Lara Croft, the star of Core Design, Crystal Dynamics, and Eidos-Montréal’s action-adventure series, is the most iconic video game character of all time, according to the results of BAFTA’s latest Players’ Poll, which were published this week following the contributions of 4,000 gamers. Shelley Blond, Lara Croft’s original voice actress, will present an award at this year’s BAFTA Games Awards, on Thursday, April 11.
Top 20 Most Iconic Video Game Characters of All Time, ranked in order of votes received:
- Lara Croft (Tomb Raider)
- Mario (Super Mario)
- Agent 47 (Hitman)
- Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic)
- Sackboy (LittleBigPlanet)
- Pac-Man (Pac-Man)
- Link (Legend of Zelda)
- Master Chief (HALO)
- Kratos (God of War)
- Shadowheart (Baldur’s Gate 3)
- Arthur Morgan (Red Dead Redemption 2)
- Pikachu (Pokémon)
- Steve (Minecraft)
- Solid Snake (Metal Gear Solid)
- Crash Bandicoot (Crash Bandicoot)
- Cloud Strife (Final Fantasy VII)
- Astarion (Baldur’s Gate 3)
- Kazuma Kiryu (Yakuza)
- Ellie Williams (The Last of Us)
- Nathan Drake (Uncharted)
Blond told the BBC in a recent interview:
- “What’s so iconic about Lara Croft is the fact that she is a female lead in a video game.”
- “She’s all about girl power and female empowerment. She’s at the forefront, she is what the adventure is.”
- “I’ve heard so many stories and that is a magical thing, which I don’t think a little yellow face eating circles – or a hedgehog – could do.”
Blond with Lara’s original and very first model, Nathalie Cook, back in 2021:
BAFTA on Croft:
Lara Croft first appeared in Tomb Raider for the Sega Saturn in 1996, nearly three decades ago, and has since been remastered and evolved several times for television, film, video games and even her own live immersive experience in London, England. Lara Croft has appeared in over 15 games, three films, multiple novelisations and comic book adaptations, and an upcoming Netflix animated series. This year alone, Tomb Raider I–III Remastered was released across multiple platforms and the highly anticipated Netflix TV show Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft is scheduled for release later in the year.
Discussion (14 replies)
Join Discussion →Laura Croft always had the best assets.
Not after the reboot, and the reboot reboot will probably be as androgynous as they think they can get away with.
Looking at the list, it is obvious that many just chose their favorite character, not necessarily an iconic one. 2 from Baldur's Gate 3? lol
4,000 is too small of a sample when Gamers number in the billions.
As usual I dont agree with this list (I also had issues with the "zwaarste lijst" where 22% of the 66 songs were from Belgian groups, not disrespect for local musicians, but no way in hell are there not better songs then those), but most chars seem to be from pretty big franchises.
Not having char's with a name or personality is hurting some franchises like Doom I suppose
I don't even bother reading lists put out by mainstream outlets. I know it will not be representative of the actual broad audience.
I was thinking ever since this came up who I'd choose as the most iconic character.
And finally I think I have the answer:
Duke Nukem didn't make the list, huh?
Aint no way more people know Lara Croft than Mario or Pikachu. Aint no way.
I'd like to know how they came up with this list.
Did they ask the participants to name a video character and most said Tomb Raider? (Tomb Raider isn't a character by the way. Its the name of the game anyway)
Did they conjure up a list of their own and tell people to pick the one they know? and did this list have pictures of the characters?
The only way I can see to really find out who is the most iconic character is to ask people to name a video game character. Or show them a list of ALL the video game characters that can possibly make the list and tell people to name all the ones they know.
Imo you first do a vote to create a short list and then let the people vote again on their top 3 or something.
So, where's Ryu, Ken, Guile, Kazuya, Bison, Peach, Bowzer, Sub-Zero, Chun-Li, Kirby, Mega-Man, Samus and so many others
While Lara does belong to the top of the list, no way she's Numero uno.
If we're talking resistance to gravity alone I would think Cami from Street fighter would be up there.
If we allowed non-humanoid characters then Shodan would also be up there.
Sam Fisher, Max Payne, G-Man
Lord British ... anyone?
No Donkey Kong?