History OffscreenMomentOfAwesome / VideoGames

'''Sandal:''' [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Enchantment!]]

** There's a month-long offscreen moment of awesome for the thieves sans Joker and his confidants. The player only sees short scenes with every maxed out Confidant, where they all rally together to work on [[spoiler:getting Joker's criminal record wiped clean to get him out juvenile hall]]. They succeed by the time February rolls around.

* ''VideoGame/Persona5'' has a month-long awesome moment for the party members sans Joker after the final boss has been defeated. They used all of their possibilities to track down the woman who testified against Joker a year ago, [[spoiler:to get his record cleared from the crime he was falsely convicted of and out of juvie hall]]. The player only sees the characters talking on phones or, in the case of non-party member Confidants, rallying up random people in Tokyo. The game skips until [[spoiler:Joker is released]], only finding out later what they did.

* In ''Videogame/{{RefleX}}''[='=]s final two stages, [[spoiler:as the ZODIAC Ophiuchus you get to fight ZODIAC Virgo and [[FinalBoss ZODIAC Libra]]. While there do exist 10 other ZODIAC units, their destruction, also at the hands of Ophiuchus, is only mentioned in a text interlude between the 7th and 8th stages.]]

* In ''Videogame/{{RefleX}}''[='=]s final two stages, [[spoiler:as the ZODIAC Ophiuchus you get to fight ZODIAC Virgo and [[FinalBoss ZODIAC Libra]]. While there do exist 10 other ZODIAC units, their destriction is only mentioned in a text interlude between the 7th and 8th stages.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', once you complete the Neutral path and sorta-befriend [[BigBad Flowey,]] eventually he will tell you how [[spoiler: Papyrus' brother, Sans,]] 'caused him more than his fair share of resets', presumably when Flowey tried to kill everyone in the underground. We never get to see it ourselves, but you can have a taste of it in the [[KillEmAll No Mercy route.]] But be forewarned: [[ThatOneBoss You're gonna have a bad time.]]

** He does this [[RunningGag again]] in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII''.
*** Twice, no less.
*** The first time, being much like the event in the first game, there's a giant frozen ogre, and Sandal's response?
-->'''Sandal:''' NOT Enchanment...

* The fangame ''Paper Mario World'' sets up a boss battle... then not delivering any boss battle at all. To elaborate, Mario's allies just managed to free Mario from being trapped in a cave, but then Bowser shows up. All of them prepare for what what would be a third Bowser battle, but then a white screen shows up saying something like, "And then Mario and friends defeated Bowser." Then you see Bowser running away, and the others continue the game as if nothing happened.

** Many of the DLC missions in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' become this if you didn't buy or play the DLC prior to starting ''3''.

* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', after spending the entire game gathering war assets and building an army, almost none of your war assets are seen or even mentioned during the final battle. This is one reason why the ending is so widely despised.

* ''VideoGame/{{Runescape}}'' features a quest called "King of the Dwarves". Here's the rundown: the BigBad encourages a mob demanding that the oligarchs who run the city reinstate the monarchy based on records of who is descended from the king. Meanwhile, his forces (only the character knows they are his anyway) are preparing an attack on the city to divide the guards. Your character and friends sneak into the record vaults and discover that said Big Bad ''is'' the rightful heir. The historical expert stays behind to forge the documents and keep him from gaining power, while you and Veldaban go to help the city guards against his forces. You do so by tricking a troll warlord into doing it for you. And what does this epic battle look like? ''The troll warlord tells you to go back to the city and he'll take care of it.''

* In ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', once you complete the Neutral path and sorta-befriend [[BigBad Flowey,]] eventually he will tell you how [[Papyrus' brother, Sans,]] 'caused him more than his fair share of resets', presumably when Flowey tried to kill everyone in the underground. We never get to see it ourselves, but you can have a taste of it in the [[KillEmAll No Mercy route.]] But be forewarned: [[ThatOneBoss You're gonna have a bad time.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Runescape}}'' features a quest called King of the Dwarves. Here's the rundown: the BigBad is speaking to a mob demanding that the oligarchs who run the city reinstate the monarchy based on records of who is descended from the king. Meanwhile, his forces (only the character knows they are his anyway) are preparing an attack on the city to divide the guards. Your character and friends sneak into the record vaults and discover that said Big Bad is the rightful heir. The historical expert stays behind to forge the documents to keep Hreidmar from taking over while you and Veldaban go to help the city guards against his forces. You do so by tricking a troll warlord into doing it for you. And what does this epic battle look like? The troll warlord tells you to go back to the city and he'll take care of it.

* In ''GoldenSunDarkDawn'' this comes at the very end of the game when [[spoiler: Alex goes off to fight Blados and Chalis off screen to give you time to save the world.]] Of course they all wind up surviving this little encounter. Camelot is quite skilled at never letting you know just how powerful this particular character is.

* Can occur in ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}''. At the end of each match, the game awards "Play of the Game", and shows a replay of it. The problem is, the replay is from the ''player'''s perspective, even if they're someone like Torbjörn with indirect attacks. In that case, it won't show the actual Play of the Game, but what you coincidentally happened to be doing at the time, such as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiMJ-s4T16M sliding off a cliff while dead]], or [[http://chipers.tumblr.com/post/145171697428 ogling a teammate]].

* In ''Franchise/{{Halo}}, the Battle of Earth as a whole is this trope. The actual massive battle takes place ''in between'' ''VideoGame/{{Halo 2}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}''. Similarly, a lot of the massive battles of ''Reach'' happen in the background.

* QuestForGloryII: Played hilariously straight. Your caravan is accosted by hundreds of brigands and looks to be overwhelmed. Following an intermission, [[CutscenePowerToTheMax you find yourself on top of a mountain of corpses, the brigands vanquished]].

* Quite a number of people would like to know how, in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'', Camilla talked Beruka, [[spoiler: her ''would-be assassin'',]] into becoming her loyal subordinate.

* One of the most iconic events in the ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' franchise is Dracula's KilledOffForReal moment in 1999, in which Julius Belmont sealed off Dracula's castle, cutting off Dracula from his source of power, and ''then'' killed Dracula. The catch? This climatic battle has never been depicted in any ''Castlevania'' media; the closest we get is retellings of it in the ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow'' duology, not even a cutscene.

* The Umbrella corporation in the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' franchise is portrayed as the evil MegaCorp that caused the zombie outbreak throughout multiple games. The endings of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'' and ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis'' imply that the protagonists are going to take on Umbrella directly, but the closest they ever gotten was Claire storming Umbrella's headquarters at the start of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica'' and then getting captured quickly. By the start of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'', Umbrella gets into trouble with the government and they fall into bankruptcy. To rub the salt further into the wound, Jill and Chris in a flashback during ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' are shown to be hunting down the man behind Umbrella, but Wesker intervenes and cuts their plan short. A shame that the player never gets to take Umbrella down themselves directly. [[spoiler: Spencer, the guy behind Umberlla, is shown to be an extremely frail and old man confined to a wheelchair and is killed off by Wesker in a cut scene.]]

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' has a moment where [[PlayerCharacter the Dovahkiin]] has to [[DragonRider ride a dragon]] to reach their final destination. ''"Hold on, Dovahkiin! Prepare to see Skyrim as you never have before!"''. As soon as they rise into the air and the choir kicks in, the player is skipped directly towards the destination. They adressed this later with the "Dovahkiin" DownloadableContent, which adds the ability to travel Skyrim by riding dragons.

* In ''NoMoreHeroes2'', Henry does Travis a favor by killing ranks 6 and 5, but the player doesn't get to control him (Despite the fact they just fought a GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere in Henry's dream as Henry himself). In [[{{NoFourthWall}} true ''No More Heroes'' fashion]], the game then proceeds to call players out on their disappointment, and Henry sends Travis pictures of him posing with their corpses to "Hold you over".

* In ''{{Postal}} 2: Apocalypse Weekend'', there is a segment where the Postal Dude is asked to help "relocate pigeons," and he is handed a rocket launcher. The game immediately cuts to a video of Running With Scissors' CEO complaining over the phone that they don't have the money to make such a level. When the game cuts back to the Dude, he's standing in a massive pool of blood and feathers.

* ''{{Runescape}}'' features a quest called King of the Dwarves. Here's the rundown: the BigBad is speaking to a mob demanding that the oligarchs who run the city reinstate the monarchy based on records of who is descended from the king. Meanwhile, his forces (only the character knows they are his anyway) are preparing an attack on the city to divide the guards. Your character and friends sneak into the record vaults and discover that said Big Bad is the rightful heir. The historical expert stays behind to forge the documents to keep Hreidmar from taking over while you and Veldaban go to help the city guards against his forces. You do so by tricking a troll warlord into doing it for you. And what does this epic battle look like? The troll warlord tells you to go back to the city and he'll take care of it.

* One of the most iconic events in the ''VideoGame/{{Castlevania}}'' franchise is Dracula's KilledOffForReal moment in 1999, in which Julius Belmont sealed off Dracula's castle, cutting off Dracula from his source of power, and ''then'' killed Dracula. The catch? This climatic battle has never been depicted in any ''Castlevania'' media; the closest we get is retellings of it in the ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow'' duology, not even a cutscene.

* Many Companion quests in StarWarsTheOldRepublic involve some of these (as companions after the first accomplish most of their personal goals off screen to save development time. Jaessa Wilsaam [[spoiler: kills a sith lord in single combat, despite only being an apprentice herself]], Lt. Pierce [[spoiler: manages to take one of the most fortified stations in history with only a small team of black ops troopers and a small detachment of soldiers]], while M1-4X's entire storyline involves ever increasingly awesome deeds of patriotic fervor, starting with capturing an Imperial propaganda specialist through [[GeniusBruiser incredibly precise timing]], a flimsy window, and a passing speeder, and ending with [[spoiler: Capturing an Imperial scientist... with only basic motor functions intact.]]
* The ''CostumeQuest'' kids get down from the Ferris wheel with a brilliant plan. [[GilliganCut Immediate cut to]] the kids on the ground.

** [[StaticRoleExchangeableCharacter Ashley/Kaidan]] had an offscreen OneManArmy moment at about the game's halfway point.

* ''MetalGearSolid2'': The Big Shell falls apart as Arsenal Gear breaks free. Then a few hours later Arsenal Gear crashes into New York, causing even more destruction. But the master discs were burned on [[TooSoon September 12, 2001]] so it all happened [[TakeOurWordForIt off-screen]], making the ending [[MindScrew even more disjointed.]]

* In VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice, Sam [[HowWeGotHere sums up the events]] that lead them to be trapped by [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Jurgen.]] When Sam and Max confront him, the flashback ends the second they're about to start fighting.

* PokemonBlackAndWhite has N defeating the Elite Four before you can, and by the time you reach the Champion, N has already defeated him.