Roles for female video game characters are not exclusively reserved for princesses in distress or oversexualized bimbos. Strong, independent ladies like Samus Aran (Metroid) and Faith Connors (Mirror’s Edge) don’t need men to rescue them. Sadly, sexism is still a problem that affects every aspect of game design, including box art.
In a recent interview with VG24/7, The Last of Us creative director Neil Druckmann said that Sony asked him to focus on Joel (the male protagonist) for the game’s cover and push Ellie to the back. Everyone at Naughty Dog refused. Druckmann added: “I believe there’s a misconception that if you put a girl or a woman on the cover, the game will sell less.”
I browsed through some of my favorite games to see how many of them feature their lead female heroines on the cover. See the result of my search in the gallery below.
Without Ellie the game would be called The Last of Him.
Selina Kyle (aka Catwoman) aids Batman throughout Arkham City, but the kitty cat apparently isn’t cover material.
Geralt’s sorceress girlfriend is featured prominently in the Enhanced Edition of The Witcher 2, but not in the original PC release.
The stealthy kunoichi guides the unnamed protagonist from start to finish, but she completely missed the game’s virtual cover. Or maybe she’s there but we can’t see her … .
Female Commander Shepard never made it into the game’s box art, but former Cerberus Officer Miranda Lawson did.
The daring journalist stars in all three PS3 Uncharted titles as a sidekick and love interest of Nathan Drake, but was never featured on the cover. You can tell she’s upset.
While Bulletstorm wasn’t a runaway success, I doubt it had anything to do with Trishka appearing on the cover. I for one love the game and think Novak is pretty badass.
You rarely see her face, but Chell is the star of both Portal games. Valve prefers showing off robots Atlas and P-Body than the silent human-lab rat.
BioShock Infinite fans can blame frat boys for Elizabeth’s omission from its cover, but at least the two previous games in the series did feature female characters on their boxes: the creepy Little Sisters.
Team Ninja sexualy exploits all of their female characters, yet Rachel somehow got axed from every modern Ninja Gaiden box art. I am appalled.
Alyx won the hearts of countless gamers in the first episode of Half-Life 2, so it made sense to insert her on the cover of Episode Two. Now, where’s Episode Three?
The she-demon is one of the most popular characters in the Devil May Cry series, yet Capcom hasn’t featured her on any of the games’ covers. Trish is part of the original title’s logo, but that doesn’t count.
The original trilogy of Star Wars movies featured a total of zero female jedi, but KOTOR’s Bastila alone could take down Palpatine’s Empire. Well, maybe not, but she still looks awesome on the game’s cover.
Although Yuna starred in her own game, Final Fantasy X-2, the summoner was nowhere to be seen on the original title’s cover. You had to turn the box around to find her.
Joe’s girlfriend wasn’t too happy about him being a super hero, but she must be extatic now that she got turned into Sexy Silvia and appears next to her guy in Viewtiful Joe 2’s cover.
S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team’s sole female member didn’t make it into a Resident Evil cover until the GameCube remake six years later.
Interesting observation: For years I thought the guy in this image was Chris Redfield, but not anymore. His clothes don’t match at all. He could be a random Umbrella mercenary that got lost in the Spencer mansion while tripping on Plant 42 spores.
Ico’s milky-white friend illuminates the American cover art of the game. The Japanese box art also features Yorda, but she’s smaller than an ant.
Neglecting female characters in game covers is nothing new. The Genesis port of Alien Storm omitted Karla, one of the three playable heroes. The Sega Master System version went a step further and completely removed her from the game.
Crash’s brainy little sister debuted in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, but became playable for the first time in part 3, where she also graced the cover.
The Mushroom Kingdom’s Princess did not need to be rescued in Super Mario Bros. 2, but Mario did not share the spotlight on the game’s cover with her. Peach finally made it into a title’s box art in 1992’s Super Mario Kart.
If you like spiky-haired heroes, talking frogs, and time-traveling princesses, then Chrono Trigger is a dream come true. Marle borrows a fire spell from Lucca to help Crono kick Heckran’s ass on the cover of the beloved RPG game.
