It all started with a tweet about female protagonists…
https://twitter.com/theWellRedMage/status/1286085773565935616
Yeah, not just “some boy” but multiple “some boys” claimed that the real reason why TLOU2 didn’t sell well was because Ellie is a female protagonist. Beyond the “some boys” crowd, actual journalists suggested the same thing: that Abby proved the gaming world isn’t ready for female protagonists.
But is that true?
Well, I’m here to tell you that that’s deflection in the highest degree. Smoke and mirrors. Not only are there are TON of female characters, but there are a LOT of female protagonists, female-led games, and games with playable female main characters (differences between protagonist and main character is a discussion for another time). There are more, many more, that I couldn’t fit in my collage for simple lack of space. And this image is already humungous!
CLICK FOR FULL SIZE!
Awesome, ain’t it? It’d make a great poster.
I thought I’d come up with some riddles about female protagonists! Why not see if you can complete them all, like one of those old Waldo picturebooks? Drop your answers in a comment or a tweet!
- It’s tough to find characters out of the blue but if you can’t find this one then you haven’t a Clu!
- A lot of these protags have a certain Flare, but I bet you didn’t expect to find two of her there!
- Fight back the vertigo delirium, can you find more than one Miriam?
- You can stare at this pic all night through to day but can you pinpoint the singer that comes from all GRAY!
- No matter your color or Creed you’ll be passin’ the time trying to find these triple Assassins!
- Of course you can spot the heroine of Metroid but if you can’t spy 2B then you’ll surely regretroid!
- She crafted red wyvern armor so that no flame or ember can harm her!
- Stare at it too long, your eyes’ll get blisters but can you locate the two pink-haired sisters?
- It’s easy to find the Hot Topic Alice but can you see that protag from Valis?
- I’ve included a lot, best to the worst, but did you know historically that this bug was the first?
- Her Mass Effect game is hardly fringe, but oh my that grin is maximum cringe…
- Sure, their inclusion might just be debatable, but don’t forget these Ninty princesses were playable!
- Let nobody say female-led games will not sell, why I even included Portal 2’s protag Chell!
- There are more female protags than I could even fit, don’t miss the Godzilla-like lizard from good old 8-bit!
- It’s really a very densely packed arena, can you spot the old arcade heroine, Athena?
- Gun-toting femme fatales all over the place, but this one Dazzles with fingers pointing out into space!
- Plenty of ladies are ready for bargin’ but only one has a pistol that’s really dischargin’!
- Armed with flamethrowers and alien-bug-blasters, both of them fought back Xenomorph disasters!
- Many faced zombies, from mother to daughter, but only one thought to super-soak them with water!
- Alyx and Alex, there’s a change in the name, but can you spot them in the midst of all of this fame?
- There’s lots of uniqueness here, it is true. How many can you name who have skin of blue-hue?
- HARD: Peruse the picture like a gentle breeze: how many women were GOTY nominees?
- HARD: While this collage makes your brain whirl, can you find every Atelier girl?
- HARD: Male or female, their looks changed on the outside, but how many of these characters let the player decide?
- HARD: Solving this riddle may take some acumen: how many ladies in here aren’t even human?
- HARD: They bear all the punches and the deepest of scars: which gals in the collage are the fighting game stars?
- HARD: I hope you don’t find that this question stings: how many ladies sport of a pair of feathered wings?
- HARD: Make sure you check the pic’s smallest recesses to find all the ladies who happen to be princesses!
- HARD: Stare so hard your eyes will see spots and count all the women who are actually robots!
- HARDEST: It’s me.
The real question of course is: Who am I missing?
Look if I’m going to keep having to expand, you might as well try and give me a hand. If you can’t find certain female protagonists in the image above, let me know please and I’ll show you some love… Can’t. Stop. Speaking. In Rhyme.
Red formerly ran The Well-Red Mage and now serves The Pixels as founder, writer, editor, and podcaster. He has undertaken a seemingly endless crusade to talk about the games themselves in the midst of a culture obsessed with the latest controversy, scandal, and news cycle about harassment, toxicity, and negativity. Pick out his feathered cap on Twitter @thewellredmage, Mage Cast, or Story Mode.
Great post. I don’t know how all these people, most of all the journalists whose job it is to know about stuff like this, can ignore all these prominent female game characters. Most of the games I’ve played in the last few years have female protagonists; a ton of Japanese games and indie western games have them. I think some of these people insist on following the narrative they’ve established because it’s convenient for them, so they’ll ignore anything that contradicts it.
Some people seem to pretend that only Sony/Microsoft AAAs exist and I guess in that sphere you’re constantly wondering where all the female leads are. Sad, really. Lots of great games with great leads that people ignore, categorically.
Amazing work sir. Delighted to see some of the more obscure leading ladies in here, too, like Hinome from Kamiko/Fairune. Also thumbs up for including ’80s anime Alis Landale instead of her glam rock incarnation from the Western cover. And all the Atelier girls, of course!
Thank you very much for all of your Atelier girls’ images, that was exceptionally handy!