Video game characters that make you smile

[Bizzaro Stormy]

Games can provide an amusing escape from the real world for a little while. Sometimes I just think of an old game hero and it brings a smile of nostalgic joy to my face. I figure we all have a few that do this for us and I invite you to list them here and tell us what you liked about them. I'll get it started.

Commander Keen: He was a little kid fantasy given life. You jump on a pogo stick to ludicrous heights, eating candy is good for you, you get to shoot aliens on different planets, and you do it all with your parents unaware of what's going on.

Duke Nukem: I would argue that the Duke Nukem of games I and II is a different guy from 3D but I had fun playing all those games. You run through a level shooting security cameras, drinking coke for health, and blasting robots to get to the bad guy. Duke 3D was much rougher but the character had a big fun loving personality. I didn't get many of the movie references until I replayed the game as an adult years later but that just made the experience new again.

Jazz Jackrabbit: Was he a silly, green, Sonic the Hedgehog rip off with a gun? Yes, yes he was.

Guan Yu: There's something mindlessly wonderful about the Dynasty Warriors games and Guan Yu is my incredibly, unironically pompous, favorite. He also looks like the Ghost of Christmas Present if he got really mad and decided to chase people with a halberd.

There are my four favorites. Which are yours?

 

[sanquin]

Keen! It's been like 15 years since I played that. I feel old. :< Anyway, this game had more frustration in it than fun for me. I sucked at it. xD

Jazz Jackrabbit definitely. Used to play that with the kid next door. He'd shoot, I'd run, or we'd take turns.

Ragnarok Online, the monk. My very first mmorpg character. Every time I decide to play it I go with monk, and I smile with joy at seeing the world again and playing the class again. Even if it only lasts a week or so. (Ah, nostalgia glasses...)

 

[Bizzaro Stormy]

Keen! It's been like 15 years since I played that. I feel old. :< Anyway, this game had more frustration in it than fun for me. I sucked at it. xD

Jazz Jackrabbit definitely. Used to play that with the kid next door. He'd shoot, I'd run, or we'd take turns.

Ragnarok Online, the monk. My very first mmorpg character. Every time I decide to play it I go with monk, and I smile with joy at seeing the world again and playing the class again. Even if it only lasts a week or so. (Ah, nostalgia glasses...)

Keen 3 was brutal. The best method I found for beating it was....looking up the God Mode code online. I doubt I was the only kid to try this method.

 

[sanquin]

Keen 3 was brutal. The best method I found for beating it was....looking up the God Mode code online. I doubt I was the only kid to try this method.

I didn't have an 'online' yet back then. ^^;; Was too expensive for our family. Got my own internet only several years later.

 

[Bizzaro Stormy]

Keen 3 was brutal. The best method I found for beating it was....looking up the God Mode code online. I doubt I was the only kid to try this method.

I didn't have an 'online' yet back then. ^^;; Was too expensive for our family. Got my own internet only several years later.

I got the game a few years after it came out. It also helped that my father was part of a small business and did what he could to keep up with any potentially useful technology. If encouraging me and my brothers to play a few games helped us learn how computers worked, than he was in favor of it.

 

[Poetic Nova]

Another vote for Jazz Jackrabbit. I remember playing it alot when I was 5 years old (one of the few things I seem to remember but that aside). Loved it and it might be the game that sparked my interest in gaming.

 

[brtt150]

FemShep pretty much any moment she talks

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Guan Yu: There's something mindlessly wonderful about the Dynasty Warriors games and Guan Yu is my incredibly, unironically pompous, favorite. He also looks like the Ghost of Christmas Present if he got really mad and decided to chase people with a halberd.

There are my four favorites. Which are yours?

There isn't a single Dynasty Warrior who I really care for but I love it, LOVE IT when they talk about Lu-Bu.

---

Shale from Dragon Age: Origins and just to simplify things, every Bioware character whose main characteristic is that they absolutely hate you if you're a living being. HK-47 is another great character who I absolutely want more of. Back when Valve released that DLC with more Cave Johnson quote...yeah, I want that but with HK-47. I would love to see Bioware release a Holocron filled with HK-47's wisdom but I don't see that happening in a million years.

Duke Nukem is awesome but he's already been talked about here.

Kirby, Starfy, Bowser, King Dedede, Sackboy...there are a ton of characters who just make me smile.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Mordin Solus - because he's so manic sometimes but with a science edge. Also his theatrical "easter egg" is pure awesome that puts a huge smile on my face.

 

[IllumInaTIma]

Varric and Garrus. I just love both of them and for me they are quintessential video game "bros". Funny, charming and reliable. Any time Garrus covers your back or Varric tells another crazy story I can't help but smile.

Heavy from TF2 is also one of the funniest characters in existence. It's impossible to not laugh when you hear his crazy screams! "Ya-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta ya-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta do-de-da-va-da-da-dada! Kaboom-Kaboom!"

And finally, Koromaru from Persona series. Koromaru is simply the best and the cutest dog in the universe.
<img src=http://www.spriters-resource.com/resources/sheets/23/24760.png>

 

[Fox12]

Well, everyone from Persona 4, but I'll give special thanks to my bro Kanji. He's so delightfully stupid, in an awesome, honest kind of way. You have to love someone whose just that oblivious.

I like the original Yuffie. Later adaptations made her more annoying, like how they made Vincent even more emo. But her original personality was pretty likable. I won't lie, my heart melted when she hugged Cloud after Aeriths death.

Garrus Vakarian will for always be my bro. Ours was the bro fist which will pierce the heavens!

 

[The]

Belacqua from Frozen Synapse. What a bastard.

Also Bentley from Sly Cooper, it's always fun listening to his nerdier dialogue.

 

[The Raw Shark]

Every single companion in a BioWare game, ever.
Special mentions to Sarcastic Fem!Hawke.

Not to mention all the characters from Valve's games. Small paths, big hearts for everyone. No one could really replace goofs like Barney or Ellis or Francis. Zoey is pretty relatable because of her age and the problem she faces with still accepting the apocalypse during the comics for The Passing. Alyx just likes being a badass. All that jazz.

Also Zeke from inFAMOUS.

 

[Spider RedNight]

I really like Milla Vodello (Psychonauts); she's just so cheerful and calming but also energizing and upbeat... it's hard to explain, I just REALLY like her~

I'll put in another vote for Cave Johnson and extend it to Wheatley; I love those two characters to pieces.

It's probably bad for me to say this but the Arkham-verse Riddler always puts a grin on my face for some reason or another. Perhaps it's just because he's so over-the-top in his performance (I think Wally Wingert has something to do with it for sure) and his delivery is just great. And it's satisfying to see him get his comeuppance

 

[SoranMBane]

We'll be here all day if I try to list all the delightful characters from Fallout: New Vegas or the various Valve games, so I'll choose something a little more obscure; Dietrich the punk rock shaman from Shadowrun: Dragonfall. The moment this exchange took place...

Spoiler

Player: "Wait, you can sing?"
Dietrich: "I was the front man of an anarchist punk band; fuck no I can't sing."

I knew exactly who my favourite character in the whole game was.

 

[FPLOON]

Rayman: This mofo can get shit done with a smile on his face and having the time of his fucking life...

Mario & Luigi: Smile rating may vary, but I digress...

Neptune: It's like she's saying exactly what I'm thinking at times...

Sora: Subverting the keyblade-wielding expectations since Day 1, basically...

Taokaka: Her interactions with anyone in general makes me smile regardless of the situation...

 

[Trippy Turtle]

Probably not the answer you are looking for but I always smile when I hear or see one of my favorite game characters ever.
Reaver!
Yes, the loveable asshole from Fable 2 and 3. He's just such a fun character. I honestly can't name another videogame character I cared so much about. They were all just a way to progress, or an obstacle to me. Reaver was actually interesting.

 

[UltimaeFanBoy]

Erinn from DQ9. Easily my favorite character.

 

[bomber567]

Tiny Tina from Borderlands 2. The pyromaniac little sister I never realized I wanted.

 

[Ruuvan]

Earthworm Jim!

Seriously the best game of my childhood and always made me laugh!