Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Main / TagTeam

Go To

1->''"Oh, and just in case you do happen to have a partner with ya, it'll be a tag team match, playa! Ya feel me?"''
2-->-- '''Wrestling/TeddyLong'''
3
4[[TropeMaker Derived]] from a common {{professional wrestling}} {{gimmick match|es}}, a tag team is a group of characters that take turns fighting, usually one-on-one. A common rule is that, in order to switch, the character must leave the stage and "tag" their partner so they can hop in.
5
6In VideoGames, this typically means a group of characters that the player switches control between. Whether or not the characters have separate HP meters is an important consideration -- sometimes the HP meters are shared, and other times they are distinct. Most commonly seen in {{Fighting Game}}s where the players can select two or three fighters and change them out between or during fights, possibly using one of teammates as an AssistCharacter during the fight as well. A SwitchOutMove may be present, as might a CombinationAttack.
7
8TagTeamTwins and RickyMorton are {{sub trope}}s. Compare SwissArmyHero, where one character has multiple forms they can switch between, and SwapFighter, for video game characters whose gimmick is that they're a self-contained Tag Team. There's a chance a tag team can be an OpposingSportsTeam. A TechnicianPerformerTeamUp is a common tag team combination.
9
10Not to be confused with the 1990's rap group who wrote "(Whoomp!) There It Is" and [[Film/{{Gordy}} "Pig Power In the House."]]
11----
12!!Subpages:
13[[index]]
14* TagTeam/ProfessionalWrestling
15[[/index]]
16----
17!!Examples:
18[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]
19* Tag-team matches occur frequently in ''Manga/{{Kinnikuman}},'' most commonly in the American Tour and Dream Tag Tournament arcs.
20* In ''Anime/SwordArtOnline'', monsters only aggro on one player at a time. As such, players in parties take turns attacking a monster and "Switch" with teammates to recover, taking turns until the battle is concluded.
21* ''Franchise/YuGiOh'': The earliest form of Tag Duels had four Duelists dueling each other in two-on-two Duels, where the sequence of turns followed this pattern. Player A1 —> B1 —> A2 —> B2 and no player was allowed to attack on their first turn. Each player had their own fields, Graveyards (now known as GY) and Life Points, meaning that you still need to take down two targets with Life Points. Teammates were able to Tribute their partner's monsters or fuse them with their own, and sometimes the player was able to protect their teammate with their monster TakingTheBullet. As the generations went on, firm rules of Tag Duels have been established to make it truly this trope. Both teammates share the same field, GY and LP, meaning they can use their partner's cards however they want during their turn. This also means less space for them. Unlike the prototype forms of Tag Dueling, the team that goes second is allowed to attack during their first turn. ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'' makes it a plot point to differentiate Tag Duels from Battle Royals (with the prototype form of Tag Duels being closer to Battle Royals), as Gongenzaka's Superheavy Samurai deck is severely handicapped by the Tag Duel rules, whereas Battle Royals don't have an immediate negative effect on his deck.
22** In ''Anime/YuGiOh Duel Monsters'', Yugi and his "Other Self" used this strategy to defeat Pegasus. They kept tagging minds to prevent him from using his Mind Scan ability, so he's unable to read their minds and see their cards.
23** There have been duels where multiple Duelists teamed up against one single opponent, but there are only a few cases where a group of Duelists shared the same field, GY and LP with each other. The first instance was in ''Anime/YuGiOhBondsBeyondTime'', when Yusei, Judai and Yami Yugi dueled against Paradox. Paradox had 4000 LP like his opponents and he got his turns after one of the three has ended theirs. The second instance was in ''Anime/YuGiOhZexal'', when Yuma, Shark and Kaito teamed up against Dr. Faker. Faker had 12000 LP whereas the three shared 4000 LP. After Faker initiating the duel with his first turn, he had to wait for all three of his opponents to finish their turns before he got his second turn.
24
25[[AC:CardGames]]
26* In ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'', one of the most popular and powerful card archetypes of their time were the Gladiator Beasts, each of which have the ability to swap themselves out on the field for another one after they've battled that turn. This allows the user of such a deck to have ''enormous,'' previously unheard-of flexibility. The ability of the Gladiator Beasts is unanimously called "Tagging Out" by the fans.
27
28[[AC:FanWorks]]
29* In the Indigo League of ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'', A.J uses this strategy against Red's Hypno, switching his Sandslash and Beedrill (the latter of which can use U-Turn). He later tries to use it against Red's Gyarados, but fails.
30* In ''[[Fanfic/TheZeroContextSeries Zero Context: Taking Out the Trash]]'', [[Anime/PowerpuffGirlsZ Kaoru Matsubara]] lives at the forefront of Callista's mind and can swap bodies and places with her at any time. This allows the two of them to team up against opponents, swapping between their respective LightningBruiser and FragileSpeedster tactics on the fly and covering for each other's weaknesses.
31
32[[AC:{{Film}}]]
33* One of the ''Franchise/{{Cars}}'' shorts, "Mater's Tall Tales," involves Mater spinning a yarn about once being a monster truck wrestler. When [=McQueen=] interrupts him, he merely brushes it aside with a "Don't you remember nuthin? We was a ''tag team''!"
34* ''Film/TheGamers'': Done as a [[LampshadeHanging parody]], because the male player switches between his [[AllMenArePerverts testosterone guided "sorceress"]] into the actual attractive female actress for his character.
35* Owen's ''Velociraptor'' pack from ''Film/JurassicWorld'' fight the ''Indominus Rex'' head-on while Owen stands a bit away from them, shooting at the behemoth. The second part of the final battle has [[spoiler:Blue and Rexy the ''UsefulNotes/TyrannosaurusRex'' fighting the ''I. Rex'', Blue often jumping from Rexy's back to launch herself at their foe]].
36* ''Film/TopSecret''. A Resistance fighter is battling a Nazi soldier in a tag team match inside a wrestling ring (don't ask). The fighter gets in trouble and tags his comrade outside the ring, who then enters and takes out the Nazi.
37* At the end of ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'', two of the toys are shown tagging out of the little kids' play area.
38
39[[AC:Live-Action TV]]
40* ''Series/RobotWars'' featured the "Tag Team Terror Tournaments" during its two ''Extreme'' spin-off series. In theory, the two teams of two robots would take turns to fight one-on-one, with their partner waiting in the corner of the arena until their ally came back to tag them in. In practice, either the teammates would pile in shortly after the start of the fight as soon as it looked like their ally was in trouble, the fight would spill into one of the corners and drag the competitor there into things against their will and bringing the other one in to even the odds, or one robot would be rapidly disabled forcing their teammate to come out and try and the fight single-handedly. You could count the number of times actual tags were made on the fingers of one hand.
41
42[[AC:Roleplay]]
43* In ''Roleplay/YuGiOhEastAcademy'', Caramon and Peter are part of a two-on-one duel against the Constellar cultist.
44** [[RivalsTeamUp Denero and Marcus]] do this in order to face [[spoiler: Denero's parents.]]
45** Both the Penultimate duel and the GrandFinale have all of the duelists teaming up against [[BigBad Haine]] and Apophis respectively.
46
47[[AC:VideoGames]]
48%%* ''VideoGame/ArtOfFighting''
49* ''VideoGame/BlazblueCrossTagBattle'' features a 2v2 system where characters can switch each other out, use their partner to call in one of multiple assist attacks on command, or use powerful {{Combination Attack}}s. Players can also drain their entire Tag Gauge to use the second character for unlimited assists one after another for a period, in the manner of a PuppetFighter. The game will feature an original episodic story, with one plotline for each of the four featured franchises (Franchise/{{Blazblue}}, VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}, VideoGame/UnderNightInBirth and WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}), which revolves around the characters being whisked away into another dimension by a mysterious cosmic entity, with a single spoken instruction: the side that gathers the "Keystones" gets to return home.
50* "Dramatic Change" mode in the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} version of ''VideoGame/CastleOfShikigami III''. One player controls two characters who share a life meter but can be switched in and out at any time.
51* ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive'', starting from the second game, has a Tag Mode.
52* ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'': This is how the player switches between Kongs in all games; two-player co-op specifically assigns one player to each respective Kong.
53* ''VideoGame/DragonBallFighterZ'' features a tag system evocative of ''Marvel vs. Capcom 2'' and ''Marvel vs. Capcom 3'', with a squad of three characters.
54* Some entries in ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'' series have modes where characters can be swapped in and out of battle. ''2003'' and ''XI'' implement a Multi-Shift system in the vein of the ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom'' games as the default form of battle.
55* In ''[[VideoGame/FuunSeries Kizuna Encounter: Super Tag Battle]]'', both characters have separate HP meters, and the round ends when one is depleted, no matter how much HP the partner has left.
56* ''[[VideoGame/{{Maribato}} Maribato!]]'' is a FightingGame featuring the characters from ''Literature/MariaWatchesOverUs'' as playables: You can pick a team of two ''soeurs'', and go all-out against another team of two. In a similar fashion to the ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom'' series, you can switch characters in the midst of battle.
57* Every ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom'' game, starting from ''VideoGame/XMenVsStreetFighter'' all the way up to ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcomInfinite''. Same goes for the ''VideoGame/SNKVsCapcom'' fighting games (barring ''[[Videogame/SNKVsCapcomSVCChaos SVC Chaos]]''), ''VideoGame/TatsunokoVsCapcom'' and ''VideoGame/StreetFighterXTekken''.
58* Starting from ''VideoGame/MegaManX7'', the ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' series uses what is known as the "Dual Hero" system, allowing you to bring 2 characters (of three -- [[VideoGame/MegaManX8 and later, six]] -- available ones) into a stage, with each character having separate health bars. [[DivergentCharacterEvolution Their different abilities]] lets them tackle different parts of the stages easier. ''VideoGame/MegaManX8'' would greatly expand upon the mechanic: Players can call upon their partner to free them with a Tag Assist/Rescue Change when trapped by certain enemy attacks and once the Attack Gauge is full, they can perform a [[CombinationAttack Double Attack]] that demolishes everything on screen and does heavy damage to bosses/mini-bosses. Additionally, when a character takes critical damage (even from [[OneHitKill spikes]] with the right equipment), they'll immediately switch out to their partner and slowly recover a set portion of their health. However, the player will be unable to use them again until the Attack Gauge is refilled.
59* ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'' has a rounded Tag Team mode. The game's story mode also has the player fight two other fighters at the same time on some occasions [[spoiler:(or in the case of the final chapter, teams of three)]], but the player is always restricted to using only one character during these fights.
60* The ''VideoGame/NarutoClashOfNinja'' fighting games feature "Two-Man Squad" battles where each side fights in a tag-team manner, with the characters on standby regenerating their lost chakra and (some of their) lost HP. Story-based missions which require a particular finishing move means WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou if that character is knocked out.
61** ''VideoGame/NarutoShippudenUltimateNinjaStorm4'' is first of the ''Storm'' franchise to implement this, replacing the {{Assist|Character}} mechanic with 3-men squads similar to the above ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom'' series.
62* In ''VideoGame/{{Paper Mario|64}}'' and ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'', the player could switch Mario's partner at any time, but doing so typically required one turn.
63* In regular ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' battles you can have a team of up to six Pokémon but only one Pokémon is present in battle at a time; switching Pokemon requires a full turn (allowing the opponent a free strike). Later generations introduce a small number of two-on-two and three-on-three battles to mix things up.
64** The fifth generation also introduces "[[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Rotational_battle rotational]]" battles, three-on-three battles where only one Pokémon on each team can participate at a time, but switching between them is a free action.
65* ''VideoGame/PowerInstinct'' is probably the TropeMaker for {{Fighting Game}}s, first with ''Gogetsuji Legends''[[note]]AKA ''Power Instinct Legends'', an UpdatedRerelease of ''Power Instinct 2''[[/note]] in 1995 (a year before ''VideoGame/XMenVsStreetFighter'') and ''[[DistantFinale Groove On Fight]]'' in 1997.
66* ''VideoGame/PowerRangersBattleForTheGrid'' uses a three-character tag system like ''Marvel vs. Capcom 2/3'' and ''Dragon Ball [=FighterZ=]''.
67* Added to the ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'' series in the ExpansionPack of the third game. Rather than having a bodyguard, the player can bring in another playable character who they can swap with.
68* ''VideoGame/ShantaeHalfGenieHero'': Twitch and Vinegar appear as bosses during a high-speed magic carpet race and take turns attacking Shantae in flying fighter-jets.
69* ''VideoGame/{{Skullgirls}}'', much in the same way that it works in ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom''.
70* ''VideoGame/{{Soul|Series}}'' series:
71** ''Soulcalibur II'' has a Team Battle mode where you fight with multiple characters, but you only switch when your current fighter [[SetSwordsToStun is defeated]].
72** Certain single-player battles in the Story and Tower of Lost Souls modes of ''Soulcalibur IV'' utilize what is known as "Active Matching Battle" (AMB). Players control a team of 2-3 fighters (pit against a CPU team of [[MyRulesAreNotYourRules 2-4 fighters]]) and can switch to the next character on standby, even mid-combo, so long as at least one node in a three-tier gauge is available. When one combatant is defeated, the succeeding character in the lineup will simply run in to continue the battle (unless they're considered important enough to toggle a round intro beforehand).
73** The [=F2P=] spin-off game ''Lost Swords'' uses a Partner system similar to the above AMB, with the player being able to choose their "second" character from a list of allies prior to each mission. In battle, the Partner Gauge would slowly fill up over time and once it reached maximum capacity, the player could then switch out to their ally and control them until the gauge emptied, with any damage taken during that time only expediting the rate at which the Partner Gauge decreased.
74* ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}} Tag Tournament'' and ''Tekken Tag Tournament 2'' have this as the basis of the game. It works a little differently in these games as both fighters on a team will have their own seperate health bars, but if one of them gets [=KOed=], then they've lost a round.
75* ''[[VideoGame/{{Touhou}} Touhou Hyouibana ~ Antinomy of Common Flowers]]'' goes to unusual lengths to [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration justify why this mechanic is present]] when it wasn't in previous {{Fighting Game}}s in the ''Touhou'' series. The plot revolves around a technique called [[PowersViaPossession Perfect Possession]], wherein a "master" invites a "slave" into their body and can transform into them to use their powers. In mechanical terms the team has a single life bar, and the "slave" character can only remain out temporarily but also has RegeneratingHealth (capped at the amount they had when they were summoned).
76* ''VideoGame/ViewtifulJoe 2'': Joe and Silvia share the same HP meter and have to physically tag in and out. Holding down the tag button results in a damaging CombinationAttack, which [[EvolvingAttack grows more powerful]] depending on the length of their VFX Gauge and the duration of their charge.
77* In the ''VideoGame/WarriorsOrochi'' series, you form a team of three fighters, and while each of them has their own life meter, the game is over if any one of them is defeated by the enemy.
78
79[[AC:{{Webcomics}}]]
80* When ''Webcomic/MenageA3'' dips into the world of professional wrestling, it features at least two tag teams -- "Roxxy and Moxxy" (Roxie and Brandy) and "The Tempests" (Maura and Tess).
81
82[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
83* WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons go to Japan and attend a Sumo wrestling match; Homer gets in a scuffle with one of the sumo wrestlers, then Bart tags in and uses a [[ChairmanOfTheBrawl folding chair]] on the sumo wrestler.

Top