Isn't it funny how differently Japanese and American games approach protagonists? Well, I hope you think it's funny, otherwise this article is going to fall pretty flat.

The typical western videogame protagonist is in his late 20's, early 30's. He's often a little "too old for this shit", and is either, or was, a member of some armed force, be it military or mercenary.

If he is currently the member of some army, the game will typically start with him thrust into action with his squad. If it is not a squad based game, this squad will either die or otherwise disappear, and soon the outcome of the entire conflict will rest on our hero's shoulders. If he is an ex-member of some army, the game will begin with him being called back into action, driven by either duty or revenge. It is not uncommon for the hero to be branded a traitor to his past army, causing him to get back into action in order to clear his name, especially in sequels.

The Japanese protagonist is a teenager, usually under the age of 18. He's inexperienced, and is often thrust into action, usually by some calamity, often the destruction of a home town or the disappearance of some family member. Despite his youth, he will still exhibit extraordinary combat proficiency. This will sometimes be explained by some off-hand comment about "all that training you did", or it will be suggested that the hero inherited this skill from his father, who was a well known war hero. Just as often, it will not be explained at all.

For our western hero, the less hair, the better. Being bald is ultimately ideal, but it is acceptable to have a small amount of hair, as long as it is not extravagantly styled, or heaven's forbid, blond. Facial hair is optional.

The Japanese hero has long hair, sometimes hanging down and sometimes spiked. The only important thing is that it's long. The hair can be any color. He will never have facial hair.

The western protagonist will always have a gun, and will only star in FPS's or action games. This rule doesn't apply for western RPG's, where the protagonist will always be a custom created character, where players will struggle with sliders in a vain attempt to make their hero not look like a bland space marine.

The Japanese protagonist will always have a sword, even if his game takes place in space, the wild west, the future, or even the present. The presence of gun technology will never trump cold steel for our hero. Note that this does not mean that the protagonist can't have a gun, just that he will never exclusively carry a gun over a sword. He may have both a sword and a gun. He stars in RPG's and action games.

Our western hero will usually only talk when accepting or giving orders, to verbally dictate his anger and frustrations, or to otherwise be vulgar. There will, however, be at least one scene where our character will act at least kind of sad, but only one.

The  Japanese hero will talk a lot more, usually asking questions.  Really, he'll be talking so much, it's hard to describe exactly what he'll say. He is one chatty bitch. There will be a point close to the climax of the game, usually after some revelation related to the hero's father, where he will freak out and start screaming. Of course, none of this applies if our hero is a silent protagonist, in which case his supporting cast will pick up the slack on the annoying dialogue front. In-between the two is the angst-filled Japanese hero, who is a loner and doesn't learn to trust his friends until the very end of the game.

Of course, there are always some exceptions. Often times Japanese developers will try to make a western style game. These games feature characters who are a weird combination of both sensibilities. Solid Snake is a good example. He doesn't have Japanese long hair, but does have a mullet. He once had facial hair, a Japanese hero no-no, but it was a mustache, defeating the purpose of making him look cool.

I hope you all have fun finding specific examples to discredit my findings.

-Mike Minotti (still jobless, should shave my facial hair)

See this post and more on my site: Give Mike Minotti A Gaming Journalism Job.