History Recap / BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE40IfYoureSoSmartWhyArentYouRich

-->'''[[LargeHam The Riddler:]]''' That is [[NoFairCheating GRAND-SCALE CHEATING]], Batman! You're not supposed to tamper with the Hand of Fate!\\

Edward Nygma, a.k.a. The Riddler, seeks revenge against his former boss, Daniel Mockridge, who profited of off Nygma's game ''The Riddle of the Minotaur''.

!!Tropes:

* AssholeVictim: Mockridge. Denying royalties to the most important programmer because he's under a work-for-hire contract is probably legal, but a dick move. Firing him when he challenges that contract in court is probably illegal. Personally mocking him, as you inform him he's been fired... at that point, you're practically asking him to enact overly complicated revenge on you. Even Batman and Robin feel little sympathy for him.

* TheBadGuyWins: Zigzagged; The Riddler doesn't manage to kill Mockridge and he still profits off his game, but he avoids capture and leaves his old boss a nervous wreck who can't sleep without a shotgun next to him.
* ConsolationPrize: Leaving your former boss gripped in terrified paranoia may not have the same satisfaction of killing him, but it apparently was enough for Nygma.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Dan Mockridge stole the fortune-making gaming products of Edward, [[KickTheDog then fired him]].

* EveryoneKnowsMorse: The Riddler manipulates the electric grid so the city lights are blinking on and off in Morse code to tell Batman a riddle. Not including spaces, it was 44 letters long, and Batman somehow didn't miss any of them. Justified in that both Batman and the Riddler would make a point to know Morse code. It probably helped that Batman was feeding the beats to a computer rather than doing it in his head.
* FictionalVideoGame: Nygma's smash hit ''Riddle of the Minotaur'', which started his StartOfDarkness.

-->(''Batman and Robin come across a sign that says "Loser's Ahead"'')\\

(''the duo turns a corner, two giant shurikens come out of nowhere, and the duo ducks just before the blades lob their heads off'')\\
'''Batman:''' Loses a head. [[LamePunReaction I don't know what's worse, the traps or the puns]].

* MusicalTrigger / SongsInTheKeyOfLock: A door has three possible keys, labelled "A, C, and D". The D key causes two blades to fly at Batman and Robin. When Batman tries to use the A key, Robin stops him, saying there will be ''three'' blades--the Key of A and the Key of D have three and two sharps, respectively. The correct answer is the Key of C, which has ''no'' sharps. They get through the puzzle.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: When Batman calls the Riddler by his real last name, Riddler decides the Bat is a serious threat who needs to be ''killed''.[[note]]Perhaps it was for the best, though, since Batman was able to save Mockridge specifically because Riddler used him as bait. It Batman hadn't made it personal, Riddler probably would have just killed Mockridge and disappeared.[[/note]]
* NintendoHard: Robin's quote below; and that's the electronic version!
* NowYouTellMe: "I guess this isn't a good time to tell you, nobody's ever made it to the center of the maze."

* OnlyTheKnowledgableMayPass: How the maze in the video game and the life size version works; the puzzles are all trivia-based.
* PacManFever: Let's just say, ''Maze of the Minotaur'''s graphics are less than impressive even for the 16-bit era of console gaming (at the time), though as a computer game it's only mildly behind what Personal Computers were capable of at that time. Amusingly, "Maze of the Minotaur" recycles sound effects from VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1.

* PopculturalOsmosisFailure: One of the Riddler's clue references the song "Oh What a Beautiful Mornin'" from ''Theatre/{{Oklahoma}}'' (talking of a "place that's high as an elephant's eye", where the answer is corn/[[FunWithHomophones maize/maze]]). Robin doesn't get it, and Batman calls it "before [his] time".

'''Mockridge:''' Oh ''yeah''? Then tell me something ''Eddie''... if you're so smart, why aren't you ''rich?''
* TooDumbToLive: Oh Mockridge, how could you not see that cheating and firing someone as brilliant as Nygma would later get you hunted and nearly killed in revenge? Not to mention firing the one guy who put the company on the map was a stupid business practice to begin with. Really, the question he should be asked is "If you're so rich, why aren't you smart?"

* SoreLoser: After Batman solves the Riddle of the Minotaur, Riddler orders it to kill them all anyway.

* InescapableTerror: In the aftermath, it's showcased that Mockridge will forever be afraid of Nygma coming to finish the job, and will never get a good night's sleep because of it.

* AssholeVictim: Mockridge. Denying royalties to the most important programmer because he's under a work-for-hire contract is probably legal, but a dick move. Firing him when he challenges that contract in court is probably illegal. Personally mocking him, as you inform him he's been fired... at that point, you're practically asking him to enact overly complicated revenge on you. Even Batman himself feels little sympathy for him.

* AssholeVictim: Mockridge. Denying royalties to the most important programmer because he's under a work-for-hire contract is probably legal, but a dick move. Firing him when he challenges that contract in court is probably illegal. Personally mocking him, as you inform him he's been fired... at that point, you're practically asking him to enact overly complicated revenge on you.

* DeadHorseTrope: InUniverse example. Robin is clearly too young to remember ''Theatre/{{Oklahoma}}'' and the Riddler's clue derived from it.

* PacManFever: Let's just say, ''Maze of the Minotaur'''s graphics are less than impressive even for the 16-bit era of console gaming (at the time), though as a computer game it's only mildly behind what Personal Computers were capable of at that time.
** Amusingly, "Maze of the Minotaur" recycles sound effects from VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1.

* PacManFever: Let's just say, ''Maze of the Minotaur'''s graphics are less than impressive even for the 16-bit era of console gaming (at the time), though as a computer game it's only mildly behind what PCs were capable of at that time.

* PacManFever: Let's just say, ''Maze of the Minotaur'''s graphics are less than impressive.

* MookBouncer: The Riddler has constructed a maze, complete with mechanical {{Wall Master}}s. Batman uses them to his advantage and rigs it to bring himself straight to the Riddler.

* OnlyTheKnowledgeableMayPass: How the maze in the video game and the life size version works; the puzzles are all trivia-based.

* OnlyTheKnowledgeableMayPass: How the maze in the video game and the life size version works; the puzzles are all trivia-based.

* TheBadGuyWins: Zigzagged; The Riddler doesn't manage to kill Mockridge and he still profits off his game, but he avoids capture and leaves his old boss a nervous wreck who can't sleep without a shotgun next to him.

-->'''Nygma:''' Mark me, Mr. Mockridge, you won't be getting away with this! Your amoral greed is no match for an intellect like mine!\\

* VillainBall: Nygma's work-for-hire contract does mean that ''Riddle of the Minotaur'' belongs to the company rather than Nygma, but that doesn't make Mockridge's firing him sensible. Mockridge would have made more money in the long run if he'd given Nygma a raise worth a fraction of what his game was bringing in and then set him to work creating another game capable of making the company millions. Mockridge essentially shot the goose that laid a single golden egg without checking to see if it could lay any more, [[CreateYourOwnVillain causing the goose to come back for revenge.]]

* TheBadGuyWins: The Riddler doesn't manage to kill Mockridge, but he avoids capture and leaves his old boss a nervous wreck who can't sleep without a shotgun next to him.

* MalevolentArchitecture: There is a maze in an amusement park full of death traps, path-blocking puzzles, and highly lethal robots that prevent you from going back the way you came. None of which seems so unusual for Batman until you remember that this was [[FridgeLogic meant to be navigated by the park-goers]]. The maze was "tweaked" after-market by the its designer, the Riddler, who in the [=BTAS=] continuity is a GadgeteerGenius, specifically to ''make'' it a death trap.