Recurring Element

Chocobos. Notice how it started with "II"? When they remade the first game, they discreetly put these birds in, too.^note From the games Final Fantasy II, III, IV, Mystic Quest, V, VI, VII, Tactics, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, Revenant Wings, and XIII.

For many series, especially Video Game ones, the various incarnations are only vaguely related to each other. The works may take place on different worlds, feature entirely different characters and have very different stories. In fact, it's only the name of the work that connects it with the previous ones at all...

Only usually it isn't. Most Non Linear Sequels or Thematic Series will have a character, theme, monster, or item that is emblematic of the series and remains constant. Note that this is often not the same character, theme, etc. Sometimes only the name will remain the same. Sometimes there will be a character "inspired by" the original much like a Spiritual Successor. In all cases the recurring element is not tied to a particular world, but simply shows up in each installment of the series. Think of it as an internal trope, specific to one body of work.

These elements aren't explicit Expies, but they serve the same purpose in aesthetics, narrative, or function, or gameplay in the case of video games. Some are officially acknowledged, some are so evident they are given Fanon names, and others are just there.

See Recurring Riff for music examples, and Mascot Mook for the enemy monster version of this. Also see Mythology Gag, which is where a single work has a reference to another, but there is no example that covers an entire series. Also see Suspiciously Similar Substitute for when this was a one time thing rather than a serial one within a franchise or an artist's work. Compare Creator Thumbprint, which mainly focuses on a signature item found across multiple works by the same creator.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• The Aikatsu! Franchise, in each series, has a Cute-type idol as the main protagonist with her best friend being a Cool-type idol. The idol academy they attend always references "star" somewhere in the name.
• CLAMP works and Mokona.
• Any Digimon anime tends to feature the following elements:
  • The Leader/main protagonist will wear goggles on his forehead, have Shonen Hair, wear primary colors and be partnered with a lizard-dinosaur-dragon mon, who will undergo some form of temporary evolution (often a corrupted, undesirable one) invoked by their humans.
  • The Lancer will have a colder personality and have a canine mon for a partner, often associated with the color blue or some other cold color. The Hero and The Lancer are usually the only ones to unlock the highest possible evolutions for their partners.
  • A frequent subplot is one of the kids with Digimon, often The Lancer, having a strained or complicated relationship with their sibling (who may or may not have a Digimon themselves) and mending it is crucial to their development.
  • At one point there will be a Sacrificial Lion, and if the series has a Leomon (or variant thereof) then there's a good chance it's him.
• Each season in Future Card Buddyfight has a Big Bad that uses a different flag than any other character and may upgrade it to a new one. In either case, it generally results in the protagonists being faced with entirely new game mechanics.
• The Gundam franchise usually has a Haro (though they were largely absent during the 90's) and a Expy of the character Char.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
  • In the manga, when Stands are introduced, the main villain will have a Time themed Stand (Parts 3-6). They include stopping time, rewinding time, erasing time, and fast forwarding time. In addition, the main character's Stand will be able to perform a Rush Attack and emit some form of Stand Cry, usually "ORA ORA ORA!"
  • Several parts have a motif of supernatural rock/earth phenomena or objects that cause supernatural powers involved in the main plot of the part.
    • Phantom Blood has the Stone Mask, a mask made of stone created by the ancient Pillar Men that can turn its user into a vampire.
    • Battle Tendency has the Red Stone of Aja, a magical red jewel which, using together with the Stone Mask, will make the Pillar Men immortal.
    • Stardust Crusaders, Diamond is Unbreakable, Golden Wind and, to a much lesser extent, Stone Ocean, have the arrows, created from a meteorite, that can induce the development of powers in the people they pierce, either granting them Stands or upgrading the power of Stands.
    • Steel Ball Run has the Devil's Palm, a supernatural phenomena that happens near the corpse's parts. It is a small desert surrounded by 5 rock formations resembling fingers that often grant Stands to the people that enter it.
    • Jojolion has the Wall Eyes, strange earth formations that cause holes in the cliffsides which may induce Stand abilities. A specific part of the ground of Morioh will also have the power to cause any two objects to switch properties or even to merge.
    • The Jojolands has the Lava Rock, a mysterious rock that attracts wealth to the owner through contrived coincidences and mind control.
• Love Live!:
  • In each series, the group is always formed slowly over the course of the first season, with some hesitating at first before joining after being thoroughly convinced.
  • The main character who is the center of marketing is always a redhead of sorts^note While Yu is the protagonist and leader of Nijigasaki, she's not an idol but an Audience Surrogate who manages them, making Ayumu fill this role.
  • The Student Council President^note Eli, Dia, Shioriko will always start as an Obstructive Bureaucrat who has a personal motive to not allow the main group to become school idols and interfere even after they're officially formed. Eventually she will resolve this and join the group.
  • There's always a quirky character, often one with a big ego, who gets to be the designated Butt-Monkey of the group.
  • There's always a character with foreign ancestry, usually a European with blonde hair^note Eli, Mari, Mia, though in some of the more recent installments said character is of Chinese descent^note Lanzhu, Keke.
• Lyrical Nanoha has "the girl with sad eyes" who the heroes will try to save from their own sadness. They've usually Dark Magical Girls, though there have been some exceptions.
• Macross:
  • The main character is a military pilot who oftentimes ends up Falling into the Cockpit of one of the series' signature Transforming Mecha^note With the exception of Actual Pacifist Nekki Basara, a rock star who already pilots his own Ace Custom at the onset of his series.
  • The story takes place in outer space^note With the exception of Zero as it is a prequel to the original series and having the main characters visit several different planets. Later installments center around the various colony fleets being sent out into space.
  • Idol Singers, Magic Music, and multiple instances of Autobots, Rock Out! and Theme Music Power-Up.
  • A Love Triangle involving the lead character, one of the Idol Singers, and another soldier^note Zero and Frontier are partial exceptions in that the third end of the triangle is another Idol Singer.
  • An experienced soldier who acts as either The Mentor^note Roy, Ozma, Messer and Mirage or The Rival^note Guld, Gamlin, Michael to The Hero. This character can be part of the Love Triangle. Said character is often subjected to great duress by the plot, oftentimes leading to their death.
  • The main character will often have several different wingmen who they fly missions with.
  • The Battlestar, which also doubles the main characters' flagship, is able to transform into a Humongous Mecha, and can fire Wave-Motion Guns built into its arms. Said ship is crewed by several Bridge Bunnies.
  • Mind-Control Music being utilized by the antagonists, especially in more recent installments such as Frontier and Delta.
• The works of Hiro Mashima (Rave Master, Fairy Tail, EDENS ZERO, etc.) often reuse select characters, names, terms, and other elements with a different spin.
  • Plue is a ball-headed, carrot-nosed "dog" who has appeared in a bulk of Mashima's work, dating all the way back to his first official manga, Magician. His most prominent role by far is in Rave Master as the Series Mascot, while he's had progressively minor roles in Fairy Tail and EDENS ZERO, where he's alternatively known as Nikora. He's often the subject of a Running Gag where characters mistake him for some other species (usually a bug), or at least question how he's supposed to be a dog.
  • Sieg Hart from Rave Master has a "tradition" of being used as a Reused Character Design template, usually for Well-Intentioned Extremist heroes or villains who eventually ally themselves with the heroes. He has since made appearances as two separate characters in Fairy Tail—Jellal/Siegrain and Mystogan—and as Justice in EDENS ZERO.
  • Heart Kreuz, an in-universe brand of clothes worn by Elie in Rave Master, and by Lucy and Erza in Fairy Tail.
  • Etherion, a highly destructive magical power. In Rave Master, it's the ultimate magic that has the capacity to either save or destroy the entire world, and central to the plot as a whole. In Fairy Tail, it's a Kill Sat used by the Magic Council that can wipe out nations. In EDENS ZERO, it's the Secret Weapon of the titular ship that allows it to travel through time and across the multiverse.
  • The Oración Seis are a six-person team who stand among the stronger characters in the series, usually as villains. In Rave Master (where they had a Dub Name Change to "Oracion Six"), they're the elite generals of Demon Card, the main antagonistic force of the series. In Fairy Tail, they're one of the three strongest dark guilds in the kingdom. In EDENS ZERO (at least in the English version), there are two groups with the name: "Oración Seis Galáctica" ("Six Galactic Demon Generals" in Japanese), who are The Most Wanted criminals in the cosmos; and "Oración Seis Interstellar" (just "Oración Seis" in Japanese), the top officers of the Interstellar Union Army who are meant to counteract the former.
  • Mildian, a mystical place usually associated with time. In Rave Master, it's a town of sorcerers and mages who aim to prevent a Time Crash. In Fairy Tail, it's an ancient civilization where many of the series' known time spells originated, and whose people have worshiped a god of time. In EDENS ZERO, it's a planet that exists outside of normal time, and home to an oracle that can see the past, present, and future.
• The works of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli all feature at least one scene in which characters take flight, including (but not limited to): Chihiro riding on a dragon in Spirited Away, the many flying machines in Castle in the Sky, the WWI-era fighter planes of Porco Rosso, and airships in Sherlock Hound.
• The leader of every Pretty Cure team will have an outfit that is pink or includes some pink in it.
• The Pretty Series always features a store called Prism Stone which the main characters typically hang out in. A woman named Akai Meganee (literally "red glasses girl") also appears, sporting brown hair and red glasses.
• Studio TRIGGER:
  • Kamina from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann^note Which Trigger founder Hiroyuki Imaishi and most of its founding staff not only worked on, but later acquired the rights to from Gainax has been a Reused Character Design, having shown up as Aikuro^note Though lacking the hairstyle, Galo, and David.
  • A usually female (or a very androgynous Bishōnen if male) character with platinum blonde hair who acts as a potential Love Interest or The Rival to the main character, such as Nia, Diana, Nova, Lio, and Lucy.
  • On a more controversial note, a tendency for The Reveal to be that the villains are aliens of some sort.
• Yu-Gi-Oh!:
  • Every protagonist will have a "Yu-" prefix in their first name (or in Jaden's case, their last name) and a signature monster with 2500 attack points. And all of them, except Jaden, have a ridiculously spiky multicolored Shounen Hairdo.
  • Barring 5Ds and VRAINS, every series features a rival character with a Morality Pet younger brother. The original series had Kaiba and Mokuba, GX had Ryo and Sho, ZEXAL had Kaito and Haruto, and ARC-V had Reiji and Reira. The last one has a twist, though: Reira is not only adopted, but is also a female. There will also often be a third character to fill out the Power Trio who is typically the protagonist's rough-and-tumble best friend.
  • It is also very common for rival characters to have an ace monster (typically a Dragon) with 3000 attack points.
  • Every series until Yu-Gi-Oh! GO RUSH!! has the first Duel involve the protagonist defeating an opponent with a 3000-ATK monster, in homage to Yugi's original victory against Blue-Eyes.
  • Another recurring element is the monster Kuriboh. In every series one of the main characters but not always the main character will use a Kuriboh-like monster in their deck. GX actually has the protagonist of the previous series give the new version of Kuriboh to the new protagonist in the first episode.
  • Up until Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS, it was common for the final Duel of the series to be not against the main villain, but after their defeat and against an allied character, serving to settle more personal stakes and scores rather than save the world. These tend to be called "ceremonial duels", after the original.

Comic Books

• Superman and the mysterious LLs which feature in various stories, Pre-Crisis. While most famously there are several character whose Alliterative Names evoke those initials, there are several other examples, such as a story where his computer prophecizes that he'll be destroyed by "LL" (which naturally frustrates him), or when Bizarros destroy the Daily Planet's globe and the two letters that conveniently fall to the ground are the two Ls in each word, which conveniently fall on some crooks and save Superman from revealing his secret identity. Superman was always suspicious of why these two letters were so recurrent in his life, but never got an answer.

Films — Live-Action

• Pretty much everything about The Crow and its sequels. The basic plot is always the same (Protagonist is killed by bad guys, along with someone else close to him, revenge ensues) and all the protagonists' names reference crow or raven (Draven, Corven, Corvis, Cuervo). Note that the first two are (very) loosely connected, with one recurring character, although played by a different actress.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase 2 onwards had a running theme of children losing their parents: Tony found out who really murdered his parents, Spider-Man was implied to have lost Uncle Ben in this continuity and later on loses Tony and Aunt May as well, Pietro and Wanda lost their parents due to Stark Industry armaments, Star-Lord lost his mother and then lost Yondu as well, T'Challa lost his father, and Thor and Loki lost Frigga then followed by losing Odin. The latter's death was stylized in the Creative Closing Credits as him fading into dust and being swept by the wind.

Literature

• Douglas Coupland's books recycle small elements in different ways:
  • The name of a minor character may become the name of a major/main character in a later book. Lisa is a recurring name for minor characters.
  • Backpacking across Europe (and making fun of it) has come up in multiple books.
• The various Discworld novels take place in wildly different parts of the eponymous world, with different casts, in different time periods — but they all feature Death in either a significant role or cameo. (Except The Wee Free Men and Snuff.)

Live-Action TV

• All Power Rangers and Super Sentai seasons involve a Five-Man Band (or occasionally a Power Trio) Color-Coded for Your Convenience, Transformation Trinkets activated By the Power of Grayskull!, Calling Your Attacks, Ass Kicking Poses, attacks by Mooks and the Monster of the Week, the Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever fought with Humongous Combining Mecha, and (except for most of Sentai's early years) a Sixth Ranger. Add the Rookie Red Ranger for Rangers and the Super Mode for both shows in recent years (for the whole team in general in both and Red Ranger-specific ones in Rangers).
• Kamen Rider's omnipresent elements are a belt as the Transformation Trinket, a Diving Kick as the Signature Move, a Cool Bike, and some form of Phlebotinum Rebellion. Other common-but-not-universal bits include a Scarf of Asskicking, insect-themed armor (both mostly in the early years), a Second Rider, and a Swiss-Army Hero with multiple forms (both mainly in the later years).
  • One that's much less obvious is the recurring use of a spider and a bat as the first two monsters encountered, as a call back to the original Kamen Rider and its own first two Monsters of the Week. Almost every show of the Heisei Era used that, sometimes with a twist (Kamen Rider Agito was supposed to be a direct sequel to Kuuga, so it instead used a jaguar and a turtle as a nod to the original's own sequel; or Kamen Rider Ryuki where the Spider monster is instead killed by a bat-themed Rider; Kamen Rider Double meanwhile seemed to drop the gimmick entirely... until a prequel movie revealed that the first two Dopants to attack the town of Futo were indeed the Bat and Spider).
  • Before that, Double did have a bat and spider as the basis of the first two helper-bots. The bat and the spider needn't always be the first two monsters, but they're often in there somewhere - the franchise has primarily animal-based baddies so it needn't always be a reference, but look for them as the first monster, or paired in some way, or having some sort of extra significance. Sometimes they're a trio (the first monster to have a second form was a cobra, so watch out for a snake who's more than meets the eye!)
• Television writer/producer Russell T Davies tends to assign the same surnames to main characters in his series. For example, there are characters named "Tyler" in Revelations, Queer as Folk (UK), Bob and Rose and Doctor Who. See also Smith, Cooper, Jones and Harkness.
• Fargo shares its setting and tone with the film Fargo, and there are some pieces of shared continuity between the different series and the film, but each series tends to include a number of distinctive recurring elements and tropes. Most consistently, each incarnation includes a variation of a pair of quirky hitmen - the film has Carl Showalter and Gael Grimsrud, the first series has Mr Wrench and Mr Numbers, the second has the identical Kitchen Brothers, and the third has Yuri Gurka and Meemo. Likewise, with the exception of the second series, each incarnation has a female police officer with a family as one of the protagonists. Also, Mr. Wrench appears in each season.
• The seven-part Turkish anthology 7 Yüz contains elements that recur across episodes and tie the series together. (See the series page for additional details).
  • The 7 Yüz Apartments, which lend the series its name, appear in every episode.
  • Alihan, who features as a key figure in "Refakatçiler", is the only character to appear in all seven installments as the building's super.
  • The city of Balıkesir is mentioned in character's backstories in several episodes, and features as the setting for the story Mete tells in "Büyük Günahlar".
  • Nihal, a key character in "Büyük Günahlar", appears briefly as Dilek's supportive colleague in "Eşitlik".
  • Şeniz appears in three episodes: as a party guest in "Büyük Günahlar", Pınar's co-worker in "Hayatın Musikisi", and one of Metin's failed dates in "Biyolojik Saat".
  • Mete ("Büyük Günahlar") writes a love note to Elif in a copy of Oruç Aruoba's "Hani". In "Karşılaşmalar", it's one of Gödze's favorite books, and plays a crucial part in The Reveal.

Tabletop Games

• An odd in-universe example in Magic: The Gathering: the designers wanted to include Ornithopter in the Mirrodin set, but realized that the card's original version (which described it as being invented by Urza) tied it extremely heavily to Dominaria. So they proceeded to declare that versions of the card existed on every plane as an early invention of the local artificers, and the card has popped up in multiple sets since. As the flavor text puts it:
  "Regardless of the century, plane, or species, developing artificers never fail to invent the ornithopter."

Video Games

• Final Fantasy has several:
  • Someone named Cid, often involved with airships or technology;
  • Summon monsters (Ifrit, Shiva, and Bahamut are the only ones who are in every single game);
  • Common monsters like Bombs, Behemoths, and Cactuars, and recurring bosses like Omega and Tiamat;
  • Crystals, often which have some great importance to the world the game takes place in.
    • Not to mention Square Enix are making a whole mini-series where they play an important role: Fabula Nova Crystallis
  • Chocobos and moogles.
  • Gilgamesh shows up in many games, and save for a handful of appearances, is implied to be the same person in every one.
  • In an odd case, a character named Gogo, who is a mimic and dresses colorfully, is in both Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI; they're different characters though.
  • The money is always called Gil (at least once the translations got consistent).
  • Starting with Richard from Final Fantasy II you can expect someone to have the surname "Highwind". There's a good chance that said character will be a Dragoon (or at least have abilities evocative of the class). And if not, still expect some kind of nod to the name.
  • Starting with Final Fantasy VI, there's a recurring weapon (usually a Infinity +1 Sword) that goes by the name of Ultima Weapon. Other notable equipment that tends to resurface are the Genji and Onion sets of armor, Excalibur, Gungnir, Longinus, Muramasa, Masamune, Godhand, and Excalipoor/Excalipur, among others.
  • The English-based spell naming convention, as well as the [Element], [Element]ra, [Element]ga, [Element]ja nomenclature system for tiers of elemental and curative magic, like Fire, Fira, Firaga, or Cure, Cura, Curaga, Curaja. (Once again, the translations didn't quite get this at first.) Reinforcing the point, sometimes status-effect magic will use the "-ga" suffix do denote spells that affect all members of a group. Likewise, the ultimate white and black magic spells are often Holy and Flare, with Meteor and Ultima sometimes superseding the latter in rare occasions.
    • This magic naming convention appears in a lot of Square Enix games, actually: Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, and Bravely Default all make use of it.
  • Inventory nomenclature. You will always heal with Potions, always recover MP with Ethers, always revive fallen comrades with Phoenix Down, and always hoard Elixirs, Megalixirs, and X-Potions till the final boss.
  • Several games will include a pair of characters named Biggs and Wedge. They could either be a Those Two Guys type, or a Goldfish Poop Gang (as in VIII), and are often the Straight Man and Wise Guy.
  • Games from VII to X have a secret unmapped location that usually houses the game's strongest summon, a Bonus Dungeon with a Superboss, or both. Round Island in Final Fantasy VII, Deep Sea Research Center from Final Fantasy VIII, and Chocobo's Air Garden from Final Fantasy IX. In Final Fantasy X's case there are multiple secret locations, accessed by manually pointing at the map in very specific coordinates. The most important of these are the Omega Ruins and Baaj Temple.
  • The main character's final Limit Break is a Blade Spam that is usually a contender for the strongest attack in terms of damage output. Omnislash, Lionheart, Blitz Ace, Army/Legion of One.
  • This is invoked in Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia when characters from multiple games see familiarity in the new world's ruins, shiny cities, caverns, and manors, and are informed that the gods purposely designed it that way so they'd feel more at home.
  • In the SNES titles, multiple overworld maps. IV had the regular, underground, and moon surface; V had three worlds, the third of which is a Fusion Dance of the first two; and VI had the World of Balance and World of Ruin.
  • Disc changing from the first to the second in the three multi-disc games involves a major loss or defeat in some way for the heroes. Aeris' death, the SeeDs arrested after failing to assassinate Edea (and Squall falling into a coma), and the first Hopeless Boss Fight against Beatrix, respectively.
• Square Enix's other series, Kingdom Hearts, SaGa, early World of Mana, etc. have elements from Final Fantasy spilling into them. Usually in the form of items, spells, naming convention, and/or Moogles. The translation doesn't always let them keep them, however. ^note In Kingdom Hearts the spell suffix Ja can be replaced by Gun or Za. Others change the names entirely like Firaga to Flame.
• Super Mario Bros.:
  • The main series and some of its spinoff series have seven generals and one Big Bad to be the bosses of its eight worlds in the 2d platformers. Examples include the Koopalings and the Tikis.
  • In 3d platformers, instead of goalposts, the player has to collect 120 MacGuffins such as Stars, Shine Sprites and Golden Bananas.
  • Usually, the Mario games also introduce a new flight item, or at least one for air mobility, that's heavily promoted as a new feature in each game instead of reusing previous ones. In order, these have included the Racoon/Tanooki suit, the Cape, the Wing Cap, FLUDD, the Bee Suit (and the secret Red Star), the Propeller Suit, the Cloud Suit, the unprecedented return of the Tanooki/Raccoon suits, the Flying Squirrel Suit, and the Cat Suit.
  • Donkey Kong Country: The original trilogy has several enemy archetypes that appear in each game. There's a basic rodent based enemy (Gnawty, Sneek, and Neek), a basic kremling enemy (Kritter, Klomp, Kobble), a quadrapedal kremling that cannot be hurt from the front (Klaptrap, Klampon, Krimp), a large, beefy kremling (Krusha, Kruncha, Krumple), and an enemy that jumps around (jumping Kritter, Kaboing, Re-koil).
  • Mario & Luigi has several:
    • Each game has a different enemy theme: bean-themed enemies, Shroobified enemies, Fawfulized and physiology-themed enemies, Dreamy enemies and paper enemies.
    • Each game has a Wiggler as a boss.
    • The early games also feature multiple sibling pairs consisting of a red elder and a green younger, mirroring the Mario Bros. themselves.
    • Bowser, either possessed or going One-Winged Angel, is a form of the Final Boss in all games except Bowser's Inside Story where Dark Bowser is the Dark Star turning into a Bowser copy.
    • There are also at least two different forms of Bowser fought over the course of the game.
    • At least one Time-Limit Boss shows up in all games: some of the Koopalings, the Elder Shrooboid, the Fawful Express and the X bosses, with the X bosses showing up twice and King Bob-omb.
  • Paper Mario has Parakarry: he is a partner in the first game, makes a cameo in the second game, is a Catch Card in the third game and leaves a note in the fourth game.
  • Wario Land: Every game has an enemy with a large point or spear sticking out in front of them, requiring you to hit them in the back.
• Tales Series:
  • Several common items, such as Gald" as a unit of currency, "Gels" for healing items, etc.
  • Combat techniques, known as "Artes". There are several artes, that appear in almost every game in the series.
    • "Demon Fang" — a basic Sword Beam, learned by most swordsmen
    • "Indignation" — a Bolt of Divine Retribution with memetic incantation, used by some mages.
  • An interesting case with recurring plot point: almost every game has a traitor. Their identity and causes varies — it can be The Lancer, Guest-Star Party Member, The Big Guy, Combat Medic, Team Pet, and even The Hero himself. Party may or may not have to fight them, and they may or may not survive. If they do, "Welcome Back, Traitor" reaction is inevitable.
  • Cameo boss fights. The final battle in the coliseum would almost always be a party, made up of party members from previous games. If there is no coliseum, they'll show up in the sidequest. It's almost never explained, how did they get here in first place, since games has no single continuity, but it doesn't matter, since fights tend to be absolutely awesome.
• Wild ARMs:
  • Take place on a world called Filgaia.
  • Generally star a blue-haired hero.
  • The victory music, though different in every game, is always called "Condition Green!".
  • The money is always called "gella".
• Many games that Yasunori Mitsuda worked on have a track called "Kokoro", which is a soft, simple tune, often played as a music box. The tune itself is different in each game.
• The two When They Cry have a supporting character, some themes, and being a "Groundhog Day" Loop Murder Mystery in common.
• Shin Megami Tensei: To an utterly absurd degree. Part of what makes the franchise so expansive (and often confusing) is that there are a huge amount of recurring elements from game to game, and they aren't always consistent, with some elements being changed slightly or significantly between works, or some being more prominent than others in specific games, while only a few remain the same.
  • Elements which remain consistent include:
    • The vast majority of the Demon Compendium is always transplanted from game to game wholesale, but the only demons who appear in all games, and always with the exact same appearance, are Atlus mascots Jack Frost and its close relatives. Much like the Chocobo example at the top of this page, Jack Frost had a different design in the first two games. When the games were remade as a bundle for the SNES, Jack Frost was given his modern design.
    • The Demon Summoning Program, the concept of inserting the ritual to summon demons into technology to shorten the process, is the very basis of the Shin Megami Tensei franchise itself. It appears in not just all the mainline SMT games barring Nocturne, but also in Megami Tensei and Megami Tensei II, both Majin Tensei games, the first two Devil Summoner games, and both Devil Survivor and Devil Survivor 2.
    • The Sanskrit and Japanese-based spell naming convention as well as the tiered scale system: Agi, Bufu, Zio (weak), Agilao, Bufula, Zionga (medium), and Agidyne, Bufudyne, Ziodyne (heavy) for the three indispensable elementals; Hama and Mudo for Expel and Curse (or Light and Dark) One Hit Kills; Raku/Taru/Suku-nda/kaja for buffs and debuffs; and the prefix "Ma" for multi-target vs. single-target spells (Mazionga, Masukukaja, etc.).
    • Demon (or Persona) fusion to improve your forces has been the core and purpose of every single game in the franchise since the very first one. Related to this, certain fusion recipes always remain the same among games, such as Shiva being a result of fusing Rangda and Barong.
  • Meanwhile, elements which are subject to changes include:
    • Demon origin and physiology. In most games, demons are lifeforms made out of Magnetite or Aether (sometimes called Magatsuhi in specific games), a normally unobservable substance within all things which react to human thoughts and gather in human bodies. How much humans influence the nature of demons vary: sometimes demons are entirely sustained by human thought, other times humans merely influenced demons but is not strictly needed for continued existence. Other games like Last Bible and Devil Children forego this concept entirely, with demons being depicted as supernatural entities independent from humanity.
    • Makai or Demon World is a plane of existence comprising of data or information and Magnetite where demons reside, a form of Another Dimension linked to the physical world. The nature of this "information plane" often vary between continuities, which result in different phenomena occurring across the games; for example, in Strange Journey, the information realm was formed as a result of development of sentient life on Earth, whereas in Devil Survivor 2, the information plane exists prior to and governs the physical universe. In most games Makai is usually implied or stated to be linked to a single universe (notably as late as Shin Megami Tensei V), whereas in IV and Apocalypse, Makai is also a form of Void Between the Worlds which connect universes born from splits in timeline. Perhaps not coincidentally, some games localise Makai with names other than Demon World, as the Makai depicted in those continuities are too distinct from the norm despite the shared Japanese name.
    • Characterizations of major figures like YHVH, Lucifer, and many others often change Depending on the Writer to suit whatever themes to be explored in any particular game, and in fact it's not until Nocturne that demons begin to adopt a general characterization for each and every demon. Even then, that will change if a game's story demands it; for example, Apocalypse makes use of an interpretation of Vishnu as supreme god in Hindu, rather than a part of Trimurti with Brahma and Shiva like he usually is depicted. Likewise, alignments and factions of demons often fluctuate in many aspects from game to game.
    • The collective consciousness is implied if not outright stated to exist in many games as the origin of gods, demons, and the information plane where they reside. However, how exactly it came into being and how much influence it has on the physical universe it was formed in vary between continuities. In games such as Persona and Apocalypse, the collective unconscious can subvert reality itself; in contrast for games such as Nocturne, it is stated to exist but incapable of influencing reality to a significant degree, to the point only the idea of Personas and Shadows exist as minor demons.
    • Given the franchise runs on Alternate Continuity and The Multiverse, how the principles of Kabbalah can be applied to understanding the world also vary across the games. What is considered Ein Sof (the ultimate underlying origin so far removed from all of creation to the point it can be considered non-existent from the perspective of the created), or the 10 Sefirot (the structure of how the divine creative energy is expressed to form and sustain creation) in one world might not necessarily apply to another, even if both are within the same continuity; there is no single interpretation applicable to all of them.
    • The cycle of death and reincarnation is implied to be present in many games, but its nature and rules might change from game to game. In some games, it applies to individual human souls and demons. In others, it applies to entire universes. Whether or not the cycle exists as a fundamental process of reality in and of itself, or simply artificially set in place by powerful beings also vary; in certain games, the cycle of transmigration is considered so intrinsic to reality, escaping it turns you into a godlike being who can transcend dimensions, with entities as powerful as YHVH even forced to go the extra mile if he wants to kill souls of problematic individuals permanently.
  • The Persona sub-series, besides having many of the above-mentioned elements, has some of its own recurring elements (unless explicitly mentioned otherwise, the below examples refer specifically to installments from Persona 3 onward):
    • Every game since the first Persona features the Velvet Room and Igor, who are the main source of Persona fusion. Additionally, all the games since 3 have Igor assisted by a silver-haired, gold-eyed female attendant dressed in blue - Elizabeth in Persona 3, Margaret in Persona 4, and twins Caroline and Justine in Persona 5 (though said twins are actually two parts of a single personality named Lavenza, having been split apart by the Big Bad). In the female route in the PSP remake of 3, the attendant can instead be a man named Theodore, but other than gender he matches the look of the other attendants. Although the female route is an Alternate Continuity, Theodore canonically exists. The similarities between the attendants aren't a coincidence; they're all siblings.
    • Butterflies have been a recurring motif since the first game. They're usually associated (either explicitly or via Word of God) with Philemon, but other characters, like Aigis in 3 and Lavenza in 5, also have butterfly motifs.
    • Since Persona 2, the games all conclude with a female-sung vocal credits theme, usually sung in Japanese with a few Gratuitous English lines during the refrains and clearly told from the perspective of one of the main characters (the one exception is Persona 2: Eternal Punishment's ending theme, which is performed in English by British singer Elisha La'Verne). This is especially notable as almost all other vocal themes in the series are sung entirely in English.
    • Each game has a female vocalist who sings all the vocal tunes (with the exception of the recurring Velvet Room theme, sung by Haruko Komiya): Yumi Kawamura for 3, Shihoko Hirata for 4, and Lyn for 5. 3 also has the male Lotus Juice, credited as the "MC", who performs the rap themes.
    • There is a primary Color Motif that pervade the game's artwork and UI: Blue for Persona 3 (and pink for the female protagonist in 3s remake), yellow in Persona 4, and bright red for Persona 5.
    • The main plot begins with the protagonist taking a train into a new town.
    • The background music in the protagonist's place of residence and while exploring the local town/city have vocals, the lyrical content of which usually deals with depressing themes (heartbreak, inability to confess a crush, and Loss of Identity, to give examples).
    • The Battle Theme Music against regular mooks has vocals, while boss themes are (usually) instrumental.
    • One of the first party members is a perverted-yet-friendly classmate of the protagonist that quickly grows to be the protagonist's best friend. He also always has a Vitriolic Best Buds relationship with the first female party member.
    • There is always a Team Pet party member; Koromaru from 3 is a dog, Teddie from 4 is a life-sized teddy bear who eventually gains a human form, and Morgana from 5 is a transforming cat.
    • When the party first forms, their initial navigator will scan any foes the player targets, though their scanning ability has a few weaknesses. Later in the game, a new character joins the party and has stronger scanning abilities than the first navigator. The new character takes over the role of navigator and the previous navigator becomes a full-time combatant.
    • Characters associated with the Magician arcana tend to have bad luck with their love interests. From having their love interest being killed (Junpei), having their love go unrequited (Kenji and Morgana), or both (Yosuke).
    • After a lengthy and difficult Final Boss battle, the climax ends with the protagonist, on the verge of defeat, being encouraged via The Power of Friendship, leading to a scripted Post-Final Boss sequence wherein they unleash one final, extremely powerful attack to wipe the enemy out.
    • There are too many blue-haired orphan party members for it to be a coincidence: the male protagonist of 3, Naoto from 4, and Yusuke from 5.
• Breath of Fire has several elements that repeat in subsequent games (though most of these were ignored in the fifth game, Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter):
  • The main character is always a blue-haired Heroic Mime named Ryu, who has some kind of power involving dragons (usually transforming into them). He's also always a swordsman and has a passion for fishing (save for DQ, but not for lack of interest).
  • There's always a Winged Humanoid Princess Nina accompanying him.
  • A very helpful and powerful naga sorceress named Deis (Bleu early on), who's the same character in the first three games thanks to Immortality. She was playable for most of the games except III (she's a Master instead) and Dragon Quarter. IV is a technicality since Deis is inside Ershin, a sentient suit of armor.
  • Always a town named Dragnier (Drogen/Dologany) and a kingdom named Wyndia (Winlan/Windia), related to the respective clans of Ryu and Nina.
  • Starting in Breath of Fire II, a member of the Woren/Furen Cat Folk clan always ends up joining the party.
  • Usually the starting enemy is from the "Goo" (Slime/Sludge) type family, often a blue blob (save in II, where it's green). There's also always a gold Palette Swap "Goo King" enemy near the end of the game who's extremelly powerful.
  • Dragon-named equipment for Ryu (Dragon Sword, Helmet, Armor, etc.), which is always high-level but not the best equipment available.
  • All games use Zennies as currency, though it was translated differently in early games.
  • In the Japanese version, pretty much every magic spell use the exact same names in each of the five games (for example, fire spells are Pamu, Padamu and Padoraamu). English started using consistent naming for (most) spells since Breath of Fire III.
  • A major sidequest involving building a town. In II it's a regular town, but from III onwards it's a Fairy village.
• The Mother series
  • A male protagonist with a striped shirt who uses bats/sticks, yo-yos, and support PSI (Lifeup, Healing, Offense/Defense up)
  • A female PSI user who uses frying Pans or their hands and also uses combative PSI (PK Fire, Freeze, Thunder). She also tends to be on the squishy side
  • A non PSI user who uses either guns or their hands
  • An urban/modern setting
  • A unique way of fighting the final boss
  • Mood Whiplash, Magicant and Magypsys
  • The Franklin Badge.
  • The Mr. Saturns race.
  • Pop-culture comedy and references with weird humor around.
• Mega Man:
  • The protagonists are colored blue, armed with chargeable Arm Cannon, able to do Power Copying and are called Mega Man in some way (Zero from his series is an exception; though his color scheme in that series does include a lot of a dark purple, he doesn't get an arm cannon [but can charge any of his weapons], remembers old moves that are similar to what the bosses use rather than copying them outright, and outside of a manga series is not called "Mega Man" in any way).
  • For the Classic Timeline: There's Mettaurs (or some variation thereof), as well as the infamous Spikes of Doom.
  • The Expies of Roll: Alia, Ciel, Prairie, Roll Caskett, Mayl and Roll.EXE and Sonia/Harp Note.
  • There also is Expies of Dr.Wily:Serges and Isoc,Dr.Weil,Master Albert,Lord Wily and Regal
  • There's almost always 8 copiable bosses to beat - the remake of the original even added a pair of bosses to round out that number - and almost always some kind of Boss Rush towards the end of the game.
  • It's Dr. Wily yet again??! Sigma later would follow his trend.
• The Legend of Zelda: The "Link" and "Zelda" characters are, excepting the direct sequels, different people in each game (they just happen to look exactly alike and wear the same clothes and have the same name).
  • And Ganon tends to be, but isn't always, the final villain (including in games you weren't expecting him to be in).
  • Rupees are always the main Hylian currency, and in some cases the Global Currency.
  • Since The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, birds have been a large part of Hyrule's overall motif.
  • Some connection between Link and the Royal Knights tends to show up a lot (mostly in backstory, though The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks actually had him pretend to join).
  • In the console games, Link always has a red (or reddish) mode of transportation.
  • Zelda will almost' be kidnapped at one point or another. The only exceptions to date are The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes , which take place entirely outside Hyrule with Link being the only recurring character (thought Zelda makes a cameo in Majora's Mask), and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, where Zelda is placed under an enchanted sleep but not technically kidnapped.
  • There have been magical music-based tools in most every Zelda game. Beginning with Link's Awakening, these tools have been important to the plot.
  • Link's arsenal more often than not includes bows and arrows, bombs, sword beams, a boomerang and either a jumping item or a hookshot for crossing gaps.
• Sakura Wars has many recurring character and story tropes, including:
  • Theater companies that conceal anti-demon corps (The Grand Imperial Theater, the Chattes Noir Cabaret, the Little Lip Theater)
  • A fresh-faced young man from Japan's Imperial Navy is selected to lead an all-female anti-demon corps (Ohgami, Shinjiro, Kamiyama)
  • A Cute Clumsy Girl who serves as the leading lady of the game's story (Sakura Shinguji, Erica, Gemini, Sakura Amamiya)
  • The haughty rich girl (Sumire, Glycine, Subaru, Anastasia)
  • The Child Prodigy (Iris, Coquelicot, Rosita, Azami)
  • The Boisterous Bruiser Lad-ette (Kanna, Cheiron, Hatsuho)
  • The kind-hearted magically-inclined girl (Iris, Coquelicot, Diana, Claris)
  • The emotionally-distant woman (Maria, Hanabi, Subaru, Anastasia)
  • A Big Bad Ensemble (The Hive of Darkness, Nobunaga's generals, the forces of Oboro, Yaksha, and Genan Sotetsu)
  • A Mid-Season Upgrade to the heroes' Mini-Mecha
  • The Darkest Hour, and the powers-that-be dictating that one of your squadmates must be sacrificed for the greater good
• Mortal Kombat games often have Sub-Zero able to perform his infamous "Spine Rip" Fatality from the first game, with some games putting new twists on them (particularly where it comes to assaulting his victim's spine), including:
  • Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3: Klassic Sub-Zero has a Fatality where he reaches for his opponent's neck as though to perform a "Spine Rip", only for the screen to Smash to Black just before ripping off his victim's head, as a Take That! to Moral Guardians who caused a stir over the games' content.
  • Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance: Sub-Zero rips his opponent's entire skeleton out of their body by grabbing their spine.
  • Mortal Kombat: Deception: Sub-Zero freezes his opponent, rips off their head, then throws it at their frozen body and shatters it.
  • Mortal Kombat 9: Sub-Zero rips out his victim's skull and spine, then uses them as a flail to shatter their frozen body.
  • Mortal Kombat X: Sub-Zero snaps his victim's spine in two before ripping their whole body in two.
  • Mortal Kombat 11 gives Sub-Zero two cranium-removing Fatalities: one where he hacks off his victim's head with an ice axe before crushing it, and another where he rips their head and spine off before skewering the head on an ice spear.
  • While Injustice 2 doesn't have Fatalities, Sub-Zero's victory pose references the "Spine Rip" by showing it from the defeated player's POV.
• Fallout:
  • Every non-spin-off game includes a Canine Companion named Dogmeat that the player can recruit, except for Fallout: New Vegas where the cyberdog Rex takes the role.
  • Harold, the mutant with a plant growing in his head, appears in the first three main series games. He's obviously absent from Fallout: New Vegas, and seeing how his fate has multiple endings in Fallout 3, with all of them, except for one, ending up as And I Must Scream since he turned into an immobile tree, coupled with the fact it's doubtful the writers will revisit the Capital Wasteland anytime soon, it's almost inevitable he will be Put on a Bus.
  • No protagonist has ever been without their Pip-Boy. It isn't always the same model of Pip-Boy^note the isometric games, as mentioned in the manuals, had the Pip-Boy 2000, a hand-held model, while the 3D games switched to the Pip-Boy 3000, a wrist-mounted model., but still. Several weapons that serve as Shout-Outs recur as well, such as a Smith & Wesson Model 29 (with or without a scope), a Red Ryder BB gun, and the 5.56mm pistol.
  • Since 2, the player can recruit a friendly Super Mutant. These include Marcus, the Super Mutant mayor/sheriff of Broken Hills; Fawkes, the Genius Bruiser Super Mutant; Lilly Bowen, a personable (if senile) Nightkin; and Strong, a thoughtful and introspective (yet still insane and violent) Super Mutant.
  • Also since 3, the player's Pip-Boy can tune in to various radio stations that play classic music from the 50's, each with a DJ that has a distinct personality
  • Each game has an opening narration that includes the phrase "War. War never changes."
• The Pokémon RPG series has numerous. Some of them deviated from over the course of the series, some are subverted (Pokémon Black and White in particular plays on those elements a lot).
  • You start in a small town, where you live with your mom. Somewhere in or near the town will be a portly NPC who extols the virtues of technology and science. You meet your rival, a Pokémon Professor (named after a tree) gives you one of three starters - Grass, Fire and Water, and your rival gets the superior type. Then you get five Poké Balls, a Pokédex, and a mission to catch 'em all (with a tutorial on how to do so). Averted in B2W2, because you live in a big city with your mom and a Pokémon Professor's assistant will give you and your rival one of three starters.
  • A rival, usually male and friendly, whom you face multiple times across the region. Two in V, one boy and one girl, four in VI, two boys and two girls if male or three boys and one girl if female and two male rivals in VII.
  • You can get a Potion somewhere early. You get obligatory Running Shoes in III and later (you have them from the start in VI). You also get a Bicycle later on, which is essential because it gives you access to a Cycling Road.
  • An early game forest dominated by Bug-types. How early you can access them depends on the generation. B2W2 averts this by making the region's forest a post game area instead due to how those games switched the orders on which cities you have access to from BW. SM's forest is located much later on in the game, rather than at the beginning.
  • A Pokémon School, typically in an early city.
  • Old, Good and Super Fishing Rods, except in V where only the Super Rod is given, and in VII where the fishing mechanic is completely revamped, and only one rod is given.
  • Some company that sells Pokémon merchandise.
    • Exp. Share is often given to you by such company.
    • Alternatives to such merchandise (such as items that decrease friendship and heal, soft drinks that increase it and heal, a local specialty...)
  • Some sort of a communication device echoing the second gen's Pokégear.
  • A fisherman with a team of six Magikarp.
  • A youngster who states his or her affinity for shorts/skirts. There will also be a Youngster named Joey at some point.
  • A Town Map, a map of the towns.
  • Recurring items list is way too long to be listed here, really.
  • Over the course of the game you defeat eight Gym Leaders. Each leader specializes in a type. Once defeated, they grant you a TM containing their most powerful Pokémon's best move, as well as a badge granting the ability to control traded 'mon up to a certain level and/or the ability to use an HM move outside of battle. (HM Surf is midgame, HM Fly usually too) Gen VII subverts this by replacing Gyms with Trials and Kahuna Battles, which are slightly different but are still based on battling to progress.
  • Oh, hey, the road here is closed. Get a badge first.
    • You are too weak to pass. Get a badge first.
    • Gen VII doesn't have badges, or even Gyms, for that matter. Beat a trial first.
  • Once you defeated all Gym Leaders, you deal with the iconic Legendary Pokémon of this version (except in Gen I and remakes), then proceed to beat the Elite Four. There's four trainers with type affinities fought in succession, followed finally by the champion who usually does not have a full type affinity. Then tadaa, Hall of Fame and postgame. Champion time == expect subverted expectations.
    • In V, this is altered significantly. You fight the Elite Four, then the version mascot, then the villain team leaders, and then you have to fight the Elite Four again to reach the champion. Gen VII also allows you to defend your title as champion against other challengers, rather than just staying champion forever.
  • A female Elite Four member who specializes in Ghost-types in every odd numbered generation.
  • You get access to new locations when you hit postgame.
  • There's a villainous team which you stop in their tracks. They usually use poison-types, and their leader is a man (however there's often a woman amongst high command). Gen VII is the first to have a female team leader.
  • People will offer you to trade a mon over the course of the game.
  • There's often an area similar to the Battle Tower from Crystal.
  • And now for the long, long list of recurring Pokémon locations and categories (Insert Black and White Expies where appropriate)
    • Starters as previously mentioned. One starter will be quadruped, the others will be bipedal.
    • Cave full of Zubats. Geodudes, too.
    • A Pikachu substitute, if not Pikachu itself.
    • Pseudo-legendaries - available lategame, usually Dragon-type, have a higher exp curve than normal, evolve really really late, stat sum of 600 in their final form, usually appear in one of the Elite Four's or Champion's teams somewhere.
    • Magikarp Power Pokémon. Not necessarily Magikarp itself.
    • A legendary trio. Two since III - mascot trio and normal trio. Three in V, one of which is actually a quartet.
    • One of the mascots for the first two games every generation will have a blue motif, the other a red motif.
    • A legendary duo, usually exclusive to one game edition each, except in V as there are three trios.
    • An "ultimate" legendary, which is usually related to the aforementioned duo, except it's not edition-restricted and has a higher level (usually 70).
    • A Mythical mon, usually similar to Mew - 100 in each stat. Possibly more of them, cutesy and small in design. Since Gen VI, whilst the "cute" legendary has remained, they have not received equally 100 in each stat.
    • A mon created through artificial means as the resident Ultimate Lifeform of the region in every odd numbered generation.
    • Fossils. You get one of two fossils, you can revive them later. All fossils are part-Rock type.
    • A Pokémon that is blocking your path until you use an item to trigger a battle where you can catch it. This is usually the only way you can catch that particular Pokémon in that game. Snorlax is the most famous example. Sudowoodo is another good one.
    • With each new generation, new evolutions and/or pre-evolutions of Pokémon from previous generations (Black and White is the exception). Diamond and Pearl was especially well-known for this.
    • All the core games since B2W2 have an animated adaption of the upcoming or previous games released during the pre-release season, usually targeted towards the franchise's older audience. Both B2W2 and ORAS received short animated trailers, while XY and SM received the miniseries of Pokémon Origins and Pokémon Generations respectively.
    • Starting from 3rd Generation, a third legendary that is always part-dragon to accompany the two mascot legendaries. This doesn't happen in Generation VII, except that while Necrozma normally is a mere Psychic Pokémon, in Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon, it has an alternate form which is part Dragon.
• Fire Emblem will always star a sword-wielding hero attached to a noble or royal house^note with the exception of Ike, for the most part; and Byleth, whose starting class is "Commoner" who has blue or otherwise unnaturally-coloured hair^note with the exception of Leif. In the hero's service will be a pair of cavaliers, one red and one green (Cain/Abel, Sain/Kent, Sully/Stahl) and they will normally be assisted and advised by a veteran knight of questionable use(Jagen, Marcus, Gunter).
  • Said knight is usually either a high-level character that has average or subpar stats for their level and tends to get ignored so they don't take experience away from low-level characters, or a low-level promoted character that takes a lot of experience to level (especially at the start), but has good growths and remains useful throughout the game.
  • Other than that, expect the first characters that join to be:
    • A Mighty Glacier Armour Knight (Draug, Arden, Kellam).
    • A Jack of All Stats (often Master of None) Archer (Gordin, Rebecca).
    • A Fragile Speedster Pegasus Knight (Caeda, Claire, Sumia) who is often a possible love interest of a main character.
    • A female Cleric (Rena, Genny, Silque).
    • A Lightning Bruiser Mercenary (Ogma).
    • An honourable Thief who may or may not start out as an enemy (Julian, Gaius, Kaze).
    • A Myrmidon with a Killing Edge who starts out as a mercenary for the enemy, but can be convinced to make a Heel–Face Turn (Navarre, Guy, Lon'qu).
  • Later on, you can expect to see:
    • A noble cleric/troubadour who is held hostage by the enemy (Maria, Maribelle).
    • The Really 700 Years Old Token Mini-Moe Manakete (Tiki, Fae, Nowi).
    • An Anti-Villain enemy commander who can't join your army due to My Country, Right or Wrong or other reasons (Camus, Reinhardt), as well as an Anti-Villain enemy commander who can join your army (Lorenz).
    • The 11th-Hour Ranger who's Famed In-Story and Purposely Overpowered (Gotoh).
    • The Tin Tyrant ruler of The Empire (Hardin, Zephiel, Walhart).
    • The Evil Sorceror who wants to resurrect a Sealed Evil in a Can (Gharnef, Validar).
  • Anna, a red-haired shopkeeper, is a recurring character in the series who also occasionally runs the game's tutorial and acts as the Meta Girl. (Awakening revealed that they're all identical-looking siblings) She'll often appear with a boyfriend named Jake.
  • Then there's the series namesake itself: even though it may take a different form in each Non-Linear Sequel, there will always be a MacGuffin called the Fire Emblem.
  • There are also minor recurring archetypes that, while not as common as those above, are still quite noticeable:
    • The lord's (usually younger) healer sister (Mist, Lissa, Elise, Sakura)
    • Two young Child Prodigy mages: a male who likes Wind magic (Merric, Ricken), and a female who had her family destroyed by the bad guys (Linde, Nino).
    • A sassy (usually mounted) female healer (Serra, Maribelle) an unlucky-in-love Chivalrous Pervert, a pretty blonde male priest who looks very feminine(Libra, Forrest), and a female pale-haired Mysterious Waif with plot-important powers.
  • The main lord's love interest is almost always either a pegasus knight (see above), a Mysterious Waif (again, see above), or a healer/spellcaster of some kind, and she and the lord usually meet through one of three ways: Childhood Friend Romance, Rescue Romance, or Love at First Sight. Even the lords who aren't part of an Official Couple have an Implied Love Interest who falls into these criteria.
• The Kirby games have a few recurring trends:
  • Kirby will inevitably end up accidentally unleashing the Sealed Evil in a Can or helping the villain with his plan. If for some reason he doesn't, either King Dedede or Meta Knight will.
  • If Meta Knight appears as a boss, expect him to give you a sword at the start of the battle. If he doesn't, he's probably a fake.
  • The thundercloud boss Kracko appears in just about every Kirby game. So does Whispy Woods.
  • The final boss will almost always be a blob-like Eldritch Abomination, often with only one eye. That or they'll become one as a One-Winged Angel.
  • A Boss Rush minigame often shows up. Sometimes it is two of them: The Arena, unlocked after beating the normal story mode, and The True Arena, unlocked after completing the hard mode. The True Arena also often ends with a harder version of the Final Boss whose name features the word "Soul" in it.
• The MCV is such a staple of the Command & Conquer franchise that the sole exception to its inclusion was highly controversial^note This also applied to Generals to a lesser extent (which had more conventional RTS base building), but the backlash was far more pronounced towards Tiberian Twilight due to it being far from the only mechanic that was changed. GDI's super-heavy, double-barreled Mammoth Tank was likewise so iconic of the first game that variants of it show up in most of the spin-offs as the Soviet Apocalypse tanks or Chinese Overlord tank. In fact, the exact same machine, down to the sprites, can be found in Tiberian Dawn, Red Alert, and Tiberian Sun, operated by GDI, the Soviets, and the Forgotten respectively.
• Key/Visual Arts visual novels seem to like the name "Minase"; it was the surname of Manami in Dousei, their first game under Tactics, and the surname of Nayuki in Kanon, their first game as their own studio. Even splinter studio H.I. Design Office named one of the two heroines Minase (though, in this case, it's her given name) in its first VN, Holy Breaker!
  • They also really like the name "Haruka," which appears in Moon and Little Busters! as the name of different heroines, as well as in Rewrite as Lucia's real name, not to mention a Haruko in AIR. And yup, Holy Breaker had a Haruka, too.
• R-Type will always have one stage which consists entirely of fighting a single giant alien warship. Dobkeratops, the iconic armless xenomorph thing, is also very likely to appear as a boss.
• Gradius: there will be a Boss Rush, there will be a high-speed section, there will be walls you have to carefully shoot through (sometimes they even regenerate), and there will be Moai.
• FromSoftware:
  • The Moonlight Sword from King's Field has had one in every game they've made since. It's a Laser Blade made out of, well, moonlight. The only game of theirs that it's absent from is Bloodborne, and even then it shows up in the DLC.
  • This trope is worked into the story of Dark Souls, as a major theme is Eternal Recurrance.
  • Games directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki all feature a character named Patches who will place the player in a death trap, then desperately apologize after they escape and offer to sell them things. No matter what version of Patches you're dealing with, he will be bald, a coward, and he has some kind of connection, usually negative, with the clergy. (Dark Souls II, not directed by Miyazaki, included a very similar character named "Pate" instead.)
  • An Eastern character visiting a Western-inspired world, such as Shiva of the East, Sir Alonne, Yamamura the Wanderer, and Bloody Finger Okina. Elden Ring even allows you to play such a character with the Samurai starting class. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, being set in 16th century Japan, has its own variant with the Armoured Warrior, a traveler from the West.
  • One of the first characters you meet in the hub world is a crestfallen warrior who's lost motivation for venturing the land. Most of them meet their demise in one way or another, with Saulden being a major exception. Elden Ring plays with it a bit by making its Crestfalllen a girl, Roderika, and giving her her own sidequest where she learns to upgrade your Spirit Ashes.
  • You will at some point be invaded by a cannibalistic woman wielding a giant cleaver and usually in skimpy clothing. Maneater Mildred, Melinda the Butcher, Isabella the Mad, and Anastacia, Tarnished-Eater are all examples of this element.
  • The Dark Souls trilogy in particular, as well as its spiritual predecessor Demon's Souls, have a lot of recurring elements within them, such as a depressed and apathetic (or "crestfallen") warrior or knight who hangs out in the hub area, a blighted, rickety shantytown-like area filled with filth, poison, and dangerous drops, and a part where you get attacked by a beefy and brutal woman in ragged clothing wielding a giant axe-like weapon, among others.
  • There's also the trend for the hub to have a mysterious woman who is completely loyal to the PC, and helps them in some way (usually by leveling you up). The Maiden in Black, the Emerald Herald, the Plain Doll, and the Fire Keeper are all examples of this element. Elden Ring hangs an affectionate lampshade on this, as it's stated that Tarnished are meant to be guided by Finger Maidens... but the first guy you meet points out that this isn't the case for you and mocks you for being "maidenless", which leads in to you meeting Melina, your level-up girl for the game. Melina is also not completely loyal to the Tarnished, though it's hard to blame her as she only leaves after you've inherited the Frenzied Flame, which if not purged will lead to you burning everything.
  • Also starting from said game, there is a gratuitous Guts Expy as a boss in one of each game's DLCs (Artorias, Raime, The Orphan of Kos, Gael), although there's actually a bit of a twist in that each one reflects different aspects of Guts. Elden Ring's resident Guts expy is instead a NPC, Blaidd the Half-Wolf, but otherwise stays true to tradition.
  • Dark Souls DLC will also have a dragon Superboss- Kalameet for 1, Sinh for 2, and Midir for 3. Elden Ring has one built into the main game- Placidusax.
  • Every game since Bloodborne (Bloodborne, Dark Souls III and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice) have had a Final Boss fought in a field of flowers under the moonlight (or at least something similar to moonlight; Gehrman and the Moon Presence in Bloodborne, the Soul of Cinder in the kiln in Dark Souls III, with the moonlight replaced by the dying sun, and Isshin the Sword-Saint in Sekiro. Elden Ring downplays it in that the final boss isn't fought amidst flowers... but the game's resident Superboss, Malenia, Blade of Miquella, is fought in a flower field at the base of the Haligtree.
  • Playing a Souls game or one of its debatably-included Miyazaki-directed similar games, you'll likely find yourself on the receiving end of a massive ball launched down a bridge, corridor, or the like, ready to flatten you and make you throw your controller in anger. Elden Ring puts a fun twist on this formula: its giant metal balls are alive- they're sentient enemies who can very easily come after you again if they fail to squash you the first time.
  • It's common for the first boss of a game to have an upgraded version appear later. The Vanguard appears later in a more powerful form, the Asylum Demon has two Palette Swap clones in the Stray Demon and the Demon Firesage, the Last Giant is fought in the past as the Giant Lord, Iudex Gundyr reappears in an optional area as Champion Gundyr, the Cleric Beast reappears in a DLC on fire, and Margit, The Fell Omen is a weakened alter ego of Morgott The Omen King.
  • Every Soulsborne game will have a fight against an elderly man - usually with Sad Battle Music - that, if not outright the final boss, represents a climactic fight, and puts up one hell of a fight:
    • Demon's Souls has Old King Allant, the Big Bad of the game, who puts up one of the toughest fights in the game. Or at least, the recreation of him does - in reality, the real Old King Allant has melted down into a sludge-like monster that barely puts up a fight.
    • Dark Souls 1 has the Final Boss Gwyn, Lord of Cinders, the patriarchal god-king of Anor Londo, with one of the fastest and aggressive movesets in the whole game.
    • Dark Souls II has King Vendrick, the monarch you've been seeking out since the start of the game. Even when he's found in his tomb, a naked undead mindlessly dragging his sword behind him like many of the undead mooks before him, he is inhumanly strong and tough - so much so that without a specific type of item in your inventory that weakens him, you will not even do enough damage to get him to notice you.
    • Bloodborne has amongst its potential Final Bosses, Gehrman, the First Hunter, your elderly, wheelchair-bound mentor that will reveal himself to not be hindered much by his disability should you decide to refuse his offer to be mercy-killed and woken up from the nightmare.
    • Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice has two: The first is against the Owl, an elderly Shinobi who acted as the adopted father figure to Wolf, and later Isshin Ashina, the patriarch of the Ashina clan and a Sword Saint who can put up one hell of a fight even as a sickly eighty-something years old man moments away from dying of natural causes.
    • Elden Ring has the Climax Boss in the capital of Leyndell Morgott the Omen King, an elderly Omen and son of Queen Marika who tried, and failed, to hold together the Golden Order and become Elden Lord - he failed, as the Erdtree is refusing everything. By the time you meet him, he's a sad shell of a man who still tries to fight you despite knowing that the world is forsaken, and will do so as one of the most aggressive and fast bosses in the whole game.
• Danganronpa: The three main games seem to always have a set of character that match a certain theme. This includes:
  • A Gentle Giant in the case for Sakura, Nekomaru, and Gonta.
  • A Token Mini-Moe in the case for Chihiro, Hiyoko, and Himiko.
  • A Sir Swears-a-Lot in the case for Mondo, Fuyuhiko, and Miu.
  • Someone who puts on a Card-Carrying Villain persona (Celestia, Gundham, and Kokichi)
  • A male character with a Nonstandard Character Design in the case for Hifumi, Teruteru and Ryoma.
  • A dark-skinned female character in the case for Aoi, Akane, and Angie.
  • A character with an unknown talent (which is revealed later on in the story) in the case for Kyoko, Hajime, and Rantaro.
  • A character known for being a huge pervert in the case for Hifumi, Teruteru and Miu.
  • A Stalker with a Crush in the case for Toko, Kazuichi, and Tenko (for Byakuya, Sonia, and Himiko respectively).
  • A character with a fighting ability in the case for Sakura, Peko, and Tenko.
  • A character that does not have a traditional Japanese first name- Leon, Sonia, and Angie.
  • A cute Tiny School Boy in the case for Makoto, Chihiro, Fuyuhiko, and Kokichi.
  • A person with an "evil" talent in the case for Mondo, Fuyuhiko, and Kokichi.
  • An AI- Alter Ego, Chiaki, and Kiibo.
  • Every game also seems to follow a pattern in its cases:
    • Chapter 1: the victim isn't the person the killer had intended to kill. The victim is also established as seemingly important, such as the protagonist's initial Love Interest in the first game, The Leader in the second game, and the Decoy Protagonist of the third game. The case also always involves a failed murder attempt.
    • Chapter 2: it always involves the character with gang or mafia connections as a killer or victim. It also results in the cast learning that one of the characters(Toko/Genocide Jack, Fuyuhiko, and Maki) was a murderer before the start of the killing game.
    • Chapter 3: The murder will be planned out and involve two victims, and the culprit will accidentally give themselves away with a slip of the tongue. The culprit will be the least repentant/sympathetic of the bunch.
    • Chapter 4: it always involves The Big Guy character as either a culprit or a victim. The protagonist usually has a falling-out with one of their closest friends at some point during this chapter.
    • Chapter 5: the case is always very complicated, and the death is the most gruesome. In Mukuro and Kokichi's cases, the corpse is unrecognisable. The victim tends to be a Red Herring for the traitor/mastermind.
    • Chapter 6: There is no murder and the class trial follows unusual rules; the mastermind is revealed, their plans are twarthed and they either kill themselves or are executed by someone else: in the first game, Junko kills herself, the second game has AI Junko destroyed by Usami during the shutdown sequence, and in the third game Tsumugi is killed by falling rubble caused by Keebo's self-destruct sequence.
  • There will always be a character who obsesses over one half of the main theme of the game, such as Junko Enoshima (Despair), Nagito (Hope), and Kokichi (Lies).
  • The person that takes the death of their classmates the hardest is always among the survivors; respectively, they were Aoi Asahina, Sonia Nevermind, and Himiko Yumeno.
  • One person will be killed immediately after expressing character development, land it always happens during the third chapter.
  • One Blackened will be someone who already had a bodycount before the game Mondo Oowada (indirectly killed his brother Daiya), Peko Pekoyama (Fuyuhiko's hitwoman), and Korekiyo Shinguji (a Serial Killer), but one of the survivors will also be a killer who just didn't kill in-game Genocide Jack (Serial Killer who realizes that murdering people like she usually does will get her caught). Fuyuhiko (Yakuza heir), and Maki (Ulltimate Assassin- though she almost killed Kokichi).
  • Protagonists always have Idiot Hair of some sort, no matter the game. Makoto has it, Hajime has it, when Komaru becomes a protagonist she gets it, Kaede has it, and when Shuichi becomes a protagonist he takes off his hat to reveal an ahoge.
• Ace Attorney will always have a hapless and put-upon yet nonetheless intelligent and quick-thinking lawyer (Phoenix, Apollo, Athena) and a plucky female assistant with a messed-up familial history (Maya, Ema, Pearl, Trucy)^note Edgeworth and Kay from the spinoffs count as well. They'll first go up against a rather spineless prosecutor from the Payne family (Winston for most of the games, his little brother Gaspen from Dual Destinies on, and their ancestor Taketsuchi Auchi in The Great Ace Attorney) then a renowned antagonistic but ultimately sympathetic prosecutor with something of a personal history with or vendetta against the protagonists (Edgeworth, Franziska, Godot, Blackquill, Nahyuta). The prosecution is in turn aided by an friendlier detective (Gumshoe, Fullbright, Ema).^note Klavier and Ema invert the antagonistic-prosecutor-friendlier-detective relationship in Apollo Justice, while Fullbright subverts it in Dual Destinies.) The final case often, but not always, involves a different prosecutor taking over.^note Manfred von Karma in the original game, Edgeworth in Justice for All, Franziska(temporarily) in Trials and Tribulations, Edgeworth again in the first half of Dual Destinies' final case, Ga'ran in Spirit of Justice, Kazuma in The Great Ace Attorney: Resolve. The only prosecutors to finish out their games are Godot (and even he has Franziska take over for the first day) and Klavier.
• The Xenoblade Chronicles series has a few traits that carry over between its entries, some of which are references to the other Xeno titles Monolith Soft has worked on:
  • The Nopon, and their selfish tendencies and nature as comic relief
  • Two giant Gogol Unique Monsters named Territorial Rotbart and Immovable Gonzalez that are liable to ambush and beat the crap out of you in starting areas^note Although in Xenoblade Chronicles X, the Non-Linear Sequel, Gogols aren't present, Rotbart's name is different (although etymologically related), and Gonzalez is absent. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 gives Rotbart a Suspiciously Similar Substitute called "Jingoistic Giganticus".
  • A mentor/commander figure for the protagonists named Vandham, with some combination of an X-shaped facial scar and a square mustache. The ones with scars die heroically, while the ones with mustaches live.
  • A meathead party member with a giant sword, usually a tank with explosive damage, and Vitriolic Best Buds with the protagonist^note Reyn, Zeke, Mythra and Lanz
  • A late-arrival party member who's secretly royalty^note Melia, Zeke, and Addam,
  • The protagonist not being alive^note Shulk was Dead All Along, Cross was always a robot, Jin killed Rex at the very beginning of the game, Noah and Mio are alive currently but have died and reincarnated numerous times before the events of the game
• Monster Hunter: World features several recurring tropes from previous entries:
  • The first big monster you fight is a King Mook version of smaller monsters.
  • A relatively weak and comical Bird Wyvern which serves as the first serious boss of the game.
  • A colossal Elder Dragon that cannot be fought with your weapons and can only be damaged by cannons and ballistae on top of a fortification.
  • An invasive Elder Dragon-level creature that will appear in random high level hunts with a Background Music Override to tell you to get the hell out of there!
  • A new large monster that fights against Series Mascot Rathalos. This time, the Rathalos comes out on top in a fight between the two.
  • Tempered monsters continue the concept of beefier versions of regular monsters with superior stats, constituting the post-game challenge.
• Any game by LucasArts will have Chuck the Plant in it ... somewhere. Rarely, if ever, will he be important to the plot.
• The Age of Wonders series has Dire Penguins. They're always evil to the core and often extremely deadly in water battles.
• Yoko Taro certainly loves his Deconstructor Fleet for JRPGs in Drakengard, and this always appears in his works:
  • A very handsome early adult-to-late-teenaged boy who hides some dark opinions underneath his seemingly normal exterior. Caim, Brother!Nier, and 9S.
  • A very Fanservicey woman wearing Stripperiffic clothing who hates her current circumstances and is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold. Kaine, Zero, 2B and A2. A romance between two of them that is doomed to fail for one reason or another. Caim and his sister due to his rejection on the grounds that he finds incest disgusting, Nier and Kaine because of circumstances, and 2B and 9S due to the In Love with the Mark relationship they share.
  • A motherly figure is revealed to be in on a dark secret and/or is responsible for the current state of affairs by proxy. Zero, Popola and Devola, and the Commander.
  • Something that shouldn't have human emotions is found to exhibit them. Often the main character's assist character. Angelus, Weiss, and now the Pods.
  • A computer-like character meant to oversee the events of the story due to the story being an experiment of some sort, and is tasked with ending it once all data was collected, but then they ultimately choose to go against it because they have come to believe in the protagonists' efforts. Accord and the Pods.
  • A Too Good for This Sinful Earth character who always gets the short end of the stick and either gets killed off or sacrifice themselves in some way to save their friends and loved ones. Seere, Mikhail, Emil, and Pascal.
  • Events transpire to turn a young person into a psychopath with an insatiable grudge against a group and their followers, whether they deserve it or not. Caim against anybody who isn't his friend in Drakengard, the younger smith brother against machines in NieR, Zero against intoners but with a very good reason in Drakengard 3, 9S against Machine Lifeforms.
  • Due to the action or inaction of the adults caring for them, children suffer horribly.
  • Violence perpetrated by the player is heavily chastised.
  • Red eyes on a character as a sign of intense hatred and/or hostility.
• In Arc System Works fighting games, the resident Ryu and Ken tend to be reversed. In the Technician vs. Performer dynamic between the relatively traditional Ryu and the more offense-focused Ken, as opposed to the normal dynamic, the protagonist is usually the Ken to their foil's Ryu.
• In most of the Halo games, Master Chief's first mission has him defend a space station being raided by the Covenant.
• All of the Splatoon games have a headgear shop run by a low-key character and their smaller, more energetic companion, a shoe shop run by a crustacean, and a clothing shop run by a jellyfish with a poor grasp of English.
• Each Uncle Albert game has various tools to use, but they all have the camera and the fire.
• There are several recurring elements ubiquitous to each Bethesda developed series, from The Elder Scrolls to Fallout (starting with Fallout 3) to Starfield. Beyond the similar game genres (Wide-Open Sandbox game worlds with Western RPG elements veering into Action RPG territory), you can count on Loads and Loads of Sidequests, plus full blown Sidequest Sidestories in the form of "Faction" questlines, often nearly as expansive as the main quests themselves.
• Metro has the Moscow Metro and Moscow itself as the game's main setting. The series often takes place underground and at some point above the surface, usually where it is irradiated and requires a gas mask. However, some examples in the series subvert this trope.
  • Metro Exodus is the most well-known subversion of this trope in the series. Not only the Moscow Metro and Moscow only make one appearance in the series, but the title in itself is an Artifact Title, as Metros only appear in the first and last ends of the story, namely the Moscow and Novosibirsk chapters respectively. 80% of the game is a Russian Oregon Trail with the Aurora Crew that takes place above the surface including Volga, Yamantau, Caspian and the Kazakhstan Taiga.
  • Exodus' second DLC Sam's Story barely references anything about Moscow Metro at all as the majority of the game takes place in Vladivostok.
  • Downplayed in Exodus' first DLC The Two Colonels. While the game follows the same trademark Metro setting as its predecessor games, it takes place in Novosibirsk instead of Moscow, and features a completely different Metro.
  • Double Subverted in Metro Awakening where the game takes place in the Moscow Metro, thus following the trademark staple of the series once again.

Western Animation

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder will typically have two lieutenants that he admonishes and punishes every time they fail to get the turtles: Bebop and Rocksteady, Tokka and Rahzar, Hun and Baxter Stockman (Later Hun and Karai, and even later Karai and Chapman), Dogpound and Fishface
  • Turtles Forever plays on this. He has both Hun and Karai, AND Bebop and Rocksteady. Who did a Hazy-Feel Turn on their own Shredder.
• Total Drama: While every season in the series has a unique theme, there are also a number of elements that are staple in the series and are almost always bound to return:
  • An eating challenge in which the contestants are forced to consume one or more types of Masochist's Meals, and in which vomiting will be involved.^note "Brunch of Disgustingness" in Island (2007), "The Chefshank Redemption" in Action, "Chinese Fake-Out" in World Tour, "Eat, Puke, and Be Wary" in Revenge of the Island, "Food Fright" in All Stars, "Hurl and Go Seek" in Pahkitew Island, and "Taste Buddies" in Island (2023)
  • A horror-themed episode where the contestants are usually picked off one by one or have to deal with something unnatural going on. All of these challenges happen either in the middle of the night or in a very dark place.^note "Hook, Line, and Screamer" in Island (2007), "The Sand Witch Project" in Action, "I See London..." in World Tour, "Finders Creepers" in Revenge of the Island, "Zeek and Ye Shall Find" in All Stars, "Hurl and Go Seek" in Pahkitew Island, "Bad Becave-ior" in Island (2023)
  • An aquatic episode taking near or in a body of water. Swimming might or might or might not be involved, but expect contestants to fall into the water nonetheless.^note "Not So Happy Campers - Part 2" in Island (2007), "Beach Blanket Bogus" in Action, "Jamaica Me Sweat" in World Tour, "Backstabbers Ahoy!" in Revenge of the Island, "Heroes vs. Villains" in All Stars, "A Blast from the Past" in Pahkitew Island, and "Ship for Brains" in Island (2023)
  • An episode where the contestants must traverse a forest and go from point A to point B to win the challenge.^note "Are We There Yeti?" in Island, "Top Dog" in Action, "The Am-AH-Zon Race" in World Tour, "The Enchanted Franken-Forest" in Revenge of the Island, "Moon Madness" in All Stars, "Three Zones and a Baby" in Pahkitew Island, "Trust Your Butt" in Island (2023)
  • One of contestants always serves as the Big Bad of the season. The only season where this doesn't happen is in Pahkitew Island.^note Heather in Island (2007), Courtney in Action, Alejandro in World Tour, Scott in Revenge of the Island, Mal in All Stars, and Julia in Island (2023)
  • One or more contestants returning to the competition after being eliminated, which stops happening starting with All Stars^note Eva and Izzy in Island (2007), Owen in Action, Duncan in World Tour, and Dakota in Revenge of the Island
  • A double elimination occurring in the same episode. The only time this doesn't happen is in the original Island.^note Bridgette and Geoff as well as Courtney and Owen in Action, Izzy and DJ as well as Blaineley and Courtney in World Tour, Brick and Anne Maria in Revenge of the Island, Gwen and Scott in All Stars, Scarlett and Max in Pahkitew Island, and Wayne and Raj in Island (2023)
  • A contestant getting eliminated after suffering an accident that leaves them so injured they must wear bandages all over their body, though said injuries aren't always the reason why they have to be removed from the competition. The only season where this doesn't happen is in Pahkitew Island.^note Cody in Island, Justin in Action, Tyler in World Tour, Scott in Revenge of the Island, Cameron in All Stars, and Wayne and Raj in Island (2023)
  • A contestant getting directly disqualified from the competition by Chris over something they did, which avoids happening in Revenge of the Island and Island (2023)^note DJ in Island (2007), Owen in Action, Sierra in World Tour, Duncan and Gwen in All Stars, and Ella, Max, and Scarlett in Pahkitew Island.
  • The two finalists are always a boy and a girl. The only time in which this doesn't happen is in Revenge of the Island, in which both finalists are boys.^{note (spoilers!)}Owen and Gwen in Island (2007), Duncan and Beth in Action, Heather and Alejandro in World Tour, Mike and Zoey in All-Stars, and Priya and Bowie in Island (2023)

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