One-Man Army/Video Games: Difference between revisions

 

== Subpages ==

** [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in ''[[Duke Nukem Forever]]'':

{{quote|"Hey pal, what are you gonna do? Save the world all by yourself?"}}

 

== Other Examples, that need to be sorted by genre ==

* If there's any person who should be fit to provide the picture for this trope, it would be Captain Titus of [[Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine]]. Why? Well, not wanting to spoil too much, but he makes other OneManArmies look comparatively ''sissy'' compared to what he's dished out over the course of the game. {{spoiler|Deconstructed at the end. The sheer ridiculousness of Titus' deeds make the Inquisition suspicious of him.}}

* The Black Ops soldiers in ''[[PlanetSide]]''. They have ten times the staying power of a regular soldier, and can use [[Do Anything Soldier|any vehicle and weapon in the game]]. However, regular soldiers avert this, ''hard''.

*** The Nod Cyborg Commando from Tiberian Sun is probably the strongest candidate for this in the RTSes: it's one of the strongest units in the game, bar none. It [[Inverted Trope|inverts]] the usual [[Crippling Overspecialization]] of "commando" units by having a weapon that's good enough to destroy tanks and buildings in a couple hits (and it's a [[One-Hit Kill]] against infantry and light vehicles), is [[Made of Iron]], can regenerate by standing in Tiberium, and can fit into subterranean [[APCs]] for surprise attacks. Ghost Stalker has many of the same abilities for the GDI, except without the [[Made of Iron]] part.

** In the expansions to the first Red Alert, the Soviets prototype a cybernetic soldier called Volkov. His first mission consists of [[Curb Stomp Battle|wiping out dozens of Allied troops]], [[Serial Escalation|buildings, tanks, and a battleship]], finally ramming the point home by {{spoiler|[[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|killing Tanya]] }}. Understandably, this worries the Allies...

* Sarah Kerrigan from ''[[StarCraft]]'', who as a human was only a mediocre Ghost (and being the first ''[[StarCraft]]'' game, you couldn't heal her, making it dangerous to use her in battle), as the Zerg Queen of Blades, she had great armor, huge hitpoints, a melee attack which killed most infantry in one swipe and larger units with 2 or 3, could Entangle from a distance, and could destroy groups with Psionic Storms. During her attack on the ''Amerigo'', when she's ambushed by 20 Marines, she's able to kill every one of them without dying.

** Let's not forget Zeratul, the unit with one of the strongest attacks, and also permanaent stealth. He also does that in cutscenes. In one mission with proper microing, you can use him to kill half a Zerg base alone.

* ''[[Fire Emblem]]''. At first, you're generally on par with the imperial scrubs. Near the end of the game, though, you'll probably have "that one guy" (or even better, multiple), who you can just throw into a pile of red guys, and laugh at they waltz up and basically get obliterated. It's almost tragic.

** In fact, for some this is a [[Self-Imposed Challenge]], to play through an entire game using only one character.

** In ''Path of Radiance'', there's also Nephenee. The only edge Ike has over her is Aether. Nephenee doesn't need it, because the enemies in most cases are lucky if they ''even manage damage her at all''. If they manage to bring her health halfway down, her Wrath ability kicks in, which boosts her critical hit ration dramatically, so one hit kills will be served in bulk.

*** Also, Mia can do serious damage thanks to Vantage. Throw on a Brave Sword, and they all die.

** The first game also nicely averts the "No one finds this unusual" aspect of this trope with a post-credits phone dialog revealing that the incident {{spoiler|was being monitored as an impromptu field test for two experiments: The army of supersoldiers and the player character. Guess which party passed with flying colors?}}

** Even more so in the sequel, ''Project Origin''. The main character is a soldier in Delta Force, a faction that was getting slaughtered in the first game. Yet in the first mission (with no [[Bullet Time]]) he kills thirty trained corporate soldiers in as many minutes, gets surgery done to give him slow-mo abilities, and then proceeds to not only kill as many clone Replica soldiers as the Point Man in the first game did (about 500) in the same amount of time, but also to defeat a 500-strong corporate army that could invade a moderately-sized country. Theoretically, he should also have been able to destroy Alma, but {{spoiler|this was sabotaged by [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] Genevieve Aristide}}. The quote from the leader of said corporate army pretty much sums it up.

** Let's not forget about his [[Evil Twin|evil counterpart Wario]], who manages to one-up him by effortlessly beating up mobs of enemy [[Mooks]] and a giant one-eyed, tentacled, civilization-destroying black gem in ''[[Wario World]]''. He also takes down [[Sealed Evil in a Can|sealed evils in a can]] on a regular basis throughout his ''[[Wario Land]]'' series.

** And just think, Mario isn't half the badass that [http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/307402 Super Communist Mario] is...

* Averted in ''[[Snatcher]]'', where Random Hajile is considered highly skilled because he's managed to hunt down ''four'' Snatchers in ''a month''.

* In the ''[[Metal Slug]]'' series, the [[Mooks]] will often run screaming from the player character, and [[Genre Savvy|for good reason]]—they currently have three wars with the Rebellion Army, two alien invasion attempts, a ''demonic attack'', and an invasion from the center of the earth on their list of things defeated. Notice that the game plays trope literally: The player doesn't simply blast away ''Mooks'' and other infantry, but indeed, takes out dozens of tanks, combat helicopters, bombers, fighters, battle armors, ships, stationary guns, and, of course, [[Humongous Mecha|the bosses]]. Of course, the game being on the far side of [[Sliding Scale of Silliness Versus Seriousness|silly side]], it is all depicted in a most comical manner.

** Lampshaded in ''Up Your Arsenal'': Once Ratchet shows up on the battlefield in Veldin, all the front-line soldiers take the [[Genre Savvy]] approach by tossing him their guns and getting the hell out of there.

** Probably the most literal demonstration of this trope occurs in ''A Crack in Time'', in which there's a level where Ratchet goes back in time to ''single-handedly win a war'' just so he can get a ride off the planet when he returns to the present.

** In ''[[Dragon Age]]: Origins'' the Grey Warden and his/her allies can accrue a very impressive kill count by the end of the game. Since the Grey Warden is required to be in the party for most of it, chances are good that he or she will rack up the lion's share of the kills. It's even lampshaded in one sidequest after you help beleaguered guardsmen kill an entire band of mercenaries and their leader notes that only an idiot would willingly attack you. One poor dwarf who tries to attack you at one point even says that you fight like an Archdemon. There is an achievement for killing 1000 darkspawn over multiple playthroughs. It is entirely possible to earn it in ''one'' playthrough. That does not cover everything else you kill. By the end of the game you and your small band of companions will have killed ''legions'' of enemies.

** Every Grey Warden is chosen specifically because they are [[Badass]]. A dwarf in Orzammar will tell you that only Grey Wardens go into the Deep Roads without a squad of soliders at their back. In the Dalish Elf origin, you find Duncan by following the trail of darkspawn corpses left in his wake.

* Jack, from ''[[MadWorld]]'', is able to kill hundreds (maybe thosands) of people {{spoiler|including bosses that have better weapons, some that are monstrously enormous, a giant robot and even some that can regenerate}} using only the environment, his strength and a freaking CHAINSAW on his arm. It's later justified as {{spoiler|Jack is actually the former Grand Champion of Deathwatch.}}

* The ''USS Cheyenne'' from [[Tom Clancy]]'s SSN is a One Sub Navy. Of course, it does have a serious technological advantage. This is acknowledged in the novel, where the captain is promoted to rear admiral and receives both the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Order of Mao Tze-Dong.

** Neris, one of the three contenders for the position of Monster Lord. While the other two contenders have armies of supporters, Neris is on her own, ''yet is seen as the strongest of them all''. In one day, she defeats the inhabitants of three monster villages (each renowned for their power) and fights Granberia (who's just as powerful here as she is in the original game) to a draw. And this is ''without'' using her full power!

** The Grangold King. {{spoiler|Due to his protohuman blood being awakened}}, he's now capable of casting spells that devastate entire armies and is seemingly invulnerable.

 

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