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Worthy Opponent / Video Games

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  • In any aspect of online and Player Vs Player combat, these are a beautiful aspect of understanding the games mechanics more and making new friends from the sheer taste of defeat or maddening victory. That is unless you meet a Troll, Hacker, or a perna-banned player that somehow got back into the game.

  • Absented Age: Squarebound: Double subverted. Hoop acknowledges that Satsuki/Karen is a superb spirit master, but only so she can accuse Tarte of depending too much on the latter. In this case, it's less respect towards Karen and more an excuse to deny Tarte's victory in the Dual Boss fight. That said, she and Yayoi are at least pragmatic enough to form an Enemy Mine with Karen to defeat the Gangers and even uphold their end of the bargain with her, showing that the two do genuinely respect Karen.
  • Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies' Yellow Thirteen calls Mobius One this after Mobius One makes a name for himself, and it's reinforced after Mobius One destroys Stonehenge and shoots down Yellow Thirteen's wingman, Yellow Four. Mobius One, however, proves that he's actually better, shooting Yellow Thirteen down during the Siege of Farbanti.
    • Ace Combat, as a rule, tends to do this quite a bit, throwing entire squadrons of Worthy Opponents at the player. In fact, the Knight path in Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War was specifically designed for the player to be a Worthy Opponent to the enemy aces. Also, from the Soldier Path, Erich Hillenberand (Schnee 1) considers Cipher a worthy opponent and says that he would be glad to fly with him again (even though he became a civilian pilot instructor after the war).
  • Forsythe from Advance Wars: Days of Ruin fights on the side of the Lazurian army, but is a kind-hearted general who stands by a strict code of honor and turns down Caulder's offer to resort to dirty tactics when fighting against Brenner and the Rubinelle army. When he is defeated, he promptly surrenders without resistance and is killed by Admiral Greyfield, leaving his subordinates Tasha and Gage to fly the Lazurian banner for him after his loss.
    • Hawke, being the Magnificent Bastard he is, subverts this beautifully in the hard campaign of Advance Wars: Black Hole Rising. He claims Andy is a worthy opponent and challenges him to an Aerial/Naval only battle. Upon victory he praises you and leaves... only to have Andy's comrades berate him for being distracted by Hawke while the rest of Black Hole's army marched right across the line Andy was supposed to be guarding.
    • In the Wars World-based Advance Wars trilogy, Hawke of the Black Hole army holds some grudging respect for young Orange Star CO Andy. In Dual Strike, he and his Perky Hench-Goth Lash switch sides and help them fight the remnants of the Bolt Guard during the last few missions. Hawke and Andy even get a bonus when teaming up in Dual Strike multiplayer.
    • Because Lash views the men under her command as chess pieces to be used at best, she harbors such sentiments for Sonja who has a similar, though much more sympathetic, mindset. Unsurprisingly, they get a team-up bonus as well much to Sonja's disgust and surprise.
  • In Bastion, the Ura remnants decide that the Kid is truely worthy if he chooses to save Zulf, and in the process carries Zulf on his back through the entire Ura army, enduring a constant barrage of crossbow bolts. Eventually, after witnessing this single act of sheer, selfless determination to save the Kid's own enemy, coupled with the fact that the Kid has singlehandedly smashed through their entire army to rebuild the Bastion, never yielding or backing down or surrendering to such innumerable hardships, the Ura cease attacking and stand aside. One Ura crossbowman tries to take a shot at the Kid as he is trudging past with his burden, and is immediately cut down by his commander.
  • Batman: Arkham Origins: The game over scenes against Deathstroke suggest that he views Batman as this. Sure enough, he's the only boss who fights Batman mano-a-mano, with no interfering mooks or fancy gimmicks.
  • In Battle Moon Wars, Berserker regards Original Generation character Takumi Atsuta as a worthy Rival.
  • BlazBlue has some examples of this:
    • Hakumen, being as fight-happy as he is, gets a lot of this. Most notably, he gets like this with Bang, openly praising his heroic nature and fighting spirit. This also manifests in his interactions with Ragna, Valkenhayn, Kagura, and, bizarrely, Terumi.
    • Another example of a strange Worthy Opponent relationship, Relius Clover also considers Valkenhayn to be one. They had a very long-running rivalry in past, and with Relius' return, the rivalry is back in full swing.
    • Seems Hakumen isn't the only one who sees Bang's potential. The monstrously powerful Azrael also compliments his fighting ability after one encounter, and sincerely hopes that they get to fight again someday. To wit, Azrael not only curbstomped Jin, but found him boring. Azrael also found much enjoyment in fighting Kagura as well, which is something Kagura later takes advantage of to defeat him.
  • The Count of Groundsoaking Blood from the Boktai series offers an interesting example. The first time you face him he declares that Django's father Ringo is his greatest adversary before the battle. However, by the time the third game rolls around and you defeat him, he takes it back and announces that Django is his true rival and greatest adversary.
  • The Sheriff of Lynchwood in Borderlands 2 is actually entertained by your interfering in her business, even though it's costing her a lot of money. If you kill her in the Showdown mission, she'll congratulate you before expiring. Note that she isn't a Noble Demon by any stretch of the imagination — she has 283 crimes all punishable by death, murders her own underlings for fun, and killed Brick's puppy — but she is a skilled gunslinger, and she's deeply bored by the no-challenge bandits she's been gunning down.
  • In Copy Kitty, this is how Arikan acts. The game's creator specifically modeled him after Meta Knight. He is designed to seek out and kill exceptionally powerful enemies in one-on-one duels. It is noted that Arikan's tendency to demand fair and honorable duels is his greatest weakness. He compliments Boki's skills before his boss fight, and offers a sword identical to his own (Boki has the ability to copy any power anyway, but it's a nice gesture). If you win on Hard mode, he acknowledges your skill and refers to you as a Master. If you lose, one of his possible comments is "You are a Worthy Opponent. May we fight again!"
  • In the air combat game Crimson Skies 2, a mission requires you to commandeer a Zeppelin. At the end of the mission, you receive a letter from the Captain of said zeppelin thanking you for your mercy and courtesy regarding the passengers, and finishes his letter by saying "I wish we had met under different circumstances".
  • In Cross Edge, York and Lazarus consider each other as a worthy opponent since they both wield firearms as weapons and they even have a 1 on 1 duel for their final battle with each other. Lazarus joins the party afterwards.
  • The trope name is used nearly verbatim in the first Dark Forces game before the boss fight aboard the Arc Hammer.
    General Mohc: It's been a long time since I've challenged a man to battle. I'm glad my opponent is so worthy.
  • In the Dark Souls trilogy, there is a case of this trope being enforced by the fandom. Many PVP players seek out a good duel with other players, and there is a great deal of scorn shown for players who use "dishonorable" tactics like spamming healing, attacking opponents right out of their summoning signs, attacking during gestures like bows, or "gank squads" where an opponent summons a player after summoning one or two friendly phantoms and then ambushing the summoned player.
  • Dawn of War has a few examples of this. In Soulstorm, after defeating the Imperial Guard, the Blood Ravens take no retribution on the surviving Guardsmen; they instead return the survivors to Segmentum Command with full honours, while burying the dead ones. Dark Crusade has a similar pattern; once the Blood Ravens have taken Victory Bay, they issue an official statement praising the slaim Governor-Militant Lukas Alexander for his loyalty and steadfast devotion to duty, while the Guardsmen who betrayed their regiment to side with the Space Marines are summarily executed for betraying their regiment. Inverted by Archon Tahril, who derides all of his opponents - except for Lord Carron and Farseer Caerys - as worthless idiots. Tahril and his Dark Eldar forces, however, aren't as good as they think they are.
  • In Deltarune, as the battle with Jevil continues, he keeps complimenting the Delta Warriors for staying alive as long as they do. Once the battle is over, he will turn into either the best weapon or armor in the game depending on how you defeated him.
  • Vergil from Devil May Cry fills this role in the third outing and, arguably, somewhat in the first, and debatably, maybe in the fifth as well, being Dante's brother, with a definite tendency towards only using melee weapons. He nearly invokes this trope with his devil triggered catchphrase 'You are not worthy as my opponent!'
  • Dice and the Tower of the Reanimator: Glorious Princess: The Reanimator recognizes Bambooblade's strength after seeing him make it through her tower by himself. Unfortunately, she also deems him a worthy zombie slave, making a battle with her unavoidable. In the good ending route, she's at first baffled by his mercy towards the Dark Ones, but after losing to his fists, she admits he stuck to his guns and gives up the elixir, but not without challenging his optimistic views about humanity.
  • In Distorted Travesty, The Darkness reveals near the end that the Shroud Lord considers Jerry to be its Worthy Opponent, and it insists on having a final showdown with him before allowing the peace talks to go any further.
  • In Dragon Age: Origins, if the player chooses to personally challenge Loghain to a duel, he'll tell them this:
    "'A man is made by the quality of his enemies.' Maric told me that once. I wonder if it's more a compliment to you or me."
  • In Dragon Age II, Hawke can become this to the Arishok. It's especially notable if Hawke is a mage, as the Qunari hate mages so much that they don't even consider mages to be people. Right before the final duel between the two, he'll say this in regard to him/her to the nobles that he's got at his mercy.
    Arishok: (To Hawke) "You alone are Basalit-annote ." (To the nobles) "This is what respect looks like bas! Some of you will never earn it!"
    • Worth noting that if you extend certain courtesies to the Arishok, you'll get an Achievement or Trophy that's actually entitled "A Worthy Rival."
    • In Mark of the Assassin, Tallis reveals that this extends to all Qunari. Hawke is one of the few "bas" outside of Par Vollen to be considered an equal by the Qunari, who is worthy of requesting assistance from and to parley with.
    • Sten and Tallis' dialogue heavily imply that the Warden/Hero of Ferelden is also considered this by the Qunari.
    • In the comic Those Who Speak, Sten, now the Arishok after the previous one was killed by Hawke, also refers to King Alistair as basalit-an. Given Alistair's involvement to end the Blight and how respected the Grey Wardens are among the Qunari due to their single-mindedness to end the Blight, this isn't a surprise.
    • In Dragon Age: Inquisition, should the Inquisitor secure an alliance with the Qunari, they will also be declared basalit-an. Otherwise, they would be the first Player Character who aren't declared by the title.
  • The Drakengard games have two examples.
    • The first game has Caim and Inuart. Inuart bemoans early in the game how he is never as strong as Caim, but when he turns evil, he gains the power of a pact with a dragon and handily defeats Caim in a tense cinematic. They hold each other to a certain standard as Inuart doesn't take advantage of the situation to kill Caim.
    • The second game has Caim appear as the Worthy Opponent to Nowe, the protagonist of that game. Caim's duel with Nowe is only a formality as Nowe isn't the one Caim wants dead, and Caim only fights Nowe long enough to weaken him and achieve his real objective, which, once learned, is actually quite sympathetic.
  • In the Dynasty Warriors: Gundam games, the Musha Gundams will often instigate fights with just about everyone. It's made quite clear that they are searching for pilots, but are extremely picky about who that pilot is, and will only permit someone they deeply respect to obtain that position. Knight Gundam in particular duels the player multiple times in the third game's story mode, asking the heroes to display their newfound inner strength.
    Knight Gundam: I wish for you to reveal this power to me. Now, let us fight... with honor!
  • Dyztopia: Post-Human RPG: If the player defeats Aquarius in the Brutal Bonus Level, the latter states that he was originally Zazz's enemy back when Zazz was fighting the demons as the last living human. He was initially angered at Zazz surviving against the demons against all odds, especially in the hard mode lore where the latter revived himself in another body. Eventually, he gained respect for Zazz's determination and promised to sync with the latter if he could get all the other Zodiacs to sync first. Unfortunately, Zazz is now a racist Knight Templar who wants to revive humanity while forcing non-humans to become second-class citizens, making this a case of Villain Cred too.
  • Elden Ring: Malenia and Godfrey express this sentiment towards the player character if you manage to defeat them, both complimenting your strength and saying that you're worthy of the throne of the Elden Lord. Notably, they're the only bosses who do this; all the other ones (who are capable of speech) either say nothing after defeat (most of them), insult you (Morgott, Malekith), or go on a delusional ramble (Rykard, Mohg, Godrick, Rennala). That Godfrey and Malenia are also indisputably the mightiest warriors in the world at this point makes it especially meaningful.
  • The Elder Scrolls
    • In the series' backstory, the ancient Falmer (Snow Elves) and Atmorans (ancestors to the Nords) went to war in what is modern day Skyrim and Solstheim after the Falmer slaughtered and burned the Atmoran city of Saarthal. (Both sides naturally blame the other for what happened there.) In response, Ysgramor, one of the Atmoran leaders, rallied an army of 500 of Atmora's greatest warriors and led them on a quest to exterminate the Falmer. The leader of the Falmer, known only as the Snow Prince, fought Ysgramor and his Companions with such ferocity that they developed a strong respect for him. When he was finally slain, he was given a proper burial with a grand tomb, which they guarded from grave robbers.
    • Hircine, the Daedric Prince of the Hunt, is always seeking to find these. He has immense respect for those who survive his hunts, or better yet, turn the tables on the hunter.
    • This is a trait of the Dremora, an intelligent race of lesser Daedra who are most commonly found in the service of Mehrunes Dagon as his Legions of Hell. As with most lesser Daedra, they detest and look down upon mortals, considering themselves to be the Master Race of the ES universe. However, mortals who perform well in battle against them can earn their respect.
    • Morrowind:
      • In the Backstory, the original Nerevar showed shades of this with rival Dwemer leader Dumac Dwarfking. After the two joined their peoples in an Enemy Mine to drive out the invading Nords, they became Fire-Forged Friends instead.
      • Exactly what Dagoth Ur thinks about the Nerevarine fluctuates over the course of the game, but it usually is somewhere within the spectrum of this trope, especially in the conversation before the final battle. If the Nerevarine denies his/her status as the reincarnation of Nerevar, saying that they have made their own destiny rather than been guided by fate to that point, Dagoth Ur goes as far as to say that the Nerevarine's story shall be what teaches the gods their limits.
      • Skink-in-Tree's-Shade, Master Wizard of the Wolverine Hall (Sadrith Mora) Mages Guild Hall, is considered one of these by the rival Great House Telvanni. The Telvanni and the Mages Guild are bitter rivals in Morrowind's magical community, so for them to have something positive to say about Skink really speaks for his scholarly knowledge:
        "...almost as sage and learned as Telvanni aspirants five times his age."
      • Blood Knight Umbra is actively seeking one of these to end his life. You can do so in a side quest.
      • In the Bloodmoon expansion, Hircine is seeking the greatest warriors on Solstheim to be the "prey" in his hunt. Naturally, the Nerevarine just happens to qualify.
    • Skyrim:
      • The dragons see the player character, who is "Dovahkiin" ("Dragonborn," a mortal blessed by the gods with the soul of a dragon) as a worthy adversary, both due to personal prowess and also out of respect toward a fellow dragon. Despite the fact that they are terrified of the player (because only the Dragonborn can permanently slay them by consuming their souls) they will still attack the Dragonborn and refuse to back down, willingly testing their Thu'um against your own. The fact that Alduin, their leader, flees when you overwhelm him with the Dragonrend shout eventually makes the other dragons question his leadership because he fled rather than stand and fight to the death.
      • Late in the main quest, one must travel to Sovngarde in pursuit of Alduin. There, you must defeat Tsun, the old Nordic god of "trials against adversity" and shield-thane of Shor, in single combat in order to prove your worthiness to enter Shor's Hall of Valor. Tsun poses this challenge to all warrior spirits seeking entry.
      • Ulfric Stormcloak vs. an Imperial-aligned Dragonborn has many shades of this, as he is a Foil to the character and one of the few living people capable of using the Thu'um as well. In the conclusion of the Civil War questline where the Empire wins the war, Ulfric requests the Dragonborn be his executioner over Tullius or Rikke.
      • The Ebony Warrior specifically seeks out the Dragonborn because he has overcome all challenges and nothing remains for him to do. Thus, he feels the Dragonborn is the only worthy enemy suitable to send him to Sovngarde with honor.
      • The Old Orc considers himself too old to marry and father children, or to become chief of an orc stronghold. He also believes that it's pathetic to cling to something when it is no longer useful, especially if that thing is your own life. Suicide would displease Malacath, his chosen deity, so he stands by the side of the road, waiting for a worthy opponent to come bring him a warrior's death. Next to two Sabre Cat corpses, mind you. Apparently, they weren't worthy enough.
    • In Online, Molag Bal outright congratulates the Vestige for their skills, though he's quite quick to warn them that even worse things will be coming later on.
  • The Amarr and Minmatar roleplayers in EVE Online view each other this way. Out of character, they recognize that the only real difference between them is which fictional nation they chose to fight for.
    • An excellent example is this video, made by the Amarr alliance CVA in tribute to their enemies, the Minmatar alliance Ushra'Khan.
  • Final Fantasy:
    • To a lesser extent, Rubicante, the Elemental Fiend of Fire, from Final Fantasy IV. Although he is perfectly willing to see the entire world destroyed in the name of his master, he is infuriated to discover that one of his aides turned a protagonist's parents into monsters, and fully heals the party before battle with him commences. To add on to Rubicante's honor, if you cast a fire spell on him while he is guarding with his flame cape, he responds by casting "Life" or "Raise" on your party. His last words are, true to form, praise for the protagonists.
    • Invoking Defeat Means Friendship, several of the Guardian Forces in Final Fantasy VIII are acquired by battling them. Kick their butts and they're impressed enough to serve you.
    • Zenos Yae Galvus from Final Fantasy XIV feels this way about your character, The Warrior of Light to an extreme degree. As the crown prince of the Garlean Empire his incredible skills as a fighter, and the sadistic pleasure he enjoys in causing bloodshed, inspire dread amongst any that find themselves on the wrong end of his blade. As such, he's grown completely bored over the fact that no one has ever been able to put up a fight against him. After he thoroughly wipes the floor with you the first time you face him, when you come to fight him the second time he recognizes how vastly your skills have improved in such a short period of time and encourages you to get even stronger. When you finally face him a third time and can truly hold your own against him, his normally languid and composed tone of voice takes on a psychotic glee over finally having someone to fight with that could potentially defeat him. Once he's defeated after he tried to merge with the primal Shinryu, he's utterly ecstatic over the fact he has lost to you and even declares you the first friend he ever had, shortly before he kills himself both to go out on a high and to avoid facing justice from the Ala Mhigans. When he returns in Shadowbringers, he can't even go one scene without expressing his increasing desire to face you once again, and upon learning that both Zodiark and Hydaelyn are primals, plans to have both of you fuse with them so that you can have the greatest battle in existence. By Endwalker the Warrior of Light brushes them off because the Final Days are happening and they simply don't got the time to entertain Zenos with a rematch. Near the end, Zenos learns that if he wants to get his precious rematch, he has to help the Warrior of Light defeat the Endsinger and he does just that. After all is said and done, the two have their long awaited rematch and the Warrior of Light wins while Zenos dies satisfied. Later, we discover said fight also made his Reaper avatar, Zero, develop a healthy respect for the Warrior herself - when encountered again, she fully admits that she doesn't think she could win a one-on-one battle with the Warrior despite being powerful enough for a sizable domain in the Void; thankfully for her, she doesn't have any need to oppose the Warrior anymore and really didn't like Zenos to begin with.
  • If you're a named villain in the Fire Emblem series, it's pretty darn certain that one of the following will happen to you:
  • Ghost of Tsushima: Playing the Samurai playstyle will have Jin respect his opponents and face them head on, with no dirty tricks or subterfuge. After killing everyone in a group of mooks, Jin will give a quick bow of respect.
  • Elvis, That One Boss from God Hand. He punches his Mooks for disrespecting the bodies of their victims and treats Gene like an old friend when he sees him. Gene even comments that he and Elvis could have been good friends if Elvis wasn't a demon.
  • In Guilty Gear, during the Holy War between humanity and the Gears, Kliff was in his prime and a real engine of destruction, halting the advance of a Megadeth-class Gear for an entire week and holding his own against the Gear commander Justice no less than 17 times. Years on, even as an old and stooped dwarf, Kliff can still wield his Dragonslayer with ease and stun people a quarter of his age and four times his size — his only limiting factor being his bad back. Justice still has nothing but grudging admiration for him, though she does kill him eventually.
  • In Halo, particularly in the books, it is shown that the Elites consider the Spartans to be Worthy Opponents, especially in the latter parts of the Human-Covenant War. This is particularly shown in Halo Legends, where Elite Major Thel 'Lodamee throws the disarmed Master Chief an Energy Sword, so that they could have a fair fight.
    • In fact, a number of Elites end up feeling this way about humanity in general towards the end of the war, due to humanity's tenacity in holding out against the overwhelming forces of the Covenant for about twenty-eight years. Some Elites even go as far as to question the decision to exterminate humanity, thinking that it would be more logical to simply assimilate them into the Covenant. This may be one reason the two species were able to form an alliance in Halo 3 after the Covenant dissolves into civil war.
    • Hell, there's a moment in Halo: First Strike where the Elite special ops trooper on the bridge of the Covenant ship actually decloaks and issues a direct challenge to the Chief to engage in one-on-one battle. Keep in mind, this is an Elite with active camouflage tech and is armed with ranged weapons, but rather than use them to ambush the Chief, he instead deliberately reveals himself and moves to fight the Chief in hand to hand combat.
    • The Covenant at large refer to Spartans as "Demons", with Master Chief in particular being "The Demon". The term is definitely intended as an insult, but as time goes on it's clear that it also comes with a begrudging degree of respect, although the "lesser" races definitely see them more as The Dreaded than worthy opponents.
      The Arbiter: [The term is] An insult, to be sure, but one with a modicum of respect.
  • The title character of Iji is considered this by Assassin Asha, after she defeats him in battle. In something of a subversion, Asha is furious that anyone could possibly give him a challenge, let alone defeat him, and goes out of his way to organize a rematch with Iji which only one of them will leave. If that fight is skipped, then Asha is Driven to Suicide out of despair.
  • Pretty much the only reason Ryth does anything in Infinity Blade. He openly states that he doesn't care about the Worker or the other Deathless, and the only reason he turns up in Infinity Blade III is because he's so pissed Sirus beat him before.
  • Captain Narville of Killzone 2 sees Colonel Radec as one, and Radec, in turn, sees Templar as one.
  • Kirby:
    • One of Meta Knight's major defining characteristics is that he seeks to hone his strength and swordsmanship by fighting against worthy opponents. When granted the opportunity to make any kind of wish in Kirby Super Star Ultra, he summons Galacta Knight, known as "the galaxy's strongest warrior" purely so he test his strength against him. He also sees Kirby as one of these and will frequently hand Kirby a sword to fight with before they duel unless he's been compromised in some way. In Kirby Battle Royale in particular, he expresses disappointment with how pathetic the battles against the Kirby copies have been but that he knows the original Kirby will give him a proper fight. Later in Kirby and the Forgotten Land, he can be challenged for a no-stakes, friendly duel which he considers to be useful training.
    • King Dedede occasionally sees Kirby as this when not engaging in Friendly Rivalry as more prominent in later games. Best exemplified in the Revenge of the King sub-game where he makes sure that Kirby is fighting on the same terms as him by handing him a hammer, similar to Meta Knight's habit.
  • In the Back Story of Knights of the Old Republic, the Mandalorians considered Revan and Exile these.
    Canderous: We wanted to fight the best in a battle that would be remembered for centuries, and Revan won. I don't hold a grudge against Revan, and neither do any of my people.
  • The Legend of Zelda:
    • The Garo Ninjas in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, although minor in their appearance, consider Link a worthy opponent. They not only praise him upon their defeat, but also provide him with some helpful tips as a token of their respect before they finally dispose of their own bodies. (Majora itself deliberately provokes Link at the end, seemingly for the amusement of battling him.)
    • Ganondorf has shades of this in the The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, where the tragic circumstances of the storyline have granted his feud with the Hero a rather profoundly personal significance. He goes so far as to declare his belief that Link must be the "Hero of Time, reborn" and their clash a matter of fate. This is a notable departure from the majority of the games, where Ganondorf is either completely Ax-Crazy or suicidally overconfident to the point of dismissing the Hero outright — as this is the version of Ganondorf that fought the adult Link in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (according to the official timeline), unlike the other versions of him who defeated the hero or never fought him at all, maybe he learned from the experience.
    • In The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and combined with Facing Death With Dignity, are the Darknuts. When you slay one of them, they hold out their sword and drop it horizontally at their feet, acknowledging your victory over them before succumbing to their injuries.
    • Demise from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword also takes this view of Link, calling him a pinnacle of his kind and fighting like no human or demon he's met. And keep in mind, this is the demon king who managed to best the goddess Hylia.
    • Subverted with Ganondorf in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. While he initially seems to like the idea of being able to fight Link after the hero has recovered from their first encounter, he gets enraged when he finally faces defeat.
  • Manafinder: Octavius and Illia respect Lambda's combat skill and note that she's strong enough to survive in the nomads' barrier-less society.
  • Played with in Mass Effect 2, where Grunt, the resident Proud Warrior Race Guy who was apparently built from the ground up to be the ultimate example of the krogan species, lays out the krogan definition of a Worthy Opponent: an enemy who does indeed test you in battle, but then whom you utterly destroy. Apparently, the krogan mindset says that the greatest honor that can be offered to an enemy is to completely wipe them out; to the krogan, the worst insult they can offer is to say someone isn't worth fighting and slaughtering. For a specific example, Grunt's first meeting with Shepard ends when it's revealed that Shepard quietly had a gun pointed at him the entire time without his knowledge. Realizing this, Grunt accepts his/her command without question at that point.
    Grunt: You offer one hand, but arm the other. Wise Shepard.
    • If Wrex dies in the first game, Urdnot Wreav will treat you with "the respect due a worthy enemy", and has no problem with you serving as Grunt's krantt in his Rite of Passage and letting you run about the Urdnot base indefinitely unmolested - even bringing along turian and salarian allies, which says a lot given that the krogan utterly loathe both species with the fury of a thousand supernovae.
    • In the first Mass Effect, Saren finally considers Shepard this, which is something, knowing Saren's bigoted attitude towards humans.
    • The Reapers see Shepard as a genuine threat, who continues to thwart their efforts at a galactic harvest and just won't die. Harbinger labels him/her "an annoyance", probably the biggest compliment they're going to make to an opponent, and in Mass Effect 3, after killing the Reaper on Rannoch that was controlling the Geth, it is revealed that it knows your name, despite never meeting you before. When Shepard asks about how it knows who they are, it responds that Harbinger speaks of them and it's heavily implied to be the reason why Reapers now target Shepard on sight, even taking their sights off entire fleets to do so.
    • Confirmed in the twitter feed tie-in for Mass Effect 3. While the Reapers have dismissed all opposition with a tone of casual indifference, during their invasion of Earth, a priority is issued for confirmation that "Hostile Target Shepard" is dead. When none comes, the Reapers get very scared that Shepard is still alive.
    • Leviathan, which predates even the Reapers, calls Shepard an "anomaly", the only being in history that the Reapers have ever feared.
    • In Mass Effect 3 it is revealed in several recorded videos in Chronos Station that the Illusive Man, despite considering Shepard his enemy, has considerable respect for him/her. By contrast, Kai Leng stubbornly refuses to accept how skilled Shepard really is and to really take them as a true threat. The Illusive Man continuously warns Kai Leng not to underestimate Shepard and to respect their badassery (in fact, Kai Leng actually takes being compared to Shepard as an insult to his skills). He doesn't listen and it ends up being his undoing.
      • Even the conversation with him in Cerberus Headquarters gives a look into his respect for Shepard. He sounds genuinely saddened that Shepard refuses to join his cause and at the same time sounds deeply admiring of Shepard's idealism and will.
      Illusive Man: Your idealism is...admirable Shepard. But in the end our goals are simply too disparate. I believe destroying the Reapers would be the biggest mistake we could make. And nothing you say will convince me otherwise.
    • This is how the turians saw the humans after the First Contact War, with the turians noting that it was the first REAL military opposition they had faced in over a millennium.
    • In the third game, Kasumi Goto has one in Spectre agent Jondum Bau. She sees him as a great person that the universe would certainly benefit from having more of (his only fault being that he's chasing her) while Jondum respects Kasumi's intellect.
    • In the "Omega" DLC, Aria, Nyreen, and Shepard all admit that Cerberus General Petrovsky is a worthy foe. Petrovsky for his part shows mutual respect for Nyreen and especially Shepard.
    • Primarch Adrien Victus notes that he can't help but have a certain admiration for the sheer power and unstoppable nature of the Reapers. This does not stop him from being both horrified and enraged by what they are doing to his people.
      Victus: The strategist in me respects their brutality. The turian in me knows I'm watching the destruction of fifteen thousand years of civilization. My civilization.
  • Several bosses from Mega Man Zero count; most notably, the Four Guardians.
  • In Mega Man Legends, Tiesel Bonne eventually grows to respect Megaman as this (it helped that his sister Tronne developed something of a crush on him).
  • In Mercenaries, this often comes up with the Chinese. In the first game, Buford shares an adversarial relationship with Colonel Peng (even though the two never meet) due to the latter's intent to form a communist government in South Korea but muses that at least Beijing "sent the right man for the job". In the second game, Peng is turned into a Boisterous Bruiser who relishes the chance to face the AN peacekeeping forces in Venezuela as it represents a legitimate, face-to-face war with the West and a chance to prove China's superpower status.
  • Metal Gear Solid: After defeating Sniper Wolf, Snake comforts her and delivers the final blow while telling her that she died without betraying her ideals, and then gently lays her handkerchief over her face. The Ninja really Gray Fox also regards Snake as a worthy opponent, putting away his sword to fight Snake in pure hand-to-hand combat — trying to shoot him just results in an automatic deflection and exclaimed disgust.
  • In Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater:
    • Ocelot and Naked Snake view one another as Worthy Opponents even though they stand at opposite sides of the Cold War. This causes Ocelot to act like a Stalker with a Crush.
    • Also, The End seeks to end his life with a sniper duel against a worthy opponent — the son of The Boss. Unless you mess up the boss fight by being caught and shot or stopping to sleep during the fight, in which case he scolds Snake like a student before carrying his unconscious body off to the jail at Graniny Gorki - that's right, his weapon is strictly non-lethal.
  • In Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, each of the Desperados regard Raiden as this to a degree, especially Jetstream Sam and Senator Armstrong.
  • No More Heroes: Shinobu gains the respect of Travis Touchdown, who spares her life with the intent of fighting her again when she's stronger. This turns out to be the right move when she later saves his life. Henry, as well. Incidentally, they're both playable in the sequel.
  • No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle: Travis gradually gains more respect for his opponents as part of his Character Development. There's Ryuji, who Travis believes fought honorably and is disgusted when he is promptly gunned down after his fight. Then there's Captain Vladimer, whose body Travis refuses to let the UAA destroy. Then there's Alice Twilight, an assassin with ideals so close to Travis' own, that he undergoes a Heel–Face Turn after being forced to kill her.
  • In Octopath Traveler II, Bandelam regards Hikari as such during their arena duel. While he disagrees with Hikari's distate for unnecessary killing, Bandelam admits he's strong and admires his dedication to his ideals.
  • Gogandantes, the Greatest Swordsman of all the Demons, from Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny, is essentially a demonic knight. He appears to be entirely invincible, but repeatedly refuses to finish off the hero, since that would be dishonorable. During the hero's final fight against him, he rescues the main love-interest from a fiery death before engaging him in an honorable duel. When, thanks to a magic flute, you actually defeat him, the hero acknowledges his honor and skill as he dies. What a senseless waste of demon life...
  • Pokémon:
  • In RuneScape, "Big High War God" Bandos considers all his followers cowards and weaklings, and those who oppose him cowards and traitors. You alone, he considers worthy of respect, because in "The Chosen Commander" you thrashed his mortal Avatar in a one-on-one fight, twice, despite his granting the Avatar actual divine powers (at the time, you were not yet the World Guardian).
    • In "The Lord of Vampyrium", when you finally defeat and kill Lord Drakan, he declares you the toughest meal he's ever fought, and that he regrets nothing.
  • As noted below in Real Life, Kenshin Uesugi and Shingen Takeda in the Samurai Warriors series consider each other this and come across as two guys who like to fight each other. In the Empires expansions, putting them on the same team leaves the two bros very happy.
  • Admiral Gregorio in Skies of Arcadia. A completely honourable man and the adoptive uncle of Defector from Decadence Enrique, he is killed by Big Bad Galcian after the latter betrays the Valuan Empire. Intriguingly, even Galcian seemed to consider Gregorio a Worthy Opponent and insists that his body be shipped back to Valua with the highest honours.
  • Dr. Eggman has this view of Sonic the Hedgehog, once even solumnly refering to him as his "admirable adversary" when he believes he has finally taken him out. In Sonic Frontiers, a confused Sage asks him why he sings Sonic's praises just as often as he curses him out. He replies that even though he truly does hate Sonic's guts, he's still a worthy opponent deserving of respect.
    Eggman: I respect him. But I don't have to like him.
    • Sonic Adventure 2 as a whole revolves around this relationship between both the hero and dark counterparts (even the rival boss theme is titled "Worthy Opponent" in the game's OST).
    • Shadow spends most of Sonic Adventure 2 arrogantly claiming that Sonic cannot hope to compare to him. Then Sonic manages to copy Shadow's signature Chaos Control ability, and with a fake Emerald, no less. This causes Shadow to start actually treating Sonic as an equal, a respect that continues throughout the series.
    • As Sonic's first rival and a Proud Warrior Race Guy whose strength rivals his speed, Knuckles views Sonic as this. In one of his recaps in Sonic Adventure, he claims that he respects Sonic, but won't hesitate to take him down if he has to.
  • In Star Fox, the enemy team Star Wolf view their counterparts as this, though it stands out the most with the team leaders. Fox has great respect for Wolf's piloting skills and Wolf has stated more than once that if anyone is going to take Fox down, it will be him.
  • Star Wars Trilogy Arcade: Upon defeating Darth Vader:
    Vader: "Your skills are complete."
  • Akuma from Street Fighter sees Gen as a foe who can match him (thanks to Gen's profession as an assassin he never holds back in a fight and Akuma is always looking for people who think as he does). The two did battle in the past to a stalemate (establishing each other as Worthy Opponents) but by the time the playable installments of the series roll around Akuma cannot bring himself to give it his all against Gen as age and illness have reduced his fighting ability, which wouldn't give Akuma the match he truly wants. Meanwhile he treats Ryu as a worthy foe but only because killing him like he knows he could with ease would not allow Ryu to nurture his killing intent. Ryu, on the other hand, treats everyone as a Worthy Opponent because every battle brings him new knowledge and meaning in life. The most prominent examples in Ryu's life are his best friend and sparring partner Ken and his once-rival-turned-friend Sagat.
  • The Suffering: Ties That Bind has a strange variation on this. Copperfield is the ghost of a slave catcher, and as Torque's ancestors were slaves, Copperfield continues to hunt Torque down. He seems rather pleased that Torque puts up such a struggle, especially when compared to everyone else who just died, and compliments him on his actions and fighting style. The feeling is not mutual.
  • Bowser considers the Mario Bros., particularly Mario himself, to be worthy opponents, and greatly enjoys fighting them. Of course, he'd prefer it if he won, which he did once. In tradition with most examples of this trope, he sees it as quite a feat. Sometimes it even seems like he doesn't even really want to marry Princess Peach, and merely kidnaps her as an excuse to fight Mario/the Bros. again (and hopefully win this time).
  • Mario Party 5: At the end of Story Mode, Bowser congratulates the player for defeating him, saying that his wish was to fight a worthy opponent and that you made it come true.
  • In Third Super Robot Wars Z: Tengoku-hen, Straus is one for Rand Travis. According to Rand, he likes Straus' style. If they weren't enemies, he'd be inviting Straus out for drinks right about now.
  • Wodan Ymir in Super Robot Wars: Original Generation 2 to Sanger Zonvolt, his still-living Alternate Universe counterpart. In one battle, he actually helps Sanger out versus another enemy faction because he is The Only One Allowed To Defeat Him. And in Project × Zone, Sanger considers the Gespenst Phantom as its Worthy Opponent by trope name.
  • Tales of Symphonia features Forcystus, one of the Desian grand cardinals, who is posthumously constructed as a Worthy Opponent in a discussion between Kratos and Lloyd. The explanation given about his backstory puts emphasis on the fact that, although he did some monstrous things, it was to help other half-elves out and to protect them. He was considered a hero of sorts among his people. He probably even grew up hearing horrible stories about humans or seeing the racism first hand. He, Pronyma, and Magnius were all monsters, yeah, but they simply wanted a better world for their kind. It was how they went about it that made them into the monsters we encountered.
  • Tears to Tiara 2 Monomachus and Golyat have the reputation of being the strongest man in one of the two strongest armies in The Empire, the former the Hispanic legions and the latter the eastern frontiers. They meet in battle, the former as a rebel and the latter as one sent to crush the rebellion and fight each other to a tie and praise each other's battle prowess.
  • In the campaign of Titanfall 2, Kuben Blisk comes to see Cooper as a worthy rival after he singlehandedly offs his best mercs. Near the end of the game, he decides to spare Cooper (since he already finished his job anyway and killing him was not part of his contract) and leaves him his business card before leaving.
  • Most recurring characters in Touhou Project view Reimu to be this trope, someone that will beat you to a bloody pulp but will make it a lot of fun in the meantime (as opposed to Marisa, who uses her victories as excuses to take everything not nailed down and/or on fire). Suika, in particular, considers Reimu worthy enough to actually live with her for a while after her defeat.
  • From Triangle Strategy, Exharme considers both Symon and Serenoa to be this: Symon for his legendary battle skills, and Serenoa for besting him in Glenbrook's show tournament. Exharme initially expresses disappointment that he doesn't get to fight Symon before gladly admitting he'd cross blades with Serenoa again.
  • The Walking Dead (Telltale):
  • Boomerang and Lucied from Wild ARMs, what with them being Blood Knights and all.
  • Wings portrays Allied and German fighter pilots as developing increasing respect for enemy pilots as time goes on.
    "I waved to the single approaching Fokker, partly in greeting, partly to say goodbye. There probably wasn't a reason to risk our lives, yet what better way to say goodbye than one final man-to-man dogfight?"
    • This is applied especially strongly to the case of Baron von Richtoffen, who killed many Allied fighters, and yet was admired by them. Truth in Television, as this mirrors the Allied perception of him in real life.
  • Thassarian and Koltira Deathweaver in World of Warcraft regard each other like this following the end of the Scourge war. However, in a twist, it is Thassarian's fault to begin with that they're on opposite sides, as it was he who told Koltira to join the Horde instead of coming with him to the Alliance.
    • Arthas views Tirion Fordring as this in World of Warcraft. The overused "only one he ever feared" line is used a few times in regards to how Arthas views Tirion.
    • A SMALL PIECE of the soul of Arthas almost kills Tirion AND Arthas. Tirion destroys it, but Arthas is knocked down to 30% health and Tirion is knocked out completely. If it weren't for the timely arrival of Friendly Enemy Darion Mograine, Tirion (and the player) would have been killed.
    • Tirion is wielding the MacGuffin however, so was protected by Plot Armor at the time. He ends up killing Arthas with his MacGuffin, proving that killing part of the soul of the Lich King really didn't do him THAT much harm, it just knocked him out a bit.
    • Grom Hellscream's speech to Gul'dan in 6.2 shows he's come to consider the Horde and Alliance worthy adversaries.
    Grom: They will defy you. I have seen their armies in battle, have witnessed their fortitude. They are fearless. It does not matter what foul creatures you bring to the battle, they will persevere AND THEY WILL WASH THEIR BLADES OF YOUR BLOOD IN VICTORY!!!

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