30 Days of Video Games

[Nix]

Day 19: Favorite Antagonist

WHO'S THAT MAN WITH THE RED JACKET?

THAT SEXY BADASS CHARMING SUAVE BASTARD WITH THE FABULOUS HAIRSTYLE?

WHO GETS EASILY IRRITATED WHEN THINGS DON'T QUITE GO ACCORDING TO PLAN?

YOU ALL KNOW WHO!

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I PRESENT TO YOU, THE ONE, THE ONLY...

Dr. Eggman

Here we have a man who's a flipping genius, can mass produce entire armies in a matter of seconds, and a man who enjoys a good sandwich. He's a variety of things. He can be cruel sometimes (SA2), other times he's suave and charming (06), he's goofy and entertaining (Colors, Generations), and when times are tough, he's a great friend and an ally, but above all, he's a character, and a very well-rounded (pun intended) at that.

Eggman always strikes me as the person who has a goal and wants to achieve it, but finds the journey just as important as the goal itself. I'm sure Eggman could design all sorts of gadgets and gizmos that'd put and end to Sonic, but he doesn't, it's about the challenge and it looks like he enjoys it even if he doesn't win.

It's perfectly obvious that Eggman has a massive ego, a hilariously massive one at that. He's designed robots, murals, statues, and fucking space stations after his own image. He's the guy who would enlist himself to help his latest and greatest scheme (and he would eventually argue with himself, because Eggman thinks he's better than Eggman).

Eggman is just a fun character to watch, he's probably one of the few things I can say I actually liked about Sonic 06 (excluding his design here). He may be more boring than his previous incarnations, but he's still a very likable fellow regardless.

Eggman's awesome, end of story.

Edited February 3, 2012 by Nix

[gato]

Day 19 - Best antagonist.

The time has come... TO DESTROY GDI!

Command & Conquer (series) - Kane

Ohh yeah, look at that sexy bastard...

...

Ahem...

I mean, Kane is by far one the best antagonist I had to honor to fight against and along with.

The first time we hear of Kane is during what would be the first Tiberium War (Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn), there is this guy who appears out of nowhere and leads the third world nations to join as one, throw off their shackles of slavery, accept the extremely dangerous mineral known as Tiberium and harness it's power with the promise of a new age and the next step in humanity's evolution. Clearly a charismatic megalomaniac who tries to make his own crusade against the established world order.

The canonical ending of the first game has you beating the crap out of his army at Sarajevo by roasting the whole place with an Ion Cannon.

Look! It's a shiny light! MAYBE IT'S FRIENDLY!

Despite losing the first war, the now public threat of Kane's "Brotherhood of NOD" was still going since many of the believers thought Kane's vision for a better world was still alive, some of them even refused to think their prophet was dead...

And they were proven right! 30 years after the aforementioned events Kane rose again and declared the coming of a new age and another crusade against the "GDI oppressors"... He actually shows up during a traitor's execution! This scene is incredibly awesome, so have a video of it:

KANE LIVES!

His plan this time was to build a "world changing missile" which was supposed to share Tiberium richness across the world...

Between all of this there is a fight for an ancient artifact of apparent alien origin known as the Tacitus, this artifact remains as a mystery as this game goes (except that we know Kane managed to translate most of it) but will get mentioned a lot later in the series.

The canon ending has you (as Commander Michael McNeil) impaling Kane with a Tiberium chunk at his main base in Cairo

Being at the receiving end of a Killsat might have ruined his makeup, but he will get better.

You might think that impaling him would be enough to Kill him, and this time a big chunk of the brotherhood would agree with you (since a new prophet arose, took control of the biggest faction in NOD and started making his own cult)... But alas, that wasn't the case...

"And he cried in a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come forth!' And Lazarus did arise from the grave"

And here is when we realize how much of a magnificent bastard Kane really is, he rallies his forces to a third Tiberium War, captures an orbital defense base and attacks the space station Philadelphia, wiping out most of the GDI's command in the process!

The war continues and the GDI forces once again manage to corner Kane in his temple prime (once again, in Sarajevo)... And like in the first war, fires the Ion Cannon at the building raising it to the ground... Except! This time the temple doesn't plan to go without taking something with it! You see, inside the building there was a Liquid Tiberium bomb (with enough power to raise East Europe) ready to be detonated, the only thing stopping it from being unleashed is that it needed a catalyst with huge quantities of power that the brotherhood didn't posses, so Kane orchestrates THE WHOLE FREAKING WAR so the GDI fires it's cannons to where the bomb is!

And that's only the first half of the plan!

With Kane supposedly death in the Temple explosion, a woman called Kilian Qatar raises to power, but there is no time for pleasantries nor diplomatics since a few days after Sarajevo's battle a freaking Alien force starts attacking the planet and both GDI and NOD are forced to work against the common threat...

But that's not what the messiah wants! Kane resurfaces once again and orders his most loyal commanders to pretty much nuke the GDI (and take down the treacherous bitch who dared to ally with them)... It turns out that the aliens invasion was also part of the plan! The aliens are not invading, they were actually a pretty hostile mining company, who planted Tiberium across the worlds and waited for the right time to begun collection... Kane TRICKED THE ALIENS with the bomb at temple prime to make them think it was time to being their operations, all of this so he could secure one of the aliens structures... a portal-like tower that would be essential to his true purpose... Ascension!

(Needles to mention, this makes you think if his plan in the second war was to Unleash the world changing missile and achieve a similar effect... It also makes you think about his first defeat at Sarajevo, this proved some valuable data about GDI's orbital firepower, thouhg the later is unlikely to be true since Kane didn't had the Tacitus back then)

Now he only needed to figure how to make the thing work.

I must go. My planet needs me... (wallpaper by

HelmerN)

At the very final game of the franchise Kane surprisingly surrenders to the GDI and offers them a deal to both control the Tiberium (which at this point almost consumed the whole planet) and get rid of him once and for all! (There is another bunch of keikakus leading to this moment but I don't have enough time nor will to explain them).

There are both GDI and NOD extremists who refuse to let this alliance happen and yet another bloody (though short) conflict begins...

At the end you have a lot of stuff thrown upon you... You find out that Kane was never a human (you should expect something like this by now) but something else, who has been living in this planet since humans lived in caves! And he has been leading humanity through the ages... All of that culminating at this very same moment (with a few setbacks here and there), when he is able to activate the Alien tower and ascend... Kane also tells you that "you" (the player character) were one of many "keys" developed with the help of the Tacitus in order to activate the tower and the TCN who will put an end to the Tiberium menace (how many keys are left may depend of your choices in game).

The canon ending of this game is you getting killed (no matter what choices you do in game) but still managing to activate the TCN, and Kane and his followers mysteriously vanishing from Earth, it's never explained what happened to them... Nor if Kane's vision was realized (nor what was that vision to begin with)...

So yeah, there is a lot of things to love about Kane...

- For starters, he is affably evil. (really charming guy despite his "you fail, you die" policy)

- He is also the grandfather of all the magnificent bastards in the RTS genre (and in canon he is the greatest manipulator of history, being behind many historical events).

- He is a determinator (he had a lot of obstacles in his way).

- And he succeeds at the end.

- He is one of those (nowadays not so) weird cases were the antagonist is also the protagonist, and he is the only character to consistently appear in each Tiberium game... Actually Joe Kucan (Kane's actor) was inducted in the Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2008 as the longest recurring actor in any video game franchise to date.

- The backstory I spent this whole post telling you? That is not the whole thing! There is a whole sort of biblical background behind the character and there are also in game story points that I haven't covered (mostly, I didn't explain what happens in the expansions and "C&C: Renegade")... He has been here for a loooonnnng time after all! And I've just narrated the events from (most of) the games... (EA's also left a lot of open spots even after "ending" the story)

- And I'm totally homo for him.

See? I knew shiny lights were friendly!

Honorable mentions: too many to list.

Edited February 3, 2012 by gato

[Meow]

So Hazama was already covered, and for good reason, I'm going to reach into Twilight Princess here again-

ZANT

Ahhhhhh...Zant. Why the hell did you have to be sidelined for Ganondork in this game. You were a much more interesting and 'colourful' villain, but still retained a design and aesthetic that absolutely screamed cool. You looked the part of someone who was going to totally mess you up. So why then did Nintendo have to take how interesting you were and then totally throw you to the side to add in Ganondorf, the ever-returning and ever increasing boring villain.

Now to be fair I don't necessarily hate Ganondorf but the guy needs a break after Wind Waker. Twilight Princess had a really cool thing going on with the Twilight Realm and Hyrule, and Zant could have been made to be a much more powerful and intimidating foe. In fact I found his fight to be a lot cooler than the fight you have with Ganondorf entirely, but that's a different thing. I just think by now Ganondorf suffers from what I'll call 'Sigma-Syndrome' in that he keeps re-appearing and becomes less and less appealing/has less character than the iteration that came before him. Zant was new, fresh, and the fact that he was able to mimic all the previous bosses and STILL bring something new to the table was great.

Super underrated imo. He also gets bonus points for being of the Twili race, which have some of my fave designs in terms of game characters (the Zora from Twilight Princess also are some of my favourites).

[#AR]

Favorite Antagonists for me would be:

BLACK BARON (MADWORLD)

"Navy SEALs? Special Ops?? C'mon, BITCH!!"

I never use this overused term, but let's face it... this guy can be described in one word:

SWAG.

ok, now that THAT's outta the way, lemme continue on. This dude is just awesome. For one, he's a pimp. Two: he keeps his pimp hand strong...and I mean REAL strong. Three: He gives an equally badass guy with a chainsaw on his arm a run for his money. Four: he's friggin hilarious (especially when getting owned by Mathilda, the girl with the bat in the picture, before every minigame). And last, but not least: His damn theme song is one of the absolute best songs in the entire game.

JURI HAN (SUPER STREET FIGHTER IV)

Out of all the original characters that came from the Street Fighter IV games, Juri is probably the only one that I really liked. She's Korean and Evil, which is kinda odd since Koreans in fighting games tend to be good (Prime Example: Kim Kapwhan in King of Fighters). Not to mention, she's kinda hot (even though she's kinda psycho, which, in turn, makes her hot i guess lolol). Her cockiness compliments with her psychotic nature, and, in turn, makes her one of the more original Street Fighter Characters. Her fighting style is very unique, full of kicks and an awesome cybernetic eye (the "Feng Shui Engine"), so I tend to use her the most in the game. And for those of you keeping up with Street Fighter X Tekken, her vs. Hwoarang was the matchup I was dreaming of, and now it can finally happen! YESSS!!

Also, she has one of the best ultra moves in SSFIV

Edited February 3, 2012 by Alien/Renegade

[Covskin]

It has been said already, but it bears repeating. Kefka is an incredible villain.

And what sets him apart from other Final Fantasy villains is just how human he is. Until the World of Ruin, he has no special powers. He cannot use magic, nor is he particularly strong. He is however, cunning to a machiavellian standard. He knows when to suck up to his boss; he knows when to eliminate his rivals (just see how he treats Leo and Celes). And then, he finally seizes his moment and literally kicks The Emperor off the side of the Floating Isle, something so badass Kuja copied it in Final Fantasy IX (Garland). Halfway through the game, KEFKA WINS.

Once he basically becomes a God...he lets people know about it. He breaks apart continents. He can level whole cities with a single strike. His actions warp people's minds so badly a cult is formed, dedicated to him. It takes 12 of you to finally take him down at the end of the game. Dancing Mad.

Honourable mention to LeChuck for persistence. Ghost, Zombie, Demon, all three, human, Demon. That's a guy who just doesn't stay dead.

[Double Agent Motobug]

Gonna have to go with Eggman and GLaDOS too. =3

I think you know why I'd pick Eggman. He's /hilarious/, He's round, he's over the top, and he's just so lovable. xD

GLaDOS, I don't think I've ever been so excited to have my enemy taunting me. Each time she'd start speaking over the loudspeaker, I'd literally stop was I was doing and listen to what she had to say. She turned an interesting puzzle game into a masterpiece <3 It did get a bit grating that she kept harassing you about killing her in Portal 2... but after the mid-way point she went back to being awesome again. Combustible Lemons ftw.

[#EndyGate]

My answer is quite obvious, a character that we all know and love, that has not only found a place in our hearts, but also somewhere in our manskirts:

~~~THE FABULOUS DEBBIE~~~

I absolutely love him, he's so sponatneous, so emotional, so gay! What really sets him apart from Ganon in my eyes is the personality he has. Basically he has just about every personality characteristic the usual Ganondorf incarnation would, but then adds on his own level of egotistical, self-loving, gay, and slightly flirtatious attributes that really makes him stand out. I mean any scene he is in is instantly incredibly epic, or absolutely hilarious due to his and link's interactions. My favorite being:

This cutscene was what really set him at the top of my list, nowhere before have I seen such an ingenious blend of creepy, menacing, hilarious, and maniacal traits in a single character, all being displayed in a cutscene that makes you hate him with every fiber of your body, yet love him all the same, but the boys at Nintendo were able to make it happen.

[Sami]

Day 19 - Favorite Antagonist

Man, I'm an awful liar. That "NO MORE SONIC, GUYS! I SWEAR!" lasted about three days. But... I'm sorry. I had to. We're talking about villains.

So in this category we've got a tie; Eggman from the Sonic The Hedgehog series and Takaya from Persona 3. Let's start with Eggman: What's NOT to like about this guy? He's fantastically goofy, has some of the most hilarious minions (ORBOT AND CUBOT FOR 2012 ELECTIONS) he's got a great voice actor, and he's just *really* entertaining to watch. Despite all that though, he has the capacity to be an intimidating villain when he gets serious, and he really does pose a threat when the time comes. There's a reason why Eggman's been a villain for twenty years now; he's an absolutely wonderful character, and the more we see him, the better.

My other favorite villain creates an enormous contrast. Takaya isn't funny, he isn't entertaining, and he doesn't have that lovableness that makes Eggman such an endearing character. He does, however, have one thing that a lot of video game villains unfortunately tend to lack, however: depth. Takaya's backstory is a tragic one that I won't get into for the sake of spoilers, but I will say that it definitely serves its purpose in explaining why Takaya acts the way he does. He's extremely intimidating from beginning to end (he makes his first appearance by shooting some random thug. Classy.), he poses a real threat to you from the very first time you meet him, and his appearance is... look at him. He's like Jesus, but evil; and there's a reason why Takaya looks like the Antichrist: He's hellbent on ending humanity. He reveals himself to the public as a prophet and actually gets himself a large cult following. He preaches about the end of the world and truly believes that the only way to end all suffering is to end humanity as a whole. Now that is a villain.

You know Nintendo, if you're going to shove Ganon in my face in so many Zelda games, could you please at least try and make him as interesting as either of these villains? Eggman's an egocentric maniac and Takaya's the freaking Antichrist. Ganon's just... evil.

[Lucky]

Day #19 - Favorite Villain / Antagonist from a Video Game

Gruntilda Winkybunion (Banjo-Kazooie)

My favourite villain, here she is. There's no better in this biz.

When Gruntilda discovers she's not the most beautiful damsel in the game, she decides the only thing to do is kidnap the one who is and use a machine to steal her looks. And so as Banjo, you're off to Gruntilda's lair to rescue your little sister before the evil witch carries out her plan... and treated to some of the most hilarious taunts and from Grunty herself as you make your way to the top of her tower (all in the form of clever and amusing rhymes)... while learning the most random (and gross) facts about her from her nicer sister who you'll bump into along the way... before you eventually come face to face with her in the form of a gameshow that tests just how much you've been paying attention to everything. How is that not brilliant? Also, screw her sisters; as soon as she stopped rhyming in Tooie she lost a lot of what made her amazing. =|

I've said before that Banjo-Kazooie is one of my all-time favourites, and Grunty's one of the main reasons I love it so much. She's one of those characters that always makes me chuckle, no matter how many times I've heard her lines before.

Oh yeah, and that Dr. Eggman guy is really awesome too.

[Match]

FAVORITE ANTAGONIST FROM A VIDEO GAME

SPOILERS FOR SPIDER-MAN: EDGE OF TIME

The CEO from Spider-Man: Edge of Time. I know, I know, I keep bringing this game up, but I love everything about it except the repetition.

Interestingly, rather than using two characters from the same game, I'm using the SAME CHARACTER AS FAVORITE PROTAGONIST.

That's right, the evil CEO is Peter Parker of the future, the distorted version where he works for Alchemax. He is planning to bend time to his will, and to prevent the deaths of, among others, Uncle Ben and Gwen Stacey.

The reason I like him is almost entirely based on his back story. I mean, you PLAY as the villain, before he is a villain. That's some trippy shit. Peter Parker of the Bad Future is driven mad and becomes a mad scientist who keeps himself alive for a hundred years by making some anti-aging stuff. Peter/Spider-Man from the present has a great reaction to this. Still, he refuses to let it happen.

The other main reason I like him is because of this game's KICK-ASS FINAL BOSS.

Basically, you play as Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2099 back and forth. As Amazing, you fight the Atrocity (which is Anti-Venom, Doc Ock, and Alchemax employee Sloan after they were combined by falling into the Time Gate Thing) and as 2099, you fight the CEO/Peter Parker Bad Future. The way it changes back and forth is just epic, and creates a really grand scale for this crazy fight. Plus, I just REALLY love this game's combat system. It's like a cartoon fight.

[Phantomime]

Okay, there was pretty much no way I wasn't gonna pick this guy.

Aha! The incredible and hilarious way this master villain's dialogue is! The way he treats life, and everything in it, as a great performance! The classy yet joking way he speaks! He will send you to hell, and smile the whole time he's killing you!

Master of dimensions!

Pleaser of crowds!

HE IS...

DIMENTIO!

First off: He has an awesome hat. Let's just get that out of the way.

Second: He's the only Mario villain to plotline-kill Mario, Luigi, Bowser, and Peach.

Third: He's hilarious. He's constantly spouting weird and crazy dialogue as he prepares to fight you.

Fourth: The entire game, while he starts out a villain, you begin to wonder when he helps you out from behind the scenes, (which is foreshadowed by his unique teleport saving Peach), and overhear him wondering if you could be the one to stop the Count. This becomes a plot twist at the end.

Even in death, the last thing he does is WIPE OUT EVERY UNIVERSE.

There is so much I didn't write about him, but is by FAR the best Mario villain ever, and possibly the best villain ever.

Edited February 4, 2012 by Phantomime

[Bria]

Day 19 - Favorite Villain / Antagonist from a Video Game

N from Poke'mon Black and White

I don't even know where to start. While I know he's not fully a villain exactly, he represents the opposing team of this game. He's led a rather sad life but he pushes through with his belief that humans are cruel, despite him growing rather close to your character. He fully believes what he is doing is the correct path while pushing you to follow your own in a desperate struggle between truth and ideals. He sees himself as the true hero as you continue to encounter him until the very end when the real truth is revealed. He's also the only person I know in a Poke'mon game to capture and keep a Legendary Poke'mon, not to mention he can speak with them as well. He's a tragic character, but he does manage to see that he has done wrong and decides to ultimately start over at the end. I found him to be a rather deep character with flaw, rather easy to relate to, and someone full of passion and a sense of purity all the while maintaining an antagonistic sense to your character.

[SuperStingray]

I had a feeling that every other answer for this would be Eggman.

But that's not quite my choice.

The SA-X (Metroid Fusion)

The driving mechanic of the Metroid Series is becoming more powerful. When Super Metroid begins, you're just a dud that can fire little blips across the screen, but by the time you get to Mother Brain, you're a goddamn powerhouse that storms through space pirates like they're made of paper. You escape Zebes feeling like a MONSTER absolutely ebbing with strength.

But Metroid is kind of the powerup equivalent of cheap amnesia stories, having weak excuses for making you lose your powers and start fresh. Metroid Fusion starts no different, but I'd argue that it does it not only right, but brilliantly.

The game starts with a monologue saying that Samus was infected by a potent alien parasite and had to have her suit, and consequently her powerups, completely removed. So once again you start fresh with nothing but a pellet laser and weak jump. A few minutes into the game, you see this.

MY PANTS' SHIT LEVEL: 10%

Apparently, the parasite that nearly caused the death of the universe's greatest bounty hunter has assumed her form and taken her powers. That's right. All the power you spent hours accumulating in Super Metroid, the power that conquered an alien syndicate and destroyed a planet, has taken a shape of its own and WANTS TO KILL YOU.

Also, you have no help but your computer AI friend.

You're completely isolated.

On an abandoned space station.

Alone.

MY PANTS' SHIT LEVEL: 30%

The best part is, this antagonist isn't simply waiting for you in some castle at the end of the game. She's actively exploring the space station, trying to hunt you down. "The SA-X is tracking you." Says the computer. This blew my mind when I first played this game. And unless you already have, you never know when your paths will cross. But when they do, you're helpless to fight her. You have to hide, give her a clear path through the room or she will chase you to the ends of the station if she doesn't lose sight of you.

MY PANTS' SHIT LEVEL: 40%

She's relatively easy to avoid in most situations, but later in the game comes this scene.

There's no way around but actually engaging her. You hear her iconic "presence" music, take a deep breath, then drop below. And once you hear her also iconic "chase" music, YOU GET THE FUCK OUT OF THERE. On it's own, this part's very easy, but the tension the SA-X provides, knowing she could jump onscreen at any moment and fire her 250 HP-sapping ice beams at you can makes it extremely engaging and really sends my heartrate through the roof.

MY PANTS' SHIT LEVEL: 60%

And then near the end of the game you find out she's multiplying.

MY PANTS' SHIT LEVEL: 100%

Finally, the last boss fight comes around and you are now powerful enough to destroy it. (As it turns out the "they are multiplying" thing doesn't really come into play, but it's no less terrifying to hear.) Anyway, by the time you activate the self destruct sequence on the ship to make sure this terror never sees the light of day, you finally have enough power to destroy her once and for all. You keep wailing on her until she bends over, clearly on the ropes. "I did it! I finally beat this damn SA-X that's been plaguing me this whole-"

MY PANTS' SHIT LEVEL: OVERLOAD! OVERLOAD! OVERLOAD!

So you take down her final form; she's no longer powerful enough to fight you, but her raw form escapes and you can GTFO the station in peace. As luck would have it, your ship's missing and you find in its place an Omega Metroid that knocks you down to 1 health with a single swipe. But then a miracle: the SA-X floats by and gives you it's power. As it turns out, the SA-X has no ill will against you personally- it's simply an animal that wants to perpetuate the survival of its species, as much as you don't want that to happen. But with the Metroid being its most potent predator, she sees it as the greater of two evils and gives you the strength to destroy it. That is awesome. The power you lost, the power that's hunted you down this entire game, haunting you with its presence and unmatchable strength, has finally returned to you for one last conclusive showdown.

SA-X isn't the best villain in the world in terms of intent, cunning and personality, but she's the best damn video game antagonist I've ever seen. If you've seen Egoraptor's Sequelitis episode on Megaman X, he talks about how Zero comes in and saves the day at the beginning of the game and tells you that you can become as powerful as him, which is a thematic motivation to play through the game. The SA-X is kind of the equal and opposite; instead of giving you motivation simply saying "you can become as powerful as me," the SA-X serves to say "if you don't become as powerful as me, I will destroy you." It's amazing how terrifying a freaking Game Boy Advance game could be; even with its low-res graphics compared to, say, Dead Space, Metroid Fusion's given me ten times the horror, fun and motivation simply through one amazing antagonist.

Runners up: Dr. Eggman, Gruntilda, Richard Hawk, Count Bleck or Dimentio (whichever classifies as the antagonist), Bowser, GLaDOS, the Spider from LIMBO

Edited February 4, 2012 by SuperStingray

[Johnny Boy]

Favorite Villain

Ghetsis- Pokemon Black/White

This guy is truly a monster. He is leader to what is possibly the pokemon worlds equivalent of PETA, he mentally fucked up his own son just for his own personal gain and he tried to rule unova by having all of it's pokemon for himself.

Pokemon Black and White not only had the best storyline of all the pokemon games, but they also managed to create what is possibly the best villain in the games to date.

[Victory Defender]

Day 19 - Favorite Antagonist

For day 19, I'd have to go with Godot from Ace Attorney.

More spoiler, so I'll code it into the spoiler thing.

We've got a dude who had a liking to the law, and would defend the defenseless. He ultimately taught Wright how to defend (taught Mia, then Mia taught Wright) and a case goes haywire. He's assumed dead, but just barely makes it alive. Under a new persona, he is reborn as Godot, and then takes the opposite side of which he used to be. He then wants vengence upon Wright, and tries to shut his cases down. Even tries to get him locked up with that Furio Tigre case.

Godot later takes responsibilities for his actions. He's truly a hero, but his act as Godot is worth mentioning.

There's also Metaknight, he's pretty chill...

aaannnnddd then there's Giovanni

Edited February 4, 2012 by Victory Defender

[Gregzilla]

Day 19 - Favorite antagonist

Well, as much as I am getting tired of proclaiming my love for Portal 2, I just have to be true to myself.

GLaDOS from Portal and Portal 2 - Hilarious, cunning, sadistic, deadpan, and in the sequel's case, a total bitch. GLaDOS is truly one of the best villains ever created. One of my favorite things about her is that in the very beginning, we didn't even know how cruel her intentions were. She was sinsister, but she sounded like she was just a computer designed to inform test subjects of danger. Then she tries to kill you, and when you escape, she starts to show her true colors. She makes extremely immature comments to try and lead you astray ("You're not even going the right way.") and just tries to make you feel bad. Then in the sequel, she is PISSED. Her identity is no longer a mystery, and she is just a complete bitch from the second you meet up with her. I mean seriously, this super intelligent AI literally resorts to calling you fat. She is at first creepy and mysterious, then absolutely hilarious, and for that she gets my #1 pick.

I was thinking about putting Wheatley as a tie for my pick, as he is equally hilarious if not moreso. But in the end I just went with GLaDOS because Wheatley just isn't as sinister, and therefore doesn't seem as villainous. He's also one of the best characters ever created, but overall I just had to go with GLaDOS because of how misleading and evil she is.

Runners Up:

Ridley from the Metroid series - He is one persistent bastard, and definitely has a lot of evil in him to boot. But I didn't think it would be fair to pick him, mainly because I actually think his appearance in the Metroid manga is the best version of him. In the games he is mostly just an evil dragon, but in the manga he talks and has a personality. And he is freaking INSANE. When commanding a space pirate raid on Samus's home planet, he encourages them to kill the inhabitants just to "have fun!" Many years later when he meets Samus for only the second time, she suffers a nervous breakdown, deactivating her suit and being completely vulnerable. So what does he do? Shoves his claw in her face and calls her a piece of shit. I guess I just enjoy the sadistic villains more, cuz they seem much more cold-hearted and evil, and often I would actually be terrified if I were in their presence. Ridley: great villain in games and manga, but I prefer his manga version, so he can settle for second. I'm also a bit biased because he is the nemesis of my favorite non-Sonic protagonist.

Kefka from Final Fantasy VI - This guy is a runner up because I haven't played FF6. I think the gameplay of FF - and most JRPGs - is incredibly boring and not worth trudging through even if the story is good. That being said, from what I've seen, Kefka is freaking awesome. He does some of the most terrible things one could imagine, then offsets it by having an immature and comedic personality. And out of all the villains looking to control/destroy the world, Kefka probably came the closest. I've also seen him in Dissidia (which I can't call fun by any means, but for some reason I've played it quite a bit), and I can safely say that he is the only character in the game to provide me with any sort of entertainment. All the other characters are either brooding, annoying, badly voice-acted, or some horrible combination, but Kefka has some very enjoyable story. Call him a Joker rip-off if you must, but he is pretty badass either way.

Dr. Eggbotnik - GET A LODE UV THIS

Edited February 4, 2012 by Gregzilla14

[Shoot em up Capbusta]

I gotta hand it to this mofo he is hella persistent on the target he is after. No mattter how Samus killed him in the previous games he keeps coming back and each time he does he is more ruthless than the last time you fought him. Either cloned, cyborg, reborn, parasite infected, or just plain ridley whatever condition he's in he doesn't give a damn if he wants ya he's gonna get ya. And once he shows up you know shits about to get real, with his agressive and hostile attacks it seems like every fight between him and Samus is the last. Ridley is also a boss in my opinon because he gets the job done himself no weapons just you and him. But no matter how many times you kill him always manages to resurrect himself for another battle. It's like trying to kill freddy kruger when you know damn well that he's comming back for more.

[Zany Mallet Maniac]

Dr. Eggman, hands down, is the coolest antagonist. He is determined, he is witty, he is over 280 pounds! And he even has the master plan! Not to mention a stache that serves as a good rivalry to Mario's. He is the smartest and best looking person on earth, according to himself anyway. No matter how many times he fails, he never lets that get to him! Anything that the doc says, sends me into fits of laughter!

[Chibinuva]

Day 19 - Favorite Villain / Antagonist from a Video Game

While I haven't played many Mario games, I have played some, and I must say, some of the antagonists are really powerful. However, I'm sometimes a fan of more obscure characters, and this one of those times. Whenever someone thinks of a Mario villain, they always think of Bowser. But for those who have played all the games, there are worse enemies. The true enemies of Mario are in fact:

Honorable mention goes to GLaDOS for being a deadpan snarker, sadistic bastard who gets off on testing you, is freaking hilarious, and a complete psychopath.

So many choices, but I would go with my favourite:

The Aparoid Queen from Star Fox Assault.

Since the second level of the game we learn that a species of insect-like robots (?) have invaded and assaulted various locations from the Lylat System. These Aparoids are led by this mysterious Aparoid Queen who is stranded in the Aparoid Homeworld, controlling the horde from there.

You don't get to meet the Aparoid Queen until the very final stage from the game, everything you know about her was just from words and Beltino Toad creating some kind of program to eradicate the Queen and thus the entire Aparoids.

Now, as soon as you get into her base/home/whatever, you find out that the Queen can imitate any voice of anyone infected by the Aparoids. This includes Pigma Dengar, General Pepper and - for reasons unknown - James McCloud, Fox's father.

The Queen tries to reason with Fox using the voice of people that he knows, but Fox realizes the scam and attacks the Queen, the battle begins.

The battle against the Queen is rather easy, but after Fox shoots the Queen with the program that Beltino Toad created, the cheeky bastard Queen tries to surpress it and leaves her body, so begins phase 2 of her fight.

Now, in the second phase you can listen to the Queen saying things like "Only us, the universe is ours" that can be seen the stereotypical villain that thinks the world is his/her's, but despite that the Queen manages to be a quiet out-of-normal antagonist.

For these reasons I choosed her over any other antagonist, I found that the Queen was a rather interesting and not your average antagonist, she felt that her universe was her's AND ONLY HER'S and everyone else was invading it which one can consider to be true since the Aparoids seem to be the very first beings in the universe.

Or were, until the god damned Fox McCloud slayed everyone.

That bastard.

edited for: Forgot Blue Wisp's post.

Edited February 4, 2012 by Spider-Man 2099

[Conando]

I should have mentioned Bowser, the King of Evil and all that is Awesome is my very close second in terms of favorite villain. In the regular games, he proves to be more menacing than the likes of Dr. Eggman but, in the RPGs he takes on a more comical tone sometimes being bumbling other times being a grump.

[Your Vest Friend]

I technically already gave my answer and explanation in the fave video game characters list, so I'll keeo it abridged today.

Gnasty Gnorc [spyro the Dragon]/Bowser Koopa [super Mario Bros]

I've lumped them together because they each hold the same appeal to me, so it'd be redundant to have two different entries. Basically, what I like about them is that, while they can be genuinely tough and no-nonsense in their military plights, they're more often than not bumbling up their own efforts with a delicious side helping of comedy-flavoured creme fraiche. Even though the latter of the two has a far better track record of managing to get shit done when needs be with more snark, they're still oafs that I love to laugh at.

Plus I like to pair them together. [/yournightmaresforamonth]

Edited February 4, 2012 by VEDJ-F

[cdrom1019]

favorite villain? I believe I have 3...already mentioned by others

Dr. Eggman

Is it just me...or has the writing for sonic games gotten much better as of late? Always leaving in some of the best dialogue for our favorite villain genius. The PA announcements were just classic.

Glados

Look lady...you got what was coming to you...get over it....oh well...I suppose that's hard to do when cached memory consistently plays the last 2 minutes of your death over and over and over again while you're dead.

Godot

Always has 17 cups of coffee during a trial...not 1 more...not 1 less....the best part is just when you think you have him on the ropes....he'll turn cool and collected.....take a sip...and spit it back out realizing he can't win

[Badnik Mechanic]

Day 19 - Favorite Villain / Antagonist from a Video Game

This took me a long while to decide... mainly because I don't have a favourite for stuff like this, so I decided to pick a Villain who is interesting and was a little different to the usual.

This will contain a HUGE spoiler for Catherine, so avoid reading it if you intend to pick up the game next week.

Thomas Mutton

This guy appears right at the start of the game and he acts like any old bartender. It's only at the end of the game do you realise who he really is and what he's capable of.

For nearly a week, Vincent has been having nightmares, people have been dying in their sleep, Vincent has been fighting for his life every night, then when he realises who is responsible you become aware of how sick and twisted this guy is.

But also... how patient he is.

He is a patient villain, calculating as well as powerful, he hides in the shadows manipulating people to the point of madness.

The great thing about him? The mystery, you never find out the full story behind him, you never see his full power or potential, also you know he's been doing this for hundreds of years and is likely to carry on doing it! Just because Vincent defeats him doesn't mean he's going to stop! He's going to keep doing it for years to come. Catherine herself more or less confirms this even if you do end up 'with her' at the end.

For the mystery and the patient calculating nature he's got to be one of the best. When you eventually do battle him? What a fight, he sits back in an armchair taking his time to shoot and kick you, he's in no hurry and wants you to suffer.

He's just unlike any other villain who you know is evil or who you know is beaten, even though you've beaten him, he's not going to stop, he's going to carry on doing what he does. Just because you've beaten him doesn't mean he's defeated, he's not.

[Shane]

What can I say that hasn't already been said? Dr. Eggman has everything I want from a villain - he's cunning, he has the ability to match with the hero, he knows when he's gone too far and legitimately wants to help when this happens, and most importantly of all, he's psycho.

Dr. Eggman is one of the funniest characters in gaming history, in my opinion, and it's not often that I find myself loving a villain as much as I love Eggman. He never really had much of a chance to stand out until Sonic Colours, though, but when he did get his chance, the results were marvellous. I saw someone post the clips of Eggman's voice on the intercom earlier - he's hysterical.

And I mentioned this a few days ago, but that laugh.

[Serperior]

Ghetsis and N from Pokémon Black and White were 2 of my favourite antagonists. I liked Ghetsis because, for once in a Pokémon game, there was a main antagonist who actually had a well thought out plan. His plan of trying to get the people of Unova to believe that they were doing thier Pokémon harm by keeping them and getting them to release them, and then take over the reigon once he's the only one left who has a Pokémon was actually a pretty clever plan, and the fact that he was able to manipulate N for that long a time shows that he really knew what he needed to do for all of the pieces of his plan to fall into place.

What I liked about N was that his actions, while considered bad by others, are actions that he believes are genuinely right for the Pokémon he is trying to protect, and it's not exactly an unrealistic idea either. Other than him, no one would be able to tell whether a Pokémon enjoyed being kept in captivity or not, so it made him come across as a believable antagonist, rather than one who is just evil for the sake of being evil or just wanting to rule everything. I also like the fact that he eventually realised that what he had been doing was wrong and that he had acknowledged the fact that he needed to make up for what he had done. It made him feel a lot more human to me, and really added to how believable of a character he was.

Honourable mentions:

Dr. Eggman: Again, like Sonic, this one was done to death already, so I'm not even going to bother, everyone else has said anything I could say on this.

Bowser: I've elaborated more on this in previous posts, but I really like how Bowser is portrayed in some of the games. He's a egotistical brute who isn't exactly the brightest bulb in the shack, and yet he somehow got to rule an entire kingdom, which is an amusing thought alone. He does have his serious moments though, and fights with him feel like they're on a massive scale at times.

Dr Wily: Dr Wily is another protagonist I like for similar reasons to Eggman, albeit because of Wily's much shorter screen times in the games he is from, he doesn't get as much time to show these off, but they're still there. He has his diabolical moments, and he's got to be somewhat cunning if no one in the Mega Man series can ever tell it's Wily behind everything even if we always can, because who re-uses the exact same plan 10 times? He still has his flaws though, such as thinking it was a good idea to make a robot stronger and with the ability to make it's own decisions when a weaker robot with lesser AI turned on him before. He's also shown his moments where he seems to care about what happens to others, even his nemesis, even if it was the case that if Mega Man failed in the situation he was in, Wily would be done for as well.

Edited February 4, 2012 by Serperior