29. The Female Protagonist Conundrum

This week we host our very first guest podcaster! Everybody give a big SAS-sy welcome to Jun Chen (aka Junch) from The Big Gap. We're certain that like us, you'll find his insight a welcome addition to the conversation.

In this episode, Joel gets a new 3DS XL and immediately gets to work on Super Mario 3D Land and Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, but also gives his Xbox360 some love thanks to Gears of War: Judgment; Junch goes retro on us with Persona 3 & 4 for the PS2/PSP; and Dave has nothing but praise for the awesome (and slightly creepy) Playstation Plus service which gives him free games to play like Quantum Conundrum.

For our topic this week we discuss the industry's aversion to Female Protagonists and bemoan the mystifying lack of games starring playable female leads. Memorable female leads are uncommon at best, and when female protagonists do get their own game they are starved of marketing dollars or discouraged from having any agency. We also touch on the role of the protagonist's gender on game narrative and the apparent differences between Western and Japanese market perception of female protagonists.

If you feel strongly about anything we said in this week's episode and would like to add your voice to the conversation, we encourage you to write to us at [email protected] or tweet us @StaringScreens. Oh yeah, by the way, Sid Meier's Ace Patrol is pretty sweet. And for the record, this episode was produced by Dave.

Links:

The Creepy Cull of Female Protagonists
EEDAR's research on games with Female Protagonists
Ico's box art debacle
American vs. Japanese Mega Man box art
and the more things change…

Bonus Link: Why Japanese box art is better… except when it's not

Errata:

Beyond Good and Evil was released in 2003 for PS2, not 2006
The version of Nier released outside of Japan (simply titled "Nier") features a beefy middle-aged male protagonist trying to find a cure for his young daughter's illness. In Japan two versions of the game were released: Nier Gestalt on Xbox360 and Nier Replicant on the PS3. "Nier" and "Nier Gestalt" are identical, but "Nier Replicant" features a comparatively scrawnier and younger "bishounen" male lead as the sick girl's older brother rather than her father. Other than this minor detail the two versions are essentially the exact same game. Nier Replicant was never released outside of Japan.