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Time to shine the spotlight on gaming's unsung heroes! Join us as we celebrate the characters who rarely make it into top 10 lists but absolutely deserve recognition. These gaming icons have given us unforgettable adventures despite living in the shadows of more popular characters. Which overlooked gaming hero is your favorite?
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00:00Barry, hello? Barry, if you'd better pick up. Hello? Oh, anyway.
00:07I'm gonna be a bit late. Well, met up with a couple of guys and they're off tomorrow to some,
00:12I don't know, fight some war somewhere.
00:15Welcome to WatchMojo and yes, today I get the opportunity to throw out praise to the under-praised.
00:20Give love to the under-loved. Give appreciation to the under-appreciated.
00:24Not everyone can end up on a mojo list and it makes us sad to never speak about them.
00:28So we made this list specifically for them. These are not the top 10 video game characters.
00:34Number 10, Wario, Wario Land, Super Mario Land 3.
00:44Ah, Wario, the anti-hero we never knew we needed.
00:48While Mario is busy being a Mushroom Kingdom celebrity,
00:51Wario quietly runs his empire, WarioWare Incorporated, rocks a convertible, and even rides a motorcycle.
00:56Take that, Mario. Bet you can't get third-party contents insurance on Yoshi.
01:00Sure, he's greedy and a little dopey, but his accomplishments are no joke.
01:04Wario Land delivered some of the best games in the Mario universe.
01:08And Wario Land 4 specifically delivered platforming gold with shoulder charges
01:12and ground pounds that would inspire indie hits like Pizza Tower.
01:16And let's not forget WarioWare, a whirlwind of micro-games that invented chaos as a genre.
01:22Even a garlic-loving, treasure-hoarding goofball deserves a bouquet now and then.
01:26And finally, we get to give it to him.
01:28Ugly? Sure. Fun? No doubt.
01:33Number 9, Guybrush Threatwood, The Secret of Monkey Island.
01:37There is one name that instantly screams 90s LucasArts adventure game gold.
01:51And that name is Guybrush Threatwood, which also happens to sound completely randomly generated.
01:56If you were a computer game nerd back then or a modern-day retro gamer,
02:00you know this guy like the back of your hand.
02:02Guybrush is the ultimate geek.
02:04Lanky, awkward, and somehow charmingly nerdy.
02:07Somehow this dork manages to stumble into absurd situations,
02:10survive five minutes underwater without turning into a prune,
02:13and annoy a zombie skeleton into submission.
02:15He is the video game equivalent of a kid walking across the busy highway,
02:19staring at his Game Boy and dodging every single car by accident.
02:22While all of us stare going,
02:23Oh no, oh Jesus.
02:25How did he do that?
02:28Number 8, Earthworm Jim, Earthworm Jim.
02:34Earthworm Jim was pure, wacky, brilliance.
02:39A game packed with absurd humour, slick gameplay,
02:42and a plot that was surprisingly engaging for 1994.
02:45And the hero, Jim, a worm.
02:48And this is sometimes why he doesn't get the love he deserves.
02:50He's so weird and odd that he rarely ends up in anyone's top 10s.
02:54But he is a special little dude.
02:56He's a snarky, surprisingly heroic guy in a robotic suit.
03:00And yes, technically a worm.
03:02He had funny one-liners, cool powers,
03:04and a touch of humanity that somehow made us care about,
03:07yes, a f***ing worm.
03:09His fame even earned him a Saturday morning cartoon.
03:12After a few sequels though,
03:13Jim disappeared faster than you could say worm with attitude.
03:16He's such a beloved 90s icon,
03:19that some fans are shocked he didn't reach Mario level fame.
03:21Number 7, Kate Archer, the operative No One Lives Forever.
03:33You make it sound like I'm some spoiled child.
03:36I'm not asking to be coddled.
03:37I just want a chance to prove myself.
03:40Lara Croft, Jill Valentine, Samus, Ellie, Tifa, Clementine,
03:44Princess, goddamn Peach,
03:46any list about the best female protagonists in video games
03:49is going to include these names.
03:50But one character almost always gets snuffed because of it,
03:55and that character is Kate Archer.
03:57Kate Archer stars as the lead in the operative No One Lives Forever.
04:01She's a classy secret agent,
04:03smooth and cunning earning comparisons to a female James Bond.
04:06But beyond cliches,
04:08Kate is an early example of a strong empowered female protagonist
04:11navigating a male-dominated world,
04:13constantly underestimated despite her skills.
04:15Before the year 2000,
04:17there were few women-led games.
04:18Alongside the previously mentioned Lara Croft and Jill Valentine,
04:21Kate stood out,
04:23arguably as the most nuanced of that trio.
04:25Infidel.
04:34Number 6, Johnny Klebitz,
04:36Grand Theft Auto 4,
04:37The Lost and Damned.
04:38You know,
04:39coming off heroin is kind of hard.
04:40I think I acquired this touch of amnesia.
04:43What business is more important,
04:46Mr. 1980s yuppie big shot,
04:48than your best friend's bike
04:49when he's close to getting a 15-year stretch?
04:50The business that pays his lawyers' fees.
04:54The business that puts food on all of our tables.
04:57Johnny Klebitz sits awkwardly in the GTA protagonist canon.
05:02He's not a mainline hero,
05:03but he's more than a side character.
05:05GTA 4's The Lost and the Damned DLC
05:06puts him front and centre,
05:09and he left a warm spot in the hearts of everyone who met him.
05:11True to GTA form,
05:13he's a cold-blooded biker with a shred of humanity,
05:15and fans grew attached during his brief ride.
05:18But Rockstar threw a wrench in his legacy.
05:21By the time he pops up in GTA 5,
05:23Johnny is a meth-addled wreck
05:24who gets casually stomped to death by Trevor.
05:27Veteran fans were left squinting at the screen,
05:30muttering,
05:30wait,
05:31who was that guy again?
05:32Tragic?
05:33Pathetic?
05:34It's not the legacy we wanted for Johnny,
05:35as it was the majority of players' first experience with him,
05:38and it's a true shame.
05:39You're a meth-head, ain't I, cowboy?
05:41Get my boy sucked from his toothless gums, huh?
05:44F*** you, Trevor.
05:45Oh.
05:46I still love her.
05:47Number 5,
05:49Abe, Oddworld, Abe's Odyssey.
05:51This new kind of meat.
05:54It was us.
05:58Abe occupied so much of my childhood.
06:10I have fond memories of walking into a room
06:11where my brothers were playing PS1
06:13and yelling,
06:13all of you,
06:14to get their attention.
06:15You might forget this, but Abe dominated the late 90s, before he went from beloved hero to retro
06:20obscurity, a once celebrated icon now mostly remembered by diehard fans. This grey-skinned,
06:26bug-eyed alien starred in Oddworld, Abe's Odyssey, and Abe's Exodus, leading an enslaved alien race
06:32in their fight for freedom, proving that the little guy can do so much to help the world.
06:37And if you thought that saving your species was impressive, just wait until you hear his dialogue,
06:41equal parts hilarious, weird, and endearing, Abe may not have made it into the mainstream hall of fame,
06:47but he definitely earned a spot in the cult classic Legends Club, and this list.
06:57Number 4, Conker, Conker's Bad Fur Day.
07:11I've talked about this ad nauseam, because everyone seems to have this idea of Conker's
07:26Bad Fur Day being like GTA 3, everyone was playing it and talking about it at school.
07:30This is the weirdest collective history change, as it was not a commercial success,
07:36it was a flop, so much so that getting a copy of the game today is a pricey endeavour.
07:40This was due to probably one main factor, it was released in 2001, right at the end of the
07:46N64's life cycle, and its cult classic status is why Conker never hit lists for the best video
07:51game protagonists. Controlling a tiny drunk degenerate never felt so satisfying. The game's
07:57world matches his chaos, hilariously written, wildly crude, and packed with jokes that land somewhere
08:03between clever satire and full-on potty humour. If you've graduated past middle school giggles,
08:07but still secretly enjoy a bit of irreverent chaos, Conker's antics are a riot. Go play it if
08:14you haven't.
08:153. Rasputin Aquato Psychonauts
08:36Rasputin Raz Aquato is the pint-sized psychic hero of the Psychonauts series. Basically,
09:02every precocious kid you knew who thought they could outsmart adults before lunchtime.
09:06Clever, daring, and always sticking his nose into grown-ups' business, Raz is the kind of kid you
09:12root for because he actually can chase his dreams of becoming a Psychonaut, unlike the rest of us
09:16stuck in office chairs.
09:18Thank you WatchMojo for this job, I really greatly appreciate it.
09:20Sure he's talented, but what makes him shine isn't just his psychic powers, it's that he faces mind-bending
09:25psychic worlds and existential questions far beyond a 10-year-old's pay grade, and somehow that hasn't
09:31stood out in people's minds. We're all so focused on loving a coffee-infused bandicoot instead of a
09:3710-year-old legend with a heart of gold. Poor Raz.
09:40Yeah, I guess you're right. He's so agile and limber and thin. He could never be you.
09:47Why you?
09:49Number 2, Lee Everett, The Walking Dead.
10:11Well, I reckon you didn't do it then.
10:14The zombie apocalypse is basically a writing cheat code for exploring humanity at its absolute worst,
10:21and Lee Everett from Telltale's The Walking Dead nails it, and rarely gets his dues. He's a strong
10:27guy stretched thinner than a zombie's patience, making impossible choices to survive while trying
10:32to protect those around him. What makes Lee special is he's a real character, with quirks,
10:37moods, and tastes. He's not some blank slate for players to project onto. You don't become Lee,
10:43you guide him, and this might be why he doesn't end up in people's top 10. You almost feel like
10:47you're watching someone else's story without feeling totally immersed, but this doesn't make
10:52it bad. It works.
10:53I think that might be a little while, you know?
10:57Oh.
10:58Look, I don't know what happened, but I'll look after you until then.
11:02Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about
11:07our latest videos. You have the option to be notified for occasional videos, or all of them.
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11:16Number 1. Zack Fair Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII
11:21Hello to you too!
11:35I'm so glad that Zack Fair is finally getting a resurgence, and a new chance to enter the minds
11:41of gamers. But even still, with his own Crisis Core remaster for modern consoles, and his
11:46larger role in the Final Fantasy VII remakes, he isn't getting the love he deserves. Let's
11:51be real. Cloud wouldn't be half as iconic without his mentor, Zack Fair. Zack is criminally
11:58underrated. He's the guy Angeal trusts with the Buster Sword, the detective who uncovered
12:02all of Shinra's dirty secrets, and basically the poster child for caring too much. He fought,
12:08he bled, and he died so others could survive. Talk about a tough mentor's job description.
12:13The final act of Crisis Core, heart-wrenching, doesn't even begin to cover it. Zack deserves
12:19all of our love, and I'm here to give it.
12:28Did you enjoy this video? Check out these other clips from WatchMojo, and be sure to subscribe and
12:32ring the bell to get notified of our latest videos.
12:38I'll see you next time.
12:40Bye.
12:41Bye.
12:42Bye.
12:43Bye.
12:44Bye.
12:45Bye.
12:46Bye.
12:47Bye.
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