Top 7... Luckiest video game characters

Lady luck

Some people were just born lucky. Chances are you know a few of those types: the ones who inherit millions of dollars from a long-lost uncle, or magically stumble across a $100 bill in the parking lot of a grocery store. How many times have you walked that same parking lot, only to find gum-stained cement? A lot, we'd wager.

Just as there are lucky folks in real life, there are also plenty of lucky video game characters. Many of them stumble into awesome super powers, or are born with a strange birth defect that allow them fly or whatever. Hell, nearly all of them overcome seemingly impossible odds to save the universe, or survive events so mind-shatteringly impossible that we can't help but release an audible "pffffft" every time such a thing occurs. But of all the superheroes and against-all-odds champions, these are the luckiest of the luckiest to have ever graced the virtual realm.

7. Chansey

At first glance, Chansey doesn't look like much more than a fat, pink monster thing. But this normal-type Pokemon isn't quite as "normal" as she'd lead you to believe: She's actually the literal manifestation of luck--at least according to the translation of her Japanese name, which translates to "lucky."

Indeed, Pokemon #113 is even said to bring a great deal of luck to those who manage to capture her. This is probably because she's often in possession of--you guessed it--a lucky egg, a highly nutritious food that she willingly shares with nice (unlucky) people who've been injured. But we're curious: If Chanseys are so lucky, why are they always getting imprisoned in Pokeballs?

6. Guybrush Threepwood

Long before Guybrush Ulysses Threepwood ever became a pirate, he was a scrawny, awkward teenager with naught going for him aside from some pretty sharp wit and the ability to hold his breath underwater for a substantial amount of time. It was odd, then, that his sole ambition was to become a pirate, considering he was woefully ill-equipped with the kind of traits one might associate with buccaneers. On paper, Guybrush was doomed to fail. But luck had other plans for him.

First, he managed to win the heart of the lovely Elaine Marley, governor of Melee Island, who, despite Guybrush's faults, was attracted to his personality and wit. Then there's the whole matter of his battle with the ghost pirate LeChuck, who effortlessly dominated Guybrush--that is, until Guybrush sprayed him with a bottle of root beer out of desperation. As luck would have it, ghosts are apparently very allergic to root beer. By sheer chance, Guybrush's exploits defeated the feared pirate ghost, earning him a reputation as a pirate himself--even though his physical and mental traits didn't really do him any favors.

5. Nathan Drake

This half-tuck hero has a long history of surviving encounters with mercenaries, undead Nazis, and supernatural gorillas things--and his track record with vehicles isn't exactly spotless, either. He's survived car crashes, train wrecks, plane plummets, and even a loooooong fall from an aircraft to the soft, cushiony sands of the Rub 'al Khali desert, and is impervious to its blistering heat. Somehow, he always ends up miraculously unharmed.

Nathan Drake might groan in pain every now and then, but he gets up and walks it off like it's No Big Deal. But even more impressive than Nathan's ability to escape unharmed is how the world seems to morph around him, specifically so that he can reach a new ledge or climb a few feet higher. Ancient ruins crumble to create the perfect foothold, and airplane doors break off at the perfect angle so that he can jump up. Everything works out for Nathan Drake.

4. Lara Croft

Where Nathan Drake manages to jump out of airplanes sans a parachute without getting hurt, the recently rebooted Lara Croft suffers a lot of punishment. Still, the shock of getting stabbed by a rebar is diminished pretty quickly when there are no consequences. It seems Lara's survival training paid off in dividends, as she learned that all you have to do to heal an impalement wound is to cover it with your hand for five minutes and grimace in pain for a while, hoping it will go away (which it does).

While Lara's super lucky that her wounds magically heal, she's also pretty lucky in that none of them lead to infections. Seriously, she got stabbed a time or two, beat up a ton, and even waded through a pool of blood with open wounds, and somehow came out unscathed. If that ain't luck, we don't know what is.

3. Earthworm Jim

Considering your typical earthworm has, like, a 50 percent chance of drowning, it's safe to say that earthworms are pretty unlucky creatures in general. Think about it: When it rains, they have to tunnel to the surface to escape a watery grave. Even if they're successful, they might still drown if they're unfortunate enough to surface in a water-filled ditch. It's also possible they'd get stepped on, or torn into pieces by bored children. The best case scenario for an earthworm involves safely tunneling around under the earth, munching on dirt all day. By comparison, Earthworm Jim might be the luckiest character on this list.

The poor sap started his life as a typical earthworm. But then, as luck would have it, a magical super suit fell from the heavens, landing squarely around his slimy cylindrical body. The science behind what happened next makes zero sense, but good 'ol Jim transformed into an evil-battling humanoid worm dude who was also a mysteriously wonderful crack-shot with his gun. This is the kind of fate many humans would kill for--but alas, the early worm gets the suit.

2. Master Chief

Anyone who manages to single-handedly save the universe is pretty lucky by default. But what makes Master Chief stand out as one of gaming's luckiest characters is the fact that his incredible luck isn't a one time thing--he's been referred to as the "luckiest Spartan" since he was the wee age of six.

After being conscripted into the Spartan-II program (which happened, in part, because he correctly guessed a coin toss), John-117 emerged as a natural leader. He managed to survive the Spartan augmentation process, which incapacitated or killed 42 of the 74 children forced into the program. Dr. Halsey, one of the overseers of the Spartan-II program, even mentioned to Cortana that Master Chief was "neither the smartest nor the fastest nor the strongest of the Spartans. But he is the bravest - and quite possibly the luckiest." And also, there's that whole "saving the world single-handedly" thing. Lucky guy, that Master Chief.

1. Clayton Carmine

The demise of the Carmine brothers in Gears of War became something of an in-joke by the end of the second game in the series. First, there was Anthony Carmine, who took a bullet to the dome while trying to fix a jammed lancer on the battlefield. Next was his his older brother, Benjamin, who was mauled to death by some acid-spewing Nemacytes inside the guts of a Riftworm. But in Gears of War 3, Clayton Carmine miraculously escaped the doomed fate shared by his kin.

More importantly, though, is the fact that Clayton's life was spared by the ever-fickle whims of the gaming community. Players were given a chance to vote whether or not Clayton would join his brothers in death. Luck was on his side, surprisingly, as he was allowed to live. Side note: Many of the gamers who voted to save his life would go on to verbally wish death upon their actual living opponents in competitive matches of Gears of War 3.

Feelin' lucky?

Nearly every video game character is lucky in one way or another, but we believe these to be the absolute luckiest. Do you agree? Which characters would be on your list of lucky characters in games? Let us know in the comments below.

And if you're looking for more, check out the 13 unuckiest bastards in gaming and how God of War's mythology stacks up.