30 Days of Video Games - BONUS: Why Do You Play Games Pg. 142

[Willsy]

Day 19: Favourite Antagonist:

http://youtu.be/CvERHiTfx9w

I couldn't say anyone else, how could anyone dethrone Doctor Eggman, the world's greatest scientific genius?! Oohohohohohoho! I just love everything about the good Doctor. He's such a magnificent bastard, and he's probably the one of the characters in the Sonic franchise who have the most character to them. While he is a genius with an IQ of 300, he's also something of a bumbling oaf whose plans are always foiled by Sonic. And I actually don't mind that. The whole bumbling oaf thing actually works really well for Eggy. He's a man shaped like an egg, he's supposed to be silly.

But while he's definitely clumsy at times, he's also threatening at others. A couple of notable examples are in Unleashed and Lost World. At the beginning of Unleashed, he watches as laughs as Sonic screams in agony as the energy from the Chaos Emeralds is pulled out of him, like some mad scientist (which he kind of is). Then in Lost World...."I'll burn your worlds you rebellious scum, I'll destroy everything you love AND MAKE YOU WATCH!"....and...."As long as I can still strangle a Zeti *looks at screen*, my hands are fine". These are just two examples of how Eggman can be legitimately threatening.

Another reason I like him so much is his banter with Sonic. Things like the clip we've seen from the Boom TV show are a perfect example of this. It's always along the lines of Sonic tearing Eggman's logic apart and then Eggman simply telling him to shut up, and then sending some big ass robot after him. It's simple character banter, but it's brilliant.

[#AR]

Day 19: Being evil is too much fun!

 

 

REN'S FAVORITE ANTAGONIST: JURI HAN (SUPER STREET FIGHTER IV)

 

Wow, a lot of fighting game love during these 30 days, huh?

I picked her during the first 30 days of gaming. She was one of my favorites back then and still one of my favorites even now. So, let's try and see if I can write a little bit more this time around.

Now, I'm starting to get back into SF4 to prep for the release of Ultra (yes i'm excited for Ultra), and after playing around with a bunch of people, Juri's still my main after all this time. I'm gonna be training with her and taking my lack of skills online every now and again. I just love her play style. She's a stylish, close range, aggressive fighter with great speed and tons of quick moves that can get the jump on your opponent. Her left eye was removed by Bison and is replaced by an artificial eye known as the Feng Shui Engine, which powers up her attacks and gives her a higher speed and the ability to chain a bunch of attacks together.

 

So, how about as a character? Well for one, she's kinda insane...and I love that. I've never really been one for the sadistic characters, but Juri's that right amount that's actually kind of appealing...I dunno, don't ask. She fights seriously, but at the same time, loves to toy with them and squeeze out as much painful fun as she possibly could. As a villain, she doesn't really have much of an allegiance other than "kick whoever's ass I want" despite being a member of S.I.N....well...leader post-SF4...

More detail:

Yeah she straight-up kills Seth, her own boss, after successfully getting him and Bison to fight each other. Bison ends up winning and then Juri breaks his Tanden Engine (the big yin-yang thing on his stomach)

 

Juri's also a bit special due to being 1) The first Taekwondo user in the series, 2) the first South Korean character in the series, and 3) The first true female villain in the series. Unlike other famous S. Korean Taekwondo practitioners in fighting games (namely Kim Kaphwan and Hwoarang), Juri's truly evil and has no semblance of good inside her. Still the best new character added post SF4.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2sE2tPhgI

 

As always, anytime I mention how much I love Juri, I always have to pull out this ultra. It's my favorite one in the game.

[KrazyBean]

Day 19: Favourite Antagonist

 

 

Ghirahim, from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

 

Ghirahim is...something else. His sole objective was to capture Zelda and use her to revive his master, Demise.

 

He's a very theatrical and overconfident person, but when things don't go according to plan he tends to snap and go into his "insane" mode, this is when he gets REALLY violent. He constantly goes on about wanting to satisfy his "strong appetite for bloodshed". He also threatens Link by saying that he'll "beat him within an inch of his life" and deafen him with the "shrills of his own screams"...that's really flippin' scary stuff.

 

The guy has three forms. His normal form, which his the massive picture you see before you.

 

His second form:

 

 

And his final form:

 

 

But the main thing which makes him my favourite antagonist by far...is when he goes all Orochimaru on Link. Dat tongue action tho.

 

 

 He's one of the best villains in the Zelda franchise IMO and he should've been the main villain in this game instead of Demise.

 

Did I also mention that his theme songs are pretty awesome? I'm not going to link them (ha!), but search for them and have a listen.

[Brad]

 

One of the most interesting antagonists in all of the comic verse comes to life within the Batman: Arkham series, cementing himself as my absolute favourite antagonists within the video game world. Joker's sheer unpredictability and insanity, coupled with his hidden levels of intelligence show him to be a worth adversary for Bats. Making your way through Arkham Asylum and seeing the chattering teeth, graffiti and corpses littered there in his wake is a very interesting moment (especially for somebody who wasn't very familiar with the Batman Universe, like I wasn't) and a mirror reflection on his personality. Joker himself has an incredible duo of voice actors in Hamill and Baker who bring him to life like nobody else has (especially the former), selling the childish playful side while being extremely dangerous and threatening the next. Joker is just an all round extremely fun, very enjoyable villain to take down. His roles in the other two Arkham games are still pretty large but don't feel as big as his Asylum take over, but either way he was fun to see come back. Though I think he's had the spotlight for a bit long now - I'm ready for new villains to take the forefront as much as I love the guy.

 

Others:

• Ghirahim, Skyward Sword - one of the most fabulous villains out there, Ghirahim instantly left an impression on me with his odd demeanour and his muddled ambitions which played out nicely, as well as his kick ass battle theme that really gets you pumping to fight.
• The Origami Killer, Heavy Rain - I don't want to spoil who the Origami Killer is, but he's certainly a favourite villain of mine. The lead up to his reveal is very effective and the final fight with him is interesting, to say the least.
• Harley Quinn, Arkham Games - of course, I can't forget the lovely assistant to our Joker. Her unique way of talking and her dangerous obsession with the Joker are her key defining points. She's always a blast to see on screen.

[Indigo Rush]

Day 19: Favorite Antagonist

 

 

How could I not?

 

Dr Eggman is probably the best villain out there. He's most definitely not the most evil looking or sounding, and he's rather quite goofy once you pay more attention to him...

 

 

He's like a little lovable huggable kid!

 

But then he'll gladly whip out some deadly robotics to realize his dream utopian fantasy. He's a relentless mechanic who'll stop at nothing to take over the world, and without Sonic to stop him, he'd likely succeed. This guy's no push-over! Don't let his goofy looks deceive you...

 

 

"The world is mine! Nyahahahahahaaaa!"

 

Oh Eggman, we love you~

[Chaos Warp]

Day 19: Favourite Antagonist 

 

Putting it in spoiler tags because the reveal is kind of one of the big twists in Kid Icarus Uprising.

 

Hades from Kid Icarus: Uprising

 

Now, you don't actually see this guy until later. In fact, you don't even know who he is until the end of Chapter 9 when the Decoy Villain, Medusa, is defeated. What this motherfucker does is just rip through the credits that were playing at the time. And I mean literally rip through. 

 

 

(Go to 28:30 in the video)

 

And from that point on becomes the true antagonist of the game. He's just such an entertaining villain, and I'm so happy that they went with this twist. He's both goofy and intimidating, and has some amazing lines that made me crack up.  He's just great.

 

[Nix]

Day 19

Favorite Antagonist

 

...

 

Persona 4

The Killer

 

 

Everyone meet Tohru Adachi.  Assistant detective to your uncle, a reliable friend and source of information, pretty chill and easy to understand, and a piece of shit murderer.

 

Now, Adachi isn't the final boss of the game.  There's still a mastermind behind the scenes who gave you and Adachi the power to enter the TV world, but Adachi is ultimately the one who decided to kill people with his powers.  He's the man you've been chasing for most of the game, and it's only by Adachi's observations that you realize that there might be someone watching from behind the scenes.

 

If you're playing Persona 4: Golden, Adachi has his very own Social Link that you can rank up and stuff.  You learn a lot about him before you even realize he's a murderer... and he's fucking terrible.  He spends most of the time complaining about his life, and how shit it is, how women are pretty much all whores, and it's irritating just listening to him.  Yet, he's friendly towards you and treats you with respect, so he becomes somewhat of a good friend that you can trust, and that trust starts paying off when your uncle and cousin both get hospitalized.

 

That's the part that scares me though.  The only thing he outright lies about is his involvement in the murders.  His motivations, his general attitude towards life is exactly the same between the time he's your friend and the time he gets caught.  His attitude towards you changes drastically though, and I was beating myself for not catching on to him when it was so blatantly obvious.

 

Another thing about him though is the motivations for the murders.  The first suspect is a kid called Mitsuo Kubo, and his motivation for killing everyone was pretty much "because I could, and people would talk about it".  The Investigation Team was a little disheartened by that, because with all the shit that's been going they were hoping for a little more.  The second suspect fits the bill perfectly though.  Taro Namatame was "saving" people by throwing them into the TV world.  A guy with a Messiah complex that actually ends up killing people is much more satisfying to take down then a kid who did it for nothing.

 

So what's Adachi's reason for murder?

 

"I could do it, that's all.  And it was fun..."

 

What a piece of shit.  He was bored with his life, so he decided to spice things up a bit with a little killing.  It was just a giant game to him, and I was ready to rip out his throat right then and there.

 

Adachi is just the worst of everything.  He's a coward, an asshole, he blames everything else for his own mistakes... just one of the most miserable excuses for a human being you will ever see.  And he's your fucking friend.

 

Just when you think there's no hope for him though, you get a letter from him in the true ending.  He tells you his "hunch" that there's a mastermind behind everything.  He says he appreciates the time you spent with him to a certain degree, and then calls you a dumbass for falling for his shit in the first place.

 

Well ok, still awful, but it's an improvement.  Then the epilogue at the end of the game happens, and according to your uncle... Adachi pretty much turned his life around... as much as prison life will allow for anyways.  He became somewhat of a role model for the other prisoners to live up to.

 

So he's still the absolute worst, but he's at least finally trying to make his life better instead of complaining about it and killing people.  He's a weird person, and I have a very strong love-hate relationship with him.  He's just so despicable in every possible way... but at the same time he was, and still is kind of your friend.  

 

The bond you have with him may have changed over time, but it never actually broke. 

 

 

[Jin.]

Day 19

 

 

Set the music.

 

Yuuki Terumi. The true god of epic trolling. Not only did this dude create the Black Beast that ravaged the planet, he also created the Librarium AND Sector Seven, died, came back as a ghost, possessed a doll made for him, killed two of his fellow Six Heroes (a group he also betrayed) among one of which he manipulated in freeing him from the others mind control through a crush, attempted to throw two more Heroes into the Boundary (but failed because Hakumen just won't have that shit) and got stuck in the Boundary in the process.

 

Oh, but that's just the beginning.

 

He manipulated another doll of him from inside the Boundary who acted as "Hazama", Captain of the Librarium and went to the church where the child Ragna, Jin and Saya were, killed Celica (the nun taking care of them), sliced off Ragna's arm and tormented him, brainwashed Jin and stole away Saya.

 

Then he took Saya and made clones of her with Relius and turned her into Izanami, the Goddess of Death. One of those clones was Noel, who they called a failure, memory wiped and threw into a family. But when he went on a mission with her, finding out she possessed the Eye, a power that allows her to observe and turns things into reality, he manipulated her into observing his doll, getting a lifelink with her, so neither of them could die unless togheter.

 

Then he manipulated Jin and Noels best friend who was a crush on the former, Tsubaki Yayoi, into killing both of them, breaking her and allowing Hazama to kidnap Noel and turn her into the Sword of Kusanagi. Ragna showed up and Hazama gave him beating after beating while Noel was smelted. Shortly after Noel was finished and turned into a mindless weapon, Ragna did manage to defeat Hazama using the sacrificed Lambda's Idea Engine, but he took that chance to infiltrate Takamagahara, the human observe program, as ghost and take it over for Izanami, making her an observer too.

 

Ragna, Jin and Hakumen saved Noel but Hazama showed up again to troll them by showing them Saya, much to their shock.

 

Fun's still not over.

 

He continues to manipulate Izanami and often appears to beat up or troll characters. In the end he manages to use Nu, another Saya clone, into taking Noels data and becoming an Eye herself. Nu summons Amaterasu (God) and Terumi gets forced out of the boundary by Platinum (the Six Hero that had a crush on him but reincarnated). Hazama gained his own will but now there's basically two Terumi's walking around.

 

Luckily Hakumen manages to land a final blow and kill both Hazama and Terumi for good, but not until Hazama takes Platinum down with him.

 

His hobbies are kicking puppies and enjoys making you scream. His whole playstyle is centered around confusion (as Hazama) or just plain disrespect (Terumi) by kicking YOUR FACE IN.

 

He's also allergic to cats

 

 

God this is the longest post I've done yet

[ElectricAngel]

Day 19 - Favourite Antagonist

 

Don't say Dr. Eggman. Don't say Dr. Eggman. DON'T SAY DR. EGGMAN. Ah, screw it.

 

 

DR. EGGMAN

 

I'm sorry. I just couldn't not pick Eggman. What's not to love? He's got the brains, the humour, and that glorious 'stache. And think about how amazing that voice is. Mhm, makes you wanna huddle in bed with him, eh? His ever so popular lines such as "You know what they say, the more the merrier!" drive women to extreme lust. Okay but in all seriousness, Eggman is the greatest villain of all time and if you disagree, you are lying to yourself. No one can hate such scientific genius and embodiment . Just look at him rockin' out and tell me he isn't the coolest villain ever. Just try.

 

This doctor has put up with Sonic's shit for more than 20 years and I applaud him for that. He's managed to create fantastic robotic creations powered by animals. How conservative is that? The guy thinks of everything. And heck, he's even got the power to summon Gods of destruction (although they tend to backfire). But you get the point. The thing I really love about Eggman is that not only is he a fun character to have, but he can pose to be quite threatening in games like Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Lost World. Sure, he's usually a very positive, optimistic guy, but when you crack the Eggman, oh boy, you'd better be ready to haul ass. He's one of the funnest villains to ever grace video gaming history (closely followed by Dr. Nefarious) and I wouldn't have the good ol' doctor any other way.

[The Tenth Doctor]

Day 19: Favourite Antagonist

 

Has to go to Portal 2.

 

 

Wheatley. Just Wheatley. You may recall me saying I like thinkers. Here's an exception. This guy is gold. He starts off as your good hearted companion, he's dim but helpful. He's funny but you also catch glimpses of the fact he's not a human fan. You believe unplugging GLaDOS and putting Wheatley in is a good idea. WRONG! He goes mad with power. You now have to deal with your idiot friend before he blows it up through incompetence. You can't hate the guy but you do want to stop him. A great villain for a great game.

 

[RustyRick]

Day 19: Most favorite antagonist?

I know from just wild mass guessing that most people are gonna go with the good ol' mad round sunglasses-wearing doctor here, but if we're talking about megalomaniac round evil dudes, my non-Sonic pick by abiding to the self-imposed rule of 'No Sonic until absolutely nessecary' would be:



 

King K. Rool from the Donkey Kong Country series.

King K. Rool while not having much personality to him in the Donkey Kong Country games themselves, does have the distinction of always being completely different in costumes and methods of making life miserable for the Kongs. Ranging from his well-known King appearance from the first game as pictured above in where he straight up steals the banana's.



The Kaptain K. Rool appearance from DKC2 where now the leader of a pirate gang he kidnaps Donkey Kong for ransom and wielding a huge blunderbust gun he combats Diddy and Dixie following him to his getaway helicopter vehicle.




And the Baron K. Roolenstein identity from DKC3 where now a atypical mad scientist, he kidnaps DK and Diddy and traps them inside his best creation ever:



KAOS, THE BOT OF DESTRUCTION!


But er, hold on a second....

A evil mad scientist who puts animals inside a machine to empower it, and said threat that he plans to take over the world with is a pun play on CHAOS...

Nope, doesn't ring a bell to me at all!

And in DK64 he plans to eliminate the entire island with a giant laser gun of doom and spoofs a typical Bond movie villain with petting his pet Klaptrap and breathing heavily like Darth Vader.


K. Rool while certainly not the most fleshed out villain sure is one entertaining for his sheer random identity disorders alone!
 

[Echidna Adventurer CC14]

Favorite antagonist? Oh-ho-ho-HO! If you know me, you KNOW who my #1 is!

 

Bowser (Super Mario & Yoshi Series)

The magnificent Koopa King is not only my favorite villain, but also my absolute favorite video game character in general. Now viewing him at first glance, you'd probably wonder why, because he's pretty much the archetypical "dragon" from the "knight vs. dragon to save princess" formula and that'd be pretty easy to turn into a giant, basic bore. However, what makes Bowser stand out is his personality. This guy just LOOOOOOOVES being the bad guy and will do anything and everything that he can to get his way. The sheer amount of confidence that he displays despite being defeated again and again and again and AGAIN by Mario is really entertaining to watch and you can always count on Bowz to put on a great show regardless of success. But that's not the only side to him, as he's also a surprisingly loving, proud father who does his best to nurture Jr's development into a powerful, evil king like himself. (Even if most of his "lessons in evil" don't really pan out that well.) Plus, that's not even getting into his absolutely brilliant RPG appearances, where he steals the show 90% of the time with great lines ("Little dude!" "Did someone page the King of Awesome?" "It's Kidnapping Peach II: The Bowsering!") and hilarious interactions with the rest of the cast. He also just looks freaking awesome, with a bardarsh turtle/dragon mash-up design and tons of cool abilities like fire breath, spinning his massive shell around, calling in his troops, and even donning some of the very power-ups that Mario himself uses. What more can I say about this guy except..."HE RUUUUUUUULES!"

[MamboCat]

Day 19 - Baddies are the Best!

 

Ooh nothing like a good antagonist, is there?! Being evil is much more fun than being a goody two shoes, huh?

 

Anyways, same with protagonists; there's a number of baddies I like but it again boils down to Valve being super awesome with it's characters!

 

Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System (GLaDOS)

 

Yeah guys, sorry for yet again falling back on a game I've already talked about! But yeah, GLaDOS is such a bitch! XD

Jealous much, GLaDOS?!

 

To begin with in Portal I thought GLaDOS was just a set of recordings timed to play when the Test Subject reaches a certain goal. The strange distortion in some of GLaDOS' speech was the main reason for this, but as the game went on it became more and more clear there was something sinister behind the metallic voice. Upon removing the Personality Cores, temporarily destroying the Chassis and then accidentally rebooting the GLaDOS systems resulted in a very different GLaDOS, and I don't just mean by the Chassis design... the distortion from her voice is all gone, and it is replaced with a much more natural sounding tone as the supercomputer talks to you. She sounds almost... human... XD

 

Not only is GLaDOS a genius, completely batshit insane, devoted to science to a pathological degree and has a penchant for neurotoxins, she also has an extremely odd, twisted sense of humour; often mocking Chell, making snide comments or downright threatening her with amusing sounding deaths...

 

I love a decent Evil AI; HAL9000 from 2001 A Space Odyssey is one of my favourite villains, and I think the neurotic supercomputer is clearly an influence on the Empress of the Enrichment Centre! In some way I was disappointed when it is revealed GLaDOS is derived from the consciousness of Cave Johnson's PA, Caroline... as I like my AIs to be just that; artificial, a copy, a mimicry of what the human brain is. But in other ways GLaDOS' origin as Caroline opened up some interesting new ideas; such as the possible empathy she felt for Chell, her decision to release her and as suggested in the 2 Player DLC, she develops an irrational phobia of all things avian and displays very human-like responses to the crow poking at the prototype Chassis (although tbh I am not sure if this was considered "canon")

 

A major downside to this, in my opinion was the following explosion of humanised GLaDOS character designs... they're ubiquitous, many are unoriginal and some are just creepy. I really don't get this obsession with turning awesome non-human characters into humans... in some cases, like with GLaDOS it completely misses the point! Ah well..

 

Noteable villains Mambo likes:

 

Dr Eggman;  of course! The evil scientist who loves stuffing cute fwuffy animals into robots. Bonus points for this guy's many alternate versions too, especially AoSTH's Robotnik!

 

Rodrigo Borgia: Arch-nemesis of Ezio Auditore, based on the real figure from history. This guy is able to avoid being killed at the hands of the Assassins, but instead meets a fitting end!

 

Jacqueline Natla: The ancient goddess who manages to outwit Lara Croft but somehow becomes captured by Amanda and her evil cloud demon... but she has badass wings! >

[Danj86]

Every so often I like to try and think of an answer for my own, that hasn't been mentioned yet. But it's just not going to happen today. He's already been mentioned a couple of times and I'd bet my Prinny hat that he'd be the character to appear the most in todays question. So lets get on with talking about Eggman.

Day 19: Fav. Antagonist

Dr Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik -

 

The very embodiment of the do or die, never give up, determination that is Dr Eggman. Sonic might be better off giving up as he's only delaying the inevitable. Heh, but we know that's not going to happen, so lets just fasten our seat belts and enjoy the ride of our life.

 

 

Let me tell you a story of a man. An Eggman.

Once upon a time, at a hill...possibly green. Was a Hedgehog with an irrational urge to move constantly to the right. This baffled our hero, and so he set up traps, robots and lots of sharp pointy things to stop this mindless creature from going right. But alas...it did not work. The blue thing was somehow given the impression that our hero wanted to enslave all animals and conquer the world. But in truth, our good doctor simply wanted to encourage the large headed one to move left for a change.

 

And the moral of the story is, don't do drugs.

 

 

Okay, so maybe I'm paraphrasing. In truth it's hard to have solid facts about the franchise when in the earlier days, there was little or no communication between the west branch and the east branch of Sega. The details as to why or how are things I still cannot grasp, but basically we ended up with 2 versions of the same character.

 

 

This was attempted to be fixed by Sonic Adventure and naturally this created a rip in the community of those that prefer Robotnik and those that like Eggman. Personally I'd always found the western portrayal of Robotnik to be way too creepy. I mean, I liked how he looking in AoSth, but then they changed him again and again and I was just "ew..."

 

 

A triangle shaped head? Just too weird.

In the games he is often portrayed at two very extremes. He's either very wacky or very badass, although in my opinion they did a good job balancing the two in Sonic: Lost World. Like in this well known scene -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBBqjUo5gsw&t=16m4s

 

He was at his most badass in Sonic Adventure 2 and if you was to quit the dark side story during the second Tails boss fight, then start it up again, you'll hear how overjoyed he is at the idea of finally eliminating Sonic. He even says in an earlier recap segment how "Killing you will be a pleasure, fox boy."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c0NQ3xyfT0&t=9m0s

 

The two sidekicks have been done to death, so I wasn't exactly thrilled at the idea of the games doing the same thing. But they do bring some much needed time for good Eggman scenes when he's not playable. The Unleashed scenes wouldn't be as good if it was just Eggman on his own. He had some great scenes with Shadow and Rouge, so Orbot and Cubot are a valuable commodity to the cast in my opinion.

 

Not only does Eggman have a 300 IQ to brag over, but he's also cunning and devious. He has no problem tricking people into doing his bidding and was even able to fool Sonic, although briefly. His biggest target tends to be Knuckles, but he'll use everyone and there uncle if it was to benefit his goals. And even though he's been double crossed a lot over recent years, he's always up for a good double cross of his own if the opportunity presented itself.

 

And despite having made Eggman Land once. We are still no closer to learning what type of politics he would enforce. But it couldn't possibly be as bad as some of the current people in power in our real lives.

 

Long live the Eggman Empire!

[Serperior]

Day 19 - Favorite Antagonist

 

 

I know I talked about Dante yesterday but Vergil is such a great antagonist that I can't help but mention him. What makes him so great is that he's pretty much the perfection of the rival character trope. He is basically what you would expect someone of his and Dante's upbringing to be like. He's stoic, serious at all times and doesn't give a shit about style as long as he's able to stop everything that gets in his way.....despite being pretty stylish anyway. However, like Dante, he also has some traits that would be uncharacteristic of someone with his upbringing. He embraces his demon half and loathes his human side, believing it to be what is holding him back from attaining ultimate power. However, despite these huge differences, he is also very similar to Dante in some ways. At a glance they look very similar aside from Vergil's coat being blue, to the point where Vergil's hair will sometimes fall into place to where it's exactly the same as Dante's. They also both posess similar abilities. They both have a Devil Trigger that functions pretty similarly, they are both capable of gaining weaponry from the souls of fallen foes, and they both use swords as their weapons of choice, despite their uses of said swords being very different and, throughout the story of Devil May Cry 3, much like Dante, Vergil keeps learning new techniques by the time the two of them cross paths again. He is a great rival because of how greatly he contrasts Dante despite having quite a few similarities to him too. It also helps that all of the fights you have with him are really fun and challenging too.

 

However so I'm not doing nothing but talking about Devil May Cry for two days in a row, I'll mention my second choice.

 

Placed in Spoiler tags because of spoilers relating to Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations.

 

 

I don't think I've ever seen a game made me hate a villain and want to see them burn as much as this one. What is initially presented as a sweet little girl very quickly turns out to be fucking Satan reborn. From the start of the game to the very end, you learn of all the despicable things this woman has done all throughout her life, using so many people and ruining or flat out ending many lives as a result. I can't really describe what makes her so horrible in a short space because there's so much to write about.

 

Her first crime involving her feigning love for her tutor, Terry Fawles, only so she could get him involved in a staged kidnapping with her stepsister so she could get her father's fortune. However both her and her sister planned to betray Fawles and make it appear to be a murder, so he would take the fall and get convicted for the crime. 5 years later, Fawles had a chance to meet with Dahlia's stepsister and find out the real circumstances of the crime, however Dahlia didn't want those details to be found out, so she murdered her stepsister and framed Fawles for yet another time. The worst part of this was she got away with all of this. When they were about to be able to pin this crime on her in court, Fawles died on the stand because of a suicide pact he took with her for if they ever lost trust in each other. Not only did she ruin this man's life and reputation, she also killed him. She managed to get off scot-free from not one but two murders in one trial.

 

Six months later she met with Diego Armando, a co-worker of Mia Fey, the defense attorney on the afromentioned case.....where she proceeded to poison Armando's coffee with the poison stored in her necklace. The poison was stolen from her at the time boyfriend, Doug Swallow, a pharmacology student. The poison that was given to Armando ruined his vision and put him in a coma that lasted so long that by the time he woke up, his co-worker had been murdered. Right after the poisoning, Dahlia found the next person she would maniuplate to the breaking point, Phoenix Wright. She gave her necklace to him, presenting it as a gift but really doing it so he would get the evidence of what she did away from the crime scene, and decided it was time to feign being in love with someone again. Dahlia wanted to kill Phoenix shortly after so she could get the evidence back, however her sister, Iris, didn't want her to go even further with these murders, and instead decided to live Dahlia's life, bringing yet another innocent bystander down.

 

Months later, Dahlia still hadn't got her necklace back. Iris ended up falling in love with Wright, so Dahlia felt the need to take things into her own hands. She stole more poison from the same source however, this time Swallow took notice. He tried to warn Wright, however when that failed, Dahlia proceeded to kill him with power cables and planted false evidence to pin the murder on Wright. Thankfully, this time, Mia Fey was able to expose her for what she was in court, and she was sentenced to death.

 

....So you think we're done because she died? No way in hell. Just before she was executed, her biological mother, Morgan Fey, informed her of a plot that she would be involved in. Her spirit would be channeled so she could enact another murder. She agreed to go through with the plan, as the target was Maya Fey, the sister of the one who put her life to an end. However several people found out about this plan and set up a way to stop it. The murder didn't happen, but instead, the one channeling Dahlia's spirit was killed instead. Maya then channeled Dahlia's spirit and sealed herself away, in the hopes that Dahlia wouldn't catch on to who was channeling her so she wouldn't be killed. However Dahlia managed to get out of her prison as a result of an earthquake, and placed Iris in her prison instead. She then proceeded to pose as Iris in court, and try to pin the murder of Misty Fey, the one who was killed while channeling her initially, on Maya, and trying to say Maya killed herself in grief. However, eventually, it was exposed that Maya was the one channeling Dahlia, despite not even Dahlia knowing this. And then, in what is easily one of the most satisfying moments in gaming, Mia, who was being channeled by Pearl Fey at the time, proceeded to mock Dahlia for all of her failed murder attempts, and told her that she would forever be a useless entity who never accomplished what she set out to do, in life and beyond.

 

So in the end, she faked loving two people for her own benefit, both of whom she tried to get convicted, brought several people down because of her crimes, killed 3 people and wouldn't even let death stop her from trying to ruin more lives. She's an absolutely awful and loatheable person and that is what makes her a truly memorable villain.

[TheOcelot]

Favourite Antagonist:

 

 

Ocelot from the Metal Gear Solid games

 

The guy with many names; Adamska, Revolver, Shalashska, Liquid Ocelot. 

 

Ocelot's portrayal throughout the Metal Gear Solid Series is both fascinating and rather perplexing. I'm mean just who's side is he on? He is a bad guy, right? Well, the funny thing is you never really can tell who's side he's on or what his real motives are. Ocelot is a brilliant actor who is a master of concealing his true intentions and manipulating people into doing what he wants. 

 

He's a specialist gun fighter. His favourite weapon being a Single-Action Army which he chose through Naked Snake's (Big Boss) recommendation.

 

  

 

 

He also specialises in torture.

 

 

He's an extremely complex character with an endearing personality who is very enjoyable to watch. Ocelot has been portrayed both very young and old with different voice actors; Patrick Zimmerman (MGS 1,2 & 4), Josh Keaton (MGS3 & Portable Ops) and Troy Baker in the upcoming MGSV: The Phantom Pain.

 

Some of his most popular moments are;

 

- His gun-fight with Solid Snake in MGS1 and ended up losing his left arm thanks to Gray Fox.

- The scene in MGS1 where he tortures Solid Snake.

- When Ocelot steals the Metal Gear RAY at the end of the Tanker chapter in MGS2.

- The explosive cutscene in MGS3 where Ocelot meets Big Boss for the first time, kills half a dozen KGB soldiers and then gets humiliated by Big Boss. 

- His gun juggling in MGS3 and his famous 'Russian Roulette' dual with BB at the end of the game.

- The legendary fight sequence with Solid Snake at the end of MGS4. 

- MGSV: The Phantom Pain *insert awesome Ocelot sequence* 

 

 

Ocelot is my favourite MGS character and I'm looking forward to his potrayal in MGSV.

[Covskin]

I was totally going to post about the same Trials & Tribulations character mentioned above, but there's nothing else to say. Except, perhaps, I have possibly never been so satisfied to take someone down.

 

Last time my choice was Kefka, and still is, but in the spirit of trying to be original, let's go for the back-up plan:

 

The Ghost/Zombie/Demon pirate LeChuck!

 

In the first game, LeChuck is a fearful villain, commanding a ghost crew that rules the Seven Seas, from his lava lake lair underneath Monkey Island. He's quite formidable in this game, and it is only through good fortune Guybrush defeats him.

 

Come his titled revenge, LeChuck is ressurected as a Zombie and is particularly bloodthirsty. The ending segment, being stalked in the catacombs, scared the hell out of me as a kid.

 

From the third game onwards, LeChuck does undergo a small change in personality. He becomes a bit more comedic, slightly more goofy and a little less smart. However, this allows for more interactions between himself and Guybrush, and the voice work by Earl Boen is exemplary.

[JezMM]

Okay I'm back on BioShock again sorry.

 

Do not read unless you have played and finished BioShock.

 

 

Okay so Andrew Ryan was a great villian, but what is special to me about Atlas/Fontaine is how much I genuinely believed in him.  I've never had the rug pulled out from under me like that.  It was clear he wasn't AS moral as Tenembaum, but I really bought into his story and felt just as vengeful as he did to get to Andrew Ryan after the submarine exploded.  The funny thing is, even when I replay BioShock, I don't steam in my thoughts every time he helps me thinking "you bastard I know you're lying".  He creates such a convincing character that I enjoy returning to a pretend mindset where I really like Atlas and find comfort in his voice as I trudge through the grim setting of Rapture.

 

Sticking to BioShock, I'd also like to talk about the main villian of Burial at Sea.  Again, do not read unless you have finished Burial at Sea.

 

Surprise it's Atlas again!  I genuinely didn't think we'd get to see such a huge name from BioShock 1 up close and personal like we did here (and boy do you get up close and personal... the lobotomy scene... *shudder*).  In BioShock 1 we only knew "Atlas" as the friendly facade - it's actually Burial at Sea AND BioShock 1 combined that make him a favorite villain for me.  Burial at Sea REALLY made me hate the dude more than ever and I loved it.  Maybe my inner fanboy for BioShock was just spoiled a bit, but Atlas and Elizabeth matching wits live in front of me was utter delicious fanservicey goodness out the wazoo, and a gorgeous focal point for the final (as far as we know) story from the BioShock franchise.

 

 

Other notable mentions:

 

GLaDOS is amazing and honestly I probably actually prefer her to the above because she's so deliciously evil yet utterly hilarious at all times.  The Portal games are just SO well written and performed.  Since she'd already been posted about though I decided to do other stuff for the main focus of my post.

 

Bowser is adorkable in his own special way, particularly in the Paper Mario games.  The removal of his personality and screentime was the biggest crime Sticker Star committed, no exaggeration.

 

Good ol' Dr. Eggman has been at the top of his game lately, they edge closer and closer to hitting that sweet spot I'm so desperate for between Sonic Adventure 2 Eggman and Sonic X Eggman.

 

And finally... pretty much all the villains in Kid Icarus Uprising are gloriously written and acted, but the main one certainly takes the cake. 

[Rusty Spy]

Day 19: Favorite Antagonist

 

..... Yeah I'm gonna say it.

 

 

Dr. Eggman

 

What makes Eggman stand out is that he takes pride in his villainy. Not just pride in being evil, but pride in what he plans to accomplish through his villainy. He's chooses to be a villain and he wants the whole world to know it. He doesn't brood or stomp around angrily, when he's putting his plans in motion he puts in a show, because he doesn't just want to control or destroy the world out of some sense that the world is worse off without him, he wants to shape the world in his own image and make everyone to submit to his superiority. It's his ego that's his greatest strength, and his greatest weakness, since despite having no qualms with playing dirty if it means he gets to outsmart his opponent, he'll also not accept victory if he isn't the one pulling the trigger. He doesn't just want to win, he wants to beat his opponent and prove himself better than them, which makes him the most charming villain, but also leads to his constant defeat.

 

 

Honorable Mentions

 

GLaDOS

 

Not so much a great villain, but just a great evil character in general. Her constant black comedy and subtle sociopathic tendencies makes her both hilarious to listen, but also extremely unsettling, especially in the first Portal, where you aren't aware she's evil, or even self aware. It makes you guess whether her dialogue is just her programming glitching out, or if she's actually saying those things.

[Celestia]

Day 19: Favourite Antagonist
 
Super popular choice (probably) incoming.

 

GLaDOS

Portal series

 
How would I describe GLaDOS, particularly in the sequel where I find her particularly interesting? "Ex who you had a ridiculously bad breakup with." Because really, that describes Chell and GLaDOS a lot in Portal 2, to the point where the devs almost had a scene to fuel this interpretation. Oh, if only. 
 
But yeah, GLaDOS is an awesome villain. The way her dialogue in the first game gave you a feeling that there's something really, really wrong with this weird A.I. that's "helping you", to the more blatant hatred and murderous intentions in the sequel...she's just constantly entertaining. Some of her insults can be genuinely horrible, too, but even then they're hilarious in a dark sort of way. In fact, GLaDOS is a very "love to hate" villain from start to finish, especially when we learn more about her origins.
 
I think what I like the most about her is that she comes across as wonderfully, deliciously evil, despite an admittedly sympathetic backstory

and even after literally saving Chell's life.

Of course my favourite moment involving this lovable murder machine was when Wheatley [REDACTED] didn't do anything, especially anything involving potatoes. Being a worthless Intelligence Dampening Sphere, he has never done anything of note.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Okay no, seriously, the best GLaDOS scene was the lemons. I think she enjoyed Cave's rant a bit too much if you catch my drift

 

Honourable Mentions

• Dr. Eggman, of course.
• Ripto (Spyro 2): My favourite Spyro baddie.
• Every big bad in the MOTHER series.
• Michael Jordan (Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden): A fallen hero is truly the most tragic of villains.

[Dr. Homem]

Favourite antagonist? Well...

 

 

 

Obviously. Few video game antagonists have that immediate appeal.. Of all the mad scientists in fiction, Eggman was distinguished; rather than watching from the sidelines, he stood proud, laughing, a genius in command of his own robot army. The doctor is a true mastermind, who doesn't rely on spellbooks, reality manipulation, superpowers or anything like that to achieve unbelievable feats, like building huge airfleets overnight, filling the world with secret bases, designing hundreds of robotic servants by himself, mass producing them and yet always being ready to do it again. And all Eggman needed for those amazing achievements was his own intelligence and effort. That is power. That's something you can't take away from him.

 

 

You'll see a lot of parallels between Ivo and my all-time favourite fictional villain, Lex Luthor, who only isn't heading this post because he hasn't had a game with him as a main antagonist, at least in a compelling manner (besides, I've already before). Both are determined, both are willing to take direct action, and both are brilliant men in their own right.

 

Part of what makes him so interesting is the clear duality between his charisma and his depravity. Eggman will casually burn down an island or enslave an entire population of living beings... while at the same time laughing and building his joyful image everywhere. You can't help but like the guy no matter how much damage his plans cause.
 
Robotnik's plans are always a different trick, always a different scheme. The best example of his genius is the finale of Sonic 3 & Knuckles:

 

 

 

A stellar moment that demonstrates how brutally effective Ivo is, even if in the end he falls to that pesky hedgehog's meddling. There you are, the end of the Death Egg, your goal, the finish line; the moment the whole game had been building up to. But Eggman was waiting for you. A gigantic machine rises from the ground - the Great Eggman Robo, also known as the Kyodai robot. It is absolutely massive, making Sonic look puny as even its individual fingers are large enough to crush him. But even when those are destroyed, Eggman still has some tricks up his sleeve with a secret nose flamethrower and a potent Master Emerald-powered laser he shoots at you while ripping the whole station apart.

 

 
But, as we know, Eggman's a pragmatist. He had a backup plan in case his colossus was taken down, which by itself was already a difficult task. Without missing a beat, he grabs the Master Emerald from his exploding mech and attempts an excape, determined to win. Unfortunately for him, Sonic is just as focused, and the Eggmobile can't handle much damage... until reaching the next machine.

 

 

 

Once again showing his ability to plan ahead, the Doctor soon grabs an elaborate rocket ship to get away. He's about to succeed in this journey that has taken several games to construct. But since Sonic has all the Chaos Emeralds, in a moment he's already in Super form, and on his tail. Eggman doesn't accept defeat, however, and launches a barrage of missiles to slow down the hedgehog - which almost works, but the outer layer of the rocket falls anyway. For the third time on the same sequence, another robot is ready to run as long as it is necessary. Despite his immense preparation, Robotnik's plan is ultimately foiled.
 
The most impressive about this example is that if only Sonic wasn't Super, Robotnik would have won. Each and every section shows his genius, and he proves to being a tough nut to crack. And that is but one of his plans, which also have included harnessing the power of gods, shattering the planet, taking control of the Wisps and sucking away their life forces, temporarily teaming up with Sonic to take his empire back... many of which were almost successful. Almost.
 
And even with all these failures, he shows no desire towards giving up. And every time he will be just as And every time he'll be just as brave, determined and charismatic, because nothing that happens will ever shake him. He is magnificent and brilliant. He is Ivo Robotnik, and nothing in the world will ever stop him for good.

[Spin Attaxx]

Yeah, this is a boring choice, but I'm going to go for Eggman. Like many, many others have said, it's cool how he's this hammy egomaniac who can get legit dangerous if you piss him off enough, and how all the things he's done and made, he did with nothing but his own intelligence and resources. That is dangerous; the fact that you can't hinder or limit intelligence or creativity.

 

I think his best showing of this is with Lost World - he took control of the Deadly Six, successfully kept them leashed and only ever lost control of them because of Sonic's actions, and after losing everything except Orbot and Cubot to them, he teamed up with Sonic and Tails because he knew they'd be able to defeat them, allowing him to swoop in with that giant mech he made earlier without the Six interfering and beat them. Not to mention, he pretty much came up with that plan on the spot.

 

Eggman - I.Q. of 300, and it shows.

[Adamis]

Well, Eggman is my choice for many reasons other people cited. I was impressed when his plan (almost) succeeded at the beginning of Unleashed. He tricked Super Sonic and broke the planet after all. He might be clownish at times and a big threat on occasions.

I also like Bowser, mostly because of his design. I like reptiles after all. He's big, has flamboyant red hair, cute and menacing at the same time and he's a king ! Respect ^^

[Winston]

Day 19: Favorite Antagonist

Dr. Neo Cortex

Yet another Crash Bandicoot character takes this spot. Sure, Cortex isn't the most threatening or dangerous looking guy, but behind it all he's pretty sinister and a genius. He's also fucking hilarious in Crash Twinsanity, which still stands as probably my favorite Crash Bandicoot tied with 2. Seriously, Cortex after Twinsanity is just the fucking best, he soon became my favorite Crash Bandicoot character after Twinsanity. Even in the Titans games, Cortex is the best part, it's like the writers focus on just Cortex being the main star, which is something I can't decline. Dr. Cortex is probably one of my favorite characters of all-time, and he is definitely my favorite antagonist. There are also alot others, such as Wheatley, the one and only Dr. Eggman, and Dr. Nefarious. Wow, that's weird, like all my favorite villains all have doctors in there names. But yeah, Cortex is certainly my favorite. 

[LATER BUDDY]

Day 19: Favorite Antagonist

 

Master and Crazy Hand (Super Smash Bros. Series)

 

 

Mainly focusing on Master Hand since Crazy Hand is just kinda a byproduct of him, but I feel like they're part of the same deal. Anyways, I always thought Master Hand was really fascinating since the original game had such a mysterious tone about it. The story is only told through action, and your mind tends to want to fill in the blanks. Are these hands representations of a child playing with his toys? Is Master Hand just a magical god-like figure bent on fighting and competition? Is Crazy representation of chaos and destruction while Master is building and life?

 

They're just so simple. Hands are complex body parts, and it's amazing how much character you can squeeze out of them. Their attacks are imaginative and just their idling movements are even full of personality. The hands being the final boss figure of the Smash Bros series just feels like a big fucking deal. They're king of all Nintendo in this world, to the point where at their amusement try to see which one of the Nintendo characters are the best of the bunch. Maybe it's looking to deep into it, but honestly this is why I love them so much, they're extremely fun to think about. Brawl's subspace gave Master Hand a bit more juice, and even was overshadowed by Tabuu, but my brain still sees Master Hand as a bigger deal than him for whatever reason.

 

IDK, it actually took me a few hours of looking through my games to see which game holds my favorite antagonist, and a few times I just put Smash Bros to the side, totally forgetting the Hands. After a lot of thought though, I really do love them above all else I guess, they're just too interesting to me.