Is Lara Croft Really The Most Iconic Game Character?

gamesreviews.com:

Lara Croft has been named the most iconic video game character of all time by the BAFTA Games Awards and my first thought was “what?”

I mean, it makes sense. As someone who remembers the magazine covers, the cardboard cut-outs and the rave reviews from balding middle-aged non-gamer dads, I get it. She was the first character I remember truly transcending the medium. Mario and Sonic (mostly Sonic) might be more obvious. But they didn’t have a quarter of the appeal Lara had to that wider audience.

That’s not nothing. Lara Croft is iconic in a way very few characters are. Or were. Because while Lara Croft’s sex appeal and attitude made her a symbol in the 90s, it is long time ago. And, for obvious reasons, nobody seems very keen to bring it back. At least not in as blatant a fashion. You’re never going to see Lara lying naked on the cover of magazines again. That kind of iconic sells video games.

Now she’s just one of a number of “strong female characters”. I don’t necessarily mean it as a criticism. We want characters who are strong enough to overcome the odds against them, and they might as well be women. But has Lara been treated well enough in the years since the PS1 era to really still count as iconic? Does she stand out against other characters who have edged her out of her own arena?

The rest of the list contains an unsurprising collection of characters. Go take a look at the Smash Bros line-up and you’re not far from who BAFTA have named. Add in Master Chief, Agent 47 and Sackboy, and you’d have the list down perfectly.

Perhaps that says something about where we are as an industry.

It’s hard to explain just how iconic Lara Croft was back then. She was everywhere. But gaming doesn’t really have icons any more. Perhaps it’s too mainstream.

Sure, like BAFTA we could point to Mario, to Pac-Man, to Sonic. Each, in their own way, transcends the bits and bytes that make them up. But they are, through and through, video game characters. Mario and Sonic both have