History AdaptationalVillainy / VideoGames

* [[CastingAShadow Darkrai]] is portrayed as a DarkIsNotEvil Pokemon in the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games, hiding itself away voluntarily to try and prevent its power to trap other creatures in nightmares from afflicting others, even making sure that its counterpart Cresselia is close by to treat anyone affected. In the ''[[VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon Mystery Dungeon]]'' series, it is a much more malicious character who plots to plunge the world into eternal darkness ForTheEvulz. However, this Darkrai eventually loses its memory and can be recruited postgame.
** Played with in the second ''VideoGame/PokeparkWii'', where Darkrai is a WellIntentionedExtremist attempting to place every Pokemon in his other dimensional world where they can have eternal fun (whether they want to or not). [[spoiler: However after [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone seeing the chaos his plans create]], he pulls a HeroicSacrifice by taking the brunt of a growing black hole, after which the heroes save and befriend him.]]
** Yveltal is portrayed as a major villain in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonSuperMysteryDungeon Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon]]'', at one point turning TheHero [[TakenForGranite to stone]]. [[spoiler: However, its evil actions were committed [[BrainwashedAndCrazy under Dark Matter's control]] rather than Yveltal's own will, and it does ultimately redeem itself once it gains control back.]]

** Shockingly BigBad Sephiroth gets this. In the original game he’s still the antagonist but has a few sympathetic traits being a scientific Guinea pig infused with [[EldritchAbomination JENOVA]] cells by his MadScientist dad [[spoiler:Hojo]]. Upon learning about his birth Sephiroth has a SanitySlippage and burns down Nibelheim, in all all he’s quite a TragicMonster. In the remake Sephiroth loses a lot of sympathy points when he [[KickTheDog gloats]] to Cloud, that he personally killed his mother telling him sadistically about how she begged him to spare her son and how her flesh was “yielding to cold steel” none of which Sephiroth did in the original. He also repeatedly tells Cloud how [[HopeCrusher worthless his heroics are]] and how he should [[WeCanRuleTogether join him]] in [[OmnicidalManiac destroying the world]]. This treatment makes Sephiroth closer to a CardCarryingVillain like [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI Kefka Palazzo]] than his more affable original version[[labelnote:*]] This crueler portrayal is made more chilling since it turns out that ''Remake'' is a StealthSequel (of sorts). It is heavily implied that Sephiroth knows about the events form the original game and trying to change his fate, and that Cloud has beaten him at least 3 times [[/labelnote]].

* In ''VideoGame/EquestriaBound'', while a lot of the are jerks in the show, much like Giygas in [[VideoGame/EarthBound the original game]], Nightmare Moon is able to influence beings from the past to do her bidding, all of whom have a grudge against Equestria or the mane caste for some reason. [[spoiler: Some examples being Trixie and Gilda, both of whom later pulled a HeelFaceTurn in the show.]]

** Quite possibly the biggest example would have to be [[spoiler:R.O.B.]], as, not only was he never an antagonist in his home series, he doesn't even have any explicitly villainous traits like the above mentioned characters. During the majority of the mode, [[spoiler:R.O.B.]] was the main antagonist of ''The Subspace Emissary'' under the guise of "Ancient Minister", ordering his R.O.B. Squad minions to detonate various Subspace bombs across the many landscapes. [[spoiler:Though later on, it was revealed he was only forced to do this under [[GreaterScopeVillain Tabuu's]] orders]].

** Surprisingly, after all's said in the Norse mythology, ''VideoGame/GodOfWarRagnarok'' reveals that most of them are downplayed. While Odin is the one who doesn't get better, Thor surprisingly gets a more humanizing characterization of being someone so deep in sorrow of the atrocities he has done that he believed that he couldn't be anything else than an abusive bastard and despite his extreme flaws he genuinely loves his wife Sif and daughter Thrud. He's still a dangerous antagonist, but slightly gives him an edge of sympathy, which is more than the Greek Gods or Odin could have. Also, [[spoiler:Odin gives him a HeelFaceDoorSlam when he thinks of turning to a better life.]]

** Surprisingly, after all's said in the Norse mythology, ''VideoGame/GodOfWarRagnarok'' reveals that most of them are downplayed. While Odin is the one who doesn't get better, Thor surprisingly gets a more humanizing characterization of being someone so deep in sorrow of the atrocities he has done that he believed that he couldn't be anything else than an abusive bastard. He's still a dangerous antagonist, but slightly gives him an edge of sympathy, which is more than the Greek Gods or Odin could have. Also, [[spoiler:Odin gives him a HeelFaceDoorSlam when he thinks of turning to a better life.]]

* In the ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}} series Leon Belmont is as heroic as the rest of the Belmont family, but in his cameo role for ''VideoGame/{{OBAKEIDORO}}'' he plays the role of a monster and uses his vampire hunting skills to throw innocent children into a cell.

** While Dark Pit in ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising'' initially started off as an opponent to Pit and was even created by Pandora's Mirror of Truth, he is otherwise unaffiliated with any of the important affiliates in game and even becomes a recurring ally of him later on. In ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForWiiU Super Smash Bros. for Wii U]]'', he appears as an opponent in the Big-Bad Ensemble-based Co-Op Event Match '''Final Battle Team-Up''', which has him teaming up with Big Bads of several other series. In addition, when ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'' did a cross-promotional Splatfest with ''Ultimate'', the theme was "Heroes vs. Villains", which had Dark Pit on the "villains" side.

* While several anti-heroes in the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series have been paired up with the villains on a few occasions, most of them have had villainous motives in at least one of their appearances[[note]]Such as King Dedede in the original ''VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand'', Meta Knight in the ''Revenge of Meta Knight'' mode in ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar'', Wario in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand2SixGoldenCoins'', and Mewtwo in ''Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie''[[/note]]. However, there are some anti-heroes that hardly ever did anything villainous in their series that got paired up with the villains anyway.
** While Dark Pit in ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising'' initially started off as an opponent to Pit and was even created by Pandora's Mirror of Truth, he is otherwise unaffiliated with any of the important affiliates in game and even becomes a recurring ally of him later on. In ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForWiiU'', he appears as an opponent in the Big-Bad Ensemble-based Co-Op Event Match '''Final Battle Team-Up''', which has him teaming up with Big Bads of several other series. In addition, when ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'' did a cross-promotional Splatfest with ''Ultimate'', the theme was "Heroes vs. Villains", which had Dark Pit on the "villains" side.
** Then there's both of the playable solo Starter Pokémon[[note]]Discounting any of Pokémon Trainer's Pokémon[[/note]], Greninja and Incineroar, who weren't even antagonists on their own accords in their series[[note]]While they are both classified as Dark-types, which is called ''Evil-type'' in Japan, this itself is a massive misnomer, as it refers to the [[TheUnfettered ruthless]] and [[CombatPragmatist dishonorable nature]] of their combat style. Not to mention, Incineroar is based on a [[Main/{{Heel}} Heel wrestler]], meaning it's a "villain" in-act only[[/note]]. Despite this, [[http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/899/852/98e.jpg one of the Conquest polls]] for ''Smash 4'' classified Greninja as a bad guy and [[https://www.ssbwiki.com/images/b/b4/SSBU_challenge_image_054.png one challenge board image]][[note]]and, to a lesser extent, [[https://www.ssbwiki.com/images/0/0b/SSBU_Congratulations_Luigi.png Luigi's Congratulations image]] in Classic Mode[[/note]] in ''Ultimate'' groups Incineroar with some of the playable villains in the game.

** The comics shed some light on Wonder Woman's jerkassery, pointing out she only became more vicious as a result of being mentally abused... by Steve Trevor of all people, who is a war hero and honorary citizen of Themyscira in most adaptations, but a manipulative Nazi bastard in the Injustice continuity.
** The alternate Comicbook/{{Sinestro}} is also a good deal eviler than his mainstream counterpart, and with Wondy functions as a devilish voice in Superman's ear to push him further past the MoralEventHorizon. Perhaps most strikingly, his viewing of the Earth Lanterns as {{Worthy Opponent}}s is completely omitted from this version; he gruesomely kills both Kyle and John personally, then [[ManipulativeBastard manipulates]] Hal into murdering Guy.

** While Comicbook/TheJoker is known to be an AxCrazy MonsterClown, his Injustice version is responsible for ComicBook/{{Superman}}'s StartOfDarkness by nuking Metropolis and having him kill his wife Lois Lane. And the rationale for this? All ForTheEvulz, as he was tired of constantly losing to ComicBook/{{Batman}}, so he decided to go after an easier target and see if they would break. And most [[EvenEvilHasStandards villains such as Brainiac, Darkseid, Gorilla Grodd and Reverse-Flash agree]] that the psychotic jester went ''way too far'' this time.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967'', Ziggy the Vulture was an ally of Mowgli who assisted him in the final battle against Shere Khan. In ''Mickey Mouse 3: Dream Balloon'', Ziggy appears as the boss of the second stage.
* ''VideoGame/MiddleEarthShadowOfMordor'': In the original ''Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium'', Celebrimbor is an unambiguously good Elf who was the greatest of the smiths who helped craft the Rings of Power under Sauron's guidance, ''unaware'' that Sauron had also made the One Ring to ensnare everyone who wore the Rings of Power so he could control them. When he found out what Sauron was ''really'' up to, Celebrimbor hid the rings, and was ultimately tortured to death by Sauron because he refused to divulge the whereabouts of the three Elven rings. In the game, Celebrimbor helped craft the One Ring with Sauron, albeit under threat of violence, and when it was finished he ''stole'' it and used its power to try and take over Mordor himself, becoming a threat almost as dangerous as Sauron himself. He then assumes a wraith form and bonds with [[PlayerCharacter Talion]] to further his own goals for their mutual benefit.

* [[WesternAnimation/{{Dumbo}} The Ringmaster]] in ''VideoGame/DisneysVillainsRevenge''. Not only is he treated as the main villain of ''Dumbo'', he wasn't even the meanest character in that particular film.

** Long time series director Kazuma Kanako claimed in a ''Nocturne'' artbook that he never claimed for God to be the overarching antagonist of the franchise. There's likely some truth to this claim, as not only is God completely absent from ''Nocturne'', ''Strange Journey'', and ''IV'', the law alignment in these games is a lot more morally ambiguous, or at the very least no more morally abhorrent than Chaos. There's also a sense that the angels may or may not have taken their own initiative in committing the countless atrocities done by the law alignment in ''Strange Journey'' and ''IV'' and that they may or may not have God's explicit approval. Then ''IV Apocalypse'' brought YHVH back as the mustache twirling egomaniac he was depicted as in ''II'' and at that point the characterization of law as the bad guys was firmly cemented in the franchise.

* In the Game Boy version of ''VideoGame/TheJungleBook'', Kaa gets this treatment, compared to the book, as he did in [[WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967 the film]], but Baloo, an ally to Mowgli in both the film and the book, is also fought as a (admittedly less directly offensive) level boss.

* ''VideoGame/{{Teppen}}'':

* ''VideoGame/SpiderManPS4'' does this to Mr. Negative by simply making "Martin Li" his actual name. In the comics, Negative's "Martin Li" persona is a case of DeadPersonImpersonation, Negative having been a Triad member involved in human trafficking and the real Li one of their victims with Negative taking up the name after the real Li dies.

* In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiI'', Thor, one of the main heroes in Myth/NorseMythology, is a major villain. He is somewhat inexplicably an ally of [[GodIsEvil YHVH]] and desires the destruction of Japan.

* ''VideoGame/{{Teppen}}''’s eighth expansion ''A Dark Agenda'' gives this treatment to Ada Wong from ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' who is revealed to be the woman in the dark cloak who appeared in other characters’s stories. In the RE games Ada is a morally dubious character being a FemmeFataleSpy who has worked for Wesker and other sinister third parties, but on the other hand she has a DatingCatwoman relationship with Leon and has aided other good guys like Sherry and Jake in ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil6 RE6]]'' and even Claire during her [[AnotherSideAnotherStory non-canon B scenario]] in ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil2 RE2]]''. In ''Teppen'' any nicer traits Ada has are chucked out the window and she’s unambiguously evil, same as Wesker. She resurrects the [[VideoGame/MonsterHunter Wyvern king Rathalos]], makes [[Franchise/StreetFighter Ryu]] succumb to Satsui no Hado and manipulates poor [[VideoGame/MegaManX X]] by pretending to be Doctor Light.

** Anna Williams suffers from this. While she's certainly not heroic in the source material, she is shown multiple times to be nicer and somewhat more compassionate than her cold-blooded sister, Nina. In every animated feature and spinoff game, though, the dynamic is totally reversed, making Nina the more sympathetic AntiHero and turning Anna into the evil one.
** Kazuya Mishima barring the [[Anime/TekkenTheMotionPicture anime adaptation]] (where he gets the [[AdaptationalHeroism opposite]] of this) is even more psychotic and evil in most adaptations than he is in the games where’s a TragicVillain at heart. The worst case is in ''[[Film/{{Tekken}} Tekken 2010]]'' where Kazuya [[RapeAsDrama raped]] Jun Kazama getting her [[ChildByRape pregnant with Jin]] and kills her later and gloats to Jin about it. This is a complete 180 from the games where it’s strongly hinted that Kazuya genuinely has a soft spot for Jun even giving her a gentle BridalCarry in one ending in ''Tekken Tag Tournament 1'' despite being in his SuperPoweredEvilSide.

* ''VideoGame/DantesInferno'': In the original ''[[Literature/TheDivineComedy Inferno]]'', Dante's sins he has to repent of include forgetting his dead [[TheMuse muse]] in favor of living women, being arrogant about his poetry, and being afraid to walk through {{Hell}}. In the game, he's an adulterer who had sex with a slave girl while his wife fought off seducers back home, a mass murderer who kills hundreds of civilians, and a damned so self-righteous that he would let the Devil free of Hell before accepting that God's judgement. To the extent that the poem's Dante is also [[Creator/DanteAlighieri the author]], it doubles as a pretty extreme example of HistoricalVillainUpgrade.

** Caster [[Theatre/Faust Mephistopheles]] is so gleefully vile and treacherous that he makes the original look like a NobleDemon in comparison.

** Shockingly BigBad Sephiroth gets this. In the original game he’s still the antagonist but has a few sympathetic traits being a scientific Guinea pig infused with [[EldritchAbomination JENOVA]] cells by his MadScientist dad [[spoiler:Hojo]]. Upon learning about his birth Sephiroth has a SanitySlippage and burns down Nibelheim, in all all he’s quite a TragicMonster. In the remake Sephiroth loses a lot of sympathy points when he [[KickTheDog gloats]] to Cloud, that he personally killed his mother telling him sadistically about how she begged him to spare her son and how her flesh was “yielding to cold steel” none of which Sephiroth did in the original. He also repeatedly tells Cloud how [[HopeCrusher worthless his heroics are]] and how he should [[WeCanRuleTogether join him]] in [[OmnicidalManiac destroying the world]]. This treatment makes Sephiroth closer to a CardCarryingVillain like [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI Kefka Palazzo]] than his more affable original version.

** While [[Literature/Frankenstein Victor Frankenstein]] was never the nicest guy, as well as egotistical with self-pitying tendencies, he did care deeply for his family in the original story and refused to construct a mate for his creature on the grounds that they might make a race that would threaten humanity. That, and acknowledging that the creature and his mate aren't guaranteed to get along. The Victor Frankenstein ''here'' [[spoiler: willingly constructs another creature to torment his creation.]] The possible motive of doing this because [[spoiler: Fran killed his family out of sheer spite]] is not even ''mentioned.''