History WhatHappenedToTheMouse / VideoGames

* In ''Videogame/TheLogomancer'', Ardus reveals at one point that the ideal LoveInterest he created for his novel looks and acts exactly like Cynthia, even though he wrote the manuscript long before he met her. Everyone is quick to point out how weird this is, but it never comes up again.

** In ''Burning Crusade'', we meet Sabellian, a black dragon who helps the player defeat a Gronn. He survives the battle and disappears afterward. Two expansions later, in the Fangs of the Father questline, the uncorrupted black dragon Wrathion is seen killing off the rest of the Black Dragonflight, claiming he is the LastOfHisKind at the end.
No word was given on Sabellian's status, although an [[WordOfGod Ask CDev]] clarified that Wrathion is not all-knowing and some black dragons might have survived. Fifteen years after the ''Burning Crusade'', Sabellian would finally return in ''Dragonflight'', becoming Wrathion's rival to lead the now-uncorrupted Black Dragonflight.

** Also, [[TheDragon Klungo]] from the first game. He only appears during the scene where Grunty is shown building the machine she will use to suck the beauty out of Banjo's sister, after which he disappears and is simply never seen, heard, or mentioned again. The only time he's ''ever'' seen again is in the NonStandardGameOver, where he actually succeeds in turning Grunty beautiful... at least, until his brief appearance in the ending sequence. He gets an expanded role in all of the other ''Banjo'' games, though.
** And of course, how could we forget about Tooty? You know, Banjo's little sister? The one whom [[BigBad Grunty]] wanted to steal her beauty from and thus started the events of the entire series? The one whom her older brother Banjo cared enough about to search a creepy witch's lair, climb tribal mountaintops, swim towards shark-infested islands, get swallowed by a giant sewage machine, wade through piranha-infested swamps, freeze his arse off in the North Pole, then burn his arse off in a desert, investigate a haunted residence, nearly drown in a polluted shipyard, time travel through a sky-high forest, win a fiery gameshow, and beat said witch who started it all, JUST to get to her? And then suddenly never even see her again in the series (save for an in-joke FaceOnAMilkCarton in Tooie, and other references)?
** That goes for Grunty's benevolent sister Brentilda as well.

* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'': Zsasz is MIA after you save Dr. Young from him. There's the Scarecrow vision, but that's an illusion. Same thing applies to some of the named staff in Arkham after you save them. Considering how many guards got killed, we can only hope they made a run for it.

* In ''VideoGame/{{BioShock 2}}'', [[spoiler: The character Tenenbaum, from the first game, appears very briefly, after leadup to the game suggested she would play a far more important role. Her character's audio logs say that she's come back to figure out what is going on. But you save her from an attack, she flees, and you never hear from her again.]] This has something to do with [[ExecutiveMeddling the designers shifting the plot around at the near-last minute, and likely changed who your helpers and enemies were.]]
** She plays a major role and her fate is revealed in the downloadable mission pack as Subject Sigma's main ally. Although it's doubtful this was planned ahead of time so much as when they started writing the story for the mission pack, she was now simply conveniently available.

* ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow'': While averted in the main mode in which she turns up at the tail end of the adventure, Mina Hakuba makes absolutely no appearance, nor is even mentioned in [[AnotherSideAnotherStory Julius Mode]]. [[spoiler:Considering [[KillTheCutie what kickstarts Julius Mode]] to begin with, [[SchrodingersGun the implications]] [[UncertainDoom aren't pretty]].]]

** A better example is what happened to Magus, Schala's brother. In ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'', the character Guile was supposed to be Magus still searching for his sister but Square dropped it during development. There are still several scenes from the game that Square left in from this plotline. The most obvious is a letter from Lucca that suggests that Janus (Magus' real name) was travelling with you. Of course considering what [[DroppedABridgeOnHim happened to the rest of the cast]] from ''Chrono Trigger'' this might be a good thing.
*** In the DS remake of ''Chrono Trigger'', Magus, [[spoiler:upon the realization that he could never be strong enough to deal with the Time Devourer, casts aside his memories and winds up in a forest. What happens to him from ''there'' on the other hand...]]

* Bodahn and Sandal seem to have quietly dropped off the map in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', with the role of dwarven enchanter taken on by Dagna, a minor (but adorable) NPC from ''[[VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins Origins]]''. Especially frustrating since Sandal was built up to be a very weird mystery -- what ''is'' he? A dwarven mage? An abomination? A reincarnated Elder God? -- and then was seemingly forgotten about.

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestI'': The Hero searches for several items scattered around the world by his ancestor Erdrick in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII''. He finds his Sword and his Armor, but... Where's Erdrick's Shield (i.e. the Shield of Heroes)? The absence of his helmet was understandable, since it was just an iron mask, but the shield was a special magical talisman like the sword and armor.

*** King Helseth is another character who vanishes from the lore after the events of the ''Tribunal'' expansion. He apparently remained King until at least the events of the Oblivion Crisis, but there is no word on his fate afterwards. Unusual for the series which likes to give at least subtle hints as to the fate of prominent characters from past games in future ones. (Given that [[ProudMerchantRace House Hlaalu]], Helseth's [[TheClan Great House]], was basically {{Unperson}}ed following the [[ColonyDrop Red]] [[ChekhovsVolcano Year]], as shown in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'''s ''Dragonborn'' DLC, maybe this one isn't too unusual after all...)

** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'''s ''Shivering Isles'' DLC introduces Jyggalag, the Daedric Prince of Order, BigBad for the DLC, and the old [[MadGod Sheogorath]]'s [[LiteralSplitPersonalities Literally Split Personality]]. Despite being freed and split from Sheogorath, he does not appear anywhere after said DLC. There is no mention of him anywhere in ''Skyrim'' (where all 16 other Daedric Princes make an appearance) or any lore piece set in between the two works. Speculations about his fate are a staple in the ''Elder Scrolls'' lore community.

* What becomes of Dee, Anzel, Bill and Trot at the end of ''VideoGame/EmeraldCityConfidential''? Their storylines never get resolved as the game gradually focuses more on the main plot.

*** Banon starts out as leader of LaResistance against TheEmpire in the World of Balance. He is never mentioned in the World of Ruin. The most likely explanation is that he was killed after the Empire's [[ISurrenderSuckers fake surrender]], but this is never confirmed and none of the party (which includes Banon's long-time friends, Edgar and Locke) even see fit to mention his apparent death after Edgar leads the currently inactive portion of your party in a narrow ([[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome offscreen]]) escape to reunite with Locke's portion of the group. Likewise for Banon's right-hand man Arvis, also a long-time friend of Edgar and Locke. Were Banon and Arvis killed before Edgar uncovered the Empire's deception, or did they perhaps lead LaResistance's [[{{Mooks}} nameless infantry]] in a HeroicSacrifice to buy time for Edgar's getaway? We'll never know, because even almost 20 years after the fact, [[ShrugOfGod the creators refuse to say]].

*** After Kefka poisons the people of Doma, the only survivors are Cyan and a nameless soldier, who search the castle for other survivors. Cyan finds his deceased wife and son and goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge, hooks up with Sabin, and the rest is history. Whatever happened to the other survivor? The Imperials did not occupy Doma Castle (Kefka poisoned the water on his own, rather than being ordered to do so), so it's not inconceivable that he might have survived the siege, but he's never heard from again.
*** What happened to the people of Narshe in the World of Ruin? There is an NPC that mentions that the town is overrun by monsters, but why? The city looks exactly the same as it did in the World of Balance so it wasn't hit by the Light of Judgement. Did the people die? If so, how? Why did Umaro and Mog survive? Did the people evacuate? If so, where? Considering how important the town is to the story, you would think something would have been said.
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' there's a QuirkyMinibossSquad called "The Turks" and consisting of mercenaries hired by Shinra named Reno, Rude, and Tseng who antagonize you throughout the game, and each time they're defeated they run away. During your second and final visit to Midgar, you fight them one last time, and at the end of the battle they run away as per usual. However, not long after the Shinra corporation is completely destroyed with its leadership either dead at the hands of Diamond Weapon or defected. Once that happens, the only thing left to do in the main story is head to the Northern Crater to kill [[BigBad Sephiroth]]. What happened to Reno, Rude, and Tseng during all this is left ambiguous.

** Also, what happened to [[spoiler: Dandy and Beauty]]? The last time we see them, we learned that [[spoiler: Beauty could sense Sissel]], then we never see them again until the post-game WhereAreTheyNow segment, [[spoiler:which takes place in a different timeline.]]

** One was also ''very narrowly averted'' thanks to a HandWave in Golden Sun 2. Remember Babi, the old man whose life was a major plot point in the first game, and who needed you to go to Lemuria to prolong his life? Yep, he died. That's it. You hear just once in an offhand comment that he died, and nothing more is ever said about him at any other part of the game.

%%** [[spoiler:After Chapter 63 and the restoration of Orchis to the throne of Erste, the Black Knight pretty much disappears from the plot even with events like Freesia escaping jail and kidnapping Orchis which would seem pretty relevant to her character.]]

** ''Opposing Force'' was developed by Gearbox Software, so Valve may not own that character or may not consider him canon. The Race X enemies haven't reappeared either. The same could be said about Drs. Gina Cross and Colette Green in ''Half-Life: Decay''. Which is weird considering that ''Blue Shift'' was made by Gearbox and its character Barney Calhoun ''survives'' the Black Mesa incidence and the ensuing chaos and returns in ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' and its two Episodes.

* In ''VideoGame/KatawaShoujo'', Kenji is all over this trope. Who's his ex-girlfriend? What was in that box? Did Yuuko ever find out he was stealing books from the library? It's all a RiddleForTheAges...His ex-girlfriend is heavily implied to be [[spoiler: Yuuko]] but it's never confirmed. In fact, the prototype build all but shouts it to the player, but that's not exactly canon. Probably for the better that it was made more subtle.

* In ''VideoGame/LEGOBatman'', a cutscene shows a man preparing to propose to his girlfriend. When he produces the ring, the girl screams and ducks under the table. The man is sad, not realizing that she screamed because Joker and Scarecrow were coming up from behind him in their aircraft. The man is swept up by the planes and is last seen clinging to a steeple. Did he ever get down? Did Batman rescue him? Did his girl say yes?

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' has supporting characters from each tribe that help you board a Divine Beast (Teba, Sidon, Riju, and Yunobo). They are shown to be doing well if you check up on them after clearing a Divine Beast, but they aren't heard from again afterwards and they don't even appear in the finale and the credits. You can also wind up invoking the trope on accident or on purpose if you decide to go to the FinalBoss without resolving the problems plaguing the people of Hyrule; sure, you saved the world, but what ever happened to the people and events you skipped over?

** Douglas similarly disappears without fanfare in-between ''VideoGame/MegaManX6'' and ''VideoGame/MegaManX7''. The Lifesaver robots also only appear in ''X5'' and are never mentioned again.

** In the backstory for ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', Solid Snake has taken up dog sledding in his retirement, and owns "fifty huskies" which he calls his family. Many a dog lover has been made very upset by the absence of dogs in every later game -- they are not [[ForgottenFallenFriend even mentioned]] in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'', and in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' he has three pet chickens but no dogs. Where did they end up? Are they OK? (Some speculate that the dogs in ''Metal Gear Solid 4'' are the descendants of Snake's huskies, explaining their affection for him, but it's not clear why Snake would dump his 'family' on a nuclear disposal cleanup facility on a remote Alaskan island. It's more likely they are the remnants/descendants of Sniper Wolf's wolfpack, as it's implied that one of them is Sniper Wolf reincarnated.) Given that Campbell's response to the line about the huskies is "[[ImpliedDeathThreat Don't worry about your dogs"]]...

** The last you see of Anna Hutchens and another team member ([[MutuallyExclusivePartyMembers Medusa or Slavsky]]) is when they are left behind before the last level because the team leader decides it's too unsafe for them beyond this point. They are never seen or mentioned again. Especially jarring with Medusa (the mutant who retained his sanity) -- was he ever turned back into a human, or at least re-integrated into society, or... something?

* ''VideoGame/Persona1'' has several party members you can choose from for a 5th ally, but whoever you pick, the rest simply go on their own way and are never heard from again. The students and faculty that appear in the beginning of the game literally vanish with their school at the beginning of the game and you never find out what exactly happened to them [[DummiedOut due to an alternate quest that could not be implemented in time]]. In the PSP port, you can play the alternate quest proper, but you'll see other characters simply disappear or never show up without any explanation. Despite the fact that you can never recruit every main character, WordOfGod says everyone worked together.

*** White and Purple Pikmin were also no shows in Pikmin 3's main story (though they do appear in mission mode and bingo battle), instead being functionally replaced by the Winged and Rock Pikmin. The fate of the White and Purple Pikmin remains ambiguous at best.

** Every single comic relief baddie. They all only appear in the very beginning, and they all disappear without a trace as the series progresses. Heck, they don't even return after [[DiscOneFinalBoss Primal Dialga]] has finally been taken care of! It's implied that the main reason why they all disappeared very early is because they are actually all afraid of the series' BigBad, [[spoiler: [[OmnicidalManiac Darkrai]]]], and that Primal Dialga is the least of their worries.
** Subverted with Gengar on the first two games. Even though he's seemingly the leader of your average GoldfishPoopGang, [[spoiler:he turns out to be far worse when he tells everyone in Pokemon Square that you're the cause of TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt]]. His gang is almost never seen again with him, but they stay as recurring characters. However, their original plan about ''taking over the world'' has this trope played completely straight.
** In Red/Blue, your very first mission and storyline dungeon requires saving a Caterpie and returning it to her mother. The Butterfree is then completely erased from existence as she is never seen again. Strangely enough, Caterpie DOES gets a role as a supporting character.

* In ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia2008'', the main character begins it by losing his donkey, Farah. He's wandering around, calling for her when he runs into the princess. Although she is occasionally referenced Farah is never seen.
** It is later explained in the credits of the EDC for the game. [[spoiler:Farah the Donkey is dead, but the developers assure us that no real donkeys were harmed.]]
* Midway through ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'', Alex's sister Dana is kidnapped by TheVirus; Alex manages to rescue her from the epicenter of the outbreak, and drops her off with Doctor Ragland. Considering that Dana Mercer and Ragland were the only sympathetic characters in the entire game, the fact that neither one is seen again is a bit jarring.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Scaler}}'', what happened to [[TerribleTrio Looger's Henchmen (and woman): Jazz, Rhombus, and Turbine]]? They appear at the start, make an appearance at the first boss, then turn up as the second boss, are shown in a beaten-up (and alive) state [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment when you beat them]]... and then are promptly never seen again. What happened? Did they run off? Did they die/[[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness Looger dispose of them]]? Did they come back to our world? We shall never know.

* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'': In ''VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles'', if you got all the Chaos Emeralds (from the Sonic 3 part) you could, in addition to turning into Super Sonic, start upgrading them into the larger "Super Emeralds" in the Sonic & Knuckles part, allowing you to become Hyper Sonic, who was like Super Sonic only even more powerful. After this one appearance, the Emeralds are only seen in their standard small form, with no mention of the Super Emeralds or Hyper Sonic, although ''VideoGame/SonicMania'' referenced the former by having powerless stone replicas take their place in Hidden Palace.

* In the Subspace Emissary mode in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'', what happens to Link's fairy companion? It appears flying along with him when he's introduced, flies off out of shot when the Halberd casts a shadow... and then (outside of one of the battle taunts Link can do) never appears again.

** Where is Jun Kazama? Her son Jin's entire motivation from the game he debuted in was to avenge his mother's "death"; the problem is in fact that he actually never saw Jun dying, and only assumed that after she stayed to fight Ogre as he ran away the God had her killed, (although the wrecked and burnt surroundings from the place she was fighting was a good indication). This doubt still persists by adding more uncertainty in Jin's assumption on Jun's death, and the fact that ''WordOfGod'' is deliberately keeping her fate a secret for dramatic effect doesn't help.
** Kuma's second costume in the first two games is a polar bear. From the third onward, (where Kuma is replaced by his identically named son) his second costume is another character, Panda. Nobody knows what happened to polar bear Kuma and it's never been mentioned.

* ''VideoGame/{{Utawarerumono}}'': What was with Kamyu's blood drinking, spirit talking and... other nighttime activities, anyway? Presumably they were supposed to be foreshadowing for Mutsumi but... she didn't do any of that stuff either. And it's not like the original her even ''could'' have done anything like that. Plus, [[spoiler:isn't Mutsumi Hakuoro's surrogate daughter?]] It seems doubtful that she would do anything like she did if she's supposedly being influenced or something.

* ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'' does this with several characters:
** What happened to Chet or Andre (depending on your choices) after they leave Herschel's farm?
** What happened to Lilly after the group abandoned her/she abandoned the group? [[spoiler:You find out when she returns in Season 4, [[FromNobodyToNightmare worse than ever]], as the BigBad and leader of The Delta.]]
** What happens to Molly after she leaves the group?
** What became of the Save-Lot bandits?
** Or the surviving members of the St. Johns family, if you choose not to kill them?
** What happens to Christa after Clementine runs away in the first chapter of Season 2?
** Or the guys who were attacking them, for that matter?
** Where do Mike, Bonnie and Arvo go after they shoot Clementine and flee the group?
** Averted with the cancer survivor group in Season 1, who steal the boat Lee and Kenny had been hoping to use to escape. Their fates are revealed in 400 Days.
*** However, it is Played Straight at that point, because we don't see them again after Shel and Becca leave them
*** Speaking of 400 Days, we also don't find out what happened to Leland, Wyatt's friend Eddie, Nate or whichever prisoner escapes with Vince
*** The survivors from 400 Days who you helped get to the Howe's department store? Are they killed when it is overrun by zombies in Season 2? And if so, doesn't that make "saving" them pointless?

** What happened to Dogi during ''V''? Or during ''Memories of Celceta'' (which takes place between ''II'' and ''The Oath in Felghana''), for that matter. Flashbacks in the latter show him in Celceta with Adol (albeit unnamed), but he never makes an official appearance.

* One of the numerous subplots brought up in ''VideoGame/AnotherCode R'' is that of Matt's father, who mysteriously disappeared. While all the other subplots and the main plot point are solved, his is dropped in the last two chapters and given only a vague hint as to what happened. The intent was this was going to be a SequelHook for a SpinOff game starring Matt that would answer this question, but became this trope when the company of the series went bankrupt and closed down.

*** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'' you can find light helmets called Colovian Fur Hats, which presumably come from Colovia in the Imperial Province. In [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]] players can visit Colovia, but there are no Colovian Fur Hats anywhere.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' has supporting characters from each tribe that help you board a Divine Beast (Teba, Sidon, Ruu, and Yunobo). They are shown to be doing well if you check up on them after clearing a Divine Beast, but they aren't heard from again afterwards and they don't even appear in the finale and the credits. You can also wind up invoking the trope on accident or on purpose if you decide to go to the FinalBoss without resolving the problems plaguing the people of Hyrule; sure, you saved the world, but what ever happened to the people and events you skipped over?
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'' barely makes any mention about the Divine Beasts or the Guardians that had caused trouble in Hyrule previously. They simply vanished without any mention on what happened to them.