History FandomEnragingMisconception / VideoGames

** Do not call Peach a useless DamselInDistress around her fans or they'll remind you of all the instances where she TookALevelInBadass.[[labelnote:List]]''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'', ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'', ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'', ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld'', ''VideoGame/SuperPrincessPeach'', and ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie''[[/labelnote]]

** Fans really don't like it when you call a non-''VideoGame/TouhouProject'' shmup a ripoff of such, especially if the game in question has no clear ''Touhou'' influences (often non-BulletHell games or games that use mecha/ships as opppsed to humanoid characters), or outright predates the series (which started in 1996, at least a decade and a half after the genre as many fans know it began,[[note]]And even then, the first game in the series, ''VideoGame/TouhouReiidenHighlyResponsiveToPrayers'', is more of a [[BreakingOut ball-bouncer game]] rather than a full-fledged shmup; it was only with the second game, ''VideoGame/TouhouFuumarokuTheStoryOfEasternWonderland'', that the series shifted to being proper shmups[[/note]] and three years after ''VideoGame/{{Batsugun}}'', the TropeMaker for Bullet Hell, was released).

* ''VideoGame/WanganMidnight Maximum Tune'':
** Don't ask if dress-up parts affect car performance. Not only has it been indicated by the operator's manual that they don't, but players are ''sick'' of hearing it.
** Don't mention Honda in relation to this game. This partly has to do with Honda not being known for rear-wheel drive vehicles, let alone 4WD, other than the S2000 and the NSX (which was finally added in ''Maximum Tune 5DX+'') and the game is heavily focused around powersliding, something that wouldn't make sense in a FWD car.

** Never refer to Ken as "recolored Ryu". Ken has had a [[HeadSwap unique head]] since [[VideoGame/StreetFighterI the first game]] and starting with the Champion Edition version of ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'', his Shoryuken has longer range[[note]]And starting with ''Super Street Fighter II'', his Shoryuken can ignite his opponent on fire[[/note]], his Hadoken has longer recovery time, and his Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku is weak but fast, further distinguishing them from Ryu's special moves.

** No, you CAN'T beat [[UnwinnableJokeGame the Running Man]] in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', not even by using cheats to lock the time at 0 seconds or warp to the end at the very start. Fans will get upset at you if you believe you can. Even Creator/{{Nintendo}} and Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto themselves have confirmed you can't beat him.

** Never refer to Ken as "recolored Ryu". Ken has an [[HeadSwap unique head]] since [[VideoGame/StreetFighterI the first game]] and starting with the Champion Edition version of ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'', his Shoryuken has longer range[[note]]And starting with ''Super Street Fighter II'', his Shoryuken can ignite his opponent on fire[[/note]], his Hadoken has longer recovery time, and his Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku is weak but fast, further distinguishing them from Ryu's special moves.

** Never refer to Ken as "recolored Ryu". Ken has an [[HeadSwap unique head]] since [[VideoGame/StreetFighter the first game]] and starting with the Champion Edition version of ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'', his Shoryuken has longer range[[note]]And starting with ''Super Street Fighter II'', his Shoryuken can ignite his opponent on fire[[/note]], his Hadoken has longer recovery time, and his Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku is weak but fast, further distinguishing them from Ryu's special moves.

** Don't even think about saying that Luigi is a "recolored" Mario unless you want to receive a lecture about their differences regarding physical appearance, personality and attributes. On a similar note, whatever you do, '''don't''' call Luigi "Green Mario". Not only does it annoy fans for similar reasons, but it will also make it clear that you don't know anything about the ''Mario'' series at all beyond [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 the very first]] ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1''[[note]]Luigi really was a palette swap in ''VideoGame/MarioBros'' in the [[UsefulNotes/ArcadeGame arcade]] and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'', but acquired his better jumping and worse traction to differentiate his gameplay style from Mario's in the Japanese ''Super Mario Bros. 2'' a.k.a. ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBrosTheLostLevels'', as well as other unique gameplay mechanics over the years depending on the game, and has retained them on-and-off since[[/note]].

* ''VideoGame/ArmoredCore'': With the [[VideoGame/ArmoredCoreVIFiresOfRubicon new entry]] garnering much more attention than prior entries due to being hot off the heels of the massively successful ''VideoGame/EldenRing'', it's best not to refer to the series as being a "mecha-souls," as fans will be very quick to point out that despite some similarities, Armored Core and the Soulslike genre have far more differences than they do things in common.

* Never, ''ever'' confuse {{Fighting Game}}s with BeatEmUp games. Conflating the different subgenres of Fighting Game(such as calling a 2d fighter a “{{VideoGame/Tekken}} clone”) is also a no-no.

** Using BulletHell to refer to the genre as a whole, rather than just games with thick, intricate bullet patterns will be met with many a head-on-desk reaction from older shmup fans who grew up in the pre-''danmaku'' era of shmups. As those fans will be angrily quick to point out, many classical shmups, and even some more modern shmups (mainly ones that are throwbacks to older shmups, like ''VideoGame/FortressDefender'', or sequels to long-running series or [[SequelGap much older games]], like ''VideoGame/RType Final 2'' or ''VideoGame/AndroDunos II''), use sources of difficulty other than "flood the screen with pretty patterns," usually employing maze-like level design or enemies that snipe the player with fewer but much faster bullets. Usually, the confusion comes from younger gamers who were not alive when shmups being non-''danmaku'' were the norm, and therefore do not understand that shmups can exist, let alone be challenging, without walls of bullets; in fact, many of these younger games have never even ''heard'' of the term "shmup", and just assume all games of the genre are called "bullet hell".

* Never, ''ever'' confuse {{Fighting Game}}s with BeatEmUp games.

*** Don't call Rinoa "Lenore" or Ultimecia "Artemisia", which is fairly easy to do if you're Italian because the Italian translation of the game actually does localize Ultimecia's name as Artemisia.

* Never, ''ever'' refer to a RhythmGame song as "that song from ''VideoGame/{{osu}}''" (unless of course, it was specifically made for that game) Many rhythm game fans don't look kindly upon ''osu!'' players due to what they perceive to be a collective flippant attitude on music copyright (since songs are often added to the game's servers for everyone to play free-of-charge without their respective artists' licenses or other permission) -- namely, "why would I spend money to play the game this song originates from when I can just play it on ''osu!'' for free?" Beyond that, many rhythm game players just get sick of people mistaking other rhythm games' songs as ''osu!'' originals. For similar reasons, don't go around calling other rhythm games "''osu!'' ripoffs" or even just ''osu!''-inspired, unless the developer explicitly cites ''osu!'' as an inspiration.

* Say what you will about the (lack of) quality of the [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames infamous]] ''VideoGame/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'' tie-in video game, but do ''not'' say with a straight face that it single-handedly caused UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983. This was the accepted opinion in [[TheEighties the 1980s]] after many gamers lost trust in Creator/{{Atari}} over [[ChristmasRushed their handling of the game]], but it has since been widely recognized that ''E.T.'' was the nadir of already-existing problems that culminated in the crash, not the cause. The real factors were console saturation on the market, heavy competition from [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer personal computers]], and lack of quality control on consoles resulting in many poor-quality games, some of which being pornography disguised as "games" like ''Custer's Revenge''. [[OlderThanTheyThink All of these factors existed before]] ''[[OlderThanTheyThink E.T.]]'' [[OlderThanTheyThink was released.]]

* Say what you will about the (lack of) quality of ''VideoGame/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'', but do ''not'' say with a straight face that the game single-handedly caused UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983. This was the accepted opinion in [[TheEighties the 1980s]] after many gamers lost trust in Creator/{{Atari}} over [[ChristmasRushed their handling of the game]], but it has since been widely recognized that ''E.T.'' was the nadir of already-existing problems that culminated in the crash, not the cause. The real factors were console saturation on the market, heavy competition from [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer personal computers]], and lack of quality control on consoles resulting in many poor-quality games, some of which being pornography disguised as "games" like ''Custer's Revenge''. [[OlderThanTheyThink All of these factors existed before]] ''[[OlderThanTheyThink E.T.]]'' [[OlderThanTheyThink was released.]]

** When someone looks at some piece of ''Touhou'' fan art and asks "What anime is this?" flames are to be expected. Even worse if someone insists that ''Touhou'' is an anime even ''after they are corrected''.

* Never, ''ever'' refer to a RhythmGame song as "that song from ''VideoGame/{{osu}}''" (unless of course, it was specifically made for that game) Many rhythm game fans don't look kindly upon ''osu!'' players due to what they perceive to be a collective flippant attitude on music copyright (since songs are often added to the game's servers for everyone to play free-of-charge without their respective artists' licenses or other permission) -- namely, "why would I spend money to play the game this song originates from when I can just play it on ''osu!'' for free?" Beyond that, many rhythm game players just get sick of people mistaking other rhythm games' songs as ''osu!'' originals. In a similar vein, don't go around calling other rhythm games "''osu!'' ripoffs" or even just ''osu!''-inspired, unless the developer explicitly cites ''osu!'' as an inspiration.

* Never, ''ever'' refer to a RhythmGame song as "that song from ''VideoGame/{{osu}}''" (unless of course, it was specifically made for that game) Many rhythm game fans don't look kindly upon ''osu!'' players due to what they perceive to be a collective flippant attitude on music copyright (since songs are often added to the game's servers for everyone to play free-of-charge without their respective artists' licenses or other permission) -- namely, "why would I spend money to play the game this song originates from when I can just play it on ''osu!'' for free?" Beyond that, many rhythm game players just get sick of people mistaking other rhythm games' songs as ''osu!'' originals. In a similar vein, don't go around calling other rhythm games "''osu!'' ripoffs", unless the developer explicitly cites ''osu!'' as an inspiration.

** Using BulletHell to refer to the genre as a whole, rather than just games with thick, intricate bullet patterns will be met with many a head-on-desk reaction from older shmup fans who grew up in the pre-''danmaku'' era of shmups. As those fans will be angrily quick to point out, many classical shmups, and even some more modern shmups (mainly ones that are throwbacks to older shmups, like ''VideoGame/FortressDefender'', or sequels to long-running series or [[SequelGap much older games]], like ''VideoGame/RType Final 2'' or ''VideoGame/AndroDunos II''), use sources of difficulty other than "flood the screen with pretty patterns," usually employing maze-like level design or enemies that snipe the player with fewer but much faster bullets. Usually, the confusion comes from younger gamers who were not alive when shmups being non-''danmaku'' were the norm, and therefore do not understand that shmups can exist, let alone be challenging, without walls of bullets.