History EnsembleDarkhorse / VideoGames

** The female PC from [[PokemonBlackAndWhite Isshu]] is a character many people have a major boner for, and it's not hard to see why (metaphorically, she's a hard Darkhorse; literally, she's a FetishFuelStationAttendant). Of course, the anime directors are using an original character instead for Ash's trip to Isshu; [[ReplacementScrappy the backdraft isn't unnoticable in this regard]].

** And that's not even going into the Pokemon themselves. There's Pikachu itself, who was just a normal Pokemon until its popularity made it the mascot of the franchise. In Japan, Jigglypuff is the next most popular; overseas, that spot likely belongs to Charizard; starters in general are usually loved by the fanbase. Lucario is also arguably this, but is also a BaseBreaker (mainly among those who dislike the later generations.)

** ''Path of Radiance'' has Oliver, a fat and ugly slave trader with an incredibly ironic love for beauty (which he sees himself as the paragon of), who as a boss dies so easily that the only challenge is getting to him before the allied [=NPCs=] kill him. He is loved for two reasons: his characterization being ridiculously over the top to the point of hilarity, and his {{Leitmotif}}, the famous [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiUC4aXtC3Y Power-Hungry Fool]]. [[spoiler:He returns in ''Radiant Dawn'', where he was revealed to be NotQuiteDead, and becomes recruitable.

* The ''MassEffect'' series, especially [[MassEffect2 the second episode]]. Disregarding the party members, most of whom would qualify as darkhorses if they didn't have to share the spotlight with each other, we have a ''slew'' of {{One Scene Wonder}}s like [[CoolOldLady Aethyta the bartender (and asari matriarch)]], [[InternalAffairs Gianna Parasini]], the crime boss Aria T'Loak, Charr the krogan who attempts to woo his Asari girlfriend with ([[SoBadItsGood bad]]) poetry, the Tupari Sports Drink vending machine on the Citadel, "Refund Guy" in both games (he still hasn't gotten his refund, [[BeyondTheImpossible after two years!]]), [[HeroicWannabe Conrad Verner]] (who is also TheScrappy to a part of the fanbase, though), the [[JustFriends Friend Zoned Turian]] and ValleyGirl Quarian on Illium, the "Biotic God" volus Niftu Cal, [[AdamBaldwin Kal'Reegar]] (who has [[http://twitter.com/KalReegar his own twitter page now]]!), [[BigBad Harbi]][[FountainOfMemes nger]], [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe Shiala]], Urz the varren and '''especially''' [[AscendedMeme Blasto the Hanar Spectre]].

** And regarding party members, the three most prominent darkhorses are [[{{Badass}} Garrus]], [[CrazyAwesome Mordin]], and [[EstrogenBrigadeBait Thane]] who all have their own fanbases and shippers. In fact, Garrus became so popular among the fangirls, that he got a RelationshipUpgrade with Shepard and became romanceable in the second game.

** Most [[NPCs non-playable characters]] in ''BlazBlue'' tend to be this, primarily because Arc System Works does a wonderful job of making even background characters interesting. Makoto Nanaya, Valkenhayn Helsing, Kokonoe, and Jubei all have sizable fanbases demanding that they become playable characters, and in the case of Makoto and Valkenhayn, Arc System Works delivered. ''Continuum Shift'' also introduces Relius Clover, who seems to be enjoying the same treatment.

* ''YumeNikki'' has Uboa, the GrimReaper-like mask thing. And that's not all. Given that the only real "character" is the protagonist herself, the fandom has latched on to a lot of random NPCs and made them its favorites. The usual suspects are: Uboa, Poniko (Uboa's "normal" form as a blonde girl), Masada (a tall figure dressed all in black, sitting in front of a keyboard in a spaceship, with googly eyes), Monoko (a sweet {{Joshikosei}} who turns into BodyHorror incarnate in the presence of the "Stoplight" effect), and Kyunkyun-kun (a happy rainbow-colored blob who loves to rub poles, and [[NotWhatItLooksLike that is not a euphemism]]).

* Meii from ''BeyondGoodAndEvil'' is one of the more popular characters in the fandom, following only behind the main characters. She's liked far more than her fellow NPCs in the game's MissionControl. However, she's also a voluptuous, [[AmazingTechnicolorWildlife blue-furred]] CatGirl, which explains a lot.

** Also from ''III'' is GenkiGirl [[EveryyhingsBetterWithPrincesses princess]] Elena. She just ''barely'' missed being included in ''SSFIV''. And then we have the [[BashBrothers Lee Bros.]], Yun and Yang, who actually ''did'' make it to the arcade version of ''SSFIV''. Yun also has the distinction of making the most crossover appearances out of the entire ''SFIII'' cast.

[[MegaManX http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/487px-Zero10_Kopie_8913.jpg]]
[[caption-width:350:Hello, I'm Zero. I'm so awesome fan uproar brought me back from the dead in the second game. I'm made from 100% fresh-squeezed '''[[BadAss BADASSERY]]'''. And I even got [[MegaManZero my own game!]] [[MemeticOutfit Just don't call me]] [[GagBoobs Booblights.]]]]

** Midna is practically MADE OF EnsembleDarkhorse.

** Byrne, the mysterious and powerful [[TheDragon Dragon]] of Chancellor Cole in ''SpiritTracks'', is shaping up to the be series' next EnsembleDarkhorse.

** From ''MegaManX 2'', the [[OneSceneWonder Green Biker Dude]] who [[RedShirt dies in the beginning of the first level]] has [[MemeticMutation attained meme status.]]

** Eventually, both Tron Bonne and Zero found their way onto the [[CapcomVsWhatever Capcom Vs.]] FightingGame series. Tron and Servbot on ''Marvel vs. Capcom 2'' and Tron returns in ''Marvel vs. Capcom 3'' and Zero on the UpdatedRerelease ''Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All Stars''. Zero also appears as a secret character in ''SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos''.

** Ahem... '''[[EvilKnockoff METAL]] [[TheDragon SONIC]]'''. Along with the aforementioned Mephiles and our resident BigBad, the [[LaughablyEvil Laughably]], AffablyEvil Eggman, he remains one of the most popular villains in the series. Remember the [[AndTheFandomRejoiced fandom reaction]] when he [[HesBack returned]] in ''[[SonicHeroes Heroes]]''?

** ''FinalFantasyII'' wasn't released in the states until 2003, but that didn't stop darkhorses emerging in Japanese fandom, namely Minwu the White Wizard, for bucking the StaffChick trend, having HoYay with Firion, and [[{{Bishounen}} being attractive]] and [[BareYourMidriff baring his midriff]]; and [[BigBad The Emperor]], due to his good looks, scheming ways, and that famous death cry. With the game's stateside release, the two characters are also enjoying more fannish squee, though apparently more Emperor-focused there.
** One of the earlier examples in the series, probably the UrExample as far as American Final Fantasy fandom goes, is [[{{Badass}} Kain]] [[TheLancer Highwind]], the Dragoon from ''FinalFantasyIV''. Beloved by virtually all the fanbase, likely for being the first major badass [[NoExportForYou (at least, in the games available overseas at the time)]], and his [[NiceHat awesome]] [[MemeticOutfit armor]]. Even TetsuyaNomura is a huge fan of Kain's, and wanted to put him into ''DissidiaFinalFantasy'', and has guaranteed that he will be in the sequel if it is made... and he kept his promise.

*** Likewise, [[SummonMagic Rydia]] is extremely popular, and is definitely the next-most popular character in the fourth game next to Kain. [[BadassAdorable Gee]], [[SheIsAllGrownUp I]] [[MsFanservice wonder]] [[FetishFuel why]]?

** Also from ''III'' is HighlyVisibleNinja Ibuki, who was originally the only member of that game's cast to appear in another game (''Pocket Fighter''/''Super Gem Fighter: [[SuperDeformed Mini Mix]]''). At least until ''TatsunokoVsCapcom]]''.

** And from ''[[KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Birth by Sleep]]'', we have Aqua. To quote [[{{YMMV/KingdomHearts}} this page]]: "When you're christened as both a MemeticBadass and a {{Memetic Sex God}}dess, and are one-half of a FanPreferredCouple (with Terra) that ''[[BeyondTheImpossible even the]] {{yaoi fangirl}}s [[BeyondTheImpossible support]]'' [[hottip:*:remember, the mentality of {{Shipping}} among a substantial amount of the fandom is that "HetIsEw"]], you ''know'' that Square Enix's writers are doing something right." It doesn't hurt that Aqua ''easily'' backups the "{{Badass}}" in "MemeticBadass" throughout ''[=BxB=]''.

*** This seems to partially stem from the fact that she's an [[BuxomIsBetter utterly stacked]] NinjaMaid whose lines are [[BreakingTheFourthWall directly adressed at the players]], [[WordOfGod specifically, the male ones]].

*** For those two, their darkhorse-ness proves at the announcement of ''StreetFighterXTekken''. Kazuya and Nina are the first characters introduced for the Tekken side.

** Axel in particular is a noteable example. He was created for both ''ChainOfMemories'' and ''KingdomHearts II''s prologue, but his popularity with both fans ''and'' the staff caused him to get rather shoehorned in to ''KingdomHearts II''s main storyline. Nomura himself says in the Japanese book ''KingdomHearts Character Report'' that he never expected Axel to get as far as he did.

*** Demyx got a good deal of help in the character development department when they let Kenichi Suzumura voice him in the Japanese version. Originally, his role was ''even smaller'' but Suzumura was allowed to ad-lib and helped expand the character, and even came up with his distinctive [[spoiler:death]] cry.

** And let us not forget the fandom's new favorite character, [[ActionGirl Master Aqua!]] Being both a {{Memetic Badass}} and a [[MemeticSexGod Memetic Sex Goddess]] will do that for ya.

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** From ''ValkyriaChroniclesII'', there are Marion Siegbahn, a prim and proper [[TheOjou ojou]] with a secret gun fetish, and Alexis Hilden, a pretty, white-haired {{bifauxnen}}.

** Eventually, both Tron Bonne and Zero found their way onto the [[CapcomVsWhatever Capcom Vs.]] FightingGame series. Tron and Servbot on ''Marvel vs. Capcom 2'' and Tron returns in MarvelVsCapcom 3 and Zero on the UpdatedRerelease ''Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All Stars''. Zero also appears as a secret character in ''SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos''.

** And of course, there's the original Proto Man.

* DrawnToLife has Crazy Barks, whose defining trait is that he likes to [[MemeticMutation TALKINALLCAPSWITHNOSPACESBETWEENWORDS!]]. There is a lot of fan art of this character, especially on DeviantArt.

* The ''HalfLife'''s generic security guards are a peculiar example: The [[YouALLLookFamiliar face texture]] for the guard bore a strong resemblance to Barney Fife from ''TheAndyGriffithShow'', and after one of them (named Barney Calhoun) gained his own ExpansionPack, he became a main character MauveShirt in the sequel.

*** Plus Dr. Kleiner and Magnusson [[BigShoesToFill filling other scientist faces]].

*** His popularity has reached the point that the longer Valve refuse to remove him from [[PutOnABus the GMan's storage]] and give him an appearance in the main games, the angrier they become.
** One of the generic resistance fighter character models from ''Half-Life 2'' has gotten a lot of [[MemeticMutation memetic fame]] as [[http://www.hlcomic.com/archive/ Gordon Frohman]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHxyZaZlaOs John Freeman]].

** The Barney thing, guess what? They were intended to be ''enemies'' but to test the AI, they made him an ally temporarily, but the developers grew on him, liking the bumbling personality, so they permanently made him an ally.

** Come on, people. How on ''earth'' did we miss [[BadassPreacher Father]] [[OneSceneWonder Grigori?]]

*** [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome If I have done my maths correctly, Portal won more GOTY awards than the rest of the Orange Box combined.]]
** Even the protagonist Chell may count as one. In interviews for ''Portal 2'', the writers say they were surprised that people were so taken with her character when she [[AudienceSurrogate really doesn't have one]] and you could easily go the whole game without knowing her name. Eventually, it became unthinkable that Chell wouldn't appear in the sequel.

*** [[MemeticMutation That's Mama Luigi]] [[WesternAnimation/SuperMarioBros to you, Mario!]]
*** [[HotelMario Gay Luigi?]]

*** Except in the RPG games, Mario always jumps higher and Luigi is often chastised for his unimpressive jumps. Funnily, since Luigi is taller, they reach the same jump height(from the top of the head) anyways.

** Let's not forget Waluigi! Starting out as a character solely to mirror Mario & Wario's rivalry by giving Luigi an enemy, Waluigi has steady increased in popularity over the years, even earning himself an appearance in ''SuperSmashBros Brawl'' as an Assist Trophy.
*** It helps that he's basically [[DastardlyWhiplash Dick Dastardly]] from ''WackyRaces''.
*** [[BrawlInTheFamily Too bad, Waluigi Time!]]

** Even better, he got [[WarioLand TWO]] [[WarioWare series]] of his own, pretty much took over ''DoctorMario 64'', had a crossover with Bomberman and took over... a forest in Wario's Woods.

** All those characters, and nobody's mentioned [[SuperMarioGalaxy Rosalina]] yet?

** How has Yoshi not been mentioned yet? After his first appearance in [[SuperMarioWorld Super Mario World]], Yoshi was so popular with players that Nintendo decided to make him the star of [[YoshisIsland the sequel]]. And then that was popular enough for him to get his own sub-series.

** Many of the enemies may also qualify-this troper thinks of Waddle Doo in particular.
** The one-shot characters from Kirby 64, such as Adeline, Ribbon, and O2 have a TON of fanart for them. O2 even got his/her/its theme song in Brawl.

** Not to mention, the MemeticMutation of the first game's legendarily-bad voice-acting led to throwaway character Barry Burton becoming a playable character in ''Resident Evil 5'' and its "Mercenaries: Reunion" mode. Note that the rest of the Reunion cast consists of the main characters, TheDragon, and the helicopter pilot from ''RE5'' itself, as well as long-time recurring character Rebecca Chambers; Barry's completely-out-of-the-blue appearance is the CrowningMomentOfAwesome for many fans who enjoyed mocking his [[NarmCharm deadpan delivery of his lines]]. Capcom understands this to the point where his Narm-tastic "I have THIS!" line about his revolver has carried over to ''RE5''.

** Revolver Ocelot who is THE MagnificentBastard of video games. Not a magnificent bastard, but THE magnificent bastard.
*** [[{{YMMV}} Ah]]-[[LegacyOfKain hem]]

* Sergeant Major Avery Johnson from the ''{{Halo}}'' series of videogames started out as an expendable, randomly spawned Marine. In ''Halo 2'', he is promoted three pay grades at once, from Staff Sergeant to Sergeant Major, hailed as the only survivor besides the Master Chief of the events of the first ''Halo'' (despite the presence throughout the game of Gunnery Sergeant Stacker and PFC Chips Dubbo, two other Marine survivors). In ''Halo 3'', Johnson [[HeroicSacrifice heroically sacrifices]] himself so Chief can destroy the Flood.
** There were many {{Manly Tears}} during that scene.

** I think that the [=ODSTs=] from the Halo franchise deserve some respect. Hell, I'm sure that they're pretty popular amongst the players, it's even noted that the employees at Bungie consider these guys to be their favorites. With a name like "Orbital Drop Shock Troopers", what's not to like? Plus now they've got their own GaidenGame.

* Sheik, [[spoiler:Zelda's secret identity]], from OcarinaOfTime. Did you think [[spoiler:Zelda]] was returning to [[SuperSmashBros Brawl]] without her false identity (ThisTroper was about to, since it was TwilightPrincess this time)?
** And let's not get started on [[spoiler: [[{{Bifauxnen}} her, NOT his,]]]] MisaimedFandom. Sigh.

** No mention of Midna? She's practically MADE OF EnsembleDarkhorse.

** Captain Linebeck from ''Phantom Hourglass'' is almost on par with Midna in terms of popularity (leading, among other things, to a CrackPairing with Link. Yes, ''Toon Link''). It does help that he's basically [[PiratesOfTheCaribbean Captain Jack Sparrow]], trimmed to ''TheWindWaker''-format.

** Tingle, you guys? TINGLE!!! He got his own fucking game, for crying out loud!
*** In Japan, perhaps, but it never reached America. Why not? Because AmericansHateTingle.

** Cirno is one of these as well, mostly due to MemeticMutation (she's the strongest AND a genius!). She and Meiling became so popular that when ''Touhou Hisoutensoku'' was announced, the two were among the first characters to be announced as playable.
** At this point, it could be considered a ''Touhou'' tradition for at least one Ensemble Darkhorse to arise per game.
*** ''Embodiment of Scarlet Devil'' - Cirno, Hong Meiling, and Flandre. All three also happen to be the most prominent Ensemble Darkhorses of the entire series, culminating with Cirno being featured on the cover of ''Hisoutensoku''.
**** And then there's that "little devil" that appeared as a midboss in Patchouli's stage. No dialogue. No name. No profile. '''Immensely''' popular. Not ''quite'' as popular is the similarly unnamed fairy that appears as the Stage 2 midboss, though that's due almost entirely to her portrayal as being a friend of Cirno (see above).
*** ''Perfect Cherry Blossom'' - The [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Prismriver Sisters]]. They would later return in ''Phantasmagoria of a Flower View'' and frequently appear in various fanworks.
**** Lily White, a midboss of ''PCB'', also a special {{Mook}} in ''Phantasmagoria of Flower View'', is exceptional enough to have received her own profile in ''Perfect Memento in a Strict Sense'' (read: official material)! Ran and Chen are debatable depending whether you view Yukari's shikigami as side characters or not. Alice would be considered an AscendedExtra.
*** ''Imperishable Night'' - Tewi, and arguably Mokou. Even more arguable is Reisen, which depends on whether you view her as a main character or a side character.
*** ''Mountain of Faith'' - Nitori to a limited degree, especially after her appearance as a supporting character in the following game. Momiji as well, another nameless, dialogueless, official-artless midboss who has as much fanart as most of the main playable characters.
*** ''Subterranean Animism'' - Parsee.
*** ''Undefined Flying Object'' - Kogasa. Partly due to the fanbase quickly latching onto her when the demo was first released, and partly due to she being the only character not connected to the game's plot at all.
** No love for the [[BrotherChuck PC-98]] darkhorses? Okay, they were not necessarily such when they were released, but once Touhou gained its [[FountainOfMemes memetic popularity]] people decided to look at the earlier games and decided these characters need to come back. Mima is persistently on [[OverlyNarrowSuperlative the top of the charts of PC-98 character that needs to come back]], being [[DemotedToExtra formerly playable]], connected to secondary protagonist Marisa, and having [[EpilepticTrees mysteries about her backstory and nature]]. Next in line is Shinki, mostly because she may be popular character Alice's mother. Finally Elly get this because of the [[MemeticMutation "Bad Apple" meme]] - it's based off her stage theme from the PC-98 games.

** They even got a shout out in Mass Effect 2 with Tali having a combat line referencing one of Minsc's and a purchasable space hamster for your quarters.

* The MassEffect saga, especially [[MassEffect2 the second episode]]. Disregarding the party members, most of whom would qualify as darkhorses if they didn't have to share the spotlight with each other, we have a ''slew'' of [[OneSceneWonder One Scene Wonders]] like [[CoolOldLady Aethyta the bartender (and asari matriarch)]], [[InternalAffairs Gianna Parasini]], the crime boss Aria T'Loak, Charr the krogan who attempts to woo his Asari girlfriend with ([[SoBadItsGood bad]]) poetry, the Tupari Sports Drink vending machine on the Citadel, "Refund Guy" in both games (he still hasn't gotten his refund, [[BeyondTheImpossible after two years!]]), [[HeroicWannabe Conrad Verner]] (who is also TheScrappy to a part of the fanbase, though), the [[JustFriends Friend Zoned Turian]] and ValleyGirl Quarian on Illium, the "Biotic God" volus Niftu Cal, [[AdamBaldwin Kal'Reegar]] (who has [[http://twitter.com/KalReegar his own twitter page now]]!), [[BigBad Harbi]][[FountainOfMemes nger]], [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe Shiala]], Urz the varren and '''especially''' [[AscendedMeme Blasto the Hanar Spectre]].

*** What, no love for [[spoiler: Legion]]? He ''literally'' has no haters. Or at least, no one has voiced their dislike of him yet. A few months ago there was a rather popular thread on the BioWare forums that wanted him to become a romance option in Mass Effect 3.
---> All 1,183 programs long for you, Shepard.

* ''CityOfHeroes'' has quite a few. There's [[DracoInLeatherPants Ghost Widow]], an [[EvilIsSexy attractive]] [[OurGhostsAreDifferent undead]] [[TheDragon right-hand woman]] to [[BigBad Lord Recluse]] (mainly popular for being the ''only'' character in the game with animated hair), the MemeticBadass [[SuperCop Blue Steel]], and new character Desdemonda, made to showcase the [[HeelFaceTurn Going Rogue]] expansion. Desdemonda's case was helped by her portrayal at HeroCon by a [[HotAmazon tall and attractive model]].

* And don't even get us started on ''[[{{Pokemon}} Pokémon]]''.

*** '''[[MemeticMutation TOP]] [[PrecisionFStrike FUCKING]] [[MemeticMutation PERCENTAGE!]]'''

* PuyoPuyo has [[CuteMonsterGirl Draco Centauros]]. She was just a random {{mook}} and actually the first (normal) enemy, but was so liked she got upgraded to [[EliteMook one of the hardest enemies]] in the sequel and then to outright a playable character with her own story mode along [[TheDragon Schezo]]. Then the frachise reboot came and all old characters were gone (Immediately qualifying for EnsembleDarkhorse). Then they made ''15th anniversary'', which brought up the old main cast and a few others... but not her. Fan reaction managed to bring her back up for the ''next game''... And even have other two other fan-favorite characters make a cameo!
* Main antagonist Shodan from ''SystemShock'' is definitely an example of this. She's the first thing anyone even thinks about when they think of the series. She's also [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel scary as shit]].
* The third season of the SamAndMax games introduces Sal, a six foot tall cockroach. Sounds disgustingly unappealing, right? Yet his kind, simple personality makes him such a likeable GentleGiant that no one can help but love him, even [[HeroicSociopath Sam]] and [[KillerRabbit Max]] themselves. People can't help but feel guilty when they have to [[ButtMonkey beat]] [[ChewToy the]] [[TheWoobie crap]] out of him later. [[spoiler: Or when he dies. In a HeroicSacrifice, RedemptionEqualsDeath moment, but it's you who persuade him into it.]]