Swiss Army Hero: Difference between revisions

Not actually badass soldiers from the Alps (though it's reasonable mistake), this is a combination [[Video Game Tropes|Video Game Trope]] and [[Shapeshifting]] Trope, this describes a game in which the main character can shape-shift into multiple forms. Each form can be used to do something specific - a water-based one to swim, an earth-based one to be [[The Big Guy]], an air-based one for speed, etc. In some games these would be different characters, forming a party, but in this one it's all the same guy.

* Project [[Altered Beast]] for the PS2 gave Luke 9 different forms each with their own powers and abilities, these forms include a [[Werewolf]], Merman, [[Wendigo]], Garuda, [[Minotaur]], [[Dragon]], {{spoiler|[[Everything's Worse Withwith Bears|Bear]]}}, {{spoiler|UWH, aka, Alien}} and a {{spoiler|Weretiger}}

* This is the main gimmick of ''[[Trine (Video Game)|Trine]]''. You play as a fighter, an archer, and a mage, all sharing the same body.

=== [[Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game|MMORPGs]] ===

* In ''[[Eden Eternal (Video Game)|Eden Eternal]]'' the player can cycle through the game's 15 classes at any time:

=== [[Platform Game]] ===

* ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' - Namely when one of the bros or anyone else using a [[Transformation Trinket]] in stock.

* ''[[Wonder Boy III the Dragons Trap (Video Game)|Wonder Boy III the Dragons Trap]]'' allowed the hero to transform into a dragon, lion, mouse, etc. He had to find a room to do the transformation though.

=== [[Role -Playing Game]] ===

* ''[[Mystic Ark]]'' contains a slight variant: while the hero(ine) never changes form, (s)he is joined by two spirits who can each be made to inhabit one of several wooden figurines, bringing them to life as various allies ([[Fighter, Mage, Thief|fighter, mage, cleric, ninja, etc.]]). You can move those spirits around pretty much anytime outside of battle.

* The protagonists of ''[[Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep (Video Game)|Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep]]'' can get spells that let them transform into different [[The Heartless|Unversed]] in the [[Updated Rerelease|Final Mix]] version of the game.

* Most of the ''[[Mega Man Battle Network (Video Game)|Mega Man Battle Network]]'' games starting with BN2 allow MegaMan to change into different variants.

** BN4 and BN5 had Double Soul, a combination of this trope and [[Mega Manning]], as they are obtained through defeating one of MegaMan's allies in battle. MegaMan's charge shot is changed and he gains certain other attributes, usually an elemental affinity. It is toggled in-battle instead of on the overworld by discarding a chip corresponding to that soul (i.e., a Wood chip in BN5 Team Colonel gives you Tomahawk Soul), but they each have at least one con (Knight Soul's charge shot is only melee range, Magnet Soul is weak to Wood attacks, etc.) and last for 3 turns, which can be increased using Navi Customizer programs. BN5 also had Chaos Unisons, activated by discarding a Dark Chip, where it's the same form with a different color scheme and your charge shot turns into the Dark Chip you discarded, without the bugs or HP penalty you'd get using it by itself. If you fire at the wrong time, however, you'll turn back to normal and MegaMan DS will attack you for 13 seconds, and he's invincible during that time, and the time it takes the shot to fully charge increases with each success.<ref>If you pause at the right time it becomes significantly easier to hit your mark.</ref>. They also only lasted for 1 turn, period.

** BN5 had two Crosses, Bass Cross and Solar ([[Boktai (Video Game)|Django]]) Cross, though they're barely similar to BN6's Crosses as they override MegaMan's standard form similar to Styles, sans elemental affinity.

* Similarly, the ''[[Mega Man Star Force (Video Game)|Mega Man Star Force]]'' games all have different transformations per each game.

=== [[Rhythm Game]] ===

=== Non-video game examples: ===

* Negi Springfield of ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' can go between forms of his [[Black Magic|Magia Erebia]] [[Super Mode|Armationem]], his Agilitas Fulminis oriented more towards [[Fragile Speedster|speed and mobility with less offense and defense]] while being more alike to his use of [[Blow You Away|wind]] and [[Shock and Awe|lightning]], the other - his Sim Fabricatus - with [[Mighty Glacier|greater strength and defense over a loss of speed]]. Of note is that [[Ken Akamatsu|The author]] likes to reference games and RPGs throughout the series (this being one of many), so this can be argued to count as a [[Shout -Out]] to the game form of this trope.

=== Comics ===

=== Literature ===

* The titular characters in the ''[[Animorphs (Literature)|Animorphs]]'' series are this in spades. By the end of the series, each of the main characters has an arsenal of close to fifty animal forms in a wide variety of different shapes and sizes, though each character has a main group of 4-5 forms that they use most frequently, like a favorite battle form (Rachel's grizzly bear, for example) or a favorite bird of prey form for aerial recon. Most books in the series has them acquiring a new animal form which has abilities that will be particularly useful on their next upcoming mission. For example, on a mission when they needed to retrieve [[MacGuffin|a special item]] from a pitch-black room, they acquired a bat form and used its natural echo-location to safely navigate through the room.

=== [[Live-Action TV]] ===

* Even Decade is overshadowed by the ''[[Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger (TV)|Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger]]'', who have access to ''all 34 previous [[Super Sentai]] teams'', for a total of nearly 200 powersets (though each individual Gokaiger usually only uses the member of each past team that matches up with their own color, while the [[Sixth Ranger]] uses only the 15 other Sixth Rangers).

=== [[Web Comics]] ===

=== [[Western Animation]] ===

* This trope is ''[[Ben 10 (Animation)|Ben 10]]'''s entire gimmick. The titular hero wears the [[Imported Alien Phlebotinum|Omnitrix]] capable of temporarily transforming him into a number of alien forms, each with it'sits own powers and weaknesses.

* One episode of ''[[Men in Black (Animationanimation)|Men in Black]] [[The Animated Series]]'' involves Agent J being given superpowers. It was supposed to make him a [[Flying Brick]] but the source of the powers was replaced with a Swiss Army Knife. So Agent J turned into a literal Swiss Army Hero, his arms turning into the various tools on one of those knives.

* In the [[Retool|Re Tooled]] second season of the ''[[Iron Man (Animationanimation)|Iron Man]]'' cartoon, Iron Man upgraded his armor so that it could shift into a different design for every situation (subterranean armor, underwater armor, stealth armor, "samurai" armor, etc.). A blatant case of how [[Merchandise-Driven]] this trope can be, as each form had its own toy.

[[Category:Swiss Army Hero{{PAGENAME}}]]