History Flanderization / VideoGames

** In the mod "Bg 1 Npc Project" for Baldur's Gate Trilogy (a conversion which adds the original game campaign to the engine of the sequel), characters have new dialogues and banters that are based upon the few available traits, therefore they usually get really inflated and played straight, although having additional characterization that sometimes makes this trope downplayed. For example, Imoen is da besta silly chirpy girl in da realm who lotta talks in ungrammatical slang and loves pinky pink clothes, Dynaheir doth speaketh heavily in YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe.

** Inn the mod "Bg 1 Npc Project" for Baldur's Gate Trilogy (a conversion which adds the original game campaign to the engine of the sequel), characters have new dialogues and banters that are based upon the few available traits, therefore they usually get really inflated and played straight, although having additional characterization that sometimes makes this trope downplayed. For example, Imoen is da besta silly chirpy girl in da realm who lotta talks in ungrammatical slang and loves pinky pink clothes, Dynaheir doth speaketh heavily in YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe.

** Both played straight and downplayed in the mod "Bg 1 Npc Project" for Baldur's Gate Trilogy (which adds the original game campaign to the engine of the sequel). Characters have new dialogues and banters that are based upon the few available traits, therefore they usually get really inflated, although having additional characterization that sometimes avoids this trope. For example, Imoen is da besta silly chirpy girl in da realm who lotta talks in ungrammatical slang and loves pinky pink clothes, Dynaheir doth speaketh heavily in YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe.

** Both played straight and downplayed in the mod "Bg1 Npc Project" for Baldur's Gate Trilogy (which adds the original game campaign to the engine of the sequel). Characters have new dialogues and banters that are based upon the few available traits, therefore they usually get really inflated, although having additional characterization that sometimes avoids this trope. For example, Imoen is a silly chirpy girl who talks in ungrammatical slang and loves pink, Dynaheir doth speaketh heavily in YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe.

** Both played straight and downplayed in the mod "BG1 NPC Project" for Baldur's Gate TuTu and Baldur's Gate Trilogy, (two conversions of the original game campaign to be played in the engine of the sequel). Characters in this mod have new dialogues and banters that are based upon the few available traits, therefore they get somehow inflated, sometimes a full example of this trope, but other times having some more characterization to avoid too much of that. For example, Imoen is a silly chirpy girl who talks in ungrammatical slang and loves pink, Khalid is practically a wiser Porky Pig fond of his wife, Shar-Teel is blood-crazy and UpToEleven resentful, Kivan is a romantic lone wolf, Xzar is a MadScientist, Ajantis a proud paladin fighting for honor and righteousness, Dynaheir doth speaketh heavily in YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe.

* Inverted in ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII'', where joining characters are fully developed, believable and understandable, while their counterpart in the first game ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' are mostly caricatures, exaggerations or examples of a JokeCharacter that insist on some details that would be examples of this trope had the two games been swapped.

* Perhaps one of the most infamous instances of the trope in video games occurs in VideoGame/MetroidOtherM, featuring the normally stoic and confident Samus, as an attention-seeking Daddy's Girl while being disturbingly subservient to her supposed father figure Adam Malkovich. Samus does mention that she looked up to Adam (who was her CO when she was in the Marine Corp) in Fusion, and her other less-than-desirable traits within the game seem to stem from the ambiguously-canon manga, where [[OriginsEpisode she had the excuse of being inexperienced]].
** Part of Samus' origin story includes the traumatic death of her family and the destruction of her home colony at the hands of Ridley. ''Other M'' decides that this means that, despite facing her fears and killing Ridley on numerous occasions, she's unable to react with anything apart from shock in the scene with Ridley just at the sight of him. In here, she was actually horrified that her nemesis had returned, as he was supposed to be dead in ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'', and normally, it's fine, as the creature she met earlier was an immature stage of the Ridley line and she didn't know its identity yet, nor she didn't know that this beast was actually a Ridley clone, but during the scene, she eventually becomes her younger self for a few seconds. It's supposed to be a visual metaphore for one of the game's themes and Samus's character arc about her embracing her inner child after confronting her past with the Galactic Federation Army, but this wasn't properly explained, it only ended up causing confusion and misunderstandings, causing everyone to mistake this for PTSD.

*** Nepgear was written in such a way that she comes off as [[IncestSubtext creepily-obsessed with her sister]] and having a fetish for [[BuxomIsBetter breasts]] and [[RoboSexual anything mecha- or robot-related]]. This actually makes her a more interesting and likeable character than before, since even if she's [[ButtMonkey a walking punchline]], it's still an upgrade over her status in the previous game as a generic replacement heroine with no quirks or anything to make her particularly memorable except [[GoshDangItToHeck saying "goodness" instead of swearing]] and [[spoiler:being able to go on a bloodbath through the other [=CPUs=] in one possible ending]]. Her ''Victory'' depiction ended up being so much more popular that this was the characterization carried forward into future games (albeit with the incest vibes and breast-obsession considerably mellowed out).

* Kratos of ''VideoGame/GodOfWar''. In the [[VideoGame/GodOfWarI first game]], his bloodlust is a facet of his deeper personality - he channeled the memories of what he had done into his rage to become more brutally efficient. In the second game, Kratos loses that, and becomes simply bloodlust and badassery in human form. The third game, however, reverses this trend thanks to his interactions with Pandora - it is through her that he is reminded [[spoiler:of the importance of hope, which allows him to forgive himself for the sins (at least with regards to killing his own family) he committed.]]

** Part of Samus' origin story includes the traumatic death of her family and the destruction of her home colony at the hands of Ridley. ''Other M'' decides that this means that, despite facing her fears and killing Ridley on numerous occasions, she's unable to react with anything apart from shock in the scene with Ridley just at the sight of him. In here, she was actually horrified that her nemesis had returned, as he was supposed to be dead in ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'', and normally, it's fine, as the creature she met earlier was an immature stage of the Ridley line and she didn't know its identity yet, nor she didn't know that this beast was actually a Ridley clone, but during the scene, she eventually becomes her younger self for a few seconds. It's supposed to to be a visual metaphore for one of the game's themes and Samus's character arc about her embracing her inner child after confronting her past with the Galactic Federation Army, but this wasn't properly explained, it only ended up causing confusion and misunderstandings, causing everyone to mistake this for PTSD.

* When Mai Shiranui was first introduced in ''[[VideoGame/FatalFury Fatal Fury 2]]'', she was simply a female Ninjutsu master whose relation with Andy Bogard (being the granddaughter of his sensei, Hanzo Shiranui) was barely mentioned in her backstory. In later games (especially in the anime adaptations), she became so fully obsessed with Andy to the point that she yells his name whenever she gets K.O.ed in ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'' games, one of her intros involves scaring the crap out of Andy with a baby handpuppet and most of her endings revolve around her trying to get Andy to marry her.
** Mai's voluptuousness in ''Fatal Fury 2'' and ''Special'' was also nowhere near as exaggerated as it was in later games. It wasn't until the ''KOF'' games, when they gave more revealing clothing and bouncing breasts, that her status as MsFanservice was cemented, with heavy contribution (pun intended) from Masami Obari via the ''Fatal Fury'' anime films.

* Hammer the DungeonShop running military man from ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow]]'' made ''one'' offhand comment about Yoko being "his type" in an optional conversation. Come the sequel game ''Dawn of Sorrow'', and his ''entire character'' revolves around being a HopelessSuitor to her.

** ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarUniverse'' turned the Newmans into a collective {{Wutai}} race of [[ProudScholarRaceGuy spiritual environmentalists]]. It was the players of this game that widely used the term "SpaceElf" to refer to Newmans the most, and the Newmans of this game most closely fit the "Type II" variant of that trope.
** The Newmans of ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarZero'' fall somewhere between a [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy warlike]] and [[ProudScholarRaceGuy scholarly]] attitude, being closer to ''PSO's'' treatment of Newmans than the other games; here, though the Newmans here also have a MoonRabbit motif.

** Tails has almost always been Sonic's naïve sidekick, but over time his role of being able to keep up with his hero has been pushed heavily aside in favor of making him pure tech support (with the ''Anime/SonicX'' adaption of ''Sonic Adventure'' even omitting his fight with the Egg Walker in favor of him just disarming the missile). It got to the point where Tails becomes completely helpless unless Sonic is there to save the day, which heavily contrasts with his CharacterDevelopment in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' and ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' where he learns to stand up for himself. Easily the biggest example is his encounters with Chaos in ''Sonic Adventure'' and ''VideoGame/SonicForces''; in the former, he took on and defeated Chaos 4, whereas in the latter, he ''cowers'' at the sight of ([[spoiler:an illusion of]]) Chaos ''0''. As in ''Adventure's first boss''. He also cowers when facing an attack from robots in the city, and ducked behind a wall when Infinite fought Sonic, not even trying to help Sonic fight Infinite.

** Lara Croft started as a modest, down to earth woman in the original ''VideoGame/TombRaider''. In ''VideoGame/TombRaiderII'' she became more witty and slightly more threatening and bloodthirsty. Later on she was heavily Flanderized into a Hollywood-style tough girl for ''[[VideoGame/TombRaiderTheLastRevelation The Last Revelation]]'', and by ''[[VideoGame/TombRaiderAngelOfDarkness Angel of Darkness]]'' this had become exaggerated to {{Jerkass}} levels.

* ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' FanFiction does this a lot with the many many characters who, in the games, have only slight hints at personality traits to begin with. Which makes Touhou a unique case where Flanderization, CharacterDevelopment and Character Establishment are very often one and the same. In fact, many popular characters have personalities that developed before WordOfGod announced them in official side works, thus often clashing with the official version, which in turn makes for interesting stories when the different sides try to take control of the plot.
** One of the best examples is Koakuma, who officially is a mischievous little demon who does errands because she has to and loves to play pranks, while the most famous fan variant is a faithful librarian servant who may even have a crush on her summoner Patchouli.
** Reimu is officially a little lazy but still a dutiful {{Miko}} who uses her [[BornLucky insane luck]] and instinct to solve problems. Fan works often paint her as a {{Jerkass}} who would do anything for money because she is just that poor. The other variant is upping her innate sweetness up to eleven.
** Marisa is a complex character, best friend and strongest rival to Reimu, hard working, level-headed, but a little on the greedy side, especially when it comes to power and loves flirting and bantering. She has enough reasons for all of those too. Her most common fan version is a destructive kleptomaniac with a massive lesbian harem.
** Alice is a gifted doll-maker, solitairy, polite, but also cold and neutral towards others. In fan works, she is either a hardcore {{Tsundere}} mostly towards Marisa, or an even more hardcore {{yandere}}, usually towards Marisa. Both sort of works tend to make her a pathetic, unlucky idiot ignored by Marisa for Reimu, as well.
** Essentially the entire cast of ''Embodiment of Scarlet Devil'' gets hit with this '''hard'''.
*** Remilia is intelligent, but also childish, a complete {{chuunibyou}}, and ultimately more bark than she is bite, despite being one of the most powerful beings in Gensokyo. Fanmade portrayals tend to either exaggerate her childishness and arrogance to turn her into even more of a SpoiledBrat than she already is, or turn her into a Dracula-style EvilOverlord.
*** Flandre gets hit with one hell of a dose. If she is not a sickeningly sweet CheerfulChild, she is (much more commonly) a CreepyChild with massive streaks of PersonOfMassDestruction, if not an outright AxCrazy murderous psychopath. It is very common to turn her into basically [[VideoGame/TeamFortress2 The Pyro]], someone who is indiscriminately destructive to everything around her not out of any hostile intentions, but because she is simply too childish to know any better. The canon Flandre's supposed [[AmbiguousDisorder madness]] seems to be much more nuanced, and most of the time she comes off as a decently well adjusted little girl, intelligent, [[DeadpanSnarker endowed with a dry sense of humor]] and very well aware of her surroundings, if sometimes a little... '''off''' - although when she does let loose, woe to those who stand in her way. Just ask Yuuma Toutetsu.
*** Sakuya is a mysterious maid, LadyOfWar style and keeps her cool in any situation, but often portrayed as obsessed with her mistress and/or her breast size. Because she uses knives and her cards have a bit of a serial killer theme, with one named after Jack the Ripper, some works also turn her into a bloodthirsty murderer (admittedly her MultipleChoicePast, the general mystery surrounding her and the fact that she cooks meals for vampires out of exactly what you'd expect means that this idea is not disproved by canon).
*** Meiling is a dutiful gate guardian (who takes a brief afternoon nap daily), yet in fan works is always sleeping on the job. She is also commonly portrayed as a weak and incompetent ButtMonkey. In canon, while she does fail to stop Reimu and Marisa, being bested by the unstoppable main characters is not much of a point against her.
*** Cirno actually is the most powerful fairy by WordOfGod, but despite all fairies being TheDitz by default, she suffers the treatment of beating [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Ralph Wiggum]] in most works. Some fan works have rectified this by making her an IdiotHero but very likable and compassionate, which is ALSO different from her initial canon appearance, where she is a CreepyChild at best and outright malicious at worst. Later works [[CompositeCharacter merged all of these traits together]]: as of the latest games and manga, Cirno is [[{{Tsundere}} capable of being of compassionate and understanding when respected, but is malicious towards any slights toward her ego]], and also does some really stupid things like confusing mud for food while still being intelligent enough to lead other fairies.
** Yuyuko is the {{Ojou}}, knowing and well-reserved, acting dumber than she really is, but since ''VideoGame/TouhouEiyashouImperishableNight'' all she ever does is trying to eat, eat and eat, while Youmu, dutiful if a little clueless samurai gardener bodyguard that she is, is either outright at a loss at what to do or so competent she's been offered job contracts by all other factions already.
** Byakuren is TheMentor, AllLovingHero and one of the nicest characters in a series of usually nice if overly bored strong people. In fan works her messianic nature is exaggerated to IncorruptiblePurePureness or to TheDitz because she spend so long alone. Shou is always losing stuff, while Nazrin is always busy FINDING said stuff.
** Utsuho gets a similar treatment to Cirno, except how she is a GeniusDitz because she knows absolutely everything about nuclear fusion and assorted technology.
** Aya is a slightly over-active photographer and tabloid writer, always busy with making stuff (up). In fan works, she is a creepy pervert who takes delight in takes pictures of others in embarrassing poses or simply {{panty shot}}s.
** Yuuka is a strange case, because she is often portrayed as a violent maniac who takes delight in torture and violence, but also has a tender side to those she likes. In canon, her violent side was only seen in the PC-98 era, whose canonicity is disputed; in the Windows era, she's only violent towards people who disturb her flowers, being more interested in creeping them out instead of beating them, and mostly got into fights because the heroines keep accusing her of being in the way/causing an incident.
** Yukari is a schemer and controls Gensokyo, but is often asleep and is ''very'' weird, even by youkai standards, and loves {{troll}}ing the hell out of Reimu and whoever crosses her path for giggles, while removing threats to whatever upsets the balance in Gensokyo. It's canon, but fanon either turns her into ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} or an EvilOverlord.
** Tenshi canonically has the mentality of a [[ImmortalImmaturity preteen]] who hasn't received enough attention from her own parents and [[AttentionWhore looks for it from others]]. Since she caused the events of ''VideoGame/TouhouHisoutenScarletWeatherRhapsody'' in order to make herself the center of everyone's attention, even though it led to her getting beaten up, fans interpreted her as a perverted CombatSadomasochist... or just a masochist.
** Shiki Eiki, the [[{{Psychopomp}} judge of the underworld]], has the power to distinguish right from wrong without failure, allowing her to make flawless judgments. Despite being a little overbearing, she is also a compassionate person whose moralizing lectures are genuinely motivated by a desire to save souls from suffering in Hell. Some fanworks, such as IOSYS's famous [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arP18TqPZnc Convictor Yamaxanadu]], like to completely derail her personality into a spiteful HangingJudge, usually because it's [[RuleOfFunny funnier]].

** The humor in the games is also Flanderized quite a lot. The first game is actually fairly serious with a parodic atmosphere. The second game amps up the anachronism, which goes UpToEleven in the ending. Since then, the games are pretty much run on RuleOfFunny.

* Utilized and played for laughs in ''VideoGame/SenranKagura: Bon Appetit'' since the game operates on RuleOfFunny by turning the Flanderization for each character UpToEleven with the primary example being Katsuragi using her wish to create a boob harem rather than remove the bounty on her parents' heads- her primary motivation for and life goal of becoming a shinobi in the first place.[[note]]Unless the game takes place after Shinovi Versus, that is, since the events leading to the true ending of that game includes her parents being exonerated.[[/note]]

** Reimu is officially a little lazy but still a dutiful {{Miko}} who uses her [[BornLucky insane luck]] and instinct to solve problems. Fan works often paint her as a {{Jerkass}} who would do anything for money because she is just that poor. The other variant is upping her innate sweetness UpToEleven.

** Reimu is officially a little lazy but still a dutiful {{Miko}} who uses her [[BornLucky insane luck]] and instinct to solve problems. Fan works often paint her as a JerkassSue who would do anything for money because she is just that poor. The other variant is upping her innate sweetness UpToEleven.

* Done on purpose to the Brotherhood of Steel in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}''. From ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 1}}'' to ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'' they become significantly more secular and generally bigger {{Jerkass}}es, then even more so in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas''. This is due to the time differences between the games, as each generation drifts further and further away from the [[MotiveDecay original intentions of the organisation and into more overt technology worship]] and becomes increasingly secular and elitist, which was originally a very minor aspect of the [=BoS=]. Their increasing elitism is a major plot point for their quest line, including the member that can be recruited by [[PlayerCharacter the Courier]], one Veronica Santangelo. In the NCR and Independent endings, their decision to embrace or abandon their isolationism ultimately decides whether or not [[spoiler: the Mojave chapter even survives.]] Head Paladin (and possible Elder) Edgar Hardin is a hardliner who follows the Codex to the spirit and letter. Elder Nolan [=McNamara=], current Elder of Hidden Valley Bunker, in contrast his described by Veronica as one of the most progressive Elders. He wishes to lift the lockdown and agrees that they need more recruits to bolster their shrinking numbers but [[TheChainsOfCommanding tragically knows that he can't]], partially out of a justified fear that the [=NCR=] will wipe them out.

** With the later Kirby games like ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'' ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheRainbowCurse'', the above things have made Kirby synonymous with ChronicHeroSyndrome, doing things in cute, yet quite mundane fashion overall. While there's been recent attempts to portray him in a more comical light, these [[DudeNotFunny weren't really that funny anymore]] due to clashing with his emphasized immense cuteness that usually results in it looking like abuse akin to an innocent puppy - especially enforced by his lack of pro-activity and use of varying facial expressions.

** Furthermore, with the later Kirby-games like ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheRainbowCurse'' or ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'', the above things has made Kirby become synonymous with ChronicHeroSyndrome, doing things in cute, yet quite mundane fashion overall. While there's been recent attempts to portray him in a more comical light, these weren't really that funny anymore due to clashing with his emphasized immense cuteness that usually results in it looking like abuse akin to an innocent puppy - especially enforced by his lack of pro-activity and use of varying facial expressions.

** Furthermore, with the recent Kirby-games like ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheRainbowCurse'' or ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'', the above things has made Kirby become synonymous with ChronicHeroSyndrome, doing things in cute, yet quite mundane fashion overall. While there's been recent attempts to portray him in a more comical light, these weren't really that funny anymore due to clashing with his emphasized immense cuteness that usually results in it looking like abuse akin to an innocent puppy - especially enforced by his lack of pro-activity and use of varying facial expressions.

** Furthermore, with the recent Kirby-games like ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheRainbowCurse'' or ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamland'', the above things has made Kirby become synonymous with ChronicHeroSyndrome, doing things in cute, yet quite mundane fashion overall. While there's been recent attempts to portray him in a more comical light, these weren't really that funny anymore due to clashing with his emphasized immense cuteness that usually results in it looking like abuse akin to an innocent puppy - especially enforced by his lack of pro-activity and use of varying facial expressions.

** Oghren suffered this in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening''. In ''Origins'', his alcoholism and BoisterousBruiser antics were all a front for the depression that seized him after he lost his wife, entire family, and whatever status he had in Orzammar, when travelling with the player, raising his approval and doing his quest correctly, leads to Oghren in the endgame saying to the warden that he realized how he fell down from his position of honorable and reveled warrior to drunk, and thanks the warden for having helped him realize the error of his ways, helped him get back with a woman after the failed marriage, and ends the sentence by saying that he will be the warrior that the warden taught him to be and it will be an honor to die for the cause of the warden.
** In ''Awakening'', he [[AesopAmnesia forgets]] whatever lessons he might have learned during his travels with you and signs up with the Grey Wardens simply so that he can continue to drink, fight, and party it up, ditching his ''current'' family in the process, and all of his antics are PlayedForLaughs. Reason for this are because the writer behind Oghren wasn't involved with the expansion and was written by another one who wasn't familizarized with Oghren's HiddenDepths.

** Johnny's personality is played with in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11''. Its time-travel plot involved bringing back the younger versions of the main heroes, and Present!Johnny is quickly embarrassed by his younger self's douchebaggery. However, even Past!Johnny is flanderized in the sense that he's wearing ridiculous 90's dayglo even though Johnny didn't actually dress that way in the older games.

*** Remilia is intelligent, but also childish, a complete {{chuunibyou}}, and ultimately more bite than she is bark, despite being one of the most powerful beings in Gensokyo. Fanmade portrayals tend to either exaggerate her childishness and arrogance to turn her into even more of a SpoiledBrat than she already is, or turn her into a Dracula-style EvilOverlord.

** Aya is a slightly over-active photographer and tabloid writer, always busy with making stuff (up). In fan works, she is a creepy pervert who takes delight in takes pictures of others in embarrassing poses or simply panty shots.

** Aya is a slightly over-active photographer and tabloid writer, always busy with making stuff (up). In fan works, she is a creepy pervert who takes delight in takes pictures of others in embarrassing poses or simply {{Panty Shot}}s.

** Despite the title character's [[CharacterExaggeration portrayal in]] [[DubPersonalityChange most western media]] as a TotallyRadical MascotWithAttitude and LargeHam, even to the point of being an IdiotHero, in the games his attitude and cockiness were comparatively downplayed, being just one facet of his personality among various, rather than [[TheThemeParkVersion an all-defining trait]]. There he had a more coolheaded demeanor and a laidback yet sharp-witted personality.[[note]]For instance, official profiles have remarked on his ability to keep his cool under pressure, and established that [[TheSmartGirl Rouge]] sees him as the one guy [[ManipulativeBitch she]] can't outsmart.[[/note]] He also had a caring side, [[CoolBigBro helping Tails overcome his insecurities]], as well as a playful side, [[TheGadfly enjoying teasing Knuckles]] and taunting [[BigBad Eggman]]. In the mid 2000s he started getting portrayed as more of a [[IdealHero generic good guy]], mainly in localizations.[[note]]Whereas Junichi Kanemaru consistently played Sonic in an energetic manner denoting of attitude, Jason Griffith would voice him in a much more deadpan or passive manner. Add to that the fact nuances like Sonic's propensity for GratuitousEnglish were LostInTranslation.[[/note]] Then from ''VideoGame/SonicColors'' onward, the games went in the opposite direction and started making him more of an [[LargeHam in-your-face snarker]], as well as [[IdiotHero more immature, excitable and boisterous]], closer to the aforementioned western portrayals.[[note]]Not particularly surprising, as ''Colors'' was when two new western writers who by their own admission were unfamiliar with the series took over writing duties.[[/note]]