At the expense of 23 other strangers in Final Fantasy 14’s first Nier: Automata raid, I spent nearly a week of 2019 in a 2B-fueled rampage and rushing through bosses. I was on a mission to take my beloved catgirl – who roams the MMO as an ill-fated Yorha knockoff – and dress her in an authentic Nier costume. The RNG was not nice. The task made me miserable, fighting the same handful of fights through a fog of fatigue-induced errors until luck blessed me with a swanky new 2B outfit. Finally, hallelujah, become gods, etc., I could strut around as Automata’s most famous android.
Unless bribed or coerced, I refuse to ever go back to this raid again.
Spending countless hours looking like 2B is one of those shameful obsessions that I should probably be ashamed of sharing, but it’s not. At the time, I was hardly alone in my FF14 cosplay conquest, and the further we get from Automata’s 2017 launch, the more I realize there’s a ton of y’all looking forward to seeing – or to be – 2B in all. And I mean everything. I found myself down a rabbit hole dressed in Automata, which compelled me to try to quantify how many games have a playable version of Yorha No.2 Type B dressed to kill.
Science
Establish some ground rules: I count 2B appearances in an official and unofficial capacity. Solving the Square Enix Approved Variable is a much easier undertaking than searching for all existing 2B mods, but I will provide a final Total 2B sum based on a few criteria. Does the mod change some sort of player controlled unit? Can you wear 2B’s signature black and white dress? Is there a vaguely similar homage to his white hair or eye cover?
In other words, my attempt to find every game with a playable 2B is based on the highly scientific process of vibes. Games that only feature his castmates, like 9S or A2, don’t count. Games with multiple versions, like Skyrim, count every time. I also include things you could play—vanished games or mods that only exist through video evidence. Maybe “could play ‘undermining’ can play”, but she’s already a Fall Guys bean. I’m not interested in bringing the reason in there.
2B is Agent 47
Perhaps my efforts to turn every character I control into a 2B clone proves a bigger point than Nier: Automata strives to make about love and lust. Or maybe it stems from my underlying frustrations of playing the same mediocre-looking guy every game. Maybe it’s none of the above – I just think the dress is cute. Anyway, one of my favorite threads in this global search led to a Hitman 2 Nexus Mods download that turns Agent 47 into 2B.
Another mod does the same for Hitman 3. Reactions to both seem torn between demanding more and calling it “cursed.” When a commenter asked creator unalteredepic if there was any game left with modding support that hadn’t received the 2B treatment, he replied, “if there is, make sure there isn’t. there won’t be.” Weirdly disturbing, but I dig it.
2B belongs here
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For those keeping a count, the list is four games with a playable 2B (rather). While making my observations, I realized that there was a recurring theme among the most popular mods, a genre we’ll call “games that look like they should have 2B but don’t have 2B”. The unofficial meeting of Square Enix’s beloved hero with other beloved Square Enix heroes, like this monkeygigabuster mod that replaces Ultimecia from Dissidia Final Fantasy NT with 2B. File this one under Free Good Idea.
Of course, including 2B in most Square RPGs doesn’t make sense, but dropping fan-favorite character skins into indie worlds purely for aesthetics is an RPG staple. I don’t need to know why; turning Aqua from Kingdom Hearts 3 into 2B is just awesome. There’s also a Final Fantasy XV mod on Steam swapping Noctis for her.
More importantly, I can give up all of Tifa’s other outfit options in this Final Fantasy 7 Remake mod and give her something better. FF7R stands out as one of those where the fanbase overlap with Automata is a circle; loads of other Nier related tweaks are all over the place. We’re counting the games, though, and that brings us to eight.
From Spider-Man to Guitar Hero
While some fan creations seem appropriate, most quickly revert to awesome and ridiculous. They answer Why with “because I can”, and games like Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered fare a little better. You can be Peter Parker or shoot webs from your wrists as 2B instead. The choice seems obvious.
In games where avatars have little canonical relevance, less defined personalities serving as more player inserts, 2B is in high demand. She makes her musical debut in a Guitar Hero World Tour mod, lives her Viking life in Valheim, and joins the limitless possibilities of Garry’s Mod. Some make welcome changes to boring character models, but other trips to the comments conjure up a sweet Oh no. That’s 12 game names so far; I’m sure three-quarters of them include a comment section that’s too exciting to read in public.
Anyway, continuing the no-no gaming theme, 2B has been blatantly added to many games with “no mods allowed” policies, like Dead by Daylight and Genshin Impact. Automata enthusiasts seem at peace with risking their accounts for Yorha-related sins. The same goes for inserting it into various iterations of Hyrule, with modders eager to turn The Legend of Zelda’s Link into their favorite android, no matter Nintendo’s impending wrath.
There is a layer of detail in creations like Lady Lunanova’s Breath of the Wild 2B mod that is surprisingly thoughtful. It focuses on presenting 2B as a believable addition to the world, and I found a similar charm in a retro costume from Ocarina of Time.
Somewhere between achieving modified 2B in at least six Resident Evils and every goddamn fighting game, the daunting scope of quantifying his influence became clear. Whether it’s through emotional connections forcing modders to take 2B everywhere or simply an obsession with the oversexualized, 2B’s appeal has grown too vast to truly measure.
But ending early isn’t fair to her fans or the hours I spent trying to replace Elden Ring’s Malenia. In another ridiculous figure, here’s a list of 59 other games that make 2B (sort of) playable:
Approved by Square Enix
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The hardest part being done, it’s time to count the remaining 2B appearances that are officially erased. There are the obvious mentions of Sinoalice, Nier Reincarnation and Nier Replicant; anything that isn’t Automata counts. Babylon’s Fall — may God rest his soul — also had a 2B-infused crossover.
Square Enix isn’t afraid of the android’s ability to draw a crowd. She’s appeared in others from the publisher, like Brave Exvius, Star Ocean: Anamnesis, Lord of Vermilion, Valkyrie Anatomia, Servant of Thrones, and Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent. Some of them are long gone, like Spelunker World, a game I didn’t know existed until now.
Other crossovers in PUBG, New State Mobile, Last Cloudia, Gravity Rush 2, Shadowverse, Soul Calibur 6, Monster Hunter Frontier Z, and Phantasy Star Online 2 offer 2B in varying degrees of quality, but no one is here to judge . With each appearance, even truncated, his prestige grows. That said, whatever happens in the rules of the Punishing Gray Raven trailer. The weight of the world deserves its own exhaustive list.
Resolution of (2)B
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In the end, I took on an impossible task. There are 2B mods hidden in Discords, Patreons and dodgy uploads on Google Drive. She’s in games I’ve never heard of with single-digit Steam reviews, and mislabeled as A2 or Kainé in God knows how many others.
According to my scientific expedition, you can play as 2B in at least 96 games, more or less. Some of these appearances are nightmarish fuel, but others are fitting and thoughtful homages to a character clearly loved by millions. 2B is just as much a cultural phenomenon as Nier in its entirety – and I’ll never go through Resident Evil 2 as Claire again. It’s just Leon and his absolutely hot friend, YoRHa No.2 Type B.