Top Video Game Heroines

by Mark Hughes

There are many heroines in video games. Damsels in distress, fierce warriors, sneaky spies, femme fatales, and more are represented. These characters were selected based on the number of games they have been in, their popularity among gamers, and the impact their presence has had on each game's story. This is by no means a comprehensive list of all heroines in video games, and it’s purely subjective.

Two of these characters have been featured in films, Lara Croft and Jill Valentine. Lara Croft is probably the most famous heroine to move between games and films. Making a video game into a movie is a difficult job. Writers must tackle merging the many hours of a video game’s storyline into an entertaining form to fit a film’s almost standard two- hour length. Many scripts are created and rejected until one seems good enough to bring to the big screen. For instance, the first script for the Tomb Raider movies was penned in 1999. It was rejected when another story was selected for the first movie, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001). Pieces of that 1999 script were later incorporated into the 2003 sequel, Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life.

Lara Croft | Samos Aran | Zelda | Princess Peach | Jill Valentine

Lara Croft

British archeologist, adventurer in search of ancient treasures. She is the main character in the long-running Tomb Raider series. Lara Croft was played in both films by Angelina Jolie.

Lara Croft | Samos Aran | Zelda | Princess Peach | Jill Valentine

Samos Aran

Intergalactic bounty-hunter. She is armed with and armored by a cybernetic suit. Samos battles metroids (nasty parasitic cybernetic creatures) and space pirates in her many adventures across the universe.

Lara Croft | Samos Aran | Zelda | Princess Peach | Jill Valentine

Zelda

Princess and ruler of the world Hyrule. Zelda is also known as Sheik, in Ocarina of Time, and Tetra, a pirate in The Wind Waker. She is an ally of Link and a fierce defender of her world against the evil schemes of Ganandorf.

Lara Croft | Samos Aran | Zelda | Princess Peach | Jill Valentine

Princess Peach

Princess Peach has also been known as Princess Toadstool. She rules the Mushroom Kingdom. When the evil Bowser attacks, Peach enlists the help of her allies, Mario & Luigi.

Lara Croft | Samos Aran | Zelda | Princess Peach | Jill Valentine

Jill Valentine

A S.T.A.R.S. (Special Tactics and Rescue Squad) officer in the survival horror series, Resident Evil. The character of Jill Valentine (played by Sienna Guillory) only appeared in Resident Evil: Apocalypse. It should be noted that the principal character in the films is Alice, played by Milla Jovovich. The film version of Alice has multiple characteristics of other characters from the Resident Evil video games, most notably Jill Valentine and Alexia Ashford.

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