Solid Snake
Solid Snake's character was very well received by gaming media. "Retro Gamer" included him in the section "top ten forces of good" in their 2004 list of top 50 retro game heroes. In 2005, "Electronic Gaming Monthly" listed Solid Snake as number one as the top ten video game characters of all time. Solid Snake appeared in multiple GameFAQs "Character Battle" contests, and was runner-up in three: the "Character Battle V" in 2006, the "Character Battle VII" in 2008, and the "Character Battle IX" in 2013. In an Oricon poll from 2008, his character was voted as the most popular video game character in Japan, tying with Nintendo's Pikachu. In a "Famitsu" poll in 2010, Solid Snake was voted by readers as the most popular video game character. His character was amongst the last 16 contestants on the greatest video game hero on GameSpot contest held in 2009, and lost out to Gordon Freeman on a tiebreaker. In the "Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition" from 2011, Solid Snake was voted as the fourth most popular video game character. In 2011, "Empire" ranked Solid Snake as the 19th greatest video game character, adding that "beginning as an action pastiche, he swiftly evolved into his very own character". In 2007, ScrewAttack ranked him as the sixth "coolest" character in video games. 1UP.com listed him second in the list of top video game smokers, while GamesRadar placed him at the top of their 2009 list of manliest men in video game history. "Complex" ranked him as fourth on the list of top "pervs" in games in 2012 and as the seventh greatest soldier in video games in 2013.