Iconic Starter Equipment

How most people see Shulk vs. how Xenoblade fans see Shulk.^note Unless they are playing Definitive Edition and set the costume aesthetics to not change.

Many video game genres, such as Role-Playing Games, allow the player to acquire new weapons, armor, and items as they progress through the game. As the game goes on, players will constantly swap out their gear in order to improve their stats, or for whichever gear provides is most optimal for the current situation.

In spite of this, it is often the Starter Equipment that becomes the most iconic, with characters often depicted using it in official artwork, spinoffs, or other media aside from the original game. This can result in a weird dissonance where the player character spends most of the game looking very different from their "official", "iconic", or "canonical" appearance.

The reasons for this are varied. The developers may not want to spoil the appearance of a Sword of Plot Advancement or an Infinity +1 Sword in the promotional art. Oftentimes in games the combination of gear that offers the most optimal stats is not the most attractive, and so the starting equipment might be chosen simply because it looks the best and/or is most cohesive. The developers may also use their preferred or best character design as the starting equipment in order to leave a good first impression on players. Also, in many games, the equipment that the player wears vary for each playthrough because of Story Branching, leveling choices, or simple player preference; thus, the starting gear is often the sole common denominator that all players will recognize regardless of what gear they used later in the game.

Compare Level 1 Music Represents, where early game music becomes the most iconic and emblematic of a game. Contrast Informed Equipment, where a game allows the player to equip a large variety of gear without changing the characters' appearance.

One of the items in the basic equipment will often be a Signature Device.

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Examples:

Action-Adventure

• In LEGO City Undercover, Chase doesn't immediately start the game with his police uniform seen on the cover and his physical minifigure, but he does unlock it early in the game before any of the action starts. In Chapter 5, when Chase decides to go undercover in Chan Chuang's gang, the uniform gets replaced with an undercover disguise that Chase wears for a good chunk of the rest of the game. Fortunately, the game does give you the option to go back to the police uniform by going into a disguise booth.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • Generally averted with the Master Sword, the Sword of Plot Advancement in most of the series, with Link using it in most official art, and the sword is a veritable part of the series iconography. There are exceptions though. Link from Wind Waker uses the early-game Hero's Sword in all of his official art, and Link from Twilight Princess uses the early game Ordon Sword in most of his official art as well, though he does have a few pieces with the Master Sword.
  • That said, some games do feature swords that are more powerful than the Master Sword, but these are typically (a) upgrades to the Master Sword itself, or (b) have some tradeoff that might make the player want to switch back to the Master Sword, such as the Biggoron's Sword from Ocarina of Time, which is a two-handed sword that prevents Link from using his shield.
  • Link's iconic outfit is his green tunic. In some games he can find other outfits that offer some benefit over his standard one, meaning that the players will rarely use his default one after acquiring them. Twilight Princess averts this because while Link's alternate outfits of the Zora Armor and Magic Armor give him the ability to breathe underwater and invincibility, respectively, both are made highly situational by their respective downsides of making him extremely weak to fire and ice attacks and draining his rupees, giving players a reason to equip his standard outfit again. In Ocarina of Time, Link can swap out his green Kokiri Tunic for the Goron or Zora Tunics, which respectively grant him the ability to withstand high temperatures and breathe underwater. Unlike in Twilight Princess, the only benefit to switching back to the default outfit is that it can't be eaten by Like Likes, meaning that once you acquire them, you'll probably be wearing the Goron or Zora Tunics for the rest of the game. This makes for an awkward moment with the introduction to The Wind Waker, in which young boys are said to wear green tunics to mark their coming of age in commemoration of the green-clad Hero from Ocarina of Time who defeated Ganon, even though many players probably defeated Ganon wearing the red Goron or blue Zora Tunics in the latter game.
  • Zigzagged in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, with most official art depicting Link wearing the Champion's Tunic and Hylian Trousers. The Champion's tunic averts this, due to it not being starter equipment as well as offering good protection at each upgrade level without compromising stealth too much, so players have a reason to keep using it throughout the game, but the Hylian Trousers play this straight since they are one of the first items of clothing you can acquire and have only modest defense and stealth, and no protection from extreme elements, meaning that players will likely be wearing something else most of the time. Link is also depicted without any headgear, even though it is usually optimal to equip one since doing so will raise your defence and/or offer some other benefit.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom prominently features 2 armor sets in its promotional material and artwork, both of which are only relevant in the early stages of the game:
    • The prologue starts off with Link wearing the Champion Leathers and the Hylian Hood and Trousers, which have only decent defense when upgraded and no set bonus abilities like most of the other armor sets the player can obtain.
    • The Archaic Set is the first armor the player receives in the game proper. It not only has no set bonus traits, but it can't even be upgraded, meaning literally anything else in the game is more useful. As such, any player who isn't doing a Self-Imposed Challenge or wearing it solely for the sake of style will swap it for something else as soon as they can.
• In the cutscenes and official artwork of Ōkami, Amaterasu is always shown with her starting weapon, the Divine Retribution.

First/Third-Person Shooters

• Across the Doom franchise, the Doomguy/Doom Slayer is always seen using one of three weapons: the starting Pistol, the (sometimes starting) Shotgun or the Super Shotgun, the (usually) first weapon he stumbles upon during the first levels of his games.
• The Gears of War series usually drops the players into most missions with the Lancer, an assault rifle with an underbarrel chainsaw. It is the signature firearm carried by the main characters featured on all of the series' box art.
• In Half-Life and its sequel, the most iconic weapon is the crowbar, which is also the very first weapon you acquire.^note Except in Episode 1, where it's the last. Being a First-Person Shooter, there are a number of firearms that the player acquires during the game, and would certainly prefer to use if possible, and yet Gordon's close-range Improvised Weapon remains his most iconic.

MMORPG

• In Phantasy Star Online, the default appearance and costume for each of the game's classes is featured on the artwork and merchandise. Similarly, virtually all official artwork for Phantasy Star Online 2 and Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis depicts the characters using not only the starter weapons but also the starter costumes.

Metroidvania

• Hollow Knight depicts the player character with the basic, weathered Nail in most artwork instead of any of the upgraded Nails obtained from the Nailsmith.
• Metroid: Samus is mostly commonly depicted wearing her basic Power Suit or the Varia Suit, which are typically starter equipment or fairly early game items, instead of her more powerful late-game suits such as the Gravity Suit.

Role-Playing Game

• Bloodborne: The player character is commonly shown wielding the Saw Cleaver and wearing the Hunter Set, the former being one of the choices of starter weapon, and the latter becoming available very early in the game. It is downplayed, however, as all the Trick Weapons are designed to be on the same level of effectiveness as each other, and the Saw Cleaver is a popular choice in all levels of play.
• Dark Souls: Promotional materials tend to portray the player character in the default armor of the knight class, even though there's tons of other equipment in the game that the player will likely upgrade to as they play.
• Disco Elysium: The detective is almost always depicted in the 'disco' outfit obtained in the first five minutes of the game. Most players will have replaced every item of it by the game's midpoint.
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: The Dragonborn's most iconic outfit, depicted in virtually all promotional material, is a set of iron armor that most players will stop wearing by hour three ^note  and if you choose to follow Ralof at Helgen will be outclassed before you even get it and a steel sword that will last for a few hours past that at most. However, a high level in Smithing and Heavy Armor can make Iron Armor viable in the endgame if a player is really into it.
• EXA_PICO: All promotional materials use Reyvateils' original clothes, even though the player will likely replace them as soon as other costumes become avilable. When they reappear in Cross Edge, they also retain their outfits. Somewhat justified, because they actually change into these costumes via Song Magic at the start of every battle. Averted within the series proper, as all returning characters have completly different outfits. In fact, the only recurring costume in the series is Aurica's Goofy Suit that the player will never use anyway.
• Fallout: The blue and yellow Vault-Tec jumpsuit is one of the most recognizable symbols of the franchise, heavily featured in marketing and worn by Vault Boy, the series' mascot. As such, almost every game in the series starts out with the player character wearing the jumpsuit... even when they aren't a Vault dweller (like the Courier in Fallout: New Vegas). The basic jumpsuit itself is a fairly average piece of clothing that quickly gets outclassed once the player obtains far better armor and clothing items, including the series' other most iconic outfit: Power Armor.
• Fate/Grand Order:
  • The player can unlock various Mystic Codes to grant different abilities mid-battle and act as costumes for their character, but most depictions of the protagonist in media and merchandise portray them with the default "Mystic Code: Chaldea", even after Arc 2 introduced the "Chaldea Uniform - Arctic" as a new default Mystic Code. Averted for anime adaptations starting with Fate/Grand Order - Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia, which create their own original Mystic Code designs for the protagonist to wear.
  • Most Servants, such as the heroine trio consisting of Altria, Mash, and Jeanne d'Arc, are depicted in merchandising and promotional material in their Second Ascension (and returning characters from other Fate media are likely to have their default form as their Second Ascension), but media depictions that don't use a Servant's Second Ascension are far more likely to use their First Ascension than their Third. Servants like Ereshkigal and Rider Leonarda Da Vinci are depicted in their First Ascension so often that it becomes easy to forget their designs become quite different as they level up.
• Very common in the Final Fantasy franchise:
  • Final Fantasy VII:
    • Cloud's Buster Sword is what most people picture him wielding and it's the weapon he wields in all spinoffs, cameo appearances, etc. In Final Fantasy VII Remake it's even given Magikarp Power properties so that it stays viable even after the acquisition of other swords, whereas in the original game you'll ditch it and never look back^note though you can't actually get rid of it; it can't be sold as soon as you get another sword. Advent Children reached a compromise by giving the Fusion Swords an identical overall shape when assembled, giving some of his cameos (like Super Smash Bros.) the choice between the two.
    • Yuffie's Juji Shuriken (or 4-Point Shuriken) is her default in the original game, Dirge Of Cerberus Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VII Remake. It also appears in the official artwork for her and is what she uses in Kingdom Hearts II and her weapon in her Play Arts model figures.
  • Final Fantasy VIII: Squall's basic gunblade, the Revolver, is his trademark weapon and is the default for his appearances in side media and related content.
  • Final Fantasy X: Many of the weapons one can buy or create in-game share the same appearance such that weapons with different names and abilities will often look the same despite having different effects on players and enemies. That said:
    • Yuna's starter staff is her trademark, in part due to the iconic scene in which she uses it in her first on-screen sending of spirits, and is the default staff she will be shown with in most promotional images and appearances in other media. Notably, unlike other characters' starting weapons, who share their appearance with several other more powerful weapons, there are scarcely any weapons that use the same appearance as Yuna's starting staff, which means that once you get another staff (which may happen before you even meet Yuna), you'll likely never see her more iconic staff again aside from the odd cutscene that uses characters' default weapons instead of their currently equipped ones.
    • Auron appears the most with his basic katana, a barely stylized scaled-up version of a blade, in subsequent games and spin-offs.
    • Tidus' Brotherhood blade (which looks like it's made of water) is the one that appears on posters.
  • Final Fantasy X-2: The red daggers Rikku wields as part of her base "Thief" dressphere has become part of her signature look. This is quite surprising, since in her appearance as a main party member in Final Fantasy X, Rikku uses claws instead of daggers and the now trademark red daggers do not show up in the entire game.
    • Each character's starting dressphere - Gunner for Yuna, Thief for Rikku, Warrior for Paine - is the outfit and weapon they are consistently depicted with, what most people imagine them with, and what they are always using outside of battle beyond a sparse few cutscenes where Yuna switches to Songstress. This is despite the game having a robust class system that encourages experimenting with different dresspheres to the point where you can change class even in the middle of a battle, the different dresspheres and the ability to change between them being made out to be a big deal at the outset of the story, and the existence of more advanced dresspheres with better stats and more potent skillsets than those starting ones.
• Kingdom Hearts:
  • Sora is most often depicted in official artwork and merchandise as using the Kingdom Key Keyblade, which in most games in the series is the most basic, starting Keyblade that players will stop using as soon as they acquire another one.
  • Likewise, Keyblade wielders from Kingdom Hearts χ are always depicted wielding the base version of the Starlight Keyblade, the first and weakest Keyblade available in the game.
  • Zigzagged with Aqua from Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, who is most commonly depicted with her starting Keyblade Rainfell. However, starting from Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage-, official art swaps this out in favor of the Master's Defender, which is a late-game Keyblade in Birth By Sleep but is the starting Keyblade in 0.2.
• Mass Effect: Commander Shepard is almost always depicted in cover and promo art wielding the Avenger assault rifle, which is the basic starter gun in Mass Effect 2 and 3 and is likely to be traded out as soon as Shepard gets access to any other guns. Similarly, he/she will be wearing the basic N7 armor, which will again typically be traded out as soon as access to other armor is available.
• Persona:
  • From Persona 3 onwards, the games' main characters are distinguished by their ability to use multiple Personas. They're given a Persona to start out with, but as is typical for the Shin Megami Tensei series, these Personas fall behind fairly early on in the game, and the player is incentivized to fuse them into better ones. Nonetheless, the protagonists' starter personas feature heavily in official artwork, spinoff media, and adaptations such as the manga and anime, where they are often depicted as far more useful and powerful than they are in-game.
  • Zigzagged with the rest of the main cast in each game, who are given evolutions of their starting Personas in each of their debut games but depending on the spin-off/sequel material may either keep their evolved Personas or revert back to their original ones (Hand Wave optional) depending on how iconic they are.
• Pokémon:
  • Downplayed with the starter Pokémon. By virtue of Evolution Power-Up, the Starter Mons typically remain useful throughout the game; however, with a few exceptions, the first stage starters tend to remain the most popular and heavily featured in promotional materials and merchandise. Characters in the anime will often not evolve their Pokémon, likely due to the base forms being more popular, recognizable, and merchandisable.
  • Outside of the mainline games, it's rare to see any other variant of Poké Ball aside from the basic red one, despite most players opting to use other variants as soon as they become available in order to make catching Pokémon easier. After the red Poké Ball, the Master Ball is the one most likely to appear in other media.^note  which is also rarely used by actual players, although for a very different reason.
• Subverted with Pixie in Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, who is the very first demon recruited in the game and one of the most iconic (being very often depicted alongside the Demi-fiend himself) but is also one of the weakest demons in the game and is meant to be fused away almost immediately. However, in the Updated Re-release, bringing this specific starter Pixie (or a demon fused by using this Pixie as a material at some point) to a certain late-game area will allow you to upgrade her to a "super" Pixie that is Lv. 80 and packed with endgame skills and stats, allowing her to pull her weight even at the end.
• Tales Series often plays with it. Most often, in spin-offs characters will be using weapons that can be acquired quite early or after plot-mandated events, but not starter equipment. Maybe because their starting weapons are often literal sticks.
  • Tales of Phantasia: Cless is always depicted using his unique starting blade with a tonfa-like grip, even though he never uses said grip ouside of anime OVAs. Notably, he never uses any of his FOUR Swords of Plot Advancement.
    • Averted with Mint, who uses a staff that looks somewhat like Rune Staff weapon, that is completly optional. Curiously, she also never uses her Sword of Plot Advancement.
  • Tales of Destiny: Played straight, but mostly because each of the main characters has their own Empathic Weapon, which not only play a big role in the story, but are also characters on their own. The remake even removes other equippable weapons from the game.
    • The only aversion is Mary Argent, who is depicted using a red axe, that isn't even in the original game. Even worse, in the original game her main weapon was a sword, even though she had several equippable axes. Said red axe was made her starting weapon in the remake, but even then she has better equip options.
  • Tales of Symphonia: Averted for Lloyd, who uses either metal swords or Material Blades, while his starting weapon is a pair of wooden swords. He does acquire both of them during plot, though. Played straight for everyone else.
  • Tales of the Abyss: A funny aversion - Luke has a sheath on his model, but his starting sword blatantly doesn't fit into it. Naturally, spin-offs have him using a weapon that doesn't look like it needs to be stored in Hammerspace.
  • Tales of Innocence: Again, played straight for everyone but the protagonist, even if just barely. Luca's iconic broadsword is given to him after the first battle, but his actual starting weapon is a tree branch.
  • Tales of Vesperia: Averted for Yuri, Estelle, and Judith. Yuri's katana is the Second Star weapon, that drops from a mid-game boss, Estelle's Rod and Queen of Hearts are late-game optional weapon and shield, and Judith's Dark Crystal is also optional, but can be bought in her hometown.
  • Tales of Zestiria: Played straight - Sorey's Ancient Sword is even pictured in his Super Move Portrait Attack. Averted, however, for his clothes: he starts to wear his cloak only after getting it several hours into the game.
  • Tales of Berseria: Technically averted with Velvet's costumes - she wears two different costumes before getting the one that she uses for the rest of the game. Or, rather, it's one costume, subject to Clothing Damage for three years straight. Played straight for weapons.
  • Tales of Arise: Averted - both Alphen and Shionne wear four different sets of clothes and weapons throughout the game, but promotions use only Alphen's third and Shionne's second costumes. Mostly because their earlier costumes are inappropriate for JRPG heroes (slave's rugs with full-face mask and pajama-like simple dress respectively), and later ones are rather spoileriffic (really fancy costumes, as befits the Sovereign and the Maiden).
• Xenoblade Chronicles series:
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 1:
    • It's not weapons, but armour that has this effect, as the page image shows. Informed Equipment is averted, but the appearance many people remember for the characters are their default costumes, which is starter armour normally replaced within an hour of them joining. It doesn't help that the most effective armour sets tend to lean toward Rainbow Pimp Gear. While armour that uses the same appearance as the characters' starting armour exists, such armour stops being supplied around the midpoint of the game, requiring players to eventually leave the characters' canon looks behind for the sake of continuing to upgrade their defensive power. Fortunately, the Updated Re-release leaned into the Virtual Paper Doll aspect by keeping a catalogue of every armour piece ever owned for the purpose of cosmetic overrides.
    • To a lesser extent, the Sword of Plot Advancement tends to get this. Most people and art imagine Shulk with the basic Monado, but the blade is transformed into the differently-shaped "Monado II" about halfway through the game and the blade changes dramatically after the Wham Episode, in which Shulk loses the Monado entirely and resorts to using Machina-developed replicas, the "Monado III" born from his desire to shape the future, and finally Shulk's custom-made Monado during the events of Future Connected.
  • In Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Rex is usually depicted wielding Pyra's Aegis Sword (a flame-spewing Laser Blade) in the game's cutscenes and supplemental material much more often than Mythra's Aegis Sword (a light-emitting Laser-BFS). In gameplay, Pyra, while not terrible by any stretch of the imagination, is near-completely outclassed by Mythra, who is just plain better at everything. Once you get Mythra (which is pretty early on), there's not much reason to use Pyra anymore unless you need her fire element for something, or if you just like Pyra more than Mythra. Otherwise, it's heavily downplayed compared to its predecessor, as the ability to hot-swap between weapons is a ubiquitous in-universe technique and the only (non-cosmetic-DLC) character appearance change is a plot-related spoiler. In a more traditional example, the Aegis Swords are among one of the few weapons whose appearances aren't changed by weapon chips, as opposed to the other weapon classes and unique weapons that are.
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 3 plays with it. The main party can instantly change their clothes (usually just jackets) and weapon when they change into another class. Promotional materials show them in their default outfits, but cutscenes usually preserve whatever clothes they are wearing, or just show them without class-specific jackets. Weapons in most cutscenes also correspond to current classes, but some plot-significant/action-heavy cutscenes has characters wield their default weapons. There is also an option for the party to wear outfits of any mastered class, allowing the player to keep the party in their canon costumes for the entire game.

Stealth Game

• Hitman: 47's trusty piano cord (for strangulations) has been present in every iteration, due to its noiseless nature, the fact it's inconspicuous, and the fact that it doesn't need ammo.

Turn-Based Strategy

• Fire Emblem:
  • Fire Emblem: Awakening: Chrom is consistently depicted wielding the basic form of the Falchion, which has deteriorated in power in the two millennia since Marth wielded it. Although it having unlimited uses and a dragonslaying attribute means it'll never be completely useless, its low attack power means that Chrom will likely spend most of the game wielding other weapons until the Falchion is upgraded into the Exalted Falchion near the end of the game, a different-looking form that has been scarcely, if ever, depicted outside of Awakening.
  • Similarly, Corrin from Fire Emblem Fates is usually depicted with the basic and weakest form of the Yato, rather than any of its other forms. Rarely, the Yato's "Omega" form may be depicted instead, as in Super Smash Bros..
  • In Fire Emblem Heroes, new units are almost always based on the design and mechanics of that character's starting class, while promoted class designs are usually saved for special alts, such as legendaries and brave alts. Likewise, the Fire Emblem: Three Houses characters have all started out in their pre-timeskip designs, despite the later post-timeskip costumes usually being more popular. However, it's also common for unit's weapons to be named after late-game items, as those are more likely to be personalised to the character, which can lead to odd situations where a hero looks and acts like they just joined the army but are using weapons from much later on.

Survival Horror

• Dead Space: Isaac Clarke, the series protagonist, is shown wielding the Plasma Cutter in most promotional art.
• Resident Evil: The starter pistols of each RE instalment is usually the one most depicted being carried by the playable character on each game's respective cover art. It also helps that pistols in Resident Evil have good staying power for most of the game, either for simple ammo-saving reasons or tend to be the most powerful of its class when fully upgraded for later instalments.
  • Resident Evil 2: Leon's VP70 handgun, while being a real unique weapon in its own right, makes return appearances in later instalments, including the Remake.
  • Resident Evil 5: The Beretta 92FS features front and centre as the B.S.A.A agents Chris and Sheva's weapon of choice. All cutscenes feature them using the Beretta regardless if it was equipped or not during the level.

Wide Open Sandbox

• Watch_Dogs: The silenced 1911 pistol is made available after the prologue, and is likely the primary weapon used for much of the game, while the description of the counterpart in Watch_Dogs 2 describes it as having been used to tear through the Chicago underground in 2014, cementing it as Aiden's iconic weapon.

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