History CharacterizationMarchesOn / VideoGames

It's interesting to listen to the openings to battles in the ''Mario and Luigi'' games-- it's always "Here we go" and "Okie-dokie", but the tone of the latter (Luigi's line) changes over the three games, and goes from fairly-reluctant to... well, pretty confident. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bighor6Lclo The scene where Luigi joins the party]] in ''Super Paper Mario'' is also worth mentioning.

* Lucian, the main character of ''VideoGame/DivineDivinity'' appears throughout the Divinity series. However, if one were to play the series Chronologically, getting to ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSin2'', will be ''very'' surprising to find that, rather than being a BigGood who only made a few mistakes and was very affable, [[spoiler: he comes off as a total AntiHero (at best) and a JerkAss at worst - willing to allow his own son to be assassinated, happily attempting genocide, lying, and betraying some of his closest followers]]. Larian has in fact admitted this - given that ''Divinity'' has had somewhat loose continuity and the world changed to a much more CrapsackWorld... yikes.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Shantae}}'' series' eponymous heroine had a much shorter temper in the first game and was prone to throwing around (sometimes quite harsh) insults when she started getting frustrated. By ''Risky's Revenge'' she'd eased up on the nasty names, but was still a bit of a grouch. It wasn't until ''Shantae and the Pirate's Curse'' that she would fully evolve into the cheery [[NiceGuy nice girl]] she's known as today.

* [[TheLancer Garrus Vakarian]] of ''Franchise/MassEffect'' is introduced as an aggressive, violent and uptight CowboyCop who seethes constantly. Two years later, he's reintroduced as a laid-back, friendly DeadpanSnarker who rapidly locks in as Shepard's NumberTwo and keeps this characterisation indefinitely. Presumably, working with a squad in Omega helped mellow him out a lot.

** Jaheira in the first game played the role of the nasty and strongwill wife with a timid husband, a couple whose relationship was mostly played for laughs. In the sequel the husband is no more and she becomes a wise, straight woman with a leading attitude, potentially romanceable.

* Zant was portrayed in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' as a stoic, almost menacing figure whose facade only broke when he was on the verge of defeat. In ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'', his PsychopathicManchild traits are more prominent from the start and he's more prone to bouts of histronics and hysteria, though he still retains his moments of smartness, [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass being particularly cunning as a battlefield commander.]] The end result is that he comes off as more eccentric than truly frighteningly insane. This may just be because, in the context of ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'', Zant is no more the main antagonist, but one of Ganondorf's second-in-commands, sharing his spotlight with Ghirahim, so it's harder to be frightened by the man when you keep the child-like mood swings and temper tantrums, but remove the creepy music, the build-up and the army backing him up, and then [[OvershadowedbyAwesome put him in a game where Ganondorf is one of the playable characters.]] Context is mostly what made Zant menacing.
** [[https://youtu.be/au4ZGt1MReA?t=109 In a retrospective video on ''Twilight Princess'' by the game's developers]] on the game's characters and story, it's revealed that this is the reason for Zant's change in characterization before his boss fight.
--->'''Yoshiyuki Oyama''': This is kind of a tangent, but Zant received a lot more characterization in the end, and that's why we had the last boss battle against Zant end on a bit of comical note.

** Ocelot in is introduced as being an unsympathetic and somewhat [[{{Otaku}} nerdish]] villain; he's a sadistic torturer, screws up most of his plans, sexually harasses his female coworker, and his boss fight is a simple chase-and-shoot affair while he breathes heavily over his cool gun. TheReveal that he was really working for the President the whole time plays less like he's a manipulative genius, and more like his obsessive toadying to Liquid is taken to its logical extreme. Come ''Metal Gear Solid 2'', though, and he's much cooler and more intimidating, getting a BigEntrance, and disowning his previous stated motivations as a lie in a WhamLine. His backstory as revealed in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' makes him a fairly sympathetic, even dorky AntiHero, as well as [[SuddenlySexuality gay]] (making his apparent attraction to Wolf in ''1'' seem very weird in retrospect).

** Ocelot in is introduced as being an unsympathetic and somewhat [[{{Otaku}} nerdish]] villain; he's a sadistic torturer, screws up most of his plans, sexually harasses his female coworker, and his boss fight is a simple chase-and-shoot affair while he breathes heavily over his cool gun. TheReveal that he was really working for the President the whole time plays less like he's a manipulative genius, and more like his obsessive toadying to Liquid is taken to its logical extreme. Come ''Metal Gear Solid 2'', though, and he's much cooler and more intimidating, getting a BigEntrance, and disowning his previous stated motivations as a lie in a WhamLine. His backstory as revealed in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' makes him a fairly sympathetic, even {{Adorkable}} AntiHero, as well as [[SuddenlySexuality gay]] (making his apparent attraction to Wolf in ''1'' seem very weird in retrospect).

** When DamselInDistress [[VideoGame/SuperMarioLand Princess Daisy]] made her reappearance in ''VideoGame/MarioTennis'' for the Nintendo 64, she was made out to be an {{Adorkable}} [[TheKlutz Klutz]] as shown in her [[https://youtu.be/ctpvor3o8jw?t=2m44s trophy celebration]]. This characterisation was kept until the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube GameCube]] era, which gave her a more energetic, tomboyish personality while dropping her clumsier moments. It's best shown with her [[https://youtu.be/70xFTWguDOc?t=1m18s trophy celebration]] in ''Mario Power Tennis''.

** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'' was the first game to give Mario any sort of personality (well, with as much as they could get away with for a HeroicMime) and it's extremely jarring compared to his current one; Mario, at one point, tries to run in fists flying against one of the minions of the BigBad and has to be restrained by Mallow so he doesn't get himself wrecked via LeeroyJenkins. When a child talks about how his Geno doll is cooler than his Mario doll, Mario looks like he's about to punch the kid in the face. The dialogue options also paints Mario as pretty mean spirited and/or sarcastic if you choose to make him that way. Future games would heavily tone it down.

** ''VideoGame/SonicBoomRiseOfLyric'' portrays Sticks the Badger as a somewhat naive and childish character who uses YouNoTakeCandle-style dialogue, a far cry from her later appearances in the rest of the [[''Franchise/SonicBoom Sonic Boom'' sub-franchise]] where’ she’s a pint-sized ConspiracyTheorist who speaks in proper English.

** A couple characters have some rather notable changes in appearance and characterization from their first appearances:

** ''VideoGame/SonicBoomRiseOfLyric'' portrays Sticks the Badger as a somewhat naive and childish character who uses YouNoTakeCandle-style dialogue, a far cry from her later appearances in the rest of the [[Franchise/SonicBoom ''Sonic Boom'' sub-franchise]] where’ she’s a pint-sized ConspiracyTheorist who speaks in proper English.

** A couple characters have some rather notable changes in characterization from their first appearances: Knuckles in ''VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles'' is seen [[TheHyena laughing constantly]], whereas in later games he seems to have almost NoSenseOfHumor (indeed, his theme in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' even says "Unlike Sonic, I don't chuckle.")

* The ''VideoGame/{{Shantae}}'' series' eponymous heroine had a much shorter temper in the first game and was prone to throwing around (sometimes quite harsh) insults when she started getting frustrated. It's pretty jarring considering the [[NiceGuy nice girl]] she had become as early as the second game.

* While Anders's personality shift from ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening'' to ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' can be explained by his [[MesACrowd passenger]], Merrill changes from a serious, sensible minor character in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' who calmly greets Duncan in the elven ruins to a cheerful Cloudcuckoolander who can [[NoSocialSkills barely get out a complete greeting to Hawke and company]], for no apparent reason.

** The [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Orcs]] have experienced this as a race. Originally, were simple "hurr durr smash hoomies" Tolkien-style Orcs with nothing particularly noteworthy about them (they weren't even playable in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsArena Arena]]'' or ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall Daggerfall]]''). ''Daggerfall set the ball rolling on shifting their characterization through the orcish character of Gortwog, his goals and his arguments for ''why'' Orcs tend to act like that, and ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'' solidified their characterization shift. Rather than just being dumb, they've been severely marginalized for ages - even their patron deity reflects this. The [[BadassArmy Imperial Legion]] of [[TheGoodKing Emperor Uriel VII]]'s time, among other things, however, helped them to begin to properly integrate into the Empire better - thus [[PromotedToPlayable making them playable]].

** The [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Orcs]] have experienced this as a race. Originally, were simple "hurr durr smash hoomies" Tolkien-style Orcs with nothing particularly noteworthy about them (they weren't even playable in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsArena Arena]]'' or ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall Daggerfall]]''). Beginning with ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', however, their characterization has shifted massively. Rather than just being dumb, they've been severely marginalized for ages - even their patron deity reflects this. The [[BadassArmy Imperial Legion]] of [[TheGoodKing Emperor Uriel VII]]'s time, among other things, however, helped them to begin to properly integrate into the Empire better - thus [[PromotedToPlayable making them playable]].

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'': Later portions of the game and especially spin-offs like ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' suggest that Tseng has a somewhat paternal attachment to Aerith, developed over the time they spent together while Shinra was studying her Ancient abilities...which makes his first appearance, where he slaps and insults her while taking her hostage, stand out like a sore thumb. ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'' addresses this by changing the scene: while Aerith still gets captured, Tseng tries to ensure her safety and the worst he personally does is call a {{Mook}} to haul her away.

** In addition to cruelly abusing Donkey Kong Jr out of a sense of malice-fueled revenge, Mario's history before entering the Mushroom Kingdom has rarely been addressed, despite having gone through a variety of career changes: military service in ''Mario's Bombs Away'', construction work in ''Wrecking Crew'' and ''[=Mario's Cement Factory=]'', and plumbing in ''VideoGame/MarioBros''.

** Mario was presented as more of a {{Jerkass}} and an AntiHero in his pre-''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' titles, often being an obvious animal abuser in ''Franchise/DonkeyKong'' titles. He shows mild signs of this personality in later games, which makes it a common AlternativeCharacterInterpretation, but for the most part he's TheHero.

** Back in the very early days of the first game, when [[ExcusePlot there wasn’t much in the way of plot]], the various Guardian-aligned [=NPCs=] didn’t have much characterization and were mostly [[FlatCharacter Flat Characters]] with no purpose beyond being vendors. It didn’t take long for them to start developing personalities and quirks; Cayde-6 became a [[DeadpanSnarker snarky]] LovableRogue, Zavala became TheComicallySerious, Lord Shaxx became a [[LargeHam hammy]] BoisterousBruiser, and so on. The most jarring example by far, however, is Uldren, who went from being nothing more Mara Sov’s [[{{Jerkass}} snide]] lackey to the Young Wolf’s {{Archenemy}} and one of the competitors for the title of BigBad.

* Raynor as seen ''VideoGame/StarCraftII''. His CharacterDevelopment over the course of the original ...
** This was intentional, as a result of stress over the ineffectual rebellion and [[MyGreatestFailure the whole Kerrigan thing]] led him [[OffTheWagon drink way too much]] and suffer a protracted HeroicBSOD. His NumberTwo, Matt Horner, actually points this out in a cutscene later in the game, which inspires Raynor to [[CharacterRerailment pull himself together]].

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'': The series has a pretty shaky history of consistent characterization, which makes sense since multiple writers are working on the series and some never communicate with each other. Because of this, characters tend behave very differently between games DependingOnTheWriter, with very broad traits to keep them recognizable. This especially evident when one compares how the plot is handled through years. Starting out, the games had as much plot as you would expect from a 2D platforming series in the 90's (As in, [[ExcusePlot barely]]) and characterization was very minimal (Sonic was the MascotWithAttitude, Tails was his sidekick, Knuckles his rival, etc) but starting in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' the series adopted a more cohesive and serialized narrative not unlike common Shonen Anime/Manga, and characters and relationships became much more dynamic. (Series BreakoutCharacter Shadow the Hedgehog debuts here, and has the most fleshed out background of any character to date,) but after much criticism over that direction, starting with ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' the series is back to simpler characterizations and plot to allow for more broader narratives but mostly ignored the character development that took place before. (I.e. Tails is mostly back to being Sonic's sidekick despite his bout of independence before.)
** A couple characters have some rather notable changes in appearance and characterization from their first appearances: Amy Rose in ''VideoGame/SonicCD'' is a rather generic DamselInDistress and has a completely different dress than usual, as well as lacking her trademark [[DropTheHammer hammer]]. Knuckles in ''VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles'' is a pinkish color rather than his usual red, and is also seen [[TheHyena laughing constantly]], whereas in later games he seems to have almost NoSenseOfHumor (indeed, his theme in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' even says "Unlike Sonic, I don't chuckle.")