Top 5 Gaming Valentines (2025)
Top 5 Gaming Valentines (2025)
Top 5 Gaming Valentines (2025)
St. Valentine’s Day is one of those obstacles that everyone has to get past, unfortunately. It’s a day of painful reminders for the singletons, and an absolute minefield for those of us actually in a relationship. But I can’t say I have it too bad - what about those folks who’ve been married for over 50 years? How do they keep the Valentine’s gig going, year after year?
Oh well, let’s not get too cynical about it. I’m sure we all enjoy a good romance in fiction, don’t we? And certainly that extends to gaming – even if the beau and the belle are little more than 8-bit pixels, mangled into a shape that vaguely resembles a human. Whether you live for Valentine’s Day, or whether you can’t wait for the whole rigmarole to be over, this look at five of gaming’s power couples should help get you in a romantic mood. I do hope you enjoy.
5. Ico and Yorda (ICO, PS2)
You know how it is – one minute, you’re just moseying through life. Next minute, you get captured and brought to a hauntingly beautiful castle, just because you have horns on your head and very little to say for yourself.
This is what befalls young Ico, before he escapes from his tomb and starts looking for a way out of the castle. He chances across a girl named Yorda, trapped in a cage hundreds of feet in the air. Being a gallant young buck, he rescues her and checks to see if she’s OK. And so begins the underrated PS2 hit, Ico.
Though little to no dialogue is ever spoken, the game progresses via small, meaningful interactions between Yorda and Ico, struggling together as they fight to escape. Yorda is just about helpless unfortunately, being guided by Ico’s hand at almost all times. Still, through their shared trials and hardships, a wordless connection is formed, which can really be felt by the player as you shape their fate through the castle.
When Ico offers his hand, shouts encouraging words to Yorda and gives her enough motivation to jump across that chasm and into his outstretched hand, it all adds to the romance. You feel it even more when Ico fights off the Shadow Enemies with naught but a wooden stick, keeping his Valentine safely by his side.
He also doesn’t hesitate to get after her if Yorda does get snatched by the enemy. Although I should mention that this is a pragmatic choice - after all, it’s game over if she’s taken. And there’s nothing like a game over to put the dampener on a romantic evening.
4. Squall and Rinoa (Final Fantasy VIII, PS1)
Alright, so Final Fantasy VIII’s love story is told in a pretty ham-fisted manner across four whole discs. But most gamers in the late 90s knew that they were in for a Valentine's treat when the graphic of Squall and Rinoa embracing each other was set as the logo for the latest Final Fantasy game; romance was very much the theme of this one.
In one corner, we have Squall, an introverted, uncaring, utter loner with abandonment issues. Into his life comes Rinoa, a cheerful, vivacious, self-reliant girl who seems to know him all too well. He treats her as a noisy fly at first, but she quickly worms her way into his party.
Through their journeys, they grow fond of each other, experience many close calls, and eventually learn to break down their faults and become better people. The ballroom bit near the beginning of the game is a fine scene, as you watch Squall stumbling over his feet, obviously utterly dumbstruck by this girl who’s suddenly walked into his life. Thankfully he quickly shapes up, begins to express himself and throws out some proper moves like Travolta.
Love plots were nothing new to Final Fantasy, even back then. FF4 gave us the Cecil/Rosa/Kain love triangle. Gamers made their choice between Tifa and Aerith in FF7. But this was the first Final Fantasy to really centre on romance as one of the main plots. While VIII wasn’t as well loved as the other Final Fantasies, Squall and Rinoa’s relationship was still unparalleled to anything else at the time.
3. Solid Snake and Meryl (Metal Gear Solid, PS1)
I should probably tell you straight away, these two do not end up together by the end of the Metal Gear series. It would take about a hundred hours and a million cutscenes to explain, but essentially Snake ages fifty years in a day, and Meryl gets married to someone else, so that was that. You may think they don’t belong on this list as a result. But I want you to understand: Snake had Meryl falling for him despite him being born without a face.
Well, no matter became of these two, you can say this about them: during the time they shared in Metal Gear Solid 1, there was definitely a huge spark. And with Snake being the grizzled, smoking, husky-voiced veteran, and Meryl the young, no-nonsense, shapely brat soldier type, why wouldn’t there be?
No damsel-in-distress was Meryl – she was fully capable of looking after herself. Maybe this is what enabled her to melt the heart of a jaded old soldier like Solid Snake? By the game’s end, you’ll see these two Valentines ride off into the sunset together. Unless you were rubbish at the torture scene, in which case Snake shacks up with geeky Otacon instead.
2. Mr. and Ms. Pac-Man (Pac Man, Ms. Pac-Man Arcade)
Some people out there just need a romantic partner to keep them on the straight and narrow, and Pac-Man is one of them. Before his lady-friend came along, Pac-Man’s life was pretty dull: all he did was run around popping pills, while trying to avoid the local authorities.
Actually, that sounds like top-notch fun. But you can’t spend all your time enjoying yourself and being irresponsible - you have to settle down eventually. Ms. Pac-Man entered the scene, and we can safely assume that Pac-Man was immediately captivated. After all, he had never seen another of his kind before - and female, too. I don’t know why she wasn’t called Pac-Woman, but I must admit I haven’t researched the Pac-Man lore very much.
Here was a true woman of the eighties, who wasn’t afraid to out-do her male counterpart. You think Ms. Pac-Man was hackneyed? Perish the thought. She came with varied level designs, more cutscenes, fruit that moved, and of course, her unmistakable bow.
Make no mistake, she was one impressive yellow blob, and one hell of an eligible bachelorette. Pac-Man presumably gathered enough courage to ask his Valentine out after encountering a kill-screen or two, and their courtship quickly ensued. One pocket full of quarters later, their first child arrived. The question is, when will these two become grandparents?
1. Popo and Nana (Ice Climber, NES/Super Smash Bros. series)
We’ve just taken a look at some great couples in gaming, yes. But the Ice Climbers, with Popo in the blue and Nana in the pink, take the number one spot by miles. Why? Well, more than any other couple in gaming, they exhibit all of the qualities that make a relationship truly strong.
The Ice Climbers are much more well-known for their appearances in the Smash Bros series than their original outing in Ice Climber for NES. Actually, it’s probably a stretch to call them well-known by any measure, but just take a look at the other couples in Smash Bros.
Mario and Peach. Daisy and Luigi. Zelda and Link. Captain Falcon and Zero Suit Samus. The forty-seven Fire Emblem characters. All potentially good couples there, but when it comes down to it, they still fight like hell against each other. But the Ice Climbers recognize that they achieve their greatest feats as a nigh-inseparable team.
Apart, they don't do so well. Together, they can smack foes silly with their hammers and ice attacks. Also, neither one of them minds playing second fiddle to the other, and will gladly take the support role as necessary. I’m willing to bet Nana always gives Popo a few ideas on where she’d like to eat, put it that way.
A relationship needs to be strong, damned strong, if you’re going to scale icy mountains together all day. Popo and Nana have been together for over forty years now, and they still have an unselfish devotion to one another. It doesn’t matter whether you’re young or old, single or married - these two are a romantic inspiration.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
14 February 2025
solid picks. our choice is Kung-Fu Master's big romantic Thomas, who karate kicked and judo chopped his way through hordes of baddies to kick the ass of crime boss Mr X who had kidnapped his girlfriend. truly, a love story for the ages.