I don't have the time to put them all in order, it would be too difficult and my head hurts.

Snake - Metal Gear Solid
Nemesis - Resident Evil 3
John Marston - Red Dead Redemption
Ezio - Assassin's Creed 2
Lightning - Final Fantasy XIII
Sully - Uncharted

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JE-O9IGX8pg

Dante because no other characters game can do this...

other then Bayonetta but shes not bad ass at all and excluding Nero because he sucks.

oh and the one and only Solid Snake

God of War is all about appealing to 16 year olds. I'm sorry but it's true. Its "mature" themes are just the visual bait teens go for.

You don't make a "bad ass" character by simply fitting him with "cloud" muscles, a ridiculously impossible jaw line and making him yell all the time. "Angry  24/7" is not character  it's a shaved gorilla on PMS, it's lazy development.

ps, i borrowed the game from my 17 yo brother, it's good overall but kratos is nearly retarded, they could have lifted a far better character from greek mythology me thinks

Dante (Devil May Cry):  Goes face to face with creatures that would make most other video game characters shit themselves--and he's smirking.  He's smirking.

Kratos (God of War):  Has sex with more women in one video game cutscene than you have your entire life.  Also, he kills gods.

Asura (Asura's Wrath):  Kratos looks at Asura and says, "Dude.  You need to calm the fuck down."  Asura is powerful on a Dragon Ball Z level.  The madder Hulk gets, the stronger Hulk gets.  Hulk ain't got shit on Asura.

Bayonetta (Bayonetta):  Power on the same scale as Asura....but she hasn't even gotten pissed, yet.  Bayonetta could kill all of the guys in this list at once while still putting on her make-up.   The power of Asura and Kratos.  The smoothness of Dante with a Vodka chaser.  Bayonetta is a badass with a nice ass.

Kirby (Kirby series):  Kirby would eat any one of these guys and absorb their power.  He's also pretty handy with a sword.  Don't fuck with the pink puffball.

He's so badass that he only can speak in leopard yet people can still understand him.

Mario and his bro got nothing on this italian. He's a mafia Boss with superpower !!!!!!!!!!!!

Even though this guy looks like some Wow character creation. His voice will give you eargasim.

I did not ask for this !!!

A Ninja above all others and thats saying a lot

Need I say more?

I'll have to add in Link just because the bosses he can take down.

Also after seeing this Ganon will isn't that much of a badass to me anymore.

you see that stuff up there ^^^ thats all your opinion buddy

trust me i find it equally as galling that you think this :

....is badass 

but i'm not going to criticise you and call you a 16 year old because i disagree, i'll simply accept that our opinons differ on this

btw i'm curious if aggression and physical strength don't qualify as badass traits to you what traits  do you believe are more appropriate?

I think that a character in order to be badas$ needs:

Great appareance

Great strength and or incredible ability

Great attitude (depending on the theme of the game)

I think Kratos, Dante, Snake, Cloud, Sephiroth, Squall, Dart, and all the other characters I mentioned in my post  have those 3 :D

Kratos being angry (and a hater) all the time, makes his attitude great, because.....The olimpians cursed his mother, tortured his brother, tricked him into killing his wife and daughter; and betrayed him; so he has lots of reasons to be pissed off.  

totally agree 

with regards to kratos as you said its not as if he's angry with no reason... throughout the course of the games he's gone through pain and suffering that would probably turn most people insane and his attitude reflects that

lol i'd hate to think of a character having gone through things such as this who remains totally calm