History ShipToShipCombat / VideoGames

*** The ''FFVII'' shipping wars are so volatile that they've actually gotten several forums either locked or shut down, Wiki/TVTropes included! [[note]]The main work page, Characters/FinalFantasyVIIPlayableCharacters, and YMMV.FinalFantasyVII are locked due to rampant Administrivia/{{Edit War}}s.[[/note]]

*** And that's not even mentioning the HoYay side of things between those who ship Joker with [[AmbiguouslyBi Yusuke]], [[HeterosexualLifePartners Ryuji]], or [[FoeYayShipping Akechi]], with the two former usually ganging up on the latter due to it being [[FanPreferredCouple one of Joker's most popular ships]], Akechi being a victim of AmericansHateTingle in the Western fandom, and [[spoiler:Akechi's canon affection towards the protagonist which gets turned UpToEleven in the English version]]. Fans of either of these pairings usually end up in arguments with fans who pair Joker with one of the girls (usually Makoto or Futaba) and/or [[PairTheSpares pair the party members together]], although this is somewhat downplayed in terms of Ryuji/Ann vs. Joker/Ryuji.

** The "best girl" and "best boy" disputes are so prevalent and so bitter among the ''Persona'' fandom that a growing subset of fans deliberately ''refuses'' to romance party members and other plot-important [=NPCs=] in order to avoid getting dragged into the above debates [[note]]although a few ships in this category ''don't'' seem to come under heavy fire, like [=FeMC=]/Ryoji in ''[=P3P=]'' and Yu/Margaret in ''P4''[[/note]], instead focusing on "lesser" characters to pursue a relationship with. Though none of these alternatives have reached FanPreferredCouple status (with the possible exception of the third game's Velvet Siblings, [[EnsembleDarkhorse Elizabeth especially]]), some candidates, such as [[{{Meganekko}} Chi]][[ShrinkingViolet hiro]] in ''Persona 3'' and [[{{Meido}} Kawa]][[TeacherStudentRomance kami]] in ''Persona 5'', have proven popular choices in their own right.

* ''VideoGame/YandereSimulator'' has Budo/Ayano vs. Budo/Shin. One blogger was on team Budo/Shin and didn't want to do requests that involved Budo/Ayano. This led to haters sending her massive amounts of hate, and some even went so far as to send her pictures of dead animals. Considering that this spawned from a game where you kill people for your love interest's affection, it wasn't too out of place in a fandom like this.

%%* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' can get pretty bad in this regard, although it's mostly civil.
* In what is probably the most widespread example of this trope, the ''Franchise/{{Touhou|Project}}'' fanbase is, ostensibly, nothing but a GIGANTIC NAVAL WAR. Marisa Kirisame is probably the most disputed, having no less than 4 even divisions. Most fans often have preferred ships but realize that in the world of ''Touhou'', [[Literature/BraveNewWorld everyone belongs with everyone else]]. Fan works often portray in-character ship wars as comedy. (i.e. Alice vs. Patchouli for Marisa, Keine glaring at Mokou hanging out with Kaguya, and so on.) Oh, and the whole mess with Marisa is parodied [[http://safebooru.donmai.us/posts/320962 here.]]
* ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'':
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'':
*** Sheena/Lloyd vs. Colette/Lloyd, with Sheloyd shippers arguing that Colette is too [[LoveFreak annoying]], and Colloyd shippers arguing that Sheena is favored because of her MsFanservice role.
*** Oddly enough, the {{Yaoi Fangirl}}s don't do this as often. Key words: ''as often''. You don't get between a Genis/Lloyd fan and Zelos/Lloyd fan if you value your brain cells.
*** Kratos/[[spoiler:Anna]] and Kratos/Raine shippers were also pretty nasty to each other in the earlier days of the ''Symphonia'' fandom. And let's not get started on what Kratos/Yuan is to either of them...
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfGraces'' fandom is split between Asbel/Cheria, Asbel/Sophie and Asbel/Richard fans.
** The ''VideoGame/TalesOfLegendia'' fandom is not large, but it sheds some blood over which couple is the OTP -- [[ChildhoodFriendRomance Senel/Stella, Senel/Shirley]] or [[BattleCouple Senel/Chloe]], especially the latter two, considering [[spoiler:Stella dies]].
** Most of the (minor) ship conflicts with ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'' come from the fact that Yuri is a LauncherOfAThousandShips while simultaneously being a CelibateHero ''and'' a bit of a flirt [[EvenTheGuysWantHim towards both genders]]. Yuri/Judith is popular in the West, Yuri/Estelle is popular in Japan but still has quite an English following, and Flynn/Yuri ([[PortmanteauCoupleName Fluri]]) is a favourite of both sides of the fandom. There's also Yuri/Raven and Yuri/Duke, which are both more popular than you'd initially think.
** Before any of those conflicts there was [[OfficialCouple Stahn/Rutee]] versus [[HoYay Stahn/Leon]] in the ''VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny'' fandom. Like some examples above, it wasn't helped by Rutee being a [[TheScrappy Scrappy]] and Leon being an EnsembleDarkhorse.
* Not even the worst problem of the immensely BrokenBase of ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'':
** The fiercest battle must surely be fought between Sonic/Amy and Shadow/Amy shippers, mostly because the two men are direct rivals, but also because Amy's talk with Shadow in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' is seen as one of her best character moments in the entire franchise.
** The second-fiercest must be [[FoeYayShipping Knuckles/Rouge]] vs. [[TrueCompanions Shadow/Rouge]].
** [[HoYay Sonic/Shadow]] vs Sonic/Any Female Character is a popular battle.
** There's quite a bit of animosity between fans of Sonic/Amy and Sonic/Sally, for obvious reasons; whereas Amy is generally a StalkerWithACrush towards Sonic with only a few moments of ShipTease between the two at best, Sally Acorn is a CanonForeigner who is ''unambiguously'' Sonic's love interest in her [[WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM debut cartoon]] and [[Comicbook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics the comic continuation]], having shared the BigDamnKiss more than once. [[note]] Keep in mind that Sonic's modern characterization as a CelibateHero [[EarlyAdaptationWeirdness wasn't yet established]] when both adaptations were made.[[/note]] This is a somewhat odd instance of this, as the two characters only coexisted within the comics, where Amy first appeared as a 10 year-old girl whose age [[PrecociousCrush proved quite the hurdle in getting Sonic's attention]]. An awkward attempt at CanonWelding meant this continuity had her grow up into her modern teenage self through a PlotRelevantAgeUp (while still having the mind of a 10-year-old), a fact that later writers probably wished they could completely ignore. Fans did freely ignore this tidbit though, and continue to duke it out anyway.
** Since Blaze's introduction in ''VideoGame/{{Sonic Rush|Series}}'', there are also [[BattleCouple Sonic/Blaze]] fans who will fight to the death to defend their pairing against Silver/Blaze.
* In ''Franchise/MassEffect'', Commander Shepard has a variety of love interests to choose from of both sexes (not that it stops people from shipping Shepard with non-canon options too). Each pairing has its supporters, and while most of them are "live and let live," there are certain sects that are vehemently against certain characters being paired with anyone else besides Shepard (namely, Garrus, Thane, Tali, and Liara). The fact that Garrus and Tali hook up in the third game--provided they were not romanced at all--only threw gasoline on some fires. And then there's the Joker/EDI and Joker/Shepard ship combat as well...
** ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' ignited a firestorm of Shepard-centric ship warring, largely due to reduced screen time for the ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' love interests and the controversial way several of their storylines were wrapped up. [[labelnote:spoilers]]Jacob will leave you for another woman, Thane will succumb to his illness, and the only way to keep Kelly from getting killed is to [[GuideDangIt convince her to change her name]] when that [[ChekhovsGun dialogue option is available]].[[/labelnote]] Among Fem Shep die-hards, Shepard/Kaidan vs. Shepard/Garrus is probably the ugliest ship wars get in the fandom. In general, most Shepard-centric ship wars in the fandom seem to fall along the lines of humans vs. aliens, with accusations of favoritism by the writers across the board. Shipping is such SeriousBusiness in the ''Mass Effect'' fandom that a fan survey was created on it and sent to Creator/{{BioWare}}.
** Should be noted that most of these ships are with [[MostFanFicWritersAreGirls Fem!Shepard/male love interest]]. The Male!Shepard/female love interest and gay/lesbian ships are generally peaceful as most players generally have a main couple and stick with it ([[FanPreferredCouple some more than others]], most notably Male!Shepard/Tali, Fem!Shepard/Liara and Male!Shepard/Kaidan).
* It may be a Creator/BioWare thing in general. ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' has one official ship for a male Revan, two (a het and GayOption) for female. Fans will either take them as a given, or spin off into other territories like F!Revan/Canderous. ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire'' has a smaller fanfic base, but the Spirit Monk's romantic choices are mostly a non-issue. In the case of both ''Franchise/MassEffect'' and ''Franchise/DragonAge'', Creator/BioWare, to varying degrees of success, attempts to not officially designate a character the [[DevelopersDesiredDate "proper" love interest]]--every player is free to choose who their love interest is, making any conflict inherently pointless.
* ''Franchise/DragonAge'':
** The fandom, in fact, was relatively quiet on this front, with some minor exceptions (do not mention the Darkspawn Chronicles DLC if you value your life, and there's some backlash against [[PlayerCharacter Female!Cousland]]/[[TheLancer Alistair]] simply because it's the most frequently shipped pairing). The [[VideoGame/DragonAgeII second game]], OTOH, has an ugly ship war going on between Hawke/Anders vs. Hawke/Fenris, which is fueled by the fact that the two characters represent the game's diametrically opposing views on mages, itself an endless hotbed of wank in the fandom. Hawke/Merrill is fairly safe, and Hawke/Isabela is also smooth sailing.
** Some Anders vs. Fenris shippers will stop fighting to unite against those who have [[TakeAThirdOption Taken a Third Option]] with Fenders.
** There's somewhat of a schism between some Hawke/Fenris fan groups since he's among the most popular bi options. Which of the two [=FenHawke=] possibilities is the best? Uh... it's best not to ask...
** There's definitely some tension between fans of Cullen and Solas in [[VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition the third game]]. A lot of it seems to come down to how different the character and romances are. Cullen's romance falls into the Disney prince category, being very sweet and [[spoiler:ending happily]]. Solas' romance, on the other hand, is super angsty and [[spoiler:[[StarCrossedLovers tragic]]]]. Interestingly, both groups of fans are often accused by the other of ignoring their characters' flaws -- Cullen's past as a [[DoesNotLikeMagic bigoted]] KnightTemplar and Solas' FantasticRacism and [[spoiler:[[UtopiaJustifiestheMeans plans to destroy the world]]]]. All in all, the rivalry isn't too bad, but don't be surprised to see rabid fans saying Cullen is a boring pretty boy or Solas is a [[spoiler:genocidal asshole]].
* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'':
** The ''Kingdom Hearts'' fandom, especially as of the second installment, seems to be comprised of two groups: those who regard shipping as SeriousBusiness, and those that ship for fun or to point at and laugh at the first group. The introduction of Organization XIII basically just gave the former group license to spark flame wars over the relative merits of the #### ship of the day (12 males that hang out in a castle all day? Why, it's like shooting fish in a barrel!). [=AkuRoku=] seems to be one of the more hot-button ships in the fandom, and its wise not to bring it up.
** Aerith/Cloud vs Aerith/Leon vs Yuffie/Leon. The former two get especially touchy as Leon and Cloud's characters are so similar.
* Every ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' game gets this, to some degree. There is a reason why [=OT3=] shippers are coming out of the woodwork for this series. In many cases, they're the fans who have grown sick of the shipping wars and who have decided to TakeAThirdOption:
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' has an almost legendary status for this. Even almost ''two decades'' after the game's release, [[TheRemnant there are still some small enclaves]] where Cloud/Tifa and Cloud/Aerith followers wage war with each other. And then there's the [[FoeYayShipping Cloud/Sephiroth]] shippers...
*** The prequel game ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' also added the Zack/Aerith shippers to clash with the Cloud/Aerith shippers... Suffice to say, things are messy and the fact that the creators seem divided on the issue has not helped matters.
*** The ''FFVII'' shipping wars are so volatile that they've actually gotten several forums either locked or shut down, Wiki/TVTropes included! [[note]]The main work page, Characters/FinalFantasyVIIPlayableCharacters, and YMMV.FinalFantasyVII are locked due to rampant Administrivia/{{Edit War}}s.[[/note]]
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'' further complicates things by not only reigniting the old Aerith/Tifa rivalry for Cloud (though not to the same intensity), but also giving both women more screentime together with [[HoYay homoerotic subtext between them]], and also [[ThirdOptionLoveInterest throwing in a new challenger]] in [[AscendedExtra Jessie]].
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2'': Back when the fandom was more active, there was something of a friendly rivalry between the Gippal/Rikku and [[SlashFic Gippal/Baralai]] ships. That neither had any real canon support (the former is vaguely hinted at but only gets a MaybeEverAfter while the latter used to be friends then had a falling out) probably helped a lot.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2'' started a shipping war between those who wants to see Serah with her fiance Snow and those who'd rather her be with the newly introduced Noel. This also created, by proxy, Noel/Yeul vs. Noel/Serah, though that affair is decidedly less hostile.
** It is very common in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' to ship characters with the [[PlayerCharacter Warrior of Light]], especially since the [[WordOfGod creators have given players their blessing]] to interpret character relationships however they wish. As a result, shipping is civil except in instances when other [=NPCs=] are seen as romantic rivals. It is now common for heated arguments to occur between those who want [[SeriesMascot Y'shtola]] with the Warrior of Light, and those who want her with [[NiceGuy Runar]].
* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'':
** The wars between the four combinations coming from Isaac, Garet, Jenna, and Mia (just to clarify, we're talking ''hetero'' pairings here) are kinda like a MexicanStandoff, except everyone is, well, shooting at each other. Heck, the four pairings from that one group could easily fuel debate for several years without touching the dozens of other pairings in the ''GS'' 'verse. However, a lot of the pairings are just for fun (Magmashipping, anyone?).
** [[VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn The third game]] stars the descendants of the heroes from the first two games. Things were getting ugly before the game was even close to release. One pairing was [[OfficialCouple confirmed canon]], but its partner... seems to have been [[ShipSinking sunk]]. [[spoiler:The first four playable characters each have a member of the first game's party for a parent, and none of them are siblings, which means that neither Isaac nor Garet ended up with Mia. However, Isaac x Jenna is canon.]]

** ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies Dual Destinies]]'' started some new ship wars, with Apollo/Athena (which is acused of either propping up Athena as a mix of SpotlightStealingSquad and Mary Sue or "breaking up" the very popular [[HoYay Apollo x Klavier]]) on one side, versus Apollo/Juniper [[ShipMates and]] Athena/Simon on the other (the first is called bland and boring ''and'' Juniper is accused of being a Mary Sue too; the second is considered creepy because of the sizeable age gap between the two, [[spoiler:plus the fact that he met her when he was a young adult and she was a kid; even fans who enjoy age gaps squirm uncomfortably at this detail]]). In the meantime, it's best not to even try to suggest pairing [[TheLostLenore Metis]] and Aura with anyone but each other, while the [[HoYay Athena/Juniper]] shippers have wisely decided to stay in their corners.

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
** Go to any forum about ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' and you'll find ample discussion about which woman ([[HoYay or man]]) Link should end up with. Given that Link has no real characterization but the player's, and there are multiple Link's, you have to wonder if shipping debates are more about which person [[PerverseSexualLust the player wants to end up with]].
** One game where it's particularly noticeable is ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', with Link alternatively paired with the traditional (Princess Zelda), the newcomer (Midna), and the childhood friend (Ilia). Of course, some people just ignore all that and jump straight for [[HoYay Midna/Zelda]]... or TakeAThirdOption and ship [[OneTrueThreesome Midzelink]].
** Between Zelda, Malon, Saria, and Ruto, ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' was an open invitation for Ship-To-Ship Combat. One of the weirdest ship to ship rivalries has to be between Link/Zelda fans and Link/Sheik fans. They're ''the same person''. Link/Sheik fans almost always ignore the fact that Sheik is a SweetPollyOliver and make her a male individual character from Zelda (or at minimum, a male alter ego that is dissociated from Zelda), which leads to a lot of combat between fans of essentially the same pairing.
** The game that seems to have the greatest conflict however, is ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild''. As usual, we've got [[BodyguardCrush Link with Zelda]], in addition to [[ChildhoodFriendRomance Link with Mipha]], [[HoYay Sidon]], and [[SmittenTeenageGirl Paya]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'' has Sasha/Milla and Lilli/Raz versus Sasha/Raz and, occasionally, Lilli/Milla. Although this tends to consist of the former getting {{Squick}}ed out at the latter and the latter making arguments as to why It's Not Gross.
* The ''Franchise/SpyroTheDragon'' fandom is bad at this, despite the fact there are [[ContinuityReboot three continuities]] that don't intersect with each other. There are the Spyro/Ember fans vs. the Spyro/Cynder ones. Ember canonically has an unrequited crush on Spyro (though she ends up dating an armadillo eventually) while Cynder ultimately [[OfficialCouple gets with Spyro]]... in a completely different continuity from Ember's. There's no sign that either girl even exists in each others universe, but the fandom doesn't care. DieForOurShip behavior is ''very'' common. That's completely ignoring [[PairTheSpares Ember/Flame]] and the occasional Spyro/Flame. [[InterspeciesRomance Spyro/Elora]] rarely finds its way into the war despite Elora being an ImpliedLoveInterest. This warring often relates to the BrokenBase between "classic" fans and ''Legend of Spyro'' fans.
* ''VideoGame/StarFox'''s combat revolves ''all'' around [[TheHero Fox]]: Fox/[[CanonImmigrant Krystal]] vs. [[ContinuityReboot Fox]]/[[GodCreatedCanonForeigner Fara]] [[DieForOurShip (oftentimes ending badly for Krystal)]] vs. [[VitriolicBestBuds Fox/Falco]] vs. Fox/[[AntiHero Wolf]], a notable exception being [[FoeYayShipping Wolf/Krystal]], and, later (and for no apparent reason), Fox/Miyu. Fox/Falco also gets pitted against [[ShipTease Falco/Katt]] every now and then, and the Fox/Krystal OfficialCouple occasionally goes against [[RomanticFalseLead Panther]]/Krystal, which is usually the target of DieForOurShip anyway.
* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'':
** Should Leon S. Kennedy be with [[ActionGirl Claire Redfield]]? [[DatingCatwoman Ada Wong?]] [[MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter Manuela Hidalgo?]] [[BodyguardCrush Ashley?]] [[FoeYayShipping Or Krauser]]? Fans will never fully agree. Bringing up the fact that Helena Harper, Leon's partner in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'', [[ShipperOnDeck actively supports Leon/Ada]] is ill-advised.
*** There is perhaps ''one'' thing that will unite most fans of Leon/Claire and Leon/Ada: a mutual hatred of Angela from ''[[Anime/ResidentEvilDegeneration Degeneration]]'', who--[[ChickMagnet unsurprisingly]]--expresses interest in Leon by the end of the film. It doesn't help that Angela [[TheScrappy is rather unpopular among fans]] for [[FauxActionGirl other]] [[DamselScrappy reasons]].
** Speaking of Claire, fans are torn on whether to pair her with Leon, [[TheScrappy Steve Burnside]], [[HoYay Moria Burton]], [[FoeYayShipping Wesker]] ''or'' [[BrotherSisterIncest her brother Chris]] or, [[{{Squick}} worse still]], Sherry--who is like a daughter/little sister to her.
** It's best not to ask the William Birkin/Annette Birkin shippers what they think of [[HoYay Wesker/Birkin]] and vice versa.
** Chris Redfield/Sheva Alomar vs. Chris/Jill Valentine... and mentioning [[FoeYayShipping Chris/Wesker]] is pretty much a nuclear explosion waiting to happen. [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil6 Piers]] gets off relatively easy by comparison, though the fact that [[spoiler:he dies in a HeroicSacrifice]] might have something to do with that.
** The year is 2019. It's been about 20 years since the original ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'' where Leon and Claire last starred together and Leon/Ada fans were happily ArmedWithCanon thanks to ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil4 RE4]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil6 RE6]]'' furthering Leon and Ada's bond (and WordOfGod stating their dialogue in ''[[Anime/ResidentEvilDamnation Damnation]]'' was written to suggest they might have gone on a date between games) while Claire and her partnership with Leon was mostly left OutOfFocus. But then [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil2Remake a long-awaited remake of RE2]] came out and [[WordOfGod intentionally]] added new Leon/Claire moments to "deepen their relationship" which deeply annoyed Leon/Ada fans who thought Capcom were trying to spoil the "superior ship." Conversely, Leon/Claire fans were overjoyed at the rekindled ship and a FlameWar ensured arguing over which girl was truly "better" for Leon. Leon/Ada shippers cite the other ship as a mere unrequited [[SmittenTeenageGirl schoolgirl crush]] on Claire's part and any moments in the remake are just ShippingGoggles from fans and DoomedByCanon anyway. Leon/Claire shippers, on the other hand, state Leon has more chemistry with Claire in the ''four scenes'' they have together than he does in the entire scenario with Ada and the ending scene where [[ShipperOnDeck Sherry]] mistook Leon and Claire for boyfriend and girlfriend and then asking them to adopt her certainly helps matters. The kicker? ''[=RE2R=]'' and [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Remake its sequel]] appear to be going the AlternateContinuity route from the original timeline, meaning it's entirely possible the shipping wars will be rendered completely meaningless if Capcom does go for Leon/Claire this time around.
*** MemeticMutation also got involved with the former, promoting "the Redfield Bloodline" which requires Leon to sleep with Claire (often with some aggressive prodding from Chris) and [[MurderTheHypotenuse Chris trying to kill Ada to get her out of the way]]. Shippers have even gone so far as to mod Leon's cutscenes, replacing Claire with Ada or vice versa.
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': Thrall's new bride (or at least fiancée) [[HeroesWantRedheads Aggra]] is apparently the [[DieForOurShip target]] of many a RevengeFic from Thrall/Jaina shippers. Now, she ''did'' kind of [[DesignatedLoveInterest come out of nowhere]], apparently for the express ''purpose'' of ShipSinking... but even with ''that'' in mind, it gets pretty vicious. Even before Aggra existed, there was already a bit of a ship war between Arthas/Jaina and Thrall/Jaina.

* ''VideoGame/StarOceanTheSecondStory'' has the Claude/Rena shippers at odds with the Dias/Rena shippers, with the Claude/Dias, Claude/Ashton and Dias/Ashton fans occasionally joining in. It's best not to mention the little known sequel on the UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor (''Blue Sphere'') to anyone who ships Claude and Rena with other people. (Oddly enough, the various yuri pairings, the het pairings that don't involve Rena, and pretty much any pairing involving Noel are ignored in shipping wars.) This eventually died down over the years, as very few people even raised an eyebrow when Claude and Rena's descendant was included as a party member in [[VideoGame/StarOceanIntegrityAndFaithlessness the fifth game]].
* In the ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' fandom, you've got Chelldos (Chell/[=GLaDOS=]) vs. Chelley (Chell/Wheatley) vs. Wheatdos ([=GLaDOS=]/Wheatley). And that's just the main trio. However, the "shipping war" aspect is generally absent, especially on the ''Portal'' KinkMeme, where they even discussed what fun it might be to get into raging arguments about whether Chell should be with [=GLaDOS=] or Wheatley or neither while other posters tried to appeal for calm, but eventually decided it wouldn't as good as shipping their favourite couples, writing about them and tolerating others to ship and let ship.
* ''Franchise/StreetFighter'': Sakura's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABh7-96oHtM arcade ending]] in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV'' has sparked a minor one between Ryu/Sakura shippers and longtime fans who have [[OneTruePairing always shipped him]] [[KickChick with]] [[ShesGotLegs Chun-Li.]] Those who support Sakura use the fact that she told Ryu ''she wants to have his children'' as evidence of their being more likely to become canon. The Chun-Li camp feels the age gap between him and Sakura would make Ryu look like an {{Ephebophile}}, so they continue to ship him with Chun-Li instead. Also fueled by the fact that she's HOT and canonically still single.
* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
** The cannons fire between the [[JustForPun S.S.]] Mario/Peach, Mario/Daisy, Mario/Rosalina, and Mario/Pauline. [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg And then]] [[HoYay there's]] [[IncestYayShipping Mario/Luigi]].
** Same with Mario/Peach, Luigi/Peach, and Bowser/Peach.
** As well as Luigi/Peach, Luigi/Daisy and Luigi/Rosalina.
** Waluigi/Rosalina versus Luigi/Rosalina is a thing that pops up. It doesn't help that most fans of the former ship like Luigi/Daisy, so shipping Luigi with anyone else gets them especially worked up.
* As mentioned above, ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' has its share of this, particularly within the ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' sub-series. The "best girl" and "best boy" disputes are so prevalent and so bitter among the ''Persona'' fandom that a growing subset of fans deliberately ''refuses'' to romance party members and other plot-important [=NPCs=] in order to avoid getting dragged into the above debates [[note]]although a few ships in this category ''don't'' seem to come under heavy fire, like [=FeMC=]/Ryoji in ''[=P3P=]'' and Yu/Margaret in ''P4''[[/note]], instead focusing on "lesser" characters to pursue a relationship with. Though none of these alternatives have reached FanPreferredCouple status (with the possible exception of the third game's Velvet Siblings, [[EnsembleDarkhorse Elizabeth especially]]), some candidates, such as [[{{Meganekko}} Chi]][[ShrinkingViolet hiro]] in ''Persona 3'' and [[{{Meido}} Kawa]][[TeacherStudentRomance kami]] in ''Persona 5'', have proven popular choices in their own right.
** ''VideoGame/Persona2'' has mostly the rabid [[HoYay Tatsuya/Jun]] shippers, who don't seem to take the existence of Tatsuya/Maya shippers kindly. Strangely, those who ship Tatsuya with Lisa, the [[BettyAndVeronica Veronica]] in this situation, have largely slipped under their radars.
** ''VideoGame/Persona3'':
*** ''P3'' gives us all of [[ComicBookAdaptation Minato]]/[[Anime/Persona3TheMovie Mak]][[VideoGame/Persona3DancingInMoonlight oto]]/[[Theatre/Persona3TheWeirdMasquerade Sakuya]]/whatever-you're-calling-the-MC's possible pairings, with MC/Aigis and MC/Yukari getting the most attention. Despite the fact that the player can choose who the MC dates, there are frequent (and very heated) arguments about which ship is "canon."
*** If we go to the [=FemMC=] route in ''Portable'', it's ''not'' wise to mention how [[FanNickname Minako/Minami/Hamuko]]/[[Theatre/Persona3TheWeirdMasquerade Kotone]] can get together with either [[spoiler:[[AdorablyPrecociousChild Ken Amada]]]] or [[spoiler:[[{{Delinquents}} Shinjiro Aragaki]]]]; both pairings are known for rising HUGE hackles in the fandom.
** ''VideoGame/Persona4'':
*** A particularly bloody war happens between those who ship the MC with either [[KickChick Chie]], [[LadyOfBlackMagic Yukiko]], [[MissionControl Rise]] or [[TheGunslinger Naoto]]. The last one is specially complicated thanks to the huge MisaimedFandom about her gender.
*** Not that only that but Yu/Yukiko, Yu/Chie, and Yu/Naoto often have to go up against [[HoYay Chie/Yukiko]], [[VitriolicBestBuds Chie/Yosuke]], and [[MasculineGirlFeminineBoy Naoto/Kanji]].
*** This got even more violent when ''[[UpdatedRerelease Persona 4 Golden]]'' came around. [[ThirdOptionLoveInterest Marie is a new girl in the game]], gets a lot of plot focus and [[spoiler:gives the MC a LoveConfession on live TV in the epilogue if romanced]]. If that wasn't enough, [[Anime/Persona4GoldenTheAnimation the animated adaptation]] [[AscendedExtra makes Marie the centerpiece of the main plot]] and [[AdaptationExpansion gives her scenes with Yu that didn't happen in the game proper]], furthering her status as [[ImpliedLoveInterest Yu's apparent love interest]].
** ''VideoGame/Persona5'':
*** The fifth entry continues the grand tradition by sparking wars between those who believe Joker belong with Ann vs. those who believe he belongs with Makoto vs. those who believe he belongs with Futaba. The Futaba issue can get particularly heated, since fans who don't ship them tend to interpret them as LikeBrotherAndSister. In addition to that, Joker/Futaba and Ann/Joker often have to go up against ships such as Yusuke/Futaba and Ann/Ryuji. The latter was not helped by the fact [[Creator/ErikaHarlacher Ann's English voice actress]] also ships Ann and Ryuji together.
*** And that's not even mentioning the HoYay side of things between those who ship Joker with [[AmbiguouslyBi Yusuke]], [[HeterosexualLifePartners Ryuji]], or [[FoeYayShipping Akechi]], with the two former usually ganging up on the latter due to it being [[FanPreferredCouple one of Joker's most popular ships]], Akechi being a victim of AmericansHateTingle in the Western fandom, and [[spoiler:Akechi's canon affection towards the protagonist which gets turned UpToEleven in the English version]]. Fans of either of these pairings usually end up in arguments with fans who pair Joker with one of the girls (usually Makoto or Futaba) and/or [[PairTheSpares pair the party members together]], although this is somewhat downplayed in terms of Ryuji/Ann vs. Joker/Ryuji.
*** Fights between those that ship Joker/Akechi and [[NoYay Shido/Akechi]] can get nasty at times, although such conflicts are caused by people going out of their way to harass Shido/Akechi fans. The animosity towards Shido/Akechi shippers reached a point where a "block list" was circulated listing the names of every fan of the pairing, [[DisproportionateRetribution as well as people who weren't fans of the pairing but were on the list because they were nice to Shido/Akechi fans]].
*** Conflicts between those who ship Haru and Akechi with other characters vs. those who ship [[CrackPairing Akechi/Haru]] are common, mostly due to [[spoiler:Akechi murdering Haru's father, with Haru herself mentioning that she can't forgive him for doing it]].
*** Showing that history is perhaps doomed to repeat itself, ''[[UpdatedRerelease Persona 5 Royal]]'' introduced a new female member of the Phantom Thieves, Kasumi Yoshizawa. While reception to the character herself is largely positive, the fact that Kasumi, like Marie before her, is angled as Joker's ImpliedLoveInterest (numerous interactions outside of her Confidant, several signs of attraction to Joker as said Confidant progresses, a LoveConfession quite a while before the end of the Rank 9 conversation, having the only [[CombinationAttack Showtime]] with Joker out of the female party members--and a [[BridalCarry rather]] [[DanceOfRomance romantic-looking]] one at that, etc.) is far more contentious.
* Pretty much comes with territory, in regards to ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo''. While [[YamatoNadeshiko Lilly]] and [[ShrinkingViolet Hanako]] have the largest camps, every girl has a strong following. [[StudentCouncilPresident Shizune]] fans in particular can be downright militant in their support, largely as a result of having to constantly battle the hatedom the character has developed since release due to the divisive nature of her route, and [[TheRival her rivalry]] with [[DieForOurShip the much-adored Lilly]]. On the forums, it's fairly common for posters to rank the routes/girls in their signatures with ">" or "=" signs. For example, Favorite>Second favorite>Tied for third=Tied for third>Least favorite
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
** There are quite a significant number of people in the fandom who point out that Spartan-[=IIs=] and [=IIIs=] almost never get into relationships due to their artificially reduced sex drives, but there still seem to be fan pairings. [[ChildhoodFriends John/Kelly]], [[CargoShip John/Cortana]], John/Miranda, and [[InterspeciesRomance John/Thel]] being the most dominant in the fandom. The first three are easily the most popular, but the last one seems to be growing at a snail's pace. John/Miranda supporters were not held back by the fact that Miranda died in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'', they just change the outcome of the battle to say that she survived.
** It's helped that there ''are'' canon or near-canon examples of S-[=IIs=] and [=IIIs=] getting in relationships, most notably Noble Team's Kat and Carter. Even several Spartan-[=IIs=] have shown romantic inclinations: Two pre-augmented members of Spartan Team BLACK were romantically involved with a third jealous of the fling, and Spartan Fred has ambiguously flirted with one civilian ([[TeamMom Veta Lopis]]) [[spoiler:who goes on to work with the Spartans]].
* A rather interesting case: Normally, ''[[VideoGame/NavalOps Warship Gunner 2]]'' is a game about actual naval combat. But the unlockable Special missions seem to run with, or perhaps mock, this idea -- one of them is in fact an Escort Mission where you travel around sightseeing, and the three "love interests" (two men -- one of whom is an old man -- and a female German scientist, none of whom are acting like their normal selves) actually dig out naval fleets with the intention of blowing each other up over the captain, Schulz. He has none of it, sinking all of their fleets and their flagships to about the same depth as their chances with him.
* Surprisingly enough (especially for a game with one male and two female leads), ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'' has almost none of this in its fandom. This is because the game neither sinks nor confirms the Vyse/Aika or Vyse/Fina pairings -- and unmissable dialogue with each girl indicates that she is in love with Vyse, but completely accepting of the fact that he loves the other girl (and they both get along very well). The fandom has as such largely accepted the interpretation that the game is hinting at a Vyse/Aika/Fina OneTrueThreesome.
* Where do we begin with ''Franchise/BlazBlue''?
** Fans of [[AllLoveIsUnrequited Bang/Litchi]] and [[StakingTheLovedOne Litchi/Arakune]] fans are often seen battling around the Internet. Consequently, Bang/Litchi fans tend to also be Arakune haters.
** [[OfficialCouple Jin/Tsubaki]] fans often attack poor [[DieForOurShip Noel]], even though Jin/Noel was sunk in the port of ''[[VideoGame/BlazBlueCalamityTrigger Calamity Trigger]]''. [[MoralityPet Jin/Makoto]] had been gaining popularity as a pairing since ''[[VideoGame/BlazBlueContinuumShift Continuum Shift]]'', but conflicts between fans of the two pairings are rare. ''[[VideoGame/BlazBlueChronophantasma Chronophantasma]]'' may simply have ended up igniting a cold war, however. Oh, and there's a portion of the community who prefer to TakeAThirdOption and leave Jin as a CelibateHero, instead supporting [[MoralityPet Hakumen/Tsubaki]], causing more friction. Finally, we have fans of Jin and [[ShyBlueHairedGirl Mai Natsume]], the protagonist of ''[[Manga/BlazBlueRemixHeart BlazBlue: Remix Heart]]'': a likely reasoning behind this is similarities between them and [[VideoGame/GuiltyGear Ky/Dizzy]]. (Never mind that in the actual doujinshi, Mai, outside of getting a FirstKiss from [[AmbiguouslyBi Makoto]], has been {{Ship Tease}}d with three other characters [[note]]her roommate Cajun, fellow classmate (and relative of Kagura) Taro, and Mai's distant relative (who is unaware of the relationship at the moment)/other roommate/family assassin Shiori, with Taro currently the frontrunner[[/note]], none of whom are Jin. Or the fact that [[spoiler:Mai goes missing after graduation according to ''Chronophantasma'', though she does make appearances in ''[[UpdatedRerelease Extend]]'' as well as ''[[VideoGame/BlazBlueCentralFiction Central Fiction]]'']]. Even then, Jin/Mai is treated as a strictly platonic SempaiKohai relationship in-series.)
** Ragna [[LauncherOfAThousandShips is paired with practically everyone]], but the most common pairings are [[BelligerentSexualTension Ragna/Rachel]] and [[ShipTease Ragna/Noel]]. These two are the most aggressive of the fandoms, and battles are constantly waged between them. This isn't helped by the questionable nature of both pairings: on one hand, the {{age gap|Romance}} between Ragna and Rachel is ridiculous, and [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld Rachel]] is ''very'' youthful appearance-wise. The games make it clear that she is an adult, though this causes {{Squick}} for some. On the other hand, the fact that Noel is [[CloningBlues a clone]] of Ragna's sister [[{{Squick}} leaves a bitter taste in some people]]. Making matters worse, the game seems to hint at ''both''.
*** The addition of Celica in ''Chronophantasma'', who was already confirmed in the ''Phase Shift'' novels to [[spoiler:be in love with Bloodedge, the time-displaced Ragna]], only added more fuel to the fire, especially with a Gag Reel involving the return of the Spectacles of Eros from ''CS'' which shows that she's one of two members of the female cast (the other being a heavily implied Rachel) to genuinely love Ragna for who he is, no hocus pocus required. With cries of "Mary Sue!" abounding ([[AmericansHateTingle in the Western fandom, that is]]) due to her role in the ''CP'' story, things are looking grim.
** Finally, we have fans of [[HoYay Ragna/Jin]], [[FoeYayShipping Jin/Hazama]] and [[FoeYayShipping Ragna/Hazama]], who hammer on ''everyone else''.

* Do not mention either [[ChildhoodFriendRomance Sumika]] or [[ActionGirl Meiya]], or which would be better with Takeru on any forum or thread dedicated to ''Franchise/MuvLuv''. And especially don't say the words "Noble Confidant." That is, provided you value your brain cells: it gets more violent than a BETA attack.

* ''VideoGame/SoulSeries'':
** ''Soulcalibur II'' created conflict between those who shipped Talim with Yun-seong and those who shipped her [[CrackPairing with]] [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Link]]. Despite the fact Link [[TheCameo was merely]] [[GuestFighter a guest character]], meaning the latter had no chance of ever happening. Though two games later, Talim received ''[[AscendedMeme a pair of ocarinas as unlockable weapons]]''.
** The same game also made the Link/Cassandra pairing popular, which was naturally at odds with those who [[FoeYayShipping shipped Cassandra with Raphael]].
** Also, the "Korean ships," [[ArrangedMarriage Hwang/Mi-na]] and [[SexyMentor Yun-seong/Mi-na]]. Never mind that Mi-na [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt4UT19xkoc isn't even remotely interested in marrying Hwang,]] and she views Yun-seong as a ''[[AnnoyingYoungerSibling kid]]'' (the official relationship chart in ''IV'' plainly states her feelings for Yun-seong are platonic, seeing him more as [[CoolBigSis her surrogate younger brother]]) -- likewise, Yun-seong thinks of her as [[ChristmasCake an old lady]] who should butt out of his business. Both ships remain hugely popular and to this day exchange the occasional broadside even though they've both been [[ShipSinking officially sunk]].
*** Interestingly, Project Soul seems to have reversed their stance on ''both'' Mi-na pairings as of ''VideoGame/SoulcaliburVI''. Hwang plays a significant supporting role in Mi-na's Soul Chronicle and there's [[ShipTease romantic undertones]] present in their interactions despite Hwang being TheNotLoveInterest; most notably, Mi-na happily asks Hwang if she can [[PiggybackCute ride piggyback]] like they used to do when younger after being saved from the clutches of the Fygul Cestemus cult and the two have cleared up a previous misunderstanding about their partnership in defending their homeland... only for Hwang to [[BridalCarry lift Mi-na into his arms]], causing her to [[LuminescentBlush furiously blush]]. Yun-seong, [[TheGhost while not present in the story]], has a profile in the Library that mentions how close he and Mi-na are, with onlookers giving [[EveryoneCanSeeIt knowing stares]] when they're together.
** Present, but relatively milder in the case of two naval battles: Siegfried/Sophitia vs. Siegfried/Hilde and Mitsurugi/Taki vs. Mitsurugi/Setsuka. [[FanPreferredCouple Each pairing is a fan-fave in its own right]], with the former entries being established for far longer (as Hilde and Setsuka made their respective debuts in ''SCIV'' and ''SCIII'', whereas the other four were main characters in ''Soul Edge'', the very first game of the series); the inter-pairing rivalries can go anywhere from civil to [[DieForOurShip nasty]]. This is discounting the fact that Sophitia is HappilyMarried in canon (to Rothion, [[TheScrappy but nobody seems to like him]], perhaps simply ''because'' he's Sophitia's husband, and it wasn't until he made an actual on-screen appearance in ''SCVI'' as a kind, supportive partner to Sophie that [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap the hate started to subside]]); Siegfried becomes a loner and decides that "no one would touch his heart" in ''IV'' due to his actions as [[BrainwashedAndCrazy Nightmare]]; Hilde has two children in ''[[VideoGame/SoulcaliburV SCV]]'' that are apparently ''[[ShipSinking not]]'' fathered by Siegfried in spite of them becoming friends and traveling together; [[WifeHusbandry Setsuka was in love with her late master and caretaker]] and hates Mitsurugi for killing him [[spoiler:until she gets over her grudge by defeating him in a duel between ''IV'' and ''V'', whereupon she relocates to Istanbul under a new name and trains orphans in the way of the sword]]; and Mitsurugi and Taki probably have no romantic designs whatsoever. (Taki and [[HeterosexualLifePartners her best friend]] Chie even become [[ParentalSubstitute maternal figures]] to her apprentice Natsu, one of the playable fighters in ''V'', suggesting a HasTwoMommies kind of dynamic.) Oh, and [[spoiler:both Sophitia and Rothion are dead by the time ''V'' rolls around]]. Some fans have come up with ways to reconcile all of this, such as portraying Sophitia and Siegfried as an item before Sophitia meets Rothion at the beginning of her ''Soulcalibur'' story (and before Siegfried becomes Nightmare) and then having Siegfried gravitate over to Hilde or creating a Taki/Mitsurugi/Setsuka [[OneTrueThreesome OT3]].
* Fellow [[Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment Namco]] fighting series ''Franchise/{{Tekken}}'' isn't quite as bad as this when compared to the (still relatively tame) ''Soulcalibur'' fandom, but it happens from time to time in rather peculiar ways.
** Who should series protagonist [[TroubledButCute Jin Kazama]] end up with? [[HighSchoolSweethearts Xiaoyu?]] [[FoeYayShipping Hwoarang?]] [[KissingCousins Asuka?]] [[UnholyMatrimony Nina?]] [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight Julia?]] Debates continue on to this day... in spite of the fact that the most reasonable answer is "no one." The developers (including series producer Katsuhiro Harada) have outright stated that Jin is {{celibate|Hero}} on account of [[CantHaveSexEver his genetics]]: as a Devil Gene carrier who's suffered his entire life; willingly cut off ties from the few friends he actually did have (Xiaoyu included); and went as far as [[spoiler:engineering the series equivalent of WorldWarIII to draw out the GreaterScopeVillain behind his family's cursed blood, take it down, and implicitly [[DeathSeeker die]] [[MutualKill in the process]]]], it's highly unlikely he'd want his bloodline to continue on in ''any'' capacity.
*** [[AvertedTrope Surprisingly]], those who do ship Jin and Asuka together don't tend to come under fire from fans of the very popular [[LovingBully Lili]]/[[HotBlooded Asuka]] pairing.
** In ''Tekken 6''[='s=] Scenario Campaign, RobotGirl newcomer Alisa Bosconovitch becomes rather close to fellow newcomer (and [[DefectorFromDecadence former Tekken Force commander]]) Lars. Their scenes together, as well as his reaction to Alisa's temporary shutdown late in the story, can be viewed through romantic lens, though their relationship never overtly progresses beyond a platonic stage. ''VideoGame/Tekken7'' would only [[ShipTease add more fuel to the fire]] by having a repaired Alisa [[TheGlomp happily tackle]] Lars during their reunion (with Lee--who brought Alisa to Lars in the first place--[[ShipperOnDeck enjoying the show]]). On the other hand, ''Anime/TekkenBloodVengeance'' has Xiaoyu teamed up with Alisa... and their scenes together can ''also'' be viewed through romantic lens. Cue bickering over who Alisa "truly" belongs with. Note that while ''Blood Vengeance'' is officially touted as taking place between ''T5'' and ''T6'', [[ContinuitySnarl the film contradicts the games' canon at multiple turns]] to the point it'd be easier to write it off as an AlternateContinuity--essentially rendering these arguments a non-issue from the start.
* ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon'':
** ''Harvest Moon'' has odd examples of this. The fandom is usually quite nice and pleasant, but this can occur when referring to games where the same characters are paired with different people. ''VideoGame/{{Harvest Moon 64}}'' has the rival pairs as: Karen/Kai, Popuri/Gray, Ann/Cliff, Elli/Jeff, and Maria/Harris. ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature'' has them as: Karen/Rick, Popuri/Kai, Ann/Cliff, Elli/Doctor, and Mary/Gray. Due to SequelDisplacement, the ''BTN'' couples are most popular but it's not too uncommon to see complaints about how well they go together.
** The most common ship war involves the protagonists and the bachelor(ette)s. ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife'' fans are especially prone to this. Celia/Mark vs. Nami/Mark vs. Muffy/Mark, with the additional Lumina/Mark (which gets flack for Lumina being a teen) and [[{{Fanon}} Mark/Flora]] and occasionally the rival ships. Bachelorettes besides the one shipped either get made plain and boring (usually Celia) or outright get RonTheDeathEater treatment (Muffy especially). ''Another Wonderful Life'' gets less flame-bait as both Marlin and Gustafa get varying degrees of dislike for not being "cute" enough; Marlin is still preferred over Rock, though.
* In regards to ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'', there's the debate over who Shulk should be paired with. On the one side, there's the childhood friend [[spoiler:whose death sets the plot in motion]] (Fiora); and on the other side, there's the princess of a dying race (Melia).
* In ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'', there is a 3 way battle for who Rex should be with. There's the 2 forms of the Aegis (Pyra and Mythra) and Nia, a Gormotti that he meets early on in the game who has a Love confession for him at one point in the story [[spoiler: after helping her to be comfortable with the fact that she's a Flesh Eater]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' has Toriel/Sans vs. Toriel/[[spoiler:Asgore]], though thankfully the shipping debates are relatively tame and haven't gotten bloody... [[TemptingFate Yet.]]
** [[OfficialCouple Undyne x Alphys]] seems to be the only couple that the fandom allows Undyne to be put with. Suggesting Undyne x Papyrus or Asgore x Alphys (both of which, while not official, do have some explanation for their existence) is essentially grounds for being called out on either being homophobic or trying to change the canon.
** Since Frisk [[AmbiguousGender has no official gender]], Frisk can be essentially [[LauncherOfAThousandShips paired with anyone]], the most popular of which tends to be with Sans or Asriel with Frisk being a teenage-adult woman. While not terribly huge on wars, Asriel x Frisk shippers clash with Sans x Frisk shippers, with [[WordOfGod Toby Fox outright explaining Sans would be too lazy to ever commit to any relationship]], and Asriel not being a valid option [[spoiler:given he returns to being Flowey after you close the game]].
** Chara x Frisk has been more popular as of late -- in time with the theory of [[NarratorAllAlong Chara being the narrator for the entire story]], whether on the Pacifist or Genocide route, has also been slowly gaining steam for quite a while. Also, Chara has been just as ambiguously gendered as Frisk. As such, this lead to some shipping the two, with multiple reasons given as to why it would work. [[spoiler:Since Chara had the same SOUL color as Frisk, many fans reason that what's left of Chara's SOUL would attach to Frisk's, and the two would speak and form a relationship. Some fans even think that Chara would be able to regain a body, or at least some kind of visible form. Many others, of course, think that Chara is still pure evil and would kill Frisk and everyone else in a heartbeat. This has lead to quite a few bloody wars over how Chara really feels, and the player's own influence in the Genocide route.]]
** Over on the ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'' side of things, it didn't take long for the Susie/Kris shippers and the Susie/Noelle shippers to begin going at each other's throats. ShipTease abounds between the two different pairings (with Noelle canonically having a hidden crush on Susie in particular), and nobody can seem to agree which of the pairings is the best one.
* ''VideoGame/YandereSimulator'' has Budo/Ayano vs. Budo/Shin. One blogger was on team Budo/Shin and didn't want to do requests that involved Budo/Ayano. This led to haters sending her massive amounts of hate, and some even went so far as to send her pictures of dead animals. Considering that this spawned from a game where you kill people for your love interest's affection, it wasn't too out of place in a fandom like this.
* ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'':
** ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'' has [[HoYay Hajime Hinata/Nagito Komaeda]] (Komahina) vs. Hajime/[[GamerChick Chiaki Nanami]] (Hinanami), due to both Nagito and Chiaki being hinted to have romantic feelings for Hajime. On rare occasions, Nagito/Chiaki (Komanami) fans will sometimes join in on the fight as well, but again, this is extremely rare.
** Being a LauncherOfAThousandShips, Shuichi of ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' gets a lot of this, mostly between people who ship him with [[EveryoneCanSeeIt Kaede]], [[BromanticFoil Kaito]] or [[FoeYayShipping Kokichi.]]
* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'': Due to its ExcusePlot, a plethora of suggestive response lines, achievements, and para-text materials, fans fight over the following:
** One True Paring vs. Happy Orgy: This is the meta ship, wherein some fans will argue over whether or not any particular Class has a preferred partner, or they're just all in one big pile of love/lust (perhaps not even bothering to worry about team color).
** Medic/Heavy vs. Medic/Soldier: The Heavy was the Medic's preferred heal target in "Meet the Medic", a number of Medic hats are suggestive, and the Sniper has an achievement called "Beaus and Arrows" for shooting a Medic-Heavy pair with a single arrow, but the Soldier calls Medic "Sally" and "Sweetheart" in voice clips, Soldier-Medic is the go-to combo in high-level competitive play, and long-time Medic players hate how possessive (and yet simultaneously incompetent) many Heavies can be, and that's just the in-game arguments of who makes the hotter BattleCouple.
** (BLU) Soldier/(RED) Demoman vs. Medic/Soldier vs. Engineer/Soldier: Soldiers and Demomen were always natural rivals, but when the BLU Soldier and RED Demoman were said to have been tricked into fighting each other by the Announcer because she hates friendships, the Ship went into the stratosphere. As for the other two Ships, Medic/Soldier has already been discussed above, and Engineer/Soldier is popular among fanfic writers because they imagine that the two men's personalities would go together well.
** Engineer/Soldier vs. Engineer/Sniper: In-game, Snipers are most often seen hanging around Engineers, especially in CaptureTheFlag maps, because both of them tend to default near the back of the battlefield.
** Engineer/Sniper vs. Engineer/Pyro vs. Spy/Sniper- Battle Brothers vs. FoeYayShipping. It doesn't help that Pyros are most often seen babysitting Engineer nests in maps once the fighting stalls at a choke point or wields an Ax replacement called "The Homewrecker."
** Spy/Sniper vs. Engineer/Spy vs. Pyro/Spy vs. Scout's Mother/Spy: Only Scout's Mother has any real standing in official text: she's shown as the Spy's paramour in "Meet the Spy", wherein Spy calls her by an affectionate pet-name and shows real fondness for her, and in-game taunts the enemy Scout with "Well, off to visit your mother!", but the FoeYayShipping and MindGameShip of Engineer, Sniper, and Pyro is often too much to resist, especially considering Spy's main job is to troll and backstab.

* Sheena/Lloyd vs. Colette/Lloyd in ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' fandom, with Sheloyd shippers arguing that Colette is too [[LoveFreak annoying]], and Colloyd shippers arguing that Sheena is favored because of her MsFanservice role.
** Oddly enough, the {{Yaoi Fangirl}}s don't do this as often. Key words: ''as often''. You don't get between a Genis/Lloyd fan and Zelos/Lloyd fan if you value your brain cells.
** Kratos/[[spoiler:Anna]] and Kratos/Raine shippers were also pretty nasty to each other a few years back. And let's not get started on what Kratos/Yuan is to either of them...

* The ''Franchise/DragonAge'' fandom, in fact, was relatively quiet on this front, with some minor exceptions (do not mention the Darkspawn Chronicles DLC if you value your life, and there's some backlash against [[PlayerCharacter Female!Cousland]]/[[TheLancer Alistair]] simply because it's the most frequently shipped pairing). The [[VideoGame/DragonAgeII second game]], OTOH, has an ugly ship war going on between Hawke/Anders vs. Hawke/Fenris, which is fueled by the fact that the two characters represent the game's diametrically opposing views on mages, itself an endless hotbed of wank in the fandom. Hawke/Merrill is fairly safe, and Hawke/Isabela is also smooth sailing.

** There's definitely some tension between fans of Cullen and Solas in [[VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition the third game]]. A lot of it seems to come down to how different the character and romances are. Cullen's romance falls into the Disney prince category, being very sweet and [[spoiler:ending happily]]. Solas' romance, on the other hand, is super angsty and [[spoiler:[[StarCrossedLovers tragic]]]]. Interestingly, both groups of fans are often accused by the other of ignoring their characters' flaws -- Cullen's past as a [[DoesNotLikeMagic bigoted]] KnightTemplar and Solas' {{Fantastic Racism}} and [[spoiler:[[UtopiaJustifiestheMeans plans to destroy the world]]]]. All in all, the rivalry isn't too bad, but don't be surprised to see rabid fans saying Cullen is a boring pretty boy or Solas is a [[spoiler:genocidal asshole]].

*** The prequel game VideoGame/CrisisCore also added the Zack/Aerith shippers to clash with the Cloud/Aerith shippers... suffice to say things are messy and the fact that the creators seem divided on the issue has not helped matters.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'' further complicates things by not only reigniting the old Aerith/Tifa rivalry for Cloud (though not to the same intensity), but also giving both women more screentime together with [[LesYay homoerotic subtext between them]], and also [[ThirdOptionLoveInterest throwing in a new challenger]] in [[AscendedExtra Jessie]].

** Kyrie/Nero is hardly untouched. Perhaps a minority, but the Dante/Nero shippers can be quite vocal, especially if you so much as mention Kyrie. This did [[AbandonShip lessen quite a bit]] with [[spoiler:the post-''[=DMC4=]'' revelation that Nero is Vergil's son (and therefore Dante's nephew-- do the math)]], though several Dante/Nero shippers remained steadfast.

** ''VideoGame/Persona3'' gives us all of [[ComicBookAdaptation Minato]]/[[Anime/Persona3TheMovie Mak]][[VideoGame/Persona3DancingInMoonlight oto]]/[[Theatre/Persona3TheWeirdMasquerade Sakuya]]/whatever-you're-calling-the-MC's possible pairings, with MC/Aigis and MC/Yukari getting the most attention. Despite the fact that the player can choose who the MC dates, there are frequent (and very heated) arguments about which ship is "canon."

** ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'':

** ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'':

* There are quite a significant number of people in the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' fandom who point out that Spartan-[=IIs=] and [=IIIs=] almost never get into relationships due to their artificially reduced sex drives, but there still seem to be fan pairings. [[ChildhoodFriends John/Kelly]], [[CargoShip John/Cortana]], John/Miranda, and [[InterspeciesRomance John/Thel]] being the most dominant in the fandom. The first three are easily the most popular, but the last one seems to be growing at a snail's pace. John/Miranda supporters were not held back by the fact that Miranda died in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'', they just change the outcome of the battle to say that she survived.

* ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'' fandom used to have '''very''' fierce ship wars in the second part of TheNineties, and sometimes these still pop out once in a while.

* Fellow [[Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment Namco]] fighting series ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' isn't quite as bad as this when compared to the (still relatively tame) ''Soulcalibur'' fandom, but it happens from time to time in rather peculiar ways.

* ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'' has [[HoYay Hajime Hinata/Nagito Komaeda]] (Komahina) vs. Hajime/[[GamerChick Chiaki Nanami]] (Hinanami), due to both Nagito and Chiaki being hinted to have romantic feelings for Hajime. On rare occasions, Nagito/Chiaki (Komanami) fans will sometimes join in on the fight as well, but again, this is extremely rare.

** Kyrie/Nero is hardly untouched. Perhaps a minority, but the Dante/Nero shippers can be quite vocal, especially if you so much as mention Kyrie. This did [[AbandonShip lessen quite a bit]] with [[spoiler:the post-''[=DMC4=]'' revelation that Nero is Vergil's son (and therefore Dante's nephew--[[IncestIsRelative do the math]])]], though several Dante/Nero shippers remained steadfast.

* It may be a Creator/BioWare thing in general. ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' has one official ship for a male Revan, two (a het and GayOption) for female. Fans will either take them as a given, or spin off into other territories like F!Revan/Canderous. ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire'' has a smaller fanfic base, but the Spirit Monk's romantic choices are mostly a non-issue. In the case of both ''Franchise/MassEffect'' and ''Franchise/DragonAge'', Creator/BioWare, to varying degrees of success, attempts to not officially designate a character the [[ImpliedLoveInterest "proper" love interest]]--every player is free to choose who their love interest is, making any conflict inherently pointless.

* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'': The wars between the four combinations coming from Isaac, Garet, Jenna, and Mia (just to clarify, we're talking ''hetero'' pairings here) are kinda like a MexicanStandoff, except everyone is, well, shooting at each other. Heck, the four pairings from that one group could easily fuel debate for several years without touching the dozens of other pairings in the ''GS'' 'verse. However, a lot of the pairings are just for fun (Magmashipping, anyone?).
** [[VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn The third game]] is set to star the descendants of the heroes from the first two games. Things are already getting ugly.
*** One pairing has been [[OfficialCouple confirmed canon]], but its partner... seems to have been [[ShipSinking sunk]]. [[spoiler:The first four playable characters each have a member of the first game's party for a parent, and none of them are siblings, which means that neither Isaac nor Garet ended up with Mia. However, Isaac x Jenna is canon.]]
* ''[[Franchise/AceAttorney Ace Attorney]]'':
** The most popular pairing in the franchise, both in the English and Japanese fanbase, is Phoenix and Miles. Those who ship them together point to the blatant HomoeroticSubtext and FoeRomanceSubtext between the two as proof of their relationship being canon. However, its most rabid cohorts are known to be very aggressive in their approach and attack anyone who disagrees with them, even accusing them of being homophobic. This has caused HypeBacklash and its detractors to hate the pairing because they believe that this VocalMinority of obsessive [[YaoiFangirl Yaoi Fangirls]] represents the entire shipping community.
** Other than Miles, Phoenix' is usually shipped with [[GirlFriday Maya]], [[MentorShip Mia]], or [[TheAtoner Iris]]. Phoenix/Mia is usually ignored, because Mia dies very early in the trilogy. Phoenix/Maya gets flack for being seen as creepy due to the large age gap between them and because they appear to be LikeBrotherAndSister. Phoenix/Iris is the most hated out of the three because Iris is seen as a DesignatedLoveInterest who has no personality outside of her crush on Phoenix yet is [[StrangledByTheRedString pushed]] as the canon pairing by the end of the trilogy. Typically, the most bloody wars tend to be between Phoenix/Miles and Phoenix/Maya shippers, but they will often come together to take down their common enemy - Phoenix/Iris shippers.
** Miles, similarly, when he isn't shipped with Phoenix, is paired with either [[SubordinateExcuse Detective Gumshoe]] or [[FriendlyEnemy Shi Long Lang]]. Most of the time they are cordial with Phoenix/Miles shippers in spite of their differences. However there is also a VocalMinority of Miles/Gumshoe and Miles/Lang shippers who allege that Phoenix is an [[CrazyJealousGuy obsessive]] StalkerWithACrush at best, or straight-up {{Yandere}} for Miles at absolute worst in order to prop up their pairings of choice as healthier and more wholesome. By contrast, those who dare to ship him with [[AmbiguouslyGay women]] - particularly [[NotBloodSiblings Franziska]], [[TokenMiniMoe Kay]], or [[TheRival Justice Courtney]] are met with constant backlash and homophobia accusations from all three factions. If you want to piss off ''everybody'' in the shipping community, allege that Miles is asexual, then sit back and watch the sparks fly.

** ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies Dual Destinies]]'' started some new ship wars, with Apollo/Athena (which is acused of either propping up Athena as a mix of SpotlightStealingSquad and Mary Sue or "breaking up" the very popular [[HoYay Apollo x Klavier]]) on one side, versus Apollo/Juniper [[ShipMates and]] Athena/Simon on the other (the first is called bland and boring AND Juniper is accused of being a Mary Sue too; the second is considered creepy because of the sizeable age gap between the two, [[spoiler:plus the fact that he met her when he was a young adult and she was a kid; even fans who enjoy age gaps squirm uncomfortably at this detail]]). In the meantime it's best not to even try to suggest pairing [[TheLostLenore Metis]] and Aura with anyone but each other, while the [[HoYay Athena/Juniper]] shippers have wisely decided to stay in their corners.

** Go to any forum about ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' and you'll find ample discussion about which woman ([[HoYay or man]]) Link should end up with. Given that Link has no real characterization but the player's, and there are multiple Link's, you have to wonder if shipping debates are more about which person the [[PerverseSexualLust player wants to end up with.]]

** The second-fiercest must be [[FoeYay Knuckles/Rouge]] vs. [[TrueCompanions Shadow/Rouge]].

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' has an almost legendary status for this. Even almost ''two decades'' after the game's release, [[TheRemnant there are still some small enclaves]] where Cloud/Tifa and Cloud/Aerith followers wage war with each other. And then there's the [[FoeYay Cloud/Sephiroth]] shippers...

* ''VideoGame/StarFox'''s combat revolves ''all'' around [[TheHero Fox]]: Fox/[[CanonImmigrant Krystal]] vs. [[ContinuityReboot Fox]]/[[GodCreatedCanonForeigner Fara]] [[DieForOurShip (oftentimes ending badly for Krystal)]] vs. [[VitriolicBestBuds Fox/Falco]] vs. Fox/[[AntiHero Wolf]], a notable exception being [[FoeYay Wolf/Krystal]], and, later (and for no apparent reason), Fox/Miyu. Fox/Falco also gets pitted against [[ShipTease Falco/Katt]] every now and then, and the Fox/Krystal OfficialCouple occasionally goes against [[RomanticFalseLead Panther]]/Krystal, which is usually the target of DieForOurShip anyway.

** Should Leon S. Kennedy be with [[ActionGirl Claire Redfield]]? [[DatingCatwoman Ada Wong?]] [[MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter Manuela Hidalgo?]] [[BodyguardCrush Ashley?]] [[FoeYay Or Krauser]]? Fans will never fully agree. Bringing up the fact that Helena Harper, Leon's partner in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'', [[ShipperOnDeck actively supports Leon/Ada]] is ill-advised.

** Speaking of Claire, fans are torn on whether to pair her with Leon, [[TheScrappy Steve Burnside]], [[HoYay Moria Burton]], [[FoeYay Wesker]] ''or'' [[BrotherSisterIncest her brother Chris]] or, [[{{Squick}} worse still]], Sherry--who is like a daughter/little sister to her.

** Chris Redfield/Sheva Alomar vs. Chris/Jill Valentine... and mentioning [[FoeYay Chris/Wesker]] is pretty much a nuclear explosion waiting to happen. [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil6 Piers]] gets off relatively easy by comparison, though the fact that [[spoiler:he dies in a HeroicSacrifice]] might have something to do with that.

** Finally, we have fans of [[HoYay Ragna/Jin]], [[FoeYay Jin/Hazama]] and [[FoeYay Ragna/Hazama]], who hammer on ''everyone else''.

** [[TheProtagonist Kyo Kusanagi]] x [[TheRival Iori Yagami]] is one of the most (in)famous cases of slashy FoeYay in any video game fandom, and whoever mentions Kyo's canon girlfriend [[GirlNextDoor Yuki]] will be on the receiving end of nasty insults, with Yuki being accused of being a [[FlatCharacter bland]] DamselInDistress or worse, and sometimes getting the DieForOurShip treatment. The few Kyo/Yuki fans that are still around may react via passive-aggressively accusing all Kyo/Iori fans of being misogynistic or shallow, or take the Canon Theocrat option in opposing it on the basis of it being non-canon and thus unworthy of being shipped, or accuse it of being an abusive relationship consisting entirely of hate with zero basis other than GuyOnGuyIsHot. Not helping is that though Kyo/Yuki are [[OfficialCouple still together]] as of ''XIV'', Yuki has become more and more OutOfFocus, while the HoYay for Kyo/Iori persists with each entry and even receives deliberate ShipTease in the form of LampshadeHanging.

** The same game also made the Link/Cassandra pairing popular, which was naturally at odds with those who [[FoeYay shipped Cassandra with Raphael]].

** Who should series protagonist [[TroubledButCute Jin Kazama]] end up with? [[HighSchoolSweethearts Xiaoyu?]] [[FoeYay Hwoarang?]] [[KissingCousins Asuka?]] [[UnholyMatrimony Nina?]] [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight Julia?]] Debates continue on to this day... in spite of the fact that the most reasonable answer is "no one." The developers (including series producer Katsuhiro Harada) have outright stated that Jin is {{celibate|Hero}} on account of [[CantHaveSexEver his genetics]]: as a Devil Gene carrier who's suffered his entire life; willingly cut off ties from the few friends he actually did have (Xiaoyu included); and went as far as [[spoiler:engineering the series equivalent of WorldWarIII to draw out the GreaterScopeVillain behind his family's cursed blood, take it down, and implicitly [[DeathSeeker die]] [[MutualKill in the process]]]], it's highly unlikely he'd want his bloodline to continue on in ''any'' capacity.

** Being a LauncherOfAThousandShips, Shuichi of ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' gets a lot of this, mostly between people who ship him with [[EveryoneCanSeeIt Kaede]], [[BromanticFoil Kaito]] or [[FoeYay Kokichi.]]

** Engineer/Sniper vs. Engineer/Pyro vs. Spy/Sniper- Battle Brothers vs. FoeYay. It doesn't help that Pyros are most often seen babysitting Engineer nests in maps once the fighting stalls at a choke point or wields an Ax replacement called "The Homewrecker."
** Spy/Sniper vs. Engineer/Spy vs. Pyro/Spy vs. Scout's Mother/Spy: Only Scout's Mother has any real standing in official text: she's shown as the Spy's paramour in "Meet the Spy", wherein Spy calls her by an affectionate pet-name and shows real fondness for her, and in-game taunts the enemy Scout with "Well, off to visit your mother!", but the FoeYay and MindGameShip of Engineer, Sniper, and Pyro is often too much to resist, especially considering Spy's main job is to troll and backstab.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'' further complicates things by not only reigniting the old Aerith/Tifa rivalry for Cloud (though not to the same intensity), but also giving both women more screentime together with [[LesYay homoerotic subtext between them]], and also [[ThirdOptionLoveInterest throwing in a new challenger]] in [[AscendedExtra Jessie]]. The remake also [[spoiler:shakes up the dynamics of the original potentially quite a bit -- its ending implies it will be a new timeline, and that not only could Aerith live, but that Zack might have as well, and on top of all that, Jessie might have survived the plate falling, which would create not a love triangle, but potentially a pentagon, depending on whether Zack's survival happened in the same timeline the heroes are in]].

** In ''Tekken 6''[='s=] Scenario Campaign, RobotGirl newcomer Alisa Bosconovitch becomes rather close to fellow newcomer (and [[DefectorFromDecadence former Tekken Force commander]]) Lars. Their scenes together, as well as his reaction to Alisa's temporary shutdown late in the story, can be viewed through romantic lens, though their relationship never overtly progresses beyond a platonic stage. ''VideoGame/Tekken7'' would only [[ShipTease add more fuel to the fire]] by having a repaired Alisa [[TheGlomp happily tackle]] Lars during their reunion (with Lee--who brought Alisa to Lars in the first place--[[ShipperOnDeck enjoying the show]]). On the other hand, ''Anime/TekkenBloodVengeance'' has Xiaoyu teamed up with Alisa... and [[RomanticTwoGirlFriendship their scenes together]] can ''also'' be viewed through romantic lens. Cue bickering over who Alisa "truly" belongs with. Note that while ''Blood Vengeance'' is officially touted as taking place between ''T5'' and ''T6'', [[ContinuitySnarl the film contradicts the games' canon at multiple turns]] to the point it'd be easier to write it off as an AlternateContinuity--essentially rendering these arguments a non-issue from the start.

** ''Harvest Moon'' has odd examples of this. The fandom is usually quite nice and pleasant but this can occur when referring to games where the same characters are paired with different people. ''VideoGame/{{Harvest Moon 64}}'' has the rival pairs as: Karen/Kai, Popuri/Gray, Ann/Cliff, Elli/Jeff, and Maria/Harris. ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature'' has them as: Karen/Rick, Popuri/Kai, Ann/Cliff, Elli/Doctor, and Mary/Gray. Due to SequelDisplacement, the ''BTN'' couples are most popular but it's not too uncommon to see complaints about how well they go together.

** ''VideoGame/{{Persona 2}}'' has mostly the rabid [[HoYay Tatsuya/Jun]] shippers, who don't seem to take the existence of Tatsuya/Maya shippers kindly. Strangely, those who ship Tatsuya with Lisa, the [[BettyAndVeronica Veronica]] in this situation, have largely slipped under their radars.
** ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' gives us all of [[ComicBookAdaptation Minato]]/[[Anime/Persona3TheMovie Mak]][[VideoGame/Persona3DancingMoonNight oto]]/[[Theatre/Persona3TheWeirdMasquerade Sakuya]]/whatever-you're-calling-the-MC's possible pairings, with MC/Aigis and MC/Yukari getting the most attention. Despite the fact that the player can choose who the MC dates, there are frequent (and very heated) arguments about which ship is "canon."

*** A particularly bloody war happens between those who ship the MC with either [[KickChick Chie]], [[LadyOfBlackMagic Yukiko]], [[MissionControl Rise]] or [[TheGunslinger Naoto]]. The last one is specially complicated thanks to the huge MisaimedFandom about her gender. [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment Let's leave it at that.]]

* In ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'', there is a 3 way battle for who Rex should be with. There's the 2 forms of the Aegis (Pyra and Mythra), and Nia a Gormotti that he meets early on in the game and has a Love confession for him at one point in the story [[spoiler: After helping her to be comfortable with the fact that she's a Flesh Eater]].

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'' further complicates things by not only reigniting the old Aerith/Tifa rivalry for Cloud (though not to the same intensity), but also giving both women more screentime together with [[LesYay homoerotic subtext between them]], and also [[ThirdOptionLoveInterest throwing in a new challenger]] in [[AscendedExtra Jessie]]. The remake also [[spoiler: shakes up the dynamics of the original potentially quite a bit - its ending implies it will be a new timeline, and that not only could Aerith live, but that Zack might have as well, and on top of all that, Jessie might have survived the plate falling, which would create not a love triangle, but potentially a pentagon, depending on whether Zack's survival happened in the same timeline the heroes are in]].
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2'': Back when the fandom was more active, there was something of a friendly rivalry between the Gippal/Rikku and [[SlashFic Gippal/Baralai]] ships. That neither had any real canon support (the former is vaguely hinted at but only gets a MaybeAfterEver while the latter used to be friends then had a falling out) probably helped a lot.

* ''[[Franchise/AceAttorney Ace Attorney]]''

* ''Franchise/StreetFighter'': Sakura's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABh7-96oHtM arcade ending]] in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV'' has sparked a minor one between Ryu/Sakura shippers and longtime fans who have [[OneTruePairing always shipped him]] [[KickChick with]] [[ShesGotLegs Chun-Li.]] Those who support Sakura use the fact that she told Ryu ''she wants to have his children'' as evidence of their being more likely to become canon. The Chun-Li camp feels the age gap between him and Sakura would make Ryu look like an {{Ephebophile}}, so they continue to ship him with Chun-Li instead. Also fueled by the fact that [[AmazonianBeauty she's HOT]] and canonically still single.

* In regards to ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles'', there's the debate over who Shulk should be paired with. On the one side, there's the childhood friend [[spoiler:whose death sets the plot in motion]] (Fiora); and on the other side, there's the princess of a dying race (Melia).

** [[OfficialCouple Undyne x Alphys]] seems to be the only couple that the fandom allows Undyne to be put with. Suggesting Undyne x Papyrus or Asgore x Alphys (both of which, while not official, do have some explanation for their existence) is essentially grounds for being called out on either being [[StrawmanFallacy homophobic]] or trying to change the canon.

** Miles, similarly, when he isn't shipped with Phoenix, is paired with either [[SubordinateExcuse Detective Gumshoe]] or [[FriendlyEnemy Shi Long Lang]]. They tend to be cordial with Phoenix/Miles shippers in spite of their differences. However, those who dare to ship him with [[AmbiguouslyGay women]] - particularly [[NotBloodSiblings Franziska]], [[TokenMiniMoe Kay]], or [[TheRival Justice Courtney]] are met with constant backlash and homophobia accusations from all three factions. If you want to piss off ''everybody'' in the shipping community, allege that Miles is asexual, then sit back and watch the sparks fly.

** There's quite a bit of animosity between fans of Sonic/Amy and Sonic/Sally, for obvious reasons; whereas Amy is generally a StalkerWithACrush towards Sonic with only a few moments of ShipTease between the two at best, Sally Acorn is a CanonForeigner who is ''unambiguously'' Sonic's love interest in her [[WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM debut cartoon]] and [[Comicbook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics the comic continuation]]. [[note]] Keep in mind that Sonic's modern characterization as a CelibateHero [[EarlyAdaptationWeirdness wasn't yet established]] when both adaptations were made[[/note]]. This is a somewhat odd instance of this, as the two characters only coexisted within the comics, where Amy first appeared as a 10 year-old girl whose age [[PrecociousCrush proved quite the hurdle in getting Sonic's attention]]. An awkward attempt at CanonWelding meant this continuity had her grow up into her modern teenage self through a PlotRelevantAgeUp (while still having the mind of a 10-year-old), a fact that later writers probably wished they could completely ignore. Fans did freely ignore this tidbit though, and continue to duke it out anyway.

* The ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' fandom is divided between people who ship either [[MagicContractRomance Shirou/Saber]], [[BelligerentSexualTension Shirou/Rin]], or [[SempaiKohai Shirou/Sakura]]. When these factions meet, things can get nasty very quickly. Sakura gets flack for being, according to her naysayers, a [[WhatMeasureIsANonBadass "girly thus weak"]] DamselInDistress who constantly whines about her predicament and is often portrayed in fanfiction as being EntitledToHaveYou towards Shirou and TheResenter towards Saber. People who have issues with Saber accuse her of being [[CreatorsFavorite Type Moon's cash cow]] who ''also'' [[TheAtoner drowns]] [[HeroicSelfDeprecation in a puddle of]] [[TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask her own angst]] (''especially'' in [[LightNovel/FateZero the prequel]]). And people who have issues with Rin believe she's a {{Jerkass}} {{Tsundere}} who wants nothing more than to [[DieForOurShip steal Sakura's man]].
** Originally, the Shirou/Saber and Shirou/Sakura fans were really threatened by the presence of the opposing side’s heroine. However, tensions between the two shipping fandoms or “Shipping-doms” have actually mellowed out in more recent times. This coupled with newer more less-aggressive and even non-aggressive fans and shippers who like both Heroines has even resulted in many Shirou/Saber and Shirou/Sakura fans becoming ShipMates. With both sides coming to an agreement that both Sakura and Saber are heroines characters that Shirou needs to "save" in their respective routes. Interestingly, a rising number of Rin fans who prefer a pairing of Rin with Archer rather than Shirou has caused the situation to go further in favor of either of the other two heroines ending up with Shirou.
** Originally Rin and her fans didn't have this problem with the Saber fans, with the two fandoms even being considered ShipMates, only having to deal with issues from Sakura fans. However, recently thanks to the arrival of more aggressive and vocal Rin fans and Shirou/Rin shippers, relations between the two fandoms have caused a major fallout between the two fandoms. Ironically, UBW’s position of being the only route with a Good End in the game and Rin’s character being rather...[[ThreeWaySex open to certain kinds of things]], have come to be viewed as more biased and even more negative rather than a positive, especially when compared to the Fate route having only a normal ending with neither a good nor a bad end or Heaven’s Feel which has a Good End, Normal End, and even a canonical Bad End. It also doesn't help that most of the Saber and Sakura bashers are Shirou/Rin fans. The situation has gone further in favor of either of the other two heroines thanks to the rising number of Rin fans who prefer a pairing of Rin with Archer rather than Shirou.

* The ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' fandom is divided between people who ship either [[MagicContractRomance Shirou/Saber]], [[BelligerentSexualTension Shirou/Rin]], or [[SempaiKohai Shirou/Sakura]]. When these factions meet, things can get nasty very quickly. Sakura gets flack for being, according to her naysayers, a [[WhatMeasureIsANonBadass "girly thus weak"]] DamselInDistress who constantly whines about her predicament and is often portrayed in fanfiction as being EntitledToHaveYou towards Shirou and TheResenter towards Saber. People who have issues with Saber accuse her of being Type Moon's cash cow who ''also'' [[TheAtoner drowns]] [[HeroicSelfDeprecation in a puddle of]] [[TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask her own angst]] (''especially'' in [[LightNovel/FateZero the prequel]]). And people who have issues with Rin believe she's a {{Jerkass}} {{Tsundere}} who wants nothing more than to [[DieForOurShip steal Sakura's man]].

* The ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' fandom is divided between people who ship either [[MagicContractRomance Shirou/Saber]], [[BelligerentSexualTension Shirou/Rin]], or [[SempaiKohai Shirou/Sakura]]. When these factions meet, things can get nasty very quickly. Sakura gets flack for being, according to her naysayers, a [[WhatMeasureIsANonBadass "girly thus weak"]] DamselInDistress who constantly whines about her predicament and is often portrayed in fanfiction as being EntitledToHaveYou towards Shirou and TheResenter towards Saber. People who have issues with Saber accuse her of being [[WolverinePublicity Type]] [[SpotlightStealingSquad Moon's]] [[CreatorsPet cash cow]] who ''also'' [[TheAtoner drowns]] [[HeroicSelfDeprecation in a puddle of]] [[TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask her own angst]] (''especially'' in [[LightNovel/FateZero the prequel]]). And people who have issues with Rin believe she's a {{Jerkass}} {{Tsundere}} who wants nothing more than to [[DieForOurShip steal Sakura's man]].

** The most popular pairing in the franchise, both in the English and Japanese fanbase, is Phoenix and Miles. Those who ship them together point to the blatant HomoeroticSubtext and FoeRomanceSubtext between the two as proof of their relationship being canon. However, its most rabid cohorts are known to be very aggressive in their approach and attack anyone who disagrees with them, even accusing them of being homophobic. This has caused HypeBacklash and its detractors to hate the pairing because they believe that this VocalMinority of obsessive [[YaoiFangirl YaoiFangirls]] represents the entire shipping community.

* ''[[Franchise/AceAttorney Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney]]'' has had very bloody shipping wars since as early as the first game of the trilogy:

** Miles, similarly, when he isn't shipped with Phoenix, is paired with either [[SubordinateExcuse Detective Gumshoe]] or [[FriendlyEnemy Shi Long Lang]]. They tend to be cordial with Phoenix/Miles shippers in spite of their differences. However, those who dare to ship him with [[AmbiguouslyGay women]] - particularly [[NotBloodSiblings Franziska]], [[TokenMiniMoe Kay]], or [[TheRival Justice Courtney]] are met with constant backlash and homophobia accusations from all three factions. If you want to piss off ''everybody'' in the shipping community, allege that Miles is [[Asexuality asexual]], then sit back and watch the sparks fly.

* ''[[Franchise/AceAttorney Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney]]'':
** Combat is going on between Edgeworth X Franziska and Edgeworth X Kay shippers in the Japanese fandom. And in the American fandom it's Edgeworth het shippers vs. [[HetIsEw those who insist he's gay and don't take kindly to him being shipped with women]]. For the latter shipping war, do not mention to more militant members of either group that the games characterize Edgeworth as [[CelibateHero completely uninterested in romance]], to the point that he may very well be an actual "[[{{Asexuality}} ace]] attorney."
** Some [[HoYay Franziska x Adrian]] fans have been attacked by antishippers who think that either [[spoiler:Adrian's TrueLove was her deceased mentor Celeste Inpax]] or that Franziska x Adrian [[UnequalPairing is too co-dependent and unhealthy]], with Adrian probably seeing Fran as [[spoiler:a ReplacementGoldfish for Celeste rather than an actual girlfriend]].

** There's quite a bit of animosity between fans of Sonic/Amy and Sonic/Sally, for obvious reasons; whereas Amy is generally a StalkerWithACrush towards Sonic with only a few moments of ShipTease between the two at best, Sally Acorn is a CanonForeigner who is ''unambiguously'' Sonic's love interest in her [[WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM debut cartoon]] and [[Comicbook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics the comic continuation]]. [[note]] Keep in mind that Sonic's modern characterization as a CelibateHero [[EarlyAdaptationWeirdness wasn't yet extablished]] in both adaptations. This is a somewhat odd instance of this, as the two characters only coexisted within the comics, where Amy first appeared as a 10 year-old girl (whose design was based on her Genesis era self) with a PrecociousCrush on Sonic. An awkward attempt at CanonWelding meant this continuity had her grow up into her modern teenage self through a PlotRelevantAgeUp (while still having the mind of a 10-year-old), a fact that later writers probably wished they could completely ignore. Fans did freely ignore this tidbit though, and continue to duke it out anyway.