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  • Interestingly, with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 the Green Goblin's role is demoted to only his fight scene and the Max Dillon/Electro subplot is given only slightly more attention than the Goblin.
  • Animal Crossing: The fourth installment, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, introduces the alpaca couple Reese and Cyrus and their personal shop Re-Tail, essential for selling items at full value and customizing furniture. In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the shop is not present in any capacity as the main buyer of unwanted items goes back to the Nooklings and the service of item customization is transitioned into a new system that goes with the new DIY features. As for the alpacas, their appearance is reduced to being mascots for the Wedding Season event that lasts all throughout June, and they otherwise make no appearance outside of it until the 2.0 update gave them year-round residence on Harv’s island (although you have to raise the money for their stand first).
  • Another Code: Jessica gets this in the second game. While her role in the first game was never huge to begin with, mainly getting Ashley to go adventuring by getting kidnapped, she at least provided some exposition in both her appearances. In the second game, she appears briefly in the beginning seeing Ashley off and her only other time on-screen is via a phone call that serves more as a recap than anything.
  • Many playable characters from the first Baldur's Gate game make cameo appearances as NPCs in the sequel, all that can be potentially killed without any impact to the main story, sometimes tied to side quests. Specifically:
    • Xan and Branwen appear in the tutorial to teach you about mages and clerics as temporary party members. They won't appear in the campaign.
    • Quayle now runs the circus in the promenade, initially seized by Kalah before you clear the latter's schemes. Quayle is like a foster father and a mentor to Aerie, whom he wants to join your party.
    • Xzar will approach you to investigate the Harpers' headquarters in search for Montaron, who disappeared inside. It is later revealed that the Harpers were tricking both you and Xzar to get the latter to expose himself, in order to kill him (Montaron was already dead).
    • Faldorn is leading the druids attacking Trademeet. You will have to defeat her to stop the conflict.
    • Ajantis will lead a team of paladins near Windspear Hills, but due to an illusion they are shown as ogres to you and viceversa. Conflict is inevitable even if you try to reason because he is notoriously Lawful Stupid and will charge recklessly into what he perceives as monsters. Only after killing them the illusion disappears revealing the corpses of paladins, and if you have Keldorn in your party he will recognize Ajantis.
    • Tiax is an inmate in Spellhold. He will join the first battle against Irenicus, only to die.
    • Coran will ask you to free Safana from a werewolf called Lanfear. You were tricked: Safana wanted your bounty and made an agreement with Lanfear to ambush you. Things end in disaster when Lanfear kills Safana because the werewolf only wanted Coran as a love interest, being rejected afterwards. A fight ensues but Coran might survive.
  • Certain major characters of the Forgotten Realms setting are this in Baldur's Gate, such as Elminster or Drizzt.
  • In the Super Robot Wars pastiche game Battle Moon Wars, this is transferred from Sacchin to Servant Assassin instead. All Servants made it to the game, even True Assassin, who only appears in one route and is obviously less popular. Sacchin is at least playable and can be acquired. But Assassin wasn't even included in any of those series, not even as Caster's Servant. Kotomine is also conspicuously absent, even though the plot explains why he isn't there. Then there's the representation of The Garden of Sinners... we only got Ryougi, Touko, and Araya.
  • Bayonetta 3: The angels of Paradiso were the main mooks of the first game and most of the enemies in the second. In 3, Paradiso is uninvolved with the main storyline, and the angels only appear as side-enemies in optional missions. Their role as the antagonistic force is replaced by Singularity and his army made exclusively of Homunculi.
  • In The Black Cauldron, Taran's companions are given very reduced roles compared to the film, due to the limits of personal computers at the time. Eilowny only follows Taran around in the secret passages of the Horned King's castle, then disappears from the plot after they find a certain room. Fflewddur exits his cell and just disappears into thin air. Gurgi will appear randomly in the forest, but will only show up suddenly to help in certain endings.
  • Bloons Tower Defense 3 introduced the Spike-o-pult as a tower, complete with its own set of upgrades. In the next games, it's no longer a tower of its own; rather, Dart Monkeys turn into a Spike-o-pult when upgraded.
  • Deis from Breath of Fire was slowly demoted from sequel to sequel: In Breath of Fire I she was a normal (and very powerful) party member, in Breath of Fire II she became an non-essential optional (but still very powerful) party member, Breath of Fire III saw her a plot-important NPC and Master character to the party and Breath of Fire IV left her only a plot-important NPC (though she's somewhat part of the party as she lives in Ershin). Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter didn't even feature her, though she was at one point planned to appear.
  • The Capcom vs. SNK series does this a lot. Popular characters expected to appear (such as Andy Bogard, Robert Garcia, Goro Daimon, Yang, Jill Valentine, Ralf & Clark, and even Mega Man) either get cameo appearances/assist roles, passing mentions or don't appear at all. (Though it should be noted that Capcom's two entries in the series restricted themselves to fighting game characters; SNK's games, not so much.) This is very noticeable on the SNK side, as most of the KOF teams (sans the Women Fighters Team) are incomplete in the games. (For example...)  Some characters who appeared in the handheld title, Match of the Millennium (such as Felicia, B.B. Hood, Akari and Leona) appeared in that game and then got cameos or nothing. Chang also shares his moveset with Choi in Capcom vs. SNK 2, but Choi got into SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos on his own, with Chang only getting cameos. On the plus side, the Card Fighters series contains nearly all major characters (and several minor ones) from practically all Capcom and SNK games... in the forms of cards, as it is a trading card game series.
  • Tawna, the title character's original girlfriend from the Crash Bandicoot series, only made a few returns appearances following her role as Damsel in Distress in the first game. The game designers decide to explain away her absence in the second game by stating in the (now-defunct) official website that Tawna left Crash for Pinstripe Potoroo. Barring an easily overlooked playable stint in 2006's Crash Boom Bang! (a Mario Party clone with little fanfare), Tawna wouldn't resurface until the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy in 2017, followed by an appearance as a DLC racer for 2019's Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled. Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time would see Tawna get Promoted to Playable via an alternate version of her from another universe.
  • If a Versus game or some Mascot Fighter by Capcom (Capcom Fighting Jam/Evolution or Pocket Fighter) is going to feature one of the Darkstalkers, it's usually going to be Morrigan or one of the other female characters in the series (Felicia, Hsien-Ko, and B.B. Hood). Q-Bee is not as lucky and Lilith often gets upstaged/overshadowed by Morrigan; Lilith Mode Morrigan in Marvel vs. Capcom and Cross Edge aside, Lilith's appearances in the Vs. series are limited to appearing in her sister's attacks, intro/win poses, and endings, in step with their merger at the end of Darkstalkers 3. Capcom did use Demitri—the original intended protagonist of the series before Morrigan stole his thunder—for Capcom Fighting Jam and SVC Chaos (along with Namco × Capcom, Cross Edge, and Project × Zone), as well as Anakaris in Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and Fighting Jam. Jedah seems to have fared the best out of the remaining cast, appearing in Capcom Fighting Evolution, Cross Edge, and Project X Zone (as a non-playable boss) before making a surprise appearance in Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite as a playable character in a 2D fighter for the first time in years. Meanwhile, Lord Raptor is a Recurring Boss in both Namco × Capcom and Project X Zone, Donovan managed to get into Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, his protectee Anita appeared as a Secret Character in Marvel Super Heroes (following the precedent set by Akuma as a Guest Fighter in X-Men: Children of the Atom), and Pyron was also part of the Capcom Fighting Evolution roster. Besides cameos in Pocket Fighter, Jon Talbain, Rikuo, Bishamon, and Sasquatch have received nothing (with the only other consolation for Jon being a DLC costume for Amaterasu in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3), while Victor and Huitzil have gone forgotten. Q-Bee and Huitzil also appear in Namco × Capcom and Project X Zone (Q-Bee only), though as minor enemies.
  • Cyberpunk 2077: In the TTRPG, Michiko Arasaka, Kei's oldest daughter, was a semi-prominent character and deeply embroiled in the intrigues that plagued the highest echelons of the Arasaka family. In the video game, she is reduced to being mentioned in a missable piece of flavor text as being the leader of the less-hawkish faction within Arasaka's Board of Directors, and an almost silent appearance in one of the endings.
  • Butcher Joyce barely gets screen time and only optional dialogue in The Darkness II, whereas he had a mission devoted to him in the original game.
  • In Devil May Cry the romantic nature of Trish's relation to Dante was completely toned down once Hideki Kamiya was no longer at the helm of anything Devil May Cry-related; at the end of Devil May Cry she and Dante grew to be very close (their final theme tune that plays over the staff roll is even called "Seeds of Love – Trish & Dante") and in Viewtiful Joe they appear to pretty much be a Battle Couple. Everything after that, however, gave a new angle to their relationship. In Devil May Cry 2, Trish isn't in the story at all, Dante is alone, and she is merely an one-note unlockable character. The anime (set before 2) made Trish work far away from Dante very often and played the fact she weirds him out due having his mother's appearance. Devil May Cry 3 (a prequel in which Trish isn't present) introduced the fact Dante is not very lucky with girls despite his appearance, and in Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition Trish even teases Dante about his inability to "get the girl" at the end (contrasting him with Nero and Kyrie), showing the two are mostly just good partners currently.
  • In Dinosaur Planet, Krystal was going to be the Deuteragonist and Drakor the Big Bad, but in Star Fox Adventures, the former was demoted to a Damsel in Distress and the latter to a late-game boss with no voice lines.
  • Lampshaded in the Disgaea series:
  • Donkey Kong:
    • The titular character was only a playable character for the first Donkey Kong Country; after that he was just someone who needed rescuing in the SNES games, though later be becomes playable again in Donkey Kong 64 and Donkey Kong Country Returns.
    • Squawks in Donkey Kong Country Returns is demoted from his role in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest and Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!. In those previous two games, Squawks was controllable and could fly around and shoot enemies. In DKCR, he's reduced to sitting in the corner of your screen and letting you know when there's a puzzle piece nearby to be found. Incidentally, Squawks as a playable character actually made him an Ascended Extra from the very first DKC where all he did was hold a flashlight for you in one level... before eventually being demoted again.
  • In the original arcade versions of the first two Double Dragon, Machine Gun Willy was undoubtedly the main bad guy, as he was the final boss in the first game and the guy who shoots the Lee brothers' girlfriend Marian in the second game. In the NES version of the first game, he is simply the last guy Billy faces before the final battle with his brother Jimmy and is a complete no-show in the second NES game. The people who made Battletoads & Double Dragon, aside from demoting him into a lackey to some made-up new villain, didn't even bother to get his name right. His Big Bad status was restored in the GBA version though.
  • Dragon Age:
    • In the first game, Jowan was meant to be a companion who would have joined after Redcliffe and taught the Blood Mage specialisation, but was cut early in development and his role in the story reduced to simply appearing in the Mage Origin and the Redcliffe questlines.
    • The Grey Wardens in Dragon Age II. While some of the fandom complained, this was actually justified. With the Blight defeated in the first game and the Darkspawn driven back into the Deep Roads, what exactly was there left for the Grey Wardens to actually do? They would later return to the spotlight in Dragon Age: Inquisition, although not in the way most would expect.
  • Dynasty Warriors:
  • Pang De. He debuts in DW5, and was quite the welcome addition. In DW6, he was turned into a generic officer as Word of God thinks he's not unique enough, and his weapon and personality got transferred to Zhang Liao. He reappeared in DW7 and DW8 with a new weapon, but remains the only character to have ever been demoted to a generic officer.
  • Even if he appears in all games since his debut, Guan Ping has been suffering this since 7. First, the most canon appearance he gets will be just about Fan Castle, where he will be unplayable and proceeds to die doing a failed You Shall Not Pass!. And with the inclusion of Liu Shan, his budding romance with Xingcai, which was introduced in 5, vanishes out of thin air as Xingcai focuses more on babysitting Liu Shan (may be historically justified as Guan Ping would've died far before Xingcai would come to age). They still give teases like they're still close friends in case of free modes, but that's it.
  • The Qiaos (Daqiao and Xiaoqiao) and Cai Wenji of Wu and Wei respectively suffer through this. In 7, it's best described that the Wu and Wei stories took place in a universe where neither existed while in 8 their only appearance in the story (let alone as playable characters) is in the Hypothetical path.
  • In Fallout 3, Paladin Vargas, right-hand man to Sentinel Lyons and an essential ally during "Following in his Footsteps", is reduced to an expendable Red Shirt during "Take it Back!".
  • Final Fantasy:
    • Terra in Final Fantasy VI gets this treatment. The entire first half of the game is all about her origin and her half-esper-ness, then The End of the World as We Know It happens. Then Celes becomes the star and Terra's barely mentioned in the second half. Gau also suffers this; as soon as the player acquires the Blackjack airship, Gau loses all plot relevance, since the potential exists for the player to have him Leap on the Veldt and never bring him back to the group.
    • In Final Fantasy IX, Freya features rather prominently in the first disc after her introduction, but pretty much as soon as her race is massacred and she pulls a You Shall Not Pass! so Zidane, Dagger, and Vivi can escape, she only appears in battle and a few minute scenes until the epilogue. Painfully ironic given that her character quote is "To be forgotten is worse than death."
    • Final Fantasy XII winds up doing this to the so-called "hero" Vaan and his girlfriend Penelo a quarter of the way through the game once the other party members join and steal the plot. You'll hear nary a peep out of them for many hours until the end of the end, where they only finally get a starring role again in the epilogue. All things considered, Vaan's really more of Audience Surrogate than a true protagonist, even if he figures into Ashe's character arc.
    • Prior to the release of the game, Jihl Nabaat was given quite a bit of attention for an extra from the Final Fantasy XIII trailers and information released on them. Just when you think she would play a major part in the game and fight you, she gets killed off in a rather unceremonious fashion by Galenth Dysley before she has the chance to do so. Talk about getting taken out like some punk. They do get their own battle in the sequel's Coliseum area (via DLC) and can be added to your party if defeated, but that's a small consolation.
    • Final Fantasy XIII was also originally meant to have seven party members, but implementation problems led to Serah being reduced to an NPC. This led to Lightning becoming a more serious character which then led to Fang becoming a woman.
    • Also done in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII where the focus is obviously on Lightning for majority of the game. She's the only playable character, although Hope plays a somewhat important role as her Mission Control. The rest of the characters are turned into NPCs, some of which you fight, team up with or just talk to.
    • Lunafreya Nox Fleuret and Cor Leonis in Final Fantasy XV both suffered this. Cor was originally the fifth permanent party member, where he would join the party halfway through the first game in the trilogy. When the development team was switched and they decided to go back to just a single game, Cor was demoted to a mentor and Guest-Star Party Member role. After replacing original heroine Stella, Luna found herself having a major presence in the new Final Fantasy XV Universe multimedia project, particularly Kingsglaive. Her actual game presence, however, was largely cut down for conflicting reasons, leaving her with only a handful of scenes in the game. Patches and later an entire DLC episode was set to rectify this, however Episode Luna ended up being cancelled.
  • Fire Emblem
    • The series has its own way of dealing with this. If a character is vital to the story, they'll get critically wounded and will never be able to take part in battles again, though they'll still be present for the story segments. It's still common for characters to get demoted out of the story once they're recruited, thus allowing them to die their Permadeath, though. Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade manages to do this with the Tactician, your Player Character. Yes, this game managed to render the player him/herself to be of minimal importance to the overall plot. In fact, they don't get any lines whatsoever in the main plot outside of the traditional line or two of dialogue when starting the final map.
    • Most characters cease to have dialogue by the first 1-3 chapters after you've recruited them. Although slightly subverted by the revolutionary character development advent of Support Conversations in the majority of later games (including almost every game released in English, save for a single oddity and a sequel), as well as the base conversations of Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn (which incidentally served the character development purposes in Radiant Dawn).
    • Evident in Path of Radiance, where the mysterious Volke tells Ike the truth after getting 50,000 gold. Results in a Didn't See That Coming where Volke was originally hired to kill Ike's father if he lost control, and to do research on Lehran's Medallion. After that, Volke has little to no relevance in the entire game aside from being a good unit. And in Radiant Dawn, Volke is hired to do research by Count Bastian himself about the feral potion, because apparently, Elincia's uncle has been turned feral in Part 4. Which ends up not being relevant at all, because the person in question gets healed by a heron and turns out fine. Volke shows up in the last chapter before Endgame, despite apparently having been doing this for the entire game.
    • Downplayed with Lyn in Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade. She's not exactly irrelevant after her tale, but she doesn't hold quite as much importance to the overarching plot as Hector or Eliwood. She still contributes greatly to the army, however, and remains a valuable member of the group.
    • The same game also does this to a few characters from Binding Blade. Fae and Sophia, both playable characters, are reduced to cameo appearances in Blazing Blade, while Murdoch, The Dragon from Binding, shows up in Blazing for a role so minimal it could have been filled by a Mook. Justified since Blazing is a prequel, so these appearances were more intended as inverted Early Bird Cameos.
    • Largo is the only unit in Path of Radiance to not be playable in the sequel (this is due to losing his arm in the interim between the two games).
    • The Second Generation characters became this in the 3DS games. When it was first introduced in the Japan-exclusive Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, the children characters became the main characters after the first 5 chapters of the game. In Fire Emblem: Awakening and Fire Emblem Fates, they are mostly optional characters who have little relevance to the story of those games. While Awakening does have plot-related reasons to include the second generation due to time travel, and one of the second-gen characters, Lucina, is actually a main character and thus avoids the "extra" role most of the game, Fates makes the children completely irrelevant, and seems to be somewhat mishandled compared to how the concept worked in Awakening.
  • Five Nights at Freddy's:
    • Five Nights at Freddy's 3:
      • Toy Freddy and Toy Bonnie are only present in Five Nights at Freddy's 3 as shells in a box despite being more active in Five Nights at Freddy's 2. They don't receive phantom hallucinations, nor do they appear in minigames with BB, Toy Chica and Mangle.
      • Bonnie zig-zags this; while he's the only original animatronic who only appears as decoration around Fazbear's Fright and doesn't have a phantom counterpart, the Big Bad of the game, Springtrap, is a predecessor/variant of him originally named "Spring Bonnie".
    • Five Nights at Freddy's 4
      • The Toy animatronics are only present as toys in the after-night minigames despite being major characters in earlier games (though Mangle does get a Nightmare counterpart in the non-canon Halloween edition).
      • Despite being the Greater-Scope Villain of the series with increasing prominence as the games went on, the murderer is only seen in an Easter Egg cameo in the minigame after Night 2, making no impact on the plot whatsoever.
  • A rare storyline example in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Throughout the first half of the storyline, Ryder, one of CJ's childhood friends, plays a major role for the Grove Street Families, being the one who supplies the weapons to rob for the gang. Later on, he is revealed to be a traitor along with Big Smoke, yet no one says anything about Ryder while the whole focus is on Big Smoke's betrayal. In addition, he is unceremoniously killed off midway in the story without any impact or profound effect to the storyline as if he was a minor character not too different from a typical member of the Ballas.
  • Guilty Gear: Dizzy doesn't fare much better than her mother despite being the tritagonist of the series since her X debut. While she's understandably targeted by the series' Ancient Conspiracy in X and XX due to her status/abilities as a Commander Gear and connection to Justice, the entries following Accent Core Plus see Dizzy's plot signifance significantly reduced. She spends all of GG2 in stasis due to Ky (her "husband") needing to freeze time around her to prevent Dizzy from undergoing sublimation, a fate that isn't reversed until the late stages of -SIGN-. Though the newly resuscitated Dizzy does play a key role in defeating Justice once her corpse is "reactivated" by the Conclave and gets to reunite with Ky and their son Sin, she's once again noticeably absent for the majority of -REVELATOR- save for joining in on a mass Big Damn Heroes moment near the end... despite the narrative being centered around who gets to resurrect her "dead" mother first. At least REV 2 gives Dizzy her own story path in Episode Mode, lessening the sting a little.
  • In Halo, the Arbiter goes from being a main character in Halo 2 to a one-line-wonder whose in-game A.I. has the intelligence of a slug in Halo 3. That said, Player 2 still gets to play as him in 3's co-op mode, allowing the Arbiter to establish a respectable position as the Chief's erstwhile ally and badass-in-arms. While the Arbiter has never regained a protagonist role, his importance has been reemphasized in later media, to the point where he's become one of the main Big Goods, showing up as an important Supporting Leader in Halo 5: Guardians.
  • This happens to Jacket (the protagonist of the first game) in Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. His role in the sequel is much smaller. However, this does make sense, considering that he's a convicted prisoner for the entire game after everything that he did in the first game.
  • Keira in Jak and Daxter: Love Interest and fixer of Broken Bridges. Keira in Jak II: Love Interest and source of a few bits and pieces (one of which, yes, fixed a Broken Bridge). Keira in Jak 3: appears in a few scenes doing exaggerated facial expressions and gets somewhere in the neighbourhood of one line (seriously, Tess had more importance to the plot). Thankfully, she was re-promoted in time for Jak X.
  • All the characters from Jump Start (that weren't eliminated entirely earlier) had this happen to them in the massively multiplayer online game that's now the series' main product; only Frankie remains prominent.
  • Kingdom Hearts:
    • Naminé and Axel were major characters in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, but their roles were greatly reduced in Kingdom Hearts II (probably because, once Roxas was gone and Sora's memories were restored, Naminé didn't have much else she could possibly do except remerge with Kairi, and Axel was supposed to die in the prologue as a tutorial boss, but he was Saved by the Fans and his role extension had to be small or it would clash with what was already plotted out).
    • After Kingdom Hearts II, Donald and Goofy, who were consistent main characters alongside Sora, have been put more and more Out of Focus, amounting to cameos in Birth by Sleep, unlockable multiplayer mode characters in 358/2 Days, Guest Star Party Members in coded, and background furnishing in Dream Drop Distance save for the VERY end.
    • Also after Kingdom Hearts II, Kairi was dropped from all importance while just Sora and Riku received further focus. Even in Kingdom Hearts III, despite being trained as a Keyblade wielder, she still gets sidelined by being killed by Xehanort yet again.
    • A Disney example would be pretty much everyone from Frozen (2013). Even though Arendelle appears as a world in Kingdom Hearts III, Sora only interacts with each of the Frozen cast once which has no bearing on the plot before they are relegated as background characters where the plot goes on exactly like the movie without Sora's further input to the point that he might as well not be there in the first place. Special mentions to this trope however goes to Prince Hans in that despite being the main villain of Frozen, only appears in two brief non-speaking appearances before randomly turning into a Heartless as the world's Boss Battle.
  • The King of Fighters:
    • The series demotes the protagonist of the previous arc for the following arc. Kyo's importance to the plot during the Orochi Saga was downgraded to make room for K' in the NESTS Chronicles and then K' himself moved down to make way for Ash Crimson in the Tales of Ash arc. After being demoted the character continues to add to the story (Kyo was used as a base for a series of clones in the NESTS arc and K' got to fight Mukai in 2003) but it's the current main character who gets the spotlight and wraps up the saga.
    • The American Sports Team from The King of Fighters '94, only returned as playable characters in one game and that was KOF '98. Their other appearances in the series were mostly just background and ending cameos. Even worse, the team is reduced to Butt Monkeys; officially, they get mugged for their invitations every. Single. Year.
    • While she isn't the most important character to start with, Ryo Takamisaki's KOF: G has poor Yuki only in one scene at the beginning. Also qualifies as borderline Derailing Love Interests: said scene makes her little more than a Clingy Jealous Girl opposing Athena over Kyo, and once Kyo explains everything and Yuki relents, she's not seen through the rest of the story.
    • Happens to Kensou in some of Athena's games, specially the Dating Sim ones where the player character assumes the role of her manager or just an average guy seeking for love. Since said games are from the player character's POV, Kensou serves only as a cameo, in a continuity where apparently he won't compete with the given player character regardless of his feelings, or actually such affections aren't romantic at all. Exception goes Awakening from the Ordinary Life, as mentioned in this page before, Kensou gets the chance to be a great support to Athena.
    • 2003 newcomer Duo Lon received a form of this come XIV. '99 introduced a plot point about a great power of mysterious origin residing within Kensou (and also shared with fellow Psycho Soldier Bao) known as the Dragon Spirit, with the following installment introducing the Hizoku, a group of Chinese assassins. Their former leader, Ron, appears as a Striker for Zero in 2001 and expresses an interest in Kensou's power and his apparent mastery over it come XI, with the reveal that he's also allied with Lin (a Hizoku member first seen in 2000 who was hunting down Ron) and Misty (the lover of Igniz, the Final Boss of 2001 who tried to usurp command of the NESTS cartel). Ron's son, the aformentioned Duo Lon, is brought into the KOF tournament while looking into leads on his father, and XIII even suggests that Saiki, the Arc Villain for that leg of series, has been in contact with Ron. If you were expecting that XIV would finally bring these long-teased plot threads center stage, you'll be disappointed: Duo Lon isn't even present for the events of neither that game's tournament, nor its successor XV. However, it is possible that future installments in the next arc will "remedy" the situation.
    • Ryuji Yamazaki's the only surviving member of the Hakkesshu attempting to resurrect Orochi, not that he gives a shit or anything about it, and with Orochi's justifiably minimal presence after the climax of the Orochi Saga, seeing as he's no longer the Big Bad and has made way for new villains with their own followers, Yamazaki has only seen three non-Dream Match appearances since '97 (KOF 2003, XIV, and XV, the middle of which coming some thirteen years after 2003). Even then, his status as a Hakkesshu has been left in the dust, and he's now a relatively minor villain in the grand scheme of things.
  • Kirby:
    • Whispy Woods' appearances dropped for a short bit after Kirby 64, just appearing on the title screen of Kirby: Squeak Squad. He also saw a significant drop in appearances in the 3DS games, only appearing in Kirby: Triple Deluxe and Kirby: Planet Robobot through keychains, stickers, and a sub-game after being replaced by a flower and robot counterpart respectively.
    • King Dedede only appears in Squeak Squad as the Warm-Up Boss (surprisingly enough) and only contributes to the plot by having Kirby believe he was the one who stole his strawberry shortcake. Similarly, he saw a drop in appearances following Triple Deluxe, only appearing in Kirby and the Rainbow Curse via a clay figure (as his colors were stolen at the beginning of the game) and Planet Robobot in the first and final cutscenes.
    • Little spotlight was given to Meta Knight during the 3DS games. He only appears in Triple Deluxe via a balloon from the Circus Copy Ability and a few keychains and a clay figure in Rainbow Curse (given that his colors were stolen at the beginning of the game). He was, however, given a slight comeback in Planet Robobot.
    • All of the major villains of Team Kirby Clash Deluxe were also hit with this. Originally the Big Bad of Deluxe (at first), Taranza ended up being knocked down to a Red Herring for Parallel Nightmare. King D-Mind was also brought down to the Disc-One Final Boss. This is because of the removal of the Black Mirror, which also meant that the true Big Bad of Deluxe, Dark Taranza, wound up becoming new gear for Doctor Healmore.
  • Knights of the Old Republic:
    • Bastila and Carth, the two main romance options and the most plot-relevant party members in the first game, become this in the second. Carth is only seen during cutscenes and a brief meeting with the Exile near the end of the game. The only time Bastila appears in person is a cameo near the end of the game, provided the player makes the PC from the first game a Light Side male. Otherwise she only appears as a vision in Ludo Kressh's tomb and if the first game's PC is Dark Side, as a hologram of a Sith holocron in the abandoned Sith Academy. Depending on the first game's PC's gender, Bastila or Carth also appears as a hologram of their message to T3-M4.
    • Taking Star Wars Legends as a whole into account, this occurs with the Sunrider family. In the Tales of the Jedi comics they had a prominent role in the Old Republic era, with Nomi Sunrider becoming Grand Master of the Jedi Order. Her daughter Vima was initially intended to take the place of Bastila Shan but was Adapted Out due to copyright issues with her surname. In spite of this, the Sunriders are mentioned in-game by Jolee Bindo with some in-game gear alluding to them, as well as a brief holocron cameo from Nomi in Star Wars: The Old Republic (but under her maiden name Da-Boda instead). It's also mentioned in supplementary material that Vima herself trained The Exile from Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. The cancelled novel Mandorla was intended to bridge the gap between the two series but was never published, leaving the Continuity Snarl in place.
  • The Last Blade:
  • The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III demotes everyone from Class VII, sans Rean, into supporting casts to make way for the new Class VII. Meanwhile Altina Orion, who was originally an antagonist in Cold Steel II, is now promoted to main character status.
  • The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon:
    • Volteer and Cyril are chatterboxes in the first two games, but in DotD they each get a single line.
    • A Deleted Scene originally was intended for them to have their normal chatterbox status, but it was cut.
  • The Legend of Zelda:
    • Impa. According to the Hyrule Historia, originally Ganon was just the bad guy and it was Link, Zelda, and Impa forming a Power Trio that protected Hyrule. Then Ocarina of Time came around and Ganon became the third member of the trinity.
    • Goriyas. These dog-faced boomerang throwing mooks were, alongside Moblins, the "signature mooks" of the first two games. Then in the third game, A Link to the Past, they were demoted to rarely seen mooks that behaved nothing like they used to, and may not have been intended to be Goriyas in the first placenote . After that, a single NPC Goriya can be found in The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, offering to trade its signature boomerang for one of Link's items, then one appearance as a miniboss in one of the Oracle games, and that was their last appearance in the series.
    • In The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Princess Zelda is one of the Seven Maidens, so her kidnapping by Agahnim prompts Link to rescue her and the other Maidens during his journey within the Dark World; even during her captivity, Zelda provides hints to Link via telepathic panels in some dungeons (like Sahasrahla does). In contrast, the only reference to Zelda in the game's sequel (The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening) is that Link briefly mistakes Marin for her. This is because she's back in Hyrule and the game takes place outside its borders. Furthermote, in the followups of both games, the The Legend of Zelda: Oracle Games, Zelda only makes an actual appearance in a linked playthrough across both games, being entirely absent in whichever game is played first; however, the manga indicates that she's the one who sends Link to the aid of Din and Nayru.
    • In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Princess Zelda takes an active role by guiding Link into his quest to retrieve the Spiritual Stones and find a way to stop Ganondorf; during the future era, she disguises as Sheik to teach him warp songs and give him the news on what happened to all areas affected by Ganondorf's dark tyranny, and during the final battle she uses her power as the seventh Sage to help Link seal the Gerudo king to bring peace to Hyrule once again. In contrast, the game's sequel The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask only has her appear in a vision to make Link "remember" the Song of Time. This is inevitable, since Zelda remains in Hyrule while Link is forcefully dragged into Termina by the Skull Kid.
    • There were initially going to be three The Legend of Zelda: Oracle Games with Farore playing a large role in the third, but the developers decided it'd be too complicated to link three games so they made her the Oracle of Secrets instead.
    • Vaati in The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures gets shunted to the side very early in the game. While he is freed by Link due to him pulling out the Four Sword and breaking the seal, it turns out it was all a ruse by Ganon. Ganon used the Dark Mirror to create Shadow Link so it could cause chaos and have Link pull out the Four Sword to release Vaati and trick Link into thinking Vaati was the one behind everything. Vaati not only has the standard boss battle theme when you fight him, but he also has absolutely no dialogue at all.
    • The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds does this to Ganon. While he has a major influence on the backstory by virtue of his role in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, this game sees him quickly revived by and then fused with Yuga, who did all this just to get the Triforce of Power. After said fusion, his only real role in the plot is as a collective unit with Yuga. On top of that, he doesn't have a single line before the fusion.
    • In The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Teba gets demoted to extra by becoming Rito Village's new elder, which severely reduced his favorite hobby to go hunting in favor of looking out after the village within its grounds (peaks?). In his stead, though, it's his son Tulin who takes over the mantle as a Guest-Star Party Member.
  • Makai Kingdom:
    • The game offered a fight against Asagi, the protagonist of their next planned game as a Superboss. Unfortunately, the game got scrapped. Instead of trying again, they've left poor Asagi wandering from game to game, bemoaning her bad luck, and occasionally trying to take over the game from the main characters.
    • There's also Zetta's original body. Zetta loses his original body in the beginning of the game and turns into a book. He regains his original body at the end of the game, but in his subsequent appearances in other Nippon Ichi titles he only appears in book form. This is finally averted in Disgaea 4.
  • Examples from the Mass Effect series:
    • In Mass Effect 3, most party members from Mass Effect 2. While Garrus and Tali are the only ones to return as party members, Mordin, Thane, Legion and Miranda play important roles in the main game. The rest appear in side missions.
    • Harbinger, the Big Bad of Mass Effect 2, despite still being the leader of the Reapers in Mass Effect 3, only briefly appears once at the end of the game. He doesn't get any lines, and the only actual indication that the Reaper who tries to kill Shepard (again) is Harbinger is because you're specifically told that it's him and his appearance is unique among the other Reapers.
    • Wrex, Liara and Kaiden/Ashley, who all were party members in the original game, become extras in Mass Effect 2, forced to undergo their own missions parallel to Shepard's quest. They all become important again, come Mass Effect 3, depending on who you've left alive. Wrex becomes a major ally (and a Guest-Star Party Member in the Citadel DLC), while the others are available to join as permanent party members again.
    • For that matter, even Captain/Councillor/Admiral David Anderson receives this treatment in the second game. Although not a party member, in the first game he does serve as a major driving force for Commander Shepard and plays a pretty important part late in the game. In the sequel, he only really has one scene with Shepard, and even then, it's optional. In the third game he again becomes a major figure, serving as a Guest-Star Party Member early on and again playing a key role in the climax.
    • Legion and Morinth from Mass Effect 3 Citadel DLC were the only two squadmates without their own lines. Somewhat justifiable as Legion's appearance in the game was tied into the Rannoch arc which resulted in his death, either way, while Morinth is said to have been on the run and likely had been turned into a Banshee by this point. Mordin gets this treatment to an extent too, though he gets some recorded lines found on a holopad next to your bed after the party. However, he doesn't make a physical appearance, since he's either dead or faking his death.
    • In a non-character example, the Citadel itself somewhat becomes this in the second game. In the first and third games, it somewhat acts as a secondary Hub Level after the Normandy and was the scene of several important plot developments, while in the second game it's only briefly visited to accomplish a few sidequests, the most important ones being the loyalty missions of two characters. Depending on how the player plays the game, they may be able to accomplish everything they need to do in the Citadel in just one visit!
    • Omega in turn gets this in Mass Effect 3, due to having been invaded by Cerberus between games. While Shepard eventually allows it to be retaken in the Omega DLC, it's sadly not visitable afterwards.
    • Zigzagged with Admiral Hackett. In Mass Effect he served as a frequent contact for side missions but never appeared. In the base game of Mass Effect 2 he goes through this, being nowhere to be seen, until a single DLC, although he does appear in the flesh. This is completely reversed in Mass Effect 3 where he becomes Shepard's most frequent and trusted contact for the entirety of the Reaper War, and forms basically a Big Good ensemble for the galaxy between himself, Shepard and Anderson.
    • The Feros mission only carries consequences forward into the sequels if you played through it in the actual game; using the Mass Effect: Genesis comic to create a scenario for 2 excises it completely, leaving both the Thorian and Zhu's Hope as non-entities.
  • Happens to Chou-Chou, the main character of Mugen Souls, in the sequel Mugen Souls Z. In the beginning of Z, she loses her powers and gets shrunk down to a chibi sized version of herself. From there, she's practically useless except for being the supporting guide for Syrma, the game's main character, who she rides on.
  • In the Neptunia series, one could argue that this trope applies to everyone who isn't one of the main four goddesses, but none more so than IF and Compa, who went from being important main characters who formed a Power Trio with Neptune in the first game, to quickly becoming less and less important to the story with each new game (with some games even having them not show up at all), most of the time only being playable as Downloadable Content, if at all.
  • After being playable racers in the second game, Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway demotes Angelica, Heffer and Shredder to non-playable pit crew members.
  • Pet Alien: The tie-in game Pet Alien: An Intergalactic Puzzlepalooza does this to Tommy Cadle, the main protagonist and focus character of the show. As the focus is on the titular aliens trying to rescue him, he spends the bulk of the story as a Distressed Dude who doesn't even physically appear in-game, only having brief, non-speaking cameos in the opening cutscene, credits and the Marathon menu.
  • Pikmin: Captain Olimar is the only named character in the first game and the primary one in the second. In the third, he remains The Ghost for most of the story as the new main characters try to track him down and, when found, is catatonic and needs to be rescued. He's only playable in the battle mode and in DLC for Mission Mode. In Pikmin 3 Deluxe, however, he does star in a new side story.
  • Pokémon: Since the games are Non-Linear Sequels and each new generation introduces a brand new region filled with new characters, this is inevitable. Only a handful of human characters are reoccurring, and almost all of these are just NPCs. The Pokémon themselves fare better, but their availability fluctuates from game to game: a Pokémon species may be all too common or be the main focus of the plot in one set of games while being virtually non-existent in the next.
  • Poker Night at the Inventory: Max is one of the players, and Winslow is the host and dealer. In Poker Night 2, Max is just a side character, while his partner Sam is now a player. And Winslow is no longer the dealer, merely guiding the Player Character to the Inventory and asking the other players to produce their prizes at certain times. The dealer is now GLaDOS.
  • Professor Layton:
    • Flora Reinhold is the Golden Apple in the first game, and is demoted to being a secondary character in the second game, being replaced by Don Paolo in disguise for most of the game. The third game fixes this, promoting her to being a playable character, though she only gets a few puzzles to solve, and doesn't appear until about halfway through the game. Flora does not appear in the prequel trilogy, but she is a cameo in the Framing Device of Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva. This also stung a bit for Layton's Mystery Journey, as while Katrielle does mention Alfendi as her brother, Flora (who technically is her adopted sister) is only referenced through an optional costume.
    • Granny Riddleton started off as a mysterious secondary character in the first two games, but was replaced by a talking bee, and later by her granddaughter in the third game, though she did get a small appearance near the beginning of the third game. In the fourth, however, she simply appears as a cameo before being replaced by a cat. She does come back in full force for the fifth game, under the guise of Elizabeth, only to once again be replaced by the cat in the sixth, making only a brief cameo to introduce said cat. By the seventh game, whose gameplay format and structure make it so none of the puzzles are missable anymore, Granny is now an ordinary NPC who only appears in some chapters.
  • The Punisher (Capcom) treats Jigsaw, Frank's archenemy, as a Boss in Mook's Clothing for the penultimate level before the dealing with Final Boss The Kingpin.
  • Puyo Puyo: Lidelle, the Ocean Prince, and Ms. Accord are all playable characters in their debut game, Fever 2. They zigzag this trope after 15th Anniversary; they don't appear in 7, are made playable again in 20th Anniversary, become cameos in Tetris, and become playable again in Chronicle. With the exception of Lidelle (who appears in exactly one story mode cutscene), none of them appeared in Tetris 2 at first, but an update made all three playable.
  • Subverted with Rayman. In the original Rayman Raving Rabbids game, Rayman is plot-critical and the only playable character. In the second game, he's still playable, but you can play as a Rabbid and Rayman's story doesn't get resolved. In TV Party, he only appears in cutscenes. From Rabbids Go Home onward, though, his series and the Rabbids' series were separated, and he thankfully got back in his own spotlight in Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends.
  • Resident Evil: The series has always been known for bringing in and kicking out new and old characters like a revolving door, but even then, the five characters with the biggest stage presences (Chris and Claire Redfield, Jill Valentine, Leon S. Kennedy, and Ada Wong) aren't immune from this. Claire gets the worst of it — after being a major player character for two games (Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil – Code: Veronica), she's off the map until the CG film, Resident Evil: Degeneration. While she's still in the fight against bioterrorism, she takes a passive role at the company TerraSave. Chris also has less presence in favor of Leon in Resident Evil 6, but his status as the hero of RE5 and Revelations might have something to do with that.
  • In Robopon 2, Lisa, Cody's girlfriend, has a bit part compared to the first game, which she lampshades.
  • Rosenkreuz Stilette: Spiritia and her fairy Lili are kidnapped at the very beginning of Freudenstachel, and not seen again until the Final Boss leaves her Brainwashed and Crazy in the finale. And she's the main heroine! Justified as Freudia was always planned to star in her own game, and her main goal is to bring her back.
  • SaGa Frontier's Fuse is much like Sacchin; he was supposed to have his own quest route and be a playable hero and so on and so forth, but when time constraints ate the development team, that got dropped entirely (along with a lot of the playable characters' sidequest material - the game wasn't exactly a polished work). He's recruitable by any/all the other characters but all that remains of what would've been his storyline is a few debug rooms. Woe!
  • The Silver Saint Sagitta Ptolemy was one of the bosses in Saint Seiya Ougon Densetsu, but appeared briefly in the prologue introduction of its sequel game.
  • Samurai Shodown: Ukyo Tachibana, despite appearing in nearly every game, is this. He was first introduced as The Rival for Haohmaru (being based on Sasaki Kojiro while Haohmaru is based on Miyamoto Musashi). Then in the second game, they introduced Haohmaru's true rival with the story connections to go: Genjuro Kibagami. Afterwards, Ukyo became more irrelevant to the main storyline, going so low as being beaten like a Cannon Fodder in Haohmaru's ending in IV, but still appear in the games due to fan demand.
  • Sonic and All Stars Racing did this to NiGHTS who is demoted to a cameo. Which is better than nothing: originally NiGHTS wasn't to appear at all, and it was only after an extensive emailing campaign by a fan site that NiGHTS was placed in as the flag-bearer. The sequel added NiGHTS to the playable roster, with Ristar taking its place as the flag-bearer.
  • Sengoku Basara:
    • Kojuro becomes an NPC once again in SB3 after only becoming playable for an expansion and PSP game. Then he's playable once more in Utage.
    • Toshiie like several others, Sengoku Basara 3 made him into an NPC, but was made playable in Utage. He's back to being an NPC in the fourth game.
    • Matsu joins her husband in NPC land in Sengoku Basara 3, but became playable in Utage. Like her husband, she returns to NPC status in the fourth game (at least until the expansion).
    • Keiji hasn't been a poster boy since his debut in 2, and these days even Masamune and Yukimura's second-in-commands Kojuro and Sasuke as well as Motonari and Motochika get far more merchandise released for them in comparison.
    • In Devil Kings, Mitsuhide/Reaper got demoted to an NPC. Then, when he becomes Tenkai in SB3, he's an NPC once again, before becoming playable in Utage. And now Mitsuhide is an NPC again in SB4.
    • As of Sengoku Basara 4 Yukimura's no longer a poster boy, with the more popular Mitsunari taking his place as main character and Masamune's rival. Eventually subverted, since the rivalry is still very much present, and it even gets an exclusive.
    • While prominent in some of the promotional material, Yukimura is starting to suffer from this in SB3. He is less important to the overall storyline than some of the unplayable characters. When fought in other characters' story lines, he is usually a filler opponent that does nothing to advance the story. Even in Masamune's story line, where Yukimura would be expected to feature more prominently, his role is pretty minor and serves very little role in the story.
    • Like Kojuro Sasuke's an NPC in Sengoku Basara 3. And back to a PC in Utage.
    • Kenshin goes from PC to NPC in Sengoku Basara 3 due to Shingen's absence. He returns to PC status again in Utage along with Kasuga, but returns to NPC status in 4.
    • Like Kenshin, Kasuga's an NPC in Sengoku Basara 3. She returns to PC status in Utage along with Kenshin as well as returning to NPC status in the fourth game (at least until an expansion comes along). She has one scene in "The Last Party". And she's unconscious when it happens.
  • In 7th Dragon (2020-II) Rin is largely outside the spotlight. The personal drama now centers around Emelle.
  • Shin Megami Tensei:
    • Brahma, despite being equal to Shiva and Vishnu in Hinduism, makes very few appearances in the franchise. The second Digital Devil Saga game does make use of his appearance...and gives it to Brahman, a totally different concept, while Shiva and Vishnu are high-end Bonus Bosses.
    • Shin Megami Tensei IV: Beelzebub's role as Dragon has also been taken over by Lilith, and only appears as an Optional Boss. Also, Mastema, who played a major role in the previous game, plays very little role in the main game. DLC, however, gives him an expanded role.
    • Because the Snow Queen Quest was removed from the Persona Macekre Revelations: Persona, Yukino, the only character that retained her Japanese heritage, was reduced to a Guest-Star Party Member in the Western release.
  • This happened to Spyro the Dragon with Skylanders.
    • While originally launched as a new Spyro game it quickly became its own franchise, being more of an original franchise than a sequel. Spyro himself never plays a role larger than any of the other characters, and only the first game has Spyro's name in the title.
    • For the first Skylanders Spyro came with every copy, had three variations, and was in the title. In the other installments, he's dropped out of the title and Spyro isn't even available with a copy of the game.
  • In SOCOMUS Navy Seals, Kahuna returns as a member of Bravo Element in SOCOM Tactical Strike (Even though he was the protagonist in the first game), while Sandman gets demoted to being under Wraith's command.
  • Every character in Sonic the Hedgehog who isn't Sonic or Eggman had this happen to them to varying degrees, due in part to the growing criticism towards the overabundance of characters:
    • Tails is a downplayed example. He's still a recurring character in the series, particularly for his role as the resident Exposition Fairy. But expect this to happen to him whenever there's a new Arc Hero that teams up with Sonic for a game.
    • Knuckles showed up very rarely for a period of time in the mid-2010s, and even when he did, he didn't contribute much to the games he was in. Knuckles did briefly return to prominence in the Sonic Boom sub series where he was one of the co-stars, but things didn't really start to change until Sonic Mania, the "Final Horizon" DLC for Sonic Frontiers, and Sonic Superstars gave him playable roles again.
    • Amy Rose was severely downplayed during the same period as Knuckles, and some would say longer; while the fourth of the series' main characters along with Knuckles and Tails, she rarely got much focus outside games where she was a playable character. In the Game Gear spinoffs she appears in the two Drift games, and in the first Adventure and Heroes, she becomes a main character. In Adventure 2, she has an important role helping Shadow follow his Heel–Face Turn, but otherwise spends her time lamenting she doesn't have much to do, though she is Sonic's alt in the multiplayer. '06 gives her a minor role. After that? Non-playable cameos in Unleashed, Generations, and briefly Lost World... and that's it. She was one of the main five characters in Sonic Boom, but like Knuckles, Amy didn't get playable roles again until "The Final Horizon" in Sonic Frontiers and Sonic Superstars (though she was added into the four Genesis-era titles with Sonic Origins Plus).
    • Cream the Rabbit got thrown Out of Focus big time. While the comics and spinoffs gave her more attention, she didn't have any playable roles between 2004's Sonic Advance 3 and 2023's Sonic Dream Team, a gap of almost 20 years. Even her roles in side games started to dwindle by the 2010s, most notably being cut from Team Rose in Team Sonic Racing in favor of a trio of Chao.
    • The members of Team Dark, namely Shadow and Rouge, used to had a starring role in almost every game after their debut culminating in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), where they arguably had the most plot importance over Sonic's group. Afterwards however, they basically hardly show up as a unit at all. Shadow and Rouge still get attention every now and then, but it's a far cry to when they were treated as (respectively) The Rival to Sonic and an on-and-off Implied Love Interest to Knuckles. Poor Omega, meanwhile, barely even gets to appear nowadays, and he tends not to do much when he does.
    • Both Silver and Blaze were the secondary stars of their respective debut games, but have both since fallen by the wayside. They're both more or less relegated to the Spin off titles and the occasional cameo nowadays outside of Milestone Celebration games like Sonic Generations and Sonic Forces.
    • Flickies for Sonic the Hedgehog CD, where they can be seen on Little Planet, yet are not relevant to the badniks like in the other classic games (instead, flowers pop out of them).
    • The Chaos Emeralds also go from being a central plot point of the series to an optional extra sidequest in both versions of Sonic Colors. Averted with the DS port of Colors, where gathering all of them allows you to access the True Final Boss and also to witness the Golden Ending.
    • Of the Babylonian Rogues introduced in Sonic Riders as major characters, only Jet the Hawk stuck around in any meaningful capacity, and even then his appearances are mostly limited to rival character status in spinoffs like Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games. Wave the Swallow and Storm the Albatross more or less vanished into the ether as soon as the Riders series wrapped up, and appear so little it's easy to forget they exist.
    • Dr. Eggman's Badniks are usually the most prominent enemies in the games. However, they are not very heavily featured in Sonic Adventure 2 due to the G.U.N. robots being the primary enemies instead. The Badniks are generally only found in the pyramid levels, and are limited to Kiki, Unidasu, Gohla, and E-1000.
  • Soul Series: Soulcalibur III began the shift of focus more towards certain storylines, even as it fleshed out all of them. As a result, certain characters who were present since the start of the series faded more into the background as it went on.
  • Aldous plays a pivotal role in the first game of Spectrobes, but by Portals he is just a supporting character who goes missing for most of the plot, and there's no mention of him at all in Origins.
  • Previously in Spelunky, the Damsel and the Tunnel Man were secret playable characters, but were removed from the available roster in the remake.
  • Randy Marsh went from a major supporting character in South Park: The Stick of Truth to a only having a few scenes in South Park: The Fractured but Whole where he's a violent drunk.
  • Spark himself gets this in Spark the Electric Jester 2, being demoted to a small cameo in the opening. This is actually a major plot point for Spark the Electric Jester 3, as his absence in the second game means he's completely oblivious to many plot points such as Float's Unexplained Recovery being highly suspicious that the player would pick up on, but Spark wouldn't.
  • The first Splatoon features a Street Urchin named Spyke, who serves an important role as your Friend in the Black Market. He can sell you other players' gear, as well as providing some other gear ability-related services. From Splatoon 2 onward, Spyke no longer interacts with the player, as his role has been taken over by Murch. Murch does occasionally mention Spyke helping out with your gear orders, but he is only ever seen in Splatoon 2 as a background character inside a café. He's completely absent from the base game of Splatoon 3, with Murch continuing to play the role of gear assistant, though the "Inkopolis" DLC brought Spyke back along with several other supporting cast members from Splatoon 1.
  • Victor Coste serves as a partner in the tutorial for Splinter Cell: Blacklist, but is put into critical condition by a grenade by the end of it, and remains in the hospital for the game's duration until the ending.
  • Sprite Wars:
    • Alexis hasn't seen much screen time in later comics.
    • Dianna like Alexis, has been seen a little less as of late.
  • Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly:
    • Moneybags appears in just one level, doing his usual gem-coercing schtick. Despite this, he's listed in the manual along with Hunter and Bianca as if he's a prominent character.
    • Bianca, despite appearing in the opening cinematic, shows up only one other time at the beginning of the game and is never seen again outside the background of the ending cinematic.
  • The Stalin Subway features Russian Lieutenant Gleb Suovorov as the protagonist. The sequel set 3 years later sees Gleb mysteriously disappearing and his wife, Lena, becoming the new player hero, with Gleb only appearing in person in the final cutscene.
  • In Starcraft, Mojo was prominent in Enslavers but was only in one mission of Dark Vengeance.
  • Starcraft II Wings Of Liberty:
    • Kachinsky was supposed to have his own mission chain but it was scrapped. He does get to be the default profile picture for people who haven't earned avatar achievements yet, and is seen wandering around every room on the ship, as well as being the voice of the short-lived committee debating mutiny against Raynor.
    • Scout is seen a few times as a campaign unit but is otherwise replaced by the Phoenix.
    • Liberty from the StarCraft Novels, was going to the one behind the news reports in Wings of Liberty, but the developers decided his anti-Dominion bias would limit the scope of his stories, so he was replaced with Kate and Donny.
  • In earlier versions of StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, Lassara was to be initially hostile to Kerrigan, remembering all she did as the Queen of Blades, but seeing Kerrigan show mercy to the other colonists softened her and she began to speak more familiar and openly to her. This entire subplot was dropped from the final game and Lassara is little more than a Protoss to talk two for all of two missions, before she gets turned into the host for a Zerg Larva so Kerrigan can sabotage a shuttle headed towards Shakuras and prevent the Protoss from alerting the Golden Armada.
  • About half the cast of playable characters in Star Ocean: Till the End of Time falls into this. Nel, Albel, and Mirage are fairly important characters in disk 1, then in disk 2 fade into obscurity. Adray, Peppita and Roger do this as well, though they never had a particularly major hand in the plot to begin with (Roger being the only 100% optional character). Since you are only allowed to bring along two characters out of Nel, Albel, Roger, and Peppita, the game has to fit their dialogue in rather awkwardly, and the other characters rarely if ever acknowledge their presence. Mirage is perhaps the most painful example, however — she doesn't even get this courtesy, since she was added in a version after the original released in Japan, and as such essentially gets no dialogue at all after she joins the party!
  • In Season 8 of Star Trek Online:
    • Most of the EMH's part of the tutorial was cut for the redesigned tutorial.
    • On a bigger level, the Federation and the Klingons have special Bridge Officers who are meant to be part of the big crew. However, after major backlash over the Romulan addition, Tovan Kiev, they were rendered optional.
  • The Star Trek Supremacy Fan Sequel to Birth of the Federation (a Star Trek Master of Orion-clone) does this on a civilizational level — the Ferengi are demoted from a playable major civilization to a minor faction to woo or conquer. Their place as a major faction is instead taken by the Dominion.
  • Street Fighter: In-between Final Fight and Street Fighter Alpha 3, Cody was demoted to background cameos and the occasional mention. Haggar got it even worse; he has yet to appear as a playable character in any Street Fighter games, though he did appear in a few Marvel vs. Capcom games. Possibly explained in Street Fighter 6, which features a "Haggar Memorial Stadium"—implying he died at some point, which would prevent him from appearing.
  • Strider Hiryu's rival from Strider 2, Hien, went from being a recurring boss character to a Posthumous Character (represented by an unlockable costume) in the 2014 ''Strider'' remake.
  • In Suikoden V, Sorensen complains that Lu is stealing the post of Babbage's apprentice away from him.
  • In Super Demo World: The Legend Continues, Yoshi in general is a lot less common than he was originally, being mostly restricted to the Bonus Stages. In fact, Red Yoshi is the only colored Yoshi to appear in a regular level, and only once.
  • Even Super Mario has a few:
    • Mario's first appearance is the original Donkey Kong, where the plot revolves around rescuing a Damsel in Distress, and said Damsel in Distress is a woman named Pauline. As the big ape goes on to be the star of his own series and Mario's recurring damsel is now a certain princess of Mushroom Land, Pauline is a very rare sight in either series, despite being there from the beginning, predating mushrooms, pipes, coins, dashing with "B," the Koopas, the Troopas, the Princess, and the others. You could be a very avid longtime fan of both series and never know she existed. (She does appear in the Mario vs. Donkey Kong games, though.) She makes her big return to the main Mario series in Super Mario Odyssey, though, with a large role in the game. She won't be forgotten again anytime soon, gaining many fans who may never realize just how much Older Than They Think she really is.
    • A handful of characters have never been in any main platformer apart from being playable characters in sporting/party/karting/smashing games. To name a few:
      • Since their one-time role as the Big Bad in Donkey Kong and Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins respectively, Donkey Kong and Wario have stopped playing any meaningful role in the Mario franchise and instead appear in minor ones, but have gone on to bigger things in their own Spin-Off franchises to make up for it.
      • Birdo has only ever been in a total of two games where she had any meaningful role in gameplay. Her debut in Super Mario Bros. 2 and an appearance in Mario & Luigi as an enemy in both games.
  • Tatanga, who went from Big Bad and Final Boss in the first Land, to regular boss in the second, to vanishing off the face of the planet.
  • Fawful, who went from The Dragon to a mere shopkeeper... and right back to Big Bad by the next game.
  • Rosalina. Despite helping Mario save both Peach and the entire Galaxy from Bowser in Super Mario Galaxy, as well as being a playable character in the Mario Kart games, in Super Mario Galaxy 2, she actually does not appear until after Bowser is defeated at the end of the game. Averted in Super Mario 3D World, where she's playable, as with many non Mario Kart spinoffs like Mario Party and various sports titles afterwards. And then she became a Smasher in a major aversion.
  • Princess Peach in Paper Mario: Sticker Star. After some Character Development and being Promoted to Playable in the previous games (even in the first game where she was a Damsel in Distress she was still a playable character who actually helped in the final battle), she cameos in the intro, and doesn't reappear until the endgame; the main crisis was the loss of the Royal Stickers and Comet Pieces instead of her (barely mentioned) kidnapping, and her only lines in the game are just replacing Kersti's as a voice for Mario in the first few minutes of the ending in her absence.
  • Donkey Kong was a main playable character in Mario Party until the fifth installment, since which he became a Mini-Game sponsor. And in Mario Party DS, he was just a statue adorning the third board (enchanted to be such according to the game's Story Mode), and didn't appear at all in Island Tour. He's Promoted to Playable again in 10, though. A Koopa Kid was a playable character for a couple games as well, but lost his playable status in Mario Party 7, and vanished in favor of Bowser Jr. afterwards.
  • Zigzagged with Boo. He was also playable starting with Mario Party 5 up to Mario Party 8, before Boo was removed from the roster in Mario Party 9. However, in Mario Party: Island Tour, Boo was put in the roster for one last party with Mario and company... or so it seemed, until Mario Party: Star Rush, where he is exclusive to Mario Shuffle, and although he does not participate in the minigames, players can use his amiibo and "haunt the competition".
  • Dry Bones, Blooper, and Hammer Bro. were playable in Mario Party 8. In Mario Party 9, the former two are only bosses, while the latter hosts the Battle minigames.
  • Mario Party 10: After having been playable in Mario Party 9, Koopa, Shy Guy, and Magikoopa/Kamek are all reduced to non-playable characters that appear during certain minigames.
  • Mario Party: Star Rush: After having been playable characters in Mario Party: Island Tour, Boo and Bowser Jr. only appear as enemies in certain mini-games. They are only playable in Mario Shuffle, and only if the player has access to their amiibo.
  • Mario Party: The Top 100: After having been playable characters in Mario Party: Star Rush, the previous 3DS Mario Party game, Toad, Toadette, and Donkey Kong are all reduced to non-playable characters, while Diddy Kong is completely absent. Toad and Toadette both serve as the game's hosts and appear in certain minigames, while Donkey Kong only appears as the opponent of the returning minigames hosted by him in Mario Party 7.
  • Mario Party Superstars: After having been playable in Super Mario Party, Bowser and all of his troops return to their original roles as non-playable characters that appear during certain minigames and board events.
  • Super Mario 3D World: After having been a playable character alongside Blue Toad in New Super Mario Bros. Wii and New Super Mario Bros. U, Yellow Toad now passes out items in the Toad Houses.
  • Luigi undergoes this in Super Mario Odyssey. In four successive 3D games in the series, he was a fully playable character. In Odyssey, he is only the host of a minigame that's available only after beating the Final Boss, and one that was added in a post-release update at that.
  • After having appeared as an unlockable powerup in Super Mario Maker, Weird Mario only appears as a non-obvious Easter Egg involving doors in Super Mario Maker 2, as well as during one of the Super World minigames.
  • Luigi in Super Mario Bros.. He only appears as player #2 in a two-player game, which is itself greatly diminished in importance due to the game's lack of co-op play, which was the main draw of the original Mario Bros. He doesn't even appear on the game's cover, nor is he mentioned in the manual's storyline.
  • Speaking of the original Mario Bros., there's poor Shellcreeper. These turtles are the first enemy of the game, but are supplanted by the Koopa Troopas starting in Super Mario Bros.. Because they are not stompable, the need to avoid confusion with their more famous successor makes them a very rare sight in anything but pure remakes of their debut game, and even some of those remakes replace Shellcreepers with Spinies.
  • Super Robot Wars: Since the franchise is a Mega Crossover between dozens of Humongous Mecha anime, this happens in pretty much every single game because it would be impractical (if not outright impossible) to have every single character from the constituent anime play as major a role as they do in the originals.
  • Super Robot Wars Classic: Ever since Original Generation 2, Ring has yet to rejoin the playable roster. Justified that she's all tied up with her duties as the CEO of Mao Industries. Made more unlikely for her to reappear in a Huckebein for future events, given the entire destruction of the Huckebein series in the Second Original Generation.
  • In spite of being the titular character and more or less the hero of his series, Betterman Lamia's reduced to a handful of roles in Super Robot Wars Compact 3 and always is a NPC ally on missions he appears.
  • Super Robot Wars: Original Generation Gaiden hammers this trope to one of Duminuss' Homunculi, Laliar. In his origin game (SRW R), at least he gets to get involved in the grand schemes along with his siblings, joining some factions to screw them up. But in OG Gaiden... Tis gets to deal with the Wendigo and G Thunder Gate, Despinis gets to guard a brainwashed Lamia, and later ends up surviving, unlike in the original series... and Laliar? He's relegated into just contacting Tis and Despinis from afar in case they're about to screw up, and doesn't do much in the grander scheme (obviously, he had a bigger role in his original game).
  • Super Robot Wars V
    • Usually in the previous games that featured Martian Successor Nadesico and/or The Prince of Darkness, all of the Three Angels were playable. Here however, only Ryoko Subaru and her Aestivalis Custom are playable, while her friends Hikaru and Izumi only show up for the Formation Attack.
    • Speaking of which, this is the first game to feature The Prince of Darkness that does not include Kusakabe as a boss; despite being the Big Bad of the movie, here he only appears in a few cutscenes, whereas Hokushin is given more prominence. And this was after BX, which featured on the original TV series, had him as the final boss of the Nadesico storyline.
    • After decades of being the premier Captain and unofficial leader of numerous SRW armadas, Bright Noah finally takes a step back, and Okita leads Earth Fleet Tenku instead. There is even a scene where Okita tells Bright to take over command of the fleet should he die before completing their mission.
    • The ELS are reduced to an afterthought compared to the other games where they appear, only appearing in two scenarios (one scenario if you didn't pick their route).
    • Minerva X got hit with this hard, turning from the heroine of the manga to an NPC that only appears in two scenes and never interacts with the protagonists. Effectively making her appearances Big Lipped Alligator Moments for those who never read the manga.
  • Super Robot Wars W:
    • Emperor Dai Bazaal barely shows up until it's time to fight him at the end of the GoLion plot, despite being the Big Bad and a regular in his series. To add further injury, his death isn't even the point of the scenario, as Palparepa and Applicant appear after he dies and takes the spotlight. Can be justified in that Dai Bazaal's always been mainly an Orcus on His Throne and his son Sinclyne is the more active villain. Unfortunately, for any players who don't know much about GoLion, Dai Bazaal feels like a Giant Space Flea from Nowhere.
    • In an odd way, Tomoru Shindo get's something like this. The other major characters of the series, Youko, Dr. Kanzuki and Orgun, along with some of the villains, show up multiple times in the first half of the game, with Orgun himself being a major presence, while Tomoru himself doesn't show up until about the last third of the game.
  • Super Smash Bros.:
    • Pichu and Mewtwo were both playable characters in Melee, but were demoted to trophies in Brawl. Mewtwo, at least, returns in the fourth game's DLC.
    • Dr. Mario was demoted to a sticker and two songs in Brawl, one of which was just a carry-over from Melee. Wii U/3DS, however, promotes him back to playable.
    • After being a playable character in Melee, Roy was nothing more than a sticker and unused playable data in Brawl.
    • Lucas and Wolf went from playable characters in Brawl to regular trophies in U/3DS (Lucas was later announced to return playable via DLC), and some of their moves instead appear as customization options for Ness and Fox respectively. The Ice Climbers were demoted to a simple trophy as well. Snake has it the worst of the cut Brawl veterans, with his entire series being completely removed.
    • While every playable character above got brought back for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, this fate befell the Subspace Army — the primary antagonists of Brawl's adventure mode — in the World of Light adventure mode. Except for Galleom returning as a boss, the entire Subspace Army, including Tabuu himself are reduced to spirits.
    • With the release of Joker in Ultimate, it's only natural that the other Phantom Thieves would show up in his home stage, as well as taking part in his Final Smash alongside him. The sole exception to this is Goro Akechi, who instead gets relegated to a Spirit and an alternate costume for Joker. Admittedly, this is because he was never really considered one, as the Phantom Thieves only let him join because they didn't have any other way to lure him into their trap, and he only joined because he wanted to kill Joker.
  • Super Smash Flash:
    • Renji and Vegeta were originally planned to be full characters in the sequel, but they were demoted to Assist Trophy and background character respectively.
    • Super Sonic is a Final Smash in Super Smash Flash 2 instead of a separate character like he was in the first game.
  • By the 2nd season of Sword Girls, the four heroines of each faction are nearly unmentioned in the story. Its only main focus was Iri joining Vita and befriending Sita.
    "If destiny exists, the girls will meet again. They have no say in it"
  • Strategy RPGs with large casts such as Tactics Ogre or Knights in the Nightmare do this, and they have reason for it. Due to some of them having permadeath the story is purposely written so that they could have been killed off at any point in the story after recruitment, whereas the characters whose death will result in a game over (namely the player character) will remain in the story at all times. In some JRPGs, particularly those where you can change the makeup of your party, characters often stop developing after you recruit them, particularly because they do not necessarily have to be present at any given scene.
  • Loni Dunamis is a playable Tales of Destiny 2 character who makes cameos or gets shout outs in other games.
  • Spoofed in the Tales Series Drama CD Viva Tales of! to promote Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology. It got Veigue Lungberg of Tales of Rebirth, being the protagonist and all, in the interview. Then he finds out that he's not in the actual game (with other characters like Eugene Gallardo and Annie Barrs actually in). Cue to him crying and shouting CLAAAAAAIIIIIRREEEEE!!!!!!! (He got in the sequel, though).
  • Alisha from Tales of Zestiria has most other examples beat. In early promotional materials, she was given the spotlight right along side the lead Sorey. She even got her own figure and a Pre-Order Mystic Arte. So naturally fans assumed that she was the heroine of the game. But as the game got closer to release, fans began to notice that she was becoming less and less prominent in the promotional materials. Then come the actual game, Alisha drops from the party (and plot) partway through, and doesn't really matter much from then on. She does get A Day in the Limelight thanks to dlc, but it's still a far cry from fans' expectations.
  • Tekken:
    • Eddy Gordo became an extra costume for Christie in Tekken 4. This meant that the storyline he had in Tekken 3 was cut off in favour of one which also included Christie. Many people complained and so he returned as a separate character in Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection, and later in Tekken 6.
    • While the original games saw Paul Phoenix as a legitimate rival to Kazuya, and a formidable presence in the tournament, all of the games from 4 on have seen his story become more silly and less tied to the overall plot with each subsequent game. Really, it set in as early as 2. In the first game, he is The Rival to Kazuya, the main character and son of Heihachi; in the second, he is The Rival to Kuma, Heihachi's pet.
    • Asuka Kazama was set up as having an important relationship with the Mishimas in her first appearance in Tekken 5, specifically that she could revert her cousin Jin back to human after he went into demon mode. In Tekken 6, she instead was saddled with Lili developing a comedic one-sided rivalry (with more than a little Les Yay) against her and all her relevance to the main plot disappeared.
    • Jin Kazama in Tekken 7, while significant to the story, is not the main focus of the story mode like the last installments from 3-6 since 7 focuses more on the Kazuya vs. Heihachi story line like in the first 2 Tekken games. He was also shown off a few trailers after the reveal trailer for the game.
  • Tenchu series:
    • Rikimaru, the main protagonist/playable character in the first games was demoted to the NPC Master of the player's character in Tenchu Z.
    • Tesshu went from being a Secret Character and third leg to Rikimaru/Ayame in Wrath of Heaven, to a meager small cameo appearance in Fatal Shadows. Gets (somewhat) better in Time of the Assassins, where he gets his own Prequel story.
  • Tiny Toon Adventures games:
    • In the 1991 NES game of the same name, Dizzy was one of Buster's three helpers. In the sequel, Tiny Toon Adventures 2: Trouble in Wackyland, you only see him in the closing credits after you beat the game.
    • In Tiny Toon Adventures: Babs' Big Break for Game Boy, Plucky and Hamton were both playable characters alongside Buster. In the sequel, Tiny Toon Adventures 2: Montana's Movie Madness, they give Buster advice before the stages begin and are featured in Gogo's bonus roulette, wherein they restore Buster's health meter to its full extent if he lands on either of them.
  • All characters in Touhou Project (except protagonists Reimu and Marisa, of course) get shunted to the side after their debut game is finished. The exceptions to this are the occasional player characters (Sakuya, Youmu, Sanae, and the other playable characters in the fighting games) and the characters who appear in the side materials (covering everyone who don't appear or have appeared already in the main games). This has been gradually getting better in later games, though.
    • In general, any character that debuted in either the first or second stage of any game. Expect Cirno, who is treated like a mascot. It took until 2023'sTouhou Juuouen ~ Unfinished Dream of All Living Ghost for a stage one boss (Nazrin and Seiran in this case) to appear as a playable character in any capacity, much less a main series shooter.
    • Both Flandre Scarlet and Ran Yakumo were Demoted to Extra after their debut in their respective Extra Stages. Flandre was basically a one-shoot character, and Ran was, after her debut, almost exclusively shown in the shadow of Yukari Yakumo as a helper. However, Flandre gained a prominent role in Foul Detective Satori with some more character development, then a playable role in Touhou Gouyoku Ibun ~ Sunken Fossil World where she defeats the Final Boss when no one else could. As for Ran, she appeared as a playable character in the aforementioned Unfinished Dream of All Living Ghost, where her backstory is revealed and she does a lot of work in resolving the incident.
    • Yuuka Kazami, from all the Windows games, has a prominent role only in Phantasmagoria of Flower View, as an extra character, and was serving basically a role of a reminder to PC-98 era. She hasn't appeared again since.
    • Sakuya got that treatment after Scarlet Weather Rhapsody was released in 2008, then again after a one-note appearance in Double Dealing Character, released in 2013, as a playable character. Again, though, she gains a prominent role in the first arc of Foul Detective Satori as the first suspect, then again in Touhou Kouryuudou ~ Unconnected Marketeers as a playable character alongside Sanae (the only time they've been playable in the same game). In this case, it's justified in-universe, as she doesn't involve herself in incidents which don't threaten the Scarlet Devil Mansion.
    • Eientei residents other than Reisen (Tewi, Eirin, and Kaguya) were pretty much out of focus after side works dedicated to them ended, while Reisen went on to have roles in Touhou Kanjuden ~ Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom and the fighting games starting with the PS4 version of Urban Legend in Limbo.
  • While the gameplay of Touhou Mother leans decidedly towards the MOTHER side of things, the characters from said series are for the most part pushed to the wayside - even Lucas and Claus are mere side characters. There's a reason for this. Not so on the sequel though, where Ness enters the scene proper as a playable and important character.
  • Toy Story 3: Lotso only appears in one level in this version and is mostly treated as an afterthought. Justified, likely to avoid spoiling him being the Big Bad for people who haven't yet seen the movie.
  • Transformers: Fall of Cybertron:
  • Bumblebee is used for two chapters in the original and only get used in the tutorial here.
  • Ironhide goes from one of the main playable characters in the original to not even getting used here, and he's featured in the trailer.
  • Triangle Heart 3: Sweet Songs Forever:
    • Virtually most characters in this game who carry over to Nanoha — especially Kyouya — suffer a steep decline in importance in the original series, and are virtually phased out in A's and StrikerS.
    • In-game example: Shinobu is the winning girl, right? So why does she get so few scenes in the anime?
  • Sies was playable in Trouble Witches, but never made so in Trouble Witches NEO!.
  • In the 2012 reboot of Twisted Metal, while Axel himself doesn't appear, his vehicle is available as Downloadable Content.
  • Uncharted:
    • Victor Sullivan in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, who was a major character in the first game but only accompanies you for two chapters of the second before deciding he wants out. In Drake's Deception, Sullivan becomes a main character once again, only for the main female leads of Among Thieves, Elena and Chloe, to be demoted to extras.
    • Sadly Elena Fisher in Drake's Deception, she's not seen until the middle of the game when she tags along through most of a single chapter. When Drake goes after a captured Sully, he tells her to stay behind so as not to risk her welfare. Unlike the first game, she completely understands and helps Drake one more time by helping him get on Talbot's plane, then bows out until the ending.
    • Then it's Chloe Frazer's turn in Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. She was a major character in 2, has a minor role in 3 alongside newcomer Charlie Cutter, before both of them disappeared entirely in 4 with only a few mentions here and there. Chloe eventually returns in a standalone game Uncharted: The Lost Legacy and is even Promoted to Playable as the new main character.
  • Corrosion, Hyena and Memphis went from selectable characters in 2004 to AI bots in Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict.
  • In early promotional materials for Valiant Hearts, the British pilot George was billed to be one of the playable main characters. However, in the game itself, he only shows up as an NPC for a single mission as an aerial spotter.
  • Valkyrie Profile: Hrist spends much of the second game hunting her sister's Soul Jar. Her appearance in the third is restricted to complaining about not having a starring role in the Bonus Dungeon.
  • This happens mid-game for everybody but the main protagonist of Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume. Characters are given compelling, interesting motivations and backstories, but the minute they decide to join the party as anything other than guest characters, the only time they say a word or even show up outside of battles is when you decide to sacrifice them to your Plume.
  • Virtua Fighter:
    • Wolf has a self-contained arc in the anime, but largely unconnected with the major arcs of the stories. Lastly, he doesn't appear in the final battle of the anime, best he got is a mention in recognition of his past arc.
    • Jeffry. Much like Wolf above, although his treatment is a tad better in the second season, where he and Lion are blackmailed into fighting each other, in Jeffry's case to save his family.
  • Nick in The Walking Dead. If he survives Episode 2 he is noticeably less involved in the story of Episode 3 and only makes a brief appearance in Episode 4 before being found as a walker.
  • Warcraft:
    • Ogres suffered this in the series. In Warcraft II they were the most important part of the Horde next to orcs and the only non-orcs who led orc clans and there were several important ogre-mage characters. In Warcraft III they were no longer part of the Horde, and now had the small role of neutral mercenaries and hostile creeps. They were also inexplicably weaker compared to the powerful units they were in Warcraft II and resorted to using clubs rather than Good Old Fisticuffs. In the expansion pack a half ogre was introduced, and an ogre/goblin Hero Unit was introduced. Most importantly they rejoined the Horde in the story hinting at a greater role in future games. But then, in World of Warcraft the ogres' home is destroyed by black dragons and they show up for a minor role in one zone. As of the extension Cataclysm they are the only race from Warcraft II not playable in some form.
    • Happened to the Blood Elf race - except for Kael'thas - in the Frozen Throne expansion of Warcraft III. The "human" campaign largely on the plight of Kael'thas and his Blood Elf remnants... for about two and a half missions. Then they grew Out of Focus as the story importance shifted to Illidan and his Naga (the fact that the Blood Elf forces were completely irrelevant compared to the much stronger Naga didn't help). By the middle of the Undead campaign, the Blood Elves were out-and-out Mooks with the exception of Kael'thas himself.
    • While trolls in general seem to be the go-to race for evil mooks, troll heroes tend to either vanish into obscurity or be Driven to Villainy. And the playable Darkspear tribe's late (and somewhat rushed) addition to the baseline game to begin with has been largely sidelined.
    • The draenei have pulled up even with trolls in that regard. While they did get quite a bit of focus in the beginning of the Burning Crusade, they were overshadowed by the blood elves after the Black Temple. Like the trolls, they didn't do much of anything in WOTLK. And finally, in Cataclysm, they're the only race to not get a new class?despite rogue, druid, and (if you stretch a point) even warlock being at least theoretically possible. At least they make up a decent percentage of the Earthen Ring faction...but seeing as shamanism is canonically a tiny and new splinter of their culture, that's not saying much.
    • Worgen, who despite being the new Alliance race in Cataclysm, are shipped off to Darnassus at the end of their starting zone and promptly forgotten about. Their only other major appearance is in Silverpine Forest, a Horde leveling zone, where they are the antagonists. Alliance side, they make only a few token appearances as generic Non Player Characters, most of who could be changed to a human or a Night Elf without impacting anything. Their induction into the Alliance as well as the effects it had on the Worgen and the other races was instead put into the Expanded Universe novel Wolfheart, much to the annoyance of Alliance players.
    • After leading the Horde forces in Hellfire Peninsula and setting up Thrallmar in Burning Crusade, Nazgrel has more or less faded into the background in World of Warcraft. He isn't mentioned as a candidate for Warchief despite being Thrall's close advisor and he never gives his thoughts on Garrosh's appointment.
    • Many of the Warcraft mangas were written about Trag Highmountain, 6 issues, but he's only an NPC in game. His gossip text claims he wanted to join in on the Ashen Verdict's assault on Icecrown Citadel, but he was never present.
    • Lor'themar Theron had a somewhat important role in the comic as the Secret-Keeper, but nothing ultimately came of it, though he casts off the trope in Mists of Pandaria.
    • While ultimately not a super-important player, Nathanos Blightcaller being demoted from being quest-giver and target of two extensive questlines in vanilla to a simple class trainer is pretty damn degrading.
    • Cairne Bloodhoof played a big role in Warcraft III but doesn't do much in WoW. And when he finally plays a major role, he dies.
  • Mike, despite previously being a major character and getting his own Image Song, seems to do nothing now besides show up in scenes with the Crygors in WarioWare. He does get to host a multiplayer minigame in Game & Wario, though.
  • Mercy's role in The Warriors is far smaller and less significant than in the movie. As her subplot with Swan is removed in the game, she barely does anything throughout her time in the game.
  • Joseph DeMarco, one of Aiden's main targets in the trailer for Watch_Dogs, ends up as an illegal auction organizer in the game. You kick his ass at the end of the Human Trafficking sidequest.
  • Creepers are Minecraft's iconic Action Bomb Mascot Mooks, but in Wynncraft, a Role-Playing Game built in Minecraft, Creepers' brief appearances throughout the world can be counted on one hand.
  • Xenogears:
    • By the time Disc Two rolls around, Fei, Elly, Citan and Bart are the only playable characters who are really important to the plot anymore. By that point in the game, the villains get more dialogue than most party members.
    • This fate eventually befalls most of the secondary playable characters, but a notable example involves the NPC Hammer. During the Kislev story arc, Hammer is almost omni-present. His network of black-market goods, information, and mechanical skill are vital in eventually helping the main character escape imprisonment. After the escape, Hammer virtually disappears for twenty-odd game hours, only re-appearing near the end of the Solaris arc. He understands that he has been Demoted to Extra, and the knowledge drives him to cross the Moral Event Horizon at a certain point.
  • Xenosaga has MOMO Mizrahi, a little Realian girl. In the first two games she was one of the most important characters because her father/creator Joachim placed the "Y-Data" (which included coordinates to a planet that EVERYBODY wanted to get to) inside her mind. One of the main points of the first game is to get MOMO to a research facility where this data can be analyzed, and in the second game that actually occurs. She also serves as a foil and love interest for Junior (she was modeled after his old romantic interest, Sakura, who happened to be Joachim's biological daughter, effectively making MOMO her sister). And...then the third game comes, and she has very few lines and one or maybe two scenes that actually give her any real attention. It's as if she lost any real importance once they got the Y-Data out of her and just stayed on as a playable character because people were used to her being around.
  • X-Men Legends:
    • Emma Frost. Playable character in the first game, NPC in the second. Still, that's better than some other characters who were playable in the first game (such as Jubilee) who don't appear at all in the second game. Probably to make room for the Brotherhood characters.
    • Poor Magma only ever gets mentioned in a trivia question in the second game, despite being the main character from the first.
  • Kai is a major character as a romance option in his origin games (the Anime Sim Dates and Memory Days), but has only a supporting role in Xolga and Mr. Toko. However, it's not as bad as other examples, since his perspective of the story is shown in episode three.
  • Xonotic demoted most of the weapons which made the cut from its Spiritual Predecessor's Nexuiz to "Toy" status, only available through a mutator, such as the HLAC, the Mine Layer, the Rifle, the T.A.G. Seeker, the Grappling Hook and the Port-O-Launch. Inverted with the Fireball, which instead was given the Superweapon status.
  • Yakuza series:
    • Several major players in the series, including Tojo Chairman Daigo Dojima and Ensemble Dark Horse Majima, get only a few small speaking rolrs and have little influence on the plot of Yakuza 6 despite the power and impact they had earlier in the series. This is justified by a crackdown on yakuza following the events of Yakuza 5 as well as a manipulations of a few ambitious underlings who want them out of the way for their own play at Tojo Clan leadership.
    • Sohei Dojima, if the games are played in chronological order; in the prequel Yakuza 0 he's at the height of his power, the leading crime boss of Kamurocho and the one orchestrating the battle for the Empty Lot in a bid to become Chairman of the Tojo Clan. In all other games, he's dead, Killed Offscreen by Nishiki in the first half hour of Yakuza when he attempts to rape Kiryu's Love Interest Yumi. About the only impact Sohei has is his legacy, as his wife is trusted enough to be Acting Chairman following the assassination of the Fifth Chairman and his son, Daigo, is considered the only man worthy enough to become Chairman in Yakuza 2. Heck, Sohei's name isn't even mentioned after 2 and Daigo is considered the only Dojima of note for the rest of the series.
  • Luciana Rune Artwaltz is very important in Yggdra Union (although she appears under her sister's name for most of her appearances), but does almost nothing in its prequel, Blaze Union, instead shifting the focus onto the aforementioned twin sister Aegina. Then again, you can't do all that much on an injured leg. Aegina herself falls out of the spotlight in two of the three Multiple Endings - but in the third one, Luciana dies.
  • Yggdra Unison:
    • In the remake, Nessiah finally has a role in the story (and is an unlockable player character) compared to the orignal.
    • In an amusing aversion, this is about the only game in the whole of the Episode II part of the franchise where Luciana doesn't get shafted for once. She even gets her own story in the drama CD.
  • Poochy, who got his own level in Yoshi's Island, appeared as a selectable character in Tetris Attack, had a minor role sniffing out fruit in a couple levels of Yoshi's Story, and since then has only gotten two cameo appearances in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and Mario Party Advance. The Bus Came Back in time for Yoshi's New Island, though, and he returns in Yoshi's Woolly World.
  • You Don't Know Jack:
    • Schmitty, who hosted TV, part of The Ride, Louder, Faster, Funnier, 5th Dementia, Mock 2, and The Lost Gold, was reduced to the announcer of each episode's Wrong Answer of the Game prize in 2011. note 
    • Same goes for Buzz. After Volume 2, he only has a little participation in The Ride. Also Bob.
    • In the game show, Cookie Masterson was demoted from The Host to The Announcer.
  • Ys:
    • Happens to Adol's partner Dogi in Ys: Memories of Celceta. Averted for most of the other games, as he was originally a One-Scene Wonder who randomly shows up to bust Adol out of prison in the first game, and an optional Easter Egg if you do a little Backtracking. Both the creators and the fans took a liking to him, making him one of the few reoccurring characters.
    • Lilia, the hero's love interest in Ys II: Ancient Ys Vanished – The Final Chapter, was reduced to a minor supporting character in Ys IV, and completely forgotten afterward. Semi-justified as Adol spends his time traveling, and it's an unusually large world in the Ys series.
    • The island of Ys itself, and by proxy goddesses Feena and Reah. While they only show up near the end of the second game, they're over all fairly important for the first two installments, but rarely appear after. They do however show up in Ys Origin, as it's a prequel and Feena makes the occasional guest appearance in side works and remakes.
  • Crow in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds:World Championship. In 2010, he was supposed to be the fifth Signer, but was scrapped so the Player can become it instead. And in 2011, he is injured through most of the final chapter (Alongside everyone else, minus you, Yusei and Jack), forcing you to take his place.
  • Deadra, Ghat's partner/love interest from Zeno Clash, is absent for most of Zeno Clash 2. She left Ghat after his sulking about the Golem's laws became unbearable, hoping the Golem could bring prosperity to Zenozoik. She eventually becomes disillusioned with the Golem's laws, though, and leaves for the wilderness to start her own town. You briefly meet her about halfway through the game, and you can recruit her as part of an optional sidequest near the end.
  • Zone of the Enders:
    • Leo goes from being the main character in the first game, to a supporting character in The 2nd Runner
    • Nohman is the Big Bad of the entire series, serving as a Post-Climax Confrontation Hopeless Boss Fight in the first game, and the primary antagonist for the whole of the sequel. But in Dolores, i? He's just some cocky jerk who shows up to mock Pleminger's BAHRAM unit. It's revealed in backstory materials that Nohman was running his own gambit to take over Bahram via the chaos Radium's plan created.

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