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{{trope}}
* In some games, the main villain is able to broadcast messages to the hero over the course of the game, and they'll eventually lose it and start broadcasting more and more desperate pleas/insults/bribes to you as you get closer to them.
** ''[[Bioshock (Video Game)|Bioshock]]'' does this with both Andrew Ryan ("Does your master hear me? '''''Atlas!''''' You can kill me, but you will ''never'' have my city!") and {{spoiler|Frank Fontaine}} ("I'm gonna splice, and splice, until THERE'S NOTHING LEFT TO SPLICE WITH!!").
*** In the sequel, Sofia Lamb spends most of the game smugly lecturing the player on her superior ethics. By the end she's a bitter, broken woman, knowing that her own daughter has rejected her and her plan.
** ''Bioshock's'' spiritual predecessor ''[[System Shock]]'' has something similar in the second game after the final boss fight, where {{spoiler|SHODAN}} goes from taunting and mocking the player to {{spoiler|attempting in vain to [[We Can Rule Together|bargain]] for her life.}}
** Dr. Breen in ''[[Half-Life (Video Gameseries)|Half-Life]] 2'' ("Look, Gordon, look at what you are throwing away. Is it worth it?").
*** Another (albeit somewhat milder) ''Half-Life 2'' example: In ''Episode One'', the Vortigaunts manage to break through the G-Man's power and rescue Gordon, which somewhat intimidates the G-Man in response. ("We'll see... about THAT!")
** GLaDOS in ''[[Portal (Video Gameseries)|Portal]]'' ("Turn back now or I will kill you! ...I'm going to kill you. And all the cake is gone. You don't even care, do you!?").
*** "Stop squirming and die like an adult or I'm going to delete your backup. STOP! Okay enough, I deleted it. No matter what happens now, you're ''DEAD.'' You're still shuffling around a little but believe me you're ''dead.'' The part of you that could have survived indefinitely is gone. I just struck you from the ''permanent record.'' Your entire life has been a mathematical error. ''A mathematical error I'M ABOUT TO CORRECT.''"
** {{spoiler|Wheatley}} in ''[[Portal 2 (Video Game)|Portal 2]]'', as you get closer to his lair and his traps fail again and again. The pinnacle is in the [[Final Battle]] after Chell (barely) survives yet another trap. ("What, are you still alive? You are joking! [[You Have Got to Be Kidding Me!]]! Well, I'm still in control. AND I HAVE NO BLOODY IDEA HOW TO FIX THIS PLACE! Oh, you had to play bloody cat and mouse, didn't you? While people were trying to work. Yes, well, now we're all going to pay the price, BECAUSE WE ARE ALL GOING TO BLOODY DIE! Oh, brilliant, yeah.")
** A minor villain near the start of ''[[Mass Effect 2 (Video Game)|Mass Effect 2]]'' gets increasingly frustrated at her troops as Shepard gets closer to her ("There are three of them. '''THREE!''' Anything can be killed if you'd just ''do your damn jobs!''").
** Bob Page in ''[[Deus Ex (Video Game)|Deus Ex]]'''s final mission. ("Go ahead! Blow this place sky-high... You might get rid of ME, but you'll take down Aquinas, the power grid, the whole electronic infrastructure. Is that what you want? '''''Are you completely nuts?'''''")
*** It gets better. He goes from smugly taunting you to ''begging''.
** Nicole Horne in ''[[Max Payne (Video Gameseries)|Max Payne]]'' ("What do you mean, 'he's unstoppable'?")
*** {{spoiler|Vlad}} from ''Max Payne 2''. ("What the fuck is wrong with you, Max?! ''[[Why Won't You Die?|Why won't you just die?!]]''")
** ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro Ni (Visual Novel)|Umineko no Naku Koro Nini]]'': {{spoiler|Bernkastel}} went through it several times.
** The deity in ''[[Tower of Heaven]]'' ("How dare you... How dare you continue to live? Is it merely to spite me?")
** By the end of ''[[Halo]] 3'', the Gravemind has gone from calmly taunting the Master Chief with visions of Cortana and statements of his complete inability to stop the inevitable to rampant screams and roars of protest -- though it kind of makes sense, as the Chief ''is'' about to {{spoiler|[[Earthshattering Kaboom|fire Halo right in his face]]}}.
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*** Neither Gravemind or Truth can compete for the "honor" of "The Best Villainous Breakdown of the ''Halo'' series" when facing {{spoiler|343 Guilty Spark}}. While both Gravemind and Truth started yelling around, they didn't do anything physically toward the player. {{spoiler|Spark}} however starts shooting lasers from his [[Red Eyes, Take Warning|red, formerly blue, eye]] at the player and messing up his power-armour, while screaming '''"[[Madness Mantra|UNACCEPTABLE! UNACCEPTABLE!! ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE!!!]]"''' or '''"THIS RING BELONGS TO ME!!"'''. And he kills {{spoiler|Sergeant Major Johnson}} in his fit of rage.
** And of all places -- ''[[Kirby]] [[Kirby Super Star|Super Star]]'', as Kirby's systematic demolition of the Halberd is accompanied by running commentary from Meta Knight and his crew, with increasing alarm.
** Not an entire game, but during Chapter 2 of ''[[Paper Mario (Video Gamefranchise)|Paper Mario]]'', this happens with Tutankoopa as you progress further and further through the Dry Dry Ruins.
*** Subverted in Chapter 5 of ''Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door''; most of the dungeon has you hearing moaning messages from Cortez in the same vein as those of Tutankoopa (complete with a gradual breakdown), but {{spoiler|when you arrive at Cortez's chamber, he says that he's sick of putting up that ruse, since "Pirates don't moan!", and starts showing his real personality - which is about what you would expect from a pirate king and hasn't been broken down at all}}.
* Arcturus Mengsk in ''[[Starcraft II (Video Game)|Starcraft II]]'' after {{spoiler|Raynor broadcasts his controversial recordings to the Dominion}}
{{quote| '''Mengsk:''' YOU jackals think you can come here and question ME?}}
** Kerrigan also suffers this during the final battle. In the beginning she's smugly taunting them, but as Terrans continue to hold off the Zerg, drive her back, and the artifact increasingly gains power she starts to scream angrily.
* All of the villains from the ''[[Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney]]'' games. The expressions on their faces as you [[Pull the Thread|gradually tear apart their arguments and prove their guilt as the true murderers]] is part of the reward, as is their final breakdown and subsequent [[Motive Rant]]. It's so universal, in fact, that when one character DOESN'T have a spectacular breakdown Phoenix lampshades the tropes and begins to question whether they were actually guilty. (Which they weren't, at least for that particular crime.)
** None of them broke down quite as spectacularly as {{spoiler|Von Karma}}. Especially when you get to rub in his face {{spoiler|the fact that he never would have been caught for the original DL-6 murder if he hadn't been obsessed with getting revenge on Edgeworth by manipulating Yanni Yogi into the present day murder, therefore drawing attention to the original case and allowing Phoenix to solve it. Oh, and it's hard not to enjoy watching him ram his head into the wall.}}
** Truly, the most spectacular breakdown is {{spoiler|Damon Gant's}}. No one else's breakdown involves ''their hair turning into lightning.'' Followed by ''six screens'' of him [[Laughing Mad|laughing insanely]] and clapping wildly once he's finally defeated.
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** On the other hand, {{spoiler|Shih-na's}} final breakdown is simply going to [[Nightmare Fuel|haunt your dreams]] for weeks to come.
** The final boss of ''[[Ace Attorney Investigations]] 2'' has a variation: {{spoiler|instead of breaking down directly, he has a comparatively calm [[Motive Rant]] followed by a pathetic plea of "I didn't understand anything!" As this takes place at a circus, doing so sets off the nearby animals, who all line up and have a go at him.}}
* ''The Getaway'': [[Big Bad|Charlie Jolson]] decides to pull a [[Taking You Withwith Me]] after his plans are foiled and activates a bomb while he and all his enemies are still on board the ship the bomb's on. He then proceeds to sing Land of Hope and Glory, making no attempts to leave.
* ''[[Dies Irae]]'' emotionally inverts this as the [[Big Bad]] Reinhard only gets closer to insane happiness {{spoiler|as the hero, Ren, gets closer to beating him.}} As he is such a genius at combat, he has never felt how fun a difficult fight could be for him.
* [[Final Fantasy]] has a long history of Villainous Breakdowns. [[Final Fantasy VI (Video Game)|Kefka Palazzo]], for example, had his after having attained godhood, mercilessly tortured the world and its remaining inhabitants for a full year in an attempt to make them all realize the [[Nietzsche Wannabe|futility of Life, Dreams, and Hope]]. When the heroes finally confront him and proclaim that [[Patrick Stewart Speech|dreams will always be worth dreaming, life will always be treasured, and hope will always be there to keep them going, even through the hardest of times,]] he announces that he has just about had enough of their insolent persistance and intends to go for [[Apocalypse How]], Class X and beyond.
** Also, listen closely to Kefka when you actually fight his final form: He laughs even longer than usual (by about 5 seconds) after saying "Life... Dreams... Hope... Where do they come from? And where do they go...? Such meaningless things... I'll destroy them all!!"
* In ''[[Final Fantasy VII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VII]]'', [[Complete Monster|Professor Hojo]] starts off as a calm, composed and ruthless scientist. As the game goes on however, he gradually starts to begin more and more unhinged, ultimately culminating in {{spoiler|him going completely insane, willingly attempting to destroy Midgar to help Sephiroth, and goes so far as to ''[[Body Horror|inject himself with Jenova cells]]'', fighting the party as a pseudo-[[Eldritch Abomination]], all while [[Giggling Villain|giggling]] [[Laughing Mad|madly]].}}
** {{spoiler|And as [[Dirge of Cerberus]] shows, death did ''not'' help his mental state. If anything, it made him ''worse''.}}
* Each encounter with [[Rival Turned Evil|Seifer]] in ''[[Final Fantasy VIII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VIII]]'' shows him edging a few steps further along a downward spiral; he starts out proclaiming himself a heroic knight pursuing a romantic dream, and ends up {{spoiler|trying to sacrifice his former girlfriend to an insane sorceress in order to bring about [[The End of the World Asas We Know It]]}}, purely because by that point he felt like he'd gone too far to turn back. His slow breakdown is reflected visually by his long white coat, which starts off as a [[Badass Longcoat]] but is tattered and shredded by the last encounter. Unlike most villains, Seifer gets better; during the ending cutscene, Seifer's coat is back to the way it started out.
* ''[[Final Fantasy IX (Video Game)|Final Fantasy IX]]'''s own [[White-Haired Pretty Boy]] Kuja spends a good portion of the final part of the game hopelessly insane with rage upon discovering he's mortal and will eventually die, and was just a temporary tool of [[The Man Behind the Man]] (and that {{spoiler|the protagonist Zidane is essentially a far more advanced model of what he was supposed to be}}.) Kuja ends up {{spoiler|blowing up one world and very nearly blows up another in quick succession}}.
* ''[[Final Fantasy XII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy XII]]'' has Vayne. After [[La Résistance|the rebel forces]] and his own brother Larsa beat him up, he goes [[One-Winged Angel]] and orders Larsa's bodyguard Gabranth to protect Larsa while he deals with the rebels: Gabranth decides to help the rebels defeat him instead. Beaten a second time, all Vayne has to say at this point is "BURN IN HELL, GABRANTH!" as he tries to strike him down. Vayne then limps away, bemoaning his plans and empire are crumbling around him.
* Zexion of ''[[Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (Video Game)|Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories]],'' in both versions, though it's easier to see in the [[R Emake]], what with the better animation, new and modified scenes, and quite good voice acting. {{spoiler|The [[Master of Illusion|deceptive Zexion]], who hates [[Manipulative Bastard|getting his hands dirty]], has been spending the game flinging his comrades before him to take the fall. He slowly grows more insecure as everyone else dies, and he completely loses it as Riku sees through his tricks and defeats him in combat. Being that he was rather something of a [[Smug Snake]], this was a very satisfying lead-in to his demise}}.
** Master Xenahort in ''[[Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep (Video Game)|Birth By Sleep]]'' is a completely composed [[The Chessmaster|Chessmaster]] who only raises his voice in joy at how well his plans are going and in battle is very laid back and not particularly aggressive. {{spoiler|Until he finally takes Terra's body as his own and seconds later is attacked by a newly formed Lingering Sentiment. This is the first time in the game he's truly pissed "Even though you've been reduced to memories YOU STILL WISH TO DEFY ME!" and the resulting boss fight has him constantly pounding away at you in your face with no mercy as opposed to casually hanging back and flinging spells as before.}}
*** {{spoiler|Though Xehanort's fury might not be so much an issue of [[Sanity Slippage]] as wanting to finish Terra once and for all. He was seeking to possess Terra before and probably consciously held back his more damaging attacks. Also, after being old for a while, he may have wanted to test out his new youth powers.}}
** Hades is known to snap if things don't go his way or when somebody insults him to his face. Usually, he often calms down immediately after his snappings, but in his final showdown against Sora he doesn't; when Sora, Donald and Goofy released Auron from Hades' mind control, and so saved Hercules' life, Hades went pissed but remained in control, but when his attempts to kill Hercules by throwing Meg into the River Styx failed, and the heroes laughing at Hercules' joke afterwerd, he began to screaming: "HOW DARE YOU GET A HAPPY ENDING?! HOW DARE YOU?!" and went ballistic on them by screaming and throwing [[Kill It Withwith Fire|fires everywhere]].
** Saix, while shown as a calm individual through most of the game, becomes utterly psychotic under the moon's influence late in the game, savagely attacking Sora and his allies during their final battle.
* In ''[[Command and Conquer]]: Tiberium Wars'', Kane is cool, calm, and absolutely collected throughout the entire game, mercilessly taunting GDI and generally seeming unflappable until {{spoiler|Killian Qatar allies with GDI}}. His response to this is to ''flip the fuck out'' and order the player to [[Nuke'Em]]. After {{spoiler|Killian's subsequent execution}} he calms back down and resumes his usual [[Magnificent Bastard|magnificent bastardry]].
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** Director Boyle, the man in charge of GDI during Tiberium Wars, has one in one of the later missions. Normally he's a sly talking politician who gives off an air of both class and arrogance, but nearing the end, he meets with the commander secretly and discusses (read: rants) about how Granger is trying to take his political position.
* {{spoiler|Both the fake and real}} Overlord Zenon in ''[[Disgaea]] 2''. {{spoiler|Fake}} Zenon's starts with Etna thoroughly handing him his ass, and then peaks when {{spoiler|Axel broadcasts his location onto everyone in the multiverse, sending nearly ''every single Overlord'' to his front door, ready to rip him in two. As for the real Zenon, hers begins when Adell makes it clear that [[Cooldown Hug|he has]] [[Care Bear Stare|no intention]] of ''[["Shut Up" Kiss|fighting]]'' her.}}
** {{spoiler|Nemo}} in ''[[Disgaea 4 a Promise Unforgotten (Video Game)|Disgaea 4 a Promise Unforgotten]]'' starts off as a [[Magnificent Bastard]], but his facade starts to crack {{spoiler|after the Kazamatsuri family settle their differences ([[Dysfunction Junction|mostly]]) in a heartwarming scene.}} Then he absolutely loses it {{spoiler|at the end of chapter 9, after his plan to destroy the Earth by crashing the moon into it fails, signaled by him going [[Laughing Mad]].}}
* In ''[[Castlevania]]: [[Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (Video Game)|Portrait of Ruin]]'', Brauner snaps when {{spoiler|Jonathan reveals to him that his daughters aren't really his}}. "Snaps" is apropos, as part of the breakdown is that he presses his cane hard enough into the floor that it breaks.
** And in ''[[Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (Video Game)|Order of Ecclesia]]'', {{spoiler|Master Barlowe}} completely loses his shit after {{spoiler|Shanoa refuses to use Dominus}}, starting the boss fight where he throws spells around randomly and [[Chewing the Scenery|chews away at the scenery with wild abandon]].
** {{spoiler|Graham}} in ''[[Castlevania Aria of Sorrow|Aria of Sorrow]]'' is another possible example.
* ''[[Myst|Myst IV: Revelation]]'': {{spoiler|"No, you fool! My performance was perfect!"}}
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{{quote| '''Vergil:''' ''Why isn't this '''working?!'''''}}
** {{spoiler|Likewise Arkham after hes defeated by Dante and Virgil and left severely wounded. He comes across his daughter, Lady, and rants about he should have the power of a demon and that what Sparda did was no different from his actions (namely sacrificing a human woman. However, Sparda did it out of reluctance since he loved his sacrifice, and she went with it willingly and it was for the good of mankind. Arkham did it purely for his own selfish ends). He begs Lady to help him and she responds much to his shock by putting a bullet in his head.}}
* Another Capcom example in ''[[Resident Evil]] 5'', when {{spoiler|[[Big Bad|Wesker]]'s overconfidence allows him to get injected with an overdose of the virus he uses to control his superhuman abilities}}, causing him to lose control and composure. When the heroes stop his scheme at the last minute, he {{spoiler|exposes himself to the Ouroboros virus, mutating into a menace full of one-hit kills and screaming "CHRIS!" with vindictive rage. As Wesker had been a [[Magnificent Bastard|magnificent bastard]] for something like nine games to this point, it was quite a remarkable breakdown.}}
** {{spoiler|Wesker's}} breakdown arguably started when {{spoiler|he found out he was just a manufactured sock puppet of Ozwell Spencer}}. He goes from {{spoiler|being an enigmatic [[Man Behind the Man]] subtly aiming for power in the shadows}} to {{spoiler|declaring himself to be a god and inflicting a bio-organic weapon on the ''entire world''}}.
** Ramon Salazar in ''[[Resident Evil]] 4''. Though his calm and jovial demeanor is intimidating at first, eventually, after repeatedly being foiled in his attempts to kill Leon, he snaps when Leon saves himself from the pit trap in the throne room, and shrieks at one of his lackeys to "''KILL!''"
* The ''[[Crusader: (VideoNo Game)Remorse|Crusader]]'' games feature two different versions of this.
** In ''No Remorse'', the Silencer's continued reversals of most of [[The Mole]]'s early successes results in [[The Mole]] challenging the Silencer, a bona fide [[Super Soldier]], to single combat. (It doesn't matter that the deck is stacked, because anyone rational would have seen the character had just walked through ten levels of decks that aren't nearly as well-stacked.)
** In ''No Regret'', the Resistance strikes a major blow after the sixth mission. The LMC strike back in the next mission, but not as effectively as they'd hoped. Chairman Draygan decides to bring in an entire troop carrier of elite soldiers...and the Resistance shoots it out of the sky. He then tries to ''blow up the Lunar base, while he's on it''. The Resistance stops the reactor overload, and he's told by the [[Mega Corp|WEC's]] [[Big Bad|President]] that he's not getting off the moon until he gets the situation back under control...so he pulls all troops back to the headquarters, leaving the majority of the Lunar base under Rebel control, and starts fortifying. He then tries to take the Silencer on in single combat, which worked about as well for the bad guys as it does in the first game.
* Ganondorf is surprisingly calm and calculating in ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]: [[The Legend of Zelda: theThe Wind Waker (Video Game)|The Wind Waker]]''; killing Link isn't even a priority for him anymore. This all changes when {{spoiler|the King of Hyrule snatches the completed Triforce from ''right in front of him'' and uses it to sink Hyrule once again.}} Ganondorf's response is to let out some insane [[Evil Laugh|Evil Laughter]], {{spoiler|afterwards mocking the King's wish to "give Zelda and Link a new world",}} and proceeds to attack Link and Zelda.
** Which is even more insane when you consider that {{spoiler|without the Triforce of Power (which left him to form the Triforce), there is no doubt he is going to die. If Ganondorf had defeated Link and Zelda in the final battle, [[Taking You Withwith Me|then he would have drowned with Hyrule.]]}}
** Zant goes through a rather sudden breakdown when you battle him in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess|Twilight Princess]]'', changing from a very calm [[Evil Overlord]] to a [[Psychopathic Manchild|spastic, shrieking mess]] in the blink of an eye. He went through something similar in the game's backstory, after {{spoiler|being denied the throne to the Twili Kingdom}}, which may explain the sudden breakdown when you face him; it was always there and he was just holding it in (which wouldn't be that hard to do, since everything was going his way and he had no need for a breakdown...until Link and Midna storm his palace and break down his front door, that is.)
*** His breakdown can be observed during [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGwmPnw_aC8#t=08m40s the battle itself]. His fighting style (when he's not [[Final Exam Boss|mimicking other bosses]]) is already rather crude and childish, but it grows more and more frantic each time he gets hit. By the end of the fight, his [[Teleport Spam]] and sword swings are [[Confusion Fu|wildly unpredictable]].
** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: LinksLink's Awakening|Link's Awakening]]'' features the Nightmare flipping out upon its destruction and the triggering of the [[Dream Apocalypse]].
{{quote| ''This island is going to disappear...our world is going to disappear...our world...our...world...''}}
** [[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Video Game)|Skyward Sword]] could almost be called Villainous Breakdown: The Game. Watching [[The Heavy|Ghirahim]] slowly go from [[Villain Ball|toying with Link]] to [[Berserk Button|hating him utterly]] is something to behold.
* Near the end of ''[[BaldursBaldur's Gate]] II'' the protagonist finally learns what happened to [[Big Bad]] Jon Irenicus and what his plan entails. After being foiled he comes face to face with his former lover and loses control for the first and only time in the entire game.
{{quote| '''Irenicus:''' I... I do not remember your love, {{spoiler|Ellesime}}. I've tried. I've tried to recreate it, to spark it anew in my memory. But it is gone... a hollow, dead thing. For years, I clung to the memory of it. Then the memory ''of'' the memory. And then nothing. The Seldarine took that from me, too. I look upon you and I feel ''nothing''. I remember nothing but you turning your back on me, along with all the others. Once my thirst for power was everything. And now I hunger only for revenge. '''[[This Is Sparta|And... I... Will... HAVE IT]]!'''}}
** Notably, in Irenicus' subsequent appearance in Hell itself, he is once again calm, if not altogether there.
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{{quote| '''Erazor:''' Shahra, I know you're there! Please, stop him! We can start over, the two of us! I swear it! I swear it...! THE WORLD IS MINE! I CANNOT BE DENIED BY THAT FILTHY RAT! WHHHHHHYYYYY?!?}}
** Sonic's wonderfully calm response was to correct Erazor that he was in fact a hedgehog, not a rat.
** In ''[[Sonic Colors (Video Game)|Sonic Colors]]'', Eggman, {{spoiler|who for the ''first'' time in the 3D series is the [[Final Boss]]}}, suffers from one {{spoiler|right before the [[Finishing Move|Final]] [[All Your Colors Combined|Color]] [[Combination Attack|Blaster]]}}. It's notably the first time he's been reduced to [[Angrish|complete incoherence]] in the games.
{{quote| '''Eggman''': "You. You... You!... ''Yooooouuuu!!'' '''[[You Meddling Kids|YOU HORRID LITTLE HEDGEHOG!!!]]'''"}}
* Ramirez, ''[[Skies of Arcadia (Video Game)|Skies of Arcadia]]'''s [[The Dragon|Dragon]], ''really'' [[Omnicidal Maniac|doesn't take it well]] when {{spoiler|his boss, Lord Galcian, bites it.}}
* Prince Lacroix of ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines]]'' suffers breakdowns in [[Multiple Endings|four of the five available endings.]]
** In the Anarch or Lone Wolf endings, after {{spoiler|being slashed half to death by the PC and left for dead in his penthouse suite, he finally opens the [[McGuffin|Ankaran Sarcophagus]] with the key that the PC was kind enough to leave him. However, when the lid sides back, he discovers that the Sarcophagus has been filled with explosives, all set to detonate in ten seconds; Lacroix has just enough time to let out a long drawn-out burst of maniacal laughter before he vanishes in a fireball}}.
** And in the Camarilla ending, {{spoiler|the PC refuses to give him the key; after Lacroix's attempts at [[Mind Control|dominating]] you fail, he falls to his knees, begging and sobbing for you to give him the key, raving about the imminent destruction of all vampires in Los Angeles. He eventually falls silent when your new Camarilla allies arrive to arrest him}}.
** And finally, if you side with the Kuei-Jin, {{spoiler|he completely snaps, ranting and raving at the PC long enough to keep him from opening the Ankaran Sarcophagus before your new "allies" arrive and [[Rewarded Asas a Traitor Deserves|give both exactly what they deserve.]]}}
** Andrei the Tzimisce suffers his own breakdown when the PC meets him for the second time, ranting and raving about [[The End of the World Asas We Know It|Gehenna]] and accusing the PC of being a puppet, before [[One-Winged Angel|transforming into a monstrous war-form]] and attacking in a frenzy.
{{quote| "I will do it ''myself'', if I must... and you, you will be purified. It is the blood he is speaking through, the blood of all the pawns... IT ''ALL'' MUST BE PURIFIED!"}}
* Oh man, Sakaki of ''[[.hack|.hack//G.U.]]' goes through this TWICE.
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** And finally, Saiki in XIII. Once he's beaten whilst in control of Ash Crimson's body, he tells Ash they can start over and tells him to go through the gate of time...only for Ash to do absolutely nothing whilst Saiki is telling him to go through, degenerating into screaming at him and when the gate finally closes, Saiki's begging for his existence, crying that he doesn't want to die before he vanishes, a victim of a [[Time Paradox]].
* In the backstory of ''[[Diablo]]'', King Leoric is [[Demonic Possession|possessed]] by [[Big Bad|Diablo]] and effectively starts having a Villainous Breakdown while he's still a good guy. He doesn't remain good for long when that happens. He starts getting increasingly paranoid and less sane, until finally when Diablo leaves him, unable to take over completely, he's a raving madman who has to be killed by his own most loyal knights.
* {{spoiler|[[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|Sakura]]}} in ''[[Fate/stay Stay Nightnight]]''. Going from zero self esteem up to being able to say [[A God Am I]] justifiably did give a major confidence boost. Yet, {{spoiler|when Tohsaka without having the power of the Grail to draw on still effortlessly matches her, she freaks even more than she was before. In a manner of minutes while Tohsaka casually blasts all the shadow giants she makes one by one, she's reduced to an incoherent screaming wreck about how it was pure chance that made it her that lived among the Matou and not Tohsaka. Her will to fight is seconds from vanishing utterly when Tohsaka eggs her back into fighting spirit. She gets better.}}
* At the end of ''[[Need for Speed]]: Most Wanted'', Cross, the cop who's been after you for the whole game, gets one (even though he's not really villainous). Bonus points for being a [[Shout-Out]] to [[The Professional]]:
{{quote| '''Cross''': You had the most wanted street racer in Rockport in your hands... and he ''got. Away?'' (turns to his partner) I want everyone after this guy.<br />
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'''Cross''': '''''EVERYONE!!!''''' }}
** In fact, he then calls you in the middle of the ensuing chaos (you're being chased by ''every'' police unit in the city with no chance of proper escape) to rant about how he's going to take you down, and it's surprisingly not at all calm. In the sequel, ''Carbon'', he ends up quiting the police department to become a bounty hunter, ''just so he can take you down.''
* In ''[[Batman: Arkham Asylum]]'', [[The Unfought|the Riddler]] goes from insulting you to accusing you of cheating to ''threatening to blow up Gotham'' as you solve more and more of his riddles. Also, [[Scary Scarecrows|the Scarecrow]] panics as Batman manages to shake off the effects of enough fear toxins to drive 10 men insane. The climax also stems from {{spoiler|Joker throwing a tantrum and accusing Batman of 'spoiling my fun!' when Batman refuses to succumb to the Titan strain that Joker has infected him with and become a monster.}}
* As if the ''Soulstorm'' expansion to ''[[Dawn of War]]'' weren't horrible already, as the Chaos stronghold mission progresses, Carron, supposedly a powerful Chaos Lord of the [[Magnificent Bastard|Alpha Legion]], actually ''breaks down crying'' as his shrines are destroyed and the enemy advances, culminating in him snivelling and whining some nonsense about flowers and fleeing the battle. Contrast with Eliphas, who remains serene and mocking throughout, Crull, who remains [[Ax Crazy|psychotically insane]] throughout, and Bale, who merely gets angry when {{spoiler|Sindri betrays him}}.
* Although there isn't much room for it in the [[Metroid]] series (outside of possibly Prime's Pirate logs), the 1994 Super Metroid comic features one of these later on, when Ridley is informed of Samus's progress. He actually leaves the planet and abandons his command, telling his informant that they should all just listen to Mother Brain instead.
* Cyrus in ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl (Video Game)|Pokémon Platinum]]'' might apply, especially in the Distortion World. He spends half the game saying he's disregared all emotion, seeing them as weakness and useless. One can't blame him for losing it, being dragged into that world by Giratina.
** There's this, which he says before he utterly demolishes your team in the Distorion World:
{{quote| '''Cyrus''': ''"Why should I run and hide from the world and have to wait quietly? My aim is to rid our world of the vague and incomplete thing we call spirit. By freeing ourselves of that, our world can be made complete. That is my justice! No one can interfere! I won't lose! Not to that shadowy Pokemon! Not in any worthless world!''}}
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** [[Overly Long Gag|And finally]], we have this last bit of cold fury after the initial [[Motive Rant]] and [[Villainous Breakdown]]. It can't only be described as cold fury, as it implies that he is threatening the player character to [[A Fate Worse Than Death]].
{{quote| '''Cyrus''': "''...Enough. We will never see eye to eye. This, I promise you. I will break the secrets of the world. With that knowledge, I will create my own complete and perfect world. [[Nightmare Fuel|One day, you will awaken to a world of my creation. A world without spirit.]]"''}}
** In ''[[Pokémon Black and White (Video Game)|Pokémon Black and White]]'', {{spoiler|Ghetsis}} undergoes one of these after the player {{spoiler|has caught the legend and defeated N - Ghetsis's very manipulative plan all hinged on N beating the player, and making everyone give up their Pokemon as N was raised by him to believe that they should be separate. The truth is, Ghetsis just manipulated him all his life, just so he could be the only person to have Pokemon and be able to rule Unova. He calls N an inhuman monster, which is called out by Alder and Cheren, who noted his hypocrisy.}} He gets even worse after you beat him.
{{quote| {{spoiler|'''Ghetsis''': "''I AM PERFECTION!!!"''}} }}
* Comrade Black from [[De Blob (Video Game)|de Blob]]. He ''really'' starts to freak out near the game's end.
* Overlord GAIA from ''[[Digimon World 2]]''. He was able to (though not perfectly) form coherent sentences when he is first encountered. However, he seems to break down after Akira defeats his first form.
{{quote| '''Overlord GAIA''': "I... am the most powerful... the most powerful... the most powerful... the most powerful... the most powerful..."<br />
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* [[Sly Cooper|Sly 2: Band of Thieves]] has a very nice example in the form of {{spoiler|constable Neyla. All through the game she plays everybody off of everybody else in order to get what she wants. The more you foil her plans and gather the Clockwerk parts for yourself the more short tempered and less composed she becomes until the grand finale she's screaming with rage, swearing to hunt you down and kill you in your sleep.}} Even provides the quote for the page!
* Erol started the second ''[[Jak and Daxter]]'' game as Baron Praxis' cruel and confident [[The Dragon|Dragon]]. However, his [[Foe Yay|creepy obsession with Jak]] caused him to {{spoiler|snap and drive into a shipment of Dark Eco in an attempt to kill Jak. He then comes back as an [[Omnicidal Maniac]] bent on destroying the world}}.
* {{spoiler|Mithos}} Yggdrasill in ''[[Tales of Symphonia (Video Game)|Tales of Symphonia]]'' combines this with [[Laughing Mad]] when {{spoiler|his older sister Martel}} tells him he was wrong to try to [[Grand Theft Me|find her a new body]], and that she was horrified and saddened by the things he'd done.
* After spending two entire games as a masterful, unflappable manipulator, {{spoiler|Nyarlathotep}} from [[Persona 2|Persona 2: Eternal Punishment]] starts to lose it after the party penetrates the numerous illusions and mind games he scatters throughout his lair. He's reduced to incoherent screaming by the end of his boss fight, still convinced he's unbeatable.
{{quote| "I WON'T ACCEPT IT! INVINCIBLE! '''''INVINCIBLE!'''''"}}
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** In the Templar path, {{spoiler|Orsino}} snaps, {{spoiler|sacrifices his fellow mages to use their corpses for [[Blood Magic]]}} and indulges in a bout of maniacal laughter right before he {{spoiler|uses the bodies to turn himself into a Harvester golem.}} In the Mage path it's more of a [[Despair Event Horizon]].
*** However, {{spoiler|Orsino's moment of mania can be ruined if Bethany is in the Circle and Hawke convinces her that Orsino supported the man who killed their mother.}}
* In the freeware RPG ''[[Last Scenario (Video Game)|Last Scenario]]'', the [[Big Bad]]'s whole motive is being powerful enough that he doesn't need to rely on other people, since he was helpless to protect his hometown from being destroyed. When the heroes defeat him for the first time, he takes it so badly that he [[Angst Coma|loses consciousness]] for ''days''. When he wakes up, he learns that he only managed to get away thanks to the [[Villainous Valor]] of the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]], {{spoiler|and one of them was forced to perform a [[Heroic Sacrifice]].}} ''[[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|Not helping, guys.]]''
** Actually, it's the ''second'' time you beat him that he has the breakdown. He takes it in stride the first time because he was holding back and didn't count it as a true defeat.
** Speaking of the spoiler, {{spoiler|Helio}} has a breakdown himself. While not as rabid as some other examples, he breaks his cool demeanour long enough to {{spoiler|scream his head off at Ethan and inject himself with [[Psycho Serum]] during the aforementioned (Villainous?)[[Heroic Sacrifice]].}}
* The two villains from the [[Modern Warfare]] series have both done this. In the first game, Imran Zhakaev tried to start a global war, starting in the Middle East. After his son commits suicide after you have him cornered, he tries to NUKE THE EAST COAST as payback. In [[MW 2]], {{spoiler|Shepherd's plan goes perfectly until Soap and Price escape the trap he laid for them at the boneyard. Cooperating with Makarov, the two find Shepherd's hideout and go on a rampage through it, thwarting every attempt made to stop them, Shepherd finally resorting to BLOWING UP THE BASE with his soldiers still inside in order to kill them.}}
* [[Complete Monster|Colonol Volgin]] of ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater]]'' becomes increasingly erratic and paranoid as Snake progresses. By the end of the game, he's degenerated into a full-blown ranting lunatic, driving the Shagohad [[Bad Boss|through his subordinates]] and [[Evil Laugh|laughing maniacally]].
** It gets better: up to that point in the game, he'd occasionally mutter 'Kuwabara, kuwabara' to himself (being a superstitious chant to ward off lightning storms). Cut forward, and he laughs in the face of a brewing storm. [[Tempting Fate|Guess how he met his end?]]
* [[Mass Effect 1|Mass Effect]]: "I am {{spoiler|Sovereign}}, '''and this station is MINE!'''" {{spoiler|This is the [[Sapient Ship|machine]]-[[Eldritch Abomination|Cthulhu]] who gave Shepard and those with him/her [["The Reason You Suck" Speech|that drippingly contemptuous and arrogant lecture]] earlier [[Badass Boast|about the inevitability of its plan succeeding]]. Sovereign is, at this point, on the cusp of victory when Shepard denies it access to that final, endgame-starting console. Three measly, puny, chatty organics have thrown the [[Spanner in Thethe Works]] of the ''millennia-in-the-making'' plan where nearly everything before worked as expected. Sovereign is '''furious'''.}} It also helps that {{spoiler|Sovereign}} is a real [[Smug Snake]] (albeit an unusually competent one) up to that point.
* At the end of ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', you have the option of majorly screwing the Illusive Man over. In the conversation with him afterwards he reveals his true colours and abandons any notions of being [[Affably Evil]].
{{quote| '''Illusive Man:''' Strength for Cerberus is strength for every human. Cerberus ''is'' humanity! I should've known you'd choke on the hard decisions, too idealistic from the start!<br />
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* In ''[[Fallout 3]]'', {{spoiler|Should you not have John Henry Eden self destruct, taking the whole base with him, then, during the very last quest, if you tune in on the Enclave radio station, the "stress" (If A.I.'s can get stressed that is.) of the Brotherhood of Steel having just launched an assault to retake Project Purty from the Enclave with the Brotherhood's most elite squad, as well as a giant practically indestructible robot, has caused the normally calm, almost [[Affably Evil]] "President of the Enclave, President of the United States, President of your hearts" into an even more sinister voice. Just read the transcript.}}
{{quote| {{spoiler|'''Eden'''}}: {{spoiler|We stand now, at the precipice. A great nation once more threatens to crumble, to topple into the sea of lawlessness and despair that have ruled us all for over two hundred years. In short, my dearest America, [[This Is Sparta|we. Are. At. War.]] Even as I speak these words, fearless Enclave soldiers are fortifying their positions at the great water purifier. Bracing for an inevitable assault. The Brotherhood of Steel, in their arrogance, has claimed Project Purity as their own. They would steal the Enclave’s work. Steal America’s water. It’s only a matter of time before the traitors march on the purifier, and attempt to take it by force. Let them come. Wave upon traitorous wave will crash upon the Enclave’s walls. The Brotherhood of Steel will fail. All those who oppose the Enclave will fail. I am President John Henry Eden, and this is my pledge: No one, NO ONE WILL TAKE THIS GREAT NATION AWAY FROM ME! *Eerily calm* God Bless the Enclave. God Bless America.}} And it just repeats over and over again.}}
* In [[Fallout: New Vegas]], Benny is completely smooth and calm throughout most of the story (although his VA just makes him [[Dull Surprise|sound weirdly bored]]), until you {{spoiler|kill his four bodyguards at The Tops, resulting in a priceless [[Oh Crap]] and his fleeing in desperation.}} He gets another if you {{spoiler|have him crucified by the Legion.}}
** Similarly, if you completely deny Mr. House the [[MacGuffin|Platinum Chip]], he flies into a rage about how far he's come and he's not letting some random courier screw up his plans. He'll then tell you that you don't have to fear him, just the [[Elite Mooks|Securitrons]] in the room. {{spoiler|Also, if you bust into the control room and confront the ''real'' Mr. House, all he can do is rage helplessly and ask you why you would destroy Vegas' last hope.}}
** [[Complete Monster|Father Elijah]] from the ''Dead Money'' questline also has a very impressive [[Villainous Breakdown]] if you {{spoiler|seal him in the vault forever.}}
* Sequences 8 and 9 of ''[[Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (Video Game)|Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood]]'' are essentially one long breakdown/HumiliationConga for Cesare Borgia. He loses all his supporters, {{spoiler|kills his father, the Pope, and is betrayed by his sister, causing him to lose the Apple of Eden to Ezio Auditore, the mastermind behind his family's decline. Then the remnants of his army are destroyed with the Apple-wielding Ezio and his fellow Assassins, while the Cardinals - whose appointments Cesare had paid for - turn their backs on him, backing a family rival to succeed his father as Pope. He's finally driven out of Rome by Ezio's supporters and arrested by a general whose family he'd pressed into service, then dragged away by his former elites -- they're the ''[[Praetorian Guard|Papal]]'' [[Elite Mooks|Guards]] after all. He escaped a year later and made an attempt at a comeback in Spain, under the command of a relative in France, but Ezio followed him -- thanks to the Apple -- and fights through his entire army alone, then manages to finally defeat Cesare in personal combat. At this point, all he can do is rant and rave about how no man can kill him, so Ezio leaves him in the hands of Fate...by dropping him off the castle wall}}.
** Even his would-be [[Badass Boast]] of "If I want to live, I live. If I want to take, I ''take''! If I want you to die... you DIIIIIIE!" counts, since it's declared when {{spoiler|Lucrezia reveals that their father had poisoned him, this being after his father talked down to him for starting the whole mess and denied him access to the Apple of Eden or funding to continue his military campaign in Romagna}}. Depending on how much side content the player has done before this point, you get to see more of just how badly things had fallen apart for the Borgia regime, yet ''Cesare is just finding this out now''.
*** Rodrigo Borgia also has this after Ezio defeated him in a fist fight ''and'' the Vault had not opened for him. Rodrigo simply screams "THIS IS MY DESTINY!!! ME! I AM THE PROPHET!!!!" only to request that Ezio kill him when his so-called destiny is denied, but Ezio chooses instead to leave him alive with the knowledge that he was defeated and that his decade-long plot was for naught.
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*** ("Lenneth's spirit, ugh Lenneth's soul, IT ALL BELONGS TO MEEEE, NOW DIE, YOU DAMNED HUMAN!!")
* [[Big Bad|Malefor]] from ''[[The Legend of Spyro]]'' has a rather subtle one at the end of ''Dawn Of The Dragon''. His final confrontation with the heroes has him being [[Faux Affably Evil]] and toying with him, taking great joy out of manipulating their emotions with his [[Hannibal Lecture]]. But then, {{spoiler|Cynder manages to break free of his control thanks to [[The Power of Love]] she has for Spyro.}} The result is Malefor getting enraged for the first and only time in the entire series. Throughout the rest he's been a calm, cunning, and extremely effective [[Chessmaster]] who is ''always'' in control. The first time it changes is the first time he loses his cool and gets angry.
* ''[[Dragon Fable (Video Game)|Dragon Fable]]'''s Sepulchure has been quite the [[Obviously Evil]] [[Magnificent Bastard]] throughout the RPG, having everything go according to plan and never getting mad. [[This Is the Part Where|Then comes the part where]] {{spoiler|Drakath becomes [[The Starscream]] to him by piercing right through his body with his own Necrotic Blade of Doom. Then he starts absorbing the power of the Ultimate Orb and becomes very happy about the magnificence of using the Ultimate Orb's power to grow more powerful. Sepulchure, on the other hand, is not happy about that and starts losing his cool and getting extremely furious, boasting that he will watch Drakath's body burn and then spit on his ashes. Drakath calls to Fluffy and Sepulchure screams as his fortress becomes destroyed in a massive explosion after which Fluffy burns it down}}.
{{quote| {{spoiler|'''Drakath''': I will not be denied my kingdom again.}}<br />
{{spoiler|'''Sepulchure''': Cough. You think this will stop me, fool?! I will not be killed by the likes of you, worm...}}<br />
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{{spoiler|'''Sepulchure''': NO! AARRGGHHHH! (a blast explodes and his castle is destroyed)}} }}
** {{spoiler|And with that, Drakath becomes a dragon, intent to rightfully claim his throne. Sepulchure is extremely pissed off at Drakath for going Starscream on him and attempts to attack him, but due to having absorbed the Ultimate Orb and fused with Fluffy to become the dragon he became, Drakath is proving too powerful for both him and the hero until they team up as the hero summons his/her dragon. Just when we think it's over after Sepulchure deals a near-fatal blow to Drakath, the Mysterious Stranger shows up and reveals that Sepulchure was just an [[Unwitting Pawn]] before pulling off a [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness]] on the Doomknight himself, just before bounding himself to Drakath's body as part of his plan to rid the world of what he calls "the corruption of light". As Sepulchure faints from the stranger's attack, he says something about his lost love, Lynaria, whom he was trying to bring back with Doom weapons.}}
** And finally, it's possible that {{spoiler|the breakdown he had in ''[[Dragon Fable (Video Game)|Dragon Fable]]''}} is what led to Sepulchure's grand finale courtesy of Drakath himself in ''[[Adventure Quest Worlds (Video Game)|Adventure Quest Worlds]]''. Drakath has been [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|consumed by the power of Chaos]] and has evolved from a [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain|completely incompetent half-wit]] into a badass, chaorrupted, incredibly powerful possible [[Magnificent Bastard]], and uses the power of Chaos to greatly damage Sepulchure and cover his armor with signs of the Chaos infection. Sepulchure remarks that Drakath can't kill what's already undead, which [[Tempting Fate|tempts Drakath to outsmart him by ripping out his heart of darkness]]. Before Drakath kills him, Sepulchure gets in a [[Badass Boast]] and makes one last lash at Drakath - who crushes his heart, causing him to fall apart and finally destroys him in a massive explosion -- that to both the horror and despair of his daughter Gravelyn.
{{quote| '''Sepulchure''': FOOL. YOU CANNOT KILL WHAT IS ALREADY UNDEAD.<br />
'''Drakath''': My mistake... (flies at Sepulchure, forces his hand into his chest, and rips out his heart)<br />
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* In ''[[Thief|Thief: Deadly Shadows]]'', the Hag breaks down weeping and begging the Keepers surrounding her to stay away {{spoiler|after Garrett activates the Final Glyph and destroys all Glyph magic, reducing her to a powerless old woman.}}
{{quote| '''{{spoiler|Gamall}}:''' Back...back with you!...Old...so old...(breaks down weeping)}}
* In [[Star Fox 64 (Video Game)|Star Fox 64]], the alternative way to beating Mechbeth in Macbeth has the pilot desperately trying to stop the train. He loses it when he's about to slam right into the supply depot, causing the depot to explode along with the train, obviously killing him.
 
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