Random: Lara Croft Tops Mario as the Most Iconic Video Game Character of All Time, Apparently

In the manner of the mightykeef “that’s just crazy”

Who were they polling? The staff at Eidos?

Maybe in 1996...

This is a UK chart, so yes, it makes sense.

Well its a British poll and honestly whats a more iconic British game/character? So not really suprising! Now if it was a poll of Americans, im sure Mario would be up there at No1.

I'm more surprised to see Pikachu, Cloud and Crash Bandicoot so low.

I think Baldurs Gate 3 characters shouldn't be included, the game is 6 months old and nothing iconic about them. For me iconic characters are those that have been around for years and come to mind straight away when thinking about certain games series or genres.

Personally id swap the BG3 characters with Sora (Kingdom Hearts) and Bayonetta or Ryu (Street Fighter)

I've always hated how the UK games media always undeservedly propped up the Tomb Raider series when the rest of the world rightfully saw it as just an okay franchise at best, e.g. OPM UK gave all 5 PS1 games a 10/10 while games that actually deserved it like Symphony of the Night were brushed aside as "outdated 2D SNES game" according to them.

Im not a huge Nintendo fan.but come on mario is at the top most popular character.lara croft is not even in my top 10.word up son

A list without knack isn't a list at all!

Another win against "the message".

We Brits clearly have taste!

Also, let's face it, we're all just happy that the real Core Lara is back and not those dreary reboots.

If they polled a British audience, Lara Croft at number 1 isn't particularly surprising or shocking. Whatever you think of the games, she IS pretty iconic. The rest of this list is mostly nonsense though.

I could at least understand Lara Croft being at or near the top but how is Sackboy ahead of Pacman!? Don't get me wrong I like Sackboy but it's freaking Pacman!

Pikachu is 12??? lol.

Should be

1.Mario
2.Pikachu
3.Sonic

then we can argue about Link, Pac-Man and maybe Lara Croft.

Good to see !!! I’ve just never gotten Mario or the appeal of his games. Long live Lady Croft!!!

I have two good reasons why growing up with Tomb Raider was so memorable for me. More than Mario

Agent 47? The THIRD most iconic video game character of all time? Even beating out Sonic the Hedgehog?

Nah, bro.

The ***** is this *****?
Rusty Slugger doesn’t even make the top 20!

Scuffed list lmao

Is all of the UK this completely clueless about gaming and Hookshot contains all actual players in the land? I can't even come up with a jab that makes sense at who they must have asked that yielded this result. But I'm pretty sure if asked for the best console of all time this group would pick either Saturn or Turbografx16.

Arthur Morgan above Pikachu is hilarious though. I'm sure that Morgan merch really flies off shelves. Who doesn't know a kid with an Arthur Morgan backpack, lunchbox, and plush Morgan toy?

Bubsy Bobcat missing this list is a travesty though. He belongs on this list.

@PaperAlien @Nem @Ainu20 Poll was open worldwide, even though it was hosted by a British organisation.

Monty Mole is missing, damn.

This was basically a popularity contest. If you took 10 random people off the street and asked them if they knew these characters, Mario would absolutely get 10/10. I can't say the same for Lara Croft

@Azex Dunno, the classic Croft would still be known by many, I think.

Getting an urge to watch the Angelina Jolie moves again...

If they wanted to do a poll like this and want it to be at least slightly respected, they should perhaps have brought more attention to it. I for one didn't see a single mention of it anywhere. And even if you don't like Mario, I know I don't, he's still more iconic than Lara Croft. And the less said about the rest of the list, the better. Characters from games less than a year old probably should not have been eligible for the thing, when it comes to things like Baldur's Gate 3, I can't even match names to faces.

Whack. Not sure Hitman would even be 47th on my list. Is Ellie Williams from TLOU? Never knew her last name.

I mean, I suppose it isn’t completely broken, I recognize most of the names. I feel like Mega-Man needs to be in the top 20 based on game quantity alone even though I’ve only ever played a couple of them.

Goku probably has more video games than most of the people on the list. I know he’s seen more as an anime guy but who hasn’t played a DB game at some point?🤷🏻‍♂️

@sanderson72 Many, yes, but there isn't a single person out there who knows who Lara Croft is but not Mario

Lara Croft was a cultural moment. I’m not surprised to see her top given it was BAFTA. Agent 47 is odd but welcome.

@Azex It's probably an age thing. I can think of a few people who would recognise Lara but not the plumber.

@sanderson72 what partially gets me about this is that Lara Croft was a classic PS1 game while Mario saved console gaming

Too many Baldur Gate characters but not the most recognizable yellow ninja? Right........

Don't underestimate the insanity of the 90's & 00's. Lara Croft is known to have been as big as the Spice Girls and maybe even Paul Gasgoine's liver!? PlayStation became properly mainstream at that time too and people that have no history of what Nintendo did beforehand will see that as the start of real console gaming, especially in the UK. So I can understand in a random poll of mostly random mostly British people the top 2 making at least some sense.

But Hitman at 3 and you know the poll was probably shared between a bunch of former Eidos employees and they have skewed the final results that way 😅

I will also say that a lot of people won't see Pikachu as a "game character" in the same way as the others. In a way Pikachu is just famous for being Pikachu 😁

No Sly from Sly Spy Secret Agent? Fake list.

They clearly walked into a pub and asked a load of drunk people. People who don't play games know Mario and Sonic and probably Pikachu but most of the others not so much.

Yeah, this list is definitely not to be taken seriously. Remember; the people in the UK still prefer to play trash like Call of Duty and Fifa above God of War and Spider Man.. so, yeah. Take that as you will lmfao

No Pong paddle?

Push Square should reciprocate and set up a poll for the best British films and television series. Then the folks who post at BAFTA could freak out about how there aren’t any Ken Loach movies on the list.

my #1 is definitely Crash Bandicoot

@Pushsquare How about we do our own poll, then?

Lol is this a joke? Of course Lara is more iconic than Mario, there's nothing shocking about that. However, what IS surprising is Mario being so high up on the list.

The only reason I can come up with for Hitman being so high is there is 2 Hitman films but neither set the world alight

My boy in 18th symbolises progress the series has made in the western world

Shadow who?
Asta what?

If Sackboy is coming in 5th, maybe that's a sign to Sony to get Media Molecule onto Littlebigplanet 4. The first 2 games were fantastic.

It would be interesting to see how the Push Square list would be today, Playstation has changed a lot since 2018.

That poll is wild. Whilst Lara Croft is iconic, I don't see her being as iconic as the likes of Mario or Pikachu. And I do love myself some Hitman, but there's no way Agent 47 is the third most iconic video game character ever.

Pac-Man for the win!

This list is garbage. Everyone knows Frey should be #1. Closely followed by Ash and the cat from Stray.

Lara at #1 makes sense, even if you take it outside of the UK.

While Mario may be more storied, he is the quintessential Steamboat Willie of videogames after all, but videogames were seen as silly amusement for kids and a hobby for nerds until the PS1 came out and pushed gaming into the public eye in a larger way than any other console at the time. Who was the mascot for the PS1? Initially you could argue Crash was, but once Tomb Raider came out, Lara became the defacto mascot. So you ask a bunch of mid-30-somethings to go down a list of characters and select the most iconic, and those gamers will reach back in their memories, remembering walking through game stores and seeing huge cardboard Lara Crofts, remember it as the high-point for gaming, the time it went from a silly little distraction to a widely recognized past-time, and you pick the icon of that moment - Lara Croft.

@PaperAlien

I'm British and I'm just as surprised as you are

Nathan Drake is iconic? I would say more generic than iconic.

No Clyde Radcliffe? That's a bit odd...

This list doesn't really surprise me. Personally I would place Lara as being way more iconic than Mario as I have no history with the guy. However it could be a definition thing as iconic has more than one meaning. Maybe iconic in the sense of being personally meaningful as opposed to being distinct as an artistic character.

The surprise for me is the inclusion of BG3 characters. It really hasn't been long enough.

Just that pikachu isnt top 3 is enough to prove how ridiculous this list is

Female V would be up there for me. Love that merc.

Those saying it makes sense because it's British based, NO it doesn't. This list is nonsense no matter where you are.

Lara Croft being high up I can see but not first and Agent 47 and Sackboy in the top 5? Give me a break

😂 What a ridiculous and bizarre list! It just shows how pointless these kind of things are.

Notable absentees: Chun-Li, Ryu, Sub Zero, Scorpion, Yoshi, Kirby, Spyro, Ms Pac-Man, Lucky Hit Guy, Tingle, Star Fox, Chibi Robo, Scrooge McDuck, the dude from Plumbers Don't Wear Ties, Dr Robotnik/Eggman, the evil boss from Plumbers Don't Wear Ties, Crazy Tracy, Murray (the tramp from Harvest Moon a Wonderful Life), the Mii character I made for Wii Sports, Geomon, Ganon, Wario, Luigi, Waluigi, Cristiano Ronaldo, the girl in a bra in Plumbers Don't Wear Ties, and Samus.

Some of these suggestions should genuinely be in the list and some are just slightly less ridiculous than than some of the names included.

No, but seriously, who did they poll?
Even taking British tastes and generational gaps into account, this list still makes zero sense.

@__jamiie Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties was clearly robbed! The people polled obviously have no culture.

Very weird list... It's all I've got..

@Maubari CoD and (Enter Annual Sports Game Here) is a worldwide trend not specific to the UK.

@playstation1995 I started on the Super Nintendo en Gameboy i have to agree everyone knows Mario.

I agree. Lara Croft is definitely more iconic than Mario.

Oh come on. I’m not sour I’m just flabbergasted that this is even being taken seriously.
4000 people is like… not even the amount of people at a video game convention, which would be the perfect place to poll people in fact.
What a joke.

@__jamiie. The Mii character I made for Wii Sports
Hilarious.

Lara Croft is definitely an iconic character, but I wouldn’t say she’s the most iconic of all time. Mario, Sonic, and Pac-Man I would say are more iconic than her.

@Stevemalkpus It was fairly iconic amongst my family tbf.

But nobody asked them to vote! 🤬

The most iconic character is Duke Nuk’em. Who is Lara Croft compared to that man?

@Flaming_Kaiser. I started with atari.im still a huge fan of sega genesis and sonic the hedgehog is more popular than lara croft.word up son

I can see Lara Croft as number 1. She's one of the few video game characters that people who don't play games can probably name. Agent 47 at third though is just crazy. Baldur's Gate 3 characters shouldn't be on this list. True video game icons are missing: Donkey Kong, Samus Aran, Ganondorf, Bowser, Batman, Spider-Man, Commander Shepard, Luigi, Revan, Kirby just to name a few.

In my humble opinion, I've taken the liberty of correctly rearranging the list:

1. Mario
2. Sonic
3. Pikachu
4. Pac-Man
5. Crash
6. Link
7. Lara Croft
8. Snake
9. Kratos
10. Master Chief
11. Agent 47
12. Nathan Drake
13. Cloud
14. Ellie
15. Kazuma
16. Arthur Morgan
17. Steve
18. Sackboy
19. Astarion
20. Shadowheart

I mean, if you are looking at the whole history of video games, Lara croft possibly deserves it just for how huge she was in the 90s. There's an argument that she led the jump to mainstream.
Agent 47 though, uhh...

I don't get all the people saying Lara is more iconic than Mario. Mario had multiple TV cartoons, hype from The Wizard, a major motion picture even though terrible, and merch galore in every retail store you looked, and major promos on popular snack foods (at least in the US) long before PS1 even exited. Before the Nintendo Play Station even existed. Every kid, parent and grandparent knew Mario because he was everywhere, not just gamers.

Ok, in the UK Sega overshadowed Nintendo, but then you had Sonic. Like Mario, Sonic was an icon then, as he is today, moreso back then, and had merch and shows and promos long before Lara and PS existed. It's just weird, no matter what group you poll. If the polled group is too young for the 8 and 16 bit wars characters, then how is a character as old as Lara in there? Did they specifically ask 4000 people between the ages of 31-36?

@MikeOrator Mario has a last name. It's "Mario." Why is Luigi Mario not on this list, but "Ellie" is listed with a last name that even most of the people on a PS-only fan site don't seem to know exists.

The definition of iconic is:

"...regarded as worthy of veneration".

Veneration: "respect or awe inspired by the dignity, wisdom, dedication, or talent."

The true winner would surely need all 3 or 4 of those with varying degrees of by how much.

I mean, for example Lara Croft has sooo much more dignity than Mario!

Lara 8
Mario like 2?

Mario would make up some of that ground in talent, and he's veryyyyy dedicated (well to Princess Peach anyway, that is lol. It ain't happening Mario, give it up buddy).

Lara 6
Mario 9

Talent wise Mario has it all really doesn't he?
He traverses ALL terrains, can change into multiple other states, eats magic mushrooms. Better jumper than Lara? And Lara would make short work of Mario's green pipes.

Lara 6
Mario 8

Comparing their wisdom is tricky.

Solid Snake, he's high in all four for sure.

Pac Man, hmmm not so much.

@NEStalgia the cartoons and merchandise of Nintendo weren't really a thing in the UK back then. Before the snes and megadrive, home computers like the spectrum, c64, Amiga were the UK gamers preferred gaming machines, thanks mostly to their affordability. Nes, Atari etc were around but they didn't have the same user base as America apparently had.

Where's Doom Guy?

I love Sackboy - I own a physical, stuffed Sackboy! - but there's no way he beats Pac-Man as a more iconic character. Or even Pikachu (the only Pokemon I ever enjoyed was the Detective Pikachu movie with Ryan Reynolds).

Show 100 random people on the street photos of those three characters and see who can name them. I bet Pac-Man gets over 90%, and Sackboy under 50%. Heck, I'm not sure Lara Croft would hit 50%.

For a question like this, you're polling the wrong people. Go poll marketing firms about iconic characters, and I bet the list looks a lot different.

@Moochy [check out his list] I think you put Crash a little high, and I want to root for Sackboy (4 games!) being higher, maybe bumping Ellie. But your list is still a lot closer to reality than whatever the BAFTA list is.

What an embarrassment. Also, the fact that the obnoxious Nathan Drake even breaks appears is cringe as hell

@NEStalgia also Mario goes back to the 1970s I believe. Has has FAR more games than Lara and far more memorable personality. “ITSA MEE MAARIO!”

4000 people is a good size for a poll. Depending on the methodology it could have a very small margin of error.

The question is more about who comprised the sample. A bunch of Brit media types? Sure, these results make sense. Just like when you poll a bunch of people in a PlayStation-centric site, you get Nathan Drake, which is also silly.

Any list without Mario at the top is just evidence of flawed methodology.

No “Sabreman”…?…he’ll always be no1 for me!

@captainaverage Where does the time go? I too have fond memories for Ultimate’s games, opening them for the first time was magical, even if KnightLore and Underwurlde didn’t load 1/2 the time! (Speedlock 2 I believe?)…but towards the end the magic seemed to fade a little, then they morphed into Rare - I lost interest then…Oli Frey was a fantastic artist, RIP…they don’t make them like they used to, games or artists!

Think I've mentioned on these pages before, I went for an interview with Rare at Twycross not long after I finished at university (so in the Nintendo days) and the walls were full with all the original Ultimate artwork, from Jet Pac and Atic Atac all the way through to Underwurlde and Knight Lore and beyond.

Hallowed ground though I live not far from Ashby de la Zouch. John Lathbury used to live round the corner from us at one point (he had a Lotus Esprit with registration JL 88)

Who do they ask? The Lara Croft fan club? And since when was Croft the 1st ever female lead in a video game?

@Johnnycide amazing Johnny. I just spat my vegetable curry gaffawing at that comment.

@UltimateOtaku91 Great shout with Ryu. 👏 I would have him at number 3 in my own personal list.

Auron always gets overlooked in these lists and he is my favourite gaming character of all time. I base my own personality on him. I just need to find a star player of a football team who's on a death mission to defeat the Loch Ness monster first.

@LifeGirl agent 47 beating sonic is total BS

@captainaverage Neither! Lol

who compiles these - it's obviously miner willy / jetset willy

@enrickUranium sabreman is no 2 lol

@playstation1995 I also had a Atari 2600 totally forgot about that but i was quite young then i dont really remember much about the games only the tank game i had. 😆