History Main / NoPlotNoProblem

* ''VideoGame/OneStepFromEden'': Like most {{Roguelikes}} it doesn't present a plot or story, but even by genre standards there's very little lore for the game. The amount of StoryBreadcrumbs in the game is minimal and not nearly enough to flesh out the world and items and enemies don't follow a particular unifying design.

* Even though ''VideoGame/YoshiTouchAndGo'' is based on ''VideoGame/YoshisIsland'', there is no plot and the game has no tie-in to that game.

* Even though ''VideoGame/YoshiTouchAndGo'' is based on Yoshi's Island, there is no plot and the game has no tie-in to that game.

* ''VideoGame/{{Rayman}}'': while ''VideoGame/Rayman2TheGreatEscape'' and ''VideoGame/Rayman3HoodlumHavoc'' have elaborate plots, ''VideoGame/Rayman1'', ''VideoGame/RaymanOrigins'' and ''VideoGame/RaymanLegends'' just briefly tell you that the world is in danger and then you're off joyfully jumping around jungles, forests, BandLand and a giant Mexican kitchen.

* ''VideoGame/CrimzonClover'', despite bearing many of the staples of a modern arcade BulletHell shooter (such as a finite number of stages), has absolutely no plot, even if you check the manual. This trope continues into its UsefulNotes/{{arcade|Game}} and UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} UpdatedRerelease.

* ''Krakout'': This horizontally-oriented ''Breakout'' game for the UsefulNotes/{{Commodore 64}} has some LampshadeHanging about this on the title screen: "Sorry there is no scrolly message but we decided to give you an amazing game instead."

* ''VideoGame/{{Qwak}}'' is fast-paced and simple enough that most players probably won't notice the absence of a plot. "Games this good rarely need a story" is how the manual of the UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}} version put it.

* The ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series didn't even have a plot to speak of besides Nintendo toys coming to life and fighting until ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'', which had [[FourLinesAllWaiting a proper storyline]] of Nintendo characters resisting an interdimensional army invasion across multiple fronts. Then Creator/MasahiroSakurai was dismayed that people could just go watch the cutscenes of ''Brawl''[='=]s story mode on Website/YouTube, so on the next go-around he wrote ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate''[='=]s story mode with the ExcusePlot that an evil ball of light makes a WorldWreckingWave that kills every video game character that is not in the game and transforms their disembodied souls into {{evil knockoff}}s of the playable roster for no apparent reason, so off you go killing knockoffs and [[GottaCatchThemAll collecting the liberated souls]] on your way to the evil ball of light; the amount of cutscenes during your adventure can be counted on one hand. In fact, Sakurai's reluctance to develop a plot-heavy Adventure Mode after that of ''Brawl'' led to said mode being ditched altogether for ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForNintendo3DSAndWiiU'', not even having a fully story-free version like that of ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosMelee Melee]]''.

* The only plot for the majority of ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon''/''VideoGame/StoryofSeasons'' games is to come to town and start a farm of your own. After that you're free to do what you like forever. The major aversion is ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife'' and its EnhancedRemake ''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasonsAWonderfulLife'', which have the overarching plot of you raising your child--but in all but the original game, the main story is followed by the PlayableEpilogue that lets you go on forever afterwards.

[[AC:SimulationGame]]\\
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Most simulation games often emulate real-world places. However, there are exceptions:\\
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[[AC:SimulationGame]]
Most simulation games often emulate real-world places. However, there are exceptions:

* Most simulation games often emulate real-world places. However, there are exceptions:

* ''VideoGame/KerbalSpaceProgram'' has no real story or backstory to the game aside from player fanon. There's just you, your space program, a ton of rocket parts, a solar system filled with planets and moons, and an endless supply of eager would-be rocket jockeys.

* ''VideoGame/CobraTriangle'': you're a boat. Here's some challenges.

* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' is notable for its success without any single-player component at all for years, until the introduction of a single-player training mode in 2010. An ever-expanding story that went from the ExcusePlot of "Two corporations run the world and employ mercenary teams when they need to apply force" has expanded on the ''[=TF2=]'' website to forge personal links between the characters and create an AlternateHistory that includes bitter dispute among the powerful family behind those corporations and Australia becoming a world power through mastery of {{Unobtainium}} and [[MundaneMadeAwesome gravel]]. None of all this has any bearing on the game itself -- other than introducing new guns -- which pretty much remains plotless. Until the introduction of ''Mann Vs Machine'' mode, which dialed things up to the unprecedented new world of ExcusePlot! (Mr. Grey wants Mr. Hale's stockpile of radioactive gold; defend a factory from Grey's MoneySpider robots)

* ''VideoGame/{{Downwell}}'' : The protagonist jumps down the well for seemingly no reason.

* ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyo'': While the series has a vibrant universe and quirky (though often one-dimensional) characters, and most games have a story mode with a mostly-coherent plot, there have been exceptions where there is no plot at all:
** ''Puyo Puyo'' for the MSX/FDS/Famicom, which most of its gameplay is just the Marathon mode, like ''Tetris''.
** ''Nazo Puyo'' 1 and 2 had objective-based puzzles with nothing else really going on.

* ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}'' traditionally lacks a plot. The closest it has to an actual canon is ''Videogame/PuyoPuyo Tetris'', and even then it's obviously a crossover with another game, one that uses new characters to represent ''Tetris''. And even then, they're technically ''Puyo Puyo'' characters since they don't appear in any other game.

* While the first ''VideoGame/DragonBallRagingBlast'' does have a story mode recounting the ''Z'' storyline from the Saiyan to the Buu Sagas (plus the first ''Broly'' movie and some WhatIf fights), the second game ditches that for specially made challenge towers called Galaxy Mode for each playable character. Completing those battles is what nets you extra abilities, items, and characters for Versus and Tournament Mode.

->''"The story we have here is that'' '''THERE ISN'T ONE!''' ''But that doesn't matter."''

* Alan Clarke's 1989 ShortFilm ''Elephant'' is just 40 minutes of random people shooting and killing other random people. We don't know anything about the shooters, or the victims themselves. Despite all of that, the film was very popular at the time. It even inspired Creator/GusVanSant to create a [[Film/{{Elephant}} feature-length film with the exact same name]] in America, but this one actually has a plot.

* ''VideoGame/BadOmen'' (''Devilish''): Strangely averted in this game for the Sega Genesis and Mega Drive. It follows the fate of a young couple who have been cursed into [[TakenForGranite animate statues attached to large stone platforms]] and be used in a breakout clone.

* ''VideoGame/{{Breakout}}'' was originally seen by players as a variation on ''VideoGame/{{Pong}}''. With the sequel ''Super Breakout'', the box illustration depicted a man in a spacesuit deflecting a sort of energy ball at forcefield bricks. Even at the time, players had a hard time being convinced that a game like ''Breakout'' could represent a hazardous outer space adventure. But then along came ''Arkanoid'' which was basically an evolved version of ''Breakout'' where your paddle really is a spaceship and you can blast bricks with lasers via a powerup.

* A lot of instrumental music that just features an abstract title ("First Symphony, "Concert For Orchestra", "Music/ToccataAndFugueInDMinor") and no explanation of a central theme.

[[AC:PartyGame]]
* ''VideoGame/WarioWareIncMegaPartyGames'': In Outta My Way, the larger characters (Wario, Jimmy, Mona, Dribble, and Crygor) move slower than the smaller characters, but they cover more of the screen at a time.

* Creator/{{Gottlieb}}'s ''Pinball/JamesBond007'' takes the details-rich ''Film/JamesBond'' film series (and specifically, ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe''), then tossed it all out for an unorthodox timer-based game requiring the player to make key shots to add additional play time.