The 20 ugliest game protagonists ever
Rufus (Street Fighter 4)
This isn't even a weight thing. Big guys can look classy, too. But not with a bizarre handlebar mustache and bulging, veiny half circles for eyes. And oh my god, what is going on with that braided top knot? It makes his bulbous head look like a bell on a chain. Let's just try to pretend that nobody noticed the trail of body hair poking out of his unzipped jumpsuit...
You (The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion)
There are pretty much two paths to walk in The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion's character creator. Either embrace the madness, as seen above, or create a character who looks roughly like a human being who was found floating face down in a bog. Actually, there's one more path: just make a damn Argonian and avoid the whole issue.
Mileena (Mortal Kombat)
Her giant face-eating maw is terrifying, but the way it kinda shoves all the rest of her features aside is maybe even scarier. Also, your eyes don't deceive you, Mileena is the only lady on this list - and you barely even see the ugly half of her face, since she usually wears a mask. C'mon, game developers! Not every playable woman has to be pageant material!
Johnny Klebitz (GTA 4: The Lost and Damned)
Meth, man. Not even once.
Link (Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon)
Nobody's looking too hot in the CD-i Zelda games, but the rubbery faced monstrosity that is Link might have gotten the worst of it. There is literally not a single scene where Link doesn't look like a self-satisfied dick, though his overall appearance does at least vary from "smug chipmunk" to "smarmy cadaver".
Box Art Mega Man (Mega Man)
Mega Man is wincing in agony. There appears to be a tear emerging from the corner of his eye. But it's not because of his pelvic-breaking stance, or his freakishly swollen shoulders, or the pain of trying to wield a cubist handgun in naturalist fingers. No. It's the lament of a simple little robot soul trapped inside a freakishly repugnant human body.
Shulk (Xenoblade Chronicles 3D)
I know that some polygons and texture details had to bow out to bring one of the Wii's most visually impressive games to 3DS, but I fail to see how making Shulk into a gawping fishman could improve performance. To use an equestrian term, the poor bastard looks like he was rode hard and put away wet. Wait, am I saying he's a seahorse? Sure, he's an ugly seahorse.
Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
Faceless Arno (Assassin's Creed: Unity)
AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
Greendog (Greendog: The Beached Surfer Dude!)
What, you thought Sega was going for some kind of style thing by leaving Greendog's face blank? Nope. Just look at the guy in the background. He's clearly wracked with abject horror. Sega simply couldn't render Greendog's ghastly visage without destroying your Genesis, so it made his head appear to be a featureless orb instead. A bit Lovecraftian, if you ask me.
Boogerman (Boogerman)
Boogerman's raison d'etre is being generally unpleasant, but that doesn't forgive whatever's going on with that chin of his. You'd think his nose would be his most exaggerated feature, being Boogerman, right? But no - his chin-neck region is front and center, extending down roughly to his bellybutton. More like Tonsil-stoneman.
I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.