We could understand our favorite characters on a much more intimate level if we saw their childhoods. Sometimes it even leads to the greatest twists in games like in BioShock. It can make the difference between an antagonist and an anti-hero, like with N from Pokémon Black and White. Sometimes babyhood stories leads to those crazy “Who are my parents?” twists like with the Alistair royalty reveal in Dragon Age Origins.
Also baby and child versions of characters we know as hardened adults are just sweet. A baby Cloud from the Final Fantasy franchise? Adorable! Even more adorable? A little Raiden from Metal Gear. Are the children very difficult from how they are when they’re adults or do we see that same spirit in them? Did their dreams come true or did they get crushed and become jaded?
This list is to commemorate fan art that explored console characters before their adulthood. Some are cute, others are still cute but sad because they are tragic characters. Some of these have their parents in them, others do not. There is just one constant: cuteness.
30 Freya With Baldur
This is from much happier times in God of War before Baldur grew up full of hatred for his mother. He hated her for making him immortal because he could never feel pain or happiness again.
That’s why he enjoyed fighting Kratos, because it’s the closest he could get to feeling alive again.
Freya looking so happy in this picture only makes it sadder that they had a falling out. That’s goes to show, never make your child immortal.
Art was made by journen.
29 The Little Princess Of Mushroom Kingdom
Baby Mario had been taken and it’s up to baby Peach to save the day!” wrote the artist of this piece. “Go little girl!” Baby Peach is seen far less than Luigi and Mario but who wouldn’t want to see a baby Peach trying to run around and save the day?
She’s dressed kind of like Mario. Is she wearing his hat? Maybe he was taken and his hat was all that was left behind. That’s very cute to see her wearing it while going on a quest to save him.
Art was made by kriscg.
28 Small Prince Noctis
We get to see a bit of Noctis as a kid through dreams and flashbacks throughout Final Fantasy 15. Most of these flashbacks involved his fiancé, Luna, as a kid as well. Despite his dark and edgy outward look, Noctis appeared to be a pretty normal child with regular joys and fears. He’s lucky that the events of the game did not take place when he was actually a child, or the game would have been far different.
Art was made by nijuukoo.
27 Baby Princess Of Hyrule
It’s refreshing to see Zelda as a baby since we see them as teenagers a billion times. You’d think when they have so many games that we would get to see them as not young adults or teenagers just a couple times at least.
It does not take a fan to know this crib is for a princess.
The artist put a ton of detail in from the tri-force baby headband to the Hyrule crest on her blanket.
Art was made by cam-miyu.
26 Little Monsters, Papyrus And Undyne
Many of the characters in Undertale already have child-like personalities, so what would they have been like as kids? They look like they probably were not so different.
Papyrus looks like a sweet boy who would never hurt a fly.
Undyne looks like an athletic kid with big dreams. Eventually both of them became part of the royal guard with Undyne as the commander and Papyrus as a gentle, funny, and kind buffoon who somehow got the job.
Art was made by bente36.
25 Tali In A Bubble
There is a part in the Mass Effect franchise where you can learn more about quarian babies from Tali. As quarians are always in danger of infection or getting sick, they put their babies in bubbles instead of suits.
By the end of Mass Effect 3, we learn that quarians look a lot like humans (if you romance Tali).
So this fan art depicts Tali as a baby in her little safe from infection and virus bubble. It must be hard to not always be available as a mother to hold your baby.
Art was made by doppelgangergeisha.
24 Infant Winston
The lore of Overwatch has lent us some images and knowledge of Winston’s babyhood. He was known as, “Specimen 28” He was cared for, and named after, Doctor Harold Winston. Harold took Winston under his wing due to how much Winston progressed from gene therapy.
His childhood was nice, seeing the scientists as his family. That’s all until the other gorilla subjects had an uprising and ended the scientists. By that time though, Winston was pretty grown up and took the name of a man he regarded as his father.
23 Little Link And Sidon
Mipha hinted that she and link played as kids together in a cutscene. She looks sort of the same age as she is in Breath of the Wild in this fan art but what do we know about age and size when it comes to the zora race?
The real discussion starter is Sidon.
Does this mean baby zora start out as minnows? How smart are they? Do they grow legs later like frogs? It is normal to keep them in jars of water? Can they survive outside of the jar?
22 Little N
N’s childhood is often explored since he was raised to be a puppet leader for Team Plasma. In fact, his childhood would probably make an amazing movie.
He was abandoned as a kid in the woods and was raised by Pokémon until he was found by a foster parent, Ghetsis.
As expected for a boy raised by Pokémon, he was very quirky and innocent and retained some of those traits as the adult we meet in the games. Child N definitely deserved better.
21 The Child Soldier, Raiden
Being Jack the Ripper and a child soldier, Raiden’s childhood was so messed up that he repressed nearly all of it. Metal Gear is famous for overdoing their characters, story, and action and Raiden is probably the best example of that. From Metal Gear 2 to his latest action game, he has been known for emotional turmoil and crazy action stunts. However, that’s something we love, as Raiden is a fan favorite of the franchise. We will never see too much of his childhood because it’s probably too depressing.
Art was made by crimsonxcrime.
20 Giving Away Alistair
Alistair being half-elf was revealed in the Dragon Age novels when we realized is mother was Fiona. Poor Fiona had to give him away due to her service to the Grey Wardens and due to the fact he needed to be hidden since he was a bastard prince. From what we hear from the man himself, Alistair had an okay childhood but he still doesn’t know who his real mother is. The only one alive who may know now is Fiona herself.
Art was made by aimosketchcard.
19 Rosalina’s Story Book
Fans actually get to learn a lot about Rosalina’s childhood from her storybook in Super Mario Galaxy.
It’s in her storybook that we learn how she got to space and that she was trying to help Luma find their mother.
She eventually settles with a bunch of Lumas in space before realizing her mother is dead and cannot be found and now she bears responsibility for the Lumas. So she grows up in space as a mother to all Lumas.
18 Baby Bowser
Most players just see a big monster when they look at Bowser since he’s so huge, but he is a Koopa. Once he was probably a little turtle. What made him so big? That would make a good Mario story.
He was raised as a spoiled brat, as we can tell by Bowser assuming he can always get what he wants.
Baby Bowser can easily be confused with Bowser Jr. Sometimes even the Mario franchise is not so simple.
17 Infant Trico
We thought Trico from The Last Guardian could not get any cuter, but we were wrong. The artist did a good job making the salamander look like the ones from Shadow of Colossus that you can eat to increase your grip strength. As we know well though, Trico has different, much more horrifying appetites.
Next to that salamander, this baby Trico is so small for the huge creature it grows up to be. At what age do they stop growing?
Art was made by rynnay.
16 Just Hatched Yoshi
Yoshi uses eggs to throw at enemies so it’s nice to see one actually bring something peaceful and adorable to the world. In Smash Bros., Yoshi can eat an enemy and then hatch them out in an egg. That’s a little weird.
Can a Yoshi eat a Yoshi and then hatch a Yoshi?
Is that different from a normal Yoshi? This is getting too complex.It’s also nice to see a baby Yoshi since Yoshi is often associated with baby Mario from Yoshi’s Island.
15 Twins Protected By Big Sister
The Hawke family from Dragon Age 2 go through some really tragic fates. Depending on what class you choose, Bethany or Carver perishes in the tutorial. Depending on your choice as to whether take your sibling with you to the Deep Roads or not, the other sibling can die. If not, they’ll then get stuck in the Circle Tower as a templar or mage. Then, of course, their mother dies in the most horrific of fashion with necromancy and all.
Art was made by pheberoni.
14 Mario And Luigi
Fans get to see their protagonists as babies a little more than others would expect. Baby Mario and Luigi make appearances in the Yoshi’s Island series, Mario Golf series, Mario Tennis series, Mario Kart series, Mario Baseball series, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, and Mario Sports Superstars.
We even learn some about their personalities like Mario being a crybaby, playful, and energetic.
Since he’s smaller, he’s also faster. Not quite true to real world babies, but we’ll take it when we can get nice stats.
Art was made by babyabbiestar.
13 Estinien In Training
Especially for an MMO, Final Fantasy 14 has created some memorable characters with the Azure Dragoon, Estinien, being one of them. Known for his short temper, tragic past, and very spiky armor, he is one of the most memorable characters you get to know in Heavensward.
In this fan art, a young Estinein is with the Azure Dragoon before him, Alberic. “Alberic likely told him to practice it 30 times but the kid did 100 times,” wrote the artist on their tumblr.
Art was made by takagai.
12 Junkrat’s Kid Dreams
This answered the question as to which limb Junkrat lost first. The general assumption of Junkrat’s missing arm and leg is due to his passion for explosives. Does that mean the passion for making things go boom started when he was only five years old? It’s a disturbing thought to see a kid playing with bombs and blowing his arm off. It only makes is worse considering the fact that he didn’t learn after that one mistake and loses a leg further down the road.
Art was made by rungian.
11 The Cutest Baby Dragon
“Felt like drawing something cute again, and I've been playing Spyro again,” wrote the artist. “Not the .remakes, the awesome original PS1 games. Spyro, you're such an adorable, arrogant little hero.”
Spyro is already adorable on his own, but the artist for this took him to a whole new level. Don’t you just want to put Spyro in a little cottage and take care of him? How sweet he looks can almost distract you from the fact that he would case a ton of trouble.
Art was made by zilleniose.