History Main / CreatureBreedingMechanic

* In ''VideoGame/ShepherdsCrossing,'' breeding farm animals is an important part of the gameplay. You have both male and female animals, and if a male animal touches a receptive female animal, she'll usually become pregnant. Many animals provide useful meat, female animals won't give milk if they haven't given birth, and you can breed animals in different colors The second game shows when female animals are in heat, so you can isolate them if you don't want them to become pregnant.

* The ''VideoGame/MonsterRancher'' series uses the fusion variant, with the resulting monster having traits from the "parents" and starting out a bit stronger than a monster generated from a disc.
* This is a major draw for the ''VideoGame/{{Petz}}'' series. Puppies and kittens will inherit traits from both parents and some players have created custom breeds simply by breeding for desired traits using the available in-game breeds, without even using mods.

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'', ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' and ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' you have the option to pair off the first generation to produce a second generation. What parents pair up influence the children's stat growths, skills and abilities, and in ''Awakening'' and ''Fates'' what classes they can reclass to. However, unlike most examples on this page, it's a part of the plot of the first two games: ''Genealogy'' [[spoiler: spans decades and the second half of the game centers around the children]] (although it should be noted that should certain people fail to be paired up, there will be replacement characters), and the children in ''Awakening'' [[spoiler: are time travelers sent to avert a BadFuture]] (again, note that technically you're only required to get Lucina, the others are recruited in optional paralogues).

* ''VideoGame/ARKSurvivalEvolved'' has a breeding system. In it, 2 wandering creatures of opposing sexes will fill up a female's mating bar. Provided they stand close together until the bar fills, the female creature becomes pregnant.

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'' and ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' you have the option to pair off the first generation to produce a second generation. What parents pair up influence the children's stat growths, skills and abilities, and in ''Awakening'' what classes they can reclass to. However, unlike most examples on this page, there's at least a plot relevant reason to engage in this: ''Genealogy'' spans decades and the second half of the game centers around the children (although it should be noted that should certain people fail to be paired up, there will be replacement characters), and the children in ''Awakening'' are time travelers sent to avert a BadFuture (again, note that technically you're only required to get [[spoiler: Lucina]], the others are recruited in optional paralogues).
* Unlike the previous games, ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'''s Support system and children basically exist as a gratuitous case of this as they have no real relevance to the story outside the ''Heirs of Fate'' DLC, which is completely optional.

* ''VideoGame/OreshikaTaintedBloodlines'' uses this for the human members of your clan, who are forced to live a condensed life span of only two years, roughly. To get around this, your clan members are able to create divine (but still cursed) children with gods. There are over a hundred gods you can perform the rite with, and the children will inherit traits from both the human and god parents. Occasionally, the child will even have unusual visual traits from their parent god, for instance, performing the rite with a {{kitsune}} god might result in a child or grandchild with fox ears.

* This is a major draw for the ''VideoGame/{{Petz}}'' series. Puppies and kittens will inherit traits from both parents and many players have created custom breeds simply by breeding for desired traits using the available in-game breeds.

* ''VideoGame/OreshikaTaintedBloodlines'' uses this for the human members of your clan, who are forced to live a condensed life span of only three years, roughly. To get around this, your clan members are able to create divine (but still cursed) children with gods. There are over a hundred gods you can perform the rite with, and the children will inherit traits from both the human and god parents. Occasionally, the child will even have unusual visual traits from their parent god, for instance, performing the rite with a {{kitsune}} god might result in a child or grandchild with fox ears.

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* One of the main points of ''VideoGame/VivaPinata'' is its "romancing" system. Outside of one very specific case, romancing is only useful for producing more piñatas of species you already own. However, romancing is essential for meeting the population requirements that some wild piñatas have.

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* One ''WebComic/AwkwardZombie'' comic references the ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' example, as [[AuthorAvatar Katie]] literally pushes Gaius away from Panne and forces him to marry Tharja, all so her daughter Noire has access to the Galeforce ability.

** Acquiring colored chocobos in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' requires you to breed chocobos you've captured and leveled up. Some players might be put off by the fact that related chocobos can be bred together, but this isn't too unlike animal breeding in real life. VGCats [[http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=72 examined this]] in its usual manner.

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWWar'' and ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' you have the option to pair off the first generation to produce a second generation. What parents pair up influence the children's stat growths, skills and abilities, and in ''Awakening'' what classes they can reclass to. However, unlike most examples on this page, there's at least a plot relevant reason to engage in this: ''Genealogy'' spans decades and the second half of the game centers around the children (although it should be noted that should certain people fail to be paired up, there will be replacement characters), and the children in ''Awakening'' are time travelers sent to avert a BadFuture (again, note that technically you're only required to get [[spoiler: Lucina]], the others are recruited in optional paralogues).

* Unlike previous ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' games, in which the children's existence ''does'' have plot relevance[[note]] ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Genealogy of the Holy War]]'' spans decades and the children take up the war after their parents, and the children in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Awakening]]'' are time travelers trying to change a BadFuture[[/note]] ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'''s Support system and children basically exist as this as they have no real relevance to the story outside the ''Heirs of Fate'' DLC, which is completely optional.

* ''VideoGame/{{Spore}}'', with the twist that the player controls a single creature directly. Evolution is the goal in that stage of the game: you hunt around for bones that contain instructions for new body parts, then use acquired evolution points to append selected parts in the next generation of creature. In the space stage, there's also a "creature tweaker" that allows manipulation of any creature found in the game, but this is purely cosmetic with no influence on play.

* Unlike previous ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' games, in which the children's existence ''does'' have plot relevance[[note]] ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Genealogy of the Holy War]]'' spans decades and the children take up the war after their parents, and the children in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Awakening]]'' are time travelers trying to change a BadFuture[[/note]] ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'''s Support system and children basically exist as this as they have no real relevance to the story outside the ''Heirs of Fate'' DLC.

* Unlike previous ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' games, in which the children's existence ''does'' have plot relevance[[note]] ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Genealogy of the Holy War]]'' spans decades and the children take up the war after their parents, and ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Awakening]]'''s children are time travelers trying to change a BadFuture[[/note]] ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'''s Support system and children basically exist as this as they have no real relevance to the story outside the ''Heirs of Fate'' DLC.

* Unlike previous ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' games, in which the children's existence ''does'' have plot relevance [[note]]''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Genealogy of the Holy War]]'' spans decades and the children take up the war after their parents, and ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Awakening]]'''s children are time travelers trying to change a BadFuture[[/note]]''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'''s Support system and children basically exist as this as they have no real relevance to the story outside the ''Heirs of Fate'' DLC.

HotSkittyOnWailordAction is a separate trope, but overlap with this one is not uncommon. For tropes that may result from a breeding system, see GenderEqualsBreed, PatchworkKids, AllGenesAreCodominant, and HybridPower. Fusion-based versions bear some relation to ItemCrafting.

* Demons in the ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' games can be fused with one another, or in some games simply sacrificed, to create new demons. As demons don't gain power through play, unlike the human characters, this is the only alternative to negotiating with more powerful creatures.

* ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon'' is a farming sim so it always features cow pregnancies and chickens laying eggs. ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife'' has male animals, unlike most titles, and thus it's possible to breed your own animals instead of using a "Miracle Potion".

* ''VideoGame/CelestialVale'' and its sister games have/had breeding systems with differing levels of complexity. ''Celestial Vale'' in particular had an extremely complicated genetics system, which only the site's programmer fully understood.