TOMB Raider’s Lara Croft is the most iconic video game character of all time, a poll has found.
The video game heroine beat the likes of Nintendo’s Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog and Pac-Man.
The Tomb Raider character, an archaeologist who explores tombs and ruins, first appeared in the franchise in 1996.
Lara Croft has been since been portrayed by US actress Angelina Jolie and Alicia Vikander on the big screen.
Netflix is set to release an animated series based on the game this year.
Bafta’s poll of 4,000 players was carried out to mark its 20th Game Awards later this month.
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Shelley Blond, the first voice actor for Lara Croft, said: “I had no clue when voicing the original Tomb Raider game that it would be such a global phenomenon and neither did Eidos or Core Design.
“They had only ever done children’s games before and of course they hoped it would be a success, but I think it went above and beyond any and all expectations.
“When creating the voice for Lara Croft, it came just by looking at the rough sketches I had in front of me and I took note of the fact that she was a female Indiana Jones type of character, ballsy and well spoken.
“Lara is very special to me purely because she means so much to the gamers. I love hearing stories from people around the world who played the game and channelled Lara to escape their bullies or to help them feel stronger when they wanted to come out to their loved ones.
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“And most beautiful of all is hearing how gamers used to play it with their parents who are no longer with us and the sound of my voice, the music from the game and sound effects are all wrapped up in their memories of that loved one. I’m honoured to play a part in that for them.”
Top 20 video game characters of all time
1. Lara Croft, Tomb Raider
2. Mario, Super Mario
3. Agent 47, Hitman
4. Sonic The Hedgehog, Sonic
5. Sackboy. Little Big Planet
6. Pac-Man, Pac-Man
7. Link, The Legend of Zelda
8. Master Chief, Halo
9. Kratos, God of War
10. Shadowheart, Baldur’s Gate 3
11. Arthur Morgan, Red Dead Redemption 2
12. Pikachu, Pokemon
13. Steve, Minecraft
14. Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid
15. Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot
16. Cloud Strife, Final Fantasy VII
17. Astarion, Baldur’s Gate 3
18. Kazuma Kiryu, Yakuza
19. Ellie Williams, The Last of Us
20. Nathan Drake, Uncharted
Source: BAFTA