I'm glad Mario or Solid Snake didn't make that list.

As for the list itself, i'd have to agree with the majority, although Sonic and Lara Croft arn't that overrated really.

Well, I dunno, I actually like most of those characters. Either way, a good number of the so-called "overrated" characters he lists are just iconic, hence all the attention/love they get from the community (DK, Sonic, Croft).

Some of them, I didn't even know were that popular, like Chris Redfield and Altair. For me, Altair deserves attention for some of the reasons the author stated -- he's a bold leap away from the usual muscle-bound FPS protagonists. I also think he's some TASTEFUL eye candy, especially for lady gamers.

I'm surprised he named Marcus Fenix because I thought Cole Train was the more popular dude in the Gears franchise.

Also, I love Master Chief, so screw that.

I think nowadays the line between Overrated and Popular are slightly blurred. Does anyone agree?

No, I don't. Master Chief, Fenix, and Kratos are all overrated characters, MC being the most IMO. He is just a glorified space marine, however awesome any fanboy decides to paint him. Glad to see Solid Snake didn't make the list.

I don't see why Donkey Kong should be on that list. I don't think the reason why people like him is because of his tie.

quote Slumpy monkey

I think nowadays the line between Overrated and Popular are slightly blurred. Does anyone agree?

I also agree with that.

Any character who is good is generally overrated. The Joker; quite possibly one of the best villains to exist in comics. This does not change the fact that everyone bums him WAY too much. A character is good; they get popular; people start to bandwagon on the popularity; next thing you know they're overrated.

List mainly blows IMO.

Mario should be number 1, the ammount of spin-offs he's had makes him the most overrated character OF ALL TIME.

Kratos, Chief, Big Daddy, Altair and Lara Croft shouldn't be there ; ;

Lara Croft along with Samus are two of the best female heroes ever to hit gaming.

Seriously the list is BS.

The inclusion of Big Daddies makes this list trash. Not surprised at the inclusion of the faces of MS though. For every fan of Master Chief there's a dozen tools screaming "HOW CAN YOU BE A FAN OF HIM GRRRRRR OVERRATED." Saying MC is overrated is overrated. How about that one.

I agree with FinalFantasyFanatic (there isn't enough alliteration in Neo), Mario should be #1. As much as every typical fanboy hates Master Chief, he hasn't become a generic character just used to suck money out of kids in dozens of garbage spin offs. It's relentless.

Big Daddies ROCK. They aren't overrated,they are a slice of the entire character of Bioshock; RAPTURE.

lol at Chris Redfield being there, LEON is FAR more overated than Chris will ever be, what gives??

"We've met Leon Scott Kennedy, Chris. And you sir, are no Kennedy"

No he's not, Chris has a personality unlike Leon.

"And despite his awesome muscle mass, is Chris strongest of them all? Heck no! He can't even land a punch on Wesker without getting tossed across a room and thrown into a table."

The fact that Wesker is a superhuman with super speed, super strength, has a high intelligence, CAME BACK FROM THE DEAD, ripped of a certain movie franchise and has those kick ass glasses makes that a very very stupid comment.
VERY STUPID >.>
This list is dumb, it simply has popular characters not overrated....well Master Cheif being the only one I can see.
We suggest Chris ditch the 'roids and concentrate on getting the job done. Leon S. Kennedy is perfectly capable of laying waste to zombie hordes, and he doesn't even need a partner to help him.

"We suggest Chris ditch the 'roids and concentrate on getting the job done. Leon S. Kennedy is perfectly capable of laying waste to zombie hordes, and he doesn't even need a partner to help him. "
Umm....first of all wasn't it Sheva that needed to be watched constantly much like Ashely....except she's got GUNS??

And mercs, just blows that stupid comment out the window and into the trash.
If my post weren't large enough as is, I would've also pointed out that how the hell is DK,Sonic and Laura Croft on that list??
DK was popular in his day, barely passing to this day, Sonic is the same except now every game he's associated with results in dissapointment and hopless fans who still follow SEGA saying "next time will be better, next time WILL be better"
And Laura had to rebuild her reputation after that crappy Angel of darkness came out. She deserves to be the most respected game character of all time to come back from the grave like that.

Stupid list is stupidly stupid.

How is teh tomb raider overrated, if anything she's underrated..

Kratos? Over-rated? You've got to be shitting me. He hasn't even had that much of exposure unlike Sonic and other characters.

Donkey Kong is hardly overrated. His games are platforming legends. Sure there's some flops, but every franchise has it down lows. How is the *bleep*ing TIE relevant to him being overrated anyway? If you're going to bash a character, do it right and stop focusing on how he's dressed. It only makes you sound gay. And a lot of characters are in Super Smash Bros. that aren't necessarily huge. Take Pit for example. When was his last game? '83 or something? F that.

Altair has TWO GODDAMN GAMES PEOPLE. He can't be overrated if his franchise just started like a year and a half ago. Same with Big Daddies. How many times is Big Daddy used in pop culture? Yeah, 0 times. F you, IGN.

Pac Man IS pretty lame, I'm not gonna lie. Pac Man World 2 and 3 were pretty fun, though.

Chris Redfield? Wrong. Kratos? Wrong again, but still kind of overrated. Sonic is overrated, though. That series had its high points, but was really shot down. Lara Croft and Master Chief are super overrated though. Especially Chief.

Got to Admit. A few of the characters on there well deserve it. Pac-Man, Sonic, Fenix and The Redwall guy or something should really just...Stop trying.

Chris Redfield? Overrated? I am willing to bet my bank account that half the people that bought RE5 never even heard of the *bleep*er until they played this one (or read any other RE Retrospective article), after they whined to hell and back that Leon wasn't going to make an appearance.

Looking at the Kratos part, all the author did was give the most cynical overview of God of War and attempted to paint Kratos as some sort of stereotype. Nice tactic, you can do the same with ANYTHING you wanna argue against and STILL SOUND CORRECT.

The sad part is that they blame Kratos of being too perfect but also blame Chris for not being as perfect as Leon.

Duhhh...?

quote

Lastly, for anyone out there who believe that Link or Mario should be on the list? You - You're some kind of wrong person. Get that looked

You're an idiot.

I refuse to give up and let him die. One day. One day... *twitch* :3

I'll have to admit though, the present games don't work well...

Sephiroth should be at the top of that list.

i quite liked this article, master chief is over rated, and i did only like Halo 3 for the catchy music.
i also think Gordon Freeman would of made a much better Master chief, although suprised hes not on the list himself.

i also got the impression that the writers were trying to state that the characters were overrated because they didnt deserve there hype purely because as characters solely, they dont add much to there games, through dialogue, opinions, or just general characterization.

Kratos might be a stereotype, but he's the best damn stereotype in videogaming at the moment.

What? This is IGN's worst article yet! Sonic at 3? DK on it?

i love how they said that chris redfield hides behind leons shadow considering chris was in RE first and they made leon look like a faggot emo with his hair. leons a bad ass too though

The line between popular and overrated things is definitely blurred.

quote

Another top ten list, folks

Exactly, and it's full of opinions and narrow-minded viewpoints, as it almost always is.

I didn't care for the list. Highly inaccurate with some pretty poor choices. I was surprised Sephiroth or Cloud wasn't on the list. But DK? Sonic? Give me a break.
Lara, yes.
Fenix, probably.
The Chief, not really so much the franchise itself.
Kratos, I guess so
Chris, umm no. He has only been in 3 games dumb asses.

Ill buy DK and pacman, the others not so much

I be thinkign taht da Ch33f R $o0par cooL

so you kan ki$$ mai azz

I AM MASTAR CH33f, Bro

(arby n the chief reference for those who arent with the times)

lmao, this list is almost complete bs.

how come Sonic is near the top and no Mario? that's ridiculous. and how come Donkey *bleep*ing Kong is xD?? he's a legend ffs.

and Lara Croft is awesome, she deserves to be that popular.