It's a classic trope in the entertainment industry. Take your hero and his or her obvious love interest, add in some long, meaningful stares and a few moments when they almost kiss, and then tease, tease, tease. It's all-too-obvious to their friends, enemies, and everyone else in the surrounding solar system that these two are meant to be together - but for whatever reason they just won't seal the deal (with a kiss, I mean).

Video games have their fair share of long-standing relationships, ever teetering on the edge of romance. Granted, these couples have a lot on their minds and not a lot of time for love, what with having to save the world and all that. With any luck some of the entrants on this list will stop opening chests long enough to open up about how they feel - after they've defeated the last boss, of course.

Fair warning, we're going to get into spoiler territory with all games mentioned.

There have been many women in Link's many lives, but none have featured as prominently as Princess Zelda. Throughout the ages, these two have been brought together time and again, as if the fates themselves were conspiring on their behalf. Even so, their relationship has never evolved beyond a kiss on the cheek or a brush of the hands. Despite the fact that they've saved each other's skin over and over - and clearly care for one another - neither has been willing to string those three little words together.

Remember Spirit Tracks? Remember all the long, meaningful glances, blushing, and hand holding going on in that game? Or what about Skyward Sword, where it's implied that Link and Zelda end up together after Zelda decides to remain on the surface, but who's to say for sure? There are some exceptions, of course, such as in Twilight Princess where childhood friend Ilia is Link's main squeeze. But these are the exceptions. Maybe one day Zelda will

Poor Sora just can't spit it out, can he? Since the beginning of the franchise, Kingdom Hearts has been playing up Sora's feelings for Kairi. But there's always another quest - or another kidnapping - that keeps the two apart. In Kingdom Hearts 2, Saix even tells Kairi she is "the fire that feeds Sora's anger," which sounds like a really weird thing to write on a Valentine's Day card.

The ways and means in which the Kingdom Hearts games telegraph Sora's feelings for Kairi (and vice versa) are so frequent and numerous that I can't squeeze them all into this paragraph - let alone this feature. Needless to say, these young lovers have been pining for each other for well over a decade now, and apparently we've had to wait for the power of next-gen consoles to finally bring them together.

Ah, now here's a fun couple. Despite the fact that they're always pointing loaded firearms at each other, openly attacking each other, and periodically double-crossing each other, Ada Wong and Leon Kennedy have been doing the Resident Evil-equivalent of flirting for the past 17 years. One of them had better make a move before they finally kill each other for good.

In all seriousness, Ada does seem to harbor some genuine affection for the often bewildered Leon. One of the most prominent examples , where an injured Ada confesses "I don't want to lose you." More recent examples can be found in Resident Evil 4 and 6, where Ada seems to jump between toying with Leon and expressing genuine empathy. Of course, since Ada can only express herself in cliched, action movie dialog at that point, getting her true feelings across is a challenge.

Love conquers all, right? Right? Perhaps, but Kerrigan - better known by her punk rock moniker The Queen of Blades - is betting it'll take more than some mushy feelings to bring down an ancient evil threatening the galaxy. And she reached that conclusion just moments after finishing her first date with on-again, off-again squeeze Jim Raynor. Granted, this "date" involved teaming up to murder an old man in his office, but let's not get into semantics.

Kerrigan and Jim are destined to fail, and that's exactly why you want to root for them. Their jobs come first for the time being, what with that ancient galactic evil and all, but when Jim finally puts down the bottle and Kerrigan hangs up those blades, wouldn't it be nice to see the two of them ride off into the galactic sunset together? Maybe I'm just a romantic...

Healthy relationships are not without conflict and turmoil. It's overcoming these rough patches, and moving forward, that makes a relationship strong. Elika and the Prince have certainly experienced their fair share of turmoil. After going on an adventure together filled with teamwork and flirtatious remarks, the stage seemed set for a classic "happily ever after" ending. Instead, it went sour, in a big way.

You see, at the end of the game the Prince is faced with a sadistic choice: either let the woman he's fallen for remain dead, or let an ancient evil rise again (thereby undoing everything accomplished in the game) to bring her back to life. He chooses the latter, and she resents him for it. Sadly, with no sequel plans on the horizon, it is unlikely these two will ever get to work out their whole resurrection disagreement and make amends, in spite of the chemistry they share.

This is an odd one, seeing as how Gordon's perpetual silence makes their relationship a little one-sided. Or maybe you're one of those people who thinks Gordon is talking and we, the players, just can't hear him. At any rate, the games have heavily implied Gordon and Alyx are destined to be together, with the bubbly Alyx taking a liking to the stoic doctor from the moment they first meet.

After that fateful encounter, the pair save each other's skin a few times, with the most memorable - and relationship-affirming - instance occurring in Half-Life 2: Episode 2. Here, Alyx is mortally wounded, and through an ancient, alien ritual she is healed with the aid of the Vortigaunts who "weave the Freeman's life with her's." Alyx seems cool with all this, and even gets a little flustered when her father mentions the possibility of grandchildren. All that's left is an affirmation of love fans have been waiting eight years (and counting) to hear.

Monkey and Trip go through a real relationship arc throughout the events of Enslaved. They start out as, essentially, adversaries, with Monkey acting as Trip's unwilling slave and guide through the robot-infested wasteland. Gradually, their budding relationship grows into a sort of begrudging acceptance, then friendship, and then something more than friendship.

This all culminates in Trip offering to release Monkey from his servitude, and Monkey choosing to remain by her side. At this point it's clear just from the looks they give each other that these two are in love, but that all sort of gets swept under the rug once the ending starts. Somewhere between all the giant robots and the memory pyramid Monkey and Trip's relationship falls by the wayside, presumably to be picked up in a sequel we'll likely never see.

Life is too short for missed opportunities. Better to have loved and lost, as they say, than to have never loved at all. And when you have an attraction as strong as the entrants on this list, the whole 'love' part should come pretty naturally. Rejection sucks, sure, but you can't let it slow you down when the love of your life could be on the line.

And for more lovey-dovey fun on GR+ be sure to check out .

It's a classic trope in the entertainment industry. Take your hero and his or her obvious love interest, add in some long, meaningful stares and a few moments when they almost kiss, and then tease, tease, tease. It's all-too-obvious to their friends, enemies, and everyone else in the surrounding solar system that these two are meant to be together - but for whatever reason they just won't seal the deal (with a kiss, I mean).

Video games have their fair share of long-standing relationships, ever teetering on the edge of romance. Granted, these couples have a lot on their minds and not a lot of time for love, what with having to save the world and all that. With any luck some of the entrants on this list will stop opening chests long enough to open up about how they feel - after they've defeated the last boss, of course.

Fair warning, we're going to get into spoiler territory with all games mentioned.

There have been many women in Link's many lives, but none have featured as prominently as Princess Zelda. Throughout the ages, these two have been brought together time and again, as if the fates themselves were conspiring on their behalf. Even so, their relationship has never evolved beyond a kiss on the cheek or a brush of the hands. Despite the fact that they've saved each other's skin over and over - and clearly care for one another - neither has been willing to string those three little words together. Though to be fair, the fact almost every game is a mini-reboot, seemingly casting them both back into the reincarnation pool at its end, hardly helps.

Remember Spirit Tracks? Remember all the long, meaningful glances, blushing, and hand holding going on in that game? Or what about Skyward Sword, where it's implied that Link and Zelda end up together after Zelda decides to remain on the surface, but who's to say for sure? There are some exceptions, of course, such as in Twilight Princess where childhood friend Ilia is Link's main squeeze. But these are the exceptions. Maybe one day Zelda will

Poor Sora just can't spit it out, can he? Since the beginning of the franchise, Kingdom Hearts has been playing up Sora's feelings for Kairi. But there's always another quest - or another kidnapping - that keeps the two apart. In Kingdom Hearts 2, Saix even tells Kairi she is "the fire that feeds Sora's anger," which sounds like a really weird thing to write on a Valentine's Day card.

The ways and means in which the Kingdom Hearts games telegraph Sora's feelings for Kairi (and vice versa) are so frequent and numerous that I can't squeeze them all into this paragraph - let alone this feature. Needless to say, these young lovers have been pining for each other for well over a decade now, and apparently we've had to wait for the power of next-gen consoles to (presumably) finally bring them together.

Ah, now here's a fun couple. Despite the fact that they're always pointing loaded firearms at each other, openly attacking each other, and periodically double-crossing each other, Ada Wong and Leon Kennedy have been doing the Resident Evil-equivalent of flirting for the past 17 years. One of them had better make a move before they finally kill each other for good.

In all seriousness, Ada does seem to harbor some genuine affection for the often bewildered Leon. One of the most prominent examples , where an injured Ada confesses "I don't want to lose you." More recent examples can be found in Resident Evil 4 and 6, where Ada seems to jump between toying with Leon and expressing genuine empathy. Of course, since Ada can only express herself in cliched, action movie dialog at that point, getting her true feelings across is a challenge.

Love conquers all, right? Right? Perhaps, but Kerrigan - better known by her punk rock moniker The Queen of Blades - is betting it'll take more than some mushy feelings to bring down an ancient evil threatening the galaxy. And she reached that conclusion just moments after finishing her first date with on-again, off-again squeeze Jim Raynor. Granted, this "date" involved teaming up to murder an old man in his office, but let's not get into semantics.

Kerrigan and Jim are destined to fail, and that's exactly why you want to root for them. Their jobs come first for the time being, what with that ancient galactic evil and all, but when Jim finally puts down the bottle and Kerrigan hangs up those blades, wouldn't it be nice to see the two of them ride off into the galactic sunset together? Maybe I'm just a romantic...

Healthy relationships are not without conflict and turmoil. It's overcoming these rough patches, and moving forward, that makes a relationship strong. Elika and the Prince have certainly experienced their fair share of trouble. After going on an adventure together filled with teamwork and flirtatious remarks, the stage seemed set for a classic "happily ever after" ending. Instead, it went sour, in a big way.

You see, at the end of the game the Prince is faced with a sadistic choice: either let the woman he's fallen for remain dead, or let an ancient evil rise again (thereby undoing everything accomplished in the game) to bring her back to life. He chooses the latter, and she resents him for it. Sadly, with no sequel plans on the horizon, it is unlikely these two will ever get to work out their whole resurrection disagreement and make amends, in spite of the chemistry they share.

This is an odd one, seeing as how Gordon's perpetual silence makes their relationship a little one-sided. Or maybe you're one of those people who thinks Gordon is talking and we, the players, just can't hear him. At any rate, the games have heavily implied Gordon and Alyx are destined to be together, with the bubbly Alyx taking a liking to the stoic doctor from the moment they first meet.

After that fateful encounter, the pair save each other's skin a few times, with the most memorable - and relationship-affirming - instance occurring in Half-Life 2: Episode 2. Here, Alyx is mortally wounded, and through an ancient, alien ritual she is healed with the aid of the Vortigaunts who "weave the Freeman's life with her's." Alyx seems cool with all this, and even gets a little flustered when her father mentions the possibility of grandchildren. All that's left is an affirmation of love fans have been waiting eight years (and counting) to hear.

Monkey and Trip go through a real relationship arc throughout the events of Enslaved. They start out as, essentially, adversaries, with Monkey acting as Trip's unwilling slave and guide through the robot-infested wasteland. Gradually, their budding relationship grows into a sort of begrudging acceptance, then friendship, and then something more than friendship.

This all culminates in Trip offering to release Monkey from his servitude, and Monkey choosing to remain by her side. At this point it's clear just from the looks they give each other that these two are in love, but that all sort of gets swept under the rug once the ending starts. Somewhere between all the giant robots and the memory pyramid, Monkey and Trip's relationship falls by the wayside, presumably to be picked up in a sequel we'll likely never see.

Life is too short for missed opportunities. Better to have loved and lost, as they say, than to have never loved at all. And when you have an attraction as strong as the entrants on this list, the whole 'love' part should come pretty naturally. Rejection sucks, sure, but you can't let it slow you down when the love of your life could be on the line.

And for more lovey-dovey fun on GR+ be sure to check out .

Names are tough, because there's such a fine line between sounding cool and sounding completely bonkers. A good name sticks with people, a bad one sticks with people because it sounds like something a porn star would reject for being too obvious.

We have a lot of porn star-sounding game character names in the following slides, as well as ones that are too-cool-for-school and others still that are just complete nonsense. If you've ever been picked on for having a goofy sounding name, take comfort in the fact that it could have been worse - much worse.

Seen having a stupid name in: Punch-Out!! (arcade game)

Name is stupid because it sounds like: a first grader's attempt at identifying 'Italian things'. Seriously, was this THE FIRST THING that popped into the developers' heads when designing their Italian boxer? What about Gucci Gnocchi?

Seen having a stupid name in: Super Punch-Out!!

Name is stupid because it sounds like: a fun way to speed the weekend. Do you think when Bear's parents named him, they knew their son would grow up to be a grizzled old mountain man who's also a boxer? It was destiny.

Seen having a stupid name in: Street Fighter EX

Name is stupid because it sounds like: WrestleMania, only deadlier.

Seen having a stupid name in: Mega Man X5

Name is stupid because it sounds like: Duffman from The Simpsons, oh yeah! Fun fact: the Duff is apparently short for Duffin, which doesn't make it any better.

Seen having a stupid name in: Mega Man X6

Name is stupid because it sounds like: a device that plays metal sharks. What would even be on a metal shark? Music, videos, lots of teeth?

Seen having a stupid name in: The King of Fighters XIII

Name is stupid because it sounds like: a grab bag of words people think sound cool. If he started a band, it would totally be called Nightmare Final Infinity.

Seen having a stupid name in: King of the Monsters 2

Name is stupid because it sounds like: some sort of weird, online sex slang (unlike all that totally normal online sex slang).

Seen having a stupid name in: Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Name is stupid because it sounds like: a stupid pun on the phrase "miles per hour." Tails is a decent enough name, but when you learn his name is actually Miles Prower - which sounds like "prowler" - it makes him sound like a creepy stalker.

Seen having a stupid name in: Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-

Name is stupid because it sounds like: laziness.

Seen having a stupid name in: several Tekken games

Name is stupid because it sounds like: martial law. Even though the character has nothing to do with the military or the legal system. Super funny, right? Get it?

Seen having a stupid name in: No More Heroes

Name is stupid because it sounds like: a cheap way to have "down" in his last name. The main character's name is Travis TouchDOWN so, naturally, his rival should have the word 'down' in there somewhere.

Seen having a stupid name in: Toshinden 4

Name is stupid because it sounds like: a bunch of knightly words strung together. If your character is already a knight - and you feel the need to put the word knight in his name - then take a step back and really think over the decisions you've made in your life.

Seen having a stupid name: Final Fantasy X

Name is stupid because it sounds like: the noise a teeny, tiny baby would make while playing with a toy. Actually, Wakka was the goofball of the group, and he did fight using a toy, so I guess this name fits.

Seen having a stupid name in: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Name is stupid because as a matter of fact: Starkiller didn't kill any stars.

Seen having a stupid name in: Ready 2 Rumble Boxing

Name is stupid because it sounds like: the name of a porn star. Seriously, you're going to find a lot of these in this list.

Seen having a stupid name in: Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner

Name is stupid because it sounds like: an Australian game show host. And yes, I'm saying the name's Australian because it has the word 'dingo' in it. I'm sorry.

Seen having a stupid name in: Zettai Hero Project: Unlosing Ranger VS. Darkdeath Evilman

Name is stupid because it sounds like: the first draft of a new Power Rangers villain. To be fair, ZHP is a parody game, so Mr. Evilman is technically a parody of generic villain names. But even so, it's still too ridiculous not to feature here.

Seen having a stupid name in: Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

Name is stupid because it sounds like: his parents had a really, really cruel sense of humor. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall during the 'Hot Coldman vs. Cold Hotman' naming meeting at Kojima Productions. Thankfully, good taste prevailed.

Seen having a stupid name in: Mario Kart 8

Name is stupid because it sounds like: Nintendo really has run out of new ideas for Mario Kart Racers.

Seen having a stupid name in: Devil May Cry 3

Name is stupid because it sounds like: a basic description for a character. There's actually a wonderfully convoluted reason for why Lady calls herself Lady, but the end result is that it's still a dumb name.

Seen having a stupid name in: Kingdom Hearts 2

Name is stupid because it sounds like: someone wanted a group of 13 people to all have the letter 'X' in their name, but ran out of good ideas after the first one.

Seen having a stupid name in: Chris Moneymaker's World Poker Championship

Name is stupid because it sounds like: an evil CEO in one of those family-friendly movies starring a talking animal.

Seen having a stupid name in: EarthBound

Name is stupid because it sounds like: Mr. Carpenter, which would have been a fine name, but if you really squint your eyes and read it again it actually says car painter. Car painter? As in, one who paints cars?

Seen having a stupid name in: Dirge of Cerberus

Name is stupid because it sounds like: blue the blue, which is basically what he's called. His name sounds like azure, a shade of blue, and his... um... title is cerulean, another shade of blue. There you have it: Blue the Blue.

Seen having a stupid name in: too many Mario games

Name is stupid because it sounds like: Luigi but with a 'W' at the front, yeah, we get it Nintendo, it's like what you did with Wario, only his named sounded cool and this just sounds like some kind of word jumble. Poor Luigi, even his villains are lame.

Seen having a stupid name in: Fracture.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: the name of a '50s high school football hero transported into the year 3090, where he stars as the protagonist of a pulpy sci-fi adventure serial, itself made in the '50s. Also, he sounds a bit like a porn star.

Seen having a stupid name in: Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: computer science slang.

"Yeah, I was having trouble getting that part of the UI to display properly, but I've run a quick dash rendar to kluge it together for now. I'll fix it properly tomorrow"

Even for a character living in the Star Wars universe, it's ridiculous.

Seen having a stupid name in: the Gears of War series.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: the name of a porn star. Seriously. Take him out of context and it does.

Seen having a stupid name in: Trevor McFur in the Crescent Galaxy on the Atari Jaguar. That's why you've never heard of him.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: the developers did not realise that simply putting "Mc" in front of an obvious character trait does not a plausible name or believable characterisation make. Also, given the current state of internet culture, it's inadvisable to put the word "fur" in any character's name. Also also, Trevor is my dad's name and so all of this just freaks me out. Click on to the next slide now and forget that this one ever happened.

Seen having a stupid name in: Rosco McQueen, Firefighter Extreme.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: the name of a southern '70s sheriff who works by his own rules but gets the job done.

Seen having a stupid name in: the Halo series.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: of all the real-world naval ranks available to them, Bungie chose the one most likely to sound like "Captain Boss" to those uninitiated in military designations.

Seen having a stupid name in: Star Ocean: The Last Hope.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: the name a 10 year-old would give themselves if handed a deed poll form shortly after being handed a bottle of whiskey and a giant bag of Skittles.

Seen having a stupid name in: Final Fantasy VII and its multitudinous spin-offs.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: the name of a teenage goth's online alter-ego. Or alternately, that of a French porn star.

Look, I'm going to stop doing the porn star joke now, because a) it's not a joke, and b) it applies to nearly all of them. Can we just agree that it goes without saying from this point on? It'll save me a lot of time. Like, literally seconds.

Seen having a stupid name in: Final Fantasy VII and its multitudinous spin-offs.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: Square-Enix realised that "Cloud" sounded too much like the product of hippie parenting. Given that Cloud was to be their most emo hero to date, they thus stuck "Strife" on the end in order to add additional angst. He might as well be called Rainbow Misery.

Seen having a stupid name in: Far too many Sonic the Hedgehog games.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: an instruction to do something unpleasant to a rabbit.

Seen having a stupid name in: Mace Griffin, Bounty Hunter.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: the developers decided that sticking together the respective names of a medieval weapon and a mythical beast was a dead-cert route to badassery. And it should be. But in practice, it isn't.

Seen having a stupid name in: the Wolfenstein series

Name is stupid because it sounds like: iD effectively tried to shoehorn the word "blast" into the name of an action hero.

Seen having a stupid name in: Metal Gear

Name is stupid because it sounds like: the subtitle of any modern military FPS.

Seen having a stupid name in: Metal Gear Solid

Name is stupid because it sounds like: a gadget used by James Bond during the ultra-camp Roger Moore period.

Seen having a stupid name in: Parasite Eve

Name is stupid because it sounds like: the name of a mad scientist. Which is exactly what he is. A really, really obvious mad scientist. Who was somehow allowed to carry on with his mad science until he nearly brought about the destruction of the world. Hans Klamp, people. He was called Hans Klamp. And just look at his freaking beard! Look at it!

Seen having a stupid name in: the Virtua Fighter series.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: Sega obviously didn't pay attention to my "Jimmy McCharactertrait" rule from earlier on.

Seen having a stupid name in: the Virtua Fighter series.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: Sega have tried to subvert the "Jimmy McCharactertrait" rule, but only slightly succeeded.

We know that Wolf is a nature-loving woodsman, but the point need not be laboured by stapling together three elements of the natural world in order to create his name. Who's his arch-rival, Concrete Buildingstreet?

Seen having a stupid name in: Final Fantasy VIII.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: half a sentence. Rinoa Heartilly what? Ate a juicy roast chicken? Laughed at the poor? What? What was Rinoa doing with such gusto, Squenix?

Seen having a stupid name in: the real world, as a pro-gaming association.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: the supporters' association of a well-known assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland. Apparently the whole thing was a complete, really unfortunate accident, and they were quite embarrassed when they discovered connotation.

Seen having a stupid name in: the Guilty Gear series.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: OH COME ON!

Seen having a stupid name in: the Star Fox series.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: his parents spent very little time naming him.

"So we, Mr. and Mrs. McCloud, being foxes, as we are, have birthed a baby fox. What shall we call him?"

"Fox?"

"Done"

Seen having a stupid name in: Dark Souls.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: I'm not even getting into this one.

Seen having a stupid name in: the Ace Attorney series.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: Capcom tried to go for a name that playfully danced with genre conventions, but then went a bit too far, effectively naming their character "Detective Detective".

Seen having a stupid name in: the Ace Attorney series.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: Okay, looking back over these pages I think we we might actually have stumbled upon the method for coming up with your own personal Video Game Name. By my estimation the method is simply a case of working out your porn name (first pet + mothers maiden name) and then substituting one of the words with the name of a mythological beast or dangerous real-world animal of your choosing. Mine is Goldie Minotaur*. Tell me Metal Gear Solid has never used anything sillier.

*I imagine Goldie Minotaur to be a street-smart female detective in a lightly steampunk-tinged '20s-noir universe. Because why wouldn't she be? She's not a minotaur though. I'm not going all Star Fox with this one.

Seen having a stupid name in: the Ace Attorney series. Again.

Name is stupid because it sounds like: the name of a low-to-medium-profile mid-'80s wrestler, with a garish gold outfit and a large beard.

Any other stupendously named characters you think I've missed? Any in this list you think have been hard done by? Let me know. And don't forget to drop your official Video Game Name in the comments.

And while you're here, check out some of our other tasty feature content. I'd recommend .