Lazy Backup/Playing With

Basic Trope: Arbitrary Headcount Limit forces a Game Over when there are still members of the Player Party standing right outside the battle.

Straight: Hiro, Morgana, Kelvin and Mana get trounced in a Boss Battle. While their friends Benjamin, Chase, Rachel and Leon are still standing, the game still ends then and there.
Exaggerated: Benjamin, Chase, Rachel and Leon are literally standing right there watching the fight, but don't make any move to help their fallen companions.
Justified: The battles take place in an alternate dimension, with the sideline characters Locked Out of the Fight, and the losing side is left there to rot.
Inverted: There are still enemies to be taken down, even visible during the fight, but once you beat the current group, cue Victory Pose.
- Alternately, the entire party is wiped out in a Hopeless Boss Fight, including the backup, but the game goes on.
Subverted: After the current party is defeated, the others leap in to continue the fight.
Double Subverted: However, this leads to a Nonstandard Game Over with only minor variations depending on whether you win or lose that battle.
Parodied: Before the Game Over screen comes a conversation between Benjamin, Chase, Rachel and Leon, trying to decide whether to revive their fallen comrades or continue the fight. They choose not to.
Deconstructed: The hero refuses help from his friends as a matter of honor, and as a result he and his friends are defeated separately by the villain.
Reconstructed: The hero and the villain are both bound by honor not to accept outside help unless the other person breaks their oath first. If the backup intervened, the hero and friends would have to fight the villain's entire army.
Zig Zagged: The game system allows players to switch members in and out of battle, but exactly what's permitted changes depending on various factors so that one can't always count on being able to continue the fight.
Averted: Extra party members can be brought in to replace fallen comrades.
Enforced: Due to severely limited technology, implementing a function to change party members during battle would take up too much memory/processor cycles/etc.
Lampshaded: (Bleeding out on the floor) "Guys . . . why are you just standing there? . . . Finish them off! *Dies* GAME OVER.
Invoked: The Big Bad turns to the surviving party members, and specifically tells them that if they try to fight, he will either bring in his entire army or kill them in a more painful way.
Defied: When the current party falls, a new one can take their place.
Discussed: "What do you mean 'Game Over'? I still have plenty of party members left."
Conversed: ???
Played For Laughs: The extra members are shown holding a tea party while waiting for the fight to finish.
Played For Drama: The other members scream when they see their friends go down fighting, trying to egg them on to keep going even as it becomes clear they're no longer in any condition to fight.

Back to Lazy Backup.