With the Year of the Rabbit upon us this weekend, it is the perfect time to revisit the unique and lovable leporine characters in the world of video games. 

Rabbits have long been a staple on our gaming consoles. Whether it's their cute and cuddly appearances or their heroic and adventurous roles, rabbits have proven to be a beloved and enduring presence in gaming history. These are our favourites:

Rabbids from Rayman Raving Rabbids

When it comes to video game rabbits, there are none more popular the ones in this crazy bunch. Since their first appearance in Rayman Raving Rabbids — these rabbit-like creatures have gone on many adventures — including a team-up with Super Mario himself in the Mario + Rabbids series.

Peppy Hare in Star Fox

Retro gamers might be familiar with Peppy Hare's trademark quote in Star Fox 64: 'Do a Barrel Roll!' Peppy is the mentor of the Star Fox team, and provides support, advice, and guidance during missions. He's also a skilled pilot.

Rabbits in the Pokemon franchise

There are enough rabbit Pokemon to make an entire list of their own for the Year of the Rabbit. There's Azumarill, Buneary, Lopunny, Bunnelby, Diggersby, Scorbunny, Raboot, and Cinderace. Of course, Cinderace is the coolest because it's based on a football player and its signature move is a fireball bicycle kick!

Max from Sam & Max

Max the rabbit is one of the two titular characters from the Sam & Max games. Max is a wild and impulsively violent character who brings a lot of unique humour to the franchise. Despite his reckless behaviour, he is an integral part of the Freelance Police team, working alongside his close friend and partner, Sam the dog.

Nabbit from the Mario series

This cutie is a recurring character was first introduced as a rabbit thief in Super Mario Bros. U, before becoming a playable character in the games New Super Luigi U and New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe. Nabbit also appears in many Mario spin-off titles, including the classic Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and Mario Kart Tour.

Zipper T Bunny from Animal Crossing

Remember the days playing Animal Crossing when we were all stuck at home? Zipper T Bunny was one of the cute animal characters that populated your island home, and came to visit every April 1 for Bunny Day. The character has a zipper on its back, so we're not really sure if this is really a rabbit... or someone (or something else) underneath.

Fran from Final Fantasy XII

This we can consider 'rabbit', right? Fran is one of the key characters of your travelling party in Final Fantasy XII — she's from the Viera race, a group of rabbit-like humanoids. She's also quite skilled with her bow and arrow. The game also features rabbit-like monsters too, like the Giza Rabbit and Ozmone Hare.

This article was first published in Wonderwall.sg.

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