Aside Glance / Video Games

• The main character of Crash Bandicoot, especially the original trilogy, in SPADES. On a side note, he even has separate stance animations depending on whether you turn him to the camera or sideways: straight brings a smirk on his face (he SEES you!), turning him sideways makes him look derpy.
• Jak and Daxter:
  • In Jak II: Renegade, in order to sign up for the races, Jak and Daxter must sign a contract. One of the stipulations is giving away rights to almost any use of their likenesses. When he gets to the final entry ("Game rights?!") he and Jak glance at the screen.
  • Similarly, at one point in Jak 3, a young monk in Spargus City tells our heroes "This isn't a game!", and the two look at the camera with befuddled expressions on their faces.
• In The Secret of Monkey Island, Herman Toothrot frequently does this. Guybrush has the option to ask him what he's looking at, and Herman responds "The people watching at home, of course!"
• Super Mario Bros.
  • In Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Yoshi looks at the player wide-eyed when Kamek shrinks him down so Prince Froggy can eat him.
  • Super Mario RPG: Dodo will glance out at the player several times during his appearances, mostly when he's confused, annoyed, or feeling especially put upon.
  • Super Paper Mario: Luvbi shoots an exasperated look at the "camera" whenever she is bored or unimpressed.
  • Mario Party:
    • On the Rainbow Castle board, when Bowser sells you the useless black star for 40 coins, the character turns around and looks into the camera. As expressed in this video. Mario's expression just says "Can you believe this shit?".
    • It also happens in Luigi's Engine Room, when Bowser activates his "Make As Many Coins As You Want Mecha" to create a coin for the player (at the cost of 20 coins).
• During the first dinner scene in Deadly Premonition, York looks straight into the camera while talking to his split personality Zach. The fourth wall has a hard time in this game.
• During the intro to the fight with Psycho Mantis in Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes. While said boss is flaunting his impressive psychic abilities, he boasts the ability to move things with his mind and offers to demonstrate. He then tells the player to put the controller on the ground. The camera suddenly shifts to a side-view of Snake, who turns to the camera and nods, gun still trained completely on Mantis.
• Ratchet & Clank:
  • Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando, as the villain escapes the area they just arrived in:
    Ratchet: We're late again.
    Clank: We always seem to be a bit late. Why is that?
    (both look at the camera with puzzled expressions)
  • In both the first and second games, Ratchet will turn his head to look at the player questioningly if he hasn't moved recently, even while firing a weapon. The interval can be disconcertingly short.
• The intro to Lemmings 2: The Tribes ends with the elder telling the little lemming that the tribes will have help from "the ones who saved us before", whereupon they both turn their heads towards the screen and look directly at you.
• The Bard from the 2004 version of The Bard's Tale does this in several cut scenes, even talking back to the narrator.
• This is the default stance the Turtles have in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game for the NES, which is a bit annoying as they are constantly staring at you whenever they are standing still. They would do this in the actual arcade game, too. Though at least there the Turtles would face forward for a second or two and then look at the player as if saying, "Still there?"
• The Sims:
  • Characters in The Sims 2 often channel this trope: they will occasionally just glance up at you, the player, positioned in the sky looking down upon them. This is particularly amusing when you pause while they are doing this, making them freeze staring at that spot in the sky, move the camera elsewhere, and then unpause to watch them shift their gaze to the camera's new position.
  • With the University Expansion pack, you could tell any sim to look at you and smile on demand for photos. You could even have them pose in various ways while looking at you.
• During a created wrestler's Road to Wrestlemania in Smackdown Vs. Raw 2010, Santino Marella does this and winks at the player after commenting that the created wrestler "looks like something some loser would make in a video game."
• Mass Effect:
  • In Mass Effect, Liara gives a warm one when Shepard refuses to hand her over to a Krogan mercenary.
  • Mass Effect 3:
    • Joker looks at the camera when making the "Russian National Anthem" comment after engaging the stealth drive, in case you missed the Shout-Out to The Hunt for Red October.
    • Shepard gives a bewildered one in the Citadel DLC when Grunt and Wrex start Shepard-ing at them.
• Kirby Super Star and its remake, Super Star Ultra, does this during the tutorial. When the tutorial narration describes Kirby as "a pretty jolly guy," he looks at the screen with a raised eyebrow. His expression tells the whole story.
• Used in a rather Looney Toons way in King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow in a couple of places where Alexander can fall off cliffs. Instead of immediately falling, he stands in the air, looks at the player, and waves before falling to his death. In a similar scene where the fall is not fatal, he can be heard to yell "Hey, quit making me fall!". This is more of a generic fourth wall break, however.
• Quite a bit of Star Trek: Borg might fall into this trope, but it's mostly justified since the player is seeing things entirely from the perspective of a character. Some of Q's reactions to "you" that the rest of the characters don't pick up on definitely count, however.
• Used by the title character in Voodoo Vince, during his first meeting with Cosmo the Inscrutable — in response to the latter's Evil Laugh.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • At the beginning of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, once Link has been turned into a Deku Scrub and Tatl "apologizes" he looks at the camera and shrugs helplessly.
  • Link's Twilight Princess incarnation also glances in your direction if you leave him standing in one place long enough. Presumably to check you're still there.
  • In the opening of Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon, after Zelda tells Link to go find the King, she looks at the player in a way that practically says: "I just know he's going to mess this up."
• Donkey Kong does this in Donkey Kong Country Returns when Kalimba, a Tiki chief, tries and fails to hypnotize him.
• In Spyro: A Hero's Tail, Ember asks Spyro if the dark gem next to her would make a nice engagement ring, flirting with him. Spyro gives an Oh, Crap! look directly to the camera in response.
• Sonic the Hedgehog:
  • In the Genesis games, if Sonic stood still too long he would look at the player and tap his foot impatiently.
  • In Sonic Generations, when Amy is rescued by Classic Sonic, and she gushes over him, Classic Sonic gives the most appropriate Aside Glance ever.
• The smiling Character Portrait of both protagonists of Devil Survivor and its sequel double as this, as if to tell player, "Nice choice!"
• In Ghost Trick, if you ever get caught by "Bad Sissel", a.k.a. Yomiel, they react by freezing time, and then turning and looking directly at the camera. They then promptly tell you that you can't stop them, and cause an instant game over. It's somehow very unsettling and creepy.
• Muramasa: The Demon Blade by Vanillaware has the protagonists appear to give these glances periodically whenever they run for a period of time, but this can be interpreted as them looking out for enemies, who pop up out of nowhere when encountered (barring the locations where they're already in place on the map). More to the point, in an odd fashion, the extremely busty Kongiku randomly gives an Aside Glance and sways her body (which also jiggles her breasts) for no apparent reason whenever she's idle.
  • This is referenced in Dragon's Crown, where one of the Sorceress's animations has her mimicking Kongiku's glance and swaying. Again for no apparent reason. At this point, it seems to be a subtle lampshade on both characters' appearances and the fact that some players would stand there and ogle them anyway.
• BlazBlue: Chronophantasma gives us Hakumen - or should we say, Pakumen - after Amane's Astral Heat. After the sudden transformation, he turns to face the camera as if to say "What the eff?!" about what just transpired.
• In the supplemental video "Meet the Medic" for Team Fortress 2, the Heavy can be seen directing some concerned glances toward the camera.
• In the opening cutscene for "The Long Stretch" in Grand Theft Auto V, Franklin has already been in an awkward situation, what with walking in on his aunt Denise and her friends in the middle of some intense, um, vagina clenching exercises. But then when he opens the front door to leave, only to see Lamar and Stretch coming to see him, he looks back to the camera with this irritated "Oh God... could this get any worse?" expression.
• In Final Fantasy VII, after Cloud's hallucination, fainting and subsequent encounter with Mukki in the "&$#% Room", he finishes the cutscene by turning towards the camera and shrugging.
• It's a bit of a Running Gag in the Dragon Age series, thus far happening Once an Episode.
  • In Dragon Age: Origins, in the village of Lothering, the Warden must persuade a priestess to give them the key to another character's prison. This is more easily accomplished if the Warden first recruits Leliana (who is in the same village), as she vouches for the Warden. When the priestess agrees, Leliana tells her in a reassuring voice that she will have no cause to regret doing this. As she finishes the statement, she outright glares at the camera.
  • In Dragon Age II, Hawke can ask returning character Bodahn about his adventures with the previous game's protagonist. He turns and gives his praise of the Warden directly to the camera.
  • Leliana does it again in Dragon Age: Inquisition when arguing with Chancellor Roderick. She reminds him that she and Cassandra "serve the Most Holy," then turns to the camera while adding, "As you well know." It's an interesting example, given that this is something that the player does not necessarily know about the two women.
• Carol of Freedom Planet gives a "blegh!" face to the camera while Milla plays with Lilac's hair.
• At the end of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, specifically the Blood and Wine Expansion, in the final scene Geralt can comment on the long road he (and by extension, the player) took to get to this point. He then contemplates the fact that he deserves a rest, then gives the camera a warm, if tired look, acknowledging everything you've done to get him there. Especially heartwarming if you powered through the whole series start to finish rather than starting with the third game, and experienced as much of the side content as you could.
• Splatoon 2: During the results for the "Chicken vs Egg" Splatfest, Marina replies to one of Pearl's comments with "It's funny because we're all living in a simulation and free will is a lie." Marina and Pearl then blankly stare at the screen. In the context of their news Show Within a Show, it could also count as them staring at the in-series viewers after saying such an existential thing.
• In the Magical Quest series, this happens whenever Mickey, Minnie^*She's only in the second game and the GBA port of the first game, and Donald^*He's only in the third game are in water. If they're not swimming, their Idle Animation has them turn to the player with a worried expression, as if to say "Please don't let me drown".
• The normal battle victory screen in Persona 5 has one of Joker's teammates mugging for the camera. Said screen features the Phantom Thieves Of Hearts "fleeing the scene", it could thematically be taken as a parting shot at the security they just defeated.
• Ibuki and Julia Chang do this in Street Fighter X Tekken. Ibuki doing this in her unique introduction alongside Rolento and Julia in her team's side of the cutscene against Zangief and Rufus even saying "oh brother".
• Yakuza: Like a Dragon features a sidequest that opens with Ichiban running into an English-speaking foreigner, with no idea what he's saying. In the game's English dub, after Ichi realizes it's English, he turns to the camera, nods, and gives a thumbs up. Acknowledging that this is pretty silly. This moment does not happen in the Japanese voice track.
• In the hard mode campaign of Copy Kitty, the prison levels of World 6 occur in reverse to their normal mode counterparts, playing out as a break-in rather than a breakout. To add to the simulation, Savant decides to play the role of the prisoner being busted out, though right from the start Boki is unable to suspend her disbelief on the matter as she knows Savant can teleport. At the end, Savant floats out of his cell, thanks Boki for rescuing him, and promptly teleports away. Boki glares silently at the camera, unimpressed.
• In Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil, when Klonoa finds out that Lolo is afraid of ghosts, his only reaction is to shrug at the camera.
• In a blink-and-you-miss-it shot, near the end of the opening of Project X Zone 2, Xiaomu briefly winks at the player as the characters charge towards Byaku Shin.
• Rosalina's side taunt from the Super Smash Bros. games.
  Rosalina: "Mm-hmm..."

---