These are the characters as presented in Cyberpunk, Cyberpunk 2020, Cyberpunk v3, and Cyberpunk Red. Their versions in Cyberpunk 2077 and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners should be referred to there unless dealing with a flashback to the past.
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Edgerunners
Rogue Amendiares
- Action Girl: One of the toughest and most dangerous women in Night City.
- Action Mom: Between 'The Time of the Red' and 2077, Rogue has since had a son.
- All Love Is Unrequited: Was this to Johnny Silverhand given his treatment of her and was the subject of it until Santiago and she had a Relationship Upgrade.
- Delinquent Hair: Used to sport a killer mohawk in 2020.
- Embarrassing First Name: Johnny often calls her Rache, which she hates, but is an abbreviation for Rachel.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Even with his cheating, Rogue helps Johnny assault Arasaka Tower twice.
- Platonic Life-Partners: Her fellow Edgerunner, Santiago, until they have a Relationship Upgrade.
- The Queenpin: Is the "Queen of the Afterlife" and "Queen of the Fixers" in Night City, having a position above all of them.
- The Quincy Punk: A female version sporting the mohawk, leather jacket, distorted music, and anti-authoritarian attitude.
- Relationship Upgrade: Eventually gets with Santiago after the first assault on Arasaka Tower.
- Storming the Castle: Does this twice with Johnny Silverhand on Arasaka Towers.
- Youthful Freckles: A quality that contrasts against her The Quincy Punk look.
Rache Bartmoss
- Ax-Crazy: He's certainly eager to kill fellow Netrunners if needed.
- The Cracker: He's a Netrunner who's certainly done many bad things.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Played with; Rache has some sense of morality in that he dislikes the idea of innocent people being caught in the crossfire or causing large-scale destruction. However, his grudge against the corporations for their control over the net and restriction of information ultimately overtakes that standard.
- Gadgeteer Genius: His personal Cyberdeck is far better than anyone else's in the setting, by miles.note By the time of 2077 the basics of it is outdated but the hacking program he'd help created that are stored on it are still very dangerous to even an experienced Netrunner just trying to access it.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With his friend and protege Spider Murphy. Spider's commentaries in the sourcebooks show she clearly considers Rache a close friend. Rache, in turn, considers Spider an equal and the only person he trusts implicitly.
- Hidden Depths: Rache is a malicious anarchist hacker with a love of Disney films and enough chemistry knowledge to reprogram an illegal drug factory to make nitroglycerin.
- Human Popsicle: Has been this since 2019 when someone (generally assumed to be Arasaka) managed to flatline him. He's been in a disguised cryogenic life support pod and hooked up to what amounts to a dial-up modem. It doesn't seem to have slowed him much.
- Killed Off for Real: The first major NPC to be killed in the Fourth Corporate War. In 2077's map you can find his body in his cryopod near by the junk pile Dex's body is left. If you follow clues you can find the logs that suggest Arasaka captured his pod, kept it in a storage facility under close watched then dumped it. Johnny identifies the body in the mission relating netrunning.
- Obfuscating Insanity: Plays up being an Ax-Crazy Cloud Cuckoo Lander so everyone from the Corps to his allies will underestimate him or misjudge his motives.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In Rache Bartmoss' Guide to the Net, Rache drops any trace of insanity or even his somewhat jovial tone when the matter of the ESA's mass driver being hacked by someone other than him is brought up. Understandable, given that it could be (and has been) used to institute a Colony Drop.
- Taking You with Me: He did his ultimate version of when he finally died, leaving a 2 week timer on a Deadman's Switch that unleashed a virus on the world that corrupted nearly 80% of the entire internet into an unrecognizable ever shifting mess. The world had to effectively kill the internet as it was in order to save the remaining networks it had and now mostly relies on shortrange hubs of connections. No one knew he actually was able to do it until it was too late and even after 54 years removed from his death, no one can seemingly fix it.
- Techno Wizard: He's the greatest hacker of the setting and was so good that he crashed the internet.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: What Rache really is. His threats against fellow Netrunners are generally in regards to them trying to hack things that are best left alone. Furthermore, Rache's entire grudge with the corporations stems from a mindset of "Information Wants to be Free". When he can't do so from theft, it ultimately leads him to crash the entire Net to break the corporate control of information. As later works show, this ultimately backfired.
Morgan Blackhand
- Artificial Limbs: His right arm is a black mechanical cyberlimb.
- Consummate Professional: What set him apart from other mercs was that he kept things purely professional and avoided any reckless action such as mixing work with emotions.
- Demolitions Expert: He used to be one when he was in the army.
- Friend to All Children: In the Alternate Continuity Gaiden Game CyberGeneration, he shows up to help the juvenile delinquent protagonist.
- GMPC: He's Mike Pondsmith's personal player character of the setting, which explains why he's so overpowered.
- Heroic Sacrifice: At the end of Firestorm: Shockwave Adam Smasher arrives at the top of Night City's Arasaka tower to try and stop Morgan and his team escaping, so he stays behind to allow them to escape, while he fights a Cyborg in a giant suit of Power Armor on top of a 130 story tower with an exploding nuke in the basement.
- Although his death is never confirmed, and
Word of God reveals he survived.
- Although his death is never confirmed, and
- Old Soldier: By the Time of the Red; Morgan Blackhand would be in his mid 50's to early 70's and with the implications of his survival into 2077, he'd be nearly or over a 100 years old.
- Strong and Skilled: He's a believer that personal skill is just as important as cyberware, which ended up rubbing Adam Smasher the wrong way since he interpreted it as a challenge to his belief that cybernetics is the be-all end-all.
- Wife-Basher Basher: After returning home after serving in the military, Morgan ended up protecting his neighbor from her violent ex-husband.
- World's Best Warrior: Is widely considered to be this.
Alt Cunningham
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Alt Cunningham is more powerful as an AI than she ever was as a human.
- Big Good: Has done a lot to help humanity against the rabid AI and other threats.
- Creepy Good: A lot of her actions come across as morally ambiguous and inhuman but she has the best intentions.
- Dramatic Irony: Was within seconds of freeing herself when Johnny Silverhand, her boyfriend, accidentally killed her while trying to rescue her.
- Ghost in the Machine: Is a digital consciousness uploaded into the subnet of Arasaka Corporation and then the subnet of Night City.
- Magic Plastic Surgery: A somewhat Downplayed Trope example as she used bodysculpting and cybernetics to become the beautiful underwear model she was (in addition to being the world's greatest hacker).
- Ms. Fanservice: Alt Cunningham was a lingerie model in addition to being the world's best Netrunner.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Has this feeling regarding Soulkiller due to its misuse by the Arasaka Corporation.
- Nerds Are Sexy: A once-in-a-lifetime rockstar programmer and hacker, as well as a lingerie model. Though, to be fair, she spent significant money on her appearance.
- The Rival: Is considered the only serious contender with Rache Bartmoss for the world's greatest hacker.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Multiple times against Arasaka over the years.
- That Man Is Dead: Maintains the original Alt Cunningham is dead and she is just a engram copy.
- World's Most Beautiful Woman: Had this reputation while she was alive.
Spider Murphy
- Actual Pacifist: Was one of these until she had to kill Arasaka Troops to save herself.
- Broken Pedestal: Has this after Rache Bartmoss collapses the Net, viewing him as having made things worse.
- Buxom Beauty Standard: Spider Murphy uses a large-chested redheaded anime girl as her avatar.
- Fate Worse than Death: Subverted. Spider Murphy condemned Kei Arasaka to being imprisoned after taking his soul with the Soulkiller program but destroys it soon after.
- Hackette: Many assume she's a man due to her androgynous name.
- Implied Death Threat: Gives one of these to Kei Arasaka, ironically, to get him to choose suicide on his own terms.
- Madness Mantra: "It's just a game" after she had to kill during the Arasaka Tower raid.
- Playful Hacker: Started out by using a Radio shack computer to hack the company who made it in order to send her a better one.
- Revenge Before Reason: Joins the Militech raid on Arasaka Tower in hopes of getting revenge for Rache Bartmoss' death.
- Technical Pacifist: Preferred not to kill people with her ICE unlike Rache Bartmoss.
- These Hands Have Killed: Has this reaction after she kills her first people during the Arasaka Tower raid.
- Unwitting Pawn: Believed that they were only going to destroy Soulkiller 3.0 and not nuke the entirety of Arasaka Towers.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Her involvement in the destruction of Arasaka Tower becomes this given how badly it turned out.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Went underground after the events of the Arasaka Tower raid and her fate is unknown.
Shaitan
- Archenemy: Shaitan hates Arasaka above all other things and even will hire other Edgerunners to do damage to the corporation.
- Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: Was critically injured but survived his battle with Adam Smasher during the assault on Arasaka Tower.
- Cyber Ninja: A lot more agile and stealthy than Adam Smasher despite being mostly chrome. He's skilled in both melee and optical camouflage. He's also a master of Aikido.
- Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Averted. Shaitan is one of the few individuals who have avoided cyberpsychosis despite his condition.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Despite having a name literally meaning Devil and being all chrome, he's one of the more moral Edgerunners.
- Demoted to Extra: Makes only a minor appearance in Cyberpunk 2077 despite his critical role in the Arasaka Tower attack.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Managed to critically injure Adam Smasher during the Assault on Araska Tower.
- Full-Conversion Cyborg: His entire body, except for his brain, has been replaced with cybernetics.
- Good Counterpart: Serves as one to Adam Smasher, being a Solo opposed to Arasaka with almost no human bits left.
- Mysterious Past: The origins of Shaitan and his reasons for hating Arasaka were never revealed.
Johnny Silverhand
- Artificial Limbs: He has a chromed left cyberarm.
- Breakout Character: He was one of most recognizable characters of the tabletop game, enough that he was chosen as the co-lead of Cyberpunk 2077.
- Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: His appearance in the tabletop is modeled after David Bowie and a tiny bit of Bryan Adams. Cyberpunk 2077, on the other hand, has Johnny played by a post-John Wick Keanu Reeves.
- Classical Anti-Hero: His character is meant to represent one of the few rare heroes that the world of Cyberpunk has.
- Foil: To Saburo Arasaka, believe it or not. Both men are war veterans who came home with crippling injuries and new ideas about what the world should be like, but Arasaka doubled down on his nationalist beliefs and became a pillar of the reactionary establishment, where Silverhand lost all respect for any form of authority and took to the chromatic rock scene to incite a revolution.
- Heroic Sacrifice: He pulls one in Firestorm: Shockwave after swearing that he wouldn't let his team down like he did Alt. While they're pinned down by Arasaka forces led by Smasher, Johnny buys them an opening by exiting cover to attack Smasher regardless of the danger. To Johnny's surprise, their second-long "fight" leaves Smasher undamaged and Johnny torn in half by a massive auto shotgun — as skilled as Johnny is, he lacked the firepower to even scratch Smasher's chassis. However, that distracts Smasher long enough for Shaitan to then grapple him as the rest of the team escapes.
- The Lost Lenore: His girlfriend, Alt Cunningham, was kidnapped by Arasaka and used as a test subject for a mind transfer software called Soulkiller. This led Johnny to take part in the Arasaka Tower assault described in Firestorm: Shockwave. In several endings of 2077 a Virtual Ghost of Johnny is reunited with her soulkilled self and goes with her into a space beyond in the old internet.
- Never Found the Body: Mainly because he was blasted in half on the 120th floor of a 130-story building that had a nuke explode in the basement soon after. Word of God reveals this was intentional, to give him a chance to survive... which, in the end, leads to his appearance in Cyberpunk 2077 though there's some weirdness around that.
- Semper Fi: As noted, he was a Marine.
- Stage Name: According to the 2013 rule book, his real name is Robert John Linder.
- Unreliable Narrator: Several parts of Johnny's recollection in Cyberpunk 2077 contradict Cyberpunk 2013's, 2020's and even Red's version of events. Such as Morgan Blackhand being a part of the mission on Arasaka Tower, Wolvers being what stabs Johnny when Alt is kidnapped, as Mantis blades wouldn't be invented yet, and it being Spider who was said to have pulled Johnny's engram after the collapse of the tower, and he never met Saburo. This stands out most in Red's case, as Mike Pondsmith helped with making 2077, CDPR helped make Red, and both projects came out within a month of one another. Mike Pondsmith, himself on Reddit, confirmed
that the label of unreliable is the "Best" you could say about his recollection given the state of the original's body.
Arasaka Corporation
Saburo Arasaka
- Abusive Parents: Put his eldest son, Kei, through an intense training regime to prepare him for running the company after his death.
- All for Nothing: In his eyes; he spent his entire life rebuilding the Japanese Empire as he had once envisioned, asserting Japan's dominance as a global super power, with nearly half of Asia and a third of America under his clan's control, and grooming his son, like an heir to a king's throne, to be a ruthless CEO of the Arasaka Corporation. Only for all it to come crashing down because of his blind hatred of America and underestimating Militech's superior numbers and militaristic backing from the New United States government.
- Artificial Limbs: His right arm is cybernetic in 2013 & 2020. By 2077, it's unknown how much of him is cybernetic but as he's now pushing 150 in the opening of 2077's story, the ability to walk as as he did in 2022 on his own, without assistance or replacements, would be a medical miracle and so it'd not be out of the realm he's not gotten other parts replace.
- Big Bad: Of Cyberpunk 2020 as a whole. In 2077, he's more akin to a Greater-Scope Villain where he's killed by the end of the first act at the hands of his son Yorinobu, who proceeds to take over Arasaka and pin the murder on V (though it's revealed that he's made an Engram of himself). His influence is felt throughout the game and depending on the player's actions he'll either remain dead or come out on top.
- Career-Ending Injury: Suffered a injury in 1942, stopping him from serving in the Imperial Air Force.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: He is the most powerful Corpo of the setting and uses his economic stranglehold to enforce his will.
- Did Not Think This Through: Declaring war against Militech is one thing, launching Soulkiller to gather Militech secrets is another. But launching full-scale conflicts in highly populated areas and attacking multiple military bases for several different governments around the world, because they're assisted by Militech personnel and armaments, is a whole other form of insanity.
- Evil Cripple: Suffered a stroke in 2010 that left him in a wheelchair.
- He's recovered in 2077 through unexplained means, enough to walk under his own power. It's confirmed he has a bionic arm, but not much else is known about his body.
- Evil Old Folks: He might be well over 100, but that doesn't make him less evil. In 2077, turning 150 doesn't change that as he's still the ruthless businessman who is willing to do several horrible things for himself. Including in one ending, hijack his own Son's body, effectively killing his son's mind, though cloning exist for the rich.
- Foil: To Johnny Silverhand. Both men are wounded veterans who lost a limb and returned from their respective wars with specific ideals and views of the world, Arasaka doubled down on his Japanese focused nationalist beliefs. He and his family came a symbol of the corporatist establishment and hero to many, via mostly corporate backed media propaganda. Silverhand was forced to reinvent himself, including dropping his name and become a revolutionary via musical means, though in the end is mostly known for the Bombing of Arasaka tower and the lives lost because of it marking him as pariah known for being a domestic terrorist by 2045.
- Nazi Grandpa: Saburo served for the Imperial Japan, who was allied with Nazi Germany during World War II. He's basically an Eastern take on this trope.
- Patriotic Fervor: He wants Japan to be restored to its former glory and rule the world, and utterly hates America for beating Japan in World War II.
- The Power of Hate: His hatred of America is part of his motivation, and it gets the better of him, leading him to send Arasaka into the Fourth Corporate War against Militech. Which leads to the Arasaka clan losing the war at the end of the Firestorm adventure books, and being systematically wiped out during Strike Team Alpha's and Beta's assault on the Night City Arasaka Tower.
- Even in 2077 it's made clear his hate for the American ideal, as it stood and the shambles it exist in after the 4th corporate war, is present in the few conversations he has on the topic.
- Stupid Jetpack Hitler: Want an Imperialist Japanese character who is the head of a technological company? Here he is.
Hanako Arasaka
- Arranged Marriage: Hanako is terrified of this happening as her loyalty to her father is great but she wants to live an independent life after his death.
- Awful Truth: Hanako is only now beginning to suspect the true scope of Arasaka's atrocities via her Netrunning skills.
- Big Brother Instinct: Inverted with her older brother Yorinobu as she routinely persuades her father from moving against him.
- Mad Scientist: One of the only Netrunners in the world able to appreciate Alt Cunningham's true purpose with Soulkiller and its potential to grant immortality.
- Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter: A classic example of such as she is the sheltered beautiful twenty-one year old daughter of the Evil Overlord of the setting. She is also a Mad Scientist herself.
- Puppet King: The Kiji faction of Arasaka, a group of conservative businessmen, wanted to use her to take over Arasaka Corporation and continue the company's traditional trajectory after the death of Kei Arasaka (albeit without war with the NUSA).
- Resurrective Immortality: It was Hanako who figured out how to transfer engrams into clone bodies in V3 as only she understood the true potential of Alt Cunningham's work with Soulkiller.
- Sheltered Aristocrat: Hanako was raised in isolation from Saburo's crimes in order to make her this and rarely leaves Arasaka-controlled compounds.
- Token Good Teammate: She is one of the only good members of the Arasaka Corporation as well as one of two good members of the Arasaka family.
- White Sheep: The books emphasize what a sweet and kind person she is despite her somewhat disturbing research as well as family connections.
- Yamato Nadeshiko: This is what Saburo attempted to raise her as but she is a Spirited Young Lady instead.
Kei Arasaka
- Adaptation Name Change: Or rather, sequel name change. In the original 2013 game, he was originally named Kenji Arasaka, who was The Ghost before the 2020 update.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Kei Arasaka ultimately proves to be a poor leader of Arasaka and presides over the company's Darkest Hour.
- Cain and Abel: Devoted himself to killing his brother Yorinobu. Semi-succeeded by hitting him with Soulkiller but Edgerunners restored Yorinobu to his former self.
- Deader than Dead: Subverted. Spider Murphy imprisoned his soul via Soulkiller to make sure he couldn't be brought back.
- Driven to Suicide: This is the fate of Kei Arasaka after he witnesses the detsruction of Arasaka Tower and realizes that his company is going to bear the majority of the blame for the Fourth Corporate War. He was also encouraged to do this by Spider Murphy who left a not so subtle hint that if he didn't do it, she'd help him along the old fashioned way.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Was disliked by his own family, including his sister Hanako whom he loved.
- Generation Xerox: Wanted to be this for Saburo but his father put an end to his attempts to become a soldier.
- Honor Before Reason: Dutifully carried out his father's will to start the Fourth Corporate War and fight it despite knowing it would end in disaster.
- Maligned Mixed Marriage: Kei married a American woman of pure Japanese descent but knew his father would hate her just because of her country of birth.
- Only Sane Man: Was aware that going to war with Militech and the United States would result in the destruction of Arasaka Corporation.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Spent his entire life wanting to win his father's respect and never quite succeeded.
Yorinobu Arasaka
The younger son of Saburo Arasaka and the leader of the Steel Dragons gang.
- Back from the Dead: Was hit by Soulkiller by Kei Arasaka during the Fourth Corporate War, but a group of Edgerunners restored him to his body.
- Badass Biker: Yorinobu is the leader of the Steel Dragons biker gang.
- Big Brother Instinct: Has this toward his sister, Hanako, despite the fact she remains loyal to his father.
- Cain and Abel: Yorinobu and Kei having this relationship with both willing to play the role of Caine.
- Defector from Decadence: Yorinobu helped form the Iron Lotus gang and Steel Dragons to oppose Arasaka activities in Japan.
- I Hate You CEO Dad: Yorinobu is the son of the world's most dangerous corporate Evil Overlord and has dedicated himself to his destruction.
- Japanese Delinquents: Yorinobu was this from his teenage years but remains a criminal at the age of twenty-five.
- Rebel Prince: Yorinobu Arasaka is a member of the richest most powerful family in the world but has dedicated himself to their destruction.
- Rejecting the Inheritance: Wants nothing to do with the billions of Eurodollars he'd inherit as part of the Arasaka family.
- White Sheep: Yorinobu is the most overtly good and heroic member of the Arasaka family, dedicated to their overthrow.
Adam Smasher
- Ax-Crazy: Short of an actual axe, he's practically a walking embodiment of it. Adam Smasher isn't about subtlety and tactical awareness, nor about reservation: he will do the job he's paid to do, and he will kill everything and everyone that gets in his path unless he gets the rare job that protects certain individuals, namely Arasaka staff. And they should still stay far away from him. He converted to full chrome solely to be a pure, literal killing machine and keep killing as much as possible. And if you try to confront him, you're the next smear on the wall because he won't hesitate unless he finds fun in the kill or thinks you're a suicidal moron. And then still kill you.
- Corporate Samurai: He's a Solo in the employ of Arasaka who serves as their most infamous goon and does their dirtiest work.
- Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Played with; Smasher was a monster without scruples long before he gained a cyborg body. Arasaka offering to save his life at the cost of being encased in a fully cybernetic body wasn't a hard sell since Adam never cared about losing his humanity in the first place. In practice, this means that he's effectively a high-functioning cyberpsycho who has the benefit of having a job that allows him to kill with impunity.
- The Dreaded: One of the nastiest forces in the setting. The best way to make any Solo, much less even a full Edgerunner team, have a collective Oh, Crap! is for Adam Smasher to be involved somehow. As far as the tabletop is concerned, you should quit the job, or you're going to have a nearly-unwinnable Total Party Kill on your hands as his stats break all player boundaries by leaps and bounds, short of a full-borg conversion.
- Dumb Muscle: The only abysmal stat that he has is intelligence, not that he needs much of it when the rest of his stats and abilities make him ridiculously difficult to defeat.
- Emergency Transformation: He was once a mostly-flesh mercenary before a stray RPG reduced him to a pile of flesh that could be crammed into a backpack. As he was laying in a hospital bed, an Arasaka middleman approached him with the offer of a fullborg operation. Naturally, Smasher agreed.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Smasher went from a typical punk in a gang to a literal killing machine working for one of the world's most powerful MegaCorps.
- Full-Conversion Cyborg: The only thing left of his original form is his brain and spinal chord.
- Fun T-Shirt: Among his personal possessions is a Hard Rock Café T-Shirt that he wears even as a full-borg◊.
- Hero Killer: He's one of the deadliest characters in the setting for a reason. During Firestorm: Shockwave Smasher killed Johnny Silverhand (though Johnny's exact fate was kept deliberately vague at the time), gravely wounded Shaitan, and was last seen engaging in a fierce fight with Morgan Blackhand, regarded to be the best Solo alive. He also makes very short work of the main crew in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.
- Hidden Depths: According to Pondsmith, Smasher enjoys watching anime on his spare time and still has a digestive system because he enjoys eating junk food (including dining at the Hard Rock Cafe).
- Hopeless Boss Fight: You do not fight Adam Smasher unless you want to die. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners demonstrates this in his depiction as a straight-up Hero Killer. V actually besting him in 2077 is very much an exception to this rule.
- Insanity Immunity: He's so psychotically unhinged as an absolute monster of a man that Cyberpsychosis allegedly cannot affect him, for he's insane enough to completely counteract any Humanity penalties. To him, a slaughter spree can't even trigger a single ounce of instability. For anyone else, this would be an impossible miracle. For Adam Smasher, it means all the more power for his killing.
- The Juggernaut: You're better off quitting if you get on his radar, because nothing is going to stop him from wiping out your party under most circumstances.
- Kavorka Man: At some point in his life, he was dating Saburo Arasaka's granddaughter Michiko Arasaka. Pondsmith has stated that during said time he used an alternate body that looked more like a blonde Elvis Presley and at least avoided actively offending her. It's also mentioned that body pillows of Smasher exist in-universe.
- Lack of Empathy: His EMP stat doesn't even have a number and is simply listed as "Yeah, right..."
- Laughably Evil: He's arguably one of the most evil characters of the setting but his thuggish demeanor and how openly cartoonish he is about his villainy means that he's also played for laughs.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The name "Smasher" is just as terrific as he is, both in-universe and out.
- Not Quite Dead: He's last seen engaged in a duel with Morgan Blackhand just as a nuclear device goes off. His fate is unclear until Cyberpunk: Edgerunners where he's shown to have survived and still be working for Arasaka in 2076. It's left up to the player to finally end it in 2077, as he's the final fight of most routes. Even if you beat him, you can walk away, leaving him alive as nothing more than a torso and a head.
- One-Man Army: Any sufficiently chromed out Edgerunner or Solo may be flirting with cyberpsychosis, but is already this on their own terms so long as they can handle the Humanity penalties for a killing spree. Adam Smasher is what happens when someone can do a full-borg conversion to become the embodiment of this trope, and is already so insane that he doesn't get any of the mental setbacks besides a lowered Intelligence stat.
- Pragmatic Villainy: According to Mike Pondsmith, Smasher treats Michiko Arasaka respectfully during their dates, but only because even he can't get away with disrespecting an Arasaka princess.
- Psycho for Hire: Smasher's a mercenary who will only accept jobs that are guaranteed to involve collateral damage and civilian casualties. He was known for his sadism even before his conversion to full borg.
- Punny Name: Adam Smasher is a play on "atom smasher", an older term for what we today would call a particle accelerator. Particularly fitting for a bad guy who enjoys smashing people.
- Sociopathic Soldier: He joined the Army after they wiped out his gang, but ended up being kicked out for bad conduct. Afterwards he became a gun-for-hire.
- Unknown Rival: Smasher hates Morgan Blackhand because he views the classic Solo's existence as a threat to his metal-is-better-than-meat worldview. However, despite Smasher's attempts to draw Blackhand into a fight, Blackhand simply ignored him. In Firestorm: Shockwave, during the assault on Arasaka Towers, Blackhand finally prepares to fight Smasher to put their philosophies to the test, while the rest of his squad gets away. The outcome of the duel isn't shown, as a nuclear bomb goes off. The only thing that's clear is that Adam survived the fight and it's cost him the little bits of human he had left that aren't interal organs.
- Weaksauce Weakness: His low intelligence stat (the only stat he has that's abysmal) and his status as a Full-Conversion Cyborg leaves the only weakness on table if one is to choose to face Adam Smasher is to hack him—which only makes a potential fight do-able rather than impossible, but by no means easier. Later portrayals show that he's take measures to deal with this via ICE that allows him to counterhack.
- Would Hurt a Child: To the point of even bragging about it in his Solo of Fortune 2 interview:Smasher: In the six years I've been bloodletting and brainspilling in this hellhole, I've taken down boosterpunks, powered armor, corporate hit men, children, ground-attack choppers, sword-wielding ninja and assorted breeds of cyberpets. Yes, the life of a full 'borg Solo is a fulfilling one indeed.
- World's Strongest Man: Largely considered to be this to contrast Morgan Blackhand's Worlds Greatest Warrior.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: An unspoken example, where his brief encounter with Johnny Silverhand had the latter charging at him guns blazing towards the end of Firestorm: Shockwave, which is one of the only times Adam Smasher has ever frozen up in a fight — for about a second, because he's utterly baffled by this Rockerboy being so out of his depth in the situation and doing something so monumentally stupid from his perspective. The next second, Silverhand was Half the Man He Used to Be once Smasher finally pulled the trigger on his excessively-powerful automatic shotgun. Turns out that second was all Shaitan needed to get the drop on Smasher in turn.
