He Knows About Timed Hits - Television Tropes & Idioms

"So, like, to do moves you press certain buttons on the controller? I never would have thought of that. Thanks, Spartan tutorial!"
—Seanbaby, on Spartan: Total Warrior

Giving a tutorial to a player in a game is not particularly easy to do well. Even many better-done Justified Tutorials have to result to Painting The Fourth Wall via on-screen text or the like to get across the fact that you must push button X to do action Y.

Then you have game tutorials where both the Fourth Wall and Willing Suspension Of Disbelief are jarringly thrown out the window. When the instructions for the button presses come right out of the character's mouths, you have He Knows About Timed Hits.

Obviously, given the fantastical settings of most games, the characters in it should not have any way of knowing that they are in a game, or even what a video game is in many cases. Because of this, even the game designers are prone to hang a lampshade on it.

Examples

The Trope Namer is Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, where early in the game Toad offers to teach Mario how to use items and Timed Hits (read: Action Commands). If the player declines to listen to the (optional) tutorial, Toad tells The Goomba that has shown up (for the sole purpose of being a teaching aid) that Mario already knows about Timed Hits, causing it to run away in fear.
- A tutorial earlier on the use of items gives Mario a mushroom, which is then consumed to give him max HP. Skipping this tutorial lets Mario keep the mushroom, and playing the Timed Hits tutorial automatically gives him full HP...so, free mushroom!
  - Or you could easily skip both tutorials and, if you care about restoring the 1 HP, simply take a nap in Mario's Pad before leaving. A free mushroom AND you don't have to sit through any tutorials!
- Lampshaded in Super Paper Mario: whenever one of these comes up, it becomes clear that Mario has no idea what the person is talking about, and they simply say something about how the "great being who watches us from another dimension" will understand it.
- Played with in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. In the third chapter of the game, Mario is given a tutorial on how to challenge opponents in the Glitz Pit. When Mario is signed up for the tournament, a Toad named Jolene gives Mario in-depth instructions, button commands and all. Later, one of the fighters in the tournament is force to retire, and a newcomer comes to take his place. Jolene takes the newcomer in and gives him the exact same instructions as she did to Mario, once again including button commands.
  - You're also asked to meet certain conditions in each match in order to advance. These usually include "Appeal three times," "Don't attack for three rounds" or "Only let your partner attack." The newcomer's instructions are to "do a move with a triple backflip while making a cat noise."
The best example has to be from the modern update of The Bards Tale where an old man NPC appears out of nowhere in a basement to explain the game's basics- but to the Bard and not the player. The bard assumes the man completely insane and basically plays along while the man gives the tutorial.
Training NPC: Push the circle button.
The Bard: You're completely mad, aren't you?
The tutorials from the Sly Cooper series mention button names in-character, and no one bats an eye.
Atelier Iris interrupts the story for a long series of amusing "Popo's Fourth-Wall Lecture" tutorials whenever a new skill or technique becomes relevant. Popo will occasionally call other characters to help him explain things.
Several games in The Legend Of Zelda series, most particularly the Game Boy releases, had some grating early-game areas where people cryptically explained the interface (for example, a child tells Link, "I heard something good happens if you press 'B'! What does that mean? I don't know, I'm just a kid!").
- Ocarina of Time had an NPC that would tell Link "Please! With C! Sell me something with C!" What he means is he wants one of your C button items to buy, but is vague on what exactly he wants. He only wants fish, bugs, and poes. Potions and milk won't work since Link drinks it instead.
- The Wind Waker: Aryll, when she teaches Link how to use her telescope; Sturgeon, both in person and in his notes; Orca, when teaching him swordsmanship; and Neko, when teaching him how to swing. Also, Sturgeon's granddaughter Sue-Belle tells you how to pick up, throw, and put down pots so you can tell Aryll how.
- Twilight Princess: The kids, when they clamor for a demonstration of Link's skill with sword and slingshot; Midna, in instructing him about his powers; and The Hero's Spirit, when teaching him new skills. Also, Jaggle tells you that his kids don't seem to grasp the concept of Z-targeting (or L-targeting in the Gamecube version) to talk to somebody from a distance.
- Phantom Hourglass: "Oh, do you know how to walk?" A Justified Tutorial really, as it used the DS touchscreen, and many experienced Zelda players would've gone straight for the D-pad.
  - Though this troper would have written it as something about needing to get your "land legs" back.
Practically every DS game in existence needs one of these, given the unusual control scheme. Expect many, many NP Cs teaching you how to walk with the stylus. A few games, such as Kirby Canvas Curse, have an in-game device, representing the stylus.
In Metal Gear Solid, Otacon tends to talk about buttons and memory cards to Snake, who doesn't break character and assumes his fellow is just being nuts. Then again, in the MGS-verse, everyone does this, at least once, without batting an eyelid. Pressing buttons to hear Snake's thoughts on Otacon's button-ramblings usually results in a snappish, irritable "I know all this, I'm the main character!" and a torture minigame is introduced with a creepily cheerful button exposition sequence, culminating in the torturer looking straight at the screen with a growly, "Don't even think about using Auto-Fire, or I'll know." The MGS series is probably the only one to actually implement this trope as character development as much as player tutorial, and its No Fourth Wall instruction sequences are regarded very fondly by fans.
- Would-be cheaters should be advised that Ocelot's warning against using a turbo controller is not an idle threat.
- It's worth noting that after the Tanker chapter is finished, Raiden's introduction includes the exact same tutorial that Snake got.
- Sort of subverted in Metal Gear Solid 3, The Boss gives a complicated and difficult sounding explanation of how one would move silently in real life. However, Snake is speechless for a second and The Boss cuts back in saying "But all you need to do is press the directional button in the direction you wish to move," since the real life info is pretty much useless to the player.
In the game adaptations of the first two Spider-Man movies, you begin as Peter Parker getting a tutorial on running, jumping, locking on, attacking, web-slinging, and the works from a rather humorous narrator (voiced by Bruce Campbell) who appears to be speaking in the point of view of an audience member, or, in this case, a player. At one point, he leaves the tutorial to go get a sandwich - his next voiceover starts with him smacking his fingers.
- "Go ahead, just jump off that building. No worries, go ahead, do it. ...wow, you actually jumped off. Do you always do what people tell you? Well, in order to avoid you hitting the ground at terminal velocity, I suppose I should tell you how to keep from becoming road pizza."
  - (if you shoot a webline before he berates you) "Huh. Guess you're smarter than you look."
  - (If you try to crawl down the side of the building instead) "Yeah, funny how when I said 'jump', I actually meant 'jump', not 'crawl'? C'mon! Do it right!"
- Ultimate Spider-Man. Peter Parker is naturally chatty, which the programmers use. Straight up text-commands on the screen combine with Parker's rambling to provide a tutorial. But to really make it noteable, in the context of the game, Parker notes that his double-jump completely violates the laws of physics. "Along with everything else I do."
Most Final Fantasy games have a "Beginners Hall", where you are taught about various in-game functions. They try to do it in character, particularly in Final Fantasy VII where Cloud, as an experienced fighter, does the lecturing, but talk about slots and buttons still makes it in. An extra bout of comedy can be gained by talking to other students and their instructors, often being told the same thing: "No, dummy, you press 'X' to attack." Let us not even mention Cloud conversing with the map cursor above his head: "Huh? Finger? What the hell?" He also makes a sarcastic remark about one of the status effects, and talks about how to use the buttons to force one of his allies (who he has a certain rivalry with) to do more work.
- Final Fantasy VIII also tries to work the tutorials around the characters and plots. Most of the tutorials are given to you by your teacher, so it makes a certain amount of sense that she would be lecturing you on the basics. Too bad that the tutorial sequences all happen either immediately before or sometime after your final exam, by which point you should know this stuff already.
  - An attempted Hand Wave is often used by saying it's a final exam prep. Until you remember the fact that the written test was a week before the game starts and the physical combat/mission exam is what's left over.
- Final Fantasy Tactics Advance has Mr. Leslaie and Ritz for the movement. While the Laws and JP are introduced by Montblanc and the Judge. Its sequel has Cid's clan mates which are a Nu Mou Black Mage and a Viera White Mage.
Also inverted in the otherwise execrable MistMare, where the protagonist is the one lecturing students into world mechanics. Button presses are notably absent.
In Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic. the very first character encountered not only serves as Mr Exposition (even though, story-wise, the player character should already know everything he says ...or should he? ), but also teaches the player how to use the keyboard and mouse. In the sequel, this is avoided by giving all tutorial hints through the HUD.
A lampshade is also hung in Asterix & Obelix XXL 2: Mission Las Vegum, where the characters will audibly wonder about who their advisor is talking to, and express explicit concern over a certain "button" he keeps mentioning.
Pokemon, in any incarnation, does this a lot. NPCs all over the world tell you initially about game mechanics and what buttons to press by means of pleasant conversation, and later explain the intricacies of certain attacks and strategies. Fire Red/Leaf Green, a remake of the first games, turns it more into a Justified Tutorial by providing items such as a "Teachy TV" which allows you to watch an irritating TV presenter go through game mechanics.
- Then there's the girl in Diamond and Pearl who tells you she's saving her game.
  - A variant of the "I'm saving my game" person has also been in both the second and third generations of Pokemon games, though in the fourth generation they do try to keep in-character by explaining it as writing down your data in a journal.
In Tales Of The Abyss the hero's martial arts teacher, who has been teaching him for years, goes over how to use the controller and attack. The concept of teaching him the very basics after years of training and practice is strange enough, but him naming the controller buttons to push sounds even sillier than you might think.
- Tales Of Symphonia has Genis fulfilling that role towards Lloyd when a wild monster wanders into the village. Even sillier because Lloyd is a self-learned swordsman and should probably know these things already, whereas Genis is a wizard who's had no part whatsoever in Lloyd's training.
  - Justified, though, in that Genis is... a genius... whereas Lloyd is your stereotypical Dumbass Swordsguy.
Kirby Super Star featured the "Beginner's Show", where a narrator taught Kirby and the player basic game functions in front of a live studio audience.
- Although this returns in Kirby Super Star Ultra, it takes a step backwards by not giving the player any opportunities to test the controls in the tutorial itself.
  - Not that there's any need.
In The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning, the main character is given tutorials by the Dragon Elders. This is, however, an avoidance of the trope, as listening to the background noise while the text instructions come up on the HUD allows you to hear standard martial arts training.
In Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy, thanks to his Gameplay Guided Amnesia, Nick Scryer doesn't get new powers so much as remember them, which is represented by a Flash Back of him first being trained in whatever power it is.
In the World In Conflict tutorial, you are a West Point graduate undergoing additional training before being sent to fight in the war against the Soviets. However, that doesn't stop your instructor from mentioning the various mouse and keyboard controls. A particularly surreal moment occurs in the first part of the training where you instructor promps you to move the camera in every conceivable way culminating in a section where you must move it through floating red rings and finally claiming that "They DO teach useful things at West Point". Not being American, this editor didn't realize the lack of training in camera control skills were such a controversial issue in the American military, but is glad such serious issues are being adressed in video games.
Mega Man X 5 has a tutorial explaining the basic controls of the game. It might have been justified since the inclusion of ducking, for the first time ever in a platformer-style Mega Man game, but I think gamers would have been able to a) read the damn manual, or b) press down instictively.
- However, since it was optional, gamers who jumped straight into the main game were greeted with Alia, a navigator that wouldn't stop interrupting you at the worst times about the most inane things. Yes, I see the spikes up ahead. No, I did not plan on trying to walk on them. Her commentary could not be skipped, unfortunately. Thankfully, in X6, though she returns, listening is optional.
Parodied in the RPG webcomic Adventurers! in which one of the characters complains that he doesn't have an "X button."
Star Fox Adventures: Some of the Earth Walkers at Krazoa Palace tell Krystal how to go into Head View, how to roll, and how to sidestep; and The Warpstone tells Fox to press the Control Stick to go to one of the three places he makes it possible to go to, or to press B so he can go back to sleep.
Mario And Luigi Superstar Saga: Several sets of Koopas on board the Koopa Cruiser seem to be ignoring you while engrossed in lessons about basic things like switching the lead character, jumping, and so on. And you see them accomplishing these actions. Presumably the guy at their controls has nothing better to do than to keep pressing their buttons.
Tomb Raider In the first six games of the series, Lara Croft herself tells the player how to control her, always mentioning which button to press and staying in character throughout.
- In Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, Lara's guide Verner Von Croy tells Lara the controls for the game throughout the first level, while she simply listens without noticing anything odd.
Lampshaded in The Emperors New Groove Playstation game: the children giving control instructions have no idea exactly what they're talking about ("I can't find my square button...") and the main character repeatedly wonders how the kids keep beating him to wherever he's going, among other things.
- Which they simply answer by admitting that they're tutorial characters.
Hotel Mario features Mario blatantly breaking the Fourth Wall and saying "if you need instructions on how to get through the hotels, check out the enclosed instruction book". The cutscene even pauses for a few moments, presumably to give user time to find said instruction book.
Done often in the Wario Ware games when starting levels for a new developer. Smooth Moves interrupts gameplay periodically to show you how to use a new form, with a narrator speaking in a relaxing tone about that particular style, complete with soft piano in the background. Example:
"The Remote Control. Hold the Form Baton straight with the tip pointing forward. This simple stance reflects one of life's greatest - and fiercest - sports: channel surfing."
Conkers Bad Fur Day begins with an in-character tutorial/explanation involving both the player squirrel and other NP Cs talking to each other and to the player. Possible subversion as man of the characters, including Conker himself, are drunk and rambling. There is also the implementation of large 'B' buttons in the game world where the user is prompted to 'Press B' (for context sensitive actions. Later on the player will have to buy a manual to explain some of the more complex moves to both himself and the player. ("Ten dollars. Manual love you long time.")
Several Mega Man Battle Network games have particularly grating examples of this trope (a couple justified it, but not much). Each time, Lan and MegaMan talk their way through a three-round battle with basic enemies — and Lan, whose NetBattling skill has repeatedly saved the world, always forgets at least one essential point. Most annoying of all, the first game is the only one where you can skip this, even though it's also the only one where you're likely to need it!
- What grated this troper was that two of them, 3 and 6, could have justified it ridiculously easily since Lan was performing in front of a class full of clueless non-netbattlers. Why they didn't just have the teacher correcting a clueless classmate is beyond me.
Wonderfully done in Disgaea, where Etna gives the tutorials and stays perfectly in character throughout. This tends to involve bullying the hell out of Laharl. At one point, the game automatically plays through a battle sequence, resulting in Laharl getting killed - he complains that he doesn't like this tutorial. When Etna comments that only an idiot would do that, he yells at her for 'making' him do it.
During the prologue of Mother 3, Hinawa's father Alec interrupts Lucas and Claus's playtime to explain how dashing works ("Try to imagine something like a B button!"); after the Mole Cricket battle, he breaks the fourth wall to explain how to save (by talking to frogs.)
In the Sonic The Hedgehog series of games, especially the newer, three-dimensional incarnations, there is often a helper character who explains basic controls in a somewhat grating fashion. In Sonic Heroes and Shadow The Hedgehog, it's a helper character or a non-active member of the team. This is usually grating and irritating, especially in Heroes' tutorial mode, but Shadow used the trope to help characterize Sonic and Knuckles. Sonic and Knuckles explain guns to Shadow but remark about how they wouldn't use them.
Justified in The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, as the tutorial is actually a VR simulation designed to let the military experience the Hulk's capabilities firsthand. Know your enemy and all that.
Live A Live attempts an exceptionally strange variation on this in its Prehistoric chapter, where a village elder attempts to explain Pogo's ability to the player despite the fact that their storyline predates spoken language. To solve this, the elder holds up a giant rock with a letter "B" engraved on it to indicate "press B to activate the ability." This, combined with an absurd amount of pantomime, resulted in an explanation that completely went over this troper's head the first time through.
The tutorial in Achaea does its best to have a fourth wall - being a text game, the only hints about controls are that anything the player actually needs to type in to progress will appear in CAPITALS when the guide says it.
In The Simpsons Hit And Run, the tutorial missions are narrated by an extremely bored Bart. (as well as commentary on unlocked achievements and any new item type).
- In The Simpsons Game for next-gen systems, the tutorials are entirely justified, as the various characters find out they're in a video game that they found the manual for, so when they learn about a new ability, they just read the manual to find out what to do. And the manual they're reading is the same manual included with the game, so you can read along.
  - It's then subverted later in the game when Bart starts pointing out various videogame tropes, like the fact that an alien UFO shoots four lasers and then exposes its weakpoint that they can hit. The aliens are listening in, question why the hell they do that, correct the mistake, and then go off and destroy some stuff.
At the start of Makai Kingdom Overlord Zetta says "I'm going to ramble on for a bit." then proceeds to deliver a tutorial to the player. (There's nobody else listening.) But Zetta's Netherworld seems to lack a Fourth Wall to begin with.
Justified in Kingdom Hearts, where the tutorial intro is a dream sequence with an otherworldly narrator of some sort explaining the controls to Sora.
- This troper always thought of it as being an aversion, rather than simply justified. If one considers the voice during the dream sequence to only pertain to the text that scrolls and fades, and not the text that appears in boxes, then the aversion works, since said text never makes any mention of buttons or joysticks. In fact, the narrator is altogether vague when considered from this perspective, as several important game mechanics (e.g., choosing or giving up the sword, staff, or shield, and the effects of the different conbinations of answers to the questions posed by Selphie, Tidua, and Wakka) and how they affect the player are never mentioned ingame, leading to something of a Guide Dang It.
Gothic averts this by not explaining to you the new timings or key presses when you get training, leaving you to figure out how to use a few of its trick moves and what perks you've gained from this training. The dialogue the NP Cs do give seems to be a more realistic approach to accomplish the training - not holding a one-handed weapon with two hands, a mistake your character had been previously making and corrects himself on for the rest of the game - rather than a meta-game technical "press (buttons) to perform (moves)".
- The trainer also explains how to do more complex maneuvers, such as after striking forward twice, you should spin around, as this often confuse opponents.
In Space Channel 5 (particularly in Part 2), Fuse, the director of the in-game newscast, does this frequently. For example, he says, "Press the X button when you hear 'Chu!'" and "Press down on the directional arrows, you've got a guitar, too!"
Legend Of Kay gets around this, somewhat. The game features both on-screen text AND voice acting for nearly everything, however in the beginning, when teaching Kay the basics of fighting, the voice acting for the characters describe everything that Kay needs to do, but only the text itself references specific button pushes.
Final Fantasy VII: Dirge Of Cerberus features a pre-monsterized Vincent (still in the Turks) undergoing "simulation battles" for training purposes. The female computerized voice (if I recall correctly) doesn't reference buttons, but does ask you to do specific actions in order to pass to the next tutorial level.
The first Half-Life has this of course with the holographic woman giving you primers on basic actions and specifically mentioning button presses. Curiously, in the expansion pack Opposing Force you get to visit the wreckage of the training area and the hologram is playing, although the tutorials she recites are completely in-character and make no mention of button presses.
- And, oddly enough, her detached and vaguely smug personality was an influence on another Valve character, GLADoS.
Eternal Sonata has Polka do the first part of the tutorial by talking to herself. In the later parts, Allegretto teaches Beat to fight. But of course he's still talking about user interface and button presses instead of anything in-character.
Prelude of Neverwinter Nights lampshades it a bit by starting in Academy and all that, though it's still impossible to do in-character.
Tutorial of Babylon 5: I've Found Her does it in-character and lampshades head-to-toe.
Vega Strike has in-character tutor: "Cephid Security Initiative (CSI) is offering training for pilots with the purpose of enhancing flight safety". That turns out to be one guy (Oswald) explaining ship controls and giving tutorial mission objectives to PC hanging near the start. PC being an independent Privateer in open space, it's of no consequence whether player follows his instructions or simply ignores him until the little nuisance is beyond communication range.
In Phantasy Star Universe Episode 1 Chapter 2, Karen teaches Ethan about forming parties and how mission points are earned. It's done fairly well, justifying several gameplay mechanics that come up during online play.
Incredibly blatant in Shin Megami Tensei IMAGINE Online, especially during the Virtual Battle and early Home III acts.
The adventure game Titanic: Adventure Out of Time, upon first trying to leave your state room, the steward Smethells will prompt you for a tutorial and proceed to tell you how to move about and examine things using the arrow keys and mouse.
Throughout Rayman 2: The Great Escape, characters occasionally tell you button commands in the usual throwaway manner (usually whenever you get a new power up). However, this particular exchange stands out:
Globox: Ly gave me Lums to make your fist stronger. Ly said : Press (attack button) longer to make your shot stronger.
Rayman: Keeping (attack button) pressed makes my shot stronger! O.K.!
Non-video game example: in the French Game Book series Les Messagers Du Temps, the protagonists' mother Chronada will explain to them and the reader about how to use their dice to roll for their statistic points and fighting.
Magna Carta II: The characters will go over gameplay basics both in the optional tutorial and in the story proper without any attempt at integrating it into the plot whatsoever. They seriously sound like they're reading the instruction manual themselves!
Myth - The Fallen Lords and Myth II - Soulblighter feature an optional tutorial session by a world-weary narrator. It's pretty boring, unless you intentionally repeatedly screw up...
Narrator: "No! Press the B KEY! BBBEEEEEEE!"
Narrator: "Now hit the space bar. No! The space bar! The big key below all the little keys!"
The Banjo Kazooie games are a pretty odd example: the different moves are taught by various mole characters who always address the titular duo, never the player (even though the fourth wall is broken a lot in general) yet still make references to the controller buttons. Jamjars' sequences in Tooie are particularly noteworthy because they rhyme, and given that one N64 controller button is Z, some of the rhymes only work if you use the British pronunciation (zed).