History Main / SaveThePrincess

* ''VideoGame/RedSteel'' featured its OneManArmy hero tearing through the machinations of the Yakuza in an international battle to bring down their new, more violent and corrupt leadership, learning legendary sword techniques along the way, after they kidnapped his fiancé and killed her father, the previous and attempting-to-go-legal Yakuza leader at their engagement announcement dinner.

** At the very beginning of the Mario franchise, Pauline in ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'', who gets kidnapped again in the GameBoy version and in most ''MarioVsDonkeyKong'' games.

* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':

* In ''Webcomic/RustyAndCo'', their first level has them directed to go rescue the princess. She needs rescuing rather less than it appeared at first, being a BadassPrincess.

** ''Disgaea 3'' also looks at it more seriously with the reasoning behind its {{Inver|tedTrope}}sion: Princess Sapphire has seen far too many people go off and die all in the name of protecting her. So she became a BadassPrincess capable of destroying anything that might kill a hero.

** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'', Prince Chrom and the Shepherds must first rescue the noblewoman Maribelle (the best friend of Chrom's sister Lissa ''and'' one of Chrom's prospect girlfriends). Then they must save Chrom's older sister Exalt Emmeryn, twice.
[[spoiler:The first time, she's fine. [[WhamEpisode The second? Nope]].]] And last but not least, they rescue and recruit Princess Say'ri.

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSealedSword'' has two "save the princess" missions, one with Princess Guinevere of Bern (the [[CainAndAbel half-sister]] of the BigBad, who becomes Roy's protegé) and the other with Princess Lilina of Ostia (who joins the troupe as a MagicKnight as soon as she's rescued)
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThe SacredStones'' Princess Eirika is the main character of the first several missions, and is at least initially most concerned with saving ''herself''. Depending on what route is taken there may also be a mission where Princess Tana must be rescued.

* ''FireEmblem: The Sword of Seal'' gives you two "save the princess" missions, one with Princess Guinevere of Bern (the [[CainAndAbel half-sister]] of the BigBad, who becomes your protegé) and the other with Princess Lilina of Ostia (who joins your troupe as a MagicKnight as soon as she's rescued)
** In ''Genealogy of the Holy War'', Starting in Chapter 10 you have to find Princess Yuria... in classic style she's in another castle every time you conquer the previous castle... this lasts until the final part of the final chapter, where she's ThatOneBoss hanging out in your way.(Note that she's ThatOneBoss who you can't kill (or the game will become practically {{Unwinnable}}- she's needed for the FinalBoss fight.)
** In ''The Sacred Stones'' Princess Eirika is the main character of the first several missions, and is at least initially most concerned with saving ''herself''. Depending on what route is taken there may also be a mission where Princess Tana must be rescued.
*** In addition, after getting to safety (And Saving Tana) Eirika sets out on a quest to save her brother making this 'Save the Prince'. Except that, in the end, he's the one who rides to her rescue.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda'' had Link trying to rescue Zelda from Ganon, and the [[VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink second]] sees him trying to rescue another Zelda from a spell that causes her to sleep eternally. All the games after that, though they usually do have Zelda kidnapped at some point, do not make it the major driving force of the plot; those games which are an exception to this rule usually do not feature Zelda at all (e.g. ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening'', ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'').

* 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'' every ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros'' [[note]]''1'', ''Wii'', ''2'', ''U'', and ''Luigi U''[[/note]] Bowser must really dig Peach...

** Averted in ''Yoshi's Safari'' where Princess Peach isn't kidnapped at all and serves to deliver Mario and Yoshi the news that her friends King Fret and Prince Pine were captured by Bowser and Jewelry Land's jewels were stolen.

* In ''VideoGame/SonicCD'', Sonic's mission is to save Amy from Dr. Robotnik and Metal Sonic.

* In ''Videogame/YuGiOhMonsterCapsuleGB'', Mokuba's RPG World storyline is a typical save-the-princess quest.

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* While technically not a princess (unless you count her as one for being the daughter of the Fey clan's leaderess), poor Maya Fey in the ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' series has to be saved from death ''four times''! The first two involve Maya being accused of murder and you have to get a not guilty verdict to save her. The third occasion has Maya kidnapped by an individual who uses this as leverage to force Phoenix into taking a case. The last case has Maya being trapped on a freezing mountain. And things just get worse from there...
[[/folder]]

* ''VideoGame/TowerOfTheSorcerer'', an indie puzzle game masquerading as a dungeon-crawl RPG, plays this straight, complete with the opening line [[IntentionalEngrishForFunny "A brave man is walking for to save the princess"]]. The plot from there is actually not too bad, but it's clearly an ExcusePlot, as the princess is hardly mentioned thereafter and seen only once before the endgame. Then the trope is subverted in the game's TwistEnding: [[spoiler:it turns out that it really ''was'' an ExcusePlot. The "princess" is an inanimate statue. The [[BigBad Big Bad's]] real goal was to get a sufficiently-powerful hero to the top of the tower so as to help him AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence.]]

* ''RetroGameChallenge'' has a princess to save in Guadia Quest and in the first two Haggleman games. Arino comments that the Haggleman princess gets captured an awful lot. [[spoiler: [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks And he hates that Haggleman 3 ''doesn't'' have a princess to save.]]]]

* In ''WorldOfWarcraft'', a quest charges you with saving the dwarven princess Moira Bronzebeard from the emperor of the dark dwarves. [[spoiler:It turns out she's pregnant with said emperor's child and doesn't want to be saved...]]

* ''Chuck Rock'' begins with the villain hitting Chuck's wife Ophelia over the head with a club and dragging her off ByTheHair. Chuck, of course, has to get off his stone lounge chair and go save her.

* Your primary goal in ''VideoGame/{{Abadox}}'' is to enter an enormous, planet-devouring parasite to rescue a princess (the PC's girlfriend in the Japanese original) who was inside a ship the monstrous being had eaten. Genre conventions were presumably why they felt the need to dangle the "Save The Important Lady" carrot in front of the player, even though "Save The Galaxy from an Enormous PlanetEater Trying to Consume It" is already pretty good motivation.

* Your primary goal in ''VideoGame/{{Abadox}}'' is to enter an enormous, planet-devouring parasite to rescue a princess (the PC's girlfriend in the Japanese original) who was inside a ship the monstrous being had eaten. Genre conventions were presumably why they felt the need to dangle the "Save The Important Lady" carrot in front of the player, even though "Save The Galaxy from an Enormous Creature Trying to Consume It" is already pretty good motivation.

* Your primary goal in ''VideoGame/{{Abadox}}'' is to enter an enormous, planet-devouring parasite to rescue a princess who was inside a ship the monstrous being had eaten. Genre conventions were presumably why they felt the need to dangle the "Save The Princess" carrot in front of the player, even though "Save The Galaxy from an Enormous Creature Trying to Consume It" is already pretty good motivation.

* ''Crusader'', an obscure PlatformGame by Creator/{{Compile}} for the {{MSX}}, is the source of the quote: "Princess has been kidnapped! You must save princess."

* ''VideoGame/{{Nefarious}}'' [[InvertedTrope inverts]] this trope. Instead of playing TheHero to save the princess, instead you're VillainProtagonist Crow, who's attempting to ''kidnap'' them.