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Lara Croft Crowned Most Iconic Video Games Character of All Time, According to BAFTA Poll

Saber

Gold Member
That doesn't mean she's not iconic. Superman is not as popular as he used to be, but the character himself is still just as iconic as he was during his peak.

Regardless of your sentiment, she is not as iconic as Mario. Thats straight up fact.
Ask around the world, different ages if they know Mario and if they know Lara. Garantee you that everybody knows Mario while some know Lara. And I have nothing against her, I like her old badass character but no way in hell she is more iconic than Mario.
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
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Big dumb dumbs. Samus Aran.
 

Arachnid

Member
My hot take is that Mario is considered top only by nostalgic boomers at this point. He doesn't deserve top spot any more than Croft does.

There have been better characters and games these past few decades.

Also, Shadowheart and Astarion need to gtfo that list
 
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My hot take is that Mario is considered top only by nostalgic boomers at this point. He doesn't deserve top spot any more than Croft does.

There have been better characters and games these past few decades.
My counter take to this nonsense is that Mario still sells assloads and procures the scrooge mcduck money bins on the regular. Mario just put out a movie (yeah, I don't give a shit what anyone says in here, he made the fucking movie) that crossed a billion easily. I am willing to bet, even without consulting the internet, that his first film did better than most of it not all the Tomb Raider films, com-fucking-bined. Boomers only? You best recognize that Mario is as famous if not more so than Mickey Mouse. In fact,fuck Mickey Mouse. :messenger_relieved: :messenger_ok:
 

Wildebeest

Member
It's a paradox. Mario is in a lot of games and sells a lot of games, but he has no game. His game is both strong and weak at the same time. Perhaps being a mascot for a corporation is not everything that is important in life. Some timeless Zen wisdom we can maybe learn something from.
 

DJ12

Member
At least 50% of that list shouldn't be there and the other 50% in the wrong place.

Guess it's all about the 'engagement' though.
 

DaciaJC

Gold Member
Baldur's Gate 3 is fantastic, but not a single character from it deserves to be on a list of "most iconic of all time." The game is not even a year old, for crying out loud!
 

Shtef

Member
Here's a list of 20 iconic video game characters according to chatGPT

1. Mario (Super Mario series)
2. Link (The Legend of Zelda series)
3. Pikachu (Pokémon series)
4. Lara Croft (Tomb Raider series)
5. Master Chief (Halo series)
6. Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic the Hedgehog series)
7. Pac-Man (Pac-Man series)
8. Donkey Kong (Donkey Kong series)
9. Samus Aran (Metroid series)
10. Kratos (God of War series)
11. Nathan Drake (Uncharted series)
12. Solid Snake (Metal Gear series)
13. Mega Man (Mega Man series)
14. Chun-Li (Street Fighter series)
15. Princess Zelda (The Legend of Zelda series)
16. Bowser (Super Mario series)
17. Kirby (Kirby series)
18. Gordon Freeman (Half-Life series)
19. Cloud Strife (Final Fantasy VII)
20. Crash Bandicoot (Crash Bandicoot series)

Much better list.
 
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haveagood1

Member
I thought Ms. Aran was the first female lead then again maybe my old ass is loosing my memory....................
 

Jigsaah

Gold Member
Fixed!

1. Mario
2. Link
3. Pacman
4. Pikachu
5. Sonic
6 Solid Snake
7. Cloud Strife
8. Lara Croft
9. Master Chief
10. Kratos
11. Ellie
12. Crash Bandicoot


Everybody else mentioned on this list is not an icon and therefore the list is closed

Characters that should be on this list
Mega Man
Ryu
ChunLi
Scorpion
SubZero
Ganon
Kirby
Ryu Hayabusa - Ninja Gaiden
 

hinch7

Member
Mario should be no 1. Link in Zelda as second. Suprised Ryu didn't make the cut. Also Pikachu.
 
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IAmRei

Member
Mario has always been the most iconic character. He cant be the king forever and rightfully so.
Same with Messi being the footballer of the year EVERY year just because he's Messi.

Mario has shoehorned himself in all videogame categories (racing, sports, platform) just purely for Nintendo's greed. Glad he's now no longer recognised as the most iconic.
He stopped deserving that title when the competition in named genres grew and came with better games.

Mario is a mascot. No longer the accomplished nr.1 and its a good thing.
mario is big stuff, and also the one that can beat it is pokemon. Look at the franchise money, everybody knows both, because they are so big and bigger these days.
 

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
Mario should have been number 1.

Sackboy and Agent-47 above Link? lol WTF.

UK isnt in the EU anymore - they polled Brits who picked a British char - surprise!

The UK is in the continent of Europe and therefore we are still Europeans.
 

Madflavor

Member
Regardless of your sentiment, she is not as iconic as Mario. Thats straight up fact.
Ask around the world, different ages if they know Mario and if they know Lara. Garantee you that everybody knows Mario while some know Lara. And I have nothing against her, I like her old badass character but no way in hell she is more iconic than Mario.

I agree the list is wrong. Everyone knows Mario is more iconic, that's not even up for debate.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Mario and Sonic are clearly the most iconic on that list. I'd say Pacman too, but I get it. That one is a really oldie that doesn't resonate the test of time like Mario and Sonic still around in games and movies.

But it's a poll, so whatever is trending will get more clicks than usual. Thats why a character from Baldurs Gate 3 is already 10th.

Hitman dude and Sackboy that high? lol
 
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GymWolf

Member
Trash list, also mario is way more famous than lara croft.

Hell i think that even the electric wharf rat is more famous than her...
 
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Lara Croft was everywhere for years in the UK, but I don't know if anyone under 30 was so overexposed to her.
She certainly was a much bigger deal in her earlier years than she is now, being an icon for girls in videogames, while Spice Girls gained fame in the music world and that whole inflated girl power thing. Feminists might never have liked her two prominent features, and Samus Aran existed already, but no one outside of gaming knows Samus, while Lara was a lot more known in the general perception even before the movies came out.
Appearing in Die Ärzte - Männer sind Schweine music video was also something, at least locally, I guess. I don't know if many know that band outside of German speaking countries but would be similar as if had The Offspring or Green Day done a video with her.

Being on top of the ranking is a bit weird, but some big gaming characters never really were a big phenomenon as Lara was for the general public. Pokemon or Minecraft or Zelda/Link eg might be huge hits, but are practically irrelevant for anyone outside of those who actually play those.
 
I can see either lara or mario taking it, you'd be surprised by how well know lara is even outside gaming circles; the rest of the list is trash though.
 

Wildebeest

Member
She certainly was a much bigger deal in her earlier years than she is now, being an icon for girls in videogames, while Spice Girls gained fame in the music world and that whole inflated girl power thing. Feminists might never have liked her two prominent features, and Samus Aran existed already, but no one outside of gaming knows Samus, while Lara was a lot more known in the general perception even before the movies came out.
Appearing in Die Ärzte - Männer sind Schweine music video was also something, at least locally, I guess. I don't know if many know that band outside of German speaking countries but would be similar as if had The Offspring or Green Day done a video with her.

Being on top of the ranking is a bit weird, but some big gaming characters never really were a big phenomenon as Lara was for the general public. Pokemon or Minecraft or Zelda/Link eg might be huge hits, but are practically irrelevant for anyone outside of those who actually play those.
Tomb Raider is a series that started out as a hit in the US, Europe and Japan while Metroid started out as a game that was a modest success, only in the US. Lara Croft made it a commercially viable trend to have female leads in games, while Metroid did not. It is something of a cliché to name Metroid as the first female game protagonist since she both wasn't the first, and it was entirely possible to play the game for a long time with it being an easter egg type secret that inside the armour suit, Metroid was actually a blonde chick in a bikini.
 

tkscz

Member
There are 100 million+ people world wide who play video games. 10 million+ people who have been playing since the 80s. And they choose 4,000 people to determine who is the most iconic video game character of all time?

Let me tell ya, I totally see validity in .004% of gamers being able to decide for the rest of us who the most iconic character is.

Also, who is BAFTA?

Oh they are a film and arts association in Britain. Ok, so the obvious bias is now showing. Explains why Agent 47 even made that list.
 
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