Samus Aran Metroid 1986 to 2010

Sure, this is predictable. But what else can we do? Shes got every trait of a true heroine, and shes one of the least sexualized female characters in games. She was paving the way for female protagonists when character sprites were still made of a few dozen pixels. And she bucked gender stereotypes of course the spacefaring bounty hunter is a guy long before Peach and Zelda ever shook off their damselindistress personas. Samus was the original badass heroine of video games, and for that we salute her.