Timeline of Great Game Characters

zavvi.com TIMELINE OF GREAT FEMALE GAME CHARACTERS 1986: SAMUS ARAN FIRST SEEN IN: METROID ON THE FAMICON One of the first ever female protagonists, Samus Aran of the Metroid series is still going strang and as popular as ever - nearly 30 vears after her first game. 1996: LARA CROFT FIRST SEEN IN: TOMB RAIDER MS-DOS, PLAYSTATION AND SEGA SATURN An instant classic on its first release, Tomb Raider elevated Lara Croft to iconic status. Throughout the years her design has become less objectifying and her character deepened, allowing her to sustain her status as an al-time great. FACT: Samus' reveal at the end of Metroid was named as the greatest twist in video games by Game Informer in 2007. FACT: Tomb raider holds six Guinness World Records, including Most Recognisable Female Video Game Character, 2003: JADE FIRST SEEN IN BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL ON THE PLAYSTATION 2, PC, XBOX AND GAMECUBE A photojournalist, a rebel, protector of orphans - Jade is equal parts cool, complicated, and kicks ass. With a new BGGE game in the works for this new batch of consoles, a whole new generation are ready to be introduced to perhaps the most rounded female protagonist in all gaming. FACT: Michel Ancel, the creator of BG&E, was quoted in Eurogamer as saying that in the sequelt "you're free and can investigate and travel the world as much as you want." 2007: CHELL FIRST SEEN IN PORTAL ON THE PC, XBOX 360 AND PS3 The most revolutionary thing about Chell - apart from being the protagonist for two of the best games ever made - was that being a girl in this game didn't mean anything: you only find out when you see yourself in your own portal. The game didn't have a heavily gendered view of its characters, and was all the better for it. That and she also had one of the best female villains in GLADOS. 2013: ELLIE FACT: Wired magazine decided Portal was one of, if not the, most influential game of the 21st century. FIRST SEEN IN THE LAST OF US ON THE PLAYSTATION 3 Intelligent, head-strong and totally devoid of any hint of stereotype or dliché, Ellie is the newest character on this list. Though we would have preferred more sections where she was a playable character, Ellie's immense role in one of the best written games of all time is a tour-de-force of emotions that no-one will ever forget. FACT: Developers Naughty Dog had to step in when the market research team they hired were planning to only focus test the game on men, with Creative Director Neil Druckmann saying "I hope this is a relic of the past that will soon go away."