1970s: Space Invaders
Whilst not a specific character themselves, the Space Invader aliens are one of the most iconic things in video gaming, and the video game itself was a forerunner of modern video gaming, helping to expand it from a novelty to a global industry, and the game's success has been credited as causing the end of the video game crash of 1977. They feature distinct appearances that really stand out despite being blocky and pixelated.
http://www.next-gen.biz/features/30-defining-moments-gaming
Whittaker, Jason (2004). The Cyberspace Handbook. Routledge. p. 122. ISBN 0-415-16835-X. [55]
1980s: Duck Hunt Dog
The dog featured in the NES game Duck Hunt, became iconic purely because of it's laugh. Usually the duck would retrieve any ducks you shoot, but whenever the player would miss any of the ducks on screen, the dog would appear from behind the grass and begin taunting and laughing at the player. This alone has labelled the dog as both one of the most annoying characters of all time by IGN and ScrewAttack, and as one of the best dogs in video gaming history because of his smugness. 1UP.com also praised the dog's confidence in their Top 10 Video Game Dogs list for "laughing at a frustrated human with a loaded rifle".
http://uk.ign.com/articles/2008/06/23/acd-duck-hunt-dog
http://www.1up.com/features/top-10-video-game-dogs
1990s: Mewtwo
Coming from the very first Pokemon games, Mewtwo was seen as the final boss or challenge after completing the story and Pokemon League. In the original games, Mewtwo is found inside a cave only accessible after completing the Pokemon League, and has in-game statistics that were unmatched by any other Pokemon, making it the strongest Pokemon at that time. Mewtwo's typing, Psychic, was also incredibly broken at the time, with only one weakness (it being Bug, which only had 4 attacks at the time, all of which were incredibly weak, as well as Bug types themselves being lack lustre in stats and having a lot of weaknesses) and usually having access to a wide range of attacks that allowed them to cover a lot of types. Mewtwo itself had access to this wide movepool, could only be out-sped by one other Pokemon, and had the highest Special stat in the game (Special stat being used to determine how much damage that Pokemon can deal and receive from special moves, these being what Mewtwo's movepool mostly featured). Because of all this, there was very little that could stop Mewtwo, so was feared by anyone who had to fight one and became the main goal to catch for anyone who could battle with their friends. It was also considered the first 'true' legendary due to his stats and presence in the games.
Its popularity and iconic stance only grew with the first Pokemon film, which detailed its backstory. Mewtwo was a genetically altered clone of the Pokemon Mew, created to be the most powerful Pokemon. It broke out of it's tank and realised it was just an experiment, resulting in it decimating the laboratory and killing all the scientists in the process (the only Pokemon in the series to have killed people). It is then discovered by the leader of the villianous team Team Rocket, and throughout the rest of the film it is frequently shown to easily stop any Pokemon in its path. Mewtwo's strength and tragic backstory made it become even more iconic then the games already had.
Pokemon Red and Blue
Pokemon: The First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back
2000s: Master Chief
Master Chief is a huge icon in the video gaming industry, essentially being to Xbox what Mario is to Nintendo. Master Chief is a cold, almost completely silent protagonist that is designed to look and act like the perfect futuristic super soldier. Part of his iconic position is that no one knows what he looks like under the SPARTAN suit, essentially allowing the player to full submerge themselves into the story and experiences within the games, but also has an in-depth backstory that defines Master Chief as a character. Halo: Combat Evolved (the first game in the Halo franchise, which is where Master Chief comes from) became so popular that half of the original Xboxes were sold alongside a copy of the game, and Master Chief was the main character in this game, listed as one of the most important and influential console shooters ever made.
http://uk.ign.com/videos/2015/10/22/ign-icons-master-chief?utm_campaign=ign+main+twitter&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social
2010s: Inklings
Again whilst not a specific character itself and are more iconic for Nintendo, the Inklings are a very recent addition to video gaming. The Inklings are from the video game Splatoon, which is a brand new IP for Nintendo (which are often consider rare already) and is a completely different take on what they normally create (Splatoon being a third-person shooter, as opposed to platformers and RPGs, which is what Nintendo frequently create). The Inklings themselves are unique in design in that they are in a future where the world has flooded and sea life is now dominant, with squids evolving into humanoid forms that can freely transform back into squids. Unlike most shooters, Splatoon doesn't revolve around killing and bullets, but rather it uses ink and oddities for weapons, such as paint rollers, paint brushes, guns that resemble plastic water pistols, spray guns, pipettes, pens and even NES Zappers (the same guns used to play Duck Hunt), with the main in-game mode revolving around covering the map with more of your ink then your opponent (ink relating to squids because of the ink they can produce). The Inklings represent a unique take on a gaming franchise and have since become a semi-iconic staple for Nintendo with a new branch of games.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2015/05/27/paintball-for-turf-with-all-ages-splatoon-slinging-vivid-paint-means-having-a-ball/
Splatoon
Iconic characters are becoming harder and harder to come across as video games continue to be made. In the 70s and 80s, few games were made, few ideas were taken and graphics were limited so characters were a lot simpler. These characters also add a lot more nostalgia for gamers because it is what they grew up with. As time has gone on, ideas and designs have needed to be pushed (although this does not mean early games were not creative) in order for things to become more iconic and stand out, as well as the characters not having enough time to truly become iconic staples. Characters such as Mario, Lara Croft, Master Chief, Pac Man and Pikachu have already set the iconic status for themselves and makes it so they cannot be removed from this status, so places for a character to become iconic in more recent years has mostly diminished.
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