History Main / GuestStarPArtyMember

* ''{{Legend of Dragoon}}'' had two, Lavitz and Shana. Similar to the above, when they leave they are instantly replaced with an equivalent party member. Albert may be arguably greater than Lavitz due to joining early and having more time for Character development, while Miranda was practically an AssPull and was thrown in to simply replace Shana so she could fulfill plot purposes, and for the possibility that someone actually ''did'' use Shana religiously. (Shana and Miranda are a mixed bag - some players will insist they're underrated, while others will say they're both worthless and Meru can do anything they can)

* In the anime RPG ''{{InuYasha}}: The Secret of the Cursed Mask'', Sesshomaru joins you for a brief stroll around a castle, until you reunite with your party inside. His high stats and powerful combat abilities make him functionally invincible against the much weaker enemies you encounter.
** If you jump though a ton of hoops to raise his affection up he'll join the the female PC (But not the male) for the final battle and give you a special ending.

* ''[[VideoGame/SaGa3 SaGa 3/Final Fantasy Legend III]]'' actually had a space in your party that was reserved specifically for your Guest Star Party Members: Myron, Lara, Dion, Faye, and Borgin. Myron can one-shot many monsters for a while, while Lara is only around for a short period of time and is fairly weak. Faye starts out powerful, but by the time your party reaches the area where Xcalibur is, she's weak by comparison. Dion joins twice and is powerful, while Borgin is well-rounded. Borgin is notable in that he fights the FinalBoss with you and stays with you permanently.
* ''[[VideoGame/SaGa2 SaGa 2/Final Fantasy Legend II]]'' also has them: Mr. S, Ki, Mask, Lynn (who joins briefly for two boss fights), Hana, Taro, [[spoiler:Isis]], and the protagonist's father will join twice. Most of them are around for only a dungeon or two, or a boss fight. The first three are over-powered (Ki is completely invincible to physical damage due to [[spoiler:the [[PlotCoupon Plot Coupons]], Magi]]), while Lynn is pathetically weak (which is even [[LampshadedTrope lampshaded]] in the game manual]]. Everyone else is only marginally more powerful, but your party at those points should be competent. The last party member, [[spoiler:Isis]], is an EleventhHourSuperpower, strong enough to take out the other half of the FinalBoss ''alone''.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyMysticQuest'' gives you a different guest party member for each of the regions of the world. Each one of them joins exactly twice.
* Subverted in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII'', in which your party is briefly joined by the contemptuous and utterly incapable Prince Charmles during fights with Argon lizards (evidently just enough to give him some marginal legitimate claim over the prize). He inflicts 1 point of damage (if he's lucky and doesn't miss), and then flees.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' has Fusoya, who sticks around for only a single dungeon near the end. Additionally, Kain and Rosa function this way when they first join the party (departing again fairly quickly). In general, the entire party gets well-shuffled over the course of the game; only a few (Rosa, Rydia, Tellah, and Edge out of 11 characters) stick with Cecil for more than three dungeons at a time. Heck, Edge is the ''only'' party member who permanently joins when you first get him (and Cecil, though he does change class and gets his level reset to 1). In the GBA remake, as well as the Mobile and PSP versions (but not the DS version) most characters are available for the final dungeon and the bonus dungeons, which makes Tellah and Fusoya the only real guests in those games.

** Seifer and Edea in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII''. While Seifer is useful for low-level players at the start of the game, Edea's abilities and LimitBreak is fairly useless by the time you get her. Laguna, Kiros, and Ward are a whole Guest Star Party.

*** Then there are Cinna, Blank and Marcus. Cinna joins for the first two fights of the game, and earns the spot for "lowest attack", "lowest defence", and generally "crappiest character." Blank also joins for the first few fights, leaves for a while, then comes back for the Plant Brain boss fight before getting turned to stone. Marcus is around for the same fights as Blank and Cinna, but he rejoins later when Dagger and Steiner split up from the main group. He's pretty much a Zidane clone, with slightly higher attack. (In fact, that goes for all three.) However, some of them transfer their stats to permanent party members (Blank and Marcus carry over to Amarant and Eiko respectively). Leveling with them makes future party members that much more powerful.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' has six: Reks, Amalia (who's actually Ashe), Basch, Vossler, Larsa and Reddas. Reks is the DecoyProtagonist for the prologue of the game who promptly bites it. Ashe and Basch join for the long haul later while Larsa stays as an important character in the game ([[spoiler:Vossler and Reddas get axed though]]). This is even explicitly made a game mechanic (the guest party member is actually labelled "Guest" in the menu, doesn't count toward the party's ArbitraryHeadcountLimit, cannot have their equipment altered, has no Licence Board entry, and cannot be ordered around in battle [[UpdatedRerelease except in the international version]]). Balthier practically Lampshades the trope the first time it occurs, outright calling Amalia the party's "guest" (using the terminology from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'', set in the same universe) and basically explaining all the above mechanics without ''quite'' breaking the fourth wall. There's also a plethora of friendly minor [=NPCs=] during certain Monster Hunts who your party will treat as temporary party members (which can be annoying when they start trying to buff a guy who's got Reflect).
*** [[spoiler: Gabranth, while not joining the party, does help them in the penultimate battle against Vayne.]]
** And again in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIIRevenantWings'', with [[spoiler:Ba'Gaman]], and [[spoiler:Fran]]. The latter of these two characters joins your party again, and thankfully, there is never equipment to buy for the first character, so there's no [[SoLongAndthanksForAllTheGear thievery]].

* Many worlds in the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series have a special party member that can swap in on that world only. They never need equipment (most don't need weapons or armor, the rest come with what they need), they leave if you exit their world, and they swap with one of your permanent party members (DonaldDuck or {{Goofy}}). One wonders why the designers didn't just put in a fourth party slot and leave it empty most of the time -- but then Square-Enix has mostly stuck with 3 character parties since ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger''.
** A guest star party member actually plays a major role in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII''. [[spoiler:Just two rooms before the final boss in The World That Never Was, Riku is unlocked as a party member. In addition to having one of the [[EleventhHourSuperpower most powerful limits in the game]], he also is the only party member available during the last two phases of the final boss.]]
** Mostly used in the second game (but occasionally in the others), there are times when characters will join you in battle as an unofficial 'fourth' party member. A couple of the many examples of this are Minnie Mouse in Disney Castle and [[spoiler: Final Fantasy characters such as Leon (Squall) and Cloud]]
** ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2 Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days]]'' has practically only this in the story mode. Roxas either fights alone, or with another Organization member specified by the mission. You have no control over them, aside from selecting one of three general behaviour options.
*** ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep]]'' does the same thing, with the guest star party members being the other two keyblade masters you aren't playing as, [[Disney/SleepingBeauty Prince Philip]], young Disney/{{Hercules}}, [[VideoGame/CrisisCore Zack]], [[LiloAndStitch Experiment 626]] and MickeyMouse.

* Teepo in ''BreathOfFireIII'' leaves the party near the beginning of the game - whereupon everything he has on him is subject to SoLongAndThanksForAllTheGear. Luckily, skills he learnt from enemies beforehand are transferred to the skill note list instead.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears'', the sequel to ''[=FFIV=]'', follows the grand tradition of temporary party members. Most of them either do not gain experience, or have a lower level cap than the normal characters do:
*** A handful of permanent party members show up as Guests in other chapters; namely Cecil, Cid, and Rosa in Ceodore's Tale[[hottip:*:Cid and Rosa join for real in Kain's Tale, while Cecil returns in the Final Chapter]], and Palom, Rydia and Kain in Porom's Tale, [[spoiler: though 'Kain' is actually Dark Kain, and he also acts as a Guest in Kain's Tale until he is defeated by the real Kain]].
*** In addition, Biggs and Wedge are guests for the first part of Ceodore's Tale, PlayerMooks are available in certain chapters, the Elder of Mysidia joins for a single battle in Porom's Tale, and Fusoya appears in the Lunarian's Tale.

*** Biggs and Wedge, the two RedShirt soldiers who accompany you in the intro sequence. They die shortly into the game.
*** The 11 Moogles who join to help protect [[MysteriousWaif Terra]]. {{Subverted|Trope}} in that you can recruit one of them as an optional character later, and you can get another through a {{g|oodBadBugs}}litch. (The Moogles are based on characters you get later; if you {{sequence break}} your way out of recruiting one of them, you get the Moogle back at a mandatory point later.)
*** Banon has a {{game break|er}}ing healing ability. Which is good, because the section of the game you get him for is an EscortMission, and if he dies, [[NonStandardGameOver it's an automatic Game Over]].

*** General Leo is available to use for ''one battle''. [[spoiler:He dies shortly after.]]

** Aerith in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' is an unusual example in that, by all appearances, she ''is'' a permanent character, up until [[ItWasHisSled she dies]]. Sephiroth also counts, though you never actually control him.
*** She gets everything that the other characters get, an InfinityPlusOneSword, full set of {{Limit Break}}s (Although most of the time you get these items she is already gone), and more {{character development}} then anyone else up to that point.
*** Likewise, [[spoiler: Galuf]] in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'', though in this case everything learned by this character goes towards [[spoiler: his granddaughter, Krile]].
** Seifer and Edea in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII''. While Seifer is useful for low-level players at the start of the game, Edea's abilities and LimitBreak is fairly useless by the time you get her.
*** Laguna, Kiros and Ward are a whole Guest Star Party.
** Beatrix in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX''. She assists the party for a short while early on, and then a little later in a duo with Steiner for a segment that mainly exists so that Steiner [[CantCatchUp can catch up]]. Though she's pretty powerful when she's playable, you can kill her off in the Steiner section so that Steiner gets even ''more'' experience from the ordeal.
*** Then there are Cinna, Blank and Marcus. Cinna joins for the first two fights of the game, and earns his spot for "Lowest Attack" "Lowest Defence" and generally "Crappiest Character." Blank also joins for the first few fights, leaves for a while, then comes back for the Plant Brain boss fight before getting turned to stone. Marcus is around for the same fights as Blank and Cinna, but he rejoins later when Dagger and Steiner split up from the main group. He's pretty much a Zidane clone, with slightly higher attack. In fact, all of them are. However, some of them transfer their stats to permanent party members (Blank and Marcus carry over to Amarant and Eiko respectively). Leveling makes future party members that much more powerful.
** Seymour in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX''. He joins you for only one battle: [[spoiler:The second fight against Sinspawn Gui]]. He even has an [[LimitBreak Overdrive]] of his own!

** [[DemotedToExtra Lightning and Snow]] in ''VideoGame/{{Final Fantasy XIII-2}}''. While Lightning is temporarily playable, Snow is a straight up guest.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyAdventure'' has a couple of [=NPCs=] that join you at certain points of the game: A girl (who is named Fuji in the manual), a red mage that shoots fireballs [[spoiler:which turns out to be the BigBad, Julius]], Watts, a knight, a bard, a dancer (both of which are siblings), and a robot. Most of them return in the VideoGameRemake, ''VideoGame/SwordOfMana'', with a few exceptions.
* Many worlds in the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series have a special party member that can swap in on that world only. They never need equipment (most don't need weapons or armor, the rest come with what they need), they leave if you exit their world, and they swap with one of your permanent party members (DonaldDuck or {{Goofy}}). One wonders why the designers didn't just put in a fourth party slot, and leave it empty most of the time.
*** Probably because Square-Enix has mostly stuck with 3 character parties since ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger''.

** ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarIV'' has 5 slots and 11 characters, so naturally 6 of them end up as guests. One of these, Seth the archaeologist, is actually pretty competent, with some nasty spells like Deathspell and Corrosion that certainly help with the Soldier's Temple on Motavia. However, he's a particularly blatant case of holding back his true skills when you end up fighting him later. [[spoiler:''He's actually a Dark Force'', one of the insanely powerful demons that have served as the BigBad for the last three games. Given Seth's scream of horror as he transforms after the dungeon, whether he's aware of his own nature is uncertain...]]

* In the Wiiware title ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Rumble'', the premise of the game is that the Pokemon are merely toys and cannot level up. Which means that you'll wind up selling your favorite Pokemon after about two levels.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' has Fusoya, who sticks around for only a single dungeon near the end. Additionally, Kain and Rosa function this way when they first join the party (departing again fairly quickly). In general, the entire party gets well-shuffled over the course of the game; only a few (Rosa, Rydia, Tellah, and Edge out of 11 characters) stick with Cecil for more than three dungeons at a time.
** Heck, Edge is the ''only'' party member who permanently joins when you first get him.
*** Edge and Cecil obviously. Though Cecil does change class and gets his level reset to 1.
** In the GBA remake, as well as the Mobile and PSP versions (but not the DS version) most characters are available for the final dungeon and the bonus dungeons however, making Tellah and Fusoya the only real guests.
** PhantasyStarIV is in the same boat - 5 slots, 11 characters - so naturally 6 of them end up as guests.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears'', the sequel, follows the grand tradition of temporary party members. Most of them either do not gain experience, or have a lower level cap than the normal characters do:
** A handful of permanent party members show up as Guests in other chapters; namely Cecil, Cid, and Rosa in Ceodore's Tale[[hottip:*:Cid and Rosa join for real in Kain's Tale, while Cecil returns in the Final Chapter]], and Palom, Rydia and Kain in Porom's Tale, [[spoiler: though 'Kain' is actually Dark Kain, and he also acts as a Guest in Kain's Tale until he is defeated by the real Kain]].
** In addition, Biggs and Wedge are guests for the first part of Ceodore's Tale, PlayerMooks are available in certain chapters, the Elder of Mysidia joins for a single battle in Porom's Tale, and Fusoya appears in the Lunarian's Tale.
* Aerith in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' is an unusual example in that, by all appearances, she ''is'' a permanent character, up until [[ItWasHisSled she dies]]. Sephiroth also counts, though you never actually control him.
** She gets everything that the other characters get, an InfinityPlusOneSword, full set of {{Limit Break}}s (Although most of the time you get these items she is already gone), and more {{character development}} then anyone else up to that point.
** The same applies to [[spoiler: Nei]] in ''PhantasyStar II''.
** Likewise, [[spoiler: Galuf]] in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'', though in this case everything learned by this character goes towards [[spoiler: his granddaughter, Krile]].
* Seifer and Edea in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII''. While Seifer is useful for low-level players at the start of the game, Edea's abilities and LimitBreak is fairly useless by the time you get her.
** Laguna, Kiros and Ward are a whole Guest Star Party.
* Beatrix in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX''. She assists the party for a short while early on, and then a little later in a duo with Steiner for a segment that mainly exists so that Steiner [[CantCatchUp can catch up]]. Though she's pretty powerful when she's playable, you can kill her off in the Steiner section so that Steiner gets even ''more'' experience from the ordeal.
** Then there are Cinna, Blank and Marcus. Cinna joins for the first two fights of the game, and earns his spot for "Lowest Attack" "Lowest Defence" and generally "Crappiest Character." Blank also joins for the first few fights, leaves for a while, then comes back for the Plant Brain boss fight before getting turned to stone. Marcus is around for the same fights as Blank and Cinna, but he rejoins later when Dagger and Steiner split up from the main group. He's pretty much a Zidane clone, with slightly higher attack. In fact, all of them are.
*** Some of them however transfer their stats to permanent party members (Blank and Marcus transfer their stat gains to Amarant and Eiko respectively.) Leveling makes your later Party Members that much more powerful.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' has a slew of these:
** Biggs and Wedge, the two RedShirt soldiers who accompany you in the intro sequence. They die shortly into the game.
** The 11 Moogles who join to help protect [[MysteriousWaif Terra]]. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in that you can recruit one of them as an optional character later, and through a [[GoodBadBugs glitch]], you can get another. (Like the above example, the Moogles are based on characters you get later; if you [[SequenceBreak sequence break]] your way out of recruiting one of them, you get the Moogle back at a mandatory point later.)
** Banon, who has a [[GameBreaker game-breaking]] healing ability.. Which is good, because the section of the game you get him for is an EscortMission, and if he dies, it's an [[NonStandardGameOver automatic Game Over]].
** The Ghosts in the Phantom Train, who are pretty useless other than their [[TakingYouWithMe Possess]] ability. You can recruit several of them, and if you don't have Shadow in your party (see below), you can even have two of them at the same time.
** General Leo, who you get to use for ''one battle''. [[spoiler: [[KilledOffForReal He dies]] shortly after.]]
** And finally, we have Shadow, a rare ''Recurring'' Guest Star Party Member. He can be optionally recruited at three different points during the game, though for the first two, he has a random chance of leaving at the end of a battle. [[GuideDangIt If you wait for him on the Floating Continent]], he can be permanently recruited after the time skip, otherwise [[spoiler: [[RuleOfThree he dies.]]]]
* Seymour in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX''. He joins you for only one battle: [[spoiler:The second fight against Sinspawn Gui]]. He even has an [[LimitBreak Overdrive]] of his own!
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' has six: Reks, Amalia (who's actually Ashe), Basch, Vossler, Larsa and Reddas. Reks is the DecoyProtagonist for the prologue of the game who promptly bites it. Ashe and Basch join for the long haul later while Larsa stays as an important character in the game ([[spoiler:Vossler and Reddas get axed though]]). This is even explicitly made a game mechanic (the guest party member is actually labelled "Guest" in the menu, doesn't count toward the party's ArbitraryHeadcountLimit, cannot have their equipment altered, has no Licence Board entry, and cannot be ordered around in battle [[UpdatedRerelease except in the international version]]). Balthier practically Lampshades the trope the first time it occurs, outright calling Amalia the party's "guest" (using the terminology from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'', set in the same universe) and basically explaining all the above mechanics without ''quite'' breaking the fourth wall. There's also a plethora of friendly minor [=NPCs=] during certain Monster Hunts who your party will treat as temporary party members (which can be annoying when they start trying to buff a guy who's got Reflect).
** [[spoiler: Gabranth, while not joining the party, does help them in the penultimate battle against Vayne.]]

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'' has a whole stream of guest party members. Rest assured that whoever joins your party and fills the fourth slot will eventually leave (except for [[spoiler:Leon]]). In the GBA and PSP versions, some of them ([[spoiler:the ones who died]]) feature in a bonus section after the main game, complete with whatever equipment and magic they had when they left, making SoLongAndThanksForAllTheGear actually ''useful'' for once.
** Note, however, that unless you powerleveled all of these characters in the main game, they will likely get murdered by the more powerful enemies.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' has Gadot and Lebreau, Snow's [[TheLancer lancers]] in his anarchy/resistance group. They fight with him in chapters 1 and 2 and function as {{Crutch Character}}s.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyAdventure'' has a couple of [=NPCs=] that join you at certain points of the game: A girl (who is named Fuji in the manual), a red mage that shoots fireballs [[spoiler:which turns out to be the BigBad, Julius]], Watts, a knight, a bard, a dancer (both of which are siblings), and a robot. Most of them return in the VideoGameRemake, ''VideoGame/SwordOfMana'', with a few exceptions.
* Many worlds in the ''KingdomHearts'' series have a special party member that can swap in on that world only. They never need equipment (most don't need weapons or armor, the rest come with what they need), they leave if you exit their world, and they swap with one of your permanent party members (DonaldDuck or {{Goofy}}). One wonders why the designers didn't just put in a fourth party slot, and leave it empty most of the time.

* Seth the archaeologist in ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarIV'', who's actually pretty competent, with some nasty spells like Deathspell and Corrosion that certainly help with the Soldier's Temple on Motavia. However, he's a particularly blatant case of holding back his true skills considering [[spoiler:''he's actually a Dark Force'', one of the insanely powerful demons that've served as the BigBad for the last three games.]] Naturally, this only comes up when you're forced to fight him. He seemed so friendly for [[spoiler:an incarnation of pure evil]]...
** It's not clear [[spoiler:whether he actually ''knows'' he's really Dark Force, given his scream of horror as he changes at the end of the dungeon.]]

* In the Wiiware title ''Franchise/Pokemon Rumble'', the premise of the game is that the Pokemon are merely toys and cannot level up. Which means that you'll wind up selling your favorite Pokemon after about two levels.

* In ''XMenLegends'' Professor Xavier is playable for one mission in the Astral Plane and is ridiculously overpowered, he gets taken out about three quarters in and Jean Grey and Emma Frost are forced to carry on without him; in the penultimate mission Xavier is used again (this time in the form of the "Astral Gladiator") for the boss fight against the Shadow King. Additionally, in one mission a computer controlled Havoc fights alongside Cyclops and Wolverine at the Weapon X ruins to rescue several hostage mutants. Later, he and Magento fight alongside the X-Men party when Sentinels attack the mansion.

* In the original .hack qualdrilogy there was Mia, who was available for most of the 1st volume (but not available for important story events that didn't involve her) but only one dungeon and post game only in the 2nd [[spoiler: as the corruption of the game data was starting to affect her]], not available at all in the 3rd [[spoiler: having disappeared completely as the Phases were defeated and the corruption spread]], and only available in the 4th after you finish the post game epilogue dungeon [[spoiler: after which Aura resurrects her, as you had to defeat her in Phase form earlier in the game]]. There was also Orca who was only available for the first dungeon [[spoiler: after which Skeith puts him in a coma]], and then didn't return until the endgame of the final volume. Elk and Mistral are only a partial example as they are available for all of the 1st and 2nd games, but not the 3rd [[spoiler: as Mistral bows out with her player revealing her pregnancy and Elk leaves to find Mia]], but come back halfway through the 4th.

Character who joins the party temporarily. If this happens early in the game, they'll be [[ATasteOfPower much more powerful than you]]. If you're lucky, maybe you can unequip a DiscOneNuke from them. But if you buy them equipment, beware of SoLongAndThanksForAllTheGear!

But that's not to say they have to all be killed. A GuestStarPartyMember may be ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin...a guest star. They may actually just leave the party of their own accord, become a SecretCharacter or a BonusBoss. They may also just be removed from the plot for other reasons, such as simply deciding that they're done or being incapacitated.

[[folder: Action Adventure]]
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' has Zelda, and later a monkey and a maiden [[spoiler: who is a demon]]. Later, a treasure chest will inexplicably follow you around.

** [[spoiler:Groose]] in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword''.
* Curly in ''VideoGame/CaveStory'', who accompanies you like an AttackDrone throughout Labyrinth M. [[spoiler:If you save her life and restore her memory, she will rejoin you in Sacred Ground.]]

* In the Wiiware title ''Pokemon Rumble'', the premise of the game is that the Pokemon are merely toys and cannot level up. Which means that you'll wind up selling your favorite Pokemon after about two levels.

[[folder: Action Game]]
* ''[[DungeonsAndDragons D&D]]'' video game ''DemonStone'' has a chapter where you are required to exchange control of your least used character for special guest star Drizzt do'Urden, the dual-wielding drow ranger who ''defines'' melee badassery for many D&D players. Combined with a nerfing of weapon enhancements, a single-target super attack instead of a multi-target super, enemies that regenerate, and a few segments that even remove the ability to swap into control of your other characters in preference for just Drizzt, playing the super-badass drow just plain sucks.
* Soul Calibur 3's adventure mode features many characters coming and going in your party. They should in theory start out stronger than characters you always have available, however due to leveling up by fighting (even if you lose) it makes more sense to just keep using your own characters.

[[folder: First Person Shooter]]
* ''[[BlacksiteArea51 Blacksite: Area 51]]'' is a rare first-person shooter example of this, where [[spoiler: the BigBad actually fights as a member of your squad for several missions (against his own troops!), as part of a BatmanGambit to get inside the Allied HQ.]] However, despite being an augmented super-soldier (who can soak a few hundred bullets in the final battle), when he's on your side he's physically indistinguishable from your other AI-controlled squad buddies.
* In the PC version of ''GhostRecon: Advanced Warfighter'', the ''President of the United States'' himself carries a pistol and follows you around (very briefly) after you rescue him from rebel soldiers.
* At one point in Jedi Outcast, Luke Skywalker himself fights alongside you
* Zoey, Francis, and Louis in the finale of The Passing in ''VideoGame/Left4Dead2'' assists your team by sniping at zombies from a balcony and tossing you items in between waves of hordes. They're also ignored by the zombies so you don't have to worry about protecting them.

[[folder: MMORPGs]]

** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in quests involving [[IndianaJones Harrison Jones]] which states that you are either being escorted by him, or are supposed to simply stay out of the way while he does his thing.
* A rare MMORPG Example from''[[Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei Shin Megami Tensei IMAGINE Online]]'': Early on in the game, you complete a quest to heal your former mentor's wounded Cerberus. The Cerberus accompanies you for the next few acts, and can be summoned like a normal demon. However, it suffers from the "Wounded" attribute, slowing it's growth. At the end of Act 3, Snakeman takes Cerberus away to continue his treatment. You can later obtain a fully healed Cerberus as a gift from Snakeman after reaching level 30.

* ''GuildWars'' has henchmen who are implied to be working alongside the various players and heroes. None of the heroes "leave" per se, but there are some henchmen who do not follow you to later areas. Most of the time, they are available for the first couple of missions then when you get to the main dungeons and missions, stay behind. A few do decide to not stay behind, or actually go ahead and join in different areas.
** And most of the LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters in the ''GuildWars'' universe don't make the cut to ''{{Eye of the North}}'', despite being in your party when you take the quest that begins the main Eye of the North questlines.
** Some quests have you amass a bunch of support characters who actually can fight very well, while others Leeroy or are noncombat.

[[folder: Real Time Strategy]]
* ''{{Pikmin}} 2'' features the Bulbmin, who are immune to all environmental hazard but can only be used in the dungeon they are found in.

[[folder: Roguelike]]
* In ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeonExplorers of Time/Darkness'', you are joined on a mid-game dungeon run by [[spoiler: Grovyle]], who is a huge asset to your team as you can simply stand back and let him do the fighting to conserve strength. And later, you are joined by a [[spoiler:''Shiny Celebi'' of all things, [[CuteBruiser who deals out more ass-kickery than you ever thought possible from a pink fairy thing.]]]]

[[folder: Role Playing Game]]

Another time, a GuestStarPartyMember may leave the party or be killed, and actually be replaced with a permanent character who is either equal to or greater than them or sometimes less.

* Certain SuperSentai seasons had feature [[OneShotCharacter one-shot rangers]] in addition to recurring characters. Most notably ''HikariSentaiMaskman'' (which had [=X1=] Mask, the SixthRanger prototype), ''TokusouSentaiDekaranger'' (Deka Swan, Deka Bright and Deka Gold), ''MahouSentaiMagiranger'' (Magi Mother and Wolzard Fire) and ''JyudenSentaiKyoryuger'' (Kyoryu Cyan)

* In ''PokemonMysteryDungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness'', you are joined on a mid-game dungeon run by [[spoiler: Grovyle]], who is a huge asset to your team as you can simply stand back and let him do the fighting to conserve strength. And later, you are joined by a [[spoiler:''Shiny Celebi'' of all things, [[CuteBruiser who deals out more ass-kickery than you ever thought possible from a pink fairy thing.]]]]

*** That's because Aeris was originally intended to be a permanent character who stayed the whole game. The idea of [[KilledOffForReal killing her off for real]] came ''very late'' in development.

* Sagacious Zu of ''JadeEmpire'' is a strong character, but [[spoiler:dies saving the player from Death's Hand at the end of Chapter 3.]]

* There are several of these in ''LordOfTheRingsTheThirdAge'', including Aragorn (twice), Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf (twice), Eowyn, and some random Elf guy (multiple times). Each of them joins your team for a single battle or a series of consecutive battles, then leaves immediately afterward without so much as saying goodbye. I guess they have more important things to do than hang around with the main party of Fellowship knockoffs.

* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' has this in the first two DLC, since you can't take them into the main game. ''Dead Money'' has Dean Domino, Christine, and Dog / God; ''Honest Hearts'' has Follows-Chalk, Waking Cloud, and [[spoiler: Joshua Graham, the legendary Burned Man]].

** In the main series, the fourth generation has something like this: in certain areas you'll team up with another trainer who double battles together with you until you get through the area (all of your wild encounters will suddenly start being doubles) and heals everyone at the end of each battle. They only ever have one or two mons.
** Until you complete the main Pokemon League storyline and unlock the Battle Tower, in which any of these trainers that you met are unlocked as Partners for the Mix Battle challenges and have random Pokemon with them, ''including legendaries''.

** Richard in ''VideoGame/TalesOfGraces''. In the remake, he becomes a proper party member for the ''f'' arc with a greatly expanded moveset, and can be utilized in battle in the main story with a narikiri doll.

* In the Wiiware title ''Pokemon Rumble'', the premise of the game is that the Pokemon are merely toys and cannot level up. Which means that you'll wind up selling your favorite Pokemon after about two levels.
** The main series ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games often have the player character teaming up with an NPC and their {{mon}}, usually in a dungeon. They're lost and you have to lead them out. Somehow, though, you still do most of the battling even though their mon helps you out. In one or two cases, the NPC rewards you afterward. The annoying thing: No using HM items while they're with you. So, no Surf, Fly, Dig, etc.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' has six: Reks, Amalia (who's actually Ashe), Basch, Vossler, Larsa and Reddas. Reks is the DecoyProtagonist for the prologue of the game who promptly bites it. Ashe and Basch join for the long haul later while Larsa stays as an important character in the game ([[spoiler:Vossler and Reddas get axed though]]). This is even explicitly made a game mechanic (the guest party member is actually labelled "Guest" in the menu, doesn't count toward the party's ArbitraryHeadcountLimit, cannot have their equipment altered, has no Licence Board entry, and cannot be ordered around in battle [[UpdatedRerelease except in the international version]]). Balthier practically Lampshades the trope the first time it occurs, outright calling Amalia the party's "guest" and basically explaining all the above mechanics without ''quite'' breaking the fourth wall. There's also a plethora of friendly minor [=NPCs=] during certain Monster Hunts who your party will treat as temporary party members (which can be annoying when they start trying to buff a guy who's got Reflect).

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', the Warden will have a partner or two during their origin story, before they start to meet their actual [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits party-to-be]]: [[ActionMom Eleanor]] for the Human Noble, Jowan and Lily for the Mage, Soris for the City Elf, Tamlen and later Merrill for the Dalish Elf, Leske for the Dwarven Commoner, and Gorim for the Dwarven Noble. It's not even over once they reach Ostagar: there's [[SacrificialLamb Daveth and Ser Jory]], your fellow Warden recruits, and then finally a pair of anonymous {{Redshirt}}s made available for the run up the Tower of Ishal.

*** The [[FullMetalPanic Tuatha De Danann]] In ''VideoGame/{{Super Robot Wars J}}'' would be a regular member of the team if it could. Sadly, it is a [[CripplingOverspecialization simple submarine]], and thus can only fight with you on certain oceanic stages.

*** The [[FullMetalPanic Tuatha De Danann]] In ''VideoGame//{{Super Robot Wars J}}'' would be a regular member of the team if it could. Sadly, it is a [[CripplingOverspecialization simple submarine]], and thus can only fight with you on certain oceanic stages.

*** The [[FullMetalPanic Tuatha De Danann]] In ''VideoGame//{{Super Robot Wars J}}'' would be a regular member of the team if it could. Sadly, it is a [[CrppplingOverspecialization simple submarine]], and thus can only fight with you on certain oceanic stages.

* Certain SuperSentai seasons had feature [[OneShotCharacter one-shot rangers]] in addition to recurring characters. Most notably ''HikariSentaiMaskman'' (which had [=X1=] Mask, the SixthRanger prototype), ''TokusouSentaiDekaranger'' (Deka Swan, Deka Bright and Deka Gold) and ''JyudenSentaiKyoryuger'' (Kyoryu Cyan)

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyAdventure'' has a couple of NPCs that join you at certain points of the game: A girl (who is named Fuji in the manual), a red mage that shoots fireballs [[spoiler:which turns out to be the BigBad, Julius]], Watts, a knight, a bard, a dancer (both of which are siblings), and a robot.

* The US cast of WhoseLineIsItAnyway eventually came to consist of Ryan Stiles, Colin Mochrie, Wayne Brady, and a pool of recurring fourth members. Some episodes actually did have guest stars in the fourth slot, like Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg.