#system: nes

[vgheroines]

Game: Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse

Heroine: Sypha Belnades

System: NES

Year: 1990 (US)

Developer: Konami

Genre: Platformer

Etc: The game manual and certain in game text described Sypha as a man, though it is explained in later games that Sypha purposely hid her gender to become a vampire hunter. Sypha plays a large role in the Castlevania mythos, and the Belnades family, and on occasionally Sypha herself, reappear in many Castlevania games.

(screenshots from Zerataniss, ryan489, YuuGiJoou)

[vgheroines]

Game: Legend of the Ghost Lion

Heroine: Maria

System: NES

Year: 1989 (JP) 1992 (US)

Developer: Kemco

Genre: RPG

(screenshots from Firewizard23)

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[Spoiler Warning]

This is a weird little game. It's a Dragon Quest clone starring a little girl, Maria. And it has a few other unique elements too. While HP and MP are still in the game, they label them Courage and Dreams - not so interesting on their own, but with EXP being changed to Hope, you actually find it (in treasure chests...) throughout the game, not just from grinding battles. And non-traditional level growth is something I've always been looking for in games. Also, while Maria can fight with weapons, being a little girl, her strongest power comes from summoning helpful spirits residing in artifacts, all of which provide their own edge to combat, joining the battle from the moment they are summoned. Altogether, this game should be awesome! Unfortunately, it's not. Even as NES roleplaying games go, it's shallow and childish. (The first town you visit is named Bread, the second is Davis, a town inexplicably made of mushrooms)

Combine that with an 'it was a dream!' ending means it's a lackluster and easily miss-able entry in Nintendo's library. But I'll still give it props for trying.