Belligerent Sexual Tension/Video Games

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Examples of Belligerent Sexual Tension in Video Games include:

Visual Novels

  • Klavier Gavin seems to be coming on to Ema Skye in Ace Attorney: Apollo Justice during the very few times they actually talk to each other - though it mostly annoys her. She constantly - and not always behind his back - calls him a "Glimmerous Fop".
    • Many people on the fan-base think these two are a cute couple, and tons of fanart pics and fanfics are dedicated to them.
  • Kyou and Tomoya's relationship more or less work's out like this in Clannad. In fact, it's implied Sunohara picked up on it even before the story begins, but it never becomes apparent to Tomoya until her route.
  • The "Unlimited Blade Works" route of Fate/stay night focuses one of these. Shirou is socially awkward and something of a Deadpan Snarker and Rin is a grade-A Tsundere.
  • Kyosuke and Mizuha from G Senjou no Maou have shades of this (at least until you enter her route).
  • Battler and Beatrice in Umineko no Naku Koro ni, as part of their ongoing Mind Game Ship. Battler's hostility is entirely justified, as Beatrice claims to have killed him and his entire family, and she'll do it as often as it takes to make him believe her.

Other Genres / Unsorted

Baird: "I suppose you want me to say I always loved you. But I don't! I really, really don't!"

    • At the end, it's implied they end up together.
  • Croix and Prier of La Pucelle Tactics spend the last half of the game this way, with most of the rest of the party seeing it, and them denying it. They finally admit their feelings to each other at the climax of the game, and then promptly go back to denying it again in public.
  • Adell and Rozalin from Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories. Lampshaded when Etna spots the trope and assures them that they aren't fooling anyone.
    • Etna can't talk either, since in that very game she's acting like a Psycho Ex-Girlfriend towards Laharl.
    • Some of the interactions between Laharl and Flonne can come off as this, especially throughout the first game. Interestingly, they are both tsunderes, with Laharl being tsuntsun and Flonne deredere.
  • Serra and Erk from Fire Emblem 7, so much. To an extent, Hector and Lyn from the same game, as well as Dart and Farina. Also Lex and Ayra from the first half of the fourth game and Phee and Arthur from the second half, and Innes and L'Arachel from the eighth one... And doubly so with Ephraim and L'Arachel.
    • Given the nature of the games in question, all of those are optional pairings. If the player prefers, they can be paired with other people, or even no one at all.
      • The fifth game, however, did not have the option to pair units off as you will, and so as long as certain units survived, their endings would imply that they got together. Tanya and Othin appear to fit this trope quite nicely. The sixth game also doesn't have paired endings for anyone other than the main character despite the decidedly romantic nature of some of the A-level support conversations, and it, too, has a couple of pairings that bring this to mind (Clarine/Rutger and to a lesser extent Klein/Tate).
  • Pia and Vico, and potentially the Princess and Vico, in A Dance With Rogues.
  • Elika and the Prince in the 2008 Prince of Persia will spend more time snarking at each other than actually completing their quest, if the player lets them.
    • The Prince and Farah also have this in the Sands of Time trilogy.
  • Devil May Cry 3 introduced a Lady as a possible love interest for Dante. They didn't become an Official Couple, but that's how it's been in the first three games in the series. Each one introduced a possible love interest for the protagonist, yet no Official Couple was ever stated, and each fan has a different favourite.
    • It's pertinent to note that almost every fanfiction that has Dante and Lady as a couple has the later acting as a full-on Tsundere. Complete with her shooting Dante in the head whenever he angers her as a Running Gag.
  • Jessica and Kyle of Lunar 1 fit this trope very well, with Jessica being a Hot-Blooded, Cute Monster Girl dropout priestess and Kyle being a drunken, Loveable Rogue bandit running a sort of Monster Protection Racket.
  • From the Sonic the Hedgehog series, we have Knuckles the Echidna and Rouge the Bat, who practically define the term "Sexual Tension".
  • It depends on the player's interpretation of the characters, but Link from The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess could be seen as having this sort of relationship with Midna, judging by the snarky comments she makes and the obvious increase of fondness between them despite her attitude. The same could be said of Link and Tetra in Wind Waker; she proves herself to have a strong affection for him eventually, but that doesn't stop her from talking down to him for his sentimentality upon leaving home or from catapulting him into a stone wall.
    • That was an accident.
  • Tales (series)
    • Loni and Nanaly in Tales of Destiny 2. Oh. So. Much.
    • This happens frequently in Tales games. In Tales of the Abyss, Luke and Tear have a relationship like this. But then again, everyone treats Luke like dirt.
    • Luke and Tear only have this relationship for the first 1/3 of the game where Luke is a naive spoiled brat and Tear is a no nonsense soldier. After the Wham! Episode, their relationship becomes much less belligerent as Luke begins to mature (after an overlarge heaping of Break the Haughty) and Tear starts showing her more gentle and caring side.
    • Another example can be found in Chester and Arche in Tales of Phantasia. And it's taken to insane levels in the sequel, Narikiri Dungeon (specifically, the PSP remake).
  • This is the general consensus in the Touhou fandom as to Marisa and Alice's relationship, with Marisa being the kleptomaniacal, master spark-happy jerk and Alice being the haughty, dismissive tsundere.
  • Depending on how you play it, most Bioware RPGs have a pairing that runs this way.
  • Chie and Yosuke's relationship in Persona 4 could be said to be this. They constantly argue, and sometimes reach physical violence ("TRIAL OF THE DRAGOOON!") but they were practically a couple.
  • Fan Fiction tends to portray Nick and Ellis of Left 4 Dead 2 as having this kind of relationship. That is, when Ellis hasn't been completely Wimpified or is being outright raped.
    • On in-universe example, Ellis is Smitten with Zoey the moment he lays eyes on her. When he gets a chance to see her again, she may be rather belligerent and insult him. This does nothing to tarnish her "Angel" image in Ellis's eyes.
  • The Nameless One and Annah in Planescape: Torment,. The intensity of it is left to how Jerkish the player wishes to be, which in turn determines how provoked Annah will be to hold up her Tsundere end.
  • Brandon and Vera in Vera Blanc. But as they are both Deadpan Snarkers what can you expect.
  • The relationship between Squall and Rinoa in Final Fantasy VIII initially has some elements of Belligerent Sexual Tension thanks to the conflict between Squall's stoic cynicism and Rinoa's enthusiastic idealism. The trope only really applies up until they reach Galbadia Garden in disc 1, however, after which point Rinoa is more interested in finding out what Squall is thinking than in challenging him over it.
  • Fear Effect. Hana and Glas have something like this. They have a habit of pointing guns at each other and giving tough talk to each other. Glas is the one who gives her a hand and helps her up in various situations. Hana did give Glas a hand and help him up in the first game. Also, the one female of the Eight Immortals says to Glas about Hana being his friend, which he tries so very hard to deny. A Fear Effect Inferno trailer shows Glas putting a hand over Hana's hand. He awkwardly tells her that "I just want to say...be careful, you know?" A few seconds later, she smiles and puts her head against his back, surprising him. She responds "We've all got to be careful." Considering what happens later...well, see the Love Triangle entry.
  • There is a solid fan belief that Tyrell and Karis from Golden Sun: Dark Dawn are poster children for this trope. To spite the fact that they are never made an official couple in the game, the bickering nature of these two made for an excellent Childhood Friend Romance.
  • In Solatorobo, Red and Elh play with this trope. Normally they are quite capable of working together, but if Red should do something incredibly stupid (and he will), Elh is not shy about calling him an idiot and giving him an Armor-Piercing Slap or a good Megaton Punch or two, or just glaring and leaving the room.
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