4. Toad (Super Mario Bros.)
One of my earliest childhood gaming memories is playing Super Mario Bros. on the NES with my mother (a game she still feels is the greatest game ever made).The intense sense of pride I felt when I finally got to face Bowser, leap over him and hit the switch to sent him to his fiery demise was second to none. I still remember getting butterflies in my stomach, knowing that I had completed the game and was about to reunite Mario with his abducted love. And then I saw Toad. When you saw a guy with a goddamned mushroom for a head instead of the princess you had hoped to rescue, I'm sure every gamer got a sinking feeling in their stomach. The fact that he thanked you offered absolutely no consolidation for the pain you were feeling. Then, someone was able to blow up the image of the stupid fungi-headed moron and point out that, while it might look like he was holding his arms up in celebration to some people, it definitely looks like he's flipping the bird to just about everyone else. What a D-Bag.