With the sheer number of video games competing for an audience’s attention at any given time, a lot of titles try to have some kind of unique selling point to help them stand out. Some have found that it can help just to have an unusual protagonist who piques the interest of potential players.
Babies aren’t what anyone imagines when they think of a gaming protagonist. They’re small, inexperienced, and quite vulnerable. However, there are a respectable amount of games that star babies anyway, using their unusual heroes to offer unique gameplay and narrative, or simply add a more unexpected member to a playable ensemble cast.
8 The Kirby Series
Despite being one of the most recognizable characters in all of gaming, very little is actually known about Kirby himself. Players get almost no information as to where he came from or what he is. However, it seems like he and Meta Knight are the same species, prompting a theory about Kirby's age.
If Meta Knight was an adult, Kirby is presumably a baby or toddler. He lacks the ability to talk in full sentences, mostly communicating with gestures, facial expressions and occasional words. Despite this, he’s easily the strongest character in his series, and adds consistent charm to every game he headlines.
7 Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Kingdom Hearts is well known for using complex concepts in its ever-growing storyline. One example is the character Roxas, who is a nobody; a being without a heart. While nobodies usually have memories of their past lives, Roxas is born with no memories of who he used to be.
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days is the sole game starring Roxas, covering his year in Organization 13. While he has the body and mind of a teenager, Roxas is only created near the start of the game, and spends most of it needing to be taught about basic concepts like friendship and hearts. Though he may not look like one, he's essentially a baby in that he's brand new to the world.
6 The Chibi-Robo Series
Despite what one might assume, the games in the Chibi-Robo series don’t all star the same character. The Chibi-Robo are a line of robot assistants that are purchased in order to aid with things like household chores and generally making lives easier. They are a rather new product, and the Robo are often only alive once they’ve been purchased, making them much like babies in that they are new to the world around them.
The Chibi-Robo games would go on to experiment with several different gameplay styles, but the original tasked players with navigating a family home and helping improve their lives. This involved taking on tasks in the family home, which is a giant playground from Robo’s tiny perspective.
5 Among the Sleep
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Among the Sleep is an interesting indie game by Norwegian developer Krillbite Studio. It puts players in the shoes of a 2-year-old boy, including limiting all possible movement and perspectives to that of a toddler.
The game features many horror elements, with the protagonist being chased by several monstrous entities, while being guided by a talking teddy bear. It bears strong similarities to other great horror games like Limbo and Little Nightmares. A remastered version of the game is available on most modern hardware.
4 Kindergarten
Keeping to the theme of endangered toddlers, Kindergarten is an indie adventure game starring a young child in a kindergarten. Though the characters are old enough to walk and talk, they're still at least 20 years younger than the average gaming protagonist. Where they should be playing and learning, they end up having to tackle challenges like investigating missing students and suspicious staff.
Kindergarten is a very gory game, with many ways for the main character to get himself or other characters bludgeoned, shot, or otherwise killed. It originally released on Steam in 2017, and later received a sequel that doubles up on everything that made the first game worthwhile.
3 Baby Pac-Man
The international success of Pac-Man has meant that over the years, a lot of iterations and spin-offs on the original game have been released. This includes games like Ms. Pac-Man, and the rather unknown Baby Pac-Man.
Released as an arcade machine in 1982, Baby Pac-Man fuses Pac-Man and pinball. The top screen is a fairly standard Pac-Man stage, but in order to get power pellets, players must descend to the lower screen and finish certain tasks on a pinball board before transitioning back up.
2 Donkey Kong Country 3
The Donkey Kong Country games are the quintessential series for the DK family. While they might appear in other games like Mario Kart, DKC is where they really get to shine. This includes Kiddy Kong, the baby of the group, who gets his time to shine in DCK3.
In DKC3, the usual heroes Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong have been captured by a robot known as KAOS. In order to get them back, Kiddy and Dixie Kong set off on the usual platforming adventure that the series is known for.
1 The Super Monkey Ball Series
Similar to Pac-Man, AiAi from Super Monkey Ball also has a young child that has had playable appearances. Baby first appeared in Super Monkey Ball 2, where he was a time traveler trying to help save his parent’s marriage.
While he never took over a full protagonist role in the series, he has been a main playable character in several games, most prominently in Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz and Super Monkey Ball 2. Luckily both titles are available on modern consoles, thanks to remasters of the original games.