5 Classic Video Game Plots That Are Still around Today (Despite Being Totally Sexist)
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Our second day of this week-long feature sees us examining why Mama’s in the kitchen.
#4 Cooking Mama
Of course, the plot we’re talking about is “women cook in the kitchen, men cook at their jobs,” but we had to call out the Cooking Mama series for being so over the top:
The concept has been around since the first few video games, which for some reason had men making hamburgers:
It seems based on the incorrect assumption that most men fantasize about not only food, but being at work. Finally, in 1993, women were allowed to show their faces in the world of video game cooking. Motoko Chan No Wonder Kitchen was given away with supermarket mayonnaise purchases in Japan. It probably would’ve been forgotten, but there’s a wiki about it so it’s WORLD FAMOUS. The game features a female protagonist going on adventures to collect ingredients. Once those ingredients are collected, she goes back to the kitchen and cooks, while we assume the mayonnaise keeps her pregnant or something.
- The bar has to be pretty low to make Flo from Diner Dash look progressive
You can imagine our surprise when, in 2006, the Cooking Mama line of games launched, focusing almost exclusively on girls. After all, Iron Chef is pretty manly, and so is grilling. Grilling men is probably the manliest thing of all.
Exception that Proves the Rule:
Here, players can play as Mama and be independent in the wilderness. Relying on your own skills, like making fishing poles out of wood, you provide food for your family. We’re not sure that Mama qualifies for babysitting duty if she thinks it’s a good idea to bring small children into the woods then forage for sustenance. However, our main point is that this is one of the rare instances where the playable character can also be a boy. In fact, the game was called “Cooking Mama + Papa” in Japan, probably because Papa can’t be left alone because he will do mad science and bag prostitutes (we assume).
Tomorrow: The #3 plot is featured when one of gaming’s greatest female heroes decides to act like a secretary on Mad Men.
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