5 Smartest Video Game Characters of All Time

There are a ton of video game characters out there. Many of them are known for different personality traits or how strong they are. What about the character that doesn't fight but instead uses there intelligence? Who are the smartest video game characters of all time, and what did they do. While this can be a dicey topic, especially with all the scientists running around in the gaming world, we do have some top picks. Below are five hyper-intelligent characters who all made a huge impression on the world.

5. Junko Enoshiyma

Junko Enoshiyma is terrifyingly intelligent. This is partly due to the fact that the girl has no fear whatsoever. In Danaganronpa, she ends up causing the world to fall into despair and apaloyptic-level disasters to take place. She is great a manipulating those around her until they break. She also knows when and how to target her classmates to get them on her side. It's safe to say that she would have survived and controlled the world if she wasn't so reckless.

Her obsession with feeling despair caused her end. Even then, though, she became an AI to help fight back against hope. Junko is a villain, unlike many others, as she is just a high school student. Even though she is incredibly gifted, her level of manipulation and planning is off the charts. It also helps that she perfectly masks her personality using a fashionista vibe. This helps keep everyone off her trail at first, and helps her sister blend in during the first game. This makes her the youngest genius on the list and one of the smartest video game characters of all time.

4. GLaDOS

GLaDOS is an artificial intelligence that taunts you in Portal. She originally appears as a friendly robot there to help Chell. As you make your way further into the game, though, her true nature starts to show. GLaDOS likes performing experiments and doesn't care much for what pain it causes. In fact, she is an AI with the ability to lie, and uses it to string along the main character. This is why there is the famous phrase “the cake is a lie.”

It's safe to say that she's one of the diluted AI out there and could do so much good with better morals. GLaDOS will do anything it takes to kill Chell in the first game, and in the second, she doesn't change her ways after being reactivated. As the events of the second game transpire, GLaDOS does turn over a new leaf after being helped by Chell. The two even team up to survive, something that surprised many Portal fans at the time.

3. Elisabet Sobeck

Elisabet Soback comes from the Horizon series that's available on PlayStation consoles. Alloy finds out in the first game that she is actually a clone of the scientist. Due to this, she is able to use the technology of the past and help save the world. Elisabet was also responsible for the Zero Dawn, which helps to terraform the Earth. Thanks to her invention, the Faro Plague was stopped, and earth was once again easy to live on for humankind.

You can learn about the scientist as you explore through both games in your quest to save the planet. This is especially important in Horizon Forbidden West when you are attempting to put GAIA back together again. Alloy herself is also quite smart, and looks to Elisabet's recordings for guidance in many situations. While Alloy may not be the scientist herself, it's easy to see how a modern-day Elisabet still has a massive impact on the planet. Elisabet is with out a doubt one of the smartest video games characters.

2. Professor Elvin Gadd

It may surprise you to think about Super Mario Sunshine and Luigi's Mansion as containing one of the smartest video game characters. There are some impressive things that science can do, and E-Gadd proves it. He made a water spraying machine named F.L.U.D.D. This machine was sentient and strong enough to take down enemies. It also allowed for Mario to hover in the air and had a rocket mode. Mario could not have beat Bowser in this game without E-Gadds help. The series may have even ended if this scientist decided not to go ahead and intervene.

If the talking machine wasn't enough, then think about his ghost-catching vacuum. E-Gadd literally made a piece of machinery that could capture ghostly being from another plane. This was another moment where E-Gadd saved the day and in term, helped save Mario. E-Gadd didn't stop there either. He has been helping Luigi ever since with his technology. He also invented a sentient goo creature called Gooigi. Gooigi also has a good version of the Poltergust.

1. Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey

Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey is the human that Cortana is modeled after. She created the AI seen in the Halo universe and was in charge of the SPARTAN-II Program, which was used to create the first Spartan soldiers. Hasley is a morally grey character as she did use abducted children in order to create these super soldiers. Nonetheless, Spartans still seem to respect her, and Master Chief has feelings for her AI counterpart Cortana. This does make her one of the smartest video game characters ever, but also one of the most corrupt.

Halsey does feel guilty about the Spartan program and made sure to take care of her soldiers. In the books and games, she is shown to be a complex character and a brilliant mind. If it wasn't for her inventions, humanity would have been wiped out by the Covenant a long time ago. In many cases, the only thing standing in between the Covenant and wiping out humans were the deployed Spartans. This is especially the case for the well-known Master Chief, who has destroyed many threats in the game universe.

So, what do you think of the smartest video game characters? Do you agree with our top five picks? Do you agree with our top five picks? Are there any games we should know about? Let us know over on our socials here or down in the comments below.