History ShipTease / VideoGames

[[caption-width-right:350:They have a statue of them dancing, but we still don't know if they are actually a couple]]

** Vaike and Miriel can be potentially seen as having this, too. When they appear first, Vaike has misplaced his [[AnaxeToGrind axe]] and Miriel returns it to him -- [[spoiler:and a talk with Miriel's son Laurent states that his father often used to misplace stuff…]]

** [[{{Cyborg}} Tager]] gets a little tease with [[CatGirl Kokonoe]], and if you squint there's some with [[DarkSkinnedBlonde Bullet]] as well.

** The PlayerCharacter Warrior of Light's relationships with many NPC is usually written with a bit of leeway for people to assume a romantic implication. There is also a case where within the fifth anniversary livestream, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRJwAabzAY8 two]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzmMKtuEuVA segments]] were shown with the Warrior on various dates during the Rising that practically screams ship bait.

** ''Battle for Azeroth'' featured [[TheNameIsBondJamesBond Mathias Shaw]] and [[LoveableRogue Flynn Fairwind]] on a mission with the player; the two of them spend the entire thing [[FlirtingUnderFire flirting with each other]]. They [[RelationshipUpgrade got]] [[OfficialCouple together]] in a tie-in novel set between [=BfA=] and ''Shadowlands''.

** Shadow and Rouge may be closer to TrueCompanions, but even they get this from time to time. In ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'', he saves her life and gets all Tsundere about it. In ''VideoGame/SonicBattle'', Rouge returns the favour, referring to him as a "Prince" and telling him that he's, "Not bad looking." There's also the scene in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' where she tells him she'll always be by his side (or if you're playing in Japanese, that he always has friends he can rely on). And ''VideoGames/SonicRivals'' does this too. Shadow is rapidly getting worried about Rouge when she gets trapped in a card, to the point where he says 'that card's mine' [aka, 'Rouge is mine']. Then in the final cutscene, Rouge gets particularly flirty with Shadow, where she says 'that's my Shadow, why don't we get a peek into our future?' Shadow wants to decline, but Rouge keeps insisting and we don't know if Shadow gave in or not. But this is Rouge, so... you never know.

** There are a few elements of tease in regards to Hope and Vanille. In the first game, during a side-quest event in Gran Pulse, Hope says to her "her smile makes him happy", which is immediately interpreted as love confession by Vanille, judging her panicked expression. But soon after saying that, Hope says this was a joke, angering her. In LR, Lightning teases Hope about having a crush on Vanille, which he promptly denies; the Japanese version has Lightning instead noting that he looks happier than usual with a hint of jealousy after meeting Vanille.

** All games from this trilogy have a bit of shiptease between Hope and Vanille. In the first one, during a side-quest event in Grand Pulse, Hope says to her "her smile makes him happy", which is immediately interpreted as love confession by Vanille, judging her expression. But soon after saying that, Hope says this was a joke, angering her. In the second game during a dialogue in Yaschas Massif 110 AF, Hope seems concerned about Vanille's well being. And in LR, Lightning seems to be aware Hope has a thing for Vanille in one dialogue.

%%** Sol and I-No is fair game for DatingCatwoman.
** Ky/Jam was teased with artwork, special intros and stuff. [[spoiler:Their ship got [[ShipSinking sunk]]..]] ''Accent Core Plus'' now teases, surprisingly, Ky/Dizzy.

** There was also a fair bit of teasing between [[UnsettlingGenderReveal Bridget]] and both Dizzy and May in ''XX''.
*** There's also some ship tease between Bridget and Jam, including her actually flirting with him and her ''Accent Core Plus'' ending being to hire him to work in her restaurant, which he seems happy to do.
*** Jam also shows an interest in [[LoveFatherLoveSon Ky's son Sin]] in ''Xrd''; she even tells him to "never let go" when he grabs her in his Instant Kill.

** Guy and Rose get a pretty hefty dose of this in ''SSFIV'', [[RelationshipWritingFumble perhaps unintentionally]]. The idea behind [[FightingYourFriend Guy's Rival Battle with Rose]] is that Guy is trying to stop Rose from facing Bison, something he failed to prevent in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterAlpha 3'', because he sees it as [[SenselessSacrifice Rose being a martyr]], but the romantic subtext comes on strong for anyone who's seen their fight (their banter in-battle consists of, among other lines, Guy somberly asking Rose to reconsider, Rose sorrowfully proclaiming that [[HesitantSacrifice she]] ''[[HesitantSacrifice doesn't]]'' [[HesitantSacrifice want to die]], and both fighters [[ApologeticAttacker apologizing]] before unleashing [[LimitBreak their Ultras]]) and their linked endings (Guy becomes fiercely protective of Rose and [[NotSoStoic unusually emotive]] when Bison abducts her, and Rose is roused back to life by Guy's concerned urging). This becomes stranger if you take into consideration that, according to ''VideoGame/FinalFight 2'', ''Guy already has a fiancee''.

* Interestingly enough, ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar 2'' has some of this between Marcus and Anya, such as the way Anya asks him to take care of himself when he descends into the Hollow, and Marcus calling repeatedly over the radio at the end to see if Anya is okay, and looking ''extremely'' relieved when he spots her on the next Raven helicopter.

* ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'': While the game seems to insist that [[{{Deuteragonist}} Johnny Silverhand]] and [[PlayerCharacter V]] are strictly friends, it's incredibly easy to interpret Johnny's behavior towards V as him falling in love with them: In the mission "Chippin' In", Johnny can [[spoiler:tattoo a cupid's heart with "V + Johnny" written in it on V's arm while [[WillingChanneler he has the control over their body]].]] Johnny can compare his and V's relationship to an [[LikeAnOldMarriedCouple old married couple]] in another scene. A sidequest where Johnny and V fix a broken rollercoaster and take it on a ride is called "Rollercoaster of Love", after [[TitledAfterTheSong the song]] by Music/OhioPlayers that talks about a tumultuous romantic relationship and a guy who loves how wild his partner is. A secret ending that involves [[spoiler:Johnny and V storming the [[TheTower Arasaka Tower]] by themselves to save V's life]] is called "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", after the song by Music/BlueOysterCult which tells the story of two lovers commiting suicide together and features a lot of ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' imagery (Johnny writes V's [[LemonyNarrator questlog]], so it's safe to assume that he names the missions too). The game features some TarotMotifs, and the "Lovers" arcana is used twice in the game, both times relating to Johnny and his two ex girlfriends, [[UptownGirl Alt]] and [[TheFixer Rogue]], but they also tie back to V in some way, implying that Johnny sees V as as important as he did his ex girlfriends (both of who still hold a degree of fondness for him and vice versa). He frequently gets annoyed when V pays attention to someone other than him, which can be interpreted as jealousy. [[spoiler:The "[[GrandTheftMe Temperance]]" ending makes Johnny seem like he's mourning his deceased soulmate]]. The pair's constant snarking and bickering can be interpreted as BelligerentSexualTension. Johnny's [[HasAType type]], going by his past two girlfriends, seems to be people who aren't afraid to stand up to him and call him out on his horrible behavior, which V fits perfectly. V's feelings regarding Johnny are more abiguous, on account of them being the PlayerCharacter, but they can still show kindness to Johnny and even give him some compliments.

** The Drama [=CDs=] added [[UpToEleven even more]] Male Avatar/Azura tease, as well as Female Avatar/Xander and Female Avatar/Leo tease. For the Male Avatar/Azura tease, he accepts her offer to take him on a date around Hoshido, and her thoughts during the berserk scene are shown to be solely on protecting him. For Female Avatar/Xander and Female Avatar/Leo, both of them briefly daydream about her in a swimsuit, and are shown to be frantic with worry when she goes missing.

** This isn't half as bad as what the cruel, cruel writing team does with potential BetaCouple Hubert and Pascal. In the original game Hubert's crush on Pascal is mostly just implied in some skits, but in ''Lineage and Legacies'' they turn it UpToEleven. It's outright stated that Hubert is in love with her, and that's the reason he won't [[ArrangedMarriage marry the president of Strahta's daughter.]] Richard and Malik are constant [[ShipperOnDeck shippers on deck]] and tease Hubert about his crush ceaselessly. There's a half-dozen scenes where Hubert goes out of his way to shield Pascal from attacks. It's even implied by Fourier that Pascal might reciprocate his feelings, though she seems [[ObliviousToLove somewhat unaware of them]]. It gets to the point where Hubert [[spoiler: outright [[LoveConfession confesses]] to Pascal, "my every waking thought is consumed by you."]] AND THEN the game [[spoiler:yanks it away at the last minute with a MaybeEverAfter.]] [[TrollingCreator Goddamnit, Namco.]]

* ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia2'' did not let up on the shipteasing, either. The [[OfficialCouple official couples]] are still Jude and Milla. [[spoiler: And Ludger with Lara, with whom he'll eventually have [[KidFromTheFuture Elle]].]] Though the teasing is between practically everyone. Ludger and Jude tend to compliment each other, before blushing in embarrassed silence and Muzét pretty much ships herself with everyone. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBT9hmEq6cg This skit]] has her practically shipping herself strongly with Jude, as a shout-out to a moment in the previous game, Gaius and even Ludger. There are also some more-or-less heavy hints between Ludger and Alternate Milla, which was turned UpToEleven in the manga for the game [[spoiler: and resulted in TogetherInDeath]].

** [[LesYay Lara and Samantha]] is the most notable, being extremely close since they met in university. Lara throughout the game is very protective of Sam who in turn is very affectionate to her, the finale [[UpToEleven takes it even further]] with Lara giving Sam (in a white dress) a BridalCarry after saving her from BigBad Mathias. Rhianna Pratchett the main writer of reboot did [[WordOfGod intend]] for Lara and Sam to be a couple, but ExecutiveMeddling got involved. While Sam makes [[PutOnABus no appearance]] in the sequels, she does return in the [[ComicBook/TombRaider comics]] where she lives with Lara and acts her LivingEmotionalCrutch.

* ''VideoGame/{{Solatorobo}}'' teases Red x Elh enough during the main game, but the DLC quests take it UpToEleven. In #5, [[spoiler:they both act embarrassed when Red sees Elh in her cheerleader outfit, and she's disappointed if Red doesn't manage to beat the track record (which is the condition she agreed to in order to wear that outfit in the first place).]] In #7, [[spoiler:she gets extremely upset when Red has Princess Terria and Toffee fangirling over him, and in the end Red admits he wanted to give her the tournament prize as they make up.]] #8 [[spoiler:borders on "TheyDo with the SerialNumbersFiledOff", as it eventually turns into an InterruptedDeclarationOfLove.]] It also teases Béluga x Merveille a couple times, with him [[spoiler:giving her a hologram of flowers]] and [[spoiler:losing an arena match because he was trying to show off too much.]]

* This is teased to some degree in ''Thor: God of Thunder'', a game set before the events of ''Film/{{Thor}}'' itself, after Sif is impaled and becomes temporarily dead. Her death enrages Thor and causes him to seek vengeance, to the point where Odin worries that "Thor will slaughter and bring holocaust" if he doesn't do anything. It probably doesn't help that [[DiedInYourArmsTonight she died in Thor's arms]] either.

** ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' features Mario getting kissed by each of his female party members (we're assuming that [[spoiler:Vivian [[ShesAManinJapan is female]]]]) and no less than four times by Ms. Mowz (which makes Goombella and Flurrie jealous).[[note]]Ms. Mowz can also learn a special skill that allows her to kiss Mario ''at any time'' for [[IntimateHealing HP recovery]].[[/note]] [[spoiler:Vivian]] almost makes a love confession to Mario in the ending, but decides that [[ShipperOnDeck he and Peach would be a good couple]], and Goombella is about to tell Mario something she hadn't been able to express to him before in her last e-mail, but decides to save it for later. Peach has an almost romantic bond with TEC, especially when [[WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove educating him about human feelings]], and by the time [[spoiler:Grodus has him deleted for helping her get classified information for Mario, he declares his love for her just before shutting down (he gets better)]].

** One popular ShipTease is Yoshi and Birdo, probably because they're both dinosaurs who are about the same size with one being male and the other being female. Birdo's gender is actually debatable since some sources say Birdo is actually a guy who thinks he's a girl, but there are many fans who believe her to be female, and most of those said fans love to ship her with Yoshi. When this shipping started, the jury's still out on it, but some say it was ''Mario Tennis'' on the Nintendo 64 that started it.

* ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' dabbles into ship teasing various characters of [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters its increasingly enormous cast]] every now and then, and to varying degrees:

* [[Franchise/MetalGear Solid Snake's]] codec transmissions regarding [[Franchise/{{Metroid}} Samus Aran]] in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'' could be regarded as a form of Ship Tease, since it's all one-sided and we have no way of knowing how Samus feels about the matter. That hasn't stopped them from becoming the game's resident OneTruePairing... though the pairing's support has less to do with any perceived teasing and more to do with how their combined sex appeal is dense enough to create a singularity.
** ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForNintendo3DSAndWiiU'' gives even more teasing, such as Peach and Zelda fighting over Link, [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1 Shulk]] smashing Link away to play with them ''both'', or [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius Ike]] offering a flower to [[VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising Palutena]].

* The ending of ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'' is a parade of Ship Teasing. First, the [[spoiler:Turret opera]] heavily hints that [=GLaDOS=] may actually deeply care for Chell (especially considering [[BilingualBonus the English translation]]), further solidified by the ending song "Want You Gone", which may as well have been titled "{{Tsundere}}: The Song/" Second, Chell's final scene has her [[spoiler:[[CargoShip reunited with]] CompanionCube]]. Third, the very final scene has [[spoiler:Wheatley lamenting all the bad things he did, and that all he wants to do now is apologise to Chell]].

* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' seems to do this between Master Chief and Cortana ([[RoboShip even though Cortana is an AI]]), especially starting in [[VideoGame/{{Halo 3}} the third game]] when [[spoiler:Chief rescued Cortana from the Gravemind]]. In [[VideoGame/{{Halo 4}} the fourth game]], Master Chief goes to extraordinary lengths to try and [[spoiler:save Cortana when her programming begins to rapidly deteriorate due to rampancy. Cortana ultimately performs a HeroicSacrifice to save the Chief, but not before revealing her deepest desire was to be able to touch him once before she dies.]] In ''VideoGame/Halo5Guardians'', Chief is clearly shaken up by [[spoiler:her death, and goes AWOL the moment he realizes she might be alive. For her part, a revived Cortana still wants John to be at her side. Unfortunately, the two end up at odds against each other when John realizes that Cortana has jumped off the deep end.]]

* Numerous [=NPCs=] [[ShipperOnDeck ship]] Ness and Paula in ''VideoGame/EarthBound''. Also, what was Paula going to say to Ness that she "forgot"?

* ''VideoGame/{{Dota 2}}'' usually has very little 'romantic' encounters (barring the obvious ''ex'' ones like Vengeful Spirit/Skywrath Mage). But... when Crystal Maiden gets her Announcer Pack, she has special positive calls when the player picked Sven, and if the game goes idle long enough, she'll start wondering just where Sven is, this in addition of her getting really curious of what's under his armor if they encounter each other in-game and in the same team. Sven-Crystal Maiden has been a rather popular FanPreferredCouple for a long time[[labelnote:Bonus]]They also have a fair amount of synergy in terms of gameplay: Sven has powerful abilities, balanced by their high cost and his poor mana regen making it hard for him to use them very often. Crystal Maiden has an aura that increases her allies' rate of mana regen, helping to alleviate this issue.[[/labelnote]]

** Chrom and Sumia: A.) She's the only character along with Chrom, Lissa, Validar, and [[spoiler:Lucina]] to appear in an animated cutscene (originally called "Lovebirds", wherein Sumia rescues Chrom from some enemy units on her pegasus); B.) Both she and Chrom have a small pool of love interests (four for Sumia and five for Chrom, counting the [[StaticCharacter generic village girl]], and they can also get with the Avatar depending on the gender you give him/her), while the others have a much wider pool (and the [[PlayerCharacter Avatar]] can get with ''anybody'' of the opposite gender); C.) When Chrom picks a bride at the end of [[spoiler:Chapter 11]] (assuming the player hasn't initiated an [[RelationshipUpgrade S Support]] with any other units before then), Sumia can get top priority over Chrom's other options save for ''maybe'' Olivia [[note]](Sumia > Maribelle > Sully > Olivia > [=FeMU=] > Random Villager Girl)[[/note]] (if they're tied in Support points/Support Level and are above C Rank; see Olivia's section below for more details) ''and'' gets an extended version of the post-chapter confession scene [[note]]where, instead of Lissa, Flavia, and Basilio (and the Avatar, if the player isn't marrying a female Avatar) leaving before Chrom pops the question, Sumia flies in and hugs Chrom while fretting over him[[/note]]; and D.) the intro of the game shows [[spoiler:Chrom and Sumia as the Ylissean RulingCouple, baby Lucina included]]. Flavia even [[ShipperOnDeck casts her lot with the two as a couple]] after seeing Sumia punch Chrom (unintentionally; she was aiming for a slap) [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan to get him out of his funk]] [[spoiler:when his sister Emmeryn returns to Ylisstol--into the hands of Plegia--at the end of Chapter 7]], and tells them to GetARoom in the aforementioned confession scene.

** ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' features Mario getting kissed by each of his female party members (we're assuming that [[spoiler:Vivian [[ShesAManinJapan is female]]]]) and no less than four times by Ms. Mowz (which makes Goombella jealous).[[note]]Ms. Mowz can also learn a special skill that allows her to kiss Mario ''at any time'' for [[IntimateHealing HP recovery]].[[/note]] [[spoiler:Vivian]] almost makes a love confession to Mario in the ending, but decides that [[ShipperOnDeck he and Peach would be a good couple]], and Goombella is about to tell Mario something she hadn't been able to express to him before in her last e-mail, but decides to save it for later. Peach has an almost romantic bond with TEC, especially when [[WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove educating him about human feelings]], and by the time [[spoiler:Grodus has him deleted for helping her get classified information for Mario, he declares his love for her just before shutting down (he gets better)]].

** Sol and I-No is fair game for sheer FoeYay or DatingCatwoman.

** The FoeYay Ship Tease between Sol and Ky. Fans of the pairing will often point to the fact that one of the drama [=CDs=] depicts Sol mourning Ky's death at the Battle of Rome in an AlternateTimeline-turned-BadFuture.

** [[FoeYay Spy/Sniper]] fans take some of their domination taunts and achievements as ship teasing. But then again, this ''is'' the Spy and the Sniper.

** {{Yaoi Fangirl}}s went {{Squee}} when Valve started releasing information leading up to the WAR update. Until the Mac Update shipped, the loadup screen featured the [[FriendlyEnemy BLU Soldier and the RED Demoman]] butting heads and glaring at each other [[FoeYay very intensely]].

** You also get a really creepy side-order of Ship Tease for each gender. One is a Sith Lord held together by hatred who thinks the female Exile is beautiful, but he also wants to kill her because she's a Jedi. The male Exile has a Jedi Master who's rapidly sliding down the slippery slope to the Dark Side, who gets jealous of your actual {{Love Interest|s}} and is caught somewhere between hero worship and a serious case of FoeYay.

** Male/male: Iori's murderous obsession with Kyo, which is very easy to interpret as a borderline StalkerWithACrush deal and gets lampshaded by other people. Shingo's [[HeroWorshipper behavior to Kyo]], which isn't too far from a man-crush. Shen and Duo Lon's very slashy OddFriendship. Shen's FoeYay with Oswald. etc.

** Likely the most prominent is the ship between [[KnightInShiningArmor Garen, the Might of Demacia]] and [[FemmeFatale Katarina, the Sinister Blade]]. They started out with simple FoeYay (being both {{Blood Knight}}s of opposing nations who each saw the other as a WorthyOpponent) and each subsequent appearance by them in the lore has painted them as less and less antagonistic towards each other. Even years later, Riot seems to have a soft spot for the two, and frequently references this with new or updated characters.

*** There was also some borderline FoeYay between Felix and Karst.

** [=McCree=] and Ashe have FoeYay and UnresolvedSexualTension.
** Tracer and Widowmaker get a lot of LesYay shipping.

** Dante and Lucia get a bit of teasing in ''[[VideoGame/DevilMayCry2 DMC2]]'' with Luicaa trusting him, openly worrying for Dante's safety when Dante claims he intends to enter the portal. In the ''[=DMC5=]'' tie-in novel ''Before the Nightmare'' it's revealed Lucia had feelings for Dante and they even reunite in Vie de Marli and they defeat the fire demon Balrog together.
** ''[[VideoGame/DevilMayCry3 DMC3]]'' introduces the FanPreferredCouple Dante and Lady and it helps that she doesn't look like his mother, or that she acts {{tsundere}} towards him when he flirts with her, ''or'' [[https://youtu.be/2MPPLrePwBU?t=1681 the bit]] where he saves her from falling '''or''' the fact they invoke BattleCouple twice. Pretty much all the sexual tension can be summed up in the library scene where Dante takes away her gun away and comes ''[[https://youtu.be/pwoDWW_k680?t=400 within inches of her face]]'' as they have HeldGaze and when Dante [[AlmostKiss moves his head even closer]] Lady makes a suspect noise before she gives him her {{BFG}}. Oh and less we forget Dante is one who gives her the name “Lady” after she denounced her old name of Mary and she's one who gives Dante the inspiration to defeat Arkham and Vergil. The [[Anime/DevilMayCryTheAnimatedSeries anime]] and CD-drama imply Lady is actually somewhat jealous of Trish and relationship’s with Dante.

* ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'':
** Lee and Carley have a few moments over the first half of Season 1, particularly in Season 3, until Lilly shot her halfway through the episode. Carley even gives him a kiss on the cheek in this episode.
** Clementine and Gabe in ''A New Frontier''. This can be seen in her attitude towards him in that she actually acts more like herself near him. She is visibly concerned when he takes Gabe hostage, and accepts a pistol from Gabe. She later calms him down when she tells him to watch her back while she and Javi look for the truck. She later plays cards with him in the truck. This has not gone unnoticed by the rest of the group, with Eleanor, Kate and Javi, though he can claim ImplausibleDeniability, and more blatantly for the player.
** In ''The Final Season'', Louis blatantly flirts with Clementine and she has the option of flirting back. Violet more-subtly hints that she's also developing a crush on Clem. This becomes much more blatant in the second episode for both of them, and Clem can outright confess that she's in love with one of them.

-->'''Sora:''' Kairi, [[DeclarationOfProtection I'll keep you safe.]]//
'''Kairi:''' ''(shakes head)'' [[BattleCouple Let ''me'' keep you safe.]]

*** ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind]]'' is chock-full of these moments. From Sora reuniting with Kairi and sharing an intimate hug, the two having a Limit in which they grab hand and spawn angel wings, with the feathers each being made of a memory the two share of each toher, to the ending which is the same as the vanilla ending, with the addition of the two spending time together during each scene which can only be seen as a date.

** There's the numerous scenes between [[OfficialCouple Kairi and Sora]]. At one point Sora imagines himself dancing with her, and towards the end they share a heartfelt hug.

* ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'': Sasha Nein and Milla Vodello. Despite being complete polar opposites, in-game bonuses like characters' memories and concept art hint that there might be some more going on than being just co-workers. [[WordOfGod Psychopedia]] seems to confirm that yes, Milla has a crush on Sasha, but whether or not he reciprocates is up for debate.

** Yuri and Flynn are also close, close friends. [[HeterosexualLifePartners Close]], [[HoYay close]]... "[[YaoiGuys friends]]."