Damsels in Distress in Early Gaming
Up through about the end of the NES period of gaming, when everyone was pretty much sick of it, the idea that the protagonist is going to rescue his girlfriend or whatever was extremely prominent. Here's a list, looking through the games at the Spriter's Resource:
* The Art of Fighting: Your sister (or friend's sister, if you're Robert) is abducted! To be fair, she becomes a playable fighter from The Art of Fighting 2 and up.
* Bubble Bobble: Your girlfriends are abducted and you have to rescue them! Or something. The story is kind of vague. Your girlfriends are there at the end, regardless.
* Donkey Kong: A big hairy ape has stolen Pauline and taken her to the top of a construction site! Go get her! (Her appearance has really changed over the years.)
* Dragon's Lair: You must rescue Princess Daphne from the dragon!
* Double Dragon: Some evil gangsters have stolen Marian. Go rescue her! In Double Dragon II the machine gun guy just hauls off and blows her away in the intro, in a surprise twist.
* Final Fight: Your daughter/girlfriend/friend (depending on who you play as), Jessica, is abducted by the evil Mad Gear gang to strongarm Haggar politically. Go rescue her!
* Ghosts n' Goblins: Princess Prin-Prin is stolen by the evil Astaroth. Go rescue her! In the sequel, as with Double Dragon, she is killed in the intro, but restored to life if you win. Super Ghouls n' Ghosts just goes back to her getting abducted.
* Haunted Castle: An early arcade Castlevania features an opening eerily similar to that of Ghosts n' Goblins.
* Dracula X: The village girls, including your fiancee and her sister, have been abducted! Go rescue them and kill Dracula.
* Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow and Dawn of Sorrow: I think your girlfriend (or friend, maybe) was abducted in these.
* Pitfall II: I think your girlfriend has been abducted in this one.
* Rolling Thunder: The bad guys have... some woman you want to rescue, complete with cut scenes of her being tortured with electricity.
* Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (arcade): Shredder steals April away at the end of the first stage, and you rescue her about halfway through the game.
* Toki: You are transformed into a dirty stinking ape while your girlfriend is abducted. She whines at you on the continue screen if you don't hurry it up.
* Adventure Island: Your girlfriend is abducted! Go... you know the drill.
* The Adventures of Bayou Billy: Wasn't your girlfriend abducted in this one?
* The Adventures of Lolo: I think Lala, your woman (or something), was abducted in this one, but was playable in the sequels.
* Bonk's Adventure: Your freaky dinosaur girlfriend is abducted. Go rescue her!
* Blaster Master: Your girlfriend is... Wait, that's a frog.
* Dragon Warrior: Rescuing the princess can be done starting about halfway through, but it's completely optional.
* Earthworm Jim: The bad guys steal the princess, etc.
* Kid Icarus: Rescue the goddess Palutena from the evil Medusa!
* Kid Niki: I seem to recall some princess rescuing going on.
* Kung Fu: Yeah, your girlfriend was definitely abducted in this one.
* The Legend of Zelda: Do I even need to say it? I'm not going to bother listing the other Zelda games, almost all of which involve you rescing the princess.
* Milon's Secret Castle: I seem to recall a damsel in peril...
* Prince of Persia: Rescue the princess, etc.
* River City Ransom: Rescue your girlfriends from bad high school thugs!
* Ultima: The kings sometimes had princesses in their dungeons you could rescue for a bonus.
I'm not counting games where you have to rescue a bunch of people, and some happen to be female, like Goonies II or Dragon Quest II.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. There were a lot more where I felt like there might be a damsel in distress, but I couldn't be sure. I'm sure we could double the list very easily. That was just me going down the arcade and NES lists of sprites on The Spriter's Resource.
The games that turn this around so a woman is rescuing a man are pretty rare. The recent mod for Donkey Kong so you play as Pauline and the second expansion for Jill of the Jungle are the only two that come to mind. These are done as clear role reversals and not because they are good plots, however.
I can see why women get so grumpy about this sort of stuff. Things have surely improved, but even today, women are either sexualized or just props, often as not.
I remember watching a video of a crappy game called Hard Rain or something. When the female character became playable, the guy let his girlfriend play. Well, the female character wanders around for a while in her panties and a small shirt for a while, then she gets attacked by men in masks. I'm not sure what happens if you fail to fight them off, but the atmosphere is pretty rapey. I was thinking, "Wow, this video series just got really awkward!" There isn't even any context -- we don't know her name or anything about her until later.
I am still astonished at how clearly symbolic it is for the role of women in games. The man gets to play three characters: One's a normal guy with a normal life who is beset by tragedy, one is a private investigator who does private investigator stuff, one is a douchey FBI guy or something who is also doing investigations. Then: "Your turn, honey!" Well, female player, your turn consists of running around in your underpants and fighting off rapists. Yay! I think you can even take a shower with gratuitious nudity.
Edit: I double-checked the games on the list I wasn't sure about. Pitfall Harry is out to rescue his niece in Pitfall II, not his girlfriend. The girl is only imperiled in Dawn of Sorrow, and not also Aria of Sorrow. You must rescue Lala in The Adventures of Lolo II, and can only start playing as her (which only changes the art) in The Adventures of Lolo 3. The rest I was dead on about having damsels in distress.
* The Art of Fighting: Your sister (or friend's sister, if you're Robert) is abducted! To be fair, she becomes a playable fighter from The Art of Fighting 2 and up.
* Bubble Bobble: Your girlfriends are abducted and you have to rescue them! Or something. The story is kind of vague. Your girlfriends are there at the end, regardless.
* Donkey Kong: A big hairy ape has stolen Pauline and taken her to the top of a construction site! Go get her! (Her appearance has really changed over the years.)
* Dragon's Lair: You must rescue Princess Daphne from the dragon!
* Double Dragon: Some evil gangsters have stolen Marian. Go rescue her! In Double Dragon II the machine gun guy just hauls off and blows her away in the intro, in a surprise twist.
* Final Fight: Your daughter/girlfriend/friend (depending on who you play as), Jessica, is abducted by the evil Mad Gear gang to strongarm Haggar politically. Go rescue her!
* Ghosts n' Goblins: Princess Prin-Prin is stolen by the evil Astaroth. Go rescue her! In the sequel, as with Double Dragon, she is killed in the intro, but restored to life if you win. Super Ghouls n' Ghosts just goes back to her getting abducted.
* Haunted Castle: An early arcade Castlevania features an opening eerily similar to that of Ghosts n' Goblins.
* Dracula X: The village girls, including your fiancee and her sister, have been abducted! Go rescue them and kill Dracula.
* Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow and Dawn of Sorrow: I think your girlfriend (or friend, maybe) was abducted in these.
* Pitfall II: I think your girlfriend has been abducted in this one.
* Rolling Thunder: The bad guys have... some woman you want to rescue, complete with cut scenes of her being tortured with electricity.
* Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (arcade): Shredder steals April away at the end of the first stage, and you rescue her about halfway through the game.
* Toki: You are transformed into a dirty stinking ape while your girlfriend is abducted. She whines at you on the continue screen if you don't hurry it up.
* Adventure Island: Your girlfriend is abducted! Go... you know the drill.
* The Adventures of Bayou Billy: Wasn't your girlfriend abducted in this one?
* The Adventures of Lolo: I think Lala, your woman (or something), was abducted in this one, but was playable in the sequels.
* Bonk's Adventure: Your freaky dinosaur girlfriend is abducted. Go rescue her!
* Blaster Master: Your girlfriend is... Wait, that's a frog.
* Dragon Warrior: Rescuing the princess can be done starting about halfway through, but it's completely optional.
* Earthworm Jim: The bad guys steal the princess, etc.
* Kid Icarus: Rescue the goddess Palutena from the evil Medusa!
* Kid Niki: I seem to recall some princess rescuing going on.
* Kung Fu: Yeah, your girlfriend was definitely abducted in this one.
* The Legend of Zelda: Do I even need to say it? I'm not going to bother listing the other Zelda games, almost all of which involve you rescing the princess.
* Milon's Secret Castle: I seem to recall a damsel in peril...
* Prince of Persia: Rescue the princess, etc.
* River City Ransom: Rescue your girlfriends from bad high school thugs!
* Ultima: The kings sometimes had princesses in their dungeons you could rescue for a bonus.
I'm not counting games where you have to rescue a bunch of people, and some happen to be female, like Goonies II or Dragon Quest II.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. There were a lot more where I felt like there might be a damsel in distress, but I couldn't be sure. I'm sure we could double the list very easily. That was just me going down the arcade and NES lists of sprites on The Spriter's Resource.
The games that turn this around so a woman is rescuing a man are pretty rare. The recent mod for Donkey Kong so you play as Pauline and the second expansion for Jill of the Jungle are the only two that come to mind. These are done as clear role reversals and not because they are good plots, however.
I can see why women get so grumpy about this sort of stuff. Things have surely improved, but even today, women are either sexualized or just props, often as not.
I remember watching a video of a crappy game called Hard Rain or something. When the female character became playable, the guy let his girlfriend play. Well, the female character wanders around for a while in her panties and a small shirt for a while, then she gets attacked by men in masks. I'm not sure what happens if you fail to fight them off, but the atmosphere is pretty rapey. I was thinking, "Wow, this video series just got really awkward!" There isn't even any context -- we don't know her name or anything about her until later.
I am still astonished at how clearly symbolic it is for the role of women in games. The man gets to play three characters: One's a normal guy with a normal life who is beset by tragedy, one is a private investigator who does private investigator stuff, one is a douchey FBI guy or something who is also doing investigations. Then: "Your turn, honey!" Well, female player, your turn consists of running around in your underpants and fighting off rapists. Yay! I think you can even take a shower with gratuitious nudity.
Edit: I double-checked the games on the list I wasn't sure about. Pitfall Harry is out to rescue his niece in Pitfall II, not his girlfriend. The girl is only imperiled in Dawn of Sorrow, and not also Aria of Sorrow. You must rescue Lala in The Adventures of Lolo II, and can only start playing as her (which only changes the art) in The Adventures of Lolo 3. The rest I was dead on about having damsels in distress.