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10[[quoteright:275:[[VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/raidenscrappy_275.png]]]]
11[[caption-width-right:275:[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty From streaking through Big Shell]] to streaking through ''[[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe your torso]]''.]]
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18* ''Franchise/AceAttorney'':
19** First of all, there's Phoenix Wright himself, although we don't know the full extent of it until the third game, where we get to see him before he became a lawyer, as a hopelessly lovesick university student in a pink fuzzy sweater (and no, [[RealMenWearPink real men]] [[AvertedTrope do NOT wear pink]] in this situation). It's seeing Mia Fey get him acquitted for murder that inspires him to change his major to law and become the Ace Attorney we all know.
20** Phoenix Wright in ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney''. Seven years of fighting to take down [[spoiler: Kristoph]] and clear his name have turned him from a downtrodden lawyer whose main skills are luck and bluffing to a complete MagnificentBastard who [[spoiler: played puppetmaster to Apollo and was the architect behind completely reforming the justice system just to make sure Kristoph goes down and goes down hard.]]
21** And then Apollo himself gets a similar badassery boost in ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies Dual Destinies]]'', even going as far as to [[spoiler:take on his own boss and mentor so he can assure he finds the truth about his recently-murdered best friend]]. He takes another one in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice'' where he [[spoiler: defeats Phoenix Wright, overthrows a queen, and help to revolutionize Khura'in's corrupt legal system]].
22** From ''[[VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigationsMilesEdgeworth Ace Attorney Investigations 2]]'', we see [[spoiler:Sebastian Debeste]] go from utterly useless dumbass to something resembling basic competence after overshooting the DespairEventHorizon by a country mile and being pulled back from it by Edgeworth via the longest Logic Chess segment in the game. The change is so drastic that it even affects his ''theme music''. What was previously the comical and goofy-sounding "[[spoiler:[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QugbLVh9Pd4 First-Class Reasoning]]]]" becomes the sombre yet triumphant "[[spoiler:[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGrIPF3RutE First-Class Farewell]]]]" as [[spoiler:Sebastian gets the courage to go up against [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem his asshole father]] in court and convict him of his crimes]].
23* You the pilot in the ''VideoGame/AceCombat'' games. The first plane is almost always a dinky, outdated model ([[DoubleSubversion double subverted]] in ''VideoGame/AceCombat3Electrosphere'' -- your starter plane for once is a CoolPlane, the Eurofighter Typhoon... but it's the far future, and flying an Eurofighter in that game would be like flying a [=50s=] jet fighter nowadays), and the relatively modest starter F-16 in ''VideoGame/AceCombat6FiresOfLiberation'' is not top tier. By the time endgame arrives, you're using a faster, more agile, and survivable CoolPlane, to say nothing of the GameBreaker superfighters turning on a dime with [[EnergyWeapon Frickin' Laser Beams]] or MacrossMissileMassacre on tap. Beyond that, however, is going back to the dinky planes and CherryTapping people to death. In fact, the same could be said for many combat flight-action games in a similar vein.
24** Best illustrated in ''VideoGame/AceCombat04ShatteredSkies'', where you start as the unknown 'Mobius 1', become the only person EVER to down a 'Yellow', and eventually cause panic in the enemy ranks when they know you're against them. This culminates in the final mission where you're given your own 'Mobius Squadron', which causes untold fear in the enemy when they realize not one, but ALL of the incoming aircraft have 'ribbon insignias' -- Mobius 1's personal iconography.
25* This happens to G5 Iguazu in ''VideoGame/ArmoredCoreVIFiresOfRubicon''. For most encounters, such as his Arena match, his fighting style is ill-suited for his AC HEAD BRINGER's loadout. He plays very safely keeping his pulse shield up as often as he can while circling around you from a safe mid-range distance while trying to land hits with his (uncharged) linear rifle shots and missiles, and really only resorts to his machine gun if his shield overheated. [[spoiler:When he joins the skirmish as 621 attempts to get the drop on V.II Snail creating a MeleeATrois, he fights noticably more aggressively, making more effective use of his dual trigger loadout to create much more pressure on both 621 and Snail, and will capitalize on staggers with a Boost Kick, which he will not use otherwise. Though, it can also be explained that continually hearing voices in his head is driving him into a blind berserker rage as well.]]
26* After 5 years since saving Fiona in ''VideoGame/ArmyOfTwo: The Devil's Cartel'', she is able to wield firearms and joins Alpha and Bravo in her quest to get revenge on the BigBad Esteban Batistuta.
27* Yuri Sakazaki from ''VideoGame/ArtOfFighting'' and ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters''. In her first appearance in the first ''Art of Fighting'', she was a DamselInDistress. Her second appearance? Playable fighter and practitioner of Kyokugenryuu karate, complete with her own ki attacks! She would go on to be a mainstay in ''The King of Fighters'' series.
28* ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'':
29** In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedI'', Malik is just the guy who gives you your feather so you can kill your targets, at least until the end, where he helps you take back Masyaf. Impressive, [[HandicappedBadass considering the guy only has one arm]].
30** Meet Lucy Stillman (voiced by Creator/KristenBell). Come ''[[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedI AC1,]]'' she was the blonde chick in a pencil skirt who stood there while you gallivanted about Masyaf in the 12th century. No action girl, no action ''anything.'' Meet the same Lucy Stillman (still voice by Kristen Bell) via ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII'' She wears high heels, ''blood-stained vests,'' and kicks the shit out of anyone who looks at her funny. Fan reactions thus: "whoah, Lucy's a badass!"
31** Desmond Miles undergoing this trope is half the reason behind the plot of ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII''.
32** [[HighlyVisibleNinja Ezio]] [[InTheHood Auditore]], protagonist of the second, third and fourth games, takes huge levels of badassery during his 40 years long RoaringRampageOfRevenge.
33* From the two ''Badman'' games, the young HeroAntagonist Shota is like this. He starts out as a wimpy warrior who can be beaten in just seconds with your low-level monsters. Over the course of the game, he gains confidence, companions, and the strength to take out even your best dragons in just a few hits. The ''Badman 2'' DLC story "My Name is Shota" details his rise to fame and glory, and is told from his point of view instead of the Overlord's.
34* ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' saw several characters take levels in badass at various points-Sarevok, Nalia, Aerie, and Imoen in Throne of Bhaal come immediately to mind. (the protagonist) seems to take his/her biggest round of badass in Spellhold in ''[=BG2=]''.
35** The change is especially notable in Aerie, who is initially the most timid and insecure character in the entire game. And then, suddenly, she blurts out the battle cry, "This will hurt '''you''' ''a lot'' more than '''me'''!". Even Minsc's battle cries can't beat that one...
36** For a quite literal example, Dual-classing Imoen to a Mage in [=BG1=]. It's such a big boost the sequel just assumes you did it.
37** Anomen from ''VideoGame/BaldursGate 2'' [[spoiler: after his character development]] get a healthy, permanent +4 wisdom boost and becomes Lawful Good with a tolerable personality on top of it.
38* In ''VideoGame/BarbarianTheUltimateWarrior'', the player has to rescue Princess Mariana by fighting rivals to the death. In the sequel, Mariana is a playable character [[ActionGirl wielding a sword]].
39* ''VideoGame/BatenKaitos'': Sagi. He's not bad in a fight at the start, but he routinely gets knocked on his ass by anything bigger than a normal human, with his constant losses eventually driving him into a HeroicBSOD about how ineffective a hero he is. Then comes the [[WhamEpisode Heart-to-Heart]], where he finds out [[TomatoInTheMirror what he is]], and what he's truly capable of. After that, ''nothing'' can stand in his way.
40* Quite a few Franchise/{{Batman}} villains who are generally not taken very seriously have undergone this in the ''Franchise/BatmanArkhamSeries''.
41** The Penguin is one of the biggest with many Batman fans feeling that this was the first time they could really take him seriously as a truly dangerous villain, with his crude mannerisms and gleeful torture of captured cops.
42** The Riddler is another one, with his ''Franchise/{{Saw}}''-like horrific deathtraps. He's also managed to sneak trophies and the contraptions required to get them into several of Batman's secret hideouts as well as a ''League of Assassins'' secret hideout and devise riddles to which the answers are located in these places. In ''Arkham Knight'', some of the riddles are available before the story event required to make the thing you need to scan appear actually happens! [[note]]Okay, that last thing's probably just a bug or a developer oversight. [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane Probably.]][[/note]]
43** Calendar Man. Dear GOD, Calendar Man. Despite this only being the second Batman story to feature as a credible villain instead of a harmless joke (the first being ''ComicBook/TheLongHalloween''), most of the crimes he committed involve straight murder, many of them described in horrifying detail. Not to mention what happens after you listen to every single one of his stories.......
44** Scarecrow is never a non-threat, but he's far more dangerous in the ''Arkham'' series than he is almost anywhere else, even in most of his comic appearances. '''Especially''' in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'', where he took multiple levels in badass within the series itself. After getting horribly mauled by Killer Croc in the first game and being absent for the second, he [[BodyHorror sewed his own face back together]], got himself a [[Creator/JohnNoble much more sinister-sounding voice actor]], and became the BigBad as well as (arguably) the greatest threat that Batman has ever faced. [[spoiler:To date, he is the only villain in any form of media to ever unmask Batman to the world.]]
45* [[spoiler:Eleanor Lamb]] from ''VideoGame/{{BioShock 2}}''. [[spoiler: Once you get her some big sister armor she goes from a sick girl in a bed to a full-fledged and quite badass ActionGirl.]]
46* In ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'', while Booker starts as a seasoned badass Elizabeth starts out as rather naive DamselInDistress, but shows early signs of potential when we see her lockpicking skills and we get glimpses of her special talents. While at first she is rather appalled by all the killing that ensues, she sees herself forced to kill someone to save a child which results in a HeroicBSOD with an ImportantHaircut signaling her first level up. In combination with a lengthy torture over months, she now merely accepts Booker as a sidekick on her RoaringRampageOfRevenge, after showing how much she now is able to weaponize her special powers. By the end of the game, she pretty much wields god-like powers and pretty casually kills of [[TheDreaded Songbird]] before [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong setting right what once went wrong]] at the cost of her own existence. Which is then ignored for the [[DownloadableContent DLCs]] where in ''Burial at Sea: Episode II'' she takes the last level when she is [[BroughtDownToBadass brought down to normal]] and holds herself against an army of splicers with traditional badassery, making one final [[HeroicSacrifice heroic sacrifice]].
47* ''Franchise/BlazBlue'':
48** Jin Kisaragi starts out in ''[[VideoGame/BlazBlueCalamityTrigger Calamity Trigger]]'' as an AxCrazy {{Jerkass}} who has a [[HoYay really]] ''[[IncestSubtext really]]'' [[InterplayOfSexAndViolence disturbing]] [[StalkerWithACrush relationship]] with his brother Ragna; when he actually fights his brother, he gets {{Curb Stomp|Battle}}ed by him. In the sequel, ''Continuum Shift'', he fights off [[BigBad Hazama]] while injured and protecting [[NiceGal Makoto]], holds his own against a full-powered [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Rachel]] despite being too badly injured to even move right, receives an [[HarmfulHealing extremely painful healing treatment]] that not even Jubei could handle, takes on Hakumen, overcomes [[spoiler:a BrainwashedAndCrazy [[LoveInterests Tsubaki]]]] and the evil mind-corrupting powers of his Nox, fights Hazama again and ''this time fights well enough to cause Hazama to retreat'', fights [[spoiler:the extremely powerful magic user Phantom]] [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome off-screen]] ''and wins'', and '''then''' tells Hakumen to back off so he can challenge [[spoiler:Mu-12, a BrainwashedAndCrazy OmnicidalManiac version of Noel, all by himself]]. Clearly, Jin didn't cure himself of his insanity, he just replaced it with another kind of insanity. And that's not counting the fact that ''[[spoiler:Hakumen is a future version of him!]]''
49** [[HighlyVisibleNinja Bang Shishigami]]. In ''Calamity Trigger'', we have an annoying [[Franchise/StreetFighter Dan Hikibi]] {{Expy}} and general in-universe ButtMonkey who only wins his battles because other, more powerful characters let him win. In ''Continuum Shift'', he fights off a nuclear-powered cyborg and survives an encounter with BigBad Hazama, while [[spoiler:pulling Carl and Taokaka out of the fire as well]], and then ''immediately'' goes on to stall ''[[spoiler:Relius Clover]]'' for Platinum's sake long enough for Hakumen to show up. Oh, and did we mention he does this despite being the only person in the game who [[BadassNormal fights entirely without magical or supernatural powers to back them up]]?
50** [[{{Moe}} Noel]] seems to have taken a few, if the trailers for ''Chrono Phantasma'' are any indication. Not only is she sporting some new abilities with her Bolverk ars magus, she can [[spoiler:make controlled transformations into Mu-12]], which makes her one of the few people in the setting who can match [[TheAce Kagura Mutsuki]] on equal terms.
51** Ragna takes one every game. In the first game, Ragna is UnskilledButStrong, unable to take on the likes of Hakumen at 20% of his strength, Nu, as well as Hazama (according to Rachel at the end of the game), and constantly throwing its power around when things go south. By the second game, he gains the Idea Engine and is able to overpower Hazama/Terumi's influence on his Grimoire, as well as fighting the aformentioned Hakumen to a draw in the middle part of the third game, who praises Ragna's improvement. By the climax of the third game, he's learned to rely on his own strength and skill without using the Grimoire, and [[spoiler:defeats Take-Mikazuchi (with his Grimoire activated), an EldritchAbomination which ''is the size of a satellite'', can nuke entire cities, played a part in defeating ''The Black Beast itself'' (by killing the heart, Nu, inside) during the Dark War]], and he inflicts a CurbStompBattle on Nu (''without'' his Grimoire activated) this time, and this trend continues in the fourth game where he stalemates the likes of Azrael with his limiters on (who acknowledges him as WorthyOpponent this time) and Kagura (who notes his improvement) without his Grimoire activated, as well as utterly wrecking most of the game's cast singlehandedly, even an amped-up Nu-13 and Hakumen [[spoiler:though these are in part due to the Embryo weakening the Entitled, dealing a decisive killing blow to [[SuperpowerLottery Nine]], going toe-to-toe with [[PhysicalGod Susano'o]] through the use of DangerousForbiddenTechnique, and kills Terumi for good, with a cool PreMortemOneLiner]].
52* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'':
53** From the very start, Claptrap has been the effective ButtMonkey and token idiot of the franchise. They have also made two of the hardest and most powerful boss fights out of him. The first was in the first game against MINAC, which can be effectively described as a giant Dubstep tank armed with multiple gatling guns, lasers, and kamikaze robots, and the second one which is in ''VideoGame/BorderlandsThePreSequel'' is where we find out who he was supposed to be programmed to be [[spoiler:5H4D0W-TP]], and then you fight against [[ThatOneBoss two of the hardest bosses in the franchise: ECLIPSE and EOS]] which are respectively a 25-foot giant mecha and a SPACE STATION.
54** In addition, Claptrap in ''The Pre-Sequel'' is playable -- which means that if you choose Claptrap as your player character, you will experience him beating ECLIPSE and EOS against all odds.
55** Although ''Borderlands 3'' has Claptrap mostly returning to be the usual dork he's always been, he does manage to keep some of the badassitude he showed in the games that were released between ''Borderlands 2'' and ''3''.
56** ''Borderlands 2'' and ''Pre-Sequel'' have ''literal'' Badass Levels, which are awarded by completing minor challenges such as killing a certain amount of a specific enemy type or dealing a certain amount of elemental damage, and can be exchanged for permanent stat boosts.
57** Lampshaded and foreshadowed in the comment that concludes the very first quest in ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'':
58---> You just moved five feet and opened a locker. Later, when you're killing skyscraper-sized monsters with a gun that shoots lightning, you'll look back on this moment and be like, "heh".
59* ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIV'' has Ershin, who is rather useless for the first half or so of the game due to having only two skills (a random damage attack, and an attack that guarantees a critical hit but only has 40% accuracy). After an event halfway through the game [[spoiler:which involves unsealing the goddess Deis, who lives inside Ershin]] and some LevelGrinding, however, Ershin will learn all four of the level 3 elemental spells, making her excellent for setting up combo attacks.
60* In ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty 4: VideoGame/ModernWarfare'', your player character, "Soap" [=MacTavish=], is an [[FeaturelessProtagonist Ageless, Faceless, Culturally-Ambiguous Adventure Person]], whom Captain Price continually ribs for being the FNG (Fuckin' New Guy). Despite this, you still manage to pull off some badass moments during the game, most notably during the final level when you manage to shoot the BigBad while he's distracted. This is ratcheted up to eleven for the sequel, ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 2'', where you find out that [=MacTavish=] not only survived the ordeal, but shaved his head, got some tattoos, got a promotion, and became a badass captain in his own right and plays essentially the exact same role to the new player character that Captain Price did for him. The student learned his lesson well.
61* ''VideoGame/Case02ParanormalEvil'': Double subverted. Marty lacks the power he had from ''VideoGame/LoserReborn'' and is just an ordinary human now, but he's also more willing to confront reality thanks to his best friend's encouragement, allowing him to fight the undead with mundane weaponry.
62* In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLegacyOfDarkness'', Henry, the child of the now vampire couple, goes from a young DistressedDude rescued by Cornell, and grows up into a tough as nails Knight armed with a flintlock gun who goes back to the titular castle to save a group of children kidnapped by Dracula's followers.
63* ''VideoGame/CelestialHearts'': Silnastra [[spoiler:is actually Lissandra, who wasn't portrayed as a particularly strong fighter in the previous game. Even when she joined the party, she was at the exact same power level as Hermes. In this game, Silnastra is a powerful boss and can summon weaker copies of Strife]].
64* ''[[https://store.steampowered.com/app/1349230 5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel]]'' buffs ''TabletopGame/{{Chess}}''' Bishop (and other pieces that can travel more than 1 axis at a time) due to the addition of 2 temporal axes and how the normal movement rule interacts with those additional dimensions. [[note]]The ability to travel more than 1 axis at a time on normal board translates into the same ability to travel between time and over differnet timelines. For the Bishop, they can shift in either both time/timeline axes at the same time while remaining in the same board position (must be done diagonally thus shifting both at the same time, just like normal movement), or shift in just one of time/timeline at a time, but which allows your Bishop to actually move horizontally/vertically on the board in the alternate time/in the past. The Rook, on the other hand, can only travel on either time or timeline axis in a single turn, and will only stay in the same exact spot on the board. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqMEiBu4M1c For more information]][[/note]]
65* Coco Bandicoot of the ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'' series gradually progresses into this throughout her playable appearances. In her first playable role in ''[[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot3Warped Warped]]'', she is a vehicle-centric character and unable to progress through levels on her own. In ''[[VideoGame/CrashBandicootTheWrathOfCortex The Wrath of Cortex]]'' she is fully playable, but still with a noticeably weaker move set than her brother, making her levels something of a hard mode. By ''[[VideoGame/CrashMindOverMutant Mind Over Mutant]]'' she is as functional as Crash and can emulate all his abilities. This was taken further in the [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot1996 first]] [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot2CortexStrikesBack 3]] [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot3Warped games]] [[VideoGameRemake remake]] ''[[VideoGame/CrashBandicootNSaneTrilogy N. Sane Trilogy]]'', where she can not only emulate all of Crash's abilities, but she's also playable in ''almost all levels of said 3 games''[[note]]Underwater, motorcycle, and boss levels in general are still Crash-only levels, while Pura, jetski, and N-Gin's boss fight in ''Warped'' are still Coco-only levels[[/note]].
66* In the PC game series ''Videogame/DarkParables'', Princess Briar Rose gets to take one over the course of the player character's career. She's a classic DamselInDistress when the player first meets her (which is understandable since she's Literature/SleepingBeauty -- ''the'' Sleeping Beauty). The next time she encounters the detective, she has become a PrettyPrincessPowerhouse who fights evil with magic plants.
67* Jann Lee from ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive'', believe it or not, used to be a weak kid who gets bullied all the time, and to ease his pain, he watched Creator/BruceLee movies. He ends up as an AscendedFanboy, masters the Jeet Kune Do, and is now a very formidable if {{arrogant|KungFuGuy}} fighter.
68** Oh, Jann Lee? You mean the guy who went from a weak bullied kid to the guy who ''punched out a Tyrannosaurus rex!?''
69* Isaac Clarke from ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'' takes quite a number levels in ''Dead Space'' and ''Dead Space 2''. Considering that the man took down more Necromorphs that any army could, making him the best fighter against them by a considerable margin, killed several creatures bigger than buildings on his own, defeated '''his own insanity''' and crash lands on a freezing planet with no protection and survives, among others. All of this with mostly standard mining tools. ''Did I mention that Isaac is a middle-aged engineer with no combat experience?''
70* [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry Dante]] is already a bonafide OneManArmy, but he becomes stronger in almost every game he appears in, either chronologically compared to the previous installment, or when the game's plot gives him a new power. In ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry3DantesAwakening'', he's initially trounced by Vergil but ultimately proves stronger in the end. In ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry1'', when Trish [[TakingTheBullet takes the death beam intended for him]], Dante goes [[LetsGetDangerous dead serious]], unlocks Sparda's SuperMode and ''[[CurbStompBattle utterly trounces]]'' [[BigBad Mundus]]. In ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'', it's implied that he's surpassed his father's power. For perspective, [[AscendedDemon Sparda]] was a PhysicalGod who ''defeated the entire armies of Hell''. And by the end of ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry2'', he's grown so powerful that the PhysicalGod TrueFinalBoss is little more than a nuisance to Dante while the latter is just in his human form. Creator/{{Capcom}} later twisted the chronology a bit by {{retcon}}ning ''[=DMC4=]'' to take place after ''[=DMC2=]'' instead. And then in ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry5'', at the ruins of his family's home, he unlocks his most powerful transformation so far; the Sin Devil Trigger, which allows him to turn the tables against Urizen, who had kicked his ass. In the process, he gains the Devil Sword Dante, the most powerful of his Devil Arms in the game.
71* [[MascotMook Jack Frost]] does this through the two ''VideoGame/DigitalDevilSaga'' games, going from random encounter to MetalSlime quizmaster to brutal {{Superboss}}.
72* As of ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 4|A Promise Unforgotten}}'', [[spoiler:Vyers]] has returned to his old identity as [[spoiler:Krichevskoy]], with all the power that entails.
73* In ''VideoGame/DisneyPrincess'', the more passive Disney Princesses are playable, and all of them save Snow White directly defeat their movie's villain.
74* ''Franchise/{{Doom}}'':
75** Famed mods ''VideoGame/BrutalDoom'' and ''Project Brutality'' beef up '''everyone''' from ''VideoGame/{{Doom}} II''; the demons become stronger and smarter and have newer demons to aid in the fight against Doomguy. But Doomguy has become tougher as well getting new powerups, an upgraded and expanded arsenal, and an even better version of the good ol' Berserk Pack to '''RIP AND TEAR THEIR GUTS'''.
76** ''VideoGame/Doom2016'': A number of returning enemies from the past games are ''significantly'' faster and more aggressive than before, and have new attacks and capabilities.
77*** The basic Imp is now capable of chucking fireballs while running in any direction, will lead moving targets, and has pinpoint accuracy. It is also capable of navigating the environment with startling agility and will cling to pipes and walls to rain fireballs down.
78*** The Possessed Security, this game's version of the Shotgun Guy, has received a significant buff as it is the only {{hitscan}} enemy in the game now, and is equipped with a riot shield that deflects bullets back at the player.
79*** Pinkies now sport chitinous armor that resists most attacks from the front and will charge at the player with impressive speed, while having enough agility to track the player's direction mid-charge.
80*** After being absent in ''VideoGame/Doom3'', the Baron of Hell is back and is [[LightningBruiser far more quicker than before]], capable of keeping pace with the player and making great leaps to close the distance, as well as having a number of powerful melee attacks on top of its green fireball attack.
81*** The Cacodemon's spit now causes your vision to blur for a brief moment should you be hit, and they will constantly advanced on the player to use their bite attack once in range.
82*** The Revenants, which in the originals were more of a GlassCannon that gradually became passé as time went on, got a pretty significant buff that turns them into {{Lightning Bruiser}}s with the bonus of [[DeathFromAbove being able to fly and smoke you out with]] [[MacrossMissileMassacre a shit load of missiles]].
83*** The Mancubus now has a number of means to stop players from circlestrafing it at close range, including a ground pound move that repels anyone who gets too close. Taken even further with its much more powerful and durable variation: The Cyber-Mancubus!
84*** The Summoner, [[{{Expy}} effectively a renamed version]] of ''VideoGame/Doom3''[='s=] Arch-Vile, retains many of its predecessor's abilities, but is much more mobile, teleporting around the area and never staying in one place for more than a few seconds.
85*** The Cyberdemon as well, even though he's lost his DamageSponge status, he's '''far''' more competent as an opponent and, despite his size, is frighteningly fast, forcing you to keep on your toes or be in for a world of hurt.
86*** [[spoiler:[[FinalBoss The Spider Mastermind]]. Rather than the weak end-boss she was back then, this one puts up far more of a fight than she did in the original, being much more durable and packing a number of different weapons, including a plasma chaingun, lasers, and mines.]]
87** ''VideoGame/DoomEternal'' ups the ante even further with its returnees from both ''DOOM (2016)'' and ''Doom II'':
88*** The Soldiers now have jetpacks for additional mobility.
89*** Arachnotrons make their return and are way more mobile than their ''Doom II'' counterparts while still retaining their firepower.
90*** The OG Arch-Vile is back (re-replacing the Summoner), and while he loses his ability to revive fallen demons, he can now teleport around the map, summon in additional demons, and even significantly buff up his fellow demons. ''And'' he retains his infamous "instantly surround the player with raging flames" attack from ''Doom II''.
91*** The Baron of Hell is now a "Super Heavy" demon capable of tanking a BFG blast.
92*** [[spoiler: [[FinalBoss The Icon of Sin]]. The last time we saw it in ''Doom II: Hell On Earth'', it was little more than a head on a wall, with its only defensive and offensive capabilities revolving around spawning monsters, and only taking three hits from a rocket launcher to put down. Here, it's a giant, demonic HumanoidAbomination who not only can still spawn monsters but possesses a plethora of direct attacks that can easily kill the Doom Slayer if he lets himself get hit. To make things worse, it's also monumentally tougher to kill, [[RasputinianDeath as the Doom Slayer has to destroy its armor, shred its body with gunfire until it's basically a skeleton with a couple meat chunks still hanging on, and then impale its exposed brain with the Crucible]] (which happens to be literally the only viable method of putting it down). And that still only puts it out of commission instead of killing it.]]
93* ''Franchise/DragonAge'':
94** Feynriel of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' starts off as a young, angry, terrified half-elven runaway who's being pursued by demons, Templars, and kidnappers. Save him from the Circle in Act 1 and spare his life in the Fade in Act 2, and he upgrades to taking out people with his mind ''from half a continent away''.
95** ''Videogame/DragonAgeInquisition'':
96*** Samson first appeared in ''Videogame/DragonAgeII'' a sadsack ex-Templar, forced to beg on the streets to feed his lyrium addiction. In ''Inquisition'', he's become the powerful leader of the Red Templars. Red Lyrium has made him into a OneManArmy capable of defeating scores of soldiers by himself.
97*** Carroll in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' was a lyrium-addled low-ranking Templar who was saddled with ferryman duty. He got promoted to ''Knight-Captain'' at some point before ''Inquisition'' and joined the Red Templars. He's now a monstrous and powerful Elite Red Templar Knight.
98* Broly in ''VideoGame/DragonBallZBudokaiTenkaichi 3'', actually: his Rush Attacks happen to become more brutal, he smashes his opponent into the ground, grabs them, kicks them into the air, grabs them in the air again, smashes the opponent in the ground again, but he punches them away for good measure.
99** And Broly got a ''Super Saiyan 3'' form in ''Raging Blast 2''. And so did Vegeta.
100* Drakath takes a level in badass when he becomes TheStarscream to Sepulchure in ''VideoGame/DragonFable''. He stabs him in the back with his own Necrotic Blade of Doom and then starts absorbing power from the Ultimate Orb. Drakath is happy about the magnificence of growing more powerful thanks to the orb, and calls Fluffy to him, and they fuse together to become Drakath the Darkness Dragon, a.k.a. Drakath the Undead Dragon, who also appeared in the original ''VideoGame/AdventureQuest'', where he was incredibly powerful compared to his initial level of power in ''VideoGame/DragonFable''. In ''VideoGame/AdventureQuestWorlds'', he becomes the Champion of Chaos, showing off his incredibly powerful Chaos magic, which he plans to use to [[TakeOverTheWorld take over Lore]] and destroy and remake everything King Alteon loves. And he also plans to do so through his [[ThirteenIsUnlucky 13 Lords of Chaos]]. That's saying something.
101* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'':
102** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestII'': In the NES, the Prince of Cannock's best gear was roughly The Prince of Midenhall's early to middle-game gear, and due to everyone only having TWO non-HP/MP stats, he could die A LOT if you weren't careful. He was upgraded notably in the ''VideoGame/DragonQuestI+Dragon Quest II'' SNES Remake.
103** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'':
104*** Everyone in the ''VideoGame/DragonQuestMonsterBattleRoad'' series, but most prevalent in Kiryl's super-attack. After unsuccessfully spamming Thwack, he stomps the dialog boxes to the floor and uses Kathwack, a powerful wave of darkness. This is a Mythology Gag dating back to the NES game's legendary Artificial Stupidity. You couldn't turn off the party AI in the original NES version (well, you could, but only by using a Game Genie code that was discovered 15 years after it was released) — and Kiryl was completely useless in battle, as he'd spam instant Death spells that would never work, ever.
105*** Aamon gets one in the Updated Re-releases; it's revealed during his boss fight in both versions that he's the one that had Rose killed; in the bonus chapter, Aamon admits that it was a plan to become the new Master of Monsterkind, which has since succeeded; now Aamon takes Psaro's place as a boss, except much harder.
106** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV'' follows the main character's life from a child who needed to be bailed out of danger by his father to a powerful warrior prince.
107** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVI'':
108*** As he reveals in Party Chat, when Amos was little, he was called a coward. That's the whole reason he got into the town hero business.
109*** Prince Howard "the Coward" grows a pair in between the second and final tests of royalty.
110** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX'': Greygnarl's Grotto Incarnation, who appears in the postgame, is sensibly more powerful than its original form.
111--->"I, Greygnarl, born of the light... Barbarus, born of the darkness... Styrmling, of the sacred force... We once were as one... Barbarus was destroyed when the Almighty sealed away the darkness... And the weakening of the light aged me greatly... But the sacred force remained strong enough. Strong enough to guide you, and to bring the darkness and the light back into being. And Styrmling's spirit is once more made flesh... And his body set free from its prison of so many years... Now come and face me. Show the light-born the power of the one chosen by the sacred force."
112** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestXI'':
113*** After her ImportantHaircut, Serena gains her sister Veronica's magic skills, making her extremely versatile.
114*** Thanks to the Hero's encouragement, Faris is able to do things for himself and shows much more courage than before.
115** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestHeroesTheWorldTreesWoeAndTheBlightBelow'': The Mayor of Colissea was already pretty cool to begin with but, in the final quest that takes place in his city, he willingly joins the fray to help the party, can hold his own against the giant monsters, and has infinite health!
116* A ''literal'' example can be seen in ''Videogame/{{DRL}}'' -- the player can put up to two level-up points to the Badass trait, which reduces knockback by one tile per level and prevents overheal decay (without Badass, healing over 100% would cause the extra health to slowly decay. With the Badass trait at level 1, the overheal decay stops at 150% and with level 2 stops completely).
117* In ''VideoGame/DuelSaviorDestiny'' character sometimes get powerups. These powerups are often reflected in more powerful alternate forms. For example, the BigBad gets a special sword that allows him to move in a trickier pattern and gain much better attacks. [[spoiler:Super Taiga]] on the other hand gets an even bigger boost in the form of greater range, some better damage, the ability usually reserved for bosses to autoblock and some speed boosts to both movement and attack.
118* In ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'', after leaving the Scaraba pyramid, [[spoiler: Poo leaves the party to learn PSI Starstorm, [[BigDamnHeroes returning at the end of the upcoming boss battle to show it off]].]]
119** After visiting his final sanctuary and defeating his EnemyWithin, Ness's inner power is awoken. In a single level up, he gains nearly two-hundred HP and his [[{{Mana}} PP]] pretty much ''doubles''. He is also much more likely to land a CriticalHit, survive with [[CriticalExistenceFailure 1 HP]] after a mortal blow, dodge attacks, and hit with his own attacks. Finally, he drops his MightyGlacier status and becomes your party's LightningBruiser.
120** Lucas in VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}. At the start, he oversleeps, gets called a crybaby by the villagers, and compared to his braver brother Claus. [[spoiler: After Hinawa dies, Lucas weeps at her grave while Claus goes out to avenge Hinawa with a butter knife.]] However, at the end of Chapter 3, [[spoiler: when Kumatora, Wess, and Salsa are facing Fassad's tank, Lucas shows up with a Drago at his side and proceeds to knock Fassad halfway back to Thunder Tower.]] He only gets better from then on out.
121* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls''
122** The entire race of the [[LizardFolk Argonians]] gradually took levels as the series has progressed. They used to be something of disrespected victims of FantasticRacism and were frequently enslaved from their homeland by the [[OurElvesAreDifferent Dunmer (Dark Elves)]] of neighboring Morrowind. Then the [[WiseTree sentient]] (and possibly {{omniscient}}) trees they worship, known as the Hist, sensed the [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion Crisis]] coming and changed their sap (which Argonians drink to grow and communicate with the Hist) to make the Argonians more greater weapons of war and much more aggressive, to the point that not only did they drive back the Oblivion invasions in the Black Marsh, they ''forced the Dremora to close their own portals because they were launching counter-invasions in Oblivion''. As of the 4th Era, the Argonians have taken the southern half of Morrowind [[TheDogBitesBack in payback for the centuries of slave ownership]], and it's mentioned that their nation is one of two (the other being [[ProudWarriorRace Hammerfell]]) that could realistically drive off the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName fascistic]] [[AntiHumanAlliance Aldmeri Dominion]], who have otherwise dominated Tamriel.
123** [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] by Hungers. Hungers are a form of [[OurDemonsAreDifferent lesser Daedra]] in service to Boethiah, the [[OurGodsAreDifferent Daedric Prince]] of [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder Plots]], who are very similar in appearance to the "alien-style" {{Chupacabra}}, complete with claws, spikes, and a "sucker" mouth. In their first appearance in ''Morrowind'', they are one of the toughest Daedric foes around. In addition to their standard strong attack and [[VampiricDraining fatigue drain]], they are [[AntiMagic immune to all forms of Destruction magic]] and can use [[BreakableWeapons Disintegrate Armor/Weapon]] spells. Later appearances drop these latter two abilities completely, making them a far less formidable foe.
124** From the series' {{Backstory}} comes the [[FounderOfTheKingdom legendary ancient Chimeri/Dunmeri hero]], Lord Indoril Nerevar. While details of his early life are scant, he was a mere merchant caravan guard prior to uniting the Chimer people and forming an EnemyMine with the rival [[OurDwarvesAreDifferent Dwemer]] in order to drive out the invading [[HornyVikings Nords]]. His time as the leader of the Chimer (now Dunmer) is considered the most prosperous time in the race's history.
125** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', [[TheClan Great House]] [[TheMagocracy Telvanni]] Councilor and Mage-Lord Master Neloth was an [[WizardsLiveLonger ancient wizard]] who could barely move without a special ointment being applied to him and who also seemed to be suffering from some form of dementia. In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'''s ''Dragonborn'' DLC, which takes place [[TimeSkip over 200 years]] later, Neloth returns, and is significantly more badass. At one point, he accompanies the [[PlayerCharacter Dragonborn]] to a Dwemer ruin to obtain one of the Black Books. He's capable of casting multiple high-level, extremely powerful spells such as Incinerate, Thunderbolt, and Summon Storm Atronach as well as buffs such as Ebonyflesh. He'll single-handedly cut a swath through most of the enemies you'll face. When you encounter the dragon, Krosulhah, that [[BigBad Miraak]] sent after you, Neloth is present, and he has a good chance of being able to incapacitate the dragon without help.
126** In the ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'' expansion ''Tribunal'', we have Gaenor, who at first appears to be nothing more than a poor, unassuming Bosmer with a rude, egotistical personality, demanding increasingly ludicrous sums of gold from the player and becoming furious when they finally refuse to give any more money, giving a threatening promise to the player that he'll remember them and be back. He then disappears from Mournhold for a few days, and the player might think it was simply an empty threat from a Wood Elf who has no chance of besting them. ''Wrong''. Gaenor returns to Mournhold, having skyrocketed from Level 1 all the way to Level 50, clad in a full suit of ebony armor, wielding an ebony longsword and shield, with Master-rank skill levels in Long Blade, Block, and Heavy Armor, and ridiculously high Strength and Luck stats, and upon seeing the player, engages them in one of the hardest, if not ''the'' hardest battles in the game, arguably harder than Dagoth Ur, Vivec, and Almalexia combined. And he got to this point ''all in the span of a few days'', when it takes the player the ''entire game'' to even hope to reach that point. Took A Level In Badass, indeed.
127* And while we're on the subject of Disney games, in ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'' the Phantom Blot is upgraded from a highly competent GentlemanThief into an EldritchAbomination of paint and thinner, similar to the previous Phantom Blot [[InNameOnly only by name]]. Warren Spector says its an upgrade but not everyone agrees, [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff especially Italy]].
128* The ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series is particularly good at this, with the player characters having fairly mundane backgrounds. [[VideoGame/{{Fallout|1}} Three people had no]] [[VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}} clue about]] [[VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}} the outside world]], [[VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}} one was an inexperienced tribal]], and the other was [[VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas an ordinary courier]]. All five of them eventually become one of the most powerful, and influential figures to ever walk the wasteland.
129** The last one is debatable, as "an ordinary courier" in the ''Fallout'' universe must walk back and forth across the wasteland, surviving all of its dangers, all day, every day. Having a high level of badass is in the job description.
130* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'' every single enemy has got this treatment compared to the last game! Feral Ghouls aren't much tougher but much more dangerous as they come in huge groups and have unpredictable attack patterns. The basic Radscorpions are now as big and tough as the Giant Radscorpions from ''3'' and ''New Vegas'' and also now burrow underground to ambush you under your feet. Mirelurk Kings are less fish-men and now the monster from the ''Film/{{Alien}}'' films and Mirelurk Queens are bigger than Super Mutant Behemoths and can shrug off ''the Fat-Man''. Raiders are much better armed and even have their very own suits of Power Armor (albeit crude homemade versions), and also the ability to ''steal yours'' if you allow them the proper circumstances. Sentry Bots are twice as big, pack all the same weapons, and will try to blow you up with a Mini-Nuke blast if you heavily damage them. Deathclaws (as if ''they'' could get even more badass) can now tank multiple rockets and insta-kill you if you're not wearing Power Armor, and still put up a tough fight against a Power Armor wearer.
131** Can also potentially happen to the Minutemen. They start out getting their asses kicked by raider gangers, ghouls, and mirelurks. They can end up [[spoiler:storming the Institute, blowing the whole place sky-high and giving ''the goddamn [[BadassArmy Eastern Brotherhood of Steel]]'' pause for concern. Oh, and if you're so inclined, they can inflict a CurbStompBattle on those Brotherhood jerks too!]]
132** Codsworth the Mr. Handy robot butler is a textbook CrutchCharacter, with a deadly melee attack early on but no ability to upgrade him or give him good equipment. With the ''Automatron'' [=DLC=] however, you could outfit him with the body of a Sentry bot if you were so inclined. Miniguns, Gatling Lasers, Missile Launchers, [[WalkingArmoury why stop at one]]?
133* ''VideoGame/FearEffect''. Rain starts out as a DamselInDistress, but this trope starts to kick in later on. [[spoiler: A trailer of Fear Effect Inferno shows Rain looking like an {{Expy}} of Zero Suit Samus. She is trying to open a locked door. She finally gets it open with one powerful jump kick. She also knocks some guy over with one powerful punch, while wearing a red Chinese dress and high heels. If only she could have done these moves in gameplay.]]
134* In the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series:
135** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'', the [[DirtyCoward cowardly]] Prince Gordon overcomes his fear and becomes a strong warrior from his time [[GuestStarPartyMember accompanying the party]], eventually becoming the Commander of the Wild Rose rebellion's forces.
136** Cecil's ascension from [[spoiler:Dark Knight to Paladin]] in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV''.
137** Rydia from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'', who begins as a kid with weak magic. After a period of time training in another dimension, she returns with a PlotRelevantAgeUp and several Summon creatures, [[BigDamnHeroes just in time to save the party's ass]].
138** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears'':
139*** In the original ''Final Fantasy IV'', Edward is the quintessential [[QuirkyBard Spoony Bard]]. He's lovesick, he's an admitted and self-pitying coward, and worst of all, he's just plain ''weak''. Lower damage output than the white mage, and utterly worthless abilities[[note]]Hide, which was his best, made him... run away from battle, being invulnerable but unusable for several turns. Salve took one Potion (not a Hi-potion, not an X-Potion, not a status-healing item, but always a Potion) and split it 5 ways. Bardsong used random status-inflicting songs which failed often[[/note]] made him the weakest and least-liked party member. Fast-forward 17 years in the game's world and we come to ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears'', where Edward has suddenly grown some balls of ''steel''. His first act in the story, during the base chapters, is to [[spoiler:refuse to stand down when faced with ''Kain''[[note]]the series' MemeticBadass. Not just this game, the ''whole series''.[[/note]]]], and he responds to a small army invading his throne room by [[spoiler:opening a box with a ''Carnelian Signet'', AKA a Bomb Ring, and wiping out the entire entourage in one swift motion]]. Sadly, you are controlling the bad guy in that scenario, so he and Rosa go down, but after he shows us how much he's grown. And we're not done there. In his own tale, which takes place before that, we see Edward cross the desert twice and brave the Antlion Cave, ''by himself'', in order to save his assistant, who has taken ill with Desert Fever. And then he goes to Baron, has a conversation with [[spoiler:brainwashed!Cecil]], gives him a pot of flowers as a gift, and leaves with a present of his own from the guy he was speaking with. As he sails away, he explains two things. One: the flower was actually a cutting of [[spoiler:Whisperweed, the voice-throwing plant he saved Cecil with once before]], and two: the present he left with is, he suspects, [[spoiler:the aforementioned Carnelian Signet]]. The upshot of this is that Edward [[spoiler:planted a bug in Cecil's throne room ''right in front of him'', simply in order to find out if Cecil really had gone evil (if it really was Cecil, he'd know what Whisperweed is)]], and that, in the aforementioned encounter with [[spoiler:Dark Kain]], he went on a hunch. He went into that encounter almost ''blind.'' Add that to some seriously improved abilities[[note]]Bardsong includes healing effects, haste effects, and is much more accurate, Salve now takes one item (of your choice) for each party member and uses them at full strength, and Hide is much more useful when he can be the only one to survive a massive attack, only to come back with 5 Phoenix Downs at once. Plus, he's the fastest character and has some really powerful harps.[[/note]], and we've got one seriously badass bard. Also...in the 2D versions of Final Fantasy IV, Edward is initially very weak as mentioned above, but for some reason, after reaching level 70, his stats...skyrocket. And he's able to reach the highest raw stats. The only question is...why?
140*** Palom is a BrattyHalfPint in the original game and subject to being hit on the head by his more mature sister, ''The After Years'' gives him a chance to shine. Without Porom's nagging, he has shown that he's surprisingly good with the ladies, with both Leonora and Luca interested in him. However, his real moment comes at the end of his tale: [[spoiler:He and Leonora have made it to the bottom of the Magnetic Cave in order to hide the Earth Crystal from the Mysterious Girl. When she comes to reclaim it, Palom has Leonora leave and then gives the Girl what amounts to the finger; he ''petrifies himself'' so that she can't have the Crystal.]] While it doesn't work in the end -- [[spoiler:Leonora comes back and cures him -- they then still refuse to give over the Crystal and fight her, the first group to do so.]] [[HopelessBossFight They lose]], but man was it badass.
141** In the ''Franchise/CompilationOfFinalFantasyVII'':
142*** In ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'', Zack takes several levels throughout the story majorly when he is forced to kill his mentor, Angeal, gaining the Buster Sword and a new hairdo.
143*** Cloud takes some serious levels throughout the Compilation. At first he's just another mook, albeit one who's decently handy with a sword. Then he picks up the Buster Sword after Zack is defeated, gets the drop on Sephiroth, the greatest warrior who ever lived, and is the only one of the two to walk out of the room alive. Then in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' he can convincingly pass for a SOLDIER First Class throughout the game, and eventually he and his companions kill Sephiroth again, this time in a straight fight. He takes even more levels in badass in ''Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren''. [[spoiler:First he's no match for the Silver Haired Men, then he defeats Bahamut Sin, and then the aforementioned Silver Haired Men, and then Sephiroth himself (this time in a one-on-one duel).]] PlotArmor does help. It seems suggested that Cloud simply gained back levels he had lost. At first, he was angsty and ill, but before the dragon fight, he gained his self-confidence back, and by the end he had been physically healed as well. Tifa also spoke of the strength [[TrueCompanions the lot of them]] had felt near the end of the game and how they had already lost it, except that, near the end of the movie, Cloud had regained it.
144*** Kadaj from ''Advent Children'' can teach a class on taking levels in badass after [[spoiler:''becoming Sephiroth'']] in the blink of an eye.
145** Of course, one of the most well-known level-ups in the ''Final Fantasy'' series takes place in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2'' with Yuna. While ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' rarely gave her lines that showed that she had some guts, ''X-2'' gave her not only a gun and some rather interesting one-liners (some made no real sense, though those were by design), but also allows her to deliver what could be one of the best lines in the entire game. Near the end of the game, where [[spoiler:Nooj tells of his plans to defeat Vegnagun to the three protagonists (which involves him sacrificing his life in order to stop Vegnagun and the man controlling it)]], Yuna objects with, "I don't like your plan. '''It sucks!'''" The line makes everyone in that current scene suddenly whip around to her (due to her never using such harsh language prior to that point) as she then delivers a moving speech of why she highly disapproves of the proposed plan.
146** And then we have ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'''s Vaan. Disliked in his debut game, largely for his SupportingProtagonist nature and being largely irrelevant to the story, gets much better in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIIRevenantWings'', where he ''is'' the main character, and to almost ridiculous levels in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2'', where he is considered the greatest Sky Pirate who ever lived, and Criminal Syndicates have 'flee on sight' orders is facing him. [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/c/c2/FFTA2Vaan.png/revision/latest?cb=20161005192307 He even looks badass in that game!]]
147** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'':
148*** Serah was Lightning's [[OnlyMostlyDead not quite]] dead little sister and Snow's DamselInDistress who spent the entire game stuck in a [[HumanPopsicle crystal]]. But the sequel's been announced, and Serah's taking up arms to find her missing sister, wielding a sword that is also a bow that is also a [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter Moogle.]]
149*** Hope. He spends the first half of the game {{wangst}}ing, dragging his feet and generally being [[TheScrappy a pain in the ass]] with extremely weak attacks. After chapter three or so, the player will likely want to punch him in the face. Then comes the opening to Chapter 12, where he [[spoiler: comes nose-to-nose with a speeding warmech before calmly ordering Alexander to blast it out of existence.]] By this point, he is also probably the most powerful character in terms of magic. By the time the sequel rolls around, Hope has gone from TheScrappy to [[spoiler: the de facto leader of humanity, no matter what time period he's in.]]
150*** Arguably Sazh and Vanille via Chapter 9 of the first game; when two soldiers and a vespid enter their cell to move them, Sazh pins the two of them to the wall, while Vanille steals one of their rifles -- proceeding to riddle the vespid with bullets. Later, Vanille decides they'll turn things around;
151----> '''Sazh:'''Time to go get rescued.\
152'''Vanille:''' No, not this time. For once in my life, ''I'' am going to save ''her''.
153** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'':
154*** Prior to Patch 6.1, the Cape Westwind, Castrum Meridianum, and the Praetorium duties in ''A Realm Reborn'' were considered jokes by the playerbase, largely due to the fact that there was no item level sync or major mechanics at the time. After the patch launched, All three instances were completely overhauled, including their bosses; Cape Westwind was reworked into its own solo instance, Castrum Meridianum was made much shorter and is now a four-person dungeon, and the Praetorium was also made much shorter and divided into three duties consisting of a four-person dungeon, a four-person trial against the Ultima Weapon, and a solo instance against Lahabrea. All the bosses in those instances, particularly Rhitahtyn, Livia, Gaius, the Ultima Weapon, and Lahabrea, were given mechanics that make them legitimate boss fights instead of the pushovers they were previously.
155*** In Patch 6.2, Lahabrea was given another upgrade with his splintered fragment Hephaistos serving as the final boss of the Abyssos raid tier. In the Savage version of the fight, Hephaistos gains an exclusive second phase normally reserved for final raid tier bosses.
156** ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'':
157*** The Warrior of Light, based off of the backstory-less HeroicMime Fighter/Warrior from the very first ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'' Warrior/Fighter. The Warrior of Light has been transformed into a righteous BadassCape and {{Determinator}}.
158*** Garland ascends from being the first (and weakest) ''Final Fantasy'' boss in the series history to a true badass. [[MemeticMutation He]] ''[[MemeticMutation will]]'' [[MemeticMutation knock you all down.]]
159** Marche in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'' starts off as a kid who isn't quite sure why he is fighting for what he believes in or if he should even keep going to a much more mature person who is not only a lot more confidence in himself and his abilities but is also determined to the point where he doesn't let anyone stand in his way; this includes going against his friends but also showing them why he is fighting for what he believes in.
160* ''Franchise/FireEmblem''
161** The first part of ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Genealogy of the Holy War]]'' has Oifaye and Shanan as [[TagalongKid tag-along cute kids no older than 14]], and the second shows them as quite capable fighters and leaders.
162** In the gap between ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade The Binding Blade]]''/''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade Blazing Blade]]'' we have Bartre (to a degree) and Karel, depending on whether you go by chronological order (Karel) or release order (Bartre).
163** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'', Haar was a fairly average unit who joined as a decent but not overwhelming unit. Come ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn Radiant Dawn]]'', Haar joins earlier (among other things) and is now in the [[CharacterTiers top tier]].
164** Then there's Elincia, who starts out as a quiet princess sitting at the sidelines and cheering for her bodyguard and his mini-army to win. By the end of the story, she hops on a pegasus, picks up a sword, and decides that [[AxCrazy Ashnard]] bitch is going down. Three years later, after being [[PuppetKing pushed around by her fellow nobles]], she too jumps on the top-tier boat to show the country who's queen.
165** Naturally enough, the hero of those two games, Ike, starts out as a complete noob who you really have to be careful with for fear he'll die to being a world-renowned hero by the end of the first game. It's more impressive when you realize that this happens in the space of a year. He's taken awesome to new heights after the 3-year TimeSkip to Radiant Dawn, and only gets better. Ike also benefits from a hero-specific recurring Level in Badass, the Aether skill, which makes him even deadlier and almost unkillable. The only good reason not to use in it Path of Radiance is to completely break the game by giving him Wrath and Resolve instead.
166** Pelleas got a bit of this too near the end of ''Radiant Dawn''. For most of the game, he was pampered and coddled by Almedha, and he seemed content with that. After nearly killing himself and then witnessing TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt [[spoiler: (and learning that his mother has a brother who happens to be a dragon laguz, and possibly coming to the conclusion that she might not be his mother)]], though, he decided that he had had enough of her coddling and joined Tibarn and Elincia on the battlefield to get away from her. As mages go, he never gets quite as badass as, say, Soren... but Soren was a badass from the beginning.
167** The soldier class as a whole takes a huge one in the Tellius games, going from enemy cannon fodder to legitimately threatening foes, and producing some of the best units in their games.
168** The Avatar in both ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' and ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' is a major example. In both games, they are customizable, and start off as somewhat weak units, having to be watched carefully to avoid being annihilated. However, after a few levels, and a re-class or two, they take several levels in badass. As each Avatar has access to their own specific character-only class, maxing that after gaining skills in all other classes, you become a certifiable badass. In ''Awakening'', it is possible to get all gender-specific skills and all other non-enemy class skills on a single Avatar, allowing you to build a OneManArmy. Adding other Avatar characters that you can recruit and do the same thing, you can literally have a ''BadassArmy''.
169* On both sides of the fourth wall, Milla Basset from ''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet'' undergoes a full-on adrenaline makeover for [[VideoGame/FreedomPlanet2 the sequel]]. Out of narrative, her kit has been heavily enhanced, with near-zero charge time for her phantom cubes, actual melee strikes, a ranged option with her shield bursts, and more HP to keep up with her compatriots. In-narrative, the journey sees her grow up to an incredible degree[[spoiler:, going from losing her nerve when she's told by Serpentine about her origins and her parents - in addition to being falsely informed about Brevon's return - to pleading her allies against supporting him yet fighting on at their side, to bargaining with him to help them pursue the Bakunawa into space, to ''taking him out'']].
170* When you first meet [[spoiler: Missile]] in ''VideoGame/GhostTrick'' he's full of enthusiasm and vigor but essentially useless. [[spoiler: After he dies next to the Temsik meteorite he gains ghost tricks too and becomes in some ways more powerful than Sissel himself. His reach is much longer, and while he can't manipulate inanimate objects he can swap them with similarly shaped objects.]]
171** And then we have the double badass level taken by [[spoiler: Ray -- aka, the Missile from the first timeline. After ten years of waiting for the night of Sissel's death to come around again, he's gone from TheDitz to TheChessmaster.]]
172* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun''
173** The main character from the first game, Isaac, was your [[http://goldensun.neoseeker.com/w/i/goldensun/f/fe/250px-Gs-isaac.jpg typical, harmless-looking, anime JRPG character.]] Fast forward 30 years with the DS game ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'' where his character art was just released. [[http://spawnkill.com/wp-content/gallery/goldensundd/i_25969.png Damn.]]
174** Over the course of the first game, Isaac goes from [[HeroicMime apparently]] being a meek momma's boy to a badass warrior who takes out the Fire Clan's top two even after they turn into a giant dragon to stop him from stopping them. Along the way, Alex [[LampshadeHanging comments on his unexpected progress]] at Mercury Lighthouse, and Felix is flat-out frightened by his power at Venus Lighthouse, especially once [[spoiler: Saturos and Menardi bite the dust]]. If anything, ''Dark Dawn'' just gave Isaac the looks to match the badass within (and by "looks", we mean "[[ManlyFacialHair beard]]").
175** In ''The Lost Age'', Jenna goes from DamselInDistress to ActionGirl, Sheba goes from DamselInDistress to snarky BlackMagicianGirl, and Felix goes from being a hostage of the Fire Clan to the renegade hero who saves them all -- and the world, and at least three {{Wacky Wayside Tribe}}s along the way.
176* Some characters in ''VideoGame/GranblueFantasy'' have a stronger version of themselves in the form of rarer version (R/SR becoming an SR/SSR) or an event only character. Some SR and SSR characters have also been upgraded with a final uncap which adds another 20 levels and a number of significant upgrades, in some cases including a new ability; this is often used as a Balance Buff to power up an older character.
177* In ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'':
178** Alyx Vance practically has to be babied by the player during the sequences where she tags along. Valve paid attention to these complaints and from ''Episode One'' on, she's a capable shooter who takes out wave after wave of zombies and soldiers, both during the gameplay and in the scripted events. In one level with a shortage of ammunition (which doesn't affect Alyx's gun), the player spends a lot of time using the flashlight to illuminate targets for Alyx to shoot, turning the first half of the stage into a sort of reverse EscortMission.
179** The Vortigaunts started off as low-level {{mooks}} in ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'', but keep leveling up until they are full-fledged {{Warrior Poet}}s in Episode 2.
180** Gordon Freeman himself could qualify. He went from a simple scientist to a man whose name alone sparks hope in the people and fear in his enemies and is usually associated with his famous crowbar.
181** A lesser one; Leeches go from weak water mooks to indestructible {{Border Patrol}} that Gordon can't fight off.
182* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
183** The Grunts from ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'' onward. Suicide Grunts, my god.
184** Also the Hunters; in ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved'' they were {{Fake Ultimate Mook}}s who were almost pathetic once you knew their weak point. They get tougher and tougher the more the series goes on, becoming DemonicSpiders in the later games, to the point where it's nearly impossible to beat them one-on-one in ''VideoGame/Halo5Guardians'' unless you have ''a lot'' of explosives and/or heavy weaponry.
185** The UNSC has always been a BadassArmy, but in ''[[{{VideoGame/Halo4}} Halo 4]]'', humanity goes from nearly being exterminated to being able to fight toe-to-toe with the Covenant remnants. This is best illustrated in the first cutscene of ''Spartan Ops''; In everything ''Halo'' up to this point, whenever the UNSC and the Covenant threw down the Covenant always had superior spaceships that usually gave them the win. Here, the UNSC builds a ship with Forerunner tech that not only ''dwarfs'' the Covenant ships, it rams them to space dust with no effort or damage taken.
186** In ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'', the Promethean Knights were already infamously tough EliteMooks, but ''VideoGame/Halo5Guardians'' turns them into all-out mini-bosses.
187* ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'' has Ethan Mars for his trails and Madison Paige in the "Sexy Girl" chapter.
188* Kiith Somtaaw spend a vast majority of ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}}: Cataclysm'' grinding their way through multiple levels from a minor mining operation to a dedicated combat fleet in order to destroy [[EldritchAbomination The Beast]].
189* ''VideoGame/HonkaiImpact3rd'': Whole [[PowerTrio main trio]], but most notably Mei.
190** She starts off as a [[NiceGirl gentle]], somewhat shy teenager who [[LonelyRichKid never had many friends]]. In St. Freya Academy, she often acted as TeamMom, even [[SupremeChef cooking for other Valkyries]] and generally indulging Kiana. She was skilled with a sword, but when it mattered her strength was underwhelming. Later, when [[spoiler: Kiana goes missing and gets kidnapped]] she is constantly worried and beats herself up for being unable to change anything.
191** In Chapter 19, Mei is forced to make a difficult decision in order to save her friend. [[spoiler: She absorbs Honkai energy in Nagazora, awakening her Herrscher powers, joins World Serpent and [[FightingYourFriend defeats Kiana]] who tries to stop her.]] In result, Mei becomes much stronger, but at the same time more [[TheStoic stoic]] with a hint of sadness. She also gains a [[EvilCostumeSwitch cool new outfit]] and a [[spoiler:[[DragonTamer dragon]] [[ActionPet pet]]]].
192* A big part of ''VideoGame/InFamous''. Within the span of about a week, you go from just being able to handle a handful of thugs to taking down a paramilitary organisation backed up with their own super-powered soldiers. Each time you re-establish power in a section of the island your power jumps dramatically as you learn a new ability, often allowing you to collect even more blast shards making you EVEN stronger. Of course [[spoiler: this is all part of [[BigBad Kessler's plan]] to make Cole strong enough to face The Beast and win.]]
193* ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxter'':
194** Happens twice to Jak. There is a little incident involving ''two years of Dark Eco experimentation'' at the beginning of ''VideoGame/JakIIRenegade'', and then during ''VideoGame/Jak3'', he gains Light Eco powers.
195** Tess goes from simple {{Fanservice}} to being a scarily competent weapon developer between ''2'' and ''3''
196** ''Everyone'' (except Tess and Samos) becomes an expert driver in ''VideoGame/JakX''.
197** Even though Daxter stays mostly the same in terms of personality, he gets more screen time as the series progresses: from completely unplayable in ''TPL'' to being invaluable in the later games. A few in-game comments on Daxter's badassery include:
198*** Jak's "I'm proud of ya, Dax," after Daxter wins the Class Two Race. Ironically, one of the only times Daxter shares credit.
199*** Samos admits that Jak could never have succeeded without Daxter in the prologue to ''Daxter'' since Daxter is responsible for saving Jak.
200*** In ''Jak 3'', Daxter has to ride a missile with Torn occasionally chiming in comments and encouragement over the radio: one line you can hear while playing is "You're braver than I thought, Daxter."
201* Mickey Mouse in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' You'd have to see it to believe it.
202** Sora himself. Two words: "Reaction Commands".
203** Kairi who in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' gets a level from Riku, in the form of her own keyblade (while granted, all she fought were Shadows, that's the ideal Heartless for ANY beginner to take on, and in this case, there were a lot of them and they gave even the more experienced Riku trouble.) By ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'', she's taken another one after receiving professional training.
204** Riku himself, after a frustrating period of BadassDecay, is finally granted a new level of badass once [[spoiler: he gets his original body back, after being stuck in the form of Ansem for most of the aforementioned period.]]
205** Roxas takes several levels in badass after [[spoiler: absorbing Xion]]. Kind of explains Sora's upgrade as well.
206*** [[spoiler:He now dual-wields Oblivion and Oathkeeper, can kill Neoshadows (who were a ''bossfight'' in the first game and very pesky and durable enemies in the second) with one hit, goes on a RoaringRampageofRevenge against the Organization and manages to defeat Riku (who was up to this point portrayed as unbeatable) pretty easily with only Oathkeeper. Riku had to use his full power (which caused him to transform into Xehanort's Heartless in the first place) and use the element of surprise against Roxas to win. ''Damn.'']]
207** In-universe, Sora gets another one after fully merging with Roxas. This is what unlocks [[SuperMode Final Form]]
208** Remember [[spoiler:Sora's Heartless, the lowly Shadow that Sora became after sacrificing himself to save Kairi in the first game? The Shadow that could do nothing but run around and get konked on the head by Donald?]] Well, in [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsCoded Coded]], [[spoiler:it's back, and has taken the form of an even bigger than normal Darkside, is ''sentient'', and is the ''BigBad''.]]
209** Mulan in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' may actually be the most visible display of this trope. When you first meet her, she's pretending to be Ping and is a pretty terrible party member. So bad she even sometimes stumbles and misses a target. But once she stops pretending to be Ping, she gains a lot of abilities and becomes much, much stronger. To the point she's flying around the battlefield setting things on fire faster than you can kill them.
210** Pete gets one too. [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep In the past]], Pete was just a troublemaker. But now he commands Heartless, even the most powerful ones. Although, other than that, he's more the comic relief. In ''Coded'' though, his role of antagonist is taken much more seriously. While accidentaly, [[spoiler: Pete ended up in the datascape (a place that connect a lot of worlds) because he thought Mickey and the others were up to something and called Maleficent there (and anyone who played the first game knows that's not a good thing)]]. He's also able to control the bugs, which are basically a very powerful virus in that world. And at last, he was able to [[spoiler: corrupt Data-Riku with these bugs and put him against Data-Sora]]. Also his boss fight in this game will make you work. He hits hard, he can teleport and can also cause the status Silence, meaning ''no skills and magic'' for a while.
211*** Also, Pete is able to pass through the Corridors of Darkness without problems, which is an impressive feat, and can resist the darkness, something not even '''Maleficent''' can do.
212* ''VideoGame/{{Kirby}}'':
213** Whispy Woods has been the first boss of almost every game in the series and never gets any tougher. Then comes ''VideoGame/KirbysEpicYarn'', where he's able to take a good stand against Kirby's Tankbot form compared to all his fights with Kirby in the other games. He was pretty powerful in [[Anime/KirbyRightBackAtYa the anime]] as well, able to bury Kirby and his friends in an avalanche of apples because he thought they were intruders coming to destroy his entire forest. When he learns from his mistake of having trusted King Dedede, who secretly planned to cut down his forest and build a golf course, he punishes the King and Escargoon by putting them into the bunker after being revived by one of the apples that Kirby ate, and then putts all the apples around to restore his forest, and afterwards he and Kirby-tachi become friends. Also in any of the Extra Modes or True Arena(s).
214** The UpdatedRerelease of ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar'' has King Dedede go through this in ''Revenge of the King'' in an attempt to beat Kirby, donning a mask and a mechanized hammer. His newfound badass level shows even gameplay-wise. The wimpy, easily stunned WarmupBoss at the end of ''Spring Breeze'' has become what many players believe to be the hardest boss in the game with his [[{{Acrofatic}} faster and much less easily stunned moves]], including a spin attack with long range that leaves him invincible for its duration and hits through shielding.
215** ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'' has [[spoiler: every boss do this in Extra Mode. The Metal General in Egg Engines is the most notable. You remember that Dedede robot from the Kirby GCN trailer and ''Mass Attack'''s Kirby Quest subgame? The Metal General EX finds it, takes it over, and redesigns it in his image. After you beat the Metal General EX, he proceeds to pilot the robot, now given the official name HR-D3, and give Kirby (and maybe his friends, if you're playing co-op) a massive beating. Oh, and did we mention HR-D3 has two forms?]]
216*** [[spoiler:Magolor Soul deserves special mention. When he's introduced, his attacks are more powerful, and he has an icy Grand Hammer, but he's otherwise not that much different than Magolor's second boss form in normal mode. In ''[[VideoGameRemake Deluxe's]]'' True Arena, however, [[TrueFinalBoss his moveset has been drastically overhauled to become much more dangerous and unpredictable]]; and when his health is depleted, he gains a second health bar and starts utilizing even-more-souped-up versions of the Super Abilites, including entirely new ones for Sand and Mecha!]]
217** Also King Dedede in general got major levels in badass. In the first game, he only swings his hammer, jump and trips. WordOfGod stated that he went through a rigorous training in order to be able to inhale and floating like Kirby. And also as stated above, Dedede became much more of a threat in ''Revenge of the King''. ''VideoGame/KirbyTripleDeluxe'' shows how much of a badass King Dedede can be. In the Story Mode, he helps Kirby reaching Sectonia and also pulls a BigDamnHeroes saving the pink hero. The Extra Mode ''Dededetour!'' is the peak of this. King Dedede undergoes the same adventure of the Story, with the only difference being that every boss is a ''stronger version of the one Kirby fought''. At the end, King Dedede goes to fight a dark version of himself and win, and after that he fight and defeat ''Dark Meta Knight'' of all enemies. And just to show how much of a badass he is, he breaks the mirror where Dark Meta Knight came from, sealing him in the Mirror World.
218*** Another highlight for Dedede is in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl''. [[WordofGod He undergoes a]] HeelFaceTurn, steals fighters turned into trophies and gives them a special time badge that will restore the fighter so that when Taboo will turn every fighter into trophies, there will be some that will be able to stand up again. And it works too. Luigi, Ness and (accidentaly) Kirby are saved by this and then they rescue all the other fighters and Taboo goes down. King Dedede basically saved the universe in this game.
219** Waddle Dees are pretty notorious for being complete pushovers, and while they do Dedede's bidding, they aren't very efficient. Over time, a single Waddle Dee that donned a bandanna started to stand out. Initially an easy first fighter in the Megaton Punch game in ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar'' then becoming the joke boss Waddle Dee in [[VideoGame/KirbySuperStarUltra its remake,]] Bandana Waddle Dee was initially only slightly more impressive than your average Waddle Dee, having notably more health, but still easy to defeat. Over time [[BreakoutCharacter (likely due to his popularity in that game),]] Bandana Waddle Dee has shown to have had spear training for the next game, ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'', where his skills allow him to [[PromotedToPlayable keep up with the likes of Kirby, Meta Knight, and his King.]] Eventually, Bandana Waddle Dee starts forming a distinct personality that puts him far above the rest of his kin, [[IJustWantToBeBadass with a strong desire to become more reliable]] and [[CharacterDevelopment developing a strong friendship with Kirby,]] to the point where he was willing [[CharacterizationMarchesOn to help Kirby]] '''over his own boss''' in the ''VideoGame/KirbyBattleRoyale'' story mode. Bandana Waddle Dee has evolved from a ZeroEffortBoss to one of the strongest heroes in Dream Land and one of Kirby's most reliable allies, to the point where [[TheLancer he's become Kirby's Number Two]] in most of Kirby's recent adventures.
220* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'': T3-M4, who here proves himself equal to R2-D2 in terms of technical skills and pint-sized, unassuming badassery. Flying a ship to safety, locking the navigational computer so only he can guide the ship, and deactivating an assassin droid? He took a few levels considering he had almost no personality in the first game and only one required instance of use as a party member. At one point, he takes on three HK-50's by himself ''and wins''. T3's a ''beast''.
221** In the first game, the point at which your character is allowed to start leveling up as a Jedi, and in the second game at the point at which you can level up as a Jedi/Sith prestige class
222** Mira, Atton, the Handmaiden/the Disciple, and Bao-dur can all take levels in badass (i.e. Jedi, Sentinel for most, Guardian for the Handmaiden, Consular for the Disciple) in the second game.
223* ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' has Louis, an everyday Joe caught up in the zombie outbreak that can still kick ass with the rest of the survivors, but is still super optimistic and assures everyone that things will return to normal, making him look pretty dorky. Fast forward to [[VideoGame/Left4Dead2 the sequel]] where he and the others meet the survivors in the next game and Louis assists them by using a [[{{BFG}} mounted machine gun]] and kills any Tanks that appear for [[spoiler: Bill, who was killed by ''three Tanks''.]] [[spoiler: "That... was for ''Bill''!"]]
224* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
225** Zelda, previously a DamselInDistress, leveled up in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' with her alter ego Sheik, and has ever since had the tendency to assist Link in the final battle, even though she's still a DamselInDistress for part of the game just before that fight.
226*** Continued further in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' with [[spoiler:her identity as Tetra]] and assistance in the final battle. Likewise, she assists in the second-to-last battle of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', and her period of captivity in that game is of her own choice (to protect her people) rather than because she was kidnapped.
227*** Zelda again in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks'' for the DS. Her spirit gets separated from her body, forcing the princess to tag along with Link. Her ghostly form allows her to possess Phantoms, among other things. (This is Zelda [[http://www.zeldawiki.org/images/b/b5/Original_Zelda.png in 1986]]; This is her [[http://www.zeldawiki.org/images/8/83/ST_Phantom.png in 2010]].)
228*** And then she becomes able to take down an entire army on her own in ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'', displaying impressive rapier skills. To continue from the above post, this is Zelda [[http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/zelda/images/f/f6/Zelda_Rapier_(Hyrule_Warriors).png/revision/latest?cb=20140808193037 in 2014]].
229*** Also present in the non-canonical CD-i game ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDiGames Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon]]'', involving a role reversal of the classic formula in which Princess Zelda is the one fighting to rescue Link.
230** Link himself is an incarnation of this trope; he starts every game as an unarmed kid in a backwater town and ends up badass enough to believably take down the [[BigBad King of Evil]] himself. Of course, thanks to [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword Demise]], [[DyingCurse it's not like he has any choice in the matter]].
231** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI'': Stalfos and Ropes in the second quest go from being a free kill to being quite a threat. Stalfos now know how to throw swords at Link, dealing two hearts of damage if he comes into the path of them. Ropes now take several hits to kill instead of one.
232** ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'':
233*** Several Mooks that are a non-issue in most games will kill you to death in this one. Tektites especially. Immune to anything but the Fire Spell, and you first run into them before you get it. They hop really high and far, and every part of their body gives Collision Damage (which means with their legs fully extended they are practically boss-sized in terms of do-not-touch radius.) And Zolas/Zoras, which in this game are little ankylosaurus looking things, also immune to everything except Fire and incredibly durable.
234*** Link himself is particularly more badass in this game than the last. With the side-scrolling combat, he can now jump, use upward and downward thrusts, and fight enemies in one on one sword fights.
235** Even an item gets this treatment. When the Fire Rod was introduced in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'', it let you shoot a long-distance fireball at enemies and objects such as torches. Not too shabby there, but in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds'', that flame from the Fire Rod, while slower-moving, is now a fiery whirlwind that can hit enemies on two separate levels. You can then let Mother Maiamai upgrade it into an even bigger whirlwind. Then in ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'', the Fire Rod can be used to produce an enormous burst of flame that envelops enemies in a wide radius around Link, essentially making it a sped-up version of Din's Fire from ''Ocarina of Time''. It can also turn into [[SwissArmyWeapon a flamethrower, a giant axe, and a magical cannon]] and its flames can also take the shape of [[ShapingYourAttacks a dragon]].
236** Though ''A Link to the Past'' is generally easier than the original game, this version of Ganon is significantly harder than his counterpart in the original -- he does much more damage, has a more varied attack pattern, and takes way longer to go down.
237** Nearly everyone got extreme levels in badass in ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors''. See above for Zelda, Ruto goes from being carried around and captured (she still does), but [[MakingASplash uses her water manipulation skills to the fullest.]] Epona goes from mode of transportation to full-on war horse. Hell, even the Great Fairy gets an upgrade, being able to [[ColonyDrop pull down]] [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask the Moon]] to using Link as a weapon as... one of Link's alternate weapons.
238** In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild Breath of the Wild]]'', Tulin is a young child who has only just started to learn how to use a bow and never sees any combat. By the time of ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom Tears of the Kingdom]]'' (set roughly 5-6 years later), he's grown into a capable warrior [[spoiler:and is able to fight side by side with Link as the Sage of the Wind.]]
239* Episode 4 of ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange'' has Warren (who was previously headbutted and punched in the face by Nathan in Episode 1) turn the tables on Nathan. Depending on your choice, you can stop Warren after he headbutts Nathan and kicks him a couple of times, or you can let him go APE-SHIT on him.
240* ''VideoGame/LikeADragon'':
241** In the prologue of ''VideoGame/Yakuza1'', Shinji is a ranker, an inveterate goofball and obsessed with adult entertainment. Post-TimeSkip, he is a stern, BadassLongcoat-wearing, gun-slinging lieutenant.
242** Kazuma Kiryu was already pretty badass back in ''VideoGame/Yakuza0'', but one key moment has an enemy hit him InTheBack of the head and causing him to fall down, which would have led to his death at the hands of another villain if not for TheCavalry. Come ''VideoGame/Yakuza2'', another enemy hits him in the back of the head again, but this time all it does is make Kiryu give an annoyed DeathGlare.
243** When you meet Yasuo Sodachi in ''VideoGame/Yakuza4'', he's essentially [[Franchise/StreetFighter an ersatz Dan Hibiki]]. A dojo master with all the fighting skill of a 5-year-old with progeria. Come ''VideoGame/Yakuza6'', he's been hitting the gym. And not only is he now super buff, he's a legit fighter that you can tangle with repeatedly on the street. And all his training means he now packs a wallop.
244* Tia in ''VideoGame/LufiaCurseOfTheSinistrals'' doubts her abilities in battle, compared to her companions who are professional fighters. After she accidentally wanders off and has to be rescued from a giant robot, seeing Selan's skills and hearing her companions praise her drives Tia to run off. When Maxim chases after her and then gets shot in the back by the same giant robot, Tia refuses to abandon Maxim and defeats the giant robot by herself. The praise and assurance she receives from her companions convinces her of her strength and to stick around for the journey.
245* Roland in ''VideoGame/LuminousArc2'' when he becomes a Master. The story treats it as another stepping stone in his CharacterDevelopment, but it really shines in his battlefield quotes, which go from bog-standard team quips like "let's do it!" to leading-man shouts of "Everyone, follow me!"
246* ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' has an odd example in the form of The Security Officer. While he was already incredibly badass from the start, his accomplishments sharply ramp up throughout the games:
247** He starts off merely participating in surgical strikes and letting the rebellion handle the rest.
248** In the second game, his arrival in a war is actually seen as a turning point in the favor of the humans.
249** [[spoiler: In the third game, he not only singlehandedly routes entire armies, but imprisons an EldritchAbomination. [[MindScrew Maybe]]]]
250* ''VideoGame/MariAndTheBlackTower'': Angoma was initially an UnskilledButStrong boss who had decent durability, but terrible accuracy. In the endgame, his attacks are more accurate and he has a high evasion rate, showing that he can now live up to his boasts of being a great thief.
251* ''Franchise/MassEffect'':
252** This seems to be a side effect of spending extended amounts of time with [[MagneticHero Commander Shepard]], and the original squad from the first game showcases it best:
253*** Kaidan and Ashley begin Mass Effect simply as somewhat notable soldiers with troubled histories. By the third game, [[spoiler:whichever of them survives Virmire]] has gained several promotional ranks and eventually becomes [[spoiler:the second human to become a Spectre.]]
254*** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', Liara T'Soni has gone from being an awkward archaeologist who uses her Biotics to defend herself on remote digs, to [[spoiler:a powerful information dealer. When you first walk into her office, you hear her threaten to ''flay someone alive''. [[Series/{{Firefly}} With her mind.]]]] At the beginning of the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC, she smacks elite soldiers around with her mind while shooting them to pieces with an automatic gun. At the end [[spoiler: she kills the arguably most powerful person in the galaxy, and assumes his identity. [[LegacyCharacter Just as he did with his predecessor]].]] In the third game, it is revealed that she is also [[spoiler: one quarter [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Krogan]].]]
255*** Garrus starts out as a pretty badass but fairly unremarkable CowboyCop. Over the course of the game, like your other party members, he becomes an army-crushing terror, and, in ''Mass Effect 2'', he, [[spoiler: as Archangel]], takes an ''additional'' level in badass where he [[spoiler: holds off entire waves of mercenaries all out to kill him, while all he has is his sniper rifle.]] The only reason he isn't taking more levels is apparently that he's serving under Shepard, according to the Shadow Broker's data. Even still, by the third game, he's a top advisor to the Turian Military, considering he's the closest thing to a Reaper Expert that the Turians have.
256*** Wrex is a centuries-old badass Krogan mercenary in the first game, on top of being one of the wisest and most levelheaded Krogan you meet in the game (not that the bar is set very high). In the second game, he's taken a page out of Shepard's book and is trying to unite his species. The best outcome for the third game has [[spoiler:Wrex as the leader of a newly revitalized Krogan race, making him one of the most powerful individuals in the galaxy. Good thing he's on our side.]]
257*** Tali in the first game is a remarkable Quarian engineer and daughter of one of the Admiralty Board members, but she's still a young girl on her Pilgrammage trying to learn the ways of the Galaxy. Through the series, she becomes a shotgun-wielding badass, a technological savant, and, if all goes well, [[spoiler:one of the youngest members of the Quarian Admiralty in history.]]
258** Shepard to an extent, as if s/he weren't Badass enough. The different classes change and evolve through the trilogy so a soldier can go from being proficient with any firearms to wielding rifles bigger than s/he is to ImprobableAimingSkills using BulletTime, a vanguard can go from a MagicKnight to using biotics to physically clear a room, an adept can go from SquishyWizard to nigh unstoppable, etc. And Shepard can take skills from other characters were s/he so inclined.
259** If those descriptions aren't enough, [[https://www.reddit.com/r/masseffect/comments/5ao6wl/the_normandy_teams_kill_count_counted_and/ have some numbers.]] Each of the squad members listed above (barring the one who died on Virmire, and the possibility of the player deliberately avoid using a specific squadmate) will inevitably rack up ''[[OneManArmy hundreds]]'' of kills over the course of the series due to the sheer amount of battles they fight in. That's quite a long way to come when 3/5 of these people started as, respectively, an archaeologist, a detective, and an engineer.
260** The whole squad, including Shepard, are at their most badass in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', from both a gameplay and story perspective, with their enemies being [[EliteMooks appropriately tough]] to compensate. It's even outright stated that compared to Cerberus troops (arguably the weakest enemy faction per man), normal soldiers like the ones Shepard and co fought for most of the last two games "may as well have been throwing rocks". What's particularly notable is that, if you import a save, Shepard will start out with the exact same skills and experience that they had at the end of ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', right at the beginning of ''Mass Effect 3''... yet s/he's still not even halfway to the fully leveled point, leaving him/her several levels to take (literally and figuratively). By the end of the game, every squadmate, even the more squishy ones like Tali, can easily slaughter entire squads of soldiers far superior than Alliance marines, and take on N7-tier enemies like Phantoms in one on one combat and come out on top. Others, like Garrus, become genuine [[OneManArmy One Man Armies]] when leveled and equipped correctly.
261** Heck, depending on your actions in the second game the Normandy [=SR-2=] may have taken a level in badass, with better armor than most ships, a superior type of shielding, and even a main gun that puts the Frigate on par with a Dreadnaught in firepower.
262** For a villainous example, Cerberus went from being less than 200 guys with a bad habit of being eaten by their own experiments to being a major threat to Alliance operations, between ''2'' and ''3'', to the point where Shepard personally kills more Cerberus troops than they originally had ''members'', to say nothing of any casualties they take in multiplayer. The game goes to some lengths to justify their numbers, and the results [[MoralEventHorizon aren't pretty]].
263** Actually, considering how much character development occurs as a result of going on missions with Shepard or (in the case of the time between Shepard's death and resurrection in [=ME2=]) what they do essentially in their style when they're not around, would that qualify as MENTORING or INSPIRING a level in badass?
264* To get an idea of how bad ''VideoGame/{{Mega Man|Classic}}'''s sister Roll was in earlier VideoGame/CapcomVs games, she had her own tier ''named after her'' just so there could be no doubt she was absolutely the worst character in the game. ''VideoGame/TatsunokoVsCapcom'' noticeably changed that. Roll was granted a melee weapon to increase her reach, her attack speed was amped up, and she's now bludgeoned her way straight into BadassAdorable territory, with many fans naming her as a LethalJokeCharacter.
265** She's also getting some of this in the official series. Most of the time, she remains MissionControl, but ''VideoGame/MegaManPoweredUp'' (where the bosses are vocally ''afraid'' of her) and the version of ''1'' released on Japanese cellphones both include her as a playable character. Apparently, [[WordOfGod Keiji Inafune even said]] that she was [[WhatCouldHaveBeen originally intended]] to be playable in ''VideoGame/MegaMan2''. By most evidence, her CharacterDevelopment looks to continue.
266*** That is, if the development of Mega Man games continues...
267** Mega Man himself. He was built as a lab assistant, and post-upgrades, becomes a walking arsenal that even dedicated war machines can't stop.
268** His successor, VideoGame/MegaManX. Unlike Mega, X was built from the ground up with combat in mind, but his {{Wide Eyed Idealism}} made him a liability to the Maverick Hunters and gave Sigma the excuse he needed to turn Maverick. The first game and its remake, ''Maverick Hunter X'', both revolve around X growing out of it and becoming the terrifyingly powerful MartialPacifist we know from ''Mega Man X2'' onward.
269** The [[GameMod ROM hack]] ''VideoGame/Rockman4MinusInfinity'' changes Toad Man from a pitifully easy boss into a quick-hopping, [[BewitchedAmphibians toad-transforming]] maniac. Likewise, Dust Man's ability to suck things up gets amplified into a OneHitKill attack.
270*** In the game proper, we have Shadow Man. His first few fights are nothing special, but his appearance in Cossack Stage 1 is easily beaten in a few shots. [[spoiler:Getting to his final fight, however, requires a NoDamageRun through the entire game up through the first two bosses of Wily Stage 4, whereupon he [[BaitAndSwitchBoss replaces the third one]] with a DiagonalCut. The fight itself is ''extremely'' hard, thanks to his large amount of health, lack of weakness, fast movements, multitude of attacks, ability to OneHitKill you... oh, and dying to him invalidates the NoDamageRun required to beat him, so good luck with that.]]
271* Numberman in ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork''. In the first game, he's nothing but a slave to the WWW who gets some sense knocked into him by Mega Man, and also a very easy boss. In the fourth and fifth games, his power is increased exponentially, with an attack that hits at a very unconventional range as well as a trap attack that can be very effective. In the 5th game, he grows a pair and [[spoiler:deletes impostors of himself and Mega Man unassisted.]]
272** Geo Stelar, the protagonist of ''VideoGame/MegaManStarForce'', starts out as a reclusive, traumatised kid who has to be forced to leave his house or interact with others, and who cordially detests fighting. By the end of the second game, he's cheerfully throwing himself into combat with an ''electromagnetic god''.
273* Raiden in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' started life as a naive dork, albeit one with a nasty secret and a bit too much talent at chopping people up. In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'', he's turned into a homicidal, husky-voiced, immortal cyborg ninja capable of killing things with antigravity kung-fu and his feet. WordOfGod says it was a backlash against him being TheScrappy, and that he wanted to make Raiden so cool player ''wanted'' to play as him. He also appears to have [[spoiler:taken a few levels in "Lightning Deity", since he was capable of killing soldiers with bolts of lightning from inside a properly grounded ship.]] The more important development is in how he reacts to the world outside of combat; in his debut game, he was not a player but a piece, [[UnwittingPawn being used by every actual player in the game,]] but never being allowed to make a move of his own. By the end, even refusing to act would have advanced someone else's agenda. By ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'', he's become a major player in his own right, one that the other factions must treat with respect and hide from, to the point that the game's BigBad considers Raiden by himself to be such a massive threat to his plans that he takes the field personally to first try to kill, then convert, and then to kill him again.
274** Surprisingly enough, [[spoiler:Johnny Sasaki, the recurring joke character]] takes a level in badass in ''Metal Gear Solid 4'' by [[spoiler:removing his mask, but only gets to show it in the cutscene where he admits his love to Meryl and makes a CombatProposal]]. The rest of the cutscene is then nothing but pure badassery.
275* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}''
276** Wolves fall under this once you tame them. A wild wolf has 4 hearts of health and low attack power. When you tame one to your side, its health is boosted to 10 hearts and gains a boost in attack power. It will also attack anyone you attack or attack anyone that strikes you first.
277** Zombies and Skeletons received several upgrades that make them more dangerous to fight directly. Originally, zombies and skeletons had simple AI where they would walk straight at you no matter what pitfalls that stood in their way. A patch upgraded their AI to walk around pitfalls when chasing the player and skeletons will flank the player should the player try to hide behind a wall. Zombies and skeletons also had their AI upgraded where they will seek shade under a tree or jump in a pool of water should they catch fire from sunlight. On top of this, there's also a rare chance that skeletons and zombies will wear armor (from leather to even diamond material and also a chance those will be enchanted) and zombies may spawn in with iron shovels or iron swords to cause extra damage to you. Skeletons may also spawn with their bows enchanted for even more lethal power. These mobs have come a long way from being simple monsters to ones that can cause serious trouble on par with a creeper.
278* ''VideoGame/MinecraftStoryMode'': Jesse and his friends [[spoiler: become the new Order of The Stone in Episode 4, and in Episode 5, Jesse begins the episode by effortlessly dispatching hordes of monsters.]]
279* Stryker from ''Franchise/MortalKombat''. In ''VideoGame/MortalKombat3'' he was a simple fat policeman[[note]]Maybe created for laughs, maybe created for people to relate to[[/note]]. Nevertheless, in the more recent games, he appears to be more of a kickass special forces member, with a cool futuristic combat suit. A comparative image can be seen here[[note]][[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Curtis_stryker_5403.png]][[/note]]. ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'' took it up to eleven, too bad [[spoiler:Sindel took one as well, and before she died, she killed almost every hero she fought against.]]
280** In fact, a lot of lesser characters on both sides are taken a lot more seriously in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9's'' retelling of the original trilogy. Unfortunately, this also means that some of the more imposing villains suffer from TheWorfEffect on occasion.
281*** Sindel took a level in '''[[spoiler:mass murder]]'''.
282*** Stryker, Kabal, Smoke, and [[spoiler:Cyber]] Sub-Zero (once [[spoiler:his free will is restored]]) are more traditional examples.
283*** Nightwolf went from a sort of goofy-looking side character who didn't have much to do with anything to one of the bigger badasses on the Earthrealm team's side. He even becomes Raiden's deputy when he's not around to directly lead them.
284*** Ermac was originally this AscendedGlitch whose only claim to fame was his telekinesis; in the original timeline, it wasn't until Kenshi helped him undergo a HeelFaceTurn around the time of ''[[VideoGame/MortalKombatDeadlyAlliance Deadly Alliance]]''/''[[VideoGame/MortalKombatDeception Deception]]'' that he [[AscendedExtra began to play cleanup]] and [[RedemptionPromotion started to shine]]. Here, Ermac is presented as a formidable enforcer of Shao Kahn who should ''not'' be taken lightly. [[spoiler:Just ask Jax.]]
285*** Freddy Krueger a guy who had trouble facing teenagers and was killed by them in every movie has become so badass that he can take on cyborgs, monsters, ninjas, and a guy who completely obliterated almost every Greek god, demi-god, and goddess EVER!!!
286** The biggest example in Videogame/MortalKombatX however, is none other than [[FakeUltimateHero Johnny]] [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Cage]]. Original timeline? Cage was the resident ButtMonkey and comic relief, killed over and over again. The new timeline, however, is a different story. Not only is Cage one of the [[spoiler:few survivors of the bloodbath that was [[WhamEpisode MK9]] ]]but come ''X'', he's now Earthrealm's ''[[TheChampion Champion]]'', and [[spoiler:even saves the day at one point by beating ''[[BigBad Shinnok]]'' and]] is now a mentor to the next generation of Earthrealm's protectors. It's safe to say Cage is no longer a FakeUltimateHero.
287* ''VideoGame/MountAndBlade'': The player character, naturally, but special mention needs to go to the [[JokeCharacter Peasant Woman]] unit. Initially not very imposing with their little daggers and their frilly dresses, but if they survive long enough, they can become the deadly [[EliteMooks Sword]] [[ActionGirl Sisters]]; armed with swords and heavy crossbows and clad in full plate armour, they can give Mercenary Captains and Nord Huscarls a run for their money. Girl power, indeed.
288* In ''VideoGame/MSSagaANewDawn'', Fritz, Tristian's best friend, feels inadequate as his pals surpass him and he bails in despair. When he returns, he has greater confidence and a much stronger Mobile Suit (the FA-78-1 Full Armor Gundam, compared to the strongest unit you'd have at that point, the original RX-78-2 Gundam).
289* In the ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'' expansion ''Hordes of the Underdark'', Deekin undergoes this as well. Formerly he was a kobold (weakling level one type creature) musician with the barest hints of magical power. In this expansion, he becomes a half-dragon and helps your hero take on a greater devil, Mephistopheles -- ruler of Cania, the 8th hell (making him the second most powerful devil in existence!) -- eventually defeating him. Also, Deekin is the only character that will not turn away from the hero as Mephistopheles attempts to persuade them to join him, showing his [[BeneathTheMask true colors]] as a very good and loyal creature, which is almost opposite of most Kobolds.
290* Shandra Jerro in ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'' starts out as a serial DamselInDistress: first her barn is burned by {{lizardfolk}}, then her ''house'' is torched by [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Githyanki]], then she is kidnapped by the Githyanki. At the very beginning of Act II, she decides she's tired of having to be rescued and turns into a shortsword-wielding BadassNormal with a pretty respectable damage output.
291* ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden'': In ''Dragon Sword'', [[TheApprentice Momiji]] is quite easily defeated and captured by the Black Spider Clan at the start of the game, and has to be rescued by Hayabusa. By ''Sigma II'', [[ADayInTheLimelight she does the same]] [[MamaBear for a young student captured by a pair of Tengu brothers]] and personally pursues them all the way to Tokyo and slays one of them to save him. By ''III'', she fights alongside Hayabusa in battle and even he is impressed with how far she has come.
292* Remember those pathetic planes that you've been shooting down with ease throughout the first few levels in ''VideoGame/NotebookWars 3''? They are back in the last three levels, far more durable and packing Dark Matter weapons, being stronger than the normal endgame planes despite looking the same as they used to at the start. There's taking a level in badass and getting a [=PhD=] out of it.
293* ''VideoGame/Persona3'': Level 6 Courage bestows upon you, quite literally, the title of Badass.
294** Happens to the S.E.E.S (except Koromaru). as they obtain their respective Ultimate Persona, specially Junpei [[spoiler:who receives his in the middle of a fight against Strega, while the others simply obtain theirs in their free time]].
295* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' has [[spoiler:Teddie]], who joins your party after previously being useless in a fight.
296** ''Persona 4 The Golden'' lets Rise do this. Her previously meh-diocre abilities evolve into some seriously useful benefits. As you level her social link, she gains the ability to automatically scan for weaknesses, buff characters, heal HP, SP, and status effects, and once a battle, she can completely block an attack that would otherwise end the game. She's ridiculously amazing.
297** In ''Persona 4 The Ultimax'', Rise also joins in as a fighter.
298* Castile does this in between ''VideoGame/PhantomBrave'' and ''VideoGame/MakaiKingdom'' -- going from a bedridden and wheelchair-bound girl to a secret boss/recruitable character who is not only healthy, able to walk and working as a Chroma but is able to perform the Psycho Burgundy, a rare and incredibly dangerous technique that involves ''setting your soul on fire'', just like her big brother. And yes, she's using his own theme music, too.
299* ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies2'':
300** The 2017 update introduces a leveling up system, where players can get world-specific pinatas by completing levels, completing certain tasks from the Travel Log, or purchasing them from the Shop. These pinatas contain seed packets, which the player can use to level up their plants, with the amount rising each time. Leveling up your plants makes them stronger and more effective.
301** Similarly, all of the returning zombies from the [[VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies the first game]] return in Modern Day much stronger than ever:
302*** Newspaper Zombie now becomes a case of ShedArmorGainSpeed. If his newspaper is destroyed, he'll become ''much'' faster and mow down your defenses in about 10 seconds unless you have a lawnmower at the end of the lane or a OneHitKill plant fully charged and ready to counterattack.
303*** In the first game, Football Zombie was just a MightyGlacier. Now, he'll charge through your lawn and instantly OneHitKill any plant he hits (unless that plant is Primal Wall-Nut or a single-use plant) before slowing down. Aside from the cost of having no separate health for his helmet, this makes him a ''much'' more dangerous threat, ''especially'' if he's with a Super Fan Imp.
304*** Balloon Zombie now doesn't instantly die when his balloon is popped, in addition to becoming faster when he gets dropped to ground level. The balloon itself can no longer be popped by Cactus, as she loses her ability to stretch up in this game. However, it's downplayed, as the game balances it out by now being vulnerable to ground-level plants.
305* A majority of the Player Characters in ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' are simply starting their journey to become the Champion, until they encounter a crime organization that gives them trouble, then take a huge level in badass by defeating the [[BigBad organization's boss]] and their [[TheDragon second-in-command]]. ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'' and ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'' are notable in which the main character ''SAVES'' the world from annihilation (''Emerald'' in Generation 3 averted this with a plot Legendary resolving the conflict in the game). ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' has the main character defeat the true ''BigBad [[BadBoss Boss]]'' near the end of the game just after acquiring the plot-relevant Legendary Pokémon. Eventually, all main characters become Champions at the end of the game.
306** In his first appearance, Wally in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald]]'' is quite sickly and needs help in catching his first Pokémon (Ralts), and moved to a cleaner town to recover. He later shows up partly recovered but still only has that one mon and is easily beaten. Much later he shows up right at the end of Victory Road and has an almost full team of mons leveled in their forties. He gets even better in the ''Omega Ruby'' and ''Alpha Sapphire'' remakes; he has an [[ThemeMusicPowerUp epic new theme]] and uses a ''[[SuperMode Mega Gallade]]'' in said fight. In the post-game, he's upgraded his team to have an entire party of competitive-level Pokémon.
307** In ''[[VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon Pokémon Sun and Moon]]'', Hau is overall a kid who only battles for fun, and poses little to no challenge to the player character, despite being the generation's rival. However, in the AlternateUniverse UpdatedRerelease of ''[[VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon Ultra Sun and Moon]]'', he has ''massive'' CharacterDevelopment and starts stepping up his game, even [[spoiler: becoming the FinalBoss in the Pokémon League, taking Professor Kukui's place.]]
308** A lot of Franchise/{{Pokemon}} fit this trope, evolving from cutesy but weak creatures to powerful badasses. In the anime, this happens to May's Torchic while fending off a herd of Breloom.
309*** One word: Magikarp. Keep giving the Magikarp battle experience, [[MagikarpPower because the gulf between its original form and its evolved form is the widest in the entire series.]] Magikarp is so pathetic that it's an in-universe MemeticLoser; Gyarados is one of the strongest and nastiest Pokémon out there. (Provided you don't come across [[AchillesHeel anything with a solid]] [[ElementalRockPaperScissors Electric-type attack]] [[note]]and even then that can be countered with a damage-reducing Wacan Berry and a super-effective Ground-type move[[/note]].) There's a reason that the MagikarpPower trope was named after this thing.
310** A Pokémon with bad-to-moderate moves can learn a super-powered move by just gaining a level.
311** Quite a few Pokémon get this treatment between generations, whether by receiving evolutions, receiving new moves, or just fitting in very well with the changes in gameplay mechanics.
312*** One of the most notable examples of this was Wobbuffet, who was first introduced as a completely useless JokeCharacter that no one would be caught dead with in the second generation. Then came Ruby and Sapphire, which introduced the concept of abilities. Wobbuffet ended up with Shadow Tag, which ''prevents the opponent from switching out''. With such an incredible GameBreaker as its ability, along with the move Encore it gained in this Gen thanks to its pre-evolution Wynaut, which forces the opponent's Pokémon to repeat a move for several turns, the Wobbuffet player could use the according counter move to destroy its opponent, allowing Wobbuffet to compete at the same level as ''[[OlympusMons Mewtwo]]'' and ''[[PhysicalGod Arceus]]'' for quite some time!
313*** Up until Diamond and Pearl (even though it gained the useful moves U-Turn and X-Scissor in those games, and the Technician Ability), Scizor was a forgettable Borderline-Overused at best. Then came Platinum, which gave it the moves Bullet Punch, Superpower, and Bug Bite. Bullet Punch is a Steel-type 40 power priority move (thus able to hit Ghost unlike Mach Punch and Quick Attack) which gets boosted thanks to Technician and STAB to 90 (equivalent of Psychic and just 5 points inferior to Thunderbolt, Flamethrower and Surf, the standard competitive Elemental moves); Superpower is a 120 power Fighting-type move, giving it the coverage for Steel types it needed; Bug Bite is a 60 power Bug-type move that gets boosted by Technician and STAB just like Bullet Punch (and thus is superior to X-Scissor). With those, BAM, instant top Overused Pokémon, where it remains even in Gen VI.
314*** Venomoth is a great case of this, especially since it has effectively gained a level in ''every'' generation this way. Gen II gave it an actual STAB move in Sludge Bomb, Gen III gave it the ability Shield Dust, which prevents the secondary effects of attacks from landing (Paralysis from Thunderbolt, for example). Gen IV gave it the Physical/Special split (which was very good to it since Venomoth was always better with Special attacks, yet Bug and Poison were both physical types previously), and the fantastic ability Tinted Lens, which negates one resistance when it attacks. Gen V gave it the Quiver Dance StatusBuff move, which boosts Special Attack, Special Defense, ''and'' Speed all at once. Finally, Gen VI introduced Fairy types, which finally made its Poison STAB useful.
315*** Arbok was always undermined by its underwhelming stats, but come Gen V, it can abuse its terrific movepool by boosting its Attack, Defense, and Accuracy at once with the move Coil. The accuracy boost also fixes the iffy accuracy of its most powerful move, Gunk Shot.
316*** As of Generation IV, nearly every [[PlayingWithFire Fire type]] Pokemon can be taught [[GreenThumb Solar]][[WaveMotionGun beam]]. Which means that most Fire-types that were powerless against water, rock, and ground-types now have something to fight back.
317*** Up until Gen VI, Farfetch'd basically amounted to crap -- it couldn't evolve, its stats were weak, and the Stick item only affected its critical hit rate, which was a crapshoot at best. However, tweaks to the critical hit formula in Gen VI changed it in turn, and now using both its Stick item in conjunction with its many high crit rate moves (Slash, Air Cutter, Night Slash, and Leaf Blade, the first two of which have STAB and all four combined have surprisingly good coverage) causes it to land a CriticalHit ''on every attack''; in addition to the boost in power, this causes any defence boosts on the target and any attack drops on Farfetch'd to be ignored. And then Gen VII boosted its Attack from a mediocre 65 to a more respectable 90, letting its attacks do some real damage and even OHKO several significant Pokémon weak against its coverage moves. And ''then'', it got a Galarian form with a better defensive typing in Fighting, an even better movepool with more STAB consisting of things like Superpower, Close Combat, and Solar Blade, and a subsequent evolution in Sirfetch'd, with [[MightyGlacier far better stats]] come Gen VIII.
318*** Similarly, Zigzagoon and Linoone were mostly looked down upon originally: their stats and movepools were lackluster, they were originally a very good ItemCaddy due to Pickup, but then that was nerfed to scale with the user's level, and Linoone's only saving grace was that it could, in theory, use Belly Drum to max out its Attack, then hit reasonably hard with Extreme Speed, but even then it wasn't too likely to tank a hit due to its paltry 78/61/61 bulk. However, Gen VIII gave it a Normal/Dark regional form, and therefore a new evolution in Obstagoon. Obstagoon gets a better movepool, coverage or otherwise, with things like Gunk Shot, Seed Bomb, and Throat Chop, a SecretArt of its very own in Obstruct, which is a Defense based version of King's Shield, and a better base stat total, [[LightningBruiser keeping most of its Speed from being a Linoone, but getting a big stat increase in everything but Sp. Atk.]] It lost Belly Drum, but gained Bulk Up, complementing its 93/101/81 bulk and 90/101 physical spread quite nicely, and Work Up, allowing it to function as a fast, tanky sweeper.
319*** Like the above two entries, Corsola took a level in badass [[MultiformBalance in both of its new forms.]] The original Corsola was supposed to be a StoneWall, and it had the kit to do so: a solid 95 on both sides, Iron Defense and Amnesia for increased survivability, Recover and Regenerator to offset its unsavory 65 HP, and several support moves such as Stealth Rock...all offset by her [[AchillesHeel 4x weakness to Grass]], and as such was looked over for quite some time. Galarian Corsola gained a far better defensive typing in pure Ghost and traded a bit of health and speed for slightly better defenses. Those defenses, however, were what pushed her over the edge: with an Eviolite, it has stellar 60/150/150 defenses, which are the same as ''Shield forme Aegislash.'' She lost Recover but gained Strength Sap in its place, which has the added effect of lowering the target's Attack, as well as Night Shade and Will-o-Wisp to slowly chip away at the enemy's HP, as well as keeping its great support movepool. Cursola abandons its worldly shell and evolves into a slow SquishyWizard with a diverse movepool to take advantage of both its great 95 Attack and its 145 Special Attack, the same as Vikavolt and Chandelure, who are also in a 3-way tie for highest Special Attack of any normal Pokémon.
320*** When Azumarill was introduced in Generation II, the only thing it really had going for it was the slight ability to take a hit. Generation III added abilities and gave the Marill line Huge Power, which doubles their attack stat. Generation IV altered the system determining whether an attack is physical or special so that was determined on an individual basis instead of by type, giving Azumarill physical water type attacks to take advantage of both its boosted attack power and same-type-attack-bonus, in addition to finally being able to properly use Belly Drum. Generation V gave it the ability to learn Ice Punch via move tutor, giving it a great [[ElementalRockPaperScissors coverage]] move to use with its attack stat. Generation VI gave the Marill line the Fairy type, complete with the then-sole physical Fairy attack in Play Rough, giving it a bunch of new resistances and attack coverage. [[KillerRabbit Azumarill]] is now one of the game's foremost dragon slayers.
321*** ''Sun and Moon'' did this to Pelipper. The mediocre Pokemon no one ever used competitively needed only slight boost in special attack and addition of Drizzle ability to make its jump into Smogon's OU tier. This is because there are only few Pokemon setting rain automatically by switching in and Pelipper's strongest moves become much deadlier in rain, such as dreaded Hurricane (110 base attack, has STAB in case of Pelliper, 30% chance of confusion) jumping from PowerfulButInaccurate to AlwaysAccurateAttack.
322*** Mankey and Primeape are considered incredibly bad pokemon for competitive play for a couple reasons, one of which is pure fighting typing and lack of move coverage. Then Scarlet and Violet comes alone and grants Primeape an evolution: Annihilape. True to its name, Annihilape truly is a terrifying competitive pokemon, being a unique Ghost/Fighting type with a unique move (Rage Fist) that scales damage with being hit. It went from a pokemon typically avoided altogether to one that dominated the competitive scene for quite some time.
323** One of the major instances of the abovementioned example is the introduction of Hidden Abilities in Gen V, which gave most Pokemon an additional ability from their usual ones if said Pokemon was obtained in a certain way (usually from Dream World at first), or bred from one who was. A fair amount of average, if not terrible, Pokemon gained abilities that were either simply much better or meshed very well with their existing traits, boosting their usability considerably.
324*** Two notable examples are Politoed and Ninetales, who gained the ability to change the weather permanently unless something came along to change it to something else (until Gen VI put a limit on it). Politoed could induce rain via its Drizzle, which empowered water attacks considerably and gave massive boosts to Pokemon with certain abilities; Ninetales used Drought to strengthen the sunlight, which boosted Fire attacks and allows Solarbeam to be used without the charge-up turn (see above for more on that).
325*** Ditto of all Pokémon gained one with its new Imposter Ability, which lets it copy the opponent's Pokémon and ''all of its stat changes'' as soon as it enters the battlefield, instead of having to wait a turn (and get hit) using Transform. This is a good way of setting up a massively powerful Pokémon, especially if your opponent has Baton Pass in its move list, which a lot of competitive Pokémon do. In addition, give Ditto a Choice Scarf, and it will always outspeed the Pokémon it turns into, unless it also has a Scarf.
326*** Serperior is really just an okay supporting grass-type normally, but give it its Dream World ability Contrary (which reverses stat changes) and it turns into a rampaging monster serpent that doubles its own Special Attack every time it uses the 140-base power Leaf Storm.
327*** During Gen IV, poor Blaziken was overshadowed by Infernape. But with Blaziken's dream world ability, Speed Boost, and a HUGE power boost to Hi Jump Kick, It now has the honor of being the first starter to be ''banned from competitive play that uses Smogon's unofficial ruleset''.
328** Gen VI introduced two major factors that caused some Pokemon to undergo this: Mega Evolutions and the new Fairy type.
329*** Since many past species get retconned to be Fairy types, which are flat out immune to Dragon attacks, Pokemon that were previously only mildly useful, like Gardevoir and Mawile, can now be used to take down pseudolegendary powerhouses without a scratch (or at least shut down their attempts at a TotalPartyKill using Draco Meteor or Outrage).
330*** In summary, Mega Evolution has caused some Pokemon like Mawile and Kangaskhan go from being fairly useless to extremely powerful (Well, in the latter case, more like fairly useless to '''[[GameBreaker ridiculously broken]]'''). Some like Lucario, Blaziken, and the starters go from 'fairly good' to 'extremely good'. And Mewtwo goes from [[GameBreaker nearly god level powerful]] to even more powerful than before with two new forms that have either even higher special attack stats or turn it into a Psychic/Fighting physical attacker with martial arts moves!
331*** Mawile in particular benefits from both the fairy type and the mega evolutions. Upon its introduction, it was a fairly unremarkable pure-steel type with middling stats. It had fans thanks to its design but didn't really shine in gameplay. Then it got the secondary fairy type, which resulted in it having ''nine'' resistances, two immunities, and only two weaknesses. Then it got a mega evolution which gives it a stat boost... and the ability Huge Power, which ''doubles'' it's attack stat. This results in it having a functional base attack power of ''210'' when the highest natural attack stat in the series (Attack Forme Deoxys) is only 180. Combined with a fairly diverse movepool and you have a mon that can do a ''lot'' of damage.
332*** As of ''X and Y'', Lopunny was a niche Pokemon who could monkey with dangerous items via the Klutz ability and support its teammates with its range of moves, but still nothing to escape the Underused or Never-Used tiers. Slap some Lopunnite on it in ''Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire'', however, and it actually becomes a potent fighter in its own right -- in addition to gaining the Fighting type and the high Attack said type is known for, it also acquires the Scrappy ability to bypass that pesky Ghost-type immunity that would otherwise gimp it. Not only can it flatten Mega Gardevoir this way (if Moonblast doesn't do it in first), but several Ghosts, most notably Sableye and Spiritomb, are in for an ass-kicking. Any trainer [[TooDumbToLive dumb enough to use Wondereye or Wondertomb in Gen VI]] is going to regret their decision, Fairy-type or no.
333*** Sableye, for the first two generations of its existence, was a very mediocre Pokemon with the gimmick of having no weaknesses thanks to its typing (unless dealing with something possessing Scrappy that happened to be packing Fighting moves), but without the offenses OR defenses to make use of it. By Gen IV, Spiritomb had already stolen its thunder by virtue of having the same gimmick while actually having the stats to put it to good use. Sableye, however, got two big boosts that made it outclass Spiritomb in the end: Gen V gave it Prankster as a Hidden Ability, which turned it into a very effective and in-demand annoyer thanks to priority Will-O-Wisp, while Gen VI gave it a Mega Evolution come OR/AS that made a name for itself as a frustratingly durable and versatile wall. The best part is that Sableye is fully capable of playing both roles in the same battle, as it can choose to hold off on going Mega until it needs to start walling things.
334*** Groudon spent three and a half generations being seen as entirely inferior to Kyogre due to both being weak to the latter's attacks and not having [=STAB=] on the fire attacks boosted by its ability. Then ''Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire'' gave it a pseudo-Mega Evolution called Primal Reversion. Primal Groudon's new ability nullifies all water attacks and it becomes part fire type so it can finally take advantage of its sun boosted fire moves. As a result, Primal Groudon took over Kyogre's former position as ''the'' defining force in the Ubers metagame.
335** The Bug-type in general. In ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'', bugs were seen as a joke, with no good attacks and mediocre stats. By ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'', they've become much more useful in combat, thanks to better moves [[note]]including Megahorn, X-Scissor, Signal Beam, U-Turn, Steamroller, Bug Buzz and Quiver Dance[[/note]] and bugs with much better stats [[note]]including Pinsir, Heracross, Scizor, Armaldo, Yanmega, Scolipede, Galvantula, Durant, Volcarona and Genesect -- the first three of which can all Mega Evolve, too[[/note]].
336** Sunkern. You wouldn't expect the weakest Pokémon in existence to potentially have five stars in all Pokéathlon stats, would you? With several servings of Aprijuice, you'll be farming Heart Scales, Nuggets, and evolutionary stones like you wouldn't believe.
337** When the new ''Black and White'' starters were revealed, nobody liked [[TheWoobie poor little Oshawott]]. Then, it was discovered that they evolve into ''samurai bladed otters with beards''.
338---> One swing of the sword incorporated into its armor can fell an opponent. A simple [[DeathGlare glare]] from one of them quiets everybody.
339** Iris, a twelve-year-old girl, took a major leap in badass from ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' to ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2''. She went from being a powerful gym leader (or gym leader apprentice depending on your version) to [[spoiler:being the ''champion of Unova''.]]
340*** Before her, [[spoiler: Wallace accomplished the same feat in ''Pokémon Emerald''.]]
341** As a rule that has been in place ever since Generation III, the Elite Four and Champion will take one of these after you beat them the first time round. In your rematch, their teams will have gone up by about ten or so levels (or twenty in some cases). This can take some players by surprise when their Level 50-something team that won them their victory handily is on the receiving end of a CurbStompBattle. This didn't happen in ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' for some reason, but come the Hoenn remakes the Elite Four, aside from all gaining around twenty levels, can [[spoiler:Mega Evolve their final Pokémon]].
342** As a cross-version example, the Kanto/Johto gym leaders in the Generation IV remake. In the original ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'', there were lots of exploits that could be taken advantage of. In the remakes, the gym leaders in general have [[ArtificialBrilliance wised up,]] and came up with movepools, abilities, and move/ability combinations that actually work against you -- and some of them are specifically designed to counter type weaknesses. Also, Kanto's gym leaders received a level boost to better reflect the difficulty scale on the post-Champion game.
343** In ''Sun & Moon'', a ''move'' gets this treatment. Leech Life, a move with terrible Base Power which is only ever used by early-game wild Zubat because even the AI Trainers aren't that dumb, now has a Power of ''80'' while retaining its LifeDrain effect. Don't worry, those early-game Zubat now know Absorb instead.
344** Throughout ''Sun & Moon'' [[NeutralFemale Lillie]] spent the entire game hiding behind the player's back whenever trouble started and had no Pokémon of her own. Then comes ''VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon'', where [[spoiler: in the post-game Lillie manages to defeat a Team Rocket Grunt on her own then proceeds to back up the player in a Multi Battle with a Level 60 Clefairy. The Grunt she floored even comments on how strong she is.]]
345*** In the Rainbow Rocket storyline of Ultra Sun/Moon, you fight through [[VillainTeamUp the villains from the previous games]]. Or more specifically, [[spoiler:Alternate Universe versions of them that succeeded in their plans, meaning that they now have their respective game's [[OlympusMons legendaries]]]]. This means that [[spoiler:both [[Videogame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Archie and Maxie]] have Kyogre and Groudon respectively as well as Giovanni now having a Mewtwo that he can mega-evolve]].
346** In ''Sun & Moon'', the dragon-type totem pokémon Kommo-o was a joke. It was a few levels lower than a totem pokémon should be at this point in the game, and just prior to facing it you acquire the Fairium Z (which can turn a single Fairy-type move into a LimitBreak) and the TM for Dazzling Gleam, a powerful Fairy-type move. Utilizing both of these meant you could easily one-shot the Totem Kommo-o, whose two types, Dragon and Fighting, are both weak to Fairy-type moves. Even if you didn't, the help it summons is of a laughably low level. In ''Ultra Sun/Moon'', Totem Kommo-o is much more difficult. Its level was raised, the levels of its ally pokémon were raised, you don't have the Fairium Z yet, and it now knows Poison Jab to deal with Fairy-type pokémon. Even if you get off Dazzling Gleam or some other Fairy-type move, it is now holding a Roseli berry, which halves the damage it takes from a single Fairy-type move. It still has weaknesses, sure, but its natural defenses plus the boost from the totem aura mean that most super-effective attacks are going to be doing fairly average damage. ''[[ThatOneBoss Good luck]]''.
347* Though he starts off pretty badass in ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'', Alex Mercer eventually [[spoiler: is infected by a parasite that saps his powers and severely weakens him.]] Once he gets over it, though, he takes ''many'' new levels in badass, complete with [[spoiler: the Armor and Blade powers]]. He sums it up best with two simple words: [[HesBack "I'm back."]]
348* [[spoiler: Tatara Kogasa]] of ''VideoGame/TouhouSeirensenUndefinedFantasticObject''. Starts off as [[spoiler: a [[{{Karakasa}} weak umbrella Youkai]],]] ends up being the Extra Stage miniboss.
349** Fueled by [[EnsembleDarkhorse popular demand]], Cirno and Meiling have both gone from joke bosses to powerhouses. Cirno even stars in her own spinoff game, ''Great Fairy War''.
350*** The extra stage of which pits her against '''[[spoiler: Marisa]]'''. And she almost wins, too! And fairies are the weakest species in Gensokyo...
351*** [[spoiler: Marisa was playing, first she didn't used her most powerful attacks, and also that is suggested in the aftermath of the battle, when Marisa says she is leaving because she is tired, and Cirno portrait is the one with battered clothes, this supposition is confirmed in a Symposium of Post Mysticism article about the fight. Regardless Cirno impressed Marisa.]]
352** For a story line version, consider Fujiwara no Mokou. Once a little, human girl. One elixir of immortality and a lot (read: over 1000 years) of [[CharlesAtlasSuperPower training]] later she's a powerful force to be reckoned with with complete mastery over fire.
353** The final bosses of the fighting games always get defeated by everyone else, until you unlock their own stories, which is when they start kicking ass and taking names. However, all the non-Suika paths of 7.5 are non-canon, in 10.5 Tenshi intentionally held back as part of her role as a Self-DesignatedVillain, and 12.3 doesn't have a definite final boss, except maybe for the giant catfish which isn't playable, so only Kokoro from 13.5 counts. She ends up fighting ''[[PlayerCharacter Reimu]], [[FinalBoss Byakuren]], and [[FinalBoss Miko]] at the same time'', which is an incredible feat indeed.
354** Reimu herself. Before the Windows canon, she wasn't really anything special. Then she got so strong that she needed to follow rules made by HERSELF in order to make possible to BEAT her.
355* ''VideoGame/PunchOut''
356** In the UsefulNotes/{{N|intendoEntertainmentSystem}}ES game you have to fight Don Flamenco twice. The first time, on the major circuit, he's almost as easy as Glass Joe despite having highly damaging punches since he's so easy to lock into extensively long combos and his blows are so easy to dodge. Then he comes back with a vengeance on the world circuit and is much, much harder to beat.
357** Every single one of your opponents in the Wii version Title Defense Mode. They all spend the time after Little Mac kicks their asses to learn new and more devastating tricks. Yes, even [[CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys Glass Joe]], who gets boxing headgear for losing 100 matches leaving any blow to his head useless. Even, [[ThoseWackyNazis Von Kaiser]] and [[DiscoDan Disco]] [[AmbiguouslyGay Kid]] can give you a hard time. And yes, even the [[NintendoHard World Circuit]] bosses including [[ScaryBlackMan Mr.]] [[FinalBoss Sandman]] become the equivalent of the TrueFinalBoss!
358* ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyo'':
359** It is not uncommon for characters, such as Dapper Bones and Ally, to get better [=AI=] when they appear in a new game.
360** In ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyoTetris'', Jay and Elle only seemed to be on the Tetra to liven things up with their pranks. In [[VideoGame/PuyoPuyoTetris2 the sequel]], it’s revealed they have the power to sense things by holding hands.
361* VideoGame/{{Rayman}}'s best friend Globox needs to be rescued by Rayman in earlier games. In ''[[VideoGame/RaymanOrigins Origins]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/RaymanLegends Legends]]'' he becomes playable and can kick ass alongside Rayman.
362* ''VideoGame/RealityMinds'': Reffian struggles with her career as a soldier because she's too afraid to fight any monster stronger than a [[TheGoomba slimey slime]]. After Astrake encourages her to believe in herself, she becomes a competent CombatMedic who can stand against boss monsters.
363* From the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' series:
364** Leon Kennedy, the idealistic NaiveNewcomer who just began his first day of duty at the Raccoon Police Department in ''RE 2'' had somehow become almost as badass as Albert Wesker by the time of ''[=RE4=]''! He gets yet another upgrade in the movie ''Degeneration'', although it seems to come at the expense of his personality and sense of humor since he ends up pulling double duty as the film's MrExposition.
365** At least Leon was a trained cop in ''[=RE2=]'', and was hired on by the U.S. Government before ''[=RE4=]''. Claire Redfield's level-up has no similar justification. She goes from being a college student in ''[=RE2=]'' to a certified ass-kicker in ''RE: Code Veronica'', though she does pick up the ''DistressBall'' quite a few times in that game.
366** Notable in that Albert Wesker HIMSELF takes a level in between ''Resident Evil'' and ''Code: Veronica'' -- notable in that said level was taken AFTER he was STABBED THROUGH THE CHEST, and was shown off as he exposed his powers in ''Code: Veronica''. And Leon's ''[=RE4=]'' incarnation is almost as badass as this new Wesker. And in ''[=RE5=]''... suffice it to say that if he'd had that kind of power back in ''Code: Veronica'', Alexia wouldn't have lasted ten seconds.
367** Before Leon was Jill, who got more and more badass throughout the series, from ''RE'' to ''[=RE3=]'' to [[spoiler:''[=RE5=]'']]. Chris fits the trope as well.
368** Rebecca counts, big time. In the original game, she was a DamselInDistress and TheScrappy with a couple of playable sections. The remake has her fair better. [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil0 Her own game]] has her the weaker of the two characters, but more skilled, a lot more guns to play with, and the chance to kill a [[EliteMooks Tyrant.]] ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvilTheUmbrellaChronicles Umbrella Chronicles]]'' makes it canon that she faced more crap in three days than perhaps even [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis Jill]]. And ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil5 Mercenaries Reunion?]]'' She gets a machine gun, a shotgun and stacks of ammo for both, making her a very strong character indeed.
369** Then we have Sherry Birkin. In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'', she's a twelve-year-old girl trying to survive a zombie outbreak and her parents wind up dead. Then Claire leaves her to find Chris while Leon submits to the government to protect Sherry (although she's later abducted anyway according to Wesker). But in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'', she's become a full-out government agent charged with protecting Jake Muller, who happens to be the son of her father's best friend.
370* ''VideoGame/Rockman4MinusInfinity'':
371** Toad Man and Dust Man, compared to the original game, are much more of a threat.
372** Also, [[spoiler:Shadow Man.]] The "final" fight against him is pathetically easy, [[spoiler:but his {{Superboss}} appearance is ''much'' tougher.]]
373* Muse from ''VideoGame/RomancingSaGa3''. She shifts from DelicateAndSickly to LadyOfWar instantly. Also Sharl who is upgraded from BrokenHero provided that you got the [[spoiler: Silver Hand in Muse's Dream]]
374** Also in addition, the Pirate Black, who regains his youth if you bring him to the fight with Forneus, you don't even need to place him in the active battle party which is good since his stats are quite sucky as an old man.
375* In ''VideoGame/{{Rosenkreuzstilette}} Freudenstachel'', Zorne's been improving her skills ever since her easy defeat in the first game. Her new move as well as the partner she gets when she TurnsRed obviously make up for the defeat Tia (and Grolla) gave her.
376* While already a Badass, Boss from ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'' does what he did so well in the first installation and adds a more brutal touch to it in the sequels. Feats include putting radioactive liquid in Maero's tattoo ink just to show he won't accept 20 percent of the town, saving his hideout from gangsters while high on drugs as well savagely beating up most of his enemies if possible. Events in the finale of the first game inspired him to stop being a SilentBob, stop being "A bitch who keeps his mouth shut and does what he's told".
377* Tokugawa Ieyasu in ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara 3''. What was once a really ineffectual BrattyHalfPint DistressedDude has now grown up and kicks butt with just fists and feet, no longer needing to be overdependent on his Hondam.
378* In ''VideoGame/Siren1'', [[spoiler: Kyoya Suda]] and [[spoiler:Yoriko Anno]] take serious levels in badass.
379* The ''VideoGame/SlyCooper'' series of games has Murray and Bentley:
380** Murray in [[VideoGame/SlyCooperAndTheThieviusRaccoonus the first game]] was pretty useless. He was only involved in a few missions which included accidentally getting into street races repeatedly and needing Sly to cover him against normal enemies, which he cowered in fear from. By [[VideoGame/Sly2BandOfThieves the second game]], however, he had taken on the affectation of a pro wrestler and was able to take on dozens of enemies by himself, while Sly and Bentley had trouble with more than a couple at a time.
381** Bentley is an even more obvious example. He acts strictly as MissionControl in the first game, actually starts going out and doing stuff in the second and by [[VideoGame/Sly3HonorAmongThieves the third]] has tricked himself out so that Sly is really only the leader of the gang in name. Between the first and second games, he also changes from a character that essentially only tells the player how the controls work to the guy who comes up with every single incredibly intricate heist plan. Many fans actually consider Bentley, not Sly, to be the true hero of the franchise thanks to this and his overall character development.
382* Metal Sonic in ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes''. He manages to augment himself with "data" samples from Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, and ''Chaos''. The result is an obscenely powerful, fast, intelligent machine made out of liquid metal and possessing the power of Chaos Control. Now compare that to his [[EvilKnockoff first appearance.]]
383** Even then, he was badass. And the whole point of his creation was to be a robot that could fight Sonic on equal terms (including matching the hedgehog's number one [[SuperSpeed claim to fame]] to boot!) -- with the addition of built-in weapons.
384** In ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' Amy herself Took a Level in Badass, constantly risking capture by one of Eggman's robots to return a little bird Eggman wants to its family. And when said robot that constantly chases throughout their tale catches up to them and strikes said bird (even when Eggman already got what he wanted from the bird), she [[BerserkButton turns it into scrap metal with her Piko-Piko Hammer]].
385*** Amy in general has taken the most levels in badass in the series, going from damsel in distress to a competent close combat brute around Sonic Heroes.
386** Tails gains a bit of character development in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' where, with Eggman launching a back-up plan to destroy Station Square after Sonic beats Chaos, and Sonic nowhere to be found, Tails musters the courage to step out of Sonic's shadow and take on Eggman by himself. This continues in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' where Tails gets ''pissed'' and straight-up challenges Eggman [[spoiler:after watching him seemingly kill Sonic]].
387** Despite being a MascotWithAttitude and ''the main character'' and as such plenty Badass already, Sonic pulls this off in ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'' when he takes down Perfect Chaos without his [[SuperMode super form.]] How did he do it when the entire area was flooded and he [[SuperDrowningSkills can't swim?]] By hydroplaning.
388*** He also gets one in ''VideoGame/SonicColors'' too-''[[BeyondTheImpossible for a good 30 seconds, he is able to]]'' '''''[[BeyondTheImpossible outrun a BLACK HOLE]]'''''.
389*** Speaking of ''Sonic Generations'', the [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure2 GUN Truck]]. Oh, wow, the GUN Truck. In the original City Escape, it simply tried to run Sonic over, getting stopped by a single building. The truck outright chases classic Sonic throughout Act 1 once it appears (by the way, said first appearance is it ''emerging'' through a building!), being turned aside by a support at the end of the level, but not crashed. It gets destroyed (by the same way it originally did) in Act 2, but not after showing it's been upgraded with [[ChainsawGood 3 circular saws]], the ability to fly, and, oh yeah, the ability to keep up with a boosting ([[spoiler: or even Super]]) Sonic. It outright EXPLODES upon crashing in Act 2, to boot.
390*** In ''VideoGame/SonicForces'', [[spoiler:although he loses the fight, he actually manages to hold his own against Infinite, who had previous [[CurbStompBattle curb stomped]] Omega and Sonic with ease.]]
391** Dr. Eggman in recent titles is just as clownish and bumbling as ever, but simultaneously reminding Sonic he is a NotSoHarmlessVillain, in ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' he makes himself the only villain to neutralise Sonic in his ''super form'' no less (a feat only [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog3 Knuckles]] has otherwise accomplished). He has also stopped being the go-to-patsy for any new villain of the story and attempted using his own devices to try to take over the planet (and then some). As shown in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'', he's also not afraid to put a gun to his captured friends to show he means business.
392*** [[spoiler:And then in ''Generations'', he ''finally'' unleashed an EldritchAbomination against Sonic that didn't betray him in the end.]]
393*** By ''VideoGame/SonicForces'', Eggman has taken so many levels in badass it's not even funny. [[spoiler:He takes over the world, creates multiple backup generators for the Phantom Ruby, ditches Infinite when he loses to Sonic and the Avatar, and fights Sonic and co. with a Death Egg Robot powered by an overclocked Phantom Ruby. The reason he lost wasn't even his fault: Infinite dropped the Phantom Ruby prototype during his fight with Silver which the Avatar used to stop Eggman's ColonyDrop using the artificial sun. If Infinite had done his job correctly, Eggman would have destroyed the Resistance.]]
394* Sam Fisher from ''VideoGame/SplinterCell'', already a badass operative in earlier games, becomes even more awesome in ''Conviction'', with such new abilities as the Mark and Execute that allows him to gun down up to four enemies in the blink of an eye. Officially, this is because Sam, [[spoiler:having left Third Echelon]], doesn't have much reason to be subtle anymore, which means he was ''always'' that hardcore and was just ''restraining himself''.
395* In ''VideoGame/StarcraftBroodWar'', the ursadon was a [[http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/File:Ursadon.jpg dopey-looking critter]] that couldn't fight back and exploded in a cloud of shame if clicked on enough. In ''[[VideoGame/StarCraftIIHeartOfTheSwarm Heart of the Swarm]]''? [[http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/File:Ursadon_SC2-HoTS_Head1.jpg They're huge armored slaughterbears with six-inch tusks]] that can jump cliffs, body slam enemies and are immune to cold.
396* ''VideoGame/StarFox'':
397** Team [[TheRival Star Wolf]] were once generic [[QuirkyMiniBossSquad boss enemies]] who soon developed character (at least, Wolf and Leon) and kicked the two [[CardCarryingVillain typical baddies Pigma and Andrew]] and replaced them with [[SuckMyRose Panther]]. They also become involved in the story.
398** [[spoiler:The Attack Carrier, the recurring Warm-Up Boss of the franchise, becomes the boss of the third to last level in ''Zero'']].
399* Ibuki from ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' usually is used for comic relief and to provide a cute feminine charm in contrast to more serious fighters. She is also always said to be inexperienced in canon when opponents defeat her, but she has managed to defeat Gill of all people and also clowned out C. Viper despite Ibuki's own inferior weaponry in their 1 v 1 battle after Viper has been shown being able to defeat such veterans such as Charlie Nash and Cammy.
400* In the five years between his appearances in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterAlpha'' and ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'', Dan must have been training; he's gone from '''''the''''' JokeCharacter to a LethalJokeCharacter that's surprisingly high on the tier list. It's even reflected in the game; his face is much more serious (though he still gets excited when he wins).
401* Shiva's first appearance in ''[[VideoGame/StreetsOfRage Streets of Rage 3]]'' shows an element of BadassDecay compared to his role in Streets of Rage 2 as Mr. X's [[TheDragon bodyguard]], but when [[spoiler:you fail to save the General/Chief of Police]], you face him again as the final boss where he is a supremely significant threat.
402* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
403** ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story]]'' does this to Bowser, since the game [[ADayInTheLimelight focuses on him as a main character]] (with some help from the Mario Brothers). He performs several impressive feats such as [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu literally punching out]] an EldritchAbomination and becomes the savior of the Mushroom Kingdom rather than the terrorizer (that role belonging to Fawful). [[spoiler: He also kept the [[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime Shroob invaders]] [[HumanPopsicle on ice]]. ''Including their leader''.]]
404** Goombas can be this depending on the game. In the 3D Mario games, they generally pose more of a threat than the Koopa Troopas due to the former chasing after Mario when he gets near while the latter generally pays no mind to Mario (except for in ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld''). Goombas are also some of the only enemies to stack on top of each other outside of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioMaker''.
405** Also, Princess Peach tends to do this in games where she is a PlayerCharacter.
406** There are many, many examples in ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam''.
407*** Like Luigi himself. He's basically promoted to god in the Dream World, and manages to mess around with physics and beat up gigantic foes as an enormous version of himself with RuleOfCool in play constantly. Some stand-out moments include his fight with the Zeekeeper (where he manages to defeat the equivalent of god with just jumps and his hammer, and chase it through things like dimensional rifts in zero gravity) and his fight with Giant Bowser, where he beats up Bowser's giant form from the last game in an epic battle in a torn apart fiery wasteland. Or how he then beats up an even BIGGER version of Bowser than the normal giant one. It's enough that Bowser actually remembers his name for once in the ending and treats him as an equal threat to Mario.
408*** Bowser, who not only retains all his savvy and skills from the last game but also [[spoiler:manages to double-cross Antasma and take the power of the Dream Stone for himself. That's right -- Bowser ''learned from his mistakes, and used a villain to his own benefit.'' Even better -- he implies that he was '''using him the ''entire'' game''']].
409*** Private Goomp, Corporal Paraplonk, and Sergeant Guy. In ''Bowser's Inside Story'', they were just comic relief. Here? They're part of the Elite Trio and fight in a boss battle against Mario directly. Where they command a whole army.
410*** Mario as well, who along with Luigi can now beat up a [[spoiler:super-powered Bowser with Dream Stone reality warper abilities]] without any kind of help or magic items. So in other words, they take on Bowser when he's got the equivalent of the [[VideoGame/PaperMario64 Star Rod]] with no help and WIN!
411*** Kamek, who is now entirely competent, a difficult foe to defeat in battle and even manages to trick the Mario bros midway through the game and completely screw them over in the process. Like the Elite Trio, it's enough that Bowser himself compliments the guy in the ending.
412** ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPaperJam'' also has many examples.
413*** [[spoiler:If you thought Bowser was badass enough in ''Dream Team'', in this game, he and his paper counterpart have ''cemented'' their status as [[KnightOfCerebus competent, rather dark villains]] who will [[PapaWolf protect their children to the very end.]] To top it all off, their EvilPlan is dark even for a light-hearted franchise like Mario, rivaling the plans of previous RPG villains [[OmnicidalManiac in sheer evilness]]. After this game and ''Dream Team'', it's safe to say that Bowser has finally ended his VillainDecay and has become more evil than he ever was since ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy''.]]
414*** Several mooks are reimagined in this game as to allow them to fight better. Ninji, for example, are now portrayed a lot more like actual ninjas than just star-shaped creatures that jump up and down. On the inverse side, Mario and the gang can now defeat enemies that couldn't normally be defeated via direct attacks within other Mario games, like Bullies, for example.
415*** The Chargin' Chucks have been upgraded from individual mooks to a WolfPackBoss that uses effective sports-based team attacks in order to battle Mario and the gang, complete with an attack that involves them chasing the Mario brothers and [[TurnsRed Turning Red]] when you dwindle their numbers enough.
416*** For a character that was originally just a StarterVillain in ''VideoGame/SuperMario64,'' King Bob-Omb turned into a very intimidating villain that's in charge of a mountain operation [[spoiler:that involves raining paper terrain and paper enemies]]. His boss battle is even a timed battle as well, and he's much more powerful to boot.
417*** Nabbit is surprisingly quite tough when you do face him during combat, using his BagOfHolding to toss stuff at Mario and the gang as well as [[EnemySummoner summoning mooks]] to fight within him while he dozes off in the background. And even when during this, Nabbit will still try to attack, using his sneaking skills in an attempt to confuse the player and nab the brother's hammer just so that he could whack them with it.
418*** The Koopalings always fight you [[DualBoss in pairs -- or in one case a trio --]] and have some rather good attacks and strategies for once.
419** In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'', Bowser's primary goals are simply to kidnap Peach again and make Mario's vacation unpleasant. In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'', Bowser's primary goals are to kidnap Peach and ''take over the entire universe''.
420** And then, after the cosmic ResetButton got hit, Bowser got another upgrade, provided by the Grand Stars. In the sequel, he appears to have several new powers, including flight, teleportation, summoning meteors, and darkness-powered megaton punches. This time, he also makes sure that Mario wouldn't be able to stop him again by [[spoiler:kidnapping the resident god figure and her starship]].
421** In the earliest games, Mario was ''at best'' a BadassNormal, from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' onward, he's outright superhumanly athletic (despite [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower still being considered human in-universe]]).
422** Luigi gets a level in badass in between ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy 1'' and ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2 2]]'', albeit a small one. In the first game, he was the ButtMonkey, he gets into space against his will, is treated as a joke by everyone, and all times he tries to help end up with him getting in a pinch and having Mario save him. The unlockable [[spoiler:Luigi mode]], the only situation where Luigi is actually a helpful character, doesn't count since that Luigi is in fact a Doppelganger from space {{Handwave}}d as "I suppose if the universe is truly infinite someone that looks just like me must exists". In ''Mario Galaxy 2'', however, Luigi gets mad for being left behind by Mario and the Toad Brigade, chases the spaceship down by himself (nevermind how), offers help himself instead of being dragged along, and throws a few {{Take That}}s at Mario with claims such as "This time ''I'm'' the hero, bro.". Instead of walk around doing nothing in your ship, like in the first game, it's also implied Luigi is adventuring around on his own trying to find powerstars.
423* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' manages to do this to ''[[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Shinji Ikari]]''. And it ''works''.
424** That said, word was that was partly thanks to Captain Bright's infamous bright slaps, which has been scientifically proven to turn wimps into men of awesome (MEN OF DESTINY are another thing). Also, Shinji freaked out during the last 2 missions in the End of Eva Route of ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha 3.''
425*** Being around HotBlooded {{Super Robot|Genre}} pilots will do that to you. And there are plenty of them to go around in the Alpha series. He also delivered a [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan Bright slap]] to [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED Kira Yamato]]. Oh, yeah. Definitely took it.
426** In addition, one of the main characters in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha 3'' starts out as a delivery boy with a minor Karate background. Then he trains with certain members of the Alpha Numbers -- this includes, but is not limited to: cyborgs (Guy and Hiroshi/Jeeg), combat pros (the Wing boys, Banjo, Tsurugi Tetsuya...), a yokozuna, masters of various martial arts (Camille, Wufei, Yun Lee...), a dude who cleaves evil, gods, and battleships (Zengar), [[BoisterousBruiser an old dude who]] smacks stuff around]] [[EpicFlail in space with a ball and chain]] ([[ThemeMusicPowerUp ware koso wa~ waRE koso wa~ Baran Doban! fire!fire!fire!fire!]]), and various characters voiced by Kamiya Akira. By the end of the game, he kicked an EldritchAbomination in the ass ''straight to hell''! That's not counting the other god-like beings he might have to beat up beforehand.
427** In the ''Compact'' series of ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'', Leina Ashta of ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ ZZ Gundam]]'' fame. Considering that, in the series, [[spoiler:she got kidnapped by Gremmi Toto a few episodes in, and spent her time either waiting for Judau to rescue her or being thought dead after almost getting crushed by a MS]] you'd think her to be a useless character... WRONG! She's, in fact, pretty powerful if used correctly, reaching a Newtype Level of 6 (Amuro, Camille, and her brother reach Level 8, just to give a comparison) and becoming quite destructive if placed in a Mobile Armor. From personal experience, I managed to take down Bask Ohms' flagship just using her.
428** The original ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars3'' on the SNES does this with Kou Uraki, hero of Stardust Memory. Starting with less than half the levels of most of the worthwhile characters and piloting a unit meant only for skirmishes, the GP-01. However, as soon as you head off to space and it's upgraded to the Full Vernian model, he proves to be a nimble character if you put effort into training him. Near the end of the game, upon gaining the GP-03, Kou ends up being a proverbial tank in a top-notch Mobile Suit.
429*** Well, anytime Kou gets his GP-03, he turns into a viable GameBreaker.
430** They couldn't go for too long without doing this to one of their original characters. ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration'' features a character named Ryoto [[MookFaceTurn who first appeared as a scared enemy mook]]. He remains a very minor character until the end of the game, piloting only his original mook mecha or a hand-me-down from more important characters. By the time he rejoins the crew in the sequel, however, he's spent the last six months testing {{Super Prototype}}s, and pilots one that can combine with either his girlfriend's tank-thing or a suit of PoweredArmor that can detach and turn into a weaponized flying surfboard. Oh, and he almost single-handedly holds off a giant robot dragon that routinely crushes more important characters long enough for said girlfriend and his co-workers to escape. Appropriately enough, this is the point where his theme song upgrades to one called "Ace Pilot" ("Ace Attacker" in the original Japanese).
431*** Let's put this in a better perspective here, folks. Ryoto was one of four male protagonists that a player could choose in ''Super Robot Wars Alpha'' (the other three being Yuuki, Tasuku, and Bullet). Ryoto, Yuuki, and Tasuku were dropped in favor of Bullet and female protag Kusuha and never returned until the first ''Original Generation'' game. That SuperPrototype in the second game? The Huckebein Mk-III, a unit said to be a ''small scale [=SRX=]''. This kid went from piloting a wimpy grunt mecha to piloting a high-powered machine in under one game. That's taking a level!
432** Does this also apply to Setsuko Ohara of ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars Z''? She starts out as the lowest of her team, is quite [[ShrinkingViolet timid and unsure of herself]]. Her debut actually starts with ''being shot down by [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Kamille Vidan]]''. But then, she is subjected to [[BreakTheCutie lots and lots of]] [[TraumaCongaLine traumatic event]]. And when she eventually gets pissed, not only her emotions evolve her {{BFG}} into a much more dangerous version, she discards her timid and unsure persona into a badass, yet still gentle, soldier, then proceeds to one shot the guy who breaks her with her new {{BFG}}.
433** Sirbine is notorious for having 1 P attacks in the SRW games. In ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsBX'', Sirbine has a 1-5 P Aura Sword as an attack, making it more versatile in combat.
434** [[AllThereInTheManual The Manual]] of ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsX'' claims that there's a version of [[Characters/SuperRobotWarsX Hopes/Spero]] with full main pilot stats, implying that he gets to take over and pilot something eventually. [[spoiler: This is [[TrueFinalBoss true]].]]
435* All of the damsels who appear as playable characters in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosMelee'' and upwards are this. In their own games they get kidnapped and rarely (if ever) get any offense in against their abductor. In Smash these ladies are usually shown being on equal footing with both their usual saviors (E.g. Peach and Mario, Zelda and Link) and their own abductors. In ''Ultimate'' Zelda is even shown being able to defeat Ganondorf who usually Link is shown being able to defeat.
436** Averted in Brawl's ''Subspace Emissary'' Both Peach and Zelda are reverted to damsels and Palutena doesn't appear for more than one scene.
437* Anything ''VideoGame/{{Mother}}''-related in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'''s Subspace Emissary mode. Rundown: Lucas [[spoiler:is characterized as a scared little kid, despite his psychic powers. He spends half a level running away from a [[ImplacableMan giant hopping statue]] that Ness offs with one PK Flash. Then, after Wario attacks the two of them, Ness makes a HeroicSacrifice for Lucas, who then runs away from Wario and the trophy-ified Ness without trying to save him. He makes some progress since then; several stages later when Wario shows up to attack him and the Pokémon Trainer, instead of running away, he steps up and takes Wario out.]]
438** This mirrors his growth in ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}''. His twin brother Claus [[SiblingYinYang is much braver]]... [[spoiler: though this leads to Mecha-Drago nearly killing him when he goes to avenge his mom's death, and Porky reformatting him as his army's general]].
439* Almost ''everyone'' featured in the Prologue chapter of ''VideoGame/TalesOfGraces'' goes through this after the seven-year timeskip. The exception is Sophie, of course, because [[spoiler:as a space robot, she doesn't change all that much]] and is still just as badass as before. As to the others:
440** Cheria goes from a shy, squeaky DelicateAndSickly Girl to a high-power [[CombatMedic combination healer, mage and relief worker]].
441** Asbel UsedToBeASweetKid, but after seven years at the knight academy, he becomes a competent fighter and acts much more seriously. Takes another level when he goes WarriorTherapist on [[spoiler: ''Lambda'' and absorbs him out of Richard]].
442** Richard also UsedToBeASweetKid, but then [[spoiler: Lambda happens]] and he becomes [[spoiler: the vessel for the BigBad, including a scary OneWingedAngel form.]]
443** But after all that, the champion of this trope is probably Hubert, who starts out as a ShrinkingViolet who literally wets his pants in the face of danger. After the timeskip [[spoiler: and his adoption by the Oswells in Strahta]], he comes back as a DuelBoss so badass you're actually [[HopelessBossFight not supposed to be able to beat him,]] wielding a [[ImpossiblyCoolWeapon dualblade which can turn into a pair of handguns]]. He also [[TookALevelInJerkass comes back as a bit of a jerk,]] but that's counteracted by the fact that he truly secretly cares about his brother and his few shining moments of dorkiness.
444* In ''VideoGame/TearsToTiara2'' [[TheHero Hamil]] goes from questioning his choice to rebel and being crushed by TheChainsOfCommanding, to a confident leader set on creating a good HegemonicEmpire. But the cake goes to his best friend Dion. The LovableCoward who wants to run away or surrender at every turn stops about a third of the way in. Later on he saves everyone from CompellingVoice by engaging in a music duel.
445* In ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesShreddersRevenge'', April O'Neil is a playable character who can easily take on the Foot Clan with martial arts and [[ImprobableWeaponUser studio equipment]], which is a big departure from her portrayal in the original show.
446* In ''[[VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesSmashUp Smash Up]]'', the Utroms, a naturally peace-loving race, suddenly get an Utrom with a mecha and guns, making this something interesting for some, or just not desired.
447** The development team says Utrominator is "An upgrade to the Krang character", meaning that, the developers may be hinting that the Utrominator ''is'' Krang, therefore, ''Krang'' has taken a level in badass.
448** Oh, and the Fugitoid seems to have taken a level in badass too, yes, his weapon is a hammer, but now, ''he can actually fight'', how is that not taking a level in badass?
449* Compared to his canon portrayal (a scrawny filthy guy who lives in the sewers talking to rats) the Rat King in ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesTournamentFighters'' is the FinalBoss of tournament mode [[spoiler: (Karai is the FinalBoss of the storyline mode)]], has added some [[WrestlerInAllOfUs pro wrestling moves to his moveset]], and looks like he's done more steroids than Wrestling/{{Batista}}.
450** April O'Neil too (Genesis version only), being a playable character and a full-fledged ActionGirl in this game, as opposed to the DesignatedVictim she usually is. (Probably due to the need to include a female hero character.)
451* ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}''
452** In the first game, neither Jack nor P Jack can fly. In the second, P Jack can. Come ''Tekken 3'', all Jacks can fly. The ability to fly turns him from a merely tough character into an unstoppable killing machine.
453** Lee is a Law clone in the first two games (albeit a bishonen one with a few exclusive moves.) From ''Tekken Tag'' onwards he has gradually developed his own style. He's gotten better with each game to the point where he is one of the top player characters, instead of just a fan favorite boss character like he was before.
454** King's growing arsenal of real-life wrestling throws has made him the top choice for tournament players in later years.
455* ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'': The advent of the 1.3 update saw a total revamp of the [=NPCs=]. Now, among other things, they help defend houses against the monsters:
456** The Guide shoots arrows.
457** The Merchant throws knives.
458** The Nurse throws poisoned syringes.
459** The Demolitionist throws grenades.
460** The Dye Trader wields a scimitar.
461** The Dryad uses her nature magic to cast a defensive buff on players and [=NPC=]s close to her.
462** The Arms Dealer uses a gun (a pistol first, the Minishark in hardmode).
463** The Tavernkeep throws ale.
464** The Clothier attacks with a spell similar to the Book of Skulls, using a unique Shadowflame variant in hardmode.
465** The Angler throws Frost Daggerfish.
466** The Goblin Tinkerer throws Spiky Balls.
467** The Witch Doctor uses a blowgun.
468** The Mechanic swings a huge wrench.
469** The Painter shoots enemies with a paintball gun.
470** The Party Girl uses confetti-filled Happy Grenades to keep monsters at bay.
471** The Stylist uses her ''sharp'' scissors as an improvised weapon.
472** The Wizard launches bouncing fireballs.
473** The Truffle releases clouds of spores.
474** The Pirate fires a chain gun/cannon combo.
475** The Steampunker uses a Clockwork Assault Rifle.
476** The Cyborg fires rockets.
477** Santa Claus throws Christmas ornaments.
478** The Tax Collecter swings his cane.
479** The Traveling Merchant fires a revolver first, and a Pulse Bow during hardmode.
480** The Skeleton Merchant throws bones.
481* ''VideoGame/TombRaider2013'' begins with Lara as a fresh out of school passenger on the archaeological ship Endurance, and the stuff she goes through to survive after the shipwreck makes one believe she channeled the spirits of [[Series/{{Arrow}} Oliver Queen,]] [[Franchise/{{Rambo}} John Rambo,]] [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buffy Summers,]] [[Franchise/MassEffect Jane Shepard,]] and that all her previous games were not only canon but downplayed and she single-handedly tracked down and killed Bin Laden when she was bored.
482* In ''VideoGame/TheTowerOfDruaga'', the priestess Ki serves as the game's [[SaveThePrincess girl to be rescued]], but in the sequel ''The Return of Ishtar'', Ki is portrayed as a capable magician, serving as a magic-based counterpart to Gil.
483* In ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfile'', Lenneth starts off as a loyal seemingly mid-range power servant of Odin. However, after [[spoiler:Hrist is defeated by Lezard, Mystina, Arngrim, and Brahms, and becomes fused with the homonculus child Lezard had created,]] she takes a level in badass that isn't immediately apparent. But after [[spoiler:Loki destroys the world, and Lenneth uses the souls of her Einherjar to survive the blast,]] she uses that level in badass to [[spoiler:become Lord of Creation, rebirth the world, and all her Einherjar, and defeat Loki.]] Evidence is in the 1st and 2nd part of the [[spoiler:Loki battle, where you can't really damage him in the first part, and his attacks seemingly annihilate the rest of the party. But after she uses that level in badass, she deals the largest amount of damage to him.]]
484* In ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfile2Silmeria'', Alicia starts off the game with such fight quotes as "Do we have to fight?" and "My hands are stinging." Three-fourths of the way through the game [[spoiler:ironically, after Silmeria, the titular warrior maiden, is stripped from her]] she takes a real role as leader, gets an upgrade to her special attack, and is practically thirsting for blood in her fight quotes.
485* Clementine in ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'': After two seasons, it could be said that she's taken so ''many'' levels in Badass that it's hard to keep track. Potentially being, based on player choices, [[spoiler:the ''only'' constant]] through ten episodes of meeting companions and adversaries and seeing them killed through walker attacks, unfortunate accidents, infighting or [[spoiler:mercy bullets]], Clem's been forced to learn a new skill set to cope with the zombie apocalypse, such as using melee weapons, firing a gun and survivalism. And then you add all this to the fact that, by the start of Season 2, she's only ''eleven''. By the time of Season 3, Clem has gone from an innocent eight-year-old girl to a tough-as-nails thirteen-year-old gunslinger. By season 4 at sixteen or seventeen years old she is able to disarm and beat the crap out of a boy twice her size with little to no effort.
486* '' VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} III'' custom map Footman Frenzy has the Death Sheep. Its maximum attack speed is 1 attack per 6 second with laughable damage, crappy HP to the point that a wind walking Blademaster can 1-hit KO it, have the movement speed of a snail that you need a zephyr to really go anywhere. On top of that, it only has TWO inventory slots as opposed to normal hero's six which it desperately need for HP item. The catch? It has the listed skill: Star Fall, Tranquility, Big Bad Voodoo, and Stampede, all ultimate skills. Starfall at the very beginning of the match against a throng of footman battling out in a 4-way match can result in the Death Sheep User a lot of gold.
487* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': Gryan Stoutmantle. One first encounters him as a lowbie quest-giver in Westfall. Next time you see him, he's a level 75 elite in Northrend. Commanding the Westfall ''Brigade''. On some servers, he's amassed quite a fan following.
488** Another 'legendary' character is the Ork, Mankrik, who has been moping in The Crossroads with a missing wife. Come Cataclysm, he has buried his wife and is an elite mob hunting the quillboars that killed her.
489** Gamon. Previously an incredibly weak NPC who had the terrible luck to be a neutral NPC in the middle of a Horde capital due to game mechanics (he's part of a rogue class quest and needs to be pickpocketed, and allied [=NPCs=] are impossible to pickpocket). In Cataclysm, he got upgraded to Level 85 Elite and hits squishy characters for hundreds of 'thousands' of damage. So the character people once killed for s*** and giggles now needs a raid group to stand a remote chance against.
490*** Just boosting him up to an 85 Elite wasn't enough, since people started to kite him around. They beefed him up ''again'' by making him immune to Crowd Control, gave him weapons (a spear and a bow), made him run faster than your character, and made him hit like a ''friggin' tank''. I don't mean the class type, I mean the ''actual military vehicle.'' They turned weak little Gamon into an absolute juggernaut. So much so in fact, that if Orgrimmar ever gets attacked by the Alliance, players will actually aggro Gamon to help attack the Alliance too! One of those [=AoE=] spells hits Gamon, and he'll soon forget about the Horde guys who aggroed him...
491*** Taken even further in Mists of Pandaria. Besides (of course) being made a level 90 elite, Gamon will be fighting in the Siege of Orgrimmar. There's even an achievement for beating a boss while Gamon is still alive called, "Gamon Will Save Us!" Not such a JokeCharacter anymore.
492** There is also Corporal Keeshan. You encounter him in the original game as a prisoner of the Blackrock orcs who you have to rescue in an EscortMission. In Cataclysm, he's been upgraded to [[MemeticBadass JOHN J. KEESHAN]], who ends up [[spoiler: getting swallowed by a black dragon, proceeds to impale him from the inside, sending him crashing into Lake Everstill, and survives to become a major part of ''another'' questline over 30 levels later.]]
493** Stormwind's Prince Anduin Wrynn. When the game started, he was just a kid who was watched over by Bolvar Fordragon until his father could be found and resume the throne. Just before ''Cataclysm'', he got some character development in the Expanded Universe in which he began to find his calling as a priest, rather than a warrior like his father. In the lead-up quests to the Twilight Highlands, he's helping you investigate incidents in Stormwind, backing you up with Power Words: Shield and healing. Finally, in ''Mists of Pandaria'', shipwrecked and alone in Pandaria, rather than sit and wait for rescue, he begins hunting down information on the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, avoids rescue by Mind Controlling one of his would-be rescuers into letting him go, helps you save the Temple of the Red Crane, convinces the August Celestias to open the Vale, and it all culminates in his going toe-to-toe with no less than Garrosh Hellscream. A battle which, while he loses, does stop Garrosh's plans and shows how tough he is by surviving and having just about every bone in his body broken. And in Legion? Now he's the king, with divine power at his fingertips on par with the greatest priests and paladins of all time.
494* In ''Videogame/WWFNoMercy'', [[Wrestling/StevieRichards Steven Richards]] took a level as compared to his real-life counterpart. No Mercy's career mode followed several of the then-current plot arcs. However, Wrestling/BigShow was legitimately punished and removed from the game entirely, and so Richards, who was an ineffective wrestler and primarily a manager in the real WWF, took Big Show's place in the game and became a main event level wrestler.
495* Racial militaries in ''[[VideoGame/{{X}} X3: Albion Prelude]]''. In previous games, they'd sort of ignore the player unless he got very close to them. In ''X3:AP'', they'll jump around the universe to respond to threats to their space. If you jump into a system and start blasting civilian ships and the stations, they'll send ships to kill you. The more damage you cause, the more likely they'll send something big to kill you, like a destroyer, or in the Terrans' case, the ATF Valhalla or USC Kyoto.
496* In the ''VideoGame/XCom'' series, your soldiers start out as Rookies with no special abilities and lousy equipment, who die when an alien sneezes at them and who [[ATeamFiring couldn't hit the broad side of a barn on a good day]]. As they level up, they gain new skills and can be [[SuperSoldier augmented with biological or cybernetic upgrades]], and may even unlock PsychicPowers. [[BadassNormal Or not]]. Either way, any of your guys who make it to Colonel would definitely be a ColonelBadass.
497** Central Officer Bradford in ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown''. In the base game, he serves as MissionControl and gets most of your soldiers killed off in the tutorial due to his {{Genre Blind}}ness. But in one mission of the ''Enemy Within'' expansion, [[spoiler:the aliens attack XCOM HQ using psychic saboteurs, but Bradford manages to fend off an assassin, beat him to the ground, and hold him at gunpoint.]] If you fail the mission, you get [[NonStandardGameOver a game over cutscene]] showing Bradford's dead body propped up against the wall, with a pistol at his side and a dead Sectoid lying at his feet. [[TakingYouWithMe The implications of this are profound]].
498** In ''VideoGame/XCOM2'', [[TimeSkip twenty years of alien occupation]] have transformed Bradford into a scruffy, jaded badass who personally rescues the PlayerCharacter during the tutorial mission. He takes to the field again in the ''Alien Hunters'' DLC, fighting with all the skill of a Colonel using a tricked-out {{BFG}} and a machete for close encounters.
499*** In the same game, the addition of human DNA has turned the Sectoid from the alien equivalent to TheGoomba into a man-sized monster with ScaryTeeth and [[{{Necromancer}} the ability to revive fallen soldiers as psionic zombies under its control.]]
500* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'' has its own examples:
501** The most extreme would be Shulk's several levels throughout the game. Overall, he goes from being a random mechanic and nerd who barely gets out of his lab, to [[spoiler: being in a position to say AGodIAmNot]] after defeating the BigBad.
502** The most iconic example, though, would be professional WalkingSpoiler [[spoiler:Fiora. After being brought BackFromTheDead via an UnwillingRoboticisation, she goes from being an average FragileSpeedster to a full-blown LightningBruiser and arguably the most powerful playable character]].
503* In ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'', MOMO proved quite useless, serving as little more than a plot device; in battle, she had a high MP count but was pathetically weak and virtually any other character was better. In the sequel, she had aged up slightly and become more competent, but most notably had suddenly become an absolute god in combat: High speed, high evasion, high attack power, excellent heals, excellent buffs, and the largest mana pool in the game had her far outstripping any other playable character. Her low HP was her only remaining flaw, but considering her ridiculous evasion meant she didn't really get hit anymore anyway...
504** There's also Allen, a NonActionGuy who CannotSpitItOut, and a lovably pathetic ButtMonkey. He has a crush on his boss, Shion, who he calls "Chief," but even the biggest supplier of {{wangst}} in ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'' is still laughably out of his league. He's not even a regular party member. Then comes ''Episode III'', and Allen stands up to [[spoiler:Kevin, Shion's ex-boyfriend]] and the beating he takes [[spoiler:negates Shion's FaceHeelTurn and]] sparks her interest in him. In the ending, a Gnosis threatens Shion, and Allen pounces on it, ''beating it to death with an assault rifle''. The end shows Shion finally returning his affections.
505* Zack, the titular character in ''VideoGame/ZackAndWikiQuestForBarbarosTreasure'', is one of the more feeble game protagonists. He can flip switches, set off cannons, and use enemies' strength against them, but if he were to encounter a common goon who isn't asleep or distracted, and he's done for. In the penultimate mission, however, Zack finds a sword and is actually able to duel and destroy roaming guards the old-fashioned way.
506* This is the entire point of ''VideoGame/ZettaiHeroProject''. You start off as the weakest main character, a bystander who was forced to take on the mantle of the Unlosing Ranger and face the Final Boss. Through your repeated and many losses, you start amassing the necessary skills and determination required to save the world. It's not called Total Hero Project for nothing.
507* Leo Stenbuck from ''VideoGame/ZoneOfTheEnders'', who started out in that game as a (justifiably) [[TheEeyore depressed street kid]], apparently spent the four years between the plotlines of ''[=ZoE=] 1'' and ''[=ZoE=] 2'' frantically leveling up in badass until he emerged in the second game almost as a wolf among lambs, capable of piloting his non-Unobtainium LEV (named and modeled after the [[VideoGame/{{Gradius}} Vic Viper]], no less!) against full-on [[AppliedPhlebotinum Orbital Frames]] and more than holding his own.
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