Top 5 most iconic game characters?

If you were asked to think of an iconic game character, one which just about anybody would recognise, what would spring to mind?

Most of mine would come from the arcades. Here are my top 5:

#1 - Space Invader


#2 Pacman


#3 Donkey Kong


#4 Jet Set Willy


#5 Mario


You?

Going retro eh? I would say most recognizable to me are 1) Sonic the hedgehog, 2) Mario, 3) Pacman, - I can't remember any others ;-)

Top one for me is the asteroids ship. Everything else is a distant 2nd.

1 - Mario
2 - Link
3 - Master Chief
4 - Pacman
5 - Sonic

Gordon Brown.

1- Definitely Mario.
2- Donkey Kong.
3- Sonic.
4- Pacman.
5- ...and Megaman?

Surely 'ol lara croft is in there? She must be the most recognisable character of the last 10 years. I'd agree with the other 4 - jet-set-willy, in the first post.

Miner willy is really only recognisable if youre in the UK and 30+

Yes maybe add one of the Pac-man ghosts instead of Willy. :)

- - - -

Lara Croft
Mario
Sonic
Pac Man
Zelda
Maybe some sort of Space Invader?

Yeah I'm with Just Luke although "Zelda" is really "Link" but a lot of people don't know that (my kids call Link Zelda for example). Pac Mac could be replaced with Master Chief though as Halo is VERY well known, or a Space Invader.

What?! I don't even know who this Master Chief is. Go out onto any street with a picture of Pac-Man and this Master Chief fellow and see which one is most recognized. I'm betting it's Pac-Man.

Apart from Sonic/Mario... what about these:

* Gorden Freeman / G Man

* Guybrush Ulysses Threepwood / LeChuck

* Sam and Max

Duke Nukem? Samus? (surely not above Mario, Pac-Man, Megaman and Sonic - but still)

First game I've ever played;

AND

AND

Pikachu?

I'd never heard of Jet Set Willy before I joined this forum.

For me 5 most recognisable: (not in any specific order)
Pac Man
Mario
Space Invader
Sonic
cannot think of a 5th...

I never knew who Master Chief was until I first played Halo about 1 month ago but for years I'd have recognised this:



but I just thought it was a generic Halo in-game character rather than "Master Chief" i.e. the one you play. So it's like I knew of the image but didn't know the character. So I guess it fails under the criteria and Pac Man should go back in. To get a list it helps to think "would my mum recognise that character?" and if not, it's probably not well enough known...

Oh yeah! I forgot about Frogger :)

I wasn't sure if that was jet set willy or chuckie egg heh.

I think the original post is pretty good for an all time list. Surely sonic should be there somewhere?

i think its down to decade

for me it was pac man, mario, sonic
my kids come home from school and all i hear is master cheif this n that

i do think Master cheif is iconic for todays generation, ive just started playing Halo 3 online and he certainly fits the bill,,, awesome game i mean damn its good

for me caboose is more recognisable than master chief ;)

it is a generation/location thing jsw being relativly unheard of out side of the UK or retro scenese

so i should really work with decades, (late) 70's would bring up the usual suspects, 80's a mix bag 90's sonic/mario wars etc
then have a top list with the 'winner' from each decade

1. guybrush

2. Sam and Max

3. Mario

4. Purple tentacle

5. Ben Throttle

Hey you forgot Dizzy ;-):

1. Dizzy

Probably more people would recognise Luigi or Princess Peach than some other characters like Sam n Max and Dizzy.

Yep and also the ghosts in PacMan are better recognized than PacMan itself.

No idea who this Jet set willy fella is.

As far as mostly recognizable, I'd say:

- Pacman
- Mario
- Sonic
- Ghost from Pacman
- Space Invader / Frogger

Like Grey Alien said: "would my mum recognise that character?"

My new favorite is

Larry Laffer.

No two ways about it. No one next to or above.

I know what you're gonna' say: "But wasn't that last one..."

YES! And the one before that too! An insult to fans all over the world, but he's on his way back you know -
Mere Leisuresuited that ever before: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/846/846052p1.html

And for all you kids yout there who are too young to know anything about the true classics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSGqnzK7xYg

@Mortiis - He looks like you too (!)

Come to think of it "Jet Set Willy" should be replaced by "Manic Miner"

Back in them days, with the limitations of hardware, it was all about pixel artwork to produce memorable characters

I'm with you on this Jim :)

C'mon I'm not as ugly as Niko :)

how 'bout Rockford, from Boulderdash?