The 90s gave gaming some of its boldest, weirdest, and most unforgettable protagonists—characters who weren’t just sprites on a screen but the faces of entire franchises. Some have evolved into complex icons, others have remained largely the same, frozen in their original form like pixelated fossils, but they all helped shape the medium in massive ways.
The 32 Best '90s Video Games, Ranked
The best video games in the 90s were spread across a wide variety of genres, showing the greatest offerings for gaming at that point in time.
Whether they started in gritty survival horror corridors or sped out of Green Hill Zone at Mach 1, these legends defined the decade and left a permanent mark on gaming culture.
8 Leon S. Kennedy
Resident Evil 2's Rookie Cop in 1998, Is Now A Walking Bioweapon Magnet
Resident Evil 2
- Released
- January 21, 1998
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Capcom
- Genre(s)
- Survival Horror
- Platform(s)
- Sega Dreamcast, Nintendo 64, Nintendo GameCube, PC, PS1
Leon wasn’t supposed to have the worst first day on the job ever, but Resident Evil 2 made sure of it. Debuting in 1998, Leon S. Kennedy rolled into Raccoon City thinking he’d be writing parking tickets. Instead, he wound up knee-deep in zombies, underground labs, and a conspiracy tied to one of the most important fictional corporations in gaming history—Umbrella.
What makes Leon stand out, even after all these years, is how much he’s changed between games. In RE2, he was an optimistic newbie barely holding it together. By the time Resident Evil 4 rolled around, he was flipping through flaming villages, suplexing cultists, and cracking one-liners at parasites the size of Volkswagens. His reappearance in the RE4 Remake in 2023 added even more nuance to the character, toning down the cheese while keeping the swagger.
6 Most Influential Resident Evil Games, Ranked
From the very first Resident Evil, these games have influenced not just the horror genre, but the gaming industry as a whole.
Leon isn’t just memorable because of his haircut or his stylistic coat choice, though both are strong—it’s because he represents Resident Evil’s shift from slow-burn horror to full-on action-thriller. And no matter how many Plagas, Tyrants, or G-virus mutants he fights, he still somehow keeps that tragic, stoic charm that fans keep coming back to.
7 Cloud Strife
Final Fantasy 7 Features The Guy With the Sword Bigger Than His Existential Crisis From Back in 1997
Final Fantasy 7
- Released
- January 31, 1997
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T for Teen: Blood, Fantasy Violence, Language, Mild Suggestive Themes
- Developer(s)
- Square Enix
- Genre(s)
- RPG
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation (Original), PC, iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PS4
Cloud’s first appearance in Final Fantasy 7 in 1997 pretty much rewired the entire RPG genre. What started as a typical mercenary-for-hire plot slowly unraveled into something far more complicated: fractured memories, lost identity, corporate warfare, ancient magic, and an enemy whose idea of “villain arc” was summoning a meteor to obliterate the planet.
Square leaned hard into making him cool, but the character works best when he isn’t. Beneath the Buster Sword and the cold delivery is a guy trying to piece together who he even is. The original FFVII hinted at it with clever plot twists and flashbacks, but the Remake really dug into his trauma, turning his posturing into something fragile.
He’s become more than just a JRPG protagonist at this point—he’s a symbol of how messy, moody, and unexpectedly emotional gaming narratives could get. Also, he managed to be an iconic fighter in Smash Bros. Despite being in a game that wasn’t even on a Nintendo console at the time. That’s range.
6 Spyro the Dragon
A Small Dragon, With A Big Wingspan, Relishes In Fantasy Since 1998
Spyro The Dragon
- Released
- September 9, 1998
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- e
- Developer(s)
- Insomniac Games, Vivendi Universal
- Genre(s)
- Platformer
- Platform(s)
- PS1
In 1998, Spyro the Dragon flew onto the PlayStation with the attitude of a mascot platformer and the mechanics to back it up. He wasn’t a gruff antihero or a plucky plumber—he was a literal purple dragon with a cocky streak and the ability to roast sheep on demand.
What made Spyro different was how good it felt just to move. The glide mechanic was a central part of level design, encouraging players to explore, experiment, and sometimes throw themselves off cliffs just to see if they could land on something interesting. There was a charm baked into everything, from the jazz-fusion soundtrack by Stewart Copeland to the way Spyro’s horns looked way too big for his head.
He got a little lost in the early 2000s, hopping studios and art styles, before eventually being resurrected in the Reignited Trilogy in 2018. Those remakes showed how much heart was packed into those original adventures. Spyro might’ve started as Sony’s dragon-shaped answer to Mario and Sonic, but he quickly became a legend in his own right.
5 Kirby
The Pink Puff That Can Steal Your Powers—and Your Heart, Way Back From 1992
Kirby's Dream Land
- Released
- April 27, 1992
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- E
- Developer(s)
- HAL Laboratory
- Genre(s)
- Platformer, Adventure, Shooter
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Game Boy, Nintendo 3DS
Kirby has always been deceptively simple. On the surface, he's just a floating pink circle who smiles at everything and turns enemies into lunch. But underneath the sugar-coated aesthetic is a character who’s gone toe-to-toe with eldritch gods, genocidal machines, and nightmarish entities that wouldn’t look out of place in a Junji Ito panel.
First appearing in 1992’s Kirby’s Dream Land on the Game Boy, Kirby didn’t even have his copy abilities at the start. That came a year later with Kirby’s Adventure, and it completely redefined what he could do. Absorbing powers by inhaling enemies added a level of strategy and creativity that still keeps the franchise fresh decades later.
What’s wild is how many genres Kirby’s been a part of. Traditional platformers, mini-game collections, racing in Kirby Air Ride, and even pinball. And through it all, he’s remained a constant—a cheerful chaos engine in a world that often teeters on the brink of cosmic horror.
Kirby may look like he belongs on a cereal box, but he’s one of the toughest, most versatile protagonists Nintendo’s ever created. And somehow, he still doesn’t talk.
4 Crash Bandicoot
The Spinning Marsupial Sony Didn't Know It Needed Until 1996
Crash Bandicoot
- Released
- September 9, 1996
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- e
- Developer(s)
- Naughty Dog
- Genre(s)
- Platformer
- Platform(s)
- PS1
Crash wasn’t born in a lab—he was made in one. Literally. In Crash Bandicoot (1996), the story kicks off with him escaping from the mad experiments of Dr. Neo Cortex, only to immediately run, jump, and spin his way across levels full of killer plants and bottomless pits. He was Naughty Dog’s first real hit, long before Uncharted and The Last of Us were even ideas.
There was something inherently funny about Crash. He didn’t talk, he just made sounds like a rubber chicken stuck in a washing machine. His animations were exaggerated to Looney Tunes-esque levels, and the camera angles, especially those “run toward the screen” sections, were as iconic as they were frustrating.
Best Crash Bandicoot Games, Ranked
Everyone's favorite spinning marsupial, Crash Bandicoot, has featured in dozens of his own video games, but which of them can be considered the best?
But what makes Crash memorable is how he became the unofficial face of the PlayStation during its early years. He was in commercials, trash-talking Nintendo, standing outside their offices with a megaphone. It was brash, weird marketing, but it worked. After some rough years post-PS1, Crash got a full revival with the N. Sane Trilogy in 2017, reminding everyone why his chaotic energy never went out of style. And with Crash 4: It’s About Time, he finally got a sequel worthy of his roots.
3 Gordon Freeman
Half-Life's Silent Protagonist, But Somehow He's Still the Loudest Voice in the Room Since 1998
Half-Life
- Released
- November 19, 1998
WHERE TO PLAY
Gordon Freeman wasn’t supposed to be a hero. He was just a theoretical physicist with a crowbar and a lab coat, trapped in the worst government experiment since… well, probably most government experiments. But Half-Life (1998) flipped the script on first-person shooters. No cutscenes, no hand-holding, just pure immersion—and at the center of it all was Gordon.
He never spoke a word, but players saw the world react to him constantly. Scientists pleaded for help, soldiers tried to kill him on sight, and G-Man, whatever he even is, watched Gordon like a chess piece he couldn’t quite control. By the time Half-Life 2 came out, Freeman had become a full-on resistance symbol.
What’s bizarre is that, despite being mute and faceless, Gordon is one of the most influential characters in gaming. He redefined what a protagonist could be in a narrative-driven shooter. He didn’t need dialogue to have presence—he had gravity guns, headcrabs, and an ability to survive literal alien invasions. Even after all these years without Half-Life 3, the legend of Gordon Freeman hasn’t faded. If anything, the silence has only made him more iconic.
2 Lara Croft
She Was A Tomb Raider Before It Was Cool (And Way Before Post-1996 Became Cinematic)
Tomb Raider
- Released
- November 14, 1996
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T For Teen // Animated Blood, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Core Design, Aspyr
- Genre(s)
- Action-Adventure
Lara Croft didn’t just enter the scene—she exploded onto it, pistols blazing and swan-diving into ancient catacombs in 1996’s Tomb Raider. With her dual-wielding confidence and unmatched agility, she became a cultural icon, bridging the gap between games and mainstream media faster than any character before her.
But early Lara was also a product of her time: angular, over-the-top, and often stuck with awkward tank controls. Still, there was something undeniably compelling about her. She was fearless, curious, and smart, navigating collapsing temples and mythical ruins like it was just another Tuesday. And she did it all with a backpack full of artifacts and absolutely zero regard for structural integrity.
The 2013 reboot completely reimagined Lara as a more grounded, vulnerable character, which turned out to be exactly what the series needed. Her evolution from reluctant survivor to hardened explorer felt earned, not forced. She remains one of the few characters who has managed to transcend generations, platforms, and genres, while still feeling rooted in her very first leap into a long-forgotten tomb.
1 Sonic The Hedgehog
The Fastest Hedgehog Alive Has Outrun Irrelevancy Since 1991
Sonic the Hedgehog
- Released
- June 23, 1991
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- e
- Developer(s)
- Sonic Team
- Genre(s)
- Platformer
- Platform(s)
- Android, iOS, Nintendo 3DS, PC, Sega Genesis, Switch
Sonic’s arrival in 1991 wasn’t just the birth of a character—it was a statement. Sega needed a mascot that could go toe-to-toe with Mario, and they didn’t go for something safe. They went with a blue hedgehog with sneakers, attitude, and the kind of speed that made even loading screens on the PS5 feel sluggish.
From Green Hill Zone to Chemical Plant, Sonic wasn’t just fast—he was stylish. And for a while, it worked. The Genesis-era titles were massive, blending twitch-based platforming with dynamic level design and one of the most beloved soundtracks of the decade.
But Sonic’s legacy hasn’t always been smooth. The jump to 3D was rocky, with Sonic Adventure finding success despite its weird camera and Sonic 2006... Well, existing. Yet through all the misfires, Sonic stayed in the conversation. Whether through Saturday morning cartoons, massive meme culture, Hollywood flicks, or surprise bangers like Sonic Mania, he’s managed to remain relevant.
No other 90s character has had such a chaotic, weirdly resilient journey. And yet, even after decades of ups and downs, Sonic still has that spark. That unmistakable feeling that, no matter how many rings get lost along the way, he’ll always bounce back faster than anyone else.
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