How do you choose your characters in videogames?

[Verde_]

You've bought your new game, turned the console on, and pressed start. Now you are at the character select screen.
Who do you choose, and why?
I think that's an interesting question. The characters we choose to play as can tell a lot about us.

For example, I usually play two type of characters:
1) Characters who look friendly and I would like to be friend with.
Some of my favourites like this are Marco Tarma and Fio from Metal Slug, Blanka and E. Honda from Street Fighter and pretty much everyone from Super Mario.

2) Characters who are so over the top they become funny.
Some of my favourites are M. Bison, Shao Kahn and most bosses from fighting games.
I usually avoid traditionally cool characters because I just find them boring or annoying.

What are your characters preferences?

 

[PrismRed]

I assume it is for fighting games, I always try every single one to see who I 'vibe' the most, though there are exceptions.

 

[Mpampakas]

Must be female unless it's a jojo fighting game.

 

[zombie100379]

i would usually start with the one that stands out the most on the cover art - i then experiment with the more odd looking characters as they often end up being more interesting to play as.

 

[Guinea]

Try every character and then choose my favorite and main.

 

[Jdan-S]

In terms of picking a character without knowing anything about the game:

1. Who's the most moé?
2. If no girls/human characters, which is the weird or unorthrodox choice?

For example, in SoulCalibur, I'd pick Talim over Ivy. If it only had male fighters, I'd go with Voldo.

 

[ConanTheDestroyer]

Like everyone else I try all the characters to see which one suits me. When it comes to which one I start with in fighting games specifically its usually the one who is considered the main character of that game. The one that's on all the promotional material plus it also helps that they are generally the one that's selected by default on the character select screen when you start. So it would be Jin/Kazuya in Tekken, Ryu in Street Fighter, Kasumi in Dead or Alive, Haohmaru in Samurai Shodown and so on. Might be a bland choice but I usually assume the protagonist is the one that's there to help you get the feel of the game in how it plays and its mechanics, after that I move onto other characters.

 

[ArchienineZXAdventArchienineZXAdvent's icon]

i choose sometimes the first one that i see or do random choose.

 

[random0nonsense]

My initial choice is whichever design calls to me.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

I choose whatever looks cooler, to be honest — my critiquing skills haven't improved that much.

BUT a nice bio also helps — Mint's "tale of a spunky girl" has lived rent-free in my head for years because it's exactly the sort of thing I want to play as.

 

[Serotonin]

In terms of picking a character without knowing anything about the game:

1. Who's the most moé?

 

[Megarockman _1987 Megarockman _1987]

If looks like MegaMan or have a cool design I choose

 

[HydraSavior]

If there's dating elements, then male.

If there's no dating elements, it's a 50/50 shot between male and female. Just talkin' games in general here, but women characters typically get more exciting clothing options and are allowed to have some personality. Male characters are more conservative in their clothing, and they're usually supposed to be an Everyman character of sorts--a personality-less stand in for everyone, and thus, no one.

I'm kind of sick of Standard Shonen Game/Manga/Anime Protagonists. Gimme something with style. For whatever reason, the female characters are usually where the creators give some pathos.

 

[Morgan Katarn]

My initial choice is whichever design calls to me.

Same here. Honestly it´s not anything special or deep I just pick the one that catches my eye the most.

 

[Tsukishima]

Girls holding comically large weapons.

Outside of this trope though, I enjoy characters with really unorthodox weapons, or characters with a 'minion-controlling' idea.
Though the whole "this one speaks to me" is the one I gravitate towards too

 

[Sheepy765]

I’m also big on cute and/or friendly looking characters, characters like Yoshi, the Purrely archetype in Yu-Gi-Oh, Isabelle from Animal Crossing, Sora, Ken Masters, and Terry Bogard. I’ll also go for dudes who look cool sometimes, characters like Cloud Strife, Sol Badguy, Ky Kiske, Bedman(?), etc.

 

[Tounushi]

I don't really have hangups on what my PC looks like, so it depends on the game and how the characters are made. Usually by which character fits my preferred play styles or by whomever is the canon/box art MC, as it's their story I'm experiencing. If there's no real set appearance for the main character, I build a character that looks like me to put myself into the story.

 

[Mahan_Native]

usually i try every character at least once, so i can see which one of them i do prefer
or
simply i just see which is cooler or which fighting style of these characters i do prefer
for example in Street Fighter III
i always pick Dudley because i love boxing and i love his playstyle

 

[shaggi]

First, i choose one character based on avatar alone, then after playing a while i play rest of characters in random order. Finally, i decide what character give me the most fun playing and then start new game with that one.