Thunderbird’s Top 10 Female Game Characters

Hey everyone, I’m Thunderbird, and I’m here to bring you another top 10 list! All of us must be aware by now that gaming is a man’s world. But that doesn’t mean that a female character in a game can’t stand out from the pack of hyper sexualized, overly slutty characters that most females are reduced to. Finding the perfect balance between attractiveness and true character and personality in the character is hard to do, and as a result, truly excellent female characters are hard to come by in video games. So I have decided to countdown the best. What am I judging them by? By their strength, personality, and femininity. I often feel that so many female characters have no shred of femininity (Cammy from Street Fighter), and that this makes them almost indistinguishable from their male counterparts. It’s easy to make a cold, near silent female character; it’s hard to make one that is not only feminine, but also strong. So with that, let’s get into Thunderbird’s Top 10 Female Characters in Gaming!

10. Din, Farore, and Nayru

While they aren’t playable characters technically, these three goddesses are on the list for one reason alone: They created Hyrule. All the fond memories we have of exploring Hyrule in all of its incarnations are because of Din, Farore, and Nayru. While the explanation for this pick will be rather brief, the meaning of these three goddesses cannot be passed over. Without these three, there is no Link, no Zelda, no Ganon or Ganondorf, no Triforce, no Hyrule, and none of the great memories we have playing the games in The Legend of Zelda franchise.

And these three deities contribute more than just Hyrule as a universe; in fact, they also imbue Link with three magic spells during Ocarina of Time (That is the only game that I know of where Link gets the spells with the goddesses’ names attached, but there might be more). Each of these spells are not only useful to Link during his quest, but I do believe essential to complete the game.

However, there are a few things holding these three goddesses back from a higher position on the list. While they did create Hyrule, that also means that they led to the creation of the Water Temple, which is an unforgivable sin as we all know. But all joking aside, the real reason why I cannot put Din, Farore, and Nayru any higher is that they aren’t playable characters in any game. The fact that we only know about them through stories and cut scenes just doesn’t give enough of a glimpse into their characters as we get from playable characters.

In addition to them not being playable, there isn’t anything very feminine, or even human like, about the goddesses. One thing I judged very heavily for this list is if it is important to who the character is that they are female, and in this case, Din, Farore, and Neyru could have just as easily been gods and there wouldn’t be much difference in the world that they created or how they did it. So even though they created on of the greatest universes in gaming history, and one where one of the greatest franchises ever takes place, I cannot place Din, Farore, and Nayru any higher than here on this list.

9. Chun-Li

Chun-Li is definitely one of the more important female characters in video game history. Why? Because she was the only female character in the original Street Fighter 2, and possibly the first female fighter in video game history, but I’m not sure of that fact. The bottom line is that Street Fighter 2 changed the face of fighting games forever, and as a result, Chun-Li became one of the most well known female characters in video game history.

The major thing that makes Chun-Li one of the best females in a video game is that she isn’t designed to be one of the worst characters in the game. In fact, in the hands of a skilled player, can be very deadly. Her insanely fast kicks, Chun-Li’s trademark move, can be pulled off easily to punish any mistake the other player makes.

But I digress. Chun-Li is one of the real pioneers of female characters in video games, and will always be remembered for that. But I couldn’t place her any higher than number 9 on this list because I just feel like she’s a shallow character. Yeah I know, I shouldn’t be looking that hard for character depth and emotion in a fighting game, but other female characters from the Street Fighter series have far more interesting back-stories and overall characters than Chun-Li. She’s a great character, but aside from the brief moment of excitement she shows after winning a match, she’s fairly cold and underdeveloped. She also shows nothing in her character aside from her victory celebration that is especially feminine. But regardless, Chun-Li is one of the iconic female video game characters, and will remain that way for a very long time.

8. Kazooie

Yeah, that annoying bird made her way onto my list. Sure I hate the game, but once I thought about it, Kazooie had to be on my list. Why? Just because of some of the moves she can do, and the surprising math behind them.

One of Kazooie’s most famous maneuvers is the ability to carry Banjo on her back to run up hills at a pretty fast pace. The North American Brown Bear weighs an average 925 pounds, and can run up to 30 miles per hour. A bird is a bird. Also, Kazooie runs just as fast with Banjo on her back, if not faster than Banjo normally. So let me get this straight. A female bird can carry an almost 1,000 pound bear on her back and run at least 30 miles an hour? Hot damn, that is one jacked bird!

But I even surprised myself with Kazooie’s position on this list. I put her this high up solely because of the strength she must possess in order to lift Banjo, as well as the strange ability to cough and fart eggs. And those eggs weren’t the ones you see at the grocery store, they looked like ostrich eggs, those things were huge! But still, I can’t stand her voice or her games, and that really keeps her from being any higher on this list. If I can’t actually get past the second level in Banjo-Kazooie, I’m not going to have a strong opinion of Kazooie. But still, this brolic bird had to find a way onto this list.

7. Elizabeth Greene

Ahh Elizabeth Greene, the big sleeper on this list. Maybe, who knows what people will actually think. Elizabeth Greene is the final boss in Prototype, and is a great female game character. To my recollection, Greene is the only end boss in any game that I can think of that is not only female, but her being female is essential to her character.

Now some people might not agree with me when I say that Elizabeth Greene’s femininity is essential to her character, but I must disagree. Elizabeth Greene needs to be a woman because her powers exactly parallel Alex Mercer’s. If she were male, she would essentially be a carbon copy of Alex, and therefore, not an interesting villain. And true, the character isn’t really a person as much as a representation of the virus, but she still has some feminine traits. Once she escapes from the center where she was given the virus, Greene starts creating hives all around Manhattan, corrupting water towers, and creating the hunters. Basically, just causing a lot of general havoc.

But getting down to basics, while Elizabeth Greene isn’t the most likable character ever, and not a great villain, I just loved how even though her character seemed to be removed of any and all human characteristics due to the virus ravaging her body and mind, a lot of her actions her kind of feminine. For instance, she is given the code name MOTHER, and not just because she’s a woman. She sets up hives, hunters, and infected water towers all throughout the city, and all of which spread the 14 different strains of the virus that exist in her. If you consider the virus as Greene’s child, then she is a very motherly figure, and I feel that that makes her a great female character. For being such an incredible feminine final boss, but still a very powerful one, Elizabeth Greene was the one sleeper I really needed to have on this list.

6. Sakura

Yeah I put Sakura above Chun-Li, whatcha gonna do? But seriously, no matter what arguments I saw for Chun-Li as one of the greatest female characters in gaming history as I did research for this list, I couldn’t help but constantly think how much better Sakura was. Sure, people could argue that Chun-Li is better in the Street Fighter series, but this list is not about how good they are in the games as much as it is about the kind of character they are, and in that regard, Sakura is a much better female character than Chun-Li.

I mentioned when talking about Chun-Li earlier in this list about how, aside from one brief moment after she wins, she’s not a very feminine character, and she’s generally pretty cold. Not so with Sakura. Everything about her just oozes character, between her outfit, to her voice, to her appearance, and even her moves. While it seems a little generic, you can’t deny that her Japanese schoolgirl outfit is exponentially more feminine that whatever the hell Chun-Li wears. Also, when Sakura’s move set is examined, one can see that while all her moves are copies of the famous Street Fighter moves, the Hadoken, Shoryuken, and Hurricane Kick (I don’t know the Japanese name for it, it’s really long and complicated), they all have this sort of feminine tint to them. I can’t really describe how, or what I mean exactly, but hopefully someone out there understands what I’m talking about

But possibly the most important thing about Sakura, and what makes her an awesome female character in video games is her voice and appearance. I’ve heard many people, including my good friend Killroy, say that Sakura looks rather masculine, and they make tranny jokes. This is just not true. Sakura doesn’t look like a man, she just looks like an average woman, and because many female video game characters have hyper-feminized appearances, and not in a realistic way, some people associate Sakura’s realistic appearance with masculinity, because it’s different than the common female appearance for a female character.

In both her appearance and voice, which just sounds like a normal teenage girl, with a great little spunky tint to it, which I think gives her a lot of extra character, Sakura is one of the most realistic female video game characters ever.

The last thing I want to mention about the character is her humor aspect. I don’t remember much of her victory slogans from Street Fighter 4, but I remember them as being pretty hilarious. But nothing is as funny as her backstory. Sakura desperately wants to be trained by Ryu, the series’ protagonist, but Ryu refuses to. So she must accept training from Dan Hibiki. The sadness in that storyline on Sakura’s end, and the constant comic hilarity of Dan Hibiki just makes me laugh. So because she’s definitely the most realistic and interesting of the female Street Fighters, and one of the most realistic and interesting in video game history, Sakura has to make my list of the greatest female characters ever.

5. Princess Zelda (Only the Ocarina of Time version)

I was deciding whether to have the Ocarina of Time’s Princess Zelda or The Wind Waker’s Tetra at this spot on the list, but I went with Zelda, mostly because I’ve played more of Ocarina than Wind Waker. Both characters were in contention for this spot because, unlike many “princess” characters throughout gaming history (Peach, I’m looking at you), they actually do something productive towards the final goal of the game. Tetra is an adventurous captain of a troupe of pirates, but she loses out to Ocarina’s Princess Zelda. Why? Because in addition to helping you sneak around Hyrule castle when Link is a young boy, she eventually dons the alternate persona of the mysterious Sheik to aid Link through his quest.

Sheik has a bit of the Samus Aran effect to her character in that, based on her actions and behavior, the common gamer has no reason to believe that Sheik is female until she is revealed as such. And while Sheik doesn’t accomplish as much as Samus does, she is still pretty awesome. With some sleek harp playing skills, as well as the very ninja-like ability to disappear in a puff of smoke, Sheik is pretty bad ass. And then she moved on to the Super Smash Bros. series to kick more ass.

But I’m not talking about the Smash Bros. incarnation of Zelda and Sheik, I’m talking about the Ocarina of Time version. The fact that, even though she is royalty, that princess Zelda dons this alternate persona to do good, knowing and accepting the large risks with doing such a thing makes her one hell of a character. Also, her being a princess obviously makes her femininity an essential part of her character. The only thing holding Zelda/Sheik back from being higher on this list is that she really isn’t in the game all that much. You never control her, and Sheik only shows up at new temples to give you some information and a song. But regardless, because she says “To hell with being a Princess, I need to act”, Princess Zelda from the Ocarina of Time has to be on this list of the greatest female characters in video games.

4. Karen

The first thing you might be asking is who the hell is Karen? Karen is one of the assorted women that you can court in Harvest Moon 64. So why is she on this list, especially when she is in a group of characters that really serve no purpose but to be potential wives and mothers? Because she is so much more than that.

While this entry might seem a little contradictory because Karen isn’t as brave as characters like Zelda/Sheik, and isn’t exactly an obvious pioneer for female characters in games in any way, I had to put Karen on the list because when her character is deeply examined, it’s obvious that she has one of the deepest, most involved, most sincere, and most interesting personalities in gaming history.

While the other girls available for courtship in Harvest Moon 64 (Ellie the baker, Anne the farmgirl, Popuri the florist, and Maria the librarian) have definite character traits, they’re all so stock and generic. Of course there’s a shy girl, a spunky tomboy-ish girl, etc. There’s no realistic personalities that I can remember out of any of the Harvest Moon 64 girls except for Karen.

Now Karen on the other hand, is incredibly realistic, as well as probably the hardest girl to woo in the whole game. I know that when I played this game in my childhood, all my efforts in courtship were put towards Karen. Not only is she attractive, but she’s just so different than the other girls. First off, she’s kind of rude to you when you first meet her, whether it be talking to her around the town, at festivals, or even her place of work, the local tavern. She’s such a complex and obviously deeply troubled character, and it makes her so damn intriguing.

One of the most important things about Karen as a character is that if you don’t play the game right, she can actually leave the town. I’m not sure if this can happen if you don’t try to court her, but all I know is that one time while playing the game, I went to the beach, and a scene started where she had decided to leave forever, and was leaving via helicopter. It was really one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen in a game ever. It was so sad that it took me a while to get over the shock and hit the reset button so all my progress wouldn’t be lost. Thankfully, I never saw her leaving again.

But Karen isn’t just a generic cold character personality wise. As your advances toward her become more and more successful, she gradually becomes warmer, and by the time you marry her, as I did in my file, she is one of the nicest, most honest, and most genuinely nice and caring female characters I’ve ever seen in a game. Because she has one of the most interesting, complicated, and realistic personalities I’ve ever seen in any character, male or female, I had to put Karen on this list.

3. Alyx Vance

Alyx Vance, from Half Life 2, makes this list pretty much because of her appearance. Now I know this sounds weird and shallow after I’ve spent 7 entries on this list talking about how important character and personality is in how good a female character is, but not only have I not played much of Half Life 2, and only really seen Alyx once or twice, her appearance alone, and how realistic it is, makes Alyx a very important female character in video games. Keep in mind that this entry will be significantly shorter than the others on this list, as I really haven’t played Half Life 2 all that much, and have seen Alyx in it even less.

The bottom line is that because Alyx is portrayed so realistically, she instantly becomes a landmark female character in video games, just because most other female characters look anything but realistic. Alyx Vance is portrayed so accurately that she actually looks like a real life human woman. And why shouldn’t she, her character was modeled after a real life actress Jamil Mullen.

But because I don’t want to seem shallow, yet don’t want to talk about the exploits of a character that I don’t really know, I did some research. Apparently Alyx is very useful throughout Half Life 2, at times assisting Gordon first hand, and other times assisting from the back lines, creating robots and stuff like that. So Alyx sounds like a fairly useful character. However, because I haven’t really experienced her in the game, I can’t put her any higher. That and the other 2 characters left on the list (you’ll understand). But I still feel that on looks alone, Alyx’s realism justifies my placing her at this point in the list.

2. Samus

HOLY CRAP SAMUS ISN’T NUMBER 1? WTF?

Yeah I know Samus isn’t number 1, flame it up, I’m sticking to my guns on this one. Samus is in no way shape or form the greatest female character in gaming. Actually, it’s not even close, but I’m getting ahead of myself. While she isn’t the greatest in history, Samus is one of the greatest female characters in the history of video games. The main reason for this is her pioneership… pioneership? Is that even the right word? I’m not quite sure. But anyway, you know what I mean, screw the rules of grammar. Samus was, unless I’m extremely mistaken, the first real female protagonist in video game history. I could almost stop writing, and I’m not going to continue writing about how great Samus is because it’s all been said before. Instead I’m going to discuss why Samus isn’t the greatest female character in video game history.

The problem with Samus is, in like other entries like Chun-Li on this list, she’s not that feminine. I believe that Samus was originally designed as a rather generic, male character; just a standard space fighter in a sea of male heroes. Only until the original Metroid was about 60% through being developed did the developers decide to make Samus a woman. To me, that’s a deal breaker for me in terms of considering Samus as the greatest female character in gaming history.

Going back in my list a little, you’ll see that I mention how, for certain characters, it is essential, and sometimes completely unessential, to their character that they are female. Considering that Samus wasn’t supposed to be a woman for the majority of Metroid’s development, I cannot even begin to think that being female is even close to an essential part of Samus’ character. The only thing Samus’ femininity is essential in is her legend; her status as an icon for female video game characters. Samus would be a boring character if she was a he, and just because she’s female doesn’t change the fact that she’s kind of boring. But maybe with her getting a voice in Other M, this could change. I find it unlikely, however, that Samus, or any other female character, will soon top the greatest female character in video game history…

1. Bayonetta

That’s right, Bayo-freakin’-netta is the greatest female character in video games. And yes, I can hear the arguments against me now, how dare I put Bayonetta ahead of Samus, but my reasonings are two-fold.

Basically, I consider Bayonetta a sort of cross between a character such as Samus, and one such as Sakura. She has Samus’ raw power and ability to completely take charge as the lead character in a game, and Sakura’s femininity as a core component to her character. Let’s begin with the Samus aspect of Bayonetta’s character.

Anyone who’s played Bayonetta can testify to the character’s raw power. Apparently, in this game’s universe, Umbra Witches (for those who haven’t played Bayonetta, that’s what she is) are the most powerful thing ever. And when I say ever, I mean it. I won’t spoil all the things that Bayonetta does throughout the game, because they get pretty awesome, but I will say that you have to be one strong character to pull these things off. Just look at any clip from the game, particularly the climaxes to big fights and the torture attacks. The way Bayonetta controls her demon hair into giant dogs, pidgeons, a whole lot of fists, and more things is just a small example of her awesome power. For a look at her full abilities, just look at the final boss fight. I won’t ruin it, because it’s amazing, but yeah, if you’ve played Bayonetta, you know what I’m talking about.

But now for the second part of her character, the part that I most liken with Sakura from the Street Fighter series. Sakura is the only character on this list whose character is absolutely essential to her character, and Bayonetta’s femininity is even more important to her character than Sakura’s is. This is just as obvious as Bayonetta’s power. Everything she says and does just oozes femininity. You grow butterfly wings when you double jump, when you’re sprinting as a wolf, flowers quickly sprout up beneath your feet. And just the way Bayonetta acts, walks, talks, and just everything she does in the whole game is incredibly feminine.

Now some people may have noticed this by now, but I actually share these feelings about the strength of Bayonetta’s character with The Game Overthinker. In fact, I loved his Bayonetta video. But some of his other videos…. ehh, let’s not get into that. Long story short, he can piss me off.

Anyway, a lot of you might be asking at this point what this all means. Why does Bayonetta surpass the great and mighty Samus, the normal number 1 selection for a list like this, just because she’s more feminine? Well that’s not the only answer. Not only is she clearly more powerful than Samus, her femininity makes her a much stronger and more interesting character, and that’s what this list is judging. I feel that by saying that characters like Chun-Li and Samus are the greatest female characters in gaming is, whether it be intentional or not, sending out a message that the best girl heroes are the ones that display no female characteristics, and are just women in disguised as men, quite literally in the sense of Samus. Bayonetta sends a different message, one that women don’t need to be cold, uncaring people that abandoned any shred of femininity long ago, to be powerful, and to be a great video game character, but instead can still be feminine and still kick ass. Seriously, this has been the least decision making I’ve had to make about the end of a list in a long time. Well, maybe not, it was pretty easy for the last one. But this was still really easy for me. Sorry Samus, but you didn’t even have a chance. You really didn’t. You’re cold personality wise, and Bayonetta still beats you in terms of raw power.

So because she’s not only insanely powerful, more so than any other female character I can think of, but has a great personality that is dripping with femininity, Bayonetta is the clear choice for me as the greatest female character in video game history.