Top 10 Video Game Companions

The lead character always gets the limelight. In video games the star of the show will appear on the box art and in all the promotional material, while everyone else stands around in the background. Seeing as Mass Effect 2 hits stores this week, bringing with it a whole host of memorable characters who join you on your adventure, we've put together a list of our Top 10 Video Game Companions. These guys, girls, animals and inanimate objects all played their part, travelling with you, fighting alongside you or just offering advice.

10. Weighted Companion Cube – Portal

Valve must have been taken aback by the popularity of Portal's Weighted Companion Cube. Despite being just a waist-high grey crate with pink hearts on the side, the WCC instantly won a place in the hearts of gamers everywhere. Why? It's hard to say, but it certainly helps that the box is essentially the only "friend" you have in the cold and clinical trials of Aperture Science. As the psychotic computer AI GlaDOS bullies you from one task to the next, there's something quietly reassuring about the Cube's silent, enduring presence. Despite meeting a tragic in-game fate, the WCC lives on as an internet meme and - for the asking price of 30 dollars - as your very own plush toy, still available to buy from the Valve Store online. No, really.

9. Navi – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

From the moment Navi woke Link from his nightmarish slumber at the beginning of masterpiece Ocarina of Time, we knew the chirpy little fairy guide wouldn't leave our side. Sure, she sometimes annoyed the hell out of us, with her incessant "hey", "watch out" and "listen", but her heart was in the right place. She was only trying to help, after all. Somehow, Navi – essentially little more than a bright white spark that followed Link around – managed to capture the hearts of the Nintendo fanboy horde. We loved Navi, and she loved us back. With her by our side, you never really feared anything.