Mario would earn £32,895 as an Italian plumber – which video game characters would be the richest if they had real-life jobs

At the top of the rich list is Borderland’s corporate president ‘Handsome Jack’ with an equally handsome salary of £333,043 per year

Super Mario ranks among the lowest earners, taking home £32,895 per year on a typical plumber’s salary in Italy.

Pac-Man earns the lowest salary of all characters as a security guard in Japan, bringing in just £15,916 per year.

From Super Mario to Lara Croft, have you ever wondered where your favorite video game protagonists and villains would rank in the real-world job market?

Online gaming platform Solitaired looked at some of the world’s most iconic video game characters and calculated how much each would earn if they landed their real-world dream job. They based character earnings on data from salary comparison sites as well as publicly available pay bands to find an average yearly salary for more than 50 video game characters.

Video Games’ Highest Earners

1. Handsome Jack, Borderlands 2

At the top spot is Borderland’s narcissistic bad-guy, Handsome Jack, who would take home an eye watering £333,043 per year as a corporate CEO. While Hyperion Corp is fortunately yet to be founded, it seems only fitting that as the fictional president of an intergalactic weapons manufacturer and supplier, Jack would take home such a huge paycheck.

2. Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid

In at second place is Metal Gear Solid’s eye-patch sporting Solid Snake, who would take home an impressive salary of £107,517 per year as a Special Forces Soldier for the US Army. Snake, who boasts an impressive military career, was initially inducted into the Green Berets during his teenage years before later joining Big Boss’ special forces unit, FOXHOUND, meaning he would be substantially compensated for his acquired specialist skills.

3. Albert Wesker, Resident Evil

In third place is Resident Evil’s Albert Wesker, who would earn a salary of £90,519 per year as a virologist. Having graduated at 17 with a doctorate in Virology, Wesker originally began his training with Umbrella Pharmaceuticals and was later transferred to the Arklay Laboratory as a senior researcher working on the t-Virus project, following the disbanding of his training school.

4. Alex Mason, Call of Duty

In fourth place is Call of Duty veteran and fan favorite, Alex Mason. Mason is unlikely to have trouble remembering these numbers, as he stacks up an impressive £82,317 per year as an Intelligence Analyst for the CIA. Mason, who makes his first appearance as the main playable character in Call of Duty: Black Ops, joined the CIA Operation 40 squad in 1958 and continued to carry out several missions for the CIA despite his imprisonment and brainwashing at Vorkuta.

5. Max Payne, Max Payne

In fifth place is the titular action avenger Max Payne, who would earn £75,922 per year as a police detective in New York City. Payne began his police career in the 1990s, working for the NYPD as a detective before joining DEA colleague Alex Balder on the Valkyr drug case, following the brutal murder of his wife and daughter in 1998.

The 20 Highest Earning Video Game Characters

Rank	Video Game Character	Video Game	Job/Occupation	Yearly Salary (£)	Yearly Salary ($)
1.	Handsome Jack	Borderlands 2	CEO	£333,043	$432,524
2.	Solid Snake	Metal Gear Solid	Special Forces Soldier	£107,517	$139,632
3.	Albert Wesker	Resident Evil	Virologist	£90,519	$117,557
4.	Alex Mason	Call of Duty	CIA Operative	£82,317	$106,905
5.	Max Payne	Max Payne	NYPD Detective	£75,922	$98,600
6.	Cole Phelps	LA Noire	LAPD Detective	£71,846	$93,306
7.	Gordon Freeman	Half-Life	Research Associate Scientist	£70,145	$91,097
8.	Arthur Morgan	Red Dead Redemption 2	Bounty Hunter	£69,750	$90,585
9.	Mortimer Goth	The Sims	Scientist	£69,076	$89,709
10.	Isaac Clarke	Dead Space	Engineer	£64,859	$84,232
11.	Duke Nukem	Duke Nukem	CIA Special Agent	£62,837	$81,607
12.	CJ Johnson	Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas	Entrepreneur	£59,626	$77,436
13.	Bella Goth	The Sims	Intelligence Researcher	£58,363	$75,796
14.	Michael De Santa	Grand Theft Auto V	Film Producer	£54,563	$70,861
15.	Leon S Kennedy	Resident Evil	Police Officer	£54,113	$70,276
16.	Homer Simpson	Simpson’s Hit and Run	Nuclear Technician	£53,629	$69,648
17.	Master Chief	Halo	Master Chief Petty Officer	£53,491	$69,469
18.	Doom Slayer	Doom	Marine’s Master Gunnery Sergeant	£53,490	$69,468
19.	Sam Fisher	Splinter Cell	Navy Seal	£48,729	$63,284
20.	Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine	Resident Evil	SWAT Team Member	£48,158	$62,543

Video Games’ Lowest Earners

1. Pac-Man, Pac-Man

At the bottom of the list, Pac-Man take the spot as the lowest earner, with a salary of just £15,916 per year as a security guard in Japan – where the character first debuted. While the creators don’t specify that Pac-Man has a job per se, the role seems fitting given the Namco classic shows the yellow sprite navigating through mazes trying to get rid of unwanted ghost intruders.

2. Link, Legend of Zelda

Second from the bottom is Legend of Zelda’s hero and protagonist, Link, who would earn only £19,661 per year as a knight – if the job were to still exist. A knight was paid an average of two shillings per day during the 1200s, which means that Link would take home just over £19k when taking into consideration currency conversions and increases in inflation.

3. Cloud Strife, Final Fantasy VII

The third lowest earner is Cloud Strife from the Final Fantasy series who would earn £19,964 per year as a Private First-Class Soldier in the US Army. Cloud was unsuccessful in joining SOLDIER, instead becoming a Shinra infantryman, hence justifying the lower pay band for our sword wielding fighter.

4. Desmond Miles, Assassin’s Creed   

As the fourth lowest earner in the list, Assassin’s Creed’s modern day main character, Desmond Miles, would earn just £21,408 per year as a bartender in New York City. Desmond, who is the descendant of a long line of assassins, used his training to hitchhike to New York City, where he worked as a bartender at Bad Weather before his eventual capture.

5. Ryu, Street Fighter

At fifth from the bottom is the main character of the Street Fighter series, Ryu, who would bring home just £21,723 as a martial arts instructor in Japan. Ryu made his first appearance in Capcom’s original Street Fighter game in 1987, and while his name roughly translates to ‘plentiful’ in Japanese, the same cannot be said for his expected salary.

The 20 Lowest Earning Video Game Characters

Rank	Video Game Character	Video Game	Job/Occupation	Yearly Salary (£)	Yearly Salary ($)
1	Pac-Man	Pac-Man	Security Guard	£15,916	$20,670
2	Link	Legend of Zelda	Knight	£19,661	$25,533
3	Cloud Strife	Final Fantasy	Private First-Class Soldier	£19,964	$25,927
4	Desmond Miles	Assassin’s Creed	Bartender	£21,408	$27,802
5	Ryu	Street Fighter	Martial Arts Instructor	£21,723	$28,212
6	Marcus Fenix	Gears of War	Army Sergeant	£24,119	$31,324
7	Don Lothario	The Sims	Medical Intern	£24,784	$32,187
8	Geralt of Rivia	The Witcher	Pest Controller	£24,906	$32,345
9	Niko Bellic	Grand Theft Auto IV	Taxi Driver	£25,521	$33,144
10	Lightning	Final Fantasy	Security Guard	£29,084	$37,771
11	Crash Bandicoot	Crash Bandicoot	Bodyguard	£29,670	$38,533
12	John Marston	Red Dead Redemption	Rancher	£32,770	$42,559
13	Mario	Super Mario Bros	Plumber	£32,895	$42,721
14	Tom Nook	Animal Crossing	Real Estate Agent	£33,812	$43,912
15	Isabelle	Animal Crossing	Secretary	£34,071	$44,248
16	Freddy Fazbear	Five Nights at Freddy’s	Mascot	£35,078	$45,556
17	Captain John ‘Soap’ MacTavish	Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare	Army Sergeant	£35,953	$46,692
18	Booker DeWitt	Bioshock Infinite	Private Investigator	£36,000	$46,753
19	Spyro	Spyro the Dragon	Jeweler	£36,516	$47,424
20	Sonic the Hedgehog	Sonic the Hedgehog	Professional Athlete	£36,592	$47,522

Honorable Mentions

Some character earnings meant that they ranked elsewhere in the list, however some are so iconic that it would be a shame to miss them out entirely.

Given Super Mario’s Italian heritage, he would earn a salary of £32,895 working as a plumber in Italy, ranking him 41^st in the list. Elsewhere in Europe, Tomb Raider’s female lead Lara Croft ranks 27^th, earning a salary of £41,998 working as a British archaeologist.

While Sonic the Hedgehog isn’t currently on the job hunt, based on his ability to run at supersonic speeds, it is only fitting that he would earn a salary of £36,592 as a professional athlete. Although he may have to wait a few years before he is eligible to earn, as the creators suggest he is only 15 years old.

Pokémon’s Pikachu would be perfectly suited to a job as a detective given his latest movie role, earning him £37,282 per year – although considering his element type, he would also make for a great electrician. His trainer and best friend, Ash Ketchum, would just top Pikachu’s earnings, taking home £41,327 as a Research Fellow for Professor Cerise.

The research was conducted by solitaired.com/spider-solitaire, a free, browser-based card game platform with more than 500 games available to play.

For more information click: https://www.solitaired.com/spider-solitaire