That time of year is upon us one more time... Valentine’s Day. The day we dedicate to the people in our lives whom we love most. Most of us are lucky enough to have a sweet Valentine waiting for us at some point today. To those who do not, don’t fret, your time will come soon enough. But I am getting off point. To connect Valentine’s Day and video games together, I have put together a list of my 5 favorite video game couples over recent years. Yeah, it may be a bit cliché, but it is what it is. I mean, I am not going to celebrate Valentine’s Day here on Nfamous by listing my personal love stories. You kidding me? My wife would kill me if I were to post even one of those lurid, erotic carnal interludes. (Not that there are that many of them anyway, sweetie. Love you.)

Love and couples are a prevailing theme in video games and over the years, some great games have provided me with some very interesting and likeable couples. Hence the motivation behind this article. Nothing more than to connect gaming and love. Now let me hurry on up with this one before I totally forget to go buy a gift for the misses…

Mario and Princess Peach

Let’s start off with the one that many of us grew up with. Mario and Peach. The New York Italian plumber and the princess of the fairytale like Mushroom Kingdom. The love that must exist between these two has got to be strong for Mario to continually risk his life for Peach time and time again. Of course recently, Peach finally had a chance to prove her love for Mario by rescuing him in Super Princess Peach – proving that she will do anything for her true love as well.

Link and Princess Zelda

I know a lot of you feel that Midna was a more suitable love for Link after their connection in Twilight Princess, but looking back at the history of Link and Zelda – the story that seems to span generations in the Zelda mythos, Link and Zelda are connected more deeply than just that of love. Their fate and lives forever intertwined. That kind of emotional and fated connection runs deeper than that of Link and Midna in one game. Link and Zelda seem to be eternally fated - and that kind of connection carries with it a sense of love not many will ever find. 

Dominic and Maria Santiago

To me, both tragedy and dedication are words I would use to describe the love between Dominic and Maria Santiago in the Gears of War series. After losing their two children on E-Day, all the couple had for years was each other. Then Maria went missing, and Dom dedicated his life to finding her again. When he finally did, his love for her gave him the strength to end her tortured life at the hands of the Locust. Finally, to save his teammates and be one with Maria once more, Dom sacrifices himself – a tragic end to this bittersweet love story.

[Psst... NuyoRiquena did a song with Jerome Chance of Broken Pixels about Dom and Maria. Check it out!]

Jackie Estacado and Jenny Romano

I love the way the first Darkness video game highlighted the relationship between Jackie and Jenny. The love story in the game really set the game apart from the story of other shooters at the time. Likewise, it gave Jackie a sense of depth that he would not have had if not for Jenny. Their emotional connections runs deep. So deep, that when Jenny is killed at the end of the first game, Jackie is continually tormented by her memory in The Darkness II – showing just how deep his feelings and guilt ran - even if he sounds like a whipped pup for half of the second game.

Sora and Kairi

So the story may have become a jumbled mess since the release of Kingdom Hearts, but it is that innocent love that was on display in the first game that really endeared this couple to me. From the moment Sora first sets out to find his lost friend, to the moment where Sora sacrifices his own heart to save her, to the ending of the game and Kairi finding that wall painting Sora had finished showing his true love for her, this type of young love just tore away at me and almost had me in full on tears as Utada Hikaru's Simple and Clean played over the ending credits. 

There are many other great gaming couples out there: Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance from Half-Life 2, Cole McGrath and Trish Dailey from inFAMOUS, half of the Final Fantasy protagonists and their respective love interest – but the five I listed above are my personal favorites. But I am curious, who would you readers choose as your favorite gaming couples?