I have done some research, trying to find out who were the first 5 human female protagonists in video games history. To my surprise, Lara Croft is probably the most known, but she can in 6th place, nearly losing the position to Jill Valentine by just a few months in the same year. 1. Princess Peach from Mario series (1985) 2. Samus Aran from Metroid (1986) 3. Alis Landale from Phantasy Star (1987) 4. Laura Bow from The Colonel's Bequest (1990) 5. Chun-Li from Street Fighter (1991) 6. Lara Croft from Tomb Raider (1996) 7. Jill Valentine from Resident Evil (1996) Even though Princess Peach came in first place, she was a supporting character in the Mario Bros games, and not a protagonist - though she already got my fanart picture. So the winner appears to be Samus Aran from Metroid. Ironically, Metroid players back in 1986 didn't know Samus was female until the very end of the game, but she still gets the prize. Let me know if I missed someone, and I will gladly add her to the hall of fame list. The only condition is that she has to be a human protagonist. Anthropomorphic creatures do not count, or else Ms. Pac-Man (1981) would be leading the board here. :) Image made with StableDiffusion and Affinity Photo.