Canon Shadow: Difference between revisions

A [[Optional Party Member|character]] or item that is to be in the [[Player Party]] or inventory, but other than being able to hit enemies and have stats, it has no effect on the plot. It looks like it's there, but for most effects and purposes, it isn't. Especially odd when its very existence should be a big deal. A form of [[Gameplay and Story Segregation]], this is a cross between [[Player Mooks]] and [[Schrodinger's Cast]]. This tends to be excusable as many of these examples are actually optional.

 

 

Even (and especially) when it should be huge.

== Video Games ==

* The reward for [[Gotta Catch Them All|getting all the stars]] in the initial run of ''[[Super Mario Galaxy (Video Game)|Super Mario Galaxy]]''? You get to play as Luigi! ....And do all the missions over again, including the ones where you rescue Luigi. When playing these levels, there is a Luigi "clone" wherever Luigi would be rescued in a Mario playthrough.

** ''[[Resident Evil]] 4'' kind of averts this: the special rocket launcher you get is specifically called the "Special Rocket Launcher", and is described as having enough firepower to obliterate the final boss. That being said, it can't have more power than an infinite number of normal rockets, which you can get on subsequent playthroughs.

* ''[[Fate Unlimited Codes|Fate/Unlimited Codes]]'' has a version of Saber called "Saber Lily". This is a version of Saber where Britain accepted her gender; and she kept her first sword Caliburn. This should radically change her character; but there is no sign that she's different in personality from the original Saber.

** [[Word of God]] even refers to her as a "Refraction of the [[The Multiverse|Kaleidoscope]]."

* [[Lampshaded]] in ''[[Nie R]]''. As part of a story event, a smith gives you a broken sword and promises to fix it. He does this again on a New Game Plus, which carries your inventory over. Nier asks if he doesn't have it already. Weiss just tells him this is how things happen the second time through.

* In the ''[[Soul Series|Soulcalibur]]'' series, one can unlock the [[Artifact of Doom|Soul Edge]] as a weapon for any character. It may have a negative effect like random stats or depletes your HP, but it does not drive you crazy unless your character actually uses it in a cutscene. In some endgame cutscenes, it's possible to watch your character use their Soul Edge that you unlocked to destroy the Soul Edge dropped by the final enemy; or throw their Soul Edge away and pick up the other; and get corrupted.

*** Even without codes, after you get enough medals, {{spoiler|Juliana and Leon}} join your party, and they {{spoiler|died in game. Like other [[Canon Shadow]], you can use them to fight themselves.}}

** It gets more ludicrous in ''[[Valkyria Chronicles III (Video Game)|Valkyria Chronicles III]]''. You can get [[Valkyria Chronicles II (Video Game)|Aliasse]] via password, and she can {{spoiler|turn into a Valkyria as soon as you have her, like Riela does halfway in the game}}. One of the plot points is {{spoiler|Cardinal Borgia}} seeking to eliminate Riela because she's an impure {{spoiler|Valkyria}}, you would think that having Aliasse in your squad will give you HUGE leverage.

* In ''[[The World Ends With You (Video Game)|The World Ends With You]]'', after you play the whole game, you can play with any Partner in whatever week you like. Even against themselves, or when you're fighting to save them.

* One can regain the literal ghost of a character who sacrifices herself in ''[[Jeanne D Arc]]'', and the special cutscene where you get her makes it ''seem'' she can talk and such; but cutscenes have the characters indicate that this person is completely gone. Of course; you can't do this until you beat the game.

* In ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'', despite the Sith guards on Taris supposedly looking for Bastila, they'll never comment on her presence [[Failed a Spot Check|even when she walks past them in her Jedi robe wielding a lightsaber]]. Maybe they're just ''that'' stupid, which might explain why [[Big Bad|Malak]] so quickly opted to destroy the entire planet. In the second game, nobody will comment on Kreia following you, including the same Jedi Masters who are latter surprised when she walks up to them in the light side ending. It is hinted, though, that she uses the Force as a kind of perception filter.

** More than just hinted - one cutscene reveals that she routinely hides her presence from your other partymembers, either for practice of for the evulz.

* Averted with the [[DLC]] character [[Doctor Doom]] in ''[[Marvel Ultimate Alliance]]'': playing as Doom in the final battle (against Doom) will trigger a short conversation between the two Dooms, where it will turn out that one of them is from the future.

** And of course, bringing [[Deadpool]] into the boss fight with Deadpool results in an argument between the two of them.

* In ''[[Battle Moon Wars]]'', saving {{spoiler|Sacchin}} has this effect. After that, she goes through the remainder of the game not speaking even once and only having "lines" (read: ellipses) twice; once during Haruna's [[Rousing Speech]] that lumps her in with fellow vampire Sion, and then at the end when the game cuts to her and Len in the Tohno family dungeons.

* ''[[Fallout 3]]'' had this, but ''[[Fallout New Vegas]]'' went some way towards ameliorating it. In the former, you could wander into no-ghoul-zone Tenpenny Tower with a ghoul companion, or into The Citadel with a Super Mutant, and nobody would bat an eyelid. In ''New Vegas'', all your potential companions have their own storylines and faction alignments; for example, if you go into the Silver Rush with Cass, Jean-Baptiste will shoot her on sight.

** ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 2'' starts with Snake breaking his stealth camouflage upon landing on the deck of the Discovery. One of the bonus items that can be earned through the Dog Tag sidequest is the stealth camo; so Snake and Otacon will talk about how the camo is broken and how they can't use it any more, even if you have it in your inventory for basically unlimited use. Inverted with Snake's infinite ammo bandanna, a powerup he can earn through the Dog Tag sidequest, which he always owns in the story (yes - it's a weird moment) whether or not he earned the ability to use it in gameplay.

** ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] Integral'' had a Very Easy mode in which the player starts the game with an [[Cool Guns/Submachine Guns|MP5]] (which is not found in the game world or owned by any other game characters under normal circumstances), a powerful, silenced submachine gun with a ludicrous amount of ammunition which makes the game a breeze. Your comrades will still remind you at every opportunity that due to the mission being a black op, it was critically important they sent you in with no weapons that could be traced back to you.

[[Category:This Index Is Expendable]]

[[Category:Canon Shadow]]