Black History Month (USA) -- Favourite Black Video Game Characters As Told By A White Boy

Written By: Tyler 

It’s a new month, and February is Black History Month in the USA and in order to celebrate, I am counting down some of my favourite black video game characters. They have to originate in video games, not just be a real-life figure or a character from a different medium put into games, such as Mike Tyson or Black Panther.

                In doing these lists I wanted to find something less common, because with a thing like Black History Month, there are a lot of sites doing this. Alas, I couldn’t find anything that interesting so I have to be like other sites. I'm also not trying to make political statements here, so this is just to appreciate "cool" characters in video games, not piss everyone off.

Barrett Wallace From Final Fantasy 7

There are a lot of people who may not enjoy Barrett because while he’s really badass, I’ll admit that he seemingly doesn’t exactly buck the black person stereotype. I can understand that argument, but I think he goes deeper than that. Sure he’s hot headed, talks like he’s in a rap video and has a gun on his hand, but if you look past the stereotypes, he’s a loving father, a courageous and caring man who also happens to be an Eco-Terrorist. I mean, a freedom fighter. I mean, look he hates reactors and pollution and shit.

Drebin 893 from Metal Gear Solid 4

            He’s a weapon’s dealer, but he goes beyond that and ends up being a memorable character because he’s more important to the plot than one might think at first glance. Again, OH LOOK A BLACK PERSON WHO DEALS WITH GUNS, but no, he's an intelligent and influential figure.

Augustus "Cole Train" Cole from Gears of War

               I’m not even really a Gears fan anymore but I have to show love for Cole because his craziness is infectious. COLE TRAIN BABY! I’m sure fans of the series would go into bigger and better detail but I just enjoy him for what he is.

Fortune from Metal Gear Solid 2

                With this one I knock off having a woman AND a cool black character, so look at me go. Fortune is one of the more depressing and tragic characters in Metal Gear Solid 2. She’s not an easy one to take out because she has unbelievable “luck,” but she’s got a great character arc and she’s a villain you can almost cheer for.

Nilin from Remember Me

                Nilin may not be as memorable as some of these people, and she’s on this list because she’s one of the few characters that isn’t really treated as black. Or white. Or anything. She’s just a normal person, and though maybe her character doesn’t have as much depth as some, it’s the fact that she has bucked all trends and is just a human that makes her good enough to put on this list.

            While doing this list I realized that there aren’t a lot of truly great black video game characters, at least in games I've played. I don't consider someone like CJ a great character, for example. I don’t say this in a racist way, and I’m not pulling the racism card and saying that the video game industry is racist… but they sure don’t put a lot of effort into making great black characters. There were some others, of course, but I thought this would be a good place to stop.

                So who are your favourite black characters? Let me know in the comments below or tweet me @ArtBathednCrime.