History Main / IDontKnowMortalKombat

*** [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TerryPlaysAOFs.jpg This official picture]] depicts a similar scene; but curiously, Terry seems to be complaining at the ''VideoGame/ArtOfFighting'' demonstration screen, rather than to some actual gameplay event.

* [[http://www.misfile.com/?page=217 Vash]] from ''{{Misfile}}'': "Give me a break. Smiting people with my real sword is WAY more intuitive than these stupid controls."

** The band {{Rush}} appeared on the ''TheColbertReport'' and played their song "Tom Sawyer" in ''RockBand''. They [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btcvSWoQWV0 failed]] at 31%.

* An episode of ''Anime/FullMetalPanicFumoffu'' shows Sōsuke playing a shooting game in an arcade. He does pretty well at first but runs out of virtual ammo and, [[ChildSoldiers unable to wrap his brain around]] the concept of [[IJustShotMarvinInTheFace "firing" offscreen to "reload,"]] gets flustered and shoots several holes in the screen with his real gun instead.

** Paul has also admited to having trouble with the game.

** Ringo Starr [[http://www.plasticaxe.com/2009/09/08/overheard-ringo-starr/ admits]] having trouble playing as his virtual self in ''TheBeatles: Rock Band''. Note that drumming in those rythym games is more accurate to actual drums than playing plastic guitars.

-->-- '''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0dvCPliouc Herman Li]]''', DragonForce, on playing [[ThatOneBoss Through The Fire And Flames]] on ''GuitarHero''

* In ''MassEffect3'', challenging Samantha Traynor to a game of chess will always result in [[PlayerCharacter Shepard]] losing, despite Shepard's legendary prowess in leading real battles. When Shepard complains that the game doesn't reflect real-life tactics very well, Traynor retorts that real soldiers don't move on and 8-by-8 square grid.

* An episode of ''BatmanBeyond'' has Batman's female SecretKeeper friend Max demolishing a martial arts master at an arcade. He turns into a StalkerWithACrush.

* ''YuYuHakusho'': Even though he's inherited Genkai's Spirit Wave and technicallly surpassed her as a martial artist by defeating Toguro when she failed to do so, Yusuke still loses to her almost all the time at a fighting game.

* Tytti Norrbuck from ''SuperRobotWars'' is known as the herald of the Elemental Lord of Water... yet in a BeachEpisode, she prefers to stay on land... because [[SuperDrowningSkills she can't swim]].

* In ''MegaTokyo'' Largo defeated Junpei, an actual ninja in ''Mortal Kombat'' in order to get visa to Japan. Junpei immediately started calling him l33t Master and following him around expecting tutelage. It's still Junpei who saves Largo from any actual danger, however.

* In the TvTropes Online Roleplay WeAreOurAvatars, [[DeadRising Frank West]] [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=i9k31ypluou9s5j9d2w7n23k&page=22184 played a game of]] [[MarvelVsCapcom3 Superhero Works Vs. Capcom 3]] against [[BowsersKingdom Hal the Koopa]]. He mostly {{button mash|ing}}ed his characters to a draw in that match. He also was surprised that he was in the game and picked fighters Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine and Frank West.

* Randy from ''SouthPark'' is a talented guitarist who can't play ''GuitarHero'' to save his life, even when it's the same song he apparently knows by heart.

* ''DannyPhantom'': While Danny is the best fighter in his [[PowerTrio trio of friends]] in real life (due to his ghost powers), Sam is the most skilled by far in the video game they like to play, one which involves combat.

*** He was singing, for clarification. Something similar happened when Coheed and Cambria's Claudio Sanchez took on "Welcome Home" -- he managed to complete it, just with a score of around 80%[[hottip:*:"Well, I sing it differently now"]]. Besides, watching the video it's obvious that Coulton's drummer brought the group down.

** There is a video of Music/{{Megadeth}}'s Dave Mustaine screwing up his band's song "Hangar 18" on ''Guitar Hero 2''[='=]s Easy, even though he's been playing it at live shows for 18 years or so. This trope and rhythm games are absolutely made for each other.

** A friend of this editor has observed that trained dancers tend to do ''worse'' at games like DanceDanceRevolution.
* Joseph D. Kucan is not an army leader, [[ButIPlayOneOnTV but he plays one in]] ''CommandAndConquer''. He has admitted in an interview that he sucks at RealTimeStrategy games.

-->-- '''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0dvCPliouc Herman Li]]''', {{DragonForce}}, on playing [[ThatOneBoss Through The Fire And Flames]] on ''GuitarHero''

When someone does something in a video game they, of course, [[IKnowMortalKombat become an expert at it in real life]]. If [[IKnowMortalKombat you know Mortal Kombat]], then you can mop the floor with even the most seasoned fighters after practicing on your MurderSimulators (or so the MoralGuardians say) and [[TaughtByTelevision if you watch]] {{MacGyver}} you can get right to work on HomemadeInventions.

However, when you already have the talent in question and try to play the game, you may find that you don't really know how. A lethal fighter gets tripped up on the controls, or a pro guitarist can't handle the simplified button-pushing. Maybe RealityIsUnrealistic, or perhaps it's because you're the skill equivalent of a StrawVulcan and cannot accept a version that's been simplified for the RuleOfFun. Either way, you have no choice but to admit, "I don't know Mortal Kombat." If you won't admit it, you might just say, "[[StopHavingFunGuys Stop having fun, guys]]," instead.

** Possibly a subversion: the sound/voice effects heard in the game are ''Andy's''.

** Over a dozen volumes later in the manga, Ranma is seen schooling Miss Hinako in a ''[[ShoutOut Street Fighter]]'' clone. Must have trained in the meantime.
*** Someone probably just told him it's [[MartialArtsAndCrafts Videogame Martial Arts]].

* Non-video game example: Keith Knight of ''K Chronicles'' did a strip about the humiliation of being a cartoonist and losing at Pictionary to his friend, a nurse. He then gets revenge by beating her in Operation. There is also mention of a private detective who jumped in front of a steam roller after losing at Clue.

* Played with in ''[[ForgottenRealms Crusade]]'', the third volume of the ''Empires'' trilogy: King Azoun IV of Cormyr is a terrible chess player who can never beat his wife, Queen Filfaeril. [[UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny He nevertheless manages to defeat Yamun Khahan]], the Tuigan emperor, in an actual war, despite being outnumbered by more than three-to-one, commanding a much less experienced army, and despite the fact that the Khahan himself is a recognized military genius. When he returns home, is able to win about one game out of four against his wife.

* In ''TopGear'', Jeremy Clarkson failed to complete a race on track that he knew in real life on ''Gran Turismo''. He put this down to the fact that the track in the game wasn't quite a perfect representation, and it was missing a couple of corners. Plus the price of failure would have been time in hospital, as opposed to simply pressing restart.

* ''FZero'': In his F-Zero GX ending, Draq is [[BreakingTheFourthWall playing the game itself]] and crashes before the finish line.

* Similarly in ''VideoGame/TatsunokovsCapcom'', Morrigan's ending shows the succubus losing against a random child in the title game.

* In ''[[MegaTokyo Megatokyo]]'' Largo defeated Junpei, an actual ninja in ''Mortal Kombat'' in order to get visa to Japan. Junpei immediately started calling him l33t Master and following him around expecting tutelage. It's still Junpei who saves Largo from any actual danger, however.

* An episode of ''BatmanBeyond'' has Batman's female SecretKeeper friend Max demolishing a martial arts master at an arcade. He turns into a StalkerWithACrush.

*** Some of the bigger differences to clarify:

**** All harmonics, tremolo, bends, ect, are replaced by fret changes. This can really complicate a bend-heavy solo like Smoke on the Water. (Not to mention the fast tremolo in Raining Blood being changed to a really fast trill, making the song three times harder in the game). Also, the picking is handled by a plastic wedge (the "strum bar" which is harder to pick rapidly with precision, and can really screw up actual guitarists who think their skills will transition over.

* Speaking of ''{{Mortal Kombat}}'', [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF1eTHrxIyc Here's a match between Shang Tsung and Johnny Cage's actors playing the very characters they have portrayed in the second game]].

* The ''FatalFury'' [[TheMovie movie]] had a scene with [[TheHero Hero]] Terry Bogard trying and failing to play a FightingGame at an arcade, to the amusement of a little girl watching who tells him that her baby brother is better than him.

** There's also one side-story in an artbook which has him losing to a kid [[ShoutOut while they're playing]] ''ArtOfFighting''.
*** [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TerryPlaysAOFs.jpg This official picture]] depicts a similar scene; but curiously, Terry seems to be complaining at the ''ArtOfFighting'' demonstration screen, rather than to some actual gameplay event.
* An episode of ''FullMetalPanic? Fumoffu'' shows Sōsuke playing a shooting game in an arcade. He does pretty well at first but runs out of virtual ammo and, [[ChildSoldiers unable to wrap his brain around]] the concept of [[IJustShotMarvinInTheFace "firing" offscreen to "reload,"]] gets flustered and shoots several holes in the screen with his real gun instead.
* A story in both the manga and the anime of ''RanmaOneHalf'' has Ranma, currently in female form, trying to persuade a lazy and rather spoiled kid named Yotaro to start playing outside. When s/he asks how much fun sitting around playing videogames all day could be, he turns over the controls for a vertical scrolling shooter game. Ranma brags that his/her superior reflexes means it will pose no challenge... and is promptly wiped out. Genma proves to be better, even in panda form.

* In the French action film ''Wasabi'', Jean Reno's secret agent character gets his butt handed to him by a Japanese highschool student playing a series of arcade games, causing a bunch of high schoolers to laugh at how silly he's doing. Yakuza thugs then attack the arcade, and Reno proceeds to blast them all to bits in a manic gunfight as the shocked high school students looks on.
** With little coin "bling!" sound effects added to each hit, [[RuleOfFunny just for giggles]].

* ''{{Empowered}}'': Ninjette sucks at videogames about ninjas, despite being a ninja herself. (To be fair, she was doing pretty well up until [[CameraScrew the camera turned on her]].)

* During one of the festival chapters of ''Manga/ToLoveRu'', highly skilled assassin Golden Darkness got ''very'' upset when she couldn't succeed at certain contests involving coordination and aim ... while Rito won with ease.

* ''ElGoonishShive'' filler has [[http://egscomics.com/?date=2005-06-17 Elliot]] and [[http://egscomics.com/?date=2003-03-24 Ellen]] losing a FightingGame to Grace. Justified, since Grace is [[LightningBruiser superhumanly fast]], far beyond the good reaction Ellen got from SupernaturalMartialArts. Adapting for any locomotions on the fly [[RequiredSecondaryPowers as a descendant of freeform shapeshifters]] probably helps too.

**** New Pro Guitar controllers have a 6-string button layout and short strings for picking, and there is also a real Squier built for the game which was recently discontinued. The chords are usually correct, but of course the gameplay is still more confining and less detailed compared to picking up a guitar and playing.

** The band {{Rush}} recently appeared on the ''TheColbertReport'' and played their song "Tom Sawyer" in ''RockBand''. They [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btcvSWoQWV0 failed]] at 31%.

* Expert gunslinger, bounty hunter and former assassin ''BlackCat'' is really not good at first person shooters. Not even arcade ones with flash guns.

** As [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAgutrkFjBQ&feature=related this video]] shows, Jonathan Coulton (who wrote "Still Alive" for the ''{{Portal}}'' soundtrack) failed to get through it in ''RockBand'' when he was first announcing its release for that game.

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* ''ElGoonishShive'' filler has [[http://egscomics.com/?date=2005-06-17 Elliot]] and [[http://egscomics.com/?date=2003-03-24 Ellen]] losing a FightingGame to Grace. Justified, since Grace is [[http://egscomics.com/?date=2002-07-18 superhumanly fast]], far beyond the good reaction Ellen got from SupernaturalMartialArts. Adapting for any locomotions on the fly as a descendant of freeform shapeshifters probably helps too.

* In ''Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby'', the title stock-car racer attempts a driving video game, and loses badly. In this case, though, it's used to show how traumatized he's become; he's so overcome by fear of racing that he can't even play a racing video game, much less compete in an actual race.

* ''LEGO Mars Mission{{Animorphs}}'': Marco claims he can drive thanks to his videogame experience. [[DrivesLikeCrazy He really can't]], [[ClosestThingWeGot but he's better than the other Animorphs]]. He ''can'' drive a tank, though. (Although he's worried about flipping the tank over, since he [[ThisIsReality can't just hit reset]].)

* ''{{Animorphs}}'': Marco claims he can drive thanks to his videogame experience. [[DrivesLikeCrazy He really can't]], [[ClosestThingWeGot but he's better than the other Animorphs]]. He ''can'' drive a tank, though. (Although he's worried about flipping the tank over, since he [[ThisIsReality can't just hit reset]].)

* During one of the festival chapters of ''ToLoveRu'', highly skilled assassin Golden Darkness got ''very'' upset when she couldn't succeed at certain contests involving coordination and aim ... while Rito won with ease.

* In the TvTropes OnlineRoleplay WeAreOurAvatars, [[VideoGame/DeadRising Frank West]] [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=i9k31ypluou9s5j9d2w7n23k&page=22184 played a game of]] [[MarvelVsCapcom3 Superhero Works Vs. Capcom 3]] against [[BowsersKingdom Hal the Koopa]]. He mostly {{button mash|ing}}ed his characters to a draw in that match. He also was surprised that he was in the game and picked fighters Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine and Frank West.

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