Took A Level In Badass / Video Games

From streaking through Big Shell to streaking through your torso.

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• Ace Attorney:
  • First of all, there's Phoenix Wright himself, although we don't know the full extent of it until the third game, where we get to see him before he became a lawyer, as a hopelessly lovesick university student in a pink fuzzy sweater (and no, real men do NOT wear pink in this situation). It's seeing Mia Fey get him acquitted for murder that inspires him to change his major to law and become the Ace Attorney we all know.
  • Phoenix Wright in Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. Seven years of fighting to take down Kristoph and clear his name have turned him from a downtrodden lawyer whose main skills are luck and bluffing to a complete Magnificent Bastard who played puppetmaster to Apollo and was the architect behind completely reforming the justice system just to make sure Kristoph goes down and goes down hard.
  • And then Apollo himself gets a similar badassery boost in Dual Destinies, even going as far as to take on his own boss and mentor so he can assure he finds the truth about his recently-murdered best friend. He takes another one in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice where he defeats Phoenix Wright, overthrows a queen, and help to revolutionize Khura'in's corrupt legal system.
  • From Ace Attorney Investigations 2, we see Sebastian Debeste go from utterly useless dumbass to something resembling basic competence after overshooting the Despair Event Horizon by a country mile and being pulled back from it by Edgeworth via the longest Logic Chess segment in the game. The change is so drastic that it even affects his theme music. What was previously the comical and goofy-sounding "First-Class Reasoning" becomes the sombre yet triumphant "First-Class Farewell" as Sebastian gets the courage to go up against his asshole father in court and convict him of his crimes.
• You the pilot in the Ace Combat games. The first plane is almost always a dinky, outdated model (double subverted in Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere — your starter plane for once is a Cool Plane, the Eurofighter Typhoon... but it's the far future, and flying an Eurofighter in that game would be like flying a 50s jet fighter nowadays), and the relatively modest starter F-16 in Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation is not top tier. By the time endgame arrives, you're using a faster, more agile, and survivable Cool Plane, to say nothing of the Game-Breaker superfighters turning on a dime with Frickin' Laser Beams or Macross Missile Massacre on tap. Beyond that, however, is going back to the dinky planes and Cherry Tapping people to death. In fact, the same could be said for many combat flight-action games in a similar vein.
  • Best illustrated in Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies, where you start as the unknown 'Mobius 1', become the only person EVER to down a 'Yellow', and eventually cause panic in the enemy ranks when they know you're against them. This culminates in the final mission where you're given your own 'Mobius Squadron', which causes untold fear in the enemy when they realize not one, but ALL of the incoming aircraft have 'ribbon insignias' — Mobius 1's personal iconography.
• This happens to G5 Iguazu in Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon. For most encounters, such as his Arena match, his fighting style is ill-suited for his AC HEAD BRINGER's loadout. He plays very safely keeping his pulse shield up as often as he can while circling around you from a safe mid-range distance while trying to land hits with his (uncharged) linear rifle shots and missiles, and really only resorts to his machine gun if his shield overheated. When he joins the skirmish as 621 attempts to get the drop on V.II Snail creating a Mêlée à Trois, he fights noticably more aggressively, making more effective use of his dual trigger loadout to create much more pressure on both 621 and Snail, and will capitalize on staggers with a Boost Kick, which he will not use otherwise. Though, it can also be explained that continually hearing voices in his head is driving him into a blind berserker rage as well.
• After 5 years since saving Fiona in Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel, she is able to wield firearms and joins Alpha and Bravo in her quest to get revenge on the Big Bad Esteban Batistuta.
• Yuri Sakazaki from Art of Fighting and The King of Fighters. In her first appearance in the first Art of Fighting, she was a Damsel in Distress. Her second appearance? Playable fighter and practitioner of Kyokugenryuu karate, complete with her own ki attacks! She would go on to be a mainstay in The King of Fighters series.
• Assassin's Creed:
  • In Assassin's Creed, Malik is just the guy who gives you your feather so you can kill your targets, at least until the end, where he helps you take back Masyaf. Impressive, considering the guy only has one arm.
  • Meet Lucy Stillman (voiced by Kristen Bell). Come AC1, she was the blonde chick in a pencil skirt who stood there while you gallivanted about Masyaf in the 12th century. No action girl, no action anything. Meet the same Lucy Stillman (still voice by Kristen Bell) via Assassin's Creed II She wears high heels, blood-stained vests, and kicks the shit out of anyone who looks at her funny. Fan reactions thus: "whoah, Lucy's a badass!"
  • Desmond Miles undergoing this trope is half the reason behind the plot of Assassin's Creed II.
  • Ezio Auditore, protagonist of the second, third and fourth games, takes huge levels of badassery during his 40 years long Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
• From the two Badman games, the young Hero Antagonist Shota is like this. He starts out as a wimpy warrior who can be beaten in just seconds with your low-level monsters. Over the course of the game, he gains confidence, companions, and the strength to take out even your best dragons in just a few hits. The Badman 2 DLC story "My Name is Shota" details his rise to fame and glory, and is told from his point of view instead of the Overlord's.
• Baldur's Gate saw several characters take levels in badass at various points-Sarevok, Nalia, Aerie, and Imoen in Throne of Bhaal come immediately to mind. (the protagonist) seems to take his/her biggest round of badass in Spellhold in BG2.
  • The change is especially notable in Aerie, who is initially the most timid and insecure character in the entire game. And then, suddenly, she blurts out the battle cry, "This will hurt you a lot more than me!". Even Minsc's battle cries can't beat that one...
  • For a quite literal example, Dual-classing Imoen to a Mage in BG1. It's such a big boost the sequel just assumes you did it.
  • Anomen from Baldur's Gate 2 after his character development get a healthy, permanent +4 wisdom boost and becomes Lawful Good with a tolerable personality on top of it.
• In Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior, the player has to rescue Princess Mariana by fighting rivals to the death. In the sequel, Mariana is a playable character wielding a sword.
• Baten Kaitos: Sagi. He's not bad in a fight at the start, but he routinely gets knocked on his ass by anything bigger than a normal human, with his constant losses eventually driving him into a Heroic BSoD about how ineffective a hero he is. Then comes the Heart-to-Heart, where he finds out what he is, and what he's truly capable of. After that, nothing can stand in his way.
• Quite a few Batman villains who are generally not taken very seriously have undergone this in the Batman: Arkham Series.
  • The Penguin is one of the biggest with many Batman fans feeling that this was the first time they could really take him seriously as a truly dangerous villain, with his crude mannerisms and gleeful torture of captured cops.
  • The Riddler is another one, with his Saw-like horrific deathtraps. He's also managed to sneak trophies and the contraptions required to get them into several of Batman's secret hideouts as well as a League of Assassins secret hideout and devise riddles to which the answers are located in these places. In Arkham Knight, some of the riddles are available before the story event required to make the thing you need to scan appear actually happens! ^note Okay, that last thing's probably just a bug or a developer oversight. Probably.
  • Calendar Man. Dear GOD, Calendar Man. Despite this only being the second Batman story to feature as a credible villain instead of a harmless joke (the first being The Long Halloween), most of the crimes he committed involve straight murder, many of them described in horrifying detail. Not to mention what happens after you listen to every single one of his stories.......
  • Scarecrow is never a non-threat, but he's far more dangerous in the Arkham series than he is almost anywhere else, even in most of his comic appearances. Especially in Batman: Arkham Knight, where he took multiple levels in badass within the series itself. After getting horribly mauled by Killer Croc in the first game and being absent for the second, he sewed his own face back together, got himself a much more sinister-sounding voice actor, and became the Big Bad as well as (arguably) the greatest threat that Batman has ever faced. To date, he is the only villain in any form of media to ever unmask Batman to the world.
• Eleanor Lamb from BioShock 2. Once you get her some big sister armor she goes from a sick girl in a bed to a full-fledged and quite badass Action Girl.
• In BioShock Infinite, while Booker starts as a seasoned badass Elizabeth starts out as rather naive Damsel in Distress, but shows early signs of potential when we see her lockpicking skills and we get glimpses of her special talents. While at first she is rather appalled by all the killing that ensues, she sees herself forced to kill someone to save a child which results in a Heroic BSoD with an Important Haircut signaling her first level up. In combination with a lengthy torture over months, she now merely accepts Booker as a sidekick on her Roaring Rampage of Revenge, after showing how much she now is able to weaponize her special powers. By the end of the game, she pretty much wields god-like powers and pretty casually kills of Songbird before setting right what once went wrong at the cost of her own existence. Which is then ignored for the DLCs where in Burial at Sea: Episode II she takes the last level when she is brought down to normal and holds herself against an army of splicers with traditional badassery, making one final heroic sacrifice.
• BlazBlue:
  • Jin Kisaragi starts out in Calamity Trigger as an Ax-Crazy Jerkass who has a really really disturbing relationship with his brother Ragna; when he actually fights his brother, he gets Curb Stomped by him. In the sequel, Continuum Shift, he fights off Hazama while injured and protecting Makoto, holds his own against a full-powered Rachel despite being too badly injured to even move right, receives an extremely painful healing treatment that not even Jubei could handle, takes on Hakumen, overcomes a Brainwashed and Crazy Tsubaki and the evil mind-corrupting powers of his Nox, fights Hazama again and this time fights well enough to cause Hazama to retreat, fights the extremely powerful magic user Phantom off-screen and wins, and then tells Hakumen to back off so he can challenge Mu-12, a Brainwashed and Crazy Omnicidal Maniac version of Noel, all by himself. Clearly, Jin didn't cure himself of his insanity, he just replaced it with another kind of insanity. And that's not counting the fact that Hakumen is a future version of him!
  • Bang Shishigami. In Calamity Trigger, we have an annoying Dan Hikibi Expy and general in-universe Butt-Monkey who only wins his battles because other, more powerful characters let him win. In Continuum Shift, he fights off a nuclear-powered cyborg and survives an encounter with Big Bad Hazama, while pulling Carl and Taokaka out of the fire as well, and then immediately goes on to stall Relius Clover for Platinum's sake long enough for Hakumen to show up. Oh, and did we mention he does this despite being the only person in the game who fights entirely without magical or supernatural powers to back them up?
  • Noel seems to have taken a few, if the trailers for Chrono Phantasma are any indication. Not only is she sporting some new abilities with her Bolverk ars magus, she can make controlled transformations into Mu-12, which makes her one of the few people in the setting who can match Kagura Mutsuki on equal terms.
  • Ragna takes one every game. In the first game, Ragna is Unskilled, but Strong, unable to take on the likes of Hakumen at 20% of his strength, Nu, as well as Hazama (according to Rachel at the end of the game), and constantly throwing its power around when things go south. By the second game, he gains the Idea Engine and is able to overpower Hazama/Terumi's influence on his Grimoire, as well as fighting the aformentioned Hakumen to a draw in the middle part of the third game, who praises Ragna's improvement. By the climax of the third game, he's learned to rely on his own strength and skill without using the Grimoire, and defeats Take-Mikazuchi (with his Grimoire activated), an Eldritch Abomination which is the size of a satellite, can nuke entire cities, played a part in defeating The Black Beast itself (by killing the heart, Nu, inside) during the Dark War, and he inflicts a Curb-Stomp Battle on Nu (without his Grimoire activated) this time, and this trend continues in the fourth game where he stalemates the likes of Azrael with his limiters on (who acknowledges him as Worthy Opponent this time) and Kagura (who notes his improvement) without his Grimoire activated, as well as utterly wrecking most of the game's cast singlehandedly, even an amped-up Nu-13 and Hakumen though these are in part due to the Embryo weakening the Entitled, dealing a decisive killing blow to Nine, going toe-to-toe with Susano'o through the use of Dangerous Forbidden Technique, and kills Terumi for good, with a cool Pre-Mortem One-Liner.
• Borderlands:
  • From the very start, Claptrap has been the effective Butt-Monkey and token idiot of the franchise. They have also made two of the hardest and most powerful boss fights out of him. The first was in the first game against MINAC, which can be effectively described as a giant Dubstep tank armed with multiple gatling guns, lasers, and kamikaze robots, and the second one which is in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! is where we find out who he was supposed to be programmed to be 5H4D0W-TP, and then you fight against two of the hardest bosses in the franchise: ECLIPSE and EOS which are respectively a 25-foot giant mecha and a SPACE STATION.
  • In addition, Claptrap in The Pre-Sequel is playable — which means that if you choose Claptrap as your player character, you will experience him beating ECLIPSE and EOS against all odds.
  • Although Borderlands 3 has Claptrap mostly returning to be the usual dork he's always been, he does manage to keep some of the badassitude he showed in the games that were released between Borderlands 2 and 3.
  • Borderlands 2 and Pre-Sequel have literal Badass Levels, which are awarded by completing minor challenges such as killing a certain amount of a specific enemy type or dealing a certain amount of elemental damage, and can be exchanged for permanent stat boosts.
  • Lampshaded and foreshadowed in the comment that concludes the very first quest in Borderlands 2:
    You just moved five feet and opened a locker. Later, when you're killing skyscraper-sized monsters with a gun that shoots lightning, you'll look back on this moment and be like, "heh".
• Breath of Fire IV has Ershin, who is rather useless for the first half or so of the game due to having only two skills (a random damage attack, and an attack that guarantees a critical hit but only has 40% accuracy). After an event halfway through the game which involves unsealing the goddess Deis, who lives inside Ershin and some Level Grinding, however, Ershin will learn all four of the level 3 elemental spells, making her excellent for setting up combo attacks.
• In Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, your player character, "Soap" MacTavish, is an Ageless, Faceless, Culturally-Ambiguous Adventure Person, whom Captain Price continually ribs for being the FNG (Fuckin' New Guy). Despite this, you still manage to pull off some badass moments during the game, most notably during the final level when you manage to shoot the Big Bad while he's distracted. This is ratcheted up to eleven for the sequel, Modern Warfare 2, where you find out that MacTavish not only survived the ordeal, but shaved his head, got some tattoos, got a promotion, and became a badass captain in his own right and plays essentially the exact same role to the new player character that Captain Price did for him. The student learned his lesson well.
• Case 02: Paranormal Evil: Double subverted. Marty lacks the power he had from Loser Reborn and is just an ordinary human now, but he's also more willing to confront reality thanks to his best friend's encouragement, allowing him to fight the undead with mundane weaponry.
• In Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness, Henry, the child of the now vampire couple, goes from a young Distressed Dude rescued by Cornell, and grows up into a tough as nails Knight armed with a flintlock gun who goes back to the titular castle to save a group of children kidnapped by Dracula's followers.
• Celestial Hearts: Silnastra is actually Lissandra, who wasn't portrayed as a particularly strong fighter in the previous game. Even when she joined the party, she was at the exact same power level as Hermes. In this game, Silnastra is a powerful boss and can summon weaker copies of Strife.
• 5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel buffs Chess' Bishop (and other pieces that can travel more than 1 axis at a time) due to the addition of 2 temporal axes and how the normal movement rule interacts with those additional dimensions. ^note The ability to travel more than 1 axis at a time on normal board translates into the same ability to travel between time and over differnet timelines. For the Bishop, they can shift in either both time/timeline axes at the same time while remaining in the same board position (must be done diagonally thus shifting both at the same time, just like normal movement), or shift in just one of time/timeline at a time, but which allows your Bishop to actually move horizontally/vertically on the board in the alternate time/in the past. The Rook, on the other hand, can only travel on either time or timeline axis in a single turn, and will only stay in the same exact spot on the board. For more information
• Coco Bandicoot of the Crash Bandicoot series gradually progresses into this throughout her playable appearances. In her first playable role in Warped, she is a vehicle-centric character and unable to progress through levels on her own. In The Wrath of Cortex she is fully playable, but still with a noticeably weaker move set than her brother, making her levels something of a hard mode. By Mind Over Mutant she is as functional as Crash and can emulate all his abilities. This was taken further in the first 3 games remake N. Sane Trilogy, where she can not only emulate all of Crash's abilities, but she's also playable in almost all levels of said 3 games^note Underwater, motorcycle, and boss levels in general are still Crash-only levels, while Pura, jetski, and N-Gin's boss fight in Warped are still Coco-only levels.
• In the PC game series Dark Parables, Princess Briar Rose gets to take one over the course of the player character's career. She's a classic Damsel in Distress when the player first meets her (which is understandable since she's Sleeping Beauty — the Sleeping Beauty). The next time she encounters the detective, she has become a Pretty Princess Powerhouse who fights evil with magic plants.
• Jann Lee from Dead or Alive, believe it or not, used to be a weak kid who gets bullied all the time, and to ease his pain, he watched Bruce Lee movies. He ends up as an Ascended Fanboy, masters the Jeet Kune Do, and is now a very formidable if arrogant fighter.
  • Oh, Jann Lee? You mean the guy who went from a weak bullied kid to the guy who punched out a Tyrannosaurus rex!?
• Isaac Clarke from Dead Space takes quite a number levels in Dead Space and Dead Space 2. Considering that the man took down more Necromorphs that any army could, making him the best fighter against them by a considerable margin, killed several creatures bigger than buildings on his own, defeated his own insanity and crash lands on a freezing planet with no protection and survives, among others. All of this with mostly standard mining tools. Did I mention that Isaac is a middle-aged engineer with no combat experience?
• Dante is already a bonafide One-Man Army, but he becomes stronger in almost every game he appears in, either chronologically compared to the previous installment, or when the game's plot gives him a new power. In Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, he's initially trounced by Vergil but ultimately proves stronger in the end. In Devil May Cry, when Trish takes the death beam intended for him, Dante goes dead serious, unlocks Sparda's Super Mode and utterly trounces Mundus. In Devil May Cry 4, it's implied that he's surpassed his father's power. For perspective, Sparda was a Physical God who defeated the entire armies of Hell. And by the end of Devil May Cry 2, he's grown so powerful that the Physical God True Final Boss is little more than a nuisance to Dante while the latter is just in his human form. Capcom later twisted the chronology a bit by retconning DMC4 to take place after DMC2 instead. And then in Devil May Cry 5, at the ruins of his family's home, he unlocks his most powerful transformation so far; the Sin Devil Trigger, which allows him to turn the tables against Urizen, who had kicked his ass. In the process, he gains the Devil Sword Dante, the most powerful of his Devil Arms in the game.
• Jack Frost does this through the two Digital Devil Saga games, going from random encounter to Metal Slime quizmaster to brutal Superboss.
• As of Disgaea 4, Vyers has returned to his old identity as Krichevskoy, with all the power that entails.
• In Disney Princess, the more passive Disney Princesses are playable, and all of them save Snow White directly defeat their movie's villain.
• Doom:
  • Famed mods Brutal Doom and Project Brutality beef up everyone from Doom II; the demons become stronger and smarter and have newer demons to aid in the fight against Doomguy. But Doomguy has become tougher as well getting new powerups, an upgraded and expanded arsenal, and an even better version of the good ol' Berserk Pack to RIP AND TEAR THEIR GUTS.
  • Doom (2016): A number of returning enemies from the past games are significantly faster and more aggressive than before, and have new attacks and capabilities.
    • The basic Imp is now capable of chucking fireballs while running in any direction, will lead moving targets, and has pinpoint accuracy. It is also capable of navigating the environment with startling agility and will cling to pipes and walls to rain fireballs down.
    • The Possessed Security, this game's version of the Shotgun Guy, has received a significant buff as it is the only hitscan enemy in the game now, and is equipped with a riot shield that deflects bullets back at the player.
    • Pinkies now sport chitinous armor that resists most attacks from the front and will charge at the player with impressive speed, while having enough agility to track the player's direction mid-charge.
    • After being absent in Doom³, the Baron of Hell is back and is far more quicker than before, capable of keeping pace with the player and making great leaps to close the distance, as well as having a number of powerful melee attacks on top of its green fireball attack.
    • The Cacodemon's spit now causes your vision to blur for a brief moment should you be hit, and they will constantly advanced on the player to use their bite attack once in range.
    • The Revenants, which in the originals were more of a Glass Cannon that gradually became passé as time went on, got a pretty significant buff that turns them into Lightning Bruisers with the bonus of being able to fly and smoke you out with a shit load of missiles.
    • The Mancubus now has a number of means to stop players from circlestrafing it at close range, including a ground pound move that repels anyone who gets too close. Taken even further with its much more powerful and durable variation: The Cyber-Mancubus!
    • The Summoner, effectively a renamed version of Doom³'s Arch-Vile, retains many of its predecessor's abilities, but is much more mobile, teleporting around the area and never staying in one place for more than a few seconds.
    • The Cyberdemon as well, even though he's lost his Damage Sponge status, he's far more competent as an opponent and, despite his size, is frighteningly fast, forcing you to keep on your toes or be in for a world of hurt.
    • The Spider Mastermind. Rather than the weak end-boss she was back then, this one puts up far more of a fight than she did in the original, being much more durable and packing a number of different weapons, including a plasma chaingun, lasers, and mines.
  • Doom Eternal ups the ante even further with its returnees from both DOOM (2016) and Doom II:
    • The Soldiers now have jetpacks for additional mobility.
    • Arachnotrons make their return and are way more mobile than their Doom II counterparts while still retaining their firepower.
    • The OG Arch-Vile is back (re-replacing the Summoner), and while he loses his ability to revive fallen demons, he can now teleport around the map, summon in additional demons, and even significantly buff up his fellow demons. And he retains his infamous "instantly surround the player with raging flames" attack from Doom II.
    • The Baron of Hell is now a "Super Heavy" demon capable of tanking a BFG blast.
    • The Icon of Sin. The last time we saw it in Doom II: Hell On Earth, it was little more than a head on a wall, with its only defensive and offensive capabilities revolving around spawning monsters, and only taking three hits from a rocket launcher to put down. Here, it's a giant, demonic Humanoid Abomination who not only can still spawn monsters but possesses a plethora of direct attacks that can easily kill the Doom Slayer if he lets himself get hit. To make things worse, it's also monumentally tougher to kill, as the Doom Slayer has to destroy its armor, shred its body with gunfire until it's basically a skeleton with a couple meat chunks still hanging on, and then impale its exposed brain with the Crucible (which happens to be literally the only viable method of putting it down). And that still only puts it out of commission instead of killing it.
• Dragon Age:
  • Feynriel of Dragon Age II starts off as a young, angry, terrified half-elven runaway who's being pursued by demons, Templars, and kidnappers. Save him from the Circle in Act 1 and spare his life in the Fade in Act 2, and he upgrades to taking out people with his mind from half a continent away.
  • Dragon Age: Inquisition:
    • Samson first appeared in Dragon Age II a sadsack ex-Templar, forced to beg on the streets to feed his lyrium addiction. In Inquisition, he's become the powerful leader of the Red Templars. Red Lyrium has made him into a One-Man Army capable of defeating scores of soldiers by himself.
    • Carroll in Dragon Age: Origins was a lyrium-addled low-ranking Templar who was saddled with ferryman duty. He got promoted to Knight-Captain at some point before Inquisition and joined the Red Templars. He's now a monstrous and powerful Elite Red Templar Knight.
• Broly in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3, actually: his Rush Attacks happen to become more brutal, he smashes his opponent into the ground, grabs them, kicks them into the air, grabs them in the air again, smashes the opponent in the ground again, but he punches them away for good measure.
  • And Broly got a Super Saiyan 3 form in Raging Blast 2. And so did Vegeta.
• Drakath takes a level in badass when he becomes The Starscream to Sepulchure in DragonFable. He stabs him in the back with his own Necrotic Blade of Doom and then starts absorbing power from the Ultimate Orb. Drakath is happy about the magnificence of growing more powerful thanks to the orb, and calls Fluffy to him, and they fuse together to become Drakath the Darkness Dragon, a.k.a. Drakath the Undead Dragon, who also appeared in the original AdventureQuest, where he was incredibly powerful compared to his initial level of power in DragonFable. In AdventureQuest Worlds, he becomes the Champion of Chaos, showing off his incredibly powerful Chaos magic, which he plans to use to take over Lore and destroy and remake everything King Alteon loves. And he also plans to do so through his 13 Lords of Chaos. That's saying something.
• Dragon Quest:
  • Dragon Quest II: In the NES, the Prince of Cannock's best gear was roughly The Prince of Midenhall's early to middle-game gear, and due to everyone only having TWO non-HP/MP stats, he could die A LOT if you weren't careful. He was upgraded notably in the Dragon Quest+Dragon Quest II SNES Remake.
  • Dragon Quest IV:
    • Everyone in the Dragon Quest Monster Battle Road series, but most prevalent in Kiryl's super-attack. After unsuccessfully spamming Thwack, he stomps the dialog boxes to the floor and uses Kathwack, a powerful wave of darkness. This is a Mythology Gag dating back to the NES game's legendary Artificial Stupidity. You couldn't turn off the party AI in the original NES version (well, you could, but only by using a Game Genie code that was discovered 15 years after it was released) — and Kiryl was completely useless in battle, as he'd spam instant Death spells that would never work, ever.
    • Aamon gets one in the Updated Re-releases; it's revealed during his boss fight in both versions that he's the one that had Rose killed; in the bonus chapter, Aamon admits that it was a plan to become the new Master of Monsterkind, which has since succeeded; now Aamon takes Psaro's place as a boss, except much harder.
  • Dragon Quest V follows the main character's life from a child who needed to be bailed out of danger by his father to a powerful warrior prince.
  • Dragon Quest VI:
    • As he reveals in Party Chat, when Amos was little, he was called a coward. That's the whole reason he got into the town hero business.
    • Prince Howard "the Coward" grows a pair in between the second and final tests of royalty.
  • Dragon Quest IX: Greygnarl's Grotto Incarnation, who appears in the postgame, is sensibly more powerful than its original form.
    "I, Greygnarl, born of the light... Barbarus, born of the darkness... Styrmling, of the sacred force... We once were as one... Barbarus was destroyed when the Almighty sealed away the darkness... And the weakening of the light aged me greatly... But the sacred force remained strong enough. Strong enough to guide you, and to bring the darkness and the light back into being. And Styrmling's spirit is once more made flesh... And his body set free from its prison of so many years... Now come and face me. Show the light-born the power of the one chosen by the sacred force."
  • Dragon Quest XI:
    • After her Important Haircut, Serena gains her sister Veronica's magic skills, making her extremely versatile.
    • Thanks to the Hero's encouragement, Faris is able to do things for himself and shows much more courage than before.
  • Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and The Blight Below: The Mayor of Colissea was already pretty cool to begin with but, in the final quest that takes place in his city, he willingly joins the fray to help the party, can hold his own against the giant monsters, and has infinite health!
• A literal example can be seen in DRL — the player can put up to two level-up points to the Badass trait, which reduces knockback by one tile per level and prevents overheal decay (without Badass, healing over 100% would cause the extra health to slowly decay. With the Badass trait at level 1, the overheal decay stops at 150% and with level 2 stops completely).
• In Duel Savior Destiny character sometimes get powerups. These powerups are often reflected in more powerful alternate forms. For example, the Big Bad gets a special sword that allows him to move in a trickier pattern and gain much better attacks. Super Taiga on the other hand gets an even bigger boost in the form of greater range, some better damage, the ability usually reserved for bosses to autoblock and some speed boosts to both movement and attack.
• In EarthBound (1994), after leaving the Scaraba pyramid, Poo leaves the party to learn PSI Starstorm, returning at the end of the upcoming boss battle to show it off.
  • After visiting his final sanctuary and defeating his Enemy Within, Ness's inner power is awoken. In a single level up, he gains nearly two-hundred HP and his PP pretty much doubles. He is also much more likely to land a Critical Hit, survive with 1 HP after a mortal blow, dodge attacks, and hit with his own attacks. Finally, he drops his Mighty Glacier status and becomes your party's Lightning Bruiser.
  • Lucas in Mother 3. At the start, he oversleeps, gets called a crybaby by the villagers, and compared to his braver brother Claus. After Hinawa dies, Lucas weeps at her grave while Claus goes out to avenge Hinawa with a butter knife. However, at the end of Chapter 3, when Kumatora, Wess, and Salsa are facing Fassad's tank, Lucas shows up with a Drago at his side and proceeds to knock Fassad halfway back to Thunder Tower. He only gets better from then on out.
• The Elder Scrolls
  • The entire race of the Argonians gradually took levels as the series has progressed. They used to be something of disrespected victims of Fantastic Racism and were frequently enslaved from their homeland by the Dunmer (Dark Elves) of neighboring Morrowind. Then the sentient (and possibly omniscient) trees they worship, known as the Hist, sensed the Oblivion Crisis coming and changed their sap (which Argonians drink to grow and communicate with the Hist) to make the Argonians more greater weapons of war and much more aggressive, to the point that not only did they drive back the Oblivion invasions in the Black Marsh, they forced the Dremora to close their own portals because they were launching counter-invasions in Oblivion. As of the 4th Era, the Argonians have taken the southern half of Morrowind in payback for the centuries of slave ownership, and it's mentioned that their nation is one of two (the other being Hammerfell) that could realistically drive off the fascistic Aldmeri Dominion, who have otherwise dominated Tamriel.
  • Inverted by Hungers. Hungers are a form of lesser Daedra in service to Boethiah, the Daedric Prince of Plots, who are very similar in appearance to the "alien-style" Chupacabra, complete with claws, spikes, and a "sucker" mouth. In their first appearance in Morrowind, they are one of the toughest Daedric foes around. In addition to their standard strong attack and fatigue drain, they are immune to all forms of Destruction magic and can use Disintegrate Armor/Weapon spells. Later appearances drop these latter two abilities completely, making them a far less formidable foe.
  • From the series' Backstory comes the legendary ancient Chimeri/Dunmeri hero, Lord Indoril Nerevar. While details of his early life are scant, he was a mere merchant caravan guard prior to uniting the Chimer people and forming an Enemy Mine with the rival Dwemer in order to drive out the invading Nords. His time as the leader of the Chimer (now Dunmer) is considered the most prosperous time in the race's history.
  • In Morrowind, Great House Telvanni Councilor and Mage-Lord Master Neloth was an ancient wizard who could barely move without a special ointment being applied to him and who also seemed to be suffering from some form of dementia. In Skyrim's Dragonborn DLC, which takes place over 200 years later, Neloth returns, and is significantly more badass. At one point, he accompanies the Dragonborn to a Dwemer ruin to obtain one of the Black Books. He's capable of casting multiple high-level, extremely powerful spells such as Incinerate, Thunderbolt, and Summon Storm Atronach as well as buffs such as Ebonyflesh. He'll single-handedly cut a swath through most of the enemies you'll face. When you encounter the dragon, Krosulhah, that Miraak sent after you, Neloth is present, and he has a good chance of being able to incapacitate the dragon without help.
  • In the Morrowind expansion Tribunal, we have Gaenor, who at first appears to be nothing more than a poor, unassuming Bosmer with a rude, egotistical personality, demanding increasingly ludicrous sums of gold from the player and becoming furious when they finally refuse to give any more money, giving a threatening promise to the player that he'll remember them and be back. He then disappears from Mournhold for a few days, and the player might think it was simply an empty threat from a Wood Elf who has no chance of besting them. Wrong. Gaenor returns to Mournhold, having skyrocketed from Level 1 all the way to Level 50, clad in a full suit of ebony armor, wielding an ebony longsword and shield, with Master-rank skill levels in Long Blade, Block, and Heavy Armor, and ridiculously high Strength and Luck stats, and upon seeing the player, engages them in one of the hardest, if not the hardest battles in the game, arguably harder than Dagoth Ur, Vivec, and Almalexia combined. And he got to this point all in the span of a few days, when it takes the player the entire game to even hope to reach that point. Took A Level In Badass, indeed.
• And while we're on the subject of Disney games, in Epic Mickey the Phantom Blot is upgraded from a highly competent Gentleman Thief into an Eldritch Abomination of paint and thinner, similar to the previous Phantom Blot only by name. Warren Spector says its an upgrade but not everyone agrees, especially Italy.
• The Fallout series is particularly good at this, with the player characters having fairly mundane backgrounds. Three people had no clue about the outside world, one was an inexperienced tribal, and the other was an ordinary courier. All five of them eventually become one of the most powerful, and influential figures to ever walk the wasteland.
  • The last one is debatable, as "an ordinary courier" in the Fallout universe must walk back and forth across the wasteland, surviving all of its dangers, all day, every day. Having a high level of badass is in the job description.
• In Fallout 4 every single enemy has got this treatment compared to the last game! Feral Ghouls aren't much tougher but much more dangerous as they come in huge groups and have unpredictable attack patterns. The basic Radscorpions are now as big and tough as the Giant Radscorpions from 3 and New Vegas and also now burrow underground to ambush you under your feet. Mirelurk Kings are less fish-men and now the monster from the Alien films and Mirelurk Queens are bigger than Super Mutant Behemoths and can shrug off the Fat-Man. Raiders are much better armed and even have their very own suits of Power Armor (albeit crude homemade versions), and also the ability to steal yours if you allow them the proper circumstances. Sentry Bots are twice as big, pack all the same weapons, and will try to blow you up with a Mini-Nuke blast if you heavily damage them. Deathclaws (as if they could get even more badass) can now tank multiple rockets and insta-kill you if you're not wearing Power Armor, and still put up a tough fight against a Power Armor wearer.
  • Can also potentially happen to the Minutemen. They start out getting their asses kicked by raider gangers, ghouls, and mirelurks. They can end up storming the Institute, blowing the whole place sky-high and giving the goddamn Eastern Brotherhood of Steel pause for concern. Oh, and if you're so inclined, they can inflict a Curb-Stomp Battle on those Brotherhood jerks too!
  • Codsworth the Mr. Handy robot butler is a textbook Crutch Character, with a deadly melee attack early on but no ability to upgrade him or give him good equipment. With the Automatron DLC however, you could outfit him with the body of a Sentry bot if you were so inclined. Miniguns, Gatling Lasers, Missile Launchers, why stop at one?
• Fear Effect. Rain starts out as a Damsel in Distress, but this trope starts to kick in later on. A trailer of Fear Effect Inferno shows Rain looking like an Expy of Zero Suit Samus. She is trying to open a locked door. She finally gets it open with one powerful jump kick. She also knocks some guy over with one powerful punch, while wearing a red Chinese dress and high heels. If only she could have done these moves in gameplay.
• In the Final Fantasy series:
  • In Final Fantasy II, the cowardly Prince Gordon overcomes his fear and becomes a strong warrior from his time accompanying the party, eventually becoming the Commander of the Wild Rose rebellion's forces.
  • Cecil's ascension from Dark Knight to Paladin in Final Fantasy IV.
  • Rydia from Final Fantasy IV, who begins as a kid with weak magic. After a period of time training in another dimension, she returns with a Plot-Relevant Age-Up and several Summon creatures, just in time to save the party's ass.
  • In Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy IV: The After Years:
    • In the original Final Fantasy IV, Edward is the quintessential Spoony Bard. He's lovesick, he's an admitted and self-pitying coward, and worst of all, he's just plain weak. Lower damage output than the white mage, and utterly worthless abilities^note Hide, which was his best, made him... run away from battle, being invulnerable but unusable for several turns. Salve took one Potion (not a Hi-potion, not an X-Potion, not a status-healing item, but always a Potion) and split it 5 ways. Bardsong used random status-inflicting songs which failed often made him the weakest and least-liked party member. Fast-forward 17 years in the game's world and we come to Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, where Edward has suddenly grown some balls of steel. His first act in the story, during the base chapters, is to refuse to stand down when faced with Kain^note the series' Memetic Badass. Not just this game, the whole series., and he responds to a small army invading his throne room by opening a box with a Carnelian Signet, AKA a Bomb Ring, and wiping out the entire entourage in one swift motion. Sadly, you are controlling the bad guy in that scenario, so he and Rosa go down, but after he shows us how much he's grown. And we're not done there. In his own tale, which takes place before that, we see Edward cross the desert twice and brave the Antlion Cave, by himself, in order to save his assistant, who has taken ill with Desert Fever. And then he goes to Baron, has a conversation with brainwashed!Cecil, gives him a pot of flowers as a gift, and leaves with a present of his own from the guy he was speaking with. As he sails away, he explains two things. One: the flower was actually a cutting of Whisperweed, the voice-throwing plant he saved Cecil with once before, and two: the present he left with is, he suspects, the aforementioned Carnelian Signet. The upshot of this is that Edward planted a bug in Cecil's throne room right in front of him, simply in order to find out if Cecil really had gone evil (if it really was Cecil, he'd know what Whisperweed is), and that, in the aforementioned encounter with Dark Kain, he went on a hunch. He went into that encounter almost blind. Add that to some seriously improved abilities^note Bardsong includes healing effects, haste effects, and is much more accurate, Salve now takes one item (of your choice) for each party member and uses them at full strength, and Hide is much more useful when he can be the only one to survive a massive attack, only to come back with 5 Phoenix Downs at once. Plus, he's the fastest character and has some really powerful harps., and we've got one seriously badass bard. Also...in the 2D versions of Final Fantasy IV, Edward is initially very weak as mentioned above, but for some reason, after reaching level 70, his stats...skyrocket. And he's able to reach the highest raw stats. The only question is...why?
    • Palom is a Bratty Half-Pint in the original game and subject to being hit on the head by his more mature sister, The After Years gives him a chance to shine. Without Porom's nagging, he has shown that he's surprisingly good with the ladies, with both Leonora and Luca interested in him. However, his real moment comes at the end of his tale: He and Leonora have made it to the bottom of the Magnetic Cave in order to hide the Earth Crystal from the Mysterious Girl. When she comes to reclaim it, Palom has Leonora leave and then gives the Girl what amounts to the finger; he petrifies himself so that she can't have the Crystal. While it doesn't work in the end — Leonora comes back and cures him — they then still refuse to give over the Crystal and fight her, the first group to do so. They lose, but man was it badass.
  • In the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII:
    • In Crisis Core, Zack takes several levels throughout the story majorly when he is forced to kill his mentor, Angeal, gaining the Buster Sword and a new hairdo.
    • Cloud takes some serious levels throughout the Compilation. At first he's just another mook, albeit one who's decently handy with a sword. Then he picks up the Buster Sword after Zack is defeated, gets the drop on Sephiroth, the greatest warrior who ever lived, and is the only one of the two to walk out of the room alive. Then in Final Fantasy VII he can convincingly pass for a SOLDIER First Class throughout the game, and eventually he and his companions kill Sephiroth again, this time in a straight fight. He takes even more levels in badass in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. First he's no match for the Silver Haired Men, then he defeats Bahamut Sin, and then the aforementioned Silver Haired Men, and then Sephiroth himself (this time in a one-on-one duel). Plot Armor does help. It seems suggested that Cloud simply gained back levels he had lost. At first, he was angsty and ill, but before the dragon fight, he gained his self-confidence back, and by the end he had been physically healed as well. Tifa also spoke of the strength the lot of them had felt near the end of the game and how they had already lost it, except that, near the end of the movie, Cloud had regained it.
    • Kadaj from Advent Children can teach a class on taking levels in badass after becoming Sephiroth in the blink of an eye.
  • Of course, one of the most well-known level-ups in the Final Fantasy series takes place in Final Fantasy X-2 with Yuna. While Final Fantasy X rarely gave her lines that showed that she had some guts, X-2 gave her not only a gun and some rather interesting one-liners (some made no real sense, though those were by design), but also allows her to deliver what could be one of the best lines in the entire game. Near the end of the game, where Nooj tells of his plans to defeat Vegnagun to the three protagonists (which involves him sacrificing his life in order to stop Vegnagun and the man controlling it), Yuna objects with, "I don't like your plan. It sucks!" The line makes everyone in that current scene suddenly whip around to her (due to her never using such harsh language prior to that point) as she then delivers a moving speech of why she highly disapproves of the proposed plan.
  • And then we have Final Fantasy XII's Vaan. Disliked in his debut game, largely for his Supporting Protagonist nature and being largely irrelevant to the story, gets much better in Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, where he is the main character, and to almost ridiculous levels in Final Fantasy Tactics A2, where he is considered the greatest Sky Pirate who ever lived, and Criminal Syndicates have 'flee on sight' orders is facing him. He even looks badass in that game!
  • In Final Fantasy XIII:
    • Serah was Lightning's not quite dead little sister and Snow's Damsel in Distress who spent the entire game stuck in a crystal. But the sequel's been announced, and Serah's taking up arms to find her missing sister, wielding a sword that is also a bow that is also a Moogle.
    • Hope. He spends the first half of the game wangsting, dragging his feet and generally being a pain in the ass with extremely weak attacks. After chapter three or so, the player will likely want to punch him in the face. Then comes the opening to Chapter 12, where he comes nose-to-nose with a speeding warmech before calmly ordering Alexander to blast it out of existence. By this point, he is also probably the most powerful character in terms of magic. By the time the sequel rolls around, Hope has gone from The Scrappy to the de facto leader of humanity, no matter what time period he's in.
    • Arguably Sazh and Vanille via Chapter 9 of the first game; when two soldiers and a vespid enter their cell to move them, Sazh pins the two of them to the wall, while Vanille steals one of their rifles — proceeding to riddle the vespid with bullets. Later, Vanille decides they'll turn things around;
      Sazh:Time to go get rescued.
      Vanille: No, not this time. For once in my life, I am going to save her.
  • In Final Fantasy XIV:
    • Prior to Patch 6.1, the Cape Westwind, Castrum Meridianum, and the Praetorium duties in A Realm Reborn were considered jokes by the playerbase, largely due to the fact that there was no item level sync or major mechanics at the time. After the patch launched, All three instances were completely overhauled, including their bosses; Cape Westwind was reworked into its own solo instance, Castrum Meridianum was made much shorter and is now a four-person dungeon, and the Praetorium was also made much shorter and divided into three duties consisting of a four-person dungeon, a four-person trial against the Ultima Weapon, and a solo instance against Lahabrea. All the bosses in those instances, particularly Rhitahtyn, Livia, Gaius, the Ultima Weapon, and Lahabrea, were given mechanics that make them legitimate boss fights instead of the pushovers they were previously.
    • In Patch 6.2, Lahabrea was given another upgrade with his splintered fragment Hephaistos serving as the final boss of the Abyssos raid tier. In the Savage version of the fight, Hephaistos gains an exclusive second phase normally reserved for final raid tier bosses.
  • Dissidia Final Fantasy:
    • The Warrior of Light, based off of the backstory-less Heroic Mime Fighter/Warrior from the very first Final Fantasy Warrior/Fighter. The Warrior of Light has been transformed into a righteous Badass Cape and Determinator.
    • Garland ascends from being the first (and weakest) Final Fantasy boss in the series history to a true badass. He will knock you all down.
  • Marche in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance starts off as a kid who isn't quite sure why he is fighting for what he believes in or if he should even keep going to a much more mature person who is not only a lot more confidence in himself and his abilities but is also determined to the point where he doesn't let anyone stand in his way; this includes going against his friends but also showing them why he is fighting for what he believes in.
• Fire Emblem
  • The first part of Genealogy of the Holy War has Oifaye and Shanan as tag-along cute kids no older than 14, and the second shows them as quite capable fighters and leaders.
  • In the gap between The Binding Blade/Blazing Blade we have Bartre (to a degree) and Karel, depending on whether you go by chronological order (Karel) or release order (Bartre).
  • In Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, Haar was a fairly average unit who joined as a decent but not overwhelming unit. Come Radiant Dawn, Haar joins earlier (among other things) and is now in the top tier.
  • Then there's Elincia, who starts out as a quiet princess sitting at the sidelines and cheering for her bodyguard and his mini-army to win. By the end of the story, she hops on a pegasus, picks up a sword, and decides that Ashnard bitch is going down. Three years later, after being pushed around by her fellow nobles, she too jumps on the top-tier boat to show the country who's queen.
  • Naturally enough, the hero of those two games, Ike, starts out as a complete noob who you really have to be careful with for fear he'll die to being a world-renowned hero by the end of the first game. It's more impressive when you realize that this happens in the space of a year. He's taken awesome to new heights after the 3-year Time Skip to Radiant Dawn, and only gets better. Ike also benefits from a hero-specific recurring Level in Badass, the Aether skill, which makes him even deadlier and almost unkillable. The only good reason not to use in it Path of Radiance is to completely break the game by giving him Wrath and Resolve instead.
  • Pelleas got a bit of this too near the end of Radiant Dawn. For most of the game, he was pampered and coddled by Almedha, and he seemed content with that. After nearly killing himself and then witnessing The End of the World as We Know It (and learning that his mother has a brother who happens to be a dragon laguz, and possibly coming to the conclusion that she might not be his mother), though, he decided that he had had enough of her coddling and joined Tibarn and Elincia on the battlefield to get away from her. As mages go, he never gets quite as badass as, say, Soren... but Soren was a badass from the beginning.
  • The soldier class as a whole takes a huge one in the Tellius games, going from enemy cannon fodder to legitimately threatening foes, and producing some of the best units in their games.
  • The Avatar in both Fire Emblem: Awakening and Fire Emblem Fates is a major example. In both games, they are customizable, and start off as somewhat weak units, having to be watched carefully to avoid being annihilated. However, after a few levels, and a re-class or two, they take several levels in badass. As each Avatar has access to their own specific character-only class, maxing that after gaining skills in all other classes, you become a certifiable badass. In Awakening, it is possible to get all gender-specific skills and all other non-enemy class skills on a single Avatar, allowing you to build a One-Man Army. Adding other Avatar characters that you can recruit and do the same thing, you can literally have a Badass Army.
• On both sides of the fourth wall, Milla Basset from Freedom Planet undergoes a full-on adrenaline makeover for the sequel. Out of narrative, her kit has been heavily enhanced, with near-zero charge time for her phantom cubes, actual melee strikes, a ranged option with her shield bursts, and more HP to keep up with her compatriots. In-narrative, the journey sees her grow up to an incredible degree, going from losing her nerve when she's told by Serpentine about her origins and her parents - in addition to being falsely informed about Brevon's return - to pleading her allies against supporting him yet fighting on at their side, to bargaining with him to help them pursue the Bakunawa into space, to taking him out.
• When you first meet Missile in Ghost Trick he's full of enthusiasm and vigor but essentially useless. After he dies next to the Temsik meteorite he gains ghost tricks too and becomes in some ways more powerful than Sissel himself. His reach is much longer, and while he can't manipulate inanimate objects he can swap them with similarly shaped objects.
  • And then we have the double badass level taken by Ray — aka, the Missile from the first timeline. After ten years of waiting for the night of Sissel's death to come around again, he's gone from The Ditz to The Chessmaster.
• Golden Sun
  • The main character from the first game, Isaac, was your typical, harmless-looking, anime JRPG character.◊ Fast forward 30 years with the DS game Golden Sun: Dark Dawn where his character art was just released. Damn.◊
  • Over the course of the first game, Isaac goes from apparently being a meek momma's boy to a badass warrior who takes out the Fire Clan's top two even after they turn into a giant dragon to stop him from stopping them. Along the way, Alex comments on his unexpected progress at Mercury Lighthouse, and Felix is flat-out frightened by his power at Venus Lighthouse, especially once Saturos and Menardi bite the dust. If anything, Dark Dawn just gave Isaac the looks to match the badass within (and by "looks", we mean "beard").
  • In The Lost Age, Jenna goes from Damsel in Distress to Action Girl, Sheba goes from Damsel in Distress to snarky Black Magician Girl, and Felix goes from being a hostage of the Fire Clan to the renegade hero who saves them all — and the world, and at least three Wacky Wayside Tribes along the way.
• Some characters in Granblue Fantasy have a stronger version of themselves in the form of rarer version (R/SR becoming an SR/SSR) or an event only character. Some SR and SSR characters have also been upgraded with a final uncap which adds another 20 levels and a number of significant upgrades, in some cases including a new ability; this is often used as a Balance Buff to power up an older character.
• In Half-Life 2:
  • Alyx Vance practically has to be babied by the player during the sequences where she tags along. Valve paid attention to these complaints and from Episode One on, she's a capable shooter who takes out wave after wave of zombies and soldiers, both during the gameplay and in the scripted events. In one level with a shortage of ammunition (which doesn't affect Alyx's gun), the player spends a lot of time using the flashlight to illuminate targets for Alyx to shoot, turning the first half of the stage into a sort of reverse Escort Mission.
  • The Vortigaunts started off as low-level mooks in Half-Life, but keep leveling up until they are full-fledged Warrior Poets in Episode 2.
  • Gordon Freeman himself could qualify. He went from a simple scientist to a man whose name alone sparks hope in the people and fear in his enemies and is usually associated with his famous crowbar.
  • A lesser one; Leeches go from weak water mooks to indestructible Border Patrol that Gordon can't fight off.
• Halo:
  • The Grunts from Halo 3 onward. Suicide Grunts, my god.
  • Also the Hunters; in Halo: Combat Evolved they were Fake Ultimate Mooks who were almost pathetic once you knew their weak point. They get tougher and tougher the more the series goes on, becoming Demonic Spiders in the later games, to the point where it's nearly impossible to beat them one-on-one in Halo 5: Guardians unless you have a lot of explosives and/or heavy weaponry.
  • The UNSC has always been a Badass Army, but in Halo 4, humanity goes from nearly being exterminated to being able to fight toe-to-toe with the Covenant remnants. This is best illustrated in the first cutscene of Spartan Ops; In everything Halo up to this point, whenever the UNSC and the Covenant threw down the Covenant always had superior spaceships that usually gave them the win. Here, the UNSC builds a ship with Forerunner tech that not only dwarfs the Covenant ships, it rams them to space dust with no effort or damage taken.
  • In Halo 4, the Promethean Knights were already infamously tough Elite Mooks, but Halo 5: Guardians turns them into all-out mini-bosses.
• Heavy Rain has Ethan Mars for his trails and Madison Paige in the "Sexy Girl" chapter.
• Kiith Somtaaw spend a vast majority of Homeworld: Cataclysm grinding their way through multiple levels from a minor mining operation to a dedicated combat fleet in order to destroy The Beast.
• Honkai Impact 3rd: Whole main trio, but most notably Mei.
  • She starts off as a gentle, somewhat shy teenager who never had many friends. In St. Freya Academy, she often acted as Team Mom, even cooking for other Valkyries and generally indulging Kiana. She was skilled with a sword, but when it mattered her strength was underwhelming. Later, when Kiana goes missing and gets kidnapped she is constantly worried and beats herself up for being unable to change anything.
  • In Chapter 19, Mei is forced to make a difficult decision in order to save her friend. She absorbs Honkai energy in Nagazora, awakening her Herrscher powers, joins World Serpent and defeats Kiana who tries to stop her. In result, Mei becomes much stronger, but at the same time more stoic with a hint of sadness. She also gains a cool new outfit and a dragon pet.
• A big part of inFAMOUS. Within the span of about a week, you go from just being able to handle a handful of thugs to taking down a paramilitary organisation backed up with their own super-powered soldiers. Each time you re-establish power in a section of the island your power jumps dramatically as you learn a new ability, often allowing you to collect even more blast shards making you EVEN stronger. Of course this is all part of Kessler's plan to make Cole strong enough to face The Beast and win.
• Jak and Daxter:
  • Happens twice to Jak. There is a little incident involving two years of Dark Eco experimentation at the beginning of Jak II: Renegade, and then during Jak 3, he gains Light Eco powers.
  • Tess goes from simple Fanservice to being a scarily competent weapon developer between 2 and 3
  • Everyone (except Tess and Samos) becomes an expert driver in Jak X.
  • Even though Daxter stays mostly the same in terms of personality, he gets more screen time as the series progresses: from completely unplayable in TPL to being invaluable in the later games. A few in-game comments on Daxter's badassery include:
    • Jak's "I'm proud of ya, Dax," after Daxter wins the Class Two Race. Ironically, one of the only times Daxter shares credit.
    • Samos admits that Jak could never have succeeded without Daxter in the prologue to Daxter since Daxter is responsible for saving Jak.
    • In Jak 3, Daxter has to ride a missile with Torn occasionally chiming in comments and encouragement over the radio: one line you can hear while playing is "You're braver than I thought, Daxter."
• Mickey Mouse in Kingdom Hearts II You'd have to see it to believe it.
  • Sora himself. Two words: "Reaction Commands".
  • Kairi who in Kingdom Hearts II gets a level from Riku, in the form of her own keyblade (while granted, all she fought were Shadows, that's the ideal Heartless for ANY beginner to take on, and in this case, there were a lot of them and they gave even the more experienced Riku trouble.) By Kingdom Hearts III, she's taken another one after receiving professional training.
  • Riku himself, after a frustrating period of Badass Decay, is finally granted a new level of badass once he gets his original body back, after being stuck in the form of Ansem for most of the aforementioned period.
  • Roxas takes several levels in badass after absorbing Xion. Kind of explains Sora's upgrade as well.
    • He now dual-wields Oblivion and Oathkeeper, can kill Neoshadows (who were a bossfight in the first game and very pesky and durable enemies in the second) with one hit, goes on a Roaring Rampageof Revenge against the Organization and manages to defeat Riku (who was up to this point portrayed as unbeatable) pretty easily with only Oathkeeper. Riku had to use his full power (which caused him to transform into Xehanort's Heartless in the first place) and use the element of surprise against Roxas to win. Damn.
  • In-universe, Sora gets another one after fully merging with Roxas. This is what unlocks Final Form
  • Remember Sora's Heartless, the lowly Shadow that Sora became after sacrificing himself to save Kairi in the first game? The Shadow that could do nothing but run around and get konked on the head by Donald? Well, in Coded, it's back, and has taken the form of an even bigger than normal Darkside, is sentient, and is the Big Bad.
  • Mulan in Kingdom Hearts II may actually be the most visible display of this trope. When you first meet her, she's pretending to be Ping and is a pretty terrible party member. So bad she even sometimes stumbles and misses a target. But once she stops pretending to be Ping, she gains a lot of abilities and becomes much, much stronger. To the point she's flying around the battlefield setting things on fire faster than you can kill them.
  • Pete gets one too. In the past, Pete was just a troublemaker. But now he commands Heartless, even the most powerful ones. Although, other than that, he's more the comic relief. In Coded though, his role of antagonist is taken much more seriously. While accidentaly, Pete ended up in the datascape (a place that connect a lot of worlds) because he thought Mickey and the others were up to something and called Maleficent there (and anyone who played the first game knows that's not a good thing). He's also able to control the bugs, which are basically a very powerful virus in that world. And at last, he was able to corrupt Data-Riku with these bugs and put him against Data-Sora. Also his boss fight in this game will make you work. He hits hard, he can teleport and can also cause the status Silence, meaning no skills and magic for a while.
    • Also, Pete is able to pass through the Corridors of Darkness without problems, which is an impressive feat, and can resist the darkness, something not even Maleficent can do.
• Kirby:
  • Whispy Woods has been the first boss of almost every game in the series and never gets any tougher. Then comes Kirby's Epic Yarn, where he's able to take a good stand against Kirby's Tankbot form compared to all his fights with Kirby in the other games. He was pretty powerful in the anime as well, able to bury Kirby and his friends in an avalanche of apples because he thought they were intruders coming to destroy his entire forest. When he learns from his mistake of having trusted King Dedede, who secretly planned to cut down his forest and build a golf course, he punishes the King and Escargoon by putting them into the bunker after being revived by one of the apples that Kirby ate, and then putts all the apples around to restore his forest, and afterwards he and Kirby-tachi become friends. Also in any of the Extra Modes or True Arena(s).
  • The Updated Re-release of Kirby Super Star has King Dedede go through this in Revenge of the King in an attempt to beat Kirby, donning a mask and a mechanized hammer. His newfound badass level shows even gameplay-wise. The wimpy, easily stunned Warmup Boss at the end of Spring Breeze has become what many players believe to be the hardest boss in the game with his faster and much less easily stunned moves, including a spin attack with long range that leaves him invincible for its duration and hits through shielding.
  • Kirby's Return to Dream Land has every boss do this in Extra Mode. The Metal General in Egg Engines is the most notable. You remember that Dedede robot from the Kirby GCN trailer and Mass Attack's Kirby Quest subgame? The Metal General EX finds it, takes it over, and redesigns it in his image. After you beat the Metal General EX, he proceeds to pilot the robot, now given the official name HR-D3, and give Kirby (and maybe his friends, if you're playing co-op) a massive beating. Oh, and did we mention HR-D3 has two forms?
    • Magolor Soul deserves special mention. When he's introduced, his attacks are more powerful, and he has an icy Grand Hammer, but he's otherwise not that much different than Magolor's second boss form in normal mode. In Deluxe's True Arena, however, his moveset has been drastically overhauled to become much more dangerous and unpredictable; and when his health is depleted, he gains a second health bar and starts utilizing even-more-souped-up versions of the Super Abilites, including entirely new ones for Sand and Mecha!
  • Also King Dedede in general got major levels in badass. In the first game, he only swings his hammer, jump and trips. Word of God stated that he went through a rigorous training in order to be able to inhale and floating like Kirby. And also as stated above, Dedede became much more of a threat in Revenge of the King. Kirby: Triple Deluxe shows how much of a badass King Dedede can be. In the Story Mode, he helps Kirby reaching Sectonia and also pulls a Big Damn Heroes saving the pink hero. The Extra Mode Dededetour! is the peak of this. King Dedede undergoes the same adventure of the Story, with the only difference being that every boss is a stronger version of the one Kirby fought. At the end, King Dedede goes to fight a dark version of himself and win, and after that he fight and defeat Dark Meta Knight of all enemies. And just to show how much of a badass he is, he breaks the mirror where Dark Meta Knight came from, sealing him in the Mirror World.
    • Another highlight for Dedede is in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He undergoes a Heel–Face Turn, steals fighters turned into trophies and gives them a special time badge that will restore the fighter so that when Taboo will turn every fighter into trophies, there will be some that will be able to stand up again. And it works too. Luigi, Ness and (accidentaly) Kirby are saved by this and then they rescue all the other fighters and Taboo goes down. King Dedede basically saved the universe in this game.
  • Waddle Dees are pretty notorious for being complete pushovers, and while they do Dedede's bidding, they aren't very efficient. Over time, a single Waddle Dee that donned a bandanna started to stand out. Initially an easy first fighter in the Megaton Punch game in Kirby Super Star then becoming the joke boss Waddle Dee in its remake, Bandana Waddle Dee was initially only slightly more impressive than your average Waddle Dee, having notably more health, but still easy to defeat. Over time (likely due to his popularity in that game), Bandana Waddle Dee has shown to have had spear training for the next game, Kirby's Return to Dream Land, where his skills allow him to keep up with the likes of Kirby, Meta Knight, and his King. Eventually, Bandana Waddle Dee starts forming a distinct personality that puts him far above the rest of his kin, with a strong desire to become more reliable and developing a strong friendship with Kirby, to the point where he was willing to help Kirby over his own boss in the Kirby Battle Royale story mode. Bandana Waddle Dee has evolved from a Zero-Effort Boss to one of the strongest heroes in Dream Land and one of Kirby's most reliable allies, to the point where he's become Kirby's Number Two in most of Kirby's recent adventures.
• Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords: T3-M4, who here proves himself equal to R2-D2 in terms of technical skills and pint-sized, unassuming badassery. Flying a ship to safety, locking the navigational computer so only he can guide the ship, and deactivating an assassin droid? He took a few levels considering he had almost no personality in the first game and only one required instance of use as a party member. At one point, he takes on three HK-50's by himself and wins. T3's a beast.
  • In the first game, the point at which your character is allowed to start leveling up as a Jedi, and in the second game at the point at which you can level up as a Jedi/Sith prestige class
  • Mira, Atton, the Handmaiden/the Disciple, and Bao-dur can all take levels in badass (i.e. Jedi, Sentinel for most, Guardian for the Handmaiden, Consular for the Disciple) in the second game.
• Left 4 Dead has Louis, an everyday Joe caught up in the zombie outbreak that can still kick ass with the rest of the survivors, but is still super optimistic and assures everyone that things will return to normal, making him look pretty dorky. Fast forward to the sequel where he and the others meet the survivors in the next game and Louis assists them by using a mounted machine gun and kills any Tanks that appear for Bill, who was killed by three Tanks. "That... was for Bill!"
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • Zelda, previously a Damsel in Distress, leveled up in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time with her alter ego Sheik, and has ever since had the tendency to assist Link in the final battle, even though she's still a Damsel in Distress for part of the game just before that fight.
    • Continued further in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker with her identity as Tetra and assistance in the final battle. Likewise, she assists in the second-to-last battle of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and her period of captivity in that game is of her own choice (to protect her people) rather than because she was kidnapped.
    • Zelda again in The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks for the DS. Her spirit gets separated from her body, forcing the princess to tag along with Link. Her ghostly form allows her to possess Phantoms, among other things. (This is Zelda in 1986◊; This is her in 2010◊.)
    • And then she becomes able to take down an entire army on her own in Hyrule Warriors, displaying impressive rapier skills. To continue from the above post, this is Zelda in 2014.
    • Also present in the non-canonical CD-i game Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon, involving a role reversal of the classic formula in which Princess Zelda is the one fighting to rescue Link.
  • Link himself is an incarnation of this trope; he starts every game as an unarmed kid in a backwater town and ends up badass enough to believably take down the King of Evil himself. Of course, thanks to Demise, it's not like he has any choice in the matter.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Stalfos and Ropes in the second quest go from being a free kill to being quite a threat. Stalfos now know how to throw swords at Link, dealing two hearts of damage if he comes into the path of them. Ropes now take several hits to kill instead of one.
  • Zelda II: The Adventure of Link:
    • Several Mooks that are a non-issue in most games will kill you to death in this one. Tektites especially. Immune to anything but the Fire Spell, and you first run into them before you get it. They hop really high and far, and every part of their body gives Collision Damage (which means with their legs fully extended they are practically boss-sized in terms of do-not-touch radius.) And Zolas/Zoras, which in this game are little ankylosaurus looking things, also immune to everything except Fire and incredibly durable.
    • Link himself is particularly more badass in this game than the last. With the side-scrolling combat, he can now jump, use upward and downward thrusts, and fight enemies in one on one sword fights.
  • Even an item gets this treatment. When the Fire Rod was introduced in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, it let you shoot a long-distance fireball at enemies and objects such as torches. Not too shabby there, but in The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, that flame from the Fire Rod, while slower-moving, is now a fiery whirlwind that can hit enemies on two separate levels. You can then let Mother Maiamai upgrade it into an even bigger whirlwind. Then in Hyrule Warriors, the Fire Rod can be used to produce an enormous burst of flame that envelops enemies in a wide radius around Link, essentially making it a sped-up version of Din's Fire from Ocarina of Time. It can also turn into a flamethrower, a giant axe, and a magical cannon and its flames can also take the shape of a dragon.
  • Though A Link to the Past is generally easier than the original game, this version of Ganon is significantly harder than his counterpart in the original — he does much more damage, has a more varied attack pattern, and takes way longer to go down.
  • Nearly everyone got extreme levels in badass in Hyrule Warriors. See above for Zelda, Ruto goes from being carried around and captured (she still does), but uses her water manipulation skills to the fullest. Epona goes from mode of transportation to full-on war horse. Hell, even the Great Fairy gets an upgrade, being able to pull down the Moon to using Link as a weapon as... one of Link's alternate weapons.
  • In Breath of the Wild, Tulin is a young child who has only just started to learn how to use a bow and never sees any combat. By the time of Tears of the Kingdom (set roughly 5-6 years later), he's grown into a capable warrior and is able to fight side by side with Link as the Sage of the Wind.
• Episode 4 of Life Is Strange has Warren (who was previously headbutted and punched in the face by Nathan in Episode 1) turn the tables on Nathan. Depending on your choice, you can stop Warren after he headbutts Nathan and kicks him a couple of times, or you can let him go APE-SHIT on him.
• Like a Dragon:
  • In the prologue of Yakuza, Shinji is a ranker, an inveterate goofball and obsessed with adult entertainment. Post-Time Skip, he is a stern, Badass Longcoat-wearing, gun-slinging lieutenant.
  • Kazuma Kiryu was already pretty badass back in Yakuza 0, but one key moment has an enemy hit him In the Back of the head and causing him to fall down, which would have led to his death at the hands of another villain if not for The Cavalry. Come Yakuza 2, another enemy hits him in the back of the head again, but this time all it does is make Kiryu give an annoyed Death Glare.
  • When you meet Yasuo Sodachi in Yakuza 4, he's essentially an ersatz Dan Hibiki. A dojo master with all the fighting skill of a 5-year-old with progeria. Come Yakuza 6, he's been hitting the gym. And not only is he now super buff, he's a legit fighter that you can tangle with repeatedly on the street. And all his training means he now packs a wallop.
• Tia in Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals doubts her abilities in battle, compared to her companions who are professional fighters. After she accidentally wanders off and has to be rescued from a giant robot, seeing Selan's skills and hearing her companions praise her drives Tia to run off. When Maxim chases after her and then gets shot in the back by the same giant robot, Tia refuses to abandon Maxim and defeats the giant robot by herself. The praise and assurance she receives from her companions convinces her of her strength and to stick around for the journey.
• Roland in Luminous Arc 2 when he becomes a Master. The story treats it as another stepping stone in his Character Development, but it really shines in his battlefield quotes, which go from bog-standard team quips like "let's do it!" to leading-man shouts of "Everyone, follow me!"
• Marathon has an odd example in the form of The Security Officer. While he was already incredibly badass from the start, his accomplishments sharply ramp up throughout the games:
  • He starts off merely participating in surgical strikes and letting the rebellion handle the rest.
  • In the second game, his arrival in a war is actually seen as a turning point in the favor of the humans.
  • In the third game, he not only singlehandedly routes entire armies, but imprisons an Eldritch Abomination. Maybe
• Mari and the Black Tower: Angoma was initially an Unskilled, but Strong boss who had decent durability, but terrible accuracy. In the endgame, his attacks are more accurate and he has a high evasion rate, showing that he can now live up to his boasts of being a great thief.
• Mass Effect:
  • This seems to be a side effect of spending extended amounts of time with Commander Shepard, and the original squad from the first game showcases it best:
    • Kaidan and Ashley begin Mass Effect simply as somewhat notable soldiers with troubled histories. By the third game, whichever of them survives Virmire has gained several promotional ranks and eventually becomes the second human to become a Spectre.
    • In Mass Effect 2, Liara T'Soni has gone from being an awkward archaeologist who uses her Biotics to defend herself on remote digs, to a powerful information dealer. When you first walk into her office, you hear her threaten to flay someone alive. With her mind. At the beginning of the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC, she smacks elite soldiers around with her mind while shooting them to pieces with an automatic gun. At the end she kills the arguably most powerful person in the galaxy, and assumes his identity. Just as he did with his predecessor. In the third game, it is revealed that she is also one quarter Krogan.
    • Garrus starts out as a pretty badass but fairly unremarkable Cowboy Cop. Over the course of the game, like your other party members, he becomes an army-crushing terror, and, in Mass Effect 2, he, as Archangel, takes an additional level in badass where he holds off entire waves of mercenaries all out to kill him, while all he has is his sniper rifle. The only reason he isn't taking more levels is apparently that he's serving under Shepard, according to the Shadow Broker's data. Even still, by the third game, he's a top advisor to the Turian Military, considering he's the closest thing to a Reaper Expert that the Turians have.
    • Wrex is a centuries-old badass Krogan mercenary in the first game, on top of being one of the wisest and most levelheaded Krogan you meet in the game (not that the bar is set very high). In the second game, he's taken a page out of Shepard's book and is trying to unite his species. The best outcome for the third game has Wrex as the leader of a newly revitalized Krogan race, making him one of the most powerful individuals in the galaxy. Good thing he's on our side.
    • Tali in the first game is a remarkable Quarian engineer and daughter of one of the Admiralty Board members, but she's still a young girl on her Pilgrammage trying to learn the ways of the Galaxy. Through the series, she becomes a shotgun-wielding badass, a technological savant, and, if all goes well, one of the youngest members of the Quarian Admiralty in history.
  • Shepard to an extent, as if s/he weren't Badass enough. The different classes change and evolve through the trilogy so a soldier can go from being proficient with any firearms to wielding rifles bigger than s/he is to Improbable Aiming Skills using Bullet Time, a vanguard can go from a Magic Knight to using biotics to physically clear a room, an adept can go from Squishy Wizard to nigh unstoppable, etc. And Shepard can take skills from other characters were s/he so inclined.
  • If those descriptions aren't enough, have some numbers. Each of the squad members listed above (barring the one who died on Virmire, and the possibility of the player deliberately avoid using a specific squadmate) will inevitably rack up hundreds of kills over the course of the series due to the sheer amount of battles they fight in. That's quite a long way to come when 3/5 of these people started as, respectively, an archaeologist, a detective, and an engineer.
  • The whole squad, including Shepard, are at their most badass in Mass Effect 3, from both a gameplay and story perspective, with their enemies being appropriately tough to compensate. It's even outright stated that compared to Cerberus troops (arguably the weakest enemy faction per man), normal soldiers like the ones Shepard and co fought for most of the last two games "may as well have been throwing rocks". What's particularly notable is that, if you import a save, Shepard will start out with the exact same skills and experience that they had at the end of Mass Effect 2, right at the beginning of Mass Effect 3... yet s/he's still not even halfway to the fully leveled point, leaving him/her several levels to take (literally and figuratively). By the end of the game, every squadmate, even the more squishy ones like Tali, can easily slaughter entire squads of soldiers far superior than Alliance marines, and take on N7-tier enemies like Phantoms in one on one combat and come out on top. Others, like Garrus, become genuine One Man Armies when leveled and equipped correctly.
  • Heck, depending on your actions in the second game the Normandy SR-2 may have taken a level in badass, with better armor than most ships, a superior type of shielding, and even a main gun that puts the Frigate on par with a Dreadnaught in firepower.
  • For a villainous example, Cerberus went from being less than 200 guys with a bad habit of being eaten by their own experiments to being a major threat to Alliance operations, between 2 and 3, to the point where Shepard personally kills more Cerberus troops than they originally had members, to say nothing of any casualties they take in multiplayer. The game goes to some lengths to justify their numbers, and the results aren't pretty.
  • Actually, considering how much character development occurs as a result of going on missions with Shepard or (in the case of the time between Shepard's death and resurrection in ME2) what they do essentially in their style when they're not around, would that qualify as MENTORING or INSPIRING a level in badass?
• To get an idea of how bad Mega Man's sister Roll was in earlier Capcom vs. games, she had her own tier named after her just so there could be no doubt she was absolutely the worst character in the game. Tatsunoko vs. Capcom noticeably changed that. Roll was granted a melee weapon to increase her reach, her attack speed was amped up, and she's now bludgeoned her way straight into Badass Adorable territory, with many fans naming her as a Lethal Joke Character.
  • She's also getting some of this in the official series. Most of the time, she remains Mission Control, but Mega Man Powered Up (where the bosses are vocally afraid of her) and the version of 1 released on Japanese cellphones both include her as a playable character. Apparently, Keiji Inafune even said that she was originally intended to be playable in Mega Man 2. By most evidence, her Character Development looks to continue.
    • That is, if the development of Mega Man games continues...
  • Mega Man himself. He was built as a lab assistant, and post-upgrades, becomes a walking arsenal that even dedicated war machines can't stop.
  • His successor, Mega Man X. Unlike Mega, X was built from the ground up with combat in mind, but his Wide-Eyed Idealism made him a liability to the Maverick Hunters and gave Sigma the excuse he needed to turn Maverick. The first game and its remake, Maverick Hunter X, both revolve around X growing out of it and becoming the terrifyingly powerful Martial Pacifist we know from Mega Man X2 onward.
  • The ROM hack Rockman 4 Minus ∞ changes Toad Man from a pitifully easy boss into a quick-hopping, toad-transforming maniac. Likewise, Dust Man's ability to suck things up gets amplified into a One-Hit Kill attack.
    • In the game proper, we have Shadow Man. His first few fights are nothing special, but his appearance in Cossack Stage 1 is easily beaten in a few shots. Getting to his final fight, however, requires a No-Damage Run through the entire game up through the first two bosses of Wily Stage 4, whereupon he replaces the third one with a Diagonal Cut. The fight itself is extremely hard, thanks to his large amount of health, lack of weakness, fast movements, multitude of attacks, ability to One-Hit Kill you... oh, and dying to him invalidates the No-Damage Run required to beat him, so good luck with that.
• Numberman in Mega Man Battle Network. In the first game, he's nothing but a slave to the WWW who gets some sense knocked into him by Mega Man, and also a very easy boss. In the fourth and fifth games, his power is increased exponentially, with an attack that hits at a very unconventional range as well as a trap attack that can be very effective. In the 5th game, he grows a pair and deletes impostors of himself and Mega Man unassisted.
  • Geo Stelar, the protagonist of Mega Man Star Force, starts out as a reclusive, traumatised kid who has to be forced to leave his house or interact with others, and who cordially detests fighting. By the end of the second game, he's cheerfully throwing himself into combat with an electromagnetic god.
• Raiden in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty started life as a naive dork, albeit one with a nasty secret and a bit too much talent at chopping people up. In Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, he's turned into a homicidal, husky-voiced, immortal cyborg ninja capable of killing things with antigravity kung-fu and his feet. Word of God says it was a backlash against him being The Scrappy, and that he wanted to make Raiden so cool player wanted to play as him. He also appears to have taken a few levels in "Lightning Deity", since he was capable of killing soldiers with bolts of lightning from inside a properly grounded ship. The more important development is in how he reacts to the world outside of combat; in his debut game, he was not a player but a piece, being used by every actual player in the game, but never being allowed to make a move of his own. By the end, even refusing to act would have advanced someone else's agenda. By Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, he's become a major player in his own right, one that the other factions must treat with respect and hide from, to the point that the game's Big Bad considers Raiden by himself to be such a massive threat to his plans that he takes the field personally to first try to kill, then convert, and then to kill him again.
  • Surprisingly enough, Johnny Sasaki, the recurring joke character takes a level in badass in Metal Gear Solid 4 by removing his mask, but only gets to show it in the cutscene where he admits his love to Meryl and makes a Combat Proposal. The rest of the cutscene is then nothing but pure badassery.
• Minecraft
  • Wolves fall under this once you tame them. A wild wolf has 4 hearts of health and low attack power. When you tame one to your side, its health is boosted to 10 hearts and gains a boost in attack power. It will also attack anyone you attack or attack anyone that strikes you first.
  • Zombies and Skeletons received several upgrades that make them more dangerous to fight directly. Originally, zombies and skeletons had simple AI where they would walk straight at you no matter what pitfalls that stood in their way. A patch upgraded their AI to walk around pitfalls when chasing the player and skeletons will flank the player should the player try to hide behind a wall. Zombies and skeletons also had their AI upgraded where they will seek shade under a tree or jump in a pool of water should they catch fire from sunlight. On top of this, there's also a rare chance that skeletons and zombies will wear armor (from leather to even diamond material and also a chance those will be enchanted) and zombies may spawn in with iron shovels or iron swords to cause extra damage to you. Skeletons may also spawn with their bows enchanted for even more lethal power. These mobs have come a long way from being simple monsters to ones that can cause serious trouble on par with a creeper.
• Minecraft: Story Mode: Jesse and his friends become the new Order of The Stone in Episode 4, and in Episode 5, Jesse begins the episode by effortlessly dispatching hordes of monsters.
• Stryker from Mortal Kombat. In Mortal Kombat 3 he was a simple fat policeman^note Maybe created for laughs, maybe created for people to relate to. Nevertheless, in the more recent games, he appears to be more of a kickass special forces member, with a cool futuristic combat suit. A comparative image can be seen here^note [1]◊. Mortal Kombat 9 took it up to eleven, too bad Sindel took one as well, and before she died, she killed almost every hero she fought against.
  • In fact, a lot of lesser characters on both sides are taken a lot more seriously in Mortal Kombat 9's retelling of the original trilogy. Unfortunately, this also means that some of the more imposing villains suffer from The Worf Effect on occasion.
    • Sindel took a level in mass murder.
    • Stryker, Kabal, Smoke, and Cyber Sub-Zero (once his free will is restored) are more traditional examples.
    • Nightwolf went from a sort of goofy-looking side character who didn't have much to do with anything to one of the bigger badasses on the Earthrealm team's side. He even becomes Raiden's deputy when he's not around to directly lead them.
    • Ermac was originally this Ascended Glitch whose only claim to fame was his telekinesis; in the original timeline, it wasn't until Kenshi helped him undergo a Heel–Face Turn around the time of Deadly Alliance/Deception that he began to play cleanup and started to shine. Here, Ermac is presented as a formidable enforcer of Shao Kahn who should not be taken lightly. Just ask Jax.
    • Freddy Krueger a guy who had trouble facing teenagers and was killed by them in every movie has become so badass that he can take on cyborgs, monsters, ninjas, and a guy who completely obliterated almost every Greek god, demi-god, and goddess EVER!!!
  • The biggest example in Mortal Kombat X however, is none other than Johnny Cage. Original timeline? Cage was the resident Butt-Monkey and comic relief, killed over and over again. The new timeline, however, is a different story. Not only is Cage one of the few survivors of the bloodbath that was MK9 but come X, he's now Earthrealm's Champion, and even saves the day at one point by beating Shinnok and is now a mentor to the next generation of Earthrealm's protectors. It's safe to say Cage is no longer a Fake Ultimate Hero.
• Mount & Blade: The player character, naturally, but special mention needs to go to the Peasant Woman unit. Initially not very imposing with their little daggers and their frilly dresses, but if they survive long enough, they can become the deadly Sword Sisters; armed with swords and heavy crossbows and clad in full plate armour, they can give Mercenary Captains and Nord Huscarls a run for their money. Girl power, indeed.
• In MS Saga: A New Dawn, Fritz, Tristian's best friend, feels inadequate as his pals surpass him and he bails in despair. When he returns, he has greater confidence and a much stronger Mobile Suit (the FA-78-1 Full Armor Gundam, compared to the strongest unit you'd have at that point, the original RX-78-2 Gundam).
• In the Neverwinter Nights expansion Hordes of the Underdark, Deekin undergoes this as well. Formerly he was a kobold (weakling level one type creature) musician with the barest hints of magical power. In this expansion, he becomes a half-dragon and helps your hero take on a greater devil, Mephistopheles — ruler of Cania, the 8th hell (making him the second most powerful devil in existence!) — eventually defeating him. Also, Deekin is the only character that will not turn away from the hero as Mephistopheles attempts to persuade them to join him, showing his true colors as a very good and loyal creature, which is almost opposite of most Kobolds.
• Shandra Jerro in Neverwinter Nights 2 starts out as a serial Damsel in Distress: first her barn is burned by lizardfolk, then her house is torched by Githyanki, then she is kidnapped by the Githyanki. At the very beginning of Act II, she decides she's tired of having to be rescued and turns into a shortsword-wielding Badass Normal with a pretty respectable damage output.
• Ninja Gaiden: In Dragon Sword, Momiji is quite easily defeated and captured by the Black Spider Clan at the start of the game, and has to be rescued by Hayabusa. By Sigma II, she does the same for a young student captured by a pair of Tengu brothers and personally pursues them all the way to Tokyo and slays one of them to save him. By III, she fights alongside Hayabusa in battle and even he is impressed with how far she has come.
• Remember those pathetic planes that you've been shooting down with ease throughout the first few levels in Notebook Wars 3? They are back in the last three levels, far more durable and packing Dark Matter weapons, being stronger than the normal endgame planes despite looking the same as they used to at the start. There's taking a level in badass and getting a PhD out of it.
• Persona 3: Level 6 Courage bestows upon you, quite literally, the title of Badass.
  • Happens to the S.E.E.S (except Koromaru). as they obtain their respective Ultimate Persona, specially Junpei who receives his in the middle of a fight against Strega, while the others simply obtain theirs in their free time.
• Persona 4 has Teddie, who joins your party after previously being useless in a fight.
  • Persona 4 The Golden lets Rise do this. Her previously meh-diocre abilities evolve into some seriously useful benefits. As you level her social link, she gains the ability to automatically scan for weaknesses, buff characters, heal HP, SP, and status effects, and once a battle, she can completely block an attack that would otherwise end the game. She's ridiculously amazing.
  • In Persona 4 The Ultimax, Rise also joins in as a fighter.
• Castile does this in between Phantom Brave and Makai Kingdom — going from a bedridden and wheelchair-bound girl to a secret boss/recruitable character who is not only healthy, able to walk and working as a Chroma but is able to perform the Psycho Burgundy, a rare and incredibly dangerous technique that involves setting your soul on fire, just like her big brother. And yes, she's using his own theme music, too.
• Plants Vs Zombies 2:
  • The 2017 update introduces a leveling up system, where players can get world-specific pinatas by completing levels, completing certain tasks from the Travel Log, or purchasing them from the Shop. These pinatas contain seed packets, which the player can use to level up their plants, with the amount rising each time. Leveling up your plants makes them stronger and more effective.
  • Similarly, all of the returning zombies from the the first game return in Modern Day much stronger than ever:
    • Newspaper Zombie now becomes a case of Shed Armor, Gain Speed. If his newspaper is destroyed, he'll become much faster and mow down your defenses in about 10 seconds unless you have a lawnmower at the end of the lane or a One-Hit Kill plant fully charged and ready to counterattack.
    • In the first game, Football Zombie was just a Mighty Glacier. Now, he'll charge through your lawn and instantly One-Hit Kill any plant he hits (unless that plant is Primal Wall-Nut or a single-use plant) before slowing down. Aside from the cost of having no separate health for his helmet, this makes him a much more dangerous threat, especially if he's with a Super Fan Imp.
    • Balloon Zombie now doesn't instantly die when his balloon is popped, in addition to becoming faster when he gets dropped to ground level. The balloon itself can no longer be popped by Cactus, as she loses her ability to stretch up in this game. However, it's downplayed, as the game balances it out by now being vulnerable to ground-level plants.
• A majority of the Player Characters in Pokémon are simply starting their journey to become the Champion, until they encounter a crime organization that gives them trouble, then take a huge level in badass by defeating the organization's boss and their second-in-command. Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire and Pokémon Diamond and Pearl are notable in which the main character SAVES the world from annihilation (Emerald in Generation 3 averted this with a plot Legendary resolving the conflict in the game). Pokémon Black and White has the main character defeat the true Big Bad Boss near the end of the game just after acquiring the plot-relevant Legendary Pokémon. Eventually, all main characters become Champions at the end of the game.
  • In his first appearance, Wally in Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald is quite sickly and needs help in catching his first Pokémon (Ralts), and moved to a cleaner town to recover. He later shows up partly recovered but still only has that one mon and is easily beaten. Much later he shows up right at the end of Victory Road and has an almost full team of mons leveled in their forties. He gets even better in the Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire remakes; he has an epic new theme and uses a Mega Gallade in said fight. In the post-game, he's upgraded his team to have an entire party of competitive-level Pokémon.
  • In Pokémon Sun and Moon, Hau is overall a kid who only battles for fun, and poses little to no challenge to the player character, despite being the generation's rival. However, in the Alternate Universe Updated Re-release of Ultra Sun and Moon, he has massive Character Development and starts stepping up his game, even becoming the Final Boss in the Pokémon League, taking Professor Kukui's place.
  • A lot of Pokémon fit this trope, evolving from cutesy but weak creatures to powerful badasses. In the anime, this happens to May's Torchic while fending off a herd of Breloom.
    • One word: Magikarp. Keep giving the Magikarp battle experience, because the gulf between its original form and its evolved form is the widest in the entire series. Magikarp is so pathetic that it's an in-universe Memetic Loser; Gyarados is one of the strongest and nastiest Pokémon out there. (Provided you don't come across anything with a solid Electric-type attack ^note and even then that can be countered with a damage-reducing Wacan Berry and a super-effective Ground-type move.) There's a reason that the Magikarp Power trope was named after this thing.
  • A Pokémon with bad-to-moderate moves can learn a super-powered move by just gaining a level.
  • Quite a few Pokémon get this treatment between generations, whether by receiving evolutions, receiving new moves, or just fitting in very well with the changes in gameplay mechanics.
    • One of the most notable examples of this was Wobbuffet, who was first introduced as a completely useless Joke Character that no one would be caught dead with in the second generation. Then came Ruby and Sapphire, which introduced the concept of abilities. Wobbuffet ended up with Shadow Tag, which prevents the opponent from switching out. With such an incredible Game-Breaker as its ability, along with the move Encore it gained in this Gen thanks to its pre-evolution Wynaut, which forces the opponent's Pokémon to repeat a move for several turns, the Wobbuffet player could use the according counter move to destroy its opponent, allowing Wobbuffet to compete at the same level as Mewtwo and Arceus for quite some time!
    • Up until Diamond and Pearl (even though it gained the useful moves U-Turn and X-Scissor in those games, and the Technician Ability), Scizor was a forgettable Borderline-Overused at best. Then came Platinum, which gave it the moves Bullet Punch, Superpower, and Bug Bite. Bullet Punch is a Steel-type 40 power priority move (thus able to hit Ghost unlike Mach Punch and Quick Attack) which gets boosted thanks to Technician and STAB to 90 (equivalent of Psychic and just 5 points inferior to Thunderbolt, Flamethrower and Surf, the standard competitive Elemental moves); Superpower is a 120 power Fighting-type move, giving it the coverage for Steel types it needed; Bug Bite is a 60 power Bug-type move that gets boosted by Technician and STAB just like Bullet Punch (and thus is superior to X-Scissor). With those, BAM, instant top Overused Pokémon, where it remains even in Gen VI.
    • Venomoth is a great case of this, especially since it has effectively gained a level in every generation this way. Gen II gave it an actual STAB move in Sludge Bomb, Gen III gave it the ability Shield Dust, which prevents the secondary effects of attacks from landing (Paralysis from Thunderbolt, for example). Gen IV gave it the Physical/Special split (which was very good to it since Venomoth was always better with Special attacks, yet Bug and Poison were both physical types previously), and the fantastic ability Tinted Lens, which negates one resistance when it attacks. Gen V gave it the Quiver Dance Status Buff move, which boosts Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed all at once. Finally, Gen VI introduced Fairy types, which finally made its Poison STAB useful.
    • Arbok was always undermined by its underwhelming stats, but come Gen V, it can abuse its terrific movepool by boosting its Attack, Defense, and Accuracy at once with the move Coil. The accuracy boost also fixes the iffy accuracy of its most powerful move, Gunk Shot.
    • As of Generation IV, nearly every Fire type Pokemon can be taught Solarbeam. Which means that most Fire-types that were powerless against water, rock, and ground-types now have something to fight back.
    • Up until Gen VI, Farfetch'd basically amounted to crap — it couldn't evolve, its stats were weak, and the Stick item only affected its critical hit rate, which was a crapshoot at best. However, tweaks to the critical hit formula in Gen VI changed it in turn, and now using both its Stick item in conjunction with its many high crit rate moves (Slash, Air Cutter, Night Slash, and Leaf Blade, the first two of which have STAB and all four combined have surprisingly good coverage) causes it to land a Critical Hit on every attack; in addition to the boost in power, this causes any defence boosts on the target and any attack drops on Farfetch'd to be ignored. And then Gen VII boosted its Attack from a mediocre 65 to a more respectable 90, letting its attacks do some real damage and even OHKO several significant Pokémon weak against its coverage moves. And then, it got a Galarian form with a better defensive typing in Fighting, an even better movepool with more STAB consisting of things like Superpower, Close Combat, and Solar Blade, and a subsequent evolution in Sirfetch'd, with far better stats come Gen VIII.
    • Similarly, Zigzagoon and Linoone were mostly looked down upon originally: their stats and movepools were lackluster, they were originally a very good Item Caddy due to Pickup, but then that was nerfed to scale with the user's level, and Linoone's only saving grace was that it could, in theory, use Belly Drum to max out its Attack, then hit reasonably hard with Extreme Speed, but even then it wasn't too likely to tank a hit due to its paltry 78/61/61 bulk. However, Gen VIII gave it a Normal/Dark regional form, and therefore a new evolution in Obstagoon. Obstagoon gets a better movepool, coverage or otherwise, with things like Gunk Shot, Seed Bomb, and Throat Chop, a Secret Art of its very own in Obstruct, which is a Defense based version of King's Shield, and a better base stat total, keeping most of its Speed from being a Linoone, but getting a big stat increase in everything but Sp. Atk. It lost Belly Drum, but gained Bulk Up, complementing its 93/101/81 bulk and 90/101 physical spread quite nicely, and Work Up, allowing it to function as a fast, tanky sweeper.
    • Like the above two entries, Corsola took a level in badass in both of its new forms. The original Corsola was supposed to be a Stone Wall, and it had the kit to do so: a solid 95 on both sides, Iron Defense and Amnesia for increased survivability, Recover and Regenerator to offset its unsavory 65 HP, and several support moves such as Stealth Rock...all offset by her 4x weakness to Grass, and as such was looked over for quite some time. Galarian Corsola gained a far better defensive typing in pure Ghost and traded a bit of health and speed for slightly better defenses. Those defenses, however, were what pushed her over the edge: with an Eviolite, it has stellar 60/150/150 defenses, which are the same as Shield forme Aegislash. She lost Recover but gained Strength Sap in its place, which has the added effect of lowering the target's Attack, as well as Night Shade and Will-o-Wisp to slowly chip away at the enemy's HP, as well as keeping its great support movepool. Cursola abandons its worldly shell and evolves into a slow Squishy Wizard with a diverse movepool to take advantage of both its great 95 Attack and its 145 Special Attack, the same as Vikavolt and Chandelure, who are also in a 3-way tie for highest Special Attack of any normal Pokémon.
    • When Azumarill was introduced in Generation II, the only thing it really had going for it was the slight ability to take a hit. Generation III added abilities and gave the Marill line Huge Power, which doubles their attack stat. Generation IV altered the system determining whether an attack is physical or special so that was determined on an individual basis instead of by type, giving Azumarill physical water type attacks to take advantage of both its boosted attack power and same-type-attack-bonus, in addition to finally being able to properly use Belly Drum. Generation V gave it the ability to learn Ice Punch via move tutor, giving it a great coverage move to use with its attack stat. Generation VI gave the Marill line the Fairy type, complete with the then-sole physical Fairy attack in Play Rough, giving it a bunch of new resistances and attack coverage. Azumarill is now one of the game's foremost dragon slayers.
    • Sun and Moon did this to Pelipper. The mediocre Pokemon no one ever used competitively needed only slight boost in special attack and addition of Drizzle ability to make its jump into Smogon's OU tier. This is because there are only few Pokemon setting rain automatically by switching in and Pelipper's strongest moves become much deadlier in rain, such as dreaded Hurricane (110 base attack, has STAB in case of Pelliper, 30% chance of confusion) jumping from Powerful, but Inaccurate to Always Accurate Attack.
    • Mankey and Primeape are considered incredibly bad pokemon for competitive play for a couple reasons, one of which is pure fighting typing and lack of move coverage. Then Scarlet and Violet comes alone and grants Primeape an evolution: Annihilape. True to its name, Annihilape truly is a terrifying competitive pokemon, being a unique Ghost/Fighting type with a unique move (Rage Fist) that scales damage with being hit. It went from a pokemon typically avoided altogether to one that dominated the competitive scene for quite some time.
  • One of the major instances of the abovementioned example is the introduction of Hidden Abilities in Gen V, which gave most Pokemon an additional ability from their usual ones if said Pokemon was obtained in a certain way (usually from Dream World at first), or bred from one who was. A fair amount of average, if not terrible, Pokemon gained abilities that were either simply much better or meshed very well with their existing traits, boosting their usability considerably.
    • Two notable examples are Politoed and Ninetales, who gained the ability to change the weather permanently unless something came along to change it to something else (until Gen VI put a limit on it). Politoed could induce rain via its Drizzle, which empowered water attacks considerably and gave massive boosts to Pokemon with certain abilities; Ninetales used Drought to strengthen the sunlight, which boosted Fire attacks and allows Solarbeam to be used without the charge-up turn (see above for more on that).
    • Ditto of all Pokémon gained one with its new Imposter Ability, which lets it copy the opponent's Pokémon and all of its stat changes as soon as it enters the battlefield, instead of having to wait a turn (and get hit) using Transform. This is a good way of setting up a massively powerful Pokémon, especially if your opponent has Baton Pass in its move list, which a lot of competitive Pokémon do. In addition, give Ditto a Choice Scarf, and it will always outspeed the Pokémon it turns into, unless it also has a Scarf.
    • Serperior is really just an okay supporting grass-type normally, but give it its Dream World ability Contrary (which reverses stat changes) and it turns into a rampaging monster serpent that doubles its own Special Attack every time it uses the 140-base power Leaf Storm.
    • During Gen IV, poor Blaziken was overshadowed by Infernape. But with Blaziken's dream world ability, Speed Boost, and a HUGE power boost to Hi Jump Kick, It now has the honor of being the first starter to be banned from competitive play that uses Smogon's unofficial ruleset.
  • Gen VI introduced two major factors that caused some Pokemon to undergo this: Mega Evolutions and the new Fairy type.
    • Since many past species get retconned to be Fairy types, which are flat out immune to Dragon attacks, Pokemon that were previously only mildly useful, like Gardevoir and Mawile, can now be used to take down pseudolegendary powerhouses without a scratch (or at least shut down their attempts at a Total Party Kill using Draco Meteor or Outrage).
    • In summary, Mega Evolution has caused some Pokemon like Mawile and Kangaskhan go from being fairly useless to extremely powerful (Well, in the latter case, more like fairly useless to ridiculously broken). Some like Lucario, Blaziken, and the starters go from 'fairly good' to 'extremely good'. And Mewtwo goes from nearly god level powerful to even more powerful than before with two new forms that have either even higher special attack stats or turn it into a Psychic/Fighting physical attacker with martial arts moves!
    • Mawile in particular benefits from both the fairy type and the mega evolutions. Upon its introduction, it was a fairly unremarkable pure-steel type with middling stats. It had fans thanks to its design but didn't really shine in gameplay. Then it got the secondary fairy type, which resulted in it having nine resistances, two immunities, and only two weaknesses. Then it got a mega evolution which gives it a stat boost... and the ability Huge Power, which doubles it's attack stat. This results in it having a functional base attack power of 210 when the highest natural attack stat in the series (Attack Forme Deoxys) is only 180. Combined with a fairly diverse movepool and you have a mon that can do a lot of damage.
    • As of X and Y, Lopunny was a niche Pokemon who could monkey with dangerous items via the Klutz ability and support its teammates with its range of moves, but still nothing to escape the Underused or Never-Used tiers. Slap some Lopunnite on it in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, however, and it actually becomes a potent fighter in its own right — in addition to gaining the Fighting type and the high Attack said type is known for, it also acquires the Scrappy ability to bypass that pesky Ghost-type immunity that would otherwise gimp it. Not only can it flatten Mega Gardevoir this way (if Moonblast doesn't do it in first), but several Ghosts, most notably Sableye and Spiritomb, are in for an ass-kicking. Any trainer dumb enough to use Wondereye or Wondertomb in Gen VI is going to regret their decision, Fairy-type or no.
    • Sableye, for the first two generations of its existence, was a very mediocre Pokemon with the gimmick of having no weaknesses thanks to its typing (unless dealing with something possessing Scrappy that happened to be packing Fighting moves), but without the offenses OR defenses to make use of it. By Gen IV, Spiritomb had already stolen its thunder by virtue of having the same gimmick while actually having the stats to put it to good use. Sableye, however, got two big boosts that made it outclass Spiritomb in the end: Gen V gave it Prankster as a Hidden Ability, which turned it into a very effective and in-demand annoyer thanks to priority Will-O-Wisp, while Gen VI gave it a Mega Evolution come OR/AS that made a name for itself as a frustratingly durable and versatile wall. The best part is that Sableye is fully capable of playing both roles in the same battle, as it can choose to hold off on going Mega until it needs to start walling things.
    • Groudon spent three and a half generations being seen as entirely inferior to Kyogre due to both being weak to the latter's attacks and not having STAB on the fire attacks boosted by its ability. Then Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire gave it a pseudo-Mega Evolution called Primal Reversion. Primal Groudon's new ability nullifies all water attacks and it becomes part fire type so it can finally take advantage of its sun boosted fire moves. As a result, Primal Groudon took over Kyogre's former position as the defining force in the Ubers metagame.
  • The Bug-type in general. In Pokémon Red and Blue, bugs were seen as a joke, with no good attacks and mediocre stats. By Pokémon Black and White, they've become much more useful in combat, thanks to better moves ^note including Megahorn, X-Scissor, Signal Beam, U-Turn, Steamroller, Bug Buzz and Quiver Dance and bugs with much better stats ^note including Pinsir, Heracross, Scizor, Armaldo, Yanmega, Scolipede, Galvantula, Durant, Volcarona and Genesect — the first three of which can all Mega Evolve, too.
  • Sunkern. You wouldn't expect the weakest Pokémon in existence to potentially have five stars in all Pokéathlon stats, would you? With several servings of Aprijuice, you'll be farming Heart Scales, Nuggets, and evolutionary stones like you wouldn't believe.
  • When the new Black and White starters were revealed, nobody liked poor little Oshawott. Then, it was discovered that they evolve into samurai bladed otters with beards.
    One swing of the sword incorporated into its armor can fell an opponent. A simple glare from one of them quiets everybody.
  • Iris, a twelve-year-old girl, took a major leap in badass from Pokémon Black and White to Pokémon Black 2 and White 2. She went from being a powerful gym leader (or gym leader apprentice depending on your version) to being the champion of Unova.
    • Before her, Wallace accomplished the same feat in Pokémon Emerald.
  • As a rule that has been in place ever since Generation III, the Elite Four and Champion will take one of these after you beat them the first time round. In your rematch, their teams will have gone up by about ten or so levels (or twenty in some cases). This can take some players by surprise when their Level 50-something team that won them their victory handily is on the receiving end of a Curb-Stomp Battle. This didn't happen in Pokémon X and Y for some reason, but come the Hoenn remakes the Elite Four, aside from all gaining around twenty levels, can Mega Evolve their final Pokémon.
  • As a cross-version example, the Kanto/Johto gym leaders in the Generation IV remake. In the original Pokémon Gold and Silver, there were lots of exploits that could be taken advantage of. In the remakes, the gym leaders in general have wised up, and came up with movepools, abilities, and move/ability combinations that actually work against you — and some of them are specifically designed to counter type weaknesses. Also, Kanto's gym leaders received a level boost to better reflect the difficulty scale on the post-Champion game.
  • In Sun & Moon, a move gets this treatment. Leech Life, a move with terrible Base Power which is only ever used by early-game wild Zubat because even the AI Trainers aren't that dumb, now has a Power of 80 while retaining its Life Drain effect. Don't worry, those early-game Zubat now know Absorb instead.
  • Throughout Sun & Moon Lillie spent the entire game hiding behind the player's back whenever trouble started and had no Pokémon of her own. Then comes Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, where in the post-game Lillie manages to defeat a Team Rocket Grunt on her own then proceeds to back up the player in a Multi Battle with a Level 60 Clefairy. The Grunt she floored even comments on how strong she is.
    • In the Rainbow Rocket storyline of Ultra Sun/Moon, you fight through the villains from the previous games. Or more specifically, Alternate Universe versions of them that succeeded in their plans, meaning that they now have their respective game's legendaries. This means that both Archie and Maxie have Kyogre and Groudon respectively as well as Giovanni now having a Mewtwo that he can mega-evolve.
  • In Sun & Moon, the dragon-type totem pokémon Kommo-o was a joke. It was a few levels lower than a totem pokémon should be at this point in the game, and just prior to facing it you acquire the Fairium Z (which can turn a single Fairy-type move into a Limit Break) and the TM for Dazzling Gleam, a powerful Fairy-type move. Utilizing both of these meant you could easily one-shot the Totem Kommo-o, whose two types, Dragon and Fighting, are both weak to Fairy-type moves. Even if you didn't, the help it summons is of a laughably low level. In Ultra Sun/Moon, Totem Kommo-o is much more difficult. Its level was raised, the levels of its ally pokémon were raised, you don't have the Fairium Z yet, and it now knows Poison Jab to deal with Fairy-type pokémon. Even if you get off Dazzling Gleam or some other Fairy-type move, it is now holding a Roseli berry, which halves the damage it takes from a single Fairy-type move. It still has weaknesses, sure, but its natural defenses plus the boost from the totem aura mean that most super-effective attacks are going to be doing fairly average damage. Good luck.
• Though he starts off pretty badass in [PROTOTYPE], Alex Mercer eventually is infected by a parasite that saps his powers and severely weakens him. Once he gets over it, though, he takes many new levels in badass, complete with the Armor and Blade powers. He sums it up best with two simple words: "I'm back."
• Tatara Kogasa of Touhou Seirensen ~ Undefined Fantastic Object. Starts off as a weak umbrella Youkai, ends up being the Extra Stage miniboss.
  • Fueled by popular demand, Cirno and Meiling have both gone from joke bosses to powerhouses. Cirno even stars in her own spinoff game, Great Fairy War.
    • The extra stage of which pits her against Marisa. And she almost wins, too! And fairies are the weakest species in Gensokyo...
    • Marisa was playing, first she didn't used her most powerful attacks, and also that is suggested in the aftermath of the battle, when Marisa says she is leaving because she is tired, and Cirno portrait is the one with battered clothes, this supposition is confirmed in a Symposium of Post Mysticism article about the fight. Regardless Cirno impressed Marisa.
  • For a story line version, consider Fujiwara no Mokou. Once a little, human girl. One elixir of immortality and a lot (read: over 1000 years) of training later she's a powerful force to be reckoned with with complete mastery over fire.
  • The final bosses of the fighting games always get defeated by everyone else, until you unlock their own stories, which is when they start kicking ass and taking names. However, all the non-Suika paths of 7.5 are non-canon, in 10.5 Tenshi intentionally held back as part of her role as a Self-Designated Villain, and 12.3 doesn't have a definite final boss, except maybe for the giant catfish which isn't playable, so only Kokoro from 13.5 counts. She ends up fighting Reimu, Byakuren, and Miko at the same time, which is an incredible feat indeed.
  • Reimu herself. Before the Windows canon, she wasn't really anything special. Then she got so strong that she needed to follow rules made by HERSELF in order to make possible to BEAT her.
• Punch-Out!!
  • In the NES game you have to fight Don Flamenco twice. The first time, on the major circuit, he's almost as easy as Glass Joe despite having highly damaging punches since he's so easy to lock into extensively long combos and his blows are so easy to dodge. Then he comes back with a vengeance on the world circuit and is much, much harder to beat.
  • Every single one of your opponents in the Wii version Title Defense Mode. They all spend the time after Little Mac kicks their asses to learn new and more devastating tricks. Yes, even Glass Joe, who gets boxing headgear for losing 100 matches leaving any blow to his head useless. Even, Von Kaiser and Disco Kid can give you a hard time. And yes, even the World Circuit bosses including Mr. Sandman become the equivalent of the True Final Boss!
• Puyo Puyo:
  • It is not uncommon for characters, such as Dapper Bones and Ally, to get better AI when they appear in a new game.
  • In Puyo Puyo Tetris, Jay and Elle only seemed to be on the Tetra to liven things up with their pranks. In the sequel, it’s revealed they have the power to sense things by holding hands.
• Rayman's best friend Globox needs to be rescued by Rayman in earlier games. In Origins and Legends he becomes playable and can kick ass alongside Rayman.
• RealityMinds: Reffian struggles with her career as a soldier because she's too afraid to fight any monster stronger than a slimey slime. After Astrake encourages her to believe in herself, she becomes a competent Combat Medic who can stand against boss monsters.
• From the Resident Evil series:
  • Leon Kennedy, the idealistic Naïve Newcomer who just began his first day of duty at the Raccoon Police Department in RE 2 had somehow become almost as badass as Albert Wesker by the time of RE4! He gets yet another upgrade in the movie Degeneration, although it seems to come at the expense of his personality and sense of humor since he ends up pulling double duty as the film's Mr. Exposition.
  • At least Leon was a trained cop in RE2, and was hired on by the U.S. Government before RE4. Claire Redfield's level-up has no similar justification. She goes from being a college student in RE2 to a certified ass-kicker in RE: Code Veronica, though she does pick up the Distress Ball quite a few times in that game.
  • Notable in that Albert Wesker HIMSELF takes a level in between Resident Evil and Code: Veronica — notable in that said level was taken AFTER he was STABBED THROUGH THE CHEST, and was shown off as he exposed his powers in Code: Veronica. And Leon's RE4 incarnation is almost as badass as this new Wesker. And in RE5... suffice it to say that if he'd had that kind of power back in Code: Veronica, Alexia wouldn't have lasted ten seconds.
  • Before Leon was Jill, who got more and more badass throughout the series, from RE to RE3 to RE5. Chris fits the trope as well.
  • Rebecca counts, big time. In the original game, she was a Damsel in Distress and The Scrappy with a couple of playable sections. The remake has her fair better. Her own game has her the weaker of the two characters, but more skilled, a lot more guns to play with, and the chance to kill a Tyrant. Umbrella Chronicles makes it canon that she faced more crap in three days than perhaps even Jill. And Mercenaries Reunion? She gets a machine gun, a shotgun and stacks of ammo for both, making her a very strong character indeed.
  • Then we have Sherry Birkin. In Resident Evil 2, she's a twelve-year-old girl trying to survive a zombie outbreak and her parents wind up dead. Then Claire leaves her to find Chris while Leon submits to the government to protect Sherry (although she's later abducted anyway according to Wesker). But in Resident Evil 6, she's become a full-out government agent charged with protecting Jake Muller, who happens to be the son of her father's best friend.
• Rockman 4 Minus ∞:
  • Toad Man and Dust Man, compared to the original game, are much more of a threat.
  • Also, Shadow Man. The "final" fight against him is pathetically easy, but his Superboss appearance is much tougher.
• Muse from Romancing SaGa 3. She shifts from Delicate and Sickly to Lady of War instantly. Also Sharl who is upgraded from Broken Hero provided that you got the Silver Hand in Muse's Dream
  • Also in addition, the Pirate Black, who regains his youth if you bring him to the fight with Forneus, you don't even need to place him in the active battle party which is good since his stats are quite sucky as an old man.
• In RosenkreuzStilette Freudenstachel, Zorne's been improving her skills ever since her easy defeat in the first game. Her new move as well as the partner she gets when she Turns Red obviously make up for the defeat Tia (and Grolla) gave her.
• While already a Badass, Boss from Saints Row 2 does what he did so well in the first installation and adds a more brutal touch to it in the sequels. Feats include putting radioactive liquid in Maero's tattoo ink just to show he won't accept 20 percent of the town, saving his hideout from gangsters while high on drugs as well savagely beating up most of his enemies if possible. Events in the finale of the first game inspired him to stop being a Silent Bob, stop being "A bitch who keeps his mouth shut and does what he's told".
• Tokugawa Ieyasu in Sengoku Basara 3. What was once a really ineffectual Bratty Half-Pint Distressed Dude has now grown up and kicks butt with just fists and feet, no longer needing to be overdependent on his Hondam.
• In Siren 1, Kyoya Suda and Yoriko Anno take serious levels in badass.
• The Sly Cooper series of games has Murray and Bentley:
  • Murray in the first game was pretty useless. He was only involved in a few missions which included accidentally getting into street races repeatedly and needing Sly to cover him against normal enemies, which he cowered in fear from. By the second game, however, he had taken on the affectation of a pro wrestler and was able to take on dozens of enemies by himself, while Sly and Bentley had trouble with more than a couple at a time.
  • Bentley is an even more obvious example. He acts strictly as Mission Control in the first game, actually starts going out and doing stuff in the second and by the third has tricked himself out so that Sly is really only the leader of the gang in name. Between the first and second games, he also changes from a character that essentially only tells the player how the controls work to the guy who comes up with every single incredibly intricate heist plan. Many fans actually consider Bentley, not Sly, to be the true hero of the franchise thanks to this and his overall character development.
• Metal Sonic in Sonic Heroes. He manages to augment himself with "data" samples from Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, and Chaos. The result is an obscenely powerful, fast, intelligent machine made out of liquid metal and possessing the power of Chaos Control. Now compare that to his first appearance.
  • Even then, he was badass. And the whole point of his creation was to be a robot that could fight Sonic on equal terms (including matching the hedgehog's number one claim to fame to boot!) — with the addition of built-in weapons.
  • In Sonic Adventure Amy herself Took a Level in Badass, constantly risking capture by one of Eggman's robots to return a little bird Eggman wants to its family. And when said robot that constantly chases throughout their tale catches up to them and strikes said bird (even when Eggman already got what he wanted from the bird), she turns it into scrap metal with her Piko-Piko Hammer.
    • Amy in general has taken the most levels in badass in the series, going from damsel in distress to a competent close combat brute around Sonic Heroes.
  • Tails gains a bit of character development in Sonic Adventure where, with Eggman launching a back-up plan to destroy Station Square after Sonic beats Chaos, and Sonic nowhere to be found, Tails musters the courage to step out of Sonic's shadow and take on Eggman by himself. This continues in Sonic Adventure 2 where Tails gets pissed and straight-up challenges Eggman after watching him seemingly kill Sonic.
  • Despite being a Mascot with Attitude and the main character and as such plenty Badass already, Sonic pulls this off in Sonic Generations when he takes down Perfect Chaos without his super form. How did he do it when the entire area was flooded and he can't swim? By hydroplaning.
    • He also gets one in Sonic Colors too-for a good 30 seconds, he is able to outrun a BLACK HOLE.
    • Speaking of Sonic Generations, the GUN Truck. Oh, wow, the GUN Truck. In the original City Escape, it simply tried to run Sonic over, getting stopped by a single building. The truck outright chases classic Sonic throughout Act 1 once it appears (by the way, said first appearance is it emerging through a building!), being turned aside by a support at the end of the level, but not crashed. It gets destroyed (by the same way it originally did) in Act 2, but not after showing it's been upgraded with 3 circular saws, the ability to fly, and, oh yeah, the ability to keep up with a boosting ( or even Super) Sonic. It outright EXPLODES upon crashing in Act 2, to boot.
    • In Sonic Forces, although he loses the fight, he actually manages to hold his own against Infinite, who had previous curb stomped Omega and Sonic with ease.
  • Dr. Eggman in recent titles is just as clownish and bumbling as ever, but simultaneously reminding Sonic he is a Not-So-Harmless Villain, in Sonic Unleashed he makes himself the only villain to neutralise Sonic in his super form no less (a feat only Knuckles has otherwise accomplished). He has also stopped being the go-to-patsy for any new villain of the story and attempted using his own devices to try to take over the planet (and then some). As shown in Sonic Adventure 2, he's also not afraid to put a gun to his captured friends to show he means business.
    • And then in Generations, he finally unleashed an Eldritch Abomination against Sonic that didn't betray him in the end.
    • By Sonic Forces, Eggman has taken so many levels in badass it's not even funny. He takes over the world, creates multiple backup generators for the Phantom Ruby, ditches Infinite when he loses to Sonic and the Avatar, and fights Sonic and co. with a Death Egg Robot powered by an overclocked Phantom Ruby. The reason he lost wasn't even his fault: Infinite dropped the Phantom Ruby prototype during his fight with Silver which the Avatar used to stop Eggman's Colony Drop using the artificial sun. If Infinite had done his job correctly, Eggman would have destroyed the Resistance.
• Sam Fisher from Splinter Cell, already a badass operative in earlier games, becomes even more awesome in Conviction, with such new abilities as the Mark and Execute that allows him to gun down up to four enemies in the blink of an eye. Officially, this is because Sam, having left Third Echelon, doesn't have much reason to be subtle anymore, which means he was always that hardcore and was just restraining himself.
• In StarCraft: Brood War, the ursadon was a dopey-looking critter◊ that couldn't fight back and exploded in a cloud of shame if clicked on enough. In Heart of the Swarm? They're huge armored slaughterbears with six-inch tusks◊ that can jump cliffs, body slam enemies and are immune to cold.
• Star Fox:
  • Team Star Wolf were once generic boss enemies who soon developed character (at least, Wolf and Leon) and kicked the two typical baddies Pigma and Andrew and replaced them with Panther. They also become involved in the story.
  • The Attack Carrier, the recurring Warm-Up Boss of the franchise, becomes the boss of the third to last level in Zero.
• Ibuki from Street Fighter usually is used for comic relief and to provide a cute feminine charm in contrast to more serious fighters. She is also always said to be inexperienced in canon when opponents defeat her, but she has managed to defeat Gill of all people and also clowned out C. Viper despite Ibuki's own inferior weaponry in their 1 v 1 battle after Viper has been shown being able to defeat such veterans such as Charlie Nash and Cammy.
• In the five years between his appearances in Street Fighter Alpha and Street Fighter IV, Dan must have been training; he's gone from the Joke Character to a Lethal Joke Character that's surprisingly high on the tier list. It's even reflected in the game; his face is much more serious (though he still gets excited when he wins).
• Shiva's first appearance in Streets of Rage 3 shows an element of Badass Decay compared to his role in Streets of Rage 2 as Mr. X's bodyguard, but when you fail to save the General/Chief of Police, you face him again as the final boss where he is a supremely significant threat.
• Super Mario Bros.:
  • Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story does this to Bowser, since the game focuses on him as a main character (with some help from the Mario Brothers). He performs several impressive feats such as literally punching out an Eldritch Abomination and becomes the savior of the Mushroom Kingdom rather than the terrorizer (that role belonging to Fawful). He also kept the Shroob invaders on ice. Including their leader.
  • Goombas can be this depending on the game. In the 3D Mario games, they generally pose more of a threat than the Koopa Troopas due to the former chasing after Mario when he gets near while the latter generally pays no mind to Mario (except for in Super Mario 3D World). Goombas are also some of the only enemies to stack on top of each other outside of Super Mario Maker.
  • Also, Princess Peach tends to do this in games where she is a Player Character.
  • There are many, many examples in Mario & Luigi: Dream Team.
    • Like Luigi himself. He's basically promoted to god in the Dream World, and manages to mess around with physics and beat up gigantic foes as an enormous version of himself with Rule of Cool in play constantly. Some stand-out moments include his fight with the Zeekeeper (where he manages to defeat the equivalent of god with just jumps and his hammer, and chase it through things like dimensional rifts in zero gravity) and his fight with Giant Bowser, where he beats up Bowser's giant form from the last game in an epic battle in a torn apart fiery wasteland. Or how he then beats up an even BIGGER version of Bowser than the normal giant one. It's enough that Bowser actually remembers his name for once in the ending and treats him as an equal threat to Mario.
    • Bowser, who not only retains all his savvy and skills from the last game but also manages to double-cross Antasma and take the power of the Dream Stone for himself. That's right — Bowser learned from his mistakes, and used a villain to his own benefit. Even better — he implies that he was using him the entire game.
    • Private Goomp, Corporal Paraplonk, and Sergeant Guy. In Bowser's Inside Story, they were just comic relief. Here? They're part of the Elite Trio and fight in a boss battle against Mario directly. Where they command a whole army.
    • Mario as well, who along with Luigi can now beat up a super-powered Bowser with Dream Stone reality warper abilities without any kind of help or magic items. So in other words, they take on Bowser when he's got the equivalent of the Star Rod with no help and WIN!
    • Kamek, who is now entirely competent, a difficult foe to defeat in battle and even manages to trick the Mario bros midway through the game and completely screw them over in the process. Like the Elite Trio, it's enough that Bowser himself compliments the guy in the ending.
  • Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam also has many examples.
    • If you thought Bowser was badass enough in Dream Team, in this game, he and his paper counterpart have cemented their status as competent, rather dark villains who will protect their children to the very end. To top it all off, their Evil Plan is dark even for a light-hearted franchise like Mario, rivaling the plans of previous RPG villains in sheer evilness. After this game and Dream Team, it's safe to say that Bowser has finally ended his Villain Decay and has become more evil than he ever was since Super Mario Galaxy.
    • Several mooks are reimagined in this game as to allow them to fight better. Ninji, for example, are now portrayed a lot more like actual ninjas than just star-shaped creatures that jump up and down. On the inverse side, Mario and the gang can now defeat enemies that couldn't normally be defeated via direct attacks within other Mario games, like Bullies, for example.
    • The Chargin' Chucks have been upgraded from individual mooks to a Wolf Pack Boss that uses effective sports-based team attacks in order to battle Mario and the gang, complete with an attack that involves them chasing the Mario brothers and Turning Red when you dwindle their numbers enough.
    • For a character that was originally just a Starter Villain in Super Mario 64, King Bob-Omb turned into a very intimidating villain that's in charge of a mountain operation that involves raining paper terrain and paper enemies. His boss battle is even a timed battle as well, and he's much more powerful to boot.
    • Nabbit is surprisingly quite tough when you do face him during combat, using his Bag of Holding to toss stuff at Mario and the gang as well as summoning mooks to fight within him while he dozes off in the background. And even when during this, Nabbit will still try to attack, using his sneaking skills in an attempt to confuse the player and nab the brother's hammer just so that he could whack them with it.
    • The Koopalings always fight you in pairs -- or in one case a trio -- and have some rather good attacks and strategies for once.
  • In Super Mario Sunshine, Bowser's primary goals are simply to kidnap Peach again and make Mario's vacation unpleasant. In Super Mario Galaxy, Bowser's primary goals are to kidnap Peach and take over the entire universe.
  • And then, after the cosmic Reset Button got hit, Bowser got another upgrade, provided by the Grand Stars. In the sequel, he appears to have several new powers, including flight, teleportation, summoning meteors, and darkness-powered megaton punches. This time, he also makes sure that Mario wouldn't be able to stop him again by kidnapping the resident god figure and her starship.
  • In the earliest games, Mario was at best a Badass Normal, from Super Mario Bros. onward, he's outright superhumanly athletic (despite still being considered human in-universe).
  • Luigi gets a level in badass in between Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, albeit a small one. In the first game, he was the Butt-Monkey, he gets into space against his will, is treated as a joke by everyone, and all times he tries to help end up with him getting in a pinch and having Mario save him. The unlockable Luigi mode, the only situation where Luigi is actually a helpful character, doesn't count since that Luigi is in fact a Doppelganger from space Handwaved as "I suppose if the universe is truly infinite someone that looks just like me must exists". In Mario Galaxy 2, however, Luigi gets mad for being left behind by Mario and the Toad Brigade, chases the spaceship down by himself (nevermind how), offers help himself instead of being dragged along, and throws a few Take Thats at Mario with claims such as "This time I'm the hero, bro.". Instead of walk around doing nothing in your ship, like in the first game, it's also implied Luigi is adventuring around on his own trying to find powerstars.
• Super Robot Wars manages to do this to Shinji Ikari. And it works.
  • That said, word was that was partly thanks to Captain Bright's infamous bright slaps, which has been scientifically proven to turn wimps into men of awesome (MEN OF DESTINY are another thing). Also, Shinji freaked out during the last 2 missions in the End of Eva Route of Super Robot Wars Alpha 3.
    • Being around Hot-Blooded Super Robot pilots will do that to you. And there are plenty of them to go around in the Alpha series. He also delivered a Bright slap to Kira Yamato. Oh, yeah. Definitely took it.
  • In addition, one of the main characters in Super Robot Wars Alpha 3 starts out as a delivery boy with a minor Karate background. Then he trains with certain members of the Alpha Numbers — this includes, but is not limited to: cyborgs (Guy and Hiroshi/Jeeg), combat pros (the Wing boys, Banjo, Tsurugi Tetsuya...), a yokozuna, masters of various martial arts (Camille, Wufei, Yun Lee...), a dude who cleaves evil, gods, and battleships (Zengar), an old dude who smacks stuff around]] in space with a ball and chain (ware koso wa~ waRE koso wa~ Baran Doban! fire!fire!fire!fire!), and various characters voiced by Kamiya Akira. By the end of the game, he kicked an Eldritch Abomination in the ass straight to hell! That's not counting the other god-like beings he might have to beat up beforehand.
  • In the Compact series of Super Robot Wars, Leina Ashta of ZZ Gundam fame. Considering that, in the series, she got kidnapped by Gremmi Toto a few episodes in, and spent her time either waiting for Judau to rescue her or being thought dead after almost getting crushed by a MS you'd think her to be a useless character... WRONG! She's, in fact, pretty powerful if used correctly, reaching a Newtype Level of 6 (Amuro, Camille, and her brother reach Level 8, just to give a comparison) and becoming quite destructive if placed in a Mobile Armor. From personal experience, I managed to take down Bask Ohms' flagship just using her.
  • The original Super Robot Wars 3 on the SNES does this with Kou Uraki, hero of Stardust Memory. Starting with less than half the levels of most of the worthwhile characters and piloting a unit meant only for skirmishes, the GP-01. However, as soon as you head off to space and it's upgraded to the Full Vernian model, he proves to be a nimble character if you put effort into training him. Near the end of the game, upon gaining the GP-03, Kou ends up being a proverbial tank in a top-notch Mobile Suit.
    • Well, anytime Kou gets his GP-03, he turns into a viable Game-Breaker.
  • They couldn't go for too long without doing this to one of their original characters. Super Robot Wars: Original Generation features a character named Ryoto who first appeared as a scared enemy mook. He remains a very minor character until the end of the game, piloting only his original mook mecha or a hand-me-down from more important characters. By the time he rejoins the crew in the sequel, however, he's spent the last six months testing Super Prototypes, and pilots one that can combine with either his girlfriend's tank-thing or a suit of Powered Armor that can detach and turn into a weaponized flying surfboard. Oh, and he almost single-handedly holds off a giant robot dragon that routinely crushes more important characters long enough for said girlfriend and his co-workers to escape. Appropriately enough, this is the point where his theme song upgrades to one called "Ace Pilot" ("Ace Attacker" in the original Japanese).
    • Let's put this in a better perspective here, folks. Ryoto was one of four male protagonists that a player could choose in Super Robot Wars Alpha (the other three being Yuuki, Tasuku, and Bullet). Ryoto, Yuuki, and Tasuku were dropped in favor of Bullet and female protag Kusuha and never returned until the first Original Generation game. That Super Prototype in the second game? The Huckebein Mk-III, a unit said to be a small scale SRX. This kid went from piloting a wimpy grunt mecha to piloting a high-powered machine in under one game. That's taking a level!
  • Does this also apply to Setsuko Ohara of Super Robot Wars Z? She starts out as the lowest of her team, is quite timid and unsure of herself. Her debut actually starts with being shot down by Kamille Vidan. But then, she is subjected to lots and lots of traumatic event. And when she eventually gets pissed, not only her emotions evolve her BFG into a much more dangerous version, she discards her timid and unsure persona into a badass, yet still gentle, soldier, then proceeds to one shot the guy who breaks her with her new BFG.
  • Sirbine is notorious for having 1 P attacks in the SRW games. In Super Robot Wars BX, Sirbine has a 1-5 P Aura Sword as an attack, making it more versatile in combat.
  • The Manual of Super Robot Wars X claims that there's a version of Hopes/Spero with full main pilot stats, implying that he gets to take over and pilot something eventually. This is true.
• All of the damsels who appear as playable characters in Super Smash Bros. Melee and upwards are this. In their own games they get kidnapped and rarely (if ever) get any offense in against their abductor. In Smash these ladies are usually shown being on equal footing with both their usual saviors (E.g. Peach and Mario, Zelda and Link) and their own abductors. In Ultimate Zelda is even shown being able to defeat Ganondorf who usually Link is shown being able to defeat.
  • Averted in Brawl's Subspace Emissary Both Peach and Zelda are reverted to damsels and Palutena doesn't appear for more than one scene.
• Anything Mother-related in Super Smash Bros. Brawl's Subspace Emissary mode. Rundown: Lucas is characterized as a scared little kid, despite his psychic powers. He spends half a level running away from a giant hopping statue that Ness offs with one PK Flash. Then, after Wario attacks the two of them, Ness makes a Heroic Sacrifice for Lucas, who then runs away from Wario and the trophy-ified Ness without trying to save him. He makes some progress since then; several stages later when Wario shows up to attack him and the Pokémon Trainer, instead of running away, he steps up and takes Wario out.
  • This mirrors his growth in Mother 3. His twin brother Claus is much braver... though this leads to Mecha-Drago nearly killing him when he goes to avenge his mom's death, and Porky reformatting him as his army's general.
• Almost everyone featured in the Prologue chapter of Tales of Graces goes through this after the seven-year timeskip. The exception is Sophie, of course, because as a space robot, she doesn't change all that much and is still just as badass as before. As to the others:
  • Cheria goes from a shy, squeaky Delicate and Sickly Girl to a high-power combination healer, mage and relief worker.
  • Asbel Used to Be a Sweet Kid, but after seven years at the knight academy, he becomes a competent fighter and acts much more seriously. Takes another level when he goes Warrior Therapist on Lambda and absorbs him out of Richard.
  • Richard also Used to Be a Sweet Kid, but then Lambda happens and he becomes the vessel for the Big Bad, including a scary One-Winged Angel form.
  • But after all that, the champion of this trope is probably Hubert, who starts out as a Shrinking Violet who literally wets his pants in the face of danger. After the timeskip and his adoption by the Oswells in Strahta, he comes back as a Duel Boss so badass you're actually not supposed to be able to beat him, wielding a dualblade which can turn into a pair of handguns. He also comes back as a bit of a jerk, but that's counteracted by the fact that he truly secretly cares about his brother and his few shining moments of dorkiness.
• In Tears to Tiara 2 Hamil goes from questioning his choice to rebel and being crushed by The Chains of Commanding, to a confident leader set on creating a good Hegemonic Empire. But the cake goes to his best friend Dion. The Lovable Coward who wants to run away or surrender at every turn stops about a third of the way in. Later on he saves everyone from Compelling Voice by engaging in a music duel.
• In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, April O'Neil is a playable character who can easily take on the Foot Clan with martial arts and studio equipment, which is a big departure from her portrayal in the original show.
• In Smash Up, the Utroms, a naturally peace-loving race, suddenly get an Utrom with a mecha and guns, making this something interesting for some, or just not desired.
  • The development team says Utrominator is "An upgrade to the Krang character", meaning that, the developers may be hinting that the Utrominator is Krang, therefore, Krang has taken a level in badass.
  • Oh, and the Fugitoid seems to have taken a level in badass too, yes, his weapon is a hammer, but now, he can actually fight, how is that not taking a level in badass?
• Compared to his canon portrayal (a scrawny filthy guy who lives in the sewers talking to rats) the Rat King in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters is the Final Boss of tournament mode (Karai is the Final Boss of the storyline mode), has added some pro wrestling moves to his moveset, and looks like he's done more steroids than Batista.
  • April O'Neil too (Genesis version only), being a playable character and a full-fledged Action Girl in this game, as opposed to the Designated Victim she usually is. (Probably due to the need to include a female hero character.)
• Tekken
  • In the first game, neither Jack nor P Jack can fly. In the second, P Jack can. Come Tekken 3, all Jacks can fly. The ability to fly turns him from a merely tough character into an unstoppable killing machine.
  • Lee is a Law clone in the first two games (albeit a bishonen one with a few exclusive moves.) From Tekken Tag onwards he has gradually developed his own style. He's gotten better with each game to the point where he is one of the top player characters, instead of just a fan favorite boss character like he was before.
  • King's growing arsenal of real-life wrestling throws has made him the top choice for tournament players in later years.
• Terraria: The advent of the 1.3 update saw a total revamp of the NPCs. Now, among other things, they help defend houses against the monsters:
  • The Guide shoots arrows.
  • The Merchant throws knives.
  • The Nurse throws poisoned syringes.
  • The Demolitionist throws grenades.
  • The Dye Trader wields a scimitar.
  • The Dryad uses her nature magic to cast a defensive buff on players and NPCs close to her.
  • The Arms Dealer uses a gun (a pistol first, the Minishark in hardmode).
  • The Tavernkeep throws ale.
  • The Clothier attacks with a spell similar to the Book of Skulls, using a unique Shadowflame variant in hardmode.
  • The Angler throws Frost Daggerfish.
  • The Goblin Tinkerer throws Spiky Balls.
  • The Witch Doctor uses a blowgun.
  • The Mechanic swings a huge wrench.
  • The Painter shoots enemies with a paintball gun.
  • The Party Girl uses confetti-filled Happy Grenades to keep monsters at bay.
  • The Stylist uses her sharp scissors as an improvised weapon.
  • The Wizard launches bouncing fireballs.
  • The Truffle releases clouds of spores.
  • The Pirate fires a chain gun/cannon combo.
  • The Steampunker uses a Clockwork Assault Rifle.
  • The Cyborg fires rockets.
  • Santa Claus throws Christmas ornaments.
  • The Tax Collecter swings his cane.
  • The Traveling Merchant fires a revolver first, and a Pulse Bow during hardmode.
  • The Skeleton Merchant throws bones.
• Tomb Raider (2013) begins with Lara as a fresh out of school passenger on the archaeological ship Endurance, and the stuff she goes through to survive after the shipwreck makes one believe she channeled the spirits of Oliver Queen, John Rambo, Buffy Summers, Jane Shepard, and that all her previous games were not only canon but downplayed and she single-handedly tracked down and killed Bin Laden when she was bored.
• In The Tower of Druaga, the priestess Ki serves as the game's girl to be rescued, but in the sequel The Return of Ishtar, Ki is portrayed as a capable magician, serving as a magic-based counterpart to Gil.
• In Valkyrie Profile, Lenneth starts off as a loyal seemingly mid-range power servant of Odin. However, after Hrist is defeated by Lezard, Mystina, Arngrim, and Brahms, and becomes fused with the homonculus child Lezard had created, she takes a level in badass that isn't immediately apparent. But after Loki destroys the world, and Lenneth uses the souls of her Einherjar to survive the blast, she uses that level in badass to become Lord of Creation, rebirth the world, and all her Einherjar, and defeat Loki. Evidence is in the 1st and 2nd part of the Loki battle, where you can't really damage him in the first part, and his attacks seemingly annihilate the rest of the party. But after she uses that level in badass, she deals the largest amount of damage to him.
• In Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria, Alicia starts off the game with such fight quotes as "Do we have to fight?" and "My hands are stinging." Three-fourths of the way through the game ironically, after Silmeria, the titular warrior maiden, is stripped from her she takes a real role as leader, gets an upgrade to her special attack, and is practically thirsting for blood in her fight quotes.
• Clementine in The Walking Dead: After two seasons, it could be said that she's taken so many levels in Badass that it's hard to keep track. Potentially being, based on player choices, the only constant through ten episodes of meeting companions and adversaries and seeing them killed through walker attacks, unfortunate accidents, infighting or mercy bullets, Clem's been forced to learn a new skill set to cope with the zombie apocalypse, such as using melee weapons, firing a gun and survivalism. And then you add all this to the fact that, by the start of Season 2, she's only eleven. By the time of Season 3, Clem has gone from an innocent eight-year-old girl to a tough-as-nails thirteen-year-old gunslinger. By season 4 at sixteen or seventeen years old she is able to disarm and beat the crap out of a boy twice her size with little to no effort.
• Warcraft III custom map Footman Frenzy has the Death Sheep. Its maximum attack speed is 1 attack per 6 second with laughable damage, crappy HP to the point that a wind walking Blademaster can 1-hit KO it, have the movement speed of a snail that you need a zephyr to really go anywhere. On top of that, it only has TWO inventory slots as opposed to normal hero's six which it desperately need for HP item. The catch? It has the listed skill: Star Fall, Tranquility, Big Bad Voodoo, and Stampede, all ultimate skills. Starfall at the very beginning of the match against a throng of footman battling out in a 4-way match can result in the Death Sheep User a lot of gold.
• World of Warcraft: Gryan Stoutmantle. One first encounters him as a lowbie quest-giver in Westfall. Next time you see him, he's a level 75 elite in Northrend. Commanding the Westfall Brigade. On some servers, he's amassed quite a fan following.
  • Another 'legendary' character is the Ork, Mankrik, who has been moping in The Crossroads with a missing wife. Come Cataclysm, he has buried his wife and is an elite mob hunting the quillboars that killed her.
  • Gamon. Previously an incredibly weak NPC who had the terrible luck to be a neutral NPC in the middle of a Horde capital due to game mechanics (he's part of a rogue class quest and needs to be pickpocketed, and allied NPCs are impossible to pickpocket). In Cataclysm, he got upgraded to Level 85 Elite and hits squishy characters for hundreds of 'thousands' of damage. So the character people once killed for s*** and giggles now needs a raid group to stand a remote chance against.
    • Just boosting him up to an 85 Elite wasn't enough, since people started to kite him around. They beefed him up again by making him immune to Crowd Control, gave him weapons (a spear and a bow), made him run faster than your character, and made him hit like a friggin' tank. I don't mean the class type, I mean the actual military vehicle. They turned weak little Gamon into an absolute juggernaut. So much so in fact, that if Orgrimmar ever gets attacked by the Alliance, players will actually aggro Gamon to help attack the Alliance too! One of those AoE spells hits Gamon, and he'll soon forget about the Horde guys who aggroed him...
    • Taken even further in Mists of Pandaria. Besides (of course) being made a level 90 elite, Gamon will be fighting in the Siege of Orgrimmar. There's even an achievement for beating a boss while Gamon is still alive called, "Gamon Will Save Us!" Not such a Joke Character anymore.
  • There is also Corporal Keeshan. You encounter him in the original game as a prisoner of the Blackrock orcs who you have to rescue in an Escort Mission. In Cataclysm, he's been upgraded to JOHN J. KEESHAN, who ends up getting swallowed by a black dragon, proceeds to impale him from the inside, sending him crashing into Lake Everstill, and survives to become a major part of another questline over 30 levels later.
  • Stormwind's Prince Anduin Wrynn. When the game started, he was just a kid who was watched over by Bolvar Fordragon until his father could be found and resume the throne. Just before Cataclysm, he got some character development in the Expanded Universe in which he began to find his calling as a priest, rather than a warrior like his father. In the lead-up quests to the Twilight Highlands, he's helping you investigate incidents in Stormwind, backing you up with Power Words: Shield and healing. Finally, in Mists of Pandaria, shipwrecked and alone in Pandaria, rather than sit and wait for rescue, he begins hunting down information on the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, avoids rescue by Mind Controlling one of his would-be rescuers into letting him go, helps you save the Temple of the Red Crane, convinces the August Celestias to open the Vale, and it all culminates in his going toe-to-toe with no less than Garrosh Hellscream. A battle which, while he loses, does stop Garrosh's plans and shows how tough he is by surviving and having just about every bone in his body broken. And in Legion? Now he's the king, with divine power at his fingertips on par with the greatest priests and paladins of all time.
• In WWF No Mercy, Steven Richards took a level as compared to his real-life counterpart. No Mercy's career mode followed several of the then-current plot arcs. However, Big Show was legitimately punished and removed from the game entirely, and so Richards, who was an ineffective wrestler and primarily a manager in the real WWF, took Big Show's place in the game and became a main event level wrestler.
• Racial militaries in X3: Albion Prelude. In previous games, they'd sort of ignore the player unless he got very close to them. In X3:AP, they'll jump around the universe to respond to threats to their space. If you jump into a system and start blasting civilian ships and the stations, they'll send ships to kill you. The more damage you cause, the more likely they'll send something big to kill you, like a destroyer, or in the Terrans' case, the ATF Valhalla or USC Kyoto.
• In the X-COM series, your soldiers start out as Rookies with no special abilities and lousy equipment, who die when an alien sneezes at them and who couldn't hit the broad side of a barn on a good day. As they level up, they gain new skills and can be augmented with biological or cybernetic upgrades, and may even unlock Psychic Powers. Or not. Either way, any of your guys who make it to Colonel would definitely be a Colonel Badass.
  • Central Officer Bradford in XCOM: Enemy Unknown. In the base game, he serves as Mission Control and gets most of your soldiers killed off in the tutorial due to his Genre Blindness. But in one mission of the Enemy Within expansion, the aliens attack XCOM HQ using psychic saboteurs, but Bradford manages to fend off an assassin, beat him to the ground, and hold him at gunpoint. If you fail the mission, you get a game over cutscene showing Bradford's dead body propped up against the wall, with a pistol at his side and a dead Sectoid lying at his feet. The implications of this are profound.
  • In XCOM 2, twenty years of alien occupation have transformed Bradford into a scruffy, jaded badass who personally rescues the Player Character during the tutorial mission. He takes to the field again in the Alien Hunters DLC, fighting with all the skill of a Colonel using a tricked-out BFG and a machete for close encounters.
    • In the same game, the addition of human DNA has turned the Sectoid from the alien equivalent to The Goomba into a man-sized monster with Scary Teeth and the ability to revive fallen soldiers as psionic zombies under its control.
• Xenoblade Chronicles 1 has its own examples:
  • The most extreme would be Shulk's several levels throughout the game. Overall, he goes from being a random mechanic and nerd who barely gets out of his lab, to being in a position to say A God I Am Not after defeating the Big Bad.
  • The most iconic example, though, would be professional Walking Spoiler Fiora. After being brought Back from the Dead via an Unwilling Roboticisation, she goes from being an average Fragile Speedster to a full-blown Lightning Bruiser and arguably the most powerful playable character.
• In Xenosaga, MOMO proved quite useless, serving as little more than a plot device; in battle, she had a high MP count but was pathetically weak and virtually any other character was better. In the sequel, she had aged up slightly and become more competent, but most notably had suddenly become an absolute god in combat: High speed, high evasion, high attack power, excellent heals, excellent buffs, and the largest mana pool in the game had her far outstripping any other playable character. Her low HP was her only remaining flaw, but considering her ridiculous evasion meant she didn't really get hit anymore anyway...
  • There's also Allen, a Non-Action Guy who Cannot Spit It Out, and a lovably pathetic Butt-Monkey. He has a crush on his boss, Shion, who he calls "Chief," but even the biggest supplier of wangst in Xenosaga is still laughably out of his league. He's not even a regular party member. Then comes Episode III, and Allen stands up to Kevin, Shion's ex-boyfriend and the beating he takes negates Shion's Face–Heel Turn and sparks her interest in him. In the ending, a Gnosis threatens Shion, and Allen pounces on it, beating it to death with an assault rifle. The end shows Shion finally returning his affections.
• Zack, the titular character in Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure, is one of the more feeble game protagonists. He can flip switches, set off cannons, and use enemies' strength against them, but if he were to encounter a common goon who isn't asleep or distracted, and he's done for. In the penultimate mission, however, Zack finds a sword and is actually able to duel and destroy roaming guards the old-fashioned way.
• This is the entire point of Zettai Hero Project. You start off as the weakest main character, a bystander who was forced to take on the mantle of the Unlosing Ranger and face the Final Boss. Through your repeated and many losses, you start amassing the necessary skills and determination required to save the world. It's not called Total Hero Project for nothing.
• Leo Stenbuck from Zone of the Enders, who started out in that game as a (justifiably) depressed street kid, apparently spent the four years between the plotlines of ZoE 1 and ZoE 2 frantically leveling up in badass until he emerged in the second game almost as a wolf among lambs, capable of piloting his non-Unobtainium LEV (named and modeled after the Vic Viper, no less!) against full-on Orbital Frames and more than holding his own.

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