Sir Cameos-a-Lot

Meet R.O.B — Robotic Omnipresent Buddy.^note L-R, top to bottom: F-Zero GX, Mario Kart DS, Kirby's Dream Land 3, StarTropics, Pikmin 2, WarioWare: Smooth Moves (minigame based on Star Fox).

"Hello, I'm Troy McClure! You might remember me from such celebrity funerals as "Andre The Giant, We Hardly Knew Ye" and "Shemp Howard: Today We Mourn A Stooge."

— Troy McClure, The Simpsons

Plenty of characters appear in crossovers and cameos. Sometimes, however, a character will have more cameo appearances than otherwise. This is where this trope comes into play. A non-Public Domain Character appears more in crossovers than they do in their own series (assuming they even have a series to begin with).

This trope can easily invoke Marth Debuted in "Smash Bros.", Adaptation Displacement and Iconic Character, Forgotten Title. A character might only have one or two titles to their resume, so most people first learn of them from their cameos. Mascots have a good chance of becoming this, especially if they hail from long dead franchises or are not interesting enough to carry a series on their own.

Compare to Wolverine Publicity, for cameos driven by character popularity, Public Domain Character, for those who can cameo freely due to not being owned by anyone, and Continuity Cameo, if this guy's purpose is to establish continuity between different works. Also compare Adam Westing. If someone used to be a major character before being reduced to lots of cameos and hardly anything else, they've been Demoted to Extra.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• The Space Pirate Emeraldas has been this character in the Leijiverse for decades, appearing repeatedly but only briefly in various Captain Harlock and Galaxy Express 999 media. It wasn't until the late 1990s that she got her own series, and the 2000s that she gained roughly the same spotlight time privileges as the other mainstays of The 'Verse.
• Plue, one of the first Series Mascots created by Hiro Mashima, has made minor appearances in Fairy Tail and EDENS ZERO since his starring role in Rave Master. Interestingly enough, Rave isn't Plue's debut appearance; that distinction goes to one of Mashima's first one-shots, Magician, where Plue also had a central role.

Comic Books

• Seven Soldiers of Victory: The original Shining Knight made a number of cameo appearances, including Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers of Victory (2005) maxiseries, but never had a series of his own.
• Wednesday Comics: Aquaman shows up in one scene of both the Hawkman and Supergirl stories to assist the titular heroes, and is mentioned by Batman in the Superman story, but he does not get his own story in this collection.

Films — Animation

• The Tick-Tock Crocodile of the Disney version of Peter Pan keeps showing up in miscellaneous Disney properties: the short Goliath II, the Jungle Cubs, Marsupilami and Darkwing Duck TV series; all while he ironically was left out of the actual sequel to the movie, Return To Never Land (aside for a cloud formation at the opening).

Films — Live-Action

• Stan Lee had a contractually-obligated Creator Cameo in every Marvel production for years up until his death, and even a few non-Marvel works.
• Alfred Hitchcock had a cameo in every movie he directed, but in a non-obvious way so people would try to find him. To the point that after a while he decided to always have his cameo during the first minutes of the movie so people would not waste time searching for him.
• M. Night Shyamalan cameos in nearly every film he has been involved in.
• Peter Jackson inserted himself playing a hapless, briefly-seen character in all his Middle Earth films, namely: as a man eating a carrot at the village of Bree; as a Rohan soldier throwing a spear towards the Uruk-hai who were assaulting the Fortress at Helm's Deep; as one of the Corsairs of Umbar briefly seen walking on deck (in the extended edition, the character gets accidentally shot by Legolas as a "warning" shot); as a Dwarf running from Erebor after the dragon Smaug invaded the mountain; as the carrot-eating man again walking from a pub looking drunk in Bree; and as the father of Bilbo Baggins on Bilbo's picture in Bag End.

Live-Action TV

• Sarah Lysander, British fashion model and close friend of Dua Lipa has appeared in Channel 4 series Location, Location, Location As Herself in two episodes during 2017. She's also made two uncredited cameos in 2016 in BBC consumer series Watchdog.
• Although not an actor per se (making this a case of Non-Actor Vehicle), model Yelena Noura Hadid (known by her Stage Name Gigi Hadid) has appeared in a few BBC productions: Silent Witness (uncredited, 10 episodes). However, no actual pictures of her cameos ever have been found online, although this is on IMDB.
• Detective John Munch of Homicide: Life on the Street and later Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has had cameos in Law & Order (while Homicide was airing, before his move to the SVU series), The X-Files, The Beat, Arrested Development, Lois & Clark, The Wire, 30 Rock, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and even Sesame Street.

Music

• Greg Leisz got his start touring with John Stewart (formerly of the Kingston Trio) and was a member of the Funky Kings, who only put out one album before breaking up. Since then, he's bounced from band to band, sometimes touring with them and sometimes just recording in the studio. He's credited as a guest musician on hundreds of albums by dozens of different artists.
• John Mark Painter has just four albums to his name (two as the duo Fleming & John, and an album and EP as a member of Steve Taylor & The Perfect Foil), but has played as a studio musician on over a hundred other albums.
• Billy Ray Cyrus is more known for being Miley Cyrus's dad and his collaboration with Lil Nas than his own music career. To be fair he was a one hit wonder, his big claim to fame before Miley Cyrus's career took off was being "The achy breaky heart guy"

Video Games

• Nintendo:
  • Kirby: Rick, Kine and Coo only appeared as characters in 3 games so far: Dream Land 2, DL3 and Star Allies. But in between them, they also have made many cameos, such as part of Kirby's Stone forms, background cameos, or as collectable icons
  • The Robotic Operating Buddy was released with only two compatible games (Gyromite and Stack-Up) and was swiftly forgotten as the Nintendo Entertainment System took off in popularity. Nowadays, R.O.B. is best known for his cameos in multiple Nintendo games, including his playable appearances in Mario Kart DS and Super Smash Bros..
  • Takamaru from The Mysterious Murasame Castle only appeared in one game of his own in 1986, which was exclusive to Japan and only localized in 2014. In Pikmin 2, the floppy disk of his game appears as one of the treasures, and it kickstarted his career of cameos, like an important role in Captain Rainbow, his own game mode in Samurai Warriors III, a mini-game in Nintendo Land, and small appearances in WarioWare and Super Mario Maker 2. But most appearances are in the Super Smash Bros. series, where his game got content like a Sticker, a Trophy, a Spirit, two music tracks, and he appeared two times as an Assist Trophy; there is a modest, but growing fanbase asking for him to become a playable character in Smash.
  • Lip, the heroine of Panel de Pon, has similarly appeared in just one game of her own that was given the Dolled-Up Installment treatment with characters from Yoshi's Island and released internationally as Tetris Attack, the original game not being brought over until 2020—25 years after its initial release date. Despite that, she has a surprisingly broad range of cameos: Lip not only appears alongside Takamaru in Captain Rainbow, but features as an unlockable costume in Animal Crossing: New Leaf as a reward for the Animal Crossing Puzzle League minigame. Again like Takamaru, it's in Super Smash Bros. where she gets the most representation by far, receiving an item, a music track, a Mii costume, and a spirit to her name (the latter marking the character's first-ever genuine appearance outside of Japan). Like Takamaru, she's picked up a burgeoning group of fans hoping to see her get Promoted to Playable in the Smash series.
  • Due to the first Splatoon's runaway success, the series quickly received a number of crossovers with other Nintendo franchises. By the time Splatoon 2 released, Inklings have been playable in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, got amiibo costumes in Yoshi's Woolly World and Super Mario Maker, DLC costumes in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, and a lot of miscellaneous content in the Animal Crossing series (from Splatoon-themed furniture and clothing items, villagers based on the Squid Sisters, to a full-on Splatoon 2 Fishing Tourney in Pocket Camp to celebrate that game's release). That's to say nothing of it becoming a frequent target of Lawyer-Friendly Cameos in anime, manga, and even Western animation.
• Sega:
  • Alex Kidd: Alex hasn't had a new title for himself since the Mega Drive days. This doesn't stop him from appearing in several titles such as Segagaga, Sega Superstars Tennis, and Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing.
  • Samba de Amigo: Despite there being only one Samba De Amigo, a Mission-Pack Sequel, and a remake, the characters appear or are referenced in many Sega titles.
  • There are only two NiGHTS into Dreams… games (not including remakes and ports). It doesn't stop the game from being referenced in numerous other SEGA games, such as several Sega Superstars games, Sonic Adventure, and Sonic Lost World.
  • Fantasy Zone protagonist Opa Opa has made many many cameos in SEGA games. His first cameo was appearance in Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars, which came out the same year Fantasy Zone released. One of the craziest Opa Opa cameos is a hidden Fantasy Zone mini game in, of all games, Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf for the SEGA Genesis.
• SNK:
  • Ryo Sakazaki from Art of Fighting series is known as this for SNK, having more appearances in other titles than his own series (not counting The King of Fighters of course): as a Secret Character in some Fatal Fury games: in FF2/Special and in Wild Ambition (here as Mr. Karate II), as the only known character in the Original Generation roster in Buriki One also as Mr. Karate II (and retuned in NeoGeo Battle Coliseum), and even just mentioned as part of Marco's background story from Garou: Mark of the Wolves (Marco is one of Ryo's students, also appearing in some artworks).
  • Ryuhaku Todoh was Ryo's very first opponent in Art of Fighting, and only returned as a playable character once for Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium. However, SNK has fully embraced this trope for him, giving him background cameos in almost every fighting game they've made. Art of Fighting 3, Fatal Fury Special, Real Bout 2, almost all of The King of Fighters, half the Samurai Shodown series, the VS Capcom games, even SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy... Seriously, it'd be easier to list the SNK fighters that he doesn't appear in.
  • G-Mantle was a former mascot of SNK before Terry Bogard that only appeared in SNK's old ads and in-game in Blue's Journey. Cameos are seen in multiple games like Art of Fighting, Fatal Fury, The King of Fighters (as an Assist Character in KOF 2000) and even having his own card in the SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash series.
• Konami:
  • Sparkster from Rocket Knight Adventures has had a total of four games; Rocket Knight Adventures (Genesis), Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2 (Genesis), Sparkster (SNES), and Rocket Knight (Xbox 360, PS3, PC), but he has made cameos in numerous Konami games, including the Sega CD version of Snatcher, Ganbare Goemon 2 (Super Famicom), Mitsumete Knight (PS1), Contra: Shattered Soldier (PS2), Krazy Kart Racing (IOS and Android), and New International Track & Field (Nintendo DS), where he appears as an unlockable character.
  • Getsu Fuma, protagonist of Getsu Fuma Den. After his then-single game, he has seen playable appearances, cameos and references across several titles for the company, such as the Wai Wai World, Otomedius, Castlevania and Yu-Gi-Oh! franchises. Even after getting a sequel over 3 decades later, Getsu Fuma Den: Undying Moon, he ended up having far more cameos in other series than games in his own.
  • Pyramid Head of Silent Hill 2 has become the de facto mascot of the franchise, being referenced in later installments as either himself or the "Bogeyman" as well as a major figure in both film adaptations; playable roles in Krazy Kart Racing, New International Track & Field, Super Bomberman R, and Dead by Daylight; and he even had an avatar costume available in Play Station Home. Impressive for a demon who is only supposed to represent the repressed anger/desires of the protagonist of 2.
• Bandai Namco Entertainment:
  • Don-chan, the main character of Namco's Taiko no Tatsujin series, is very popular in his home country but very obscure everywhere else. This didn't stop him from appearing in dozens of Namco games, as well as non-Namco games like Mario Kart, Monster Hunter, Yo-kai Watch, and even Super Smash Bros..
  • Klonoa only had two mainline games released on Sony platforms and some spinoffs, but he became something of an unofficial mascot for Namco when Pac-Man wouldn't be appropriate to use. He and Guntz joined the cast of Namco × Capcom, he appears in several sports titles, and he's a surprisingly common sight in the Tales Series.
  • KOS-MOS from Xenosaga is a lot more well-known from her appearances in other games like Endless Frontier, Project × Zone, and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 than her home game. Her Evil Counterpart, T-elos, comes just as close.
• The Lost Vikings haven't had a game since 1997, but are the most referenced characters across Blizzard's library. Every one of their games from 2004 onward has featured them or a reference to them in some capacity, including some Interplay games like ClayFighter series, as well as becoming playable in Blizzard's crossover MOBA Heroes of the Storm.
• There are only 3 Darkstalkers games so far (excluding rereleases), but Morrigan Aensland appears a lot in crossovers involving Capcom, such as the Marvel vs. Capcom games, Namco × Capcom, Project × Zone and a few others. Demitri Maximoff is not far behind, but surprisingly, he’s beaten by Felicia, Hsien-Ko, B.B. Hood, Jedah and even Anakaris, despite being the actual main character.
  • Other Darkstalkers who have yet to make a playable appearance in crossovers get this treatment in the background as well, such as Lord Raptor and Jon Talbain.
• Shovel Knight's eponymous knight made numerous cameo appearances in other works before Plague of Shadows, the first bonus campaign, was even released. Here's the official list of all the appearances he's made.
• Before Shovel Knight became an indie game poster boy of sorts, Meat Boy was the closest thing to one and has made a number of cameos for some early indie titles like Spelunky, BIT.TRIP, and Desktop Dungeons.
• And as far as the fairer sex goes, Miriam of Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night has taken to several outside appearances, namely Kingdom Two Crowns's "Dead Lands Monarches" update, Blasphemous's "Strife & Ruin" update, and as a costume in Wallachia: Reign of Dracula.
• id Software has the Dopefish, a creature who has appeared in a grand total of one game: Commander Keen Episode IV: Goodbye Galaxy. However the creature has made cameo appearances in a lot of games, both created by Id (or Id properties) and not.
• Ekoro of the Gal*Gun series was only a starring character in Double Peace, and even then she wasn't playable. She's remembered more often for her Guest Fighter appearances in the Mighty Gunvolt series and Blaster Master Zero, where she's considered on par with Inti Creates' greats.
• Asagi, who first appeared in Makai Kingdom, as a main character for a future title, only to end up attempting to become the main character for every single successive game all the way up to Disgaea 4. whereupon Nippon Ichi finally threw her a bone and actually released Makai Wars, her actual debut game, 14 years late^note As a Japan-only mobile title. Even after that, she continues to appear, now officially as a main character in her own game.
• "The Baz" (formerly known as Zubaz) sort of originated in Street Fighter II... as a character design who didn't make it past the preliminary sketches. Years later, the Two Best Friends Play spinoff series Fighterpedia featured the Baz in an episode all about rejected Street Fighter characters, and the Best Friends Zaibatsu were so taken with The Baz that they adopted him as a mascot of sorts. Then they used their influence (and/or financial support) to get The Baz into as many indie games as they could, getting him guest roles in games like Shovel Knight, Divekick, Indivisible and Petal Crash, as well as cameos in dozens of other titles. Through sheer luck, the Baz even got a major role in Video Game Championship Wrestling.

Web Animation

• In Homestar Runner, the rapper Peacey P is an In-Universe example, who outright calls himself "the best guest rapper in the music biz" and is better known for his guest appearances than for his original songs. When he actually does put out his own album, he features himself as a guest rapper on it.

Web Original

• Jenny Everywhere is a Public Domain Character who doesn't even have an original "canon". So her cameos and crossover appearances definitely outnumber the stories where she's a star.

Western Animation

• Droopy has become one, as most of his appearances after The Golden Age of Animation have been cameos in other works, such as many modern Tom and Jerry productions, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, etc.
• Looney Tunes
  • Late Looney Tunes character Cool Cat only starred in six shorts from 1967 to 1969, but he made countless cameos since The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries.
  • The Minah Bird from the Inki series (which only had five shorts) became this during the 1990s, as it continued to appear in many Looney Tunes-related productions of the time (with examples such as various episodes of Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs), to the point of becoming a Breakout Character of his series.
• An in-universe example from The Simpsons, washed-up actor Troy McClure plays and/or cameos in practically everything, to the point where it's his catchphrase.
• While Cartoon Network is no stranger to cameos and crossovers, Dexter, the star of CN's first original show, makes the most cameos out of everyone. Dexter's cameos are already a Running Gag in The Powerpuff Girls, but he also makes appearances or is referenced in several other shows such as Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Time Squad, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Steven Universe, Uncle Grandpa and OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes among others.

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