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| 14 | * ''VideoGame/AoOni'' has this with Megumi/Mika. In Version 1.0, she was still [[TheNotLoveInterest in love with Takuro]] (and they were an OfficialCouple), but with streaks of CowardlyLion. By Version 6.23, all she does is berate Hiroshi for thinking she'd go around the mansion with the monster still running around, then mutters "Takuro..." under her breath every time she's spoken to afterwards. [[spoiler:Then she dies]]. |
| 15 | * The ''[[VideoGame/ExaPico Ar tonelico]]'' series features an in-universe example. Any part of a Reyvateil's problems, desires, or what-have-you get blown to spectacular proportions in their Cosmospheres as each level of the Cosmosphere is goverened by that particular aspect of her personality. Outside of the Cosmospheres, however, the changes in character after you go in to their Cosmospheres are much more subtle. |
| 16 | * ''VideoGame/AtelierFirisTheAlchemistAndTheMysteriousJourney'' introduces Liane, Firis' CoolBigSis. Although she is very protective and affectionate towards her little sister, Liane also demonstrated other traits, such as being TheReliableOne when it comes to housework and having great skill with a bow and arrow. In the next game, ''VideoGame/AtelierLydieAndSuelleTheAlchemistsAndTheMysteriousPaintings'', Liane is defined almost entirely by her obsession with Firis, to the point of reaching IncestSubtext: nearly all of her dialogue involves Firis and how cute she is. |
| 17 | * Achmed Khan from ''VideoGame/BackyardSports'' was originally a great athlete who simply listened to rock music (although he had his headphones on everywhere). This quirk was run into the ground by later games, making him a guitar-wielding crazed fan, down to the fact that he could not focus due to loving music. |
| 18 | * Inverted in ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII'', where joining characters are fully developed, believable and understandable (with just small exceptions), while their counterparts 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. |
| 19 | ** 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 with y'all goofs and loves pinky pink clothes, whilst Dynaheir doth speaketh heavily in YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe. |
| 20 | * In ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'', both bear and bird had gone from a pair of relatively humorous, goofy video game characters to having more balanced and unique personalities. |
| 21 | ** Banjo started out as a very lazy bear but was portrayed as being physically active at all times and mostly grounded in reality. In the sequels, he's a lethargic, gluttonous slob who can't be bothered to do everything himself, sleeps a lot at any time, and will let Kazooie to do the work for him. ''Nuts & Bolts'' takes it further by making him almost incapable of doing something himself (he became extremely overweight because he did nothing but eat loads of food) and [[TheLoad a general hindrance to Kazooie]]. |
| 22 | ** Kazooie went from a snarky, cocky ActionGirl to a {{Tsundere}} with HairTriggerTemper who sees herself as more popular than everyone else (she, of course, has more moves than Banjo such as her Talon Trot). ''Nuts & Bolts'' has actually walked this back a bit, as Kazooie does care for everyone else and is fully capable of sharing and helping anyone, yet she still sees herself as the center of attention. |
| 23 | * Hammer the DungeonShop running military man from ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrow'' made ''one'' offhand comment about Yoko being "his type" in an optional conversation. Come the sequel game ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow'', and his ''entire character'' revolves around being a HopelessSuitor to her. |
| 24 | * The whole of ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer: [[VideOGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlertSeries Red Alert]]'' has undergone this. While some people complained that ''[[VideOGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3 Red Alert 3]]'' was ridiculously over the top compared to the previous games, it had already drifted dramatically starting with ''[[VideOGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2 Red Alert 2]]''. The original ''[[VideOGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert Red Alert]]'' had time travel, an ActionGirl, and some over-the-top technology and characters, but the game's overall feel was one of gritty war horrors as a desperate force of allies tried to hold back the endless hordes of a massive opposing force. ''Red Alert 2'' expanded on this with much more over the top stuff (the giant mind-controlled squids being particularly infamous) and pulpish units and scenarios. But the developers of ''Red Alert 3'' focused much more on the cheesy elements. |
| 25 | ** The ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianSeries Tiberium]]'' games have also undergone this, if more subtle. [[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianDawn The first game]] was a quasi-futuristic military strategy of the western nations against an elusive terrorist faction with stealth and laser technology. [[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianSun The second game]] threw the world into chaos, added jumpjet infantry, mecha, cyborgs, mutants and a super AI and attempted to explain Kane's origins. [[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberiumWars The third game]] went back to the original style, but left the super tanks, super weapons, lasers, stealth, and added mobile defense posts, {{Ninja}}, mad suicide bombers, and all sorts of walking, hovering and flying aliens, who subsequently got their asses kicked. The expansion of that game then re-added the mecha and cyborgs. [[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianTwilight The so far last game]] threw away base building and money and added PoweredArmor to everyone, while extrapolating nearly all unit concepts introduced in the series into one game. Talk about a ZigzaggedTrope. |
| 26 | * Essentially all of the cast in the ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'' franchise had devolved into [[TookALevelInDumbass dopier]], [[SadistShow more sociopathic]] caricatures of themselves as the series went on. This says nothing of the series' cultural nods; Crunch for example went from a somewhat aggressive tough guy with a subtle demeanor and voice mannerisms as a slight homage to Mr. T to basically being a complete parody. Even former sane straight men like Aku Aku and Coco turned into [[LargeHam melodramatic]] {{Jerkass}} [[GeniusDitz Genius Ditzes]] in the later titles, but perhaps most notable was Crash himself, who went from being a [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} wacky]] HeroicMime to a pancake-obsessed [[TheUnintelligible gibberish-speaking]] ditz. Fortunately, the ''[[VideoGame/CrashBandicootNSaneTrilogy N. Sane Trilogy]]'' rerails everyone back to their original selves. |
| 27 | ** Not long afterwards, ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot4ItsAboutTime'' took the Flanderization to the ''other'' extreme. Whethers the original run slowly exagerrated the premise that [[NotSoAboveItAll every character was shrewdly just as bumbling and flawed as Crash]] despite trying to run things more dignified than him, ''It's About Time'' slides mostly into their more serious sides, with Crash being the bumbling comic relief while most of the other characters are genuinely playing things dryly and competently, sometimes even outright ''dramatically''. Coco in particular is Crash's HyperCompetentSidekick and AlwaysSomeoneBetter, an exagerration of her competence even in her earlier pre-first Flanderization years. Only the death animations remain as CharacterCheck that most of Crash's buddies used to be comical ''at all''. |
| 28 | * Dante of ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' started out as a good mix of badass and JerkAss. He was certainly cocky and had a flair for showmanship, but still knew when to be serious, despite always having a few [[DeadpanSnarker snappy remarks]] prepared. Later games all but ditched the serious side of his personality, replacing it with more cockiness and one-liners. |
| 29 | ** This was mainly because of the fans' negative response to Dante in ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry2'', where he was nothing but serious and borderline anti-social. Creator/{{Capcom}} eventually explained this away by claiming ''[=DMC2=]'' takes place when Dante is much older and battle weary, putting it as the final game in the timeline. |
| 30 | ** It can also be easily explained with how ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry3DantesAwakening'' is the first chronologically, so he's going to be at his goofiest (and he does get serious when fighting Vergil). ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'' is basically just a normal day in his life, so he doesn't have any real reason to take it seriously (and again, he is serious when the situation calls for it; like his initial attack on Sanctus or when [[spoiler: Credo has just died]]); it's also set after the first game, when he's managed to surpass his father by killing Mundus, so he does have reason to be more full of himself and bring his old cocky personality closer to the forefront again. |
| 31 | ** Ultimately, it was finally explained and his personality was reeled back closer to how it was in [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry1 the first game]] in ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry5'' with the retcon placing ''2'' in between ''1'' and ''4'', explaining his personality in that game being the result of depression over having to kill his own brother Vergil, with his return to form in ''4'' being because seeing Nero made him feel a lot less alone. |
| 32 | * In the ''VideoGame/DinerDash'' series, Flo's frequent antagonist, the [=BigCorp=], is portrayed as a legitimate business, although the owner/CEO, Mr. Big, is a CorruptCorporateExecutive who is willing to engage in sabotage to get rid of his competitors so that he can monopolize the market and increase his own profits. Two of Flo's best-paying customers, Barb the businesswoman and Colin the cellphone addict, both work for Mr. Big, and they are decent people (even if Colin's cellphone conversations frequently bothers other customers), and in the other non-Diner Dash SpinOff titles, the corporation is treated as a neutral entity. In ''VideoGame/DinerDashAdventures'', however, the [=BigCorp=] has been reduced to an EvilInc who seems to enjoy wrecking the town [[ForTheEvulz for the heck of it]], and doesn't seem interested to capitalize on the destruction they cause. Barb is no longer associated with the corporation (instead helping her husband Gil run his restaurant, before running her own inn later on), while the newly introduced [=BigCorp=] employees are all CardCarryingVillain who brags about their various evil deeds. |
| 33 | * The ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' series always bring back the characters of the previous games as bonus characters. However, they always come back as flanderized versions of themselves. |
| 34 | ** The ur-example is Laharl, the protagonist of the first game. He starts out as an annoying, self-entitled brat but goes on to deal with a potent childhood trauma, stops shutting out his feelings, gains devoted allies, and even a {{Love Interest|s}}. He's still kind of a jerk at the end, but you can tell he's [[CharacterDevelopment matured.]] When he appears in the sequels he's still the Overlord, but he acts like a annoying brat who wants to be the main character again for more screentime and related benefits, such as being able to win every battle because the player can just reset and grind more until he wins. |
| 35 | ** Etna starts as King Krichevskoy's vassal, who, after the king's death, is given the mission of raising Laharl. Long story short, she starts off loathing the prince for his brattiness but gains respect for him as he matures, and eventually settles into being his right-hand demon. Cue ''Disgaea 2'', where she leaves Laharl's service in a quest for personal power because she hates him. Then there's her fondness for sweets; while her sweet tooth is mentioned once or twice in the original, some later games (e.g., ''VideoGame/PrinnyCanIReallyBeTheHero'') depict her as sweet-obsessed in search of some legendary dessert. Her ACupAngst also got blown out of proportion, from a single scold at Laharl for mentioning that she doesn't trigger his "sexy body weakness" to being completely delusional about having a "nice body" and constantly arguing about it with Flonne. |
| 36 | ** Mao always had a MadScientist vibe going on (even achieving ecstasy by doing "experiments" on his subjects), but in his game his main quest was to deal with his suppressed memories of causing his father's death, kill his father's murderer and become ready to be the next Overlord and finally letting his father's soul rest. In the later games he is still the Overlord, but all he does is look for subjects for his experiments and moan in pleasure just by thinking of what he could do with them. |
| 37 | ** ''VideoGame/DisgaeaD2ABrighterDarkness'' reveals that Laharl has ''not'' lost his CharacterDevelopment, and he's still more mature than he seems, bonding with his sister Sicily, worrying about Etna, and eventually impressing the Krichevskoy Group (who believe he is an InadequateInheritor) enough to accept him as Overlord. Everyone's first impression of him is still that he's a tiresome brat, though. |
| 38 | * A common fan complaint with the writing of ''VideoGame/Destiny2'' is that many characters have been flanderized and made less interesting. An example from the ''Curse of Osiris'' content is Brother Vance, being turned into a concerningly obsessive Osiris fanboy who is dismissive towards... well, basically anyone that isn't Osiris. |
| 39 | ** A much bigger example of someone being flanderized is Cayde 6. During the Taken King era of Destiny, his character became much more fleshed being that of a comedic relief character who was serious when he needed to be. However when Destiny 2 came out, he became even more of a comedic jokester who hardly took things seriously. He was often compared to [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Expy Deadpool.]] |
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| 41 | * In ''Franchise/DragonAge'': |
| 42 | ** Oghren suffered this in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening''. In ''Origins'', his alcoholism and BoisterousBruiser antics were all a front for the depression that seized him after his wife divorced him and he became an outcast to his family and the kingdom of Orzammar. But your friendship and support cause him to become a better person, as he dedicates himself to your cause and reconnects with an old girlfriend. But 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. |
| 43 | ** Isabela in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' is an in-universe example, actually, she's a rather complex character with [[HiddenHeartOfGold a buried honorable side]] under the greedy pirate, but all everyone besides [[PlayerCharacter Hawke]] can focus on is [[ReallyGetsAround how many people she's had sex with]]. According to her she does this on purpose, and the number of partners is somewhat inflated in rumor. |
| 44 | * King K. Rool in the ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' games started out as a generic BigBad with an implied quirkiness to him. As the series went on, King K. became more deranged, violent, and developed different personalities that also affected what costumes he chose to wear. By the time ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'' happens, King K. becomes so utterly insane and temperamental that he decides that if he can't have Donkey Kong's island, then no one else can and he attempts to blow up the whole island. The developers stated that part of King K.'s wild and erratic behavior is due to him having schizophrenia. |
| 45 | * ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors'': |
| 46 | ** Yuan Shao is originally portrayed as an honorable, if not a bit too proud, nobleman with some SmallNameBigEgo tendencies. As the series progresses, his prideful characteristics have been exaggerated to the point that he became extremely arrogant and pretentious. Which might be more or less accurate on his 'real' persona based on Guo Jia's comment on him in ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'' (the source material). |
| 47 | ** ''No one'' got it worse than Zhang He. In ''3'', he was ''somewhat'' flamboyant and his dress and weaponry were based on Vega/Balrog from ''Franchise/StreetFighter''. That's it. By 5, he's gone so overboard in both speech and mannerisms...he can barely go two sentences without "beauty" or "grace"...he's actually become fruitier than the real Vega/Balrog! |
| 48 | * 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 is 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. |
| 49 | -->'''Elder [=McNamara=]''': What does the Codex say? We do not help them, or let them in. We keep knowledge they must never have. I'm sorry. |
| 50 | ** There are, of course, a few Chapters that have completely different kinds of flanderization. Naturally, the Flanderized "White Knight" version in the [[VideoGame/Fallout3 DC Wasteland]] actually started to expand and likely is now more powerful then the entire OG Brotherhood combined. Minus their giant propaganda robot, even. The East Coast Brotherhood influence is mostly due to the Lone Wanderer's help against [[spoiler:The Enclave]] and [[spoiler:Project Purity]] and partly due to Elder [[VideoGame/Fallout4 Arthur Maxson]]'s capable leadership and going back Elder Owyn Lyons' "help the wastelanders" stance (which brought the Brotherhood back to full strength as the more traditionalist Brotherhood Outcasts returned), along with the increasing power of the New California Republic crushing the increasingly restrictive Brotherhood chapters in the west. |
| 51 | ** The Brotherhood's openness to recruiting wastelanders has also expanded. In the first game, your "recruitment mission" was an ImpossibleTask SnipeHunt on the Brotherhood's part, because they're ''not recruiting''. You're only admitted if you succeed in your mission to the Glow because [[IGaveMyWord they gave their word]]. In future games, you can join up with the Brotherhood after completing legitimate missions to prove your usefulness, and in some cases, they'll actively scout you for membership. |
| 52 | ** Super Mutants in the first game were violent and crude, but there was a fair bit of texture to them, and a lot of variation from DumbMuscle to GeniusBruiser. Even the smartest couldn't be reasoned with, but that was because they were working under an EvilOverlord who thought that UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans, and they agreed. Once they're no longer under his control in ''2'' and ''New Vegas'', they become far more relaxed and friendly, with the exceptions being treated as relics from the bad old times. In ''3'', the Super Mutants are AlwaysChaoticEvil moronic brutes who do pretty much nothing but raid and murder with no goal in mind (Fawkes and Uncle Leo are specifically noted as the sole exceptions). This is given the explanation that the East Coast Super Mutants come from a different strain of the virus than the more intelligent West Coast Mutants. |
| 53 | * A common criticism among veteran Creator/{{SNK}} fans is that characters from their older franchises tend to get hit with this pretty hard when they appear in ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'' series. |
| 54 | ** 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. |
| 55 | ** The ''VideoGame/ArtOfFighting'' cast get hit particularly hard with this, most evident with the protagonist, Ryo Sakazaki. In his home series he's a skilled practicioner of Kyokugen-ryu Karate, but he's also a bit of a dork who loves country music and raising horses, implied to be traits he learned from his American mother. He's also a loyal friend and loving but protective older brother. Over the course of the series he not only grows strong enough to inherit the title of Mr. Karate from his father Takuma, but he comes to respect his little sister Yuri as a skilled fighter in her own right, understanding that she's become competent enough to look after herself. In ''KOF'' these humanizing traits are either severely downplayed or outright removed, causing him to come off as an overly strict, tight wound jerk to his friends and family. This comes to a head in the team stories for ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXV'' which sees Ryo reject Yuri's desire to team up with her family, demeaning her skill in a way that the classic ''AOF'' Ryo never would. In general, ''KOF'' writes him as more of a ComicallySerious straight man to his family's wacky antics. |
| 56 | ** A particularly infamous example comes from one of the franchise's OriginalGeneration characters, Kula Diamond. She debuted in ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters2000'' as the rival to then protagonist K'. In her early appearances, Kula was a stoic and emotionless assassin with a slight air of childlike naivete, given the prime directive of eliminating K'. As she underwent character development and a lengthy HeelFaceTurn, she was finally allowed to live out the childhood she was denied, causing her character to shift to a more lighthearted and playful one. Her sheltered existence meant that she was a bit uninformed to the outside world, but wasn't usually portrayed as outright stupid. Fast forward to ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXV'' where her childish and ditzy nature are played to [[WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants Patrick Star]] levels, and she can be convinced to do anything if you offer her ice cream or candy. |
| 57 | * ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'': |
| 58 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'': |
| 59 | *** In the original, Cloud Strife actually did very little brooding, preferring to focus on fighting Sephiroth and saving the planet from Shinra. The guy even cracked a few jokes at his friends and could take a jab back in return, and is very caring of his friends and claims he "trusts everyone". His archrival Sephiroth was a DarkMessiah who wanted to [[GodhoodSeeker become a god]] to reshape the planet into his own personal utopia, and he screwed with Cloud's head to do it in revenge for Cloud defeating him years prior. Ever since the original game, Cloud has been warped into a loner who brushes off his friends' attempts to help him while he broods and angsts over Sephiroth, and Sephiroth's only character traits now are his ability to manipulate Cloud's emotions and taunt Cloud with the fact he's so good at it. The HoYay between them has also gotten increasingly heavy-handed, to the point Sephiroth almost seems more like a jealous stalker or a scorned ex than Cloud's hated enemy. A few modern spin-offs do manage to revert both of them back to their previous characterizations; for example, ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy2015'' brings back the cockiness and daring seen in Cloud's original portrayal. |
| 60 | *** There's also Aerith and Yuffie. Aerith was originally a headstrong PluckyGirl with a strong spiritual side and a slight flirtatious streak. The girl threatened to ''rip off a guy's balls'' at one point. In the spin-offs whatever stubbornness and flirtatiousness she had is gone, and her spiritual powers and connection to the planet have become her core character traits--as a result the girl is portrayed as a saint, the human incarnation of IncorruptiblePurePureness with powers so strong she can save the world from beyond the grave. Meanwhile, Yuffie was originally a bit goofy and silly, but she was still quite cunning, witty and sneaky--she ''is'' a ninja after all, and the former {{Trope Namer|s}} for SoLongAndThanksForAllTheGear. In spin-offs she's a typical GenkiGirl and is just loud and hyper. ''Crisis Core'' [[CharacterRerailment rectified both of these though]]; and Aerith and Yuffie are more or less back to how they were in the original game. |
| 61 | *** In an interesting case, Sephiroth was forced to [[InvokedTrope invoke]] this on himself. After he was beaten in ''Final Fantasy VII'', his consciousness was slowly being eroded by TheLifestream. To preserve his sense of self, Sephiroth held onto his strongest emotion (his hatred of Cloud) until that was the only thing sustaining him. |
| 62 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2'' has a similar example to Yuffie with Rikku. [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX Originally]], while always hyperactive and eccentric, she was genuinely intelligent and witty, especially considering she was only fifteen. Once the sequel hit, hyper seemed to be the ''only'' trait brought over. All her wit and intelligence disappeared nearly entirely because the writers seemed more content to make {{dumb blond}} jokes, with all the wit given to Paine, the DeadpanSnarker character created for the sequel to team with Yuna and Rikku. |
| 63 | *** Though it's kind of justified, since Rikku no longer had to [[spoiler:worry about her cousin sacrificing her life for a cause that'd bring peace for a few years only]] so now she could live her life without many worries. |
| 64 | * Sodom from ''VideoGame/FinalFight'' was originally a samurai-themed underground wrestler with a somewhat misguided fascination with Japanese culture. In the ''VideoGame/StreetFighterAlpha'' series (especially in the Japanese versions of the games), this fascination became more of an obsession, with Sodom usually speaking in mangled Japanese, writing his gang's name in kanji, and going as far as to travel to Japan to recruit sumo wrestlers for his gang. |
| 65 | * In the Japanese version of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'', Leo's character bio mentioned that he "likes [[TrademarkFavoriteFood tomatoes]] the most [in the army]", as a random superlative fact about him. In the English localisation, this line is changed to "objectively loves tomatoes more than anyone else could". Come ''VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes'', his summer variation's JokeWeapon is a tome that summons tomatoes, and one of his voice clips sees him expressing his love for tomatoes in a tone that spawned ''numerous'' [[CargoShip jokes and memes]]. |
| 66 | * ''VideoGame/GodOfWar''. |
| 67 | ** In the [[VideoGame/GodOfWarI first game]], Kratos's 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.]] |
| 68 | ** The same also applies to his quiet and stoic tendencies. In the first game, Kratos consistently screams, speaks a lot to other people, and even reminisces about his life before he became the Ghost of Sparta when there is no one around. But as the franchise progresses Kratos becomes more quiet and has less lines culminating in [[VideoGame/GodOfWarAscension Ascension]] where his spoken lines can be counted on just 2 hands. This is rectified in the Norse Era where Kratos, while still relatively quiet compared to Atreus and Mimir, actively engages in the banter between them. |
| 69 | ** ''VideoGame/GodOfWarRagnarok'' has Tyr who, when encoutered by the group, turns out to not just [[MartialPacifist dislike avoideable violence]] as he was implied to by the preceding game, but to abhor [[SuicidalPacifism any and all kind of violence, no matter the circumstance]]. [[spoiler:It turns out to be an InUniverse example, as the "Tyr" the group interacts with is actually Odin in disguise, massively exaggerating Tyr's dislike of violence in order to slander him]]. |
| 70 | * ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon'': |
| 71 | ** All the ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon64'' characters were either flanderized or made LighterAndSofter for ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature''. Popuri's childish trait definitely got exaggerated after every installment. ''64'' Popuri was friendly, selfless and a bit childish. ''BTN'' Popuri got even more childish to the point where she was a bit selfish. ''FOMT'' Popuri's childish got exaggerated yet again where she even attends the Pumpkin Festival (a festival for child). ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS DS]]'' Popuri got her childish trait exaggerated even further to the point of [[TheScrappy making her annoyingly immature]]. |
| 72 | ** The ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife'' and ''Friends of Mineral Town'' characters [[IdenticalGrandson descendants]] were flanderized even more so for the ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS'' games, but that's somewhat justified due to them not being the same people. |
| 73 | * Inverted in ''VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptuniaReBirth1''. All four [=CPUs=] have had their personalities toned down from previous games, especially compared to their rather contentious depiction in ''[[VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptuniaVictory Victory]]''. While they still have their iconic personalities and quirks, this has the effect of making them all much more likable. |
| 74 | ** On the other hand, as implied above, this was a major problem for ''Victory'', where just about every character was written with one joke in mind, then [[OverlyLongGag contributed to nothing but making that joke]] every time they appeared. Nepgear and Noire are particularly interesting cases: |
| 75 | *** Nepgear was written in such a way that she comes off as [[IncestSubtext creepily-obsessed with her sister]] and having a fetish for 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). |
| 76 | *** Noire in the previous game was a typical {{tsundere}}, harsh and seemingly unable to be honest about how she felt for the other characters, but despite that was an ultimately likeable character underneath it all. Noire in ''Victory'' dispensed with damn near ''everything'' complex or interesting, making her more like a ShallowParody of the tsundere archetype rather than an actual character who happens to be tsundere, turning her into a completely one-dimensional JerkAss. This got so bad that the devs actually had to create unique scenes for her specifically with all of the DLC characters just to show that they could still write her as an actual character rather than a bad caricature. |
| 77 | *** The writers for the UpdatedRerelease of ''Victory'' noticed, and went for an AuthorsSavingThrow. A plethora of subtle changes were made to the dialogue and events to make the Ultradimension goddesses more nuanced, and when plot-crucial events rely on the more simplistic personalities, the characters [[WhoWritesThisCrap openly grumble]] about the [[MediumAwareness recycled script]]. |
| 78 | * ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' |
| 79 | ** From ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'' to ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' to ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'', Sora has become more and more of a {{Keet}} and IdiotHero, and his status as an AllLovingHero has gotten [[MessianicArchetype more and more literal.]] Though he has always been the person who follows his heart over his head, he was much more prone to negativity, anger, and doubt in the first game and Chain of Memories compared to the rest of the series. In fact, his situation even caused him some stress in the first game. By 3D, he's gotten to the point where not even failing his mastery exam makes him even the least bit discouraged, and he very rarely if ever stays mad or sad about anything. Compare this to his behavior in the first game when Sora actually held a ''grudge'' against Donald for a while after the two got into an argument. Lampshaded by Ansem the Wise in KHII, when he's amused by Roxas's anger and tells him that he should lend Sora some of his anger, as he (Sora) is "far too nice for his own good." |
| 80 | *** Also concerning Sora, his [[MessianicArchetype messiah]] status was greatly exaggerated over time. With how clearly it's been made lately that the entire universe rests on him and every single character is connected to him somehow, you'd almost forget that he's not even the universe's original Chosen One (he accidentally stole the job from Riku). |
| 81 | *** Even further, his tech-proficiency has taken a nosedive as well. In the first game, he picked up Gummi ship piloting easily enough and figured out how to work the contraptions at Hollow Bastion with minimal input. Come ''II'', he has no idea how a computer works and resorts to beating it with his fists when it won't give him information he wants. Come ''III'', he can't even figure out how to work a touch-screen phone without Donald and Goofy's help. Literally ''everyone else'' has an easier time, including Aqua, who has been trapped in the Realm of Darkness for over a decade, and Ventus, who's been asleep for even longer. |
| 82 | ** Naminé in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories'' was a [[ShrinkingViolet timid girl]] with memory-based powers who [[TheAtoner felt guilty about being made to hurt Sora and wanting to atone for it]], as well as having a knack for providing exposition that clears up complex plot points. She seemed to move beyond this in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII''[[note]](Except for the exposition part, but even then she was far from the only one with that role.)[[/note]], but then in subsequent games those traits came back in full force and were taken even further, to the point where Naminé's sadness over what she'd done to Sora defines her character and where she's giving exposition on details she shouldn't even logically know about. |
| 83 | ** In the first game, Kairi is the DamselinDistress only because she lost her heart in a sudden disaster that she could not have possibly anticipated or defended herself against. In II, she was kidnapped and needed to be rescued, but she [[DamselOutOfDistress made an effort to escape with Naminé]], was willing to fight Saïx with her bare hands, and [[TookALevelInBadass even wielded her own keyblade and took out a couple heartless despite not having any training or experience beforehand]]. In the base game of III, despite having undergone combat training in an area [[YearInsideHourOutside explicitly stated to be one where time is effectively stopped]], [[FauxActionGirl she's captured and killed during a battle she specifically trained to take part in and makes no attempt to defend herself]]. ''Re:Mind'' rectifies this and not only justifies her capture and death, she also [[ActionGirl goes toe-to-toe]] against Armored Xehanort and ''wins'' with Sora's help. |
| 84 | ** Ansem, Seeker of Darkness started out as a scientist who performed experiments on the Heart ForScience and genuinely thought the source of all life was Darkness through those experiments with a slight hint of FallenHero and TragicVillain. Later games played up his fascination with Darkness and his LargeHam tendencies. The reveal he was a Heartless also caused the TragicVillain nature to get passed to his Nobody while the ForScience and FallenHero motivations were passed to Master Xehanort, with Ansem becoming something of a CardCarryingVillain. He had some CharacterRerailment in his final scene with Riku, however, expressing admiration for Riku's strength in both light and darkness, before wishing him well and fading away. |
| 85 | ** Also, Axel/Lea's use of [[{{Catchphrase}} "Got it Memorized?"]] has increased significantly with each passing game he appears in. In [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories his debut appearance]], he only said it ''once''. |
| 86 | * ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'': |
| 87 | ** While always being his trademark trait, Kirby's [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter cuteness]] started to take over after ''Kirby 64'' and the ''Anime/KirbyRightBackAtYa'', turning him into an innocent baby-like child in means of personality and appearance. His past self used to be more of a [[http://www.kirbysrainbowresort.net/multimedia/pictures/adventure/ Japanese cartoon glutton ]] that also had partial bouts of snark and common sense according to the situations he found himself in - the most infamous of course being his [[SilentSnarker brief moment of snark]] in tutorial for ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar''. |
| 88 | ** Perhaps the most obvious way one could see this was how Kirby used to have [[http://www.kirbysrainbowresort.net/multimedia/pictures/dreamland2/ different facets of expressiveness]] in the official art, instead of being locked to only three expressions of indifference, anger, and happiness in all of recent artwork. It doesn't help how HAL had long gone ditching the charmingly drawn copy ability/status icons back in [[https://twitter.com/erichermit/status/575472167250358273 Adventure]] or [[https://www.spriters-resource.com/snes/kirbysuperstarkirbysfunpak/sheet/19479/ Super Star]]. |
| 89 | ** With the later Kirby games like ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'' and ''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. |
| 90 | * In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'', one could potentially argue that HK-47 was somewhat Flanderized. In the original, he was calmer and tended to display his [[KillerRobot sociopathic tendencies]] only in isolated situations, like during certain "aggressive negotiations". Outside of combat and negotiations, he was a perfect gentleman, though he spoke with a disturbing flippancy/eagerness about death and destruction. In the sequel, he became a straightforward killer robot, speaking boldly and constantly about slaughtering all meatbags. This, however, worked in his favor, as without it, the now-famous line, "Definition: Love is making a shot to the knees of a target 120 kilometres away using an Aratech sniper rifle with a tri-light scope," would never exist. At the same time, he's also somehow more subtle about his sociopathy; HK-47 in the second game actually gives you several hints on how to take on Force-sensitive opponents by turning that advantage against them, outwitting them and outsmarting them in ways that the HK-47 from the first game would never consider over simply laying on the trigger and not letting go until every potential threat stopped moving of its own volition. |
| 91 | ** Also done with his unusual speech pattern. In the first game the "Definition:" or "Statement:" or "Query:" before his dialogue was relatively simple, there weren't that many of them (maybe five or six at most) and they served to logically categorize the things he said. In [=KotOR=] 2, the prefixes start becoming increasingly specific. The HK-50s take it to the next level by adding descriptive adjectives to the mix, to the point that they often serve to ironically undermine the following statement completely, a la Creator/StephenColbert's "The WORD" (i.e. "Hasty Retraction:", "Condescending Explanation:" or even "Fabrication:".) Cut content even let you deliberately overplay it with HK-47, involving a solo mission with him into a factory producing the HK-50s, wherein you could optionally upgrade HK-47 with their combat software and have him pick up their more specific prefixes. |
| 92 | ** Master Vrook gets this to a lesser extent. In the first game he's initially distrustful towards you, but pick the light side options for certain side quests and talk to him afterwards, and he won't hesitate to compliment you. However, everyone remembered him as the joyless grump and that's what he was turned into for the sequel. |
| 93 | * ''VideoGame/Left4Dead2'' exaggerated the traits of the survivors within The Passing campaign DLC. Coach's obsession with food is taken to ridiculous extremes as he daydreams about a boiled peanut festival. Rochelle, who was mildly snarky in the game, is now full of snark towards her fellow survivors. Ellis' stories about Keith are taken to silly levels, such as how Keith ate two pounds of raw chicken (in an attempt to make cheap sushi, no less). Nick, who doesn't like to be covered in dirt and grime due to his (allegedly) expensive suit, became borderline fearful of germs (he may offer the other survivors various sums of money to carry him above the sewer water) and states that the entire ZombieApocalypse could have been prevented by everyone using more hand sanitizer. In Rochelle's case, many saw her rise in snark as giving her more character due to many fans seeing her as a completely flat character beforehand, and at least in the trailer for the DLC it also helped her get along with previous fan-favorite Francis. |
| 94 | * ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' |
| 95 | ** Inverted with Ganondorf. In the first two games he starts out as some sort of boar/pig monster, in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' he was revealed to have once been a thief who wished for power, in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' it is revealed he was a human wizard, but came off as an unruly and savage power hungry tyrant. In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker Wind Waker]]'' he is depicted as intelligent and sophisticated, and despite the controversial insertion in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'', that was his most eerie and intimidating appearance of all. |
| 96 | *** Reverse-Flanderization has happened to ''all'' of the cast as we go from the short flavor text in the manual to actually being able to act as real characters within the games themselves. Ganondorf goes from generically evil to quite sympathetic: he wants to take over Hyrule because his people lived in an arid desert, barely surviving the day's searing heat and the night's bone-chilling cold. (Mind you, this ''doesn't'' jibe with Ocarina of Time, where TheDarkWorld was ''a future where he'd taken over'' and not, well, [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast the Dark World]]. A paradise for the Gerudo is ''not'' what he created.) Zelda goes from "Kidnapped at the beginning, rescued at the end, has one or two lines" to a character who is wise, has psychic dreams, [[PrincessesRule sometimes is sole ruler despite the title]], and MinoredInAsskicking; the obligatory kidnapping is shorter every time. Tradition says Link will never get to speak, but we see more and more of each incarnation's life before the adventure. ''The Wind Waker'' even gives his dialogue options more length and flavor than simple yes-or-no answers, and came full circle in ''Skyward Sword'' where Link's dialogue choices and extremely expressive face give him a personality and life all his own. Each game also gives Link a chance to insert some snark in his replies and each succeeding game dials it up more and more. By the time of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', there's one particular NPC[[note]]Link is disguised as a Gerudo and an NPC has the Sand and Snow Boots. Said NPC constantly flirts with Link and he only puts up with him just to get the boots and shuts him up the moment he gets said boots.[[/note]] where Link is straight up a dick towards him and you don't even get to choose to use a less harsh response because there isn't any. |
| 97 | * Inverted in the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' series. In the first game, we see few members of each species, each playing up [[PlanetOfHats one identifying trait]] (belligerence for the krogan, devotion to duty for the turians, the like), but in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' we meet and talk to many different members of each species with widely varying personalities and outlooks, giving us a much broader look into the societies built around the identifying traits from the first game and the kinds of people that live in them. |
| 98 | ** Urdnot Wrex de-Flanderizes pretty significantly for his appearance in ''Mass Effect 2.'' In the first game, he states flats how the Krogan mindset has coupled with the genophage to mean that his people are dying out--mostly due to work as mercenaries and bounty hunters being more appealing than working on a solution. He spends the majority of the first game idly complaining about the Krogan's problems, but doesn't really do anything until Virmire, in which he's mostly just belligerent. Cut to ''Mass Effect 2,'' where he's revealed to have spent the last two years ''forcing'' the Krogan to address the problems caused by the genophage before the damage is too great to be undone. While everything he does is in typical blunt Krogan fashion, his actions and goals take on much broader scope during the second game. |
| 99 | *** It seems this subversion is actually intended. While all species continues to get flanderized throughout the series, Shepard's own team continues to defy their species' PlanetOfHats. Wrex and Grunt are not unthinking berserkers, Garrus is a maverick who is willing to go against law and order, Mordin actually has scientific ethics and is willing to look at consequences beyond a few short years, Thane being the opposite of an assassin in ''Mass Effect 3'', Tali willing to put aside her race's racism towards synthetics, Legion willing to engage other species rather than remaining in isolation, etc... |
| 100 | ** Conrad Verner is Flanderized a fair bit between ''1'' and ''2''. In the first he's just a harmless fan (even described as such by the Journal) who wants an autograph and a picture of Shepard, and has a romanticized view of life as a Spectre. In the second he's bought himself replica armor and is trying to shake down a bartender for the deed to the place. Come to find out that over the last two years he's been obsessively copying everything Shepard used to do, and fancies himself a vigilante working in Shepard's stead. |
| 101 | *** This is partly due to a glitch where the EventFlags concerning your interaction with him in ''1'' were set to show him as both "intimidated" and "charmed" regardless of how you dealt with him, leading the scene in ''2'' to assume that you had intimidated him, making his reaction and personality somewhat understandable if you ''had'' intimidated him, but obsessive and rather Flanderized if you hadn't. ''3'' references this glitch, having him apologizing for accusing you of pointing a gun to his head. |
| 102 | ** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in-universe with the flanderization of Illusive Man, leader of Cerberus. In ''Mass Effect 2'', he is the enigmatic leader of a pro-human organization who believes that the ends justify the means, and straddles the MoralEventHorizon with heinous acts that he truly believes are for the betterment and survival of humanity as a species. While many of his actions are deceitful or immoral, he can still be rationalized as a WellIntentionedExtremist. In ''Mass Effect 3'', he seems to go completely insane, performing brutal experiments and slaughtering hundreds of thousands of human civilians either to study Reaper indoctrination or to create an endless supply of personal shock troops to [[TheUsualAdversaries hound Shepard's forces the entire game.]] However, it's eventually revealed that [[spoiler: he never truly wanted any of this, and has slowly been slipping into insanity because he himself was indoctrinated. He can even be convinced to redeem himself and fight off the indoctrination by committing suicide during the final confrontation. It goes the other way, too; you can find logs in his base explaining exactly how he stage managed the way Cerberus came off in the second game.]] |
| 103 | ** This is purposely invoked in the Citadel DLC, which is essentially a FanservicePack full of in-jokes and past references to let the fans have some fun with their squad one last time. It plays up a lot of the squad's minute character quirks or brings up one-off jokes like they're a regular trait of that character's personality. For example, Tali gets absolutely hammered at the house party, despite having only been explicitly drunk at one other point in the series. Wrex seems joyously happy to be fighting alongside the squad again, compared to his normal grumpy attitude. Garrus even lampshades his own obsession with [[AscendedMeme calibrations]], promising to stop mentioning them if Liara stops saying 'by the Goddess.' |
| 104 | * In ''VideoGame/MarvelAvengersAlliance'', the portrayal of ComicBook/IronMan is a flat-out Flanderization of one of the most notable traits of his [[Film/IronMan movie counterpart]], the snark. Even though in the movies and comics Tony Stark tends to be sarcastic, in this game he takes nothing serious, and constantly makes fun of the current situation and even of other characters who are supposed to be his friends, like Captain America, Thor or Hawkeye. |
| 105 | * ''VideoGame/MegaManX'': |
| 106 | ** As ExecutiveMeddling forced the series to go beyond the creator's planned ending, ''X5'', some of the main characters had certain aspects of their personality stretched out to artificially create conflict for the next few games. While Zero always stayed friendly to X, he became rather gruffer and more stereotypically badass as the series went on, especially when [[ReplacementScrappy Axl]] was introduced. Sigma [[VillainDecay degenerated]] just as badly as Dr. Wily, if not worse, as he went from very nearly destroying the world and being a truly MagnificentBastard...to a shivering pile of zombie-animated debris ''in just one game'', and by the next game [[MotiveRant explained his final boss status]] as simply [[MotiveDecay "because I'll never stop until you're dead!"]] (It should be noted that it's been hinted that, as Sigma's bodies are destroyed, a little bit of him truly dies. This would be why, by ''X6'', [[CameBackWrong he's barely sane and can't think of anything besides killing X]]. This is why his form is that of some grim reaper zombie thing.) It was X that the fans complained about the most, though: while he had always been more pacifistic and less violence-inclined than Zero, this was expanded into ''the'' defining aspect of his personality, so that rather than being a reluctant cop, he was a stereotypically annoying whiner who kept advocating non-violence even when the situation had clearly gone south. This led to him [[TenMinuteRetirement abandoning active duty]] at the beginning of ''X7'', so we [[ArtifactTitle started off playing a Mega Man X game without playing as Mega Man X]]. [[HesBack He does return, though.]] |
| 107 | ** Speaking of the X series, even words can undergo Flanderization. The term "Maverick" initially referred to a Reploid who attacked and killed humans [[spoiler:as a result of Wily's Maverick virus]], but starting with ''X4'' the meaning started to become warped as a political tool, usually with the purpose of sending the Maverick Hunters after the designated targets. The distortion of its meaning remains long into the ''[[VideoGame/MegaManZero Zero]]'' series, where the Resistance are (mostly) law-abiding Reploids just trying to keep themselves operational amidst an energy crisis. [[spoiler:Most of the damage has been reversed in the ''[[VideoGame/MegaManZX ZX]]'' series, but with Albert dead and Mikhail (likely) soon to join him, it's only a matter of time before Thomas makes history repeat itself.]] Though this Flanderization of "Maverick" could be interpreted as similar to the US's Red Scare, making it a more in-universe example. This would make sense, as the reploids (robots) get more and more intelligent and more sophisticated motives begin to appear, sophisticated fears based on treason and betrayal breed distrust and suspicion, logically leading to the use of "maverick" as a political tool. |
| 108 | ** Meanwhile, ''VideoGame/MegaManX8'' and ''VideoGame/MegaManMaverickHunterX'' attempted some CharacterRerailment. X is still a ReluctantWarrior as always, but doesn't let that stop him from using force if necessary. Sigma gains a motivation similar to but more complex than his KillAllHumans motive from the original game: Wanting reploids to evolve and achieve their true potential at all costs, even if it means killing their human masters to do so. He even - [[spoiler: just in time for his seemingly last death]] - manipulates the construction of New Generation reploids so that they carry his reploid DNA, and with it his ideology, causing them to believe that they have every right to dispose of both the humans ''and'' old-style reploids holding them back. |
| 109 | * ''VideoGame/MetalGear'': |
| 110 | ** Snake and cardboard boxes got out of hand at some point... Scratch that, they were ''always'' out of hand, it simply became more and more obvious as the series went on, as evident in this conversation from ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater''. |
| 111 | --->'''Snake''': I dunno, I was just looking at the box, and suddenly I got this irresistable urge to get inside. No, not just an urge - more than that. It was my destiny to be here; in the box.\ |
| 112 | '''Sigint''': Destiny...?\ |
| 113 | '''Snake''': Yeah. And then when I put it on,I suddenly got this feeling of inner peace. I can't put it into words. I feel... safe. Like this is where I was meant to be. Like I'd found the key to true happiness. ...Does any of that make sense?\ |
| 114 | '''Sigint''': Not even a little. |
| 115 | ** Raiden's swordsmanship in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' was a minor aspect of his character that was only introduced at the last minute for the sword fight with Solidus, and meant more as a statement on his character (it was a means to [[DivergentCharacterEvolution symbolically distance himself from Snake]], where playing identically to him for the prior 95% of the Plant chapter was a plot point). In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'', he uses blades almost exclusively as a result of his transformation into a cyborg, and in ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'' he considers himself to be something of a modern day ninja, even getting [[CoolVersusAwesome a samurai]] to act as TheRival. |
| 116 | ** Meryl in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' was almost a caricature of how she was in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid''. Whilst in the first game she was a physically fit tomboy, she still had a relatively feminine appearance, whereas in the fourth game she is at least twice as muscular and more butch looking. In the first game she had wavy and messy mid length hair that had a bit of a laterally projecting but natural looking mullet, which in the fourth game turned into an elaborate straightened hairstyle with a long spikes of hair projecting outwards from the rear of her head. In the first game she mentioned having undergone psychotherapy to destroy her attraction to men when she joined the military, but had no disdain towards the opposite sex and had an admiration for her father, uncle and Snake, whereas in the fourth game she began to outright hate men, even to the point of becoming mean spirited towards Snake (her former lover and personal hero). The moment where she beat up Johnny in the first game as a one off means of escaping the detention block he was guarding as one of Liquid Snake's henchmen had also turned into something of a running gag by the fourth game where he had since become a member of her Army unit and gets beaten by her on a routine basis as a form of bullying and punishment. |
| 117 | * ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'' |
| 118 | ** The normally stoic and confident Samus Aran becomes more subservient to Alliance member and father figure Adam Malkovich. Samus does mention that she looked up to Adam (who was her CO when she was in the Marine Corps) in ''Fusion'', but this aspect of Samus was played up far more here than in any other ''Metroid'' title. Outside of ''Other M'', Samus is presented as a bounty hunter who is on good terms with the Galactic Federation and perfectly willing to work with them, but only on her own terms. |
| 119 | ** Samus' origin story includes the death of her families (both her biological family and her adopted family in the Chozo) at the hands of Ridley, whom she considers her ArchEnemy. Since Samus killed Ridley in ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'', she's surprised to see him again in ''Other M''. But previous ''Metroid'' titles would have Samus react to Ridley's presence with TranquilFury. Here, Samus becomes so traumatized by Ridley's presence that she goes into a HeroicBSOD, unable to defend herself until she's saved by Adam. |
| 120 | * ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland'': |
| 121 | ** In the first few games, Guybrush had a tendency to be a bit dim every now and then, but overall proved himself to be a fairly competent adventurer. In the first game, he's pretty much by definition the most courageous and competent character in the game (aside from [[DamselOutOfDistress Elaine]]), as he's the only one willing to challenge [=LeChuck=], and earns every step he makes on that path. By the time ''VideoGame/EscapeFromMonkeyIsland'' happens, [[TooDumbToLive it's a wonder he can even put on his own pants]], let alone solve any of the game's puzzles. |
| 122 | ** 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 up to eleven in the ending. Since then, the games are pretty much run on RuleOfFunny. |
| 123 | * ''Franchise/MortalKombat'': |
| 124 | ** Johnny Cage became so diluted he became a parody of what he strove ''not'' to be. In the beginning he was more serious (but no less {{arrogant|KungFuGuy}}) and a very competent fighter, but devolved into a PluckyComicRelief character as the series went on. This was likely a TakeThat directed at Daniel Pesina, the actor who originally played Johnny Cage, after he had posed in character as Cage to promote another company's fighting game (''Blood Storm''). Post-reboot, while still a comedic character, they do more to ground him as a strong fighter, being the first playable character in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9's'' story mode and ''[[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu defeating Shinnok]]'' in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX''. |
| 125 | ** 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 [[IHatePastMe quickly embarrassed]] by his younger self's douchebaggery. However, even Past!Johnny is flanderized in the sense that he's wearing a [[IWasQuiteAFashionVictim ridiculous 90's dayglo tracksuit]] even though Johnny didn't actually dress that way in the older games. |
| 126 | ** Inverted in the case of Nightwolf. Originally a parody of Thunder Hawk from VideoGame/KillerInstinct and originating from ''VideoGame/MortalKombat3'', he became TheSmartGuy in the cartoon, and in ''Deception'', we had him literally going through hell to rescue Liu Kang. Then in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'' he became the leader of the Defenders of Earthrealm. |
| 127 | ** Sadly played straight with Mileena who has been completely flanderized into a Psychopathic [[ManChild Woman Child]] in ''[=MK9=]''. Arguably, since the story takes place when Mileena has just awakened, her child-like persona stems from the fact that she is a child. Come Mortal Kombat X, she acts much more mature, given that over twenty years have passed. |
| 128 | ** Actually beneficial in the cases of Sonya Blade and Jax, as well. In their debut games, they were written as Special Forces members, but their looks and skillsets had absolutely nothing to do with any of that. As the games progressed, they gradually became what they were actually supposed to be, getting appropriate gear, skillsets, and weapons. Though in the case of Jax, it could be argued that this is a bad thing, as his gear and weapons have gradually begun muscling in on the gear and weapons of Stryker. Particularly in ''[[VideoGame/MortalKombatArmageddon Armageddon]]'', where they had identical machine gun attacks. |
| 129 | * The later entries in the ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' series unfortunately have a problem with this when it comes to spinoffs. |
| 130 | ** Akihiko Sanada in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' is mentioned to only eat "things with protein shit" about... once. By sequel ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4 Arena}}'', his nickname contains "Protein Junkie", and he's ordering Protein everywhere nonstop and talks more about protein. While his protein obsession is mostly PlayedForLaughs; an arguably less funny trait that got blown up is his BloodKnight tendencies. Those who played ''Persona 3'' know that ''curbing'' his obsessive desire to fight was an integral role in his CharacterDevelopment, starting [[spoiler:in the wake of the death of his best friend Shinjiro]], and from that point onward, he'd mainly fight for the sake of those he cared about. In ''Arena,'' he's fresh off the heels of a world expedition, driven from his obsessive need for getting stronger, and it's also stated that he dropped out of college to do it. While [[spoiler:his story mode ending mentions that he wants to become a police officer]], seeing him as battle-happy as he was at the start of his game is still jarring. And again, Akihiko is similarly flanderized in ''VideoGame/PersonaQShadowOfTheLabyrinth'', to the point of [[SuicidalOverconfidence whining]] when people suggest avoiding [[DemonicSpiders FOEs]] and saying, "I wonder if there's protein inside?" when a treasure chest is spotted. At least since ''Q'' is set ''before'' his CharacterDevelopment, it doesn't conflict with it the way ''Arena'' does. |
| 131 | ** Akihiko's friend, Shinjiro Aragaki, himself changed a lot with ''Persona Q''. In ''Persona 3'', he is a quiet but aggressive man who doesn't like to make friends but has a sensible side, [[RealMenWearPink his love for dogs and cooking]] is a secret mentioned by no one, and it's only discovered if he's spied on with a secret camera or his Social Link is followed, with an offhanded mention coming up in one ''3'''s sidequests. In ''Q'', Shinji's whole personality is loving dogs and cooking, and most of his jokes revolve about the sensible side he tries (too hard) to hide. But his biggest change is probably his relationship with Akihiko: In ''3'', they would argue about Akihiko trying to convince him to rejoin the team and Shinjiro is fairly calm when talking, and when he does end up joining both of the two stop arguing. In ''Q'', they argue ''constantly'', and it's always about something silly such as Akihiko complaining about how Shinjiro won't cook for him. Shinjiro shouts back in return, and the two essentially look LikeAnOldMarriedCouple. |
| 132 | ** In ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'', Chie Satonaka's love for beef is mentioned a few times but it's far from an integral part of her character. It gets exaggerated in ''[[UpdatedRerelease Golden]]'', ''Arena'', and ''Q''. In ''Arena'', Chie's story mode has a (non-canon, of course) joke ending wherein [[spoiler:she abandons the case entirely to go eat a steak bowl]], and ''Q'' has an entire sidequest about finding who stole a meat snack Chie left lying around. It gets even further exaggerated to the point of absurdity in ''[[VideoGame/Persona4DancingAllNight Dancing All Night]]''. |
| 133 | ** While Yosuke Hanamura from ''4'' was something of a ButtMonkey, it gets exaggerated in ''Q'', with a RunningGag about characters calling him "Prince of Disappointment". Even the hero of ''4'', Yosuke's ''best friend'', has the option to call him a disappointment. |
| 134 | ** ''Persona 4'' has this InUniverse with the characters' Shadows, which reduce them to a single defining (and completely overblown) character trait. Specifically, it takes their FatalFlaw and grossly exaggerates it. Chie's takes her need to control Yukiko to feel better about herself and becomes a straight-up dominatrix, Kanji's takes his insecurity about his [[RealMenWearPink girly hobbies]] and becomes [[CampGay absolutely flaming]], and [[spoiler:Naoto's takes her insecurity about how her age and gender makes people not take her seriously as a detective and becomes a human-sized kid's toy, switching between overblown dramatics and childish temper tantrums, and is obsessed with giving Naoto an "[[GenderFlip operation]]"]]. |
| 135 | ** Theodore, in his debut in ''Persona 3 Portable'', is a polite, deep-voiced NiceGuy who is [[TheIngenue slightly more naïve than his sisters but still competent]]. While there are a few jokes about his sisters mistreating him, they're kept brief and much of the focus is on him being a FishOutOfWater in the real world. Come the spin-offs, his sisters are absolute [[BigBrotherBully bullies]] to him and he spends most of the games in embarrassing costumes they force him to wear. Not helping is that his voice is recast to sound more high-pitched and whiny, and he becomes a [[ExtremeDoormat complete punching bag who can't stand up for himself]]. |
| 136 | * In ''VideoGame/PersonaQShadowOfTheLabyrinth'', the majority of the casts of both ''VideoGame/Persona3'' and ''VideoGame/Persona4'' have undergone this trope in one way or another, with the sole exception being the P3 Protagonist, as unlike his P4 counterpart, there were no other spin-offs outside of ''Persona 3'' that allowed him to speak his mind for the first time. |
| 137 | ** From the P3 Cast: |
| 138 | *** Yukari, being one of the most popular students at school, tends to swing between becoming a trusting friend & ally, and hiding her own insecurities of missing her father through some snark at the (mainly male) party members. Even though she had her flaws, Yukari became quite a compassionate character, who would with the most seriousness step up to help people who are suffering from their own problems, even people like [[ClassClown the annoying Junpei Iori]]. In PQ, while she does show some understanding of the feelings of others later on in the story, she has now evolved into an AlphaBitch, and is not prone to showing how certain members of the P4 group can annoy her, let alone from her own party. |
| 139 | *** In P3, Akihiko occasionally mentions protein during dialogue options and his lust for fighting absurdly powerful enemies was something he knew he had to significantly tone down in order to protect those he loves. Akihiko, while not as much a genius as Mitsuru is, was still clever and mature, evident in his conversations with Ken, Shinji and brining in Junpei after he awakens to his persona. PQ, however, has decided to strip him of his maturity and intellect, and replace it with the strong passion of winning pointless, childish fights with his friends, as well as mentioning protein every 10 seconds... |
| 140 | *** Mitsuru has not changed much between the two games, though she has become a little more formal than usual, calling many of both parties exclusively by their last names, and consistently yelling 'I SHALL EXECUTE YOU ALL' whenever her temper rises. |
| 141 | *** Junpei, being the ClassClown is well known for his rather loud behaviour and being a focus character for (PluckyComicRelief comic relief), yet is also very caring and compassionate to those in need. Throughout PQ, he has become significantly more sarcastic and snarky, becoming much more goofier than his original self. |
| 142 | *** While the cast would initially show some surprise that [[KidHero Ken is a 10 year old Persona user]], both the P3 and P4 casts constantly refer back to this whilst making fun of his age, something that was a critical character point for Ken in P3. It doesn't help when Ken has now become rather shy (unlike his confident self in the original game). |
| 143 | *** While not much of a change, Fuuka has become a little more nervous guiding the PQ team around the labyrinths, a task that in the original game, she was confident with. |
| 144 | *** Averted with Aigis, since her robotic personality has remained the same through both games, though if anything, she is arguably a little more clingy than usual with the P3 Hero. |
| 145 | *** Shinjiro was a cold, aloof character, who from all we know shares a close relationship with Akihiko and occasionally helps with the cooking, something he is very proficient in. In PQ, he might as well be a different character, with his unusual outbursts of challenging Akihiko to pointless, childish challenges, and his sudden outspoken knowledge in the wonderful world of cooking has ultimately made him transition from a male {{Tsundere}} to a contestant fresh from ''Series/HellsKitchen''. |
| 146 | *** Okay, he is a dog, so it's really hard to flanderize Koromaru... But through the translations of Aigis, Koro himself has become rather childish and witty when talking to characters like Teddie, nothing like his sincere, pope-like translations in the original game. |
| 147 | ** From the P4 Cast: |
| 148 | *** Throughout the P4 anime, the P4 Hero was a laidback, softly spoken [[PrettyBoy grey haired student]] who occasionally dabbles in deadpan sarcasm, and very rarely shows shock in a comical fashion. He is notable a little more talkative in PQ (should you chose the P3 protagonist), shouting his Persona summons unlike his P3 counterpart, and 'comforting' his own party with some unneeded, unnecessary deadpan sarcasm. |
| 149 | *** Yosuke was actually a decent, intelligent young man with a strong sense of justice in the original game, with his signature misfortune and goofiness more showing during the more comical scenes. All of this is changed in PQ, where like his [[HoYay partner]] he has become much more sarcastic, more prone to causing accidents and has exchanged common sense for some bold stupidity. |
| 150 | *** Chie was the [[ActionGirl kung-fu enthusiast]] who has a passion for watching kung-fu movies and eating steak, but these were only a small part of her personality, as Chie had some smarts and a lot of compassion and understanding during the story of P4. While her compassion remains untouched, she might as well be replaced with a bear wearing a Kenpo-gi, as like Akihiko, she states every 10 seconds her admiration for steak, the many steak recipes there are out there, and screaming Kung-fu fighting during battles, or even just plain ol' cutscenes... |
| 151 | *** Yukiko herself has remained untouched, but her [[TheHyena laughing fits]] to bad jokes has strengthened even further, and more frequently than usual. |
| 152 | *** {{Inverted}} a bit with Rise. She is largely untouched and mostly the same as her base games personality, but she drops her obsessive crush on the protagonist and gains HiddenDepths that expands her character more. In particular, if she is the Chosen Partner in the second dungeon, she acts surprisingly calm and mostly gets flustered if playing as the P4 Protagonist and you chose to go along with the shenanigans going on. |
| 153 | *** Kanji was a character whose insecurities made him a reluctant subject of sexuality-confusion (despite only fearing what others would think of him for having feminine interests). While not a fast thinker, Kanji was still reliably intelligent, understanding situations at the same pace as the other members in the Investigation Team, and spoke in a more considerate manner. Hell, he even caught on to one of Yosuke's very few gay jokes very quickly, and responded with great wit! Then in comes the PQ Kanji, who's intellect is so low, you would need to question how he can occasionally understand words that have more than 4 syllables. He gets quickly offended over everything, which also doesn't help things when suddenly characters are tossing gay jokes all around the room. He also speaks much more brute-like, and his overall character (even through the more tender scenes) comes across as rather aggressive and scary. |
| 154 | *** Naoto could be considered an inversion of this. Her role in P4 was almost solely an investigator, taking many situations very seriously, showing her other side to herself exclusively during social links. PQ has her still as the intelligent one amongst the P4 party, but she has also become a little bashful and more social to the party. |
| 155 | *** Teddie is perhaps the biggest example. His character development in P4 was incredibly strong, starting out as a scared bear who knew nothing about himself, to becoming a kind hearted yet slightly perverted bear (thanks to Yosuke), to becoming an incredibly tragic character who whilst is a sole focus for comic relief, will ALWAYS place his friends and friends of friends before him. In PQ....you might want to drown him... His ONLY character in this game, is that of a potential [[DateRape stalker]], his bear puns are non stop, and no matter how the others are feeling, he will always jump into the scene, completely ruining the drama with this... character 'development'. It also doesn't help that his stats and skills have classed him as one of the worst party members in PQ, despite the fact in P4 he could be considered as one of the most VALUABLE party members you could have. |
| 156 | *** Marie spends 90% of her screen time having {{tsundere}} flip-outs about her poetry. |
| 157 | ** The flanderization continues in ''VideoGame/PersonaQ2NewCinemaLabyrinth'', with the cast of ''VideoGame/Persona5'' getting in on the action. |
| 158 | *** Yusuke's eccentric StarvingArtist characterization becomes even more predominant, so much that he's perpetually hungry and begging for food throughout the game. His art side is played a bit more dramatically, to the point he almost verbatim pulls a quote from [[LargeHam Owain]] from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' when talking about his motivation for art. |
| 159 | *** Makoto's role as the StraightMan who can be somewhat scary turns into her being much quicker to threaten people with her fists when they're annoying her. |
| 160 | *** Haru goes from a sheltered rich girl to an airhead almost on par with Yukiko. |
| 161 | *** Every fifth line of Morgana's is the same tired "I'm not a cat" joke. {{Justified|Trope}} in that the characters from 3 and 4 keep getting confused that Morgana is a talking cat and so comment on it more often than Morgana would like. |
| 162 | * The Numans/Newmans of the ''VideoGame/PhantasyStar'' series have undergone a race-wide {{flanderization}} of their own; they are now often sardonically referred to (and mistaken for) SpaceElves, due to Sega focusing more on their adeptness with magic and their elflike appearance: |
| 163 | ** In the original quadrilogy, Numans were originally genetically-engineered HalfHumanHybrids as an {{expy}} of Myau the Musk Cat in the first game (Nei from ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarII'' was originally going to have far more catlike features and a tail, according to Tohoru Yoshida). |
| 164 | ** By ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarOnline'', Numans were renamed to Newmans and made into a full race of genetically engineered beings rather than one-off experiments. ''PSO'' made them more like a MageSpecies, as they were considerably better with [[MagicByAnyOtherName Techniques]] than Androids or Humans of the same class. |
| 165 | ** ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarUniverse'' turned the Newmans into a collective {{Wutai}} race of [[ProudScholarRace 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. |
| 166 | ** The Newmans of ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarZero'' fall somewhere between a [[ProudWarriorRace warlike]] and [[ProudScholarRace scholarly]] attitude, being closer to ''PSO's'' treatment of Newmans than the other games; here, though the Newmans here also have a MoonRabbit motif. |
| 167 | * Super Macho Man in ''VideoGame/PunchOut'' is notable from being a regular superstar in the NES and SNES games to a superstar who hates and fears over lost of his own fame in the Wii version. |
| 168 | * ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'': |
| 169 | ** The [[MegaCorp Umbrella corporation]] was portrayed as a company that had a huge influence in the medical field while secretly performing experiments to create bio-organic weapons in the form of monsters. By ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis'', Umbrella is shown having so much control over Raccoon City that when Jill Valentine tried to warn the citizens about the viral outbreak, no one would listen to her. Throughout the game, you can find various files detailing how Umbrella's mercenary group were killed by the viral creatures and that Umbrella sent the mercenaries into the city under the orders of saving the civilians, but had really sent them there to be used as test subjects against the creatures. The basement of the hospital contain creatures that were seemingly created there and Umbrella has a factory directly next to the town's park where anyone who wanders there are either shot on sight or captured and used as guinea pigs for experiments. The company's antics is explained in later games where the founder of Umbrella wanted to find away to prolong his already old life and become a god. |
| 170 | ** Chris Redfield's physical strength got built up from each game until it got to silly levels. In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'', he was an average grunt who used to be in the Air Force. In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica'', his introduction scene has him scaling a rocky cliffside with no climbing gear whatsoever. By ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'', not only does Chris gained a ton of muscle, he is also able to ''punch boulders out of its rut'' to get it out of his way. |
| 171 | ** Albert Wesker's evilness and powers were exaggerated more and more until it became full blown {{Narm}}. He was the standard mole in ''Resident Evil'' that turned traitor on his teammates and was seemingly killed off by the Tyrant. ''Resident Evil: Code Veronica'' has Wesker brought back alive with the purpose of stealing Umbrella's Veronica T-Virus for another organization while also possessing SuperSpeed and jumping that can rival [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]]. By ''Resident Evil 5'', Wesker's powers are upgraded to include SuperStrength and FlashStep while he wears a black trenchcoat with his sunglasses. Wesker's motives become full blown cartoon villainy where he aims to become a god and take over the world as its ruler and savior while going full blown ColdHam and later LargeHam with a dose of ChewingTheScenery once he loses his mind. Many Wesker fans prefer his ''Resident Evil 5'' incarnation thanks to his voice actor Creator/DCDouglas hamming it up and making the character dive headfirst into NarmCharm. |
| 172 | * Captain Qwark from the ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'' series started out as a reasonably intelligent character who was simply past his physical prime and a glory hound, with implications that he had once actually been a legitimate hero but had soured as he'd gotten old. In the second game, Qwark successfully takes control of the MegaCorp corporation and executes a EvilPlan that only fails when he puts the batteries of the Helix-O-Morph in backwards (it's a long story). The third game has him pull a HeelFaceTurn and begins his transformation into TheDitz, with his stupidity, cowardice and glory-seeking tendencies played up to such a degree that by the time of ''Tools Of Destruction'' he bears almost no resemblance to the calculating villain from the first two games. His tendency to exaggerate stories has also become progressively more absurd. The first game's characters are all subject to EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, but Qwark is the most prominent example of a complete rewrite in personality. |
| 173 | ** Notably, Qwark seems to be exceedingly competent when playing the villain, as all of the stages personally designed by him are among the hardest in all of the games they appear in. It's only when he's trying to be a hero that he's incompetent. |
| 174 | * The Rabbids from Ubisoft's ''VideoGame/RavingRabbids'' franchise have been greatly Flanderized. In the original ''Rayman Raving Rabbids'', the Rabbids, although somewhat dimwitted, were a major threat to Rayman's world and the human world, often enslaving innocent creatures, locking Baby Globoxes in cages and attacking humans with toilet plungers. Since ''Rabbids Go Home'', the Rabbids have gone from being ChaoticEvil yet dimwitted to [[TookALevelInDumbass being complete morons]] and entirely chaotic. In ''WesternAnimation/RabbidsInvasion'', their evil side is almost compeletely missing, and their stupidity is even bigger. This can be proven since in the games, the Rabbids know how to fly spaceships while in the show they can't even insert a coin in a photo booth. |
| 175 | * In the ''VideoGame/{{Rayman}}'' series, Globox had one Flanderization. In ''VideoGame/Rayman2TheGreatEscape'', he's not a bright spark and was a bit clumsy, but he's still rather rational and helpful to Rayman. In ''VideoGame/Rayman3HoodlumHavoc'', his clumsiness and his stupidity grew out of proportion. |
| 176 | ** More recently in games like VideoGame/RaymanOrigins, Rayman himself has been flanderized quite a bit too. Rayman 2, Rayman 3 and Rayman Raving Rabbids portrayed him as the straight man that's constantly thrown into [[WeirdnessMagnet bizarre situations]] in a [[{{Wackyland}} wacky world]], although in Rayman 3, he becomes quite snarky and cocky. In this game, his first line in particular is him commenting about the fact his best friend Globox is a coward because he ran off after accidentally detatching his hands from his body. That comment, it sounds insensitive, especially since in the second game, he told him that he shouldn't be ashamed of admitting his fears, which can seem a bit jarring. In Raving Rabbids 2, Rayman attempts to blend in with the Rabbids by acting as insane as they do, which results in him acting a lot wackier than usual, but there's a given explanation behind it,as he's investigating on their plans. Rayman Origins on the other hand portrays him as completely crazy all the time, he's always got a big goofy grin on his face and the DerangedAnimation just adds to his strangeness. His new personality actually fits pretty well though, as a limbless man with helicopter hair was already pretty strange to begin with. |
| 177 | * The Boss in the ''VideoGame/SaintsRow'' series gone through several shades of this in every game. In the first game, they were nothing more than the HeroicMime that eventually spoke a few witty lines at the end. In the second game, the Boss becomes more bloodthirsty, is full of snark, and aims to reclaim the lost glory they had from the previous game. By the third game, the Boss' popularity becomes exaggerated and they're annoyed that their achievements mean nothing in the new town. By the fourth game, the Boss' ego inflates massively and they're a JerkAss to their friends, though one of said friends eventually calls them out on it and the Boss actually apologizes for being so selfish. [[ItMakesSenseInContext While being buck naked.]] Which leads to the series second point of Flanderization. |
| 178 | ** The entire series is hit with this in regard to it's humor and wackiness. The first game is rather humorous, but is still a game about street gangs. 2 was distinctly wacky but still had a reasonably well written plot providing some nice dramatic-comedic contrasts and what was going on basically [[ItMakesSenseInContext made sense in context]] (yes, even the "Septic Avenger" Activity[[labelnote:Why?]]The whole point is to devalue property but instead of destroying it you cover it with raw shit water[[/labelnote]]). The Third lost this [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext context]], contrast and all pacing in favour of more complete nonsense. Saints Row 4 regains a paced plot and basic explanation for what's going on, though this is subject to some debate. |
| 179 | ** There's also Johnny Gat, arguably the character that most suffered from this as the series went on. While he was already a [[BloodKnight murderous badass]] in the early games, he was not invincible and being stabbed by Jyunnichi's katana in Saints Row 2 was enough to sent him to the hospital, where he would have died if it wasn't for the Boss. In The Third he easily shrug off a bowie knife to the belly and, in IV, he's treated as a OneManArmy that would be capable to stop an alien invasion all by himself. |
| 180 | * ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice'': |
| 181 | ** Girl Stinky went from being a WronglyAccused SmugSnake KnowNothingKnowItAll who was nonetheless friendly enough with Sam and Max to help them out a few times (or at least look the other way while they did what they had to do) in ''Season 2'', to being psychotically evil and cripplingly lazy in ''Season 3''. Also, in ''Season 2'', the other characters consider her reasonably attractive despite her awful personality, and Flint Paper thinks of her as a FilmNoir FemmeFatale, but by ''Season 3'' her personality leads her to be considered so repulsive Max nearly projectile vomits after watching her and Sam do a FakeOutMakeOut. Since the universe functions on RuleOfFunny, this is generally considered an improvement. |
| 182 | ** Max's childlike aspects were exaggerated between the comics and Hit The Road, but he became a full on manchild in the animated series, which was used for the Telltale Games as well. In the comics, he's still whimsical, but also snarky, intelligent and tough, and his moments of childish behaviour are mostly based on [[AuthorAvatar Steve Purcell's own memories of himself as a child]] and all the cuter for being assigned to a more mature and competent character. By Season Three he can use PsychicPowers by using special children's toys, which 'only work for those with the mind of a child', and his snark has mostly gone in favour of creepy, deranged glee and references to his stupidity and short attention span. It works a lot in Sam's favour, though, by giving them greater CastSpeciation - decreasing Max's snark frees up Sam to become a DeadpanSnarker, rather than a toned-down version of Max like in the comics. |
| 183 | ** However, in Season Three, after switching to Max, the game shows a random image of something from Max's memory. Many of these things include images of things in American history or various animals, suggesting that Max is smarter than his personality lets on. |
| 184 | ** As some have pointed out, the animated series has many episodes, and as such has far more back story info in it than the comics or Hit The Road do. It was inevitable the Telltale team would turn to it for inspiration. Max was obviously toned down for kids for the animated series, but there were plenty who said his personality in Hit The Road was too serious in comparison, so it worked out. |
| 185 | ** Sam himself, whilst always being the straight man to Max's insanity, started off as Max's best friend and had turned far more into a father figure by the later Telltale Games. |
| 186 | * Utilized and played for laughs in ''VideoGame/SenranKagura: Bon Appetit'' since the game operates on RuleOfFunny by turning the Flanderization for each character up to eleven 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]] |
| 187 | * ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog''. Many of the characters in the series started suffering from this during the 2000s: |
| 188 | ** 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 arrogant]], 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]] |
| 189 | ** 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. This gets referenced in ''VideoGame/SonicFrontiers'' where Tails confesses to Sonic how he has been very inconsistent and feels guilty for always relying on him instead of standing up for himself. |
| 190 | ** In games ''VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles'' and ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'', Knuckles the Echidna was tricked by Eggman into antagonizing Sonic, each time for different reasons. However come the handheld games, SEGA decided to make Knuckles even more thick-headed and/or muscle-bound when pitted with Sonic and friends. This case with Knuckles has actually been pretty bad, leading Knuckles to no longer acknowledge his own responsibilities on his island nor what his purpose was in the series to begin with, rather just being the [[ButtMonkey meat-headed joke character]] that hangs around Sonic and pals. |
| 191 | ** Amy Rose was originally a cheerful and slightly head-in-the-clouds girl who was a FriendToAllLivingThings. Come ''Sonic X'' forwards, she's [[RomanticPlotTumor obsessed with marrying Sonic]], sometimes in [[{{Yandere}} borderline violent ways]]. This trait was completely removed in ''VideoGame/SonicBoom'' and later games where she sees Sonic as a friend instead of a guy she wants to marry. However, since ''VideoGame/SonicLostWorld'', this was dailed back to her just generally being a cheerful fan of Sonic's. |
| 192 | ** Shadow the Hedgehog: In ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'', he ''did'' partake in some minor brooding, but that wasn't a primary character trait. Much like Cloud Strife in his original appearance, he could make a joke, take a joke, and he didn't care about his hazy past; all he cared about was accomplishing his current goals [[AntiHero by any means necessary]]. However, [[VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog in his self-titled game]], Shadow turned into a ByronicHero who would ''never stop'' brooding and pondering about his past. However, once he learns about his past, [[CharacterDevelopment that apparently satisfied his ponderings]] and relaxed into a characterization close to his original just in time for [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006 the next game]], being a stoic PragmaticHero who used both his skills ''and'' cunning to solve problems. Unfortunately due to a change in writers, this personality would be erased by the time of [[VideoGame/SonicFreeRiders his next major appearence]] and he would instead be given a personality that seems to have taken all the memes about Shadow being an [[DarkerAndEdgier edgy,]] [[ColdHam joyless]] [[EvilKnockoff duplicate of Sonic]] to heart with him being portrayed as an abrasive, friendless grouch who revels in his own joylessness, eats coffee beans for breakfast and only seems to care about the goings on in the world if either Eggman personally triggers him or he can find a way to deck Sonic in the jaw. |
| 193 | ** Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik: |
| 194 | *** Dr. Eggman began life in the 16-bit era as a [[LaughablyEvil goofy-looking]] MadScientist wanting to conquer the world by mechanizing everything from small plants and animals to entire environments (with ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehogCD'' showing that [[BadFuture the end result]] isn't pretty), but in ''VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles'' especially it was inferred that he had conniving traits via tricking Knuckles into helping him, along with being a ruthless {{determinator}} spending the entire game constantly trying to beat Sonic with tricks and traps, and refusing to give up even at the end of the line. ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' expanded on this by making him an [[ItsAllAboutMe egomaniacal]] LargeHam with a sinister edge to him, [[MacGuffinDeliveryService using Sonic and friends]] to get the Chaos Emeralds needed to further his plans of destroying Station Square to build his own city to rule on top of it using an ancient monster or a giant missile. ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' tones down Eggman's hamminess and makes him an openly threatening villain with no qualms obliterating entire cities if his demands aren't met. Similarly to Sonic himself, the media following these have [[DependingOnTheWriter fluctuated between emphasizing his more comedic or villainous traits]], with some such as ''VideoGame/SonicLostWorld'' and the [[Film/SonicTheHedgehog2020 2020 movie]] even mixing both to make him a full-on BewareTheSillyOnes character with both a LaughablyEvil persona and a diabolical edge, while slipping back and forth into EvilIsHammy territory when needed. |
| 195 | *** While his plans back in the Dreamcast games involved releasing a SealedEvilInACan that would [[TheStarscream steal]] the role of BigBad from him at the end, Eggman was still an active and hands-on character frequently using manipulation and cunning to ensure his schemes would succeed, and [[VillainousValor kept fighting]] even when Chaos defied his terms or the ARK was about to destroy the world. Starting from ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'', however, Eggman would become more prone to outright stupidity as he [[AesopAmnesia continually forgot]] that EvilIsNotAToy, eventually [[VillainDecay being reduced to a glorified plot device]] to get the story to the point where he'd be forced to EnemyMine with the heroes against the MonsterOfTheWeek, and typically stayed on the sidelines while the others dealt with these villains head-on. Starting from ''VideoGame/SonicColors'', however, Eggman was able to keep the role of FinalBoss even when having a new threat at his employ, with his usurpation by the Deadly Six early into ''VideoGame/SonicLostWorld'' only happening because Sonic [[NiceJobBreakingItHero broke]] their RestrainingBolt, followed by the doctor [[spoiler:using Sonic to get rid of them while he [[HijackedByGanon secretly climbed his way back to the top]]]]. ''VideoGame/SonicForces'' also has him ''[[TheBadGuyWins succeed]]'' in conquering the world and remaining the BigBad with [[CrazyPrepared numerous contingency plans]] from start to finish. |
| 196 | * [[PompousPoliticalPundit J. Jonah Jameson]] in ''VideoGame/SpiderManPS4'' was the standard JerkWithAHeartOfGold we've come to expect, ragging on ComicBook/SpiderMan at every opportunity but having [[JerkassHasAPoint valid criticisms]] (so many in fact, that he [[JerkassHasAPoint/SpiderManPS4 got his own section]]) and principles he lives by. However in the ''VideoGame/SpiderManMilesMorales'' SpinOff he TookALevelInDumbass, serving as a ButtMonkey to make his more progressive {{foil}} [[AdaptationalNiceGuy Danika Hart]] look better by comparison. |
| 197 | * Welch Vineyard of the ''VideoGame/StarOcean'' series. She originally appeared in ''Star Ocean 3'' as the energetic and somewhat {{tsundere}} item creation clerk. She was popular, so she returned as a hidden recruitable character in the remakes of ''Star Ocean'' and ''Star Ocean 2'', as well as returning to a role similar to her ''Star Ocean 3'' role in ''Star Ocean 4''. (albeit [[UnnecessaryMakeover looking a little different]] in the latter) Her later appearances saw her randomness, tsundere-ness, and energy level turned way up, making her a little obnoxious at times. |
| 198 | * Krystal goes through this with each passing game of ''VideoGame/StarFox''. In her debut game ''VideoGame/StarFoxAdventures'' she was a drifter looking for answers about her ruined home world while helping others along the way out of kindness before joining Fox's team out of gratitude for saving her life ([[RescueRomance among other things]]). ''VideoGame/StarFoxAssault'' has Krystal retain her caring personality as the resident TeamMom, but [[AbortedArc she makes no mention of her past search for her heritage]] in exchange for more flirting with Fox. The wheels completely spun out of control in ''VideoGame/StarFoxCommand'' in which half of Krystal's dialogue is made of yelling at Fox for dumping her over her safety and rescuing the Lylat System comes off as a distant secondary goal compared to making Fox jealous over her new relationship with Panther. |
| 199 | * The Female Changeling is subject to ''heavy'' villain flanderization in the ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' ''Victory Is Life'' expansion. Where the version of her we see in ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' was still very clearly a villain, she had incredibly strong loyalty to her own kind that approached MoralityPet levels. On the contrary, her ''Online'' incarnation is revealed to have been [[spoiler:secretly exterminating her own people for thousands of years to cover up a genetic experiment gone wrong.]] |
| 200 | * At some point, the internal struggle with the Satsui no Hadou dominated [[Franchise/StreetFighter Ryu]]'s when it was retconned into his backstory as the reason [[spoiler:he beat Sagat and scarred his chest]] whereas it was not mentioned once in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' (Albeit because said story hadn't been written yet.) ''VideoGame/StreetFighterAlpha'' is a prequel to ''II'' and introduced said plot point as well as integrating Ryu's story into Akuma's. ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIII'' has no mention of it but by ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'', the Satsui no Hadou has become the most important aspect of Ryu's plot despite him overcoming it to the point where Gouken's ending in the original ''IV'' is about Ryu being corrupted briefly as well. |
| 201 | * ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' |
| 202 | ** Princess Peach has been largely known for her over-the-top stereotypical ditzy personality, but she wasn't always like that. The series started off with her having the power to undo Bowser's evil spell, which is why Bowser kidnaps her (at least, according to [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 the first game]]'s [[AllThereInTheManual instruction manual]]). Still, in ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', she was portrayed as a dignified, intelligent-sounding monarch. Come ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'', her ditziness took over full force, leading to the Peach we knew for the longest time. However, she has recently gotten out of this ditzy characterization in more recent games like ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBrosWonder''. Some games, however, like ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', subvert this completely. |
| 203 | ** This also happened to Princess Daisy. After her much-needed DivergentCharacterEvolution away from Peach, Daisy became more of a {{tomboy|Princess}} with a spunky and energetic side, but was still generally soft-spoken and rather calm. As the games went on however, Daisy became more hyperactive, louder and more shrill with each new appearance. Needless to say, this hasn't worked out yet. |
| 204 | ** Bowser has gone under some notable de-Flanderization over the years. He started off as being someone who wanted to take over the Mushroom Kingdom, with no proper explanation given as to why. Starting with the [=RPGs=], however, he was shown to be a lot softer than he appears, shown to be depressed over the loss of his minions in [[VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG one instance]], and being horrified by the destruction of a world in [[VideoGame/SuperPaperMario another]], as well as having genuine feelings for Peach. Overall, Bowser's character can be described as being a mostly selfish king who wants to rule the world, but at the same time cares deeply for [[AFatherToHisMen his minions]] and [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes his son]] and genuinely loves Peach, which is probably to make him sympathetic. |
| 205 | ** Luigi started out as a recolor of Mario but [[DivergentCharacterEvolution started to grow in character]]. In ''VideoGame/{{Paper Mario|64}}'' he keeps asking to join Mario on his adventure, even if he’s scared of ghosts. However, when he got [[VideoGame/LuigisMansion his own game]] in which he was shown as TheSoCalledCoward, he faced his fear of ghosts head on. Since then, though, being a coward has been his main character trait. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools Not that this is a bad thing.]] |
| 206 | *** The most notable example of Flanderization regarding him can be found in the ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'' series. In the first game, he had [[ButtMonkey very bad luck]], and wasn't as brave as Mario, but he was still capable enough in his own right. In later games (particularly ''Partners in Time''), he's a complete wuss who can't seem to do anything without screwing up and getting hurt. |
| 207 | *** Luigi's cowardice could be a case of Canon Immigration, as even back in the western cartoons Luigi was shown as easily rattled and averse to conflict, whereas Mario never backed down from a challenge. One could consider this a cross-continuity case of Flanderization. In the cartoons, Luigi was generally more emotional than Mario in all aspects; cowardice, depression, anger, impulse, [[LargeHam hamminess]]... The games decided to just latch onto cowardice and run with it from there. |
| 208 | ** Another character who got flanderized is Toadsworth. In his debut game, ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'', he was understandably worried about Peach, but remained somewhat level-headed about it. By ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime'' kicked in, he became overly paranoid, to the point of assuming his past self [[FountainOfYouth transformed Peach into an infant]] and kidnapped her the second he saw him with Baby Peach. However, in this case it turned out for the better, since he didn't have that much of a personality in ''Sunshine''. |
| 209 | * ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' has several examples: |
| 210 | ** Luigi is one of the most notable examples. In his home series, whilst cowardice is his main trait, he's still a badass who is more than capable of beating enemies and getting serious when he needs to. In Brawl, though, he's a complete ''wimp'', with most of his moveset having him look like a ShrinkingViolet, and the story mode had him jumping terrified at the sight of [[FauxHorrific Waddle Dees]], almost completely harmless (Without weapons, that is) adorable puffballs. Even stranger is that the fourth game updates his appearance to be more cheerful like his canon self, but still retains his wussy-sounding voice from Brawl. |
| 211 | ** Wario suffers heavily from this as well. Outside of Smash, Wario is a greedy, rotten bully who mostly only cares about himself, but is still a complete badass who is still an AntiHero at worst in most appearances. In Smash, however, he's a 'living embodiment of gross' whose moveset consists of farting, biting, and doing other horrible things to opponents (With the fourth game notably removing his iconic Shoulder Bash, his ''only attack he had from Wario Land''), and Brawl's story mode portrays him as such a downright evil JerkAss who is fine with killing children and laughing his ass off about it afterwards. It would actually seem the developers are trying to ''hide'' the ''Wario Land'' appearances of him from players, removing a costume based on his white and blue ''Wario Land'' outfit and his Shoulder Bash, as well as lacking any Trophies of characters from the series. ''Ultimate'' reverses this somewhat, as Wario regains his Shoulder Bash while also now having his traditional Ground Pound, and his series' list of Spirits, while still primarily ''VideoGame/{{WarioWare}}'' based, includes various ''Wario Land'' Spirits as well. |
| 212 | ** The non-''Mario'' examples include: |
| 213 | *** [[VideoGame/Mother3 Lucas]] has devolved to a whiny ball of angst and cowardice in Brawl's story mode, which, while they are applicable aspects of his original personality, he's MUCH more complex a character than what's seen in Brawl. |
| 214 | *** As a rare fighting style example, [[Franchise/FireEmblem Marth]] started in Melee as a fast swordsman with his attacks being slightly stronger at the tip of his sword. Come Smash 4, and the tipper has become his most important asset ''by far,'' as his quick attack speed and especially his long range were toned down. |
| 215 | *** Snake is first revealed at E3 by getting out of a box. He is first revealed in the adventure mode by getting out of a box, and after his first playable segment, he teams up with [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Lucario]] and [[Franchise/{{Kirby}} Meta Knight]] after they discover him hiding in a box. Every character has three different taunts. Snake's up taunt is getting into a box. His side taunt is getting into a box. His down taunt is getting into a box. It's not just developer laziness, either, since all three have him pull the box over himself differently. |
| 216 | * In ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars3'', [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Henken Bekenner's crush on Emma Sheen]] gets rather creepy. In canon, Henken made it a point to watch out for her and she was aware he cared for her. In the game, he turns into a StalkerWithACrush to the point he starts creeping her out. |
| 217 | * Veigue from ''VideoGame/TalesOfRebirth'' gets this treatment whenever he appears in one of the [[VideoGame/TalesSeries Tales]] comedy [=CDs=]. In the game, he has a habit of [[SayMyName saying or yelling his girlfriend's name a lot]], and occasionally gives melodramatic equality speeches, but they're hardly his only character traits. In the [=CDs=] he becomes "That guy who yells his girlfriend's name and gives melodramatic equality speeches". |
| 218 | * Barbatos Goetia from ''VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny2'' had countermoves to common player tactics, and reacting to the use of items was only ''one'' example of his ArtificialBrilliance. This seemed to catch on with players, so [[AscendedMeme in his later cameo appearances]], Barbatos' one defining trait is [[BerserkButton hating items with an unholy passion]], to the point where his LimitBreak is now named [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efJlhwRmRfw No Items Ever!]] |
| 219 | * Usually inverted in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', with the mercs going from relatively one-dimensional, sociopathic parodies of video game character archetypes to more balanced and nuanced characters (the Demoman, for instance, goes from being an angry drunk to a family man who works several jobs so his mother can live in a mansion), but there are some exceptions: |
| 220 | ** The Soldier started out as a war-crazed patriot but was overall a competent soldier with unhealthy BloodKnight tendencies. At some point he turned into an insane, America-obsessed serial killer who talks to cardboard cutouts and decapitated heads, has hallucinations of the American Founding Fathers, and murders people for very arbitrary reasons. The animated short "Expiration Date" takes it further and portrays him as a PsychopathicManchild who is almost entirely incapable of social interaction, is bafflingly stupid in completely non-military related ways (he spends three days doing nothing but sending a loaf of bread through a teleporter because he misinterprets an off-hand comment), and is such a loony that everyone else treats him like a child and ignores him most of the time. His decent into insanity is justified in-universe as the consequence of industrial chemicals leaking into the local drinking water, turning the entire town into violent morons (the other mercs avoided this by drinking bottled water). |
| 221 | ** The Pyro went from arguably the most collected and professional character to an incomprehensible, ObliviouslyEvil lunatic who sees the world as a SugarBowl inhabited by friendly Cherubs (the flamethrower, of course, shoots rainbows and grows flowers wherever it touches) and is treated like some sort of giant CreepyChild (and accordingly is obsessed with stereotypically feminine or childish things). Later comics actually walked this back a bit: despite still seeing things through TheEyesOfMadness, once removed from the influence of their teammates Pyro somehow manages to fit right back into normal society and become a successful businessman, while most of the others become violent drifters or outcasts. |
| 222 | * ''Franchise/{{Tekken}}'': |
| 223 | ** Paul Phoenix has gradually become more of a joke character as the series has progressed. He remains one of the toughest characters in the game, however. Kuma began in ''Tekken 1'' as a fearsome and realistic bear character but began to become a joke in ''Tekken 2''. His identically named son who appears from ''Tekken 3'' onwards is a complete joke character due to the introduction of Panda. |
| 224 | ** Likewise, Marshall Law too. His story was fairly realistic in the earlier game, trying to expand his business into dojo, having it trashed by Baek and learning to let go of revenge. Then ''VideoGame/Tekken4'' happens and he fell into poverty and trying his best to win the tournament to ensure his family is well-fed. That was the point that Law takes a downward spiral into a JokeCharacter like his buddy Paul as 'being in PerpetualPoverty' becomes his secondary gimmick aside of being a BruceLeeClone, and he also proves himself to be similar to Paul in terms of wackiness, especially when you compare his ending in ''Tekken 2'' where Law made it clear that he's much less cocky and dignified than Paul (succeeding in flip kick when Paul fell flat to his face). |
| 225 | ** Yoshimitsu is another good example: He started out as simply a man, in a suit of armour, armed with a katana. Now he is armed with twin lightsabers, a spinning hand that lets him hover like a helicopter, insect wings that he keeps stored in his back, an active camouflage system and all manner of various unnecessary and probably quite inconvenient additions to his costume (which incidentally has now morphed into fully fledged power armour) such as a beetle horn on his head on ''4'', strange hanging-rope things in ''[[VideoGame/Tekken5 5]]'' and ''6'' and an absolutely ''huge'' entirely useless metal halo welded onto his back in ''Tekken Tag 2''. Oh, and if we take his endings as canon, he apparently can now also cast magical spells such as the ability to cast an after-image. |
| 226 | ** Since ''Tekken 4'', more and more characters are getting joke endings, especially with ''Tekken 6'', where even the main villain Heihachi has his ending as a joke inspired by Kuma's ending. |
| 227 | * ''Franchise/TombRaider'': |
| 228 | ** Lara Croft started as a modest, down to earth woman in the original ''VideoGame/TombRaiderI''. 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/TombRaiderTheAngelOfDarkness The Angel of Darkness]]'' this had become exaggerated to {{Jerkass}} levels. |
| 229 | ** Larson and Pierre in the first game didn't have much of a personality. Larson was only slightly dimwitted with a hillbilly accent while Pierre wasn't known for anything other than being a French guy that would take potshots at Lara throughout several levels. In ''VideoGame/TombRaiderChronicles'', Larson's accent grew thicker and he also TookALevelInDumbass while Pierre turned into a wimp. The ''VideoGame/TombRaiderAnniversary'' remake completely removes the previous character traits by making Larson a more competent henchman that has some sexual tension with Lara while Pierre became more calculated and was always one step ahead of Lara. |
| 230 | * Due to attempting to mesh the plot and characters from six games into one, this was perhaps inevitable for ''VideoGame/WildArmsMillionMemories''. It's most noticeable with [[VideoGame/WildArms5 Rebecca]] whose dreams of joining the circus with her trick shots are removed so her defining character trait is her [[CannotSpitItOut Cannot Spit It Out]] tension with Dean to the point where even the Guardians call her out on it. |
| 231 | * Many characters from ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' have suffered from Flanderization. |
| 232 | ** Sylvanas Windrunner is probably the most extreme example. In Cataclysm, her primary goal was to secure the survival of her people (the Forsaken and Blood Elves) and to reclaim their homelands by any means necessary. Sometimes, that meant using biological weapons against civilian targets or having disobedient lieutenants taken to her sex dungeon to be chained up and punished. At other times, she would achieve victory by taking a single person hostage and offering to spare that person's life. But whatever she did, it was always to win fights quickly, efficiently, and decisively. By the time of ''Battle for Azeroth'', however, her willingness to crack a few eggs was inflated to insane proportions. Her most recent plan has been to start a wholly unnecessary war between the Horde and Alliance over bullshit reasons, then keep that war going for as long as possible, in order to inflict as many casualties as possible on both sides, as part of a pact that she made with a ''death god'', because this mustache isn't going to twirl itself. |
| 233 | ** While Malfurion Stormrage was always one to put aside differences to face a common threat, ''Cataclysm'' has made this his sole character trait. He's so focused on stopping Ragnaros that he blatantly ignores the Horde's attacks on Night Elf settlements, infamously going so far as to defend them in the Leyara questline. This would be somewhat justifiable if he were a strictly neutral character, but he's supposed to be the ''leader of the Night Elves''. |
| 234 | ** Speaking of Garrosh, the playerbase's [[TheScrappy complete and utter hatred]] of the guy has lead to Blizzard Flanderizing him from a young hothead who was slowly coming to understand responsibility, to a brutal EvilOverlord who was obsessed with Orc racial purity and superiority, and was messing around with powers ''far'' beyond the scope of what any mortal should handle. |
| 235 | ** Jaina Proudmoore is an interesting case of Flanderization from her original personality into a disputable moment of CharacterDevelopment which quickly Flanderized her ''new'' personality. In ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'', she was a level-headed, though inexperienced leader who sought peace, but wasn't against fighting if she had too, and at least had a semblance of a backbone. In ''Wrath of the Lich King'', she became a full-on pacifist who all but bursts into tears the moment any fighting starts. Then in ''Mist of Pandaria'', Garrosh bombs Theramore, utterly destroying it, and sends Jaina over the edge. She goes from a pacifist to one of the Alliance's biggest proponents for the elimination of the Horde, threatening to destroy all of Orgrimmar with her magic and ordering a cull of the Sunreaver Blood Elves from Dalaran when she discovers some of them were aiding Garrosh in his plans. |
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