History VideoGame / MidnightClub

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: Taken ''literally'' in ''II''; Angel actually ''cheats'' in one of the races by either giving himself a head start, or doing an un-announced start that would catch you by surprise. Which doesn't help him, as he's almost blatantly one of the worst racers in the game. Later on in Tokyo, Ricky pulls the same move on you in one of his races.
** In ''LA'', the AI drivers do not need to pass near the checkpoints that you have to and rubberband like crazy.

* HateSink: Ricky in "Midnight Club II".

'''''Midnight Club''''' is a street-racing-based [[DrivingGame Racing video game]] series created by Rockstar San Diego - formelly know as Angel Studios and creators of the ''VideoGame/MidtownMadness'' franchise. The series includes the following titles:

* AsianAirhead: Gina in 2.
* BigFun[=/=]FatBastard - Moses in 2, who insults you a bit, but is nevertheless willing to show you (a new driver) the ropes, help you out of a cop chase, and encourage you as you rise up the ranks.
* BulletTime: "Zone" in 3 and LA.

* CarFu: "Agro" in 3 and LA.
* CarSkiing: One of the many vehicular stunts available in 3 and LA.

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: Taken ''literally'' in ''2''; Angel actually ''cheats'' in one of the races by either giving himself a head start, or doing an un-announced start that would catch you by surprise. Which doesn't help him, as he's almost blatantly one of the worst racers in the game. Later on in Tokyo, Ricky pulls the same move on you in one of his races.
** In LA the AI drivers do not need to pass near the checkpoints that you have to and rubberband like crazy.
* DeadpanSnarker: The player character in LA.

* TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything: When the police pull you over in LA, they have different animations for if you have fallen off your bike or not. You can also [[ISurrenderSuckers fake pulling over]] by driving off while the officer is walking to your vehicle.
* DifficultButAwesome: Any of the motorcycles in 2, 3, or L.A. They are difficult to control at first, come with less nitrous boosts, and any crash results in your character falling off. But if you can master their handling and not crash, they become near unstoppable in the hands of an experienced player.

* DownLADrain: Both incarnations of Los Angeles in the series contains the LA River.
* DownloadableContent: The South Central expansion for LA expands the map to include South Central and introduces lowriders and [=SUV=]s as racing classes.

* {{EMP}}: A special ability in LA.
* FaceHeelTurn: In LA, Booke starts out as an obnoxious but benign QuestGiver, but the relationship turns sour when the Player Character fails to help him evade the cops after a team race. The next time you meet, he has become City Champ and you must defeat him in a series of races. By the end of the series, he acknowledges the player as a WorthyOpponent while promising to win his title back.

* GenkiGirl - Gina in ''Midnight Club 2''. Bonus points: she's Japanese.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: How a song called ''Strip Tease'' made it into a game like ''DUB Edition'' is anyone's guess.

* ImprobablyCoolCar: Midnight Club 3 has the 1999 Dodge Charger R/T Concept, a car that was well received and displayed at car shows as late as 2004 but never made it to production. The game even lampshades the fact that it is a concept car.
* InfinityPlusOneSword: The Chrysler ME Four-Twelve in 3, and the Saleen S7 in Los Angeles.

* LikeRealityUnlessNoted: Reviews have described LA as a fairly accurate representation of Los Angeles with certain modifications for better gameplay. This includes a metric buttload of real-life LA landmarks including the Hollywood sign, the Capitol Records Tower, Pink's Hot Dogs, the Viper Room, Rodeo Drive, Grauman's Chinese Theater, the Santa Monica pier, the {{LA River}} basin, UCLA campus and Paramount Studios to name just a fraction. The game even starts right outside of Carney's Express. However, there are notable exceptions, such as the Staples Center being given the more generic name of "Sports Center" and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum being renamed the "South Central Coliseum". Makes for an almost constant string of HeyItsThatPlace moments.
** In Midnight Club 2, they did this to Tokyo, since real life Japanese streets are clogged, narrow, and horribly unfit for racing.
* NintendoHard: To say that these games are tough is putting it nicely. The latest game in the series, ''Midnight Club: Los Angeles'', is considered second only to ''VideoGame/{{F-Zero}} GX'' in the NintendoHard racing game pantheon. The combination of [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard (allegedly) unstoppable AI opponents]], impossible-to-shake police chases, [[GoddamnedBats heavy, hard-to-dodge traffic]], and the [[QuicksandBox where-the-hell-am-I-going nature]] of the open-world races is enough to frustrate most gamers, even with a well-timed EMP or Roar attack to knock out the competition. [[http://kotaku.com/5067216/midnight-club-los-angeles-review-the-fast-and-the-infuriating Kotaku]] actually went so far as to call it "a ''NinjaGaiden'' caliber challenge". Rockstar later [[http://www.giantbomb.com/news/midnight-club-makes-membership-easier/645/ patched the game]] to soften the difficulty curve in the early parts of the game. This patch is also integrated into the Complete Edition along with the South Central expansion and associated DLC.
** Also, despite being called "Midnight Club," the game works on a [[InUniverseGameClock 24 hour-like clock]], which means that means half of the time, you will be racing during the day. Hilariously, it is impossible to see traffic coming at you during the day (as half the cars blend into the road itself), but quite easy to see them at night (when their headlights and taillights are among the few things you can see on the road). Furthermore, ''LA'' slows down time to show your car spinning out of control as the AI races past you. Therefore, only race at night, stay close to the center of the map, and use the zone skill to keep your speed on turns, and you might just beat the game while only pressing the restart button 1500 times.

** To give another example of how Nintendo Hard effects players, if you google this game you'll see references to people preferring to play the game in Race Editor mode where the game just lets you drive around and not actually compete.

* NoNameGiven: The player character in LA is only really referred to as "Player".

* OptionalTrafficLaws: Usually, but if you break the road laws with the cops nearby, they'll go into HotPursuit. Midnight Club 2 only had cops preset in races.

* RPGElements: The Abilities in 3 and LA level up with use. LA also includes XP (AKA "Rep") that unlocks cars and parts at higher levels.

** Interestingly, another manga and game series inspired by that group, WanganMidnight (specifically its Maximum Tune spin-off) has a shout out to ''Los Angeles''. One of the available aero-kits for the Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 in that game was nearly identical to one of the aero-kits for the same car in ''Los Angeles''.

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: most of the items listed under NintendoHard could be said to apply under this trope too. MC:LA adds a few more examples, such as anytime you need a specific grade of vehicle in order to race, the vehicles driven by the AI always seem to be superior, faster, and are completely tricked out, whereas, especially with some C- and B-class races, the player is forced to make do with a the equivalent of a golf cart and hope the AI makes an error, wipes out, or is delayed by traffic (all of which, despite claims to the contrary can and does occur).

* TheJuggernaut: Aggro, available for luxury cars and [=SUV=]s in the third game and LA, allows the player vehicle to ram vehicles aside without suffering any damage.
* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Released in October of 2000, New York includes the World Trade Center. You can drive at the base of the towers and around the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sphere sphere sculpture]]. Less than one year later that area of the game would be a relic of a time gone by.

* WouldHitAGirl: Ricky in 2. While he does not actually hit her, he cheats Gina, steals her car, and almost gets her killed by the Yakuza.

* AsianAirhead: Gina in 2.

''Midnight Club'' is a street-racing-based [[DrivingGame Racing video game]] series created by Rockstar San Diego - formelly know as Angel studios and creators of the ''VideoGame/MidtownMadness'' franchise. The series includes the following titles:

* OldSaveBonus: If the player has a save file from ''Smuggler's Run'' on the PS2's memory card, the Baja Buggy becomes playable in the first game in the series. (Obviously only applies to the games produced for PS2, as opposed to LA which is for PS3.

* PimpedOutCar: A key feature of the games. 3 and LA even have prize cars that had been ''pre''-pimped by DUB Magazine.
* ProductPlacement: A odd example for the second game. The cars may be fake, but all of them except for your starter have a part or set of parts from actual companies (eg. Enkei wheels for the Supra lookalikes). Played straight in 3 and LA including cars, parts and billboards, as well as a number of recognizable stores such as 7-Eleven and Best Buy dotting the streets.

* SpiritualSuccessor: The first Midnight Club is this to the first two games of the ''Midtown Madness'' series, developed by Angel Studios, which became Rockstar's San Diego division starting before Midnight Club II came out. Furthermore, even the engine for the first Midnight Club game was a heavily improved version of the Midtown Madness II engine.
** In case you want to ask why the third game isn't included, that's because it was developed by [[VideoGame/{{Battlefield}} DICE]] instead, while the RS San Diego team pressed on with the Midnight Club series and never looked back.

* UpdatedRerelease: ''Remix'' editions of 3 and LA, as well as the ''LA Complete Edition''.
** ''LA Remix'' is an updated version of LA from the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, for the PSP.
*** Averted by the LA Complete Edition, which includes both the original, [[DownloadableContent downloadable]] and the ''Remix'' contents for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.
* WideOpenSandbox

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: Taken ''literally'' in ''2''; Angel actually ''cheats'' in one of the races by either giving himself a head start, or doing an un-announced start that would catch you by surprise. Which doesn't help him, as he's almost blatantly one of the worst racers in the game.

* DownloadableContent: The South Central expansion for LA expands the map to include South Central and introduces lowriders and SUVs as racing classes.

* TheJuggernaut: Aggro, available for luxury cars and SUVs in the third game and LA, allows the player vehicle to ram vehicles aside without suffering any damage.

* ArtisticLicenseCars: A strange case; while cars ''do'' have different drivetrains, every game past the first game does not feature [=4WD=]. The second game introduced the "Burnout" ability, and would obviously not work with [=4WD=], so any actual [=4WD=] cars featured would be converted to [=2WD=], but which axle is driven is completely dependent on the vehicle itself.

* [[EveryCarIsRearWheelDrive Every Car Is Two Wheel Drive]]: A strange case; while cars ''do'' have different drivetrains, every game past the first game does not feature [=4WD=]. The second game introduced the "Burnout" ability, and would obviously not work with [=4WD=], so any actual [=4WD=] cars featured would be converted to [=2WD=], but which axle is driven is completely dependent on the vehicle itself.

* LikeRealityUnlessNoted: Reviews have described LA as a fairly accurate representation of Los Angeles with certain modifications for better gameplay. This includes a metric buttload of real-life LA landmarks including the Hollywood sign, the Capitol Records Tower, Pink's Hot Dogs, the Viper Room, Rodeo Drive, Grauman's Chinese Theater, the Santa Monica pier, the LA River basin, UCLA campus and Paramount Studios to name just a fraction. The game even starts right outside of Carney's Express. However, there are notable exceptions, such as the Staples Center being given the more generic name of "Sports Center" and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum being renamed the "South Central Coliseum". Makes for an almost constant string of HeyItsThatPlace moments.

* [[ImplacableMan Implacable Vehicle]]: Aggro allows the player vehicle to ram vehicles aside without suffering any damage.