The Top 8 Female Game Heroes

Welcome all to another edition of The 8 Ball! Today I’m here to talk about women in games, specifically women heroes. This list is made with the general rule that the woman in question has to be in at least two games as the playable character. There is an exception below, but you’ll see why.

The women here have to be the playable character in either their own game, or at least, a co-main lead. So while Chun-Li is great, I don’t think she’s ever been in her own, solo game before. Let’s begin: #8: Alice The titular Alice from the American McGee series isn’t some heroine bent on saving the world from mass destruction.



She’s a girl that has mental issues and her mind is the Wonderland realm, which she is trying to repair by overthrowing the Queen of Hearts. The sequel has Alice facing off the Dollmaker in Wonderland, while reality gets more and more depressing. I appreciate this game due to the fantastical nature of it all, but it really is just a big metaphor for Alice trying to repair her own fractured psyche.

#7: Jesse Faden This is my own partial cheat, since she’s really only playable in Control. She does make an appearance in Alan Wake 2 though and I’m going to bet she’ll be the main character in Control 2 as well. I really just dug Jesse’s overall character.

She gets dropped into a fairly bizarre world but takes it in stride and just goes on her quest to try and find her brother and to stop the Hiss from wrecking even more of the Oldest House. I also kind of just love the setup that she enters the Oldest House and it’s like “Yep, you’re the new boss of the Federal Bureau of Control. Congrats.

” She takes up the leadership role well, especially once you begin rescuing more and more FBC personal. #6: Lara Croft Lara Croft is generally considered one of the most popular female characters of all time. My issue with her is two-fold, to an extent.

I didn’t much like any of the “old”, CORE-developed Tomb Raider games. I only started liking the games once Crystal Dynamics took over in 2006. The actual problem with her, though, is the last game, Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

She was, straight-up, the villain in that game and her obsession with stopping the bad organization causes her to “inadvertently” (she ignores warnings) kill hundreds, if not thousands, of people by taking a magical dagger and causing a tsunami. It’s one of the most bizarre character assassinations I’ve seen in a video game, and honestly, she doesn’t get any more likeable in that game either. So Lara is on here, sure, but she could have/should have been higher.

#5: Aya Brea The Parasite Eve games, as they went on, did a somewhat unfortunate job of over-sexualizing Aya, which is a bit unfortunate. I like Aya because she’s just good at her job and is generally the only one who can do it, especially in the first game. She has kind of a quirky sense of humor but is generally serious about trying to stop Eve and the other monsters that are floating around.

Her character remained generally the same in Parasite Eve 2, but the less said about The Third Birthday, the better. What I wouldn’t give for some Amazon or Netflix show about Parasite Eve, starring Anya Taylor-Joy. #4: Jill Valentine The general queen of the Resident Evil franchise, Jill has been the main protagonist in two mainline RE games, RE 1 (along with Chris) and RE 3: Nemesis.

She also showed up as a mind-controlled villain in RE 5 but went back to normal once her controlling device was destroyed. You can joke about some of the corny lines in RE 1, or her default outfit in RE 3, but you can’t deny that she’s probably the most popular character, overall, in the RE franchise, and might have the most appearances of any character in the RE franchise. #3: Bayonetta Unlike with Aya, whose sexuality is a bit gross in spots, Bayonetta’s sexuality is one of the big points about her character.

She generally takes charge of it, and while she does do provocative moves and gestures, she isn’t wholly defined by it. I actually prefer Bayonetta’s character in the first game, the later games kind of softened her up a bit and she wasn’t quite as arch as she was in the original game. Plus, the more they delved into her past, the less interested I got.

Still, her look is great, playing as her is always fun, and if you can tolerate the low framerate for Bayo 3 on Switch, all the games are a joy to play. #2: Cate Archer Much like how Lara Croft is a gender-swapped stand-in for Indiana Jones, Cate Archer is basically the female version of Austin Powers. I don’t mean that as an insult at all, just kind of a statement of fact.

Cate works for the spy agency Unity as they try to stop the evil schemes of H.A.R.

M. Her arsenal includes a Barrette lock-pick set, lipstick explosives, a robot poodle that can distract guards, and a Mascara stun gun. I just enjoyed Cate’s personality, she was sassy and fun and could crack a joke about things that went on.

I still wish this game was in a format that was easier to get in today’s world. #1: Samus Aran To me, Samus is the best female hero and the joke of it is, for most Metroid games, you wouldn’t even know she’s a woman. Outside of dying, or the more recent Metroid games (Dread and Other M), Samus is usually covered completely and is silent.

So most kids, especially in the early 90’s, didn’t know Samus was a woman, outside of her armor busting off at the point of death. Samus is just great though, she does her job, kills various aliens and other baddies and then moves onto the next objective, and then eventual planet. I generally just love Metroid games in general, so having a cool heroine in the lead role of the franchise certainly is impactful.

******* For comments, list who is your favorite female hero and why. Next Issue Top 8 Fancast Video Game Adaptations.