Our pick of bros from the virtual world
When you're off on one of the biggest adventures of your virtual life, who better to have by your side than your own brother.
Some of the biggest game franchises have created characters who share the same blood, often teaming up as bros' taking on challenging battles and giving each other the much-needed motivation (or aggravation) to strive on and complete the task at hand. There have also been a few bitter rivalries between brothers in video games, resulting in an ultimate showdown to see who is the dominant family member.
Here, we've picked out some of our favorite brothers in video games.
Mario & Luigi
Credit: Nintendo
We HAD to include this duo in our top pick of video game brothers, Mario and Luigi have been on quite the run of adventures since the 1980s - from taking on Bowser to throwing banana skins out of their karts.
Mario first appeared in 1981's Donkey Kong, with Luigi making his first appearance in 1983 released Mario Bros. It's hard to imagine one without the other, and we doubt that the fraternal twin brothers won't be appearing in a brand new adventure in the near future.
Dante & Vergil
Sons of a legendary demon Sparda and a human named Eva, Dante and Vergil possess supernatural powers that grant them incredible strength and the ability to 'Devil Trigger' into demonic fighters. Ever since Vergil was introduced, it was clear that a bitter sibling rivalry was at hand - with the duo going toe to toe on a number of occasions.
We didn't get to see the both of the brothers in human form until Devil May Cry 3, as Vergil's appearance in the original Devil May Cry was that of his demonic alter-ego Nelo Angelo.
Both Dante and Vergil came to blows once again in Capcom's latest instalment in the franchise, as Devil May Cry 5 also revealed some huge news about another character, Nero, and his involvement with Dante and Vergil (trying to avoid spoilers here).
Naia & Naiee
Setting off on an adventure with your brother into the unknown is scary, but add the importance of retrieving the 'Water of Life' in order to save your dying father, and you've got yourself one hell of a quest.
Naia and Naiee are the protagonists of Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons, an award-winning Indie game from developer Starbreeze Studios. As well as a unique control system, where each of the siblings are controlled with each stick, the duo have their own perks and quirks that help each other progress through the story.
Naia, being the eldest and tallest, is stronger and can help pull levers and get his younger brother to hard to reach places, while Naiee can crawl through small gaps to access new areas.
There's very little said between these two, not that we can understand as they speak a fictional language based on Lebanese Arabic, but from their determination and willingness to reach their goal, we can tell that the brotherly love is strong.
The Carmine Bros (Gears of War)
Credit: The Coalition
It hasn't been an easy ride for the Carmine family in the Gears of War franchise, with what appears to be just one of four brothers surviving the Locust War and the Lambent Pandemic.
In Gears of War, players were introduced to a young Anthony Carmine, who was a little starstruck when meeting protagonist Marcus Fenix for the first time. His famous last words were "Yeah, but I got a problem. Something's wrong with this thing. It keeps jamming. See?"
This was followed by an unfortunate bullet through the brain from a Locust Sniper... damn it, Anthony, why didn't you keep your head down!
Things went from bad to worse with the youngest brother Benjamin 'Rook' Carmine in Gears of War 2. If being swallowed by a gigantic Riftworm wasn't bad enough, Ben survived the ordeal only to then be savagely attacked by Nemacytes.
With acid-like imulsion glowing across his open stomach and rib cage, Ben spluttered "Sarge?... I... I hurt Sarge... I... tell my brothers... my ma... tell 'em I love 'em, and...and.."
And with that, another Carmine bites the dust - surely Gears of War 3 will find an even more ridiculous way for the next brother to die.
WRONG... Clayton Carmine is the only Carmine sibling that we know of to survive the war, but not without close calls. A sniper at the Stranded post shot Clayton in the head, which fortunately bounced off his helmet - as well as surviving a helicopter crash when their Raven was shot from the sky.
It's not clear what happened to the fourth Carmine, known to the community as 'D. Carmine' as all four brothers' first names have ran in alphabetical order. There was, to our knowledge, no mention of him in Gears of War 4, so perhaps Gears 5 will hold the answers.
Sub-Zero & Noob Saibot
Spoiler alert!
So, if you're not up to speed on your Mortal Kombat history, Sub-Zero and the mysterious Noob Saibot are actually brothers - and Noob was also the original Sub-Zero!
Bi-Han, who was introduced as Sub-Zero in the original Mortal Kombat game, is unsuccessful in his mission to assassinate Shang Tsung during a tournament and is killed by a rival clan member, Scorpion - known as Hanzo Hasashi before his death at the hands of Sub-Zero before being resurrected.
His brother, Kuai Liang, appeared in Mortal Kombat 2 as the new Sub-Zero and was entrusted with completing his dead brother's task. Scorpion discovered that this was not the Sub-Zero responsible for his death and, weirdly, decides to protect him.
Little did we know that Bi-Han would return as Noob Saibot, a demon of the Netherealm. Despite appearing in MK2, his relation to Kuai Liang wasn't confirmed until Mortal Kombat: Deception.
The brothers go head to head in Mortal Kombat 11, the latest instalment of the arcade-fighting franchise.
