The Gaming Zoo (Beat All Comers)

This thread is about your favourite animals in videogames (following on from this).  When I can be bothered to remember, I'll change the animal type.

We've done:

Let's start with dogs.  What are your favourite gaming dogs?

Beautiful Pokédog:

Stupid but cute:

I still have this somewhere:

Balla, you've gone new thread crazy!

Top Dog:

Top Pokédog:

I thought he was a lion these days? If Wrong Chomp counts then its chained-up sibling definitely does.

Zero, good shout on both of those - Missile is adorable. Reckon Stoutland's impressive 'tache shades its younger version though.

Here are my top 3:

Bow-Wow, Link's Awakening


This is official art. Seriously.

Is there any better canine companion than Bow-Wow in Link's Awakening? After rescuing him from an evil gang of dognapping moblins, Bow-Wow accompanies Link through Goponga Swamp, allowing him to reach the second dungeon in the game, Bottle Grotto. Bow-Wow is also a super handy companion to have in a fight, capable of eating any enemy in a single bite - even ones that Link himself can't touch! Link's journey would never have been complete were it not for this lovable chain chomp, so here is to you Bow-Wow!



Shadow, Dead to Rights


Woof

Aw, what a cute malamute! He's so fluffy! What does the game's wiki say about this cutey pie?

Quote :

Shadow can do silent kills from behind, turning the enemy around and ripping out their throats or biting them in the throat, or if you wanna run in and be brave you cant charge in and use his signature kill the scrotality in which he bites a male enemy in the testicles yanks, yanks again, and rips them off then finishes them off with tearing up there throat.

...oh.

Shadow is one mean fighting machine, but he's also the most faithful companion you could wish for. He alone elevates the Dead to Rights games into games worth playing!

Pomeranian, Tokyo Jungle


Only the cutest survive post-apocalytic Tokyo

If you haven't played Tokyo Jungle, you really should. One of the PS3's best and most unique games, it gives you the challenge of surviving post-apocalyptic Tokyo with successive generations of your animal family of choice. The story mode (yes there is a story mode, yes it is good, yes it involves time travel and robot dogs) prominently features a pomeranian, effectively the poster child of the game. If this little guy isn't cut out to survive, who is?



Honourable mentions: DD (MGSV), Dogmeat (Fallout), Red (Solatorobo)

@ZeroJones - There really is none better than Missile, best dog ever for the best DS game ever!

@gJones - Those dogs in Resi are no doubt inspired by the infected dogs in The Thing, great pick.

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Duck Hunt dog

Spoiler:

Sure, he's annoying when he laughs at you for missing but he is still one of the most memorable dogs in all of video games.

D-dog from MGSV

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Not only the best partner you get in MGSV but probably the most useful dog in any game.

Can't argue with Zero and Balla on Missile. What an absolute hero.

D-Dog was amazing in MGSV as well.

But for my money, the goodest dog in games is the one that has been my phone lock screen for years now:



Sif, The Great Grey Wolf

A boss from Dark Souls, Sif was the companion of Artorias the Abysswalker, who took the dangerous journey into the Abyss and left the ring that will let you follow him at his grave. A grave guarded eternally by Sif.

The sad look he gives you, the fact that neither of you wants to fight but you both believe you must, and the heartbreaking limp at the end all served to make this one of the most memorable boss fights in the game. Plus, Sif is actually the best non-humanoid fight in the series! (Mostly because, despite being an animal, it duels you like a knight anyway.)

Tragic, beautiful, dignified but sad, and everything I love about Dark Souls.

It's not even up for debate! Parappa the Rapper is the best dog in computer game history. The PSone game popularised the music and rhythm genre in gaming and it's tunes are legendary, but the Parappa character is iconic too.

I remember when Parappa originally came out, and I spent ages poring over an issue of CVG trying to work out if he was a dog. I was younger then, of course, but the game confused Young Me greatly by throwing an onion into the character mix.

OrangeRakoon wrote:

Shadow, Dead to Rights


Woof

This one made me laugh. 2edgy4me. And pomeranians are always great in gaming, it would seem.

Duck Hunt Dog redeemed himself big-time in SSB4. Before then, he could get stuffed. And I've never even played DH!

A lot of good doggies there, but I'm going to jump in with Dogmeat from Fallout 3.



In a game where big beasties like horrifically mutated scorpions and ants are out for blood, it's nice to actually come across a friendly animal companion in the Capital Wasteland. He's great at drawing aggro on aforementioned beasties allowing you to take them down from a safe(r) distance, and he's surprisingly hardy. What's even better - if, god forbid, Dogmeat dies, one of the DLCs added in a perk that'll have one of Dogmeat's puppy descendants roll on up and help you again. I didn't like a lot of the companions in Fallout 3, but I loved Dogmeat.

Some great ones here, I thought of one but is more of a wolf / sun goddess that I give you



He's smoking a pipe

Aw, you all beat me to Missile! He's the best.

Therefore, Tao from Chibi-Robo!

What a loveable upbeat guy this is. And his "voice" is surprisingly entertaining.


Token bonus: this fella from Silent Hill 2

Spoiler:

The theme associated with your spoiler-boxed mutt has been in my head all evening now.

Arf-arf-arf arf-arf-arf arf-arf-arf-arf.....

The Best dog? Dog from half life 2 may not have been a real dog, but I loved him all the same. We played fetch and slaughtered turkeyheads together, a strong bond indeed.

Mas' dog is great - dat pipe.

So now, a variation on a theme: foxes!  I know what you're thinking, but there's much more to the gaming fox than that: kitsune are massive in Japan.  

So we get things like this:

And this:

And this! *struggles to find SFW picture*:

Give me your fave gaming foxes!  (Also any other wolves and wild dogs for those who stuck to domestic canines last time I guess.)

Kind of cheating with this one a little bit but it's design is influenced by a fox spirit in Japanese mythology.

Mizutsune from Monster Hunter Generations:

Struggling a bit here. Nonetheless:

Flying!:

Old!:

Drunka gets it

Spoiler:

Beat me to it!

Three posts in and nobody's posted this fella yet though?

Well, Jas, Mas and Jay have beaten me to all the ones I can think of.

I wonder if the fox from Fox and the Hound is in any Disney games . . .

There's also this goon



...but I didn't want to go for the obvious ones.

Niche, Zero, niche.  (You can take this as a genuine comment about Suburban Fox, or yet another zinger directed at the Sonic games - either/or. )

Jay... less so. No Progfox sir?

I'd genuinely forgotten about Progfox! And that's surprising, considering I've been wiped a couple of times by its ultimate attack.

Here's another JRPG fox - the mysterious fox from Persona 4.



You can form an everlasting bond with this fox that's necessary to save the world from damnation, so he's a pretty important fox.

masofdas wrote:

Drunka gets it

Spoiler:

Gray Fox?!

(This was my choice too)

On Jay's topic, here's another JRPG fox:



From Zero-favourite FFatFHoL and the Bravely games, the adventurer and their fox.

Spoiler: