History HeroicSacrifice / VideoGames

* The suboptimal ending of ''NeverwinterNights 2: Mask of the Betrayer'' has your character stay in the City of Judgement for the rest of your life to make sure the spirit eater curse is destroyed

* [[spoiler:Sergeant Forge]] from HaloWars. The UNSC officers devise a plan to destabilize the miniature star within the Dyson sphere world by converting their ship's faster-than-light drive into a bomb. The troops transport it to the elevator that would place it nearest the star, but a group of Elites led by the Arbiter attack, and in the battle the bomb is damaged. The option of remotely detonating it gone, [[spoiler:Forge]] volunteers to stay behind with it, knowing that the UNSC will need all of the Spartans they can get.

--> ''At least if I don't have any limbs...I won't be able to kill anyone when I'm infected...(Gun charging in the background)''

* Abused to the point of [[WallBanger head banging]] in ''{{Tales of the Abyss}}'', where first [[spoiler: Ion willingly goes with Anise and Mohs to read off the Planet Score, knowing that it will kill him, but not wanting to put Anise's parents in danger. It ends up working in the player's favor, as he is able to save Tear and give the party one last clue before dying, but still a [[PlayerPunch blow to the player]]]]. And then there's [[spoiler: Asch, who may as well be suicidal, between the many times he's been stabbed, shot, and otherwise mutilated and didn't seem to ''care.'' His initial sacrifice is subverted by Luke at the Tower of Rem, but he ultimately meets his end buying the party time in the final dungeon, the animated cutscene [[PlayerPunch driving the point home]]]]. Lastly, there's [[spoiler: Luke himself, who spends most of the game thinking that his death would be some sort of redemption for his [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter stupidity]], and eventually succeeding in supposedly dying at the end of the game]]. Geeze.

** [[spoiler: the game does have genuine heroic sacrifices on the part of Bleck and Tippi AKA Blumiere and Timpani.]]

* At the end of ''TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', [[spoiler: The King of Hyrule floods the kingdom with the waters of the Great Sea, sacrificing himself to give Link and Zelda/Tetra a future and to drown Ganondorf, further sealing him away.]]

* [[TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker''The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker'']]

* ''TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker''

* ''[[{{TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker}}]]

* Deconstructed in DateWarp - in many paths, a Heroic Sacrifice will appear to resolve the immediate problem, but at far too high a cost, and the True Ending requires looking past this sort of thing to find another solution.

* [[spoiler:Emil]] of ''{{Nier}}'' has one of the most heartrending one in all of gaming, with his last words being how he wants to see his friends again and how truly afraid of dying he really is. Depending on what ending you choose, [[spoiler:Nier himself will do this, [[{{Retgone}} erasing himself out of existence]] in order to save both Yonah and Kaine (to the point that all of your save files will be deleted)]].

*** [[TearJerker This was probably]] [[DownerEnding the worst]] as [[spoiler: her sacrifice would go all the way into the history books as she would be remembered as one of the worst traitors in American history and a vicious war criminal in Russian history.]]

* In ''AceCombat 5'', [[spoiler:Chopper dies crashing his aircraft in the middle of a stadium in order to protect civilians]]. YourMileageMayVary on how well that scene was scripted, however.

* Mass Effect 2 begins with the SR-1 Normandy coming under attack from an unidentified but vastly superior warship. It isn't long before the crew is abandoning ship, but Shepard stays behind to force Joker to come with them. S/He gets Joker in an escape pod, but [[spoiler:before s/he can enter him/herself, one of the massive energy beams cuts through the hull and sends the commander hurtling away from the pod. So Shepard does the only thing that s/he can do: Shepard hits the emergency launch button, sending the last escape pod out of the ship and condemning him/herself to certain death]].
* In Ace Combat 5,[[spoiler:Chopper dies crashing his aircraft in the middle of a stadium in order to protect civilians]]

* In Ace Combat 5,[[spoiler:[[Chopper dies crashing his aircraft in the middle of a stadium in order to protect civilians]]

** [[spoiler: Gray Fox destroys Rex's sensor array, rendering it vulnerable in the process. He is crushed into past shortly after a cool monologue]].
** [[spoiler: Peter Stillman in 2. Kinda]].
** [[spoiler: The Boss was a sacrificing herself for her country all along in part 3.]]
*** [[TearJerker This was probably]] [[DownerEnding the worst]] as [[spoiler: her sacrifice would go all the way into the history books as she would be remembered as one of the worst traitors in American history and vicious war criminal in Russian history.]]

* In ''RedDeadRedemption, in what is also his CrowningMomentOfAwesome, [[spoiler:[[DyingMomentOfAwesome John Marston]] goes out to face the bullets and take as many enemies down as he can so his wife and son can escape and have a better life]].

*** This was probably the worst as [[spoiler: her sacrifice would go all the way into the history books as she would be remembered as one of the worst traitors in American history and vicious war criminal in Russian history.]]

* ''PokemonMysteryDungeon 2'' yet. [[spoiler:First, the main character [[TakingTheBullet takes an attack meant for Grovyle]] and is turned into a Pokemon and loses his/her memory. Then, [[YouShallNotPass Celebi stays behind to face Dusknoir]]. Then, [[TakingYouWithMe Grovyle gives up his freedom and possibly his life]] to save the main character. Then, [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong the main character fixes the flow of time]], thereby erasing him/herself from existence.]]

* Mass Effect 2 begins with the SR-1 Normandy coming under attack from an unidentified but vastly superior warship. It isn't long before the crew is abandoning ship, but Shepard stays behind to force Joker to come with them. S/He gets Joker in an escape pod, but [[spoiler:before s/he can enter him/herself, one of the massive energy beams cuts through the hull and sends the commander hurtling away from the pod. So Shepard does the only thing that s/he can do: Shepard hits the
emergency launch button, sending the last escape pod out of the ship and condemning him/herself to certain death]].
* In Ace Combat 5, Chopper dies crashing his aircraft in the middle of a stadium in order to protect civilians

* Mass Effect 2 begins with the SR-1 Normandy coming under attack from an unidentified but vastly superior warship. It isn't long before the crew is abandoning ship, but Shepard stays behind to force Joker to come with them. S/He gets Joker in an escape pod, but [[spoiler:before s/he can enter him/herself, one of the massive energy beams cuts through the hull and sends the commander hurtling away from the pod. So Shepard does the only thing that s/he can do: Shepard hits the emergency launch button, sending the last escape pod out of the ship and condemning him/herself to certain death]].