Top 5 Video Game Sidekicks

Whether it’s a lovable rogue, a loud-mouthed stoner or the Goddamn Batman, the general consensus is that our hero benefits from a capable foil. Sidekicks can do a lot for your story: They can flesh out the lead’s motivations and personality, provide a foil for the protagonist, or in Robin’s case, generally suck and annoy everyone.

And then there’re video game sidekicks. Sometimes they exist purely for narrative purposes, others they’re integral to gameplay. Sometimes both. Whatever the design, they’re important enough that there've been tournament-style polls for such insane figures as the top 64 video game sidekicks. My ambitions aren’t so lofty. Five is a good, round number. Expect to see it often.

5. Garrus Vakarian (Mass Effect)
There’s something to be said for a person willing to walk into hell with you. Twice. Garrus Vakarian is Mass Effect’s take on the classic “renegade cop” character. Give him another 20 years and he’ll begin spouting such gems as, “I’m too old for this.”

Once the equivalent of a beat cop for Citadel Security (C-SEC), Garrus turned in his badge to gallivant across the galaxy with Commander Shepard in an effort to take down Saren Arterius. In that moment, a timeless bromance was formed. Just about every exchange between Shepard and Garrus can be punctuated with a manly (or indeed womanly!) fist bump, itself punctuated by gunfire.

Garrus is so badass that he’s barely even a sidekick. When Shepard “disappeared” (read: died but then got better), Garrus dropped off the radar and set up shop on Omega, where he made it his goal to piss off every single criminal on the station. …So, pretty much the entire station. Why? He wanted to keep his skills sharp. Here’s to a third game of Garrus Vakarian being awesome.

4. Luigi (Super Mario Bros.)
Poor, poor Luigi, living in the shadow of his shorter brother. Hey, buddy, we’ve all been there—except me; I’m awesome. Yeah, Luigi’s kind of gotten a raw deal until recent years. But let me remind you that it’s the Super Mario Brothers, not just the Super Mario.

We didn’t learn until 2001, for example, that Luigi had a knack for ghostbusting. And that time, he even had to rescue Mario from King Boo's clutches. Looks like somebody appreciated that gesture, because Luigi’s set to make his triumphant return to paranormal genocide next year. That’s not to belittle Luigi’s other accomplishments. He’s had a pretty successful sports career, including racing, baseball and tennis. He even starred right next to Mario in three role-playing games on the GameBoy Advance and Nintendo DS.

...Plus, he totally dunks on Mario in Super Smash Bros.

3. Daxter (Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy)
Of course I’d include the wise-cracking ottsel. You could probably argue that Daxter’s a terrible sidekick, given how much trouble he gets the gruff Jak into, but that’s really part of what makes him work so well as a sidekick.

Yeah, Daxter’s kind of a schlub, and the shenanigans into which he dragged Jak are legendary, but they’re best friends. True friendship is more important than all that…You know, or something. And don’t forget that time Daxter saved Jak from two more years of torture. …OK, so it took him two years to get Jak out in the first place, but give the guy a break! He had his own problems in the meantime.

2. Agro (Shadow of the Colossus)
I wasn’t a big fan of Agro at first. It’s just a freaking horse, after all. Apart from getting me from Point A to Point B, what the hell did it ever do for me? And then… “Holy crap, I’m fighting a titan on horseback!” “Oh no, it knocked me off! Hurry, up, Agro, we gotta do this!” “Run, Agro, don’t let it maul us!” And then we won, high-fiving atop the corpse of our slain foe.

Agro and Wander was a match made in heaven. Not only did some of the best boss fights feature your trusty steed, but they used him really damn well. Tell me that flying serpent-dragon-thing in the desert would have been even half as cool without Agro. No? All right, then.

Tragedy struck when Agro fell into that canyon in the game’s final act. Wander didn’t even have time to mourn his equine bro as he staggered toward the final confrontation. But we did. If you’re anything like me, you almost (almost, people!) shed manly tears over the loss of your only friend in the game. Don’t cry, though, children, Agro returns unharmed in the credits sequence!

1. Midna (The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess)
I once said Zelda was a given on a list of the top five anything in video games. You didn’t think I was kidding, did you? As with another list of mine, I didn’t initially conceive of Midna being #1, but you can feel free to mark this one off as fanboyism. (All of this has happened before and will happen again.) I’m just really fond of the character.

The Legend of Zelda has a history of giving Link a buddy to roll with, as it were: Navi, Linebeck and Princess Zelda herself, to name a few. But really, none of them beat the deadpan imp from the Twilight Realm. Midna likes to portray herself as, to put it gently, bitchy and indifferent. Of course the apathy is feigned; she wouldn’t be much of a hero if she didn’t care about anyone, would she?

Every so often, her mocking demeanor let up and she showed a more compassionate side; for Link, for Zelda and especially for her people, the Twili. Midna’s not the most complex or dark sidekick out there, or even the funniest. But in a series known for memorable sidekicks, she takes the top spot easily. It’s what she represents that makes her fun: Nintendo tried something different, and it worked really well.

(Editor's note: Yes, the use of the Chuck Norris film "Sidekicks" as the title card was a terrible pun. If I had shame, I would apologize.)

Aaron Kinney, NoobFeed