Top 10 Video Game Idle Animations

Top 10 Video Game Idle Animations

Also in:

The 10 BEST Video Game Reboots

Sometimes you set your controller down to go to the bathroom or answer a phone call, and you get back to the game only to discover your character has a mind of their own! Welcome to Watchmojo.com, and today we’ll be counting the Top 10 Video Game Idle Animations. For this list we’ve selected 10 most memorable video game animations that occur when the user doesn’t touch the controls and makes the character just stand around.

Nobody ever claimed that Niko Bellic, the protagonist of “Grand Theft Auto IV,” was very cultured or an example of perfect manners. He’s definitely rough around the edges, as these animations certainly prove. Can’t he just stand around and smoke a cigarette, or just have a seat and wait patiently. That’s probably too much to ask from a “Grand Theft Auto” protagonist…

Can you imagine if, in a World Series game, the Red Sox best hitter steps up to the plate, getting ready to try and hit a homer. The pitcher is also ready to throw his best pitch, and then….nothing happens. Everyone just stands still, waiting. If that happens in “Ken Griffey Jr’s Winning Run,” then the umpire does this. This idle animation actually makes sense, because in real life, the umpire actually probably would be the one to intervene and get the game going again.

As one of the greatest PC games, “Half-Life” is filled with imaginative settings, cool weapons, and interesting characters. Snarks are a great example – they double as a quick, hard-to-hit explosive enemy and as a grenade-type weapon if you pick up one of their egg sacks. While Gordon is holding a snark, lining up his throw, some funny idle animations occur – such as Gordon teasing the Snark with his finger, and the Snark trying to escape from Gordon’s clutches. “Who’s a cute wittle snarky?”

#7: Mario “Super Mario 64” (1996)

Also in:

Super Mario Bros. Trivia

As the most recognizable video game character of all time, it makes sense that Mario has some pretty adorableidle animations in his most iconic title, “Mario 64.” If you leave him still, he’ll slowly fall asleep. Of course, ever the Italian stereotype, Mario only has one thing on his mind when he’s dreaming. Nope – not Prince Peach: Mario will talk in his sleep, happily dreaming about various Italian cuisines like ravioli. Mmmmm…ravioli. Stereotypes aside, Charles Martinet, Mario’s voice actor, apparently ad-libbed all these lines because he wasn’t given any script to read for these bits.

An old-school platforming series for the home computer, “Jazz Jackrabbit” featured the title protagonist as he made his way across strange universes in an attempt to save the princess of his world, Carrotus. Jazz is your prototypical 90s’ gaming mascot, with lots of attitude and a real wise-cracking attitude. Though the games are somewhat obscure, Jazz and his partner Spaz’s idle animations are certainly memorable: they’ll yell at the player, eat carrots, and in the case of Spaz…eat a bird that landed peacefully on his arm? Weird.

For such a bleak game, “Metro 2033” has a surprisingly funny and tongue-in-cheek set of idle animations. Carrying around that huge arsenal of experimental weaponry must be absolute murder for your back. Most FPS games take for granted that your character must have super-human strength, or at least giant pockets. “Metro 2033” gets extra points for having a wide variety of different idle animations (different ones for each gun), and for poking fun at the ridiculous physics involved in most FPS games.

#4: Banjo/Kazooie “Banjo-Kazooie” (1998)

Also in:

Banjo Kazooie: Complete History | MojoPlays

Though they are technically a team, Banjo and Kazooie have a pretty contentious relationship. Well, it’s more like Kazooie, the bird, is kind of a jerk sometimes. This is especially apparent in the game’s idle animations: if you take too long to get Banjo going, Kazooie pops out of the backpack and starts pecking Banjo’s head off – forcing him to retaliate by wringing her neck, simpsons style. Still, despite their antagonistic friendship, Banjo and Kazooie always manage to get the job done.

#3: Conker “Conker’s Bad Fur Day” (2001)

Also in:

Conker's Bad Fur Day Retro Review

Conker is a squirrel with an attitude. Originally pitchd as a kid’s game, rare switched gears with Conker halfway through development and decided to focus on (clears throat) “mature humour”. In contrast to the game’s brash style though, Conker’s idle animations are fairly tame: he plays the yoyo, juggles, and whistles along to the games soundtrack. The coolest one is by far though is when whips out a Gameboy and if you listen carefully, you’ll notice the game he’s playing is Killer Instinct 2, another of Rare’s hits.

There were plenty of gross, immature platformers in the 16-bit era, but “Earthworm Jim” was the most memorable. Jim was a regular earthwork whose fate was forever changed when a futuristic space-suit plummeted from outer space and landed on him, turning him into a…man-worm, cyborg thing. The game itself is a fun side-scrolling shooter, but leave Jim still for too long and he does some funny stuff, like use his worm-head as a skipping rope, sing the opera (badly) and accidentally shoot himself in the face with his blaster. Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions. Commander Keen “Commander Keen” (1990) Spyro “The Legend of Spyro” (2007) Rayman “Rayman 2: The Great Escape” (1999)

#1: Sonic “Sonic the Hedgehog” series (1991-)

Also in:

The 10 HARDEST Levels in Sonic Games

Sonic the Hedgehog is known for his ability to reach insane top-speeds once he starts running. So, what’s the opposite of running insanely fast? Standing totally still. Sonic gets REALLY frustrated if you leave him hanging out – he’ll start tapping his foot impatiently, looking directly into the screen, and making ‘pointing’ motions towards the end of the level. In fact, Sonic is so impatient, that in the Sega CD version, he’ll actually jump off the screen and kill himself if you wait for too long! Dude loves speed, can you blame him? Agree with our list? Did we forget any memorable video game idle animations? For more toe-tapping top 10’s published daily, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.