History Main / LadyNotAppearingInThisGame

* Subverted in both ''VideoGame/EverQuest'' and ''VideoGame/EverQuestII'' with Firiona Vie and Antonia Bayle respectively.

* An ad for a trading card game called Ancient Summoner shows a scantily-clad anime girl with the slogan "Wanna get tough? Then let's [[DoubleEntendre play rough]] with her to fight against the evils!" Oddly reminiscent of Wartune's "Love can dispel darkness! Make love against the darkness with her now!" slogan...

** Firiona and this trope in general were parodied in Webcomic/TheNoob. [[http://thenoobcomic.com/comic/186/ Link]].

* Browser-based game ''Blood and Jade'' features ads that blatantly use video footage from ''other'' games, such as [[VideoGame/DeadOrAlive Dead or Alive: Xtreme 2]] -- not even attempting to hide or alter Kasumi, Hitomi, or Tina in the advertisements. A 3D advertisement for the game showcases [[VideoGame/{{Touhou}} Yukari and Ran]] dancing around in swimsuits, which was taken from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44yRCV4GjN8 this]] fan made MMD music video set to a J-Pop song. On top of that, their regular ads also feature scanty clad women who actually exist in the game and act as party members -- calling into question why they felt the need to rip off other sources in the first place.
* An ad for a game called Call of Roma features a scantily clad woman and advertising that you are "one click away from a Roman orgy." It's a turn based strategy game. Later, they replaced "orgy" with "empire"... briefly. Apparently it's a tradition they established when they called their game Caesary.
* The online ads for ''{{VideoGame/Evony}}'' featured women ranging from innocent-looking girls to porn stars, beckoning "my Lord" to play the game. It's worth noting that ''Evony'' is not an RPG but a strategy game, meaning you don't see ''anyone'' up close, let alone some bimbo in [[ChainmailBikini anachronistic lingerie]]. They even started the trend of stealing licensed characters from other games -- such as Queen Antonia, featured mascot of VideoGame/EverQuestII -- which soon spread. Evony's ad campaign's slow degeneration from actual relevant ads to "'''Boobies!''' [-(oh, and play our game)-]" has become [[http://contexts.org/socimages/2009/07/14/evolution-of-evony-video-game-ads/ a running joke]] on game-related sites.

* SF strategy MMO ''Lacuna Expanse'' used a [[http://d3c1jot4uxnt54.cloudfront.net/ads/300x250-evony-tribute.jpg similar advert]], allegedly as a tribute to Evony. More recently we also got [[http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/imgad?id=CJGf1sG17rbWggEQrAIY-gEyCESnG5sWIJmA this one]] [[http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/imgad?id=CPymzOvDxZ_ecxCgARjYBDIImwVO95qondk this one]], and [[http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/imgad?id=CNbwz-LqqZ6EvAEQoAEY2AQyCIG78VowBOBP this one]], which are at least vaguely relevant to the game and considerably more tasteful.

* One piece of concept art for ''Videogame/LANoire'' titled “Fallen Starlet” features [[DropDeadGorgeous the corpse of a glamorous young woman]] behind the wheel of a car. Despite there being no version of her in the actual game, she eventually made it onto the cover when the game was ported to [=PS4=] and Xbox One.

* [[http://extreme.pcgameshardware.de/attachments/397450d1301531304-spieler-frauen-die-beliebtesten-frauen-charaktere-computerspielen-x3saya.jpg This image of Saya Kho]] appears on the back of the ''[[VideoGame/{{X}} X3: Gold Edition]]'' box. This being a space simulator series with a major [[FourX economics management]] component, she appears from the neck up over comms in ''X3: Reunion'' and not at all in ''X3: Terran Conflict''. And she's in the opening cinematic of ''X3: Albion Prelude'' for all of ten seconds before dying in the massive explosion she set off. Strangely, ''Videogame/XRebirth'''s cover art doesn't feature Yisha, the ship's copilot, despite being with you for the entire game in a LatexSpaceSuit.

* The cover art for ''Literature/HennekoTheHentaiPrinceAndTheStonyCat'' depicts two blushing, bikini-clad [[CatGirl catgirls]] snuggling suggestively. Though the two girls in question '''do''' appear in the anime, the scene depicted never happens, neither of them is a CatGirl outside of fantasy sequences (and never both at once), and they are not in a sexual relationship (though one of them might like to be). Also, the younger of the two girls is [[EmotionlessGirl incapable of expressing her emotions]] due to her wish, and as such shouldn't be able to blush.

* The cover art for ''LightNovel/HennekoTheHentaiPrinceAndTheStonyCat'' depicts two blushing, bikini-clad [[CatGirl catgirls]] snuggling suggestively. Though the two girls in question '''do''' appear in the anime, the scene depicted never happens, neither of them is a CatGirl outside of fantasy sequences (and never both at once), and they are not in a sexual relationship (though one of them might like to be). Also, the younger of the two girls is [[EmotionlessGirl incapable of expressing her emotions]] due to her wish, and as such shouldn't be able to blush.

* The "recruitment posters" for ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV''[='s=] Grand Companies caused a small bit of confusion on some forums because that [[http://chrysaliswiki.wdfiles.com/local--files/news:raven-twin-adder-in-a-tangle/tr_serenitypurity.png one poster]] (presumably a parody of ''[[http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist255/la/delacroix.html Liberty Leading Her People]]'') kept being mistaken for a depiction of the Company's commander, Kan-E-Senna, and people were upset that "wasn't showing up in the game." Kan-E-Senna actually resembles a young teenager, and is a different person from the woman in the poster. Fun fact: the woman on the poster is actually one of the twelve gods of Eorzea, Nophica.

* ''League of Angels'' zigzags this trope. On the one hand, it uses blatant FanService ({{Panty Shot}}s, {{Shower Scene}}s, etc.) to advertise for a browser-based MMO. On the other hand, most of these ladies are actually in the game (aside from some gratuitous {{Gainaxing}} and JigglePhysics added into the character portraits for the ads.) It is more like a case of NeverTrustATrailer; the lovely girls are in the game, it just lacks the gratuitous FanService the ads would suggest. Old adverts, however, play the trope entirely straight by using pictures of girls from ''other games''.

* ''Game of War: Fire Age'' seems to have taken this to the next level, by buying television ad space (In at least 3 countries, one even a different language) to spam a commercial filled with troops led by model and actress Kate Upton, baring a ''lot'' of cleavage. She does at least appear in-game, in the form of the tutorial goddess.

* ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'': An interesting and actually plot-critical example: Vanellope is featured prominently in the ''Sugar Rush'' cabinet art despite that she's supposedly a glitch and allegedly not supposed to even be in the game. This is what clues Ralph in that King Candy's hiding something and ultimately leads to the latter's plan derailing. In the end it actually proves to be a hint to an even bigger reveal: that Vanellope is actually the true ruler of ''Sugar Rush''.

* Zig-zagged in the case of ''VideoGame/RuneScape''. NPC heroine Linza the Blacksmith was ''intended'' to appear in-game as a fellow adventurer like the player, complete with her own quest series, but all of her quests ended up in DevelopmentHell, so for years the she only ever appeared in advertisements and the odd cameo, flaunting her cleavage and bare arms. In May 2016 the quest "Kindred Spirits" was finally green-lit to star Linza... [[InvertedTrope and was advertised as a quest about the Barrows Brothers instead]]
** ''[=RuneScape=]'' also has a male example of this trope in the characters Tim and Crunchy, a human warrior and skeleton who frequently appeared on the game's website and in advertising for the game but never appeared in the game itself until they had a cameo in the game's [[MilestoneCelebration 15th anniversary milestone]] quest.

* In ''Webcomic/TheNoob'' when the expansion set for Clichequest was coming out, the first version of the box art featured the squid-lobster creatures prominently present in the actual game. The CEO of the game company thought the box art was the reason for the expansion's poor sales, so had it replaced with a closeup of a curvy lady. when the expansion still sold poorly the lady's bust was exaggerated further until eventually the final iteration of the box's front was nothing but a 3D pair of breasts protruding from it.

* ''League of Angels'' zigzags this trope. On the one hand, it uses blatant FanService ({{Shower Scene}}s, etc.) to advertise for a browser-based MMO. On the other hand, most of these ladies are actually in the game (aside from some gratuitous {{Gainaxing}} and JigglePhysics added into the character portraits for the ads.) It is more like a case of NeverTrustATrailer; the lovely girls are in the game, it just lacks the gratuitous FanService the ads would suggest. Old adverts, however, play the trope entirely straight by using pictures of girls from ''other games''.

* ''League of Angels'' zigzags this trope. On the one hand, it uses blatant FanService ({{Shower Scene}}s, {{Panty Shot}}s, etc.) to advertise for a browser-based MMO. On the other hand, most of these ladies are actually in the game (aside from some gratuitous {{Gainaxing}} and JigglePhysics added into the character portraits for the ads.) It is more like a case of NeverTrustATrailer; the lovely girls are in the game, it just lacks the gratuitous FanService the ads would suggest. Old adverts, however, play the trope entirely straight by using pictures of girls from ''other games''.

* ''Rise of Mythos'', another game advertised on this very Wiki, combines this trope with unintentional comedy by using images lifted from another game -- namely, ''VideoGame/KanColle''. Even if you ''don't'' know that the young woman in the ad is the [[MoeAnthropomorphism Moe Personification]] of a Japanese WWII battleship, you might find yourself asking why a teen girl in a SailorFuku is being used to advertise a medieval fantasy-based game[[note]]Making it even funnier, they used EnsembleDarkHorse Shimakaze, making it more likely that someone will notice the plagiarism[[/note]].

* As illustrated above, the online ads for ''{{VideoGame/Evony}}'' featured women ranging from innocent-looking girls to porn stars, beckoning "my Lord" to play the game. It's worth noting that ''Evony'' is not an RPG but a strategy game, meaning you don't see ''anyone'' up close, let alone some bimbo in [[ChainmailBikini anachronistic lingerie]]. They even started the trend of stealing licensed characters from other games -- such as Queen Antonia, featured mascot of VideoGame/EverQuestII -- which soon spread. Evony's ad campaign's slow degeneration from actual relevant ads to "'''Boobies!''' [-(oh, and play our game)-]" has become [[http://contexts.org/socimages/2009/07/14/evolution-of-evony-video-game-ads/ a running joke]] on game-related sites.

This trope is a recurring feature of {{Clickbait Gag}}s, specifically when mocking the trend to put attractive women in Website/YouTube thumbnails. Contrast SirNotAppearingInThisTrailer, as movies tend to have the exact opposite problem. See also WolverinePublicity. Compare ContemptibleCover.

* Avalanche Press, who usually publish board wargames, also produced a run of UsefulNotes/D20System roleplaying game supplements in the early 2000s, mostly covering historical and historical-mythic subjects. These were sometimes competently written and researched, but the [[ContemptibleCover covers]] were almost all quite ludicrously cheesecakey, featuring voluptuous women barely dressed in {{stripperific}} parodies of something from the relevant period.

* [[Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment Namco]]'s ''Namco Sports'' series used to feature a young lady named Namiko playing the sports the games were about.

[[caption-width-right:245:Where the hell are you, my Lady? [[RunningGag (Not pictured: spyware program)]] ]]

** Some of the promo art features a [[http://images-cdn.perfectworld.com/www/pictures/1353959785786.jpg young female Vulcan]] wearing a Starfleet-styled CustomUniformOfSexy with plentiful cleavage. She's been dubbed T'Its and variations thereof [[FanNickname by the fanbase]][[note]]Canonically, most Vulcan feminine names are "T'[something]"[[/note]]. On the other hand, when the ExpansionPack ''Legacy of Romulus'' was dropped, another Romulan showed up in the promo wallpapers, dubbed "So'Hott" by the players. According to WordOfGod this is meant to be Commander Tiaru Jarok, the captain of the Romulan Republic flagship RRW ''Lleiset'' (the Romulan counterpart to the ''Enterprise''). She becomes a {{Recurrer}} starting with the mission "Sphere of Influence" but wasn't in the game originally.

* Avalanche Press, who usually publish board wargames, also produced a run of UsefulNotes/D20System roleplaying game supplements in the early 2000s, mostly covering historical and historical-mythic subjects. These were sometimes competently written and researched, but the covers were almost all quite ludicrously cheesecakey, featuring voluptuous women barely dressed in {{stripperific}} parodies of something from the relevant period.

* ''Rise of Mythos'', another game advertised on this very Wiki, combines this trope with unintentional comedy by using images lifted from another game -- namely, ''VideoGame/KanColle''. Even if you ''don't'' know that the young woman in the ad is the [[MoeAnthropomorphism Moe Personification]] of a Japanese WWII battleship, you might find yourself asking why a teen girl in a SailorFuku is being used to advertise a medieval fantasy-based game[[note]]Making it even funnier, they used fan-favorite character Shimakaze, making it more likely that someone will notice the plagiarism[[/note]].

* Subverted with Yoshi in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG''. Many promotional materials had him appearing with the main party, implying that he could be a party member. Yoshi does appear in the game, but as a minor NPC.

* ''VideoGame/HiddenCity'' often use the Dancer and the Forest Echo as the game's thumbnail and in several promotional images. The former serves as an antagonist in one chapter (out of 50+) and even then she only shows up in the beginning and end of the chapter to present her challenge. The latter briefly appeared as "Monsters" to trade with during a Spring event and hasn't appeared since. While the game has no shortage of good-looking characters, the Dancer and Forest Echo are arguably two of the best looking ones.

* ''VideoGame/HiddenCity'' often use the Dancer and the Forest Echo as the game's thumbnail and in several promotional images. The former serves as an antagonist in one chapter (out of 50+) and even then she only shows up in the beginning and end of the chapter to present her challenge. The latter briefly appeared as "Monsters" to trade with during a Spring event and hasn't appeared since.