History Main / SaveThePrincess

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfKage'', the title character has to rescue the princess, Kirihime.
* [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in the browser platformer Sugoi Princess Ushiko. In the game you control the [[MagicalGirl sugoi]] princess Ushiko in attempt to save the [[DudeInDistress prince]] Benedick III.

* To give an example of how this trope was so prevalent to the point of getting absurd, in the NES games ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' and ''[[Series/TheMuppetShow Muppet Adventures]]'', you are charged with saving rather strong and self-sufficient characters Babs Bunny and Miss Piggy, respectively. The latter example in particular is rather egregious, since it's far, far, far more likely that Miss Piggy would have to save Kermit from a bad spot (And she did, in The Muppet Movie. She'd also have saved him in the episode where the pigs took over the show, except she got offered a star position).

* To give an example of how this trope was so prevalent to the point of getting absurd, in the NES games ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' and ''[[TheMuppetShow Muppet Adventures]]'', you are charged with saving rather strong and self-sufficient characters Babs Bunny and Miss Piggy, respectively. The latter example in particular is rather egregious, since it's far, far, far more likely that Miss Piggy would have to save Kermit from a bad spot (And she did, in The Muppet Movie. She'd also have saved him in the episode where the pigs took over the show, except she got offered a star position).

* ''VideoGame/ShiningWisdom''[='s=] first half is basically just to save the princess, who gets kidnapped, turned into a swan and replaced with an impostor. The rest is stopping the destruction of the world.

* ''VideoGame/ShiningWisdom''[='s=] first half is basically just to save the princess, who gets kidnapped, turned into a duck and replaced with an impostor. The rest is stopping the destruction of the world.

* ''VideoGame/ShiningWisdom's'' first half is basically just to save the princess. The rest is stopping the destruction of the world.

** Recently averted in ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld'' where Peach is now a playable character alongside Mario, Luigi and a Blue Toad. Though the game still sees you rescuing ''another'' princess, the Sprixie Princess.

-->-- '''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation''', ''ShadowsOfTheDamned''

* This is how ''{{Exiern}}'' starts.
* Swap out "Princess" with "CEO and former MagicalGirlWarrior", and we've got the main plot for ''LastRes0rt''. Of course, both halves of the rescuer/rescuee equation are female (and said Rescuee is reasonably capable of saving herself), so...
* In ''{{Sinfest}}'', [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3554 Fuschia reads the damned a story about rescuing the princess from the dragon.]]
* In ''RustyAndCo'', their first level had them directed to go rescue the princess. She needed rescuing rather less than it appeared at first.
* AdventureDennis, another webcomic inspired by gaming tropes, has its protagonist on a quest of this style, except for a mayor.

The defining ExcusePlot of the 8-bit era. A DamselInDistress (whether it be the princess, your girlfriend, whatever) has been kidnapped and [[GirlInTheTower put in a tower]], and you ([[ItsUpToYou and you alone]], unless it's a 2-player game) must fight your way through a veritable army of evil minions, dodge horrific death traps, etc. to save her from the BigBad. Your only reward is probably going to be a SmoochOfVictory, unless, you get the StandardHeroReward. Hope she's worth it!

* The web adventure platform game ''VideoGame/{{Phoenotopia}}'' has an inversion where [[DistressedDude the prince is kidnapped]] and Gale the heroine must save him. [[FriendtoAllChildren The children that Gale is friends with]] think this means that [[RescueRomance then have to fall in love.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Faria}}'', the first mission you receive is to rescue a princess from a tower. However, [[spoiler:you can't marry her because [[SamusIsAGirl you're a girl]]]]. Moreover, [[spoiler:she's actually the BigBad in disguise, and he's holding the real princess captive]].

* In ''VideoGame/{{Faria}}'', the first mission you receive is to rescue a princess from a tower. Subverted in two ways: [[spoiler:you can't marry the princess because [[SamusIsAGirl you're a girl]]]], and [[spoiler:she's actually the BigBad in disguise]].

* Your ''very first'' objective in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'' is to rescue Princess Sara of Coneria/[[SpellMyNameWithAnS Cornelia]]/[[WebComic/EightBitTheater Corneria]], who has been taken by good-knight-gone-bad Garland.
** Similarly, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' starts off with you needing to rescue Princess Ovelia. Then it [[GambitPileup gets complicated.]]

* Being an AffectionateParody of RPG cliches, ''TheBardsTale'' naturally uses this as it's main plot.

* Oh, so very, ''very'' much subverted in ''LiveALive'': Orsted sets out to rescue his princess bride-to-be in an opening obviously [[{{Homage}} inspired by]] ''VideoGame/GhostsNGoblins''. By the end of the chapter, [[spoiler:she thinks that his friend was the only one who truly deserved her, even though he's [[FaceHeelTurn turned evil]], and commits suicide so that the two of them can be together forever. This leads to Orsted becoming [[TheHeartless a demon of pure hatred]] and the FinalBoss.]]

* In ''Faria'', you rescue a princess in the first part of the game, but it turns out that you can't marry her because [[SamusIsAGirl you're a girl]]. The princess also turns out to be a DecoyDamsel.

The defining ExcusePlot of the 8-bit era. A DamselInDistress (whether it be the princess, your girlfriend, whatever) has been kidnapped and [[GirlInTheTower put in a tower]], and you ([[ItsUpToYou and you alone]], unless it's a 2-player game) must fight your way through a veritable army of evil minions, dodge horrific death traps, etc. to save her from the BigBad. [[BraggingRightsReward Your only reward]] is probably going to be a SmoochOfVictory, unless, of course, you get the StandardHeroReward. Hope she's worth it!

Pretty much a DeadHorseTrope these days; while video games still feature the occasional DamselInDistress, rescuing them is only part of the overall plot; either that, or it's covered by the GrandfatherClause. In his book ''Power-Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life'', Chris Kohler credits this progress to some [[GamerChick Girl Gamers]] who wrote to Creator/{{Nintendo}} in TheEighties to say they were tired of saving princesses; Nintendo eventually announced they'd stop using it as a final goal except in the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' series.

This plot has become quite a popular target for {{subver|tedTrope}}sion or {{deconstruct|edTrope}}ion in indie games, and newer references to it in popular culture can be classed with PacManFever. For a similarly overused plot, see FakeKing.

* Horribly subverted in MagicKnightRayearth. [[spoiler:Turns out their real mission is to ''kill'' the princess...[[ICannotSelfTerminate at her own bequest!]]]]

* The original ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' and ''3'' both have this plot, as does the Japanese version of ''2'' (''The Lost Levels''), ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'', ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', the first half of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'', the second half of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'', ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'', ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'', the ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' games (excluding ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', where Peach is a playable character), ''and'' ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros'' Bowser must really dig Peach...

** Played far more straight with the [[TheScrappy much reviled]] Princess Elise from the [[ObviousBeta also much reviled]] ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'', almost to the point of exaggeration as she's taken and rescued multiple times over the course of the game.