History DamselInDistress / Videogames

* ''VideoGame/LastDuelInterPlanetWar2012'': The ExcusePlot of the game is to rescue [[SaveThePrincess Queen Sheeta]] from galactic conquerors known as the Galden Tribe. Considering that it's an arcade game and that [[MsFanservice Sheeta very fanservice-y]], it was likely a deliberate decision to get more quarters out of its male demographic.

[[caption-width-right:350:Don't forget Pauline.]]

** In ''[[VideoGame/TinyToonAdventuresBabsBigBreak Babs' Big Break]]'' for the UsefulNotes/GameBoy, [[SmellySkunk Fifi La Fume]] is captured by the Forest Ghost in Level 3. In order to resecue her, you'll need to find the switch that opens her cage. Once you rescue her, she will return the favor by using her stench to knock down the trees blocking the path.

** Series-wide: Flora Reinhold, who eventually becomes Layton's foster daughter, gets stuck in this role in his games. In the original game of the series(''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheCuriousVillage''), she's more of a BarrierMaiden than a DamselInDistress, but in the other two games where she appears so far''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheDiabolicalBox'' and ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheUnwoundFuture''), 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 ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheLastSpecter'' [[spoiler:- but she hasn't been kidnapped. She's preparing to sacrifice herself to prevent TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt]].

* Flora Reinhold, ''VideoGame/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 DamselInDistress, 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 ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheLastSpecter'' [[spoiler:- but she hasn't been kidnapped. She's preparing to sacrifice herself to prevent TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. Poor kid.]]
* 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.]]

*** Jill's role in Resident Evil 5 as whole is hybrid of Damsel and DarkActionGirl as she's Wesker's [[TheDragon Dragon]] and Nina William's esque [[ProfessionalKiller super assassin]] however she's also BrainwashedAndCrazy and in need of rescuing, Chris manages to snap her out of Wesker's control and she even provides firepower against Wesker in the final battle though she doesn't get to fight Wesker herself which disappointed a good chunk of fans. To make matters worse the last we hear of Jill she's hospitalized and bored.

* In ''VideoGame/DragonsLair'', [[MsFanservice Princess Daphne]] fits this trope painfully straight.

* The ExcusePlot of ''VideoGame/Sheriff'' is to save a damsel in distress from some bandits. Actually the first instance of a Nintendo game using this trope.

* ''VideoGame/Vendetta'' has the player characters saving Hawk's apprentice, Kate.

** ''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]]).

* Being a very popular long-standing franchise, ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' has many examples: ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV Rosa]]'', ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Aerith]]'', ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII Rinoa]]'', ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX Garnet]]'' etc. The [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyI very first game]] begins with a "SaveThePrincess from rogue knight" plot, before switching to saving the crystals. Subverted 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 (other than being forced to end her pilgrimage and being held captive in Home), though the other characters think there is at the time.

* Kyrie, Nero's LoveInterest from ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'' is one of these, in contrast with Dante's demon hunting partners.

* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in ''VideoGame/WizardsAndWarriors''. Each stage (except the last) ends with rescuing a 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 "[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Princess is in another castle]]" trope.)

** Jill Valentine the series's primary [[TheHero female protagonist]] is not free from this, in her debut she nearly gets killed by zombie hounds before Chis and Wesker save her. In Spencer Estate proper she still needs her male colleagues to pull her put trouble, Barry saves from becoming a [[RunningGag ''Jill Sandwich'']] when she gets trapped by a DescendingCeiling and in Chris's play through she has to be saved from Wesker's prison ensuring a RescueHug. The majority of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3'' subverts this greatly with Jill being the main protagonist, though she is saved by Carlos when the Nemesis manages to infect her. ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilRevelations'' also subverts this as Jill is the one trying to find and rescue Chris for half of the game, also the prologue to ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' "''Lost in Nightmares''" she's the one who saves Chris from Wesker by performing a HeroicSacrifice spearing Wesker out of a window. Unfortunately the damsel comes backs as Jill is dying and Wesker decides to strip her down and put her in a test tube and experiment on her as the [[BestServedCold ultimate]] revenge against Chris.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'': In the [[VideoGame/Fallout1 first Fallout game]], the [[TheHero Vault Dweller]] will encounter a small town known as Shady Sands en route to Vault 15. There, they will meet the town's leader, Aradesh, and his teenage daughter, Tandi. Upon returning from Vault 15, the player finds out that Tandi was kidnapped by a band of raiders known as the Khans. The player is given a number of options on how to handle this: they can [[GuileHero negotiate]] with the Khans to release Tandi, they can [[ViolenceReallyIsTheAnswer go in guns blazing]], or they can [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential leave Tandi to her fate]]. [[CuttingOffTheBranches Canonically]], the Vault Dweller chose the second option, wiping out the vast majority of the raider gang. Tandi would later succeed her father as the leader of Shady Sands, and under her leadership Shady Sands went from a small town in the wastes to the capitol of the [[TheRepublic New California Republic]]. In a [[TheDogBitesBack twist of irony]], the remnants of the Khans were hunted to the ends of the earth by the NCR, forced to go into hiding in Fallout 2 before being forced to flee California altogether by the time of New Vegas.

** The line is an IronicEcho from the first game, when she denies being a damsel in distress like her twin sister was.

** Princess Peach Toadstool has been kidnapped too many times to count, hence why she provides the page image. Yet she's [[SilkHidingSteel perfectly capable of kicking some major butt]] in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'', ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'', ''VideoGame/SuperPrincessPeach'' (which is a famous inversion where Mario becomes the DistressedDude and Peach saves him single-handedly all by herself), ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRun'', ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld'', ''Mario + Rabbids : Kingdom Battle'', ''Mario + Rabbids: Sparks Of Hope'' and [[PowerCreepPowerSeep the]] ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series. She is just as much of an athlete as everyone else in the sports games (the Mario Strikers series and the [=RPGs=] in particular make her a sassy and confident LadyOfWar) and is able to participate in the torture and chaos that is Mario Kart and Mario Party. One really does wonder why she gets kidnapped so easily when she can fend for herself so formidably. In some games however she does at least try to escape from her captors like in Super Mario RPG, Super Mario 3D Land and the first two Paper Mario games. In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'', the tables have been turned and Bowser's kidnapping of Peach does more damage to him than her, as her being in Bowser's clutches leads him to be defeated again by Mario.

** Princess Peach Toadstool has been kidnapped too many times to count, hence why she provides the page image. Yet she's [[SilkHidingSteel perfectly capable of kicking some major butt]] in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'', ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'', ''VideoGame/SuperPrincessPeach'' (which is a famous inversion where Mario becomes the DistressedDude and Peach saves him single-handedly all by herself), ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRun'', ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld'', ''Mario + Rabbids : Kingdom Battle'', ''Mario + Rabbids: Sparks Of Hope'' and [[PowerCreepPowerSeep the]] ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series. She is just as much of an athlete as everyone else in the sports games (the Mario Strikers series and the RPGs in particular make her a sassy and confident LadyOfWar) and is able to participate in the torture and chaos that is Mario Kart and Mario Party. One really does wonder why she gets kidnapped so easily when she can fend for herself so formidably. In some games however she does at least try to escape from her captors like in Super Mario RPG, Super Mario 3D Land and the first two Paper Mario games. In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'', the tables have been turned and Bowser's kidnapping of Peach does more damage to him than her, as her being in Bowser's clutches leads him to be defeated again by Mario.

** Princess Daisy fills in the role of Distressed Damsel in place of Peach in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand''.