History AdaptationalVillainy / VideoGames

* ''Franchise/BatmanArkhamSeries'':
** In the comics, most of Anarky's actions were targeted at specific individuals, and although some of his actions put his targets in critical condition, he wasn't a killer and he would avoid collateral damage. In ''Videogame/BatmanArkhamOrigins'', Anarky plans to blow up buildings connected to what he believes are the root problems of society, and he's unconcerned with who might get hurt in the process. He's also portrayed as somewhat less rational than his comic book counterpart. You probably wouldn't hear the comic Anarky ranting against soft drinks, for example.
** ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'' does this to [[spoiler: Jason Todd. As the titular Arkham Knight, he's party to a chemical attack on a major metropolitan city, something that, even at his worst, his comic counterpart hasn't done. That said, he's also a case of AdaptationalHeroism as his issues with the Batfamily are limited to just Bruce, and he still turns good at the end.]]
** In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', Ferris Boyle, the guy who turned Victor Fries into Mr. Freeze, was already a greedy, murderous jerk who didn't care if he ended a life just to save money, and him turning Victor into Freeze was a reaction to Victor pulling a gun on him. In the "Cold, Cold, Heart" DLC, he asked Victor to build cold-based weapons in exchange for helping his wife, only to renege on the deal. [[spoiler: Later, he was willing to kill Batman and Freeze so he could leave no witnesses, and was preparing to kill Nora in front of Freeze out of spite.]]
* ''VideoGame/BatmanTheTelltaleSeries'':
** Most incarnations of [[spoiler: Thomas Wayne]] were good people in a corrupt city, but here, [[spoiler: while Bruce remembered Thomas fondly, Thomas himself was more ruthless, being in league with [[TheDon Carmine Falcone]] and [[MayorPain Hamilton Hill]], and even driving Esther Cobblepot into insanity and locking her up in Arkham just so he could get a hold of land the Cobblepots own to build a tower. However, he still loved his family enough to try to defend them from Joe Chill and Alfred believes that Thomas would be [[SoProudOfYou proud]] of Bruce [[EvilParentsWantGoodKids not following in his footsteps]] and actually trying to help Gotham as Batman.]]
** The Children of Arkham leader is [[spoiler: Vicki Vale]].
** The Riddler is much more AxCrazy and bloodthirsty than his comic book counterpart, who is usually portrayed as one of Batman's least violent enemies. He's also an AdaptationalBadass, and can actually put up a good fight against Batman despite this version of him being 60 years old. This is later revealed to be due to [[spoiler:taking part in a secret government project where he was exposed to an experimental virus that acted as a PsychoSerum, increasing his mental and physical attributes at the cost of sanity]].
** Harley Quinn, as shown in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' and the comics is just another victim of the Joker, having been warped into CuteAndPsycho villain by his corrupting charisma before DC retooled her into a AntiHero due her [[BreakoutCharacter immense popularity]]. Here Harley isn't nearly as sympathetic as she's already a AxCrazy supervillain before meeting Joker, whom in a case of SwappedRoles is given AdaptationalHeroism being the who is used and manipulated by Harley. Telltale Harley is also much more sociopathic and cruel to others, displaying little of her compassionate traits from the comics.

* ''VideoGame/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyTheTelltaleSeries'' takes after the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse version and sees Yondu of the original 1969 team as a SpacePirate, as opposed to a superhero himself. That said, his reasons for taking Peter fall under AdaptationalHeroism, as [[spoiler:he was tasked by Peter's mother Meredith to take care of him, as opposed to his MCU counterpart being hired by Ego to kidnap him (and only instead keeping him when he realized that Ego was killing other children delivered to him).]]

* ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'' and ''VideoGame/Injustice2'':
** [[AllThereInTheManual Supplementy materials]] show the alternate universe Wonder Woman was already veering into [[HeWhoFightsMonsters She Who Fights Monsters]] territory even before assisting the alternate Superman in taking over the world. In the game proper, she's a BloodKnight, something which horrifies the mainstream Wonder Woman.
*** The comics shed some light on Wonder Woman's jerkassery, pointing out she only became more vicious as a result of being mentally abused... by Steve Trevor of all people, who is a war hero and honorary citizen of Themyscira in most adaptations, but a manipulative Nazi bastard in the Injustice continuity.
** The alternate ComicBook/{{Sinestro}} is also a good deal eviler than his mainstream counterpart, and with Wondy functions as a devilish voice in Superman's ear to push him further past the MoralEventHorizon. Most strikingly, his viewing of the Earth Lanterns as {{Worthy Opponent}}s is completely omitted from this version -- he gruesomely kills both Kyle and John personally, then [[ManipulativeBastard manipulates]] Hal into murdering Guy.
** ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} is grouped with the villains in the first game and is seen in the story mode fighting against the Justice League. In the comics, Selena has been an antihero since the early 90's and often works ''with'' members of the Justice League when their interests align and knows how to avoid them when they don't. This is [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor touched upon]] in the story mode, but the game still considers her a villain.
** While ComicBook/TheJoker is known to be an AxCrazy MonsterClown, his Injustice version is responsible for ComicBook/{{Superman}}'s StartOfDarkness by nuking Metropolis and having him kill his wife Lois Lane. The rationale for this? All ForTheEvulz, as he was tired of constantly losing to ComicBook/{{Batman}}, so he decided to go after an easier target and see if they would break. Most [[EvenEvilHasStandards villains agree]] that the psychotic jester went ''way too far'' this time.
** In most continuities, while ComicBook/PoisonIvy is a misanthropic villain, she has a soft spot for Harley Quinn, and is sometimes even romantically linked to her. In ''Injustice 2'', she acts openly hostile to Harley in some of their battle intros (for example, when Harley tearfully tells her that she's breaking her heart, she responds that she'll break more than that), and during the Story Mode, [[spoiler: she uses her pheromones to send Harley into shock, which almost kills her.]]

* ''VideoGame/MarvelAvengersAlliance''
** ComicBook/{{Elektra}}. Many folks, particularly those whose exposure to her came from [[Film/{{Daredevil}} a couple of]] [[Film/{{Elektra}} critically panned films]] and ''VideoGame/MarvelUltimateAlliance'', were shocked to see her as an enemy in-game. Especially since these days [[ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}} she's rolling with a bunch of (morally ambiguous) good guys]].
** [[{{Cyborg}} Omega Sentinel]] spent most of her time in the comic books fighting alongside the X-Men. In this game, however, [[UnwillingRoboticisation her humanity is overwritten by Sentinel programming]] and she appears as a boss instead.
** In the comics [[ComicBook/{{Venom}} Hybrid]]'s "sibling" Scream tries to attack [[EatsBabies a daycare]], while in the comics (where she eventually pulled a HeelFaceTurn) she once expressed disgust at the prospect of another villain killing and eating children.
* ''VideoGame/MarvelFutureFight''
** [[ComicBook/{{Annihilation}} Ronan the Accuser]] started out as a standard cosmic villain, but was always presented as loyal to his own people's justice system and possessing of honor, and when Marvel Cosmic was highlighted after Annihilation, he was presented as a hero, which became his default characterization in every book since. In-game, Ronan is a two-dimensional, genocidal maniac like in the movie.
** [[ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy Yondu Udonta]], who was a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy in the comics and a superhero. Even in [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014 the movies]], which the game heavily borrows from, Yondu is mostly faking his antagonism to look strong in front of his crew and is proud of Star-Lord, who he sees as something of an adopted son. In the game, however, he's genuine in his desire to kill Quill and is angry instead of amused that Peter swapped out the Infinity Stone he was trying to steal for a troll doll.
* Variant example in ''VideoGame/MarvelSuperHeroesWarOfTheGems''. While [[Characters/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyModern Nebula]] is typically a villain or AntiVillain anyway, she spent most of ''ComicBook/TheInfinityGauntlet'' as a victim being tormented by ComicBook/{{Thanos}}, and actually played a key role in defeating him in the end (albeit due to her own vengeful nature). In ''War of the Gems'', an adaptation of ''Infinity Gauntlet'', Nebula instead acts as Thanos' enforcer, and is actually the last villain the heroes have to defeat before the final battle with Thanos himself.
* ''VideoGame/MarvelUltimateAlliance'':
** ComicBook/BuckyBarnes is one of the villains confronted early on. Although he did fight ComicBook/CaptainAmerica originally, this was because he was BrainwashedAndCrazy, with all his memories removed to make him an obedient slave, and they were restored to him not long after his introduction and he's since become an ally. In the game, dialogue states that here [[NotBrainwashed the Winter Soldier has all his memories and is serving the Master of Evil willingly]].
** [[spoiler:As in ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'', ComicBook/BlackWidow is working against ComicBook/{{SHIELD}}, as confirmed in TheStinger]].

* ''VideoGame/SpiderManWebOfShadows'': Played with and addressed by ComicBook/SpiderMan, stating that ComicBook/{{Venom}} is acting nothing like himself and is disregarding the very innocents he swore to protect. However, Venom in this case was really DrunkWithPower, and he undergoes a HeelRealization at the end. The [=PS2=] version however, plays this as straight as a line, featuring most likely the most evil incarnation of Venom to date in any media.

** Kazuya Mishima, barring the first [[Anime/TekkenTheMotionPicture anime adaptation]] (in which he gets the [[AdaptationalHeroism opposite]] of this), is even more psychotic and evil in most adaptations than he is in the games, in which a TragicVillain at heart who genuinely loved his mother and grandfather. The worst case is in ''Film/Tekken2010'', in which Kazuya [[RapeAsDrama raped]] Jun Kazama, getting her [[ChildByRape pregnant with Jin]], and kills her later and gloats to Jin about it. This is a complete 180 from the games, in which it's strongly hinted that Kazuya genuinely has a soft spot for Jun, even giving her a gentle BridalCarry in one ending in ''Tekken Tag Tournament 1'' despite being in his SuperpoweredEvilSide.

* Harry the Handbag from ''WesternAnimation/{{Bonkers}}'' is a lonely handbag who only stole people and things and stored them inside him because [[NotEvilJustMisunderstood he thought they could cure his loneliness]]. In the LicensedGame [[VideoGame/BonkersSega of the same name for the]] UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis, Harry becomes a wanted criminal who leads a gang of Raccoon Thieves to steal five toon treasures [[note]][[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs Snow White's apple]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} Aladdin's magic lamp]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}} Mickey's wizard hat]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}} Cinderella's glass slipper]], and a set of golden WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse ears[[/note]] from the museum.

** In the UsefulNotes/GameBoy version, Baloo, an ally to Mowgli in both the film and the book, is also fought as a (admittedly less directly offensive) level boss.
** The [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]] and UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis versions have Friend Owl from ''WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}'' as one of the game's enemies.

* ''VideoGame/ToyStory2'': For some reason, Rex and the little green men are enemies in the UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor version.

* The ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWright'' fangame ''VideoGame/TurnaboutOfCourage'' is essentially a "WhatIf Phoenix Wright was a murderer?" In canon, he's an idealistic if beleaguered defense attorney who works very hard to ''expose'' murderers. [[note]]This example is under Adaptational Villainy instead of RonTheDeathEater because the creators do not claim their version is consistent with canon characterization.[[/note]]

* Despite being a hero and even a member of Comicbook/TheAvengers, Echo is portrayed as an unambiguous villain in the ''Film/{{Daredevil}}'' video game adaptation.

** The alternate Comicbook/{{Sinestro}} is also a good deal eviler than his mainstream counterpart, and with Wondy functions as a devilish voice in Superman's ear to push him further past the MoralEventHorizon. Most strikingly, his viewing of the Earth Lanterns as {{Worthy Opponent}}s is completely omitted from this version -- he gruesomely kills both Kyle and John personally, then [[ManipulativeBastard manipulates]] Hal into murdering Guy.

** While Comicbook/TheJoker is known to be an AxCrazy MonsterClown, his Injustice version is responsible for ComicBook/{{Superman}}'s StartOfDarkness by nuking Metropolis and having him kill his wife Lois Lane. The rationale for this? All ForTheEvulz, as he was tired of constantly losing to ComicBook/{{Batman}}, so he decided to go after an easier target and see if they would break. Most [[EvenEvilHasStandards villains agree]] that the psychotic jester went ''way too far'' this time.
** In most continuities, while Comicbook/PoisonIvy is a misanthropic villain, she has a soft spot for Harley Quinn, and is sometimes even romantically linked to her. In ''Injustice 2'', she acts openly hostile to Harley in some of their battle intros (for example, when Harley tearfully tells her that she's breaking her heart, she responds that she'll break more than that), and during the Story Mode, [[spoiler: she uses her pheromones to send Harley into shock, which almost kills her.]]

* Variant example in ''VideoGame/MarvelSuperHeroesWarOfTheGems''. While [[Characters/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyModern Nebula]] is typically a villain or AntiVillain anyway, she spent most of ''Comicbook/TheInfinityGauntlet'' as a victim being tormented by Comicbook/{{Thanos}}, and actually played a key role in defeating him in the end (albeit due to her own vengeful nature). In ''War of the Gems'', an adaptation of ''Infinity Gauntlet'', Nebula instead acts as Thanos' enforcer, and is actually the last villain the heroes have to defeat before the final battle with Thanos himself.

* Played with and addressed by Franchise/SpiderMan in ''VideoGame/SpiderManWebOfShadows'', stating that ComicBook/{{Venom}} is acting nothing like himself and is disregarding the very innocents he swore to protect. However, Venom in this case was really DrunkWithPower, and he undergoes a HeelRealization at the end. The [=PS2=] version however, plays this as straight as a line, featuring most likely the most evil incarnation of Venom to date in any media.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'': While most previous incarnations of Ganondorf in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' were cruel tyrants, he nevertheless seemed pretty satisfied with trying to TakeOverTheWorld and have Hyrule be full of unwilling but living subjects for him to control, only becoming an OmnicidalManiac when transforming into the bestial, AlmightyIdiot Ganon. He also still had varying levels of affection for his fellow Gerudo; at the very least he tended to mostly leave them alone while he tormented the ''rest'' of Hyrule. Here, in contrast, he openly expresses his desire to wipe out all non-monstrous life in Hyrule despite being being totally sapient this time, and he also [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness violently turns on his Gerudo subjects too]] once he acquires the power to do so.

** And then there's his interactions with Rudy. [[spoiler: In the remake of the first game, he gives Rudy a nasty NotSoDifferent speech as they're about to be sucked into a black hole, revealing that he's more like the demons than he realises. In this game, he manipulates Rudy into ''betraying everyone and destroying the world.'' It's only due to the Memory Maze being able to revive Filgaia, and Siegfried wanting Rudy's help in taking down Mother (leading to him TakingTheBullet and committing a HeroicSacrifice} that the game was able to have a relatively happy ending.]]

* ''VideoGame/CP3D'': Since this game and the original ''VideoGame/ClubPenguin'' occur in real time, every character introduced is an example of this. For example, in ''VideoGame/ClubPenguin'', Sensei first revealed himself to the public in 2008, but in ''[=CP3D=]'', it was in 2020.

** And then there's his interactions with Rudy. [[spoiler: In the remake of the first game, he gives Rudy a nasty NotSoDifferent speech as they're about to be sucked into a black hole, revealing that he's more like the demons than he realises. In this game, he manipulates Rudy into ''betraying everyone and destroying the world.'']]

** Odin and Thor in particular have none of the positive qualities from the original Norse myths, with Odin going from a fairly benevolent GrandpaGod and WizardClassic to a [[EvilOverlord power hungry lunatic]] and Thor from a boisterous MartialPacifist to a guy who murders his own worshipers and physically [[AbusiveParents abuses his own sons]]. Inverted with trickster God and son of Laufey Loki [[spoiler: since in this version he’s Arteus, Kratos’s son and all around good kid]].

* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries'':

* ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'':
** Anna Williams suffers from this. While she's certainly not heroic in the source material, she is shown multiple times to be nicer and somewhat more compassionate than her cold-blooded sister, Nina. In every animated feature and spinoff game, though, the dynamic is totally reversed, making Nina the more sympathetic AntiHero and turning Anna into the evil one. One exception is ''Anime/TekkenBloodline'' which does have Nina be TruerToTheText highlighting her cruelty in her fight with Xiaoyu, but Anna in comparison gets DemotedToExtra so her nicer qualities don’t get shown.
** Kazuya Mishima, barring the first [[Anime/TekkenTheMotionPicture anime adaptation]] (where he gets the [[AdaptationalHeroism opposite]] of this) is even more psychotic and evil in most adaptations than he is in the games where’s a TragicVillain at heart, who genuinely loved his mother and grandfather. The worst case is in ''[[Film/{{Tekken}} Tekken 2010]]'' where Kazuya [[RapeAsDrama raped]] Jun Kazama getting her [[ChildByRape pregnant with Jin]] and kills her later and gloats to Jin about it. This is a complete 180 from the games where it’s strongly hinted that Kazuya genuinely has a soft spot for Jun even giving her a gentle BridalCarry in one ending in ''Tekken Tag Tournament 1'' despite being in his SuperPoweredEvilSide.
* ''VideoGame/{{Teppen|2019}}'':

** Shockingly BigBad Sephiroth gets this. In the original game he’s still the antagonist but has a few sympathetic traits being a scientific Guinea pig infused with [[EldritchAbomination JENOVA]] cells by his MadScientist dad [[spoiler:Hojo]]. Upon learning about his birth Sephiroth has a SanitySlippage and burns down Nibelheim, all in all he’s quite a TragicMonster. In the remake Sephiroth loses a lot of sympathy points when he [[KickTheDog gloats]] to Cloud, that he personally killed his mother telling him sadistically about how she begged him to spare her son and how her flesh was “yielding to cold steel” none of which Sephiroth did in the original. He also repeatedly tells Cloud how [[HopeCrusher worthless his heroics are]] and how he should [[WeCanRuleTogether join him]] in [[OmnicidalManiac destroying the world]]. This treatment makes Sephiroth closer to a CardCarryingVillain like [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI Kefka Palazzo]] than his more affable original version[[labelnote:*]] This crueler portrayal is made more chilling since it turns out that ''Remake'' is a StealthSequel (of sorts). It is heavily implied that Sephiroth knows about the events form the original game and trying to change his fate, and that Cloud has beaten him at least 3 times [[/labelnote]].

* ''VideoGame/TheCatInTheHat'': Mr. Quinn is far more malicious in the game compared to [[Film/TheCatInTheHat the film]]. His villainous role in the film was [[VillainyFreeVillain purely from being a jerk]]. The game, however, has him collecting magic and trying to kill the Cat so he could take over the world.

* ''VideoGame/TwistedMetal'': In ''Black'', Dollface was a sympathetic character who was only in the competition to get her namesake WhiteMaskOfDoom removed after her former employer locked her in it; the most heinous thing she ever did was [[KickTheSonOfABitch killing him for the key]] in her ending. The Dollface from the 2012 game was a supermodel who murdered her competition even before she got her mask, and would've continued her spree in a planned ending.

* In the GBA version of ''[[WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndTheCyberChase Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase]]'', the culprit is a random character, not necessarily [[spoiler: Bill]] as it was in the movie. This is presumably to keep people who saw the movie from getting it right based on that alone.

** Quite possibly the biggest example would have to be [[spoiler:R.O.B.]], as, not only was he never an antagonist in his home series, he doesn't even have any explicitly villainous traits like the above mentioned characters. During the majority of the mode, [[spoiler:R.O.B.]] was the main antagonist of ''The Subspace Emissary'' under the guise of "Ancient Minister", ordering his R.O.B. Squad minions to detonate various Subspace bombs across the many landscapes. [[spoiler:Though later on, it was revealed he was only forced to do this under [[GreaterScopeVillain Tabuu's]] orders, and has a HeelFaceTurn when [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda Ganondorf]] betrays R.O.B. and makes his minions attack him]].

* ''VideoGame/UltimaIX'': While the Guardian has always been nothing but a villain, his {{Dragon}} in Ultima IX is Blackthorn, mysteriously returned. In his prior appearance, Blackthorn was the antagonist but it is shown that he had been corrupted by powerful evil forces to bring him to that state. In this game, he is back and full on evil with no explanation whatsoever.

** Wario while certainly a greedy {{jerkass}} and even villain in quite of few of the Mario games is still more funny than actually evil and becomes more of an AntiHero in [[VideoGame/WarioWare his own series]]. In ''The Subspace Emissary'' Wario is made out to be far more sinister, traumatising poor Lucas and indulging in KickTheDog while he does have a EnemyMine against Tabuu at the end he doesn’t reconcile with the good guys like King Dedede does.