In honor of St. Pattie’s Day, Matthew and I have devised a most sensational list of emerald-clad video game characters! There are the obvious choices such as Luigi and Link, but we’ve added a few surprises as well! Without further ado, the LIST!

Link

Shigeru Miyamoto clearly had greenness on his mind when he created one of the most heralded video game heroes of all time, Link from the Legend of Zelda series. Miyamoto’s inspiration for Zelda came from him exploring the hills and countryside near his home; his hope for Zelda was to recreate a “miniature garden” for players!

Link has sailed the high seas, appeared in a comic strip, and has even produced his own cereal! He’s a man of many hats as he can fish, fence, wrangle cattle, and play a myriad of musical instruments (he played eight alone in Link’s Awakening, not to mention the Ocarina of Time and those tooty grass whistles in Twilight Princess!). Unfortunately, we don’t see the versatility and learnedness of Link in the abomination that is the CD-i game. Guh! Here we have Link in one of his few actual speaking roles, and he’s portrayed as some flamboyant nutcase! And he gets himself kidnapped in the other two CD-i games–the real Link would never allow that. View grotesque imagery here!

Best known for his green tunic and conical hat, Link is featured in this garb in every Zelda game. He loves his green in other forms, too, such as collecting all those green rupees and drinking green potion to restore magic. His love for the color is understandable–he grew up in Kokiri forest! He’s quite the man of nature!

Luigi

Sweet, mustachioed Luigi! Generally thought of as Mario’s #2, Luigi has rarely had his share of the limelight. In the early days, Luigi was just a second playable character–his green overalls came from a simple “palette swap” from Mario’s red clothes. Aside from playing second fiddle in most Mario Brothers games, Luigi’s been shunted aside in other occasions, such as only being featured in the instruction booklet of Super Mario RPG (but he did a fantastic job of leading the celebratory end-of-game parade!). Even both Mario and Luigi: Super Star Saga and Partners in Time showcase our plumber in the most bumbling of fashions–everything from getting harangued by the Star Shard at the Star Road or getting bonked on the head numerous times by his younger version of himself. But, our green friend has had his share of the limelight! He was played by the um, dashing young John Leguizamo in the Super Mario Bros. Movie (and I believe he even scored Princess Daisy at the end! A twist of events!), AND he starred in his own Gamecube game, Luigi’s Mansion! Though sometimes a little nervous and cowardly, Luigi is still our favorite green plumber!

Yoshi

Yoshis come in all shapes and colors, but we best know this dinosaur for being Mario’s beloved green friend (besides Luigi!). Mario’s hungry counterpart made his debut in Super Mario World as a ridable character. Yoshi can eat berries, poop eggs, but according to the Super Mario World cartoon show, he is deathly afraid of water!
This debut in SMW was Yoshi’s springboard into the world of Nintendo. Sine then, he has appeared in the Mario Party games, Mario Kart, Super Smash Brothers, his own platform adventures that are the Yoshi’s Island games, and even a delicious puzzle game called Yoshi’s Cookie! Also, we must not forget Yoshi’s fine cinema performance in the Super Mario Bros. movie–although, Hollywood did not do his cuteness justice by casting some odd velociraptor in his persona. But, our Yoshi can do it all! He can drive you where you want to go, he can bake you cookies, he can even babysit your nephew. Yoshi is a fine green friend!

Green Koopa

It’s amazing how far green koopas have advanced in the gaming world! In the early years, Green Koopas were only good for stomping and kicking (and occasionally getting extra lives!)–they were stereotyped as “baddies” and “doofuses!” But now, NOW the Green Koopa is making a comeback! After being allowed to drive for the first time in Super Mario Kart for the SNES, Green Koopas found no reason to stop–they barreled through the Nintendo scene with cameos in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and various Mario Party games as the entrepeneuring Koopa! (he was a little too pushy with the whole Koopa Kabana thing though!). At this rate, Green Koopa’s going to get his own game! Here’s to the little green guys!

Kraid

What kind of jerks would we be if we didn’t mention one of the most amazing bosses of the 16-bit era. I clearly remember fighting Kraid for the first time back when Super Metroid was released:

*Samus wanders into room*

*Kraid appears*

“Oh, that’s a pretty cool boss…I guess”

*Kraid suddently becomes TWICE his original size, taking up TWO full vertical screens*

“OH MAH GAWD THAT THING IS HUGE AND SCARY!!”

And now there is no longer a mystery as to why I lacked childhood friends (Matthew, not Beeks!).

Tingle

Speaking of lacking friends, how can we forget our friend…erm, acquaintance, Tingle? I’m fairly certain that Tingle was one of the contributing reasons to why I despised Majora’s Mask for the past seven years of my life. Then again, I am starting to yearn for Majora’s Mask to hit the Virtual Console so I can give it another chance. Perhaps Nintendo could conveniently omit Tingle from the game, you know, since they seem to love taking out key elements from their other games. I guess we should just replace Tingle with… Thelma? Wait, nevermind, we need to keep these games E-Rated.

We’d be in a tight spot if we didn’t mention some of the best green items in video games. Greenness can mean money in the real world, but in video games it means restoring your magic, health, or life. Here’s the list of some of the best!

Green Herb (Resident Evil series)

How a simple plant can cure so many ailments is beyond me, but nevertheless, green herbs are vital to survival in Resident Evil. If only plants could cure zombie bites in real life!

Green Potion (Zelda)

Many of Link’s weapons use copius amounts of magic, so the magic restoring green potions are a godsend!

Rupee (Zelda)

The Green Rupee is worth the least amount in any Zelda game, but they are scattered about everywhere–hiding in bushes, buried underground, or scavenged away in pots. One can never go poor in Hyrule!

Koopa Shells (Mario Bros)

Green Koopas appear in the first stage of Super Mario Bros., and if you bounce on them at just the right time, they’ll pop right out of their shell yielding you a handsome green weapon of mass destruction. Known for bulldozing down enemies or ricocheting off walls for extra lives, green koopa shells are a staple in any Mario game!

Green Balloons (Diddy Kong Racing)

These are the balloons to collect if you’re planning to wipe out your opponent–one balloon grants you an oil spill, but if you are patient and collect more, you can build up to a spikey mine trap or a wubbulous bubble that’s handy for trapping other racers!

1-UP Mushroom (Mario Bros.)

Last, but not least, the allustrious 1-UP Mushroom! Without these, many gamers would have struggled through the challenges of Super Mario Bros.! Snagging this mushroom not only means gaining an extra life but also reaping the rewards of hearing that delightful 1-UP tinkling noise that signals your extra chance.

Well there you have it, just a small sampling of green Nintendo goodness! It’s a good thing we stuck with strictly Nintendo offerings, or else this list could have went on for days. In fact, we even have a few honorable mentions that failed to make the cut:

Bowser
Bulbasaur
K-Rool
Jade (Beyond Good and Evil)
The green Bubble Bobble thing
Frogger
Luigi’s Hat (an item to wear in Super Mario 64 DS)
Green Tunic
Yoshi Eggs

Now go jump in the Chicago River! You know, since it’s dyed green right now…

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