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Leon Kennedy is arguably one of Resident Evil’s best characters. What other character has cheekily blasted their way through multiple secret conspiracy plots, fought multiple giant mutant creatures, and rode off with the President’s daughter on a jet ski? Gamers love Leon. Fans cannot get enough of him.
As one of the most interesting characters in Resident Evil, there’s a lot to learn about Leon Kennedy and his past.
10 Leon Kennedy Is Voice Acted By A Different Actor In Almost Every Game
This should come as little surprise because of how old of a series Resident Evil actually is, but Leon Kennedy is actually voiced by a different actor in almost every single game. Currently, Toshiyuki Morikawa – the Japanese voice actor – has voiced Leon the most with six of the games. In English dubs of the game, Paul Mercier leads with only three titles. Six people have voiced Leon in English games alone, not including all the different people who have portrayed him in other media.
9 Leon Kennedy Was Made To Contrast Chris Redfield
Chris Redfield is a hunk, but he’s a bit too typical of a video game character. At least, that’s what Leon’s creator Hideki Kamiya believed. With the plethora of over buff and strong characters, Kamiya felt the game needed a more atypical rookie to take the role as protagonist.
It would make the game scarier having someone who is unfamiliar with the zombie situation, rather than a returning survivor. Leon becoming his laid-back self did not come until Resident Evil 4.
8 Leon Kennedy Break-Up Made Him In Part Move To Raccoon City
That’s right, Leon Kennedy is single. Resident Evil 2’s original manual describes Leon just going through a split with his girlfriend before the events of RE2. This in part is why he chooses to move to Racoon City, in order to get a fresh start. Little would Leon know, there would be a mutation outbreak awaiting him and a certain red-dressed double agent he would catch feelings for.
7 Leon Knew Something Weird Was Happening In Raccoon City Before Anyone Else
Leon was ahead of what was going on before arriving. Leon Kennedy chose to move to the city because of his interest in the largely publicized murders taking place in and around the Arklay Mountains. For gamers who do not know, those mountains were not only a popular tourist destination, but the location of Umbrella Corporation’s Arklay Laboratory, NEST, and the Umbrella Executive Training School. Leon knew something was going on in Raccoon City, and he was about to find out exactly what it was the hard way.
6 Leon Was Late For His First Day On The Job
It’s not good to be heavy drinking the night before the first day of work, but Leon Kennedy did just that in a motel off the highway after breaking up with his girlfriend. Hungover the next day, he then made the last bit of trek to Raccoon City.
Had Leon not gotten drunk, he would have been caught in the immediate disaster occurring at the station. Maybe it was fortunate the outbreak came out? Leon didn’t have to hear anything about showing up to work late and hungover from his boss. He did have to fight all those zombies on a hangover, though. For what it’s worth, this detail was omitted from the remake.
5 Leon Kennedy’s Face Is Based On A Real Person
Leon Kennedy’s face is not entirely fake. In fact, it’s based on a very real person. The animation department director Christian Duerre lent his face for Leon Kennedy in Resident Evil 4 and had the department model it after him. So if gamers were hoping to meet Leon Kennedy in real life, Mr.Duerre is as close as they are going to get to it. In looks at least. Duerre’s zombie fighting abilities are yet to be tested.
4 Leon Kennedy’s Sarcasm Originated During Resident Evil 4
Leon Kennedy wasn’t always the sarcastic hotshot players know and love. In fact, this personality trait did not come about until Leon’s appearance in Resident Evil 4. Over the course of the game’s development, the studio embraced his sarcasm in contrast to his earlier personality. Hideki Kamiya stated that Leon’s evolution to the sarcastic tough-guy was like”fall[ing] in love all over again.” This shift was especially surprising to Kamiya, as he never expected Leon to gain as much popularity nor be that cool.
3 Leon Kennedy Consistently Ranks High With Audiences
Leon Kennedy has consistently been ranked as one of the best video game characters in numerous publications. Guinness World Records Gamer Edition said Leon was the 36th best character.
IGN states Leon is the greatest Resident Evil character of all time, claiming he “quickly became one of the most capable characters in the series, matching Chris in hand-to-hand combat and being referred to as a genius by Ada.” Most importantly, Logo TV ranked Leon the eighth sexiest video game character. Let’s be real, though: he should have been higher on that one.
2 Leon Joined STRATCOM to Protect Sherry
Leon Kennedy actually did not join the US Government’s STRATCOM program by choice. Following the events of Resident Evil 2, Leon and Sherry – the young girl he and Claire save during the events of RE2 – are taken into custody by the U.S. Government.
The U.S. Government interrogated Leon Kennedy for several days, but he refused to mention anything about Claire or Ada Wong to protect them. To protect Sherry, Leon agreed to join the STRATCOM forces. With his ability to survive deadly scenarios like the events of Resident Evil 2, the government knew Leon would come in handy in the future.
1 72% Of Players Played Leon First In Resident Evil 2
Capcom set up a website following the release of Resident Evil 2 Remake to highlight interesting stats about the game. According to Capcom, 79% of players chose to play Leon on their first playthrough. That’s equal to approximately twenty million players. Out of those, however, only eight million actually finished Leon’s storyline. Claire’s storyline has 15 million people playing with six million having finished it. These stats are from November, 2021, so the number is only likely to increase through the years.
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