Game Gush Gamer

Hello friends and gamers,

Welcome back to triple G, and happy Cinco de Mayo to all my friends and fans of video games!  Cinco de Mayo (not to be confused with Mexican Independence Day which is September 16) is a celebration of the Mexican victory over Napoleon III’s French forces at the Battle of Puebla, on May 5, 1862. The United States takes part in this holiday to celebrate Mexican food, entertainment, culture and traditions! To join in the celebration, I created a video game list for Hispanic video game characters!

I thought about some Hispanic characters in popular video games, and surprisingly, there are not nearly enough! I hope you enjoy the 3 Hispanic characters that relate to how they impacted my gaming experience. Definitely let me know your favorite characters of Hispanic origin in the comments at the bottom of the page! Let’s have a wonderful Cindo de Mayo celebration for video games!

1. Guacamelee! — Juan Aguacate

First on the list, combining a fist full of guac and a rooster crow, Juan Aguacasta will hit you with a chair and launch a dive from the top rope! During the Dia de los Muertos festival, agave farmer Juan Aguacate is killed by Carlos Cartaca. Carlos is an evil skeleton who attacked the village of Santa Luchita and kidnapped Juan’s love interest, Lupita. In the land of the dead, Juan finds a luchadora named Tostada who gives him a mask. When he puts on the mask, he is transformed into a luchador and launched back into the land of the living. The rest of the game is spent by Juan fighting his way through a non-linear platformer world in order to rescue Lapita and stop Carlos from uniting and ruling over both lands.

The most common ending will have Juan stopping Carlos, but he unfortunately is not able to save Lupita. He basically lives the rest of his life until he dies and sees Lupita again in the land of the dead. Bittersweet-ish 🙁

The true ending, however, can be unlocked if the player clears all the hidden trials in the game. Juan stops Carlos and Lupita still dies, but Lupita is then revived by Juan’s mystical mask that was given to him by Tostada! Soon after, the couple return to the village and live a happily married life! Yay! 😀

2. Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel — Fiona

Third-person co-op tactical shooter series, Army of Two, marked a third entrance into the gaming universe in 2013. The Devil’s Cartel features two original protagonists, Alpha and Bravo. Our heroes mingle in the affairs of the Mexican Cartel. An infamous figure called El Diablo joins the war. He ends up as a familiar, yet shocking threat from Alpha and Bravo’s past. Army of Two was on the rise to being a powerful franchise, but critics disliked the removal of co-op interactions that were in previous games. The Devil’s Cartel was also launched between Tomb Raider and Bioshock: Infinite. I’m sure that was a partial reason that sent this title a little under people’s radar. Fans have yet to be teased with a 4th Army of Two game, and it sadly doesn’t look like we’ll get another one any time soon.

Fiona is number 2 on my Cinco de Mayo celebration list for Hispanic video game characters. Five years prior to the events of The Devil’s Cartel, Fiona is saved by Alpha and Bravo . At one point, Fiona rescues them from a cartel compound and regroups at her safehouse. Fiona brings Alpha and Bravo back to her safe house and agrees to help them in their mission to takedown the cartel. She was a strong and independent Mexican female character that performed excellent hand-to-hand combat and held military commando experience! Unfortunately, she died at the hands of El Diablo later in the game, but that doesn’t take away from the fact she was an awesome Hispanic video game character.

3. The Evil Within — Sebastion Castellanos

The Evil Within is one of my favorite video games of all time! It’s right up there with Bioshock. I have to say, The Evil Within is a crazy ride, and The Evil Within 2 launches you ever deeper into the rabbit hole of weird/horrific/supernatural. I love it!

Major Spoilers Ahead for The Evil Within & The Evil Within 2

Sebastion Castellanos is a realist. He lost his family, blamed himself like any normal person would do, and took a nosedive from being top dog at his job to the sarcastic sweat-stain in the back of the room. In spite of all that, he fearlessly pursues the insane Ruben Victoriano while unknowingly being in a STEM chamber. The Evil Within series would take a long time to explain every important detail, but STEM is essentially a sleep chamber that transmits your mind into a false reality world, similar to the Matrix. You might understand why it would be difficult to defeat Ruben since he literally controlled everything in the false reality.

But Sebastion Castellanos gains the upper hand, defeats Ruben, and then in The Evil Within 2, finds his wife and daughter who didn’t die after all!! Yes.. Mind = Blown! I know I spoiled most of the games just now, but if you still haven’t played either one, I highly recommend you do so. The storylines are impressive feats and the gameplay is a unique experience for horror survival genres! Both games are thrilling, hyper-vigilant, mysterious, scary, and absolutely fun to figure out!

More Hispanic/Latin Video Game Characters!

• Dominic Santiago – Gears of War
• Isabela Keyes – Dead Rising
• Carlos Olivera – Resident Evil 3
• Bane – Injustice
• King – Tekken
• Sombra – Overwatch
• Javier Escuella – Red Dead Redemption series
• Tyson Rios – Army of Two
• Antonio Zapatero – D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die

What About You?

Who are your favorite characters from the list? Did I miss a character you really like? Celebrate your favorite Cinco de Mayo video game characters with me! Don’t be shy. This is a completely judge-free space with no hate for what you enjoy!