History TheHero / VideoGames

** ''Point Lookout'' has the [[PlayerCharacter Lone Wanderer]] caught between a badass and a [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]]. While none of his actions are decidedly heroic or villainous, he gets outsmarted by brain-damaged drug addicts and (depending on what side quests he follows), a 200-year-old death trap. Both these events paint the hero as more of a gullible imcompetent than anything else.

** ''VideoGame/ZeroNoKiseki and Ao No Kiseki'' follows Lloyd Bannings who aspires to be a policeman and also wants to know who and why his brother was killed on duty.

* The ''VideoGame/KisekiSeries'' has a few.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky First Chapter and Second Chapter'' has Estelle Bright as the main protagonist of the game and the heroine of the story, who starts off her adventures as a bracer.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky The Third'' has Kevin Graham who was a party member in ''SC'' and ends up being the hero of his own game as he struggles with his mistakes and failures, and learns to accept them.
** ''VideoGame/ZeroNoKiseki and Ao No Kiseki'' follows Lloyd Bannings who aspires to be a policeman and also wants to know who and why his brother was killed on duty.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel I, II, III, and IV'' follows Rean Schwarzer on his quest to find his true purpose in life by attending a military academy.

** Although there's the possibility of it being too obvious to be worth listing here, the majority of the main characters in every ''Dragon Quest'' game serve as the Hero, to the point that in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII'' the hero's default name '''is''' Hero. Nearly all of them have balanced abilities and use (or have the option of using) swords, and many of them have lightning and/or fire in their selection of attack magic. One of the only exceptions is the Hero from ''VideoGame/DragonQuestII'', who learns no magic at all and serves as the physical fighter of the party.

** Leif of ''VideoGame/Thracia776'' is a kindhearted young man who eventually develops the maturity to be the leader the northern Thracian resistance needs.

* Although there's the possibility of it being too obvious to be worth listing here, the majority of the main characters in every ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' game serve as the Hero, to the point that in ''Dragon Quest VIII'' the hero's default name '''is''' Hero. Nearly all of them have balanced abilities and use (or have the option of using) swords, and many of them have lightning and/or fire in their selection of attack magic. One of the only exceptions is the Hero from ''Dragon Quest II'', who learns no magic at all and serves as the physical fighter of the party.

** And as if to drive the point home, when the Heroes of ''Dragon Quest III'', ''Dragon Quest IV'', ''Dragon Quest VIII'' and ''Dragon Quest XI'' came to ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'', they all shared a slot under the same name, which is, you guessed it, ''Hero''.

* VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog is both the hero of the series and Team Sonic's (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles) ''de facto'' {{leader}}.

* Crono from ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger''. While initially he sets to rescue his newfound friend (and potentially LoveInterest Marle) from being absorbed by a time gate, he ends up embarking in a quest across time and space in order to avert a BadFuture which happens ''centuries'' long after he's dead. All while he saves a Queen from the Middle Ages, defeats a fiend Overlord (which can fight side-by-side with), and a race of reptilians form the Prehistory.

* The lords from the ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' series fit this trope, as does Robin from ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Awakening]]''.

* ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeRedemption'' follows Cristoff Romauld, a [[UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar French templar knight]] turned [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire vampire]] on a quest across land (and time) to rescue his LoveInterest Anezka and fighting against several other evil vampires across the way... Unless if he is played like an outright VillainProtagonist.

* The [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyI Warrior of Light]] as he appears in ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy''. [[UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny In a game full of heroes from all over the series]], he is '''the''' hero, to the point where his characterisation comes across as more than a tad unrealistic. But then [[spoiler:you realise he doesn't have much of a personality besides being a hero because he's an ArtificialHuman with no memories]]. Also a case of TropesAreNotBad: the Warrior of Light doesn't share the confidence issues or doubts of his more AntiHero comrades, and needs no personal motivation beyond loyalty to Cosmos, [[TheParagon making him an inspiration to the others]].

%%* Crono from ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger''

%%* Fox [=McCloud=] of ''VideoGame/StarFox''.

* The''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys series has the various night guards throughout the series who [[spoiler: in the Freddy Files and Survival Logbook, are all hinted to be Michael Afton.]] As well, there is the Crying Child from VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys4, who is the protagonist of the 8-bit minigames and maybe the main gameplay. Or it could be the older brother. [[AmbiguousSituation We aren't sure.]] [[spoiler: And the older brother could be Michael.]]

%%* The PlayerCharacter in almost every {{RPG}} ever written. The Jedi protagonist and the Exile in KnightsOfTheOldRepublic 1 and 2 respectively, the Spirit Monk in ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire'', the Hero of Neverwinter and Drogan's Pupil in VideoGame/NeverwinterNights, the Kalach-Cha in VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2, Commander Shepard in Franchise/MassEffect [[VideoGame/MassEffect1 1]], [[VideoGame/MassEffect2 2]] and [[VideoGame/MassEffect3 3]], etc, etc, etc. There's nothing stopping the character being an AntiHero or even a Villain Protagonist. Shepard stands out though in that s/he actually talks, giving him/her a more fleshed out personality (though you can still choose that personality).

* [[BruceLeeClone Liu Kang]] originally served this role (with Raiden as the BigGood) in the ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' series, being the canon victor of the first four games and his title as Champion of Earthrealm, notably the only character in the first game whose finisher didn't actually kill his opponents, which set him apart from other kombatants. However, as time went on, he fell out of focus and [[OurHeroIsDead even got killed]] in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatDeadlyAlliance'', with his role being filled in the next games by [[DittoFighter Shujinko]] (whose [[MeaningfulName name literally means "main protagonist"]] in Japanese) in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatDeception'' and the Edenian demigod [[SemiDivine Taven]] in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatArmageddon'' (both of which don't do exactly a [[FailureHero spectacular job in the "hero" department]]). In the [[VideoGame/MortalKombatX most recent game]], Liu Kang has turned into a FallenHero and the position is now filled by [[ActionGirl Cassie Cage]], who leads a new generation of kombatants and [[spoiler:manages to defeat the main villain Shinnok at the end]].

* Rosalyn from ''VideoGame/{{Okage}}'' is another case of the hero not being the player character, generally being a superb Hero's Guild Member and overshadowing [[SupportingProtagonist Ari]]. But then, everyone does that last bit.

* Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog is both the hero of the series and Team Sonic's (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles) ''de facto'' {{leader}}.

* ''VideoGame/SoulSeries'': [[HairOfGoldHeartOfGold Sophitia]] was canonically the one who defeated Cervantes and destroyed Soul Edge at the end of the first ''Soul'' game. Later games would put Sophitia as a supporting character in favour of [[GenkiGirl Xianghua]] (''Calibur''), [[TheAtoner Siegfried]] (''Calibur II, III and IV'') and [[LamarckWasRight Sophitia's son]] [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Patroklos]] (''Calibur V''). Sophitia however has the most in common with traditional fighting game heroes, being the balanced, newbie-friendly character.

* In ''Franchise/SlyCooper'', Sly is the hero even though he's a thief. Even though he's considered a criminal because he steals, he only steals to save the world from criminals who actually are evil and have devious intentions.
* [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Sonic]] is both the hero of the series and Team Sonic's (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles) ''de facto'' {{leader}}.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel First Chapter and Second Chapter'' has Estelle Bright as the main protagonist of the game and the heroine of the story, who starts off her adventures as a bracer.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel The Third'' has Kevin Graham who was a party member in ''SC'' and ends up being the hero of his own game as he struggles with his mistakes and failures, and learns to accept them.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel I, II, and III'' follows Rean Schwarzer on his quest to find his true purpose in life by attending a military academy.

* ''VideoGame/Vampyr2018'': Jonathan E. Reid is another vampire protagonist that can be played like a FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire, but his main goal is to save London from a mysterious epidemic, [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential regardless]] [[AntiHero how]] [[VillainProtagonist he is played as]]. Turns out that [[spoiler:this was intended to be his role all along, a [[MonsterKnight vampire champion]] raised by [[{{Myth/{{Merlin}} Myrddin]] to save Britain from disaster]].

* ''VideoGame/Vampyr2018'': Jonathan E. Reid is another vampire protagonist that can be played like a FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire, but his main goal is to save London from a mysterious epidemic, [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential regardless]] [[AntiHero how]] [[VillainProtagonist he is played as]]. Turns out that [[spoiler:he was intended to be this role all along, since he was made a vampire by Myrddin to save Britain from disaster]].

* ''VideoGame/VampiresDawn'': Asgar is the main protagonist and will fit this trope like a glove if played FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire. At least the second game assumes you played it this way, given it starts with one ending where you were a good guy.

* Unsurprisingly, the main protagonist titled as the Hero (though his canon name is Devon Aidendale) in ''VideoGame/QuestForGlory'' is this trope by profession. The whole series is about becoming more virtuous and heroic as it progresses.