List of LGBT characters in video games
Encyclopedia
The following is a list of gay
, lesbian
, bisexual, transgender
or transvestite characters in video games.
released Moonmist
, a text adventure
mystery with several possible randomly-selected plotlines; in one of these plotlines, the criminal is a female artist who is jealous because her girlfriend has gotten married.
In 1988, Nintendo
released Super Mario Bros. 2
for the NES
. According to the first edition manual for the North American release of the game, Birdo
is referred to as a male who believes he is female and would rather be called "Birdetta".
In 1989, Capcom
released Final Fight
for the arcades. In it, there is a character named Poison
who was born male, but depending on region, is either a transvestite or a transexual.
released Circuit's Edge
, a graphic adventure game based on the science fiction
writings of George Alec Effinger
. One of the characters the player meets is openly gay with a boyfriend, and several other characters are transsexual
.
Sierra Online's 1990 adventure game
Rise of the Dragon
features a man named "Blade Hunter" on a quest to seek revenge against an Asian crime lord for the drug overdose of the mayor's daughter. His quest took him to various locations in a seedy and corrupt future similar to the one depicted in the movie Blade Runner
. One such location, the "Pleasure Dome", depicts homosexuality as one of the vices catered to by the establishment. One of its patrons is a "woman posing as a man, posing as a woman", a clear nod to the 1982 movie Victor/Victoria. Like the male sissy characters that seemed to adopt the typical female gender, this woman adopts a typical male personality of being cold and unfeeling. Later in the game, Blade Hunter says sweet things to someone whom he thinks is his girlfriend and is shocked to find out that it is really a man with long hair. After this embarrassing event, the character worries that people may start to call him "Switch Blade."
In 1991, Acclaim
released the second of three Nintendo games based on the popular animated series
The Simpsons
. In The Simpsons: Bart vs. the World
, the player controlled Bart Simpson
as he traveled to various global locations to battle the evil Montgomery Burns
. In the television show, Waylon Smithers
was the personal aide to Burns, whose secret gay crush on his boss is a running joke
throughout the entire series. Both characters appeared in the game in the opening and ending sequences, although Smithers is simply referred to as Mr. Burns' "Bootlicking Yes-Man."
Another example appears in Sierra's 1991 Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers
. The main character, Roger Wilco, had to don drag in order to gain access to a bank account belonging to the "Latex Babes of Estros."
In Ultima VI: The False Prophet (1992 IBM PC) and Ultima VII: The Black Gate the player has the option to pay a fee and be entertained, off screen, by a female or male companion. Perhaps one of the first computer games that expressly allowed the playable character to select his sexual orientation. In Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle
a bisexual mage will sexually proposition the player character regardless of the character's gender. The player is given a choice whether to accept or refuse.
MicroProse
's 1992 game titled Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender
for MS-DOS
and the MAC OS
requires the male hero to change his sex on a planet where women rule.
In 1992 Sierra On-line
produced Laura Bow In The Dagger of Amon Ra
, which featured a woman from a small town who gets a job for a New York
paper in the 1920s. Two of the women she meets are involved in a secret love affair.
In 1993 MicroProse
released Return of the Phantom
with a gay male character named "Charles" portrayed as an effeminate theatre director. He is one of the good guys that helps the playable character, a French inspector, solve the mystery of the Phantom of the Opera once and for all.
Infinite Adventures produced a FMV game titled Dracula Unleashed
in 1993 that included the character Alfred Horner as the 'rather odd fellow' who co-owned the bookstore. The character is explicitly homosexual, giving the playable character lecherous glances. This was the first time a homosexual character in a computer game was shown as a live actor.
In Adventure Soft
's 1993 Simon the Sorcerer series
, if the title character, Simon is ordered to proposition any male characters, he reminds the player that he "prefers blondes". The games also make numerous gay jokes. For example, when two demons get stuck together with glue in the second game (from 1995), Simon remarks that their close contact looks "awfully suspicious." Simon the Sorcerer 3-D (2002) has more gay jokes, directed at a gay knight
.
In 1993 Sierra Online's Police Quest: Open Season featured a gay bar
as a symbol of organized homosexuality. In this game, the player is a police officer trying to track down the murder of his police partner. His quest leads him to discover that his partner had a double life as a cross-dresser at a West Hollywood transgender bar. The game also featured a Neo-Nazi who calls the main character a "mother loving faggot" if touched. Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude
, released in 2004, also features a gay bar.
In 1994 game EarthBound
, Jeff Andonuts' best friend, Tony, is hinted to have romantic feelings for him; the creator of the game has also mentioned that Tony is gay.
Square
's 1995 SNES RPG Chrono Trigger
featured a major villain who was prominently transgendered. The character Flea, a henchman of Magus, was described as looking like a girl. Flea would exclaim "Hey, I'm a guy!" and later "Male or female, what difference does it make? Power is beautiful, and I've got the power." Flea would later appear with his sidekicks in the sequel, Chrono Cross
, appearing as a female with a pink wig and miniskirt. However, the battle screen in Chrono Cross displays the enemies' sex with a male or female symbol, and Flea is clearly marked as a man. It is notable that the transgendered theme of Flea appeared in the US translation of the SNES release, during Nintendo's censorship phase.
In 1995 Shannara, based on the books written by Terry Brooks, included a snotty and racist gay character, the Seneschal, who wore all purple. This character was similar to the snotty and racist elven character in Simon the Sorcerer 2
who not only had the purple attire, but a pansy
flower in his hat.
In 1995 The Orion Conspiracy
became the first computer game to use the word homosexual (although the 1994 Kirin Entertainment game Plumbers Don't Wear Ties
does use the word 'gay'). The main character, Devlin McCormack, lives on a space station where he investigates the murder of his son and stops an alien invasion. His investigation leads him through the seedy, criminal underworld of the station, where he discovers that his son was homosexual while talking with his son's boyfriend.
In 1995 The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery
features the antagonist Baron Von Glower who pursues the protagonist Gabriel Knight sexually and eventually leads him to be turned into a werewolf.
In 1996 the computer game Phantasmagoria 2: A Puzzle of Flesh featured a homosexual male character named Trevor, who was a close friend and co-worker of the player character, Curtis Craig. Despite his effeminate and flamboyant portrayal, Trevor is shown as intelligent and is very significant through the game's plot. Curtis admits to his psychiatrist that he has feelings for Trevor and might be bisexual, and later the two kiss, although Curtis is also shown as having relationships with a girlfriend and a S&M
domme. Creators of the game talked about the mature sexual themes in the game during a 1997 interview.
In 1996 Vic Tokai
developed the graphic adventure computer game Silver Load for the PlayStation. Silver Load is a bizarre tale of a town cursed because their ancestors enacted genocide on an American Indian tribe. It features a gay barber who finds the cowboy hero attractive and has a sinister, decadent look about him.
In 1996, the adventure game Harvester had a flamboyant gay firefighter named Fireman Sparky.
In 1996, Crystal Dynamics
released Blazing Dragons
for the PlayStation. It was a graphic adventure game based on a British
cartoon
where dragons had human emotions, and real humans were obnoxious villains. Blazing Dragons was influenced by comedians such as John Cleese
of Monty Python
fame. This game marketed the introduction to the video game industry of the comic models that the computer game industry had been using to reference homosexuality. The game featured a dragon knight whose homosexuality was demonstrated by his effeminacy and vanity, and an entire puzzle involved dressing as the princess of the dragons in order to trick the dragon king into thinking she has not run away and been kidnapped by humans. When this fails, it falls to the court jester (who also appears to be homosexual) to wear drag; at one point he kisses one of the other dragon knights, while off camera. This game marked the first time when drag, in the comic model, was allowed to appear in video games.
In Square's 1997 title Final Fantasy VII
, a specific puzzle involves the male protagonist, Cloud Strife
, collecting various articles of female attire in order to audition as the girl that will spend the night with a male character. If the player has found enough items they are chosen as the girl and can play along with the scenario to a certain extent, although the couple is interrupted just as they are about to kiss. One of this articles, a wig, is found in a gym of gay male body builders, and the character can also enter a brothel. Depending on which room in the brothel is chosen the character may end up in a hot tub with around 10 men, including the character Mukki, who seems to proposition the main character both in this scene and when the player meets him later on in the game.
In 1997, The Last Express
has the player meeting two young adult girls named Sophie and Rebecca Norton who are almost always in each other's company. While at first they appear to be merely close friends, reading the diary of one of them suggests they are lesbians, but there are no explicitly homosexual gestures beyond hand-holding.
In 1997 the Sega Saturn title Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers depicted the protagnoist encountering a cross dresser by the name of Kamanari while chasing down the gambling parlor owner Tatsumi during a case. It is also implied Tatsumi himself is gay.
In 1998 Interplay released Fallout 2
featuring the first same-sex marriage
in a game. The reaction from the family of the character the player marries is very negative.
In Square's 1999 title Final Fantasy VIII
, an unnamed minor character can be encountered in a bar; during conversation, there is strong implication the character is a transvestite. The player character Squall Leonhart
is given the option to ask if he is really a woman. If Squall asks this the character becomes paranoid and wonders how he knew.
In the 1999 game Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned
, it becomes very obvious that two of the characters, Lady Howard and Estelle Stiles, are lesbians. However, nothing is ever made of this other than Gabriel noticing the one bed for two people and saying "Gee, isn't that cozy?".
In 1999 Eidos
released The Incredible Hulk: The Pantheon Saga
for the PlayStation
, based on the Marvel
comic book
character of the same name. In the "Pantheon Saga", the Hulk joined with a family team of superhero
es to combat global problems such as terrorism
. One of the family members, named Hector, was openly gay
. He appears in Eidos' game, although no mention or reference is made to his sexual orientation
.
In 1999 Funcom released the computer graphic adventure game The Longest Journey
with a lesbian landlady, her long-time lover, and a gay cop. While the game used a futuristic Blade Runner
type setting, the gay characters were not used to show how decadent society had become but were seen as normal and well adjusted secondary characters.
In 1999 Acclaim
released a racing game titled South Park Rally
, the first of several games based on the popular animated series South Park
for the PlayStation, Nintendo 64, and PC. Big Gay Al, a prominent character in the series, is a playable character in South Park Rally. His house is also one of the tracks.
In 1999 Activision
released Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force
for the PC and PlayStation 2
. In the game the player could play as a male or a female, and in either case a female would flirt with them. Elite Force was notable in this regard, as the Star Trek
franchise has often been criticized for its treatment of gay and lesbian characters on TV
.
In 1999 tri-Ace
released Star Ocean: The Second Story
for the PlayStation
. In the game the player could choose to play as either Claude or Rena, and they can have a Friendship and Romance level with each party member acquired. Depending on those levels, the player will get about five endings. If the player chooses Claude, there was an ending where the player will go on a "man-date" with a member of their party by the name of Ashton. The date ends with Ashton's bizarre obsession of barrels. But it still does occur. One of the other possible endings is with Noel, another male party member. He is very effeminate and certain scenes give him the possibility of being gay. If the player chooses Rena as the main character, the player could get an ending with a female member of their party, Precis, where the two would go on a date. There is also a somewhat secret scene, where a love potion gets used on the player and Celine makes advances toward you. This is completely due to magic, and is mostly a source of comedy.
In the 1999 LucasArts game Full Throttle depicts a gay uncle who owned a mink factory and raised a girl when her father abandoned her.
In Persona 2: Innocent Sin
, released in 1999 for the PlayStation, one of the playable characters was Kurosu Jun, a schoolboy with a connection to the game's main villain. Jun is a homosexual, and it is revealed through flashbacks that he and the main character, Suou Tatsuya, exchanged gifts as children and promised to always be together. Both Tatsuya and Jun have kept these gifts, and Tatsuya is often seen playing with the lighter he received from Jun. Through the actions of the player, Tatsuya could end up in a relationship with one of three romantic interests; one of these was Kurosu Jun. If Tatsuya and Jun are in a relationship, they receive a special "lovers" contact combo. The game has several references to Jun's femininity: his main weapons are flowers; there is a contact combo where another love interest, Lisa Silverman, puts makeup on Jun and then complains that he looks prettier than she does; and he apparently discovered his ability to use Personae when he was being picked on by bullies for his effeminate looks. In the second part, Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, Jun appears under the name Jun Kashihara, but his role in the story is extremely tangential. Tatsuya Suou also appears in the game, but though there are many references to the homoerotic content of the first game, the storyline focuses around a love triangle between him, his brother, and Maya Amano, a female love interest from Innocent Sin. Eternal Punishment also featured a female athlete named Anna, whose relationship with her obsessive admirer Noriko contains lesbian overtones.
Perhaps one of the most flagrant instances of using gay or homoerotic imagery in a comedic way is the Cho Aniki
series, an unusual group of games that uses such themes in such an exaggerated way that players regard it as a parody. The games, which have been released for various systems over the last decade, most often take the form of side-scrolling
shooter game
s starring Samson and Adon, two musclebound, phallic-looking characters who fire white globular shots from holes on top of their bald heads. The games were never released outside of Japan, with the exception of Cho Aniki on the Wii's Virtual Console service. In Japan, they are regarded as examples of the kuso-ge or "shit game" genre, which are enjoyed purely for their kitsch
y badness.
features a playable character called Quina Quen who belongs to an apparently ungendered race called the Qu. Referred to by the pronoun "s/he" throughout, the Qu's bizarre appearance offers little clue as to any intended orientation. At one stage in the game, it is possible for Quina and Vivi, an apparently juvenile Black Mage, to be married. While this scene is optional and treated very much as a light-hearted comic scene with no implication of sexual attraction, it nevertheless treats the topic of pansexuality and same-sex marriage sympathetically.
In 2000 Capcom resuscitated this dormant theme with Resident Evil Code: Veronica
, a survival horror game. The central antagonist is Alfred Ashford; at the game's end he is revealed as a "cross-dressing freak" who is obsessed with his dead twin sister, in this case a reference to Norman Bates from the Alfred Hitchcock
film Psycho
.
2001's Shadow Hearts
contained a homosexual character, a Chinese
acupuncturist known as Meiyuan who improved the weapons of your characters and did so with more enthusiasm for the male characters. Shadow Hearts: Covenant
in 2005 also featured gay characters: the two flamboyant Magimel brothers, who were a constant sight throughout the game. One was a tailor who would sew magical clothes when bribed with beefcake
trading cards, the other was a vendor for items and weapons. In one optional scene toward the end of the game, a third major character was revealed to be gay; the ensuing offscreen anal sex
was largely treated as disgusting, though one female player character called it "beautiful." Shadow Hearts: From the New World
again featured Gerard, but he is with his boyfriend this time, by the name of Buigen. They both are clad in biker clothing.
In the 2001 game PaRappa the Rapper 2
, the protagonist of the game, PaRappa, is trying to make himself more of a man so he can impress his crush Sunny Funny (who is a female). However, he hugs, holds hands with, and kisses his male friend PJ while they work out to (rap with) Chop Chop Master Onion's TV workout programme 'Romantic Love', leaving the latter looking uncomfortable. Clearly showing that PaRappa is either bisexual or just quite fine with kissing males.
In 2001 Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
featured a bisexual character, Vamp. The conversation in which this was revealed (by Solid Snake
himself) also explains that he was the lover of Scott Dolph, a bisexual Navy commander. The game does not dwell on this point, and accepts it simply as a factor of the character. The 2005 sequel Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
went further, featuring male bisexuality (Volgin and Major Raikov), and also some other sexual topics rarely touched upon in popular entertainment, such as sexual sadism (Volgin again), polyamory and Caesarean section
.
In 2001, Maxis broke new ground with a new television commercial for its computer game The Sims
. Highlighting the ability of the characters to date, the commercial featured an attractive twenty-something man in a nightclub flirting with a woman, until he is suddenly drawn to an attractive man in the club and after a brief pause agrees to date him. The games have become very popular as they allow the player to create their own simulated family, whose members could be either gay or straight and still date, make love, marry and raise children. This is perhaps the only time the industry has made any attempt to capture the gay gamer dollar. However, despite the inclusivity found on other platforms, Nintendo's Game Boy Advance and DS versions appear to have removed any same-sex romance interactions, effectively removing homo/bisexuality from the games.
In 2001 Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix
had a lesbian
subplot that catered to straight men between two of the major female characters.
2001's Fable
allows the player character to flirt, marry, and/or have sex with NPC townspeople of the same sex. If the player married a female character in addition to a male NPC, the personality status screen would label them as bisexual. While the NPCs in the game do not treat the player with any disgust if they choose to be gay, they do not get paid "dowry
" for marrying any male characters but almost all female ones give such. One quest involves finding the deeds to a bordello so the player can free the prostitutes from the male owner. Like the other quests in the game there are several ways of solving this, but one option is to dress as a woman and have sex with the owner when he's drunk.
Fable's 2008 sequel, Fable II retains its ability for players to choose their player character's sexuality. The game also includes more lesbian, gay, and bisexual NPC townspeople to court and marry. A context-specific line is used in a conversation within the middle of the game, wherein Hammer asks if the protagonist was able to convince his or her partner, wife, or husband to wait for them when they must go away for a ten years. The game also includes a quest in which the player character finds a suitable partner for a famer's son who hints at being gay; the farmer is surprised but accepting that his son is gay, and was unable to find an acceptable partner because the father had previously presented him only with female suitors. Reaver, the NPC known as the Hero of Skill, is bisexual, known to have simultaneous lovers
named Ursula, Penelope, and Andrew.
The 2002 2D fighting game Guilty Gear XX introduced the character Bridget, a young male who was raised as a girl by his parents to avoid problems with a village superstition concerning twins. He works as a bounty hunter to prove his worth. He retains a feminine demeanor and appearance but still identifies as male. While there is some confusion regarding his gender, most of the characters take it in stride, with the notable exception of Johnny.
In the 2003 game Summon Night: Swordcraft Story
, if the player chooses a female character and picks Sugar as their summon beast, lesbian innuendo occur. There are other girls, named Razzy and Sanary who also shares lesbian undertones when conversing with Pratty, the female main character. Though, less apparent in the sequel, Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 2
, one of the female characters, Lynn,continuously tries to kiss the main character, whether they be male or female. The female playable character, "Aera", shows the same romantic behavior that shows when the player play as "Edgar", the male playable character, with some dialogue changes.
In the 2003 title Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne
, a flamboyant mannequin
is shown as the owner of the junk shop and makes frequent but comical references to his sexuality.
The 2004 Atari computer game The Temple of Elemental Evil made news headlines when it was revealed that the game has an optional story line where the player can rescue a gay pirate and see him marry one of the male player characters.
In 2004 the computer game Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, the player is able to play a female character and have implied (off screen) sexual relations with Jeanette, another female character. Also there is generally the possibility to flirt with same sex partners throughout the game and additionally there are also some more hints, that different characters have been involved in same-sex-activities. There is also a vampiress character who briefly mentions a relationship she had long ago with a female named Pisha.
In Capcom's 2004 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trials and Tribulations for the Nintendo DS
, an effeminate chef called Jean Armstrong frequently confuses other characters about his gender. Although he is very effeminate in appearance, movement, and fashion style, he clearly has a beard and mustache, yet characters still become confused of his gender.
In Rockstar North
's 2004 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
the police officers in San Fierro will say various things one would expect from a comical, homosexual character such as "Drop the soap, honey!", "Lets wrestle to submission!", and "I'm on your ass, Daisy!". In this model, homosexuality is a joke, attached to gender inversion and used to denigrate the police, an enemy in the game. There is, however, both a clearly gay employee working at the counter of an athletic apparel store who makes flirty comments towards the protagonist, CJ, as well as gay-friendly decorations, including a gay-pride rainbow flag on some streets of one of the game's cities, San Fierro, the game's version of the city of San Francisco. There is also a dildo
found in the police station's shower room, even though female police officers are virtually non-existent in the game. A previous installment in the series, the 2002 Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
, has construction workers who look like the similarly-dressed member of the Village People
, who shout quotes from the Village People
songs "YMCA" and "In the Navy
". Other "Grand Theft Auto" titles have references to a city park where some of the adult patrons go to engage in public homosexual sex acts.
The character Doctor N. Gin is portrayed as an effeminate character in Radical's 2005 Crash Tag Team Racing
game. He is shown occasionally wearing a ballerina costume to boost his self-esteem and using pink fuzzy slippers in his inventions in the same game. In the following Crash of the Titans
, N. Gin reveals his desire for "chicks" over his factory's intercom but is disgusted at the thought of girls in a later cutscene.
In Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon
, the main character, Raidou, confronts two Japanese disaster gods known as Binbogami and Yakbyougami who are both portrayed as effeminate and fiercely masochistic. Binbogami is shown to be pursuing Raidou sexually, even going so far as to encourage Raidou to "whip" him when his life bar is reduced to half during two boss fights against him. The game also includes cross dressers in the Mannen-Cho location.
In Eidos Interactive
's 2005 sequel to Deus Ex, Deus Ex: Invisible War
. One of the manners which the character can gain access to the apartment of Seattle's Minister of Culture is to flirt with the Minister of Culture at Club Vox (he will give the character his key). Although there is a gender choice available in the game, this method works only if the character is male.
In Bioware
's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
, the party member Juhani
was written as lesbian, though bugged coding on the initial release allowed her to be attracted to the player character regardless of gender. In subsequent patches, she reverts to homosexual preferences. She and another female Jedi
were also heavily implied to be lovers. (It is worth noting that this would make Juhani the first known gay character in the Star Wars
universe).
In Bioware's 2005-released Xbox RPG Jade Empire
, the main character can be either male or female. If the player chooses a male character, he can have a romantic relationship with the female characters Dawn Star or Silk Fox, or the male character Sky; a female character can romance either Sky or Silk Fox. Also, if the main character is male, it is possible for Dawn Star and Silk Fox to end up in a relationship with each other.
In the 2005 game Castlevania: Curse of Darkness
, the Devil Forge Master Issac is a secondary villain who is depicted as a very flamboyant character. Nothing is ever mentioned in the game to confirm that he is gay but his over acting and high squeaky voise make a heavy emphasis on his sexuality.
The computer and console game Indigo Prophecy
from 2005 includes a gay stock market
follower named Tommy. One of the game's protagonists is good friends with him and Tommy's knowledge of the stock trade is essential in progressing in the game. If asked, the character makes comments about homophobia in the workplace and gay acceptance.
The 2006 adventure game
Broken Sword: The Angel of Death
includes Brother Mark, a Catholic priest who is strongly hinted to be homosexual, although he denies this.
In the 2006 title Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3, there is an unnamed female student NPC who has an intense lesbian crush on Mitsuru Kirijo, one of the main female characters. This crush goes as far as her having romantic fantasies about her as well as threatening the main character with revenge (if she's lying) after she tells her that she has pictures of her in a bathing suit.
The 2006 Rockstar Games
title Bully
(Canis Canem Edit in Europe) features optional homosexual content. The game's central character Jimmy Hopkins can kiss various characters, male and female, in order to regain health. Neither Jimmy nor any of the other six bisexual/homosexual male characters show any outward signs of overt femininity or other stereotypically homosexual traits, with the possible exception of the gay member of the "preppy" clique who is depicted as being suave and somewhat effeminate. All of these characters will, if romanced, assist Jimmy in fighting if necessary. It is perhaps noteworthy, however, that, while taking English classes will allow Jimmy to kiss certain female characters without offering them gifts, the same is not true of the male characters. One of the female characters in the game alludes to Jimmy's "experimentation" with the other boys in a cutscene in which she states, "I'm like Helen of Troy
, but you seem more interested in boys named Troy". In Bully: Scholarship Edition, developers added an achievement (an in-game award) called "Over the Rainbow", which the player unlocks by kissing a boy twenty times.
In the 2006 title Enchanted Arms
features Makoto an openly gay character, who actually identifies himself as a lady. In an optional scene, the main character Atsuma can also question Raigar's sexuality explaining that he didn't think that Raigar was into women, Raigar is quickly embarrassed as other members of the party also begin to question. This is not treated as mean spirited and his quite comical.
The 2006 casual game
Tradewinds Legends
featured a pair of male characters who were strongly implied to be a homosexual couple.
Nintendo-published Baten Kaitos Origins
for the Nintendo GameCube also features a transgendered character, of sorts. One of the three main characters, Guillo, speaks simultaneously with the voice of both a man and a woman, and is gender neutral throughout the entire storyline. Even though Guillo is a "puppet", Guillo has a very masculine personality, yet also is clad in high heels and has breasts. Guillo is also part of a bitter love "quadrangle" for Sagi, the main character, between Guillo, Milly, and Lolo.
In the 2007 horror first-person shooter
Clive Barker's Jericho
, the Ancient Roman
Governor Cassus Vicus claims it had been a while since "tasting" both genders after becoming aroused while confronting the Jericho Squad. Vicus is portrayed as overly perverted and morbidly obese
and is said to practice cannibalism
, Sadomasochism and "blood orgies". The game's author, Clive Barker
, is openly homosexual and has created characters with a certain disposition towards Sadomasochism of every sexual orientation.
In 2007 first-person shooter
BioShock
, it is hinted throughout the game that the character Sander Cohen, a temperamental artist gone mad through genetic experimentation, is homosexual and was deeply in love with the game's antagonist, Andrew Ryan, before the events in the game take place. This is hinted both through audio logs where various people refer to him as "old fruit" and such as well as through radio messages where even Sander Cohen himself refers to Andrew Ryan as the "man I once loved".
In the 2007 title Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, there is a character named Heather the player can get on their team who is implied to be a lesbian, who claims to have joined the army to 'meet all the pretty girls'.
In the 2007 game Mass Effect
, the player can play as a male or female character. In both cases, there is an option for a subplot romance and sexual encounter with the alien Liara, a member of an all-female race that is able to reproduce with any sex of any species. The game received a lot of criticism for the "sex scene", although it was hardly explicit, showing only brief, blurred shots of Liara's buttocks twice in a thirty-second scene.
Abu'l Nuquod, one of the assassination targets in the historically-based game released in 2007, Assassin's Creed
, is strongly implied to be gay. He believes the people hate him because he is "different", is shown caressing the cheek of one of his male guards during his angry tirade, and claims that he cannot serve the cause of a god who calls him an abomination.
The 2007 visual novel
Fatal Hearts
features a lesbian character named Lucy as one of the available love interests for the female protagonist.
In the 2008 game Fallout 3
, the player meets a female Ghoul named Carol who is suggested to be in a romantic relationship with another female Ghoul named Greta. They have apparently adopted a son, named Gob. While it is never made clear if they are romantically involved, if the player is a Female, Greta will warn the player to stay away from Carol.
The 2008 tactical RPG
Valkyria Chronicles
has several optional squad members whose profiles indicate they fancy individuals of the same gender. For example, a male squad member named Jann has strong feelings for muscular men, particularly Largo. He wears makeup, has an effeminate voice and is flirty towards men, including the player character who is his commanding officer
. Similarly, Dallas is a female squad member whose profile states that she "fancies women" and "hates men". Dallas has a crush on Alicia, the game's heroine, and her profile states that she became upset after Alicia's marriage until she became infatuated with another major character, Rosie. The game also features a bisexual character, Ted, who has both the "fancies women" and "fancies men" potential abilities in his profile.
In the 2008 title Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4
, Kanji, a playable character, has a Shadow Self that rants about how he hates girls and likes boys. Cross-dressing and the questioning of one's gender are also featured in the game.
The 2008 visual novel
Heileen features a female protagonist with three romantic possibilities, one male and two female.
In the 2009 game Dragon Age: Origins
. the player may choose a male or female character from the start of the game. The main character has an opportunity to have sexual encounters with one party member of the same sex. There are also opportunities to have sexual encounters with NPCs of the same gender throughout the game and notably within the first 30 minutes of game play. Like its spiritual successor, Mass Effect
, there are brief sex scenes (about 30 seconds); however there is no visible nudity. It should be noted that the two party members who will have a same-sex sexual encounter with the main character identify (through innuendo or descriptions experiences) that they are bisexual; therefore making the main character the only potentially gay character (excluding NPCs). One example of gay NPC's in the game are the effeminate Wade and Herren. The couple own a armor shop in the games capital and give a quest to the main character. In a Downloadable Content episode released by Bioware it is possible to chase them from the shop to a back alley where Herren teleport himself and Wade to safety. The game designers admitted Herren and Wade were lovers after the release of said DLC.
In the 2008 game by Lionhead Studios, Fable II, the main character will eventually meet a character named Reaver, a suave, elegant pirate ringleader. And at some point after meeting Reaver, he will inform the player that he was recently in bed with three "friends", named Ursula, Penelope and Andrew. This hints at the fact that he is bisexual. He also reprises his role (slightly more foppishly) in the 2010 game Fable III
, where he holds a "secret society party" involving lots of drinking and orgies.
In the 2010 video game Red Dead Redemption, one of the minor characters, Quique Montemayor acts and moves flamboyantly. He appears to be in love with Captain Vincente De Santa, a more major character in the game, and a captain in the Mexican Army
. De Santa seems to be quite open about his relationship with Montemayor, although no other characters acknowledge either De Santa's nor Montemayor's relationship or orientation. Red Dead also features a very minor female NPC seen in a side mission involving a stolen horse. After the side mission is completed, the women can be seen flirting with female prostitutes in a nearby bar on occasion.
In the 2010 video game Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game
, based on the graphic novel series
, Kim Pine can perform a special move in which Knives Chau appears and kisses her, giving her health whilst damaging enemies. Kim's ending in the game also implies she gets together with Knives. Like in the graphic novel series, the character Roxanne Richter is a lesbian who had previously dated Ramona Flowers. Wallace Wells, Scott's mature gay roommate from the comic, also appears in the game as both a background character and running an item shop.
In 2010, new downloadable content
, The Ballad of Gay Tony for the video game Grand Theft Auto IV
features an eccentric gay night-club owner named Tony Prince, the titular "Gay Tony". He is a close friend of the protagonist.
In Mass Effect 2
, developed by BioWare
and published by EA, female Shepard is able to date and to sleep with her Yeoman Kelly Chambers. Male Shepard is not able to date any male characters.
Fable III
continues the series'
option of becoming a lesbian, gay, or bisexual hero and includes more LGB NPC townspeople. Reaver returns, this time inviting the hero (of either sex) to have a "private party" in his bedchamber.
The 2010s installment of the Fallout series, Fallout New Vegas, contains at least two confirmed LGB joinable NPC, and other references to homosexuality. Furthermore, the main character, the unnamed Courier, can be chosen as male, with the perk (character trait) Confirmed Bachelor, giving him several advantages with other homosexual male NPCs (and, following the stereotype of the homosexual as more understanding and perceptive about emotions, grant him the ability to better understand the plight of the otherwise mute
companion Christine) . This perk has a female equivalent, the Cherchez la femme perk.
Also the same game features the character Veronica Santangelo, a young Scribe from the Brotherhood of Steel, confesses to the main character to have nursed a crush for another girl in the Brotherhood (hinted to be Christine Royce, another joinable NPC, mute and enslaved, who references having been in a relationship with a girl in her Brotherhood days), ended badly because of the disapproval of her girlfriend's parents. Arcade Gannon, a doctor with the Followers of the Apocalypse is clearly gay, discussing his orientation if certain dialogue paths are chosen. Furthermore, if the Courier is male, Rose of Sharon Cassidy, another joinable NPC, will jokingly tease him, and if the player has the Confirmed Bachelor perk, will hint that the Legion of Caesar, a paramilitary formation in the Mojave Desert, is mainly staffed by homosexual soldiers. On the other hand, if the player plays as a female Courier with the Cherchez la Femme perk, Rose of Sharon will simply state that when she's drunk enough she doesn't care about who gets in bed with, and drops the dialogue abruptly.
Japanese 2010 SRPG Blaze Union, developed by Sting Entertainment, features a character named Eater with dual personalities, one male and one female. Although Eater's body is female, she is treated as male when the male personality is in control, as this is how he identifies himself. One route of the same game portrays the lead character Gulcasa and his close friend Nessiah in a questionably intimate relationship; while it is never stated outright that the two are lovers, the possibility is implied. Yggdra Unison
, a 2009 game from the same series, supports the possibility by showing a number of Nessiah's personal effects (e.g. clothing) in Gulcasa's home, through a number of conversations between the two characters with affectionate overtones, and Gulcasa's inability to use an item only equippable by virgins.
In 2011's Dragon Age II
, the sequel to Bioware's Dragon Age: Origins, the player may choose to play as either a male or female version of the protagonist, Hawke, Champion of Kirkwall. Each will have the option to romance one of two members of the same-sex if they choose to do so: Anders or Fenris for the male player character and Isabela or Merrill for the female player character. The player can also sleep with male or female prostitutes regardless of Hawke's gender.
Gloria Union
, developed by Sting Entertainment in 2011, features a character called Kyra who is intergender, and treated as such in the game's interface, which determines unit formation based on gender. Kyra's formation is a combination of the male and female versions.
Bioware has confirmed that its 2012 title Mass Effect 3
will include same-sex romance options for both, female and male Commander Shepard.
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
, lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
, bisexual, transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
or transvestite characters in video games.
1980s
In 1986 InfocomInfocom
Infocom was a software company, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced one notable business application, a relational database called Cornerstone....
released Moonmist
Moonmist
Moonmist is an interactive fiction computer game implemented by Stu Galley and published by Infocom in 1986. By using Infocom's portable Z-machine, the game was released simultaneously for many popular platforms, including the IBM PC, Apple II, Amiga, Atari ST and Commodore 64...
, a text adventure
Interactive fiction
Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, describes software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives and as video games. In common usage, the term refers to text...
mystery with several possible randomly-selected plotlines; in one of these plotlines, the criminal is a female artist who is jealous because her girlfriend has gotten married.
In 1988, Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
released Super Mario Bros. 2
Super Mario Bros. 2
Super Mario Bros. 2, often abbreviated SMB2, is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System as a sequel to the 1985 game Super Mario Bros. The game was also remade as part of the Super Mario All-Stars collection for the Super Nintendo Entertainment...
for the NES
Nes
-Localities:In Norway:* Nes, Akershus, a municipality in the county of Akershus in Norway* Nes, Buskerud, a municipality in the county of Buskerud in Norway* Nes, Hedmark, a former municipality in the county of Hedmark in Norway...
. According to the first edition manual for the North American release of the game, Birdo
Birdo
Birdo, known in Japan as , is a fictional character in the Mario series of video games, who first appeared in Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, which was localized for English audiences as Super Mario Bros. 2 and is an enemy to Mario...
is referred to as a male who believes he is female and would rather be called "Birdetta".
In 1989, Capcom
Capcom
is a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom developed and published Bionic Commando, Lost Planet and Dark Void too, but they are less known. Its...
released Final Fight
Final Fight
is a side-scrolling beat-'em-up game originally released by Capcom as a coin-operated video game in . It was the seventh game released by Capcom for their CP System arcade game hardware...
for the arcades. In it, there is a character named Poison
Poison
In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....
who was born male, but depending on region, is either a transvestite or a transexual.
1990s
In 1990 InfocomInfocom
Infocom was a software company, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced one notable business application, a relational database called Cornerstone....
released Circuit's Edge
Circuit's Edge
Circuit's Edge is a computer game developed by Westwood Studios and released by Infocom in 1989. It was based on George Alec Effinger's 1987 novel When Gravity Fails...
, a graphic adventure game based on the science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
writings of George Alec Effinger
George Alec Effinger
George Alec Effinger was an American science fiction author, born in 1947 in Cleveland, Ohio.-Writing career:...
. One of the characters the player meets is openly gay with a boyfriend, and several other characters are transsexual
Transsexualism
Transsexualism is an individual's identification with a gender inconsistent or not culturally associated with their biological sex. Simply put, it defines a person whose biological birth sex conflicts with their psychological gender...
.
Sierra Online's 1990 adventure game
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
Rise of the Dragon
Rise of the Dragon
Rise of the Dragon is a graphic adventure game that was released in 1990 for DOS and Macintosh and later remade for the Sega CD as well as the Amiga. It was one of the few adventure game titles developed by Dynamix, a company that was better known as an action and flight sim game developer...
features a man named "Blade Hunter" on a quest to seek revenge against an Asian crime lord for the drug overdose of the mayor's daughter. His quest took him to various locations in a seedy and corrupt future similar to the one depicted in the movie Blade Runner
Blade Runner
Blade Runner is a 1982 American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young. The screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K...
. One such location, the "Pleasure Dome", depicts homosexuality as one of the vices catered to by the establishment. One of its patrons is a "woman posing as a man, posing as a woman", a clear nod to the 1982 movie Victor/Victoria. Like the male sissy characters that seemed to adopt the typical female gender, this woman adopts a typical male personality of being cold and unfeeling. Later in the game, Blade Hunter says sweet things to someone whom he thinks is his girlfriend and is shocked to find out that it is really a man with long hair. After this embarrassing event, the character worries that people may start to call him "Switch Blade."
In 1991, Acclaim
Acclaim Entertainment
Acclaim Entertainment was an American video game developer and publisher. It developed, published, marketed and distributed interactive entertainment software for a variety of hardware platforms, including Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, and Game Gear, Nintendo's NES, SNES, Nintendo...
released the second of three Nintendo games based on the popular animated series
Cartoon series
A cartoon series is a set of regularly presented animated television programs with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same characters and a basic theme...
The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
. In The Simpsons: Bart vs. the World
The Simpsons: Bart vs. the World
The Simpsons: Bart vs. the World is a side-scrolling platform game based on the Simpsons franchise and features many aspects from the television series. It was released in 1991 for the Nintendo Entertainment System, and then in 1993 for Amiga, Atari ST, Game Gear, and Sega Master System...
, the player controlled Bart Simpson
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
as he traveled to various global locations to battle the evil Montgomery Burns
Montgomery Burns
Charles Montgomery "Monty" Burns, usually referred to as Mr. Burns, is a recurring fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons, who is voiced by Harry Shearer and previously Christopher Collins. Burns is the evil owner of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and is Homer...
. In the television show, Waylon Smithers
Waylon Smithers
Waylon Smithers, Jr., usually referred to as Smithers, is a recurring fictional character in the animated series The Simpsons, who is voiced by Harry Shearer. Smithers first appeared in the episode "Homer's Odyssey", although he could be heard in the series premiere "Simpsons Roasting on an Open...
was the personal aide to Burns, whose secret gay crush on his boss is a running joke
Running gag
A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling....
throughout the entire series. Both characters appeared in the game in the opening and ending sequences, although Smithers is simply referred to as Mr. Burns' "Bootlicking Yes-Man."
Another example appears in Sierra's 1991 Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers
Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers
Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and The Time Rippers was released on floppy disks on March 4, 1991, and released on CD-ROM in December 1992 with full speech support and featuring Laugh-In announcer Gary Owens as the voice of the narrator. It featured 256-color hand painted graphics and a fully...
. The main character, Roger Wilco, had to don drag in order to gain access to a bank account belonging to the "Latex Babes of Estros."
In Ultima VI: The False Prophet (1992 IBM PC) and Ultima VII: The Black Gate the player has the option to pay a fee and be entertained, off screen, by a female or male companion. Perhaps one of the first computer games that expressly allowed the playable character to select his sexual orientation. In Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle
Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle
Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle is a computer role-playing game released in 1993 as part of the core Ultima series. Its story beginning eighteen months after the conclusion of Ultima VII Part One: The Black Gate....
a bisexual mage will sexually proposition the player character regardless of the character's gender. The player is given a choice whether to accept or refuse.
MicroProse
MicroProse
MicroProse was a video game publisher and developer, founded by Wild Bill Stealey and Sid Meier in 1982 as Microprose Software. In 1993, the company became a subsidiary of Spectrum HoloByte and has remained a subsidiary or brand name under several other corporations since...
's 1992 game titled Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender
Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender
Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender is a "point-and-click" style graphic animated adventure developed and published by Microprose in November of 1992.The game is the first graphical adventure game developed by Microprose...
for MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
and the MAC OS
Mac OS
Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface...
requires the male hero to change his sex on a planet where women rule.
In 1992 Sierra On-line
Sierra Entertainment
Sierra Entertainment Inc. was an American video-game developer and publisher founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems by Ken and Roberta Williams...
produced Laura Bow In The Dagger of Amon Ra
The Dagger of Amon Ra
Roberta Williams' Laura Bow in: The Dagger of Amon Ra is a computer game published by Sierra On-Line in 1992. The game is the second and final installment in the Laura Bow Mysteries line of adventure games, the first of which was The Colonel's Bequest...
, which featured a woman from a small town who gets a job for a New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
paper in the 1920s. Two of the women she meets are involved in a secret love affair.
In 1993 MicroProse
MicroProse
MicroProse was a video game publisher and developer, founded by Wild Bill Stealey and Sid Meier in 1982 as Microprose Software. In 1993, the company became a subsidiary of Spectrum HoloByte and has remained a subsidiary or brand name under several other corporations since...
released Return of the Phantom
Return of the Phantom
Return of the Phantom is a "point-and-click" style graphic animated adventure developed and published by MicroProse in 1993. It was produced by Matt Gruson and designed/written by future James Bond novelist Raymond Benson....
with a gay male character named "Charles" portrayed as an effeminate theatre director. He is one of the good guys that helps the playable character, a French inspector, solve the mystery of the Phantom of the Opera once and for all.
Infinite Adventures produced a FMV game titled Dracula Unleashed
Dracula Unleashed
Dracula Unleashed is a 1993 video game created by ICOM Simulations and published by Viacom for the Sega CD and DOS platforms.It was one of the earliest titles to make heavy use of full-motion video as an integral part of the gameplay...
in 1993 that included the character Alfred Horner as the 'rather odd fellow' who co-owned the bookstore. The character is explicitly homosexual, giving the playable character lecherous glances. This was the first time a homosexual character in a computer game was shown as a live actor.
In Adventure Soft
Adventure Soft
Adventure Soft is a UK-based video game developer established by Mike Woodroffe, first as an importer and reseller of Adventure International games. The firm operates out of Sutton Coldfield, and is best known for the Simon the Sorcerer series of games....
's 1993 Simon the Sorcerer series
Simon the Sorcerer series
Simon the Sorcerer is a series of point-and-click adventure games created by Adventure Soft. The series follows the adventures of an unwilling hero of the same name and has a strong fantasy setting similar to Sierra's King's Quest and Westwood's Kyrandia series...
, if the title character, Simon is ordered to proposition any male characters, he reminds the player that he "prefers blondes". The games also make numerous gay jokes. For example, when two demons get stuck together with glue in the second game (from 1995), Simon remarks that their close contact looks "awfully suspicious." Simon the Sorcerer 3-D (2002) has more gay jokes, directed at a gay knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
.
In 1993 Sierra Online's Police Quest: Open Season featured a gay bar
Gay bar
A gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender clientele; the term gay is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBT and queer communities...
as a symbol of organized homosexuality. In this game, the player is a police officer trying to track down the murder of his police partner. His quest leads him to discover that his partner had a double life as a cross-dresser at a West Hollywood transgender bar. The game also featured a Neo-Nazi who calls the main character a "mother loving faggot" if touched. Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude
Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude
Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude is a 2004 video game, part of the Leisure Suit Larry series. The game introduces a new main character, 'Larry Lovage', as Larry Laffer's nephew.-Gameplay:...
, released in 2004, also features a gay bar.
In 1994 game EarthBound
EarthBound
EarthBound, also known as EarthBound: The War Against Giygas! and released as in Japan, is a role-playing video game co-developed by Ape and HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game console...
, Jeff Andonuts' best friend, Tony, is hinted to have romantic feelings for him; the creator of the game has also mentioned that Tony is gay.
Square
Square Co.
was a Japanese video game company founded in September 1983 by Masafumi Miyamoto. It merged with Enix in 2003 and became part of Square Enix...
's 1995 SNES RPG Chrono Trigger
Chrono Trigger
is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1995. Chrono Triggers development team included three designers that Square dubbed the "Dream Team": Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of Square's Final Fantasy series; Yuji Horii, a...
featured a major villain who was prominently transgendered. The character Flea, a henchman of Magus, was described as looking like a girl. Flea would exclaim "Hey, I'm a guy!" and later "Male or female, what difference does it make? Power is beautiful, and I've got the power." Flea would later appear with his sidekicks in the sequel, Chrono Cross
Chrono Cross
is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation video game console. It is the sequel to Chrono Trigger, which was released in 1995 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System...
, appearing as a female with a pink wig and miniskirt. However, the battle screen in Chrono Cross displays the enemies' sex with a male or female symbol, and Flea is clearly marked as a man. It is notable that the transgendered theme of Flea appeared in the US translation of the SNES release, during Nintendo's censorship phase.
In 1995 Shannara, based on the books written by Terry Brooks, included a snotty and racist gay character, the Seneschal, who wore all purple. This character was similar to the snotty and racist elven character in Simon the Sorcerer 2
Simon the Sorcerer
Simon the Sorcerer is an adventure game that was released by Adventure Soft on 2 January 1993 for Amiga and MS-DOS formats. The story begins with the protagonist, Simon, as an ordinary teenager. His dog, "Chippy", discovers a chest in the loft of his house containing a spellbook titled "Ye Olde...
who not only had the purple attire, but a pansy
Pansy
The Pansy is a large group of hybrid plants cultivated as garden flowers. Pansies are derived from Viola species Viola tricolor hybridized with other viola species, these hybrids are referred to as Viola × wittrockiana or less commonly Viola tricolor hortensis...
flower in his hat.
In 1995 The Orion Conspiracy
The Orion Conspiracy
The Orion Conspiracy is the title of a graphic adventure computer game that was released in 1995. The game was published by Domark and developed by Divide By Zero. The Entertainment Software Ratings Board gave the game a "Teen" rating, while the ELSPA gave it a "18+" rating for its profanity,...
became the first computer game to use the word homosexual (although the 1994 Kirin Entertainment game Plumbers Don't Wear Ties
Plumbers Don't Wear Ties
Plumbers Don't Wear Ties is an adult graphic adventure game produced and released by Kirin Entertainment in 1994. Kirin's first published game, John and Jane are being pressured by their respective parents to find a suitable spouse, and it's up to the player to get John and Jane together...
does use the word 'gay'). The main character, Devlin McCormack, lives on a space station where he investigates the murder of his son and stops an alien invasion. His investigation leads him through the seedy, criminal underworld of the station, where he discovers that his son was homosexual while talking with his son's boyfriend.
In 1995 The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery
The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery
The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery is a computer adventure game released by Sierra On-Line in 1995. Unlike the first Gabriel Knight game, released in 1993, The Beast Within was produced entirely in full motion video...
features the antagonist Baron Von Glower who pursues the protagonist Gabriel Knight sexually and eventually leads him to be turned into a werewolf.
In 1996 the computer game Phantasmagoria 2: A Puzzle of Flesh featured a homosexual male character named Trevor, who was a close friend and co-worker of the player character, Curtis Craig. Despite his effeminate and flamboyant portrayal, Trevor is shown as intelligent and is very significant through the game's plot. Curtis admits to his psychiatrist that he has feelings for Trevor and might be bisexual, and later the two kiss, although Curtis is also shown as having relationships with a girlfriend and a S&M
BDSM
BDSM is an erotic preference and a form of sexual expression involving the consensual use of restraint, intense sensory stimulation, and fantasy power role-play. The compound acronym BDSM is derived from the terms bondage and discipline , dominance and submission , and sadism and masochism...
domme. Creators of the game talked about the mature sexual themes in the game during a 1997 interview.
In 1996 Vic Tokai
Vic Tokai
is a telecommunications company in Japan providing cable and DSL services as well as network solutions. The "Vic" in Vic Tokai's name stands for Valuable Information & Communication while the "Tokai" is simply the name of its parent company TOKAI, a Japanese natural gas utility founded in 1950...
developed the graphic adventure computer game Silver Load for the PlayStation. Silver Load is a bizarre tale of a town cursed because their ancestors enacted genocide on an American Indian tribe. It features a gay barber who finds the cowboy hero attractive and has a sinister, decadent look about him.
In 1996, the adventure game Harvester had a flamboyant gay firefighter named Fireman Sparky.
In 1996, Crystal Dynamics
Crystal Dynamics
Crystal Dynamics is an American video game developer based in the San Francisco Bay Area and founded in 1992 by Judy Lang, Madaline Canepa and Dave Morris...
released Blazing Dragons
Blazing Dragons
Blazing Dragons is the title of a popular British cartoon series, the brainchild of Monty Python's Terry Jones. A coinciding graphic adventure video game was released for the original PlayStation and Sega Saturn in 1996 by Crystal Dynamics...
for the PlayStation. It was a graphic adventure game based on a British
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
cartoon
Cartoon
A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
where dragons had human emotions, and real humans were obnoxious villains. Blazing Dragons was influenced by comedians such as John Cleese
John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...
of Monty Python
Monty Python
Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
fame. This game marketed the introduction to the video game industry of the comic models that the computer game industry had been using to reference homosexuality. The game featured a dragon knight whose homosexuality was demonstrated by his effeminacy and vanity, and an entire puzzle involved dressing as the princess of the dragons in order to trick the dragon king into thinking she has not run away and been kidnapped by humans. When this fails, it falls to the court jester (who also appears to be homosexual) to wear drag; at one point he kisses one of the other dragon knights, while off camera. This game marked the first time when drag, in the comic model, was allowed to appear in video games.
In Square's 1997 title Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VII
is a role-playing video game developed by Square and published by Sony Computer Entertainment as the seventh installment in the Final Fantasy series. It was originally released in 1997 for the Sony PlayStation and was re-released in 1998 for Microsoft Windows-based personal computers and in 2009...
, a specific puzzle involves the male protagonist, Cloud Strife
Cloud Strife
is a fictional character and the main protagonist in Square's role-playing game Final Fantasy VII and several of its sequels and spin-offs. His original design was created by Final Fantasy VII character designer Tetsuya Nomura...
, collecting various articles of female attire in order to audition as the girl that will spend the night with a male character. If the player has found enough items they are chosen as the girl and can play along with the scenario to a certain extent, although the couple is interrupted just as they are about to kiss. One of this articles, a wig, is found in a gym of gay male body builders, and the character can also enter a brothel. Depending on which room in the brothel is chosen the character may end up in a hot tub with around 10 men, including the character Mukki, who seems to proposition the main character both in this scene and when the player meets him later on in the game.
In 1997, The Last Express
The Last Express
The Last Express is a video game created by Jordan Mechner and Smoking Car Productions, published in 1997. It is an adventure game that takes place on the Orient Express, days before the start of World War I. It is noted as being one of the few video games that attempts to realistically simulate...
has the player meeting two young adult girls named Sophie and Rebecca Norton who are almost always in each other's company. While at first they appear to be merely close friends, reading the diary of one of them suggests they are lesbians, but there are no explicitly homosexual gestures beyond hand-holding.
In 1997 the Sega Saturn title Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers depicted the protagnoist encountering a cross dresser by the name of Kamanari while chasing down the gambling parlor owner Tatsumi during a case. It is also implied Tatsumi himself is gay.
In 1998 Interplay released Fallout 2
Fallout 2
Fallout 2 is a computer role-playing game developed by Black Isle Studios and published by Interplay in 1998. The game's story takes place in 2241, 80 years after the events of Fallout...
featuring the first same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
in a game. The reaction from the family of the character the player marries is very negative.
In Square's 1999 title Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy VIII
is a role-playing video game released for the PlayStation in 1999 and for Windows-based personal computers in 2000. It was developed and published by Square as the Final Fantasy series' eighth title, removing magic point-based spell-casting and the first title to consistently use realistically...
, an unnamed minor character can be encountered in a bar; during conversation, there is strong implication the character is a transvestite. The player character Squall Leonhart
Squall Leonhart
is the main protagonist of Final Fantasy VIII, a role-playing game by Square . He was designed by Tetsuya Nomura, with heavy influences coming from game director Yoshinori Kitase. Squall has appeared in several other games, such as the Kingdom Hearts series, where he appears under the name ;...
is given the option to ask if he is really a woman. If Squall asks this the character becomes paranoid and wonders how he knew.
In the 1999 game Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned
Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned
Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned is the third and final game in the Gabriel Knight series of adventure games by Sierra Online. The game was designed by Jane Jensen, Gabriel Knight's creator. In a departure from the previous two entries, the score is composed by David...
, it becomes very obvious that two of the characters, Lady Howard and Estelle Stiles, are lesbians. However, nothing is ever made of this other than Gabriel noticing the one bed for two people and saying "Gee, isn't that cozy?".
In 1999 Eidos
Eidos Interactive
Eidos Interactive Ltd. is a British video game publisher and is a label of Square Enix Europe. As an independent company Eidos plc was headquartered in the Wimbledon Bridge House in Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton....
released The Incredible Hulk: The Pantheon Saga
The Incredible Hulk: The Pantheon Saga
The Incredible Hulk: The Pantheon Saga is a video game that was developed by Attention To Detail and Silicon Dreams and published by Eidos Interactive for the PlayStation, Sega Saturn and DOS in 1996...
for the PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
, based on the Marvel
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
character of the same name. In the "Pantheon Saga", the Hulk joined with a family team of superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
es to combat global problems such as terrorism
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
. One of the family members, named Hector, was openly gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
. He appears in Eidos' game, although no mention or reference is made to his sexual orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
.
In 1999 Funcom released the computer graphic adventure game The Longest Journey
The Longest Journey
The Longest Journey is a point-and-click adventure game developed by Norwegian studio Funcom for the PC. First published by IQ Media Nordic in Norway in 1999, it was later localized for and released in France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Canada, Spain, Denmark,...
with a lesbian landlady, her long-time lover, and a gay cop. While the game used a futuristic Blade Runner
Blade Runner
Blade Runner is a 1982 American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young. The screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K...
type setting, the gay characters were not used to show how decadent society had become but were seen as normal and well adjusted secondary characters.
In 1999 Acclaim
Acclaim Entertainment
Acclaim Entertainment was an American video game developer and publisher. It developed, published, marketed and distributed interactive entertainment software for a variety of hardware platforms, including Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, and Game Gear, Nintendo's NES, SNES, Nintendo...
released a racing game titled South Park Rally
South Park Rally
South Park Rally is a kart-style racing video game, based on the American animated comedy series South Park. Developed by Tantalus and published by Acclaim in 2000 – near the end of the third season of the show – for PlayStation, Windows , Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast systems, the game includes many...
, the first of several games based on the popular animated series South Park
South Park
South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
for the PlayStation, Nintendo 64, and PC. Big Gay Al, a prominent character in the series, is a playable character in South Park Rally. His house is also one of the tracks.
In 1999 Activision
Activision
Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
released Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force
Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force
Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force is a first-person shooter video game developed by Raven Software and published by Activision. The game was initially released on September 20, 2000 for Windows and Mac OS personal computers. Aspyr Media was responsible for porting the game to the Mac OS platform...
for the PC and PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
. In the game the player could play as a male or a female, and in either case a female would flirt with them. Elite Force was notable in this regard, as the Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
franchise has often been criticized for its treatment of gay and lesbian characters on TV
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
.
In 1999 tri-Ace
Tri-Ace
is a Japanese video game development company formed in 1995 by former Telenet Japan employees Yoshiharu Gotanda , Masaki Norimoto and Joe Asanuma . The name is a play on words regarding the "three aces" who formed the company...
released Star Ocean: The Second Story
Star Ocean: The Second Story
is a action role-playing PlayStation video game developed by tri-Ace and published by Enix. It is the second game in the Star Ocean series and the first game in the series to be released in North America and Europe , courtesy of Sony Computer Entertainment...
for the PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
. In the game the player could choose to play as either Claude or Rena, and they can have a Friendship and Romance level with each party member acquired. Depending on those levels, the player will get about five endings. If the player chooses Claude, there was an ending where the player will go on a "man-date" with a member of their party by the name of Ashton. The date ends with Ashton's bizarre obsession of barrels. But it still does occur. One of the other possible endings is with Noel, another male party member. He is very effeminate and certain scenes give him the possibility of being gay. If the player chooses Rena as the main character, the player could get an ending with a female member of their party, Precis, where the two would go on a date. There is also a somewhat secret scene, where a love potion gets used on the player and Celine makes advances toward you. This is completely due to magic, and is mostly a source of comedy.
In the 1999 LucasArts game Full Throttle depicts a gay uncle who owned a mink factory and raised a girl when her father abandoned her.
In Persona 2: Innocent Sin
Persona 2
is a two-part series of Japanese console role-playing games for the Sony PlayStation, developed by Atlus. and are two chapters of the same storyline...
, released in 1999 for the PlayStation, one of the playable characters was Kurosu Jun, a schoolboy with a connection to the game's main villain. Jun is a homosexual, and it is revealed through flashbacks that he and the main character, Suou Tatsuya, exchanged gifts as children and promised to always be together. Both Tatsuya and Jun have kept these gifts, and Tatsuya is often seen playing with the lighter he received from Jun. Through the actions of the player, Tatsuya could end up in a relationship with one of three romantic interests; one of these was Kurosu Jun. If Tatsuya and Jun are in a relationship, they receive a special "lovers" contact combo. The game has several references to Jun's femininity: his main weapons are flowers; there is a contact combo where another love interest, Lisa Silverman, puts makeup on Jun and then complains that he looks prettier than she does; and he apparently discovered his ability to use Personae when he was being picked on by bullies for his effeminate looks. In the second part, Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, Jun appears under the name Jun Kashihara, but his role in the story is extremely tangential. Tatsuya Suou also appears in the game, but though there are many references to the homoerotic content of the first game, the storyline focuses around a love triangle between him, his brother, and Maya Amano, a female love interest from Innocent Sin. Eternal Punishment also featured a female athlete named Anna, whose relationship with her obsessive admirer Noriko contains lesbian overtones.
Perhaps one of the most flagrant instances of using gay or homoerotic imagery in a comedic way is the Cho Aniki
Cho Aniki
is a Japanese video game series originally developed by the Masaya and published by NCS Corp. The first game debuted in 1992 for the PC Engine system. The game's sequels and spin-offs later appeared on the Super Famicom, Wonderswan, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, and PlayStation 2...
series, an unusual group of games that uses such themes in such an exaggerated way that players regard it as a parody. The games, which have been released for various systems over the last decade, most often take the form of side-scrolling
Side-scrolling video game
A side-scrolling game or side-scroller is a video game in which the gameplay action is viewed from a side-view camera angle, and the onscreen characters generally move from the left side of the screen to the right. These games make use of scrolling computer display technology...
shooter game
Shooter game
Shooter games are a sub-genre of action game, which often test the player's speed and reaction time. It includes many subgenres that have the commonality of focusing "on the actions of the avatar using some sort of weapon. Usually this weapon is a gun, or some other long-range weapon". A common...
s starring Samson and Adon, two musclebound, phallic-looking characters who fire white globular shots from holes on top of their bald heads. The games were never released outside of Japan, with the exception of Cho Aniki on the Wii's Virtual Console service. In Japan, they are regarded as examples of the kuso-ge or "shit game" genre, which are enjoyed purely for their kitsch
Kitsch
Kitsch is a form of art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an extant style of art or a worthless imitation of art of recognized value. The concept is associated with the deliberate use of elements that may be thought of as cultural icons while making cheap mass-produced objects that...
y badness.
2000s
Square's 2000 title Final Fantasy IXFinal Fantasy IX
is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation video game console. It is the ninth title in the Final Fantasy series. The game introduced new features to the series like the 'Active Time Event', 'Mognet' and a unique equipment and skill system.Final Fantasy IXs...
features a playable character called Quina Quen who belongs to an apparently ungendered race called the Qu. Referred to by the pronoun "s/he" throughout, the Qu's bizarre appearance offers little clue as to any intended orientation. At one stage in the game, it is possible for Quina and Vivi, an apparently juvenile Black Mage, to be married. While this scene is optional and treated very much as a light-hearted comic scene with no implication of sexual attraction, it nevertheless treats the topic of pansexuality and same-sex marriage sympathetically.
In 2000 Capcom resuscitated this dormant theme with Resident Evil Code: Veronica
Resident Evil Code: Veronica
Resident Evil Code: Veronica, released in Japan as , is the fourth installment in Capcom's Resident Evil survival horror series, originally released for the Dreamcast in 2000...
, a survival horror game. The central antagonist is Alfred Ashford; at the game's end he is revealed as a "cross-dressing freak" who is obsessed with his dead twin sister, in this case a reference to Norman Bates from the Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
film Psycho
Psycho (1960 film)
Psycho is a 1960 American suspense/psychological horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins. The film is based on the screenplay by Joseph Stefano, who adapted it from the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch...
.
2001's Shadow Hearts
Shadow Hearts
is a series of role playing games for the PlayStation 2. The original Shadow Hearts was developed by Sacnoth and released by Midway in the United States on December 11, 2001. The sequel, Shadow Hearts: Covenant , was also made by the same group, although Sacnoth reformed itself into a company...
contained a homosexual character, a Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
acupuncturist known as Meiyuan who improved the weapons of your characters and did so with more enthusiasm for the male characters. Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Shadow Hearts: Covenant is a console role-playing game developed by Nautilus and published by Midway in 2004. It is a direct continuation of Shadow Hearts and the second official game in the Shadow Hearts series. The game features two DVD-ROM discs instead of the usual one, which provides,...
in 2005 also featured gay characters: the two flamboyant Magimel brothers, who were a constant sight throughout the game. One was a tailor who would sew magical clothes when bribed with beefcake
Beefcake
Beefcake is a term denoting the use of nude or semi-nude male bodies. It can refer to a genre or a person. It often is used to denote male sexual attractiveness stemming from physical build but the definition has expanded to include anyone interested in physical fitness, bodybuilding and weight...
trading cards, the other was a vendor for items and weapons. In one optional scene toward the end of the game, a third major character was revealed to be gay; the ensuing offscreen anal sex
Anal sex
Anal sex is the sex act in which the penis is inserted into the anus of a sexual partner. The term can also include other sexual acts involving the anus, including pegging, anilingus , fingering, and object insertion.Common misconception describes anal sex as practiced almost exclusively by gay men...
was largely treated as disgusting, though one female player character called it "beautiful." Shadow Hearts: From the New World
Shadow Hearts: From The New World
is a console role-playing game developed by Nautilus and published by XSEED Games in 2005. It is the third official game in the Shadow Hearts series....
again featured Gerard, but he is with his boyfriend this time, by the name of Buigen. They both are clad in biker clothing.
In the 2001 game PaRappa the Rapper 2
PaRappa the Rapper 2
is a PlayStation 2 rhythm video game and the sequel to PaRappa the Rapper, although it is actually the third game in the series following UmJammer Lammy...
, the protagonist of the game, PaRappa, is trying to make himself more of a man so he can impress his crush Sunny Funny (who is a female). However, he hugs, holds hands with, and kisses his male friend PJ while they work out to (rap with) Chop Chop Master Onion's TV workout programme 'Romantic Love', leaving the latter looking uncomfortable. Clearly showing that PaRappa is either bisexual or just quite fine with kissing males.
In 2001 Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
is a stealth action video game directed by Hideo Kojima, developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and published by Konami for the PlayStation 2 in 2001....
featured a bisexual character, Vamp. The conversation in which this was revealed (by Solid Snake
Solid Snake
Metal Gear, initially released in 1987, introduces Solid Snake, the rookie recruit of the elite special-forces unit FOXHOUND. Snake is sent by team leader Big Boss into the rogue nation Outer Heaven to rescue his missing teammate Gray Fox and discover who or what the "METAL GEAR" mentioned is, and...
himself) also explains that he was the lover of Scott Dolph, a bisexual Navy commander. The game does not dwell on this point, and accepts it simply as a factor of the character. The 2005 sequel Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
is an award-winning stealth action video game directed by Hideo Kojima. Snake Eater was developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and published by Konami for the PlayStation 2, and was released on November 17, 2004 in North America; December 16, 2004 in Japan; March 4, 2005 in Europe; and on...
went further, featuring male bisexuality (Volgin and Major Raikov), and also some other sexual topics rarely touched upon in popular entertainment, such as sexual sadism (Volgin again), polyamory and Caesarean section
Caesarean section
A Caesarean section, is a surgical procedure in which one or more incisions are made through a mother's abdomen and uterus to deliver one or more babies, or, rarely, to remove a dead fetus...
.
In 2001, Maxis broke new ground with a new television commercial for its computer game The Sims
The Sims
The Sims is a strategic life-simulation computer game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. Its development was led by game designer Will Wright, also known for developing SimCity...
. Highlighting the ability of the characters to date, the commercial featured an attractive twenty-something man in a nightclub flirting with a woman, until he is suddenly drawn to an attractive man in the club and after a brief pause agrees to date him. The games have become very popular as they allow the player to create their own simulated family, whose members could be either gay or straight and still date, make love, marry and raise children. This is perhaps the only time the industry has made any attempt to capture the gay gamer dollar. However, despite the inclusivity found on other platforms, Nintendo's Game Boy Advance and DS versions appear to have removed any same-sex romance interactions, effectively removing homo/bisexuality from the games.
In 2001 Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix
Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix
Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix is an action-adventure game for the PlayStation in 2001. It was developed by Kronos Digital Entertainment and published by Eidos Interactive. Fear Effect 2 is a prequel chronicling the events that lead up to the original Fear Effect...
had a lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
subplot that catered to straight men between two of the major female characters.
2001's Fable
Fable (video game)
Fable is an action role-playing video game in the Fable series. It was developed for Xbox, Mac OS X, and Windows platforms, by Big Blue Box, a satellite developer of Lionhead Studios, and was published by Microsoft. The game shipped for Xbox on October 14, 2003...
allows the player character to flirt, marry, and/or have sex with NPC townspeople of the same sex. If the player married a female character in addition to a male NPC, the personality status screen would label them as bisexual. While the NPCs in the game do not treat the player with any disgust if they choose to be gay, they do not get paid "dowry
Dowry
A dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both...
" for marrying any male characters but almost all female ones give such. One quest involves finding the deeds to a bordello so the player can free the prostitutes from the male owner. Like the other quests in the game there are several ways of solving this, but one option is to dress as a woman and have sex with the owner when he's drunk.
Fable's 2008 sequel, Fable II retains its ability for players to choose their player character's sexuality. The game also includes more lesbian, gay, and bisexual NPC townspeople to court and marry. A context-specific line is used in a conversation within the middle of the game, wherein Hammer asks if the protagonist was able to convince his or her partner, wife, or husband to wait for them when they must go away for a ten years. The game also includes a quest in which the player character finds a suitable partner for a famer's son who hints at being gay; the farmer is surprised but accepting that his son is gay, and was unable to find an acceptable partner because the father had previously presented him only with female suitors. Reaver, the NPC known as the Hero of Skill, is bisexual, known to have simultaneous lovers
Polyamory
Polyamory is the practice, desire, or acceptance of having more than one intimate relationship at a time with the knowledge and consent of everyone involved....
named Ursula, Penelope, and Andrew.
The 2002 2D fighting game Guilty Gear XX introduced the character Bridget, a young male who was raised as a girl by his parents to avoid problems with a village superstition concerning twins. He works as a bounty hunter to prove his worth. He retains a feminine demeanor and appearance but still identifies as male. While there is some confusion regarding his gender, most of the characters take it in stride, with the notable exception of Johnny.
In the 2003 game Summon Night: Swordcraft Story
Summon Night: Swordcraft Story
is an action role-playing game by Banpresto for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance system. It is part of the Summon Night series of games. Atlus handled the English translation of the game.-Story:...
, if the player chooses a female character and picks Sugar as their summon beast, lesbian innuendo occur. There are other girls, named Razzy and Sanary who also shares lesbian undertones when conversing with Pratty, the female main character. Though, less apparent in the sequel, Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 2
Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 2
is an action role-playing game by Banpresto for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance system. It is part of the Summon Night series of games and the sequel to Summon Night: Swordcraft Story. Atlus handled the English translation of the game.-Field:...
, one of the female characters, Lynn,continuously tries to kiss the main character, whether they be male or female. The female playable character, "Aera", shows the same romantic behavior that shows when the player play as "Edgar", the male playable character, with some dialogue changes.
In the 2003 title Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne
is a role-playing game for the PlayStation 2. It is the third main game in the Megami Tensei series. Shin Megami Tensei III was released nine years after Shin Megami Tensei II, and was the first Megami Tensei game in the series to be released into the United States using the "Megami Tensei" name...
, a flamboyant mannequin
Mannequin
A mannequin is an often articulated doll used by artists, tailors, dressmakers, and others especially to display or fit clothing...
is shown as the owner of the junk shop and makes frequent but comical references to his sexuality.
The 2004 Atari computer game The Temple of Elemental Evil made news headlines when it was revealed that the game has an optional story line where the player can rescue a gay pirate and see him marry one of the male player characters.
In 2004 the computer game Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, the player is able to play a female character and have implied (off screen) sexual relations with Jeanette, another female character. Also there is generally the possibility to flirt with same sex partners throughout the game and additionally there are also some more hints, that different characters have been involved in same-sex-activities. There is also a vampiress character who briefly mentions a relationship she had long ago with a female named Pisha.
In Capcom's 2004 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trials and Tribulations for the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
, an effeminate chef called Jean Armstrong frequently confuses other characters about his gender. Although he is very effeminate in appearance, movement, and fashion style, he clearly has a beard and mustache, yet characters still become confused of his gender.
In Rockstar North
Rockstar North
Rockstar North is a British video game developer based in Edinburgh, Scotland, best known for creating the Grand Theft Auto and Lemmings franchises in its earlier guise as DMA....
's 2004 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a 2004 open world action video game developed by British games developer Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the third 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise, the fifth original console release and eighth game overall...
the police officers in San Fierro will say various things one would expect from a comical, homosexual character such as "Drop the soap, honey!", "Lets wrestle to submission!", and "I'm on your ass, Daisy!". In this model, homosexuality is a joke, attached to gender inversion and used to denigrate the police, an enemy in the game. There is, however, both a clearly gay employee working at the counter of an athletic apparel store who makes flirty comments towards the protagonist, CJ, as well as gay-friendly decorations, including a gay-pride rainbow flag on some streets of one of the game's cities, San Fierro, the game's version of the city of San Francisco. There is also a dildo
Dildo
A dildo is a sex toy, often explicitly phallic in appearance, intended for bodily penetration during masturbation or sex with partners.- Description and uses :...
found in the police station's shower room, even though female police officers are virtually non-existent in the game. A previous installment in the series, the 2002 Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is a 2002 open world action computer and video game developed by British games developer Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the second 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise and sixth original title overall...
, has construction workers who look like the similarly-dressed member of the Village People
Village People
Village People is a concept disco group that formed in the United States in 1977, well known for their on-stage costumes depicting American cultural stereotypes, as well as their catchy tunes and suggestive lyrics....
, who shout quotes from the Village People
Village People
Village People is a concept disco group that formed in the United States in 1977, well known for their on-stage costumes depicting American cultural stereotypes, as well as their catchy tunes and suggestive lyrics....
songs "YMCA" and "In the Navy
In the Navy
"In the Navy" is a song recorded by American disco group Village People released in 1979. It was the last top 10 hit for the group in the United States.-Background and writing:...
". Other "Grand Theft Auto" titles have references to a city park where some of the adult patrons go to engage in public homosexual sex acts.
The character Doctor N. Gin is portrayed as an effeminate character in Radical's 2005 Crash Tag Team Racing
Crash Tag Team Racing
Crash Tag Team Racing is a racing video game published by Sierra Entertainment and developed by Vancouver-based Radical Entertainment for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox and PlayStation Portable. A Nintendo DS version, which was to be developed by Sensory Sweep Studios rather than...
game. He is shown occasionally wearing a ballerina costume to boost his self-esteem and using pink fuzzy slippers in his inventions in the same game. In the following Crash of the Titans
Crash of the Titans
Crash of the Titans is an platform video game published by Sierra Entertainment and developed by Vancouver-based Radical Entertainment for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable , Wii and Xbox 360. The Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS versions of the game were developed by Amaze Entertainment...
, N. Gin reveals his desire for "chicks" over his factory's intercom but is disgusted at the thought of girls in a later cutscene.
In Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon, simply known as in Japan, is an action role-playing game in the Megami Tensei franchise. Along with the previous game Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army and the official derivative novel Devil Summoner:...
, the main character, Raidou, confronts two Japanese disaster gods known as Binbogami and Yakbyougami who are both portrayed as effeminate and fiercely masochistic. Binbogami is shown to be pursuing Raidou sexually, even going so far as to encourage Raidou to "whip" him when his life bar is reduced to half during two boss fights against him. The game also includes cross dressers in the Mannen-Cho location.
In Eidos Interactive
Eidos Interactive
Eidos Interactive Ltd. is a British video game publisher and is a label of Square Enix Europe. As an independent company Eidos plc was headquartered in the Wimbledon Bridge House in Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton....
's 2005 sequel to Deus Ex, Deus Ex: Invisible War
Deus Ex: Invisible War
Deus Ex: Invisible War is an action role-playing game developed by Ion Storm Inc. and published by Eidos Interactive. Released simultaneously for Microsoft Windows and the Xbox video game console on December 2, 2003, the game is a sequel to the critically acclaimed Deus Ex...
. One of the manners which the character can gain access to the apartment of Seattle's Minister of Culture is to flirt with the Minister of Culture at Club Vox (he will give the character his key). Although there is a gender choice available in the game, this method works only if the character is male.
In Bioware
BioWare
BioWare is a Canadian video game developer founded in February 1995 by newly graduated medical doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, and Augustine Yip. BioWare is currently owned by American company Electronic Arts...
's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is a role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by LucasArts. It was released for the Xbox on July 15, 2003, for Microsoft Windows on November 19, 2003, and on September 7, 2004 for Mac OS X. The Xbox version is playable on Xbox 360 with its...
, the party member Juhani
Juhani
Juhani is a common Finnish male given name and Arabic surname.-Given name:* Juhani Aho* Juhani Lahtinen* Juhani Aaltonen* Juhani Pallasmaa* Juhani Komulainen* Juhani Suutarinen* Juhani Kaskeala* Juhani Peltonen* Juhani Tamminen* Juhani Wahlsten...
was written as lesbian, though bugged coding on the initial release allowed her to be attracted to the player character regardless of gender. In subsequent patches, she reverts to homosexual preferences. She and another female Jedi
Jedi
The Jedi are characters in the Star Wars universe and the series's main protagonists. The Jedi use a power called the Force and weapons called lightsabers, which emit a controlled energy flow in the shape of a sword, in order to serve and protect the Republic and the galaxy at large from conflict...
were also heavily implied to be lovers. (It is worth noting that this would make Juhani the first known gay character in the Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
universe).
In Bioware's 2005-released Xbox RPG Jade Empire
Jade Empire
Jade Empire is an action role-playing game developed by Canadian developer BioWare and first published in 2005 by Microsoft Game Studios as a worldwide release for the Xbox. The later, two-disc Limited Edition contained extra content...
, the main character can be either male or female. If the player chooses a male character, he can have a romantic relationship with the female characters Dawn Star or Silk Fox, or the male character Sky; a female character can romance either Sky or Silk Fox. Also, if the main character is male, it is possible for Dawn Star and Silk Fox to end up in a relationship with each other.
In the 2005 game Castlevania: Curse of Darkness
Castlevania: Curse of Darkness
Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, known in Japan as , is a console video game developed by Konami for the Xbox and PlayStation 2. Despite that it was released for Xbox and PlayStation 2, Japan was only able to see a PlayStation 2 release. However, An Xbox version was released in Asia under the...
, the Devil Forge Master Issac is a secondary villain who is depicted as a very flamboyant character. Nothing is ever mentioned in the game to confirm that he is gay but his over acting and high squeaky voise make a heavy emphasis on his sexuality.
The computer and console game Indigo Prophecy
Fahrenheit (video game)
Fahrenheit, also known as Indigo Prophecy in North America, is a cinematic adventure video game developed by Quantic Dream and manufactured and marketed by Atari Europe SAS...
from 2005 includes a gay stock market
Stock market
A stock market or equity market is a public entity for the trading of company stock and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately.The size of the world stock market was estimated at about $36.6 trillion...
follower named Tommy. One of the game's protagonists is good friends with him and Tommy's knowledge of the stock trade is essential in progressing in the game. If asked, the character makes comments about homophobia in the workplace and gay acceptance.
The 2006 adventure game
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
Broken Sword: The Angel of Death
Broken Sword: The Angel of Death
Broken Sword: The Angel of Death, known in North America as Secrets of the Ark: A Broken Sword Game, is the fourth installment in the Broken Sword series of computer games, released for PCs running Windows in Europe on September 15, 2006, and in North America on February 13, 2007...
includes Brother Mark, a Catholic priest who is strongly hinted to be homosexual, although he denies this.
In the 2006 title Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3, there is an unnamed female student NPC who has an intense lesbian crush on Mitsuru Kirijo, one of the main female characters. This crush goes as far as her having romantic fantasies about her as well as threatening the main character with revenge (if she's lying) after she tells her that she has pictures of her in a bathing suit.
The 2006 Rockstar Games
Rockstar Games
Rockstar Games is a major video game developer and publisher based in New York City, owned by Take-Two Interactive following its purchase of UK video game publisher BMG Interactive. The brand is mostly known for Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, L.A...
title Bully
Bully (video game)
Bully, also known as Canis Canem Edit for the PAL PlayStation 2 version, is an open world video game released by Rockstar Vancouver for the PlayStation 2 on 17 October 2006 in North America, and 25 October 2006 in the United Kingdom...
(Canis Canem Edit in Europe) features optional homosexual content. The game's central character Jimmy Hopkins can kiss various characters, male and female, in order to regain health. Neither Jimmy nor any of the other six bisexual/homosexual male characters show any outward signs of overt femininity or other stereotypically homosexual traits, with the possible exception of the gay member of the "preppy" clique who is depicted as being suave and somewhat effeminate. All of these characters will, if romanced, assist Jimmy in fighting if necessary. It is perhaps noteworthy, however, that, while taking English classes will allow Jimmy to kiss certain female characters without offering them gifts, the same is not true of the male characters. One of the female characters in the game alludes to Jimmy's "experimentation" with the other boys in a cutscene in which she states, "I'm like Helen of Troy
Troy
Troy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida...
, but you seem more interested in boys named Troy". In Bully: Scholarship Edition, developers added an achievement (an in-game award) called "Over the Rainbow", which the player unlocks by kissing a boy twenty times.
In the 2006 title Enchanted Arms
Enchanted Arms
Enchanted Arms is a science fiction/fantasy-based role-playing game for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Although the game was intended to be an Xbox 360 launch title for the Japanese market, its release date was pushed back to , by the developer, From Software...
features Makoto an openly gay character, who actually identifies himself as a lady. In an optional scene, the main character Atsuma can also question Raigar's sexuality explaining that he didn't think that Raigar was into women, Raigar is quickly embarrassed as other members of the party also begin to question. This is not treated as mean spirited and his quite comical.
The 2006 casual game
Casual game
A casual game is a video game targeted at or used by a mass audience of casual gamers. Casual games can have any type of gameplay, and fit in any genre. They are typically distinguished by their simple rules and lack of commitment required in contrast to more complex hardcore games...
Tradewinds Legends
Tradewinds (game)
Tradewinds is a video game by Sandlot Games, in which the player is a merchant, buying and trading goods and sailing to various cities to trade goods as well as combating encountered pirates...
featured a pair of male characters who were strongly implied to be a homosexual couple.
Nintendo-published Baten Kaitos Origins
Baten Kaitos Origins
is a 2006 role-playing video game first unveiled at the 2005 Tokyo Game Show by Namco and Monolith Soft. The official name was revealed at E3 2006 on May 10, 2006....
for the Nintendo GameCube also features a transgendered character, of sorts. One of the three main characters, Guillo, speaks simultaneously with the voice of both a man and a woman, and is gender neutral throughout the entire storyline. Even though Guillo is a "puppet", Guillo has a very masculine personality, yet also is clad in high heels and has breasts. Guillo is also part of a bitter love "quadrangle" for Sagi, the main character, between Guillo, Milly, and Lolo.
In the 2007 horror first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
Clive Barker's Jericho
Clive Barker's Jericho
Clive Barker’s Jericho is a supernatural horror-themed first person shooter video game with author Clive Barker providing the premise of the storyline...
, the Ancient Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
Governor Cassus Vicus claims it had been a while since "tasting" both genders after becoming aroused while confronting the Jericho Squad. Vicus is portrayed as overly perverted and morbidly obese
Obesity
Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems...
and is said to practice cannibalism
Cannibalism
Cannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other human beings. It is also called anthropophagy...
, Sadomasochism and "blood orgies". The game's author, Clive Barker
Clive Barker
Clive Barker is an English author, film director and visual artist best known for his work in both fantasy and horror fiction. Barker came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short stories which established him as a leading young horror writer...
, is openly homosexual and has created characters with a certain disposition towards Sadomasochism of every sexual orientation.
In 2007 first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
BioShock
Bioshock
BioShock is a first-person shooter video game developed by 2K Boston and designed by Ken Levine. It was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 on August 21, 2007 in North America, and three days later in Europe and Australia. It became available on Steam on August 21, 2007...
, it is hinted throughout the game that the character Sander Cohen, a temperamental artist gone mad through genetic experimentation, is homosexual and was deeply in love with the game's antagonist, Andrew Ryan, before the events in the game take place. This is hinted both through audio logs where various people refer to him as "old fruit" and such as well as through radio messages where even Sander Cohen himself refers to Andrew Ryan as the "man I once loved".
In the 2007 title Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, there is a character named Heather the player can get on their team who is implied to be a lesbian, who claims to have joined the army to 'meet all the pretty girls'.
In the 2007 game Mass Effect
Mass Effect
Mass Effect is an action role-playing game developed by BioWare for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows by Demiurge Studios. The Xbox 360 version was released worldwide in November 2007 published by Microsoft Game Studios...
, the player can play as a male or female character. In both cases, there is an option for a subplot romance and sexual encounter with the alien Liara, a member of an all-female race that is able to reproduce with any sex of any species. The game received a lot of criticism for the "sex scene", although it was hardly explicit, showing only brief, blurred shots of Liara's buttocks twice in a thirty-second scene.
Abu'l Nuquod, one of the assassination targets in the historically-based game released in 2007, Assassin's Creed
Assassin's Creed
Assassin's Creed is an award-winning historical third person, stealth action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. The bulk of the game takes place during the Third Crusade, with the plot revolving around a sect known as the Secret Order of...
, is strongly implied to be gay. He believes the people hate him because he is "different", is shown caressing the cheek of one of his male guards during his angry tirade, and claims that he cannot serve the cause of a god who calls him an abomination.
The 2007 visual novel
Visual novel
A is an interactive fiction game featuring mostly static graphics, usually with anime-style art, or occasionally live-action stills or video footage...
Fatal Hearts
Fatal Hearts
Fatal Hearts is an adventure/visual novel video game in which players control a teenage female protagonist who is having strange dreams while people are being murdered. Because some of the endings include romances with male characters, it counts as a ren'ai otome game. The game uses anime-style...
features a lesbian character named Lucy as one of the available love interests for the female protagonist.
In the 2008 game Fallout 3
Fallout 3
Fallout 3 is an action role-playing game released by Bethesda Game Studios, and the third major installment in the Fallout series. The game was released in North America, Europe and Australia in October 2008, and in Japan in December 2008 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360...
, the player meets a female Ghoul named Carol who is suggested to be in a romantic relationship with another female Ghoul named Greta. They have apparently adopted a son, named Gob. While it is never made clear if they are romantically involved, if the player is a Female, Greta will warn the player to stay away from Carol.
The 2008 tactical RPG
Tactical role-playing game
A tactical role-playing game is a type of video game which incorporates elements of traditional role-playing video games and strategy games. In Japan these games are known as , a designation which might seem peculiar to native English speakers...
Valkyria Chronicles
Valkyria Chronicles
is a tactical role-playing game developed and published by Sega for the PlayStation 3. The game was released in 2008.The game is set in Europa, loosely based on Europe in 1935...
has several optional squad members whose profiles indicate they fancy individuals of the same gender. For example, a male squad member named Jann has strong feelings for muscular men, particularly Largo. He wears makeup, has an effeminate voice and is flirty towards men, including the player character who is his commanding officer
Commanding officer
The commanding officer is the officer in command of a military unit. Typically, the commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitude to run the unit as he sees fit, within the bounds of military law...
. Similarly, Dallas is a female squad member whose profile states that she "fancies women" and "hates men". Dallas has a crush on Alicia, the game's heroine, and her profile states that she became upset after Alicia's marriage until she became infatuated with another major character, Rosie. The game also features a bisexual character, Ted, who has both the "fancies women" and "fancies men" potential abilities in his profile.
In the 2008 title Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4, originally released in Japan as simply , is a role-playing video game developed and published by Atlus for Sony's PlayStation 2, and chronologically the fifth installment in the Shin Megami Tensei: Persona series. Persona 4 was released in Japan in July 2008, North...
, Kanji, a playable character, has a Shadow Self that rants about how he hates girls and likes boys. Cross-dressing and the questioning of one's gender are also featured in the game.
The 2008 visual novel
Visual novel
A is an interactive fiction game featuring mostly static graphics, usually with anime-style art, or occasionally live-action stills or video footage...
Heileen features a female protagonist with three romantic possibilities, one male and two female.
In the 2009 game Dragon Age: Origins
Dragon Age: Origins
Dragon Age: Origins is a single-player role-playing video game developed by BioWare's Edmonton studio and published by Electronic Arts. It is the first game in the Dragon Age franchise...
. the player may choose a male or female character from the start of the game. The main character has an opportunity to have sexual encounters with one party member of the same sex. There are also opportunities to have sexual encounters with NPCs of the same gender throughout the game and notably within the first 30 minutes of game play. Like its spiritual successor, Mass Effect
Mass Effect
Mass Effect is an action role-playing game developed by BioWare for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows by Demiurge Studios. The Xbox 360 version was released worldwide in November 2007 published by Microsoft Game Studios...
, there are brief sex scenes (about 30 seconds); however there is no visible nudity. It should be noted that the two party members who will have a same-sex sexual encounter with the main character identify (through innuendo or descriptions experiences) that they are bisexual; therefore making the main character the only potentially gay character (excluding NPCs). One example of gay NPC's in the game are the effeminate Wade and Herren. The couple own a armor shop in the games capital and give a quest to the main character. In a Downloadable Content episode released by Bioware it is possible to chase them from the shop to a back alley where Herren teleport himself and Wade to safety. The game designers admitted Herren and Wade were lovers after the release of said DLC.
In the 2008 game by Lionhead Studios, Fable II, the main character will eventually meet a character named Reaver, a suave, elegant pirate ringleader. And at some point after meeting Reaver, he will inform the player that he was recently in bed with three "friends", named Ursula, Penelope and Andrew. This hints at the fact that he is bisexual. He also reprises his role (slightly more foppishly) in the 2010 game Fable III
Fable III
Fable III is the third video game in the Fable series of action role-playing games . The game was developed by Lionhead Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360. The story focuses on the player character's struggle to overthrow the King of Albion by...
, where he holds a "secret society party" involving lots of drinking and orgies.
2010s
In the 2010 Nintendo DS video game Glory of Heracles, one of the main protagonists, Leucos, is a cross-dressing lesbian. She spends most of the game pretending to be a man, but the other characters see right through the charade and it is a source of humour.In the 2010 video game Red Dead Redemption, one of the minor characters, Quique Montemayor acts and moves flamboyantly. He appears to be in love with Captain Vincente De Santa, a more major character in the game, and a captain in the Mexican Army
Mexican Army
The Mexican Army is the combined land and air branch and largest of the Mexican Military services; it also is known as the National Defense Army. It is famous for having been the first army to adopt and use an automatic rifle, , in 1899, and the first to issue automatic weapons as standard issue...
. De Santa seems to be quite open about his relationship with Montemayor, although no other characters acknowledge either De Santa's nor Montemayor's relationship or orientation. Red Dead also features a very minor female NPC seen in a side mission involving a stolen horse. After the side mission is completed, the women can be seen flirting with female prostitutes in a nearby bar on occasion.
In the 2010 video game Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game is a side-scrolling beat 'em up game based on the Scott Pilgrim series of comic books by Bryan Lee O'Malley, tying in with the release of the film of the same name. It is published by Ubisoft and developed by Ubisoft Montreal with Ubisoft Chengdu. The game was...
, based on the graphic novel series
Scott Pilgrim
Scott Pilgrim is a graphic novel series by Bryan Lee O'Malley. It consists of six digest size black-and-white volumes, released between August 2004 and July 2010, by Portland-based independent comic book publisher Oni Press. It was later republished by Fourth Estate, an imprint of HarperCollins...
, Kim Pine can perform a special move in which Knives Chau appears and kisses her, giving her health whilst damaging enemies. Kim's ending in the game also implies she gets together with Knives. Like in the graphic novel series, the character Roxanne Richter is a lesbian who had previously dated Ramona Flowers. Wallace Wells, Scott's mature gay roommate from the comic, also appears in the game as both a background character and running an item shop.
In 2010, new downloadable content
Downloadable content
Downloadable content is official additional content for a video game distributed through the Internet. Downloadable content can be of several types, ranging from a single in-game outfit to an entirely new, extensive storyline, similarly to an expansion pack. As such, DLC may add new game modes,...
, The Ballad of Gay Tony for the video game Grand Theft Auto IV
Grand Theft Auto IV
Grand Theft Auto IV is a 2008 open world action video game published by Rockstar Games, and developed by British games developer Rockstar North. It has been released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 video game consoles, and for the Windows operating system...
features an eccentric gay night-club owner named Tony Prince, the titular "Gay Tony". He is a close friend of the protagonist.
In Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 2 is an action role-playing game developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The game was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 on January 26, 2010 and for PlayStation 3 on January 18, 2011...
, developed by BioWare
BioWare
BioWare is a Canadian video game developer founded in February 1995 by newly graduated medical doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, and Augustine Yip. BioWare is currently owned by American company Electronic Arts...
and published by EA, female Shepard is able to date and to sleep with her Yeoman Kelly Chambers. Male Shepard is not able to date any male characters.
Fable III
Fable III
Fable III is the third video game in the Fable series of action role-playing games . The game was developed by Lionhead Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360. The story focuses on the player character's struggle to overthrow the King of Albion by...
continues the series'
Fable (video game series)
Fable is a series of action role-playing video games for Xbox, Xbox 360, Windows, and Mac OS X platforms. The series is developed by Lionhead Studios and is published by Microsoft Studios.-Setting:...
option of becoming a lesbian, gay, or bisexual hero and includes more LGB NPC townspeople. Reaver returns, this time inviting the hero (of either sex) to have a "private party" in his bedchamber.
The 2010s installment of the Fallout series, Fallout New Vegas, contains at least two confirmed LGB joinable NPC, and other references to homosexuality. Furthermore, the main character, the unnamed Courier, can be chosen as male, with the perk (character trait) Confirmed Bachelor, giving him several advantages with other homosexual male NPCs (and, following the stereotype of the homosexual as more understanding and perceptive about emotions, grant him the ability to better understand the plight of the otherwise mute
Mute
Mute may refer to:* Muteness, a speech disorder in which a person lacks the ability to speak* Mute, a silent letter in phonology* Mute , an upcoming sequel to the movie Moon...
companion Christine) . This perk has a female equivalent, the Cherchez la femme perk.
Also the same game features the character Veronica Santangelo, a young Scribe from the Brotherhood of Steel, confesses to the main character to have nursed a crush for another girl in the Brotherhood (hinted to be Christine Royce, another joinable NPC, mute and enslaved, who references having been in a relationship with a girl in her Brotherhood days), ended badly because of the disapproval of her girlfriend's parents. Arcade Gannon, a doctor with the Followers of the Apocalypse is clearly gay, discussing his orientation if certain dialogue paths are chosen. Furthermore, if the Courier is male, Rose of Sharon Cassidy, another joinable NPC, will jokingly tease him, and if the player has the Confirmed Bachelor perk, will hint that the Legion of Caesar, a paramilitary formation in the Mojave Desert, is mainly staffed by homosexual soldiers. On the other hand, if the player plays as a female Courier with the Cherchez la Femme perk, Rose of Sharon will simply state that when she's drunk enough she doesn't care about who gets in bed with, and drops the dialogue abruptly.
Japanese 2010 SRPG Blaze Union, developed by Sting Entertainment, features a character named Eater with dual personalities, one male and one female. Although Eater's body is female, she is treated as male when the male personality is in control, as this is how he identifies himself. One route of the same game portrays the lead character Gulcasa and his close friend Nessiah in a questionably intimate relationship; while it is never stated outright that the two are lovers, the possibility is implied. Yggdra Unison
Yggdra Unison
Yggdra Unison is a real-time strategy game for the cellular phone and Nintendo DS, developed by Sting Entertainment as a "fandisc"-type spinoff to Yggdra Union. The original cellphone version was self-published and released on November 11, 2007; the DS version was published by Atlus and released on...
, a 2009 game from the same series, supports the possibility by showing a number of Nessiah's personal effects (e.g. clothing) in Gulcasa's home, through a number of conversations between the two characters with affectionate overtones, and Gulcasa's inability to use an item only equippable by virgins.
In 2011's Dragon Age II
Dragon Age II
Dragon Age II is a role-playing video game developed by BioWare's Edmonton studios, and published by Electronic Arts. It is the second major game in BioWare's Dragon Age franchise...
, the sequel to Bioware's Dragon Age: Origins, the player may choose to play as either a male or female version of the protagonist, Hawke, Champion of Kirkwall. Each will have the option to romance one of two members of the same-sex if they choose to do so: Anders or Fenris for the male player character and Isabela or Merrill for the female player character. The player can also sleep with male or female prostitutes regardless of Hawke's gender.
Gloria Union
Gloria Union
Gloria Union is a tactical role-playing game for the PlayStation Portable, developed by Sting Entertainment and published by Atlus. It is a spinoff to Yggdra Union, and including Yggdra Unison and Blaze Union is the fourth installment in the Union subseries to Dept. Heaven...
, developed by Sting Entertainment in 2011, features a character called Kyra who is intergender, and treated as such in the game's interface, which determines unit formation based on gender. Kyra's formation is a combination of the male and female versions.
Bioware has confirmed that its 2012 title Mass Effect 3
Mass Effect 3
Mass Effect 3 is an upcoming action role-playing game developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3...
will include same-sex romance options for both, female and male Commander Shepard.