#2 on TGH’z Top Black Video Game Characters list is  Kratos – God of War

Kratos is a Bad Mot^#$ Shut Your Mouth!

YUP I said it. Kratos is Black. Deal with it. There have been many an argument on the internets when this has been brought up, but he is. In God of War 2, you see a flash back of Kratos before his skin was white. (I won’t spoil it for you here) But when you looked at him he was black, so was his wife and kid.

He’s a ladies man, and he’s voiced by none other than Terrence ‘T.C.’ Carson from Living Single.

When asked who do you see as Kratos if they were to make a movie, series creator David Jaffe said “Djimon Hounsou” who is kinda black… lol

So there you have it folks. Kratos the God of War is #2. So who’s #1? Check it…

#3 on TGH’z Top Black Video Game Characters list is  Drebin – Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Got to give it up to our boy Hideo Kojima for his Metal Gear Series. He’s also given us an actually interesting Black character on many levels. Not only that, Drebin has more dialog in this game than all the other characters combined! Too bad you don’t get to play as him.

At first glance he conjures up memories of Zack from Dead or Alive, or the man he became modeled off of Dennis Rodman. Upon closer inspection you see that Drebin is more philosopher than weirdo. He gives you insight as Snake goes through this “war” where no one is the winner. The entire Metal Gear Series is a mirror to life, in that no one really wins in war and everyone becomes a little bit less of themselves. Drebin has seen dark days and he’s with you to the end. He’s definitely a character you should get to know.

#4 on TGH’z Top Black Video Game Characters list is Coltrane (aka Trane) – Getting Up Contents Under Pressure

The second Coltrane on this list but a bit higher up on it comes from the under rated joint from hip hop fashion legend Marc Ecko’s – Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure.

Who is Trane? He’s the main character of Getting Up and is voiced by none other than Talib Kweli. He is an amateur graffiti artist trying to make his name by “Getting UP”. The art of tagging your name in a place where everyone can see and its usually hard to erase.

Trane of course is at odds with the police and military of the day who is oppressing the population due to a corrupt leader. A game created out of personal pride by Marc Ecko for the graff community, he fought hard to keep the game hip hop and real and not dumb down the tagging in the game. This game was banned in many places for “promoting vandalism” but still saw the light of day. With a dope soundtrack produced by RJD2, definitely check it out.

#11 on TGH’z Top Black Video Game Characters list goes to Mike Leroi AKA Shadow Man

Awww snap. We’re really digging in the crates for this one ya’ll. For the number 11 Black Character we had to go deep. Before I continue, I gotta say, this is a helluva list. For all those out there that really think that the majority of black characters in gaming are stereotypical, just peep this list for variety for your ass. Any one of these guys could’ve been played by a caucasian character, but the devs took a chance.

Granted these joints are sleeper hits, but they are ALL Quality. That’s at least a step in the right direction. Now just so you know, Shadow Man was a popular comic book before being a game. This one could’ve turned out so bad, but thankfully it didn’t.

We pick up this joint shadow man not knowing what to really expect. And right off the bat, we are treated to some Jack Da Ripper demon ritual and you already know that you are about to be in for some ish. Next we roll on the Man right after doing the deed, with what looks to be the local witch doctor. (Think the jamaican chick in Pirates of the Caribbean) She actually has to do it with him to receive voodoo power from him and remain youthful lol (look it up here).

Shadow Man aka Mike Leroi could’ve been some jive talking cat, or some dumb goon, but he’s not. He’s actually a former English Literature major and you can tell by the way he speaks, which is very intellectual and pointed.

What other game out there can you point me to that has all of what I just described going for it? Don’t sleep on this. Somebody out there that’s listening, pick up the Shadow Man license and give us a new game!

#13 on TGH’z Top Black Video Game Characters list goes to Torque of The Suffering

For a little stretch on the last gen of consoles, Midway had a bit of a run at out of the box sleeper hits that didn’t have a “Kombat” or a “NBA” in the name. One of those sleeper hits was a title by the name of The Suffering.

Now I’m really reaching down in this deep bag of tricks for these titles, because you almost never hear about them in the mainstream press. But The Suffering was one of the best survival horror games to ever come out. The premise is that you are locked up (yes another black man in jail lol) and all you know about the main character Torque is that he’s on death row for killing his wife and kids. Now once again before you get all riled up, the story is a bit deeper than that you see, because Torque claims he has no re-collection of doing the deed. But all the evidence points to him.

Throughout the game we see this huge monster like hulk that appears during certain times and you wonder what connection it has with Torque. The coolest part of this game is the location. It’s set on an island Alcatraz style and is haunted by the former inmates who come back in a unique form pertaining to how they were executed. No, this is not a light hearted affair and you will genuinely be disturbed by some of the scenes from this game. But again I applaud a developer for reaching out of the box and having the main character be a minority when so often it would’ve been super easy to go with a generic caucasian male.

If you haven’t checked this game out and in the mood for some real survival horror check out The Suffering.

P.S. DO NOT BY ANY MEANS PLAY PART 2!!!

#16 on TGH’z Top Black Video Game Characters list goes to Zack of the Dead or Alive Series.

This cat Zack… what can we say about this guy? He went from a pretty Non-descript dude in the first version of DOA on the Sega Saturn, to an outlandish punk-rock emo typ guy in DOA2. That’s where the connection to the at the time all over the news Dennis Rodman comparisons came about. Not to be outdone, famous (former) Tecmo developer Tomonobu Itagaki, decided to fully convert this Zack guy to a Dennis Rodman clone.

But the real reason Zack is on this list is after the 3rd Dead or Alive game he took his winnings from the tourney and went to Vegas. He wins HUGE and decides to buy an island. Which he in turn calls “Zack” island. But then being a true playa for real, he lures all the females from the fighting tournament telling them it’ll be a new tourney for them to take part in. So guess what? It’s the Mac and all the honeys all to himself!

The girls in turn make the best of a bad situation and just straight relax and play volleyball. While the users enjoy the best in video voyeurism. Brilliant!

#17 on TGH’z Top Black Video Game Characters list goes to Louis of the Left 4 Dead

This character made the list as our first “playable” character. This game is fairly new but it is oh so good. What we like about Valve’s latest game is that it is multiplayer at heart. Four protagonists trapped in a Zombie movie scenario that forces them to work together to fight their way out.

Not long ago this group would be made up of zany skaters, rock punks, caucasian military or suburban dads. Valve showing their flexibility chose a Biker, and old militant guy, a female, and our boy Louis who happens to be a systems analyst in an IT company. He’s the only one in “dress clothes”.

Valve could’ve easily went with the “stereotypical” black dude, in jeans, timbs, and a hoodie, or even an “Athlete”, but here’s a regular 9 – 5 white collar black guy trying to stay alive. It’s those “staying alive” moments that make Louis a likable character. Because he doesn’t act a fool in these circumstances, he says and reacts like we all know we would.

So if you haven’t checked out Left4Dead with a bunch of your friends, you are missing out. Available for the XBOX360 and PC.

Not too long ago, we wouldn’t be able to make it to 20, but i’m happy to say that I’ve actually had to leave some characters off the list. First here’s the criteria to make this list.

1. You cannot be a representation of a real person, so no Michael Jackson Moonwalker, or and Sports characters like Tiger Woods.
2. The character needs to have a meaningful role in the game and not just a cameo.
3. I’ve generally left our 2d characters from the SNES generation and focused on the more recent iterations.

That’s it, feel free to debate and argue about who should be on or off as we reveal a new character every weekday of February.