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Sex is defined, gender is not. As games evolve and mature, we're seeing a growing presence of transgendered, cross-dressing, or otherwise sexually ambiguous characters. It's a progressive movement that's helping the games industry be a little less insular, even if it leaves a few folks scratching their heads. Without further ado, the best dudes that look like ladies, and ladies that look like dudes.
NiGHTS
10. NiGHTS
Game Appearances: NiGHTS into Dreams
Original Gender: Male
Prancing through the sky in his purple unitard, it can be hard to figure out whether or not this jester-like spirit is a guy or a girl. With a feminine voice, big eyes and a graceful stride, NiGHTS appears to be a woman in all regards, until fellow characters in the game refer to him as a he. He was designed to be androgynous as a means of making him accessible to all players, NiGHTS is one of SEGA's few lasting creations, which goes to show that sometimes the most likable sorts dress in drag.
Bob
9. Bob
Game Appearances: Animal Crossing
Original Gender: Bob
This purple speckled feline is one of the most flirtatious villagers in Animal Crossing, but don't let his pink pokadot dress fool you, he's all man. As the laziest citizen in your town, Bob can often be found following after you while fishing, asking for common fish like Sea Bass to "study". Bob's also prone to hissy fits when you don't invite him over to your place, and will give you plenty of sass whenever you don't spend enough time with him.
Asari
8. The Asari
Game Appearances: Mass Effect
Original Gender: Hermaphrodite
In the Mass Effect universe, the Asari are a race of sexy blue aliens that just happen to have the ability to mate with any creature of any race and any gender. While their outward appearance may seem most similar with a human female - save for the blue skin and tendril hair - they don't actually have males or females on their planet. Every single Asari is the same biologically and their equipment works with whatever their mate happens to carry making them perfect companions for threesomes.
Yoshi
7. Yoshi
Game Appearances: Super Mario World, Yoshi's Cookie, Yoshi Story
Original Gender: Male
Yoshi has always been refered to as a male, but his motherly instincts and ability to lay eggs have had folks wondering since his first appearance. There are a handful of real-world parthenogenetic species, but last I checked dinosaurs weren't among them. Yoshi's Story only made things more confusing by adding multi-colored Yoshi characters, including pink and purple ones; all of which were male.
Leo
6. Leo
Game Appearances: Tekken 6
Original Gender: Female
One of the fighters introduced in Tekken 6, most players initially thought Leo was a young boy. However, her boyish appearance is largely attributed to the fact that she's trying to emulate her spelunking father who vanished when she was young. While there's nothing overtly masculine about Leo, the fact that she was included in the male portion of the Tekken 6 art book.
What's amusing about the confusion surrounding this Ellen DeGeneres look-alike is that it seems to mostly stem from the fact that unlike most female fighting game characters, she's not hyper-sexualized with luscious assets.
Flea
5. Flea
Game Appearances: Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross
Original Gender: Male
Although he appears to be female in both dress and physicality (look at that rack!), Flea is actually a male - a fact that surprised players when revealed late in the game. Being a general in the Army of Mystics, he has some rather awesome gear including the Flea Bustier, which can only be worn by other males. As if one transformation wasn't enough, Flea also has the ability to turn into a bat. There's been no official word on the gender of his bat form.
Bridget
4. Bridget
Game Appearances: Guilty Gear X2
Original Gender: Male
Born as in a town where it's bad luck to have twin boys, Bridget was raised as a girl to hide the fact that both him and his brother had a Y chromosome. After being dressed like a girl since birth, and being raised as a nun, Bridget adopted a very feminine personality. Despite all this, he's always identified as a male, is sexually attracted to women, and actively wants to be more masculine; hence pursuing a career as a fighter. Still, he can't shake the wardrobe choices. Some things just stick with you.
Birdo
3. Birdo
Game Appearances: Super Mario Bros. 2, Captain Rainbow
Original Gender: Male
Nintendo has a history of sexually ambiguous characters, most due to the fact that they tend to be rather genderless. Birdo on the other hand definitely appears to be a woman, complete with flirty eyelashes, a pretty ribbon bow, and the ability to produce eggs. However, according to the original manual for Super Mario Bros. 2, Birdo is in fact a boy. The effeminate dinosaur wants to be a girl so badly, in subsequent games she's requested people call her "Birdetta".
Though Nintendo has shied away from declarations on Birdo's gender either way, the 2008 Japanese-only release of Captain Rainbow had the character played by a male voice actor. A gag was even made about the notorious ambiguity in which the titular hero must get Birdo out of jail after she was arrested for using the ladies' washroom by proving she's a real woman. How exactly do you do this? Go to her home and find her buzzing...massager.
Poison
2. Poison
Game Appearances: Final Fight, Street Fighter X Tekken
Original Gender: Male
Probably the most famous transgendered character on the list, Poison's confusing sexual status has puzzled gamers for years. Though the original character started as a female in the Japanese version of Final Fight, she was changed to a transexual man for the American release to accomodate cultural sensitivities about beating up women. The ensuing confusion was eventually rolled into the character's canonical story and we're left with one of the most unique fighters in Capcom's roster.
To make things a little more confusing, Yoshinori Ono stated that in North America Poison is a full-blown post-op transsexual, but in the Japanese versions she still has a little something extra tucked away.
Fawkes
1. Fawkes
Game Appearances: Fallout 3
Original Gender: Female
With his rippling muscles, deep voice, and affinity for going topless most assumed that the lovable supermutant was a guy. Talking to the Chief Physician while studying the FEV virus that transformed Fawkes from human to colossus we learn that the subject in Fawke's cell was originally a female. Though the experiment rendered Fawkes completely asexual, it was a physical transformation that would give Buck Angel a run for his money.
