Top 5 Female Characters In Video Games

Female characters in video games have increasingly taken on a more dominant and commanding role. It’s hard to imagine now, a good RPG, Action Adventure, or shoot-em up game without a female character. Long gone are the days of Super Mario where you had to save the princess. The proverbial princess has now come into her own and needs no saving.

[user5467007]

Mine would have to be

Lara Croft

Nariko

Zoe (L4D)

Alyx Vance

Elena Fisher

[guitarded77]

Seems Samus Aran is missing from the list. When I think of female video game characters, she's really important to women, as she was really the character that made people see women as a real protagonist in games.

[Nimblest-Assassin]

Sorry, but Samus lost a bit of her reputation with other M

[ShinMaster]

Samus and Chun-Li need to be on that list.
Otherwise it's just a fail list IMO.

[jeseth]

A top female video game list without...

Samus Aran
Princess Toadstool
Chun Li

...on it is full of fail.

Nariko and Bayonetta (Even though I loved Heavenly Sword) were only in one game. I agree with obviously Lara Croft and Jill Valentine is a good candidate, but the 3 aforementioned + Croft and Valentine have stood the test of time and been in the biggest franchises of their genres.

Maybe this is a list written by a teenager that has only been around for this gen and last?

[young juice]

Maiden in Black (demons souls) f*cking LOVE that sexy accent

Juri Han (ssf4)

Jade (Beyond Good & Evil)

Alma (F.E.A.R)

5TH is still up for grabs

[SonyPS360]

She's female. Other than that, what makes her an interesting character?

[guitarded77]

@ Sony360

The title of the article is "Top 5 Female Characters In Video Games"... not "The Most Interesting Women In Video Games". That sais, here is why Samus is a must have.

I'm guessing you're young and don't know that Samus was the game that made a female into a strong protagonist... every other female lead in games is riding the wave that she started. In the first Metroid (NES) most played through the game thinking they were a bad ass super soldier, but when they beat the game, they were shocked to find out the hero was a woman the whole time.

Samus has done more for other women in gaming than any single character EVER. So "what makes her so interesting?" you ask... well, that kinda does.

[Treian]

Zoey*

[ATi_Elite]

1. Alyx Vance - Half Life 2
2. Samus Aran - Metroid (First Kick but Female
3. Chun Li - Street Fighter 2 ( toughest chick EVER)
4. Sarah Kerrigan (Queen of Blades in Starcraft and the Ultimate Evil "C" word that rhymes with Blunt)
5. Nariko - Heavenly Sword ( Chose her over Lara Croft cause Nariko knew she would die but used the Heavenly Sword anyway)

[t0mmyb0y]

You have the best list. Bubble

[Unlimax]

Oh Come on AGAIN .. Where's Aya brea ?

[omi25p]

1. Alyx Vance
2. Cortana
3. Lara Croft
4. Liara T-Soni
5. Glados
6. Catwoman (Arkham City)
7. Ellena Fisher
8. Mona Sax
9. Ellie (Dead Space 2)
10. Triss Merigold (The Witcher 2)

[tigertron]

Femshep
Lara Croft
Hana from Fear Effect
Faith Connors
Jill Valentine

[HammadTheBeast]

Add Rose and Shana from Legend of Dragoon. If you know what it is/was.

[JohnApocalypse]

5.Bayonetta
4.Catwoman (Arkham City)
3.Chloe (Uncharted)
2.Mileena (MK9)
1.Glados

[t0mmyb0y]

I just hope you know Mileena was in MK before 9 >.>

[omarzy]

Where is Samus? The original bad ass female.

[X-Factor]

Wow. Not including Samus was the biggest goof...unless she's in the Top 10 List. One could argue she would be in the top 10 but not in the top 5. One could also get one's head bashed in for saying that... :-)

[TheDestroyer]

This article again!?!.

[ape007]

number 1... N64 Joanna Dark without a doubt

[JoshEngen]

Uhh. Samus?

You people must hate video games.

[Fez]

The Boss
Meryl
Sniper Wolf
Eva
Amanda
...i like metal gear...

[Whitefox789]

We all like Metal Gear femme fatale's okay so maybe just Eva and Sniper Wolf fulfills that term.

[Whitefox789]

Why is their a thumbnail of Aribeth from NWN if she's not going to be on the list!

Joking aside:
The Boss
Bayonetta
Kaine
Elena Fisher
Lady

[X-Factor]

Nice catch. Was hoping no one would notice that.

That picture/thumbnail was too hard to pass up though.

[t0mmyb0y]

That's why I'm here lol

[crazysammy]

Worst list ever.

[X-Factor]

Give us your list crazysammy.

Do you think the other list by amandadyar is better maybe?

[OldSnakePS3]

lara croft 4 me
i played the tomb raider hd collection for all the wrong reasons lol

[prototypeknuckles]

mine would be
1.Elika-prince of persia
2.jade-mortal kombat
3.jade-beyond good and evil
4.lara croft-tomb raider
5.alyx vamce-half life

[Imikida]

My List, not in order.
Journey Lady (Journey)
Chloe (Uncharted)
Dollface (Twisted Metal)
Mileena (Mortal Kombat)
Madison (Heavy Rain)

[Kin23g]

1-The Boss - MGS3
2-Morrigan - DA: Origins
3-Flemeth - DA: Origins
4-Sniper Wolf - MGS1
5-Lira T'Soni - Mass Effect

[MadLad]

The lack of Jade from Beyond Good and Evil bothers me.

[bayonetta]

5-Morrigan
4-castanic female (Tera online)
3-Lady (DMC4)
2-Ivy valentine
1-Bayonetta

[Hooby]

You have the over sexualized bayonetta but not even a mention of Samus?

Terrible.

[Gigglefist]

Jade (Beyond Good and Evil)
Samus
Alyx Vance
Bernie Mataki
And... at number one... The Boss

Liara would be there somewhere, probably instead of Bernie, but she's not technically a woman...

[badvlad]

Top five noob top five articles. This one is in second place

[Lilioups]

femshep
nariko
alyx vance
the boss
jade

[Rai]

The Boss
Chun-Li
Samus
Lara Croft
Elena Fisher

Everytime I see a list of the top females in games, it annoys me when I don't see The Boss in it.

[Shadowstar]

1. The Boss
2. FemShep
3. Faith (Mirror's Edge)
4. Chloe Frazer
5. Meryl

Any top 5 female characters without The Boss is fail!

[HonestDragon]

My list in no particular order because I do like these characters (also I do have many other characters in mind, but I'll limit it to 5 since that's the idea here):

1. The Boss (Metal Gear Solid 3)
2. Mona Sax (Max Payne/Max Payne 2)
3. Claire Redfield (Resident Evil 2/Code Veronica)
4. Anya Stroud (Gears of War franchise)
5. Sarah Kerrigan (StarCraft franchise)

My reaction to the writer's list:

Bayonetta: Are you kidding me? She is one of the weakest female protagonists I've ever seen. She's not complex. She treats everyone like crap and thinks she's the hottest thing ever. And yes, she is selfish and stereotypical.

Jill Valentine: A good choice from the Resident Evil series. I've always like Jill and wanted to see her in a bigger role. I guess she got that from Revelations, but beggars can't be choosers.

Lara Croft: I wouldn't argue with this one as of the latest ideas for Lara, but perhaps more so I would argue against it for the earlier games. Sure she's beautiful and has the body to boot, but I'd only consider this a good choice if I were to refer to the latest games because they actually gave her character outside of her "assets".

Kitana: Most people don't give Mortal Kombat enough credit for their characters outside of their move sets. Each character does have a good back story, although, some are blatantly copy cats. Kitana has a very interesting back story and she is a strong female character to learn about.

Alyx Vance: No argument here. Alyx is smart and tough. You don't have to actually control a character to appreciate them. Her will and determination make for an interesting, yet proud person. Games could use more positive characters.

[Darrius Cole]

Elena Fisher, Last year's model
Bastila Shan - Knights of the Old Republic
Eva - Metal Gear Solid
Alma - Ninja Gaiden Black/Sigma - Her first appearance is still the absolute best boss fight of all time in all of gaming. To be that difficult without being cheap is a feat I have never seen achieved in any other game.
That's only four but that's all I got