Mother figures are inevitable, no matter the media you are consuming, and video games are no different. Throughout history, there have been countless video games with protagonists who have amazing maternal role models behind them.
Or on the other spectrum, sometimes we get to play the role of a character who is performing the duty of an incredible mother. So we have decided to pick out some of our favorite moms in video games and to talk about them below.
Best Moms in Video Games
Mom (Pokémon series)
To kick things off, it is better to talk about all of the mothers in the Pokémon franchise collectively for being the best moms in gaming. The character of Mom in every Pokémon title is varied because the playable trainer changes in every game.
But still, it does not change the routine fact that the mother figure is always supportive of the player characters’ decision to embark on the life of a Pokémon trainer. Moms are the very first NPC that players interact with in almost all of the titles.
Since the games take place in several locations around the world, the moms’ characters are a gateway to perceive and be respectful towards new cultures. Which is great for a video game made for kids.
Toriel (Undertale)
Aside from being one of the biggest RPG maker indie games, Undertale is a game that actually brought single-person-made indie games to the forefront of gaming, making them more popular and visible than the current AAA industry.
But all that is besides the fact that it also introduced us to one of the best mother figures in indie gaming history. Toriel is the first character that players meet when the game starts.
She is well known for being incredibly protective of the player character. Toriel stands apart from the rest for actually fighting you like a boss character before allowing you to leave home, which is unlike most parental figures in JRPGs.
Naru (Ori and the Blind Forest)
Mother figures shouldn’t always be limited to humans or humanoid beings, especially in a medium like video games, which can tell all kinds of stories. Ori and the Blind Forest is an example of how fantastical imaginary creatures can be great mothers.
Naru is one of the main NPC characters in the Ori and the Blind Forest game series. She is a caring mother figure who raises Ori from childhood with selflessness. But unfortunately, our time with her is short-lived because she gives up her own life in order to feed and raise Ori.
But she does so without holding any grudge against others. She was raised selflessly by her own father, and what she learned from him turned her into one of the kindest maternal figures in gaming.
Cooking Mama (Cooking Mama)
Cooking Mama is probably not something that most hardcore gamers would consider or even know of. It sure is an out-of-pocket entry, but if you look at it carefully, it absolutely makes sense as to why the mom from the game should be here.
The title is a celebration of what it means to be a mother. The idea of the Cooking Mama character is to invoke the same nostalgia of when players used to look up to their mother figures working hard in the kitchen.
Cooking Mama goes beyond the context of women under patriarchy to take a positive stance and celebrate being a household mother.
Samantha (Street Fighter)
Sometimes the game centers around the child, who can be a troublemaker, and even beyond, they might not even be human. But that does not stop a mother from loving their own children. Such as the example of Samantha from the Street Fighter franchise, who is the mother of Blanka.
The tale of Blanka is kinda similar to that of Frankenstein’s monster. He wanted to be accepted, but he knew that he was far removed from anything human and was ashamed to look at himself in the mirror.
Blanka was a normal child who turned into the green monster living in the jungle. In actuality, he is a docile and friendly character, and his mother loved him for that despite how he looked. This is why Samantha deserves a spot here as one of the greatest mother figures.
Crimson Viper (Street Fighter)
Fighting games, especially the Street Fighter franchise, are filled with a lot of amazing moms. So, as you have already guessed, some of them will be making an appearance on this list for a while.
Crimson Viper, or as the game calls her, C.Viper, is a major spy/agent character who first appeared in the fourth entry of this franchise. The initial promotional material looked like she was going to be a major antagonist.
But most of us were unaware that it was going to have a loving maternal back story. Being a single mother, she works hard in her job to provide for her daughter’s well-being. It was good to see her come back in the latest entry, where we find that the daughter has grown up into an amazing person.
Chun li (Street Fighter)
We are not done with Street Fighter moms unless we have gone over the infamous Chun li’s role as a mother figure in the franchise. Most don’t know the lore behind the character, but Chun li has devoted her life to tailing the terrorist organization, Shadaloo, as an Interpol agent.
Family and relationship wasn’t really on the cards for this amazing woman, until she rescues Li Fen, an orphan kidnapped by Shadaloo. As of the latest entry in the game’s timeline, she has become a full-time guardian to Li Fen.
She has also decided to pass on the torch and her teachings at her martial arts school. Chun li is the classic example of how a mother figure doesn’t always need to be blood-related.
Samus Aran (Metroid)
Most of you have played a Metroid at least once in your life, but you probably don’t know that Samus, our main protagonist, also had a soft maternal side to her. Well, that’s because she does not have a biological son. Samus is actually the guardian of one of the most dangerous creatures in the game’s universe, a Metroid.
In the finale of Metroid II: Samus Returns, she discovers an egg on the home planet of the Metroids. An infant Metroid hatches out of it and quickly clings to Samus as it recognizes her as the maternal figure.
We get to see the softer side of Samus coming out in this part of the franchise’s story because she is unable to take the life of the creature. Even though she just completed a mission that was all about exterminating metroids.
Clementine (The Walking Dead)
No one expected Telltale’s The Walking Dead adventure games to be as impactful in the sub-genre as they were when they first came out. Fans of the media franchise who never even play video games game out of the woodwork, check this one out.
This one is a special entry because we get to live through the journey of Clementine, who is a young character in the zombie apocalypse-ridden world of the franchise. Until she becomes a guardian figure to another child herself.
Clementine initially came under the care of Lee Everet, who gave his all to protect her. Later in the game’s story, Clementine comes across young A.J., who has unfortunately lost her mother. Clem decides to give back to him everything she learned from the kindness of Lee.
Rosalina (Super Mario)
The Super Mario franchise is home to a lot of royal figures, including Queens and Princesses. But only one of them can make it into our choice list for best mother figure ever, and that is Queen Rosalina.
She is the adoptive mother to Lumas, all the star-like creatures that we come across in The Super Mario Galaxy series. Rosalina is the mother of Cosmos and the gentle caretaker of the stars. Ideally, her role can be equated to that of maternal figures and goddesses in mythologies.
