Worst Character Design in a Video Game?

I've seen a lot of strange and wonderfully dumb stuff in video games over the last 30 years, but I think I found a new favorite for bad character design: Nero the Sable from Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus.

This bad boy squad leader of Deepground is not only in a straight jacket to contain the darkness within him (not a joke) but wears a jockstrap over his face and sports two metallic wings that dual-wield pistols. I just absolutely love this design. And, being a Nomura creation, he also has the required 10+ belts. I'm not sure what those two belts leading from his crotch are doing, but I like to think they keep him extra snug. Oddly, no zippers.

I almost posted some cosplay of this guy, which there is apparently a lot of, but I felt like that was starting to stray into the realm of picking on kids who just enjoy what they enjoy. Probably no need for that.

~

So, any other great video game designs out there to top this one? I would love to see them.

If this was in Metal Gear, Dan would think it was awesome.

I can't wait to get a HD Mara in Persona 5. You know why it's spoiler blocked.

Pokémon is low hanging fruit for this stuff and always has been, but Combusken from Gen 3 is, er...

...Yeah. Bring a whole new meaning to "Cock FIghting" It's not as bad as Palkia though, if only because it's supposed to be a legendary and that makes it inherently more embarrassing.

@error52: I'm real mad I didn't realise this about combusken, anyway combusken is still incredibly cool and good

@dixavd: This is true

@error52: Oi, Combusken is good. He's real and he's my friend.

@error52 said:

Pokémon is low hanging fruit for this stuff and always has been, but Combusken from Gen 3 is, er...

...Yeah. Bring a whole new meaning to "Cock FIghting" It's not as bad as Palkia though, if only because it's supposed to be a legendary and that makes it inherently more embarrassing.

Yep.

@viking_funeral: Holy cow I totally finished that game (years ago) and don't remember that dude at all.

Continuing with the Final Fantasy spin-off thing, I was always annoyed by Paine's thief dress-sphere:

Tidus's outfit always bothered me more than most. Why is one shorts leg longer than the other? Why does one of them have fishnet on it? Why is Yuna's outfit the only one that makes any fucking sense in the entire game?

I always though John Blade from Sin (the FPS) was really dumb looking. The dreads, the soul patch, the goggle glasses, the ab belt. The renders are bad enough, but the in-game model, whooo boy.

@justin258: Blitzball

@azulot said:

@viking_funeral: Holy cow I totally finished that game (years ago) and don't remember that dude at all.

Continuing with the Final Fantasy spin-off thing, I was always annoyed by Paine's thief dress-sphere:

Is... is that thong built into the biking shorts? Good lord, that looks painful and awkward to wear.

Bad character design you say!

My actual answer is the female characters in Dragon's Crown. Just wretchedly bad.

@nightcrawlah - The Amazon and Sorcerous are outlandishly cartoonish but the Elf is fine.

@azulot I also finished that game and have no recollection of the character.

Most of the characters in Twilight Princess are pretty ridiculous.

I am going to go with Kerrigan.

Most of my suggestions would be Tetsuya Nomura designs, so I'll just defer to the OP since nothing is probably going to top that.

@cheappoison: Like normal human Kerrigan or Zerg-ey Kerrigan? Cause they're both pretty bad.

Now I'm just going to be lazy and quote a comment I made on Kotaku.

Cloud Strife, now there’s an outfit we should be taking to task. What is that top? It doesn’t have sleeves so, sweatervest? But it has a turtleneck so I just don’t know. And why would anyone wear knitwear while fighting? It’d unravel so quickly. And then those pants: They are borderline parachute in their baggyness so I guess get why he has to wear them so high. But the belt and suspenders are completely redundant. Pick one or the other. There’s a better way to secure that pauldron and that belt is so thick you’d think he was the heavyweight champion.

Most of them

@blackout62: I guess both. Kerrigan is just an average human in a skin tight suit. Zerg Kerrigan they try and make her a monster, but they still slap on high heels, pretty much exposed boobs,..
It is weird to me. Doens't help that they betrayed the character and gave that whole thing a shitty ending.

Seymore Guado and his open kimono and impossible hair from FFX. Why? WHY!?

Lulu from Final Fantasy X had the most comically impractical dress:

I still don't understand what this creature is.

You have to give credits to Japanese designers. When they go overboard, they can really give you something special. The worst of eastern designers is painful to look at... Compared to that, the worst of western designers simply seems bland.

	I give you Sonic and Mario. This look almost like a fan mod, but no. A professional designer was paid to make this...
	Luso from Final Fantasy Dissidia Dream. It looks like the wet dream of a cosplayer. You might think it is one of Nomura's design, with accessories on top of accessories, but no...
	How did this ended up in a Nintendo game? Seriously, what were they thinking?

Oh, come now folks, we all know its Bethesda. Their engines could not construct a decent character if the lives of the coder's depended upon it.

Is that an old woman of a frog-race? Is that someone with one of those 'flesh eating bacteria' diseases? Is that a monster or a demon?

Nope, that is just one of the first normal human characters you see in one of their terrible games, a king in fact that had expensive voice talent behind it. But, OF COURSE, they blow it, because Bethesda.

That's Patrick Stewart, obviously.

That anime boy is part of the Overdesign beta.

Anything from Sentient.

Zelda

Probably Gwynevere from Dark Souls.

Now i'm not one of those people who got real mad over this, I mean Dante has always been kind of a douche, but a self aware douche. (or at least a laughably stupid one) This guy though just stinks of Bomber Man Act Zero gritty reboot tude. The game was alright though. A very stylish if fairly straight forward take on the other games.

@error52: disagree entirely about palkia, coolest looking legendary out of gen 4 followed by darkrai. If you want to talk about shitty looking legendaries, look no further than the storm trio from one of the recent games. Caught the one exclusive to Omega Ruby and he is awful, AWFUL!

If I wasn't on a phone I would post a picture but his name was like thunderous or something

Man, I feel like the OP began and ended the thread right there with his example. What a colossal mess that thing is!

@nightcrawlah: I liked the designs of Dragons Crown. Specifically the Elf, who looks badass.

@frostyryan: I only played Twilight Princess for the first time recently and that kid was by far the scariest thing in that game.

@nightcrawlah: What about Elf girl and kinda slutty Tinkerbell? They're adorable! I know what you mean though and, yes, absolutely.

Whats impractical about that, the fabric is just made of old belts? Its not like she has to undo and fasten all belts everytime she dresses or something like that.

I think you'd be hard pressed to find worse designs than Tetsuya Nomura's. There are blander designs or poorly realized visions, but his visions are just a perfect mix of opulent and nonsensical.

@aethelred: There is simply no way that this dress can fall down.

The one place she isn't wearing a belt? Her waist, ironically enough.

Just look at this asshole. His hair actually pisses me off, I keep staring at it trying to figure out how it even works, and the longer I look the more infuriated I become.

@shiftygism said:

I don't think they quite know how breasts or faces are supposed to look.

@boozak said:

Now i'm not one of those people who got real mad over this, I mean Dante has always been kind of a douche, but a self aware douche. (or at least a laughably stupid one) This guy though just stinks of Bomber Man Act Zero gritty reboot tude. The game was alright though. A very stylish if fairly straight forward take on the other games.

I might be the only one, but I liked new Dante's design way more than old Dante's.

@mach_go_go_go: HAHAHAHA "Hi, I'm Dah-vid Cage."

Wine drinking fat man on rollerskates.

Gonna have to add one to to the Nomura pile. This redesign of Musashi single-handedly kept me from playing the second game even though I loved the original Brave Fencer Musashi which was damn near Square's take on a zelda game.

@johnymyko said:

@boozak said:

Now i'm not one of those people who got real mad over this, I mean Dante has always been kind of a douche, but a self aware douche. (or at least a laughably stupid one) This guy though just stinks of Bomber Man Act Zero gritty reboot tude. The game was alright though. A very stylish if fairly straight forward take on the other games.

I might be the only one, but I liked new Dante's design way more than old Dante's.

I really liked new Dante.