Mershiness's Top Ten BABs In Gaming

These are Mershiness's Top Ten BABs In Gaming ranked for Ed Bellis's What Would You Do.

Top 10 BABs In Gaming
We all remember our first time playing through the original Super Mario Bros. Stomping on enemies, jumping over gaps, and eventually reaching Bowser’s castle to rescue Princess Peach. Although she was little more than a plot device in her gaming debut, Peach has since gone on to become one of the most iconic females in all of gaming, along with many other damsels-in-distress. But what about the other types of females? No, not the annoying lolis from JRPGs. I’m talking about the strong, independent, kick ass females. A Bad ass *****. A BAB. Just what is a BAB? I’d define a BAB as a female character who doesn’t need a man to survive. A female who can fight for herself. These women are as deadly as they are beautiful, and they shatter the damsel-in-distress stereotype the we gamers see all too often into smithereens, and do so with utmost conviction.

10. Rouge the Bat (Sonic Adventure 2)

Kicking off our list is, in my opinion, the best female character in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. Before Sonic Adventure 2, there was only one female character of importance in Sonic’s world: Amy Rose. Amy Rose is most definitely not a BAB, seeing as how her entire character revolves around her love for Sonic. With no signs of a strong independent female in sight, it was Rouge’s duty to become the series’ one and only BAB. And she succeeded. At her debut, Rouge was presented as the rival of Knuckles the Echidna. Pound for pound, she stayed on Knuckles’ heels throughout the entire story, even providing a match in combat. It’s surprising for any character to rival Knuckles in fighting prowess, and the fact that a female was doing it made it even more impressive. Rouge is sexy and she knows it, and she isn’t afraid to utilize her sexuality as a weapon.

9. Vanessa Lewis (Virtua Fighter 4)

Vanessa Lewis is a playable character from the Virtua Fighter series. She lands this spot for one reason: She is the only female fighting game character I’ve ever seen who actually looks like she can do the things she does. Every other fighting game I’ve ever played has skinny, short girls smacking around 7 foot giants like it’s nothing. Vanessa, on the other hand, is incredibly fit and muscular, and at the same time incredibly sexy. She looks like she could really beat some ass.

8. Sheena Fujibayashi (Tales of Symphonia)

I’m honestly surprised that I’m putting a JRPG character on this list. While most JRPG females fall into either the “love interest with no personality” or “annoying loli” category, Sheena’s one of the few who manages to stand on her own two feet. Although she IS an optional love interest for Lloyd, the canon storyline never portrays her as being dependent on men. When you first encounter Sheena, she is an assassin, determined to kill Colette. She eventually joins your party for reasons I won’t spoil, and manages to be an effective melee character as well as having the ability to summon spirits with devastating power. Sheena manages to be vital to the plot of ToS without being a love interest, and that’s what lands her the spot on this list.

7. Ayane (Dead Or Alive 2)

Ayane is one mean chick. The product of Raidou raping Kasumi’s mother, Ayame, Ayane was born with red eyes and purple hair. She’s seen as an outcast to her clan because of this, and grew up in her half-sister Kasumi’s shadow. When Kasumi abandons the clan and becomes a rogue ninja in search of their brother, Hayate, Ayane is one of several ninja sent on a mission to kill her. In terms of power, Ayane easily outclasses every single staple charcter of the series other than Hayate and Ryu Hayabusa himself. Combine this power with her stone-cold personality, Ayane is indeed a badass, and is most definitely a *****.

6. Ada Wong (Resident Evil 2)

I give credit to any RE series female, because I’m a guy and I know I’d be scared ****less a zombie-outbreak scenario. So what puts Ada Wong above the likes of Jill Valentine and Rebecca Chambers? To put it simply, the lack of showing fear. While Rebecca and Jill do manage to kick some zombie ass, it’s evident the entire time that they’re scared as hell. Ada, on the other hand, shows no signs of fear, and never loses sight of her absolute mission. Also, I’ve got a thing for asian chicks.

5. Ivy Valentine (Soul Calibur)

Ivy Valentine is the son of Cervantes, one of the scariest characters in the Soul Calibur series. After just one look at this *****, you can tell she means business. She’s dressed like a bondage slave and wielding a crazy sword-whip… thing. She has the personality of a merciless killer, as evident by her overall demeanor in her pre-match taunts and vistory stances. I’m not too knowledgeable on the storyline of the Soul Calibur series, but it doesn’t take a genius to know this chick is mean.

4. Lara Croft (Tomb Raider)

Ah, Lara Croft. One of the most iconic characters of the PS1 genre. Lara originally gained notoriety for her large… assets. Behind these jugs lie a fierce and powerful woman who shows no fear, no matter what the situation. Lara considers venturing into tombs full of dangerous creatures in search of ancient relics to be an every day activity. Armed with a sexy british accent, an asernal of firearms, and more breast than you shake a stick at, Lara easily earns her spot on this list.

3. Baiken (Guilty Gear)

Baiken… where to start? The first thing you’ll notice about this woman is that she completely throws sexuality out the window. I mean, she’s missing an arm. However, rather than mope around in depression after the loss of this arm, she decides to turn it around for the better and utilizes her vacant sleeve as a storage compartment for several of her weapons. Honestly, Baiken might as well be a man. But she isn’t. And that is awesome.

2. Nina Williams (Tekken)

Ask any fan of fighting games to name a couple badass female fighting game characters, and you’ll likely hear this girl’s name rather quickly. Nina Williams is an assassin who’s set on several missions to kill different targets over the series. In addition to being one hell of a markswoman, she’s incredibly skilled in hand-to-hand combat. I must say, Nina is one of the most dangerous characters in the entire Tekken series, and when you’re being stacked up against the likes of True Ogre and Devil Jin, that’s really saying a lot. Plus she totally owns her inferior sister, Anna, at every opportunity she gets, and that’s awesome.

1. Samus Aran (Metroid)

I’m pretty sure this was expected. Samus Aran is one of the only two characters of this list who is the main character of her own series. So what puts her above Lara Croft? Well, Metroid is one of Nintendo’s most successful franchises, whereas Tomb Raider has completely fallen off the face of the Earth. The original Metroid led you to believe that Samus was a man throughout the entire game, until the final scene where she removed her suit, and the player learned that they were playing as a woman the entire time. Since then, the fact that Samus is a woman has become more and more apparent, and along with it her status as one of the sexiest women in all of gaming. Despite being hot as hell, Samus has never had a hint of a love interest, which not a lot of characters can say. Here’s hping her and Snake hook up in the Subspace Emissary.

So there you have it: The top ten BABs in gaming. You may agree, you may not. This is just my feelings. I’m dragging this out pretty long so that Bellis will consider it a paragraph. I think this is enough. Cool.