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Curated playlist

Male characters in video games

  • Birdie (Street Fighter)Birdie, a Street Fighter character, went from pale to Black between games. Capcom said he had been ill.
  • Revolver OcelotRecurring character in Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear video game series published by Konami
  • Liquid SnakeFictional character from the Metal Gear franchise
  • Alex (Street Fighter)Alex entered a fighting tournament to kill the man who put his guardian in the hospital.
  • Solid SnakeHideo Kojima once planned for Solid Snake to die in Metal Gear Solid. Disappointed staff led him to change it.
  • Captain SawadaCaptain Sawada was invented to keep a fired Ryu actor in the 1994 Street Fighter film.
  • Akuma (Street Fighter)Akuma, a Street Fighter villain, was designed in just one hour. His face was modeled on a Buddha statue.
  • Gill (Street Fighter)Gill's body is split in red and blue, and the split changes how he fights. His abilities change with the way he faces.
  • Oro (Street Fighter)Street Fighter's Oro fights with one arm behind his back to keep matches fair. He is an ancient hermit.
  • James Sunderland (Silent Hill)In Silent Hill 2, James Sunderland smothers his dying wife with a pillow.
  • DhalsimDhalsim nearly had an elephant head in Street Fighter II. Capcom's designers modeled one draft on the Hindu god Ganesh.
  • Dante (Devil May Cry)Dante of Devil May Cry was almost a Western policeman. His early name was Tony Redgrave.
  • Albert WeskerAlbert Wesker begins the original Resident Evil of 1996 as an ally. As captain of a police special forces unit, he hands the player supplies and useful information. That helpfulness is a disguise. Wesker was created by the Japanese game…
  • ZangiefOne player's 85 straight wins with Zangief made Capcom weaken him in Street Fighter II.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog (character)Sonic the Hedgehog, the blue hero of Sega's video games, was tested on strangers in New York City's Central Park before most of the world had heard of him. The designer Naoto Ohshima carried several of Sega's internal character sketches on…
  • Leon S. KennedyLeon S. Kennedy is late for his first day of work, and the reason is a fight with his girlfriend. That detail comes from the manual of Resident Evil 2, the 1998 survival horror game from the Japanese company Capcom. Leon is a rookie police…
  • Big Boss (Metal Gear)In the original 1987 Metal Gear, the friendly radio voice guiding the player was the enemy.
  • Balrog (Street Fighter)Street Fighter's boxer Balrog is called M. Bison in Japan, where the M stands for Mike.
  • Ryu (Street Fighter)A 2019 study found Street Fighter's Ryu would need to move nearly 70 miles per hour to land his spinning kick.
  • Sean MatsudaSean Matsuda is a playable fighter in Capcom's Street Fighter series, and he exists because another character was not finished in time. While making Street Fighter III: New Generation, the development team realized they were running out of…
  • Pyramid HeadPyramid Head, the Silent Hill 2 monster, exists to punish one man: James Sunderland. He grows from James's guilt.
  • Seth (Street Fighter)Seth, a Street Fighter villain, is one of many androids built as spare bodies for M. Bison.
  • Vega (Street Fighter)Street Fighter II's Vega never removes his mask, and a Shakespeare character helped explain why.
  • Guile (Street Fighter)Guile has dictator M. Bison by the throat in Street Fighter II's ending. His wife's voice and his daughter stop him.
  • Ken MastersDaigo Umehara's Street Fighter Ken blocked and countered fourteen straight hits with 26 seconds left.
  • Mega Man (character)Mega Man was almost not called Mega Man. A Capcom USA executive called the Japanese name Rockman "horrible".
  • Cloud StrifeCloud Strife's heroic identity was built from a dead friend's life.
  • Kratos (God of War)Kratos, the scarred, ash-white Spartan at the center of Santa Monica Studio's God of War series, began as a set of rough drawings on restaurant napkins. Charlie Wen had forgotten his sketchbook, so he drew on whatever the table offered.…
  • Psycho MantisPsycho Mantis, a Metal Gear Solid boss, tells players to set their controller on the floor.
  • Dee JayDee Jay, a Street Fighter character, was designed by an American. James Goddard based his name on the nickname DJames.
  • F.A.N.G. (Street Fighter)F.A.N.G promised to beat his opponent in exactly two minutes. The Street Fighter V villain still ranked near the bottom.
  • Sagat (Street Fighter)Muay Thai fighter Sagat Petchyindee claims he inspired Street Fighter's Sagat. Capcom has never confirmed it.
  • Sodom (Final Fight)Capcom's Sodom tried to write the kanji for death on his chest and got it wrong.
  • MarioShigeru Miyamoto once reflected on a name he had considered for Mario and concluded that the character likely would have "disappeared off the face of the Earth." Mario is the mustached Italian plumber who stars in the Mario franchise and…

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