Skip to main content
GamesRadar+ GamesRadar+ The Games, Movies, TV & Comics You Love
flag of UK
UK
flag of US
US
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of Australia
Australia
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Games
    • Game Insights
      • Games News
      • Games Features
      • Games Reviews
      • Games Guides
      • The Big Preview
      • On The Radar
      • Indie Spotlight
      • Future Games Show
      • Golden Joystick Awards
    • Genres
      • Action Games
      • RPGs
      • Action RPGs
      • Adventure Games
      • Third Person Shooters
      • FPS Games
    • Platforms
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X
      • PC
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Nintendo Switch 2
      • Tabletop Gaming
    • Franchises
      • Grand Theft Auto
      • Pokemon
      • Assassin's Creed
      • Monster Hunter
      • Fortnite
      • Cyberpunk
      • Red Dead
      • The Elder Scrolls
      • The Sims
  • Entertainment
    • TV Shows
      • TV News
      • TV Reviews
      • Anime Shows
      • Sci-Fi Shows
      • Superhero Shows
      • Animated Shows
      • Marvel TV Shows
      • Star Wars TV Shows
      • DC TV Shows
    • Movies
      • Movie News
      • Movie Reviews
      • Superhero Movies
      • Action Movies
      • Sci-Fi Movies
      • Anime Movies
      • Horror Movies
      • Marvel Movies
      • DC Movies
    • Streaming
      • Apple TV Plus
      • Disney Plus
      • Netflix
      • HBO
      • Amazon Prime Video
      • Hulu
    • Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • DC Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • Lego
    • Dungeons and Dragons
    • Merch
  • Hardware
    • Insights
      • Hardware News
      • Hardware Reviews
      • Hardware Features
    • Computing
      • Desktop PCs
      • Laptops
      • Handhelds
    • Peripherals
      • Headsets & Headphones
      • TVs & Monitors
      • Gaming Mice
      • Gaming Keyboards
      • Gaming Chairs
      • Speakers & Audio
    • Accessories & Tech
      • Gaming Controllers
      • Tech
      • SSDs & Hard Drives
      • VR
      • Accessories
      • Retro
  • Deals
    • Game Deals
    • Tech Deals
    • TV Deals
    • Buying Guides
  • Video
  • Newsletters
    • Total Film
    • Retro Gamer
    • Newsarama
Total Film
  • home
  • Games
    • View Games
      • Games News
      • Games Features
      • Games Reviews
      • Games Guides
      • The Big Preview
      • On The Radar
      • Indie Spotlight
      • Future Games Show
      • Golden Joystick Awards
      • Action Games
      • RPGs
      • Action RPGs
      • Adventure Games
      • Third Person Shooters
      • FPS Games
    • Platforms
      • View Platforms
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X
      • PC
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Nintendo Switch 2
      • Tabletop Gaming
      • Grand Theft Auto
      • Pokemon
      • Assassin's Creed
      • Monster Hunter
      • Fortnite
      • Cyberpunk
      • Red Dead
      • The Elder Scrolls
      • The Sims
  • Entertainment
    • View Entertainment
    • TV Shows
      • View TV Shows
      • TV News
      • TV Reviews
      • Anime Shows
      • Sci-Fi Shows
      • Superhero Shows
      • Animated Shows
      • Marvel TV Shows
      • Star Wars TV Shows
      • DC TV Shows
    • Movies
      • View Movies
      • Movie News
      • Movie Reviews
      • Superhero Movies
      • Action Movies
      • Sci-Fi Movies
      • Anime Movies
      • Horror Movies
      • Marvel Movies
      • DC Movies
    • Streaming
      • View Streaming
      • Apple TV Plus
      • Disney Plus
      • Netflix
      • HBO
      • Amazon Prime Video
      • Hulu
    • Comics
      • View Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • DC Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • Lego
    • Dungeons and Dragons
    • Merch
  • Hardware
    • View Hardware
      • Hardware News
      • Hardware Reviews
      • Hardware Features
      • Desktop PCs
      • Laptops
      • Handhelds
    • Peripherals
      • View Peripherals
      • Headsets & Headphones
      • TVs & Monitors
      • Gaming Mice
      • Gaming Keyboards
      • Gaming Chairs
      • Speakers & Audio
      • Gaming Controllers
      • Tech
      • SSDs & Hard Drives
      • VR
      • Accessories
      • Retro
  • Deals
    • View Deals
    • Game Deals
    • Tech Deals
    • TV Deals
    • Buying Guides
  • Video
  • Newsletters
    • Total Film
    • Retro Gamer
    • Newsarama
Total Film
Gaming Magazines
Gaming Magazines
Why subscribe?
  • Subscribe from just £3
  • Takes you closer to the games, movies and TV you love
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$12
Subscribe now
Trending
  • Battlefield 6
  • Golden Joystick Awards 2025
  • New Games for 2025
Don't miss these
Best video game heroes
Games The 25 best heroes in games of all time
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild screenshot showing Link, a male character with elf-like ears, blond hair, and bright blue eyes
Movies The Legend of Zelda movie is exciting, but I'm still begging for 5 specific video game movies to get adapted next
Vampire Survivors
Roguelike Games "I felt like playing 30 hours of story mode was actually the tutorial": Too many RPGs and JRPGs end after their combat really gets good, Vampire Survivors creator says, which is where the roguelike formula is so great
An Argonian character looking over the Imperial City in The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered
The Elder Scrolls If Bethesda wants The Elder Scrolls 6 to feel like a true sequel, I need it to wrap up a story that's been building since Oblivion and Skyrim
Judas key art of multiple characters posing on purple lighting
FPS Games Ken Levine's new BioShock-like game Judas carries the torch of Monolith's Nemesis System: "They can bribe you, save you in battle, talk s*** about the other characters, and share with you their darkest secrets"
Bioshock Infinite screenshot showing Elizabeth about to hit someone with a book
PC Gaming If "good is the new bad" in games, flawed experiments won't have time to grow into future GOTYs
Best single player games: Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2.
Games The 25 best single-player games to play right now
Mafia: The Old Country
Action Games Mafia: The Old Country's divisive linearity is telling me everything I need to know about action-adventure games in 2025, and it all comes back to Indiana Jones
Darkseid
DC Movies DC fans are sharing who they'd want the Thanos of the DCU Chapter One to be
The Super Mario Movie
Movies The 10 best video game movies of all time, ranked
Silent Hill 2
Silent Hill I've been playing the iconic horror franchise for 26 years, and these are the best Silent Hill monsters that are still haunting my nightmares today
Hand using the Nintendo Switch 2 Joy-Con controller in its mouse setting
Nintendo Switch 2 How the Nintendo Switch 2 could take the point-and-click adventure revival to new heights: "The Switch 2 is a better platform than its predecessors for these games"
Red Dead Redemption 2
Adventure Games 25 best adventure games to get swept up in right now
Ian McDiarmid as Palpatine in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Star Wars Movies Star Wars fans are discussing what makes Palpatine such a good villain: "He's just evil. And it is damn entertaining"
A press image shows the protagonist from Cronos: The New Dawn standing inside a dark engine room
Horror Games Bloober's Cronos: The New Dawn is like Dead Space in Hell, but it has a cool female protagonist because the devs say that's simply "more interesting"
  1. Games

The Top 7... Villains that need their own spin-off games

Features
By Hollander Cooper published 7 May 2012

Give these antagonists a shot at being the star

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Make that antagonist a protagonist, stat!

Make that antagonist a protagonist, stat!

Which is why we've assembled a dirty dozen (or, rather, dirty seven) of villainous misfits that we think should have their own shot in the spotlight.

Page 1 of 9
Page 1 of 9
7. Captain Qwark in: From Metropolis With Love

7. Captain Qwark in: From Metropolis With Love

But what if thats all an act? What if Qwark isn't as cowardly as we think? What if hes actually a hero? Thats the Captain Qwark game we want one where he plays the fool to Ratchet, only to secretly be pulling the strings in the background to save the day. He can have access to the typical assortment of tools found in R&C games, from crazy weapons to crazier gadgets, interspersed with the occasional stealth segment, where he needs to protect Ratchet without being exposed.

Page 2 of 9
Page 2 of 9
6. Super Waluigi Bros.

6. Super Waluigi Bros.

For years, Mario/Luigi/Wario/Waluigi voice actor Charles Martinet has been championing a Waluigi game in which players need to cheat to win. We think this is a fantastic idea, and would love to see Nintendo actually do it. Make it a fairly typical platformer filled with nostalgic cues from past Mario games, but let Waluigi literally cheat the game make it a major mechanic. He gets hold of a magic scepter or computer or something that lets him stop time, move platforms, gain extra coins, or do other things that would typically be considered cheating. Embrace his quirky personality, and finally give the character his due.

Page 3 of 9
Page 3 of 9
5. LeChucks Secret of Monkey Island

5. LeChucks Secret of Monkey Island

Tales of Monkey Island

LeChuck is simply an awesome villain, and we have a feeling his descent into true villain-dom could make for an awesome game. Gameplay-wise, it should be a fairly typical point-and-click adventure, showing his life and death to give the already interesting character more depth. Plus, even if we end up disliking the young LeChuck, we have a feeling thatll just grow our appreciation of the undead, green, monstrous LeChuck we already know and love.

Page 4 of 9
Page 4 of 9
4. Dr. Wily's Robot Builder

4. Dr. Wily's Robot Builder

We want to do that. We want to build robots. We want to design the perfect foes for the end of each level - heck, we want to design the levels, too. Games like Holy Invasion of Privacy Badman and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord have made being the bad guy fun, and we think a similar gameplay style can make for a Mega Man-tastic good time.

Page 5 of 9
Page 5 of 9
3. Star Wolf: Bounty Hunter

3. Star Wolf: Bounty Hunter

the Top 7 bestest frenemies

Wed kill for a Star Wolf game with traditional Star Fox gameplay. Choosing between bounties, hunting down different anthropomorphic pilots, occasionally running into Fox it would make for an absolutely awesome experience. Not only would it give us more of the Star Fox action we desperately crave, but it would show us the dark underside of Nintendos Star Fox universe. We have to imagine theres some pretty seedy stuff down there.

Page 6 of 9
Page 6 of 9
2. Bobby Kotick's Game Pub Story

2. Bobby Kotick's Game Pub Story

The game (which we assume would be developed by Activision) would be a fairly true-to-life representation of the day-to-day duties of running the world's biggest game publisher, albeit made more interesting by giving the boss a hands-on approach to the game development. Kotick would be able to decide whether or not to pump out yearly sequels, create a new IP, resurrect an old fan favorite, or cancel a highly-anticipated new title. But here's the fun part: a major responsibility of the job would be making sure the stock doesn't fall. If you don't get that yearly CoD game out, you better believe the stock is going to suffer, and taking a risk on a new IP will almost always lead to some crappy earnings. Bobby Kotick's Game Pub Story would let us see why Kotick makes the choices he makes - and to figure out whether or not we'd actually be able to do a better job.

Page 7 of 9
Page 7 of 9
1. Andrew Ryans Sim Rapture

1. Andrew Ryans Sim Rapture

An Andrew Ryan game would put us in the dress shoes of the entrepreneur himself in a Sim City-style city-building game. Wed be responsible for placing the different districts, plotting the buildings, building the tunnels, and doing everything else a hands-on city-builder like Ryan would have done. But it extends far past that wed also make important decisions, like which babbling psychopaths should be put in charge of different areas and which controversial programs to enact. Maybe well just kill all of the poor people! Maybe well start a secret police force! Andrew Ryans Sim Rapture would be a blast, providing a drastically different take on the BioShock series and the city-building genre. How often do you get to raise taxes on using toilets in Sim City? Thats what we thought.

Page 8 of 9
Page 8 of 9
What did we miss?

What did we miss?

Don't just sit there shouting at the screen, though - comment below and let us know what you think of this Top 7.

And if you want to read more about our favorite villains, check out the Top 7 villains that never stay dead and the The Top 7 bestest frenemies.

Page 9 of 9
Page 9 of 9
CATEGORIES
Android iPad iPhone PC Gaming Wii-u Nintendo PlayStation Xbox Platforms Mobile Gaming
Hollander Cooper
Hollander Cooper
Social Links Navigation

Hollander Cooper was the Lead Features Editor of GamesRadar+ between 2011 and 2014. After that lengthy stint managing GR's editorial calendar he moved behind the curtain and into the video game industry itself, working as social media manager for EA and as a communications lead at Riot Games. Hollander is currently stationed at Apple as an organic social lead for the App Store and Apple Arcade. 

See more Games Features
Read more
Best video game heroes
The 25 best heroes in games of all time
 
 
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild screenshot showing Link, a male character with elf-like ears, blond hair, and bright blue eyes
The Legend of Zelda movie is exciting, but I'm still begging for 5 specific video game movies to get adapted next
 
 
Vampire Survivors
"I felt like playing 30 hours of story mode was actually the tutorial": Too many RPGs and JRPGs end after their combat really gets good, Vampire Survivors creator says, which is where the roguelike formula is so great
 
 
An Argonian character looking over the Imperial City in The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered
If Bethesda wants The Elder Scrolls 6 to feel like a true sequel, I need it to wrap up a story that's been building since Oblivion and Skyrim
 
 
Judas key art of multiple characters posing on purple lighting
Ken Levine's new BioShock-like game Judas carries the torch of Monolith's Nemesis System: "They can bribe you, save you in battle, talk s*** about the other characters, and share with you their darkest secrets"
 
 
Bioshock Infinite screenshot showing Elizabeth about to hit someone with a book
If "good is the new bad" in games, flawed experiments won't have time to grow into future GOTYs
 
 
Latest in Games
Earth Must Die
Game of Thrones actor leads a lovingly vulgar tribute to "those old point and click adventure games that people gave a sh*t about in the 1990s" with a Steam Next Fest demo custom-built for Monkey Island fanatics
 
 
Sam Fisher and Zinnia Mckenna aiming their laser sights while wearing night vision goggles
With no new game in sight, Netflix is keeping Splinter Cell alive with a second season of its Deathwatch animated series
 
 
Elder Scrolls Online Seasons of the Worm Cult
Elder Scrolls Online devs make their bets on the world-first clear of the MMO's Writhing Wall event, watching entire servers fight a rift in the world map itself
 
 
Motorslice screenshot of blue haired girl P
Sprinting past EA and Ubisoft, one dev blends Mirror's Edge and Prince of Persia to make a slick parkour action game that's going on my Steam Next Fest winners list
 
 
The Outer Worlds 2 Earth agent with rifle
The Outer Worlds 2 game director campaigned to have Fallout: New Vegas-style factions that tie into the RPG's main story
 
 
Battlefield 6
Battlefield 6 devs locked in a tug-of-war with players are "looking at adjustments" to movement "to find a good in-between" following nerfs and exploits
 
 
Latest in Features
Indy the dog in Good Boy
Good Boy made me realize I've judged horror fans who fuss over furry on-screen stars too hard, and now I've found 9 more scary movie dogs that prove them right
 
 
A space ship landing on a beautiful tropical planet in No Man's Sky
No Man's Sky's biggest problem in 2025 is being too good, and now I'm trapped in a vicious cycle
 
 
Aaron Paul's character Robert Robertson in Dispatch, stood holding a dog in an elevator filled with strange superheroes
Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul has "always wanted" to be in a game, but The Boys-esque superhero comedy Dispatch was the first truly irresistible role: "Nothing really felt like the right fit"
 
 
Olden Era
I've been playing Heroes of Might and Magic since I was 6, and after putting 10 hours into Olden Era's huge Steam demo, the strategy series has never felt better
 
 
Photo of a black gaming mouse sitting on a Final Fantasy TCG playmat, with a Lorcana playmat to its left.
I swear by using TCG playmats as mouse pads, and that's never going to change
 
 
Atsu riding her horse in Ghost of Yotei with the black bars disabled
Ghost of Yotei's art director wanted the RPG to look like a "living painting," but the detail required stresses even me out: "When the wind blows, the trees know how strong the wind is"
 
 
  1. Ball x Pit
    1
    Ball x Pit review: "Vampire Survivors and Breakout collide in this brilliant roguelike ball basher that struggles with repetition"
  2. 2
    Pokemon Legends: Z-A review: "Fast fluid real-time fights and a world worth exploring make this finally feel like the anime come to life"
  3. 3
    Little Nightmares 3 review: "An overly safe, uneven, and half-baked follow-up where co-op is a hindrance instead of the evolution it should've been"
  4. 4
    With a new season on the way, is Blood Bowl's second edition still worth a look?
  5. 5
    Battlefield 6 review: "More refined than innovative, this FPS is on target with multiplayer even if its campaign is just a big shrug"
  1. Tron: Ares
    1
    Tron: Ares review: "Misses out by swapping the Grid for the real world"
  2. 2
    One Battle After Another review: "One of the best studio movies in years and an instant classic"
  3. 3
    The Conjuring: Last Rites review: "Not bold or memorable enough for the Warrens' final chapter"
  4. 4
    Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle review: "Roars past Mugen Train as Demon Slayer's best adventure yet"
  5. 5
    The Long Walk review: "One of the best Stephen King adaptations ever made"
  1. Splinter Cell Deathwatch
    1
    Splinter Cell: Deathwatch review: "A pale imitation of the long-dormant stealth franchise"
  2. 2
    Marvel Zombies review: "A fun expansion of the What If episode with delightful MCU Easter eggs and truly gross R-rated kills"
  3. 3
    Gen V season 2 review: "As strong as the first season, if not stronger"
  4. 4
    Wednesday season 2 part 2 review: "Ortega shines, but it's a zombie who steals the entire show"
  5. 5
    Peacemaker season 2 review: "Darker and sadder than the first year, but there's still a lot of fun to be had with the 11th Street Kids."

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...