In any video game with a story, even a simple story like an oldNESgame, the main protagonist is ostensibly supposed to be the character you like and relate to the most. Of course, everyone has their own preferences when it comes to character archetypes, and even if you like the protagonist, that doesn’t mean they’re your favorite.
Maybe your favorite, most recognizable character in a game is a sidekick, an NPC, or even the antagonist. Anyone who isn’t the main protagonist could be considered a “supporting character,” but it’s within the supporting cast that you can find some of gaming’s most beloved icons.
Many supporting characters over the years have risen to a place of prominence just as high as the main characters. In many cases, these characters become so well-liked, that the developers and publishers see the writing on the wall and decide to give them proper, playable roles.
Even if we get to play as these characters nowadays, though, it’s always important to know your roots, and the humble supporting beginnings each character came from.
To differentiate this list from similar ones, we’re specifically gunning for characters who started out in supporting roles before being made fully playable in some capacity.
10Alyx Vance
Half-Life Series
Half-Life 2
Not long intoHalf-Life 2, Gordon Freeman encounters Alyx Vance, daughter of Eli Vance and his de facto assistant and comrade. Considering we never actually see Gordon’s face or hear his voice in the entire game, Alyx is all but the official “face” of Half-Life 2 as the most consistently recurring supporting character.
In both Half-Life 2 and its two follow-up episodes, Alyx remains merely a supporting character, albeit a very capable one who can actually support you in both combat and exploration with her special pistol and hacking tool, respectively.
In Half-Life: Alyx, though, she finally gets to be the main playable character, as it’s a prequel to Half-Life 2 and Gordon is still floating around the cosmos with G-Man somewhere.
Alyx is arguably the most capable character in the entire Half-Life series. Frankly, if we weren’t Gordon, we probably would’ve been her from the start. She fights well, she’s intelligent, and she has an interesting throughline in the main story, what with her dad being kidnapped and all. Now if only we could play Half-Life: Alyx without a VR setup…
Super Mario Series
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
During the development of Super Mario Land 2, Nintendo designs were looking to provideMariowith a new kind of antagonist, someone diametrically opposed to him rather than just another evil despot; the Pete to his Mickey, the Bluto to his Popeye. As it turned out, all they needed to do was flip the M in his name to a W, and the rest wrote itself in the form of Wario.
Wario, whose name is both an obvious inversion of Mario’s and a play on the Japanese word for bad, “warui,” was Mario’s perfect antithesis. He was just as athletic and capable, but he was greedy, weird-looking, and mean-spirited.
Following his initial antagonistic roles in Super Mario Land 2 and the Japan-only Mario & Wario, Wario started getting his own games, beginning with Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3.
While Wario doesn’t play the main antagonist much anymore, I always enjoy seeing him show up to offer Mario and company a bit of grief, and I especially like getting to play as him. I like Mario fine, but it’s also kind of fun to play as a huge jerk sometimes.
8Meta Knight
Kirby Series
Kirby’s Adventure
Meta Knight first appeared in the second mainKirbygame, Kirby’s Adventure on the NES, where he serves as one of the game’s bosses and a guardian of a piece of the Star Rod.
He’s a very mysterious chap, always wearing his signature mask and cape and flanked by an entire flying battleship and army of minions. Also, in the Kirby anime, he kind of sounds like Antonio Banderas, which is awesome.
While Meta Knight has never had a game all to himself, unfortunately, he has had plenty of smaller playable roles. In Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland, you could unlock an entire extra mode where he was the protagonist, and in other games like Return to Dreamland, he’s a consistent ally to Kirby throughout the whole adventure, whom you can control alongside King Dedede and Bandana Waddle-Dee.
Obviously, Kirby games have never been much for detailed characterization, but just having a mysterious masked swordsman in an otherwise cute and pastel environment makes Meta Knight distinct enough to be noteworthy.
He was certainly noteworthy enough to be added to Super Smash Bros., where he became the bane of the community’s collective existence thanks to his spammy kit.
Sonic The Hedgehog Series
Sonic the Hedgehog 3
If you want to get technical about it, the first timeSonic the Hedgehoggot a major rival character was Metal Sonic in Sonic CD, but that’s a pretty minor example.
Sonic’s first real rival came one year later with the release of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and the introduction of Knuckles the Echidna. Knuckles, who has been tricked by Dr. Robotnik into thinking Sonic is after his Master Emerald, harasses and battles Sonic throughout the game as its secondary antagonist, complete with an obnoxious laugh.
Unlike some other supporting characters, Knuckles wouldn’t have to wait long to land a more prominent role, as he became fully playable in Sonic & Knuckles that same year, and even got his own game, Knuckles’ Chaotix, a year later. Since then, Knuckles has been a mainstay of the series, usually tagging along with Sonic and Tails for the adventure of the day.
Knuckles’ characterization has been surprisingly consistent throughout the Sonic series. He’s strong-willed and loyal, but he’s also gullible and a bit of a luddite. The last time he was tricked by Eggman was in Sonic Adventure, unless you count him also being tricked in the second Sonic movie, though the movies also do a good job of carrying his other consistent personality traits.
6Johnny Gat
Saints Row Series
Saints Row
InSaints Row(thegoodone), the titular Third Street Saints gang is headed up by Julius Little, with Johnny Gat and Troy Bradshaw serving as his primary lieutenants.
Johnny, in particular, is one of the most noteworthy members of the gang, with a seemingly boundless potential for wanton violence and destruction that could only be pointed in the right direction rather than controlled.
Johnny was seemingly killed offscreen at the start of Saints Row The Third, though it turns out he was just abducted by aliens, from whom he was rescued in Saints Row 4. Finally, in Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell, Johnny got to be the playable protagonist to rescue the Boss from Hell. He was also a playable DLC character in Agents of Mayhem, for whatever that’s worth.
While I think perhaps Johnny’s presence in any given Saints Row game was a bit too overhyped for his own good, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like the guy. He’s skilled and charismatic, and he’s got a penchant for great one-liners. His major beatdown of Shogo Akuji in Saints Row 2 still gives me chills.
5Goro Majima
Like A Dragon Series
In the very firstYakuzagame, Goro Majima, head of the Tojo subsidiary Majima Family, is introduced as a superior officer to our hero, Kazuma Kiryu. He’s completely bonkers from the word go, beating one of his subordinates within an inch of his life with an umbrella.
He’s a minor recurring antagonist throughout the game, contriving various reasons to get into fistfights with Kiryu for the fun of it.
Majima would continue to be a major player in the overarching story of the series throughout subsequent games, either picking fights with Kiryu or offering him help with the yakuza conspiracy of the day, mood permitting.
He finally got his first playable role in the prequel Yakuza 0, and following that immensely popular appearance, got a playable side role in Yakuza Kiwami 2, and finally, his very own game in Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii.
It’s been interesting seeing Majima’s arcfrom the start of the seriesover the years, especially after the series became more popular in the west following Yakuza 0.
Those who started with that game were a little put off by his shrieking spidermonkey behavior in subsequent entries, but eventually you start to see the lines between his two personas and appreciate the lengths he goes to maintain them both.
4Miles Edgeworth
Ace Attorney Series
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy
In the originalAce Attorneygame, Phoenix Wright’s primary rival in the courtroom was Miles Edgeworth, prosecutor extraordinaire. Unlike Nick’s honest and straight-laced approach, Edgeworth never hesitated to play dirty, telling witnesses to withhold information and updating autopsy reports at the last minute.
This lasted until the game’s last case, when Edgeworth himself was framed for murder by the game’s true antagonist, veteran prosecutor Manfred Von Karma. Following this incident, Edgeworth went on a journey of self-discovery, with Nick incorrectly assuming he had fled from his career.
He returned at the end of Justice for All after Franziska Von Karma was shot, and in Trials and Tribulations, he finally became the playable protagonist, filling in for Nick while he was incapacitated. Edgeworth finally reached full main hero status in the Ace Attorney Investigations series of spin-off games.
Edgeworth’s character arc is definitely one of the most interesting parts of the original Ace Attorney and the series overall. Even after he mellows out, he never stops being Nick’s rival or working as a prosecutor. It’s just that, rather than simply winning the case, he starts caring more about unveiling the truth, even in the face of seemingly decisive evidence.
Kingdom Hearts Series
Kingdom Hearts
In the originalKingdom Hearts,Riku is one of Sora’s best friendson the Destiny Islands alongside Kairi, wishing perhaps a bit more fervently to get out into the wider world.
When the Heartless attack and everything falls apart, he pretty much immediately leaps at the opportunity to get the heck out of dodge, right into the eager, manipulative hands of Maleficent. He gets a little too into the dark stuff, but Sora eventually puts him right with a few smacks upside the head.
Following his initial, mostly-antagonistic role in the first game, Riku would swap between supporting and playable roles for the rest of the series. He got his first playable spotlight in the extra mode of Chain of Memories, got to be a party member in Kingdom Hearts 2, and shared top billing with Sora in Dream Drop Distance, among other spots.
I admit, I was a huge Riku stan when I was a kid. There’s just something about evil counterpart rival characters that bring an undeniable cool factor, even in a weird bodysuit and grass skirt. As I got older, though, I appreciated his character arc, coming to terms with his mistakes and learning to wield the darkness as a weapon instead of fearing it.
The Legend Of Zelda Series
The Legend of Zelda
From the very beginning of theLegend of Zeldaseries, the titular princess of Hyrule has been a recurring element, if not always a full character. In the older games, she was mostly just an objective for Link, a damsel to rescue from Ganon.
As the series went on, though, Zelda began to have a greater degree of characterization, thanks in part to her many different incarnations having different priorities and upbringings.
While later games made her more of an overt ally to Link, as well as a playable side character in games like Spirit Tracks and Hyrule Warriors, it wouldn’t be until Echoes of Wisdom that Zelda got the spotlight all to herself for a proper adventure. Well, technically, she got to be the protagonist in two of thethree Zelda CD-I games, but the less said about those abominations, the better.
Zelda’s precise characterization varies depending on which incarnation we’re focusing on. Sometimes, she’s kindhearted and wise, other times she’s mischievous and impulsive.
I think the biggest contrast is between Wind Waker and Breath of the Wild, where she’s a full-on swashbuckling pirate and a quiet bookworm, respectively. It’s always interesting to see just how Zelda will be portrayed when a new entry in the series comes out.
1Clementine
The Walking Dead
The protagonist of the first season ofTelltale’s Walking Deadis Lee, a convict who escapes the cop car he was being transported in after it’s run off the road by Walkers. By chance, he stumbles upon the suburban home of eight-year-old Clementine, rescuing her from her reanimated babysitter and taking her on the road with him.
While the first season is technically Lee’s story, it’s also Clem’s, as we see her get steadily older and more capable. This comes to a head at the end of the first season, when Lee is critically infected and Clem either has to abandon him or put him to rest.
From the second season onwards, Clem becomes the de-facto protagonist of the series, not including spin-offs like Michonne.
Clem is honestly the perfect focal point character for a zombie apocalypse story like The Walking Dead. We see her as a young and vulnerable child through Lee’s eyes at first, a part of his personal survival journey, but in the end, she was always going to have to grow up to fend for herself. Nothing forces you to toughen up in a hurry likethe end of days.
