After weeks of voting, BAFTA has revealed players’ most iconic video game character of all time–and it’s probably not who you’d’ve guessed. Rather fittingly for a ballot operated by the world-famous British arts charity, a local star secured the accolade.
The poll, which was launched to celebrate two decades of the BAFTA Games Awards when it celebrates its 20th anniversary on April 11, named Lara Croft–the Tomb Raider herself–as the number-one selection among players.
Her credentials speak for themselves–12 main series and 18 spin-off games, plus three movies–but the excellent 2024 remaster of the original Tomb Raider trilogy, the hype surrounding her upcoming anime TV series, and her hometown status among U.K. voters may have helped her take the crown from other big hitters.
The most obvious frontrunner, Mario “Super” Mario, followed Lara in second place, despite having 11 years and countless more games on his resumé.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of all was the bronze medal winner: Agent 47 from the Hitman series placed third, ahead of other top-20 juggernauts including Sonic the Hedgehog (4th), Pac-Man (6th), Link (7th), Master Chief (8th), and Pikachu (12th).
Nostalgia wasn’t always a key driver for the 4,000+ voters who took part, as proved by the runaway success of Baldur’s Gate 3, which leads this year’s BAFTA hopefuls with 10 nominations. Shadowheart (10th) and Astarion (17th) finished above Ellie from The Last of Us (19th), and Uncharted’s Nathan Drake (20th).
There were a few huge omissions from the list, including Donkey Kong, Half-Life’s Gordon Freeman, Doomguy, Gears of War’s Marcus Fenix, Metroid’s Samus Aran, Max Payne, PaRappa, and any character from Street Fighter or Tekken.
BAFTA’s most iconic video game characters of all time
- Lara Croft, Tomb Raider
- Mario, Super Mario
- Agent 47, Hitman
- Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog
- Sackboy, LittleBigPlanet
- Pac-Man, Pac-Man
- Link, The Legend of Zelda
- Master Chief, Halo
- Kratos, God of War
- Shadowheart, Baldur’s Gate 3
- Arthur Morgan, Red Dead Redemption 2
- Pikachu, Pokémon
- Steve, Minecraft
- Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid
- Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot
- Cloud Strife, Final Fantasy VII
- Astarion, Baldur’s Gate 3
- Kazuma Kiryu, Yakuza
- Ellie Williams, The Last of Us
- Nathan Drake, Uncharted
Lara Croft will, to a degree, be at the 2024 BAFTA Games Awards ceremony in person. Shelley Blond, the original voice of the heroine in 1996’s original Tomb Raider, will present an award in the ceremony at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London on April 11.
Blond 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.
“Lara is very special to me purely because she means so much to the gamers. I love hearing stories from people around the world who played the game and channelled Lara to escape their bullies or to help them feel stronger when they wanted to come out to their loved ones.
“Most beautiful of all is hearing how gamers used to play it with their parent(s) who are no longer with us and the sound of my voice, the music from the game and sound effects are all wrapped up in their memories of that loved one. I’m honored to play a part in that for them.
“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.”
