You Are Number Six/Video Games

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Examples of You Are Number Six in Video Games include:

  • Hitman: Codename 47. Even though it's a code number, we never do learn his name. The reason given for his number is both that he's a genetically-engineered super-assassin with 47 chromosomes and he is the 47th genetically-engineered assasin produced by Professor Ort-Meyer (as reflected by the barcode number on the back of his head, which ends in 47), and he killed all of the others. Well, he thought so until he met 17...and then killed him, so same dif.
  • The eponymous protagonist of Three in Three. She literally is the number 3, so it's as much a job description as a name.
  • Zero from the Mega Man X and Mega Man Zero games. The name might relate to the fact that he is "patient zero" for the Maverick virus.
  • In the video game adaptation of XIII, the main character has lost his memory and as he has the tattoo XIII on his arm that is what he's called throughout the game. It's also his codename in the secret plot.
  • Red XIII from Final Fantasy VII.
    • There's also the various Sephiroth clones distinguished by their Number Tattoos
      • It's not entirely clear if their creator, Hojo, meant for Red XIII to be part of this sequence.
    • And the point where Cloud ASKS Hojo to give him a number when he believes he is one of those clones.
      • He is visibly (even more) dejected when Hojo spurns his request, disgusted that only an experiment he deemed a "failure" had succeeded as a clone.
  • Played twice in Super Robot Wars:
    • The W Numbers (including Lamia Loveless, Echidna Iisaki, Wodan Ymir, Aschen Broedel, Harken Browning), named after the sequence in the order they were created. However, its creator Lemon wanted to make them look 'more human' thus gave them names, despite the tendency of Vindel using their numbers (though to be honest, Lamia made up her own name)
    • The School tends to give their students numerical codenames, which start with a metal name, followed b a number. The member of the School staff who was not a Complete Monster gave them regular names later. Ouka Nagisa was called Aurum 1. Same thing applies to Arado Balanga (Bronzo 27), Seolla Schweitzer (Bronzo 28) and Latooni (Latooni 11, because Cuervo never thought up a name for her) Subota.
  • No. 9, the Gunblade-toting undead cyborg Big Bad of Parasite Eve 2.
  • Drebin, from Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots claims to belong to an organization entirely staffed by people named Drebin. He in particular is Drebin 893 (however, since he is the only Drebin that appears in the game, he's always referred to as Drebin).
    • Presumably, all Drebins are referred to as Drebin, regardless of their number. The Database of MGS implies this as well.
  • Alpha 1 is the player character in all Free Space games.
    • Justified. The player is the leader of Alpha Wing, and works for the military.
  • TIE Fighter typically calls you Alpha 1, (if you're another Alpha, Alpha 1 will have a cargo of "Doom On You" presumably because he knows you're going to take his slot) but if flying an Assault Gunboat you are often Tau 1. As a missile boat pilot, you are Mu 1.
  • Touhou: Cirno's Fan Nickname is ⑨ (pronounced nineball or marukyuu). The reason? The manual for the ninth game had a screenshot that identified onscreen items by number; Cirno was "⑨. Baka".
    • This is also an inside joke for many Armored Core fans, as that same name is the name of the major recurring villain, Nine Ball (speaking of, the cannon pilot of Nine Ball is named Hustler 1).
  • As stated above, Armored Core gives us Hustler 1 and Nine Ball. Armored Core 2 and Another Age also give us Nine Ball Seraph, piloted by Hustler 2. Somewhat subverted with Hustler 1, in that there's an untold number of him scattered throughout the world (and some on Mars too), and every last one of them is referred to by the exact same name...
      • If that last part doesn't scare anybody, the fact that Nineball is an Ensemble Darkhorse for the series through sheer Nintendo Hard, should. In fact, there is a title in-verse named specifically after Nineball ("Ninebreaker") simply because he was the one who held the position of #1 pilot the longest.
    • In addition, in the original Armored Core, if you went into debt after screwing up enough missions, you would sell your body to science. This would give your character new benefits in the AC and reset the game to the beginning. It was a way of the game giving you a second chance to get better. After going through the "plus" operation, your character would be renamed "RebelXXX". The three numbers were random.
  • Half Life: You know you're really stickin' it to the man when you get an official title slapped on you like Anticitizen One.
    • While only vaguely referenced, City 17's citizens are implied to have numbers. One chapter in the game is titled "Anti-Citizen One," in reference to the man with the crowbar.
  • The protagonist in the two Star Wars Rebel Assault games is known only as Rookie One.
  • The Garys in Fallout 3.
  • Robo from Chrono Trigger used to have a mere serial number for a name (R-66-Y), but Marle thought that made him see more like a thing than a person and renamed him. His real name is actually Prometheus.
  • The SPARTAN-IIs in the Halo games and novelizations. Notable examples include Kurt-051, Linda-058, Kelly-087, and of course, John-117.
    • In Halo: Reach, the player character is known only as Noble 6, as the sixth member of Noble Team.
    • The Forerunner AI constructs may count as well; see also 343 Guilty Spark and 2401 Penitent Tangent.
      • This also counts as an Arc Number, given Bungie's penchant for the number seven (343=7*7*7, 2401=7*7*7*7).
  • In Beyond Good and Evil, the AI in Jade's computer/inventory pack is named Secundo. One wonders if he's an upgraded version of her old unit.
  • Roku from Pop'n music. The trope literally defines his name - roku is japanese word for 6. Also, his name written in game is , which is the kanji that stands for number six.
  • Hifumi from Beatmania IIDX 14 GOLD, although the kanji is different.
  • Seth from Street Fighter IV is actually part of a mass-produced series of identical clones; he is the only one of the group to develop his own personality (thus insisting on the name Seth) and hates being called by his number. In this case, he's number 15, and the Seth copy that he fights in his story is number 21. Abel is also implied to be either the original model for Seth's creation, or that Abel is a defective, human clone rather than a machine, in which case Seth is the original. Capcom has unfortunately left the characters' endings a little too open-ended.
    • Also, from 3rd Strike, there is Twelve, a living weapon developed by Gill's Illuminati to hunt down and destroy Necro.
  • BlazBlue--
    • Iron Tager, a Hollywood Cyborg whose code number was TR-00009. Guess that's where they come up with the name 'Tager'.
    • ν-13. One Greek letter, one ominous number.
    • And Nu's predecessors, λ-11 and μ-12, Noel Vermillion.
  • Tsukihime: Nrvnsqr Chaos certainly doesn't seem like an example of this trope...but that first name is actually roman numerals and it adds up to 666. The Church apparently decided to name him that as he doesn't really care about names anymore. Also, Nanako aka the Seventh Scripture. Presumably, there are at least six other scriptures...which are probably not alive like she is. Oh well.
  • In Kingdom Hearts II, Organization XIII's members are given a number based on the order they joined. In order: I. Xemnas II. Xigbar III. Xaldin IV. Vexen V. Lexaeus VI. Zexion VII. Saïx VIII. Axel IX. Demyx X. Luxord XI. Marluxia XII. Larxene XIII. Roxas XIV. Xion.
    • Xion is a double example. She shares Orgy Thirteen's number theme but even her "real" name is a number. Designating her serial number in the replica project No. i.. this is possibly why they never bothered to rename themselves Organization XIV.
      • "Possibly"? Saïx outright tells Roxas that's why they didn't change their name.
  • Planescape: Torment has a woman who has had her number stolen and is very distressed by this. There are various ways of solving her dilemma.
  • All URTV's from Xenosaga are given numbers from 1 to 669. The only one's with importance are 666 through 669, which are called the "Variants."
  • In Spiritual Precursor Xenogears, Seibzehn and Achtzehn are the German words for "seventeen" and "eighteen," respectively. In Gear shops, equipment for Seibzehn is even prefixed with "#17."
    • Actually, the german word is "Siebzehn", Seibzehn is a spelling error in the game.
  • Final Fantasy VI has two numbered bosses in the Magitek Research Facility. Number 24 is a human-like construct that attacks the party just before the chamber with the Espers in People Jars and changes its elemental weaknesses. Number 128 attacks the party on the railway escape route, and is a large purple monster with two claws.
  • In Deus Ex, one Woman In Black in the service of MJ12 charged with watching over the cathedral in Paris is known as Adept 34501. A book reveals that she discarded her name a long time ago.
  • In the original System Shock, the protagonist is referred to either as "Hacker" or his Employee number, 2-4601.
  • Assassins trained by Scythe in Phantom of Inferno get named after German numbers: thus Ein, Zwei, Drei and so on.
  • The Twelve Dark Warlords in the fourth Fire Emblem game are the numbers one to twelve in German.
    • Replacement characters in the eleventh game are also numbered...sort of. (In the Japanese, they're straight-up numbers—and in German again; the English release has something vaguely based on numbers, though it's difficult to figure out exactly how. Reportedly, if you get enough of these, they stop using numbers and start making fun of the player.)
  • Shining Force III, in the third scenario, houses a recruitable dragon character known only as Thousand. In scenario two, there's a birdman named Zero.
  • In Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter, the "names" of the dragons, er, "D-Constructs" are simply numbers in Gratuitous Russian. "Odjn" (One), "Dva" (Two, mistranslated as "Dover", and Chetyre (Four). Guess which one is the Big Bad.
    • The D-Ratio is a part of everyone's name unless they're fugitives on the run (Lin and Trinity), the Regents or those so far low on the social hierarchy that they're considered experimental animals (Nina). Meaning Ryu's legal name is Ryu 1/8192.
  • Fable II: 'You are number 273. That number is not randomly assigned. It is because I have broken 272 guards already. And I will break you.'
  • Out of the four playable factions in Star Wars Battlefront and its sequel, only the Rebel Alliance get actual names. The Old Republic, Trade Federation and Empire all have ID numbers for their troops. Justified with the Republic troops being clones, the Trade Federation fielding droids and The Empire having a massive, professional military in contrast with The Republic's Mildly Military Ragtag Bunch of Misfits.
  • The 2010 remake of Rebellion's Aliens vs. Predator has three distinct campaigns. One of them sees you playing as Six, an Alien known by the trademark numeral printed on its forehead at, er, childbirth.
  • Subverted by the black mages of Final Fantasy IX. Except for Vivi, they are all known by their numbers (Mr. 234, Black Mage No. 12, etc.), but this actually serves to humanize them as they begin developing their own personalities. They deliberately seem to adopt the numbers as their names, even going so far as to introduce themselves this way to strangers.
  • Pokémon Red and Blue has a Stealth Pun example: the three legendary birds are called Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres. Apart from that, Mewtwo (as an experimental clone of Mew) fits the trope very well, and Dugtrio (a creature that comes into being when three Diglett combine) is a mild example. The latter is lampshaded in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon.
    • Pokémon Black and White introduce the hydra-based Pokémon Deino, Zweilous, and Hydreigon (German words for the numbers one, two, and three). The numbering theme is retained from their Japanese names as well: Monozu, Jiheddo, and Sazandora (the former is Greek for the number one; the latter are Japanese for the numbers two and three). Just count the heads.
  • In Unreal, the only indication that the player character has something to be called by is a computer message stating that "Prisoner 849 [is] escaping" when you exit your cell at the start of the game.
  • In Ace Combat games, if you're not referred to by callsign, you'll be referred to by squadron name and number. Some, like Mobius One, don't even get a callsign.
  • In Fallout: New Vegas:
    • You are Courier Six.
    • In the "Old World Blues" DLC, there is Dr. 0, though his name is confused for Dr. O by his compatriots.
  • In Zoo Tycoon, the default names of the animals you adopted are basically "[Species Name] [Number]".
  • Nine Hours Nine Persons Nine Doors has each of the characters (but Junpei and the Ninth Man) adopt an alias based on the numbered bracelets they are wearing to keep their identities secret:
    • 1 = Ace (Cards)
    • 2 = Snake ('Snake Eyes', Snake is blind.)
    • 3 = Santa (Pun on the Japanese word 'san' meaning three)
    • 4 = Clover (Petals of the Flower)
    • 6 = June (Months)
    • 7 = Seven (Rather Obvious)
    • 8 = Lotus (Petals of the Flower
  • Valkyria Chronicles III follows the adventures of a military unit known as "The Nameless." All of the members (who are the player-controlled characters) have numbers for names.
  • Jack in Mass Effect 2 is called "Subject Zero" in her dossier.
  • In Splatoon, the player character's actual name is up to the player, but he/she is given the designation "Agent 3". There are Agents 2 and 3 too, namely Callie and Marie.