History AlwaysSomeoneBetter / VideoGames

* ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'': Coco Bandicoot upgraded to one for Crash in the rebooted timeline for ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot4ItsAboutTime''. While Crash is semi-competent in heroics, he is also clumsy, simple-minded and can't even speak. Coco, meanwhile, not only has all of Crash's abilities, but is more nimble with them and always lands on her feet, has a genius IQ, is a GadgeteerGenius and can think up strategies on her own (while Crash mostly needs others to tell him what to do), and is popular with most of their teammates, while Crash borders on TheFriendNoBodyLikes due to his comic relief role ([[DisappointingOlderSibling even with Coco herself]]). Even Coco's ''Crash: On the Run!'' bio states she could very easily supplant Crash as the world's hero if she wanted to. (It should be noted that this dynamic was [[DependingOnTheWriter much vaguer in the original timeline]], in some titles, Coco only ''[[SmallNameBigEgo thought]]'' she was the more competent sibling and screwed up just as often.)

* Rosh in ''[[VideoGame/DarkForcesSaga Jedi Academy]]'' starts out like this: he has actual Force powers in the intro level, and in the tutorial he defeats the training remotes and finishes the course before you do (though even with the lightsaber training droid to slow you down, it's still a close finish). As early as two missions into the game, though, he starts grousing that Kyle might be holding him back to keep him from becoming too powerful, while Jaden, the PlayerCharacter, exponentially grows in his powers. [[spoiler:Rosh eventually falls to the Dark Side partially because of this.]]
* Played rather tragically in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'' with Siegmeyer of Catarina's sidequest. In the world of ''Dark Souls'', TheUndead turn [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Hollow]] when they lose all sense of purpose and cross the DespairEventHorizon, and Siegmeyer keeps himself from Hollowing through his love of adventuring. He is encountered several times throughout the game, always stymied by some obstacle, and since he's a friendly character most players would of course be inclined to help him out. The problem is, after helping him several times, Siegmeyer realizes that he's basically relying on you to do everything for him and is barely making any progress on his own, and starts losing faith in his own skills. [[spoiler:Finally, in a last-ditch attempt to both repay you for all of your help and to regain some of his badass cred, he attempts a SelfSacrificeScheme where he fights a group of [[DemonicSpiders Chaos Eaters]] by himself, allowing you to escape unharmed while he has a DyingMomentOfAwesome. Most players would again be inclined to fight alongside him and ensure his survival, but the fact that ''you'' once again ended up saving ''him'' when ''he'' was trying to save ''you'' ends up being the straw that breaks the camel's back. He Hollows out in Ash Lake, and is put down by his own daughter]].

* ''VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness'': In the updated PSP port, Afternoon of Darkness, a male priest who keeps tracks of your records and information points this out to you, stating that not once should you ever forget this fact.

* ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'': Barbara grew up in Jean’s shadow--everything Barbara can do, Jean can do it better. Part of the reason Barbara became an IdolSinger is because she wants to best Jean at ''something'', and while she does not resent Jean for being better at many things and continues to love her despite their separation, she just wanted to find something ''she'' could be good at, too.

** A lot of the animosity between the [[PlayerCharacter Makoto]] and [[TheLancer Junpei Iori]] in ''VideoGame/Persona3'' is specifically attributed to the latter's jealousy of the former's talents.

** ''VideoGame/Persona5'': After the first phase of their boss fight, the [[TokenEvilTeammate traitor]]'s rant against the Phantom Thieves makes it clear that they're jealous of everything Joker has been able to accomplish, and that [[IJustWantToBeSpecial they just want to be acknowledged for their talents]]. Even though Joker tries to talk sense into them, it doesn't take, and the traitor just attacks again while undergoing a VillainousBreakdown.
-->'''[[spoiler: Akechi]]:''' Why am I inferior to you...!? I was extremely particular about my life, my grades, my public image, so someone would want me around! [...] You're just some criminal trash living in an attic! So how...!? How does someone like you have things I don't!? How can such a worthless piece of trash be more special than me!?
** ''[[UpdatedRerelease Persona 5 Royal]]'': [[spoiler:Kasumi Yoshizawa was always this to her sister Sumire before she died, which gave Sumire a fairly bad inferiority complex]].

** [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in regards to your rival in ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue''. He's always a step (or more) ahead of you, getting to places and making noteworthy achievements much faster than you can. For example, he boasts about having captured 40 Pokémon when you meet him on the S.S. Anne, at which point the player has probably caught barely half that number. [[note]] It is possible to have that many caught by that point, but it requires a lot of level grinding to evolve your team, or outside trading.[[/note]] However, the player winds up turning the trope right back on his head by winning every single battle you have with him [[note]]except possibly the very first one, the only time in the game where losing to him still progresses the story[[/note]], culminating in you yanking the title of Champion out from under him within hours- or possibly even MINUTES- of him acquiring it. By the time of ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'', [[TookALevelInKindness he's mellowed out enough]] that he's able to admit that ultimately, Red (the player character) wound up being this trope to him, rather than the other way around as he initially believed.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'' gives you the chance to be your rival's Someone Better. The rival is easily flustered, expects to lose most battles with you, and when the time comes to face the Elite Four and the Champion, which anyone who's played a Pokémon game before expects to be your rival, [[WrongGenreSavvy it's not him/her.]] It's [[spoiler: Steven.]] Your rival does rush in after it's all over to offer advice, but ends up just standing there in awe of the fact that you won. [[spoiler: Then he/she has to stay behind because only Champions are allowed past a certain point.]]
** You're this once again to ''both'' of your rivals in ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite''. Your first rival, Bianca, chooses the starter that's weak to what you picked, doesn't seem to know what she's doing sometimes and usually just accepts that she's probably the weakest of the three of you. Your other rival, Cheren, chooses the starter with an advantage over yours (may actually beat you in your first battle) but from then on, continues to lose to you, which he chooses to challenge you after almost every goddamn Gym battle, usually lamenting his loss with "why are you so much better than me?"
** Lance, who, depending on whether you're playing ''Red/Blue/Yellow'' or ''Gold/Silver/Crystal'' is either the fourth Elite Four member or the Champion, is this to his cousin Clair, the eighth Gym Leader in Johto.
** You become this even further in ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' to the point that you could make an argument that you're more like the Gen 1 Rival than the actual protagonist. You're constantly one step ahead of your rival, you gain access to [[SuperMode Mega Evolution]] before him/her, you beat them at every single turn, you catch the Legendary Pokemon, you become Champion and post game, when the Rival comes back now equipped with Mega Evolution access of his/her own, you still beat them. All the while, the Rival never becomes angry or bitter and is only mildly frustrated at the inability to catch up.
** Once again, the player character ends up being one of these in ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'', and the parallels to the Gen 1 Rival are even ''more'' pronounced. Not only will you always be a step ahead of Hau in terms of completing the island trials, but you'll actually end up with the starter that's strong against his. But the greatest parallel is [[spoiler: after you've become the Champion and have to defend your title. Remember how in ''Red'' and ''Blue'' you fought your way through the Elite Four only to find that your rival had beaten you to it? This time, it happens again, only this time you're the one who got there first. The first title defense battle is ''always'' against Hau.]] He stays upbeat for the most part, but as you continued to defeat him, he gets visibly more frustrated at the fact that he can't beat you. In ''VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon'', [[spoiler: Hau ends up fighting you for the title of Champion instead of Professor Kukui. Despite giving everything he's got, you still best Hau.]]
* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'':

** Shadow is this to [[spoiler: Infinite]] in ''VideoGame/SonicForces''. Shadow's CurbStompBattle against [[spoiler: Infinite]] triggered the latter's InferioritySuperiorityComplex, prompting him to redouble his efforts as [[BigBad Dr. Eggman's]] [[TheDragon enforcer]], be ReforgedIntoAMinion, and go on a rampage around the world. [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom Oops.]]
* Dias Flac is this to Claude in ''Videogame/StarOceanTheSecondStory'': A better swordsman, and another love interest for Rena (whom he has history with -- Claude just showed up). Ultimately subverted in Rena's story, since when he joins your party Claude eventually surpasses him.

* ''VideoGame/SwordOfPaladin'': Nade believes he's lagging behind Alex as a swordsman, especially when the latter can use Lancelot's Million Thrust without a skill gem, which becomes a SelfFulfillingProphecy that causes him to lack the confidence needed to improve himself. This gets flipped around when Nade becomes the Paladin and manages to kill Berienstahl, Alex's revenge target, causing Alex to feel like he's the one falling behind. While Alex has more wins against Nade under his belt, the two playable duels against Alex end in his defeat.
* Essentially Yuri's relationship with his [[HeterosexualLifePartners best friend]] Flynn in ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia.'' They joined the knights together, but while Yuri dropped out after less than a year Flynn rises to [[spoiler: Commandant]] by the end of the game. He also regularly beats Yuri in combat. A big part of the story is Yuri trying to find his own thing and getting out from under Flynn's shadow, but you can also resolve the tension by beating the crap out of Flynn as an endgame DuelBoss.
** Also a minor plot point in ''VideoGame/TalesOfGraces'' after the timeskip when Hubert first returns to Lhant and briefly takes it over. Hubert challenges Asbel - the Lord by birthright - to a fight, and he's [[HopelessBossFight impossible to defeat.]] Then Hubert [[TookALevelInJerkass rubs his superior military training in Asbel's face]], declares himself to be the rightful ruler of Lhant, and exiles his brother from the city.

* ''VideoGame/{{Yakuza}}'': Nishikiyama's betrayal of Kiryu after the TimeSkip in the first game is mostly driven by his frustration at always being in Kiryu's shadow. Nishiki is a strong fighter and fairly street smart- he's just not [[LivingLegend Kiryu]], who had a meteoritic rise through the ranks and was on the verge of becoming a Patriarch while Nishiki (who joined the Yakuza at the same time as Kiryu) is relegated to second fiddle. Even after he got his own family, Nishiki had to deal with uppity underlings who said to his face they would rather work for Kiryu (who, at this point, is in jail for a murder Nishiki committed) than him. And the final nail in the coffin is that their mutual childhood friend, Yumi, loves Kiryu and won't give Nishiki the time of day. All this combined leaves Nishiki DrivenByEnvy, and his scheming to finally one-up Kiryu leads to a civil war within the Tojo Clan.
* Coco Bandicoot upgraded to one for ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'' in the rebooted timeline for ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot4ItsAboutTime''. While Crash is semi competent in heroics, he is also clumsy, simple-minded and can't even speak. Coco meanwhile not only has all of Crash's abilities, but is more nimble with them and always lands on her feet, has a genius IQ, is a GadgeteerGenius and can think up strategies on her own (while Crash mostly needs others to tell him what to do), and is popular with most of their teammates, while Crash borders on TheFriendNoBodyLikes due to his comic relief role ([[DisappointingOlderSibling even with Coco herself]]). Even Coco's ''Crash On The Run'' bio states she could very easily supplant Crash as the world's hero if she wanted to. (It should be noted that this dynamic was [[DependingOnTheWriter much vaguer in the original timeline]], in some titles, Coco only ''[[SmallNameBigEgo thought]]'' she was the more competent sibling and screwed up just as often).

** Also in Pokémon, the opponents in the Battle Tower/Frontier will always beat you no matter how much more skilled you are, because TheComputerIsACheatingBastard.

* ''VideoGame/EldenRing'' has Juno and Diallos Hoslow. Juno was a true warrior who was favored to lead his house over his "[[WeakWill all talk and no trousers]]" brother, and [[LetsFightLikeGentlemen fights you honorably]] if you attack him as a Recusant target. Diallos has an understandable raging inferiority complex regarding his brother. If you progress Diallos's questline, his desire to prove himself gets him seduced into fighting for the Volcano Manor, the organization that targeted his brother for assassination and killed his servant. [[spoiler: He eventually realizes what he's become and instead decides to devote himself to protecting Jarburg, later performing a HeroicSacrifice to save the inhabitants.]]