| 1 | %%Note: have in mind these should refer to plot or theme elements. For Gameplay mechanics which outdate the old ones see PowerCreep. |
| 2 | |
| 3 | SerialEscalation in Video Games. |
| 4 | ---- |
| 5 | * ''VideoGame/ANNOMutationem'': What starts off as a PostCyberpunk adventure story, starts to shift towards the supernatural, adding new twists to the plot and the mystery behind it, stacking up events that lead to battles against otherworldly abominations; cumulating in a fight against a DraconicAbomination. |
| 6 | * Let's look at ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac''. |
| 7 | ** How many different {{final boss}}es can we have? Before the Halloween Update, three. After, four. As of Wrath of the Lamb, a total of six, with a temporary bugged seventh. As of ''Rebirth'', there are a total of eight final bosses. Mom, Mom's Heart, It Lives, Satan, Isaac, ???, The Lamb, and Mega Satan. Then ''Afterbirth'' adds Ultra Greed to the mix. And [[spoiler:Hush]] isn't technically a final boss, but it way more difficult than the previous bosses, so it might as well be one[[note]]though it does lock you into an ending the first time you defeat it[[/note]]. ''Afterbirth+'' then adds Ultra Greedier and [[spoiler:Delirium]] who is now the final boss faced after [[spoiler:Hush]] but has a chance to be fought after every other final boss including Mega Satan. Since ''Repentence'' is the final official expansion,'''[[spoiler: The Witness]]''' from ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaacAntibirth'' -- now renamed [[spoiler:Mother]] -- is officially part of the final count alongside [[spoiler:'''DOGMA''' and the TrueFinalBoss, '''THE BEAST''']], adding the number to '''[[spoiler:FIFTEEN]]'''. |
| 8 | ** The achievements for HundredPercentCompletion have also seen some escalation: the original achievement for this was Golden God (Pre-''Rebirth'', it was attained by getting every item and achievement in the base game[[note]]this gets bugged in the Christmas update, as defeating Krampus gets you a Lump of Coal, which upsets the item tracking and gets you the Golden God achievement with one item still uncovered[[/note]], while in ''Rebirth'' itself, you have to defeat both ??? and the Lamb to attain it). The Wrath of the Lamb expansion adds the Platinum God achievement for getting everything[[note]]the Lump of Coal bug also applies to this achievement[[/note]], and [[https://external-preview.redd.it/hsfEvO0USN4glnSR_AaC4E8JLWqxtfTIUxuQDCtf6B8.png?auto=webp&s=78580673c104c252508cd3bf4403ffc0474326f6 the in-game achievement splash screen]] has a little "[[Over100PercentCompletion 110%]]" written on it. ''Rebirth'' adds [[SecretCharacter The Lost]] and his unlockables, and getting ''those'' nets you an achievement called "The Real Platinum God", [[https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/543010758916058079/B4BDCA3497EB93B4375907FAE125B913EFE8F58D/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false complete with "111%" written on the splash screen]]. The Afterbirth expansion adds the 1001% achievement for getting everything within said expansion, and its Afterbirth+ equivalent, 1000000%, requires you to complete the Bestiary as well. Finally, Repentance's take on the achievement, "Dead God", [[https://preview.redd.it/3gfmgpmle1x81.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=3c7c82d4e76d0025017114c29b1f205e830c1e00 doesn't even bother with percentages]]. |
| 9 | * Parodied in ''VisualNovel/DaughterForDessert'' [[spoiler:at the protagonist's trial. When Moe Mortelli takes the stand, the prosecutors ask him if he’s sure of his testimony, and when he says he is, they ask if he’s double, triple, quadruple, quintuple, and sextuple sure. The judge isn’t amused]]. |
| 10 | * In the indie 4X RTS, ''VideoGame/StarRuler'', you can [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJJEMmzKzR4 build ships larger than the galaxy]]. Because all other parameters also scale up with size, this has led to galaxy-sized ships with humongous cannons '''that take several days of real time to reload''', and when they do, they wipe out entire solar systems like it's nothing. On the other end of the spectrum, millions of tiny inch-long crewless fighters. |
| 11 | * So what the hell else can we build in ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}''? Another mass mob holocaust? A minecart station that has hundreds of destinations? Another giant creeper statue? Replacing every block with TNT? Make a Minecraft-like game within the game with gravity and liquid physics? There's even a mod that lets you watch ''Platform/YouTube'' videos inside the game. |
| 12 | * ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'': How epic and shiny can the attacks get? How high can the [[PowerLevels damage and level caps]] go? How many {{Little Miss Badass}}es can we cram into the game? How cracktacular can we make the [[OnTheNext next chapter preview]]? What hilarious but utterly depraved deed will our [[CardCarryingVillain "heroes"]] try now? How hard can we smash the [[NoFourthWall fourth wall]] this time? Just how evil and powerful is Baal? He's a Demon Lord; he's a Supreme Demon Overlord; who instantly reincarnates upon defeat; actually he's as old as the universe, and takes a new body every time he loses, he can have more than one body at a time. The damage cap has been shown to be over [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOqrRUcjDQ8&NR=1 1.1 Quadrillion.]] In the third game, there is absolutely ''[[{{Cap}} no cap]]'' to stats. Videos feature damage so big, it [[ReadingsAreOffTheScale goes off the scale]] - last digits don't fit on the screen. |
| 13 | * ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' started off with 3-digit HP totals party members and bosses with 4-HP digit totals. ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'' upped it to 4-digit party members and 5-digit HP bosses. ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'' introduced the ability to attack eight times a turn. ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' took the same ability and made it compatible with Quick, allowing ''sixteen'' attacks a turn. |
| 14 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', certain Limit Breaks allow fifteen attacks at once, eighteen attacks at once, etc. Then came ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'', where Squall's Lion Heart can do over ''two-hundred and fifty thousand damage in one attack'', making it one of the most powerful moves in the entire series! |
| 15 | ** Since VIII, most game have incorporated the ability to break the 4-digit damage limit in some fashion. Then came ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'': in the PAL release, Anima's attack hits 16 times, and ''every'' attack can break the damage limit and do 99,999 damage. That adds up to a damage cap just under 1,600,000!. |
| 16 | ** Then trumped in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' where the damage cap with a Genji glove is '''999,999'''. Not currently sure if anyone has managed to hit it yet. |
| 17 | ** Also, how ridiculous can the optional {{superboss}}es get? I started it off with the BossInMookClothing Warmech, who did obscene damage but abided by the 4-digit HP max of bosses in the game. V had Omega and Shinryu, who were even more devastating and had 5-digit HP totals higher then anything else in the game. |
| 18 | *** VII had Ruby and Emerald Weapon who were more deadly still and have 800,000 and 1,000,000 HP respectively (each over ten times that of the final boss). VIII featured Omega Weapon who had over a million HP and attacks that were virtually unsurvivable unless you used items or abilities that made you [[NighInvulnerability temporarily invincible]]. In IX Ozma was seemingly a step back with only a 5-digit HP total but made up for it by having [[LightningBruiser damage dealing abilities on par with its predecessors and being faster than seemingly all of them put together.]] |
| 19 | *** X had a whole arena of {{superboss}}es, many with HP totals higher than Omega Weapon, but the strongest was Nemesis, who had ten million HP but even he was weaker then non-arena superboss Penance who had '''twelve million HP''' a well as '''independently acting arms each with half a million'''. XII was even worse with Yiazmat who has over '''fifty million HP''', can '''trick you into restoring all of it,''' doubles its stats and halves the damage cap of damage dealt to it when it nears death, and can combo for over a hundred thousand HP. XIII was seemingly a step back, with the superboss having 15 million HP, but considering the damage cap being higher, they had to raise its strength ''through the roof.'' |
| 20 | *** Without a doubt, the most insane opponents in the franchise yet have to be those found in XI; Pandemonium Warden actually morphs into a number of the game's ''other'' high-end notorious monsters, was so overpowered it beat a group after a marathon fight that lasted over ''eighteen hours'' and was eventually nerfed until it could be semi-reasonably defeated. However, the same can't be said of '''ABSOLUTE VIRTUE''', who has nearly every job's [[EleventhHourSuperpower 2-hour ability]] at its disposal but can seemingly use them [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard without any sort of time restriction]] and has been updated so that ''any'' past method used to defeat it doesn't work anymore and has yet to be beaten by anyone in its current state. Additionally, estimating HP totals for Absolute Virtue is moot as one of its 2-hour abilities allow it to ''restore all of it,'' which it can use as often as it wants and no one yet knows how to negate it. |
| 21 | *** Thanks to an increased level cap and a trick that prevents AV's 2-hour abilities from being used more than once, it is nowadays somewhat beatable. |
| 22 | ** The various special attacks within a single ''Final Fantasy'' game can also display this. For example, in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', the summons ''start out'' as humongous monsters that attack enemies with huge blasts of energy, and just keep getting more extreme from there. And at the culmination of the development of attacks, one of the final boss's attacks has such exaggerated special effects that it apparently destroys the whole of our solar system each time it's used (even though this game isn't even set on Earth). |
| 23 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' has plenty to offer: |
| 24 | *** Most bosses by the time you reach Shadowbringers have 8 digits worth of HP. It's possible some even reached the 9-digits mark. Especially with damage outputs can average 150,000 - 180,000 DPS in larger raids, you kinda need a boss with that much HP so the fight lasts more than a minute. |
| 25 | *** The current HP cap, as of Shadowbringers, sits comfortably above 200,000 for tanks. This is higher than a lot of the ''final bosses'' in the franchise. |
| 26 | *** MP used to scale in the 5-digit ranges, but due to the complexity it was causing, it was fixed at 10,000 MP with spells costing a scaled amount. Which might look silly anyway when you just start the game and you barely have over 100 HP but 100 times the MP. |
| 27 | *** The current damage cap is unknown, but it's likely limited by UsefulNotes/BinaryBitsAndBytes at this point. The highest damage anyone has reported is north of 4 million in Bozja with specific buffs and attacks. |
| 28 | *** It's gotten to the point that the developers are scaling the numbers down for ''Endwalker.'' One of the main concerns was that if things kept going the way they were, it would be possible for tanks to hit a cap on enemy hate. |
| 29 | *** In the middle of the Stormblood expansion patches, the devs added another difficulty for raid tiers: Ultimate. |
| 30 | *** The very first dungeon of Endwalker sets the [[JustForFun/HolyShitQuotient HSQ]]-tone for the expansion. Some of the {{Mooks}} of the dungeons are {{Mecha}}s and {{Spider Tank}}s, which [[DegradedBoss were standalone Bosses in Stormblood]] and now the [[PlayerCharacter Warrior Of Light]] fights dozens of them at the same time. The actual Bosses of the Dungeon? Three [[PhysicalGod Primals]], and in the very last fight of the dungeon these three team up to bring down the Warrior Of Light. |
| 31 | * ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'': Think we can't make the {{BFG}}s any bigger? Think we can't make the weapons any stranger? Oh, how wrong you are. |
| 32 | * ''VideoGame/{{Scribblenauts}}'': |
| 33 | ** The game does indeed allow you to summon any noun in the dictionary, and then some. Wanna see {{God}} armed with a shotgun duke it out with Cthulhu to the death? You got it! Want to defeat a GiantEnemyCrab with a rocket launcher? Your wish is Scribblenauts' command! Want to defeat an army of zombie robots by traveling back in time and recruiting a dinosaur to ride into battle? No easier said than done! There is a reason this game was a breakaway hit at E3. |
| 34 | ** How can the sequel ''possibly'' push it a level higher? ''By adding adjectives.'' Robot skateboarding Elvis, here we come! |
| 35 | ** The third game takes things even further. Did you think of something so strange that no combination of word or adjective can represent it accurately? Now you can take various bits of objects and creatures and assemble them into your own nightmarish creation! Want a gun shaped like an ice cream cone that shoots ''T. rexes''? You got it. Your favorite fictional character? Sure, if you're ready to put some effort into it. The possibilities are endless (hence the subtitle, Unlimited). |
| 36 | * ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'': |
| 37 | ** The final boss of the first ''Kingdom Hearts'' was [[spoiler: a magical spaceship.]] With [[spoiler:a giant shirtless man attached to it by tentacles.]] |
| 38 | ** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'': How many more ridiculous cool [[ActionCommands reaction commands]] and {{cutscene}}s can you put in this game? The game's final level ends with an area where you can [[spoiler:cut in half, and casually kick around ''skyscrapers'']]. And you can also deflect hundreds of lightsabers. |
| 39 | ** The [[TheWarSequence one-man war]] against a thousand Heartless. Complete with kill counter! Then ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' came along and one-upped this by having an army of Heartless, Nobodies ''and'' Unversed. |
| 40 | ** How hardcore can we make Mickey flippin' Mouse? |
| 41 | ** How much more MindScrew can this KudzuPlot possess? How many more incarnations of [[BigBad Xehanort]] can there be? Ladies and gentlemen, ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'' has topped every other entry in the series in this regard. [[spoiler:Now we're introduced to a time traveling young Xehanort, and the true purpose of Organization XIII. Master Xehanort's previous incarnations are alive somehow, including Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness, and Xemnas, and now we have young Xehanort. Organization XIII's true purpose is to serve as vessels for Xehanort and he can pull a GrandTheftMe on them all.]] |
| 42 | ** However no game in the franchise got a bigger escalation than ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsX''. The final missions shows [[WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph King Candy/Turbo]] is the strongest villain in Disney history as he got the ridiculous number of 55 '''million''' bars of health. Yeah, that's not a joke. You literally need to deplete 55 million bars to defeat him. Those 10 bars from the main games look ridiculously small now, don't they? Thankfully your medals can also make ridiculous damage so if you have the right setup and really know what you're doing, you can actually [[CurbstompBattle destroy him in one turn]]. |
| 43 | * ''VideoGame/PhantomBrave'': What ordinary object will become the next [[InfinityPlusOneSword Infinity Plus One]] [[strike:Sword]] [[strike:fish]] [[strike:crate]] [[strike:flower]] pastry? Will you give it to the undead male lead, the 13-year old girl, the talking rabbit, the anthropomorphic bottle, or the exploding penguin, [[VerbalTic dood]]? |
| 44 | * ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'': How many [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome Moments of Awesome]] can each character get? How [[strike:over the top]] and [[LargeHam hammy]] can Sanger Zonvolt get? How [[StuffBlowingUp Ex!plo!sive!]] can the attacks get? How powerful can the BigBad be? What new problem can [[TheWoobie Latooni]] have? |
| 45 | ** ''VideoGame/EndlessFrontier'': How many [[BoobBasedGag gags]] will be shown about Kaguya Nanbu? or how many euphemisms will be inserted into dialogue regarding boobs? |
| 46 | ** In that sense, [[WMG/SuperRobotWars which character close to Latooni is next in line to get into trouble, and how big?]] |
| 47 | ** Which series will get included in the next game and how high will the JustForFun/HolyShitQuotient get as the crossover antics ensue? And most importantly: who will get the fail [[BrightSlap smacked out of them next]]? |
| 48 | *** Bright [[GetAholdOfYourselfMan Slapped the fail out of]] ''[[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Shinji]]''. [[CatchPhrase Nuff Said]] |
| 49 | ** ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsZ''. [[FromBadToWorse How worse]] can [[FinaglesLaw things]] [[TemptingFate possibly]] ''[[TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed go]]'' before they get better (if they do at all)? |
| 50 | * ''Arika'' has escalated the difficulty of ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}'' in its ''VideoGame/TetrisTheGrandMaster'' series of arcade games released in Japan. Each game itself also escalates well past the mechanic in ordinary ''Tetris'' where the pieces fall faster and faster. |
| 51 | ** In ''Tetris The Grand Master'', halfway through the game, at level 500[[note]]"levels" meaning "pieces dropped + lines cleared"[[/note]] (about 150 lines), the blocks fall to the floor immediately as they enter, and the player needs to slide each piece into place within a half second. This is called "20G" and has since become common in ''Tetris'' products. |
| 52 | ** ''Tetris The Absolute The Grand Master 2 PLUS'': By level 900 (~270 lines), the time to slide each piece into place decreases to not much more than a quarter second. At level 999 (~300 lines), '''the lights turn off.''' The player can see only the active piece, which disappears as soon as it locks into place, and has to play for a whole minute by memory and feel. Even [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zUAZuTONP0 this player]] can't do it. |
| 53 | ** ''Tetris The Grand Master 3: Terror-Instinct'': The sliding times decrease even faster. And once the lights turn off, the player has to make ten four-line clears. And then the same player has to max the grade on seven consecutive credits on a machine in order to unlock the best ending. You have to be really [[UnusualEuphemism Belgium]] dedicated to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwC544Z37qo pull that off]]. |
| 54 | ** The fan game ''[[http://code.google.com/p/nullpomino/ NullpoMino]]'' has a mode named "Phantom Mania" which further escalates the TGM series' invisible Tetris concept. The mode allows you to play in invisible mode for not just one minute, but rather, '''999 levels.''' Most of the best TGM players in the world can ''only complete 30% of it.'' So far, only one player in the world has ever cleared level 999, and two players have been confirmed to get past level 500. |
| 55 | * ''Thrust'': So you guided a heavy inertia-bound object out of all those tunnels without the gun-turrets, or unforgiving gravity and inertia killing you? Can you do it with reversed gravity? Can you do it with invisible tunnel walls? How about both? |
| 56 | * ''VideoGame/MetalWolfChaos'': How [[HotBlooded fervored]] can the [[PatrioticFervor patriotism]] get? How [[KickTheDog evil]] can [[EvilChancellor Richard]] get? How ridiculous can the plot get? |
| 57 | * ''VideoGame/MetalGear'': |
| 58 | ** How bizarre can we make the bosses? A fourth-wall breaking telepath, a bisexual flamenco-dancing vampire, the former President of the U.S. in a tentacled battle-suit. A 100-year old plant-man sniper, [[AC:I'm covered in bees!]], said fourth-wall breaking psychic back from the dead and possessing the body of a female cannibal puppeteer dependent on her PoweredArmor to live, a sapient helicopter who uses a railgun like a sword and shoots smaller helicopters and is also a Music/{{Vocaloid}}... |
| 59 | ** How much more [[{{Fanservice}} blatant]] can the shots of [[MrFanservice Snake's ass]] get? |
| 60 | ** [[UnskippableCutscene How much longer]] could this damn CutScene get?! |
| 61 | ** How utterly, ridiculously complex can we make the plot with this next random plot twist? And how many plot twists can we have in ''one hour''? (Thirteen.) |
| 62 | ** For ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 4|GunsOfThePatriots}}'': [[{{Determinator}} How much more pain]] can we put Snake through? [[spoiler:Wracked with coughs, sick with incurable diseases, hey, let's ''turn him into a genocidal epidemic-making machine'', burn half his face off, shower him with microwaves...]] |
| 63 | ** How much gayer can the male cast get? Quite a bit, actually. It never seems to put a damper on their manliness. |
| 64 | ** How many more humanly impossible feats of battle prowess do we need before the fanbase stops believing that Raiden is an effeminate pansy? |
| 65 | ** How much weight can we have Big Boss bench? How about the majority of a hundred-foot-tall, two-hundred-foot-long tank made of guns? |
| 66 | ** And now that ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'' came out, the baseline of crazy has exponentially increased. [[spoiler: The game STARTS with Raiden taking on a Metal Gear RAY and [[CurbstompBattle destroying it it with almost insulting ease.]]]] How bat-shit insane can we make the new villains? How advanced can we make the technology? How many enemies can we cut up? [[LudicrousGibs In how many pieces?]] [[RuleOfCool How many more spectacular feats of physics-defying badassitude during the next Boss Fight?]] [[BaritoneOfStrength How much more like Batman can we make Raiden sound?]] Then again, this one was made by Creator/PlatinumGames, so the escalation was to be expected. |
| 67 | ** For a series known for its use of [[ClosedCircle claustrophobic environments]], the scope of the games actually just keeps getting ''bigger'' with every installment. ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' took place entirely in an isolated military base; ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' had a ProlongedPrologue in an isolated tanker ship, with the rest of the game set in a huge, sprawling industrial plant; ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' gave us a whole damn ''jungle'' to play in, complete with separate forest, cave and mountain zones; ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' took place across '''five separate continents''', and it fully reproduced [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid Shadow Moses Island]] and [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty an Arsenal Gear warship]] as single stages; ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' now promises to feature multiple [[WideOpenSandbox open-world]] stages that are so big that the player needs vehicles to traverse them, and each stage will have a real-time clock directly affecting the game's environment. |
| 68 | * ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' uses this as a learning method, with the puzzles starting incredibly simple, then getting rapidly more complicated. Just how many portalling techniques can be combined in THIS test? Turned up to 11 in the advanced test chambers in the "Still Alive" re-release. |
| 69 | * ''VideoGame/{{Freelancer}}'': [[MoreDakka How much firepower can the opponents pack]]? How huge is our next target? [[ZergRush How many ships can the Order take on]]? |
| 70 | * Common in {{First Person Shooter}}s. How many strong enemies can we make the OneManArmy face at the same time? |
| 71 | ** ''VideoGame/SeriousSam'' takes this to an absurd extreme. How many enemies can we cram into TheWarSequence? The final levels are considered [[ThatOneLevel Scrappy Levels]] by some, [[Awesome/VideoGameLevels Crowning Levels of Awesome]] by others for taking it so far it becomes NintendoHard. Just for reference, the last level of ''VideoGame/SeriousSam3BFE'' has '''1700''' enemies, plus a final boss fight. |
| 72 | * Plenty of NintendoHard games, do this, but ''VideoGame/{{Battletoads}}'' may be the best example. While playing through any given level (except for maybe the first two), players are likely to wonder how the game will possibly get any harder. Next level, they get their answer. |
| 73 | ** Finishing the game by yourself is considered an achievement. Exaggerated by these two guys who actually finished the game in [[http://screwattack.com/videos/I-Win-at-Battletoads TWO PLAYERS MODE]]. No cheats (not that it'll help), no assists, on a classic NES. They used a PAL cartridge which fixed a GameBreakingBug, if you wanted to know. |
| 74 | * ''VideoGame/IWannaBeTheGuy'': How many times will The Kid die before he'll become The Guy? How many more [[SpikesOfDoom spikes]] can fit into a single screen? How many more [[strike:apples]] [[strike:giant cherries]] delicious fruit will fall into the sky within the lapse of the next double-jump? How many [[KaizoTrap ridiculously glitched and unfair traps]] stand between you and safety on the other side of the Pit of Death? How many times will the Bosses [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard freak out and glitch-kill you]] like [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} Space Marines]] on crack-stims? How many times will you scream and tear out your hair before you finally snap and throw your computer out the window and goes to cry like a little girl in the corner of the room? How many times can one curse the name of the game's creator before realizing it is in vain? |
| 75 | ** Let's put it this way: even counting all difficulties, the running list of players who've finished is still only in the mid ''hundreds''. The game has been played by many thousands. When someone says "I beat it", [[BadassBoast people are awed by it]]. |
| 76 | *** And when someone beat it on Impossible, ''the game's creator didn't believe them''. Only two people in the world have provided proof that they accomplished this feat. |
| 77 | * ''VideoGame/GeometryDash'': After the original seven official levels, the new levels just kept getting harder and harder until the difficulty of some levels had to be changed and the demon difficulty was introduced. Then the community-made levels came up: Ice Carbon Diablo X, which was once the hardest level in the game, is now considered one of the easiest Extreme Demons (not that there are many levels harder than it, though). Bloodbath, which was also one of the hardest levels in the game, isn't even in the top ten anymore. Sonic Wave, which was considered the hardest level in the game for over a year, got topped by Yatagarasu in 2016 (although Yatagarasu eventually moved to #2) and again by Erebus in 2017. And Erebus is only 1 minute long. Fast forward to 2020...and hoo boy, talk about these sadistic level creators and their list demon children. Ice Carbon Diablo X has been all but gone, Bloodbath is no longer one of the 100 hardest demons (and on the verge of dropping out from the 150), and both Sonic Wave and Yatagarasu got kicked out of the 25 hardest demons club. And Erebus? That 1 minute long level which debuted at the top in 2017? It's ''easier'' than Yatagarasu now, and there are two ''harder and just as short'' levels than it; Kowareta was added to the list in August 2019, as the ''5th hardest'', and is just '''48 seconds long.''' Cognition is a bit longer at a minute and 4 seconds, but debuted as the ''3rd hardest'', and has yet to fall out of the top ten as of September 2020. And more new Extreme Demons are vying for the top, such as the 1.9-styled former '''impossible''' level Tartarus, and the insanely oppressive El Dorado remake, The Golden, both of which punched Zodiac, the near-4-minute beast of a Top 1 level, to ''3rd.'' Not to mention many other wannabe demon makers out for blood and that top spot, making ridiculously hard and absolutely crazy levels like Firework, Eternal Night, Spectre, and such, as well as levels already in the ''verification'' process, like a ''Sonic Wave remake'' called Sonic Wave '''Infinity'''. Don't believe me? [[https://pointercrate.com/demonlist/ This here is the demonlist.]] Good luck beating [[HarderThanHard anything on that list]]. |
| 78 | ** Here's a quick update as of Feburary 2022: You know what's currently the top demon? A 'formerly' impossible 1.9 level called Sakupen Circles. And levels like Firework and Sonic Wave Infinity? They're #3 and #7 respectively, meaning SWI was 'easier' than Tartarus (well, likely because of nerfs and similar gameplay to the original). Either way, prepare for a bad time with these. |
| 79 | * ''VideoGame/TotalCarnage''. How many enemies can the game throw at you? How many power ups and point bonuses can it cram into the screen? How many armored military vehicles can you blow up like they're made of gasoline? How many parts of the first boss can you blow off? How utterly absurd can the final boss be? And perhaps most importantly, how angry will you get when you realize that even if you collect everything within your power chances are you won't collect enough and the game will mock you for it? |
| 80 | * ''VideoGame/SinAndPunishment'' for the N64 does this quite often, primarily in the amount of ''complete, chaotic confusion'' it induces. It starts off alright enough, with you fighting soldiers and mutant animals. This leads to a situation where you ride on the top of the elevator while a huge torrent of horseshoe crabs come cascading down on you whilst you are under attack by a giant laser moth. Then at the end of the stage ''Tokyo inexplicably gets covered by a sea of blood that comes out of nowhere, you mutate into an Evangelion-esque giant thing'', and it all goes directly to hell, getting progressively more and more difficult, chaotic, and above all, ''baffling'' with each passing moment/cutscene/level, before finally climaxing with you standing on top of Earth and fighting an ENTIRE PLANET. |
| 81 | ** Not just a planet. One of the former members of LaResistance transformed into ''CLONE EARTH''. |
| 82 | ** This cements Treasure as the [[Creator/StudioGainax Gainax of videogames]] with most of their works being similarly [[MindScrew bizarrely themed]]. |
| 83 | * ''VideoGame/KatamariDamacy'': Just how big can that ball of stuff get? Big enough to roll up a person? A cow? A giant octopus? The ''entire solar system''? A supermassive black hole? Or how about quantity...say, a million roses? |
| 84 | * The ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed'' series from ''[[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedUnderground Underground]]'' to ''Carbon''. How cool can we make our rides? How many {{Cool Car}}s can we put in the game? How fast and furious can our races become? The answer to these questions is: ''Porsches, Lamborghinis and [=McLarens=] with custom paint jobs, tuning side skirts, spoilers the size of an Antonov wing, all of them capable of going beyond 400 km/h''. |
| 85 | ** Invoked with the new ''Hot Pursuit'': Now, you can change said ''Porsches, Lamborghinis, and [=McLarens=]'' into cop cars and use them to chase down OTHER ''Porsches, Lamborghinis, and [=McLarens=]''. There's even a cop '''Bugatti Veyron''' featured! |
| 86 | * ''VideoGame/AncientKeeper'' (the unofficial expansion to ''VideoGame/DungeonKeeper''): While there are levels that are just ''very'' difficult battles, your very first fight would be considered impossible by the average winner of the original game. It gets worse from there. The expansion takes advantage of every subtlety the authors could find in the game physics, creature AI, and keeper AI. |
| 87 | * ''VideoGame/GuitarHero''. Witness the escalation from "Bark At the Moon" to "Jordan" to "Through the Fire and Flames" to "Satch Boogie" in the epic series of bonus songs. Note that Bark At the Moon is neither a bonus song nor nearly as hard as the other songs in the list, and technically there are no bonus songs in Guitar Hero World Tour, so Satch Boogie isn't a true bonus song, and it also isn't quite as tough. |
| 88 | ** Music/DragonForce's "Fury of the Storm" will be featured in the upcoming ''VideoGame/GuitarHero: Warriors of Rock''.[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ydxcrbqi2g Take a look at the solo]]. |
| 89 | ** Megadeth's Sudden Death is no slouch either, [[http://youtu.be/-JVPZGe1pVk?t=3m1s especially on drums]]. |
| 90 | * ''Franchise/AceAttorney'': How ridiculously biased can the court system be? How over the top can we make the prosecutor? How ridiculous can the witnesses get? Can we make the murder plan even more convoluted? How insane can we make a VillainousBreakdown without simply have the person exploding? [[TheDitz How idiotic and incompetent is the judge this time?]] |
| 91 | ** One breakdown in particular may be MORE spectacular than exploding: [[spoiler: Dahlia Hawthorne ''is sent to hell.'' Yes, she's a ghost at the time, but still, ''she was sent to hell.'']] |
| 92 | ** ''Investigations 2''[='=]s final boss is an absolute SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome. [[spoiler:The one who's been pulling the strings behind the game? ''The animal-taming clown at the local circus who you defended earlier.'' The location of the final battle? ''The circus itself.'' Oh, and the VillainousBreakdown? '''SAID ANIMAL-TAMING CLOWN AT THE CIRCUS GOES INTO A CALM {{MOTIVE RANT}}, AND THEN HIS ANIMAL FRIENDS TURN ON HIM AND BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF HIM. HE GETS PUNCHED BY A FREAKING GORILLA.''' That's not even mentioning the ''other'' {{Villainous Breakdown}}s...]] |
| 93 | ** The central plot of each game somehow manages to be even more epic than the last. ''Phoenix Wright'' was the redemption of a best friend turned ruthless prosecutor because he thought he killed his father. ''Justice for All'' had your assistant being held hostage to get a guilty man declared innocent. ''Trials and Tribulations'' featured a demonic woman who would not let even death get in the way of her revenge. ''Apollo Justice'' had Phoenix lose his badge and change the entire court system to catch the man responsible. ''Investigations'' centered around an international smuggling ring whose leader was above the law. ''Prosecutor's Path'' had every single case be a cog in the master plan of a man seeking revenge for his father's death. ''Layton vs. Wright'' had the primary charges against the defendants being witchcraft, the punishment for which is being cast into a pit of fire. ''Dual Destinies'' began with a courtroom bombing and had public trust in the legal system at an all-time low. ''Spirit of Justice'' had the country Phoenix visits eliminate its defense attorneys via a culpability act. |
| 94 | * ''VideoGame/GhostTrick'': Just how many more insane plot twists can be fit into the game before it ends? How many times will [[spoiler:Lynne]] manage to die and still get revived? What new ridiculously convoluted RubeGoldbergContraption will Sissel use to save someone's life next? The plot twists are so crazy that [[spoiler: finding out that a crazy painter prisoner is randomly painting a picture of you when not a single person has a clue who you are, and that your lovable sidekick is the one who shot you]] are the first things you find out as you play the game. Later on you [[spoiler: stage a prison break, discover that a supposed hostage situation is bungled by the mistaken kidnapping of a seemingly innocuous girl living with Lynne, a manipulator has ghost powers that call the actions of every character into question as he has the power to manipulate people, the little seemingly minor dog character now also has ghost powers, which everyone gets from a meteor. The painter reveals he saw you die ten years ago despite you also dying tonight, in an event where Lynne nearly died and basically ties together the backstories of every character in the game, the manipulator looks just like you, the seemingly corrupt inspector was actually a hatching a BatmanGambit to prove the painter's innocence, the mysterious bad guys have actually been on a submarine the entire time. The wacky pigeon man was helping the inspector all along. Then you go back in time ten years to stop the game from happening. There you find out you've actually been playing as the antagonist's pet cat the entire time, who accidentally shot you in an attempt to frame Lynne. Oh, and to top it all off, that cute little puppy dog? He masterminded the entire game and outwitted everyone. But he's from an alternate timeline where Sissel was such a JerkAss he refused to help anyone]]. |
| 95 | * ''VideoGame/{{beatmania}} IIDX'': How many notes can we cram in the space of a little over 2 minutes? [[http://www1.ocn.ne.jp/~hibroad/score/5/v_taka.html?2AC00 1,500]]? [[http://www1.ocn.ne.jp/~hibroad/score/11/aa_amuro.html?2AC00 1,800]]? ''[[http://www1.ocn.ne.jp/~hibroad/score/13/_nageki.html?2AC00 2,000]]?'' '''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpGqta43cyQ 2119]]?''' '''''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqkWIWbO14c=18 2,626]]?''''' (That last number includes [[HarderThanHard Black Anothers]], which aren't normally available) |
| 96 | ** And on a directly related note, the above are the highest total number of notes in a song from those releases (Nageki No Ki's 2,000-note count was preceded by Mei's 2,000-note count), not counting console-exclusive charts. [[BrutalBonusLevel remove the song length restriction, and you get a]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCEL__H9678 4459-note endurance test]] [[BrutalBonusLevel that is immediately followed by - you guessed it -]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW34iG4bsQw The first chart to hit 2,000 notes]] |
| 97 | ** Additionally, all but ONE SP Black Another charts have gotten trumped by the same Another chart - The 2DX Empress One More Extra Stage [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpGqta43cyQ Himiko, with 2119 notes in SP mode]] and '''''2194''''' notes on DP mode (which typically has FEWER notes than SP). To put the difficulty of this chart into perspective, the person clearing that chart has Full-Combo'd Icarus on Another, and the clear rate (due to HARD being forced on) is somewhere around 6% of all people that actually reach it. Considering the requirements to get this specific song (via normal mode, at least), a more accurate clear rate (out of all players) would be 0.035%. |
| 98 | ** Steering things away - [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kwv_vPIL4IQ How ~fabulous~ can Ryu* and Dai get?]] |
| 99 | * ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxSaveTheWorld'': What insane thing can the duo try to stop that people should normally not even consider toppling? The Mob? The Presidency? The internet? In the case of ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxBeyondTimeAndSpace'', Hell? What is the most insane way we can stop them? And how much more money can Bosco ask for? |
| 100 | * ''VideoGame/MadWorld'': Just how much blood can a single human spill? How many unique ways can Jack hilariously murder someone? How vulgar can the announcers get? |
| 101 | * ''Franchise/StarWars: VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed'': How much more EXTREME can the uses of the Force get? How much more [[VideogameCrueltyPotential severely]] can you [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill overkill]] the next enemy? How much more severely can you kill the next group of enemies? What's the largest group of enemies you can overkill severely before you feel even an iota of remorse? Oh, but it is further in the sequel novelisation. HE TELEKINETICALLY BLOWS UP A CRUISER. |
| 102 | * The doujin BulletHell shooter ''VideoGame/{{Hellsinker}}'' really illustrates this trope starting with Segment 5: You have to navigate your way through a labyrinth lined with guns while weird {{Magitek}} things fly through the walls to attack you, then fight an absolutely incredible boss with many forms of attack that summons various bizarre machines to attack you, then summons the ''final boss'' of the creator's previous game, Radiozonde, to fight you, then when you finally beat all of that back and whittle its armor down to zero, [[MindScrew FATE CONTROL TERRA++ ]] and it's freaking immortal and you have to time it out to win. This would easily qualify as the FinalBoss of any other shooter, but it's ''just the halfway point'', and it only gets more insane from there. |
| 103 | * ''Franchise/TouhouProject'': |
| 104 | ** How much more [[ThatOneBoss sadistic]] can the [[BulletHell spell cards]] get? How many more characters can be crammed into one FantasyKitchenSink? What kind of EldritchAbomination will our BadassNormal heroines [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu blast out of the sky?]] Can [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic the themes]] actually become [[SerialEscalation more awesome?]] And just how many more [[Memes/TouhouProject memes]] can be spawned before the internet utterly consumes itself?! How many more bullets can ZUN stuff into the screen before the game breaks? How many more crack pairings can be made? How much more of image sites like Danbooru can be overrun with Touhou images? |
| 105 | ** [[RealityWarper Yukari Yakumo]]. All ''Touhou'' games have a [[HarderThanHard Lunatic]] [[ThisIsGonnaSuck Difficulty]]. All Touhou games have an [[BonusStage Extra Stage]]. Yukari resides on Perfect Cherry Blossom's ''Phantasm'' Stage, which is ''to'' the Extra stage what Lunatic difficulty is to Normal difficulty. |
| 106 | * ''[[VideoGame/DonPachi DoDonPachi: DaiFukkatsu]].'' BulletHell is an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTn0I3xnVMc understatement]]. |
| 107 | ** SerialEscalation in its truest form: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsWhVhgEEV4 BLACK Label Hibachi]]. Also, it's currently theorized that, to get to the TrueFinalBoss ''beyond'' that boss, you have to no death the entire game plus Hibachi. Watch the video and see exactly how SerialEscalation that seems. |
| 108 | ** And here's said True '''''True''''' Final Boss, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHqN_fH2S7k Zatsuza]] (the normal Hibachi fight at the end is for comparison purposes). |
| 109 | ** Mushihime-sama https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVQdbcsXDrE. |
| 110 | * ''VideoGame/PumpItUp'': |
| 111 | ** Stepcharts that make ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution'' look as easy as ''VideoGame/YouHaveToBurnTheRope''. There's stuff like [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b1n9-QhC6A "Love Is A Danger Zone 2"]] on Nightmare difficulty and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUOEzHrxmkE "Final Audition Episode 2"]] on [[HarderThanHard Another Nightmare]] difficulty. And the best part? Unlike DDR and ''VideoGame/InTheGroove'', where most players see double-pad play as an optional challenge, if you are a top-tier ''Pump'' player, you are ''expected'' to play double-pad charts. |
| 112 | ** Newer and much faster charts than Love is a Danger Zone 2 (now treated as just one more [=Lv23=] song among many others) can be seen at [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBZ0YpKNrYg "Cleaner Lv26 Double"]] or [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLQa91iG_94 "Crashday Lv26 Double"]] |
| 113 | ** The song [=RAW=], which is [[EndlessGame literally impossible]]. |
| 114 | * ''Franchise/MassEffect'': Given that Shepard already [[spoiler:has a fleet/army of alien monstrosities out to kill them]], [[CosmicPlaything how much more]] [[IronWoobie screwed can]] Shepard get? And how much more awesome? How many things will blow up? How many [[DysfunctionJunction messed-up squad members]] will Shepard get? How much more can the series go LighterAndSofter and DarkerAndEdgier ''simultaneously''? [[{{Troperiffic}} How much more tropes can we add to the games before we break the wiki]] ''[[{{Troperiffic}} again]]''? |
| 115 | ** Given that they're now [[spoiler:set to face trial for the deaths of 300,000 batarians, Shepard can get screwed a lot more.]] |
| 116 | ** Given gameplay escalation in how big the enemies you are expected to kill on foot with a rifle are getting, are they going to throw two Geth Colossi at Shepard in [=ME3=]? Three Thresher Maws? A completed Reaper? Answer: [[spoiler: [[CoolVersusAwesome REAPER VERSUS COLOSSAL THRESHER MAW!]]]] |
| 117 | * ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' had a [[OurDragonsAreDifferent High Dragon]] as a {{Superboss}}, which was really frakking hard. ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' upped the ante by giving you a ZergRush of little dragons to fight while the High Dragon spat fireballs at you. What's next? [[DualBoss Two High Dragons?]] |
| 118 | * ''VideoGame/EverQuest'': With [[CapcomSequelStagnation fifteen]] [[ExpansionPack expansion packs]] and another on the way, it's difficult for an outsider (and many of EQ's longtime fans) to fathom the question, "How far will we go in finding new threats to the world of Norrath's safety?" By the third expansion the players had already [[AllPlanetsAreEarthLike been to the moon]]; in the fourth we [[GodIsDead killed most of the gods in their own homes]] (they got better). By expansion thirteen we had gone to [[AfterTheEnd a parallel world]] of sorts, killed an overlord of sheer [[AsskickingLeadsToLeadership brutal evilness]], unwittingly [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly helped]] a [[AGodAmI malicious new god]] come to power, then killed the new god, and then killed him again because he didn't stay dead. Also, we defeated a ridiculously powerful dragon [[OminousFloatingCastle and his gnomish cohorts]]. Most recently, we saved the timestream and all reality as we know it from [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere a guy]] who was secretly [[TheManBehindTheMan pulling the puppet strings]] behind the evil overlord from eight expansions ago. How exactly is the dev team supposed to top that? By sending us to stop [[Franchise/KingdomHearts the heart of the world]] from being corrupted by evil energies, apparently. |
| 119 | %% * ''VideoGame/{{Paraworld}}'' has one one of the most awesome weapons of all time. It's an Ankylosaurus, with a catapult strapped to its back, that fires ''[[AbnormalAmmo Velociraptors]]''. |
| 120 | * In ''Giga Wing'', a score of one million points is ''nothing''--the best scores have [[PinballScoring 14 digits]]. And then in ''Giga Wing 2'', 14-digit scores become crappy scores--you'll be having as many as 17 digits by the end of a single-credit run. And finally, in ''Giga Wing Generations'', you might as well express your approximate scores in scientific notation: they can be as many as ''twenty digits long!'' |
| 121 | * ''VideoGame/ViewtifulJoe'' seems to anticipate ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' by having each of Joe's mechs [[TransformingMecha transform into the head of an even larger robot.]] Thankfully, the largest mecha in the series is only a little bit smaller than the ''sun''. |
| 122 | * ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'': |
| 123 | ** The first episode introduces eighteen characters from early on. Large, but in line with a novel of this length. Then every later episode introduces at least three new characters until the cast more than doubles; this wouldn't be too remarkable if it weren't for the premise, that this is a classic detective mystery set on a ClosedCircle. And in line with the genre, the early characters alone are the key to finding the culprit. |
| 124 | ** The plot kicks in with a brutal multiple murder. From then on, every later round of murders apparently done by the witch Beatrice ups the cruelty; then [[spoiler:another witch steps in and outdoes her in cruelty, then another one takes over and does even worse, or at least shows a different brand of cruelty]]. |
| 125 | ** The first four episodes (the "Question Arcs") each adds new convolutions to the plot and the mystery behind it, as well as piling up strange occurrences in a bid to make both the characters and the reader believe that they are of supernatural origin; and while the later "Answer Arcs" start to resolve some matters, they add plenty of convolutions in other directions. |
| 126 | * ''VideoGame/AceCombat'': |
| 127 | ** Asks you how [[GameBreaker Game Breaking]] the superfighters can get. We've had at least two with special weapons that can one-shot entire missions, and one wonders how to go up from there. To put things into perspective, the superfighter from ''2'', the XFA-27, is merely a mid-tier plane in ''X''. |
| 128 | ** It gets even more over the top in ''X'' than merely having superfighters. Not only do you get access to a huge array of superplanes, you can tune them to your desired performance with parts! That already GameBreaker superplane? Dialed up to eleven. Proper tuning turns the aforementioned XFA-27 from a "mid-tier" plane to one of the very best aircraft in the game. |
| 129 | ** How messed up hard can the bosses and AirstrikeImpossible missions get? WolfpackBoss? Single superfighter? Screw that, have a superfighter WolfpackBoss! |
| 130 | * ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': |
| 131 | ** This was actually [[DiscussedTrope discussed]] regarding the ever-increasing levels of player health and damage output, and how to control it. The result is that we now get a "stat squish" every two expansion packs, and players can now find their health going from 8 million to 8 thousand overnight. |
| 132 | ** Difficulty levels and item rarity levels have likewise seen a mild case of RankInflation: |
| 133 | *** Originally, even gray items were useful, and if you saw a person walking around with even one purple item, that player was basically a god among mortals. Four expansion packs later, gray and white items didn't even exist anymore, purple items dropped from easily farmed trash mobs, and everyone who could bother to join a few LFR groups after hitting level cap was guaranteed to get a legendary cloak. Two expansions after THAT, it was legendaries that were dropping off of easily farmed trash mobs, and the devs created a whole new rarity level, the Artifact weapon, to be the one that required t least some effort to acquire. |
| 134 | *** Originally, neither dungeons nor raids had difficulty levels. Then in the first expansion, the devs added heroic dungeons, which players would do after they had hit level cap but before they were ready to raid. Then in the second expansion, they created heroic raids, because... well, they didn't really have a good reason. Now we have LFR, Normal, Heroic, Mythic, and Mythic Plus difficulties. |
| 135 | * ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' |
| 136 | ** For the 4th game's Dante Must Die mode, we have a boss fight you can't win without either ridiculous levels of skill and luck, or a ton of healing items and at least one resurrection. After that, there's a silly joke mode, where everything, including you, dies in one hit. What's that you say? A mode where all the enemies are on normal difficulty, but ''you'' still die in one hit, so you cannot even get past the first level unless you're skilled beyond reason? ''Perfect''. |
| 137 | ** Pffh. DMC 4 was a breeze compared to DMC 3, even on Hell and Hell mode. With the enemies' skill level bumped down to "Normal" and 3 revives per checkpoint, any decently skilled DMC player can win without much hassle. The Dante boss fight can be problematic if you don't know how to counter him properly; otherwise, it's a cinch. DMC 3 Dante Must Die on the other hand...picture this scenario. You're on a giant chessboard, fighting 16 chess pieces. Killing the King kills the other 15 pieces, similar to checkmate on an ordinary chess game. Problem is, the Bishops can heal pieces (usually the King) and the Knights can summon other pieces, making the fight a non-stop, clusterfuck uphill battle. On Very Hard, it's a challenge to destroy the King. On Dante Must Die, with the blue aura surrounding the King and the other pieces (which significantly increases their defense and vitality), it's absolute hell. And that's the first fight of level 18. THEN you have to fight at least SIX other bosses you fought earlier in the game, CONTINUOUSLY. And now, the voice you're hearing is you, screaming. |
| 138 | * The ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' games: how much more ridiculous can Bowser's plans to kidnap Peach get? Currently topped with ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' (afterwhich it slightly tones down from there), where he gets a UFO to rip her castle out of the ground and hold her in the center of the universe. |
| 139 | ** Notable mention goes to ''VideoGame/PaperMario'', where Bowser kidnaps Princess Peach by airlifting her castle from the ground. He does this by airlifting his ''own'' castle, which is ten times as large, from directly beneath hers, i.e. ''from underground''. The cherry on the cake is, of course, his recently obtained invincibility and hurling Mario out of the castle, through the window, and hundreds if not thousands of feet to the ground below. |
| 140 | ** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'': It's just a battle between a plumber and a big turtle. How epic can they get this to be? [[spoiler: Try having the final showdown set in the center of a sun that's in the center of the goddamn universe. Then punching said giant turtle into the magma of said sun, causing it to explode into a black hole that temporarily sucks in all existence. Good lord.]] |
| 141 | ** While we're at it, just how many things has Bowser survived? [[VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine Falling thousands]] [[VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld of feet]], [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 being engulfed by lava]], [[VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosWii being crushed by a castle]], [[VideoGame/PaperMario being blasted the world's resident godlike entities multiple times]], [[VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy being caught in a black hole's epicenter]], [[VideoGame/PaperMarioStickerStar being dropped off a tall building]]... And when he does die? [[VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros1 He's revived as an invincible moving skeleton]]. Bowser will never be wiped out. |
| 142 | ** ''VideoGame/YoshisIsland'': How many more versions of Bowser will you fight in the final battle? Baby Bowser and then his giant form? Baby Bowser, Normal Bowser and then HIS giant form? Or how about in the latest game, Baby Bowser, Giant Baby Bowser, Normal Bowser and Giant Normal Bowser all in a row? |
| 143 | ** ''VideoGame/WarioLand'': How more ridiculous will your enemies get? [[VideoGame/WarioLand Pirates?]] [[VideoGame/WarioLandII Bubble creatures and Basketball playing rabbits?]] [[VideoGame/WarioLand3 Mutant mice, sausages and fox demons?]] [[VideoGame/WarioLand4 Murderous cuckoo clocks, flying teddy bears and mutant cats?]] [[VideoGame/WarioLandShakeIt Robot clowns, race car drivers and frying pan using fish chefs?]] And that ignores the bizarre stuff in ''VideoGame/WarioWorld'' and ''VideoGame/WarioMasterOfDisguise''. |
| 144 | * ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia'': |
| 145 | ** The Sands of Time: How many death-defying leaps will you make in the next few minutes? How many times will you ''run along a wall''? How high can the next WallJump shaft get? How many times will the Prince talk to himself? How many times will he mention it? How many insane acrobatic moves can you cram into the next fight? |
| 146 | ** In the reboot: What immensely tall, ''vertical'' cliff will you slide down next? How long will you be beating up an enemy ''in mid-air''? How long can you go without touching the ground? How much will the Prince [[DeadpanSnarker snark]] in the next few minutes? Which snarks will stink and which will be funny? |
| 147 | * ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'': |
| 148 | ** The very, very first taste of gameplay, before even the prologue, consists of a battle against an army of angels on a broken clock tower ''currently falling down the side of an enormous cliff.'' And it only ramps up from there, up to actually killing ''[[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu God]]'' by punching her so hard her soul flies off her body and direct her soul past all planets right into [[HurlItIntoTheSun the sun]]. This is even slowly applied throughout the game by a tonnage measurement of Bayonetta's attacks. Her first few powerful attacks measure in kilotons. Then megatons. Then ''gigatons''. And against the aforementioned God? ''Infiniton''! |
| 149 | ** If Bayonetta's backstory given in ''VideoGame/BayonettaOriginsCerezaAndTheLostDemon'' were to go by, our Umbran Witch started by slaying murderous, man-eating Faeries who are local threats confined to a single forest, despite their rather ambitious, but incompetent leader. Then there's the angels we all know who gleefully and routinely commit mass genocide, and Loptr, an insane GodOfEvil who wants to take over the universe. Near the end of her career and life, she finds herself dealing with Singularity, a [[Franchise/{{Terminator}} Skynet]]-esque rogue ArtificialHuman who blows up over ''2,000 universes'' all by himself. |
| 150 | * Smoke's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxTBLKH4tZ4 fatality]] in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat3''. |
| 151 | ** "Smoke Wins". What a helpful disclaimer. |
| 152 | ** "Flawless victory". Some would disagree with that. |
| 153 | ** Returns in Mortal Kombat Gold as Cyrax`s fatality. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bTFTs4Xtsc&fmt=18 Just in case one time isn`t enough...]] |
| 154 | * ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' What new ways will the Space Pirates find to kill [[TooDumbToLive themselves]] and others? How many times can Ridley come back? How many more planets can Samus [[EarthShatteringKaboom blow up?]] |
| 155 | * Creator/Crytek keeps doing this with their games' graphics. First came ''VideoGame/FarCry1'', which could only be maxed out by a perfectly top-of-the-line rig, and even now is beyond many stock computers. Then ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}}'', which was designed so that it couldn't be run on max on any existing computer. It literally couldn't be run on anything that existed. Currently, it can be done, but it needs seriously powerful components. Surprisingly, ''VideoGame/Crysis2'' was actually pretty reasonable on launch due to being [[MediaNotes/PCVsConsole optimised for Consoles]]. Then they released the [=DX11=] & Hi-Rez Texture Pack for the PC version and unless you've got at least a ''pair'' of cutting edge graphics cards, you'll be playing a slideshow. |
| 156 | * The ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors'' series has finally achieved a critical mass of insanity in ''Strikeforce,'' where historical Chinese figures can basically go nuclear and achieve Super Saiyan status. |
| 157 | * ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'' follows right along, with each and every installment's crazy over-the-topness being directly proportional with its increasing disregard for historical accuracy. More weapons! More Super Moves! More crazy cut-scenes! More armies to destroy singlehandedly! More mooks to send flying sky-high to boost the Combo Count! More surprising tearjerkers in between all the insane fighting and warmongering! More anachronisms! More badasses to add to the ever expanding roster of already badass characters! |
| 158 | * ''VideoGame/Left4Dead2''. Expert difficulty, which does tons of damage to you and you can die quickly? No problem. Realism mode, where you can't respawn, don't have auras to track each other, and have Witches kill you in one hit? Fair enough. Now combine the two. Good luck in getting that achievement. |
| 159 | ** Recently the ante has been upped with ''Realism Versus''. |
| 160 | ** Some of the other mutations have also gone past the impossible. Up to 4 special infected trying to attack the team at once? Try ''eight special infected at the same time'', which can include doubles of the same type (Hard Eight)! |
| 161 | ** Thought that was hard? How about the newest mutation (Taaannnnkk!), in which all special infected are tanks, and you only have pills to refill your health! |
| 162 | * The only thing that matches the [[BatmanGambit cunning]] of ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'' players is their [[{{Pride}} hubris]]. Defeating the [[TheLegionsOfHell unspeakable demons]] spawned from glowing pits in previous released had become mundane, and the most ruthless and terrifying entity in ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'' [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential were its players]]. So the [=DF2010=] release decided to up the ante. [[spoiler:If you [[DugTooDeep dig too deep]], you will arrive in ''[[PhysicalHell Hell itself]]''. Then you will be {{Zerg Rush}}ed by ''hordes'' of demons, who are more than a match for an ordinary army of dwarves ''individually'', and do not suffer from ConservationOfNinjutsu; in fact, since a lot of them [[BlobMonster have no organs]] they can only die by being [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe snapped in half]] and some have a single-part body and are evidently ''functionally immortal''.]] After several months, [[LordBritishPostulate this challenge has proven insufficient]]; several enterprising players have conquered it and ''claimed [[spoiler:Hell itself]] as their new home'', eagerly awaiting the next iteration of "Hidden Fun Stuff". |
| 163 | ** And if military achievements aren't enough, you need only look towards the construction projects that players have made. When a fortress isn't enough, you build a statue of your king. When that isn't enough, you have it [[http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/4/48700/1239379-7_headshoots_super.jpg pour an endless mug of lava into a volcano in honor of the fallen]]. When that isn't enough, you remove the "into a volcano" part and turn it into a weapon of mass destruction. When that isn't enough, you ''build a Turing-complete computer that's operated with hand-pumps and water pressure''. |
| 164 | ** And that's merely the players' achievements. The developer (one guy, with a little help from his brother) is constantly pushing the game's "fantasy world simulation" elements. 2010's big update - among ''many'' other things - changed the combat system to determine damage to individual tissue layers, gave eyelids the function of removing grime from eyeballs (in such a way that an entity who loses an eyelid in battle will have to manually clean his own eyes), and created a random disease/poison generator that can result in an EldritchAbomination whose breath causes your eyes to melt out of their sockets. And the randomly-generated world is constantly becoming more detailed, already generating a rich history of wars, heroic battles against legendary monsters and [[EldritchAbomination Forgotten Beasts]], and religious worship of Gods and Demons - all of which have a visible, if minor, impact on actual gameplay. |
| 165 | ** The cruelty of the players was mentioned above. Let us discuss that. Nobles were pretty annoying, especially in the early days. Nobles thus found themselves the victims of quite a few [[BlatantLies Unfortunate Accidents]]. And of course, there were the colloseums, wherein captured enemies (Or anyone the player was annoyed with) was forced to fight basically any horrible thing that could conceivably be captured, as well as a few things that couldn't. Then there was [[SuccessionGame Boatmurdered]], where basically the entire non-fortress part of the map was set up to be flooded with lava. Later players in the game forgot which lever did that. These are all topped by the player who decided, upon realizing that merfolk bones were worth a fortune, decided to capture and breed merfolk for their bones. The attrocities being planned by players at the time of this post no doubt top that. |
| 166 | ** The heroes of the Mountainhomes tend to follow this pattern. Some individual dwarf does something fairly awesome. The player then takes a shine to them and they keep succeeding against all odds. Captain Ironblood survived in a nightmarish hellhole, where the land was frozen over and constantly roamed by the deadly skeletal elks. He didn't survive by being a coward, and started single handedly finishing off any non-Hidden Fun Stuff monsters. Being unsatisfied with the amount of damage he could do at a time with merely a single axe, he took up artillery as a hobby, because it allowed him to kill more things faster. Even his odor approached this, as he apparently never bathed, meaning towards the end that every single part of him was caked in blood and dirt, and most parts of him were covered in anything else that could stick to a dwarfs body, including vomit. |
| 167 | *** [[ElvesVersusDwarves What's more xenophobic than dwarves drowning elven caravans in lava?]] An elf hating his own people so much that he decides to join the dwarven army solely so that he can kill more elves than he could on his own. His hatred for elves was so great, that he was actually made their ruler. Cacame Awemadinedae, The Immortal Onslaught. Elven King of the Dwarves. |
| 168 | * ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'': |
| 169 | ** ''VideoGame/GodOfWarII''. Now, its predecessor was already plenty epic, but here you get to climb up a magically animated Colossus of Rhodes, smash it to bits inside and out, then go mano-a-mano with frigging Zeus himself. All of this in the ''first'' level. It goes beyonder and beyonder from then on. |
| 170 | ** ''VideOGame/GodOfWarIII'' goes even ''further''. The first boss fight is frikken '''Poseidon''' who takes the form of a massive water/horse/''thing'' while you are riding ''Gaia''. After cracking open the chest of Poseidon you are thrown ''into'' it and come out the other side with a human sized Poseidon and then you get to beat the shit out of him from '''his perspective'''. And when he finally dies a ''tsunami'' erupts from his corpse and drowns everything but Olympus. Again: first boss fight. His death drowns the world. ''And Kratos isn't even close to done slaughtering his way through the pantheon.'' |
| 171 | ** For perspective, in the first game, 80% of Kratos's quest involves scaling the titan Cronos, entering the giant temple on his back and adventuring through every square inch of it trying to retrieve a MacGuffin to kill the antagonist. Come the third game, [[spoiler:Cronos himself is one of the bosses you fight. You hop and travel all around him in a matter of minutes and eventually end up disemboweling him and impaling him with one of the temple supports before killing him with the]] InfinityPlusOneSword. |
| 172 | ** The IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels even point at this. In the first game, they're Mortal, Hero, Spartan, and finally [[HarderThanHard God]]. In the second and third games though, each title gets bumped down to the next level, with ''III'' culminating in Spartan, God, Titan and Chaos. |
| 173 | * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2or09tBlLs Pluto The First (Challenge)]] from ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution X2''. Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse than Pluto Relinquish. |
| 174 | * ''VideoGame/TraumaCenter'' and ''Trauma Team''. How much more insane can the diseases get? How many more bizarre supernatural powers can surgeons have? What about the other characters? A ninja endoscopist? A superhero orthopedist? A first-response agent who can see ghosts? |
| 175 | * [[http://ninjakiwi.com/Games/Action/Play/Destructo-Truck.html Destructo-Truck]]. There's an achievement for breaking the speed of sound. '''In a truck'''. There's a JATO rocket upgrade right out of the Website/DarwinAwards, and that's not even the most excessive option - the next one, ''twin F16 afterburners'' is described as "stupidly powerful". |
| 176 | ** And after ''that'', it's a '''moon rocket thruster'''. |
| 177 | * ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'' takes itself so over the top that it never so much as ''considers'' stopping at up to eleven. The plot is as follows: [[PersonOfMassDestruction Alex]] [[ImAHumanitarian Mercer]] is sent into an UnstoppableRage over being infected with [[TheVirus a virus]], causing him to go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against an [[SemperFi entire fucking army]] that's backed by ''another'' [[ArmiesAreEvil entire fucking army]] (this one comprised entirely of [[PsychoForHire psychos for hire]]), plus a goddamned ZombieApocalypse and a BigBad [[spoiler:that goes OneWingedAngel on him]], and he ''[[OneManArmy kicks the shit out of them all]]''. ''By himself''.''The whole game'' is a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome. |
| 178 | ** How much [[MadeOfIron damage can Alex regenerate from?]] [[LovecraftianSuperpower How much gorier can the superpowers get?]]. How many tanks, helicopters and {{A|wesomePersonnelCarrier}}PCs can he hijack/destroy with a whip, claw, hammer, blade, super-jaws-of-life-esque-arms, armor, and shield, all made out of ''himself''? Or more correctly, made out of [[ImAHumanitarian the countless soldiers, zombies, and civilians he devours]]. How much of a bastard can most of the main characters, ''[[RefugeInAudacity including the protagonist]]'', turn out to be? [[spoiler:That last one goes to pot a bit when Alex grows a conscience, but at least the Blackwatch ups the ante on their front to make up for it.]] |
| 179 | ** Now there's a [[Videogame/{{Prototype 2}} sequel]] on the way. Thus far, we've seen the ''new'' protagonist turn living, screaming people into tentacle-y grenades; suplex a tank; uppercut a helicopter; and rip multiple soldiers to shreds at once using sticky, springy tendrils that cross entire streets and fling cars around. His mission is to [[RogueProtagonist fight Alex Mercer]]. The code is in Alpha. ''It can only get more insane.'' |
| 180 | * ''[[VideoGame/RockBand Rock Band 3]]''. Let's start with the 25-key [[strike:keyboard]]''keytar'' controller, throw in a new option that requires you to actually play the real part, and end with a 6-string 17-fret midi guitar controller developed specifically for the game. |
| 181 | ** ''Rock Band 1'' (although derided for being easy in comparison to Guitar Hero 3) had Green Grass & High Tides, which took 2 years and change for a guitarist to FC. |
| 182 | ** And the pro final songs on disc for Rock Band 3 were Roundabout (Keys) and Crazy Train/Freebird (Guitar). Trumped somewhat later when they released Pro Guitar Music/Dragonforce. |
| 183 | * Mamono Sweeper. It starts out [[http://www.hojamaka.com/game/mamono_sweeper_easy/en.html easy]], then harder with larger boards like the original VideoGame/{{Minesweeper}}, then proceeds to the [[http://www.hojamaka.com/game/mamono_sweeper_ex/en.html extreme mode]], which has more "mines" per area, then [[http://www.hojamaka.com/game/mamono_sweeper_b/en.html blind mode]] which plays exactly like the actual minesweeper, i.e. ''touch the mine and killed''. The hardness does not end here. The extreme and blind modes are then combined into the [[http://www.hojamaka.com/game/mamono_sweeper_h_ex/en.html huge]][[http://www.hojamaka.com/game/mamono_sweeper_h_b/en.html mode]]. |
| 184 | * ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' has each installment outdo its predecessor in as many ways as possible: |
| 185 | ** ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosMelee'' drastically increased the number of characters and stages in comparison to its predecessor, to the point of incorporating Nintendo franchises that, at the time, weren't as well-known or renowned as others (such as ''VideoGame/IceClimber'', ''VideoGame/GameAndWatch'' and most notably ''Franchise/FireEmblem''). Several new modes (namely Adventure Mode, Event Match, Home-Run Contest, All-Star Mode and the trope-naming [[MultiMookMelee Multi-Man Melee]], as well as the unique Special Smash modes) were added as well, and many of them would reappear in the subsequent games. Lastly, ''Melee'' started the trend of introducing unique bosses other than Master Hand, with the addition of Crazy Hand and Giga Bowser. |
| 186 | ** ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'' aimed to go even further than ''Melee'' in regards of the content available as well as the stakes raised: |
| 187 | *** The increased number of trophies, stickers, stages, and characters can take a long while to locate, particularly the former two. |
| 188 | *** The entirety of the Adventure Mode feels like a ''whole game'' when compared to its smaller counterpart from ''Melee'', complete with bosses, cutscenes, plot twists, incredibly difficult platforming segments, etc. |
| 189 | *** The items. You could spend forever trying to find item combos and such, but the arsenal itself is over-the-top crazy. |
| 190 | *** The Masterpieces. They included playable demos of many of the characters' most famous games. Really more of an advertisement for the Virtual Console, but still. |
| 191 | *** Custom stages. The game introduces the Stage Builder mode for players to design stages and choose the music themes that play in them. |
| 192 | ** ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForNintendo3DSAndWiiU'': Between both versions (3DS and Wii U), the game blows its predecessors out of the water in several regards (with the only drawback being the absence of a dedicated Adventure Mode like in ''Melee'' and ''Brawl''), and the DownloadableContent would further increase the number of stages and characters. However, it's less readily apparent when the versions are viewed separately, since Sakurai and his team needed to make many concessions in order to make things work (especially the technologically challenged 3DS version). |
| 193 | ** ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' could fill up an entire page all on its own, but it is possible to condense it into a short summary: |
| 194 | *** Over 70 characters ''at launch'' (culminating to be 89, filled with over ''a dozen third-party characters''), many of which being long-awaited inclusions (most notably [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry King K. Rool]] and [[Franchise/{{Metroid}} Ridley]], with VideoGame/BanjoKazooie and [[VideoGame/{{Minecraft}} Steve]] as [=DLC=], with none other than [[Franchise/KingdomHearts Sora]] being the GrandFinale), 100+ stages, a new Adventure Mode, over ''a thousand'' Spirits (which are a composite of Event Matches and Trophies), a much more in-depth Stage Builder, and even more Mii costumes (including the infamous [[VideoGame/{{Undertale}} Sans the Skeleton]]). |
| 195 | *** "World of Light" in turn does this compared to "Subspace Emissary". Tabuu had Master Hand under his control, and was able to destroy the world single-handedly. Galeem has a ''whole army'' of Master Hands, and manages to destroy the ''entire galaxy''. |
| 196 | ** Series-wide, this is showcased with the third-party characters included over the years. First, it was Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog and [[VideoGame/MetalGear Solid Snake]] in ''Brawl'', then Franchise/MegaMan, VideoGame/PacMan, [[Franchise/StreetFighter Ryu]], [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud Strife]], and VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}} in the Wii U and 3DS titles (and that's before delving into the possibilities opened up by [[VirtualPaperDoll Mii Fighters]], with some DLC including costumes of yet ''more'' third-party characters), and then [[Franchise/{{Castlevania}} the Belmonts]], [[Franchise/StreetFighter Ken Masters]], and several DLC characters, including the likes of [[VideoGame/Persona5 Joker]], VideoGame/BanjoKazooie, [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Sephiroth]] and [[Franchise/KingdomHearts Sora]]. |
| 197 | * The Fusions in ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou''. Sure, traversing dimensions is fine, but summoning ''the moon''? |
| 198 | * ''VideoGame/TheSims'' had 7 [[ExpansionPack expansion packs]]. Then ''Sims 2'' came out and got 8 expansions, plus 9 stuff packs. ''Sims 3'' got 11 expansions, 9 stuff packs, and a ton of downloadable content ranging from the mundane (hair and clothing) to the useful (a tablet computer which helps you learn any skill you wish) to the bizarre (a door where you can plead with the Grim Reaper to resurrect a dead family member). ''VideoGame/TheSims4'' is set to top this trope to the point that many gamers are calling EA out on this. How? One stuff or game pack ''every month'', unless there's also an expansion pack release on the month, and so far an expansion pack every 7 months. So far it has had 8 stuff packs[[note]]Life of the Party, Up All Night, Awesome Animal Hats, Holiday Celebration, Luxury Party, Perfect Patio, Cool Kitchen and Spooky)[[/note]], two game packs[[note]]Outdoor Retreat and Spa Day[[/note]] and one expansion pack [[note]]Get to Work[[/note]](with another[[note]]Get Together[[/note]] due in November). And the game has only been out for a little over a year and the packs are still coming strong. |
| 199 | * ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquer Red Alert]]'' series, of course. How [[AllTheoriesAreTrue implausible]] [[AlienSpaceBats and convoluted]] can AlternateHistory get? How [[CrazyIsCool utterly]] [[SchizoTech batshit insane]] can SovietSuperscience get? How more [[LargeHam over-the-top]] can acting get before [[RealityBreakingParadox collapsing into some sort of Ham Singularity]]? ''[[ShockAndAwe Just]] [[TeleportersAndTransporters how]] [[FlyingSaucer much]] [[MindControl more]] [[BearsAreBadNews ridiculous]] [[MilitaryMashupMachine can]] [[HumongousMecha units]] [[IfItSwimsItFlies get]]?!'' |
| 200 | ** Ditto on the Tiberian series. How much more contaminated can the world get? How much longer is the devs gonna tease the playerbase about Kane's origins? How much more advanced can the brotherhood be? How many more ways can tiberium screw over the planet? How much more incompetent is GDI? It's even more ironic considering every single game ends on a hopeful note for the good guys, only to have everything go to shit even worse in the next one. |
| 201 | * ''VideoGame/AlienSwarm'' got an update that makes the game much harder than it already was. Many people complained that Insane difficulty wasn't hard enough! What did Valve do? Added Brutal difficulty, which is so hard that ''none of the developers could finish a mission!'' Oh, is that not hard enough? Now try it with Hardcore Friendly Fire enabled, where all friendly fire does full damage to players! And yes, there's already and achievement for beating a mission on Brutal with hardcore friendly fire turned on. |
| 202 | * ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedI'': How [[CombatPragmatist brutal]]/awesome can we make {{Counter Attack}}s and the other killing moves? [[GroinAttack Crotch stomps?]] [[SpamAttack Multiple slashes]] [[SlashedThroat to the throat]]? Child's play! WordOfGod on ''[[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood Brotherhood]]'' promises being able to attack multiple enemies with one counter. The possibilities if it's pulled off well... |
| 203 | * ''VideoGame/IrisuSyndrome'': Exactly how ''fucked up'' is the plot? How insane can Irisu [[spoiler:and Uuji]] get? How many [[FridgeHorror minor details]] can the author scare us with? Until ''Kai'' comes out, we may never know... |
| 204 | * ''VideoGame/DotHackGU'': How many times, throughout the series, do the epitaph users "give their powers" to Haseo? By the end of the game, there really was no place to go, as Haseo had already absorbed the power of the eight epitaphs about three or four times before the ultimately final fight. |
| 205 | ** Also, how many times can Kite (or a lookalike) appear in the series, even though (as stated in the [[Manga/DotHackLegendOfTheTwilight LotT manga]]) his character model was made unavailable for regular use? |
| 206 | ** And how much more complicated can the story get? Starts with people being unable to log out, then mentally stuck in the game yet able to play, then mentally stuck while being unable to act, and then being physically stuck in the game, creating thus an alternate time-line that makes a previously uncanon title become part of the main story. |
| 207 | ** Also, starts with an AI that absorbs players feelings to create the ultimate AI (and creates failed yet fully self-aware AI in the way) but goes out of control trying to delete said ultimate AI, and then said ultimate AI starts playing God, and then she disappears, leaving room for a symbiotic AI that causes people to feel pain inside the game, and then later [[spoiler: one of said symbiotic AI turns into one of the good guys]]. |
| 208 | * ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'' was already one of the darkest versions of the [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Dark Knight]]. ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'' is ''darker''. |
| 209 | * ''VideoGame/MuramasaTheDemonBlade'' has a chapter where the Jinkuro-possessed Momohime ''storms the gates of Hell'' to get the sword he needs for the Soul Transfer. When it's revealed that the sword isn't in Hell, Jinkuro decides on the spot to ''storm the gates of '''Heaven''''' instead and battle the gods to change his fate! |
| 210 | * ''VideoGame/ResonanceOfFate'' has the most impossible gun maneuvers ever. The characters can hover in mid air firing their guns, and they can literally leap across the entire battlefield. Not to mention Vashyron has a maneuver where he jumps, bounces off of his back and flips back up, all while firing his gun. |
| 211 | * How much more bizarre can the plot twists in the ''VideoGame/ProfessorLayton'' games get? How much more badass can a gentlemanly archaeology professor be? How many puzzles can we cram into the game before the whole thing becomes nothing but a sequence of {{Big Lipped Alligator Moment}}s? |
| 212 | ** It's especially jarring since Luke describes the events of the third game as "the strangest mystery we had ever encountered", and games 4 to 6 were prequels. |
| 213 | * If you don't do something Crazy Awesome during the TUTORIAL of ''VideoGame/JustCause 2'', '''you're doing it wrong.''' Once that's done, you can [[StuffBlowingUp blow up]] enough stuff to have the military send a dozen jeeps, several helicopters, and a ''tank'' after you. You can have a carsurfing gunfight during the chase. You can attach anything to anything else - like a speeding car to the road in front of the car, or a bad guy to a fighter plane. Using your grappling hook, you can hijack numerous helicopters without touching the ground. You can planesurf. And during the finale, [[spoiler:[[RidingTheBomb you can surf nuclear missiles]] [[ItMakesSenseInContext and disarm them while fighting a midget dictator]].]] |
| 214 | * [[VideoGame/{{Worms}} Worms Armageddon]] still has patches coming out for it '''''10 YEARS AFTER RELEASE'''''. |
| 215 | * ''VideoGame/SplitSecond2010'': How many more things can you blow up in a single race? How big can the objects involved be? Jumbo jets? Cruise ships? Nuclear reactor cooling towers? ''An entire dam''? How fast can you drive while dodging a helicopter's missiles? How close behind the truck dropping ExplodingBarrels can you drive? |
| 216 | * ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': |
| 217 | ** It looks like the creative process for the [[OlympusMons main legendaries]] has become this: [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Generation I]] has the Pokémon stated to be [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke strongest one ever created]]: Mewtwo. [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Generation II]] introduced Lugia and Ho-Oh, whose stats are on par with that if Mewtwo's. [[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Generation III]], however, subverts it as far as stats go -- but then it almost introduced as many Legendary Pokémon in one go as the last pair did combined. Back in full effect in [[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Generation IV]] with ''four'' Legendary Pokémon with stats on par with Mewtwo. Additionally, another one officially surpasses Mewtwo and the rest of the legendaries as the strongest Pokémon ever--Arceus. The serial escalation seemed to have come to an end with [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Generation V]]--but in [[VideoGame/PokemonXAndY Generations VI]] and [[VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon VII]], the concepts of Mega Evolution and Z-Moves allowed a couple of Pokémon to become so powerful, they're stronger than both Mewtwo ''and'' Arceus. And in [[VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield Generation VIII]], a new Pokémon is introduced, with a form so strong, it's the only Pokémon with a base stat total in the ''quadruple'' digits (although this form is unplayable). |
| 218 | ** After over 25 years, we have achieved over '''''1000''''' Pokémon. |
| 219 | ** The plots have gotten a lot bigger. You've gone from [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue taking down a mafia]] to [[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl saving the entire universe]]... then ''[[VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon]]'' have you saving MULTIPLE universes. |
| 220 | * ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns'': How big a Punch can he make it? [[spoiler: Enough to ''[[SugarWiki/AwesomeMoments punch the moon]]'' into the Tikis' tower]]. |
| 221 | * ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f3woBOc8pY Asura's]] [[VideoGame/AsurasWrath Wrath]]'': [[spoiler: That planet sized buddha? Its one of the weakest and presumably, earliest bosses in the '''Whole Game''']]! Looks like ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'' has some competition in this department, now. |
| 222 | ** It topped itself again. By fighting with Asura's OldMaster Augus on the moon and getting plunged back to earth by usage of one of the biggest swords in video game history. The game trailers show so far this trope is definitely in full play, and how! |
| 223 | *** Said BFS Augus has is [[http://www.joystiq.com/2011/09/16/overheard-tgs-just-how-long-is-that-sword-in-asuras-wrath/ 380,000]] KILOMETERS in length. |
| 224 | ** Just for the record: the first episode ends after Asura singlehandedly takes down an entity that's the size of a large continent, coming out of the planet itself - ''in the first episode!'' And it just gets more insane with every boss from there on out. |
| 225 | ** It all culminates with the final fight against [[spoiler: Chakravartin]] in Part IV: Nirvana. [[spoiler:His giant form is many many times bigger than any other character in the game, to the point while even being out of the solar system he's still visible from the planet earth, he can casually fire really strong, really fast laser beams that goes across the solar system at several times faster than light, Throws entire planets and even '''STARS at you, and even tries to make the sun go super nova JUST TO TRY AND KILL YOU!''']] The real kicker? [[spoiler: That's only the first half of the fight against him, and he's not even trying or using his strongest form.]] |
| 226 | * Can ''VideoGame/SplinterCell'' protagonist Sam Fisher get any more [[{{Eagleland}} American]]!? At one point in ''Conviction'' he actually stabs a terrorist with an American Flag without missing a beat . Made all the better by the fact that the terrorist-gangster in question has several KickTheDog moments who most players have wanted to brutalize for the entire game. |
| 227 | ** It's optional, and technically he just stabs him with the flagpole... on the other hand, the beating during which this can happen is happening inside the Washington, D.C. headquarters of Third Echelon, Fisher's former organization that actually hired on this gangster. |
| 228 | * How hard can we push the ''VideoGame/{{ARMA}}'' series against the Realistic end of the FacklerScaleOfFPSRealism? Not much more when it comes to infantry, but a good bit when it comes to vehicles, particularly aircraft -- the ''[[SimulationGame Digital Combat Simulator]]'' series has them beat there. |
| 229 | %% * VideoGame/DukeNukemForever: |
| 230 | %% ** How much longer can we delay the game? |
| 231 | %% ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XsnH_994Jo How far]] will the developers take RefugeInAudacity? |
| 232 | %% ** How much longer can the [[LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading load times]] get? |
| 233 | * How insane can we make the Shadow bosses of ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}''? In order of appearance, Yosuke's is a frog-thing with a ninja grafted onto its back, Chie's is a dominatrix banana-head that sits on top of a tower of schoolgirls, Yukiko's is a fiery bird that can summon an evil price doll, the less said about Kanji's shadow the better, Rise's is a satellite-faced swirly-colored stripper, Teddie's is just downright frightening, and Mitsuo's is a floating baby with an eight-bit character for a shield. |
| 234 | * What ridiculous plan are the minions of darkness going to concoct to bring [[Franchise/{{Castlevania}} Dracula]] BackFromTheDead this time? How much hammier can the voice acting get? How much bigger can the weapons get? What new attacking system can we add this time? |
| 235 | * Just how hard can the last boss of the ''VideoGame/ArcanaHeart'' fighting games (as well as fighting games in general) [[SNKBoss get]]? Really, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEzi4soBnJc REALLY]] hard, thats how. |
| 236 | * ''VideoGame/KillerInstinct'' has this as a ''gameplay mechanic''. Any combo starting from the meager 3-hit Triple Combo gets a more badass sounding name and an [[LargeHam equally enthusiastic performance]] from the announcer, until he goes absolutely ballistic when you pull an '''ULTRAAAAAAAA COMBOOOOOOOO!!'''. The Ultra Combos themselves are subjects to this: they can go anywhere from some 20 hits up to ''80 hits''! |
| 237 | * ''VideoGame/RuneScape''. How insanely high-leveled can they make a monster? Currently, the most insane monster is Nex (level 1001). For reference, a PC can only achieve 138 (which is all combat stats at lv 99, including summoning and prayer.) |
| 238 | * ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER 3}}''. What horrifying new Chimera will you fight next? How much more abuse will [[TheWoobie Salsa]] be put through? What unbelievable feat of badassery will the [[BadassAdorable adorable]] characters pull off? How many more terrible things can an immortal PsychopathicManchild do? How can said PsychopathicManchild still remain a sympathetic villain? How much more severe can we make the MoodWhiplash this time? How much can the world and PsychopathicManchild [[TheWoobie emotionally torture Lucas?]] Just how much stranger, [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments funnier]] and [[TearJerker more heartrending]] can [[{{Utsuge}} this game]] ''possibly get?'' |
| 239 | ** How bizarre will the next boss be? [[spoiler: The ghost of Beethoven, a tank, a bass guitar, a pile of garbage, a living generator, a biomechanical caribou, a robot gorilla with wrecking balls for hands, an ''animate whirlpool''...]] |
| 240 | * ''Franchise/BlazBlue'': |
| 241 | ** ''[[VideoGame/BlazBlueCalamityTrigger Calamity Trigger]]'', the first game, starts with being a rather standard fighting game, except for its overly absurd PinballScoring: You pick a character, go through 10 fights and have to beat an Unlimited character (essentially an SNKBoss) to win the game. But the game has a bonus boss, which is absurd even for Unlimited standard. |
| 242 | ** Then you can try going through the Score Attack mode, which pits you against all 12 playable characters in the game, all at the highest AI difficulty, with the last four bosses being Unlimited characters. |
| 243 | ** Then ''[[VideoGame/BlazBlueContinuumShift Continuum Shift]]'', the sequel, adds two more characters to the roster, one of which comes with an Unlimited mode as a final boss, and thus adding them to the Score Attack mode. That means 14 characters in a row, with the last five being {{SNK Boss}}es. |
| 244 | ** Then Continuum Shift II adds even more characters, but surprisingly its Score Attack mode is reduced to fighting 10 normal characters. The reason for this is (unfortunately) simple: [=CS II=] has a second Score Attack mode named Unlimited Mars mode, where every enemy you fight is in Unlimited mode. To rephrase: that's almost a dozen characters, all of which are {{SNK Boss}}es. |
| 245 | ** Continuum Shift II Extend slows the escalation somewhat by merely adding one additional characters as well as adding more move pool to the already-broken Unlimited characters. |
| 246 | *** And a trend that's going through the entire series: How awesome will the next musical piece be? |
| 247 | * The ''VideoGame/ApeEscape'' series. How many monkeys must be captured for HundredPercentCompletion? How large-scale can [[DiabolicalMastermind Specter's]] plans get? |
| 248 | * ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'': |
| 249 | ** Each game's main quest tends to escalate as you advance through the series. In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsArena Arena]]'', the Big Bad is Jagar Tharn, an EvilSorcerer and EvilChancellor who has usurped [[TheGoodKing the Emperor]]. In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall Daggerfall]]'', you are tasked with recovering a [[HumongousMecha lost superweapon]]. In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', you're tasked with [[KillTheGod slaying]] an evil PhysicalGod DeityOfHumanOrigin with some [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch]] traits who wants to TakeOverTheWorld. In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'', you need to defeat Mehrunes Dagon, the [[OurGodsAreDifferent Daedric Prince]] of [[DestroyerDeity Destruction]] and all around OmnicidalManiac hell bent on ''destroying'' the world. In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', you must defeat Alduin, the [[DragonsAreDemonic draconic]] BeastOfTheApocalypse whose job it is to "eat the world", and who is also the "son"/"fragment of" the series' TopGod. In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline Online]]'', you must stop Molag Bal, the closest thing the series has to true GodOfEvil, from merging his [[EldritchLocation realm of Oblivion]] with the mortal world, which would be a FateWorseThanDeath for ''all mortals''. |
| 250 | ** The series loves the YouAllMeetInACell trope, and it has undergone escalation throughout the series. In ''Arena'', you start out imprisoned by the BigBad. In ''Daggerfall'', you end up shipwrecked in a dungeon and have to fight your way out. In ''Morrowind'', you are a prisoner who has been released under the orders of the Emperor. In ''Oblivion'', you are personally freed from prison by the Emperor and his entourage, as they need to flee through your cell. In ''Skyrim'', you start off sentenced to ''die'' and are being led to the executioner's block. In ''Online'', you ''are'' dead and find yourself in the aforementioned Molag Bal's realm of Oblivion. |
| 251 | ** In-universe, Molag Bal seems to somehow ''get worse'' with each appearance in the series. He is already the Daedric Prince of Domination and Corruption, a sphere which includes Violation, Defilement, and ''Rape''. While he has always been a clearly malevolent entity, his actions and the stories about him somehow get worse with each installment. ''Skyrim'''s ''Dawnguard'' DLC expands upon the details of him committing the first rape which spawn the first vampire. ''Online'' has him as one of the most malevolent and outright ''vile'' {{Big Bad}}s to date in the series. |
| 252 | * Egosoft, maker of the ''[[VideoGame/{{X}} X-Universe]]'' series, loves its SceneryPorn and tops itself with each installment. Gorgeous, fully rendered backdrops, animated planets that exist as actual physical models, ships textured to the smallest polygon, etc. They go nuts with it in the latest installment, ''VideoGame/XRebirth''. |
| 253 | * The ''VideoGame/SaintsRow'' series, with each installment being more over-the-top than the last. [[VideoGame/SaintsRow1 The first one]] is rather mild, being more a ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' clone than anything else. [[VideoGame/SaintsRow2 The second one]] gets a little crazier, with you now commanding the Saints and fighting Japanese yakuza members, heavy metal monster truck fanatics, and a rasta drug cartel with ''possible'' supernatural connections, while escorting your lieutenants with helicopter gunships, running naked through the streets, and ending with an aerial assault on a skyscraper and the assassination of a prominent business mogul. [[VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird The third one]] takes this up to eleven, with things like homicidal Japanese game shows, spec ops teams with energy weapons, nearly starting a zombie apocalypse, aerial aircraft carriers, and '''skydiving with a tank'''. [[VideoGame/SaintsRowIV The fourth game]] starts with the player as the President of the United States. Then the world gets invaded by aliens. Then you get superpowers. Things escalate from there. ''VideoGame/SaintsRowGatOutOfHell'' sees the Boss become GodEmperor of the universe before being sent to hell, prompting Johnny Gat and Kinzie Kensington to go on a mission to rescue the Boss and shoot the devil in the face. They also get superpowers and new weapons, such as a weaponized recliner chair with miniguns and locust shooters. |
| 254 | * ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'' is already an offbeat game, featuring an OccidentalOtaku with a [[LaserBlade Beam Katana]] fighting a wide range of colorful assassins, including (but not limited to) a private detective with a revolver, an African-American school girl with a [[KatanasAreJustBetter katana]], a homicidal HenshinHero, and a cranky old lady with a WaveMotionGun concealed in a shopping cart. The sequel, ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes2DesperateStruggle'', outdoes itself with more assassins to fight that are even more outlandish, such as a rapper whose boombox turns into armored gauntlets, a college football star piloting a HumongousMecha (which you fight with a mecha of your own), a slasher villain with a combination axe[=/=]flamethrower, and a Russian cosmonaut with a KillSat. The spin-off ''VideoGame/TravisStrikesAgainNoMoreHeroes'' introduces the zany premise of [[TrappedInTVLand fighting your way through video games]], allowing for even more outrages boss fights, while ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroesIII'' cranks the weirdness up to eleven by having the player fight not assassins, but ''[[NinjaPirateZombieRobot fugitive alien superheroes]]''! |
| 255 | * ''VideoGame/TotalAnnihilation'' and its [[SpiritualSuccessor Spiritual Successors]]. ''Total Annihilation'' featured massive battles in large but still cramp maps where [[{{BFG}} giant artillery guns]] and [[SlapOnTheWristNuke nukes]] can pummel hordes of enemies from clear across the map. Then came ''VideoGame/SupremeCommander'', which featured '''MILES WIDE''' maps where even more impressive and chaotic battles between even larger armies are fought in. And now the upcoming game, ''VideoGame/PlanetaryAnnihilation'', tops this by having said battles taken on a '''[[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace GALACTIC SCALE]]''', where battles are now fought between dozens of planets in real time! |
| 256 | * ''VideoGame/FreedomForceVsTheThirdReich'' Your first major foe is your old enemy Nuclear Winter. Only now he has nuclear missiles. Oh, and he's giant. Then things get worse. And about halfway through the game things start escalating at an insane rate until [[spoiler: the entire UNIVERSE is destroyed except for your squad of heroes. Fortunately they have a chance to undo it..]]. |
| 257 | * The climax of ''VideoGame/SpiderManWebOfShadows'' involves Venom crashing a helicarrier. Then in ''VideoGame/SpiderManShatteredDimensions'', Carnage brings down MULTIPLE helicarriers. And that's not even the final boss. |
| 258 | * ''VideoGame/CookieClicker'': You can't possibly bake more cookies. So how much more impossibly can you make them? Harvest them from cookie farms, mine them from veins of dough and chocolate ore, plunder time for every cookie that has ever been. Damn the cost, convert ''all'' anti-matter into posi-cookie! |
| 259 | * ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'': |
| 260 | ** How much bigger can the [[{{BFS}} weapons]], armor and [[GiantMook enemies]] (or ''friends'', for that matter) get? |
| 261 | ** How much DarkerAndEdgier will each level and [[JigsawPuzzlePlot unveiled piece]] of {{backstory}} be than the last? |
| 262 | ** Just how [[TheManyDeathsOfYou spectacular and painful]] will your next death be? |
| 263 | ** How many times will you die to the next ThatOneBoss? |
| 264 | ** How many [[LargeHam grandiose acronyms]] can you prefix the next spell with? |
| 265 | * ''VideoGame/TangerineTycoon'' has a few cases of this, as should be expected from an IdleGame: |
| 266 | ** Each building costs ten times more than the previous one, but generates tangerines much faster too. |
| 267 | ** After you leave the first universe, you can buy the [=UpGod=] perk, which multiplies the output of the 5-D Tangerine by a huge amount: at level 1, it's 100X faster, at level 2 it's 100 000 000X faster, at level 3 it's 100 000 000 00X faster, and so on. Upgrading this perk could very well make a single 5-D Tangerine generate more tangerines by itself than what you made during all the previous universes combined. |
| 268 | * The MediaNotes/ConsoleWars is uses this as one of the marketing weapons of the war. Consoles are constantly advertised has having bigger memory bus/more colors/better sound than it's predecessors/rivals. For example, while Sega and Nintendo were duking it out during during the 16-bit era in the Platform/SegaGenesis vs Platform/{{Super Nintendo|EntertainmentSystem}} war, SNK released the Platform/NeoGeo and claimed it was a 24-bit console[[note]]It was actually 16-bit, it even used the same M68K cpu as the Genesis[[/note]]. When Sega and Sony were duking it out during the Playstation vs Saturn war, Nintendo came out with the Platform/Nintendo64 and claimed it trumps both just by the sheer bus size alone. And when Sega tried this with the Platform/Dreamcast}} by marketing it as a 128-bit console in the 6th Generation era, Sony and Nintendo to retaliated using the same tactics with the Platform/PlayStation2 and [[Platform/NintendoGameCube GameCube]][[note]]although Nintendo's were more subtle- they did not outright claim that the console was 128-bit, but the demo for the console that they showed off at expos and trade shows was called ''Super Mario 128''[[/note]]. Thankfully, people has since wised up, and new laws made these kinds of marketing claims illegal. |
| 269 | * TERA had an in-game example of this. After a high fantasy world is invaded by basically alien hive mind, the prolonged war makes the Alliance drift to more brutal approaches. Cue introduction of new player classes: Gunner, wielding enormous experimental magic canons, Reaper- fairies devoid of all emotion, except rage and hatred and Brawler, functionally Space Marines. It wouldn't be so bad if most of those classes didn't have very noticeable ThousandYardStare on their official arts. |
| 270 | * ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' has gone this way. What started as a traditional (if not caught in an oversaturated market) UsefulNotes/WorldWarII experience hit upon a new stride with ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty4ModernWarfare'' that took the series into the present day and sparked a revolution amongst military-based first-person shooter games. The ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' series itself went through its own SerialEscalation, trying to capitalize on the {{Shocking Moment|s}} of the first game's [[spoiler:nuclear detonation]], but the games in the years following the close of the series in 2011 have tried to one-up their modern-day forerunner by adding fancy near-future (drones in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsII'') and exotic future tech (exosuits in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyAdvancedWarfare'') as well as injecting more dramatic scenarios to the narrative (South America banding together to launch a KillSat strike against the US in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyGhosts''). The 2016 installment, ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyInfiniteWarfare'', continues the trend by [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace sending the series to space]]. |
| 271 | * According to one estimate, ''VideoGame/LittleBigPlanet'' has so many levels (over 9 million now) that it'd take more than ''an entire human lifetime'' to play all of them. |
| 272 | * ''VideoGame/MarvelAvengersAlliance'': How many characters can they cram into a single RPG? How broken will the attacks and status effects get? How many pop culture references will there be? How many weapons and armors can the Agent use? How powerful will the next boss be? The final Epic Boss is '''Odin'''. |
| 273 | * ''VideoGame/TheWonderful101'' is a constant uphill rush on how over-the-top its action can get. Starting off with a simple mission to stop a school bus from being flown on to its school, it quickly keeps topping the size of the enemy mechas, the flashy boss fight sequences, and what sort of move the team of 100 heroes pulls off to stop said boss fight. By the end of the game, [[spoiler:they're fighting a giant space station-turned-mecha with an army of 200 of their own mecha (each of which could absolutely dwarf buildings -- one of them is even made of buildings -- and the enemy mech dwarfs ''that'') fighting against his rain of bombs and lasers in space]]. The locations also escalate from a suburb, to a city, to a sky airport, to an ocean-city, to a volcano, to an icy island, to [[spoiler:the insides of an alien, to the original town under a major enemy attack, and finally a rush through space]]. |
| 274 | * ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' had a glitch item called 8F, which usually caused the game to crash when used. Then someone figured out that it was actually making the game read code from an invalid location... which could be manipulated with the right combinations of items and Pokemon. As in, you can write code with Pokemon. As the glitch became better-known, people started pushing the envelope further and further to see what exactly 8F was capable of. Warping to the credits? Sure. Getting infinite amounts of any Pokemon you want? Easy. Opening up a game of Pong? Just hard reset the game when you're done. Turning your cartridge into a creepypasta? That works. Warping to the credits of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand2SixGoldenCoins'' - wait, what? Apparently, yes! Sending code to a game on the SNES? No one's figured out a use for it yet, but yes, [[http://forums.glitchcity.info/index.php?topic=7722.msg203493#msg203493 you can write code onto a SNES game from a Pokemon game on the Game Boy Color]] ''with a glitch''. At this point, 8F is limited only by the Pokemon and items you have, and the imagination of the person using it. |
| 275 | * ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'' sold itself on having "bazillions" of procedurally generated guns. ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'' proclaimed it was getting "bazilliondier". ''VideoGame/BorderlandsThePreSequel'' copied across most of the guns and the algorithm for building them from ''2'' wholesale, then put in an entirely new kind of gun (lasers) just so it could generate more. (It also added a Cryo element, but this was replacing ''2'''s Slag element, so no overall change there.) |
| 276 | ** The plots of the games have increased in scope and stakes as well. First game: you are a treasure hunter trying to beat an evil corporation to opening an alien vault, and wind up fighting a big monster. Second game: the corporation is much more evil and has conquered the planet, and the monster is much bigger and nastier. Third game: you ''are'' the evil corporation, and are fighting to stop the entire moon from being destroyed along with everyone on it, which will also kill the planet below. Fourth game: the enemy is now a cult 10 ''billion'' strong, and the plot will have you travel to multiple planets. |
| 277 | * ''Franchise/StreetFighter'': |
| 278 | ** What kind of death will Bison [[JokerImmunity survive]] this time? Getting his soul obliterated by Akuma for starters. And how awful will his next villainous deed be? |
| 279 | ** How many over the top delightful stereotypes can we cram in one game? |
| 280 | ** How much more manly can Zangief get? Piledrive a bear into a tornado? Break a sword with a tiny flex of his muscles perhaps? |
| 281 | ** What kind of overpowered foe will Ryu take down today and yet still not be satisfied? A demon? A planet eater? An actual god like entity? |
| 282 | ** How many [[CapcomSequelStagnation updates]] will Capcom make this time? How will they piss off the fanbase this time? |
| 283 | * There was a reason the aliens were afraid of ''VideoGame/TheMaw''. It's too bad their maximum-security specimen (and you) escape when their ship crash-landed. With nothing else in the offing, you and Maw work together to fight for your freedom. However, it becomes clear that Maw has an [[OneTrackMindedHunger ever-growing appetite for]] ''anything''. He climbs up the destruction scale as you progress and, by the end of the game, [[spoiler:by ''[[PlanetEater eats]]'' the entire planet (you escape in a spaceship). Worse, the implication in the closing credits sequence is that Maw is not done yet]]. |
| 284 | * ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'': |
| 285 | ** At first it was a relatively simple sandbox game similar to ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' (except 2D, don't forget that), with rather tame boss fights, the hardest of them arguably being Skeletron. Then came the 1.1 update, which felt more like an expansion pack than an update, with an entire slew of new content, most notably four new bosses, all of them significantly tougher than the original three. The focus also shifted more towards combat and farming for new equipment with the introduction of Hardmode, which not only introduces new enemies that are as common as regular zombies and hit harder than Skeletron, but also new weapons and armor that are much stronger than the pre-hardmode ones. ''THEN'' there was the 1.2 update, which brought a whole new mess of content like the 1.1 update, and adds more monsters (some of them '''stronger''' than Skeletron Prime) and new equipment that completely outclass all of the equipment found in the original release. |
| 286 | ** If the Pumpkin/Frost Moon events become a trend, it might end up this way. Pumpkin Moons caused players to rethink their boss fighting setups, especially after acquiring the new drops that exploit certain mechanics allowing them to easily cheese the last wave. Then came the Frost Moon where those same tactics became of limited effectiveness, compounded by harsher wave progression requirements and a higher number of waves. Then players started to reach the final wave solo, initially deemed nigh impossible without multiple players. Cue the previous Pumpkin Moon event becoming a joke to players possessing Frost Moon equipment. |
| 287 | ** The 1.3 Big Update takes it to a new level with Cultists and Alien invasions, as well as a new boss that will spawn after a special Invasion event. There are also new enemies added to several pre-existing Invasion events to make them more interesting, and about 800 new items added, as well as a significant upgrade to the Inventory subscreen. |
| 288 | * ''Franchise/FateSeries'': |
| 289 | ** Just how many Servants can you fit in a Grail War? ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' and its [[Literature/FateZero prequel]] keeps it at about 7 (Gilgamesh and [[spoiler:True Assassin]] notwithstanding). Then it's revealed in the original version of ''Prototype'' that Saber would've had to fight the previous War's six Servants on top of the threats he already faces. ''Literature/FateApocrypha'' tops that by having two teams of 7 and a supervisor in the form of Ruler, [[spoiler:two of them, in fact]]. ''VideoGame/FateExtra (CCC)'' has ''128'' Masters all fighting (though gameplay and story limitations means the player gets to see about 15 of the actual participants) for the Grail. ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'' allows you to use all those Servants and then some, even allowing you to swing by other eras' Grail Wars with all of ''their'' Servants. ''Literature/FateRequiem'' trumps them all with everybody on the planet but the protagonist getting Servants as a result of an unspecified war. |
| 290 | ** How specialized can a Servant class get? The Assassins initially were ranked from the 19 members of the Hassan clan (that changed), while the Rulers were initially servants of God (also changed). ''VideoGame/FateExtra'' introduced the concept of special classes that only one Servant can have, like Saver ([[spoiler:Buddha]]) and Funny Vamp/Temptress (a possible class for [[VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}} Arcueid Brunestud]]). As of ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'', we have the Moon Cancer class, which consists of [[VideoGame/FateExtra B.B.]] and for the longest time ''only'' B.B. (until Ganesha/Jinako showed up, turning it into generally Moon Cell-only). |
| 291 | ** ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'' introduced Pseudo-Servants, Servants that manifest with human vessels, starting with Zhuge Liang in [[Literature/FateZero Lord El-Melloi II/Waver Velvet]], with the game continuing to release Pseudo-Servants inhabiting the vessels of previous Nasuverse characters. However, the event "Servant Summer Camp" introduced a summer variant of Kiara Sessyoin, a former antagonist from ''[[VideoGame/FateEXTRA Fate/EXTRA CCC]]'' and already a summonable servant, as a Pseudo-Servant for Yao Bikuni. And in Lostbelt 6, [[spoiler: Caster Cú Chulainn, initially thought to be a variant of the Lancer Servant from ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', is revealed to a Pseudo-Servant of the Norse God Odin]]. |
| 292 | * How many more planets can exist in ''VideoGame/NoMansSky''? There's presumably ''18 quintillion''. It would take [[ArchiveBinge literally billions of years to find them all.]] '''Nothing''' can top that. |
| 293 | * ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'': ''VideoGame/DragonQuestII'''s game world was often touted as being "four times as large" as ''VideoGame/DragonQuestI'' and as including all of the first map as a mere part of the bigger overworld; however this came at the cost of shrinking it and removing most of its accessible places. In real terms the game map was not even twice as big as the first's. |
| 294 | * ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammer'' has this regarding AscendedExtra factions. The first game had Bretonnia (just some unique units at launch, then became a full faction as FLC) and Norsca (mostly relegated to the background in [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}} the source material]] and made up of Warriors of Chaos units at launch, now it's a unique faction that can be found north of Kislev). ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammerII'' had the Vampire Coast, who exist as supplementary material for the Vampire Counts faction in the tabletop, but are now a full fledged faction, with part of their roster taken from ''TabletopGame/{{Dreadfleet}}''. ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammerIII'' has, [[NotHyperbole quite literally]], '''every faction at launch that isn't DLC''' - Kislev was just in the background in both the tabletop and the prior games, the Daemons of Chaos were originally one single army but were expanded into four (one for each of the Dark Gods), while Cathay has been the HufflepuffHouse of the setting ''since Warhammer first launched 30+ years ago''. |
| 295 | * ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' expansions keep introducing bigger and more impressive capital ships for player-controlled civilizations. On release, battleships were the biggest ships a player could build. Later, players were given the ability to build their own Titans, super-heavy artillery ships previously reserved for [[VestigialEmpire Fallen]] [[HigherTechSpecies Empires]]. After that came Collossi, weapons of mass destruction whose options include shattering worlds or encasing them in an impenetrable shield. After this came Juggernauts, [[TheBattlestar city-sized, heavily-armed carriers]] with their own ''shipyards'' capable of building ships up to and including battleships. And then Star-Eaters, whose names [[StarKilling describe them precisely]]. |
| 296 | * ''VideoGame/TheTreeOfLife'': The first few layers are mostly stuff on a molecular level. The early midgame focuses on cells, tissues, and organs, basically parts of a single organism. The midgame involves animals and species, though there are also layers based on chromosomes and nucleuses. The lategame has ecosystems and plants. That said, Phase 3 (endgame) moves on to Humans and actually reverses some of the escalation (Life Points would go above the eeee990 mark, but beating Left drops point gain to above e50,000 which is early game territory). |
| 297 | * ''VideoGame/{{Satisfactory}}'': Each tier you unlock introduce new tech that are both more useful (better transports, equipment and power) and more difficult to produce. Early on you have iron, copper and limestone - very straight-forward and easy to build self-contained factories. Then you get coal and the option to make steel, which is... still easy, but requires some consideration, plus water and fluid dynamics starts to rear its ugly head. Then you get oil, and not only do you ''really'' have to understand fluids, but you also have to handle waste products, and your factories need logistic solutions since not everything can be produced locally. And then you get thrown into the multi-step refining nightmare that is aluminium and uranium handling, and battery production to feed your growing fleet of drones. |
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