Small Role, Big Impact Discussion

For those who are savvy about the Small Role, Big Impact trope, I have some questions I'd like to ask so as to give this trope more clarity:

1. Would it be appropriate to say that any NPC that the main protagonist helps out and is rewarded in return in some way with weapons or their alliance is technically considered this since doing so would be considered baby steps or giant leaps in helping the protagonist achieve their goals? Take Astro Boy: The Omega Factor and Hamtaro: Ham Ham Heartbreak for example: Even though the Non-Playable Characters you help out or meet have really minor roles in the stories, doing so nevertheless made Astro Boy and Hamtaro & Bijou stronger and able to save the day despite the hardships they had to go through!

2. What about characters, supporting or otherwise, that are either Demoted To Extra or Out Of Focus? Regardless of whether their roles get smaller, wouldn't all of the great things they did for the main protagonist(s) in some way in the past and present technically still be beneficial and instrumental to the latter's character development(s) in the long term and help make them stronger and bring them closer to accomplishing what they wanted to accomplish from the beginning?

3. What about party members? Even if their roles shrink as the plot progresses (like in Paper Mario/Mega Man X: Command Mission) or if they are just some random Non-Playable Characters or plot-irrelevant monsters you recruit (Like in Suikoden/Pokemon/Digimon), wouldn't they technically be considered as such since their help had also helped out the main protagonist(s) in the long term towards saving the day?

If anyone can help out with clarification, I'd seriously appreciate it! Thank you!

Edited by P360360P on Nov 23rd 2023 at 11:17:00 AM

Courtesy link: Small Role, Big Impact.