History Main / CharacterSelectForcing

** That's the carrot, the stick is the fact that if you don't switch they [[Can'tCatchUp won't gain EXP for when you want them later]].

* ''{{MUGEN}}'' allows you to change characters if you select continue (along with ''{{Tekken}}'' and every other FightingGame). In other words, you can select a cheap character to knock out the cheap character with whom you were fighting.

* It is virtually impossible to complete mission 18 of ''AceCombat 5'', "Fortress", without an full-on attacker plane (i.e. a plane specialized exclusively in air-to-ground combat), so if you swept through the previous A2G missions in your fancy A2A fighter jet, you are in for a rude awakening. It is especially jarring since [[spoiler:the very next mission is pretty much one big HopelessBossFight against two squadrons of aces flying state-of-the-art air superiority fighters. And you are not allowed to change your plane]].

* ''[=~Pokemon~=]'' Red/Blue: Of the three starter Pokémon, Charmander is the most popular, but makes the game more difficult in the beginning because he's super weak against the first two gyms' Pokemon. There are other Pokemon you can train to use against Brock, like a Butterfree with Confusion, Nidoran with Double Kick, and Mankey with Low Kick, but [[GuideDangIt you may fail to realize this]].
** The last two options weren't even available until ''Yellow,'' and only because your starter in that game was ''completely useless'' against the first gym.
** Other versions do this too, however they ''have'' been a little more merciful in the more recent years. Gold, Silver, and Crystal have this with Chikorita, who is at a disadvantage for two gyms unless you nab some types that are useful against flying and bug. Meanwhile Cyndaquil and Totodile are much better. (Although Typhlosion does start to phase out around the 5th gym, if one uses a single pokemon the entire game, which ''it is rather easy to do''.)

* ''SuperSmashBrosBrawl'' is guilty of this to an extent, too. Anybody with ranged grabs (which few characters have) tears apart the Metal Primid group, Diddy's Banana Peels wrecks [[ThatOneBoss the Giant version of himself]] even on Intense, Charizard and Donkey Kong paste [[BossRush Boss Battles]], Ike destroys [[MultiMookMelee 100 Man Melee]], and anybody who can fly under the stage beat [[MultiMookMelee 15 Minute Brawl]] and [[HarderThanHard Cruel Brawl]].
** Donkey Kong and Mewtwo destroy the MultiMookMelee in ''Smash Bros. Melee''. DK's down special (Hand Slap) is an instant KO to anything within 2 feet of him, and Mewtwo can stand on the edge of the stage and holding his standard special (Shadow Ball).
** Then in Cruel Melee, only Jigglypuff's down special and (to a lesser extent) Roy's up special can realistically knock off more than 5 enemies without abusing AI flaws. Wow, [[ArtificialStupidity those uber-powerful enemies sure are smart...]]
*** YourMilageMayVary; if you're just that damn good, any character can handle the Cruel Melee. Played straight with the aforementioned AI flaws - which flaws you can exploit typically are dependant on which character you select.

* Don't forget the other characters in ''TheWizardOfOz'' for the SNES.
** I wish I could ...

** Judging just by Gyms, Snivy may end up the same route as Chikorita.

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* ''[=~Pokemon~=]'' Red/Blue: Of the three starter Pokémon, Charmander is the most popular, but is the worst to choose because he's super weak against the first two gyms' Pokemon. There are other Pokemon you can train to use against Brock, like a Butterfree with Confusion, Nidoran with Double Kick, and Mankey with Low Kick, but [[GuideDangIt you may fail to realize this]].

** Though this is all part of a deliberate structuring of the games, so that some starters are stronger later on, like Charizard, and some stop being useful after a while, like Squirtle and some, like Bulbasaur, are average throughout.

* SuperMarioBros2 had some levels with tricky jumping where Princess Peach was the best option. The [=SNES=] version lets you switch characters on losing a life; the original... didn't, which could leave you in a nigh {Unwinnable} situation if you picked the wrong lead going in.
* In the first battle against Drake in {{Advance Wars}}, if you selected Max or Sami as your commander and lose, Nell will outright ask you, "how about using Andy next time?". Of course, you need to complete the next few missions with only Sami in order to unlock a {{bonus boss}}...

--''The Ten Wings'', [[http://www.chimeramag.com/features/tenpoints.html Chimera gaming magazine]]

* ''WingCommander IV'' advertised being about player choice. You could betray the (corrupt) Federation with the rest of your crew when it happens, or you can stay with them. The back of the box said so. But if you choose to stay loyal to the Confederation after the second defection opportunity, two missions later you're given a fake choice. [[ButThouMust If you don't join the rebellion, you will fail the mission.]] False advertising!

* Don't forget the other characters in ''Wizard of Oz'' for the SNES.

* ''Diddy Kong Racing'' (or at least, the N64 original) makes you try different characters ''constantly''. In fact, the first Wizpig race is just about the ''only'' one where it doesn't make a difference what character you choose. Anything else either requires balanced middleweights or fast lightweights, except rare occasions where a heavyweight would keep you from being pushed into water.

* ''[=~Pokemon~=]'' Red/Blue: Of the three starter Pokémon, Charmander is the most popular, but is the worst to choose because he's super weak against Brock's Pokemon. There are other Pokemon you can train to use against Brock, like a Butterfree with Confusion, Nidoran with Double Kick, and Mankey with Low Kick, but [[GuideDangIt you may fail to realize this]].

** The characters were finally balanced in ''Diddy Kong Racing DS''. This troper easily beat the game with ''Bumper''.

*** That's not true. It is very possible to get through that part with the Shadow Armor with two chips (I think the ones that make your jump farther and allow you to dash farther). It took me a very long time to do it, but I was gonna be damned if I couldn't go through every stage I could with the Shadow Armor after completing it.

* ''[=~Pokemon~=]'' Red/Blue: Of the three starter Pokémon, Charmander is the most popular, but is the worst to choose because he's super weak against Brock's Pokemon.
** There are other Pokemon you can train to use against Brock, like a Butterfree with Confusion, Nidoran with Double Kick, and Mankey with Low Kick, but [[GuideDangIt you may fail to realize this]].
** The updated ''Fire Red/Leaf Green'' gives Charmander a steel move that's super-effective against rock. You're still screwed for the second gym, though, unless you nab a Pikachu in Viridian Forest.
*** Or you can get a Grass-type Oddish/Bellsprout [[OneGameForThePriceOfTwo depending on which version you have]] north of the city.

*** Arguably averted in generations three and four - Generation four the most. Picked Torchic? No problem - they learn a fighting move and multitype with fighting! Picked Treecko? Well it's a little better in Sapphire (And arguably Emerald) because of Team Aqua. And did I just hear that your trainer liked Mudkip? Hey, you got a TeamMagma killer! However; you still had the issue of your rival who always had the opposing type. Made even worse by the fact that Swampert practically ''overkilled'' Blaziken and that Sceptile could just poke swampert and take it out in one hit!
*** And meanwhile Generation IV is actually far more balanced against the starter triangle. Picked Turtwig? Hey no problem - one Earthquake and Infernape is gone! Picked Chimchar? Well Empoleon won't look so high and mighty when you punch it to death. And Piplup? Drill Peck it and if Torterra survived, the double weakness to Ice would wreck it. Who needs same-type-advantage bonus?
*** One problem many users had with the Diamond and Pearl games of Generation IV, though, is that if you didn't pick Chimchar as your starter, your only option for a fire Pokemon was Ponyta until you could obtain Pokemon from other regions. What was even stranger is that one of the Elite Four specilized in fire Pokemon, but he only had TWO Pokemon that were actually fire-type: Rapidash and Infernape. This is fixed in Platinum, in which more fire-type Pokemon are made available.
**** They seem to want to make this balance stick, since the remakes of Generation II also implement it on ''their'' starter triangle. "Dear Meganium, here's a Blizzard to wreck your shit. Signed, Feraligatr. P.S: [[CurbStompBattle Na na na na na na~!]]".
**** Feraligatr's always been able to learn ice moves. Typhlosion also has [=ThunderPunch=]. When Generation IV rolled around and it stopped being viable, it gained [=SolarBeam=], both of which are good against Feraligatr. Meganium meanwhile has Earthquake to deal with Typhlosion. [[GuideDangIt Not that you're told any of this in the game.]]