Behind every powerful man and woman, there is an equally powerful pet. While dogs typically get top billing when it comes to being a human being's greatest animal companion, there are plenty of other critters both friendly and terrifying that measure up to the canine variety. Plenty of these creatures can be found in your very own home, even if you don't own a pet yourself. All you have to do is look towards your video game collection.

Picking a favorite video game pet is like picking your favorite child -- you just can't do it, certainly not without hurting somebody's feelings! Instead, let's cast the net a bit wider by looking at six of the greatest companion animals in the history of video games.

AGRO (Shadows of the Colossus)

You might not believe me when I say that there are better horses in video game lore than Epona from the Legend of Zelda series, but Shadows of the Colossus proves my point. In Colossus, your unnamed hero travels through barren wastelands on the back of a black stallion named Agro, a horse that has no fear when it comes to confronting the deadliest titans the world has to offer. Agro's most amazing accomplishment comes towards the game's end when he falls into a virtually bottomless ravine, seemingly facing certain doom but only suffering a broken leg. That's a horse of a different color, all right -- and that color is awesome.

THE BLOB (A Boy and His Blob)

Technically an extraterrestrial and not quite an animal, I'd still classify the Blob from A Boy and His Blob as one of the greatest pets in video games. First of all, the Blob is very much infatuated with the Boy, mostly because he needs his help in order to save his home world of Blobolonia. Moreover, he loves the Boy because the Boy is always feeding him jellybeans, which can transform the Blob into incredibly useful objects like parachutes, ladders and even birds. If you can find me another animal that reacts to jellybeans in the same way, I'll be very impressed -- and kind of terrified.

CHOCOBOS (Final Fantasy)

Birds have plenty of downsides -- they make awkward noises, they smell bad -- but their upsides are many, and I'm not just talking about how good they taste with a little bit of hot sauce. In the Final Fantasy series, there are substantially sized birds called Chocobos that can perform a variety of functions including finding buried treasure, running epic racetracks, swimming through deep oceans and flying over treacherous terrain. Plus, they come in a wide variety of colors, so you're never bored on a visual level!

PIKACHU (Pokémon)

Narrowing down the best video game pets of all time is already a difficult task to accomplish, and trying to find the single greatest Pokémon of them all isn't much easier. At the end of the day, the award goes to Pikachu. His electric powers are incredibly useful, so long as said abilities are used on an opponent of your choosing instead of a loved one, and he's also insanely adorable. Judging an animal based on looks alone isn't completely fair, but when it comes to downright cuteness, Pikachu is simply irresistible.

RUSH (Mega Man)

While Rush from the Mega Man series doesn't feast on jellybeans, he still shares commonalities with the aforementioned Blob thanks to his ability to transform into a plethora of multi-functional forms. Created by the benevolent Dr. Light and the nefarious Dr. Wily, Rush is an incredibly useful companion to have on the battlefield -- he can transform into a submarine for Mega Man to use in deep sea expeditions or a jet plane for an airborne mission. Plus, Rush is a robot, and robots are universally cool. It's just science.

YOSHI (Super Mario Bros.)

It wouldn't be a list of the greatest pets in video games without the inclusion of everybody's favorite hungry dinosaur, Yoshi. Like Pikachu, Yoshi ranks high on the cuteness scale. Like Rush, the Blob and the Chocobos, Yoshi has many different forms that he can take in order to accomplish the task at hand. Like Agro, Yoshi isn't afraid to dive headfirst into a deadly fight. When it comes to the best video game pets available, Yoshi is leaps and bounds ahead of the pack.