Suspiciously Specific Denial / Video Games

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• There's too many to count in the world of Ace Attorney, but perhaps the biggest example is when Starter Villain Frank Sahwit returns in Gyakuten Kenji 2. The basic strategy of his Logic Chess section is to patiently wait for him to blow a hole in his story with one of these, such as him revealing he was the one who found the victim's body.
• A more subtle version of this trope is used in this [adult swim] flash game, where you play as an anthropomorphic cannabis leaf growing and selling "industrial hemp". The made-up strains of hemp each feature a list of equally made-up industrial uses, none of them having anything to do with getting high.
• From Shadows of Amn:
  Khellor Ahmson: ...I did not tell you this, and I certainly did not say his records are in his home northwest of the main government building in the Government District. Should anyone ask, I also wasn't the one who arranged to have the door to Isaea's estate unbarred.
• The Bamford Tenement has an item shop run by a slightly shady character.
  Jackal: Don't worry, I totally didn't steal this stuff!
• BlazBlue gets in on this in Noel's story in Continuum Shift while she's pouting over Ragna's treatment of her at the very beginning of the game and her response to said treatment. After the narration mentions how she feels like a little girl with a crush, she immediately breaks out of it and begins denying it outright despite no one else being around. By the end of her denial even she begins doubt what she's saying
  Noel: ...No no no. That's not it. That's definitely not it! Definitely not...I think?
  • Kind of a squick-making thought when you remember Noel is a clone of Ragna's little sister. Then again its been hinted that Ragna, Jin, and Saya are all artificial in the first place so that makes it totally not incest...or does it? ...My brain hurts.
• Borderlands: Dr. Ned is not as good as his totally-not-made-up brother Zed, and they're totally different people. (Exact quote from cutscene in The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned). Making this funnier, he says this about every other sentence, bordering on Verbal Tic. They actually are different people, judging by the fact that Zed is still alive in the second game.
  • In Borderlands 2 Rakkman, a Psycho and Batman Parody, has an audio log that proclaims "My parents jiggled, and squiggled, and I DIDN'T KILL THEM I PROMISE!" On the surface, it definitely looks like this trope. On the other hand, this is Pandora, where the usual response to someone saying "My parents are dead" probably is "How'd you kill 'em?"
  • Propagandist Hunter Hellquist's news report on the city of Opportunity, after the player has very thoroughly massacred every human and robot: "Today in Opportunity, everything was fine and nothing bad happened."
• Bugsnax:
  • When you interview her, Wiggle insists that she'd never take advantage of Gramble's good nature and naivete to eat the Bugsnax he's so protective of...no matter how easy it would be. Just in case that wasn't suspicious enough you can catch her sneaking into Gramble's barn for a midnight Snax.
  • Cromdo insists that the Lunchpad is "totally for sale and not at all stolen."
• Carto: Many of Pinko's comments about the volcano hotel. "We'll also make sure that it contains an absolute minimum of lava-related injuries." "We've had minimal scaldings, I assure you!" "You won't believe how few get sick [from our food]!"
• In the Church in Chrono Trigger an otherwise plain wall sports a sign that states "There is no secret entrance here".
• The Darkside Detective:
  • In the "Malice in Wonderland" case, the missing girl's nanny is quite firm that nothing at all mysterious or suspicious is going on, regardless of what the actual question she is asked is.
  • In the "Loch Mess" chapter, Dooley's Bloodwolf scout pack go to attend a jamboree and arrive to find the campground deserted and hung about with signs saying things like "Welcome to the Jamboree! Don't worry about the fact that there's nobody else here!". Later, McQueen gets to read the correspondence between Dooley and the jamboree's organizer, which is signed things like "Nigel, a fellow Bloodwolf (no need to check that)" and, more ominously, "Nigel, a human being like you".
  • In the "Baits Motel" chapter, a motel guest calls room service for a meal and is informed that the kitchen is closed "but not because of rats or anything like that". (It is in fact because of rats.) The guest remarks on the specificity of the denial.
  • In the end credits, the standard This Is a Work of Fiction disclaimer is followed by a message from the government repeating that this is a work of fiction, "especially anything Dooley said", and categorically denying that the game has been created to distract people from the truth.
• Darwinia: "This game is not in any way endorsed by SENSIBLE SOFTWARE."^note The sound clip that accompanies this (randomly chosen) opening screen is from Cannon Fodder.
• One quest in Dragon Age: Origins involves tracking down a conman who sold a bogus manuscript to the Circle of Magi; when you finally find him and his retinue of bodyguards, you innocently ask if he's ever done any business with the Circle. The conman replies:
  I have no idea what you're talking about, and neither do these large men carrying swords. (Beat) GET THEM!
• In Dragon Quest VII, a Hulkagon tells you that sometimes it's nice to lie in the grass and bask in the sunshine, and invites you to try it. While casually promising that he "won't crush you underneath his massive foot, leaving only a red smear in the green grass to remember you by. Ahh, sunshine..."
• When Petra starts to confront Jack Pumpkinhead in Emerald City Confidential about his illegal activities, he denies that he saw or heard anything before Petra even asks him a question about her investigation.
• Escape from Monkey Island When asking whether or not a former pirate misses his old life, he replies thus:
  Hugo: "Not especially, no. Although sometimes Hugo misses the wind in his face... and the wenches... and Hugo misses the grog... and the decks covered with the blood of Hugo's enemies... (Beat) But other than that, no, not a thing."
• Capcom has stated that EX Troopers has nothing to do with Legends 3. The fact that they share the same engine and a very similar art style? Coincidence.
• In Fallen London: The Exceptional Hat has never been observed to consume the brains of its wearers. These stories are without exception lies! Another example is the slogan of Nikolas Pawnbrokers: "Best wares. Best prices. No spiders."
• Fallout 4 has the looped announcement on one radio station that if you come to Shaw School Place you will be helped and not torn limb from limb and eaten. This might have fooled people but a Supermutant interjects that he wants to eat humans and the announcer has to remind him it's a trick and that she's lying.
• Fallout: New Vegas:
  Rhonda: One last thing. Is there any truth to the rumor that all Nightkin are slightly crazy from their overuse of psychologically damaging pre-War technology?
  Tabitha: None at all, Rhonda!
  Rhonda: There you have it, Utobitha! Nightkin, your benevolent overlords, who are most certainly...NOT crazy! We'll be back after this.
  • Another example, from a quest where you're asked to find some missing refugees:
  Courier: Can you help me find some missing people?
  Slave trader: I don't know anything about the refugees going missing from the Aerotech Office Park.
  • James Garret at The Atomic Wrangler wants you to obtain a sexbot, but it's not for him, because he finds the idea of having sex with robots to be disgusting, it's for some of his customers who may be robophiles, the horrible disgusting lowlifes.
  • When talking to Veronica, one of her responses to "I have some questions" is "He was dead when I got here."
• In Farmington Tales 2: Winter Crop Mr. Cashman and Councilman Wyatt plot to keep Floyd from saving his farm. Mr. Cashman suggests knocking over Floyd's mailbox and is told to think bigger, then suggests calling in an airstrike and is told to think somewhere more in the middle. Then Kaylee shows up.
  Kaylee: Hey guys, whatcha talking about?
  Mr. Cashman: We're definitely NOT talking about knocking over Floyd's mailbox. I don't know where you got that idea.
  Kaylee: Ooo-kay...
• Subverted in the original Final Fantasy. Observing a well in the city of Cornelia, will lead to this message:
  • "This is a well. You might think that there is something to it.... But in fact it is just an ordinary well." And no, there is nothing inside, you can't even enter.
• In Final Fantasy IX, Marcus is out to steal a Supersoft, necessary to revive his friend Blank, and Garnet agrees to help. Steiner reluctantly gets dragged into this in order to protect Garnet. When Doctor Tot (the character who owns the Supersoft) finds the three in his basement, Steiner insists that there's a perfectly good reason for it, and that they're not there to steal it or do anything else illegal.
  • An even better example is this exchange:
  Steiner: Have you seen a young girl around?
  Four-Armed Man: What? I haven't seen any beautiful girl with long black hair...
  Steiner: What did you say?!
  Four-Armed Man: N-Nothing! And I certainly didn't take any money from her.
• Final Fantasy VI:
  • Cyan gets jittery around the Phantom Train, but not for the reason you might expect. When questioned about it, he says: "It's not like I have an aversion of machines or try to avoid them as often as humanly possible or anything like that!"
  • There's also the town of Zozo, which has such a reputation for dishonesty that everyone there compulsively speaks like this. You can even solve a puzzle there by gathering clues from the townsfolk about how not to solve it.
• In the Fire Emblem Tellius games, Danved is definitely not Devdan.
  • And Sirius isn't Camus.
• In Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Bernadetta is not secretly eating cake. She says this immediately when you walk up to her door, and you even hear her swallow the cake beforehand.
  • Also from Three Houses, if you recruit Constance on a Black Eagles playthrough, and choose to side with Edelgard in the Holy Tomb, you can talk to Constance just before attacking Garreg Mach, and she'll say the following about learning the truth from Edelgard.
  "It would have been rude to hound her relentlessly until she revealed herself yes? Then that's certainly not what I did. Ahaha!"
• Five Nights at Freddy's tasks you with watching over the animatronics at a local Suck E. Cheese's, so that they don't come to kill you. The previous employee leaves voice mail messages to encourage you, although he slips from time to time, and his attempts to cover those slip-ups do nothing to abate your fear.
  "Hey, you're doing great! Most people don't last this long! I mean... y'know. They usually move on to other things by now. I'm not implying that they died. That's not what I meant."
• The Glider PRO "Demo House" has text written over the background showing the player where to go. The manhole leading to the secret room has a pointer saying "THERE'S NOT A SECRET ROOM DOWN THERE!"
• Happened in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Ryder was going to rob the Pizza Stack, with a brilliant plan to hide his identity... by taking off his cap. The cashier quickly sees through his cunning disguise. Here's the quote
  Ryder: Give up the money! This' a raid!
  Cashier: Ryder! Not this again!
  Ryder: It ain't me, foo!
  • Meta example: After a mission which requires you to blow up Mike Toreno's helicopter, the game states "Excellent. Toreno can't have survived that fireball." Take a guess who shows up shortly after unharmed.
• Halo: Reach has this line, when Kat thinks of where to get the resources for their new plan:
  Kat: "A good place to look might be... I don't know, the nearest nonexistent launch site in the nonexistent Sabre Program, dismissed by three administrations as preposterous rumor... And in which our newest member was certainly never a pilot."
• In Katawa Shoujo, Misha and Shizune are most certainly not trying to get Hisao to join the student council just because they would obviously benefit from him joining and therefore have an incentive to try and get him to join. (Shizune actually glares at Misha over how suspicious that denial is.)
  • "I wasn't sleeping and welcome to the Shanghai!"
  • In Shizune's route, Hisao, trying to work out Shizune and Misha's troubled relationship, tells Yuuko that he's worried about two of his friends, one of whom is worried about not seeing the other after graduation, and "It's not Shizune and Misha, by the way".
  • Defied during Shizune's route before her bad ending Lilly suggests Shizune surrounded herself with people who would agree with her, and Hisao notes she denied doing so. Hisao notes more specific denials are indicators of accusations being true, but says this doesn't apply to Shizune's denial in this case.
• Kerbal Space Program has the Not-Rockomax Micronode, which was not the result of industrial espionage. Any similarities between it and a product from Rockomax is entirely coincidental.
• In Kingdom Hearts II, when Roxas asks Naminé what will happen to him if Sora awakens, she dodges giving a straight answer by stating that "[He] won't disappear!" Roxas is noticeably disturbed by her response.
• Kingdom of Loathing:
  • If you're a member of the Department of Shadowy Arts and Crafts, Izzy the Lizard will offer you a quest to build a new meatcar, because he was mugged by gnolls.
    Izzy: Yeah, mugged. Totally. And they stole the meatcar. Nothing to do with a poker game at all.
  • Uncle P's Antiques is "absolutely, positively a legitimate establishment, and not a front for any sort of criminal activities." The Raffle House states that it is "completely and totally legitimate and fully-licensed by the Council of Loathing." These two penguin-operated institutions are definitely not a front for the Penguin Mafia, even though all other penguins in the Kingdom are criminals.
  • The item, thermos of "whiskey", is "a glass of perfectly innocent milk that absolutely does not have any vodka or rum or whiskey or a blend of vodka, rum and whiskey in it."
  • The 2014 Crimbo elves say, "WE ARE ELVES. WE WORK IN THE MINE. WE LOVE OUR WORK. WE ABSOLUTELY ARE NOT BEING CONTROLLED THROUGH ROBOTIC IMPLANTS."
  • You acquire the effect "Broad-Spectrum Vaccine" from a cup labeled "DEFINITELY A VACCINE AND NOT A COMBINATION OF STEROIDS AND AMPHETAMINES."
• Happens in the second Knights of the Old Republic if you accuse HK-50 of killing the inhabitants of the Peragus Mining Station.
  • You can also use similar logic to convince an astromech droid to go on a blaster-wielding rampage.
  B-4D4: Thank you, T1-N1. Please do not abuse my trust and fire on the guards outside, thereby creating a diversion while I escape with the stolen files.
• The Useful Core in The Lab's minigame "Slingshot" assures you that it is not a gateway to the netherworld, and that calibrating it will not cause it to "unfold into a shrieking hellmouth from which demons will flood into your world and turn it into a wasteland." And so forth.
• In Lost Horizon Fenton needs an organ-grinder's hat to complete a disguise and offers to swap for it.
  Fenton: I've got this polished metal bowl that absolutely isn't a rubbish bin lid.
• Love & Pies: When Raj drops by during Amelia and Joe's first date, he apologizes for interrupting their picnic. Amelia tells him it's fine, but Joe denies that anything "important or romantic" happened during it because it's actually his twin brother Sam covering up his overt flirting with Amelia earlier.
• Love of Magic:
  • The email from the developers of "Landlady & Flatmate" that discusses how there is of course no incest in their game, unless of course you install a patch.
  • Molly describing the Make It Look Like an Accident disposal of Jenny's previous manager.
    Molly: Anyway, he had a slight accident, and accidentally fell three stories down and landed in front of an industrial lawnmower. By accident.
• Vlaad from Magicka should not be mentioned here, as he most definitely is NOT a vampire. And he certainly doesn't remind you of this in every conversation with him.
• Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis, Jess did not put her medicine in Nikki's sandwich to test it out, really! Or that she panicked and ran back to make an antidote!
• Done extremely blatantly in the emails Bowser Jr sends to Beep-O and the party in Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle when he hacks the latter's email account. Indeed, not only does he say such obvious stuff as "Just take the totally non-spooky path leading from the gate that just opened and everything will work out just fine and you won't be killed." but he also tries to explain his evil laughter in much the same way: "Also, when I wrote 'muhahahaha' the second time I meant, er... 'You guys are really cool and I like you a lot and definitely don't wish you any harm'." Even the person who's email was hacked lampshades just how blatantly how out of character the messages were and comments how "You noticed it was hacked, right?"
• Mass Effect 3:
  • You can run into a couple of instances of this in the Citadel DLC. For example, Vega insists that he wants to try out the hot tub WITHOUT Cortez.
  • When Grunt is sitting down in the shower, completely wasted, and mumbling incoherently to himself, he at one point gives off, "It was broken when I got here."
  • A more serious version happens in Mass Effect 1 when Garrus is talking about the Dr. Saleon case. Apparently, they had suspected Dr. Saleon of black-market organ trading, and brought in one of his employees for interrogation, who among other things was "very convinced that he still had his liver". There is no indication that the status of the employee's own organs was ever brought up beforehand.
• Amber's first encounter with Ina and Mina in Medieval Shorts 2.
  Ina: Am I being detained? I assure you, that candy store was robbed after I left the store.
• Invoked by the Colonel in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Whenever Raiden asks him about Iroquois Pliskin/Solid Snake, his usual reply is "Do not trust that man. He's not a factor in this simulation."
  • In the non-canon NES sequel to Metal Gear, Snake's Revenge, an enemy spy disguised as an ally tries to gain Snake's trust by giving him such obviously specific denials such as "there are no traps in that car" or "there are no enemies". This is likely done unintentionally due to the game's questionable translation.
    • Interestingly enough, Snake's Revenge was made specifically for the European and American markets, and was never released in Japan (even though a Japanese team designed it). Making its linguistic faults even more hilarious.
    • Big Boss is NOT AFRAID OF VAMPIRES.
• When asked about if Herobrine was in Minecraft, Notch said this (although arguably, everything he mentions had been theorized at least a thousand times beforehand):
  I've publicly told people there's never been any such thing as Herobrine, and that I don't have any dead brothers, and that letting too many animals die in lava is a fool proof way to summon him but that you don't need to be afraid of him. He only means well, he's looking out for you, trying to warn you of the dangers you can't see. There certainly are NO physical manifestations of Herobrine that will sneak out of your computer if you leave Minecraft running at night, looming over you as you sleep with his pale eyes inches away from your face, as he tries to shout at you to wake up. Sometimes you wake up with a jolt, and he's gone, and all that lingers is the memory and faint echo of his wordless screaming. Of course it was just a dream. There's no way a morally dubious ghost with a god complex could at any point decide to haunt the children who play my game "for their own good", as there is NO SUCH THING.
• In Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge try to ask Mad Marty about Largo. Go figure if he knows anything, or if he just misheard you (he's deaf).
  Guybrush: What do you know about Largo LaGrande?
  Marty: I don't know anything about cargo and contraband. I'm clean, clean, clean!
• In Monster Prom, Vera does this a lot.
  • At the end of the Cult Ring set of events, she says that she'll collect the taxes of the members for the cult leader that is "definitely not her".
  • At one point, she can ask the player character out as a replacement for her original date, who was eaten by vultures, which was definitely not her fault.
  • She definitely hasn't placed cameras in the men's locker room and she's definitely not selling them to compromisinglockerroomnudes.com as a side business, that's for sure!
• MOTHER3. Right, Lucas?
  • "N-n-n-no! He (Claus) didn't take Dad's homemade knife and go into the mountains to kill the Drago! ...Aah!"
  • Right, and Wess's door opening dance in Osohe Castle didn't involve him sticking his butt out or anything.
• In Octopath Traveler II, the Glacis route of Ochette's Chapter 2 takes place in Stormhail, which is constantly covered in snow. After Ochette captures Glacis, Akala claims he doesn't want to stick around and "frolic in the snow." Ochette teases him for this and says he needs to be more honest.
• The tutorial popup about tranquilizing dinosaurs in Parkasaurus says "nothing bad ever happens at dinosaur parks, and certainly not at dinosaur parks in movies."
• In PAYDAY2, Sokol, the Russian Grinder, can say this when picking up the pager for a guard he killed.
  Sokol: "Completed perimeter sweep Control. Nothing to report. Zero clown spotted" (the robbers wear clown masks in this game)
• And in PAYDAY3, Chains on occasion notes that, "Nothing's going on here, we've got a situation normal all across the board, no-ones dead^note Most likely NOT true, since generally, if you're using the radio? The guard is dead, and we don't have any robbers^note VERY definitely not true! or anything like that, everything's just peachy!"
• Eikichi Mishina in Persona 2 is a horrendous liar, and this exchange proves it:
  Lisa: We don't know anything about the Joker... Right, guys?
  Eikichi: Oh yes, it's true! We are not looking for the principal and we most certainly never got stomped by the Joker!
• Plants vs. Zombies: The note purported to be from the player's mother, received as you complete the 9th Fog level, is followed by "Sincerely, Mom (Not the Zombies)".
  • Similarly, the treasure map received before completing Pirate Seas in the sequel leads to "Treasure! (not Zombies)".
• Pokémon:
  • One Team Rocket grunt in Pokémon Red and Blue will thoughtfully inform you that there is nothing behind the poster at the Celadon Game Corner. Naturally, when you whup the Rocket agent guarding it, you can pull a switch to reveal their main base.
  • The tradition is proudly continued in HeartGold and SoulSilver, where the sign outside their Mahogany Town base (opposite what is definitely not a fake tree with a radio antenna sticking out of the top. What are you talking about?) reads "Just a Souvenir Shop, Nothing Suspicious about It, No Need to Be Alarmed."
  • And also in HeartGold/SoulSilver, upon reaching Azalea Town, a Team Rocket grunt is seen in an argument with some dude, then bumping him and having him run away, and then closing the path to the Slowpoke Well. And when the player talks to him, he states that "Nothing is going on".
  • In Pokémon Emerald, when you run into Brendan at the Lilycove Department Store, he will specifically state that he wasn't buying any Dolls (a decoration). Without you bothering to ask him. If you go to his house afterwards, you'll see there's a new Swablu doll in his room...
  • In Pokémon Black and White, a Team Plasma Grunt in Castelia City guarding one of Team Plasma's hide outs says that there are no other Team Plasma members nor any of the Seven Sages in the building behind him...despite the fact all you did was walk up to the guy.
  • A trainer who gets in your way on the Village Bridge in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 refuses to get out of your way unless you beat him in a battle and says you definitely shouldn't try to go around him by surfing across the water below the bridge, because it won't work.
  • In the post-game of Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, Faba tries to get out of an incident by telling Lusamine that he didn't betray the foundation and invite Team Rainbow Rocket into the Aether Foundation, just to advance his career. Cue appropriate reactions from everyone (except the player character).
• Pokemon Fangame Pokémon Clover has this in the legendary Notridley. Its Pokedex entry assures us that it is, most definitively, NOT Ridley, even if it looks like Ridley wearing a fake mustache.
• Subverted in Portal: "The Enrichment Center would like to remind you that the Weighted Companion Cube will never threaten to stab you and, in fact, cannot speak. In the event that the Companion Cube does speak, the Enrichment Center urges you to disregard its advice." The suspicious denial creates the expectation that the cube will speak, which it doesn't (although at least one other test subject thinks it does).
  • Parodied in a downloadable bonus map, where the cube actually can speak and stab players.
  • And a Garry's Mod add-on where, if you look away from the cube, it will make funny noises and when you turn back, it's right behind you. Don't turn and you die. Seriously.
• In Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, Layton is trying to learn about the title artifact, the Elysian Box. He inquires with one resident of the community of Dropstone, who replies, "Oh, dear! I mean...I've never heard anything about that dreadful, dreadful thing!"
• Crispin from Psychonauts. "I'm an orderly, you know. I am not an impostor!"
  • Earlier, Sasha Nein. "Even if you were to take that secret passage over there and sneak into his hidden sanctuary, Agent Cruller would never, ever give you a Marksmanship learner's permit. Never, ever."
  • And normal telephone repairmen in the Milkman Conspiracy.
  "Telephone Repairman": I am a telephone repairman. I can listen to any phone call I want, but do not do so because of my sense of professional responsibility.
  • The Psy-Pedia precedes Linda's page with a very detailed and anonymously written disclaimer assuring you that this page is a mistake, there is no mutated lungfish monster controlled by someone at the bottom of the lake, and that any suspicions or inquiries of such should be directed towards your devilishly handsome and talented Coach, Morceau Oleander.
• In the Quake series, Quake II has a number of voiceovers layered over one another at the beginning of its intro, which depicts the expository invasion by the Strogg. One of the voices says the following: "Contact with the colony on Mars will be re-established, and has nothing to do with the impending arrival of the mysterious aliens."
• Igor from Quest for Glory IV: "Igor not hear rumors. Igor not know Dmitri's grandfather ran off years ago. Igor not know squid carving eat people who try to open monastery door. Igor wonder if you will verify this rumor."
• Happened twice in Riviera: The Promised Land. The first time was deliberate, the second time... not so much.
• In Rune Factory 3, there are 2 characters who always say things with a reversed meaning. For example, one (who is in a great mood) says "I feel terrible."
• In RuneScape, when talking to a goblin guarding the secret goblin temple, he says "We not let you in to secret temple that not down these stairs."
  • Also in RuneScape, when a player asks why all the carts he sees are broken and gets this reply:
  CEO of cartmakers: It is unthinkable that our carts might break due to the use of low quality materials, inexperienced ogre labour and usage of enormous quantities of sticky-tape fastenings.
• Sam and Max Save the World has Ted E. Bear's Mafia-Free Funland and Casino, which has its own song about the total lack of Mafia on the premises.
  Welcome, welcome, generous friends
  Days and weeks and tokens to spend
  We're just regular businessmen!
  Just you and me and Ted E. Bear!
  • The slogans outside Stinky's Diner say, among other things, "No traceable arsenic".
• Saturday Morning RPG: It's pretty obvious that all the staff at Marty's school are H.O.O.D. soldiers, despite them constantly saying that they aren't, and lining the walls of the school with poster saying that the teachers are NOT soldiers.
• In SIMULACRA 2 Rex Keegan runs Mind Body Fitness, where people have to invest money to work there, then they have to recruit more people to get higher and higher up in the business and get more money from investments that new recruits give. It's a pyramid scheme, but Rex denies that, calling the not-a-pyramid system "the food chain"
• In Sonic Colors, when Sonic and Tails are riding the Space Elevator to the amusement park:
  Eggman: (part of recorded announcement) "This amusement park has been constructed entirely out of a sense of remorse for my past transgressions and is in no way associated with any sort of evil plot or premeditated misdeeds."
  Sonic: ... Well, that's a relief.
  • A good amount of Eggman's PA announcements are like this: from his urging his guests to leave all their valuables in their vehicles since "in no way will roaming bands of robots will break into [them]" and asking Sonic to pass by the Security Office and not expect to walk into a trap since they "only want to return his keys". Or worse:
  Eggman: Welcome to the exotic aquarium. Any water you may notice on the floor is the result of our diligent housecleaning staff mopping, and not evidence of a dangerous leak in the... oh, heck with it. Run for your lives!
• In this Team Fortress 2 promotional material, Mann Co. claims that they were nowhere near the launch site of monkey astronaut Poopy Joe and had nothing whatsoever to do with the disastrous explosion.
  • Also, Mann Co.'s seemingly rushed sale of a high-powered rocket launcher was not in any way connected with Poopy Joe's tragic death.
  • Soldier's Stash description: "This hat does not in any way, shape or form, promote smoking or gambling."
  • The Heavy loves America. It is the place he is from. All the time.
• Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey has an Archangel in a maze warn you about illusion traps in dead seriousness, then he insists that he's helping YOU out, and that he himself is most assuredly not lost.
• Maria in Silent Hill 2 repeatedly assures James that "she's real". That's one of the main things that lets you know she's not. Although this may also be an attempt to reassure herself that she's real.
• One of the quests in Silvertale involves locating some parchment and a quill so the leader of the Craggy Marauders, a group of "roadside entrepreneurs" can write to his mother.
  Bandit Leader: Here's some gold for your trouble, which I definitely did not steal from someone on the road about two miles back.
• In The Simpsons Hit & Run, we have Krusty's Buzz Cola commercial.
  Krusty: Hey, hey! I'm endorsing a new cola, kids! And this one isn't poisonous to anybody!
• In the first Sono Hanabira ni Kuchizuke o visual novel in the series, Nanami catches Yuuna masturbating. Then, when Yuuna questions Nanami about whether or not she saw what just happened, Nanami hastily blurts out that no, she didn't see Yuuna make those unusual noises!
• One of the loading screens in Spec Ops: The Line reads "You are still a good person". Considering that this starts popping up after Walker and by extension the player has unwittingly slaughtered forty civilians (including women and children) due to a misunderstanding, this is a surprisingly Tear Jerker example.
• In Stardew Valley:
  • "The world-class science team at Joja Headquarters have determined that 'Joja Bluu' does not cause a significant erosion of the stomach lining."
  • Joja also claims that their digging operations are completely legal.
• In Super Mario Odyssey various characters standing guard over Power Moons insist that they're not afraid of certain enemy types. As you might imagine, if you come back after taking control of said enemy type, the guard gets scared and steps aside.
• In Tales of the Abyss, while searching for the Flightstone, the team finds a message from Dist saying that it is "not in Daath. Most definitely not!"
  Luke: He should have just said it was in Daath.
• A meta-example. In the changelog of the Journey's End update for Terraria, there's this tidbit from the devs on the Stardust Guardian spawned from the Set Bonus of the Stardust Armor (who was changed to have a Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs type attack):
  Stardust Guardian now has a more much vigorous and aggressive attack, and he will attack automatically without prompting. All resemblance to a certain anime is purely coincidental.
  • This doubles as an Ascended Meme, given how fans kept drawing comparisons to said aforementioned anime, despite the fact that, according to Word of God, the artist who drew the Stardust Guardian had never seen Jojo.
• There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension is about a Game insisting that there is no game. The User's objective is to prove him wrong.
• In Thimbleweed Park, the hotel manager assures his customers that there is nothing to be worried about during their stay, especially not food poisoning.
• Touhou Project:
  • In the foreword to the guidebook "The Grimore of Marisa", Marisa assures the reader that "[This] is absolutely not a copy of Alice's grimoire in any way."
  • For that matter, Marisa's evolving Boss Subtitles have increasingly been verging further and further into this trope's territory throughout the series. While her being refered to as the "Ordinary Magician" was a funny joke at first, later appearances have slapped her with titles (e.g., "Extremely Ordinary Magician" and "Excruciatingly Ordinary Magician") that sound more like she's insisting that she's most definitely just your average human who happens to be using magic, no matter how youkai-like she may seem.
  • Cirno about her hobby of creating frog popsicles: "This isn't playing, this is ice training. I'm definitely not doing it because frozen frogs are cute, or because their cries are annoying, or because it's exciting when juggling them because they might break."
  • Touhou Eiyashou ~ Imperishable Night pulls this off at many passes. Keine hid the Human Village with her power and tells all the teams that there's "nothing around here." Yuyuko blames the endless night she caused (in her scenario) on the last boss, to the last boss's face, and is called out by Youmu. Magic Team does this all night long:
    Marisa: C'mon, surrender those humans to us now.
    Alice: Hey, wait, Marisa! Who told you that we were going to capture and eat humans?
    Marisa: Nobody said we were going to capture and eat them.
    ...
    Marisa: Okay, it's enough, I give up. You're right. This endless night, broken distorted moon, vanishment of the human village, and putting hats on stone statues, it's all Alice's fault. Now, get out of the way, bitch!
• Trails of Cold Steel III: When Rean first visits the gun shop in Leeves, the shopkeeper says "Ooh, this is the RF gun unit I got legally," which makes him wonder if there are other items that she got illegally.
• Tropico 4:
  Sunny: So, Penultimo, what does the new factory produce.
  Penultimo: Sprockets! Huge demand for them in the US!
  Sunny: Such a large, well-guarded factory to produce... sprockets?
  Penultimo: Also, bulb holders. Paperweights. Certainly not weapons of any kind!
  Sunny: Not weapons of any kind. Right...
• In the online version of its employee handbook, Valve Software boasts about its flat organizational style: "...we don't have any management, and nobody "reports to" anybody else. We do have a founder/president, but even he isn't your manager." If you think that suggests this trope, you're not alone. Someone at Valve thought the same thing, apparently, and went so far as to not only use it more explicitly but lampshade it in the glossary at the end of the handbook:
  Gabe Newell: Of all the people at this company who aren't your boss, Gabe is the MOST not your boss, if you get what we're saying.
• Wadanohara And The Great Blue Sea: Nekoyama manipulates Samekichi into giving one of these to tell him who his crush is (despite he and the entire ocean already knowing who it is):
  Nekoyama: Can’t help getting serious when it comes to love, huh?
  Samekichi: Huh?! When did I say I loved Wadanohara?!
  Nekoyama: Oh my! And who said anything about Wadanohara…?
• In the remake of Wild ARMs, when your party is thrown into prison by the demons, Alhazad remarks Zeikfried would normally use more direct methods of dealing with them and asking if anything has changed. Zeikfried replies that nothing has changed- his body is his own and his mind is his own. (Which by this point is definitely not the case.)
• WildStar's Meet the Exiles trailer has this moment with Fiery Red Head Genki Girl Kit Brinny:
  And no we ain't inbred! (Beat) Most of us, anyway...
• World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King: After the Wrathgate, a Forsaken Aleric Hawkins says this: "Oh, pay no attention to me. I'm just a messenger. The leader of the Deathstalkers certainly wouldn't be stupid enough to stand here on the dais waiting to be gutted. No need for history to repeat itself." The last leader of the Darkstalkers was the dreadlord whom the Horde kills, and then he just stands there... looking suspiciously unspecific...
  • A profession quest in Thunder Bluff has you gathering "magic" mushrooms for a recipe the quest giver wants to try. The item description for the mushrooms describes them as "Delicious and completely absent of psychedelic properties."
  • A Goblin on the Orgrimmar-Undercity zeppelin insists that there is no chance the zeppelin will explode into a ball of flames like a "helium bomb", which may be less of a Suspiciously Specific Denial when you consider that all Goblin technology has a penchant for exploding.
  • A Goblin Glider specifically notes that it "usually won't catch fire".
  • The "ultrasafe transporters" made by Gnomish Engineering include this phrase: "Emphasis on safe! Yup, nothing bad could ever happen while using this device!"
  • A Gnomish questgiver in Battle for Azeroth asks players to bring him an Alpaca for scientific study, "Certainly not for their floofiness".
• Inverted in Yooka-Laylee. In the Cashino, the talking slot machines have races and other contests you can do for coins. They stress that the games aren't rigged in any way, clearly invoking this trope... except that they truly aren't rigged. Difficult, perhaps, but completely on the level.
• In Yoshi's Island, Kamek presents Sluggy the Unshaven to Yoshi, saying: "To get this far you must be powerful, but remember: This slug has no weak points!!" That conspicuous hairy heart right in the middle of Sluggy? Yes, that is indeed the boss's weak point.

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