Hitting the big time
Even the most minor character can accrue a rabid fandom.
Well, shut up, Derek.You’recringe.
Here are nine minor NPCs who became major players.
Johnny - Metal Gear Solid
It is 1998.
The soldier guarding your cell inMetal Gear Solidhas just had an attack of diarrhoea.
He runs to the bathroom, cursing his bowels.
What a loser, you think, smearing ketchup all over your body.
You will rescue your dream girl, Meryl, and stop the terrorists.
At the end of MGS4, you stand at a grave, contemplating death.
Meanwhile, Johnny and Meryl have been talking.
They’re getting married.
Rebecca is not so much the anti-Jill as she is the smaller-Jill.
Anyway, that’s Becs.
Andat least one modder agrees.
In the sequel two years later, she got voice lines.
In the third game,Hitman: Contracts, she gets amysterious faceless appearancein the final cinematic.
Unlike some breakaway NPCs, Diana doesn’t feel like someone elevated to appease fans.
Hitmanists have watched her role gradually mature alongside the games.
In a late mission in Hitman 3, she shows up in-mission, walking around with everyone else.
Sergeant Johnson - Halo
I saw this man die 1000 times.
The one called “Sarge” was no exception.
I still expect him to show up on my doorstep any day now.
He now appears in places he wouldn’t have shown up in the 2005 original.
The bowling alley, a whiskey bar, a suspiciously trembling sewer grate.
Jessie - Final Fantasy VII
I loved Jessie when I was nine years old.
She was nice to me on a train.
Biggs gets an orphanage.
This is fine, actually, because who cares.
And anyway it’s a rare exception.
Valve are master storytellers.
They wouldn’t do this often.
Dr Kleiner - Half-Life
Oh, I mean except for Dr Kleiner, obviously.
Barney - Half-Life
Right.
Derek - this article
Remember Derek?
From the intro of this article?
He works for Rock Paper Shotgun now.
He’s got a 6-year-old daughter who wants to be a baker when she grows up.
He just bought pastry flour on his lunch break.
They’re going to make messy treats tonight while mum is working overtime.
He told me this as he gently adjusted the family photo on his desk.
But one of these cadavers is more putrid than the others and requires immediate burning.
“Therefore the RE dogs have to go - reanimated dogs are undead dogs, but not zombies.”
Once again, semantics have decimated my list.
I welcome such scrutiny.
See you next time, list goblins.
