History BrickJoke / Videogames

** One of the things mentioned by the Announcer is the fact that "All Aperture Science Personality Constructs will remain functional in apocalyptic, low-power environments of as few as 1.1 volts." This becomes important when [[spoiler:GLaDOS is transferred to a potato battery, which is determined to generate only 1.1 volts of electricity.]]

* The Winstrate family in ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'' can be fought around the same time as the third gym. After you beat them all--the dad, mom, girl, and grandma, [[AlphabeticalThemeNaming who all have names starting with V]]--they all brag about their fifth family member, a boy, who is supposedly far stronger than any of them, though they don't tell you his name. Much later, on the final route before the [[FinalBoss Pokemon League]], you meet a male trainer named Vito who says he trained with his whole family. After you become the first trainer to ever beat him, he loses his over-confidence and doesn't even want to challenge the League anymore.

* In the first act of ''VideoGame/TheCurseOfMonkeyIsland'', Elaine is about to punch Guybrush when she finds out the engagement ring he gave her is cursed, when the curse kicks in and she turns into a gold statue. Near the end of the game, Elaine is freed of the curse and finishes punching Guybrush.
** The ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland'' series is full of these. Throwaway lines like [[spoiler:"I can hold my breath for 10 minutes"]] can come back into play ''much'' later. We say "can" because sometimes a punchline is delivered after the player has been allowed to roam around freely.

* The first mission of ''VideoGame/ThiefIITheMetalAge'' is freeing a servant from her master so she can get married to a freind of Garret's in the third mission where you are sneaking into a police station you can find the manor lord filing a missing person report for the servant you snuck out.

* In ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes2DesperateStruggle'', Sylvia tempts Travis into rejoining the ranked fights with the promise of sex, telling him she's an expert in yoga positions. Travis's first thought was "...like, downward dog?" [[spoiler:Late in the game, the two finally resolve their {{U|nresolvedSexualTension}}ST, and after the [[DestructoNooky earth shaking, sign-destroying sex]], Travis charges out of his apartment and screams for all to hear, '''''DOWNWARD [[PrecisionFStrike FUCKING]] DOG!!!''''']]

* ''VisualNovel/VirtuesLastReward'' has many, most of them subtle in-jokes.
** The most obvious one being Phi's "man" speech at the start of the game. Not only does she repeat it right at the end of the game in the [[spoiler:"another time" branch to "Kyle"]], but she also uses the punchline, "I am no man", at another time in the middle of the game in response to Dio's words.
** There's also when Phi jokes to Sigma in one of the timelines about him seeing her in a swimsuit, just before [[spoiler:they're all killed by a bomb]]. In another timeline, Sigma recalls information from this timeline, and brings up Phi's "promise" of swimsuit "action". This is also a brick joke to one of the hidden files, which is labled "swimsuit" and mentions how "Sigma, or the author, seems to be unusually obsessed with swimsuits".
** A lot of the jokes and throw-away lines come back to gain significance later on. One of the jokes right at the start of the game involves the word "grandpa", which goes on to gain significance with the game's final, and most major plot twist: [[spoiler:the fact that Sigma is actually 67 years old]].

* The first mission of ''VideoGame/{{Thief2TheMetalAge}}'' is freeing a servant from her master so she can get married to a freind of Garret's in the third mission where you are sneaking into a police station you can find the manor lord filing a missing person report for the servant you snuck out.

* The second episode of ''[[VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice Sam and Max Beyond Time and Space]]'', "Moai Better Blues", has the duo trying to prevent Easter Island from being destroyed by a volcano. They do this by [[ItMakesSenseInContext getting the Bermuda Triangle to stop in front of the volcano]] and let lava flow into it. At the end of the final episode "What's New Beelzebub?", [[spoiler:the Soda Poppers]] are stranded on an island in the middle of a lava flow swearing revenge, saying they will return. Immediately, the Bermuda Triangle reappears and douses them with lava.

* The first mission of ''VideoGame/{{Theif2TheMetalAge}}'' is freeing a servant from her master so she can get married to a freind of Garret's in the third mission where you are sneaking into a police station you can find the manor lord filing a missing person report for the servant you snuck out.

* The second episode of ''[[VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice Sam and Max Beyond Time and Space]]'', "Moai Better Blues", has the duo trying to prevent Easter Island from being destroyed by a volcano. They do this by getting the Bermuda Triangle ([[ItMakesSenseInContext I know]]) to stop in front of the volcano and let lava flow into it. At the end of the final episode "What's New Beelzebub?", [[spoiler:the Soda Poppers]] stand on an island in the middle of a lava flow swearing revenge, saying they will return. Immediately, the Bermuda Triangle reappears and douses them with lava.

* The second episode of ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice'', season two, has the duo trying to prevent Easter Island from being destroyed by a volcano. They do this by getting the Bermuda Triangle ([[ItMakesSenseInContext I know]]) to stop in front of the volcano and let lava flow into it. After the closing credits of the fifth episode, [[spoiler:the Soda Poppers]] stand on an island in the middle of a lava flow swearing revenge, saying they will return. Immediately, the Bermuda Triangle reappears and douses them with lava.

* In ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'', the player can make a quick stop on the way to their HEV suit to go into a kitchen, play with a microwave, and blow up whatever was inside. Three games later in ''VideoGame/HalfLife2: Episode Two'', almost ten years later real-life time, Arne Magnusson tells the player that he might forgive them for the Black Mesa incident..."involving a certain microwave casserole."

* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' has one heck of a Brick Joke. Near the beginning of the first game, after Isaac and Garet retrieve the Mars Star just before Mount Aleph erupts, the Wise One asks Isaac to hold it out so that he can cast some sort of psynergy on it. [[spoiler:What he had actually done was infuse Isaac and Garet with a little bit of the power of the Mars Star; thus, at the end of the second game, when they ignite the beacon atop the Mars Lighthouse, not all of its power goes into the creation of the Golden Sun. It's quite a rude awakening for Alex...]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Half Life 2}}'', Dr. Kleiner and Barney will offhandedly mention a cat while discussing a [[NoodleIncident previous teleporter experiment.]][[spoiler:Then, during the late second half of the game, during the uprising against the Combine, Barney will quip "Did you hear that?... That cat haunts me."]]
* Very early in ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'' the Announcer discusses what to do in the event of an animal king ruling over humanity, and an accompanying video screen shows it acted out with a massive leopard-print turret wearing a crown. [[spoiler:Then in the finale with the turret opera, you can see the animal-king turret singing in the background, every bit as massive, and even wearing the crown.]]
** You can also briefly spot an unusually wide turret in an elevator early on, then see it a short while later in a hidden room next to a pair of singing turrets. [[spoiler: Turns out it's [[BrawnHilda the lead singer]] for the aforementioned turret opera]]
** You hear a recording of Cave Johnson talking to his test subjects about the moon, the moon rocks he bought, crushed into dust and used in his experiments, [[spoiler: how the moon rock dust he breathed in gave him cancer]], and the special portal-able properties of the moon rock dust slurry he used to paint the walls of his test chambers. Much later, at the very end of the game, [[spoiler: during the climactic boss fight against Wheatley, the facility is shaking itself to pieces. A hole opens up in the roof. Through the hole, somehow, despite being hundreds of feet underground, Chell can see...the Moon. Which is, of course, covered in the one and only substance the Portal Gun can attach portals to. There is one remaining spot of portal-able floor, directly underneath Wheatley. Hilarity ensues.]]
** Every bit of dialogue in the Perpetual Testing Initiative references something from the game proper. It even has a black comedy version of it's own, where early on you are asked by a sickly boy to continue testing to help him find a cure, then (much) later Cave Prime chimes in to tell you that they had kept tabs on that universe just to find out what happened to the kid. The fact that the kid died didn't even faze Cave.
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfGraces'' : Asbel never gets to cleaning his desk. Ever.

** Also in ''Curse'', Guybrush sneaks aboard the Sea Monkey, but gets caught immediately. First mate Mr. Fossey says he can either walk the plank or be tarred and feathered. However, they only have enough tar to repair the ship if it gets wrecked, so Guybrush has to walk the plank. Guybrush cuts off the plank, forcing them to tar and feather him. After Guybrush wins the ship from them, he and his crew sail to Blood Island where they crash. Haggis laments that the ship's stores of tar are depleted, making it impossible to repair the ship.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'', early in the game the bridge across the river is blocked by a group of women chatting about how they dislike housework. One of them comments on how she's bad at cleaning her house and wishes there was someone to do it for her. A while later - after you find your Loftwing, race in the Wing Ceremony, fly with Zelda, wake up after she falls into the tornado, find Fi and get the Goddess Sword, you're finally able to go across the bridge, and if you go in her house you'll find that it's ''[[ExtremelyDustyHome completely]]'' [[ExtremelyDustyHome covered in dust and spiderwebs]]. Much later in the game, you finally get an item that is able to blow the dust out, so you do actually clean the house for her.

* ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' has too many to count. For instance, early on in the game, you meet Orange Kid who asks you to invest $50.00 in his inventions. All you get if you do it is a worthless music box that breaks after you use it. But after you defeat [[BigBad Giygas]], Orange Kid calls and says that someone invested millions in him, and makes fun of you if you didn't.

* ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'' has [[spoiler: Silver throwing cars at you for him being a moron because [[TooDumbToLive of him thinking you're an impostor.]] At the end, the cars he threw at you land on '''him''' when he's defeated.]]
** Also, at the very start of the game Sonic's [[TrademarkFavoriteFood birthday chilidog]] gets sucked up by the time rift that kicks off the plot. The very first thing that happens in the ending? Sonic catches the falling Chili dog and joyfully notes that it's still warm because [[TimeyWimeyBall he hasn't been gone for long in the real world.]]

** This itself was the punchline of another brick joke, where the week when the Medic update started, Scouts would randomly have doves fly out of them if they get gibbed with no explanation.
** In what can be considered a ludicrously long-planned brick joke, there were raid boss strings added during the first halloween update, followed not long after by strings that gave items RPG-like stat bonuses, and references to Robots during the Mannconomy Update. Initially, these were added in the updates because people could figure out what a future update would be by simply reading the strings, which were named in reference to what they were (like weapon names or stats). Most people forgot about these until, ''years later'', these were implemented in the Mann Vs Machine Update (which featured robots, upgradable weapons, and full-on Raid Bosses).

** In the Upper Wards Market in [[VideoGame/MassEffect1 the first game]], there's a human talking to a turian shopkeeper about a refund. The turian repeatedly refuses to grant the refund on grounds that the customer doesn't have a proof of purchase. Later on in [[VideoGame/MassEffect2 the second game]] he's outside a warehouse, still asking for his refund and still not getting it. [[VideoGame/MassEffect3 After 5 years and 3 games]] Shepard finally has the choice to finish the guy's quest once and for all. It turns out it was for [[spoiler:a toaster that cost 15 credits...]]

* ''Spider-Man 2'' has over a hundred Hint Markers (some not even Hints, but random trivia or [[ThrowItIn possible adlibbing]] from Creator/BruceCampbell), one of them says that, after every last one is collected, every marker will say "something different". Once you do... [[spoiler: They all ''[[LiteralMinded literally]]'' say "Something Different"]].

* In ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime'', the second tutorial boss is the Junior Shrooboid, who is green. [[spoiler: Later in the game, the Elder Shrooboid, who is red, shows up as the last boss before the final boss rush. Unless you realize the series's running gag with green being younger than red, you're not going to realize that the Elder Shrooboid will exist, and you'll slowly start forgetting about this throughout the game, as most of the game is in between these two bosses.]]
* In ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'', the player can make a quick stop on the way to their HEV suit to go into a kitchen, play with a microwave and blow up whatever was inside. Three games later in ''VideoGame/HalfLife2: Episode Two'', almost ten years later real-life time, Arne Magnusson tells the player that he might forgive them for the Black Mesa incident..."involving a certain microwave casserole."

*** Also in Half-Life 1 a common phrase by the guards is "Catch me later I'll buy you a beer". Later in Half-Life 2 you meet a former guard named Barney and the first thing he says to you is "About that beer I owed you."
* In ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'', when the crew first enters the TV world, Yosuke nearly wets his pants in the Ominous Bedroom. During the [[MultipleEndings normal ending]], when Teddie is trying to find [[spoiler: Adachi]], he comments that he "smells something funny" coming from that room.
** In the same game, Nanako believes that the weather forecasters control the weather. In the UpdatedRerelease, [[spoiler: Marie]] becomes a weather forecaster ''who actually controls the weather.''
** In one instance, Yukiko jokingly says that Teddie wearing a cape will look very silly. Then comes the [[VideoGame/Persona4Arena sequel]], with Teddie [[spoiler:actually Shadow Labrys]] makes his entrance with outfit that is better described as [[Franchise/StreetFighter M. Bison]] inspired, [[TheHyena Yukiko bursts out laughing]].

* In VideoGame/DeadlyPremonition, [[spoiler: the event that {{foreshadow|ing}}s the identity of the BigBad is styled like one.]]
* In ''VideoGame/ShinSuperRobotWars'', Boss is about the only one whose machine wasn't somehow handed down by the family, but Kouji observes that the Boss Borot is [[JokeCharacter mainly just in the way]]. Boss takes umbrage at this, but with his lackeys in tow he plans to one day build the Boss Borot into one hell of a machine. Later on, Mucha shows up piloting the Borot, claiming that he's taken it without telling Boss, entitled by all the hard work he put in. He's not too worried about reprisals from Boz, who is unlikely to be able to follow all the way to space, and has even installed a Map Weapon! It also turns out that the Boss Borot's map weapon, though powerful, is totally impossible to aim.

* In ''VideoGame/EscapeFromButcherBay'', Riddick goes into Pigsville (the guards' living quarters) through an entry point in the shower room. Later in the game you can overhear two guards complaining that the showers are closed because of this.

** Oh yeah, [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill GOLDEN TAGER X]]. Both seen in Tager's gag reels and as [[spoiler:Kokonoe's Over-Distort]]

** Kingslayer Orkus. You give him the quest, and an NPC wonders if he'll drown. Sure enough you will find him drowning in shallow water.
** In Thousand Needles, you rescue pridelings from someone who had captured them. [[AndroclesLion they follow you around for a little while because you rescued them]], but then they leave. At the end of the story arc, you confront the JerkAss who captured the pridelings. Once he's lowered to enoguh health, the pridelings reappear, swarm him, carry him over a cliff, and then drop him.

* At the start of the first chapter of ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'', the doorknob on the front door of Flint's house comes off when Thomas tries to open it. He pockets it, only to later remark that he lost it if you talk to him. From then on, random [=NPC=]s throughout the story will mention having seen it if you talk to them, though doesn't it actually show up until the very last dungeon of the game, where it ends up falling off a cliff when you try to pick it up. [[spoiler: You finally manage to reclaim it in the game's ending, when it inexplicably turns up in the darkness you're left wandering prior to the credits roll.]]
* In ''Lego City Undercover'', after you finish the Special Assignment "Smash 'N' Grab", one of Forrest Blackwell's sentinels is assigned to get after Chase on a tricycle. At the end of the cutscene after the final Assignment, he's just about to reach Chase... [[spoiler: but the iris out beats him to it]].
* In ''VideoGame/AWitchsTale'', Babayaga hits Liddell on the head early on. At the end of the first playthrough it turns out that this caused her to dream the whole adventure.
* Though not employing a literal brick, this example explores the consequences of what one might expect a brick to do when thrown into the air. The first ''VideoGame/QuestForGlory'' foreshadows the Antwerp as a fearsome monster, but when encountered by the player this creature appears to be a harmless, perpetually bouncing blob with a head. If the character tries to attack the creature, it will bounce away into the sky... only to appear later, after the player has moved to another screen, to instantly crush the character to death.
* In ''VideoGame/CommanderKeen V: The Armageddon Machine'', there is a secret level late in the game called the Korath III Base. It can be completed via an elaborate series of platform puzzles, however near the start of the level there is also a hidden fuse. If the player breaks this fuse, the level immediately ends, and Keen says "I wonder what that fuse was for...". Later, at the end of the game, after defeating the final boss, some text appears describing the aftermath of the game. If the player broke the fuse, then instead of describing how the Shikadi escaped back to their own galaxy, the text reads: "Due to a freak fuse malfunction, they cannot take off and are arrested by the Korath III police for double-parking."
* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII'' has an example on [[Radio/GTARadio Chatterbox]]. A man calls in to talk about eating wildlife. At one point, he specifies eating pigeons saying "Sometimes, they come with little notes attached." Later, a woman calls into the station to promote her group which has been organized to ban phones from Liberty City. When Lazlow points out the irony of her using a phone to promote her anti-phone group, she mentions that they tried using carrier pigeons but they keep disappearing.
* The second episode of ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice'', season two, has the duo trying to prevent Easter Island from being destroyed by a volcano. They do this by getting the Bermuda Triangle ([[ItMakesSenseInContext I know]]) to stop in front of the volcano and let lava flow into it. After the closing credits of the fifth episode, [[spoiler: the Soda Poppers]] stand on an island in the middle of a lava flow swearing revenge, saying they will return. Immediately, the Bermuda Triangle reappears and dowses them with lava.

** In ''Warlords of Draenor'', soon after passing through the Dark Portal, you encounter Kargath Bladefist, who traps you and your party in an arena and tasks you with killing one hundred of his minions. But you only kill 99 of them before Khadgar leads your party out into the next area. Ten levels later, in Highmaul, you enter another arena, and Kargath Bladefist is back (and he is angry that you cheated him out of a fight). Then when you defeat him, his last words are "One... hundred."

* ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'' has a few. The game begins with Karis telling Tyrell that Mars Adepts can't fly. Roughly two-thirds of the way through the game, you get a party member whose ''signature ability'' is Mars-based NotQuiteFlight. Karis's reaction isn't shown.