How many characters exist in all the videogames? How many games- their stories, characters, themes- are in our yet-to-be-developed videogame canon?

Mario? Zelda? Metroid? The Nintendo greats?
Final Fantasy? Metal Gear? God of War? The games that made Sony a household name?
Halo? Gears of War? Fable? The titles that took Microsoft from PC to TV?
Sonic? Virtua Fighter? Vectorman? The fallen Gods of Sega digging back to the surface?
Megaman? Ninja Gaiden? Castlevania? The retro revivals that remind us of our roots?

Countless numbers and countless possibilities. Since videogaming started, we, as gamers, have carved out our own slice of life in the arts and entertainment field. Some people watch movies, some people read books, some listen to music.
I play videogames. I couldn't be happier.
But what's true about every art form? Every culture? It's not just that we have the titles we stand upon, but they we look up to them.

I'm talking about Heroes.

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Writing about a "Cast of Thousands" and picking one or a few characters is no easy task. I fell for and rode with countless characters, but the ones that mean the most to me are the Heroes, the ones that fight for something, the ones that have less in common with videogame roots and stereotypes (though many of my examples are classic/reborn characters) and more in common with mythological heroes of old, the stories mankind doesn't write anymore.

There are no more Beowulfs. No more Supermans. No more Batmans and Justice Leagues or Marvel characters either. Yes, there are "new" heroes in comics and games, but few really fit the classic stylings of true heroes. Hell, I really loved and identified with Grasshopper's "No More Heroes," because it's true. There are no more heroes; there are antiheroes and jackasses with lots of power.
The closest things we see to truly new American heroes (and other countries as well- pardon my Patriotism, but this is the angle I'm taking [also worth noting that my examples are Japanese in origin]) are things like "The Incredibles" or something.

A Hero is someone who fights for what is right, fights for what they believe in, fights for themselves, fights for others, fights against impossible odds while carrying the world on their shoulders, and wins. They don't need a complex plot to be likeable. In this case, they need a game that proves that they are a hero.
Let's get started.

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(Possible SPOILERS for any game series mentioned.)



1. Megaman
First and foremost, the Hero of Heroes. I've been playing Megaman since I was 2, barely able to hold the NES controller and learning how to jump and shoot at the same time. I didn't know it then, but I'd grow up with the blue bomber at my side.
The plot was always simple- Dr. Wily, Sigma, Doppler, Dr. Cossack, etc. had deployed 8 robot masters all over the world in an attempt to take over. Megaman always rose to the challenge and stopped them. Always. Yes, the plot of X became a little haywire and Eurasia slammed into the planet and all, but even then, X rose from the ashes, his sense of duty empowered by his sense of loss. He was determined to never fail again. The world went on, people died, and 100 years passed in which X fell from grace and Zero rose to stop him, finding out that it was an imposter all along and X never lost sight of who he was.
How many times will the world need saving? Does it matter? For the Megaman series, heroes are eternal, cyclical, and always there when they are needed. Even at the darkest of times, there was always that blue light.
(It's worth noting that part of my idolization of Megaman comes not just from his games but also the body of fanwork surrounding him. I don't mean the fanfictions, but in particular there is a music group called "The Protomen" that wrote a Rock Opera reimagining the story of Megaman in a very dark light [http://www.protomen.com/]. The music is grating to some, but at least read the lyrics.)



2. Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid
By this point, everyone is familiar with the saga of Metal Gear Solid, and everyone who cares knows exactly why Snake is here. He is a bit of a reluctant hero who would rather not fix other peoples' problems, but he does. He goes well out of his way to save the world from unimaginable threats posed by other humans and their creations rather than some-- okay, I just realized he's kindof like Megaman in this sense, but still- he saves the world. Again and again. Even in his aging condition in Metal Gear Solid 4, he does what no other man can do. They say in the game, time and time again, "If you were any other person, you would have been killed many times by now." We, as the players, laugh with him, cry with him, fall with him in defeat and rise with him in triumph, if only to meet another impossible crisis. We have watched Snake begin his career, his real life, as a young recruit, and gradually become the legendary Solid Snake, hero of Outer Heaven, Zanzibar Land, Shadow Moses, etc. We have watched him beecome a grizzled old veteran, struggling valiantly to pass on whatever good will he can to the new generations that follow him. But at what cost?
How much must a hero give each time he does his duty? What toll is exacted upon him, and what do they have to gain? Though his story is over, there's always that belief that says that Snake is always going to be there, ready to give himself up to save the world.



3. Ryu Hayabusa, Ninja Gaiden
Ryu's quest initially begins with a small-scale mission of vengeance for the murder of his clan. In his quest for vengeance, he stops a plot to destroy the world. Twice. What makes Ryu a hero is not necessarily his ability to save the world like this, but his sheer force of will.
Ryu never backs down. Ever. His indomitable spirit keeps brings him back from death and all the way to victory. His choices are not, "Success" or "Failure," but simply, "Success." No alternatives, no room for failure. Yes, all he has is his Ninja skill (and some throwaway bullshit about fiend blood and blah blah blah he's a fucking ninja that's all he needs), but no matter what the odds, he will win (unless the player is unable to succeed [this was infinitely more true prior to NG2's release]).
Dark Samurai that killed your village? Giant gun-limbed cyborg with a platoon of mercenaries? Giant tentacle monster? Undead dinosaur? Greater Fiend? An entire country's military force, including two tanks and a helicopter? Several giant worms and a giant flying undead thing? Dark Samurai again? Giant Ice-sloth? Fire dragon? Greater fiend again? Ghost of dark samurai? Even stronger greater fiend? The fucking god-emperor of this country? The undead version of said god-emperor? Your former mentor?
All dead. And that's just the first game.
A hero is nothing if he cannot succeed. What is required of a hero? Can they always win, again and again, without fail? Is there any task, any weakness, anything they cannot overcome? Ryu never fails, never falters, never leaves room for doubt and never plays with danger. He cannot afford even the thought of failure.



4. Zack Fair, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
I picked Zack over the rest of the cast because quite frankly I didn't give two shits about FFVII until Advent Children, and following that, Crisis Core. I didn't care about Cloud, Sephiroth, or any of that nonsense. But Zack? Zack is a different creature. Instead of some emo child whining about everything under the great blue sky (though I have a lot more respect for Cloud now), he was good-natured, happy-go-lucky, passionate, and true.
He was a Shinra SOLDIER, and thus was injected with mako that gave him the ability to use magic and do cool stuff. He wasn't always liked by the people he protected, but he would never forsake them. He was introspective, sometimes regretful, but he knew that he had to man up and face everything with courage and a sense of duty. His dream was to become a hero, however unlikely that may have been, and he never lost sight of it.
He didn't necessarily wish to fight, but he did want to be a hero, and would do whatever it took to prove it to the world. But the greatest quality of his was his completely down-to-earth nature. Zack was everybody's friend. He would have been all of our best friend. He was humorous, caring towards Aeris (/Aerith, whatever), and always helpful even when disrespected. Through the course of Crisis Core we travel with him on his journey of humanity and grow to be his friend, ever fearful of the inevitable end. Although I never cared for FFVII, seeing him leave Cloud at the end of Crisis Core to go sacrifice himself to save him was one of the saddest moments in any game I've ever played. Facing an immense army with nothing but his heart and thoughts of Aeris, he charged to his death, having saved the world and only a few people would ever even remember his name and his life, let alone thank him for what he had done for them. Even in the very end, his mind focused on nothing but Aeris as he struggled to lift his sword against a hail of gunfire- he never gave up.
A hero is selfless and may not even be like those they are fighting to protect- they may die in obscurity and their name may be cursed, but that will never take away from what they did for the world, or what they gave up to do it. He may have been more than the average human, but he never put himself above those he cared for.



5. Lenneth, Valkyrie Profile
Lenneth's addition to this list was tricky. I selected her among countless qualified RPG heroes partially because Valkyrie Profile is my favorite RPG, and partially because I can use her character to prove my 5th and final qualification of a true hero (Chrono/Serge and Frog/Glenn were next on my list, if you were curious).
Lenneth is something of a reluctant hero. Her role in the game is little more than her service to the God Odin as she sees it, and she does her job with hardly a care for anything more. To ensure her efficiency as a Valkyrie, Odin had locked away her memories of her tragic human life. Upon meeting up with her lost love Lucian, she remembers nothing of him, and tells him to forget that she ever existed. He reveals her memories to her, and suddenly her world is turned upside-down. She challenges the gods and their cruel enslavement of humans and suddenly finds herself defending mankind. Her tale ends with her facing off against Loki and Fenrir, who have already killed Odin and Surt and ended Ragnarok. Loki destroys the entire world to demonstrate his power. Lenneth is unpreturbed and conquers Loki, thereby earning the power of creation, and she reinstates the world, and reunites with Lucian.
She was powerful, but by no means a hero until she realized that she had something to fight for, a reason for living. Had she failed, all hope would have been lost. Through the power of her convictions, the world was saved and all was well.
A hero must know what is right, and must realize that injustice in any form must be stopped. I believe it was Abraham Lincoln (or somebody prominent [Alucard at the end of Castlevania: SOTN]) who once said, "All that is necessary for evil to triumph in this world is for good men to do nothing." Lenneth learned the error of her ways and fought to correct them, proving her to be a true heroine.

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Why are digital heroes important? More than just the fact that they are the Beowulfs and Batmans of our day, they exemplify a code to live by. I'm just a college student studying poetry. Am I a hero? No. Not today. Maybe not ever. But that's not going to stop me from living by the guidelines set forth by the characters that have defined my life up to now. Learn something from everyone you meet, even if they don't meet you, even if they are fake, even if they are a carefully-calculated collection of polygons and pixels programmed to do as we tell them to.

They're still Heroes in my book.

-Jynx

(Updated: Now with pictures.)