7. The Space Marine
Where there were aliens, soon there was to be the Space Marines. It was an archetype popularised by characters such as Metroids Samus Aran, as gaming's fascination with space moved out of the ships in and into newer character-focussed styles such as platformers and action games. The Space Marine is the soldier who alone can thwart the intergalactic threat. Its a trope that has barely changed from its inception, being used and reused for decades, whether that be Dooms aptly named Space Marine or Halos Master Chief, the basics of the character remain the same: A typical soldier gathering an increasingly more powerful arsenal to counter increasingly more powerful enemies, until the threat is annihilated. Game on.