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* Just about every single non-antagonistic female is this in the ''KingdomHearts'' series. Even [[{{ActionGirl}} Action Girls]] such as [[{{Disney/Mulan}} Mulan]], [[{{Film/TronLegacy} Quorra]], and Aqua are not immune to this. Of course, a special mention goes to the Princesses of Heart [[spoiler: (except for Kairi and [[{{Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast}} Belle]])]] and [[{{Disney/Hercules}} Megara]], who are especially this trope most of the time.
* Although mostly an ActionGirl herself, there have been incidents in the ''SlyCooper'' games where Carmelita Fox needed to be saved. This is lampshaded in the fourth game when [[{{DudeInDistress}} Sir Galleth]] believes that a woman's role in combat is to be saved... and he was once rescued by Carmelita herself, much to his embarrassment.
* Although mostly an ActionGirl herself, there have been incidents in the ''SlyCooper'' games where Carmelita Fox needed to be saved. This is lampshaded in the fourth game when [[{{DudeInDistress}} Sir Galleth]] believes that a woman's role in combat is to be saved... and he was once rescued by Carmelita herself, much to his embarrassment.
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* {{Subverted}} in ''VideoGame/TheSecretOfMonkeyIsland'': Guybrush Threepwood goes through all kinds of peril to save Govenor Elaine Marley, who was captured by the BigBad [=LeChuck=]. He gets to the church on Melee Island just in time to [[SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace interrupt their wedding]], only for Elaine to descend on a rope from the ceiling. Turns out she'd already made her escape, fooling [=LeChuck=] by putting a pair of trained monkeys in her wedding dress. At least Guybrush ends up getting the honor of finishing off [=LeChuck=].
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* {{Subverted}} in ''VideoGame/TheSecretOfMonkeyIsland'': Guybrush Threepwood goes through all kinds of peril to save Govenor Elaine Marley, who was captured by the BigBad [=LeChuck=]. He gets to the church on Melee Island just in time to [[SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace interrupt their wedding]], only for Elaine to descend on a rope from the ceiling. Turns out she'd already made her escape, fooling [=LeChuck=] by putting a pair of trained monkeys in her wedding dress.dress, and was actually planning to assassinate him while he was distracted by the wedding ceremony, but Guybrush inadvertently managed to mess up that last step by attempting to rescue her. At least Guybrush ends up getting the honor of finishing off [=LeChuck=].
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** In ''VideoGame/ShinSuperRobotWars'', Professor Eri Anzai gets kidnapped by Ze Balmarian Empire because her vast knowledge on the lost continent of Mu.
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* Liara's establishing character moment in ''MassEffect'' involves rescuing her from a forcefield she got herself stuck inside, fighting off a krogan battlemaster while she hides in a corner, then saving her from a collapsing volcano. To avoid confusion, and confirm her love-interest status, she then proceeds to faint once she arrives on your ship, since she spent anywhere from hours to days without food or water in extremely stressful situation. Once she's had a proper rest she reveals herself for the BadAss she really is in the next mission you take her along. [[TookALevelInBadass More so in the sequel.]]
** [[spoiler:Yeoman Kelly Chambers]] gets this treatment late in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', complete with [[spoiler:getting dragged away by monsters, screaming her head off. The non-specialist crew of the Normandy meets the same fate at the same time.]]
*** [[spoiler: And [[{{Squick}} god help the poor girl]] if you [[RedundantRescue don't go to her rescue right away]]]].
*** [[spoiler: Considering [[ShellShockedVeteran her fate]] in the third game, God help her even if you do.]]
** [[spoiler:Yeoman Kelly Chambers]] gets this treatment late in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', complete with [[spoiler:getting dragged away by monsters, screaming her head off. The non-specialist crew of the Normandy meets the same fate at the same time.]]
*** [[spoiler: And [[{{Squick}} god help the poor girl]] if you [[RedundantRescue don't go to her rescue right away]]]].
*** [[spoiler: Considering [[ShellShockedVeteran her fate]] in the third game, God help her even if you do.]]
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* Liara's establishing character moment in ''MassEffect'' ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'' involves rescuing her from a forcefield she got herself stuck inside, fighting off a krogan battlemaster while she hides in a corner, then saving her from a collapsing volcano. To avoid confusion, and confirm her love-interest status, she then proceeds to faint once she arrives on your ship, since she spent anywhere from hours to days without food or water in extremely stressful situation. Once she's had a proper rest she reveals herself for the BadAss she really is in the next mission you take her along. [[TookALevelInBadass More so in the sequel.]]
** [[spoiler:Yeoman Kelly Chambers]] gets this treatment late in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', complete with [[spoiler:getting dragged away by monsters, screaming her head off. The non-specialist crew of the Normandy meets the same fate at the same time.]]
*** [[spoiler:]] And [[{{Squick}} god help the poor girl]] if you [[RedundantRescue don't go to her rescue right away]]]].
*** [[spoiler:away]]. Considering [[ShellShockedVeteran her fate]] in the third game, God help her even if you do.]]
** [[spoiler:Yeoman Kelly Chambers]] gets this treatment late in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', complete with [[spoiler:getting dragged away by monsters, screaming her head off. The non-specialist crew of the Normandy meets the same fate at the same time.
*** [[spoiler:
*** [[spoiler:
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** Mario ''himself'' is the damsel in ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion'' and ''Super Princess Peach'' (and the non-canon ''Mario is Missing'').
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** Mario ''himself'' is the damsel in ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion'' and ''Super Princess Peach'' ''VideoGame/SuperPrincessPeach'' (and the non-canon ''Mario is Missing'').
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* In ''LegendOfDragoon'', Shana fits the bill perfectly. Even when she joins the party she is the light-elemental-healer.
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* In ''LegendOfDragoon'', ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfDragoon'', Shana fits the bill perfectly. Even when she joins the party she is the light-elemental-healer.
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* Subverted with Demi and Kyra of ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarIV''; they're both captured, but not to motivate anyone: Demi is immobilized by Zio when he takes over Nurvus, the system she works in, because she's the AI that runs it, but he has no use for her himself. Kyra has to be rescued from a forest of carnivorous trees; she got so pissed off at watching her friends suffering that she decided to go kill her way through the forest to put a stop to it. [[spoiler: Turns out the party isn't any better at fighting them than she is, either.]]
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* Princess Satera from ''VideoGame/ShiningWisdom''. You have to save her twice, once from being turned into a swan.
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* Elizabeth in ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'' seems to be your average DamselInDistress: she's trapped in a tower, guarded by a terrible ''monster' and must be rescued by the PlayerCharacter. But she's immensely helpful in combat to the point it could be said [[EscortMission Elizabeth is escorting YOU]], constantly fetching needed supplies and using her abilities to bring useful objects into this dimension. By the end of the game, [[spoiler: she reaches near godlike levels of power and effortlessly defeats her former guardian.]]
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* Elizabeth in ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'' seems to be your average DamselInDistress: she's trapped in a tower, guarded by a terrible ''monster' and must be rescued by the PlayerCharacter. PlayerCharacter, Booker. But she's immensely helpful in combat to the point it could be said [[EscortMission Elizabeth is escorting YOU]], constantly fetching needed supplies and using her abilities to bring summon useful objects into this dimension. By terrain and helpers from other dimensions. And by the end of the game, [[spoiler: she reaches near godlike levels of power and effortlessly defeats her former guardian.guardian, a feat even Booker himself couldn't manage.]]
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* Elizabeth in ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'' seems to be your average DamselInDistress: she's trapped in a tower, guarded by a terrible ''monster' and must be rescued by the PlayerCharacter. But she's immensely helpful in combat to the point it could be said [[EscortMission Elizabeth is escorting YOU]], constantly fetching needed supplies and using her abilities to bring useful objects into this dimension. By the end of the game, [[spoiler: she reaches near godlike levels of power and effortlessly defeats her former guardian.]]
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* {{Subverted}} in ''TheSecretOfMonkeyIsland'': Guybrush Threepwood goes through all kinds of peril to save Govenor Elaine Marley, who was captured by the BigBad [=LeChuck=]. He gets to the church on Melee Island just in time to [[SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace interrupt their wedding]], only for Elaine to descend on a rope from the ceiling. Turns out she'd already made her escape, fooling [=LeChuck=] by putting a pair of trained monkeys in her wedding dress. At least Guybrush ends up getting the honor of finishing off [=LeChuck=]...
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* {{Subverted}} in ''TheSecretOfMonkeyIsland'': ''VideoGame/TheSecretOfMonkeyIsland'': Guybrush Threepwood goes through all kinds of peril to save Govenor Elaine Marley, who was captured by the BigBad [=LeChuck=]. He gets to the church on Melee Island just in time to [[SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace interrupt their wedding]], only for Elaine to descend on a rope from the ceiling. Turns out she'd already made her escape, fooling [=LeChuck=] by putting a pair of trained monkeys in her wedding dress. At least Guybrush ends up getting the honor of finishing off [=LeChuck=]...[=LeChuck=].
** Played straight in ''VideoGame/TheCurseOfMonkeyIsland'', where [=LeChuck=] kidnaps Elaine near the end, ''VideoGame/EscapeFromMonkeyIsland'', where Pegnose Pete captures Elaine in the middle, and ''VideoGame/TalesOfMonkeyIsland'' where [=LeChuck=] [[NoodleIncident had kidnapped]] Elaine sometime before the beginning [[spoiler: and again at the end, though that was part of a complicated BatmanGambit on her part]].
** Played straight in ''VideoGame/TheCurseOfMonkeyIsland'', where [=LeChuck=] kidnaps Elaine near the end, ''VideoGame/EscapeFromMonkeyIsland'', where Pegnose Pete captures Elaine in the middle, and ''VideoGame/TalesOfMonkeyIsland'' where [=LeChuck=] [[NoodleIncident had kidnapped]] Elaine sometime before the beginning [[spoiler: and again at the end, though that was part of a complicated BatmanGambit on her part]].
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* ''VideoGame/DynamiteDux'' has Lucy, the owner of the two pet ducks you play as.
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* Mega Man must save [[VideoGame/MegaMan4 Kalinka]] in Wily Stage 3 of ROMHack ''VideoGame/Rockman4MinusInfinity''.
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* There's also a subtle deconstruction in ''BlazBlue''. While on the initial surface, Litchi Faye-Ling is trying to 'rescue' Arakune from his fate as an EldritchAbomination ([[spoiler:and later be captured by Relius]]), in truth [[spoiler:she's been dying of the same corruption and Kokonoe flat out refused to help her, and without any other sources of help, she's ForcedIntoEvil by joining NOL. In other words, Litchi has been in distress mentally and had to act on her own because nobody is willing to help her, compounded with the fact that she has been hiding her growing corruption from everyone else except Kokonoe, which makes possible helpers like Bang, Taokaka or Carl completely unaware of her distress.]]
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* There's also a subtle deconstruction in ''BlazBlue''.''VideoGame/BlazBlue''. While on the initial surface, Litchi Faye-Ling is trying to 'rescue' Arakune from his fate as an EldritchAbomination ([[spoiler:and later be captured by Relius]]), in truth [[spoiler:she's been dying of the same corruption and Kokonoe flat out refused to help her, and without any other sources of help, she's ForcedIntoEvil by joining NOL. In other words, Litchi has been in distress mentally and had to act on her own because nobody is willing to help her, compounded with the fact that she has been hiding her growing corruption from everyone else except Kokonoe, which makes possible helpers like Bang, Taokaka or Carl completely unaware of her distress.]]
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* Subverted in ''DragonAge''. In the "Paragon of Her Kind" quest, one of your goals is to rescue party member [[BoisterousBruiser Oghren's]] wife, Branka, from the [[BeneathTheEarth Deep Roads]], where she is missing. [[spoiler: It turns out that she deliberately led her entire clan there in search of an ancient ArtifactOfDoom. When it turned out the artifact was protected by lots of golems, ghosts, and deathtraps, she deliberately let Darkspawn kill all the men and attempt to turn all the women into Broodmothers, a process that involves force-feeding them the flesh of poisonous monsters and their own relatives, gang-rape by monsters, and lots of BodyHorror, so that she'd have a vast supply of monsters to set off the traps and kill the guardians. She's raving insane as well as utterly evil by the time you find her. You ''can'' spare her life and take the artifact for yourself, but the better choice, both morally and gameplay-wise, involves fighting and killing her, then destroying it. Even if you spare her, she refuses to be rescued, and stays in the Deep Roads with her prize.]]
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* Subverted in ''DragonAge''.''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins''. In the "Paragon of Her Kind" quest, one of your goals is to rescue party member [[BoisterousBruiser Oghren's]] wife, Branka, from the [[BeneathTheEarth Deep Roads]], where she is missing. [[spoiler: It turns out that she deliberately led her entire clan there in search of an ancient ArtifactOfDoom. When it turned out the artifact was protected by lots of golems, ghosts, and deathtraps, she deliberately let Darkspawn kill all the men and attempt to turn all the women into Broodmothers, a process that involves force-feeding them the flesh of poisonous monsters and their own relatives, gang-rape by monsters, and lots of BodyHorror, so that she'd have a vast supply of monsters to set off the traps and kill the guardians. She's raving insane as well as utterly evil by the time you find her. You ''can'' spare her life and take the artifact for yourself, but the better choice, both morally and gameplay-wise, involves fighting and killing her, then destroying it. Even if you spare her, she refuses to be rescued, and stays in the Deep Roads with her prize.]]
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*** Played painfully straight when she reveals her identity near the end of the game and ''immediately'' gets kidnapped.
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* Palutena in ''KidIcarus''. Apparently, being a goddess does not make one immune to this trope.
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* Palutena in ''KidIcarus''. Apparently, being a goddess does not make one immune to this trope. Although its more MindControl than actual kidnapping.
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* In ''VideoGame/StarFox Adventures'', Krystal serves the role of the Distressed Damsel, being trapped in a crystal up until the end. Which is ironic, considering that she was ''originally'' intended to be the player character.
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* In ''VideoGame/StarFox Adventures'', Krystal serves the role of the Distressed Damsel, being trapped in a crystal up until the end. Which is ironic, considering that she was ''originally'' intended to be the a player character.
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* In ''VideoGame/LunarDragonSong'', party member Lucia gets kidnapped in the first half of the game.
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* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' features Princess Elise taken hostage by Eggman, who pursues her relentlessly whenever Sonic gets her out of his clutches. Eventually, when she gets a few hints of what Eggman wants from her, she stands up to him by dropping herself to her supposed death to prevent him from acheiving his goal. After that scene, it's only after Eggman threatens to destroy her city/kingdom that Elise chooses to return as Eggman's prisoner.
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* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' features Princess Elise taken hostage by Eggman, who pursues her relentlessly whenever Sonic gets her out of his clutches. Eventually, when she gets a few hints of what Eggman wants from her, she stands up to him by dropping herself to her supposed death to prevent him from acheiving his goal. After that scene, it's only after Eggman threatens to destroy her city/kingdom that Elise chooses to return as Eggman's his prisoner.
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* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' features Princess Elise taken hostage by Eggman, who pursues her relentlessly whenever Sonic gets her out of his clutches. Eventually, when she gets a few hints of what Eggman wants from her, she stands up to him by dropping herself to her intended death to prevent him from acheiving his goal. Afterwards, it's only after Eggman threatens to destroy her city that Elise chooses to return as Eggman's prisoner.
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* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' features Princess Elise taken hostage by Eggman, who pursues her relentlessly whenever Sonic gets her out of his clutches. Eventually, when she gets a few hints of what Eggman wants from her, she stands up to him by dropping herself to her intended supposed death to prevent him from acheiving his goal. Afterwards, After that scene, it's only after Eggman threatens to destroy her city city/kingdom that Elise chooses to return as Eggman's prisoner.
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* It's unclear in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' [[DamselScrappy whether Princess Elise can walk under her own power, let alone avoid capture]]. She does seem to take a few steps during some of the cutscenes, but that might just be inertia from being carried halfway around the world at high velocity.
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* It's unclear in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' [[DamselScrappy whether features Princess Elise can walk under taken hostage by Eggman, who pursues her own power, let alone avoid capture]]. She does seem to take relentlessly whenever Sonic gets her out of his clutches. Eventually, when she gets a few steps during some hints of the cutscenes, but what Eggman wants from her, she stands up to him by dropping herself to her intended death to prevent him from acheiving his goal. Afterwards, it's only after Eggman threatens to destroy her city that might just be inertia from being carried halfway around the world at high velocity.Elise chooses to return as Eggman's prisoner.
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*** Considering her fate in the third game, [[spoiler: God help her even if you do.]]
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*** [[spoiler: Considering [[ShellShockedVeteran her fate fate]] in the third game, [[spoiler: God help her even if you do.]]]]
** The Rachni Queen somewhat counts, insomuch as a giant bug can be considered a ''damsel!'' If set free on Noveria during the first game, she is captured by the Reapers during the third. Both times Shepard can decide to rescue her.
** The Rachni Queen somewhat counts, insomuch as a giant bug can be considered a ''damsel!'' If set free on Noveria during the first game, she is captured by the Reapers during the third. Both times Shepard can decide to rescue her.
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* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in ''Videogame/WizardsAndWarriors''. Each stage (except the last) ends with rescuing a DistressedDamsel, conveniently labelled as "the distressed damsel". (In the last stage, you appear to have rescued a princess, which I guess means that the other stages are variations of the "[[SuperMarioBros Princess is in another castle]]" trope.)
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* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in ''Videogame/WizardsAndWarriors''. Each stage (except the last) ends with rescuing a DistressedDamsel, DamselInDistress, conveniently labelled as "the distressed damsel". (In the last stage, you appear to have rescued a princess, which I guess means that the other stages are variations of the "[[SuperMarioBros Princess is in another castle]]" trope.)
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* ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' has Paula in this role a total of three times - kidnapped by [[{{Cult}} the Happy Happyists]], kidnapped by [[ZombieApocalypse zombies]], kidnapped by [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Monotoli]]. The second time was [[AllMenArePerverts Ness's fault]], though.
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* ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' has Paula in this role a total of three times - kidnapped by [[{{Cult}} the Happy Happyists]], kidnapped by [[ZombieApocalypse zombies]], kidnapped by [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Monotoli]]. The second time was [[AllMenArePerverts Ness's Ness' fault]], though.
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* In ''VideoGame/LittleKingsStory'', all the princesses are held in jars by the kings you have to defeat to add them to your set. Near the end of the game, whoever you brought with you is swallowed by [[spoiler: a rat king, which later gets chucked out the window by the boy whose room you're in]].
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** All of the Kongs (besides Donkey) are this to some extent in ''Donkey Kong 64''.
*** Though Donkey himself does act as one in both ''DonkeyKongCountry'' sequels.
*** Though Donkey himself does act as one in both ''DonkeyKongCountry'' sequels.
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** All of the Kongs (besides Donkey) are this to some extent in ''Donkey Kong 64''.
''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64''.
*** Though Donkey himself does act as one in both''DonkeyKongCountry'' ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' sequels.
*** Though Donkey himself does act as one in both
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* DragonsDogma. [[spoiler: The ending works on this premise, with whichever character you have the highest affinity with being kidnapped by the dragon and used as a hostage as your assumed love interest. Can lead to unintended hilarity if someone like Feste or Fournival is chosen.]] Aelinore also has this as her defining characteristic, and can potentially be rescued three times in the game.
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* DragonsDogma.VideoGame/DragonsDogma. [[spoiler: The ending works on this premise, with whichever character you have the highest affinity with being kidnapped by the dragon and used as a hostage as your assumed love interest. Can lead to unintended hilarity if someone like Feste or Fournival is chosen.]] Aelinore also has this as her defining characteristic, and can potentially be rescued three times in the game.
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* Ashley Graham from ''ResidentEvil4'' . Made all the more hilarious by how she was shown to want ''very'' much to give [[MrFanservice Leon]] a SmoochOfVictory (and a lot more than just a smooch) for rescuing her at the end... only for Leon to reject her and make sure she knows that he is ''not'' interested.
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* Ashley Graham from ''ResidentEvil4'' .''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' . Made all the more hilarious by how she was shown to want ''very'' much to give [[MrFanservice Leon]] a SmoochOfVictory (and a lot more than just a smooch) for rescuing her at the end... only for Leon to reject her and make sure she knows that he is ''not'' interested.
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* Furiae in ''{{Drakengard}}'' doubles as this for family reasons (she's your sister, and technically a [[SaveThePrincess princess]]) and because she happens to be the linchpin CosmicKeystone that prevents [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt catastrophe.]] As the DownerEnding page points out, this isn't as idealistic as the other examples.
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* Furiae in ''{{Drakengard}}'' ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard}}'' doubles as this for family reasons (she's your sister, and technically a [[SaveThePrincess princess]]) and because she happens to be the linchpin CosmicKeystone that prevents [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt catastrophe.]] As the DownerEnding page points out, this isn't as idealistic as the other examples.
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* Wonderfully averted in ''BioShock2''. [[spoiler: Eleanor Lamb is setup to be one, but stick her in a combat situation and she absolutely massacres every Mook in her way.]]
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* Wonderfully averted in ''BioShock2''.''VideoGame/BioShock2''. [[spoiler: Eleanor Lamb is setup to be one, but stick her in a combat situation and she absolutely massacres every Mook in her way.]]
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* PluckyGirl Yuri Sakazaki from the original ''ArtOfFighting'', although after the events of the game [[TookALevelInBadass she took up Kyokugen Karate lessons from her father to defend herself]] and became as strong as, if not ''stronger'' than, her brother Ryo and her childhood friend Robert... the ones who actually [[WouldntHitAGirl objected more to her]] [[StayInTheKitchen taking up martial arts]], until she was kidnapped and finally got the training she wanted.
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* PluckyGirl Yuri Sakazaki from the original ''ArtOfFighting'', ''VideoGame/ArtOfFighting'', although after the events of the game [[TookALevelInBadass she took up Kyokugen Karate lessons from her father to defend herself]] and became as strong as, if not ''stronger'' than, her brother Ryo and her childhood friend Robert... the ones who actually [[WouldntHitAGirl objected more to her]] [[StayInTheKitchen taking up martial arts]], until she was kidnapped and finally got the training she wanted.
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* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
** Princess Peach Toadstool has been kidnapped too many times to count. And yet she's [[PowerCreepPowerSeep perfectly capable of kicking butt]] in such games as ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'', ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'', ''VideoGame/SuperPrincessPeach'', ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', and the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series. [[WMG/SuperMarioBros Go figure]]. Adaptations sometimes try to turn her into an ActionGirl, but her tendency to get kidnapped is such a major part of the ''Mario'' tradition that it becomes very hard to omit or work around. ''SuperMarioBrosZ'' takes this to the logical extreme: when Peach is kidnapped by Bowser ''again'', it's pointed out that nobody in the Mushroom Kingdom is panicking, because they're all so used to it. In recent games such as ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' and its [[VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2 sequel]], the tables have been turned and Bowser's kidnapping of Peach does more damage to him and his self-deluded plot of creating an galactic empire than her, as Peach, despite her peacefulness, has become a huge monkey wrench and being in Bowser's clutches is an obvious mistake on his part that inevitably leads him to be defeated again by Mario.
** [[ExpositionFairy Tippi]] also plays Distressed Damsel for all of one chapter in ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', though her capturer only wants to post pictures of her on the Internet. (No, really.)
** Princess Daisy fills in the role of Distressed Damsel in place of Peach in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand''.
** Baby Luigi becomes this in the ''VideoGame/YoshisIsland'' games. One of the babies helping Yoshi save him in the DS game is in fact Baby Peach!
** Mario ''himself'' is the damsel in ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion'' and ''Super Princess Peach'' (and the non-canon ''Mario is Missing'').
* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'': Peach's contemporary, Princess Zelda, fits the trope, but not in a way that plays the trope precisely straight. While finding/rescuing/protecting her is usually Link's ultimate or major goal in any game where she is present, she almost invariably cooks up some clever ideas whereby she can actively work against the EvilPlan of the BigBad who captures her. The classic DistressedDamsel, by contrast, is tactically of no use whatever.
** In the [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda original game]], she knows she's going to be captured as part of Ganon's plot, so she fragments the Triforce of Wisdom (which is what he's really after) and hides it in various parts of her kingdom, then enables her most loyal servant to escape to find help while she herself is taken prisoner.
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'', though she is in a prison cell at the beginning, she is quickly rescued by Link. She only gets kidnapped again about a third of the way into the game; she gets rescued in the second-to-last dungeon, after which she and the other Maidens (themselves Distressed Damsels) use their magic to break the barrier barring entry into Ganon's Tower.
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', she also acts as the [[{{Mentors}} mentor]] by [[ItWasHisSled secretly]] being Sheik.
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', Zelda starts out as leader of a gang of pirates, while Link's just some kid, which makes her ''more competent then the main character''. She's also vital in the final boss fight.
*** In the sequel, ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass'', she spends the first half of the game AWOL and the second half as a statue just to make sure she had a reason not to be kicking ass by Link's side.
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', she isn't kidnapped - she surrenders to the BigBad to [[BarrierMaiden save her people from genocide]], although it amounts to roughly the same thing. While unable to actively participate in the fight for most of the game, she is extremely helpful [[spoiler:to the point of appearing to ''give up her own life'']] when she does appear, and is a vital participant in the endgame.
** Taken to an extreme in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks'', where Zelda manages to be kidnapped despite being a controllable character for almost the whole game.
*** And yet is still able to actively assist Link in combat, including the final boss fights.
** Played straight, after all these years, in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'', where Link gets involved in the plot in order to rescue his childhood friend Zelda. She actually barely avoids a proper kidnapping.
* Pauline (aka "Lady") in the original ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong''.
** All of the Kongs (besides Donkey) are this to some extent in ''Donkey Kong 64''.
*** Though Donkey himself does act as one in both ''DonkeyKongCountry'' sequels.
* Palutena in ''KidIcarus''. Apparently, being a goddess does not make one immune to this trope.
* Played with in an entertaining fashion in the VideoGame/NeverwinterNights mod ADanceWithRogues. The Princess in the story is the player character and spends a lot more time rescuing people than not, and the character who most fits this archetype is Anden, a male character. Pia actually comments on this when you tell her the tale of rescuing Anden for the first time.
* Aerith Gainsborough from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', when she is kidnapped and taken to Hojo's laboratory to be experimented on. Saving her makes up most of the BestLevelEver, so hooray!
** Also worth noting that the in-game play at the Golden Saucer during the date scene plays with this trope, complete with an evil dragon.
* Rinoa Heartilly from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' was this, with [[DesignatedVictim disturbing regularity.]] She's probably the second most DistressedDamsel out of the entire FinalFantasy franchise next to the example below, which is actually saying a lot (though it doesn't speak highly of her [[DamselScrappy character]]). To her credit though, she does get much better once she [[spoiler: becomes a sorceress, though she still gets taken captive by Seifer later to be held hostage by Adel, but he ''was'' holding her a weapon-point.]]
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'', Rosa spends alot of time in the first half of the game incapacitated due to some reason or other (illness, kidnapping, etc.) She gets better in the second half though, even refusing to StayInTheKitchen when told to by Cecil toward the end ([[WhatAnIdiot a very dumb decision on Cecil's part.]])
* Averted in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' with Yuna. Who, while kidnapped three times, managed to escape on her own the first time and actually made a plan to defeat one of the BigBad's the third time (which the heroes, while pulling off an impressive BigDamnHeroes, messed up) she still escaped on her own. And the second time, she was actually being "kidnapped" by [[spoiler: Rikku]], so there wasn't any real danger, though the other characters think there is at the time.
** Nonetheless, [[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment The Spoony One]] held a running tally of how many times she gets kidnapped in the first place, and she beats Rinoa. Probably iconic is how she happens to get kidnapped by the WellIntentionedExtremist, then gets kidnapped from there by the BigBad before the party manages to free her.
* In ''VideoGame/StarFox Adventures'', Krystal serves the role of the Distressed Damsel, being trapped in a crystal up until the end. Which is ironic, considering that she was ''originally'' intended to be the player character.
* {{Subverted}} in ''TheSecretOfMonkeyIsland'': Guybrush Threepwood goes through all kinds of peril to save Govenor Elaine Marley, who was captured by the BigBad [=LeChuck=]. He gets to the church on Melee Island just in time to [[SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace interrupt their wedding]], only for Elaine to descend on a rope from the ceiling. Turns out she'd already made her escape, fooling [=LeChuck=] by putting a pair of trained monkeys in her wedding dress. At least Guybrush ends up getting the honor of finishing off [=LeChuck=]...
* Maya Fey of ''VisualNovel/AceAttorney'' fame. First meeting? Save her in a court case. Reunited in game 2? Save her in a court case. End of game 2? Kidnapped, must save someone else in a court case in order to get her fanny back. Final case third game? Entire PLOT of the case revolves around this.
** But subverted in MANY ways as well. For example, she helps you out when she can and despite her constant ordeals [[spoiler:(her dad dying, then her mother disappearing, then her sister being murder with her as the accused, then her being accused again with her own family trying to kill her, then Pearls being in danger, then her mother getting murdered in front of her right after she was about to be murdered herself)]], she stills comes out smiling and full of life, something that Phoenix can't seem to understand. Plus at one point in case 3:5 she saves her own life from the BigBad by [[spoiler:channelling said BigBad's spirit, thus making it impossible for them to kill her]]; something which is very clever.
* In ''VideoGame/HouseOfTheDead 1'', the thing that draws the heroes to the mansion in the first place is a distress call from Tom Rogan's girlfriend Sophie, who, despite apparently being a fellow [[TheMenInBlack AMS]] agent and the only survivor of her group, is mostly useless. Depending on how you fared, she [[MultipleEndings may or may not survive]]. In the later games, you can rescue citizens or your partner from marauding zombies for extra lives.
* PluckyGirl Yuri Sakazaki from the original ''ArtOfFighting'', although after the events of the game [[TookALevelInBadass she took up Kyokugen Karate lessons from her father to defend herself]] and became as strong as, if not ''stronger'' than, her brother Ryo and her childhood friend Robert... the ones who actually [[WouldntHitAGirl objected more to her]] [[StayInTheKitchen taking up martial arts]], until she was kidnapped and finally got the training she wanted.
* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars:''
** [[LethalChef Kusuha Mizuha]] -- her face just screams that she is a perfect target to make a Distressed Damsel, and in every installment of ''[=Original Generation=]'', starting from ''[=OG=] 1, [=OG=] 2, [=OG=] Gaiden'', there is always a scenario where she is kidnapped, first by Ingram in ''[=OG=] 1'', then by Lorenzo & Murata in ''[=OG=] 2'' (only in the remake. The scenario was not featured in the GBA version), and finally by the Bartoll units in ''OG Gaiden''. Not even saying 'I'm not just some damsel in distress waiting to be rescued!' in battles can rectify this...
** In ''Alpha'' series, however, it's {{inverted}}. Once ''Alpha 2'' kicks in and the stories get more proper, it's usually her boyfriend Bullet that needs to be rescued.
** Though not entirely subverting to this trope, somewhat the RidiculouslyHumanRobot Lamia Loveless fell into this trope in ''OG Gaiden''. After all her whole [[ActionGirl ass kicking and dramatic development]] back in ''[=OG=] 2'', her story in ''[=OG=] Gaiden'' involves her getting kidnapped and needs to be rescued TWICE (even our resident damsel needs to be rescued once this time). First she's kidnapped by the Bartolls, all while just being in the wrong place in the wrong time, stripped naked and be somewhat {{brainwashed}} to fight her allies. She was almost saved... but suddenly, the villains managed to snatch her back after the player has to [[CliffHanger wait for 6 months to see if she's dead or alive]], and brainwash her AGAIN. So much that it takes a [[HeelFaceTurn former badass enemy turned good]] to save her completely. Once she's completely saved, she returns being a formidable girl in battlefield (and that even depends whether the player wants to use her or not), though her story arc was over at that point.
* In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedI'', Altair saves countless Distressed Damsels (and some Distressed Abbots and Islamic Scholars as well) from the city guards, and is rewarded by their family/students helping him escape from Mooks. Despite this happening in the middle of a city, [[ApatheticCitizens nobody seems to react at all to the attempted abductions and rapes happening right in front of them]].
** They're in Medieval cities in the state of war, and the would-be rapists and murderers are exactly the people stationed to keep the peace, and are the only ones with decent weapons and armour around. TruthInTelevision, unfortunately.
* Furiae in ''{{Drakengard}}'' doubles as this for family reasons (she's your sister, and technically a [[SaveThePrincess princess]]) and because she happens to be the linchpin CosmicKeystone that prevents [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt catastrophe.]] As the DownerEnding page points out, this isn't as idealistic as the other examples.
* Bastila, a trained Jedi, is kept as a hostage during the first part of ''Film/StarWars: VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic''. She'd just crawled out of a crashed escape pod's wreckage when she was captured, and her captors were intelligent enough to fasten a neural disruptor to her head (and she didn't have time to determine where her lightsaber was). She does manage to free herself the instant your rescue attempt manages to thin out the guards enough that she can finally get the disruptor off. However, she is quite offended if you comment that you "rescued the damsel in distress" later on, almost as badly as when Carth starts joking about losing her lightsaber being against the Jedi code.
* Princess Cassima in ''VideoGame/KingsQuestV'' and moreso in ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVI'' is a damsel in distress. She is held captive by the wizard Mordak in V and in VI, is actually kept inside a tower by the GrandVizier [[Creator/HPLovecraft Alhazred]] for a plot to marry her.
** Similarly, the entire objective of ''VideoGame/KingsQuestII'' is to rescue Princess Valanice from a tower prison.
*** And in ''VideoGame/KingsQuestIII,'' the Llewdor Oracle lights a fire under Gwydion's rear by showing him the three-headed dragon that's laid waste to Daventry. The dragon demands a HumanSacrifice, and the one "chosen" this year is Princess Rosella [[spoiler: his long-lost twin sister]].
** Her first appearance notwithstanding, Rosella tends to [[ZigZaggingTrope take this trope for a joyride]]. In ''VideoGame/KingsQuestIV'', she's the one doing the rescuing, finding a MacGuffin to bring back from Tamir to heal her stricken father. She's briefly relieved of her inventory and locked up, but is freed soon enough due to MookFaceTurn. ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVII'' has her impulsively putting herself in harm's way, finding a way to free herself from the fire she landed in, and then rescuing a captured king. Top it off with her breaking the MoreThanMindControl Malicia pulled on [[spoiler: Edgar - who seems to be an absolute sucker for this sort of thing]].
* ''Franchise/TalesSeries:''
** ''[[VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia Symphonia]]'''s Colette Brunel. Even though, gameplay wise, she's a powerful and useful GlassCannon.
** Shirley from ''VideoGame/TalesOfLegendia'', who is constantly kidnapped during the main quest.
** In ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'', Natalia and Fon Master Ion are held hostage, she could have gone peacefully to avoid any conflict.
*** Ion is always getting kidnapped.
** In ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'', Estelle is held hostage and used by the villain at the time of the game. She did not use her powers to save an Entelexia because she would have driven him berserk, and the amount of guards could have prevented a feasible escape.
** In ''VideoGame/TalesOfRebirth'', the first half of the game is dedicated to save dozens of damsels in distress (captured by the Queen of the land. Go figure). But Veigue really cares more about rescuing his [[ShesNotMyGirlfriend not-girlfriend]] Claire, because [[MarySue she is just so much more important than all those other simpletons]].
* Kairi and her Nobody Namine from the ''KingdomHearts'' series, though they get a few moments outside the role in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', and really only fall into the role twice each.
** The other Princesses of Heart don't fare much better but are sometimes useful. For example, Belle has a particularly memorable scene in which Xaldin has both her and the Rose and is forcing the Beast to choose between them. [[spoiler:Belle preempts the choice by elbowing Xaldin in the gut, taking the rose from him, and escaping over to Sora right before the party fights him.]]
* Kyrie, Nero's LoveInterest from ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry 4'' is one of these, in contrast with Dante's demon hunting ActionGirl partners.
* The paramedics from ''Urban Chaos: Riot Response'' are usually in need of rescue, [[JustifiedTrope which makes sense]] since they're civilians trying to save injured cops and firefighters while under attack from insane gang members with ELECTRIC SAWS.
** Also the firefighters, Officer Forrester, and your C.O. Adam Wolf are in need of rescue. The firefighters are excused because they too are unarmed and the Burners have guns. Officer Forrester when he is not being used as a human shield is rather competent at stealing your kills so he too is excused. Wolf is excused because they kidnapped him at his safe house. Both Forrester and Wolf tell you when to fire at the Burner and they mock their would-be kidnapper.
* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in ''Videogame/WizardsAndWarriors''. Each stage (except the last) ends with rescuing a DistressedDamsel, conveniently labelled as "the distressed damsel". (In the last stage, you appear to have rescued a princess, which I guess means that the other stages are variations of the "[[SuperMarioBros Princess is in another castle]]" trope.)
** Three princess sisters appear in the third game of the series. In order to finish the game, you must promise to marry them after freeing them. Yes, all three.
* ''FireEmblem'' has had several of these:
** The original has [[WhiteMagicianGirl princesses Maria and Elice]], along with [[FauxActionGirl Midia]], who all fight by your side once you rescue them. Also included is princess Nyna, although she's an NPC who mostly exists for story purposes.
** Ellis in ''Mystery of the Emblem''
** 'In ''Genealogy of Holy War'', [[WhiteMagicianGirl Edain, Diadora, Yuria]] and [[SpoonyBard Lynn]] start like this before they join you. [[spoiler: It doesn't end well for all of them but Edin: Diadora eventually ends up brainwashed and dead; Yuria fares just as badly as her mother Diadora, but she survives, eventually coming into her own when she gets the holy spellbook Narga and bravely vows to keep fighting; and it's implied in a veiled way, through Ares vs Bramsel's pre-battle convo and Ares and Lynn's convo when she's freed, that [[RapeAsDrama she was raped]] by Bramsel after he took her captive.]]
** In ''Sword of Seal'', Princess Guinevere in the mental/emotional sense, Lilina before you free her and she becomes a MagicKnight. Also, BadassBookworm Cecilia (in her defense, she was injured) and MysteriousWaif Sophia, who also join your group.
** In ''Sword of Flame'', Ninian and her DistressedDude brother Nils, thanks to Nergal (though they later become [[SpoonyBard A Spoony Bard and Spoony Dancer duo]] and join the team properly; Priscilla (she's even got the evil marquess [[ScarpiaUltimatum trying to force her into marriage]]!), who also eventually becomes a MagicKnight after promotion.
** In ''The Sacred Stones'', Queen Ismaire of the White Dunes [[spoiler: The worse thing? You do ''not'' get to save her, and she ultimately dies in the arm of her son, KingIncognito Joshua. [[TearJerker SNIFFFFF!]] . ]]
** Though Fire Emblem applies the imprisonment plot device to both genders pretty judiciously - probably thanks to the easy "recruit opportunity" of prisoners of war. For example, the afore-mentioned Midia is imprisoned with three other characters, all of whom are men. In ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius Path of Radiance]]'', Rolf is held hostage along with Mist, likewise the [=POWs=] Brom and Nephenee. In ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius Radiant Dawn]]'' Illyana and Aimee are held prisoner, but so are the three male members of their caravan ([[spoiler:and the incognito dragon prince, Kurthnaga]]).
* ''VideoGame/{{Braid}}'' takes this trope and [[spoiler:'''inverts''' it. In the final level (technically the first, chronologically), the princess is in distress '''because''' of ''you''. NiceJobBreakingItHero.]]
* ''SuikodenV'' has a {{subversion}} with Princess Lymsleia. While she is held hostage for most of the game, she chooses to [[spoiler: use her authority to attempt an escape from the Godwins and in the war in the favor of LaResistance in a supposed assault on them]] rather than accept the state of affairs.
* In ''CityOfHeroes'' there is a junior heroine, Fusionette, who is constantly getting in over her head, captured and needing rescuing. So much so that it's become a running joke among the community that she has to be the worst {{superhero}} in Paragon and the only reason that Vanguard even employ her is as an example of others of how NOT to do the missions.
* Ashley Graham from ''ResidentEvil4'' . Made all the more hilarious by how she was shown to want ''very'' much to give [[MrFanservice Leon]] a SmoochOfVictory (and a lot more than just a smooch) for rescuing her at the end... only for Leon to reject her and make sure she knows that he is ''not'' interested.
* In ''LegendOfDragoon'', Shana fits the bill perfectly. Even when she joins the party she is the light-elemental-healer.
* Parodied in ''ResetGeneration'' where EVERY player tries to 'rescue' a princess from every other player.
* ''Mega Man'':
** [[VideoGame/MegaManStarForce Star Force's]] Luna Platz becomes one whenever the evil villains attack in the games. There are three occasions in the first game where this happens. When Taurus turns Bud into a monster, then when she (along with Bud and Zack Temple) are forced into doing the swan dance on a trip to AMAKEN. Finally when the kids teacher merges with an evil FM-Ian and goes berserk. Her role as the DistressedDamsel continues into the second game, as she is kidnapped by Hyde-Phantom, then almost trapped in a alternate dimension by Solo-Rogue (along with Bud, Sonia and Zack), then kidnapped by Hyde-Phantom, again and then finally kidnapped by a giant bird monster.
*** And it all comes to a head in the third game. The [[BeachEpisode trip to Alohaha]] was supposed to be a relaxing affair, but then [[EvilDuo Jack and Tia]] corrupt Strong with a Noise Card, causing him to start an earthquake on the island and force him into a fight with Mega Man. Before you can say "it can't get any worse", [[ScaryBlackMan JOKER]] shows up and erases Strong. Just as Jack and Tia transform to fight Geo, Luna picked the absolute worst time to show up - [[MoralEventHorizon and Joker uses THAT opportunity to]] ''[[MoralEventHorizon kill]]'' [[MoralEventHorizon her]]! Strong, Luna, and Vogue (Luna's Wizard, the youngest of the lot) [[DisneyDeath all get better]], but Joker has established himself as a very serious threat - one that Luna fans absolutely despise.
* When Zero first wakes up at the beginning of ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' series, he has to protect the girl who revived him, Ciel, throughout the entire first level.
* In the ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' FightingGame ''The Power Fighters'', one of the three selectable path objectives is to rescue Roll.
* At the end of ''VideoGame/TotalOverdose'', Ram has to save a DistressedDamsel in a sequence involving many [[DeadHorseTrope tropes so dead they don't even have entries]]. The Damsel is tied to the front of a runaway locomotive by the Villain, and Ram must run along boxcars, jumping into and out of boxcars, fighting mooks, and dodging explosives. The subversions could be that the Villain wears a White Hat with an antique emblem of the US Cavalry on it, and that instead of a horse, Ram gets a motorcycle to ultimately ride to the rescue on.
* Sue Sakamoto in ''VideoGame/CaveStory'' is continually kidnapped or imprisoned by various parties.
* In ''MaxPayne2TheFallOfMaxPayne'', Mona Sax's first line is: "God! I turned out to be such a damsel in distress..."
** She gets to invert the trope, running into a burning building to save Max.
** The line is an IronicEcho from the first game, when she denies being a damsel in distress like her twin sister was.
* ''VideoGame/{{Spelunky}}'', has a character known as the damsel, who can be rescued from most levels for an extra hitpoint. One extra hitpoint. She also makes for a good throwing weapon. If you rescue 8 of them in one playthrough, you can play as her and you rescue Spelunky instead.
* ''VideoGame/{{Castlevania}}'' descended into this trope slowly. Early installments forwent hostages altogether (only the arcade rehash ''Haunted Castle'' added Simon's wife Serena, as if fighting {{Dracula}} weren't motivation enough), and when they began coming, there was uncommon gender balance. The series' first canonical damsel was actually a [[DistressedDude a guy in distress]], Christopher's son Soleiyu in ''Belmont's Revenge''; Richter in ''Symphony of the Night'' and Morris Baldwin in ''Circle of the Moon'' further balance out the captured maidens in ''Rondo of Blood'' (one of whom isn't such a damsel at that). After ''Circle'', however, this trope began to do its worst, e.g. Lydie in ''Harmony of Dissonance'', Mina [[spoiler: and later Yoko]] in ''Aria of Sorrow'', Sara in ''Lament of Innocence''...
** ''Dawn of Sorrow'' plays with this a bit when the bad guys' plan to turn [[ItWasHisSled Soma into Dracula]] is to trick him into thinking that Mina is a DistressedDamsel again [[spoiler: and kill "Mina" in front of him]].
** In ''Order of Ecclesia'', while there are distressed damsels, but there are also distressed children and distressed men as well.
* Marian in the original ''VideoGame/DoubleDragon'', where the main objective was to rescue her from the Black Warriors.
** Subverted in ''Double Dragon II: The Revenge''. The arcade version starts off just like the first game, with Marian being surrounded by the Black Warriors, only instead of being knocked unconscious and taken into their hideout, [[StuffedInTheFridge she is gunned down to death]] by Machine Gun Willy. A similar thing happens in the NES version, only it shows Marian being attacked by a ninja (instead of Machine Gun Willy) and [[GoryDiscretionShot the game doesn't actually show the murder occur]] (the opening only says that it happened). Marian [[KilledOffForReal stays dead]] in the arcade version, but in the NES version [[BackFromTheDead she is brought back to life]] if the player completes the game on hardest difficulty level (playing this trope straight in a way).
** She's a no-show in the arcade version of ''Double Dragon 3'', but in the NES version the game's plot was rewritten (specifically for the localized version) so that the final boss turns out to be a possessed version of Marian named Queen Noiram ("[[SpellMyNameWithAnS Marion]]" spelled backwards).
** ''Super Double Dragon'' was about saving Marian too, but you wouldn't know [[AllThereInTheManual unless you read the manual]] (mainly because the game was released [[ObviousBeta incomplete]]).
** Averted in the Neo-Geo fighting game, where she's one of the playable fighters.
* ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' has Paula in this role a total of three times - kidnapped by [[{{Cult}} the Happy Happyists]], kidnapped by [[ZombieApocalypse zombies]], kidnapped by [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Monotoli]]. The second time was [[AllMenArePerverts Ness's fault]], though.
** Ness himself was captured the second time along with Paula.
* Dana Mercer becomes one about midway through ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}''. Given that the one kidnapping her is [[spoiler: a freaking ''Leader Hunter'']] she is excused for screeching in panic.
** For those who haven't played the game, [[spoiler: a Leader Hunter is about the size of an elephant, and can throw down with Dana's big brother Alex. [[PersonOfMassDestruction Alex can tear tanks apart barehanded, and survive ''anything'']]. Dana can't do that.]]
* Liara's establishing character moment in ''MassEffect'' involves rescuing her from a forcefield she got herself stuck inside, fighting off a krogan battlemaster while she hides in a corner, then saving her from a collapsing volcano. To avoid confusion, and confirm her love-interest status, she then proceeds to faint once she arrives on your ship, since she spent anywhere from hours to days without food or water in extremely stressful situation. Once she's had a proper rest she reveals herself for the BadAss she really is in the next mission you take her along. [[TookALevelInBadass More so in the sequel.]]
** [[spoiler:Yeoman Kelly Chambers]] gets this treatment late in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', complete with [[spoiler:getting dragged away by monsters, screaming her head off. The non-specialist crew of the Normandy meets the same fate at the same time.]]
*** [[spoiler: And [[{{Squick}} god help the poor girl]] if you [[RedundantRescue don't go to her rescue right away]]]].
*** Considering her fate in the third game, [[spoiler: God help her even if you do.]]
* In ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'', after you rescue Neeshka from the Fort Locke guards, she says "Does that make me a damsel in distress? I hope not, I ''hate'' those women!"
* Miyu in ''RedSteel'' is kidnapped on the first level, and the rest of the game revolves around bringing down the {{yakuza}} in order to save her.
* It's unclear in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' [[DamselScrappy whether Princess Elise can walk under her own power, let alone avoid capture]]. She does seem to take a few steps during some of the cutscenes, but that might just be inertia from being carried halfway around the world at high velocity.
** Also occasionally played straight with Cream.
** Amy Rose a few odd times, most prominantly in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehogCD''.
** Tails occasionally plays a girlish-[[DistressedDude boy]]-in-distress kind-of role.
** In the spin-off cartoons and comics, Princess Sally takes the role on occasion too.
* Annoyingly in the ''Evolution'' games for the Dreamcast, WhiteMagicianGirl Linear WILL get kidnapped/convinced to leave the party right before the TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon and subsequent boss fights. And the two games have final bosses that are definitely ThatOneBoss. [[FakeDifficulty And she has the best healing and buffing skills in the game.]] Good luck!
* Wonderfully averted in ''BioShock2''. [[spoiler: Eleanor Lamb is setup to be one, but stick her in a combat situation and she absolutely massacres every Mook in her way.]]
* Raven inverts this a few times in ''UltimaIX'', then lampshades it when she has to play it straight. She later puts the Avatar into DistressedDude territory herself...and makes him like it.
* The entire population of Boingburg (with the exception of [[PlayerCharacter Rocket]]) in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestHeroesRocketSlime''.
* Subverted in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''. For the Alliance, you get a quest to rescue the dwarven princess from Blackrock Depths. For the Horde, you're given the same quest in the hopes of improving relations with the dwarves. Not only she does not want to leave, but she is pregnant. And you just killed the father.
* Flora Reinhold, Franchise/ProfessorLayton's foster daughter, gets stuck in this role in his games. In the original game of the series, she's more of a BarrierMaiden than a DistressedDamsel, but in the other two games where she appears so far, she has great aptitude for being kidnapped. She also goes missing in ''Professor Layton's London Life'', the bonus RPG packaged with some releases of ''ProfessorLaytonAndTheSpectersFlute'' [[spoiler:- but she hasn't been kidnapped. She's preparing to sacrifice herself to prevent TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. Poor kid.]]
* Bandage Girl from ''VideoGame/MeatBoy'' who is constantly kidnapped by Dr. Fetus. In the last chapter in ''Super VideoGame/MeatBoy'', she decides she had enough of it.
* Deconstructed in VideoGame/GuiltyGear, where Dizzy is more powerful than her guardians, Testament, Johnny and Ky. The "rescuing" is more like [[PowerIncontinence calming her down when her power goes out of control.]] Dizzy herself is a NaiveEverygirl who [[ActualPacifist hates violence with passion]], so the experience of unintentionally attempting to kill people [[BreakTheCutie is traumatizing.]] If you listen to her in-game quotes, it seems that [[BlessedWithSuck her enormous powers inflicts physical pain to her]]. And the few times she snaps? [[BewareTheNiceOnes She SNAPS]] (like the AlternateUniverse from the CD dramas [[spoiler: in which she succeeds her mother Justice and destroys the world]], or the Midnight Carnival ending in which [[spoiler: she horribly kills I-No [[TheDogBitesBack when she abuses her a bit too much.]].]] In short, Dizzy needs no rescue from others... ''but from herself.''
* Kaori plays this role in ''EienNoAselia'' despite theoretically having the same ass kicking potential as any stranger would. But she never even acquires a weapon and is instead held hostage for almost the entirety of the game by one person or another.
* If you romance a Governor's Daughter enough in the 2004 version of ''SidMeiersPirates'', then when you next visit the port the Governor will tearfully tell you that she has been kidnapped by the Evil Colonel Mendoza and beg you to hunt him down and rescue her. (Successfully doing so leads to the opportunity to propose marriage shortly after.)
* Sylvia in the first ''VideoGame/KungFuMaster'', kidnapped if just to force his boyfriend Thomas to [[MyKungFuIsStrongerThanYours enter into a fight]] with the kidnapper and his group.
* ''VideoGame/BreathOfFire'':
** ''VideoGame/{{Breath of Fire|I}}'' has Nina serve this role in her initial arc, when she's captured by the [[EvilSorcerer Karma Wizard]] while [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething looking for a cure for her father]], who said wizard poisoned. After the rescue, she never goes through it again. The first manga adaptation, however, just ''loved'' to turn her into a FauxActionGirl, even having another party member accuse her of being a [[TheLoad load]] to the rest of the group.
** ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireII'' switches it with this game's Nina's sister, Mina, being kidnapped to blackmail her into "[[IHaveYouNowMyPretty joining]]" a thieves' gang. There's also [[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses Princess Elfarran/Elforan]] in the [=HighFort=] arc.
** ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIII'' also presents Nina in such a sitaution, when she's captured by [[SiblingTeam Balio and Sunder]] to blackmail the king/her father.
** ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIV'' is set into motion by Cray and Nina's quest to find her missing sister, Elina, later revealed to have been taken in by TheEmpire. Unlike previous games, things don't end up well.
* Princess Mari in ''VideoGame/TheKingOfDragons'' exists to fulfil this role. Though she actually [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething lead the offensive]] of her kingdom against the hordes of monsters, she just makes things get worse.
* Princess Kiku in ''{{Tenchu}}'' gets kidnapped in every game she appears in. It's played with in ''Tenchu 4'', where [[spoiler:she orders Rikimaru to kill her as a way to defeat the BigBad who was holding her hostage, and he eventually complies]].
* ''VideoGame/ThreeWonders'' has the Princess of Asthar in ''Chariot''.
* The [[CanonDiscontinuity non]]-{{Capcom}} developed ''VideoGame/{{Strider}}'' sequel, ''Strider Returns'', has this as its main plot, sending the game's protagonist to rescue his darling Lexia.
* Tawna in the original ''Videogame/CrashBandicoot1996''. Coco, though more prominantly an ActionGirl, takes the role a handful of occasions later on.
* Every single female character in the ''VideoGame/DukeNukem'' games.
* In ''RuneFactory3'' [[spoiler:your fiance]] is kidnapped near the end of the game. This doesn't make her look bad since the one kidnapping her is [[spoiler:a super powerful dragon.]]
* Lola Tigerbelly becomes one towards the end of the first game in ''TheSpellcastingSeries'', having been placed in a swinging blade trap by the BigBad.
* Subverted in ''DragonAge''. In the "Paragon of Her Kind" quest, one of your goals is to rescue party member [[BoisterousBruiser Oghren's]] wife, Branka, from the [[BeneathTheEarth Deep Roads]], where she is missing. [[spoiler: It turns out that she deliberately led her entire clan there in search of an ancient ArtifactOfDoom. When it turned out the artifact was protected by lots of golems, ghosts, and deathtraps, she deliberately let Darkspawn kill all the men and attempt to turn all the women into Broodmothers, a process that involves force-feeding them the flesh of poisonous monsters and their own relatives, gang-rape by monsters, and lots of BodyHorror, so that she'd have a vast supply of monsters to set off the traps and kill the guardians. She's raving insane as well as utterly evil by the time you find her. You ''can'' spare her life and take the artifact for yourself, but the better choice, both morally and gameplay-wise, involves fighting and killing her, then destroying it. Even if you spare her, she refuses to be rescued, and stays in the Deep Roads with her prize.]]
** After the infiltration of Arl Howe's mansion, [[spoiler: the Warden him/herself can be arrested along with Alistair, and have to be rescued from prison by your choice of party members.]] Choose carefully, some combinations have truly hilarious results.
* There's also a subtle deconstruction in ''BlazBlue''. While on the initial surface, Litchi Faye-Ling is trying to 'rescue' Arakune from his fate as an EldritchAbomination ([[spoiler:and later be captured by Relius]]), in truth [[spoiler:she's been dying of the same corruption and Kokonoe flat out refused to help her, and without any other sources of help, she's ForcedIntoEvil by joining NOL. In other words, Litchi has been in distress mentally and had to act on her own because nobody is willing to help her, compounded with the fact that she has been hiding her growing corruption from everyone else except Kokonoe, which makes possible helpers like Bang, Taokaka or Carl completely unaware of her distress.]]
* Much of the plot of VideoGame/AsurasWrath is this; about Asura's struggle to save his daughter Mithra. In the end, no one could stop him from saving her, [[spoiler: not even the creator of life itself.]]
* ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' has several. Rhea is trapped in the Tomb of the Giants after her companions either all abandoned her or died. Dusk of Oolacile and Sieglinde are trapped in golden crystal golems. Anastacia of Astora is murdered and you have to retrieve her soul to revive her. Then again, most of the dudes you meet need rescuing you as well.
* Princess Prin Prin from ''Videogame/GhostsNGoblins'' is kidnapped in every single game she appears in (four). It's a wonder why she never [[ReconstructedTrope takes exception on it and evolves]] into RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething territory.
* Jade's distressed damsels in VideoGame/BeyondGoodAndEvil are quite original, in that she has to rescue her [[spoiler: uncle, who is a humanoid pig, as well as all the orphans from the lighthouse.]]
* DragonsDogma. [[spoiler: The ending works on this premise, with whichever character you have the highest affinity with being kidnapped by the dragon and used as a hostage as your assumed love interest. Can lead to unintended hilarity if someone like Feste or Fournival is chosen.]] Aelinore also has this as her defining characteristic, and can potentially be rescued three times in the game.
----
** Princess Peach Toadstool has been kidnapped too many times to count. And yet she's [[PowerCreepPowerSeep perfectly capable of kicking butt]] in such games as ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'', ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'', ''VideoGame/SuperPrincessPeach'', ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', and the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series. [[WMG/SuperMarioBros Go figure]]. Adaptations sometimes try to turn her into an ActionGirl, but her tendency to get kidnapped is such a major part of the ''Mario'' tradition that it becomes very hard to omit or work around. ''SuperMarioBrosZ'' takes this to the logical extreme: when Peach is kidnapped by Bowser ''again'', it's pointed out that nobody in the Mushroom Kingdom is panicking, because they're all so used to it. In recent games such as ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' and its [[VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2 sequel]], the tables have been turned and Bowser's kidnapping of Peach does more damage to him and his self-deluded plot of creating an galactic empire than her, as Peach, despite her peacefulness, has become a huge monkey wrench and being in Bowser's clutches is an obvious mistake on his part that inevitably leads him to be defeated again by Mario.
** [[ExpositionFairy Tippi]] also plays Distressed Damsel for all of one chapter in ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', though her capturer only wants to post pictures of her on the Internet. (No, really.)
** Princess Daisy fills in the role of Distressed Damsel in place of Peach in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand''.
** Baby Luigi becomes this in the ''VideoGame/YoshisIsland'' games. One of the babies helping Yoshi save him in the DS game is in fact Baby Peach!
** Mario ''himself'' is the damsel in ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion'' and ''Super Princess Peach'' (and the non-canon ''Mario is Missing'').
* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'': Peach's contemporary, Princess Zelda, fits the trope, but not in a way that plays the trope precisely straight. While finding/rescuing/protecting her is usually Link's ultimate or major goal in any game where she is present, she almost invariably cooks up some clever ideas whereby she can actively work against the EvilPlan of the BigBad who captures her. The classic DistressedDamsel, by contrast, is tactically of no use whatever.
** In the [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda original game]], she knows she's going to be captured as part of Ganon's plot, so she fragments the Triforce of Wisdom (which is what he's really after) and hides it in various parts of her kingdom, then enables her most loyal servant to escape to find help while she herself is taken prisoner.
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'', though she is in a prison cell at the beginning, she is quickly rescued by Link. She only gets kidnapped again about a third of the way into the game; she gets rescued in the second-to-last dungeon, after which she and the other Maidens (themselves Distressed Damsels) use their magic to break the barrier barring entry into Ganon's Tower.
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', she also acts as the [[{{Mentors}} mentor]] by [[ItWasHisSled secretly]] being Sheik.
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', Zelda starts out as leader of a gang of pirates, while Link's just some kid, which makes her ''more competent then the main character''. She's also vital in the final boss fight.
*** In the sequel, ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass'', she spends the first half of the game AWOL and the second half as a statue just to make sure she had a reason not to be kicking ass by Link's side.
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', she isn't kidnapped - she surrenders to the BigBad to [[BarrierMaiden save her people from genocide]], although it amounts to roughly the same thing. While unable to actively participate in the fight for most of the game, she is extremely helpful [[spoiler:to the point of appearing to ''give up her own life'']] when she does appear, and is a vital participant in the endgame.
** Taken to an extreme in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks'', where Zelda manages to be kidnapped despite being a controllable character for almost the whole game.
*** And yet is still able to actively assist Link in combat, including the final boss fights.
** Played straight, after all these years, in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'', where Link gets involved in the plot in order to rescue his childhood friend Zelda. She actually barely avoids a proper kidnapping.
* Pauline (aka "Lady") in the original ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong''.
** All of the Kongs (besides Donkey) are this to some extent in ''Donkey Kong 64''.
*** Though Donkey himself does act as one in both ''DonkeyKongCountry'' sequels.
* Palutena in ''KidIcarus''. Apparently, being a goddess does not make one immune to this trope.
* Played with in an entertaining fashion in the VideoGame/NeverwinterNights mod ADanceWithRogues. The Princess in the story is the player character and spends a lot more time rescuing people than not, and the character who most fits this archetype is Anden, a male character. Pia actually comments on this when you tell her the tale of rescuing Anden for the first time.
* Aerith Gainsborough from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', when she is kidnapped and taken to Hojo's laboratory to be experimented on. Saving her makes up most of the BestLevelEver, so hooray!
** Also worth noting that the in-game play at the Golden Saucer during the date scene plays with this trope, complete with an evil dragon.
* Rinoa Heartilly from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' was this, with [[DesignatedVictim disturbing regularity.]] She's probably the second most DistressedDamsel out of the entire FinalFantasy franchise next to the example below, which is actually saying a lot (though it doesn't speak highly of her [[DamselScrappy character]]). To her credit though, she does get much better once she [[spoiler: becomes a sorceress, though she still gets taken captive by Seifer later to be held hostage by Adel, but he ''was'' holding her a weapon-point.]]
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'', Rosa spends alot of time in the first half of the game incapacitated due to some reason or other (illness, kidnapping, etc.) She gets better in the second half though, even refusing to StayInTheKitchen when told to by Cecil toward the end ([[WhatAnIdiot a very dumb decision on Cecil's part.]])
* Averted in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' with Yuna. Who, while kidnapped three times, managed to escape on her own the first time and actually made a plan to defeat one of the BigBad's the third time (which the heroes, while pulling off an impressive BigDamnHeroes, messed up) she still escaped on her own. And the second time, she was actually being "kidnapped" by [[spoiler: Rikku]], so there wasn't any real danger, though the other characters think there is at the time.
** Nonetheless, [[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment The Spoony One]] held a running tally of how many times she gets kidnapped in the first place, and she beats Rinoa. Probably iconic is how she happens to get kidnapped by the WellIntentionedExtremist, then gets kidnapped from there by the BigBad before the party manages to free her.
* In ''VideoGame/StarFox Adventures'', Krystal serves the role of the Distressed Damsel, being trapped in a crystal up until the end. Which is ironic, considering that she was ''originally'' intended to be the player character.
* {{Subverted}} in ''TheSecretOfMonkeyIsland'': Guybrush Threepwood goes through all kinds of peril to save Govenor Elaine Marley, who was captured by the BigBad [=LeChuck=]. He gets to the church on Melee Island just in time to [[SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace interrupt their wedding]], only for Elaine to descend on a rope from the ceiling. Turns out she'd already made her escape, fooling [=LeChuck=] by putting a pair of trained monkeys in her wedding dress. At least Guybrush ends up getting the honor of finishing off [=LeChuck=]...
* Maya Fey of ''VisualNovel/AceAttorney'' fame. First meeting? Save her in a court case. Reunited in game 2? Save her in a court case. End of game 2? Kidnapped, must save someone else in a court case in order to get her fanny back. Final case third game? Entire PLOT of the case revolves around this.
** But subverted in MANY ways as well. For example, she helps you out when she can and despite her constant ordeals [[spoiler:(her dad dying, then her mother disappearing, then her sister being murder with her as the accused, then her being accused again with her own family trying to kill her, then Pearls being in danger, then her mother getting murdered in front of her right after she was about to be murdered herself)]], she stills comes out smiling and full of life, something that Phoenix can't seem to understand. Plus at one point in case 3:5 she saves her own life from the BigBad by [[spoiler:channelling said BigBad's spirit, thus making it impossible for them to kill her]]; something which is very clever.
* In ''VideoGame/HouseOfTheDead 1'', the thing that draws the heroes to the mansion in the first place is a distress call from Tom Rogan's girlfriend Sophie, who, despite apparently being a fellow [[TheMenInBlack AMS]] agent and the only survivor of her group, is mostly useless. Depending on how you fared, she [[MultipleEndings may or may not survive]]. In the later games, you can rescue citizens or your partner from marauding zombies for extra lives.
* PluckyGirl Yuri Sakazaki from the original ''ArtOfFighting'', although after the events of the game [[TookALevelInBadass she took up Kyokugen Karate lessons from her father to defend herself]] and became as strong as, if not ''stronger'' than, her brother Ryo and her childhood friend Robert... the ones who actually [[WouldntHitAGirl objected more to her]] [[StayInTheKitchen taking up martial arts]], until she was kidnapped and finally got the training she wanted.
* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars:''
** [[LethalChef Kusuha Mizuha]] -- her face just screams that she is a perfect target to make a Distressed Damsel, and in every installment of ''[=Original Generation=]'', starting from ''[=OG=] 1, [=OG=] 2, [=OG=] Gaiden'', there is always a scenario where she is kidnapped, first by Ingram in ''[=OG=] 1'', then by Lorenzo & Murata in ''[=OG=] 2'' (only in the remake. The scenario was not featured in the GBA version), and finally by the Bartoll units in ''OG Gaiden''. Not even saying 'I'm not just some damsel in distress waiting to be rescued!' in battles can rectify this...
** In ''Alpha'' series, however, it's {{inverted}}. Once ''Alpha 2'' kicks in and the stories get more proper, it's usually her boyfriend Bullet that needs to be rescued.
** Though not entirely subverting to this trope, somewhat the RidiculouslyHumanRobot Lamia Loveless fell into this trope in ''OG Gaiden''. After all her whole [[ActionGirl ass kicking and dramatic development]] back in ''[=OG=] 2'', her story in ''[=OG=] Gaiden'' involves her getting kidnapped and needs to be rescued TWICE (even our resident damsel needs to be rescued once this time). First she's kidnapped by the Bartolls, all while just being in the wrong place in the wrong time, stripped naked and be somewhat {{brainwashed}} to fight her allies. She was almost saved... but suddenly, the villains managed to snatch her back after the player has to [[CliffHanger wait for 6 months to see if she's dead or alive]], and brainwash her AGAIN. So much that it takes a [[HeelFaceTurn former badass enemy turned good]] to save her completely. Once she's completely saved, she returns being a formidable girl in battlefield (and that even depends whether the player wants to use her or not), though her story arc was over at that point.
* In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedI'', Altair saves countless Distressed Damsels (and some Distressed Abbots and Islamic Scholars as well) from the city guards, and is rewarded by their family/students helping him escape from Mooks. Despite this happening in the middle of a city, [[ApatheticCitizens nobody seems to react at all to the attempted abductions and rapes happening right in front of them]].
** They're in Medieval cities in the state of war, and the would-be rapists and murderers are exactly the people stationed to keep the peace, and are the only ones with decent weapons and armour around. TruthInTelevision, unfortunately.
* Furiae in ''{{Drakengard}}'' doubles as this for family reasons (she's your sister, and technically a [[SaveThePrincess princess]]) and because she happens to be the linchpin CosmicKeystone that prevents [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt catastrophe.]] As the DownerEnding page points out, this isn't as idealistic as the other examples.
* Bastila, a trained Jedi, is kept as a hostage during the first part of ''Film/StarWars: VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic''. She'd just crawled out of a crashed escape pod's wreckage when she was captured, and her captors were intelligent enough to fasten a neural disruptor to her head (and she didn't have time to determine where her lightsaber was). She does manage to free herself the instant your rescue attempt manages to thin out the guards enough that she can finally get the disruptor off. However, she is quite offended if you comment that you "rescued the damsel in distress" later on, almost as badly as when Carth starts joking about losing her lightsaber being against the Jedi code.
* Princess Cassima in ''VideoGame/KingsQuestV'' and moreso in ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVI'' is a damsel in distress. She is held captive by the wizard Mordak in V and in VI, is actually kept inside a tower by the GrandVizier [[Creator/HPLovecraft Alhazred]] for a plot to marry her.
** Similarly, the entire objective of ''VideoGame/KingsQuestII'' is to rescue Princess Valanice from a tower prison.
*** And in ''VideoGame/KingsQuestIII,'' the Llewdor Oracle lights a fire under Gwydion's rear by showing him the three-headed dragon that's laid waste to Daventry. The dragon demands a HumanSacrifice, and the one "chosen" this year is Princess Rosella [[spoiler: his long-lost twin sister]].
** Her first appearance notwithstanding, Rosella tends to [[ZigZaggingTrope take this trope for a joyride]]. In ''VideoGame/KingsQuestIV'', she's the one doing the rescuing, finding a MacGuffin to bring back from Tamir to heal her stricken father. She's briefly relieved of her inventory and locked up, but is freed soon enough due to MookFaceTurn. ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVII'' has her impulsively putting herself in harm's way, finding a way to free herself from the fire she landed in, and then rescuing a captured king. Top it off with her breaking the MoreThanMindControl Malicia pulled on [[spoiler: Edgar - who seems to be an absolute sucker for this sort of thing]].
* ''Franchise/TalesSeries:''
** ''[[VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia Symphonia]]'''s Colette Brunel. Even though, gameplay wise, she's a powerful and useful GlassCannon.
** Shirley from ''VideoGame/TalesOfLegendia'', who is constantly kidnapped during the main quest.
** In ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'', Natalia and Fon Master Ion are held hostage, she could have gone peacefully to avoid any conflict.
*** Ion is always getting kidnapped.
** In ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'', Estelle is held hostage and used by the villain at the time of the game. She did not use her powers to save an Entelexia because she would have driven him berserk, and the amount of guards could have prevented a feasible escape.
** In ''VideoGame/TalesOfRebirth'', the first half of the game is dedicated to save dozens of damsels in distress (captured by the Queen of the land. Go figure). But Veigue really cares more about rescuing his [[ShesNotMyGirlfriend not-girlfriend]] Claire, because [[MarySue she is just so much more important than all those other simpletons]].
* Kairi and her Nobody Namine from the ''KingdomHearts'' series, though they get a few moments outside the role in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', and really only fall into the role twice each.
** The other Princesses of Heart don't fare much better but are sometimes useful. For example, Belle has a particularly memorable scene in which Xaldin has both her and the Rose and is forcing the Beast to choose between them. [[spoiler:Belle preempts the choice by elbowing Xaldin in the gut, taking the rose from him, and escaping over to Sora right before the party fights him.]]
* Kyrie, Nero's LoveInterest from ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry 4'' is one of these, in contrast with Dante's demon hunting ActionGirl partners.
* The paramedics from ''Urban Chaos: Riot Response'' are usually in need of rescue, [[JustifiedTrope which makes sense]] since they're civilians trying to save injured cops and firefighters while under attack from insane gang members with ELECTRIC SAWS.
** Also the firefighters, Officer Forrester, and your C.O. Adam Wolf are in need of rescue. The firefighters are excused because they too are unarmed and the Burners have guns. Officer Forrester when he is not being used as a human shield is rather competent at stealing your kills so he too is excused. Wolf is excused because they kidnapped him at his safe house. Both Forrester and Wolf tell you when to fire at the Burner and they mock their would-be kidnapper.
* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in ''Videogame/WizardsAndWarriors''. Each stage (except the last) ends with rescuing a DistressedDamsel, conveniently labelled as "the distressed damsel". (In the last stage, you appear to have rescued a princess, which I guess means that the other stages are variations of the "[[SuperMarioBros Princess is in another castle]]" trope.)
** Three princess sisters appear in the third game of the series. In order to finish the game, you must promise to marry them after freeing them. Yes, all three.
* ''FireEmblem'' has had several of these:
** The original has [[WhiteMagicianGirl princesses Maria and Elice]], along with [[FauxActionGirl Midia]], who all fight by your side once you rescue them. Also included is princess Nyna, although she's an NPC who mostly exists for story purposes.
** Ellis in ''Mystery of the Emblem''
** 'In ''Genealogy of Holy War'', [[WhiteMagicianGirl Edain, Diadora, Yuria]] and [[SpoonyBard Lynn]] start like this before they join you. [[spoiler: It doesn't end well for all of them but Edin: Diadora eventually ends up brainwashed and dead; Yuria fares just as badly as her mother Diadora, but she survives, eventually coming into her own when she gets the holy spellbook Narga and bravely vows to keep fighting; and it's implied in a veiled way, through Ares vs Bramsel's pre-battle convo and Ares and Lynn's convo when she's freed, that [[RapeAsDrama she was raped]] by Bramsel after he took her captive.]]
** In ''Sword of Seal'', Princess Guinevere in the mental/emotional sense, Lilina before you free her and she becomes a MagicKnight. Also, BadassBookworm Cecilia (in her defense, she was injured) and MysteriousWaif Sophia, who also join your group.
** In ''Sword of Flame'', Ninian and her DistressedDude brother Nils, thanks to Nergal (though they later become [[SpoonyBard A Spoony Bard and Spoony Dancer duo]] and join the team properly; Priscilla (she's even got the evil marquess [[ScarpiaUltimatum trying to force her into marriage]]!), who also eventually becomes a MagicKnight after promotion.
** In ''The Sacred Stones'', Queen Ismaire of the White Dunes [[spoiler: The worse thing? You do ''not'' get to save her, and she ultimately dies in the arm of her son, KingIncognito Joshua. [[TearJerker SNIFFFFF!]] . ]]
** Though Fire Emblem applies the imprisonment plot device to both genders pretty judiciously - probably thanks to the easy "recruit opportunity" of prisoners of war. For example, the afore-mentioned Midia is imprisoned with three other characters, all of whom are men. In ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius Path of Radiance]]'', Rolf is held hostage along with Mist, likewise the [=POWs=] Brom and Nephenee. In ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius Radiant Dawn]]'' Illyana and Aimee are held prisoner, but so are the three male members of their caravan ([[spoiler:and the incognito dragon prince, Kurthnaga]]).
* ''VideoGame/{{Braid}}'' takes this trope and [[spoiler:'''inverts''' it. In the final level (technically the first, chronologically), the princess is in distress '''because''' of ''you''. NiceJobBreakingItHero.]]
* ''SuikodenV'' has a {{subversion}} with Princess Lymsleia. While she is held hostage for most of the game, she chooses to [[spoiler: use her authority to attempt an escape from the Godwins and in the war in the favor of LaResistance in a supposed assault on them]] rather than accept the state of affairs.
* In ''CityOfHeroes'' there is a junior heroine, Fusionette, who is constantly getting in over her head, captured and needing rescuing. So much so that it's become a running joke among the community that she has to be the worst {{superhero}} in Paragon and the only reason that Vanguard even employ her is as an example of others of how NOT to do the missions.
* Ashley Graham from ''ResidentEvil4'' . Made all the more hilarious by how she was shown to want ''very'' much to give [[MrFanservice Leon]] a SmoochOfVictory (and a lot more than just a smooch) for rescuing her at the end... only for Leon to reject her and make sure she knows that he is ''not'' interested.
* In ''LegendOfDragoon'', Shana fits the bill perfectly. Even when she joins the party she is the light-elemental-healer.
* Parodied in ''ResetGeneration'' where EVERY player tries to 'rescue' a princess from every other player.
* ''Mega Man'':
** [[VideoGame/MegaManStarForce Star Force's]] Luna Platz becomes one whenever the evil villains attack in the games. There are three occasions in the first game where this happens. When Taurus turns Bud into a monster, then when she (along with Bud and Zack Temple) are forced into doing the swan dance on a trip to AMAKEN. Finally when the kids teacher merges with an evil FM-Ian and goes berserk. Her role as the DistressedDamsel continues into the second game, as she is kidnapped by Hyde-Phantom, then almost trapped in a alternate dimension by Solo-Rogue (along with Bud, Sonia and Zack), then kidnapped by Hyde-Phantom, again and then finally kidnapped by a giant bird monster.
*** And it all comes to a head in the third game. The [[BeachEpisode trip to Alohaha]] was supposed to be a relaxing affair, but then [[EvilDuo Jack and Tia]] corrupt Strong with a Noise Card, causing him to start an earthquake on the island and force him into a fight with Mega Man. Before you can say "it can't get any worse", [[ScaryBlackMan JOKER]] shows up and erases Strong. Just as Jack and Tia transform to fight Geo, Luna picked the absolute worst time to show up - [[MoralEventHorizon and Joker uses THAT opportunity to]] ''[[MoralEventHorizon kill]]'' [[MoralEventHorizon her]]! Strong, Luna, and Vogue (Luna's Wizard, the youngest of the lot) [[DisneyDeath all get better]], but Joker has established himself as a very serious threat - one that Luna fans absolutely despise.
* When Zero first wakes up at the beginning of ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' series, he has to protect the girl who revived him, Ciel, throughout the entire first level.
* In the ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' FightingGame ''The Power Fighters'', one of the three selectable path objectives is to rescue Roll.
* At the end of ''VideoGame/TotalOverdose'', Ram has to save a DistressedDamsel in a sequence involving many [[DeadHorseTrope tropes so dead they don't even have entries]]. The Damsel is tied to the front of a runaway locomotive by the Villain, and Ram must run along boxcars, jumping into and out of boxcars, fighting mooks, and dodging explosives. The subversions could be that the Villain wears a White Hat with an antique emblem of the US Cavalry on it, and that instead of a horse, Ram gets a motorcycle to ultimately ride to the rescue on.
* Sue Sakamoto in ''VideoGame/CaveStory'' is continually kidnapped or imprisoned by various parties.
* In ''MaxPayne2TheFallOfMaxPayne'', Mona Sax's first line is: "God! I turned out to be such a damsel in distress..."
** She gets to invert the trope, running into a burning building to save Max.
** The line is an IronicEcho from the first game, when she denies being a damsel in distress like her twin sister was.
* ''VideoGame/{{Spelunky}}'', has a character known as the damsel, who can be rescued from most levels for an extra hitpoint. One extra hitpoint. She also makes for a good throwing weapon. If you rescue 8 of them in one playthrough, you can play as her and you rescue Spelunky instead.
* ''VideoGame/{{Castlevania}}'' descended into this trope slowly. Early installments forwent hostages altogether (only the arcade rehash ''Haunted Castle'' added Simon's wife Serena, as if fighting {{Dracula}} weren't motivation enough), and when they began coming, there was uncommon gender balance. The series' first canonical damsel was actually a [[DistressedDude a guy in distress]], Christopher's son Soleiyu in ''Belmont's Revenge''; Richter in ''Symphony of the Night'' and Morris Baldwin in ''Circle of the Moon'' further balance out the captured maidens in ''Rondo of Blood'' (one of whom isn't such a damsel at that). After ''Circle'', however, this trope began to do its worst, e.g. Lydie in ''Harmony of Dissonance'', Mina [[spoiler: and later Yoko]] in ''Aria of Sorrow'', Sara in ''Lament of Innocence''...
** ''Dawn of Sorrow'' plays with this a bit when the bad guys' plan to turn [[ItWasHisSled Soma into Dracula]] is to trick him into thinking that Mina is a DistressedDamsel again [[spoiler: and kill "Mina" in front of him]].
** In ''Order of Ecclesia'', while there are distressed damsels, but there are also distressed children and distressed men as well.
* Marian in the original ''VideoGame/DoubleDragon'', where the main objective was to rescue her from the Black Warriors.
** Subverted in ''Double Dragon II: The Revenge''. The arcade version starts off just like the first game, with Marian being surrounded by the Black Warriors, only instead of being knocked unconscious and taken into their hideout, [[StuffedInTheFridge she is gunned down to death]] by Machine Gun Willy. A similar thing happens in the NES version, only it shows Marian being attacked by a ninja (instead of Machine Gun Willy) and [[GoryDiscretionShot the game doesn't actually show the murder occur]] (the opening only says that it happened). Marian [[KilledOffForReal stays dead]] in the arcade version, but in the NES version [[BackFromTheDead she is brought back to life]] if the player completes the game on hardest difficulty level (playing this trope straight in a way).
** She's a no-show in the arcade version of ''Double Dragon 3'', but in the NES version the game's plot was rewritten (specifically for the localized version) so that the final boss turns out to be a possessed version of Marian named Queen Noiram ("[[SpellMyNameWithAnS Marion]]" spelled backwards).
** ''Super Double Dragon'' was about saving Marian too, but you wouldn't know [[AllThereInTheManual unless you read the manual]] (mainly because the game was released [[ObviousBeta incomplete]]).
** Averted in the Neo-Geo fighting game, where she's one of the playable fighters.
* ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' has Paula in this role a total of three times - kidnapped by [[{{Cult}} the Happy Happyists]], kidnapped by [[ZombieApocalypse zombies]], kidnapped by [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Monotoli]]. The second time was [[AllMenArePerverts Ness's fault]], though.
** Ness himself was captured the second time along with Paula.
* Dana Mercer becomes one about midway through ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}''. Given that the one kidnapping her is [[spoiler: a freaking ''Leader Hunter'']] she is excused for screeching in panic.
** For those who haven't played the game, [[spoiler: a Leader Hunter is about the size of an elephant, and can throw down with Dana's big brother Alex. [[PersonOfMassDestruction Alex can tear tanks apart barehanded, and survive ''anything'']]. Dana can't do that.]]
* Liara's establishing character moment in ''MassEffect'' involves rescuing her from a forcefield she got herself stuck inside, fighting off a krogan battlemaster while she hides in a corner, then saving her from a collapsing volcano. To avoid confusion, and confirm her love-interest status, she then proceeds to faint once she arrives on your ship, since she spent anywhere from hours to days without food or water in extremely stressful situation. Once she's had a proper rest she reveals herself for the BadAss she really is in the next mission you take her along. [[TookALevelInBadass More so in the sequel.]]
** [[spoiler:Yeoman Kelly Chambers]] gets this treatment late in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', complete with [[spoiler:getting dragged away by monsters, screaming her head off. The non-specialist crew of the Normandy meets the same fate at the same time.]]
*** [[spoiler: And [[{{Squick}} god help the poor girl]] if you [[RedundantRescue don't go to her rescue right away]]]].
*** Considering her fate in the third game, [[spoiler: God help her even if you do.]]
* In ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'', after you rescue Neeshka from the Fort Locke guards, she says "Does that make me a damsel in distress? I hope not, I ''hate'' those women!"
* Miyu in ''RedSteel'' is kidnapped on the first level, and the rest of the game revolves around bringing down the {{yakuza}} in order to save her.
* It's unclear in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' [[DamselScrappy whether Princess Elise can walk under her own power, let alone avoid capture]]. She does seem to take a few steps during some of the cutscenes, but that might just be inertia from being carried halfway around the world at high velocity.
** Also occasionally played straight with Cream.
** Amy Rose a few odd times, most prominantly in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehogCD''.
** Tails occasionally plays a girlish-[[DistressedDude boy]]-in-distress kind-of role.
** In the spin-off cartoons and comics, Princess Sally takes the role on occasion too.
* Annoyingly in the ''Evolution'' games for the Dreamcast, WhiteMagicianGirl Linear WILL get kidnapped/convinced to leave the party right before the TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon and subsequent boss fights. And the two games have final bosses that are definitely ThatOneBoss. [[FakeDifficulty And she has the best healing and buffing skills in the game.]] Good luck!
* Wonderfully averted in ''BioShock2''. [[spoiler: Eleanor Lamb is setup to be one, but stick her in a combat situation and she absolutely massacres every Mook in her way.]]
* Raven inverts this a few times in ''UltimaIX'', then lampshades it when she has to play it straight. She later puts the Avatar into DistressedDude territory herself...and makes him like it.
* The entire population of Boingburg (with the exception of [[PlayerCharacter Rocket]]) in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestHeroesRocketSlime''.
* Subverted in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''. For the Alliance, you get a quest to rescue the dwarven princess from Blackrock Depths. For the Horde, you're given the same quest in the hopes of improving relations with the dwarves. Not only she does not want to leave, but she is pregnant. And you just killed the father.
* Flora Reinhold, Franchise/ProfessorLayton's foster daughter, gets stuck in this role in his games. In the original game of the series, she's more of a BarrierMaiden than a DistressedDamsel, but in the other two games where she appears so far, she has great aptitude for being kidnapped. She also goes missing in ''Professor Layton's London Life'', the bonus RPG packaged with some releases of ''ProfessorLaytonAndTheSpectersFlute'' [[spoiler:- but she hasn't been kidnapped. She's preparing to sacrifice herself to prevent TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. Poor kid.]]
* Bandage Girl from ''VideoGame/MeatBoy'' who is constantly kidnapped by Dr. Fetus. In the last chapter in ''Super VideoGame/MeatBoy'', she decides she had enough of it.
* Deconstructed in VideoGame/GuiltyGear, where Dizzy is more powerful than her guardians, Testament, Johnny and Ky. The "rescuing" is more like [[PowerIncontinence calming her down when her power goes out of control.]] Dizzy herself is a NaiveEverygirl who [[ActualPacifist hates violence with passion]], so the experience of unintentionally attempting to kill people [[BreakTheCutie is traumatizing.]] If you listen to her in-game quotes, it seems that [[BlessedWithSuck her enormous powers inflicts physical pain to her]]. And the few times she snaps? [[BewareTheNiceOnes She SNAPS]] (like the AlternateUniverse from the CD dramas [[spoiler: in which she succeeds her mother Justice and destroys the world]], or the Midnight Carnival ending in which [[spoiler: she horribly kills I-No [[TheDogBitesBack when she abuses her a bit too much.]].]] In short, Dizzy needs no rescue from others... ''but from herself.''
* Kaori plays this role in ''EienNoAselia'' despite theoretically having the same ass kicking potential as any stranger would. But she never even acquires a weapon and is instead held hostage for almost the entirety of the game by one person or another.
* If you romance a Governor's Daughter enough in the 2004 version of ''SidMeiersPirates'', then when you next visit the port the Governor will tearfully tell you that she has been kidnapped by the Evil Colonel Mendoza and beg you to hunt him down and rescue her. (Successfully doing so leads to the opportunity to propose marriage shortly after.)
* Sylvia in the first ''VideoGame/KungFuMaster'', kidnapped if just to force his boyfriend Thomas to [[MyKungFuIsStrongerThanYours enter into a fight]] with the kidnapper and his group.
* ''VideoGame/BreathOfFire'':
** ''VideoGame/{{Breath of Fire|I}}'' has Nina serve this role in her initial arc, when she's captured by the [[EvilSorcerer Karma Wizard]] while [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething looking for a cure for her father]], who said wizard poisoned. After the rescue, she never goes through it again. The first manga adaptation, however, just ''loved'' to turn her into a FauxActionGirl, even having another party member accuse her of being a [[TheLoad load]] to the rest of the group.
** ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireII'' switches it with this game's Nina's sister, Mina, being kidnapped to blackmail her into "[[IHaveYouNowMyPretty joining]]" a thieves' gang. There's also [[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses Princess Elfarran/Elforan]] in the [=HighFort=] arc.
** ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIII'' also presents Nina in such a sitaution, when she's captured by [[SiblingTeam Balio and Sunder]] to blackmail the king/her father.
** ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIV'' is set into motion by Cray and Nina's quest to find her missing sister, Elina, later revealed to have been taken in by TheEmpire. Unlike previous games, things don't end up well.
* Princess Mari in ''VideoGame/TheKingOfDragons'' exists to fulfil this role. Though she actually [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething lead the offensive]] of her kingdom against the hordes of monsters, she just makes things get worse.
* Princess Kiku in ''{{Tenchu}}'' gets kidnapped in every game she appears in. It's played with in ''Tenchu 4'', where [[spoiler:she orders Rikimaru to kill her as a way to defeat the BigBad who was holding her hostage, and he eventually complies]].
* ''VideoGame/ThreeWonders'' has the Princess of Asthar in ''Chariot''.
* The [[CanonDiscontinuity non]]-{{Capcom}} developed ''VideoGame/{{Strider}}'' sequel, ''Strider Returns'', has this as its main plot, sending the game's protagonist to rescue his darling Lexia.
* Tawna in the original ''Videogame/CrashBandicoot1996''. Coco, though more prominantly an ActionGirl, takes the role a handful of occasions later on.
* Every single female character in the ''VideoGame/DukeNukem'' games.
* In ''RuneFactory3'' [[spoiler:your fiance]] is kidnapped near the end of the game. This doesn't make her look bad since the one kidnapping her is [[spoiler:a super powerful dragon.]]
* Lola Tigerbelly becomes one towards the end of the first game in ''TheSpellcastingSeries'', having been placed in a swinging blade trap by the BigBad.
* Subverted in ''DragonAge''. In the "Paragon of Her Kind" quest, one of your goals is to rescue party member [[BoisterousBruiser Oghren's]] wife, Branka, from the [[BeneathTheEarth Deep Roads]], where she is missing. [[spoiler: It turns out that she deliberately led her entire clan there in search of an ancient ArtifactOfDoom. When it turned out the artifact was protected by lots of golems, ghosts, and deathtraps, she deliberately let Darkspawn kill all the men and attempt to turn all the women into Broodmothers, a process that involves force-feeding them the flesh of poisonous monsters and their own relatives, gang-rape by monsters, and lots of BodyHorror, so that she'd have a vast supply of monsters to set off the traps and kill the guardians. She's raving insane as well as utterly evil by the time you find her. You ''can'' spare her life and take the artifact for yourself, but the better choice, both morally and gameplay-wise, involves fighting and killing her, then destroying it. Even if you spare her, she refuses to be rescued, and stays in the Deep Roads with her prize.]]
** After the infiltration of Arl Howe's mansion, [[spoiler: the Warden him/herself can be arrested along with Alistair, and have to be rescued from prison by your choice of party members.]] Choose carefully, some combinations have truly hilarious results.
* There's also a subtle deconstruction in ''BlazBlue''. While on the initial surface, Litchi Faye-Ling is trying to 'rescue' Arakune from his fate as an EldritchAbomination ([[spoiler:and later be captured by Relius]]), in truth [[spoiler:she's been dying of the same corruption and Kokonoe flat out refused to help her, and without any other sources of help, she's ForcedIntoEvil by joining NOL. In other words, Litchi has been in distress mentally and had to act on her own because nobody is willing to help her, compounded with the fact that she has been hiding her growing corruption from everyone else except Kokonoe, which makes possible helpers like Bang, Taokaka or Carl completely unaware of her distress.]]
* Much of the plot of VideoGame/AsurasWrath is this; about Asura's struggle to save his daughter Mithra. In the end, no one could stop him from saving her, [[spoiler: not even the creator of life itself.]]
* ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' has several. Rhea is trapped in the Tomb of the Giants after her companions either all abandoned her or died. Dusk of Oolacile and Sieglinde are trapped in golden crystal golems. Anastacia of Astora is murdered and you have to retrieve her soul to revive her. Then again, most of the dudes you meet need rescuing you as well.
* Princess Prin Prin from ''Videogame/GhostsNGoblins'' is kidnapped in every single game she appears in (four). It's a wonder why she never [[ReconstructedTrope takes exception on it and evolves]] into RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething territory.
* Jade's distressed damsels in VideoGame/BeyondGoodAndEvil are quite original, in that she has to rescue her [[spoiler: uncle, who is a humanoid pig, as well as all the orphans from the lighthouse.]]
* DragonsDogma. [[spoiler: The ending works on this premise, with whichever character you have the highest affinity with being kidnapped by the dragon and used as a hostage as your assumed love interest. Can lead to unintended hilarity if someone like Feste or Fournival is chosen.]] Aelinore also has this as her defining characteristic, and can potentially be rescued three times in the game.
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