History OneManArmy / VideoGames

** Actually, it's more like a 30 man army if you think about it.

* In the ''MetalSlug'' series, the {{Mooks}} will often run screaming from the player character, and [[GenreSavvy 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, [[HumongousMecha the bosses]]. Of course, the game being on the far side of [[SlidingScaleOfSillinessVersusSeriousness silly side]], it is all depicted in a most comical manner.

* Pit in ''KidIcarusUprising'', a hordes of monsters and even a God can't defeat one Pit with a WeaponOfChoice.

* Every Gand Theft Auto protagonist probably qualifies, but out of all of them [[GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas Carl Johnson]] takes the cake. Over the course of the game he goes up against hundreds of rival gang members, police forces, mob gangsters, hitmen, FBI agents and the US military and, in the end, he's the one still standing. Occasionally lampshaded:

* In ''PerfectDark'', Joanna appears to be ''way'' more durable than the typical guard and quite capable of slaughtering an entire building's worth of people all alone. It gets to the point where any allies you have are more of a liability than an actual help.

* ValkyriaChronicles introduces an enemy called Selvaria, a Valkyria soldier who can crush an entire squad of soldiers without backup. The first time you meet her, the only thing that's safe from her is a tank, and said tank most certainly cannot damage her, as she can deflect ''anything'' it fires at her. The NEXT times you meet her, even the tanks aren't safe. Later, [[spoiler:Alicia, one of your units, becomes one of these too.]]

* ValkyriaChronicles introduces Selvaria, a Valkyria soldier who can crush an entire squad of soldiers without backup. The only thing that's safe from her is a tank, and said tank most certainly cannot damage her, as she can deflect ''anything'' it fires at her. Later, [[spoiler:Alicia, one of your units, becomes one of these too.]]

** Of course, starting with ''[=MGS2=]'', the player can take the option of a [[PacifistRun no-kill playthrough]]. Also technically possible in ''[=MGS1=]'' with the exception of bosses (who must be killed). In fact, based on that information, Snake is either the most genocidal killer ever... or the most pacifistic hero ever.

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

* By late-game, Altaïr of ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreed'' is ''literally'' hacking and slashing his way through entire ''armies'' of Saracen and Crusader troops.

*** Even more so when you forgot to buy defense for a planet on the PSP. 90 soldiers losing to ten, of which I was responsible for eighty. Huge fail on their part.
** It's actually a bit of an aversion; yes, the player must take care of everything in the campaign, but every time you die, you respawn as a different soldier.
*** Sometimes even switching between soldiers ''in mid-rampage''.

* Somewhat subverted in the ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'' series. While Max kills hundreds of criminals in the course of three enraged nights, it causes him severe psychological damage. He also only narrowly avoids going to prison.

* Speaking of FinalFight, this is a commonality amongst most BeatEmUp games. See also StreetsOfRage, DoubleDragon, RiverCityRansom, etc.

* In ''Lord of the Rings: The Battle For Middle Earth'', it's possible to rack up thousands of vanquished enemies with [[TheArchmage Gandalf]] '''in a single battle''' using his Word of Power attack. Having tens of thousands of kills at the end of a campaign is not unheard of.

*** In ''Call of Duty 4'', it will vary within the mission; [[spoiler:in the first, "Crew Expendable," you can literally let the AI do all the work for at least the first quarter, just following from the rear, until the first skirmish where there's a realistic chance for the enemy to hit you.]] Conveniently, you are spared poor orders-following AI by not having control over your team at all.

* As of [[TheKingOfFighters KOF XIII]], "The One-Man Army" is the ''official'' nickname of HotBlooded super-soldier [[IkariWarriors Ralf Jones]]. [[BadAss Not one bit of it is exaggeration.]]

* In ''NoOneLivesForever'', Kate Archer kills hundreds of enemy soldiers in her various missions, and far from not finding this at all unusual, her superiors find it so unbelievable they assume she's lying in her mission reports.

* Epitomized in many of the ''MedalOfHonor'' games, where one soldier practically defeats the entire Nazi army and [[AmericaWinsTheWar wins World War II single-handedly]]. ''CallOfDuty: Finest Hour'' is another WorldWarII game that is a major offender (the main PC series less so, as it's more team-oriented).
** Indeed, the PC ''CallOfDuty'' games were intentionally intended to avert this by using a more team-based single-player game, and having a campaign that shows the war from multiple perspectives--given the improbably large body count the player still racks up at times, they were only partially successful.

* In order to gain complete control of Los Santos, the protagonist of ''GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'' must kill in total thousands of rival gang members armed with AK-47s and other heavy weaponry, usually 30-40 per "territory." Furthermore, because gang members are instantly replaced (or [[NonLethalKO healed by paramedics]]), it's possible for the player character to wipe out the same gang several times over in the course of minutes.
** In fact, all of the various ''GrandTheftAuto'' protagonists singlehandedly accrue impressive kill counts.

* Though ''all'' of the [[SuperSoldier Spartans]] in ''{{Halo}}'' are referred to by the ScaryDogmaticAliens of The Covenant as "[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Demons]]", the Master Chief is a standout even among his fellow [[BioAugmentation bio-augmented]] and PowerArmor-wearing comrades, with only [[HaloReach Noble Six]] possibly equaling him in deadliness.

* Another example of a One Woman Army is Tanya Adams. Though in ''CommandAndConquer: Red Alert 1'' she can only blow up buildings and kill infantry, and only if you specifically order her to kill that infantry, in ''Red Alert 2'', she automatically fires on advancing infantry (with pistols, but long before she's in range of their assault rifles), she can swim even in nearly frozen rivers, and use C4 on ships, buildings, and tanks (in ''[=RA2=]'', as with many games, tanks have no machine guns, making them [[CripplingOverspecialization weak against infantry]]). The only thing that can stop her besides air power and overwhelming force are base defenses like sentry guns and Tesla coils. There are several missions where she takes out entire bases with little backup.

** Colonel Burton from ''CommandAndConquer: Generals'' is described as such. The man can mow down infantry with just a couple shots, and even vehicles and buildings don't hold out long against his souped-up [[{{BFG}} OICW]], he can plant both remote-detonated and [[TimeBomb timer-controlled]] C4 charges, [[KnifeNut silently off infantry with his combat knife]], and then make his getaway by climbing sheer cliff. While stealthed.

* Extreme in {{Roguelike}} games. In one example, ''T.O.M.E.'' (Tales of Middle-Earth), you track down and kill ''every'' single Tolkien villain, ever. Up to and including the local equivalent of {{Satan}}, Morgoth (Sauron's boss). And then you go ToHellAndBack to kill him ''there.'' Some versions throw in a few gods and demons from other series, such as the [[CosmicHorrorStory Cthulhu Mythos]], ''{{Warhammer}}'', and general mythology.

* The player's character in ''NeverwinterNights2'' gains notoriety for this as the game progresses. In addition, a good character will express a feeling of being haunted by the hundreds of dead behind them to a party member in the final act.

* ''SuperSmashBros.'' Endless Melee/Brawl. You get one life to take out as many enemies as possible. Getting every achievement means you're going to have to take down ''hundreds''.

* Solid Snake from ''MetalGearSolid'' is described by other characters as being one on numerous occasions--but he isn't. It's a stealth game, meaning that if he decides to start Munchkining down the RedShirtArmy he's just asking to be slaughtered.

* Dante of ''DevilMayCry'' has probably accumulated a very impressive demon body count. Lack of clear details makes it difficult to say if he has outdone his father Sparda, who singlehandedly rebelled against TheLegionsOfHell and saved humanity (or so the backstory claims), or whether the fact that a demon as powerful as Sparda is his father [[JustifiedTrope justifies]] Dante's capabilities, which would make it [[InTheBlood in his blood.]]

* The main character in ''[[FirstEncounterAssaultRecon F.E.A.R.]]'' kills nearly a thousand genetically modified enemy supersoldiers in less than 24 hours. This feat is made much more impressive by the fact that all of these soldiers are being psychically controlled by one man, so that if one sees you, all the rest know where you are too. Additionally, some of the soldiers wear so much armor that it takes nearly 8 shot gun rounds to the head to kill them; other soldiers are in extremely durable mech-suits. Did I mention that even the basic infantry can take take three 12-inch steel spikes through the head without flinching? The only thing that hero really has going for him is that he has super-reflexes, or from the player's point of view, the ability to [[BulletTime slow down time]], due to [[spoiler:the fact that is his mother, Alma, has psychic/super-natural powers]]...

*** In [[AssassinsCreedRevelations Revelations]], we see what decades of studying [[spoiler: The Apple of Eden]] can do. Altaïr's fights were never exactly close, but [[spoiler: killing a village full of soldiers ''all at the same time'']] is a gamebreaker in the most awesome sense of the term.

* Ratchet from the ''RatchetAndClank'' games. There's not much to say about him, he's a one Lombax army. Literally destroying billions of aliens all by his lonesome self. Then again, if everyone dropped money when they died, you'd do it too. Having a [[{{BFG}} massive collection of increasingly powerful high-caliber weaponry]] also helps.

* ''GuiltyGear'''s background material indicates that Potemkin, resident MightyGlacier, is estimated to have such incredible physical strength and stamina that he is as dangerous as an ''entire armored division.'' Considering his OneHitKill attack involves him punching someone ''once'' without his [[PowerLimiter strength inhibitors]], that seems justified.

* [[{{Castlevania}} The Belmont clan's members]], as well as the other playable enemies of Dracula.

* Legendary Champions in ''DwarfFortress'', especially ones with particularly well-made [[DropTheHammer hammers]], unless crossbows are involved. They tend to have godlike statistics, move like thunderbolts, and can hit goblins so hard ''they crash into trees and [[LudicrousGibs disintegrate in a spectacular spray of limbs]]''. Legendary champion marksdwarves are in many ways even scarier, because DF crossbows in the hands of sufficiently experienced troops tend to function like a fusion of sniper rifle and heavy machine gun. Incidentally, the history of the randomized worlds will sometimes cause entire armies to start fights with solitary "historical figures". [[ConservationOfNinjutsu The odds are disturbingly stacked against the army]].

** Mention must also go to Tarn Adams for being a One Man Army of Developers. Seriously, DwarfFortress has far more content than almost any two or three games you can think of put together, and ''one guy made the whole damn thing.''

* The main quest of ''ElderScrolls III: {{Morrowind}}'' involves becoming Hortator, or "War Leader" of the three Great Houses, suggesting that you'll be leading armies into battle... not really. You'll breach the main fortress of the Big Bad on your lonesome (if you follow Vivec's advice, after sacking the enemy's ''other'' fortresses first, equally on your lonesome).

** And in ''DiabloIII''? You and your companion get to [[spoiler:save both Sanctuary and the High Heavens from Belial, Asmodean, and eventually Diablo himself]]!

** Lampshaded in ''MassEffect2''. On the Korlus mission, as you are going through mercenaries like a hot knife through butter, their leader chastises them on the intercom:

** The ''SSV Normandy'' is a one-ship armada by the end of ''MassEffect2''. This is even quantified in ''MassEffect3'', where the military contributions of military forces are expressed in terms of numerical "War Assets." Entire fleets of hundreds of frigates and cruisers and multiple dreadnoughts and carriers contribute about one hundred to one hundred and fifty points to the total each. The Normandy, by itself, contributes ''one hundred and fifteen points''.

** Similarly, squadmates from ''MassEffect2'' and some of the ones from ''MassEffect1'' can be added to the War Assets pool. Potentially, adding squadmates to the war assets pool can net you an additional two to three hundred points, which can exceed the value of the entire ground force components supplied by some ''species''. Only the krogan, all of the Alliance ground units you can recruit, and possibly the entire geth corps can supply more effective combat strength than ''ten'' of your squadmates.

* {{Kirby}}. Same as Mario but instead of having blood on his shoes, he simply ate millions of people. How that makes anyone not nauseous I don't know.

* In HeroesOfMightAndMagic IV, one of the many gameplay changes from the three first ones was that your heroes could walk around on the map without an army. The skill system was revised, and made your heroes able to actually fight on the battlefield instead of their earlier, supporting role. The result of this? Any level 20 hero with Grandmaster Combat, Melee and Magic Resistance combined with Expert skills in Life Magic could defeat small armies without the help of creatures. Ten levels and some additional skills (Archery, another Magic skill or more Life Magic) later, they wipe out entire endgame armies singlehandedly.

* The Admiral Proudmoore from ''{{Warcraft}} III'', even without his bodyguards is capable of killing thousand of orcs, trolls, ogres and taurens.

** He may be a mortal man, but he surpasses {{Determinator}} status at the speed of light and lands squarely into ImplacableMan territory.
* In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII'' there's Altaïr's [[BadassFamily descendant]] Ezio Auditore da Firenze, who starts his RoaringRampageOfRevenge at age seventeen. It lasts for ''twenty-three years'', during which he decimates an entire faction of Templar conspiracists, becomes the most feared man in all of ''[[GratuitousItalian Italia]]'' to the point of [[ShroudedInMyth being made into the kind of story people tell each other when they don't want to sleep at night]] while he's still ''alive'', and murders his way through at least a thousand of their guards/allies. Oh, and [[spoiler:he hunts down and administers a CurbStompBattle to ''the Pope'']].
* In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood'' this actually becomes moreso the case, even before [[spoiler:he cuts or sneaks his way through one more army to confront Cesare Borgia for the last time]]. It's possible that the first potential recruits were actually inspired by him openly fighting off Borgia troops ''across the bridge/river from the papal apartments''.
** Even his recruits get into the act once promoted to the highest rank, Assassino, at level 10 -- Smoke Bombs + Pistol + as many Health squares as the final boss = the Call Assassins button becomes [[GameBreaker an "I WIN" button]] against most Mook groups.
** Ezio, without his brotherhood, is [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCTtIIW1WA0&feature=feedf back to his old ways]] in [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedRevelations Revelations]].
** The trope is called attention to at the start of ''Brotherhood.''

* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII'' continues the tradition with Connor, who is depicted in the E3 trailer taking on an entire British regiment ''by himself'' in order to assassinate their commander. In so doing, he rallies the Continental troops who had up until that point been suffering a crushing defeat. To this end, Connor has developed skills specifically designed to help him deal with massed musket fire, including taking cover during volleys and using the bodies of his enemies as a BulletproofHumanShield.

* The Hero of ''{{Fable}}'' usually ends up killing hundreds of people and monsters through the course of the game. Since they rapidly respawn and the player can continue the game after the ending credits, the Hero can literally have an INFINITE kill count. Not only that, but every type of being he has killed, and how many, are listed on his character sheet.

* Pit in ''KidIcarusUprising'', a hordes of monsters and even a God cant defeat one Pit with a WeaponOfChoice.

* In VideoGame/{{Xenogears}} Id is able to take on [[HumongousMecha Gears]] by himself. When he's in his own Gear, he destroys entire armys.

* If there's any person who should be fit to provide the picture for this trope, it would be Captain Titus of Warhammer40000Spacemarine. Why? Well, not wanting to spoil too much, but he makes other [[OneManArmy 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.]]

* Double subverted with Nathan Drake in the ''{{Uncharted}}'' series. He's of average build and panics when he gets into shootouts, but he still massacres trained, better-armed, better-supplied soldiers by the dozen in each game.

* [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname The Kid]] from ''{{Bastion}}'' hacks his way through multiple small armies over the course of the game.

* ''FireWarrior'' (of ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' fame) played this trope to terrifying limits. Not only does La'Kais kill several battalions of the Imperial Guard, large numbers of Space Marines and several Dreadnaughts, a good deal of Chaos Marines and several Daemons including a God by himself - he does it all within the timespan of twenty four hours. This is even more amazing when one considers that La'Kais is a Tau Fire Warrior, making him the Tau equivalent of basic infantry, a common foot soldier. Furthermore, not just any day--La'Kais' ''first day'' of live combat action. [[BeginnersLuck (Hmmm...)]] It's worth noting that canonically, he was driven insane by his experiences and was never fit for duty again.

* In order to gain complete control of Los Santos, the protagonist of ''[[GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas]]'' must kill in total thousands of rival gang members armed with AK-47s and other heavy weaponry, usually 30-40 per "territory." Furthermore, because gang members are instantly replaced (or [[NonLethalKO healed by paramedics]]), it's possible for the player character to wipe out the same gang several times over in the course of minutes.

* Some {{Shoot Em Up}}s like ''[[RaptorCallOfTheShadows Raptor: Call of the Shadows]]'' and ''Stargunner'' tend to do this, with one ship going against an entire enemy fleet and winning.

* In a [[TheWarSequence particularly memorable sequence]] of the [=PS2=] game ''KingdomHearts 2'', the main character, Sora--[[KidHero a 15 year old boy]] wielding a [[ImprobableWeaponUser gigantic key as a weapon]]--fights off a literal thousand enemies--at once. It takes maybe 5-10 minutes, tops. Go ahead and calculate the kill-per-second rate if you want...

* The Admiral Proudmoore from ''{{Warcraft}}'' III, even without his bodyguards is capable of killing thousand of orcs, trolls, ogres and taurens.

* In {{Xenogears}} Id is able to take on [[HumongousMecha Gears]] by himself. When he's in his own Gear, he destroys entire armys.

* In ''{{Half-Life}}'', Gordon Freeman starts off as an unassuming [[BadassBookworm theoretical physicist]] whose job basically amounts to [[AlmightyJanitor manual labor]]. But one resonance cascade and crowbar pickup later, Gordon is a virtually unstoppable badass who fends off not only an entire invasion of incredibly lethal aliens, but also whole platoons of crack soldiers. When he returns in ''Half-Life 2'' he finds that he has become a [[ShroudedInMyth legendary figure]] whose mere presence is enough to precipitate a worldwide revolt. (No doubt his nigh-unique "hazard suit" helped, but it amounts to a bit of a {{handwave}}.)

* The Lone Wanderer of ''{{Fallout 3}}'' can become quite the killing machine, capable of wiping out squads of raiders, mercenaries, and [[spoiler:government soldiers]] with little more than a beat-up hunting rifle. This is especially intriguing given the character was raised for nineteen years in a totally sterile, controlled environment. Of course, your dad did give you a gun at age ten...

** In ''FalloutNewVegas'' there are three in game challenges that net you a few extra experience points and a small bonus to damage. "Lord Death," "Lord Death of Murder Mountain" and "Apocalypse Ain't Got Nothing On Me." The first requires 200 kills. The second requires 700 more kills (for a total of 900 kills). The third requires another 1000 kills (for a total of 1900 kills). They seem appropriately named.

* The backstory of [[BigBad Chaos]] in ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'' is that he was supposed to be Lufenians' answer to another country's OneManArmy, Omega. Then he was driven insane by power and devastated the world, or something. By the time the game starts, it takes several [[ArmyOfOne Armies of One]] from other worlds to take him down.

* In ''VideoGame/TheGodfather: The Game'', you can expect to run up at least 250-300 kills taking over Little Italy for the Corleones. If you have less than 1000 kills by the time you become Don by toppling the other four families, [[MemeticMutation you're doing it wrong]]. In the sequel you have assistance from a BadassCrew of {{Personal Mook}}s but nothing's stopping you from keeping them all in reserve and going to town on NYC, Florida and Cuba by yourself.

* By the end of ''ResidentEvil4'', Leon has singlehandedly killed hundreds of Ganados. When the BigBad confronts you at the end, it's no wonder he's alone: you've probably wiped out most, if not all, of his army.

* {{Rayman}} has often fought entire armies more or less by himself, whether they consist of robo pirates or black lums.
* Pretty much any SOLDIER 1st Class from the world of ''FinalFantasyVII'' counts. For example, in ''CrisisCore'', one of Zack's first missions is essentially summed up as "Storm the enemy base alone. [[StormingTheCastle Have fun]]." By the end of the game, it literally takes the strength of the entire Shinra standing army to take Zack down.

* Terra of ''FinalFantasyVI'' is introduced in the opening segment as a one-woman army who "Fried 50 of [the Empire's] {{Magitek}}-armored soldiers in three minutes".

* Amaterasu in ''{{Okami}}''. Oh dear kittens, ''Amaterasu''. Granted, she is a [[PhysicalGod goddess]], but still, she ploughs through monsters as if there's no tomorrow.

* Lightning from FinalFantasyXIII. It's even {{Lampshaded}} ingame: her exclusive skill is aptly named "Army of One".

* The backstory of [[BigBad Chaos]] in ''DissidiaFinalFantasy'' is that he was supposed to be Lufenians' answer to another country's OneManArmy, Omega. Then he was driven insane by power and devastated the world, or something. By the time the game starts, it takes several [[ArmyOfOne Armies of One]] from other worlds to take him down.
** Special mention among said Armies of One goes to the [[FinalFantasyI Warrior of Light]]. Meta-wise, he becomes an Army of One by being a CompositeCharacter and due to the ...interplay between ''Dissidia'' and ''Final Fantasy I'' it is implied that now FFI is cleared by a single character. In story, he faces more non-{{Mooks}} than any other character, alone, in the ending to 012 fights ''an entire army'' on his own until he can no longer stand, and in the AlternateUniverse of Scenario 000 is stated to be the last one who fell to [[TrueFinalBoss Feral Chaos]].