Heroines of Video Games

Heroine: Kurenai
Style: beautiful stealth assassin bent on revenge


Kurenai

Sometime in the 1500s in feudal Japan, the rivalry between Lord Nobunaga Oda and Lord Shingen Takeda had reached a stalemate. But in the Takeda Clan, Ryo, the chief weaponsmith, has created a new weapon that could shift the balance in Takeda's favor. Before the weapon can be fully tested, he and his young daughter, Kurenai, are attacked in their home by mysterious ninja. Killing Ryo and leaving Kurenai to die hung on a cherry blossom tree, the ninja take the weapon plans. Kurenai hangs there all night and day, innocent victim of the matters that led to the attack. Chiyome, the head ninja for Takeda, comes to investigate the signs of an attack and, to her horror, finds the body. Beyond any expectations, Kurenai lives. And so begins Kurenai's life as a Takeda ninja. Without a home, Chiyome adops her into the ninja clan and trains her personally. As a constant reminder of the events that changed her, Kurenai insists on training with the wire used to hang her, and so the Tetsugen is born...

Heroines: Utsuki, Sakuya, Abe-no-Seimei
Style:the fates of three women cross paths in the haunted manor of a deceased samurai
Fun fact: game can be played either in English or Japanese with subtitles


Utsuki

Utsuki is a young girl with sorrowful eyes and a trampled soul who, along with her sister, is searching for their father in Lord Fujiwara's mansion. The sisters live in complete isolation at the top of a nearby mountain; they are forbidden to leave. Utsuki blames herself for an accident that injured her sister and has been taking care of her since their mother died.


Sakuya

As a young exorcist, she studies the art intensely and possesses a strong will. Being born into the Kamo family - a traditional exorcist family - she's been familiar with magic ever since childhood. Sakuya has been studying under a dubious teacher though, a civilian exorcist known as Doman. While questionable, Doman was the only one accepting of Sakuya, since it's believed in the Kamo family that women are inferior to men. Sakuya is investigation Lord Fujiwara's mansion with three other disciples.


Abe-no-Seimei

She is the only force strong enough to seal the curse of the manor. And so...

Heroine: Jade
Style: photojournalist leader of an underground, antigovernment rebel movement
Sequels: Beyond Good & Evil 2


Jade

Expose the conspiracy. Capture the truth. A government conspiracy wreaks havoc upon the planet Hillys. As the rebellious action-reporter Jade, you must penetrate your leaders' web of lies and expose their horrific secrets. In a world of deception, believe in nothing...except yourself.


Beyond Good and Evil 2

Heroine: Jennifer Tate
Style: 21 year old badass who goes into the gothic underworld with a gargoyle sidekick to save her kidnapped boyfriend (that's right, HE is the 'princess in distress')


Jennifer

Jen, who grew up in a string of foster homes, works as a waitress so she can go to college. Headstrong with a sharp tongue, she is the girlfriend of a startup band's lead singer, a guy named Lewis. A mysterious force kidnaps Lewis to an alternate world in which a struggle between Chaos and Order is raging. Jen enters this gloomy, gothic world to save her boyfriend but discovers more about herself than she could have imagined...

Heroine: Sun Goddess Amaterasu
Style: noble deity in the form of a wolf (ookami) who wants to save the world from the demon Orochi (and the force behind him)


Amaterasu

Amaterasu is a central figure in the native Japanese religion known as Shinto. She finds her origin as the sun goddess in a story concerning Izanagi (shortened to "Nagi" in the game) when he washes his face after having returned from the underworld on a quest to visit his recently deceased beloved, Izanami (shortened to "Nami" in the game). According to this legend, the act of washing himself in a purification ritual gave birth to numerous deities, with Amaterasu being born from his left eye, Tsukuyomi (portrayed as Nagi's sacred sword) from his right, and Susano (a storm-based deity) from his nose. In her role as sun goddess, Amaterasu is associated with warmth and light and is said to have a strong link with the Japanese Imperial family of old.

Heroine: Heather (Morris) Mason
Style: a young girl thrust into the demonic world of Silent Hill searches for answers to her own past


Heather

Heather lived a carefree existence until her world was suddenly turned upside-down. Trapped and alone in the mysterious town of Silent Hill, she must escape sickening monsters and solve puzzles to survive and uncover a terrifying connection between her past and her darkest fears. Featuring a cinematic storyline, Silent Hill 3 brings unparalleled horror to life.

Heroine:Miku Hinasaki
Style: terrified little sister looking for her missing brother Mafuyu in a haunted, feudal manor


Miku

Nine days have passed since Mafuyu Hinasaki had disappeared. It all began a month ago. The media reported that famous novelist Junsei Takamine disappeared while gathering research for an upcoming novel. Mafuyu, an aspiring journalist, suspected that something was wrong. Why would his mentor simply vanish into thin air? Mafuyu decided to conduct a private search for his friend, with the investigation eventually leading to the grounds of a secluded mansion. The Himuro mansion stands silent and imposing deep within the forest. It's said that years ago the mansion belonged to a powerful landowner who had absolute control over the area. But now it's a shadow of its former self, dilapidated and desolate...As Mafuyu searched the mansion, he found scraps of paper left by Junsei and his staff throughout the mansion. The writings recounted a number of ominous events that happened in the mansion's dark past. Eager to find additional clues within the mansion, Mafuyu rushed in and suddenly realized that he wasn't alone...Miku came to the Himuro mansion in search of her missing brother. But she had no idea what she was getting into...

Heroines: twin sisters Mio and Mayu
Style: innocent girls who get lost in the woods only to find a haunted village with a "penchant" for twin girls

Mio & Mayu

Mio and Mayu are visiting their childhood home. This spot, a secret hideaway for the pair, is due to be swallowed by a lake come the end of the summer. Lost in her memories, Mio finally raises her head to find that Mayu has vanished. Looking around, Mio spots her sister following a crimson butterfly deeper into the forest. Chasing after her sister, Mio suddenly finds herself alone on a foggy mountain road. Spreading there before the twins, crouched in fog and darkness, lays the mysterious Lost Village...

Heroines: Rei Kurosawa, Miku Hinasaki
Style: a hapless photographer, Rei, and Miku return to the haunted manor in their sleep, in the form of a nightmare they cannot escape


Rei

The main protagonist of the story and freelance photographer. Since losing her boyfriend in an accident, Rei has found herself drawn into the "Manor of Sleep" which she sees every night in her dreams. She is desperately trying to solve the mystery connecting the Manor of Sleep to the Cursed Tattoo.


Miku

Miku has returned and is the only one who knows what horrors lay within the manor. Can she ever forget this place?

Heroine: Jennifer
Style: girl with a sad past is forced into the tormenting society of cruel children and is aided by a canine companion


Jennifer

Set in 1930s England, the plot revolves around a nineteen-year-old girl named Jennifer, who becomes trapped in a world ruled by young girls who have established a class hierarchy called the Red Crayon Aristocrats. The game has been compared to survival horror games Silent Hill and Haunting Ground, due to the psychological horror used throughout and because the main character is accompanied by a canine companion. Rule of Rose garnered mixed reviews from many publications upon its release. The game was also the subject of a moderate amount of controversy due to its use of violence and implied lesbianism amongst some of its underage, female characters.

Heroine: Fiona
Style: a beautiful girl's deceased parents are connected to a mysterious castle, leaving her in the care of an obsessed relative


Fiona

Eighteen-year-old Fiona Belli recently moved away to college. But while visiting her parents, a tragic accident took their lives and left Fiona sealed in a dark, echoing castle. Although she learns she is to inherit the castle, Fiona doesn't have a clue to the mysterious events transpiring around her. Fiona is very much the quiet type who masks her inner strength. Although reserved, she's not introverted and thinks quickly on her feet. She is gifted with extremely sharp wits. She rarely expresses emotions and appears more mature than her actual age. But when she smiles, she smiles from her heart and her charm easily wins people over. She finds Hewie (a white German shepherd) along the way and they build a strong friendship during their search.

Heroine: Samus Aran
Style: lone wolf intergalactic bounty hunter with body-morphing armor


Samus Aran

Samus spent her childhood with her family on the mining planet K-2L. The planet was raided by Space Pirates, who were looking for bounty. The leader of the Space Pirates, Ridley, killed most of the people in Samus's colony, including her parents, and then destroyed the planet. Orphaned, Samus was found by a bird-like alien race known as the Chozo, who brought her to their home planet Zebes. Samus was infused with Chozo DNA to give her a strong resistance to foreign environments, then trained as a warrior and given one of the alien race's artifacts, a powered exoskeleton called the Power Suit that biologically entwines itself with Samus's mind and body.

Heroine/Antagonist: Carmen Sandiego
Style: elite international crime lord and hardest woman in the world to find


Carmen Sandiego

Always one step ahead of the ACME Detective Agency, Carmen has become infamous for being the best cat burglar in history, making away with priceless works of art and artifacts for her eccentric collection. She pits her wits against yours in a cat-and-mouse chase around the globe, leading you to ever more exciting backdrops for adventure and mystery. At her disposal is a small army of V.I.L.E. henchmen and you may be lucky enough to catch one or two, but you'll have a hard time squeezing information about Carmen out of them. At best, you'll only receive a strange clue that leads you to the next set of vanishing footprints...

Alice

April Ryan

Heroines: Nariko & Kai
Style: heiress to the heavenly sword bent on stopping the evil king who destroyed her people, assisted by the sylph-like Kai


Nariko


Kai

Heroine: Ashley Mizuki Robbins

Sequels: Parasite Eve II, The 3rd Birthday

Heroine: Jennifer Simpson


Jennifer

Heroines:Jennifer Simpson, Helen
Style:survive the murderous Scissorman back for revenge


Jennifer and murdered security guard


Helen fighting Scissorman