However, while there are some pretty good video game sidekicks, there are also the weirdest video game companions. Like, for example, that wiener dog and alligator that you can choose to take with you in Ubisoft’s upcoming first-person shooter title, Far Cry 6.
This doesn’t mean to say that they are bad. Rather, these companions and sidekicks are some of the most unlikely friends that will tag along in the protagonist’s journey. If you’re curious to see who these weird video game companions and sidekicks are, then be sure to scroll down below.
Weighted Companion Cubes - Portal series
Valve’s never been one to give gamers a straightforward title. The brilliant but enigmatic developers of franchises like Half-Life and Team Fortress, as well as Portal, seem to pride themselves in boggling the minds of its audiences. This includes giving gamers some of the weirdest video game companions ever. However, one that has to take the proverbial cake is the Weighted Companion Cubes of the Portal games. According to GlaDOS, the Weighted Companion Cube “will never threaten to stab you, and, in fact, cannot speak”. The object probably isn’t alive, so why is it a companion? Because, according to GlaDOS, again, these cubes might be sentient. Of course, that was just moments before the diabolical tyrant AI made you destroy several cubes just for the heck of it. Whether or not GlaDOS was telling the truth, one thing that anyone who’s ever played the Portal games will tell you is that these “objects” tend to generate strange but very real feelings.
Ralph - Sleepwalker
Sleepwalker is arguably just as weird of a game as the sidekick that we’re about to introduce to you. In fact, we’re not even sure if Ralph is a sidekick. After all, you do spend the entire game controlling him. Then again, all your actions revolve around stopping Lee, Ralph’s sleepwalking master, from falling and dying, which makes Ralph one of the more weird sidekicks in that you end up playing as him. A platform puzzler that’s comedic in nature, Ralph is the perfect example of a sidekick that will go to great lengths to help out the hero, often without expecting anything in return.
Claptrap - Borderlands series
The Borderlands series is full of weird video game companions. The ever-popular Tiny Tina, who is getting her own spin-off title, is one of them. However, Claptrap has to be the weirdest video game companion and/or side-kick of them all. The thing with Claptrap is that you can’t get away from him. He will figuratively grow on you because he’s always going to be with you. Sure, this does make him quite annoying at times. Weirdly enough, it is this irritating presence that allows him to give the sort of comfortable familiarity. So much so that it makes you forgive him for the fact that he once tried to kill you after being pretty much a useless robot that calls you a minion every chance he gets.
Mimir - God of War (2018)
In Norse mythology, Mimir is known as the Smartest Man in all the realms. Don’t quote us on that though. We just know that he’s value for his wisdom. He loses his head (literally) during a war between the Norse deities but is kept alive and carried by Odin to serve as his pocket advisor (kind of like the Nordic version of Siri but smarter and sassier). In 2018’s God of War, Mimir plays the same sole. Except, instead of advising Kratos, he, more often than not, serves as more or less an entertainer who regales both Atreus and Kratos with stories and tales about Odin and the other Nordic gods. These can range from anything like the history of the world’s serpent to the flight of the Jotnar and even stories about Thor and Odin. Seriously, how many side characters can claim that they forced gamers to stop the boat right by the shore just so that they can hear Mimir finish out his story? This just goes to show just how well-written God of War was and great of a companion Mimir is. Still, it’s pretty weird to be carrying a head around. God of War’s tale was always going to be epic, what with it essentially being one long shot. However, it’s hard to deny just how much less memorable it’s going to be if not for Mimir.
Baby Mario - Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island
Yoshi’s breakout success in Super Mario World meant that a standalone title was all but inevitable. A few years later, the long-tongued dino finally Years later, the long-tongued dino finally got his chance, and while Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island was an overall great game, why Nintendo thought it was a good idea to put a baby version of Mario as his sidekick is something that’s just beyond us. We understand putting Mario in a Yoshi game. The two will forever be entwined. However, considering that the events of the game must have chronologically occurred before the Mario games, we’d understand if Nintendo just went with a Mario relative or didn’t put Mario at all. Instead, Mario decided to give Yoshi a pacifier-sucking Mario that he essentially has to babysit throughout his adventures. Those ear-piercing cries are some of the worst sounds you’ll ever hear, which is proof that not everyone is born the hero that they are.
Blade Wolf - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
Blade Wolf from Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is just as memorable as he is weird. Make no mistake. We’re digging his cool design. Not to mention, he’s got a great personality and seems to get along with everybody. Then again, it’s a robot wolf with a chainsaw attached to its body, so you can understand just why people just seem to gravitate towards Blade Wolf in the game. At the same time, it’s a robot wolf with a chainsaw attached to its body. If that doesn’t qualify as weird, then I don’t know what does.
Lily Bowen - Fallout: New Vegas
Lily Bowen’s tragic backstory as a companion in Fallout: New Vegas is proof that why Obsidian’s take on the Fallout series is one of the best spin-offs ever released. At first glance, you’ll think nothing of Lily more than just her being a hulking brute. Dig deeper and you’ll find out that her frightening voice is just an effect of the Forced Evolutionary Virus. In truth, she is just a simple grandmother who has to choose between taking her medication but losing her grandchildren’s memory in return or going insane in exchange for keeping the memory of her loved ones for a short period of time. It doesn’t matter how hard you spin it. Lily’s story is a tragic one.
Johnson - Shadows of the Damned
Grasshopper Manufacture’s Shadows of the Damned was a campy horror title that took everything to the extreme. It’s not scary, by any means. In fact, it’s actually quite funny. Case in point, you’ve got a trusty demon sidekick named Johnson that can become a gun, torch, motorcycle, and an overall awesome sidekick that is equal parts weird and indispensable. Some weird video game companions are weird just because they don’t fit. Johnson is straightforward weird and it’s what makes him such a memorable sidekick in Shadows of the Damned.
Quina - Final Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy IX is one of the most memorable RPGs of all time and this has to do with its eccentric but memorable cast of characters. Perhaps none of them is more memorable in all the lovely but weird ways than Quina, who, instead of poking holes on enemies to take their lives, Quina opts to devour them alive to extract the skills from unwitting victims as they find themselves slowly digested. If we’re being honest, Quina was a badass. The genderless Qu was a monster-sacrificing killing machine who would eat anyone and everyone that got in your party’s way.
Nick - Lollipop Chainsaw
Lollipop Chainsaw was not a revolutionary game, by any means, but it was a fun one. It starred a cheerleader named Juliet Starling that had a penchant for hunting zombies in a game that looked like a B-movie horror film that had everything right going for it. One of the most hilarious aspects of Lollipop Chainsaw was how Juliet received help from Nick, her boyfriend who she wears on her belt after he gets bitten by a zombie and ends up living on as a severed head. We don’t know if there’s some kind of science that supports that, nor do we care. Nick is a weird but awesome sidekick. Just like Mimir, he provides some comedic relief to the game, frequently bantering with his girlfriend while also doubling as a weapon just in case using a chainsaw to literally cut down zombies wasn’t enough for you. Perhaps it comes off as no surprise then that the story of Lollipop Chainsaw was written by none other than James Gunn himself.
