Thank you very much to yussef13 for suggesting this Top 10, as well as the rest of the community for campaigning to get this video made! It took me a while to make it, but I hope you enjoy what we've got here! Here's my Top 10 Badass Women in Video Games, brought to you by BenQ ScreenBar!
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I saw the title and said, “This list probably doesn’t even include The Boss!” I skipped through to justify my outrage, and saw her as #1. You’ve done good, lad. Very good.
The Boss is the only fight in almost 40 years of video gaming that I didn’t want to win. The first time, I cheesed her out with claymores and instantly felt guilty. I reloaded it and decided to fight her the honorable way…and was brutally humiliated. Her CQC is just too good. She’d disarm me, stick my knife in my ribcage, body slam me, disassemble my gun, and throw the pieces in the tall flowers. By the time I patched my wound, found the pieces, put the gun back together, and got my health up, it was pretty much a lost cause. Then I cheesed her with the sniper rifle and realized she’s just that much better than me.
The Boss is everything a soldier should be. She’s an inspiration. Tough, fearless, patriotic, and self-sacrificing, she is an impossible standard we should all try to emulate. She mentored soldiers under her command and accepted nothing but the best from them.
After 22 years of military service, I can honestly say she inspired me to be the soldier I was. I’ve trained many soldiers over the years, and prepared them for the day I would no longer be there. I’m retired now, but hope young men and women can learn from her and be those warriors and mentors their nations need.
@Backlog Battle That’s a great point. Kojima made your interactions gameplay. The Boss wasn’t in a mech suit or a helicopter; she was right in front of you, and the fight was visceral. No one threw you a rocket launcher and you just had to hit the weak point. You fought an unarmored human being and had to kill her with whatever you had. That’s a much more impactful moment than just leaving it to a cinematic cutscene.
Thank you for your service!
The Boss was a really well crafted and created character. I love that the game told her story through gameplay too, much like what you shared. When I made this list, she immediately went number 1. No questions asked.
Interesting list! I don’t know whether they fit the badass label, but some of my favourite female characters are Nyx from Hades and Nuwa from SMT V! While the latter didn’t get a whole lot of screen time so to speak, I think her love for humankind and dedication to them is beautiful. And well, Nyx is obviously incredibly powerful too, and the amount of help she gave Zag to escape is admirable.
Also a very very nitpicky point I want to mention: 2B’s outfit is not Lolita. Maybe inspired by it, but it’s a sexy/sensual outfit, which is basically the opposite of what Lolita tries to achieve. Still definitely a killer look though!
This is a solid list, and you got some of my favorite picks (especially number 1). A few of my personal ones include Agrias Oaks from Final Fantasy Tactics, Morag (and pretty much all the female main cast) from Xenoblade 2, Cynthia from the Pokemon series, Aqua from the Kingdom Hearts series and one last, really out there pick: Miss Mowz from Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door
@Backlog Battle Oh, and I forgot to say it in my other comment, but congrats on the sponsorship!
Definitely lots of my own personal picks here 😉
I know you basically gave Bayonetta an honorable mention during 2B’s section, but it’s still a crime that she didn’t get a full spot. She definitely deserved it 😂
There’s plenty who can be on this list!
Top 3 offhand would be:
1. Samus from Metroid. She doesn’t say much in most games, but her silence and stoicism speaks volumes. Especially in light of the many planets explored and powerful enemies defeated throughout the series. What a legend.
2. Lightning from the Final Fantasy XIII. She had what felt to me to be a powerful character arc over the course of XIII, and her dogged determination in the face of overwhelming odds was poignant for me. How powerful she gets and rhe lengths she goes to save others in LR just accentuated those qualities for me.
3. The Boss from MGS3. You articulated the reasons why she’s so awesome quite well Alex. 🙂
Great trio of picks!
My list in no particular order
1. Velvet Crowe (Tales of Berseria)
2. 2B (Nier Automata)
3. Laura S. Arseid (Cold Steel)
4. Arianhod (Cold Steel/Ao no Kiseki)
5. Cammy White (Street Fighter)
6. The Boss (MGS3)
7. Lara Croft (Tomb Raider)
8. Hinako Shirai (Blue Reflection)
9. Samus Aran (Metroid)
10. Ayane (Dead or Alive/Ninja Gaiden)
Fantastic list! Alot of you really loved Velvet!
This list is 10/10. Id pretty much have the same line up in mind all but for a couple changes, swapping in Tifa for FF and Cammy for SF then placing 2B at the top haha.
That’s awesome! Tifs was definitely close for me, and Cammy is one that I thought about once. 2B, on the other hand, is up there for sure!
I have a hard time choosing, but I think Lucina from Fire Emblem Awakening would be on my list. All of the playable women in FE are pretty badass (even the healers), but Lucina is number one for me, perhaps because Awakening was my first game in the main series (I actually played Warriors before that.)
Great choice!
Some great choices here. I am especially a big fan of Jill, The Boss and Samus.
A few of my other faves would be Arianrhod from the Trails series (Estelle Bright, Laura Arseid and Aurellia Le Guin would all qualify too, Trails has so many badass women honestly), Edelgard from Fire Emblem, Velvet Crowe from Tales of Berseria, Jesse Faden from Control, Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII, Lady from Devil May Cry, Zero from Drakengard 3 and Lady Maria from Bloodborne to name a handful of my faves.
@Backlog Battle it’s nice we live in an era where there are so many badass female characters and protagonists because as you said even just 20 years ago it was a much rarer occurrence.
All great choices! There’s too many to choose from
For me my top 5 would be (in no particular order):
Makoto/Queen Persona 5
Claire Redfield from Resident Evil series
Aloy from Horizon series
Jade from Dragon Quest XI, my first DQ game
Ellie from the Last of Us series
That’s really good coverage there!
11-ish minutes flew by just like that.
Love your list. Enjoyed the justifications alot. Hope you make a Top Badass Women Part 2.
I’m thinking of making other lists for now!
I know she ain’t popular enough for these sorts of lists but i’d put Estelle from trails in the sky personally. She’s tough as nails when she needs to be but is over all a great example of realistic badass imho.
@Backlog Battle Hmmm, that’s a difficult question. There’s actually a ton of female characters in gaming that are far more interesting than people give them credit for. Not all of them are leads like Estelle (although another lead I enjoyed greatly was Shionne from Tales of Arise, or Bayonetta, Jesse Faden from Control). A lot of the picks from your list would be on mine though!
Great choice, she’s also hilarious!
I think Estelle is a great pick! Who else works be in your list?
Special mention goes to Mia Fey, from the Ace Attorney Chronicles. She’s presented as a mentor, saves Phoenix from some hard situations, and is always calm, collected and calculating.
Special mention to all the female party members in Tales of Arise.
Special mention to Farah in the Prince of Persia games.
Great picks here! 👍
I’d personally add Velvet Crowe from tales of Berseria and Estelle Bright from Trails in the Sky in my personal list. But yeah I gree with most of yours
Mine Shionne in tales of arise
Great choices!
Great video watching it now. Also the screen light is really useful. It allows to calibrate your screen and keep the lighting on point without crushing white or hiding black. I m screen freak do yep, I will spend days calibrating a new monitor or TV.
I love that Screen Bar!
Loved the list Alex. I loved all your choices. I would only add Lara Croft and Bayonetta to your list.
Very fair. Your picks all belong there.
I would’ve but I didn’t like the direction Lara took in her last two games and I haven’t played Bayonetta 2 extensively
It might overlap with this list a little bit, but do you think you could do a list for games with female protagonists? I don’t really like playing as a man (though I do make exceptions for games that I think I’d really enjoy), so I’m always looking for more of those.
I think I can do that! I might have to make other lists first since, as you say, there might be some overlap with this one!
As many others in the comments Velvet. I never felt hate and anger so much in a character before. Well acted and written.
Who else would be on your list? 🙂