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9* {{Adventure Game}}s are all over this. If the character adds anything to their inventory, you can almost guarantee it's going to be important for advancing the plot at some point. This depends on the game...some games won't allow you to pick up an item you won't use at some point, but others may have items that ''appear'' to be worthless because you went through the ''entire'' game without using them; but in fact you could have used that item for an alternative solution to a puzzle. For examples, see ItMayHelpYouOnYourQuest.
10* Most of the early text based adventure games (e.g. ''VideoGame/{{Adventure}}'' and the ''VideoGame/{{Zork}}s'') had you controlling a character traveling through what was essentially a maze of rooms in which were occasionally placed certain things that you would use later; i.e. "You're in a small room with exits to the east and the north. You see a small table here. You see a flashlight here." You could generally plan on needing that flashlight later so you would, "get flashlight".
11** Nearly every Adventure game, such as ''VideoGame/KingsQuest'' or ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland'', has your character [[ItMayHelpYouOnYourQuest collecting seemingly random items]], [[PlotTailoredToTheParty all of which will be used later]]. One game that averted this was the original ''VideoGame/ManiacMansion'' game, which, due to having multiple characters and multiple endings, had many items that were worthless if you had the wrong party. It also had items that were completely worthless no matter what, such as the chain saw, which had no fuel. Interestingly, the sequel goes back to the traditional tactic of not only having every single item be used at least once, but if the item is small enough to be passed through time, it will be needed in another time. The only item that's never used is the hubcap, and you can not pick it up.
12** Standard policy for adventure games is that if it's not nailed down, take it, you'll need it. If it IS nailed down, ''[[EmptyRoomPsych find a way to remove the nails]]'' and take it. And take the nails too. Many, many early adventure games ''punished'' people for following this advice before realizing that it was a bad idea. For example, in ''Uninvited'', picking up a certain seemingly important gem results in being demonically possessed about three turns later. Whoops.
13* Many adventure and RPG games [[TooAwesomeToUse condition pack-ratting behavior]] as an inventory management pressure, especially if there are inventory limitations and/or economic necessities. Not all games give clues whether the items are useful for problem-solving, or at least for uncovering Easter Eggs, or just ShopFodder or completely dead weight. Recently the games have gotten easier by simply making the 'Handy' things undroppable/unsaleable, rather than more intuitive in their problem-solving application.
14* ''VideoGame/{{Afterimage}}'': In your early-to-midgame adventure across Engardin's open biomes, you may come across precious items called "Se's Coins" long before you could meet Se (the fairy mentioned in their FlavorText) whom you are supposed to give these coins to.
15* There are [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's Guns]] all over the place in ''VideoGame/AloneInTheDark1992'', e.g. an Indian cover, a heavy statuette and others whose use isn't quite obvious at the beginning.
16* The original ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'' takes it quite literally. There's a room with a shotgun hanging on the wall. The player can choose to take it or leave it. If the player picks up the shotgun and then later leaves the room, it triggers a trap. In Jill's scenario, it can further lead to a narrative cutscene.
17** In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica'', the password to activate the SelfDestructMechanism at the end is... Veronica.
18** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' manages to use this. Sheva picks up a syringe of serum from an attaché case. Both Sheva and Chris learn that the serum is actually one used to keep their enemy's superhuman powers in check, and that too much of a dose can hurt him.
19* In a villainous way, the title screen of ''VideoGame/BaldisBasicsInEducationAndLearning'' depicts a smiling Baldi holding a ruler up to a chalkboard like a pointer. Later on in the game, Baldi does use that ruler... as a weapon.
20* ''Franchise/BaldursGate'':
21** In ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' you can get a pair of Golden Pantaloons from a nobleman at the Friendly Arms Inn. They're of no use whatsoever, but if you carry them over to the second game, you'll find a sidequest that, if you follow a certain way, will net you a pair of equally useless Silver Pantaloons.
22** In ''[[VideoGame/BaldursGateIIThroneOfBhaal Throne of Bhaal]]'' you can get a pair of Bronze Pantalets in Sendai's stronghold. If you manage to hold on to all three seemingly useless items until now, you can go to a character in Amkethran and get him to forge for you the Big Metal Unit, the most powerful armor in the series.
23* Throughout ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie''. Brentilda, the fairy godmother, can be found in various places in the overworld, where she provides healing for the titular duo and provides disgusting trivia about the BigBad. This trivia turns out to be incredibly important near the end of the game, as they're the correct answers for many of the quiz questions in [[DeadlyGame Grunty's Furnace Fun]]. [[NoFairCheating And you can't use a guide--]] [[DevelopersForesight the correct answer is randomized at the creation of the save data]]. Either you find all of the trivia and try to remember (or write down) the right answers, or you're forced to guess.
24* In ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'', the Arkham Knight has Batman trapped in a room with a hostage, and he explains to his men that the huge bat on Batman's chest is a decoy, and the point where the Batsuit is the most heavily-armored. Considering that this target is over Batman's center of mass, this makes sense. Later on, Batman and James Gordon have a standoff with Scarecrow on a rooftop [[spoiler: where Scarecrow presents Gordon with a SadisticChoice. His daughter's life, or Batman's. Gordon shoots Batman right in the bat symbol, causing Batman to fake his death, and then when Scarecrow [[ILied drops Barbara to her death]], [[DivingSave Batman swoops in and catches her]]]].
25-->'''Batman:''' Are you hurt?\
26[[spoiler: '''Oracle:''' I thought dad killed you]].\
27'''Batman:''' [[spoiler: *plucks bullet from perforated bat symbol* He knew what he was doing]].
28* In ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins'', you come across the Electrocutioner who claims that the Shock Gloves he has will "kill you, then I'm-a jump start your heart, and kill you again!" Later on, [[spoiler:you pick up these gloves from his corpse. They have a very powerful function later on, as they serve as {{Magical Defibrillator}}s to revive Alfred from cardiac arrest after Bane attacks the Batcave. Near the end of the game, when Batman is faced with a SadisticChoice to either kill Bane or have him kill both the Joker and Commissioner Gordon by electrical charges in a death trap, the Dark Knight, remembering the Electrocutioner's words, [[TakeAThirdOption Takes a Third Option]] by using the Shock Gloves to temporarily stop Bane's heart, then disconnecting the wiring to the electric chair from him and using the same gloves to restart his heart, thus saving all three of them at once. The Electrocutioner is never wrong on these gloves.]]
29* Just about everything Inspector Parker finds or picks up in ''VideoGame/BeTrapped''. It will either be relevant to the plot or useful elsewhere, even a seemingly useless envelope from Hargate Prison used as foolscap.
30* In the first [[Toys/{{Bionicle}} Mata Nui Online Game]], after the Po-Koro event, as a reward for helping the town, you are given an item, the "Po-Koro chisel" which seems to have absolutely no use, surprising in a game where every single item serves at least some purpose in one way or another. Flash-forward to the ending cutscenes of the game where Takua is fleeing from [[spoiler:the newly-awakened Bohrok]], and he discovers a device with an indentation that bears a staggering resemblance to the chisel.
31* ''VideoGame/{{Bioshock|1}}'':
32** When the sub carrying Atlas' family is blown up, there's no sign of any bodies from it -- a bit odd, given the game's attention to detail, but it might be an oversight or they just felt they weren't necessary. [[spoiler:It later turns out Atlas is Frank Fontaine, and made the family up. That's why there were no bodies.]] In Sander Cohen's level, you can find posters for a play called [[spoiler: ''Patrick and Moira'' -- the names "Atlas" give his made-up son and wife.]]
33** There is an out-of-the-way audio log that mentions [[spoiler: that the genetic locks for bathospheres, which the player has been using since the beginning of the game, are inaccurate, and that anyone closely related to someone with access would be able to use them whenever they want. This is an early hint at the player being Andrew Ryan's son.]]
34* In the adventure game ''VideoGame/BlazingDragons'', one of the items you start with is Flicker's "clicker". Every time you look at it, Flicker says that it was his first ever invention, "the practical use of which escapes (him) at the moment". Its only use is in the very last scene of the game.
35* ''VideoGame/BoxxyQuestTheGatheringStorm'':
36** The Email Bag, given to you by Cornelia in Chapter 2, is mainly just used for quirky gags and sale alerts. But it finally has an important purpose when it alerts you to the final epilogue quest, leading to the game’s [[GoldenEnding True Ending]].
37*** That same final quest also utilizes the Bell Cave, the shrine on Mt. Dramatica, and the unlit lantern in The Woods -- three unique pieces of scenery that [[EmptyRoomPsych seemingly had no purpose]] when they were first encountered earlier in the game.
38** You can see the Wayback Machine hovering around on the Google map screen long before you figure out what it is or how it ties into the plot.
39* In ''VideoGame/BrainDead13'', Lance gets the eyeballs, one from each room of one of the twin witches. [[spoiler:It later helps Lance out for use as a tetherball weapon against Fritz in the final confrontation.]]
40* ''VideoGame/BravelyDefault'': The pendant that Agnes always wears around her neck ends up being very important at the end of the game's story since the main characters need it to have the power to defeat the final boss in both endings of the game.
41* At the start of ''VideoGame/BrokenSword'', George is shocked with a hand buzzer by the owner of a joke shop, who then laughs and gives it to him as a gift. When George tries to pull this prank on anyone else in the game, they all refuse to shake his hand for one reason or another. It's only when an assassin has George helpless at gunpoint at the top of a mountain that George gets a chance to use it, shocking the assassin and dramatically leaping to safety while he fumbles with his gun.
42* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'':
43** ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare2'':
44*** As Price is giving his inspiring speech, a knife appears on the screen when he talks about killing the BigBad. That weapon kills the BigBad.
45*** During the museum level, there are two mysterious soldiers in Juggernaut armor which are the toughest enemies you can fight in the game. [[spoiler: It's what Price and Yuri wear during ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare3'''s final mission.]]
46** In ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps Black Ops]]'', at the end of the first mission of the game, a cargo ship is briefly visible. [[spoiler:It's later revealed near the end of the game that it's the ship where the numbers broadcast is being transmitted.]]
47* At the beginning of the ''VideoGame/CallOfJuarezBoundInBlood'', Ray and Thomas kill a company of Union troops attacking their family estate. Later, Colonel Barnesby and his men come by and collect all the rifles off the dead troops. These rifles become a major MacGuffin later in the game's main plot.
48* ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'':
49** Done in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow''; at one point, Soma is given a good luck charm from Mina Hakuba, his [[SheIsNotMyGirlfriend not-girlfriend]]. If you don't equip this item before going into a certain cutscene, [[spoiler: Soma falls for the trap set by the villain and becomes Dracula.]] It's also done later on to get even further in the game; beating the boss Paranoia gets you the ability to enter mirrors and use them as portals. When you finally reach the pinnacle of the castle where Dario is waiting, you notice a demon lurking in the mirror behind him, boosting his power. Entering the mirror triggers the ''real'' boss fight with Aguni. Beating Dario just ends the game prematurely.
50** Similar thing happens in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDissonance''. You start the game with Juste's Bracelet, and receive Maxim's Bracelet about halfway through the game. [[spoiler:If you don't wear them both during the [[FinalBoss final boss battle]], you won't get to fight his [[TrueFinalBoss second form]] and you will just receive a [[MultipleEndings bad ending]].]]
51* Played with in ''VideoGame/{{Celeste}}'' when Madeline has a panic attack while climbing Mt. Celeste, and Theo teaches her a technique to control her breathing revolving around visualizing a feather. [[spoiler: When Madeline tries to discard Badeline, the [[EnemyWithout physical manifestation of her fear and anxiety]], Badeline retaliates, causing another panic attack. When Madeline tries to use the feather technique this time, however, Badeline scoffs at it, slicing the feather in half and dragging Madeline down to the bottom of the mountain.]]
52* In ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', at the beginning of the game, Crono bumps into Marle, knocking her pendant off, and giving it back to her to have her join you. She refuses to sell it because it has [[MementoMacGuffin "a lot of sentimental value"]]. Later, [[spoiler: we find out the Pendant is the same as Schala's pendant, and is powered by Lavos' energy to open up the mysterious boxes and doors you found littered throughout the game, 'til now.]]
53* ''VideoGame/ChzoMythos'': ''5 Days a Stranger'' has a perfectly textbook example (perhaps intentionally): one of the very first rooms the player enters has a big shotgun hanging up (yes, over the mantelpiece) but you can't walk off with it, because Trilby refuses to lug a big heavy gun around everywhere. The final scene of the game takes place in that room, and the gun is used to solve the final puzzle.
54* ''VideoGame/ClockTower3'' uses these with its "Evade Points". For example, in the second chapter of the game, almost right before you meet the Minion of the level, you can check a bottle sitting innocently on a table. Alyssa reads the label, and comments "Sounds Flammable". Shortly thereafter you meet the acid spewing Minion, you use the Evade Point located at the bottle and HilarityEnsues.
55* ''VideoGame/ClubPenguin'':
56** In the 6th PSA mission, the player drops their phone and it's picked up by [[BigBad Herbert]]. In mission 9, the lost phone is used to track Herbert, and also used to spy on him.
57** In the 10th PSA mission, [[TheDitz Rookie]] is tricked into giving Herbert his spy phone. In the 11th mission, [[spoiler: Herbert uses both the player's lost spy phone and the one that Rookie gave him to blow up the PSA HQ with popcorn.]]
58* The original AdventureGame, ''VideoGame/ColossalCave'' (frequently known just as "''Adventure''"), subverts this: there's a room whose description goes on for pages and pages (compared to a few terse lines for other rooms), in an age when computer memory was at an extreme premium. The room has no effect whatsoever on the plot.
59* In ''Crash Of The Titans'', in the opening cutscene, Coco tries to get Crash to help her get a butter-recycler working. She asks him to hand her the 'Transpoolooper', a purple spanner thing. they are then inturrupted by Cortex in his big blimp, setting the plot in motion, and Crash puts the Transpoolooper in his back pocket. At the end of the game, [[spoiler: they need to stop the giant Doominator robot. Cortex claims that it can't be stopped so easily, and Coco counters that she "could do it in seconds if I had my Transpoolooper"...and Crash pulls the required tool out of his pocket.]]
60* In ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}}'', during a late-game lull in the action, a technician conspicuously introduces an experimental gun that fires guided nuclear missiles. Your character asks (half-seriously) if he can try it out, and is unsurprisingly denied; you end up retrieving it later after everything goes to hell, and it is instrumental in defeating the final boss.
61* In ''VideoGame/CustomRobo'', there is a bit of dialog at the beginning of the game where the main character receives a watch from his dad. [[spoiler:It later is revealed that the watch was part of a memory erasure device which is revealed to be the only way to stop the Big Bad.]]
62* ''VideoGame/{{Deadpool}}'' makes fun of this trope at some point. You fall spliced in two inside a subterranean dungeon with a mining cart and guards all around. Meanwhile a cutscene will play with enemy soldiers blatantly saying "the cart is set, open the gate", "ok I'm pulling this lever RIGHT HERE to open the gate", "which lever?", "THIS lever", "the gate is now OPEN because I pulled THIS lever". Deadpool comments this with "dude, we get it high moon! thanks!". Surprisingly, you are in fact supposed to pull the lever and ride the cart in order to escape. It is also a case of TheGuardsMustBeCrazy.
63* In ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'', Hammond goes out of his way to mention that he ejected one of the escape pods because he trapped a Necromorph in it. [[spoiler: Their potential rescue ship, the USM Valor, picks up this escape pod thinking it contains a survivor and the entire crew is slaughtered in a matter of hours, leading to them crashing into the Ishimura.]]
64* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'':
65** In some games, you could inspect or spot some conspicuous objects early on, but your character would ignore them because they don't need those items yet, or have no means of reaching them at that time. It turns out those are going to be used as in-game Key Items or necessary puzzle elements later on, especially after some {{backtracking}} involved. For example, this applies to the Staff of Hermes in ''Devil May Cry 1'' (which can already be found in the third mission but is used in the late game), the Soul of Steel in ''Devil May Cry 3'' (which can be found in an early cage but is later used to walk across a chasm), or the Gyro Blades and Wing Talisman platforms in ''Devil May Cry 4'' (which are only activated after you obtain their proper key items).
66** In [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry1 the first game]], the biplane encountered in the first mission (christened Carnival according to ''VideoGame/ViewtifulJoe'') [[spoiler:is later used to make your escape from Mallet Island]]. Nobody knows how or why it was here to begin with, or why it's suspended by strings along with some marionettes, but [[DeusExMachina who cares]]; [[spoiler:it crashes through the ceiling in perfect working condition when [[CollapsingLair everything is crashing down]] and the player is meant to think that Dante and Trish are screwed]]. Dante's Amulet is also listed as an inventory item at first, but it's actually [[spoiler:plot-relevant as Nelo Angelo suspiciously backs off after seeing it, and it transforms the Force Edge into its awakened form, the Sparda]].
67** In ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry2'', Dante's lucky coin [[spoiler:is used in a [[FakinMacguffin Fake MacGuffin]] BatmanGambit to fool Arius]].
68** In ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry3DantesAwakening'', some statues resembling human-sized chess pieces are suspiciously scattered in the early parts of Temen-ni-gru, albeit inanimate at first. Then you realize later on that they're Damned Chessmen, a common threat throughout the tower, and [[spoiler:in Mission 18, you finally square off with the entire chess board, king included]]. Dante and Vergil's halves of the Perfect Amulet are also used to undo the seal of the tower, and the bells you see strewn throughout Temen-ni-gru are involved in the ritual used to open the gate to the underworld.
69** In ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'', Nero's Devil Bringer is arm-slinged during the prologue, which he then quickly uses as a trump card to beat Dante. It also serves as the [[spoiler:container of the Yamato mid-way through the game's story, especially after Dante allowed Nero to keep the sword as his own in the finale]].
70* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
71** Averted by the two ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' games, where there really are useless things to collect, albeit not many, making them more {{Red Herring}}s.
72** {{Lampshaded}} in ''VideoGame/DiscworldNoir'', when Lewton notices a grappling hook behind the troll he's trying to question. Sure enough, while he can't collect it immediately, he gets to use it later. "It couldn't have been more interested if it had had 'Plot Device' written all over it."
73* ''VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness'' uses Flonne's pendant in this fashion. One, it's an indicator of Laharl's CharacterDevelopment (it burns hotter than the ''magma'' he fished it out of when it's introduced but does nothing when he grabs it near the end). Second, it's a sneak peek at the motives of two other characters who touch it -- Dark Adonis Vyers (aka Mid-Boss [[spoiler:aka benevolent Overlord King Krichevskoy]]) and Vulcanus ([[spoiler:whose intentions are just as evil as he looks]]).
74** The four leaf clover seal on Rozalin in the second game. Turns out to be a seal on the real Overlord Zenon, a cosmic level overlord.
75* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'':
76** In the end, the driving force behind the entire plot turns out to be [[spoiler: Bartrand's Lyrium Idol, a seemingly minor ArtifactOfDoom that briefly appeared towards the end of Act 1.]]
77** The qunari, who know how to make gunpowder, show up in Act I... [[spoiler: but no one else ''successfully'' acquires this knowledge until the infamous "boom scene" of Act III.]]
78** A seemingly innocuous FetchQuest [[spoiler: turns out to involve gathering the ingredients for the bomb used in said "boom scene."]]
79* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'':
80** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'': One paid off from two games before, in fact. In the first town in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestI'', an NPC will offhandedly mention that, legend has it, the hero Erdrick/Loto was from another world. Two games later, and sure enough...
81** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII'': After helping {{Prince Charmles|s}} collect an Argon Heart for his RiteOfPassage, the RoyalBrat promptly renders the whole exercise pointless by [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney buying a bigger heart]], leaving Eight and his friends with a pretty but pointless trinket. However, the heart comes back into play towards the climax, when the King of Argonia reveals [[spoiler: to Charmles that he ''saw'' him buy the heart, and kept silent as a SecretTestOfCharacter that Charmles failed with flying colors]]. Then the ''good'' ending reveals the Heart's ''true'' purpose: [[spoiler: with Eight's SecretLegacy revealed, the Argon Heart now stands as proof that he finished the Initiation and is worthy to rule ''instead'' of his cousin Charmles]].
82** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX'': Yore is the final solution to questions raised by both the story and several quests raised while exploring Western Stornway, Zere, and Doomingale Forest during the main game, including [[spoiler:"What destroyed Brigadoom?", "Why are there no records of Brigadoom in Stornway's history books?", "What are causing the King's persistant nightmares?", and "What exactly is lying beyond the hole in the wall of the well in the northeastern portion of Stornway's castle?"]]
83** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestBuilders2'': The Oaken Club that the Builder makes for Malroth at the beginning of the game. After [[spoiler:Malroth is returned to his God Form, the subconscious remnants of his human personality prevent him from destroying it with all his other gear. After the builder returns the club to him, he uses it during the final battle to deliver the fatal blow to Hargon, breaking it in the process]].
84* In ''VideoGame/DrawnToLife: The Next Chapter'' for the DS, Mike eventually turns out to be a key character (he's the reason [[EvilAllAlong Mari turned to Wilfre]]).
85* In ''VideoGame/DuelSaviorDestiny'' Taiga has the oddly named sword Traitor, which seems odd since it's not even really a true character. However, [[spoiler:the meaning becomes obvious in the final route where it turns out Traitor defines himself by being in opposition to [[GodIsEvil God]] and that's where his name comes from.]] By the time this shows up, the name probably just seems like random GratuitousEnglish without any meaning.
86* In ''VideoGame/EarthwormJim'', you launch a cow into the sky at the very beginning of the game. At the game's end, when you defeat the Queen, the cow [[BrickJoke comes flying down]] and crashes onto the princess you just saved.
87* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'':
88** ''On Oblivion'' is a recurring [[FictionalDocument in-game book]] which first appeared in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall Daggerfall]]''. It mentions Jyggalag as the 17th [[OurGodsAreDifferent Daedric Prince]], though he would not appear [[spoiler:([[SealedInsideAPersonShapedCan as himself]])]] until ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]''[='s=] ''Shivering Isles'' expansion two games later.
89** ''Daggerfall''[='s=] [[MultipleEndings seven mutually exclusive endings]] were [[CosmicRetcon canonically]] [[MergingTheBranches merged]], as seen in later games, due to an event known as the [[TimeCrash Warp in the West]]. This event figures into ''Oblivion''[='s=] [[MagicalSociety Mages Guild]] [[SidequestSidestory questline]] as Mannimarco's [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence apotheosis]] into the [[DeityOfHumanOrigin God of Worms]], one of ''Daggerfall''[='s=] possible endings, is what allows necromancers to create [[YourSoulIsmine black soul gems]], while a [[LiteralSplitPersonalities simultaneously]] very much mortal Mannimarco serves as the BigBad of the questline.
90* In ''VideoGame/EpiphanyCity'', the running gag of reading the prophecy upside-down becomes crucial in the endgame, as this causes it to be rewritten and ''actually'' describe the game's events.
91* ''VideoGame/EXTRAPOWERAttackOfDarkforce'': While crossing the Pacific, the cruise ship the heroes are traversing on is attacked and sinks, but luckily they are rescued by Captain Nemon and brought to the undersea kingdom of Deep Haven. They are given a special ointment that not only allows them to safely breathe underwater, but grants freedom of movement under the atmospheric pressure of the ocean floor. Late in the game, when they finally get the chance to attack Dark Force directly, their efforts are wasted as Dark Force's control of gravitational powers makes it impossible to even move in his presence. Eventually it's realized that they could use the same ointment that permits free travel under tons of atmospheric pressure to counteract the gravity control and assault Dark Force directly.
92* Early on in ''VideoGame/{{Fairune}} 2'', you find a stone slab named Faraway Memory in an unique room, sitting before a large monolith, which sits useless in your inventory [[spoiler: for about 3/4ths of the game, where you start finding similar rooms hidden behind puzzles and in the middle of a lake, requiring you to upgrade the slab at each room to access Ashen World, and ultimately reveal Layla's name.]]
93* ''VideoGame/Fallout3'':
94** When you first enter the Citadel laboratory you see a giant robot that some scientists are working on. At the end of the game they finally get it to work and help you in the assault on the memorial.
95** The code for activating the machine at the end of the game, [[spoiler:saving the wasteland and sacrificing your life]], turns out to be [[spoiler:the numbers of your mother's favorite verse]]. Your father mentions this conspicuously so far back that you're an infant at the time.
96* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'':
97** You find "Euclid's C Finder" early on in the game. It appears to be a child's toy and does nothing other than act like a laser pointer. After completing a certain mission a certain way, [[spoiler:you discover that this "toy" happens to be the aiming device for the Archimedes system. Once per day, you can trigger a devastating orbital energy weapon that obliterates everything in a wide circle around the area that you point it at.]] Also, the Platinum Chip that Benny stole from the Courier at the beginning is the key to upgrading Mr. House's Securitrons.
98** A far darker one is that in the second town, when learning about the Platinum Chip that was stolen from you, Nash mentions another Courier was originally meant to take it but had a freak out when he saw your name on the list. \
99\
100He then mentions that he hopes a storm from The Divide skins him alive for being a deadbeat. [[spoiler: This ends up being because YOU are a ChekhovsGun that caused a series of DisasterDominoes that created the plots of all FOUR DLC add-ons for the game. Including where Elijah went, the Think Tank's attempt the escape The Big Empty, the massacre of New Canaan, and Ulysses' handing that Chip over to you, knowing that it was destined to be something bad. All because 5 years before the game started you did a fetch quest from Shady Sands (with a package salvaged from Navarro) to The Divide. And that you are most certainly destined to make or break whatever nations want the Mojave. Ultimately, this is concluded between that Courier (Ulysses) and you at, where else, The Divide.]]
101* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
102** The princess's lute in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'', acquired after the first quest and necessary to complete the last.
103** Aerith Gainsborough owns a materia in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' that seems to be of no use at all, but proves later to be the materia that summons the ultimate defensive spell, Holy. Additionally, during the Shinra building raid, Cloud finds a megaphone in a locker and decides not to take it. It turns out to be [[spoiler: belonging to Reeve -- better known as Cait Sith, who appears as a character later using a megaphone as a weapon. You can later return to this locker and pick it up -- it's Cait Sith's ultimate weapon.]] Another example occurs in Junon: you see the giant cannon the city is built around on Disc 1; it gets fired on Disc 2.
104** Early in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' you are introduced to the Pluto Knights, and are told what their professions and [[ChekhovsSkill specific duties]] are for no particular reason. Skip to Disc 3, and you are expected to [[ItMayHelpYouOnYourQuest remember said duties]] so that they can help defend their DoomedHometown. Doing it perfectly nets you [[DiscOneNuke an awesome accessory]].
105** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' the Chekhov's Gun isn't just an object: ''It's a song.'' We hear [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWVST7P37IM&feature=related Hymn of the Fayth in many different versions]] thought the game, and we suspect nothing. Turns out [[spoiler: that singing it is the only way to calm down the destructive [[EldritchAbomination Sin]] so it can be killed.]]
106** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyThe4HeroesOfLight'', a sign near the windmill in Horne explains how to properly treat sheep. [[spoiler:In the next-to-last dungeon, these instructions are key to a puzzle.]]
107* The battle scene between Greil and the Black Knight in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'' sets up ''two''. First, the Black Knight gives Greil a sword to fight with, which is revealed to be Ragnell, the only blade capable of opposing the Black Knight's Alondite, later in the game. Greil, who chose to give up the sword, turns it down, saying in regards to his axe, "The only weapon I need...is right here!" Just before the ''final chapter'' of the sequel, ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn Radiant Dawn]]'', the axe Greil was wielding returns -- it's Urvan, an absolute GameBreaker as it is not only the most powerful axe, it also has an accuracy of ''110'', brutally subverting the "PowerfulButInaccurate" nature of axes in general.
108* ''VideoGame/FreddyPharkasFrontierPharmacist'': Freddy's false ear. It'll serve ''three'' purposes by the end of the game.
109* ''VideoGame/FrontMissionGunHazard'' winds up giving us a Chekhov's Laser Platform by way of a solar energy collector subcontracted out to TheSyndicate.
110* ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' has two that come into mind:
111** In ''VideoGame/GodOfWarI'', the sword-shaped bridge you run over early in the game [[ThatsNoMoon turns out to be a real sword]], and is the weapon needed to finish off the FinalBoss.
112** In ''VideoGame/GodOfWar2018'' Kratos repairs Atreus's broken quiver strap with a mistletoe arrow. Said arrow was the one thing that broke Baldur's NighInvulnerability spell when Baldur struck Atreus.
113* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'':
114** At the very beginning of the game, The Wise One does... ''something'' just before Isaac and Garet leave Sol Sanctum with the Mars Star. At the very ''end'' of the ''sequel'', it's revealed that at that time, the Wise One [[spoiler:imbued the Mars Star with a fraction of the Golden Sun's power, which seeped into Isaac over time. The end result of this is that when Alex bathed in the light of the Golden Sun, he got slightly less power than he expected. He was slightly less than omnipotent and slightly less than immortal, which allowed the Wise One (who ''is'' omnipotent and immortal) to shut him down and trap him on the collapsing Mount Aleph before Alex could make good on his evil plans.]]
115** A subverted one from the first game: Entering the areas Tret has cursed causes an instinctive force-field Psynergy to protect the kids from the curse. Garet comments that it would be neat if they could learn to use it consciously. [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment It never comes up again.]]
116** In ''Dark Dawn'' we have a rather spectacular one. The effective NoobCave of the game is a supernaturally darkened forest. Isaac comments that you should light up these places to drive creatures of darkness away... with Fireball, for instance. [[spoiler: The second half of the game involves an artificial/supernatural TotalEclipseOfThePlot covering about half of Angara, and you have to find and turn on a light big enough to dispel it.]]
117* In ''VideoGame/GranblueFantasy'', the plume obtained by Lyria at the Wyvern Reverie quest in "What Makes the Sky Blue" event turns out to be the item that allows the crew to reach Sandalphon inside the cocoon in the event's sequel "Paradise Lost".
118* In ''VideoGame/GuildWars'' and ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'' it is established that the Primeval Dynasty was wiped out centuries ago when the [[BodyHorror Scarab Plague]] decimated Elona. It remained background lore until Living World Season 4 when Palawa Joko was able to recreate the Plague and unleashed it on his enemies.
119* Zig-zagged at one point in ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'': During the tram ride in the beginning of the game you can see a four-legged robot walking. A savvy player would immediately think "that robot is going to appear during the game in one way or another". However, it just doesn't.[[spoiler:.. until the expansion pack ''Opposing Force'', where it's stuck in a pool of toxic waste. You have to clear a way for it to proceed, at which point it puts the crate it is holding in a location where you can jump onto it continue.]]
120* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
121** A huge one that spans three games over six years: ''"I'm a thief... but I keep what I steal."'' [[spoiler:In a later section of the [[VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved first game]], Cortana snatches away the index in the last possible moment to prevent the accidental firing of Halo and the death of all complex life in the galaxy. In the end of the [[VideoGame/Halo3 third game]], a new Halo has been build by an automatic factory far outside the galaxy and Cortana still has the original index with her.]] Very few people then remembered that the title of the sub-level where you retrieve the Index is called 'The Gun Pointed At The Head Of The Universe.' This is a literal Chekhov's Gun.
122** In ''Halo 2'', a mysterious spire-like structure is seen in the distance on High Charity. In the game's penultimate level, this structure turns out to be a Forerunner ship, and Truth uses it to lead the Covenant fleet to Earth.
123* ''VideoGame/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1984'' text adventure game is pretty blatant about this. Two words, Cheese Sandwich.
124* Inside of the room where you get the rusted key in ''VideoGame/{{Imscared}}'', an observant player may notice a crack in one of the walls. On the other side you see [[spoiler:an empty room with a chair and the noose]], which plays a significant role in the ending.
125* In ''VideoGame/IWasATeenageExocolonist'', the Secret Funtimes Club might seem like a silly little game Sol and their ''Strato'' peers make as kids, but it plays a pivotal role in [[spoiler:overthrowing Governor Lum since it becomes Sol's political party, being renamed the SFC for formality.]]
126* ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxter'': The [[OrphansPlotTrinket Seal of Mar]] at first seems like it's just a way to identify the Kid as the lost heir... until we find out that it seems to possess some mystical properties, and [[spoiler: it confirms that Jak is Damas's son]].
127* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'':
128** Riku's new clothes have the Dream Eater symbol on the back. [[spoiler:Eventually it's revealed that he's been acting as Sora's Dream Eater for the entire game.]]
129** Sora's new clothes have a prominent 'X' on them. [[spoiler: That's the Recusant's Sigil, and '''it is not a good thing.''']]
130* The weapon you receive when you first start a run in ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing''? It's later used to acquire your Epic Weapon so you can complete the "Me and My Nemesis" side-quest.
131* In ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVAbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder'', Graham [[ChekhovsGift gets a wand]] in the opening cutscenes that isn't used until the final battle with Mordack.
132* ''VideoGame/{{Koudelka}}'', less-well-known prequel to the ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'' franchise, has the main character lose something in the opening FMV. You can find it again about 3/4 of the way through the game. [[spoiler:Then you have to wait for the pendant to actually be useful, which isn't until a pre-final-boss cut-scene. Didn't pick it up? Instant game over.]]
133* ''[[VideoGame/Left4Dead Left 4 Dead Series]]''
134** ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'': In the No Mercy campaign, there was an incident where the pilot who's gonna save you says there was an incident that happened. If you went through the commentaries, you would know that originally, it would be revealed he picked up an infected person who bit him, which caused the helicopter to crash after he turned as well. This was scrapped because, as playtests showed, people felt that a sense of accomplishment was taken away from them by that scene, so they just got rid of that ending bit, rather than fix it.
135** ''VideoGame/Left4Dead2'': Played straight in the Dark Carnival campaign. In the second mission, Coach will always mention the band the Midnight Riders. Due to randomized dialogue, Ellis can take it one step further and mention that their pyrotechnics were extreme enough to cancel shows if there was even a slight breeze to prevent towns downwind from catching on fire. The Survivors use those same pyrotechnics in the finale to signal a nearby helicopter to pick them up.
136* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
137** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'':
138*** Nearly every boss has a piece of equipment that Link can discover to use against it. In fact, TheDragon, Aghanim, can be brought low by the humble Butterfly Net, one of the earliest pieces of equipment found.
139*** The lantern. All it's useful for is lighting lamps, which can be helpful but isn't actually necessary for any of the game's puzzles. Guess what you have to do to be able to see the final boss' last phase?
140** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'':
141*** The Deku Nuts that are useless through the whole game will stun Ganon more effectively than any other item.
142*** Ganondorf's magic can be deflected by the common bottle.
143** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', the very first item Link receives is the fishing pole. Seems relatively pointless, other than for fishing. Turns out that it's a weak point for BigBad Ganondorf in the final battle; you can't hit him with it, but you can distract him while you get in a few good shots.
144** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'', there is a statue of a bird's head in Skyloft, that appears to be missing an eye. Odds are, you walked right by it without even noticing, or you may have noticed, but not really paid much attention to it, while on the way to free your Loftwing at the beginning of the game. That missing eye is acquired late in the game, and is actually the key to unlocking the statue's secret: [[spoiler:it activates a cannon in the head of the bird statue that opens up the last dungeon of the game.]]
145** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds'', [[spoiler:what seems to be]] a mooching salesman named Ravio gives you his musty old bracelet as a gift. It soon turns out that the bracelet gives you the ability to turn into a wall painting and walk around like that.
146* In ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry5PassionatePattiDoesALittleUndercoverWork'', the [[ChestBlaster shotgun bra]] Patti finds in the lab comes in handy for defending herself against [[BigBad Mr. Bigg]] at the end of the game.
147* ''VideoGame/LiveALive'': In the Distant Future chapter, [[spoiler:the arcade machine that you see one of your crewmates playing near the beginning of the chapter becomes important in the endgame, as it's the only computer interface through which you can directly attack the ship's murderous AI.]]
148* In ''VideoGame/{{Loom}}'', the first spell cast in the game (and that is periodically replayed to you through it) is the last spell you cast.
149* In ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion'', Professor E. Gadd introduces his "Ghost Portrificationizer", an enormous machine which is able to turn captured ghosts into paintings, and mentions that it's also capable of operating in reverse. At this point in the game, the reverse mode probably doesn't sound very useful. [[spoiler:But when Luigi finally locates Mario, he discovers Mario has been trapped inside a painting! After the BigBad is defeated, Mario is still trapped in the painting, and they're able to free him by using the machine in this way.]]
150* ''[[VideoGame/LunarTheSilverStar Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete]]'' gives the hero Alex an ocarina item from the very start. It cannot be dropped or sold, and doesn't seem to have much purpose other than to [[InventoryManagementPuzzle take up a valuable spot in Alex's limited inventory]] (in some versions it opens up a sound test, but that's it). He plays it briefly in an opening cutscene and then it's never once mentioned again... [[spoiler: until the very, very end, after defeating the FinalBoss, at which point Alex must use the ocarina to remind [[ChildhoodFriendRomance Luna]] -- who unfortunately at that point has become a [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity sort of deranged]] [[PhysicalGod reincarnated goddess]] - who he is before she kills him.]]
151* Happens in ''Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter''. Midway through the game, you find a strange gun which has the unique property of having unlimited ammo but is pathetically weak against normal enemies, making it mostly useless... up until the final level, where it turns out it is the only weapon that can harm the Watchers aliens.
152* In ''{{VideoGame/Maize}}'', the very first item you get in the game, a seemingly useless English Muffin; stays in your inventory for most of the game, never being used for anything [[spoiler: until you use it at the very end of the game to defeat the Rogue Corn.]]
153* ''VideoGame/ManaKhemiaAlchemistsOfAlrevis'' introduces us to Sulpher, SnarkyNonhumanSidekick [[{{Familiar}} Mana]] of TheHero Vayne. Sulpher knows a lot more of what's going on than what he's been letting on, and he is quite strange for any ordinary Mana, and that's saying something. [[spoiler:As it turns out, Sulpher is '''''not''' a Mana''. He's just an ''ordinary house cat''. ''Vayne'', on the other hand...]]
154* ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime'':
155** Hilariously subverted when Kylie Koopa discovers a giant key in the Gritzy desert that she believes to be very important. Some time later, you find a giant keyhole on the Shroob Mother Ship and put the key inside, which activates... a trapdoor that drops you out of the ship.
156** Played straight with Toadbert's Drawing received in Yoob's Belly. The drawing is covered in dirt and considered unimportant apart from recounting what you already knew until [[spoiler: later in the Star Shrine when part of the drawing is uncovered to reveal the existence of the second Princess Shroob]].
157** Luigi discovers a pile of four Yoshi Cookies intact near the middle of the game. He initially gives one to Baby Luigi when he finds them, and gives one to each of the babies a few screens later to stop them from crying. This means that he still has one left, which he eventually uses in the ''endgame'' sequence to pacify Baby Luigi so that the big brothers can say goodbye and resolve the timeline.
158* In ''VideoGame/MarvelPuzzleQuest'', "Chekhov's Gun" is the name of one of Gwenpool's abilities. It places a special gun tile on the board at the start of each round. If the player manages to match or otherwise destroy the tile, it grants Gwenpool an extremely powerful ability that deals massive damage to the opposing team.
159* ''Franchise/MassEffect'':
160** Throughout the Citadel there are these innocuous insect creatures called the Keepers, who don't talk to anyone and only seem to exist to keep the impossibly ancient space station running. It turns out that the Keepers' job is to maintain the Citadel because it is a giant Mass Relay that will bring the Reapers into the galaxy. The Keepers' job is to enable civilizations that discover the Citadel to use it without realizing the stations' intent, enabling the Reapers to hit the center of galactic civilization first and without warning.
161** The Mass Relay sculpture in the Presidium. Asking Avina about it will reveal that scholars and academics are divided on what its purpose is, and if you have Kaidan in your group he'll comment that standing near it makes his teeth vibrate. At the end of the game it turns out to be the destination point of the Conduit, the relay that will transport the Reapers directly to the Citadel.
162** The krogan genophage and the Rachni War -- two of the most important details of the series' backstory that the player can find info on in conversations and the codex -- become important plot points on two of the planets you end up visiting in the first game, and are both brought back and resolved in the third.
163** A very subtle example takes place in the Citadel Council tower, if you have Ashley in your party. She'll comment that "I bet these stairs aren't just for show. They'd make for good defensive positions if this place is ever attacked...." Turns out, ''you'' are the one who does the attacking at the endgame.
164** A very minor example occurs if you choose all the paragon interactions with the Asari Consort. She gives you a seemingly worthless trinket that you can later use on another planet to unlock a cache of valuable equipment.
165** DoubleSubverted with the Great Rift on Klendagon, a geological feature prominently noted as being caused by a miss from a powerful weapon. Come the second game it turns out the important thing wasn't the weapon itself (it's millions of years old and inoperable), but what it was shooting ''at'' (a now-dead Reaper to go poke at for answers).
166** The Leviathan of Dis which is mentioned in a planetary description in ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'' is revealed in the [[VideoGame/MassEffect3 third game]] to have been a dead Reaper that the Batarian Hegemony picked up to research. But dead Reapers can still indoctrinate and it indoctrinated their scientists and politicians which left the batarians defenseless when the Reaper invasion finally came [[CurbStompBattle causing them to be steamrolled over.]] The Reaper corpse turned out to be comparatively unimportant to the REAL Leviathan of Dis, the thing that killed the Reaper. Specifically, the thing that many people assumed was just a ShoutOut to Farscape led to a chain of evidence that culminated with the discovery of the Leviathans, the AbusivePrecursors to the AbusivePrecursors and the things the Reapers are based on. They're still alive and as pissy as ever.
167** The most hilarious example of this in the game is [[spoiler:Samantha Traynor's toothbrush]]. She mentions it in one of possible dialogues pretty early in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', saying that it uses mass effect fields to [[spoiler: break up plaque and massage the gums]]. You later use it in the ''Citadel'' DLC to [[spoiler:infiltrate the stolen Normandy]]. Worth every one of the 6000 credits she paid for it!
168--->'''Shepard''': If you told me this morning that [[spoiler:a toothbrush]] would save the Normandy, I would've been very sceptical.
169** In the original ''Mass Effect'', the flavor text for a backwater nothing planet called Klencory indicates that a mad Volus has claimed the planet due to a vision of a "beings of light" who were to protect the universe from "machine devils." In ''3'', [[spoiler: The Catalyst turns out to be a small hologram who gives Shepard the options to destroy, control, or achieve synthesis with the Reapers.]]
170** A more darker example would be the knife strapped to Tali's boot since her appearance in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2''. [[spoiler: She uses it to kill Legion on Rannoch in the third game if you botch negotiations between the Geth and Quarians badly enough.]]
171** The post-mission summary of the Reaper IFF mission makes a mention of how much Cerberus was able to learn about the husk creation process by comparing the husks Shepard killed during that mission to the records s/he recovered about the Cerberus team sent to investigate the site. [[spoiler: It's discovered near the end of ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' that they wanted that data so the could create and control their own husks, both to create a disposable army and as a stepping stone to controlling the Reapers themselves.]]
172* ''VideoGame/MegaManClassic'':
173** It's a safe bet that the most bloody useless Robot Master weapon you get will be the one Wily's weak to. Most extreme offenders: ''VideoGame/MegaMan2'' (Bubble Lead), ''VideoGame/MegaMan3'' (Top Spin, except it is quite useful if you know how to use it. Just watch [[https://www.youtube.com/user/PinkKittyRose?feature=watch#p/c/C676C3E22A10DBD5/3/KIUuZveKCAk this video]].) and ''VideoGame/MegaMan7'' (Wild Coil, and to add insult to injury, Wily's final form is ThatOneBoss).
174** Averted in ''VideoGame/MegaMan1'' (Fire Storm) and ''VideoGame/MegaMan4'' (Pharaoh Shot). Played straight by the Magnet Beam, hidden behind two blocks in Elec Man's stage that require the Super Arm to remove (or you can easily destroy them with Thunder Beam) and [[AbilityRequiredToProceed required to climb a shaft]] in the first Wily stage.
175** In ''VideoGame/MegaMan7'', Mega Man encounters a wounded Bass in Shade Man's stage and encourages him to go to Dr. Light's lab. While Bass uses this to fulfill his WoundedGazelleGambit, it also clues the player in that he's weak to Shade Man's weapon, Noise Crush.
176** In ''VideoGame/MegaMan10'', [[spoiler:the prototype cure given to Roll]].
177** In the case of the Game Boy games, the weapon you get from each game's respective Mega Man Killer (though Quint and Terra don't count as Mega Man Killers, you still get weapons from them) will be the weakness of Wily's final form.
178*** In ''[[VideoGame/MegaManDrWilysRevenge Dr. Wily's Revenge]]'', the Mirror Buster (Enker's weapon) is effective against the 2nd phase of Wily Machine World 1, since using it will absorb its projectiles and fires back at it.
179*** In ''VideoGame/MegaManII'', the Sakugarne (Quint's weapon, which is also a ScrappyWeapon due to how it can hurt you when you're trying to hurt enemies) is effective on all 3 forms of Wily Machine World 2.
180*** In ''VideoGame/MegaManIII'', Screw Crusher (Punk's weapon) is effective against the 2nd phase of Wily Machine World 3, where you have to hit the dome at the top of it, and since Screw Crusher goes in an arc, it's easier to hit him with it when jumping.
181*** In ''VideoGame/MegaManIV'', Ballade Cracker is effective against the 2nd phase of the Wily Robo Iron Golem and the Wily Capsule. Helpful against the latter as it is multi-directional.
182*** In ''VideoGame/MegaManV'', despite Sunstar being the final boss and having no weaknesses, Spark Chaser is still somewhat effective against him, as it does constantly hit him.
183* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'':
184** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', in every game including the two prequels, the pack of cigarettes is highlighted early on in the game -- later, Snake can, and indeed, must, use these to detect security [[EnergyWeapon lasers]]. There are [[SmokingIsCool other uses]] for them.
185** In ''VideoGame/MetalGear2SolidSnake'', the seemingly useless lighter and aerosol can are combined to create a flamethrower which defeats [[FinalBoss Big Boss]].
186** The USS Missouri in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots''. Insignificantly introduced early in the game as a real-life [=WW2=] battleship that had been recommissioned as a training vessel, it later becomes the only ship in the US Navy to survive the BigBad's plan to disable all the weapons in the world (due to not being linked to the "System" which controls all of them), and ends up carrying and supporting the main character in their assault on his floating fortress.
187** [[spoiler:As Snake is about to shoot himself in front of Big Boss' grave]] in ''Guns of the Patriots'', he notices that there is a flower bouquet in front of the grave right beside the one he's in front of. It makes sense [[spoiler:after the fake credits]] when you realize that said grave marks the resting place of [[spoiler:the Boss, Big Boss' spiritual mother]].
188** In the prologue of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'', which centers on a US Marine Corps. Metal Gear model, a brief mention is made of a Metal Gear project led by the US Navy. [[spoiler:Much later in the plot, the Navy's Metal Gear makes an appearance and turns out to be a significant part of the plot]].
189** From the beginning of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'', Naked Snake has a mask in his inventory which seems to serve no real purpose. Speaking to Major Zero reveals that "its creator pitched a fit" when the mission it was intended for was scrapped, and that Snake was given the mask (instead of it being thrown away) because it might come in useful. Later in the game, [[spoiler:the mask becomes an integral part of infiltrating Groznyj Grad to rescue Sokolov, as Snake has to neutralize and disguise himself as Major Ivan Raikov. Coincidentally, the mask was originally made for a mission wherein a CIA operative would have to disguise themselves as the same man, thus it bears an uncanny resemblance to Raikov. So uncanny that even though the disguise fails, it fails because the mask is so damn convincing that Raikov's lover, [[DepravedBisexual Colonel Volgin]] is convinced by it and only realizes his mistake after he ''grabs Snake's genitals. Twice'']]. The same mask can also be used [[spoiler:during the fight with Colonel Volgin to trick him into thinking that Snake is Raikov, which throws him off guard and allows Snake to get a few hits in. After tricking Volgin this way, his attacks become more frequent and damaging]].
190* VideoGame/MetalSaga plays this straight for the most part, with the majority of unique sprites having some function to be used at some point in the future. However, one rather hilarious subversion occurs when you encounter a junked tank in the scrapyard; given that it is of the same model of the Tiger tank seen in the game's animated intro, surely the game will at some point lead you back to it to restore into a powerful vehicle, right? Wrong! It's a junked tank...and that's all it ever will be. In fact, after dismissing it as useless and beyond restoring, [[SchmuckBait the game will ridicule you for coming back to examine it again.]]
191* The first map in ''VideoGame/{{Mindustry}}'' has a lot of Scrap, but it is of no use to you at that time, and the game appropriately tells you to gather as much Copper and Lead (the other two resources there) as you can, and move along. Much later, [[spoiler:you [[TechTree research the facilities]] needed to refine Scrap into every other resource (except Thorium), letting you complete a NewGamePlus on that map.]]
192* ''VideoGame/MinecraftStoryMode'':
193** The beacon-based contraption the Ocelots were building is what allowed Jesse and his friends to find their way back to Endercon if Jesse takes the "Saving Reuben" route.
194** At one point during the game, Axel can be seen watching an attraction involving chickens. Breaking the machine behind said attraction is a possible solution to get past the usher (due to him being afraid of them).
195** [[spoiler:Soren's base being overrun with Endermen ends up becoming part of a plan to defeat the Wither Storm by using them to tear its body apart.]]
196** In episode 1, you can accidentally make a lever while trying to create a sword. If you did this, Jesse will use the lever to [[spoiler: open a secret passageway]] in episode 4.
197** At the start of episode 5, when building a dirt bridge towards the Sky City, Ivor builds a skull with lava dropping from its eyes. Later, when [[spoiler:Aiden throws Jesse off Sky City]], he has to dodge that lava when falling.
198* ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11'':
199** Injuries suffered by characters from an earlier period will [[RippleEffectIndicator carry over]] to their older counterparts. Like how the younger Johnny Cage gets a cut on his face and the older Johnny gains a scar on the same cheek. [[spoiler: Sonya Blade exploits this by shooting the young Kano through the head when the older Kano was holding Johnny hostage. The older Kano spontaneously develops a hole through his head before being RetGone.]]
200** There cannot be two of the same god in any timeline. Dark Raiden is erased when Past Raiden appears. [[spoiler: Raiden, realizing that Shinnok's amulet will corrupt him, chose to turn Liu Kang into a god at the cost of himself, while simultaneously erasing Revenent Kiu Lang and throwing a spanner into Kronika's plans.]]
201* The ''VideoGame/{{Mother}}'' series has a few of these.
202** The fangame ''[[VideoGame/CognitiveDissonance Mother: Cognitive Dissonance]]'' has two of these. At the start of the game, a meteor lands in front of Alinivar's cave on Saturn that prevents him from going back in. [[spoiler: It's used in the Phase Distorter to reach Giegue, and then send Zarbol back Onett in ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994''.]] The second time is in an interlude where you play as the Greyface, and he spies on Ness walking Paula home. Ness seems to pick up on his presence and leaves the Friend's Yo-yo behind. [[spoiler: This gives way to Porky's hoarding of other items that remind him of Ness and the past in ''VideoGame/Mother3''.]]
203** In ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'', the Meteor that starts off the adventure by bringing Buzz Buzz to Onett is used much, ''much'' later [[spoiler: to gain the material used to go back in time to defeat Giygas.]]
204** In ''VideoGame/Mother3'', the Courage Badge you are given early on is [[spoiler: revealed later to be the/a Franklin Badge[[note]]it's possibly the same one from Earthbound and Mother, which makes it a potential series-wide gun[[/note]] and is crucial to the [[IKnowYouAreInThereSomewhereFight final battle]].]]
205** Still in ''VideoGame/Mother3'', the New Year's Eve Bomb that you can buy from an armament shop is an expensive one-use weapon that has no effect whatsoever when it's used. [[spoiler: Until you run into the King Statue that the bomb is the only way to defeat, dealing 9999999 damage (the statue has ten million HP, which is ludicrous for the game, and will most likely kill even a fully leveled party in a few hits).]]
206* ''VideoGame/MyChildLebensborn'':
207** The train station seen when going outside eventually gets used to [[spoiler:visit the child's Norwegian grandparents and for leaving town forever at the end of the game]].
208** Any game of hide-and-seek with the child will suddenly make the player very aware of the existence of each piece of furniture in the house that is big enough for the child to hide in.
209** The player is unlikely to take much notice of [[spoiler:the fact that the spot for gathering berries and mushrooms is a forest]] until [[spoiler:the bullies from the school tie the child to one of its trees and leave them there]].
210* ''{{VideoGame/Myst}}'' has you, after visiting each age, return to [[spoiler:Myst Island, specifically, the dock marker switch, which unlocks the white page needed to complete the game.]]
211* The ''VideoGame/NancyDrew'' games are in love with this trope. There are many instances where the player will come across something that appears to be useless until the end of the game, which include:
212** The fire alarm in the second game, which will guarantee a game over if pulled too early, but will save Nancy's life at the end of the game,
213** The chandelier in the third game, which once again guarantees a game over if untied too early, but is used to trap the culprit at the end, and
214* In ''{{VideoGame/Nefarious}}'', the very first level features Crow sitting in a lazer device about start a fight with Mack, before Mack leaves. Guess what Crow uses to defeat Mack in the last level? [[spoiler:He even calls the device "Chekhov's Death Ray."]]
215* ''VideoGame/TheNeverhood'' has several. Of course, this game is of the EnterSolutionHere kind, so things like written codes and such will ''inevitably'' come in handy later. However, there are a few more creative examples:
216** After you leave the very first room in the game, you have no choice but to fall into Willie Trombone's pet flytrap, which promptly spits you out, launching you a few steps across the floor. [[spoiler:This behavior is the key to getting into Hoborg's throne room. The game attempts to confuse the player by making this puzzle look like the one involving the first flytrap, where the creature was used to hold a switch ring, but it can't be solved in the same manner due to having two active switches instead of one.]]
217** When you first enter the building with the mouse/memory puzzle, the first thing you're likely to do is to step on the floor-pad, which causes the actual mouse on the floor to be sucked away. Nothing interesting happens after that. [[spoiler:Seeing the same mouse under a similar device inside Klogg's castle much later on might clue you into what the thing actually does and how it can be used for your benefit.]]
218** If you use the lift inside the Hall of Records with the lights on and pull the lever inside the room, you will see an animation of [[spoiler:Big Robot Bil getting half his head shot off by a cannon]]. That's what you have to do eventually.
219* ''VideoGame/NoOneHasToDie'':
220** At the very start of the game, the company announcement system will say that the headquarters building is compromised, followed by TEMPEST engaging, [[ClosedCircle the security room locking]], and emergency services being called. [[spoiler:TEMPEST is a TimeMachine, and its engagement is its destination time period being set to the start of the incident.]]
221** On floor B2, there are seemingly useless doors in front of where Lionel and Steve are, due to the both of them being able to be protected from fire by water. [[spoiler:In the MergedReality, the doors are used so that you can save both of them without condemning one to drowning or burning.]]
222* ''VideoGame/OctopathTraveler'': Early in Alfyn's story, he and Zeph switch medical packs so they'll have a reminder of the other when they part. Zeph hid a note to Alfyn in his, which is vital to lifting Alfyn's spirits in his last chapter.
223* The bathroom in ''VideoGame/OneChance'' is very... uninteresting, to say the least. That is, until [[spoiler:your wife commits suicide in it]] in some routes.
224* ''VideoGame/Onmyoji2016'':
225** There's the [[spoiler:(broken) [[PublicDomainArtifact Sword of Kusanagi]], which just looks like an unimportant MacGuffin when [[MrExposition Oguna]] prattles on about it, but later turns out to be an important artifact needed to slay the Yamata-no-orochi.]]
226** The chrysanthemum ''mochi'' Hiromasa gives Kagura at the beginning of Chapter 9. It comes in handy later when the heroes need to pursue Yama-usagi; Kagura tosses it to a dog, making it move aside, revealing a clue under its paw.
227* ''VideoGame/TheOrionConspiracy'' has every item you pick up as this. Yes, every single item you pick will have a use in one form or another. In the case of some of the items, it is not too difficult to figure out what to use them on. For other items, it will be difficult to figure out what to use them on.
228* ''VideoGame/OtterIsland'': Some innocuous items around the island - including parts of the decor - are actually key to solving a puzzle late in the game. Counting the numbers of steps on the ladder into the lake, the number of family photos in the cottage, the number of beds and the number of yellow lines on the sleep-out rug gives you the combination for the gun safe.
229* ''VideoGame/PatricksParabox'': It is very possible to [[spoiler:cause an "Infinite Exit" paradox by exiting a box that is not inside another box]] long before this becomes necessary to solve many late-game puzzles.
230* ''VideoGame/PeretEmHeruForThePrisoners'': Ayuto starts off with a cell phone in his inventory, and picks up a wooden log around the end of the first third of the game. Both items are crucial towards preventing two other party members from being [[{{Permadeath}} outright killed]] -- the latter is necessary, and while the former is technically optional, not using it makes the task [[LuckBasedMission a lot harder]].
231* ''VideoGame/Persona5'':
232** As early as the first dungeon it's explained that the people in control can create "cognitive existences" of other people. Basically copies of a person that's shown as the master of the palace sees them (such as the sexily clad copy of Ann that Kamoshida makes), or wants them to be and this comes up from time to time. [[spoiler:This is later used to save the Protagonist from the traitor, because the police station is Sae's palace, and she is the master of it, so the team instructs her how to will a copy of the protagonist into being that the traitor "kills" then thinks they're dead.]]
233** Used again in a darker note after that. [[spoiler:In Shidou's Palace, a cognitive version of Goro as Shidou sees him ( an expendable but obedient underling ) appears, and because Shidou was planning to [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness kill him in the end]], he ends up killing the real one.]]
234* In ''VideoGame/PhantasyStar'' you are prompted to go on a somewhat annoying quest to make the Learma Tree grow and collect the nuts it drops. After doing that, the nuts seem to be useless since none of the characters will eat them. [[spoiler:It turns out that you use them after finding Lassic's castle, which is on a floating island. They turn Myau from a cat into a large pegasus/cat hybrid that flies the party to the island.]]
235* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
236** In ''[[VideoGame/PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness Pokemon XD]]'' [[MadScientist Dr. Kaminko]] says that his Robo-Kyogre will never be of use after you manage to defeat Robo-Groudon. It later turns out to be [[spoiler:one of the only inventions of his that ''is''; it's one of the few vehicles able to get past the artificially induced currents and storms surrounding [[IslandBase Citadark Isle]]]].
237** In ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' in the museum in Nacrene City just before the gym, there is a Dragonite skull, a fossil, a meteor, and a regular rock found in the desert that is only there because it looks pretty. [[spoiler: It turns out that said rock is actually the Light/Dark stone that contains the spirit of Reshiram or Zekrom depending on your version.]]
238** In ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'', Shauna loves puzzles and mentions just before the fifth Gym that the Leader, Clemont, is a genius inventor who gave her a device he invented to help her solve puzzles, but she hasn't used it yet. Later in the game, when the player, the rival and Shauna invade Team Flare's headquarters, the door to the legendary Pokemon is locked electronically- and Shauna, reasoning that an electronic lock is like a puzzle, successfully uses the device to unlock it.
239** In ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire]]'', Professor Cozmo's Meteorite is stolen by Team Magma or Team Aqua, depending on the version. After defeating the team's leader at Mt. Chimney, he gives the player the Meteorite. It will continue to glow more brightly at several points throughout the rest of the game. [[spoiler: In the Delta Episode, Zinnia succeeds in summoning Rayquaza, but fails to have it destroy an incoming asteroid, due to it not having enough power to do so. After seeing the glint of light representing the player's Meteorite, Rayquaza devours it, giving it the energy necessary to Mega Evolve.]]
240** And not forgetting ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorers]]'', where [[spoiler: the partner's magical treasure that gets stolen in the first mission summons a Lapras in one of the last missions to take you to the Hidden Land.]]
241** ''VideoGame/PokemonRangerGuardianSigns'' has two:
242*** At the very beginning of the game, the main character has to retrieve their Styler, that has fallen into some underwater ruins. [[spoiler:Much later in the game, it turns out these ruins are necessary to summon Ho-oh]].
243*** When introduced, Booker says that he builds wooden boats to save Pokémon from Dolce Island in case there would be a tsunami, since the island itself is very small. Of course, this remark is absolutely useless. [[spoiler:Or at least that's what players might think before the Societea destroy Dolce Island. Booker's boats saved all the Pokémon]].
244* In ''VideoGame/PoliceQuest4OpenSeason'', most of the evidence items acquired throughout the first four days are used to solve various puzzles on the final day.
245* In ''VideoGame/Portal2'':
246** Halfway through the game, Chell and Wheatley walk through part of the facility filled with Potato Batteries from "Bring your daughter to Work Day". A few scenes later, one of these batteries is used to [[spoiler:hold [=GLaDOS=]'s mind.]]
247** A Cave Johnson recording mentions that [[spoiler:moon rocks are highly amenable to portals. In the final boss battle, that's how you dispose of the end boss]].
248* One of the first things the Postal Dude's Bitch says in ''VideoGame/Postal2'' (before the game actually starts) is "don't forget my rocky road." At the end of Friday (the last day), she nags the Postal Dude about her rocky road again (after not being mentioned throughout the rest of the game), to which the Postal Dude realizes that he completely forgot about it from the very beginning and shoots himself in the head to escape his wife's nagging. This leads to the events in the add-on, ''Apocalypse Weekend''.
249* In ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankFutureToolsOfDestruction'', [[RecurringTraveler The Plumber]] gives the heroes at one point a "3 3/4 centicubit hexagonal washer" "just in case". This item is utterly worthless through the game until the final cutscene, where they use it to [[spoiler: fix the Dimensionator before a massive black hole swallows them up]].
250* ''VideoGame/TheReconstruction'' has two, one of which is an actual object and one of which is a seemingly-throwaway factoid. The first is [[spoiler:the 'artifact' Havan finds in the mine]], which turns out to be [[spoiler:an ImmortalityInducer]]. It is also the reason why [[spoiler:Fell brushes him aside in favor of Six Stars, due to his obsession with it. This inevitably results in Havan going on a RageAgainstTheHeavens FaceHeelTurn and throwing the entire plot OffTheRails]]. The second one is [[spoiler:the fact that Havan technically becomes the "leader" of the si'shra when the Warden is defeated]]. This ability is used to [[spoiler:amass an army that allows him to rise to the top after the world ends]].
251* ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'': One of the earlier, routine missions ends up having some bigger implications to the story. [[spoiler:Specifically, the mission where Arthur Morgan beats Thomas Downes for a loan received from Mr. Strauss results in him contracting tuberculosis, which he doesn't receive an official diagnosis for until late Chapter 5. Mixed with a bit of InterfaceSpoiler as unlike the other missions that Mr. Strauss gives you, the one involving Thomas Downes is a mandatory story mission as opposed to a sidequest.]]
252* In ''VideoGame/RockmanNoConstancy'', you come across a boss gate that's blocked off early on in Flash Man's stage. [[spoiler: Later, in the last stage (a PaletteSwap of Flash Man's stage), the same gate leads to the final boss.]]
253* The literary device gets name-checked in ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'' during one mission. The Boss remarks that their next goal should be easy, to which Fun!Shaundi chides him/her [[TemptingFate for jinxing it]], and CID mentions how, due to Chekhov's Gun, the next objective ''has'' to be harder now, because otherwise The Boss wouldn't have piped up about it at all.
254* In ''Samantha Swift and the Fountains of Fate'' the Cortez Emerald of Judgement, picked up right before meeting and escaping from the villain toward the beginning of the game, turns out to be necessary for entering her hideout toward the end of the game.
255* ''VideoGame/TheSecretOfMonkeyIsland'':
256** The pirate drink "grog" is referenced early on, and a pirate in a bar says the stuff is so strong that it can "eat through a pewter mug". It's also described as "the most caustic, volatile substance known to man!" Later, you must use grog to eat through the bars of a prison ... and you have to use ''several'' pewter mugs to transport it there as it keeps eating through them!
257** In another example, Guybrush Threepwood comments early on in the first game that he can hold his breath for ten minutes, a skill he considers useless. It ends up working wonders later in the game when he's thrown off a pier with an weight tied to his waist. The writers were so attentive, that if you wait 10 minutes while Guybrush is underwater, he will actually drown right at the 10 minute mark. It is the only way to lose the game.
258** At one point you can pick up a staple remover, which Guybrush remarks will probably come in handy. Beyond its initial use in a cutscene where it is used on a Yak, it is useless throughout the rest of the game. You have the option, however, of throwing it in the cooking pot on the ship, which is also a way to lose most of the items that could come in handy later. However, if you choose not to do this, you will lose it before you get to Monkey Island anyway, as the original game removed the items not needed as a memory saving measure.
259** In ''[[VideoGame/MonkeyIsland2LeChucksRevenge Monkey Island 2: Le Chuck's Revenge]]'', you can you buy some clearly irrelevant items in the shop on Booty Island (such as the Elvis collector plates and hub caps), they come to no use in the game, and you can run yourself broke by buying them. With no other way of earning the money, this can mean you are effectively stuck in the game. Also, you can take out all the books in the library on Phatt Island, but only three of them are useful in game. Most of the other books will provide generic responses such as "This isn't that interesting, I'm not sure why I checked it out", though some, such as those written by Elaine (under her pseudonym Melanie Leary) will provide unique responses (they're mostly about how much she disliked Guybrush when she first met him).
260** The ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland'' series often plays this straight, (it is an adventure game, after all). It almost always subverts it as well. While most items you pick up must or can be used at one point or another, there are always a couple items you can pick up (usually towards the beginning of the game) that have no use whatsoever except for humor value or extra background flavor.
261** The time when Stan hands you a bunch of random advertising pamphlets, seemingly with no use whatsoever. However, one of them just happens to be called "How to Get Ahead in Navigating". And when you encounter a group of people looking for a navigating head. It's then subverted in ''VideoGame/TheCurseOfMonkeyIsland'', where Bloodnose the Pirate gives you similar pamphlets that turn out to do absolutely nothing.
262** A particular heartwarming example from ''VideoGame/TalesOfMonkeyIsland'': [[spoiler:you receive Elaine's wedding ring in Episode 2 and keep it throughout all of the episodes, but Guybrush refuses to use it for anything. It's the solution to the last puzzle in the game.]]
263* The player spends the first half of ''VideoGame/{{Shadowgate}}'' picking up a bunch of crap that has no apparent use. [[spoiler:Eventually there's a room with a Sphinx who will ask a random riddle. One of the useless items is the answer.]]
264* ''VideoGame/SilentHill1'':
265** You can find vials of Aglaophotis in two different parts of the game. One of them you use to exorcise the PuppeteerParasite from Cybil, while the other is used by Dr. Kaufmann to separate Alessa and the Incubus.
266** The Flauros, which Harry finds immediately after meeting Dahlia for the first time. In the amusement park towards the end of the game, Dahlia uses it to break into Alessa's otherworld and stop her from sealing the God.
267** On a NewGamePlus you can find a device in the [[LawyerFriendlyCameo 7-11 lookalike]] that is of no use unless you're at certain locations (e.g. the rooftop of the oxidized Midwich Elementary) through which you get the Alien ending and a raygun for the next replay.
268* In ''VideoGame/SilentHill3'', you have Heather's pendant in your inventory from the start. There's no indication that it's important and all you see when examining it is a little red bead-like thing inside. This turns out to be the one thing you need at the end of the game. [[spoiler: It's actually Aglaophotis -- the same substance used to exorcise Cybil and Alessa in the first game -- but in pill form. If you use it when Heather is about to birth God, it will cause her to [[ArtisticLicenseBiology throw up the fetus]]. Claudia eventually swallows it in an attempt to save it and dies a horrible death.]]
269* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'':
270** ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'':
271*** Immediately after the first level (Emerald Coast), Tails explains to Sonic that his new Tornado II prototype is powered by a Chaos Emerald, which he later uses to power the finished Tornado II. Near the end of Sonic's story, the monster Chaos gets six of the seven emeralds. Where was the seventh? Still inside the Tornado II.
272*** In Tails's campaign, when shown a vision of the past, Tikal recites a poem to Tails that her grandmother taught her. In the Super Sonic campaign, Tikal realizes that the poem alludes to the Master Emerald controlling the power of the Chaos Emeralds, and uses the Master Emerald's power to seal Chaos within it to prevent the destruction of the world.
273** In ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'', before the first [=Knuckles/Rouge=] stage, while the two are arguing, Knuckles tells Rouge that the Master Emerald has the power to neutralize the Chaos Emeralds. During the Last Story, Rouge reminds Knuckles of that very fact, so Knuckles heads to the core of the Eclipse Cannon to use the Master Emerald to stop the Chaos Emeralds from making the Space Colony ARK do a ColonyDrop.
274** In ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog'', a newspaper in the first FMV cutscene shows that the Black Comet is going to pass by Earth. While the Black Comet is used as a stage in some later stages, the Last Story reveals its significance: Black Doom intends to use the Black Comet to take over the Earth and use humanity as a new energy source.
275* ''VideoGame/SpaceQuest'':
276** ''VideoGame/{{Space Quest VI|Roger Wilco in The Spinal Frontier}}'' subverts this, giving a rather detailed description for something as minor as a small alcove in the floor.
277** ''VideoGame/{{Space Quest IV|Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers}}'' has a whole ''skill'' that proves [[RedHerring utterly useless]]: the "taste" function. -->"The sewer wall tastes like... blood! You shredded your tongue!" All of the seemingly useless items obtained for the locker at the beginning of ''VideoGame/{{Space Quest II|Vohauls Revenge}}'' come into use late in the game. The order form is placed in a mailbox to obtain the whistle used to summon the Labion Terror Beast, the Cubix Rube puzzle is used to distract said beast, and the jockstrap is used as a slingshot to take out one of Vohaul's guards.
278** Early on in the first game, you obtain a cartridge from the Arcada's library, which you use in the friendly aliens' underground hideout on Kerona to obtain the activation code for the Star Generator at the end of the game. Which turns out to be [[ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish the last four digits of Sierra On-Line's phone number]].
279* Early on in ''VideoGame/StarOceanTheLastHope'', Reimi scolds Lymle for drawing on the floor of your spaceship. It is played for laughs in a "precocious child" sort of way. [[spoiler:The drawings actually form a gigantic protection symbol, which turns out to be the thing that ultimately saves the Calnus (and everyone onboard) from being completely destroyed during the assault on Nox Obscura.]]
280* In ''Star Ocean: The Second Story'': It's introduced early in the plot that Rena had a pendant with her, as the last memento of her old family. Well as it turns out [[spoiler: that pendant acts as a key to bring about Expel's Armageddon several hundred years before it naturally would.]]. Who would have thought?
281* ''VideoGame/StarTrekStarfleetAcademy'' lampshades this. The crew is undergoing a simulation crafted by ''Pavel'' Chekov, and they notice that two [=NPCs=] have the same last name. Someone asks if it's a coincidence, and Forrester says, "Not if I know Chekov."
282* Partway through the long plot of ''VideoGame/StrikeCommander'', Billy reports news about how the [[EvilStatesOfAmerica Internal Revenue Service]] destroyed a mercenary base in Istanbul as part of an "audit" and stole the mercenaries' F-22 fighter jet. The story is initially meant to illustrate exactly what the I.R.S. could do to the Wildcats, who are in similar trouble with them. The penultimate mission in the game involves stealing the F-22 from the I.R.S., and the ultimate mission involves using it to kill the BigBad.
283* ''VideoGame/StrongBadsCoolGameForAttractivePeople'' has one in the final episode, "8-Bit is Enough." The key used to open the arcade cabinet at the end is the same key used to escape the final dungeon after defeating [[spoiler: Ultimate Trogdor.]]
284* The Fire Spears from the first ''VideoGame/{{Suikoden|I}}''. When first introduced, it seems to serve no purpose, but Odessa insisted that SomedayThisWillComeInHandy. Later, the Liberation Army is [[CurbStompBattle flawlessly beaten]] by Teo's Armored Cavalry... only after getting back the Fire Spears they end up winning. The Fire Spears also come back in [[VideoGame/SuikodenII the sequel]], where they're first used to defend the Mercenary Fort against the Highland Army, though they lose effect in the next battle. Shortly after the player [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption loses the second battle]], the Fire Spears are again used to distract Luca Blight while everyone escapes.
285* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'', there is a red Luma on top of the bedroom dome who tells the player, "I've got a secret! But I'm not telling!" It turns out that his secret is [[spoiler:the Red Star power-up, which is incredibly useful for navigating the main hub since it allows you to fly]].
286* At the end of World 1 of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'', [[OverlordJr Bowser Jr.]] can actually be seen piloting a small spaceship shaped like an evil smiling head. That spaceship is later revealed at the end of World 3 to be the head of Megahammer, the level's boss. Once Megahammer if finally defeated, its body can be seen one last time as the first planet encountered in the final Bowser Jr. level. Later on, you run into several Green Lumas who tell you about "120 cosmic jewels."
287* In ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'', Lamia Loveless (also her distant sister Aschen Brodel) is installed with Code: DTD, which serves as a 'memory reboot', that even her creator Lemon Browning deems "You probably won't need it in this war...". But then in OG Gaiden, it serves to be a truly important device when Axel Almer saved her from Duminuss and ODE influence, by resetting to the point that their alteration never occurred. Her distant sister Aschen from ''Mugen no Frontier'', however, uses it on regular basis to kick the enemy's ass.
288* In ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsZ Saisei-hen'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFiiuEPnG1Y Zero accidentally placed a geass]] on [[spoiler: Esther after she turns into a Dimentional Beast, commanding her to stop when she attacked the Shinkirou]]. Few chapters later, Crowe believes that [[spoiler: Esther has completely turned into a DAMON]], to which Marguerite tells him otherwise. [[spoiler: DAMON Esther]] attacks him at that moment, only to halt in its tracks after Zero reissues the same command, proving to Crowe that [[spoiler: Esther isn't completely a DAMON yet, and still retains her humanity to a certain degree]].
289* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'':
290** We're treated to a scene early on involving a cardboard box on an enemy ship that inches forward once. Later, [[VideoGame/MetalGear Solid Snake]] pops out, and gives one of [[HeroicMime the only spoken lines]] in the entire mode.
291--->'''Snake:''' Kept you waiting, huh?
292** There's King Dedede going around, seemingly a villain, [[NeverSayDie "trophy-fying"]] heroes and taking them, seemingly on the same villainous side as Wario. Until he robs him. Then it seems that Dedede just wants to have his own private collection of trophies of the heroes, complete with dressing them up with odd badges, screwing around with the mission at hand (and something Dedede, at his most annoying, would plausibly have done). Until, way at the end it turns out the badges Dedede put on them were time release resurrectors, and it was Dedede's plan all along to, in case the heroes failed, save them with his own backup squad.
293* ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' drops this in the form of necklace that Lloyd promises to give to Colette. First, Lloyd forgets to make it, then Colette drops a ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies on him, then it breaks, and is forgotten until Colette ''[[AndIMustScream "dies"]]'' and it becomes the MacGuffin that saves her. Also, in one alternating cut scene in Flanoir, depending on who you talk with as Lloyd, you get a different trinket. Later, the trinket saves Lloyd's life by keeping an arrow from piercing his chest.
294* In ''VideoGame/TombsAndTreasure'', you get the lighter from the first room in the game, and it can't be used for anything until the last room in the game, where it's necessary to complete the game. You obtain a silver key at the same time as the lighter, which is later used to unlock the Temple of the Sun and acquire the game's prime MacGuffin, the Sun Key.
295* In ''VideoGame/ToTheMoon'', your characters [[spoiler:run over a squirrel]] near the start of the game. It seems like a pointless bit of BlackComedy, but later on [[spoiler:the smell of roadkill turns out to be necessary to trigger Johnny's suppressed memories of the day his twin brother was run over]].
296* ''VideoGame/TheTuringTest'': Quite literally: at two points in the game, you are required to take control of stationary machine gun turrets to destroy certain objects. [[spoiler:In the final "level", you, as TOM, must decide whether to fire such a machine gun at Ava and Sarah to prevent them from shutting TOM down.]]
297* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'':
298** An optional one; while exploring the ruins at the beginning of the game, you can find spiders holding a bake sale, and you can buy some food. [[spoiler: This, of course, comes in handy later in the game while battling Muffet. Use the item you bought from the spiders in front of Muffet, and she will take notice of the item you just used, but she will mistake the bought item for a stolen item, and will try to attack with her pet. However, one of the spiders stops her by arriving with a telegraph from the ruins saying that you donated to the spiders, and Muffet can be spared far quicker than normal.]]
299** [[spoiler:In the Ruins, Toriel will give you a Butterscotch Pie. If you keep the pie until you reach Asgore, then use it during the battle with him, it will lower his stats. And in the True Pacifist ending's final boss, when you try to save Toriel and Asgore, eating the pie will allow them to be saved in one turn rather than three.]]
300* Subverted by ''VideoGame/{{Uninvited}}''. There are ''three'' rifles hanging on the wall... but there's no key to open the gun rack.
301* In ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeShadowsOfNewYork'', Julia mentions almost getting run down by a black limo. Later, you find out that [[spoiler:it's Kaiser's limo, and he's been stalking her]].
302* ''VideoGame/AVeryLongRopeToTheTopOfTheSky'': Hidden within the large {{Infodump}} in the Central Research Database is the information that taking away a saecelium crystal from the "stable eight" configuration makes it very unstable. [[spoiler:Rutger then proceeds to find this out the hard way.]]
303* In ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDeadTelltale'', Clementine has a Walkie-Talkie her [[spoiler:dead]] parents gave to her. It's established early that the device is broken and Clementine is only keeping it as a personal memento. [[spoiler: However, at the end of episode 3, [[TheReveal it's revealed]] that the Walkie-Talkie was working all this time and that some mysterious man has been communicating secretly with her - promising to reunite Clementine with her parents. The man, himself, would prove to be a ChekhovsGunman based on a major choice Lee makes regarding an abandoned car full of supplies.]]
304* ''VideoGame/WishboneAndTheAmazingOdyssey'': A number of items picked up in the game get used on a later island, such as Circe's tapestry and a lyre given to Odysseus by Tiresias in the Underworld, both of which become key to solving a puzzle on Thrinacia.
305* ''VideoGame/TheWhiteChamber'' has the chalkboard and the tics that show up on it through the game. [[spoiler:It's your Karma Meter; how many tics there are on the board is an indicator of what ending you'll get.]]
306* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou''. In the second chapter, in the cutscene before the second to last boss, Megumi reveals the only thing protecting Neku from his brainwashing is his player pin, so he immobilizes Neku and crushes the pin. It didn't work. Why? Because in waaaaay back in Chapter 2 of the first week, Shiki points out how Neku has 2 player pins, the extra given to him by Josh.
307* Very early Forsaken players in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' will remember that as early as vanilla, you could run a questline where you gather pumpkins from a farm, gather ingredients for a plague, and give it to captured human. The same disease you were sent to make way back then shows up much, much, much later. As in toward the end of the second expansion later, when [[spoiler: Putress double-crosses the Forsaken and Horde by using a very enhanced version of the plague you helped make on the Alliance, Horde, and Scourge indiscriminately at the Wrathgate. In ''Cataclysm'', Sylvanas uses the same plague in a campaign of genocide against the humans.]]
308** In the short story "Blood of Our Fathers", Varian, surveying the damage Deathwing has done to Stormwind, finds a small fragment of Deathwing's elementium armor and takes it with him. Toward the end of the story, he uses it as an ImprovisedWeapon to kill a drakonid.
309* Subverted in Underwater and Underice, two quests in ''VideoGame/{{Wynncraft}}''. The player retains the Breathing Helmet I after completing Underwater, and when Fredris tells the player early in Underice that they need special breathing equipment to survive beneath a frozen lake, they show the Helmet to him. He then says that it wouldn't be sufficient for the task at hand, and advises them to buy a Breathing Helmet II from a nearby merchant.
310* ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'':
311** Right at the start you can buy an accessory that prevents fuel drain. This is apparently worthless, since nobody in the game has a fuel drain attack... until you reach the final boss battle, where fuel drain can become a crippling problem if you're not careful. No other stores after this one sell the anti-fuel drain accessory.
312** The Mermaid tear, which you get at the very beginning of the game, and which you can't use until during a certain end-game side-quest.
313* In ''VideoGame/YsIVMaskOfTheSun'', the key to raising the Ancient City is the Gold Pedestal you sold to Pim in the first game. Likewise, in the [[UsefulNotes/TurboGrafx16 PCE CD]] version, ''VideoGame/YsIVTheDawnOfYs'', the first game's Mask of Eyes becomes an important plot item.
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