History Main / NoobBridge

* ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'': You'll be stuck on "Cool Fusion" until you figure out that you can activate switches by shooting them with grenades. The game kind of hints at this by giving you a bunch of grenades (which you'll need if you've already fired all of yours), but it's possible some people might not figure it out immediately. Two levels later, "Blaspheme Quarantine" has the first gap that you can only cross by running.

*** Though since the Dash button was described in the manual, the giant drop that "requires" Wall Jumping to escape was a bigger noob bridge for people who started with the SNES game. Wall jumping in ''Super Metroid'' differs so much from how the mechanic functions in most other games that it can difficult to figure out how to pull off with any level of consistency without a bit of practice. With some players not even bothering and actually finding it easier to spend their time bomb jumping[[note]]a 100% optional technique that the game doesn't teach you[[/note]] to escape over trying and failing to learn the maneuver.
*** The game also has the "Noob Tube", a [[SharkTunnel glass tube]] that needs to be shattered with a Power Bomb to pass. This is the only tube in the game that Power Bombs do this to. Fortunately, while immensely helpful, it's not the only way to get into Maridia. However, if one doesn't press start at the title screen, the subsequent montage of clips shows that this is possible, as well as several hidden (but never required) moves.

** ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' is the TropeNamer, described above. Players who grew up with later ''Metroid'' games are more likely to fall victim to this, as those games don't have a run button.
** Though since the Dash button was described in the manual, the giant drop that required Wall Jumping to escape was a bigger noob bridge for people who started with the SNES game.
** The game also has the "Noob Tube", a [[SharkTunnel glass tube]] that needs to be shattered with a Power Bomb to pass. This is the only tube in the game that Power Bombs do this, and it's not the only way to get into Maridia. However, if one doesn't press start at the title screen, the subsequent montage of clips shows that this is possible, as well as several hidden (but never required) moves.

The TropeNamer is [[https://metroid.fandom.com/wiki/N00b_bridge the nickname of a crumbling bridge]] from ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid''--the first place in that game where use of the unique (even to the series) run button is required. A common story is that newbies who pick up the game often neglect that button and are stumped at how to pass the bridge.[[note]]This seemed to have further amplified after the Game Boy Advance ''Metroid'' games were released, featuring similar gameplay but no run button.[[/note]] The term also metaphorically suggests a rite of passage that a newbie would have to undergo to become competent at a game.

** People used to modern inventory systems that let you highlight even blank slots may be in for a shock in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI the first game.]]'' Press Start to bring up your inventory and you'll find you can only move the cursor to items you actually have ''and'' can use, not incomplete weapons or spaces where they're supposed to go later. So if you don't get any bombs when you start, but collect the bow and boomerang in the first dungeon, you may end up thinking the game is broken when you find you have more than one sub-weapon but aren't allowed to switch between them. You need to find an arrow for your new bow before you can select and use it, even though you may be savvy enough to remember that the bow uses rupees for ammo instead, which confounds things further.

** In the arcade version, ''Vs. Super Mario Bros.'' World 8-4 has the InvisibleBlock needed to access a critical pipe (themselves a noob bridge of sorts in the original) placed one space higher, requiring Mario to perform a well-timed running jump from the right to reach it. Earlier, World 3-2 (recycled as 2-2 in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBrosTheLostLevels'') introduces both mandatory invisible blocks and running jumps, and World 6-3 (''Lost Levels'' 4-3) has a LeapOfFaith that can only be cleared by bouncing off a Koopa Paratroopa when it's at the right height. The WarpZone pipes have also been reduced in number, preventing the player from skipping Worlds 6 and 7.
** Throughout The ''Super Mario'' franchise, this can come about unintentionally if a new game in the franchise requires the player to perform an action that would have been explained in-game in an older title, [[TheArtifact but declined in popular usage in later titles.]] Take for example in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'' the fact that you need to pick up the wind-up Bob-ombs after you have stunned them, in order to throw them back at the Mole's Turret. Although you were inclined to do this sort of thing regularly in ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', there is nothing in this game that even hints you can just pick up stunned enemies, or any enemies for that matter, as the game puts more emphasis on using your FLUDD pack for most of your tasks. You would need to be familiar with the previous title in order to guess that.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'':
*** This game is the first to use the ActiveTimeBattle system. The first boss, the Mist Dragon, occasionally transforms into mist, and if you attack it during this time, it will counterattack with a strong mist attack. Instead, you must wait for it to transform back, then resume your attack.

The TropeNamer is [[https://metroid.wikia.com/wiki/N00b_bridge the nickname of a crumbling bridge]] from ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid''--the first place in that game where use of the unique (even to the series) run button is required. A common story is that newbies who pick up the game often neglect that button and are stumped at how to pass the bridge.[[note]]This seemed to have further amplified after the Game Boy Advance ''Metroid'' games were released, featuring similar gameplay but no run button.[[/note]] The term also metaphorically suggests a rite of passage that a newbie would have to undergo to become competent at a game.

** In ''VideoGame/SonicLostWorld'', Sonic has a mid-air kick rarely seen in previous games. While Omochao will explain the kick to you near the beginning of the game, Omochao can be turned off. It's also explained in the manual, but [[ReadTheFreakingManual no one reads that.]] Those who turned him off or weren't paying attention will then be stuck in Silent Forest Act 1, where Sonic is required to defeat a group of spider robots to proceed, who are invulnerable to Sonic's normal jump attacks until they're kicked.

The TropeNamer is [[https://metroid.wikia.com/wiki/N00b_bridge the nickname of a crumbling bridge]] from ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid''--the first place in that game where use of the unique (even to the series) run button is required. A common story is that newbies who pick up the game often neglect that button and are stumped at how to pass the bridge. The term also metaphorically suggests a rite of passage that a newbie would have to undergo to become competent at a game.

** The original ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' has its own version of a Noob Bridge (or lack there-of) in Level 4-3. There is a section in the level of two giant mushroom caps separated by a chasm that you need to cross. For that to need to run in order to clear the jump. Before that point in the game, there was nothing else that really required you to run beforehand and you could have made it this far without knowing you could do that by holding down the B button, either because you did not read the manual and/or did not pay close enough attention to the demo.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'': Like the last three games, the first boss, the Guard Scorpion, punishes the player for ignoring the ActiveTimeBattle system by responding with a powerful CounterAttack while in a certain stance, forcing the player to wait in real time for the stance to end. Unfortunately, a bit of sloppy translation(Cloud's warning is broken up into two parts- "Barret! Attack while its tail's up!" "It'll counterattack with its laser!") renders this a bit of a GuideDangIt.

** Similarly In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'', there is a chasm early on in Supermassive Galaxy that must be cleared using the long jump. While the game explains in a nearby tutorial monitor on how to use the long jump, this still stumped some players, as unlike in ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', the long jump was not needed in the first ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' and didn't exist back in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'', meaning players who had just recently gotten into Super Mario platformers may easily become confused about what exactly to do to perform a long jump.

** Prior to the Tutorials, there was nothing in-game that told you how to use each class. This was OK for traditional FPS classes like the Soldier but for the Engineer, there was absolutely nothing on how to build buildings, collect metal from ammo, turning the building, and upgrading them by whacking. Compounding this was that since there wasn't a single player mode, you had to jump into a live server, and promptly get kicked when you haven't immediately set up a sentry. Later tutorials mitigated this by not only including an engineer-specific tutorial, but also by including a single-player map that let the player figure things out.

** In the arcade version, ''Vs. Super Mario Bros.'' World 8-4 has the InvisibleBlock needed to access a critical pipe (themselves a noob bridge of sorts in the original) placed one space higher, requiring Mario to perform a well-timed running jump from the right to reach it. Earlier, World 3-2 introduces both mandatory invisible blocks and running jumps, and World 6-3 has a LeapOfFaith that can only be cleared by bouncing off a Koopa Paratroopa when it's at the right height. The WarpZone pipes have also been reduced in number, preventing the player from skipping Worlds 6 and 7.

** In the arcade version, ''Vs. Super Mario Bros.'' World 8-4 has the InvisibleBlock needed to access a critical pipe (themselves a noob bridge of sorts in the original) placed one space higher, requiring Mario to perform a well-timed running jump from the right to reach it. Earlier, World 3-2 introduces mandatory invisible blocks much earlier than the NES version, and World 6-3 has a LeapOfFaith that can only be cleared by bouncing off a Koopa Paratroopa when it's at the right height. The WarpZone pipes have also been reduced in number, preventing the player from skipping Worlds 6 and 7.

** In the arcade version, ''Vs. Super Mario Bros.'' World 8-4 has the InvisibleBlock needed to access a critical pipe (themselves a noob bridge of sorts in the original) placed one space higher, requiring Mario to perform a well-timed running jump from the right to reach it. Earlier, World 3-2 introduces mandatory invisible blocks, and World 6-3 has a LeapOfFaith that can only be cleared by bouncing off a Koopa Paratroopa when it's at the right height.

* ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'': You'll be stuck on "Cold Fusion" until you figure out that you can activate switches by shooting them with grenades. The game kind of hints at this by giving you a bunch of grenades (which you'll need if you've already fired all of yours), but it's possible some people might not figure it out immediately.

** Throughout The ''Super Mario'' franchise, this can come about unintentionally if a new game in the franchise requires the player to perform an action that would have been explained in-game in an older title, [[TheArtifact but declined in popular usage in later titles.]] Take for example in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'' the fact that you need to pick up the wind-up Bob-ombs after you have stunned them, in order to throw them back at the Mole's Turret. Although you were inclined to do this sort of thing regularly in ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', there is nothing in this game that even hints you can just pick up stunned enemies, or any enemies for that matter, as the game puts more emphases on using your FLUDD pack for most of your tasks. You would need to be familiar with the previous title in order to guess that.

** Throughout The ''Super Mario'' franchise, this can come about unintentionally if a new game in the franchise requires the player to perform an action that would have been explained in-game in an older title, [[TheArtifact but declined in popular usage in later titles.]] Take for example in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'' the fact that you need to pick up the wind-up Bob-ombs after you have stunned them, in order to throw them back at the Mole's Turret. Although you were inclined to do this sort of thing regularly in ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', there is nothing in this game that even hints you can just pick up stunned enemies, or any enemies for that matter, as the game puts more emphases on using your FLUDD pack for most your tasks. You would need to be familiar with the previous title in order to guess that.

** The original ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' has its own version of a Noob Bridge (or lack there-of) in Level 4-3. There is a section in the level of two giant mushroom caps separated by a chasm that you need to cross. For that to need to run in order to clear the jump. Before that point in the game, there was nothing else that really required that you run beforehand and you could have made it this far without knowing you could do that by holding down the B button, either because you did not read the manual and/or did not pay close enough attention to the demo.
** Throughout The ''Super Mario'' franchise, this can come about unintentionally if a new game in the franchise requires the player to perform an action that would have been explained in-game in an older title, [[TheArtifact but declined in popular usage in later titles.]] Take for example the fact that you need to pick up the wind-up Bob-ombs after you have stunned them, in order to throw them back at the Mole's Turret. Although you were inclined to do this sort of thing regularly in ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', there is nothing in this game that even hints you can just pick up stunned enemies, or any enemies for that matter, as the game puts more emphases on using your FLUDD pack for most your tasks. You would need to be familiar with the previous title to guess that.

Another fairly common example for this is SheatheYourSword, whenever it occurs in games that otherwise teach the player to slash/blast/nuke anything that moves (plus [[DieChairDie any important-looking stuff that does not move]]). As a result, the average player will not even be aware that there is a button for doing so.

** ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' In one part of Kingdom Valley, you play as Rouge and have to find three keys, one of which is behind a stained-glass window that can only be broken with Rouge's wall-bomb-plant move. Said move is never mentioned in the game or even in the instruction manual, and since this is the only time you actually have to use the move, you'll be more likely to discover it by blind luck than anything else.

* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'', there is a chasm early on in Supermassive Galaxy that must be cleared using the long jump. While the game explains in a nearby tutorial monitor on how to use the long jump, this still stumped some players as the long jump was not needed in the first ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' and didn't exist back in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'', meaning players who had just recently gotten into Super Mario platformers may easily become confused about what exactly to do to perform a long jump.

* Several custom levels for ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' require the player to use [[DiagonalSpeedBoost straferunning]] to move faster or jump over wide gaps. Straferunning itself is a [[GoodBadBugs glitch in the game's physics]], and new players may not even know about it, or realize that using a glitch is necessary in a serious level.

* One thing that trips up new players of ''riichi'' TabletopGame/{{mahjong}} is that to win a hand, you must have one ''yaku'' (scoring condition). [[http://arcturus.su/wiki/Keishiki_tenpai Even if you have enough sets that you've reached tenpai (one tile from a complete hand), you still can't win if you don't have any yaku.]] This often confuses players who are playing mahjong through a video game, as many mahjong games will unhelpfully inform the player that they are in ''furiten'' (cannot claim a discard to win, you can only win by a tile that you draw) even though they actually aren't, although some other mahjong video games will inform the player that they have a no-''yaku'' ''tenpai''. By far, the most common way for this to happen is to make a bunch of sequences and triplets, usually by claiming opponents' discards...except some of those sets (but not [[http://arcturus.su/wiki/Chanta all]]) have a terminal tile (1's and 9's) while others don't (''tanyao'' (a.k.a. "all simples"), one of the easiest (and consequently, least valuable) ''yaku'' requires that your hand have no terminals, i.e. only 2's through 8's).

** The first boss fight is meant to teach players who are trying to spare monsters that you have to experiment your approach in giving monsters mercy rather than doing one strategy over and over (an NPC several minutes earlier tells you this as well). Players that didn't know how to spare the first boss would try to attack her until her HP was low enough and then try to spare her. The game is specifically programmed to make your next hit be the killing blow if the enemy's HP is at a certain low threshold since you're not supposed to attack everyone and then try to spare them, which would defeat the point of giving mercy.

* One thing that trips up new players of ''riichi'' TabletopGame/{{mahjong}} is that to win a hand, you must have one ''yaku'' (scoring condition). [[http://arcturus.su/wiki/Keishiki_tenpai Even if you have enough sets that you've reached tenpai (one tile from a complete hand), you still can't win if you don't have any yaku.]] This often confuses players who are playing mahjong through a video game, as many mahjong games will unhelpfully inform the player that they are in ''furiten'' (cannot claim a discard to win, you can only win by a tile that you draw) even though they actually aren't, although some other mahjong video games will inform the player that they have a no-''yaku'' ''tenpai''. By far the most common way for this to happen is to make a bunch of sequences and triplets, usually by claiming opponents' discards...except some of those sets (but not [[http://arcturus.su/wiki/Chanta all]]) have a terminal tile (1's and 9's) while others don't (''tanyao'' (a.k.a. "all simples"), one of the easiest (and consequently, least valuable) ''yaku'' requires that your hand has no terminals, i.e. only 2's through 8's).

** In ''VideoGame/SonicLostWorld'', Sonic has a mid-air kick rarely seen in previous games. While Omochao will explain the kick to you near the beginning of the game, Omochao can be turned off. It's also explained in the manual, but [[ReadTheFreakingManual no one reads that]]. Those who turned him off or weren't paying attention will then be stuck in Silent Forest Act 1, where Sonic is required to defeat a group of spider robots to proceed, who are invulnerable to Sonic's normal jump attacks until they're kicked.
* In ''[[VideoGame/StealthBastard Stealth Inc. 2: A Game of Clones]]'', in order to get one of the clothing items, you need to place one teleporter on or near a switch and the other under a block. The problem is getting the teleporter under the block; there's a wall to the right of it, so you can't get on the right side and push it, and the gap is also too small to throw a teleporter between the block and the wall and then push the block onto it. The solution: stand next to the block and hold the "place teleporter" button, and the teleporter will automatically be placed under the block. You aren't told about this, and all other blocks in the game have enough space nearby that you CAN push the block onto the teleporter.

* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'', there is a chasm early on in Supermassive Galaxy that must be cleared using the long jump. While the game explains in a nearby tutorial monitor on how to use the long jump, this still stumped some players as the long jump was not needed in the first ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' and was absent in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'', meaning players who had just recently gotten into Super Mario platformers may easily become confused about what exactly to do to perform a long jump.

** Prior to the Tutorials, there was nothing in-game that told you how to use each class. This was ok for traditional FPS classes like the Soldier but for the Engineer, there was absolutely nothing on how to build buildings, collect metal from ammo, turning the building, and upgrading them by whacking. Compounding this was that since there wasn't a single player mode, you had to jump into a live server, and promptly get kicked when you haven't immediately set up a sentry. Later tutorials mitigated this by not only including an engineer-specific tutorial, but also by including a single-player map that let the player figure things out.