Kickass digital girls?

February 23, 2008 2:01 PM

What was the first videogame that had a principle female character that not just a damsal in distress or sex object?

I want examples of female characters in early-ish video games or arcade games that were NOT princesses that needed saving (zelda, toadstool) or just there for erotic value (a la "Custers Revenge"[gross]). I suppose even animals (like Lizzy in "Rampage") would be fine.

It's for an ongoing project of mine, and while I find videogames fascinating, I arrived to the game pretty late to just have this knowledge in my head. Help me brush up on my videogame histoy.

posted by piratebowling to technology (33 comments total)

I don't know the answer, but I can narrow it down some:

Ms. Pac Man (from 1982) precedes Rampage by about four years.
posted by Flunkie at 2:04 PM on February 23

It may not count, but Samus in Metroid is female. Not that you can tell with the spacesuit and all. Metroid was released in 1986.
posted by crashlanding at 2:04 PM on February 23

Although I have to admit that I did find Ms. Pac Man erotic.
posted by Flunkie at 2:04 PM on February 23 [1 favorite]

Metroid is a pretty early example (1986 in Japan). The surprise ending was that Samus was female.
posted by ALongDecember at 2:05 PM on February 23

Metroid was the first thing that came to mind for me as well.
posted by ludwig_van at 2:07 PM on February 23

Once could argue that Ms Pacman was nothing but a cynical ploy by the game manufacturers to get more girls to put their money in the arcade machines simply by adding a bow to the main character's sprite.
posted by Jimbob at 2:08 PM on February 23

Datapoints: 50 Greatest Female Characters in the History of Video Games
posted by rhizome at 2:16 PM on February 23

Infocom's Plundered Hearts is from 1987, which puts it after Ms. Pac Man and Metroid, but it's the first game I can think of with a female protagonist that was actually written by a woman.

"The lead character is a young female in the late 17th century who has received a letter. Jean Lafond, the governor of the small West Indies island of St. Sinistra, says that the player's father has contracted a "wasting tropical disease". Lafond suggests that his recovery would be greatly helped by the loving presence of his daughter, and sends his ship (the Lafond Deux) to transport her.

As the game begins, the ship is attacked by pirates and the player's character is kidnapped. Eventually the player's character finds that two men are striving for her affections: dashing pirate Nicholas Jamison, and the conniving Jean Lafond. As the intrigue plays out, the lady does not sit idly by and watch the men duel over her; she must help Jamison overcome the evil plans of Lafond so they have a chance to live happily ever after."

posted by bcwinters at 2:17 PM on February 23

Alis from Phantasy Star for the Sega Master System. A real ground-breaking RPG that set the tone for many RPGs since (not to mention Phantasy Star 2, 3, 4, Universe, etc.)

She's female, not a sex object, and a surprising lead character for the time. Samus is a great example, but it's kind of sad that they hide the fact that she's female until the end.
posted by mamessner at 2:18 PM on February 23 [1 favorite]

Also, the Coin-Op Museum might be a good resource to search.
posted by box at 2:25 PM on February 23

Carmen Santiago?
posted by mattoxic at 2:38 PM on February 23 [1 favorite]

The ensemble of protagonists in Maniac Mansion includes two female characters; that's from 1987.

For more on bcwinters' mention of Plundered Hearts and the text adventure genre, here's a pair of articles on character gender in interactive fiction (part 1, part 2) by Doug Atkinson.
posted by cortex at 2:42 PM on February 23

Does Rosella from the King's Quest series count?
posted by Soliloquy at 2:48 PM on February 23

Re: box's Philosophical question...

I'm interested in examples where there are signs of a real intent of making videogames not just a "boys thing". It's interesting that Ms. Pacman was brought up, because I suppose that could be seen as either reaching out or just trying to get girl's allowances.
posted by piratebowling at 2:49 PM on February 23

Certainly not the first, but Konoko from Oni was pretty clearly a reaction against Lara Craft and similar characters.
posted by adamrice at 2:52 PM on February 23

Yeah, I'm going to have to go wth Ms PacMan too. Here's the results of my extremely un-thorough investigation.

Ms Pac Man (1982)
Carmen Sandiego (1985)
Samus Aran (1986)

So if Ms Pac Man wasn't the first, she would have been among the first. But I agree that that is hardly definitive, so since you say that this is an ongoing project of yours, here's some more links that might help you in your search.


Female video game characters
List of video games with female protagonists
List of video games with female antagonists
The 50 Greatest Female Characters in Video Game History
Female Video Game Characters We Can Respect?

Hope that helps. Good luck!
posted by Effigy2000 at 2:57 PM on February 23

Lady Bug came out in 1981.
posted by box at 3:12 PM on February 23 [1 favorite]

Samus is a great example, but it's kind of sad that they hide the fact that she's female until the end.

I dunno. I thought that was a great subversive touch. The sad thing, IMO, is that now she's just as much of a sex object as any other female character.
posted by danb at 3:18 PM on February 23 [1 favorite]

The first one I played with a female protagonist was King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella. She wasn't exactly a sex object.
posted by avocet at 4:23 PM on February 23

That was a male lady bug.
posted by Flunkie at 4:23 PM on February 23 [1 favorite]

There's a article titled "The Babe's the Thing!: Gaming's Best Female Characters" by Cindy Vanous and originally published on the old CNET GameCenter site in May 1997, and it talks about this very topic of female game characters who have more substance. It refers to some names already mentioned here and some others. (Article link goes to the Wayback Machine).

I originally found the article because it's referenced on a fan site for "Below the Root" (click "The Game"), which is still one of my all-time favorite games and was published in 1984. Vanous' article singles out "Below the Root" as "the first game to offer an opportunity to choose a female main character, complete with appropriate stats, animation, and history."

"Below the Root" is an adventure game based on (and a sequel to) the "Green Sky" fantasy book series written by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. She also wrote the story for the game. You can choose to play as one of five characters, and each has a different set of pros and cons in his/her abilities that will affect gameplay. Two of the five are female: Genaa is an adult who's strong and charismatic, but has no spirit skill ("spirit skill" = a trait in the game), and Pomma is a child who's not physically strong but has high spirit skill.

There are also female NPC characters within the game -- one is a prophet-type of wise old woman who is important to the story that kicks off the game (which is really fantastic -- it offers a lot of different scenarios and incorporates the elements and philosophy of the book series very well. It's a shame that the game doesn't seem to be as well-known as it should).

Here are the MobyGames profile and wikipedia entry for "Below the Root."
posted by macguffin at 5:22 PM on February 23 [1 favorite]

Samus Aran, sure. Also, Mother Brain!
posted by Metroid Baby at 5:34 PM on February 23

Note that various computer RPGs have given you the option of playing a female character.

Ultima I back in 1980, for instance, let you play a female if you wanted to, though it made no difference to the game at all.
posted by dansdata at 5:35 PM on February 23

(I always wondered... why "Ms. Pac-Man" and not "Pac-Woman"? I suspect she may actually be Pac-Man in drag and therefore disqualified.)
posted by Metroid Baby at 5:49 PM on February 23

These definitely aren't the earliest, which makes this not a very good answer.... but if you're interested in strong, interesting female characters, two games to check out are The Longest Journey and Beyond Good And Evil, both of which are excellent.

You can get TLJ on Steam for $10, and BG&E is on Gametap. TLJ's graphics are a little dated, but it's a wonderful game. BG&E is more recent, and looks very nice.

Oh, another thought: I don't know if it's early enough to suit what you're asking, but Grace from Gabriel Knight 1 was a very strong character, albeit supporting cast.
posted by Malor at 6:39 PM on February 23

Oh, and re Lady Bug: check out the bezel art.
posted by box at 8:14 PM on February 23

The 1985 arcade game Gauntlet featured a valkyrie, but I'd guess that similar female characters were available in the PC "Dungeons and Dragons"-type that preceded it. She was one of four characters, and four players could play at once, and I kinda wonder how many guys wouldn't choose her even though she was the only one with no real weakness. (I was partial to the elf myself, on the home version.)

Incidentally, the Princess character from Super Mario Bros became a playable character in the 1988 sequel, and boys would pick her, thanks to her handy semi-floating ability.

The Ms Pac-Man discussion above is interesting, because while they may have tried to appeal to women (and their money), I wonder if they thought they were risking losing the male players. Still, it succeeded because it was clearly a better game, since the mazes changed every few rounds, unlike the original, which you don't see around nearly as much these days.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 10:06 PM on February 23

The protagonist in The Colonel's Bequest (1989) is female. That's the first game I can remember being required to play as a female. I don't really count Ms. Pac-Man because the Pac-people are alien/non-human, so the effect of the gender is different. Also notable is that The Colonel's Bequest, like King's Quest 4 mentioned above, was created by Roberta Williams, probably one of the most influential women in gaming.
posted by falconred at 12:09 AM on February 24

1985 seems to be when one could first play female characters in Hack, the ancestor of Nethack.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 1:04 AM on February 24

Metroid Baby: Just imagine that "Pac-man" is analogous to surnames like "Goldman" and it works fine.

I understand that there was a Lupin III arcade game in 1980 in which between levels Fujiko ordered you to go out and steal more. Kind of the inverse of a damsel-in-distress motivation, although of course in the original cartoon her character is built around how she uses her sex appeal to manipulate men. (Of course with 1980s graphics not much of that would have gotten though the screen...)
posted by No-sword at 5:00 AM on February 24

Thanks, this is all a lot to digest, and a more complex than I originally thought.
posted by piratebowling at 6:16 AM on February 24

I remember an interview clip from Level One of Discovery Channel's "Rise of the Videogame" with the creator of Pac-Man. (One article about the documentary series.)

I can't find the exact words right now, but he said that the company was delighted with the financial success of other arcade games of that time (Space Invaders?) and wanted to make more money by appealing to girls. He came up with Pac-Man because it was non-violent. According to him, girls love their desserts, so the character was designed to look like a cake or pie with one slice missing. As a result, Pac-Man was a huge hit among both boys and girls. If all of this is true, I have trouble beliving that Ms. Pac-Man would attract more girls to games.
posted by scission at 8:52 AM on February 24

falconred: Holy crap, I LOVED The Colonel's Bequest when I was a kid. Scared the crap out of me too, but I loved it.
posted by spec80 at 3:18 PM on February 25