History Main / PlugNPlayTechnology

** Another aversion occurs in ''Series/KamenRiderZeroOne''. The power source items are keycards, with the heroes and villains using different types. Villains can hack and use the heroes' keycards just fine, but the end of the series and a later spinoff DVD reveals that trying to use a villain card in one of the heroes' {{Transformation Trinket}}s is a very bad idea, as the resulting form is unstable. In one example, the TransformationTrinket soon explodes, and in another, the mismatch [[spoiler:possibly kills]] the user.

Please note that this trope has no relation to PlugNPlayFriends (which is actually named after this trope's RealLife [[UsefulNotes/PlugNPlayGame inspiration]]), and is [[ImaginedInnuendo not a double entendre]] for certain adult toys.

* [[UsefulNotes/ProgrammingLanguage Interpreted and scripting languages]] source files, assuming that the interpreter or whatnot and libraries are available to run them, are essentially plug and play programs. You can reasonably expect the same exact source file will run exactly as you expect it from one platform to another.

** Averted in one story in ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'' when a virtual idol jokes about being affected by a virus that affects the main characters, but turns out to be unaffected since she is a different type of program. Averted later on with the same character, when she and Mega Man fall in love. Because they are different types of programs, they are unable to even touch each other.
** Justifiable in the first game since Dr. Light actually built the original robot masters, so Mega Man could have been specifically designed to be able to operate their weaponry. Through most of the rest of the series, Dr. Wily could still be using hardware and software similar enough to ex-partner Dr. Light's stuff to still be compatible. ''Mega Man IV'' is the first major exception, with the robot masters having been built by Dr. Cossack.

This is obviously not the case in RealLife: Without an agreement for everyone to follow fixed technical standards, computers would not be able to tell their precious 0's and 1's apart from each other in the datastream -- compatibility is the exception, not the default. You can't open or shut your closet door by plugging a computer into it, or pick up FM stations on an AM radio. US-made [=TVs=] aren't built for the higher voltage levels of European electrical outlets (or the PAL broadcast encoding); you can't play UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube discs on your [=PS3=], you can't run UsefulNotes/MacOS executables on the Windows operating system, and the [[TheInternet World Wide Web]] simply would not exist (at least not as we know it) without everyone communicating according to the HTTP technical standard. It's true that at the most basic level, transmissions and instructions (for now anyway) are [[ComputersSpeakBinary binary]], but there can be no interoperation without a mutual standard for what the binary digits ''mean'', rather like how you can probably read Ojibwe, Vietnamese, or Wolof since they all use the Latin alphabet but will have no clue what it's saying. And all this is assuming both systems are based on binary electricity - compatibility between liquid state or quantum energy based computers is going to be another can of worms.

* The quintessential example might be in ''Film/IndependenceDay'', where David Levinson (Creator/JeffGoldblum) uses his UsefulNotes/{{Mac}} laptop to plant a virus on the alien mothership and bring down all the shields. (A deleted scene explains this as human computers being partially back-engineered from alien technology and the scientists having enough knowledge of the captured ship to work out the rest.)

* "Backwards Compatibility" was a big deal for a long time in console development, where newer consoles were designed to play older games. The UsefulNotes/Playstation2, for example, was able to play [=PS1=] games just as well as [=PS2=], as well as use controllers and memory cards from the previous console.
** This was used as a selling point by Sega with their Power Base Converter for the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis, which is essentially a cartridge passthrough for Master System software to run -- the Genesis, otherwise known as the Mega Drive outside North America, is built upon and extended from the earlier Master System, and is thus backwards compatible with Master System games through the use of the Power Base Converter. Sega perhaps used this to throw potshots at Nintendo, who had to deal with [[https://www.wired.com/2016/08/super-nintendo-25/ negative press]] brought up by the lack of cross-compatibility between the NES and SNES.
* The ''UsefulNotes/Atari2600'' uses a controller plugin that a fair few other, later consoles utilized as well. While not all will work on an Atari, a list of the ones that do are found on the console's page.

* On a related note to the USB standard, the [=FAT32=] and EXFAT file system standards are very nearly the ''lingua franca'' of file storage systems in a massive majority of modern computers and smartphone/tablet derivatives, as the extremely widespread USB flash drives and [=SD/SDHC=] cards ship preformatted for [=FAT32=] and are compatible with Windows (specifically from 95 [=OSR2=] onwards), Apple (both modern OSX and iOS systems), 'nix, and Android platforms. EXFAT, the file system that higher-capacity SDXC cards are preformatted in, will probably suceed [=FAT32=] in this arena of multiplatform support as support improves in future OS releases. In addition, all these SD cards will work perfectly fine with your digital cameras/camcorders, Smart TV sets, IP cameras, and other such embedded systems - photos captured by your programmed IP camera can be moved via SD card to an Android phone, then uploaded to Google Drive and accessed on your desktop, before being copied to another SD card and transferred to your UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS or UsefulNotes/WiiU.

** There are a lot of standards from the [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer IBM PC]] that are essentially plug and play. At least in theory. But these standards got incompatible upgrades over time. Only three today are both forwards (supposedly) and backwards compatible: USB, SATA, and PCI-Express.

* In ''Fanfic/{{Fractured|SovereignGFC}}'', a ''Franchise/MassEffect''[=/=]''Franchise/StarWars''[[spoiler:[=/=]''[=Borderlands=]'']] [[MassiveMultiplayerCrossover crossover]] and its sequel ''Fanfic/{{Origins}}'', this trope is mostly played straight, with a few aversions.

** In ''Series/KamenRiderGeats'', the monsters develop the ability to use the Riders' equipment with their own powerups. While the ''technology'' is the same, there's an ''operator'' incomptibility -- Michinaga starts using the monsters' powerups, and it causes him extreme pain and starts slowly mutating him into a monster himself. (We don't know what would happen, if anything, should a monster use one of the humans' powerups.)

[[caption-width-right:350:I guess when they called it Universal Serial Bus, they really did mean ''Universal'' Serial Bus.]]

* USB for the most part has solved the problem of having various connectors to connect peripherals and needing to install a driver for said peripheral. While it had a rocky start in that drivers were often needed to use the device, today, all but the most niche or specialist devices are plug and play thanks to standardized device profiles. You may need to install software to get the most out of the device (such as keyboards or mice with configurable keys), but for basic features they can work as-is.

** As a happy consequence of NotTheIntendedUse, most small electronic devices these days will use USB if they need to plug into something for power or needing to hook up to a computer .

The matter can even be {{Hand Wave}}d entirely if the fictional devices are, in fact, based on LostTechnology left behind by the ancient {{Precursors}}. But don't expect any characters to [[ElephantInTheLivingRoom actually address the matter]] in fiction (at least beyond declaring that AWizardDidIt), when even the UniversalTranslator requires time to analyze and decipher the latest new alien language.

* In ''FanFic/{{Fractured}}'', a ''Franchise/MassEffect''[=/=]''Franchise/StarWars''[[spoiler:[=/=]''[=Borderlands=]'']] [[MassiveMultiplayerCrossover crossover]] and its sequel ''Fanfic/{{Origins}}'', this trope is mostly played straight, with a few aversions.

** With more and more smartphones dropping the 3.5 jack, this might not be a case for long. [[AuthorsSavingThrow Fortunately, some Android manufacturers are still building their phones with a jack]].

* Averted in ''VideoGame/XComEnemyUnknown'', Dr Vahlen and Chief Engineer Shen have to do a lot of studies and work in order for X-Com to make use of any of the alien technology captured. Justified in that in the case of the weapons and armor technology, they're not so much figuring out how it works as they are figuring out how to fit it for human hands so you can start using it as quickly as possible. Played vaguely straight with the Hyperwave device, but it's also demonstrated that the device almost blows out the base's power grid when first activated with the initial surge.

* {{Justified}} and {{Lampshaded}} in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn'', when Banager takes a Neo-Zeon double beam gatling and plugs it into his Federation-built Unicorn Gundam, it works perfectly without any compatibility errors. The reason being that pretty much all Mobile Suits and associated weaponry is built by Anaheim Electronics, who sell to ''[[PlayingBothSides both]]'' sides of the conflict.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': Lampshaded and Justified when [[TomboyishName George]] manages to hack into an Apokoliptian Supercomputer with her laptop, as she says the only reason it worked was that the extraterrestrial tech started modifying her hardware as soon as she plugged into man made looking interface it was hiding behind.

Please note that this trope has no relation to PlugNPlayFriends (which is actually named after this trope's RealLife [[UsefulNotes/PlugNPlayGame inspiration]]), and is [[UnEntendre not a double entendre]] for certain adult toys.

* Averted in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'': Raf is unable to download a schematic from the Decepticons' computer, because it lacks a port for his flash drive.

** The 3.5mm jack does come in a snag with TRRS headsets (stereo headsets with a microphone). For some reason, two standards were created. One for computers, which use the tip as the micrphone input, the other for mobile devices, which uses the second ring (closest to the tip) as the microphone input. While the audio output side is unaffected, you can't use the microphone in an incompatible plug.

* "Plug 'n' Play" describes a whole range of consoles, some liscenced, some not, with all (or at least, all the classics in the case of re-releases) games pre-installed. You plug the wire(s) into the TV, and you can play without needing to buy any games for it. Some need batteries, some have a power lead.

* This tends to apply to the PowerUp system in VideoGames.