Betty and Veronica/Video Games

Think hard, Vincent. . . Think VERY hard. . .

Video Games also have their own Betty and Veronica matches...

---

• Pictured above: Ok.... in the game called Catherine Vincent Brooks (Archie) has to decide between his longtime girlfriend Katherine McBride (Betty, note the "K") and sexy stranger Catherine (Veronica, note the "C"), and the choice kicks off the plot of the game. Katherine is hinting that she might be pregnant (not necessarily) and its time for them to get married while Catherine might be stringing Vincent along and turns out to be a succubus who's causing nightmares in which men die in their sleep. And even more so, the Updated Rerelease has a Cheryl Blossom in Rin who's a Wholesome Crossdresser and an alien - and implied to actually be the best significan other to choose Get all that?
• Remakes of Dragon Quest V did this when the player has to choose between three women to marry. The Betty and Veronica in this situation is Nera/Flora and her sister Deborah respectively (remakes, because Deborah was not in the original.)
  • With the major difference being that the game beats you over the head with the idea that you should choose neither of them and marry Bianca instead. Though the game doesn't insist AS much as people said it did.
  • Arguably, Bianca is the actual Betty, Nera was the Veronica in the original version, and Deborah is the remake's Veronica, with Nera being an odd mix of both.
• Played with and in doing so arguably averted in Skies of Arcadia, where Vyse is between the Mysterious Waif Fina and his best friend Aika, who happens to be a Pirate (to be fair, Vyse himself is also a pirate). The aversion comes from the fact that aside from a few Ship Tease moments (which seem to lean towards a Tenchi Solution if anything) the plot is wholly unconcerned with the main characters' love life, unlike the vast majority of RPGs to come out around the same time.
• An interesting example occurs in Grandia II, since Betty and Veronica are the same person. Not to mention that the Betty, Elena, is pretty much a priestess, while the Veronica, Millenia, is a part of the evil god Valmar (his Wings to be exact), that's possessing Elena. The main character seems to be leaning towards Elena, though they don't really hook up. Also, Millenia separates from Elena near the end. Somehow. And keeps waiting for Ryudo, convinced that he will choose her over Elena.
• Occurs in Final Fantasy VII: Cloud is given a choice between the Betty, Aerith, and the Veronica, Tifa, though it can be argued that Aeris/th, as the spunky up and at 'em last of a Dying Race, is the 'special' Veronica type, and the shy girl next door Tifa is a Betty type. In reality, both girls are a blend of the two archetypes.
• According to the author, the potential love interests for the player character in Planescape: Torment, Annah-of-the-Shadows and Fall-From-Grace, were inspired by Betty and Veronica. Weirdly, they both have a blend of features—Grace, the wealthy, worldly, educated, glamorous one is by far the more personable of the two; the guttersnipe, relatable Annah is more brash and sharp-tongued, but also younger and more inexperienced.
• If one has two or more of the female love interests in the party in Baldur's Gate II, multiple Betty and Veronica scenarios can exist. Sweet, innocent Aerie is definitely the most Betty-ish, with no-nonsense old friend but world-wise warrior Jaheira being somewhere between the two, and darkly exotic rogue drow Viconia being firmly a Veronica. (Alternatively, with all three—and it is possible to start a romance with all three, though obviously not finish it that way—one might be said to have a Betty, Veronica, and Cheryl situation, except there are no three-way fights over you, just two-way.)
• Interesting variation happens in Lufia II, where the situation is set up as normal: Tia, the old friend with a crush on the hero as the Betty and Selan, the exotic and (somewhat) mysterious fighter as the Veronica. The variation being that not only does Maxim ends up with Selan (the Veronica), it also occurs midway through (or even as far back as the prologue chapter, arguably) the game
• In Tales of Symphonia, Lloyd's two most obvious love interests are Colette, his blond, quiet, gentle Victorious Childhood Friend (Betty) and Sheena, the raven-haired, tough, exotic Action Girl (Veronica). The game lets you decide who he ends up with (including neither), thanks to the multiple endings.
  • In Tales of Destiny, the Tsundere Action Girl Rutee (Veronica) and the soft-spoken Squishy Wizard Philia (Betty) both have a crush on Stahn. Rutee wins, and the hero of Tales of Destiny 2 is their son, Kyle.
  • Tales of Legendia plays with this a bit, with Shirley (Betty) and Chloe (Veronica) vying for Senel's affection. However, he's only interested in Shirley's sister Stella, who was presumed dead, and he continues to yearn after her when she reappears alive and makes a Heroic Sacrifice. Eventually he chooses Shirley (the Betty), though that was a massive Cooldown Hug to keep her from destroying the world, so how much she really won is hotly debated.
• Otacon's love interests in the first two Metal Gear Solid games fit this trope: in MSG I, he has an unrequited crush on Dark Action Girl Sniper Wolf (Veronica), and in MSG II, it's revealed that his stepsister Emma (Betty) has been in love with him since childhood.
  • Also, in MSG III, Naked Snake/Big Boss has Paramedic (Betty) and EVA (Veronica).
• In Fire Emblem the Sacred Stones, lead character Ephraim can choose between sweet, innocent, determined Tana or upbeat, cheerful, crazy (and rich!) L'arachel. but don't underestimate the fact that he can have an ending with his twin sister Eirika too.
  • Ephraim's sister Eirika actually plays this trope a bit more straight: her main options are Seth, the calm, collected and hunky bodyguard, or Innes, prince of another country whose personality and tongue are as sharp as his arrows (In a variation, the one whom she has known since childhood is Innes.) There are also two potential Cheryl Blossoms who in themselves fit here well too: Saleh is a soft-spoken Tall, Dark and Handsome magic user, whereas Forde is a Chivalrous Pervert.
  • Either Innes or Tana can fall into this, too. Innes has Eirika as his Betty, with Action Girl Vanessa as an odd mix of Betty (have known each other since childhood) and Veronica (is very coolheaded and near-unemotional in battle)... and L'Arachel as the Cheryl Blossom. Meanwhile, Tana can end up either with dependable and kindhearted childhood friend Ephraim, or the also kind but very troubled (and sexy-looking) Cormag.
  • To a smaller degree, Kyle can be in this predicament too. Syrene is the childhood friend Lady of War, while Lute is the Strange Girl Lady of Black Magic.
  • And then we have Rebel Prince Joshua. Natasha, the Proper Lady White Magician Girl, is the Betty; meanwhile, Marisa is the Sugar and Ice Girl Action Girl Veronica.
• The "main" Love Triangle of sorts in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War had Deirdre as the Archie, with the kind and knightly Sigurd as Betty and the deeply troubled Alvis as Veronica. It ended horribly, when Alvis killed Sigurd before decimating his army. At the same time, Prince Lewyn had his own Betty and Veronica in Erinys (serious Lady of War whom he knows since childhood) and Silvia (sexy dancer who's been travelling with him lately) - one can choose whom he picks as his girlfriend/wife, alongside Badass Princess Tailtiu as a Cheryl Blossom. Though Thracia 776 has a clear slant towards Erinys, since her son Ced is specifically said to be Lewyn's child..
  • And 17 years later, the second lead Seliph has the Proper Lady Lana and the Action Girl Larcei as this. In a subversion, both of them are his childhood friends.
  • Larcei has a similar predicament, too. Two Isaacsian noblemen, the brothers Iuchar and Iucharba, have the hots for her: Iuchar is the Betty due to his Purple Prose-laden speech patterns and ultra-chivalrous view of their bond, while the hotheaded Jerk with a Heart of Gold Iucharba is the Veronica.
  • And then, there's Princess Lachesis. Out of all her potential suitors (not counting Eldigan, that is), Beowulf is a cynical Punch Clock Hero Veronica and Finn is a Knight in Shining Armor Betty. She has two Cheryl Blossoms in the form of Dew (a cheeky thief who gives her a sword if they chat in chapter 2) and Naoise (one of Sigurd's knights).
  • It's hinted in the Genealogy game that Sigurd's sister Ethlyn might have been the Archie at some moment, with Duke Quan as the Betty (and the canon winner) and King Trabant as the Veronica. It didn't matter in the end: Trabant, despite whatever he thought of Ethlyn, killed them both.
• Fire Emblem Tellius subverts this with Princess Elincia. Geoffrey is the Betty (her childhood friend and loyal knight) while Ike would seem to be the Veronica (a traveling mercenary who saves her and helps her out)...but Ike was never an option. The two form a decidedly platonic bond and by Radiant Dawn, the game leans heavily towards Geoffrey/Elincia and Ike/Soren.
• In the Zelda games, Link has several cases of these, usually with Zelda as the Betty. The most obvious example is in The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess, where Midna served as the Veronica.
  • Zelda does play the role of Veronica in some of her incarnations though, with Ocarina of Time providing a prominent instance of this where either Malon or Saria play the role of Betty. Then again, if you include Ruto or Nabooru, Zelda once again becomes the Betty. The main theme isn't so much what role Zelda is playing, but that Link is a total Chick Magnet.
• If all of the content had made it into the final game, the hero of Neverwinter Nights 2 would have had the reasonable, down-to-earth Elanee (Betty) vs. the greedy and somewhat flighty Neeshka (Veronica) for male characters; and the kind and honorable Casavir (Betty) vs. the psychotic pervert Bishop (Veronica) for female characters. Arguably, as only the Betty characters made it into the final cut, they could remain in that role (though absent during actual play) to two new Veronica characters (the exotic golem-crafter Safiya for male characters and the textbook Casanova Gannayev for female characters) in Mask of the Betrayer.
  • Though thanks to the original game dropping several tons of rock on your previous love interests, there is never really any love triangle to speak of. You are allowed to say you still love the dead romantic option from the original game when your love interest from Mask of the Betrayer confesses their feelings, but it seems kind of an afterthought.
  • Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark gives us the choice between technically dead paladin Aribeth (Betty) and exotic drow Defrosting Ice Queen Nathyrra (Veronica) in the second/third chapters. Though they both could technically be either, given the fact that your character has been adventuring with Nathyrra for quite a long time by the time you meet Aribeth.
  • The Neverwinter Nights community module A Dance With Rogues gives us two Betty characters and two Veronica characters, along with a fifth who could be either. On the Betty side we have the honorable and compassionate Anden and the kind and friendly bisexual Pi; on the Veronica side we get the psychotic pervert Vico and the drow noble Rizzen who thinks you are his slave. Bran is difficult to qualify, being far more in the Betty camp when compared to Vico and Rizzen but having many more Veronica characteristics than Anden or Pia.
• The Bastard of Kosigan doesn't actually have any long-term relationships set out yet, but from implications in text Jehanne of Albret might play Betty to Alexandra de Velan's Veronica (slightly humorous, as Alexandra is actually your character's childhood lover).
  • Though sort of ruined, as Alexandra dies either if you kill her at the end of the second module or, if you don't, she dies in a cutscene at the end of the fourth, both events coming before Jehanne has any on-screen time.
• In Jade Empire, the player gets to choose between childhood friend Dawn Star (Betty) and pampered princess Sun Lian/Silk Fox (Veronica). In an interesting twist, there is also a third option where you can have them both.
  • Female characters have the Lovable Rogue Sky, the more conventional option (Betty) or the lesbain choice Silk Fox (Veronica)
• Also from Bioware, Mass Effect allows the player to choose from empathic and scholarly Liara T'Soni (Betty) and spunky Action Girl Ashley Williams (Veronica). These roles can justifiably be reversed when you consider that Ashley is a regular human and Liara belongs to an exotic race of psychic aliens who reproduce by banging very nearly everything that moves. The two will eventually confront one another, and you, if you don't turn one of them down.
  • Mass Effect 2 also has Kelly and Tali (Betty) vs. Miranda and Jack (Veronica) for males, and Jacob and Kelly (Betty) vs. Thane and Garrus (Veronica) for females.
• In Breath of Fire 2, there's Ryu's two love interests, Nina (Betty) and Katt (Veronica). Interestingly enough, Ryu actually has more opportunities to have romantic moments with Katt than Nina (even though both like him).
  • Given the trend of the Breath of Fire series as a whole, though, it's almost certain that he ends up with Nina, just like every other lead ends up with a Betty.
• In Uncharted: Among Thieves, brand-new Action Girl sidekick Chloe Frazier is Veronica, and Intrepid Reporter Elena Fisher becomes the Betty.
• In Knights of the Old Republic II, the Handmaiden Brianna (Betty) and Visas Marr (Veronica) fight over the male PC.
  • For the female Jedi Exile, there's Mical the Jedi Disciple (Betty) and Atton Rand (Veronica). Had all of the intended content made it into the final version of the game, they could have really fought over the PC, with a Dark Side Atton killing Mical in jealousy; as it is, he's still plenty jealous, though Mical mostly seems confused by it.
• Dragon Age: Origins gives a (straight) male character two choices for a romantic plot: sweet pious bard Leliana who wants you to help anybody in trouble, and dark sexily-dressed witch Morrigan who is nauseated if you waste time on such peasants. As the game progresses you might discover things are not as simple as that- Leliana has a dark, most Veronica-ish past whereas Morrigan becomes a Defrosting Ice Queen.
  • Straight females may choose the chivalrous (albeit a bit childish) joker Alistair, or the cynical but pleasant Badass Spaniard Zevran.
    • A bisexual character's choices can throw out the Betty-Veronica dynamic. A bisexual female may be between two Bettys, Alistair and Lelianna, or set up a Veronica through Zevran. A bisexual male may be between two Veronicas through Morrigan and Zevran. And Isabela (see below) adds a throwaway quickie Veronica for characters of either gender - which can involve half the party depending on what the player has done.
• In Dragon Age 2 this trope applies to the two female characters who can be romanced; Merrill and Isabela. Merrill is sweet, innocent, and rather naive. While Isabela is an exotic, voluptuous, sexually promiscuous pirate queen.
  • Both of the male romance options in the vanilla game, Anders and Fenris, are brooding, Troubled but Cute Veronica types (though Anders looks more Betty-ish), whereas chaste, devoutly religious DLC-only Sebastian is decidedly Betty. Subvberted - Anders turns out to have a EXTREMELY dark side that leads him to blow up the Kirkwall Chantry and become a refugee, Fenris can become more stable if romanced, and Sebastian has a VERY Veronica-like side-
• Dragon Age: Inquisition has an example for non-straight male Inquisitors: the elegant Black Mage Dorian and the rowdy Qunari warrior Iron Bull. Non-straight Female Inquisitors can have a female version with the Guile Heroine Josephine and the rogue Sera.
  • Straight male Inquisitors will have this with Josephine again as Betty and Cassandra as Veronica, while straight female ones will have Iron Bull as Veronica and Blackwall as Betty but again, he WAS a massive Veronica in his past. And regarding the Elven Female Inquisitors, there's Cullen as a secondary Betty and a potential Cheryl Blossom in Solas... who in reality is the Elven God of Lies, meaning he's the biggest Veronica possible.
• Depending on what you choose and social links, the main character of Persona 4 can have this. Though his romantic life can go to many other female characters, Yukiko (Betty) and Chie (Veronica) can easily be this.
• In Fading Hearts Ryou is stuck in a Love Triangle between Rina (Betty) who loves him and Claire (Veronica) who he loves. Bonus Points here since the girls' personalities and even hair colours parallel those of the Archie Comics characters.
• Both redheaded love interests in The Witcher; Shani, The Medic who wants to protect the child and Triss the high society mage who wants to use him, but is better capable of controlling keeping his power under control.
• Used in The Saboteur with Skylar as the Veronica and the ironically named Veronique as the Betty.
• Subverted in Grand Theft Auto IV where Niko has Michelle as Veronica, she betrayed him when it turns out she is working for Liberty News. He can continue his relationship with Kate, the Betty. That is until her death or refusal to be in Roman's wedding.
  • There's also Roman the Betty and Vlad the Veronica to Mallorie's Archie. Until Niko murders Vlad.
• Bully has couple of these: Beatrice (Betty) and Mandy (Veronica), Pinky (Betty) and Lola (Veronica). That is until Zoe comes to the picture.
• Gender-flipped example in Kingdom Hearts: Kairi has two love interests who are both childhood friends to her, Sora and Riku. You know who wins pretty early in the series.
• Played straight in In Famous with Trish (Betty) and Sasha (Veronica) to Cole (Archie). He loses them both with the former's death and the latter's capture by Kessler.
  • In the second game, we get another straight example with Kuo and Nix.
• Resident Evil's Leon gets this in absolutely stupifying amounts due to the number of appearances he's made in the series and the fact that he's equal parts Casanova and Chick Magnet. In RE2, he has Claire (Betty) and Ada (Veronica), although a long-lasting attraction is ultimately seen to exist between him and the latter (on the opposite side, he and Claire end up as good friends). In RE4, he has Ashley (Betty) and Ada (again, the Veronica), with his Mission Control Hunnigan functioning as the Cheryl at the end. The movie Degeneration has Claire (Betty) and Angela (Veronica). The only real exception to this is The Darkside Chronicles, and even then Manuela is shown to have a subtle crush on Leon.
• Ar tonelico series uses this on the twin token love interest. Aurica is sweet and quiet, while Misha is easy-going, cheerful, and has an exotic problem with her body.
  • Ar tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica has a local dive therapist Luca as Betty and the lady knight princess Cloche as Veronica. But after the series of Character Developments their traits, personality wise, can be swapped.
  • Ar Tonelico 3 play this straighter. Saki is very Moe, while Finnel is a Tsundere and tom boyish club mascot who spends some times at the beginning trying to get close to the protagonist's best friend for a McGuffin.
• Mina Tang and Scarlett Lake in Alpha Protocol.
• Persona 2: Innocent Sin has our protagonist Tatsuya (Archie) a pick between a fellow school age student with an obvious crush on him Lisa, (Betty) and the older teen magazine reporter and all around cheerful Maya. (Veronica) However, this game also has a highly popular Gay Option Cheryl Blossom with Jun...
• Mega Man Star Force Geo (Archie) has Luna (Veronica) the local class president, who is more interest in Geo as Mega Man, and Sonia (Betty) a teen pop singer who is very much interest in Geo himself.