Criminals in Video Games Who Got Away With Their Crimes

It has often been said that crime doesn't pay. That said, its high-risk, high-reward nature makes it equally appealing to those desiring what it yields or simply a thrill of some sort. However, this enticement doesn't mean the consequences that make it such an off-putting venture disappear completely.

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By  Gerardo Molina

Even so, video games, which themselves depict many kinds of fantasies, showcase characters escaping potential punishment for their criminal activity. While the risk of it is likely somewhere in the background, the eventual consequence of it can be mitigated if not negated. Here are several characters who ended up committing the crimes, but didn't do all their time, even evading potential equivalent consequences.

5 Michael De Santa

Grand Theft Auto Five

Although Michael De Santa was confirmed to have done time in the past, the majority of his criminal escapades were waived. A corrupt FIB agent, Dave Norton, offered the criminal a new identity in exchange for implicating his partners in a sting operation. Due to wishing to cut out Trevor and Brad anyway, fearing for his family's safety, Michael ended up taking the deal. Since then, Michael has not been imprisoned for any of his crimes. With most under his original surname, Townley, fading from the record as he was presumed "dead" as part of the staged operation.

That said, after years of dormancy, focused on a deteriorating familial relationship, Michael ended up falling back into a life of crime, committing many robberies and murders, among other crimes. However, Grand Theft Auto games reward the player for their crimes as a default. Nonetheless, after working with Franklin and Trevor to kill all of their enemies, Michael believes himself to be getting "too old" for a life of crime. He is mentioned by Franklin, in passing, to work as a producer for Richards Majestic Studios in GTA Online. Michael began working for the studio during the events of Grand Theft Auto Five.

4 Sly Cooper

The Sly Cooper Series

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Platformer

Stealth

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Released

September 23, 2002

ESRB

E For Everyone // Mild Fantasy Violence, Tobacco Reference

Developer(s)

Sucker Punch

Publisher(s)

Sony Computer Entertainment

Engine

Kinetica

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Platform(s)

PS Vita, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5

Genre(s)

Platformer, Stealth

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Sly Cooper is an anthropomorphic raccoon who descends from a long line of thieves who rob other criminals. This gentleman thief continued in his family's tradition, teaming up typically alongside his childhood friends, Bentley and Murray. Needless to say, his occupation and the games centering around it require him to commit a lot of theft. He is frequently dogged by Inspector Carmelita Montoya Fox, who has often promised to imprison the raccoon for his crimes. However, the thief may also have stolen her heart, as she has shown herself to be deeply attracted to Cooper, even forming a romantic relationship with her once he fakes amnesia, erasing his old life.

While he has had a tragic upbringing, ending up an orphan as a result of his family's history, he nonetheless has yet to ever be properly punished for his crimes. He was once thrown into The Contessa's prison but was able to quickly work with his friends to escape. While most villains wish to dispose of him, he is able to defeat them before they can succeed in doing so. Additionally, his leeway with Carmelita often results in her failing to arrest him.

3 Ron DeLite

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations

A character who gets away with their crimes seems much more egregious in a series directly focused on the justice system. Nonetheless, the bashful Ron DeLite is played sympathetically. He once worked for KB Security, saving his future wife, Desiree, from being mugged. However, her spending habits were too excessive for his salary to cover their expenses. To this end, he attempted to steal confidential but potentially lucrative info from his boss to save their marriage. This was a difficult decision, in part due to his wife's hatred of criminals. However, his boss, Kane Bullard, caught Ron and had him fired.

Undeterred, Ron instead operated as an elusive thief known as Mask☆DeMasque, first stealing a gem known as the tear of emanon. Unfortunately, he was caught by the arrogant detective Luke Atmey, who ended up blackmailing him into committing further thefts he planned out, in exchange for money. Ron turned himself in for stealing the Kurain Sacred Urn, an heirloom of the Fey clan that is worth virtually no money. He insisted his identity was Mask☆DeMasque, but Desiree believed him to just be a confused fan and still believed he had his old job at KB Security. After being defended by Phoenix Wright in court, he was found not guilty, as Atmey had stolen the urn.

However, this was part of Atmey's plan, as he wished for Ron to instead take the fall for the murder of Kane Bullard. Bullard, who trafficked in selling information, blackmailed Atmey for his involvement in the crimes. This resulted in Atmey killing Bullard and directing Ron to the crime scene. Ultimately, Phoenix was able to prove Ron's innocence in the murder of Bullard. That said, Ron was never properly punished, even for the crimes he actually committed, as they were essentially attributed to Atmey in court.

Additionally, Desiree was surprisingly receptive to Ron's thefts, seeing his signature calling card as the mark of a more brave and honest criminal. Sometime after Ron's trials, the DeLites began a business that focused on reforming thieves but also selling them plans for theft. They were later seen in the spin-off game, Prosecutor's Gambit, potentially contemplating another theft, which they are not seen being punished for.

2 Aversa

Fire Emblem: Awakening

The Fire Emblem series itself largely revolves around murder, allowing a number of characters who are technically guilty of the crime to get away with it. However, oftentimes such a crime, when a hero commits it, is couched in some implied necessity. Additionally, a lot of these killings are voided under laws of war. The player is rarely if ever, goaded into taking an innocent's life.

Often the foes are villains who are either acting oppressive or standing in the way of some potential greater good. Even other crimes such as burgling and breaking and entering can be seen as efforts contributing to taking on an oppressive force and are not depicted with excessive cruelty or malice. But what happens when an excessively cruel, malicious character is pushed to the side of good?

Perhaps the most interestingly transparent example of this is in Fire Emblem: Awakening, where many major villains can join up with The Shepherds, despite their sordid histories as oppressors. Aversa is described as a "cunning vixen" who is a continual thorn in the player's side. Her murders are done with the goal of resurrecting an evil dragon, and sometimes just for her own sadistic amusement. One such example is when she fatally stabs one of her own subordinates for failing in his duties, a common fate for a villain's subordinate. She also commandeered the assassination of Phlia, Emmeryn's lead guard who attempted to save her life once Gangrel took her hostage. Her crimes are implied to include a string of murders beyond what is seen onscreen. Usually, such a major evil is treated with a death of their own for such acts.

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However, Aversa is treated in a somewhat more sympathetic manner. Her one-sided love for her master, Validar, Robin's father, is emphasized. She knows he has no affection for her but feels compelled to stay with him, as he once saved her life. However, a downloadable paralogue, The Wellspring of Truth, reveals this to be a lie. Aversa was instead part of a village that was ransacked by the Grimleal, kept alive for a special power of hers (presumably Shadowgift, which allows her to use dark magic in any "magic" class, as opposed to merely dark mages.)

She is mortified by this truth and defects to the Shepherds. But even as a newfound hero, she still retains her sinister seductive qualities, and is even capable of romancing a male Robin, passing her fabled Shadowgift to their daughter, Morgan. If she survives the war, she is said to have relocated to her old village, beginning life anew as a normal girl, to make up for her stolen time. Her "atonement" is simply working with the Shepherds, which within the central canon mostly pertains to their final battle, since most others are resolved at that point.

1 M. Bison

The Street Fighter Series

M. Bison is infamous as the overarching big bad of the Street Fighter series. Street Fighter 6 is the first in the series to include him as DLC, with a majority of games having him as part of the main roster out of respect for his role. He is the leader of Shadaloo, an illegal organization dealing in arms and biochemical drugs. Bison has also been involved in the deaths of many a fighter's loved ones, most notably Chun-Li's father and Guile's friend, Charlie. His organization also kidnapped and brainwashed a number of young women into becoming his elite assassin force, the dolls.

The exact power of his organization has waxed and waned over the years, but one constant is each of his "deaths" being greatly exaggerated. This likely has to do with the Street Fighter series developers wishing to consistently keep its most iconic villain present as a playable character. That said, this also has the subtext of him remaining virtually unpunished for the vast number of crimes committed in his name, seeing as his "deaths", which can be read as such a punishment, never stick. He even survived in the Street Fighter live-action movie canon, which is harsher in hindsight once one considers Raul Julia (Bison's actor) passed away shortly after the film's release.

Despite his deaths not sticking, his criminal empire is noted to have declined in recent times. In Street Fighter 3, they were said to have "fallen," and in Street Fighter 6, he decided making a new organization was better than reviving it. Although this dictator is likely to stick around, so too are a growing number of figures willing to oppose him, whether that comes from a sense of personal obligation or a desire for revenge.

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