Top 10 Damsels in Distress in Games

Our Favourite Helpless Video Game Damsels

We’re all about women empowerment, but there’s always the females that need a helping hand.

There’s nothing quite like a female video game character that can kick ass, take names and make the male characters look like absolute fools. But not all female characters got the memo; there are some characters that are just begging to be saved.

I’m talking about the girls and women from video games that are painstakingly helpless. We love them and sometimes we love to hate them. Click through to see our picks of the best video game damsels in distress that we can’t help but save time and time again.

Princess Peach from the Super Mario series

Peach is princess of the Mushroom Kingdom and, when she isn’t being kidnapped by Bowser and the pesky Koopa Troop, she spends her time in her castle (being fabulous). If Peach wasn’t the damsel that she is though, we wouldn’t have Mario, the hero of many Nintendo titles. In numerous Mario games, players take on the role of Mario himself to save his beloved Peach from the evil clutches of Bowser.

Now, this isn’t to say that Peach can’t hold her own. She definitely can, making her a part-time damsel in my opinion. Have you ever come against Peach in Mario Kart or Super Smash Bros.? That girl can race and throw a punch like nobody’s business. At the beginning of her video game life though, she was a little pathetic.

Ashley Graham from Resident Evil 4

Anyone who has ever played Resident Evil 4 knows the horror that is Ashley Graham. I’m not sure what the voice casters were thinking when they made Ashley so horrifically unlikable, but if they did it on purpose they did an amazing job. I can’t think of any player who has ever cared about Ashley’s safety. In fact, most of the people I’ve watched play through the game have purposely killed her on occasion just to shut her up.

What makes her a damsel in distress and not just annoying? She can’t even climb down ladders herself. She’s constantly getting caught, and quite frankly her outfit is awful. Okay, that last thing is unrelated but needs to be said. She’s just terrible and I stand by this.

Princess Daphne from Dragon’s Lair

Princess Daphne from Dragon’s Lair acts as one of the most recognisable damsels in video game history. Daphne, daughter of King Ethelred, is in love with the game’s protagonist Dirk the Daring. After being kidnapped by the dragon Singe, Dirk must make it through the castle and slay the dragon to save his beloved.

Daphne also shows up in the other games in the series even after the two have been married and had children. She’s definitely a lot like Princess Peach, always getting kidnapped and forcing Dirk to save her, but we don’t mind really because frankly, she’s hot.

Princess Zelda from the Legend of Zelda series

Princess Zelda is so important that she got a whole damn series of games named after her. In Zelda’s very first game appearance she was kidnapped by Ganon and eventually saved by the series’ protagonist, Link. During some of the later games Zelda continues to be kidnapped, with the player taking on the mission to save her, but she often assists Link along the way.

Like Princess Peach, there are times when Princess Zelda is able to hold her own, making her one of the stronger damsels on this list. One of her alter egos (that I’m sure Super Smash Bros. players will recognise) is the character Sheik from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Princess Zelda isn’t without her secrets and definitely isn’t without the ability to punch some dudes.

Sam from Tomb Raider (2013)

Samantha Nishimura is one of the minor characters from 2013’s Tomb Raider. Sam is one of Lara Croft’s best friends (although she weirdly isn’t mentioned in the other two Tomb Raider titles) and acts as the director for the documentary that the crew are making on their search for Yamatai.

Quite early on in the game, Sam is kidnapped by a man named Mathias. After telling Mathias the story of the monarch Himiko (who is keeping everyone on the island trapped there) he believes Sam could be the key to his escape from the island. Lara spends the majority of the game trying to get Sam back from the clutches of Mathias and his followers. And she does absolutely nothing to help. Thankfully, Lara is a trained badass.

Clementine from Telltale’s The Walking Dead

There’s a fine line between damsel and child, but for the purpose of this list, we’re considering them one and the same. And Clementine is one of our favourites. She first appears in Telltale’s The Walking Dead season one when main character Lee Everett finds her alone in her tree house. She was smart enough to avoid her babysitter who had recently become one of the living dead. For the entirety of the first season, Lee is tasked with taking care of Clementine and trying to get her back to her parents in Savannah, Georgia.

Similarly to some of the other damsels on this list, Clementine isn’t always a damsel in distress. Having to grow up in the harsh world of The Walking Dead certainly forces you to be able to take care of yourself. But in season one she’s as helpless as the rest. Lee has to teach her how to shoot and give her life lessons that she keeps at the back of her mind always.

Sherry from Resident Evil 2

Speaking of little girls, let’s talk about Sherry Birkin. Sherry is one of the minor characters in Resident Evil 2. Claire Redfield encounters her in Umbrella’s laboratories underneath the Raccoon City Police Station. Sherry is the daughter of William and Annette Birkin – both of whom are M.I.A when you find Sherry, so it’s up to you to take care of her.

In fact, when you play as Claire, keeping Sherry safe is almost the entire focus of your game. Unlike the lovely Clementine, Sherry never does anything to help Claire out during her five million near-death experiences (some of which are due to Sherry’s dad being a crazed infected creature). She just sits there in her weird sailor uniform looking cute.

Kairi from Kingdom Hearts

Kairi is a main character in the Kingdom Hearts series. She is pretty freaking useless at the beginning. Not only that, but she literally breaks up a friendship because two dudes (the main characters) who are in love with her. Talk about using what you got to your advantage, am I right?

Eventually Kairi is revealed as a Princess of Heart and she trains herself to use a Keyblade so she’s able to help her friends, but up until that point she’s one of the biggest damsels there is. She may be cute, but girl needs to learn some fighting skills.

Krystal from Starfox Adventures

Krystal is a lovely vixen from Starfox Adventures. In this title she is the most recently recruited member of the team and also acts as Fox McCloud’s love interest. Panther Caroso is also madly in love with her, but Krystal clearly has eyes for Fox. During the game Krystal does have to get saved quite a few times, but when it’s Fox doing the saving there’s not much to complain about.

Krystal does have her own special set of skills with telepathic abilities that she’s able to use to help the team. She can also read thought patterns and sense distress signals. So, she’s able to hold her own on occasion, but at times she can be pretty helpless.

Mono from Shadow of the Colossus

Perhaps the most helpless damsel on this list is Mono from Shadow of the Colossus. Seeing as Mono is technically dead for the most the game, she’s pretty much as useless as you can get. The main protagonist Wander brings Mono to the Shrine of Worship to beg for her resurrection. A deal is made where Wander must defeat all of the colossi that inhabit the area in exchange for bringing her back.

Mono is Wander’s driving force for the entire game, so without her we wouldn’t have Shadow of the Colossus. But she doesn’t do any fighting, she doesn’t dance around to motivate him, she just lays lifeless at the shrine waiting for Wander to bring her back to life. Ah, young love.