A good villain can make or break a game. The very best video game villains, on the other hand, are able to break free from the confines of their respective titles and leave their mark on the wider video game industry. Unfortunately, however, such villains are few and far between, yet it's clear that certain developers and franchises have a much better track record than others when it comes to delivering compelling villains to their players.
The likes of Sonic, Mario, and Zelda have built most of their success around one great villain, though not every video game franchise has opted for this approach. Rather than a single bad guy, they've instead introduced multiple primary antagonists and have mastered the art of doing so in the process. Not all of them are quite as memorable as Robotnik, Bowser, and Ganon, but, collectively, the bad guys in these iconic franchises are not too far away.
5 Pokemon
Despite just about every generation of Pokemon games following the same tired old formula, the team over at Game Freak has done a surprisingly good job at fleshing out the villainous teams that appear throughout the franchise. They all contribute to their respective games' narratives in one way or another, with certain teams imposing themselves a lot more heavily on the story than others.
Since the introduction of Team Rocket back in Gen 1, players have been introduced to a wide variety of evil teams in the Pokemon games. Some wish to capture the very strongest Pokemon while others wish to reshape the world in their own image. Granted, some are more interesting than others, but, for the most part, they're generally a lot more well-defined than the gym leaders and Elite Fours from the various Pokemon games in which they feature and thus a lot more memorable to players.
4 Batman Arkham
Being able to draw from decades' worth of source material certainly gives the Batman Arkham series a massive advantage when compared to some of its peers. However, having lots of great ready-made villains counts for very little if they're not utilized correctly, as the developers of some of the less successful superhero games can likely attest. Thankfully, however, this is not even close to being an issue in the Batman Arkham games.
Villains are generally used quite sparingly and in ways that both complement the main story and match up with the players' skill level at that particular point in the game. Pretty much all of the best Batman villains make an appearance at one point or another, but it never feels as though they're being shoe-horned in just for the sake of it. Quite the opposite, in fact. It's clear that a lot of thought went into which enemies are used and when and where they show up.
3 Metal Gear
The Metal Gear series is somewhat unusual, as although the games follow one continuous timeline, players are placed into the shoes of several different playable characters throughout the course of the games. This, in turn, can lead to a character who was at one point an enemy becoming a friend, while also providing players with an interesting glimpse into how some of the Metal Gear villains have changed over an extended period of time.
Though there may not be one single villain who stands out in the same way that Bowser and Robotnik do in the Mario and Sonic games respectively, Metal Gear's gallery of rogues features quite a few memorable faces. Revolver Ocelot is perhaps the most notable and is by far the most interesting, but others, including Liquid Snake, Psycho Mantis, and The End, also stand the test of time.
2 Final Fantasy
There have been plenty of great JRPG villains over the years, most of whom can be traced back to the Final Fantasy franchise. Sephiroth will probably be the first name that springs to most people's minds when thinking about the long-running series, which makes sense really given the impact that the white-haired villain has had on the wider gaming landscape. However, the one-winged angel is just one of many great villains to have graced the Final Fantasy games over the years.
From Kefka to Ultimecia, the series has a little bit of everything and can thus tailor to most people's tastes. It's also worth noting that although many of the series' villains are similar in a lot of ways, their motivations and their methods of enacting them are always incredibly unique, as too are the storylines that they each help to shape. The best Final Fantasy villains are among the best bad guys in gaming, but even the bad ones are better than what most other games can muster.
1 Far Cry
If one were to sit down and write a list of the best video game villains of all time, multiple Far Cry villains would likely claim a spot. The series is often criticized for its cookie-cutter approach to open-world gaming, with many feeling that Ubisoft doesn't put nearly enough time into making each game feel unique. This isn't a complaint that could ever be levied against the series' villains though, with every Far Cry villain bringing something new and different to the table.
It all started with Doctor Krieger in the first Far Cry game, though it perhaps wasn't until the series' third installment and the fantastic Vaas Montenegro that players really started to take notice. Since then, they've been treated to plenty of other incredible video game villains, including Pagan Min, Anton Castillo, and the unforgettable Seed family. Far Cry 6 even brought back some of the series' best villains via DLC, demonstrating how much more popular they are than the series' good guys.