History OffscreenMomentOfAwesome / VideoGames

* 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.
** More generally, from the first game, it's been established that the [[HeavyWorlder Elcor]] fight by strapping massive clusters of heavy weaponry to their backs, and laying waste to their enemies using VI-targeted fire. They are referred to on several occasions as "living tanks". After three games, we still never got to actually see this.

** Many of the DLC missions in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' become this if you didn't buy or play the DLC prior to starting ''3'', with Alliance marines and mercenaries taking Shepard's place, and taking far more casualties.

* ''VideoGame/Persona5''

* 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.

* During most of ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheForgottenLand'' while Kirby is saving Waddle Dee's, Meta Knight is protecting the town from further attacks.

* 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.]]

* ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' has Lance as Champion. Not ''acting'' champion while the player character from ''Red and Blue'' is fooling around on Mt Silver. Full-on ''champion''. That implies that he actually ''beat'' said player character during the three-year time skip.

* ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' has Lance as Champion. Not ''acting'' champion while the player character from ''Red and Blue'' is fooling around on Mt Silver. Full-on ''champion''. That implies that he actually ''beat'' said player character off-screen.

* [[spoiler: Christa and Clementine]] have this in ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'' during the beginning of season 2 considering the two of them survived sixteen months [[spoiler: until they got separated]] in the apocalypse. Keep in mind that [[spoiler: Clementine is a little girl and Christa was a BrokenBird after losing Omid and also her baby]] and it's also implied that they never joined a group during that time meaning they managed to do all that on their own.

* In the video game adaptation of ''Series/PowerRangersSamurai'', the first level ends with them making the Megazord...then you get text saying that the Megazord won. No fight, no cutscene, no nothing. At least you get to fight with the Megazord in future levels (as a QuickTimeEvent).
* After spending hours in ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'' undergoing hideous trials such as Babel Tower and Kislev's AbsurdlySpaciousSewer, it is difficult to convey how disappointing it is to have entire dungeons and some truly epic-sounding battles ''narrated as recaps by characters sitting in chairs''.
** Considering Xenogears had some '''nightmarish''' dungeons, especially Nortune's [[DownTheDrain Goddamn Sewer]], that's something of a blessing.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'': 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 [[DistancedFromCurrentEvents September 12, 2001]] so it all happened [[TakeOurWordForIt off-screen]], making the ending [[MindScrew even more disjointed.]]
** Speaking of the Big Shell falling apart, while we do see the Computer Room fill with water, we never see it touch or carry away the lifeless body of [[spoiler:Emma]], and so miss out on what could have potentially been a very poignant BurialAtSea. It wouldn't have been much of a stretch either, considering the game had already done something similar for [[spoiler:Sergei Gurlukovich and Scott Dolph]], who were far less important to the story.
** Not to mention Solid Snake, as a - well, as a concept. We get to play as him for two hours, if you play slowly and get all the {{Easter Egg}}s, AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent! He runs around the Big Shell killing sentries left and right and doing crazy stunts to defuse bombs, and we have his word to go on, only. He goes off to have a showdown with a ninja, and the only indication of this we get is him telling Raiden that he has his hands full with something on his end, followed by another character explaining what had happened, later on. The raised middle finger of this whole aspect was very, very, ''very'' intentional.
** Also, the opening cutscene of [=MGS2=] explains that Solid Snake and Otacon traveled around the world for two years destroying Metal Gears as part of the non-government group Philanthropy. Considering that Snake has only starred in two full next-gen games (to date), was it too much to ask for a interquel game detailing the intervening years of their involvement with the group?
** Fortune drags him atop Arsenal Gear in handcuffs. How did that happen? It was probably awesome. We probably would have liked to see that.
** After Sons of Liberty Raiden goes on a journey to rescue a child named Sunny from The Patriots. With help from another party he finds her and leaves her under Otacon and Snake's care. He still has a horrible confrontation with the Patriots who play with him and ruin his body. Raiden manages to escape and journey has affected him so much that he TookALevelInBadass after being TheScrappy. He later goes on a journey to find the corpse of Big Boss in compensation assistance with Sunny. When will Kojima Productions develop a game focused on this? (The answer was original supposed to be ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'', but when they handed it over to Platinum they made it a sequel) .
* 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}}''. Additionally, the climatic space battle between the Elite and Covenant fleets in the latter game also happens offscreen while you're off doing your own thing. Similarly, a lot of the massive battles of ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' happen in the background.
* ''VideoGame/TheHouseOfTheDeadOverkill'' plays this for laughs at the final boss. Then subverts it because you fight the final boss anyway.
-->'''Agent G:''' Varla, this is for you!
-->'''(MISSING REEL)'''
-->'''G:''' How we survived that, I don't know.
-->'''Washington:''' Hey, if we hadn't found these [[EleventhHourSuperpower miniguns]] just lyin' around, we'd be fuckin' dead for sure!

* The fangame ''Paper Mario World'' sets up a boss battle... then doesn't deliver 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.
* In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood'': Ezio Auditore walks into the Rosa expecting to find his sister dead at the hands of the guards. Instead he finds that she killed a group of armed and armored guards with a knife, while wearing a dress, off screen.

** Another one in the "Heaven's Feel" route, if you decide to [[spoiler: let Rin kill Sakura]]. Kotomine predicts what's going to happen next and it sounds awesome - then you get a GameOver screen.

* In ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes2DesperateStruggle'', 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".
** Although, it's thought pretty widely that the boss fights were supposed to be played, but got DummiedOut.
* In ''VideoGame/{{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.
-->'''Dude:''' "Man, that was the most incredible thing I've ever done!"
* ''VideoGame/{{Runescape}}'' features a quest called "King of the Dwarves", where you trick a troll warlord into battling an army of Chaos Dwarves. 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.''
** The Player-Owned Ports minigame culminates in the RagtagBunchOfMisfits you've been helping on their individual quests banding together to take down an Eastern warlord with the powers of an [[ArtifactOfDoom Elder Artifact]], an unlimited horde of brainwashed sea monsters, and potential [[AGodAmI godhood]]. Since you're stuck [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin managing the port]], you never see ''any'' of it.
** If you talk to Kuradal after "Ritual of the Mahjarrat", she's frustrated that she missed the battle with Lucien and the appearance of the Dragonkin, as she got trapped in the cave by a rockslide. All she got to do was battle ''a few hundred [[BossInMookClothing Glacors]]'' to kill time waiting for rescue...
* VideoGame/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]].
* 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.
-->'''Sam:''' And then there was the most epic battle of our entire career!

* Many Companion quests in ''VideoGame/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.]]
* {{Supercow}} at the end of the game it is revealed that the {{Big Bad}} Professor Duriarty has failed because Bill the Bull has diffused his bomb offscreen.
* The ''VideoGame/CostumeQuest'' kids get down from the Ferris wheel with a brilliant plan. [[GilliganCut Immediate cut to]] the kids on the ground.

* ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' has Akuma's Raging Demon attack. It is never shown onscreen, but it is one of the most epic and powerful moves in the entire series.
-->''"Die one thousand deaths!"''
** Subverted in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV'', which finally gives us a glimpse of what Akuma does when the lights go out, and even then it eventually gets too fast for the player to tell what's going on besides an insanely fast beatdown of punches from every conceivable angle.
* 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. It is also stated that Wesker was the one who had leaked information to the government about Umbrella's experiments and also testified against them in court.]]

* In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', you can find [[BountyHunter Calo Nord]]'s journal. Reading it reveals he once [[FeedItABomb chucked a grenade down a rancor's throat]]. ''' ''While riding its shoulders.'' '''
* ''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 "Dragonborn" DownloadableContent, which adds the ability to travel Skyrim by riding dragons.
* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Wii U/3DS'' has the reveal trailer of [[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Lucina and Robin]], which starts off with Chrom (also from ''Awakening'') lying in defeat and Lucina barely holding her own after facing [[VideoGame/FZero Captain Falcon]] in battle, who looks no worse for wear. There's still plenty of awesome afterwards though.
* Upon reaching Mars in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsZ: Tengoku-hen'', the Arc Sabers reveal they were fighting the [[Anime/{{Daitarn 3}} Meganoids]] all this time. Just before Z-BLUE's arrival, Banjo had singlehandedly destroyed them all.
* [[spoiler: Christa and Clementine]] have this in ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'' during the beginning of season 2 considering the two of them survived sixteen months [[spoiler: until they got separated]] in the apocalypse. Keep in mind that [[spoiler: Clementine is a little girl and Christa was a BrokenBird after losing Omid and also her baby]] and it's also implied that they never joined a group during that time meaning they managed to do all that on their own.
** Also Luke who at one point [[spoiler: follows the player and several others back to Carver's settlement by foot without stopping to sleep or eat in season 2 episode 3]].
* Angel gets one in the second ''VideoGame/DigitalDevilSaga'' game. [[spoiler:A group of Karma Society soldiers attempt to arrest her, to which she simply asks "who do you think invented the demon virus?" and reveals her Atma brand to them.]] Unfortunately, the CurbStompBattle that [[spoiler:''the first game's FinalBoss'']] undoubtedly handed them is never shown.
* The ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies'' DLC case notably ends ''just'' before the new aquarium show is about to start. There's no cinematic for it or even dialogue. The ending cinematic to "Turnabout Academy" has this to a lesser extent, as it shows the start of the rescheduled concert, but ends before Juniper starts to sing.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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 playing as someone like Torbjörn, whose main gimmick is [[TheTurretMaster a sentry turret]] that might not even be anywhere near him. In that case, the replay won't show the turret's amazing killing spree that actually ''earned'' Play of the Game, but whatever Torbjörn 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 trying to look up Odile!Widowmaker's dress]].
* 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.]]

* ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda:''
** In the very first level, it's possible to find a squad of slain kett just outside their base, as a result of Alec Ryder passing through, with barely more than a minute's headstart on the player character. Man was an [=N7=] for a reason, after all.
** Bain is found in a kett bunker, surrounded by dead kett and burning vehicles, implicity his own handiwork.
* ''VideoGame/DigitalDevilSaga 2'' has one for Jenna Angel. An entire squadron of soldiers rush into her office to arrest her. Her response? Rip off her shirt, display her [[MarkOfTheBeast Atma mark]] and showcase exactly why she was the FinalBoss of the previous game.
-->'''Angel''': [[PreAsskickingOneLiner Who do you think created the demon virus?]]

* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOdyssey'': Several times through the "Legacy of the First Blade" DLC, it's possible to find a large pile of bodies in Darius's wake. All the more impressive given he's pretty elderly even for the time of the setting.
* ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'': There is a third Torizo statue in Tourian that seems as though it will be another miniboss battle, but Samus doesn't have to fight it - it disintegrates as she passes it. We find out why on the next screen: the Super Metroid got there before she did.

'''[[PlayerCharacter]]:''' [[spoiler: You're surrounded by darkspawn corpses]], what happened here?!\\

'''You:''' What happened here?\\

* {{Supercow}} at the end of the game it is revealed that the *Big Bad: Professor Duriarty has failed because Bill the Bull has diffused his bomb offscreen.

* {{Supercow}} at the end of the game it is revealed that the [[Big Bad]] Professor Duriarty has failed because Bill the Bull has diffused his bomb offscreen.

* VideoGame{{Supercow}} at the end of the game it is revealed that the [[Big Bad]] Professor Duriarty has failed because Bill the Bull has diffused his bomb offscreen.

* “{{Video Game/Super cow}}” at the end of the game it is revealed that the [[Big Bad]] Professor Duriarty has failed because Bill the Bull has diffused his bomb offscreen.

* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOdyssey'': Several times through the "Legacy of the First Blade" DLC, it's possible to find a large pile of bodies in Darius's wake. All the more impressive given he's pretty elderly even for the time of the setting.

* In ''Franchise/{{Star Wars|Legends}} Rogue Leader: VideoGame/RogueSquadron II'', one of the bonus missions, "Triumph of the Empire", is an AlternateContinuity mission where you play as Darth Vader and stop the Rebels from [[Film/ANewHope blowing up the Death Star]]. If you succeed, Vader remarks that it will be a great day for the Empire, and...the mission ends without showing the moon-shaped station blowing up Yavin IV. Which is strange, given that in the first mission of the game, "Death Star Attack" (which follows canon), Yavin ''is'' shown being destroyed [[NonStandardGameOver if you run out of torpedoes]].

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'': 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.]]

-->'''Angel''': [[PreAsskickingOneLiner Who do you think created the demon virus?]]

** Bain is found in a kett bunker, surrounded by dead kett and burning vehicles, implicity his own handiwork.

* 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 by Ophiuchus, is only mentioned in a text interlude between the 7th and 8th stages.]]

* 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 playing as someone like Torbjörn, whose main gimmick is [[TheTurretMaster a sentry turret]] that might not even be anywhere near him. In that case, the replay won't show the turret's amazing killing spree that actually ''earned'' Play of the Game, but whatever Torbjörn 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 trying to look up Odile Widowmaker's skirt]].

* 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]].