History Main / MonsterAllies

** ''G-Darius'' has this as an entire gameplay mechanic, expanding upon ''Gaiden's'' miniboss capture concept. Your ship has capture balls that can be fired at enemies, turning most types over to your side to fight for you. This includes {{Mini Boss}}es, but you have to first destroy their gold armor that prevents capture. You can also detonate captured enemies as a SmartBomb or charge them up in an [[WaveMotionGun Alpha Beam]] the size/HP of the enemy determining their power.

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* ''VideoGame/LostMagic''

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* ''VideoGame/EldenRing'' lets you acquire Spirit Ashes that lets you summon ghosts of enemy units to assist you in battle in certain areas, mainly boss arenas. Many Spirit Ashes can be found throughout the world, and the more powerful ones require leveling FP to summon them. Their strength can be upgraded using Grave or Ghost Gloveworts.

* In ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar'', Kirby can sacrifice one of his [[PowerCopying copy abilities]] to create a helper (a PaletteSwap of one of the enemies Kirby got the ability from) controllable by the second player.

* ''VideoGame/EldenRing'' lets you acquire Spirit Ashes that lets you summon ghosts of enemy units to assist you in battle in certain areas, mainly boss arenas. Many Spirit Ashes can be found throughout the world, and the more powerful ones require leveling FP to summon them. Their strength can be upgraded using Grave of Ghost Gloveworts.

Where monsters in [=RPGs=] can be recruited to fight alongside the heroes. Allied monsters' can be individual characters (''VideoGame/PaperMario'') or [[PlayerMooks not]] (the ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' series to an extent). In the latter case it's common for the monsters to appear "in the wild" as enemies that must be captured or tamed before they will join the player.

* ''VideoGame/OgreBattle'' and ''VideoGame/TacticsOgre''

* ''VideoGame/ArcTheLad II''

* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV'': Certain monsters can be recruited, though the chance for this is rather low and you can only have up to three of a monster type. They also have level caps, making most of them {{Crutch Character}}s that are useless after a certain point, though they sometimes have useful spells.
* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVI'': The UpdatedRerelease removes DQV's recruitment system (which required one character to be the Monster Master class), instead adding several recruitable slimes of every type. The game also lets you recruit Lizzie, a dragon/dinosaur creature whose recovery (she was killed by Terry in an earlier AnticlimaxBoss fight) goes unexplained. She starts out with a very powerful class that gives her a lot of breath weapons, and unlike the slimes who only have one or two lines of dialogue, she actually responds to events the way human characters do.

* In ''[[VideoGame/MakaiToshiSaGa The Final Fantasy Legend]]'' and [[VideoGame/SaGa2 its sequel]], monsters are a playable race and can change into other enemy monster types by eating meat dropped after battle. You can even compose your entire party of monsters, though in practice it makes for a much more difficult experience.

* In a brief moment in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'', [[spoiler:[[ZombieApocalypse the Flood]] ally with Master Chief and the Arbiter in a desperate attempt to stop the Prophet of Truth from firing the Halo rings]].

* ''VideoGame/ArcTheLad II''

* ''TabletopGame/MonsterOfTheWeek'' has a player archetype called "The Monstrous" that is all about this.

* The Spirit dream eaters in ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3D'' serve as your party members and are the primary source of your new commands and abilities. They can created using dream pieces found in any of a great number of ways and have a pet aspect to them, being able to name, pet, feed, and play with them if you wish.

* The ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' games might be the UrExample of this trope in Eastern RPGs, where the main character usually fights alongside his demonic recruits; depending on the game, if he falls in battle, it's Game Over.

* Most ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' games, where the main character usually fights alongside his demonic recruits; if he falls in battle, the game ends.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2'' has some monsters join you, but only as guests.
** Chocobo Knights can also tame the birds, but they cannot exist separate from their tamer of they run off.

* Second Edition Advanced ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' had an entire sourcebook devoted to creating monstrous characters, titled 'The Complete Book Of Humanoids'. Third Edition had a similar sourcebook named 'Savage Species'. 3.5 brought a lot of that into the Monster Manual, and Fourth Edition put it all into the back of the Monster Manual. Fifth Edition includes rules for monstrous races in Volo's Guide to Monsters/
* The "Into the Storm" expansion for TabletopGame/RogueTrader allows you to employ orks or kroot in your party.

* Most ''ShinMegamiTensei'' games, where the main character usually fights alongside his demonic recruits; if he falls in battle, the game ends.

* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV'': Certain monsters can be recruited, though the chance for this is rather low and you can only have up to three of a monster type. They also have level caps, making most of them CrutchCharacters that are useless after a certain point, though they sometimes have useful spells.

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' included this with both the Frostcrag Spire DLC and the Shivering Isles addon. The Spire gives you the ability to create Atronachs (SIC) who would serve as your familiar until either dismissed or killed, and Shivering Isles allies you with non-hostile Gnarls near the end of the main quest. You can also get Golden Saint or Dark Seducers escorts once you've finished Shivering Isles, though you can't take them into anywhere that isn't a part of the Isles.