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Fan Preferred Couple / Video Games

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Fan Preferred Couples in Video Games.

Series with their own subpage:

Other Series

  • Assassin's Creed: While Altaïr is canonically paired with Maria, most fans prefer to pair him with Malik, due to their tense relationship-turned-friendship and feeling that they had better chemistry, with Altaïr/Malik still dominating fan works for the franchise even to this day.
  • Given that almost all of the Official Couples in the Aveyond series are Strangled by the Red String, and the characters tend to have better defined relationships with other people, this is practically a given.
    • Ahriman's Prophecy's canon is Devin/Alicia, but he is more popularly paired with Talia, his Childhood Friend whom he has more interactions with. It should be noted that Devin/Talia is canon in AP, but that things changed between games and Devin ended up with Alicia afterwards.
    • In Aveyond 1, the number of Lars/Rhen fans outweigh the canon Dameon/Rhen fans, to the point that an official patch was released to add a bonus ending where Rhen goes back to Veldarah with Lars after the adventure is over to teach at Shadwood Academy.
    • For Aveyond 3 most fans ship Mel/Edward, since their early dynamics resemble a classic Belligerent Sexual Tension, and their in-game roles seem a set-up for them to eventually hook-up. However, while the gameplay allows Edward to marry Mel, Word of God confirms that his canon love interest is Stella.
  • Bayonetta: Despite Bayonetta having a Relationship Upgrade with Luka in the third game, it is far more popular in the fandom to pair her with Jeanne. This is due to many fans feeling that they have better chemistry, the loads of Les Yay between them, and Jeanne being a fan favorite character. This isn't helped by many considering the romance between Bayonetta and Luka in the third game to be forced.
  • Cyberpunk 2077: The Player Character, V, has a lot of romance options in the game, but the most popular ship for the fandom is V with a character you can't romance, Johnny Silverhand. This is because Johnny spends the entirety of the game in V's head, the game largely being centered around their bonding and the fact Johnny is played by Keanu Reeves. Most of the game's fanfiction pair V (particularly the female version) with Johnny.
  • Darkstalkers: Played with in regards to Demitri/Morrigan. While it's teased quite a bit in the games, and actually ends up being canon for both the OVA and manga (possibly as a result of fans latching onto the ship), many other fans prefer the Les Yay vibes Morrigan has towards her "younger sister" Lilith or even pair her up with Jedah — the former being a prominent theme in their interactions ever since Lilith's debut and the latter ship seeing gaining some additional traction due to the strange amount of concern Morrigan shows Jedah in Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite. Demitri/Morrigan still appears to be the more popular ship, but the others have been steadily growing in popularity. Morrigan being a succubus with Extreme Omnisexual tendencies likely accounts for this.
  • In the reboot DmC: Devil May Cry, Vergil/Kat were the designated canon pairing, yet far more people prefer Dante/Kat due to the latter's far better treatment of Kat as well as being fully transparent with her regarding his intentions.
  • For Devil Survivor 2:
    • While there is no Official Couple in the game, the protagonist is capable of hitting on many of the girls, and thus many of them like him (which can really be said for everyone). However it's easy to see without the FATE route that Yamato develops as a person by just being in the protagonist's presence, originally seeing him as a pawn he can use, to seeing him as a capable leader, and then finally acknowledging the hero as his only friend that he can rely on. So if you take a route that isn't Yamato... he will not take it well at all. Given his backstory, though, it's understandable why he becomes clingy to the hero in the first place. The anime also doesn't help with upping Yamato's obsessive nature toward Hibiki and all the artwork promotes him, Hibiki, and Alcor (particularly one line where he tells Io that Hibiki is his, contrast to the game where he threatens to slash everyone's throat for daring to corrupt his hero).
    • The latter are popular more so in the anime than in the game. In the game, the two are partners but get separated because of Rolando attacking the Nagoya branch. Airi gets really angry if Jungo is killed and is relieved if he survives (mind you Jungo is one of the hardest people to save in the game). Jungo doesn't mind Airi using him as a way to vent her frustration and he always tries to cheer her up. Neither of them take it well in the game when they take different sides of the issue (she chooses law and Jungo goes neutral) when they fight each other in battle but are quick to forgive each other. In the anime Jungo is always saving Airi when she's in danger. Jungo puts Airi over everyone else in the party given his personality to save his friends. It makes their death painfully tragic because Jungo could have avoided his Death Clip but he chose to save Airi... but it ended up being in vain and Jungo realizes that when he stops running and holds her tightly before they're both blown up.
  • Disco Elysium: While Lilienne acts as something of a canon Love Interest for the Detective, the vast majority of the fandom prefers to pair the latter with his work partner Kim instead. A particularly stark illustration of this can be seen through the game's tags on fanfiction website Archive of Our Own: at the time of writing, the Detective and Lilienne have 7 fics pairing them as a couple, while the Detective and Kim have over a thousand.
  • Dynasty Warriors:
    • Before the sixth game, Sun Shang Xiang was usually paired with any of the "hot" Wu guys like Gan Ning, Lu Xun, Ling Tong, or Zhou Yu as opposed to her canon Love Interest Liu Bei. Koei seemed to counter this by making Liu Bei much younger and attractive looking in DW6. Before he looked a good 15-20 years older than her. After doing this there was a noted rise of Liu Bei/Sun Shang Xiang fan art and fanfics. Mission Accomplished.
    • Guan Ping and Xing Cai. Despite her being based on the historical wives of Liu Shan, Koei has teased that they might have feelings for each other.
    • For a Squick-tastic one, there was a time where fans liked pairing Lu Xun with either of the Qiao sisters, regardless of the fact that Lu Xun would go on to marry Da Qiao's daughter historically, thus making it look like Lu Xun has an infatuation with either his mother-in-law or aunt-in-law. Given they look like the youngest bunch in the Wu group at that time...
    • Sima Shi and Wang Yuanji is slowly becoming one, despite the latter being paired with the former's brother, Sima Zhao. It doesn't help that Yuanji seems to be more affectionate towards Shi than Zhao.
  • Dragon Age II:
    • Those who don't romance Merrill usually pair her with Carver, who flirts with her during the game.
    • Plenty of fans ignore the fact that Varric isn't a romance option and pair him with their Hawke.
    • Many non-mage players alternately ship him with Bethany, with whom he is shown to have considerable Ship Tease.
  • Dragon Quest:
    • Dragon Quest V really wants the player to choose Bianca as the Hero's bride, but many of the remake's players picked Deborah as the protagonist's wife for her looks, Hidden Heart of Gold (which becomes more obvious late in the game in party conversations) and for having some of the funniest dialogue in the game (such as when she tells the priest blessing their wedding to hurry up with his speech).
    • Dragon Quest VI: Although Hero/Ashlynn is the canon couple, there are quite a few fanfics featuring Hero/Milly.
    • Dragon Quest XI: Although Hero/Gemma is canon, Hero/Jade is a very popular ship. Despite the stated tone of their relationship, many feel their tender moments together edge into amorous territory. Not to mention the prince of Dundrasil and the princess of Heliodor making for a natural match, which is lampshaded in the Switch version. Not to mention, before the events of the game, Jade (as a child) only knew the Hero as a newborn baby, so seeing the present-day Hero, a virtual stranger, as her sibling-figure doesn't seem to make much sense. As of the Switch version, the player can choose to make it a reality.
  • In The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, the Dragonborn and Serana from Dawnguard have been heavily shipped by the fandom over the majority of the other potential partners, who praise her well-developed character and how much depth was given to her burgeoning relationship with the Dragonborn. Many were disappointed that she's not a romance option, as despite the Ship Tease, she politely turns down your proposal, citing her dislike of temples and other personal issues.
  • Fans of Eternal Sonata think that Chopin and Polka have better chemistry than the Official Couple... despite the fact A) she's analogous to his real-life dead little sister, and B) he's twenty-five years older. A lot of this depends on what version you're playing, though.
  • Final Fantasy:
  • Fire Emblem:
    • Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light
      • Palla/Abel was considered this for some time, relative to the Official Couple of Abel/Est. Est's status as a Low-Tier Letdown, and the Downer Ending the couple get were given as reasons why Palla/Abel is preferred. Strangely, it seems to be primarily driven by antipathy for Abel/Est and the desire for an alternative, which is likely why it was displaced by...
      • Palla/Minerva has become the most popular pairing for either character by a wide margin—in Archanean shipping circles, only Official Couple Marth/Caeda tends to be less common. This is mainly because unlike Palla/Abel, which is almost entirely undeveloped, Palla/Minerva have rather meaningful interactions, and their close bond and contrasts are evident whenever they speak of each other. It certainly doesn't hurt that Minerva, despite being incredibly popular and one of the more important characters, has never had any kind of canon love interest.
      • Merric/Linde is much more popular than the borderline-canon Merric/Elice, despite the two not interacting much. (Linde's one-sided crush mentioned in her epilogue is often assumed to be on Merric, but that's never confirmed.)
    • Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem:
      • For a time in the fandom, people greatly preferred Marth with Catria instead of his canon girlfriend and eventual wife Caeda/Shiida, whom they preferred to pair with Ogma. In an aversion of Die for Our Ship, they get along with Marth/Caeda fans, though.
      • Palla's a bit of an oddball. For a while, the Fan-Preferred Couple for her was to get her with Abel, due to her unrequited crush and the common view that Abel was better off with her than with her sister Est, his official love interest - especially since the two along with several other characters inexplicably vanish into Uncertain Doom in the epilogue (supposedly a Sequel Hook for a never-made third game). With the release of the remakes and Fire Emblem Heroes, though, Palla/Minerva has taken off and distinctly surpassed it, due in part to distaste for All Love Is Unrequited and in part their rather strong supports in New Mystery that all but state that Palla was Minerva's closest partner among the Whitewings. It certainly doesn't hurt the pairing's popularity that while the games certainly imply Palla's crush is on Abel, her descriptions are vague enough that it could still be someone else, and Minerva conspicuously doesn't have any male partners.
    • Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War:
      • Because Seliph and Julia are actually half-siblings, they can't be paired up through normal means, but rather start at a nearly full relationship meter that gradually decreases. Despite this, many fans prefer to pair them together as there are many Ship Tease moments between the two, mostly in the form of Shipper on Deck comments. Also, it is technically possible to circumvent the decreasing love meter by exploiting a glitch in the "jealousy" system.
      • If you take account on characterization, not gameplay prowess (in which any pair is fair game), you're more likely to see the pairs of Lex/Ayra, Azelle/Tailtiu and Finn/Lachesis among fanarts that pair the ladies with their prospect husbands. (To compare with some other suitors: Chulainn is often forgotten since he's out of the way, Lewyn already has a canon wife according to Thracia 776 (Erinys), Dew is typically used a pick-up father for any remaining pairing that has a unmounted sword-wielding child, and Beowolf is something of a Base-Breaking Character). Because of Azelle/Tailtiu, Edain's Fan-Preferred Couple tends to boil down between either Jamke or Midir, neither pairing having a clear lead over the other. Some of these pairings were referenced in Kaga's Notes and even used in the Mitsuki Oosawa manga, which further boosted fan-preference for them.
      • A particular case is Brigid: Because only one of her three predestined pairings (Jamke) is considered to be somewhat decent (and even so, he has his flaws, such as giving Febail low accuracy, or giving Patty the somewhat counter-productive Charge skill), an entire slew of Fan Preferred Couples have sprung up, the most popular of which are probably Brigid/Dew, Brigid/Lex and Brigid/Chulainn.
      • Going against the first sub-bullet, there are some who still considered Lewyn/Tailtiu their OTP for Tailtiu, since Lewyn is one of the Game Breakers of the first gen, and the pairing will result in Forseti falling into Arthur's hands; both of them being foot units, and arguably easier to pair together than Azelle and Tailtiu (since Azelle becomes mounted upon promotion, and tends to outpace Tailtiu), certainly helps, as does the dialogue between Lewyn and their daughter Tine, which is one of the few times he shows any emotional vulnerability during the second generation. On top of all this is the fact that Tailtiu and Lewyn appeared in Fire Emblem Heroes much sooner than Azelle and Erinys did.
      • In the second generation, you have fans pairing Seliph with Tine due to the couple drawing many parallels to Sigurd and Deirdre, which Tine lampshades herself in her lovers conversation with Seliph in the final chapter. Since Seliph's journey is supposed to be a reconstruction of Sigurd's, Tine rejecting Seliph's offer to stay back at home from the final battle seems to be coming full circle considering a very similar situation happened to his parents that obviously did not end well. Additionally, many fans see this in a catharsis light as well: Tine was abused to hell and back by Hilda for no apparent reason other than sadism while Hilda continued to desire for a higher position in royalty by pressuring her own daughter Ishtar to marry Julius for the position. Pairing Tine with Seliph, who would end up being the new Emperor of Grannvale, was basically a middle finger to Hilda's desires by having Tine gain all that Hilda coveted after years of her abuse.
      • Shannan/Oifey has a small following, primarily as an alternative to the below-mentioned Squick of having them end up with girls half their age (or, in Shannan's case, his cousin), and also because the idea of them essentially becoming Seliph's two dads is quite sweet.
    • Among old-school parts of the Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade fandom, Melady/Guinivere and Perceval/Elffin are quite popular, and tend to show up together. Both Melady and Perceval are heavily devoted to their noble, and many of their supports deal with their relationship and their suffering, and Perceval adds the dynamic that his noble is in disguise and has to play around it. The characters are also extremely popular in their own right due to their great power and good designs. Melady cannot support Guinivere (as Guinivere can't be deployed in the campaign) and has a boyfriend, but as said boyfriend dies, it doesn't much impact the ship's popularity.
    • Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade: Although both are viable marriage candidates for Hector, and the light novel adaptation for Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade states that Hector ended up with Florina while Lyn ended up with Rath, Lyn and Florina are each other's most popular pairing, considering that Florina Does Not Like Men initially and seems to be crushing hard on Lyn. It doesn't hurt that they have a paired ending if they A-rank each other's support, and said ending basically has them retire to live together.
    • Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones:
      • It's not uncommon among fans of to note that Eirika/L'Arachel's supports have a stronger romantic arc than the canonically possible Ephiram/L'Arachel. Unsurprisingly, it's one of her most popular options, if not her most.
      • Ephraim can end up with three women and have ambiguous ending with some male characters, but for the most part, the fandom seems to have fallen behind shipping him with the tragically doomed Lyon who canonically is in love with Eirika.
    • Western Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn fandom tends to like pairing Micaiah with Zelgius or Pelleas over the canon Sothe/Micaiah on account of the rather awkward implications of Micaiah having basically raised Sothe, and yet being able to marry him.
    • Fire Emblem: Awakening: Since there is no definite canon regarding any of the possible pairings in the game, this is more a case of popular pairings that are not possible in-game and are more popular than their possible hook-ups:
      • Pairing Basilio and Flavia together is much more popular than their only possible in-game pairings with the Female and Male Avatar respectively. Their Like an Old Married Couple interactions throughout the entire game made everyone who played the games scratch their heads when they saw their supports can only go up to the A Rank.
      • Maribelle/Lissa and Severa/Noire are the most popular ships for each other on AO3 due to having a very solid relationship in their Supports and in-story scenes, even though you cannot pair them up.
      • In the west, Gerome is Inigo's most popular pairing in this game due to their humorous dynamic together and Inigo's jealousy at him being easily interpreted as something else.
      • Pairing Chrom and the male Robin is almost if not just as popular as with the female Robin and is the most popular ship for the Male Robin, many claim their supports where they show camaraderie to each other feel more romantic than the female Robin/Chrom's supports that attempt for more comedic interactions.
    • Fire Emblem Fates has Scarlet/Ryoma. Although Scarlet can only support with the Avatar, she receives a fair amount of Ship Tease with Ryoma, especially during Revelation, in which Scarlet ends up suffering a Plotline Death shortly after her introduction. Despite her inability to support with Ryoma, he's her most popular pairing partner.
    • Fire Emblem: Three Houses:
      • In the JP community, Dimitri/Male Byleth is by far the most popular ship for male Byleth despite the fact that the two cannot actually S-support in the game.
      • Dimitri/Claude is one of the biggest examples of this in the player base. The pair is incredibly popular, perhaps more so than any other same-sex pairing for Claude, despite the fact that the two cannot support each other due to the mechanics of the game. It’s helped by the fact that the two are mostly on friendly terms during the game and that in the Drama CD that has been released, Claude also comments on Dimitri’s body and is noted by Dimitri to have been staring.
      • Despite Sylvain's skirt-chasing antics, his most popular pairing is with Felix, and vice versa for Felix, despite the latter's comparatively larger number of A-supports.note  The fact that their supports and paired ending have a heavy dosing of Ho Yay make it popular to assume even outside of a certain demographic that they both end up together. It is one of the biggest ships in the fanbase and as a testament to the ships popularity, it currently has the most fics on Ao3, beating out every other pairing in the game including ones involving the lords/the main character.
      • Ferdinand and Hubert are each other's most popular romance options due to their A+ support reading almost like an S support, romantic music and blushing included.
      • Hilda and Marianne are more commonly shipped together more than any of Hilda's available romance options due to Hilda's desire to take care of Marianne when she's struggling being adorable. They easily have the second-most fanart of any yuri pairing next to Edelgard and female Byleth.
  • Grand Theft Auto V: Considering all the Ho Yay they get and the highly dysfunctional state of Michael's marriage for most of the game, it's more common to see fan works pair Michael up with Trevor than his canonical wife Amanda.
  • Inazuma Eleven has Endou and Aki apposed to the Official Couple Endou and Natsumi or Fuyuka depending on adaption though most of the fans got over it when they realized that she probably ended up with Ichinose.
  • Injustice: While there is not a lot of shipping in the fandom, easily the biggest ship is Superman and Batman, despite Superman's canon love interests being Lois and Wonder Woman and Batman's being Catwoman, as well as them being enemies in this continuity. Almost any shipping content for the games will be Superman/Batman focused.
  • Jade Empire has a maximum of three romantic options within the party... so, naturally, the most popular pairing is the PC/Sagacious Zu, a character who makes a Heroic Sacrifice right when the canon romances begin to play themselves out.
  • Kingdom Hearts: Kairi has a decent amount of possible romantic subtext with Sora, as they both exchange paopu fruit with each other in Kingdom Hearts III. Among many queer fans, however, the pairing of Sora with his best friend and rival Riku is vastly more popular; the duo's combined Keyblade does also have a paopu fruit as the keychain, after all. There are also many who take a third option and ship them together in an OT3.
  • League of Legends:
    • Jarvan IV/Shyvana is a very popular couple in the fanbase, despite certain Riot staff stating a preference for J4/Quinn. The Lux comic runs with this, with Jarvan IV being very reluctant to marry anyone due to already being in love. He later states this someone is not so different from Sylas in terms of magical ability, which rules out this someone being anyone but Shyvana (since most Demacians have to hide their magic or risk exile or death).
    • Graves and Twisted Fate were both paired together ever since Graves' release, given that the two had once been partners and Twisted Fate had betrayed Graves in exchange for power. At the time, Twisted Fate and Evelynn were listed as exes and TF was far from over her. However, as canon was expanded, Twisted Fate's backstory was retconned so he did not in fact betray Graves, Graves only thought he did. After the Burning Tides event, the two rekindled their friendship and fan content for the pair exploded in scope, so that Graves/TF is one of the fandom's most popular pairings. Ex-Riot staff Runaan even said she intended for them to be married in the Double Double Cross cinematic. Note It all came to a head in 2022 where the Pride emotes for the year featured Graves and TF holding hands in one, while they replicate a famous scene from Brokeback Mountain in another, more or less confirming they are a male-loving-male romantic couple.
    • In the Star Guardian universe, Ezreal and Lux share heavy Ship Tease suggesting the pair are in love with one another. However, Jinx/Lux (a.k.a. "Lightcannon") has taken off in popularity. These shippers argue that Lux/Ezreal lacks as compelling a dynamic or stable a foundation as other canon couples, while Lux/Jinx has more parallels that can be drawn between the girls as well as an Opposites Attract dynamic. Just for comparison, Lux/Jinx has about five times the number of works associated with it on Archive of Our Own than Lux/Ezreal.
  • In The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Link and Midna are the most popular pairing, and achieved special longevity in part because of the odd line Midna gives before she leaves in the English version. The official manga adaptation created a decade later would even go on to heavily push the pairing throughout its run, ending with Midna and Link sharing a tearful Last Kiss farewell. Despite this, the game itself is one of the few in the franchise where Link is already all but stated to have a love interest (his childhood friend Ilia).
  • Little Busters!: Rin/Riki is technically the official pairing of Little Busters, even if it's far, far more ambiguous than in most Key games, and certainly plenty of players ship it. But among the more serious fanbase, it's a lot easier to find Riki/Kyousuke or Rin/Komari fan art, and even Riki/Kurugaya is arguably as popular.
  • In Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis, the only ending with a confirmed romantic implication (not counting Vayne-as-queen in Muppy's ending) was between Vayne and Nikki. And yet there's a lot of fan support for Vayne/Jess.
  • Metal Gear:
    • Among the people who play this series who care about shipping, the majority prefer to focus on the extensive Ho Yay, which has lots more development, rather than the often underwhelming and Cartwright Curse-prone canon het romances. This may also have a lot to do with the extreme Camp content of the games, which attracts a big LGBT Fanbase that just doesn't care about the female characters as much.
    • For Metal Gear Solid, Snake/Otacon trumps Snake/Meryl by at least ten to one. The fact that you can actually kill off Meryl in-game to get a Ho Yay-ish ending with Otacon instead really doesn't help.
    • Many fans are also much more interested in Snake and Fox's tragic, sadomasochistic relationship than in Naomi's attraction to Snake.
    • In Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, most fans prefer to focus on the relationship between Snake and Ocelot than the one between him and EVA, and it certainly helps that EVA leaves Snake at the end while Ocelot goes out of his way to be with him again at the end, for inexplicable reasons.
    • With Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, when fans make art or stories involving Dr. Strangelove with anyone, they find her doomed love for The Boss far more interesting than her rather sudden pairing with "Huey" Emmerich. The fact that he would end up killing her years later as revealed in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain further reduced any interest in this pairing.
    • Sure. Raiden is Happily Married to Rose, but Mistral's presence and explicit (albeit one-sided) attraction to him in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance made Fan Art creators explode with the sheer excitement. Raiden also tends to get shipped with his Worthy Opponent Jetstream Sam.
  • Mortal Kombat: Although Kitana and Liu Kang have been a couple in both the original and alternate timelines, in the fan community, Sub-Zero (particularly the younger brother, Kuai Liang) gives the Mortal Kombat Champion a run for his money. As evidenced here and here.
  • Judging by the fan art for Morenatsu, Hiroyuki is paired up with Tatsuki, Kounosuke, and Juuichi more than his Implied Love Interest, Torahiko.
  • Neverwinter Nights 2:
    • The male main character and Neeshka. The majority of fans seem to prefer her to the canonical Elanee. Neeshka was planned to be a canon couple, but it was cut from the game due to time restraints. It's not too hard to see where they intended to take it, and it's a lot more complete than Elanee's, even though it isn't, you know, complete.
    • In the same vein, the female main character and Bishop is also a planned but cut romance option that fans seems to prefer over Casavir, partially due to the latter reminding them of the unpopular Anomen, and partially because the former has heaps of Belligerent Sexual Tension with the female protagonist and, like Neeshka, feels more "complete" than the actual complete romance. Fans like them so much they made a mod that allows a "proper" romance, complete with an epilogue in Mask of the Betrayer
  • Ōkami:
    • Spending all the game in the form of a wolf hasn't stopped people from shipping Ammy with the lighthearted and mysterious, Waka. It helps that the two were close comrades in the past and Ammy's true form is that of a fair maiden.
    • People really like pairing Kai up with Oki due to the light Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl vibes.
  • Onmyōji (2016): Even though Seimei is quite obviously Ship Teased with Yaobikuni in canon, the vast majority of fans like to pair him with Hiromasa, reason being that their corresponding historical figures are frequently portrayed as having a close relationship in other works.
  • Overwatch:
    • Tracer/Widowmaker had people shipping them ever since the very first cinematic trailer for the game came out, and only increased in popularity when the Alive animated short followed. Even though Tracer was eventually revealed to be in a relationship with Emily, that did nothing to deter the fans.
    • Reaper/Soldier: 76 is far more popular than the latter's canon partner, Vincent. Partially due to the relationship being a reveal and the abundance of lore already in the series as both were major members of Overwatch during the Omnic Crisis, and were described as the best of friends. It's helped by the fact they were explicitly said to have loved each other in the past. What this type of love is, however, is not explicit.
  • Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door: In spite of Koops having a girlfriend named Koopie Koo, fans are far more likely to pair him up with fellow party member Vivian, due to both their arcs revolving around learning how to be brave and gain confidence in themselves.
  • PaRappa and Lammy from Parappa The Rapper, despite the fact that both games focused on PaRappa's love of Sunny. There was a Japanese commercial depicting PaRappa falling in love with Lammy, however.
  • Persona:
    • Persona 4: At least on AO3, pairing the protagonist with Yosuke is considerably more popular than any of his actual romance options. It helps that Yosuke actually was meant to be a romance option before the route got cut fairly late in development.
    • Persona 5:
      • The most popular pairing outside of those involving the protagonist by a large margin is Ryuji and Ann. This is helped by both characters being shown to be quite close to each other, as well as Ann's English voice actor personally liking the ship. The pairing was popular enough to start a rumour shortly after the game released in Japan that Ryuji would hook up with Ann if the player didn't romance her.
      • Even though the game lacks any Gay Option for the protagonist, that hasn't stopped Joker/Akechi from enjoying a strong following within the fandom, especially in Japan, to a point where fans joke about it being the game's Official Couple. This is helped by Akechi being Ambiguously Gay and as a result, his Confidant is dripping with subtext between the two. The player even gets an option to greet Akechi with the line "Honey, I'm home" when returning to Leblanc at one pointNote, with Akechi chastising the protagonist for coming home late if the player chooses it. The ship became even more popular with the release of Royal, where Akechi was brought back from his Uncertain Doom by Maruki because Joker's greatest desire was to start fresh with him.
      • Joker/Ryuji is also extremely popular on AO3, despite him getting less in-universe subtext than Akechi or Yusuke.
  • Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity has Dunsparce/Virizion. Dunsparce is set up as a Dogged Nice Guy at first, and they two get a lot of Ship Tease as the game progresses, until Emolga/Virizion suddenly becomes the Official Couple during the final dungeon, with very little foreshadowing. Naturally Dunsparce fans weren't exactly happy with that development...
  • Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon: Also double as Crack Pairing. There are more fan art of Moh Shuvuu and Raidou than any other. There is also quite a bit of Raidou and Demi-Fiend that could easily put it in second place.
  • Rune Factory 3: Shara is intended as the preferred bachelorette for Micah, with her prominence in the pre-marriage OP even if the player chooses someone else, and her model and sprite wears a headdress that resembles a bridal veil. But fans vastly prefer Raven for her quiet, awkward personality and Pia for her cheerful kookiness, and both having Hidden Depths.
  • Invoked, discussed, and deconstructed In-Universe in Senpai, Please Look At Me! In spite of the female protagonist canonically crushing on the titular Senpai, odds are that the player will prefer her best friend James instead due to him having a more well-defined personality, an actual name, a relationship with the protagonist that feels more meaningful than just a schoolgirl infatuation, and endings that are much easier to get than Senpai's. It turns out that Senpai himself is fully aware of this — if you try getting one of James's endings after getting Senpai's best ending, he erases James from the game so that he's the sole available love interest and repeatedly crashes the game in increasingly desperate attempts to make his interactions with the protagonist feel more organic and interesting. After his actions almost completely destroy the game, he breaks down and admits that he knows he's a dull love interest compared to James, with even the beta testers preferring James to him, and wanted to change that.
  • Shining Force II: Sarah is generally the favored Love Interest to Bowie, especially when compared to his canon L.I., Princess Elis. Several long-time players were somewhat bitter that the character who's been with you the whole game and loved you from the start loses out to a princess who gets so few lines in the whole game.
  • Soul Series: Siegfried/Sophitia is a fan couple that garnered some popularity despite Siegfried being a Celibate Hero and Sophitia being Happily Married to Rothion by the ending of Soulcalibur. It would seem like a Crack Pairing if not for some canonical basis: Sophitia has a vision of Siegfried as Nightmare and shares a Destined Battle against him in Soulcalibur; Sophitia steps towards the monstrosity and states her resolve with "I want to save you", implying that she knows Siegfried is Nightmare (or at least Nightmare is a tormented human soul under the sway of the Evil Sword). In Legends (an admittedly non-canon spin-off set between Soul Edge and Soulcalibur), Siegfried's story has him rescue a captured Sophitia, while in IV she is one of the three women to face him before his Final Battle with Nightmare in his story (the other two being Ivy and Hilde, who also have strong ties to Siegfried). VI has Sophitia set out to find a post-possession Siegfried for essentially a reenactment of the previously mentioned Destined Battle, but despite the warm, vaguely romantic subtext of their scenes together, Sophitia is already being courted by her future husband Rothion at this point in the story.
  • Stardew Valley: While Sebastian and Sam have their own respective female love interests (Abigail for Sebastian, and Penny for Sam) in the story, it's also very common for fans to pair the two boys together out of their close friendship and the appeal of Opposites Attract.
    • And of course while everyone has a favourite bachelor(ette) and who the Farmer ultimately ends up with depends solely on you, the player, the majority of the fandom seems to like to pair the female Farmer with either Sebastian or Shane, invoking the Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl dynamic.
  • Street Fighter:
  • In Suikoden V, while (as is typical to the series) the Official Couple for the main character is never explicitly stated, the game beats the player over the head with indirect implications of a romance between the Prince and his bodyguard Lyon. However, it's popular among fans to pair him instead with his younger sister's bodyguard Miakis, a slightly older Genki Girl who's probably the most popular character in the game (or at least the most popular female character). This is particularly true in Japan, where the volume of fan art and fanfics implies that the Prince and Miakis are preferred over the semi-Official Couple by a roughly 3 to 1 margin.
  • Summertime Saga: Judging by the amount of fan-art, players seem to love the idea of pairing up trans Eve with Kevin. They both help out the MC with the music contest but otherwise display no interest in each other, with Eve as a possible partner for MC himself, while Kevin is hinted to have a hidden crush on him.
  • Super Robot Wars generally avoids this between characters from licensed series, in hopes of preventing any unnecessary Ship-to-Ship Combat. However, there are some exceptions:
    • Female protagonist Setsuko Ohara of Super Robot Wars Z and Shinn Asuka in the same game is probably the most supported pairing, as it's one of the few that actually makes a lot of sense considering their close relationship in-game. And because it makes more sense than either of his pairings from the anime.
  • Tales Series:
  • Trails Series:
  • Hyde Kido of Under Night In-Birth has a lot of girls in his life, but he's primarily promoted as being in a tag team with Linne and is confirmed to be attracted to Orie. The fans, however, would rather ship him with Vatista instead.
  • Undertale: Sans/Toriel due to their shared love of jokes. This is despite the fact that Toriel may still be married to King Asgore, whom she used to be soulmates with, but is at the present extremely pissed with him for trying to destroy the human race (and killing 6 human children in the process of said plan). Fans interpret Toriel as already divorced from Asgore, and want Sans and Toriel's mutual love of jokes to evolve into more.
  • Until Dawn:
    • Until Dawn comes with a group of 8 young characters who are conveniently paired off with each other. Still, a lot of people like the idea of Mike and Samantha being together instead of with Jess and Josh, thanks to their statuses as the top badasses of the group. The game seems to encourage this by sticking the two in situations where they save each other and, if both survive, shows them clinging to each other as they watch the lodge go up in flames.
    • Jess and Matt have their shippers, too. They're dating Mike and Emily respectively, but are separated from them halfway through the game, culminating in the two of them escaping the mines together if they both survive to the climax. That plus the facts that Matt's relationship with Em isn't exactly harmonious and that Mike himself is part of a different Fan-Preferred Couple (as mentioned above) lend to people liking the idea of seeing them together.
  • Fans of Valkyria Chronicles vastly prefers the pairing of Selvaria Bles with Johann/Oswald the Iron. Considering what kind of dick Maximillian (the one Selvaria is canonically interested at) is, it should come as no surprise. Radi Jaeger is sometimes a decent substitute, too.
  • Valkyrie Profile: The resident Draco in Leather Pants, Lezard, is unquestionably the favored love interest for main character, Lenneth. He's one of the most dedicated Yanderes you'll come across, but unusually for a male Yandere, the fans eat it up. It's even funnier since Lenneth actually has a genuine love interest- Lucian- with story significance and an arc and is devoted to Lenneth in his own more wholesome way but good luck finding fans who even acknowledge him, let alone ship the two. Lucian just comes across as bland by default and in the face of the much more interesting Lezard he's outright forgettable.
  • Warcraft:
    • Jaina/Sylvanas is more popular than the canon Jaina/Kalecgos, due to their similarities as characters and shared traumatic experiences. On AO3, for example, Jaina/Sylvanas is the most written about pairing for both characters.
    • Jaina and everyone's favorite orc, Thrall, is a popular ship. Such that Chris Metzen mercilessly sank with the novel having Thrall become mates with the Maghari Shamanka Aggra seemingly out of nowhere then letting Jaina get with Kalecgos in MoP. Baring that, stated with extreme confidence that the Thrall/Jaina pairing will never happen during the Q&A at Blizzcon 2010. It didn't really help that designers had previously lampshaded the Thrall/Jaina pairing in an Easter Egg.
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 2: It's actually a bit difficult to find people who ship Jin with his Lost Lenore Lora, as while they exist, a lot of people prefer to pair him with Malos instead. Aside from being the third most written-for XC2 pairing on AO3 (after Brighid/Mòrag and Rex/Pyra), Jin/Malos' popularity has many roots, from their parallels to Official Couple Rex/Pyra, their general closeness, and their ultimate ending where just before they die, they both realize how deep their connection to each other had become, with Jin having regained his will to live because of Malos and Malos' hatred for both the world and himself having worsened because of the tragedy of Jin's life, to the point where a good portion of the pre-Final Boss cutscene is just Malos yelling about how Jin's story is a perfect example of why the world should burn. Even after Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna ~ The Golden Country fleshed out Jin's relationship with Lora more, Jin/Malos was still the more popular pairing.

Alternative Title(s): League Of Legends

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