History Main / ExcusePlot

Excuse plots, as implied thus far, are most common among video games. In most cases, fun gameplay comes first, and from there, many developers don't see the need for an intricate narrative. This was especially true in the early days of the medium, where system limitations meant a detailed plot would bear significant trade-offs. As a result, this set a baseline for the industry where, in most genres, storytelling isn't a high priority, unless the game brands itself around the story. However, excuse plots are far from unique to the medium. A movie may be [[RuleOfFunny a bunch of gags]] strung together by a barebones narrative. A cartoon may be a [[RuleOfCool nine minute fight scene]] with a minute on each end for setup and resolution.

* ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'': Deconstructed; Because they see Melromarc and the world around it as nothing but a consequence-free video game world with a cliché "Save the world!" plot, Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu see the whole "Summoned To Another World" thing as an excuse to indulge in their personal fantasies, especially Itsuki's hero complex and Motoyasu's harem fantasies. However, especially from Naofumi's point of view, it becomes increasingly obvious that there is much more to the world than "Save the world and reap the benefits", as Naofumi himself winds up suffering due to events that occurred long before he was summoned. While he prospers regardless, partly by understanding and accepting just how real the world is enough to ask questions, investigate it's extensive history and actively ''study'' things that'll prove useful in the long run, the other three heroes end up causing problems due to the fact that they expect to succeed through the bare minimum amount of effort, refuse to think critically beyond what several obviously shady people tell them, leaving easily avoided disasters in their wake in the process and leaving the civilians to see them as just plain inept.
* ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnlineAlternativeGunGaleOnline'' isn't an example in and of itself, but the game Gun Gale Online takes place in a post-apocalyptic world that's basically an excuse to have deathmatches between characters. In Volume 6, the Test Play Tournament has an excuse plot about reclaiming a WMD from a terrorist group. Since almost all of humanity has been wiped out, the main characters point out the plot doesn't really make sense, and make fun of the novelist who proposed it.

* Promotional material for ''Pinball/Rush2022'' summarizes the game's plot as simply "travel back in time alongside Rush," a thin premise largely used to justify the use of concert footage and [[MythologyGag umpteen references]] to [[Music/{{Rush}} the band]]'s back catalog.

* ''Film/{{Eurotrip}}'' involves the protagonist sending a drunken email and being unable to apologize because the recipient blocks his email address. [[IdiotPlot Conveniently forgetting]] about the dozens of other ways to get in touch with someone, he sets off to Europe to apologize in person. HilarityEnsues. A large portion of the film consists of sketches that would work just as well on their own and out of context, so the overarching plot being rather thin [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools is not a real problem.]]

* ''Machinima/GamingAllStars'': Video game characters all live together on Earth. Oh no! The villains want to capture characters in a display of power! Heroes team up and bad guys form alliances and stab each other in the back. [[spoiler: What's this?! A PhysicalGod has played all the other bad guys like a fiddle, traps the heroes inside the moon, and starts an apocalypse, because '''''that''''' is what irredeemably nasty villains do]].

* ''Film/ThePrincess'': While the film does try to flesh out the situation and backstory of Princess during her rampage down the tower with flashbacks and some incidental dialogue, it mostly serves to justify why she can fight so well, as well as provide some context for the situation. Otherwise, the film is merely an excuse to see a string of creative, well choreographed, action scenes.

* ''Pinball/TotalNuclearAnnihilation'' has a similarly threadbare plot about Scarlett (a woman in an '80s-inspired post-apocalyptic future) causing several nuclear reactors to overload. Her motivation for doing so goes unexplained. It becomes particularly glaring if you manage to destroy all nine reactors, as [[spoiler:the game [[PaintingTheMedium subtly emphasizes the destruction you've wrought]] by [[NonStandardGameOver ending the game completely]] - after all, "[[TitleDrop total nuclear annihilation]]" includes ''yourself'']].

* In Music/GioachinoRossini’s ''Il viaggio a Reims'', the story in a nutshell is as follows: LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters prepare to go to the coronation of Charles X but can’t make it, so they stage a concert in the king’s honour in their hotel. The whole opera consists of arias, duets and ensembles just barely connected with each other in terms of plot. But well, it’s Rossini, so the arias, duets and ensembles are gorgeous.

* ''Film/PacificRim'' is little more than an excuse to watch giant robots fighting giant monsters, and makes precisely zero apologies for it.

** Though judging by Del Toro's statements as for what he'd wish to achieve with in the future of the franchise about not wanting later entries to be "the exact same but bigger", it looks like the eventual sequel (being called by the working title ''Maelstrom'') would be a subversion of this trope with Pacific Rim being the "establishing piece" for the setting and basic backstory of the Pacific Rim-verse with Maelstrom and potential later entries fleshing it out.
** Though its also worth noting that even then, it does also contain plenty of subtle themes from Del Toro's prior films (Film/Hellboy2004 and Film/TheDevilsBackbone) as can be noted [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Rim_(film)#Themes here]].

* Most parody films tend to have these -- though the better films, like anything from Creator/MelBrooks or Creator/ZuckerAbrahamsZucker, will at least try to integrate the jokes and plot somewhat, but even then it mostly serves as a method to make fun of the conventions of the genre they're parodying.

* ''Film/{{UHF}}'' is apparently about George trying to keep a TV network afloat, but that's really just an excuse to string together a bunch of skits parodying other movies and TV shows.

* ExtremeSportExcusePlot (the movie plot is to justify all the extreme sport stuff)

Excuse plots, as implied thus far, are most common among video games. In most cases, fun gameplay comes first, and from there, many developers don't see the need for an intricate narrative. This was especially true in the early days of the medium, where system limitations meant a detailed plot would bear significant trade-offs. As a result, this set a baseline for the industry where, in most genres, storytelling isn't a high priority, unless the game brands itself around the story. However, excuse plots are far from unique to the medium. A movie may be a bunch of gags strung together by a barebones narrative. A cartoon may be a nine minute fight scene with a minute on each end for setup and resolution.

A potential disadvantage of including a half-assed plot (as opposed to no plot at all) is that it can make the game seem unfinished, poorly thought-out, or childish. However, many developers either do not think about these risks or consider the structure and context an Excuse Plot provides to be worth it.

An Excuse Plot is not necessarily a poorly written, minimalistic, or stupid storyline, only one that has been written to obviously showcase something else. These are typically featured in games for children such as ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' (though there are exceptions in that series, such as the RPG spinoffs), as a complex storyline would not be something that children would understand. Beware of the AnthropicPrinciple.

A SuperTrope to:
* SaveThePrincess (rescue a kidnapped person, [[GratuitousPrincess usually a princess]])

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Ultimate Spider-Man}}'' episode "Ultimate Deadpool" is a full-on exercise of cramming in as much fourth wall-breaking zaniness by Deadpool as it can; like the Joe example, the MacGuffin is explicitly named as such.

* All five stories in ''FanFic/TheRivalPrefectsTrilogy'' have plots that are arguably just excuses for the characters to get naked and/or engage in sexual activity.