History ChekhovsGun / VideoGames

*** Ganodorf's magic can be deflected by the common bottle.

* Many adventure and RPG games [[TooAwesomeToUse condition pack-ratting behavior]] as an inventory management pressure, especially if there are inventory limitations and/or economic necessities. Not all games give clues whether the items are useful for problem-solving, or at least for uncovering Easter Eggs, or just VendorTrash or completely dead weight. Recently the games have gotten easier by simply making the 'Handy' things undroppable/unsaleable, rather than more intuitive in their problem-solving application.

* In ''VideoGame/EpiphanyCity'', the running gag of reading the prophecy upside-down became crucial in the endgame, as this causes it to be rewritten and ''actually'' describe the game's events.

* Played straight in ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'', with the biplane "Carnival". It does nothing in the first mission, suspended by strings (along with some marionettes that are ''definitely'' enemies), but at the end when [[CollapsingLair everything is crashing down]] and the player is meant to think that [[DownerEnding Dante and Trish are screwed]], it crashes through the ceiling in perfect working condition just ''waiting'' to be used.
* Inverted in ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry3'', where human-sized chess pieces are seen in Mission 4 and must be destroyed to pass an area. 3 missions later, it becomes apparent that these chess pieces, now animated, form a type of enemy. Not something helpful.

* ''VideoGame/MegaMan'':

** In the case of the Gameboy games, the weapon you get from each game's respective Mega Man Killer (though Quint and Terra don't count as Mega Man Killers, you still get weapons from them) will be the weakness of Wily's final form.
*** In Dr. Wily's Revenge, the Mirror Buster (Enker's weapon) is effective against the 2nd phase of Wily Machine World 1, since using it will absorb it's projectiles and fires back at it.
*** In II, the Sakugarne (Quint's weapon, which is also a ScrappyWeapon due to how it can hurt you when you're trying to hurt enemies) is effective on all 3 forms of Wily Machine World 2.
*** In III, Screw Crusher (Punk's weapon) is effective against the 2nd phase of Wily Machine World 3, where you have to hit the dome at the top of it, and since Screw Crusher goes in an arc, it's easier to hit him with it when jumping.
*** In IV, Ballade Cracker is effective against the 2nd phase of the Wily Robo Iron Golem and the Wily Capsule. Helpful against the latter as it is multi-directional.
*** In V, despite Sunstar being the final boss and having no weaknesses, Spark Chaser is still somewhat effective against him, as it does constantly hit him.

** The fangame ''[[VideoGame/CognitiveDissonance Mother: Cognitive Dissonance]]'' has two of these. At the start of the game, a meteor lands in front of Alinivar's cave on Saturn that prevents him from going back in. [[spoiler: It's used in the Phase Distorter to reach Giegue, and then send Zarbol back Onett in VideoGame/{{EarthBound}}.]] The second time is in an interlude where you play as the Greyface, and he spies on Ness walking Paula home. Ness seems to pick up on his presence and leaves the Friend's Yo-yo behind. [[spoiler: This gives way to Porky's hoarding of other items that remind him of Ness and the past in VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}.]]
** In VideoGame/{{EarthBound}}, the Meteor that starts off the adventure by bringing Buzz Buzz to Onett is used much, ''much'' later [[spoiler: to gain the material used to go back in time to defeat Giygas.]]

* In ''VideoGame/AstekaIITemploDelSol'' (a.k.a. ''Tombs and Treasure''), you get the lighter from the first room in the game, and it can't be used for anything until the last room in the game, where it's necessary to complete the game. You obtain a silver key at the same time as the lighter, which is later used to unlock the Temple of the Sun and acquire the game's prime MacGuffin, the Sun Key.

* ''VideoGame/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' text adventure game is pretty blatant about this. Two words, Cheese Sandwhich.

** ''VideoGame/PokémonRangerGuardianSigns'' has two:

* In ''VideoGame/{{Ys}} IV: Mask of the Sun'', the key to raising the Ancient City is the Gold Pedestal you sold to Pim in the first game. Likewise, in the PCE CD version, ''The Dawn of Ys'', the first game's Mask of Eyes becomes an important plot item.

* A huge one in ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'', that spans three games over six years: ''"I'm a thief... but I keep what I steal."'' [[spoiler:In a later section of the [[VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved first game]], Cortana snatches away the index in the last possible moment to prevent the accidental firing of Halo and the death of all complex life in the galaxy. In the end of the [[VideoGame/Halo3 third game]], a new Halo has been build by an automatic factory far outside the galaxy and Cortana still has the original index with her.]] Very few people then remembered that the title of the sub-level where you retrieve the Index is called 'The Gun Pointed At The Head Of The Universe.' This is a literal Chekhov's Gun.

* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'', Riku's new clothes have the Dream Eater symbol on the back. [[spoiler:Eventually it's revealed that he's been acting as Sora's Dream Eater for the entire game.]]

* Most of the early text based adventure games (e.g. ''{{Adventure}}'' and the ''VideoGame/{{Zork}}s'') had you controlling a character traveling through what was essentially a maze of rooms in which were occasionally placed certain things that you would use later; i.e. "You're in a small room with exits to the east and the north. You see a small table here. You see a flashlight here." You could generally plan on needing that flashlight later so you would, "get flashlight".

* There are [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's Guns]] all over the place in ''Videogame/AloneInTheDark1992'', e.g. an Indian cover, a heavy statuette and others whose use isn't quite obvious at the beginning.

* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty''

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'':

* A huge one in ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'', that spans three games over six years: ''"I'm a thief... but I keep what I steal."'' [[spoiler:In a later section of the [[VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved first game]], Cortana snatches away the index in the last possible moment to prevent the accidental firing of Halo and the death of all complex life in the galaxy. In the end of the [[VideoGame/{{Halo 3}} third game]], a new Halo has been build by an automatic factory far outside the galaxy and Cortana still has the original index with her.]] Very few people then remembered that the title of the sub-level where you retrieve the Index is called 'The Gun Pointed At The Head Of The Universe.' This is a literal Chekhov's Gun.

** In VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}, the Courage Badge you are given early on is [[spoiler: revealed later to be the/a Franklin Badge[[note]]it's possibly the same one from Earthbound and Mother, which makes it a potential series-wide gun[[/note]] and is crucial to the [[IKnowYouAreInThereSomewhereFight final battle]].]]
** Still in VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}, the New Year's Eve Bomb that you can buy from an armament shop is an expensive one-use weapon that has no effect whatsoever when it's used. [[spoiler: Until you run into the King Statue that the bomb is the only way to defeat, dealing 9999999 damage (the statue has ten million HP, which is ludicrous for the game, and will most likely kill even a fully leveled party in a few hits).]]

* In {{VideoGame/Nefarious}}, the very first level features Crow sitting in a lazer device about start a fight with Mack, before Mack leaves. Guess what Crow uses to defeat Mack in the last level? [[spoiler:He even calls the device "Chekhov's Death Ray."]]

* ''[[VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}} Onmyōji]]'':

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}''

* In ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'':

* One of the first things the Postal Dude's Bitch says in ''[[VideoGame/{{Postal}} Postal 2]]'' (before the game actually starts) is "don't forget my rocky road." At the end of Friday (the last day), she nags the Postal Dude about her rocky road again (after not being mentioned throughout the rest of the game), to which the Postal Dude realizes that he completely forgot about it from the very beginning and shoots himself in the head to escape his wife's nagging. This leads to the events in the add-on, ''Apocalypse Weekend''.

* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'':
** In ''Brawl'', we're treated to a scene early on involving a cardboard box on an enemy ship that inches forward once. Later, [[VideoGame/MetalGear Solid Snake]] pops out, and gives one of [[HeroicMime the only spoken lines]] in the entire mode.

* When replaying ''VideoGame/SilentHill1'', you find a device in the [[LawyerFriendlyCameo 7-11 lookalike]] that is of no use unless you're at certain locations (e.g. the rooftop of the oxidized Midwich Elementary) through which you get the Alien ending and a raygun for the next replay.
* In ''VideoGame/SilentHill3'', you have Heather's pendant in your inventory from the start. There's no indication that it's important and all you see when examining it is a little red bead-like thing inside. This turns out to be the one thing you need at the end of the game. [[spoiler: It's actually the Aglaophotis in pill form. If you use it when Heather is about to birth God, it will cause her to [[ArtisticLicenseBiology throw up the fetus]]. Claudia eventually swallows it in an attempt to save it and dies a horrible death.]] It's the same for the vials of Aglaophotis in the first game, one of which you use to exorcise the PuppeteerParasite from Cybil, the other of which Dr. Kaufmann uses to separate Alessa and the Incubus. Also in the first game is the Flauros, which Harry finds immediately after meeting Dahlia for the first time. In the amusement park towards the end of the game, Dahlia uses it to break into Alessa's otherworld and stop her from sealing the God.

*** {{Lampshaded}} in ''VideoGame/DiscworldNoir'', when Lewton notices a grappling hook behind the troll he's trying to question. Sure enough, while he can't collect it immediately, he gets to use it later. "It couldn't have been more interested if it had had 'Plot Device' written all over it."

* Averted by the two ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' games, where there really are useless things to collect, albeit not many, making them more {{Red Herring}}s.
* {{Lampshaded}} in ''VideoGame/DiscworldNoir'', when Lewton notices a grappling hook behind the troll he's trying to question. Sure enough, while he can't collect it immediately, he gets to use it later. "I couldn't have been more interested if it had had 'Plot Device' written all over it."

* ''[[VideoGame/ChzoMythos 5 Days a Stranger]]'' has a perfectly textbook example (perhaps intentionally): one of the very first rooms the player enters has a big shotgun hanging up (yes, over the mantelpiece) but you can't walk off with it, because Trilby refuses to lug a big heavy gun around everywhere. The final scene of the game takes place in that room, and the gun is used to solve the final puzzle.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Bioshock|1}}'', when the sub carrying Atlas' family is blown up, there's no sign of any bodies from it -- a bit odd, given the game's attention to detail, but it might be an oversight or they just felt they weren't necessary. [[spoiler:It later turns out Atlas is Frank Fontaine, and made the family up. That's why there were no bodies.]] In Sander Cohen's level, you can find posters for a play called [[spoiler: ''Patrick and Moira'' -- the names "Atlas" give his made-up son and wife.]]
** Also in ''Bioshock'', there is an out-of-the-way audio log that mentions [[spoiler: that the genetic locks for bathospheres, which the player has been using since the beginning of the game, are inaccurate, and that anyone closely related to someone with access would be able to use them whenever they want. This is an early hint at the player being Andrew Ryan's son.]]

** In ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare2'', as Price is giving his inspiring speech, a knife appears on the screen when he talks about killing the BigBad. That weapon kills the BigBad.

* ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}''

** Inverted in ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry3'', where human-sized chess pieces are seen in Mission 4 and must be destroyed to pass an area. 3 missions later, it becomes apparent that these chess pieces, now animated, form a type of enemy. Not something helpful.

* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII''. [[spoiler:In the end, the driving force behind the entire plot turns out to be Bartrand's Lyrium Idol, a seemingly minor ArtifactOfDoom that briefly appeared towards the end of Act 1.]]
** The qunari, who know how to make gunpowder, show up in Act I...[[spoiler: but no one else ''successfully'' acquires this knowledge until the infamous "boom scene" of Act III.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'':

* In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'':

* ''Franchise/GodOfWar'' has two that come into mind:

* At the very beginning of ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'', The Wise One does... ''something'' just before Isaac and Garet leave Sol Sanctum with the Mars Star. At the very ''end'' of the ''sequel'', it's revealed that at that time, the Wise One [[spoiler:imbued the Mars Star with a fraction of the Golden Sun's power, which seeped into Isaac over time. The end result of this is that when Alex bathed in the light of the Golden Sun, he got slightly less power than he expected. He was slightly less than omnipotent and slightly less than immortal, which allowed the Wise One (who ''is'' omnipotent and immortal) to shut him down and trap him on the collapsing Mount Aleph before Alex could make good on his evil plans.]]

** And in ''Dark Dawn'' we have a rather spectacular one. The effective NoobCave of the game is a supernaturally darkened forest. Isaac comments that you should light up these places to drive creatures of darkness away... with Fireball, for instance. [[spoiler: The second half of the game involves an artificial/supernatural TotalEclipseOfThePlot covering about half of Angara, and you have to find and turn on a light big enough to dispel it.]]

** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'', nearly every boss has a piece of equipment that Link can discover to use against it. In fact, TheDragon, Aghanim, can be brought low by the humble Butterfly Net, one of the earliest pieces of equipment found.
*** A better example is the lantern. All it's useful for is lighting lamps, which can be helpful but isn't actually necessary for any of the game's puzzles. Guess what you have to do to be able to see the final boss' last phase?

* Hilariously subverted in ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime''. Kylie Koopa discovers a giant key in the Gritzy desert that she believes to be very important. Some time later, you find a giant keyhole on the Shroob Mother Ship and put the key inside, which activates...a trapdoor that drops you out of the ship.
** Played straight, however, with Toadbert's Drawing received in Yoob's Belly. The drawing is covered in dirt and considered unimportant apart from recounting what you already knew until [[spoiler: later in the Star Shrine when part of the drawing is uncovered to reveal the existence of the second Princess Shroob]].
** In the same game, Luigi discovers a pile of four Yoshi Cookies intact near the middle of the game. He initially gives one to Baby Luigi when he finds them, and gives one to each of the babies a few screens later to stop them from crying. This means that he still has one left, which he eventually uses in the ''endgame'' sequence to pacify Baby Luigi so that the big brothers can say goodbye and resolve the timeline.

* ''Franchise/MassEffect''. Throughout the Citadel there are these innocuous insect creatures called the Keepers, who don't talk to anyone and only seem to exist to keep the impossibly ancient space station running. It turns out that the Keepers' job is to maintain the Citadel because it is a giant Mass Relay that will bring the Reapers into the galaxy. The Keepers' job is to enable civilizations that discover the Citadel to use it without realizing the stations' intent, enabling the Reapers to hit the center of galactic civilization first and without warning.
** ''Franchise/MassEffect'' is replete with these. Who would guess that the Mass Relay sculpture in the Presidium was the destination point of the Conduit? (Though if you have Kaidan in your group he'll comment that the statue is making his teeth vibrate.) Or that the krogan genophage and the Rachni War would become important plot points on two of the planets you visit later?

** The most hilarious example of this in the game is [[spoiler:Samantha Traynor's toothbrush]]. She mentions it in one of possible dialogues pretty early in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', saying that it uses mass effect fields to [[spoiler: break up plaque and massage the gums]]. You later use it in the Citadel DLC to [[spoiler:infiltrate the stolen Normandy]]. Worth every one of the 6000 credits she paid for it!

* The VideoGame/{{Mother}} series has a few of these.

-->'''Snake:''' Kept you waiting, huh?

* In ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'':

* The battle scene between Greil and the Black Knight in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'' sets up ''two''. First, the Black Knight gives Greil a sword to fight with, which is revealed to be Ragnell, the only blade capable of opposing the Black Knight's Alondite, later in the game. Greil, who chose to give up the sword, turns it down, saying in regards to his axe, "The only weapon I need...is right here!" Just before the ''final chapter'' of the sequel, ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn Radiant Dawn]]'', the axe Greil was wielding returns -- it's Urvan, an absolute GameBreaker as it is not only the most powerful axe, it also has an accuracy of ''110'', brutally subverting the "powerful but inaccurate" nature of axes in general.