know she was that popular nowadays, lol

Please don't tell me that "those" "current social/political movements" influenced this poll?..

@Rambler Until Switch came out, that was never, ever the case. The Megadrive/Genesis was bigger here than the SNES, and Sony beat every other console apart from maybe the 360 as the dumbed down for the masses games on that console were a hit with us Brits.

Come on UK, you are embarrassing us here. Of course it's Mario. (Hmm, mind you, there maybe some British bias here...)

@Erigen I think he may have burninated too many peasants that may have voted for him.

@Rambler People in UK liked the arcadey type Megadrive games. UK gamers were more about coolness than gameplay (although Tomb Raider was amazing back in the day). Also back then Nintendo historically never release a lot of games to the European market, in particular almost all RPG games like Earthbound, Fintasy IV, V, VI, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG etc.

SACKBOY MORE POPULAR THAN PACMAN AND LINK? ON WHAT ***** GODDAMN PLANET. WHAT MENTAL DEFORMITIES DO THE PEOPLE AT BAFTA HAVE?

I'm saying it now, it's because of those huge boobs that Laura won. lol

Absolutely not having this. The amount of media, merchandise and games Mario has been in, there is absolutely no way Lara Croft is more recognisible. I'm not saying she isn't iconic, she sure is, but no way is she number 1. The biggest outlier here is "Agent 47". Now, I've never played Hitman admittedly, but I didn't even know he was called that. Very much doubt anyone outside of gaming knows that, or have even heard of the games. A generic bald dude in a suit is absolutely not more recognisible or iconic than Sonic, Pikachu, Pac-Man, Link, Crash...I would put TAILS above him.

It’s a head scratcher no matter what console you favor. Sackboy over Kratos and Master Chief? I’ve never even played through a Halo campaign but that’s laughable. No Mega Man. No Samus. Did they just poll a Uwe Boll Reddit?

Hadn't even heard of BAFTA before since I'm american but seeing the list tho is funny. This was the equivalent of asking for a "grand/parents react video." Everything seems to be judged on Britishness and it kinda feels like Laura won cause she'd point at you whenever you had her look at the screen...with no hands ;-D

I literally burst out laughing.
Pikachu is number 12.
After hitman and some dude from Baldur's Gate or Red Dead.
How can this be taken seriously?
I mean freaking PIKACHU.

@RetroGames,

I think you hit the nail on the head there, the winning character has to be female, or be seen as a strong female lead, not surprising in the U.K.

@Joeynator3000
This.
Still, a respectable showing for a plumber v Lara matchup.
But not a surprise as Mario is not as...tautly packed.

Mario, Pac Man, Sonic. Those are the only one my parents might possibly recognize, and Mario the only one who's name they'd remember.

Arthur Morgan and Nathan Drake are so bland. I really enjoy both Red Dead and Uncharted, but not because of the protagonists. For Arthur, you could find any bloke in a pub and dress him up as a cowboy and you’d be 95% there. For Nathan, you wouldn’t even need to dress him up.

For me, characters based on realistic humans will always be quite bland. The exception is Lara, and that’s probably because she is from an era where no matter how realistic you wanted the character to be, it would always be low poly and require some interpretation. Even then, I don’t like her as much as, say, Samus Aran.

I just want to point out that almost half of this list is in Smash.

No way, man! That poll was rigged! That most definitely 100% should have been Pikachu!

Yeah, this list is...... something lol.

Lara over Mario, Sackboy over the likes of Pac Man, Link and Pikachu, Agent 47 that high. These choices along with two BG3 characters on here makes me think people who voted here lost the meaning of the word iconic.

@K1LLEGAL By that logic Link and Samus aren't iconic as people still think that one is called Zelda and the other Metroid. An iconic character is easily recognizable by many, even if they don't know their name or story.

Yeah right, Sackboy above Pacman, Link or Pikachu. The english bias is embarrassing here.

Why do I feel like votes WEREN'T counted and this list is just one person's opinion? Some of these characters (like Arthur Morgan and anyone from Baldur's Gate 3) have no business being on a list of video game icons because they are nowhere near that status.

Some of these characters should also not be on here because other characters are much more iconic. Why would Agent 47, Kazuma, and Ellie be on here over the likes of Ryu, Scorpion, and Doom Slayer? Hell, I'd say the likes of Claude Speed and Carmen Sandiego are more iconic than them. Joel alone would be more iconic and loved than Ellie is, at the very least.

And of course the order needs to changed. There is no way Mario and Pac-Man shouldn't be first and second respectively. Pikachu, Sonic, and Link should also be the third, fourth, and fifth spots.

Man this list is all sorts of messed up.

Tomb Raider was much bigger deal in the UK. All my friends had PlayStations and never played Mario - except maybe on GameBoy.

@glaemay
This is why we need a referendum!

@RetroGames Mario wasn't snubbed at the Oscars. Illumination isn't a high art studio.

Mario and Sonic are almost inarguably the two most 'iconic' videogame characters. Link, Solid Snake, Master Chief, Pikachu, Lara Croft, Samus, Crash Bandicoot, Pacman, Kirby, Cloud amongst others that I've almost certainly forgotten. I'd say Geralt should probably be in there as well.

@Maulbert High art . . .

Agent 47?

Sounds like bad data

A survey given to idiots who know little about games, gives idiotic results.... News at 11

@Woderwick Mario is absolutely massive in UK, much bigger than Lara of course. If the results are not straight up cooked up, just shows that the demographic was incredibly limited if nothing else.

How the hell are any Baldur's Gate 3 characters in this list? This is supposed to be the list of all-time iconic videogame characters. The game is less than a year old.

Likely because you can strip them down to their birthday suits so all the pervs voted for them? LOL!

This is probably skewed towards the audience of the BAFTA game awards. Ask any random guy off the street chances are they won’t know who Lara Croft is let alone Agent 42. Mario Sonic Pac-Man Pikachu and their ilk are 100% the most recognizable characters due to how well marketed they are. Like you aren’t going to casually see someone in Hitman or Tomb Raider merch but Mario merch is a daily occurrence.

Look, Lara fulfilled my childhood fantasy of locking a butler in a meat freezer. She deserves the crown for that!

There is no one who looks at this list and says, "Yeah, that seems about right."

As others have mentioned considering this is a UK poll Lara being number one doesn't seem too surprising given just how MASSIVE the series was back in its heyday over here.

some of the other choices do seem confusing since there doesn't seem to be much of a pattern.

@IndoorEnthusiast What is boring about him? There’s still nothing else that looks like Mario and his world. His colors and design are instantly recognizable. His small, portly stature gives him a cute and likable presentation (inspired by Toriyama characters). His move set is also legendary: He can jump super high and bounce off of objects with impossible momentum gain, wall jump, spin float, backflip, dive and roll, butt-slide, belly slide, jump kick to gain height, swim in all directions, jump between planetoids, triple jump, fly in 3D without a vehicle… and that’s not even getting into his epic powerups.

Saying Mario is boring is definitely a SPICY TAKE

As an (albeit former) hardcore TR fanboy, I'm pleased with this.

@PosterBoy Master Chief is the face of an entire console brand — what do you mean he's not iconic? Easily more iconic than all PlayStation IP, and more iconic than most of Nintendo. Yes, that includes Samus. Only a fraction of gamers know Samus; Master Chief is widely recognized by anyone mildly cognizant of pop culture in the late 2000s.

Master Chief, the Halo series, and even the Xbox brand as a whole are definitely on the decline when it comes to mass recognition. But THE Master Chief, John-117 is an icon nonetheless. Bigger than Samus. Bigger than Doom Guy. I think there's a strong case to make that he's bigger than Pac-Man — currently, at least. Maybe half as big as Mario.

When wet teenager-dreams come true... this is ridiculous. LOL

@RoomWithaMoose You're confusing popularity with iconicness.

@RetroGames I mean sure the Mario movie was technically impressive but it’s wiring was kinda meh frankly.

@RoomWithaMoose Even if Chief does have the bigger cultural footprint Samus and DoomGuy are at the fairly least pretty influential. In fact their latest games have fared better than anything Halos really managed in the last few years.

@Antraxx777 I think that’s more in the context of him being boring due to lack of clearly defined character beyond default happy guy which works from a gameplay first perspective where the character is kind of a vessel for the player.

@DiamondCore Nah too easy.

It s a bit strange that Mario wasn’t top, but then I realised 2 things: Tomb Raider was huge here in the UK in the 90s and came out of nowhere and secondly Lara is a British character so on reflection it seems appropriate she should win in old Blighty.

No idea how the random bloke from Hitman was higher than Sonic though, SEGA was massive in the 90s too and Sonic was by far the most popular character here, only challenged by Mario and then clearly Ms Croft.

@CupidStunt @CupidStunt @CupidStunt @CupidStunt @ FYI Littlebigplanet is not what you would call a big dumbed violent game. And even if he didn’t make it to the top Mario still made pretty high into second place. Seriously the amount of people griping about him and sonic not being top of the list here is honestly infuriatingly to me. Just be glad that they made the list at all.

Personally I feel like most icon character is too broad a term. I feel like you could get more interesting result if you set up the vote more like “most beloved video game character” or most popular vide gym character at this time” or “biggest breakout game character”.

@Blackjay If we're basically only awarding animation Oscars based primarily on the writing, especially when considering most animations are made for kids and families, the problem as I see it is still the same. You don't go to animation school for four years to perfect your writing skills, but to learn and master the actual important parts of the craft of animation. They're animated movies, not 1984 or Gone with the Wind. The Super Mario Bros. Movie is as good a kids/family animated film overall as I have seen for what it was trying to be, and its writing did everything it needed to do to serve the audience it was aimed at, hence the actual moviegoers going back to watch it countless times and it making over $1.3 billion at the box office alone and it becoming the 16th highest grossing movie of all time. To be snubbed at the Oscars in the Best Animated Feature category, especially given some of the animated films that got picked over it, is a total joke.

@RetroGames you logic make it seem like you think Animation can’t or shouldn’t reach the same heights as live action. And yes well the craft of “animating” is integral to the form it can account for nothing if the the writing isn’t as sufficiently strong. Film needs to embody the whole package at the end of the day.

@Blackjay It is a British list. Mario is the most iconic and recognisable video game character in the World and that is fact. I am British and gaming trends here have been different. Sackboy is also a British character. I love his games. But British gaming habits are different.

@Blackjay Animation can reach any heights. But basically ignoring everything else other than the writing when it comes to the Best Animated Feature awards is utterly absurd.

And, to be very clear, the writing in The Super Mario Bros. Movie is not remotely bad, it's just kept intentionally very simple, lighthearted and quick-paced, and actually kinda ideal for the audience it's targeting. There is a major difference between unintentionally bad writing and very intentional and targeted writing that knows exactly what it's trying to do and why and nails it pretty much perfectly.

The movie got totally snubbed for all the wrong reasons.

Just like Lara Croft being at the very top of this list is a joke, the Super Mario Bros. Movie getting entirely snubbed at the Oscars was a joke. The awards were/are a total joke.

Donkey Kong isn't even on the list... What?

Ahh yes Shadowheart, so iconic even my grandma could name her. She’s never heard of Donkey Kong before though

(question (or an idea worthy of considering): would a living being receiving this article share this article with a relative of his or hers (such as a parent or a sibling) in spite of certain parts of it that could be considered (linguistically) offensive)

@PosterBoy Popularity is half of what being an icon is... No one becomes an icon without a cultural footprint.

That's why celebrities are iconic, but unknowns who contributed more to society aren't.

@Blackjay Samus and Doom Guy are immensely influential and well-known within the industry.

It's like comparing John Wick to IP Man: Wick is an absolute icon, but any connoisseur knows of, and likely more highly regards, IP.

@RetroGames Thats fine and all but again just because you need to write to a certain level and to a specific demographic doesn’t mean you should get lazy with the writing to the point you start coasting as Illumination all too often does.

@RoomWithaMoose "Popularity is half of what being an icon is" Not really, something can be super iconic without being popular. Yes it is true that if something is iconic it is more likely that it can be popular too but this is not a guarantee.

Same in other media too, movies for example. While movies by Tarkovsky can be very iconic, they are much less popular than some other iconic movies, like Star Wars for example.

By your criteria everything outside of top 100 would not count as iconic.

Popularity is a product of numerous vectors, and how iconic something is (or isn't) is just one of these.

Ridiculous list, I haven't even heard of a lot of those

@PosterBoy Nothing is iconic without being popular. Tarkovsky is some of the most popular, and hence iconic, of Soviet cinema. Very few talk about The Cranes are Flying on the same level as Stalker, partially because more people just know what Stalker is.

I'm not saying they're the same thing. You're the one that brought the word 'popular' into the equation, actually. But if you agree iconic things are often popular, you're essentially agreeing with me. Hell, 'iconic' is defined as 'a representative of something.' How can something represent something else without being well-known? And what is being well-known besides being popular?

I don't really know what you're trying to imply. That Master Chief might be popular, but he's not iconic? Why? Because his design is generic? What's that have to do with anything? Halo 'represented' console FPSs for a good decade.

i recognize that everyone is going to have their own opinions but this is just laughable. as for my own opinion ms. pac man is way more iconic than pac man. the cut scenes, the fruit, the mazes. its definitely the more impactful gameplay. plus the draw it had on women to the arcades.

@Blackjay What you see as coasting, I see as some extremely tight writing at times that knows exactly what it's doing and why. In fact, some of it is so smart yet simple, imo, that I expect it went right over some people's heads. Like almost every single line [and accompanying action] from Toad, which acts not only as some light-hearted humour and just great character building much of the time, but often as pretty much the narration of the story and motivation behind what happens, such that all the other exposition and so on that many other films waste time with isn't even necessary at all.

For example, we don't need anything other than "Our adventure begins now!" said with the naivety and enthusiasm of an innocent and overly-excited child running haphazardly into whatever potential situation [and dangers] to [not] explain and justify every single thing behind what happens from that point onwards.

Why is there no big narrative setup once Mario arrives in the Mushroom Kingdom-it's an adventure! Why does Mario just go along with it--it's an adventure! Why does Peach so easily join forces with Mario--it's an adventure! How come this and that thing isn't explained--it's an adventure! Children don't need to explain why they go off on adventures, why the do what they do, how things work in their fantasy world; they just go off on them because they're adventures, do what they do because they want to, and it works because it's in their imagination and they accept it is possible with the rules of the world they have created.

That is all the thirteen year old kid in the audience needs to know too. It's completely sincere and honest, and the writers knew it. It allows them to condense the film into something kids won't get easily bored of or distracted from, makes it very quick and simple to endlessly rewatch, and it's leagues beyond minutes of dry dialogue and exposition force explained to me by some character I don't even care about as to why some person or event is very important and meaningful and blah, blah, blah.

Like I said, both me and the wife couldn't even get through Elemental, for multiple reasons, and we often found Across the Spider-Verse, while not bad, just visually quite ugly as well as just trying too hard to be all deep and important when it really wasn't. Yet, I've watched The Super Mario Bros. Movie about fifteen times so far, and I've enjoyed it every single time. Job well and truly done by both Nintendo and Illumination.

You don't have to agree, and you can label the writing however you want, but that's my take on it. And it getting completely snubbed in the Oscars Best Animated Feature category is a joke.

The top 3 are Mario, Pikachu, Sonic. Choose whoever you want after that.

I honestly don't even know who some of these characters even are...
Iconic to me would be that people outside gaming would even recognize them.

The presence of multiple Baldur's Gate 3 characters tells me that the voters don't know what iconic means.

@Blackjay
"Thats fine and all but again just because you need to write to a certain level and to a specific demographic doesn’t mean you should get lazy with the writing to the point you start coasting as Illumination all too often does."

(note: a suggestion to receive a certain recording of audio at this World Wide Web address (specifically the part of it between these points of its length: 25:22 - 34:17): https://www.npr.org/2022/01/27/1076168476/whodunit-at-the-afterparty-plus-the-lie-of-laziness )

Just to get away from Nintendo, how is Master Chief lower than that guy from Hitman? I had no idea his name was "Agent 47" until I read this article. I know Hitman was a big game, but more than Halo? Press X to doubt.

I'll take she'd make the top 10, but the most popular? Nah. I'd say as far as women go, Peach, Ms. Pac-Man and Chun Li are more iconic. As much as I hate to admit it, I'm not including Samus because I feel she's only recognized by those who are into gaming.

Mario, Sonic, Pac-Man, Pikachu, Link, Donkey Kong and I'd even say Steve (what a generic name) would outrank Lara Croft.

@FishyS yeah, back in the 90s and maybe the early to mid 2000s (around the time the anime ended its original run), Kirby was a bit of an obscure/niche character, albeit iconic, but once its merchandise arrived to the west, I'd say he finally got the spotlight he rightfully deserved since the beginning.

Nowadays, I know people who don't play videogames but know who Kirby is.

I've been playing Tomb Raider for the Gameboy Color the last couple of days and I can honestly say that any character that has a game made that doesn't even include music in the levels is not worthy of winning this poll.

Can you even imagine a Mario or Sonic game releasing and you play entire levels in silence?

Super Mario Land on the Gameboy sometimes gets a bad rep, but even that had a decent soundtrack!