Max Rokatansky (A.K.A. Mad Max)
The first Mad Max movie I ever saw was "The Road Warrior". The character was cool by itself, but the fact that he had a bad ass dog companion made him even more cool. The way the dog knew to be an out of sight "trap" for anyone trying to get into the car was really cool, and how he was trained to do exactly what Max told him was great too. But, it wasn't all one sided. The world had gone to shit, and you literally had to kill for a mouthful of food, and its very telling that Max took the effort to feed and care well for his dog.
Fallout 3 (AKA Mad Max Simulator)
Early in the game I found the junkyard. I found the double barrel shotgun, the biker armor and the dog companion named Dogmeat. It was obvious by the character dead near it that this was an homage to Mad Max. I took Dogmeat as the companion and only switched out when forced to for story reasons, I always came back and got my dog though. His practically "infinite" taunt made him the best companion for me, everything instantly targeted it, and let me get headshots real easy.
Shadow (Final Fantasy 6)
"He'll slit his own mother's throat for a nickle" was how you were introduced to Shadow. "Don't touch the dog, he eats people" was how you were introduced to Interceptor, his faithful dog. Both introductions proved to be pretty accurate, but also a mask hiding the truth of who they were on the inside. You have to dig hard to find this dog-loving assassin's true intentions, but he'll match Max for being the badass that cares. Interceptor's name is homage to Mad Max, as Max's patrol car was the "Last of the V8 Interceptors"Galford (Samurai Shodown)
An American ninja dressed in blue, a level where you get to cut up barrels of apples, what more could you want for kickass fighting game character? He's got a dog. Poppy was not just a kickass attack dog that would eat the opponent or turn into a ball of flame to make attacks, Poppy is also a responsible mommy. Yep, in Samurai Shodown 2, when you win there will be a row of puppies that come in and celebrate the victory with mommy and ninja-step-dad.
Lonestar (Spaceballs)
Lonestar is a bafoon. He's not good with his money and he's pretty lousy with the ladies too. He also drives the most uncool spaceship in movies. So what makes him a worthy hero at all? Barf. As in the Man-Dog Mog. He's his own best friend, but after that he's best friends with Lonestar. Also, when he's not being a kickass best friend, he's John Candy, and who doesn't like John Candy? Terrorists, that's who.
