The Greatest Video Game Robots

First Appearance: Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter

Sure Akuma is everyone's favorite silent tough guy/demon from Street Fighter canon, but did you know that he also moonlights as one of Apocalypse's Horsemen? True story. The completely robotic version of Akuma was enhanced by En Sabah Nur to act as his horseman, Death. The final boss in Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, Cyber Akuma shows up in subsequent MvC titles all the way up to Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3. 

Turns out he's still sort of a dick even when he's a robot.

First Appearance: Half-Life 2

D0g is every kid's dream. A pet robot designed to protect you at any cost. Introduced in the second Half-Life, D0g was designed to protect Alyx Vance by her brilliant father. Loyal, deadly, and able to bench press a tractor trailer, D0g is the definition of a faithful companion.

First Appearance: Mortal Kombat 3 

Originally appearing in 95's MK3 as a palette swapped fighter to bolster the cast of playable fighters, many thought Cyrax was a robot version of Scorpion. Thankfully this was not the case. Cyrax was a robotic ninja employed by the Lin Kuei clan to hunt down and capture Sub-Zero. He was later reprogrammed by Sub Zero and became a formidable ally in the fight against Shao Kahn. 

First Appearance: Ratchet & Clank

An escaped sentry robot who is your best friend and partner throughout the entire Ratchet & Clank series, Clank is the shared face of the series. A jetpack, the ability to operate in the vacuum of space, and, if need be, upgrade his size to take on enemies much larger than himself. Ironic that the strongest emotional resonance in the series comes from the smallest of sentry bots.

First Appearance: Mass Effect 2

“Organics fear us. We wish to understand, not incite.”

That's exactly what you hear right before your face is melted off by Legion's sniper fire. According to the Mass Effect Wiki: "Legion is the name taken by the gestalt consciousness formed by 1,183 geth programs inhabiting a unique geth mobile platform."

We could have just said multi-conciousness, sentient, space killing machine, but the above works too. He's a badass.

First Appearance: Halo: Combat Evolved

The floating bastard made our lives a living hell at the end of the first Halo title. As the artificial intelligence Monitor of the Halo Rings, and jailer of the flood, his job was the containment of a Flood outbreak. He was a smarmy prick and we hated him.

First Appearance: Mega Man

Easily the most recognizable entry on this list. We could quibble about the differences between androids and robots, but there is fresh air and the pursuit of meaningful sex to be had. Let's just call him a robot and be done with it. With a lengthy and storied legacy, the Blue Bomber has certainly had his wins and loses. What Mega Man really needs is a new solo title akin to the classic platformers of the past. Get on it, Nintendo. The Wii U could use the help.

First Appearance: Borderlands

Pandora's most self centered and salty general purpose robot, the Claptraps are commonly found littered all over the surface of the planet. The Fyrestone Claptrap is your NPC planetary attaché and has no problem cracking a ceaseless torrent of jokes at your expense. Easily one of the most memorable robots to appear in video games in recent memory. Foul mouthed and dying to go Hollywood, Claptrap was even the star of his own DLC.

First Appearance: Portal

Everyone's favorite murderous operating system will always hold a special place in our hearts. GLaDOS is narcissistic, passive-aggressive, and snarky. She wages war on players both physically and psychologically and is the most realistic interpretation of a malignant artificial intelligence. If humanity is going to be wiped off the planet by a robotic AI, it's going to taste a lot like GLaDOS.