It's All Good in the Hood

Melina is an ominous woman who guides you on your quest to find the mythical Elden Ring. To that end, she provides helpful information, transforms runes into strength, and allows you to summon a spectral steed. The Lands Between are hostile and unwelcoming, but you can breathe a sigh of relief when she offers to be your maiden. When she first manifests herself before the Tarnished, her face is obscured by a voluminous hood. This creates an air of mystery that never fully dissipates. Regardless of how many times she’s summoned to the Sites of Grace, she’s always wrapped in an enigma. Melina wouldn’t be nearly as intriguing if she dressed like everyone else, so it’s worth noting that her outfit is one-of-a-kind. Throughout the course of your adventure, you can acquire every piece of clothing in her ensemble except for her hooded cloak!

Two characters from Shovel Knight were in contention for a place on this list. The mysterious Plague Knight draws obvious inspiration from 14-century plague doctors, and his hooded cloak is ideal for someone who is both a man of science and a practitioner of magic. Specter Knight, for his part, is clearly based on the Grim Reaper. (Interestingly, our modern perception of the Grim Reaper is also linked to the Plague.) He wears various cloaks over a suit of armor, and he keeps the hoods up even though his face is already obscured by his helmet. Although some cloaks will bestow him with special abilities, his tattered crimson cloak is a doleful remnant of the past. The well-worn garment is not likely to provide any level of protection from the elements, but it’s weary condition infers that Specter Knight has been through many battles.

Sans is both an obvious choice for this list and an unlikely candidate. On one hand, he is never seen with his hood up. This doesn’t make his blue hoodie any less iconic, though. It’s instantly recognizable, and you can even by an officially licensed replica. Sans is the type of guy who likes to keep things laidback and low key. In this sense, the hoodie is an extension of his lackadaisical attitude. His brother Papyrus dresses like a tokusatsu superhero, complete with billowing scarf. Sans, in contrast, usually lounges around with his hands in his pockets. He passes the time by planning harmless pranks and making low-brow puns, and his demeanor falls somewhere in the space between laziness and apathy. Sans turns out to be one of the most powerful figures in the Underground, however, so it just goes to show you that you can’t judge a person by their clothes.

The main antagonist in Bubble Bobble is called Grumple Grommit in some English translations, but he’s more widely known as Super Drunk. Truth be told, his alcoholism is one of the least concerning aspects about his character. For reasons that are never fully explained, Super Drunk kidnaps two young girls and transforms their boyfriends into bubble-blowing dinosaurs before high-tailing it into the Cave of Monsters. When the heroes finally catch up to him, Super Drunk aimlessly wanders around the room while throwing whisky bottles. Although I don’t endorse his behavior, he looks completely adorable in his oversized hood. In this capacity, the outfit is misleading. His green robe is appropriate attire for a sorcerer, but he should probably just wear a stained white-beater if he wants to act like an inebriated jackass.

The Shy Guys made their debut in Doki Doki Panic, but most people will recognize them from the Mario series. “Recognize” might not be the right word, however, seeing as how nobody really knows what they look like. The bashful baddies are too timid to reveal their faces, after all, and they hide behind unnerving white masks. Shy Guys come in all shapes and sizes, but they can be easily identified by their colorful robes. Again, I question if I’m using the correct nomenclature. The robes in question cover their entire bodies, but they’re more akin to oversized hoods since their torsos are so tiny. The little guys could be likened to Super Drunk in this regard, and it’s impossible to tell where the robes end and the hoods begin. The Shy Guys might seem inconsequential, but they’ve appeared in more games than everyone else on this list combined.

The Darkstalkers cast is largely comprised of supernatural beings, so Baby Bonnie Hood stands out by virtue of the fact that she’s an “ordinary” human. She pretends to be afraid and can cry on demand, but the girl is anything but helpless. She goes out of her way to hunt monsters, in fact, and her picnic basket is filled to the brim with weapons ranging from machetes to exploding apples. Whether she’s firing her trademark Uzi or bludgeon her opponents to death with a rock, she clearly enjoys the thrill of the hunt. Her character borrows heavily from Little Red Riding Hood, and her attire allows her to play up her innocence for all its worth. You’d never expect a little girl in a hooded cape to be a murderous psychopath, so the misdirection makes her seem all-the-more evil. B.B. Hood is just as destructive and bloodthirsty as the monsters she hunts.

In Kingdom Hearts, Black Coats are magical articles of clothing that allow individuals to safely pass through the Corridors of Darkness. Their primary function is to shield hearts from corrupting influences, so the fact that they look cool is just an added bonus. The cloaks are primarily worn by members of the villainous Organization XIII, but benevolent warriors of light also don the coats while traversing the darkness between worlds. (Mickey Mouse himself even wears a Black Coat for this purpose!) Roxas is being singled out on this list because his coat defines his gloomy personality and accentuates the differences between himself and Sora. It also creates an air of mystery, which is why the Tetsuya Nomura introduced the coats in the first place. Incidentally, the coats were initially used as a way of hiding faces of characters who had not yet been designed.

Yuffie Kisaragi is a powerful ninja and a mischievous thief. Both disciplines require her to be a master of disguise, and this is where her moogle poncho comes into play. The ridiculous outfit allows her to go undercover without being detected… or so she believes. In truth, it only makes her stand out more. This is especially true when she visits densely-populated areas. Even though it’s ineffective as a disguise, the costume helps accentuate her inherent silliness. The tattered cloak has a homemade quality to it, and it looks like Yuffie pieced it together with whatever random scraps of fabric she could find. She doesn’t always plan things out as carefully as she should, and that’s what makes her so endearing. Many characters from the Final Fantasy universe would have been good candidates for this list, but none are more adorable than Yuffie.

The personification of death as a skeletal figure in a hooded cloak dates back to the 14th century, and this interpretation of the Grim Reaper is ubiquitous in popular culture. Countless video games have featured Death as a character, but the Castlevania iteration is easily the most iconic. As Dracula’s second-in-command, Death is immensely powerful and remarkably resilient. In fact, he’s appeared in nearly every game in the series! He usually keeps his head covered – unless he’s forced to transform – and he deserves a lot of credit for his bold fashion choices. You’d expect Death to be draped in drab colors, but he’s more likely to wear purple, green, or orange. The Castlevania games are crawling with skeletons that don’t wear any clothes at all, so Death’s hooded cloak makes it immediately apparent that he’s an important figure.

Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad was raised to be an assassin and reached the rank of Master before this 26th birthday. Although he made many contributions to the Assassin Order, he also showed a disregard for the tenets of the Creed. As a result, he was demoted to the rank of Novice and stripped of most of his weapons. Fortunately, they let him keep his uniform! His long white robe signified that he was a Master Assassin, and it commanded respect from other members. The outfit was anything but inconspicuous, however. It can’t be easy to blend in with 12-century peasants when your wrapped in radiant linens. Nevertheless, the robe was ideal for concealing weapons, and the hood allowed Altaïr to keep his face hidden. The robe basically became a part of his identity, and the only time we see him with his hood down is during his final moments with his son.