Bowser Takes Top Spot In Guinness Top 50 Villains List

Video games have been going strong for a good four decades now and, in that time, players have taken on the role of quite a few heroes. But what good is a hero without a strong villain? This year, Guinness World Records asked gamers to vote on their top video game villains of all time. It should surprise few that Bowser earned the coveted top spot on Guinness’ list of 50. A few of the other entries, or at least their ranking, however, might be a bit shocking.

On a list of the “Top 50 Video Game Villains of All Time,” you might expect to see someone like Portal’s GLaDOS rank high on the list (In the number two spot, actually.) But what about Arkham Asylum’s The Joker at number three? He was a great villain, sure, but the number three video game villain of all time?

According to Guinness, more than 5,000 of their readers took part in the survey to conduct the following list, which appears in the 2013 edition of Guinness World Records: Gamer’s Edition. But whether you gree with the inclusions, omissions and rankings or not, Guinness writer Kevin Lynch certainly has the right idea about what this top 50 breakdown has to say about the world of video games.

“It was really interesting for us to put the vote out to our readers and see who their favorite villain was,” Lynch said. “I think what this list really reflects is that video game villains tend to be a lot cooler than the heroes they’re pitted against.”

Top 50 Video Game Villains of All Time

50. Hades (Kid Icarus)

49. Atlas (BioShock)

48. Jacqueline Natla (Tomb Raider)

47. Shepherd (Call of Duty)

46. Herobrine (Minecraft)

45. Solidus Snake (Metal Gear Solid)

44. Diablo (Diable)

43. Dr Robotnik (Sonic the Hedgehog)

42. Dr Neo Cortex (Crash Bandicoot)

41. Shao Kahn (Mortal Kombat)

40. Zoran Lazarevic (Uncharted)