History RetiredBadass / VideoGames

** Deconstructed in ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite''. Alder gets called out of retirement to put a stop to N's ascent to power, but he's badly out of practice, and N easily defeats him. Reconstructed post-game when Alder starts training again and becomes a BonusBoss, a position he keeps in [[VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2 the sequels]].

* Julius Belmont in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow''. He's fifty-five years old in ''Aria'' and has been out of practice for thirty-six years, but the minute Dracula's back in the castle? So is Julius.

* Brother Florian from ''VideoGame/Pentiment'' served as a mercenary in Poland, where he lost his eyes but [[spoiler: gained experience on wounds (plus sexually transmitted diseases) during his inspection of Lorez's corpse to prove Piero's innocence]].

* Bain in ''VideoGame/PAYDAYTheHeist'' used to do heists back in his day. Now he serves as the team's eyes and ears during heists when it comes to police activity.

* ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' has Cap'n Cuttlefish, who fought in the Great Turf War decades ago.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'':
** In the first game, Solid Snake had retired to the Alaskan wilderness to try to get away from his past before being forced back into service. Technically, he had semi-retired prior to the beginning of ''Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake'', as well. His retirement is usually explained as disillusionment after the ''many'' revelations of the first and second games, and it was usually with the blessing of his parent agency (FOXHOUND)... until they needed him again. In ''Metal Gear Solid'', he was understandably upset to be pulled out of retirement, which he entered at only about twenty-seven or twenty-eight.
** There's also Col. Roy Campbell, who isn't a Colonel anymore during the first VideoGame/MetalGearSolid, but Snake continues to respect him and refer to him as such despite Campbell's objections.
** This can also be said of everyone who was part of the Cobra Unit in WWII. No one knows what happened to them after the war, (With the exception of The Fury, who got crisped in space.) but The Boss brings them all back together.

* Laike from ''VideoGame/LunarTheSilverStar Lunar'' is still an adventurer despite being retired from heroism. He just does it for kicks.
* In the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series, Yen Sid used to be a Keyblade master on par with Eraqus and Xehanort. But he retired and passed his knowledge onto Mickey, which [[MemeticBadass turned out well.]]
* ''Franchise/FireEmblem'':
** Garcia from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones'' retired from Renais's army when his wife died. He was talked into coming out of retirement by his son Ross after helping Eirika's army ward off bandits who were attacking their village.
** Jagen retires from the battlefield in between ''VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight'' and ''VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem'', becoming the hero's non-playable strategist. At the end of the saga, he fully retires from the army.
** After being one of the protagonists of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'', Eliwood was forced to retire from the battlefield before ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade'' due to his poor health, and he's not even forty yet. In the bonus trial maps, Eliwood is playable as a Paladin, with stats that suggest he could still be a tough nut if it wasn't for his chronic illness.
** Jeralt from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' is a former captain of the Knights of Seiros who had left the church two decades prior to the start of the game to raise his son/daughter (the PlayerCharacter) as a mercenary. The archbishop calls him out of retirement to aid the protagonist in their new role as a teacher at the church's local MilitaryAcademy. The few missions where he appears as an allied NPC show that he hasn't lost much of his fighting skill.
* Citan from ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'': When you first meet him, he is just a simple country doctor with a hot wife and precocious daughter. Then it turns out that he [[spoiler:was one of Solaris's elite Elements and]] is one of the most powerful playable characters. Especially on disc 2, where he's retrieved his sword. As a bare-handed fighter, he was already tough. As a [[IaijutsuPractitioner master of iaijutsu]], he's a virtual one-man army.
* Muramasa from the Xbox remake of ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden'', an elderly shopkeeper, shows himself in the second game to be quite the fighter.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
** [[TrueFinalBoss Red]] in ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver''/''Crystal'' and their remakes is one; the previous PlayerCharacter and champion, despite being only 14 years old, he waits at the top of Mt. Silver, a perpetually snowy mountain and the last area of the game, and has one of the most powerful Pokemon teams in the history of the series, and the highest-level Pokemon that any NPC trainer has had outside of battle facilities (his Pikachu); something that is being actively enforced, as shown when his Pikachu's level was bumped up in the remakes because [[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Barry]]'s starter briefly overtook his Pikachu in levels. In ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'', now an adult, it seems he has returned to civilization and taking open challengers again as one of the bosses of the Battle Tree post-game facility, alongside his old friend turned rival turned friend again [[ReformedBully Blue]].
** Steven Stone, the League Champion of ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'', steps down from his position in ''Emerald'', letting Wallace take his position instead, while Wallace's mentor Juan takes over things as the Sootopolis Gym Leader. You have the option of hunting down Steven in Meteor Falls and challenging him to battle; his Pokemon are even stronger than his team as Champion. The remakes make him a champion again.
** Professor Oak is implied to have been one. He's a Pokémon Professor now but he was Agatha's [[TheRival rival]] in the past. Agatha ultimately became the more powerful of the two and ended up in the Elite 4.
** Deconstructed in ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite''. Alder gets called out of retirement to put a stop to N's ascent to power, but he's badly out of practice, and N easily defeats him. Reconstructed post-game when Alder starts training again and becomes a BonusBoss, a position he keeps in [[VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2 the sequels]].

* Bill from ''VideoGame/Left4Dead''. A former (so technically retired) Green Beret who served two tours in Vietnam.

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'':
** Dr. Mordin Solus, an old [[note]] Technically, he is in his early thirties, but given the salarian short life span it makes him a seasoned adult[[/note]] salarian doctor who set up a free clinic in the slums of a space-borne WretchedHive so he could [[TheAtoner spent his final years helping people]]. He is also a former black-ops science specialist who's very handy with a submachine gun, casually murders mercenaries who try to shake his clinic down and hangs their corpses outside as a warning, and willingly enlists on a suicide mission to stop the Collectors and their Reaper masters.
** A more minor character, a krogan known only as "the Patriarch", can be found serving as TheDragon to the local crime boss in Afterlife, on Omega. Once upon a time, it was ''he'' who ran the planet, until a young asari named Aria came along and overthrew him, only leaving him alive as a symbol of what she was capable of. It's possible through a sidequest to bring him indirectly out of retirement; Aria wants him to hide from some assassins, but he can be persuaded to allow Shepard to kill them in his name, regaining some of his badass status.
* Ford Cruller from ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'' is retired, due mainly to [[spoiler:a past battle shattering his mind into several personalities]]. This problem is remedied by the presence of psitanium, leading to [[spoiler:a rather dramatic entrance during Sasha and Milla's battle with Oleander, where he ties a block of psitanium on his back and [[BigDamnHeroes bursts through the damn ceiling]]]].
* ''VideoGame/ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura'':
** Late game, you run into [[spoiler: the elven mage Nasrudin, chilling on an uncharted island, after being thought dead for lord knows how many years. What's particularly shocking, however, is that the entire plot up until this point has led you to believe that you're the living one, the reincarnation of Nasrudin.]].
** William Thorndop, the firearms master, is a former highwayman who gave up his violent profession and decided to spend the rest of his life as an Order of Halcyon monk.
* In ''VideoGame/FarCry2'' Hakim and Iosip (Albanian) are retired from their respective nation's armies, but they both still kick ass. And in the first game, you're a retired special forces type (ex-CIA?) until the bad guys blow up your boat. That was a mistake.
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' has several examples. Most notably Tirion Fordring, who players first meet as a humble small-holder in the Eastern Plaguelands. After [[spoiler:the death of his son Taelan]] he reveals himself as a powerful Paladin and goes on to play a major role in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion.
** His WorthyOpponent Eitrigg is a [[DefectorFromDecadence retired]] orc warrior who ran into him by chance. After [[spoiler:some mutual life-saving]], he rejoins the Horde as an advisor to help them learn the pre-corruption ways.

* Landon Ricketts in ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'', a former American Wild West gunslinger who retired to Mexico, where he serves as an unofficial lawman when the need arises but spends most of his time relaxing and playing poker.
* Admiral Bobbery in ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor''. A tough sailor who sailed the world and such when younger, he comes straight out of retirement after Mario persuades him that they need a captain for the voyage to Keelhaul Key, then joins his party for the rest of the game slightly later.
* [[BadassPreacher "Reverend"]] Ray [=McCall=] in the first ''VideoGame/CallOfJuarez''. A former gunslinger, he slaughtered his way across the West before pulling a HeelFaithTurn [[spoiler: after murdering his preacher brother William]]. Then his [[spoiler: other]] brother is killed, he thinks his half-Mexican nephew is the culprit, and he immediately digs up his old longcoat and revolvers for another blood bath.
* ''VideoGame/AllPointsBulletin'': Chiro, a former gangbanger who went legit and opened a tattoo parlor.

* In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedRevelations'', Ezio leaves the Brotherhood to settle down with Sofia at the end of the game. ''[[WesternAnimation/AssassinsCreedEmbers Embers]]'' picks up more than a decade after this and he's still able to keep up with [[ActionGirl Shao Jun]]. She's ''46 years'' Ezio's junior, too.

* Kliff Undersn from ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'' was a retired commander of the Holy Order of Sacred Knights before entering the tournament.
* [[TheGoodKing Lord Nasher Alagondar]], the BigGood of the ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'' series, is a former adventurer.
* Bain in ''VideoGame/PAYDAYTheHeist'' used to do heists back in his day. Now he serves as the team's eyes and ears during heists when it comes to police activity.
* By ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsII'', Frank Woods is this. Well into his 90s, he is living in seclusion due to the [[spoiler:large amount of secret information he's been privvy to from his combat days]]. However, he does share his experience with the son of the previous game's protagonist, describing the missions he worked on with Alex Mason.

* The Getter Team in ''VideoGame/ShinSuperRobotWars''. They act as mentors for the protagonists' group and join up with Shin Getter late in the game.
* In ''VideoGame/SwordOfTheStars: The Pit'' the Marine character is technically an ex-Marine, a former [=SolForce=] man retired to the planet the game's set on.
* The title character in ''Granny Strikes Back'' is a retired special agent. Who shoots at [[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext alien-built animated snowmen trying to steal her raspberry jam]].
* The President in ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}} 2'' was once a space captain but left it behind to start up Hocotate Freight. [[spoiler:He comes out of retirement when Louie gets left behind]].
* ''VideoGame/DragonsCrown'' has Morgan Lisley, the game's shopkeeper, equipment repairer, and [[UnknownItemIdentification unknown item identifier]] all in one, is revealed in one of the Treasure Art to be [[spoiler:a legendary genius runic mage who is one of the few who mastered {{Golem}} Magic, with the notes stating she was able to control several Golems at once and play with them like dolls even back when she was just a ChildMage more than a century ago]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' has Cap'n Cuttlefish, who fought in the Great Turf War decades ago.
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'':
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'':
*** [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld 4000 year-old]] reclusive wizard Divayth Fyr is one. He was formerly a member of [[TheClan Great House]] [[EvilSorcerer Telvanni]] and the [[TheMagocracy Psijic Order]], but left both to run his "Corprusarium", a safe haven for those afflicted with the [[BodyHorror Corprus Disease]].
*** Yagrum Bagarn, [[spoiler:[[TheLastOfHisKind the last living]] [[OurDwarvesAreDifferent Dwemer]]]], is one of the residents of Fyr's Corprusarium and also fits the trope. He was a [[UltimateBlacksmith Master Crafter]] in service to Lord Kagrenac who spent time [[DimensionalTraveler traveling to "outer realms"]]. When he returned to find his people gone, he traveled all across Tamriel searching for any other surviving [[spoiler:Dwemer]]. He caught the Corprus Disease and was forcibly retired. He is still in possession of a full set of Dwemer armor, a stash of Dwemer coins, and the legendary hammer Volendrung.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'': Delphine, a former member of [[AncientOrderOfProtectors the Blades]], was forced into retirement and hiding by the terms in the [[WonTheWarLostThePeace White-Gold Concordat]] which dissolved and outlawed the Blades. Now in her mid-50s, she is still a highly capable warrior and the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Thalmor]] dossier on her advises the use of "[[TheresNoKillLikeOverkill overwhelming force]]" when engaging her. [[spoiler:Midway through the main quest, she'll come out of retirement to take over as the Grandmaster of the reformed Blades]].

* Marcus Fenix by the time of ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar 4''. While everyone else who survived the first three games now have other jobs, Marcus is a reclusive hermit living in the vast estate of his deceased wife's family, fixing whatever needs fixing and growing tomatoes in between daily visits to her grave, while his son JD gets up to no good with the Outsiders, living at odds with the COG. When JD and his companions come seeking his help, bringing trouble with them, he reveals his vast stash of COG armor and weapons and suits right back up. By the next game, he is officially (and perhaps forcibly) un-retired and back kicking ass for the COG.
* Half of the main cast of ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'', depending on how you define "retired". Following the fall of Overwatch, most of its original members went off doing vigilante and mercenary work - even (and especially, it seems) if they were believed dead before or shortly after the fall. Commander Jack Morrison, the head of Overwatch, and Ana Amari, took up the mantels of Soldier: 76 and Shrike, respectively, and are currently somewhere in Egypt. Reinhardt Wilhelm and his squire Brigitte Lindholm traveled across Europe fighting injustice where they found it, while Brigitte's father, Torbjörn, attempted to atone for his role in the First Omnic Crisis. Jesse [=McCree=] and Lena Oxton also (separately) became vigilantes, while Angela Ziegler focused her efforts on helping others. Genji Shimada, meanwhile, retired to a Nepalese Omnic monastery to learn how to accept his cyborg body.
* King Graham in ''Videogame/KingsQuest2015'' is a bedridden old man [[spoiler:dying of magical poison]] in the present day. The premise of the game is that he is retelling the stories of his youthful adventures to his granddaughter Gwendolyn. All the while begging his MagicMirror to show him one last adventure. [[spoiler:Ultimately, the mirror shows him no new adventures.]]

* Deconstructed with Cassius Bright in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky''. Considered a OneManArmy and in-universe MemeticBadass, he leaves the army due to [[ILetGwenStacyDie grief over his wife's death]]. The void he leaves behind is considerable, and several higher-ups in the army believe the country is ''defenceless'' without him. This leads to [[spoiler: his protege staging a coup and trying to uncover an ancient superweapon]]. Cassius is eventually forced out of retirement to clear up this mess.
* Giliath Osborne in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel'' was said to be a former general in the Erebonian army before he became the high chancellor of the empire and retired from his military duties. And if a person is a significant character in the ''VideoGame/TrailsSeries'', then chances are that the person can kick a lot of ass. [[spoiler:He finally proves his worth in ''Cold Steel IV'' and it turns out that he's a OneManArmy who could have soloed most of the cast and come out on top.]]
* Nathan Drake and Victor Sullivan in ''VideoGame/Uncharted4AThiefsEnd'' when they help Samuel Drake get the Treasure or stop Nadine and Rafe. Nate is technically retired for a short period and now working as a Salvage diver and calls back to adventure by his older brother Sam. and Nate lies to her wife, and go treasure hunting. Until they encounter by telling the truth at Madagascar. Victor is a Retired marine officer who still knows how to fly a plane too.
* ''{{VideoGame/Grow}} Comeback'' start with a hero who defeats the monster with no problem, once he defeat the last monster time will pass and he will lose his hair and [[FormerlyFit become fat]], then a new monster will appear and you need to help him become badass again so he can beat it.
* Files found in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil7Biohazard'' tell you that Jack Baker is a former Marine. Despite this, he never uses any of the guns or ammunition littered around the house. One imagines it's a combination of being too mentally unstable to have the patience to use them properly, as well as just having too good a time throwing his superhuman strength around to bother. [[spoiler:His brother and the protagonist of the ''End of Zoe'' DLC, [[HeroOfAnotherStory Joe Baker]], is also retired military. He's spent his time since hunting gators at the edge of the Baker family property and, when Eveline and her monsters arrive, take to fighting them with his bare fists.]]
* Dingodile in ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot4ItsAboutTime'' is revealed to have [[HeelFaceTurn reformed]] and retired to run his own diner. He gets dragged into the events of the game by accident and shows that he still can fight just as well as he used to, only with an air cannon rather than his trademark flamethrower.
* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'':
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestII'': The messenger didn't go to Midenhall to get the prince to help. He wanted THE KING. Unfortunately, the two kingdoms have probably been out of touch for a while, as Midenhall's king notes that he's a bit too old to be adventuring about. Have at it, my boy.
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX'': Greygnarl chased the Gittish Empire out of Upover 300 years ago, but in the ensuing peace, his powers have deteriorated somewhat.

* ''Franchise/{{Tekken}}'': Kunimitsu eventually retired from fighting after suffering humiliation due to failing to steal Michelle's pendant and Yoshi's sword. She eventually married a fellow shinobi and gave birth to a daughter who would eventually surpass her and take up her title

* Citan from ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'': When you first meet him, he is just a simple country doctor with a hot wife and precocious daughter. Then it turns out that he [[spoiler:was one of Solaris's elite Elements and]] is one of the most powerful playable characters. Especially on disc 2, where he's retrieved his sword. As a bare-handed fighter he was already tough. As a [[IaijutsuPractitioner master of iaijutsu]], he's a virtual one-man army.

** Dr. Mordin Solus, an old [[note]] Technically, he is in his early thirties, but given the salarian short life span it makes him a seasoned adult[[/note]] salarian doctor who set up a free clinic in the slums of a space-borne WretchedHive so he could [[TheAtoner spent his final years helping people]]. He is also a former black ops science specialist who's very handy with a submachine gun, casually murders mercenaries who try to shake his clinic down and hangs their corpses outside as a warning, and willingly enlists on a suicide mission to stop the Collectors and their Reaper masters.

** Late game, you run into [[spoiler: the elven mage Nasrudin, chilling on an uncharted island, after being thought dead for lord knows how many years. What's particularly shocking, however, is that the entire plot up until this point has lead you to believe that you're the living one, the reincarnation of Nasrudin.]].
** William Thorndop, the firearms master, is a former highwayman who gave up his violent profession and decided to spent the rest of his life as an Order of Halcyon monk.

* Julius Belmont in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow''. He's fifty-five years old in ''Aria'', and has been out of practice for thirty-six years, but the minute Dracula's back in the castle? So is Julius.
* Landon Ricketts in ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'', a former American Wild West gunslinger who retired to Mexico, where he serves as an unofficial lawman when the need arises, but spends most of his time relaxing and playing poker.
* Admiral Bobbery in ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor''. A tough sailor who sailed the world and such when younger, he comes straight out retirement after Mario persuades him that they need a captain for the voyage to Keelhaul Key, then joins his party for the rest of the game slightly later.

** The Jedi Exile in the second game, a General in Revan's army during the Mandalorian Wars, who after [[spoiler: detonating the super-weapon that devastated Malachor V]] and becoming severed from the Force, willingly accepted banishment from the Jedi Order and spent ten years wandering the Outer Rim. Part of their return to action is to discover why they've regained their Force abilities, find out who is trying to kill them and prevent a HumanoidAbomination from leaving planets devoid of life.

* Marcus Fenix by the time of ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar 4''. While everyone else who survived the first three games now have other jobs, Marcus is a reclusive hermit living in the vast estate of his deceased wife's family, fixing whatever needs fixing and growing tomatoes in between daily visits to her grave, while his son JD gets up to no good with the Outsiders, living at odds with the COG. When JD and his companions come seeking his help, bringing trouble with them, he reveals his vast stash of COG armor and weapons and suits right back up. By the next game he is officially (and perhaps forcibly) un-retired and back kicking ass for the COG.
* Half of the main cast of ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'', depending on how you define "retired". Following the fall of Overwatch, most of its original members went off doing vigilante and mercenary work - even (and especially, it seems) if they were believed dead before or shortly after the fall. Commander Jack Morrison, the head of Overwatch, and Ana Amari, took up the mantels of Soldier: 76 and Shrike, respectively, and are currently somewhere in Egypt. Reinhardt Wilhelm and his squire Brigitte Lindholm traveled across Europe fighting injustice where they found it, while Brigitte's father, Torbjörn, attempted to atone for his role in the First Omnic Crisis. Jesse [=McCree=] and Lena Oxton also (seperately) became vigilantes, while Angela Ziegler focused her efforts on helping others. Genji Shimada, meanwhile, retired to a Nepalese Omnic monastery to learn how to accept his cyborg body.

* ''{{VideoGame/Grow}} Comeback'' start with a hero who defeat monster with no problem, once he deafeat the last monster time will pass and he will lose his hair and [[FormerlyFit become fat]], then a new monster will appear and you need to help him become badass again so he can beat it.

* Impa in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' is implied to have been much mightier in her youth compared to her feeble appearance now. True to form, if Link swings a weapon at her she will do a NonchalantDodge and call him a fool instead of cowering like most [=NPC=]s.