History NiceJobBreakingItHero / VideoGames

* ''Dante's Inferno'' prominently showcases this trope. Throughout Dante's trek through Hell, he must break large chains to progress. As he reaches the lair of [[Satan]], the [[BigBad]] reveals that to be an unfortunate necessity. As the demon himself put it: "My salvation for breaking the chains of Judecca."

-->Issac: You've resurrected the castle! * slow clap* Hector, bravo!

-->Issac: You've resurrected the castle! * slow clap* Well done!

* ''HeroesOfMightAndMagic IV'' reveals in its introduction that all the effort the heroes put into ''Heroes II'', ''Might & Magic VI'', ''Heroes III'', and ''Might & Magic VII'' was a complete waste of time because Golo decided to wield Armageddon's Blade in single combat against a barbarian carrying the Sword of Frost. Turns out that the clash of those blades causes ''the complete and total destruction of the entire planet!'' Well, nice job causing an EarthShatteringKaboom, Golo. Dunce.

** In ''Kirby Super Star'', Kirby goes out to awaken Nova, a mysterious cosmic clockwork entity, so that he can wish for the Sun and Moon to stop fighting. Then [[spoiler:Marx]] knocks him aside. Turns out [[spoiler:he had [[XanatosSucker you]] wake Nova up so he could use it to conquer Popstar.]] Crap. Then again, the Sun and Moon stop fighting so they can hold Nova off...

** Not to mention how the entirety of Task Force 141, the Ranger (Pvt. James Ramirez and his squad) you play as, and pretty much ''the entire American military'' are being [[XanatosSucker manipulated]] by one [[spoiler:General Shepherd]], who's planning to use the conflict to turn [[spoiler:America]] into heroes and obtain the biggest military force in history.

* In the first ''SystemShock'', SHODAN's ethical constraints were removed by the player character. [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity Whoops]]. It gets better too. In the second game, you find out the fate of the virus-infested grove that the Hacker jettisoned in the first game, where SHODAN was developing an experimental mutagen. Upon crash landing on Tau Ceti V, the mutants evolved into the collective alien hive mind known as The Many, the main antagonists in the second game. Additionally, ejecting the grove also allowed a portion of SHODAN's AI to survive. This version of SHODAN nearly succeeded in using the ship's warp drive to assimilate reality into cyberspace, after the player character spent a great deal of effort [[XanatosSucker helping her gain control of it]]. Whoops indeed.

** You save one ally only to lure him into a trap. XanatosSucker, thy name is JC Denton.

* In ''{{Crackdown}}'', you, the Agent, end up being a massive XanatosSucker who [[spoiler:took down all crime syndicates so the Agency could roll in over their former territory and control the city without complaints. Keep in mind the Agency had bankrolled the gangs in the first place to cause a bigger panic. Nice job creating permanent martial law, hero]]. Although since you can play the game as a HeroicSociopath who [[VideogameCrueltyPotential mows down pedestrians without much trouble]], you just might not care.

* In ''{{Prince of Persia}}: Sands of Time'', the Prince activates the palace's traps, only to realize too late that they will do absolutely nothing to hinder all the monsters running around and will only make his life more difficult.

** Also stopping [[spoiler:Kiesuke]] seemed like a good idea at the time. Except several corrupt policemen are still around to kill innocent people. Which would have been avoided if you just let him get on with it.

* Averted in MassEffect2 with Legion. What, now? You sold it off to Cerberus? Congratulations, now no one will stop the Reaper Virus from overtaking the normal Geth, turning them all into Reaper minions. The bad Geth are now 20 times stronger. NiceJobBreakingItHero.

** No, it doesn't. Many of the other negative effects are avoided, but the [[spoiler:PTSD]] is directly stated to have occurred. It is blatantly demonstrated in the [=FROGs=].

* Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits has a very annoying example. The guy who's life you saved at the beginning? The one you get a GameOver if you don't save? Who then helps you out on your quest? Turns out he's the BigBad all along, and all you've been doing the entire game with both of your parties was being MacGuffinDeliveryService, just as he planned. He takes them all, and raises the EvilFortressOfDoom. The world would have been much better off if you had just let the guy die when he was helpless.

** In ZeldaII: The Adventure of Link, the game's story strongly suggests that life in Hyrule has become even worse since the (very) first game, because now, nobody is controlling Ganon's monsters. Blame Link.
*** It doesn't help that of all things, the one thing said monsters can focus on is that by killing Link, they can revive Ganon. So, assuming you fail in your quest (which you probably will, this '''is''' Zelda 2 after all), you get to unleash Ganon BACK upon the world, this time with no Link to stop him. Nice Job.
** In Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages, the first thing Link does is push away the barrier rock that keeps out all evil from Nayru's glade, and leads the villian, Veran, (who is possessing Impa's body) in, trying to help her. The second thing that happens is that the Veran kidnaps Nayru, laughs at Link for being so stupid, and makes off with her.

** In ending four of the original ''Drakengard'', the heroes kill the BigBad, Manah, while she's still the instrument of the gods, killing the gods in the process. Turns out that even though the gods are evil [[CosmicHorror Cosmic Horrors]] that want to destroy the world, they're also keeping the world in some semblance of order... And without them, giant, flying, plasma-breathing, man-eating babies descend from the sky. Really.

*** Ramaza insiting his sister stay in the monastry is another one. She teels him Ramza is a marked man, people know about him and her and will come after. Ramza insists she stay, and surprise surpsie, she gets kidnapped by people Ramza could easily beat up. Oh and despite being weak, she has a ridiculosly broken buff skill that woul have been hugely useful. Nice job....

** There's a lot of smaller examples, too.

** In ''{{Tales of Symphonia}}'', [[spoiler:the prequel, eventually reveals that the whole magitech problem which destroyed most of mankind in Phantasia's backstory, and comes close to doing it again during Phantasia is the heros' fault, as the BigBad they killed was keeping technology stagnant ''for the purpose of preventing humans from making Mana Cannons and using up too much mana and causing mass destruction.]] Ironically, they use a mana cannon to defeat him, and it is implied that it was mana cannons' use which led to him taking over the world in the first place.

** And then there's this little kicker. If you, as the game's tactician, did exceedingly well when you finish the game(A-S rank), your legacy causes Bern and Etruria to go war because they desired your skilled mind so much. That's right, that S-Rank Hector Hard Mode you spent weeks over caused two of the most powerful military nations ''to go to war over you''. Opps!

** In "PhoenixWrightAceAttorney: Justice For All" in the last trial, Phoenix's work in clearing Mr. Engarde of his charges very nearly implicates a completely innocent witness in the crime, to the point where it takes [[spoiler:a confession from Engarde himself]] to actually prove who was the real murderer. [[spoiler:This all happened because Phoenix had no other option than to stall for time though, as the assasin who Engarde used to commit the crime had kidnapped Maya to ensure Phoenix would cooperate and get Engarde free]].

Issac: You've ressurected the castle! * slow clap* Well done!

** To be fair, it was probably for the best; it's implied that in the original timeline (where no-one intervened), Magus only succeeded in getting himself killed by Lavos.
*** From the player's point of view this seems like a straight example but then a suverison. Magus blames you for releasing your actions, but it was Magus calling it fourth and attempting to destroy that got it losse. Nice Job Breaking It Magus.

* About 3/4ths of the way through ''{{Bioshock}}'', the hero comes upon PresidentEvil antagonist Andrew Ryan, whose death you've been seeking for the entirety of the game. The hero is all set to kill him, but that's only right before Ryan gives him a horrifying HannibalLecture masterfully combined with a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, revealing that the hero [[spoiler:is only a mind-controlled pawn whose actions are only going to hand control of the city over to the BigBad.]] Nice job, hero. It gets better: [[spoiler:Andrew Ryan serenely hands you a golf club, and orders you to kill him with it, so he can simultaneously deny the BigBad the pleasure of killing him and humiliate the hero while dying on his own terms in a CrowningMomentofAwesome.]] BetterToDieThanBeKilled.

* In ''{{Shantae}}'', suddenly, a genie, which were supposed to leave the earth, leaving behind only their half-breed kids like you, [[ClarkKenting who looks like the game's villain sans pirate hat]] and suggests you cut your hair, which is your [[PrehensileHair only means of offense]], sends you into a dungeon to get the last ((MacGuffin)), which the villain is hunting to power a tank to make herself ruler of the world, but leaves you to go in alone, despite the fact genies have great power. When you show her what you have received, she puts on the pirate hat and laughs. Suddenly, you see yourself on the ground, {{MacGuffin}}less, as she runs away.

* ''TalesOfTheAbyss''. Granted, Luke didn't ''know'' any better, but try telling him that while he was in the midst of his HeroicBSOD.

** You save one ally only to lure him into a trap. Xanatos Sucker, thy name is JC Denton.

** You redirect the badguy's nuke at himself, and incinerate innocent US soldiers without even inconveniencing the big bad.

* Guybrush Threepwood of the ''MonkeyIsland'' series has a nasty habit of invoking this trope, from willingly surrendering a piece of the Ghost Pirate [=LeChuck's=] body to Largo [=LaGrande=] so that he can resurrect him in MonkeyIsland2, and proposing to Elaine Marley with a voodoo-cursed ring that freezes her into a golden statue in
CurseOfMonkeyIsland, to screwing up a voodoo spell and spreading [=LeChuck's=] evil voodoo majicks all over the Carribean in TalesOfMonkeyIsland.

** 3 of the other paths could be described as Nice Job Breaking Its [[Spoiler: Join up with the legions of hell and lead them against heaven... earth suffers. Join up with Amane who turns out to be a KnightTemplar... humanity is now under a dictatorship where anyone defying god's lord is destroyed. Asturo's route puts a huge amount of power into the milatary's hands. Which is supposed to be a good thing, except they've been shown as corrupt, callous and incompetent. Nice job Abel, nice]]
** Also stopping [[Kiesuke]] seemed like a good idea at the time. Except several corrupt policemen are stil around to kill innocent people. WHich would have been avoided if you just let him get on with it.
* SuperSmashBros: In all three installments of the series, though mostly the original and Melee, the single-player mode ends with the player character killing their creator and the entire Smash Bros. world being destroyed.

* In ''GodOfWar'', [[spoiler:You're revenge quest against Ares, in which you open Pandora's Box, is what turns all the other gods evil.]]
* At the end of ''ToejamAndEarl,'' the guys are received as heroes for surviving a visit to the most dangerous planet in the known universe: [[HumansAreBastards Earth]]. That is, until it's discovered that a large number of Earthlings followed them back and are trashing the planet. Toejam and Earl set out to solve the problem themselves presumably to avoid being punished for it.

* In the obscure Xbox action rpg ''Dungeons & Dragons Heroes'', you spend the bulk of the game unlocking and traveling through several rift portals in order to combat the {{Big Bad}}'s minions in various worlds. [[spoiler:However, when you finally face the BigBad, he reveals that because you unlocked all the rifts, he was able to regain his full power.]] Whoops.
* The entire premise for EpicMickey
* In the old NES game "The Adventures of Rad Gravity", you spend the entire game trying to defeat the wizard Agathos, who is trying to prevent you from linking up the benevolent supercomputer network. Then when you finally beat him, you learn that he was a good guy, that linking up the supercomputer network will be catastrophic to the galaxy, and that the evil mastermind has been your ship's helpful onboard computer, Kakos, the whole time.

* ''TheElderScrolls IV: {{Oblivion}}'' makes use of this trope. The Daedra are perfectly content to sit in hell twiddling their thumbs waiting to pour forth into Tamriel, but until the player takes the steps to advance the main quest, he can spend years of in-game time joining the Dark Brotherhood, becoming Arch-Mage, and just generally ignoring the crisis going on. The moment he delivers Martin to Weynon Priory, though, all hell literally breaks loose and it's not unusual to see travelers on the game's roads getting disemboweled by giant demons. SoYeah. NiceJobBreakingItHero.

** Terran Mission 9, "New Gettysburg", is sort of an example of Nice Job Not Breaking It, Hero -- but is just as bad. When the Terrans finally defeat all of the Protoss in New Gettysburg, the Zerg (whom you spend the whole mission decidedly not attacking, because all of their structures must survive) ''completely'' overrun your base and capture Kerrigan, which inevitably spawns the entirety of the Brood War campaign, not to mention the (possibly vaporware) sequel. SoYeah. Maybe they should have said "screw it" and destroyed both the Protoss ''and'' the Zerg.