Shut Up Already! Gaming’s Most Annoying Sidekicks

Video games are supposed to hold your attention for hours on end, whether that is with engaging characters, superior game-play elements or what have you. Sometimes, though, you have to puzzle at the sheer stupidity of making a sidekick who is the most annoying person (or thing) that has ever grated your patience. Hereā€™s a list of the top five sidekicks that make me want to beat the game designer to death with a rusty spoon:

5. Kreia: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lordskreia   title=

Nothing is more irritating than a character that finds fault with everything that you do, which is why Kreia comes in at number five. Whether youā€™re a goody two-shoes Jedi or a completely evil baby-stealing innocent-killing Sith, Kreia always has a few words to say about your choices during the game. Despite the fact that she herself is a Sith, any dark side choices you make are wrong from her point of view. Talk about nagging.

4. Roman Bellic: GTA IVromanbellic

Roman Bellic wins this spot for having the following deficiencies: Heā€™s needy, annoying, useless and requires constant baby-sitting. If you donā€™t watch this guy for five minutes, heā€™s getting shaken down for money or is being hospitalized for being the weak link in your Niko Bellic chain of awesome. Nothing breaks game-flow like running for your life from the cops while your stupid cousin asks if you want to go see some ā€œbeeg American titees!ā€

3. Navi: Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Timenavi

This one is kind of a gimme, which is why Navi sits in third instead of first. Weā€™ve all played Ocarina of Time, so we know how annoying it is to be trying to solve a puzzle while our TV speakers chirp the same sound-bite of ā€œHEY! LISTEN!ā€ over and over again. Yes, Navi, we know that we can climb those vines, weā€™ve done it a million times before!

2. Otacon: Metal Gear Solid Seriesotacon

Otacon belongs in the same category as Roman Bellic in that he plays second banana to a universe-breaking bad-ass. The first time you meet Otacon, he wets himself from fear. This sets up a long string of embarrassing moments for gamingā€™s sob story. Otaconā€™s life is such a mess; youā€™re surprised he hasnā€™t jumped in front of a raging Metal Gear. Sure, he supplies Snake with some cool toys, but besides that, heā€™s the least capable character in Metal Gear. Oh, he also cries at the drop of a hat.

1. Chip: Sonic Unleashed.chip

Man, if you thought Sonic had some lame supporting characters before, prepare to be amazed. Chip is the bastard offspring of Navi and Tails. He floats around behind Sonic, constantly spouting the most useless garbage in a high-pitched voice. Over the years, Sonic games have embraced their cartoonish quality to an almost un-healthy degree, but this is overkill. Honestly, when I first met Chip during my Sonic play-through (which lasted about one level), I was flabbergasted. Good thing I was playing this in an empty house, other-wise my roommates would have assumed that I had become suddenly and irrevocably brain-damaged. If I never see Chip again, it will be too soon. If you have any doubts about the sheer force of nature that is Chip’s ability to annoy you, just look at his character design. The concept artist is probably locked away in an asylum by now.

Man, did that feel good! Iā€™ve hated these characters forever, so this was a great opportunity to let off some steam! I had a couple more characters lined up, but I didnā€™t want to take all the fun. What about you guys? Have you played any game where a supporting character has made you want to turn off your console and snap the disc? Conversely, who are some of your favorite sidekicks?

Written by

mitch@gamersushi.com Twitter: @mi7ch Gamertag: Lubeius PSN ID: Lubeius SteamID: Mister_L Origin/EA:Lube182 Currently Playing: PUBG, Rainbow 6: Siege, Assassin's Creed: Origins, Total War: Warhammer 2

25 thoughts on “Shut Up Already! Gaming’s Most Annoying Sidekicks”

  1. Hey Niko, do you want to go bowling?

    WTF SHUT UP I’m driving a friggin’ truck loaded with explosives! šŸ˜€

    I don’t find him annoying…just plain funny. šŸ˜€

  2. yeah I feel your pain on some of those mate, but DJ Atomica from burnout paradise has to have some of the most annoying lines ever said in a video game. things including but not limeted to: “you have a better chance of winning the race using a faster car.” or one of my favorites “try harder to win or else you will loose”. even when you turn off his voice in the options he still says these things after races if you loose. Also in dead space i absolutely hated all other humans on the ship other than isacc clarke because they did nothing the whole game except yell at you, tell you to go fix this or that, be crazy, die and pretend that they’re having a way worse day than you are. My last hated character was a guy called Snitch from stalker shadow of Chernobyl. he constantly would say “come over here lets have a little chat” and you would just hear it over and over again if you were within a 10 foot radius of the guy.

  3. What about Zeke in Infamous; I hear he is a pretty awful supporting character with few redeeming qualities

  4. @jsoobob

    Dude, I totally forgot how much of an idiot Atomica was. Those quotes actually made me laugh.

    As for the crew from Dead Space, I was thinking about either them or the resistance from Red Faction, but those are groups of morons, not a single character. If I do a “part two” of this, I’ll definitely do something on factions that would never win without you. That list could go on forever, though.

  5. I dont know if this counts, but Peach is the ultimate most annoying character. I save her every time,but she doesnt seem to learn a lesson from the previous kidnap. Maybe she should install extra defenses or maybe get some guards that arent pansies.

  6. Anyone who complains about Navi I believe has never played through Majora’s Mask. The Fairy Tatl in that game made me miss Navi hardcore. Sure, Navi was annoying, but at least it would offer decent advice on pretty much everything. Tatl would comment about a monsters size, or how scary it was and tell you nothing about how to kill it! Tatl was the most worthless Fairy in the Zelda series and MUCH worse than Navi.

  7. Awesome article! Nazi ftw!

    I actually can’t think of any annoying supporting characters other than Navi that I’ve had to deal with. Now let’s be honest, Navi isn’t the bane of Lozoot. I didn’t mind the daily barrage of “Hey! Listen!” because as a gamer for all my life, I was and am used to repetition and it doesn’t bother me much at all.
    I suppose I can only make a list of my favorite supporting characters, but I suppose that’s for another article.

    Yes, I just asked you to make another article about favorite supporting articles. I expect it by 1:00PM sharp, or you won’t find the judge alive.

  8. The FIFA commentators annoy the hell out of me. They come up with such wise words like “If you don’t hit the target, you’re never gonna score!”

    Whisper in Fable 1 allways pissed me off royally as well.

  9. yes, kreia always telling you off got a bit annoying, but i think she made up for it in other ways. If your were playing a dark side character, you stack her up with all the light side and universal buffing force powers, stick her in “jedi support” combat style and the force chain ability lets you reap the rewards. also leaving you to focus on the room clearing dark side powers like force storm and death field…and by the time she leaves the party you’ve got the force crush power so you dont need any buffing powers.

  10. I am overwhelmed with a desire to vent every single little thing I found annoying about Roman.

    I will resist.

  11. Atomica is awesome in Burnout and especially in SSX3!
    Agree with Navi. First intro to her annoyingness:
    WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP’
    Link and us:’GO AWEIGH NUB.’
    From that moment I knew Nintendo had created an evil greater than Gannondorf. Also, I kinda liked Otacon, not too much but enough to have him as my avatar lol.

  12. Sigh. I must be the only one in the world to not find Jar-Jar (the picture supplied with the article) or Navi annoying. They’re not annoying in the least, to me.

    You may commence the angry mobbing now.

  13. OMG Navi is so annoying, what are you saying?!?

    Anyways I’m surprised you guys didn’t mention Ashley, the presidents daughter in RE4. What an annoying b****! She must come in 6th…

  14. @ Anonymous
    As far as sidekicks go, Ashley was good. She rarely, if ever, got it your way, stuck close by so as not to wander off and get herself captured and can operate a bulldozer pretty well lol.

  15. What about William from Call of Call of Juarez Bound in Blood? I hate him preaching the word of god throughout the whole game. Jeez doesn’t he understand know one likes him? He says such cliche things like ‘I don’t know who you two are anymore’. He is so annoying!

  16. How about Elvis in Perfect Dark on the N64?

    Little man, big head, annoying phrases, who runs in front of you and dies because you have to protect him…

  17. I have two:

    Rosh(Jedi Academy) – throughout the entire game you have to put up with his annoying voice and insults, but if you decide to kill him later on then you join the dark side and the game gets sooo much harder >:(

    TOAD(Mario Games) – one of my least favorite mario characters for sure. first of all he has an annoying high pitched voice plus he doesnt do anything to help you in the games.
    Nothing gives me more pleasure than to hit toad with a shell in mariokart šŸ™‚

  18. What about Ashley from Mass Effect? She was the ultimate buzzkill, and she was xenophobic against all my new alien buddies.

  19. [quote comment=”8773″]How about Elvis in Perfect Dark on the N64?

    Little man, big head, annoying phrases, who runs in front of you and dies because you have to protect him…[/quote]

    Would have to agree there, His big noggin doesn’t help while aiming the farsight either

  20. @Trey3rd
    I actually thought Tatl was pretty funny, personally. That fairy got as closer to breaking the fourth wall than any character in a Zelda game has so far. It would ask why you wanted information monsters from Ocarina, which struck me as pretty witty on Nintendo’s part. Of course, those who didn’t play Ocarina would find this annoying, like you said.

    @Ackbar

    Rosh annoyed the bejeezus out of me, too, but I’d consider him more of a rival than a sidekick. Still didn’t stop me from skewering him at the first opportunity, though.

    Good suggestions, folks! I think I might have to do another one of these lists pretty soon! Any requests besides Cossacks and jsoobob’s?

  21. I had a weird glitch in GTA IV where I was driving along with Roman (taking him bowling or something else I could have done in real life instead of doing it in a game where all I expect is to lie, cheat and steal) and then I got a phone call from…..Roman. So I have Roman jabbering away in my car about how he is going to beat me at bowling or whatever and also have him on my phone asking to go see some large woman take their clothes off.

    It was like some weird sick twisted level of hell that the devil himself won’t even go near and is only inhabited by Hitler….and there’s no internet access.

    @Ackbar
    Doesn’t he give you a star in SM64?

  22. @Anonymous: I’m saying she wasn’t annoying. I just think people are easily annoyed, to be honest.

    @Ackbar: Toad gave you free stars in Mario 64 for no price, for simply talking to him. I’d say that’s doing something to help you.

  23. I think that Otacon deserves more credit. Seeing as you really only ever have to TALK to him (I’m referring to 1 and 2 only… the best ones). He never gets in the WAY or has to be protected as far as I can remember. Plus, I bet his characteristics are some how asian-explained and his weakness represents some ridiculous convoluted ‘sense-making’ scenario in our distant neighbours’ culture…

    How about the companion cube in Portal? What a bitch… šŸ˜‰

  24. @Julez: The cube? No, no, the Weighted Companion Sphere from that challenge map is a bigger bitch. D:

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