List of characters
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This list of black video game characters exclude sports and music titles. A study was published in 2009 by the University of Southern California called: "The virtual census: representations of gender, race and age in video games" and it showed that black characters appear in video games in proportion to their numbers in the 2000 US census data, but mainly in sports games and in titles that reinforce stereotypes. [1]
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| Year | Title | Name | Role | Nationality | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | BioShock 2: Minerva's Den | Charles Milton Porter | |||
| Heavy Rain [4] | Mad Jack | NPC | |||
| Pokémon Black and White [4] | Lenora | NPC | American* | Archeologist and former Normal-type Gym Leader. [16] | |
| Marshal | Unova's Fighting-type Elite Four member. | ||||
| Iris | |||||
| No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle [4] | Nathan Copeland | ||||
| Mass Effect 2 [6] | Jacob Taylor | ||||
| Metroid: Other M | Anthony Higgs | ||||
| 2011 | Dead Island [9] | Sam B | |||
| Deus Ex: Human Revolution | Yelena Fedorva | ||||
| Infamous 2 | Nix | ||||
| The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim | Nazir Nazeem | ||||
| Anarchy Reigns | Blacker Baron | ||||
| 2012 | Assassin's Creed III: Liberation [17] | Aveline de Grandpré | Playable | French | Aveline is born lives under French Louisiana era |
| Borderlands 2 | Sir Hammerlock | ||||
| Diablo III | Tyrael | ||||
| Fire Emblem Awakening | Basilio | ||||
| The Walking Dead [4] | Clementine | Playable | |||
| Lee Everett | |||||
| Mass Effect | Steven Cortez | NPC | Undefined | [18] | |
| Hitman Absolution | Raymond Valentine | ||||
| Clash of Clans | Hog Rider | Troop | Undefined | [19] | |
| Starhawk [3] | Emmett Graves | ||||
| Spec Ops: The Line | Lieutenant Alphanso Adams | ||||
| 2013 | Assassin's Creed | Adéwalé | NPC | ||
| Batman: Arkham Origins | Warden Martin Joseph | NPC | |||
| Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition | Hexxat | Playable | |||
| BioShock Infinite | Daisy Fitzroy | ||||
| Grand Theft Auto V [4] | Franklin Clinton | Playable | |||
| Marlow Briggs and the Mask of Death | Marlow Briggs | ||||
| The Last of Us | Henry | NPC | [4] | ||
| Marlene | NPC | ||||
| Riley Abel | NPC | ||||
| Sam | NPC | [4] | |||
| Killer Is Dead [4] | Bryan Roses | ||||
| Remember Me [17] | Nilin | ||||
| Pokémon X and Y | Grant | ||||
| The Wonderful 101 [4] | Wonder-Black | ||||
| 2014 | Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel | Aurelia Hammerlock | |||
| Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare | Sergeant Cormack | ||||
| Knox | |||||
| Dragon Age: Inquisition | Delrin Barris | ||||
| Vivienne | |||||
| 2015 | Fallout 4 | Preston Garvey | |||
| Life Is Strange | Principal Ray Wells | Also appears in Life Is Strange: Before the Storm | |||
| Pillars of Eternity and Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire | Pallegina | ||||
| Heroes of the Storm | Qhira | ||||
| Mortal Kombat X | Jacqui Briggs | ||||
| Tekken 7 | Master Raven | ||||
| Leroy Smith | Released in 2019 | ||||
| Until Dawn | Matt | ||||
| 2016 | Dead by Daylight | Philip Ojomo | Playable | Nigerian | A killer known as "The Wraith". [20] |
| Lisa Sherwood | American | A killer known as "The Hag". [21] | |||
| Herman Carter | American | A killer known as "The Doctor". [22] | |||
| Joey | Canadian | A killer who is a part of a band of other killers known as "The Legion". [23] | |||
| Claudette Morel | Playable | Canadian | A survivor. [24] | ||
| Adam Francis | Jamaican | A survivor. [25] | |||
| Nuclear Throne | Rogue | ||||
| Mafia III | Lincoln Clay | Protagonist | American | [26] | |
| Overwatch | Baptiste | Playable | |||
| Doomfist | |||||
| Lúcio | |||||
| Hitman | Olivia Hall | ||||
| Kalvin Ritter | |||||
| Pokémon Sun & Moon | Kiawe | NPC | Hawaiian* | He is the Fire-type Trial Captain of Alola. [27] | |
| Olivia | She is both a Kahuna and a member of the Alolan Elite Four. | ||||
| Stardew Valley | Demetrius | ||||
| Maru | |||||
| Uncharted 4: A Thief's End | Nadine Ross | ||||
| 2017 | Watch Dogs 2 | Marcus Holloway | |||
| Arms | Twintelle | ||||
| Call of Duty WW2 | Marcus Howard | ||||
| Dream Daddy | Mat Sella | ||||
| Horizon Zero Dawn | Sylens | NPC | Horizon Forbidden West | ||
| Mass Effect: Andromeda | Liam Kosta | ||||
| Prey | Dayo Igwe | ||||
| Slime Rancher | Beatrix LeBeau | ||||
| Splatoon 2 | Marina | ||||
| 2018 | Donut County | Mira | Playable | ||
| Dandara | Dandara | Playable | |||
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | Lenny Summers | ||||
| Tilly Jackson | |||||
| Hitman 2 | Zoe Washington | NPC | |||
| Sophia Washington | NPC | ||||
| Hitman: Sniper Assassin | Stone | Playable | |||
| Return of the Obra Dinn | Winston Smith | NPC | American | ||
| Soulcalibur VI [2] | Zasalamel | Playable | |||
| 2019 | The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan | Alex | |||
| Brad | |||||
| Félicité "Fliss" DuBois | |||||
| Devil May Cry 5 | J.D. Morrison | ||||
| Apex Legends | Bangalore | ||||
| Lifeline | |||||
| Pokémon Sword and Shield | Nessa | NPC | British | She is the Water-type gym leader of Galar. | |
| Leon | He is the champion of the Galar region. | ||||
| Hop | He is the player's rival and Leon's little brother. |
| Year | Title | Name | Role | Nationality | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Streets of Rage 4 | Cherry Hunter | Playable | ||
| 2021 | Deathloop | Colt Vahn | Protagonist | Undefined | [28] |
| Julianna Blake | Playable | [28] | |||
| Far Cry 6 | Antón Castillo | NPC | |||
| 2022 | Fear & Hunger 2: Termina | O'saa | Playable | A yellow mage from the faraway land of Abyssonia. He is inclined to participate in the namesake festival by the wizard Nas'hrah. | |
| Pokémon Scarlet & Violet | Ryme | NPC | Spanish* | A Gym Leader of Paldea who favors Ghost-types, her rap is known to "bring the dead to their feet". Former Gym Leader Tyme is her older sister. [29] | |
| Tyme | |||||
| The King of Fighters XV | Dolores | Playable | |||
| Xenoblade Chronicles 3 | Taion | Playable | |||
| 2023 | Forspoken | Alfre Holland | Protagonist | American | [30] |
| Season: A Letter to the Future | Estelle | Protagonist | Undefined | [31] | |
| Baldur's Gate 3 | Wyll Ravengard | Playable | Undefined | Wyll is one of 10 companions the player can choose recruit. He is also playable as an Orgin character. [32] | |
| Street Fighter 6 | Kimberly | Playable | |||
| 2024 | Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League | Floyd Lawton "Deadshot" | Playable | American | Deadshot is one of four playable characters in this game. [33] |
| Amanda Waller | NPC | American | Director of the Suicide Squad and powerful figure in U.S. politics. She sends the Suicide Squad out to target a mind controlled Justice League. [33] | ||
| John Stewart | NPC | American | A Green Lantern and one of the heroes in the Justice League who is under Brainiac's mind control. [33] |
Squirtle, known as Zenigame in Japan, is a Pokémon species in Nintendo and Game Freak's Pokémon franchise. It was designed by Atsuko Nishida. Its name was changed from Zenigame to Squirtle during the English localization of the series in order to give it a "clever and descriptive name." In animated appearances, Squirtle is voiced in Japanese by Rikako Aikawa and in English localizations by Eric Stuart, and later Michele Knotz.
Pikachu is a Pokémon species in Nintendo and Game Freak's Pokémon media franchise, and the franchise's mascot. First introduced in the video games Pokémon Red and Blue, it was created by Atsuko Nishida at the request of lead designer Ken Sugimori, with the design finalized by Sugimori. Since Pikachu's debut, it has appeared in multiple games including Pokémon Go and the Pokémon Trading Card Game, as well as various merchandise. While Pikachu has been primarily voiced in media by Ikue Ōtani, other actors have also voiced the character including Kate Bristol, Ryan Reynolds, Kaiji Tang, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Tōru Ōkawa, and Koichi Yamadera.
Psyduck, known as Koduck in Japan, is a Pokémon species in Nintendo and Game Freak's Pokémon franchise. Created by Ken Sugimori, Psyduck first appeared in the video games Pokémon Red and Blue and later in sequels. It has later appeared in various merchandise, spinoff titles and animated and printed adaptations of the franchise. A Psyduck also appears as part of the main cast in the live-action animated film Pokémon Detective Pikachu. Psyduck has been voiced by Michael Haigney and Rikako Aikawa since its debut.
Brock, known as Takeshi (タケシ) in Japan, is a fictional character in the Pokémon franchise owned by Nintendo. In the Pokémon video games, he is the Gym Leader of Pewter City in the Kanto region and mainly uses Rock-type Pokémon. In the anime series, Ash first battles him and then invites Brock to accompany him on his journey so that Brock can become a Pokémon breeder. He exited the series at some point, replaced by Tracey Sketchit, due to worries that people may find him to be a racial stereotype due to his thin eyes. However, when the company noticed that no one complained, they reintroduced him. He has generally been well-received, with fans of the anime happy whenever he is brought back into the series.
Pokémon Snap is a 1999 first-person photography game with rail shooter style gameplay mechanics developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was first released in Japan in March 1999 and was later released in July 1999 in North America and in September 2000 for PAL regions. It is a spin-off game in the Pokémon series, being one of the first console-based games for it, and featuring many Pokémon rendered for the first time in real-time 3D. The game was re-released for the Wii's Virtual Console in December 2007, for the Wii U's Virtual Console in 2016, and for the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack in June 2022.
MissingNo. is a glitch and an unofficial Pokémon species found in the video games Pokémon Red and Blue. Due to the programming of certain in-game events, players can encounter MissingNo. via a glitch. It is commonly regarded to be one of the most famous video game glitches of all time. Encountering MissingNo. causes graphical anomalies and changes gameplay by increasing the number of items in the sixth entry of the player's inventory by 128.
Jynx, known in Japan as Rougela, is a Pokémon species in Nintendo and Game Freak's Pokémon franchise. Jynx first appeared in the video games Pokémon Red and Blue and sequels, later appearing in various merchandise, spinoff titles, or animated and printed adaptations of the franchise. While no English voice actors have been attributed for the character, in Japan they have been voiced by Mayumi Tanaka, Chie Satō, Kujira and Chiyako Shibahara
Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version are 2010 role-playing video games developed by Game Freak and published by The Pokémon Company and Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. They are the first installments in the fifth generation of the Pokémon video game series. First released in Japan on 18 September 2010, they were later released in Europe, North America and Australia in 2011. Sequels to Black and White, Pokémon Black 2 and Pokémon White 2, were released for the Nintendo DS in 2012.
Pokémon X and Pokémon Y are 2013 role-playing video games developed by Game Freak and published by The Pokémon Company and Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. They are the first installments in the sixth generation of the main Pokémon game series. First announced in January 2013 by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata through a Nintendo Direct, Pokémon X and Pokémon Y were released worldwide in October 2013, and they were the first Pokémon games to have a simultaneous global release.
Twitch Plays Pokémon (TPP) is a social experiment and channel on the video game live streaming website Twitch, consisting of a crowdsourced attempt to play Game Freak's and Nintendo's Pokémon video games by parsing commands sent by users through the channel's chat room. It holds the Guinness World Record for having "the most users to input a command to play a live streamed videogame" with 1,165,140 participants.
Dead by Daylight is an online asymmetric multiplayer survival horror video game developed and published by Canadian studio Behaviour Interactive. It is a one-versus-four game in which one player takes on the role of a Killer and the other four play as Survivors; the Killer must hunt and impale each Survivor on sacrificial hooks to appease a malevolent force known as the Entity, while the Survivors have to avoid being caught and power up the exit gates by working together to fix five generators.
Mimikyu is a Pokémon species in Nintendo and Game Freak's Pokémon franchise. Designed by Megumi Mizutani for the 2016 video games Pokémon Sun and Moon, it is referred to as the "disguise Pokémon" in the series due to its appearance, which resembles a ragdoll form of Pikachu, the series mascot. Since Mimkyu's debut, it has appeared in multiple games including Pokémon Go and the Pokémon Trading Card Game, as well as the anime adaptation of the series where it is voiced by Billy Bob Thompson.