History Main / SecondPlaceIsForLosers

* ''Battlefield3'' includes an achievement called "First Loser" for having the second highest point total in the match. Which is completely ridiculous, as the entire ''BattlefieldSeries'' has attempted to reward teamwork and downplay individual skill. Moreover, it is entirely possible to get this achievement if you are the best player on the ''winning team'' but were bested by someone on the losers.

* Averted in ''MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': During the annual Running of the Leaves race, [[spoiler: Twilight]] is actually happy to have gotten fifth place, considering it was her first time running in a marathon.
** Averted again in "Sisterhooves Social," when Sweetie Belle is happy that she and [[spoiler: Rarity (disguised as Applejack)]] didn't win the Sisterhooves Social competition.

'''Note this trope is only about characters getting second place, or at least placing highly enough to get a medal/trophy/etc., and then focusing on the fact that they still didn't win first. It's ''not'' about:'''

Note this trope is only about characters getting second place, or at least placing highly enough to get a medal/trophy/etc., and then focusing on the fact that they still didn't win first-- it's ''not'' about a genuinely mediocre-to-poor showing. It also doesn't count if there are ''actual'' consequences for getting second place (like [[SeriousBusiness the world could end]], or when a VideoGame requires you to win a competition to advance the story), or if there really is [[AllOrNothing no prize for second place]].

* In ''{{Survivor}}'', Russell Hantz won second place in ''Samoa'', then third in ''Heroes vs. Villains''. After ''Samoa'', he acted like he was slapped in the face and practically ''murdered'' when he came in second out of ''twenty'' people, then third out of ''twenty people'', all of which were former players and several of which were considered the ''best''. however when he won the Sprint player of the year award, he ''immediately'' begun the typical Victory dance in ''Heroes vs. Villains''.

* In any game show that has 3 or more players, there is usually only one overall winner, so not coming in first means you don't get to keep your winnings (though some shows let contestants keep what they earned) and you don't get to play for a bonus round or any other gimmick for more cash and prizes, depending on the show.

* Did you dare win second place (out of 16 or more) in any RacingGame ever? GameOver, now try it again and get first place.
** Depends. You see this the most often with the American publishers (Atari, Midway, Leland Corporation, anything under the Raw Thrills label). In Daytona USA, you get a victory lap scene if you're in the top three; CART Fury gives you a little victory celebration when you win but nothing else (i.e. you still gotta pay for the next round). Initial D lampshaded this by designating the leader as "1st" and the trailer as "2nd", but this was taken out all future installments, probably because it just plain looked dumb.
** It also doesn't help that most racing games won't let you unlock the best cars or levels without finishing in first. Came in 2nd or worse? [[UnstableEquilibrium No super fast car for you]]! Also gets worse when a game does this and uses ThatOneLevel.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/MarioKart'' games where the top 4 places are the only ones that cause your character to do a winning pose and you get points. It's possible to win an entire grand prix by getting second place in everything. First Place is easier though.
** However, in Mario Kart DS and Wii, you do need to get 1st in every race to get the highest rating ([[RankInflation 3 stars]]) for the cup.
** Also, in Mario Kart Wii, once your VS Rating (for online play) gets [[OverNineThousand over 9000]], you can actually lose VR for 2nd place out of 12 drivers.
*** Mario Kart Wii also has several unlockables that can only be earned by getting the gold (1st place) in a circuit and/or getting a star rank at the end of the circuit.
* Played straight with some of the challenge missions from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'' where if you do not come in first place while racing other [=NPCs=] such as ghosts, penguins, or hummingbirds, then you will not earn the Power Star and lose a life. Some contests, however, consist only of Mario and his rival, so getting second place ''really is losing''.

* In ''[=~Tony Hawk's Pro Skater~=] 4'' (and probably several other games in the series), there were several competition missions in which you "only" had to be 3rd so get a "mission complete" status. How many players do you think would keep redoing the mission until they actually got a 1st place? Heck, this troper would often restart before it was finished, if it looked like he'd be number 2.

* [[FZero F-Zero GX]] doesn't require this unless you're playing [[NintendoHard Story Mode]]. Otherwise, it's just smarter to knock out/place better than the people ahead of you in ranking.

This trope is only about characters getting second place, or at least placing highly enough to get a medal/trophy/etc., and then focusing on the fact that they still didn't win first; it's ''not'' about a genuinely mediocre-to-poor showing. It also doesn't count if there are ''actual'' consequences for getting second place (like [[SeriousBusiness someone's life is at stake]], or when a VideoGame requires you to win a competition to advance the story), or if there really is [[AllOrNothing no prize for second place]].

This is the prime reason UnderdogsNeverLose. Compare VictoryGloating, TheBGrade. Contrast TheRunnerUpTakesItAll, SecondPlaceIsForWinners.

This trope is the prime reason UnderdogsNeverLose.

Note this trope is only about characters getting second place, or at least placing highly enough to get a medal/trophy/etc., and then focusing on the fact that they still didn't win first-- it's ''not'' about a genuinely mediocre-to-poor showing. It also doesn't count if there are ''actual'' consequences for getting second place (like [[SeriousBusiness the world could end]], or when a VideoGame requires you to win a competition to advance the story), or if there really is [[AllOrNothing no prize for second place]].

Compare VictoryGloating, TheBGrade.

Contrast TheRunnerUpTakesItAll, SecondPlaceIsForWinners.

When people think SecondPlaceIsForLosers, it basically means that if someone gets second place in a competition (that has more than two contestants), it's little better than coming in last. It doesn't matter if you've won a footrace with everyone on the planet, and bested 6 billion people. All that matters is you didn't beat the one.

** The Olympics can be especially prone to this sort of thing because of the one-chance aspect of winning every four years. The peaks of some high-level players' careers don't even last that long before they succumb to some sort of injury, strain, or fatigue. In many sports, if you miss a world championship, there's always next year. On other sports where the winner is determined by your performance through the season, having a single bad tournament isn't necessarily a deal-breaker. The situation is doubled in cases where in non-Olympic events one athlete or team is utterly dominant but have one of their rare setbacks at the games.

->''"Second place? That's a fancy word for losing."''
-->--'''Bender''', ''{{Futurama}}''

->''"Second place? That's a fancy word for losing."''\\
--'''Bender''', ''{{Futurama}}''

-->--'''Bender''', ''{{Futurama}}''

* The coach of the [[OpposingSportsTeam Hawks]] in the first ''[[TFilm/heMightyDucks Mighty Ducks]]'' movie gazes at the one second-place banner in a long-row of first-place banners and remarks, "I sure wish they'd take that one down." Apparently, being perceived as not even making the top 3 or 4 teams that year is better than getting second.

-->''"Second place? That's a fancy word for losing."''\\
-- '''Bender''', ''{{Futurama}}''

* The coach of the [[OpposingSportsTeam Hawks]] in the first ''[[TheMightyDucks Mighty Ducks]]'' movie gazes at the one second-place banner in a long-row of first-place banners and remarks, "I sure wish they'd take that one down." Apparently, being perceived as not even making the top 3 or 4 teams that year is better than getting second.

* Dave Mustaine of {{Megadeth}}, for 20 years had been obsessed with the successes of his ex bandmates of {{Metallica}}, always making him the second most popular Thrash Metal band. He hardly realized his own achievements. More recently, he's past it, ever since he went into therapy with them.

* Subverted in the KimNewman short story "The Germans Won", in which an alternative version of JohnMajor lives life as a humble bus conductor. During an argument about the World Cup, one of the characters brings up this trope in relation to Britain and how they always come second at everything and how that makes them losers. The normally shy Major finds himself moved to argue this point with surprising passion:

*** Averted by the Croatian basketball team in 1992; they talked about how happy they were to be winning silver ''before the gold medal game was even played''. They were going up against the Dream Team, and had no illusions about winning.

* Averted in ''MarioKart'' games where the top 4 places are the only ones that cause your character to do a winning pose and you get points. It's possible to win an entire grand prix by getting second place in everything. First Place is easier though.

* Played straight with some of the challenge missions from ''SuperMarioGalaxy'' and ''SuperMarioGalaxy2'' where if you do not come in first place while racing other [=NPCs=] such as ghosts, penguins, or hummingbirds, then you will not earn the Power Star and lose a life. Some contests, however, consist only of Mario and his rival, so getting second place ''really is losing''.

* Fans have criticized the ''{{Anime/Pokemon}}'' anime for never letting Ash win any of the various League tournaments he enters. Such complaints ignore the fact that ''hundreds'' of trainers enter each of these tournaments, and the lowest Ash has ever finished is 16th overall. And then there's the fact that he's competed in special RunTheGauntlet challenges against groups of highly skilled trainers and won both times. The same has been said for Dawn, particularly after she placed second in the Grand Festival behind one of her best friends and sources of advice and encouragement.

* Played straight with some of the challenge missions from ''SuperMarioGalaxy'' and ''SuperMarioGalaxy2'' where if you do not come in first place while racing other [=NPCs=] such as ghosts, penguins, or hummingbirds, then you will not earn the Power Star and lose a life.

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-->''"Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing."'' \\
-- UCLA Bruins football coach Red Sanders

-->''"Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing."''