7 Cool Characters Of Gaming

In today's world, games are quickly on their way to becoming recognised as works of art. And rightfully so! Here are some of the coolest gaming characters that have helped to make it so.

7 & 6

If you grew up with gaming in the 80s/90s, then you grew up in the middle of a war. Mario vs Sonic was one of the bloodiest battles ever seen by kids the world over. Pictures of Mario doing unspeakable things to Sonic (and vice versa) were scrawled by us all, and sent into our favourite Nintendo or Sega magazine, so they could be shown off in order to bait the other side!

Mario

Mario was the original, and best, gaming icon. Recognisable the world over, he's done pretty well for himself considering he's a short, stubby, Italian-American plumber who a) doesn't really do much in the way of plumbing and b) can't seem to keep his girlfriend from running away with his arch nemesis for more than a few years at a time! He's a face that seemingly everybody knows, and his theme tune has been played to death in a variety of ways and styles. Having appeared in over 200 titles since his creation, he's showing no sign of slowing down either!

Sonic

Sega's golden/blue boy was the answer to Nintendo's superstar handyman. Even though he appeared on the scene *after* Mario (and Mario/Nintendo won the war), we reckon he -just- gets edged out by Sonic in terms of coolness, regardless of the less than stellar line up of games, and the fact that in reality he's a suicidal hedgehog with an interesting taste in shoes. He also has Tails for a best friend... and who the hell likes Tails anyway?! Constantly trying to save the world from the evil Dr Robotnik, you can't help but like Sonic... even if he can't swim.

5 & 4 Toejam & Earl

Hearing the news that our two favourite funky aliens were making a comeback as a downloadable title got us all giddy... kinda how we go if we attempt to intake the same amount of sugar we did as children. As the definition of everything that was cool in the 90s (minus the dodgy hair and shocking taste in clothes), Toejam & Earl just had to make our list. Even after crash-landing on Earth, escaping back to their home planet of Funkotron, AND bringing a load of smelly humans with them, they still keep it real. Word to your mothers.

3 Solid Snake

One of the most incredibly slick, cool, and seemingly indestructible gaming heroes ever conceived; Solid Snake is a combination of spy, special operations soldier, and mercenary commando of FOXHOUND - a black operations and espionage unit. From the first game where he's a spritely, and somewhat OTT young soldier, to Metal Gear Solid 4 where he's a grumpy old man, who would much rather stay at home, reading his paper, smoking his pipe and telling those damn kids to get out of his yard, we too have grown old with Solid Snake. Only we're more grumpy than he is.

2 Master Chief

Halo was the groundbreaking FPS game that made Microsoft's ugly black original Xbox a force to be reckoned with. Despite the age old rule that FPS games don't work on consoles, Halo was one of only a handful (at that time) that had successfully broken the mould. In fact, the console version was better than the inevitable PC version that came out a few years after! Top all that off with a 7ft tall, world saving, alien ass kicking, flood defeating Spartan named John, and there's no way you can't consider him cool!

1 Agent 47

Considering he spent his first few years of existence confined to PC, and largely as a silent, scary, killing machine, Agent 47 has managed to come full circle and end up as a fairly fleshed out, and pissed off, super assassin in Hitman: Absolution. If you've followed his story from the start, you'll know that although 47 will follow up on his contract to the bitter end, he will do his best to do what he thinks is right, regardless of any implications it may have for him or his employer. We also put him as number 1 because he might come and kill us otherwise.