History Main / FriendlyPlayfulDolphin

* ''Aquapets 101 Dolphin Pets'' is a game where you can raise 101 different types of dolphins and play with them
* The ''VideoGame/EndlessOcean'' games naturally feature dolphins and larger cetaceans from various locations. You can befriend certain dolphins.
** ''Endless Ocean Blue World'' allows much more interaction with dolphins. You can tame them and take them with you on dives, where they can tow you faster than you can swim and help find items. You can also teach them to do tricks and put on shows at your island. You tame two species during the story, and can tame more with sidequests later. This game is also somewhat notable for simply having dolphins other than Bottlenose dolphins.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' has a dolphin that will help you get to Junon.
* ''[[VideoGame/WaveRace Wave Race 64]]'' has dolphins appearing in certain courses, most notably in Dolphin Park, in which the tutorial consists of following a dolphin. A code allows you to ''ride a dolphin'' in that course.
* In ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'', there's a dolphin that's [[AndroclesLion trapped under an anchor]] ''[[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill in grimy toxic water]]''. Swimming up into the ship and slamming the button to drag the anchor off of him causes him to thank you by leaving behind a [[MacGuffin Jiggy]].

* Helena swims with a dolphin in her ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive 3'' ending cinematic.
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks'' has yellow dolphins that swim alongside the train while it's going over water. They squeak and jump out of the water when you blow the whistle, and they are ''adorable''. If you keep blowing your whistle, they give you hearts to heal your train.
* In ''VideoGame/RobotUnicornAttack'', a dolphin appears for each 5,000 points you earn. [[spoiler:(They don't really do anything.)]]
* ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' features dolphins that jump around you in Sonic's Stage One, Emerald Coast, if you're looking in right place at the right time. The appearance of these dolphins and their numbers seems to be performance based, or it might be random.
* The first two ''VideoGame/EccoTheDolphin'' games nearly avert it (the lone exception being Ecco being challenged to jump really high by a podmate), since the dolphins in question are in the middle of a war with space aliens, but ''[[OddballInTheSeries Ecco Jr.]]'' is about baby dolphins romping around, and ''Defender of the Future'' has a few playful minigames.

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* In Discworld/TheLastHero Evil Harry Dread (a wannabe EvilOverlord) was conned into buying a pod of these for his SharkPool.

In real life, the extent of this varies. Tame dolphins are usually trained to be like this, and stories of friendly behaviour by wild dolphins abound and predate dolphin training. However, wild dolphins are often hard to predict, and like any other animal, they can be dangerous. Experts recommend keeping your distance from them.

[[folder: Toys]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Wadanohara}}'' has Dolphi, one of the main character's familiars and party members as well as Sal who is cheery and helps the cast as much as he can. [[spoiler:[[AWolfInSheepsClothing The latter gets subverted harshly]].]]

* ZeusAndRoxanne, the movie about the friendship between a dog and a dolphin.

* In ''VideoGame/KingsQuest'' 4 also by {{Creator/Sierra}} the main character, Rosella, finds herself stranded on an island but is rescued after summoning the help of a friendly dolphin who carries her back to the mainland.

In real life, the extent of this varies. Domestic dolphins are usually trained to be like this, and stories of friendly behaviour by wild dolphins abound and predate dolphin training. However, wild dolphins are often hard to predict, and like any other animal, they can be dangerous. Experts recommend keeping your distance from them.

* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' portrays the dolphin mind as playful. The gang sometimes have trouble getting control over the morph for a few minutes because it wants to play.
** This even becomes a bit of a plot point in the final book of the series -- [[spoiler:Jake is suffering from some pretty heavy PTSD, so his friends trick him into morphing a dolphin as a kind of intervention]].

* {{Subverted|Trope}} in Alastair Reynolds' ''Chasm City''. The first of the Sky Haussman flashback episode introduces you to children Sky and Constanza who evade their parents' oversight to go visit the dolphins who are kept in the spaceship they live in. That looks very cute and slightly cliché... until you meet the dolphins, who after being used as experimental subjects by a radical transhumanist group and then kept and bred in captivity for centuries, have turned sadistic and totally psychotic.

* In ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', this trope is why dolphins are a SuperiorSpecies - while humans went around having wars and inventing the wheel, dolphins just splashed about in the water having a good time. Their final message to humanity[[note]]So long, and thanks for all the fish[[/note]] was misinterpreted as 'a sophisticated attempt to jump through a hoop while whistling The Star-Spangled Banner'.

* There's also another book called ''Dolphin Song'' which is the second book in ''The White Giraffe'' series. The main character, a girl called Martine - who holds a special gift with animals - falls overboard during a storm while on a school trip aboard a boat. Several other students also fall overboard, and they are all rescued by a pod of dolphins who remain friendly to them throughout.

** This even becomes a bit of a plot point in the final book of the series - [[spoiler:Jake is suffering from some pretty heavy PTSD, so his friends trick him into morphing a dolphin as a kind of intervention.]]

* In ''SugarWiki/RobotUnicornAttack'', a dolphin appears for each 5,000 points you earn. [[spoiler:(They don't really do anything.)]]

* In ''RobotUnicornAttack'', a dolphin appears for each 5,000 points you earn. [[spoiler:(They don't really do anything.)]]

* In ''Flipper and Lopaka'', Lopaka is Flipper's best friend and they go on many adventures together.

* Johnny Clinton is taken on an under sea tour by intelligent dolphins in ''Dolphin Island'' by {{Arthur C Clarke}}.

** Despite this, captive orcas can still be dangerous animals if maltreated. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilikum_(orca) Tilikum]], for example, has killed three people while in captivity. He is believed to have been severely traumatized by his capture at the age of 1 and by the early years of his captivity, which he never fully recovered from.

* Dolphins blow [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMCf7SNUb-Q bubble rings]].

Sometimes overlaps with HeroicDolphin, or SapientCetaceans, or both. Compare SweetSeal, PlayfulOtter, and WarmHeartedWalrus.

* There are a number of instances of orcas (which are a species of dolphin) behaving friendly and playfully toward humans. One notable example is Keiko, the orca who starred in ''Film/FreeWilly''. Even after he was released to the wild, he was very friendly toward humans, and even let children ride on his back.

* In the {{Sierra}} game ''EcoQuest'', befriending a dolphin is what leads the main character on his adventure.

* Goggle-wearing dolphins actually show up in the game ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld''.

In real life, the extent of this varies. Domestic dolphins are usually trained to be like this. Stories of friendly behaviour by wild dolphins abound and predate dolphin training, however wild dolphins are often hard to predict and like any other animal can be dangerous. Experts recommend keeping your distance from them.

Sometimes overlaps with HeroicDolphin, or SapientCetaceans, or both.

* Averted in one of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' Treehouse of Horror episodes, where an army of dolphins kill and kick everyone out of Springfield.

* Accounts of persons lost at sea being rescued and pushed toward safety by HeroicDolphins may be a FridgeHorror version of the FriendlyPlayfulDolphin. Those who were inadvertently pushed toward safety lived to tell the tale. Those who weren't, didn't.

In real life, the extent of this varies. Domestic dolphins are usually trained to be like this. Stories of friendly behavior by wild dolphins abound and predate dolphin training, however wild dolphins are often hard to predict and like any other animal can be dangerous. Experts recommend keeping your distance from them.