Tropes Media Browse Indexes Forums Videos Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Tools
Cut List New Edits Edit Reasons Launches Images List Crowner Activity Un-typed Pages Recent Page Type Changes Changelog
Tips
Creating New Redirects Cross Wicking Tips for Editing Text Formatting Rules Glossary Edit Reasons Handling Spoilers Word Cruft Administrivia FAQ
Tropes HQ
About Us Contact Us Advertise DMCA Notice Privacy Policy Report Bug
Go Ad-Free Changelog
  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Highlight Links
 

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Distressed Dude / Video Games

Go To

Distressed Dude in Video Games.

  • The third game in The Adventures of Lolo trilogy has Lolo having to save Lala for the third time later in the game. But there is a way to change this around completely; if Lolo manages to get to the Hopeless Boss Fight against King Egger, Lolo will be captured instead of Lala. This means that this time around, Lala has to save Lolo.
  • ANNO: Mutationem: Ann's younger brother, Ryan, goes missing after he picked up a lead on N540, a rare medicine that he wants to find for Ann's Entanglelitis. With the clues left behind, Ann searches around the cyberpunk metropolis to find and rescue Ryan.
  • Bad Dudes: The President has been kidnapped by Ninjas. Are you a bad enough dude to rescue the president?
  • Batman: Arkham Knight has Robin kidnapped by Scarecrow near the end of the main quest, Nightwing kidnapped by Penguin at the end of the Gunrunner sidequest, and Lucius Fox gets held at gunpoint by Hush during Friend in Need. Apparently, this happens to the former two so often that Riddler kidnapped Catwoman solely because it'd be "too predictable" to go for Robin or Nightwing.
  • Battle for Wesnoth: In A Tale of Two Brothers campaign, Baran is captured by the undead when trying to assassinate their lead necromancer, forcing his brother Arvith and his men to spend most of the campaign tracking and rescuing him.
  • At the end of Bendy and the Ink Machine Chapter 3, Boris gets Toon-napped by Susie Campbell. Henry's mission in Chapter 4 is to rescue him.
  • Both of Jade's (male) sidekicks in Beyond Good & Evil have the nasty habit of getting themselves into trouble and needing Jade (female) to rescue them. Torture? Poisoning by an evil alien virus? Kidnapping? Death itself (or not)? Even in ordinary combat, not necessitated by the plot, they seem incapable of getting themselves up if pinned by a certain type of enemy. Although Jade is freed from tentacles by Pey'J at the start of the game.
  • In the upcoming Beyond Shadowgate 2024, King Aronde gets overthrown and imprisoned thanks to assassins and traitors assaulting him mid journey.
  • Super Joe in the NES version of Bionic Commando and its Enhanced Remake and the Game Boy version and Bionic Commando: Elite Forces. Pretty much the only games in the series in which he wasn't kidnapped are the original arcade game and the next-gen title.
  • When we first meet Shift in BoxxyQuest: The Gathering Storm, he’s been falsely locked up in the YouTube city jail, and must be rescued for the plot to continue.
  • Lance in Brain Dead 13, when he is captured by Vivi for use in a painful "makeover".
  • The 90's game Castle Master started with you choosing whether to play as the prince or the princess, after which whoever you didn't pick got kidnapped by a dragon. So you had the option to apply this trope if you wanted.
  • Richter Belmont from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night when, after having rescued Annette in Castlevania: Rondo of Blood/Dracula X, he vanishes suddenly and mysteriously four years later. One year later, Annette's sister Maria sets out to rescue him.
  • Many entries in the Dark Tales series feature your crime-solving partner Dupin as this. Naturally, it falls to the player to rescue him. The player character may also become this, if it's one of the games where they're implied to be male.
  • In Default Dan, you have to save your turtle monster friend from the princess.
  • Starfy briefly becomes one in Densetsu no Stafy 3 when Mad Piero kidnaps him by tricking him with a fake treasure chest, leaving Starly to save him.
  • Subverted in the Destroy All Humans! series. Crypto, the main protagonist, gets captured once in each game. He often then breaks out of his containment himself. Played straight in Destroy All Humans! 2, where Crypto is rescued by his love interest, Natalya.
  • Die Hard: Vendetta have civilians and a few police officers in Hostage Situation levels. John notably needs to save his old friend, Al Powell (from the first movie) who's handcuffed by terrorists interrogating him.
  • In Disney's Hades Challenge, when you first meet Perseus, he's all tied up by snakes and has to be rescued. Much later, Hades kidnaps Phil to lure you to the Underworld.
  • In Disney's Hide & Sneak, Mickey Mouse gets whisked away into the sky by Lu-Lu if starting the game as Minnie Mouse and she has to catch up to him and save him from peril, despite her Cowardly Lion tendancies.
  • Donkey Kong himself is captured in the second and third iterations of Donkey Kong Country, and Diddy Kong is in the third. Dixie Kong is never captured (at least in the Donkey Kong games, she is in Mario Super Sluggers) making her one of Nintendo's straightest examples of an Action Girl.
  • Dragon Age has at least one in each game:
    • In Dragon Age: Origins, one late-game quest can potentially be resolved by the Warden surrendering to enemy forces. If this happens, the PC (who might be male) and Alistair (if you had him along at the time) are stripped down to their undies and left in a cramped prison cell. They may either try to escape on their own or wait in hope that your Ragtag Bunch of Misfits comes to get them out. Who you think is coming to save you is meant to demonstrate how you feel about that someone.
    • In Dragon Age II, during the "Best Served Cold" quest, a party member is taken hostage. This will either be one of your siblings or, if they are both dead, Hawke's love interest. If there is no love interest (or the love interest is the DLC-exclusive companion), or the love interest is in the active party at the time Hawke receives the quest, it will instead be Hawke's closest friend outside of the active party. All in all, there's an equal chance of the hostage being male or female. If it's Anders, he'll quip that he's never thought of himself as a damsel in distress up till now.
    • In Dragon Age: Inquisition, an entire squadron of Inquisition soldiers — male and female — are taken hostage by a hostile Avvar warrior. There are also imprisoned slaves, mostly male, whom the Inquisitor can free in the Emprise du Lion and the Hissing Wastes.
  • Dragon Quest IV: When you meet Princess Alena's party in Chapter 5, Kyril is desperately ill and Alena is out searching for a cure.
  • For the final route of Duel Savior Destiny Taiga, the main character himself is captured about halfway in and has to be rescued by the Savior Class.
  • The Elder Scrolls
    • During the events of Arena, Emperor Uriel Septim VII is imprisoned in Oblivion and usurped by his Imperial Battlemage and Evil Sorcerer classic, Jagar Tharn, who uses magic to impersonate the Emperor. Defeating Tharn and rescuing the Emperor is the impetus for the plot. (In-universe, this event is known as the Imperial Simulacrum.)
    • In spin-off Dungeon Crawler game, Battlespire, a fellow trainee and friend who leaves you clues and supplies through the first part of the game eventually gets captured and has to be saved from Big Bad. Said trainee is the opposite gender of the player character, so if the player character is a female, this trope manifests. Complete with dramatic carrying the rescuee with both hands towards an exit at the end.
  • Elliot and the Musical Journey: Tristan is locked in a cage when you see him.
  • Evil Islands: Zak gets captured twice by the Khadaganians, and must be rescued (first by the Hermit Lizard, later by the Odalisque).
  • The Evil Within, the Spiritual Successor to Resident Evil 4, has multiple dudes in distress:
    • Your detective partner Joseph is the most straight example, essentially taking up Ashley's role from RE4; Badass Bookworm though he may be, if he's in a chapter then you can expect him to be knocked out, shot, overcome with The Corruption, and/or forcibly split up from the badass protagonist. Alternative Character Interpretation suggests that the Big Bad does it on purpose to get an emotional reaction out of Sebastian.
    • The protagonist himself starts off the game tied upside down by his feet and needing to escape from the chainsaw-wielding Sadist, though he manages to free himself with the help of a convenient knife nearby.
    • Leslie, a male mental patient, spends most of the game being hunted down by the Big Bad, and thus requires protection from the protagonist.
  • EXTRAPOWER: Attack of Darkforce has two. Daitoku Igor who is discovered to be mind controlled and working for Dark Force, and Shimoun the Purple Hikari Warrior who went missing after their previous fight with the Yami Clan.
  • Eyra the Crow Maiden: All the men in Eyra's tribe have been kidnapped by the Infernal Marauder, which sets off the plot of the game. There's also six men tied to posts in each level (besides the boss battles) to be freed.
  • The first Fairly OddParents game on the Game Boy Advance, Enter the Cleft!, is about Timmy having to rescue the Crimson Chin.
  • Fallout 4 has Nick Valentine, who first appears being held captive by Skinny Malone's gang. He lampshades this if you rescue him as a female player character:
    Nick: While I appreciate the irony of the reverse damsel-in-distress scenario...
  • Final Fantasy:
  • In Final Fight, your character will be shown chained to a chair with a live dynamite in front of him during the Game Over countdown sequence. Final Fight 2 and 3 on the SNES feature similar Game Over sequences, but it adds the possibility of switching one of the male heroes with the token girl (Maki in 2 and Lucia in 3), turning it into a Damsel in Distress situation.
  • There's a lot of these in the Fire Emblem series:
    • The first part of Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War has Prince Shanan of Isaac, Ayra's nephew and protegée. However, the second part, which takes place 17 years later, shows him and his best friend Oifey as adults who have taken SEVERAL levels in badass. Said second part also gives us the priest Coirpre, held hostage to force his adoptive father Hannibal to work for the enemy. Once the issue is resolved, they both join the main group.
    • Prince Myrddin of Etruria a.k.a. Elffin the Bard's backstory in The Binding Blade has him catching a HUGE Distress Ball and becoming one of these, after a plot against his life almost works. He's saved by the dancer Larum and manages to go Faking the Dead, becoming the local Quirky Bard and joining Roy's group.
    • Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade:
      • Nils the Bard and his Damsel in Distress sister Ninian. They do join the fight... but as Quirky Bard types (they're damn useful once you get the hang of their abilities, though).
      • There's also Raven and Lucius' brief stunt as Distressed Dudes. When they appear in either Eliwood's or Hector's path, it's in a cell of Lyn's castle. Raven subverts the trope as he forces the guards to let him go so he can take a chunk out of Hector, becoming an enemy unit that you have to recruit with his sister Priscilla; Lucius, however, stays in the cell until a freshly recruited Raven goes to recruit him.
    • In The Sacred Stones:
      • Subverted when Eirika is convinced that her brother Ephraim is being held captive. He got away off-screen and comes back to rescue her when she comes to rescue him. They proceed to team up and kick the ass of the guy whose idea it was to start those rumors.
      • Played straight when Eirika and her company have to rescue the trapped Prince Innes along with his mercenary team in Carcino. In Ephraim's route, Knoll was imprisoned and scheduled to be executed before Ephraim and his troupe freed him.
    • Path of Radiance features the Heron Prince Reyson held hostage as a pet by a crazy noble. Ike's mercenaries are hired to rescue him. He would be a Quirky Bard if he wasn't, quite frankly, one of the most powerful utility characters in the game. He also essentially rescues himself before Ike's mercenaries arrive.
    • Early on in Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light's DS remake, Shadow Dragon, Gordin is bound and gagged in an enemy uniform in the hopes that Marth will mistakenly kill him and be branded a murderous tyrant. You can choose to rescue him. Oh, and the villain behind it even calls him "Gaggles".
    • Leo's son Forrest in Fire Emblem Fates is captured and held hostage by bandits who mistake him for a pretty girl. His paralogue and recruitment center around defeating the enemy and ensuring he survives, he joins the party at the end of the chapter.
  • Fleish & Cherry in Crazy Hotel is an adventure/puzzle game set in an Inkblot Cartoon Style world where Cherry, love interest of cartoon star Fleish the Fox, is the one who has to rescue her boyfriend when he gets kidnapped by his arch-nemesis Mr. Mallow.
  • Freedom Planet 2: During the Globe Opera arc, Mayor Zao of Shang Mu gets kidnapped by Merga's forces as part of a scheme to lure the main heroines into a trap and enact their leader's plan of taking over their home base in Shang Tu. He was eventually rescued by his fellow protege Libbie, as her dialogue in the City Hall hub states otherwise.
  • In Ghost Squad (2004)], there's a mission where you must rescue the president after he was taken hostage by Indigo Wolves terrorists on Air Force One.
  • James Bond in Goldeneye 1997 gets captured twice and it's lampshaded by M, who is exasperated by it the second time. In the first case, Bond breaks into an enemy bunker and get surrounded by guards, which gets him thrown into a cell. The second case, which is based on the movie, has Bond being detained by Mishkin for questioning in regards to Bond's involvement in the Severnaya Incident. In both cases, Bond manages to bust himself out and escape.
  • Golden Sun: Dark Dawn: Matthew and Amiti are the only male player characters not subject to this trope.
    • Tyrell crashes a borrowed soarwing in the Tanglewood out of his own overconfidence and stupidity. He happens upon a Psynergy Vortex, gets drained, and remains unconscious until the party shows up to save him.
    • Rief nearly repeats Tyrell's mistake involving a nearby Vortex, only for the Tuaparang to come along and some Mooks distract you while he gets kidnapped by the leaders. You later find him Bound and Gagged in a box.
    • Eoleo is arrested for piracy and locked in a suspended cage outside Belinsk Castle to frighten him out of using his powers to get away. He is one of the two sentenced to Cruel and Unusual Death by boiling alive during the full moon festival. Fortunately, it doesn't come to that. Unfortunately, what does happen is much worse.
  • Grand Theft Auto V has a mission, "Fresh Meat" where Michael is kidnapped by The Triads and is hung upside-down in a meat processing plant in an attempt to coerce his former friend Trevor. When that fails (due to Trevor previously discovering that Michael had backstabbed him long ago), Michael is left for dead. Franklin, another of Michael's friends, has to rescue Michael before he gets ground up by the meat processing machines.
  • Hiveswap: In Act 2, when Xefros is taken hostage by Chahut and the rest of the Purplebloods, and is thrown around like a ragdoll for emphasis, Joey spends the remaining portion of the segment alone, running back and forth throughout the train trying to save him.
  • In Ib, Ib meets Garry when she saves him from a painting who stole his rose and was plucking it to pieces. Later on, if Garry fails to escape the doll room before his time limit is up, Ib has to save him again.
  • In Immortal Love 8: Sparkle of Talent Emma has to rescue her husband Oliver after he's abducted by Radcliffe and his minions.
  • For a series with most of it's women Damsels in Distress, a few males in the Kingdom Hearts series wind in in this situation, such as Pinocchio, Santa Claus, Jack Sparrow, Phillip, and even Sora himself.
  • King's Quest has Edgar...who spends most of his first appearance as a Mook of Lolotte's, and his second appearance transmogrified into a troll.
  • Kirby:
    • In Kirby: Triple Deluxe, King Dedede gets kidnapped by Taranza which drives the plot of the game.
    • There's also Elfilin from Kirby and the Forgotten Land. Halfway through the game, he gets kidnapped by King Dedede and is brought back to Lab Discovera to be reunited with his Evil Counterpart, Fecto Forgo, and it becomes Kirby's mission to save him. Then, in the post-game, the duo enter the Isolated Isles of Forgo Dreams to save Leongar from Soul Forgo's clutches.
  • Kuri Kinton: The objective of the game is to rescue a senior police officer and his daughter.
  • The Legend of Zelda:
  • There are multiple distressed dudes in Lorelai who have to be rescued by the female protagonist. Her love interest is the most prominent example, who gets knocked unconscious and abducted (along with her baby sister) by her evil stepfather in the second half of the game, leaving Lorelai determined to resurrect in time to stop him from murdering them both. There's also Jimmy, who shares a lot of critical info with Lorelai in the afterlife and then gets captured/imprisoned by the Queen of Maggots, leaving him helpless until Lorelai can find his body in the real world and wake him up.
  • The plot of the Mass Effect 2 expansion "Lair of the Shadow Broker" is kicked off by Liara's efforts to rescue her friend Feron from a ruthless information trader.
  • Sergeant Magnusson in Medal of Honor: Vanguard is captured by the Nazis in 'Behind Enemy Lines' and Keegan and his squad are tasked with rescuing him.
  • In METAGAL, Meta needs to save her creator, Dr. Ray, from General Creeper.
  • Metal Gear games almost always have a scene where the protagonist is captured, tortured, then given the means to escape by a woman (okay, Otacon or Gray Fox in Metal Gear Solid, but they're Snake's Not Love Interests and probably qualify).
  • The PC game Mickey Saves the Day 3D Adventure centers around the newly-announced mayor of the town getting kidnapped by Pete. Normally it would be Minnie being kidnapped if the player is Mickey, but if playing as Minnie, Mickey himself becomes the one in distress and she has to go rescue him from Pete's not-so-secret hideout.
  • Mischief Makers had the heroine Marina constantly having to save her perverted mentor. The final time he's kidnapped, he lampshades it when he decides that getting kidnapped is his destiny and doesn't even resist.
  • Mission Impossible (1990): Dr. O, the brilliant scientist who developed the US military defense system that controls their nuclear weapons. His kidnapping by The Sinister Seven is what starts the game.
  • Mystic Warriors begins with one of the playable characters being kidnapped. Four out of five of them are male, so there's good odds that this trope comes into play, as the rest of the team chases them down throughout most of the stages.
  • In the arcade version of Ninja Gaiden, your nameless ninja gets chained on the floor during the Game Over sequence while a buzz saw is descending from the ceiling.
  • 9S in NieR: Automata gets captured by Adam after being separated from 2B. The Japanese game cover even shows 2B holding an unconscious 9S in a Bridal Carry.
  • In Night Trap, Lt. Simms informs you that you have to protect the Damsels in Distress at a sleepover party (Lisa, Cindy, Ashley, Megan, and S.C.A.T. member Kelly Medd) from getting captured and killed by vampiric Augers. However, in the 2017 remaster, it's not just the girls who need saving... it's Lisa's kid brother Danny as well. In one of the Deleted Scenes added for the remaster, it's your job to save him from being drained by the augers in the downstairs hallway, or else it's Game Over.
  • In Opoona, Opoona himself, along with his brother Copoona, get captured at the start of the second half of the game, and become trapped in Paradiso, the supposed paradise of the planet. It's up to their sister Poleena, along with her new gal-pal Chaika, to rescue them.
  • Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2: In the "Music Hour" stage, JIN2 is kidnapped by a band of criminals, and ends up being rescued by a trio of housewives who happen to be his biggest fans.
  • Pikmin 3 has Olimar, who is discovered to be held captive by the Mysterious Life Form/Plasm Wraith at the end of the main campaign.
    • Also, there's Captain Charlie, who spends time in the second area trapped in the belly of the Vehemoth Phosbat.
  • Pirate101: At one point the pirate character Catbeard is arrested after years of all the crime he has commited catches up to him. The player and all your companions you met along the way work together to free him before he can be convicted and (based off of Marleybone's track record) likely executed.
  • The 'Save Our Seeds' levels in Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time have 'endangered plants' which the player must protect from the zombies in order to complete the level.
  • Happens several times throughout the Ratchet & Clank series, mostly towards Clank. The most heartbreaking case is when the Zoni capture him at the end of Tools of Destruction, and he then spends the next two years in a coma.
    • Ratchet is captured and rendered comatose by Luna in Size Matters, and has to be saved by Clank. And in the sequel, well...
    • Merc and Green get captured at one point in Deadlocked. Of course, Merc is quickly rescued, but it's a few missions before Green is saved.
  • Resident Evil 4: Most gamers expecting to see Damsel in Distress Ashley getting the first bondage scene were surprised to see a bound and gagged Luis Sera pop out of a closet near the end of Chapter 1. And at the start of Chapter 2, Leon and Luis are tied to each other as one of the villagers infected with a virus tries to kill them but they escape, that is if the timing is right.
  • The plot of Marl Kingdom really kicks off once the handsome prince Ferdinand is kidnapped and turned to stone (unfortunately, not in that order), leaving the heroine to save him.
    • Similarly, Croix of La Pucelle Tactics spends the last chapter of the game kidnapped and strapped to a sacrificial altar, waiting for the heroine Prier to rescue him.
  • In Sam & Max Hit the Road, during a confrontation with Conroy Bumpus at Gator Golf, Bumpus' bodyguard throws Max into the booth on the other side of the flooded golf course. Since Max functions as a Live Item (oh, and because they're best buds), Sam has to find a way across the course to save him before the game can progress.
  • In Secret of Mana, Purim's reason for joining the party is to rescue Dyluck.
  • Tokugawa Ieyasu, as far as Sengoku Basara is concerned. Starting the second installment, this trope practically becomes Ieyasu's gimmick, to the point that the whole purpose of Tadakatsu's Story Mode is to have various characters race to kidnap Ieyasu, tie him up and get their ass kicked by Tadakatsu, only to have him witness ANOTHER batch of Ninja kidnap Ieyasu in front of him! While in the expansion Ieyasu takes a break from this routine, he goes back to this routine of constantly kidnapped again in the fighting game spinoff Sengoku Basara X, and worse, if you leave him be, it will cause disadvantages for your character (Tadakatsu).
  • Shining Resonance begins with its protagonist, Yuma, being rescued from Gaelritz Prison by the knights of Astoria. Once he's safely within their Capitol, he spends the next several chapters under Astoria's protection, with additional aid from the Dragoneers.
  • This happens several times throughout the Sly Cooper games and has happened to the main trio at least twice. There have been two incidents where Sly himself is captured alongside Carmelita Fox; the first time, they are saved by Bentley; the second by Tennessee Kid Cooper.
    • In the second game, Sly and Murray are captured by the Contessa following Neyla's Face–Heel Turn and are held in a prison on Prague. Chapter 4's main quest is for Bentley to save his friends; Sly is rescued early on, while the final mission involves saving Murray, who's been fed race-inducing spices.
    • In the fourth game, Sir Galleth finds himself captured by a robotic dragon built by Penelope, and is saved by Carmelita. He finds this embarrassing to be saved by a woman, and they agree to keep it a secret from the others.
  • In The Smurfs (1994) by Infogrames, a few Smurfs in addition to Smurfette must also be rescued from Gargamel.
  • In Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley, Moomintroll tried to negotiate with the Park Keeper, but ended up getting arrested. The game's second half revolves around trying to break him out of prison.
  • The leader of the bears gets kidnapped by the Evil Guy in Something Else and it is up to Luigi to save him if Luigi wants to return to the Mushroom Kingdom.
  • Tails in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-bit) is captured by Eggman and Sonic goes out to save him. Beating the game without all the chaos emeralds results in Tails not being rescued and it is implied, although vaguely, that Tails was killed as a result.
  • Spelunky gives the player the option of turning the Damsel in Distress on each floor into a half-naked, buff guy.
  • In Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, you and a couple party members are kidnapped by The Dragon, and have to pick a party member to stage a jailbreak.
  • During the concluding sequence of Nar Shadda in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords, the player gets captured and imprisoned by G0-T0 on his orbital yacht, and you get to choose two party members who break in and rescue you.
  • Streets of Rage 2 plot is about Mr. X managing to kidnap one of the guys who beat him last time, Adam Hunter, and it's up to his two buddies that also beat Mr. X, Axel Stone and Blaze Fielding, along with two more new friends, Eddie 'Skate' Hunter and Max Thunder, to beat Mr. X again and save Adam. He returns the favor next game not by being playable, but by pulling several Big Damn Heroes and implying of having other business backstage.
  • The Stretchers sees a couple notable examples of men who end up at the mercy of Captain Brains; namely, he hypnotizes the Bridger twins into becoming Dizzies and later on kidnaps Professor Doctor, his own father.
  • Super Mario Bros.:
    • Super Mario 64: Mario and Luigi (along with Wario) in the DS remake actually start out being trapped by Goomboss, King Boo, and Chief Chilly. The player starts off as Yoshi and has to defeat Goomboss, King Boo, and Chief Chilly first in order to save and unlock the three plumbers.
    • Super Princess Peach: Mario, Luigi, and Toad are captured by Bowser's army of elite Hammer Bros. It's up to Peach and her new ally Perry to rescue them from Bowser and his minions.
    • As of late, Luigi seems to have been put in the unenviable position of 'Character everybody would rather play as'. In an effort to make players work for their reward, he's been made unavailable throughout Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario 3D Land. The easy way to accomplish this is, of course, kidnapping.
    • Mario Party 2 has the host Toad, when the first five boards are cleared. To rescue him, it'll be necessary to complete the final board (Bowser Land), and doing so will also unlock the game's ending and credits.
    • Yoshi's Safari has a king and prince kidnapped by Bowser while Princess Peach, who is the king and prince's friend, asks Mario and Yoshi to save them.
    • Mario in both Mario Is Missing! and Luigi's Mansion, where he's imprisoned by Bowser and trapped in a painting by King Boo. Both times, Luigi has to bail him out. The second and third Luigi's Mansion games both double down on this trope, with several Toads needing rescuing along with Mario, though game three also has Peach joining the unfortunate club.
    • All three games in the Yoshi's Island series center around Yoshi having to rescue Baby Luigi from Kamek and reuinite him with Baby Mario.
  • Fon Master Ion from Tales of the Abyss manages to get kidnapped a grand total of four times in the course of a single game. Justified as he's both rather sickly and a target of various villains for their plans.
  • Touhou Kenbun Roku: Happens to Bunroku in Chapter 2.
  • In Uncle Albert's Magical Album, the player must save Tom the talking chameleon, who was accidentally trapped inside Uncle Albert's album with the treasure.
  • Uncommon Time does this to Saki during Movement 2, as he's poisoned in the fight with the behemoth and is bedridden until you can find an antidote.
  • Throughout the course of the first Warriors Orochi, Liu Bei spends his time being held hostage in Orochi's prison and be the focus of the battle for the rest of the Shu characters, whereas other rulers like Nobunaga, Cao Cao, and Sun Jian eventually broke out and join in kicking Orochi's ass. In the sequel, however, Liu Bei is able to return to kick some ass to make up for his Distressed Dude time from the prequel.
    • The first cutscene of Shu's story mode in the first game is Zhao Yun in prison with his hands tied behind his back; then Xing Cai, Yoshihiro Shimazu, and Zuo Ci show up and break him out.
    • In fact, Nobunaga did not need any rescue at all, since he's one of the starting characters for the Sengoku story mode. However, you get to rescue BOTH Sun Jian and his son Sun Quan in one of Wu's battles.
  • In Webbed, a male spider is captured by a bowerbird, and his girlfriend is the protagonist who goes on a journey to save him.
  • Edward in Witches' Legacy is only slightly less likely to find himself in trouble than Lynn — probably because neither Morgana nor Elisabeth seems interested in him as anything other than a way to get to her. But he still manages to find himself in some sort of jam each game. Like being trapped in a dreamstate or turned into a puppet or kidnapped by the sorcerer Mathias.
  • World's End Club: After arriving in Tokyo, Pochi stays behind while he fends off MAIK's robotic forces before he's captured and taken to the old school building. The next stage has the others arriving to rescue him.
  • Koltira Deathweaver is showing a disturbing propensity for this in World of Warcraft, despite ostensibly being a badass. The first time we meet him is in the Death Knight starting zone, where he's been abducted and tortured by a Scarlet inquisitor and has to be rescued. One expansion later, in Cataclysm: he gets abducted again, this time by Sylvanas Windrunner, who's implied to be "re-educating" him to be more loyal to her after he intentionally let his enemy counterpart go after a battle, because they were friends. Dude can't catch a break.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh!:
    • In Yu-Gi-Oh! Reshef of Destruction, Mokuba is kidnapped near the end of the game and brainwashed.
    • In Yu-Gi-Oh! BAM, Joey gets captured by the Ghouls early on, forcing you and Yugi to save him. While you're successful in rescuing Joey, Yugi gets arrested by the police immediately after.

Previous

Index

Next

  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Wide Load

Important Links

Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Go Ad Free!
Crucial Browsing
Resources
Top