Facebook – Top 100 FAVORITE Video Games: “…Because Good is Dumb”

A good game narrative has to have someone on the opposing side of the player character, someone to wage battle after battle against. Without someone interesting on the other side of the line between good and evil, the player has little motivation to keep playing. Stopping some world-ending plot is essential, in this way.

So, who are my 10 favorite bad guys in gaming? Well, let’s go!

Top 10 Antagonist(s) in Video Games:

10. Saren (Mass Effect)

you can convince this guy to shoot himself!

There are a number of reasons to like Bioware’s first major bad guy in the ME series, but primary amongst them is his ultimate level of bad-assness upon a flying platform. The guy flies around like a Green Goblin clone (so, like Hobgoblin, I guess) and answers to the Reapers, that super-sentient race of machines that wants to destroy everything in the universe. Cool guys, those. But its his arrogance based upon being a Specter that really makes him interesting, because he thinks he can get away with anything. And, for the most part, does!

9. Eve (Parasite Eve)

this chick eventually melts to death!

What makes Eve so interesting is that she totally destroys Melissa, the chick whose body she takes over. Once Eve pops up, that chick is dead. 100%. In video games, you usually at least know the person who becomes evil, but Aya didn’t know this chick at all, she was just some singer. At the end of the game, there’s no talk of even saving her, just destroying Eve. When Eve finally melts in a puddle of herself, no one sheds a tear for Melissa, the optimistic opera singer. Alas!

8. Darth Malak (Knights of the Old Republic)

pre-vader headgear

Darth Malak gets points right out the gate for being a dick. I mean, that’s all he is; a power-hungry dick. At least Palpatine wanted to lead the galaxy. He wanted power, sure, but he wanted to run it all. Malak – for all you ever get to really know him – just wants to fuck up Jedi everywhere he can. Also, he gets immediate bonus points for blowing up the worst starting level of any game, ever: Taris. If I ever have to go back to Taris in any game, ever, I’ll kill myself. Force bless you, Malak. You ugly, jawless bastard.

7. The Turks (Final Fantasy VII)

plus i’d screw elena 100%

Not the primary antagonists of the game, true, but these guys are so much fun as hired enemies. Each one has a different skill set and each one brings something different to the table in relation to commentary on the events taking place in the world. And, for the love of crap, at one point they stand around talking about whether or not Tifa or Aeris is hotter. They have started to become comic relief, for the most part, in all extended “Compilation” materials, but seeing Reno and Rude together at any time is a treat, in my book.

6. Wesker (Resident Evil series)

not pictured: wesker sleeping with the ultimate failure

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Wesker – while not the best antagonist in any game, ever – is the most annoyingly difficult to defeat. At least mainstay enemies like Bowser and – coming up – Ganondorf get beaten every time. Wesker just vanishes and is always mentioned, even in games where he isn’t seen. Resident Evil 4 doesn’t even have any need to name-drop him, but there goes Ada Wong, shooting her mouth about him. By the time 5 came around and you finally get to kill the fucker, its a breath of fresh air, but all events leading up to that were a confusing mess of fun and plot holes.

5. Ganondorf (Legend of Zelda series)

bwa ha ha ha

A timeless enemy with a thirst for power. Sounds like… a very stereotypical enemy. But what sets this guy apart is his recent interactions with Link, Zelda, and the world of Hyrule. I mean, in Twilight Princess he isn’t even seen in game-time until the final acts, and in Wind Waker he seems like a mysterious old man with great power, rather than a tyrannical jackass that runs around on a black horse. Plus, usually he manages to take over the world at some point, like in Ocarina of Time. I mean, that’s impressive.

4. The Combine (Half-Life 2)

jus’ sittin’ here, gettin’ older every minute

So these assholes show up and take over the planet in less than a day, then run it into the ground over the following years. One of the things that makes them so interesting, though, is their namesake: by “combining” the human race into their own force, they take over Earth in a much more efficient manner. Using scare tactics to turn humans into Overwatch and by gutting and mentally destroying others to turn them into slaves, the Combine are real dicks. Of further note, they’d done it to the Vortigaunt race prior to the events of the first game.

3. GLaDOS (Portal)

[some cake joke]

This one is easy; no better villain has been written in the past few years of gaming. Comical, homicidal, and overly calculating, GLaDOS earns points for being horrifying while being hilarious. And, when you finally meet up with her at the end of Portal, you get to understand many of the things she’s done to Aperature Science since the time before the game even started. She’s one messed up bitch and, with any hope, written just as well in Portal 2.

2. Shodan (System Shock series)

“haackerrrrrrr”

People that don’t give Shodan props either haven’t played System Shock 2 or they are jerks. And stupid. Every moment of Bioshock is based on System Shock 2, with all the twists about the bad guy being ripped right from the way Shodan treats the player, years before. Creepy as shit, Shodan irks the player into following orders that benefit her as well as keeping the player alive. She basically works you into helping her at the same time, leading to the final, inevitable confrontation that – with any hope – won’t be the final one, forever.

1. Kefka (Final Fantasy VI)

why so serious?

Say what you will about me not giving this – or any – spot to Sephiroth from FFVII, but the fact of the matter is that Kefka is the best Final Fantasy antagonist in the series, and the best in gaming history. The guy just likes death and destruction, even accomplishes destroying the world. And all with a smile on his face! The power-mad clown poisons towns because its quick and easy (and dirty) and doesn’t give a rats ass who dies to get what he wants. Plus, he’s got an epic final-battle song. Oh, and an epic final battle, too!

Honorable Mention: Dalton (Chrono Trigger)

the once and future king

Liking Dalton is easy, if for other reason than the fact that he, like Red Bull, gives you wings. That’s right, the Epoch wouldn’t be able to fly around if this guy hadn’t gotten a hold of it. Queen Zeal’s top enforcer thinks himself ruler of the world for a small time, but not before being thrust into a time portal by accident. What happened to him after that? Its all debatable, but what isn’t is how funny he was and how he belched as an attack. Also, he could summon those goddamned golem twins. Those goddamned twins…

))((As always, sound off with your favorite bad guys in gaming, and tell me how wrong I am! I love it!

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Added April 4, 2017
This is an incredibly solid list of bad guys, though these days I’d likely want to find a place for Asriel from Undertale in there. Or The Player, if you know what is up.