From the Adoring Fan to Tom Nook: The 25 most irritating video game characters of all-time
Video games have given us some of the most memorable, entertaining and beloved characters in fiction.
It's also delivered some of the most irritating, from talkative sidekicks to tedious escort missions.
Now some of these characters are designed to be a little bit vexing, but others grind our gears all on their own.
Below are some of the most frustrating characters in video game history; almost all of which we'd love to beat with a stick until they stopped bothering us.
The most irritating video game characters of all-time
Kaepora Gaebora - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Bet you were expecting us to say Navi right? Wrong. The owl and his long-winded chinwags are worse.
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We've never really understood the hate Navi gets in Ocarina of Time. After an hour or two the "Hey! Listen!" just becomes background noise, but perhaps that's just us.
There's nothing worse though than listening to Kaepora Gaebora's exposition and then accidentally hitting the repeat button, and hopefully The Ocarina of Time remake makes them less egregious.
Natalya - GoldenEye 007
Natalya Simonova is quite possibly patient-zero when it comes to annoying escort missions.
With a bit of practise and plenty of restarts you eventually start to realise where the enemies are coming from and which ones are the biggest threat to Natalya, but that doesn't make your job any easier.
Some of the later missions that see you defend her from wave after wave of incoming enemies are incredibly tense, and infuriating when she accidentally gets caught in the crossfire.
Dr Hakim - It Takes Two
We’ve never wanted to tear the pages out of a book quite as much as listening to this thing drone on…
It Takes Two is an emotional tale about rekindling a spark that's long-since died out, through communication, honesty and acceptance.
However while self-improvement is the main motivator myself and the person I played this game with were motivated by something else; the desire to burn this book alive.
Atreus - God of War (2018)
This is one we feel a little bad about, as Atreus is a good kid at heart who just loses his way like so many of us do. But, his chatter during puzzles and his uppity power-trip give little Atreus a strong foothold on this list. Even Atreus' voice actor Sunny Suljic has expressed frustration at hearing him narrate puzzles.
Thankfully he redeems himself in the end.
Patches - Dark Souls
The Dark Souls series is full of amazing characters like Solaire and Siegward, but it's also full of absolute wretches.
Patches is one such wretch, and he's a constant reminder throughout the entire series that not everyone you meet can be trusted. His annoyance even transcends to other games, like Elden Ring and Bloodborne.
If you see this man stood near an ominous-looking hole in the ground, turn and walk in the opposite direction.
Toadsworth - Super Mario
Perhaps this one stems from Super Mario Sunshine in particular. He's woefully unhelpful in that game and even though we're pleased to see the game return on the Nintendo Switch 2, we can't say we're glad to see Toadsworth again.
Recently everyone’s been wondering what happened to him as he hasn't appeared in any of the recent games, nor has he been included in any promotional material or the Super Mario Galaxy Movie. We hope he stays gone.
Damian Webb - 007 First Light
Quite a new entry into the hall of worst video game characters. Damian is a whiny weirdo who unfortunately doesn't live up to the iconic Bond villains that came before him.
His boss fights are also a pain. When we played he repeated the same dialogue about 50 times.
Wheatley - Portal 2
Maybe this is cheating considering he’s supposed to be annoying, but he gets a spot on this list nonetheless.
Wheatley is a great comic-relief character for most of the game, until the big twist comes and he usurps Glados as the facilities maniacal overlord.
After this happens anything remotely funny about him just becomes vexing, but we still love him in a way.
Tom Nook - Animal Crossing
Possibly the most controversial addition to this list, as Tom Nook, in a lot of ways, is actually a very good person. He gives you a home in several games at a hell of a discount, and never seems to rush you in paying him back.
That said when you first meet him in the original game he's a pretty rude guy, and is actually quite demeaning of your inability to buy an entire house as soon as you step off the train...
Silver The Hedgehog - Sonic The Hedgehog
Silver is the worst Sonic The Hedgehog character in our opinion. From a narrative his best appearance is the game he debuts in; Sonic The Hedgehog (2006), but even then his atrocious boss fight design and slower-paced gameplay make him very frustrating to deal with.
Since then he's only gotten worse. With his psychic powers he could be interesting, but until then he's a total waste of time.
Roman Bellic - Grand Theft Auto 4
Niko Bellic's charismatic cousin frustrates us just as much as he frustrates Niko.
The constant invitations to go bowling with him became an infamous meme associated with GTA 4, and after a while we start weighing up throwing him down the bowling alley rather than a ball.
Fi - The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Despite having a cool design and even cooler lore, Fi unfortunately feels more annoying than Navi in our opinion.
Perhaps it's the constant interruptions during gameplay that get to us, in a game that can already feel long-winded anyway.
343 Guilty Spark - Halo
After being the twist villain in Halo: Combat Evolved you're left wondering when you might see him again. You don't have to wonder for long though as he comes back in Halo 2, and then finally gets put to rest in Halo 3.
How this floating lightbulb survived all three games without someone blowing him up sooner is beyond us, and we revel in lasering him to death during every playthrough. For Sgt Johnson...
Any of the rival trainers - Pokémon
Pokémon Black & White's N gets a pass, but all of the other rival trainers don’t.
Hop from Pokémon Sword And Shield especially needs to go, because as lovely as he is the kid just doesn't leave you alone.
Riddler - Batman: Arkham Trilogy
In every Arkham game this fiendish, but clever villain mocks us with his puzzles and games.
Riddle us this, we all collected those trophies out of spite didn’t we?
Adoring Fan - Oblivion
We don't think this one needs much of an explanation. We all know why he's here.
If you need a clue try; "By Azura, by Azura, by Azura! It's the grand champion!”
To make matters worse, he’s reincarnated in Starfield…
Cicero - Skyrim
Now Cicero is a bit of an odd one, as while he is annoying we do feel for him. He's the definition of an outcast which is why is story in the Dark Brotherhood quest is such a fan-favourite for many.
Even we can't deny though that his fit is immaculate, so bonus points for that.
Nazeem - Skyrim
And to complete the Elder Scrolls hat-trick, we have Nazeem. This is a character that has no chance of redemption, and actually makes us dread every trip back to Whiterun in our playthrough.
The phrase “Do you get to the Cloud District very often? Oh, what am I saying, of course you don't" is burned into our brains and fills us with rage every time we hear it.
Sure, the dragons cooking people alive are bad, but Nazeem's attidude might just be worse
Claptrap - Borderlands
Again, this is an interesting character for this list, as Claptrap is sort of the Marmite of gaming in a way.
We know plenty of gamers who love Claptrap, whereas others simply can't stand him. We’re unfortunately in the camp of the latter.
It does differ from game to game though. He's more annoying in some than he is in others.
Preston Garvey - Fallout 4
In Fallout 4 Preston is one of the first friendly faces you meet in the Commonwealth, and over time he becomes a loyal ally if you'd like him to assist you in bringing down the Institute.
After a while though it gets pretty hard to talk to him, as every conversation somehow comes back to there being "another settlement that needs your help, I’ll mark it on your map.” Thanks, but no thanks Preston.
MJ - Marvel’s Spider-Man
Mary Jane deserved better in the Marvel's Spider-Man games. Ignoring the sexist remarks about her appearance made by weird gamers, the biggest problem with MJ are her playable segments. They weren't fun in the first game and yet Insomniac Games doubled-down and brought them back for the second.
Adding to that, her frustration with Peter doesn't quite feel earned, and we can understand why our hero was losing his rag towards the end. Fortunately everything worked out for the best.
Joshua Washington - Until Dawn
Joshua is wonderfully brought to life by Rami Malek and if his goal was to get on our nerves, he succeeded. In a way though that's sort of the point. Josh's whole schtick is getting under people's skin and it'll lead to some characters' grizzly demises should you let him rile you up too much.
He's a tough character to defend unfortunately, but we still do our best to save him during every playthrough.
Otis - Dead Rising
We don’t dislike Otis, but during our playthroughs of Dead Rising his constant interruptions can get old fast.
Otis is actually a really helpful character, and one of the few characters in the game who seemingly likes Frank West. He even leaves a note for him when all the survivors leave the safe house towards the end of the game.
However, what makes his radio interruptions worse is the fact he'll scold you when you try to skip them, so you either have to listen to his ramblings the first time round or prolong the torture with an attempted skip.
Peely - Fortnite
Peely started out as a pretty fun, pretty silly mascot for Epic Games' world-famous battle-royale. Fortnite has featured Peely in so many updates, with the cartoonish banana making appearances in trailers for new seasons and an NPC you can visit on the map itself sometimes.
He's also been featured in several different forms in the game's Item Shop and Battle Pass. He's been peeled, x-rayed, Simpson-ified and much more.
However, it’s been years and it's starting to get old. Someone let this banana rot already.
Kamek - Super Mario
Kamek was Bowser's trusted advisor for years in the Super Mario games, but recently he's seemingly been downgraded to Bowser Jr's babysitter.
Their presence is most egregious in the New Super Mario Bros games, where you think you've won the day only for him to swoop in and use his magic to make the fight harder.
He also has one of the most irritating chuckles in gaming history...
Topics: List, Nintendo, Xbox, PlayStation, PC