LGBTQ+ characters have been in video games longer than you might think.
It’s become more common for queer people to be portrayed in all kinds of media over the years, and games are no different. At this point, a game with good LGBTQ+ representation isn’t really newsworthy. This is more or less what you’d expect from a game with a lot of different romance choices or characters.
But this hasn’t always been the case. In the early days of video games, this wasn’t even close to usual. Some of the reason why queer characters are treated less controversially in new games is because of how they were portrayed in the past. The question is: who were the first gay characters in past games?
Le Crime Du Parking – Paco
Paco, a character in 1985’s Le Crime Du Parking, is the first known case of a gay character in a video game. This was a French puzzle game where stories were mostly told through words and simple pictures.
Paco falls into one of the most common stereotypes about queer characters in media, which is that he is the bad guy. Even though Paco may not be exactly as he seems in the game, at least he is an important part of the story; he is not only the main bad guy, but also a tailor and a trader.
Super Mario Bros 2 – Birdo
Birdo, a character from the Mario series who first showed up in Super Mario Bros. 2 in 1988, is one of the most well-known, gay characters in video games. Nintendo does not show Birdo in the best way when it comes to how it represents people.
Birdo is said to “think he is a girl” and would much rather use the name Birdetta in the game’s manual, which was a much more popular way to tell stories in the early days of video games. Even though it was meant to be mean, this shows that Birdo is a transgender woman. Birdo’s gender identity hasn’t been talked about much in later Mario games, but she has been in a lot of spin-off games, so she hasn’t been forgotten.
Dracula Unleashed – Alfred Horner
PC game Dracula Unleashed, which came out in 1993, is a story-based game. Another early example of a gay character in a video game. Alfred Horner, the main character, was the first openly gay character in a game to have a speaking role.
Despite this accomplishment, Alfred in the game is not the most forgiving character. He acts very strangely and desires the main character. At least it’s clear who he is, but the stereotypes he spreads are unfortunately all too common in early media portrayals of gay men.
Phantasmagoria 2 A Puzzle of Flesh – Curtis & Trevor
Phantasmagoria 2: A Puzzle of Flesh is a point-and-click horror game that came out in 1996 and has caused a lot of debate. In some places, the game was highly censored because it had explicit sexual content, and the queer content was one of the reasons for this.
The main character of the game is Curtis, who is seen to be friendly with Trevor, who is gay and works with him. As the game goes on, we see him talk to a doctor about how he feels about Trevor and tell him that he thinks Trevor might be bisexual. In the next part of the story, they almost kiss again. This makes Phantasmagoria 2 the first game with a playable character who is openly gay or lesbian.
Star Ocean: The Second Story
There is a cult classic JRPG game called Star Ocean that has stayed popular over the years. The second game in the series came out in 1998, but it has been redone and ported many times since then. In 2023, an HD-2D remake came out for the PlayStation and Switch.
You can play as either Claude or Rena in Snow Rider 3D. Claude, Rena, Ashton, and Precis are all bisexual characters, since you can date different people depending on who you play as. Meanwhile, Ashton and Precis are always open, no matter who you play as.
Persona 2 – Tatsuya & Jun
With its most recent games, the Persona JRPG series has also become very famous. Some people don’t like how the more recent games in the series have any LGBTQ+ romance choices. This problem was seen as early as Persona 4, when these options were taken away.
It’s funny that this is happening because the series already has gay romance choices; Persona 2 came out in 1999. Jun, the main character Tatsuya’s best friend, is romantically interested in his friend, and later in the game, you can choose for them to have a love option.
The Sims
It’s possible that The Sims is the most popular and longest-running life simulation series in video games. One interesting thing about the series is that it has always let you make characters who are gay or lesbian.
The first Sims game, which came out in 2000, was hard to make. One thing that makers talked about a lot was whether to include gay relationships or not. It was decided to be left out, but it was still coded in, and by the time a lesbian kiss was shown in a live demo at E3 before the game came out, it was too late to get rid of the feature.
Star Wars Knights Of Tthe Old Republic – Juhani
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Even though there have been many Star Wars media releases over the years, the first character who was openly gay in all of them wasn’t established until 2003.
In Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, Juhani is a member of the party. There were bugs in the original game that made her sexuality more fluid, but after some patches, it was proven that she is only interested in female characters. This made it easy for a female main character to fall in love with the character, but Juhani has a strong romantic relationship with the female NPC Belaya even if they didn’t.