What video-game villains do you believe have gotten stale, as in, they're used too often, over again and again, just as a plot device to ensure there's another game? What series would you like to see new villains in?

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And here, I thought that wasn't possible...!

True, Sigma's not a very dynamic villain, and they just keep bringing him back from the dead, much like Dr. Wily...

In Mega Man IV, it would've been interesting if Dr. Cossack had been the actual villain; heck, they could've had a succession of villains, scientists who were ALL ethnic stereotypes!

Mega Man V, they pretended that Proto Man was the actual villain, and then Mr. X - so clearly Dr. Wily, by the looks of him - in Mega Man VI.

Mega Man 9 AND 10, I WANTED to believe that Wily was actually INNOCENT for once - what a twist that would've been! - but no dice.

It's those fake-outs which really make me miffed.

So at least I agree with you there.

Okay, I guess, at least K.Rool changed up his gimmick in each game; he was a classic-styled king in DKC, a pirate in DKC2, and Professor Frankenstein in DKC3. So that's cool.

Still enjoy seeing new villains, though!

Mario? Now THERE'S a franchise that needs to get some mileage out of their OTHER villains...like Wario, or Wart, even!

I must be the only person disappointed with Super Mario Galaxy 2; it's essentially the same game all over again!

Well, while I can't say they're stale per say, I have to say the fact the Wild Arms series hasn't had any good villains since WA2 helped kill the series for me.

I mean who can really look at the members in Brionac in WA4 and possibly be impressed. They all look like something a studio shat out in a millisecond.

Ganon/Ganondorf.  Link could do with some variety in the arch enemies he faces.  A bad guy with some actual complexity to his character would be nice.  We can move beyond the two dimensional comic-book type bad guys, can't we?

I can see your point, but I can't really agree since I've only ever played one Zelda game: A Link to the Past. Bad John. Still, if played more of them I probably be sick of Ganon as well.

Sorry, but I can't agree with any of your examples, guys; I don't play Megaman for the dynamic Megaman/Wily interaction.

that's a rather narrow way of looking at it.

it was nice of X8 to have a final boss other than Sigma, and the Zero games had a sort of progression to the villains, starting out with a stock villain and with each new game revealing more about how that stock villain got into power in the first place (and only bringing him back for a cameo fight in Zero 3). This was offset by having recurring 'semi-villains' in Zero 1-3.

Then ZX and ZXO came and things got....weird.

Definitely tired of Ganon, although they've fleshed him out better than characters like Wily and Sigma in the console titles.

ah, Dracula! People complain about a lot of dumb things IGA did but I think that he and other Castlevania team members did a pretty damn good job making him interesting as a recurring villain, even if it sometimes hard to reconcile his attitude in different games. That's the opposite of this topic, though...

Moody dudes who want power in Kingdom Hearts. They are everywhere.

Not many game series revisit the same material as often as Mega Man/Zelda/Mario/Castlevania...

Yeah, but I have a hard time calling what X8 presented at its end as an ending.

Actually, I'm glad you brought this up. It reminds me of why I hated Zero 2. I really hated Elpizo. The guy just looked like trouble from the first time I saw him and I was right. Operation Righteous Strike my ass! Even that "tragic" back story couldn't make me care for him/her and, I'm sorry, I didn't feel like the f--- deserved a second chance. A terrible villain/semi-villain to be sure.