Action Girl/Video Games: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

* Many examples throughout the ''[[Growlanser]]'' series. Although all of the [[Growlanser]] protagonists are male, most of them are closely associated with an Action Girl right from the beginning. Julia Douglas from the first Growlanser is a notable example, being the first female to earn the prestigious "Imperial Knight" title that both Wein and Charlone aspire to in The Sense of Justice.

* ''[[Phantasy Star I]]'' has what is probably one of the earliest examples of this trope in the form of Alis (Alisa in the original Japanese version). When her brother is killed at the beginning of the game by the evil [[Big Bad|King Lassic's]] forces, she doesn't hesitate to go kill him. She's a strong physical attacker with plenty of HP and defense, while her magic is actually pretty poor compared to Myau and Noah/Lutz's (an inversion of early [[Role-Playing Game|RPGs]] stereotyping female characters as [[Squishy Wizard|frail spellcasters]]).

* Queen Catherine Ironfist of ''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]] III'', a cunning tactician, skilled warrior, and phenomenal leader. Then there's Mutare, a young human woman who rises to prominence in the "dungeon" cities of Nighon (populated mostly by monsters like harpies, medusas, minotaurs, etc.), makes a grab for power the moment her enemy shows a sign of weakness, and ends up the ruler of all Nighon due to {{spoiler|being transformed into a sentient black dragon}}. There are other female warrior-types who probably count, but those two are [[The Smurfette Principle|the only ones with real characterization]] -- the other characterized lead, Adrienne, doesn't count, because she's a [[Magical Girl]].

* Lara Croft, ''[[Tomb Raider]]''. Even as the size of her breasts enlarged, she still kicked lots of ass.

** At the height of her popularity, she was probably both the best recognized video, and the most popular video game (and PC) character originating in the western hemisphere. And her gender has never really been a matter of suspicion (a common problem in earlier, sprite-based characters). Given that all of her adventures have circled around her shooting enormous amounts of ammunition at similarly enormous enemies, she the action girl many would most readily identify.

* Marino, the sexy thief from ''[[Mega Man X Command Mission]]''.

** Chun Li's partner in dishing out leggy Chinese violence, Jam Cloudberry from ''[[Guilty Gear]]'' is a [[Lethal Chef]] [[Chef of Iron|of a different variety]]. The other girls in the game aren't slouches either: May is a [[Badass Adorable]] with a huge anchor as her [[Weapon of Choice]], Baiken is a one-armed [[Handicapped Badass]], A.B.A can whack the hell outta you with a ''[[Improbable Weapon User|big key]]''...

** Nina Williams from ''[[Tekken]]'' would also count... though she might be a bit [[Dark Action Girl|Darker]] than the norm. Ana Williams, Michelle and Julia Chang, Ling Xiaoyu, Jun and Asuka Kazama and Christie Monteiro would be more straight examples, then.

** [[Soul Calibur|Sophitia]] [[Code Geass|"Badass Mother"]] [[Soul Calibur|Alexandria]]. Fugudsakes, when [[Mama Bear|she thought her daughter Phyrra was in danger]], she promptly mowed down almost ''every single character in the game'' with ease. Honorable mentions go to the lady ninja Taki, the very talented Ivy Valentine, Sophitia's younger sister Cassandra, [[Chinese Girl]] swordswoman Chai Xianghua, [[Plucky Girl]] Seung Mina, [[Femme Fatale]] Setsuka and [[Cute Bruiser|the tiny but powerful]] Talim.

* Alicia Winston in ''[[Time Crisis]] 3''. Not only does she subvert the series' trend of [[Damsel in Distress|Distressed Damsels]], which the past three games had, but she's also a ''playable character'' in the PS2 port.

* All playable characters in the ''[[Hyperdimension Neptunia]]'' series fit the bill perfectly.