10 Video Game Characters That Caused CONTROVERSY

10 Video Game Characters That Have Caused Controversy

Welcome to MojoPlays, and today, we’re taking a look at 10 video game characters that sparked quite a bit of a storm, whether they deserved it or not.

Eve

“Stellar Blade” (2024)

The entire discussion around Eve was weird, just super, super weird. Ever since its reveal in 2021, “Stellar Blade” was constantly getting overshadowed by its protagonist’s attractive appearance. Eve is hot, yes, but some of the remarks floating around were…weird. On one side, you had pundits and media outlets criticizing the developers for not making a game “for modern audiences,” even going so far as to say “the developers have never seen a real woman” before. On the other side, you had people screaming and crying “censorship” when a few outfits had slight alterations before launch. Here’s a novel idea: let’s wait on judging until the game is out. Is that really such a radical idea? Sure enough, all of this died down once “Stellar Blade” was out. All this noise simply because a video game character was hot.

The Princess

“Fat Princess” (2008)

There is some strange revisionist history going around some media outlets when it comes to “Fat Princess”, to the point where the revising is now a controversy. Some outlets claim that people found “Fat Princess” to be a proponent of body-shaming. No such incident ever occurred in 2008 or the years since “Fat Princess” launched, and no incident happened after the PSP port launched nor when “Fat Princess Adventures” released in 2015. If anything, those who played “Fat Princess” have championed the game for its humor, artstyle, and general fairytale vibe. Body-shaming does still happen, but to out “Fat Princess” as if it promotes body-shaming feels like there is some seriously misguided anger on display.

Quiet

“Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain” (2015)

Long before Eve triggered journalists and basement dwellers, Quiet practically set the world on fire for some odd reasons herself. Once again, the topic was “Is This Video Game Character Too Hot and Therefore Sexualized?” There are a few moments in MGS5 where Quiet is sexualized, and focusing on it can say something either about Snake, the player, or both. The entire conversation got even weirder when Hideo Kojima tried to explain why Quiet is running around half-naked in the desert. As he puts it, “She breathes through her skin.” Quiet’s actress, Stefanie Joosten, has said her piece, supporting Kojima for his vision while also saying that she understands why some found Quiet to be overly sexualized. To this day, you can’t have a meaningful conversation about MGS5 on the internet without Quiet being brought up.

Duke Nukem

“Duke Nukem” series (1991-)

Duke Nukem has long been one of the poster children of “problematic” video game protagonists, often labeled “a product of his time” by various gaming-focused outlets. Some point towards “Duke Nukem 3D” where you can give infinite money to nightclub dancers. Others point towards the most recent game, “Duke Nukem Forever”, which was more tasteless in its humor. What outspoken critics fail to recognize is that the juvenile humor is part of the reason why people do like Duke Nukem. Sure, the toilet jokes can be a bit much, but the whole appeal of the games is living out a ridiculous power fantasy ripped straight from 80’s action movies. Fans have come to Duke and his over-inflated ego’s defense in recent years, even going so far as to demand a revival of some sort.

Rainbow Mika

“Street Fighter V” (2015)

Whereas most video game controversies are born from media outlets and playerbases, “Street Fighter V” was in a more isolated situation. Rainbow Mika is a Japanese pro wrestler in the world of “Street Fighter”, utilizing some butt-based attacks to charge into and slam opponents. Butt-based moves are common in Japanese wrestling as well as pro-wrestling in general. But ESPN didn’t like the way she smacked her own booty when performing her Critical Art. During ESPN’s broadcast of EVO 2016, ESPN representatives forced competitor “Fuudo” to change Mika’s appearance to her Story 1 costume, which covers her body up much more than her default costume. Fans were furious at the corporate meddling on display and actively defended both Mika and Fuudo. Capcom took things a step further and implemented a patch shortly after that altered the camera movements in Mika’s Critical Art, censoring her butt slap.

The Sorceress & the Amazon

“Dragon’s Crown” (2013)

“Dragon’s Crown” caused quite a stir back in 2014, and the scrutiny was much more targeted compared to our other entries. Kotaku was vocal in its scrutiny against developer Vanillaware, calling out the developer for using character designs of the Sorceress and Amazon “designed by a 14-year-old boy”. Publisher Atlus would defend the designs, and a few days later, character designer George Kamitani put out an art piece of three Dwarves from the game in loincloths bathing each other. Kotaku took this as a response to their hit piece when Kamitani would clarify the art was a response to Japanese retailers wanting promotional material of the game’s female characters in swimsuits. At the end of the day, “Dragon’s Crown” remained unaltered despite the furor around breasts and butts.

Tracer

“Overwatch” (2016)

Before most of the ire towards “Overwatch” was about balance and shouting about which characters are “OP”, there was a moment where some people were outraged about Tracer. Tracer once had a pose where she looks back at the camera with her butt facing the front. Some gaming outlets deemed this pose as a means of “sexualizing” the character, claiming the pose focused primarily on her tuckus. Blizzard jumped on fixing this problem by making a monumental change: lifting a leg up. Even today, players argue whether this change was even necessary in the first place and if the outrage was more isolated than some let on. What’s up with butt cheeks upsetting everyone? They’re butts! We all got one!

Lara Croft

“Tomb Raider” series (1996-)

It seems that no one can ever be happy with Lara’s depictions. Some are for the better while some are for worse. There was a time when the most outrage Lara experienced was from gaming media outlets as many of them would scrutinize the character’s sexualization, which was often done by the marketing teams for the less notable, less praise worthy “Tomb Raider” games. Then, on the fandom side, you have sheer frustration in how Crystal Dynamics has been completely changing Lara’s character. This has caused some “Tomb Raider” fans to dismiss the studio and refuse to acknowledge any of Lara’s prequel games from 2013 onwards.

Eric

“Boyfriend Dungeon” (2021)

Eric is the entire reason why “Boyfriend Dungeon” found itself in hot water at launch. Harassment and stalking can get frightening very quickly, and Eric makes it feel all too real. This character sends the player text messages that often insinuate creepy behavior and possibly harmful intentions. Those who have experienced terrifying scenarios like this voiced their concerns loudly and demanded developer Kitfox Games place a warning during bootup. Thankfully, Kitfox listened, and an update was put out shortly after that added the warning into the game.

Abby

“The Last of Us: Part II” (2020)

No other video game character has caused such commotion as Abigail Anderson, and everyone has had a different reason to hate her. Some hate her because of her part in Joel’s fate. Understandable. Others hated her because of how much of a slog her portion of the game is. Also, understandable. But an unruly few hated her simply for having muscles and being a woman with muscles. Because women can’t have muscles, supposedly. All in all, there just has not been one positive thing said about this character ever since “The Last of Us: Part II” launched.

Which character did you think caused the most controversy? Let us know down in the comments, and don’t forget to subscribe to MojoPlays for more great videos everyday!