History VideoGame / GrandTheftAutoViceCity

* DummiedOut:
** The airport's ATC tower exists as a low LOD model that only can be seen from the first island. It disappears upon entry to the second island, when its buildings are fully loaded and properly rendered.
** A pair of Yakuza-looking underlings that populate Tommy's business for the Japanese PC version. In the US or International PC version released earlier, it was available as a duplicate inside of the img archives, and can be used, provided the user knows what to do.
** The text files contains strings for missions not made out to the final game, and contains references to unused character Mr. Moffat and Mr. Black, the latter supposed to be Leo Teal's (the cook Tommy killed earlier that has connections to Vice City underworld) contact for the payphone assassination missions.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: Midway through the game, Tommy will receive a call from Kent Paul warning him that someone has put a price on his head. However, nothing ever comes about it and we never hear about it ever again. [[spoiler:It can easily be assumed that the person who wanted Tommy dead was Ricardo Diaz, as Tommy receives the warning shortly after rescuing Lance from his failed attempt to overthrow Diaz in "Road Kill". Tommy kills Diaz and takes over his empire shortly thereafter, eliminating the threat.]] However, depending on the order in which the player completes the game's missions, it's possible to receive the call ''after'' [[spoiler:Tommy kills Diaz]], putting it firmly within this trope.

** One of the game's mode widely-known easter eggs is that if the player gets a three star or higher wanted level, they will find themselves being chased down by [[Series/MiamiVice two officers in pastel suits who drive a Ferrari]]. Dives into the game's code reveals their names to be "Cracker" and "Butts".

%%* Intoxication Mechanic: In the mission "Boomshine Saigon", Tommy has to take Phil to the veteran's hospital after Phil blows his arm off while making moonshine. While Tommy doesn't drink the moonshine, the [[GargleBlaster fumes from it are strong enough to get him drunk]], as the screen blurs and sways around while he drives Phil to the hospital.

* IntoxicationMechanic: In the mission "Boomshine Saigon", Tommy has to take Phil to the veteran's hospital after Phil blows his arm off while making moonshine. While Tommy doesn't drink the moonshine, the [[GargleBlaster fumes from it are strong enough to get him drunk]], as the screen blurs and sways around while he drives Phil to the hospital.

*** Subsequent releases of the game have the M4 replaced with a carbine resembling the period-accurate Colt Model 733, which was released one year before the events of the game take place.

* CoolPlane: Also the first to feature accessible helicopters, or indeed, any useful air transport, not counting the barely-airborne and aptly-named Dodo in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII''.

* BrooklynRage: Where Tommy is from.
* TheButcher: Tommy.

* ChekhovsArmy: The party on Cortez's yacht serves to introduce a plethora of minor characters, all of whom play bigger roles later down the line (with the exception of Pastor Richards; see AuthorExistenceFailure above).

* CoolBike: The very first ''GTA III''-era game to feature them.

** The Malibu crash (for lack of a better name), exclusive to the PC version, causes the game to immediately crash when nearing the vicinity of the Malibu. It's not known what causes it, but it causes the game to crash, saying "Error reading the Grand Theft Auto Vice City DVD." This can only happen done if the bodyguards' models are used with another gang's models.

* LighterAndSofter: The story is more optimistic and fun, there are plenty of references of movies of TheEighties and despite Tommy's rather [[AxCrazy unpleasant personalty]], he interact with colorful personalities more and seem to generally care about his friends. Not to mention a fairly happy ending. It's also literally lighter, taking place in the brightly colored Miami analog during summer, in contrast with ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII's'' dingy, autumn New York City analog which is more serious.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: VRock DJ Lazlow utters the famous line, "It's better to burn out than fade away" during a back and forth with a hostile caller. Since the quote is best known for having been written in [[Music/{{Nirvana}} Kurt Cobain's suicide note]], many players mistake it to be an anachronism. However, the line was originally uttered by Music/NeilYoung in 1979, so it fits the game's timeline.

* KnowNothingKnowItAll: Radio personalities Maurice Chavez (Host of VCPR's Pressing Issues) and Adam First (DJ on Wave 103) very well fit into this. First fashions himself a music connoisseur but he gets basic facts about the artists he's talking about wrong and Maurice Chavez, despite claiming to have been a history major, also regularly gets basic facts about history and the operation of government wrong.

* BleepDammit: On the radio, the word "pissing" in Music/GrandmasterFlashAndTheFuriousFive's ''The Message'' is censored, but the word "fuck" in Romeo Void's ''Never Say Never'' is not. In addition, the f-word can be read on one of Candy Suxxx's film posters.

* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Tommy decides to set up a lucrative business relationship with the Cuban gang. Auntie Poulet, a matriarch of the Haitian gang [[MobWar (which is at war with the Cubans)]], manages to get a hold of him through the phone, and has him perform hits on the Cubans against his will after offering him a "cup of tea" which makes him obey her commands.

** Alex Shrub is based off of UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush, apparent by both his name and appearance.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: Midway through the game, Tommy will receive a call from Kent Paul warning him that someone has put a price on his head. However, nothing ever comes about it and we never hear about it ever again. [[spoiler:It can easily be assumed that the person who wanted Tommy dead was Ricardo Diaz, as Tommy receives the warning shortly after rescuing Lance from his failed attempt to overthrow Diaz in "Road Kill". Tommy kills Diaz and takes over his empire shortly thereafter, eliminating the threat.]] However, depending on the order in which the player completes the game's missions, it's possible to receive the call ''after'' [[Spoiler:Tommy kills Diaz]], putting it firmly within this trope.

* BigLippedAllegatorMoment: Midway through the game, Tommy will receive a call from Kent Paul warning him that someone has put a price on his head. However, nothing ever comes about it and we never hear about it ever again. [[spoiler:It can easily be assumed that the person who wanted Tommy dead was Ricardo Diaz, as Tommy receives the warning shortly after rescuing Lance from his failed attempt to overthrow Diaz in "Road Kill". Tommy kills Diaz and takes over his empire shortly thereafter, eliminating the threat.]] However, depending on the order in which the player completes the game's missions, it's possible to receive the call ''after'' [[Spoiler:Tommy kills Diaz]], putting it firmly within this trope.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: