The Ten: Mens’ Favorite Female Characters
In the beginning, videogames were typically a men thing, one where the leading roles were given to tough heroes while women were only present for two things: getting saved or being as nude as possible for the eye of pubering teenagers. Still, female characters are working their way up strongly the last couple of years and therefore we’ve decided to give you a list of ten important ones from the history of gaming.
1. Ms. Pac-Man
Ms. Pac-Man first saw the light of day in 1981 in the arcade game with the same name. With this she was the first female lead character and set the path for many to follow.
The biggest difference with her male colleagues was that this time you got to play four different mazes, and that in different colors! On top of that the ghosts ran around in different patterns and dared now and then to do a semi-random move. Just like my wife, so to speak. One ghost also got the name Sue instead of Clyde. Remember it as a small fact for your next date!
2. Princess Daphne
The princess from the arcade game Dragon’s Lair dates from 1983 and was the first female character that wasn’t completely built from a spripte but had full animation thanks to former Disney artist Don Bluth. She was responsible for the first hearts that started beating faster with teenagers thanks to her looks, but most of all she would devour much of your allowance.
3. Samus Aran
Samus is one of the exceptions in the era of the early games. She was a woman who wasn’t afraid of a fight in her mechanical suit.
The height of her existance came early in her career and she became responsible for without a doubt the biggest plot twist ever in a Super Nintendo game. At the end of the first Metroid you suddenly got confronted with the fact that your character wasn’t a tough hero but a woman!
With blond hair!
4. Chun-Li
Chun-Li made her debute in [î]Street Fighter II[/i], and was therefore the first lady in a famous fight game. Since the enormous success of the game Chun-Li only become more popular and has up to now played along in about a dozen games, movies and mangas.
After her debute, more female fighters were added in the world of digital combat arenas, and tight butts became a new obsession for many controller-addicted youngsters. Amongst those also b|0-0|n after he saw Kristin Kreuk as Chun-Li in the latest movie.
Those that want to know some more I’ll silence by saying that both the Arctic Monkeys (with the song “Chun Li’s Spinning Bird Kick”) and Wyclef Jean (“If your name was Chun Li, we’d be playin’ Street Fighter.”) already paid hommage to this little lady.
5. Jill Valentine
This trained soldier knew how to stand her man in the Resident Evil series and showed that woman aren’t any less than male lead characters. Never did she fear rotting zombies and next to that she was also responsible for solely taking down Nemesis, one of the most brutal monsters to have ever appeared in the series.
That she not only is capable of standing tall but also do that in style and with the necessary class can also be seen in this railer of Resident Evil Apocalypse. A movie that at least reaches the level of Return of the King. Or maybe not, but it’s a piece of cinema where oestrogen prevails.
6. The girls of Dead or Alive
This series of fight games and accompanying women became most well-known by the beautifully displayed graphics and big… euh… you know.
The girls quickly got so popular that developer Tecmo saw them as a healthy flock of milk cows and flooded the market with some cheap games. Sex sells, the people at Tecmo thought, and the idea of jumping, scarsely clothed, virtual girls in the sand made the developers dream already. Unfortunately their volleyball game never got taken seriously, but we doubt that was ever the idea.
In any case, the game managed to bring plenty of young boys to playing mini-games for hours or grinding for days in order to get that one bathing suit that left even less to the imagination.
7. Princess Zelda
The legendary princess from the Nintendo series The Legend of Zelda has been seen in plenty of incarnations already. Some of her roles have clearly been passive while in other editions (think Ocarina of Time or Spirit Tracks) she had more to do. No matter the role she got or the number of seconds she appeared in a game; Zelda is an icon in the history of games.
And now once and for all: the dude is Link. Not Zelda!
8. Alyx Vance
The clearly very intelligent, but a bit nerdy, Alyx knew perfectly how to hack a PC while using her other hand to pull the trigger of a pistol. On top of that she’s also not afraid of the necessary stunt work, something she may have inherited from her Asian mom who died during the Black Mesa incident of Half-Life 1.
Throughout Half-Life 2 and the following episodes – still waiting for number 3 – she even managed multiple times to save the male lead character. With this it immediately becomes clear that a next HL game without women just isn’t possible.
9. Aeris / Aerith Gainsborough
There are of course dozens of Final Fantasy characters to choose from, but the most beloved and well-known remains the flower lady from Final Fantasy VII.
Her – and now close your eyes if you want to avoid the spoiler – self sacrifice and death is without a doubt one of the most emotional scenes from the Final Fantasy history, maybe even of the entire gaming history. Or at least for those that have a difficult time seeing a little rabbit die in some reality soap. Next to her adventure in Final Fantasy VII we also saw her pass by in the movie Advent Children, Crisis Core and the Kingdom Hearts series.
10. Lara Croft
How could we not include this lady if we’re making a list which includes the words “woman” and “games”.
Lara Croft partially made gaming mainstream. Next to that she didn’t only get praise for her handyness with all kinds of weapons and her acrobatics but of course also her huge boobs that evolved throughout the series from pointy to gigantic to decent.
Also her knowledge of archaeology made many person’s heart beat faster and then we’re not even mentioning the famous nude patch for Tomb Raider II. Although the latest games didn’t always have the same high quality as before, the gaming industry wouldn’t be where it is today if Lara Croft had never seen the light of day.
We’ll be back with more “10s” soon so keep your eye on the site
Cynic Gamer: 2009 was a Bad Year for Gaming
Cynic Gamer: They are screwing us over