Before we dive into this one, I’ll just address the huge, conspicuous, polka dot elephant in the room. As you probably surmised from the title, there are going to be all kinds of video game deaths in this article. We’re covering everything from Resident Evil 5 to The Walking Dead Video Game and Gears of War, so it’s going to be spoilers-amundo around here.
Granted, we’re not talking spangly new releases, so you’ve had plenty of time to see these harrowing scenes for yourself. There are kinda sorta spoilers, nonetheless, so hit the entry headings and avert your eyes if there are any games mentioned you don’t want to know about.
With that said, let’s get into it.
Video games, as we know, have become infinitely more mainstream than they once were. You’ve got OAPs happily plugging away on Sudoku 3DS (the 3DS XL, naturally, so they can actually see the damn screen), soccer moms Candy Crush-ing it up on their smartphones, all sorts of things. Regardless, though, it’s not quite seen as a ‘legit’ form of media by some. Have you ever cried at a movie death? Maybe you have.
At the death of a video game character? Probably not. After all, Mario has died umpteen million times. We’re not just talking about player characters, though, we’re talking about narrative moments as heart-breaking as any movie. Take a look at our rundown of 10 characters who should never have died (alongside ten infuriating ones who should have taken their place).
20 Shouldn’t Have Died: Aeris Used To Be An Ancient, Then She Took A Masamune To The Abdomen (Come On, This Isn’t A Spoiler)
I know, friends. I totally hear you. You can’t give us all that reassuring talk about avoiding spoilers, only to drop ten tons of revelation onto our bewildered faces with an entry heading like that. At the same time, though, I think we can all agree that everyone knows that Aeris (or Aerith, if you prefer) is killed off fairly early into Final Fantasy VII.
It’s quite an unusual move for an RPG to permanently remove one of the central characters from the running. As a result, I tend never to really use her, because that’s time I could be putting into developing other characters. It’s a shame, too, because she’s a stellar healer and supporter. This role is crucial in any Final Fantasy party I make, and it’s a darn shame that I can’t roll with Aeris for the duration.
19 Should Have Died: Couldn’t They Have Taken Tingle Instead?
As I say, the Final Fantasy series doesn’t make a habit of killing off central party members. THAT moment had a huge emotional impact as a result (for those who actually got to go in blind and experience it properly), but the game suffered a little as a result of Aeris’ removal. In my eyes, at any rate.
Down The Legend of Zelda way, on the other hand, I can think of a certain middle-aged fairy creep I could happily do without. Tingle has popped up several times over the course of the series, even having a central role in his very own title (Freshly-Picked Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland). There’s something I’ve always found totally sinister about this dude, as though he’s on all kinds of shady government lists.
18 Shouldn’t Have Died: Remember When Batman: Arkham City Made Fanboys Everywhere Cry?
Now, if The Big Bang Theory has taught us anything, it’s that you don’t screw with comic book fans. The casual enthusiasts are reasonable enough, but the hardcore fans? Do not get on the wrong side of those guys.
Do not, for instance, suddenly kill off the Joker in Batman: Arkham Knight. Where the heck would Batman be without his nemesis? He’d be sat at home waiting for telemarketers to call, so he could let off some steam by scolding them in his wheezy bat-voice. Joker is the Bat’s raison d’etre, really.
That ending scene, where Batman carries his foe’s body out of Arkham City? That was some heavy stuff, right there. I was expecting more of a The Dark Knight sort of ending, where the two part ways with their yin/yang intact.
17 Should Have Died: Couldn’t They Have Taken The Duck Hunt Dog Instead?
I’ve been gaming for a good two decades now, as I’m sure many of you good readers have. In our time with the industry, we’ve seen just about everything. The highs and the lows. The Ocarina of Times and the Crazy Frog Racers (yep, that was a thing, and it was horrendous).
Us long-termers remember way further back than that. I may not be old enough to have gotten my Pong on in its heyday, but I most certainly remember NES classic Duck Hunt. Most pertinently, I that notorious dog.
This sly little jerk would taunt the player relentlessly, laughing at your missed shots like Wacky Races’ Muttley. You could freely turn your gun on him, but it would have zero effect. Frankly, after a rough time with the later levels, I’d have been happy if they’d programmed in a Mortal Kombat fatality for this thing.
16 Shouldn’t Have Died: The Super Sad Story Of Gary’s Raticate
Forget the Missingno glitch and Mew lurking around under a truck. This is the real intriguing mystery of Pokémon Red and Blue.
Game Freak and Nintendo’s famed franchise has proven again and again that it’s not as cutesy as it appears. All those stories of ghost Pokémon devouring souls and stealing children are a testament to that. As is the melancholy legend of Gary’s Raticate.
Your long-time rival battles you many times throughout the game, but the match aboard the S.S Anne is key. This is the last appearance of that Raticate on Gary’s team. This is the only major change to your rival’s lineup, and we never quite learn how it came about. What happened to his beloved rat? According to the internet, you killed it. Poor little guy.
15 Should Have Died: Couldn’t They Have Taken Ashley Graham Instead?
In the video game world these days, survival horror has become quite a fluid concept. According to some, said fluid has been flushed down the toilet of terrible, run down the river of awful and finally arrived in the ocean craptacular. Look at a franchise like Resident Evil, and how far it has strayed from the original titles.
The fourth game marked the start of that paradigm shift. The whole ‘desperate survival’ idea pretty well disappeared, seeing that Leon was as tooled up and deadly as Arnold Schwarzenegger when he hops out of his dinghy in his speedos in Commando.
The downside was, however, that you spent much of the game babysitting the helpless, howling daughter of the president, Ashley Graham. It was not a good time.
LEEEEEEEON! HEEEEEEELP!
14 Shouldn’t Have Died: When You-Know-Who Bit The Bullet In Gears of War 3
Now, by all accounts, you really shouldn’t expect a happy ending from the Gears of War franchise. These much-loved TPS titles are set in a harsh, dystopian universe. They’re grittier than Grit Sadeiko, Estonian athlete, eating some grits while watching True Grit as Christian hip hop group G.R.I.T.S. plays in the background.
You just can’t help it, though, can you? You let certain characters into your hearts, knowing that there’s about a 98% chance they’ll be a bloody stain on the sidewalk before long.
With that in mind, I was as super bummed by Dominic Santiago’s death as any fan. It was the way the whole scene played out, his backstory concerning his wife, Mad World playing at the exact moment… way more feels than I’d planned on dealing with.
13 Should Have Died: Couldn’t They Have Taken That Darn Owl From Ocarina Of Time Instead?
As I say, we’re all gamers here, and Ocarina of Time needs no introduction. Whether you’re a Zelda fanatic, a dabbler or not even that, you can’t deny the cache this game carries. It was released in 1998 (a golden year for gaming which also saw Metal Gear Solid and Pokémon Red and Blue hit, among others), and is often regarded as one of the greatest entries of all time. One of the greatest game of all time, period.
This doesn’t mean it’s flawless, though, as that would be impossible. If you asked a focus group of players their biggest gripes about the game, I’m sure Navi would come up more often than not. For me, however, it’s this long-winded rambling owl that spoils the atmos.
12 Shouldn’t Have Died: Traumatized For Life By Isaac Clarke’s ‘Eyeball’ Death In Dead Space 2
Technically, I’m not spoiling anything here either. If you’ve ever played the Dead Space trilogy, you’ll know that protagonist Isaac Clarke suffers all manner of horrific “ends.” If you haven’t, just know that Isaac is a futuristic engineer battling alone against an outbreak of alien space zombies. Who all want to tear his kidneys out and play them like squishy, blood-leaky oversized castanets.
Now that we’re all up to speed, it’s natural that the game will include a variety of context-sensitive game over screens (read: grisly deaths). That one eyeball machine scene near the end of the game? That was the most cringetastic thing I’ve ever seen in a video game. There was absolutely zero need for that. I hate all things eye-related. Isaac doesn’t technically die, granted, but he shouldn’t have died like that, that’s for darn sure.
11 Should Have Died: Couldn’t They Have Taken Slippy Toad Instead?
Oh, Slippy. How we loathe you.
This, right here, is one of those notorious characters. You know the type. The ones who are such notorious pains in the rear that you never need to have played the game or series they hail from. You don’t need to have ever eaten at McDonald’s, say, to know that their delicious patties of death will chew your guts up something fierce.
Starfox being the masterpiece of space shooting that it is, though, so many of us have put up with Slippy’s shenanigans. This darn toad is the most irritating member of the Starfox team, always barrelling off into danger and needing to be bailed out.
I’m totally on board with anthropomorphic Star Wars reject animals, but this guy’s just a douchebag whichever way you slice it.
10 Shouldn’t Have Died: Resident Evil 5: That Whole You-Know-Who In The Volcano Thing
What can I really say about our old friend Albert Wesker? This guy’s been the franchise’s go-to villain for a long darn time now. Way back in the first game, I suspected him from the moment he continued to cruise around indoors with his sunglasses on. That sort of behaviour is only permissible in one case: Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator. Nobody else can pull this off, and it’s an immediate red flag.
When the betrayal happened, I was not surprised at all. When he proceeded to come back from the dead, I wasn’t either. That’s just par for the course. I only hoped that when he finally did bite the big one for good, it would have been a suitably awesome end.
Needless to say, that farcical punching-a-boulder-in-the-face, volcano-melting thing was not befitting. Why did he have to die like that?
9 Should Have Died: Couldn’t They Have Taken Punch-Out’s Mike Tyson/Mr. Dream Instead?
Ah, now these were the days. I’ve recently been looking back through Nintendo’s NES and SNES catalogs. As an avid retro gamer, I tend to spend just as much time with classic releases as I do with spangly new ones. These two consoles, in particular, were just magical. Why is Nintendo so fixated on the past, with their re-releases, Virtual Consoles, and SNES Mini? Because there are some real damn bangers on offer here, and no mistake.
Punch-Out!! Was a favourite of mine back in the day, and it still is. This doesn’t mean I’m not terrible at it, though. Mike Tyson is the first boss I can remember being whooped by, time and again. The ear-bitin’, hilarious-lispin’ pugilist just hit far too damn hard. I could definitely have done without this guy as the final boss.
8 Shouldn’t Have Died: The Walking Dead Hits Us In The Feels… Again
Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead video game is pretty darn good, all things considered. As far as TV/movie adaptions go, it’s one of the biggest success stories of recent times.
How did it avoid the pitfalls that ballaches like Superman 64 fell into? By being faithful to the source material, that’s how. When it comes to The Walking Dead, that can only mean one thing: getting us emotionally attached to a character, only to rip our hearts out of nostrils (a painful process, even metaphorically) by killing them off.
Lee Everett, the protagonist of all five episodes of the first season, is given ample time to bond with Clementine. This makes that harrowing moment at the end of the season all the harder. I know that TheWalking Dead fans eat this stuff up, but damn.
I DON’T WANT TO SHOOT HIM, AND YOU CAN’T MAKE ME.
7 Should Have Died: Couldn’t They Have Taken Mr. Resetti Instead?
Speaking of huge supporting casts we can’t help but get attached to, try Animal Crossing on for size. In Nintendo’s more-adorable-than-a-fluffy-pink-one-legged-kitten-with-a-limp-and hiccups life sim, you play the part of a village newcomer. Your girl or boy avatar is the only human in a world of bizarre anthropomorphic animals.
Presumably, the rent was cheap or something, because it’s like the island of Doctor freaking Moreau around here. The selling point of the series is in the variety of animals you meet, both permanent residents and special visitors. Tom Nook gets a lot of slack, chiselling a-hole raccoon shopkeeper that he is, but Mr. Resetti is the greatest villain in my book.
This mole appears when you first load up the game, if you forgot to save before shutting it off the last time. His long, tedious dialog does little to endear you to the dude.
6 Should Have Died: Grand Theft Auto IV: Worst. Wedding. Ever.
I don’t know about you guys, but I was quite fond of Grand Theft Auto IV’s Roman Bellic. Granted, the dude was a massive pain in the butt, constantly hounding you to GO BOWLING, COUSIN, but that’s just one his charming quirks. The guy just wants to have some fun and spread a little joy, and this world of ours needs more of that.
Niko’s overbearing cousin meets a sad end on his wedding day, in one of the game’s two possible endings. The player must choose whether to work with Dimitri on another drug deal or not, and if they do, Niko is double-crossed again. His would-be assassin accidentally kills Roman instead, at his and Mallorie’s wedding.
This hard-hitting scene isn’t unusual in Grand Theft Auto’s grim universe, but it was quite poignant. Especially when Mallorie reveals that she is carrying Roman’s baby.
5 Shouldn’t Have Died: Couldn’t They Have Taken Shao Kahn Instead?
In the wide and wacky world of fighting games, overpowered characters have always been a huge bugbear. Some titles are more notorious for this than others, but balancing is always an issue to some extent. As the rosters of these game have become bigger and bigger, it’s getting ever harder to keep the cast on an even footing. Remember the sad days of Super Smash Bros. Brawl’s Metaknight? That was a sad time for all concerned.
Sometimes it’s intentional, however. Mortal Kombat’s Shao Kahn, Emperor of Outworld, is a notoriously overpowered boss. Replete with cheesy moves and a douchey personality, this guy is both a fantastic villain and a huge a-hole. Granted, he finally got his comeuppance in the rebooted games, but he should have been definitively taken out long before that.
4 Shouldn’t Have Died: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater And The Fateful Field Of Flowers
As fans of seminal stealth ‘em up Metal Gear Solid will know, the character of Big Boss has always been central to the series. The genetic father of Solid Snake (and his long-haired British brother Liquid), there’d really be no series at all without Big Boss.
He wasn’t always such a big deal though. Before he was Big Boss, he was Naked Snake, and there was another boss in town. Just to avoid confusion, she was simply called Boss.
You take the role of Naked Snake in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, the game that culminates in that legendary battle. Boss’s death was a touching, brilliantly-handled affair; the nature of her noble sacrifice known only to Snake and a handful of others. That salute at the gravesite? Too many feels for me.
3 Should Have Died: Couldn’t They Have Taken Dr. Wily Instead?
Over my years with video games, I’ve come across all manner of issues. I’ve encountered super-sweary hatemail, heard tuneless kids trying to rap along with Eminem down the mic, been sucked in on-disk DLC scams, bought the same game yet again because it’s been remastered… Before all of these horrors were introduced, do you know what my greatest gripe with gaming was? I’ll tell you what it was. It was Dr. freaking Wily.
This dude, the main antagonist of the Mega Man titles, was like Robotnik on ‘roids. He’d show up at the end, in a range of fancy and deadly vehicles, trying to rip you to shreds. He’d succeed, too, over and over again until I finally bested him.
Between how darn difficult these games are as it is, and the amount of times he’s reappeared, there’s been way too much Wily for my liking.
2 Shouldn’t Have Died: When Super Metroid Broke My Heart Into Tiny, Tear-Soaked Shards
Way back in the day, a lot of people thought that ‘Metroid’ was actually Samus’s name. It was all quite enigmatic back then, after all; we had no clue that Samus was a woman until she emerged from her ship in that spangly bikini of hers. It was a simpler time.
It soon became clear that Metroid was, in fact, the name of an alien species. Generally speaking, these dastardly fiends are our heroine’s sworn enemies, but there was one little guy who was her ally. I call him The Little Metroid Who Could.
At the climax of Super Metroid, Samus is almost killed in battle with the big bad, Mother Brain. The infant Metroid saves her life by siphoning Mother Brain’s energy, giving Samus a moment to recover. Mother Brain destroys the heroic little organism, only to be killed itself by the Hyper Beam the Metroid bestowed on Samus.
1 Should Have Died: Couldn’t They Have Taken Big The Cat Instead?
Being the classic gaming enthusiast I am, you can bet your cheeks that I fondly remember Sonic the Hedgehog’s heyday. In the 90s, the Mario vs Sonic debate raged in schoolyards across the world. This was the very height of Sonic’s power, the time when he was a match for the most beloved gaming mascot of all time.
Sadly, his star has waned in a big way since then. It’s not hard to see why. Sonic is at his best when he’s just doing his classic Sonic thing, by himself (maybe with Tails in tow, but that’s debatable). The franchise has lost its way; gotten itself cluttered with goofiness like talking swords, motion controls, and Big the Cat.
If anyone tells you that their life has been enriched in any way by the existence of Big the Cat, they’re filthy liars.
