History Main / CantDropTheHero

* The UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable adaptation of ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'' allows the player to swap between either Digidestined to form a battle party (maximum three members) depending on how many of them are playable in a given episode/sub-episode. However, whoever is assigned "Leader" can not be swapped out.

* Like in ''Super Mario RPG'' above, ''VideoGame/MarioPlusRabbidsKingdomBattle'' has a party of 3 with Mario forced in for the entirety of the game, whose defeat won't cause an automatic Game Over. However, it also has an additional caveat of "Can't Drop a Specific Type of Party Member": One of the three party members ''must'' be one of the four playable VideoGame/RavingRabbids; the choice of Rabbid is always left open to the player's discretion throughout the whole game. So the player can deploy either two Rabbids or a Rabbid and a non-Mario ''Mario'' character, but cannot deploy two other ''Mario'' characters to derail the game into "Mario '''vs.''' Rabbids Kingdom Battle."

** It's particularly notable in ''Rescue Team'', as outside from appearing in scenes from time to time, your hero and partner essentially become the same as standard recruits, staying in their respective friend areas with them rather than living in their house (Which is instead used by whichever Pokemon is your current leader).

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' puts Squall in your party the majority of the time. There are several exceptions, however. [[spoiler:The assassination attempt at the end of Disc 1 and the Battle of the Gardens at the end of disc 2 both are done without Squall, just to name a couple of examples. Interestingly, your party is chosen at random for the final battle, so you can defeat Ultimecia using any party members you want]].

* ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireI'' subverted this trope, allowing you to pull the hero Ryu from the party once you get five members; all future games of the series played it straight.

* In ''VideoGame/FugaMelodiesOfSteel2'', no matter how many times you trigger the Soul Cannon's auto-loading sequence, the game will never pick Malt due to him being upgraded to ''the'' main character of the series rather than a main leader-in-name-only, since he is the one interacting with every other player character and [=NPC=] and has a KarmaMeter to worry about. [[spoiler:The only time he gets into the Soul Cannon is in any non-GoldenEnding route, where he picks himself to fire the weapon off as a TakingYouWithMe attack against the BigBad]].

* In ''VideoGame/OctopathTraveler'', you can choose any of the eight heroes as your starting character, but that character has to stay in the party at all times until their story is completed.

* ''VideoGame/BrutalOrchestra'': There's nothing really stopping you from shelving [[TheProtagonist Nowak]] for the entire game. He does have some unique uses due to having real attacks that only cost some auto-generated yellow pigment and can move the enemies around with his Parry skill, but his damage is surpassed by any other offensive party member (in line with their more demanding costs), other party members can use [[ScratchDamage Slap]] to gather pigment, and the movement of enemies after getting hit with Parry is mostly random. He ''does'' get revived if he dies in a won battle unlike anyone else, but losing any fight results in a game over regardless of whether or not you have anyone "Benched"

* Averted in ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'', although the third game will make you unable to switch out whatever party member is important to the dungeon (like Mao during the Alcatraz dungeon). In addition, you need Natan in the party to do his sidequests.

** In chapters that give you a pre-battle preparations screen with which to choose which units to deploy, the player is normally forced to deploy whoever the main character of the game is in every battle. The exception is in skirmish battles in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones The Sacred Stones]]'', ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Awakening]]'', and ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemFates Fates]]'', and ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses Three Houses]]'', where you aren't forced to use the main characters on the skirmishes/optional battles. They're still forced for the main storyline, though. Additionally, there are sometimes additional characters, important to the plot of the chapter or the game as a whole, who must be deployed.

* ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic I-V'' averts this by letting you switch out all members of the party. VI, VII and IX averts it by not letting you switch ''any'' member of the party. VIII plays it straight, however.

* ''VideoGame/SakuraDungeon'': As she's the one who wants to explore the dungeon, it makes sense that Ceri cannot be dropped from the party. Unusually, she's not the character subjected to WeCannotGoOnWithout You. ''That'' applies to your other protagonist, Yomi.

** When the main character is knocked out in mainline titles, it's an '''immediate''' game over regardless of the state of the rest of your party. There's usually a justification in-game, but it's a {{Scrappy Mechanic}} to some.

* ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireI'' subverted this trope; all future ones played it straight.