History Main / PlayerMooks

* Get enough of your named squad-mates killed in ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'' (bar ''II'' and ''III''), and they'll be filled with nameless soldiers who are inferior to the named ones (by virtue of lacking Potentials). It serves as a good reminder to keep the named soldiers alive and not to, meaninglessly, waste them in a fight.

* Get enough of your named squad-mates killed in ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'' (bar ''II'' and ''III''), and they'll be filled with nameless soldiers who are inferior to the named soldiers (by virtue of lacking Potentials). It's a good reminder to not get them killed and gives players an incentive to keep them alive.

* ''VideoGame/GutsNBlackpowder'':The soldiers players play as are generic soldiers from the 1800s trapped in a zombie infested area, having no unique character traits beyond their class.

* ''VideoGame/SoulCalibur3'': In ''Chronicles of the Sword'' mode, the player can create mooks equal to the number of normal custom character slots they have purchased. Given that these will stay with the player even when, post TimeSkip, the previous allies are all BrainwashedAndCrazy or had a FaceHeelTurn, not to mention retaining their levels during NewGamePlus, they tend to form the most effective parties.

* ''VideoGame/StarWarsBattlefront'' is this trope in spades - you even jump between random {{Mooks}} (somehow keeping your experience and bonuses) if your current character gets wasted.

* ''VideoGame/GutsNBlackpowder'':The soldiers players play as are generic soldiers trapped in a zombie infested area, having no unique character traits beyond their class.

* ''VideoGame/PerfectDark''': One of the multiplayer modes had player 1 try to complete a single-player mission while player 2 controls the mooks. The mook usually has only 2 weapons. If the mook gets stuck (or player 2 needs to get to a closer mook) he can use a cyanide pill to effectively BodySurf to another mook.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyLegendII'' has the Hero take three of his classmates with him.

* ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon'': Any non-required party members will appear in cutscenes (assuming they even let you bring any to a plot-related dungeon in the first place) and will wordlessly react to what happens, but never actually get any dialogue. The main characters don't even acknowledge their existence save for one instance in the first game.

This is a Player Mook. A PlayerCharacter that is a character strictly in the game mechanics sense. These characters have no names, unless the player [[HelloInsertNameHere gives them names]]. They have no personality, and they don't act in the plot at all. Essentially, they're {{Mooks}} and {{Red Shirt}}s that you get to control.

* The Player Mooks use [[YouALLLookFamiliar the same set of appearances.]] Often whatever class the generic character is will dictate how they look.

* In ''[[VideoGame/SoulSeries Soul Calibur 3]]'''s Chronicles of the Sword mode, the player can create mooks equal to the number of normal custom character slots they have purchased. Given that these will stay with the player even when, post TimeSkip, the previous allies are all BrainwashedAndCrazy or had a FaceHeelTurn, not to mention retaining their levels during NewGamePlus, they tend to form the most effective parties.

* ''VideoGame/BioShock2's'' multiplayer has you play as the [[{{Mooks}} Splicers]] to avoid having six [[LightningBruiser Subject Deltas]] running around at once.

* The characters in ''VideoGame/KillerQueen'' have no names besides the names of their classes (Drone/Soldier/Queen), which are never mentioned outside of the short "How to Play" sequence. The game is all gameplay and strategy, with absolutely zero plot or character development.
* ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'': ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar'' introduced the ability for Kirby to turn one enemy into his ally, and it can optionally be controlled by a second player. ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies'' later expanded upon this concept, bringing the total player count up to four and introducing playable bosses through the "Dream Friends" system.
* In ''VideoGame/MrRobot'', there are four plot-essential robots that join your party (by having their personalities [[PartyInMyPocket copied into your head]]), one for each "class". But you can also get a couple more robot personalities to help you in battle by exploring the world thoroughly, and their existence isn't mentioned at all (even when the main character whines about how crowded it's getting in there).

** The original ''VideoGame/FinalFantasy'' just had the player select classes for the four party members. They had no individualized dialogue or storylines.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears'' does this over and over again. There's a generic Black Mage (named "Black Mage") and a generic White Mage (named "White Mage") who join you in both Ceodore's and Porom's chapters - between the two chapters, they're actually on your team about as long as Palom and Porom were in the original (and in the same places to boot!), but their generic names, nonexistent personalities, and lack of special abilities make them feel a lot more impersonal. In a similar vein, you get "Monk A", "Monk B", and "Monk C" in Yang's chapter; Edward's, meanwhile, has "Guard A", "Guard B", and "Guard C". Then again, this game has tons of characters to begin with, so it seems the game designers were just trying to give you some [[CrutchCharacter Crutch Characters]] without overloading the player.

* In the ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon'', any non-required party members will appear in cutscenes (assuming they even let you bring any to a plot-related dungeon in the first place) and will wordlessly react to what happens, but never actually get any dialogue. The main characters don't even acknowledge their existence save for one instance in the first game.

** 3 adds a bit more personality to generic characters, with an introduction scene for each class that plays upon creation, and the ability to talk to them to get some often amusing dialogue from them. 4 lets you individualize them a little by choosing one of three personalities for them during the creation process, which determines their battle quotes and voice, and also allows you to place them in the hub to provide conversation or run the various shops and services.
** In fact, 4 has Valvatorez say that the 60,000 enemies the party is about to face resolve to 10,000 per character - there are six plot party members. When one character who is an unofficial part of the party points out that she's included in this, Valvatorez hastily says that her ten thousand were actually being counted among the Prinnies. Yeah, the humanoid player mooks are, plot-wise, beneath the ''[[MascotMook Prinnies]]'' in importance.

* The whole point of the ''VideoGame/MountAndBlade'' videogame series is to form your own army of player mooks and have many adventures with them around the fictional world of Calradia.

* In ''VideoGame/TacticsOgreTheKnightOfLodis'', there is a way to actually ''turn'' a Player Mook into a named character. By following a certain sequence of events, SecretCharacter Deneb can [[GrandTheftMe take over]] a Player Mook's body.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Spellforce}}'' series, being a blend between Real Time Strategy and Role Playing Game, has you create a player avatar who has the ability to summon a fully controllable army. This is even an explicit ability in the first game of the series.
* The units in ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'' skirt the line between PlayerMooks and a CastOfSnowflakes. On the one hand, each unit type (called "heroes", but effectively classes) has a default name, a unique appearance, a short backstory, and their move-sets and dialogue lines are plenty enough to hint at a personality. On the other hand, the player can recruit and even field multiple instances of the same hero at a time, with at most a PaletteSwap to distinguish them visually. On the other-other hand, the affliction and quirk systems ensure that even two same-level, same-class units will have distinctive traits, such as a love interest in town, a hatred of the undead, a proclivity for paranoia, or a tendency to eat when under stress. On the [[OverlyLongGag other-other-other]] hand, said features mostly boil down to stat adjustments, and don't really have any narrative bearing besides the implications of the quirks' names and the occasional line of random dialogue.

* ''VideoGame/DiabloII'' allows you to hire expendable mercenaries in town to aid you. This was fleshed out in ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'' with "Followers" - functionally similar to the previous game's mercenaries, but with a skill tree and more lore attached.
* When you storm the Tower of Ishal in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', you are temporarily given nameless PlayerMooks to fill up the party. Depending on your class and Origin, you get either a soldier, a Circle mage, or both. This is because at that point, the only permanent NonPlayerCompanion you have is Alistair and the Tower of Ishal is where you get drilled in the party controls until you really get them. Regardless of what you do, both PlayerMooks perish at the end of the segment, when the tower collapses on itself.
* Most ''VideoGame/{{Wizardry}}'' let you recruit and customise minions. ''Wizardry 8'' lets you give them their own distinct voices and personalities. They talk as necessary whenever the plot demands, and often they feel like story characters rather than Player Mooks.

* ''Mario Superstar Baseball'' and its sequel, ''Mario Super Sluggers'', uses this trope like there's no tomorrow. In fact, the only {{Palette Swap}}s available in those games are for the mooks themselves (complete with individualized stats), with the thin justification that those same mooks had palette swaps in the main games to begin with (except for Magikoopa and Dry Bones, who only had palette swaps in the ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' series). Interestingly, while Yoshi gets palette swaps in the sequel, Birdo still doesn't, despite different colored Birdos blatantly appearing elsewhere in the game.

* One of ''VideoGame/PerfectDark'''s multiplayer modes had player 1 try to complete a single-player mission while player 2 controls the mooks. The mook usually has only 2 weapons. If the mook gets stuck (or player 2 needs to get to a closer mook) he can use a cyanide pill to effectively BodySurf to another mook.

* In ''[[TheBattleCats The Battle Cats]]'', these are the only characters usable. God Cat is the closest thing to an exception in the game.

* In the ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' franchise:

** In Chapter 6 of the "Cindered Shadows" campaign in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', you need to have four units (including Byleth, but not including the Ashen Wolves) plug up four vortices to disrupt a dark ritual. If you can't deploy enough units to do so, you are given a generic Fortress Knight, Paladin, and Sniper to make up the difference.
* In the classic ''VideoGame/XCom'' series, troopers have randomly generated names and stats and a handful of character models. They are fielded by the dozen, die in large numbers, and replacements are just a few mouse clicks away.

* In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'', max out your [[RelationshipValues Like stat]] with Dwayne Forge and he'll send his gang members to assist you when you call him.

* The player's generic gang members in ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'' and ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird''. ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'' follows suit, of course, with one good variation: a late game unlock gives you several super-powered homies to be summoned. They are actually [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall default player character models]] for ''VideoGame/{{Saints Row|1}}'', ''Saints Row 2'', and ''Saints Row 2'' co-op.

* In ''VideoGame/WatchDogsLegion'', there is no central protagonist - instead, players can make a playable character out of anyone in London, from a highly-trained spy to a curmudgeony grandma.
* Starships owned by the player of an [[VideoGame/{{X}} X-Universe]] game, but not used for the player ship, don't even have pilots (specifically, the player's name is listed as pilot on the ship's info screen), unless the player gives them one by activating a script that adds a named pilot. Even then, their name is randomly generated based on the species that owns the sector, and you never interact with the pilots in person beyond giving them orders from a command console.
** Averted in ''Videogame/XRebirth'', where your starships are crewed by actual people who you speak with to give orders.

Also see LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters and CastOfSnowflakes. Compare/contrast NonPlayerCompanion who also plays supporting roles to the [=PCs=] but is usually much better developed (if not always more useful) than mooks; a GuestStarPartyMember may skirt the line between these two tropes.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears'' does this over and over again. There's a generic Black Mage (named "Black Mage") and a generic White Mage (named "White Mage") who join you in both Ceodore's and Porom's chapters - between the two chapters, they're actually on your team about as long as Palom and Porom were in the original (and in the same places to boot!), but their generic names, nonexistent personalities, and lack of special abilities make them feel a lot more impersonal. In a similar vein, you get "Monk A", "Monk B", and "Monk C" in Yang's chapter; Edward's, meanwhile, has "Guard A", "Guard B", and "Guard C". Then again, this game has LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters to begin with, so it seems the game designers were just trying to give you some [[CrutchCharacter Crutch Characters]] without overloading the player.

** Even later games in the Empires sub-series mixed Mook and non-Mook offices into the slush during game play. Based on your "friendship" with the various officers you commanded different ones would appear in cut scenes. If you where close to your Player Mooks, then they showed in the events.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII'' features a party of four identical, generic characters with no separate character traits or plot elements, beyond the fact that all interactions with NPCs are ostensibly with the player character that was listed first on the character creation screen.

** * Similarly to ''Dragon Quest III'' and ''IX'', ''VideoGame/TheFinalFantasyLegend'' lets you choose which kind of character TheHero is, and you can recruit up to three more generic party members at a guild. ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyLegendII'' has the Hero take three of his classmates with him.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears'' does this over and over again. There's a generic Black Mage (named "Black Mage") and a generic White Mage (named "White Mage") who join you in both Ceodore's and Porom's chapters - between the two chapters, they're actually on your team about as long as Palom and Porom were in the original (and in the same places to boot!), but their generic names, nonexistent personalities, and lack of special abilities make them feel a lot more impersonal. In a similar vein, you get "Monk A", "Monk B", and "Monk C" in Yang's chapter; Edward's, meanwhile, has "Guard A", "Guard B", and "Guard C". Then again, this game has LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters to begin with, so it seems the game designers were just trying to give you some [[CrutchCharacter Crutch Characters]] without overloading the player.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' has the ghosts in the Phantom Train. Most ghosts are enemies but a few will offer to join your party. They have no backstory, a unique class, and a stat set randomly chosen from three presets. You can only recruit up to however many to fill your party; if they are KO'd or use their "Possess" skill they leave you party and you can recruit another one, endlessly. However, they always leave at the end of the level.

* In the ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' franchise:

[[folder:First-Person Shooter]]* ''VideoGame/BioShock2's'' multiplayer has you play as the [[{{Mooks}} Splicers]] to avoid having six [[LightningBruiser Subject Deltas]] running around at once.

[[folder:First-Person Shooter]]
* ''VideoGame/StarWarsBattlefront'' is this trope in spades - you even jump between random {{Mooks}} (somehow keeping your experience and bonuses) if your current character gets wasted.
* ''VideoGame/BioShock2's'' multiplayer has you play as the [[{{Mooks}} Splicers]] to avoid having six [[LightningBruiser Subject Deltas]] running around at once.

* In ''VideoGame/MrRobot'', there are four plot-essential robots that join your party (by having their personalities [[PartyInMyPocket copied into your head]]), one for each "class". But you can also get a couple more robot personalities to help you in battle by exploring the world thoroughly, and their existence isn't mentioned at all (even when the main character whines about how crowded it's getting in there).

* Similarly to ''Dragon Quest III'' and ''IX'', ''VideoGame/TheFinalFantasyLegend'' lets you choose which kind of character TheHero is, and you can recruit up to three more generic party members at a guild. ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyLegendII'' has the Hero take three of his classmates with him.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears'' does this over and over again. There's a generic Black Mage (named "Black Mage") and a generic White Mage (named "White Mage") who join you in both Ceodore's and Porom's chapters - between the two chapters, they're actually on your team about as long as Palom and Porom were in the original (and in the same places to boot!), but their generic names, nonexistent personalities, and lack of special abilities make them feel a lot more impersonal. In a similar vein, you get "Monk A", "Monk B", and "Monk C" in Yang's chapter; Edward's, meanwhile, has "Guard A", "Guard B", and "Guard C". Then again, this game has LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters to begin with, so it seems the game designers were just trying to give you some [[CrutchCharacter Crutch Characters]] without overloading the player.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' has the ghosts in the Phantom Train. Most ghosts are enemies but a few will offer to join your party. They have no backstory, a unique class, and a stat set randomly chosen from three presets. You can only recruit up to however many to fill your party; if they are KO'd or use their "Possess" skill they leave you party and you can recruit another one, endlessly. However, they always leave at the end of the level.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics''
** Strangely, there are actually some specific, non-generic Mooks in the Final Fantasy Tactics games: In the first, the generic characters at the introductory monastery fight (that you keep once you get into chapter 2) all have set names. Also, the plot-relevant Chocobo, Boco, is otherwise just a generic monster (who has dialog when using "help" on his name in the formation screen while real generics just say "..."). The original release had exactly enough space to keep every named character, including these, and no more. In Tactics Advance, there are recruitable 'generic' characters with story ties which come with powerful skills pre-learned.
** Generic units in Tactics Advance and its sequel are ''slightly'' less generic in that they can at least get a fair bit of dialogue if you opt to deploy them as the leader for a sidequest battle. Each race has their own unique pre-battle and post-battle dialogue, and with all of the dozens of sidequest battles, that amounts to a lot overall.

* ''VideoGame/PhantomBrave''. Particularly odd is the theme on how ''alone'' Marona is, only counting Ash as company. The gazillion of other Phantoms she summons do not count at all.

* ''VideoGame/LabyrinthOfRefrainCovenOfDusk'' is a second NIS title with player mooks controlled by a sentient book. In this case, a magical tome that somehow acquired a soul gets sent to explore a labyrinth with a squad of magically animated puppets.
* In ''VideoGame/TacticsOgreTheKnightOfLodis'', there is a way to actually ''turn'' a Player Mook into a named character. By following a certain sequence of events, SecretCharacter Deneb can [[GrandTheftMe take over]] a Player Mook's body.
* ''VideoGame/DestinyOfAnEmperor'' seemed like a pretty standard RPG based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms story, until you realized that that's not HP, but soldiers! Wow, so many dead bodies!

* ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}} 2'' allows you to hire expendable mercenaries in town to aid you.

* When you storm the Tower of Ishal in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', you are temporarily given nameless PlayerMooks to fill up the party. Depending on your class and Origin, you get either a soldier, a Circle mage, or both. This is because at that point, the only permanent NonPlayerCompanion you have is Alistair and the Tower of Ishal is where you get drilled in the party controls until you really get them. Regardless of what you do, both PlayerMooks perish at the end of the segment, when the tower collapses on itself.

* ''VideoGame/ScarfaceTheWorldIsYours''. No matter how many times your Enforcer, Driver or Assassin gets wasted, you can call up another one. The regular drivers/co-pilots that assist Tony come in differing flavors and talents and skills (this last part may not be intended). It's so cute to hear them scream curses like the boss. Their highly efficent fighting skills definitely invokes the above mentioned Caring Potential when an enemy mook rushes out of the bushes and shoots them point blank in the face.
* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas''. Being awesome enough means one can recruit fellow gang members to assist on missions. They will follow, fire, pursue and then try to get in the car with you to go back home.

* ''Mario Superstar Baseball'' and its sequel, ''Mario Super Sluggers'', uses this trope like there's no tomorrow. In fact, the only {{Palette Swap}}s available in those games are for the mooks themselves (complete with individualized stats), with the thin justification that those same mooks had palette swaps in the main games to begin with (except for Magikoopa and Dry Bones, who only had palette swaps in the VideoGame/PaperMario series). Interestingly, while Yoshi gets palette swaps in the sequel, Birdo still doesn't, despite different colored Birdos blatantly appearing elsewhere in the game.

* VideoGame/MetalGear featured playable mooks in certain installment.

* Similarly to ''Dragon Quest III'' and ''IX'', ''VideoGame/MakaiToshiSaGa'' lets you choose which kind of character TheHero is, and you can recruit up to three more generic party members at a guild. ''VideoGame/SaGa2'' has the Hero take three of his classmates with him.

* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'' had this. Other than TheHero, you could go to a tavern at any time and make new characters.
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX'' has this too, as a throwback to that

* Similarly to ''Dragon Quest III'' and ''IX'', ''VideoGame/{{Makai Toshi SaGa}}'' lets you choose which kind of character TheHero is, and you can recruit up to three more generic party members at a guild. ''VideoGame/{{SaGa 2}}'' has the Hero take three of his classmates with him.

** Though in ''Disgaea'', your non-Mook player characters have a harder time learning magic (except Flonne) and can never change class, as your Mooks can, so the Mooks can actually easily outdo the non-Mooks (except [[OneManParty Laharl]]) unless you abuse the Mentor/Student system to teach your named characters a wider variety of magical spells (and even that is hard for the less magically-inclined among them, especially the monsters-type ones who can't use staffs).