Web Video / Steam Train

Goddammit, Ross.

"He bought too many games!"
"Now we gotta play them all."
"So all aboard the STEAM TRAIN!"
"Choo-choo!"

Steam Train was a Let's Play web series on YouTube created as a Spin-Off of Game Grumps and hosted on the same channel. It premiered on June 25, 2013, the same day that Dan Avidan (also known as Danny Sexbang) replaced Jon Jafari as "Not-So-Grump" on the main show.

The format of the show was similar to its parent show, consisting of Ross O'Donovan, a Game Grumps member also known as an animator through Rubber Ninja Animation, playing games with others and providing humorous commentary. Unlike Game Grumps, however, Steam Train focused on computer games rather than console games (although the series did eventually include console games for a brief period of time). Ross conceived the show as an excuse for him to play the abundance of games on his Steam account^note when the show started, he reportedly had played less than 40 of the over 300 games he owned (hence the title), and he's the person described in the show's theme as having "bought too many games".

Initially, Ross was only accompanied by Danny (and occasionally by Arin "Egoraptor" Hanson, the main show's "Grump", if Danny was unavailable), but this format later changed to changed to include the entire Game Grumps crew, with Danny and Arin sometimes not appearing at all in favor of Barry Kramer, the channel's then-editor, and/or Suzy Berhow, Arin's wife.

There were also several sub-series within Steam Train:

• Steam Rolled, which focused on four-player versus games
• Scream Train, a Halloween-themed spin-off, similar to Ghoul Grumps for the main show
• Steam Sleigh, a Christmas-themed spin-off, similar to Jingle Grumps for the main show
• Stout Train, a St. Patrick's Day-themed spin-off hosted by Ross and Barry (with occasional guests) while drunk
• Single Train, a Valentine's Day-themed spin-off hosted by Danny and another Grump who was single at the time (Barry in 2014 and Kevin Abernathy^note who replaced Barry as Game Grumps' main editor from late 2014 to summer 2016 in 2016)

The series went into indefinite hiatus in 2017 due to Ross focusing more on his animation career, and the Game Grumps have since since begun playing PC games on the main show.

Steam Train can be found on the Game Grumps channel here.

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Steam Train provides examples of the following tropes:

• Aborted Arc: Hotline Miami only received three episodes released noticeably far apart, then was never referenced again. This was due to a combination of negative reception (most of that in-part to the revelation of Jon's departure) and the fact that the game wasn't working properly while being recorded.
  • Ride to Hell: Retribution didn't get more than 10 episodes of the playthrough - and it got halted in January 2014, the very same month it was started.
  • The crew only got up to night four in Five Nights at Freddy's and didn't continue due to the fact they honestly couldn't get past the night despite numerous off screen attempts. They did apologize for it when they played the sequel.
  • They initially gave up when trying to complete their Genocide Run in Undertale because Sans was too hard for them. However, they later defeated him in a livestream.
• Actually Pretty Funny: In one of the Space Quest IV episodes, Ross — against Danny's wishes — reads aloud from an erotic fanfic by Ninja Brian (the other member of Ninja Sex Party). The story involves Danny receiving a blowjob from Ninja Brian, and despite himself, Danny chuckles a few times.
• Achievements in Ignorance: During their Undertale playthrough, Ross and Barry constantly misinterpret gameplay features and story points, but still come up victorious at the end. It culminates in the fight against Photoshop Flowey, who weaponizes Save Scumming against the player, yet everytime they see him use his savestates to move the player back into attacks they dodged, they believe the game is somehow helping them by saving for them, even though it's clearly working against them. Even when Flowey uses his saving powers in a cutscene to heal himself completely after being seemingly defeated, proceeds to kill the player several times in row by reloading the same file over and over again, and then loses his powers with a big, obvious "Load Failed" in the corner of the screen and him panicking because he suddenly can't load his savestates anymore, Ross and Barry still don't catch on. They reach the Golden Ending in the first try anyway.
• Alas, Poor Scrappy: invoked Danny and Ross spend a good chunk of time in their King's Quest V playthrough being annoyed at Cedric, the cowardly taking owl. But when Cedric is badly, though not fatally wounded by harpies late in the game, they become surprisingly upset.

• Anti-Humor: VVVVVV Part 8, "Doing Things The Hard Way".
  Arin: Why was the man fired from his job at the orange juice factory?
  Ross: Because he fucked the boss's wife?
  Arin: ...Yes.
• Arch-Enemy: Augustus Caesar, leader of the Romans, in their playthrough of Civilization V: Brave New World. As the first civilization that they encounter outside their own, they inevitably form a rivalry with the Romans.
  Danny: (singing) Augustus Caesar / He's such a douchebag / I hate his stupid / Fucking face
• Art Evolution: The original intro had very basic lip sync, drawn in thick lines that made them look weird on the Grump faces. Since the lip syncing was very dubious as well, Ross re-animated the lip sync on the intro, making it look a lot sleeker and impressive.
  • Starting on June 25th 2014 the entire intro underwent an overhaul, including a slight adjustment to the theme song to acknowledge Ross as the primary host of Steam Train.
• The Artifact: Arin's Grump face wears a bandit costume whenever he appears on Steam Train. Initially, this was a nod to the fact that he was "breaking into" the show, which was supposed to belong solely to Danny and Ross. After a year, the series was overhauled so that Ross was the only permanent host and everyone else rotated, making Arin just as much of a legitimate cast member as Danny- but he still wears the bandit costume.
• Artifact Title: As Ross explains in the first episode of Grumpcade, Steam Rolled was supposed to be a series based on 4-player PC multiplayer games (as Steam Train is based on PC games) that would be done through LAN, but it was discovered that many games don't do LAN and they had insufficient equipment, so the decision was based to make it a console game-based series.
• Author Appeal: Ross seems to make more Doctor Who references than Jon did in Game Grumps. Especially during Space Quest IV, which involves copious amounts of Time Travel. And in Table Flip, when everybody is dressed up in Victorian getup, Ross is the Tenth Doctor.
• Berserk Button:
  • Danny dislikes hearing the words "gay" and "retarded" used as insults. He's admitted that he has used both of those terms in the past because he grew up with them (being an old habit that's difficult to break out of) and he tries his best to avoid using them now. He has also pitched the idea of using the former in a positive way instead of negatively.
  • During the Fortune Street episodes, Ross demonstrates his inability to press the 2 button to advance text, much to the chagrin of the other players, Barry in particular.
  • Suzy cringes every time Danny says, "to completion". Also discussed on Game Grumps.
  • Ross gets very upset with Danny if he accidentally says "Next time on Game Grumps" instead of "Next time on Steam Train".
• Big "NO!":
  • When Danny and Ross die at 7:35 in Castle Crashers Part 17, they let out a big "No!", interrupting the song they were singing at the time.
  • Danny lets out a loud "No!" at the end of Castle Crashers Part 20 when Ross beats Danny in a duel fought for a princess they just rescued; it is, however, overpowered by Ross's "YYYYYYYEAAAAAAAAAAH!"
  • Part 19 of Undertale has a huge emotional one from both Ross and Barry at the end when Asgore is murdered by Flowey in spite of Barry sparing him. Needless to say, the conductors are PISSED.
  Ross: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! FLOWEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYY!
• Big "YES!":
  • In Castle Crashers Part 20, when Ross beats Danny in a duel fought for the favour of a princess they just rescued, Ross lets out a loud "Yeah!", overpowering Danny's shout of "No!"
  • In VVVVVV upon beating Doing Things the Hard Way, a loud "Yes!" is uttered by the pair.
• Big "WHAT?!": Used to interrupt Barry when he decided to talk at the end of the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive playthrough.
• Black Humor: To excuse Danny's absence in episodes where Arin replaces him, he is shot dead after singing his second line in the intro by Arin's bandit figure, leading to the following amendment to the intro:
  Arin: (threatening) Say it.
  Ross: (in tears) Choo-choo!
• Body Horror: Discussed in Dixie Kong's Double Trouble Part 10. Ross speculates about how horrifying it would be to turn into an elephant...and suddenly remember everything.
• Boring, but Practical: The Grey Knight's arrow power in Castle Crashers. Lampshaded by Ross. Subverted when it turns out the Grey Knight also has the power of summoning bombs.
  Ross: My powers are mediocrity, CPR and being a car mechanic.
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: In VVVVVV Part 7, Ross tells Arin that a spider lives inside his TV, but he and Holly are afraid to remove it.
  Arin: Because of the spider or because of electricity?
  Ross: 'Cause of both. Electric spiders.
• Brick Joke: When playing Leisure Suit Larry, at one point Danny and Ross make a phonecall to a sex line, which allows for madlibs. Ross' responses alternate between Batman References and the completely innocent. A few episodes later, Batman calls the same line and asks Larry if he and Robin want to go to his house to hang out, watch Star Wars and play with his weaponry.
• Butt-Monkey: Whenever there is more than two players (or even making references to, in the main Game Grumps series) Ross is thrust into this role, evident from the Steam Rolled episodes, which includes it in the main theme which comes from the Civilization run which was painful for fans of the series.
  God damnit Ross!
• By "No", I Mean "Yes": Arin adds this in during Sakura Spirit:
  Machiko: I know I am a beautiful, exquisite creature, but pushing me into a river so you can play a hero is a bit too much, Taka-kun~!
  Arin (as Takahiro): "I-It's not like that!" (Stage Whisper) It is like that. (normal voice) "I went in to save you!" (Stage Whisper) I went in to get closer to you so I could touch your boobles.
• The Cameo:
  • Ninja Brian from Ninja Sex Party makes an... um, appearance to give Danny and Ross some advice during Castle Crashers. He also appeared with Danny in the lesser-seen promo for Steam Train on Ross' channel.
  • Markiplier gets called up for advice in episode four of Five Nights at Freddy's 2.
• Captain Obvious: In episode 11 of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Ross is fighting a dragon:
  Ross: There is a way you don't have to fight bad things.
  [Gets hit by flame breath]
  Ross: I guess this is the way where you have to fight bad things!!
• Continuity Nod: In Part 5 of Five Nights at Freddy's 2, Arin repeats his skeeball anecdote from the Game Grumps Chuck E. Cheese's Party Games episode.
• Country Matters: Ross employs it in Battleblock Theater #5 and mentions the Values Dissonance between Australia and the USA.
• Cut Short: The Civilization V: Brave New World series ends unceremoniously when Ross kicks the computer in rage. As a result, they never take down Antium or Caesar, nor do they meet the last player.
• Cuteness Proximity: Happens when Ross finds a black cat in Dreadout part 6 of all games.
  Ross: KITTY! :D
• Cutting the Knot: During Trine 2, the cast is very good at abusing jump mechanics to get around puzzles. Their most common strategy is to pseudo-double jump using a quickly-summoned box. This led to the creators of the game sending Ross merchandise with a certificate commemorating his box making skills.
• Damned by Faint Praise: "Better than deer shit!" is jokingly used a few times in comparisons after Danny and Ross witness a deer use its explosive diarrhoea to fly around in Castle Crashers.
• Demoted to Extra: Danny. Justified because Steam Train was planned before Jon's sudden departure from Game Grumps and Danny and Ross were supposed to be exclusive to the former show while Arin and Jon continue to host the latter. Because of Danny's heavy workload with Game Grumps and Ninja Sex Party, he does not appear often on Steam Train.
• The Dog Was the Mastermind: The ending to Brave New World claims that Mochi and Mimi, Arin's cats, were the Unmet Player.
• Downer Ending:
  • The playthrough of Trials Fusion. The first episode received quite a significant amount of backlash for both a lack of direction as to what to do in the game and an accidentally badly executed censorship joke that involved a Wendy's ad covering personal information, but being left there for the whole video (due to poor communication to Kevin on the Grumps' behalf) so as to look like the episode was sponsored by Wendy's. The second episode removed the ad, but was similarly uneventful due to them ditching a campaign they had barely played and finding most of the custom levels to be locked. As of this writing, the episode almost has more dislikes than likes, and the series was scrapped as a result.
  • Danny and Ross' series on The Oregon Trail ends abruptly with their entire group dying only two episodes in because the two thought that they were getting weak from fatigue instead of hunger, and as a result everyone starved to death.
  • The Civilization V series was cut short when Ross, in a fit of rage, kicked the computer and destroyed everything after four hours of playing.
  • Banished ends with everyone dying in the first winter, because nothing was constructed or produced. Although, both of the people playing were at least partially drunk.
• Down to the Last Play: The final game in the Series Finale of Mario Party 4 in Steam Rolled is literally the decisive game for either Ross or Barry to win.
• Dramatically Missing the Point: While playing The Oregon Trail, Danny and Ross run out of food on their way to Oregon. They credit their party's failing health to exhaustion instead of hunger and stop to rest for long periods of time without food. Eventually, all of their party members starve to death.
• Eldritch Location: Ross calls the beach in Pony World 3 (wich refuses to load properly despite being non-disc) "a nightmare world" due to its blank white background, pools of static, and inhabitants (and their PC Dave) looking like shadow-folk due to their skins not loading.
• Epic Fail: See Downer Ending above.
• Evolving Credits: Originally featuring just Ross and Danny (and Arin when applicable), the evolved credits debuting for King's Quest VI show Ross as the conductor of the Steam Train (along with the subtle change of lyrics to "He bought too many games") with everyone else as passengers, followed by the playing partners' "Choo-choo!" (with Ross slightly behind as part of the Running Gag of him having no rhythm). Notably, the intro is basically the same whether Danny or Arin is in the episode, eliminating the special intros for when Arin joins in, as well as if Barry or Suzy join. ^note It is unknown whether Steam Rolled games will have further changes.
  • After Brian Wecht joined the Grumps team, his Grump head can be seen popping up from behind the train.
• Expository Theme Tune: As mentioned in Castle Crashers, the series came about from Ross literally having hundreds of unplayed games on his Steam account. The evolved credits (see above) now shoulder all the blame on Ross, as opposed to everyone in the channel.
• Failed a Spot Check:
  • In the tutorial of Hotline Miami, the player must go into a brightly-lit blue room, get a gun, then go downwards into a yellow room and shoot a man. They get the gun, fail to figure out where the yellow room is, then drop the gun and have to use Good Old Fisticuffs to kill the man. This is lampshaded not long after, as they remark they were so focused on doing a silly voice for the tutorial man they weren't paying attention to the actual text.
  • The Oregon Trail run quickly descends into failure in the second episode due to lack of food, which they do not notice. Danny opts to blame Ross for this instead.
  • In Five Nights at Freddy's 2, the gang quickly dies on Night 1 due to not knowing how to wind up the music box, despite the giant "Wind Up Music Box: click & hold" button staring them in the face on the Prize Corner feed.
• Fan Community Nickname: Arin comes up with Passengers as a nickname for the fans.
• Fighter, Mage, Thief: Danny, Ross and Arin respectively in Trine 2.
• Fun with Acronyms:
  • In the Steam Rolled episode where they play Counter-Strike, Danny buys an SMG (submachine gun). They then spend the next few minutes coming up what it could stand for.
  Danny: Sick Marmalade, Grandpa! [Barry kills Danny] (laughing) I was laughing, and then I died.
  • The FTL: Faster Than Light episode has the cast puzzling over the acronym in the game's title; suggestions include "Fuck These Leprechauns" and "Forty Thousand Leeches".
• Gainax Ending:
  • At the end of Brave New World, Ross kicks the computer in a fit of rage, crashing it and ending the game. The rest of the episode is a series of stills with text over them claiming that Ross gets killed by Danny, who proceeds to go to sleep for 44 years, Arin going to Disneyland, and Mochi and Mimi continuing to rule as the Unmet Player.
  • In-universe, the ending of The Stanley Parable Demonstration. The discomforting nature of everything that happens after the Isolation Chamber has Danny jumping at a mere elevator door.
• George Jetson Job Security: Continuing the Running Gag from Game Grumps, Barry is threatened with being fired in the Quake III Arena episode:
  Barry: (In game chat) I got fired like, eight times today.
• The Ghost: The final Unmet Player in Brave New World is never seen. The ending claims that Mochi and Mimi, Arin's cats, were collectively the Unmet Player.
• Gone Horribly Wrong: See Downer Ending above.
• Good Bad Bugs: invokedIn order to facilitate their Speed Run of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Ross abuses the hell out of a variety of bugs to skip most of the game.
• Greedy Jew: Discussed in the first Castle Crashers episode, as Danny thinks it's a stupid stereotype because, "Who doesn't love money?"
• Guest Fighter: In contrast with the strict focus on the two stars of Game Grumps (Grant Kirkhope being the exception), Steam Train often has Arin, Barry, and occasionally Suzy appear to play.
• Guest Host: Arin has sat in on several games during Steam Train, including Brave New World, FTL: Faster Than Light and Trine 2. He has also taken over Danny's position as host when needed, such as in the Rogue Legacy playthrough.
  • As of the one year anniversary "retool" the intro now shows Danny, Arin, Susy and Barry in a train. Ross confirmed on Reddit this is to allow anybody to be on the show with him, with him as the mainstay.
    • This has also allowed them to make series without Ross at all such as Peggle Nights with Danny, Suzy, and Barry or Five Nights at Freddie's with Arin, Suzy, and Barry.
• Guide Dang It!: Arin and Ross fail to figure out how to get the trinket in Prize for the Reckless — which is completely understandable for most players of the game.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: In part of 1 the Steam Rolled episode with Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Barry and Ross face Arin and Suzy on Peach Beach. Ross plants a Banana right by the finish line to catch his opponents, he and Barry gain the lead for a while, but on the homestretch, get struck by the dreaded Spiny Shell on the final lap and Arin and Suzy snatch it from them. However, Barry uses a Mushroom to close the gap and beat them at the last minute... and plows into Ross's banana right before the finish line. Arin and Suzy win handily.
• Hope Spot: During part 7 of Noitu Love 2. After three tries, Arin and Ross use teamwork (with Arin on the mouse and Ross on the keyboard) to defeat Tango's second form... not realizing that she has a third form, which almost immediately kills them.
• Hostile Show Takeover: In two of the intro animations, Arin suddenly appears and either mugs them or kills Danny.
• I Am Not Shazam: invokedIn-universe; Larry Laffer is referred to as "Leisure Suit Larry".
• Insistent Terminology: It's not a penis, it's a creature created in the Spore creature creator.
• Irishman and a Jew: Ross is half Irish, half Australian, and Danny is Jewish. Most humour derived from this is deliberate, as neither of the pair demonstrate any "stereotypical" behaviour.
  • Same applies to the St. Patrick's Day Stout Train episodes which Ross plays with Barry who is also Jewish.
• Jewish and Nerdy: Danny points out in the Singles Train special that it's the first ever episode on the Grumps channel that exclusively features the two Jewish members of the team. They then start throwing out some Jewish greetings and compliments towards each other.
• Jewish Mother: The group parodies this in the third Civilization V episode.
  Danny: Why aren't you building Notre Dame? Your cousin built Notre Dame. He was top of his class! You know, Martin, from across the street, he already built Stonehenge, and he did it in Canada!
  Arin: They don't even have things in Canada!
  Danny: It's just a bunch of wood and deers!

• Lame Pun Reaction: Several of these in the King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow playthrough, as the series is well known for it's punning.
  Narrator: Alexander's mother always told him to stay away from bad ghouls.
  Danny & Ross: *collective groan*
• Lampshade Hanging: The first "Steam Rolled" has Ross and Danny challenging Game Grumps to a duel... only for Danny to appear on the other side.
  Ross: ...what the fuck, who's going to be on MY team?! [Barry is shown looking confused]
• The Load: Played for Laughs in Trine 2, where Ross as the Squishy Wizard doesn't have any apparent offensive capabilities, and Danny and Arin have to fight off Goblins.
  Ross: Guys, I made a slightly ''bigger'' box.
  Arin: That's nice, now go fuck yourself.
• Male Gaze: When Barry plays as a roller blading girl (wearing something that seems like a Latex Space Suit) in Quake III: Arena the other three players (Ross, Danny and Arin) all have a temporary cease fire to check out his character's ass.

• My God, What Have I Done?: A common reaction to Ross's increasingly squicky evolutions in Spore. It eventually gets to the point that he himself is actually sickened by what he's created.
• My Little Phony: The episode "Pony World 3"; which is a 50-minute oneshot of Ross and Danny playing a game something like a crossbreed of The Sims and My Little Pony.
• Nerdy Bully: In the fourth part of the playthrough of VVVVVV, Arin and Ross conceptualize a bully character known as Dinkles the Buff Nerd.
• Never Heard That One Before: In Castle Crashers Part 9, after Ross had been discussing how he got the "RubberNinja" and "RubberRoss" nicknames:
  Danny: I thought it was because you're gonna come up with your own brand of condoms.
  Ross: (sarcastic laughter) I have not heard that one before, Danny!
• Non-Indicative First Episode: The first episode of the show, Hotline Miami Part 1, is generally considered to be subpar, as Dan and Ross fail to get anywhere and spend most of the episode reading the game text in funny voices. Later episodes are considerably better paced, and are much more reminiscent of typical Game Grumps episodes.
• Non-Indicative Name:
  • Somewhere during the middle of the Space Quest IV videos, Danny mentions the game was actually bought through GOG.com.
  • Ross' save game names in the Space Quest IV series are written in a pidgin English that are only tangentially related to the situation they're supposed to describe, with some of them being seemingly completely random, such as "oppertunee jummp" being used to represent a room filled with lasers.
  • Steam Rolled, despite being billed as Steam Train episodes, is a catch-all term for "sessions with four players". Their fourth session of Steam Rolled is about Mario Party 4 and features Suzy instead of Danny.
  • In Spore, Ross names his creature "legs fo days", then decides not to give it legs. A little later he changes the name to "arms fo mins" and decides not to give it arms.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: When playing Sierra games, while they miss some of the more obscure actions^note like taking and returning the unstable ordnance in Space Quest IV, it's occasionally obvious that Dan is playing up his lack of knowledge of the games for entertainment.
• Odd Name Out:
  • In the first episode of VVVVVV, Arin nicknames the crew of the ship Pinkie, Bluey, Greenie, Reddie, and Stan.
  • In Worms: Armageddon, the gang name their Worms based on themes. Ross' are all Australian things; Arin's are jokey variations on "grump", such as Grep, Drump, and Gorp; Barry's are variations on the word "poop"; and Danny's are Nabble, Nobble, Nubble, Noble, Nerble, and Fucktard 5000.
• Oh, Crap!: When they play No Mercy route Undertale, and a certain song starts to play against the Final Boss, they know they're in trouble. And when the boss dodged their attacks, they know they're really in for it.
  "Oh! Is that some Megalovania I hear?! WE ARE IN TROUBLE BOYO!
  I'm gonna attack him! I'm sorry Sans! OOOH FUCK HE DODGED IT! OH FUCK HE DODGED IT!
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Ross is from Australia, and sometimes slips into an Australian accent (especially when he's tired). However, he denies that he has an Australian accent, and claims that he didn't have one even when he lived in Australia.
• Phrase Catcher: "Goddamnit, Ross" is said by all sorts of folks, up to and including the narrator of the The Stanley Parable demo.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Ross is terrible at them, as shown in their Hotline Miami playthrough.
  Ross: [Kicks door down] Are you taking a poo? [Shoots guy standing next to toilet]
• Pretend Prejudice: Ross constantly pokes fun at Danny's Jewish heritage, and Danny at Ross's mixed Australian/Irish heritage.
• Punny Name: It's a Steam Train! Y'know, like the digital distribution service.
• The Quiet One: Although Barry often puts in comments in text form in the videos (just as in Game Grumps), he is rarely heard on the show itself. In the Quake III: Arena episode of Steam Rolled videos, where he takes the spot of the fourth player, he uses in-game chat to communicate in terse, sparse sentences. At the end of the next Steam Rolled, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, he utters a single sentence at the very end — the first time he's spoken on the channel. From every episode onwards, whenever he is part of the cast, he gets a full speaking role. Lampshaded in Worms Armageddon, the third Steam Rolled episode, where he makes it sound as if he hasn't spoken in years.
• Rage Quit: Arin does this on Five Nights at Freddy's after getting killed by Foxy three times in a row.
• Read the Freaking Manual:
  • In the very first episode, the duo was too busy reading the dialogue in funny voices to pay any attention to the tutorial in Hotline Miami.
  • In the FTL episode, only Ross had any experience with the game, and even then he only skimmed the tutorial. The end result is, depending on the viewer, either a hilarious display of comical incompetence, or a hair-pullingly frustrating display of inexcusable incompetence.
  • The Civilization playthrough was equally painful to watch for true fans of the series. The third and fourth videos consisted of Ross sending a unit somewhere that turned out to be blocked by his own units, so they started going around. He kicked the computer for it and crashed the game.
  • In the fourth episode of VVVVVV, Ross repeatedly dies at a part that requires him to go right, unaware of the wrap-around screen mechanics (even though earlier parts of the level included them). Even when Arin was yelling at him to go right, it doesn't seem to get through until the end.

• Required Spinoff Crossover: In the first few months after the the launch of Steam Train, Arin from Game Grumps sat in on several games, including Civilization V: Brave New World, FTL: Faster Than Light and Trine 2. Over time, this became more and more common, to the point that Steam Train and Game Grumps became difficult to call different shows.
• Retool: To accommodate Danny's busy schedule around two months into the show's run, Steam Train and Steam Rolled were temporarily retooled to use pretty much whoever happened to be available at the time — specifically, the former had Arin from Game Grumps take over for him, and the latter used any permutation of four of Ross, Danny, Arin, Barry, and Suzy.
• Running Gag:
  • In the Civilization V: Brave New World playthrough, Pottery and Calendar are sarcastically mentioned whenever the subject turns to warfare or diplomacy (usually the former). The trio (Dan, Ross and Arin) also make fun of Caesar whenever they can.
  • Ross' complete inability to sing has become the bane of Dan's joy. If Danny starts singing, it's a near certainty the song will turn into a scream because Ross tries to join in.
  • "is rly good", the name of the first Space Quest IV save game, is used as a template for the rest of the save game names; the phrase later becomes a recurring joke and is used fairly often throughout the show.
  • Danny often shouts out, "If X [where X is subject at hand] LIKE COMMENT AND SUBSCRIBE", continuing a Running Gag from the Game Grumps show.
  • Skittles are really popular. Also, like the original Game Grumps, Danny and Ross occasionally ask Skittles to sponsor them.
  • Ross gets to name the save files in Space Quest IV and Leisure Suit Larry. They're usually vaguely nonsensical.
  • In Fortune Street, the others repeatedly berate Ross for not pressing 2 and they also keep joking how Suzy will win.
  • In Sakura Spirit, the guys' growing frustration with Takahiro's Chaste Hero ways despite the fact that the game is full of busty girls getting undressed in front of him and all but begging for sex.
• Sarcasm Mode: From Space Quest IV:
  Danny: Okay, so I need the time code.
  Ross: Okay, so it's a squiggle, then squiggle squiggle, and then a squiggle, squiggle and a squiggle.
  Danny: You have been extremely helpful.
• Shout-Out: Ross' final Space Quest save game is, instead of a Word Salad Title like before, "Save the disk, save the world".
• Slash Fic: Ross, during part 14 of Space Quest IV, reads one by Ninja Brian about Brian giving Danny a blowjob.
• Some of My Best Friends Are X: Some of Danny's best friends are gays. He means this fully seriously, finding the term "gay" as a derogatory comment of negativity being stupid.
• Special Edition Title:
  • Episodes with Arin always end with him showing up as a bandit, declaring "Stick 'em up, this is a robbery!" Starting with the Offspring Fling playthrough, Danny's absence is excused with him being shot dead mid-word by Arin, who then sticks his gun to Ross's head and declares:
  Arin: Say it.
  Ross: (in tears) Choo-choo!
  • Part 9 of Space Quest IV has a live-action Danny and Ross on the Grump room couch where they warn the audience that the entire episode will be spend playing a mini-game where you make hamburgers.
  • Like its sister show, Steam Train was renamed Scream Train and used a Halloween-themed opening during the last week of October 2013, with Danny (Deadly) and Ross (Rots) as zombies.
  Deadly: We bought too many brains!
  Rots: (with dislocated jaw) Now we gotta eat them all.
  SO ALL ABOARD THE SCREAM TRAIN!
  • For December 2013, it became Steam Sleigh and used a Christmas-themed opening starting from the last three days before Christmas with Arin (Arindeer) as a reindeer and Ross (Frossty) as a snowman.
  Both: Playing lots of games. With Christmas-type names. Instead of a train... We're on a Steam Sleigh! Choo choo choo!
  • On Valentine's Day 2014, this intro was used under the name "Single Train". (Ross is replaced with Barry for this episode, since Ross is not single.)
  Danny: We don't have any dames!
  Barry: Now it's just another Friday.
  Danny: SO ALL ABOARD THE... ah, fuck it. We're single on Valentine's Day.
  • On St. Patrick's Day 2014, Barry and Ross played a few games, with a special intro under the name Stout Train to match, where the two of them are wasted, the name captions are drawn crappy, and a distorted Irish version of the normal theme plays:
  Barry: We bought too many beers...
  Ross: Now we gotta drink them all.
  SO ALL ABOARD THE STOUT TRAIN!
  Ross: *BURP*
  Barry: (gets closer to Ross) I love you man...
  • With the second run of holidays, the credits have again been updated; Scream Train now has Danny and company mortified by Rots at the helm, and Steam Sleigh more or less keeps the same opening but adds Barry as a dreidel, singing the theme as well.
  • The normal Grumpcade intro shows a UFO catcher/prize grabber machine filled with the Grumps' heads, with the claw grabbing the heads of Ross and that episode's guest host. The WarioWare Inc. episode, which is hosted by Ross, Barry, Arin and Suzy, uses an intro modeled off of the character select screen from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game.
• Spin-Off: The show is a spinoff of Game Grumps that follows the same format but focuses exclusively on PC games, with Danny as a member of both shows, and Arin covering when needed. Occasionally, Arin will also join as a third member, and certain episodes called Steam Rolled focus on four-player games, with Barry and Suzy participating in whichever fashion works best.
• Suddenly Speaking: At the end of the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive playthrough, Barry speaks on-camera for the first time in the history of the channel. In subsequent on-screen appearances he has been a fully-voiced member of the cast.

• Take That!: During their play of Spooky Cats, they joke about there being a Spooky Cats manga and how it went downhill after a few chapters with a politically fueled arc. It becomes obvious what manga they're talking about when Barry says "Fucking Attack on Titan shit up in here?"
• Tempting Fate:
  • In Space Quest IV Part 4, Dan reassures Ross that the deadly green slime will not "change direction and come at me". The slime then proceeds to do exactly that.
  • During the Mario Party 4 finale, Ross takes a chance at the lottery, and Arin tells him he'd better not get the gold ball. Guess what happens?
  • Arin and Ross think that Ride to Hell: Retribution isn't as terrible as reviews have claimed. Each time they say anything resembling "This game can't be that bad", the game gets progressively worse and worse.
• That Came Out Wrong: When Danny is cheering on Arin in Counter-Strike and playing as Terrorists:
  Danny: Do it for Terrorists everywhere! ...I shouldn't have said that.
• This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: Danny and Arin treat Ross' Squishy Wizard like this when he has to perform with more esoteric abilities (Ross not having mastered the mage's skills fully yet) in Trine 2.
  • Ross' ability to understand the logic of Sierra Games allows the duo to breeze through them.
• Too Dumb to Live: While playing The Oregon Trail, Danny and Ross run out of food. Thinking their party members are losing health due to tiredness, they continually rest at landmarks in hopes that they'll get better. In doing so, their entire party starves to death.
• Took a Level in Badass: Ross is playing noticeably above his usual standard in the Skyrim episodes, pulling off some cool speedrunning tricks.
• Ugly Cute: invoked In The Binding of Isaac Part 1, Ross and Danny react with equal parts delight and revulsion on seeing the boss "Pin":
  Ross: Oh my God it's super cute!
  Danny: It's disgusting! [laughs] I mean... It's cutegross.
• Unfortunate Implications: Defied in-universe in Leisure Suit Larry 6. One of the girls Larry dates turns out to be a transgender woman and Larry reacts with disgust, something definitely not acceptable today, while Danny takes the Disney approach of not making it look okay while still not brushing over it, claiming it to be a reference to The Crying Game.
• We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties: Occasionally a game they're playing will glitch up, either from poor programming (Ride to Hell, Pony World 3), or a Game-Breaking Bug that crashes the game entirely (My Boyfriend 2, Leisure Suit Larry 6).
• Wham Line: In-universe, the last line of the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive... because it came from Barry.
  Barry: (slurred) Thanks for having me— (drowned out by Arin, Danny, and Ross screaming in shock)
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: Parodied at the end of the Brave New World series: Ross was murdered by Danny (because he destroyed the recording by kicking the computer), who then slept for 44 years, Arin went to Disneyland and then he fell asleep, and Mochi and Mimi continue to rule as the Unmet Player.
• Wild Card: They suspect Ife of being this in their playthrough of Civilization V: Brave New World.
  Danny: I Fuck Everything.

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"ROSS, PRESS 2!!"