History VideoGame / GrowingUp

** When Nate takes you to the animal sanctuary at the end of his route, it's described as an "unrecognizable" place, even if you unlocked it early by specializing in animal biology.

* PurelyAestheticGender: Except for determining which classmates can be romanced, the player character's gender has no impact on gameplay or events. Noticeably, it is just as easy for a girl to become a star football player and have [[PoliticallyCorrectHistory an ending as a highly paid professional athlete, and the same is true for the law enforcement and military paths]].

* TakeThat: The description for the subject "U.S. Government" says, "They take care of all of us... in theory."

* YouHaveResearchedBreathing: You have to spend Knowledge Points to learn basic skills such as crawling, walking, and talking and master them by putting them in your schedule in the baby stage, which serves as the tutorial for the game.

* ComingOutStory: Charles' route involves him coming to terms with his homosexuality and how it's affecting his political career in the student council. [[spoiler:In high school, he comes out as gay to the protagonist when they catch him in crying in the bathroom after losing the elections. Then he comes over to their house to ask them for help in dealing with it because his sister caught him first and their father is homophobic. Thanks to the protagonist's support, Charles becomes brave enough to come out to his dad but still gets kicked out of the house, but he fights for LGBT+ rights in his good ending in the epilogue, looking to his sister for support (and also the protagonist if [[GayOption he marries him]] after years of on-again-off-again dating).]]

** Some of the movie posters you see are reminiscent of ''Film/Titanic1997'', ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'', and ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989''.

** The protagonist's description for the activity "Reading Comics" is, "I wonder how [[Franchise/SpiderMan arachnid-person]] will get out of this one!"]]

** When the protagonist first eats out with Felicity at the diner, her mother's talk show, ''[[ShowWithinAShow Chatty Cathy]]'' goes on air. They notice that Felicity looks just like her.

* ILetYouWin: You can intentionally lose to Alex and Charles when playing at the arcade with them in their respective routes, but they'll dislike you for downplaying your skills and not giving them enough competition. [[spoiler:The former will even ditch you and drop out of middle school if you deliberately lose to her too many times because she won't see you as a worthy rival.]]

* PresentDayPast: Despite the game being set in The90s, there are a few anachronisms referencing contemporary history:

* PresentDayPast: Despite the game being set in the 90s, there are a few anachronisms referencing contemporary history:

** Felicity's mother, Cathy, is out of the country hosting her talk show and doesn't bother taking care of Felicity, and she manipulates her into believing that she's lucky to have a "celebrity" mom. Cathy also exploits her son (Felicity's brother), Humphrey's illness for views.

** Reporting your classmate's bad behavior to the teacher [[NobodyLikesATattletale locks you into their bad ending because they'll accuse you of ruining their "fun".]] You must resolve their issues yourself if you want to see their good ending.

* ViolationOfCommonSense: The only way to unlock the police station in Wendy's route is by cutting classes with her the second time she offers to take you to the movies. As the only other way to unlock it is in Vivica's route in high school, doing this in Wendy's lets you unlock it in middle school and thus give you more turns to pursue police or military training.

* PresentDayPast: Despite the game being set in the 90s, there are a few anachronisms referencing contemporary history.

** Felicity's mother, Cathy, is out of the country hosting her talk show and doesn't bother taking care of Felicity, and she manipulates her into believing that she's lucky to have a "celebrity" mom. [[spoiler:Cathy also exploits her son's (Felicity's brother's) illness for views.]]

* CurseCutShort: When you notice Wendy walking home from school instead of taking the bus, she says that she doesn't want to sit next to those "bully mother..." just before you shush her.

* DramaClub: Richard considers joining the drama club choir, but is extremely nervous about it because he's afraid of his voice cracking in public. Bobbie, on the other hand, is excited to take it up in middle and high school because she wants to be a Broadway actress.

* SchoolPlay: Mentioned in a couple routes, particularly in Richard's and Bobbie's routes. Richard considers joining the choir for it while Bobbie auditions for it as a step forward to her dream as a Broadway actress.

* AwkwardFatherSonBondingActivity: You can join Jake Fletcher and his father to watch a [[LawProcedural law]] movie at the cinema as part of his father's effort to [[spoiler:steer him away from his gangster life]]. Jake is less than appreciative at first, but he'll thank you at the end of his route for [[spoiler:helping him realize that he's being reckless with "fighting crime" by being a gangster.]]

* CerebusRetcon: If you talk about you expectations for high school with Alicia, she hopes that it'll be just like on TV, including the {{Very Special Episode}}s. You worry about that, not wanting a car crash in real life, but Alicia [[AlphaBitch doesn't mind "soooome people" dying because she thinks they're lame.]] This BlackComedy moment turns bleak in high school when [[spoiler:she's forced to volunteer at the hospital, and she starts feeling bad for the dying patients, realizing that not everyone is as well-to-do as her and her wealthy family.]]