Can you name all the black main must-play characters in gaming? Hint: There are only eleven so far.
When I was younger, I always wondered why there weren’t more black superheroes. And, while you could ask the same question today, it also probably matters less. Today’s kids don’t dream about playing superheroes, they get to be the heroes in videogames all the time. So, that got me thinking: just how many black characters are there heading up games these days. I’m not talking about non-playable characters. And I’m not even talking about playable characters in a roster of characters you can choose between (like Street Fighter). I’m talking about the primo alpha prime you-don’t-get-no-say main playable character of the game. In other words, I wanted to find out how many times game developers have said: “You are Black. Period.” Here they are…
Moonwalker (1990) - Michael Jackson - I suppose it’s fitting that the first alpha black videogame character would be the biggest entertainer of all time. Of course, the game is a shameless attempt to capitalize on MJ’s worldwide success as a pop star. He’s also a particularly safe choice, being among the folks that Pino calls “Black but not really black” in Spike Lee’s classic Do the Right Thing. Still, what other beat-em-up insists that you take out enemies by dancing them to death? At least that’s a first.
Shaq Fu (1994) - Shaquille O’Neal - Another fighting game, this time featuring a superstar athlete. Here, Shaq wanders into a kung fu dojo in Tokyo and manages to fall into another dimension (who knew?) where he has to rescue a kid named Nezu. Hilarious B-movie premise, awful implementation. Shaq Fu is known as one of the worst games ever.
Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City (1994) - Michael Jordan - A 2D platformer featuring Michael Jordan out to rescue his kidnapped teammates. Need I say more? It made Space Jam look like Shakespeare. Few were shocked when this stinker didn’t sell.
Spawn (1995) - Al Simmons - First of many Spawn games, this was one of those titles that my little brothers couldn’t stop playing and I couldn’t figure out why. It was a cookie-cutter sidescroller, and not a very good one. Sent to hell for misdeeds in the living world, Spawn returns to Earth a kind of anti-hero, taking out the bad guys in the most brutal ways imaginable. Though he’s definitely an interesting character, it’s too bad that the hyperviolent Spawn had to be the first black comic character to cross over to videogames considering all the alternatives.
Akuji the Heartless (1998) - Akuji - Here come the voodoo stereotypes! You are Akuji, a young voodoo priest bent on taking out his murderous brother. Experience the “violent and sensual world of voodoo” first hand! Eeks. It’s a 3rd-person Tomb Raider style action adventure, but with extra evil. Seems like dark story means dark skin.
Shadow Man (1999) - Michael LeRoi - LeRoi is a reformed bad guy. He’s also a reformed living person. Existing between the land of the living and the dead, he’s slave (ugh) to a voodoo priestess who must collect Dark Souls and prevent the formation of an army of the damned. Like Spawn, this guy does evil to do good. If you can get over all that, this comic-derived game is pretty fun.
Blade (2000) - Eric Brooks - Yet another black character that walks between the land of the living and the dead, at least Blade didn’t do anything particularly bad to end up there. He’s a half-vampire head-cracking badass that protects the polite society from the vampire underground. I can dig it (even though the game is awful). Still, when you’ve got demons, when you’ve got evil, you need something almost as bad to deal with them. And, at least in the popular media (and in the last 4 titles in this list), that almost-as-bad seems to mean a black man. Thankfully, that changed in 2003…
Beyond Good & Evil (2003) - Jade (see image up top) - Did we really have to wait until 2003 for the first (and only) original IP involving a black woman to hit the videogame scene? BG&E was one of the finest games of the year and, sadly, also one of the most overlooked. For those who played it, Jade’s adventures in war-torn Hillys managed to find fun in an impressive array of play styles (stealth, action, photo snapping, hovercraft racing) while telling a story that cleverly explores the power of citizen journalism. It’s special stuff.
Men of Valor (2004) - Dean Shephard - It’s fitting that the first AAA Vietnam War title from Medal of Honor publisher Vivendi Universal developer 2015 would feature a black lead considering the disproportionately high number of blacks in the real war. Sadly, the game isn’t quite as polished as its WWII counterparts, but it’s still good news to see a big name publisher put a black face on the front cover of a big name franchise.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004) - Carl Johnson - The final installment of the GTA 3 series is a special game, but not only because of its variety of play styles or expansive environments or numerous voice cameos. The big overlooked reason San Andreas matters is that this was the first time that a AAA series chose a black protagonist and nobody batted an eye. It wasn’t a topic of conversation, it just was. And, for all the potential for stereotyping the “hood” environment offered up, Rockstar North never quite took the easy road. Impressed.
Marc Ecko’s Getting Up (2006) - Coltrane Crowley - Not the first game to feature graffiti writing as a central game element, Marc Ecko’s initial foray into “culturally savvy gaming” is quite possibly the worst. Though it fell flat, it did place a black man at the center of the exploding graffiti subculture. Is it respect or did Ecko make him black because being black is “edgy”? You decide.
Dishonorable Mention:
Final Fantasy 7 (1997) - Barret Wallace - Barret doesn’t exactly fit the criteria for this list. You must play him in the game, but he’s not the central playable character. The reason I mention him is that he is party to the single most beloved title in one of the biggest franchises in videogame history (certainly the biggest franchise mentioned here). The problem, of course, is that he’s an ignoramus who can’t manage to speak or behave property. Imagine all the worst qualities of Mr. T.
So, there you have it. 16 years have given us 11 alpha prime videogame stars who happen to be black, some a good deal more respectable than others. Why haven’t we seen more? A friend in the game industry suggested that one reason is that there are very nearly zero black folks making games. That needs to change because, frankly, I’m pretty damn sure there are a good deal more than zero black folks playing games. Here’s hoping the next 16 years see us better represented than the last.
What do you think? Did I miss someone? Leave a comment and let it be known.
Visit the follow-up post Race in Games: The Unanswered Question
Extended List: Thanks to everyone who gave additions to the list in comments! Those that seem to meet the must-play main character criteria are:
- 25 to Life (2006) - Freeze
- 50 Cent: Bulletproof (2005) - 50 Cent
- Bad Boys: Miami Takedown (2004) - Marcus Burnett & Mike Lowrey
- Bad Day LA (2006) - Anthony Williams
- Bebe’s Kids (1994) - the kids
- Boxing (1980) - the black boxer
- Catwoman (2004) - Catwoman
- Cyborg (1987) - no name?
- Daley Thompson’s Decathlon (1984) - Daley Thompson
- Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard (1998) - Cyrus
- Frank Bruno’s Boxing (1985) - Frank Bruno
- Interstate 82 (1999) - Taurus
- L.A. Rush (2005) - Trikz
- Sanity: Aiken’s Artifact (2000) - Cain
- The Scorpion King (2002) - Mathayus
- SiN (1998) and sequels - John Blade
- True Crime: NYC (2005) - Marcus Reed
- Unreal II (2003) - John Dalton
- Urban Chaos (1999) - D’arci Stern
- Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style (1999) - Wu-Tang Clan
Supporting or “share the spotlight” must-play characters:
- Eternal Darkness (2002) - Michael Edwards
- Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy (2005) - Tyler Miles
- Killer 7 (2005) - Garcian
PS: I removed Tiger Woods PGA Tour and Ken Griffey Baseball because, although they are the cover athletes, you are not required to play those characters in-game (at least from what I’ve read). I removed Guild Wars Nightfall because, while it is set in an Africa-inspired world, it appears you can make a character that looks however you want. I removed Jurassic Park 2, Streets of Rage and Crackdown per comment by Jerry X.
I think you forgot Eddie Gordo from Tekken and Michael Edwards from Eternal Darkness.
Not lead characters, but playable.
Hey, DC. I know Gordo but not Edwards (never got around to ED). Thanks for pointing them out.
In order to narrow things a bit, this list focuses on characters that are the only playable in a game. If I hadn’t done that, the list would have been a good deal bigger. But that’s a good thing! :-)
Mike Tyson Punch out?
rmo rmo: Is there a version where Tyson is the major playable character in the game? I haven’t seen that version, but I may have missed it…
In Jurassic Park 2 for the SNES, you are an unnamed black dude when you play 2-player. Kind of a stretch… But there it is.
Maybe you forgot 50cents in his own game…
You also forgot Tiger Woods in all the EA sports golf franchise.
Finally I think your list is shit…
Wait, Jade is black? I thought she was ambiguously tanned. ICBW.
Oh, and Tyler Miles from Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit was a black protagonist. One of three, but still a forced-to-play main character.
Weefz: I always thought of Jade as black, but it’s interesting that some wonder. Could she a be a head nod to a multiracial future? Probably impossible to know without hearing from Uibsoft Montpellier direct. Without her, the list is a bit sad female-wise, so I like having her around. :-)
BTW, I’m collecting these additions: Tiger Woods, 50 Cent Bulletproof.
Jurassic Park 2, Indigo Prophecy, and Eternal Darkness seem a little more borderline based on what you folks said, but maybe there should be another category for “supporting character” playables.
Any more?
And what about the Bad Boys 2 movie - based game? We have 2 heroes there :]
Aha! Thanks, Byru. I hadn’t heard of that one. Looks pretty awful, but then aren’t most licensed games? Plus, it’s got two playable black characters in the lead! Is that a first?
I think it’s a shame that it’s almost always either an existing black celebrity or a bad stereotype. There are hardly any original characters in video games that are black. This has something to do with the fact that in Japan, it’s only cool to be light-skinned.
I know 1080 Snowboarding had a black snowboarder, and he was actually really good, but his name escapes me now. I remember seeing an article a while back in a videogame magazine about the lack of black characters, period; they mentioned Barret just because he’s one of the few notable examples, and they talked about how terribly stereotypical his character was. Even worse, looking at this list, there isn’t a single black woman. Fighting games at least are lately full of girls, but they usually have either 0 or 1 black women… I think Killer Instinct had 1, but I don’t remember any from other series.
Anyways, I digress. Great article, and don’t listen to all the trolls in these comments.
Thanks for the comments and kind words, Montoya! When you just look at original characters, the list does get pretty lean. There’s Dean Shepheard, Carl Johnson, and Jade.
I’d love to know what magazine that is if you happen to dig it up. One reason I wrote this entry is that I couldn’t really find a good list of black folks in games anywhere. Only bits and pieces places like G4, UGO and the SF Chronicle.
The only black woman major playable character in a game I know of is Jade from BG&E (image at the top of this page). But, as some of the posters pointed out, her ethnicity is in some dispute. Without her, it looks like you’re right. Zero black female stars. Sad.
BTW, I’d hoped that Valve would give Alyx Vance a leading turn in Half Life 2: Episode 1 since she was on the cover, but no dice. Here’s hoping we see that before the series is done.
You can’t forget the paladin archetype from Diablo 2. He was black.
Nice article, although you must have subconsciously blacked out (no offense) the protagonists of such classically unplayable dreck as Urban Chaos, Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style, American McGee Presents American McGee’s Bad Day LA and Bebe’s motherfuckin’ Kids.
Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City
Haha… this was a game!
What about Shaq ? Shaq-Fu anyone ?
Alyx (Half-Life 2)
What about Shaq in the classic game Shaq-Fu?
Hi
and what about the caracter of the game : SiN and SiN episode 1 emergence.
He’s blackk too. :)
What about cole train in gears of war?
Dont forget Tyler Miles in Fahrenheit. 3 main characters and he is one.
What about Marcus Reed from True Crime: NYC
Unreal II, John Dalton the main character is black, it’s shown on the box art as well…fo shame! how could you leave him out.
pfffft. where’s jax from mortal kombat?
how street fighter the jamacain guy.
What about Moby from the SSX franchise?
Shaquile O’Neal in Shaq-Fu on the Megadrive
Streets of rage series in segaa genesis
Streets of Rage 1
Adam Hunter
Streets of Rage 2
Skate Hunter
Streets of rage 3
Skate Hunter
Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball!
how about BD Joe from Crazy Taxi?
How could you leave Skate Hunter out of Streets of Rage!?
Blade was a poor video game
What about Elder Scrolls - Red Guard (can’t remember his name)
and The Longest Journey - Dreamfall (Kian)….
Sooo, in other words, according to all the comics, this list is entirely incorrect and built on specious claims.
D’oh. Good point, Kasa. I totally forgot about John C. Blade from SiN and SiN Episodes: Emergence. He’s definitely black and the only playable main character.
OTOH, you never actually see him in-game. You can say that for most FPS, though.
No relation to Blade the half-vampire.
I agree with Montoya. Even the characters from the Vietnam game and GTA San Andreas are a bit of a let-down, since the content of the games is so violent, and they are so squarely representative of the particular environments the games are set in.
That leaves Jade, and I have to say, I didn’t think she was black either. Maybe that’s just my ingrained white bias creeping up on me though.
What I’d like to see is some characters like Sam Wilson in Warren Ellis’s ‘Ultimate Nightmare‘ (Marvel Comics). He’s not ‘from the ghetto’, no criminal past, not a local community leader that helps young (black) people with their violence+drugs problems … his superhero name isn’t ‘the black’ anything, or ‘the panther’ or whatever … he’s a scientist and a superhero and a fully rounded charater besides, and that’s that.
“The big overlooked reason San Andreas matters is that this was the first time that a AAA series chose a black protagonist and nobody batted an eye.”
I found the constant use of the word ‘nigger’ in GTA:SA so offensive that I stopped playing the game after a few hours. This game is NOT a positive role-model towards blacks by any means, and significantly worse than the stereotype against Italian-Americans in the previous two.
Thanks for all the suggestions, folks. Lots of characters I didn’t know about. This is great.
For additions that clearly meet the criteria, I’ve now got: Tiger Woods, 50 Cent Bulletproof, Urban Chaos, Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style, American McGee Presents American McGee’s (haha!) Bad Day LA, Bebe’s Kids, SiN and SiN Episode 1 Emergence, True Crime: NYC, and Unreal II.
Supporting or “share the spotlight” main playable characters: Jurassic Park 2, Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit, Eternal Darkness, Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball, Streets of Rage
I don’t know Elder Scrolls: Red Guard or Dreamfall: Longest Journey and I couldn’t find much on the web. Are the black characters there the central “must play” characters?
Me: I know what you mean about the N-word. It bothered me in GTA:SA, too. As for the stereotypes, I think you can either take it as offensive or as parody (the designers mocking their own stupidity rather than the characters’). It’s a fine line and I can completely understand why it would offend some. Personally, I tend think the GTA games make fun of pretty much everyone. What impresses me is that they still manage to find a way to make the main characters relatable and even sympathetic. I think that’s what sets the GTA games apart from many of the knock-offs.
Don’t forget John Madden on the box of Madden Football, and Christopher Jacobs who is one of the three playable characters in Mercenaries. Jacobs is Korean/African-American though, so I don’t know if his non-pure blood disqualifies him from your list or not. He looks black though. Discuss.
How about Torque from The Suffering and it’s sequel The Suffering: Ties That Bind?
Maury: I seem to remember Torque being black, too. But when I looked it up, I saw a screenshot and wasn’t sure. I’m perfectly open to the notion that all black folks don’t look “stereotypically black” (I remember the infamous one-drop rule) but I’m curious if they made a point to somehow indicate Torque as black. Is his ethnicity mentioned somewhere?
Remember ultra-stereotypical Superfly Johnston, one of the many bad ideas in the failed Daikatana game?
Tiger Woods is “cablanasian” not Black. From I know of him (indirect channels) he doesn’t have much to do with Black people so really shouldn’t be considered.
Chris: I certainly do remember Superfly. I even remember that hysterical porn parody mp3 The Laziest Men on Mars made: “Superfly’s Johnson.” ;-)
This list focuses on main playable characters and, though I never played Daikatana, my impression has always been that he isn’t playable. Is that right?
Taurus from Interstate 82 :)
Daley Thompson from Daley Thompson’s Decathlon, Trikz from L.A. Rush, Freeze from 25 to Life, Frank Bruno from Frank Bruno’s Boxing.
Also, Enter the Matrix - choice between a black and an asian… doesn’t quite meet your stringent criteria, but there you go.
Street Fighter 2 had Balrog (although DeeJay was already mentioned), Def Jam series, Marvel Ultimate Alliance has Luke Cage and Black Panther, Marvel VS Capcom has War Machine, The numerous X-Men games have Storm (including the original NES game, which had her as a playable character), XGIII has some black racers, several of the Star Wars games (Mace Windu rocks) and DOA series has Zack. Thats just off the top of my head. Far more than the 11 mentioned.
A minor, non central character, Clubber Lang was in the Rocky games. I wont go into the many many sports games with black characters, though, because it gets too numerous.
One of the two boxers in BOXING for the Atari 2600 was black. http://2600adventures.atari.org/images/screens/boxing.png
KILNA: I always wished I’d been able to play the Interstate games. Thanks for pointing Taurus out!
TNG: Awesome on Daley Thompson. That takes me back. Hadn’t seen Trikz, Freeze, or Frank Bruno, either. Great stuff. I did read up on Enter the Matrix, but skipped it for the reason you mention. It is cool that they ask you to choose between two minority women, though.
Hellmark: Thanks. In the opening, I mentioned not considering fighting games or other games that don’t require you to play the black character so I think most of the characters you mention don’t quite fit. Is Storm required in any of the X-Men games?
Fussbett: I love it! I played Boxing all the time back in the day. I’ve got Activision Anthology and Boxing is a favorite whenever it gets booted up even now. Dunno how that one slipped my mind!
Shadowman was also a Black main character, based on the comics of the same name. He was also a somewhat positive superhero that didn’t adhere to any of the usual stereotypes (unless being a Louisianan saxophone player is considered stereotypical).
I never thought of Jade as Black; like Chris Kohler wrote I always thought of her as racially ambiguous like myself (I am half filipino and half “white” with the obvious part of that being Scottish). You do pose some interesting and intelligent discussion and I commend you on it.
I’m sorry. The Shadowman I was referring to was Jack Boniface, whom the games are not based on. The main character of the Shadowman games (Micheal LeRoi) is still Black though.
Ok. Well that’s strange. I wrote this really long diatribe on Shadowman and it didn’t show up. Anyway, I originally wrote about the comics thinking that the games were close to them, but they are only loosely based on the comics.
And you already mention him. My bad. Maybe I should have read the entire article.
Hey, Chris. Sorry about your lost comment. My overzealous spam filter caught it but you should be able to see it now.
Thanks for the kind words regarding my discussion of Jade. I like the idea that she might have been designed so that players with diverse backgrounds could see themselves in her. I wonder if we could get any comment from Ubisoft Montpellier on what they were thinking as they designed the character. I know she went through a number of revisions…
Here’s an other one for your list, Emir Parkreiner a.k.a Garcian Smith of Killer7. Not only is he a playable character but almost the entire story is build around him.
Frankly I don’t care what color my character is. I mean I’m Italian/Dutch and can’t say that I feel better about playing Mario just because he suppose to be Italian too.
“Here’s hoping the next 16 years see us better represented than the last.”
This expression of hope is ambiguous. I have no quarrel with it if you’re suggesting that more blacks should pursue jobs in the game industry. But Chris Kohler interprets this blog entry to mean that you want blacks to be better represented among main characters in video games. If his interpretation is correct, then the essential question that you’ve neglected to answer is, why? I can understand why someone would argue for more black characters in television and movies, because that would create more opportunities for black actors. But more black characters in video games wouldn’t create more opportunities for blacks in game development.
Do you believe that there ought to be more black main characters because the percentage of main characters who are black is lower than the percentage of gamers who are black? If so, then you’re endorsing the fallacy that proportionate representation is a goal unto itself. Or do you want more black main characters because you can more readily identify with a main character who belongs to your race? If you’re less able to identify with a main character who isn’t black, then maybe you should consider the possibility that you’re unduly fixated on the color of a character’s skin.
Cruds: I played a bit of Killer 7, but didn’t finish it. From what I recall, you get a choice of playing any of the 7 characters. Are you ever required to play Garcian?
For additions that clearly meet the criteria, I’ve now got: Tiger Woods Golf, 50 Cent Bulletproof, Urban Chaos, Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style, American McGee’s Bad Day LA, Bebe’s Kids, SiN and SiN Episode 1 Emergence, True Crime: NYC, Unreal II, Interstate 82, Daley Thompson’s Decathlon, L.A. Rush, 25 to Life, Boxing (2600), Bad Boys 2.
Supporting or “share the spotlight” must-play characters: Jurassic Park 2, Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit, Eternal Darkness, Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball, Streets of Rage
kuerin: Thanks for your thoughtful comments. My intention in the closing was to suggest that an increased black representation in the game industry might result in more black characters. That could be overly optimistic, but it’s a thought.
My desire to see more major playable black characters in gaming derives from a long-standing desire to see myself represented in the media I consume. I tackle this subject because I know how it affected me as a kid. I loved superheroes and wanted all their attributes — other-worldly powers, strength of character, respect. And another attribute all superheroes shared back then was white skin. Did I want white skin? Not particularly. But I did wonder in the back of my head why that seemed to be a requirement for being a superhero. So, I wrote letters to comic book companies. Consider this blog entry a continuation of that tradition.
As a black kid when nearly all the movie heroes were white, you figured that career path just wasn’t open to you. When many of the black characters in movies portrayed negative stereotypes, it was damaging. In videogames, you’re not just relating to the character, you are the character.
So, I think arguing that players shouldn’t care about the color of their characters’ skin is arguing that black folks should just get used to playing white folks because, well, that’s the default. When it comes down to it, my ultimate argument is that there should be no default. I believe diversity is at the core of the future of gaming because that’s how we reach out beyond the existing audience — diversity of play styles, diversity of subject matter, and diversity of representation.
I’ve got two for you - Taurus from the Interstate 76 series (although only playable in the Nitro Riders sequel) and Drizzt from the Baldur’s Gate games.
You forgot Urban Chaos, the video game by eidos that has a black female cop as the main character. That game is awesome.
Also, don’t the Star Wars Jedi games kind of count? you can make your character black….
I actually thought of Killer 7 as I read this as well. There are elements in the game where you have to play as Garcian (In fact, you have to do the end of the second to last chapter, the entire last chapter, and the epilogue as Garcian) and he ends up being the main character in the story.
found this through wired.com. cool list so far.
i have a somewhat lame entry for you.
Blade (not the vampire) he’s a bounty hunter from the future in eternal champions for sega genesis.
Well, 12.12% of the American population, give or take, is black. So 12.12% of game characters should be as well, right?
Or is it easier to look at it from an economic viewpoint? 74.67% of the population is white, so it’s better to market to the majority than a minority? Much like you don’t see many rugby games in the US. Or much like you don’t see many female protagonists. Sure, females game, but the percentage is low compared to men, so why risk alienating men to attract the small female demographic already used to playing the opposite gender?
Or should people just not give a damn about race, as it’s insiginficant in determining much of anything. People shouldn’t worry about the skin color of the character, much like they don’t tend to care much if the main character is blond or redheaded, tall or short, etc. They’re physical characteristics which can occasionally lead to differences in upbringing, and these issues should be entirely mooted on all sides.
Try looking at the main black characters who are actually original IPs (not based on real people or characters from TV, movies and comics) and you might not even need both hands to count them.
Crackdown/Riot Act(Japanese): In the American version you play a host of genetically enhanced supercops many of which are not white and a main character (as in on the box and first choice of who you can be) who is black…
Phantom Dust: One of the supporting characters is JD, you can’t play him through the story but he is playable online…
Halo series: Sgt Johnson, not playable, pivital, and very well liked…
Sure I wish there were less stereotyped black characters in video games, we’re not all stumble bums, but what would be best is for more mixed race, one with characteristics from each race, like Jade, or hidden race characters, like Master Chief or games that let you make make your own character…
The arguements that profess white main characters cause of white majority are flawed, because thats assuming that the only market is the American one…
Here is a link to some info about urban chaos. The main character’s name was D’arci Stern. I think this game was only for PC.
http://www.answers.com/topic/urban-chaos
You forgot a big one:
Kratos from God of War.
Kratos is clearly Greek…
Several errors are in you post.
*Medal of Honor publisher is Electronic Arts, not Vivendi Universal.
*GTA 3 is neither the final installment nor is it a series. GTA 3 is one game. GTA is a series.
*Can you cite your source saying Jade in Beyond Good and Evil is black, or part black?
Edwin: Thanks for the feedback.
Medal of Honor: You’re right. I should have indicated the developer (2015) rather than the publisher was the same for Medal of Honor and Men of Valor.
GTA 3: I’m calling it the GTA 3 series largely because the “next gen” game is being called GTA 4 and the box set with GTA3, VC, and SA is called Trilogy.
Jade: I have no source on her nor most of the other characters on the list. I’m not a big fan of determining ethnicity visually but often that’s all we’ve got with videogames.
I think the Elder Scrolls series deserves an honourable mention.
While never a requirement for partaking in the game, you’ve always have the option of playing a black (redguard) character, allthough I’m not 100% sure about Arena.
Also a spinoff to the series called “Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard” (release 1998) had a set character that you had to play. His name was Cyrus and he was most certainly black (Redguard).
I dunno if she really counts, considering she’s not ACTUALLY human, but Fran from FFXII has skin dark enough that she couldn’t possibly be misconstrued as being anything but black. Her battle-thong and white voice actor notwithstanding, she pretty much defies the black stereotype; she’s not at all gangsta-riffic, and is in fact quite intelligent.
“Cruds: I played a bit of Killer 7, but didn’t finish it. From what I recall, you get a choice of playing any of the 7 characters. Are you ever required to play Garcian?”
Yeah, Garcian is the cleaner if a one of the other killers dies Garcian goes out to pick him/her up and bring them back to live. If Garcian dies the game is really game over, there is a good reason for that. The last two stages are entirely played only with Garcian. The Killer7 story is about Garcian’s life so he’s an important character for the game. I’d say he should be on your list. He’s not stereotyped in anyway, He’s a cool dude that happens to have a dark skin tone without emphasizing on it.
You should give killer7 a try again, if you still have it that is. I agree that it has award controls but once you’re used to it, the game is a total blast.
LOL @ claiming Jade from BG&E is black.
Anyway, what about Alyx from HalfLife 2, she’s half black.
Thanks for the contributions, folks. So all the additions are easier to find, I’m maintaining a regularly updated list at the end of the entry above.
Erlando: Cool. I’ve added Redguard to the list.
rowd149: I suppose Fran doesn’t quite count since she’s not human. I do appreciate the fact that she’s smart and non-gangsta, though the perpetual thong does set her back a couple notches in the role model category. ;-)
Cruds: I added Gracian up above. Yeah, I couldn’t cope with the load times and controls of Killer 7 (especially just after finishing RE4) so I sold it. The premise was intriguing, though. Who knows, I may yet get back to it during the summer release lull.
Blackfaced Kitschy Tuco: Alyx doesn’t fit because she’s not playable. I really hope Valve changes that before HL2 is done, though.
If the Wu made it than those DefJam wrestle games are valid too and maybe Parappa the Rapper. Ok I admit he looks a bit yellowish but he sure can flow so I would give him the benefit of the doubt :P
Jason, in some of the Xmen Games, there are portions where Storm is required.
How about Dan from Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike?
If you’re considering 100% completion of the game and not just the minimum requirements to “finish” it, then in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance Storm, Luke Cage, and Black Panther are all characters you must play as (everyone in the game is except Nick Fury and Silver Surfer.)
Hehe I thought that Gordon Freeman from HL2 was black until I read this discussion and looked a little closer at the picture on the box. Frankly, I still think he could pass for black as easily as Alyx. (though that retarded “one-drop” thing apparently applies(?)) Also it seems like black characters are accepted in realistic roles only if their skin-tone is damn pale. Seems that way in politics too with Condi, Barak, and Colin Powell (who I didn’t even realize was considered black until the media spammed that he was the first black secretary of state). I agree with your main point, but this racial ambiguity (like Jade) is pointing out the fact that “race” is practically meaningless biologically. It’s like arguing whether or not aquamarine is really blue, or really green, or if mauve is red or purple. “Race” is an illusion continued on, in part, by society’s inability to understand the facts of genetics. If we apply the “one-drop” rule to everyone, then every human on the planet is black, or african in origin, or whatever.
I always thought Kratos from God of War was Black, based on his facial structure and voice. Someone said he’s ‘obviously’ Greek, but that’s a (weak) assumption. At the time depicted in the game, many conquered peoples would then be forced to fight in their conqueror’s armies. It is very possible that Kratos is not Greek (or Spartan).
Also, the guy from The Suffering?
Not to pimp my own stuff, but my Escapist article a while back was on the lack of Black protagonists in video games. It’s not the most eloquently-written piece, but some of your readers might be interested:
Guns, Gangs, and Greed: Gaming’s Hip-Hop Diversity Gap.
The point that I find striking is how few of these are original IP: most of them are licensed from Black celebrities or other media properties.
WTF? Jade is totally white!
There are always a few black guys hanging around in the Resident Evil games.
Just wanted to point out a couple of new 360 titles that feature black main characters.
The Outfit - J.D. Tyler is one of the 3 main characters you can choose to play as.
Crackdown - Super powered bionic black policeman. You can customize him to look like whatever you want later on though.
How about these?
Riddick from:
The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
Mathayus (the Scorpion King) in:
The Scorpion King: Rise of the Akkadian (PS2)
The Scorpion King: Sword of Osiris (GBA)
You all missed a spot.
Cyborg, a Commodore 64 game from CRL, had an unambiguously must-play black protagonist. Well half-black, the other half being made of death-dealing robotic machine parts, but I’m sure he still counts.
The internet seems to tell me that it came out in 1986, but that sounds far too late to me. My recollection was that he was the first black protagonist (and I recall the game got previewed in a magazine that went defunct in 1983), but we all know the internet never lies so I must have been mistaken…
Mercy sakes, how could you overlook the Mage in Diablo and the Paladin in Diablo 2?
diablo - socerer
Let’s not forget Bald Bull in Punch Out!
Jade is very clearly Asian or of Pacific Islander descent. Her skin is vaguely yellowish in color, she has epicanthal folds on her eyes, and she has pronounced cheekbones. “Jade” is also a name very commonly associated with Asian characters and settings in video games.
I thought it was pretty obvious.
You are right, though. It is a shame that there aren’t more black leading characters in video games.
http://www.riddickgame.com/
The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay
There are many, many others not in this list.
Man, what a retarded article. There is no lack of black protagonists in this day in age nor with a lack of women protagonists. You missed so many games and people realize its not worth listing ever game with a black lead, considering there are so many of them. Probably directly proportioned to the number of black people too. So i dont see a problem.
I have been playing games my whole life and until I saw this blog entry I have not once thought about the race or sex of the character I was playing at any given time.
Is it really that important? I am a white male, a being of unimaginable evil according to some, yet I have never had any problems associating with any characters. They could be they black or white, male or female, as long as they were believable, I could “be” them.
Could you please elaborate on why it is so important? I genuinely feel as if I am missing something.
Now, I have one to add to your list. In the original Diablo, the Mage character was black. In fact, now that I think about it, he was my favorite choice when playing the game. =)
Sincerely,
Michael.
P.S. - Jade is not black. I checked very thoroughly after I read your post and I assure you she is most certainly not black. Not that it matters. =)
Geez, when they said Jade, I thought they meant Jade from Mortal Kombat (3?). The gal up top looks more Asian.
what about the new guild wars game? All the characters are African.
Dr J from that ancient EA 1-on-1 game with Larry Bird. I loved that damn game.
Thanks for all the contributions, folks! Just a reminder that the list only includes characters that are the main must-play character in a game so most fighting games and rpgs that give you a choice don’t quite fit. You can find all the additions at the end of the main entry above.
Michael Teplitsky: I think my response to kuerin pretty much captures my thinking on the subject. Hope that helps.
scralpha: Could you have a look to my reply to Maury above? If you could help answer that question, it would be great.
Thomas: I actually read your bit in The Escapist when it hit originally, but I’d forgotten about it. Great stuff. Thanks for the reminder.
You also forgot the perennial supporting black character, the black guy who is the player’s only link to Command in Freespace 2. Sure, all he does is bark orders and take credit for your Triple Ace skills, but when was the last time anyone had a boss that didn’t do that?
First off I would like to thank Jason for writing this and congradulate him for getting recognized. Unfortunately this discussion is rooted in a much deeper issue. An issue that no one wants to talk about anymore becuase it is hard to deal with. The worst thing about this is that the people who actually have the power to change it aren’t the people who are affected by it. Don’t understand? Let me paint you a picture.
A kid is born with a facial deformity. He’s a really nice kid and his parents love him to death. They tell him everyday of his life that it doesn’t matter what he looks like he can do anything he wants. His self esteem is boosted as much as humanly possible. But he still notices people staring. He gets more and more self concious of the fact that people look at him a little differently. No one ever says anything to his face, but after a while he knows. People don’t want him around because he looks different. Everyone says “No one should treat you differently because of what you look like” but they DO! The worst part is that it is unspoken. No one else knows about it. He tries to tell other people, but they just say he is paranoid.
Do you see the delema? Whenever a black person cries racism now everyone jumps on him and says he’s being paranoid. I’m not asking anyone to do anything about it. I just want people to stop ignoring it. Pretending like it doesn’t exist anymore. Sure, we are better off than we were, but I feel like we stopped growing when we hit “good enough”. And by good enough I mean people wont say it to your face, they just give you a dirty look. The majority doesn’t see it, or doesn’t want to see it but it is there.
Let me stop right here just to mention I don’t think being African American is anything like having a facial diformaty(sp?). I am just using the analogy to say he looks different.
Ok, here is the part where I bring this back to video games. the message I got from Jason’s article was that there needs to be more positive, non-stereotypical characters in PROMINENT video games. I see a long (and getting longer) list of video games that had Black characters in them, but most of them I have never heard of or they sucked (note the word MOST) in some cases I am going to assume both. I would like to see some major titles come out with a character that is just black. For no reason. You know what I think would be awesome? If at the end of HALO3 the MASTER CHIEF took off his helmet and he turned out to be a black dude. For me, it would be almost as awesome as finding out Samus was a woman.
There it was, I submit myself before the comment paranas…
Oh, I also thought Jade was black, but upon further inspection she could just be French… I mean the game was made by Ubisoft… Which is French, no? Not that it acutally matters. I like the fact that she is ambiguous so you can let your eyes choose.
While I thought the article was generally rather silly, the picture offered as ‘OMG, black!’ is even sillier. I haven’t played ‘Beyond Good and Evil’, I imagine most people saying ‘OMG! Notblack!’ haven’t either. That was my first inclination as well, looking at the box art offered. However, it becomes pretty obvious from looking at an in-game screenshot thanks to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Beyond_Good_and_Evil_-_Jade_-_05.jpg
Rather high chance for either African or Middle-eastern descent, anything else is unlikely from facial structure, et cetera.
There have been plenty of black leading characters in games, more than a few of which haven’t been braindead stereotypes (and to be fair, there are lots of braindead stereotypes and lots of braindead games, especially since 99% of PC games are just bad console ports), saying there have only been 11 in the history of all of gaming just appears to be extremely inflamatory. I’m a black woman, and honestly, race makes no difference to me in video games. Though, I’d like to see more non-idiotic/non-stereotypical women in games (Tomb Raider just sets me into a rage), race hasn’t been a significant factor for me in playing any particular games. While this provides a lot of hype, and gets some people into a fervor, it seems that people should be talking more instead about why games have become so brain-dead and boring in this console-centric area, and whatever happened to innovative (let alone graphically interesting) and playable PC games, particularly by major publishers?
Releases like Rainbow Six: Vegas, Need for Speed: Carbon, and Battlefield 2142 are shining examples of botched console ports that go about things in all of the wrong ways. Race in games might be a more poignant argument if any ‘meaningful’ games were being released, instead of a thousand cookie cutter games, and ten thousand console ports.
And people can argue all they want that consoles are ‘OMG TERRIFIC!’, but it still comes down to lack of originality, and that the lack of thought put into most games is really bringing everything else down (apparently, independent releases for OSX excluded, there are just tons and tons of good games for that platform, sadly).
John Dalton from Unreal 2, and the stars of that tank game from a black game studio that came out in the 90’s.
How about the horrible game “Catwoman” based on the bad movie with Halle Berry.
http://www.ea.com/official/catwoman/catwoman/us/
I usually play black redheaded women in MMORPGs. Not because of racial preference but because it looks good.
Also, do not forget Deus Ex where the player could choose skin color and most of the choices were non-caucasian.
I wager that more people on Earth care less about color than a self-conscious colored might think. I dated a girl periodically for a whole year before realizing that she was 1/4 african (and I’m north european).
“It seems that people should be talking more instead about why games have become so brain-dead and boring in this console-centric area, and whatever happened to innovative (let alone graphically interesting) and playable PC games, particularly by major publishers?”
Ain’t we doing that enough? I know I do, not really PC games but games in general. I thought this threat was fun because it requires to sit back and think about all the games you have played in the past. I still check back regularly to look what people came up with and what games I did forgot about. The discussion or Jade is black or not is of lesser importance to me.
If you like to see more non-idiotic/non-stereotypical women in games and are concerned about originality and graphic style I suggest to pick up a copy of Beyond Good & Evil. I know she has a pig as friend which is kinda odd but other than that there is not much bad stuff that can be said about this game. Dunno or it’s availably on PC tho.
Wasn’t there a guy in Double Dragon? Or am I making that up?
Although it seems like this topic has been beaten to death I’ll through my hat in.
For the most part race doesn’t play any part in what kind of game I play. But there are times that I won’t play a game that has what seems like a focus on black on black crime. I think it was a game called “Streets of N.Y.” and the first few scenes was of a black character shooting and getting shot at by other blacks in the game. Also the Marc Ecko game struck me in this way.
And did some one in a post prior to mine refer to Black people as “coloreds”? Did any else catch that!?
There is a great deal more I can say on this issue but il try to keep it short.
Personnally i think the lack of leading black character’s in today’s game industry is appalling. Great games like warcraft 3: frozen throne where not 1 black character can be found. Then SOME of the white players for years who are used to seeing their own kind on screen with the odd coloured exceptions turn round and say “whats the problem?”. Well for those finding it hard to understand, try this imagine warcraft 3 or dungeon seige 2 with only black characters. Infact imagine all your old and new favourite games with 99% of the characters being just black especially the respectable ones left with just 1% for the white characters who are just barely noticeable background characters. (get the idea of whats wrong, now?)
Now take the opposite of that mentioned above and you will find that
this is how many of today’s games refelect the other races black, latino…… I have rarely seen an indian character except in prey and 1 or 2 others.
What iam saying is that games containing a decent mixture of races would be more appreciated by most players than those games which have only a single race. As it shows respect for their race’s existence and allows you to better relate to the game’s world if not the main character.
I feel that deus ex deserves mentioning as it gave the player the option of choosing the skin colour of your character which also affected your brother who was just as important. Although it didn’t feature an overdose of races each character from the respective race stood out Smuggler, Tracer Tong…..
RY
What about all those games that get rebranded for release in African markets? Twisted Metal Black, Ninja Gaiden Black, Need for Speed Most Wanted: Black Edition, etc.
I can tell you that Avandre Varick from the 1999 Splatterpunk, text-game thriller “Chicks Dig Jerks” is both the player character and an African-American.
http://www.wurb.com/if/game/367 for more info.
Ranyen, saying that 99% of all old and new games feature white characters is wrong. This is only your RACIST assumption. In the earlier days of gaming, things were very ambiguous before the aryan takeover. Who’s to say what race is under Mr. Do’s clown makeup? Under the helmets of the NARC cops? Inside the Pole Position cockpit? Beneath the Wizard of Wor spacesuits? Assuming it’s a white person (or a MALE person) tells us a lot about you. Plus you’re flat out denying the obviously asian Pacman and Ms. Pacman, the native american (or as you say, “Indian”) Winky from Venture, and the likely Sicilian mixed heritage of Mario, just to name a few.
Some of that list is downright embarrassing. Shaq-Fu? Come on! Awful.
The claw in Tempest was also Asian. I think that’s pretty clear if any of you look at it again. Fun fact: if you play Tempest for an hour your right hand will begin to assume a claw form due to hitting the “shoot” button thousands of times. Thus, Tempest is the first game to actually *turn you into* your in-game avatar. An honor it kept to itself when a late rev to Frogger removed the end-of-level French lessons. Bon sang!
The Wu Tang Clan had their own videogame now, don’t forget them
Playing as a black character in Jurassic Park 2 and Streets of Rage is entirely optional, and (sadly) it’s not even the default option. Also, while the black character in Crackdown is featured prominently in the game’s advertising, he’s still just one of several user-selectable avatars (like the black merc in Mercenaries).
They need more leading black women, wait I don’t think they have in in videogames. That’s really a shame I agree.
What about black women? or latina women? or women period?
I hope people get ready for the timesplitters I make, hopefully 4, because the main character is gonna be black.
*Ugh* I can’t believe how so many of you have ignored that fact that the article focuses on black “lead protagonists” not optional side characters such as the characters many of you have mentioned.
Well all of ya’ll have seem forgotten Sanity: Aiken’s Artifact which featured the voice of Ice-T as the main character (Agent Cain). THat needs to be added as well.