Japan is really wasting a lot of money on irrelevant stuff, the latest example being this survey made by Oricon Monitor Research which asked 1,000 Japanese men and women to name their favorite videogame character. Although it was a bit of a no-brainer, the survey showed only Japanese characters making the top 10, proving that if they aren't from their country, Japanese people don't really like their game heroes. Their most popular character ended up being everybody's favorite plumber, Mario. 

Making his first appearance in Donkey Kong, he and his brother, Luigi, caught the world by storm in the hit game Super Mario Bros. Being the best selling game of all time, with over 40 million copies sold, it's safe to say that it really made Mario – who also starred in over 200 games developed by Nintendo, which made him its mascot – a household name.

Second place was occupied by Final Fantasy VII star, Cloud Strife. He was the main protagonist in the series of games based on FF VII, being one of the most popular male characters from the FF universe alongside his rival, Sephiroth. The third prize was taken by another character from the Mario universe, Yoshi, the green dinosaur that made his first appearance in Super Mario World. Impressed by the popularity it had gained, Nintendo decided to make the green dinosaur a star in a lot of other games, often alongside Mario.

Another very well-liked character was Solid Snake, from the hit franchise Metal Gear Solid. A government spy with background in special forces training, Snake was tasked with seemingly impossible missions by his superiors and, with the help of the player, achieved victory. His latest appearance was in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.

All in all, a pretty exciting survey that received some quite expected results. It would be very interesting to see one conducted in Europe or the USA.