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Launcher Of A Thousand Ships / Video Games

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Launchers of a Thousand Ships in Video Games.

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  • Ace Attorney:
    • Phoenix Wright gets paired up with everybody: his cheerful sidekick Maya Fey, the deceased Mia Fey, Miles Edgeworth, Franziska von Karma, Godot, Iris from Hazakura Temple... and himself.
    • There's the Memetic Molesters Gant and Gourdy (that's the Lake Monster in case you're wondering).
    • As one fan put it, "If it's breathing and in the Gyakuten series, it'll get shipped with Edgeworth. It's inevitable". However, in Spirit of Justice, Edgeworth makes clear that he's got absolutely no intention of marrying anyone.
    • Apollo is shipped with Shrinking Violets Juniper Woods and Vera Misham, his Fiery Redhead co-worker Athena Cykes, Trucy Wright (which crosses into incest territory, as they're half-siblings but they don't know it), scientist Aura Blackquill, his childhood friend Clay Terran, rock star and prosecutor Klavier Gavin, forensic detective Ema Skye...
  • Advance Wars has three. You have Eagle who gets all the good guys, Hawke who gets all the bad guys and some of the good guys, and Andy who gets it up the butt from everyone. ESPECIALLY Eagle and Hawke.
  • ARMS: About half of the characters get shipped at one point or another. But the most prominent are Spring Man, Min Min and Twintelle. While Spring Man's funny personality can lead to some of the meaningful ships, Twintelle's beauty and poses led her some of the ships early on. Min Min has been shipped quite alot thanks to her inclusion in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
  • Jin Kisaragi from BlazBlue. Aside from him being coupled with his older brother/rival Ragna the Bloodedge and childhood friend Tsubaki, Jin has been coupled with almost every character from the series even if it's almost impossible to happen. Despite him being a total asshole, this must be just a huge turn-on for the fandom.
    • He has never been coupled with Litchi Faye-Ling, though.
    • Ragna himself enjoys a fairly substantial shipping base as well, having, in addition to Jin, been paired with Noel, Rachel, Taokaka, Nu (kinda-sorta), Celica, and several characters who aren't even from the same franchise.
    • Carl Clover also enjoys a fair amount of popularity amongst shippers as well, ranging from Noel and Makoto, to Litchi and his own sister, Ada, and, like Ragna, with several characters who aren't even from the same franchise.
  • Rhys Strongfork from Borderlands gets shipped with basically everyone, mostly Handsome Jack, Jack's Body Double Timothy, his bro Vaughn, Con Woman Fiona and Zer0 despite having a canon Love Interest in Sasha (Fiona's sister).
  • Almost every protagonist in every Danganronpa visual novel can be viewed as one as they are all pretty shippable with each other. As for non-protagonist characters, honorable mentions should go to these people.
  • Dead or Alive
    • Kasumi is shipped with multiple characters, ranging from the fairly mainstream Ryu Hayabusa, the more yurilicious Hitomi or Christie, all the way to straight up incest with her half sister Ayane, or their older brother Hayate. It would seem that whoever the preferred character is, shippers generally feel they go nicely with the cute redheaded kunoichi.
    • Ayane is just as popular for shipping, most often with her half-sister/cousin Kasumi. Though she's also been paired with their brother (Hayate) and with Hayaubusa. DOA Dimensions and DOA5 added Ship Tease between her and newcomer Elliot, and Ayane/Momiji has been popularized by numerous H-vids.
  • Dante of Devil May Cry fame gets this, mainly due to his status as an Action Hero. Not only is he paired with his Implied Love Interests from the first three games (i.e. Trish, Lucia, and Lady), but Yaoi Fangirls just love to pair him up with Vergil (his own brother), Nelo Angelo (who is Vergil), and Nero (who, as of the fifth game, is confirmed to be Vergil's son and therefore Dante's nephew). People also love to Cargo Ship Dante with his Devil Arms (especially Nevan). Very few notable characters are excluded from Dante's "harem"; Sparda and Eva, Kyrie (Nero's Victorious Childhood Friend), the side characters from the second game and novels, Arkham, Credo, Sanctus, and Mundus seem to be untouched, but it would be no surprise if said pairings had their own niche. Finally, there's the Fan-Preferred Couples of Dante and Bayonetta (his Distaff Counterpart) or Morrigan (you can mainly thank MvC3 for this one). Naturally, some epic Ship-to-Ship Combat ensues.
  • Disgaea has a rather small shipping base, in that most of its characters are only commonly shipped in one or two pairings each... the second pairing usually being with Etna. Seriously, Etna gets paired with everybody, including but not limited to: Laharl, Flonne, Mid-Boss, Adell, Rozalin, Axel... even the Prinnies, which are penguin-like creatures.
  • Dragalia Lost: Being a Chick Magnet in canon that even the guys want, it’s honestly hard to think of characters that Euden hasn’t been shipped with. Just to give a few examples, he’s been shipped with Zethia, Nedrick, Zena, Elisanne, Mym, Midgardsormer, Notte, Ranzal, Cleo, Luca, Ilia, Mordecai, Audric, Alberius, Sheila, Origa, Emile, Leonidas, Chelle, and that’s just characters from the main campaign.
  • Dragon Age:
    • Hawke as either gender in Dragon Age II bounces from person to person in fanfics like a ping pong ball. Fenris gets this as well, being shipped with Hawke of both genders, Anders, Merrill, Isabela, Sebastian, Zevran, Dorian, and then there's Danarius...
    • In Dragon Age: Inquisition, the player character can become this trope in-universe if they're a bisexual female elf. Unlike Dragon Age II, the love interests in Inquisition vary based on your character's gender, sexuality, and race. Most player characters have four romance options: two of the opposite sex, two of the same. A female elf, however, also has access to two more: Cullen (who is only into humans and elves) and Solas (who is only into other elves). This brings her total to six potential suitors.
  • For some obscure reason, Dynasty Warriors Sun Shang Xiang is fair game with everyone in Wu, including her brothers, half the folks in Shu, and Sima Yi if you look hard enough. Although she may have to compete with her husband Liu Bei, honored with the Capslock_Koei tag "Shu mourns the loss of its bicycle." Bei's epic shipteasery is completely historical.
  • Final Fantasy:
    • Final Fantasy V: Perhaps as a result of the game having no Official Couple, Bartz gets shipped with everyone and everyone gets shipped with Bartz. The two most popular are Bartz/Lenna and Bartz/Faris (and of course, he also gets shipped with both of them at the same time), but really, he does get shipped with everyone. Naturally, Dissidia has only increased the number of pairings involving Bartz.
    • Final Fantasy VI fans can throw Edgar together with anyone and everyone despite the fact that the poor guy couldn't get a date in-game, though he does have the best pick-up line in video game history.
    • In the Final Fantasy VII fandom, you've got Cloud, Sephiroth, Zack, Aerith and Tifa.
      • Though canonically straight (and spoken for), Cloud is a favorite of the yaoi fandom, who ships him with just about every other male character from "The Compilation"; most often with Sephiroth, Zack, and Vincent. But thanks to Dissidia, he's also a favorite for crossover shipping, with Cloud/Terra and Cloud/Lightning both being popular fan pairings. Cloud's cameo appearance in Monty Oum's Dead Fantasy lead to him being shipped with Yuna. And Jessie's newfound popularity and her flirty interactions with Cloud in the FF VII Remake quickly lead to loads of fan art and H-vids of her with him as well.
      • Zack gets paired with Aerith, due their official status, and with Cissnei because of his interactions with her in Crisis Core. But, like Cloud, he mainly gets shipped with the other male characters. Mostly with: Angeal, Cloud himself, and Genesis.
      • Tifa and Aerith being two of the most iconic and beloved female characters the Final Fantasy series has produced are of course shipped with dozens of other characters besides the aforementioned boys, both in franchise and out (Squall/Leon is a popular one for Aerith thanks to Kingdom Hearts as well as Tifa and Lightning). The aforementioned Remake also gave the girls subtext with each other, so Tifa/Aerith has become quite popular as well.
    • In Final Fantasy VIII, Squall seems to be pretty paired with everyone who isn't Rinoa. It's not like the game's entire plot revolves around them falling in love with each other or anything.
    • In Final Fantasy XIII, we have Lightning. Two major reasons for this are the fact that she has no canon love interest, and the game has a not-inconsiderable amount of Les Yay between her and Fang. Then there's her "motherly" relationship with Hope. If you want to go into Crossover Ships, there's Noctis, and being a Distaff Counterpart of Cloud Strife you can pair her up with him or any of his love interests.
    • The Warrior of Light in Final Fantasy XIV starts gaining many, many admirers as the game progresses, particularly from the Heavensward expansion onward. Whether it's comrades in the Scions of the Seventh Dawn or whatever major allies you meet along the way, quite a few of them will express a level of admiration for the WoL that looks like a romantic crush regardless of gender.
    • In Final Fantasy XV, Noctis gets paired up with just about everyone. There's his official love interest Lunafreya, Iris who has a crush on him, his three friends whom he shares Ho Yay with, Nyx from Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV (despite only meeting him once offscreen), temporary party members Cor and Aranea, as well as Foe Yay Shipping with his enemies Ravus and Ardyn. Heck, even the pairing of him and Talcott has a fandom (although only once he's an adult). And of course there's the aforementioned Crossover Ship with Lightning.
    • Dissidia Final Fantasy:
      • First we have Terra, the only default female hero in the group and one of only a few main characters to be canonically single in her home game. Naturally, the fans are all too eager to pair her with someone to show her what "love" is.
      • Following somewhat close behind her, there's Squall, who for some reason seems to be paired a lot with several characters.
      • And in Japanese fandom, the one who stands head and shoulders above ALL of them is Firion, for some inexplicable reason. He is paired with everyone. It's the Rose. That rose has been in the hands of at least nine characters throughout the course of the two games. In fanshipping land this automatically means he is paired with everyone who has obtained it. People even ship him with Aerith for their mutual love of flowers, even though the two have never canonically met! However perhaps the only pairing that has any real basis in the events of the games is Lightning, due to their undeniably cute scene in the reports (turns out he just wants that pesky flower back but still who wants to crush a shipper's dreams!)
      • Lightning's paired with a fair amount of men in Dissidia's sequel (technically prequel), too. Mainly, Kain Highwind, Firion, and the Warrior of Light.
  • Fire Emblem: Thanks to the support mechanics, most of the cast falls under this, with the fandom merely taking this up to eleven.
    • In Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade, there's Roy. He has six possible wives, subtext with two girls he can't support, and can support with 4 other males, one of which is his milk brother (or male maid), and is obviously a target for Bodyguard Crush. Not to mentioned that he's often shipped with the other fighters on the Super Smash Bros. Melee roster...
    • Roy's got some brutal competition for the "Pimp Lord of Fire Emblem" from Seliph in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, who can take to his side one of fifteen possible wives (seven female second-gen characters and their potential replacements, plus Yuria).
    • Lyndis from Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade already has four canon love interests (five if you count Florina as one). Also, Sain and Wil are considered extremely plausible lovers, Karel/Lyn and Lyn/Ninian have niche followings in the fandom, and one author even managed to pair her with Renault and make it plausible. There's the infamous Lyn/Tactician fics.
    • My Unit (or Kris) in the remake of Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem is an in-universe Launcher, capable of supporting with the entire cast of the game. They don't have as many potential love interests as Roy or Seliph, though; male MU has three, and female MU has five.
    • The My Unit (or Avatar as s/he's called in the west) from Fire Emblem: Awakening takes this one step further. S/he can marry any player character (including the SpotPass Paralogue characters Gangrel, Walhart, Aversa, Emmeryn, and Ike's descendant Priam and the child characters like Lucina, Nah, or Yarne... and yes, s/he can have a kid with them), provided they're of the opposite gender. The exception is, obviously, Morgan, their predetermined kid.
    • It's worth noting that for the same reasons as Robin, the My Unit (aka Corrin) from Fire Emblem Fates is also a textbook example of this trope.
    • Ike from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. On the canon side? Ship Tease with Princess Elincia, Ho Yay with Soren, and another Gay Option with Ranulf, plus Marcia constantly calling him "handsome." And of course, Aimee's relentless chasing of him. The fans, however, have added Mia, Geoffrey, Zelgius, Boyd, Tibarn, Shinon, Titania, Sothe and even Yune. "We Like Ike" indeed...
    • And now Fire Emblem Heroes... oh GOD. It already has an INCREDIBLE amount of characters from all over the Fire Emblem universe (with the implication that they're planning to eventually incorporate EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER in the franchise) and there's a support system with the player character summoner (comparable to the tactician from The Blazing Blade) and between characters. Therefore, ANY ship is possible.
  • In spite of all the major characters being animatronics, the Five Nights at Freddy's series has a lot of these, but out of all of them, Ballora takes the cake. She had been shipped with Baby, Funtime Freddy, Funtime Foxy, Ennard (who she is canonically a part of, by the way), Springtrap, the, the Puppet and even Bonnie and Freddy!
  • In Golden Sun, everyone is a Launcher of a Thousand Ships.
    • And then the Lighthouses are jokingly considered as such in both the phrase's literal and other metaphorical sense, thanks to the fact that more than a half of the non-crack pairings (and a few crack ones) get their biggest Ship Tease in them.
  • Ky Kiske and Dizzy are the biggest ship launchers in Guilty Gear then they became the Official Couple.
  • Haseo of .hack//G.U., poor guy, virtually has a harbor reserved for him. From Atoli to Shino to Ovan to Endrance to Skeith to even the Grunties, he's been stuck with EVERYONE. Find someone that he HASN'T been shipped with.
    • Like Lloyd in Tales of Symphonia, Haseo is an actual canon launcher, since at the end of the third game, you can choose to "marry" (the characters are playing an an MMORPG) any party member, regardless of gender or even age. When trying to do it with a man, usually it leads to a "best buddy" scene rather than marriage, but there are a few exceptions like Endrance or even Azure Kite who want a little more than being friends...
  • Heavy Rain: Norman Jayden, the only one of the four heroes without a canonical love interest, is consequentially paired with everyone in the game, from Ethan Mars to Carter Blake.
  • Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn gets shipped with a lot of the NPCs, both male and female. It helps that a lot of them flirt with her to one degree or another during the dialogue. Teb, Vala, Varl, Erend, Talanah, Vanasha, Petra, Nil, Avad, Ikrie, Kotallo, Alva, Beta, Zo, Tilda and Seyka all have varying amounts of chemistry with her.
  • Endou from Inazuma Eleven seems to get paired up with every other major character in the series, both male and female, most likely because he can and does become good friends with anyone and everyone. Then there's a bunch of Starboarding with Endou on the receiving end, since he's a completely oblivious Chaste Hero. Plus there are some fans who jokingly ship Endou x Soccer (yes, as in Association Football).
  • Everyone in Kingdom Hearts has been a Launcher of a Thousand Ships at some point. Everyone. It helps given Kingdom Hearts' universe where any crossover has at least the slightest bit of plausibility.
    • Roxas get the most hetero pairings out of everyone, especially with Namine, Xion, Olette, and Kairi. Then there's the Ho Yay...
    • Throughout the internet, there have been pairings for almost every combination possible between the members of Organization XIII sans Lexaeus/Saix, making 90 pairings.
    • It's so extreme and ridiculous, that there are various "Random Pairing Generators" arount the Internet. Prince Charming X Sephiroth? Mulan x Larxene? Sure, why not?
  • The King of Fighters: You'd probably expect it to be Mai Shiranui, but it's actually Yuri Sakazaki who holds the distinction of being SNK's most shipped character — in both doujinshi, and fanfiction.
  • Considering what the cast of Kirby series looks like, there is a surprisingly good amount of these.
    • Kirby is mainly shipped with Ribbon, but he also has been shipped with Meta Knight, ChuChu, Tiff, Marx, Magolor, and Susie.
    • Not to be outdone, Meta Knight is shipped with Kirby, Tiff, Garlude, King Dedede, Galacta Knight, Magolor, Susie and Francisca.
    • Magolor gets a decent amount of play as well, being shipped with Kirby, Meta Knight, Marx, Taranza and Susie.
    • Taranza Really Gets Around in Fanon. He's been shipped with his master, Queen Sectonia (and it's implied it was canon at one point), Kirby, Dedede (mostly due to their team-up at the end of the game), the final boss, his predecessor Magolor, and Paintra. After the release of Kirby Star Allies, shipping him with Zan Partizanne has begun to pop up.
  • In the Knights of the Old Republic fandom, the first game's Player Character Revan is shipped with Carth, Canderous, Juhani, Bastila, Malak, and the Exile, to list the most popular ones.
  • League of Legends has over 100 playable characters so it has thousands of ships by itself but two characters deserve mention, Ezreal and Lux. Despite Ezreal/Lux being pseudo-canon, these two get paired with too many different characters, friends, enemies, people they never talked, creatures...
  • Ellis from Left 4 Dead 2 ends up with everyone. Although 90% of the time it's with Nick, you can find him with his canon love interest Zoey, teammate Rochelle, Coach, the Hunter, the Witch, the Smoker and his friends that don't even appear in the game like Keith. Ellis will also usually be the target of any fanfic writer's Original Character.
  • Due to dating sims-esque nature of the game, Rean Schwarzer from The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel has been paired with all members of Class VII, his adoptive sister, his adoptive sister's best friend, a commander in an army, a bracer, a "traitor", the Big Bad, a giant robot, a motorbike...
  • The Legend of Zelda: Link is easily the video game town bicycle; he's paired with everyone from the eponymous Princess Zelda to... well, to the Shinto goddess Amaterasu as seen in wolf form in Ōkami, given that Wolf Link from Twilight Princess is one of Link's most famous incarnationsnote . It doesn't hurt that Link tends to be an in-universe Chick Magnet who gains a new harem with each major entry. We've got the Ocarina of Time Harem◊, the Wind Waker Harem◊, the Twilight Princess Harem◊, and much much more!
  • Life Is Strange:
    • The fandom cleary thinks that Max Caufield must be the hottest girl in Arcadia Bay, because she's been shipped with just about every major character. The main ones being: her childhood friend Chloe, the loveable geek Warren Graham, resident church girl Kate Marsh, and Blackwell Academy's supreme Alpha Bitch, Victoria Chase. She's also been paired with Nathan Prescott and Mark Jefferson, the latter of whom is creepily obsessed with Max and he's a serial killer. Rachel Amber isn't exempt either, despite having never met Max due to Rachel having been killed, while others opt for Amber/Price/Field. "Max Factor" indeed.
    • Max's popularity with shippers also includes multiple crossover pairings. There's H-art depicting her with everyone from Alex Chen, to Ellie from The Last of Us II, and even the likes of Lara Croft, among others. To say nothing of countless self-insert OCs. Point being, that Max is the undisputed fandom bicycle.
  • Like a Dragon: Kiryu Kazuma has been shipped with nearly every character (mostly male) in the franchise. Not that the games don't encourage it.
  • As the only female character in Live A Live who can be brought to the final battle, and hence the only one who can canonically meet the protagonists from other eras, Lei Kugo has been shipped across time and space. Popular love interests include Akira and Odio, but Masaru and Oboromaru are also occasional fic subjects, as is Yun Jou in the Fix Fics where they both survive.
  • Another canonical example is Vayne of Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis, who has an ending with each of the other party members. The ones that aren't clearly romantic are laden with subtext.
  • Mega Man (Classic):
    • Poor, poor Splash Woman. It doesn't help that she's one of the only two lady bots in a cast nearing 100 (in case you were wondering, the other lady bot is Roll).
    • Looking at the fan art, Metal Man gets this treatment too.
    • In general, ANY Robot Master, including the Rockman Killers and the Stardroids. Each of them have launched enough ships to make a tangled love web. Perhaps the most common: little Mega Man himself!
    • Like their brother, Roll and Proto Man also have launched their own fleets. Proto Man is especially popular judging by the sheer volume of fan art and fiction that exists. In Roll's case, she gets paired so often for the same reason Splash Woman does.
  • Mega Man X:
    • X and Zero might be the two most shipped characters of the franchise. The reunion scene between X and a Not Quite Dead Zero in Mega Man X6 simply added more fuel to the fire.
    • X has been paired with Alia, Nana, his love interest from the manga Marty, Berkana because of the Foe Yay Shipping potential, on occasion with Axl for those who prefer Ho Yay, and even Vile. There's even a couple of fan art of X with Iris, Zero's love interest.
    • For Zero, there's the canon (and memetically tragic) pairing with Iris, Layer because of Ship Tease (despite Zero being both dense and probably not in the mood for romance given what happened to Iris), Ferham because of Foe Yay (she really seemed to enjoy whipping him...), and — though less frequently — Axl for reasons similar to X (only magnified because, if X7 is any indication, Zero had to babysit Axl while out in the field before X came out of his 10-Minute Retirement). Going forward to Mega Man Zero adds Ciel and Leviathan — the former is all but stated to be in love with him (which makes the ending of Z4 that much more heartbreaking) while the latter is fond of both teasing and fighting Zero in a manner that's borderline Foe Romance Subtext. One can even find pics of Zero and Roll.
  • Mega Man Star Force: Geo goes with everyone, mostly because the game and anime each drop plenty of scenes for him that could be interpreted as Ship Teases — with several different characters. Love Triangle with Luna and Sonia, Ho Yay with Pat and Ace, Foe Yay Shipping with Solo and Jack. (And perhaps maybe with "imagination"!)
  • Metal Gear's Snake tends to be paired up with almost everyone in the series, and outside of it — even before his appearance in Brawl. It really doesn't help that he's the Prince of the Even the Guys Want Him trope (Big Boss being the king).
    • In the MGS fandom itself, Otacon's probably earned this. He's been paired with Snake, Mei Ling, Raiden, Liquid, Grey Fox, Big Boss, Mantis, and young Ocelot, time paradoxes and plausibility be damned.
  • Mortal Kombat: Sub-Zero. The younger one, anyway. Canonically, the closest thing he has to a girlfriend/partner/lover is Sareena, whom he enjoys a hefty amount of Ship Tease with. But thanks to the magic of Shipping Goggles, all of his friendships and rivalries are misconstrued as possible ships. Heterosexual Life-Partners with Smoke and Kenshi? Ho Yay. Former archnemesis of Scorpion? Foe Yay Shipping. Former pupil Frost is eerily-obsessed with him? Mentor Ship. Not even his older brother, Elder Sub-Zero/Noob Saibot is safe from being paired up with Subby (it doesn't help that there's a Love Triangle-esque relationship between them and Sareena, as Sareena also had feelings for the original Sub-Zero). He also tends to be paired up with females he's only acquaintances with at best. Sub-Zero/Kitana, Sub-Zero/Jade, and Sub-Zero/Mileena have all popped up before on several occasions, and all are popular in their own right. Smoke (in most titles) is a cyborg, whereas Scorpion and Noob are undead and Sareena is a demon in human guise. It doesn't hurt that he's also fangirl bait, so expect the female fans to create OCs to jump Sub-Zero's bones as well.
    • Reptile seems to be working his way up, too. Although the only character that shows romantic interest in him is probably Khameleon (due to the whole Adam and Eve Plot thing), he's additionally paired with Mileena and Nitara on a somewhat regular basis. Apparently, the lizard man has moxie.
  • Octopath Traveler: Out of the eight main characters, Therion tends to be shipped around the most. He's been shipped with Ophilia, Primrose, Tressa, Alfyn, Cyrus, Cordelia...
  • As mentioned above in the discussion on Link, Ōkami's Amaterasu gets shipped with far, far more characters than a non-talking wolf should ever be. Most of these rely on Ammy having a human form that we never see.
  • Due to vagueness of the character interactions in Overwatch most characters are shipped with about four other characters. Somehow some characters avoid being shipped in general (Bastion, Torbjorn, and Winston) or are just so overwhelmingly shipped with one certain character that no one seems to even think about shipping them with someone else (Hanzo).
    • Mercy is currently shipped with the most characters which includes: Junkrat, Roadhog (or Junkrat and Roadhog), Genji, Soldier: 76, Cassidy, Widowmaker, Pharah, Zarya, Reaper, Mei, Reinhardt, Hanzo and Ana.
    • Zarya is shipped with Reinhardt, Mei, Widowmaker, Mercy, Tracer, Pharah, and Genji.
    • Strangely enough, Junkrat is this as well. He's been paired with Mercy, Roadhog, Mei, Symmetra, Lucio, D.Va, and Cassidy.
    • Ana. Being one of the only characters with a known child, everyone speculates as to who Pharah's father was. The dialogue she has with most of her old teammates is full of Ship Tease, with all of them upset that they didn't know she was still alive, her complimenting Reinhardt and Soldier:76 on how good they look, and Reinhardt and Cassidy flat out flirting with her. Even Reaper is upset that she sided with Jack over him, which has fanned flames of a possible Love Triangle or Love Dodecahedron; after all, if fans can't decide which of the original team she slept with to conceive Pharah, then the next best thing is to assume she slept with them all.
      • Father speculation aside (which currently includes Soldier: 76, Reaper, and Reinhardt) she's also shipped Cassidy, Mercy, and Widowmaker. Also, she's currently the only person shipped with Torbjorn. This is especially impressive since she is 60 years old.
      • Has died down a bit since Reinhardt was confirmed to not be Pharah's father. However, whether or not Pharah's father is aware that Ana didn't actually die has remained unconfirmed, leaving the idea of a post-Overwatch relationship between Ana and her old teammates open for interpretation.
      • Died down even more with the Uprising event, as Ana's new spray shows her and her husband holding baby Pharah. Said husband's features look nothing like any other character.
    • Cassidy has been paired with quite the number of characters due to a large number of fans think he is attractive and his unique cowboy aesthetic. He's frequently paired with Hanzo, Symmetra, Lucio (all of whom he never met or interact with), his former superiors Reaper, Soldier: 76 and Ana, his former Overwatch fellow teammates Genji, Mercy and Mei, his former Deadlock gang member Ashe, and Echo.
  • Applies to all of Persona's player protagonists since the third game, with both the male and female protagonists of Persona 3, Yu Narukami of Persona 4, and Joker of Persona 5 having been paired with virtually every other cast member at one point or another. Somewhat justified since building relationships has been a major part of gameplay since 3, including the option to romance characters of the opposite sex (with Joker in particular being able to romance even adult women); it's even possible in-game for the player characters to build an outright harem (though you'll eventually be punished for it in Persona 4 Golden and Persona 5).
    • Crossover Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth only added fuel to the fire, thanks to a fake wedding ceremony scene where Yu and the P3 protagonist have the option to "marry" anybody from 3 and 4's main cast regardless of their gender (even Heroic Dog Koromaru).
  • Pokémon:
    • This happened to Dawn and Lyra, especially Lyra. The most popular characters to pair Lyra with (in Japan, at least) are Silver, Lance, Ethan, and PETREL. These are just the popular ones. In the west (and East at that), Morty and Proton are also often shipped with her as well.
    • Silver himself is a shipping magnet, too, especially when you factor in his Adventures manga counterpart.
    • With Pokémon Black and White, we have the male protagonist Hilbert, who's being paired with practically every female in the game (and plenty of pretty boys.) On the opposite side of things, the female protagonist Hilda has inspired plenty of pairings as well.
    • The real winner of this trope, as far as Generation V goes, is N Harmonia. The fact that he's characterized as socially awkward has not stopped fans from pairing him with (drumroll): Hilda, Hilbert, both, Nate, Rosa, Bianca, Cheren, Serena, Red, Zoroark, and Ghestis!!
    • Red gets shipped with everyone, Pokemon and people outside the Kanto-Johto games included.
    • Karen, final Johto Elite Four member, got this treatment, mostly because of being the Ms. Fanservice of the region's E4. She's been shipped with: Sidney, Lance, Will and Grimsley.
    • In-game, a lot of players ship Ditto with everyone, due to its ability to mate with (almost) any Pokémon and produce eggs.
      • There's a reason a why a lot of players name their Ditto "pimp".
    • Protagonists in general get shipped with everyone. Calem and especially Serena from X and Y are no exception. They're shipped with all of their rivals, each other, Professor Sycamore, most of the gym leaders, Emma, the Big Bad...
  • Chell has been paired up with nearly every character in Portal. Wheatley is paired with almost as many. And Chell/Wheatley is the most popular ship in the fandom.
  • One would be quick to dismiss that Puyo Puyo doesn't have much ship fuel, being a puzzle game, but you'd be wrong.
    • Schezo is paired with Arle, Rulue, Witch, Satan, Seriri, Lagnus, Incubus, Lemres, and Doppelganger Schezo, out of way too many characters to count. Yes, he ships with his own doppelganger. When he says "I want you!" did he really mean it this way? Nobody knows.
    • Sig is just as big of an example, with Amitie, Strange Klug, Klug, Arle, Lidelle, Raffina and Lemres only being the tip of the iceberg. Even characters who he has yet to interact with, like Maguro, Seriri, Draco or Doppelganger Arle are paired with him.
  • Red Dead Redemption 2: Arthur Morgan has been shipped with just about every character in the game, both female and male. Most fans like to have him shipped with Sadie, Mary-Beth, Charlotte, Tilly, Marston, Charles Smith, Albert Mason, and Dutch, if they aren't shipping him with themselves (male and female readers alike).
  • Leon Kennedy, of Resident Evil is a classical Type A, sometimes even to the point of Even the Guys Want Him among players. His canon love interest is Ada (and to a lesser extent, Angela, who appeared once and then was Put on a Bus), but he's also regularly paired with Ashley, Claire, Jill, Steve, Chris, Wesker, Luis, Krauser, Hunnigan, Kevin, Manuela, Buddy, Helena, Sherry, and Mike the Helicopter Guy. In addition to the large amounts of zombie porn that affect all characters within the fandom and countless self-inserts. Admittedly, the fact that he almost always ends up with a female character for a partner and the fact that at least two of them seem to have crushes on him does not help, nor does his (failed) attempt to get Hunnigan's number.
    • Claire Redfield, however, falls quite neatly under Type B as the "kickass everygirl" who has no special training and a kind heart, but still keeps up with the rest of the characters. Her ships includes Steve, Leon, Ada, Sherry, Alfred, Wesker, Jill, Rebecca, Carla, and her brother Chris, though many crack pairings exist for whatever character the author deems most attractive.
  • Rune Factory 2 has an official Launcher of a Thousand Ships candidate in the form of Yue. When the main character marries a girl who was destined for another guy, that guy will automatically end up with Yue.
  • Sonic and Tails in the Sonic the Hedgehog series go with everyone... even though they show the least romantic interest of the entire cast.
    • Shadow. Although he's more commonly shipped with Sonic, Rouge and Amy (and occasionally Maria), he has gotten shipped with plenty of characters you wouldn't expect.
    • Really, almost everyone has been paired with everyone else in Sonic, regardless of gender, age, or species.
    • The Sonic Fanvid set to "Womanizer" (has flashy effects, not recommended for the photosensitive epileptic) by Britney Spears mocks this phenomenon, depicting the many heterosexual ships of the fandom as harems held by the male characters, making their most popular love interests jealous.
  • Soul Series:
    • Siegfried, bar none, has become this. Being both the main protagonist and — as Nightmare — Series Mascot, Siegfried has been paired with practically every female character in the series at some point. His most popular pairings (from most popular to least) are with Sophitia, Hilde, Ivy, Tira, and Cassandra.
      • Sophitia/Siegfried is the series' long-enduring Fan-Preferred Couple, and it even has some support in official circumstances, what with the very few times the two characters have interacted in-game dripping with subtext: Sophitia collapses prior to the events of Soulcalibur after having a vision of Siegfried as Nightmare. In the same game, Sophitia shares a Destined Battle with Nightmare (keep in mind that Destined Battles tend to occur between characters with a significant connection, such as family, mortal enemies, or even lovers); Sophitia steps forward to challenge him and states her resolve with the words "I want to... save you," possibly implying she knows that Siegfried is Nightmare (or at least that Nightmare is really a tortured soul under Soul Edge's sway). Siegfried also rescues a captured Sophitia early on in the admittedly non-canon Legends (which would be set between Edge and Calibur were it canon) and she's one of three women to face Siegfried in his IV story right before his final battle with Nightmare (the others being Hilde and Ivy, who likewise have strong ties to Siegfried). VI also has Sophitia personally seek out a post-possession Siegfried for what is basically a re-enactment of the aforementioned Destined Battle, but despite the warm, vaguely romantic undertones in their scenes together, she's already engaged to Rothion. Speaking of whom, the only thing that seems to stand in the way of this ship is Sophitia's husband Rothion, who fans would like nothing more than to see die or otherwise removed from the picture... at least until he finally made an in-game appearance in VI, portrayed as a loving and devoted partner to Sophitia. The fandom mostly warmed up to him after that, though shipping-related hostilities still persist.
      • Hilde, being the most stalwart competitor to Siegfried/Sophitia despite making her debut four games after them, also has strong ties to Siegfried, with her story in IV dovetailing with his (he wields Soul Calibur, which was integral to the founding of Wolfkrone and thus revered as a holy sword by her kingdom) and both characters appearing in each others' stories at some point. Most telling is the fact that Hilde's ending is the only one in IV where Siegfried is present but doesn't die (either by his own hands or someone else's); she instead gives him the one thing he's been searching for ever since breaking free of Soul Edge's influence: forgiveness. (The warm, vaguely flirty smile she gives a gobsmacked Siegfried also did not go unnoticed by shippers.) Hilde even works under him in V, having been invited into Schwarzwind (Siegfried's band of mercenaries) after the fall of Wolfkrone, and seems to be somewhat playful with him when they spar together in-game, though — to the disappointment of many — he isn't the father of her kids.
      • Ivy worked for Siegfried while he was Nightmare, so the two have a deeper connection than the others — as evidenced by Ivy being present alongside the aforementioned Sophitia and Hilde in the penultimate battle of Siegfried's story in IV. Their common nature as beings corrupted by Soul Edge makes them stand out from other examples.
      • Though Siegfried had abandoned the identity of Nightmare by the time of III (with Nightmare instead becoming Soul Edge's will bonded to the Azure Knight's discarded armor), Tira first offered her services to Nightmare back when he was still Siegfried — the ravens seen the opening cinematic for II belong to her. Tira sees Soul Edge/Nightmare as a kindred spirit and even fell in love with the cursed sword, spending a good portion of Tales of Soul (III's Story Mode) playfully teasing Siegfried about his time as the Azure Knight. She continues to playfully antagonize Siegfried in the next installment.
      • While Cassandra doesn't have any major interactions with Siegfried (unlike the other four ladies), she is buxom, hot, and blonde (much like her older sister Sophitia); thus the fans have taken it upon themselves to ship her with Siegfried. Interestingly, the idea of pairing Siegfried with both Alexandra sisters is not terribly common in the fandom.
      • Furthermore, Word of God and artbook-exclusive plot details from the time of Soulcalibur V states that Salia Olschmidt, a fellow and senior member of Schwarzwind, canonically is interested in Siegfried (with possible further backing from one quest in SCVI's Libra of Soul where Salia expresses hope that Siegfried will return to them and thus needs a home to come back to), though her role as a minor supporting character and Siegfried's Celibate Hero credentials haven't resulted in a lot of traction for this pairing. As irony would have it, Salia is the one responsible for Wolkfrone's alliance with Schwarzwind and is best friends with Hilde because of it.
    • Sophitia, conversely, has become "the Siegfried" for yuri fans; people have hooked her up with Taki, Ivy, Tira, and even her younger sister Cassandra. While Taki and Tira make sense (Taki is the one who brought Sophitia home and nursed her back to health after her battle with Cervantes, Tira is canonically obsessed with the heroine and her family due to their connection to Soul Edge), Ivy has the smallest connection to Sophitia (though Project Soul did fan the flames with a render depicting Sophitia at Ivy's mercy◊) and Cassandra seems to be nothing more than wishful thinking on the part of certain shippers.
  • Despite the meme "Everyone is furry for Krystal," note  Krystal from Star Fox is not the most prominent example of this trope from the series. Instead Fox tends to be paired with most of the other characters, yet he is rarely paired with any of the female characters aside from Krystal.
    • While Krystal is being shipped with anyone.
  • Street Fighter:
  • Mario goes with everybody. It's not just limited to female characters, either. Luigi is sometimes paired with him, and so is Bowser.
  • Super Smash Bros.:
    • Metroid protagonist Samus Aran easily falls into this due to not having any romantic interest in her own series (or more than a handful of characters per game other than herself, for that matter). Master Chief, Boba Fett, and Iron Man are common choices due to Shared concepts, but she seems to pick a new one up every new game in the Smash Bros series: Captain Falcon in Melee, Solid Snake in Brawl, and now Little Mac, due to the latter's introductory trailer, even though it primarily involved him punching the hell outta her for making fun of his height. Pikachu/Samus was a popular crack ship during Brawl but it usually wasn't presented too romantically. Also, oddly enough, Pit and Mega Man in the latter two games as well. It is not certain why parts of the fandom have deemed her a paedophile, out of all the characters.
    • Fire Emblem characters pretty much instantly get turned into this when they're revealed. Marth and Ike have especially been paired with everyone constantly since Melee, though it's most common to ship them with Link, Zelda, Peach, or each other.
    • This is inevitable for Bayonetta once she was announced and it's becoming apparent. For a dose of irony, the two earliest (and so far most prevalent) are Pit and Palutena.
    • When it comes to the younger characters, Ness is the most shipped. Ness/Red, Ness/Toon Link, Ness/Lucas, etc.
    • Sonic has been paired with nearly every female fighter since his first appearance in Brawl, along with quite a few men.
  • Tales Series:
    • Leon Magnus from Tales of Destiny, as the fan favourite, has been paired with everyone. Marian, Stahn, Philia, Chaltier, Rutee, Hugo, Judas, Lilith, sometimes even Yuri. Oddly, Judas is rarely shipped with anyone besides Harold or Philia.
    • Lloyd Irving from Tales of Symphonia. Seriously, he's paired with everyone in the game, although he's frequently shipped with Colette, and Sheena. There are many who pair him with Raine or Presea. Maybe even Zelos. Or even paired with Yggdrasill.
    • Emil seems to be this, too — he's been paired with a good chunk of the new cast including Ratatosk and Aster (who Ratatosk killed about a year and a half before Emil even came into existence.) Plus several of the original cast.
    • As far as Tales of the Abyss goes, Luke/Everyone might as well be canon. ... Well, everyone important. At the very least you cannot deny that Luke/The Party (or The Party/Luke, as it is...) is very nearly canon.
    • If you are a Tales of Vesperia character, the fandom has decreed that you want to have sex with Yuri Lowell. Period. He's probably most often shipped with Flynn, but Estelle and Judith aren't far behind... and then there are people who ship him with Raven or Duke or Rita or even Ioder, and, appropriately enough given the above, Yuri/Luke is a popular crossover pairing.
    • Tales of Xillia 2 has two, in both Ludger, the new silent protagonist, and Jude, whose Ship Tease has gone up to eleven since the last game. They get shipped with each other, of course, but Jude also gets shipped with Alvin, Milla, Ivar, Gaius (thanks, Hot Springs ending), has a canonical alternate-universe-bird-spirit boyfriend (it's complicated) and even gets some Ship Tease with Elize in a victory quote. Ludger gets shipped with Alt!Milla, his brother, Nova, and...pretty much every member of the playable party since they've all got relationship values now. It's madness.
  • Team Fortress 2 — The Scout and the Medic get paired with every class, including their own. The Sniper is also popular thanks to his low, gravelly voicelines.
  • Reimu and Marisa from the Touhou Project games tend to have their own mini-harems, most of their pairing options being youkais they've defeated in previous battles.
    • Alice Margatroid is also subject to almost as much pairing-off as Marisa. There's a notable fanartist who paired the dollmaker off to nearly everyone, and did fanart of herself glomping Alice!
    • Rinnosuke Morichika, being The One Guy, seems to get this treatment by default unless he's being portrayed as the Memetic Molester. If you scroll down this page, you will see a chart that breaks down his ships with every character in the series by source material.
    • Though specially Marisa, with more than seven frequent pairings, is who stands out in this trope. In some works to GAR levels.
  • Due to the Player Character Frisk having no defined gender in Undertale, they are depicted as whatever gender needed to push a ship forward, typically female for the majority of ships, however some male examples exist, such as being shipped with Muffet or Chara.
    • Sans has been put with almost every character including Toriel, Frisk and/or Chara, Muffet, Papyrus, Asgore, and even Alternate Universe versions of himself.
  • Rudy Roughnight from Wild ARMs. In addition to all the females he gets paired with, Wild ARMs shippers also put him together with Jack and, for some reason, Zed. This even gets referenced in Wild ARMs 5, where the main Wild ARMs related sidequest has Dean resolving which one amongst Jane, Cecilia, and Mariel does Rudy eventually end up with.
  • Seeing as how it's from the creators of Kingdom Hearts, it's not too surprising thatThe World Ends with You has plenty of these:
    • Neku's been paired with everyone and their mother. Minamimoto/Neku? Where'd that come from?
    "Think he's got a thing for you, Neku? (...) Oh, please! The way he follows you around?"
    • Minamimoto himself is paired with everyone. Neku, Beat, Konishi, Megumi, Joshua...Especially Joshua.
      • Everyone? MinamimotoxMicrophone is a popular pairing... unsurprisingly.
        Minamimoto: Why, hello there! This mic is zetta sexy!
      • Also calculators and math books.
    • Joshua too. Although Neku is by far his most popular option, he regularly gets shipped with Hanekoma, Minamimoto, Kitaniji, and Rhyme. Shiki and Beat are rarer but also exist, and he's a favorite for crossover ships.
  • World of Warcraft:
    • The games fan fiction's poster girl is Lady Jaina Proudmoore by far. She's often shipped with Sylvanas Windrunner, Arthas (pre- and post-undeath), Warchief Thrall (a pairing once characterized on the official Blizzard WoW General Discussion Forum as "Bow-Chikca-Lok'Tar"), and every fan fic writer who writes about his own PCs will have them meet Jaina at some point. There are also those that ship her with Kael'thas Sunstrider, who had a crush on her (although it was apparently unrequited).
    • Outside of canon characters, elves in general seem to fill this role. Especially blood elves.
    • And as of Patch 5.1 and the Tides of War tie-in novel, Jaina is canonically hooked up with Kalecgos, who is literally a dragon.

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