Danica Davidson
April 12, 2024 
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (a.k.a. BAFTA) decided to do something special in honor of the anniversary for their BAFTA Games Awards, which debuted 20 years ago. So in addition to listing this year’s BAFTA Games Award winners (like Technical Achievement going to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and Family and Multiplayer awards going to Super Mario Wonder), the academy put out a survey for the “Most Iconic Video Games Character of All Time.” Thousands of people online voted, and quite a few otaku characters made the list!
Think about who you would consider the most iconic, and then take a look at the survey’s results!
In 20th place is Nathan Drake from Uncharted, and in 19th place is Ellie Williams from The Last of Us. After this we get to the first of many iconic video game characters who were created in Japan: Kazuma Kiryu from Yakuza.
17th place goes to Astarion in Baldur’s Gate 3, and then 16th place was snagged by Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII and its various incarnations.
Crash Bandicoot of the same-named Crash Bandicoot took the 15th spot, and then in 14th place is Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid.
Voters got Steve from Minecraft in 13th place, and beating him in 12th place is Pikachu from Pokémon. Arthur Morgan of Red Dead Redemption 2 got 11th place.
Now we’re getting to the real deal — the top ten. Let’s do a countdown:
10. Shadowheart from Baldur’s Gate 3
9. Kratos from God of War
8. Master Chief from HALO
7. Link from The Legend of Zelda
6. Pac-Man from Pac-Man
5. Sackboy from LittleBigPlanet
4. Sonic from Sonic the Hedgehog
Okay, so now we’re getting to the top three.
3. Agent 47 from Hitman
2. Mario from Super Mario Bros.
1. Lara Croft from Tomb Raider
A Japanese video game character didn’t come in first place, but there is Mario in second place, and plenty of other Japanese characters and titles in the top 20. What do you think of these results?
Source: BAFTA
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
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