10(ish) iconic best friend duos in video games

A friend in need’s a friend indeed, but a friend who’ll ride on your back to help you soar across gaps or slide down ziplines is better. You don’t have any friends like that? Well it’s time to step up your relationships, because these video game partnerships are putting you and your friends to shame. Life is almost always better with someone to watch your back, so in the spirit of Best Friends Day, here are ten iconic duos from video games.

10(ish) Iconic best friend duos in video games

Jak & Daxter/Ratchet & Clank/ Banjo & Kazooie

It’s easy to forget, but duo-based action-platformers were kind of a genre all of their own back in the late nineties and early noughties. Oddly, almost every single one featured one character riding on the back of the other, making it very hard for the unfamiliar to distinguish between them.Each one was someone’s favorite childhood title, but we’d be writing this list on our deathbeds if we included them all.

A fairly happy-go-lucky genre, it was rare you’d see much character development or even serious interaction over the course of each game. Still, the short period of prolific and popular gaming pairs shouldn’t be overlooked, and to this day it forms a cheery bed of memories for many gamers. 

Captain Price and Gaz

The grand universe storyline of the Call of Duty games is probably about on a par with Kingdom Hearts for nonsensical complexity at this point. Roll back the years to 2007’s Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare however and things were much more simple. Long before Marakov, drone warfare and the numbers, Mason, Captain Price and his main man Gaz were taking on evil nationalist Zakhaev all around the globe. 

Playing as Soap MacTavish, the player joins an already well-oiled unit, and has to work to earn their place alongside the perfect partnership of Price and Gaz. COD 4 was also the start of the series’ penchant for killing lead characters, though a gunshot to the forehead didn’t stop Gaz from returning (and dying again) with a new mask and name as Ghost in Modern Warfare 2. And yes, looks like he’s back at it again again in the new Modern Warfare. Is this man a literal ghost? No wonder Price thinks he’s so cool.

The Onion King and Kevin

Becoming master chefs and facing off against the Unbread menace, you might suggest that it's you and your mates who are the real best friends of Ghost Town Games' Overcooked. To which we would have to reply, are you insane? This is a game that features a royal onion who regularly needs to be bailed out by a canine friend called Kevin. How could you ever compete with that? We can only bow down in admiration of the Onion King and Kevin. Best friend goals indeed.

Ellie and Riley

The Last of Us is rightly recognized as one of the best video game stories ever. Yet while we love the core game, the ties between Ellie and Joel can hardly be called friendship for the vast majority of the game. Load up the Left Behind DLC, however, and you’ll be treated to a far sweeter yet melancholy relationship. 

Exploring the origins of Ellie’s immunity to the disease, we see her establish a friendship with — and eventually feelings for — Riley, another young girl in a shared world of ruin. While we knew that things couldn’t last, their short time together is filled with moments of such light and hope that, even for just a little while, you can forget about the downfall of humanity, or the sheer terror or Clickers.

Related: 7 AI companions that weren't total idiots

Chloe Frazer and Nadine Ross

That’s right, we’re not hopping off the Naughty Dog train just yet! Sometimes, a friendship is forged in the fires of distrust and adversity. Okay, maybe not all that often, but it worked for Uncharted: The Lost Legacy’s Chloe Frazer and Nadine Ross, okay? After realising how much better she was than world-renowned clown Nathan Drake, Chloe Frazer took off on her own treasure-tracking adventure, enlisting the help of ruthless paramilitary boss Nadine Ross.

It’s fair to say that the two don’t exactly hit it off at first, but following a few twists, turns and shared betrayals — you know, classic Uncharted fair — Chloe and Nadine form an impressive team who quite simply get stuff done. Sorry Drake, you’re not needed any more!

Cal Kestus and BD-1

The last couple of years have been a little dry when it comes to gaming best buds, but thankfully Respawn Entertainment rocked up at the end of 2019 with a classic little-dude-on-bigger-dude’s-shoulders release. We didn’t really care for the overall story of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, but dare to threaten a stray wire on little BD-1’s head and we’d hunt you to the edge of the galaxy. The chatter between Cal and his robot buddy kept Fallen Order’s explorative bouts from feeling lonely, and gave the game a good avenue to explore Cal’s character in more depth. More robot pals in gaming, please!

Wilbur and Orville

You’ll make a lot of best friends in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but no matter how much you like a villager, know that you’ll never rival the perfect working relationship of Dodo Airline’s Wilbur and Orville. The disarming Orville serves as the customer-friendly face of the business, complemented perfectly by the suave and job-focussed Wilbur, who flies you wherever and whenever you need, always ensuring you make it home safely. We can only aspire to reach such heady heights of teamwork.

Max And Chloe

The episodic story to Life is Strange made a lasting impact on a generation of gamers, thanks in large part to the main lead Max Caufield’s relationship with Chloe. Childhood friends reunited, it was up to the player what path their modern-day connection took. One thing was always certain, however: their fates would always be entwined, and the two would need to work together to save their home and friends.

Related: The coolest moms in video games

Shepard and Garrus

Whoever accompanied your Shepard through Mass Effect’s three-part story was up to you. But while each friendship and romance was great in its own right, it’s hard to deny that the duo of Garrus and Shepard was a unique and enduring friendship. Besides a short stint running off as Archangel in Mass Effect 2, Garrus was with Shepard through it all. With so much history together, their shooting competition in Mass Effect 3 was one of the most touching moments for series fans.

Atlas and P-Body

Is Portal 2 really nine years old? Blimey, do we feel old. Fortunately, the co-operative side of Glados’ second outing produced a kinship more than capable of etching out a lasting space in our memoryspace. Despite their metal bodies and lack of ability to speak Atlas and P-body’s camaraderie and willingness to mess around together made it impossible not to love and root for them. 

Portal 2 was also one of the first Valve games to feature emotes, letting you and your co-op party hug, high-five, and even play rock-paper-scissors with one another. A lovely break from dropping one another into vats of acid, we’re sure you’ll agree.

Did we miss an obvious gaming duo who deserve to be recognized? Declare us frauds and share your favorites friends in the comments below.