Previous Player Character Cameo: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
Sometimes, in a video game sequel, you meet the [[Player Character]] of a previous game in the series. This sometimes leads to [[Cutting Off the Branches|branches being cut off]], if the previous game had any choice in character creation/development or [[Multiple Endings]]. One way to ''achieve'' this (also averting the problem of [[Cutting Off the Branches]]) is through an [[Old Save Bonus]].
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** Red's HGSS outfit is a barely older looking (he's fourteen instead of eleven now) version of his FRLG one. Unfortunately, the female playable character, Leaf, from FRLG is absent from HGSS, even when you're playing as the female character yourself. Red and Leaf would have made an epic double battle...
** Red's HG/SS team is an exact copy of Ash's team from the anime (specifically the Orange Islands arc), only with Bulbasaur and Squirtle fully evolved. Pikachu also has the exact same moveset as Ash's did in the anime at that point of time.
* In ''[[Knights of the Old Republic
** In ''[[Star Wars: The Old Republic]]'', {{spoiler|both Revan and the Exile (as a Force Ghost) make appearances and are part of a special questline.}}
** The novel ''Revan'' has 3 protagonists, two of which being Revan and the Exile (named Meetra Surik by the book). {{spoiler|Meetra is killed by the 3rd protagonist, and Revan is imprisoned by [[The Emperor]]}}.
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* As an [[Old Save Bonus]] in ''[[Suikoden II]]'', you can meet and recruit the protagonist from the first game.
** Similarly, ''[[Suikoden Tactics]]''/''Rhapsodia'' had an [[Old Save Bonus]] for ''[[Suikoden IV]]'', allowing you to recruit {{spoiler|Lazlo, the hero of IV, and Snowe Vingerhut}}.
* ''[[Mother 3]]'' contains a film depicting actual scenes from previous installment ''[[
* Cranky Kong is this in the ''[[Donkey Kong Country (video game)|Donkey Kong Country]]'' series. That is, Cranky is the guy who kidnapped Mario's girlfriend and threw barrels at him [[Donkey Kong|that one time]], now an old ape who spends him time criticizing modern video games (or at least he was until Microsoft bought Rare out, at which point Nintendo couldn't figure out his British humour and dropped it).
* Super Joe is a background character in the NES version of ''[[Bionic Commando]]'', a ''very'' loose sequel to his earlier game ''Commando''.
* Soap MacTavish of ''[[Call of Duty]] 4'' is one of the [[Player Character
** Dimitri Petrenko and Viktor Reznov from ''World at War'' reappear in ''Black Ops'', though the former only in a flashback mission where you play as the latter.
** Another one from ''Black Ops''. The agent who conducted Mason's is named C. Miller, the same name of the American [[Player Character]] in ''World at War''. Given that Miller would be about 41 years old by the time of ''Black Ops''...
* ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess]]'' was [[Epileptic Trees|widely suspected]] to include ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time]]'''s Link in the form of the [[Spirit Advisor|Hero's Shade]], which was eventually confirmed by the ''[[Word of God|Hyrule Historia]]'' artbook.
* The player character from the first ''[[Fallout]]'' game reappears in
** There's also a joke random encounter in ''Fallout 2'' where you meet various unnamed NPCs from ''Fallout 1'', including character models who were "rejected" from playing the lead role. There's also your trusty dog, Dogmeat.
* "Bones files" in [[Roguelike
** Also, dwarves from old fortresses might rejoin the next one you play if they're close enough to where they escaped to. This, of course, can lead to a [[Disk One Nuke]] if said dwarf is a legendary warrior...
** For examples, in ''[[Nethack]]'', you can occasionally run across the graves of previous adventurers, complete with an epitaph displaying their level and [[Have a Nice Death|how they bought their plot]]. You can ''loot the graves'' of your former selves, complete with some of their equipment... in an automatically-cursed state. (Had that [[Game Breaker|spellbook of Polymorph?]] [[Schmuck Bait|Guess what you just found!]])
* ''[[
* In ''[[Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas]]'', the [[Silent Protagonist|quiet player]] from ''[[Grand Theft Auto III]]'' (Claude) makes a cameo as the new boyfriend of CJ's ex-girlfriend, Catalina. CJ refers to him as "[[Lampshade Hanging|that mute asshole]]."
** This trope is also frequently reversed in other GTA games, where NPCs from previous games are given their own storyline, as is the case with ''Liberty City Stories'', ''Vice City Stories'', ''[[Grand Theft Auto IV:
* In ''[[Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days|Kingdom Hearts 358 Days Over 2]]'', Sora is mentioned multiple times throughout the game, and {{spoiler|when you fight her, Xion calls on Sora's memories to power herself up, taking on his appearance in the process}}. But Sora himself is never seen in the game's story: {{spoiler|he is an unlockable character in Mission Mode, though}}.
* Previous Character Cameos are a staple in [[Nippon Ichi]] games. To whit:
** ''[[Disgaea: Hour of Darkness]]'': Marjoly from ''[[Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure]]'' and Priere from ''[[La Pucelle]]'' are [[Bonus Boss
** ''[[Phantom Brave]]'': Midboss, Etna, Flonne, and Laharl of ''Disgaea'' can be recruited (or, at least their "phantom copies" are), as is Myao from ''[[Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure]]''.
** ''[[Makai Kingdom]]'': Etna, Flonne, and Laharl of Disgaea and Castille from ''[[Phantom Brave]]''. (You can also recruit Asagi, a cameo from a game never produced.)
** In ''[[Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories]]'', you meet Etna at the end of Chapter 3, and she [[Hopeless Boss Fight|wipes the floor with you]]. At the beginning of Chapter 10, you summon her into your party... at Level 1 (thanks to a botched ritual). Both Laharl and Flonne are bonus characters. Asagi, Marjoly, Prier, and Zetta appear as [[Bonus Boss]] characters. The PSP remake also allows Ash and Marona from ''[[Phantom Brave]]'' to be added as [[Downloadable Content|DLC]].
** ''[[Soul Nomad and The World Eaters]]'' - Endorph turns out to be {{spoiler|Walnut, space-time-displaced from ''[[Phantom Brave]]''}}; Lujei from ''[[Grim Grimoire]]'' and Asagi can also be gained as a recruit. Laharl appears in a one-line cameo that's basically a [[
** ''[[Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice|Disgaea 3]]'' has the ENTIRE list of characters above, PLUS a whole slew more, as [[Downloadable Content|DLC]]. Basically, if they were a main character in a previous [[Nippon Ichi]] series, you can recruit them as bonus characters.
* [[Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten|Disgaea 4]] gives {{spoiler|Flonne}} a [[Big Damn Heroes]] moment when {{spoiler|she brings her new mecha to help halt the falling moon}}.
* In the ''[[Dead Rising 2]]'' epilogue DLC ''Case West'', Frank West appears alongside Chuck Greene, and [[Co-Op Multiplayer|replaces the Chuck clone as the second playable character.]] His camera-taking abilities are also being brought over from the first game. Then [[Capcom]] decided to make ''Off the Record'', a [[What If]] scenario that replaced Chuck with Frank as the man on the scene in Fortune City, making a
* In ''[[Castlevania]]: [[Portrait of Ruin]]'', [[Castlevania: Rondo of Blood|Richter Belmont]] appears as an optional boss in a dream sequence. Defeating him there turns the game's weak starting weapon into an [[Infinity+1 Sword|Infinity Plus One Whip]].
** In ''[[Symphony of the Night]]'', Richter shows up as a [[Rogue Protagonist]]. [[Optional Party Member]] Maria is a friendly NPC, helping Alucard figure out just why Richter went rogue.
*** Alucard, himself, has appeared in various games. Outside of the beings that dwell within Dracula's Castle, he's the only character to constantly appear throughout the series, since he's immortal. Doppelgangers also have a tendency to transform into characters from prior games when they're not mimicking the player character or some other main character.
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* In the second ''[[Golden Sun]]'' game, you take on the role of Felix, who was a minor antagonist in the first game, and take on three new party members with him. Eventually, you run into the original party from the first game. {{spoiler|And they join up with you.}}
** Isaac and Garet make an appearance in ''[[Golden Sun: Dark Dawn|Dark Dawn]]'''s prologue, though they cannot be directly controlled by the player. The other party members are mentioned at least once each, but none of them appear in the game.
* All the [[Expansion Pack
* In ''[[Dark Forces Saga|Jedi Academy]]'', the PC of all the previous games (excepting one expansion pack) has moved on to become [[The Obi-Wan]] to a new PC, whom you can even fight as a [[Bonus Boss]] if you [[Multiple Endings|choose the dark side]]. Since the previous games have buffed him into a [[Memetic Badass]], this is commonly regarded as the hardest fight in the game.
* ''[[Armored Core]]: For Answer'' has the PC from ''4'' as a potential ally or enemy.
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* In ''Trapt'', if certain actions are taken {{spoiler|the player could meet and battle Millenia, the main character in Deception II: Kagero.}}
* In the Crisis Mission mode in the home console of ''[[Time Crisis|Time Crisis 2]]'' the final mission has you face Richard Miller, the original protagonist of the first game, in a gun duel.
* The main draw of the ''[[Left 4 Dead]] 2'' [[Downloadable Content|DLC]] "The Passing" is this trope. {{spoiler|Though, as the title indicates, Bill is dead.}}
* ''[[Atelier Annie]]'' allows you to recruit Liese (the main character of ''Atelier Liese'') as one of your allies about a third of the way through the game.
* In ''[[Silent Hill]]'', the previous games' characters tend to limit their cameos to the (joke) UFO Endings, but in ''[[Silent Hill Homecoming]]'' an older Travis of ''[[Silent Hill Origins]]'' is the one who gives Alex a lift back to Shepherd's Glen at the beginning of the game.
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* In ''[[The Godfather (video game)|The Godfather]] II'', the return of player character Don Aldo Trapani is a necessity, as he starts the story off... by dying.
* In ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'', one can, after completing a [[Guide Dang It|very long]] series of sidequests, get [[Final Fantasy VII|Cloud Strife]]. A little more work, and one can get his Buster Sword. Of course, by this point most players are in their forties or fifties, level-wise, and he starts out squarely at level one, so he's pretty much useless unless one is willing to spend quite a bit of time leveling him up.
* ''Star Dream'' - if you hung onto the install disc of the first game, the protagonist of the sequel can meet the protagonist of the first and become her
* In ''[[Ace Combat Zero]]'', Mobius One, the player character from the fourth game in the series and the arcade mode of the fifth, is the final enemy in a bonus stage that you unlock by beating the game. Later games with boss rush modes also let you fight Blaze from ''5'' and Scarface One from ''2''. Furthermore, the paint schemes of Mobius One, Yellow 13, and Blaze are unlockable/[[Downloadable Content|buyable]] in the sequels to their initial appearances.
* In ''[[Wild ARMs 5]]'', every party member from the previous games appear as cameos, including the temporary ones, with the notable exception of Luceid from ''[[Wild
* In ''[[Dragon Quest Monsters]]/[[Dragon Warrior Monsters]] 2,'' Terry, the PC from the first game in the series, appears during the [[Playable Epilogue]]. He allows you to breed monsters from the first game with the second game when you speak to him.
** In ''[[Dragon Quest IX]]'', connecting to Wi-Fi will occasionally reward you with a party member from one of the previous eight games checking into the Quester's Rest (though the actual main characters appear to be absent). You can also fight previous games' [[Big Bad
* A [[Justified Trope]] with ''[[King's Quest]]''. They're all members of the same [[Badass Family]] (with the exception of ''[[King's Quest: Mask of Eternity|King's Quest Mask of Eternity]]''; one of several reasons it is a [[Contested Sequel]]).
* In ''[[Digital Devil Saga]]'', you can fight the Demi-Fiend from ''[[Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne]]''. Possibly the hardest [[Bonus Boss]] in the history of video games.
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* In ''The Last Stand: Union City'', the third installment of zombie-survival flash-games, the final quest chain is given to you by the player character of the previous two The Last Stand games, now named 'Jack'.
* The player character from ''[[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion]]'' shows up again in ''[[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim|Skyrim]]'' as {{spoiler|the new god of Madness due to the events of the Shivering Isles}}.
* Tommy Angelo, the protagonist of
* Destin Faroda, the player character of ''[[Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen|Ogre Battle]]'', is [[The Mentor]] of Magnus, the hero of ''Ogre Battle 64''.
* ''[[Dawn of War]] II'' has both Gabriel Angelos and Davian Thule (from the first ''Dawn of War'' campaign and the ''Dark Crusade'' campaign respectively) as major characters, with Thule even returning to playable status {{spoiler|as a Dreadnought}}, while Eliphas (from ''Dark Crusade'') makes a [[And the Fandom Rejoiced|surprise return]] in ''Chaos Rising''.
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* ''[[Sonic Generations]]'', being a homage to Sonic's 20th anniversary, plays a lot with this trope. MANY playable characters from previous games appear in side missions, either helping or acting as rivals, and using moves and gimmicks from old games (such as Tails, who flies and lifts Sonic through a particular mission just like he used to do in [[Sonic 3 and Knuckles]]).
* ''[[Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door]]'' has appearances by a couple of the partners from the [[Paper Mario|first game]].
*
* While not an officially licensed game, the ''[[Touhou Project]]''/''[[Castlevania]]'' crossover game ''[[Koumajou Densetsu|Koumajou Densetsu II]]'' featured Sakuya Izayoi as the player character rather than Reimu Hakurei, who was the player character of the first game. The fourth boss of the sequel is Marisa Kirisame, who was a support character for Reimu in the original, and the fifth boss is Reimu Hakurei herself.
* ''[[Warhammer
* ''[[Hellsinker]]'' pulls this with the "Apostles of the Seed" and mixes it with [[Fridge Horror]] due to the fact that the Apostles share attacks of the protaganists from ''Radio Zonde'' plus the [[Was Once a Man|origins of the Prayer's]].
* In the first 4 ''[[Wing Commander (video game)|Wing Commander]]'' games, your [[Player Character]] is Christopher Blair. Then comes ''Wing Commander: Prophecy'', where Blair is an NPC, and you take on the role of a rookie pilot (who, nevertheless, gets hit on by Blair's ex, played by a pornstar in the cutscenes).
* Inverted in ''[[Rockman 6: Unique Harassment]]''. A character from a succeeding game series shows up as a cameo in this [[Game Mod|ROM Hack]]. Mr. X's saucer in Mr. X Stage 4 summons images of [[Mega Man X]] during his second phase.
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