History FanPreferredCouple / VideoGames

* VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeonGatesToInfinity'' has Dunsparce/Virizion. Dunsparce is set up as a DoggedNiceGuy at first, and they two get a lot of ShipTease as the game progresses, until [[spoiler:'''Emolga'''/Virizion suddenly becomes the OfficialCouple during the final dungeon, with very little foreshadowing]]. Naturally Dunsparce fans weren't exactly happy with that development...

* "VideoGame/NoStraightRoads":
DJSS/Neon J tends to be the most popular M/M ship while Mayday/Zuke tends to be the most popular M/F written for on A03 in the No Straight Roads category of the site.

** In the same vein, the female main character and [[HeWhoFightsMonsters Bishop]] is also a planned but cut romance option that fans seems to prefer over [[KnightInShiningArmor Casavir]], partially due to the latter reminding them of the unpopular Anomen, and partially because the former has heaps of BelligerentSexualTension with the female protagonist and, like Neeshka, feels more "complete" than the actual complete romance. Fans like them so much they made a mod that allows a "proper" romance, [[spoiler:complete with an epilogue in ''Mask of the Betrayer'']].
* "VideoGame/{{NoStraightRoads}}": DJSS/Neon J tends to be the most popular M/M ship while Mayday/Zuke tends to be the most popular M/F written for on A03 in the No Straight Roads category of the site

* "VideoGame/NoStraightRoads": DJSS/Neon J tends to be the most popular M/M ship while Mayday/Zuke tends to be the most popular M/F written for on A03 in the No Straight Roads category of the site

* "VideoGame/NoStraightRoads'': DJSS/Neon J tends to be the most popular M/M ship while Mayday/Zuke tends to be the most popular M/F written for on A03 in the No Straight Roads category of the site

VideoGame/NoStraightRoads'': DJSS/Neon J tends to be the most popular M/M ship while Mayday/Zuke tends to be the most popular M/F written for on A03 in the No Straight Roads category of the site

''VideoGame/NoStraightRoads'': DJSS/Neon J is the most popular M/M ship while Mayday/Zuke is the most popular M/F written for on A03 in the No Straight Roads category of the website

* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'': Unlike the other Ouroboros pairs, [[OfficialCouple Noah and Mio]] and [[PlatonicLifePartners Lanz and Sena]], [[ImpliedLoveInterest it’s a bit up in the air as to whether or not Eunie and Taion are romantically interested in each other]], even though there are implications. However, most fans prefer to see Eunie with Ashera. They have a few LesYay moments, and [[DeadpanSnarker their]] [[BloodKnight personalities]] [[VitriolicBestBuds clash perfectly with each other]]. The dynamic between Eunie and Ashera is quite popular, and many want to see them as an OfficialCouple.

** Jaina/Sylvanas is more popular than the canon Jaina/Kalecgos, due to their similarities as characters and shared traumatic experiences. On [=AO3=], Jaina/Sylvanas is the most written about pairing for both characters.

* ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'': Jaina and everyone's favorite orc, Thrall, is another popular ship. Such that [[WordOfGod Chris Metzen]] ''mercilessly'' sank with the novel having Thrall become mates with the Maghari Shamanka Aggra [[LastMinuteHookup seemingly out of nowhere]] then letting Jaina get with Kalecgos in ''[=MoP=]''. Baring ''that'', stated with extreme confidence [[ShipSinking that the Thrall/Jaina pairing will never happen]] during the Q&A at Blizzcon 2010. It didn't really help that designers had previously {{lampshade|Hanging}}d the Thrall/Jaina pairing in an EasterEgg.
** The designers poked fun (or just rubbed salt in the wound, depending on your view) at the ShipSinking during Thrall and Aggra's in game wedding. After the wedding concludes, if you stick around long enough, you can catch Jaina openly sobbing.

* ''[[VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}} Onmyōji]]'': Even though Seimei is quite obviously [[ShipTease Ship Teased]] with Yaobikuni in canon, the vast majority of fans like to pair him with Hiromasa, reason being that [[HistoricalDomainCharacter their]] corresponding historical figures are frequently portrayed as having a close relationship in other works.

** ''VideoGame/Persona3'':
*** On [=AO3=] the pairing between Shinjiro and Akihiko is the most popular. This is likely due to them being childhood friends who care a lot about each other.
*** If Mitsuru ends up paired with someone in a fic she is most frequently paired up with either [[HeterosexualLifePartners Yukari]] or [[PlatonicLifePartners Akihiko]]. This is likely because Mitsuru and Akihiko are shown to be close friends who knew each other for a long time and care a lot about each other. Similarly, by the end of game Mitsuru ends up developing an equally close friendship with Yukari.
*** If Yukari is not paired up with Mitsuru she is usually paired up with the Male Protagonist. It helps that her arcana is the ''Lovers'' arcana and that earlier in the development, before the introduction of the Social Links, Atlus strongly considered making Yukari the canon love interest for the protagonist.

*** If Mitsuru ends up paired with someone in a fic she is most frequently paired up with either [[HeterosexualLifePartners Yukari]] or [[PlatonicLifePartners Akihiko]]. This is likely because Mitsuru and Akihiko are shown to be close friends who knew each other for a long time and care a lot about each other. Similarly, by the end of game Mitsuru ends up an equally close friendship with Yukari.

* ''[[Franchise/Persona]]'':

* ''Franchise/Persona'':

* ''VideoGame/Persona4'': At least on [=AO3=], pairing the protagonist with [[HeterosexualLifePartners Yosuke]] is considerably more popular than any of his actual romance options. It helps that Yosuke actually was meant to be a romance option before the route got [[DummiedOut cut]] fairly late in development.
* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'':
** The most popular pairing outside of those involving the protagonist by a large margin is Ryuji and Ann. This is helped by both characters being shown to be quite close to each other, as well as [[{{Creator/ErikaHarlacher}} Ann's English voice actor]] personally liking the ship. The pairing was popular enough to start a rumour shortly after the game released in Japan that Ryuji would hook up with Ann if the player didn't romance her.
** Even though the game lacks any GayOption for the protagonist, that hasn't stopped [[FoeYayShipping Joker/Akechi]] from enjoying a strong following within the fandom, especially in Japan, to a point where fans joke about it being the game's OfficialCouple. This is helped by Akechi being AmbiguouslyGay and as a result, his Confidant is dripping with subtext between the two. The player even gets an option to greet Akechi with the line "Honey, I'm home." when returning to Leblanc at one point[[labelnote:Note]]In the original Japanese version, Akechi greets the protagonist with "おかえり" ("okaeri"), short for "お帰りなさい" ("okaerinasai"), which is mostly used by someone to greet another to a place they both regard as "home" or a "home base". Likewise, the "Honey, I'm home." line is instead "I'm home"[[/labelnote]], with Akechi [[LikeAnOldMarriedCouple chastising the protagonist for coming home late]] if the player chooses it. The ship has become even more popular with the release of ''[[UpdatedRerelease Royal]]'', where [[spoiler: Akechi was brought back from his UncertainDoom by Maruki because Joker's greatest desire was to start fresh with him]].
** Joker/Ryuji is also extremely popular on [=AO3=], despite him getting less in-universe subtext than Akechi or [[AmbiguouslyBi Yusuke]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}}'': Played with in regards to Demitri/Morrigan. While it's teased quite a bit in the games, and actually ends up being canon for both the [[Anime/NightWarriorsDarkstalkersRevenge OVA]] and manga (possibly as a result of fans latching onto the ship), many other fans prefer the [[HoYay Les Yay]] vibes Morrigan has towards her "[[SplitAtBirth younger]] [[SoulJar sister]]" Lilith or even pair her up with [[DarkMessiah Jedah]]--the former being [[CoolBigSis a]] [[{{Twincest}} prominent]] [[ScrewYourself theme]] in their interactions ever since Lilith's debut and the latter ship seeing gaining some additional tractional due to the strange amount of concern Morrigan shows Jedah in ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcomInfinite''. Demitri/Morrigan still appears to be the more popular ship, but the others have been steadily growing in popularity. Morrigan being [[SuccubiAndIncubi a succubus]] with ExtremeOmniSexual tendencies likely accounts for this.

* ''VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}}'': Played with in regards to Demitri/Morrigan. While it's teased quite a bit in the games, and actually ends up being canon for both the [[Anime/NightWarriorsDarkstalkersRevenge OVA]] and manga (possibly as a result of fans latching onto the ship), many other fans prefer the [[HoYay Les Yay]] vibes Morrigan has towards her "[[SplitAtBirth younger]] [[SoulJar sister]]" Lilith or even pair her up with [[DarkMessiah Jedah]]--the former being [[CoolBigSis a]] [[{{Twincest}} prominent]] [[ScrewYourself theme]] in their interactions ever since Lilith's debut and the latter ship seeing gaining some additional tractional due to the strange amount of concern Morrigan shows Jedah in ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcomInfinite''. Demitri/Morrigan still appears to be the more popular ship, but the others have been steadily growing in popularity. Morrigan being [[SuccubiAndIncubi a succubus]] with AnythingThatMoves tendencies likely accounts for this.

** The most popular pairing outside of those involving the protagonist by a large margin is Ryuji and Ann. This is helped by both of them having a lot of ShipTease moments in the game, as well as [[{{Creator/ErikaHarlacher}} Ann's English voice actor]] personally liking the ship. The pairing was popular enough to start a rumour shortly after the game released in Japan that Ryuji would hook up with Ann if the player didn't romance her.

** For a {{Squick}}-tastic one, there was a time where fans liked pairing Lu Xun with either of the Qiao sisters, regardless of the fact that Lu Xun would go on to marry Da Qiao's daughter historically, thus making it look like Lu Xun has an OedipusComplex-type infatuation with either his mother-in-law or aunt-in-law/ [[TokenMinorityCouple Given they look like the youngest bunch in the Wu group at that time...]]

** Among old-school parts of the ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade'' fandom, [[LadyAndKnight Melady/Guinivere and Perceval/Elffin]] are quite popular, and tend to show up together. Both Melady and Perceval are [[LadyAndKnight heavily devoted to their noble,]] and many of their supports deal with their relationship and their HurtingHero nature, and Perceval adds the dynamic that his noble is in disguise and has to play around it. The characters are also extremely popular in their own right due to their [[GameBreaker great power]] and good designs. Melady cannot support Guinivere (as Guinivere can't be deployed in the campaign) and has a boyfriend, but as said boyfriend [[MurderTheHypotenuse dies]], it doesn't much impact [[SecondLove the ship]]'s popularity.

* ''VideoGame/Persona4'': At least on [=AO3=], pairing the protagonist with [[HeterosexualLifePartners Yosuke]] is considerably more popular than any of his actual romance options. It helps that Yosuke actually was meant to be a romance option before the route got cut fairly late in development.

* Invoked, discussed, and deconstructed InUniverse in ''[[https://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=37091 Senpai, Please Look At Me!]]'' In spite of the female protagonist canonically crushing on the titular [[SenpaiKohai Senpai]], odds are that the player will prefer her best friend James instead due to him having a more well-defined personality, an [[NoNameGiven actual name]], a relationship with the protagonist that feels more meaningful than just a schoolgirl infatuation, and endings that are ''much'' easier to get than Senpai's. It turns out that Senpai himself [[spoiler: [[MediumAwareness is fully aware of this]] -- if you try getting one of James's endings after getting Senpai's best ending, he [[HostileShowTakeover erases James from the game so that he's the sole available love interest]] and [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou repeatedly crashes the game]] in increasingly desperate attempts to make his interactions with the protagonist feel more organic and interesting. After his actions almost completely destroy the game, he breaks down and admits that he knows he's a dull love interest compared to James, with even the ''beta testers'' preferring James to him, and wanted to change that.]]

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', [[StraightManAndWiseGuy Link and Midna]] are the most popular pairing, and achieved special longevity in part because of the [[AbortedDeclarationofLove odd line Midna gives before she leaves]] in the English version. The [[Manga/TheLegendOfZeldaAkiraHimekawa official manga adaptation]] a decade later would even go on to heavily push the pairing throughout its run, ending with [[spoiler:Midna and Link sharing a tearful LastKiss farewell]]. Despite this, the game itself is one of the few in the franchise where Link is already [[ImpliedLoveInterest all but stated]] to have a love interest (his [[PatientChildhoodLoveInterest childhood friend Ilia]]).

*** Annette and Mercedes are commonly shipped together due to their PseudoRomanticFriendship status in game and the fact that their ending implies that they settle down together. Their A support in JPN reading like an S-support definitely adds fuel to the fire.

* ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeonGatesToInfinity'' has Dunsparce/Virizion. Dunsparce is set up as a DoggedNiceGuy at first, and they two get a lot of ShipTease as the game progresses, until [[spoiler:'''Emolga'''/Virizion suddenly becomes the OfficialCouple during the final dungeon, with very little foreshadowing]]. Naturally Dunsparce fans weren't exactly happy with that development...