History Fridge / SaintsRowIV

* By merging Enter The Dominatrix and Original Saints Row 4, Volition lost something they planned ahead for: the music. Look how puny the selection is, to the point that they had to cut a station. Now, imagine the new stuff as added on, instead. Then, go listen to some of the songs from Saints Row: The Third. In particular, [[{{Otep}} Rise, Rebel, Resist]] and [[Music/MarilynManson Arma-Goddamn-Motherfuckin-Geddon]]. Some of the Saints Row: The Third soundtrack selection makes a ton more sense if you take into account Enter The Dominatrix.

* By merging Enter The Dominatrix and Original Saints Row 4, Volition lost something they planned ahead for: the music. Look how puny the selection is, to the point that they had to cut a station. Now, imagine the new stuff as added on, instead. Then, go listen to some of the songs from Saints Row: The Third. In particular, [[{{Otep}} Rise, Rebel, Resist]] and [[MarilynManson Arma-Goddamn-Motherfuckin-Geddon]]. Some of the Saints Row: The Third soundtrack selection makes a ton more sense if you take into account Enter The Dominatrix.

* Why did the Boss add an 8 heavy weapons manned turret on the White House (other than for the [[RuleOfCool obvious reasons]])? Keep in mind that he/she is a PresidentEvil. Or just GenreSavvy enough to know that sooner or later, someone was going to come after him, ready to start problems. The Boss lost one friend due to letting himself get soft and dropping his guard. Never again.

* The homie conversation between Keith David and [[spoiler: Maero]] reveals that [[spoiler: the Boss has never talked about Maero to Keith.]] It's PlayedForLaughs with [[spoiler: Maero]] as the butt of the joke, but what was he responsible for? Possibly the darkest mission in Saints Row history, [[spoiler: where the Boss had to personally put Carlos out of his misery after a [[WhatADrag keelhauling]]. Maybe the Boss never [[spoiler: talked about Maero]] because it brought bad memories to the forefront.
** I never even thought it was played for laughs. I thought that was the entire point. The Boss will talk about their past in every other way, but not that, because it hurts too much, and it's what turned them into a complete amoral sociopath for a while.
* Why did the Boss add an 8 heavy weapons manned turret on the White House (other than for the [[RuleOfCool obvious reasons]])? Keep in mind that he/she is a PresidentEvil.
** Or just GenreSavvy enough to know that sooner or later, someone was going to come after him, ready to start problems. The Boss lost one friend due to letting himself get soft and dropping his guard. Never again.

* They never DID find Johnny Gat's body because [[spoiler:Zinyak abducted him. Johnny had never been dead to begin with, so there was no body TO find! This does raise the question about Zombie Gat]] who you unlock at the end of Saints Row the Third, and why Philipe Loren talks about using [[spoiler: Johnny's body]] as an example not to resist him. It could just be a clone Loren used, though.
** Even simpler than that : you see those Elvis impersonators in Las Vegas ? Since by the time of ''Saints Row: The Third'' the Saints are beloved international celebrities with many fans in Steelport, it wouldn't be a stretch to assume that "Zombie Gat" is in fact a Gat impersonator, a look-alike who got caught in the crossfire when the zombie infestation begun...
** Though how exactly [[spoiler: Zinyak got on the airplane in the first place to abduct him]] seems like FridgeLogic. That is until the end of the game when you learn that the Zin have [[spoiler:time travel capabilities and that Zinyak has been using it to abduct or make copies of earthlings he had taken a liking to.]]
* How does the Boss [[spoiler: survive taking out the nuke and falling tens of thousands of feet into the Oval Office without a parachute? By the end of SaintsRowTheThird, you should have unlocked No Explosion Damage and No Fall Damage - the Boss is immune to both!]]
** Likewise in all previous Saints Row games you could always pull a parachute from nowhere. Perhaps there was one hidden in the combat suit aswell.
* Similar to the above, note how in the real world you regenerate health the normal way. Boss did that in the previous games so of course they're still going to have the ability outside the simulation!

* Ben King still refers to the main character as Playa instead of Boss. This is not merely a reference to Saints Row 1, but also reinforces that King sees himself as an equal partner to Boss, not a subordinate. This is further reinforced by King still wearing HIS colors.
** And, of course, a bit of LeaningOnTheFourthWall to address the player directly.

* Fun!Shaundi is far more spacy and clueless than she ever was in ''SaintsRow2.'' But it's a simulation of who she was, from Zinyak no less. It's intended to be a mockery to troll the real Shaundi.
** Or that's how Shaundi remembers herself, what with her low self esteem and survivor's guilt. Fun Shaundi becomes a LOT less airheaded after "proving" to her future self that she wasn't just a worthless burnout.
* The existence of the Power Armor actually gives a reason for the superpowers in the simulation to exist. Kinzie (or the Wardens) aren't just pulling those powers out of their ass -- they're patching them over from whatever training simulations exist to teach people how to use that armor!

* [[{{ScaryBlackMan}} Mr. Sunshine]] from ''[[{{Videogame/SaintsRow2}} Saints Row 2]]'' appearing as the DJ for 420 makes no sense at first, but remember that other prominent gangs and gang leaders appear and are explicitly said to be based off the memories of the Saints [[{{MyFriendsAndZoidberg}} (and Ben King)]] trapped in the simulation. Sunshine is probably another creation of the simulation. Him being the only member of the Sons of Samedi to return might also be a meta joke about the fact that [[{{Made Of Iron}} the man just did not die]] [[spoiler: until the Boss cut off his head]].

* Why didn't Viola tell the Saints about Johnny's abduction? Because she was using them to get revenge on Killbane, and letting the Boss think the Syndicate killed their best friend and Killbane crashed his funeral helped keep them focused.
** It's entirely possible she didn't know. Philippe Loren was unconscious during the entire relevant part, and presumably wasn't in any hurry to talk about how thoroughly Johnny beat his ass. Once he got back to the ground and found out Johnny didn't make it off the plane, he has no reason to let anybody believe anything other than 'Johnny Gat died there'... which Philippe might even believe himself, if he thinks Johnny died on the way to the exit after leaving him for dead.
*** Confirmed in Gat Out Of Hell.
* Though being deprived of superpowers during most of the main questline and several of the sidequests is frustrating, this has an in-universe justification, instead of just being FakeDifficulty to make the quests more challenging. The superpowers are basically the result of Kinzie hacking the Boss' avatar properties. In the quests, the lack of superpowers usually happens in the real world (in which their absence is obviously logical) and in specific simulations not part of the main ones (Kinzie didn't have time or could hack the Boss' avatar inside them). In the quests set inside the main simulation[[note]]with a couple of exceptions, which makes sense too: the Boss doesn't have superpowers in Asha's loyalty mission because it's a training simulation, and the Professor's Genki game played with [[spoiler: Johnny Gat]] lacks them because it celebrates the Boss' reunion with an old friend, so the Boss didn't want to have an unfair advantage in the game[[/note]], the Boss is able to use them.
* When Kinzie is guiding the Boss to leave the 50' Steelport simulation, she directs him to a Professor Genki-shaped fountain, which she refers as a "cat statue". Since Professor Genki is a television celebrity in the setting, why does she refers it in such a generic way instead of using his proper name? Because, as a stereotypical nerd, it's likely that Kinzie has a very limited knowledge of mainstream pop culture.
** It also has a gameplay justification. This line of dialog has a critical importance ingame (it leads to a weapon), so using "cat statue" instead of a specific reference makes this part a lot easier to players who didn't played ''Saints Row: The Third'', and don't have any idea who "Professor Genki" is.
*** Also, according to Gat Out Of Hell, she REALLY hates him, so maybe she also just didn't even want to say his name.

* In this game, the Boss becomes President of the United States. Yet they might not necessarily be American(particularly in the case of the British or French-accented Bosses). The President of the US is required to have been born in the US. However, this gets addressed in a line from one of the foreign Boss voices, saying that a constitutional amendment was recently passed that allowed them to run for president.

[[AC: FridgeLogic]]
* If they have [[spoiler: PowerArmor that grants super powers]], why didn't Zinyak send anyone out wearing that to fight the boss when he's on his ship?
** Seeing as how they have the technology to give it [[spoiler: all powers, including mind control, shrinking, and life steal]], why aren't they making use of these to pacify prisoners?
** Zinyak underestimates the Boss at every turn of the story. He even thinks he is going to win all the way until the end. It either never occurred to him to try, or he was just being another overconfident Bond villain that is an idiot and doesn't just kill the threats. He does seem to have sadistic fun in "playing" with his victims. It proves to be his undoing as is usual in these kinds of situations.
** Forget about why they don't use the [[spoiler: PowerArmor]] themselves, or why they even have these things - why does the [[spoiler: PowerArmor]] have 5-finger gauntlets when the Zin only have 3 fingers on each hand? It's like they are specifically built for human use!
*** [[spoiler: Maybe Zinjai secretly created it for Boss, when seeing that they had a reasonable chance to take down Zinyak. See FridgeBrilliance.]]
*** Maybe because it wasn't a Zin invention but instead a trophy from some other conquered world whose people were more human-sized and human-shaped. The Zin just never got around to adapting it for their own use.
*** Judging by the robotic arms in the changing room, the sounds made as the armor gets put on, and the fact that it's a perfect fit for any body type, a suit is tailor-made whenever anyone needs one. Presumably, a Zin soldier who stepped into the armory would get a three-fingered version.
* The Boss gets their powers by collecting code clusters to modify their own abilities. Occasionally, a quest will have you fight an NPC granted similar super powers (either a Zin warden, or an in-universe NPC). Why not just program all enemies to be super powered?
** The simulation has finite resources and super powers seem to really mess with the code. Which is just fun to abuse.
*** This happens visibly -- if you use your powers frequently, or have several powered friends and enemies, the graphics glitch constantly.

** Well, that's not entirely true, because Oleg and Josh are at Camp David, which, in the intro, they talk about doing that weekend. So the Boss may have only been in the simulation for a few days, tops.
*** Due to the revelation that the Zin have time travel, it is entirely possible that Johnny was abducted only very shortly before the invasion begins. In fact, he could have even been at the Boss's side and been preventing things in an alternate timeline that Zinyak had already experienced and that is why Zinyak would have gone back to the plane and taken him off. So he may not have been in the simulation too much longer than the rest of the Saints.
*** According to a homie conversation between Gat and Keith, Gat was trapped for years.
* So Boss was first a dude, who got blown up after becoming TheDragon to a powerful street gang. Then he could possibly have a sex change operation and take over the city, again. In doing so s/he becomes crazy with rage at the other gangs, not to mention Julius. Then things get crazy. Then weird. Then awesome. Then rat fuck insane. Then Boss is helping Santa save Christmas. Here's where the horror bit comes in: what if Boss snapped completely because of Carlos' death, Aisha's death, the attempts on the lives of the other Saints, Julius' betrayal, Gat's death, Shaundi's, Viola's and Burt Reynolds' deaths, STAG trying to wipe out Steelport to get at the Saints? Any one of these incidents could well have had Boss go off the deep end and go into a power fantasy, or the trauma made them twisted enough that s/he imagines giving presents from Santa's sleigh as s/he wipes out half of Steelport in a chopper, ala The Pyro from ''VideoGames/TeamFortress2.''
** Actually, according to WordOfGod, if you play the Boss as a female in Saints Row 2, it is to be assumed that [[RetCon she always was a woman]].
* How about this? The first game was your' rather standard slightly more humourous GTA clone, but after the boss got blown up the games got wackier and stranger and stranger, whose to say The Boss woke up at all from his/her coma? some of the things I find justify this are,soundtrack moments ingame where there is no radio, the sheer speed in which Playa becomes Boss, The Saints sudden super takeover of mainstream culture, the terrorist mission, just the sheer absurdity of some of the scenarios.

* The homie conversation between Keith David and [[spoiler: Maero]] reveals that [[spoiler: the Boss has never talked about Maero to Keith.]] It's PlayedForLaughs with [[spoiler: Maero]] as the butt of the joke, but what was he responsible for? Possibly the darkest mission in Saints Row history, [[spoiler: where the Boss had to personally put Carlos out of his misery after a keelhauling]]. Maybe the Boss never [[spoiler: talked about Maero]] because it brought bad memories to the forefront.

* So Boss was first a dude, who got blown up after becoming TheDragon to a powerful street gang. Then he could possibly have a sex change operation and take over the city, again. In doing so s/he becomes crazy with rage at the other gangs, not to mention Julius. Then things get crazy. Then weird. Then awesome. Then rat fuck insane. Then Boss is helping Santa save Christmas. Here's where the horror bit comes in: what if Boss snapped completely because of Carlos' death, Aisha's death, the attempts on the lives of the other Saints, Julius' betrayal, Gat's death, Shaundi's, Viola's and Burt Reynolds' deaths, STAG trying to wipe out Steelport to get at the Saints? Any one of these incidents could well have had Boss go off the deep end and go into a power fantasy, or the trauma made them twisted enough that s/he imagines giving presents from Santa's sleigh as s/he wipes out half of Steelport in a chopper, ala The Pyro from ''VideoGames/TeamFortress2.''

** Or just GenreSavvy enough to know that sooner or later, someone was going to come after him, ready to start problems. The Boss lost one friend due to letting himself get soft and dropping his guard. Never again.

* Look closely at the shoes of the jumpsuits the Saints wear on their spaceship. The shoes have a split in the middle fitting the Zin biology. They are most likely designed to adjust to a wearers anatomy.

* Why didn't Viola tell the Saints about Johnny's abduction? Because she was using them to get revenge on Killbane, and letting the Boss think the Syndicate killed their best friend and Killbane crashed his funeral helped keep them focused.

** Zinyak underestimates the Boss at every turn of the story. He even thinks he is going to win all the way until the end. It either never occurred to him to try, or he was just being another over confidant Bond villain that is an idiot and doesn't just kill the threats. He does seem to have a sadistic fun in "playing" with his victims. It proves to be his undoing as is usual in these kinds of situations.
** Forget about why they don't use the [[spoiler: PowerArmor]] themselves, or why they even have these things - why does the [[spoiler: PowerArmor]] has 5-finger gauntlets when the Zin only have 3 fingers on each hand? It's like they are specifically built for human use!

*** Maybe because it wasn't a Zin invention but instead a trophy from some other conquered world who's people were more human-sized and human-shaped. The Zin just never got around to adapting it for their own use.
* The Boss gets their powers by collecting code clusters to modify their own abilities. Occasionally, a quest will have you fight an NPC granted with similar super powers (either a Zin warden, or an in-universe NPC). Why not just program all enemies to be super powered?

* While being trapped in your personal hell is horrible, it becomes worse for Johnny when you realize that he was abducted in the third game. We don't know now much time has passed between the end of SRTT and the first level of this one, but afterwards there's a five year TimeSkip to the present. We also don't know how long Boss was in his own simulation before Kizie busted him out (it was, at least, enough time for her to escape, free Keith David, and steal an alien vessel and learn how to pilot it). At the very least, he was trapped in there for over five years. At worst, he could've been there for near enough ''a decade''. A decade of reliving Aisha's death and his inability to save her. Wow, that must suck. On the plus side, when he escapes it, it helped him get past her death and come to terms with it, and now he's happy to move on with his life (and possibly start a relationship with the boss).

*** Due to the revelation that the Zin have time travel, it is entirely possible that Johnny was abducted only very shortly before the invasion begins. In fact, he could have even been at the bosses side and been preventing things in an alternate timeline that Zinyak had already experienced and that is why Zinyak would have gone back to the plane and taken him off. So he may not have been in the simulation too much longer than the rest of the Saints.

* So Boss was first a dude, who got blown up after becoming TheDragon to a powerful street gang. Then he could possibly have a sex change operation and take over the city, again. In doing so s/he becomes crazy with rage at the other gangs, not to mention Julius. Then things get crazy. Then weird. Then awesome. Then rat fuck insane. Then Boss is helping Santa save Christmas. Here's where the horror bit comes in: what if Boss snapped completely because of Carlos' death, Aisha's death, the attempts on the lives of the other Saints, Julius' betrayal, Gat's death, Shaundi's Viola's and Burt Reynolds' deaths, STAG trying to wipe out Steelport to get at the Saints? Any one of these incidents could well have had Boss go off the deep end and go into a power fantasy, or the trauma made them twisted enough that s/he imagines giving presents from Santa's sleigh as s/he wipes out half of Steelport in a chopper, ala The Pyro from ''VideoGames/TeamFortress2.''

* in the two missions set in the 50's any swearing is bleeped out, except for the last lines which demonstrates that The Boss has broken it.

*** Due to the revelation that the Zin have time travel, it is entirely possible that Johnny was abducted only very shortly before the invasion begins. In fact, he could have even been at the bosses side and been preventing things in an alternate timeline that Zinyak had already experienced and that is why Zinyak would have gone back to the plane and taken him off. So he may not have been in the simulation too much longer than the rest of the Saints.