Side Characters Who Nearly Ruined The Entire Game
Side characters are meant to bring additional life to a game's world and story. They may serve as the motivating factor for the main character to perform heroic deeds. They may remind you that, hey, this guy or gal doesn't just fight evil all day — they have friends and family, too. Sometimes they simply exist to inject some comedy into things. If video games were movies, side characters would be the supporting actors and actresses. Some films would fall apart without those very important roles, and it's very likely the same would happen to some games if they didn't have side characters in the mix.
Some of the greatest games ever created lean on these friends, foes, and complete strangers. Unfortunately, not every side character is worth raving about. For every beloved party member or town villager, there's a despised ally or NPC that really grinds your gears. Here are some side characters who nearly ruined entire games.
Navi - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
"Hey! Listen!" If those words cause you to shudder, you're not alone. Navi is a fairy who is gifted to Link as a companion by the Great Deku Tree in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Some gift! On paper, she makes a good sidekick. She warns Link of danger or calls out items of importance. She also helps the player keep track of in-game objectives. But as helpful as she may be, her benefits are overshadowed by the irritation she causes.
The hate for Navi primarily boils down to her talkativeness. Fans dislike that she constantly pesters the player with information at times when it's not helpful. For example, when the player is doing a side quest, Navi will keep reminding them to go back to the main quest. Her long, unskippable blocks of text don't do her any favors either. When Navi parts ways with Link at the end of Ocarina of Time, you may just breathe a sigh of relief.
Ashley Graham - Resident Evil 4
Back in 2005, Resident Evil 4 was the game to play. It scored an impressive 96 on Metacritic. It won multiple Game of the Year awards from outlets like Spike and GameSpot. It's even listed among the best games of all time by IGN. In many ways, it seems like RE4 can do no wrong. But then there's Ashley.
Ashley Graham serves as Resident Evil 4's MacGuffin. Graham is the daughter of the President, and is kidnapped by Jack Krauser and held hostage by the Los Ilunimados cult in Spain. This forces the protagonist, Leon Kennedy, to come to her rescue. Upon retrieving her, however, you may want to quickly give her back. Many fans dislike her helplessness and constant cries of "Leon! Help!" (usually when Leon is already swarmed with baddies). Even worse, if you fail in safely escorting Ashley and she dies, it's an automatic game over.
Raiden - Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
In 1998, Metal Gear Solid released to massive critical acclaim and made a cult hero of Hideo Kojima. When Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty came out three years later, it had enormous shoes to fill, and the hype was epic. Imagine fans' surprise when, instead of the continuing adventures of macho man Solid Snake, Kojima pulled a bait-and-switch. In MGS2, Solid Snake only serves as the player character for a couple of hours. From then on, players take control of Jack, a.k.a. Snake, but he's most commonly called Raiden.
While Raiden's greatest sin is simply being not-Solid-Snake, there's plenty else about him that fans hate. Some are on the record calling him a "whiny brat" with an "annoying girlfriend" who somehow fails to be cool despite being a "cyborg ninja." Those that manage to finish MGS2 sometimes admit to having Raiden grow on them over time. Others, however, simply have no room in their hearts for Raiden whatsoever.
Slippy Toad - Star Fox 64
If you are easily annoyed by high-pitched, repetitive sounds, you'll want to steer clear of Star Fox 64. The blame for this falls squarely on the shoulders of Slippy Toad. Slippy is the Star Fox team's mechanic and the childhood friend of team leader Fox McCloud. His many inventions and his ability to show the player boss health levels make him an important member of the team, but many fans find it difficult to be grateful for his presence.
For starters, Slippy's voice is often thought of as "obnoxious" and "irritating." The fact that he's frequently crying for help due to a bogey he can't shake — or frequently being shot down and killed — only makes his voice seem worse. While it's true that not everyone hates Slippy, the animosity is widespread enough that Urban Dictionary even lists "Slippy Toad" as a slang term meaning "of poor quality."
Oerba Dia Vanille - Final Fantasy 13
Final Fantasy 13 is already a divisive game. Some fans love its original story and praise composer Masashi Hamauzu's score. Others hate the overly-linear structure and the repetitive gameplay. One of the game's biggest problem areas is its characters, who are said to lack personality and be burdened with bad dialogue. For many, the party's biggest offender is Oerba Dia Vanille, or simply Vanille for short.
Vanille joins the player's party after fleeing from the Purge, and right away, she makes an impact (and not in a good way). Fans dislike her overly-bubbly personality and her Australian accent — a first for an English Final Fantasy game. She also has the awkward habit of making vaguely sexual-sounding noises when fighting or catching her breath, and is known to randomly run into danger for no apparent reason. Some fans have even gone so far as to call her not only the worst Final Fantasy character, but the all-around worst character in existence.
Roman Bellic - Grand Theft Auto 4
Who wants to go bowling? Roman Bellic does, that's who. Anyone who has played Grand Theft Auto 4 knows that there's pretty much never a time when Roman doesn't want to go bowling or play darts with his cousin, Niko, the game's protagonist. These ubiquitous requests are one of the top reasons fans dislike this GTA 4 side character. In fact, there's even a parody song dedicated to Roman's needy pestering.
To be fair, Roman does play a crucial role in the story of GTA 4 by bringing Niko to Liberty City and giving the player some of their first missions (which mostly involve saving Roman from problems of his own making). He's enthralled with the idea of American success, which he interprets as riches, hot tubs, and women. While some fans appreciate Roman as comic relief and others feel sorry for how pathetic he is, many fans just flat out hate him.
The Dog - Duck Hunt
Admit it — everyone who has ever played the classic Nintendo game Duck Hunt has tried to shoot the dog at least once. In the game, the dog flushes ducks out of the grass at the beginning of each round. Should the player fail to shoot them down, however, the dog rewards that failure by laughing at the player. And it's not just 30- and 40-somethings that still bear a festering grudge against this animal. Even kids who didn't grow up being laughed at by the canine still hate it.
Despite all the rage he induces (or maybe because of it), the Duck Hunt dog has become a retro gaming icon and has even appeared as a character in the Smash Bros series. Perhaps cathartically, players actually can shoot the dog in Nintendo's VS. Duck Hunt arcade game. Don't worry, though — he only winds up with a soot-covered face and a broken leg. Who's laughing now, pooch?
Natalya Simonova - GoldenEye 007
The character of Natalya Fyodorovna Simonova originally appeared in the 1995 film GoldenEye. In the film, she's a Russian programmer who crucially helps James Bond destroy the GoldenEye satellite before it reduces the city of London to rubble. Her character was so beloved that IGN named her as one of its top-ten Bond girls. Surely people would also love Natalya in the video game adaptation of GoldenEye that released two years later, right? Not so much.
In the game, Natalya is captured by enemies several times, requiring the player to rescue her. But that's not nearly as aggravating as her propensity to run right into the player's line of fire, resulting in her death. Some fans find her so annoying that they admit to killing her on purpose. Others, however, have decided to find humor in the irritation and make fan videos dedicated to the laughably bothersome Natalya.
Tingle - The Legend of Zelda series
Tingle, a creepy, clownish man-child, has been a pervasive presence in The Legend of Zelda series since the release of Majora's Mask. It would be great if the player could simply avoid him, but in each game, Tingle has concocted a different reason why Link must seek him out. In Majora's Mask, you need him to sell you maps. In most of the other games, he hands out side quests. In The Wind Waker, Tingle actually starts off the game in jail, so it seems even NPCs in the series have a dislike for him.
Fans have called Tingle "ugly," "strange," and "annoying." In 2004, prior to the release of Twilight Princess, IGN launched a campaign to keep Tingle out of the new Zelda game. It was titled, "Die, Tingle, Die! Die!" That should tell you everything you need to know about Tingle's popularity with Zelda fans.
Tails - Sonic the Hedgehog series
When it comes to retro games, anything that helps the player fly (such as P-wings or blue Yoshis) is usually an enormous boon. So what went wrong with Tails? This twin-tailed fox cub began following Sonic around beginning with Sonic the Hedgehog 2. His two tails can be spun like a helicopter blade, allowing him to fly or to propel himself in the underwater levels, and he primarily serves as a support character for Sonic.
It's debatable how helpful Tails truly is, however. In underwater levels, he'll take Sonic's air bubbles for himself. In platforming sections, he'll cause scaffolding to move when the player least expects it. Because he shadows Sonic, there's a slight delay between the actions performed by Sonic and what Tails does after, which causes him to hit mines and other obstacles that Sonic would've cleared without him. All this combined with his high-pitched voice causes fans to find him extremely annoying.
Mr. Resetti - Animal Crossing series
When Aya Kyogoku — project lead for Animal Crossing: New Horizons – told Mashable that Mr. Resetti was "laid off from his position" thanks to the game's new auto-save feature, some fans actually felt a bit relieved. Since 2001, this grumpy mole had been scolding players who closed out of Animal Crossing without saving properly. While he offered a valuable service in past titles, his cantankerous attitude left a lot to be desired.
Many fans understandably got fed up with Mr. Resetti's lectures, and while not everyone had beef with him, some called him their most hated NPC. Others wished they could punch him in the face or use AR codes so that he wouldn't appear at all. If you think you'll get to play New Horizons without Mr. Resetti, however, think again. When players call the rescue service from their Nook phone, Mr. Resetti is the one who answers.
Baby Mario - Yoshi's Island
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island is arguably one of the greatest Super Nintendo games ever made. It's been called the "perfect" sequel and "perhaps the greatest platformer of all time." In the game, players must control Yoshi as he carries Baby Mario on a quest to rescue Baby Luigi, who has been kidnapped. The problem is that every time Yoshi takes a hit, Baby Mario lets out an ear-piercing, lung-bursting wail until the player comes to retrieve him out of his floating bubble.
Some fans have described Baby Mario's cry as "shockingly awful" and "easily the most annoying sound effect in any game." Others maintain their sanity by using Game Genie codes to disable the cry or change it to another sound. Still, others dive headfirst into the irritation and create videos that play the cry for hours on end (in case you are masochistic enough to actually listen that long).