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They follow him like that even in a completely different game.

"I'll follow behind you. What? What's so wrong with that? I happen to like following behind people!"
Thomas, Mother 3

A Video Game trope common to RPGs but also found in other genres, where the player controls a group of characters by moving only the group's leader while the rest of the group follows obediently in a line like ducklings after their mother. This is also known as caterpillaring.

Often the other party members will copy the leader's movements exactly, but sometimes they act as if they were connected to the hero with a rubber band, so that when the leader starts to run, the other characters start to run only after initially falling behind. In the rubber band variant, the other characters will also not follow every zig and zag the leader makes, but head straight to the leader's current position.

Almost always, the leader is able to walk right through their allies, as otherwise the player could get stuck behind the other party members and be confronted with the most pathetic Unintentionally Unwinnable situation ever, making this an Acceptable Break from Reality. 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.

Outside of video games, it is common to depict characters walking single-file when we see them walking sideward, so that the audience can actually see everyone easier than if they were jumbled about. This also makes things easier for animators, so that they don't have to draw anyone in front of someone else.

Contrast Party in My Pocket where the other party members simply disappear when not needed. Not to be confused with Follow the Leader, which is about similar works emerging after a successful groundbreaking one.


Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Action Adventure Games 
  • Your partner in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin can either wait in your pocket or follow you around, matching your movements as closely as possible. Played for Laughs when you've got speed-up boots on just one character. There's also a bug based on switching to your partner in mid-jump.
  • 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.
  • In 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). If already "close enough", they'll try to form a basic tactical formation and copy you; farther away, they'll try to all swarm to the target point, and if unable to get to you they'll usually eventually go home. Their pathfinding has obvious issues, so the game's designed around the idea that you shouldn't need minions out of sight unless they're carrying something (and those paths are carefully worked out).
  • In Mickey Mousecapade, the player controls Mickey Mouse, and Minnie Mouse follows along behind him, repeating 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.
  • Resident Evil
  • Throne of Darkness: While you can set formations for your party, all positions are absolute (instead of relative) to your facing, and need constant resetting if the party doesn't fit into a particular turn. The feature ends up being mostly ignored.
  • In many Harry Potter games, you control Harry with Ron and Hermione following behind him. Ron and Hermione back you up in Boss Battles, but will say It's Up to You if you have to do anything more complex than that.
  • In The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, the Bremen Mask allows you to lead young farm animals around in this manner.

    Adventure Games 
  • In the game based on Star Trek: 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).
  • Minecraft: Story Mode: Usually averted but gets invoked in The Last Place You Look. Jesse is the only person who won't get attacked by Endermen, so the others have to form a connected line behind him/her in order to travel past a haunting of them.
  • Anybody Ashley is traveling with in the Another Code games will usually follow behind her.

    Driving Games 
  • Despite being a racing game, 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.
  • If you look at older PennyRacers race demos or AI's movements, you'll notice that every car will follow each other in a line, except in the large straight lines where the line may split up into 2.

    Fighting Games 
  • In Custom Robo (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.
  • Super Smash Bros.
    • Olimar. Thankfully, because he is useless without his Pikmin.
    • Also from Super Smash Bros. 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. Very good players are able to deliberately desync them to perform extremely effective strategies that would normally only be possible in team battles, for example letting one of them throw the enemy and the other to knock him back, only for the first one to grab him again, which can repeated for a long time.

    MMORPG 
  • Final Fantasy XIV allows players to use the "follow" feature, which has their character automatically follow a targeted player. You can invoke the trope if you get enough people to follow each other like a train.
    • In instances with NPCs, your allies will follow you with the rubber band variant.
  • Final Fantasy XI has the same "follow" feature.
  • So does RuneScape
  • World of Warcraft also has a follow feature, which is particularly handy for not accidentally getting ahead of your tank in a dungeon. Beware though, not all dungeons are completely linear and you can still end up aggroing mobs if you do this. Many NPCs for escort missions walk on a set path, which is done so that the game can put you in your own phase and spawn monsters only for you. However, it can lead to this trope being invoked, because they typically move just slightly slower than you do. Although, they may not be using the same animation you are: in fact they are often using the "walk" animation, which is generally not used by players outside of roleplaying situations. NPCs capable of combat however largely avert this trope. They typically walk alongside you and at roughly the same speed: though the rubber-band variant of this trope can occur if your internet is on the fritz. These characters generally will be using the same animation you are however: running if you run, walking if you walk, mount up if you do, and even fly if you do. Some of them will even sit down if you do. Others will stand next to you and tell you that the task you've been assigned is urgent, or crack really bad jokes. They will not however dance if you dance...they will just stand there and silently judge you (or at least, one would assume).
    • Baby murlocs follow an adult in a line exactly like ducklings. Why exactly they do this is not clear since murlocs are based on frogs. In a few quests, they do this to you because much like baby ducklings they can apparently imprint on humanoids.

    Platform Games  
  • Sonic the Hedgehog
    • 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).
    • The Flickies in Sonic 3D Blast 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 based on an earlier 2D game called, appropriately enough, Flicky.
    • In Sonic Heroes, the other members of your team follow you around like this in the Speed and Power formations, through in the Power formation the characters will generally try to stand in a V behind the Power characters and auto-attack weaker enemies for you.
  • Kirby
  • Donkey Kong Country games are known to have two playable characters in the player's command at the same time, with one active and the other following just behind until you switch their positions.
  • A Hat in Time has a variant in the level "The Big Parade". The parade band will follow Hat Kid like this, except they're not programmed to stop when she does; instead, they copy her movements, timing and all, about a second behind. So they're liable to crash into her, dealing damage, if she loops back around too tightly or even stops for too long.

    Puzzle Games 
  • This is the basic idea behind Lemmings; the eponymous 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 All In A Row effect, largely due to it being (usually) the most effective way to play.

    Role Playing Games 
  • Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura 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 freeware rpg Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden uses this when you're not in combat.
  • All Growlanser titles use this trope. The party members follow the protagonist at all times.
  • BioWare is rather fond of this trope. Mass Effect and Knights of the Old Republic have two party members flanking the player character at all times, Neverwinter Nights and Jade Empire have a single party member following the player in a less organized fashion, and Dragon Age and Baldur's Gate 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.
  • Secret of Mana and Trials of Mana use the rubber band version in its single player mode, though they usually stick to a close line if there are no monsters around. The former game won't allow anyone to be scrolled off the screen, however, meaning you can find yourself unable to move further if they get distracted by an enemy and get trapped between a wall and the edges of the screen.
  • Lufia & The Fortress of Doom in its entirety and Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals and Lufia: The Ruins of Lore in town areas, with the last two using Party in My Pocket elsewhere (Lufia: The Legend Returns uses Party in My Pocket during the entire game).
  • Most Final Fantasy games stick with Party in My Pocket, but the following do this:
    • In Final Fantasy III, your main party adheres to Party in My Pocket, but any NPC who joins you follows while lagging behind.
    • Final Fantasy VIII. So much so, it has become the thing of parodies.
      • Even lampshaded in-game, when Selphie and two others break into a missile silo dressed as guards. A guard will commend you for walking in single file.
    • In Final Fantasy XIII, you follow your party members, who will always walk towards where the plot needs them. They often comment on you dawdling and going off the wrong direction. Once you can choose your party freely, only the two other characters ready for an active battle will follow this.
    • In Final Fantasy XIII-2, Noel will follow Serah around (or vice versa if you're controlling Noel), and Mog hovers around both of them. Your Mons stay hidden outside of battle.
  • Penny Arcade Adventures uses the rubberbanding method for the first two games and the caterpillering method for the second two, due to the change in developers and playstyle.
  • Dragon Quest:
    • All main installments after Dragon Quest (which only had one player character to show on the screen period), excluding Dragon Quest VIII, which for some reason uses Party in My Pocket (this isn't due to the 3D graphics because Dragon Quest IX renders party members and the environment in 3D on less powerful hardware, but brought back this trope like, like it was in II through VII). In a little twist, there is often a button that lets you talk to your party members, who will comment on the surroundings or tip you off about where to go next. And if any of your character's died, you ended up dragging their coffins behind you, still All In A Row.
    • The PS4 version of Dragon Quest XI did it like DQVIII with the Hero by himself on the overworld, but the 3DS version had the active party members out alongside him like in DQIX. Considering the similarities the respective versions have with each preceding entry and this trope, this may have been intentional. The Updated Re-release on the Nintendo Switch (which is a port of the PS4 version), however, plays this straight.
  • All three Mother games, which isn't surprising since other elements of their gameplay are similar to that of Dragon Questnote .
  • Ultima
    • In Ultima VII, the characters showed their dedication to the Avatar by electing to walk through explosive traps and stand in campfires rather than fall out of formation with him.
    • Ultima VI does this as well.
  • In 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 Chrono Trigger, characters followed each other a bit more realistically (with their cats sometimes tagging along), although they would immediately jump into battle position when entering combat mode. The Only Mostly Dead problem was moot, since they are bumped back to 1hp after the battle. Same thing goes for Chrono Cross, 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. Lampshaded in Prehistoric Chapter when the hero, caveman Pogo, falls down a pit and his faithful gorilla, Gori, sees nothing better to do than just jump with him. The remake however, has all follow in single-file regardless of amount.
  • All the Breath of Fire 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 Overworld Not to Scale. This could lead to the odd animation of party members passing through each other if you suddenly reversed course.
  • In Breath of Fire III, 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 Chrono Trigger, there was no problem with Only Mostly Dead, as dead characters were bumped to 1 Hit Point (with reduced Maximum Hit Points) after battle concluded.
  • Breath of Fire IV reverted to the 1-3 tiles behind method.
  • I Have Low Stats But My Class Is "Leader", So I Recruited Everyone I Know To Fight The Dark Lord: During a cutscene, the first boss states that it's hard to see who's in the party line. The party leader responds by moving across the open area, thus allowing the entire party to be shown on screen at once.
  • The Kingdom Hearts 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. They also tend to fall into holes, or try to climb obstacles when you're not.
    • Kingdom Hearts II is a bit better with this: When you enter an area without Heartless-encounters, Donald, Goofy and any world specific Party Member will start to act like NPCs and kinda do their own thing, instead of following Sora around. This also gives Sora a chance to talk to them.
    • In Kingdom Hearts: 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.
    • Your Dream Eater allies in Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] will start wandering around if you idle long enough, and frequently forget to start following you again. Fortunately, they simply teleport over to you if they get too far away or if you enter combat. You can also have them do it whenever you wish by holding L and R.
  • The first two Paper Mario games had Mario's current partner follow him and jump when he did; Otherwise, they go under Party in My Pocket. They still occasionally get stuck on things or fall in the water, but this simply causes them to warp back to Mario's side a moment later.
    • 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.
  • As well as Dungeon Siege.
  • The Phantasy Star series' entries (prior to the Dreamcast-and-later online MMORPGs) 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 Phantasy Star Online games follow this trope as well. If you have more than one NPC companion, they'll follow you in a line when not in combat.
  • The Lunar games generally follow this rule, unless the game in question uses Pre-existing Encounters. In that case the designated hero alone represents the whole party while in hostile areas.
  • The X-Men Legends and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 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 ''usually smart enough to avoid walking off cliffs or into fires and so on.
  • After initially using Party in My Pocket for the Exile games, the Avernum Video Game Remake series switched over to this following Nethergate. Since the games don't just lack Fight Woosh, 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 Fight Woosh.
      • 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.
  • Evolution: The World of Sacred Device had the other characters follow Mag perfectly.
  • Grandia:
    • The first game 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.
  • 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. You can actually order them to explore on their own, whereupon they leave you entirely and will wander the map until ordered to return; they'll even engage in combat and open treasure chests by themselves (giving you the loot when they come back).
  • Persona 4 had the characters follow you around, but with much more distance than Persona 3's party members.
  • Persona 5's party members not only follow around your player character, but will also Take Cover! behind him and help out when you open treasure chests.
  • Done in .hack 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.
  • RuneScape has an option to follow another player. Overuse of this may result in a line of twenty people following each other.
  • 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 they 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.
  • Retro Game Challenge, a DS game that has mini-games that resembles a series of NES-like games, has a Dragon Quest/Final Fantasy-like RPG called Guadia Quest. All party members are visible, however, and follow the lead character around, unlike the original aforementioned games.
  • Jay's Journey does this, a rarity for games made with RPG Maker 2000, which mostly adhere to the Party in My Pocket principle.
  • The Legend of Dragoon generally goes with Party in My Pocket, but in one specific scene, Lavitz and Shana are visible as they follow Dart.
  • Digimon World 3 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.
  • Tales of Destiny 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).
  • 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 him.
  • Xenogears also did this, with a slight delay in jumping actions.
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 1 uses the rubberbanding variant, and while your party members are tangible, you can push them out of the way rather easily (And off cliffs, if you feel like it, since they'll get better quickly enough).
  • The first few Fallout titles has your followers do this, much like the Arcanum example. They usually spread out a little. In the later games, this is played straight as a line.
  • In The Elder Scrolls series, followers and escorts follow you in this fashion starting with the series' 3D Leap in Morrowind. They'll spread out when engaged in combat, but will return to follow you immediately after. Hopefully.
  • 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 Magical Starsign. All six of them.
  • The MARDEK series.
  • Dubloon exploits this in one of the puzzles where you have to position correct party members on correct tiles in order to pass. Meanwhile, the enemies do the exact opposite.
  • Played 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.
  • Your party members in Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light use the rubber-band variation.
  • KQ (the obscure Lufia-inspired game, not King's Quest) 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.
  • Used on the 2D maps of Albion.
  • Sorcerian is an unusual example of this in Side View.
  • Inazuma Eleven mixes this and Party in My Pocket. Normally, three people tag along behind the leader for random matches, and the other twelve members can be swapped in.
  • Cthulhu Saves the World has your party members follow behind Cthulhu in all their pixelated glory.
  • For 7th Dragon your party follows whoever is in the first slot in your party and will not appear different if they are dead or have a status effect.
  • Ragnarok Online used this for pets, though you can only have one at a time. It shares your space if you just changed maps or teleported (visibly overlapping, not waiting in your pocket), but otherwise stops a square behind you. And if you manage to trap it behind an obstacle or outrun it, it fades away and reappears at your side.
  • Fantasy Life does this for the two party member the player can recruits and bountys, large items that have to be physically transported into a town to be converted into money and inventory-friendly items.
  • Pokémon are a Party in My Pocket, of course (it's right there in the name), except in the Yellow version, which takes its cues from the anime and has your starter Pikachu following along behind you. You can turn around to check its mood at any time. HeartGold/SoulSilver do the same with whichever Pokémon is in the lead slot, a feature that can be seen in any game that lets your Pokémon follow you around.
    • The Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games have your party follow your every move in the field and in dungeons, they'll try to stay on the panels directly adjacent to you unless ordered otherwise.
    • Also in Pokémon Ranger and Pokémon 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 Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, when traveling with you, travel like this.
    • The sidekick in the original Pokémon Colosseum, travel partners in the D/P/Pt games, Pokémon in Amity Square and Pikachu in Pokémon 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 Rui was fairly dense).
    • Falinks in the mainline Pokémon Sword and Shield consist of six critters that look like a cross between Corinthian soldiers and Waddle Dees that all move in phalanx formation, with the one in front giving the orders.
  • Miis move that way when running in Miitopia.
  • Prep School Horrors has party members follow the player in both the main map at a reasonable distance, but doens't attempt to pathfind around walls. During during combat, such friends will follow the main character, allowing the player to keep them alive. Friends not attached to the party will wander somewhat randomly, or towards a weapon pickup.
  • Subterranean Starfield has the non-rubberband variety.
  • The Tenth Line: Subverted. In the platforming explorations mode, you control only the leader of the primary party, while the other two generally tag along—but when accessing a location that can only be reached by the current leader, the others cannot follow them automatically and have to either find another way there or stay back. If the leader then initiates combat, party members not in the direct vicinity cannot join them in battle.
  • Rakenzarn Frontier Story uses the single file variant, only showing the four characters currently in the active party.
  • Rakenzarn Tales moved to this when it reached version 4, as opposed to the previous Party in My Pocket system. It only show the active party; otherwise, you'd have a line of dozens of characters following you around by the end of the game.
  • Brave Hero Yuusha: How the party travels, with the order going: Hero, Demon Lord, Princess.
  • Soma Spirits: How the two-person party travels, with the more energetic Heart leading the way, and Soul following.
  • So uh, a spaceship crashed in my yard.: ARIA joins Mark's party when he opens the yard door with his access key, and she walks behind him.
  • Deltarune takes this approach (naturally, following in the footsteps of Earthbound) and even makes it a crucial part of solving a puzzle involving pressure pads on the floor. One can't be solved unless you have a third party member, which is how you convince said member to stop running off by herself.
  • LiEat: In the first game, Efina follows Leo.

    Shoot 'Em Up 
  • In Star Jacker (a 1983 Arcade Game by Sega), the player controls a fleet of ships that fly in a straight formation. Only the lead ship gets an open line of fire unless it starts moving to the side.

    Turn Based Strategy 
  • In the Dark Sun games you could toggle freely between this mode and Party in My Pocket.
  • Shining Force 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 Optional Party Member (s) there and there will literally be five people tailing Bowie.

    Visual Novel 

    Wide Open Sandbox 
  • When you interact with fish varieties you have already "befriended" in Endless Ocean, assuming they don't move "on a track", they will start to follow you everywhere. It looks really strange when your diver is surrounded by everything from parrotfish to sharp-toothed barracuda.

Non-video game examples:

    Anime and Manga 
  • 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 "Formation Lap" in Future GPX Cyber Formula is basically a take from real life motorsport's safety car rule. It is usually led by the racer who takes the pole position in the qualifying races and is being followed by a safety car until the blue signal light lights up.

    Real Life 
  • Ducks and geese lead their young around in this manner.
  • This is actually the easiest way for several people to navigate through a thick crowd (which is common in the most populated areas of Japan). Walking side by side is frequently impossible.
  • And also by early hunting parties as a means of avoiding snake attacks in long grass. A hidden snake will often dodge sideways in order to avoid larger animals as they approach.
  • Before an actual race in F1, racers follow a safety car around the circuit once without breaking the formation before lining up on a starting grid. Also, if an accident happens and a yellow flag is being waved, all machines must avoid speeding up or passing each other, and must follow the safety car until the green flag is waved.
    • NASCAR races often take the shape of two or three long lines of cars almost bumper-to-bumper, riding in one another's slipstreams to conserve fuel.
    • Racing lines sometimes create this image. They are routes in racing tracks that are calculated and proved to be an effective way racers can make the best out of their running time. The result of every racer trying to follow the same racing line is that it seems they are driving this way, even though they are not.
  • This is how young children are instructed to walk when navigating a school or anywhere else as a group, in order for their teacher or other authority figures to ensure that no one is missing or can just run off without being noticed. In some cases, holding a rope helps keep them in line.


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