History Main / ThirdOptionAdaptation

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'', recruiting [[MutuallyExclusivePartyMembers either Iuchar or Iucharba]] means losing out on the other brother; in the Mitsuki Oosawa manga adaptation, both are recruited and survive the story.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'':
** TheHero Chrom could marry one of five characters: a female Avatar, Sully, Sumia, Maribelle or Olivia. Possibly to avoid the ''insane'' ShipToShipCombat over the issue, the Drama CD seems to go with the nameless village maiden as Chrom's wife, the one who, in-game, he only marries if all of the above options are already taken or [[{{Permadeath}} dead]]. For each of the above 5, Chrom's KidFromTheFuture Lucina will have a sibling, which the audio drama also [[AdaptedOut adapts out]] though the village maiden, making Lucina an only child. There is also one Drama CD with a male Avatar and one with a female one, as well as a Drama CD where both male and female Morgans (the Avatar's child) meet up in the Outrealms. These are situations not possible in the game since [[SchrodingersPlayerCharacter both versions of these characters can't exist at the same time.]]
** The second example is the child characters' hair colors, which are inherited from their fathers. And since mostly any male can marry any female, that's a ''lot'' of possible hair colors to keep track of. To avoid this, official artwork generally depicts the children with their mothers' hair colours, save for some (Inigo has grey hair rather than his mother's pink). [[spoiler: Severa, Inigo and Owain's appearance in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' keep this: the DLC stage ''Hidden Truths'' explain that Good Anankos uses his magic to change said hair colors.]]

** ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' started with Ash having overslept and, as a result, all the starter Pokémon have been picked by other trainers already when he shows up. He ends up with a spare Pokémon the professor happened to have on hand, a Pikachu (an [[EnsembleDarkhorse outside fan favorite]] by that point), instead. The starters from all the games would eventually appear and join the cast under either Ash or one of his friends; though sometimes one would be more or less prominent than the others - for instance, in the ''XY'' seasons Greninja would become one of Ash's featured Pokémon and even received a unique SuperMode, while Chesnaught and Delphox faded into the background.

** ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'' involved opposing teams Team Magma and Team Aqua; only in ''Ruby'' Team Magma were the villains trying to summon Groudon and Team Aqua was heroic, while in ''Sapphire'' Aqua were the bad guys summoning Kyogre and Magma were the ones trying to stop them. ''Pokémon Emerald'' and most adaptations made it so both teams were evil and succeeded in summoning their monster, leading to Groudon and Kyogre fighting each other and the protagonists trying to stop both of them with the help of Rayquaza.

** In ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'', Totem Lurantis first summons a Trumbeak and then a Castform while in ''VideoGame/UltraSunAndUltraMoon'', it instead summons first a Kecleon and then a Comfey. In ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'', during Moon's battle with Lurantis, the Bloom Sickle Pokémon summons two Castform, two Trumbeak, a trio of Comfey and a Kecleon.

** Also regarding ''X and Y'', Charizard and Mewtwo each had two Mega Evolution forms. In order to feature both Charizard forms in ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'', Blue from ''Red and Blue'' and his Charizard returned and teamed up with X and ''his'' Charizard, with each using a different Mega form. Meanwhile, Mewtwo has a trainer who owns both Mega Stones, allowing Mewtwo access to both its Mega forms.