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[woopWOOP]

Those polygonal 'nude' adverts of her always looked so weird. Even back then when I thought the 3D model was pretty damn advanced I wondered how anybody could actually find that sexy.

But yeah, tits -> "finally a game for mature people" -> bigger mainstream interest is my guess.

 

[UrbanRats]

Because the games were awesome.

There were plenty of "sexy" female characters back then, many of them were in shit games and no one cared.

Her design did became worse and worse with each iteration, in the PS1 days, though.

 

[Aceun]

The answer is quite simple really

 

[Poona]

I think people like to point to shitty marketing and "nude code" culture but Laura became an icon because her game was innovative and new in the console space.

How can you acknowledge her being an icon, but then not even know her name?

It's Lara not Laura and it's written and said all over the games (and the boxes that hold them) as well as the movies with angelina Jolie.

The lar in Lara rhymes with car, far, tar, par. Whilst laur in Laura rhymes with store, four, door and gore.

 

[Head.spawn]

For it's time it stood out because:
-non-cartoony game
-female lead
-sex appeal
-gameplay was unique, interesting mechanics
-graphics were great at the time


It was a stand out title for many reasons and I think narrowing it down to just "boobs" is a bit too simplistic. I think it's slightly more mature take on the action genre also helped differentiate the early PlayStation image from that of Nintendo. This game, resident evil, twisted metal, and new final fantasy all benefited from that.

 

[barit]

Because Männer sind Schweine

Spoiler

men are pigs

So yeah sex appeal was a strong reason imo

 

[The Spoony Hou]

Boobs attracted men, maybe having a female char attracted girls, but the series got popular because it was a good game.

 

[Übermatik]

DUUUUUUUUUUUUDE!!!!

YEEEESSSSSSSSS

 

[Dizzy]

Boobs, and that render of her. Lara was the first major game character that actually at the the looked kind of hot...even if she still looked a bit square. Plus PlayStation was really hitting mainstream at the time and a more mature audience.

This wasn't 2D sprites, this was a 3d model. Also note that all the posters and magazine covers never used the low poly triangle boob model from the game, they used a far more rounded looking character who wasnt pointy all over. It was really the first time you could market a videogame character in that way.

Also helped that Tomb Raider was a good game.

 

[tanooki27]

it was the short shorts.

 

[toddhunter]

I wish everyone saying "boobs" would also say whether they played the first few games during their release windows. Or if they were tuned into gaming culture at the time in relation to what was deemed new ideas and innovation in the industry.

Croft has a sexualized character design. But no amount of titillation would sell millions of copies if the game didn't back it up with revolutionary design and execution.

It's such a shame to see so much dismissal of the early IP. It really was something remarkable at the time.

Talk about having no sense of your roots.

I was there at the time. It was the boobs. I knew about the boobs, my partner knew about the boobs, we all talked about the boobs.

Don't get me wrong, the game was great, but just because it should have been known for other things, doesn't mean that it was.

And if you think boobs alone still wouldn't sell millions of people on a game? You need to look into mobile gaming especially.

 

[serversurfer]

I vote for boobs.

Also, I think Laura's boobs were a major factor in her popularity.

 

[MrCunningham]

A bit of a "chicken and the egg" dilemma. Which came first-- A decent female lead who had insane level of exposure because of the size of her chest? Or a character with a gigantic chest that people later figured out was in a decent game?

I don't think it was a matter of one thing coming first over the other. It was a combination of these two aspects. Yes there was a lead female protagonist, and yes she did push a sexualized agenda. But at the same time, Tomb Raider was also groundbreaking for 1996. It was one of the first 3D action/ adventure platformers of its time, Sure Mario 64 beat it by a couple months, but this game helped solidify that whole genre.

Tomb Raider was an edgier alternative to the family friendly Mario. From a gaming media point of view, this game was already getting a lot of hype on its technical aspects. But from a non gaming media point of view, Lara Croft as a character was getting a lot of press because she represented this girl power/ sexualization aspect.

 

[PtM]

I'm sure the guns also helped.

 

[SmokedMeat]

Playstation made gaming more mainstream, and Tomb Raider was not only a badass game in itself, but one of the early 3D titles where you were free to run around within the world.

That's a powerful combination, and then you throw in a strong, intelligent female, with sex appeal as the lead character, and you have a smash hit.

 

[KooopaKid]

 

[Basketball]

People came for the boobs

Then stayed for the game

Then came for the boobs.

 

[Toxi]

Because the Tomb Raider games were actually popular in the 90s. You'll notice Lara wasn't hugely popular in the early 2000s despite being just as chesty as before.

The chestiness did help, but if Lara was a blonde spiky-haired anime dude with a giant sword or Kurt Russell after smoking too many cigarettes (AKA Cloud and Snake), she would still have been an icon.

Because the games were awesome.

There were plenty of "sexy" female characters back then, many of them were in shit games and no one cared.

Exactly.

 

[Arkam]

If you were a gamer then this would not even need a debate.

First, gaming was very much mainstream in the mid 1990's. Why do you think it wasnt? We had a dozen video game based movies and tv shows even!

Second, Tomb Raider was a great game that came out at a time when 3D games were in their infancy. On top of being one of the better games of the era, it had a female protagonist who was not a 'princess', but instead a badass.

Then on top of that (if that was not enough already) there was the fact that she had an exaggerated feminine shape that core gamers (males 13-24) enjoyed


But honestly it was well deserved fame based on the game being quality.

 

[Sunnington]

Because the games were awesome.

There were plenty of "sexy" female characters back then, many of them were in shit games and no one cared.

Her design did became worse and worse with each iteration, in the PS1 days, though.

Were there? Such as?

 

[SmokedMeat]

Were there? Such as?

Not many, and none in a lead role.

Off the top of my head there was Chun Li, Kitana, and Mileena.

 

[herod]

at a time when games were arguably not mainstream

You might have missed the sales figures for the PS1

 

[fastmower]

Tits.

 

[Lord Radik]

I thought the first two games were fantastic. The third one was fine but it was the first time I'd felt franchise fatigue. They pumped one out a year for 6 years right?

 

[Auto-Reply]

As an 80's/90s kid, I really can't say why exactly. It must be the sexy, badass chick theme that got to everyone. There were a lot of people that never played the games but knew her name.

But whatever it was in detail, it's definitely gone now as her 15 minutes of fame ran out a decade ago.

 

[AmyS]

Boobs and 3Dfx Voodoo.

 

[Mman235]

Were there? Such as?

That it's hard to remember is more a sign of how absurdly Lara overshadowed them than a sign of them not existing.

Actually I do remember one, which was the female character you can choose in Deathtrap Dungeon (it was even an Eidos game, which makes their intent even more obvious); she had more absurd proportions and outfit than Lara ever did and she was all over the marketing to the point that she was far more prominent than the male choice (which is kind of funny/sad in retrospect given modern publishers trying to shoo woman off covers when possible), yet now she's pretty much forgotten.

 

[Moon_frogger]

Nope, its not a hive mind of 12 year olds, its full of people from all walks of life, a few of us where adults around when Lara Croft first burst on to the scene, you'd have to have blinders on if you couldn't understand that sex appeal was a large factor.

yeah, I was cumming in my pants alright. You got me. So sexy.

 

[Refreshment.01]

Something people always seem to forget is, despite it all - Lara Croft was STILL a strong female lead. She has been all along. Sadly, the controversy surrounding her looks overshadowed just how mindblowingly revolutionary the games themselves really were. Especially the first one.

Which games with female protagonists (main characters) don't have strong leads?

yeah, I was cumming in my pants alright. You got me. So sexy.

In game CG models? Promotion materials?

 

[MrCunningham]

Sony's advertising for the PS1 was weird. Dem polygons though. Arf.

 

[Auto-Reply]

yeah, I was cumming in my pants alright. You got me. So sexy.

Let your imagination be your tessellation!

 

[Palculator]

Well, it helped that the games were great. Some people are acting like you can just slap polygonal tits onto something and expect to sell as much/become as iconic as Lara. After all, before the reboot she still had her tits waving about, but the games were shite.

Sony's advertising for the PS1 was weird. Dem polygons though. Arf.

But that's fine because she's clearly in the dominant role here :V

 

[RipperGrim]

You might have missed the sales figures for the PS1

What's that have to do with it being mainstream? Games were getting more popular at that time but it still had stigmas as well, plenty of people still thought they were toys for kids. Not saying everyone thought this but it definitely wasn't as socially accepted as it is now, especially for adults not in their teens anymore.

yeah, I was cumming in my pants alright. You got me. So sexy.

Not too sure what's so hard to believe about this, you ever played a game, thought the graphics were amazing and then went back to it and thought they were shit? It's all about perspective. At the time that was cutting edge tech, plus the promotional stuff was a lot higher quality.

 

[kinggroin]

Great gameplay; in some ways, revolutionary. That combined with the sex appeal of a strong female lead.

 

[30yearsofhurt]

I'm definitely in the gender camp on this.
At the time we'd never really seen female leads in action games or other media.
The obvious comparison is Ripley from Alien/s but she too was notable for being female.
I even remember someone asking why I'd want to play a game as a girl when I picked up TR2. You have to remember that games were seen as 'toys for boys'. the playstation made that 'toys for boys both young and old' but the idea that girls and women played games and enjoyed them was not one that was entertained.

To sum up she struck a chord with mainstream media/culture because:
- she was a lone independent female lead protagonist;
- she was empowered, intelligent and 'sassy';
- she had sex appeal.

Tits were part of it but it wasn't as important as the OP thinks.

 

[Moon_frogger]

I can't deny that sexy marketing didn't hurt.....but the 90's was FULL of 'sexy' promotional material for games and it failed as often as it suceeded. I'm extremely uncomfortable with the assseration that tomb raider wouldn't have succeeded on it's own merits. I feel like people are really underselling how fantastic the first couple of games were.

 

[bobawesome]

 

[Toxi]

Which games with female protagonists (main characters) don't have strong leads?

Metroid Other M.

Sony's advertising for the PS1 was weird. Dem polygons though. Arf.

What the fuck

 

[10101]

Can't say I ever bought the games for her boobs and I was 17 when the first one came out. The game was legitimately awesome, I played through the second one recently and it was still great.

It was the first 3rd person adventure game that I played and it really captured my imagination. Loved all those PS1 games, so many fond memories of that machine even if they do make my eyes bleed when I look at them today!

 

[Palculator]

What the fuck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXSTAj9tlhE

 

[hurricanes]

I played the game because the setting look interesting. Can't say for other people.

 

[Americanmushroom]

Boobs and 3D platforming

 

[Fdkn]

1997

there were tons of promotions like this one in magazines all over the world

 

[Moon_frogger]

What's that have to do with it being mainstream? Games were getting more popular at that time but it still had stigmas as well, plenty of people still thought they were toys for kids. Not saying everyone thought this but it definitely wasn't as socially accepted as it is now, especially for adults not in their teens anymore.



Not too sure what's so hard to believe about this, you ever played a game, thought the graphics were amazing and then went back to it and thought they were shit? It's all about perspective. At the time that was cutting edge tech, plus the promotional stuff was a lot higher quality.

Lol it was cutting edge because of the environments and animations. That was never sexy, not in the 90s and not now. And if you thought that was sexy at any point in your life you'll probably be forever alone.

 

[Vlaphor]

http://www.laracroft.tv/wp-content/gallery/tomb-raider-3-classic-artwork/tr3-030.jpg

This kind of thing got me to look at the game, but the fun gameplay caused me to stay.

 

[tokilamockingbrd]

I was in 6th and 7th grade during those days. It was the bewbs. i remember my friends telling me they had heard from another friend that there was a nude code for the game. We made it a mission to find out this mythical nude code.

 

[hatchx]

Cone terts

There were two very good reasons she was so famous and they're pretty obvious.

It was the boobs. Hell, I remember a comic strip making fun of that at the time

Boobs.

Bewbs

massive polygonal boobs

boobies

They marketed the hell out of those boobs....

 

[tokilamockingbrd]

As an 80's/90s kid, I really can't say why exactly. It must be the sexy, badass chick theme that got to everyone. There were a lot of people that never played the games but knew her name.

But whatever it was in detail, it's definitely gone now as her 15 minutes of fame ran out a decade ago.

I could see MS dumping alot of money this fall to try and make her hip again.

 

[SmokedMeat]

I was in 6th and 7th grade during those days. It was the bewbs. i remember my friends telling me they had heard from another friend that there was a nude code for the game. We made it a mission to find out this mythical nude code.

If you were a child at the time then it was probably for the boobs. If you were an adult it was for the awesome game that was unlike anything else out there.

 

[Memorabilia]

It was the convergence of 3D graphics being new & 3D-polygonal, sweater puppies.