I would have to say new characters I would pick Krauser I think besides Wesker he was a great villian it sucks he is gone.

But with old characters I would have to say it was awesome to see Ada make her return even though I'm mad her intentions are never clear.

My favourite is Luis Sera (cos he got the same first name as me :P), Leon, and Ashley...
i like Ada but she just isn't my favourite.... maybe if she apear in RE6 and be a complete badass double agent again then i think i will love her :L

Leon. Hard to believe he was that same Leon from RE2 huh?!

@James007
Leon Kennedy #1
then Ashley #2 because she reminds me of my girlfriend. x) (She also has the same name hah)

If my g/f reminded me of ashley and was like "SETH" in that horrible voice I would kill myself your a stronger man than me!

It is a coin toss between Ada and Leon. Both characters are part of why RE is still great. That, and RE4 was just a cracking game in itself - probably the best game of any console from the year 2005.

I actually don't find RE4 scary in the least, as I keep pointing out to people. Well, all right, I jumped at some parts, like in the mineshaft where you are in three coal carts with the villagers. But it's the best looking RE of them all, alongside the remake. The villains always crack me up. Their take over the world attitude reminds me of so many failures in comic books.

RE5 had impressive characters and graphics as well, but I found the game in general kind of dull and repetitive at times. The weapon upgrades were not the greatest, I must say. There was a lot of work involved in upgrading them. RE4 reigns over RE5.

I like Leon the most

I'm going to ignore the recurring characters (Leon, Ada, Wesker) since they are obviously most people's favorites, but for the side characters I'll go with Luis. He was easily stronger than any of the "one-hit-wonder" characters from RE5 (Sheva, Irving, Excella, Josh). At least Luis provided comic relief, something that Irving tried to do in RE5 but failed at miserably. As for the other characters, Ashley was whiny and obnoxious, and Krauser was a boring stereotypical grunt (who was made slightly more interesting in Darkside Chronicles). I'm ignoring the other villains, since they were all too hilarious to actually consider them legitimate characters...

#1 Is, of course, Leon S. Kennedy with is awesomeness (on par with Spider-man's)
#2 Luis Serra, Tragic death impaled by a gay man's (I hope) tail
#3 the merchant, gotta love his accent.

Leon s. kennedy, is one of my favorite characters