Games
Video games, by their interactive nature, can be very effective ways to experience stories and get to know characters. The bonds you form with characters that you can actually react to and who actually react to you can be quite strong.
Each character below is the waifu of her listed game. But there can only be one true Games Waifu. The other waifus are only Harem Tier on the overall Games level.
Waifu Tier- ⓘ
- The best of the best. Only one character may be in this tier for a given work or medium. This character... is Mai Waifu.
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Naoto Shirogane
from Persona 4Naoto is smart, mature, and serious. At age 15 she’s already a respected and well-known detective. She risks her own life to help the Investigation Team solve the Inaba murders and her investigative and analytical skills are an invaluable asset along the way. That makes her very attractive, but that’s not why she’s my waifu.
Naoto is insecure about her identity. She wants to be a successful “hard-boiled” detective, worthy of the family name passed through a line of famous detectives. She’s had to fight hard to be treated as an adult, but her youth will pass; more problematic is her gender in a male-dominated field. As a result, she wears a boy’s school uniform and speaks like a male.
As the player character in Persona 4 Golden, you can express admiration for Naoto’s neglected femininity. This initially shocks her, but if you play your cards right she realizes that there’s appeal in exploring this suppressed side of herself - at least, there’s appeal in exploring it with you. The clearest visual symbol is that for you alone, she’ll wear a girl’s uniform, but the significance runs far deeper than the visual. It’s a tremendous level of trust, vulnerability, and intimacy. She shares with you and you alone a side of herself she’d been terrified to reveal, and with your support it blossoms.
By the game’s epilogue, Naoto has embraced her full self. She no longer feels the need to present a constrained, constructed identity in public. It’s reflected in her wearing clothes that are more flattering of her female features, but again this is just a symbol of her new confidence - the confidence that you helped her find.
That’s why she’s my waifu.
Harem Tier- ⓘ
- The characters who, while not quite waifu material, rise above the rest.
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Shion Kasugai
from Akiba's Trip: Undead & UndressedShion is an intelligent and capable woman who exudes confidence and poise. She’s CEO and President of a drug conglomerate called Daishihon Pharmaceuticals, but in contrast to the common portrayal of business executives she is perhaps the most morally responsible character in the game. You meet her under circumstances that make it hard to trust her, and her company’s obvious connection to the Synthisters keeps the ambiguity going for a while, but everything she does is a step toward saving Akiba.
She’s observant and connected enough to have noticed the odd events occurring in Akiba - the Synthister attacks and the victims drained of life energy. Her investigation doesn’t get far until the player character and Shizuku show up and start fighting back against the Synthisters. To make sure you’re the real deal, she has some of her staff ambush you and watches as you trounce them with superhuman combat ability. She then reveals herself, apologizes, and offers her help.
I like this a lot. It would have been very easy to characterize her as arrogant, having her tell you that you might be “useful” in the fight against the Synthisters and refuse to give you any key information. That’s not what happens here. She’s smart enough to understand that the Synthister situation is serious and warrants extreme measures - including ambushing you, though this didn’t put you in any real danger - to find out if she’s on the right track. She’s humble enough to recognize that it’s a situation that you clearly understand better than she does and that you’re better suited to doing the fighting than she is. She doesn’t try to take over, she doesn’t hide anything, she just provides the benefit of her considerable resources to aid your cause.
She also displays consistent scientific curiosity, and this approach allows you to become more proactive. She notices that Synthisters give off a glow that’s not visible to humans, and creates the app that uses your phone’s camera to identify Synthisters in a crowd. She provides a drug that allows you to drop your outdated human muscle memory and take full advantage of your new inhuman strength. And when Rin clearly doesn’t trust her, she realizes it means someone at her company is working with the enemy and roots out the traitor.
She’s the one cast member who acts like an adult. She’s thoughtful and proactive, she takes her work seriously but not personally, and she does what she has to do to make the world better.
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Amy Rose
from Sonic the HedgehogAmy Rose’s character has evolved a lot over the years. I know in some installments she’s pretty obnoxious, but I’ve seen her in a better light.
In Sonic Adventure, her selflessness and kind heart lead directly to redemption for Eggman’s robot Gamma while her desire to protect the helpless allowed her to find the strength to destroy ZERO, the robot that had been threatening her the whole game. In Sonic Adventure 2, her optimistic belief in the inherent goodness of people similarly leads to Shadow’s redemption. Her attempt in Sonic Chronicles to make Sonic jealous by pretending to have a new boyfriend is a bit silly, but I love that if the player chooses to have Sonic continually treat her with kindness and respect, toward the end the two have a very sweet and vulnerable conversation where she admits she made Dexter up and Sonic can admit that he cares about her too.
In Sonic Boom’s reimagining of the cast, Amy is smarter, more confident, and more capable. She’s the most mature member of the group, the voice of reason, and the one who actually gets things done. She is still cheerful and energetic as always, and she retains the sweet innocence at the core of her personality.
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Elle
from Dragon QuestI wasn’t expecting much character depth from Dragon Quest Builders, so Elle came as quite a surprise.
Elle is the first character the player meets in Rimuldar, a town beset by a magical disease called the Blight. When she discovers that you are the legendary Builder, she asks you to build a sickroom so that she might tend to those who have fallen ill. Throughout the chapter you find a number of sick people and bring them to the sickroom for Elle to look after. She mentions that while the Blight is a curse upon the land, she does at least enjoy her work of helping people and whenever you get access to a new area she reminds you to look for people who need medical attention and to bring them to her for treatment.
Most patients recover with some medicine, food, and rest, but a few never get better, which deeply troubles Elle. She even wonders if it would be better to put them out of their misery, but quickly rejects this idea. Eventually those patients turn into zombies and attack the town and you are forced to kill them, which devastates her and she cries forlornly all that night.
In the morning she regains her composure. She’s buried their remains and apologizes to you for her behavior. Another townsperson, Gerontius, has suggested that perhaps the fate of those patients is a sign that the Blight cannot or should not be fought and humanity cannot defy death, but Elle immediately dismisses that as foolishness. Her failure to save those patients has only strengthened her resolve and she urges you to press on and find the people out there who still need help.
Tragically, it’s not long after this that Elle herself falls ill, apparently with the same affliction as the patients who became hostile zombies. She collapses in the middle of town and you pick her up and take her to the sickroom as you’ve done for so many patients before. She tells you to kill her to prevent the disease from spreading. But I was having none of it. Elle was clearly the best of us and I would move heaven and earth to find her a cure and bring her home.
Her plight brings Gerontius to his senses and he helps you find a cure. Elle recovers and apologizes for her earlier request, calling it cowardly. She says that when you laid her down in a bed in the sickroom you built together it was strangely fulfilling. She thanks you for saving her life and makes it clear she’s ready to get right back to healing and helping others.
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Ikaruga
from Senran KaguraA third-year student at Hanzō National Academy and the class representative, Ikaruga is perhaps the most serious and disciplined of the playable cast. Graceful and dignified both with and without her sword Hien, she holds her classmates to a high standard and treats her rivals with respect.
Ikaruga was born in the slums and adopted by a wealthy family who recognized her potential as a shinobi. But she has never forgotten her humble beginnings and always shows concern for others. In addition to giving to charity, she performs free stage shows for the children of the slums as the hero BC Mask.
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Tali'Zorah nar Rayya
from Mass EffectTali’Zorah nar Rayya is a squadmate of Commander Shepard. As a quarian, she provides rich flavor and detail about her species’s fascinating culture and history. And on a personal level, she’s intelligent, resourceful, and a skilled engineer who adds a lot of value to Shepard’s crew. I kept her in my team whenever possible.
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Marle
from Chrono TriggerMarle is the first character to join you in Chrono Trigger and also the game’s best healer. Despite using ice magic, her personality is lively and demonstrative and she’s very much a cute spunky
redheadstrawberry blonde as well as a rebellious princess.Compassionate and supportive, Marle is a great friend and ally to her fellow party members. She likes to have fun, but she’s also down-to-earth and ready to meet any challenge when things get serious. She’ll never give up when trying to protect those close to her.
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Nami
from One PieceNami is a skilled cartographer and navigator as well as an accomplished thief who only steals from pirates. In her early appearances she steals from and betrays virtually every pirate she interacts with, including protagonist Luffy and his crew. But it’s soon revealed that this is because a powerful pirate named Arlong is holding her entire village hostage, and she’s been collecting money to buy it back for several years. Luffy and his crew defeat Arlong and free the village, after which Nami becomes a fiercely loyal member of Luffy’s crew.
Nami’s a lot of fun to play as in One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3. While she’s not very strong against single targets, her weather control and ability to summon lightning give her some powerful room-clearing combos and make her a very effective support as well. She also has an energetic and enthusiastic personality, fitting well into the template of the Cute Spunky Redhead.
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Lana
from The Legend of ZeldaLana, The White Sorceress, is a playable hero and major character in Hyrule Warriors. Originally part of the sorceress Cia who protected the balance of the Triforce but was corrupted by Ganondorf, she is the embodiment of the light that was pushed out of Cia’s soul. When Cia led an army of monsters against Hyrule, Lana teamed up with Zelda, Link, and others to fight back.
As a person of pure light and goodness, Lana does what’s necessary to save Hyrule despite the personal cost. While she tries to dissuade Cia from her destructive path and gives her every opportunity to cease her war, she knows that it’s more important to stop Cia than save her and doesn’t hesitate to help Link do so, though it ultimately means Cia’s death. And she never lets her unrequited love for Link - whom she knows must be with Zelda and not her - get in the way of their shared quest.
She’s also my favorite hero to play as, with powerful magic that’s fun to use and effective both at clearing rooms and dueling giant bosses.
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Rikku
from Final FantasyRikku is a party member in Final Fantasy X who fills a few different roles. As a cute spunky
redheadstrawberry blonde, it’s not surprising that she’s the party’s fastest member and provides the Steal ability. And as a technologist, she’s adept at dealing with mechanical enemies and can combine items to impressive effect.But most of what I like about Rikku happens outside of battle. She’s energetic, enthusiastic, optimistic, and resourceful. She devotes her full energy to helping (and cheering up) her cousin Yuna and her fellow guardians. She’s a good ally and a good friend, and definitely someone I’d want by my side on such an arduous journey.
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Aika
from Skies of ArcadiaThe childhood friend of hero Vyse, Aika is one of the main party members in Skies of Arcadia. Having grown up with Vyse, the two know each other quite well and are an effective and inseparable team.
Aika’s an agile fighter with an energetic personality and a bit of a temper who is fiercely loyal to her friends. She is very much a cute spunky redhead.
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Precis F. Neumann
from Star OceanPrecis is a party member in Star Ocean: The Second Story. A young inventor, Precis is accompanied by her transforming robot Bobot and wears a backpack with powered mechanical arms which she uses for combat.
Energetic, enthusiastic, and curious, Precis is very much a cute spunky redhead and a gadgeteer genius. She’s a lot of fun and a very useful ally.
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Emilie-Sophie de Belmond
from CrossCodeEmilie is the first person to befriend player character Lea in CrossCode. She’s competitive, challenging Lea to races through the game’s instanced dungeons, but this clearly comes from a place of enthusiasm for the game and desire to rise to its challenges. She’s also quick to support Lea, share useful information, and invite her to join the same guild.
Emilie’s excitement for the game (as well as for its little touches like laser bridges) is infectious, and it’s hard not to be charmed by her stories about the wildlife the game’s enemies remind her of. She’s outgoing enough to befriend Lea despite the latter’s near-muteness and comes to care a great deal about her. She’s a loyal friend who’s fun to spend time with - plus, she’s a cute spunky redhead.
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Keira
from Jak and DaxterKeira is a skilled mechanic and inventor, creating most of the vehicles and devices Jak uses in The Precursor Legacy. She acts as mission control, finding solutions to enable Jak to keep traveling and accomplishing their shared goals.
She may not be a redhead, but Keira’s still cute and spunky. She’s as confident and forthright as you’d expect for someone as intelligent and accomplished as she is. While the later games go back and forth on her role and relationship with Jak, she’s a perfect counterpart and they make a great team.
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Maya Fey
from Ace AttorneyMaya Fey is a spirit medium and Phoenix Wright’s partner and assistant in the first few Ace Attorney games. While she meets Phoenix under tragic circumstances - the death of her sister and Phoenix’s mentor, Mia Fey - going through it together results in a close friendship.
Impulsive and enthusiastic, Maya’s sibling-like banter with Phoenix is a recurring source of comic relief, charm, and levity. In many ways, she’s the heart of Ace Attorney and easily my favorite recurring character.
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Luna
from Zero EscapeLuna is one of the main characters in Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward. She’s a bit timid, but she’s an optimist who trusts easily. She’s a gentle and pacifistic nature lover who cares a great deal about the well-being of others, particularly children.
At least, that’s how she acts. The most memorable decision to me in all of Virtue’s Last Reward was being forced to choose whether to betray Luna after seeing evidence that she may have faked her own death and murdered two people and was now in a position to betray the player character as well.
While it does turn out Luna has been hiding a secret, it’s that she’s a Three Laws-compliant robot. Not only does she not betray you, not only has she not killed anyone, she’s actually incapable of doing either. She’s incorruptible, in stark contrast to the human characters. She’s one of the only characters in the entire series who never betrays or attacks any other character under any circumstances in any timeline.
I chose to trust her despite the questions, so it was a huge relief to find she was more worthy of trust than anyone. It also made it legitimately heart-wrenching to see her pained reaction to other betrayals from people she’d trusted and from whom she could never deserve betrayal. More than any other character I wanted her to survive, escape, fulfill her dreams, and never be lonely again.
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Mikan Tsumiki
from DanganronpaMikan is the Ultimate Nurse and one of the class members forced to play the Killing Game in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. Her medical skills and knowledge prove quite helpful, both in tending to the other students and in providing autopsy reports to help solve the murders.
Mikan is sweet and caring but outside of medical contexts she has no confidence whatsoever. Years of severe bullying and abuse has left her with absurdly low self-esteem, making her paranoid and fragile in social situations. Rarely, aspects of her repressed personality come out - but only briefly and she apologizes profusely for each outburst.
In real life, someone who’d experienced the horrors that Mikan had would need far more than simple kindness to heal all of their wounds. One of the most appealing recurring fantasies of fiction is the idea that you can ‘fix’ people just by being friends with them. Mikan had helped so many others - I wanted help her in turn by being her friend and encouraging her to blossom. I wanted to save her. But it’s Danganronpa, so it wasn’t that simple. To me, Mikan’s fate in Danganronpa 2 is one of the most heartbreaking and memorable tragedies of the entire franchise.
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Lin
from Fitness BoxingLin is the default trainer in Fitness Boxing and the one whose silhouette can be seen on the box art. I sampled the other available trainers, but I found myself drawn to Lin most of all. I found her respectable and approachable and I trusted her to guide me to physical health.
When I was playing daily, it was easy to associate my good feelings about the workout with the character who was constantly on-screen encouraging me. On some level, I was excited to play again because it meant working out with Lin again, and I didn’t want to skip a session and disappoint her.
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Rosie Mayfield
from Style SavvyRosie Mayfield is one of the up-and-coming pop idols you can befriend in Style Savvy: Styling Star. A farm girl who’s come to the big city to become a star, Rosie is hardworking and ambitious but never loses her sweet and down-to-earth nature.
Rosie was my favorite character in Styling Star. She had my favorite songs and her fashion taste suited her well. I was always happy to put together new outfits for her and help her on the road to stardom.