History Main / SchrodingersPlayerCharacter

* While ''VideoGame/MetalSlug'' (which only allows up to two players) usually plays this straight by having a roster of four playable characters, there are two aversions: the first game (where only Marco and Tarma are playable) and a part near the end of the third game where the currently selected characters are abducted and their counterparts (Marco for Fio and Tarma for Eri, and vice versa) have to take over to rescue them.)

** Played with, as you will find armor sets of all classes you did ''not'' choose around the game on corpses.
** Also played with in the lore. Lordran is something of an EldritchLocation, with different timelines overlapping and converging at random. Your characters' actions represent [[AlternateTimeline only one possible timeline of a potential infinite number of similar-yet-unique parallel realities]], [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration each belonging to a different player character]], as well as the various NPC characters themselves.

** ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsReversal'' averts this by having your two choices of protagonist actually being the same person, just born as a boy or girl. ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration'', turned them into HalfIdenticalTwins, but had the brother Raul spend a good portion of his plot looking for his sister Fiona after she disappeared in a TimeTravel accident.

* While both [[FanNickname Jacket and Biker]] exist in ''Videogame/HotlineMiami'' no matter which one you play, eventually the two of them have a fight to the death before continuing on with the story, with the winner being whoever the player is controlling. The sequel reveals that [[spoiler:the two managed to survive their encounter with one another and both of their stories are canon to an extent]].

** The first two games offered pre-generated characters with mini-biographies. Whoever you did not choose never appeared.
** {{Deconstructed|Trope}} in the ''Cafe of Broken Dreams'' special encounter in VideoGame/Fallout2, where you can meet all the other player characters who were pre-generated for ''VideoGame/Fallout1'', but not "chosen" by the player or even included into the final game.

* ''VisualNovel/VampireTheMasqueradeCoteriesOfNewYork'' opens with a choice of three protagonists: a female Ventrue named Amanda, an Asian-American Brujah named Eric, and a [[TwoferTokenMinority gay African-American]] Toreador named Lamar. Their default names can be changed, but their individual backstories give you access to a few unique quests for each character. The fact that each character is in some way marginalised — either due to sex, race, and/or sexual orientation — is important for drawing all the elements back together towards the end of the game, though ultimately who you picked makes no difference to the game's outcome. Just like in ''VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'' (see above), the two you don't pick effectively don't exist in the chosen character's version of the game.

* Some of the 2D ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros'' games are like this. The manual will usually say that Mario and Luigi are working together to save the princess, but this is never the case if you are playing in single player mode. Likewise with ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'' (DolledUpInstallment of ''VideoGame/DokiDokiPanic'') where the story implies Mario, Luigi, Toad, and the Princess are working together to save the world of Subcon, but yet, you can only play one character at a time per level.

* ''VideoGame/WolfensteinTheNewOrder'' forces players into a SadisticChoice near the end of the first level: whether to sacrifice B.J.'s friend Fergus Reid, or young Probst Wyatt. Whoever you choose to sacrifice (and subsequently, who you choose to save) has an impact on how the rest of the game plays out: whoever you save will determine who joins the Resistance later in the game (Fergus is accompanied by neurotic mathemetician Tekla, and Wyatt is accompanied by aspiring rock star J). Furthermore, saving Wyatt implements a LockpickingMinigame, while saving Fergus implements a hot-wiring minigame instead[[note]]Due to the way the game is set up, health upgrades are only available behind locks, and armor upgrades are only available behind hot-wired mechanisms, meaning that saving Fergus lets you get more armor, and saving Wyatt lets you get a higher health capacity[[/note]].

* Averted in ''VideoGame/AlwaysSometimesMonsters''. You select your protagonist and their significant other out of the numerous attendants at a party, and most of the ones you didn't pick show up later in the game as [=NPCs=].

* Averted in ''VideoGame/OctopathTraveler''. Not only can you recruit all seven other playable characters into your party throughout the game, but you are also able to switch between them to experience each one's story whenever you stop an inn to reorganize your group.

** The first two games offered pre-generated character with mini biographies. Whoever you did not choose never appeared.

* Same thing for ''VideoGame/{{Torchlight}}''. Unchosen [=PCs=] are never seen. However in the sequel all three are involved in the plot.
* Played straight in ''VideoGame/LandsOfLore: The Throne of Chaos''. The player has a choice of four champions, each of whom has a little blurb about why he's the best choice and how the others will fail. It seems as though they are in competition. However, once the choice is made, the other three are never mentioned again. One wonders why, if the kingdom was in such great peril, they didn't just team up. In the sequel, it is stated that the character Kieran has been "credited" with defeating Scotia, lending itself to the interpretation that the other three champions were also questing.

* Variation: in the original ''VideoGame/{{Persona 1}}'', there are five possible party members - Brown, Ayase, Yukino, Elly, and, [[GuideDangIt if you jump through the right hoops,]] Reiji. You get to recruit one of them (possibly two if you take the Snow Queen path, if you replace Ayase with Nanjo, the latter of which is prerequisite for the SEBEC story). The rest? Well, who knows what happens to them? It's worth noting that ''VideoGame/{{Persona 2}}'' clarifies that everyone did everything together, more or less.
* With the UpdatedRerelease of ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'', ''Persona 3 Portable'', if you choose the male protagonist, the female never appears, and vice-versa. This makes some sense, as it was originally written with the male PC in mind. ''VideoGame/PersonaQ2NewCinemaLabyrinth'' included both the Male and Female Protagonists from P3, but reveals that the Female Protagonist is from an alternate reality.

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVI'' has another odd case regarding Schrodinger-esque characters in its BonusDungeon, this time referring to ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV'' (again, the DS versions of both). In ''V'', you choose between multiple women to marry and later have kids with, with the kids being the same no matter which wife you chose (except for hair color). The ''VI'' reference includes not only all three potential wives, but three nearly-identical sets of kids!

* SchroedingersPlayerCharacter lampshaded in ''VideoGame/MonsterRacers''. You choose between a girl lead or a guy lead at the start. The one you didn't pick appears and mentions they could have been you.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/{{SOS}}''. You get the choice of 4 playable characters, and once you pick one, the remaining 3 become rescuable survivors.

* Averted and lampshaded in ''VideoGame/MonsterRacers''. You choose between a girl lead or a guy lead at the start. The one you didn't pick appears and mentions they could have been you.

** Averted with the starters. Whoever ends up as your main rival will always end up with the starter whose main type is super-effective against your own, and outside of the [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Kanto]], [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Johto]], and [[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Hoenn]] games, the third starter will end up in the hands of another NPC. Horrifically/hilariously explained in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvp8vvH2EqE this fan video]]. But more likely, Professor Oak keeps the third starter with him, as a DummiedOut [[http://lparchive.org/Pokemon-Blue/Update%2014/ battle]] with him shows. There are actually three versions of this battle programmed into the game, one with each of the starters (fully evolved) as the fifth Pokémon on the team; presumably, you would fight the version with the starter neither you nor your rival chose.

So you decide to pick Bob. And as you play the game, you begin wondering... What happened to Alice and Charles? You keep playing the game, reaching HundredPercentCompletion, and you never see either. Looks like Alice, Bob and Charles are Schrödinger's Player Characters. In more generalized explanation: You are given a choice of characters, and once chosen, the game seems to go based on the assumption the selected character is the only one who exists. This trope is VERY common in games that give you a choice of pre-generated Player Characters, so much that it may come as a surprise when it is averted and the [=PCs=] you did not choose turn out as {{NPC}}s. This can also be confusing when each character is given a different backstory. Did those events even occur?

* ''VideoGame/FarCry'':

* Averted and deconstructed in ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSin2'', The Pre-generated characters (called "Origin Characters"), exist as party members that can be recruited if not selected as one the players' own personal character. If you don't play as them ''and'' don't recruit them into your final party before the first PointOfNoReturn (there will always be [[ArbitraryHeadcountLimit at least two who get left behind]]), [[spoiler:they are killed by Magister Dallis and Mister Vrederman, subsequently being raised as undead to [[WhatTheHellPlayer call you out for not recruiting them]] and later challenge you at the Arena Of One.]]

** Same goes for ''VideoGame/{{Castlevania 64}}'' and its UpdatedRerelease ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaLegacyOfDarkness Legacy of Darkness]]'', which posit ''three'' people -- Reinhardt Schneider, Carrie Fernandez, and Henry Oldrey -- that traveled to Dracula's castle in the same year.

* ''VideoGame/WolfensteinTheNewColossus'' allows players to re-choose who gets sacrificed, and this choice will also determine which heavy weapon is a permanent part of your inventory (Saving Wyatt gives you the Dieselkraft flame cannon, while Fergus gives you the Laserkraft laser cannon). Whichever weapon you don't get will become temporary pickups during missions.

* SevenKingdomsThePrincessProblem lets you choose between 6 origins who are all one of 7 delegates from 7 kingdoms. Not all 49 delegates are named, so one would think there would be room for your unplayed origins in the background, right? Wrong; observing the Arland delegation while not playing as the Arland Princess has your PlayerCharacter note the Arland hasn't sent a princess this year.

* Variation: in the original ''VideoGame/{{Persona}}'', there are five possible party members - Brown, Ayase, Yukino, Elly, and, [[GuideDangIt if you jump through the right hoops,]] Reiji. You get to recruit one of them (possibly two if you take the Snow Queen path, if you replace Ayase with Nanjo, the latter of which is prerequisite for the SEBEC story). The rest? Well, who knows what happens to them? It's worth noting that ''VideoGame/{{Persona 2}}'' clarifies that everyone did everything together, more or less.

* As for [[VideoGame/MegaMan the classic series]]...