History DistressedDude / VideoGames

* In ''[[VideoGame/GHOSTSquad Ghostsquad]]'' there's a mission where you must rescue the president after he was taken hostage by Indigo Wolves terrorists on Air Force One.

* ''VideoGame/MissionImpossibleKonami'': Dr. O, the brilliant scientist who developed the US military defense system that controls their nuclear weapons. His kidnapping by The Sinister Seven is what starts the game.

* In ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxHitTheRoad'', during a confrontation with [[BigBad Conroy Bumpus]] at Gator Golf, Bumpus' bodyguard throws Max into the booth on the other side of the flooded golf course. Since Max functions as a LivingInventoryItem (oh, and they're best buds), Sam has to find a way across the course to save him before the game can progress.

* Both of Jade's (male) sidekicks in ''VideoGame/BeyondGoodAndEvil'' have the nasty habit of getting themselves into trouble and needing Jade (female) to rescue them. Torture? Poisoning by an [[TheVirus evil alien virus?]] Kidnapping? [[spoiler:Death itself (or not)?]] Even in ordinary combat, not necessitated by the plot, they seem incapable of getting themselves up if pinned by a certain type of enemy.
** Although Jade ''is'' freed from tentacles by Pey'J at the start of the game.

* UsefulNotes/TokugawaIeyasu, as far as ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'' is concerned. Starting the second installment, this trope practically becomes Ieyasu's gimmick, to the point that the whole purpose of Tadakatsu's Story Mode is to have various characters race to kidnap Ieyasu, [[BoundAndGagged tie him up]] and get their ass kicked by Tadakatsu, only to have him witness ANOTHER batch of {{Ninja}} kidnap Ieyasu in front of him! While in the expansion Ieyasu takes a break from this routine, he goes back to this routine of constantly kidnapped again in the fighting game spinoff Sengoku Basara X, and worse, if you leave him be, it will cause disadvantages for your character (Tadakatsu).

* Super Joe in the NES version of ''VideoGame/BionicCommando'' and its EnhancedRemake and the UsefulNotes/GameBoy version '''and''' ''Bionic Commando: Elite Forces''. Pretty much the only games in the series in which he wasn't kidnapped are the original arcade game and the next-gen title.

* The first ''[[WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents Fairly OddParents]]'' game on the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance, ''Enter the Cleft!'', is about Timmy having to rescue the Crimson Chin.

** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'' has Olga free Raiden, with Snake on standby to give him his clothes back later.
** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'', means to escape are given by The Boss, but you can flirt it out of Johnny instead if you want.

* ''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet2'': During the Globe Opera arc, Mayor Zao of Shang Mu gets kidnapped by Merga's forces as part of a scheme to lure the main heroines into a trap and enact their leader's scheme of taking over their home base in Shang Tu. He was eventually rescued by his fellow protege Libbie, as her dialogue in the City Hall hub states otherwise.

** ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'': Mario and Luigi (along with [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg Wario]]) in the DS remake actually start out trapped by Bowser. The player starts off as Yoshi and has to rescue them first in order to unlock them.
** ''VideoGame/SuperPrincessPeach'': Mario, Luigi, and Toad are captured by Bowser's army of elite Hammer Bros. It's up to Peach and her new ally Perry to rescue them.