Poll of video game characters
Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft has been named the most iconic video game character of all time. She was voted for in a poll to mark the 20th BAFTA Games Awards, which celebrate video games and the people who make them. BAFTA stands for British Academy of Film and Television Arts, a UK charity that supports film, television and games.
Lara Croft is the main character in Tomb Raider, which began as a video game in 1996. Since then she has starred in more games, films, television programmes, comics and books, and her video game adventures have sold a record-breaking 85 million copies. Shelley Blond, who was the voice of Lara Croft in the original Tomb Raider game, presented an award at the event, which took place on 11 April in London. “Lara is very special to me,” she said. “I love hearing stories from people around the world who played the game and channelled (imagined they were) Lara to escape their bullies or to help them feel stronger.”
Mario, hero of the Mushroom Kingdom, received enough votes to be named the second most iconic video game character. Created by Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, the cheerful plumber first appeared in the Donkey Kong game in 1981. Since then he has featured in more than 200 video games and two films. Miyamoto explained how he first created Mario. “I felt it was my job to draw a character with recognisable features, so if I draw a big nose and a moustache I don’t need to draw a mouth,” he said. “Also, if I draw a big hat I don’t need to draw hair.” Another Nintendo video game character, Link from
The Legend of Zelda, came seventh in the poll. The top 20 video characters were voted for by more than 4,000 video game fans around the world, and included Sonic the Hedgehog who zoomed into fourth place. Sackboy from LittleBigPlanet came fifth and Pac-Man sixth. Pikachu, the only Pokémon to appear on the list, was voted into the 12th spot.