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Hands down the best damn sniper in the game. She's the only character in the Sniper Class to always activate the "Ultimate Accuracy" Battle Potential, which gives her a permanent +90% accuracy. She also has two Personal Potentials, "Lone Wolf" and "Night vision, which grants her enhanced evasion when no teammates are nearby and enhanced accuracy at night respectively.
Aw, I think I've got a few that haven't been mentioned yet!
Well first off, if you don't count Birdo (who was often labeled male at the time anyway) she's possibly the first female Mario villain. And she never got any special treatment, she fought it out every time just like her brothers. In fact, in most of the games she arguably was either the toughest boss or had the toughest boss stage. Oh yeah, also first female villain to be playable in Smash Bros.
She may have been a bit on the frail side but otherwise she was basically the offensive powerhouse of Earthbound. You know those fancy moves Ness uses in Smash Bros? Those were mostly Paula's!
The most recent example I can think of is Red, from Transistor.
It's amazing how well characterised she is for a character with no lines (ditto the man in the Transistor, who's a character with no real visual presence)
^ I forgot that I need to play Transistor. I can't believe I forgot about that.
Anyway, so many excellent characters come to mind, but three in particular stand out to me. Samus Aran has already been mentioned, and honestly, we all know how amazing she is by now. So I'll just skip ahead to the other two. I've been intentionally vague concerning plot details so there shouldn't be any spoilers, but I'll hide my descriptions just in case.
Shanoa from Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
This is a game that doesn't get nearly enough praise. It is one of the best games on the DS and my favorite in the Castlevania series. Charlotte may have technically been the first playable female protagonist in the series, but Shanoa doesn't play second string to anyone. She's incredibly powerful and strong willed. Though her character premise is that she lost her emotions and memories at the beginning of the game, you slowly begin to see Shanoa regain her humanity in side quests and over the course of the main storyline. What I love most about her, though, is that she never gives up. There's one point in particular where she's given plenty of reason to turn away and accept failure, but she refuses.
Best part: at a decisive moment she says this line, "I am the morning sun, come to vanquish this horrible night!" She took one of the most famous annoyances in gaming and made it glorious.
Leliana from Dragon Age
I know she was mentioned before, but I just want to fangirl over this woman for a moment. One of the main reasons why I love DA so much is the detailed characterization, and when I first played the game I was not expecting Leliana. I initially delved into her character because she was the only gay romance option for a female Warden (my created characters tend to share my sexual orientation) and wound up finding one of my favorite video game characters.
She is, in my opinion, the strongest character in the game. She's stronger than a lot of people I know in real life. Leliana (like Shanoa) had every reason to lie down and quit, but she didn't. She chose to fight, to find hope and love in life despite all of the deception, betrayal, and death she had so long been an active part of. What strikes me most in Origins is the disparity between Morrigan and Leliana. Morrigan is sheltered and naive; she proclaims to know the true nature of humanity despite never setting foot outside the Wilds. She's bitter, but has little to no life experience to back up that bitterness. Leliana, however, is the polar opposite in that regard. She's seen and indulged in the worst of humanity, but she sought a better path and views the world as full of promise. To overcome such a sordid past and emerge a better person takes no small amount of conviction. I admire Leliana for that.
- Any female in Street Fighter.
- Any female in Tekken.
- Any female in Guilty Gear.
- Any female in BlazBlue.
- Any female in Mortal Kombat.
- Any female i-do you see the pattern emerging?
And as much as I dearly love Samus Aran, holy Raptor Jesus did they diminish her character in Other M. They turned her into a weepy, dependent chatterbox: far from the badass she used to be.
And as much as I dearly love Samus Aran, holy Raptor Jesus did they diminish her character in Other M. They turned her into a weepy, dependent chatterbox: far from the badass she used to be.
I don't think Kerrigan has been mentioned yet. I need to rectify this.
Starcraft was one of the pivotal gaming series I grew up with. I never got into the multiplayer aspect of the games, rather it was the lore and storyline that I fell in love with. Sarah Kerrigan was my favorite character from the moment she showed up in the Terran campaign and my infatuation with her skyrocketed when she became the Queen of Blades.
Her characterization is a fascinating one, though aptly summed up with the phrase "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned". She has god-tier powers, but is rife with personal weakness. She's lonely, she's angry, she's selfish, she's self-destructive, yet it's these flaws that make her endearing. I love that Blizzard didn't go "split personality" with her two distinctive persona. Kerrigan never denies what she's done - all that she's destroyed - and accepts that there is a vast darkness within her. She isn't portrayed as a misunderstood villain who thinks she's doing something for a greater good. Kerrigan became a monster, and she embraced that transformation. It's not a path that fulfills her, but the only thing she knows how to do is destroy. So she destroys.
It's not a characterization you see often. I love the complexity of it. On the surface Kerrigan is the Queen Bitch of the Universe, but underneath all of her vast powers is a damaged human woman.
Her characterization is a fascinating one, though aptly summed up with the phrase "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned". She has god-tier powers, but is rife with personal weakness. She's lonely, she's angry, she's selfish, she's self-destructive, yet it's these flaws that make her endearing. I love that Blizzard didn't go "split personality" with her two distinctive persona. Kerrigan never denies what she's done - all that she's destroyed - and accepts that there is a vast darkness within her. She isn't portrayed as a misunderstood villain who thinks she's doing something for a greater good. Kerrigan became a monster, and she embraced that transformation. It's not a path that fulfills her, but the only thing she knows how to do is destroy. So she destroys.
It's not a characterization you see often. I love the complexity of it. On the surface Kerrigan is the Queen Bitch of the Universe, but underneath all of her vast powers is a damaged human woman.
A bit off topic but my favorite part of Kerrigan wasn't her specifically but how her rise to power was a result of Arcturus Mengsk's arrogance and how he viewed her as expendable.
Indeed in Brood War when you destroy his fleet Kerrigan tells Mengsk that she wants him to return to his empire and await his eventual fall, knowing that he caused it all through his actions. It was a really great moment in the game and one of the biggest reasons why I liked the character. It was very poetic.
I liked Kerrigan during the first Starcraft, but not in its sequel. That might be because Starcraft 2 is rife with bad writing, and because her position as the Queen of Blades was reversible. She also, at least to me, seemed more powerful and imposing in the original.
Not one mention of Jennifer Simpson from the Clock Tower series? I am disappointed...
Okay, Jennifer Simpson is one of the characters everybody seems to forget when female game characters come up and it's a real shame. She's one of the first female characters in a survival horror games that relies on wit and stealth to make it out in one piece. And she has to go through the ordeal twice with the same rules applying to both games she features in. Sure, she might suffer from the typical corniness that most horror games went through when they were brought over from Japan, but that still doesn't take away from how Jennifer managed to keep sane during the events of CT1/CT2.
Akane Kurashiki from Zero Escape. To explain why without spoilers would be a little difficult.
Other games the writer also did also had awesome female characters as well.
Kreia from KOTOR 2: AKA the "Anti Yoda" and the most badass old lady ever
While her deconstruction of the entire "force" concept and the jedi/sith in general might seem slightly cliched and pretentious, she is nonetheless the first decent in-universe critic of the star wars mythos and a delightfully complex and unique character who comes out neither good nor evil but something more, just like every Nietzchian Ubermench should
Plus the fact she is an elderly lady means she is utterly unburdened by over-sexualisation or attempts to titilate the audience, and instead is awesome entirely due to her character
To me, Kreia isn't just one of the best women in video games. She's one of the best female characters in the Star Wars universe and undoubtedly one of the most interesting Force users.
The fact that she spends about 90% of the game outright lying to you while being your main source of exposition is amazing.
This is kind of a weird choice, but when I was growing up, one of my heroes (besides the Doom Guy) was the Assassin from Hexen II. Obviously the chances for characterization in a '90s FPS are more than a little bit limited, but the Assassin was a hardcore criminal from a fantasy Aztec world who could backstab like a champion, fade into the shadows (if you leveled her enough, she'd actually start turning transparent whenever you stood still) and had a fourth-level weapon that shot burning scarabs and chains. She started from nothing and became a master killer with mountains of money, but when Bad Things Happened and a dark lord started taking over, she went after said dark lord with everything she had. It made me really happy as a ten-year-old to play a female character who was just as hardcore--and morally ambiguous--as the men.
Bayonetta. Yeah, she's probably not the deepest or most well written female protagonist. But I do like her charm and how graceful she is during battle.
Plus...
She summons a giant diety made from her own hair that punches what is essentially God so hard, her soul is sent flying across the solar system and into the sun.
so much is the detailed characterization, and when I first played the game I was not expecting Leliana. I initially delved into her character because she was the only gay romance option for a female Warden (my created characters tend to share my sexual orientation) and wound up finding one of my favorite video game characters.
