Most iconic non-Final Fantasy JRPG protagonist?

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Board 8 » Most iconic non-Final Fantasy JRPG protagonist?
I figured Dragon Quest deserved representation, but I didn't think there was a particular Hero that was more iconic than the others, so I just grouped them all together for the purposes of the poll.

There were a few I considered that I don't think are the answer, but I put an Other option on here for them in case someone else here does. I thought about Marth, but I think he's more widely thought of from Smash than Fire Emblem, at least in the west. I didn't know if anyone else from the series warranted consideration (Ike or Byleth, maybe?). I thought about Isaac from Golden Sun, but I don't think he's a relevant answer anymore. Maybe Adol from Ys, but I wasn't sure it was popular enough either. I also considered just Paper Mario, but that one might be hard to evaluate.
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Red > Sora and the rest aren't close
The Artist Formerly Known as Hannyabal
Of those its between Red and Sora
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"There comes a time in every man's or woman's life where they have to make **** up to cover their ass." - Hazama
Of these it's between Red and Sora but I can't say which. Leaning Red because of the Pokemon association, and I think he's actually become more distinct as an icon separate from Ash as time goes on
I definitely did not forget to put the 2020 GOTD Guru winner, azuarc in my sig!
It's easily Sora. I see a ton of non-gamers wearing Kingdom Hearts merch, most of which features Sora. I don't really know any non-gamers who care about Pokemon for anything but the Pokemon.

Also, to answer your question, I think Marth or Ike warranted a spot on the list far more than Lloyd, and I say that with Lloyd high on my list of favorite gaming characters and Symphonia my in my top four games of all time.
a darkx alt
Red/Ash is easily #1.

Sora is easily #2.

#3 is probably 2B nowadays, because the rest haven't really transcended time like the first 2.

Bells, bells, bells!
2B easily

No one who didn't play RBY cares about Red.
All the stars in the sky are waiting for you.
RBY sold like 30 million copies even ignoring its remakes though

Also, Ashs recognizability would leak through
:)
It's not Estelle Bright but it should be.

Honestly I feel like the answer is Ness unless we're trying to consider them all as separate from Smash, in which case it's probably Sora.

Pokemon is obviously iconic but I've never seen Red as a character in the same way.
I didn't do guru this year but azuarc can be in my sig anyways.
Probably Red. The Pokemon themselves being the main focus holds him back a little bit, but he has a very impressive resume:
  • The main character of one of the most iconic games ever (Pokemon Red/Blue)
  • Final boss of another big game (Gold/Silver)
  • Playable in a few Smash games
  • Also can be fought in a few other Pokemon games for good measure
I think that's more than enough to obliterate the likes of Crono, Joker, 2B, etc. Only Sora is comparable since he's fairly consistently the star of a big series.
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I feel like people in here are really, really overselling Red. Legit wouldn't be surprised to find out a majority of casual modern Pokemon fans don't even know who he is.

Sora and 2B feel like the easy answers
Let the voice of love take you higher,
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Hbthebattle posted...
RBY sold like 30 million copies even ignoring its remakes though

Also, Ashs recognizability would leak through
A lot of people probably just think he's Ash.
All the stars in the sky are waiting for you.
Xiahou_Shake posted...
I feel like people in here are really, really overselling Red. Legit wouldn't be surprised to find out a majority of casual modern Pokemon fans don't even know who he is.

Red is basically Ash, so much to the point that Pokemon Masters EX pokes fun at it. even with having them be two separate characters (who both have Pikachu). Thus, Red is pretty handily in the top 2, if not easily first, because the Red/Ash look is basically the stereotypical "Pokemon trainer" that everybody knows.

And not only do modern Pokemon fans likely know Red, via recent "remakes" such as Let's Go Pikachu (as well as appearing in games like... Sun and Moon, I believe?) to appearances in things like Pokemon Masters, but they certainly know Ash, both from the anime, and the fact that his influence has leaked over into the games via being able to get Ash's Greninja, for example.

Top two are Red and Sora, and third place isn't even close.
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StealThisSheen posted...
Red is basically Ash, so much to the point that Pokemon Masters EX pokes fun at it. even with having them be two separate characters (who both have Pikachu). Thus, Red is pretty handily in the top 2, if not easily first, because the Red/Ash look is basically the stereotypical "Pokemon trainer" that everybody knows.
Not only that, but Red is representative of the cover with Charizard, a fire type, thus Ash. Explains why they look the same.
Bells, bells, bells!
changmas posted...
Red > Sora and the rest aren't close

You'll just keep going. Not out of any desire for good or evil, but just because you think you can - And because you "can"... You "have to".
MacArrowny posted...
2B easily

No one who didn't play RBY cares about Red.
I know absolutely nothing about 2B except the one game she comes from.

Up until about half a year ago I wouldn't have recognized a picture of the character.

And I think the vast majority still wouldn't. I'm not sure she's even top 5 in this poll.
You'll just keep going. Not out of any desire for good or evil, but just because you think you can - And because you "can"... You "have to".
Xiahou_Shake posted...
I feel like people in here are really, really overselling Red. Legit wouldn't be surprised to find out a majority of casual modern Pokemon fans don't even know who he is.

Sora and 2B feel like the easy answers
I agree with this. Sora gets my vote without thinking twice about it and 2B is definitely getting underrated.
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KateMarsh posted...
Also, to answer your question, I think Marth or Ike warranted a spot on the list far more than Lloyd, and I say that with Lloyd high on my list of favorite gaming characters and Symphonia my in my top four games of all time.

You'd have to really stretch the flimsy, near non-existent definition of jRPG to count FE games.
https://i.ibb.co/3M3Gmgj/r-CEGjv8-Q2-Stzp2rdtr9pg-UVi.png
I'm so confused about the 2B votes. Literally nobody outside of gaming knows who 2B is, and I only know who 2B is because she appears in SoulCalibur 6. She's nowhere near Red or Sora level at all.

EDIT: I guess 2B would be third just by virtue of everybody else being that unknown outside of their own games, whereas 2B has atleast been a guest character in some, but... Still, third place is so far behind the top two that it's almost silly to even consider.
Seplito Nash, Smelling Like the Vault since 1996
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I don't consider Red and Ash the same, so votes Sora.

Meeting him at the end of GSC is absolutely iconic but that's the end of it.
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StealThisSheen posted...
I'm so confused about the 2B votes. Literally nobody outside of gaming knows who 2B is, and I only know who 2B is because she appears in SoulCalibur 6. She's nowhere near Red or Sora level at all.

EDIT: I guess 2B would be third just by virtue of everybody else being that unknown outside of their own games, whereas 2B has atleast been a guest character in some, but... Still, third place is so far behind the top two that it's almost silly to even consider.
I didn't vote for 2B, but nobody outside of gaming will know who any of these are.
It's Reyn Time.
KamikazePotato posted...
I didn't vote for 2B, but nobody outside of gaming will know who any of these are.

People absolutely will "know" who Red is, just by virtue of assuming he is Ash, which makes him the easy #1.

Like, I guarantee that if you show people a picture of Red, you'll get some people calling him Ash, which is more than any of these others would get.
Seplito Nash, Smelling Like the Vault since 1996
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I'm not sure why we're considering mistaken identity as a basis for being the most iconic
https://imgur.com/WqDcNNq
https://imgur.com/89Z5jrB
Also I guess we've forgotten Joker is in Smash huh
https://imgur.com/WqDcNNq
https://imgur.com/89Z5jrB
I find these Ash arguments odd

Yeah they know who Ash is, but that means they got the answer wrong .

Like if you showed a bunch of people Lucas and they all said "Hey it's Ness!", that doesn't suddenly mean Lucas is just as popular.
https://i.ibb.co/3M3Gmgj/r-CEGjv8-Q2-Stzp2rdtr9pg-UVi.png
UshiromiyaEva posted...
I find these Ash arguments odd

Yeah they know who Ash is, but that means they got the answer wrong .

Like if you showed a bunch of people Lucas and they all said "Hey it's Ness!", that doesn't suddenly mean Lucas is just as popular.

The difference is that Ash is literally a different interpretation of Red, whereas Lucas is an entirely different character. For all intents and purposes, Ash IS Red, just a different version of him. And, like said, they even acknowledge this in Pokemon Masters, so it's not just a "wink wink, nod nod" kind of thing... They basically made it canon. Hell, they technically did as far back as Pokemon Yellow.
Seplito Nash, Smelling Like the Vault since 1996
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I feel like if people confuse Red for [character who is not Red] that's at best neutral and more likely an argument against Red being iconic.
I didn't do guru this year but azuarc can be in my sig anyways.
For all intents and purposes, Ash is Red, and Red is Ash. Just like Gary is Blue, so much so that they look identical. Ash and Gary are literally just the anime's versions of Red and Blue, so I feel like the argument of "It's not technically Ash/Red" is kinda silly, especially if it's used to suggest 2B is more iconic, for example.
Seplito Nash, Smelling Like the Vault since 1996
Step FOUR! Get Paid!
It is true though that if Red counts as an Ash stand-in then obviously he blows this poll out of the water and probably all the Final Fantasy JRPG protagonists along with it.
I didn't do guru this year but azuarc can be in my sig anyways.
2B has two votes

This is about whether it puts him ahead of Sora
https://imgur.com/WqDcNNq
https://imgur.com/89Z5jrB
Yeah I'm also not buying the argument that Red gets to coast on Ash's recognizability. Definitely agree that if people are only loosely aware of him because he looks almost exactly like another much more popular character who was based on him that's a pretty clean case that he's not iconic.
Let the voice of love take you higher,
With this gathering power, go beyond even time!
Ash lost the Indigo League, Red did not.
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Leonhart4 posted...
2B has two votes

This is about whether it puts him ahead of Sora

I was moreso arguing with Shake trying to suggest 2B was above Red.
Seplito Nash, Smelling Like the Vault since 1996
Step FOUR! Get Paid!
I would not vote for Ash in the same way I would vote for Red.
It's Reyn Time.
Regardless of whatever retcon they've attempted, I would say if the person straight up doesn't know the name Red it does not count.

https://i.ibb.co/3M3Gmgj/r-CEGjv8-Q2-Stzp2rdtr9pg-UVi.png
UshiromiyaEva posted...
Regardless of whatever retcon they've attempted, I would say if the person straight up doesn't know the name Red it does not count.

Even if you want to try your hardest to not count Ash as a Red stand-in, certainly you'd have to agree that an assertion like "2B is more iconic than Red" is absolutely silly, right? I guess that's my main point of contention. I think Shake's argument was so silly to me that I probably got off base a bit.
Seplito Nash, Smelling Like the Vault since 1996
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Yeah, I feel like if they look at a picture of Red and say, "That's Ash," then they've missed the point and that's not in his favor.
https://imgur.com/WqDcNNq
https://imgur.com/89Z5jrB
Leonhart4 posted...
Yeah, I feel like if they look at a picture of Red and say, "That's Ash," then they've missed the point and that's not in his favor.

I'll just have to agree to disagree, since Ash is, for all intents and purposes, literally Red, in the anime. They even point to this by having Ash and Gary have a Charizard vs. Blastoise fight. To each their own, though. My main point was that there is no way Red is less iconic than 2B. I just got off base a bit, I guess.
Seplito Nash, Smelling Like the Vault since 1996
Step FOUR! Get Paid!
The character in the anime may be Red, but the character in the game is not Ash. The distinction matters, subtle though it may be.
https://imgur.com/WqDcNNq
https://imgur.com/89Z5jrB
Grimlyn posted...
Ash lost the Indigo League, Red did not.
Yeah on this point Ash is a jobber who spent literally 25 years to win a proper championship while Red was a champion within one game and a legendary final boss in the second. Not seeing how you can argue they're remotely the same character when their actual characterization and portrayals are so wildly different.

I'd be interested to hear more arguments for 2B not being one of the most prolific characters to enter the genre (or the medium, really) in our lifetimes. The girl is *absolutely everywhere* in crossovers and promotions on the regular, and she single-handedly propelled Nier from the nichest of niche games to borderline scratching at mainstream consciousness with how much the internet was exploding over her upon Automata's release.
Let the voice of love take you higher,
With this gathering power, go beyond even time!
I actually totally forgot about this but wasn't there a like 6 or so episode anime series that actually did have Red as the main character? I wonder how many people watched that.
I didn't do guru this year but azuarc can be in my sig anyways.
And yes, people are kind of underselling how popular 2B is. You don't have to have played Automata to know her these days. You can't say that about a lot of the others (Red included, perhaps, since you're conflating him with Ash anyway).
https://imgur.com/WqDcNNq
https://imgur.com/89Z5jrB
2B is definitely very popular and she should be much more closely in 3rd place.

Gamefaqs bring us ranked choice voting GOD DAMMMMMMMMMMIIIIIIIIIITTTTTT
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pyresword posted...
I actually totally forgot about this but wasn't there a like 6 or so episode anime series that actually did have Red as the main character? I wonder how many people watched that.

Different Pokemon anime, but Pokemon Origins is indeed pretty damn rad. A lot of people probably watched it because Charmander almost getting fucking merced in a fight and screaming like a dying animal went viral.

Funny enough he really does not look like Ash at ALL in that thing lol.
https://i.ibb.co/3M3Gmgj/r-CEGjv8-Q2-Stzp2rdtr9pg-UVi.png
Leonhart4 posted...
The character in the anime may be Red, but the character in the game is not Ash. The distinction matters, subtle though it may be.

I'd argue against this somewhat, since Pokemon Yellow is pretty much literally Ash, since it's based on the anime, even including Jessie and James. I believe Ash is even a default name selection in Yellow, whereas Red is not.
Seplito Nash, Smelling Like the Vault since 1996
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Ash is literally a default name suggestion for Red, and, notably, sometimes Red isn't . It's completely possible for someone to play Pokemon Blue and never see the name "Red" in-game a single time. Ash (anime character) is not Red (game character), but Ash is definitely a valid name for the guy you control in Pokemon Red Version.
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UshiromiyaEva posted...
2B is definitely very popular and she should be much more closely in 3rd place.

Gamefaqs bring us ranked choice voting GOD DAMMMMMMMMMMIIIIIIIIIITTTTTT

Oh, I'm not doubting 2B is third. Hell, I'd accept an argument for 2B vs. Sora for second. Red is just so far and away first for me that I can't imagine saying 2B > Red, in any scenario.
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My first thought, oddly, was Frisk.
Only the exceptions can be exceptional.
UshiromiyaEva posted...
You'd have to really stretch the flimsy, near non-existent definition of jRPG to count FE games.

It counts just as much as Kingdom Hearts or Nier Automata

In Japan, the Dragon Quest 3 hero is the easy answer even without the non-FF qualifier. In the west idk maybe Sora

I don't think Red is particularly "iconic". He doesn't have much of an identity and is mistaken for Ash a lot. I'd wager the majority of players don't even know his name is Red, especially since he's just "Pokemon Trainer" in Smash. I feel like we've reached the pinnacle of conflating iconic with "a lot of people are vaguely aware of this character's existence" here
MZero , to the extreme
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Board 8 » Most iconic non-Final Fantasy JRPG protagonist?
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