Seriously, hit me up with those votes! Let's see how big a discussion we can get out of this!

Well, it was a great list. I didn't know the majority of them, but Samus took the top spot, and really, there's no one else who deserves it.

Shodan.

I would have made an honorable mention of Chun Li, if they had just done a bit more with her storywise(though I still really enjoy what little there is), but I wouldn't remove anyone but kerrigan to let her in(and that's only because I've never played starcraft and have never experienced the character^^) A very nice list and I'm going to need to ponder if there are any others as with terra you got one of my main ones^^

I like the list, very in-depth, obviously your personal list and certain characters have grasped you over the years.
Id like to share mine but obviously dont have so much writting space to explain. It does include some huge canons, but that dosent get them on the list.

10.Rayne (Bloodrayne)
9.Eva (Metal Gear Solid 3)
8.Jade (Beyond Good & Evil)
7.Chun-li (Street Fighter Series)
6.Jill Valentine (Resident Evil Series)
5.Joanna Dark (Perfect Dark Series)
4.Lara Croft (Tomb Raider Series)
3.Samus Aran (Metroid Series)
2.Alyx Vance (Half-Life 2)

1.Zoë Castillo (Dreamfall: The Longest Journey)

Play Dreamfall, little surreal setting to start, but tried to keep it realistic as possible. this chick aint no hero, she goes from a normal life to the absolute surreal, she keep strong through it and goes through a hell of alot of crap and well i wont spoil how it ends, but shez a fighter im sure we will see more of Zoe!!

Nice list. Definitely agree with The Boss being on there. Can't really think of any to add to that, but I think the ones up there are pretty representative of good female characters as a whole.

Good list, Dr. Gonzo. Samus is the first, best and coolest. I remember playing the first Metroid and thinking it was a guy in that armor. Then I saw the ending. It was definitely a shock and kids all around the playgroud talked about it.

Kerrigan being on the list is a good idea. She's a tragic character and I felt bad for her in Starcraft and in the add-on.

As for my suggestion? I don't know. What about Zelda as Shiek? Would that count? People think she's a guy when Zelda transforms. I don't know. Nintendo won't do the Samus thing in reverse!

So, yeah. Add in Zelda as Shiek. She's tough and is a fair brawler in SSBM and SSBB. Yeah she got kidnapped but she still rocks!

Peach on the other hand? Uh....

If you're gonna put Zelda as anyone, make it Tetra from The Wind Waker. Tetra in Phantom Hourglass took a couple steps back, but in TWW she's totally cool.

Hell yeah! I LOVE Samus!

Zoe from Dreamfall should have been up there. She takes the whole ''thrust into another world'' thing quite well, not to mention all the things she had to do for others along her journey.

I'd also have to say Xiuying in Shenmue II. She is insanely developed throughout the game and has an amazing story. She also never takes the damsel in distress role as she is a master martial artist that defeats Ryo...Every...time....

Definite noble mentions on the list.

No Joanna Dark?? Blasphemer!!!!

What? No Carmen Sandiego?

That's quite all right, she's always forgotten where top ten women in games lists are concerned. Top 11 theme song lists, on the other hand...

Okay, I grant you, she's the villain (itself noteworthy, I think), and she hasn't done much since the mid 90's, but she does hail from that era when women in games looked like, well, women.

That my $0.02.

i have to day that samus sort of owns that spot

FOREVA

This list seems to only cover the late 90s to now, from what I see, with few exceptions. There are a few women that seem to be glaring omissions:

Alis Landale (Phantasy Star, Sega Master System)

Alys Brangwin (Phantasy Star IV, Sega Genesis)

Discuss.

Late 90s? Maybe you've never played Half-Life 2 (#3)?

Samus is a WOMAN?!? OMG!

You forgot Chris Lightfellow from Suikoden 3. She is a great female character. She is a leader, a heavy hitter tank instead of those stereotypical mage/archer/fast hitter/healer/support female JRPG character.

I think some warcraft chars are worthy of at least honorable mention. I mean Sylvanas' personality is pretty developed, and she doesn't show much skin lol.

Seconded.

I think there's a better argument for Celes than Terra simply because Terra gets really, really emo at times. While it's true that Cele's backstory isn't as well fleshed out, I almost think she develops more as a person and her character has more of the aggressive edge that was necessary for the world of ruin. Terra just kind of wanted to go and hide, and for some reason her decision to return to the group always struck me as halfhearted.

"In Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, that stereotype is thrown out the window, as Princess Farah takes up bow and arrow, and takes matters into her own hands, proving that just because you're the damsel, doesn't mean you have to be in distress."

Man, I remember Sands of Time. Trust me, when Farah takes up her bow and arrow, the only one who is going to be in distress is the Prince.

I really like the list. Although I do not know every single character on it, you made a good case for all of them. My opinion may not be as valid, but there are three characters that, while I do not know as they should have been on the list, at least deserved a mention. (Warning, spoilers!)

Heather Morris/ Sheryl Mason Silent Hill 3

The past two games had adult male protagonists but the third game switched things up in that it featured a young female protagonist. Some would argue that Heather was whiny and freaked out a lot, but I would argue that her reactions were the most realistic out of all of the series's protagonists; if I wound up in the bloody, rusty hell-hole that is silent hill, I would nothave a monotone reaction to everything like the protagonists from the past two games (to be fair, James showed a bit more emotion from time to time, but there were scenes where he was just a bit too blank for it to feel real). I would freak out to. Furthermore, unlike most female characters in a survival horror game, she is not a mercenary, soldier or ninja; she is a normal civilian forced to take up arms to defend herself, something she does a pretty good job of despite no training with firearms. She's hit out of nowhere by being plunged into an alternate hell-world, battles home to find her father is dead (another bit of originality in a video game here - her father is the protagonist of the first game. That's right, you kept this guy alive through a town full of flesh eaters only to have him inevitably die two games later), she goes into the heart of darkness dispite the fact that she might be safer elsewhere, fights a dark incarnation of her former self and then squares off against a demi-god. If that doesn't qualify her as a strong character, I don't know what does.

Alyssa Gillespe, Silent Hill 1, Silent Hill 3
While Alyssa and Heather are technically the same person, I list Alyssa here as a separate entity because their personalities are so unique to each other. Alyssa grew up friendless in the town of Silent Hill, thanks to her supernatural abilities. As if that weren't enough, her mother is a psychopathic cult member hell-bent on bringing her god into being, whatever the consequences may be. Despite being only a child, Alyssa actively resists her mother and, even when a ceremony is performed that impregnates her with the demon god, she continues to defy her mother and the cult by splitting her being in half. This action places her in a nightmare for ten years (I might not be accurate with my time here) and, even when the other half of her soul is forced to return to assist the tormented half trapped in hell, Alyssa's other half, Cheryl, resists her mother as well. In the third game, we discover that Alyssa was willing to kill herself if it would prevent the god from coming into being - let me remind you that she was only a CHILD IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL then.

Lady Devil May Cry 3

Yes, I don't think Lady should be on the list, but I think she at least deserves a nod. She's a strong fighter with more of a motivation than just, "I kill demons cuz its fun!" She's out to avenge her mother's killer who, incidentally, is her father. The inner strife as Lady wrestles with the decision to spare her father or get revenge and prevent Armageddon is conveyed well through the character without it becoming overwhelming. The part and the end of the game gave me goosebumps and I'd wager it still would if I watched it now.
What's more, despite Dante looking like he does and endlessly flirting with her she still doesn't like the guy, only coming to accept him after they've duked it out in one of the harder boss fights in the game.
The main point against her would be that she is a bit scantily clad, but her proportions aren't ridiculous (I speak for the Lady in DMC 3; I haven't played DMC 4, so I don't know what that one looks like)

And, those are my humble thoughts. Judge them how you will

On the other hand, she does wear a pair of highly visible cycling shorts(?) under the short skirt and her getup is hardly out of the ordinary for the game. Dante's costume is either shirtless (or shirtless with a coat held together with a strap across the chest) or tight red leather from head to foot.

Also, after being wounded and patched up, she takes off by herself. When it comes to plot-related smackdowns, female characters in any form of media tend to be one-hit wonders.

Number 1 woman in gaming should be my mom playing mah-jong.

Samus is just the #1 female in gaming without a doubt!
Beautiful, yet deadly and unstoppable!

[/quote]

Joanna was totally badass

I seem to be catching a lot of flack for neglecting Joanna Dark!

Keep up those PMs! Every vote counts!!

One other thing that contributes to the positive reception to Alyx Vance is that she's is competent enough to be at par with Gordon. Sure, Gordon does some pretty amazing stuff, but whenever they're adventuring together she helps him at least as much as the other way around. Fighting alongside her feels more like a co-op game than your standard-issue escort mission.

One other memorable female character is Iji: She's a normal girl caught in a devastating alien invasion and understandably has difficulty coping with the situation. But the brilliance is that how she copes can be decided by the player. While you can turn her into an avenger that lashes out against the attackers with shotgun blasts, machine gun bursts, rockets and futuristic weaponry, it's also entirely possible to complete the game without killing anyone, causing the plot and the dialogue to change according to the player's decision.

You get major extra points for including Jade on that list. Excellent job.

Samus is definitely my favorite,

I'm glad Peach isn't on this list!

But in all seriousness, there's one video game lady that won't make it on a top 10 list, which is a real shame. Her name's Alisia from Alisia Dragoon.

What was unique about Alisia Dragoon was one of the first video games to challenge a gender bias prevalent in the industry at the time. In the early 1990s, the video game market was skewed toward the young male demographic, and games more than often portrayed women as damsels in distress, submissive and requiring rescue by the male protagonists. Along with Street Fighter II, Streets of Rage, and Wurm: Journey To The Center Of The Earth, Alisia Dragoon featured a female leading character who can defend herself without the help of males, offering female gamers another choice in the games they play. [Stolen from Wikipedia]

I think Jaina or Sylvanas might deserve a mention here. Jaina is pretty much the only sane human on the entire world of Azeroth, holding her ideals above any personal commitments (without going crazy as is common in this series) and managing to be essentially the best mage on the planet. She even managed to betray her father while still looking like a good person. Sylvanas is the darker side of the coin, going through immense character to development until we don't know WHERE she stands anymore. She would have killed the current big bad of the series by herself if she hadn't been too bitter to kill him instead of wanting to choose torture.

Kreia from Knights of the Old Republic 2,

Kreia was great as the main supporting character and a master of the force that questioned every move you made whether it was light or dark. She was a weilder of the force that was neither sith nor jedi, she had a truely unique perception of the force, making her an extremely interesting character.

Honestly, Maria in Judgement is a return to form for her character.

If you look at the ORIGINAL Dracula X: Rondo of Blood, Maria is a JOKE CHARACTER. Oh very much a strong and brave little girl, but still a joke character. She fights with freaking trained birds, she has insane magical powers BY ACCIDENT, all of her conversations are silly, and somewhere in there she hits Dracula on the head with a mallet.

Yeah, sorry, I'm the ONE GUY who DOESN'T like Ayame Kojima's designs. Oh sure it WORKS for the series, but considering she bastardized my favorite character (Richter) not once but TWICE?! Yeah. No. Fuck off. Not to mention that PSP rendition of Maria is so horribly off-model it's not even funny.

Yes, I argue that the Judgement designs are more true to the original (pre-SotN) spirit of Castlevania than the latter ones. I'm weird like that.

Otherwise it's a good list. I know if I were to do a list like this, I'd give an honorable mention to Princess Daisy and possibly Rosalina too. I probably would have gone with Celes too but you make a good point in Terra's case.