This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
From Videogame Tropes Discussion:
Here's one I haven't found (but I may not have looked enough): Each Weapon In Their Own Time.
The first example which comes to mind is Metal Gear Solid. At the start, you have just a measly tranquilizer gun which doesn't even kill enemies, just puts them to sleep. Now, every enemy character is depicted carrying an AK 47 or some other rifle, and the game mechanics allow you to search a tranquilized/dead enemy and pick up medikits, equipment, bullets, etc. However, even though the enemy visibly still grips his AK 47, you just can't pick it up until you progress to a level where the same weapon is pick-up-able as a powerup. Up to that point, you will have disposed of at least 50 enemies armed to the teeth, but you'll still have just a measly tranquilizer gun.
Andrew Leprich: If I remember correctly, the game hand waves this by mentioning that the soldier's rifles are DNA-encoded and therefore are unusable by anyone other than the original owner. The Chronicles Of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay does the exact same thing. I'm not sure if that's what you mean the trope is all about (players are unable to take the weapons of fallen enemies for whatever reason, and must find the same weapon located by itself), but if so I'd say hit it. I suck at names, but here's one I'll throw out: Any Gun But Theres.
(Addendum) 12/22: If no one minds, I'll hit this as Unusable Enemy Equipment, as the suggested troper left no name and appears to be a drive by.
BT The P: Judge Dredd's gun wasn't DNA locked; as I recall, it was a bit dumber than that. It put a copy of the shooter's DNA on every round, as it is fired, so that it could be matched later. I won't even go in to how ridiculous that is. It would make more sense the other way, i.e. "ballistics matched your gun, it won't fire unless it matches your DNA, you is arrested, oopsie, the clone did it". But instead it was "bullet had your DNA on it, gun secretly records your DNA with every shot and delivers it intact into the target, you is arrested, etc."
At least that's how I understood it. The whole movie's a bit ludicrous, and not in the good way the comic is.
Paul A: I think the entry is talking about the comics, in which the official Judge weapons are all designed to (ahem) discourage anybody who attempts to use them without authorisation. I don't recall whether it's DNA specifically, but there is some mechanism by which each weapon is able to distinguish its authorised user.
Mark Z: About Jagged Alliance 2: Killed enemies will often drop ammunition, but their weapon will never be available for use, nor will their body armour. Incorrect. It's very common to get weapons like this, though armor is quite rare. Left in the part about the rocket rifle, as it's an interesting twist on the core trope.
Sir Lemming: I'm too lazy to make the edit myself, but I feel like the section on first-person shooters needs to be inverted. Not only in Wolfenstein 3D but in MOST early FP Ses, you could always pick up enemy weapons/ammo after killing them, unless they were some sort of creature that shot projectiles out of who-knows-where. It was the case with Doom, Dark Forces, Duke Nukem 3D... It definitely doesn't seem like something that started with modern, "more realistic" FP Ses. Frankly, it's hard for me to think of an FPS that does fit this trope. Yet no examples have been given.
Fool: I don't think the entry for Mardek fits this trope. The trope does apply to it; in many cases you can actually click on an enemy to see its stats and equipment, in a similar format to an Enemy Scan; but the example provided doesn't really fit at all, since one chapter 3 is released staves will likely become usable anyway. (It's actually an aversion, technically; it's a random drop from an enemy that uses the staff)
