Nintendo has developed a habit of partnering up a little buddy to accompany their typically mute protagonist. It serves as a way to deliver exposition and tutorials and if done right, it can be one of the more endearing parts of their game. Some of the examples include Navi from Ocarina of Time, King of the Red Lions in Wind Waker, Tippi in Super Paper Mario, Ribbon in Kirby 64, Midna in Twilight Princess, and Cappy in Super Mario Odyssey. Of course this isn't just a Nintendo thing as we've also had Miles "Tails" Prowler, perhaps the original tag along Buddy, in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Issun from Okami, and Cortana from Halo. 

So, out of gaming's grand history of tag alongs, who is your favorite?

Ellie from TLoU:Pt1. There is no competition. (edit: I just realized you weren’t asking for specifically from Nintendo games.)

You named a lot of great ones already :)

The Zelda franchise is the master at this, in my mind. So many iconic companions. I’ll mention Ezlo here, who might be the funniest one.

Cortana in Halo 1-3 is amazing. Then things went off the rails…

Koppa from the Shiren series is another good one. Tama from Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin. Navirou in Monster Hunter Stories and its sequel.

Banjo and Kazooie.

Nothing comes close, not even Yooka and Laylee.

Kazooie's interactions with Banjo is great.

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I guess another one of my favorites is though not one tag along buddy but 3 - is the brotherhood from Final Fantasy XV (Noctis who had Ignis, Gladio and Prompto). 

Damn, those interactions they had during side quests/open world made up for the shit story the main game had.

Ratchet & Clank, always ready with some snappy commentary.

Great thread idea.

Most of mine have already been named; Kazooie, Midna, and Cortana.

I am gonna throw in Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite; her powers are cool, she's never a burden, and the game did a brilliant job of making me genuinely care about her thanks to great writing and voice acting.

As a character:

As a useful gameplay companion:

Can't believe I didn't think of her immediately. Good choice. 

oh shoot i forgot Banjo! That’s definitely second for me.

Grimoire Weiss in Neir Replicant. He was the main character in my opinion. 

There are a few in The Witcher 3 that were very enjoyable too, maybe too enjoyable because cause they were often fleeting experiences, like the tag along bit through the fairy tale world in Blood and Wine deserved to be bolstered out more, it was sooooo good. With Sylvia...