Gamers are quick to praise their favorite video game playable characters and NPCs, but what happens when an in-game persona is unbearable? Just like the sometimes irritating on-screen personalities we see in our go-to movies and shows, video games have introduced global audiences to some of the most unbearable entities, human or otherwise.
These 15 video game characters are among the medium’s most grating, each bringing their eyeroll-provoking idiosyncrasies to the table.
Tom Nook (Animal Crossing)
Whenever I get too engrossed in my in-game island, deceptively cute capitalist Tom Nook is always there to bring me back down to earth. This greedy little money-grubber looks beyond the dollar signs in his eyes long enough to see myriad money-making opportunities in his newest victi—I mean, neighbor: YOU.
The tanooki landlord and debt collector has made his insatiable thirst for profit everyone else’s problem since his first appearance in GameCube’s Animal Crossing more than two decades ago.
Louie (Pikmin)
This bumbling oaf will stop at nothing to derail every one of your intergalactic rescue missions. Not only is this unmanageable pinhead the sole cause of Hocotate Freight’s plot-driving bankruptcy in Pikmin 2 (dude eats an entire shipment of carrots and lies about it to skirt trouble), but he doesn’t learn a thing from it — in the next entry, Pikmin 3, the gluttonous NPC nearly decimates your entire team’s food supply. Don’t even get me started on Pikmin 4!
Baby Mario (Yoshi’s Island)
I’m not one to opt for any of the Baby characters in any Super Mario entry, personally, but in SNES platformer Yoshi’s Island, Baby Mario’s insufferability reaches new heights — literally.
When Baby Mario and Yoshi are separated, the young plumber floats away in a bubble, screaming at the top of his lungs until you’re able to intercept him or your time runs out.
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Tingle (The Legend of Zelda)
Green unitard-wearing Tingle first annoys players in N64 hit Majora‘s Mask, but rest assured, the creepy map peddler is going nowhere. The seemingly omnipresent character can be found in countless later Zelda titles, Super Smash Bros., and, most unnecessarily, Super Mario Maker.
In my heart of hearts, I refuse to believe that players everywhere couldn’t wait to see MORE of this guy — especially in non-Zelda games. At least keep him confined within the IP, please…
Ashley Williams (Mass Effect)
Squad member Ashley Williams first makes an appearance aboard the Normandy in the first Mass Effect game, but if you don’t kick her to the curb over Kaidan Alenko, she (unfortunately) circles back to Shep in the third entry.
As if the attitude and unwarranted opinions aren’t enough to irritate, Williams reveals herself to be staunchly xenophobic as players interact with her; the character openly complains about non-human entities, even those on her team.
Dutch van der Linde (Red Dead Redemption 2)
If I never hear about Tahiti again, it’d be too soon. Dutch van der Linde, the core gang’s stark-haired leader, can’t stop maladaptive daydreaming long enough to execute an actual agenda. You can only gather the crew around the campfire and declare “I have a plan” so many times before someone starts to speculate.
While we can sit here and go back and forth about van der Linde’s motives, his relationship with Arthur Morgan, his past, or whatever else may contribute to the character’s arc, but frankly, I can’t tolerate the man barking that “we need money” when I’m the only one trying to make ends meet after dipping from Blackwater.
Mr. Shakedown (Yakuza 0)
Speaking of needing money, Mr. Shakedown has a hankerin’ and he’s about to let you know. Whether Goro Majima is strolling through Sotenbori or Kazuma Kiryu is kicking it in Kamurocho, the physically imposing Mr. Shakedown is fixing to show you how he earned that moniker.
Thankfully, players can spot the series of oxymoronically super-tall mini-bosses from a mile away; the contents of Mr. Shakedown’s wallet are displayed over his head.
Amanda de Santa (Grand Theft Auto V)
I can’t sit here and pretend Michael de Santa is a bastion of morality and spousal support, but the Mrs. somehow manages to outdo him for the “Worst Person in Los Santos” award (and we all know that bar is HIGH).
Amanda’s overtly materialistic tendencies and infidelity are only made more irksome by her disparaging witticisms and abrasive personality. Mr. de Santa is just as much a liar and cheat as she, but he gets an extra point for decking that smarmy and condescending yogi, Fabien.
Ashley Graham (Resident Evil 4)
Look, I get it. Ashley is the “damsel in distress” that not only kickstarts the Resident Evil 4 plot, but keeps moving the game forward once you find her.
Having said that, for a game that serves not only as a reinvention of the franchise but the action/survival horror genres as well, it’s frustrating to see how useless she is. You’re Leon Kennedy, you’re a real life action hero, and yet here comes the President’s daughter to get in your way time and time again.
Adoring Fan (The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion)
They couldn’t just leave him in 2006? They HAD to bring him back for the remaster? Ugh.
It’s not lost on me that the heavily memed NPC is intentionally annoying, but your in-game ride-or-die really lays it on thick. After players dominate the competition in the Arena, your avatar earns itself an unkillable, smirking shadow.
Wulbren Bongle (Baldur’s Gate 3)
Ironhand Gnomes leader Wulbren Bongle somehow out-evils the role-playing game’s most notable baddies. After players so graciously save his life, Bongle goes from zero to insufferable, quickly revealing a kind of god complex that, like some kind of spell, transforms any open hand to a closed fist.
Baldur’s Gate 3 fans are so passionate about their hatred, they launched a subreddit wholly dedicated to anti-Bongle commentary.
Renoir (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33)
Underdog RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 quite literally paints a profound picture of grief and loss. Like in the real world, though, in-game characters’ coping strategies differ radically. Unsurprisingly, players’ reactions to characters’ behaviors also vary.
While Renoir is in mourning, the character’s zero-tolerance policy regarding others’ compartmentalization of thoughts and feelings is enough to boil my blood. He wants others to grieve the way he grieves, and in any world (imagined or otherwise), that won’t fly.
Moneybags (Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage!)
I’m noticing a theme here…
Uppercrust monocle-wearing Moneybags, first seen in the second Spyro the Dragon game, makes a living by shaking gems out of the titular character at every turn. Like a capitalistic troll, the cartoonishly gluttonous character shakes a few shinies from Spyro every time players need to cross a bridge, open a door, free a friend, or pick up a new power.
Finn ‘Fingers’ Gerstatt (Cyberpunk 2077)
No one’s shocked to see a morally bankrupt NPC in Cyberpunk 2077 (a real “fork found in kitchen moment), but never has an unplayable character’s quips soured me so fast as Fingers’. The seedy ripperdoc preys on Night City’s most vulnerable, relying on defunct or otherwise irreparable parts and pieces to complete his third-rate chrome installation services.
Players may get a chance to deliver a heaping helping of justice later on…
Bowser Jr. (Super Mario)
Bowser Jr. is the Scrappy-Doo of the Super Mario IP. This hyperactive hindrance is Bowser’s kid, but in just about every Super Mario release, he becomes your problem, too.
The character is the spitting image of his pops in physical appearance and temperament; this scheming, sniveling schoolyard bully-like mini-boss makes Buzz from Home Alone look like Mother Teresa.
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