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Save for Lara Croft and Joanna Dark, video games have neglected to give females their just rewards by including them as main characters. We hope that this trend will change with the new generation of consoles looking to reach out to new markets. But until then, we feel it is essential to gather together games that have already made the leap by including female protagonists as the main character. It wasn't easy finding 10 games starring Femmes Fatales, but we've done the legwork for you to make picking up these games starring women as quick and easy as possible.
Metroid - NES (1986)
Street Price: $9.25
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Metroid is a classic side-scrolling platformer like most other action games of its time, but it one-ups the complexity of such games because it presents one continuous world that fits together like a puzzle. Samus Aran is an iron-clad bounty hunter sent in to wipe out an alien presence. You play the entire game under the presumption that Samus is a male, but at the end, you are treated to a surprise when it's revealed that Samus is actually a female.
Tomb Raider - Sony PlayStation (1996)
Street Price: $4.95
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Tomb Raider was the first 3D console game to place a female character in the limelight, and Eidos has been reaping the rewards ever since. As Lara, you can walk, run, jump, dive, swim, roll, hurtle, shoot, and dodge your way through temples of doom, unveiling a mystery that seems to lead to a sunken continent. Gameplay favors puzzle-solving and skillful maneuvering over shooting and conflict, making Tomb Raider more like the opening sequence of Raiders of the Lost Ark than its finale.
Mischief Makers - Nintendo 64 (1997)
Street Price: $6.00
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Long regarded as one of Japan's most imaginative and skilled development teams, Treasure is responsible for many of the Genesis' classic games. Mischief Makers is Treasure's first game for the Nintendo 64. Marina, the robotic female star, is the housekeeper to a kindhearted old man who is kidnapped. You must help Marina rescue her master and uncover the mystery behind the kidnappers. Perhaps the most ephemeral of Treasure's games to date, Mischief Makers is a good game that will leave you wanting more.
Resident Evil - Sony PlayStation (1996)
Street Price: $9.49
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The original Resident Evil was groundbreaking for a number of reasons. Not only was it the first survival-horror game to strike a chord with the mainstream, but it also was one of the early 3D games to have a female lead character. Resident Evil is one of those rare games that's almost as entertaining to watch as it is to play. And like a movie, it deserves to be experienced in the dark. Resident Evil dishes out some truly frightening, skin-crawling moments.
Space Channel 5 - Sega Dreamcast (2000)
Street Price: $9.49
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Most rhythm games are faceless affairs that forsake character development for gameplay's sake, but Sega's Space Channel 5 is the exception to this rule. It stars Ulala, a funky space diva bent on ridding her planet of aliens by outdueling them on the dance floor. The game absolutely oozes with style from beginning to end, and even though a bit of its charm has been lost in the translation from Japanese to English, it's still an interesting and addictive game.
Perfect Dark - Nintendo 64 (2000)
Street Price: $17.97
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Many wondered how Rare's GoldenEye 007 would ever be topped on a console, but Rare itself did just that with the peerless Perfect Dark. Eschewing the Bond license for creative freedom, Rare has constructed a futuristic setting for PD, complete with alien comrades, a sinister plot to clone the president, and a female lead character named Joanna Dark. Perfect Dark builds upon all the good things found in the Bond game and piles on the improvements to maps, weapons, and selectable characters.
Oni - Sony PlayStation 2 (2001)
Street Price: $24.98
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Oni tells the story of Konoko, a female police officer working for the Technology Crimes Task Force. The TCTF is out to stop all sorts of futuristic organized crime, and Konoko is out in the field, making things happen. In typical anime fashion, the story gets stranger and stranger as it unfolds, eventually leaving Konoko wondering who her allies truly are. All the character animation in the game is top-notch, and Oni's beat-'em-up gameplay is simplistic yet addictive.
Resident Evil 2 - Sony PlayStation (1997)
Street Price: $5.95
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Picking up a few months after the events of the first game, RE2 sees the entire town of Raccoon City hit with the devastating virus that zombified only a few dozen folks in the original. It's up to Claire Redfield to save not only herself and coworker Leon Kennedy, but also any and all survivors. With its unique camera angles, storyline, graphics, sound effects, and music, Resident Evil 2 seems more like a product out of Hollywood than the video game industry.
Fear Effect - Sony PlayStation (2000)
Street Price: $15.00
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Fear Effect blends cinematic elements of media such as Blade Runner, The Killer, and Aeon Flux with gameplay devices of titles such as Resident Evil and Heart of Darkness, yet somehow manages to come off as a wholly original experience. You play as one of three mercenaries attempting to retrieve the daughter of a powerful Chinese businessman from kidnappers. There are so many twists and turns in the plot that you want to continually play just a little further. And to add to that, the storyline's mature tone is refreshing.
Parasite Eve - Sony PlayStation (1998)
Street Price: $9.00
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A fateful night at the opera house triggers in one particular woman an innate resistance to the deadly effects of a mitochondria-based disease that is overtaking the planet. You assume the role of that woman, the young New York cop Aya Brea, as she comes to realize that the fate of humanity will depend upon her actions. While its RPG elements are minimal, Parasite Eve's plot and characters correlate rather closely to Final Fantasy VII's--you'll sometimes get the feeling you're playing as Cloud in drag.
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