35 Video game characters introduced in 2001

343 Guilty Spark, also known as Guilty Spark or just Spark, is a fictional character in the Halo universe. He appears in the first three video games of the Halo series: Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, and Halo 3, as well as the remakes of the first two games, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, and Halo 2: Anniversary. Guilty Spark is an artificial intelligence whose primary role, as designated by his Forerunner makers, is to maintain his ringworld Installation 04, also known as 'Halo' as its caretaker, and to contain any infestation of the parasitic Flood species via the activation of the Halo arrays, which destroys all life in the galaxy in the process. He is known to the United Nations Space Command (UNSC) as the Monitor, and to the Covenant as the Oracle as he is associated with the Forerunners' legacy.

The life simulation video game series Animal Crossing, created by Katsuya Eguchi and first released in 2001 by Nintendo, features an assortment of recurring characters. Titles in the series follow the player character as they live in a village populated by anthropomorphic animals, with gameplay that proceeds in a nonlinear fashion and in-game events that occur in real-time. As of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the most recent release in the series, there are over 400 animal characters that can potentially populate a player's village. In addition to these villager characters, Animal Crossing features characters that appear in the villages of all players; these characters typically serve a particular gameplay function, or appear at a specific in-game event.

Ape Escape is a series of video games developed primarily by SCE Japan Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment, starting with Ape Escape for PlayStation in 1999. The series incorporates ape-related humour, unique gameplay, and a wide variety of pop culture references. It is the first game to have made the DualShock or Dual Analog controller mandatory.

Captain Olimar is a fictional character from Nintendo's Pikmin video game series created by Shigeru Miyamoto. He first appeared in Pikmin (2001), which led to the development of three additional games; two of them featuring the character as the protagonist.

Christie is a player character in the Dead or Alive fighting game franchise by Team Ninja and Tecmo Koei. Making her playable debut in 2001's Dead or Alive 3, she is the designated femme fatale of the series, depicted as a villainous British assassin hired to kill protagonist Helena Douglas. Christie has appeared on series merchandise and the feature film DOA: Dead or Alive which she was portrayed by Holly Valance, and like the games' other female characters, has received positive critical reception based mainly on her sex appeal.

Christie Monteiro is a fictional character in the Tekken video game series of 3D fighting games. A fighter of Brazilian nationality, Christie uses the Brazilian fighting style of capoeira. She is the granddaughter of a legendary capoeira master who taught Eddy Gordo the art of capoeira in prison. After Eddy Gordo's release, Eddy swears an oath to his master to teach his granddaughter, Christie, the art of capoeira. Becoming a prodigy in only two years, Christie mainly involves herself in The King of Iron Fist Tournaments in search for a cure for her grandfather, who has become sick during his incarceration. The character has received positive reception from critics and fans, and, along with Eddy, has been credited with popularizing the art of capoeira to a new audience within the larger gamer and martial arts community.

Claude is a fictional character and the playable protagonist of the 2001 video game Grand Theft Auto III. He also makes a non-playable cameo appearance in the 2004 prequel Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. A silent protagonist, Claude has no lines of dialogue in either game. In Grand Theft Auto III, he is depicted as a small-time criminal who resides in the fictional Liberty City with his girlfriend Catalina, who leaves him for dead following a successful bank robbery. Surviving, Claude embarks on a quest for revenge, which quickly leads him to become entangled in a world of organized crime, drugs, gang warfare, and corruption.

Cortana is a fictional artificially intelligent character in the Halo video game series. Voiced by Jen Taylor, she appears in Halo: Combat Evolved and its sequels, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 4, and Halo 5: Guardians. She also briefly appears in the prequel Halo: Reach, as well as in several of the franchise's novels, comics, and merchandise. During gameplay, Cortana provides backstory and tactical information to the player, who often assumes the role of Master Chief Petty Officer John-117. In the story, she is instrumental in preventing the activation of the Halo installations, which would have destroyed all sentient life in the galaxy.

The Covenant are a fictional theocratic hegemony of alien races who serve as the main antagonists in the first trilogy of the Halo video game series. They are composed of a diverse array of species united under the religious worship of the extinct Forerunners and their belief that the Forerunner ring worlds known as Halos will provide a path to salvation, known as the "Great Journey". After the high Covenant leadership—the 3 High Prophets—discover that the existence of the human species directly contradicts their ancient religion, they declare a genocidal campaign against humanity to preserve their own political power, knowing if they revealed this information to the rest of the Covenant it would mean the hegemony would fall into chaos. The High Prophets claimed the extermination of humanity is the "will of the gods and we [the Covenant] are their [the gods'] instrument." Over the next 27 years of war, the Covenant would repeatedly overpower the technologically inferior human race and its United Nations Space Command, devastating hundreds of human colonies throughout the Orion Arm, killing billions in their campaign. The Covenant are ultimately defeated during the final battle of the war set on the Ark, a Forerunner world, in Halo 3. With the Covenant destroyed, its former members create new factions with differing ideologies.

Craig Marduk is a character from the Tekken fighting game series released by Namco Bandai Games. Marduk was introduced in Tekken 4, and he has returned for all subsequent releases, though he is only available in Tekken 7 as a DLC character. Marduk started out as a villain until becoming a reformed hero at the end Tekken 5, as well as the tag-team partner of King.

Dante , also known under the alias of Tony Redgrave , is a fictional character in the video game series Devil May Cry, created and published by Capcom. Introduced as the protagonist of the 2001 game with the same name, Dante is a demon-hunting vigilante dedicated to exterminating them and other supernatural foes in revenge for losing his mother Eva and having his twin brother, Vergil, lost. He is the son of Sparda, inheriting superhuman powers which he uses with a variety of weapons in the games. The character also appears in several Devil May Cry novels and manga volumes and is featured in the 2007 anime television series. Dante has also made multiple guest appearances in crossover games. An alternate version of the character was created by Ninja Theory for their game DmC: Devil May Cry, which is set in a separate universe from the main series.

Daxter is a fictional character from the Jak and Daxter video game series. First introduced in The Precursor Legacy, Daxter is Jak's best friend, and was accidentally transformed into an ottsel. Daxter is voiced by Max Casella, Richard McGonagle, and Steve Blum. Daxter stars in his own game, named after himself. Critics have been divided with the character, some calling him funny, others calling him annoying.

The Flood is a fictional parasitic alien lifeform and one of the primary antagonists in the Halo multimedia franchise. First introduced in the 2001 video game Halo: Combat Evolved, it returns in later entries in the series such as Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo Wars. The Flood is capable of infecting any sentient life of sufficient size; Flood-infected creatures, also called Flood, in turn can infect other hosts. The parasite is depicted as such a threat that the ancient Forerunners constructed artificial ringworld superweapons known as Halos to contain it and, as a last resort, to kill all sentient life in the galaxy in an effort to stop the Flood's spread by starving it.

Hitomi is a player character in the Dead or Alive series of fighting games by Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo. She was introduced in Dead or Alive 3 in 2001, replacing Ein/Hayate as the regular karate martial artist in the character roster. Hitomi is of Japanese and German descent, and she regularly enters the Dead or Alive fighting tournaments either to test her skills against other martial artists, or out of personal reasons. The character has been well received by game critics for her sex appeal and personality.

Jak is a fictional character and primary protagonist of the Jak and Daxter series, and the titular playable character in all games in the series except the spin-off game Daxter. He was created by Naughty Dog Inc, and made cross-over appearances in PlayStation Move Heroes and PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, serving as one of three protagonists in the game former. From his introduction in Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy to the last Naughty Dog-developed game Jak X: Combat Racing, Jak was voiced by Mike Erwin. In the High Impact Games-developed Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier and PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, he was voiced by Josh Keaton.

The Mario franchise is a series of video games developed and published by Nintendo that features an extensive cast of characters.

Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, or "Master Chief", is a fictional character and the protagonist in the Halo multimedia franchise. Master Chief is a playable character in the series of science fiction first-person shooter video games Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 4, Halo 5: Guardians and Halo Infinite. The character also appears in Halo books and graphic novels – including Halo: The Fall of Reach, Halo: The Flood, Halo: First Strike, and Halo: Uprising – and has minor appearances or cameos in other Halo media.

Maya Fey, known as Mayoi Ayasato in the original Japanese language versions, is a fictional spirit medium in Capcom's Ace Attorney video game series. Maya is featured as the main support character to the protagonist Phoenix Wright in the first three games of the series and later returns in the sixth game. The character has also appeared in film, anime and manga adaptations of the series, a Japanese series of musicals and stage plays, and crossover video games such as Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Project X Zone 2 and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

Mona Sax is a fictional character in the neo-noir media franchise Max Payne, where she represents the femme fatale archetype. Mona is a mysterious contract killer in a dangerous relationship with the series' titular protagonist, the policeman-turned-vigilante Max Payne. The character was portrayed by Kathy Tong and voiced by Julia Murney and Wendy Hoopes in the video games, and was played by Mila Kunis in the film adaptation.

Tom Nook, known in Japan as Tanukichi (たぬきち), is a fictional character in the Animal Crossing series who operates the village store. He first appeared in the Nintendo 64 game Dōbutsu no Mori, released in Europe and North America on the Nintendo GameCube as Animal Crossing. Nook sells a house to the player at the beginning of each title in the series, giving a set mortgage for them to pay and offering to upgrade it after the mortgage is paid off. He has also made several appearances in the Super Smash Bros. series. Nintendo's Treehouse localization members Rich Amtower and Reiko Ninomiya have argued that, in spite of his perceived greed, he is a nice person due to taking the risk of hiring someone who is new to the town.

Max Payne is a fictional character and the playable protagonist of the neo-noir video game series of the same name. Max was introduced in the 2001 third-person shooter Max Payne, which was written by Sam Lake and developed by Remedy Entertainment. The game's publisher, 3D Realms, intended Max to serve as the "foundation of a new gaming franchise". In the first game, the character was portrayed by Lake, with Timothy Gibbs and James McCaffrey later taking over the role, and consistently voiced by McCaffrey. Mark Wahlberg portrayed Max in the film adaptation. The first game in the series presents the story as retold by Max from his point of view, while the sequel, Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, alternates between his and that of the femme fatale character Mona Sax.

Pyramid Head, also known as "Red Pyramid Thing" , "Red Pyramid", Sankaku Atama , and the Executioner, is a fictional character conglomerate from the Silent Hill series of survival horror video games published by Konami.

Raiden , real name Jack , is a fictional character and one of the main protagonists of Konami's Metal Gear series of video games. The character was created by Hideo Kojima and designed by Yoji Shinkawa, and was introduced in the series as the main player character of the 2001 stealth game Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. In Metal Gear Solid 2, Raiden appears to be a member of the U.S. special operations unit FOXHOUND and is participating in his first mission against terrorists. Despite coming across as a rookie, he is a young soldier who is later revealed to have been a Liberian child soldier. Raiden also appears as a supporting character in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, in which he is assisting the series' protagonist Solid Snake in his fight against Revolver Ocelot's forces. He is also the main character of the hack and slash game Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, in which he is dealing with his past and his present life as a combatant who faces enemies from private military companies.

Mr. Resetti, full name Sonny Resetti, is a fictional character from the Animal Crossing series of video games by Nintendo. His first appearance was in the Nintendo 64 game Dōbutsu no Mori, released in Europe and North America on the GameCube as Animal Crossing. Mr. Resetti is a mole whose role in the series is to remind players to save before quitting the game, and to give a lecture if they do not. Mr. Resetti has received mixed critical reception.

Rikku is a fictional character in the Final Fantasy series. Tetsuya Nomura created Rikku, and the character is voiced by Marika Matsumoto in Japanese and by Tara Strong in English. Rikku first appears in Final Fantasy X as one of its protagonists, where she accompanies her cousin Yuna and others on a journey to defeat the monster Sin. Rikku again appears as a protagonist in the games direct sequel, Final Fantasy X-2. In that game, she, Yuna, and new friend Paine journey to find missing Final Fantasy X protagonist Tidus.

The Sonic the Hedgehog video game franchise began in 1991 with the game Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Genesis, which pitted a blue anthropomorphic hedgehog named Sonic against a rotund male human villain named Doctor Eggman. The sequel, Sonic 2, gave Sonic a fox friend named Tails. Sonic CD introduced Amy Rose, a female hedgehog with a persistent crush on Sonic. Sonic 3 introduced Knuckles the Echidna, Sonic's rival and, later, friend. All five of these have remained major characters and appeared in dozens of games.

Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade is a tactical role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance (GBA) handheld video game console. It is the sixth entry in the Fire Emblem series, the first title produced for the system, and the first title to appear on a handheld console. It was released in Japan in March 2002.

Shadow the Hedgehog is a character appearing in Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog video game franchise. Shadow was created by Takashi Iizuka and Shiro Maekawa, and debuted in the series' 2001 installment Sonic Adventure 2. Although this was intended to be his only appearance, Shadow proved so popular among fans that developer Sonic Team decided to include him in 2003's Sonic Heroes. Shadow has since featured in numerous entries in the franchise, including a self-titled spin-off game in 2005. He also appears in Sonic television adaptations, comics, and merchandise.

Totakeke Slider , more commonly known as K.K. Slider or K.K., is a fictional character within the Animal Crossing franchise. One of the franchise's most popular characters, he debuted in the title Animal Crossing, and has appeared in every installment since. K.K.'s main role is as a musician who performs to the townsfolk, through live performances and purchasable in-game albums. He is based on Nintendo video game voice actor and composer Kazumi Totaka – his Japanese name "Totakeke" being a contraction of "Totaka K." – and has been said to be an animal caricature of Totaka.

Tidus is a fictional video game character in Square Enix's Final Fantasy series. He was introduced as the protagonist of the role-playing video game Final Fantasy X as a 17-year-old expert in the fictional sport of blitzball from the city of Zanarkand. After a mysterious creature named Sin attacks his hometown, Tidus is apparently transported to the world of Spira. Shortly after his arrival he meets Yuna, a mage and her guardians. The group will soon set out on a pilgrimage to destroy the creature which attacked Tidus' city; by joining them, Tidus hopes to find his way home. He has appeared in other video games, including the Final Fantasy X sequel Final Fantasy X-2, the Kingdom Hearts series, and several Square Enix crossover games.

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is an action-adventure game developed in a collaboration between Rockstar Leeds and Rockstar North, and published by Rockstar Games. The ninth installment in the Grand Theft Auto series, it was initially released as a PlayStation Portable exclusive in October 2005. A port for the PlayStation 2 was released in June 2006. At the time of release, the recommended retail price of the PS2 port was around half the price of the PSP version, because the PS2 version does not feature the custom soundtrack ripping capability of the PSP version. A port for iOS, Android and Fire OS devices was also released in December 2015, February 2016, and March 2016, respectively.

Vergil is a fictional character from the Devil May Cry series that was created and published by Capcom. He was introduced in the first Devil May Cry game as a boss called Nelo Angelo . Vergil is one of two hybrid sons of a demon knight called Sparda and as a result possesses supernatural powers. He has appeared in three video games as one of the main antagonists opposing his twin brother, Dante, and in a novel and a manga based on the series. He is the one of the two main antagonists of Devil May Cry 3 and the final antagonist turned anti-hero of Devil May Cry 5. While his demon-half Urizen serves as the central antagonist, his human-half V appears in the latter game as a playable protagonist. A re-booted version of Vergil also appears in the 2013 video game DmC: Devil May Cry as the leader of a group of rouge vigilantes bent on stopping the demon king, Mundus.

Animal Crossing is a social simulation video game series developed and published by Nintendo and created by Katsuya Eguchi and Hisashi Nogami. In Animal Crossing, the player character is a human who lives in a village inhabited by various anthropomorphic animals, carrying out various activities such as fishing, bug catching, and fossil hunting. The series is notable for its open-ended gameplay and extensive use of the video game console's internal clock and calendar to simulate real passage of time.