History Main / PartyInMyPocket

* The trope is played humorously in ''WebAnimation/FinalFantasyVIIMachinabridged'', when every time the party enters or leave Cloud, it makes a squelching sound.

* ''VideoGame/EternalSonata'';s party balloons to about ''twelve'' characters, but you only walk around as Allegretto or Polka. Beat also gets a turn in one chapter. The only time Chopin is shown as the lead is in a cutscene. (So much for the game being about him).

* ''VideoGame/{{Trine}}'' had an interesting twist on this; the three main characters are SharingABody due to the titicular artifact, and can switch form based on the situation at hand.

** The manual/readme actually explained the reasoning behind this. Out of combat, the party travels as a tight group in order to keep track of each other while exploring; once a fight starts, they fan out so they can focus on hitting enemies instead of each other. The oddities mentioned above are due to the programming limitations of the day.

** Particularly odd example in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsIII'''s split screen mode for the campaign; both players operate as separate characters but merge into one for cutscenes, leaving both halves of the screen playing the same cutscene at the same time before splitting back apart for gameplay.

* Played with in the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' role playing games:
** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'':
*** Among many other things, in a scene where everyone goes to merge with Mario, an NPC shouts something, resulting in everyone ''smashing into Mario'' instead. He gets his dazed look, then, when everyone goes to merge with him again moments later, he holds out his hands to stop them ''until he's ready''.
*** Also [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]]. In a certain scene Mario is explaining something to the mushroom people, and suddenly Bowser (and the other party members) emerge from him, causing surprise and terror to everyone present.
*** There is a scene where an annoyed Mario pulls Mallow back into [[HammerSpace Hammer Space]] to silence his whining.
** ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' has Partners switching in and out of Mario as they are needed. The Pixls in ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' are, considering their size, more realistic... but you can also exchange Mario with other characters out of nowhere.
*** In cutscenes where at least two of the playable characters are scripted to be onscreen, the characters not in control will appear or disappear BehindTheBlack. This is especially weird in the cutscene where Peach rejoins you during the Overthere Stair -- Peach's abrupt awakening knocks the character you're currently controlling (either Mario, Luigi, or Bowser) off camera. All three characters then walk on camera and talk with Peach. When someone offscreen addresses Peach, the camera shifts left, putting Mario, Luigi, and Bowser off camera again while leaving Peach on screen. When the cutscene ends, Mario, Luigi, and Bowser are nowhere to be found, while the player is suddenly controlling Peach.
** ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'':
*** Mario runs afoul of a [[GrandTheftMe body swapper]]. The impostor successfully fools Mario's party, forcing the real Mario to fight them before he can get his body back. Even though the impostor is not controlled by the player, he is still bound by the restrictions of this trope and must battle you with only one party member at a time, in addition to his team losing if he loses all his HP (whenever or not his party members can still fight).
*** Averted another time during the same part of the story, however - there is an optional cutscene one can see while a shadow that has [[spoiler:Doopliss]] and the partners all taking part at once, and this is also the case in the cutscene before the given fight.
** ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story]]'' may count as a bizarre variant of this, in which Bowser is on the overworld and the two titular party members remain inside him. Bowser can use the Vacuum Block to swallow flying enemies and parts of large enemies, allowing Mario and Luigi to fight that enemy inside his belly. This is, in fact, part of several Bowser boss fights, [[spoiler: including the final battle where Mario and Luigi must fight Dark Fawful]].
* [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in ''VideoGame/{{Pokemon}}'', as your party is ''literally'' in your pocket (hence the name "Pocket Monsters"), or on your belt, or wherever the characters keep Poké Balls. The only exception to this occurs in the ''Yellow'' version, in which the Pikachu you receive at the beginning of the game refuses to go in its Poké Ball (unless it faints or is being healed at the Pokemon Center) and follows you around through the game, in an obvious reference to the anime.
** Not to mention that Poké Balls [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration are a key part of capturing new Pokémon]].
** ''[[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver HeartGold and SoulSilver]]'' allow you to let the first Pokémon in your lineup follow you around, though the rest of the party remains in their Poké Balls. They even move in front of the player when called upon to [[MundaneUtility use an HM move]].

* ''VideoGame/RadiataStories'' is quite ridiculous about this. It plays the trope ''so'' straight that, unless a character is in your party for story reasons (and they're usually not), party members you recruit don't even appear in ''cutscenes''. One has to wonder where Jack's three companions are at all, as they're clearly not accompanying him during gameplay or story events. The only time you ever see them is during battles.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX'' where your other three [[VirtualPaperDoll fully customizable]] party members follow behind the hero. This is played straight in cutscenes, where only the hero is visible. Impressive for a DS game, considering the number of options and clothing items you and your party members have available.

* ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfile'':
** Justified in the first game, with the Valkyrie actively ''summoning'' in the Einherjar with her own energy. (Note that if the Valkyrie dies in combat, so does the party unless she is revived in three turns.)
** In the sequel it gets even more bizarre; Alicia contains the Valkyrie Silmeria within her, while a number of Einherjar reside within ''Silmeria''. Alicia might as well buy herself a "NO VACANCY" sign with that many people to deal with.
* Used in the ''VideoGame/{{Exile}}'' series. Since the games lacked FightWoosh, switching into combat mode causes your party to instantaneously decompress near the leader's position in a somewhat random fashion, sometimes popping up on the other side of monsters, furniture, doors and walls when adjacent tiles were full.
** Ending combat recompressed the party also in a more or less random location between them. This was occasionally exploitable, and could be used to teleport the party across some obstacles (such as barriers and traps) by entering and leaving combat.
** The manual/readme actually explained the reasoning behind this. Out of combat, the party travels as a tight group in order to keep track of each other while exploring; once a fight starts, they fan out so they can focus on hitting enemies instead of each other. The oddities mentioned above are due to the programming limitations of the day.
* ''VideoGame/{{Shadowcaster}}'' was a strange case, as technically you controlled only one character that could morph into six other creatures. Each one had skills that were essential at some point in the game, so playing felt like having a party of seven and frequently switching between them.
* ''VideoGame/UltimaIII'' was the first game in the series to use this, with a party of 4 characters. ''VideoGame/UltimaIV'' [[PlayerCharacterCalculus pushed this to 8]], and ''VideoGame/UltimaV'' settled on 6 as middle-ground. The next few games used AllInARow and the last two were solo games.
* Used heavily in ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' where several scenes involve your extra 3 party members morphing out of you so they can be in the cutscene. Got worse in the sequel where 8 characters popped out from your...pocket. Outside of battle, the 'utility' psynergy abilities are all performed by the hero, even if it's actually one of the other characters that has the skill. Early in the first game Ivan demonstrates that if he's touching Isaac, then Isaac can mind read and presumably do everything else he has, so it's actually explained.
* Used briefly in ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork 2'' during the camp scenario. Since this is the only time in the series it's used, it's very jarring; apparently players were just expected to know what it meant when all the other kids walked into Lan. (Standard ''Battle Network'' procedure when Lan's in a group is just to have everybody hang around somewhere, checking things out, until you trigger a cutscene that moves the party.)
* ''VideoGame/{{Trine}}'' had an interesting twist on this; the three main characters are SharingABody due to the titicular artifact, and can switch form based on the situation at hand.

* ''VideoGame/BatenKaitos.'' If you talk to an NPC and the game fades to black, you know the conversation will be important since your party members will appear once the scene fades back in.
* Most ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'' games use this trope, to the point where later ones even let you set the party leader and the battle leader as totally different characters. The party leader doesn't even have to be ''in'' the battle.
** Later games like ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'' make heavy use out of switching characters in order to trigger sidequests and cutscenes.
** In ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia'' (PSX), when certain [=NPCs=] (Rhea and Brambard) join your party, they actually show up in the party screen, though they don't show up in combat and their stat screen simply says "NPC".
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfZestiria'' has a justified example with the Seraph characters, who are usually hanging out in Sorey's body outside of scenes. Averted with other human characters, who just follow him around.
* The ''VideoGame/StarOcean'' series have the party members off on their own when the main hero enters a town. In cutscenes, usually the members relevant to that scene only pop up.

* In ''VideoGame/AidynChronicles'', other party members only appear during cut scenes.
* ''VideoGame/EternalSonata'';s party balloons to about ''twelve'' characters, but you only walk around as Allegretto or Polka. Beat also gets a turn in one chapter. The only time Chopin is shown as the lead is in a cutscene. (So much for the game being about him.)
* In ''VideoGame/HeroesOfTheLance'', the player controlled the eight main characters of the original Literature/{{Dragonlance}} novels, but only one active character was physically present at a time, and if the active character died, the next character in line took his place. This meant that if, say, the thief tried to take out an enemy with his sling but the enemy managed to close to melee range, the seven other characters would stand around and watch poor Tasslehoff get beaten to death before one - and only one - of them would step forward to take a shot at the monster. If someone tried to jump over a pit and fell to their death, the next person in line could give it a shot, but if someone cleared a pit, they'd bring everyone else with them - even the characters who couldn't jump that far.
* Although the ''VideoGame/BreathOfFire'' series usually Averts this with AllInARow, the series often does use this trope's secondary function of active characters, with the first character in the row (who can be switched with the press of a button) having abilities they can use in the Overworld.
** ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireII'' takes this a step further -- anyone who isn't in your party at the time will generally just be hanging out back at their house in Township.
** ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIV'' could even avert this in combat -- with the screen sometimes panning to show the reserve characters a few paces away doing something if they had an reserve-only ability.
* ''VideoGame/InazumaEleven''; three members show up on the map [[AllInARow to follow the leader]], but the other twelve are still available to swap in.

* ''VideoGame/MimanaIyarChronicle'' lets you press a button to switch between Crais and other party members while wandering, so different party members can talk to the [=NPCs=] for different results. Crais has pissed off a lot of people, but his party members are cute girls to which most people respond much better.
* Zig-zagged with the ''[[VideoGame/LunarSilverStarStory Lunar]]'' [[VideoGame/LunarEternalBlue games]] - this is in effect in dungeons, but the games revert to AllInARow for all other areas. You can usually tell if a boss is coming up (and, thus, that you should be healing up and saving) if you come to a new area in a dungeon and all your party members are suddenly walking behind you.
* ''VideoGame/{{Indivisible}}'' uses it, justifies it ''and'' makes it a plot point; the protagonist Ajna is able to absorb certain people into herself, and summon them to battle whenever she needs. Figuring out why she can do that, among other powers, is part of the reason she sets on her journey to begin with.

* In ''VideoGame/HolyUmbrella'', the SideView stages let you switch out the hero for anyone in the party.
* The ''VideoGame/BoxxyQuest'' series:
** ''VideoGame/BoxxyQuestTheShiftedSpires'': Catie represents the whole party, the other members walking out of her as needed to deliver dialogue.
** ''VideoGame/BoxxyQuestTheGatheringStorm'', the party members walk into and out of Catie as they’re needed. This gets played with a few times, like when the others take turns leading after Catie gets tired walking up a long flight of stairs. Or when a {{Bouncer}} refuses to let Catie into a concert, because she only has one ticket and “[he] can tell a nested party when [he] see[s] one.”
* Done as well in ''VideoGame/{{Lunarosse}}'' with the old "fade out and party members appear" trick.
* ''VideoGame/RakenzarnTales'' also plays it straight with the fade-out maneuver. While it's justified for the party members, as Kyuu explicitly has the power to teleport them in and out at will with his book, allowing them to suddenly be there as needed, it doesn't quite explain where the [=NPCs=] you start gathering show up from.
* In the ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel'' games, your party is four active members and either two or three reserves. You can change the party member you control on the field with a push of a button, but you only see the chosen member when navigating the field.

* In ''VideoGame/CodeVein'', you can only have one partner fighting with you, but cutscenes will show everyone traveling together.
* ExaggeratedTrope in ''VideoGame/TheLastRemnant''. Rush wanders through fields and caves all by himself until he starts a battle, at which point he gets ''an entire army'' to fight with him.
* ''VideoGame/TheOtherAirisAdventure'': The person listed the first in the party is who's used to represent the whole party when walking around.
* ''VideoGame/OracleOfAskigaga'': The person listed the first in the party is who's used to represent the whole party when walking around.
* Party members in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfDragoon'' dutifully walk out of the hero Dart when a cutscene starts up, and then proceed back inside him when it ends.

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!!Non-video game examples:

*** Mario runs afoul of a [[GrandTheftMe body swapper]]. The impostor successfully fools Mario's party, forcing the real Mario to fight them before he can get his body back. Even though the impostor is not controlled by the player, he is still bound by the restrictions of this trope and must battle you with only one party member at a time.

* In VideoGame/SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters, only the leader unit of a squad (containing up to nine people) appears on the mini-map. There's actually a bit of give-and-take with regard to the Player's units. When the unit is first summoned onto the map, the player has to have the space for the "Room's" full numbers and formation available on the map. This means that, while a full nine-person Room can be extremely powerful, the unit may be hard to summon onto some maps.