From Number1Son:
Villains add a certain air to the story of a game. They give you motivation to keep playing, at the very least to see what sort of awesome boss fight they will get you into at some point. This post is probably going to be a longer one, because I am going to count down The Top 9 Most Evil Video Game Characters (if you're wondering why top 9 and not top 10, it's because I could not really think of another villain who would really fit on this list).
Now, there are two rules for this list so if a certain villain is not on the list, it is probably because of one of these two reasons. 1. The character must have originated in a video game (so Darth Vader or Joker do not count). 2. The character's place on the list can only be determined by games I have played, not seen on YouTube. Finally, some guidelines for my decisions: I consider random evil (evil that serves no purpose other than to amuse the villain) more evil than planned evil (evil that goes towards a certain goal, such as taking over the world). Also, any thing that the villain did that I find funny, any time they work towards a good cause (not by accident), or made me feel sorry for them lowers them on the list. So, with that said, let's start the countdown.
9. King Dedede (Kirby series)
King DDD (my abbreviation) is the tyrranical ruler of Dream Land, the place where Kirby lives. The reason he takes the lowest spot is that he's mostly a bully, and spends most of his time going after Kirby, rather than trying to take over the world. Probably the most evil thing he did (and the main reason he's on this list at all) was steal all of the food from Dream Land in Spring Breeze (part of Kirby Superstar Ultra). Most of the other stuff he did he was possessed (like in the recent Kirby's Epic Yarn), or for a good cause (example: he shut off all of the dreams in Dream Land in order to prevent an evil entity from escaping) and I can't hold these things against him.
8. Marquis de Montalban (Sid Meier's Pirates!)
Montalban is the main antagonist of this game. He is an evil Spanish noble to whom your family was indebted. However, he sank the fleet carrying the money which would have paid the debt before demanding that the debt be paid immediately. Being unable to pay, the rest of your family is taken away by the Marquis, while you escape to get revenge. As further proof of this man's evil, every single person in the game refers to him as evil. I'm not joking, no one ever says "Marquis de Montalban is here," they say "the evil Marquis de Montalban is here." His ship even announces it, when you look at the name of his ship before attacking it, it will typically say something along the lines of "Marquis Montalban EVIL." However, I put him somewhat lower on the list because while this is pretty evil, the other people on this list do worse, and he does fully repay you (albeit at sword point), but he does repay you, which is more than some villains can say.
7. Giovanni (Pokemon Red Version and all other versions/remakes)
Giovanni is the boss of Team Rocket, an evil organization dedicated to stealing Pokemon, and . . . not much else so far as I can tell. Really, the main reason he got on this list as opposed to other Pokemon villains who try to destroy the Time-Space continuum, is that Team Rocket (under his orders) kills a Pokemon (something which is virtually impossible, they are the only ones to have accomplished it). This leads me to believe that Giovanni has made some sort of demonic pact to acquire Dark Magic, either that or he has a machine gun, which is basically the same thing in the Pokemon world. Other than that, however, he's basically a mob boss, and he does leave, disbanding Team Rocket, willingly (although he does say that he will return).
6. Wilfre (Drawn to Life and Drawn to Life: the Next Chapter)
Wilfre is the main antagonist of these two games (which I plan to review at some point). He was originally a Raposa (the creatures living in the game's world) but he got it into his head that if he drew in the Book of Life (the book in which you, the Creator, drew everything in the world) he could make things better. Naturally, this plan goes horribly wrong, and in frustration, Wilfre tears all the pages out of the book before fleeing to command the forces of darkness. The sun disappears and the other inhabitants of the village leave. In the second game he returns from the dead to steal all of the color from the world to do . . . something. To be honest, I'm not sure what his plan is or why in the second game, since he mostly says "You don't understand" every time he is questioned, so I hardly count this plan since it does little more than inconvenience people. I rate him lower also because his first plan mostly inconveniences people too, although it is more threatening, and he only manages to actually kill (or for that matter, harm in any way, shape, or form) one person in either game. The reason that he is this high is that his ambitions are higher than the other guys below him.
5. Bowser (do I really have to say what series?)
Everyone knows about Bowser, so you might be surprised to see him this low. Well, in recent years, Bowser has taken on a more comical role in many games, and has actually joined forces with Mario once or twice (Super Paper Mario comes to mind), although this counts somewhat less since he does do it out of self interest. Also, his plans mostly involve kidnapping Princess Peach, and this would probably cause her untold psychological damage if not for the fact that he's been doing this for 25 years now, and she's gotten used to it. Sometimes, however, he really pulls out a much darker side. In Super Mario 64 trapped all the inhabitants of Peach's Castle inside the walls. In Super Mario Bros 3 Bowser had his children turn seven kings into various animals, no doubt causing massive amounts of panic and confusion. In Super Mario Galaxy, Bowser attacks Toad Town during a celebration, encasing numerous Toads in crystals and leaving the town in flames before pulling Peach's Castle right out of the ground. He then goes on to try and reshape the entire universe into his empire. So, while he may be comical and even an ally at times, there certainly are darker parts which you should beware in the Koopa King's head.
4. Darth Malak (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic)
Malak lived about 4000 years before the events of the movies and led the Sith armies in their conquest of the galaxy. At first, however, he was the Sith apprentice of Darth Revan, the Republican hero of the Mandalorian Wars. However, jealous of Revan's position as Dark Lord of the Sith, Malak seized the first opportunity he saw to take power and wage a much more brutal war. He was far worse than Revan, who would often leave planets intact for future use, while Malak would simply attack and destroy everything. He ordered the orbital bombardment of two separate planets without regard to civilian (or Sith) casualties, and one of these planets had been under his control for a significant amount of time (he bombarded it to rubble to eliminate one Jedi that was hiding somewhere on the surface. He does horrible things, but as I explained earlier, I consider random evil worse than planned evil, and Malak does almost none of it, the closest he comes being mocking the main character for not knowing something (massive spoiler, so I can't say what), and some of the top people do a lot of this.
3. Ganondorf (Legend of Zelda series)
Ganondorf is probably the second most well known video game villain of all time (somewhat behind Bowser). He wields one third of ultimate power, the Triforce of Power, and he puts this to good use in his attempts to conquer Hyrule. He will go to any length to acquire the other two pieces of the Triforce, including possessing other people, burning towns, and turning their inhabitants into his zombie minions. Over the years he has conquered much of Hyrule multiple times. He has frozen the home of the fishy Zoras twice (Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess), woken up the draconian arch enemy of the Gorons and threatened to feed the entire race to the dragon (Ocarina of Time), gone on a rampage so horrible that Hyrule had to be flooded (before Wind Waker) and other atrocities. Whenever something awful happens in Hyrule, there is a 50% chance he's behind it somewhere. Even still, his title is the King of Evil, and this alone would have gotten him the top spot if not for the fact that I do feel somewhat sorry for him. In Wind Waker, he explains his motivations: his people lived in the desert and he wanted to move them to the green fields of Hyrule for their own good, but became corrupted somewhere along the way.
2. Saix (Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days)
Saix is a member of Organization XIII, a group of 13 people who have no hearts which is dedicated to regaining their hearts. Their main plan is to use Sora, the main character, to kill creatures called Heartless, which will create Kingdom Hearts, which would give them hearts. The interesting thing about Saix is that he is the only person on this list who is not the main antagonist, he actually out-evils the main antagonist, mostly through random evil. Saix actually does very little to further his goal, and mostly spends his time messing with Sora and other characters. In Kingdom Hearts II he does one of the most evil things I've ever seen in a video game. When Sora learns that the Organization has his best friend Kairi, he asks to be taken to her. Saix demands a demonstration of how much he cares, and Sora responds by getting on his knees and begging to be taken to Kairi. Saix says something along the lines of "You really do care. In that case (my bold), the answer is no." You could argue that he was doing it to make Sora mad and kill more Heartless, but 2 minutes later Sora comes to the conclusion that he cannot stop killing Heartless even if it helps the Organization, making this action completely useless. In the other game 358 Days, he frequently verbally abuses Xion, a friend of Roxas (the main character for that game). Whenever she messes up, Saix refers to her as "it," "useless," or "broken." He does this in front of Roxas, despite his frequent demands that Saix stops (I'm not sure, but he may actually do it more after knowing that Roxas does not like this). He is truly awful, and the only reason he is out of the running for 1st place is that I do feel sorry for them. More than anything, Saix does want his heart, and after killing him, you watch a poignant scene where Saix pleads with Kingdom Hearts to give him a heart (almost makes me feel bad for killing him, almost).
1. Nergal (Fire Emblem 7)
Nergal was once a sorcerer and a friend of a wise old man (think Father Christmas from Narnia crossed with Gandalf from Lord of the Rings) named Athos. However, he discovered how to drain the very essence of a person's being and turn it into power for himself. Athos found out and attacked Nergal, who fled to try and destroy the world by opening the Dragon's Gate, unleashing several angry dragons on a defenseless world. In the process he does several horrible things, mostly involving two children named Ninian and Nills. These two are held captive so they can act as the key to the Dragon's Gate. This alone causes untold emotional trauma and fear, but this is just the beginning. He kidnaps the father of the main character Eliwood to gain more power. Eliwood eventually saves Ninian and Nills, only to have his father die, shortly after reuniting with him. From there Nergal once again kidnaps Ninian, and tricks her into changing into her true form (a dragon), making her forget everything except her desire to be with Eliwood, so she goes to him only to be killed (turns out he doesn't recognize her). Nergal shows up again, ostensibly to kidnap Nills to use his power, but just spends at least 5 minutes mocking Eliwood for accidentally killing Ninian before leaving without Nills. Even with his dying breath, Nergal tries to lash out at the world by summoning three dragons. Nergal is simply awful. He does both kinds of evil, planned and random, causes untold psychological damage to several people, and is almost single-handedly the reason I think Fire Emblem 7 is the saddest video game I have ever played. I also feel absolutely no sympathy for Nergal. You could argue that he is a tormented soul, tortured by what he perceived as the betrayal of his friend. You could argue that IF HE HAD A SOUL! Trust me, at this point, that is highly debatable.
And so, that is my list of the nastiest bad guys to ever be in a video game. If you think a certain character should have been on this list but wasn't, please remember the two rules I had to even be considered for this list. I also was trying to avoid putting multiple people from one series on the list (like two Mario villains).
In all, I'm glad that these guys are fictional.
This was a fun read. So many of the games I've played over the years when I think about it had really no bad guy presence.
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