Video Game Characters Who Best Represent “Strongest Hero”

Who’s the strongest hero in video games? It’s a topic that continues to spark debate, with fans around the world vehemently arguing the case for their picks. Ultimately, there isn’t really a right answer, because strength comes in so many different forms. Your favorite gaming hero might have tremendous physical and mental strength, as well as the virtue and determination to save the day over and over again.

This list isn’t simply ranking the strongest heroes in games. It’s not ranking at all, in fact, but rather bringing together some of the most celebrated legends in games and their wide range of heroic strengths.

9

Mario (Super Mario Series)

Well, of Course it’s-a Him

Personally, Mario is the first character the word “strongest hero” brings to mind. I don’t think I’m alone there, either. He’s a very conventional hero, in a lot of ways, with the Super Mario series typically revolving around his journey across the Mushroom Kingdom to rescue Peach from Bowser. He doesn’t question the fact that his foe is the huge, towering, fire-breathing King of the Koopas, he just takes off on his quest time and again. He’s fearlessly saved all kinds of worlds for all kinds of villains besides.

Though he’s certainly expressive, Mario takes his heroism so far as to be quite one-dimensional in his personality. Luigi, I often think, is given more personality in the Luigi’s Mansion series than Mario is in his own, and we don’t get to really see much of that vulnerability from the red-capped hero. Both the brothers, though, are rather conventional-looking humans, with their physical and magical strength largely coming from the series’ famous power-ups. From the classic fireballs to the Bee and Boo Mushrooms from Super Mario Galaxy, Mario has access to a huge range of formidable powers that are unlike any wielded by fellow heroes in other series.

8

Augustus Cole (Gears Of War Series)

Make Way For The Coal Train

The Gears of War series is full of heroic powerhouses. The COG’s job is to protect the last bastion of humanity from the assaults of the Locust horde (not to mention the dreaded Lambent) and it’s a fight for only the most hardened of warriors. Of course, for a lot of fans, the defining Gears hero is Marcus Fenix, but for me, it’s got to be Augustus Cole.

In a very different world, Cole was an unstoppable Thrashball player for the Hanover Cougars, but the life of a famous athlete would become the life of a legendary COG instead. He would be a commanding presence during some of the defining engagements of the war against the Locust, and an indispensable member of Delta-One. He’s a fan favorite for his sheer force of personality and the dynamism he brought to the most harrowing of operations.

Some of my favorite characters in the franchise suffered tragic deaths, and I was afraid throughout that the Cole Train would too. Fortunately for me, he proved as unstoppable as he often said. His feats in defense of his squadmates speak for themselves, but what makes Augustus Cole even more heroic for me is that (in his military career at least) he did not pursue accolades or higher ranks. He was here to avenge his parents and defend what was left of humanity, and he did that proudly as Private Cole.

7

Chris Redfield (Resident Evil Series)

Not Even Boulders Can Stand In His Way

It’s fair to say that Resident Evil’s recurring characters have seen their share of horrors. Between Jill Valentine, Leon Kennedy, and the Redfields, there have been enough virus-related nightmares to last several hundred lifetimes. Whether they really had a choice or not, it takes a unique level of strength to return to this kind of fray. Chris Redfield, former S.T.A.R.S. sharpshooter, betrayed little fear throughout the incident at the Spencer Mansion in the original game, though there could be no doubt that it, along with his encounter with Wesker in Resident Evil: Code Veronica, changed him.

Knowing of the ever-festering threat to the world, Chris did not surrender to despair. As co-founder of the BSAA, he spearheaded a new way to fight the threat, continuing to believe in it even after the apparent death of Jill Valentine. Further devastated by the death of BSAA protege Piers Nivans, followed by the loss of his team in Querétaro, the outbreaks in the United States, all the way to the desperate fight of the Hound Wolf team, the whole series has been a long string of personal and professional tragedies for him.

Crucially, though, fans have seen his vulnerabilities and his hang-ups. They’ve seen him grapple with his demons and ultimately defeat them. Mental fortitude and enormous physical strength (silly boulder-punching and everything) make him something of a conventional action hero, but also something much deeper than that.

6

Lara Croft

A Tomb Raiding Legend

The original Tomb Raider trilogy made for some of my first gaming experiences on the original PlayStation. I spent half of my time with them getting hopelessly lost in some of the wide-open stages and fumbling with puzzles, but the other half marveling at this unflappable female Indiana Jones with the classic English stiff upper lip. The series takes her all around the world, in on-foot parkour sections, driving, kayaking, and everything else besides, wielding a huge array of different weapons, all in the name of (typically) nabbing those legendary artifacts.

What a lot of series don’t do, however, is present the origins of the character, how they came to be the fearless hero we’re controlling. Even fewer series pull off the reboot/prequel well. 2013’s Tomb Raider, then, was an extraordinary achievement, presenting a young and naive woman taking some significant first steps in her career and finding herself trapped on the island of Yamatai, where a deadly ritual is afoot. Survival is the name of the game, and witnessing the trauma as she’s forced to kill her first foe, desperately scavenge for resources, and witness the horrible fates of some of her only allies on the island is gut-wrenching. Between this title, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Shadow of the Tomb Raider (as well as the brief glimpse of her early life that we’re given in Tomb Raider Legends), we experience first hand the development of her abilities and athleticism, and the tremendous mental and physical strength it took to become the legendary Tomb Raider we first met in the original game, back in 1996.

5

Link

Links to the Past, Present, and Future

The overarching story and timeline of the Legend of Zelda series is, even to its most devoted fans, very complicated. Because it spans many ages and worlds, there are multiple different incarnations of Link. Even so, there are some very important traits they all share in common: The ever-present green tunic, the Master Sword, the burning desire to destroy Ganondorf (/another big bad), the unwavering heroism. Link has appeared in such a wide range of games.

Though highly expressive in his own way (particularly in The Wind Waker, I feel, with the game’s cel-shaded style), Link doesn’t speak in his games. He’s the player’s avatar in their own heroic story. The series is a good versus evil tale in a more conventional way, making Link more of a straightforward hero than some other characters on this list. This isn’t to say, though, that it’s not creative: Zelda has brought the world some of the most magical moments in gaming. I had literal goosebumps the first time I exited that cavern in Breath of the Wild and looked out at the expanse of Hyrule. Along with sequel Tears of the Kingdom, these two titles have done much to innovate and bring new life to the series (and new tools for our hero to mess with), and I can’t wait to see where the eternal showdown takes this iconic cast of characters next.

4

Doom Slayer (The Doom Series)

Just Be Glad He’s On Your Side

As demonstrated in the harrowing opening moments of Doom: The Dark Ages, the Doomguy isn’t really someone you command. The Tether allows some degree of control over him, but really, the Night Sentinels just point him at their enemies and allow the carnage to unfold. Which it always does, in this series. He’s a good guy, then, in as much as he’s demolishing the armies of Hell, but he’s far from a conventional virtuous hero. It’s in the strength stakes, really, that the Doomguy is almost unmatched.

The mental fortitude to face a demonic invasion of Mars alone is, I’ll admit, beyond anything I could imagine handling on even the bleakest Monday morning. Following that up with a single-handed assault on Hell, across the surface of the Earth, and then back into Hell (and that just covers the first two games) is extraordinary. He’s able to do this, of course, because of his outrageous physical strength. And his rage. Nonetheless, there’s a real sense of noble sacrifice to him at times, particularly in Doom 2 when he is content to remain stranded on Earth in the knowledge that he enabled everybody’s escape.

3

Senua (Hellblade Series)

A True Warrior

Doomguy is so formidable that, individually, only the hardiest demons like Pinkies can survive for more than a few seconds against him. Senua, of Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice and sequel Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, is not presented as this kind of warrior. A proud 8th century Pict, she is haunted by her past and the trauma of her present, particularly the loss of her partner Dillion. She seeks a way to restore Dellion’s soul and take revenge on the Goddess Hela, overcoming the most harrowing trials the guardians of the Norse underworld (in their various forms) have to offer along the way.

In the sequel, there’s a heavier focus on combat, as Senua embarks on a second journey to liberate the people of Orkney. She meets key beings and peoples of folklore, and finds the strength not only to earn their trust, but to lead a new group of allies who will, in turn, come to her aid when it matters most. I was intrigued not only by the story and setting (I’m a huge history buff) but also by the personification of Senua herself. She could have been a rather standard Norse warrior stereotype, but her strength is much more than just her skill with the blade. It’s the strength to put in the work to understand herself, her mental health and its impact. The Hellblade games are an emotional ride as well as an action-packed one, as Senua grapples with something of a leadership role as she does with her own mind.

2

Master Chief (Halo Series)

Master Chief of Halo fame is a different, more enigmatic, kind of hero. Unlike in the TV show, the games go to great lengths to prevent the player from getting a good look at his face. This helps reinforce the character as an armored warrior who will, despite traumatic losses and countless setbacks, defend the universe against the scourge of the Covenant.

This isn’t to say that he lacks emotion or humanity. The Chief, to avoid being regarded as a Generic Deadly Space Marine, gradually sheds Shrek-like onion layers as the series goes on (metaphorically speaking), and this allows the player to bond with him. To empathize with this young boy and the process he went through in order to become a Spartan. We see him prevail single-handedly in countless interstellar setpieces, and we also see his relationship with Cortana evolve, some real emotion and vulnerability comes to the surface. At the end of Halo 4, the soft music starting to play as Cortana sadly states “I’m not coming with you this time,” after creating that shield to defend the Chief from the explosion, really got to me in a way I wasn’t expecting. We later learn that she didn’t quite die at all in this incident, but I think the overriding concept of Rampancy, and its tragic inevitability, really brought out an emotional side in our hero that we don’t really get to see from the likes of Doomguy.

He’s more of a multifaceted hero in that way, but as his dramatic returning of the bomb to the Covenant in the Halo 2 opening demonstrates, he’s absolutely a powerhouse of an action hero too. One of the all-time best video game characters.

1

Lightning (Final Fantasy 13 Sub-Series)

A Woman of Few Words but an Awful Lot of Action

A lot of fans have very mixed feelings about Final Fantasy 13 and its sub-series. On its European release in 2010, it was among the first PlayStation 3 games I played, and I thought it was a real showcase of the generation visually. Though it was limited by its linearity for much of the campaign, I enjoyed the more dynamic combat system, as well as the unique personalities of each party member. Lightning takes the role of a stoic hero, with a personality that reminds me of more than a few moments from Cloud Strife and Squall Leonheart.

During her struggle to confront the nature of a l’cie, save her sister, and ultimately Cocoon, we see only fleeting glimpses of heart from Lightning, and throughout Lightning Returns, she remains very guarded. She is ultimately able to reverse Serah’s fate, and that of several others, coming to acknowledge the importance not only of her life as it was, but also as it could be, with her companions playing a large part in it. A fearless and formidable warrior who gradually learns to let others in isn’t the most innovative template for a JRPG hero, but Lightning embodies it as well as those protagonists that have come before.