In lieu of Blizzard giving some love to rodent-kind with its new hero Hammond/Wrecking Ball, let’s look back at video game pop culture’s finest rats, squirrels, and critters all categorized as rodents.

Note: Bandicoots, opossums, and hedgehogs are not rodents. Sorry Crash, Sparkster, and Sonic.

Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel

Originally a foil to Aero the Acrobat, somehow Sunsoft wanted to make a spin-off game about this kamikaze squirrel who can fly, do somersaults, and throw ninja stars. So not really a kamikaze and more like a ninja, we think.

Mr.Nutz

Europes’ favourite platformer with a bushy tail, this guy is the many remnants of a publisher named Ocean Software that made headlines for its many movie adaptations of games. There’s not much to say about him except (i) he’s a bright red and white and (ii) he’s family-friendly. Which is more than we can say about the next entry:

Conker The Squirrel

A swearing and cussing adventurous squirrel in his own platformer-slash-adventure game deserves a mention on this list. The stuff he’s pulled off just to recap his tale of being king is just insane and out of the norm from its supposedly cutesy vibe.

Pikachu

He’s a rodent, pure and simple. Look at it; it’s an anime rat made cute and shocking. He has his evolved and baby form as standbys, but folks can’t beat the original yellow tail flavour.

Also, no one cares about Rattata.

Freya from Final Fantasy IX

She’s a giant one, and a badass dragoon at that! She wields her spear like nobody’s business and takes crap from nobody except for king and country.

Pity her FF Brave Exvius counterpart sucks balls.

Boo The Miniature Giant Space Hamster from Baldur’s Gate

The one avatar that keeps chaotic good Minsc in check. He’s the little rodent that is always the subject of Minsc’s softer side, so much so that he can snap your neck if you look at Boo funny. He usually commands his furry friend to go for his enemy’s optic nerves.

Sherry The Mouse from the Ultima Series

She helps you out at the worst of times during Ultima VI for a crucial quest involving the rune at Jhelom. Otherwise, she’s just a wetnurse at Lord British’s pad.

Chip & Dale; from Chip & Dale Rescue Rangers on NES

Hey, we never said we wouldn’t include licensed Disney characters from retro games, right? They can lift shit up twice their size in these games.

Mickey from Kingdom Hearts

We shouldn’t mess with the mouse from the House, especially if he’s wielding Keyblades and is the figurehead of today’s pop culture landmarks. 

Imagine if he got Norted.

Did we leave out other furry critters in the rodentverse? Let us know on the comments section!