PlayStation offers a number of villains across multiple developers and publishers' games alike. These companies, such as Konami, Capcom, Sega, and others have released games on Sony's platforms to tell some of the best stories in gaming history. As such, one of the best things about describing villains on PlayStation includes the multitude and variety of characters spanning decades from some of the most respected series in history.
Also, thanks to the re-releases of classic titles, PlayStation owners can experience some of these stories as well as the origins of some of these deceitful and destructive forces of nature. Likewise, some of them fall from grace and become tragic heroes in their own right. For better or for worse, these strong-willed and cunning individuals created an everlasting impact as the ones we love or simply hate to love and love to hate.
9 Felt Sorry For: Dracula
The perennial of Konami's Castlevania series is the Lord of Darkness. He commands the demons of hell and summons them to help conquer humanity. However, Symphony of the Night might be the first game where he is portrayed as a tragic villain.
Known as Vlad Tepes Dracula, the Count lived his life in Wallachia along with his beloved wife, Lisa. However, when humans tried and executed her as a witch, Dracula retaliated by attempting genocide on humanity. Their son, Alucard, not only had to watch his mother burn at the stake, but also had to fight his own father in a battle to the death. Dracula, even in all of his seething rage against humanity, wanted nothing more than to live by the side of his betrothed forever.
8 Deserved It: Zeus
While Dracula regretted having to fight his son in mortal combat, another man sought to kill his son after abandoning him at birth. The Greek God, Zeus, was Kratos' mortal enemy in God of War 2 and 3. The ruler of Mt. Olympus betrayed his half-mortal son who sought vengeance on the deity.
Zeus willfully attempted to kill Kratos while his daughter, Athena, took a mortal blow meant for him. Without any thought of reconciliation or atonement, Zeus chose instead to wage his war on Kratos and the Titans alike. While Zeus is portrayed in a sympathetic light, such as in Disney's Hercules or Netflix's Blood of Zeus, there is no shred of decency or mercy within the evil and sadistic father of Kratos. As such, his ruin could not come soon enough and there's scarcely a better feeling of revenge than striking him down for good.
7 Felt Sorry For: The Boss
On the flipside of vengeance, the antagonist of Metal Gear Solid 3 was once Naked Snake's mentor. Due to a failed infiltration of the Soviet Union, however, The Boss turned on Snake, sent him off a bridge, and even fought him several times, defeating him at every turn.
Players could have sworn that The Boss defected to the Soviet Union and betrayed Naked Snake, and America, for their own gain. In truth, the ending of the game reveals that she was a scapegoat by the U.S. government. Only after killing her in combat do we learn that The Boss was just another victim of coldhearted human beings.
6 Deserved It: Masayoshi Shido
If Zeus wasn't bad enough, the primary antagonist of Persona 5 was the very reason that the protagonist, codenamed Joker, had his high school years ruined. While attempting to sexually assault a woman, Joker stepped in to defend her and, in doing so, was arrested and put on probation for assault. The game culminates in the battle against Shido who plans to lead Japan as Prime Minister and rule as an iron fist.
As with the previous villains of the game, Shido is a heartless, cruel, and calculating monster. However, Shido takes it to the worst possible degree when he realized that Goro Akechi is his son. Using him as a proxy killer, Shido had planned to commit filicide and murder his own flesh and blood just to ensure his standing. Nothing felt better than forcing Shido to confess his crimes to the public.
5 Felt Sorry For: Akira Nishikiyama
Despite being the main antagonist of Yakuza, and its remake Yakuza Kiwami, fans may know Nishiki as Kiryu's best friend in Yakuza 0. A fellow Yakuza who bears the tattoo of a koi on his back, Nishiki's downfall began when he saved his girlfriend from the Dojima Clan patriarch, Sohei Dojima, from raping her. Despite murdering the boss, his best friend Kiryu took the fall so they could live their life together.
His jealousy for Kiryu spun into him eventually running his own family in the Yakuza and eventually murdering a rival clansman. Nishiki crossed the line when he and Kiryu could no longer see eye to eye. Their battle reached the climax in the Millenium Tower where Nishiki sacrificed himself to take down the true enemy, Jingu, and save his rival and best friend in the process.
4 Deserved It: Brian Irons
The police chief of Raccoon City debuted in Resident Evil 2. In the original game, he's depicted as a psycho with an obsession for dead women. In the remake, he's depicted as even more violent and cruel.
Brians cooperated with Umbrella to give him safety while allowing the virus to run rampant in his city. He kidnapped Sherry Birkin and attempted to murder her. Irons was discovered having murdered the mayor's daughter to fulfill his sick fantasies with a dead woman. Nothing felt more satisfying than G (William Birkin) ending his life violently for his atrocious crimes.
3 Felt Sorry For: Kuja
The antagonist of Final Fantasy IX was the creation of Garland in the world of Terra. While his own designs meant to shape the world around his theatrical whimsies, learning of his true origin and his limited time span shook him mentally. In his rage, he awoke his Trance form, defeated the party, and destroyed the world of Terra before departing to Gaia.
"Why should the world exist without me?" The narcissistic and flamboyant young man attempted to destroy Gaia as well but not before being stopped by Zidane and his party. Even approaching death's door, Zidane rescued him from the final dungeon and brought him out to live out his last moments with a brother at his side.
2 Deserved It: Dahia Hawthorne
A fairly unorthodox choice for a PlayStation villain. However, the Ace Attorney Trilogy made its way to the PlayStation 4 in 2019. As such, there is probably no one more deserving, more sinister, and viler than this woman and what she has done.
The villain of Case 1 portrays the damsel in distress before revealing her cunning, condescending, and vengeful true colors. Unfortunately, her trial of blood extends past Case 1 as her horrific, murderous backstory is shown in Case 4. Having manipulated a man, her step-sister, and attempting to murder Diego Armando, Dahlia's story comes full circle to bring one more victim to the grave as a result of her actions. Ace Attorney features many psychopathic villains but none shed the darkness of humanity's absolute worst better than this hateful woman.
1 Felt Sorry For: Artorias
The hero of Lordran, and Knight of Gwyn, appeared in Dark Souls originally as a lore character. Artorias of the Abyss was known for traveling into the Abyss to save Oolacile from its dark corruption. In doing so, he saved his companion, Sif, before becoming corrupt by the darkness itself.
Artorias' story comes full circle as players who have the DLC, or complete edition of the game, enter Oolacile through a time warp. They battle the once noble soul and even enlist the help of his comrade, Sif, in a battle against Malus. Despite his status as a hero, nothing felt quite as empty meeting the corrupted mad slayer and being forced to end his life.