The Redhead's Lament

Anything from run & guns to modern RPGs, what else do you play?
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BIL
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Re: The Redhead's Lament

Post by BIL »

BrianC wrote:That reminds me the Genpei Touma Den games and Kubiki Quantam Fighter/Jigoku Gokurakumaru also have a main character with red hair (or a wig).
Dammit! Two more obvious ones.
GaijinPunch wrote:This is a high caliber discussion.
It's really cleaning out the brain moths, I like it tbh :lol:
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Re: The Redhead's Lament

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since ape escape was brought up, everyone please play ape escape, it owns. also play 3. skip 2. two of my favorites games, ever.

i know it's not a game, but i want to bring gene starwind from outlaw star into this because outlaw star still rules okay ; A ;
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Re: The Redhead's Lament

Post by Specineff »

Um, the Fighter/Warrior and White Mage from the original Final Fantasy? :P (White mage is clearly male when it evolves into the White Wizard)

I mean, any of the six playable classes can be a protagonist, right?
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Re: The Redhead's Lament

Post by kitten »

red arremer doesn't have hair, but his... scalp is red?

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majuu ou on good end? lol

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the kid from eric chahi's heart of darkness is a redhead. it's a little weirdly toned but it's definitely a red head (you can see him standing next to a blonde in an early cutscene and he's definitely not a blonde).

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fox from contra force???

the fighter from final fantasy might as well be emblematic enough to be one of "the main characters" and "THE" main character to ssome

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the family in the legacy of the wizard i guess?

s-some ronald mcdonald games?

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the dude from makyo densetsu oh whoa whoops my 1cc video dropped out hold on let me pick that back up

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red from solatorobo. his hair is arguably brown, at times, but he wears red, is named red, and has a human form where it feels the red hair is sometimes drawn more distinctly red.

man i'm skipping so many women doing this, but i'm going to bring the girl from valis 4 up.

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the kid from energy for the pc engine? i think?



- -

i'm frankly tempted to say they're more redhead guys than blonde guys in classic jp gaming, thinking about how this thread is going. blues and browns/blacks seem most popular but a lot of those browns lean reddish. doesn't really feel under-repped in classic stuff, tbh? most of these games i'm scrolling through that i own... you're an armor or robot space ship or kirby or whatever.
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Re: The Redhead's Lament

Post by kitten »

aaaaa holy shit lol this is from the halo series director -

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while modern gaming has almost no hair at all, rest assured that HaloGuy had red hair and freckles
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Re: The Redhead's Lament

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GaijinPunch wrote:This is a high caliber discussion.
Sure is! ahahah.

Obscura has suggested BJ Blaskowicz as per his ingame portrait in Wolf3D.
I want to go ahead and discount him and Ryu simply based on the artistic vision for these characters being carried forward as non-ginge. As to whether BJ was supposed to be blonde in Wolf3D or not, I can't really say.

I apologise if this seems a bit arbitrary, but.. does it not seem like most examples in the thread are clasping at straws? when you're talking about the fur of animals, sprites that don't match the art, art that doesn't match the sprites etc. Then we have old Ryu who was corrected (thank god =O) for the rest of the games.

I want to start funnelling down, and fuck it, reveal my hand a bit.
It started with a stray thought, "huh, Adol's one of the few red haired heroes I know in games."

This is what I'm looking for really, I think that in Western games, a redheaded male cannot be considered as the main character, or otherwise heroic and capable, and dare I say, masculine. Cal Kestis is quite literally the only example so far.
Reds on the 'good team' can be well meaning or lovable, but ultimately not to be taken seriously, I come back to Ron Weasley for the archetype.
I'll give a half-point for Erik the Swift, I guess? He's not centre-stage though. He's one of the main trio of playable characters.
I know i'm being very picky right now!

I don't take some afterthought spoken by the Halo Director to be a good example either. Also he's shown as wearing a helmet forever. Therefore A: keep that shit hidden. Or B: it really doesn't matter with this character, go ahead and self insert. Also did you know Dumbledore is gay?

I'll approach the question from the JP side a bit later.

Edit: Yo Kitten's submission of Andy from Heart of Darkness... I think he fits the bill!? So we might be up to two from the West!
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Re: The Redhead's Lament

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Specineff wrote:Um, the Fighter/Warrior and White Mage from the original Final Fantasy? :P (White mage is clearly male when it evolves into the White Wizard)

I mean, any of the six playable classes can be a protagonist, right?
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Re: The Redhead's Lament

Post by FinalBaton »

Really seem like there's not much of them red heads protags. A few in japan but barely none in the west. And no, even if we have unhearted a couple in this thread, I don't think we can say there's many because if you compared them to brown and blonde hair (fuck, and even blue hair!), their number would be positively dwarfed.
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Re: The Redhead's Lament

Post by Steamflogger Boss »

M8 have you tried the Souls series by From Soft? You can give the character any color of hair. :p

As for Grandia, Justin's hair definitely shows up as Brown in game. I wonder why that is because it isn't like the PS1 has a super limited color palette.
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Re: The Redhead's Lament

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Blinge wrote:Corrected. Genes eradicated as per the master plan.
That's why I mentioned the original.
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Re: The Redhead's Lament

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Blinge wrote:Edit: Yo Kitten's submission of Andy from Heart of Darkness... I think he fits the bill!? So we might be up to two from the West!
yeah western stuff has like no redhead rep. with any manner of japanese things you get a bunch of flashy redheads (or non-human protagonists, in general), but it's dire for western games.

but who... wants to... play those c___c;

ehe.

you know, the entire call of duty: modern warfare series had a running character who is the more the protagonist of its story than even your player characters who i thought had red hair. his hair is officially listed as brown, but i genuinely thought he was a redhead up to this moment.

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looks like a redheaded scot 'stache, right? but he's apparently both british and "brown-haired." keep in mind the whole goddamn game is brown as hell, so, in context, those red tones stick out more than you'd think.

i think it's not just that there isn't redhead rep, right, now, but that there isn't rep for almost anything other than mostly-bald, gruff dudes for the last like 10 or more years. western video game characters are in a super-homogeneous rut. it's worse for redheads than other natural colors without doubt, but when i try to think of western male protagonist' hair it's just like, all i can think of is a vaguely brown and mostly shaved head.
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Re: The Redhead's Lament

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Assuming protagonist role, male, and not yet mentioned as requirements, here are a few more red/gingerheads :D

• Western-developed game (and, incidentally, western-devised character)
• Character is "taken seriously"


Lester Knight Chaykin from Another World / Out of This World and Heart of the Alien:

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Maybe also Spirou from the Spirou et Fantasio franchise (there's a handful of 16 bit-era games dedicated to the character):

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• Western-developed game (and, incidentally, western-devised character)

George Jetson from The Jetsons franchise (many games):

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Obelix from the Asterix franchise (many games):

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• Character is "taken seriously"

Arthur from the Ghosts 'n Goblins series. His overall presentation is a little comedic, so, well, arguable, maybe?
It also has to be noted that his hair tends to be a little more reddish/auburn in some interpretations of him, and more brownish in others - not sure about the exact semantics or Capcom's canon here. Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins and original Makaimura artwork side-by-side:

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Ark from Terranigma / Tenchi Sōzō:

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Maxim from the Lufia series:

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Todd Snap from Pokémon. Had his debut in the anime, and in Pokémon Snap on the N64, you assume his role from a first-person perspective. He's almost never seen in-game however, so maye he's too much in the background to be considered in this vein?

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Last, but not least, extremely serious Two Dudes from Two Crude Dudes / Crude Buster! ImageImage

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(Alternatively with morning star and cigar Image)


• Non-human

Too many to count, probably ;o
Here are a few popular ones: Fox McCloud, Crash Bandicoot, Conker, Mr. Nutz, Bowser from 'Bowser's Inside Story', Blanka, Plok (is that a hairdo?), Nymn from Tanglewood, ...

kitten: Waffle Ryebread from Tail Concerto too - although it's one of these cases where there's a substantial difference between (cover) artwork and in-game graphics.
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Re: The Redhead's Lament

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6t8k wrote:Last, but not least, extremely serious Two Dudes from Two Crude Dudes / Crude Buster! ImageImage
Great pick Image Image

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Re: The Redhead's Lament

Post by 6t8k »

I immediately had you in mind :mrgreen:
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Re: The Redhead's Lament

Post by GaijinPunch »

OH man... now we're getting somewhere!
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Re: The Redhead's Lament

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6t8k wrote:kitten: Waffle Ryebread from Tail Concerto too - although it's one of these cases where there's a substantial difference between (cover) artwork and in-game graphics.
i considered waffle, but he's usually pretty concretely brown-haired in the cutscenes (btw, did you see that someone "HD'd" those and uploaded them to youtube? here's a gif i made from one)
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Re: The Redhead's Lament

Post by GaijinPunch »

I tried to get into this series but never could. How about this?

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Re: The Redhead's Lament

Post by Mischief Maker »

Does this guy count?

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Two working class dudes, one black one white, just baked a tray of ten cookies together.

An oligarch walks in and grabs nine cookies for himself.

Then he says to the white dude "Watch out for that black dude, he wants a piece of your cookie!"
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Re: The Redhead's Lament

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No, fur definitely doesn't count. :x
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Re: The Redhead's Lament

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Japanese game, western character: Willow from - you guessed it - Willow on the CPS-1, and, while not as salient, the NES game:

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Ranma Saotome from Ranma ½ (many games) – a fun one. Now does that count, let's see here..
not at all (red hair is a feature of the female appearance), fully (female Ranma is "tied to" originally male person/at heart still identifies as being male), or ½ (criteria technically amalgamate in one person, but unfortunately only exist physically apart from one another).
Please take your pick :mrgreen:

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Perhaps getting a bit obscure all things considered, but, since it technically fits all criteria, there's also 'Pumuckl', a radio play and TV series aimed at children that's quite popular in Germany (though not as popular anymore, I'd venture to say). The eponymous protagonist is a cheeky but kind-hearted, red-haired kobold:

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There were a few loosely connected PC games, one of which I played back in the day (it's basically a Lode Runner clone):
Spoiler
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Small side note, I think it has a surprisingly decent soundtrack.

kitten: Yeah, I guess his coloration is a little inconsistent across official portrayals (even within concept art), add to that the lack of unambiguity in some cases - setting aside that as per OP he doesn't count anyway :[. The situation's similar for Arthur, actually, so maybe a "honourable mention" would suit them better. Was unaware of the remastered cutscenes, thanks for the hint. :)
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Re: The Redhead's Lament

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GaijinPunch wrote:I tried to get into this series but never could. How about this?

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The first two games also have a redheaded male mc.
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Re: The Redhead's Lament

Post by DMC »

Cool thread! Can we do one on dumb protagonists next?

Prince Aragon from Riglord Saga will be in a good position.

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Re: The Redhead's Lament

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^^^ A lot of potential, I like it! Image

Dredged up from the abyss, the always-capable Genki's superunknown N64 Fighter's Nut Cup and its sequel, NUT CUP MANIAX. I can't even remember this motherfucker's name, but he was def the standard-issue Stoical Karateka Protagonist required by Japanese law in all 90s fighting games.

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You may know them as Fighter's Destiny but the first game's boxart is TEH SUCK LMAO (currently sat in my folks' garage back home :oops:)

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AIEEE! That lifeless poly-mug singlehandedly put Ginger Rights back by decades in the West. At least on NUT CUP MANIAX he looks like he is fiercely holding in a mighty HIGH-PROTEIN LOG (Not Simon Phoenix to his left is catchin' a whiff! Image)

Not the worst fighting games, IIRC, even ignoring the paucity of VF/Tekken-styled action on the N64. An interesting points system, and some booming impacts, with fairly hilarious VA. "AH FEEL SO GOOOD" bawls ABDUL the obese Turkish wrestler, mid-splash. "SKIRU OBU DE NIJA HABU TORIUMPHU" growls NINJA, the best-named FTG ninja ever (with a legit badass grapple name in teh HELL GATE KNEE Image see also BOBBU's BLASPHEMY CHOP, EXPLOITER and EXPLODER Image)
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Re: The Redhead's Lament

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Sieg Wahrheit, Chaos Legion by Capcom. Red as red can be.

Pilot from Power Strike 2:
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Re: The Redhead's Lament

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Oh yeah, that reminds me of another third-person slasher protag from the post-DMC era, that Gackt-modeled prettyboy from BUJINGAI. Can't recall the name, imma call him BUJIN GUY:

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Bringing it back to Kamiya/Capcom (DAMN I'm good Image), Viewtiful Joe.

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Re: The Redhead's Lament

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Capcom strikes again: Bionic Commando NES, and Bionic Commando Rearmed.
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Re: The Redhead's Lament

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Goddamn, that's like the fifth favourite game I've missed ITT. :lol:

He's kind of burgundy/strawberry haired in-game, but I'm pretty sure hardcore IREM killer Tsukikage from Saigo no Nindou/Ninja Spirit is meant to be a redhead of some variety. More cherry-red in the PCE version, compared to the PCB's deliberately austere palette.

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^ notices ur bulge (■`W´■)

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^ no bulge 4 PCE (;`ω´;)

A cruelly under-illustrated character (who's this random fucknut on the flyer/PCE cover? looks like one of the million zako I shredded like bootleg rubbers en route to BONEY-sama!), he's distinctly a carrot-top on the daft AC instruction card (which is wrong btw, you don't need to rotate the stick to swing the POW Kusarigama, let alone so rapidly steam comes out!)

Spoiler
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His close contemporary Tonma (from Legend of Hero Tonma) is a redhead on the flyer art and PCE version, but he's brown-haired in-game on PCB. Close but no ginger. :sad:
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Re: The Redhead's Lament

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Hanbaga, muddafukka! :P

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Re: The Redhead's Lament

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DMC wrote:Cool thread! Can we do one on dumb protagonists next?
Sure but I won't make it cause no one ever bullied me for being dumb :wink:

So it seems like Japan really held it down with characters ~Kissed by fire.~
but I wonder, for the most part they're not intended to be like actual redhead humans are they?
It seems more the anime tendency to just pick wildly different hair colours to black/brown.

Thoughts on that? Let me know if i'm missing the mark here.
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Re: The Redhead's Lament

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Blinge wrote:Sure but I won't make it cause no one ever bullied me for being dumb
My time to shine has come!
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