Ralph is a minor character in an eight-bit computer game, and he's tired of being in the shadow of the main character, the handyman Felix, who always shows up to "fix" the situation! After thirty years of dutifully working as a villain, during which all the praise fell on Felix, Ralph no longer wants to be bad.
He decides to embark on a journey through arcade games of various genres to prove to everyone that he too can be a hero. On his way Ralph meets heroes of different games - cold-blooded Sergeant Calhoun from Hero's Duty, who protects the planet from the invasion of alien invaders, and sweet-looking but sharp-tongued Slasten Von Du, whose existence in the racing simulator Sugar Rush is suddenly threatened. Ralph finally gets a chance to show that he can do more than just destroy!