Ok, so, goggles. Mostly flying goggles, but anything goes around here! Many video game characters wear them, and generally they look a bit ridiculous. Ever wondered who would make it into a clearly thought out and well researched list of the top 5 goggle-wearing video game characters? No? Well I’m going to tell you anyway, minus of course the well researched and clearly thought out bit…
…Before I get down to this extremely important piece of business, I just want to thank Chris from OverThinker Y for providing the inspiration for this article, in the form of his ground breaking piece of research from earlier this year – The Best Jackets in Gaming. Without this article (and also without a drunken Friday night conversation with my partner), this article wouldn’t have been possible (well, it might have been but it probably wouldn’t have happened), so thank you!
So without further ado, here, in no particular order, are the top 5 goggle wearers from the world of video games:
Rita Mordio (Tales of Vesperia)
Our first winner is Rita Mordio, a feisty genius-mage who can control Aer & Blastia but not her temper. As you can see here, Rita is looking rather smart with her mismatched legwear and whip thing. What’s of interest here however are the things sitting on her head. I think Rita pulls off these goggles with casual aplomb and I particularly like how they don’t appear to ruffle her hair too much. Whilst she isn’t often shown actually wearing them to protect her eyes, as a research scientist she has every reason to keep them handy!
Jeanne (Bayonetta Series)
Being an Umbran witch, riding motor bikes and flying light aircraft isn’t easy, and definitely calls for some eye-protection. So here we have Bayonetta’s friend and rival Jeanne rocking some biker goggles. Having ditched the snazzy red specs from the first installment of the series, here she opts for a more practical, yet equally stylish option. If you have questions about how Jeanne’s new look came into being, please check out Platinum Games’ blog article on the subject written by freelance character designer Mari Shimazaki.
Hwoarang (Tekken Series)
Ahh! It’s cool, moody and somewhat aggressive Hwoarang. First making an appearance in Tekken 3, Hwoarang has proved his mettle with his (literally) ass-kicking Taekwondo moves. Hwoarang famously rides a motorbike, which explains the presence of the goggles, and he gets extra points here for having goggles that match his hair. He also hates Jin Kazama (who doesn’t even wear goggles!), and that makes him ok in my book!
Cid Highwind (Final Fantasy VII)
Our friend Cid here is a pilot, tasked with driving the Highwind airship and thus enabling our cast of misfits to travel around the planet. His no-nonsense attitude and, er, rugged dress sense are fitting of a man in his position, and every good airship pilot needs a good pair of goggles, even if when posing for pictures he puts them on his head instead of his eyes.
Chizuru Urashima (Project X Zone 2)
Urashima, aka the weirdest sales clerk in history is our final winner for today. Again showing that no one actually ever wears goggles to protect their eyes, Urashima proves that pretty much any outfit is better when accessorized with goggles. Now if she would just hurry up and fix the Dragonturtle Mk.1 so we can get rid of all those pesky gold chains…
So, what do you think? am I wrong? Are these not the top 5 goggle wearers in video game history? I’m pretty sure my research is rock solid, but if you wish to present your own evidence on the issue, or even confess to your own goggle wearing exploits, please do so in comments below. Otherwise, it’s time to end this ridiculous charade and get back to writing proper posts!
Thanks for reading
Pix1001 x
Shoot the Rookie 
Cheers for the shout-out to my ground-breaking research! It was an epic endeavour – and I think goggles might be even cooler than jackets. Let’s combine our powers and do a Best People Who Wear Both Goggles And Jackets!
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Great list! …. but you forgot Raz from Psychonauts! 😛
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Ha! I hadn’t thought of that. Everyone in Japanese games wears goggles! A few in western games too. What a bizarre fashion statement to make.
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That sounds like a classic article in the making, perhaps a snappier title though? 😛
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Great shout! I see a second edition of this coming on…
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They pretend to have a practical reason to have them, but they never actually put them over their eyes, so it’s clearly for fashion.
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What’s Hwoarang using his for in a fight? Are his kicks just THAT fast?
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They are certainly powerful, but I think he is more likely to wear them when speeding away from the police on his motorbike.
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Not gaming related, but for the longest time, it was almost a rule that in the Digimon anime the main character wore such goggles. Hell, I think there’s only one case where they don’t haha
Awesome list but if you’ll allow me to make a couple of nominations for a future issue: There’s always Catwoman from the Arkham Batman series, those are lovely goggles she wears for no reason whatsoever–theoretically she puts them on when you turn on her cat senses, but I’m not entirely sure.
And second, I’ll add the lovely and badass Tracer from Overwatch for your consideration. Stylish goggles and she actually wears them, and her background is fighter pilot, so she’s got the full package!
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Given what you said inspired this, Drunken Goggles seems like a fitting name 😀
A couple I’ll throw out just for fun. Bottles from Banjo Kazooie, and Sam Fisher from Splinter Cell.
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Okay, maybe a SLIGHTLY less specific brief! What else do fashionable people wear in games…? Capes? Boots? Gloves?
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Great picks! I’ve never played Overwatch or I’d have definitely included Tracer, she looks so cool! I think with these suggestions there is now enough ammo for a part 2 of this article! Funny you should mention Digimon, that really takes me back in time! Haven’t thought about Tai and his goggles for ages. There are quite a few Digimon games, but I’ve never played one. Quite a few of them aren’t available outside of Japan.
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Lol! Drunken Goggles it is! Had to look up Sam Fisher, I’ve never played Splinter Cell, and I have to say those are pretty awesome goggles! Do they have a practical function (other than protecting his eyes)?
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I think I played maybe a couple of Digimon games in my life and most were pretty bad. The anime series had a level of coherence the games always lacked, particularly when it came to monster evolutions. The games tended to play rather loose with them, jumping all over the place.
And yes, part 2 must happen! And then you could do masks or even just glasses 🙂
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oh yea, they had one of the games fundamental mechanics from what i remember. Night vision and thermal vision. You could do cool things like shoot out the lights making it hard for guards to see and use the night vision to help take them out. Or if you’re following a guy who uses a keypad to enter a code for a door, you could let him go through, and quickly look with your thermal vision to see what numbers he pressed. Very cool stuff and not just a fashion accessory. Talking about this makes me want to play it again now.
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I really like the Fashion design from Rita Mordio. And the goggles (well I just typed Google because I do that to much) really finishes the design!
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