Jerk With A Heart Of Gold / Video Games

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• Absented Age: Squarebound: Although Yayoi and Hoop are condescending towards Tarte, they're surprisingly flexible about following the Elicio Church's orders. After Karen saves them, they decide to help her out of gratitude despite her being a target of the church. They even uphold their end of the deal and help Karen materialize in time for the Super Live despite all the flags indicating that they might backstab Karen.
• Most of the rivals from the Ace Attorney series.
  • Miles Edgeworth is probably the best example.
    • In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, part of the reason he resists allowing Phoenix to take his case in "Turnabout Goodbyes" despite having been accused of murder is because it would potentially ruin Phoenix's career if Phoenix lost; and since Phoenix would have to go up against the infamous Manfred Von Karma, Edgeworth has reason to believe that Phoenix has no chance. He also apologizes for telling Phoenix that he's a horrible defense attorney, stating that he'd only been trying to make Phoenix go away, and he hadn't really meant it.
    • He helps Phoenix stall for time in Case 2-4 of Justice for All in order to give Gumshoe time to find Maya, who has been kidnapped by an assassin, despite not even knowing about it. All he knows is that Phoenix is freaking out about something, so he just jumps in to help draw out the trial and requests a ten-minute recess so he can ask Phoenix what's going on.
    • In Trials and Tribulations, he charters a private jet and flies back from overseas the instant he hears that Phoenix might be dying in Case 3-5. (He's mostly fine, as it turns out, but since this was after he had plunged off a burning bridge into a rapidly-flowing river famous for killing many people in the middle of winter, the concern was justified.) Directly afterwards, he risks his career for Phoenix's sake by pretending to be a defense attorney in order to defend Iris on the first day of her trial, as Phoenix has not yet been released from the hospital.
    • In Dual Destinies, he helps Phoenix get his badge back as the new Chief Prosecutor, gets him to defend one of his innocent subordinates (Simon Blackquill), prosecutes a trial for Athena so they can work together with Simon, Apollo, and Athena to uncover the elusive Phantom, and shows genuine concern for Phoenix, his daughter, and his proteges.
    • In Spirit of Justice, he charters another jet, this time to take a party of five or six to Khura'in to rescue Maya, and acts as legal and emotional support for Phoenix while he's there. (It's implied that he also watches over Trucy, who smuggled herself along with them, during the final trial.) He also prosecutes in the DLC case because a powerful family was trying to keep the matter from going to trial.
  • Franziska von Karma in the second game. She has a nasty temper and a tendency to attack people with a whip when she doesn't get her way. However, she is kind to Adrian Andrews and she cried when Edgeworth showed brotherly affection for her. Also, in the third game, she seems hurt when Pearl yells at her.
  • Maximillian Galactica from Justice for All comes off as arrogant and self-conceited, but does so with the hopes that it will get his circus mates to strive to become better and follow in his example.
  • Shi-Long Lang from Ace Attorney Investigations appears at first to be a total jerk who irrationally hates prosecutors, but near the end he helps Edgeworth take down the real mastermind behind a smuggling ring, as well as taking a bullet for his traitorous assistant. And he continues to be useful in the sequel, even when it's shown that his initial distrust of prosecutors was justified.
  • A straighter example, like the prosecutors from the other games, is naturally Simon Blackquill. Yeah, he's a convict who loves his sword metaphors, has broken his cuffs just to test his deft swordplay at hapless defense attorneys, sicced his pet hawk on them and even The Judge, refuses to give opening statements, and even laughs at the attorney's more outlandish guesses, being willing to go through with even the most ludicrous farces. All that aside, he took the heat for Athena in the murder of her mother, is willing to be executed just so she can live a happy life even if they are both innocent of the crime, has some genuine Pet the Dog moments with not only the attorneys but also witnesses like Hugh O'Conner and Sasha Buckler, and is a pretty affable guy when he's declared innocent, much like Edgeworth above.
  • From the same game, Hugh O'Conner himself. Turns out, he's not a genius and the only reason he was getting good grades was because his parents bribed the teacher Aristotle Means because they were fed up with him failing for 7 years in a row. He's willing to take the heat for both Robin and Juniper if it means they go free, even using Insane Troll Logic to try and convince the court that he's serious. He's thankful to Athena for helping his friends and himself, and genuinely wanted his friends to trust him. But it's covered under a layer of smug perfectionism, rough and stubborn "genius" attitude, and mocking "mouth breathers" like Athena and Apollo.
• AMC Squad:
  • James Stanfield is rather aloof and can be impatient with his squadmates' bickering among each other, and he tends to snark a lot at anyone and anything he comes across, but he answered his superior's call to form an elite squad of agents in order to combat otherworldly threats to Earth, and he's always the first to help out whenever someone is in a dangerous predicament.
  • Sang is a crass warlock who never stops to bicker at someone or something while on a mission, but he accepted James' offer to join the AMC Squad if it means finding a way to deal with his Evil Twin, Le Sang. He also shares a fair amount of sympathy to Lilith after he discovers her journal, in which she expresses her wanting to rid herself of the evil inside her, and argues with James over their mission after James tells him that he's going to stop the ritual by any means necessary, even if it means killing Lilith.
• Animal Crossing:
  • The "grumpy" male animals, especially in the later games. Though they are self-admitted curmudgeons, they warm up to you fairly quickly, and even though they tease you, they're very glad of your friendship. They even cry with joy if you show up at their birthday parties!
  • Mr. Resetti tends to rage at players who constantly reset the game, to the point where he tricks them into thinking he erased their games, but at heart he's just advocating them to play the games like they're living their lives, as Save Scumming isn't the way the game is meant to be played. His older brother Don at one point shows up in his place to apologize for his outbursts being a blight in their family's reputation. Notably, Resetti himself is self-restrained the first time you reset the game, warning you not to get too intimidated by his harshness if you keep resetting the game.
• Lilica Felchenerow from Arcana Heart. Despite her uncaring attitude, she has a few friends, such as Heart Aino and Yoriko Yasuzumi, the latter which could be considered a Morality Pet. This also applies to Saki Tsuzura, a Deadpan Snarker who is Heart's closest friend.
• Arknights: Młynar is the Nearl family's overworked Jerkass uncle who vocally voices his disapproval of his nieces' choice to become competition knights. He was also willing to attack the Armorless Union's top enforcers in order to discourage them from harming his niece - who is a powerful competition knight in her own right - as well as stopping said enforcers from massacring innocent Infected.
• Stackmaster Poone of The Ascent is definitely a jerk through and through, but repeatedly demonstrates himself to be surprisingly concerned with maintaining and even improving quality of life in his district. He consistently acts disgusted with the entire world and treats everyone around him like garbage, but his master plan eventually winds up being finding a way to make the contracts of everyone in Cluster 13 expire before they can be claimed by another corporation, which would set them all free. He does this in spite of receiving what is implied to be a fairly lucrative offer from the corporations to side with them instead.
• Astra Hunter Zosma:
  • Zosma is a self-absorbed Glory Seeker and is rude when he's frustrated with his current situation, but he learns to be nicer to his blob companion. Although he initially helps the bosses of each stratum in order to advance in the tower, he eventually helps them out of genuine care. In the ending, he continues searching for treasure not for his own gain, but to promote the history of the people those treasures are tied to.
  • Waning and Waxing spend much of their time playing pranks on Zosma, but they ultimately support his quest and compliment him for learning the value of teamwork. Additionally, pranks are how they maintain their existence, and they never enact any lethal pranks. They also bestowed blessings upon civilization in the past, until technology rendered them obsolete.
  • Saros is initially condescending towards Zosma and mocks his unluckiness, but later acknowledges that Zosma overcame her trials with skill. She also started her casino out of a desire to make people happy, only to regret it when it caused them to become gambling addicts.
• Borador "Goldhand", the Dwarf Rogue in Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II, initially comes across as a greedy, bad-tempered old fart, until you learn his motivation: his Only in It for the Money attitude stems from his desire to save his clan from a massive debt.
• Kazooie, the loudmouthed bird from Banjo-Kazooie. She doesn't show it much, but she does care about Banjo deep down. When she and Banjo get separated in the beginning of Grunty's Revenge, she's happy as a clam to see him again. She also occasionally lets slip her concern for other characters; there is a scene in Banjo-Tooie where, during the sidequest to save the frozen baby aliens, Kazooie goes "Aww..." out of pity, before catching herself and pretending she doesn't actually care.
• Kalas from Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean. He's a cynical jerk and an Anti-Hero, but if you hurt someone he loves, he'll chase you to the ends of the sky.
• Bayonetta uses this trope quite a lot.
  • There's the titular witch herself. She can come off as a Sociopathic Heroine at first glance due to her casual sadism when killing angels and causing horrendous collateral damage during her fights that would have most normal people arrested for vandalism years ago. She can also deal out enough snark to give ol' Spider-Man lessons. But underneath it all is a girl who genuinely cares for her friends, and unless you want a first-class, one-way, all-expense-paid trip to Inferno, don't even entertain the idea of harming them.
  • Luka is a Handsome Lech and a huge pervert most of the time, but he does have a heart and cares for his friends.
  • Enzo is an overweight loudmouth with a foul mouth and short fuse, but as Bayonetta herself notes in the sequel, he's a surprising family man.
  • Loki. He's a Bratty Half-Pint who uses enough foul language to make a sailor blush, but at the end of the day, he does care about Bayonetta and is quite willing to help her out... though he understandably draws the line at marching right into the gates of Hell.
• Augustus Sinclair in BioShock 2. A self-interested capitalist whose goal is to use Subject Delta to steal the technology of Rapture for profit, he nonetheless does go to great lengths to help Delta in his quest rather than leaving him to die and encourages him to show mercy. In the end, when Sofia Lamb turns him into a Brainwashed and Crazy Alpha-series Daddy, he encourages Delta to put him down and helps him with the last of his free will.
• BlazBlue:
  • Ragna the Bloodedge. For someone who is feared as the Grim Reaper, curses and trash talks a lot, just as long as you're not after his head, he is usually a nice man and an example of Dark Is Not Evil. This is lampshaded by Litchi when he decides to spare Arakune after she pleads him to (he is also against beating up women for no reason). This is very contrasting with his complete Jerkass of a brother, Jin.
  • Also, to a lesser extent (on the "Jerk" front at least) is Bang Shishigami. He can be rather thoughtless, will beat up anyone trying to talk to Litchi (even if she's the one who initiates the conversation), and, in Noel's story mode, beats her up and walks away laughing while she breaks down and cries. That said, he's also a very well-meaning individual who cares much more for the well-being of his village and those who follow him than his own personal safety, will never back down from helping those in need (though he may be incompetent at it), is strictly adherent to his code of no killing, and, in each character's respective Joke Ending, takes Taokaka and Carl under his wing to train them.
  • Even Jin gets in on this, in the second game. Jin is revealed to have a great deal of his Jerkass attitude from being Brainwashed and Crazy by his Evil Weapon Yukianesa, and ends up being closer to this trope than anything else. By this point, he's closer to his older self. Hakumen, than how he was in the first game.
  • Rachel Alucard also qualifies. She's a jerk to everyone, but especially to Ragna, and she can get downright nasty when she feels she's not being treated with the proper respect. At the same time, she's willing to go out of her way to help Ragna, even if it means upsetting her superiors.
  • Bullet of Chronophantasma is abrasive, anti-social, ill-tempered, and has a tendency to hold grudges, but she's not a villain. Only Bang gets to see the "Heart of Gold" part, though.
  • Kagura of the same game is a colossal pervert who gets easily distracted by any woman he comes across, particularly Makoto. But he's one of the coolest guys to hang out with and despite his flirtatious ways, he values women as people. On that note, harming a woman in his presence is ill-advised.
• Anonymous from BoxxyQuest: The Gathering Storm is a snarky, foul-mouthed Troll who loves chaos and lights people on fire for fun. He's also Catie's truest companion, who constantly supports her through all the hardships they face, and would lay down his life to keep her safe. Gradually, he comes to feel this way about Til as well.
• Bug Fables:
  • Vi is a very greedy, self-absorbed, and rude little bee. But during her adventure with Leif and Kabbu, she develops into a respectable adventurer into her own right. When people are kind to her, she's generally kind to them right back. She also comes to care about Kabbu and Leif's welfare after initially seeing them as a means to an end, often encouraging them to have fun while giving plenty of emotional support after Kabbu defeats the Beast that killed his friends and Leif finds out that he's a cordyceps possessing the corpse of the actual Leif. And as greedy as she is, even she has limits: she's charitable to those who are literally starving and doesn't even think to ask to be rewarded for her generosity.
  • Zasp of Team Mothiva is nowhere near as bad as his full-on Jerkass teammate Mothiva, but starts off rude and hostile towards Team Snakemouth. But after they save his life in Chapter 3, he begins to mellow out around them and turns out to be a pretty chill guy when Mothiva isn't around to trigger his old Jerkass behavior. He even saves Leif's life in return when a Dune Scorpion almost kills him.
  • Maki's sister Kina is a lot ruder and meaner than her brother, but her behavior usually stems from being worried about his safety and being annoyed that he doesn't trust her enough to let her accompany him on most missions. She's an otherwise friendly bug, and despite starting off incredibly hostile towards baby Yin for taking up so much of her brother's attention, she comes to love her when she realizes that Yin cares about her too.
  • King Hector IV of the termites is rather genial towards Team Snakemouth at first, but upon seeing Queen Elizant, whom he hates, he flips out and makes a real ass of himself while refusing to help the Ant Kingdom fight the Wasp King. But he does come to take the matter seriously and agrees to help once Team Snakemouth proves themselves to him. And by the end of the game, he's celebrating the Wasp King's demise with the rest of Bugaria at Elizant's palace, having moved on past his fanatical hatred for the queen.
• Jimmy, the main character of Bully. In the opening cut scene Jimmy appears disrespectful to his mother and new stepfather and starts off quite unsociable. However, he does mention that "I only give people what they have coming to them." He proves to be as good as his word, as his early missions involve protecting the Nerds from the Bullies. He goes out of his way to help the ugliest and least popular girls get their stolen items back and tells the biggest kid in the school that "There are a lot of kids at this school who need a beating, and you're picking on the few who don't! So I want you to leave me and [Petey] alone!"
• Chicory: A Colorful Tale: Despite Artichoke's bad attitude, he does genuinely appreciate Pizza's help at the post office, and awards pieces of an official postal uniform in exchange.
• Frog from Chrono Trigger, but only in the Japanese version — his dialogue was changed in the English translation such that he was chivalrous and polite (and with pseudo-Shakespearean syntax in the SNES version) instead of abrasive and aloof.
• Cyberpunk 2077:
  • Johnny Silverhand was a Well-Intentioned Extremist in life and a Mentor in Sour Armor in death. He's an Insufferable Genius who's completely incapable of interacting with the world through methods other than violence, insults, and drug abuse, and is completely willing to alienate people he can't afford to alienate in the long-term for short-term gratification or amusement. However, although he rarely shows it he genuinely cares for people and the reason he's so angry with the world is because of the MegaCorps ruining it and getting off scot-free. His friendship with V leads to him gradually becoming less abrasive, and in the ending where V allows him to keep their body he Took a Level in Kindness and becomes a Big Brother Mentor to a local teen before leaving Night City for greener pastures.
  • V tends to be this as well, as compared to Johnny their dialogue tends to be much more even-handed and they're quick to make bonds with people and, depending on player choices, can help them out even without the promise of a reward. Corpo V is a bit more on the "jerk" end of the scale as they have multiple opportunities to use their status to belittle and browbeat others.
  • Playful Hacker T-Bug could at times be cold towards V and Jackie at the start of the game, but when The Caper starts to go south she refuses to abandon them in the face of certain death for everyone involved, and gets Killed Offscreen by Arasaka netrunners for it.
• Danganronpa has had a few characters like this throughout its games.
  • Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc: Mondo Owada. Being the Ultimate Biker Gang Leader, he's quite rough around the edges and very quick to anger, even punching Makoto's lights out in the prologue when the latter tries to calm him down after Byakuya sends him off the handle. However, he's really not that bad when you interact with him, as he shows that he does care about the team staying together, and if you finish his free time events, he expresses a desire to become a carpenter when he graduates high-school, having spent so long breaking things.
  • Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair: Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu, the Ultimate Yakuza. He starts out as a complete asshole who's more than willing to kill everyone to get off the island. But then he gets put through the wringer during Chapter 2. Following this he becomes a lot closer to the group, still being a bit abrasive, but a competent leader who will warm to you all the same throughout his free time events.
    • While Hiyoko Saionji the ultimate dancer is The Bully of the group, she still has plenty of redeeming features such as her desire to protect and her love for her best friend Mahiru, her genuine hatred of murder and her attempts to change after Mahiru's murder, she even spends hours creates a memorial so that Mahiru wouldn't feel lonely in heaven and forgives Fuyuhiko, Mahiru's indirect murderer when she realises that Mahiru would want this. She's also genuinely passionate about preserving Japanese culture and Hajime notes that she's adorable when she isn't acting like a jerk.
    • Downplayed in the case of Mahiru Koizumi. Mahiru can be extremely critical and biased towards men, coming across as overly stern and harsh at times, however Mahiru is also a genuinely sweet person with a very optimistic and sunny personality and goes out of her way to look after the class and acts as the Team Mom of the group. She's more of a Nice Girl with some Jerkass with a Heart of Gold elements as opposed to Hiyoko and Fuyuhiko.
    • Similar to Mahiru, the main protagonist Hajime Hinata initially comes across as short tempered and critical of others, however he's also very good-natured,moral,helpful, and protective of the entire class, and is very easy to befriend as even the likes of Hiyoko and Fuyuhiko find themselves warming to his blunt but kind personality.
  • Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony: There are no less than three female gold-hearted jerks — Maki Harukawa, Miu Iruma, and Tenko Chabashira.
    • Maki is an Aloof Dark-Haired Girl who is initially cold, rude, and holds herself aloof from the group, like Fuyuhiko before her. However, after her true talent is revealed, she begins to form a bond with Shuichi and Kaito and becomes an important ally to Shuichi during investigations. By the end of the game, she's become True Companions with her friends and even volunteers to die so Shuichi and Himiko can escape the killing game. After Ki-bo destroys the school, she is one of the survivors.
    • Miu is a brash, loudmouthed girl who makes frequent sex jokes, saddles people with insulting nicknames, and brags about her smarts and good looks to anyone who will listen. That said, she still wants to use her talent to help people and is horrified by the death of Kaede. Though she ends up getting killed after a botched attempt to murder Kokichi, she did it because she thought the outside world needed her more and Shuichi notes that she actually does a lot to help the group. Her Free Time Events also show that Miu may still insult Kaede and Shuichi, but at the same time she is clearly warming up to them. Kaede notes that Miu does not have any malicious intent with her crass behavior and jokes; she just says whatever comes to mind without filtering herself, which very frequently gets on her classmates' nerves (not helped by Miu having a Friendless Background). Her Free Time Events with Shuichi and her Love Suite Event also show that Miu is actually a shy, submissive, and lonely girl of many insecurities who wants people to like her.
    • Tenko Chabashira hates "degenerate males" and is hostile towards any boy who gets too familiar and tends to react violently at the drop of a hat. That being said, she's very empathetic to both victims and culprits alike, tries to offer emotional advice to Shuichi and Himiko, and even volunteers to be a conduit for her rival, Angie, so Himiko can speak to her. Unfortunately, this costs Tenko her life. She is also capable of interacting positively with "degenerate males", which makes sense because her Free Time Events reveal that her misandry stems from her naively taking her master's joking around at face value (he taught her that a boy touching her weakens her moves, as does getting too excited for the holidays, eating more than three sweets a day, and not keeping a clean environment). Her Love Suite Event with Shuichi shows that Tenko is more willing to tolerate a boy who takes up Neo-Aikido, if not that she has a heavily repressed attraction to boys in general.
• Darksiders has The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse themselves, but especially Death, as much as he might try to deny it. While he's snide and willing to do morally questionable things, he's still an honorable warrior, shows concern for those under him and anyone he helps (his brothers and the Makers/Hellguard, respectively), offers his aid to the Makers in overcoming The Corruption almost unconditionally, and Uriel even acknowledges his noble nature when he does the same for her. Then there's the fact that he stood up for all of mankind when his kinsmen wanted to slaughter humanity and take over Earth/Eden and went so far as to bear the burden of killing them all with the aid of the other Horsemen. As Karn puts it:
  Karn: You're a good man! Much more than your name would imply.
• Agent York from Deadly Premonition. Parts of him are just weird and aloof, but other parts of him won't hesitate to snark those who have it coming, and he has a noted disregard for the feelings of those around him. But despite this, he can be a surprisingly nice guy at times — whether it be something as minor as releasing a legendary fish out of respect for how many times she's evaded capture before, to something as major as refusing to arrest a drug-dealing teenager when said boy seems genuinely sorry. And he is always, without fail, nice to his Imaginary Friend, Zach. He just has to learn to be nicer to other people, too.
• Frank West in Dead Rising looks rough around the edges, but nevertheless will help anyone in the Zombie Apocalypse.
• Charles the candy store owner in Delicious: Emily's Taste of Fame yells at everybody who walks into his shop and makes cracks at the title character's weight and perceived uselessness, but also offers to clean tables in order to lighten her workload and chews out her best friend Francois for not lending her a hand himself.
• Devil May Cry 4:
  • Nero is prone to badmouthing the church, listening to loud metal in said church, not allowing anyone to work on his team (which consists of himself), backtalking to Kyrie's brother, and taking great pleasure in insulting basically the gods of Hell to their faces, and anything else that happens to come his way, including Dante. But in that titular scene in the prologue, you see that one smile he gives to Kyrie when she's on stage that makes women everywhere pine for such a sweet guy. There's also the scene at the end of the credits where Kyrie is looking all dramatic and thoughtful and Nero swaggers up behind her. She takes his hand — his demon hand — and gives it a little squeeze... which he returns. Then he promptly goes all bashful and can't look at her, with a dorky little smile on his face. Just don't screw with her. Ever.
  • Dante himself counts. He's abrasive as all hell at first (especially in 3), and initially acts like a Handsome Lech towards Lady, but it's implied that he does a lot of pro bono jobs when people actually can't afford his services, and comes around to saving the day simply because it's the right thing to do. He's actually got a kind side to him and is perfectly willing to accept demons that choose to be good, and even console them as Trish and Lucia can attest, and more or less plays Cool Uncle to Nero by the finale of 4.
• Cranky Kong from the Donkey Kong Country games. Being a Grumpy Old Man, he's often rude and sarcastic whenever he's on-screen, but he's willing to give good advice, and later, potions.
• Doom (2016) has the Doom Slayer himself: a rude, belligerent, disrespectful brute with all the social grace of a shaved bear, but he clearly has his soft spots. He is exceedingly fond of cute Funko-Pop style toys, and has dedicated an entire portion of his giant floating space fortress to the beloved memory of his deceased pet. He also clerly demonstrates his intent to only punish those who deserve it: the forces of Hell, and those who would ally with the forces of Hell. The Doom Slayer doesn't fight for glory or power or reward, but because he genuinely wants to stop the demons and save humanity from a terrible fate.
• Dragon Age:
  • Dragon Age: Origins:
    • Sten, the blunt and stoic Qunari companion. He comes from a culture with very different views on just about everything, and Sten's not afraid to disagree with how you do things. He also likes kitties. And cookies. And he's actually a pretty nice guy when you get to know him and earn his respect. His sense of humor is just a little dry.
    • The player can turn Morrigan into this. When Morrigan first joins the party, she's vicious, caustic, and is absolutely against the idea of We Help the Helpless, making it difficult to perform altruistic tasks with her in the party without sinking her approval. However, as the game progresses, and if the player gets her approval high enough, she begins expressing affection for him or her, and is more likely to go along with doing the right thing without (much) complaint. If the player succeeds in raising her approval high enough, she will admit to genuinely considering you a friend, or if the player is a male character and romancing her, will openly admit to loving him (though also expressing confusion over what it means). The "Witch Hunt" DLC allows the player to take this to its full conclusion, with the right choices ending with the Warden and Morrigan staying together. This is even better seen in her return appearance in Inquisition, where she is considerably more polite, especially if she was romanced, and even more so if she and the Warden are still together.
    • And of course, the Warden him/herself can be played this way.
  • From Dragon Age II, Snarky!Hawke is completely irreverent, constantly making jokes even when it is completely uncalled for, and generally seems to enjoy screwing around with often distraught people who ask him/her for help in the most outrageous ways just to see their reactions for his/her own amusement. After screwing with said people, s/he is willing to selflessly throw him/herself in harm's way for their sake, and will go to any lengths for his/her friends and family.
    • Among the companions, Anders and Fenris are these. Both are good people underneath, it is just that their respective issues and biases cloud their judgment and being unable, if not struggling, to empathize with others' plight that is fundamentally different from the other.
  • From Dragon Age: Inquisition, in addition of playing the Inquisitors as this, some companions like Cassandra (who threatened to kill the main character under the flimsy evidence of them being the only survivor of a cataclysmic event as being guilty and her general abrasive nature antagonizes some of the members of the group, particularly Varric), Dorian (still believes to the enlightened ideas of his home country in addition to his general haughtiness and prickly nature), Sera (who cares for the common folk yet very vindictive underneath thanks to her unresolved issues in regards to her heritage), and Vivienne (who eschews sentimentality in favor of survival in order to survive the oppressive society that treats her kind as less than human beings) can be this as well. Underneath their less than favorable attitude, all of them are genuinely kind and sincere in their goal to stop the Big Bad.
• Dragon Quest V: Optional party member Tuppence is generally more focused on women than anything else, and can be pretty spiteful to the Hero about his luck with women, despite him being his king. But beneath this, Tuppence proves to have a strong sense of justice and a genuine desire to bring peace to the world.
• Dyztopia: Post-Human RPG: Penny is a grouchy pharmacist who has no patience for the party wasting her time, but she sympathizes with the Vulcanite Resistance and lets the party access her secret shop once they team up with the resistance. She also cares for her kid and refuses to sell the highly addictive painkiller, Pix, even if it would make her a profit.
• In The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, The Spymaster of the Blades in Morrowind and primary Quest Giver for the first part of the main quest, Caius Cosades, is this. He comes across as a bit of a Grumpy Old Man and the other Blades call him "sour" and "a worrier". Despite this, he obviously cares very much about the Player Character and instructs him/her upon being recalled to the Imperial City to continue to do what is in the best interests of the people of Morrowind.
• Eternal Radiance:
  • Grady is initially hostile towards the Ashen Order for their slowness in helping Ancora, but he does care about the town and warms up to Celeste after she helps Ancora.
  • Valana is a snarky mercenary who comes off as too goal-oriented and cold to strangers, but she did save Celeste from dying in the desert out of good will. She slowly opens up to Celeste and Ruby, eventually sharing details about her past concerning Kylia.
  • Malachi is a self-absorbed researcher who has biting remarks for anyone who interrupts his work, but he shows genuine gratitude when the party helps him with his research or shows him interesting information about Akleim.
• In Eternal Sonata, the Standardized Leader avatar character Allegretto is noted for being something of a Jerkass, but the PlayStation 3 Updated Re-release goes a long way towards making him this instead by omitting at least one scene in which he displays some heavily jerkish behavior and heavily altering others or adding additional material to portray him in a more favorable light.
• Ether Vapor's main protagonist, Luca, is surprisingly this. During the beginning of the game, he's the usual Jerkass, refusing to identify himself and his motives to his soon-to-be ally Sana and mocking Chaldean officers. That is until Teatree comes in and he tells her to bail out after her defeat and hopes she made it out. Justfied by the fact they both pilot mind-linked craft.
• A few of the hunters from Evolve could be this, but the best fit is Slim. Initial conversations paint him as cynical and hostile to the others, but this is mainly due to his suspicion about being sold out for the bounty on his head and lingering fear of attachment due to PTSD. He eventually opens up, forming friendships with several other hunters and really becoming one of the group.
• Fallout:
  • The protagonists can certainly be played as this, by often using jerky dialog options but gaining good karma where it counts.
  • Cass from Fallout: New Vegas. She's got a foul mouth, drinks like a fish, and sleeps with anything with a pulse. But she's got a strict moral code and is extremely loyal to and protective of a Courier with good karma.
  • Sarah Lyons of Fallout 3 is a very tough and sardonic but nonetheless thoroughly heroic woman. She's one of the few characters in the whole game besides Amata, Elder Lyons and potentially the Lone Wanderer to have Very Good Karma.
  • Fallout 4 gives us Paladin Danse, who's an interesting example. Like many members of the Brotherhood of Steel, he's something of a zealot, and views civilians with mild disdain and non-humans (that is, robots, Super Mutants, and ghouls) with racist loathing. Beyond his personal prejudices, however, he's one of the most morally upright companions available to the Sole Survivor: he approves of altruism and generosity, and will harshly rebuke the player for theft, extortion, wanton violence, and/or cannibalism.
• Fate/stay night's most troperriffic character and more meme than man, Archer. He clearly means well and in a lot of ways is more successful at this than Shirou himself. However, in UBW the "heart of gold" gets restored to the surface... and promptly hit with a reset button. And then restored again.
• Final Fantasy:
  • Final Fantasy IV:
    • Edge may be a perverted and arrogant ninja prince who often flirts with Rydia, but his heart is in the right place at times.
    • In Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, Palom comes off as an Insufferable Genius, but he does care about his friends and was willing to protect the crystal from the Mysterious Girl by turning himself into stone.
  • Final Fantasy VII:
    • Subverted with Cloud. His arrogant, coldly professional mercenary thing is all a fabrication to protect him. It lasts about two hours of gameplay and then he reveals that he is a brave and heroic man.
    • Barrett is hot-tempered and foul-mouthed, but he is absolutely dedicated to protecting the planet, or so he claims; in reality he just wants revenge against Shinra and uses his righteous cause as justification. He is also undeniably a brilliant adoptive father to little Marlene.
    • Cait Sith or rather Reeve goes from a sleazy Shinra-supporting Jerkass to a good guy who is truly dedicated to saving the world.
    • Cid Highwind, probably the ultimate example in the game. He smokes, he swears even more than Barrett does, he insults practically everybody he meets (including Cloud and his allies), and he constantly loses his temper. However, he also gave up his lifelong dream to save his assistant's life, genuinely tries to make amends to her when he wrongly blamed her for it, is the first party member to agree with Cloud to finish what Aerith started, and realizes the need to protect the planet and becomes one of the most passionate members of the WRO.
    • Yuffie is a bratty thief girl who gives herself grandiose titles beyond her skill and reputation, initially joins the party entirely for selfish reasons, and then betrays them. But she only wanted their materia for noble reasons. And then when Aerith is murdered, Yuffie is the most visibly torn up of all of them, jumping in Cloud's arms and crying into him.
  • Squall in Final Fantasy VIII is socially awkward, standoffish, and often quite rude, but underneath his emotional immaturity he's a decent kid.
  • Final Fantasy X:
    • Jecht is egotistical, arrogant, a drunk, and verbally abuses his son on a regular basis. Then he goes to Spira, where he makes Braska and Auron help other people because "it's the right thing to do", even if it means problems for him and his companions. He quits drinking after an incident because he thinks his family wouldn't be proud. He records a video stating how much he loves his son and how proud he is to be his father, though eventually stops because he's "not good at those things". After reaching Zanarkand, we learn that he planned to raise his son to be a blitzball star, had it not been because he got to Spira. Then he sacrifices himself in order to give peace to Spira (if only for a while), giving up his hopes to get back home.
      
      In Dissidia, he swallows his pride (for a while at least) and takes orders from Emperor Mateus because he promised him that he would get back to his home world with his son. Besides that, we learn that if he insulted his son, it was because he wanted Tidus to stand up and prove him wrong. We get a hint of all this at the beginning of the game: Jecht was well-loved by his fans, to the point where a blitzball tournament is named after him when he disappears.
    • Auron also qualifies; throughout the game, he is the source of all things cryptic and gives Tidus snippets of essential information (e.g. "Sin is Jecht.") while denying him any kind of explanation. He is aloof towards the rest of the party, and is particularly determined Yuna finish her pilgrimage, despite what it'll mean for her. Then it turns out he looked after Tidus for several years before the start of the game as a reasonable mentor, and that he was pushing Yuna and especially Tidus so hard because he wanted them to break the eternal cycle and truly destroy Sin. And it works.
    • Lulu initially treats Tidus extremely poorly, rarely even speaking to him, aside from snark and a little bit of exposition. Later, it becomes apparent that she's just hesitant to open up to people because of a painful past (the death of her first summoner and losing her First Love come to mind). Eventually, she opens up to the player, later developing Mama Bear tendencies towards Yuna, Tidus, and Rikku. Coincidentally, it's around the time Yuna and Tidus's growing attraction for each other becomes blatantly obvious.
  • Fabula Nova Crystallis: Final Fantasy:
    • In Final Fantasy XIII, Lightning is a moody, distant young woman who spends the opening hours beating up and abandoning her party. Then you get the background as to why she's like that, and she noticeably softens up from then on.
    • Lumina in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII constantly antagonizes Lightning and her former companions, but is hinted to be nudging them and several other people towards bettering their situations. Then again, she is Lightning's Literal Split Personality after all...
• Fire Emblem has got 'em all over the place:
  • Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade:
    • Hugh "tries to be bad, but he can't deny his kind heart", as noted by his grandmother. He's surprisingly kind to the orphans of the army and is concerned that the war means they won't have a normal, happy childhood. When he (accidentally) makes Chad laugh in their A support, he's pleasantly surprised, and says that there's still hope in the world as long as there are kids laughing.
    • Rutger is distant and aloof, but he rescues Clarine, apologizes to her when he accidentally makes her cry in their B-support, and tries to encourage Fir to be herself rather than emulating him.
    • Cath is abrasive and frequently tries to steal from her own allies, but she takes a genuine liking to her support partners and (apart from Hugh) always ends up giving back whatever she stole from them.
  • Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade:
    • Hector is loud, brash, and reckless, but he's willing to abandon his lordly title and run away from home just to help his friends.
    • Legault is snarky and an assassin from an organization of deadly killers, but he still has a sense of doing the right thing and loves children.
    • Vaida is incredibly sour and brusque, and even cruel at times, to her own allies in most of her Support Conversations, but she's also a devoted, honorable, and very patriotic warrior.
  • Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones:
    • Colm is very brusque with Neimi, but he still goes out of his way to get her mirror back, and is concerned over Eirika.
    • Innes acts like a complete asshole to the mercenaries he's hired in order to get them to abandon him and surrender so they'll at least survive. The mercenaries figure that out and say that they're staying around even after he fires them. After they save his ass, Innes re-hires them for double the pay they were originally getting. Douche, maybe. Well-meaning, certainly.
  • Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance: Lethe is extremely rude and abrasive, but deep down she's a good person and fights for a good cause.
  • Fire Emblem: Awakening has Virion, who initially strikes everyone as a spoiled, narcissistic, and detached noble (not that it's entirely wrong), but not only do Support conversation confirm that he has plenty of Hidden Depths (from dancing to cooking to even beating Robin at a strategic board game), but he's also a cheerful and optimistic leader who deeply cared about his subjects and has not taken his homeland's destruction well.
• Rupert in Fossil Fighters Champions. He starts out as your rude rival and is a noted "Stop Having Fun" Guy. However, when it's revealed that his glory-obsessed father is forcing him to win, he starts to warm up to you. He remains a bit of a Tsundere, though.
• Galaxy Angel: Ranpha Franboise is hot-tempered, aggressive and quick to judge, which causes her to look down on Tact and be hostile to him (more so than any of the other Angels). However, she cares deeply for her friends and is as quick to forget fights and rise to their defense as she is to anger, and she's not ashamed to admit that she loves her family dearly. The "Jerk" part [heavily tones down should Tact pursue a relationship with her, as she cuts loose on being incredibly affectionate and romantic towards him.
• Genshin Impact: Eula has quite the sharp tongue and is cold and aloof but it's very obvious that it's just a facade because of her Dark and Troubled Past by being part of the disgraced Lawrence clan. She loves throwing death threats all around her, even to the Traveler. She claims to be working with the Knights of Favionus only because she wants to take them down someday to avenge her clan but doesn't really mean it and is actually a kind person underneath that frosty mask. Jean even said that she's just misunderstood. This is officially confirmed in her namecard style's in-game description when reaching maximum Friendship level.
  "A cold heart is but a shell to protect oneself."
• Ryudo from Grandia II fits this trope to a tee. He starts off as a devil-may-care, potty-mouthed jerk who only seems to be going along with the quest for money, but later reveals that most of it was just a bit of a coping mechanism, due to the rather low opinion most people have of mercenaries in his world. By the end of the game, he's transformed into a pretty likable and friendly guy, albeit one who can still curse like a sailor.
• Sweet in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas constantly criticizes his brother, CJ, and blames him for the death of his brother and mother when he ran away to Liberty City. Sweet does eventually ease up and gives his brother his support in a big brother love kind of way.
• Gadd from the Guild Wars expansion Eye of the North. He starts out as a complete jerkass, bossing the player's group around, mocking you in a very condescending manner, and often repeating things IN CAPS in case you "weren't listening". At the end of the G.O.L.E.M. mission, Oola arrives, saying she has bad news. A confused Vekk asks what Gadd is upset about now, to which Oola sadly replies, "He was trying to boost the power of the last Golem. There was an explosion. He didn't make it. I'm sorry." In other words, he (perhaps knowingly) sacrificed himself to give your team a better chance of surviving. Suddenly, he doesn't seem like such a bad guy after all...
• Sol Badguy from Guilty Gear swears a lot, trash talks a lot, maintains an edgy, standoff-ish approach to strangers, and his idea of helping someone collect themselves is kicking them full-bore in the face. However, he has nothing but altruistic goals, and what few friends he does have, he's rather decent to. He also seems to have a soft spot for young girls: In Midnight Carnival, he helps calm down Dizzy after she loses control of her Gear powers, and in Xrd, he's rather mean and distrustful to Elphelt through the story, but when she's being brainwashed and robbed of her will, Sol is the most passionate of all the good guys in trying to save her.
• Haseo from .hack//G.U. starts as grade-A Jerkass in .hack//Roots, slowly develops into this throughout the game, and by the end of Volume 3, he has apparently dropped his jackassery.
• A fairly common character archetype in the Harvest Moon universe, enough so that listing every example could take a while. In random villagers, it tends to be more prominent in Grumpy Old Man-style villagers who develop a curmudgeonly respect for you (such as Galen in A Wonderful Life and DS), while in bachelors and bachelorettes, it tends to go hand-in-hand with the Tsundere archetype (such as Gill in Tree of Tranquility/Animal Parade, and some incarnations of Karen).
• The House of the Dead: OVERKILL has detective Issac Washington, who swears like a sailor (to the point of almost single-handily breaking the Guinness Book of World Records), is quite crude, and is introduced by cold-cocking G in the intro cutscene. In the end, G suspects that he puts on a tough-guy persona, but cares deeply for G deep down. Washington doesn't object to this.
• Jak and Daxter:
  • Protagonist example with Jak in the second and third games; he was just the heart of gold in the first game, before two years of genetic experiments in prison. We get to watch the heart of gold grow back, shrivel, and grow back again over the course of both games.
  • Similarly, Samos the Sage can be a total jackass at times, but in the end he genuinely cares about the other three main characters (yes, even Daxter).
  • Daxter snarks at everyone and repeatedly tries to weasel out of trouble, but he genuinely cares for his friends and risks his life repeatedly for them.
  • Torn is a very bitter man who repeatedly berates J&D and periodically sends them on unpleasant and/or borderline suicidal missions, but he dropped his Krimzon Guard commission like a rock in order to do the right thing.
  • Sig is a ruthless mercenary who's always willing to put his life on the line for his friends.
• Yuuichi in Kanon. Despite practically being a massive Deadpan Snarker who's not afraid to make snide comments at others, in reality he's very dependable.
• Quite a few characters in Kid Icarus: Uprising are this, among the cast full of (mostly) Jerkass Gods.
  • Palutena, the Goddess of Light, is a massive Troll who messes with Pit non-stop, but she does care about him and is one of the more pleasant characters in the game for the most part.
  • Magnus is a mercenary who by his own admission is Only in It for the Money. He's blunt, rude, and the filter between his mind and his mouth seems to be nonexistent. But underneath the gruff exterior is a man who genuinely cares for others and is quite friendly once you get to know him.
  • Dark Pit is supposed to be the manifestation of all of Pit's negative traits, but Pit himself is so inherently kind that the only "negative traits" Dark Pit represents are Pit's stubborn streak, brashness, arrogance, and a sarcastic sense of humor. Despite all that, Dark Pit himself is not completely evil and can be just as heroic as Pit when properly motivated.
  • Viridi starts off as a plain Jerkass when she first appears. She's bratty, short-tempered, and argumentative. But as Character Development kicks in and she's forced to aid Pit later in the game, she begins to warm up to him.
• Jerome from Kindergarten acts rude and arrogant when the player first talks to him and refuses to hang out with the protagonist due to not considering him cool enough. However, if you fail to get the laser pointer he asks you to retrieve in his mission, he's surprisingly understanding about it and acknowledges that you did everything you could. He even lets you keep the principal pass he gave you in aid of your mission with no strings attached. He also acts nicer if you do succeed in getting the laser pointer, proving yourself as cool in his eyes.
• The King of Fighters:
  • The series has more than one, starting with the protagonist himself, Kyo Kusanagi. He's brash, arrogant, loud-mouthed, snarky, and full of himself... but he also genuinely cares for his family and friends (especially his girlfriend and his Cool Big Sis of sorts), and Heaven help you if you hurt them. Not to mention the semi-canon King of Fighters: KYO media lets us see how he behaves in his daily life, and even reveals some hidden insecurities that he must deal with.
  • Deuteragonist K'. He's cold, rude, and pretty much starts as a '90s Anti-Hero, but many others comment on how he's less mean than he seems to be. He'll deny it, but his behavior says otherwise; his friend and partner Maxima notes that K' has a tendency to mask his relatively amiable actions with harsh words.
• King Dedede from the Kirby is very selfish and greedy, and often fights with Kirby, but deep down, Dedede really cares about him.
• Knights of Ambrose:
  • Mari and the Black Tower: Ned is rude to the party and mocks them for their lack of knowledge of technology and dank memes. However, it later turns out that he intentionally revised his first map to exclude the dangerous magma area, showing that he does care about the party to some extent. He also wants to help them prevent the Bad Future of Ambrose in order to honor his late mother.
  • Knight Eternal: Adalia Primrose acts like a spoiled brat and is dismissive of non-Zamastian culture, but she is more considerate than she lets on, since she's upset when the previous heroes refuse to answer Astraea's questions. In the final section of the game, she turns against her mother and frees Dylan so that she can prevent the war between Zamaste and Halonia.
• Herschel Biggs from L.A. Noire is not the most sociable character to be partnered with because he works alone. However, near the end of the second Arson case, he begins to like Cole.
• Joel from The Last of Us. He starts out as a huge jerk in the beginning of the game, mostly due to his Cynicism Catalyst, (a.k.a Sarah's death.) But, as the game progresses, his heart of gold shines through with his new-found relationship with his surrogate daughter Ellie.
• Left 4 Dead:
  • Francis hates almost everything except vests, and his background info shows that he is a rebel and enjoys the zombie outbreak because he can now kick some ass without the law standing in this way. During the game, he loves to bust Bill's chops, but shows respect if Bill happens to die. He also shows a bit more emotion to Louis if he gets killed, saying things like "He didn't deserve this." When it comes to survivors being low on health, he shows the most concern to Zoey, and if any survivor is incapacitated twice, Francis will express grave concern for the victim as he helps them up. He shows more "gold" than "jerk" when it comes to talking about Bill's death in the Left 4 Dead 2 DLC "The Passing", referring to Bill as a good man and how he would have shot Nick for being so disrespectful and rude.
  • Nick himself has shades of this. While he starts off as an extreme Jerkass, he does seem to become more friendly with his fellow survivors during the course of the game. For example, sometimes when Ellis dies, he'll say, "You know all those things I said about you, Ellis? I was joking..." Rochelle will call him the trope name almost word for word if he pulls her up after she's fallen from a ledge.
• Agate Crosner of the The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky trilogy. He first comes off as this when he confronts Joshua's team, but gradually develops into a respectable fighter and a big brother figure to the team. This is due to his time being with the Ravens. He was their leader.
• Gala from Legend of Legaia constantly insults Vahn and Noa at first, demeaning their violent ways and quite openly displaying his disdain at being forced to help them. Eventually, he'll lighten up and become friendlier with the rest of your team, though he still occasionally argues with Noa.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • Mido from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time starts off as the only Kokiri who hates Link, to the point that he spreads rumors that Link was the one who was responsible for the Deku Tree's death. By the time you meet him again as an adult, he has begun regretting his mistreatment of Link, and he asks Adult Link (whom he does not recognize as Link) to convey his regret to Link if possible.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask:
    • The Man From The Curiosity Shop sees nothing wrong with blatantly selling stolen goods, and is rather racist to anyone who isn't human, but he seriously cares for Kafei and the two share a genuine friendship that apparently goes back to when The Man gave Kafei a Keaton Mask in his youth. It's especially telling that Kafei went to this guy for help rather than his own parents when he was cursed. He's also completely unwilling to buy sentient things like the Deku Princess or the Seahorse, and while he will buy unhatched Zora eggs he apparently draws the line at buying creatures.
    • The head carpenter Mutoh is abrasive, arrogant, angry, and obnoxious to just about everyone. However, he happens to be one of the few people in Clock Town who isn't rude or even condescending to Deku Scrub Link. Instead he talks kindly, and if you speak to him on the evening of the third day he sincerely apologizes to the kid for not building a better festival tower and for the moon ruining the carnival for everyone.
      Hey, Deku kid! You waitin' for us to finish the bridge from the festival tower to the clock tower entrance up there? Sorry! My apprentices panicked and ran away! This is all we get for a festival tower. It's not quite tall enough, is it? Sheesh! Even if we went to the top of the festival tower, we wouldn't be able to get up to the clock tower entrance! I apologize for all this. I wish I could scare that moon away!
  • In The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Midna, at the start of the game at least, is an abusive, snarky, whiny brat who wants only power and revenge, but she eventually begins to let slip a few signs of her soft spot for Link (by the end of the game, she's not even trying to hide it).
  • Linebeck from The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass also counts. At first, he's a selfish coward who is taking advantage of Link to find treasure. By the end, he saves Link's life and gives up unlimited wealth to have his old boat back.
  • Groose from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword starts off trying to sabotage Link's chances in the Bird Races by locking up his Loftwing and then ramming into and throwing eggs at Link with his lackeys in the race itself, all so he can get to be the one to go out with Zelda. He's eventually shown to be quite noble when the situation calls for it, though; most notably, he helps Link fight the Imprisoned with a bomb-launching apparatus that he built specifically for that purpose, saves Zelda's life by running to catch her when Demise throws her body through the air, and warms up to Link over the course of the game. Even Fi notes, in spite of how vain, stubborn, and overbearing he is, that he is "pure of heart".
  • Teba from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. When he first meets Link, who needs to find a way up to Divine Beast Vah Medoh, he tersely brushes him off, dismissive of Link wanting to accompany him on his assault on Medoh. He only agrees to take Link after he proves his midair archery is up to snuff in the Flight Range. After the battle, he is so verbally impressed with Link's abilities that his similarly blunt son Tulin turns into a Hero-Worshipper.
• Life Is Strange:
  • Nathan Prescott spends most of the game as a deranged asshole and one of the first things he does is kill Chloe, but it's mentioned several times that he has serious mental problems that his father refuses to have properly treated. The reason he's a Jerk with a Heart of Gold instead of just having a Freudian Excuse is because when given the chance, he does do the right thing. When he realizes Jefferson is coming to kill him, his last act is to try to warn Max that she's next on the list. In the "Sacrifice Chloe" ending, he is horrified at killing Chloe and confesses to everything he and Jefferson did.
  • The aforementioned Chloe Price is also this trope. Despite acting quite immature and selfish at times, she truly does care about Max, and at the end of the game, is willing to die to save everyone else in Arcadia Bay from the storm.
  • Victoria Chase, the school's shameless Alpha Bitch who takes every opportunity to show up Max and is trying to seduce her teacher. While she normally treats Taylor and Courtney like crap, Taylor tells Max that it's a Vitriolic Best Buds situation, and Victoria has always been there when she's needed her. Victoria is also the only person who is genuinely looking out for Nathan despite his violent refusal to accept help from anyone. Depending on choices, Victoria will admit to Max that she has to be bitchy because she's seen that's how people get ahead in the art world, and she thinks Max is the coolest person in the school for not playing that game.
  • David Madsen, Chloe's step-dad, is a paranoid Right-Wing Militia Fanatic who constantly gives Chloe orders and slaps her if Max doesn't intervene when he finds drugs in her room. It soon becomes clear that he has PTSD from his time in the military, and the only way he knows how to relate to people is to treat them as soldiers, making him the Drill Sergeant Nasty. He saves Max from Jefferson in "Polarized", and if Max chooses to tell him that Jefferson has already killed Chloe, David will kill Jefferson in revenge.
  • Frank Bowers, Chloe's dealer, first shows up waving a knife at Chloe and demanding she pay back the money he loaned her. He's also been providing Nathan Prescott with drugs to sell on campus, and in one conversation there are numerous choices that will make him try to kill you, which will lead to his death and the death of his dog. However, if you talk to people and pay attention, it soon becomes clear that he's a nice guy under his prickly exterior; he rescued his dog from a fighting ring and got the whole thing shut down by the police, he genuinely loved Rachel Amber, and he loaned Chloe that money as a friend (only to discover later that she had been planning on skipping town and never paying him back). If you manage to navigate the last conversation with him correctly, he gives the girls what they need and later texts them an offer to hang out. He also shows up at Chloe's funeral in the "Sacrifice Chloe" ending. In the prequel, he saves Chloe's life multiple times and easily forgives the much smaller amount of money she owes him, which helps explain why in the original game she tells Max that he isn't as bad as he seems.
  • In Life Is Strange: Before the Storm, Drew seems like a standard Jerk Jock, picking on Nathan for being a nerd. He gets pissed at Chloe if she intervenes. However, in "Brave New World", it's revealed that he dotes on his (extremely nerdy) little brother Mikey, and immediately puts aside his conflict with Chloe in order to keep Mikey safe. Depending on Chloe's choices, either Drew or Mikey will end up in the hospital; either way, Drew will thank Chloe for doing her best to help. It's also revealed that Nathan's father put Drew's father out of a job and left him homeless, so while his rage at Nathan isn't justified, it's certainly understandable.
• Like a Dragon:
  • Kiryu in the prequel game Yakuza 0 is more impulsive and brash than he would be in later years, often bantering with his Best Friend Nishiki and even showing a few more perverted tendencies than he usually does. He gets over this with Character Development and has softened considerably by 2 and its remake. By the time of 3 he's a borderline saint as long as you're not acting like a bad person.
  • The Florist of Sai puts on an indifferent, uncaring front and usually won't help the people for free, but he'll very rarely show signs of being considerate, like urging Kiryu to save an injured Date from some angry homeless folk despite his past conflicts with the man, or the harsh but fair advice he gives his son in a substory in 2. In 5 he refuses to help Aizawa when he almost beats a man to death in the arena during his Secret Test of Character, but with Saejima's intervention he decides to recognize his resolve and agrees to help him.
  • Bessho from Yakuza 2 is rather brash, blunt, and comes off as rude and dismissive, but it's mainly because of how hardened he is and his recognition of how dangerous the Jingweon mafia are. When Kaoru chews him out for keeping the truth from her and storms off, he kindly asks Kiryu to watch over her.
  • Tanimura from Yakuza 4 is a money-focused Dirty Cop who comes across as rather cocky, apathetic, and jaded when dealing with others. However, he extorts money in order to provide for children who've lost their parents to deportation, and underneath his disinterested facade is a genuine desire to protect the townsfolk and uphold his idealized form of justice.
  • In spite of her harsh and manipulative personality, Park from Yakuza 5 seems to have a soft spot for Haruka and genuinely believes in her potential. It becomes evident in her final moments that she sacrificed a lot for her own dream, and Haruka by proxy.
  • Nagumo from Yakuza 6 is not the nicest guy around and can be a pretty brutal bully at his worst. However, the right situation can bring out his good side in full force, and when times get tough, he's definitely someone you want on your side. In fact, it's for this very reason that Kiryu decides to save his life later on, since he flies in the face of his orders to avoid extorting money from Kiyomi.
  • Yakuza: Like a Dragon:
    • Nanba puts on a tough and self-interested front, but he's far more kind than he lets on and is just as ride-or-die for Ichiban as the rest of the party. Ichiban lampshades his hidden heart during one of their first conversations.
    • Hamako might have a harsh exterior, but she does reward Ichiban and Nanba quite well by providing them with a room meant for her girls, and is thankful for Ichiban saving her life from Totsuka and his posse.
• Lunar: The Silver Star:
  • Nash is egotistical and frequently abrasive, but he goes quite far out of his way to help Alex out and is one of the few people in Vane to recognize that Mia is actually quite stubborn and strong-willed underneath her sweet personality. By pretending to switch sides, he gets the team to the Frontier, and nearly dies for it when Xenobia figures out what he's up to. He goes from annoying to downright heroic.
  • In the remake, Lunar: Silver Star Story, Nash is a borderline case: He's a jerk from the instant you pry him from that ridiculous trap he ended up in and he sells you out to Ghaleon once or twice, but at the end of the game you find out that all he's done, he's done out of love for Mia. She slaps him into sensibility, and he rejoins you as an invaluable mage in the taking down of Ghaleon.
  • Ghaleon may also count in this category. He is the main villain in this game and one of the last bosses in Lunar: Eternal Blue, but his long-winded death speech, gift of an ass-kicking sword, and a couple of fairy gardens show you that he really did mean well.
• In Marathon, a rampant Durandal is the Big Bad. In Marathon 2, he's mission control. In Marathon Infinity, he saves the player rather than himself from imminent death — twice. And he dies permanently both times. And Durandal's driving ambition in the first two games? To make himself immortal, no matter the cost to anybody else.
• The Mass Effect series:
  • Mass Effect:
    • Wrex is the most cynical and jaded of the party members. However, if the player helps him reacquire his grandfather's old armor he'll note during his Heroic BSoD that Shepard's done more for him than any of his family. If he survives for the sequel, he becomes the Overlord of the Krogans of Tuchanka, determined to drag them kicking and screaming into a new future. He also happily greets Shepard upon meeting him/her, noting that their time spent was one of the best times of his life. He is almost 1000 years old.
    • Commander Shepard is capable of fitting the trope as well, depending on the player's choices. It's a good way to rack up paragon and renegade points at the same time.
    • Miranda Lawson, who may be working with a terrorist organization and be a bitch at times, but she works for what she believes is the greater good and ruthlessly protects those that she cares about. Also, she will generally warm up to people after a while. By 3, the Jerk part is completely gone.
    • Khalisah Bint Sinan al-Jhilani, surprisingly. Don't misunderstand, she's a rude, antagonistic bitch who tries media smear jobs on Shepard twice for ratings. But in Mass Effect 3, if the player manages to refrain from punching her long enough, it becomes apparent that this time she isn't attacking Shepard for ratings—she's genuinely distraught over the fate of Earth and is angry with Shepard for seemingly abandoning it. If the player then takes a paragon option, Shepard talks her down and reassures her that s/he's trying everything he can. al-Jilani then goes on to give such a heartfelt plea for aid over the extranet that war relief donations pour in.
  • Mass Effect 3:
    • Javik from the From Ashes DLC morphs into one over the course of the game. (A very drunk) Tali even calls him out on it, commenting that despite his aloofness, rudeness, and Cultural Posturing, Javik has obviously become fond of the rest of the squad, especially Liara, and has come to have particular respect for Shepard, despite their almost completely opposite methods if Shepard is a paragon.
    • Turians in general. They're militaristic, humourless, law-anal Space Police that caused a nasty First Contact with humanity, but decades later, when Earth is invaded by the Reapers in this game, they're the only Council race to immediately offer humanity their assistance.
• Max Payne from the eponymous series. Bitter, jaded, cynical, depressed, sarcastic, alcoholic, short-tempered, brusque at best to what few friends he has, and frighteningly competent in the area of killing people... yet he is still a decent (but deeply broken) man at heart who wants to protect the innocent and punish the wicked. His unflinching dedication to doing the right thing even in the face of overwhelming odds is what keeps him an Anti-Hero rather than a Sociopathic Hero or Villain Protagonist.
• Mega Man:
  • Zero from Mega Man X and Zero. He acts cold towards anyone, even his own partners X and Axl. It's all just an act; he just had too many betrayals and tragedies going on with his life. However, he really is a nice guy, and is someone who is ready to fight for the people whom he cares for the most.
  • The Bonne Family from Mega Man Legends. They're willing to lay waste to cities in the pursuit of treasure, but when an island of people is going to die they drop everything to help out. In the sequel, they steal everything that isn't nailed down from Saul Kada except the toilet paper, because they can't bring themselves to go that far.
    Tiesel: Take everything that isn't nailed down! I don't even want a toothpick to be left!
    Serv Bot: We've loaded all the food, money, and supplies on board. What should we do about the toilet paper?
    Tiesel: [pauses to think] We may be pirates, but we're not barbarians! Let them keep the toilet paper.
  • Omega-Xis from Mega Man Star Force. He starts out viewing humans as blundering inconveniences, but does come to genuinely care for his host as a friend. He also shows genuine horror in 3 when Luna is temporarily deleted by Joker, and when Ace and Acid sacrifice themselves to save him and Geo from a self-destructing Joker.
• Minecraft: Story Mode:
  • Axel isn't the nicest person, but he does genuinely care for his friends. When the others start joking around during the shelter segment, he scolds them for not being worried about Petra's safety.
  • For all his insults and jibes, Magnus is still a decent guy underneath it all.
• Minotaur Hotel: P is a self-proclaimed "cunt" who often talks like a dick, but he does genuinely care about Storm and wishes that he can do good in his life.
• Johnny Cage from Mortal Kombat, especially in the new timeline established by 9. He initially comes off as an insufferable movie star with an overinflated ego, and spends his entire chapter in 9 making a complete ass of himself, hitting on Sonya much to her chagrin. But he is horrified at the idea of killing a defeated opponent, and later on good naturedly brushes off Jax beating him up towards an argument. By the time of Mortal Kombat X, he's considerably mellowed out, is an affable and approachable mentor to the new generation of heroes, and keeps Sonya from going too far. He's also an endearingly doting and understanding father to Cassie Cage, and possibly the series' best dad.
• Lady Cassandra Mallory from interactive romance novel Moonrise acts like a jerk to the player, even going as far as killing them if they don't swear allegience to her faction. However, the player can witness her kindness towards her friends and lovers if they make certain choices.
• Mother:
  • Gang leader and misguided youth Teddy from EarthBound Beginnings. After initiating a tussle with Ninten, Teddy joins up with the party and helps greatly with their quest.
  • From EarthBound (1994), we have Mr. Everdred, a thief who jumps from a roof to attack you. However, after beating him (or not), he tells you to come back after rescuing Paula, at which point he gives you ten thousand dollars. You're supposed to use the money to help the Runaway Five, though, so you don't get to spend it. Awwww.
  • Fassad/Yokuba from Mother 3. For pretty much the entire game he's been a Jerkass in various ways — torturing Salsa, corrupting Nowhere Islands, and if it weren't for him, the real Jerkass, Porky/Pokey, might have died from the start (depending on if he's really capable of dying) and would not have succeeded in manipulating the islands' inhabitants anyway, and also, he wouldn't have gotten the idea to pull the Needles in the first place. But you figure out that last one right as you discover that Fassad/Yokuba = Locria. And his room is in the classic Magypsy style. Then Pokey/Porky goes on the intercom and says to get out of there. And right in the next room, there's a little mouse. He says, "Squeak squeak squeeeak. (I don't think Locria is coming back anymore. Oh, me? I'm a mouse Locria liked to dote over. He had a creepy 'Nwehehehehe' laugh, so he might've seemed like a mean person in most people's eyes, but he was very nice to me, at least. Do you think he'll be coming home soon? I'm so lonely.)" Considering you humiliated him, made him reconstruct himself, left him to drown in sewage for hours, and since your ultimate goal is to pull the Seventh Needle, effectively killing him once and for all, it may make some feel guilty for leaving this little, insignificant mouse all alone. Even for killing the Jerkass.
• Tubbs from Neko Atsume often comes in to gobble an entire food bowl, leaving none to share with the other cats. However, they do leave a large amount of silver fish if they're left alone to digest their meal rather than forced out, their memento is a food item (fish jerky) that they actually held back from eating, and once in a while if you have the giant cushion out, they'll take only the usual small amount of food and then rest on the cushion.
• Neverwinter Nights 2:
  • Neeshka can be a bit of a jerk, but a careful player can bring out her softer side.
  • Gann in Mask of the Betrayer comes across as an arrogant, uncaring person, but is revealed to be quite the opposite if a female character gets enough Influence with him.
• Oswald of Odin Sphere is another example. Only shows his nice side to people he trusts though.
• Celeste Jolicoeur from The Outer Worlds is the fashion designer in the wealthy, decadent city of Byzantium. Virtually everybody in that city is pompous, vain, and materialistic, and Celeste is no exception. But while for most of the city, that's all they are, Celeste is really decent underneath it all. When awkward, grease-stained Wrench Wench Parvati comes in asking about nice clothes for a date, Celeste is quite happy to remind all in earshot that she is the best, but she's also sincerely delighted to help the young woman find love. Both Celeste's fashion assistance and her kind words help Parvati overcome her shyness.
• Not for Broadcast: Jeremy is a jerk to everyone around him, treats guests on his show with utter contempt and is usually the first to predict doom and gloom. He is also the first to go to bat for his people when someone else comes after them, and takes journalistic integrity and the role of the press in informing the public and shaping public opinion very seriously.
• Osvald from Octopath Traveler II can be extremely blunt, sarcastic, and aloof, and tends not to open up to the other travelers until fairly late. However, he is capable of offering encouragement on occasion or otherwise admitting when someone has a point. He also has a soft spot for kids, and flashbacks show that Osvald doted on his wife and daughter.
• Several heroes in Overwatch fall into these if they're not being a total Nice Guy:
  • Torbjorn is a grumpy and Racist Grandpa against Omnics due to distrusting them and his paranoia unchecked led to the horrific Omnic Crisis that justified his hatred. However, his reasoning to fight in the Omnic Crisis wasn't merely an excuse to scrap as many Omnics as he could but due to pure altruism in protecting humanity. Perhaps that's why he got himself a wife and eight children in a healthy family.
  • Symmetra is a condescending elitist and an agent of Vishkar, believing in their brand of order, and goes along with their oppressive methods to assert dominance which she believes to be for the greater good, and also dislikes large crowds due to autism. Because of this, her interactions include looking down on certain other people and antagonizing the heroic freedom fighter Lucio for opposing Vishkar's actions and no "positive" interaction, enforcing the "Jerk" part. Unlike Vishkar, who seems to be just doing it for profit, Symmetra hates unnecessary killing and is genuine in trying to improve the world's welfare and wanting people to prosper in it, which is why she doubts Vishkar's method (only following it due to manipulation and being raised by them since childhood). She even befriended a poor little girl out of whim and desired to improve her life. The short story "Stone By Stone" shows Symmetra going out of her way to study the daily life of an Omnic temple after Vishkar's construction damaged their sacred statue, culminating in her using Hard Light to repair the statue into an even greater symbol comparing to her superiors' desire to just pay off the Omnics with luxury retreats.
  • Jack Morrison once used to be a completely charismatic and friendly Nice Guy who led the Overwatch against the Omnic Crisis and plays out like a complete babyface. And then he was faced with the harsh facts that corruption is growing within his group, and then he was betrayed by his best friend in a battle that resulted in both of them being thought to be dead. Jack survived, but then became bitter and donned the identity of Soldier: 76, trading his old idealism with cynicism, now he's a grumpy "end-justifies-the-means" guy who'd do amoral strategies like planting mines, stealing things, and brutalizing his target (who mostly happen to be really bad guys) just to get to his goal of... uncovering the mystery behind Overwatch's disbandment. But his old habits die hard, and he'd rather let a gang of thugs escape when he could wipe them out himself just so he can cover a little girl from getting blown up by said thugs' grenades. He'd deny that he's a hero, but the girl knows that at heart, he still is. His voicelines sometimes show that he still cares for his comrades, which is why in the fandom memes, he's known as "Dad 76".
• Persona:
  • Persona 2: Baofu in Eternal Punishment eventually grows to care about the rest of the party, but still keeps up the douchebag act for the sake of appearances.
  • Persona 3:
    • Shinjiro Aragaki is a grumpy, unfriendly, and uncooperative loner... who is very fond of animals and loves cooking shows! A lounge conversation with Aigis reveals that Shinjiro buys expensive dog food for Koromaru, out of his own pocket, while another one informs the player that he had been already feeding Koromaru back when the dog still lived at the shrine (this is also implied in the Persona 3 Portable Drama CD).
      
      Persona 3 Portable also brings Shinjiro's Hidden Heart of Gold to the forefront in the Female Protagonist's route. During his Social Link, he's genuinely friendly from the start, is surprisingly cooperative with her, and only shows a (very) brief Tsundere side right before the Optional Sexual Encounter. Which makes sense, as he'll die in a few days (or so he thinks) and really doesn't want another thing to regret. All Girls Want Bad Boys be damned!
    • Another example may be Hidetoshi Odagiri. Though he is strict, stern, and often cold to most, he eventually shows signs of holding a heart of gold as he truly believes that upholding the law will help everyone in the end. At the end of his S. Link, he decides that he wants to try being softer and ask others for their opinions. He even makes it clear that he's thinking about becoming a teacher in order to help set the foundations for a better future and admits that much of his previous jerkish behavior was naive. Sure, he's a hardass, but he's also got very good intentions at heart. In fact, it's implied that he only ever wanted so much power so that he would be able to help and promote fairness for as many people as possible. Huh.
  • Persona 4:
    • Kanji Tatsumi is a rather awkward nice guy with a bit of a temper, who acts like a delinquent. At one point he threatens to tear down Chinese Diner Aiya because the manager misplaced his order... before correcting himself and adding that he'll rebuild it twice as good; he's gonna renovate his ass. He also likes to sew and make stuffed animals (very well-made ones at that) for other people.
    • Yosuke Hanamura counts as well. He likes to poke fun at the rest of the team, Kanji in particular, but he's a good guy who truly wants to help his friends and save his town (at least eventually: his Shadow points out that he wanted to look into things initially because he was hoping to be a hero).
    • Kinshiro Morooka, a.k.a "King Moron", might be a subtle example. He's a rather snobbish (and hideous) man with a grudge against women as well as the main character. He treats his students rudely (putting the main character on his "Shit List" within minutes of meeting him), and got flat ass drunk on the school field trip. However, conversations with some students in the school reveal that he's dragged several girls into his office for "private talks"... in which he advises them on their career paths and urges them to follow their dreams. It's likely that he genuinely cares for his student's futures, but really doesn't know how to properly show it. Of course, you won't find this out unless you actually take the time to talk to NPCs walking around school.
  • Persona 5: Many of the Phantom Thieves and their accomplices are this, as their mistreatment at the hands of society has turned them rather cynical:
    • Sojiro Sakura is extremely distrustful of you for your first few months in Tokyo, despite being a man willing to take in both you and Futaba.
    • Ryuji Sakamoto acts like a delinquent due to the rest of the school doing nothing when he was physically and emotionally abused by a teacher, but is also willing to do whatever it takes to protect other students from said teacher and other corrupt adults.
• Pokémon:
  • N from Pokémon Black and White. At first, he seems to be a driven jerk who hates humans and only cares for Pokemon, even calling out Professor Juniper on having nothing against relationships between the two, and he is revolted by even the idea of the Pokedex itself. But at the end of the game, it is revealed that he didn't think there were Pokemon that liked humans, even though he himself could talk to them — he'd been raised with Pokemon abused by humans. And it turns out his constant battles with you were (unsuccessful) attempts at confirming his beliefs.
  • Lusamine from Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, in contrast to her original game counterpart, is this. Despite being selfish, and (at first) very controlling towards her children, as well as harshly admonishing them for leaving her and stealing Cosmog and Type: Null from her, she is otherwise a very well-meaning, decent, and empathetic person, and cares for her kids enough to try and protect them and the Pokémon she loves from Necrozma. After the Necrozma incident, she realizes her mistakes and becomes determined to make it up to those she had hurt in her goal to stop Necrozma. Her response to Hau's surprise at the familial connection between herself and her children sums her up best.
    Lusamine: Those wretches beside you left me. But I will still save them.
  • Carmine from Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is blunt and impatient, and she's a bit of a Big Sister Bully towards Kieran. She tends to snap at the player character often early on in The Teal Mask, and she thinks she's being nice to Kieran because she doesn't hit him. However, Carmine massively softens up over the course of the field trip, getting more attached to the player and helping them several times. She also means well towards Kieran and shows concern towards him at several points, such as hiding her and the player character's meeting with Ogerpon so he doesn't get upset over losing a chance to meet it.
• Prince of Persia:
  • The Prince of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (before the sequel, anyway) is arrogant, spoiled, sarcastic, reckless, stubborn, and obsessed with "honour and glory" to the point where he accidentally unleashed hell for it, but he is also very brave, well-meaning, and totally, heartbreakingly desperate for his father's approval, even though his father obviously already adores him.
  • His later counterpart in Prince of Persia (2008) is a scruffy, cynical, selfish, irreverent, hedonistic, blatantly lecherous, grave-robbing lout. He's also pretty friendly when he wants to be, especially to girls he likes, and quite soft-hearted. In the end, he proves that he'll do anything to save the people he loves, including saving the world... and personally bringing about its end.
• Jean Descole from Professor Layton immediately comes across as selfish and short-tempered. He isn't above terrorizing entire towns to find the Azran Legacies in them, and he kidnaps and attacks many people throughout the series. However, he also goes out of his way to make sure innocents aren't killed in his schemes, such as when he corrects Luke's predictions about where the specter will appear so those areas will be evacuated beforehand and sends the losers of the game for eternal life safely back to London when he blows up the Crown Petone, even though he makes it seem like they're dead to the remaining players. In Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy, he even takes an injury from a laser-shooting Azran robot, pushing Luke out of its way.
• Randal's Monday: Randal is a surprisingly decent guy at times. He genuinely cares about Matt and feels guilt for his actions. But he's always handy with a good quip or tell-off to the average person on the street.
• In his debut, Ratchet from Ratchet & Clank is shockingly different from the Lombax we know and love today. Over the course of the game he bounces between Jerk with a Heart of Gold and plain old Jerkass; granted, he has a reason for the poor behavior in one case, and near the game's end, Clank actually invokes this trope.
  Clank: This is the Ratchet I always knew was there.
• RealityMinds:
  • Astrake is a prickly man who nonetheless encourages his friends to stay positive and has a penchant of taking dangerous attacks in place of his allies.
  • Rasheed usually gives his allies backhanded compliments, but is otherwise a reasonable soldier who gives Astrake and Silvana a chance to prove their innocence and helps Udir enlist faster despite the latter missing the soldier recruitment exam.
• Jill Valentine from the Resident Evil games has an abrasive and pragmatic personality to contrast her with Chris (a noble by-the-book soldier type), Claire (a kind college girl who takes care of a kid) and Leon (an empathic and reasonable rookie cop). The remake of 3 also makes Jill a pottymouth. However, Jill also has a strong sense of justice and demonstrates several times a willingness to sacrifice herself for the sake of others. In 3, she shows a compassionate side when she comforts a sorely-wounded Mikhail even though she makes her disdain for Umbrella very clear to them.
• Jake in Resident Evil 6. He's the master of snark, and can't seem to go five minutes without a sarcastic comment. Plus, let's not forget that he's a mercenary. And yet, he risks his own life to save Sherry countless times, and in the end, he takes back his demand for 50 million dollars in exchange for his blood (which will save the world), and instead says that 50 bucks will do. Also, in a hidden cut scene after Ada's campaign, he helps a Middle-Eastern boy by saving him from several huge B.O.W.s in exchange for a mere apple.
• In Saints Row: The Third, the Boss starts to show sincere affection and concern for their allies, something seldom seen in the first two games. Of course, the degree to which the gold shows in gameplay is dependent on the player.
  • Largely Subverted in IV, where The Boss is much more consistently pleasant to others than they've ever been before. It also helps that everything is in a simulation and they're technically not committing any crimes at all.
• Shadows of the Empire gives us Dash Rendar, a Lovable Rogue who follows in the mold of Han Solo. Sure, he's an opportunist, a mercenary, and something of a smug wanker, but his heart is in the right place and he has no love for either the Empire or the Black Sun.
• Sonic the Hedgehog:
  • Knuckles the Echidna is one of the most prolific examples. He is shown to be quite rude, hot-tempered, and anti-social, but he's also been said to have "a trusting heart, and wants to believe there's goodness in everyone" and can prove to be a helpful hand for Sonic and the gang. This element of his character really comes into play in Sonic Adventure 2, where he saves Rouge from falling into lava and then actually apologizes for hurting her. In Sonic '06, he's noticeably upset when Sonic is temporarily dead. Knuckles is also generally a nice person when he's in a good mood.
  • Some of the game manuals claim that Sonic is one of these (short-tempered, but very heroic at heart), but it's almost never canon in-game at all. Then again, the "heart of gold" is more emphasized than the "jerk" part as he's always nice to his friends and cocky and snarky towards his enemies.
  • Shadow the Hedgehog is more than willing to fight the other heroes should they get in his way and pretty apathetic to things that don't relate to his goals, and can be quite a rude and egotistical Jerkass at times, but he's always on the frontlines whenever a new threat arises and is capable of working with the heroes too when they're on the same page. He also cares very much for his two teammates, and his late surrogate sister Maria, not to mention that he cares for the well being of everyone else (even Sonic), even if he doesn't always express it.
  • Rouge the Bat is a selfish, vain seductress who feels all of her gems are hers to keep, but she's capable of expressing gratitude when someone helps her and shows genuine concern for her two comrades.
• Patroklos from Soulcalibur V... is an example of this trope that somehow goes wrong. He's a callous ass who thinks more with his brawn or "famed reputation" than his brains and is abrasive to others, but otherwise is trying his damnedest to do the right thing from his POV, even if he becomes easy prey for manipulation, as well as trying to be a good brother for his sister Pyrrha, and even if sometimes he has his downfalls, he does care about her and ultimately accepts her for what she is. Too bad he's done some things that makes the heart of gold look eclipsed by the "Jerk" part to the fandom.
• Spirit Hunter series:
  • Satoru Mashita from Spirit Hunter: Death Mark. His lines are filled with derision and sarcasm, but he cares greatly for human life and is very protective of everyone around him.
  • Akira from Spirit Hunter: NG is abrasive and doesn't suffer fools lightly, but, as is noted by his character bio and Kaoru, he does care deeply for his friends and family and will go out of his way to protect them.
• Star Ocean: In Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, you have as an optional character Roger S. Huxley, a Menodix (essentially a small boy with a raccoon's tail). For most of the game, he alternates between being a jerk and immature (although he is only 12). But should he (re)appear in a later cutscene where he is injured after destroying a transporter jammer (which character does this out of Nel, Albel, or Roger is decided by the player's choices earlier in the game), it turns out that for all his flaws, his heart is in the right place. This same scene could be considered a moment of heartwarming.
• Star Wars Legends:
  • Knights of the Old Republic:
    • Jolee Bindo is a Grumpy Old Man who is supposedly neutral on the Light/Dark Side axis, but he's still a very moral person.
    • Bastila can be self-righteous and officious about being a Jedi, but it's hard to find a better example of a heart of gold than going out of your way to save the life of a dying Sith Lord just because you think everyone deserves a second chance.
  • Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords: Atton Rand. See "Han Solo". Then give him the capabilities of a Sith. However, the influence system means you can nurture the heart, or crush it under your booted heel, depending upon how badly you give in to the Video Game Cruelty Potential.
  • In Star Wars: The Old Republic the Player Character can be one, particularly if they play light-side on the The Empire. On the Republic side, the smuggler tends to be this, and will even lampshade it.
    Smuggler: Well, you found my heart of gold.
• Street Fighter:
  • Karin Kanzuki, although this side is more apparent when she's not fighting. She makes friends with her longtime rival Sakura, and in Rainbow Mika's storyline, Karin agrees to provide some of her vast fortune to support Mika's wrestling career.
  • Dan Hibiki might be an obnoxious Miles Gloriosus who gleefully takes credit for other people's work and fancies himself a much better fighter than he actually is while secretly despising people "cooler" than him, but his heart is in the right place and his intentions are good, allowing him to become friends with both Sakura and Blanka.
• Wario from Super Mario Bros.: He is a greedy Anti-Hero with the "Jerk" part and is one of his defining characters, he later develops the "Heart of Gold" part. He'll gladly liberate the citizens of a music box from an evil clown in Wario Land 3... if you let him keep any treasure he finds. Then in Wario Land 4, he was more than willing to risk his life to help a random cat out of a collapsing temple. He also goes out of his way to rescue Princess Peach in Super Mario 64 DS for no real profit (unless he really likes cake, anyway). He is probably at his nicest in the WarioWare games; he is still rude and crude, but he is surprisingly very encouraging to the player and (despite scamming them on occasion) downright genial to his friends... until they ask him to pay them.
• Super Sized Family implies this for the player character. They act as a supportive parent to their kids, but when they misbehave, you need to give them "threats".
• Tales Series:
  • Tales of Symphonia:
    • At first, the mercenary Kratos appears to be traveling with the party only for the money, and then on top of that, he betrays you. But, it turns out he's not as much of a jerk as Lloyd first thinks and he comes back to your side in the end.
    • Zelos fits this trope even better. While he is a teasing, arrogant, and carefree Handsome Lech who starts off with a dislike for half-elves, he does make a clear effort to overcome that prejudice and even uses his status to prevent new laws that would further the horrible treatment of half-elves from being passed. He also shows genuine concern for Sheena, and he cares deeply for his little sister despite the fact that her mother murdered his. Actually, many of his actions during the game are for the sake of his sister because he believes the fact that they sentenced her for something she didn't do to be unfair. Also, like Kratos, he betrays you at one point, but comes back to your side in seven of the eight endings. Even in the one where he doesn't rejoin, he helps you one last time before he dies. When conditions place him closest to Lloyd, he also shows that he believes that Lloyd was right that status and race mean nothing.
    • Yuan is a borderline example. He's cold, standoffish, and generally impatient with the main cast for the entire game, refusing to acknowledge them as anything but grudging allies... when he's not actively trying to kill them. But it turns out that all of his actions are pushing toward a goal of trying to save the world from the Big Bad, and grant Martel, his fiancee, the peace she deserves. There's a sidequest near the end in which you return the engagement ring he dropped in a mandatory cutscene early in the game, at the end of which he's willing to literally beg Lloyd to give it back to him.
  • Tales of the Abyss:
    • Jade and Anise are perfect examples, as both are regularly rude and snarky, but also genuinely care about their companions.
    • And from the same game, Tear Grants can be very icy and blunt at times, but she noticeably softens up as the story progresses.
    • Even Luke, the main character, starts out as this before his Important Haircut and Character Development.
    • Natalia is a true Royal Brat who routinely bosses Luke and Guy around and only gets to join the party by blackmailing Luke. She is also responsible for many humanitarian and philanthropic works throughout her kingdom and doesn't hesitate to use her Healing Hands if she sees someone suffering in front of her. By the end of the game, she's lost the jerk part entirely.
  • Yeager of Tales of Vesperia is a minor recurring villain with a German accent and crazy speech who constantly meddles in things on both sides of a conflict so he can keep the profits coming in as a weapons dealer. Then Raven sees fit to inform that he's just laying the nutjob act on a little thick. Then you find out that he's been donating to an orphanage all this time and raising two of the orphans like his own daughters.
• Tattered World: Elliot Grant of the Cosmic Solarium may be standoffish, harsh, and sometimes downright rude- especially to Kyprian, who he was once joined at the hip with- but at the end of the day, he's only trying to protect others from being harmed by him and his Tatter affliction, which he gained in the first place generating resources for a society he's embittered with. If one of his devoted quotes is any indication, he even worries about creatures he believes caused major harm to the Solarium.
• Tekken:
  • Jin Kazama is the one member of the Mishima Clan that has personality traits similar to both the morally good (Lars/Lee) and morally bad (Kazuya/Heihachi) members. He is brooding, cynical and has pushed others away from him, but it shouldn't be mistaken for hatred (except for Heihachi and Kazuya), he just doesn't want to let the ones he cares for endanger themselves just to help him as he's dealing with a lot of Serious Business.
  • Marshall Law and Paul Phoenix. The duo may go to the Jerkass Ball territory from time to time, with Law being rather selfish in his attempts to escape Perpetual Poverty and Paul being boastful in his quest to be the "toughest in the universe". Deep down, they don't have a malicious bone and are well meaning. Further cemented in Steve Fox's 8 bio where they help him get back into his feet even though their team up in 6 was a failure.
  • Hwoarang may be consciending and abrasive and desperately wants a rematch with his rival Jin, but towards him and his master Baek, Hwoarang doesn't show his bad side as much.
  • Miguel Caballero Rojo is a jerk to everyone except his sister. When he finds out about her plans in marriage, he tries to murder him, but relents anyway for the sake of her happiness.
  • Anna Williams, to a somewhat lesser extent. Sure, she's an assassin with a blood feud against her sister Nina, but she's nowhere near as brutal about it as Nina is and there are strong hints throughout the series that, deep down, she wishes that their rivalry could just end.
• Them's Fightin' Herds: Oleander may be unapologetically snarky, impatient, and have an aggressively aloof personality that matches well with her dark magic, but she genuinely wants to use it to do good and bring light to the world.
• Dr. Neil Watts from To the Moon. At first, he's a total smartass and enjoys being sarcastic, mean, and doing incredibly stupid things (like riding a horse backwards), but when it comes to Eva trying to move River from Johnny's memories so he can go to the moon, he fiercely tries to prevent that, believing that it would make Johnny miserable, proving that he does in fact care.
• Touhou Project:
  • Many Touhou characters can be considered to be this. Of course, sometimes it's really "obnoxious with a heart of gold", or "lazy with a heart of gold", or "utterly crazy but with a heart of gold".
  • Reimu Hakurei is occasionally played as a Stoic Jerk with a Heart of Gold, when the fans aren't joking about how her approach to solving a problem is thuggish (or genocidal). She will constantly mention how her job as a shrine maiden is to exterminate youkai. Cue the ending cutscenes of most games where she will have a casual tea party with the final boss (who's usually a youkai) and regularly has said youkai over to her place for a boozefest in the manga. It's constantly mentioned that strong youkai are fond of her, whether she likes it or not, since it means less followers for her shrine as the humans are scared off by their presence. The books say that the main reason for her role as a youkai exterminator is the fact that the very existence of the barrier that keeps Gensokyo alive depends on the human-youkai balance where one must fear the other (the human side being the regular villagers in this case), meaning she has no choice but to do her job. Toyosatomimi no Miko, whose magic ability lets her see the true desires of anyone she meets, explicitly states that deep down, beneath all her anti-youkai rhetoric, Reimu genuinely wants peace between humans and youkai without any violence involved.
  • Marisa also counts, as she can be a mean, mischievous liar and thief, but she thinks, and tells to Hijiri Byakuren, that humans need to be protected from unchecked youkai (which causes Byakuren to attack her, since when she was sealed it was youkai who were getting exterminated, and so she thinks Marisa is just another racist. There are apologies on both sides afterwards). She also puts aside her own curiosity and interest in ransacking the Mountain to help the Kappa and Tengu with their problems in Mountain of Faith, and is nice enough to have earned a sort of big sister position to the three mischievous fairies.
• Teagan from Uncommon Time is a very dark and borderline deconstructionist take on this. She is motivated by a genuine desire to protect Alto and look out for her best interests, but the stress of fighting against Alto's powerful family and dealing with Alto's Stepford Smiler tendencies made her snap, and she now dismisses Alto as a Broken Bird and an idiot who can't think for herself. Her belligerence doesn't stop at Alto, either, and she's particularly mean to Meirin. To her credit, when Alto finally snaps and voices all the resentment she's kept bottled up, Teagan immediately has a My God, What Have I Done? moment and profusely apologizes. She becomes much less hostile after this and makes genuine attempts to be friendlier with the rest of the cast. Alto still refuses to forgive her for the years of verbal abuse, however, saying that the damage has already been done.
• Under Night In-Birth: Hyde Kido is this trope Subverted.
  • He saves Linne from Hilda during the Hollow Night despite Linne insisting he run away, which gets him roped up in the plot. Afterwards, he shows Linne around town and offers to put her up in his home, along with her hulking bodyguard Waldstein. He also takes in Vatista in a later Night, realizing that she is a lost girl with nowhere else to go.
  • When he encounters Yuzuriha, he apologizes to her for something he did in the past that caused them to drift apart, and lets her know that he has regretted it ever since. Finally making peace with her, they then have a friendly spar. He treats Yuzuriha like an older sister and cares for her wellbeing, warning her against sleeping outside and getting cold.
  "I've never forgotten about what happened then... I am sorry, and I always have been. I lost sight of myself, and well... What I did was pretty messed up. And afterwards, I ran and hid like a coward, pretending I knew nothing. Pretty pathetic, huh? But that's all in the past now. I know it might be too late, but I found a reason to fight. And not because that "person" told me to, either. I fight because I want to."
  • Hyde never shows hatred towards any characters at any point in the story, not even Hilda or Merkava. He refuses to kill anybody, and his misfortunes and attempts to harm him at the hands of the rest of the cast are never taken personally. Linne notes that despite his vulgarity and horniness, he is a very sweet boy.
• Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York: Qadir is, at first glance, exactly the kind of ruthless, sociopathic bruiser you expect to be the primary muscle for someone ruling as fractured and unstable a realm as vampire New York. However, even from the earliest portions of the game, Qadir goes out of his way for you for no real reason, and he doesn't hesitate to call out his colleagues for needless violence. The end impression is that Qadir cares deeply, but forces himself to harden his heart because ruthlessness and sociopathy are survival traits for vampires.
• Tenmyouji in Virtue's Last Reward. He's a Grumpy Old Man to the core who isn't afraid to call it like he sees it; he also won't hesitate to choose "Betray" in the AB Game. But... everything he does, he does for the benefit of his grandson, Quark. And although it takes a while for him to warm up to others, he's an extremely steadfast and true friend once someone earns his trust. His curmudgeonly attitude might have something to do with the fact that he's been chasing his lost love all his life...
• Wild ARMs 3: Maya may seem harsh, but besides the obvious motivation of wanting to get rid of other Drifter competitors, she does have a sweet spot for Virginia, protecting her in her own way (and literally saving the party's life at least once).
• Geralt of Rivia, of The Witcher series, is this canonically. Thanks to his life and the world in which he lives, he has become very cynical and jaded, and he takes great pains to take no sides in any debate and maintain a veneer of cool professionalism. But he's very protective of his few friends, and deep under his facade he has something very close to Chronic Hero Syndrome. This is probably justified, as Witchers are supposed to be jerks due to their mutations cutting off higher emotional states. Geralt is fully aware that he's not a total jerk and that frustrates him. Amusingly, other Witchers apparently see him as a drama queen.
• Neku Sakuraba of The World Ends with You hates people in general and at the beginning of the game does his best to shut them out. But after playing the Reaper's Game for six days, he starts becoming a lot more friendly and tolerant, though he still maintains his Deadpan Snarker POV.
• In Yu-Gi-Oh! Reshef of Destruction, Weevil is portrayed as this. He gives up Insect Queen to help the player and decides to show up to greet the player (but he keeps insisting that it's to get his card back).

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