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.

* ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' has The Boss, who is a very extreme example of this trope, probably closer to an [[Action Hero]] with breasts and bordering on a female [[The Ace|Ace]]: physically powerful, emotionally intelligent, and deeply perceptive. She beats the snot out of the main character repeatedly; [[Politically-Correct History|fought in World War II]] -- while hugely pregnant -- and became a hero; and makes everyone cry at the end. For a lot of [[Character Development|rather complicated reasons]], she has never been considered a [[Mary Sue]] and is probably the most popular female character in the fandom.

** Meryl becomes one of these in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 4''. The members of The Beauty and the Beast Unit from the same game are part this trope and part [[Nightmare Fuel]].

** ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'': Celes and Terra are ultimately the most powerful fighters ''and'' the most powerful spellcasters in the game, including using "knightly" equipment that most men aren't up to equipping. This is particularly obvious in a Natural Magic Challenge game...

** Tifa Lockhart from ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' can punch and kick her way with the best of them. She has been trained in martial arts since she was a child, and has super human reflexes and strength. Yuffie Kisaragi the teenage ninja also qualifies, though her action is based more on speed than strength.

** Freya Crescent from ''[[Final Fantasy IX]]''. To put it in [http://socksmakepeoplesexy.net/index.php?a=ff09 the words of one reviewer]:

{{quote|"Let me see if I'm understanding this. Freya is one of the main heroines of a JRPG -- and she ''doesn't'' at any point have the hots for the hero, ''never'' needs to be rescued by the hero, and in fact shows up the hero in a monster-slaying competition? (Unless the player really knows what he's doing during the Festival of the Hunt sequence, that is.) And wait -- does Freya really offer ''zero'' fanservice? Not even the slightest effort is made to cater to ''[[Secret of NIMH]]'' fanboy furries? (..) And am I really not imagining the game, when Freya ends up with the guy she has the hots for -- a guy who, again, isn't the game's male main character? Whoa. Not only might Freya be the best Dragoon in ''[[Final Fantasy]]'', the best female party member in the whole series (at least from a feminist perspective)."}}

** Exactly half of the player party in ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'' consists of Action Girls: Lightning Farron, Oerba Yun Fang, and Oerba Dia Vanille.

*** Lebreau as well. Even though she's just an NPC with limited screentime, she sure does make the most of it!

* ''[[Live a Live]]'' has, from the Xin Shan Quan Master's chapter, Li Kuugo, former bandit and one of three possible characters to become the inheritor of the Xin Shan Quan martial arts style. Of the three possible characters, she is the fastest and has decent attack power and health (far faster than Sammo, more health than Yuan, although that ceases to be an issue as your level increases). Of the three characters, she starts with more attacks than Yuan, but less than Sammo, but is the only one of the three to get a whole-screen attack. Like the other two, she becomes death incarnate once she gets her ultimate tech.

* Jaheira, of the ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'' series, is both a warrior and a druid, not afraid to criticize the PC for doing stupid things, and assumes a role of either leader or trusted advisor. She also has fabulous stats ''and'' wears the pants in her marriage. There are two parts of the games that are arguably not suited to her being an Action Girl, where she apparently picked up a [[Distress Ball]] (or was forced to):

* 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.

* Ashley Williams in ''[[Mass Effect]]''. Of all of the squadmates, she is the best all-around fighter, being able to use shotguns, assault rifles, ''and'' sniper rifles, wear heavy armor, has high hit points (second only to Wrex) and health regeneration, ''and'' can use Immunity, Shield Boost, and Adrenaline Burst. None of your other squadmates can do ''all'' of this.

** There's also Tali'Zorah nar Rayya and Liara T'Soni, which are even more impressive: [[Wrench Wench|Tali is a mechanic]]; [[Hot Scientist|Liara is an]] ''[[Adventurer Archaeologist|archaeologist]]''.

** All of these characters, however, are altogether outdone if [[Player Character|Commander]] [[Badass|Shepard]] is played as a woman.

* Bastila Shan in ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]''. And, like Ashley in ''[[Mass Effect]]'', she pales in comparison to the female [[Player Character]], particularly when you learn that the incredibly [[Badass]] Darth Revan everybody's been talking about all game, the one who beat the living daylights out of the [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Mandalorians]] ''and'' the Republic, Jedi Order and all? {{spoiler|You're her.}} That is, if you happen to play that way. However, [[Canon]] {{spoiler|states that Revan is male}}.

** Ada from ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'' is also pretty badass.

** Don't forget Sheva Alomar or Claire Redfield either.

* Ayla from ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'' is easily the most powerful character (while fighting ''barehanded''), even without magic powers like the other protagonists. And in-story, she is the leader of her village, and its most skilled warrior (even Kino, her boyfriend, is weaker than her).

** Princess Marle is a pretty badass archer herself.

** A non-[[Player Character]] example: Syri is a skilled assassin.

* Ophelia, Lita, the Razor Girls, and the Zaulia in ''[[Brutal Legend]]''. In other words, every woman in the game.

* ''[[Visions and Voices|Visions & Voices]]'' has Elena, and, to a lesser extent, Telia.

* ''[[Warcraft]]'' has Tyrande Whisperwind, Maiev Shadowsong, Shandris Feathermoon... [[Hot Amazon]] is the [[Planet of Hats|Hat]] of female night elves. Also Garona Halforcen. Really, though, (nearly) all female player characters are this.

* Charlotte, Ionae, and Grace, the three sharpshooters in ''[[The Spirit Engine 2]]''. While they have low defense, they can dish out significantly damaging ranged attacks, as well as a poisoning attack.

* Mary Jane in ''Spider-Man: Web of Shadows'' (the next gen console verison that is) well help Spidey fight off symbiotes with a shotgun, while suffering from a broken arm. Black Widow will also blast a few symbiotes with a SVD.

* ''[[Uncharted]]''. Chloe is an action girl of Nate's equal, and Elena is a journalist who... happens to kick a lot of ass. Somehow. [[Rule of Cool|Who's complaining?]]

* In ''[[Persona 3]]'', the female protagonist is the most powerful member of the group who naturally falls to this.

* Anne in ''[[Jurassic Park]]: Trespasser''. Favours guns, but will use sticks if necessary, and enjoys counting the number of rounds left in a gun out loud, and also has a heart-shaped tattoo on her breast that is an indicator of how much health she has left. Wow.

* [[Super Mario Bros.|Princess Peach]] always has been, and always will be, a classic textbook example of the [[Damsel in Distress]]. This, tragically, is her eternal fate. '''HOWEVER''', there are a ''couple'' of games in which she is temporarily spared of this horrific curse and given a chance to shine. Namely, ''[[Super Princess Peach]]'', ''[[Super Mario Bros. 2]]'', ''[[Super Paper Mario]]'', and ''[[Super Mario RPG]]''. Yes, believe it or not, ''Princess Freaking Peach'' is an Action Girl is those games. She even gets one single Action Girl moment towards the end of ''[[Paper Mario (franchise)|Paper Mario]]''. There are also a few genuine Action Girls in other games; Bombette, Lady Bow, Watt, and Sushie from ''[[Paper Mario (franchise)|Paper Mario]]'', Goombella, Vivian, Ms. Mowz, and Madame Flurrie from ''[[Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door]]'', Rosalina from ''[[Super Mario Galaxy]]'', Princess Daisy from the spin-off games, and Tippi, Carrie, Dottie, and Piccolo from ''[[Super Paper Mario]]''.

* Just like their comic book counterparts, ''all'' of the women in the ''[[Marvel Ultimate Alliance]]'' games are super-hardcore, super-badass Action Girls; Ms Marvel, Storm, Elektra, Invisible Woman, Songbird, Spider Woman, Jean Grey, Psylocke, and She-Hulk. And whatever new playable female characters that might be in the third game.

** Lemina Ausa from the same game also has some nice [[Black Magician Girl|offensive magic]] on her.

* The ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' series has some:

** Maria, Nel, Peppita, and Mirage from ''[[Star Ocean: Till the End of Time]]''.

** Myuria, Reimi, Meracle, and Lymle from ''[[Star Ocean: The Last Hope]]''.

* ''[[Alan Wake]]'' has Sheriff Sarah Breaker, who is an indispensable ally and one of the few people you run into constantly that ''isn't'' a [[Jerkass]].

* ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' has the Power Fist loving Veronica and the hard drinkin' hard shootin' Cass, daughter of Cassidy.

** [[Fallout 3]] had Star Paladin Cross, for goodies and Clover the psycho-slave for baddies.

*** ''Fallout 2'' had Miria, an [[Unwanted Spouse]] that you could marry regardless of gender, who was [[Good Old Fisticuffs|quite skilled in Unarmed]].

* Maia and Sangaril from the (unfortunately) obscure RPG ''[[Summoner 2]]''.

** Rosa, Paola and Teodora also fall into this, the first being part of the Venetian Thieves Guild and more than capable of handling herself even with an arrow in her leg, the latter two being Assassins and performing leaps of faith at the end of :Memory Block 11. Catarina Sforza also gets in on the trope during the Battle of Forli expansion.

* Rose, Miranda, and Meru from ''[[Legend of Dragoon]]''.

** Alicia Valera is another female COG who is part of Zeta-Six, {{spoiler|who performs a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] for the rest of her squad}}.

** [[God Save Us From the Queen|Queen Myrrah]], the Locust Queen, likewise takes up her battle armor in the last game because her people are fighting for their very survival.

* The ''[[Etrian Odyssey]]'' series always features two female character designs for each class, and favors using mostly women in its official artwork. In addition, each class has an 'official' representative that symbolizes that game:

** ''Etrian Odyssey'' features the blonde [[Knight in Shining Armor|Protector]].

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