History LetsYouAndHimFight / VideoGames

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'', [[spoiler:This is Anankos' modus operandi. Despite being a dragon with powers rivaling that of a god, he mostly keeps to plotting in the background instead of just outright invading the world outside of Valla. Since he's weaker outside of the Invisible Kingdom, he orchestrates in-fighting between the human nations of Hoshido and Nohr to eventually wipe them out, because a direct invasion of Hoshido or Nohr is liable to end in failure.]]

* Also pretty much the plot of ''VideoGame/AdvanceWars 1'', as Sturm (and his pawn, Olaf) set up a massive war between the protagonists Orange Star and the other nations, using clones of Orange Star's CO Andy, with the idea of cleaning up the remains.
* Combined with GambitRoulette in ''VideoGame/BattalionWars 2''. Kaiser Vlad, leader of the Germany-equivalent Xylvania, orchestrates a preemptive invasion by the UK-based Anglo Isles on the Japan-esque Solar Empire, who promptly counterattack by invading the Anglo Isles with Russian-stand-in Tundran Territory support. All this to invade the Tundran Territories in an attempt to find a weapon placed there. It's implied that he may have done it once before, setting the America-counterpart Western Frontier against the Tundrans to set up mining operations in the Frontier.

* ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'' has the vigor "Possession," which when used not only makes [[SentryGun automata]] to gun down enemy {{Mooks}} but also allows mooks to fight each other until the effect wears off.

** ''VideoGame/{{Sonic Rush|Series}}'' subverted this a bit; [[spoiler:Sonic and Blaze fight each other over who would fight Eggman (or Nega), even though they both know near the end that both are good guys (in fact, Blaze knows that Sonic is a good guy from the near start, but she felt that it was her responsibility to stop the Eggmans and refused to let anyone else intervene)]].

** At a meta level, this is the modus operandi of ''VideoGame/SonicTheFighters'' and ''VideoGame/SonicBattle''. The former has a nonsensical plot that doesn't remotely make sense, the latter has the characters grab the IdiotBall and fight each other to train up a MacGuffin robot.

* In ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11'', Raiden realizes that he and Liu Kang are constantly pitted against each other (which invariably results in Liu Kang dying and Raiden getting corrupted) across different timelines. Kronika eventually confesses that she does it because their combined strength is the only thing that could potentially be a threat for her, which is proven right when Raiden decides to save Liu Kang[[FusionDance by fusing with his Past and Revenant selves]], [[DeityOfHumanOrigin turning Liu Kang into a God of Fire and Thunder]] that proves strong enough to defeat Kronika.

** ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry3DantesAwakening'' has this to an extent. [[spoiler: Arkham was playing Lady, Vergil and Dante, and trying to get them to fight and weaken each other so that he could come out on top, and open the gate to hell. Dante and Vergil do end up fighting each other in the end, though Lady and Dante end up sort of on the same side.]]
** ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'' has a subversion that gets retroactively played straight. Nero is sent on a mission to bring down Dante for shooting Sanctus in the head. Makes sense, from Nero's perspective and even from the audience's (Dante might be heroic but he certainly did something not very heroic here and they empathize with Nero before getting the whole story). [[spoiler:However later, it's revealed what Sanctus was really doing and what role Dante was actually playing, which turns the battle from earlier into this trope. Nero and Dante stand together by the end of the game in order to stop the real villain.]]

* Mega Man first met his brother, Protoman, under these circumstances in ''VideoGame/MegaMan3''. Also, Duo for ''VideoGame/MegaMan8''. Also, an impending fight between ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' and Zero has been hinted upon ever since X2 (Though in a non-canon process just before the final battle in that case). It was again touched upon in X4 before finally taking place in X5, and by extension, both X6. (And not ''VideoGame/MegaManZero 1'' and ''3'', since [[spoiler:that's a copy]].)

* Combined with GambitRoulette in ''VideoGame/BattalionWars 2''. Kaiser Vlad, leader of the Germany-equivalent Xylvania, orchestrates a preemptive invasion by the UK-based Anglo Isles on the Japan-esque Solar Empire, who promptly counterattack by invading the Anglo Isles with Russian-stand-in Tundran Territory support. All this to invade the Tundran Territories in an attempt to find a weapon placed there. It's implied that he may have done it once before, setting the America-counterpart Western Frontier against the Tundrans to set up mining operations in the Frontier.
* Also pretty much the plot of ''VideoGame/AdvanceWars 1'', as Sturm (and his pawn, Olaf) set up a massive war between the protagonists Orange Star and the other nations, using clones of Orange Star's CO Andy, with the idea of cleaning up the remains.

* In ''Franchise/MortalKombat vs [[Franchise/TheDCU DC Universe]]'''s story mode, there wouldn't ''be'' a story without this. Only when ready to battle Dark Khan does everyone realize the obvious. And when he does appear, he infects absolutely everyone with the [[HatePlague Kombat]] [[UnstoppableRage Rage]] to keep it going until Franchise/{{Superman}} and Raiden are the only ones remaining.
* In the Story Mode of ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'', the heroes get into fights with each other a lot, either via misunderstandings or just plain getting angry at one another. Most of the latter examples involve Johnny Cage, who acts like a jerk a ''lot'' over the course of the story.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2'', [[spoiler:this is eventually revealed to be the case with New Yevon and the Youth League fighting]]. It makes a surprising amount of sense once you know all the details.
* Mission 6-4 of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIIRevenantWings''. What makes this so annoying is that it's probably [[ScrappyLevel the hardest battle in the game]].
* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'':
** ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry3DantesAwakening'' has this to an extent. [[spoiler: Arkham was playing Lady, Vergil and Dante, and trying to get them to fight and weaken each other so that he could come out on top, and open the gate to hell. Dante and Vergil do end up fighting each other in the end, though Lady and Dante end up sort of on the same side.]]
** ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'' has a subversion that gets retroactively played straight. Nero is sent on a mission to bring down Dante for shooting Sanctus in the head. Makes sense, from Nero's perspective and even from the audience's (Dante might be heroic but he certainly did something not very heroic here and they empathize with Nero before getting the whole story). [[spoiler:However later, it's revealed what Sanctus was really doing and what role Dante was actually playing, which turns the battle from earlier into this trope. Nero and Dante stand together by the end of the game in order to stop the real villain.]]

* ''VideoGame/BioShock1'' allows players to invoke this trope on enemies with a variety of plasmids, such as the Enrage plasmid, which makes enemies fight each other blindly, or the Hypnotize Big Daddy plasmid, which can be used to make two Big Daddies fight one another. It's one of the safest ways to kill the bastards.
* ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'' has the vigor "Possession," which when used not only makes [[SentryGun automata]] to gun down enemy {{Mooks}} but also allows mooks to fight each other until the effect wears off.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfSpyro'': This happens three times in. The first two times, the present villain tries getting Cynder to fight Spyro, the first time, they pretend to fight for the crowd. The second time they try this again so Cynder can take out Gaul's staff but [[spoiler: Gaul sees it coming and knocks her out when she tries]]. The last time it's for real when [[spoiler: Malefor takes over Cynder's mind and makes her attack Spyro]].
* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'': What to do when the RED Demoman and BLU Soldier are becoming best pals, before they realize that their opposing militias are secretly run by the same woman? Invoke this trope through new weapons and a bit of BerserkButton-pushing.

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'':
** The series' Illusion School of magic has a few spells that can utilize this.[[note]]Several of the following spells have been classified differently at various points in the series, but are primarily classed as Illusion.[[/note]] The "Frenzy/Fury" spells send targets into a blind rage, causing them to attack friend and foe alike. "Rally" spells bring a neutral target into the fight on the side of the caster. "Command" spells put the target under the command of the caster, and can be used upon otherwise hostile opponents. A MasterOfIllusion can do quite well by simply getting enemies to fight one another, and then [[CombatPragmatist finish off the (weakened) victor]] once the spell wears off.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'':
*** A number of random world encounters include members of two opposing factions battling one another ([[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters Stormcloak rebels]] vs. [[RedshirtArmy Imperial soldiers]], Stormcloaks soldiers vs. [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Thalmor]] justicars, [[CreatureHunterOrganization Vigilants of Stendarr]] vs. [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Vampires]]/{{Necromancer}}s/[[ReligionOfEvil Daedra worshipers]], etc.). Depending on your allegiances, you can aid one side against the other, or simply sit back and slaughter the weakened winning group.
*** In a storyline-driven example, crossing over with EnemyCivilWar, it's revealed that the Thalmor-led [[AntiHumanAlliance Aldmeri Dominion]] have been carefully manipulating the Stormcloaks and Empire into a war with one another, as part of a grander plot to [[spoiler:weaken them both for an inevitable Second Great War, and eventually, exterminate [[KillAllHumans all of mankind]] as part of an ''even greater plot'' to [[OmnicidalManiac unmake the mortal world]]..]].

** In the crossover with ''LightNovel/FateRequiem'', Erice Utsumi is very hostile to the heroes because she doesn't understand what they are doing and thinks that they enslave Servants. When she sees Voyager working for them, she goes berserk and thinks they stole him from her, not knowing he is a different version of him. When she later finds out Chaldea's mission to save the world, she apologizes.

* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', [[TotalitarianUtilitarian Cerberus]] attempts to incite a [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Krogan]] [[SpaceRomans Turian]] war by detonating an extremely powerful bomb on the Krogan home world - a bomb placed there by the turians a thousand years ago as a failsafe.

* Monster infighting is often used by players in ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}''.

* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'': In the Subspace Emissary, Mario and Pit fight Link and Yoshi when one team finds the other standing over the dissolving fake trophy of either Zelda or Peach. Which team finds which depends on the player's actions. In both cases, the misunderstanding is eventually cleaned up and they join forces. This is one of several such misunderstandings that occur throughout the Subspace Emissary, most of which involve Meta Knight (i.e., Marth, Lucario, almost with Snake). There's almost one between Fox and Sheik, but it is [[DefiedTrope broken up]] before an actual fight can occur by [[TheChick Peach]]. ''With tea.'' The use of this strategy by a player, during a multiplayer match, is the bane of StopHavingFunGuys everywhere.

** In the crossover with ''LightNovel/FateRequiem'', Erice Utsumi is very hostile to the heroes because she doesn't understand what they are doing and thinks that they enslave Servants. When she sees Voyager working for them, she goes berserk and thinks they stole him from her, not knowing he is a different version of him. When she later finds out Chaldea's mission to save the world, she apologizes.

* The Bunny Phenomenon from ''VideoGame/RabiRibi'', which causes everyone in the area to become obsessed with bunnies to the point of attacking bunny-girl Erina on sight. WordOfGod is that it was written into the story as an excuse for boss fights with characters who would never attack Erina otherwise. A lesser instigator is the fact that Erina is continuously mistaken for one of those "bunny-loving weirdos" at the UPRPRC due to her ears (bunnies are rare in the world of ''Rabi-Ribi'', and [[BalefulPolymorph polymorphed]] bunny-girls even moreso,) and a few characters hate the UPRPRC with a passion and attack her on sight.

* You can play the role of TheChessmaster inciting three factions to fight each other and profiting in ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' Battle of Bunker Hill quest. Although you are initially sent there by the Institute to recapture escaped [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots synths]], you can inform [[WellIntentionedExtremist the Brotherhood of Steel]] who want to KillEmAll instead, as well as the [[SlaveLiberation Railroad, who are the ones hiding the synths there]]. Cue a three way battle between Brotherhood troops in PoweredArmor, Institute SkeleBot9000 troops and Railroad heavies with armored trench coats and {{Wave Motion Gun}}s, while you can [[PassThePopcorn sit back and watch]]. Once the fight is over, regardless of who wins, you can loot all those PoweredArmor pieces, armored long coats, expensive Gauss rifles, synth components and laser weapons from all the corpses, making a huge ton of caps. Furthermore, Bunker Hill can become an allied settlement.

* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'':
** In the Subspace Emissary, Mario and Pit fight Link and Yoshi when one team finds the other standing over the dissolving fake trophy of either Zelda or Peach. Which team finds which depends on the player's actions. In both cases, the misunderstanding is eventually cleaned up and they join forces. This is one of several such misunderstandings that occur throughout the Subspace Emissary, most of which involving Meta Knight (i.e., Marth, Lucario, almost with Snake). There's almost one between Fox and Sheik, but it is [[DefiedTrope broken up]] before an actual fight can occur by [[TheChick Peach]]. ''With tea.'' The use of this strategy by a player, during a multiplayer match, is the bane of StopHavingFunGuys everywhere.

* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' introduces many of the characters this way. In the FightingGame ''Immaterial and Missing Power'', many of the heroes already know each other but still assume the other is a villain.
** As well as the follow-up fighter ''Scarlet Weather Rhapsody'' and its expansion, the versus-shooter ''Phantasmagoria of Flower View'' is also very guilty of this.
** In ''Imperishable Night'', the 4th stage boss is either [[TheProtagonist Reimu or Marisa]], who attack your party for causing the titular imperishable night. In truth, the team you pick ''did'' do this, but only because of the ''real'' incident: the corrupted moon, and are trying to buy time. Not that Reimu and Marisa are willing to ''listen'' to that reasoning, though. In fact, they are either oblivious to the moon problem, or immediately blame ''you'' for it once you bring it up.

* In ''Videogame/JablessAdventure'', neither of the first two bosses are bad guys. Lumber Jacques mistakes you for a walking tree (and after you defeat him, he gives you a powerup to apologize). Then Rutherford Goldbeard thinks you're a cattle rustler (and/or a brain squid victim) and attacks you to defend his property.
* Happens in the opening of ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'' where the Master Chief notices a cloaked elite and moves in to attack it until Johnson stops him saying that the Arbiter is with the humans. The Arbiter was cloaked because he was on reconnaissance.

* The Sith Warrior can do this in an early mission in ''Videogame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic''. The player is sent to protect a package his master is receiving. Two gangs appear, intending to steal it, but it turns out they hate each other. They actually discuss working together to defeat the Sith/Imperial forces guarding the package, but a few clever words from the player will set them at each other's throats; they wipe each other out completely in a cutscene.

* Mega Man first met his brother, Protoman, under these circumstances in ''VideoGame/MegaMan3''. Also, Duo for ''VideoGame/MegaMan8''. Also, an impending fight between ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' and Zero has been hinted upon ever since X2. (Though in a non-canon process just before the final battle in that case.) It was again touched upon in X4 before finally taking place in X5, and by extension, both X6. (And not ''VideoGame/MegaManZero 1'' and ''3'', since [[spoiler:that's a copy]].)

* The plot of ''VideoGame/BlazblueCrossTagBattle'' throws the heroes of Franchise/{{Blazblue}}, Franchise/{{Persona}}, VideoGame/UnderNightInBirth and WebAnimation/{{RWBY}} into an alternate dimension that resembles their respective worlds mixed into one. A mysterious entity reveals that there exist four special Keystones, one for each world; the side that gathers them all will be allowed to return home. So the race is on to gather the Keystones and possibly also identify and confront the mysterious entity.