GayBlade

GayBlade is an action role-playing video game developed by Ryan Best and released in 1992.[1] It has been thought to be the earliest LGBT-themed video game, but was preceded by 1989's Caper in the Castro.[2] In the 2020 Netflix documentary, High Score, Best said that all his copies of the game were lost during a relocation. The game was later found with the help of the LGBTQ Video Game Archive.[2] As of 2020, the game is playable via emulation on the Internet Archive.[3]

GayBlade
Developer(s)Ryan Best
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, Mac OS
Release1992
Genre(s)Action role-playing game
Mode(s)Single-player

Premise

The player has to fight hordes of enemies including rednecks and homophobic skinheads. The final boss of the game is homophobic conservative commentator and politician Pat Buchanan.

Legacy

The 2020 Netflix documentary series High Score featured Ryan Best and GayBlade in its third episode, about early RPGs. At the time of production in 2019, Best had lost all copies during a move from Hawaii to San Francisco years before and had been looking for any since then, which he had told the show's producers. As part of their research, the production team searched online, including contacting the LGBTQ Video Game Archive, to seek out footage and copies. During post-production, the producers were contacted by the Schwules Museum (Gay Museum) in Berlin, who had a copy that they were able to share with the producers, who after working with it, returned it to Best; this was noted briefly in the episode and expanded up in news reports the day of the series' release.[4][5] Subsequently, they worked with the LGBTQ Video Game Archive, The Strong National Museum of Play and the Internet Archive to preserve the game and provide the game in both an emulated form and as a downloadable version.[3]

Bibliography
  • Jones, Malcolm (May 14, 1993). "GayBlade: The world's first pink fantasy game". Star Observer. Sydney.
  • Nissenbaum, Dion (April 4, 1993). "Egads! Empress Nelda has been captured by the forces...". UPI NewsTrack.
  • Provenzano, Jim (April 8, 1993). "Dungeons and Drag Queens". Bay Area Reporter. p. 46.
  • "Taking a byte out of the bad guys". The Advocate. April 6, 1993. p. 10.
  • Vigoda, Arlene (August 3, 1993). "Fun and games". USA Today. p. 1D.
  • Clark, Joe (July 13, 1993). "Dungeons and drag queens". The Village Voice. 38 (28). p. 46.
  • Cobb, Nathan (August 5, 1993). "Alternative cyberstyles". The Boston Globe. p. 60.
  • "Chapter 118: Homosexual Tactics: Anything Goes". Pro-Life Activist's Encyclopedia. American Life League. 1997.

References
  1. "Haarfön-Helden". Der Spiegel (in German). Archived from the original on March 13, 2019. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  2. "GayBlade: The Lost LGBTQ Roleplaying Game, Explained". Comic Book Resources. August 22, 2020. Archived from the original on August 27, 2020. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  3. Bailey, Dustin (August 25, 2020). "GayBlade, the lost RPG from Netflix's High Score, is now downloadable on Archive.org". PCGamesN. Archived from the original on August 27, 2020. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  4. Fransisco, Eric (August 19, 2020). "Netflix's High Score Reveals the Forgotten Heroes of Video Games". Inverse. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
  5. Scott, Jason (August 28, 2020). "The Legend of GayBlade". Internet Archive. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
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