Best Captains in Gaming

Jon here.

In honor of Marvel’s latest comic-book-to-movie cash-in, it’s my Best Captains in Gaming list!

Captain Olimar

Although Olimar has no crew, he pilots his own ship (The Dolphin). He also commands legions of walking carrot creatures that he plucks from the ground. In his second adventure, he does get one crew member under his command – his faithful lieutenant Louie.

Douglas Jay “Captain” Falcon

He seems to have the honorary title of “Captian”, but it could actually be a former rank in the Internova Police Force. Alternatively, the F-Zero GP Legend anime establishes that “Captain Falcon” is the title given to the top racer in the world. Perhaps one day we’ll get an entry in the series that retcons it all together and gives us a better idea of who Falcon really is.

Captain Rainbow

Nintendo loves their captains, but not enough to bring them all to North Amercia. Captain Rainbow’s titular Wii game was probably deemed too absurd to bring to the US and Canada. Captain Rainbow stands out because he’s a burned-out TV superhero on a quest to regain his former popularity. Not exactly an obvious plot for an action-adventure game, so it gets points for novelty.

Captain Commando

Capcom’s former mascot (although it does look like they’ll be killing off another) used to only appear on the backs of NES games until he got his own side-scrolling beat-em-up game in the 16-bit era. He led a four-man team, the “Commando Squad” against villains threatening to conquer the earth. He also appeared in Marvel vs Capcom 1 and 2.

Captain America

Although I have not played a game starring the Nazi fighting Marvel superhuman in almost 2 decades, my nostalgia of Captain American and the Avengers for the Genesis compelled me to up him on the list. The Cap teamed up with Iron Man, Hawkeye and Vision in this side-scrolling beat-em-up, and it probably does not hold up very well. But it holds a very special place in my childhood and is one of the reasons (along with many other games of its ilk) that I love co-op gaming.