10 Greatest Heels In Video Game History
The delightful video game scumbags you absolutely loved to hate.
What would most video games be without a villain? Pretty bloody boring, that's what.
Beyond serving as the necessary, ultimate obstacle during the player's epic journey, a great antagonist can bring so much flavour and personality to a game, perhaps even proving more memorable and entertaining than the hero themselves.
And while gaming is becoming an increasingly rich medium for villains written with real nuance, there's also something to be said for more out-there antagonists who just really, really love being evil and will let you know all about it.
We're talking of course about the card-carrying heels of gaming history - the villains who took relish in sadistically putting us through the wringer, delivered operatic monologues, and clearly just cherished being as despicable as possible.
As unconscionable as these villains were, they were all charming to the extent that players probably smiled every time they showed up, their presence ensuring that something cool or hella fun was about to happen.
Without these villains going so hard, and finding so much glee in being bad, these games wouldn't have been nearly as enjoyable...
10. Heihachi Mishima - Tekken
Heels don't get much more emphatic than Tekken's Heihachi Mishima - after all, this is the guy who threw his own unconscious son, Kazuya, into an active volcano.
Beyond that, his all-consuming desire for world domination and immortality speaks for itself, and pretty much everything he does is part of a Machiavellian scheme to exercise control over others.
But it's also tough to deny that Heihachi is really damn cool, from his ridiculous finger-in-a-plug-socket hairstyle to his piercing gaze and general status as the world's swolest grandpa.
Heihachi holds no quarter even for the demonically infused members of his own family, and will barrel through anyone who gets in his way.
Hell, even death can't stop the guy - he's apparently perished numerous times throughout the series, most recently being lobbed into a volcano himself by his son, only to come back with a vengeance.
Heihachi is royalty as video game villains go, because so few others manage such an effortless fusion of cool, strength, and sheer commitment to being a huge a**hole.