Best Female Martial Artists In Video Games

Key Takeaways

• Characters like Lisa Silverman, Chie Satonaka, and Radiant Jen Zi showcase strong female martial artists in video games.
• Each character brings a unique approach to combat, whether it’s kung fu skills, judo expertise, or chi-enhanced melee strikes.
• From Tifa Lockhart’s physical attacks to Chun-Li’s iconic swift kicks, these women challenge stereotypes and excel in hand-to-hand combat.

A wise man once said: “Hand to hand is the basis of all combat. Only a fool trusts his life to a weapon,” and some video game characters really live up to that credo. Shooting a gun or casting a magic spell just doesn’t offer the same visceral thrill as shoving a fist into a foe’s face, which was usually seen as the prerequisite for largely beefy, largely male monks, karate fighters, kickboxers, wrestlers, etc.

However, there are plenty of women in video games who favor their punches and kicks over firearms or magic. If anything, it’s hard to narrow it down. So, for the sake of brevity, this list had to cut out the ninjas, soldiers, and assassins, as those are lists for another day (sorry Cammy, Mileena, and Mai fans). This one is going to focus solely on the best female martial artists in games.

10 Lisa Silverman

Fighting Japanophilia With Sinophilia

• Debut: 1999 (Persona 2: Innocent Sin)
• Martial Art: Kung fu based on Bruce Lee movies
• Occupation: Student

The Persona series isn’t above playing with expectations. For example, Persona 2 saw the Japanophile Silverman family try to raise their daughter, Lisa Silverman, as a traditional Japanese lady, despite her being a white blonde. Instead, she developed a love for Hong Kong culture and became a Bruce Lee-loving kung fu fanatic.

As such, when she isn’t summoning Personas, she’ll attack her opponents with moves taken from kung fu movies and pepper her speech with random Cantonese and Chinese exclamations. She could even use her martial arts to impress demons into becoming a contact — if her dancing or seduction didn’t work. Whether it’s through her moves or her backstory, she’s one of the series’ most interesting characters.

9 Chie Satonaka

The Spunky Dragon With Deadly Legs

• Debut: 2008 (Persona 4)
• Martial Art: Kung fu based on Bruce Lee movies
• Occupation: Student

The love for kung fu didn’t end with Persona 2 either, as Chie Satonaka took it up for Persona 4. Like Lisa, she’s a big fan of kung fu movies and Bruce Lee, and she does her best to master her martial arts to protect Yu, P4’s protagonist, and her introverted friend Yukiko. Though unlike Lisa, she got to use more of her melee moves in the Persona 4: Arena fighting games.

It gave her more room to show off her moves, from her literal fists of fury to kicking her opponent off into the sky. She was a good pick for beginners too, as she didn’t require too much trickery or finesse to play. All she needed to do was to get in her opponent’s face and rush them down with as many combos as she could pull off, letting players go as wild as they liked.

8 Radiant Jen Zi

Rapidfire Rampage

• Debut: 2007 (Jade Empire)
• Martial Art: Thousand Cuts (akin to Snake and Mantis-style kung fu)
• Occupation: Martial Artist

In Jade Empire, Bioware’s pre-Mass Effect action RPG, each of the playable Spirit Monks represented a different fighting style players could master to save their mentor from Sun Hai, the emperor of the titular Jade Empire. They had different takes on combat too, like the all-powerful approach of Tiger Shen, the tactical magic of Scholar Ling, or the evenly balanced mix that Lu the Prodigy and Wu the Lotus Blossom represented.

Radiant Jen Zi represented the Fast style, where she could nimbly dodge any strike, then counterattack with multiple attacks while her opponent was left open. These strikes made up for their lack of power with their rapid speed, piling on the damage gradually. If she got up close and personal with her foes, she could subject them to death by a Thousand Cuts or close the distance with her Heavenly Wave.

7 Alena

A Ton Of Power In A Tiny Frame

• Debut: 1990 (Dragon Quest 4)
• Martial Art: Various Martial Arts
• Occupation: Tsarevna (princess), fighter

Given her pointy hat and cape, people would think Alena from Dragon Quest 4 was a witch or some other spellcaster. But, no matter how many times players level her up, she can never use magic. She’s all about using her brawn as, despite being the Tsarevna of Zamoskva, she’s more interested in proving her strength to the world than carrying out royal duties.

Alena became one of the first women in RPGs to take a more physical approach to combat. Even if they were as petite as she was, they didn’t have to be priestesses, sorcerers, or healers. They could just take opponents down with their high Strength stats and have enough HP to tank hits like their muscular male counterparts. Even if they were petite, they could still be strong.

6 Tifa Lockheart

Lady Luck Keeps On Shining

• Debut: 1997 (Final Fantasy 7)
• Martial Art: Freeform kickboxing
• Occupation: Bartender and eco-terrorist

Squaresoft likely took notes from their then-rivals at Enix when they made Tifa Lockheart in Final Fantasy 7. She, too, looks more like a model than a fighter and is quite shy off the battlefield. But, her combat is all about showing off her physical attacks, preferring metal knuckles to swords or spells. She can even make them stronger with her Unbridled Strength chi boost.

Then, perhaps to make things more interesting, her biggest Limit Breaks were controlled by a slot machine. If the player got enough ‘Yeah’s, she’d do double-damage on her foes. Otherwise, they’d have to make do with a regular hit or, if they were unlucky, miss a strike altogether. Nonetheless, her full-contact melee strikes made her a fan favorite, and one of the game’s best characters in terms of pure strength.

5 Makoto

The Tomboy Terror Of Tosa

• Debut: 1999 (Street Fighter 3: Third Strike)
• Martial Art: Rindo-kan Karate
• Occupation: Martial Artist

Fighting games are full of martial artists of all kinds, though some fit other bills better. Mortal Kombat’s Kitana is a ninja, King of Fighter’s Leona is a soldier, Tekken’s Nina is an assassin, etc. Meanwhile, Street Fighter’s Makoto is all about martial arts, and she is surprisingly popular. In fact, based on Capcom’s 2017 popularity poll, she came second, standing above almost everyone else in the series.

Fans do like spunky tomboys, but Makoto brought more to the table than short hair and a shorter temper. She skipped stylish kicks in favor of hard punches, dashing past fireballs to stop opponents in their tracks, stuffing their attempts to fight back with her pokes, and juggling them to death with her uppercuts and super combos.

4 Sakura Kasugano

Whirling Up A Storm With Her Strikes

• Debut: 1996 (Street Fighter Alpha 2)
• Martial Art: An imitation of Ansatsuken based on Ryu’s moves
• Occupation: High school graduate, arcade manager

Still, as popular as Makoto is, there was still one character who fans liked that little bit more than her: Sakura Kasugano, the schoolgirl who got the hang of Ryu’s Ansatsuken just from admiring and practicing his moves in her spare time. She has the same tomboyish pluck as Makoto, but she keeps a cooler head and has more shoto-like moves.

She could switch between firing a low-damage fireball that would travel farther, or a bigger one that could only hit close-up opponents. Her leaping Shunpukyaku was good at keeping pressure on them. Then, her dashing Shououken was great at pummeling foes, especially in games like Capcom Vs SNK 2. With her strong gameplay and appealing design, it’s no wonder she became so popular.

3 Ling Xiaoyu

Hard To Master, Harder To Hit

• Debut: 1997 (Tekken 3)
• Martial Art: Bagua Zhang and Pigua Quan-based kung fu
• Occupation: Student

Sakura wasn’t the first cutesy girl in fighting games, though she’s arguably the best. Even so, there are plenty of contenders. For example, some may prefer Tekken’s Ling Xiaoyu. She combined Sakura’s bold cuteness with a classic kung fu approach, like a mini Chun-Li in a way. Her dainty strikes aren’t much in the power department, but strength isn’t her key factor.

She’s all about frustrating her opponents with her mobility and quick strikes. When she isn’t dodging them with her rolls, cartwheels, and spins, she’s using low-lying stances to knock them into the air or stuffing their approaches with her quick blows. It’s been enough to make her one of the series’ strongest fighters, and one of its most iconic characters.

2 Blaze Fielding

Burning Up The Competition

• Debut: 1991 (Streets of Rage)
• Martial Art: Judo
• Occupation: Ex-cop turned private detective

Beat ‘em ups have also featured a great range of fighting women, though few were as popular as Blaze Fielding from Streets of Rage. She’s managed to appear in each game, offering players a faster, more kung fu approach to combat compared to the more brawling likes of Axel, Adam, and Skate.

The games say she practices judo, and she does have a variety of throws she can use on small-to-medium opponents, but her strikes are closer to kung fu, with her forward-flipping Embukyaku kick, her multi-punching Rekkaken, and her variety of energy blade attacks like the Hishou Souzan. They’re as stylish as her red design and, once mastered, can really rack up the damage.

1 Chun-Li

The Queen Of Fighters

• Debut: 1991 (Street Fighter 2: The World Warrior)
• Martial Art: Tai Chi
• Occupation: Ex-Interpol Agent, kung fu instructor

Obviously, this list couldn’t avoid including Chun-Li. She isn’t called the First Lady of Fighting Games for nothing. Without her debut in Street Fighter 2, the genre might have been slower in adding playable women to their rosters. There certainly wouldn’t have been a Sonya Blade or Cammy White without her. She caught on with players with her looks, agility, and swift kicks, quickly becoming one of the best characters in the original Street Fighter 2.

Since then, she’s become as integral to the series as Ryu and his Hadouken, often joining him in crossovers to represent the series. When she isn’t in the top tier, she’s a mainstay that’s hard to lock down. Then, when she is at the top of the tree, she’s a force to be reckoned with thanks to her aggressive pressure tactics. As popular as the other entries are, they can’t match Chun-Li’s status as the most iconic female martial artist in gaming.