The 10 Best Video Game Duos of All Time, Ranked

3 days ago 21

Joel and Ellie looking ahead in The Last of Us video game

Published Aug 22, 2026, 5:18 AM EDT

Writing from the Chicagoland area in Illinois, Robert is an avid movie watcher and will take just about any excuse to find time to go to his local movie theaters. Robert graduated from Bradley University with degrees in Journalism and Game Design with a minor in Film Studies. Robert tries his best to keep up with all the latest movie releases, from those released in theaters to those released on streaming. While he doesn't always keep up with the latest TV shows, he makes it a goal to watch nearly every major new release possible. He has been honing his craft and following any and all movie news all his life, leading up to now, where he has a vast knowledge of film and film history. He also logs every movie that he watches on his Letterboxd page, and has hosted a weekly online movie night with his closest friends for over 6 years.

There is an inherent appeal to pairs and duos that make characters that much more memorable and effective throughout media, as the interactions and dynamics with a second character can do so much in terms of writing and core dynamics. This facet is seen in all different forms of media, but video games especially have a vast and overwhelming number of iconic duos during each era and point in video game history. From beloved mascot icons of the early years to intricately layered characters of the modern day, the number of iconic duos in the world of video games is countless.

Each of these duos have grown to be massively iconic and influential within gaming as a whole, whether they be the faces of a certain genre or era of video games or some even breaking through the barrier to be immediately recognizable by many non-gamers. These duos continuously stand out as some of the most celebrated and acclaimed of the genre, pushing the medium forward with their inspiring greatness throughout their franchises.

10 Ratchet and Clank

The PlayStation brand has seen many prominent duos over the years, yet few have lasted for as long and have been as continuously iconic as the sci-fi duo of Ratchet and Clank. The feline alien creature and his small sentient robot companion have been at the helm of the PlayStation brand ever since their debut in the PS2 era, continuously having new releases as recent as the PS5 with Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, one of the best games on PS5.

What is so distinctly compelling about this duo is that they have evolved greatly throughout the franchise, delving into deeper and more intricate storylines while still keeping the same cartoony charm that made them so enthralling in the first place. They have effective banter and a genuine friendship that grows throughout the series, complementing each other's best traits and still being one of PlayStation's defining mascots nearly 25 years later.

9 Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong

Donkey Kong originally started out as one of the most iconic video game villains of all time, with his titular arcade game cementing him in all-time status before the main Mario series would replace him with Bowser as the main villain. However, Donkey Kong would change and become a protagonist all his own in Donkey Kong Country, accompanied by his nephew Diddy Kong. From that point on, they became an iconic duo and one of the best examples of a hero-sidekick dynamic in gaming.

While both characters have their own standalone experiences separate from one another, they have an infectious dynamic when they are working together as heroes, either in the main series Donkey Kong games or even in other series like in the story mode for Super Smash Bros. Brawl. While not the most iconic of Nintendo's various duos, they've stood the test of time to be a fan-favorite duo to many gamers.

8 Master Chief and Cortana

Master Chief looking at his hologram companion Cortana in 'Halo Infinite'

An emotional confidant that helps support the protagonist in their endeavors without actively being on the front lines can make all of the difference in the story of an action game, with few video game duos understanding this exceptional dynamic quite like Master Chief and Cortana from Halo. This duo of intergalactic super soldier and high-powered artificial intelligence has been by each other's side for each step of the Halo franchise, creating a powerful bond that serves as the emotional core for the entire series.

It helps that Cortana herself and her methods of giving helpful, important information to Master Chief directly reflect in gameplay, allowing the player to form a bond and connection with Cortana, just as Master Chief is doing during the course of the games. Even as the Halo franchise largely diminished in quality, the strengths of this duo are the absolute backbone that never stops this franchise from being anything other than an icon of FPS gaming.

7 Nathan Drake and Sully

A powerful bond of a man and his surrogate father who have bonded over traveling the world and discovering vast treasures with one another, Nathan Drake and Victor Sullivan are the heart and exceptional friendship that make Uncharted one of the very best PlayStation franchises. With each entry in the franchise, the player gets the full scope and understanding of their relationship, one built upon a mutual love of treasure hunting and becoming genuine friends through thick and thin.

Especially as the series grew more cinematic and emotionally compelling with each subsequent entry, the dynamic and chemistry felt between these characters became that much more palpable and impactful to the player. This is all on top of the memorable snarky banter that they have with one another throughout the series, acting just like long-time friends who have seen it all together. The vocal performances by Nolan North and Richard McGonagle also go a long way in terms of amplifying the charm and dynamic of these characters.

6 Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima

Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima dancing together on the dance floor in 'Yakuza 0'

There's nothing quite like a fierce rivalry built upon respect between two characters that feel so vastly different from one another, a dynamic that perfectly describes the duo of Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima from the Yakuza series. While both prominent figures in the underground world of the Japanese mafia, Kiryu's mentality is much more Stoic and honorable, while Majima is instead unpredictable and eccentric in nature. This makes their rivalry that much more entertaining to experience as a play, both in terms of storytelling and in gameplay with various exciting boss fights against Majima.

However, being the two most prominent characters in the franchise, their relationship and rivalry grow greatly throughout the franchise, to the point where now they both have a deep respect for one another even despite their vast differences. In a franchise filled to the brim with both emotional central storytelling and wildly chaotic side-content, this duo almost acts like a perfect representation of the greatest strengths of Yakuza as a whole.

Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars

Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you'd actually make it out of alive.

💊The Matrix

🔥Mad Max

🌧️Blade Runner

🏜️Dune

🚀Star Wars

TEST YOUR SURVIVAL →

You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.

APull on every thread until I understand the system — then figure out how to break it. BStop asking questions and start stockpiling — food, fuel, weapons. Questions don't keep you alive. CKeep my head down, observe carefully, and trust no one until I know who's pulling the strings. DStudy the patterns. Every system has a rhythm — learn it, and you learn how to survive it. EFind the people fighting back and join them. You can't fix a broken galaxy alone.

NEXT QUESTION →

In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.

AKnowledge. If you understand the system, you don't need resources — you can generate them. BFuel. Everything else — movement, power, escape — runs on it. CTrust. In a world of fakes and informants, a truly reliable ally is rarer than any commodity. DWater. And after water, information — the two things empires are truly built on. EShips and credits. The galaxy is big — you survive it by being able to move through it freely.

NEXT QUESTION →

What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you're honest about what you're actually afraid of.

AThat reality itself is a lie — that everything I experience has been constructed to keep me compliant. BA raid. No warning, no mercy — just the roar of engines and then nothing left. CBeing identified. Once someone with power decides you're a problem, you're already out of time. DBeing outmanoeuvred — losing a political game I didn't even know I was playing. EThe Empire tightening its grip until there's nowhere left to run.

NEXT QUESTION →

How do you deal with authority you don't trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.

ASubvert it from the inside — learn its rules well enough to weaponise them against it. BIgnore it and stay out of its reach. The further from any power structure, the better. CAppear to comply while doing exactly what I need to do. Visibility is the enemy. DManoeuvre within it carefully. You can't beat a system you refuse to understand. EResist openly when I have to. Some things are worth the risk of being seen.

NEXT QUESTION →

Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn't just tactical — it's physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.

AUnderground bunkers and server rooms — cramped, artificial, but with access to everything that matters. BOpen wasteland — brutal sun, no shelter, constant movement. At least the threat is honest. CA dense, rain-soaked city where you can disappear into the crowd and nobody asks questions. DMerciless desert — extreme heat, no water, and something enormous living beneath the sand. EThe fringe — backwater planets and busy spaceports where the Empire's attention rarely reaches.

NEXT QUESTION →

Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.

AA tight crew of believers who've seen behind the curtain and have nothing left to lose. BOne or two people I'd trust with my life. Any more than that and someone talks. CNobody, ideally. Alliances are liabilities. I work alone unless I have no choice. DA community bound by shared hardship and mutual survival — people who need each other to last. EA ragtag team with wildly different skills and total commitment when it counts.

NEXT QUESTION →

Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they're actually made of.

AI won't harm the innocent — even the ones who'd report me without hesitation. BI do what I have to to protect the people I've chosen. Everything else is negotiable. CThe line shifts depending on who's asking and what's at stake. DI draw a long-term line — nothing that compromises my people's future, even if it'd help now. ESome lines, once crossed, can't be uncrossed. I know which ones they are.

NEXT QUESTION →

What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.

AWaking others up — dismantling the illusion so no one else has to live inside it. BFinding somewhere — or someone — worth protecting. A reason to keep moving. CAnswers. Understanding what I am, what any of this means, before time runs out. DLegacy — shaping the future in a way that outlasts me by generations. EFreedom — for myself, for others, for every world still living under someone else's boot.

REVEAL MY WORLD →

Your Fate Has Been Calculated You'd Survive In…

Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.

The Matrix

You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You're a systems thinker who can't help but notice the seams in things.

You're drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You'd find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines' worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You'd be the one probing the walls for the door.

Mad Max

The wasteland doesn't reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That's you.

You don't need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you're good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.

Blade Runner

You'd survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.

You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You're not a hero. But you're not lost, either.
In Blade Runner's world, that distinction is everything.

Dune

Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.

Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they're survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You'd learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn't just survive Arrakis — you'd begin to reshape it.

Star Wars

The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn't have it any other way.

You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You'd gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire's grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn't something you're capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

5 Scorpion and Sub-Zero

Fighting games are home to countless memorable and iconic duos, as prominent archetypes battling against each other is always going to lead to rivalries and iconic pairings to face off. Few fighting game duos come close to the iconic growth and depth of Scorpion and Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat, who have had just about every different dynamic possible over the years, from mortal enemies to the best of friends. With a deep-rooted history of betrayal in their pasts, it simply isn't a Mortal Kombat game without these two colorful ninjas going for each other's throats at one point.

Even though they are not even the primary protagonists of the franchise, Scorpion and Sub-Zero continue to be the icons of the entire franchise, with their rivalry being at the heart of the carnage and bloodshed of the entire franchise. As the franchise evolved past simple blood and guts and added intricate story modes, the characters themselves became that much more compelling as their rivalry and bond evolved beyond simply being the original two ninja characters.

4 Joel and Ellie

No video game duo more aptly symbolizes the evolution and growth of storytelling in video games quite like Joel Miller and Ellie Williams in The Last of Us, a duo of lost souls who manage to bring the humanity out in one another during the painful despair of the post-apocalypse. It's this beautiful story of fulfilling roles lost in their lives, with Joel getting to be a father again after losing his daughter at the beginning of the outbreak, while Ellie gets to have a real, impactful parental figure in her life for the first time.

The cinematic video game reaches its greatest emotional highs thanks to the dynamic and growth of this iconic duo, as they grow from being annoyed with each other at the beginning to being a real co-dependent pair by its end, fighting for each other's lives, even if it means destroying everything. They might just be the greatest duo that modern gaming has provided, being the forefront of cinematic storytelling in video games.

3 Sonic and Tails

One of gaming's most timeless friendships and some of the most iconic video game characters of all time, Sonic the Hedgehog and his best friend Tails are a duo whose iconic status arguably goes well beyond the video game industry as a whole. They're a duo that is synonymous with the very culture of gaming in the '90s, at the forefront of some of the greatest platformers of a generation and the unmistakable mascots of SEGA at their height as a gaming company.

It may seem silly to give such high praise to a talking blue hedgehog and his flying yellow fox friend, but this cartoon absurdism is at the heart of exactly what made gaming so fun and creative for gamers of the era. Through countless memorable games, they have stayed the best of friends, rarely leaving each other's sides and fighting for what they believe is right. Gaming simply wouldn't be the same without the influence of this iconic duo.

2 Ryu and Ken

One of the simplest ways for a fighting video game to pad out and add more playable characters in its roster is to have a "clone character" that mirrors a lot of elements of an already existing fighter, but with slight changes to make them their own character. The very notion and existence of clone characters as an archetype can be traced back to the popularity of Ryu and Ken, the kung-fu masters who act as the face of the Street Fighter franchise.

Their friendly rivalry and love of sparring with one another have made them the perfect pair for fighting games as a whole, made all the more important that their classic fighting game archetype, the shoto, came into popularity thanks to them. Nearly every other fighting game rivalry has some influence that traces back to the dynamic of Ryu and Ken, whose friendship and dynamic has grown across the series as one of gaming's greatest duos.

1 Mario and Luigi

Mario and Luigi smiling at each other in the ending of Luigi's Mansion 3

When the very concept of the greatest duos in video games is brought up, it's impossible to perceive any other duo that would take the top spot that isn't Mario and Luigi, the legendary brothers that have still been the face of video games as a medium since their debut in the early '80s. The aptly titled Super Mario Bros. are exactly what one would want out of a video game duo, having similarities yet distinct differences from one another in terms of gameplay and personality, as well as complementing each other's greatest attributes.

While many of the early titles simply had them separately playable, with Luigi being the face of player 2 in gaming, their energy as a pair is at its best in various spinoff games, such as the Mario & Luigi series and the various Mario Sports games. Mario's charming, always ready attitude complements Luigi's scaredy-cat personality perfectly, as this duo continues to find new ways to delight with each entry in this gargantuan franchise. No other video game duo comes close to the levels of timelessness and stature that these brothers have been upholding for decades.