Video games have the power to shape stories into wondrous and unbelievable experiences. This allows anyone to become a hero, villain, or simply someone with enough power to make a difference. Although children are viewed as the embodiment of innocence, they are no stranger to appearing as key and influential characters within different gaming genres.
Whether they're good, evil, or neutral, kids have a variety of ways to get their hands on powerful abilities that make them formidable against even the biggest threats. There are many notable children in games, but some of them stand taller and stronger than others.
8 Ness
There are a lot of things you can say about the game Earthbound, like how it has some pretty interesting characters. Even though it has the strangeness of many JRPGs, it's not as straightforward as them and requires you to think differently in order to progress. The story itself is unorthodox in that a small bee-like alien travels back in time to tell you that an evil alien overlord has taken over the world.
The one who receives the message is a young boy and the main hero, Ness. Thrust into a role he didn't expect, Ness soon discovers that he has powerful PSI powers that allow him to strengthen his friends and rain down cosmic energy on his enemies. This power carries him across the world and time itself to save everyone.
7 Young Psycho Mantis
The first Metal Gear Solid game is a classic with all its chunky human model glory and stealth elements. It has a lot of memorable characters, both heroic and villainous. However, Psycho Mantis stands above the rest by being able to break the fourth wall with his psychic powers.
After defeating him, Psycho Mantis fades from the Metal Gear mainstream until a big resurgence in Metal Gear Solid V. The twist is that since this game is set in the past, you get a glimpse of a Psycho Mantis as a child with a mess of red hair. He appears periodically to torment you and show off his mastery of psychic power and elemental manipulation at such a young age.
6 Mizuti
Before there was the RPG genre of using cards to fight enemies, there was Baten Kaitos. You took control of a young winged-man named Kalas, with an attitude and a penchant for getting caught up in world-ending storylines. As you guide Kalas along his journey to stop the resurrection of a destructive god, you'll meet a cast of colorful characters to help you on your journey.
This includes the whimsical and mysterious magic-user known as Mizuti. Characterized by a large mask and unusual syntax, Mizuti proves to be one of the most powerful members of your team. It isn't until you reach her hometown that her mask breaks, and she's revealed to be little more than a child.
5 Eiko
The Final Fantasy games are known for creating parties large and small filled with characters from all walks of life and backgrounds. Still, it wasn't until Final Fantasy 9 that this was taken to the next level and almost every character is a species other than human. Even the human characters themselves have strange histories and that definitely applies to the young girl Eiko.
Found living in a village of Moogles, Eiko is very much a child who's only too happy to have visitors that she decides to join your quest. When she does, she quickly proves herself to be the most powerful healer you'll meet as well as another person capable of summoning gigantic spirit creatures called Eidolons.
4 Aurora
Many RPG heroes can find themselves caught in a fish out of water story and simply try to make the best of the situation usually because they have no choice. Other times, they're brought into this world because they're the only one who has the power to save everything. This is the case for Princess Aurora, the main character in Child Of Light.
Traveling to the mystical land of Lemuria, Aurora discovers a magic sword and quickly learns magic and combat in order to fight against the embodiment of darkness known as Umbra. During her journey, she recruits allies and gathers celestial bodies in order to defeat this great evil. She eventually gains enough to defeat the darkness and save both worlds.
3 Oliver
Studio Ghibli has a reputation for making magical stories centered around children and young adults. So, when they lent their efforts and creativity to the game of Ni No Kuni, at the very least it was going to have a vibrant art and an epic story. This story revolves around a young boy named Oliver, who is taken to a fantasy world that mirrors his own.
While there, he masters the art of magic as gained by an ancient book. Though he starts off clueless, Oliver's journey allows him to tame various creatures to fight for him and leads him to master some of the most powerful spells in the book to stand against the greatest evils.
2 Isaac
There are games with happy stories and games with sad stories, but you hope that you don't get the latter. When a character is trapped in a sad story, you want to do your best to help get them out of it or at least help them get tough enough to endure it.
That's what happens in The Binding Of Isaac when young boy Isaac flees into his basement to escape his murderous mother. While down there, he finds himself surrounded by twisted creatures and dangers. However, he isn't defenseless as he can plunder the treasures within to strengthen himself and sweep through any monster that might get in his way.
1 Skull Kid
The Legend of Zelda series has many types of heroes, villains, and strange characters populating its various worlds. To this day, one of the most unusual is Termina, the world in which a young Link finds himself in Majora's Mask. While adventuring, he encounters the Skull Kid, a forest child wearing a creepy mask.
Though Skull Kids are canonically pranksters, this one has an appetite for destruction under the influence of the evil mask. It grants him power beyond limits, with the most devastating being the ability to bring the moon crashing down onto everything.