Top 10 Girls in Games

This list is purely for eye candy as you might have already figured out but it is untrue that we love females in gaming just for their looks. That high pitch laughing you just heard was the internet and 4chan. Anyway, I should note that this list was made by crossing several already established lists as well as several sneaky polls on gaming forums. In other words, this is not just me or just you, this is a heck of a lot of people brought together.

10. Zoe Castello and April Ryan

Zoe and April are females that we are adding for a combination of both looks and personality. Both appearing in The Longest Journey games, these female protagonists are one of those you attach to emotionally and live with them through their adventures. April in particular was a very strong female lead and the writer Tørnquist paid special attention to flesh out her personality as much as possible. We discovered more about Zoe and April through their actions and their diaries where they described how they felt and what they were thinking about when met with certain topics and missions. Sadly the sequel that was supposed to explain a lot of things, especially after Dreamfall, never saw the light of day and apparently it never will.

9. Bloodrayne

BloodRayne first brought her dhampiric sexiness in 2002 with the game simply called BloodRayne. It didn’t take long for her to become a hit and she scored another game in 2004 and 2011 alongside many comic books and even appeared in playboy. Sadly the movie media didn’t see her in her best light as she appeared in Uwe Ball movies of the same name and we all know the quality that man puts into his movies. Is “/sarcasm” even necessary?

8. Resident Evil girls

Resident Evil probably doesn’t sound like somewhere you will find hot women but sure enough gamers managed to find few icons even in zombie slaying mayhem. First Resident Evil came out in 1996 though it would take some time and sequels for these females to get in more recognizable shape. Depending on your preference the first female was either Jill Valentine or Clair Redfield though both of them paved the way for the rest, the most notable being Ada Wong in RE4. Rooster of hooties was expanded in RE5 as well with Sheva Alomar and, according to some, even by the evil Excella. As we all know Resident Evil moves are not faithful to the game series but if you are a fan of Milla Jovovich or Sienna Guillory’s portrayal of Jill Valentine, you sure had some good time with them.

7. Princess Daphne

Princess Daphne may not be a favorite these days, but it’s important to know that she was the first lady of gaming. Her first appearance was in 1983 arcade classic Dragon’s Lair and back then both the game and Daphne looked amazing. This was mostly thanks to Don Bluth who was working on the animation and made the game to look like a cartoon. Dragon’s Lair was essentially a quick time events driven game where the player had to press a right button at the right moment. Of course, given this nature and no indicators on screen, players had to play the game numerous times before figuring out and memorizing the correct pattern. Players controlled Dirk the Daring in his quest to defeat the evil Dragon and save the damsel in distress.  Before someone asks, yes, Daphne is the first gaming female we associated with princess in a castle.

6. Fighting games girls

This choice is a bit of a cop out but here is the thing – there are a lot of fighting games, a lot of sexy females from them and people tend to either mix them together or stay true to one series. In other words you might as well make a list constructed entirely out of ladies from fighting games. Even so we are not diminishing their influence here. Depending on your preference or chance, you were first exposed either to ladies in 2D like Mileena and Kitana from Mortal Kombat or the ever so popular Chun Li from Street Fighter, or the 3D ladies like Nina from Tekken or perhaps the not-so-small roster of ladies from Dead or Alive series along with their breast physics (and yes that is the term first used there). One of all-star favorites are also Mai from King of Fighters, Cammy from Street Fighter, Ivy from Soul Calibur and a bunch of others. I am sure if we asked around enough we would hear some choices even from Clay Fighter.

5. Princess Zelda

Unlike a lot of choices, Zelda is a fair maiden. You can even hear gamers that she is a true marriage material and it’s hard to disagree with that though I am sure nay sayers will more focus on the games themselves that are subjectively either good or bad. Of course not every Zelda game features the same, well Zelda. While her most dominant appearance is that of a princess, she played the role of supporting female characters that are less aristocratic and more down on earth. For better or for worse a lot of people also remember her from The Legend of Zelda TV show where she was a lot more annoying and playing to the stereotype of spoiled princess. She also made Link constantly say the phrase “Well excuuuuuuuse me princess”.

4. Final Fantasy girls

There is no way in hell to make fans pick just one female from the long running Final Fantasy series. Hell, it’s impossible to even narrow it down to one game, let alone one character and even then someone will pick Sephiroth. If this sounds like an attempt to justify yet another cop out on this list then it’s true but for this list to contain anything but FF girls it was imperative. So what to say about girls from the never-ending fantasy? Well Tifa seems to be the most popular one probably because she appears to be a great supportive character while also looking very good. Other choices would include Lightning and Yune for similar reasons though for those who can never have enough of cuteness there is also Vanille. Or Chocobo. 

3. Alyx Vance

Alyx first appeared in Valve’s Half Life 2 and from then on appeared in many lists like this one. Similarly to girls from the Dreamfall series, miss Vance is liked for her looks and personality. Unlike diaries April and Zoe had, Alyx has the task of filling the speechless gap of Freeman and as such her persona and actions are flashed out more often and more potently. We know that she is an uplifting person, always looking on the bright side of things and defending from fear and scariness by the means of jokes. Of course it helps a lot that the facial engine used was amazing when it came out, and still is, giving this character a wide range of emotions she could portray. Of course not even she can remain positive while waiting for the Episode 3 or Half Life 3.

2. Samus Aran

Samus is both a sex symbol for many gamers (hello there Zero Suit) as well as being the first badass girl who battled with aliens in space. Initially people didn’t know that she was a female at all mostly because of the robotic suit she is wearing. Say hello to cheat codes that revealed that she is a female and say hello to the space bikini she wore at the end of the game. Samus is mostly connected to the Metroid series that were action platformers at first but then jumped into several other genres, most notable being first person action games. She is not limited just to her starring franchise though and has since appeared as locked character in numerous Nintendo games or a fighter in Super Smash games.

1. Lara Croft

Predictable isn’t it? Lara Croft has been a wet dream for many gamers, men and even females for over a decade now. Her first appearance was in 1996 game called Tomb Raider and she gained more and more worldwide recognition after that. She appeared in more than 10 games, had a line of action figures and merchandise, comic books, movies starring Angelina Jolie and she will soon get a reboot coming out in 2012. Despite not being the only strong or sexy female in our list, she was a can of fresh air in the good old ’96 because she was a female protagonist, a capable female protagonist, and she was such a contrast to all the other heroes at the time. I guess I should mention that this mostly goes for us western audiences in EU and US but her influence expanded overnight.  It’s also true that the game itself, or series, is not bad and has influenced other popular games like the ever popular Sands of Time trilogy. Whether your role model is Indiana Jones or Nathan Drake, this is a perfect female for you. Of course without dissecting her initial character too much because otherwise we could conclude that she is a horrible person not caring for history. Isn’t perspective a bitch?

So where is Bayonetta? Faith? Morrigan? Harley Quin? Nariko? Princess Peach? Kate Archer? Chloe? Million others? Well, in case you didn’t figured it out, that just means there are a lot of good looking, sexy, cute, beautiful and just attractive females in gaming. Every one of us has its own list, possibly even larger than 10 spots but as i’ve said in the beginning this list was made by crossing a lot of other lists and polls so chances are some favorites might have been excluded. It doesn’t hurt your private collection of pics and posters anyway.