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Welcome Back to the Stage of History: Talking Time's Top 60 Video Game Characters Smashdown

Baudshaw

Baudshaw

Unfortunate doesn't begin to describe...
(he/him)
WfRMfCi.png

I could be good in Smash! My final smash... standing there cutely as I greet the other players!

Anyways... it's a bit sad that there's 6 characters in and there's only one I remotely recognize. Perhaps as more come in, I'll be able to comment on them a bit more deeply.
 
WildcatJF

WildcatJF

Feel
(he / his / him)
She's wearing a striped sock with a glove (She is borrowed from Kula Diamond's KOF sprite and I modified her outfit to be something gothy lol)
 
Issun

Issun

(He/Him)
#52
GJ1jcCcl.jpg

Dr. Wily (Mega Man Series)
36 Points, 2 Votes, Highest Vote: #11 (RT-55J)​
Smash Potential: He haz a funny ship

Our first true icon on this list, Doctor Wiwiy is Mega Man the first’s nemesis, no matter who else Wily puts in front of him to fool the blue boy (we were never fooled. Us kids knew Cossack was a front fr). He is obviously megomaniacal, and while he does show some genius at robot design, he never quite manages to make them Mega Man proof.

Wily is also a brilliant character design. Instantly recognizable, and that eyebrow wiggle is so iconic it got its own Talking Time emoji.Wily has fallen to Megs 11 times now and possibly counting. Can’t fault the guy for his persistence,

From RT-55J:
Just an all around very effective recurring stock-villain.
Click to expand...
 
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Issun

Issun

(He/Him)
#51
xeih7znl.jpg

Lightning (Final Fantasy XIII Trilogy)
37 Points, 2 Votes, Highest Vote: #13 (Peklo)​
Smash Potential: Already a formidable warrior, gaining the powers of a L’cie makes her even more powerful.

Lightning is an interesting character. Not only because of her complexity in the games, but because she represents the most polarizing era in Final Fantasy history. The 7th console generation was tough for JRPGs in general, and FF was no exception, with the controversy surrounding the XIII trilogy and the initial launch of 14 causing a lot of concern. Never mind that the trilogy, love it or hate it, did a lot of unique and innovative things, not the least of which was Lightning herself. Unfairly branded “Cloud with pink hair and boobs”, Lightning, even contained to just the first game, remains a fascinating character study of someone who’s been through so much trauma that in order to survive, anger and the tendency to push people away become her go-to tendencies. She evolves over the course of the story, but never loses her edge, and she remains a compelling addition to the franchise. She was also kind of the end of an era in character design, at least for the mainline single player games, as neither Noctis nor Clive have quite the visual flair of those FF protagonists that came before them.
 
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Kirin

Kirin

Summon for hire
(he/him)
Yeah I didn’t want to flood my list with FF characters, but Lightning’s a good one. And would definitely do just fine in Smash.
 
Peklo

Peklo

Oh! Create!
(they/them, she/her)
I've yammered on about Lightning a bunch over the years so I can just draw on some past points made:

what defines and sets apart Lightning for much of the game is that she's Final Fantasy's first genuinely and all-consumingly angry protagonist. All previous and subsequent leads in the series displayed their ranges of emotion, but none had been foremost cast as being furious and lashing out recklessly at the situation they were thrust into by their narratives; Cloud is a fellow jerk to his teammates but his personality as portrayed is primarily withdrawn and taciturn in how he expresses--or doesn't--his emotional state. Women don't often get to be the leads of stories like this and be as outwardly angry as Lightning is without being dismissed and reduced to "bitches" or whatever else, so I think this is something really central to the character's depiction and why people who like her may appreciate those qualities about her. It's also not necessarily an "admiration" of those aspects of her within the story, either, as when the game progresses it showcases many times over how out at sea Lightning is with her own emotional state, reactions and the way they spill and lash out at the people around her. I really love the character and narrative for acknowledging and maintaining all of that at once and allowing her to make those selfish and fist-clenching mistakes.
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On Lightning punching Snow: this scene is both a blessing and a curse for the character. It plays into the aspects I mentioned before in things I think should be portrayed, but given that both times Lightning decks Snow come early in the story, it became a sort of "calling card" for the character in people's minds who at that point were probably looking for things to latch onto about her. Given how many uncharitable opinions XIII cultivated, those impressions then turned into dim memories, and maybe remained all there was; should a player quit the game early on, Lightning will forever be defined as "the person who keeps hitting Snow." It both trivializes the severity of the act in how it should be looked at (there is an aspect here of people disliking Snow as a character and taking it favourably that his sister-in-law is physically abusing him) and negates the development both characters will go on to have as the game progresses. It also interacts with gendered roles and presentation in a way that's specific: this scene would never be treated as a humorous aside should it be Snow hitting Lightning instead; the only reason it's even in the game is because people feel it is "allowed" for a smaller in stature woman to physically assault a towering man--he "can take it" and "probably deserves it" if you're viewing that Snow needs to be held accountable for his irresponsibility and collateral damage at the game's beginning. I think it's inarguable that he does, and the game will not ignore it going forward--but championing Lightning's violence has always sat poorly with me in how I read the interaction. It is not a triumph or fist-pumping own on her part, but just another notch on her stressed beyond the breaking point psychology and mindset at this stage of the game.
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Simply moving around as Lightning. She has an incredibly satisfying heft to her movements, thanks to the game's general inertia and her specific walk cycle. Bouncy footfalls, the scarf accentuating motion, the holster hanging from her waist... this is a character an enormous amount of attention was paid to in how she presents on screen.
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I come back a lot to Lightning's position as Final Fantasy's foremost and most inarguably framed leading woman and how that affects everything that has ever happened with her, from audience reactions to her portrayal in the stories she features in, to the comments that her creators have made, as a fictional woman shaped by men. It's never a simple thing to regard how she exists in her own context, hugely contrasted with past and subsequent surrounding works, and it's why she remains interesting and singular.
 
RT-55J

RT-55J

space hero for hire
(He/Him + RT/artee)
I love the completely unearned confidence Dr. Wily has in Mega Man 11 for him to say "WILY ALWAYS WINS!!"

(TODO: Find a reference for this to prove it's not just a fever dream.)
 
Violentvixen

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
Oh nice, Lightning is my first hit of the list. She was fun to play and control as Peklo noted and I loved that her personality made it clear she has no more patience for dumb bullshit.
 
LBD_Nytetrayn

LBD_Nytetrayn

..and his little cat, too
(He/him)
Purple said:
My count says 13 without even getting into portable games?
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Oh, I'm totally counting portable games.

Let's see, there is...

Mega Man 1-11
Mega Man & Bass
Mega Man (World) 1-5
Super Adventure Rockman
Mega Man Soccer
Mega Man: The Wily Wars (which could count for up to four different defeats...?)

And remember when I said "depending on how you look at some things"? Well...

Mega Man Battle & Chase - Mega Man is a possible victor over Wily
Mega Man: The Power Battle - Up to three different encounters, with Mega Man as one of the possible victors over Wily
Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters - Same as above, now with Duo thrown into the mix

Not counting weird stuff like Rockman Tennis and Rockman Solitaire, or licensed stuff like Challenger from the Future. But from this, Mega Man's defeated Wily up to a maximum of 30 times.

Wow, more than even I realized when I said that!

(Aside: I only count the arcade games as one each, personally, despite the differences across paths.)
 
Issun

Issun

(He/Him)
#50
NdNhqGEl.jpg

Claire Redfield (Resident Evil Series)
40 Points, 2 Votes, Highest Vote: #10 (Pombar)​
Smash Potential: She’s a survivor, she’s not gonna give up, she’s not gonna stop, she’s gonna work harder.

Unlike Jill, Leon, and her brother Chris, Claire Redfield initially has zero training for any kind of combat scenario and yet she holds her own with all the others. One word consistently associated with her is “badass”, as she consistently demonstrates in her search for her brother throughout two games, and she’s even shown up in the movies. Her assertiveness and self-confidence in the face of constant danger were a template for many future women characters in games.
 
Issun

Issun

(He/Him)
#49
w7OpwAyl.jpg

Knuckles the Echidna (Sonic the Hedgehog Series)
42 Points, 2 Votes, Highest Vote: #12 (LBD_Nytetrayn)​
Smash Potential: Stronk Chaos Emerald glidey boy.

Knuckles debuted as an antagonist to Sonic but quickly became an ally and sometime rival. Slower and angrier than Sonic, he is also the last member of his clan. He can both glide and dig proficiently, and while he is not as fast as Sonic, he is incredibly strong. He also really loves grapes.

From LBD_Nytetrayn:

Last of the echidna, and guardian of the Master Emerald. He tries his best, but can be a little naive at times. Definitely a guy you'd want by your side in a fight -- or on an adventure, since he can glide, climb, and break through all sorts of obstacles.
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LBD_Nytetrayn

LBD_Nytetrayn

..and his little cat, too
(He/him)
Ooh, it's like a double for me today. I love Claire, yet didn't think to include her, but I'm glad someone did!
 
Issun

Issun

(He/Him)
Just letting everyone know we're doing entries Monday/Tuesday and Thursday/ Friday so that Wildcat's drawing hand doesn't fall off.
 
Purple

Purple

(She/Her)
LBD_Nytetrayn said:
Not counting weird stuff like Rockman Tennis and Rockman Solitaire, or licensed stuff like Challenger from the Future. But from this, Mega Man's defeated Wily up to a maximum of 30 times.
Click to expand...
Well if we're being really maximalist here, don't forget Battle Network. And he DID create Zero who has been killed at least once, canonically...
 
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