While most often seen in fighter games, this character will occasionally appear in RPGs. This is the one with the usually shaggy, muscle-bound and under-dressed appearance who's from the past/from a jungle/victim of a military experiment. The Wild Man will often use primitive means of attacks, such as big blades or clubs (gee, who would've thunk it?) and some times slightly more advanced weapons which you're not really sure how they manage to be good with (bombs, usually).
When this character shows up in RPGs, it will often overlap with The Big Guy trope, but as far as fighters go, this character will usually be the odd looking guy with increased strength/agility (or both) and animal-based or generally very melee-based attacks, probably The Berserker.
Compare to Wild Child or Jungle Princess. May "evolve" into a Beast Man if exposed to magic or genetic engineering.
This trope is Older Than Dirt, first appearing in The Epic of Gilgamesh.
Examples
Anime & Manga- Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V: Battle Beast is a primitive and brutish duelist who grunts a lot and is under-dressed. As his nickname suggests, he is a beast... a wounded beast to be exact.
Tabletop Games
- The Realms Within: The Pallid Men are a pack of them, having lived in the swamps for so long that they have lost the ability (or need) for regular human speech.
Video Games
- Arknights: Junkmen, being the first Giant Mook encountered, serves as Reunion Movement's heavy hitter early in the game. They possess high health and attack power with their massive clubs, but wear ragged clothing that offers low overall defenses. Invoked by their description, which mentions that they disguise themselves as drifters to hide the fact that they are mercenaries.
- Chrono Trigger: Ayla is a Wild Woman from the prehistoric past.
- Commandos: Subverted. Wilson the Castaway has the appearance, but he is actually a frail Non-Action Guy whose main role is to make noise to distract Japanese soldiers.
- EXTRAPOWER: Zophy is practically the poster child of the trope, a taciturn man raised in the wilderness who wanders into adventure with nothing more than a speedo and some golden jewelry and a mountain of muscles. In Attack of Darkforce and Giant Fist, the only attack he needs is a mighty punch that's as strong as any other ally's magical or technological attacks. The latter game diversifies his fierce repertoire of punches and gives him the ability to pick up and throw enemies and objects of any size. A friend to all living things, he's never seen without King Leo, a talking lion and his closest companion.
- Final Fantasy XI: Morimar is a burly man who lives in the wilderness with a tiger.
- Final Fantasy XIV: "Traditional" Male Viera don't have much in the way of society compared to the females, living solitary and primitive lives in the forests, living off the land, killing outsiders that the females haven't given entry to and almost never being seen in the process. It's noted in some lore resources that besides their teachers (to whom they bond with like a father), male Viera may well fight to the death if they encounter one another out of sheer territorial impulse. That said, this isn't any kind of downright instinctual impulse, as Erenville and Loifa prove a male Viera raised in a normal society adapts to it like any other person would.
- La-Mulana: The Masked Men that live in the ruins are muscular, under-dressed and covered in long Wild Hair. Their profile wonders if their hairiness is due to the lower temperatures of the area where they live.
- Onmyōji (2016): Yamakaze is considered "king of the forest" but has a refined appearance and a deep-down caring personality. Nonetheless, he is a badass, Ax-Crazy warrior whose battle scenes land squarely into Nightmare Fuel territory.
- Persona 4: Arena: Akihiko Sanada is built off of this archetype. He was originally going to be a Man in Black-type character inspired by Jason Statham in The Transporter, but developers wanted a Wild Man so he was tweaked.
- Pokémon Red and Blue: Bruno appears to be a martial artist that has abandoned civilization — the only item of real clothing he wears is a tattered pair of pants held up by his black belt, the apparent leftovers of a gi. He's also let his Anime Hair grow out to Barbarian Longhair length, and in Let's Go he even has feral "Uh-Oh" Eyes.
- Rage (2011): Members of the Jackal Clan wear pelts, yelp like wolves and talk in complete gibberish. They have the highest proportion of melee-happy berserker enemies. A handful will use assault rifles, but most of the ranged ones just use crossbows.
- Red Dead Redemption: The swamp-dwelling Night Folk seem to somehow have lost the ability to communicate like normal humans, mostly staying quiet, or howling and grunting like deranged animals.
- Sifu: Fajar has a scrawny build and a mangy, unkempt appearance, and what little clothing he wears is tattered and mossy. He also favors a machete and his stolen talisman gives him control over plants. In the second phase of his battle, he creates a spontaneous bamboo jungle to hide in and ambush you from.
- Street Fighter II: Blanka walks around on all fours, wears nothing but torn pants, and fights with his claws and teeth more than conventional punches and kicks, although he's intelligent enough to chat with and befriend people.
Webcomics
- A Path to Greater Good: Burk wears nothing but trousers (or Goofy Print Underwear after he lost them) and a shaggy head of hair while fighting with Good Old Fisticuffs. Hero Oh Hero also gives him a better dressed Aristocrat as a foil.
Web Video
- Gateway: Apex has only vague ideas of civilization, eats like an animal, and speaks in terse sentences.
Western Animation
- The Old Man of the Mountain: The Old Man is an evil version, living on his own in the wild and terrorizing the inhabitants of the area whenever he feels like it.
