History Main / StarterMon

*** ''VideoGame/Persona5'': Arsene, the only level 1 Persona GuardianEntity, who you get at the very start of the game and starts with nothing but a weak physical attack and a weak darkness spell. Leveling him up will take longer than any other Persona in the game, and you'll have to sacrifice dozens of stronger Guardian Entities to him to give him enough high-end skills to make him useful beyond the first dungeon. As with ''Persona 4 Arena'', Joker exclusively uses Arsene when he appears in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' (despite his lack of power in his home game, which is explicitly noted in the launch trailer but {{Handwave}}d away by RuleOfCool).

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestMonstersJoker'' instead gives you a choice of a Dracky, Platypunk, and Mischevious Mole for your first monster. You also get a special, form-swapping monster partner called Incarnus that's central to the story and a member of the special "???" monster family that normally only holds bosses -- but he doesn't actually join you until midway through the second island.

** For ''Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Edition'', the Leader characters, Mario and Luigi, have most of the Starting Mon traits; you start with Small versions of each but unlock more versions of both throughout the game. You're also given Red Toad as your first Helper character and a Goomba and Green Koopa Troopa to fill out your {{Mons}} roster slots at the start.

* ''Videogame/{{Palworld}}'' averts this as well, as you wash up in the island as a castaway with literally nothing to your name. Your first Pal will likely be whatever ComMon you can beat with your bare damn hands and snag with a Palsphere you found littered in the overworld.

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes'', the player starts with three heroes- Anna, Alfonse and Sharena, the commander of the Order of Heroes, prince of Askr and princess of Askk, respectively. The three cover the weapon triangle, wielding an axe, a sword and a spear, respectively.

* In ''Videogame/GenshinImpact'', playing through the prologue will unlock Amber, Kaeya, and Lisa as playable characters in additional to your choice of protagonist; similarly, Noelle is a guaranteed character on the discounted Beginner's Wish gacha roll. Later updates made Barbara, Xiangling, and Collei unlockable by playing through the early stages of the story (for Barbara) and a unique combat challenge, ensuring that free players (and even those who ignore the gacha after the beginning) have access to at least one character with every element and weapon.

[[caption-width-right:350:"Um...is there a fourth option?"]]

** Or they can be useful early on in the adventure, but [[CrutchCharacter fall behind later and are eventually replaced]] once better alternatives are found (This is a rare occurence, though).

* When players are first introduced to the Summoning feature in ''VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}}'', they are guaranteed to get a 3-star SR Yuki-onna and a 2-star R Sanbi-no-kitsune. Both are powerful attacker-type ''shikigami''.

* In ''VideoGame/CassetteBeasts'', the player receives either Candevil or Bansheep, both of which are Beast Type [[spoiler:from Kayleigh when a Traffikrab attacks you]]. Candevil can be remastered into the Poison type Miasmodeus or Metal type Gumbaal. Bansheep can be remastered into the Astral type Ramtasm or Earth type Capricorpse.

* In ''VideoGame/CassetteBeasts'', the player receives either Candevil or Bansheep, both of which are Beast Type. Candevil can be upgraded into the Poison type Miasmodeus or Metal type Gumbaal. Bansheep can be upgraded into the Astral type Ramtasm or Earth type Capricorpse.

* In ''VideoGame/CassetteBeasts'', the player receives either Candevil or Bansheep.

[[folder: Video Games]]

** In addition to Mash, every new player will perform a Starter Summon, a tutorial-type 10-summon which guarantees them at least one out of ten (later 14) available 4* Servant. The original ten Servants were Siegfried (Saber), Chevalier d'Eon (Saber), EMIYA (Archer) Elisabeth Báthory (Lancer), Marie Antoinette (Rider), Saint Martha (Rider), Carmilla (Assassin), Stheno (Assassin), Heracles (Berserker) and Tamamo Cat (Berserker). The Caster-class was notably the only main class not covered by the ten. As of July 3rd, 2019, five new Starter Servants have been added to the Starter Summon pool, which are Suzuka Gozen (Saber), Atalante (Archer), Parvati (Lancer) Helena Blavatsky (Caster) and Nursery Rhyme (Caster). Of the original ten, only d'Eon has been removed while the other nine remain within the pool. With this change, each of the seven main classes is represented by two Starter Servants. 5* Servants or other 4* Servants are not available for the Starter Summon. Random 3* Servants that are neither story-locked nor limited are available for the Starter Summon, thus the player is guaranteed to have at least three Servants in their party when they start out. Due to the nature of Starter Summon, it's easy for new players and veterans to reroll it (read: re-start a new game and roll again) to obtain the 4* they desire, with Heracles and EMIYA being the two most popular choices.

[[folder: VideoGame]]

[[folder: VideoGame examples]]

** ''Joker'' gives you a special, form-swapping monster partner called Incarnus. He's [[CantDropTheHero always a member of your party]], unlike others, and he's a member of the special "???" monster family that normally only holds bosses.
** The VideoGameRemake of ''Dragon Quest Monsters 2'' gives you a unique monster whom you can customize both the appearance and stat growth of. It's part of the special "???" family, it learns a special skill set exclusive to it, it stays the same species whenever you breed it, and in the story, it's the child of an immense, godlike monster who chose your protagonist to guard her egg.

* ''VideoGame/{{Nexomon}}'' gives the player a choice between seven starters: the [[NonElemental Normal-type]] Vulazy, the [[MakingASplash Water-type]] Bedam, the [[PlayingWithFire Fire-type]] Sprunk, the [[DishingOutDirt Mineral-type]] Blizo, the [[BlowYouAway Wind-type]] Fethra, the [[ShockAndAwe Electric-type]] Velokitti, and the [[GreenThumb Plant-type]] Petril. All of these can later be found and caught in the wild.

** The ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' subseries, from the third title onwards, has the protagonist's initial Persona. While other Personas are mostly generic demons from ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' games, these initial Personas have unique designs exclusive to the game, and are heavily associated with the protagonists themselves. In addition, they start with level 1, is of the Fool Arcana, and cannot be gotten through random encounters.
*** ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' has Orpheus, the starter Persona of the protagonist. It's fairly unremarkable and players will often fuse it away for better Personas. Fairly late in the game, however, you can fuse Orpheus with Thanatos to create the protagonist's ultimate Persona, Messiah. Additionally, in the UpdatedRerelease versions, a much stronger version, named Orpheus Telos, is available as the highest level and most customizable Persona in the game.
*** ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' has Izanagi, the initial Persona of the protagonist. Like Orpheus in the previous game, it's fairly unremarkable and players will often fuse him away. In NewGamePlus after getting the True Ending, however, you can fuse Izanagi-no-Okami, a level 90 Persona and the only one of the World Arcana, which requires regular Izanagi as one of its component. It also plays into the story as [[spoiler:The Killer's Persona is its EvilTwin, Magatsu Izanagi]] and [[spoiler:the TrueFinalBoss is Izanami, the vengeful wife of Izanagi in the myths]]. In the ''VideoGame/Persona4Arena'' duology, the protagonist exclusively uses Izanagi and Izanagi-no-Okami.
*** ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'': Arsene, the only level 1 Persona GuardianEntity, who you get at the very start of the game and starts with nothing but a weak physical attack and a weak darkness spell. Leveling him up will take longer than any other Persona in the game, and you'll have to sacrifice dozens of stronger Guardian Entities to him to give him enough high-end skills to make him useful beyond the first dungeon. As with ''Persona 4 Arena'', Joker exclusively uses Arsene when he appears in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' (despite his lack of power in his home game, which is explicitly noted in the launch trailer but {{Handwave}}d away by RuleOfCool).

In ''VideoGame/DiscCreatures,'' the game gives you a choice between five different starters and lets you pick three of them, ensuring you start the game with a full team: In addition to Fire, Water, and Plant types, there's also an Electric type and an Earth type. The game explicitly warns you that they're all rare, so think carefully about which you want, and they can otherwise only be won as prizes from a random NPC who may or may not spawn in certain towns.