History TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter / VideoGames

** Seles, Zelos's younger half-sister, is also an interesting character who doesn't get to do a lot, since she's confined to an Abbey off the coast of Meltokio because [[spoiler:her mother killed Zelos' mother and was executed, while Seles was placed under house-arrest despite doing nothing wrong.]] Zelos greatly cares for his little sister despite this, and it would have been interesting to see her take on the events in their backstory, as well as the fact that her mother was a half-elf means Seles could have been a sympathiser for the plight of the half-elves in Tethe'alla, or fervently against them thanks to her mother's actions, but we only encounter her once in the game and then she's relegated to being a BonusBoss in the Meltokio Coliseum.

** Mettaton has a form you can only see in a No Mercy run, [[spoiler:Mettaton NEO]], that comes complete with its own theme tune. [[spoiler:He still dies in a single hit, just like most of the other bosses in a No Mercy run. Even Toriel and Papyrus got memorable PlayerPunch death scenes.]] However, for those who wanted a [[spoiler:real boss fight]], ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'' delivers a very fun counterpart with [[spoiler:Spamton NEO, the BonusBoss of Chapter 2]].

** Claude. [[spoiler:The ArcVillain of Throné's story is an {{immortal|ityImmorality}} vessel for [[BigBad Vide]], [[ImmortalityPromiscuity has given birth to all the members of the Blacksnakes by impregnating countless women]]--all for the purpose of grooming an heir [[WhoWantsToLiveForever that can kill him]]--and the city he resides in is one of the most disturbing locations in the entire game. However, he suffers from the same problem that Werner from the first game did; his existence isn't revealed until the Father route of Throné's Chapter 3, leaving him feeling thrown in for the sake of a Chapter 4 and boss. While more about him is revealed in the Final Chapter after completing all individual routes--including how he became immortal and TheReveal that he is responsible for Trousseau's descent into genocidal nihilism--some fans believe that more about him should have been discerned during Throné's story, and that, like Olberic before her, Throné's story peaks at Chapter 3]].

* Hammer in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrow'' and ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow'' from ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}, big time. As a former military member who provides a lot of the games' humor, he sure doesn't get a lot of attention, made worse by the fact that he was DummiedOut of ''Dawn of Sorrow'' from the extra Julius Mode as well as not appearing in ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDespair Harmony of Despair]]'' when voice clips indicated that he was planned. Worse still, according to [[http://news.dengeki.com/elem/000/000/350/350684/index-3.html this]] interview, Koji "IGA" Igarashi also likes the character.

* Princess Daisy. She's Peach's best friend, hinted as love interest of Luigi, and is at a [[TomboyPrincess sharp contrast]] to many of the other female characters yet she's destined to appear in more spinoffs. She even has an entire kingdom, Sarasaland, to explore and from what little we got to see of it in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand'' it's a [[ArabianNightsDays desert kingdom]] with Moai and [[{{Wutai}} Chinese architecture]].

'''Bart:''' That [[VideoGame/StreetFighter Blanka]] looking guy.\\

* Waluigi. A character with little information when it comes to his backstory and origins, a wide arrangement of [[MindScrew strange powers]] [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands that come and go as they please]], and a surprisingly complex personality. He plays the role of [[StalkerWithoutACrush Luigi's angry rival]], Wario's partner in comedic mischief and the [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} oddball of the cast]], alongside being the [[TheKlutz klutzy]] [[TheChewToy and unlucky]] [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain bad guy]]. Alongside Luigi, he is one of the few characters who underwent actual CharacterDevelopment, going from an angry and narcissistic [[EvilCounterpart rival to Luigi]] who didn't appreciate the joy of the cast and [[{{Determinator}} tried very hard]] [[IJustWantToHaveFriends to be popular and liked]], to a [[BewareTheSillyOnes loony and comedic]] {{jerk|ass}} who frustrates himself with his [[ButtMonkey repeated failures]] and [[EvilIsPetty tries to make everyone]] [[TragicVillain as miserable as he]]. He also regularly showcases all sorts of unique powers, including [[GreenThumb growing brambles]], [[NotQuiteFlight swimming in the air]], and [[BlowYouAway summoning tornadoes]], and has an [[GadgeteerGenius inventive streak]], creating things like the giant PinballZone that is [[VideoGame/MarioKart Waluigi Pinball]] and [[VideoGame/MarioSportsMix a backpack with multiple robotic arms that teleports to him on demand]]. Despite all of this making him a well-developed and quirky character, Waluigi, like Daisy, is stuck in spinoffs, where most of his personality only appears in bits and pieces. Furthermore, despite being Wario's sidekick in the sports games, his only appearance between both the ''VideoGame/WarioLand'' and ''VideoGame/WarioWare'' series is a single cameo as a drawing done by Wario in ''[=WarioWare=] Gold''.

** ''VideoGame/Splatoon3'' includes Callie and Cap'n Cuttlefish as major players in the base game's story mode, and [[spoiler:finally explains what's been going on with Mr. Grizz]], but still struggles to make the most of its increasingly large cast. While the new idol group Deep Cut ''is'' involved in Return of the Mammalians, they spend most of it [[spoiler:as ''bosses'', which, while [[RuleOfCool cool]], doesn't give them much room for development]]. They finally get to share the spotlight with Callie and Marie [[spoiler:just before the final gauntlet... which turns them into {{Satellite Character}}s for the Squid Sisters]]. They can't compensate for this in the news dialogue, either, considering the Anarchy Splatcast discussions are much shorter and less varied than the ones for Inkopolis News, and Splatfests aren't frequent enough to fill in the gaps. DJ Octavio [[spoiler:vanishes after the WarmUpBoss battle in the Crater and is not seen again until the final showdown with Mr. Grizz, where he abruptly pulls a VillainousRescue to save the new Agent 3 and [[EnemyMine fights alongside them]], with no explanation for what he's been doing in the meantime]]. Off the Hook (again) has it possibly the worst -- their fans had to wait several months for a paid DLC campaign to get anything more than two songs in multiplayer and a scant handful of cameos.

** Werner. Despite being praised for being an effective [[{{Foil}} contrast]] to Olberic, raising the stakes of his story and being [[ThatOneBoss one of the most difficult Chapter 4 bosses]], he has also been criticised for his existence being revealed near the end of Olberic's Chapter 3, leaving him feeling thrown in for the sake of a final chapter and boss. Some fans believe that Olberic's story peaks at Chapter 3 because of this, as his emotional reunion and eventual reconciliation with Erhardt is widely agreed to be one of the best moments in the game.

* ''VideoGame/OctopathTravelerII'': Claude. [[spoiler:The ArcVillain of Throné's story is an {{immortal|ityImmorality}} vessel for [[BigBad Vide]], [[ImmortalityPromiscuity has given birth to all the members of the Blacksnakes by impregnating countless women]]--all for the purpose of grooming an heir [[WhoWantsToLiveForever that can kill him]]--and the city he resides in is one of the most disturbing locations in the entire game. However, he suffers from the same problem that Werner from the first game did; his existence isn't revealed until the Father route of Throné's Chapter 3, leaving him feeling thrown in for the sake of a Chapter 4 and boss. While more about him is revealed in the Final Chapter after completing all individual routes--including how he became immortal and TheReveal that he is responsible for Trousseau's descent into genocidal nihilism--some fans believe that more about him should have been discerned during Throné's story, and that, like Olberic before her, Throné's story peaks at Chapter 3]].

** An interesting example is Monika. She's a SchoolIdol who shared a class with the player character, has an interesting character design, and has plenty of lines suggesting she is a love interest. However, she does not have a route, and remains the NotLoveInterest instead. [[spoiler:As it turns out, Monika agrees in-universe. See, she not only knows she's a character in a DatingSim, but resents the fact that her only role is to root for the other girls who are programmed to fall in love with the player. Cue HostileShowTakeover and SurpriseCreepy.]]

** Kurtis Stryker, originally of ''VideoGame/MortalKombat3'', is a particularly tragic case of potential wasted. Originally a [[TheScrappy rather]] [[TierInducedScrappy infamous]] character, Netherrealm gave him an overhaul for their 2011 reboot which did something many Mortal Kombat fans didn't think was possible -- it ''made Stryker cool''. On top of his much-needed design overhaul, the reboot gave him a new HeterosexualLifePartners relationship with fellow [=MK3=] character Kabal, giving both characters motivation and making them seem like more natural additions to the Forces of Light. And then, after all that work put into him, he is unceremoniously killed off along with several other characters by Sindel in an AxCrazy rampage.

** Esmeralda. One of the common complaints about Tressa's fourth chapter is how underdeveloped the final boss of her story is. Though Esmeralda is revealed in other parts of the story to be a member of Obsidians and implied to have wanted Tressa's diary to track down Graham Crossford, little of this is actually touched on in Tressa's story. Furthermore, the fact she decides to kill Tressa for trying to get the journal back despite admitting it was useless comes across as her existing for the sake of a boss fight and little else.

* ''VideoGame/OctopathTravelerII'': Claude. [[spoiler:The ArcVillain of Throné's story is an {{immortal|ityImmorality}} vessel for [[BigBad Vide]], has given birth to all the members of the Blacksnakes by impregnating countless women--all for the purpose of grooming an heir [[WhoWantsToLiveForever that can kill him]]--and the city he resides in is one of the most disturbing locations in the entire game. However, he suffers from the same problem that Werner from the first game did; his existence isn't revealed until the Father route of Throné's Chapter 3, leaving him feeling thrown in for the sake of a Chapter 4 and boss. While more about him is revealed in the Final Chapter after completing all individual routes--including how he became immortal and TheReveal that he is responsible for Trousseau's descent into genocidal nihilism--some fans believe that more about him should have been discerned during Throné's story]].

** [[spoiler:Captain T. Ode]] is built up as a legendary figure throughout the Yellow Streamer area, and even tags along with you for the Purple Streamer area. Despite this, he has very little involvement outside of providing Mario with the sea chart and manning the Super Marino. He always stays in the boat while Mario and Olivia explore the various islands, does not assist in any battles, and his entire backstory is divulged by a random Toad in the Shangri-Spa who the player isn't even required to talk to. Particularly, there's the reveal that Shangri-Spa still exists, along with Captain T. Ode. Do the people of Shangri-Spa fear him? Does T. Ode try to apologize for stealing the Marino, or use his reputation to manipulate them? T. Ode seems to be the same as in the legends, so has the spa changed in the meantime? None of these plot points are brought up.

** Lyblac. Despite The Reveal that she's the Overarching Villain that ties together everyone's stories, she's unceremoniously offed and absorbed into Galdera for the final fight, reduced to one of his Cognizant Limbs in the second phase. Some feel she should've been the final boss, if not her own boss fight. Others wish she'd gotten more development than an info dump final dungeon.

* Several characters from ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''. A prime example is Shandris Feathermoon, Tyrande's adopted daughter and leader of the Sentinels when Tyrande decided to focus on leading the priesthood of Elune. She has her own spy network, is one of the best archers in Azeroth (if not the best) and has thousands of years of experience. In ''Mists of Pandaria'', these traits would make her a strong candidate for positon of leader of the Alliance's joint armies (since the faction leaders had their own duties). Despite this she is reduced to being a background character only showing up in a few quests and cameos in the expanded universe. Others include Kael'thas Sunstrider and Malygos (Blizzard even admitted they dropped the ball regarding Kael'thas). On the villains side there's Anub'arak, Tichondrius, and Mannoroth.
** Among the many criticisms of ''Battle for Azeroth'' is its throwaway handling of many long-hyped characters, especially King Rastakhan, Queen Azshara, and the old god N'Zoth. Rastakhan was built up from Vanilla as the ruler of the last holdout of the great ancient troll civilization, only to be killed by the Alliance and replaced by his daughter Talanji in the second patch of the expansion. Queen Azshara, meanwhile, was the empress of the ancient night elf empire that much of the game's lore centers around, and had been built up for almost twenty years since ''Warcraft III'' as one of the game's primary antagonists. Her fate is to be introduced and dumped within a single patch of an expansion that ostensibly had little to do with her, when many fans considered her to be worthy of a whole expansion in her own right. Finally, N'Zoth was the last remaining [[EldritchAbomination old god]] yet to be encountered by players, and, again within a single patch of an expansion that started out having nothing to do with him, is defeated and killed via an incredibly goofy looking CombinedEnergyAttack. Much like Azshara, N'Zoth and the Black Empire was widely considered worthy of its own expansion.

* Princess Daisy. She's Peach's best friend, hinted as love interest of Luigi, and is at a [[TomboyPrincess sharp contrast]] to many of the other female characters yet she's destined to appear in more spinoffs. She even has an entire kingdom, Sarasaland, to explore and from what little we got to see of it in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand'' it's a [[ArabianNightsDays desert kingdom]] with [[EenieMeenieMinyMoai Moai]] and [[{{Wutai}} Chinese architecture]].

* Hammer from the ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}} [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Sorrow]]'' games, big time. As a former military member who provides a lot of the games' humor, he sure doesn't get a lot of attention, made worse by the fact that he was DummiedOut of ''Dawn of Sorrow'' from the extra Julius Mode as well as not appearing in ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDespair Harmony of Despair]]'' when voice clips indicated that he was planned. Worse still, according to [[http://news.dengeki.com/elem/000/000/350/350684/index-3.html this]] interview, Koji "IGA" Igarashi also likes the character.

** ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters2003'': Adelheid Bernstein, the [[WhiteSheep noble son]] of Rugal Bernstein, was met with a lot of approval for both being Rugal's son, his status as a RedeemingReplacement. Then he was gradually DemotedToExtra: going from being a FinalBoss of ''2003'' to a mere MiniBoss in ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXI'', then an NPC in ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXIII'', and by the start of the Shun'ei saga had become an outright SequelNonEntity. Needless to say, many weren't happy.

* ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters2002'': The UpdatedRerelease ''Unlimited Match'' introduced with a lot of fanfare Nameless, a brand-new character meant to be [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute little more than a less copyright-infringing replacement]] for K9999, yet was met with approval for his backstory (showing how ''utterly fucked up'' NESTS's experiments were) and implications that he would play a big part in [[Franchise/TheKingOfFighters the franchise going forward]]. Unfortunately, Nameless got quickly shafted, only making another playable appearance years later in the mobile spin-off ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersAllStar'' [[spoiler:[[BackForTheDead and being killed off at the end of the 2002 Story]]]]. And to add insult to injury, K9999 (albeit with a heavy rebranding) [[TheBusCameBack returned anyway]] in ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXV''.

* In VideoGame/{{A3}}, this happens to a lot of the characters in ''Last Planet'' play due to its sheer amount of characters. The countdown illustration drop for Varg caused an uproar because he just oozes with EvilIsCool aura, having an AwesomeMcCoolName, a transparent CoatCape, and a literal [[EnergyBlade lightsaber]] as revealed in his R card. The caption for his illustration? TriggerHappy. Complete with a PsychoticSmirk. As he is affiliated with the Space Police and played by Homare, he is a reminiscence of Homare's AxCrazy [[DirtyCop Dewey]] from the stage shuffle. However, we never actually get to see his TriggerHappy nature, or at least him in action, even in the 5th anniversary spin-offs of the play. At most, he only gets an OffscreenMomentOfAwesome in the second half as he pulls a BigDamnHeroes moment on the treasure hunters; the other time he is Grimm's loyal companion [[spoiler:(though as the spin-off shows, Varg can be quite rebellious as Grimm's assistant)]]. The 5th anniversary trivia also reveals that Varg has CombatClairvoyance ability...which is never shown in the play or the spin-off as Varg never truly gets on-screen action scenes.

** ''VideoGame/Splatoon3'' includes Callie and Cap'n Cuttlefish as major players in the base game's story mode, and [[spoiler:finally explains what's been going on with Mr. Grizz]], but still struggles to make the most of its increasingly large cast. While Deep Cut ''is'' involved in Return of the Mammalians, they spend most of the campaign [[spoiler:as ''bosses'', which, while [[RuleOfCool cool]], doesn't give them much room for development]]. They do finally get to share the spotlight with Callie and Marie [[spoiler:just before the final gauntlet... which turns them into {{Satellite Character}}s for the Squid Sisters]]. They can't compensate for this in the news dialogue, either, considering the Anarchy Splatcast discussions are much shorter and less varied than the ones for Inkopolis News, and Splatfests aren't frequent enough to fill in the gaps. DJ Octavio [[spoiler:vanishes after the WarmUpBoss battle in the Crater and is not seen again until the final showdown with Mr. Grizz, where he abruptly pulls a VillainousRescue to save the new Agent 3 and [[EnemyMine fights alongside them]], with no explanation for what he's been doing in the meantime]]. Off the Hook (again) has it possibly the worst -- their fans had to wait several months for the paid DLC to get anything more than two songs in multiplayer and a scant handful of cameos.

* Waluigi. A character with little information when it comes to his backstory and origins, a wide arrangement of [[MindScrew strange powers]] [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands that come and go as they please]], and a surprisingly complex personality. He plays the role of [[StalkerWithoutACrush Luigi's angry rival]], Wario's partner in comedic mischief and the [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} oddball of the cast]], alongside being the [[TheKlutz klutzy]] [[TheChewToy and unlucky]] [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain bad guy]]. Alongside Luigi, he is one of the few characters who underwent actual CharacterDevelopment, going from an angry and narcissistic [[EvilCounterpart rival to Luigi]] who [[GrumpyBear didn't appreciate the joy of the cast]] and [[{{Determinator}} tried very hard]] [[IJustWantToHaveFriends to be popular and liked]], to a [[BewareTheSillyOnes loony and comedic]] {{jerk|ass}} who frustrates himself with his [[ButtMonkey repeated failures]] and [[EvilIsPetty tries to make everyone]] [[TragicVillain as miserable as he]]. He also regularly showcases all sorts of unique powers, including [[GreenThumb growing brambles]], [[NotQuiteFlight swimming in the air]], and [[BlowYouAway summoning tornadoes]], and has an [[GadgeteerGenius inventive streak]], creating things like the giant PinballZone that is [[VideoGame/MarioKart Waluigi Pinball]] and [[VideoGame/MarioSportsMix a backpack with multiple robotic arms that teleports to him on demand]]. Despite all of this making him a well-developed and quirky character, Waluigi, like Daisy, is stuck in spinoffs, where most of his personality only appears in bits and pieces. Furthermore, despite being Wario's sidekick in the sports games, his only appearance between both the ''VideoGame/WarioLand'' and ''VideoGame/WarioWare'' series is a single cameo as a drawing done by Wario in ''[=WarioWare=] Gold''.