[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/saintsrow1.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''Saints Row. Sinners welcome.'']]

->''If ya sick of being sick, and ya tired of being broke''\\
''Go get yo guns and bring yo ass to Saints Row''\\
''(Saints Row!!) Bitch!, (Saints Row!!) Bitch!''
-->-- '''David Banner''', "Saints Row"[[note]]the ThemeSong of the game, unlocked upon [[LastLousyPoint collecting all 60 CDs]] scattered throughout the game world[[/note]]

''Saints Row'' is a WideOpenSandbox game and the first entry in the ''VideoGame/SaintsRow'' series. It was released in 2006 exclusively for the Platform/Xbox360.

The game follows "Playa", an [[HeroicMime antiheroic mime]], who is walking the streets of the eponymous Saint's Row district, before being thrust into the middle of a three-way gang war by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. When the Third Street Saints rescue him, he joins their gang and has to help them reclaim first their neighborhood, then the city of Stilwater (based on UsefulNotes/{{Detroit}} and other Midwestern cities) from the other three gangs:

* '''Vice Kings''' ([[gold:yellow]]), African-Americans bankrolled by a [[CorruptCorporateExecutive former gangster turned record company executive]]. They specialize in the vice entertainment of prostitution, pornography, and gambling and have the police on their payroll.
* '''Los Carnales''' ([[red:red]]), the obligatory Hispanic gang, backed up by the obligatory [[TheCartel Colombians]]. They deal in drugs and small arms.
* '''Westside Rollerz''' ([[blue:blue]]), Asians and Caucasian car enthusiasts from the suburbs doing illegal car sales and street racing.

However, just as you think the game is over, a short new line of missions reveal themselves, leading to a turn of events that result in "Playa" being caught in a boat explosion -- he survives, however, and the resolution is revealed in [[VideoGame/SaintsRow2 the second game]].

After over a decade without any sort of rerelease, port or remaster, ''Saints Row'' was finally made backwards compatible with the Platform/XboxOne system in mid-2018, much to the rejoicing of long time fans.
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!!Provides Examples Of:
* ActionGirl: Women appear among the ranks of the various gangs mooks and most gangs have important high ranking female members such as Luz, Tanya, and of course Lin. [[spoiler:Though only Lin is much of an actual action girl. Tanya is willing to get her hands dirty and becomes the Vice Kings leader, but when confronted she folds like paper. Luz is basically just a gold digger who hooked up with a high profile member of Los Carnales.]]
* AttackOfThePoliticalAd: Among the in-game radio are commercials for mayoral candidates Alderman Richard Hughes and current mayor Marshall Winslow. Hughes' ads paint Winslow as [[MayorPain incompetent in dealing with the gang violence plaguing the city]], whereas Winslow's dismisses Hughes' claims as "quick fixes" and show more of an emphasis on redeveloping the city's current services. [[spoiler:Later on, [[ScareCampaign you're tasked with killing Winslow]].]]
* BadSanta: To celebrate the holidays, a free santa suit was made available to download from Xbox Live.
* BearsAreBadNews: The Big Picture movie theater has a few ads for a movie called "Bears And Bullets" featuring a bear commando wielding an assault rifle AND a revolver!
* BetweenMyLegs: This happens late in the Vice Kings storyline with Tanya Winters right before she shoots [[spoiler:Warren Williams]] dead.
* BlingBlingBang: Beating all the hitman missions will reward the player with 4 special weapons. A golden handgun, platinum SMG, and platinum shotgun for each individual list. For finishing all 3 the player then unlocks a platinum RPG. Of course, since several of the hitman targets in this game easily fall under GuideDangIt and FakeDifficulty most players are lucky just to get one bling weapon...
** It's absolutely worth it to be persistent (or use a guide) to unlock at least one of these weapons, simply because each of them easily qualifies as a DiscOneNuke. They outperform every other weapon in their respective category with larger magazine sizes, larger overall ammo capaity, and - most importantly - sheer damage output. Best of all, however, is that ammo for all these weapons can be refilled for free at the Playa's cribs, meaning no more scavenging ammo from killed enemies, or wasting literally tens of thousands of hard-earned dollars at weapon shops.
** This game is also the first in the series to feature the mighty pimp cane shotgun.
* BlandNameProduct: Freckle Bitch's is clearly a much less wholesome version of Wendy's.
* BloodstainedGlassWindows: The main HQ for the Saints is a run down church that enemy gang members and cops have no problem following Playa into if he decides to run inside during a fight. One late game Los Carnales mission also involves the gang attacking the church directly. While most of the firefighting during this mission takes place outside the combat begins when some Carnales open fire on the Saints from the inside of the church.
* BrickJoke: A few depending on what order the player fights the rival gangs in. For example, when the player is forced to drive around Tanya Winters she'll comment on Luz wearing outdated shoes. Then in the final Carnales mission [[spoiler:Playa himself tells her pretty much the same thing.]] A little later Tanya will wonder aloud if Friendly Fire does giftwrapping when she stops there to buy a gun. Cue a Los Carnales mission where the shopkeeper at Friendly Fire asks the Saints if they want the [=McManus=] rifle they just bought [[spoiler:to kill Hector]] giftwrapped.
** A particularly ''long'' Brick Joke is started when Gat has his knee shot by Anthony Green. [[spoiler:In ''Saints Row IV'', having Gat and Benjamin King together will prompt King to ask Gat about his leg.]]
* BriefcaseFullOfMoney: The woman hiring Playa during the cutscene for the Los Carnales hitman missions offers him one of these as a reward.
-->'''Debra''': "You're probably thinking one of two things... "How can I kill someone who hasn't done anything to me?" Or, "How am I ever gonna spend all that money?" [[EvilPaysBetter Let me tell you something sweetie, the second choice will take you further in this life."]]
* BurgerFool: Chicken Ned is a special homie who shows up wearing his Lik-A-Chik mascot outfit.
* CarCushion: Happens to [[spoiler:Tanya Winters]] during the Vice King arc.
* CheckpointStarvation: Most missions are short and easy enough that this isn't much of a problem for most of the game, but the last couple of missions in each gangs arc will probably try the patience of at least a few players. There is also a series of a few fairly difficult missions after all the gangs are beaten were checkpoints would have been nice. Thankfully, all later games in the series include checkpoints.
* CleanUpTheTown: The whole plot of the game starts with the Playa being caught in the crossfire between Stilwater's various gangs while walking down the street and joining the 3rd Street Saints in an effort to curb the gang violence tearing the city apart. [[spoiler:Not along after accomplishing this, Playa is then caught in a massive boat explosion and put into a coma for five years. [[VideoGame/SaintsRow2 By the time Playa wakes up years later]], all of that effort ends up being AllForNothing as new gangs sprung up while the Saints fell apart in the meanwhile.]]
* CoolCar: In addition to all the awesome cars players can make at Rim Jobs beating a certain activity will unlock a fully customized and pimped out Baron with spinning rims and zebra skin seats. The game also has a few special DLC vehicles that can only be bought off of Xbox Live.
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: Stefan, a snooty businessman who owns the Impressions clothing store is fond of doing this in his radio ads.
-->"This is Stefan, owner of Impressions. The clothing shop where you shop for clothing you see."
* DescriptionPorn: The store clerk working at Friendly Fire gives a very detailed description of the [=McManus=] sniper rifle that the Saints buy during a Carnales storyline cutscene.
* DeusExMachina: [[spoiler: Of a sort. At the very end of the game, it looks like [[TheBadGuyWins Hughes is going to succeed in his plan to destroy the Row after killing the Playa]]... when a bomb suddenly goes off with no more warning than two beeps, destroying the boat and killing Hughes. It's not without its price, though -- before the announcement of the sequel, it appeared the main character had also been killed rendering the whole game pointless. And even when the sequel revealed otherwise, that Playa actually survived and that it was Julius himself who set the bomb, it still established Playa being put in a coma for five years.]]
* DisneyVillainDeath: The end of the Vice Kings storyline, where [[spoiler: Tanya Winters is knocked out of King's penthouse, falling forty stories before landing on [[CarCushion King's car]]]].
* DownerBeginning: The game opens with a cutscene of the player walking down a street minding their own business when a massive firefight breaks out between Stilwater's 3 gangs and nearly gets them killed in the crossfire. Only about three minutes in and the body count is already pushing into the double digits.
* DownerEnding: The game ends with Playa being blown up on a yacht, spending five years in a coma, and undergoing major reconstructive surgery prior to the second game. On the plus side, this justifies any and all appearance changes between the two games... except for, perhaps, the possible different gender and/or ethnicity. But just pretend it was always like that. That's how WordOfGod put it, at least.
* DragonAscendant / DragonWithAnAgenda: There's actually no storyline where the enemy gang's boss is killed last - [[spoiler:Hector Lopez is assassinated early and succeeded by Angelo, Benjamin King is betrayed by Warren, who's later betrayed by Tanya, and William Sharp is killed before Price.]]
* DudeShesLikeInAComa: One of the movies advertised at the "Peep This" theater is called [[RefugeInAudacity "Comatose Whores]] [[CrossesTheLineTwice 4"]]
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Compare this to the silliness of later games and it's actually quite jarring to see how seriously this series started out.
** Playa is a HeroicMime, only speaking a total of four times throughout the game, and can only be male. Starting in ''2'', The Boss is given the choice to be either male or female. WordOfGod states that if the player chooses female, then The Boss would have been female during the events of this game.
** This game was also exclusive to Xbox 360. PC and [=PS3=] ports were planned, but Volition instead chose to focus on developing ''Saints Row 2'', which went multiplatform.
** There’s a talk radio station that’s similar to that of ''[[Radio/GTARadio GTA]]'' [[Radio/GTARadio radio, especially with Lazlow]]. Future games did away with this and only had radio stations playing music.
** Stores close during the night time. They can be broken into to steal the safe, which can then be sold to a fence. This was done away with in later games, where stores are always open.
** Unlike later games, you are unable to unlock the main lieutenants as homies (not even Johnny Gat, who gets to be a unlockable homie in later games), as unlockable homies come from side activities, with the exception of the Wheel Woman after "Canonized". [[spoiler:Though you can unlock Zombie Lin, it's still somewhat downplayed anyway as Troy, Johnny, Dex and Julius can't be unlocked.]]
** Besides Johnny Gat, who is present since the beginning, Pierce and Shaundi, mainstays and two of the most recognizable characters in the series cast, do not appear in this game. They make their debut in [[VideoGame/SaintsRow2 the sequel]].
** If you want to change your hair style, Image as Designed isn't the place to go, as you instead have to go to hair salons. Every other game would have hair options added into Image as Designed locations, leaving hair salons obsolete and thus absent.
** Activities had a bit more detail to them, with full cutscenes and having three locations for each activity, being part of the enemy gang territories. ''Saints Row 2'' would limit to activities to only two locations (therefore no longer applying to any enemy gang territory) and the cutscenes less detailed, and ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'' did away with activity cutscenes entirely.
** The Insurance Fraud activity doesn't have a adrenaline meter, instead providing bonuses such as air time and being hit by civic vehicles (i.e. cop cars and ambulances).
** There are neither motorcycles nor useable aircraft present in this game, only being added in the second game and being present since.
** [[spoiler:There is no ''true'' PlayableEpilogue, as finishing "Saints and Martyrs" kicks the player back to the title screen after the credits, and reloading your save file still has the mission marker on the map as if nothing happened. Thankfully however, "Saints and Martyrs" is not required for HundredPercentCompletion, making the lack of an actual post game a non-issue.]]
** The Faction FM is closer to later games' 89.0 Gen X playlists than 89.0 Gen X itself.
** The Krunch 106.66 plays classic hard rock, as opposed to the more modern direction of ''[=SR2=]''[='=]s Krunch and its replacement in ''The Third'', The Blood 106.66.
** Kish is not the DJ of [=KRhyme=].
* EnemyCivilWar: [[spoiler:Ben King getting betrayed by his lieutenants causes this for the Vice Kings, split between those still loyal to King vs those who sided with Tanya.]] You only have to deal with the latter faction, however.
* EveryoneIsASuspect: Implied at the end. Just before [[spoiler: the yacht the Playa and Alderman Hughes are on explodes]], the game cuts to almost every major character who is still alive, several of whom have a grudge against the Playa, alone and looking serious or contemplative.
* {{Expy}}: Joseph Price, the leader of the Westside Rollerz, looks just like Dominic Toretto from ''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious''.
* FakeDifficulty: The PlayerCharacter can't figure out how to stick his [=RPG=] launcher over a ledge when he's aiming downward, so you end up blowing yourself up. The frequency of missions where you're expected to drive competently at high speeds ''and'' do damage to an enemy car with a weapon instead of your car near the endgame goes way up. Strangely, this is helped in the sequel by two changes - cruise control and remapping of the driving controls (allowing you to steer/shoot with your left hand and accelerate/aim with your right hand, rather than having accelerate/aim/shoot all done with the right hand as in this game).
* FalseFlagOperation: The mission "The 3rd Street Vice Kings" has both Johnny Gat and Playa dress up as members of one of their rival gangs so that the police will have to come down harder on them. [[PaperThinDisguise It works, surprisingly enough.]]
* FameGate: Every story mission costs a respect point to unlock. So you need to acquire respect from side missions and various actions (stunts, taking out rival gangs, cool driving, etc.).
* FictionalDocument: The manual for the game is framed as a clipboard notebook containing the notes made by an undercover cop, [[spoiler:later revealed to be Troy]], for DaChief Monroe, complete with authentic (and identity-revealing) errors.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** There's quite a few hints towards [[spoiler:[[UndercoverCopReveal Troy being an undercover cop]].]]
*** [[AllThereInTheManual The manual]] ([[https://saintsrow.fandom.com/wiki/File:Saints_Row_online_manual_xbox.pdf seen here]]) is written from the point of view of an undercover officer, who includes a newspaper interview he conducted that he's afraid will blow his cover. He lights a cigarette several times during the interview. [[spoiler: Troy's never seen without a cigarette within reach]].
*** Said article's title is "The TrojanHorse". No guesses as to what city [[spoiler:Troy is named after]].
*** There's another dead giveaway in the [[spoiler:gang description section of the manual. "The Los Carnales" is written, and "The" is scratched out. Troy always refers to the gang as "The Los Carnales" and is consistently corrected by Dex]].
*** In the Vice Kings' section, the undercover cop suggests that neither Chief Monroe or the undercover officer would want to go down on the gang. [[spoiler:Troy expresses displeasure at being assigned to investigate the Vice Kings by Julius, and the Vice Kings are later discovered to be on Monroe's payroll.]]
* FourTemperamentEnsemble: The Vice Kings
** Benjamin King: Melancholic
** Warren Williams: Choleric
** Anthony Green: Sanguine
** Tanya Winters: Phlegmatic
* FreudianTrio: The Westside Rollerz
** Id: Joseph Price
** Superego: William Sharp
** Ego: Donnie
* FriendlyLocalChinatown: Lin, a high ranking member of the Saints comes from Stilwater's local Chinatown. The player can even pay this district a visit personally to do some activities, such as hitman missions for Mr. Wong.
* GangBangers: Almost all of the characters are members of different street gangs trying to gain full control of the city. The player character themself is a member of the only gang with (somewhat) noble goals in mind.
* GangInitiationFight: You have to fight a whole mob of Saints before you're allowed to join.
* GangstaStyle: Played straight, but averted in the sequel.
* GoofyPrintUnderwear: The underwear options include heart and polka-dot boxers.
* GrievousHarmWithABody: An Easter Egg found by calling 'Eye For An Eye' [[spoiler: Zombie Lin appears as a homie, using her dismembered arm as a melee weapon.]]
* GuideDangIt:
** The Hitman missions can be a real chore to do. Most of the targets are actually random pedestrian variations, rather than unique characters, and as such can tend to spawn more in other areas than where the game lists them. [[note]]Most of the Airport targets, such as Gabriel, Bill and Thomas actually spawn around the Docks and Warehouses district[[/note]]. Some of the targets are also classed to only drive specific vehicles, or only spawn at certain times of the day.[[note]]The jogger and rollerskate targets, Juan and Tina, only spawn during the day, whereas the prostitute target, Theresa, spawns more commonly in the poorer districts at night.[[/note]] In addition, two of the suspects are only found by getting a high wanted level, although the game gives no hint of this other than stating that their location is "Unknown".
** You can take a taxi via UnexpectedlyRealisticGameplay - just look for another taxi somewhere on the streets, and call the phone number advertised on the taxi with your phone. Nothing tells you to do this, and some other phone numbers can be called for an effect of varying usefulness, like calling 911 to get an ambulance to come over which restores your health. Ironically, taking a taxi is highly unrealistic in its own way because it will always take absolutely no in-game time.
* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: Julius is a former Vice King, and owes Benjamin King a favor or two. King prefers to avoid killing unless he has to. He ultimately helps you dismantle his own gang when his lieutenants turn against him.]]
* HollywoodVoodoo: There are a few adds for a place called "Eye For An Eye" voodoo supplies. [[spoiler:Calling them after completing the mission where Lin dies will unlock a zombie version of her as a homie.]]
* HyperactiveMetabolism: Food can be eaten to restore health. While it certainly works, it's slightly jarring to see the Playa wolf down a whole burger within two seconds in the middle of a firefight.
* InsistentTerminology: According to Dex, its not "The Los Carnales", it's just "The Carnales". Justified, as "Los" means... aw, fuck it.
* InitiationQuest: The very first mission of the game is a GangInitiationFight, where you have to brawl three waves of Third Street Saints in front of their hideout in order to prove your loyalty to the gang. Notably, you cannot ''fail'' this mission, since getting [[FissionMailed knocked out by your peers]] is just as good in the eyes of the gang leadership as you defeating them. You do get more rewards if you do, though, as well as a reverent comparison with the gang's top enforcer, Johnny Gat.
* JokeCharacter: Lik-A-Chik mascot Chicken Ned can be called as a homie by dialing a number "for a cluckin' good time".
* JustAGangster: Warren Williams of the Vice Kings has no time for his boss' plan to go legit and becomes TheStarscream after getting fed up with King's refusal to fight the Saints head on.
* KarmicInjury: Tanya Winters and [[TheDragon Anthony]] "[[ScaryBlackMan Big Tony]]" [[TheBrute Green]] have taken [[HeroicComedicSociopath Johnny]] [[BloodKnight Gat]] and the PlayerCharacter captive. Johnny doesn't hesitate to openly insult Tanya and Tony to their faces, despite Tony furiously ordering him to shut up. Tony promptly punishes Johnny by [[{{Kneecapping}} unloading a shotgun into his left knee]], whereupon Johnny retaliates by [[AgonyOfTheFeet sticking a knife into Tony's foot]].
* KlingonPromotion: Warren Williams tries to do this to seize control of the Vice Kings away from Benjamin King. [[spoiler: While he briefly gains control of the gang, he fails to kill King, who turns to the Saints to help him get revenge. His girlfriend, [[RichBitch Tanya]], however, is considerably more successful in killing ''him'' to gain control.]]
* LoanShark: The Playa can visit the First Born Loans loan office downtown for some quick cash, but if they fail to pay it back on time they'll be targeted by a hit squad. If he's particularly tardy in paying it back, First Born Loans will escalate to sending Oppressors with door gunners.
* {{Mascot}}: Several hotdog and drink mascots can be seen walking the streets. The player can even get a secret homie named Chicken Ned by calling a certain phone number.
* MeaningfulName: At the beginning of the game, Aisha is signed to Kingdom Come Records. [[spoiler: Guess exactly what happens to the label when she fakes her death.]]
* MeleeATrois: The game opens with a scuffle between the Vice Kings and the Rollerz, which soon turns into a three-way shootout when the Carnales show up, as well. The prologue mission sequence ends with a ''four''-way shootout between [=VKs=], Rollerz, Carnales, and the resurgent Third Street Saints for the last piece of contested turf in the Row. Because of the [[BranchAndBottleneckPlotStructure way the game is structured]], all later missions involve taking on individual gangs one at a time, barring an occasional interference by the police.
* NewAgeRetroHippie: Various hippies can be seen around Stilwater, and the clothing store On The Rag is owned by one named Marge.
* NoPeriodsPeriod: Averted. One of the clothing stores in the game is titled [[RefugeInAudacity On The Rag]], with radio ads making various double entendres about the name.
* NotMyDriver: One late Vice Kings mission. [[spoiler: To get inside Big Tony's crib and save a captured Johnny, you must kill Tanya Winters' limo driver, take his place, and pick up Tanya and drive her around in order to get inside the crib.]]
* NWordPrivileges: Nearly every black character both major and minor uses the word at least once. While later games in the series also make use of this trope its generally restricted to just songs on the radio instead of the actual characters.
* OhCrap: When [[AxCrazy Angelo]] runs out of bullets in front of Playa and Dex, his face is priceless.
* PaperThinDisguise: One Vice Kings mission has Playa and Johnny dress up as members of the gang to frame them for crimes they commit so that the police department will be forced to crack down on them. How do they go about doing this? By simply putting on yellow jackets, which is especially funny if the player is otherwise wearing purple clothes and has purple hair. Amazingly enough no one notices it's them and and the plan goes off without a hitch.
* ParkingGarage: One stronghold mission tasks the player with wiping out a group of Vice King bookies who are meeting up at the Filmore parking garage to discuss rigging hockey games. It's implied that Julius has lost a lot of his money betting on their rigged games before.
--> Julius: "Don't let any of them walk away. [[SeriousBusiness No one fucks with my hockey game.]]"
* PimpDuds: A whole pimp suit can be unlocked by completing Snatch. Its actually pretty damn spiffy.
* PoliceBrutality: Due to the more serious and realistic ghetto tone of this game compared to later games in the series this gets played for drama just as much as it gets played for laughs. One of Playa's job contacts was even unfortunate enough to be left in a wheelchair after a particularly nasty assault.
* ProductionForeshadowing: Some random Saint mooks might express concern that Dex might "[[TheStarscream pull some Warren Williams bullshit]]". [[spoiler:Dex ends up pulling a FaceHeelTurn in ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2''.]]
* PunkInTheTrunk: This was bound to happen sooner or later in the Rollerz arc since they were all such heavy car enthusiasts. What caught many players off guard was that this trope turns out to be the cause of [[spoiler:Lin's death at the hands of William Sharp.]]
* SacrificialLion: [[spoiler:Lin during the Rollerz plot]].
* SafeCracking: The player has to complete a short button-pressing minigame to open safes during the theft diversion in this game. You can also simply force the shopkeepers themselves to open it at gunpoint.
* ShootTheShaggyDog: See DownerEnding.
* ShoutOut:
** The achievement for wiping out the Rollerz is [[Film/MadMax2TheRoadWarrior Road Warrior]].
** [[VideoGame/RedFaction Ultor]] didn't make the jump from this to genuine CanonWelding until the next game.
** One of the achievements is called [[VideoGame/MarcEckosGettingUpContentsUnderPressure "Getting Up"]] and requires the player to find and spray every tag in the city.
* SilentBob: The main character is silent, save for a few grunts and groans of pain throughout the game, but when he does speak, and he ''does'' speak, he often says the funniest things in the game. The four lines he actually gets are spoilered below:
** Vice Kings: [[spoiler:"Hope you don't mind hepatitis." Said in response to Gat saying he "was gonna skullfuck that bitch (Tanya)". Even Gat is stunned that he finally opened his mouth.]]
** Los Carnales: [[spoiler:"''Bullshit!'' That's ''last'' year's ''fall'' collection!" Said when calling out Luz on her comments that the shoes she brought with her to the airport were from the current season's spring collection.]]
** Westside Rollerz: [[spoiler:"I just got run over by a motherfuckin' ''truck''! How do you ''think'' I feel?" Said to Julius after he asks how the player is.]]
** Endgame: [[spoiler: "Can we hurry this shit up? I wanna go to Freckle Bitch's!" Said to, of all people, ''Alderman Hughes'', while the latter is detailing his evil plan to gentrify Saints Row and explaining that since the player can't be bullied or bribed, he's going to be killed right then and there.]]
** The main character being mute save for these four lines is occasionally lampshaded by other characters:
--->'''Dex:''' ''(while he and the main character are driving to a meeting)'' When we get to [[spoiler:Manuel]], just let me do all the talkin', 'aight? I'd hate for us to fuck things up [[spoiler:with the Columbians]] because you said some crazy shit that pisses him off.
** This changes sharply in the sequel -- the main character not only is an Anti-heroic Mime no longer, he's ''really'' mouthy. All the time. [[spoiler: He was only quiet in the first one because he was being a good henchman. He got tired of it.]]
--->'''Player Character:''' That mute shit was getting old.\\\
'''Player Character:''' Being in charge is better than being a bitch who keeps his mouth shut and does what he's told.
** It's even lampshaded all the way to ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'' when you [[spoiler: Revisit Stilwater in Ben King's simulation rescue]].
--->'''Player Character:''' This is where I got my start. I was too scared to even talk back then.\\
'''Kinzie:''' [[DeadpanSnarker Must have been nice.]]
* SmugSnake: William Sharp, uncle of Joseph Price, leader of the Westside Rollerz. [[spoiler: He is also responsible for killing Lin. Fortunately, you get the chance to pursue him and nail his ass after he does.]]
* StalkerWithACrush: Aisha has one that attacks you during one mission.
* TheStarscream: [[spoiler: Warren to King, and Tanya to Warren]].
* StrawmanPolitical: PlayedForLaughs in the Creator/{{NPR}}-like KBOOM
-->"Are you saying the immigrants sank your battleship?"
* {{Stripperiffic}}:
** Beating one of the Escorts in this game unlocks a homie named Samantha. She works as an actual stripper and joins the player in battle while wearing nothing but a thong and pasties. Note that since she, by default, carries a rather powerful K6 Krukov, she's [[LethalJokeCharacter actually one of the more useful unique Homies around]].
** Tanya also wears a skimpy bra and miniskirt as her getup. Ironically, [[AllThereInTheManual her backstory]] indicates she ''was'' once a Vice Kings prostitute herself that shot up the ranks by [[CastingCouch sleeping with all the right people]]. Her costume is significant in the sense that out of all characters associated with Vice Kings, [[TheStarscream she is the only one not wearing VK colors]].
** And of course, the only things the Playa has to wear are boxers and shoes. Otherwise you can dress him in as much or little as you want.
* StumbledIntoThePlot: The Playa from the original Saints Row is just a Stilwater nobody at the outset, accidentally caught up in a three-way gang shootout and almost executed as an unwanted witness. He is rescued by the VigilanteMan Julius Little and joins his 3rd Street Saints out of gratitude, as well as to CleanUpTheTown.
* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Tanya DidntThinkThisThrough when [[spoiler:the Playa, Johnny Gat ''and'' Benjamin King all walk into her penthouse at the end of the final Vice Kings mission. She thinks she can threaten them with an assault rifle when all three are already aiming with her dead to rights. No FinalBoss ensues, nor any sort of dramatic standoff -- they immediately open fire and send her hanging from the shattered window before she can even get a shot off.]]
* SwordCane: Even back in the day Saints Row was still pretty crazy as shown by them one-upping this trope with a pimp cane SHOTGUN as an unlockable reward.
* ThirdPersonPerson: Stefan. This pisses off Ben King so bad that he threatens to drop him from a fast-moving car "by principle".
* TrojanHorse: Dex uses this tactic to break into a Carnales stronghold with a large truck the player helped steal in an earlier mission. After the back is loaded with Saints they drive right through the front gates and tear Los Carnales a new one.
* VigilanteMilitia: A group of the eponymous district's denizens grows frustrated with their homes being used as a [[MobWar battleground by outside gangs]] and form a vigilante posse to clean up their 'hood, calling themselves "the Third Street Saints". The PlayerCharacter joins the Saints on the eve of their first major offensive.[[spoiler:Unfortunately for everyone, once they get a taste for success, the Saints [[FullCircleRevolution themselves become the biggest gang]] in the city. In the later installments, they abandon any pretence of vigilantism under the player character's leadership.]]
* VillainsOutShopping: An entire Vice King mission focuses on transporting Tanya around town in her limo as she runs a few errands. The dialog the player is treated to while driving her to the various stores is pretty funny.
-->Tanya: "Sometimes I just wanna say "Fuck it all!" and go to Hollywood, you know?"
* VisualPun: When you resuscitate a recruited [=NPCs=] who's been knocked out, Playa pulls out a 40 and pours it out on their head -- so he is literally [[https://www.joincake.com/blog/pour-one-out/ "pouring one out for the (fallen) homies"]].
* WhamEpisode: "Saints and Martyrs" (usually and erroneously referred to by the cutscene name, "Salting the Earth"), the final story in the game has several shocking moments in rapid succession: Alderman Hughes reveals his plan to steamroll Saints Row, [[spoiler: Troy Bradshaw is a cop]], [[spoiler: Julius isn't in jail at all]], and [[spoiler: the yacht Hughes and the Playa are on blows up]].
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The buyers that the Westside Rollerz sell their stolen car parts to are mentioned briefly by Julius at the end of "Semi-Charmed Life", where he worries that there is stuff going on that he's unaware about. However, they're never brought up again afterwards.
* WhiteGangBangers: Troy, Tanya, the leadership of the Rollerz, and Playa by default. Additionally, every gang has white members within the rank-and-file.
* WomanScorned: One of the mayhem activities begins with a woman telling Playa about how her husband left her for her sister and refuses to pay her the money he owes. So she asks Playa to raise hell and destroy all of his property to get him to cough up the cash.
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'''Alternative Title(s):''' ''Saints Row 1'', ''Saints Row (2006)''