Nintendo's Family Computer was not the first home video game system of its kind, but as increasingly proven by the passage of time, it was the first commanding its level of ubiquity, global reach and cultural entrenchment. It shaped the concept and perception of video games as a medium like no system before had and few have since, and so its legacy and impact is unavoidably relevant in reconciling the trends and conventions maintained, established and upheld during its lifetime and beyond. A perennial subject of this is the portrayal of women in video games, and while much of that has and continues to be observed and studied in academic and more informal contexts, video game box art offers a particular view into a subset of that whole, showing how women and their presence were used as marketing tools and artistic expression alike. Many accounts over the years have reflected a general recollected consensus in nascent video game culture of the time having been, in some sense, a more open playing field for girls and women participating in it as both the audience and developers, before drastic cultural and corporate shifts in the '90s and forward drove many who'd previously enjoyed or worked in the industry out of it, sometimes never to return. As such, the Famicom's heyday for the better part of the '80s and its long-term dominance marks it as the driving example and existing record of not only the material that many women players interacted with, but what they were exposed to in witnessing reflective aspects of themselves in the material they consumed. None of this is to say that other platforms had no say in shaping the currents of pop culture, but as the more expensive, niche and out-of-reach options that most of the contemporaries were, their influence was lesser, and even as the Famicom is the primary vector of examination here, its global counterpart in the NES experienced sufficient bleedthrough--even through differing marketing and localized presentation--so that these formative works could find an audience elsewhere contemporaneously, and especially in hindsight as the system's continued cultural imprint maintains interest in its history and library. Now is the time to step into the annals of the Femicom.
Some notes on the curational aspects here, and what this selection of box art and their respective games is
not:
1) comprehensive. There is too much to the Famicom library to make any definitive sweeps through or claims about it, especially as that context is limited for a layperson making these observations decades removed, from the other side of the world with no inherent language skills to rely on.
2) internally consistent in what's showcased or not. Generally the only guiding rule was that a cover should portray a woman as a focal point of the piece or composition, for the purposes of promoting the material through that aspect. As such, box art like
Metroid was not relevant, even though in retrospect Samus is about as iconic a woman protagonist as video games have a claim to. Other de-emphasized qualities were things like character ensembles and compositional favoritism in places: both apply to
Doki Doki Panic and
Dragon Slayer IV, which portray families that have gender parity in promotional contexts and in play, but where the covers themselves favour the men in display prominence. At other times I might've ignored something just because I thought it wasn't that interesting even if it "qualified" for the exercise, or similarly shrugged my shoulders at the just-listed guidelines if something warranted it. It's an arbitrary thing, but I hope it's enjoyable to parse through.
3) a showcase of games with female protagonists. While personally of the greatest interest, this isn't about uplifting only the "deserved" examples of women's portrayal; rather, it's meant to shape a picture into a vaguely holistic direction in understanding how sometimes even just women's bodies were used to market video games at the time, in this context. Please understand that a spotlight is not necessarily an endorsement of the material, though I'll attempt to comment and contextualize as needed.
Finally, in the interest of a more exacting chronology and better delineated timeline, precise dates are included in addition to the release year. I would still take these with a grain of salt as who knows of the particular sources where such information is pulled from for the databases that cover game libraries like this, but it's mostly a tool to order the entries en masse covered here. Famicom Disk System games are included and incorporated to the selection as well.
Pooyan / JP / Famicom / 1985 September 20
One of the earliest heroic mothers in video games is also early on the scene for the Famicom.
Chōjikū Yōsai Macross / JP / Famicom / 1985 December 10
Minmay is not the protagonist here, but as in the source material, she is the most iconic single character in the series and the centerpiece of its most famous and persisting iconography and imagery.
Bird Week / JP / Famicom / 1986 June 3
Another animal mother protecting and nurturing her young. While a gendered cliché,
Bird Week represents an early step into more unconventional, less violence-defined play spaces than its peers.
Volleyball / JP / Famicom Disk System / 1986 July 21
While played competitively and recreationally by all, the cultural perception of volleyball as a sport is often preferential to women, perhaps explicating the player showcased here, for a game that includes both women and men's teams.
Valkyrie no Bōken: Toki no Kagi Densetsu / JP / Famicom / 1986 August 1
The titular Valkyrie may be one of the least-represented should-be-famous heroines in the medium, for the scant availability of her games globally and their increasing vintage. Even her cameos and crossover appearances are rarely seen. The cover is illustrated by prolific Namco designer and artist Hiroshi Fujii, who imbued the
Valkyrie series with a stunning depth of considered visual and conceptual design. His work will show up later too, as he was a regular Namco cover artist at the time.
Space Hunter / JP / Famicom / 1986 September 25
As with many other Kemco games, the cover art here reflects a derivative but charmingly earnest aesthetic. Still, it's over a year to Alis Landale from here.
I am a Teacher: Teami no Kiso / JP / Famicom Disk System / 1986 September 26
The Disk System had several "lifestyle" application software released for it, marketed as it was as more than a diversion and a toy. Sewing is a feminine pursuit, they tell us.
Urusei Yatsura: Lum no Wedding Bell / JP / Famicom / 1986 October 23
Jaleco's licensed venture into the
Urusei Yatsura universe was somehow exempt of its related license in its arcade incarnation, leaving the alien slapstick rather inexplicable, though perhaps not so in the context of most other video games. In the Famicom port, that context is reinstated, and Lum has the starring role once again. Life ends at marriage for our heroine--or is it just the start of the second loop?
Gall Force: Eternal Story / JP / Famicom Disk System / 1986 December 10
A tie-in to the debut of the weirdly expansive
Gall Force OVA franchise, the cover here displays what the series was at its heart always about: a vehicle for Kenichi Sonoda's top-of-the-zeitgeist character designs and aesthetic.
Madoola no Tsubasa: The Wing of Madoola / JP / Famicom / 1986 December 18
Another fixture of the era is well-represented in
Madoola's scantily-clad warrior Lucia, though not to the extent other games and media would take it, as the portrayal is more concerned with adventuresome aspects than titillation.
Layla / JP / Famicom / 1986 December 20
This was the era of
Dirty Pair, and in their wake many hopefuls arose.
Layla is a very worthy imitator.
Family Trainer 3: Aerobics Studio / JP / Famicom / 1987 February 26
More gender-coded activity games.
City Adventure Touch: Mystery of Triangle / JP / Famicom / 1987 March 14
A somewhat inexplicable adaptation of Mitsuru Adachi's hit of hits,
Touch, but Adachi is one of the most recognizable artists in his medium and enough of a selling point for most.
Lost Word of Jenny: Ushinawareta Message / JP / Famicom / 1987 March 25
An action game based on the Jenny doll, about and starring her as the protagonist. A very fascinating curiosity, with some truly wild theming.
Dirty Pair: Project Eden / JP / Famicom Disk System / 1987 March 28
The genuine article arrives, in a tie-in to the sublime motion picture featuring the Pair. Unbelievably, this is the only
Dirty Pair video game to this day. I feel so let down by this industry.
Apple Town Monogatari: Little Computer People / JP / Famicom Disk System / 1987 April 3
David Crane and company's seminal life simulation game underwent a change in adaptation from a nondescipt male avatar figure to a young girl's daily life. It's about as good a virtual dollhouse for the platform as you could ask for.
Cocona World / JP / Famicom Disk System / 1987 April 10
A super-cute adventure-ish exploration game about a witch in a fantasy world and her unpredictable whims.
Athena / JP / Famicom / 1987 June 5
The most famous bikini in video games? It could be. Whatever the opinion about Athena's garment or lack of them, the searing pink works wonders for the cover.
Cleopatra no Mahō / JP / Famicom Disk System / 1987 July 24
Another "pictured: not the protagonist" case here, Cleopatra still cuts a striking figure for this adventure/roleplaying game hybrid's cover. Square really tried everything before finding their voice.
Titanic Mystery: Ao no Senritsu / JP / Famicom Disk System / 1987 July 24
An underwater exploration game featuring a woman diver, in a pretty brazenly open-cut diving suit.
Miracle Ropitt: 2100-nen no Daibōken / JP / Famicom / 1987 August 7
An uncharacteristically charming game for Micronics,
Ropitt sees the player guide a girl wearing a robotic battle suit across various futuristic and fantastic landscapes. The protagonist is left without her protective shell if suffered enough damage.
Mugen Senshi Valis / JP / Famicom / 1987 August 21
There's much to more to
Valis than this lone adaptation of the initial game, but it's a good showcase even on its own of the series's oddly compelling aesthetics.
KiKi KaiKai: Dotō-hen / JP / Famicom Disk System / 1987 August 28
As covered in a previous post, once,
KiKi KaiKai on the Famicom was packed with figures of the Seven Lucky Gods that Sayo is tasked with rescuing. It's not the only Famicom release of the era that came with such "feelies"--
Genpei Tōma Den's port was as equally ambitious and iconoclastic as the arcade original, taking the form of partly virtual, partly physical board game with all the related apparel needed for playing included with the game.
Nakayama Miho no Tokimeki High School / JP / Famicom Disk System / 1987 December 1
The idol industry of the 1980s was serious business, and maybe this media crossover exemplifies a fraction of it. Major creative figures from both Nintendo and Square collaborated on this early dating sim themed around singer Miho Nakayama, featured extensively in the game's marketing and the content itself. She appears to feel as uncomfortable about the whole thing as I do, judging from the cover.
Attack Animal Gakuen / JP / Famicom / 1987 December 26
An absolutely shameless
Space Harrier clone,
Attack Animal Gakuen nonetheless manages to distinguish itself with its evocative box art that is... pretty much dead-on for being representative of the game itself, down to the conspicuous sunglasses.
Sukeban Deka III / JP / Famicom / 1988 January 22
Legendary delinquent girl exploitation manga has one of its many adaptations here, based on one of the later seasons of the TV serial. Uncommonly, it's a live-action source being adapted to this promotionally cartoonish format.
Guardic Gaiden / JP / Famicom / 1988 February 5
(
art)
Perhaps the least demanding of explication among these, Naoyuki Kato's depiction of the Guardian is the stuff of science fiction illustration legend.
Elysion / JP / Famicom / 1988 April 28
(
advertisement)
A terrifically interesting game where the player has a choice between four different character classes or races starting out, with two of them coded feminine, or alternatively, all of them coded fairly agender.
Risa no Yōsei Densetsu / JP / Famicom Disk System / 1988 May 10
Another idol-themed game, but this time a fantasy adventure game, teaming up with the titular Risa Tachibana as one of her fans.
Maison Ikkoku / JP / Famicom / 1988 July 21
The years roll on by and one Rumiko Takahashi pillar is replaced by the next.
Ki no Bōken: The Quest of Ki / JP / Famicom / 1988 July 22
The serialized narrative that takes place across all of the
Druaga games is one of the most interesting in video games, and Ki's solo outing is perhaps the most inventive of them all.
Sylviana: Ai Ippai no Boukensha / JP / Famicom Disk System / 1988 August 10
Rad-as-heck action RPG about a girl scouring the land for treasures in exchange for medicine for her sick mother.
Super Dyna'mix Badminton / JP / Famicom / 1988 August 26
The texture and technique here is admirable, even if the opportunistic sexualization of sportswear isn't.
Erika to Satoru no Yume Bōken / JP / Famicom / 1988 September 27
An experimental adventure game featuring either simultaneous control of two characters, or genuine co-op play. Mostly known today for a hidden programmer's diatribe about their coworkers in the code. I would say the brother is given preference in the art, but then, the sister comes first in the title, which works out for a kind of parity.
Kidō Keisatsu Patlabor / JP / Famicom Disk System / 1989 January 24
It's Alphonse! Poor Noa barely fits on the cover, or in the composition.
Fairytale / JP / Famicom Disk System / 1989 April 28
Blue boy, pink girl. Really lovely literal framing and texture, evocative of a storybook.
White Lion Densetsu: Pyramid no Kanata ni / JP / Famicom / 1989 July 14
The barely-seen motion picture turned into the barely-played Famicom RPG itself. As someone who recently played through this and found it worthwhile in spite of... things, looking at this makes me mostly happy.
Faria: Fūin no Tsurugi / JP / Famicom / 1989 July 21
Spoilers for a thirty-year-old game: I know the pictured heroine turns out to have been a dude magically transformed "into a woman" halfway or somesuch through the game. It's pretty shitty given how much of a selling point "rad action RPG with a woman protagonist" was before I found out more about the game, and gleaning some kind of queer narrative out of it would be arduous at best. Just a sore spot for something that's superficially so appealing.
Idol Hakkenden / JP / Famicom / 1989 September 14
Adventure game about an aspiring pop idol out to prove her sibling superiority, caught in a competition with her sisters for the right to inherit the fortune of their ailing business tycoon grandmother.
Marusa no Onna / JP / Famicom / 1989 September 19
An adventure game based on the Juzo Itami movie of the same name, though using the poster art from the sequel for the cover. Very worth looking up for the gorgeous visuals, and adult woman protagonist.
I Love Softball / JP / Famicom / 1989 December 19
Love softball, hate pants. Probably wouldn't even mind so much if the most focal figure wasn't posed butt-first in the center of the frame.
Dragon Quest IV: Michibikareshi Monotachi / JP / Famicom / 1990 February 11
Akira Toriyama as a visual artist peaked, by my recognition, somewhere around '88 to '90. It would never be as good as we got from him then, but what a visual legacy. Sofia, as she's informally known since, is real important in depicting not just her own character, which has greatly diverged in subsequent portrayals, but in general for depictions of buff, built and stocky protagonist women. It almost never happens to the degree it's present here.
Yami no Shigotonin Kage / JP / Famicom / 1990 August 10
Maybe the most flimsily justified inclusion on this list, but somewhat amplified by the knowledge that Kaede and Hayate truly do have the parity in play that the box art professes: either both are in action at once, or the player can choose between them, with no mechanical differences between them. Just a nice thing.
Magical Kids Doropie / JP / Famicom / 1990 December 14
A real system highlight from a developer that did much to define its outer curiosities. The development process sounds pretty troubled, though:
Some developers had an opinion that "NES is for boys" and objected to having a girl as the protagonist of the game. The rest of the game's staff told the character designer that most video games during its release had male characters as protagonists because players couldn't relate to female protagonists as playable characters.
Reassuring creative environment!
Fushigi no Umi no Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water / JP / Famicom / 1991 March 15
The first of the boatloads of
Nadia-derived licensed games, even though there was nothing to the longevity of the material except the one TV series. I guess even back then Gainax were proficient at merchandizing what they had.
Itadaki Street: Watashi no Omise ni Yottette / JP / Famicom / 1991 March 21
The inaugural game in the virtual board game series, sometimes known as
Fortune Street in English on the rare occasions it turns up. Most or all of the playable characters here appear to be girls, and so is the presenter or host.
Gorby no Pipeline Daisakusen / JP / Famicom / 1991 April 12
A once-in-a-lifetime confluence of political factors and timing, this game sees the player, farcically or not, fostering the improvement of Japanese-Soviet relations through constructing a pipeline between the nations via the context of a puzzle game. While Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev is eponymously featured, the player character(s) are a pair of girls clad in Russian national costume, cheerfully building the pipe of dreams aided by one another's coordination.
Chibi Maruko-chan: Uki Uki Shopping / JP / Famicom / 1991 October 4
Another beginning to a licensed dynasty,
Uki Uki Shopping features Maruko and friends in a board game making full use of the series's easily recognizable art style.
Chitei Senkō Bazolder / JP / Famicom / 1991 November 15
One of the shining stars of multi-genre innovation and experimentation on the system, and a fantastic cover to go with it. Known by the evocative and slightly distressing WURM moniker elsewhere.
Monster Maker: 7-tsu no Hihō / JP / Famicom / 1991 December 20
There's so much to say about
Monster Maker that seems in direct contrast to how inaccessible it feels from behind a language barrier. A very prolific series for a number of years that always had a consistent aesthetic and as seen here, prominently featured women, but that seems almost invisible in any English-language space it might come up in. It's a damn shame.
Mahō no Princess Minky Momo: Remember Dream / JP / Famicom / 1992 July 29
Bow down to the queen. Minky Momo is one of the most (in)famous magical girls who ever took up a candy-coloured sceptre, and she's here to assert her dominance. This is a tie-in to the early '90s second TV series that revived the series after nearly a decade-long absence.
Double Moon Densetsu / JP / Famicom / 1992 October 30
An RPG for the system where you do not play as the portrayed woman, but as her twin brother seeking her during his travels. An arresting illustration, regardless.
Yōsei Monogatari Rod Land / JP / Famicom / 1992 December 11
A mega-cute game about a pair of fairies on a mission to rescue their captive mother from imprisonment in a succession of towers.
Ai Sensei no Oshiete: Watashi no Hoshi / JP / Famicom / 1993 March 26
A throwback to the Disk System glory days, perhaps, this more-app-than-game involves astrology-based fortune-telling and features a cover that's probably more exciting than the content itself.
Puyo Puyo / JP / Famicom / 1993 July 23
Again, it seems almost unfair to just casually brush up against the colossal entity that is
Puyo Puyo, in passing. For what it is, this early port is a little calmer is composition than the series usually goes.
Nakayoshi to Issho / JP / Famicom / 1993 December 10
It's beholden to a factual chronology, but still the best might have been saved for last.
Nakayoshi to Issho is a crossover RPG featuring characters from the pages of
Nakayoshi magazine, a
shōjo manga publication that at the time was riding high on its
Sailor Moon coverage, and so features that series among several others in this RPG mix. I love everything about the presentation and concept here.
~~~
~Bonus Round~
This is one of the weirdest and coolest discoveries I've had the opportunity to make in looking at hundreds upon hundreds examples of video game box art. Namco was one of the earliest, and most prolific Famicom developers, and their game boxes developed a particular style in the visual design that anyone could make out from the rest; a very effective piece of branding. They also employed regular artists for the box art, the previously discussed Hiroshi Fujii among them. In his body of work, the Namco port of
Side Pocket and its cover starts a fascinating trend that goes on for over a year in the sports/recreation line of games: that of a central, mascot-like representative figure, a brunette ponytailed woman. I have no idea if this character is named anywhere, or if her existence is even acknowledged by any of the surrounding material... but there she is, wearing as many hats over the years as Namco made games about. In addition to being just plain charming of a visual continuity, Fujii's inimitable aesthetics and techniques lend all of these covers dealing with the subject an extremely dynamic, lively atmosphere that's just a joy to behold. Overachieving game packaging in every way.
Side Pocket / JP / Famicom / 1987 October 30
Family Tennis / JP / Famicom / 1987 December 11
Family Circuit / JP / Famicom / 1988 January 6
Namco Classic / JP / Famicom / 1988 May 27
Family Pinball / JP / Famicom / 1989 March 24
~~~
By my count, this is the 20th post I've made dedicated to the exploration, curation and presentation of video game box art, so I figured I'd go a little harder with it this time. Hopefully the subject is as fun for others as it is for me to research and compile for viewing.