History ChuckCunninghamSyndrome / VideoGames

* ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'': Of all the named characters from ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', [[CuteMonsterGirl Muffet]] and the Mad Dummy are the only ones who neither appear in person nor are directly referenced through dialogue. Just about the entire cast of the original game [[spoiler:except for Asriel, possibly]] was DemotedToExtra for this one, but these two got the worst of it--even the throwaway gag "character" Ice-E gets more attention than them. Muffet's in-universe existence ''may'' be vaguely hinted at in a line found by checking the picnic table by the lake, but even if it's a deliberate reference, that still leaves the Mad Dummy AWOL.

* In the ending of the Decepticon version of the DS game for the 2007 ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' movie, the player's last words imply that Megatron is the only Transformer still alive. While all of the Autobots and most of the Decepticons are killed on screen, Brawl is never seen again after he kills Ironhide.

** The characters Kid Quick and Pizza Pasta have not been seen since the original arcade version of Punch Out. Though Pizza's absence is commonly attributed to his character being a [[NationalStereotypes potentially offensive]] stereotype of [[GratuitousItalian Italian people]], the reason for Kid Quick's absence remains unknown.[[note]]Intrestingly enough, fans have noted the eerily close similarities he and the Wii remake exclusive character, Disco Kid, share with each other. Both are from Brooklyn New York, weigh 210 lbs, and Disco Kid even dons a similar hairstyle to Kid Quick in Title Bout. More evidence of this is Doc Louis says "This kid is quick!" in reference to Disco Kid and even some of Disco Kid's game files are labeled "kidquick." Indicating that he was meant to be Kid Quick at some point in the game's development.[[/note]]

*** Most characters in the ''VideoGame/WarioLand'' series just vanished without a trace after the original games they were in. Captain Syrup returned in ''The Shake Dimension'', after a ten odd year gap between appearances, but God knows what happened to Rudy the Clown after he returned in ''VideoGame/DrMario 64''...

** All the original characters from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'' like Geno or Mallow [[ExiledFromContinuity are property of]] Creator/SquareEnix, therefore they simply vanished from all the subsequent Mario games except from a brief cameo of Geno in ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga Superstar Saga]]'' (and even ''that'' was removed from the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS remake).

** Ultimately subverted with Lorelei, who was also an Elite Four member in ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' but was absent in ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver''. While she's still gone in the latter's remakes, the remakes of the former gave a reason for this, implying she retired to protect her home island after an incident with Team Rocket. She does return in ''Let’s Go!'', but now poor Jainie ends up as this.

** Meanwhile, an enemy featured in ''VideoGame/KirbysAdventure'' and ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar'' (Bounder) was excised from the franchise and substituted with an entirely new enemy (Gip) come their remakes. This rule also extends to the mid-boss Rolling Turtle, who showed up in ''Adventure'', only to be replaced by Phan Phan in ''Nightmare in Dream Land'', as well as Togezo, who was replaced by Needlous in the remake of Adventure, despite making a few cameos in Dream Land 3 and Dream Course.

* ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy2015'': The player-created protagonists of FFXI, FFXIV and FFXV Comrades don't appear and are never mentioned (though the Warrior of Light and the Onion Knight still do). Shantotto, Y'Shtola and Noctis are the representatives for their games. Justified for FFXV as Noctis was the protagonist in the vanilla version.

** Since about the time of ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'', more recent and/or once-major characters have been set aside in favor of simply having Eggman, Tails, and Sonic. This may be in response to the criticisms for the series' LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters.

** Several of these characters have remained as recurring characters in the comics up until their discontinuation, with Mighty being a main/semi-regular cast member since the Chaotix tie-in mini-series and Knuckles' own spin-off, and Nack being a recurring villain as far back as (or even further back as) the "Mecha Madness" super special. [[BrokenBase Fans of the comics are just as outspoken when criticizing these absences from the games that they rival the critics of the series']] LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters.

** Brentilda completely vanished as well. Her only appearance is in a portrait in Pawno's Emporium in Jolly Roger's Lagoon.

** On a related note, Mario RPG characters in general rarely reappear in other Mario titles. Exceptions include Goomba King, Baby Peach, and the Star Spirits, although in Baby Peach's case her debut in ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime'' was likely coincidental. ''VideoGame/PaperMarioStickerStar'' is notable for not returning any previous ''Paper Mario'' characters and only using characters from the main series, introducing only Kersti as a new character.
** Even Luigi went through a low hiatus for almost ten years. Eventually he came back though. Similarly, Mario rescued Daisy in an old Game Boy title and she didn't appear again for years. Now she's a standard of ''Mario'' spin-off games.

* Since ''Wild World'' was for a system that was much less powerful than the system the last game was on, roughly half of the 318 villagers from the original ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'' had to be cut. Even some special characters didn't make a return to ''Wild World''.

** Even characters introduced after the original game aren't safe from this trope.

*** Serena, the Fountain Goddess, and Frillard, Dr. Shrunk's mentor, have only ever appeared in ''City Folk''. Dr. Shrunk sometimes says in New Leaf that he misses Dr. Drillard, implying that he may have passed away after ''City Folk''.
** Fortunately, 42 villagers would later return for ''City Folk'' and all (but 2) absent special characters return. 24 villagers would also return in ''New Leaf''. 4 villagers would also return in the spin-off game, ''Happy Home Designer'', 3 of which were DLC exclusives.
*** More villagers exclusive to the original game and e+ were found in the data of ''Happy Home Designer'', but they have not returned yet.
*** The 2.0. update for ''New Horizons'' not only introduced eight brand new villagers, but also brought back four villagers that only appeared in the original ''Animal Crossing'' and other four that only showed up in the Japan-exclusive ''Dobutsu No Mori e+'', giving them proper localized names too.

* Parodied in ''VideoGame/BanjoTooie'', where the face of Tooty, DistressedDamsel of the original ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'' and kid sister of Banjo, appears on [[FaceOnAMilkCarton a milk carton]] in CloudCuckooland, one of only two appearances of Tooty in the game (the picture of her in Banjo's house from the previous game is still there; in fact it's one of the few things in the house that is not significantly damaged or destroyed). Rare obviously never saw her as anything more than a [[FlatCharacter walking plot device]] for the first game, and thus hand-waved her absence circa ''Nuts and Bolts'', saying she was hauled off by the "Rubbish Video Game Characters Police". However, three other characters stated to be hauled off by said police (namely the Tutorial enemies with the exception of Quarrie) make small cameos in the game. It wouldn't be until ''2019'' that she would make another physical appearance in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'', making a cameo alongside other ''Banjo-Kazooie'' characters on the Spiral Mountain stage.

** According to Harada, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PirknWQxhFs Kunimitsu was most likely removed]] for being unpopular in earlier games. [[LegacyCharacter Her daughter takes her role]] in ''[=T7=]'" most likely due to being [[https://twitter.com/Harada_TEKKEN/status/365395288652918784 highly played in TTT2]].

* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', Calia Menethil, ''heir to the throne of Lordaeron'', disappeared without trace shortly before ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII''. It is speculated that she has taken the name of Calia Hastings and is currently working for the Stormwind SI:7 spy agency, but this is based solely on the OneSteveLimit.
** If Calia Hastings was the missing Princess of Lordaeron, she's either dead, or double-dipping in this trope since the destruction of Theramore just prior to ''Mists of Pandaria''.

** In the RPG books, Brann Bronzebeard lampshades this, briefly mentioning that he's not sure where Calia is and that he'll have to look into it.
*** Ultimately all disproved in ''Legion''. Calia makes an appearance as one of the Priest class's champions, having taken up the life of a discipline priest. It's even [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] that it's a big deal that she's here but that they aren't going to discuss it much.
** Also a large number of [=NPCs=] in ''World of Warcraft: Cataclysm''. Overlaps with NeverFoundTheBody in some cases.

** The [[PowerUpMount Animal Friends]] and Gooey were prominently featured in ''VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand2'' and ''VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand3'' with Gooey even being upgraded to Kirby's sidekick in 3. ''VideoGame/Kirby64TheCrystalShards'' replaced them with Adeline, Ribbon, and [[ADogNamedDog an unnamed Waddle Dee ally]]. However, ever since series creator Masahiro Sakurai left the series, all of these characters have effectively vanished from the main cast and are only acknowledged through trophies in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' or in-game references[[note]]until ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies'' made them playable as Dream Friends post-launch, with the exception of Waddle Dee[[/note]]. Ribbon could be [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in that she lives on a completely different planet while the unnamed Waddle Dee's role has effectively been filled by [[BreakoutMookCharacter Bandana Waddle Dee]] with many Fanon theorizing that they are in fact the same character. Part of the problem comes from the fact that ''Kirby's Dream Land 2'', ''Kirby's Dream Land 3'', and ''Kirby 64'' were directed by relatively obscure developer Shinichi Shimomura, who himself is a victim of this trope. He had a number of developmental roles throughout the franchise's history up until ''Nightmare in Dream Land'' before outright vanishing from public eye; though what happened to him currently remains unknown with no proven conclusions. One commonly circulated rumor stipulates that he [[DiedDuringProduction passed away]] in 2003.

* ''Franchise/MassEffect''[='=]s Corporal Toombs appears in the first game if you chose the sole survivor background, and depending on your choices, will live to send you an e-mail in the second. After that however, he disappears without anymore mention.

** Meanwhile, an enemy featured in ''VideoGame/KirbysAdventure'' and ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar'' (Bounder) was excised from the franchise and substituted with an entirely new enemy (Gip) come their remakes. This rule also extends to the mid-boss Rolling Turtle, who showed up in ''Adventure'', only to be replaced by Phan Phan in ''Nightmare in Dream Land''.

* ''VideoGame/KaoTheKangaroo'' series has a habit of not keeping any of the friends Kao makes between games. His kangaroo friends from the first game are absent in the second and third, and all the animals from Round 2 are missing from the third (aside from some pelicans that we never met before).

** A complaint about ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' was how the Radiant Garden Restoration Commitee( [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII Leon,]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Aerith, Yuffie, and Cid)]] fell victim to this despite being Sora's closest allies in Radiant Garden. They did return for the Re Mind DLC though averting this.

* ''Franchise/AngryBirds'': Due [[StillbornFranchise to the failure]] of the ''Angry Birds Stella'' brand, all the characters (Luca, Dahlia, Poppy, Willow and Gale) introduced in ''Angry Birds Stella'' have gone on to face this fate, especially after the game itself was discontinued and removed from the App Store. ''Angry Birds POP!'', the only other game that featured them, has gradually seen them be replaced with the original ''Angry Birds'' cast (Although Willow and Gale manage to made a cameo in ''WesternAnimation/TheAngryBirdsMovie'').

* ''Franchise/AngryBirds'': Due [[StillbornFranchise to the failure]] of the ''Angry Birds Stella'' brand, all the characters (Luca, Dahlia, Poppy, Willow and Gale) introduced in ''Angry Birds Stella'' have gone on to face this fate, especially after the game itself was discontinued and removed from the App Store. ''Angry Birds POP!'', the only other game that featured them, has gradually seen them be replaced with the original ''Angry Birds'' cast (Although Willow manage to made a cameo in ''WesternAnimation/TheAngryBirdsMovie'').

** The Koopa Kids (also known as the Baby Bowsers during the N64 era, and Mini Bowsers in the European versions of the later installments) were staple characters in the ''VideoGame/MarioParty'' series ever since their debut in the very first installment and one of them even was PromotedToPlayable in ''Mario Party 5'' and ''6''. Starting with ''Mario Party 8'' however, Koopa Kids vanished from the series completely without an explanation. This was most likely done in favor of Bowser Jr., who essentially fulfils the old role the Koopa Kids had ever since his debut in the ''Mario Party'' series in the Nintendo DS installment. Most tellingly, ''Mario Party: The Top 100'' featured a minigame that originally featured two Koopa Kids (specifically "The Final Battle!" from ''Mario Party 4''), reworked to replace them both with Bowser Jr.

* Every surviving character from ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear|1}}'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGear2SolidSnake'' that didn't make the transition into the ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' series was forgotten by default: Ellen Madnar, Diane, Jennifer, Holly White, [[strike:Yozef Norden]] Johan Jacobsen, and George Kasler.

* ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'': Because executives at Sony were uncomfortable with her "sexual" character design, Crash's girlfriend Tawna was axed after [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot1996 the first game]], replaced instead by hacker sister Coco. Yes, [[LampshadeHanging apparently, Crash has a little sister that he was never told about]]. After a ten year absence Tawna made a reappearance as a playable character in the DS party game ''Crash Boom Bang!''. Although it's not considered canon, the Japanese Crash 2 game manual explained that she dumped Crash for Pinstripe Potoroo sometime after the first game. Tawna finally made her return to the main series in ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot4ItsAboutTime'', where a FutureBadass version of herself is PromotedToPlayable.

** [[VideoGame/JakIIRenegade The second game]] introduces us to Brutter, the leader of the local Lurkers who befriends Jak and Daxter. At the end of the game, he seems to be working for Ashelin as captain of the New Krimzon Guard, but he is nowhere to be seen in ''[[VideoGame/Jak3Wastelander Jak 3]]''. Admittedly, Brutter does make a short appearance in the ''Daxter'' spin-off, but since that game is set before ''Jak II'' it doesn't explain what happened to him between ''Jak II'' and ''3''.

** A whole world was permanently retconned out of the series: [[{{WesternAnimation/Tarzan}} Deep Jungle]]. This is justified, as Disney could no longer secure the rights to the franchise. In the dreams at the beginning of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', when [[{{WesternAnimation/Aladdin}} Jafar]] mentions that Sora's found a Keyhole, the following scene is Sora sealing the one for Agrabah ([[PlotHole after Jafar's defeat]]), when he actually said it after the one for Deep Jungle was sealed.

*** Owl, Kanga, and Eeyore are absent without explantion from the [[WesternAnimation/WinnieThePooh Hundred-Acre Wood]] level.

* ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy2015'': The player-created protagonists of FFXI, FFXIV and FFXV Comrades don't appear and are never mentioned (though the Warrior of Light and the Onion Knight still do). Shantotto, Y'Shtola and Noctis are the representatives for their games. Justified for FFXV as Noctis was the protagonist in the vanilla versionm.

* Kaya Daidouji is a pretty important character in ''VideoGame/RaidouKuzunohaVsTheSoullessArmy''. In the sequel, ''VideoGame/RaidouKuzunohaVsKingAbaddon'', she isn't mentioned once.
** Believed to have moved away from the family mansion in 'King Abaddon'. It is inhabited by ghosts as a side mission.

* ''Franchise/AngryBirds'': Due to the failure of the ''Angry Birds Stella'' brand, all the characters (Luca, Dahlia, Poppy, Willow and Gale) introduced in ''Angry Birds Stella'' have gone on to face this fate, especially after the game itself was discontinued and removed from the App Store. ''Angry Birds POP!'', the only other game that featured them, has gradually seen them be replaced with the original ''Angry Birds'' cast (Although Willow manage to made a cameo in ''WesternAnimation/TheAngryBirdsMovie'').