Updated by scrollkidd on May 23, 2020

2D Action Video Games Featuring Females as Main Character

Listly by scrollkidd

Here is a list of 1980's to 1990's action video games featuring an heroin as the main character.

Games accepted in this list if :

The hero is a FEMALE
The game is an ACTION GAME
2D VISUAL technique

Are disqualified for this list:

Game featuring a choice with a MALE
Games with 3D visual technique

Video games running on current generations systems are accepted if they respect the fact they feature 2D visuals.

If you want add a game, please use the following system :

Date - Name (Editor, System)

Please, keep in mind that the list is chronological, the release date must be in first position in the title ;-)

Please add tags : year, system (MSX, Famicom, NES, Super NES, MegaDrive, ...) , genre (shmup, platerformer, ...), publisher (Namco, Sega, ...)

If a game have been adapted on several systems, use the first historical system as reference, you can add in the description the others adaptations.

Some sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_and_video_games

1981 - Ms. Pac-Man (Namco, Arcade)

The very first game ever, featuring a female character as main hero.

Wikipedia quote:
The author of Pac-Man, Toru Iwatani, attempted to appeal to a wider audience—beyond the typical demographics of young boys and teenagers. His intention was to attract girls to arcades because he found there were very few games that were played by women at the time. Electronic Games reported in 1982 that it was "the first commercial videogame to involve large numbers of women as players"; of the nine arcade games that How to Win Video Games (1982) discussed, Pac-Man was the only one with women as a majority of players. In response, the sequel Ms. Pac-Man, launched in 1981, featured a female protagonist.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_and_video_games

Additional links:

Pac-man was madefor women
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/iwatani-pac-man-was-made-for-women

10 things you might know about Pac-Man
http://www.warpedfactor.com/2016/10/10-things-you-might-not-know-about-pac.html