1. Link
2. Tifa Lockhart
3. Mario
4. Samus
5. Ganon
6. Kitana
7. Selvaria Bleis (Valkyria series)
8. Leon S. Kennedy
9. Edelgard von Hrelsveig
10. Terra Branford

1 Bayonetta (Bayonetta Serie)
2 Jak (Jak and Daxter)
3 Shulk (Xenoblade Chronicles)
4 Crash ( Crash Bandicoot)
5 Big Boss ( Metal Gear)
6 Sam (Vanquish)
7 Rugal (The King Of Fighter)
8 Jill Valentine (Resident Evil)
9 Chun Li (Street Fighter)
10 Pikmin (Pikmin)

In no particular order
Laura S Arseid (The Legend of Heroes)
Auron (Final Fantasy X)
Aigis (Persona 3)
Tifa (Final Fantasy VII)
Tali (Mass Effect series)
Geralt of Rivia (Witcher 3)
Master Chief (Halo series)
2B (Nier Automata)
Ezio (Assassins Creed 2)
Leon (Resident Evil series)

May update and post pictures of each later.

It's tough with so many great video game characters to choose from, but after some thought I think I've found the definitive list:

Batman (Batman: Arham City)

Spider-Man (Marvel's Spider Man)

Goku (Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3)

Taz (Taz: Wanted)

Shaggy (MultiVersus)

Batman (MultiVersus)

Tony Hawk (Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5)

Hitler (Persona 2: Innocent Sin)

This dinosaur (Some Warcraft III map)

My OC (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic)

Love the cheekiness but in my defense my post wasn't all a joke. Like, I haven't played many games with great character development, so if I was making the list for real, I think at least some 6 or 7 of those would actually make it in, cause the characters in Guardians were amazing (and they stood out on their own, irrespective of their appearances in other media).

But okay I'll try making a non-Guardians list. Most games I've played have characters who are just a little archetype really, they have a design and a basic personality and that's kinda it. That isn't to say I don't like them, but it's kinda weird to think of them as great characters. Anyway I can think of a few standout characters from more story-driven games too so I'll try to split this evenly between non-character characters and actual characters.

Amaterasu

Aigis

Fox McCloud

9S

Raven Beak

Ghirahim

Ori

Hades

Kyle Merkulov

Futaba Sakura

wish it'd have turned out a list of characters exclusively originating in video games but then there's a freaking greek god in there (well and I guess a japanese god too)

Hehe, well it wasn't exactly intended as a jab though it was definitely inspired by your list. But oh well I'll try a serious list as well (or another serious list I should say). Except I'm gonna cheat this time and group together multiple characters from the same game.

Lloyd & Kratos (Tales of Symphonia)

GlaDos (Portal)

Joker, Makoto and Futaba (Persona 5)

Cloud & Sephiroth (FF7)

Illidan Stormrage (Warcraft III)

Gordon Freeman (Half-Life)

Link and Ganondorf (TLoZ)

Sans (yes really)

Monika (DDLC)

The Narrator (The Stanley Parable)

Could have probably included even more Tales and Persona but wanted some more variety.

Wow, I think I can name 10 then thing about 10 more I like better lol. Honestly, the only thing I can say definitively is that Dragon Age: Inquisition’s Cassandra is my favorite female game character. Don’t know if I can definitively name any other favorites.

I’ll try though. In no particular order:

Cassandra Pentaghast

Guile

Kratos

Nathan Drake

Red Guy from Contra

Geralt of Rivia

Chloe Frazier

Michael Vick in Madden 2004

Chun-Li

Ratchet

Aloy

Don't worry I know that, because you've played the game so you know how great the characters are.

Never really gave much thought about ranking chars between all games I've played.

Some of all time favorite characters are:

Rose and Lavitz from The Legend of Dragoon

Sonic and Tails from Sonic the Hedgehog

Laharl and Flonne from Disgaea

Kratos from God of War

And... I think I'll stop there.

There are several other characters I really like, even from those few games I mentioned, but I guess those I mentioned are my favorites.

I'll mention a Pokémon and a Digimon here, as I strongly connect those with the anime more than the games themselves, tho.

Mew from Pokémon

Patamon from Digimon

Kiryu Kazuma
Rean Schwarzer
Leon S Kennedy
Claire Redfield
Tidus
Goro Majima
Ichiban Kasuga
Solid Snake
lloyd bannings
Cloud Strife