The history of trans people in video games is a long one, and a complicated one. The community has been subject to depictions of all kinds: good, bad, well-intentioned but misguided, the butt of a joke, and more. Trans people are often villains, or are almost always side characters. Sometimes we’re the love interest, which is nice. It is rare that we are the playable hero.

It’s hard to examine trans characters in video games without acknowledging these complexities. Not only do the depictions of trans people trend towards negative, they’re also often deeply unclear. Trans people are frequently conflated with cross-dressing and drag queens, confused with people who are gender non-conforming or intersex, and depictions are mired in misinformation frequently. 

These depictions can be further compounded by their origins. A good number of the characters across this list originate from Japan, which has a different history with LGBTQ culture, with different words. Identity is often lost in translation (or erased entirely) for North American and European markets.

That doesn’t mean it’s all bad, or even that bad depictions are worth throwing out entirely. For people with little to no representation, sometimes a bad portrayal is better than none at all. Sometimes, I find myself becoming deeply defensive of a badly written trans character. It’s a feeling that sits somewhere between wishing they were written better, and loving them stubbornly because nobody else will. 

Equally, some depictions are best thrown out. The early years of trans depictions in video game history are particularly rough, and it’s rocky territory even today. On the whole, as visibility increases, so does the quality and sensitivity of these depictions. As it gets easier to learn how to make games, indie developers make games that star people who look like themselves.

So, come with me as we take a walk through a history of trans characters in video games: the good, the bad, the complex, the downright ugly. This list is by no means exhaustive, and I avoided listing characters who don’t originate in video games, so no characters that first appeared in movies or manga will be featured.

This article series contains a blanket content warning for transphobia and transphobic language.

01. Birdo — Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic (1987)
I can tell you about Birdo’s gender, but I’m not sure I can tell you what Birdo is. She’s some kind of egg-spitting dinosaur I think? In Japan, her name is Catherine, and she originated in the Japan-only game Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, where the manual described her as “a man who thinks of himself as a female”. Doki Doki Panic was re-released for the North American market as Super Mario Bros. 2 in 1988, and the manual said, “He thinks he’s a girl […] He’d rather be called “birdetta.”” Her gender has been described in various ways since, but she has become a mainstay of the Mario franchise, and has been dating Yoshi since 2003’s Mario Tennis. Which means Yoshi said trans rights.

02. Poison and Roxy — Final Fight (1989)
Poison and her palette-swapped friend Roxy started as a minor enemy in Final Fight. Her story varies depending on who’s telling it. Was she always trans or was she changed to a trans woman to try and circumvent rules about hitting “real” women? It seems to be a little of both. Poison’s concept art describes her as newhalf, a sometimes derogatory Japanese term for trans women, indicating that her identity existed early in the development process. Poison, who has gone on to feature in Street Fighter games, was described by a producer as being a post-op trans woman in North American releases, but that in Japan, she “simply tucks her business away to look female”.

03. Frozen Half — Akumajō Special: Boku Dracula-kun (1990)
Boku Dracula-kun, released for the first time in English in 2019 as Kid Dracula, had Frozen Half as an enemy, attacking Kid Dracula in the ice stage. She was represented in the manual with dodgy, hairy-legged art and in-game by what can be best described as just a blue humanoid. In that, she’s described as okama, a Japanese term that can (depending on context) refer to gay men or cross dressers. By the time of her appearance in Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night, she’s had a considerable makeover, although she was still described as a newhalf, similar to Final Fight’s Poison.

04. Faris Scherwiz — Final Fantasy V (1992)
Faris can be better described as gender non-conforming, but she’s an incredibly noteworthy inclusion regardless. Faris was raised at sea by pirates, who raised her as a man. She inconsistently refers to herself with masculine and feminine pronouns. This concept of women living as men in order to take on their professions is a familiar theme that we’ll revisit later with Guilty Gear and Persona 4. What marks Faris for inclusion in this history is that she’s a playable character, and that many trans fans have resonated with her and read her as trans. From a personal non-binary perspective, Faris resonates with me on that level, too.

05. Shablee — Leisure Suit Larry 6 (1993)
Did you know there are 10 Leisure Suit Larry games? I didn’t know that before researching for this article. I wish I could unlearn that fact. Shablee is a trans woman described as a transvestite in game. It should be noted that this is an outdated term often used incorrectly. She is met by Larry on his conquests. Transphobic hints are dropped through her dialogue: “Oh Larry, perhaps you’ve finally found somebody who really knows what a man wants!” This finally culminates in an appalling, transphobic date scene that stereotypes Shablee as a predatory trans woman. Additionally, because the game treats Shablee as a gay man dressed up for kicks, it’s also deeply homophobic.

06. Cross Dressing Killer — Police Quest: Open Season (1993)
1993 was a bad year for trans characters in gaming. First Shablee, and then Police Quest: Open Season, which features a character who is a crossdresser and a murderer. Sadly, cross dressing has historically often been conflated with being trans. It is a line of thinking that stems from homophobia, transphobia and pure misinformation. As LGBTQ culture became more accepted or at the least more prominent, trans people in particular became a mainstream target, considered threatening to society in easy-to-demonize ways. Whilst games like this and Leisure Suit Larry 6 are best consigned to the annals of history, it’s also important not to forget them.

07. Flea — Chrono Trigger (1995)
Another character whose identity is nebulous at best, Flea is nonetheless a notable boss character. Spinning onto the screen, he’s referred to as a woman by player characters, and then says that he’s a guy but that “Male… female… what’s the difference? Power is beautiful, and I’ve got the power!” Something nice about Flea’s depiction is that by and large, this is very much it. The game sees no need to go into Flea’s identity too much, which has left the fandom to go wild with it. He has been interpreted as a trans woman, a trans man, nonbinary and gender non-conforming over the years.

08. Adel — Final Fantasy VIII (1999)
The Final Fantasy series has an extensive record of characters that appear as gender non-conforming or trans. As a minor antagonist in Final Fantasy VIII, Adel is muscular and tall and was once feared world-over. As with others, the intention behind her portrayal is unclear in either the original Japanese or various localisations. English localisation depicts her as female, but apparently the original Japanese dialogue doesn’t indicate a gender. In French, references to Adel are both masculine and feminine. No matter what, I really want her to just pick me up, physically. Tall, strong, scary people are so good.

09. Quina Quen — Final Fantasy IX (2000)
Quina Quen is an optional party member in Final Fantasy IX and referred to throughout the whole game with both male and female pronouns. They’re from a completely genderless race and are more worried about trying out new food. Referring to characters with “she/her” or “s/he” is something that tends to be ignorant of the singular they, but sometimes can be read maliciously. However, it’s mostly just outdated and clunky. Quina marks one of the few definite nonbinary characters in gaming, which is great, even if I think they’re kind of cursed to look at.

10. Multiple Characters — Runescape (2001)
There’s a few characters that are trans or can be interpreted as such in Runescape. There is one caveat to the ‘2001’ date: these characters have been added or tweaked over Runescape’s lifespan. It’s a credit to see an old, long-running game being willing to add diverse characters. Angof is a trans woman encountered in Tarddiad, describing herself as being “no longer that little boy that felt trapped in a skin that never really was his own.” Wizard Jalarast is an NPC described as having gone to see the Make-over Mage. The Make-Over Mage swaps between presenting feminine and masculine, and has the power to change the gender of the player character.

11. Bridget — Guilty Gear X2 (2002)
I saw someone describe Bridget with the phrase “gender shenanigans”, and honestly, that feels apt. Bridget is staunch about being referred to as a boy, but he was raised as a girl, which doesn’t entirely explain why he dresses as a nun or attacks with a yoyo. He is, unfortunately, subject to transphobia and homophobia in-game as a result, with one character exclaiming in shame, “I can’t believe I just tried to seduce another man…” Nevertheless, he occupies the same space as Faris: loudly gender non-conforming in a way that resonates with some fans who choose to interpret him as a trans character or take joy in his lack of masculinity.

Editor’s Note: As of 2022, Bridget is now canonically identified as a trans woman.

12. Vivec — The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (2002)
Lord Vivec the Warrior-Poet is a god worshiped by the Dunmer for a few reasons, with the largest reason being duality. This duality in part stems from Vivec’s gender, which is described in-game as a hermaphrodite. It should be more properly (less offensively) described as intersex. Though not all intersex people identify as trans, it’s still a significant moment in gaming to encounter this god who defies the binary and has a rich, encompassing lore behind him.

13. Morpheus Duvall — Resident Evil: Dead Aim (2003)
Morpheus is the primary antagonist who is obsessed with beauty. When he mutates after infecting himself with a variant on the T virus, he becomes a feminine creature. Obsessing with beauty and perfection despite it being allegedly unattainable is one way that trans women are de-valued and stereotyped. While “wanting to be beautiful” crops up frequently, it’s not always followed up with that character turning into a grotesque monster that has to be destroyed. Chrono Trigger’s Flea remarks on beauty too, but in a more positive way. That said, for some trans people, society’s othering can make the narrative of a seemingly monstrous transformation relatable.

14. Vivian — Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door (2004)
Vivian is first encountered as an antagonist, along with the siblings that she’s belittled and bullied by. In the English localisation of The Thousand Year Door, this is because she’s ugly. In the original Japanese version, as well as any direct translations of the game, she’s a trans woman, and her sisters mock her for that. Eventually, Vivian joins Mario’s team. Her depiction isn’t problem-free; language in and around the game itself is transphobic, referring to her as a man or a boy. However, Vivian explicitly refers to herself in the feminine. She goes on a journey of respecting herself throughout her travels with Mario, and she’s also, in my opinion, very cute.

15. Joan Fulton — 7 Sins (2005)
7 Sins is a game that always felt to me like it was trying and failing to be an edgy answer to The Sims. This life simulation game involves having a lot of… romantic encounters to progress in the game. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it fails entirely in its presentation of trans people. Joan is one of many characters you can sleep with, and her information box immediately says “Man or woman?” when interacting. The game makes cracks about her shoe size, and sleeping with her increases your stress meter. Joan is just one among a pattern in video games where a character is “tricked” into sleeping with a trans woman, which is both a deeply transphobic fear and stereotype.

16. Guillo — Baten Kaitos Origins (2006)
Guillo is a party member and main character in this role-playing game. The story goes that Guillo is a hollow puppet containing the might of two ancient and powerful sorcerers: a woman, and a man. In Guillo, this manifests in a two-toned voice that is layered masculine and feminine, and it is referred to solely with it/its pronouns. With its androgynous build and being one of the heroes, Guillo is a particularly satisfying depiction of a character that can be interpreted as either agender or bi-gender. 

17. Beautiful Lady? — Persona 3 (2006)
The boys in Persona 3 are at the beach when they notice this Beautiful Lady sitting all alone. Being teenage boys, their first goal is to go over and try to flirt with her. This is abruptly derailed when she comes on far stronger than they do, calling them handsome and asking how it went with other girls. Wait. There’s hair on her chin. Her name is changed from Beautiful Lady to Beautiful Lady?, and shock abounds. “Y-ya mean, SHE’S a HE?!” exclaims Junpei, to which I simply exclaim: Ugh.

18. Leo Kliesen — Tekken 6 (2007)
Leo was designed with an eye towards creating a character that would be loved regardless of gender. In their early appearances, they are exclusively referred to with gender-neutral terminology. With short hair and an overall sense of ambiguity, Leo’s gender became the topic of much debate, with people wondering if they were a girl, a boy, or a trans man. Someone in the depths of the internet asked if they were “a metrosexual”. Whilst some parts of the Tekken series have undermined the original intent by “revealing” Leo as a woman, their overall lack of gender remains. This makes Leo an easy claim for the trans and wider community, representing both nonbinary and gender non-conforming people.

19. Naoto Shirogane — Persona 4 (2008)
Dubbed the Detective Prince by the media, Naoto joins the main characters in investigating a string of murders. In a nightmarish landscape, Naoto’s Shadow outs Naoto as having been assigned female at birth and offers a “body alteration procedure”. After defeating the Shadow, Naoto says “What I should strive for isn’t to become a man. It’s to accept myself for who I really am.” It’s difficult read this as anything but a denial of trans masculine identity. The game disguises it in ideas about Naoto facing sexism in the workplace as a woman, but it’s hard to swallow that as the real intent. Naoto feels like, and is read by many as, a trans man.

Editor’s Note (8/25/2023): Naoto is Canonically a cis woman. However, many people interpret her story as symbolic of the trans experience, thus please make your own decision as to whether she counts for this list.

20. Luka Urushibara — Steins;gate (2009)
Luka is one of a number of students who discover technology that allows them to change the past. Luka is feminine, but describes himself as a guy. Then the characters enter into a timeline where Luka is “born as a girl”. This can be changed back, but there is an ending where this timeline persists, and Luka can naturally have a child with Okabe. The writing suggests Luka only wants to be a girl because he feels romantically towards Okabe, along with implying that Luka can only identify as a woman if they’re born that way. Whilst Luka is popular, it’s an unfortunate but telling depiction of the way that sexuality and gender are often conflated.

You may have noticed there’s a distinct lack of confirmed or positive representation in the first twenty characters we’ve just gone through. That’s unfortunately the nature of a lot of transgender (or gender nonconforming, or intersex) representation in media, particularly in the early years. From 2010 onwards, representation starts to improve a fair bit, and I’m looking forward to walking you through that next week.

As a final note, I would like to give a huge shout out to the LGBTQ Video Game Archive, which has been an enormous help in compiling this timeline and pointing me in the right direction with characters I’m less familiar with. They do important work archiving all LGBTQ characters in digital games.

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