History CowboyCop / Videogames

* Role-playing games generally have a shortage of cowboy cop types. The closest the ''Final Fantasy'' series has come up with might be FishOutOfTemporalWater Tidus (''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX''). He gets shoehorned into becoming a Guardian for the Summoner, primarily because he has no other livelihood or hope of navigating an alien future where his celebrity is long forgotten. His ignorance proves to be a real asset, however, as the church of Yevon is completely foreign to Tidus; thus, it inspires no fear in him. He bucks the system at every turn, is branded a blasphemer, and eventually convinces the Summoner and his fellow guardians to disown the church. Worst guardian ever... or the best!

* ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' has this as part of main character Samus Aran's backstory. ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'' has Samus reveal in internal monologues that she used to be a part of the Galactic Federation's military branch, rather than a bounty hunter they regularly commission for contract work. The main reason for the current setup is because while she does have some respect for a handful of the leaders within the organization, such as her former CO Adam, she ultimately hated to follow orders and usually ended up disregarding them entirely if she felt they were a hinderance to completing a mission... and she thought they were a hinderance ''a lot''. As such, she left the military, with the [[AllThereInTheManual prequel manga]] elaborating further that Adam not only supported this decision, but was the one to suggest it to a young Samus who was frustrated with the system.

* In ''VideoGame/SWAT4'', acting like you are in ''VideoGame/RainbowSix'' or ''VideoGame/GhostRecon'' where you shoot the criminals without them firing back can get you plenty of "Unauthorized use of Lethal Force". in the elite difficulties, this hits even harder as the death of more than 2 suspects is an automatic mission failure.

* In ''VideoGame/TroubleInTerroristTown'', the detective is this if they begin shooting at other people for poor reasons, such as but not limited to ([[LongList *deep breath*]]): their not using a microphone (quite possibly because they ''don't have one''), their responding aggressively to equally rude questions, being inactive, picking up a traitor weapon even if they've declared it and killed the prior user in view of many innocents, not understanding where the traitor tester is, firing into the air, not responding to other commands because they've muted other players for whatever reason and so on. To stop this getting too rampant, there is a karma metre that punishes any friendly fire, and admins will intervene to slay (kill for one round) any players that continually take the piss, or ban them.

* There exists an UsefulNotes/AtariLynx game titled ''Dirty Larry: Renegade Cop'' which runs the gamut of cop thriller cliches. Larry's hands are glued to his pistol and he never makes legitimate arrests.

* As ''Videogame/SleepingDogs'' was [[DivorcedInstallment formerly a sequel to the above game]], it's no surprise that Wei Shen is not all that different from Nick. However, this does actually come to bite him in the Year of the Snake DLC, in which he gets busted down to beat cop due to his superiors having enough of his antics.

* ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'' -- Though, Max's idea of police work is pretty flimsy: If he isn't investigating the crime scene, he is making it. Lampshaded by Max himself in one of the cutscenes:
-->"Collecting evidence had gotten old a few hundred bullets back."
** The second and third games play around with this, as Max ''wants'' to be a ByTheBookCop, but his impulsive nature causes him to charge into situations guns blazing.

** Case 5 of ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' features Jake Marshall, a cop who's dedicated himself to finishing his personal investigation of his brother's murder, no matter what rules he has to break or who he brings down. He also wears a poncho and ten-gallon hat, decorates his office with cacti and speaks in a 19th-century Western dialect, all for no reason that anyone can figure out, making him both an example and a parody of the trope. [[{{Fauxreigner}} He's not even from Texas.]]
** ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigationsMilesEdgeworth'' plays with this with Detective Tyrell Badd, who despite his badassery tends to obey orders and do things {{by the book|Cop}} even when he finds it distasteful. [[spoiler: Except for that whole [[PhantomThief Yatagarasu]] thing.]]

* In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', you have the option of installing one of these as the Sheriff of Primm. He's found in a nearby jail, having been arrested for being a Cowboy Cop back in NCR territory, though he played no part in the Powder Gangers' uprising. In the epilogue, it's stated that while he's pretty fair for the most part, every once in a while a suspected criminal with no evidence against them mysteriously winds up dead.

-->'''Sonora Cruz''' We've dedicated our lives to bringing the evil to justice. And out here in the Wasteland, there's only one brand of justice: the gun.
* In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', you have the option of installing one of these as the Sheriff of Primm. He's found in a nearby jail, having been arrested for being a Cowboy Cop back in NCR territory, though he played no part in the Powder Gangers' uprising. In the epilogue, it's stated that while he is fair for the most part, occasionally a few people will wind up dead with little to no evidence against them.

* ''VideoGame/{{Metroid}}'' has this as part of main character Samus Aran's backstory. ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'' has Samus reveal in internal monologues that she used to be a part of the Galactic Federation's military branch, rather than a bounty hunter they regularly commission for contract work. The main reason for the current setup is because while she does have some respect for a handful of the leaders within the organization, such as her former CO Adam, she ultimately hated to follow orders and usually ended up disregarding them entirely if she felt they were a hinderance to completing a mission... and she thought they were a hinderance ''a lot''. As such, she left the military, with the [[AllThereInTheManual prequel manga]] elaborating further that Adam not only supported this decision, but was the one to suggest it to a young Samus who was frustrated with the system.

* ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'' - Though, Max's idea of police work is pretty flimsy: If he isn't investigating the crime scene, he is making it. Lampshaded by Max himself in one of the cutscenes:

* ''Franchise/AceAttorney'':
** Case 5 of ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' features Jake Marshall, a cop who's dedicated himself to finishing his personal investigation of his brother's murder, no matter what rules he has to break or who he brings down. He also wears a poncho and ten-gallon hat, decorates his office with cacti and speaks in a 19th-century Western dialect, all for no reason that anyone can figure out, making him both an example and a parody of the trope. [[{{Fauxreigner}} He's not even from Texas.]]
** ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigationsMilesEdgeworth'' plays with this with Detective Tyrell Badd, who despite his badassery tends to obey orders and do things {{by the book|Cop}} even when he finds it distasteful. [[spoiler: Except for that whole [[PhantomThief Yatagarasu]] thing.]]

* As ''Videogame/SleepingDogs'' was [[DivorcedInstallment formerly a sequel to the above game]], it's no surprise that Wei Shen is not all that different from Nick. However, this does actually come to bite him in the Year of the Snake DLC, in which he gets busted down to beat cop due to his superiors having enough of his antics.
* According to the backstory of ''Videogame/MegaManX'', Vile was one when he was still with the Hunters, to the point where he wound up being locked up before Sigma went crazy and freed him. The Archie comics show what he did to cross the line: collapsing a highway overpass on top of a recently reactivated Wily Machine. While civilians were still driving on it.
* In ''VideoGame/TroubleInTerroristTown'', the detective is this if they begin shooting at other people for poor reasons, such as but not limited to ([[LongList *deep breath*]]): their not using a microphone (quite possibly because they ''don't have one''), their responding aggressively to equally rude questions, being inactive, picking up a traitor weapon even if they've declared it and killed the prior user in view of many innocents, not understanding where the traitor tester is, firing into the air, not responding to other commands because they've muted other players for whatever reason and so on. To stop this getting too rampant, there is a karma metre that punishes any friendly fire, and admins will intervene to slay (kill for one round) any players that continually take the piss, or ban them.
* If ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed'' ''Hot Pursuit'' 2010 and ''Rivals'' are to be believed, the appropriate response to a county-wide street racing problem is to buy a bunch of supercars, [[WeaponizedCar fit them with experimental directed-EMP technology]], and chase the suckers down.
** The player character in ''Undercover'' is this, albeit of undercover cop variety, as he was offered to put down TheSyndicate in the county through similar tactics. [[spoiler:At the climax, he managed to put down a DirtyCop who was behind the scenes after killing the mob boss during the deal and frame the player for the murder.]]
** F-8, the Cop player character from ''Rivals'', is a NominalHero example, [[spoiler:managing to get himself kicked off this afore-described police force.]] Repeat: this CowboyCop was too brutal for the police department that saw fit to ''throw assloads of CarFu and the most bleeding-edge of anti-vehicle weapons at Racers.''
** ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeedHeat'' loves this trope. At night, Palm City's cops are the most [[{{Sadist}} sadistic]] in the franchise, hands down (even rivalling F-8 in terms of PoliceBrutality). Such sadism extends even to their dispatcher, who sees pursuits as a hunting game. They verge on a collective example of RabidCop for those reasons.
* Detective Manny Pardo from ''Videogame/HotlineMiami2WrongNumber'' seems to be actively trying to invoke this trope, seeing himself as a Hollywood action star as he recklessly shoots his way through multiple crime scenes without even attempting to call in back-up or collect evidence. [[spoiler:He's revealed to be a KillerCop as he's the Miami Mutilator]].
* The Vigilante of ''VideoGame/TownOfSalem'' is this along with VigilanteMan, able to attempt to kill a player at their own choosing. If he kills a fellow town member, he will instead be DrivenToSuicide.
* In ''VisualNovel/SpiritHunterNG'', Akira realizes this about Officer Ooe when she breaks some rules in order to get the police off his back - not out of any sympathy for him, but because she's interested in the supernatural and wants to investigate it for herself, rules be damned.
* ''VideoGame/AgentsOfMayhem'': In this AlternateTimeline of the ''VideoGame/SaintsRow'' series borne of a CosmicRetcon, the Saints never existed and [[AdaptationalHeroism Johnny Gat is a cop]]. Except he still has the [[BloodKnight exact same personality]] as his main timeline incarnation, and his grasp of tactics and strategy still begins and ends at "bust down the front door and shoot the absolute fuck out of everything that moves". This got him kicked out of the Newark police, but the Seoul police found him too useful to get rid of despite his behaviour.
* In ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'', a sufficiently unintelligent PlayerCharacter might get hooked on the idea of embodying the spirit of a 'Boiadero' cop. If he mulls it over, he'll conclude that the way to become a boiadero is to [[SmokingIsCool smoke more]]. Doing this gives your character double the INT bonus from smoking cigarettes.

* ''VideoGame/{{Metroid}}'' - According to [[AllThereInTheManual a prequel manga]], this was the occupation of Samus Aran before she became a bounty hunter, then savior of the universe. In ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'', where Samus is revealed to hate following orders and ends up disregarding them entirely to eliminate the threat. And given that [[spoiler:when the Federation saw a being with equal firepower to Samus at her strongest, who blasted its way out of top-security quarantine, can reproduce through mitosis and have ten of itself running around (at full power) in a matter of minutes, can assimilate ''anything that isn't Samus'' by touch, and wants to spread the X throughout the galaxy [[VideoGame/StarCraft Zerg]]-style, they wanted to ''[[TooDumbToLive capture it alive]]'']], it's probably a good thing Samus didn't play along.

* ''VideoGame/AgentsOfMayhem'': In this AlternateTimeline of the ''VideoGame/SaintsRow'' series borne of a CosmicRetcon, the Saints never existed and Johnny Gat is a cop. Except he still has the [[BloodKnight exact same personality]] as his main timeline incarnation, and his grasp of tactics and strategy still begins and ends at "bust down the front door and shoot the absolute fuck out of everything that moves". This got him kicked out of the Newark police, but the Seoul police found him too useful to get rid of despite his behaviour.

* As pictured, there exists an UsefulNotes/AtariLynx game titled ''Dirty Larry: Renegade Cop'' which runs the gamut of cop thriller cliches. Larry's hands are glued to his pistol and he never makes legitimate arrests.

** The player character in ''Undercover'' is this, albeit of undercover cop variety, as he was offered to put down TheSyndicate in the county through similar tactics. [[spoiler:At the climax, he managed to put down a DirtyCop who was behind the scenes after betraying the mob boss during the deal.]]

** The player character in ''Undercover'' is this, as he was offered to put down TheSyndicate in the county through similar tactics. [[spoiler:At the climax, he managed to put down a DirtyCop who was behind the scenes after betraying the mob boss during the deal.]]

** ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeedHeat'' loves this trope. At night, Palm City's cops are the most [[{{Sadist}} sadistic]] in the franchise, hands down (even rivalling F-8 in terms of PoliceBrutality). Such sadism extends even to their dispatcher, who sees pursuits as a hunting game.

** F-8, the Cop player character from ''Rivals'', is a straighter example, [[spoiler:managing to get himself kicked off this afore-described police force.]] Repeat: this CowboyCop was too brutal for the police department that saw fit to ''throw assloads of CarFu and the most bleeding-edge of anti-vehicle weapons at Racers.''
** ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeedHeat'' loves this trope. At night, Palm City's cops are the most [[{{Sadist}} sadistic]] in the franchise, hands down. Such sadism extends even to their dispatcher, who sees pursuits as a hunting game.

** F-8, the Cop player character from ''Rivals'', is a straighter example, [[spoiler:managing to get himself kicked off this afore-described police force.]] Let me repeat that: This CowboyCop was too brutal for the police department that saw fit to ''throw assloads of CarFu and the most bleeding-edge of anti-vehicle weapons at Racers.''
** ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeedHeat'' loves this trope. At night, they're one of the most [[{{Sadist}} sadistic]] law enforcements in the franchise. And their aggresive tactics can taken UpToEleven.

* ''Franchise/MetalGear'''s Solid Snake didn't have much of a personality to begin with. He evolved into a gruff ex-solider with a chip on his shoulder who just wants to race sled dogs in peace. Following ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', Snake defies orders and exposes the Shadow Moses conspiracy, completely torpedoes the Presidency of George Sears, then goes into hiding to covertly sabotage his own nation's variations on Metal Gear weapons.

* Detective Manny Pardo from ''Videogame/HotlineMiami2WrongNumber'' seems to be actively trying to invoke this trope, seeing himself as a Hollywood action star as he recklessly shoots his way through multiple crime scenes without even attempting to call in back-up or collect evidence.