Games generally tend to revolve around their protagonist and as such, the player's focus is always on that particular character and they generally end up being the most liked, or most memorable from that specific title or franchise. However, in some situations, the main character has their spotlight stolen by a side character and it's that smaller role that becomes the fan-favorite. Sometimes these characters then earn a spin-off game of their own, not that the spin-offs always work out for the best, as seen here.
In this list, we present ten of the side-characters that managed to swoop in and take the attention away from the main characters, as well as steal fan's hearts in the process. For the record, we haven't included any games where you create your main character.
10 Yakuza - Kiryu and Majima
While Kiryu may be the real protagonist of the Yakuza series and a much-loved one at that, it's hard not to have your attention drawn to the charismatic, crazy, and hilarious character of Majima. The Mad Dog of Shimano, as Majima is also known, became a fan-favorite immediately and earned himself a spot in every main Yakuza title that followed.
His role developed throughout the games to the point where Sega eventually made him a playable protagonist in the spin-off title, Yakuza: Deal Souls, and later he was given joint lead with Kiryu in the prequel title, Yakuza 0. Additionally, when Yakuza 1 and 2 were both remade under the Kiwami name, Majima's role was increased further and he was also added as a playable character in Kiwami 2. Majima memes are abundant throughout the internet, a key indicator of his popularity.
9 Devil May Cry 5 - Dante and V
Devil May Cry is a long-running franchise with Dante at its helm, and though we did step into the role of Nero as the primary protagonist in Devil May Cry 4, Dante was still very much in the picture. Devil May Cry 5 decided to shake things up once more with three title characters that players would switch between, Dante, Nero, and a mysterious newcomer named V.
Given that despite being the protagonist, Nero didn't manage to dethrone Dante as fan-favorite in Devil May Cry 4, it was hard to imagine anyone else would topple him from that position. Yet V proved to be a formidable character that resonated with fans, with Devil May Cry director Hideaki Itsuno expressing his surprise at just how well fans took to V.
8 Bioshock: Infinite - Booker and Elizabeth
Fair warning, spoilers lie ahead in this entry. Bioshock Infinite was the franchise's first foray into the world outside of Rapture, taking us to all new heights with the setting of the floating city of Columbia. The protagonist of the game was Booker DeWitt, but it was hard for his role to not be eclipsed by the far more interesting character of Elizabeth.
Though the two are intrinsically linked in the story, Elizabeth is a stronger character with more in-depth connections, such as her relationship with Songbird. It's also possible that Booker didn't land himself as a fan-favorite as he ended up being the antagonist, or at least a version of him did, making Elizabeth the more likable of the two.
7 Life is Strange - Max and Chloe
Life is Strange allowed players to assume the role of Max, a young girl with the unique ability to rewind time. Despite this interesting power and that Max was a great, likable character in her own right, she was still somehow overshadowed by the character of Chloe, her childhood friend.
Perhaps it was because Chloe was a much more vibrant character than Max; she was feisty, punky, broke the rules, and was more than ready to kick butt. Max just seemed to fall to the wayside, leaving Chloe to emerge as the fan-favorite.
6 Far Cry 3 - Jason and Vaas
You may be already looking at the guy on the left and thinking, who's that? That's how forgettable the protagonist, Jason Brody, of Far Cry 3 was, but also possibly because it's a first-person game so you don't see yourself.
We can attribute some of Jason's forgettableness down to the main antagonist, Vaas, who was such a strong character that he overshadowed the whole of the game, including the person the player took control of. Despite being killed off two-thirds of the way through the game, Vaas made such an impact that he has gone down in gaming history as one of the best villains ever who will always be remembered most by his speech about the definition of insanity.
5 Final Fantasy 15 - Noctis and Ignis
Arguably, any of Noctis's entourage from Final Fantasy 15 could be seen as taking the spotlight off of him as their characters seem more in-depth. Like many other Final Fantasy protagonists before him, Noctis suffered from a generic, brooding stereotyped personality that made it difficult for him to stand out from the crowd of other interesting characters in the game.
Out of Prompto, Ignis, and Gladio, we opted to declare Ignis as the fan-favorite from this squad due to the sheer number of memes that exploded onto the internet when the game first released.
4 Kingdom Hearts 2 - Sora and Roxas
Be warned, some spoilers lie ahead in this entry. It seemed hard to believe that anyone could topple Sora from his top spot, but when Kingdom Hearts 2 came out, fans were surprised with the arrival of a new character named Roxas. Fans quickly fell in love with Roxas and immediately began shipping his relationship with Axel.
This entry is a bit of a wildcard because as Sora's Nobody, Roxas is a part of Sora and arguably it seems redundant to be upstaged by yourself (or at least a version of yourself).
3 Assassin's Creed 3 - Connor and Haytham
Assassin's Creed 3's Connor Kenway is notorious for being the least favorite out of all the Assassin's Creed main characters, generally factored down to his dislikable personality. It also didn't help that players were given a taste of a more interesting character to play as at the beginning of the game when they controlled Haytham. Switching to Connor afterward felt like a bit of downgrade.
The previous Assassin's Creed games featured very strong leads, particularly with Ezio. Therefore, it was always going to be hard to fill his predecessor's shoes and Connor's character development and personality felt so lackluster that it was hard to connect with him as a player.
2 Persona 5 - Joker and Mona
Mona, or Morgana as he is also known, became the much-loved mascot of Persona 5 and there's no surprise why. This adorable little character with plenty of attitude stole the hearts of fans, as well as those of enemies in the game. It's not hard to see why he became a fan-favorite and in doing so he edged out the protagonist, Joker.
Part of the reason for this may be because although Joker does have a personality of his own with set plot lines, his character is purposefully left vague so that players can shape him with their own decisions. Yu Narukami and Teddy from Persona 4 were also contenders for this list, but as the situation is pretty much the same we didn't include them.
1 Fire Emblem: Three Houses - Byleth and Claude/Edelgard
The game cover of Fire Emblem: Three Houses presents the case for this entry, where even here the three leaders of the houses over-shadow Byleth, the main character. It doesn't help that Byleth's character is purposefully rather emotionless, which the reason as to why is revealed during the story arc.
The character who stood out the most from this title is a tie between Claude, the leader of the Golden Deer house, as he is by far the most charming, and Edelgard, the leader of the Black Eagle house and the only female lead out of the houses. Both proved to be fan-favorites and quickly took the internet by storm.