Combination Attack

The infamous X-Strike.
"So the basic idea is to gang up on the character and beat the living daylights out of him, huh?"
—Laharl, Disgaea, putting it in layman's terms

The love child of the Limit Break and a brutal gang beating.

Many console Role Playing Games provide special attacks that occur when two or more characters use certain attacks at the same time or in rapid succession. These are often extremely powerful, and rather impressive to watch, but may or may not be more effective than just casting the component spells on their own.

May involved Power of Friendship, Power of Love and True Companions when used as a plot device.

Not to be confused with Combo attacks.

Examples of Combination Attack include:

Anime and Manga

  • The anime version of Ranma ½ gives one of these to Ranma and Akane, the "Dual Jet Stream Raging Waters Attack", during the Dojo Destroyer episode. Presumably, this was to give them more of a Battle Couple vibe, given that the manga had the Dojo Destroyer effortlessly take everything Akane could throw at him before Ranma showed up and oneshotted him.
  • In Digimon, many Digimons' attacks can combine into new attacks, first seen waaaay back in season one when Kabuterimon and Togemon took on Centarumon.
    • In Digimon Frontier, the protagonists were unable to defeat Sakakkumon until they realized that they could combine their powers to create new attacks—Sakkakumon could only block/reflect techniques that he'd already seen.
  • The Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha manga set some time after the events of the second season: "Nanoha and Fate Mid-Ranged Annihilation Combination! Air Attack, Blast Calamity!" Hayate used one of her bigger spells to match their combined attack, and the explosion made from the two colliding forces was one of the few things that was able to destroy Yuuno's Containment Field.
  • The robots of the Mazinger trilogy (Mazinger Z, Great Mazinger and UFO Robo Grendizer) and Getter Robo combined their attacks constantly when they fought together, and many of those attacks were used in the Super Robot Wars games: Double Burning Fire (Mazinger and Great Mazinger their Chest Blaster attacks at once. It was used in Great Mazinger and Mazinkaiser), Triple Mazinger Blade (Mazinger, Great Mazinger and Grendizer use their bladed weapons to slash the enemy at once)... and Final Dynamic Special
  • The Frost Brothers from Gundam X are quite fond of this. Their most famous team-up involves younger brother Olba holding the opponent in place with his Gundam's pincer claws while big brother Shagia lays into them with his beam saber; unfortunately for them, it's always interrupted halfway through. Later on, they get a BFG that mounts on Olba's Gundam and has to be operated by Shagia's.
  • NEEDLESS has characters do this all the time in the form of "(Attack 1) PLUS (Attack 2)!!!". One noteworthy example is, expressed mathematically, "(LITTLE BOY)^2 + GYRO GRAVITAION + MAGNETIC WORLD!!!" A long name indeed, Cruz.
  • Bleach: Dark Souls has Don Kanon'ji summon his team for his specials. They all work together in the "Karakura Super Attack", which, while having a tiny hitbox, is one of the strongest moves in the game.
    • And then there's the Super attack which can only be used by Kyoraku and Ukitake if they team up. Used from the right position, it can potentially wreck everything on screen.
  • Bleach had some of the Captains and some of the Visored execute a many-layered combo attack on Aizen using several of their special abilities. Too bad he used Kyoka Suigetsu.
  • In the manga version of Samurai Deeper Kyo, the Shiseiten are a Four-Temperament Ensemble so well coordinated that they're able to combine their usual techniques into one, with its own name. The resultant Combination Attack is so difficult that they can only do it once a day. When two of them do it, it has the double of their combined strenght. Three would make it eight times their combined might. But when they all use the Combined Attack, the Shisiseitensho, The Ace and Invincible Hero Kyo states that its power is just... immesureable.
  • One Piece had quite a few instances of those, most notably during the fight against Oars. To give just one example - Usopp using his so-big-it's-stationary Kuwagata to launch Brook at Oars, through a thunder cloud summoned by Nami. There have also been a few instances of two or three attacks being just launched side to side, receiving a conjoined or a new fancy name. Super Frapper Gong, for example. Again, Thriller Bark arc is most notable for those, due to being pretty much the last arc so far in which the whole crew is together.
    • Not too mention the first Pacifista fight in the Saboady Park arc. While it was not given any special names, it involved an almost non-stop assault by the entire crew, performing some of their strongest moves at the time, all against a single enemy.
  • Typical Twin Shots in Captain Tsubasa, though there're other noticeable ones such Tsubasa and Misaki's Golden Combination Pass, and Tachibana Twin's Skylab Hurricane.
  • Even Neon Genesis Evangelion has one in the second fight against Israfel: aside from dodging enemy attacks and returning fire in perfect sync, Shinji and Asuka finish the fight by delivering perfectly simultaneous roundhouse kicks to bash the two halves of the Angel together then dropkicking it's cores to kill it, again simultaneously. The logic behind it was that since the Angel's halves assist and even regenerate each other, the only way to defeat it is to execute both at the same time. The entire sequence was coordinated to dancing music and was so popular it got put into Super Robot Wars.
    • There will never be a more fabulous giant robot battle.
  • Harima and Eri from School Rumble use the Twin Hurricane Kick on the School Festival arc, during the horse battle. In fact, there are several more combinations that could fit the trope in that battle. Another that comes to mind is Hanai and Ichijou final battle.
  • Inukami! Kaoru's Inukami can group up in threes (sometimes nine of them excluding Nadeshiko) to perform a powerful spell called "Inferno".
  • Virtually all installments of the Pretty Cure franchise have had a Combination Attack, always as finishers. Heartcatch Precure was interesting as it had a 2-man (Floral Power Fortissimo), 3-man (Shining Fortissimo) and 4-man (Heartcatch Orchestra) combo attacks. And the 2-man ones could be interchanged with each other! Pretty Cure All Stars DX 3 introduced a six-man, all Pink-type Cure special punch attack. Just because they could.

Live-Action TV

  • Super Sentai and Power Rangers are quite fond of using combination attacks, usually as a finishing move. They also frequently combine their weapons into a BFG to inflict a finishing move as well.
  • Kamen Rider Den-O
    • "Hissatsu! My Hissatsu Waza! Final Version!"
    • Technically, any of Climax Form's finishers also qualify.
  • Kamen Rider has been doing Double Rider Kicks as far back as the original series. Kamen Rider Decade's movie All Riders Versus Dai-Shocker takes it in a couple of new directions, as Decade pulls off a one-man combination attack thanks to his Doppelganger Attack, and the Big Bad are finished by all 27 protagonist Riders (at the time) performing a Sesquiseptuple Rider Kick.
    • Decade got outdone in the 40th anniversary movie Let's Go Kamen Rider, where all the Riders period (including all the Second Riders) combine forces to defeat Shocker with an ALL RIDER BREAK.

Video Games

Action-Adventure

  • Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin:
    • There are two playable/switchable characters, and instead of the usual item crash, they combine their power and have tons of joint attacks. Their strongest combo summons the spirit of all Belmonts from previous games for one devastating screen-clearing attack.
    • Loretta can create a giant ice sword for Stella to swing. Dracula can immolate a wave of Death's sickles, or turn him into a giant scythe and swing him to create a giant explosion.

Beat-Em-Up

  • Both, the arcade and NES versions of Double Dragon III, featured a couple of team-up moves that could be performed by two players: the triangle jump kick (in which one player is thrown by his partner while doing a jump kick) and the back-to-back hurricane kick (in which both players perform the hurricane kick at the same time). In the arcade version, the moves could be done by any combination of characters, but in the NES version they could only be done if both players were controlling Billy and Jimmy.
  • The Bouncer has trinity attacks, where the three fighters team up to perform an attack. This can seriously backfire against Dauragon, however. Not to mention that exactly when you can use it is completely up to your AI controlled partners and despite doing large amounts of damage, it can never finish off an enemy, making it at most an overelaborate HP to One attack.
  • Mona and Lisa in Streets of Rage 3 does this. One of them is given a leap up by the other to attack the player.
    • Throwing your partner in the first game causes them to perform a powerful jumping attack instead of doing damage to them.
  • Golden Axe Revenge of Death Adder has this in two and four person varieties. Players attacking a stunned enemy while standing on opposite sides will grab the enemy and preform a piledriver. four players make it a spinning piledriver instead. Instant kill on any mook and deals obsene damage to bosses, especially considering how easy it is to preform.
  • The Simpsons arcade game by Konami allows two players to perform special attacks which vary depending on which members of the Simpson clan is being controlled (up to six teams attacks were available).

Fighting Game

  • Almost any team-based Fighting Game (King of Fighters, Marvel vs. Capcom) will allow the fighters on the sidelines to jump in for an assist or, in some cases, a simultaneous firing of Limit Break Combos.
    • The Rival Schools series is unique among Fighting Games, in that teams consisting purely of members of the same school can launch a school-specific Combination Attack using the entire team. Characters from the game retain this trend in crossovers; Kyosuke has a super combo with his school partners in Capcom vs. SNK 2, and Batsu has a team super combo based on his partner's specialty in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom.
    • Teaming Ryu and Ken in X-Men vs. Street Fighter or Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter would allow them to do a Double Shinku Hadoken. The Power of Friendship at its finest, especially since Ken has never had a giant beam or fireball as a Super Combo.
    • Another example would be Ultimate Muscle: Legends VS New Generation,the crossover game between Kinnikuman and Its Sequel in which any tagteam has a combination attack. Including the ones that were actually included in the anime, such as Muscle Docking and the Longhorn train.
    • Tekken Tag Tournament had a few specials like this as well. Get fellow luchas King II and Armour King on a tag team, have King do an Irish Whip, and Armour King can come up to powerslam the victim while King buggers off for a beer. Paul and Law in particular have an intricate double tag combo requiring well-timed button presses.
      • The second Tag Tournament introduces Tag Assaults, which are Bound combos that cause your partner to run onscreen and perform a short string before control returns to your main fighter. Balcony crashes also require both characters (you blast your opponent through the break point while your partner catches them with a combo below).
    • In Street Fighter EX 3, certain characters had team finishers that could only be done in certain situations with certain characters on a team that weren't hinted at in game.
    • Street Fighter X Tekken has a number of ways your characters can join forces to do damage, ranging from Cross Rushes (launch combos that swap partners), Cross Arts (the purest use of the trope, where one character performs a super move then tosses the hapless opponent to their partner, who proceeds to execute their own), or Cross Assaults (a short period where both characters appear onscreen and are controllable to launch a simultaneous barrage against the lone opponent).
  • Pokemon Trainer's Final Smash in Super Smash Bros. Brawl consists in him releasing all 3 of his Pokémon to each launch a massive combined elemental attack.
    • Also, the Ice Climbers attack in tandem as long as both are present.
      • Not to mention Master and Crazy Hand's tag-team moves, such as the "fist-bump", "wake-up clap", and "bring it on".
    • Removing the "friendly fire" option in Melee and brawl can have some interesting results, such as the "Anyone w/ Bowser" Tagteam, or the Glitch-created Mr.Game & Watch Ness blast attack.
  • Several characters' ultimate attacks in Dragonball Z Budokai 3 (and some of the more recent games, too) involve another character showing up to join in the attack. The Data Cardass Arcade games (Built on the Budokai 3 engine, released only in Japan) even had a system specifically devoted to being able to combine two character's ultimate attacks into one combination attack.
  • Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 3 (Narutimate Hero 3 in Japan) has three Combination Ultimate Jutsu that are like this. Ultimate Lotus of Love and Youth for Rock Lee and Might Guy, Eternal Rivals for Kakashi and Might Guy and Combo Rasengan for Naruto and Jiraiya. Each attack can be executed by either character in battle, and both characters perform the attack together.
  • The Bleach DS fighters have only one of these when Kyoraku and Ukitake are in a team. It's not foolproof, but is respectably destructive.
  • Dead or Alive games have these when playing in team mode. Most characters get unique attacks when switching out to certain partners. May or may not be more powerful than their normal switch-out beatdown.
  • Basically, the entire reason the Assist system was implimented in Dissidia Final Fantasy is to allow for unique combos that would ordinarily be impossible.
  • In Street Fighter Alpha 3, when Juni and Juli are fighting the together, they gain the ability to perform two additional Super Combos that they don't get to use individually: the Psycho Roll and Death Cross Dance.
  • Kinnikuman: Muscle Fight
    • Kinnikuman calls upon Terryman for Buster Docking part 5 and Muscle Docking. Kinnikuman Great can do Muscle Docking with Kinnikuman.
    • Robin Mask can do several with Warsman. One ends with the Robin Special. One ends with Robin Mask doing a Tower Bridge while Warsman performs a Palo Special on the tag partner.
    • Warsman has the Scrap Screwdriver with Scrap Sandayu, which is a reference to his cameo as Battleman in the Scrap Sandayu manga.
    • Wolfman/Rikishiman has the Most Dangerous Combination with Brocken Jr. It ends with the tag-team tossing the poor foe towards the moon.
    • Ashuraman and Sunshine can call upon each other during some of their supers.
    • Kendaman and Screw Kid have supers in which one calls the other since they were a tag-team in the manga.
    • Mongolman and Buffaloman can do the Longhorn Train attack.
    • Neptuneman and Big the Budo/Neptune King can do the Cross Bomber and Mask the End. Neptuneman can do a version of the Cross Bomber that kills his foe instantly, provided he is in Mask Hunt mode. As a Justice Choujin, Neptuneman can do the Cross Bomber, the Cross Enzuigiri, the Ganryu Island Drop and the Rainbow Suplex with Kinnikuman
    • Bikeman has the Electromachines super. Mr. VTR leaps into the ring and shrinks the opponent. Bikeman runs over the opponent a few times in motorcycle form before Mr. VTR changes the arena. Bikeman leaps out the ring and drives up a nearby ramp. Bikeman falls on top of the miniaturized opponent with his helmet and crushes them to death.
    • Team Big Body have combination attacks with each other as super attacks.
    • Mammothman has the Choujin Decoration Tree attack. Prismman and Kinnikuman Super Phoenix grab the opponent with leg locks and Mammothman headbutts the center of the foe for massive damage.
    • Kinniku Suguru can do a Cross Bomber with Robin Mask.
    • Fraulein Brocken can call upon Jade and do a Cross Red Rain of Berlin with him.
    • The Bermuda III Brothers' level 3 super is the Bermuda Triangle Hold. It ends with the three brothers slamming their foe into the canvas with a catastrophic height.

Hack and Slash

  • Dynasty Warriors Gundam has kind of fake variants. They are called Combo Attacks but are essentially each character's own special attack with a more or less slight powerup.
    • Which in some cases an understatement. Strike Freedom, for example, goes from using its BFG in a stationary Beam Spam attack (which is good for single units, like rival Gundams) to making a series of short, controllable dashes, hacking away with its Laser Sword, firing off all of its DRAGOON units as it goes (naturally, this is great for tearing apart packs of Mooks like tinfoil).
      • Every game in the Warriors franchise has this as well.

Mecha Game

  • Many games in the Super Robot Wars have a number of attacks that are available only when certain teammates (in certain mecha) are together when the attack is made, particularly if they're from the same series and are close friends. Famous attacks include the Rampage Ghost, Twin Bird Strike, Tatsumaki Zankantou, Royal Heart Breaker, Double Gekigan Flare, and Final Dynamic Special.
    • The series also eliminates the common complaint about Combination Attacks by letting the participants activate it individually. So even if the two attacks individually do more damage combined than the Combination, you can do the Combination twice and still come out ahead. This is particularly exploitable in the Original Generation games with the SRX team, a Combining Mecha composed of three robots who also have a separate Combination Attack: You can separate the SRX, do the Combination Attack twice, then recombine and perform the SRX's own absurdly powerful Wave Motion Gun Combination Attack with a fourth mecha, all in one turn.
    • Endless Frontier has Reiji's and Xiaomu's Frontier MAX attack be a combination attack. In EXCEED, Aredy can start combinations with the Arkuon, Neige with the Fey-Clyde, Haken with the Gespenst Phantom, Reiji with Xiaomu, and Reiji again with both Xiaomu and Saya (but Xiaomu now has her own personal Frontier MAX as well). Meanwhile, Axel Almer and Alfimi count as a single unit, so all their attacks are in unison.
    • Interestingly, a lot of these combo attacks are done in canon, but plenty of them are changed due to Rule of Cool. Example: The original Final Dynamic Special involved Getter G, Grendizer, Great Mazinger and Double Spazer. All games using Grendizer toss Double Spazer out for Mazinger Z. And depending on the canon, Mazinkaiser replaces Z and Shin Getter replaces G and Grendizer won't even show up at all!
    • Super Robot Wars NEO gives the Eldoran series units the Eldora Special
    • And Super Robot Wars Z 2: Hakai-hen adds the Invincible Special, a team-up of Sunrise's three "Invincible" robots (Daitarn 3, Zambot 3, Trider G7). Saisei-Hen gives us the Dankuu Souga Ken, which is like the X-Strike but with the two Dancougar.
  • Starting from the second game, the Another Century's Episode series has combination attacks when you sortie with at least one wingman. Certain pairings of characters have special combos, ranging from the obvious (Double Gekigan Flare!) to the ludicrous (Wing Zero Custom + Gundam X or Freedom and Justice with METEORs = record pain).
    • The third game has Shin Getter Robo, which is actually 3 mechs in 1. It can perform a unique combination attack if you sortie alone.
  • SD Gundam G Generation doesn't tend to include combination attacks, but they pop up on occasion (for example, Chaos, Gaia, and Abyss get one in Wars). The most famous example from G Gen isn't even playable; a Cutscene in Neo shows the Wing Team attempt an attack on Master Asia—which fails primarily because it's Old Master Master freaking Asia.

Platformer

Real-Time Strategy

  • Advance Wars: Dual Strike introduced the Tag system, whereby two COs are selected and switched in and out to make strategic use of their abilities. When both of the their power meters are fully charged, they can use a Tag Power, which effectively grants two turns using both of their Super CO Powers in succession. Several COs have "Tag Breaks" with one another, which increases the potency of the attack. Many of these Tag Breaks are bona fide Game Breakers.
  • EndWar on the DS has a gameplay mechanic somewhat similiar to this, attacks made against a unit that is surrounded by enemies get a significant boost even if those other units aren't attacking it.
  • Though not technically an intended instance of this trope, hero spells from the RTS game Warcraft 3 may be cast simultaneously for a much greater effect. This trope appears primarily in multiplayer environment, where many of these moves became cookie cutter with their repeated use, and are the driving force behind some of the strategies and counter-strategies, often faling into a category of the dreaded Game Breaker.
    • - Tauren Chieftain's Shockwave + Farseer's Chain Lightning, = Chainwave
    • - Death Knight's Death Coil + Lich's Frost Nova = Coil Nova
    • In Defense of the Ancients, a popular custom map for Warcraft 3, the gameplay revolves mostly around proper timing and aim of multiple hero skills.
  • In Brutal Legend the player's avatar (either Eddie Riggs, Dark Ophelia, or Emperor Doviculus) can do double team attacks with any friendly unit during stage battles.

Roleplaying Game

  • In Growlanser III and IV, in order to cast higher level spells, two party members have to cast low level spells to form cooperative magic.
  • Sonic Chronicles had a few attacks that only worked if a certain character plus 1-3 others were in the 4-man/woman/mecha band at the same time. Luckily, this worked well, with amazing animations like Sonic becoming a ball so that Amy could throw him in the air and use her giant hammer to hit Sonic into the enemies like a tennis racket.
    • Also from the Sonic series, Whisker and Johnny in Rush Adventure do this attack where the former throws the latter at you. If you jump though, you won't get hurt. And most of the moves in Sonic Heroes (especially the team blasts), and some trigger moves in Sonic Advance 3.
  • Chrono Trigger was one of the first games to use combination attacks, allowing two or even all three party members to unleash devastating special movies. Chrono Cross also has Dual or Triple Techs, but unlike Chrono Trigger these are few in number (even more so given the game's Loads and Loads of Characters), and are really not worth the effort given the character combinations required to pull them off, and the fact that each can be used exactly once per combat... though Serge and Glenn's incarnation of X-Strike remains pretty damn effective.
  • Rogue Galaxy featured numerous Combination Attacks across a wide variety of party member, some of which were highly amusing and/or graphically impressive, but the most effective strategy remained attacking with the hero's sword. The same was true for most single-caster techniques.
  • The Phantasy Star series uses combination attacks that were triggered when the right attacks were used in order, leaving it up to the player to discover the correct combinations. Phantasy Star IV added the "Macro" system, allowing the player to set up macros that triggered them almost at will.
    • A large amount of them could kill enemies outright (depending on certain criteria: organic, bionic, dark, or all period). Also, even enemies could use them, but they are mercifully rare (and never the insta-kill ones).
  • Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles allowed characters to cast spells on the same target to form new ones, like Fire and Life spells combining to make Holy. The spells can become even stronger with proper timing, but really strong ones like Firaga+2 require all 4 players to cast their spells with about a second delay between each other. make sure the enemy isn't like, trying to attack you while you set this one up.
    • In Final Fantasy IX, putting black mage Vivi and Big Guy Steiner in the party together allows them to perform "Magic Sword" techniques, where one of Vivi's spells is channeled through Steiner's physical beatings.
    • And of course, the whole concept of combination attacks in FF series started with Palom and Porom of Final Fantasy IV, who could cast powerful unique spells with their Twin(cast) ability. The DS versions allows you to give the Twincast command to other characters as well, resulting in several new unique spells, including the fan favourite Ultima (which is produced by twincasting with Cecil and Rosa) that eventually outdamages everything else in the game once you remove the damage Cap. The sequel, Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, adds Band Abilities that allows party members to partner together for certain attacks. While most character pairs only have a single Band attack between them, thanks to Loads and Loads of Characters and the fact that the parties consist of up to 5 characters, the grand total greatly exceeds even that of Chrono Trigger's. It also averts the common problem of attacks ending up doing less damage than its component parts by having some of the stronger ones break the damage cap and for the ones that don't, an accessory can take care of it.
    • Final Fantasy XI has Skillchains, which result from properly timed and executed Weapon Skills in succession, which gives an extra bit of elemental damage. Mages can then correctly time a spell and Magic Burst the target, which doesn't have a separate animation but does significantly boost the damage of the spell. Unfortunately, with various changes over the past few years, many don't bother with either of these nowadays.
    • Part of the entire basis of the gameplay in Final Fantasy XIII is coordinating attacks, since combos boost attack strength and enemies after Chapter 5 or so start packing millions of hit points.
  • Mass Effect has some minor examples, mostly involving having one character use Lift and another shoot the newly out-of-cover foe, or multiple Lifts and Throws to fling Geth Colossi around the field in the first game. The second lets Warp cause people already under the effect of a biotic power to explode, and the third game allows tech attacks like Overload and Incinerate to be combined, as well, though Biotic Explosions are still the strongest.
  • Dragon Age: Origins has some spell combos, such when two force fields result in an explosion centered on target. While the spells can be cast by the same character in succession, it is more efficient if fired by two mages.
  • Tales of Symphonia has Unison Attacks, which allow all four party members to use a special move in succession. If the right combination of special moves are used, they will "double-tech" together and create a final-addition attack on the enemy at the end.
    • Tales of Rebirth has its Secret Justice moves, extremely powerful attacks that are triggered by an attacking character and a supporting character. The characters must also be a combo of a mage and melee attacker, reached a certain level with the required characters and a certain battle count, have all party members, and for Annie and Eugene, past a certain event. Then there's the hidden counter whenever a Latent Ability activates from your equipment. Another requirement? Only one enemy on the field or less than 10% of its HP remaining if it's a boss. Last thing to do is to press X when "FINALITY CHARGE BREAK" appears on the screen. Seriously, you can't miss it since the screen colour changes a bit too. So much work just to end the battle in a flashy way... Very specific indeed. Oh, and let's not get started on the Dual the Sun hi-ougi, with its specific button input, requires 3 (Mao, Hilda, Eugene) party members to execute, Hilda and Eugene to initiate, and 2 controllers connected to the MAGES (Mao and Hilda).
    • Invented in Tales of Eternia, where Rid or Farah using certain techs at the same time as a certain spell was cast would combine the two into a special elemental weapon technique.
    • In Tales of the Abyss, using an elemental-flavored special move would leave a "Field Of Fonons" on the ground. Stand in that Field and perform the right special move(s), and the two would Double-Tech into something completely new. The same character could lay down a Field and then exploit it, thus allowing one-person Combination Attacks. Having said that, most techs only dropped half-strength Fields, meaning you'd have to do two of the same element just to create a Field to double-tech with, so this is a weird situation where double-person Combination attacks are less viable than solo ones.
    • In Tales of Hearts, Unison Attacks can only be done when one character isn't even in battle. They're always between a character who's in battle and another one who's been called in from the back through the Assist Arte mechanic. This essentially allows a character to alter and/or power up their own move or spell by spending the CG to summon the assister.
    • Tales of Xillia has tons of these, and they can be activated as long as you have a segment of the overlimit gauge filed. Alternatively, you can let the gauge max out and enter Overlimit mode, where they can be chained together rapidly for the duration, even switching your partner for the attacks in the process.
  • Dragon Quest Swords: lets you spend your Master Stroke counter and some of your companion's MP into these.Although they don't cause nearly as much damage as some slightly more advanced Master Strokes.
  • All of the Mario & Luigi RPGs feature combination attacks for special moves, requiring careful timing and coordination to pull off. Super Star Sagas Bros. Attacks all rely on the Bros physical capabilities, often incorporating the various field techniques into attacks. These attacks can be advanced into different attacks (for example, instead of pelting the enemy with multiple fireballs, one huge fireball is made and launched at the enemy instead). The later games use item-driven special attacks, but they still involve co-operation of the 2-4 brothers.
    • In Bowser's Inside Story Bowser himself demonstrates a variation where he teams up with his minions, such as turning a regular Goomba Zerg Rush into the equivalent of artillery rain.
    • An unique non-example is from the original Super Mario RPG where Bowser gets a Mario Doll weapon. If Mario is conscious when Bowser attacks with it, the doll assumes Mario's place and Bowser throws a surprised Mario at the enemy.
    • For extra hilarity, note that in other Mario games, it's normally Mario throwing Koopas.
  • Suikoden has the United Attack, which can only be used with certain people in your party but is generally more effective than having them attack singularly.
  • Shin Megami Tensei has a lot of this...
  • Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga (and its sequel) has a Combo System, which merely requires that the characters you're using each has a particular skill equipped - then the combo appears in a separate menu. Many of the comboes are simply more powerful attacks that you'd be able to use singularly at a later date - others are unique attacks and spells which cannot be found in any other way. As a whole, they're only really useful early in the game, however...
  • Persona 3 has Fusion Spells, (Mix Raids in the Japanese version) that can only be used by the Main Character. It requires him to have two specific personas in his inventory at the same time, and one of them must be equipped. They require a percentage of the Main's maximum SP in order to cast it. Effects range from full party healing, high chance of causing status ailments, but of course, the best of the lot are "Infinity" (makes party invincible for 1 turn) and "Armageddon", which against any enemy besides the final boss and the optional boss is an "I Win" Button (especially since an ability of the persona required to get it is to regain all your MP and HP when you win a battle).
    • To elaborate, Armageddon does 9999 damage, but the optional boss has 20000 and the final boss uses the below "Armageddon R".
    • The All-Out Attacks from the same game count too, in which the whole team charges in and beats the crap out of the enemies if they have all been disabled, complete with an animated dustcloud fighting with Batman-esque "pows!" and "biffs!", which usually deals a significant amount of damage to the enemies. The mechanic comes back in Persona 4.
      • Fusion Spells in 4, however, are absent. Until The Golden that is, but they seem to work more like in Persona 2, where it takes two party members to execute it.
    • In Persona 2, Armaggedon kills absolutely everything. Even Hitler.
      • It doesn't kill the Bonus Boss, Philemon in the EX Dungeon. Instead he COUNTERS you by using it on your whole party if you try it. (It's known as Armageddon R.)
      • Persona 3 Portable adds even more opportunities with the Double Team attack, although you only need to disable one enemy and it's pretty much only when your ally feels like it.
      • They work differently in Persona 2 and 3.
      • In Persona 2, two upwards party members use specific moves (a few even need specific Personas, meaning most or all of the orders to the party have to be exactly as specified), to create a stronger move.
      • In Persona 3, since only the protagonist is controllable and only he can change Personas, all he needs in two specific Personas, and then he can use the Fusion Spell. The ideas of moves defining the spell and two or more people being involved don't appear in 3.
      • The change is justified - the series has been generally changed (to fit with the Tarot Motifs of Death, which means rebirth in general).
  • Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army has Combination Arts. Leveling up Raidou's familiars will usually cause them to learn a special combo, and effects range from nullifying (or even better, absorbing) elements for a period of time, super-charged shots or strikes from Raidou's gun or katana, to attacks that decimate every enemy on-screen.
  • Strange Journey has a variant: whenever one of your monsters hits an enemy's weakness, every other monster of the same alignment (Law, Neutral or Chaos) will pile up some extra Almighty-type damage.
  • Shin Megami Tensei:Imagine Has build up charge over battles to allow combination attacks between your owned demons. The type of attack depends on the demon types. So comboing jack frost in grham will be the same attack as pixie and grham as pixie and jack frost are both fairies. these are usually more useful than individual attacks.
  • Kingdom Hearts II absolutely loves these. There is a Combination Attack for every party member and several summons. Donald and Goofy get two each, plus a triple Combination Attack that is one of the strongest ones in the game.
    • Quadruple. There's also Final Form, which combines Sora, Roxas, Donald, and Goofy. Or whoever you have with you at the time, though you can't have any fewer people in your party than the ones mentioned.
    • In Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, there's the Dimensional-Link, which lets you invoke the powers of characters such as Zack, Stitch, Mickey and strangely enough, Maleficent.
      • It also has traditional Combination Attacks when you're fighting together with other characters, but since all such occurences are plot-dictated and non-repeatable, it's easy to miss them.
  • This is pretty much the gist of Mana Khemia's Variable Strike. "Everyone, please!"
  • Large Staple of the Saga series from SaGa Frontier onward. You can combine Magic and Physical attacks all into one assault dealing up to 10,000 damage and possibly over that, Perhaps the best of them all is The Wheel Vortex in Romancing SaGa Minstrel Song; in fact the Combination attack: The Dragon is required to complete a quest.
  • Used in Wild ARMs 4 and Wild ARMs 5. In 4, there were four party members that were always all used at once, and there was a combo for every possible combination of two and three characters, plus a secret one for the whole party. In 5, there are six party members, of which you can use three at any given time, and there's a combo for each possible pair.
    • In Alter Code:F, a front row character can perform one with a back row (inactive) character positioned directly behind. The back row character must be equipped with the Assist Blitz skill. It occurs randomly when using a normal attack.
  • Breath of Fire IV also had a combo system where casting any two compatible skills (or spells) sequentially caused their effects to combine, resulting in additional hits/damage, or entirely new, mixed-element spells. Some of the game's Masters specifically request combos exceeding a certain amount of damage or number of hits.
  • In Skies of Arcadia, once you become captain of your own ship you can perform two special moves, one where all four characters in your party call down an attack and the other where every member of your crew turns up either inflicting damage to the enemy or healing the party. However because you needed max SP to perform these moves most players only used them once or twice to see what happens.
  • The Pokémon move "Beat Up" is a Combination Attack of all your Pokémon, which actually does take in account the Attack values of the Pokémon involved, but leaves out some of the subtler attack mechanics in order to make it work.
    • And now in Black and White versions, in double and triple battles, using two of the Pledge moves in a certain order will produce new results, such as using Water Pledge followed by Fire Pledge creating a rainbow which basically grants you the Serene Grace ability for four turns.
  • In The World Ends With You, everyone of your partners can perform three different forms of this with Neku, and beware when Joshua channels all your partners energy through his Jesus beam in the last battle.....
  • Sailor Moon RPG: Another Story had a TON of combo spells, called "link techniques". All you had to do to acquire them was to put them together in your diary menu and press start, and the game would automatically reveal (and remember) any applicable link techs. The power of the Link Techs were dependent on a special stat that increased the more the characters in question used Link Techs.
  • Penny Arcade Adventures lets two or three of your characters combine their special attacks into one team-up attack. However, since those don't develop, and lack a power-boosting minigame, they usually only see use against enemies weak against them.
    • It's also a matter of timing the three characters varying speeds. Letting the other two wait until Gabe's bar fills is a losing proposition.
  • Brave Story: New Traveler lets you learn new combination techniques the more you fight alongside certain party members. As long as both (or all three) characters are able to fight and have sufficient SP, you can use the combo technique more than once per turn.
  • Ar tonelico 2 has the Reyvatiels able to use Synchronity Chains after getting into sync through use of Psyche attacks, and the securing of the knowledge of the Combo Magic. While just triggering the chain without a song that evolves to Combo Magic is still good (A very much extended Attack Phase), the Combo Magic can get scary powerful when amped up with Replakia and high Burst...
  • The Fusion moves in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2.
  • Wild ARMs 3, while not having the same kind of combo attacks as the games to follow it, has a few attacks that utilize the power of teamwork. First is Janus and his lackeys Dario and Romero, who use a triple-attack they call The Trinity, and specifically state that all 3 of them must be present to use it. Later on, the Schroedinger family uses a move called Wild Bunch, which combines their various talents (Alfred's bombs, Todd's sword, and Shady's fire breath) for a rather powerful attack against your whole team. Finally, your own team gets one (of sorts) with the Arc Impulse arcana, which has its base power increased for each ally you have defending. With one person casting it and the other three defending, it becomes surprisingly powerful, but of course, with only one person attacking in a single round and no one to heal or support, this strategy is pretty much Awesome but Impractical.
  • Septerra Core: Grubb and Led have one. All multi-card spells require one team member per card, so technically they are too.

Shoot-Em-Up

  • Touhou Soccer has extremely over-the-top special attacks for its characters, but their combination strikes really take the cake (and stud it with spikes, set it on fire, then hurl it at the goalie at the speed of sound). For example, Remilia Scarlet + Flandre Scarlet = Kiss Thine Arse Goodbye. Marisa, Alice, and Patchouli's combo, "Master Blade," is notable for destroying the damn stadium, while Cirno and Letty's combination ends predictably for Cirno.
    • Oddly enough, it's one of Ran's abilities (and it's NOT a combination, either!) that's the only one actually capable of (briefly) BREAKING that ball.
    • Sakuya and Eirin have a rather odd case of an accidental Combination Attack, during which they're trying to kill each other
    • And when it comes to canon games, the Prismrivers and three fairies of Perfect Cherry Blossom and Fairy Wars respectively do this. The Prismrivers do it for a few spellcards. The three fairies do this at the end of any of the routes except the extra stage (though the midbosses of the extra stage also do a combination attack pattern), and there is only one nonspell in which only the leader (the leader depends on the route taken, and it does effect the actual battle for many of the spellcards) is alone in the final battle.
    • The fangame Concealed the Conclusion has several combination spellcards between Yukari, Ran and Chen, and another one between Yukari and Yuyuko.
  • In the two-player mode of Twinbee, there are two different ones - one if the players line up horizontally, and one if they line up vertically.

Stealth-Based Game

Third-Person Shooter

  • Gears of War and its sequel allow player to use the chainsaw bayonet on the same enemy simultaneously. Since the chainsaw bayonet is a one-hit kill anyway, it's kind of overkill, but still looks pretty awesome.
  • In Lost Planet 2's multiplayer mode, there is the Support Cannon, which is pretty much this. A player with a support weapon can pull this out, then up to 3 more players can join in an attack that is very reminiscent of Super Sentai series. Depending on the type of support weapon the main player uses, and the weapons the supporters are equipped with, different attacks can result. Usually, the Support Cannon fires a big red laser, but it can also throw a giant fireball or be used like Big Freaking Laser Blade.

Tower Defense

Turn-Based Strategy

  • Placing several characters in close proximity next to an enemy in Disgaea allows for a percentage chance that the characters will perform a combo attack, up to four characters. Disgaea 2 ups the ante by adding Tower Attacks. Disgaea 3 takes it even further by allowing two characters to combine special attacks together with almost no restrictions.
    • Galaxy Omega Star! And its not even Galaxy Tetra Star; maybe they need the Uber Prinny to join in.
    • Also, the page quote references the other kind of combo, which consists of ordering several characters to attack a same enemy in succession, granting them an attack bonus. By placing your characters correctly, you can cumulate the boosts of both methods (well, not to its full potential, because it would require 12 characters and you're only allowed 10).
  • Known as Triangle Attacks in Fire Emblem which are automatically executed if 3 characters from the same class (often Pegasus Knights)surround an enemy and anyone of them launches an attack on the unlucky foe.
  • Final Fantasy Tactics Advance also has them. In that case, they require Judge Points. When initiated by any character, allies with a combo ability set in range of the target also attack the same enemy. Amusingly, the mechanics are simply based on each character adding a multiplier to the initiator's attack, so if this is done with a Healing Shiv, everyone is joining in on a healing beat-down.
  • In Ogre Battle 64, magic users in the same row have a chance to combine their spells into a more powerful one as long as the spell types and elements were compatible.
  • In La Pucelle Tactics, allies that stand close to one another can sometimes use combination attacks on the enemy. Also, if you enter a battle with an enemy unit, any ally units also attacking that unit or standing next to you or the enemy unit are also drawn into the battle to fight at the same time. This also works in reverse for the enemies.
  • The Sakura Taisen games have special combination attacks that the player's character can launch alongside the girl with the highest current Relationship Values. Since each girl's Combination Attack is very different, this adds strategic importance to the Dating Sim portions of the game.
  • Continuing the Turn-Based Strategy examples: Hoshigami: Ruining Blue Earth was an underplayed (due to bad design choices leading to Nintendo Hard) PS 1 title in which you could set up a "Session." Characters in Session would hit an enemy in the direction they (the characters) were facing, presuming an enemy was fed to them using the "Shoot" command; getting all six charcters involved in a Session was an almost-guaranteed One Hit Kill, and had the added bonus of possibly looting their equipment.
    • The Spiritual Successor to Hoshigami, Stella Deus: The Gate of Eternity, had a much more standard combination attack: each character had a specific zone around them in which they would propagate Aura effects; if an enemy was within the Zone of at least two allies, the two could initiate a Combination attack. As with Tales of Symphonia, two characters related by plot (lovers Avis and Lumena, Power Trio Spero Grey & Adara, etc) would use a unique attack instead of a standard animation. Unusually, Combination Attacks were not restricted to the party; enemies—even faceless Mooks—could use them.
  • Soul Nomad and The World Eaters has dozens of combination attacks, divided into "certain combinations of ranged, melee, and magic classes in a squad", "certain number of a single class" and the usual "Certain combinations of the main characters." In fact, each main character had a combination attack with the main character, and pulling them off helped determine their Relationship Values.
  • Shining Force Feather has Union Attacks, where two characters pool their Force Points and combination attack a target at the same time, and Connect Attacks, where two or more characters who would normally go sequentially can combine their turns into one long combo.
  • Not a straight example, since they can be executed by a single mage character, but Dragon Age: Origins has "spell combos" triggered by casting certain spells in sequence (which are added to The Codex when first discovered). The most common example is probably Shattering: freeze the target with Petrify or Cone of Cold, then use Stone Fist, Crushing Prison or a Critical Hit.
  • Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgement has Team Attacks, which are randomly triggered if a character with a high leadership-based stat scores a hit on the enemy, there is a chance of a nearby ally being exhorted to chip in with a bonus attack. If you're really lucky and surrounding an enemy, this could lead to all four characters whaling on the enemy in one go.
  • Namco X Capcom allows characters to use special attacks known as Multiple Assaults, which are distinct from its normal combat system. These attacks target multiple enemies or require multiple units, though not necessarily both (some target only one enemy, while some like Taizo Hori's only need one unit to use).

Sport

  • Inazuma Eleven has load of this, though those skills are actually activated by one person, and there's also a chain shoot system that two more players can chain up a continuous attack using individual techniques.

Web Comics

Web Original

  • Super Mario Bros Z has fight scenes famous for the main heroes doing double-team attacks. It's for the sake of Rule of Cool, and boy does it work.
  • By Volume 2 of RWBY, Team RWBY has worked out some impressive combo attacks, among them a fog bank and projectile ice attacks. And in the first episode of Volume 4, Ruby and Nora do... something together that just manifests as the two of them hurtling toward their target in a spiraling pink-and-red blur, followed by its total destruction.
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