History Main / AllInARow

* The ''KingdomHearts'' games has the other two party members following Sora around, and they don't follow you around perfectly... they often lag behind, having to catch up when you stop. And they will sometimes fight Heartless when you don't.
** In addition, [[DonaldDuck Donald]] is especially good at falling into holes while following, leaving him pogoing around like mad but unable to catch up. The game deals with this by having both party members automatically catch up with Sora when he passes into a new area.
*** Donald falling into holes? What about how they just jump over obstacles in buildings when it's not needed or {{Goofy}} continuing to climb trees and stay on ladders?
** ''KingdomHeartsII'' is a bit better with this: When you enter an area without heartless-encounters, Donald and Goofy will start to act like [=NPCs=] and kinda do their own thing, instead of following Sora around.

Almost always, the leader is able to walk right through his/her allies, as [[DroneJam otherwise]] the player could be confronted with the most pathetic UnWinnable situation ever, leading this to an AcceptableBreakFromReality. You can't talk to them like you could an NPC, though. Again, partly to keep a party member in your way from blocking you from doing something else occupied on the same space/in the same area.

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* [[{{Overlord}} For the Overlord!]] Your minions, when not attacking, being swept, or otherwise busy, will follow the Overlord anywhere and everywhere (except water if they are not Blue minions.)

* [[ThePresidentsDaughter Ashley Graham]] in ''ResidentEvil4'' will trail behind Leon wherever he goes when in follow mode. To keep her out of danger you often have to stash her somewhere secluded, like up a tower, in a dumpster, or on the opposite end of a choke point, and give her the wait command.

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* In ''CustomRobo'' (the one for the GameCube), the story mode you usually just control one person. However, occasionally someone follows you somewhere, and has an extremely annoying habit of getting in the way as their movement is slaved to yours. At one point, roughly six to eight people are following you in what fans have affectionately dubbed the "World's Worst Conga Line."
** Arena has this also, but you can walk through your party, thankfully.
* Olimar in ''SuperSmashBros''. Thankfully, because he is pretty much useless without his Pikmin.

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* [[HaloZero Oh, you can stay right behind me, Johnson!]]

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* Tails follows ''{{Sonic}}'' like this in many of the games, though with partial delay. He also attacks enemies, sometimes proving himself useful (Grabbers in Chemical Plant Zone), sometimes not (Special Stages in Sonic 2).
** Likewise the Flickies in Sonic 3D follow Sonic to the letter. Having the chain of Flickies get hit would cause them to separate, as would having Sonic get hit, though you don't lose rings if a Flicky takes a hit.
*** This was of course based on the game Flicky, which had the same principle, albeit in 2D, and you played as a Flicky, not Sonic.
* ''{{Kirby}} Superstar'' also had enemies you barf back up act somewhat like this when a second player wasn't controlling them.

*** However, it's extremely averted in ''Kirby and the Amazing Mirror'', with the rest of the Kirbys going their own way entirely, through completely different rooms and even in the opposite direction. Except when you called them to you.

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* This is the basic idea behind the classic game ''Lemmings''; the titular creatures march, in line, en masse, across the screen, and the player has to assign special abilities to certain ones in order to scale obstacles and bridge chasms. While technically each individual lemming walks in a straight line heedless of the others, this still tends to result in the AllInARow effect, largely due to it being (usually) the most effective way to play.

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[[AC:RolePlayingGames]]
* BioWare is rather fond of this trope. MassEffect and KnightsOfTheOldRepublic have two party members flanking the player character at all times, NeverwinterNights and JadeEmpire have a single party member following the player in a less organized fashion, and DragonAge and BaldursGate avert this by allowing the player to jump between controlled players and even command multiple party members at once.
** One way or another though they end up adhering to your shoulders like bipedal pauldrons during conversations.

* All three ''Mother'' games. ''{{Earthbound}}'' mixes the two variants. OnlyMostlyDead characters became a weird mix of angels and ghosts.
** It's kinda strange really, you can give them a revival item to bring them back, but if you revive them through the hospital the doctor's act as if they've been rushed to the hospital a while ago. [[SchrodingersGun No matter which one you go to.]]
* In ''[[UltimaVII Ultima 7]]'', the characters showed their dedication to the Avatar by electing to walk through explosive traps and [[ViolationOfCommonSense stand in campfires]] rather than fall out of formation with him.
** ''[[UltimaVI Ultima 6]]'' does this as well.

* In ''{{Live A Live}}'', where the other party members would follow behind in various formations depending on how many there were.

** In addition, [[DonaldDuck Donald]] is especially good at falling into holes while following, leaving him pogoing around like mad but unable to catch up. The game deals with this by having both party members automatically catch up with Sora when he passes into a new area.
*** Donald falling into holes? What about how they just jump over obstacles in buildings when it's not needed or {{Goofy}} continuing to climb trees and stay on ladders?

* ''BaldursGate'', being an RPG with elements of RTS, also lets you select a leader and a formation for your party. There are two formations that are straight lines, and another that isn't even a formation, just a pathfinding setting where everyone follows the person in front of them in order.
** Unfortunately the NPC's pathfinding ability is quite shoddy - making narrow maze-like areas a pain in the butt for players as [=NPCs=] tend to try to go down the wrong path to meet up with the PC (and usually Aggroing enemies, bad if they're squishy wizards)
** One of the reasons for ''BG'' and other Infinity Engine games having such loose party formations is that they had a networked multiplayer mode in which each member of the party could be controlled by a human player (this was also the reason for the "Gather your party before venturing forth" message, to keep all players on the same map.) While awkwardly implemented in many ways, it was still pretty fun for a tight group of friends, and became the primary focus of Bioware's next game, ''NeverwinterNights''.

* The ''PhantasyStar'' series' entries (prior to the Dreamcast-and-later online {{MMORPG}}s) all feature this trope. In ''IV'', you could even have a giant penguin follow you around in town, just for the hell of it.

*** However, ''Geneforge'' gives you a choice of what "formation" to use for your party. You can have the characters line up, form a T, form a triangle, and so forth.

[[AC:TurnBasedStrategy]]

* ''ShiningForce II'' does this whenever a character joins or a key NPC is traveling with the party. Almost always it is at least Bowie and Peter, then it's Oddler, then replace Oddler with Astral. on the world map, a transportation vehicle also follows, and they take a formation. (of course this is more like Dragon Quest)
** It also gets rather ridiculous if the player returns to Creed's mansion. By that point they will have two permanent followers. Since you had the choice of one party member out of four, you can recruit the additional OptionalPartyMember (s) there and there will literally be ''five'' people tailing Bowie.

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[[AC:RealLife]]
* [[RealLife Ducks and geese.]]
* [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that this is actually the easiest way to navigate through a thick crowd (which is common in the most populated areas of Japan). Walking side by side is frequently impossible.

** It's kinda strange really, you can give them a revival item to bring them back, but if you revive them through the hospital the doctor's act as if they've been rushed to the hospital a while ago. No matter which one you go to.

** In addition, Donald is especially good at falling into holes while following, leaving him pogoing around like mad but unable to catch up. The game deals with this by having both party members automatically catch up with Sora when he passes into a new area.
*** Donald falling into holes? What about how they just jump over obstacles in buildings when it's not needed or Goofy continuing to climb trees and stay on ladders?

* ''[[KingsQuest KQ]]'' has the rubber band variant of this trope, complete with companions that are capable of passing through stone walls if they fall far enough behind.

* In ''CustomRobo'' (the one for the GameCube), the story mode you usually just control one person. However, occasionally someone follows you somewhere, and has an extremely annoying habit of getting in the way as their movement is slaved to yours. At one point, roughly six to eight people are following you in what this editor dubbed the "World's Worst Conga Line." The exact same problem also exists in Pokémon Colosseum which this editor swears has the exact same overworld engine and character designers, admittedly only with one person, but '''''all the time'''''.

This is when the player controls a [[PlayerParty party of walking characters]] in a {{videogame}} by controlling only one of them, usually the main hero. The rest of the party follows obediently in a line like ducklings after their mother. This is also known as caterpillaring.

* Despite being a racing game, ''[[MarioKart Super Mario Kart]]'' had the AI follow behind each other perfectly and would never speed up or slow down unless they are out of position they were in previously (example: if Mario is currently ranked at 4th place in the standings, he will stay in 4th unless you interfere). They would also never deviate from their pre determined path unless you shoved them with an item.

* In ''CustomRobo'' (the one for the Gamecube), the story mode you usually just control one person. However, occasionally someone follows you somewhere, and has an extremely annoying habit of getting in the way as their movement is slaved to yours. At one point, roughly six to eight people are following you in what this editor dubbed the "World's Worst Conga Line." The exact same problem also exists in Pokemon Colosseum which this editor swears has the exact same overworld engine and character designers, admittedly only with one person, but '''''all the time'''''.

** Also in ''PokemonRanger'' and ''[[PokemonRanger Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia]]'', where your current party will trail you around until released. On some missions, you will be accompanied by human [=NPCs=] as well.
** And [=NPCs=] in Pokemon XD Gale of Darkness, when travelling with you, travel like this.
** The sidekick in the original ''PokemonColosseum'', travel partners in the [=D/P/Pt=] games, Pokemon in Amity Square and Pikachu in Pokemon Yellow (that is, Special Pikachu Edition), but it's not so bad since there's only one at a time (even if the pathfinder for [[PokemonColosseum Rui]] ''was'' fairly dense). The first party Pokémon in ''[=HeartGold/SoulSilver=]'' follows the player as well. Note that anyone this doesn't apply is part of a PartyInMyPocket instead.

* [[RealLife Ducks.]]

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* In the old NES game ''Mickey Mousecapade'', the player controls Mickey Mouse, and Minnie Mouse follows along behind him, repeats his actions exactly a moment after he makes them (so that Minnie doesn't jump until she reachest the point where Mickey jumped, and therefore doesn't fall to her death). This has the interesting side affect of letting you make Minnie stop in midair by standing still when you land after a jump. It's also vital to beating some of the tougher end bosses - Minnie doesn't take damage from enemy attacks, so you can sometimes run just to the edge of the area the end boss's attacks can reach, then immediately double back and duck into cover, leaving Minnie out in the open where she can shoot at the end boss while Mickey stands where he can't be hit.

Almost always, the leader is able to walk right through his/her allies, as [[DroneJam otherwise]] the player could be confronted with the most pathetic UnWinnable situation ever.

* BioWare is rather fond of this trope.

** And NPCs in Pokemon XD Gale of Darkness, when travelling with you, travel like this.

** Unfortunately the NPC's pathfinding ability is quite shoddy - making narrow maze-like areas a pain in the butt for players as NPCs tend to try to go down the wrong path to meet up with the PC (and usually Aggroing enemies, bad if they're squishy wizards)

* [[HaloZero Oh, you can stay right behind me, Johnson!]]
* BioWare is rather fond of this trope.
* The ''{{Pokemon}} [[PokemonMysteryDungeon Mystery Dungeon]]'' games.
** Also in ''PokemonRanger'' and ''[[PokemonRanger Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia]]'', where your current party will trail you around until released. On some missions, you will be accompanied by human [=NPCs=] as well.
** And NPCs in Pokemon XD Gale of Darkness, when travelling with you, travel like this.
** The sidekick in the original ''PokemonColosseum'', travel partners in the [=D/P/Pt=] games, Pokemon in Amity Square and Pikachu in Pokemon Yellow (that is, Special Pikachu Edition), but it's not so bad since there's only one at a time (even if the pathfinder for [[PokemonColosseum Rui]] ''was'' fairly dense). The first party Pokémon in ''[=HeartGold/SoulSilver=]'' follows the player as well. Note that anyone this doesn't apply is part of a PartyInMyPocket instead.
* ''SecretOfMana'' uses the rubber band version in its single player mode.
* The first ''{{Lufia}}'' in its entirety and ''Lufia II'' and ''Lufia: The Ruins of Lore'' in town areas, with the last two using PartyInMyPocket elsewhere (''Lufia: The Legend Returns'' uses PartyInMyPocket during the entire game).
* ''KQ'' has the rubber band variant of this trope, complete with companions that are capable of passing through stone walls if they fall far enough behind.
* ''FinalFantasyVIII''. So much so, it has become the thing of [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNzFE8rNPQU parodies.]]
* ''PennyArcadeAdventures''.
* All main installments of the ''DragonQuest'' series after the first one (which only had one player character to show on the screen period), excluding ''DragonQuestVIII'', which for some reason uses PartyInMyPocket (this isn't due to the 3D graphics because ''DragonQuestIX'' renders party members and the environment in 3D on less powerful hardware, but brought back AllInARow like I through VII).

* All three ''Mother'' games. ''{{Earthbound}}'' mixes the two variants. OnlyMostlyDead characters became a weird mix of angels and ghosts.

* In ''Ultima 7'', the characters showed their dedication to the Avatar by electing to walk through explosive traps and [[ViolationOfCommonSense stand in campfires]] rather than fall out of formation with him.
** ''Ultima 6'' does this as well.
* In the excellent oldie ''Hard Nova'', the entire party walks single-file... though of course when flying only the spaceship is shown. In this case, the party even fights in the same single file, and creative backstepping to change party order is crucial to distribute damage optimally.
* In ''ChronoTrigger'', characters followed each other a bit more realistically, although they would immediately jump into battle position when [[FightWoosh entering combat mode]]. The OnlyMostlyDead problem was moot, since they are bumped back to 1[[HitPoints hp]] after the battle. Same thing goes for ''ChronoCross'', albeit without characters jumping into battle position due to the fact that combat takes place on a separate screen in ''Cross''.
* In ''{{Live A Live}}'', where the other party members would follow behind in various formations depending on how many there were.
* All the ''BreathOfFire'' games until ''[[BreathOfFireDragonQuarter Dragon Quarter]]'' displayed your current battle party all the time. In most games, they simply trailed the leader's movements by 1-3 tiles, and you could cycle through your party, as only the special abilities of the one on point could be activated on the WorldMap. This could lead to the odd animation of party members passing through each other if you suddenly reversed course.
** In ''BreathOfFireIII'', the party members tried to find their own paths, often taking a few seconds to catch up if the leader was running. They could get caught up on obstacles, whereupon they faded away and suddenly appeared beside them. Especially bad at getting stuck was Garr, who, being much larger, could not pass through small spaces. Like ''ChronoTrigger'', there was no problem with OnlyMostlyDead, as dead characters were bumped to 1 HitPoint (with reduced Maximum Hit Points) after battle concluded.
** ''BreathOfFire3'' reverted to the 1-3 tiles behind method.
* The ''KingdomHearts'' games has the other two party members following Sora around, and they don't follow you around perfectly... they often lag behind, having to catch up when you stop. And they will sometimes fight Heartless when you don't.
** In addition, Donald is especially good at falling into holes while following, leaving him pogoing around like mad but unable to catch up. The game deals with this by having both party members automatically catch up with Sora when he passes into a new area.
*** Donald falling into holes? What about how they just jump over obstacles in buildings when it's not needed or Goofy continuing to climb trees and stay on ladders?
** ''KingdomHeartsII'' is a bit better with this: When you enter an area without heartless-encounters, Donald and Goofy will start to act like [=NPCs=] and kinda do their own thing, instead of following Sora around.
** In 358/2 Days, the Organization members will teleport to catch up if they fall behind. Sometimes they like to teleport to you while you're in mid jump. You cannot run through them. Guess how helpful this is.
* The first two ''PaperMario'' games had Mario's current partner follow him and jump when he did; Otherwise, they go under PartyInMyPocket.
** ''[[MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga]]'' obeyed this trope by necessity as a part of the game's puzzles and platforming: you controlled the player in front with the directional pad, and the other brother followed closely behind. However, you had to command both brothers to do any other action, such as jumping. The sequel, ''Partners in Time'', did this with four characters in a piggy-back style control method.
* ''BaldursGate'', being an RPG with elements of RTS, also lets you select a leader and a formation for your party. There are two formations that are straight lines, and another that isn't even a formation, just a pathfinding setting where everyone follows the person in front of them in order.
** Unfortunately the NPC's pathfinding ability is quite shoddy - making narrow maze-like areas a pain in the butt for players as NPCs tend to try to go down the wrong path to meet up with the PC (and usually Aggroing enemies, bad if they're squishy wizards)
** One of the reasons for ''BG'' and other Infinity Engine games having such loose party formations is that they had a networked multiplayer mode in which each member of the party could be controlled by a human player (this was also the reason for the "Gather your party before venturing forth" message, to keep all players on the same map.) While awkwardly implemented in many ways, it was still pretty fun for a tight group of friends, and became the primary focus of Bioware's next game, ''NeverwinterNights''.
* As well as ''DungeonSiege''.
* The ''PhantasyStar'' series' entries (prior to the Dreamcast-and-later online {{MMORPG}}s) all feature this trope. In ''IV'', you could even have a giant penguin follow you around in town, just for the hell of it.
* The ''{{Lunar}}'' games generally follow this rule, although the 32-bit remakes changed it to where the support characters were "swallowed up" into Alex or Hiro's bodies in hostile areas.
* The ''{{X-Men Legends}}'' and ''MarvelUltimateAlliance'' games have you controlling one of four characters, and switching between them. The AI controls the others in single-player mode, and makes their movement a bit more natural-looking than the "duckling" behavior the trope describes, though they will (for the most part) stay close to you. They are ''[[ArtificialStupidity usually]] smart enough to avoid walking off cliffs or into fires and so on.
* Tails follows ''{{Sonic}}'' like this in many of the games, though with partial delay. He also attacks enemies, sometimes proving himself useful (Grabbers in Chemical Plant Zone), sometimes not (Special Stages in Sonic 2).
** Likewise the Flickies in Sonic 3D follow Sonic to the letter. Having the chain of Flickies get hit would cause them to separate, as would having Sonic get hit, though you don't lose rings if a Flicky takes a hit.
*** This was of course based on the game Flicky, which had the same principle, albeit in 2D, and you played as a Flicky, not Sonic.
* ''{{Kirby}} Superstar'' also had enemies you barf back up act somewhat like this when a second player wasn't controlling them.
** The same happens in ''Kirby's Dream Land 3,'' with Gooey.
*** However, it's extremely averted in ''Kirby and the Amazing Mirror'', with the rest of the Kirbys going their own way entirely, through completely different rooms and even in the opposite direction. Except when you called them to you.
* After initially using PartyInMyPocket for the ''{{Exile}}'' games, the ''{{Avernum}}'' VideoGameRemake series switched over to this following ''{{Nethergate}}''. Since the games don't just lack FightWoosh, but go to the extent of having combat take place exactly how you're laid out, whatever caravan-like jumble your party is in is exactly how you're arrayed when you go into combat mode.
** ''{{Geneforge}}'', from the same company, does this as well. Creations can be scattered half-way across the map when the party freezes with that 'shnickt!' sound that passes for FightWoosh.
*** However, ''Geneforge'' gives you a choice of what "formation" to use for your party. You can have the characters line up, form a T, form a triangle, and so forth.
* In ''CustomRobo'' (the one for the Gamecube), the story mode you usually just control one person. However, occasionally someone follows you somewhere, and has an extremely annoying habit of getting in the way as their movement is slaved to yours. At one point, roughly six to eight people are following you in what this editor dubbed the "World's Worst Conga Line." The exact same problem also exists in Pokemon Colosseum which this editor swears has the exact same overworld engine and character designers, admittedly only with one person, but '''''all the time'''''.
** Arena has this also, but you can walk through your party, thankfully.
* Olimar in ''SuperSmashBros''. Thankfully, because he is pretty much useless without his Pikmin.
** Also from ''SuperSmashBros'' are the Ice Climbers, who fight as a duo. One of the climbers is AI-controlled and mimics the player's movements very closely. This is essential, as their special attacks are pretty weak when separated, especially their recovery move, which is next to useless unless they are together.
** Also the {{Pikmin}} themselves in the original games. [[TooDumbToLive Even when it would not be a good idea for them to do so]].
* '' Evolution: The World of Sacred Device'' had the other characters follow Mag perfectly.
* ''{{Grandia}}'' pulled this trope not just for your team, but for enemies as well. Groups of enemies would appear in a line like your team, and you could even hit the back members of the enemy groups in order to get the initiative on them. Of course, enemies will also get the initiative on YOU if they hit anyone besides main character Justin.
** ''Grandia II'' also did this but they were affected by the environment, or maybe they were just copying you being affected by the environment.
* In the ''Dark Sun'' games you could toggle freely between this mode and PartyInMyPocket.
* ''{{Persona 3}}'', when exploring Tartarus or on any other sort of mission where combat is involved. They have a tendency to get stuck when you make sharp turns or walk beside ladders.

* This is the basic idea behind the classic game ''Lemmings''; the titular creatures march, in line, en masse, across the screen, and the player has to assign special abilities to certain ones in order to scale obstacles and bridge chasms. While technically each individual lemming walks in a straight line heedless of the others, this still tends to result in the AllInARow effect, largely due to it being (usually) the most effective way to play.
* In ''MassEffect'' party members follow you everywhere except the Normandy, also, you can talk to them and their responses will change depending on the context.
* In the game based on ''StarTrek: The Next Generation'' for the SNES and Genesis, the characters you don't control will stand still, even if attacked. By using the "Command" and touching the character, they will mimic your walking exactly (they still won't fire their phasers or anything, however).
* Your partner in ''{{Castlevania}}: Portrait of Ruin'' can ''either'' [[PartyInMyPocket wait in your pocket]] or follow you around, matching your movements as closely as possible. HilarityEnsues when you've got speed-up boots on just one character. There's also a marvelously broken GoodBadBug based on switching to your partner in mid-jump.
* ''{{Arcanum}}'' uses a rubber-band effect but for the most part only noticable with slow members such as armored dwarfs and mechanical spiders, and everyone else is quick enough (and has smart enough path finding for the most part) to keep up.
* The Super Famicom title ''Marvelous: Another Treasure Island'' has this, though occasionally the following characters will stop to perform a quick "breather" animation before hurrying to catch back up to the leader. You can also opt to separate the party and have the leader go on alone, in which case the other characters will sit down and stay put until called to team back up. By the way, every time you switch who the leader is, the party automatically separates.
* Done in ''DotHack'' games, but since you can't have more than three people (and hence two teammates) at a time, it's not that bad. Also, they only follow you in the field; they go off on their own in the cities (or, in GU, hang out in a predetermined spot). GU however illustrates why this trope is not very favorable: trap rooms and stupid AI.

* ''ShiningForce II'' does this whenever a character joins or a key NPC is traveling with the party. Almost always it is at least Bowie and Peter, then it's Oddler, then replace Oddler with Astral. on the world map, a transportation vehicle also follows, and they take a formation. (of course this is more like Dragon Quest)
** It also gets rather ridiculous if the player returns to Creed's mansion. By that point they will have two permanent followers. Since you had the choice of one party member out of four, you can recruit the additional OptionalPartyMember (s) there and there will literally be ''five'' people tailing Bowie.
* A little known Super Famicom and Sega Saturn game called ''Albert Odyssey'' actually had a rather interesting take on this trope. The party members follow the hero, but htey don't all follow him in a row. The sprites frequently overlap with each other, characters wind up clustering around doors, and some even walk at different speeds. This actually leads to it almost looking like the characters are pushing each other out of the way to get to the front of the little mess. It can also be a bit amusing when a party member gets stuck behind an object or a barrier on the field map.
* ''RetroGameChallenge'', a DS game that has mini-games that resembles [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a series of NES-like games,]] has a DragonQuest / FinalFantasy-like RPG called ''Guadia Quest''. All party members are visible, however, and follow the lead character around, unlike the aforementioned games.
* [[RealLife Ducks.]]
* ''[=~Jay's Journey~=]'' does this, a rarity for games made with [[GameMaker RPG Maker 2000]], which mostly adhere to the PartyInMyPocket principle.
* ''LegendOfDragoon''.
* ''DigimonWorld3'' has this, with your Digimon following exactly in your footsteps. They do not maintain a minimum distance, meaning that if you insist on running into a wall, the party will fold up on you like a concertina. They will also fold up during cutscenes, so afterwards you need to take a few steps to unfold them.
* [[{{Overlord}} For the Overlord!]] Your minions, when not attacking, being swept, or otherwise busy, will follow the Overlord anywhere and everywhere (except water if they are not Blue minions.)
* Despite being a racing game, ''[[MarioKart Super Mario Kart]]'' had the AI follow behind each other perfectly and would never speed up or slow down unless they are out of position they were in previously (example: if Mario is currently ranked at 4th place in the standings, he will stay in 4th unless you interfere). They would also never deviate from their pre determined path unless you shoved them with an item.
* ''TalesOfDestiny'' used this somewhat on the world map. The other members of the fighting party didn't follow you on the map itself, but there was a small window at the bottom of the screen that showed a profile shot of the rest of the party following the hero. In the Japanese version, this window was used for small mid-journey conversations between the characters, which were removed from the English version (due to a lack of voice acting).
* ''[[KnightsOfXentar Knights of Xentar]]'': Rolf and Luna happily runs along in a nice line behind Desmond. It may be that they are just careful not to get in front of [[KavorkaMan him]].
* ''AceAttorney: Investigations'' does this for Edgeworth's partners. They'll mimic all of his movements, though with a slight delay.
* ''{{Xenogears}}'' also did this, with a slight delay in jumping actions.
* Referenced in a ''{{Sketchbook}}'' strip: Sora's friends visit her when she's sick and her brother shows them to her room. They silently follow single file as he walks through the house, leading to him to comment that he feels like an RPG hero.
* The first few ''{{Fallout}}'' titles has your followers do this, much like the ''Arcanum'' example. They usually spread out a little, leading to DroneJam in confined spaces.
* ''{{The Spirit Engine 2}}'', like ''Hard Nova'', even has characters fight in a line. (It helps that the game's sidescrolling, so there aren't any angles to deal with--the only impediment is when they have to turn around, in which case they walk through each other.)
* The party in ''MagicalStarsign''. All [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters six of them.]]
* The ''{{Mardek}}'' series.
* ''{{Dubloon}}''. [[ActuallyFourMooks The enemies do the exact opposite]].

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* Your party members in ''{{Final Fantasy The Four Heroes of Light}}'' use the rubber=band variation.

* All the ''BreathOfFire'' games until Dragon Quarter displayed your current battle party all the time. In most games, they simply trailed the leader's movements by 1-3 tiles, and you could cycle through your party, as only the special abilities of the one on point could be activated on the WorldMap. This could lead to the odd animation of party members passing through each other if you suddenly reversed course.
** In ''BreathOfFire 3'', the party members tried to find their own paths, often taking a few seconds to catch up if the leader was running. They could get caught up on obstacles, whereupon they faded away and suddenly appeared beside them. Especially bad at getting stuck was Garr, who, being much larger, could not pass through small spaces. Like ''ChronoTrigger'', there was no problem with OnlyMostlyDead, as dead characters were bumped to 1 HitPoint (with reduced Maximum Hit Points) after battle concluded.
** ''BreathOfFire 4'' reverted to the 1-3 tiles behind method.

** ''Kingdom Hearts 2'' is a bit better with this: When you enter an area without heartless-encounters, Donald and Goofy will start to act like [=NPCs=] and kinda do their own thing, instead of following Sora around.

* ''ShiningForce II'' does this whenever a character joins or a key NPC is traveling with the party. Almost always it is at least Bowie and Chester, then it's Oddler, then replace Oddler with Astral. on the world map, a transportation vehicle also follows, and they take a formation. (of course this is more like Dragon Quest)

* ''FinalFantasyVIII''. So much so, it has become the thing of [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNzFE8rNPQU parodies.]] Notably, it's the only game in the FinalFantasy series that does this, and the only other one that has your party members on screen puts them in a more natural order.
** It gets a LampshadeHanging at one point.

* In ''ChronoTrigger'', characters followed each other a bit more realistically, although they would immediately jump into ?battle position? when [[FightWoosh entering combat mode]]. The OnlyMostlyDead problem was moot, since they are bumped back to 1[[HitPoints hp]] after the battle. Same thing goes for ''ChronoCross'', albeit without characters jumping into battle position due to the fact that combat takes place on a separate screen in ''Cross''.

** One of the reasons for ''BG'' and other Infinity Engine games having such loose party formations is that they had a networked multiplayer mode in which each member of the party could be controlled by a human player (this was also the reason for the ?Gather your party before venturing forth? message, to keep all players on the same map.) While awkwardly implemented in many ways, it was still pretty fun for a tight group of friends, and became the primary focus of Bioware's next game, ''NeverwinterNights''.

* Evolution: The World of Sacred Device had the other characters follow Mag perfectly.

* LegendOfDragoon.

* The party in MagicalStarsign. All [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters six of them.]]
* The {{Mardek}} series.

* Played perfectly straight in ''{{Okage}}'': Shadow King. Two of your party members stay behind you, and the ones not present walk in temporarily during cutscenes when needed.
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<<|VideoGameTropes|>>

** ''Kingdom Hearts 2'' is a bit better with this: When you enter a area without heartless-encounters, Donald and Goofy will start to act like [=NPCs=] and kinda do their own thing, instead of following Sora around.

** The sidekick in the original ''PokemonColosseum'', travel partners in the [=D/P/Pt=] games, Pokemon in Amity Square and Pikachu in Pokemon Yellow (that is, Special Pikachu Edition), but it's not so bad since there's only one at a time (even if the pathfinder for [[PokemonColosseum Rui]] ''was'' fairly dense). This troper could have sworn that at least one human followed you through part of Yellow (along with the Pikachu), if only in a demo version.
** And your first party Pokemon in [=HeartGold/SoulSilver=].

* The first ''{{Lufia}}'' in its entirety and ''Lufia II'' and ''Lufia: The Ruins of Lore'' in town areas (''Lufia: The Legend Returns'' uses PartyInMyPocket).

* All main installments of the ''DragonQuest'' series after the first one (which only had one player character to show on the screen period), excluding ''DragonQuestVIII'', which for some reason uses PartyInMyPocket (however, ''DragonQuestIX'' returns to using this trope).