Today is a special day in my home and native land. While I should be enjoying my day off by playing hockey and tending to my igloo, I’ve decided to do a little bit of research and put together a not-that-serious piece on Canada’s contributions to video games. Find out if your favourite Canadian contributions made my list (and don’t be mad if they didn’t).
Bear Hugger
When the idea for this feature came to mind, Bear Hugger was an absolute no-brainer. Thinking back on my gaming experience, I’m fairly certain that Bear Hugger was the first Canadian video game character I’ve ever encountered. Since then, Canadian video game characters not based on real-life figures are few and far between. He may embody a lot of bad stereotypes about Canadians (including his penchant for chugging maple syrup from a jug), but it comes off as satirical rather than offensive. Pro tip: punching him in the stomach in the Super Nintendo or Wii game will do you no good most of the time.
Wayne Gretzky
I think by default, any list about Canada has to feature Wayne Gretzky. I put him on here because Wayne Gretzky’s 3D Hockey is still one of my favourite sports games. Sure, it’s pretty rough around the edges, and I broke the AI to the point where I averaged 100 goals per game, but I had an absolute blast playing it.
William Shatner
While William Shatner’s Captain Kirk glory days have long since passed, he has continued to play the role in a number of Star Trek video games. I’m not actually a Trekkie and I’ve never played a Star Trek video game before, but I just put him in here as an excuse to post this.
Wolverine
You could make a case for Wolverine not counting on this list. Yes, he is of Canadian descent, but his roots lie in the comic book world. However, Wolverine has appeared in over 47 games so far, with no signs of slowing down in terms of appearances. Most of the X-Men games he’s been in have been crap, but all of the Capcom fighting games he’s been in have been awesome. Look out for the upcoming Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
Justin Bieber
Uh…yeah…sorry about that one.
Canadian Developers
If there is anything we can truly celebrate as far as Canada’s contribution to video games, it has to be the growing development presence we have on the industry. There are an increasing number of developers working with major publishers or independently that are making some of the best games out there, including Assassin’s Creed 2 out of Ubisoft Montreal, the NHL series by EA Canada and BioWare, makers of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age and the Mass Effect series.
I know I left out a lot of candidates from this list, such as other Canadian characters, voice actors and more. Leave a comment and tell me what other contributions Canada has made to this medium we love.
In Third Person 
I only recently discovered that i can play the old NES games on my WII. I have played Zelda and Super Mario Bros. The next one I was going to try was Tyson’s punch out.
The Bear Hugger isn’t in that one. What punch out game is he in?
Bear Hugger is in the arcade version of Super Punch Out, Super Punch Out on the SNES and he’s also in the new Wii Punch Out game.
He’s in Super Punch Out for the SNES and arcade, as well as the new Wii Punch Out game.