Not every gaming character can be cool. Not only is it unrealistic, but if every character in a game is cool, eventually everyone starts to feel like a parody. Some characters have to be losers for everyone else to good by comparison. In video games, this doesn’t always mean a supporting cast member.
Sometimes it can be the protagonist themselves, presenting a twist on what people normally expect. Being a loser doesn’t even mean being a bad character, sometimes losers are lovable, and help make the game more memorable than it normally would’ve been. Losers can contribute something meaningful to the game, same as everyone else.
10/10 Vaan Drags The Entire Adventure Down
Final Fantasy XII
“I’m Captain Basch fon Ronsenberg of Dalmasca!” Final Fantasy XII has a massive scale to it, involving princesses of massive kingdoms and actual Sky Pirates. Yet somehow, the game is about a kid from the streets who constantly wishes he was something more.
That wouldn’t be the worst thing, if the game wanted to make him the main character. The game is quite intent on reminding the player Vaan very much isn’t the main character. So instead of him looking like a king of the streets, he’s just a kid watching all the cool stuff unfold from the background.
9/10 Ritsuka Fujimaru Needs Help To Accomplish Everything
Fate/Grand Order
The entire point of Fate/Grand Order is that Ritsuka isn’t all that useful. When the game begins, the character has just joined up with Chaldea in the hopes of helping to protect humanity. He’s barely even on the organization’s radar at first, but when the base is attacked, all the other Masters are wiped out.
He’s chosen to do the job because Chaldea has literally no other option but to rely on him. Throughout the game he gradually becomes more talented, but he still has to rely on others to do the job and protect everything.
8/10 The Protagonist Is Aware He’s Terrible
Sunset Overdrive
The lead protagonist of Sunset Overdrive begins the game as a complete burnout loser. Sunset City is overrun with mutants thanks to people trying out FizzCo’s energy drink, Overcharge. The only reason the protagonist isn’t right alongside them is he was never allowed to actually partake in the drinks.
He starts the game off as a janitor working for FizzCo, and since he’s in such a “lowly position” they didn’t allow him to celebrate the release of Overdrive. It works in his favor, but that doesn’t make him any less of a loser.
7/10 Spider-Man Can’t Seem To Do Anything Right
Marvel’s Spider-Man
Everyone knew going into the game that Peter Parker was going to be a loser; that’s part of his charm. He’s willing to do the right thing, even if it costs him. When the game begins, Peter’s basically dodging his landlord because his rent’s overdue.
A few missions in and he’s already been kicked out of his apartment, even having all his stuff dumped into the trash, leaving the player to swing around New York City to find it all. Midway through the game, he’s basically lost his job and has to borrow money from his Aunt May, and he’s bumming a place to stay off his ex-girlfriend’s couch. No one said being a hero was easy, though maybe he’ll have a better shot at things with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 in 2023.
6/10 Luigi Is A Cowardly Adventurer
Luigi’s Mansion
Luigi’s always been a Player 2 character. He’s the guy little brothers and sisters played when their older sibling already picked Mario. However, there’s nothing wrong with that in a lot of scenarios. Luigi’s problem is that he’s a cowardly adventurer.
He doesn’t actually want to go on most of these adventures, he’s just following Mario around. Even when he gets the chance to go on his own adventures, that doesn’t make him brave. In the already kid-friendly Luigi’s Mansion series he’s terrified at the idea of having to find ghosts and do his job, even though the ghosts are about as dangerous as Casper.
5/10 Dan Hibiki Is Meant To Be A Joke Character
Street Fighter
From the very beginning, Dan Hibiki wasn’t meant to be taken seriously. Though he trained under Gouken and should technically know the Ansatsu-ken, he didn’t actually finish his training. He’s also a coward who will run the second a battle gets out of hand – which for him, is all the time.
Capcom intended the character to poke fun at SNK’s Art of Fighting series, so obviously he’s not going to get many cool moments. He’s supposedly searching for Sagat to get revenge for killing his dad, but he’s got no chance at winning. One of the endings for Street Fighter Alpha 3 shows him “beating” Sagat, but that was just Sagat throwing the fight so he didn’t have to deal with Dan anymore. There’s a reason not many people are begging for his return in Street Fighter VI.
4/10 Earthworm Jim Is Only Useful Because Of His Suit
Earthworm Jim
One of the classic platforming characters from the ’90s, Earthworm Jim had it all. He had his own game, his own comic book, and a brief cartoon. He had all those things, and he was still a total loser. Jim’s only special because a giant “super suit” lands on top of him.
The suit altered his intelligence and took him from a regular worm into a powerful fighter. However, while he maintains his intelligence, without the suit he loses all strength and special abilities. Even the “intelligence” part is a stretch, with the games and cartoons pointing out how he’s not that smart.
3/10 Aiden Pearce Causes His Own Problems
Watch_Dogs
There aren’t many more unlikable characters than Aiden Pearce. He’s a protagonist that created his own problems, bringing down the force of powerful people on his head because he just couldn’t stop committing crimes. He goes on a quest to punish the people who attacked his niece, neglecting the fact that even that attack was his fault.
He’s a grown man who has to live with his sister despite the fact that he’s a super-hacker, because he can’t stay anywhere else. And midway through the game, he can’t even stay there, sleeping in various train cars around the city.
2/10 Mona Is Perpetually Broke And Starving
Genshin Impact
Though Mona is a talented mage with an excellent sense of fashion, it only takes a few seconds around her to realize she’s a loser. Her Story Quest exposes she’s absolutely horrendous with money, constantly wasting it on extravagant meals instead of learning to save it.
While she is talented, she’s also incredibly arrogant, even though it’s obvious she’s just barely holding it together. By the end of her quest, though she’s managed to find a place she can stay in Mondstadt, she can’t afford the rent there. Even her idle animation is just the character pointing out how broke she is.
1/10 Ichiban Is An Awful Yakuza, But An Amazing Human
Yakuza: Like A Dragon
The original Yakuza protagonist, Kazuma Kiryu, is the personification of a “good” yakuza member. He doesn’t make too much trouble (though it keeps seeking him out), and he runs businesses that know how to make money. By contrast, Ichiban isn’t anything like Kiryu. He’s far too kind to be a yakuza.
Even at the very beginning of his game, he’s shaking down a guy for the yakuza’s cut of his bootleg tape sales only to give it back to the kids he robbed. When the game actually starts, he’s fresh out of jail after 20 years and basically has zero life skills, figuring everything out near age 40. His loser status is literally the point, the player is supposed to build him up in the game.
