- Heroine of the Tomb Raider series voted number one in poll of more than 4,000 gamers from across the globe
- Mario voted into second place, ahead of Agent 47 and Sonic the Hedgehog
- BAFTA celebrating 20 years of its Games Awards in April
Tomb Raider heroine Lara Croft has been voted as the most iconic video game character of all time in a global poll, beating Mario and Agent 47 to the prize.
The poll of more than 4,000 gamers was organised by BAFTA ahead of its 20th BAFTA Games Awards later this month.
The top 20 list includes some of the most iconic characters from video game history – many of which have won BAFTA Games Awards over the years.
Croft first appeared in 1996, and has been a constant presence in the franchise ever since, which has maintained its popularity, with Tomb Raider I-III Remastered released earlier this year. There is also a Neflix TV show – Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft – that is scheduled to drop later this year. There have also been various movies featuring the character over the years.
She finished ahead of Nintendo’s figurehead, Mario. Created by legendary Japanese game designer and recipient of BAFTA’s prestigious Fellowship, Shigeru Miyamoto, Mario has been the face of Nintendo for many years and appeared in countless video games since his debut as Jumpman in the 1981 arcade classic, Donkey Kong.
In third was Agent 47 from the Hitman series. Conceived by Danish video game developer IO Interactive in 1998 and debuting in 2000 with the release of Hitman: Codename 47, Agent 47 has become an icon in the games industry. The genetically engineered assassin has since appeared in eight mainline games, two spin-offs, two books, one comic series and two films.
Sega’s mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog took fourth place in the poll. Since his debut in 1991 he has appeared in over 100 video games as a main and supporting cast, as well as starring in several TV shows and two films, with a third slated for release in late 2024.
In fifth place was Sackboy from LittleBigPlanet. Sackboy made his debut in 2008 as the star of Sony’s LittleBigPlanet to instant critical acclaim. He’s since starred in all six LittleBigPlanet mainline games, as well as making an appearance in numerous other game franchises as everything from a playable character to an adorable easter egg.
The rest of the top 20 were as follows
- Pac-Man
- Link from The Legend of Zelda franchise
- Master Chief from HALO
- Kratos from God of War
- Shadowheart from Baldur’s Gate 3
- Arthur Morgan from Red Dead Redemption 2
- Pikachu from the Pokémon series
- Steve from Minecraft
- Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid
- Crash Bandicoot
- Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII
- Astarion from Baldur’s Gate 3
- Kazuma Kiryu from Yakuza
- Ellie Williams from The Last of Us
- Nathan Drake from Uncharted.
Shelley Blond, performer and first voice actor for Lara Croft, said: “I had no clue when voicing the original Tomb Raider game that it would be such a global phenomenon and neither did Eidos or Core Design. They had only ever done children’s games before and of course they hoped it would be a success, but I think it went above and beyond any and all expectations. When creating the voice for Lara Croft, it came just by looking at the rough sketches I had in front of me and I took note of the fact that she was a female Indiana Jones type of character, ballsy and well spoken.
“I found out well into dating my husband that he had played Tomb Raider and used to enjoy hearing Lara scream and say ‘No’. Now of course he has to put up with that on a daily basis.”
