Video games have a lot of popular female characters, and it is the right time to talk about them. Games are slowly becoming one of the most sought-after media of entertainment in the current day and age. Actual actors are indulging themselves in the development of characters.
In the list below, we talk about a few of the most popular female video game characters of all time.
The best and most popular female characters in video game history
Bayonetta (Bayonetta)
Videogame director Hideki Kamiya has a long history of working on some of the most influential games of all time. One of his most famous characters may be from Devil May Cry. However, the game and character he is most well-known for is Bayonetta.
Definitely one of the most recognized female video game characters of all time. Bayonetta and her titular game had stolen the hearts of hack fans back in the PlayStation 3 era. The game still continues to do so with sequels and spinoffs.
Bayonetta is an Umbra Witch in the game’s story. This throws her in the middle of conflicts between Lumen Sages and Umbra Witches. The story further follows her as she is trying to uncover her past history.
Chun li (Street Fighter)
Gamers consider Street Fighter 2 to be one of the most influential video games. It invented several norms that would become standard for the fighting game subgenre, such as combos in video games. The game also introduced us to the most popular female fighting game character of all time.
Chun li was the first and only female character introduced in the first iteration of Street Fighter 2. She felt like she could fit right into the world of Street Fighter. Chun li matched up to the male characters in strength. Fans crowned her as the ‘first lady of fighting games.’
The story of Chun li follows her in pursuit of the mad Dictator named M.Bison. She joins the Interpol as an agent, chasing revenge for the murder of her father.
Samus Aran (Metroid)
The story of Samus Aran is interesting. At the end of her game, the cutscene reveals her as a female character. It blows everyone’s assumptions out of the water. She is definitely one of the most popular female video game characters of all time.
Her first introduction was in her iconic exoskeleton in the first Metroid game released in 1986 for the NES. Throughout the game, we see her in the suit, which makes everyone assume the main character is a male.
Right at the end screen of Metroid, Samus formally reveals that she was a female character all along. This was massive in subverting expectations back in the 80s.
Tifa Lockhart (Final Fantasy VII)
The Final Fantasy franchise is one of the most well-recognized JRPG franchises in the world. The 7th entry in the series is the most praised. Tifa Lockhart pretty much became the face of Final Fantasy.
Tifa is one of the most popular female characters in video games. If that is a stretch, then she is definitely the most popular female ever in an RPG.
Being one of Cloud Strife’s best childhood friends, Tifa grew up to own her own bar named the 7th Heaven. She is one of the main characters responsible for motivating Cloud to fight against Sephiroth and join the resistance group.
Jill Valentine (Resident Evil)
Jill comes from one of the most popular survival horror video game franchises in existence, Resident Evil. Claire Redfield is also a popular main character in the franchise. But we felt Jill Valentine far outshone Clair for reasons we will mention below.
Jill Valentine was the first character to represent Resident Evil in other popular titles such as Marvel vs Capcom. She even had her own game, Resident Evil 3, dating back to the PlayStation era.
She is extremely experienced with firearms and explosives in the field. Her expertise led her to be recruited into the S.T.A.R.S. special operations units.
Princess Zelda (The Legend of Zelda)
It’s not rare to mistake the protagonist of the Legend of Zelda video game franchise as Zelda herself. You have probably seen it floating in memes. It is pretty obvious for people who do not play the games to mistake Link for Zelda.
Zelda became one of the most popular female characters in all of gaming. Especially the most popular among Nintendo games, and it was fueled by the misunderstanding. So people need to know who Zelda really is.
The story of Princess Zelda hails her as the Hylian princess, an elf-like race from the kingdom of Hyrule. Her role has always been restricted to being the damsel in distress who gets saved by Link. But in the recent decades, she has shown independence in her roles, even getting her own game.
Lara Croft (Tomb Raider)
Lara Croft is consistently considered as one of the most popular female video game characters of all time. During the inception of PlayStation, the gaming landscape all over the world was completely shifting to consoles. The faces of some of the popular franchises were all male characters.
Tomb Raider Lara Croft was the first 3D female video game character to break the norm. She got her own video game on PlayStation. Samus may have done it before with Metroid, but it was more important in Lara Croft’s case for a reason.
Tomb Raider was an instant hit. Lara’s face was plastered everywhere on PlayStation’s marketing materials, with people even cosplaying as her. This was an important landmark, as no female character had gotten this much exposure before.
The credit also goes to the game itself. Tomb Raider revolutionized the 3D camera rotation further, months after Super Mario 64 did it on the Nintendo hardware.
Alyx Vance (Half-Life)
One of the most important first-person shooters of all time has to be the Half-Life series. It introduced a proper storytelling arc to the medium and genre. It was revolutionary for its time, but most people remember the series for the protagonist Gordon and maybe headcrabs.
Half-life is also important for having one of the best female video game characters of all time, Alyx Vance. She is first introduced to us in Half-Life 2 as a supporting character. Alyx continued to be one of the major characters in subsequent Half-Life games.
But her major breakthrough as a character came the moment we finally got a new Half-Life game. Alyx became the main playable protagonist of Half-Life: Alyx, which added to the lore of the game. As well as introducing new ways to play the franchise using VR tech.
Jade (Beyond Good & Evil)
Beyond Good & Evil is a long-lost Ubisoft franchise that barely anyone remembers. It was first released in 2003, around the time when Prince of Persia was making the rounds as a major release. But this title was not allowed to be shafted by fans; it found a cult following.
The early 2000s were a time when Ubisoft was known for experimenting and releasing new IPs, instead of the same games. Beyond Good & Evil was a product of that era, and it stars one of the best female characters of all time, sadly now lost to time.
The game takes place in a futuristic sci-fi setting, allowing players to slip into the shoes of Jade. Who is a private undercover investigator tracing her steps through danger to expose evil conspiracies.
Chell (Portal)
Valve is surely the most innovative developer in the video game industry. They revolutionized the first-person shooter genre on both the storytelling and esports fronts. Even found a strong footing with MOBAs in the esports.
Portal is one of the amazing titles they have ever made in their list of long-running releases. It is a first-person puzzle platformer that was praised for its gameplay, which utilized portals to solve puzzles.
Players get to step into the shoes of one of the best female characters of all time in a video game, Chell. She is a silent protagonist who weilds the portal gun in her journey through the game. She is often compared with Gordon Freeman, as a strong female silent protagonist counterpart.
