Polygon wrote something dumb the other day. As most of you know, this is nothing unusual, so I’m not even going to bother to link to an archive this time. The gist of the piece, though, was that female-fronted video games are New and Exciting, and their evidence for this was Assassin’s Creed Syndicate (which features both a male and a female protagonist) and Fallout 4 (which features customisable, player-created protagonists).
Trouble is, it’s not the first time either of those games have had a female protagonist. Assassin’s Creed Liberation featured only a female protagonist — no bloke with whom to share the limelight — and Fallout has had a selectable character gender since its very first installment. In fact, female-fronted games are nothing new at all. And as an attempt to prove this, I am going to list one game from every year since I was born in 1981 that featured a female protagonist, be it of the pre-scripted, “written” variety, or the ability for the player to create their own female character with which to experience the game.
1981: Ultima
One of the earliest role-playing games, Richard Garriott’s Ultima set the mould for many future titles to follow. It featured a fairly comprehensive, customisable character creation system that included the option to play as either male or female characters. Rather progressively, this choice was purely cosmetic, and had no effect on your stats whatsoever; none of that “women are weaker but can run faster” stuff here.
1982: Ms. Pac-Man
Ms. Pac-Man was copyrighted in 1981, but actually came out in 1982. Developed and released by Midway without the authorisation of Namco, Ms. Pac-Man is a very fondly regarded game that some people even prefer to the original Pac-Man.
1983: Ultima III
Cheating? Nah. Ultima III was an important installment in the series, as it was one of the first games to feature tactical turn-based combat. It also allowed you to select your gender as male, female or “other”. How progressive!
1984: Ice Climber
Nintendo’s two-player platformer featured both male and female protagonists who had exactly the same abilities.
1985: Gauntlet
Inspired by Dandy Dungeons from two years earlier, Gauntlet combined the aesthetic and theme of dungeon-crawling role-playing games with the immediacy and action of an arcade game. It had four playable characters, one of whom was a woman.
1986: Metroid
Samus, that armor-clad badass you play for the whole game, is a lady. Surprise!
1987: Phantasy Star
Sega’s excellent sci-fi dungeon-crawling RPG (bring graph paper) had a female protagonist by the name of Alys. She was cool.
1988: Super Mario Bros. 2
Rather than getting kidnapped, Peach (then known as Princess Toadstool) was instead a playable character in the American and European release of Super Mario Bros. 2, which was actually a reskinned version of a Japanese game called Doki Doki Panic. Peach was one of the most useful characters due to her ability to float for several seconds after a jump, allowing her to reach places the other characters might have had difficulty with.
1989: The Colonel’s Bequest
One of Roberta “King’s Quest” Williams’ early games, The Colonel’s Bequest was noteworthy for being a somewhat more mature-themed take on the adventure game than its stablemates from Sierra (and Williams herself). Its protagonist was a woman named Laura Bow, who fronted both this game and its sequel The Dagger of Amon Ra in a short-lived mini-series.
1990: Gauntlet: The Third Encounter
Gauntlet’s Atari Lynx-exclusive incarnation was noteworthy for taking longer to complete than a set of batteries in the Lynx would last. It also had an array of peculiarly unconventional protagonists such as “Nerd” and “Pirate”, but also brought back the Valkyrie from the original Gauntlet. She is a lady.
1991: Street Fighter II
The world’s first encounter with Chun-Li’s thighs, and the world was never the same again. For many people, Street Fighter II was the first time a female character had been so noticeable in a major release, though as we’ve seen, there have been plenty of examples in the preceding years.
1992: Alone in the Dark
The first fixed camera angle 3D survival horror game, Alone in the Dark allowed you to play as either a male or female protagonist.
1993: Lost in Time
A gorgeous adventure game from Coktel Vision, Lost in Time featured a female protagonist, full-motion video, freely explorable 3D rendered backdrops and all manner of other goodness.
1994: Super Metroid
Samus is still a lady.
1995: Phantasmagoria
Noteworthy for several reasons: a female protagonist, coming on about a bajillion CDs due to all its full-motion video, being rather more adult-oriented than the rest of Sierra’s catalogue, which was mostly family-friendly, and attracting controversy for its extreme violence and rape scene.
1996: Dead or Alive
While Street Fighter II was noteworthy for introducing us to Chun-Li, she was but one woman in a cast of mostly men. Dead or Alive gave us a cast with four women to play: Kasumi, Ayame, Lei Fang and Tina.
1997: Ultima Online
You could be anyone you wanted to in this, male or female. You didn’t even have to be an adventurer if you didn’t want to; you could play the game and become a shopkeeper or crafting specialist.
1998: Parasite Eve
Square’s peculiar blend of survival horror and RPG wasn’t entirely successful at what it set out to do, but its protagonist Aya Brea was pretty badass and went on to star in a couple of sequels.
1999: UmJammer Lammy
The sequel to PaRappa the Rapper featured a leading lady guitarist instead of a rapping dog. Playing it still felt like you were tripping balls.
2000: Resident Evil Code: Veronica
The Resident Evil series as a whole had always had playable women; Code Veronica put female protagonist Claire Redfield very much front and centre.
2001: Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance
A spinoff of the Baldur’s Gate series of Dungeons and Dragons-themed RPGs on PC, Dark Alliance was a Diablo-style action RPG for one or two players, and had a playable female character in the form of the elven Sorceress.
2002: Fatal Frame
This absolutely terrifying game featured a playable female protagonist, though you played as her brother for the prologue sequence.
2003: Dark Chronicle/Dark Cloud 2
This sequel to one of the more unusual RPGs out there featured both a male and female protagonist that you could switch between at any time.
2004: Metroid: Zero Mission
Samus is still a lady!
2005: Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit
The world’s first encounter with David Cage featured several different playable characters, including a woman and a black dude.
2006: Dreamfall: The Longest Journey
Not one, but two playable ladies in this adventure game and sequel to the wonderful The Longest Journey (which also had a lady in the leading role).
2007: Tomb Raider Anniversary
Can’t talk about gaming ladies without having Lara Croft in there somewhere. Tomb Raider Anniversary was a considerably enhanced remake of the original game.
2008: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
This year’s Castlevania game brought us Shanoa, a pretty awesome female protagonist who would be seen again in the underrated PS3 and Xbox 360 time-attack Castlevania.
2009: OneChanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad
Exploitative it may be — and deliberately so — but OneChanbara certainly features some of the most ass-kicking young ladies you’ll see in gaming.
2010: Final Fantasy XIII
Love it or hate it — I love it, everyone else hates it — Final Fantasy XIII had a highly capable woman at the helm. For double Progressive Points, the one black character in the main cast was also arguably one of the most well-realised characters in the whole thing.
2011: Hyperdimension Neptunia
An all-female cast, with any male characters being literally faceless, the original Hyperdimension Neptunia managed to kick off what has become a highly successful series even after some atrocious reviews from people who really didn’t “get it”.
2012: Atelier Meruru
The Atelier series is pretty much the nicest series in existence, and has always had pretty girls at the helm. This year’s installment was the wonderful Meruru, the third and final installment of the Arland trilogy, and a favourite of many series fans.
2013: Gone Home
A favourite of progressive, narrative-loving types, Gone Home was a “walking simulator” with a female playable protagonist who ultimately was of little importance to the story; instead, the story was largely focused on her sister, who, being her sister, was also a lady.
2014: Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus
The Vita installment of this lovely hack-and-slash series of brawlers came out this year, and features some wonderfully well-realised characters in its almost all-female cast.
2015: Life is Strange
Another narrative-heavy game, this well-received episodic series featured a female protagonist.
I think I’ve made my point. Can we stop with this shit now?
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