History Main / ProtectionMission

* Numerous examples from FireEmblem. Most frequently, it's an incapacitated "Ally" NPC, or some other figure such as [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething Royals who aren't as talented as yours at fighting]]. While many missions are "Seize the throne", there are a few where it's inverted which would also fit this trope. Some of them are also [[LuckBasedMission Luck Based Missions]], since if you are unlucky, the character you are supposed to protect can get killed before you even have a chance to reach him/her.

* Several times in ''{{Conduit 2}}'', protagonist Michael Ford must protect the Free Drudge during the campaign.

* A (rather frustratingly difficult, at least compared to the rest of the game) battle towards the end of ''SakuraWars V: So Long, My Love'' has the party of [=PCs=] protecting various vital parts of an airship they're on.

* ''BattleCity'' series. Player has to protect the bird located in the bottom middle of the field from enemy tanks while staying alive as well.

* The classic arcade game ''MissileCommand''. "Defend Your Cities!"

* ''MetroidPrime 3: Corruption'' has a mission on Elysia during which you have to kill all the Space Pirates and their ships before they destroy the Spire Pod, which is carrying the bomb that you need to destroy the shield protecting the Leviathan Seed. You're standing ''on'' the Spire while it's being attacked, by the way.

* In ''{{Starcraft}}'', a few of the Zerg missions require you to protect a mysterious Chrysalis. Eventually it hatches, revealing [[spoiler:infested Kerrigan, who the Zerg had stolen in the penultimate mission of the Terran campaign]]. Only some of the missions technically count, as in the first few, it's small enough to be carried around by a Drone.

* Protecting Hawk while he disarms a nuclear bomb in ''SoldierOfFortune''.

* The entire point of Sector Z in ''StarFox64'' is that the Great Fox [[TooDumbToLive just stops in the middle of nowhere]] while the enemy fires 6 large missiles in 1-2-3 sequences at it. Thankfully, you have plenty of time to destroy each missile, and they always come from the same direction. This mission is also paid homage to in Level 8 of ''Star Fox Assault'', when you have to protect the Orbital Gate from a lot more missiles coming from all different directions.

* TotalAnnihilation features one in the Arm campaign, defending a large mine from attacking naval forces. It can rapidly become ThatOneLevel.

* In ''{{Solatorobo}}'', during Red's JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind, the software begins by creating a warmup for him from his memories. He winds up defending Elh from a bunch of bugs, seeing as that's what he considered the most laughably easy thing to come up with. A later simulation reuses the "don't let the bugs near Elh" objective, but that one was [[spoiler:a RescueRomance situation [[ShipperOnDeck specifically set up by Merveille]].]]

* ''VideoGame/TransformersDevastation'' has several sections where you must protect [[TheSmartGuy Wheeljack]] while he makes field repairs to something. His health regenerates when he's not taking damage, but on higher difficulty levels he's still fragile enough for it to be ThatOneMission.

* ''[[VideoGame/{{Banjo-Kazooie}} Banjo-Tooie]]'' had a mission involving protecting a pig from incoming sharks.

* In both of the ''ModernWarfare'' games, there is a mission where the player has to defend a stationary objective. In the first one, the player's Marine squad has to protect a M1 Abrams tank that has been disabled. If the enemy get close enough, they'll use satchel charges to blow it up. In the second game, the player's squad has to defend a portable hard drive as it downloads the contents of a terrorist leader's computers while dozens of mercenaries rappel in by helicopter to try and destroy it.

* At the climax of JadeEmpire, Silk Fox and Dawn Star (you control one) are defending a bridge while Kang the Mad sets up explosives.

* ''VideoGame/PointBlank'' has the "Protect [[SeriesMascot Dr. Dan and Dr. Don]] from the _____" stages, where you must shoot enemies to prevent them from knocking out the mascot you're protecting until the timer reaches 0.

* CallOfDutyGhosts has one in the "Clockwork" mission where you need to defend Hesh as he hacks the data center of the Federation base. You get a turret, several mines, claymores and tear gas, along with your teammates to help as the enemies try to flank you.

* ''FinalFantasyVI'' has a few parts like this. Once near the start of the game where you have to protect an unconscious Terra from Imperial troops, and again with a similar mechanic later on when you protect a frozen Esper from more Imperial troops.

* A recurring challenge in ''VideoGame/SpidermanShatteredDimensions'' is keeping NPCs alive while they open the next stage for you (after which, presumably, they escape). In the 2099 world, this is often a TwoKeyedLock, so you need to defend ''both'' NPCs simultaneously.

** In the sequel, you have to protect a laser drill while the Protoss send waves of troops against you. Fortunately, you get siege tanks in this mission, and you can aim the drill automatically, making short work of any enemy unit that's not in the fog of war.
** Ariel Hanson's missions involve you protecting a fleet of refugees from a variety of threats as they seek out a new homeworld. These threats range from infested zombie-like terrans to full-on zerg assaults to a purification squad helmed by Executor Selendis.
** [[spoiler:The final mission has you protect the Xel'naga artifact as it prepares to expunge the zerg influence from Char and deinfest Kerrigan. Naturally, she wants to wipe it out, and she will throw the kitchen sink at you to make certain you don't get to fire it off.]]

* ''MajorasMask'' requires you to protect milk jugs on the back of a wagon from Romani Ranch.

* ''WorldOfWarcraft'' has several of these. One where you have to protect a crystal from several waves of enemies, and another where you have to protect the Hourglass of Eternity, with some help from your future self. Later, you get to do it again, this time as the future self, helping your past self.

** ''{{Warcraft}}'' continues the long, glorious tradition. The final mission of ''Warcraft III'' is probably the most prominent: the object to be protected is ''the WorldTree''. Except you're not just protecting it -- you're protecting it while it gets rigged into a gigantic magical ''bomb'' meant for an archdemon. The mission is also fairly unique in that you get two allies with bases in front of the enemy's advance than you must try to aid to further protect the objective.

* In ''WolfQuest'', one of the missions is to protect your pups from the hungry coyotes and bears. It gets more difficult when you must [[EscortMission move them to the summer hunting grounds]] and an [[DeathFromAbove eagle]] decides they look tasty.

* ''AgeOfEmpiresII'' has a few in campaigns. In the El Cid one, one of your goals is actually to defend the ''body'' of El Cid because it was propped up on a horse to [[OfCorpseHesAlive convince people he was still alive]]. And yes, a dead body has hit points. Don't ask how. In almost any other scenario though, you're more likely to protect weaker cities or buildings.

** ''{{Warcraft}}'' continues the long, glorious tradition. The final mission of ''Warcraft III'' is probably the most prominent: the object to be protected is ''the WorldTree''. Except you're not just protecting it -- you're protecting it while it gets rigged into a gigantic magical ''bomb'' meant for an archdemon.