For decades now, video games have delivered some of fiction's most memorable and iconic villains. There is a lot of debate about the best villains in video game history, but a new study attempts to settle things.

The study, conducted by SolitaireBliss, generated its list of the 10 most popular video game villains by analyzing Google search data, ranking the villains by the average monthly searches they receive. According to this data, the 10 most popular video game villains are, in order, Mewtwo from Pokemon, Donkey Kong, Bowser from the Super Mario series, Waluigi, Wario, Final Fantasy 7's Sephiroth, Akuma of Street Fighter fame, Pyramid Head from Silent Hill, SHODAN from System Shock, and Goombas.

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Right off the bat, there are some problems that gamers may have with the results of this study. Google search data is not really a great way to determine the popularity of video game villains, as there are different factors that may go into why people are searching things about specific characters. For example, it makes sense that Mewtwo would have the most Google searches as people may be searching for ways to catch Mewtwo in various Pokemon games or how to counter the powerful legendary in Pokemon GO. Another issue one might take with the study is that it considers Donkey Kong a "villain," and while Donkey Kong was a villain in the original arcade game, he's spent most of his existence as a hero. The vast majority of games featuring Donkey Kong present him as the playable protagonist, not as a villain, so labeling him as such is quite the stretch.

pokemon mewtwo detective pikachu movie
  1. Mewtwo
  2. Donkey Kong
  3. Bowser
  4. Waluigi
  5. Wario
  6. Sephiroth
  7. Akuma
  8. Pyramid Head
  9. SHODAN
  10. Goomba

Luckily, the data includes the other most-searched villains besides just the top 10. If Donkey Kong was removed from the lineup, it appears as though Metal Sonic would be bumped into the top 10. It's odd that main Sonic the Hedgehog villain Dr. Robotnik wouldn't crack the top 10, yet Metal Sonic apparently would, but there could be a number of explanations for why that would be.

It's also pointed out in the study that some major villains like Darth Vader and The Joker weren't included in the study. This is due to the fact that they did not originate in video games, and their heavy presence in other media would have likely skewed the results.

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Source: SolitaireBliss