Let's have a little bit a fun. Countdown the heroes and villains that made you say "Wow!", "OHMAI!", or maybe even "Oh baby...". Descriptions as to why you choose these characters for your list are preferable...However, don't limit yourself to a best/worst list, feel free to make it however you like and as many as you like, as long as it judges your top 5 picks. Also, don't be pissy if someone takes your list. Do the same one, but with your own personal picks ^.~
For example-
Top 5 characters that need a fashion consultant:
1: Mario-Super Mario (overalls were so last year.)
2: Voldo-Soul Calibur (borderline fetish attire is also so last year)
3: Tidus-Final Fantasy X (lederhosen is this season's no no)
4: Kratos-God of War (Tribal went out with baggy jeans and crocs)
5: Sonic-Sonic (it's about time some gave this slippery hedgehog a sensational update!)

Here's mine:
Top 5 most nostalgic characters:
1: Sonic the Hedgehog(Takes me back to the days of Genesis and sneaking on my bro's GameGear. ;p)
2: Cloud Strife(Who could forget the first time they played FFVII.)
3: Megaman(I'll never forget the show or how frustrating the games were Dx )
4: Mario (SNES ;D)
5: Crash Bandicoot(we used to play CTR and the original game all the time. )

My favourite characters:
1. Kate Walker (Syberia), cause she's just that awesome to discover a forgotten island. Also, on the very same place, Miranda Lawson (Mass Effect), because she's got jet black hair, like me. Don't laugh.
2. Carla Valenti (Fahrenheit), because she handles everything with that typical female detective style.
3. Commander Shepard (Mass Effect, male/female). Does this need more words?
4. Lara Croft (LCTR), because she jumps a lot and doesn't cry if she has to jump over a fence (like I do).
5. Rose of Sharon Cassidy (Fallout : New Vegas), because she's awesome.

My favorites (in no particular order):

1. Duncan (Dragon Age: Origins). He's soft-spoken and diplomatic, but also a bad-ass. He's also kind of a father figure and I grew quite fond of his character.

2. Sheik (LoZ: Ocarina of Time). He's mysterious and something of a mentor and friend to the hero. I'm not sure if there's anyone who hasn't played this game, but: (spoiler!) It was really cool when Sheik turned out to be Zelda because, for once, it was a female character in a video game that wasn't there for the sex appeal and actually got something done, but at the same time, they weren't drawing attention to how progressive it was. (/end spoiler)

3. Jaheira/Khalid (Baldur's Gate). Jaheira is very blunt and driven, but at times can let down her guard and be emotional, while Khalid is just adorable. The little you get to see of their feelings for each other is very sweet. They're also Harpers, which makes them even cooler.

4. Oracle (Batman:Arkham Asylum). Not technically a video game character, but one of my favorite comic book characters. I love that they have her do exactly what she does in the comics: she feeds Batman his information so that he can go into a fight better prepared. I also like how she reacts to events, such as when her father is in danger. I think she was a great addition to the game and it made the game that much more awesome.

5. Calibast (Neverwinter Nights, Kingmaker module). Kind of an obscure one, I know, but I think the characters are what made this module and I particularly liked Calibast. He's a gruff and manly Azer who can be a bit of a berzerker and your initial relationship with him can only be described as brothers-in-arms. If you are a female character, it can grow into a romantic relationship. He is tender and a little awkward in the relationship, making it really sweet. This is a good example of a character's personality shining through to make him an interesting love interest, despite his unusual appearance (that of a dwarf with his head and shoulders on fire, for those unfamiliar with D&D).

As you can probably tell, I really like fleshed-out supporting characters. :D

My only favorite characters are the ones I create within the Sim games.

1. Yaevinn - The Witcher: Enhanced Edition ( This guy became a terrorist because you did not buy him groceries )
2. Arl Rendon Howe - Dragon Age: Origins ( "Your parents died on their knees." In spite of things like this, he's a swell guy )
3. Spectre Saren Arterius - Mass Effect ( He is a generic boss. For what he is he does it well, and he's a swell guy )
4. Balak - Mass Effect: Bring Down the Sky ( The leader of the Batarian extremist group. This dlc was free )
5. Louis XIV - Civilization IV ( This French leader will offer to give you crabs in exchange for your jewels )

Unfortunately, despite being an avid gamer, my repertoire isn't the most expansive, so my options are a bit limited.

1. Bowser - he's not only an iconic villain, really, he's also actually a great villain. Let's be honest here; he seems to have a lot of money, he has armies at his command, what he did in Paper Mario was really pretty badass; stealing a rod that grants wishes to make him near invincible then lifting the entire Mushroom Castle into freaking space. I mean, really, when you size him up, stealing Princess Toadstool is more of a venture in boredom it seems like more than anything else.

2. Anju (Majora's Mask) - well not only is she cute (and I like her dress), but also her and Kafka's whole storyline in general. I mean, it was quite special.

3. Samus - She's defeated whole bases of Space Pirates solo, became surrogate mother to a metroid, killed Mother Brain and Kraid and consistently faces against Ridley, survived a whole planet blowing up, saved a planet from tearing itself apart, has one badass-looking suit, and I can't imagine how flexible she must be to fit into Morph Ball. Plus the Metroid games are just all-around awesome.

4. [-SPOILER-] Faris Scherwiz (Final Fantasy V) - I think one of the saddest moments I've seen in a game was the death of Faris' dragon, Syldra. Maybe it's just me though.

5. Cuccos (Legend of Zelda) - Because these birds are mother-fucking crazy.

And a mention to Team Rocket from Pokemon. Out of all the teams (excluding fifth generation as I haven't played it yet), Team Rocket was the best and most brutal. All the other guys were radicals; Team Rocket was straight-up criminal. It was all about power, and they did what they could to get that power. From cutting tails off of Slowpokes, to kidnapping and extortion, and even seizing the headquarters of one of the biggest corporations in the game. For the limitations put onto them for being in a game marketed at a younger generation, they pulled some serious shit.

My Favourite Characters Overall:

1. Sonic the Hedgehog (as if my avatar didn't make it obvious ). It's hard not to ramble on about how awesome Sonic is. I mean, he beat a monster made entirely of water. He has a great balance of attitude and heroism which is what makes him better than Mario for me. Sonic's speed really seems to do a lot for him, as he's still able to hold his own against characters who are more powerful than him like Silver and Shadow. The all-powerful Super Sonic also adds another layer of awesome.

2. Knuckles the Echidna (Sonic the Hedgehog). Yep, another Sonic character. Before Shadow stepped in as the anti-hero, there was Knuckles. In recent games he's been reduced to the dumb hot-headed stereotype who doesn't even seem to guard the Master Emerald anymore, but his pre-Heroes personality was great. He's just as strong as Sonic is fast, but Knuckles' weakness is that he's gullible. More than once Eggman tricked him into thinking Sonic was the bad guy. One of the most iconic moments in the series is when he realizes this in Sonic 3 once Eggman escapes with the Master Emerald, and takes Sonic and Tails up to Sky Sanctuary to chase after him.

3. Psymon Stark (SSX). Man, this guy is just fun. IMO he represents the style of SSX much better than Mac or Elise. He's so over the top it's hard not to laugh while playing as him. Even the word "daredevil" seems to be a light adjective for him. He actually LIKES getting hurt. It seems his personality has changed quite a bit in the upcoming SSX 2012 game, but I still hope the crazy guy is still lurking in there somewhere.

4. Bowser Jr. (Super Mario Sunshine). As good as the Mario games are, the characters themselves are fairly shallow and rely on the save the damsel in distress trope. Bowser Jr. put a fresh spin on things. Bowser now has a son to help him in his battles against Mario. Since Bowser Jr. mainly fights with machinery as opposed to physical combat it made for some unique boss fights too.

5. Captain Falcon (F-Zero). The videogame Chuck Norris. I think it's mainly the Smash Bros. games and the F-Zero anime ending that made him so cool. Falcon...PAWNCH!!!

Favourite Side Characters:

1. Tails (Sonic the Hedgehog). Dude, he was pretty much invincible in the Genesis games. Whether he was crushed, drowned, or unable to keep up with you he ALWAYS came back no matter what. That's some serious dedication right there. He did make for some good co-op. His ability to fly also helped me ease into the series (Advance was my first Sonic game).

2. Luigi. Poor guy doesn't get enough love. Luigi's Mansion has helped solve that problem, as well as him being really fun to play as in the Mario Galaxy games. When it comes to Mario Party or any of the sports spin-offs, Luigi always gets picked over Mario. :P

3. Silver the Hedgehog (Sonic the Hedgehog). Generally he wasn't well-received because of how poor Sonic '06 was and how whiny his voice sounded. However, I thought his voice really made his naive personality stand out. His psychokinesis is also really unique to the series. He had a really good story arc in the Sonic Universe comics. I really hope his awesomeness there transfers to the games because Silver has tons of potential. His new voice actor (Quinton Flynn) also sounds makes him a bit less whiny while still sounding immature like Pete Capella's take on the character.

4. Raphael Sorel (Soul Calibur). I loved his fencing style. His taunts were funny and good at annoying the other player ("No good!" "Too slow!"). It was interesting how he inadvertently saved Siegfried from the Soul Edge and Nightmare. It's too bad his turn towards vampirism afterward made him sadistic to the point where he kills his own servants in a messed up ambition to make a world for only him and Amy to live in. Raphael is definitely meant to be a villain, but wow Soul Edge really screwed him up good. An example of what lust for power and security can do to someone.

5. Blaze the Cat (Sonic the Hedgehog). Sorry for so many Sonic characters but there's lots of good examples in the series and Blaze is my favourite female character in video games. She's a princess but instead of being one who always needs to be saved she's a bit more like the classic Knuckles. She may be a girl but can really hold her own. With her pyrokinesis and ability to go super I think it would be much more interesting to see her fight Mario than Sonic. With the way Sonic '06 ended I wonder if Generations will finally resolve what is canon with her character. I thought she was great as a friend to Silver.

1.Samus Aran (Metroid series)
2.Mario(Super Mario series)
3.Master Cheif (Halo)
4.Ezio Auditore (Assassins Creed 2)
5.Altair Ibn-La Ahad (Assassins Creed)

Favorite: (in no particular order)

Spyro the dragon (from the first games; after the third one (my favorite) they went overboard on him)
Crash Bandicoot (again early in the series)
GLaDOS (portal)
Jean Grey (from any game with the x-men in it)
Nightcrawler (from any game with the x-men in it)

Least favorite: (in no particular order)

Egg thieves (from spyro; so damn annoying to catch for that stupid egg!)
Jubilee (from the x-men games; her power is just so stupid)
Lurker shark (Jak & Daxter (Why do you have to eat me, I just want to swim!))
The Guards (The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion(Stop being psychic and chasing me to the ends of the earth!))
Teyrn Loghain ( Dragon Age: Origins(Asshole))

Most memorable characters:

1. Goopy GilsCarbo (Sims 2, obviously) With that attire and that attitude how could you not remember him.

2. Tingle (Legend of Zelda) Memorable, but all i can say is "uggghh! It burns!"

3. Mario (Super Mario) Plumber who travels to different kingdoms through pipes. What's not memorable about that.

4. Luigi (Super Mario) See above.

5. Link (Legend of Zelda) Once again attire makes him memorable.

Now for characters I've made in the sims!

Bonus 1. Billy-Bob-Fred-Joe:

Bonus 2. Harry (The Bald Werewolf) Creatura: He was a bald werewolf.

Bonus 3. Yaki Tori: Bird man!

In no particular order:

1) Kreia (KOTOR 2): Very complex character, who has some really good lines.
2) Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate (Monkey Island series): Pure awesome. Also has a lot of nostalgic value as MI3 was the first "real" PC game I ever played, and I loved it.
3) Smiling Jack (VtM: B): There are so many great characters from this game, but Jack is definitely a standout IMO.
4) Morte (Planescape Torment): Hilarious. Who knew it was possible to be a letch without a body?
5) GLaDOS (Portal series): Definitely, IMO, one of the most interesting concepts for a video game villain. And unwittingly funny to boot.

Does my PC-gamer-ness show?

Valen- neverwinter nights. sexy, hot tiefling. yum
Cernd- cool portrait, sexy voice (Baldur's gate)
Anomen- he grew on me. Got to really like him in the end
Robin- a player made mod by Andarian called Miracleworker for NWN

Jen Tate from Primal. IMO, the best video game ever in terms of characters and voice acting. For the time it also had great environments, amazing puzzles, lots of humour and was just great fun all around. Only an over-simplified combat system and a few bugs mar this nearly perfect game, that no one ever played. Is available for a few dollars in the bargain bin now. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who still has a PS2. LINK

Scree, also from Primal.

Black Whirlwind from Jade Empire. One of those secondary non-playable characters in an RPG that you wish you could spend more time with. As with most RPG's, I found myself bored by the lousy male romantic options, and wished I could date (in the game) this hilarious, drunken mass murderer--which gives you a good idea of how lame the other options were. While other characters always had a tale of woe and sadness, The Whirlwind always had a hilarious story of how he accidentally ended up killing everyone.

Ash and Sam from Evil Dead Regeneration. Voiced by Bruce Campbell and Ted Raimi and that's all you need to know.

HK47 from KOTOR. Meatbag still makes me giggle.

1.) November Terra and Sarah Kerrigan (Star Craft 1 & 2) - I really enjoy the story of starcraft, in fact that's the only reason why I buy the games, and these two women are so badass. Seriously, to hell with male chauvinism, 2 girls in their late teens and early twenties who are assasins in skin tight clothes... what not to love?

2.) Sgt. Cortex (Timesplitters series) - Dude, it's Cortez, nuff' said.

3.) Chris Jacobs (Mercenaries 2) - I've always enjoyed Chris, he's pretty damn funny and has that all American feel, and a great VO.

4.) Tommy Verceti (GTA Vice City) - I like this guy, sure he's a mob killer, but he has a level head and is the only sane berson in Vice City.

5.) Pvt. Bloomfield (COD 3 Big Red One) - Sterotypical 1940s Guy from the bronx, that's just win.

Hmm, tough decision on a few... I really loved the characters from Mass Effect so two of them made it on my list
1. Commander Shepard (Mass Effect)
2. Garrus (Mass Effect)
3. Lara Croft (Tomb Raider)
4. Samus (Metroid)
5. Mystique (various X-Men games)

1. JC Denton from 'Deus Ex' - uber-cool bioaugmented badass, master of the 'ice burn' one-liner.
2. SHODAN from the 'System Shock' series - ultra-scary villainess from one of the scariest games ever
3. A tie between Smiling Jack and Beckett from 'Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines' - just can't choose between them, they're both so wonderful in their own ways
4. Garret from the 'Thief' series - uber-cool medieval badass
5. Christof Romuald from 'Vampire the Masquerade - Redemption'. Gotta like a guy who starts out as a godly Christian knight in medieval Europe, falls in love with a nun, gets turned into a vampire, gets knocked out and goes into torpor for 800 years, wakes up in London in 1999, steals the clothes off a geezer who tries to mug him, then runs around modern-day London and New York sporting a long ponytail and trench coat and brandishing a medieval broadsword.

EDIT, 29th Sept: Now that I've played Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Adam Jensen is tied with JC Denton for number one bioaugmented cool-dudery. Great character and great game.

1.Silver the Hedgehog
2.Wave the Swallow
3.Jet the Hawk
4.Maria Robotnik
5.Miles Tails Prower
All characters from Sonic games.

1. Nikko Belic (gta IV)--------- He's good with everything, especially with the ladies.
2. Master chief (halo series)--------- Mysterious soldier who is good with guns.
3. Gordon Freeman (half-life)-------- loved his crowbar.
4. Fawkes (fallout 3)---------- he was awesome and funny.
5. Sergeant Major Johnson (halo series)-------- Just hilarious.

As you can see, I like shooters.

1. James Seth Lynch (Kane & Lynch-series) ...Okay, I just fell in love with that psycho. Totally random, hilarious and maybe one of the best characters in games ever. I have only played so far "Dead men", but he earned his number one spot there. As much as Kane is awesome, I just love every moment when Lynch opens his mouth and blackmails Kane in every possible way. He seems to whine a lot, but that's okay. Should play the "Dog Days" someday, since there Lynch is the main character, not Kane. Plot of that game is already familiar, and it just makes Lynch more sweet in my eyes. He might be psycho under medication, but he's also caring and protective... Middle-aged, baldin, not-so-good-lookin man, but I'm totally his fangirl since I saw the Kane & Lynch: Dead men-trailer for the first time.

Lynch: This place is stressing me out.
Kane: Then take your pills!
Lynch: Took the last one on that damn plane; I hate flying.
Kane: Argh, you idiot! Just keep in check for a few more minutes.

2. Izzy Sparks (Guitar Hero-series) 80's and the glam, do i have to say more!? Only character I seem to like in whole series, even if they made him be stupid blonde stereotypical glamrocker, but he's still in same category with me. Great outfits, great looks... About the moves I'm not so sure, but for me Izzy is the only Guitar Hero in that serie.

3. Tommy Vercetti (GTA Vice City) Thingy to the bad boys, very stylish bad boys. From all GTA games I've played, Vercetti is #1. Somehow this conquerin whole Miami-like city is already a good plan in my ears -> Add Vercetti and we have a deal. First I liked Lance the most, but I dunno what happened, maybe after he betrayed me in game, this lil bad boy won. But Vercetti surely wasn't only good character in Vice City, as you can see below....

4. Love Fist-band (GTA-series) When they put a Spinal Tapish glam/sleaze-band in videogame, I'm done. Must be the best moments in Vice City, when I had to deal with these guys. Even if the names of the band members are signs of bad or twisted humour, I was buyin it. Sometimes I just can't even play the game with Tommy, I put the code to get Jezz Torrent's looks, and the game is on. Nothing is more priceless to me, than drive around Vice City with band's singer as my character, while V-rock is playin Too Young to Fall in Love or other classics.

5. Raven, King, Gon or Yoshimitsu (Tekken-series) I just couldn't decide which one of these guys would be the winner. Jin Kazama is also good one, but my main characters to play as are these 4 I named. Gon is just too cute, King's professional wrestling side attracts me as old WWE fan, Yoshimitsu is cool, fast but sometimes bit too weak, and Raven as new guy reminds me way too much about Blade the Daywalker, hahah. In Yoshimitsu case it's about team also, since my lil bro is big fan of his rival, so I'm keepin the good(?) guy's side.

Given the selection above I highly recommend you play The Longest Journey and Dreamfall. Both games feature the most compelling and believable female protagonist in games - April Ryan.

A masterful creation from a masterful writer.

Oh, and much love for mentioning Kate Walker.

1) Master Chief
2) Noble 6
3) Emile
4) Link
5)Pit
(Yes, the first three are halo)

top 5 failures of a boss:
1. That weird spinner saw thing from Super Mario Galaxy
It's freaking minions are more dangerous than the boss itself!! Nuff' said.
2. Ice Titan - Kingdom hearts
This was honestly sad, as I SUCKED at this game and beat this very late game boss SUPER easily, in one try.
3. Waddle dee - Kirby Superstar (Ultra and original)
Honestly, it is a waddle dee. period. What else do you want to know.
4. Rock Titan - kingdom hearts
Well, it is a ridiculously slow rock monster with weak attacks. And a CRAPLOAD of health, making it a real pain to beat, but a rather easy boss at that
5. The Dragon from Kirby's Epic Yarn
Even though it was a bit challenging, it honestly was impossible to fail at, due to the way the "health" system works.

I saw my friend playing The Longest Journey, it seems awesome. I might just give it a try, after I finish playing Syberia 2 for the second time now.

Heh, yeah, she's great.

I was on that quest where and now she's my companion.

^Yes, I hate that mission! Actually, I hate them, but that's another story.