GrownGaming Team
Video game villains. With great writing, even the most battle-hardened gamer can come to understand the rationale behind their enemy’s actions and even begin to empathise with them. Then there are game villains that you just hate. It could be their atrocious actions but it could equally be because of their stupid smile or a bug that meant that you just couldn’t beat them.
It’s safe to say that this article will have spoilers, as some of these reasons are tied to the motives behind the villain’s actions.
Here are the video game villains that we hate the most:
JASON MONROE: Albert Wesker, the main villain in the first 6 Residential Evil games.
This jerk is not only the brains being the Umbrella Corporation, but he wears sunglasses in the dark. And, no matter how much you try to kill him, he keeps coming back. Until he doesn’t.
STUART MCLEAN: In the past 40 years I have encountered many a difficult game boss, so this took a fair bit of thought. However, I think I’ve settled on one.
My villain is in Ghosts ‘n Goblins (and spoiler alert ahead if you’ve never played it, or never got far enough into this sadistic, ball busting, utter evil creation of a game).
There’s always a way to beat every boss and once you know it, the whole thing seems straightforward enough. But this one, for me, was a piece of rotting, fetid corn atop a pile of steaming, evil shit of a game.
Now, if it sounds like I don’t like this game, I hate to lead you astray; I do. It was one of those games which I just refused to allow to defeat me; addictive but annoying. Few games managed to get 11-year-old me so riled as to want to smash an arcade machine or throw not just a controller, but an entire console out of the window. It was a ridiculously hard game, still is until you learn it’s every inch.
The reason I have chosen this game’s boss, Astaroth, is because when (if) you finally get to him (no mean feat I assure you) and when (if) you defeat him, the game throws you a huge middle finger informing you that it is not the real end to the game. No, instead the designers want to torture you further. Now, in order to reach the true end, you have to play through the whole bugger again at a higher difficulty level.
I was not amused the first time I ever got there, which is why I think Astaroth is probably my most hated boss ever.
JOHN SANTINA: I wanted to say your rival in Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow, simply because he was the antagonist that I had the biggest competitive rivalry with. But, he wasn’t a villain and I didn’t hate him and, if anything, competing against him was a highlight in my gaming life. Team Rocket doesn’t get my blood boiling, either.
I’m going to go with Nemesis from Resident Evil 3. Not because I hate him as a character (I think that he looks freakin’ cool) but because of the way that he made me feel. Horrified. Tense. Anxious.
I remember feeling genuinely fearful when inside a building searching for something knowing that Nemesis was outside, then you hear a window break and you know that the bastard is inside. The thought of his booming voice yelling “STAAAAARS” still gets my blood pressure rising.
MOSHE SWEET: Wario from Super Mario Land 2 might be my most hated video game villain of all time.
Let me take you back to when I was 5 years old and life was simple. I had my red brick Gameboy and my favorite Mario game. Everything was good. One day I decided to finally beat Super Mario Land 2 so I got a fresh piece of tape to keep the batteries from popping out the back of my Gameboy and went to work.
After hours, I accumulated about 35 extra lives, all six golden coins, and the confidence I need to beat this game. I reach Wario’s throne and the battle began. I was so excited and nervous that I started making stupid mistakes, haemorrhaging lives left and right, but I continued. I had to beat Wario once and for all.
Down to 10 lives, I started tasting my own sweat. Down to 5 lives, I start shaking. Down to zero lives and my five-year-old brain is more focused than a guy disarming a bomb.
I’m at the 3rd battle with Wario and he grabs the Fire powerup, I get hit once and my heart drops but luckily I’m still in the game and stomp on his head in the process. BAM! I stomp on him a second time.
I could do it, I can finally beat this bastard…
But then I get too cocky and Wario blasts me with a fireball right in the face. I go down, then see all my golden coins vanish as Game Over flashes on my screen. I was broken, I grabbed that little gray cart from my Gameboy and threw it right in the trash never to play Super Mario Land 2 again.
Darn you, Wario.
PHANTOM: Albert Wesker. He is a psychopath of the first order. Always behind the scenes in the world of Resident Evil, his ability to pull strings is clear. This is the type of evil bad guy who lurks in the shadows and only shows himself every now and then. He is my most hated gaming villain.
Leading the Stars Alpha team to the Arklay mansion, knowing fine well he would be delivering the team into serious peril. Being an Umbrella double agent meant he was always looking to preserve their interests above all others. Through later games, we find out that he believes humans have reached an evolutionary endpoint and that eradicating them all is his ultimate goal.
Transformation of the human race into a superhuman army with him being the leader was a sinister little plan of his during his time within the Resident Evil series. His transformation into an almost god-like state meant he transcended the normal bad guy tropes of horror games and became an almost-invincible villain in the truest sense.
During his early life, he was brought up to be the best, physically and mentally. Some won’t know that he was one of Umbrella’s best researchers and had deep knowledge of pathogens. This led to him being installed as a captain in the Raccoon city STARS this starting off his career as a villainous double agent.
The twist in the first game when you find out he is a double agent was a big moment in my gaming life. Ever since then his appearances in the Resident Evil franchise have always left me craving for his demise.
LIZZIE FOURMAN: Dark Beast Ganon from Breath of the Wild because he’s too darn easy to defeat.
He had me so freaking frustrated that I ended up jumping off Epona and running to each place to put an arrow through the light spots. (Whatever Zelda called them. I’m bad at remembering the semantics.)
Who is the video game villain that YOU hate the most? Leave a comment below!!
