9 Pioneering Video Games EVERYONE Forgets
4. Wabbit
Today, awesome female protagonists are everywhere (as they should be), with Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft, Bayonetta, The Walking Dead: A Telltale Games Series’ Clementine, Resident Evil 3’s Jill Valentine, The Last of Us’ Ellie, and Horizon: Zero Dawn’s Aloy standing proudly alongside every male hero imaginable.
None of them were the first of their kind, though. In fact, not even Metroid’s Samus Aran – who debuted in 1986 – holds that honor.
So, who does?
None other than Billie Sue, the lead character of the 1982 Atari 2600 farming shoot ‘em up Wabbit. Tasked with getting rid of rabbits who’re eating all of her crops, Sue spends her days throwing rotten eggs at the voracious invading varmint.
Technically, Ms. Pac-Man preceded Billie Sue by about eight months, but since she isn’t a human with her own identity, she doesn’t really count.
Thus, Vietnamese programmer Van Mai and developer/publisher Apollo warrant all the credit they can get for their groundbreaking creation.