History Main / FakeTrap

Spikes, lava, trapdoors, you name it, they are all traps and they are only designed with one thing in mind; [[EverythingTryingToKillYou to kill you]]. However, what if these traps actually did nothing? You heard me right. A trap that is completely '''FAKE!''' A Fake Trap is a hazard that appears dangerous, but is actually harmless. Sometimes you cannot tell the difference until you take the plunge or have an item/ability that shows the trap is a fake. Other times, the fake may stand out, such as spikes looking very worn down. It can be considered FakeDifficulty if the player is required to plow through fake traps in between real ones in order to progress, which is the basis of TrialAndErrorGameplay.

* The frightening things that threaten you in ''VideoGame/{{Shivers}}'' include pits of bubbling tar, skeletons that fall on you, a hallway with foot-long spikes covering the walls, an electric chair, a guillotine, and a shadow of something just outside your vision. But none of these can hurt you; only the Ixupi can do that.

* Marble Garden Zone in ''[[VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles Sonic the Hedgehog 3]]'' has enemies that disguise themselves as spikes. The spikes are made of rubber, so they function like springs. The enemies aren't completely harmless, as they shoot at you, and touching them from the side without rolling into them will hurt you just like with most other enemies, but you have to wonder why Dr. Robotnik decided on rubber spikes during the design phase.

* Getting one gem in ''VideoGame/{{Jumper}} Two'' requires passing through a fake fireball. ''Jumper Two [[LevelEditor Editor]]'' enables this with a "fake modifier", which can be put on top of any object to make it fake. [[SturgeonsLaw No points in guessing where this is going.]]

* ''VideoGame/MegaMan4'' had the Wire Upgrade in Dive Man's stage, that was hidden at the bottom of a [[BottomlessPit Not-So-Bottomless Pit]]. The giveaway is that it's the only such pit in the stage, and the simple logic that ''it would be rather impossible to fall to your death underwater given how slowly Mega Man sinks''.

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlueTheRecollection'': Agent Washington assumes that [[spoiler:Epsilon-Church being left in the middle of a canyon]] is a classic [[SuperSoldier Freelancer]] trap set by [[spoiler:Epsilon-Tex]], and refuses to fall for it. [[TheMedic Doc]] states that [[KansasCityShuffle it's possible that the trap is really not one, and that the real trap is where they are]]. Washington [[YouWereTryingTooHard says Doc is overthinking it]]. [[TheCuckoolanderWasRight He isn't.]]

* ''[[VideoGame/YouHaveToWinTheGame Super Win the Game'' marks the fake trap with a sign and an arrow in the background, showing where it's safe to cross. [[spoiler: There's also a fragmented arrow pointing to another safe spot.]]

** In Level 8-2 of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'', there is a sand trap that looks like ''almost'' every other one in the game. However, if you're patient and let it take Mario (or Luigi) down, it leads to two alternate pathways with extra lives or power-ups, either of which (clearly) beats the overworld you would traverse instead. There are a few other sand traps like this throughout the game, most of them in world 2.
** Another example in World 8 of ''[=SMB3=]'' lies on the "lavaship" level. The "lava" is actually water and Mario can swim underneath the ships.

* The ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' card actually named "Fake Trap" is a subversion since it is actually a decoy that protects the player's real spell and trap cards. If the opponent tries to destroy a spell or trap card belonging to the player, the player can sacrifice this card in its stead.
** Played straight in some of the early video games like ''Videogame/YuGiOhReshefOfDestruction'', however, where Fake Trap is just [[http://i.imgur.com/hYjmT4z.png a trap card that does nothing.]]

* In ''Videogame/CrashBandicoot2CortexStrikesBack'', you normally want to keep a wide berth of green Nitro crates, as even grazing one will cause it to explode. However, halfway through level 20 ("Bee-having") is a pile of steel crates and Nitro crates arranged like a small staircase. These Nitro crates do not explode, and in fact climbing to the top step will warp you to a secret area with the Purple Gem, a necessary collectible to reach HundredPercentCompletion. The giveaway to this fake trap is that these particular Nitro crates do not wobble and bounce like all the others, implying that their contents are inert.
* In ''Videogame/CrashBandicoot3Warped'' a secret level is opened by running into an enemy on [[BrutalBonusLevel a gem path]]. There are no hints whatsoever that you can or should do this, and the even the secret level's ''existence'' isn't even hinted at in the game save for a [[LastLousyPoint vague lack of percent]] if you've gotten everything else. [[GuideDangIt Yep]].
* ''Everything'' that should logically kill you in ''VideoGame/DefaultDan'' is actually this: spikes bounce you up and BottomlessPits drop you from the top of the screen unharmed, while everything that should logically be helpful like coins and platforms make you [[YourHeadAsplode abruptly explode]].

* In ''Videogame/CrashBandicoot3Warped'' a secret level is opened by running into an enemy. There is no hints whatsoever that you can or should do this, and the even the secret level's ''existence'' isn't even hinted at in the game save for a [[LastLousyPoint vague lack of percent]] if you've gotten everything else. [[GuideDangIt Yep]].

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' has tons of traps all over the game that cause various effects when stepped on. However, sometimes, the same looking traps act as a healer that restores the party's HP.
* The first area of ''VideoGame/LaMulana'' has a "spike pit" full of objects that look identical to real spikes but are actually part of the background and have no effect on Lemeza whatsoever. Jumping into this not-pit unlocks the Shuriken sub-weapon.
* Marble Garden Zone in ''[[VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles Sonic the Hedgehog 3]]'' has enemies that disguise themselves as spikes. The spikes are made of rubber, so they function like springs. The enemies aren't completely harmless, as they shoot at you, and touching them from the side without rolling into them will hurt you just like with most other enemies, but you have to wonder why Dr. Robotnik decided on rubber spikes during the design phase.
* In ''Videogame/CrashBandicoot2CortexStrikesBack'', you normally want to keep a wide berth of green Nitro crates, as even grazing one will cause it to explode. However, halfway through level 20 ("Bee-having") is a pile of steel crates and Nitro crates arranged like a small staircase. These Nitro crates do not explode, and in fact climbing to the top step will warp you to a secret area with the Purple Gem, a necessary collectible to reach HundredPercentCompletion. The giveaway to this fake trap is that these particular Nitro crates do not wobble and bounce like all the others, implying that their contents are inert.
* In ''Videogame/CrashBandicoot3Warped'' a secret level is opened by running into an enemy. There is no hints whatsoever that you can or should do this, and the even the secret level's ''existence'' isn't even hinted at in the game save for a [[LastLousyPoint vague lack of percent]] if you've gotten everything else. [[GuideDangIt Yep]].
* A number of the traps in ''VideoGame/ChocobosDungeon'' will heal or buff Chocobo. Some of them can be picked out beforehand, while others are indistinguishable from real traps or invisible.
* Part of the glitchiness of level 8 of ''VideoGame/Stinkoman20X6'' is that some of the obstacles (like the lava falls) are totally harmless.
** Interestingly, the lava falls are completely harmless to Stinkoman ''normally''. They can hurt 1-Up in the EscortMission level, but that's it. People have discovered, through game hacks, that this is just how the lava falls are. There's no way for a normal player to know that, though.

* ''VideoGame/IWannaBeTheGuy'' has a spike that doesn't kill you if you shoot it down and land on the back of it, while every other spike [[EverythingTryingToKillYou kills you instantly]] if you [[OneHitPointWonder so much as brush against it]].
* Getting one gem in ''VideoGame/{{Jumper}} Two'' requires passing through a fake fireball. ''Jumper Two [[LevelEditor Editor]]'' enables this with a "fake modifier", which can be put on top of any object to make it fake. [[SturgeonsLaw No points in guessing where this is going.]]
* You'll meet ''tons'' of these in ''VideoGame/{{Karoshi}}''. The universe just wants to keep you alive that badly.

* Franchise/SuperMarioBros:
** In Level 8-2 of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'', there is a sand trap that looks like ''almost'' every other one in the game. However, if you're patient and let it take Mario (or Luigi) down, it leads to two alternate pathways with extra lives or power-ups, either of which (clearly) beats the overworld you would traverse instead. There are a few other sand traps like this throughout the game, most of them in world 2.
** Another example in World 8 of ''[=SMB3=]'' lies on the "lavaship" level. The "lava" is actually water and Mario can swim underneath the ships.
* In many versions of ''VideoGame/{{Lemmings}}'', objects with an index number above 15 are inert, so on the really large levels like Fun 8, if you take the time to build to the far end of the decorative terrain, you can watch the lemmmings go through water without drowning (and then die anyway from falling offscreen). Averted in the PC version, which removed the water from all large levels specifically to prevent this.

* ''Everything'' that should logically kill you in ''VideoGame/DefaultDan'' is actually this: spikes bounce you up and BottomlessPits drop you from the top of the screen unharmed, while everything that should logically be helpful like coins and platforms make you [[YourHeadAsplode abruptly explode]].

!!Non VideoGame Examples:

** In ''Videogame/CrashBandicoot3Warped'' a secret level is opened by running into an enemy.

** Played straight in some of the early video games like ''Reshef of Destruction'', however, where Fake Trap is just [[http://i.imgur.com/hYjmT4z.png a trap card that does nothing.]]

* ''Everything'' that should logically kill you in ''Default Dan'' is actually this: spikes bounce you up and BottomlessPits drop you from the top of the screen unharmed, while everything that should logically be helpful like coins and platforms make you [[YourHeadAsplode abruptly explode]].

* The first ''VideoGame/{{Metroid|1}}'' game had many pools of acid and lava that greatly harmed Samus, but some were actually fake, thus you fell through. Naturally, you had to make that blind LeapOfFaith and hoped that killer pool was a fake in order to proceed. (Hint: don't try this in a room that scrolls horizontally.)
** ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' had fewer traps and the fake ones were spikes that were not animated compared to real spikes. The X-Ray Scope also pointed this out.