History Main / GenderRestrictedGear

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' Sort of averts this. All gear can be worn by either gender even if gotten from the opposite sex. When worn the clothes will be different depending on the gender of the character either to fit the broader shoulders and more muscular physique of a male or the bigger chest and curvier yet narrow body shape of a female.

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* ''TabletopGame/{{Munchkin}}'' has several pieces of gendered equipment, such as the [[IncrediblyLamePun Gentleman's Club]], which can only be used by males (and its counterpart, the Broad Sword). There are also items which can be ''used'' by either gender but provide a higher bonus to one or the other (such as the [[ShoulderSizedDragon Cute Shoulder Dragon]]: +5 for females, +3 for males). A character's gender starts out the same as the player's, but can be [[BalefulPolymorph changed]] by certain cards and effects.

* ''Videogame/FinalFantasyXIV'' has some equipment with gender restrictions, but they are all purely cosmetic and have a counterpart for the other gender with the same (irrelevant) stats but different look.

* For some reason, early on you could give a male {{UsefulNotes/Mii}} red-and-black striped FingerlessGloves, but only a [[TrueBlueFemininity sky-blue-striped]] version was available for females.

* ''VideoGame/PersonaQ'' has male, female, twin, dog, and robot armor, with each character exclusively using one of those pools. Oddly, [[SweetPollyOliver Naoto]] exclusively wears female armor, despite [[WholesomeCrossdresser always dressing in male attire]] throughout the game.

Sometimes, gear is restricted by gender. Want to equip that [[StandardStatusEffects status-protecting]] [[Franchise/FinalFantasy Ribbon]]? Better have a set of ovaries. You'd think that adventurers of the "wrong" gender would rather suck it up and cross-dress if it meant a battlefield advantage, but the restriction appears to be [[AWizardDidIt magically enforced]], if it's [[{{Handwave}} mentioned]] at all.

* ''VideoGame/{{Xenoblade}}'' has at least one early-game armor set which only female characters can wear.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'', females have two powerful accessories exclusive to them: the "Ribbon", which negates all StandardStatusAilments, and Chantage, which [[NighInvulnerability gives the wearer persistent Reraise and Regen.]] (The only exception is Cloud, as a ShoutOut to his crossdressing subquest in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''.)

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[[caption-width-right:350:[[https://www.facebook.com/mjwillsart/ Image by MJWillsart]]]]

* ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' has both male- and female-exclusive armor sets.

* A few armour sets in ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' are gender-exclusive. The one piece of gear that's notable among them is the Silver Bracelet, a female-only item that gives a 10% bonus to soul gain. The rest of the series does away with gender-locked gear altogether.

* Ever since ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'', female characters tend to enjoy more perks than males, due to the addition of gender-exclusive equipment skewed heavily towards women. Though only ''[[VideoGame/DragonQuestIII III]]'', ''[[VideoGame/DragonQuestIV IV]]'' and now '''[[VideoGame/DragonQuestIX IX]]''' allow you to choose your hero's gender, later games in the series have steadily added more and more female-exclusive equipment, in the form of dresses, tiaras, bustiers, and accessories. Male-exclusive equipment tends to be of the sillier kind, like boxer shorts.

* Some incarnations of Princess Zelda from ''Franchise/LegendOfZelda'' compared to the other two in the triforce trio get to use light weapons that the two males Link and Ganondorf do not get to use. While both of their swords are much stronger and heavier than Zelda's she augments her weapons with Magic to make her weapons able to match Link's legendary swords or Ganondorf's evil swords in power. Zelda can't use swords that Link could easily hold with one hand.

* ''VideoGame/StreetFighterXTekken'' with it's ninjas. Especially Raven and Ibuki where Raven gets to use the bigger ninja weapons such as stingers and shuriken while Ibuki is limited to the much smaller and much less damaging Kunai.

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX'' has a special item that lets male characters can equip female clothes and vice-versa. One exception is the muscle belt, for obvious reasons (it's two bands of fabric that cross over the middle of the chest).

* In ''VideoGame/BoxxyQuestTheGatheringStorm'', the True Heroine’s Garb is a set of high-quality endgame armor that can only be worn by female party members. Amusingly, its midgame equivalent, the MagicalGirl Costume, is ''not'' gender-restricted.

* ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' notably averts this... even on the princess dress. While some outfits are clearly ''designed'' for a particular gender, there's nothing stopping the Chosen Undead from cross-dressing if they want.
* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' mostly avoids this, as the majority of armor sets are available to both genders, and a few armor sets have different names and descriptions per gender but are identical in terms of stats and required materials. For example, the male "Yamato" armor set is identical to the female "Hyuga" armor set, and the male "Ace" armor is identical to the female "Sororal" armor. That said, there are a few armor sets which truly are only available to one gender.

** ZigZagged by ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX'': with a special item, male characters can equip female clothes and vice-versa. One exception is the muscle belt, for obvious reasons (it's two bands of fabric that cross over the middle of the chest).
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' generally restricts gear along rough "class" lines-- light armor wearers cannot equip heavy armor, etc.-- regardless of gender, but the Minerva armor, one of the best sets in the game, can only be equipped by female heavy armor users.

** The majority of armor in ''VideoGame/LufiaCurseOfTheSinistrals'' falls into three categories: "everyone can wear it", "only guys can wear it", and "only girls can wear it". This game averts this for the Bunny Sword and Iris's Sword, since only Maxim and Dekar use swords.

* {{Downplayed|trope}} in ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'': Wearing a piece of clothing requires matching its Bravery stat requirement, which is very high for women's clothes. The one female player character has notably higher Bravery, but all of them have the same cap and growth rate. Thus, getting the males to [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdress]] isn't impossible, it just takes more [[RareCandy bravery-boosting food]]. Indeed, some feminine outfits have bonuses which only apply to [[TheHero Neku]] and [[{{Bishonen}} Joshua]].

* Downplayed in ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'', which allows players of both classes to wear all equipment - but if you wear the wrong gear, you gain various, usually negative effects, like losing 15% of your moxie as a male wearing the vinyl boots, or dealing 10 sleaze damage when wearing the stylish swimsuit, also as a male. Additionally, only certain items will drop as a male or female.

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/ADanceWithRogues'': Based on the {{Stripperific}} BreastPlate-like appearance of most armors you pick up, you'd think that they are all restricted to women--however, placing them in a male companion's inventory somehow magically changes the item's model to suit a male physique. This is true even for armors that are obviously intended as female-only, like Armor of the Maiden.
* Subverted in ''VideoGame/PlanetAlcatraz'', you can wear female clothes if you like (though they offer no bonuses and look rather [[FanDisservice disturbing]]).