Older games with female protagonists?

Portal!
Calling this game "older" is hurting my soul, though.
- if it makes you feel any better, you dealt psychic damage to me as well
- My steam account is 15y old, the Orange Box was my first purchase.
  
  The Orange Box was a lot of people's first Steam purchase. It's hard to overstate just how much gaming value was included.
  
  I had to sign up for this new fangled "Steam" back when I had to use 5 CDs to install Half-Life 2. Lost that account years ago though, unfortunately.

Metroid is likely the most famous
- i recently streamed metroid fusion but had to stop cause the infinite spin jump simply didnt work, very sad cause its a good one
  
  It's not in Dread either. Drives me crazy.

Is Mirror's Edge "older" already?
- unfortunately, yes, its been 15 years
  
  I'm still alive I cannot apologise
  
  Wow, wow, wow

Obvious one, but the original Tomb Raider.
- its been a while, i should go back to those
  
  Don't forget to lock the butler in the fridge

Beyond Good & Evil
- I started playing this for the first time earlier today. Only 3 hours in, but I can already tell why it has a very adamant fan base to this day.
- i remember when i was a lil gal, i had trouble with the first block pushing puzzle lmao
  
  It's a cult classic for a reason
- But Nietzsche was a boy!!

No One Lives Forever
EDIT: Just remembered Perfect Dark
- Beat me to it by a minute... First one that came to mind, well second, with the first being the obvious Tomb Raider
- NOLF huh, thats a new one for me, thanks
  
  NOLF was great, it just had a bad timing with the release

How old are we talking? Final Fantasy VI, Super Metroid, Resident Evil 2, and the OG Tomb Raider series are all pretty old but great.
Portal, Portal 2, Mirror's Edge, Alien Isolation, Child of Light, Celeste, Tales of Berseria, Final Fantasy XIII, Slime Rancher, the newer Tomb Raifer games, and A Plague Tale are a few games from previous gens that hold up really well.
A more recent game that flew under a lot of people's radars is Kena: Bridge of Spirits, and it was a lot of fun. Also, Atelier Ryza and Alba: A Wildlife Adventure are very worth mentioning, too. :)
- I have to call out Mirror's Edge, it is a great experience if you have the right mindset.
  Trying to play it with an FPS philosophy is not the way.
- Atelier Ryza
  Don't forget the rest of Atelier series!
  
  That's true! There's a lot of good games in that series, I've heard. I have yet to play most of them myself.
- Kena: Bridge of Spirits really is an excellent game, I've done a couple of playthroughs at different difficulty levels, and there is so much more depth to the gameplay than I realized on my first playthrough. It's fun, challenging, has a decent story, beautiful environments, and some really cool bosses. The fact that it's an indie studio's first game still blows my mind.
  Just wanted to add my own recommendation of Kena to anyone who might be interested, even though it's a more recent game.
  
  It's been on my wishlist for a while cuz I thought it looked pretty good but wasn't quite sure if I should try it.
  Now I know to buy it next time there's a good steam sale. You've sold me!
- Don't forget Parasite Eve!
- How dare you have such great taste on the internet? I can't even fight you over this list.

Portal
Perfect Dark
Tomb Raider
Metroid
Mirror's Edge

Fatal Frame
Rule of Rose
Clocktower (the series, but I recommend 3)
Resident Evil
American McGee’s Alice
Fear Effect
Dino Crisis
Depending on your definition of “older” you also have:
Alien: Isolation
Fran Bow
What Remains of Edith Finch
Life is Strange
- wow, what a list, thanks
- What Remains Of Edith Finch is downright amazing.
- Life is strange 🥹🥹🥹
- Alien isolation stressed me out.

Ms. Pac-Man, obvs
Magical Diary: Horse Hall was fun
- i kinda like how that one looks, thanks

No One Lives Forever.

Tomb Raider

Bayonetta.
- Blood rayne, for "older sexy action woman game"

Metroid.
How did I scroll through this list and not see Samus Aran mentioned?
- Damn I just replied the same thing without bothering to scroll. Hahaha

Jill of the Jungle, if you like Commander Keen era PC platformers.
- Hah I was thinking about that one, I played the three of them (I think that's all of them?) way back in the early 90s. What a novel concept, a jungle lady saving a prince!

King’s Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella
One of my most favorite King’s Quest games. And one of the first games I remember playing with a proper female lead.
- are the kings quest games selfcontained? do i need any of the previous ones to fully understand what is happening?
  
  There are callbacks to earlier entries in the series but they can stand alone.
- I think the third Leisure Suit Larry has a female lead in some parts too.

Tomb Raider (1996). The levels are well designed and work with the tank controls in a way that lets you master Lara Croft's acrobatic descent through haunting environments that feel far more threatening than most games I see today
- Also triangle boobie

Final Fantasy VI is a great one!

Here are a couple I played back in the day:
Oni (Bungie, 2001)
Remember Me (Dontnod, 2013)
- that girl form oni looks like she cna kick my ass, i like her already
- It always seems like very few people played Remember Me.
  
  i played like one hour, or two before, it neither looked nor played nice to me when i tried it.

The Longest Journey was my favorite as a kid. Point and click adventure about a young art student in the future who keeps teleporting to a fantasy world.
- never really got around to playing it, ill make sure to do so now
- Find April Ryan!

Barbie: Horse Girl Adventures
- oh man, i forgot that game existed, never played it tho.....yet
- I prefer the 94 classic barbie and her magical house

I remember creating a female Twi'lek Jedi in some of the old LucasArts Jedi games.
LucasArts Jedi something something
KOTOR
Baldur's Gate
Fallout Although these were more like "create-your-own protagonists" rather than "known hero protagonists" that people recognize.
Aside from the classics already mentioned in the thread, Lara, Chell, Samus, Valentine, Redfield, etc. here's a few that come to mind:
Peach in Super Mario 2, the game that feels more like a mushroom trip, than a trip to mushroom kingdom
Aya from Parasite Eve
Chun Li from Street Fighter, also Cammy
Mortal Kombat
Tekken
Soulcalibur
Dead or Alive
Sarah Kerrigan in Starcraft(s), although it's an RTS, so protagonist is a bit loose.
Rayne from BloodRayne, the first video game character to appear in PlayBoy, eh
Ellie from The Last Of Us, damn it's been 10 years already? Is that an old game already? Am I old? Nevermind, don't answer.
Clem from The Walking Dead
Joanna from Perfect Dark
I'm sure I'm forgetting a few others.
- I believe the default choice in the jedi academy character creator was a female twilek..
  
  Quite possible, I must admit it's been long enough that I don't remember much detail and mix the multiple games in the series.
- once again my list keeps getting longer lol, thanks

Parasite Eve (never played it myself but I know it's considered a classic)
- I fucking loved Parasite Eve.
- AMAZING games, 1 & 2 both
- The woman in that game is an adult in a child's body. Skip this one.
  
  “Aya Brea is the main protagonist of the Parasite Eve series. She is 25 in Parasite Eve, 27 in Parasite Eve II and 38 in The 3rd Birthday.”
  Please elaborate.

Jill of the Jungle is the oldest one I know of that isn't Metroid. Fairly certain Metroid was first, but everybody knows Samus. Nobody, even people my age, ever talks about Jill of the Jungle tho.
- Playing Jill of the Jungle (and many other retro gems) on my grandpas computer when visiting is one of my core memories from my childhood. He had so many great games from that era that have since gone forgetten. I wish i could remember them all.
- if you look at metroid and jill side by side, i dont blame em

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oni_(video_game)
Oni (2001)

Could look into Oni - One of Bungie's first game
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oni_(video_game)

Some of these aren't that old, but still...
Blades of Time - fun hack & slash
Crosscode - great SNES inspired action rpg
Gianna Sisters - platformer, has co-op
Icey - another hack & slash
Mirror's Edge - first person parkour simulator with a great main character and good story
Psuedoregalia - short indie metroidvania, best movement mechanics of any game in a long time
Transistor - awesome story, interesting mechanics.
- The original Giana Sisters for Commodore 64 is from 1987, so it's pretty old.
  
  Damn, I had no idea.

Iji is a free game released in 2008. Sidescrolling shooter with a story, fun boss fights, and a great soundtrack. It's really a shame it isn't as well known in these circles, it's quite good.
- oooh, it has that classic flash game design, of course, it came out in 08, thanks for that one

Jill of the Jungle - PC
Shantae - Gameboy Color
Alone in the Dark - PC
The Misadventures of Tron Bonne - PSX
- Single newlines get eaten by Markdown.
- Shantae games are great.

Trying to think of some obscure, unknown games: Eien no Filena, a JRPG on the Super Nintendo. The protagonist is a woman pretending to be a man as a lower class citizen forced to be a gladiator. Awkwardness ensues when she is "assigned" a wife and the men around her start being very confused about their sexuality.
- now thats a plotpoint i can respect
- Zapp: "I've never been so happy to get beat up by a woman."
  Leela: "Let's do it again sometime."

The Laura Bow adventure games Colonel’s Bequest and Dagger of Amon Ra from Sierra OnLine.
- Came here to post Colonel's Bequest. I loved so many Sierra games but this might have been the most fun and interesting.
- never heard of those, thanks

I believe all Elder Scrolls (at least the mainline games: Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim) let you select your character's gender.
Also, what is "old"? Mass Effect 1 is already 15 years old.

Pocky & Rocky
The Great Giana Sisters
Ms. Pac-Man
- holy shit someone else remembers pocky and rocky???
  
  I saw someone play it on a stream last Friday. He said me might play it again sometime if he can get his brother or someone to do co-op with.

"Jill of the Jungle" is an ancient DOS game, and honestly a bit sexploitative. But it does feature a female protag. And is old.
- Phoenix level is the best level.
  Shoot fire rings all day.
- Plus it got bundled with Jungle Pinball.

The ovious one: Tomb Raider
- Ah yes, Tomb Raid. With famous action hero Lar Crof as the protagonist
  
  I love samsung's autocorrector

Syberia, if you're into point and click adventure games. I think they made three of them.

Ulala from Space Channel 5.

Since no one's mentioned it: Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K. 2
- coverart got that adepta sororitas energy, im sold

The Siberia series, King's Quest IV, Parasite Eve series, Excalibur 2555 AD, Fear Effect series
- Coincidentally, I just finished Syberia 2 this week
- quite a lot you got there, ill put em on the list
  
  Excalibur 2555 AD is very, very bad. Not even the "so bad it is good" kind of bad. Just bad.

Trails in the Sky FC and SC.
Also, FemShep was a popular option in Mass Effect for good reason.
- Here to second the Trails series and Sky in particular. Estelle is the best.

The main protagonist in Final Fantasy 6 is female. There's a large number of games that age or newer with Female protags... older is a bit harder (but not too hard. You just unfortunately end up with a lot of fringe games or exploitive games)
And below, some cheatiness (a fairly exhaustive list of both :) )
1980s
1990s
- very nice lists, thanks

Mischief Makers
- Shake shake!

Phantasy Star. Love that game.
I put together a list of games for every letter of the alphabet with playable female characters that I've personally played and a lot of them are pretty old.
https://eldritch.cafe/@Gwendolyn/109348711301572294
- holy shit yes, thanks
- Yeah I was going to say "a lot of jrpgs" Phantasy Star probably tops that list though.

The older Resident Evil games (1, 2, Code Veronica, RE:Zero) have playable female protagonists. Actually most of the RE games have at least one segment where you play as a female character.
The swapping of two protagonists is actually something I wish they would bring back to the modern games in the franchise.
- Yeah replaying all the RE now and it's crazy how this very early choice of two playable characters in the original series allowed the remasters to feel much more modern in their writing. Jill feels like the modern badass main woman a lot of game which they could write properly.

How about Mrs Mopp?
- you know what? ima put this on my gamenight list, thanks

Metroid of course!
Also Ion Fury isn't old, but its made to look and feel old, and the protag is kick-ass
- i played a couple of levels already, the quips had me and my gf in stitches, id LOVE more like ion fury, gib me more plz world

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem.
- the cover looks very familiar..i saw this one before, i just cant place it where it was.
  
  It's an old GameCube game. Definitely a hidden gem of the console.

At risk of posting twice but, I had to add this one as well:
Kyrandia 2: The Hand of Fate
A point-and-click adventure game. It was funny, colorful, and Zanthia is still awesome :) Made by Westwood of all people. It makes some references to the first, but you could play it on its own.
- cool, but what about the first one? do i need it?
  
  Hmmm.. The plot of the first one has nothing to do with the second. But you do get a lot of world building and some characters are properly introduced in the first.
  I guess you should play the first as well if you want the best experience. It’s also a good game, though the puzzles are a little more.. frustrating. But it’s nothing a good walkthrough can’t solve :)
  
  Nah. Same setting and all, but story is mostly unrelated.

How in the world did y'all miss Silent Hill 3? It's October, and there are even other horror games mentioned. No excuse! Tsk tsk.

I haven't seen it mentioned so i'll go with Ion Fury. It's not really that old, but it's made on Build engine. The same was used in Duke Nukem 3D or Blood. Same roots means main protagonist have badass comments on lot of game occasions.

Primal on PS2
- Cult classic. Such a good game! Scree is so cute, perfect little companion. <3

Donkey Kong Country 3 if you count anthro characters. Dixie is also in DKC2 but there she is the sidekick and not the main character, not that there's much difference from a gameplay perspective.

Siberia!!! And Dreamfall!!! Best games ever!!!
edit: also I saw Life is strange in the comments, this is a really good game. And also I remembered bayonetta!!!

A lot of point-and-click adventure games do feature female protaganists. One that comes to mind that's not bee mentioned so far is Kathy Rain.
- after having to pinpoint my search to Kathy Rain the GAME, i really dig her biker chick look

Don't know if PS1 counts as old but Valkyrie profile is one of my favorite games and you play as a Valkyrie recruiting fallen warriors and training them up for Valhalla.
Star Ocean 2 (also on PS1) is another one of my favorites and you can choose between a guy or girl at the beginning, which changes the story a bit.
- my man, its been 30 years, you have to accept the fact ps1 is old now
  but ill check that one out
  
  its been 30 years
  Don't say these things! It is scary. D=