Summary
Say what you will about us gamers, we love us some animal friends in our games. We love them enough to warrant the existence of an entire platform solely dedicated to telling us if we can pet them or not in every new release, in fact. But which are the cutest, and where can you find them?
Given the sheer number of furry and not-so furry animal friends who’ve stolen our hearts over the years, there’s no way any list like this could ever be all-inclusive of every cute video game animal, but here are ten video game animals whose cuteness immediately stole our hearts.
Origin Game Genre:
Action Platformer/Puzzle Platformer
One of gaming’s earliest adorable woodland creatures, the Tweety Bird adjacent Flickies, who’ve been forcibly stuffed into a mechanical suit alaFNAFby the notorious Doctor Robotnik, come to us from the green hills of one of gaming’s earliest icons:Sonic the Hedgehog.
Sure, a Flicky isn’t technically a real animal, but birds are real animals, and Flickies look enough like birds to count in our books. They’re such cute birds, in fact, that we still go out of our way to save as many as we can whenwe play the Genesis originals; Flickies are as retro as they are adorable, and we wouldn’t have them any other way.
Metroidvania
If you want something made better,put it in a mech suit; take the undeniable charm of Gato Roboto’s purring protagonist, Kiki, for example. Alone, Kiki is a cat, which is very cute, but if you put her in a mech Kiki becomes both cute and awesome, which somehow makes both the awesome and the cute aspects of Gato Roboto much more powerful than they otherwise would be, and we loved it for that.
This indie Metroidvania hitmay be on the shorter side, but its heart-meltingly adorable kitten protagonist more than makes up for its lack of length. We love you, Kiki the mech driving cat. Don’t ever leave us.
Adventure
Cutest squid you’ve ever seen, isn’t he? Ikachan is a bit of a niche title, coming to us from Studio Pixel, the Japanese indie developer who would later rise to global fame thanks to the likes ofCave Story, but Ikachan and his adorable little tentacles came first.
His brave character and heroic deedsonly add to the cute factor, and his little hat, received later in the game to assist with undersea travel, is just too cute not to gush over. Seriously, if you’ve never played Ikachan before, make an effort to spend some time with this little fella and try not to be swooned by his charms.
Pet Simulator
Nintendo struck gold with their dog-raising simulatorNintendogsback on the Nintendo DS, and while yes, the game can be a bit on the shallow side, it’s doubtful anybody was looking forFinal Fantasy Rebirthlevels of narrative and gameplay complexity from these games in the first place, hence why Nintendogs was able to take off and spawn sequels the way it did.
Is it a little bit of a cop-out to include the game about raising cute animals on the list of cute animals in games? perhaps, but on the other hand, Nintendogs is the best game about raising cute animals, so it kind of goes without saying that it at least bears mentioning here. As for which is the cutest, just pick any breed you like; they’re all puppies, and they’re all a delight.
Let’s be honest here, even if you’re not a cat person,Strayis a cute idea that sees you take control of a ginger tabby cat on a missionin a post-apocalyptic world, so cute in fact that you could probably make a whole game out of it! …Oh wait.
We probably don’t need to tell you that it’s a blast to play, because really, that’s not terribly important compared to just how far the game goes to make sure its felines behave and move believably on screen, but we do need to say that Cat (yes, that’s their actual name) is easily the cutest critter on PS5, and they deserve both kisses and a little treat.
Cult of the Lamb
Roguelike, Strategy
Cute and trustworthy are not the same word. If they were, the titular lamb from Devolver Digital’s literal cult classicCult of the Lambwouldn’t be anywhere near this list, given their frankly dubious occupation as a literal cult leader, but as it stands, just look at them, they’re adorable.
The game attached to the animal is pretty cute too in a cosmic horror sort of way,and you’ll need to be careful and strategic if you want to succeed in the game, but all that aside, just one look at those cute little eyes and we’re ready to give our hearts and souls to their no doubt entirely wholesome little cause. Aww, who’s a good cult leader?
Survival, Sandbox
. After a tense battle between the axolotls inMinecraft, Dr. Shrunks in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and the characters from AK-Xolotl, which we promise is a real game featuring AK-wielding axolotls and not some bizarre fever dream we had after an especially crazy night in college, gaming’s greatest rendition of the iconic Mexican salamander is unquestionablythe blocky lil pastel buddies who swim freely in select areas of the world’s favorite sandbox game.
This is for many reasons, not the least of which being that you can create an army of the little guys to help you fight off guardians if you want to, but we think it’s the sounds of the Minecraft axolotls that really seal the deal in terms of the cute factor.
Farming Sim
Look at this cow. Look at her nose.Harvest Moon64’s cows are probably the cutest virtual cows we’ve ever seen, Miltank be darned. Honestly, she’s like what would happen if Kirby was turned into a cow, she’s adorable!
Now yes, aside from the cows there is a bit of an elephant in the Harvest Moon barn too, that beingthe incredibly long story of the Harvest Moon brand name in the Westand all the terrible things that have happened to it over the years, as fans of the series know all too well by now, however if you focus your attention on the cow instead of thinking about that, you’ll feel better. It’s like magic; the thing’s just too darn cute to facilitate sadness of any kind, least of all sadness about a messy IP license.
Life Sim
Realistically, any character fromAnimal Crossingcould theoretically show up here, with some exceptions, which is kind of the whole point of the game in New Horizons and even before that, as it was always a major selling point for the series. Come for the cute critters on the box, stay because you have a home loan to pay off.
Tom Nook is cute, Isabelle is adorable,Celeste is darling, and there are many more we haven’t mentioned here, but at the end of the day, we picked Marshall because he’s a pouty little squirrel whose name sounds kind of like “marshmallow” and that’s just too much. His fashion sense is impeccable, his swagger is off the charts, and that little face of his is beyond compare; sorry Raymond, but the squirrel boy wins this round.
Action Platformer
First off, it’s a Shiba, what more do you want, and secondly, he’s not just a very good boy who plays with you when you need a pick me up, he’s a very good boy who knows how to find extra power moons for you inSuper Mario Odyssey. This is what perfection looks like, folks. A Shiba in a hat.
There’s been some speculation about this little pupper and where exactly he came from, most say he’s a model port fromNintendogs + Cats for the 3DS, but regardless of where he’s from, one thing is for sure: he’s the cutest Shiba we’ve ever seen, and probably also the cutest animal we’ve ever met in a video game. Good boy, Shiba, we love you.
