Lara Croft Named the Most Iconic Video Game Character Ever
In a recent poll carried out by British institute BAFTA, 4000 people all over the world were asked for their opinion on who the most iconic video game character ever is. This was then compiled into a list of the top 20 answers- some of which have some bizarre placements. Number one on that list, however, was Lara Croft- the main character of the popular ‘Tomb Raider’ series of games, which has dozens of retro and modern iterations. Despite her being undoubtably popular, her being at number one does seem strange when this puts her above characters like Mario and Sonic, who surely have more of a lasting impact on the industry. If you think that’s strange, it gets quite a lot weirder as the list goes on.
Image by Crystal Dynamics
Just after Mario at #2 is Agent 47 from the Hitman series of games. Now, these games are very well regarded and the character of Agent 47 has been made more widely known thanks to a less than stellar movie but for him to be above 99% of other gaming mascots is quite a surprise. For comparison, the hugely popular Pikachu from the biggest media franchise in the world- Pokémon- is only at #12- which places them under some far more egregious picks. This includes Sack boy at #5, who is only really known for the Little Big Planet games and Sackboy’s Big Adventure, which didn’t have huge audiences compared to other characters on the list. Worst of all, however, is the character that placed at #10 on the list above characters like Arthur Morgan from Red Dead Redemption 2 and the classic PlayStation mascot Crash Bandicoot. This was Shadowheart from last year’s Baldur’s Gate III.
Image by Nintendo
Now, Baldur’s Gate III is a masterpiece and, rightfully so, won the majority of Game of the Year Awards but to place one of the huge cast of characters as one of the most iconic gaming characters of all time is a bit of a stretch. What makes this even more strange is that Astarion, the famous vampire companion from the same game, is just a bit further up the list at #16. Considering the huge breadth of characters in videogames, having two from the exact same game (which released not even a year ago) in the top 20 does indicate that some recency bias may be in effect here- regardless of how great the characters themselves are. They just don’t seem to be as popular in the general gaming consensus just yet to be placing so high.
Image by Larian Studios
Apart from these stand-outs, most of the rest of the list does make sense. Steve from the infinitely popular Minecraft, Link from Nintendo’s other massive franchise The Legend of Zelda and console exclusive icons Master Chief and Kratos, who fittingly ended up right next to each other at #8 and #9 respectively. With the small polling size of 4000, its clear that a huge portion of the gaming industry has not been represented on this list- with indie characters like Cuphead and Shovel Knight (who have some pretty iconic designs) not being mentioned. It’ll be interesting to see how this list shifts and changes in a few year’s- and to see how the more recent games of 2027 and 2028 are represented so heavily like Baldur’s Gate III was for this year.
