Fact Check: Is GTA 6 the first Grand Theft Auto game with a female protagonist?

One of the most notable things about GTA 6 is that it's a Grand Theft Auto game with a female protagonist. She is named Lucia, and her status as a female protagonist has been the subject of numerous discussions. Some of those topics were rather short-sighted since they were based on the notion that Lucia is the first of her kind in the open-world gaming series.

This belief is, in fact, false. There have been several female protagonists in this series prior to GTA 6, and it's actually happened in a few titles within the franchise:

• Grand Theft Auto
• Grand Theft Auto 2 (Game Boy Color port)
• Grand Theft Auto Online

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Several other GTA games have featured a female protagonist

GTA 6 won't be the first game in the series to have a female character in the lead role (Image via Rockstar Games)

The insurmountable hype surrounding GTA 6 makes it easy to see why many gamers have focused on the fact that the game features a female protagonist. The remainder of this article will look at the series' other female protagonists, starting with the first game in the franchise.

Grand Theft Auto

Half of the first game's set of playable characters (Image via Rockstar Games)

The first game in the series had several women as playable characters. Their names, from left to right, are:

• Divine
• Katie
• Mikki
• Ulrika

This title had a pretty diverse selection of female protagonists to choose from, but there is something that gamers should know about this old title. The player can only select one character to play as, and their choice essentially boils down to the pixels they'll see on the screen.

How Ulrika looks like from the game's default camera angle (Image via Rockstar Games)

The story will play out the same, regardless of which character the player picks. Similarly, choosing a male protagonist doesn't change anything, either. It is worth noting that this game first came out in 1997.

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Grand Theft Auto 2

There were two female playable characters in the Game Boy Color port (Image via Rockstar Games)

Grand Theft Auto 2 was the last single-player game in the series to feature a female playable game until GTA 6. However, this fact only applies to the Game Boy Color port. The original PC, PS1, and Dreamcast versions only had Claude Speed as the protagonist.

The Game Boy Color port returned to the first game's system, where the player selects a character to play as. There were only two female protagonists to choose from in this title, though: Gretchen and Candy. The former is the character on the left, and the latter's on the right in the image provided above..

This Game Boy Color port came out in 2000. And gamers wouldn't see a female playable character in the series until 13 years later, with the introduction of GTA Online.

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Grand Theft Auto Online

The player chooses the protagonist's name in this game (Image via Rockstar Games)

Unlike past games in the series, the player had a great degree of customization in this title. This includes the option to play as a woman. This title is similar to Grand Theft Auto and GTA 2 in that the main character's sex doesn't change how the story plays out. However, there are a few instances featuring changes in dialogues, but such examples are ultimately minor and don't affect the gameplay.

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GTA 6

GTA 6 isn't the first game in the series to have a female protagonist. Still, Lucia will be the first one to have a voice and a unique background given to her.