History ContinuityLockOut / VideoGames

** While many of the Disney worlds tend to retell the events of the previous movie, they're easy to follow up for players that has not watched the original movie. However in ''III'' where [[WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}} Corona]], [[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 Arendelle]] and [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd Carribean]] were retold, Sora, Donald and Goofy were dropped midway into the plot, interact with the cast before being sidelined leaving them to experience the moments in the background which often leaves several plot points unexplained for those who did not watch the original movie. Arendelle especially got it worst though particularly cutting out Hans' role, yet his Heartless still attacks you at the end for no apparent reason.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsIntoReverie'' takes this trope to the extreme with one of its doors: You actually need to have played ''VideoGame/TokyoXanadu eX+'' to fully understand one of the doors' story -- namely [[spoiler:the ''Magical Alisa RS'' door, as the story picks up where the original ''Magical Alisa'' story in ''Tokyo Xanadu'' left off]]. Not playing ''Tokyo Xanadu eX+'' beforehand raises the questions of "[[spoiler:Why is Rean a demon prince?]]" and "[[spoiler:He's had a HeelFaceTurn before? And he's turned back evil now?]]" Yep, Creator/{{Falcom}} would go as far as to suddenly reference a different game[[note]]a cousin game to be precise, as both games are distant spin-offs of the ''VideoGame/DragonSlayer'' franchise[[/note]] that had ''a different publisher in the West''[[note]]Creator/AksysGames published ''Tokyo Xanadu eX+'' while the publishing rights for ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}'' and ''Trails'' lie with Creator/{{XSEED|Games}} instead[[/note]], several years apart.

* ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankRiftApart'' is a sequel to the ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank Future'' trilogy (''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankFutureToolsOfDestruction Tools of Destruction]]'', ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankFutureQuestForBooty Quest for Booty]]'', ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankFutureACrackInTime A Crack in Time]]''), which itself is a follow-up to the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 games. The only way to play the ''Future'' Saga is on the original UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 platform, which was two console generations before ''Rift Apart'' and so long ago by that point (''twelve years'' between ''A Crack in Time'' and ''Rift Apart'') that most casual ''Ratchet'' fans won't even remember the specifics of their plots. Fortunately, ''Rift Apart'' is written as a JumpingOnPoint, as it's been a long time for the characters as well, so any existing story elements are usually given a brief explainer, but that still leaves a fair amount of nuance and meaning on the table.

Worse still, there is an exorbitant amount of [[AllThereInTheManual side materials]] which all manage to tie into the main plot. Whereas you could largely get by in ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'', ''[=BlazBlue=]''[='s=] predecessor, without these, they are ''crucial'' to understanding the ''[=BlazBlue=]'' universe. For starters, if you want to know why Hakumen is the man he is today and how [[spoiler:Hazama is able to prey on Tsubaki's jealousy of Noel]], that's where ''The Wheel of Fortune'' [[AudioAdaptation drama CD]] comes in. The ''[[LightNovel/BlazBluePhaseShift Phase Shift]]'' light novels build up the underlying story of the Six Heroes and details the exploits of the Dark War's unsung hero, [[spoiler:a time-displaced Ragna the]] Bloodedge, not to mention that the fifth novel throws in [[SequelHook a hook]] for [[VideoGame/BlazBlueChronoPhantasma the third game]] (namely that [[spoiler:the Celica playable in ''Chronophantasma'' is a time-displaced clone of the original brought to the present by her niece Kokonoe, created when Celica touched the Cauldron in Ishana]]). Even the overly {{fanservice}}y ''[[Manga/BlazBlueRemixHeart Remix Heart]]'' manga might end up influencing things down the road given the main character's friendship with three of the games' more prominent females, her status as [[spoiler:one of the Duodecim (the twelve families Jin, Tsubaki, and ''CP'' newcomer Kagura belong to)]], [[spoiler:some rather MindScrew-laden visions of the future]] in later chapters, and Mai's eventual connection to [[spoiler:a powerful grimoire created by Nine of the Six Heroes]]. Luckily, members of the fandom have managed to translate and give synopses of these works, but if you don't bother doing your homework, you're going to have a hard time making sense of some of the more cryptic allusions.\\\

** While each series has a more or less self-contained plot taking place in different countries across Zemuria, there are many, many side characters from other parts of the franchise that make extensive cameos and references to other events. Each of these games is a 60-100 hour RPG with ''tons'' of dialogue, making catching up a daunting task. The games set in Crossbell were an enforced example thanks to [[NoExportForYou not being localized yet]], it not helping that several characters from Zero/Azure are referenced, and the protagonists from those games are even briefly playable, not to mention some other Crossbell casts making their appearances in the third ''Cold Steel'' game, making players wonder who the hell these people are. As of March 2023, this isn't quite the issue that it once was, thanks to the games finally being released in the English language, though it still doesn't change the fact that most fans of the series already played the ''Cold Steel'' games without the benefit of referenc to them.

** While each series has a more or less self-contained plot taking place in different countries across Zemuria, there are many, many side characters from other parts of the franchise that make extensive cameos and references to other events. Each of these games is a 60-100 hour RPG with ''tons'' of dialogue, making catching up a daunting task. The games set in Crossbell are an enforced example thanks to [[NoExportForYou not being localized yet]], it doesn't help that several characters from Zero/Azure are referenced, and the protagonists from those games are even briefly playable, not to mention some other Crossbell casts making their appearances in the third ''Cold Steel'' game, making players wonder who the hell these people are.

* Although ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXIV'' is intended to be a JumpingOnPoint for the franchise at large, and therefore has [[ExcusePlot a rather simple premise]], quite a few tidbits surrounding it will be completely Byzantine to anyone who isn't a diehard fan of Creator/{{SNK}}, such as the FinalBoss being said to have been foretold by the Jin Scrolls that were most prominent in the plot of 1995's ''VideoGame/FatalFury 3''.

* Although ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXIV'' is intended to be a JumpingOnPoint for [[Franchise/TheKingOfFighters the franchise at large]], and therefore has [[ExcusePlot a rather simple premise]], quite a few tidbits surrounding it will be completely Byzantine to anyone who isn't a diehard fan of Creator/{{SNK}}; such as the FinalBoss being said to have been foretold by the Jin Scrolls that were most prominent in the plot of 1995's ''VideoGame/FatalFury 3''. Its immediate successor ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXV XV]]'' is also prone to requiring knowledge of SNK history to understand fully - for instance, [[CanonCharacterAllAlong the big revelation concerning newcomer Krohnen in his ending]] won't be as impactful to a player who either hasn't played ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters2001 2001]]'' and/or vanilla ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters2002 2002]]'', or not heard from other sources about the [[BuryYourArt debacle surrounding K9999]].
* The ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'' series is hard enough to follow even if you play them all. If you missed one, you have no chance. Well, you'll probably be alright if you miss ''Blood Omen 2'': it gives some back story for the Hylden, but nothing terribly important that can't be gleaned from ''Soul Reaver 2''.

* Those who are not familiar with the in-jokes in the WebVideo/{{Vinesauce}} community , some stretching as far back as its founding in 2010, would be totally confused by the references in ''VideoGame/MariosMysteryMeat''.

* ''VideoGame/MeltyBlood'' assumes you already know all the characters and their relationships to each other. If you're completely unfamiliar with ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'', it feels like a massive InJoke.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' slowly rose from humble origins, into the self-sequels ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' and ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 2|SonsOfLiberty}}'', had a brief blip for the stand-alone ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 3|SnakeEater}}'', and then gunned the canon whole-heartedly into the massive continuity snarl-ups of ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPortableOps Portable Ops]]'' and ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 4|GunsOfThePatriots}}'', both of which only a very serious and dedicated fan would be able to [[ContinuityPorn understand]].
** As a sort of alternative, the ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearAcid Ac!d]]'' games happened in an alternate universe, but they still expected a familiarity with the main phase series with its {{spoiler}}rific character cards. In the first game's story, a lot of hints about Snake's identity and motivations require some knowledge of his main phase {{canon}} {{backstory}}, such as his sterility.
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' is an interesting exception in that while the story can be completely enjoyed and understood on its own it's packed with {{Continuity Nod}}s and back story for characters in the other games.

** ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'' is frequently accused of this as part of its litany of story issues. While most of the references make sense to a casual fan, the use of this trope single-handedly turned the Ridley scene into one of the most despised scenes in the series history. To wit, much of protagonist Samus Aran's backstory is a case of AllThereInTheManual, relegated to supplementary material; the idea that Samus is scared of Ridley comes from a BroadStrokes [[Manga/MetroidManga canon manga]] that explains the space dragon traumatized her as a toddler by [[YouKilledMyFather eating her mother right in front of her]] and leading a massacre of [[DoomedHometown her home planet K2L]]. Her freeze response also requires the player to understand that the majority (if not all) of the Space Pirates, including Ridley, were KilledOffForReal in ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'', meaning Samus had zero reason to mentally prepare herself to see him again. Without any of this knowledge, a scene with an already contentious depiction of PTSD becomes one where causal fans have no idea why Samus would even be terrified of someone she's fought and defeated multiple times by this point in the timeline. This also led to said fans directly comparing the scene to that of Samus's more confident reaction to Kraid in ''Dread'' several years later, despite Kraid being the only Space Pirate commander for which things ''aren't'' [[ItsPersonal personal for Samus]].

* ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankRiftApart'' is a sequel to the Ratchet & Clank Future Saga, which itself is a follow-up to the [=PlayStation 2=] games. The only way to play the Future Saga is on the original [=PlayStation 3=] platform, which was two console generations before ''Rift Apart'' and so long ago that most casual Ratchet fans won't even remember the specifics of their plots. Fortunately, ''Rift Apart'' is written as a JumpingOnPoint, as it's been a long time for the characters as well, so any existing story elements are usually given a brief explainer, but that still leaves a fair amount of nuance and meaning on the table.

** You'd have to dig into the franchise's ExpandedUniverse to understand why Raynor is all of a sudden longing to be with Kerrigan again at the start of ''Wings of Liberty'' despite his last appearance in ''Brood War'' having his classic character defining moment of vowing to kill Kerrigan someday. We're suppose to believe that he got over his ploy for revenge during the 4-year intermission, but how he got over it went completely unexplained in the game; leaving many players confused as to why Raynor's suddenly in a different emotional state.
** You'd have to read the ExpandedUniverse to understand how the Dominion are all-of-a-sudden the top dogs again despite being on the recieving end of many {{Curb Stomp Battle}}s in ''Brood War''. The player's WillingSuspensionofDisbelief really comes to question here as to how the Dominion achieved such a miraculous recovery; including how Korhal instantly turns into a planetwide megapolis come ''Wings Of Liberty'' despite being a desert wasteland 4 years prior in ''Brood War''.

* Anyone playing ''[[VideoGame/EndlessFrontier Super Robot Wars OG Saga: Endless Frontier EXCEED]]'' would be left confused if they didn't first play ''[[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration Super Robot Wars Original Generation Gaiden]]'', as two characters in the roster who were supposedly KilledOffForReal in the [[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration main series]] winds up in the [[VideoGame/EndlessFrontier spin-off]]. In fact, the developers make it a point players ''must play the previous games'' occurring in main {{Continuity}} to know what's remotely going on if they decide to start somewhere in the middle.

* The ''VideoGame/TrailsSeries'' can easily fall into this trope. While each series has a more or less self-contained plot taking place in different countries across Zemuria, there are many, many side characters from other parts of the franchise that make extensive cameos and references to other events. Each of these games is a 60-100 hour RPG with ''tons'' of dialogue, making catching up a daunting task. The games set in Crossbell are an enforced example thanks to [[NoExportForYou not being localized yet]], it doesn't help that several characters from Zero/Azure are referenced, and the protagonists from those games are even briefly playable, not to mention some other Crossbell casts making their appearances in the third ''Cold Steel'' game, making players wonder who the hell these people are.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsIntoReverie'' takes this trope to the extreme with one of it's doors: You actually need to have played ''VideoGame/TokyoXanadu eX+'' to fully understand one of the doors' story [[spoiler:Namely, the ''Magical Alisa RS'' door, as the story picks up where the original ''Magical Alisa'' story in ''Tokyo Xanadu'' left off.]] Not playing ''Tokyo Xanadu eX+'' beforehand raises the question [[spoiler:Why is Rean a demon prince?]], and [[spoiler: He's had a HeelFaceTurn before? And he's turned back evil now?]]. Yep, Falcom would go as far as to suddenly reference a different game[[note]]A cousin game to be precise, as both games are distant spinoffs of the ''Dragon Slayer'' franchise[[/note]] that had a ''different publisher in the west''[[note]]The publishing rights for Tokyo Xanadu eX+ was with Aksys Games in the west while the rights to publishing Ys and Trails were with [=XSeed=] instead[[/note]], several years apart.

* ''VideoGame/TheWarriors'' tries to avoid this - and mostly succeeds - both by recreating the opening scenes of the [[Film/TheWarriors 1979 film]] at the very beginning (although some crucial dialogue is edited out) and by making the game a prequel of sorts, beginning about a year (1978) before the events of the film and firmly establishing the personalities of the nine major characters long before the actual content of the movie becomes playable. The numerous cutscenes, heavy chunks of dialogue and constant updates on the radio (the gang has one in their training studio) by the famous lady DJ about what's happening throughout the city help a great deal.

** Blackwing Descent, one of the tier 11 raids, is home to Deathwing's son Nefarian, who is running experiments on different kinds of dragons. Except Nefarian was already killed several years prior to the ''Cataclysm'' expansion. Playing through the game alone, you'll never find out how Nefarian came BackFromTheDead, what the purpose of his experiments was, or how they tied into Deathwing's plan since the raid doesn't address it and neither Nefarian nor his experiments ever appear or are mentioned outside of Blackwing Descent. Were it not for the [[Franchise/WarcraftExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]], the entire raid would be a BigLippedAlligatorMoment.

* ''VideoGame/YakuzaLikeADragon'': Downplayed. While you can definitely play and enjoy the game without knowing a thing about the series, you will be left very confused about why certain characters, such as [[spoiler: Goro Majima, Taiga Saejima, Kazuma Kiryu, Daigo Dojima and the bartender at "Survive" who is all but stated to be Osamu Kashiwagi,]] are such a big deal.

* {{Zigzagged}} with the ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}'' franchise: players don't need to have experienced most of its installments to enjoy other titles and can play the games in any order they see fit, even though some like ''VideoGame/YsIAncientYsVanishedOmen'' and ''VideoGame/YsIIAncientYsVanishedTheFinalChapter'' should be played side-by-side when the latter is an immediate {{Sequel}}, while ''VideoGame/YsOrigin'' is a distant {{Prequel}} to ''Ys I'' and makes references to the first two titles, but other than that, {{Continuity}} is never a real issue. However, a major PlotPoint in ''VideoGame/YsIXMonstrumNox'' regarding [[spoiler:alchemy]] relies on knowledge from ''VideoGame/YsVLostKefinKingdomOfSand'' since it used this element first. Furthermore, the climactic scene in ''Ys IX'' [[spoiler:of the souls of Feena, Reah, Dark Fact, Eldeel, Tia and Dana Iclucia from the series protagonist's memories]] will make no sense to newcomers playing the franchise for the first time in ''Ys IX'', [[spoiler:as the souls are unnamed in the narrative - only through WordOfGod were these souls identified as pre-existing characters from the franchise]].

* The ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series. Starting from any game from ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories Chain of Memories]]'' and onward will get confusing. And no, despite what the marketing says, the series is a devout adherent of OddlyNamedSequel2ElectricBoogaloo. ''No'' game in the series is unimportant, as the player is supposed to play the games in chronological order; playing just the [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI three]] [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII numbered]] [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII games]] will get them absolutely ''nowhere''. For example, ''Chain of Memories'' despite the radically different gameplay, is actually a direct sequel of ''I'' and serves as the stepping stone between it and ''II''; without it, the player will not catch even 10% of the latter game's plot (case in point: ''II'' opens with a set of characters the player doesn't know about, living in a place they don't know about and talking about things they don't know about but are probably related to ''I'' because there are flashbacks...or something). ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Birth by Sleep]]'', by virtue of being a {{prequel}}, is probably the only sequel that newbies can pick up relatively mindfuck-free, but it contains many CallForward references that will fly over their collective heads unless they have played the preceding games. Thankfully, by the release of ''Kingdom Hearts III'', every relevant game had been remade for various {{Compilation Rerelease}}s, or at least had an abrdiged film version of its events in its place. Which is good, since by then, the series had been spread out over eight different home and handheld consoles, plus mobile phones and browser games.

** To be exact, Creator/SquareEnix released ''[[CompilationRerelease I.5 HD [=ReMIX=]]]'' for the [=PS3=], containing ''KHI Final Mix'', ''Re:Chain of Memories'', and an abridged, cutscene-only version of ''358/2 Days''. Then they released ''II.5 HD [=ReMIX=]'', containing ''KHII Final Mix'', ''Birth by Sleep Final Mix'', and an abridged version of ''Re:coded''. Eventually, they released [=PS4=] versions of both collections, after a third collection, ''II.8 Final Chapter Prologue'', containing ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'' along with the new ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts02BirthBySleepAFragmentaryPassage'' and an original movie covering the major lore of the mobile game ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsX'', before the release of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' on [=PS4=], ensuring that the entire series, absent playable versions of the DS games, is playable on one console.

** To be exact, Creator/SquareEnix released ''[[CompilationRerelease I.5 HD [=ReMIX=]]]'' for the [=PS3=], containing ''KHI Final Mix'', ''Re:Chain of Memories'', and an abridged, cutscene-only version of ''358/2 Days''. Then they released ''II.5 HD [=ReMIX=]'', containing ''KHII Final Mix'', ''Birth by Sleep Final Mix'', and an abridged version of ''Re:coded''. Eventually, they released [=PS4=] versions of both collections, after a third collection, ''II.8 HD Final Chapter Prologue'', containing ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'' along with the new ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts02BirthBySleepAFragmentaryPassage'' and an original movie covering the major lore of the mobile game ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsX'', before the release of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' on [=PS4=], ensuring that the entire series, absent playable versions of the DS games, is playable on one console.

** To be exact, Creator/SquareEnix released ''[[CompilationRerelease I.5]]'' for the [=PS3=], containing ''KHI Final Mix'', ''Re:Chain of Memories'', and an abridged, cutscene-only version of ''358/2 Days''. Then they released ''II.5'', containing ''KHII Final Mix'', ''Birth by Sleep Final Mix'', and an abridged version of ''Re:coded''. Eventually, they released [=PS4=] versions of both collections, after a third collection containing ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'' along with the new ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts02BirthBySleepAFragmentaryPassage'' and an original movie covering the major lore of the mobile game ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsX'', before the release of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' on [=PS4=], ensuring that the entire series, absent playable versions of the DS games, is playable on one console.

* The ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series. Starting from any game from ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories Chain of Memories]]'' and onward will get confusing. And no, despite what the marketing says, the series is a devout adherent of OddlyNamedSequel2ElectricBoogaloo. ''No'' game in the series is unimportant, as the player is supposed to play the games in chronological order; playing just the [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI three]] [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII numbered]] [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII games]] will get them absolutely ''nowhere''. For example, ''Chain of Memories'' is actually a direct sequel of ''I'' and serves as the stepping stone between it and ''II''; without it, the player will not catch even 10% of the latter game's plot (case in point: ''II'' opens with a set of characters the player doesn't know about, living in a place they don't know about and talking about things they don't know about but are probably related to ''I'' because there are flashbacks...or something). ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Birth by Sleep]]'', by virtue of being a {{prequel}}, is probably the only sequel that newbies can pick up relatively mindfuck-free, but it contains many CallForward references that will fly over their collective heads unless they have played the preceding games. Thankfully, by the release of ''Kingdom Hearts III'', every relevant game had been remade for various {{Compilation Rerelease}}s, or at least had an abrdiged film version of its events in its place. Which is good, since by then, the series had been spread out over eight different home and handheld consoles, plus mobile phones and browser games.
** To be exact, Creator/SquareEnix released ''[[CompilationRerelease 1.5]]'' for the [=PS3=], containing ''KHI Final Mix'', ''Re:Chain of Memories'', and an abridged, cutscene-only version of ''358/2 Days''. Then they released ''2.5'', containing ''KHII Final Mix+'', ''Birth by Sleep Final Mix'', and an abridged version of ''Re:coded''. Eventually, they released [=PS4=] versions of both collections, after a third collection containing ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'' along with ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts02BirthBySleepAFragmentaryPassage'' and ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsX'' as a movie, before the release of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' on [=PS4=], ensuring that the entire series, absent playable versions of the DS games, is playable on one console.

* Although ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXIV'' is intended to be a JumpingOnPoint for [[Franchise/TheKingOfFighters the franchise at large]], and therefore has [[ExcusePlot a rather simple premise]], quite a few tidbits surrounding it will be completely Byzantine to anyone who isn't a diehard fan of Creator/{{SNK}}; such as the FinalBoss being said to have been foretold by the Jin Scrolls that were most prominent in the plot of 1995's ''VideoGame/FatalFury 3''. Its immediate successor ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXV XV]]'' is also prone to requiring knowledge of SNK history to understand fully - for instance, [[CanonCharacterAllAlong the big revelation regarding newcomer Krohnen in his ending]] won't be as impactful to a player who either hasn't played ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters2001 2001]]'', or heard from other sources about the [[BuryYourArt fracas surrounding K9999]].

* Although ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXIV'' is intended to be a JumpingOnPoint for [[Franchise/TheKingOfFighters the franchise at large]], quite a few tidbits surrounding it will be completely Byzantine to anybody who isn't a diehard fan of Creator/{{SNK}}; such as the FinalBoss being said to have been foretold by the Jin Scrolls that were most prominent in the plot of 1995's ''VideoGame/FatalFury 3''. Its immediate successor ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXV XV]]'' is also prone to requiring knowledge of SNK history to understand fully - [[CanonCharacterAllAlong the big reveal about newcomer Krohnen in his ending]] won't be as impactful to a player who either hasn't played ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters2001 2001]]'', or heard from other sources about the [[BuryYourArt fracas surrounding K9999]].

* [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-zagged]] with the ''VideoGame/{{Neptunia}}'' series. The canon games (the ones that further the storyline) open with both a CharacterNarrator and one of the main characters BreakingTheFourthWall to explain how the world works, who the main characters are, important plot points from previous games, etc. The non-canon spin-off games, on the other hand, seem to expect you to have played the canon games and know who the characters are, since they liberally use concepts and terminology from TheVerse with little explanation.

** ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'' is frequently accused of this as part of its litany of story issues. While most of the references make sense to a casual fan, the use of this trope single-handedly turned the Ridley scene into one of the most despised scenes in the series history. To wit, much of protagonist Samus Aran's backstory is a case of AllThereInTheManual, relegated to supplementary material; the idea that Samus is scared of Ridley comes from a BroadStrokes [[Manga/MetroidManga canon manga]] that explains the space dragon traumatized her as a toddler by [[YouKilledMyFather eating her mother right in front of her]] and leading a massacre of [[DoomedHometown her home planet K2L]]. Her freeze response also requires the player to understand that the majority (if not all) of the Space Pirates, including Ridley, were KilledOffForReal in ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'', meaning Samus had zero reason to mentally prepare herself to see him again. Without any of this knowledge, a scene with an already contentious depiction of PTSD becomes one where causal fans have no idea why Samus would even be terrfied of someone she's fought and defeated multiple times by this point in the timeline. This also led to said fans directly comparing the scene to that of Samus's more confident reaction to Kraid in ''Dread'' several years later, despite Kraid being the only Space Pirate commander for which things ''aren't'' [[ItsPersonal personal for Samus]].
** ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'' has two instances. The first being another case of it requiring knowledge of Samus Aran's backstory, and the second requiring the player to have completed ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion''. The former surrounds the twist that [[spoiler:Raven Beak is one of her Chozo DNA donors, and thus considers himself her father]]. Except to a casual fan, that Samus even has Chozo DNA was a reveal on its own. Combined with the fact that [[spoiler:her ''actual'' adoptive fathers, Old Bird and Grey Voice -- the latter being the other blood donor -- are hidden in the shadows during the scene in question]], and you have [[NewbieBoom many newcomers]] to the franchise that take Raven Beak's statement at face value. The latter involves the game's final cutscene, which loses some of its meaning if the player didn't know that [[spoiler:the sacrifical actions of Quiet Robe-X directly contradicts our heroine's own stated beliefs about the X being nothing but soulless killing machines.]]

* ''VideoGame/SilentHill3'' is an unusual case. The story and central plot twist make far more sense if you've played the first game (which this is a direct sequel to), but playing this game first also helps to better make sense of the original, because it also back-fills a lot of [[CluelessMystery vague and insufficiently-explained details]] from the first game's plot.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsIntoReverie'' takes this trope to the extreme with one of it's doors: You actually need to have played ''VideoGame/TokyoXanadu eX+'' to fully understand one of the doors' story [[spoiler:Namely, the ''Magical Girl Alisa RS'' door, as the story picks up where the original ''Magical Girl Alisa'' story in ''Tokyo Xanadu'' left off.]] Not playing ''Tokyo Xanadu eX+'' beforehand raises the question [[spoiler:Why is Rean a demon prince?]], and [[spoiler: He's had a HeelFaceTurn before? And he's turned back evil now?]]. Yep, Falcom would go as far as to suddenly reference a different game[[note]]A cousin game to be precise, as both games are distant spinoffs of the ''Dragon Slayer'' franchise[[/note]] that had a ''different publisher in the west''[[note]]The publishing rights for Tokyo Xanadu eX+ was with Aksys Games in the west while the rights to publishing Ys and Trails were with [=XSeed=] instead[[/note]], several years apart.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsIntoReverie'' takes this trope to the extreme with one of it's doors: You actually need to have played ''VideoGame/TokyoXanadu eX+'' to fully understand one of the doors' story [[spoiler:Namely, the ''Magical Girl Alisa RS'' door, as the story picks up where the original ''Magical Girl Alisa'' story in ''Tokyo Xanadu'' left off.]] Not playing ''Tokyo Xanadu eX+'' beforehand raises the question [[spoiler:Why is Rean a demon prince?]], and [[spoiler: He's had a HeelFaceTurn before? And he's turned back evil now?]]. Yep, Falcom would go as far as to suddenly reference a different game[[note]]A cousin game to be precise, as both games are distant spinoffs of the ''Dragon Slayer'' franchise[[/note]] from a ''different publisher in the west''[[note]]The publishing rights for Tokyo Xanadu eX+ was with Aksys Games in the west while the rights to publishing Ys and Trails were with [=XSeed=] instead[[/note]], several years apart no less.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsIntoReverie'' takes this trope to the extreme with one of it's doors: You actually need to have played ''VideoGame/TokyoXanadu eX+'' to fully understand one of the doors' story [[spoiler:Namely, the ''Magical Girl Alisa RS'' door, as the story picks up where the original ''Magical Girl Alisa'' story in ''Tokyo Xanadu'' left off.]] Not playing Tokyo Xanadu eX+ beforehand raises the question [[spoiler:Why is Rean a demon prince?]], and [[spoiler: He's had a HeelFaceTurn before? And he's turned back evil now?]].

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsIntoReverie'' takes this trope to the extreme with one of it's doors: You actually need to have played ''VideoGame/TokyoXanadu eX+'' to fully understand one of the doors' story [[spoiler:Namely, the Magical Girl Alisa RS door, as the story picks up where the original Magical Girl Alisa story in Tokyo Xanadu left off.]] Not playing Tokyo Xanadu eX+ beforehand raises the question [[spoiler:Why is Rean a demon prince?]], and [[spoiler: He's had a HeelFaceTurn before? And he's turned back evil now?]].

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsIntoReverie'' takes this trope to the extreme with one of it's doors: You actually need to have played ''VideoGame/TokyoXanadu eX+'' to fully understand one of the doors' story [[spoiler:Namely, the Magical Girl Alisa RS door, as the story picks up where the original Magical Girl Alisa story in Tokyo Xanadu left off.]] Not playing Tokyo Xanadu eX+ beforehand raises the question [[spoiler:Why is Rean a demon prince?]], and [[spoiler: He's had a HeelFaceTurn before?]].