History ParentalAbandonment / VideoGames

*** Flonne's parents are met in [[NoExportForYou the Japan only]] [[DisgaeaNovels novels.]]

* ''TouhouProject'' proudly features [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters hundreds of characters]], most of which live in [[TrueCompanions what are functionally adoptive families]] of RagtagBandOfMisfits. You can count on one hand how many characters even have parents ''ever mentioned to have existed'' in the entire course of the series. Since many characters are {{youkai}}, such as a wild animal or inanimate object such as an umbrella given sentience through age and magic power, many of these characters perfectly understandably never remember their parents. Still, the only family ties any characters who appear ever have are direct blood siblings.

*** Meanwhile, the relationship between Marisa and Mima may be one of the biggest mysteries in Touhou. In the PC-98 games, Marisa referred to Mima by ''[[JapaneseHonorifics the extremely respectful -sama honorific]]''. One the one hand, this was [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness her first]] [[CharacterizationMarchesOn and second appearances.]] On the other hand ''this is the most respect Marisa has shown to anyone ever.'' Fans generally have them as teacher and student, often crossing over into [[ChildrenRaiseYou a pseudo-familial relationship]], which becomes ParentalAbandonment for Marisa when Mima is PutOnABus. Finally, that song in ''Dolls In Pseudo Paradise'' with the discription that likely refers to Marisa and her mother? [[LukeIAmYourFather It's Mima's]] {{Leitmotif}}, [[LukeIAmYourFather "Reincarnation".]]

* ''AnimalCrossing'' inverts this trope. Your mom still writes to you.

** Jakob and Gideon loose their mother, the Masked King lost his father, and both Fyra and Kainé were abandoned by their parents.

* Depending on the version of ''NieR'', either both Yonah and Nier have lost both their parents (''Replicant''), or Yonah has lost her mother and her father Nier spends a very good deal of time searching for a cure for her condition (''Gestalt'').
** Jakob and Gideon loose their mother, the Masked King lost his father, and both Fyra and Kaine were abandoned by their parents.

* Eroge ''SnowSakura'', Yuuji Tachibana has jerkass parents who force him to move from Tokyo to Hokkaido to live with an uncle and a {{tsundere}} female cousin while they have a nice, long holiday in Hawaii.

* The ''VideoGame/MassEffect'' squad is often nicknamed the "SSV Daddy Issues." ''There is a very good reason for this.''

** Liara never knew her [[HasTwoMommies "father"]] and her mother [[spoiler: was brainwashed into joining the BigBad of ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'']]. The "Lair of the Shadow Broker" {{DLC}} for the second game all but confirms Liara's dad's identity ([[spoiler:Matriarch Aethyta, the bartender at Eternity on Illium]]), and, in the third game, you can encourage Liara to talk to her.

** Ashley's father is also dead, but it's never said how.
** Tali's mom died several years before the beginning of the story, and her father (an Admiral of the Migrant Fleet), while not having ''abandoned'' Tali, was emotionally distant for most of her life. Then, in the second game, [[spoiler:Shepard and Tali find her father's corpse on the science ship he was working on, killed by the geth he was experimenting on in order to "give his daughter the homeworld."]]

** In ''[[LaPucelle La Pucelle Tactics]]'', Prier's and Cullotte's parents were killed in a wagon accident years before the game begins. Homard became a SkyPirate to defeat the demon who injured his father and attacked his kingdom, [[spoiler:Marl Kingdom, making him the grandson of Cornet from [[{{Ptitlebqlt761jc57w}} Rhapsody]]]]

------

* ''TouhouProject'' proudly features [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters hundreds of characters]], most of which live in [[{{nakama}} what are functionally adoptive families]] of RagtagBandOfMisfits. You can count on one hand how many characters even have parents ''ever mentioned to have existed'' in the entire course of the series. Since many characters are {{youkai}}, such as a wild animal or inanimate object such as an umbrella given sentience through age and magic power, many of these characters perfectly understandably never remember their parents. Still, the only family ties any characters who appear ever have are direct blood siblings.

* Many fans of ''{{Zelda}}'' have expressed curiosity as to where Link's parents are during ''any'' of his adventures. This is perhaps most glaring in the original game in the series; since ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'' is stated to be taking place a couple years after the original game, and the game's manual clearly remarks that Link is now sixteen years old, one has to wonder how young he was the first time around.

* Many fans of ''Zelda'' have expressed curiosity as to where Link's parents are during ''any'' of his adventures. This is perhaps most glaring in the original game in the series; since ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'' is stated to be taking place a couple years after the original game, and the game's manual clearly remarks that Link is now sixteen years old, one has to wonder how young he was the first time around.

* Subverted in ''Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete'', one of the rare {{RPG}}s to do so. The main character, Alex, not only has both parents intact, they manage to survive to the end of the game.

** This sort of thing hits ''Birth by Sleep'' even harder. None of the [=PCs=] mention any relatives - Master Eraqus seems to be the only father figure Terra has, and Ven was basically adopted by Eraqus, Terra and Aqua after losing his memory. [[spoiler: After Xehanort murders Eraqus and tries to do the same to Aqua and Ven, Terra demands "Was my teacher - no, my father not enough for you?!", suggesting he really doesn't have any other parental figures.]]

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'': Tifa's mom died when she was six years old, leading her to throw herself off a mountain, Cloud's mom and Tifa's dad were killed by Sephiroth, Cloud's dad is never mentioned. Aeris is not only an orphan, but the ''[[LastOfHisKind last of her race]].'' Barrett is raising a little girl, Marlene, the orphaned daughter of a former friend of his. Red XIII's father was turned to stone by monsters... am I forgetting any more?
*** You forgot the two optional characters (Yuffie is understandable). Vincent's dad was killed in a materia experiment performed by the woman he loves. Yuffie hates her father (who was a disgraced warrior after Wutai lost a war with Shinra) and left to find a way to restore honor to her village (somehow this involves thievery).
*** And then we have [[BigBad Sephiroth]], who was told that his mother, Jenova, died during childbirth. In truth, [[spoiler:he was taken away from his biological mother shortly after he was born. She then tried to commit suicide, but failed, and then sealed herself away in a crystal to atone for her misdeeds. His real father, [[MadScientist Hojo]], neglected to ever mention that he was his father.]]

*** Zack is an inversion: ''he'' abandoned his parents in order to join SOLDIER, without their knowledge. They still have no clue as to what the hell happened to their son (as we assume that Cloud and company never bothered to fill them in).

** Danette's parents in ''SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters'' were killed by Thurists. Gig has no parents, being a god, and Revya has no parents. In his/her ''past'' life, [[spoiler:his/her mother died 200 years and his/her father, Lord Median, is currently a zombie.]] [[spoiler:Tricia]], Levin, and Euphoria were also orphaned at a young age. [[spoiler:It should be noted that Trish was eventually adopted for the purpose of being raped at the age of 17 (Whether or not this happens depends on which path you chose) and Levin and Euphoria were being used by the World Eater Raksha so that he could put his EvilPlan into action as his body couldn't move.]]

*** Even better, Capcom has revealed that [[spoiler: his father is Vergil, who we all know what happened to. Considering the third game's events, Nero was no doubt literally abandoned by his father.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Halo}}'''s Master Chief is taken away from his parents at a young age to be raised by the military.
** There's more to that. The military made sure that his parents won't search for him by creating a flash clone. While flash cloning works perfectly for stuff like replacement organs, cloning an entire human is problematic since the accelerated growth results in the clone succumbing to metabolic cascade faliure after a few months.
* {{Ratchet|AndClank}} was pretty much raised by himself. His [[DisappearedDad father]] was dead since Ratchet was a baby, and nothing is known of his {{m|issingMom}}other except that she was there at some time. So he grew up without knowing his parents on a [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything backwater]] [[StarWars desert planet]]... not that he [[AngstWhatAngst cares in]] [[BadassNormal the slightest.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'', every member of SEES has parents who are either distant or dead. Of course, that makes it a lot easier to go live in a dorm full of teenagers and a creepy old guy, and ''a lot'' easier to go out at midnight on a near daily basis.

* [[MetalGearSolid Otacon's]] mother died while he was still young, his father committed suicide (for which Otacon blames himself) and his stepmother [[spoiler:seduced him into having sex with her.]] Throw in his [[StuffedInTheFridge notorious bad luck with women]] and I think we just about have the god of [[TheWoobie woobiedom]] on our hands.
** And where do we even begin with Solid Snake...

* Notably averted in ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia:'' Not only are both of Vyse's parents alive, he's on good terms with them, and they encourage him to go out adventuring.

* ''TouhouProject'' proudly features [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters hundreds of characters]], most of which live in [[{{nakama}} what are functionally adoptive families]] of RagtagBandOfMisfits. You can count on one hand how many characters even have parents ''ever mentioned to have existed'' in the entire course of the series. Of course, since many characters are {{youkai}}, such as a wild animal or inanimate object such as an umbrella given sentience through age and magic power, many of these characters perfectly understandably never remember their parents. Still, the only family ties any characters who appear ever have are direct blood siblings.
** Marisa Kirisame was abandoned, or rather, forced out of her home by her family when she decided she wanted to be a CuteWitch. Her father is mentioned to still be alive, and living in the human village, while Marisa lives alone in the woods, a KleptomaniacHero just to make ends meet. It's interesting to note that the Touhou music CD ''Dolls in Pseudo Paradise'' there is a song's description a story about a western-style mansion in a forest that appears to be referring to Marisa and her mother.

* To elaborate on the brief example for ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius'' listed above, aside from Ike, Mist, and Soren being parentless (well, Soren had both parents alive for some time, but unknowingly participated in the killing of his actual father, who had disowned him at birth)...

** Jakob and Gideon loose their mother, the Masked King lost his father, and both Fyra and Kaine were literally abandoned by their parents.

* ''VideoGame/StarFox'' has quite a bit of this:
** [[TheHero Fox]]: Father [[NeverFoundTheBody may or may not be dead]] (Originally fought [[BigBad Andross]] alongside his old team and was left for dead by [[CompleteMonster Pigma]]; he wound up not escaping). His mother, according to WordOfGod is dead; an old NintendoPower comic theorizes that [[spoiler:she was [[MurderByMistake killed by accident by a car bomb meant for James,]] a trap set by Andross]]. WordOfGod in Japan states that James [=McCloud=] is truly dead.
** [[TheChick Krystal]]: [[LastOfHisKind Entire planet destroyed, parents included.]] Not that it bothers her (or at least is shown to)...
** [[TheLancer Falco]]: No mention of family whatsoever.
** [[TheSmartGuy Slippy]]: Father [[GadgeteerGenius Beltino]] is alive; mother not mentioned.
** And the entire [[AntiHero Star Wolf team]] has no mentioning of their families either.

* Many fans of ''The LegendOfZelda'' have expressed curiosity as to where Link's parents are during ''any'' of his adventures. This is perhaps most glaring in the original game in the series; since ''Zelda II: The Adventure of Link'' is stated to be taking place a couple years after the original game, and the game's manual clearly remarks that Link is now sixteen years old, one has to wonder how young he was the first time around.
** Some of the games, however, do give Link other relatives -- he had a grandmother and a sister in ''The Wind Waker'', a grandfather in ''The Minish Cap'', and an uncle in ''A Link to the Past''. Additionally, the ExpandedUniverse of ''Link to the Past'' states that his parents are deceased, but had been Hylian Knights (yes, both of them). ''Ocarina of Time'' also says his mother died and left him to be cared for by the Deku Tree before succumbing to unspecified injuries, his father is never mentioned. The other games seem to assume that Link just came into existence on his own.
** Considering how ''Wind Waker'' Link's grandmother reacted to his quest to save Aryll (becoming ill with grief and anxiety), it's not too hard to imagine why he's an orphan in a lot of these games. It avoids the FridgeHorror element of asking what kind of parent would allow their young son to go off and experience all of that.

* ''DragonQuest'' series
** [[DragonQuestII Princess of Moonbrooke's]] father sacrifices his life to save his daughter from the BigBad.
** [[DragonQuestIII The Hero III's]] father dies in a heroic battle with TheBigBad.
** [[DragonQuestIV The Hero IV]] has a loving family until the parents are killed off at the beginning of his/her chapter.

** [[DragonQuestV The Hero V]] doesn't know his mother. [[spoiler:His father takes him on a quest to find her. Then Pankraz is killed out, telling TheHero to search for her mother before her die, thus the major objective of the game after the TimeSkip.]]

** [[DragonQuestVI IThe Hero VI]] [[spoiler:that you control.]] has only his sister.
** [[DragonQuestVIII The Hero VIII]] doesn't seem to have any parents. [[spoiler:His relatives are dragons.]]

* Two of the three possible origins of ''MassEffect'''s Commander Shepard involve parental abandonment: in one, both of Shepard's parents were killed when slavers raided the colony they lived in, and in the other, Shepard grew up on the streets of Earth and never knew his or her parents at all. Likewise, Liara never knew her "father" and her mother [[spoiler: was brainwashed into joining the BigBad]]; Wrex never mentions his mother, but does explain that his father [[spoiler: betrayed and tried to murder him, causing Wrex to kill him]].
** It's also revealed that Tali's [[spoiler: mother has snuffed it, and has an emotionally distant father.]] Ashley's [[spoiler: father also died, but it's never said how]]. Garrus's mother is never mentioned in the game, but his father is.[[hottip:*:We find out about his mother in his Shadow Broker dossier: she's dying of an incurable disease.]]
*** Inverted by Kaidan, though, as both his parents are alive and well, and solved his token Daddy Issues before the game even began.
** ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', meanwhile, turns this trope UpToEleven:
*** Miranda [[spoiler: never had a mother -- she was created using her father's DNA, his Y chromosone altered with traits from a number of women]], and she left her father at the age of 16 and hasn't spoken to him since.
*** Jacob's father was the Executive Officer of an freighter who [[spoiler: disappeared in 2176, almost nine years ago. During the course of the game, Shepard discovers that he set himself up as the cult-like leader of the crash's survivors. Of the three options the player has of dealing with him, two lead to his death.]]
*** Jack never knew [[spoiler:her]] parents, having been raised [[spoiler: in a laboratory and experimented upon to create the ultimate biotic.]]
*** Grunt's father [[spoiler: created him to be the "perfect" krogan using DNA from himself and several prominent krogan. His "father" is killed before Grunt leaves his growth pod.]]
*** Thane, on the other hand, [[spoiler: abandoned his son after his wife was killed by slavers that were trying to get to him. Shepard can reunite father and son during the course of the game.]] During this mission you learn that [[spoiler: [=CSec=] Captain Bailey has his own experience of this trope, although he never elaborates beyond asking if you think that Thane is the only father to screw up raising a son.]]
*** And finally, Tali's father [[spoiler: dies after the geth he was experimenting on became sentient and broke free.]]

* The ''AceAttorney'' series adores this trope, especially when it can be used for a murder case. Phoenix Wright himself is one of the few main characters who ''doesn't'' seem to suffer from this, as his parents are never mentioned at all.
** Edgeworth's father [[spoiler: was killed by Manfred von Karma 15 years ago]], which the fourth case of the first game is centered around, and since Miles was adopted by von Karma it can be assumed his mother is dead as well.
** Mia and Maya's father are never mentioned, though the latter is implied to have left them due to Kurain Village's female-centered way of life. The Fey sisters' mother went missing during the events that are the background of the first game, though [[spoiler: she reappears as Elise Deauxnim and is killed in the third game]].
** Pearl Fey's father left the village for similar reasons, [[spoiler:and then Pearl's mother gets arrested for assisting in a murder so she's out both parents. Morgan Fey's first husband also left the village, taking Dahlia and Iris with him. Later, he abandoned Iris at the mountain temple]]
** Apollo Justice's family is completely unknown. In the fourth case, [[spoiler: Thalassa Gramarye is revealed to be his mother, and he is actually Trucy's half-brother as she is Thalassa and her second husban's child]]. Trucy never knew her mother, and her father, Zak Gramarye, [[spoiler: abandoned her at age 9 to save himself from a guilty verdict. She never sees him again, while]] Phoenix takes her in as his adoptive daughter.
** In ''Investigations'' this happens [[spoiler: two cases in a row.]] Lauren Paups never knew her father since [[spoiler: he was arrested for murder when she was very young and then came to work at the same house as her under a false name. She never found out who he was until (once again) after his murder.]] In the next case we have [[spoiler: the hunt for Kay Faraday's father's murderer, seven years before the rest of the game.]]. Kay's mother is never mentioned, so it can be assumed she's either dead or not living with Kay's father

* Plenty of VisualNovel and {{Eroge}} protagonists have dead or otherwise absent parents, but Ryo Sasaki from ''{{Crescendo}}'' stands out -- not only did his biological parents put him up for adoption when he was little, his adoptive parents died in a car accident a few years before the events of the game. He's been living with his older stepsister ever since.

** In ''{{Disgaea 4}}'', [[spoiler:Fuka's mother died long ago and her father is always at work, though it turns out that her father was creating a little sister for her.]]

*** Thane, on the other hand, [[spoiler: abandoned his son after his wife was killed by slavers that were trying to get to him. Shepard can reunite father and son during the course of the game.]]

* To elaborate on the brief example for ''FireEmblemTellius'' listed above, aside from Ike, Mist, and Soren being parentless (well, Soren had both parents alive for some time, but unknowingly participated in the killing of his actual father, who had disowned him at birth)...

** VideoGame/StarFox: Fox's father is mentioned in the intro, assumed to be killed by Andross. His mother is only mentioned in the comics, though. Other than that, direct relatives are scare in the VideoGame/StarFox setting, though. Slippy has a father that isn't [[AllThereInTheManual canonically]] mentioned until ''Assault'', Peppy eventually becomes a father (the wife is only mentioned in one ending in ''Command''), but that's about it.

** In the Crystal Dynamics reboot, Richard Croft [[DisappearedDad disappeared in Cambodia]] (later revealed to have been killed by Natla), while Amelia Croft got pulled into the Underworld and turned into a zombie.

* RuneFactory3 nearly takes this UpToEleven. ''No one'' has two parents, and most of the cast has none whatsoever, and there is absolutely no explanation. The missing relatives are as follows: Raven, Gaius, Pia, Kuruna, Oromis, Zaid, Daria, Shara, Monica, and Marion have no parents. Sakuya and Karina have no father. Sofia, Evelyn, Colette, and Rusk have no mother. To the best of my knowledge, the only character who actually acknowledges the fact that she has no living family is Raven. [[spoiler: The hero's father gets one line of dialogue in a flashback, and the hero calls for his mother in the same flashback, but otherwise they never appear.]]
* VideoGame/StarFox has quite a bit of this:

* To elaborate on the brief example for FireEmblemTellius listed above, aside from Ike, Mist, and Soren being parentless (well, Soren had both parents alive for some time, but unknowingly participated in the killing of his actual father, who had disowned him at birth)...

* AnimalCrossing inverts this trope. Your mom still writes to you.
* DragonQuest series

* Depending on the version of ''NieR'', either both Yonah and Nier have lost both their parents(''Replicant''), or Yonah has lost her mother and her father Nier spends a very good deal of time searching for a cure for her condition(''Gestalt'').

** It's the same situation for Ninten in ''VideoGame/EarthboundZero'' game. Although there was a (ultimately abandoned) SequelHook that seemed to imply his father would be more involved.

* ''{{Tales of Symphonia}}'' and [[TalesOfSymphoniaDawnOfTheNewWorld its sequel]] features this in spades:
** Lloyd: Mother killed, adopted by a dwarf. [[spoiler:Finds out later that his father [[MercyKill killed his mother to save him]], is still alive, and [[OedipusRex is the right-hand man of the Big Bad.]]]]
** Colette: spends [[spoiler:the first third of the game]] under the belief that her loving father and grandmother are merely a foster family and that her true father is an angel -- [[spoiler:and said angel is something of an uncaring prick towards her. Subverted once we learn that the angel was lying (or as he claims, the characters just misinterpreted him using "daughter" as a priest would) -- and her foster family is really her family.]].

* In the ''[=~Baldur's Gate~=]'' series, your character is raised by a foster father, and never knew who his or her mother was (the series, in fact, gives two conflicting descriptions of who she was; both might be true). As for your blood father, well, better you didn't know: [[spoiler:the freaking god of murder]].

** ''FinalFantasyV'': Bartz lost both of his parents to natural causes before the events of the game, while Lenna lost her mother in similar circumstances, and then [[spoiler:her father is killed by Exdeath partway into the game]]. Faris initially has no knowledge of who her birth parents are, having apparently been orphaned in a shipwreck and raised by pirates. It later turns out that [[spoiler:she's actually Lenna's older sister, a fact which is confirmed just in time for her to watch their father die.]] Poor old Krile has it the worst however, as not only did she lose both of her parents prior to the game's events, but her last surviving relative [[spoiler:Galuf, her grandfather, dies battling Exdeath in the game's TearJerker moment, leaving her completely alone in the world. Well, apart from the other player characters, anyway]]
** ''FinalFantasyVI'': Relm's mother died and her father ran away and became a {{Ninja}} mercenary with a pet dog who's MadeOfIron, although Relm was raised by her grandfather - Relm's true parentage is never explicitly stated, averting a LukeIAmYourFather scene. Gau's mother died in childbirth, causing his father to go insane and abandon him on the Veldt. Terra [[spoiler:loses her parents both at the same time--her mother [[DubNameChange Madeline/Madonna]] is killed when TheEmpire raids the Esper world, and her father Maduin, being an Esper, is taken by the Empire's scientists as a laboratory subject who dies over the course of the game]]. Edgar and Sabin [[spoiler:lose their mother in their very early childhood, and their father dies in their teens, strongly implied to have been killed by TheEmpire]]. Locke's mother is never mentioned and his father is dead by the start of the game.
** ''FinalFantasyVII'': Tifa's mom died when she was six years old, leading her to throw herself off a mountain, Cloud's mom and Tifa's dad were killed by Sephiroth, Cloud's dad is never mentioned. Aeris is not only an orphan, but the ''[[LastOfHisKind last of her race]].'' Barrett is raising a little girl, Marlene, the orphaned daughter of a former friend of his. Red XIII's father was turned to stone by monsters... am I forgetting any more?
*** You forgot the two optional characters ([[TheScrappy Yuffie]] is understandable). Vincent's dad was killed in a materia experiment performed by the woman he loves. Yuffie hates her father (who was a disgraced warrior after Wutai lost a war with Shinra) and left to find a way to restore honor to her village (somehow this involves thievery).

** In ''{{Final Fantasy VIII}}'', almost all of the main cast are orphans, which becomes something of a plot point.

** ''FinalFantasyX'' is another winner.

** And ''FinalFantasyXII''. Vaan and Penelo are both orphans (Vaan's parents died in a plague, Penelo's parents and Vaan's PromotionToParent brother died in war with Archadia). Ashe's parents (and presumably the rest of the royal family) were wiped out two years ago. And Balthier keeps dropping vague references to unresolved issues with his own dad [[spoiler: which are perfectly understandable, since his old man Cid is now a mad scientist who'll stop at nothing to unlock the secrets of immortality and ultimate power]]. Interestingly, while it's AllThereInTheManual that Basch ''believes'' his mother to be dead (his father is never mentioned), there's no confirmation one way or the other.
** In ''FinalFantasyXIII'' Lightning's and Serah's parents died some years ago, causing Lightning to deny her emotions to care for her younger sister.

** In ''[[{{Ptitlebqlt761jc57w}} Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure]]'', Cornet's mother, Cherie, died protecting her when she was young.

** In ''DisgaeaHourOfDarkness'', Flonne's parents are never mentioned. Etna is an orphan, and the closest thing she had to a father figure, the Overlord and Laharl's dad, died two years ago. Laharl's mother died before the game began [[spoiler:when she sacrificed herself to cure him of an incurable disease]] and his father, the Overlord, died choking on a black pretzel [[spoiler:which is just a rumor and actually died after sealing away Baal. Both his parents, however, do return to watch over him...though his mother is a Prinny and his father is TheDandy GoldfishPoopGang]]. Jennifer was orphaned, and her adopted father is TheDragon.

* The original {{Grandia}} has a few. Justin lives with his mother (his father, who gave Justin his {{McGuffin}}, is mentioned as having passed away), Sue is an orphan who lives with her aunt and uncle, the parents of Feena [[spoiler:and her sister Leen]] are never mentioned, and Rapp's parents [[spoiler:were petrified when the original Cafu village turned to stone]]. The rest of the cast is of adult age (and a few several times older than that, the oldest being a few centuries old), though it's also worth mentioning that Colonel Mullen's mother, a humanoid that General Baal married in order to learn ancient secrets about the ancient world, is also dead.

* From the makers of {{AceAttorney}} we then get {{GhostTrick}} wich goes all out in taking away poor Camila's parents in the cruelest ways imaginable.[[spoiler: However, thanks to the timeline-altering efforts of the two most loyal pets ever she ends up living happily ever after with both of them alive. Fans of {{AceAttorney}} collectively cried tears of joy upon witnessing this unexpected outcome.]]

* ''{{Halo}}'''s Master Chief is taken away from his parents at a young age to be raised by the military.

* [[RatchetAndClank Ratchet]] was pretty much raised by himself. His [[DisappearedDad father]] was dead since Ratchet was a baby, and nothing is known of his [[MissingMom mother]] except that she was there at some time. So he grew up without knowing his parents on a [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything backwater]] [[StarWars desert planet]]... not that he [[AngstWhatAngst cares in]] [[BadassNormal the slightest.]]

* In [[{{Persona3}} Persona 3]], every member of SEES has parents who are either distant or dead. Of course, that makes it a lot easier to go live in a dorm full of teenagers and a creepy old guy, and ''a lot'' easier to go out at midnight on a near daily basis.
* Jade's parents in ''VideoGame/{{Beyond Good and Evil}}'' disappeared mysteriously when she was an infant; she was raised by her father's best friend. [[spoiler:A FinalSpeech by an AlmostDeadGuy near the end of the game implies that they were killed trying to protect her... And the BigBad himself implies that she ''never had any,'' due to her nature as a {{MacGuffin Girl}}.]]
* Joey La Rocca, the protagonist of ''TheSopranos Road to Respect,'' is the illegitimate child to Big Pussy Bonpensiero ([[{{Canon Foreigner}} although he's never seen on the show]]).

** ''[[MassEffect Mass Effect 2]]'', meanwhile, turns this trope UpToEleven:

* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in ''EarthBound''. Ness's parents are alive and present throughout the adventure, apparently pleased that their son is engaging in a potentially lethal quest to save the world. However, his father is never seen for the entirety of the game, only talking to Ness through phone conversations to save the game.
** It's the same situation for Ninten in the first ''Mother''/''EarthBound Zero'' game. Although there was a (ultimately abandoned) SequelHook that seemed to imply his father would be more involved.
** ''Mother 3''. Don't get us started on ''Mother 3''. In the same night Lucas loses both his mother and his twin. He still has his father, but Flint's reserved, and everyday is out either at his wife's grave or still searching for his son.
* Dustil Onasi in ''{{Knights of the Old Republic}}'' thinks his father Carth abandoned him. Carth at least had something of an excuse, since he believed his son had been killed during the Sith bombardment of Telos.

** All heroes in all versions ([[VideoGameRemake so far]]) of ''FinalFantasyI'' are amnesiac and, thus do not remember their parents. True, this doesn't necessarily imply that they are dead... but the overall effect is the same, and given the series' track record...
** ''FinalFantasyII'': Maria and Leon's birth parents, who are also Firion and Guy's adoptive parents, get slaughtered by Imperial troops right at the start of the game. As for Guy and Firion--Guy was abandoned by his ''actual'' parents at birth and raised by wild animals (specifically a beast named Mauza) until Maria and Leon's family took him in. They also took in Firion, who had been orphaned in the city of Salamand. Moreover, Josef and Ricard are fathers, [[spoiler:and they both die during the course of the game, leaving Ricard's son without a father and Josef's daughter without either parent.]]
** ''FinalFantasyIII'': The four main characters all turn out to have been orphaned by the same event -- [[spoiler:Cid's airship was torn apart by the cataclysm that froze most of the world in time, and only the four children and Cid himself survived the event, with their birth parents all perishing.]] They aren't the only ones either, since Prince Alus had already lost his mother some time before the events of the game, and then [[spoiler:his father, King Gorn, ''tries to kill him as he sleeps'' and eventually has to commit suicide to prevent himself from carrying out the deed. At least Gorn was being controlled by Garuda, making his actions that bit less horrific.]]
** ''FinalFantasyIV'': ParentalAbandonment plays a big role in Theodor's transformation into Golbez and Cecil's adoption by the King of Baron. On the same day, Kluya died at the hands of angry humans and his wife Cecilia [[DeathByChildbirth died giving birth to Cecil]]. In addition, Rydia's mother is inadvertently killed by Cecil's hands near the start of the game. [[spoiler:She later finds a new family of sorts in the Land of Summoned Monsters.]] Kain's mother is never mentioned, and it's AllThereInTheManual that his father died when Kain was a child. Edge's parents [[spoiler:are turned into monsters by Dr. Lugae, and commit suicide upon realising what they have become.]] Edward's parents are both killed in the assault on Damcyan and are never seen by the player. Rosa's father is dead, but remarkably, her mother is still alive.

** ''FinalFantasyIX'': Zidane not only has no parents, but is phenotypically unique on Gaia (and in that game's verse, that's really saying something) and doesn't know anything about his origins. Garnet's an orphan who's been raised by Queen Brahne, who also dies part-way into the game. Vivi also is unique and unaware of his origins. Eiko is an orphan who lives alone in the ruins of her hometown... I think what we can take away from this is that Final Fantasy loves this trope.

* In most ''{{Pokemon}}'' games, the player character usually has a mom and a mom ''only''; whatever happened to dear old Dad is never explained. Averted quite noticeably in Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald, though -- not only is Dad still around, but he's a ''Gym Leader'', and yes, you do have to wail on Pappy for a badge. He does not go easy on his own son/daughter. [[ThatOneBoss Not. In. The. Least.]]

* Jade's parents in ''{{Beyond Good and Evil}}'' disappeared mysteriously when she was an infant; she was raised by her father's best friend. [[spoiler:A FinalSpeech by an AlmostDeadGuy near the end of the game implies that they were killed trying to protect her... And the BigBad himself implies that she ''never had any,'' due to her nature as a {{MacGuffin Girl}}.]]

* In the Spore cutscence for when for when your creature family migrates to a new nest, one of the adults will stay behind to watch over the eggs. Your creature then hatches and you have to find the new nest.
* Eroge ''SnowSakura'', Yuuji Tachibana has jerkass parents who force him to move from Tokyo to Hokkaido to live with an uncle and a {{tsundere}} female cousin while they have a nice, long holiday in Hawaii.

*** [[spoiler:The final boss Orphan]] [[CompletelyMissingThePoint should be one because of his name]].