Gamespot is currently running a competition in which gamers vote to decide the greatest video game hero of all time, and, of course, Link has made it to the final four.
He is currently locked in a neck-and-neck battle with Gordon Freeman of Half-Life fame, and is just barely losing by 0.4%. You can check out the competition here.
Thanks to all of the various people who submitted this news via our Submit News button.
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October 4th, 2009 at 10:46 am
Go link :3
October 4th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Why is Link even compared to that guy? Commo'n everybody has to vote, Zelda is better than that other game, never even played whatever!!!
October 4th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Come on everybody! Vote for Link!!!!
October 4th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Be respectful for Gordon. The fact that he isn't a classical character and made it to the Semi-Finals probably means a lot.
October 4th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫
Everybody vote for Link.
Everybody vote for Zelda.
Nobody has even heard about Gordon,
yeah nobody even know who he is… ♫♫♫♫
♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫
Half Life??? Commooooo'n!!! Who are those people voting for HL GF???
October 4th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
I give respect to Gordon (love the half-life series) but I believe in Link more.
This is really close so everyone better vote!
October 4th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
I like Gordon (another silent protaganist) better, mostly because I love the way the HL series tells it's story, through enviroment. Sorry link, but I gotta give this one to Gordon.
October 4th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
^ Not a Zelda fan there (Edracon)
Link ftw. He's losing by like .8 percent atm. Get voting.
October 4th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
@Watties:
I am a Zelda fan, but I think Gordon is a better hero. He lead a huge rebellion against aliens that took over the world 20 years before he got there. And when he was once again alone, he brought down the citadel of C17 which allowed humans to start reproducing, and get back on their feet. The keyword here is LED, he LED something, he was a leader. Link did not from what we saw.
It was still a hard decision for me, as I love the two series, it was just that one thing that tipped the greater hero bit to Gordon.
October 4th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
Nobody can insult gordon, he rocks! Yet, i voted for link, Its hard to like a silent charcter so it takes a long tim and te zelda series has had time to do that. Half life has ony had 4 games and some where little more than expantions. I find the backround charcters are ore likeable, if it had been barney or alyx v link I might have even voted for them.
October 4th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
5 games…. Yeah, two where expansions, but they showed the story of another person during the same event (talking about the HL1 expansions), and the episodes for HL2 are continuations of the HL2 story.
Still love the zelda games though.
October 4th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
Half life is actually probably about equal in qualty of gameplay, and they're quiet similar charcters exept one wears a tunic and one has a beard.
October 4th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
I'm sorry, but sailing off into unknown territory around the world at like 12 years old to defeat the great king of evil who has a stranglehold on the world
That in my opinion is one of the greatest if not the greatest representation of a hero that I've ever heard, vs Gordon who a fuckin doctor who fights aliens >_> who gives a shit
October 4th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
*who's
October 4th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
@Sanitys Theif:
It's people like you that make me hate fansites.
Stop being a fanboy and think. Both the Zelda and Half-Life series are great, amazing at that. Both heroes are silent protagonists. Both were unwillingly put into situations where they were made to save the world. The differences go into how the story is told, and how immersed you are into the world.
Link: (many different ones over different periods of time) Forced to ssave the world from Ganon(dorf) and other baddies, by himself, usually without knowledge of what he's up against until he gets there. Goes through dungeons, solves puzzles, defeats the enemies.
Gordon: ( only one ) Accidentally causes gigantic portal storm which kills off many of his colleges, he survives due to the HEV suit. He must then attempt to meet up with the other survivors and close off the portal. Dragged into stasis, frozen in time, by G-Man. Brough back out of stasis 20 years later, finding out, the portals never got closed, and an alien race has taken over the world and made humans as slaves. Gravity gun is main weapon, used to solve puzzles, and destroy important combine buildings. Indirectly fights large forces. Leads rebellion against aliens, main story not complete yet.
BOTH ARE EQUAL! IT GOES DOWN TO PREFERENCE!
October 4th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
lol your right both are equal 50/50 currently but I still pick Link
October 4th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
@Jawadkho:
I meant equal as heroes. I only put quick backstories to stop the bashing of either hero.
October 4th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
but one link and the others not. in my opinion links way better than freeman.
October 4th, 2009 at 9:37 pm
true, but it dosn't mean i'd vote for him.
October 4th, 2009 at 11:54 pm
Thats strange, I clicked on the link to the website, looked at it for a while and somehow got brought back here. 0_o
October 5th, 2009 at 12:36 am
i don't know that gordon guy, i never played half life, but even if i knew who is he or played half life, link will be the best hero for me, he is the greatest of all time, i mean he was choosen by the goddesses XD, i vote for link, GO LINK GO, you can win
October 5th, 2009 at 1:18 am
Sorry, but Freeman has Link beat I hate to say. Don't get me wrong, I love the Legend of Zelda, but Gordon Freeman is a lot more versatile. I mean, the only things he even needs are a crowbar and a gravity gun. Link needs to lug around all of this stuff that those two can simply do without breaking a sweat. However, I respect your opinion.
October 5th, 2009 at 2:30 am
but this is a "greatest video game hero contest" no who is more versatil, and to be honest, link is the living personification of a hero, or at least in my opinion, he is the best videogame hero i have ever met
October 5th, 2009 at 2:34 am
WHAT!? IS THAT EVEN A QUESTION!? GORDAN FREEMAN? WHO THE FUCK IS IS THAT!?
Seriously I've never heard of this game. are you people really comparing Link, Hero of Hyrule, to some nerd?
I can't vote. it won't let me. but if Link loses I'm probably going to have to kill my self.
October 5th, 2009 at 2:43 am
Hey the website wont let me vote for some reason, and if i could i would vote for Link…his badass!!!
October 5th, 2009 at 3:02 am
I really dont think you should bash that other game because you dont know anything about it and you're just being mean haters. I'm not saying Im a fan of it but I know that I dont like it when people bash things that I like. Please think of others.
October 5th, 2009 at 4:40 am
I'm not bashing, I just never heard of this guy. and did you look at that guy? he's a total dork!
October 5th, 2009 at 7:42 am
To everyone who voted for link simply because they don't even know who Gordon Freeman is: For shame. Not knowing is not a reason to vote, in fact, it's a reason to NOT vote at all, as you are being completely bias. Link personifies hero, sure. There is no doubt. However, Gordon Freeman is also a pretty solid hero himself, and isn't the typical guy you would see. What he does is more… well.. I guess realistic is the better term, even if it's not really realistic.
Just saying, if Gordon wins, he earned it. Half-Life is one of the single best games in the history of gaming, and is better then most of the Zelda games.
October 5th, 2009 at 10:04 am
watch this video.. and you will know who he is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=820CJreE2eU
October 5th, 2009 at 10:28 am
If you have no idea who Gordon, or the half-life series, is. Watch this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=820CJreE2eU
October 5th, 2009 at 10:39 am
Many people here obviously havn't played Zelda, it's like the best game series ever. I gather that HL is a FPS and maybe I'll play it some time, but you have to know that Zelda is the best, play ALttP, then you will understand!
October 5th, 2009 at 10:48 am
To call Half-Life a FPS means you have not played half-life. It’s so much more, and as great as ALttP is, I must say that Half-Life and Half-Life 2 is just as good, if not better in some regards. I love Zelda, but it doesn’t mean that there are no other series out there that are just as good, and no other games that are individually just better then even the best of what Zelda has to offer. Take Mario Galaxy: It’s better then OOT and ALttP.
Just some food for thought.
October 5th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Link is the only chocie who is Gorgon any way Link is the best hes going to win hands down
October 5th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
um, okay, in comparison to Zelda, Mario sucks. all he does is jump on stuff.
October 5th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
I don't really like Gordon Freeman, but I'm not a fanboy of Link, oh no, I like the Zelda games (my collection is proof) and I think Link is a good video game character. But he is not my favorite. (He is around number three)
October 5th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Link is the HERO of Time, everybody vote for him! He is leading now by .3%! Hopefully he might be able to beat Mario!
October 5th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
God Dammit. Even though this is a Zelda site, when asking for people to vote for someone, at least educate the voters on the other character!
October 6th, 2009 at 12:29 am
Link is winning by .1%! I have to admit Gordon Freeman is one of my favorite heroes too, but Link is just the BEST Hero.
October 6th, 2009 at 12:31 am
LINK FTW, i played half life, is a great game indeed, but tham the legend of zelda is way better, or at leas i enjoy more adventure games than fps, besides link is more heroe than any other videogame character EVAR XD
October 6th, 2009 at 12:32 am
sorry for the bad typing >_<
October 6th, 2009 at 12:52 am
I don't believe they're asking you to vote for Link. ;-D
October 6th, 2009 at 1:19 am
OH MY GOD ITS TO INTENSE *CHANT* LINK LINK LINK LINK LINK LINK LINK LINK LINK LINK
October 6th, 2009 at 1:23 am
4chan is seriouslly revelling at your whining you guys. dont give them their incentive.
October 6th, 2009 at 1:36 am
Oh god ChainofTermina.
I hope link loses and you do kill yourself; benefiting all of mankind in the process.
October 6th, 2009 at 1:43 am
I hope gordon wins so that ChainofTermina guy kills himself.
October 6th, 2009 at 2:31 am
A battle between generic avatars. Really compelling.
October 6th, 2009 at 2:39 am
I voted for Gordon, and he's winning!
October 6th, 2009 at 3:08 am
Well, Gordon has my vote.
October 6th, 2009 at 6:14 am
Thanks for tipping me off!
I cast my vote but we're still behind! Tell everyone you know!
October 6th, 2009 at 8:50 am
Everybody vote for Link! He needs 0.1% more votes to win! Everybody vote for Link, we need as many votes as possible! Every vote counts!
October 6th, 2009 at 9:59 am
yh I know what you meant I was just saying…
October 6th, 2009 at 10:18 am
It's not 4chan. It's the Half-life, Left4Dead, and TeamFortress2 communities on the Steampowered forums.
October 6th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
I'm not being a fanboy, I've played half-life, it's just like fallout and bioshock, all very boring games, it's not that I'm misinformed, I simply find half-life as a game boring and repetitive, therefore I cannot have any respect for a hero in such a bad game
The story is what makes it so boring, it's just another generic sci-fi pile of steamed crap, there's no originality to it, in short, every aspect about Gordon I find, boring, repetitive, cliched and unoriginal, now tell me how can I like someone like that?
It's called opinion, some people have one, I don't try to hide mine, I'll root for both sides when someone good is up there, right now Link is the only one in this matchup
I find most of the characters from the competition respectable, I'm very surprised Snake lost to Gordan, however I absolutely hate unoriginal characters and stories because it encourages developers and designers to be lazy, so no, I have no respect for laziness, in this case Gordan from half-life, yes that's right, I find him a lazily concepted character, that's my opinion and I won't lie
October 6th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
ugh… the comments here are a great example of the sheer difference in the fanbases of Half-Life and Zelda. Its understandable. Half-Life and Zelda are two totally different games, of totally different genres, on totally different platforms. Half-Life is a PC FPS, while Zelda is a console action-adventure. Its not much of a surprise that a lot of Zelda fans haven't even heard of Gordon Freeman. But it ticks me off that all you guys don't even consider, I dunno, looking up Half-Life and seeing what its all about, and making an educated decision. You just push him aside and vote for Link with your heavy fanboy bias, and only because Gordon doesn't have Nintendo branded on his ass like Link does.
Worst of all? none of the people who this comment targets will listen to what I say and take my suggestion to go play Half-Life seriously. You'll just berate me, say I'm not a Zelda fan, disregard what I said, and think you won the argument.
October 6th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
I just voted for Link!
It's 50-50…. 
October 6th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
hey, we need to spread this news to as many pro-ninty gaming sites, gordon will win at the current rate
October 6th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
no none of us will play half life since we dont want to, i know who he is but i dont like him
October 6th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
boy it's really sad that you two shit heads are so stupid you actually took me seriously
October 6th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
My god, my mouth is literally hanging open with the ignorance of some of you guys. If you haven't played Half Life, then in fairness you shouldn't be voting, as you have no grounds for comparison. But the shocking thing is that you haven't even heard of him! What sort of gamers are you?! I suggest you order Half Life 1 and 2 immediately in order to enlighten yourselves, it's a vital masterpiece for anyone that calls them self a gamer.
October 6th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
Also, the fact that some of you feel the need to sway the vote by recruiting Nintendo fans is beyond sad; just let the best man win.
Now, the real winner of this should have been Abe from Oddworld, who lost to Ryu ages ago. Don't know about Oddworld? Look that up too, buy cheap from Steam.
What's also interesting is that Ryu went on to beat Wander from Shadow of the Colossus, which proves, as if there was any doubt to begin with, that this is just a popularity contest with no real merit.
October 6th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
shutup ChainofTermina, apparently you don't know when people are joking 9_9
October 6th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Oddworld rocks…. too bad I only found out about this vote when Gordon was going VS Snake from MGS.
October 6th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Okay, really? There's tons of Nintendo fans who really want Link to win and are not going to listen to reason. I, personally, thought Half Life sucked and Link deserves this so much more than Gordon. What I'm saying is Link is our favorite video game character and we want him to win, even if it means bashing on Gordon. Sure its ignorant, but we love Link.
But in all honesty, everyone who loves the Zelda franchise and wants the name of gaming to still be pure with the original, and still best, action adventure, and not some first person shooter that isn't even all that great. Zelda is the greatest video series ever, and Link is our hero, So make a name on GameSpot.com and vote for him! Tell your friends, family, enemies, and people you don't even know! Get them to vote for him! Do it as fast as possible, I don't want this outrage to video games to go on any longer! Vote!!
October 6th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
I think it's awesome that Gordon's winning. I'm proud of you, internet.
October 6th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
How the hell is Link loosing to this Gordon Freeman, I dont even know (or care) who the hell he is! Link FTW
October 6th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
sam, i played half-life and i must say,i don’t agree with you about half-life being a vital masterpiece for anyone that calls them self a gamer, i’m a gamer and i played half-life and is not that amazing, or at least that’s my opinion, for me link is the number one, and a say not because i’m a zelda fan or a nintendo fan, i say it because i know both characters and link is by far the best hero i have never see in any videogame, and i agree with you ogichiichigo
October 7th, 2009 at 3:59 am
Jeez when is Zeldauniverse going to post a new article so this whole argument will blow over?
October 7th, 2009 at 4:10 am
I like both Half-Life and Zelda, but I voted for Gordon. Link has enough fangirls/boys as it is. Seeing him win these kinds of contests over and over gets really boring.
It is quite surprising how many people here haven't heard of Gordon/Half-Life, since the series is rather popular. Do you guys play other games outside of Zelda? I bet if some of you tried Half-Life, you would like it.
October 7th, 2009 at 6:38 am
Speak for yourself.
October 7th, 2009 at 6:14 am
Link is loosing by 200 votes…..WHERE IS EVERYBODY!!!!!
October 7th, 2009 at 6:15 am
i meant "losing" …yeah yeah hah hah spelling mistake >_>
October 7th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
sorewa nan desuka??? my e-mail:sailor_01moon@hotmail.com
October 7th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
Greetings people. Our friend is down by ~250 votes. The amount of opposition he's facing is staggering. The situation looks bleak. Not much time left on the vote (ends on the 8th). See what can be done. Do what must be done. Maybe we can rescue this situation. The hero of time isn't out of this just yet.
October 7th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
Agreed. It's not just Valve/Half-life fans. Previous Bub&Bob supporters, those that don't want to see an all Nintendo final, those that aren't voting Link because 'he wins all the time'. It's shocking. Surely most other heroes would have succumbed to the perils by now. But Link is still in this. Despite the odds, I believe that the victory is still up for grabs. We can do this.
October 7th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
I don't want to see Link win… And yes, it is just Valve/Half-Life fans. This is not another 4-Chan false voting thing going on. Just look at the Steampowered.com Forums (official Valve forums) and you will probably see what I mean.
October 7th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
It's 50% to 50%! We have the momentum! Now is the time!
October 7th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
Who are you talking about. who is "we," each voter is alone, not a group or organization. This is just an opinion vote, not a war, calm down.
October 7th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
I believe he means ''we'' as in ''we'' Zelda fans.
October 7th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
I'm a Zelda fan, and I voted for The One Free Man (Gordon Freeman)
October 8th, 2009 at 1:39 am
Link needs your help. he's down about 3000 votes
October 8th, 2009 at 1:43 am
Only down because of the Steam post….damn.
October 8th, 2009 at 3:42 am
That Gordon guy is ugly. Why is he even being compared to Link? Furthermore, why is he winning? I don't know what this world is coming too.. maybe I'm the only sane on here.. but I'm voting for Link.
October 8th, 2009 at 5:16 am
Sorry guys, looks like Link has lost………….. But don't be sad about it. Just a contest of popularity. Link is around 46 and Gordon is around 53 percent. There could be a chance for Link to win. Just a 1000 votes for him.
October 8th, 2009 at 5:24 am
Whoooo, Gordon! He went up 3%, pretty good! Sorry guys.
But remember, it's just a stupid character poll. You don't have to get down about it. Personally I think it's cool to see someone beat Link for once, but it's not the most important thing in the world. Even if Gordon loses, I won't be so disappointed.
October 8th, 2009 at 5:30 am
Apparently Valve announced this competition in their Steam Community news so that may be why there are so many Gorgon votes.
October 8th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
That's not what the contest is about. It's about the greater hero. The way a narrative is developed is a different part of a game. I respect that you like Half-Life better, but that doesn't make Gordon Freeman a better hero.
October 8th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
gorden is a shooter so not a hero so he should not be in a contest for best hero so link has already won
October 8th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
Hey, lets put it this way, if link loses its only because a company had to promote their OWN character, if Gordon was really the all-time greatest hero then wouldn't his fans automatically vote for him and rally fans, but now they big boys had to get involved, this proves that Zelda are more dedicated and if anything Gordon still wont win. Reason being that its Valve's victory not Gordon's neither his fans.
Link, if he does lose, only lost because Valve is a stuckup and bigheaded company who big up themselves when its needed. Nintendo on the other hand didn't need promotion, in fact 80000 votes without promotion is actually much better than what Valve did. If nintendo sent out a WiiMail to the several MILLIONS of Wiis i am sure that the GameSpot server would die in Zelda-awesomeness.
October 8th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Popularity contests are kinda silly. I've never heard of this "Gordon Freeman" guy, but then again, it's probably because I don't play M rated games. And Valve is now promoting their own character in the poll? Really kinda wrecks the point of it in the first place.
October 8th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
way to go steel slasher
October 8th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Let's make a Facebook group about this and create a new flame war between halflife and zelda which at one point be put into the guiness world records!!! ROFLMAO
but seriously you should see the KDE vs Gnome flamewars on linux forums, it makes our flame wars look like exchanges of unpleasantaries
October 8th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
You just know all the zelda ''haters'' are voting for that gordon freeman guy even though they dont know/like him. just to see Link lose.
October 8th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
100% agreed!
October 8th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Wow, poor Link, I really want him to win, but in all honesty, does it matter? We all really know he's a better hero than Gordon. Sure it'd be amazing for Link to win but we all know this guy doesn't even compare and the only reason he's winning is because of company involvement and how much teenagers love guns. Personally I'd rather a sword. But that's not the point. He's better and we all know it.
October 8th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
Link is definately the Greatest Hero of all Time, hands down! Whatever contest there is about the best hero, it always has to be link. Who is Gordon, and where has he been during all of the zelda series?! I rest my case, Link is awesome. You got my vote! =)
October 8th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
NOO!!! I was just about to vote, and Gordon Fucking Freeman Won?!?! Who cares about stupid Half-Life. I stopped playing that game after the first one. And how can you compare the long lasting series of Zelda over half life. That's why they called it that name, because the games life is half less than the zelda games. Who ever voted for Gordon Fuckman is an idoiot, and need to do thier homework about longer lasting, saving the world, games.
October 12th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
Yeah! He has a good chance at beating Mario. GO LINK!! (all who disagrees with this message STINKS!!)
October 15th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Did you kill yourself? Gordon won.
Seriously, either figure out both sides of the vote or do not vote. I feel bad for Link, but Gordon is a much better hero, and that was what the contest was asking.