As an old adage goes, even the best heroes are nothing without their villains. This mantra also applies to video games, as seen in these titles that featured some of the greatest antagonists written and designed in gaming history. That being said, these villains went above and beyond their original purpose and became their games' true stars.

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Whether it was intentional or not, these villains were so well-received that they took a life of their own. That's not to say that their respective heroes are bad. But when they're compared to villains who are seen as genre-defying and revolutionary, it's hard to argue against the idea that these villains are the best parts of their games.

10 Red Alert 3' Wacky Generals Stood Out For All The Right Reasons

Premier Cherdenko and Ivana in Red Alert 3

Red Alert was never really a serious wartime simulator, but Red Alert 3 was the classic real-time strategy series at its most cartoonish. Just like in previous entires, Red Alert 3 had generals shown in live-action cutscenes, but the trilogy capper boasted the franchise's most star-studded and hilarious cast of commanders yet.

Depending on which faction they chose, players fought big names lie George Takei as Emperor Yoshiro, J.K. Simmons as President Ackerman, and especially Tim Curry as Premier Cherdenko as their final rival. Every general hammed it up and got a defining moment, but it's hard to deny that Premier Cherdenko was Red Alert 3's breakout villain.

9 The House Of The Dead 2 Was Immortalized Thanks To Caleb Goldman

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The House of the Dead is one of the most popular and influential arcade shooters of the pre-console era, and its sequel is regarded as a fan-favorite. That said, this isn't because of its solid shooter gameplay and thrills, but because of its villain, Goldman. Goldman was too hilarious to be feared or hated.

On paper, Goldman was the typical evil industrialist who started a zombie apocalypse to impose his eugenicist beliefs onto others. In the actual game, Goldman was so poorly voiced that his bored monotone became an ironic legend. The Typing of the Dead took this to the extreme by turning Goldman into a full-on comedic villain.

8 The No More Heroes Series' Entire Conceit Was Its Scene-Stealing Villains

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Games with boss rushes aren't anything new, but No More Heroes retooled this formula in a memorable way. In every game, Travis Touchdown fought at least 10 bosses who each had their own iconic gimmicks and gameplay. Naturally, they all overshadowed Travis despite Travis being one of the most eccentric characters to debut on the Wii.

What's more, the assassins and "superheroes" Travis fought in the first two games and third, respectively, were more than just bosses to blitz through. Every boss was a fully fleshed-out character with surprisingly complex backstories and motives, and they were all so compelling and even tragic that Travis and gamers regretted killing some of them.

7 Borderlands 2 Let Handsome Jack Steal The Game

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For most gamers, the real stars of the Borderlands games were the seemingly infinite number of guns that they could tinker with. This wasn't the case in the first sequel, which pit the Vault Hunters against Handsome Jack, Pandora's ruthless yet charismatic self-proclaimed dictator. In just one game, Handsome Jack became the face of the franchise.

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Borderlands 2 is recognized as the series' best-written entry, and Handsome Jack is this assessment's perfect embodiment. Not only was Handsome Jack fun to hate and fight, but he was so popular that he even got his own spin-off in The Pre-Sequel. To this day, Handsome Jack is seen as the only Borderlands villain worth remembering.

6 The Helghast (Unintentionally) Won Gamers' Sympathy In The Killzone Series

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As far as Killzone fans are concerned, the Helghast are the games' true protagonists. Despite Guerilla Games' best efforts to depict the Helghast as the cool-looking but still villainous fascist enemies to defeat, Killzone fans gravitated towards the Helghans so much that developers gradually turned the Helghast into something of an anti-hero faction.

If the Interplanetary Strategic Alliance (ISA) characters that players were obligated to play as were dismissed as generic stand-ins for American soldiers, the simultaneously sympathetic yet feared Helghast were praised for being one of the most well-written antagonistic armies seen in a high profile First-Person Shooter franchise.

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It's common knowledge by now that the Far Cry games only became the blockbuster series they are today after the third installment's release. Most of this was thanks to Vaas, who was so charismatically evil and nihilistic that gamers couldn't look away whenever he was onscreen – even when he was threatening to kill them in a first-person cutscene.

Vaas was the perfect combination of every serial killer and video game villain cliché in the book, and he did his job so perfectly that Far Cry 3 lost its momentum when he died before the finale. Vaas inspired too many copycats and arguably drove Far Cry into a corner, but this was more of a symptom of how great a villain he was and not his fault.

4 Silent Hill 2's Monsters Were More Than Just Creatures To Defeat

Pyramid Head lumbers towards James in Silent Hill 2

From the Silent Hill franchise's start, all of its monsters were nightmarish representations of their respective protagonist's repressed emotions and guilt, but Silent Hill 2 was the installment that solidified this formula. Silent Hill 2's monsters weren't just manifestations of James Sunderland's psyche, but trendsetters as well.

From the Abstract Daddy to the Nurses to Pyramid Head, Silent Hill 2's monsters were so full of disturbing implications and subtexts that their symbolism is still a matter of debate even today. Silent Hill 2's monsters were arguably its real stars, and they became the standard that all survival-horror monsters were measured against.

3 Final Fantasy VII Owes Its Undying Legacy To Sephiroth

Sephiroth in Final Fantasy VII Remake

Even if he only appeared in one mainline Final Fantasy game, Sephiroth continues to be both Final Fantasy VII's breakout villain and arguably the most popular Final Fantasy character in general. In fact, even gamers who never touched one Final Fantasy game know of Sephiroth and why he's such a legend among video game villains.

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Besides his iconic look, fight, and music, what made Sephiroth such an icon was his story. Even though he wanted to basically end the world, Sephiroth's determination and tragic background earned him gamer's admiration and respect. Final Fantasy has a host of famous heroes and villains, but none of them could capture a fraction of Sephiroth's legacy.

2 The Metal Gear Solid Series' Bosses Are A Revered Pantheon

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It goes without saying that the Metal Gear Solid series has one of the most impressive rogues galleries gaming history. It's hard for fans to proclaim just one boss character and encounter as the best, because every boss is bound to be someone's favorite. What's more, every boss was just as dynamic a character as Snake was.

Every Metal Gear boss was practically the hero of their own war story, and they left an undeniable impression on gamers' memories thanks to their instantly iconic gimmicks, motives, and fights. Whether it was Snake's lifelong rival Ocelot or fourth-wall breaking wonders like Psycho Mantis or The Sorrow, Metal Gear's bosses never failed to impress.

1 Portal & GLaDOS Changed Video Games Forever

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Valve arguably peaked as a game studio in the early 2000s, and Portal perfectly showed why. Not only did it push physics engines to the next level, but it introduced the world to GLaDOS: Aperture Science's coldly sarcastic artificial intelligence that went rogue, killed the lab's staff, and forced Chell (and players) to solve deadly puzzles.

Given Portal's lack of characters and reliance on puzzles, it was up to GLaDOS to carry the story and give the game its personality. Needless to say, she succeeded in every imaginable way. When it comes to well-written game villains who are both funny and scary, GLaDOS set such a high bar that even Portal 2 struggled to overcome.

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