History GeniusBruiser / VideoGames

* ''GaiaOnline'' plays with this trope with [[MadScientist Labtech X]], who is a huge man but has never been seen in anything but a lab coat.

* You can play Commander Shepard as one of these in ''Franchise/MassEffect''. In addition to him/her being regarded as the biggest {{Badass}} in [[WorldsBestWarrior the known galaxy]], s/he shows him/herself to be very intelligent throughout the series, quite GenreSavvy (and, as much as s/he hates dealing with it, politically savvy), and capable of coming up with [[TakeAThirdOption creative solutions to many problems.]] Plus, the male version is pretty buff.

** Before Grunt, we had [[CoolOldGuy Wrex]]. Disillusioned with [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy his people]] because their [[BloodKnight nature]] will doom them to extinction. Knows that the purpose of a stealth ship is [[HighlyVisibleNinja NOT to get into slugging matches]]. Can con clients into hiring him on as a permanent bodyguard against a particular enemy of the client, even after failing the original contract to kill said enemy. GenreSavvy enough to see Saren as ObviouslyEvil and not even waiting to get paid for a job he was hired and ends up becoming the only surviving merc. Eventually becomes the man with the plan on saving his species if he survives to the second game.

** [[TheBrute Agatio]], from the same game, gets points in this category in his [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome intro scene]], just for telling [[TheChessmaster A]][[MagnificentBastard l]][[EvilGenius e]][[BigBad x]] to his face that he ''[[GenreSavvy knows]]'' Alex is [[UnwittingPawn using him]] as DumbMuscle, and ''doesn't care'' [[PragmaticVillainy as long as it gets the job done]][[note]] which, technically, it ultimately did... at [[DidntSeeThatComing Agatio's expense]][[/note]]. It also shows up when he starts taking advantage of Jupiter Lighthouse's construction to [[TryingToCatchMeFightingDirty set booby traps for Isaac & Co.]] to neutralize Mia's [[CombatMedic many]] [[ElementalRockPaperScissors advantages]]. His last qualifier for this trope is his having the largest variety of Psynergy spells among the Mars Clan antagonists, meaning he's [[KungFuWizard as good at casting as he is at brawling]]... and don't think he won't Break any buffs you try.
* [[VideoGame/GodOfWar Kratos]], who despite being a brute that kills anything that so much as looks at him funny, is still intelligent enough to succeed at obtaining PandorasBox, a task many adventurers before him failed, the path to it requiring as much wit as it does brute strength. In fact, he spends just as much, if not more of his time solving puzzles than he does killing monsters and Gods.
* [[VideoGame/TalesOfGraces Malik Caesar]] is the most muscular and tallest man in your party but instead of using them to fight, he uses his magic to fight. Magic, in turn, is based off the intelligence of the mage. He is also the person that the other characters turn to due to both his experience and his knowledge.

* Minute Man in ''FreedomForce'' is a CaptainAmerica-themed hero who can leap tall buildings and has enormous strength. He's also a nuclear physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project. In one mission, a villain sets off the timer on a nuclear bomb. Guess who has to disarm it?

* In ''SonicTheHedgehog'', Vector the Crocodile is classified as a power character, and is shown to be a brilliant detective. He unfortunately sometimes doubles as a total idiot - but then most of Team Chaotix does that.
** Nowhere is this shown better than at the end of SonicHeroes where he [[spoiler:lays out to Eggman that he knew EXACTLY who he was all along, and was playing along with his game because he knew that whomever locked Eggman up would be the worse of two evils]] after effortlessly tearing a thick metal door off the wall with his bare fists.

** Marcus for ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}''. In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', he's one of the few non-Legion character who consistently uses the Latin pronunciation of Caesar (Kai-Sar). [[GameplayAndStorySegregation Though in the latter his Intelligence stat is only 3.]]

* Damon Baird from ''GearsOfWar''. He doesn't just shoot people and take steroids like all the other Gears! He has some understanding of the Locust language and a head for technology and mechanics. He fixes nearly anything and everything that ever breaks in the game. When asked to improvise a bomb with few parts available, he replies, "Regular or extra strength?"
* In ''[[VideoGame/TheSims The Sims 2: Bon Voyage]]'', if you can persuade him to join a playable family, Bigfoot begins play with all his skills and talents maximized.

* He doesn't display much sign of higher education in his actions or dialogue, but as he player is him, BadassBiker Ben of ''FullThrottle'' shows a great deal of unconventional genius. How many other bikers would think to use mechanical toy bunnies to clear a minefield?

** Interestingly, while Big Boss and Solid Snake share all the traits described above, Snake is a PopCulturedBadass while Big Boss suffers from PopCulturalOsmosis.

* The ''[[Franchise/MetalGear Metal Gear]]'' series is about some guy who had a [[BadassBookworm genius-level IQ]], [[TranslationConvention fluency in a half-dozen languages]], and [[ImprobableAimingSkills enough skill with a vast array of weaponry]] (from [[BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame sniper rifles]] to [[NonLethalKO tranquilizer darts]] to [[ImprovisedWeapon aerosol spray cans and matches]]) to [[BadassNormal bring down]] [[PsychicPowers telekinesis masters]], [[HumongousMecha armed tanks]], [[MascotFighter overmarketed yellow rodents]], and [[ArtificialHuman berserk clones of a legendary villain.]] His father is implied to be similar.

* Lexaeus (''KingdomHearts'') is a good example of this trope (or, at least, this would be more apparent if he got more than a few lines of characterization before his death); he's the musclebound, [[DishingOutDirt Earth elemental]] BigGuy of [[OrganizationIndex Organization XII]], who knows when it's a good idea to wait for events to develop (rather than immediately charge into the action like your standard [[TheBrute brute]]). In addition, in his cutscenes in ''[[KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories CoM]]'', he's usually seen pondering, or holding conversations with [[MasterOfIllusion Zexion]]. [[FanDumb Now, if only the fandom would realize this...]]

* [[VideoGame/GodOfWar Kratos]], who despite being a brute that kills anything that so much as looks at him funny, is still intelligent enough to succeed at obtaining Pandora's Box, a task many adventurers before him failed, the path to it requiring as much wit as it does brute strength. In fact, he spends just as much, if not more of his time solving puzzles than he does killing monsters and Gods.

* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'': The Heavy wields the [[{{BFG}} big guns]]. In ''VideoGame/PokerNightAtTheInventory'', it is revealed that he went to college and that he has a Ph.D in Russian Literature. He also has refined tastes when it comes to drinks and music. The Russian version of "Meet the Heavy" and "Meet The Team" show that he is [[EloquentInMyNativeTongue eloquent in his native language]].
** As displayed in the expanded material, the entire country of Australia is this. Thanks to Australium, every man and woman in the country are certified geniuses, while also being musclebound, mustachioed, machismo machines. [[MegaCorp Mann Co.]] CEO and [[GreatWhiteHunter yeti]] [[GoodOldFisticuffs mauler]] [[AwesomeAussie Saxton]] [[TestosteronePoisoning Hale]] being the prominent example.
** In "Meet the Heavy" It's shown that the heavy is actually good at math. He states that it costs $400,000 to fire his weapon for 12 seconds. The math is dead on, $200 rounds at 10K/min (2,000 fired/12 sec (1/5 of a minute)) 200*2,000=400,000

** In "Meet the Heavy" It's shown that the heavy is actually good at math. He states that it costs to fire his weapon for 12 seconds. The math is rather accurate as He's only off by

** [[spoiler: The Master Below, aka the Adra Dragon. Bonus Boss. Giant Dragon. Also one of two characters to figure out actual, drawback-free immortality (the other is the Big Bad, and he was one of the [[Precursors ancient Engwaithians]]. She created both a method to keep her body alive indefinitely through soul absorption, and a method of stealing another body if she ran low. Also figured out how to peer into and influence the minds of others at extremely long range - most ciphers need to be face-to-face for that.]]

** He also refuses to work in the same team as Ivan Dolvich (one of the designated [[BadAss Badasses]]), which many fans consider to be a serious drawback.

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' has the mercenary Gregor, [[ThirdPersonPerson who has]] [[HulkSpeak trouble speaking]] [[EloquentInMyNativeTongue proper English]], but is otherwise a fairly intelligent man. He also states that a mercenary has to be smart to survive.
** The Avatar from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' deserves mentioning if you use the largest of the three available physical builds, which makes them tower over more than half the cast. They are a brilliant tactician, known to obtain victory against nearly impossible odds without getting anyone killed (if you are doing a no casualties run). On top of that, the Avatar can easily become your most powerful unit.

* Odd example in ''[[NintendoWars Advance Wars: Dual Strike]]''. Normally Jugger is TheBrute and is coded with an intentionally stupid [=AI=] script. When he uses his [=CO=] power though, he switches to the ''smartest [=AI=] script in the game'' and spends the next turn liberally [[CurbStompBattle tossing you to the curb]].

*** It should be noted that in the first game's actual terminology, the FEV created two different types of creatures from human subjects. Those whose intelligence diminished from the change were called simply "mutants." It was only those whose intelligence increased who earned the title of "super mutants." Using this terminology, there were a total of two super mutants in all of Fallout 3. It should also be noted that "purity of DNA" brought on by having been born and raised in a Vault was merely The Master's favorite theory of why some humans became super mutants, and some became mere mutants: This was never flat-out confirmed to be the actual reason, but some mysterious "x factor" did exist. That being said, this means that any being marked as "super mutant" in the first two games-even ones who were given no official name beyond such and were just nameless mooks-qualify as examples of this trope.

* You can play Commander Shepard as one of these in ''Franchise/MassEffect''. In addition to him/her being regarded as the biggest {{Badass}} in the known galaxy, s/he shows him/herself to be very intelligent throughout the series, quite GenreSavvy (and, as much as s/he hates dealing with it, politically savvy), and capable of coming up with [[TakeAThirdOption creative solutions to many problems.]] Plus, the male version is pretty buff.

* Sol Badguy, the insanely powerful and violent warrior from ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'', is also the brilliant scientist Frederick.

* Steroid Gontarski in ''JaggedAlliance 2'', one of the strongest mercs in the game AND when dealing with repair and electronics is one of the best mercs outside of the ones who assign both specialty options as one of the two. He is hindered only be his lack of agility, but he is also very cheep to hire.

*** The case is strongly reconstructed by Draz'Zilb, an ogre-mage in ''VideoGame/World of Warcraft''. One of the first things he says to you is, "Why the puzzled stare, ? Expecting me to speak like an uncouth ruffian merely because I am an ogre?"

* Frank Gaunt of ''VideoGame/OperationDarkness'' is a heavy machine-gunner and close-combat specialist who also seems to have some knowledge of nuclear physics and other specialized fields.

* Fighters in ''VideoGame/PillarsOfEternity'' are mentioned to be frequently highly trained and educated professionals.