By: Tom Ladka
One of the first things you’ll learn about me when you first get to know me is that I’m a huge, life-long gamer. Ever since I was a little kid, I remember I was fascinated by the medium from the moment I first saw them being played. However, throughout the years–and especially lately–one aspect that’s often been on my mind are the characters in these games. Many have inspired me in a diverse amount of ways and some have even stuck with me throughout most of my life. So, I thought a good way to celebrate the impact these characters have made on my life would be to write about them here. Each one of them–be it, through their stories, personalities, or even the symbolism of their presence in their respective games–has taught me something valuable and I wouldn’t be who I am without them. I’ve narrowed it down to 6 different characters I’d like to talk about. To begin, I’d like to start with the most recent character on the list.
LUKE (STREET FIGHTER)
In terms of character, few fighting game characters are quite as laid back and down to earth as Luke Sullivan–which makes him one of the most enjoyable characters in all of Street Fighter, in my opinion. While many complain about him being over-represented in the competitive scene, often citing his lack of true weaknesses as a big reason for being top tier in both Street Fighter V and VI, very little of that is why I enjoy the character.
Luke’s story is that, when he was a kid, his dad was killed by terrorists while trying to protect not just his son, but those in the area at the time. So, as an adult, he joined the army as a way to honor his late father. However, Luke quickly realized the army wasn’t his place. Seeing this, his commander, Guile, whom you may know as one of the most popular characters in all of Street Fighter, offers to relieve Luke of his duties. Luke accepts, and by the start of the next game, he’s become a fighting coach in Metro City and is the first master the player is given in World Tour mode. His first lesson? Go get some nice clothes and a slice of pizza! All that is to say that Luke’s reason for fighting is very similar to my own: He doesn’t care about being the best, getting stronger, or even protecting others as his reason to fight; he just thinks it’s fun!
To return to that last anecdote for a bit, I’ve always found it profound that his first lesson has little to do with fighting and a lot more with enjoying life. Sure, in the context of the game getting clothes is meant to increase your stats; the slice of pizza is meant to offer a temporary buff; and the lesson as a whole is simply the tutorial for World Tour mode, but to me it’s a bit deeper than that. Street Fighter is obviously a fighting game, but to the point, fighting games are designed to be fun and to bring people together. So when Luke gives you this lesson, it’s also a way to essentially tell you “It’s a game! You’ll only get better if you enjoy it!” Which is an excellent approach not just to fighting games, but also life in general. It can help when finding a career; working on a passion project; and even just improving in your day-to-day life.
Once again, Luke is a very laid-back character. One who’s found his way in life, even through the toughest of times. And above all, it’s a life where he is happy.
NATHAN DRAKE (UNCHARTED)
I mentioned at the start of this blog post that some of these characters have stuck with me throughout most of my life–and none of the characters I have or will talk about here have stuck with me quite as long as Nathan Drake. I got into the Uncharted games (which, for context, are often compared to the Indiana Jones movies in terms of story, setting and themes) at a young age after some of my friends said they were good. To this day, I still have the steelbook from the collectors edition of Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception–my personal favorite in the series–in my collection. I say all this to emphasize that one of the biggest reasons I loved these games was because of their central protagonist, Nathan Drake, a treasure hunter believed to be the descendant of real life explorer, Sir Francis Drake.
Even as a kid, who at the time didn’t look up to most characters in the way I do now, Nathan Drake was a very important character to me. I think, perhaps, the main reason for that was his resilience. Something that would often happen in these games is that, as a treasure hunter, Nate and his friends often ended up caved into ancient tombs and… well, caves, but each any every time, he’d casually just say something along the lines of “alright, we’ll just find another way out” where anyone else would probably be devastated. In fact, Nathan Drake has gotten himself into a whole lot worse and always had the exact same attitude. He’s fallen out of a cargo plane and ended up stranded in the desert with no sign of civilization or even so much as water; he’s had to fight bad guys on a ship that’s about to sink in the middle of the ocean; and perhaps most famously, he survived a train crash only to have to climb up said train while it’s dangling off a cliff.
Each time, it’s shown he’s scared for his life, hoping desperately this isn’t his time to die, but to a much greater degree, showing that his hope–and his sense of humor–is not lost. Nathan Drake’s ability to persevere, while maybe perhaps not “realistic,” was inspiring to me even as a kid. Because no matter what he’d get himself into, not only was he able to confidently find his way through, he was willing to do it all over again.
LEON S. KENNEDY (RESIDENT EVIL)
If you’ve been following my blog posts for the Flutie Foundation, this one should need no introduction. Many of you should know by now that my first blog post, titled “How Resident Evil Changed My Life,” is one of the most viewed posts on the entire Flutie Foundation website. If you want, you could read it here. In fact, the post had gone so viral, it even reached the current voice and motion capture actor for Leon S. Kennedy, Nick Apostolides, who sent me his own original, signed artwork of the character that I now have framed in my house. However, even before all that, Leon was always one my favorite protagonists in the series.
While his story is iconic, having had to survive the T-Virus outbreak in Raccoon City on his first day on the job as a police officer before essentially becoming a secret agent, it is relatively simple for a protagonist’s backstory. Instead, what stands out about Leon, for me, is how he can keep his cool and be in the moment, without being dragged down by his past. Yes, the scars from his past are always there, but instead of letting that weigh on him at all times, he instead uses that as a reason to fight. Leon can never forget that day in Raccoon City, and believes no one should have to feel the same way about something similar, so he makes it his mission to fight bioterrorism in hopes that he can spare as many people as possible from such trauma. It’s an interesting reason to fight, and although it means he must follow orders, he always knows what he’s doing and why.
As someone who often fights his own battles with his past in an effort to make the world a better place, Leon is an inspiration to me. I keep the art of him that was sent to me by his voice actor in a corner of my house I often refer to as “The Nook” where I keep a lot of collectibles, souvenirs, and pictures that are meaningful to me in such ways.
His drive and reason for fighting are as noble and selfless as that of a knight. Not once does Leon decide to put himself over others in any of the games–something that can’t even be said for Chris Redfield, a protagonist arguably more prominent in the games than Leon himself! So, if they are potentially making a new Marvel vs. Capcom game… Maybe give Leon a chance this time, Chris?
BAYONETTA (BAYONETTA) AND DANTE (DEVIL MAY CRY)
These two, I’ve decided to group together not just because they share the same creator, Hideki Kamiya, but because both share a similar meaning to me.
For those who might not be familiar with the characters, Dante is the son of a powerful demon known as Sparda who helped humanity win a war against other devils. In his first appearance, Dante runs a business called Devil May Cry where he works as a sort of devil hunter-for-hire. Bayonetta, on the other hand, is what is known as an umbra witch–essentially a woman from a long lost group of witches who gets her power from the moon. Whereas Dante fights devils, Bayonetta instead fights angels–only, in her case, she just does it for fun. Despite this, she’s not exactly evil–but she’s no hero. In her first game, she’s simply trying to find out more about her origin and happens to save the world along the way.
Despite both characters being very different from each other, they both share one trait in particular that’s really stuck out to me. One that I can sum up easily in a single word–confidence! To start, Bayonetta is designed to be the type of character who is usually the most capable one in the room and owns it. While it could be easy to write her off as a sort of Mary Sue, in the context of a video game, she’s meant to make the player feel powerful. By taking control of a character like Bayonetta, you–the player–feel like you can do anything. And whether it’s all the times she defeats beings powerful enough to be considered a god (and in some cases, even are a god); or even just when she one-ups Luka or makes Enzo look foolish, you feel her confidence rub off on you.
It’s very similar for Dante. Much like Bayonetta, he’s a character designed to make you feel powerful–though not too powerful. Comparatively, the word “difficult” is brought up a lot more in conversations about his games as opposed to Bayonetta’s. And yet, as a character, Dante retains the same amount of confidence as Bayonetta. Beating a boss in Devil May Cry really feels like you earned it. You, as in the player. Dante’s just there to say a clever one-liner after!
And that’s the most important aspect of both characters. Not only are both extremely powerful, while they do all the cool stuff they do, they do so in such a casual fashion. That’s the important thing about confidence: It’s something that can only grow when you don’t realize it’s growing. For me, personally, even I wasn’t always the outgoing, thoughtful and selfless person I am today. I just gave my confidence the time and resources it needed to grow. That’s why having characters like Dante and Bayonetta casually take on being as powerful as they do while you’re in control of them was such a powerful lesson in confidence: It’s because I didn’t realize it at first!
DELSIN ROWE (INFAMOUS: SECOND SON)
I’ve decided to talk about this character last because, as a character, Delsin Rowe is considered to be a bit divisive among fans. That being said, without hyperbole, Delsin Rowe is my favorite superhero of all time! Not just in video games, but in any form of media! Perhaps that may seem like a bold statement, but even when I have my doubts, I’ll replay inFAMOUS: Second Son again and confidently reaffirm that statement.
To take a step back a bit, Delsin Rowe, a Native-American living near Seattle, starts the game as a graffiti artist who lacks purpose in life. Eventually, Delsin meets a conduit (think essentially “a person with superpowers,” though there is a bit more to it than that.) who escapes from a prison designed to contain such people and accidently absorbs his powers. Initially afraid of the differences he’s obtained, Delsin quickly finds purpose in borrowing the powers of the other conduits who escaped from the prison in an effort to take on Brooke Augustine, a powerful conduit who injured most of Delsin’s tribe by lodging concrete into their bodies. Most of the game is spent gaining new powers to eventually be able to use Augustine’s powers to remove the concrete from the injured members of Delsin’s tribe.
It shouldn’t be hard to figure out that, as a person on the autism spectrum, Delsin’s story is really what resonates with me the most. While I, personally, find Delsin to be an engaging, relatable and even funny character (and also consider him to have easily one of the best performances from actor Troy Baker), the parallels in his story to that of many people on the spectrum–including my own–are hard to ignore. In fact, as someone who was forced to deal with special education most of my life, being torn apart from my family because of a simple diagnosis, even the stories of the escaped conduits are something that made me feel heard and even understood… So why, then, is Delsin my favorite superhero and not the escaped conduits–Hank, Fetch, and Eugene?
Well, another meaningful aspect embodied by Delsin and his story is the idea of finding purpose and a place to belong. Even in Delsin’s tribe and family, he struggles to find a place where he belongs until he decides to use Augustine’s powers to help save the members of his tribe. Anyone on the autism spectrum would know just how hard it can be to fit into this world. To find a place where they’re accepted, heard and, above all, understood. For Delsin, that meant learning the stories of the escaped conduits and gaining their powers. For me, that meant finding people I can vibe with and environments where I can thrive. We all have a place in this world. And finding that place and living a happy life has always been my drive. That’s why the themes of purpose and belonging matter to me so much. Subtlety may not be a strong suit in the story of inFAMOUS: Second Son, but with a message like that, being apparent can be just as effective!
When writing a character for a video game, a lot has to be considered in regards to the character’s purpose. However, unlike in any other form of media, that doesn’t just mean in the story, but also as a way to serve the tone and feel of a game. Many survival horror game protagonists, for example, are designed to feel weak to aid the intense nature of the game. While, on the other hand, a character in an anime fighting game might be designed to have powerful abilities and a quirky personality to make the player feel like a character from an anime.
These, however, are not necessarily limitations but rather a mold meant to be broken. Each and every character I’ve talked about in this blog post has broken this mold in one way or another and brought something new to the table that stood out to me. They’ve inspired me to discover who I am, who I want to be, and where I want to go. Their lines may be scripted; their actions limited by the context of the game they’re in; and their stories pre-written well before copies of their respective games ship, but they’ve all allowed me to push myself and be more than who I am.
Currently, I live on my own in Florida–on the opposite end of the country from most of my family in Massachusetts–and have for almost 2 years. I have a lot of good friends; projects that I work on; dreams I’m working towards; and a life I’m proud to live. Though I wouldn’t consider most of these characters to be role models, as I, personally, don’t believe in the concept, there are parts to each of them I admire for helping me find myself. All this is to say I wouldn’t be where I am today without them. While I still have a long way to go on my journey of self discovery–and it may very well take my whole life–learning from these characters was a great place to start.