Manly Tears / Video Games

Manly Tears in video games.

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• Ace Attorney:
  • Acro in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice for All starts crying when Phoenix finds him guilty, as he deeply regrets accidentally killing his father figure.
  • Godot in Trials and Tribulations combines this with Tears of Blood.
• If you look closely at certain scenes in Asura's Wrath, during the true finale, Asura sheds some of his own, even knowing that he is going to die after killing Chakravartin. Yet he tells Mithra, with her Tender Tears, no more crying, all the other instances alongside this one are played seriously, and are very impactful.
• At the end of BioShock Infinite, the hard-nosed, badass protagonist Booker DeWitt breaks down in sobs when finally confronted with the truth behind his mission to "bring us the girl, and wipe away the debt:" He fulfilled it years before when he sold his own daughter to Comstock.
• In BlazBlue: Central Fiction, Jin breaks down and cries when he and Noel are embracing Ragna as the latter is about to cease to exist in the finale.
• One of the Non-Standard Game Over scenes in Border Down has Frank Boyd being distraught over his failure to stopping the Osiris and he is being consoled by his CO.
• In Brütal Legend, there's this one scene. It Makes Sense in Context.
  Lars: I wish I could help them, but, I mean... what do you do with a bunch of kids who don't know how to do anything but bang their heads all day long?
  Eddie: (as tears begin to form) You start a revolution, Lars.
• Kohtaro breaks down in his ending in Castle of Shikigami III after defeating Tsukiko and is consoled by Sayo.
• Ayane in Dead or Alive 3, at the funeral pyre of her adoptive father Genra, seen here.
• Devil May Cry:
  • Dante is shown openly crying over the Heroic Sacrifice of Trish in the first game, but the voice acting unfortunately brings it into Narm territory.
  • In Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, Dante does this in the ending, claiming it's "just the rain" even while the weather is completely fine.
• Dorian's voice audibly cracks on "your fucking legacy" in Dragon Age: Inquisition. In the Trespasser DLC, he sobs outright when he learns that the mark is slowly killing a romanced Inquisitor.
• In The Elder Scrolls series' backstory, Ysgramor was the ancient Atmoran hero who conquered Skyrim from the Falmer. When his son died, Ysgramor shed some manly tears before going on an epic Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
• Final Fantasy:
  • Zack cries in Crisis Core after he's forced to kill Angeal — certainly a sniffle-worthy moment. Later, Zack is back in Midgar visiting Aerith. As he is sitting on the floor in Aerith's church he starts to cry. Aerith consoles Zack by hugging him from behind as he sobs.
    • Hell, the tagline for the game is 'Men cry not for themselves, but for their comrades.'
  • Final Fantasy VII Gives us the scene at the end of the Cave of the Gi. Even in Stone, Seto sheds Manly Tears for his son's acceptance. You may find yourself with your own afterward.
    • Barret cries Tears of Joy when he reunites with his daughter, Marlene, after believing she has died along with his comrades in AVALANCHE when Sector 7's plate was dropped on the slums below.
    • Cloud is heavily suggested to be crying when he tells Sephiroth to "shut up" after later kills Aerith. Due to the technical limitations of the time Cloud's emotions are conveyed by having his shoulders visibly shaking, and by having him mention how his eyes are burning.
  • In the ending of Final Fantasy VIII, apparently as a last attack from Ultimecia, Squall is shown several illusions, ending with a shot of Rinoa dying that breaks him and a fast shot shows a tear falling from his eye.
  • Tidus of Final Fantasy X cries after defeating Jecht and gets to say "I hate you Dad". The earlier time he cries in the game, when he discovers Yuna will die at the end of her pilgrimage it's considerably less manly. Also after Operation Mi'hen, either Luzzu or Gatta will die depending on the player's decision. If Luzzu dies then Tidus will find Gatta on the beach sobbing. If it's Gatta instead (and Tidus will cry when he finds his body) Luzzu will snap and break down. The Al Bhed males also shed tears as they sing the Hymn of the Fayth just before they blow up their Home.
  • In Final Fantasy XV (and its anime offshoot), Noctis breaks down crying a number of times. When Regis dies, he's able to hold his tears back initially, but he sheds angry tears when confronted with his duty to take his father's place as king (in the game) and collapses to his knees sobbing after finally acknowledging the fact that his father is gone (in the anime). He sheds a single ambiguous tear during Lunafreya's speech in Altissia, apparently out of a mix between relief that he was able to see her, sorrow over what had happened in Insomnia, and concern about the darkness she'd foretold. He later breaks down in tears three times more after her death, once as a crying child in a vision, once desperately looking through her notebook after waking up to receive confirmation of her death, and once falling to the ground and weeping after seeing her ghost. And, in the end, he struggles to admit that he intends to sacrifice himself — he tears up, trembles, and eventually weeps openly as he tells his friends how much they mean to him. Of course, by that point, everyone else is crying, too, including the audience.
    • One of the game's teaser trailers included an extended shot of King Regis holding Noctis and mourning the fate of his son.
• Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade manages a female example: Lyn may be a proud, independent nomad who's no slouch with a sword, but she's also not afraid to cry when she feels like it. Commented on by Hector, when he sees recalling her parents brings Lyn to tears quite easily, but she's offended when he implies that's a weakness by trying to give her privacy.
• Gears of War 2: When Dom finds what is left of his wife emaciated, tortured, and catatonic, and is forced to euthanize her, he breaks down in tears.
• God of War: For all that he spends most of his time in a bloodthirsty rage, Kratos does occasionally cry. The best example being in Ragnarok, when he sees that his wife Faye has painted a mural of him as a beloved, benevolent deity of the Nine Realms, confirming that his efforts as The Atoner haven't been in vain.
• Averted in the radio ad for a movie in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City:
  Jack Howitzer as Tim: Ho Chi! Nooooo! He woulda been a fine American...I'll cry when I'm done killing.
• There's a few of these in Kingdom Hearts:
  • Sora, upon meeting Riku again, breaks down in tears and whispers that he'd looked everywhere for him.
  • Axel, after his final goodbye to Roxas has tears on his cheeks. Doubles as a Tear Jerker for some. There's also a bit of debate over whether Axel is crying when he fights Xion in front of the mansion.
  • Master Eraqus before the boss fight with him as Terra, along with Terra after the fight. Definitely a tearjerker for the audience as well.
• Klonoa nearly ends up very nearly ends up on the verge of these in the ending of Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil, when hugging Lolo and promising her that no matter what happens, they'll always be together. He manages to let out a Single Tear when thanking her.
• In the first ten minutes of The Last of Us, Joel's daughter, Sarah, is shot by a soldier during the zombie apocalypse. He starts choking up and panicking along with Sarah, trying to stop the bleeding, and then completely breaks down when she dies in his arms.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • Orca from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker sheds quite a few when he finally sees the Hurricane Spin in action for the first time.
  • Link himself in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword when after learning that Zelda is the reincarnation of the goddess Hylia, she puts herself to sleep inside a crystal for thousands of years in the past to strengthen the seal on the Imprisoned in the future, after he desperately tries to stop her.
• Like a Dragon: While usually The Stoic, Kazuma Kiryu is not immune to this trope.
  • In Yakuza 0, Kiryu is brought to tears after Tachibana succumbs to his injuries and dies in his arms. Then Kuze wakes up from the ass-whooping he just got, explains to Kiryu why the Dojima Family is so desperate to obtain the Empty Lot and tells him to surrender Makoto, the Empty Lot's owner, warning that further opposition will mean making an enemy out of the Tojo Clan. Kiryu gives Kuze a rather succinct response, while his tears continue to flow as he carries Tachibana's corpse outside the building. Something Kuze can't help but be impressed with.
    Kiryu: You lay one goddamn finger on Makoto Makimura... and I'll bury the Tojo Clan. I'll crush it down to the last man. This I swear to you!
    Kuze: I'll be damned... That punk kid's finally turned. Turned into a real Yakuza.
  • Lampshaded in Yakuza 2. One of the default DVDs you can watch in the video booth is a tear-jerker romance movie. Kiryu's critique on it?
    Kiryu Kazuma: So I cried. Doesn't make me less of a man.
  • Kiryu sheds these in Yakuza 3 when Rikiya dies. It's heartbreaking as all hell, followed by MURDER for the bad guys.
  • At the end of Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, as a reward for his actions Kiryu's government handler Hanawa gives him a tablet with a recording of two of the orphans he raised, now grown up, noticing the camera recording his supposed grave and believing that this means that Kiryu might be alive decide to record a message for him updating him of how all the orphans are doing. This causes him to not only cry but outright weep, both in joy that his kids have all grown to have decent lives but also sorrow in how he'll never be able to see them again. The tears return when Hanawa shows him a picture of a drawing made by his grandson Haruto of him.
• Mass Effect:
  • In Mass Effect 2, Thane Krios is reunited with his lost son, and when Thane explains why he wasn't there, his son proves that even arid desert toads can cry.
  • At one point in Mass Effect 3, you catch Steve Cortez crying over a recording of the last words his now-dead husband Robert ever said to him.
  • A female Shepard who romances Thane can get access to all his messages he sent to her in the third game via the Citadel DLC, the contents of which document his steady decline in health but his devotion to Shepard and gratefulness for the time they spent together. Halfway through the messages Shepard's eyes are notably teary, but her gaze steady.
• The Metal Gear series is 100% concentrated manliness (yes, even most of the women qualify), but it also has an almost shockingly high amount of manly tears. All of them completely justified.
  • It's rare to have any kind emotions towards a villain, and especially not after fighting a Boss who gave you a nerve-wracking sniper chase in the middle of a snowstorm and repeatedly shot your friend while she was lying in the open to lure you out of hiding. There's also the death of Sniper Wolf in Metal Gear Solid, as Snake stays with her during her final moment. Otacon does. Snake doesn't... because he hasn't any tears left. True to the boss torch being handed down in MGS4, Crying Wolf runs through the same vein as well.
  • In Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty it gets even worse for Otacon. Things seem to repeat themselves, but this time it's his own lost sister, who slowly bleeds to death from a single stab wound.
  • Then there's the ultimate Master of Manliness, Big Boss, at the very end of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. And he has every god damn right to. His love interest reluctantly betrayes him and leaves forever. But not before revealing that his mother figure made him believe that she was a traitor and forced him to kill her, as a completely concincing cover up for the mistakes of her superiors. And then LBJ personally rewards him a Distinguished Service Cross for his heroic accomplishment for his country. He leaves alone to visit the unmarked grave of a fallen soldier at Arlington National Cemetery, and give her a last salute. And if you press R2 during this scene you can see it through his vision, blurred with manly tears.
  • The Boss (who's a woman) also does this before her final fight with Big Boss.
  • In Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, it once again hits Otacon the hardest when his love interest for the time after Snake decides to shut down the nanites that have kept her alive for the last years, while he can only watch through the camera of a remote-controlled robot drone.
  • While he doesn't cry (at least, on camera), Snake's eyes well up with tears during the finale as Big Boss is about to die.
• In Ouendan 2, the Asahi Ouendan team do this when you complete "Believe", the Tear Jerker scenario of that game.
• In Plants vs. Zombies, Garlics and Tall-Nuts cry a Single Tear before being completely eaten. Some players feel so bad for them they add a Pumpkin upgrade.
• Big Al in Pilotwings exhibits Ocular Gushers when you get a perfect score on an event.
• At the end of Policenauts, Ed sheds Tears of Joy when Jonathan reveals a drawing Marc made of Ed, showing that Marc finally accepted Ed as his father.
• In Red Dead Redemption, if John Marston kills Javier Escuella instead of capturing him, he takes Javier's body to the jail cell for a moment and weeps (even from his dead eye) in regret for what he had done. The fact that Javier was a Nice Guy and a friend who had saved John's life from a wolf attack that had nearly blinded him before his Undying Loyalty to Dutch van der Linde became his downfall makes this scene even sadder if you've played RDR2.
• Chris Redfield's eyes get very moist in Resident Evil 6. In Resident Evil Village Chris noticeably has a sob in his voice when telling Mia that Ethan has died.
• Zephyr, in Resonance of Fate, who is typically something of a cocky smartass, gets his very own tears-in-the-rain moment half-way through the game.
• Spider-Man (PS4): Peter quietly sobs right by Aunt May's hospital bed when he realizes that she will have to die so that the cure for her disease can be studied and reproduced.
• Street Fighter
  • Dan Hibiki from Street Fighter Alpha goes to Manly Tears at the thought of his dear, departed father. OYAJI!
    • He sheds them most epically in his "Fight Your Rival" section with Sakura.
  • Balrog aka Boxer The Brute of Shadowloo and all around greedy bastard, is brought to tears in Street Fighter V when Ed leaves him in the latter's story mode; is not explicitly shown but the tears are heard in Balrog's voice. Out of the Four Kings of Shadowloo it's clear Balrog has the most redeeming qualities as seen with his relationship with Ed.
  • Rashid at the end of the story mode, when he receives a message from his friend who was killed by F.A.N.G thanking him for all he's done for her and hopes he'll continue adventuring. Rashid who never heard her be grateful to him before begins to cry asking why she didn't say it before, Rashid then honors her request and jumps away regaining his optimism.
• In Super Robot Wars Z, Rand's mech, the Gunleon, transforms into what can only be described as GaoGaiGar slammed straight into a construction weapon. He proceeds to absolutely beat the asshole right off of whatever he's fighting at the time, complete with splitting it in half with his wrench. And then? The Gunleon itself cries manly tears for its fallen foe, and screams into the sky, firing a laser into the heavens for its death.
  • SANGER ZONVOLT, of all people, has done this at the end of Alpha Gaiden. Considering the circumstances, many would be tempted to cry along with him, because he tried his best to avert the reason for said tears, but he just couldn't. This scene does not detract from his badass, it merely exemplifies his humanity and possibly his Determinator status.
• In Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, Batsu's ultimate attack involves teaming up with his partner to simultaneously launch his signature move. However, if his partner has been defeated, their ghost shows up and mimics the animation while Batsu cries manly tears and uses the technique on his own. This also happens to make the technique more powerful. Just goes to show how powerful Manly Tears can be.
• Heihachi Mishima is one mean old man, trying to kill his son and grandson ruling his sinister company with an iron fist and being a central antagonist for much for the Tekken series; so it may come as surprise to many fans to see him shed a Single Tear in Tekken 7.Though it's justified, as he had just been forced to snap his wife's neck as she was a devil trying to kill him, this just goes to show even a hardass Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy like Heihachi is still a human being with loved ones. The trailer for Tekken 7 also shows him tearing up◊ as well when his son Kazuya reminds him that he murdered his mother. The scene doesn't happen in the game, which is a crying shame.
• Warcraft III:
  Grom: I... have... freed... myself.
  Thrall: No, old friend. You've freed us all.
  [Violin and battle cries]
• Beat from The World Ends with You is arguably the most masculine character in the game, and yet (thus?) he is the only character that really cries—and he does so multiple times, with a few nervous breakdowns thrown in. He's justifiably weepy for much of the game, because he was responsible for the death of the only person he ever cared about. Twice.
• World of Warcraft:
  • There are plenty of moments, but one of the most gut-wrenching ones has to be the encounter with Deathbringer Saurfang in Icecrown Citadel, ending with Memetic Badass High Overlord Saurfang weeping over the corpse of his son.
  • The short story "Cut Short" reveals Gelbin Mekkatorque, irritatingly cheerful and unsinkable leader of the gnomes, finding a private location and breaking down over the circumstances of his people.

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