Siliconera.com has pointed out a new patent application filed by Square Enix that lists veteran game designer Tetsuya Nomura as the inventor of a new character switching battle system. Including numerous sketches of the proposed function as well as indicating its use within both the RPG and Action RPG genres, the new battle system is described as allowing a player character to switch to and control a temporary character during combat, gaining that characters stats/special abilities until time runs out and you are automatically switched back to the main character.
It sounds a bit confusing, but you can see the full details and sketches here on Siliconera. Oh, and it’s worth noting that while the patent is not specific to a particular platform, it is designed for a “portable gaming apparatus” and the diagrams feature a device that most closely resembles Sony’s PSP.