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5 Video Game Sidekicks You Wish You Abandoned
Video game sidekicks usually run the gamut between extremely useful and utterly useless; either way, they make an impression. Today, we are focusing on these frustrating friends who either hindered our heroes or became nauseating nuisances. These sidekicks have long been remembered by gamers for their annoying voices and actions. Below is a list of the top 5 sidekicks, complete with a list of their failings.
5. Vanitas
Vanitas is a stuffed bunny from the JRPG Monark with a character quirk that becomes utterly grating rather quickly. Rhyming his way through a ton of dialogue makes for a rather taxing time whenever this character is on screen. Vanitas exists more as a marketing tool for the game rather than a character with any substance or to serve any purpose to the player during their playtime. Whether it be popping up at tense times throughout the game to remind players of his existence or maybe just to grate on their nerves. Vanitas is surely a character that would not be missed among players of this JRPG.
He literally offers pretty much no help to the player. Vanitas is just there to say some fancy words and help you grind out insanely long battles. If the slow pace and eternal grinding of Monark doesn’t turn you away, then Vanitas will help finish the job.
4. Ashley Graham
Ashley Graham is the damsel in distress in Resident Evil 4. She is the president’s daughter and is the person that our protagonist Leon Kennedy must save from a village of infected religious fanatics. Ashley’s existence in the game, however, is one that players rarely remember fondly. Existing solely as a walking, talking escort mission with a grating voice and little to no survival skills. In fact, Ashley, at many points throughout the game, must be escorted by Leon. Who is forced to hide from the infected villagers. Whether this is in crates or sometimes just in the open, as she must be told to wait while she leaves the killing of the infected to Leon. Players who played this classic game will no doubt remember.
Protecting this girl who always seemed to get herself into peril. Whether this is due to the game’s AI or just bad luck, Ashley would almost always, without fail, find herself in a terrible situation that the players would have to work their way out of. With any significant damage to Ashley being a fail condition for the game, players were often traumatized by the frantic screams of Leon! From Ashley as she was being either killed or captured.
3. Donald Duck
Donald Duck is a beloved Disney character to some but an absolutely abhorrent sidekick to anyone who played the Kingdom Hearts games. Being the caster of the party, Donald was responsible for healing the player as well as casting damaging spells on enemies. This, in hindsight, is laughable because either Donald would miss abilities or would not heal the player altogether. This made for an aggravating experience. This is no doubt made worse by the fact that Donald’s Disney counterpart Goofy would outshine him in battle nearly all the time.
While having a similar issue to other entries on this list, that being a grating voice, the quacking voice of this useless support character is something that few Kingdom Hearts fans will forget. While Kingdom Hearts III attempted to redeem Donald and make him less annoying. This does not make up for the annoyances he caused many gamers in their childhood or adolescence. Typically used for comedy rather than combat. Donald surely doesn’t make it easy to like him or look back upon his presence in the Kingdom Hearts franchise with any amount of fondness.
2. Navi
Navi is our hero Link’s navigator in the classic Ocarina of Time. Existing to offer “helpful” hints to the players about what they should be doing or the solution to a puzzle. Navi usually serves no other purpose than grinding the gears of players with their voice and repetition of the Listen! Voice line. If it wasn’t for the frequency of these lines, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad a little aggravating, but nothing compared to the auditory assault players received from Navi for simply walking around.
In a game where there are plenty of opportunities for Navi to get a word in edgewise, she certainly will. This has spawned meme content on the internet, as well as an overall hateful response toward the seemingly helpful fairy. Whether it be reverberating through the ears of veteran Zelda players or invading some innocent and uninitiated gamer’s eardrums. Navi is surely always going to be an annoyance and a hindrance to the replayability of this classic title.
1. Paimon
Paimon is one of the video game sidekicks you meet inside of the world of the megahit RPG Genshin Impact. An entity that first appears to players upon starting up the game that quickly makes players want to turn Paimon into emergency food. The frequency of Paimon’s presence throughout the game, as well as the general annoyingness of her character, make this character rather divisive. Most players find the character’s existence nauseating to the point where they will purposefully skip Paimon’s dialogue.
Whether it be the childlike speech pattern or just the sheer shrillness of her voice. Having this character as an ever-present companion throughout hours upon hours of gameplay. This is sure to grate on the nerves of players. Speaking in the third person for the entirety of the game also ensures that players will never be able to forget her name or escape her ramblings. All in all, Paimon exists simply to spout at the player either information that can be gathered simply by looking around or pleas to appease her constant need for food. Making her one of the most annoying characters and certainly a sidekick we can live without.
