almost three decades later and there’s
still some of the most famous faces in
gaming welcome to watchmojo.com and
today we’re kicking off our series of
the most memorable video game characters
with the top 10 memorable video game
characters of the 1980s for this list
we’re taking a look back at video game
characters that achieved their iconic
status in the 80s with priority given to
those characters who remained revelant
well past their decade we decided to
hold off on Solid Snake until the next
list because while he made his debut in
1989 he wouldn’t break out in popularity
until the 90s number 10
Frogger Frogger series in the 1980s the
most basic video game characters could
become household names for undertaking
the most straightforward tasks can you
believe they wanted to call it highway
crossing frog that is so lame I know
Frogger is a seemingly ordinary
amphibian his quest passing an array of
deadly cars trucks and alligators
without becoming roadkill thanks a lot
it may not sound like much but getting
this little froggy to safety quickly
became an obsession for every arcade
junkie what are you guys doing get the
fly in the floor got it
although Konami would later try to
remodel Frogger as a traditional video
game hero it’s his highway heydays that
made him unique number 9
Bomberman Bomberman series recent years
haven’t been that kind to Bomberman a
low point being one of the most
embarrassingly gritty retreads ever
conceived
even if most of his contemporary games
have been hit-or-miss he’ll always be a
gaming all-star in our eyes ever since
he first dropped a bomb this darling yet
deadly robot has proven that every maze
has a solution sometimes he just need to
make your own path now if we could only
get him into the next Super Smash
Brothers we’d be officially blown away
number eight Samus Aran Metroid series
male action heroes primarily dominated
through the 80s but just his film had
Ellen Ripley though video games had a
strong female heroine in Samus Aran
of course most people didn’t realize
that until the end of Metroid at that
point however it didn’t matter what
gender she was as far as we were
concerned this bounty hunter had proven
herself just as badass as any of our
macho idols Samus continues to stand out
as a universally compelling character
demonstrating that this isn’t
necessarily a man’s world or a man’s
galaxy number seven Dirk the daring
Dragon’s Lair series in the age of
sprites dragon’s lair distinguished
itself with fully animated characters
made possible through laserdisc
technology at the center of this
cinematic game is Dirk the daring a
highly energized hero with a faster
range of emotions brought to life by
actor Don Bluth Dirk can be valiant one
second faint-hearted the next and even
quite funny when he’s biting the dust
whether confronting giddy goons the
Lizard King or a fire-breathing dragon
will gladly help this Knight rescue
princess Daphne as long as we’re not
playing me NES version number 6 bill
riser and Lance beam contra series if
Samus is the video game equivalent of
Ellen Ripley then bill and Lance of the
contra franchise are the mediums John
Rambo and John matrix
while Cointreau works as a great
single-player experience you can also
bring a friend along to fight enemy
forces side by side together commandos
bill and Lance are an unstoppable team
with an apparently never-ending supply
of ammo constantly engulfed by action
these guys are like magnets for
everything macho they also share one of
the most timeless romances in all of
gaming
number five Megaman Megaman series
humanoid robots were certainly a popular
trend in the 80s on the game frontier
there’s never been a more elite robot
than Megaman literally armed with a
cannon Megaman only gets more powerful
with every Robot Master he defeats on
the road to dr. wily
bridging the gap between humans and
robots he’s a bit like a kid-friendly
version of Robocop where most videogame
characters have made the permanent jump
into 3d Mega Man’s primarily retained
his classic look Oh Mega Man where have
you gone number four Donkey Kong Donkey
Kong series
the initial mascot that put Nintendo on
the map this gorilla has evolved from
chucking barrels at plumbers to chucking
barrels at crocodiles Donkey Kong’s a
primate of simple tastes living on a
diet of strictly bananas and only
possessing a single red tie in his
wardrobe he’s been known to favor brawn
over brain but fortunately he has a
number of sidekicks to help him in that
department
when kinky rule threatens his island and
fellow cons you can bet the Donkey Kong
is up to the challenge number three link
the Legend of Zelda series The Legend of
Zelda is arguably the closest bet video
games have ever come to producing an
age-old fable
at the center of every timeless journey
is the hero of time himself despite his
lack of dialogue link speaks to every
person young and old
that’s ever dreamed of being an
adventurer by stepping into links boots
we can live out our wildest fantasies by
exploring Hyrule retrieving the Master
Sword and rescuing Princess Zelda from
Ganon
Lync is truly an eternal character which
is probably why he keeps getting
reincarnated
number two pac-man pac-man series going
into this new decade people generally
didn’t see video games as a medium that
was open to many possibilities pac-man
changed that not only with his gameplay
but with it celebrated titular character
as well good news for new pac-man pasta
okay so pac-man may not be the most
complex protagonist he’s essentially
just a yellow ball that eats dots and
ghosts all those ghosts turn blue oh and
pac-man eat them all – without this
unlikely phenomenon however the doors
would have never been open for other
characters on this list given his
revolutionary place in gaming history
it’s only appropriate that pac-man is
shaped like a wheel mrs. pac-man may
have refined the gameplay but he’s the
original who defined it before we add
Vale our top pick here are a few
honorable mentions
number one Mario Super Mario series come
on what else were you expecting if
there’s a video game character with
everlasting appeal it’s this Italian
plumber what’s incredible about Mario is
that he hasn’t just been the star of one
great game after another he’s proved
versatile in several different genres in
addition to 2d and 3d platformers
Mario’s conquered everything from kart
racers to RPGs there’s nothing he can’t
do evidenced by the fact that you’ll see
his face everywhere we can’t wait for
Princess Peach to get kidnapped again so
we can follow Mario on another adventure
through the Mushroom Kingdom
hmm do you agree with our list who’s
your favorite 1980s video game character
for more entertaining top 10s published
every day be sure to subscribe to
watchmojo.com
still some of the most famous faces in
gaming welcome to watchmojo.com and
today we’re kicking off our series of
the most memorable video game characters
with the top 10 memorable video game
characters of the 1980s for this list
we’re taking a look back at video game
characters that achieved their iconic
status in the 80s with priority given to
those characters who remained revelant
well past their decade we decided to
hold off on Solid Snake until the next
list because while he made his debut in
1989 he wouldn’t break out in popularity
until the 90s number 10
Frogger Frogger series in the 1980s the
most basic video game characters could
become household names for undertaking
the most straightforward tasks can you
believe they wanted to call it highway
crossing frog that is so lame I know
Frogger is a seemingly ordinary
amphibian his quest passing an array of
deadly cars trucks and alligators
without becoming roadkill thanks a lot
it may not sound like much but getting
this little froggy to safety quickly
became an obsession for every arcade
junkie what are you guys doing get the
fly in the floor got it
although Konami would later try to
remodel Frogger as a traditional video
game hero it’s his highway heydays that
made him unique number 9
Bomberman Bomberman series recent years
haven’t been that kind to Bomberman a
low point being one of the most
embarrassingly gritty retreads ever
conceived
even if most of his contemporary games
have been hit-or-miss he’ll always be a
gaming all-star in our eyes ever since
he first dropped a bomb this darling yet
deadly robot has proven that every maze
has a solution sometimes he just need to
make your own path now if we could only
get him into the next Super Smash
Brothers we’d be officially blown away
number eight Samus Aran Metroid series
male action heroes primarily dominated
through the 80s but just his film had
Ellen Ripley though video games had a
strong female heroine in Samus Aran
of course most people didn’t realize
that until the end of Metroid at that
point however it didn’t matter what
gender she was as far as we were
concerned this bounty hunter had proven
herself just as badass as any of our
macho idols Samus continues to stand out
as a universally compelling character
demonstrating that this isn’t
necessarily a man’s world or a man’s
galaxy number seven Dirk the daring
Dragon’s Lair series in the age of
sprites dragon’s lair distinguished
itself with fully animated characters
made possible through laserdisc
technology at the center of this
cinematic game is Dirk the daring a
highly energized hero with a faster
range of emotions brought to life by
actor Don Bluth Dirk can be valiant one
second faint-hearted the next and even
quite funny when he’s biting the dust
whether confronting giddy goons the
Lizard King or a fire-breathing dragon
will gladly help this Knight rescue
princess Daphne as long as we’re not
playing me NES version number 6 bill
riser and Lance beam contra series if
Samus is the video game equivalent of
Ellen Ripley then bill and Lance of the
contra franchise are the mediums John
Rambo and John matrix
while Cointreau works as a great
single-player experience you can also
bring a friend along to fight enemy
forces side by side together commandos
bill and Lance are an unstoppable team
with an apparently never-ending supply
of ammo constantly engulfed by action
these guys are like magnets for
everything macho they also share one of
the most timeless romances in all of
gaming
number five Megaman Megaman series
humanoid robots were certainly a popular
trend in the 80s on the game frontier
there’s never been a more elite robot
than Megaman literally armed with a
cannon Megaman only gets more powerful
with every Robot Master he defeats on
the road to dr. wily
bridging the gap between humans and
robots he’s a bit like a kid-friendly
version of Robocop where most videogame
characters have made the permanent jump
into 3d Mega Man’s primarily retained
his classic look Oh Mega Man where have
you gone number four Donkey Kong Donkey
Kong series
the initial mascot that put Nintendo on
the map this gorilla has evolved from
chucking barrels at plumbers to chucking
barrels at crocodiles Donkey Kong’s a
primate of simple tastes living on a
diet of strictly bananas and only
possessing a single red tie in his
wardrobe he’s been known to favor brawn
over brain but fortunately he has a
number of sidekicks to help him in that
department
when kinky rule threatens his island and
fellow cons you can bet the Donkey Kong
is up to the challenge number three link
the Legend of Zelda series The Legend of
Zelda is arguably the closest bet video
games have ever come to producing an
age-old fable
at the center of every timeless journey
is the hero of time himself despite his
lack of dialogue link speaks to every
person young and old
that’s ever dreamed of being an
adventurer by stepping into links boots
we can live out our wildest fantasies by
exploring Hyrule retrieving the Master
Sword and rescuing Princess Zelda from
Ganon
Lync is truly an eternal character which
is probably why he keeps getting
reincarnated
number two pac-man pac-man series going
into this new decade people generally
didn’t see video games as a medium that
was open to many possibilities pac-man
changed that not only with his gameplay
but with it celebrated titular character
as well good news for new pac-man pasta
okay so pac-man may not be the most
complex protagonist he’s essentially
just a yellow ball that eats dots and
ghosts all those ghosts turn blue oh and
pac-man eat them all – without this
unlikely phenomenon however the doors
would have never been open for other
characters on this list given his
revolutionary place in gaming history
it’s only appropriate that pac-man is
shaped like a wheel mrs. pac-man may
have refined the gameplay but he’s the
original who defined it before we add
Vale our top pick here are a few
honorable mentions
number one Mario Super Mario series come
on what else were you expecting if
there’s a video game character with
everlasting appeal it’s this Italian
plumber what’s incredible about Mario is
that he hasn’t just been the star of one
great game after another he’s proved
versatile in several different genres in
addition to 2d and 3d platformers
Mario’s conquered everything from kart
racers to RPGs there’s nothing he can’t
do evidenced by the fact that you’ll see
his face everywhere we can’t wait for
Princess Peach to get kidnapped again so
we can follow Mario on another adventure
through the Mushroom Kingdom
hmm do you agree with our list who’s
your favorite 1980s video game character
for more entertaining top 10s published
every day be sure to subscribe to
watchmojo.com
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