But in the annals of video game history, there are a special few characters that have managed to continually appear in games decade after decade. In this list, we will be looking at the characters who have appeared in games in four different decades. Such characters can only be considered legends of the medium.
7 Pac-Man
Quite possibly the first character in the history of the medium, Pac-Man has also proven to be one of the most timeless and resilient. He got his start in the 1980 arcade game Pac-Man, and through numerous highs and lows has remained one of the most iconic figures in the industry. Throughout the early-to-mid 1980s, he would receive numerous sequels and spinoffs to the original arcade hit.
He would receive few entries in the late 80s but would come back with a series of oddball spinoffs like Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures and Pac-In-Time in the early 90s, and would end up finishing the decade with a bang with a successful leap into 3D with Pac-Man World in 1999. The 2000s would see plenty of games starring the yellow dot-muncher including the critically acclaimed Pac-Man World 2 in 2002, and the retro throwback Pac-Man: Championship Edition in 2007. The 2010s would not see as many new entries, but the series would nonetheless continue with games like Pac-Man: Championship Edition 2 in 2016. His most recent appearance has been in the remake of Pac-Man World released in 2022, marking the 5th decade that he has been appearing in games.
6 Donkey Kong
First appearing as the antagonist in the 1981 arcade title Donkey Kong, Nintendo’s lovable gorilla has since appeared in countless titles over the years. After headlining a series of arcade titles throughout the early 80s Donkey Kong seemed to take a backseat to Mario throughout most of the late 80s and early 90s with appearances mostly limited to cameos in other games.
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Then in 1994, he would come swinging back into the limelight with a pair of releases; Donkey Kong on the Game Boy and Donkey Kong Country on the Super Nintendo. The latter of which would end up being the beginning of his own franchise distinctive from Mario, and would see numerous sequels throughout the mid to late 90s. In the 2000s he would mostly star in a series of spinoffs before seeing a glorious return to form in the 2010’s Donkey Kong Country Returns. His last starring role was in 2014’s Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze though he has continued to make appearances in Mario spinoff titles and the Super Smash Bros. series.
5 Mario
Of course, Mario had to be on this list, after making his debut in the 1981 arcade hit Donkey Kong Mario has become the most successful video game character in history having starred in hundreds of games many of which are among some of the most important titles ever made. After his initial outing, he would meet his brother in 1983’s Mario Bros., travel to the Mushroom Kingdom in 1985’s Super Mario Bros., and push the NES to its absolute limit in 1988’s Super Mario Bros. 3.
The 90s would see the character drive a go-kart in Super Mario Kart, star in an RPG in Super Mario RPG, and leap into the 3rd dimension in Super Mario 64. The 2000s saw him clean up a tropical island in Super Mario Sunshine and explore the depths of space in Super Mario Galaxy. In the 2010s Mario would travel around the world in Super Mario Odyssey and become a cat in Super Mario 3D World. All of this barely scratches the surface of the character’s long and storied career.
4 Pitfall Harry
Pitfall Harry is an odd case in the context of this list, after his initial debut in Pitfall! in 1982, the game would receive one sequel in the form of Pitfall II: The Lost Caverns and then quickly fade into obscurity. In spite of this, the series has been continually revived with at least one entry released every decade.
This pattern would start with Super Pitfall for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1986. The 90s would see two Pitfall titles, one being Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure for 16-bit consoles, and the second being Pitfall 3D: Beyond the Jungle for the PlayStation. The 2000s would see the release of Pitfall: The Lost Expedition for 6th generation consoles, and his most recent appearance was the in the 2014 smartphone game simply called Pitfall.
3 Link
The hero of Hyrule would make his debut in the 1986 classic; The Legend of Zelda for NES. Since then, he has starred in some of the most important and critically acclaimed games of all time. The 1980s would see one additional title in the form of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.
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The 90s would see some of Link’s greatest heights in the form of critical darlings like The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, but also some of his lowest lows like Link and the Faces of Evil for CDi. The 2000s would see him star in yet more genre-defining hits like The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess. The 2010s would start off with The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and end with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Finally, in the 2020s, he will star in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
2 Samus Aran
One of gaming’s greatest heroines, Samus would make her debut in 1986’s Metroid for the NES, and despite the occasional hiatus has continued to appear and star in games ever since. After a single title in the 80s Samus would star in two games in the 90s; Metroid II: Return of Samus for Game Boy, and Super Metroid for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
After this time the series would receive no new entries throughout the late 90s before making its glorious return in the 2000s, a period which would prove to be the most prolific in the series history with the release of the Metroid Prime trilogy for Gamecube and Wii as well as handheld titles such as Metroid Fusion for the GBA and Metroid Prime Hunters for the DS. The 2010s would see Samus star in the controversial Metroid: Other M for Wii, as well as the remake Metroid: Samus Returns for 3DS. Finally, 2021 saw Samus begin her 5th decade of gaming with Metroid Dread on Switch.
1 Kunio-Kun
A relatively obscure character for those living outside of Japan, Kunio-kun would make his debut starring in the arcade beat ’em up Renegade in 1986. Since then, he has starred in dozens of games across a wide variety of genres, most of which were sadly never originally released outside of Japan, and those that were made no effort to make it clear that they were part of the same series. The 1980s would see Kunio-kun star in games like Super Dodge Ball and River City Ransom.
The early 90s saw a number of games released featuring Kunio-kun such as the recently localized River City Girls Zero, though he would be almost entirely absent throughout the later part of the decade. The 2000s saw Kunio-kun star mostly in remakes of his earlier titles though the latter part of the decade did see him in a few original titles Such as Super Dodge Ball Brawlers for the DS. Finally, the 2010s have seen him in a fairly steady stream of releases for Nintendo handhelds.
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