Those of us who are lucky enough to make it into our elderly years would be wise to remember what it was like to be young and deathly afraid of cranky old people. But assuming that you do make it that far in life, you'll probably forget most of the things you valued as a youngster and thereby embrace your curmudgeonly nature. I'm not saying this out of cruelty or intentional disrespect towards the senior citizens of the world -- but just look at your video game library and tell me that there isn't an extraordinary amount of mean old men contained within these playable stories. The world of fiction, video games in particular, is filled with an assorted line up of geriatric geezers that would bop you on the head with a cane just as soon as they would offer you a pot of tea.

While there's certainly no shortage of grumpy old men in video games, the following five are by far the grumpiest.

DR. WILY (Mega Man)

The yin to Dr. Light's yang, the nefarious Dr. Wily is one old grump you don't want to mess with. Despite his age, the menacing Wily is still more than capable of creating some of the most intricate, impossible to destroy and awkwardly named robots to throw your way if you've thrown down the gauntlet in his general direction. Sure, Mega Man always saves the day when push comes to shove, but the aging Wily certainly doesn't make things easy on the benevolent blue android. Take away his technological knowhow and the fancy gadgets, and Wily suddenly becomes a lot less threatening of a presence -- but probably an even crankier one.

REVOLVER OCELOT (Metal Gear Solid)

Lack of mobility isn't an issue for Revolver Ocelot, the mustache-twirling gunslinger from the Metal Gear Solid franchise -- except when you're talking about his hand, of course. After Ocelot attempts to kill Solid Snake, an invisible cybernetic ninja appears from the shadowy depths of who-knows-where to cleave off Revolver's right forearm in one deft move. As a result, Ocelot is one of the bitterest elderly villains I've ever come across in the world of video games. It doesn't help anything that he replaced his hand with the severed limb of Liquid Snake, a deceased bad guy whose soul still inhabits the newly revived arm.

SHANG TSUNG (Mortal Kombat)

On his good days, you'd be hard pressed to tell that Shang Tsung is well over 500 years of age, but that's only because the Mortal Kombat villain ingests the souls of his fallen combatants in order to maintain a youthful physique. But in the first Mortal Kombat game, the malicious magician's true colors were shown through his ancient flesh and flowing white locks of hair. So even though Tsung is looking a heck of a lot more youthful these days, don't be fooled by his appearance -- he's one old dude with plenty of bad attitude.

TELLAH (Final Fantasy IV)

The bespectacled sorcerer Tellah is one of the most tragic old men in video game history, but that doesn't make him any less of a sourpuss. After his daughter Anna is killed by a fleet of enemy airships, the Final Fantasy wizard embarks upon a vengeance quest to murder the man responsible for her death. But Tellah's rage-fuelled mission ends poorly when the magician uses an ancient spell against his target, merely wounding the man and killing himself in the process. In other words, not only is Tellah filled with anger, but his hateful feelings cost him his life. Sometimes, it's just best to let things go.

THE CAVE DWELLING HERMIT (The Legend of Zelda)

There's a reason that the existence of the Cave Dwelling Hermit from The Legend of Zelda is a secret to everybody. He just doesn't want to be bothered. The Hermit isn't necessarily the rude type; if you're smart enough to figure out where he's shacking up, he'll give you a heart piece or a potion or some other such upgrade. But once you start kicking your feet up on the table and making a mess of the place -- or, in "Zelda" terms, swinging your sword in his general direction -- the Hermit won't embark upon peaceful negotiations. No, he'll have a healthy heaping of fireballs to send straight your way. That's what years of isolation will do to you.