Your Favorite Video Game Characters

Name some of your favorite video game characters.
Here are some of mine:

1)Solid Snake (MGS)
2)James Earl Cash (Manhunt)
3)Zoe (Dreamfall)
4)Wander and Argo (Shadow of the Colossus)
5)Altair and Desmond (Assassin's Creed)
6)Harry Mason, Cheryl Mason (Heather Mason), James Sunderland, Henry Townshend ( Silen Hill Games)
7)Tommy Vercetti (GTA : Vice City)
8)Agent 47 (Hitman)
9)Max Payne (Max Payne)
10)Jill Valentine, Clare Redfield (Resident Evil)

I'm gonna stop now cause this is getting creepy...

I liked being Niko Bellic - it was a weird feeling, because partly his character is decided for you, but you get to give it extra colour and meaning. Was a fascinating experience.
I loved Glados in Portal - such witty dialogue with clever subtext.
I love the characters in Left4Dead - the dialogue in that game is absolutely outstanding, just a great accompaniment to the action. It's weird to like the characters in a multiplayer action game, but they just come out really strongly.
I suppose Mario is my favourite though, just because of the quality of the games he's been in :). I wonder if he could have looked totally different and have been just as famous. There's something silly and slightly surreal about him, but mainly he's just a blank canvas - a friendly face without any real character at all, which is what you need in a game sometimes.

The left paddle in Pong

Minon.

A character from a Wii game never released in the US that only I know about.

Minon Beach Party Games
Minon's Soccer Mom Yoga Party 2

I like, in no particular order:

Mario
Merchant (RE4)
E.Honda
Dom (Gears)
Sack Boy
Snake
Leon (RE4)
Master Chief
Link
The Boomer (L4D)
Kratos
Old School Fat Sonic

Those are just some I can think of off the top of my head.

Oh good lord, there's a bunch.  I imagine I'll swing back through this forum post and add more later, but to start with:

Larry Laffer (Leisure Suit Larry)
Roger Wilco (Space Quest)
Erasmus (Quest for Glory)
Gabriel Knight (Gabriel Knight)
Ben (Full Throttle)
Duke Nukem (Duke Nukem)
Manny Calavera and company (Grim Fandango)
Ash (Evil Dead games)
Mario and Luigi (Super Mario Bros.)
Mike and Scully (Jagged Alliance)
Sam and Max (Sam and Max)
Guybrush Threepwood (Monkey Island)
Donkey Kong (Donkey Kong)
Minsc and Boo (Baldur's Gate)

Weren't there two threads on this? One of them was a poll right?

Crono(Chrono Trigger)
Frog(Chrono Trigger)
Zell Dincht (Final Fantasy8)
Ken(street fighter 2)
Geno(Super mario Rpg)
Axel(Streets of Rage 2)
Skate (Streets of Rage 2)
Falco,Ice Climbers, Captain Falcon, Sheik, Ganon (SSBM)