While female protagonists in gaming have fortunately become more commonplace over the years, it wasn’t always that way. One of the earliest gaming heroines was Wonder Momo, star of her self-titled game, Wonder Momo arrived in arcades in February 1987.

Developed and published by Namco, it ended up being the company’s last 8-bit arcade game before they moved into the 16-bit era. The title was a beat-em-up – making the fact that it starred a girl even more significant – and was essentially a parody of the superhero genre. The story focused on a stage show production as the person playing the game plays the actress of Momo/Wonder Momo; so rather than actually saving anyone, it’s all just a play.

Momo is a normal girl who gets superpowers and can then turn into the titular “Wonder Momo.” In her normal human form, she can only fight with her kicks, but once she powers up into Wonder Momo she can attack with special powers. Wonder Momo as a game was also notable and somewhat controversial for its fanservice (in which the person playing could see her underwear if her skirt flew up).

Wonder Momo was ported to other systems and included in Namco game collection releases (such as Namco Museum Encore), but the game failed to start a franchise. That said, Wonder Momo herself has cameoed in other Namco games across the years, including Baten Kaitos and Tales of the Abyss, and her costume has appeared as a wearable item in Namco titles as well. The most recent attempted revival of Wonder Momo was a brief anime series in early 2014, followed by a mobile title called Wonder Momo: Typhoon Booster that same year. Unfortunately, when the producer of the mobile game went out of business, the game was delisted. But while her games never quite took off, it’s clear that Wonder Momo maintains an influence on Namco games to this day.