Top Ten Video Game Romances

Blood, violence and beating the boss at his own game are what video games are made for. I am a girl gamer and the violence is a great stress reliever, but what most do not see is the underlying romance blooming between your main character and one of the lovely women who are fighting at his side or whom he has to set out to rescue. This article offers up ten romances in video game history.

1. Cloud Strife and Aerith Gainsborough (Final Fantasy VII). They had a dynamic complex although short. Her murder at the hands of Sephiroth is a powerful motivator for Cloud to continue on his quest. Aerith was the only girl he could not let go of.

2. Tidus and Yuna (Final Fantasy X). You get to witness the entire relationship from their first meeting to the final tearful farewell. Most of their relationship development is done through their conversations (interesting side note: Yuna carries Tidus' symbol as a part of her costumer in FFX-2). This is one of the few games that made the players care about the couple.

3. Mario and Princess Peach (Super Mario series). Rescuing Princess Peach was Mario's goal in just about every game. His only reward was a peck on the cheek, but that kept Mario coming back for more in each consecutive game from the original. One of these days, the plumber and the princess will finally become a couple and gamers are waiting for that day.

4. Link and Zelda (The Legend of Zelda Series). Their romance is more reserved that the plumber and the princess, but underneath the adventure you can catch smoldering glances they give each other which is the only clue for the players as to the underlying romance building. These looks give the player hope that one day they will finally get together.

5. Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man (the Pac-Man Series). He gobbled ghosts for her and hunted down fruit to woe her. It worked, even though Ms. Pac-Man had her own place. They did get together and Pac-Man Jr. got his own game.

6. Hana Tsu-Vachel and Rain Qin (Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix). The only lesbian couple in game history. It is not really known if it was just for a guy gamer fantasy or they were truly two souls meant to be together, but it made for some memorable game play.

7. Fei and Elly (XenoGears). One of the few games were the characters were literally soul mates. They had always been together in past lives, though it is interesting to note that Elly's name never did change and Fei's always did. It was their love that actually drove the storyline and thus the game.

8. Sora and Kairi (Kingdom Hearts). She was torn away from him by the Heartless. Because of this, he set out on a relentless quest to save her and with the help of his Disney fiends, shows that love could be a driving force.

9. Allen Ridgely and Shion Uzuki (Xenosaga Series). Allen was always showing his affection through looks or small deeds, but Shion never noticed. It was not until the third and final installment of the game did Shion realize Allen's love. Even though she was slow to realize it made the romance all the more bittersweet.

10. Leon Kennedy and Ada Wong (Resident Evil). While technically not a couple, the gamer could see the sparks between the two. By the end of the game, the player was wanting them to become a couple, but left the gamer wanting more.

So enjoy the violence, but realize that there is always an underlying romance that is bound to blow you away.