Best Playable Canadian Characters In Games

Canada has a history of being overshadowed by its neighbor to the south, the United States. In an age where America dominates the entertainment industry, with films and television often being very Amerocentric, one would think that it would be rare to find much representation of Canada in video games. Surprisingly, this is not the case. Canada is currently home to several major developers like Ubisoft and Bioware, and there is actually a decent range of games that use Canada as a setting. If anything, Canada is a bit more represented in games than it is in other media, and that also extends to characters. The realm of gaming is home to many Canadian villains like Punch Out's Bear Hugger and Far cry 6's Sean McKay, and NPCs like Watch Dogs' Clara Lille or Black Flag's Olivier Garneau, but just how many of them are actually playable?

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By  Leigh Price

When it comes to playable Canadians, there is an interesting selection for gamers to try out. Canadian protagonists come in many different shapes and sizes and can also have a variety of unique professions. Certain Canadians in video games are even based on real life celebrities and historical figures, ensuring that gamers looking to play as a Canadian in a video game have plenty of options available.

13 Abigail

A Candian Fighter Who Is Far From Friendly

Street Fighter is home to some pretty intimidating characters, but the Canadian ex-Mad Gear Abigail is easily one of the toughest the series has to offer. He stands at a full 8ft tall, making the extremely buff Zanghief look tiny by comparison. In a thorough subversion of the stereotype that Canadians are friendly, Abigail is also one of the meanest fighters the series has to offer.

Even after leaving behind his life of crime, he is quick to anger and has a reputation for flailing people around when he goes into a rage. One does not want to be on the receiving end of his rapid-fire punch attacks.

12 Buck

A Skilled French-Canadian Tactician

There isn't a huge range of Canadian video game leads, let alone French-Canadian playable characters, so Sebastian "Buck" Cote was a welcome addition to the roster of Rainbow Six Siege. He was an operator for Joint Task Force 2 (Canada's special forces unit, similar to America's Navy SEALs or Britain's SAS) and is described as a skilled tactician and outdoorsman. These are obviously useful skills for Rainbow Six, but his bio and psychological report also mention an interest in Canadian history.

Buck is heavily inspired by old stories of the French traders who once paddled through Canada's rivers (including his own great-grandfather) and has a strong desire to better understand Kanien'keha culture.

11 Frost

A Canadian Operator And Expert Survivalist

• Rainbow Six Siege

Rainbow Six Siege seems to love its Canadian operators. Tina Lin "Frost" Tsang is another JTF2 operator, this time from Vancouver. She is described as an expert survivalist, something reflected in her preference for shotguns and the bear trap-like "welcome mat" she can deploy against her opponents.

This background has made her very perceptive and great at using the environment to her advantage. Getting an edge on her is easier said than done, which makes her a valuable asset to the team.

10 Raquna Sheldon

A Paladin From Ontario

• Game: Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl
• Platform: Nintendo 3DS
• Released: June 27, 2013
• Developer: Atlus
• Genre: RPG, Adventure

The Etrian Odyssey games take place in a post-apocalyptic world, but that didn't stop the developers from introducing a Canadian to the playable roster of Untold: The Millenium Girl. Raquna is the team's "protector" (meaning that she is equipped for blocking attacks), originally from "Ontario," which may or may not be the same place as the real-life Ontario, Canada.

Despite the vagueness of her background, Raquna embraces a somewhat stereotypical Canadian image, from being super kind to her friends to loving maple syrup and finding ways to put "eh" into her sentences.

9 Roddy Piper

A Professional Canadian Wrestler

It turns out that Canada has produced a surprisingly large number of professional wrestlers, but one of the most iconic has to be "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. The guy had a reputation as both a wrestler and an actor (most famously in John Carpenter's They Live), but his reputation has also led to a number of video game appearances.

A lot of wrestling games like to make a selling point of featuring actual wrestlers as playable characters, so it's hardly surprising that someone as iconic as Roddy would make an appearance in several franchises, particularly the WWE series. Not even Piper's death in 2015 could stop him from having an impact on the gaming community, as he was still digitally resurrected as a playable character for WWE 2K22.

8 Sasquatch

An Abominable Snowman From Canada

Capcom's folklore-themed fighter Darkstalkers has a wacky range of playable characters, but one fan favorite that has consistently appeared throughout the series is Sasquatch. The character started as an homage to legends about bigfoot and yetis but eventually grew into something that really stood apart from his inspiration. His mix of fighting prowess and goofy personality proved a big hit.

The game's lore places Sasquatch as a member of the "bigfoot" species, originally from the Canadian Rocky Mountains. He is consistently portrayed as being unwaveringly loyal to his tribe and determined to protect them. At the same time, he also has some bizarre fighting tactics. This includes things like being able to swallow his opponents whole, freeze them inside his body, and then regurgitate them fully encased in ice. He's probably not someone gamers would want to get on the bad side of, but he's a lot of fun to be around for those who are friendly to him.

7 Sojourn

A Railgun-Wielding Canadian Captain

Overwatch's playable roster had a pretty diverse range of nationalities from the start, but the original game never really got a Canadian hero. That was until Blizzard announced plans to start Overwatch 2. One of the first big reveals about the upcoming game was a Toronto map and a new Canadian hero, Soujourn.

She was a veteran of the Canadian army and a war hero, as well as a captain and an expert fighter in her own right. Even after her retirement, she was ready to get back into the action as soon as Toronto came under fire. Big guns are usually seen as more of an American thing, but that didn't stop Sojourn from having a huge railgun ready to go. Although Overwatch 2 may have stumbled, it was still nice to see a badass Canadian finally make her way into the roster.

6 Thunderbird

An Expert Canadian Pilot

• Rainbow Six Siege

Yet another Canadian Operator in Rainbow Six Siege, Ubisoft opted to try something different with Mina "Thunderbird" Sky. She added a bit more diversity to the cast, being the third Canadian but also the first Indigenous operator in the game. She is originally from the Nakota in Saskatchewan and proudly displays the facial tattoos of her people.

She is portrayed as an expert medic, pilot, and mechanic, whose introduction to Rainbow came after she saved Nomad's life. But her real passion is flight. She comes from a background in the Royal Canadian Air Force and knows her way around a helicopter.

5 Trevor Phillips

An Unhinged Canadian Living In America

The GTA series is usually set in the United States, typically a thinly-veiled analogue to a famous American city like New York, Miami, or Los Angeles. This makes sense since the franchise largely serves as a social satire of American life. As such, it was seen as a curious choice when Grand Theft Auto 5 introduced Canadian crook Trevor Phillips as one of its three playable characters, though one could easily be forgiven for not realizing he was Canadian at first.

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Interestingly, Trevor is the antithesis of the Canadian stereotype, as he easily outdoes his fellow (American-born) protagonists Michael De Santa and Frank Clinton in terms of cruelty and his capacity for violence. Despite his personality and general lack of redeeming qualities, Trevor still became a fan favorite among the GTA community.

4 Wayne Gretzky

A Canadian Hockey Legend

• Game: NHL Snapshot
• Platform: Nintendo Wii
• Released: September 7, 2010
• Developer: EA Canada
• Genre: Sports

Canada's long-standing association with hockey means it has produced a lot of famous players, but one of the most iconic has to be Wayne Gretzky. So, it should come as no surprise that this celebrated sportsman has frequently made his way into hockey video games.

Not only has he been playable in these titles, but the titles of certain games in which he appears are even named after him. He has made many appearances in the NHL series, a franchise that is known for using the likenesses of actual players.