History Main / CutscenePowerToTheMax

*** This one, at least, is {{justified}} by the fact that, with certain NewGamePlus options, liberal amounts of [[GameBreaker Toss Hammer and Spell Canceling,]] and a '''lot''' of patience, it's ''entirely possible'' to [[SelfImposedChallenge beat the game at level 1]] without ''ever'' having learned ''any'' moves other than Fire Ball and Demon Fang.

*** This one, at least, is {{justified}} by the fact that, by choosing certain NewGamePlus options, then using liberal amounts of [[GameBreaker Toss Hammer and Spell Canceling,]] it's *entirely possible* to beat the game at level 1 without *ever* having learned *any* moves other than Fire Ball and Demon Fang.

* KOS-MOS in ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'' is a glaring example. The original game at least attempted a nod to this, as she was the one of the few characters who did not need to ride a [[HumongousMecha AGWS]]. Jin Uzuki is another offender, as in the second game he splits an entire giant robot mecha in half with one slash of his sword. Other characters stand in awe. But then when you get to control him he isn't that much more powerful than anyone else.

* ''VideoGame/LufiaIITheLegendReturns'' had [[TheBigGuy Dekar]], a ludicrously over-the-top warrior who boasted of his incredible combat skills. When you first meet him (and in other subsequent cutscenes) he shows off his incredible skill by using powerful and implausible abilities such as the aptly-named [[CallingYourAttacks "Blastmaster"]] that wipe out hordes of enemies at once. While he is actually in your party, he has no such abilities (though he still may be the strongest character regardless).

* ''{{Half-Life}} 2'' has an interesting example with [[RobotBuddy Dog]], who has no combat AI whatsoever and will run from any and all enemies. However in scripted sequences, the game's equivalent of cutscenes, he [[TheJuggernaut effortlessly and painfully crushes everything in his path]], from regular soldiers to a ''Strider''.

*** Though in every subsequent fight Snake has with The Boss after the [[CurbstompBattle first one]], he manages to last longer. So this isn't ''too'' unjustified.

** It's subverted in a way, though. Decent players can make it through the game taking relatively few hits. Cutscene Dante gets hit by a lot. A few scenes lean straight into {{Cutscene Incompetence}}.

* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect'' some cutscenes/conversations have the player pointing guns ([[NoCutsceneInventoryInertia usually the pistol]]) at people. In game it takes many shots, but here it takes only one.

* ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia2'' has an odd example of this where [[spoiler: alternate Julius]] gives Ludger and Jude a beatdown that leaves them both on the floor in the pre-battle cutscene. It gives off the vibe you'd get from a HopelessBossFight, but it's required that you win [[TheBattleDidntCount (And you do actually win).]]

* ''DonkeyKongCountryReturns'', [[spoiler: DK '''''[[ColonyDrop punches the moon]]''''' into Tiki Tong's tower]].

* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' never explains how Anders can [[spoiler: destroy an entire building with a {{Magitek}} bomb. Now if only he'd had that kind of destructive power when you were taking down a BonusBoss...]]

** Mario himself is a huge offender. He effortlessly roots Larry's castle from the ground in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' and kicks it away. In [[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time]], he [[InASingleBound jumps higher than Luigi]] during cutscenes.

*** In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianDawn'', the Orca VTOL assault craft is shown dodging missiles in a cutscene in the original game and repeats the stunt in a cutscene in ''Tiberian Sun'' while destroying several Nod SAM Sites. Try this in-game however, and prepare to be very disappointed. Also the Mammoth Mk.II from ''Tiberian Sun'' is considerably more powerful in the cutscenes. Similarly, a Ion Cannon strike destroys a small base in a cutscene. In-game, it only strikes one building, and can't even kill the larger buildings.\\

* ''VideoGame/MadWorld''has a minor one. When facing the Shogun in a [[QuickTimeEvent power struggle]], Jack does a BarehandedBladeBlock first, and then a regular block with his right arm and knee. Jack cannot block outside of that quick time event, as he can dodge only.

* Awesome aversion in ''GodHand''; In one of the few cutscenes involving him fighting, Gene, the protagonist, proceeds to launch three enemies to the sky. While the moves are not normally "one-hit-kill" type in the game, they're pretty much available to the player, and if one takes advantage of counter hits and the tension gauge/roulette, can accomplish the same thing in-game.

* Also in ''VideoGame/HaloReach'', [[spoiler:Kat takes a one-shot to the head from an Elite in a cutscene, quickly (and very emotionally) dying on you]]. Needless to say, the Spartans are MUCH more durable in combat. [[spoiler:Now, her shields ''were'' down, and it was ''a headshot'', but the round passes right through her head, when in gameplay it just sticks to your cranium.]]

* ''{{Bayonetta}}'' routinely kills angels with single gunshots in cutscenes. Granted, they are usually the weakest type, but even on the easiest difficulty it would take sustained fire to kill them with her guns.

* Played straight most of the time in {{Bayonetta}} where both Bayonetta and Jeanne perform outstanding jumps, attacks, counters, and dodges that are not possible in the game.

* This trope also happens in RealTimeStrategy games such as ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer'': The Orca VTOL assault craft is shown dodging missiles in a cutscene in the original game and repeats the stunt in a cutscene in ''Tiberian Sun'' while destroying several Nod SAM Sites. Try this in-game however, and prepare to be very disappointed. Also the Mammoth Mk.II from ''Tiberian Sun'' is considerably more powerful in the cutscenes.
** Similarly, a Ion Cannon strike destroys a small base in a cutscene. In-game, it only strikes one building, and can't even kill the larger buildings.
** In one of the early GDI cutscenes in ''Tiberian Sun'', a single GDI light infantry blows up two cyborgs with a single shot each. In-game, light infantry are the least expensive and weakest units and a cyborg can withstand multiple shots from light infantry (and it takes a lot more than one light infantry to kill a cyborg).
** In the FPS spinoff ''Renegade'', Havoc kills enemy soldiers with single pistol shots in cinematics. In game, even with headshots, the same soldiers take several shots. Relatedly, when he gets ambushed by cloaked Nod forces, the amount of units present in the cinematic exceed any amount of enemies you ever face at once in normal gameplay.
** In ''[[CommandAndConquerRedAlert Red Alert]]'', a cutscene shows several tanks and two helicopters being teleported by the chronosphere. In game, you can only teleport a single tank at once, and cannot teleport air units or [=APCs=] with people, with the given reason that the people in the [=APCs=] will die, which really doesn't make sense because the tanks have to have people in them (these limitations make the Chronosphere something of a UselessUsefulSpell in ''Red Alert 1'', while in ''Red Alert 2'' the shortcomings are largely corrected).
** In ''Red Alert 2: Yuri's Revenge'', the Psychic Dominators shown in the opening cutscene are able to mind control entire sections of continents. To prevent it from being an ''enormous'' GameBreaker by giving Yuri's faction the ability to instantly control every unit and structure on the map if one is activated even once[[note]]Like the Psychic Beacon in the third Soviet mission of ''Red Alert 2''[[/note]], in the game it can take over 9 units at most and cause a lot of base damage.
** ''Red Alert 3'' didn't have very much combat in its cinematics, probably to avoid this, but its in-game cutscenes are just as bad. Superweapons routinely [[RocksFallEveryoneDies take out entire bases]], and the Imperial and Soviet support superweapons, which temporarily physical block off an area and render units invulnerable, respectively, have an unlimited duration. (The Chronosphere, which teleports units around, generally does what it's supposed to - with the caveat that it "teleports" in [[OffscreenVillainDarkMatter units that didn't exist before]].) Sometimes this works ''for'' you, though, such as the final Imperial mission, which opens with Yuriko and a host of troopers attacking from ''within'' a Psionic Decimator shot - it's usually not half as discriminating in who it kills.
** Buried in Tiberian Dawn's readmes is a partial explanation for some of these: health doesn't just represent health, armour and general structural integrity, it also represents not getting hit (that's why ordinary infantry don't get immediately killed by pretty much any attack). So you can't dodge the missiles in-game, but on the other hand it takes more than one missile to bring you down.

...y'know, if they actually ''had'' these powers available in the gameplay. Outside cutscenes, they have less impressive powers. How powerful the character is in battle sometimes seems inversely proportional to how strong they are outside it. In negative situations, this character is OverratedAndUnderleveled.

Invariably a flagrant (and particularly annoying) form of GameplayAndStorySegregation, but under the right circumstances it's acceptable as seen above. This trope goes hand in hand with HeadsIWinTailsYouLose. Compare to CutsceneIncompetence for the opposite. (You would think that Cutscene Power To The Max and CutsceneIncompetence could not coexist in the same game. You'd be wrong.)

* ''StarCraft'' similarly has a big stat difference between cuts and game. The Yamato Gun supposedly blasts another battlecruiser with one shot and keeps going - in game, it takes 2 full shots. Even more drastic, zerglings take 2 shots of said Battlecruiser to die, whereas in cutscenes a Ghost can kill them with just one shot! The weapons of other races also are much stronger, slicing each other outright. In one instance the SpaceMarines even use a weapon (grenade launcher) they don't have in-game at all!
** The grenade launcher actualy has an interesting explanation. Most of the cutscenes for Starcraft were made in Beta phase of the game. The space marine unit was original supposed to have a grenade firing ability with limited ammo ala the Spidermines of the Vultures, but this was removed after being seen as too hard to balance. The result is that all images and cutscenes with space marines clearly show them having the underslug grenade launcher on their rifles, but no such ability. This was one reason the grenade launchers were removed from the rifles in Starcraft 2 instead having bayonets which can be pushed out underneath the barrel. Which were however also removed during the Beta phase again leaving the Marines with a cutscene weapon they can't use in game.
** The worst example has to be the Garinthor, Tassadar's flagship. In the storyline, the Garinthor regularly glasses entire planets, and the only reason the Zerg are a problem on Tarsonis is that Tassadar didn't want to kill the Terran population. In-game, the Garinthor is about twice as good as a normal carrier, which is good, but hardly planet-scouring.

** SC 2 features a rather jarring example of Cutscene Power To The Normal. In the end of the [[HoldTheLine third mission]] TheCavalry arrives in the form of your flagship Hyperion and proceeds to float magnificently to your besieged base, while decimating the zerg hordes that press on it...wait, these bastards can actually fire on the move?! Needless to say, no units, except for one special prototype tank, possess this marvelous ability in-game.

** However it is shown or at least heavily implied in the intro trailer that the gorgons have to "activate" their petrifying gaze and need to stare directly into their victims eyes for what seems to be around a second in order for it to work properly, enabling even the nameless soldier protagonist of the cinematic to defeat one only with a simple sword without ever getting close to being pretrified.

*** There's only one thing that Batman does in a cutscene here that you can't do in normal play though: [[spoiler:spraying Explosive Gel on your own fist, then punch somebody with it. This is how he delivers the final blow to the Joker. Though he looks like he breaks his arm doing it, so it's probably good this wasn't a gameplay feature.]][[note]] This is possibly where he first learns/invents the move (just like he acquires other moves/gadgets during the game). It was supposed to be a quickfire move in the sequel (before being changed to simply spraying on the ground fast) and he uses it in the tie-in comic book taking place between the two games. The reason you can't use it after continuing the game is due to GameplayAndStorySegregation (as it ends with Batman leaving the island to apprehend Two-face in the city).[[/note]]

** Slightly subverted at the same time, however, as a few of the Cutscene actions (such as jumping form rock to rock mid-air) you actually can use under special circumstances or in special boss fights.

*** To be fair, it's Lars, so a [[GameBreaker similar explanation]] to Bryan applies here. Jin Kazama is a more direct example; the implication from T5 and T6 is that he manages to defeat physical gods like Jinpachi and Azazel without his powerups, but in-game he's one of the low-mid tier characters.

*** That one is sorta justified by being the [[MegatonPunch Falcon Punch]] now how did he do it while jumping without losing all mommentum? That's the mystery.

* Subverted as it is not a scene, but in ''FatalFrame 2's'' trailer, one can see Mio running as fast as she can to rescue Mayu, and damned if it wouldn't be nice if she could run that fast in-game!

** The uncontested worst case is Kai Leng in VideoGame/MassEffect3. You could be beating him like a drum on [[spoiler:Thessia, but then BOOM Cutscene and he suddenly goes from being soundly thrashed to looking like he had the upper hand the entire time. What's worse is that he needs a gunship to back him up for most of the preceding fight.]]