Trivia Note | Why is the Hero's party made up of 4 people?
The Hero's party that appears in games and anime.
The Hero.
The Warrior.
The Cleric.
The Mage.
For some reason, they travel in a group of four.
But, don't you ever wonder?
Why is it four people?
Three people would seem fine too.
Six people would also seem strong.
And yet, for some reason, a four-person Hero's party is the standard.
Of course, there are narrative reasons.
It's about the division of roles.
The Warrior protects from the front.
The Cleric heals.
The Mage attacks from a distance.
And the Hero fills in the gaps between them.
It is certainly an easy-to-understand composition.
But, if we change our perspective a little here,
Old home game consoles were not as high-performance as they are today.
The screens were small.
The information that could be displayed was limited.
You couldn't line up a large number of enemies or allies.
What if the Hero's party had eight people?
Who attacked?
Who took damage?
Who is the healer?
It seems like it would be difficult just to look at the screen.
Therefore,
Easy to control.
Easy to fit on the screen.
Easy to remember.
A four-person party was adopted.
The four members of the Hero's party,
might not have been the optimal number for an adventure,
but rather the number that was easiest for the game consoles of that time to handle.
If the number of people in the party saving the world,
was actually decided by the limitations of the Famicom,
don't you think that's a slightly interesting story?
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