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Top 10 Lycanthropes in Video Games

Stay on the road, keep clear of the moors and beware the moon lads, because today we’re counting down the top 10 lycanthropes in video games. Lyncanthropes, more commonly known as werewolves, are humans who have the ability to transform into wolves or hybrid wolf-man creatures. We’re going to count all lyncanthropes in this list.

As with all my lists on 1 More Castle, we’re only counting one game per franchise and only counting lycanthropes from the sixth gaming generation and prior. Without further ado, let’s begin.

 

 

10.) Warwolf – Werewolf: The Last Warrior

Honestly, Werewolf: The Last Warrior isn’t that good. It just squeaks on the list because of one feature, but we’ll get back to that.

Dr. Faryan turned into an evil entity and released a bunch of mutants on the Earth, and only you can stop him. In this game you play as Ken, a man who can transform into a werewolf named ‘Warwolf’. Which is a badass name.

The reason this game makes it on the list, is that the transformation scene is fantastic, especially for a NES game.

 

9.) Saul – Wolfchild

Originally, I was going to give the number nine spot to Ralph, the gigantic mutant werewolf, from the Rampage series, but he’s going to hafta be an honorable mention.

Instead, the number nine spot goes to Saul from the SNES game, Wolfchild. The game revolves around Saul who’s on a quest to save his father from an evil corporation. Saul is powered by his father’s invention, a device that lets Saul tranform into a werewolf.

This game knew how to market to kids, even is it wasn’t that good. I mean just look at that amazing art above.

 

8.) Centurion – Altered Beast

I don’t know the name of the protagonist from Altered Beast. Even Wikipedia doesn’t know, they just call him a centurion.

He is a badass.

He was resurrected by Zeus to save Athena from Neff. In addition to being extremely buff with massively strong kicks and punches, the centurion can transform into a variety of creatures. He can transform into a bear, a dragon, and of course a werewolf.

RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE!

 

7.) Cornell – Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness

I love me some 2D Castlevania games… howevery the 3D ones never appealed to me. This is especially true with Castlevania 64 and Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness. It’s a shame because Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness actually had an interesting protagonist.

Cornell is the protagonist of this game and has the ability to transform into a werewolf at will. He’s on a quest to rescue his sister Ada, before she is sacrificed in a ritual to resurrect Dracula… or so it seems.

It’s a shame Cornell’s only other appearance is a strange werewolf in Castlevania: Judgement, the fighting game on the Wii. I would love to see this effeminate silver-haired werewolf return one day.

 

6.) Maha – Golden Sun: The Lost Age

Maha is the chief of the town of Garoh in the great game, Golden Sun: The Lost Age. The Golden Sun series on the Game Boy Advance is one of my favorite RPGs. It’s just a fun little RPG, with a great story.

In the game you are nearing the town of Garoh, and it’s a full moon. You see a werewolf child run away into the village. Yet, the people of the village hide or deny the existence of werewolves in order to keep people calm.

Unfortunately, the town chief Garoh, who gives the your party the Jupiter Djinni, Ether, has been permanently transformed into a wolf, so he hides out in a cave. He believes the natural evolution of humans is to become werewolves and will talk your ear off about it.

 

5.) Yugo the Wolf – Bloody Roar

Bloody Roar hasn’t been in the public eye for a long time, so you may have no idea what it is. It was a 3D fighting game where you could transform into a animal-human hybrid.

The main mascot of the series was Yugo the Wolf. Yugo is a kind and compassionate fighter who’s always looking out for others. He’s the leader of several different groups, but always fights for what’s right using his powerful wolf-like strikes.

Booorriiinngg….. Shina was better anyway.

 

4.) Sabrewulf – Killer Instinct 

The next two entries on this list are quite similar, so I just had to put them in order of which game I prefer.

Sabrewulf is from the Killer Instinct series and has made an appearance in every game in the series. He started in the series as a reluctant werewolf who enters the KI tournament to find a cure for his lycanthropy. In the second game he returns with cybernetic enhancements. Then he returns again in the Xbox One Reboot of the series back to his normal fuzzy self.

Like many good werewolves, Sabrewulf is in constant struggle between his normal side and his savage side… but the next character did that better.

 

3.) Jon Talbain – Darkstalkers

Jon Talbain is the popular lycanthrope from the Darkstalkers series. He appeared in nearly all games in the series and show, and is one of the most popular characters.

Jon is the child of a werewolf and a human. He lived the majority of his life as a normal human until one full moon where he turned into a werewolf. He was shunned from humanity so he spent his time training and attempting to control the beast within.

Jon Talbain is a tragic hero, and one we cam empathize with. He is weary of trusting humans, and upset that he will never be cured of his lycanthropy. Nevertheless, he’s a hero, a darkstalker, and really fun to play as.

 

2.) Brad Fang – Contra: Hard Corps

If I was basing these choices just off their appearance, Brad Fang would be in the number one spot… easily.

Brad Fang is one of the selectable characters from the fantastic Contra: Hard Corps. In this game a group of four Hard Corps warriors are attempting to take down a man bent on creating destructive alien weaponry.

On of the team members is Brad Fang, a lycanthrope with two gattling guns for arms and an affinity for punching robots.

 

1.) Zylo – Shining Force

I don’t know about all of you, but I tend to connect with characters from RPGs more. I think it’s all the time and effort spent with them. It works great when a character is well written like Vivi from Final Fantasy IX and Rose from The Legend of Dragoon. However, a badly written RPG character will make you go insane.

Luckily, Zylo from Shining Force falls in the former category. Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention on the SEGA Genesis is a tactical RPG that is often overlooked because it was on the Genesis and not the SNES. It was also a game I had and played a ton of.

Zylo is an optional character who can join your party in the game. First you need to get an antidote to Zylo because he was poisoned with a liquid that made him go crazy. After healed from his insanity, Zylo is eternally grateful and joins your party.

He is one of the strongest characters in the game, especially if you level him up the right way and my favorite lycanthrope in video games.

Be sure to check out my other top 10 for Halloween, the top 10 pumpkins in video games, now on ScrewAttack.