History KangarooCourt / VideoGames

* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'', Mario stands trial for vandalism in one of the worst trials in video game history. The prosecutor states the sun has stopped shining due to the graffiti and Mario ''looks like the criminal''. Peach and Toadsworth try to object, but the judge ''overrules it without even hearing her out.'' With Peach being royal and all, this is a fail. And when you saw the tape on the plane about Isle Delfino, you could see the ''real'' person doing it. Even more facepalm-warranting, Shadow Mario/Bowser Jr. is blue, transparent, and has a magic paintbrush. The real Mario is opaque, wears red clothes with blue overalls, and ''just got off a plane.'' He's also wearing a robotic fire extinguisher.

* The Excommunication scheme in ''VideoGame/KingOfTheCastle'' involves the Grandees of the South gathering "evidence" that the King is a heretic (whether because they are a power-hungry tyrant or a greedy money-hoarder), and if the scheme succeeds, they hold a show trial in which the King's conviction is guaranteed, resulting in their conviction and immediate dismissal as King (since the law requires that the King be a member of the Church).

* The trial at the end of Episode 5 of ''VisualNovel/UminekoNoNakuKoroNi'' is this. [[spoiler:Natsuhi is being accused of being the true culprit in the games by Erika and Bernkastel. Lambadelta, the Game Master and judge, happens to be in a relationship with Bernkastel. All of the evidence was rigged entirely in favor of showing Natsuhi as the culprit (without even considering that anyone else could have possibly done it), her defense is a Piece version of Beatrice who is far more limited than the real deal, and Battler isn't allowed to speak until the very end because he left the game early and only came back at the end. The real kicker is that when Battler is given a Red Truth that states that Natsuhi isn't the culprit and tries using it, it's denied outright by Dlanor because he doesn't have any evidence even in spite of the Red Truth being the absolute truth. Even after Natsuhi lost the trial, they were planning on proving that she was the culprit in every game up to now.]]

* In the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' franchise, you can debunk every piece of evidence pointing towards your client (which is considered sufficient in real life, as the defense has nothing to prove), but they're ''still'' not off the hook until you can actually ''prove'' their innocence by catching the real killer.[[note]]Usually, anyway; the series gets a little more lax about this later on, and Layton-1 and 5-4 both end with Not Guilty verdicts being declared before an alternate culprit is presented.[[/note]] The incompetence of the games' current court system becomes more apparent as the series goes on and reaches a head in the third case of the fourth game, and Phoenix actually is so frustrated with this -- [[spoiler:especially since it ''cost him his career'']] -- that he begins a quiet crusade to reinstate the jury system and succeeds in getting a test run in the same game's fourth case. When [[spoiler:Ron Delite confesses he was the thief when Phoenix already proved him innocent]], the judge outright says, "What kind of a kangaroo court do you think this is?"[[note]]It should be noted that the ''Ace Attorney'' series is based on the Japanese court system, which is notorious for its ridiculously high conviction rate, which can lead to a heavy dose of ValuesDissonance for Western players and led the localization team to put in some lines handwaving the dramatic differences between the game's court system and the American court system of today. The jury system was introduced as a TakeThat to Japan's trial-by-judge system and to promote trial by jury which is a largely foreign concept over there.[[/note]]
** Exaggerated in ''Videogame/ProfessorLaytonVsAceAttorney'', where the Judge is not just biased towards the prosecution - he is ''impatiently looking forward to calling your client guilty'' as soon as you make one wrong turn, so he can gladly condemn them to [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath burn alive and watch them reduced into ashes]]. Meanwhile, the audience cheers for the prosecution even while you are destroying their arguments and the witnesses will change their testimony a hundred times and make up any lies necessary to prove that the defendant is an evil despicable witch who deserves to be burnt alive. [[WitchHunt Witch Trial, indeed.]]
** It gets even ''worse'' in ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice Spirit of Justice]]''. In Khura'in, defense attorneys are culturally considered to be evil, lying demons, the decisions are almost entirely based on the word of a 14-year old and her powers to view the victim's last memories, and the accused actually contesting the charges is considered blasphemy. At least in Labyrinthia, you're still guaranteed counsel and MagicAIsMagicA. Then it gets turned up well past 11 for the final trial, [[spoiler:with the prosecution taken over by the [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen country's queen]], who can [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem rewrite the law on the spot]]. That doesn't even get into her actually taking judging duties, such as giving out penalties, or even [[HangingJudge trying to declare a 'guilty' verdict herself without allowing a counter-argument]]. She even uses her law book as a gavel.]]
** ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney'':
*** In general, the game takes a step back from this, instead making Ryunosuke's main challenges [[LockedRoomMystery Locked Room Mysteries]], the historical absence of exonerating forensic evidence, and a [[DeliberateValuesDissonance Victorian jury]] that reacts poorly to some foreigner accusing respected members of London society and law enforcement. However, the duology is bookended by bench trials [[spoiler:where the judges themselves are in on the crime]], both of which are noted as more than a little suspicious by the accused and their counsel.
*** From the backstory, we have the trial of [[spoiler:Genshin Asogi, who was accused of being the notorious killer known as "The Professor". Unfortunately, his trial was little more than this, as Mael Stronghart did not want the public to know that Klint van Zieks, a highly-regarded prosecutor, had been the Professor.]] The prosecutor was the little brother of one of the victims, and the confession they used was coerced [[spoiler:under the promise that they'd fake his execution and return him home to Japan]]. Interestingly enough, the victim ''did'' commit the crime that originally got him put on trial ([[spoiler: killing Klint van Zieks]]), but not the others he was accused of and in an entirely different context.

* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect'', Saren's hearing near the beginning of the game seems to be entirely pointless as the Council has more or less decided that he is innocent of the attack on Eden Prime. This is especially egregious when they brush off direct eyewitness testimony of Saren murdering a fellow Spectre agent. It takes Shepard and company finding an audio file of Saren bragging about the attack for them to actually do anything as it's evidence they simply cannot ignore.
* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', Tali's trial is only a pretense for the judges to pursue their various political agendas on how to deal with the Geth. None of them really care what happens to Tali, except for Shala'Raan (who, due to her ties to the Zorah family, is forced to recuse herself from voting). [[spoiler:They're so transparent about it that you can have Tali exonerated ''without evidence'' just by pointing this out (you do have evidence, but Tali begs you not to reveal it since it would ruin her father's reputation), although you need a lot of alignment points or two important character witnesses.]]

* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'', Mario stands trial for vandalism in one of the worst trials in video game history. The prosecutor states the sun has stopped shining due to the graffiti and Mario ''looks like the criminal''. Peach and Toadsworth try to object, but the judge ''overrules it without even hearing her out.'' With Peach being royal and all, this is a fail. And when you saw the tape on the plane about Isle Delfino, you could see the ''real'' person doing it. Even more facepalm-warranting, Shadow Mario/[[spoiler:Bowser Jr.]] is blue, transparent, and has a magic paintbrush. The real Mario is opaque, wears red clothes with blue overalls, and ''just got off a plane.'' He's also wearing a robotic fire extinguisher.

** ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' has [[spoiler:the very first trial be this. In said first trial, DecoyProtagonist Kaede is revealed as the culprit who killed Rantaro, and is therefore executed after the votes land correctly. However, in the final chapter, [[AcquittedTooLate new information is found]] which reveals that in reality, Tsumugi, the mastermind, was the true killer and set up her murder similarly to Kaede's own plan so as to frame her and trick her into believing that she was the killer, being able to get away with it [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem solely by being the mastermind]], and therefore accepting Kaede as the valid answer in said first case]].

* ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'' is an interesting example. While all the class trials are effectively unsanctioned, they generally do follow the rules of the DeadlyGame the participants have been forced into, and while Monokuma is quite the HangingJudge, he won't execute someone he knows didn't kill anyone (unless the class votes to convict an innocent, in which case the rules state that everyone but the killer dies). There are a couple of exceptions however.
** ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'' has [[spoiler:the fifth chapter, where the trial is rigged as the entire murder was fake, set up by the mastermind using the body of a student that had already died in an attempt to frame Kyoko and get rid of her. Eventually, Makoto is able to clear suspicion on Kyoko, but ends up making himself look like the guilty party. While the rules say the correct culprit must be identified, the mastermind accepts Makoto as a valid answer. Thankfully, the NotQuiteDead Alter Ego is able to interfere when Makoto is sent to execution, giving him a chance to expose the foul play and get a retrial to face off with the mastermind and end the killing game]].

* ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'' is an interesting example. While all the class trials are effectively unsanctioned, they generally do follow the rules of the DeadlyGame the participants have been forced into. There are a couple of exceptions however.

*** In general, the game takes a step back from this, instead making Ryunosuke's main challenges [[LockedRoomMystery Locked Room Mysteries]], the historical absence of exonerating forensic evidence, and a Victorian jury that reacts poorly to some foreigner accusing respected members of London society and law enforcement. However, the duology is bookended by bench trials [[spoiler:where the judges themselves are in on the crime]], both of which are noted as more than a little suspicious by the accused and their counsel.
*** From the backstory, we have the trial of [[spoiler:Genshin Asogi, who was accused of being the notorious killer known as "The Professor". Unfortunately, his trial was little more than this, as Mael Stronghart did not want the public to know that Klint van Zieks, a highly-regarded prosecutor, had been the Professor.]]

** It gets even ''worse'' in ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice Spirit of Justice]]''. In Khura'in, defense attorneys are culturally considered to be evil, lying demons, the decisions are almost entirely based on the word of a 14-year old and her powers to view the victim's last memories, and the accused actually contesting the charges is considered blasphemy. At least in Labyrinthia, you're still guaranteed counsel and MagicAIsMagicA.
*** ''Spirit of Justice'' turns it up well past 11 for the final trial, [[spoiler:with the prosecution taken over by the [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen country's queen]], who can [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem rewrite the law on the spot]]. That doesn't even get into her actually taking judging duties, such as giving out penalties, or even [[HangingJudge trying to declare a 'guilty' verdict herself without allowing a counter-argument]]. She even uses her law book as a gavel.]]
** ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney'' takes a step back from this, instead making Ryunosuke's main challenges [[LockedRoomMystery Locked Room Mysteries]], the historical absence of exonerating forensic evidence, and a Victorian jury that reacts poorly to some foreigner accusing respected members of London society and law enforcement. However, the duology is bookended by bench trials [[spoiler:where the judges themselves are in on the crime]], both of which are noted as more than a little suspicious by the accused and their counsel.
** From the backstory of ''The Great Ace Attorney'', we have the trial of [[spoiler:Genshin Asogi, who was accused of being the notorious killer known as "The Professor". Unfortunately, his trial was little more than this, as Mael Stronghart did not want the public to know that Klint van Zieks, a highly-regarded prosecutor, had been the Professor.]]

** It gets even ''worse'' in ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice Spirit of Justice]]''. In Khura'in, defense attorneys are culturally considered to be evil, lying demons, the decisions are almost entirely based on the word of a 14-year old and her powers to summon dead spirits, and the accused actually contesting the charges is considered blasphemy. At least in Labyrinthia, you're still guaranteed counsel and MagicAIsMagicA.

* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'', Mario stands trial in one of the worst trials in video game history. The prosecutor states the sun has stopped shining due to the graffiti and Mario ''looks like the criminal''. Peach and Toadsworth try to object, but the judge ''overrules it without even hearing her out.'' With Peach being royal and all, this is a fail. And when you saw the tape on the plane about Isle Delfino, you could see the ''real'' person doing it. Even more facepalm-warranting, Shadow Mario/[[spoiler:Bowser Jr.]] is blue, transparent, and has a magic paintbrush. The real Mario is opaque, wears red clothes with blue overalls, and ''just got there.'' He's also wearing a robotic fire extinguisher.

** ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'' has [[spoiler:the fifth chapter, where the entire murder was fake, set up by the mastermind using a old corpse in an attempt to frame Kyoko and get rid of her. Eventually, Makoto is able to clear suspicion on Kyoko, but ends up making himself look like the guilty party. While the rules say the correct culprit must be identified, the mastermind accepts Makoto as a valid answer. Thankfully, the NotQuiteDead Alter Ego is able to interfere when Makoto is sent to execution, allowing him a chance to expose the foul play and get a retrial to face off with the mastermind and end the killing game]].
** ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' has [[spoiler:the very first trial be this. In said first trial, DecoyProtagonist Kaede is revealed as the culprit who killed Rantaro, and is therefore executed after the votes land correctly. However, in the final chapter, [[AcquittedTooLate new information is found]] which reveals that in fact, Tsumugi, the mastermind, was the true killer, and set up her murder similarly to Kaede’s own plan so as to frame her, being able to get away with it [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeEm solely by being the mastermind]], and therefore accepting Kaede as the valid answer in said first case]].

* Franchise/{{Danganronpa}} is an interesting example. While all the class trials are effectively unsanctioned, they generally do follow the rules of the DeadlyGame the participants have been forced into. There are a couple of exceptions however.
** VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc has [[spoiler:the fifth chapter, where the entire murder was fake, set up by the mastermind using a old corpse in an attempt to frame Kyoko and get rid of her. Eventually, Makoto is able to clear suspicion on Kyoko, but ends up making himself look like the guilty party. While the rules say the correct culprit must be identified, the mastermind accepts Makoto as a valid answer. Thankfully, the NotQuiteDead Alter Ego is able to interfere when Makoto is sent to execution, allowing him a chance to expose the foul play and get a retrial to face off with the mastermind and end the killing game]].
** VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony has [[spoiler:the very first trial be this. In said first trial, DecoyProtagonist Kaede is revealed as the culprit who killed Rantaro, and is therefore executed after the votes land correctly. However, in the final chapter, [[AcquittedTooLate new information is found]] which reveals that in fact, Tsumugi, the mastermind, was the true killer, and set up her murder similarly to Kaede’s own plan so as to frame her, being able to get away with it [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeEm solely by being the mastermind]], and therefore accepting Kaede as the valid answer in said first case]].

** ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney'' takes a step back from this, instead making Ryunosuke's main challenges [[LockedRoomMystery Locked Room Mysteries]], the historical absence of exonerating forensic evidence, and a [[RealityEnsues Victorian jury that reacts poorly to some foreigner accusing respected members of London society and law enforcement.]] However, the duology is bookended by bench trials [[spoiler:where the judges themselves are in on the crime]], both of which are noted as more than a little suspicious by the accused and their counsel.

* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', Tali's trial is only a pretence for the judges to pursue their various political agendas on how to deal with the Geth. None of them really care what happens to Tali, except for Shala'Raan (who, due to her ties to the Zorah family, is forced to recuse herself from voting). [[spoiler:They're so transparent about it that you can have Tali exonerated ''without evidence'' just by pointing this out, although you need a lot of alignment points or two important character witnesses.]]

** Taken UpToEleven in ''Videogame/ProfessorLaytonVsAceAttorney'', where the Judge is not just biased towards the prosecution - he is ''impatiently looking forward to calling your client guilty'' as soon as you make one wrong turn, so he can gladly condemn them to [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath burn alive and watch them reduced into ashes]]. Meanwhile, the audience cheers for the prosecution even while you are destroying their arguments and the witnesses will change their testimony a hundred times and make up any lies necessary to prove that the defendant is an evil despicable witch who deserves to be burnt alive. [[WitchHunt Witch Trial, indeed.]]

* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'', Mario stands trial in one of the worst trials in video game history. The prosecutor states the sun has stopped shining due to the graffiti and Mario ''looks like the criminal''. Peach and Toadsworth try to object, but the judge ''overrules it without even hearing her out.'' With Peach being royal and all, this is a fail. And when you saw the tape on the plane about Isle Delfino, you could see the ''real'' person doing it. Even more facepalm-warranting, Shadow Mario/[[spoiler:Bowser Jr.]] is blue, transparent, and has a magic paintbrush. The real Mario is opaque, wears red clothes with blue overalls, and ''just got there.'' He's also wearing a robotic fire extinguisher. {{LetsPlay/Chuggaaconroy}} sums it up quite well.
-->'''{{LetsPlay/Chuggaaconroy}}:''' There was no statement by the defense, no attorney appointed to the defense, no witnesses called, no evidence presented, nobody even bothered to notice that we literally got here 4 minutes and 34 seconds ago before we were arrested, and there wasn't even a jury!?!... This is more rigged than Saddam Hussein's trial!

* Late in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'': [[spoiler:Dr. Huey Emmerich is subjected to a drumhead trial at Mother Base after it was discovered he helped to facilitate a vocal chord parasite outbreak that killed several members of the Diamond Dogs. In addition to revealing evidence that he not only tried to make his son Hal test-pilot a new Metal Gear, but also murdered his wife Dr. Strangelove when she protested (the evidence of the murder being her recorded cries from the AI core she was trapped in), Miller hands down a summary verdict of "guilty, all counts". Big Boss rejects the cries for the death penalty, claiming that a mercenary company doesn't have the right to execute prisoners, but gives Huey a cruel and unusual punishment because he's obviously guilty of some of the murder crimes; Huey is exiled from Mother Base on an unstable raft, forcing Huey to amputate his cybernetic limbs to survive, and then the R&D team reverse-engineers Huey's blueprints and posts all counts of Huey's plagiarism to the public.]]

* In the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' franchise, you can debunk every piece of evidence pointing towards your client (which is considered sufficient in real life, as the defense has nothing to prove), but they're ''still'' not off the hook until you can actually ''prove'' their innocence by catching the real killer.[[note]]Usually, anyway; the series gets a little more lax about this later on, and Layton-1 and 5-4 both end with Not Guilty verdicts being declared before an alternate culprit is presented.[[/note]] The incompetence of the games' current court system becomes more apparent as the series goes on and reaches a head in the third case of the fourth game, and Phoenix actually is so frustrated with this -- [[spoiler:especially since it ''cost him his career'']] -- that he begins a quiet crusade to reinstate the jury system and succeeds in getting a test run in the same game's fourth case. When [[spoiler:Ron Delite confesses he was the thief when Phoenix already proved him innocent]], the judge outright says, "What kind of a kangaroo court do you think this is?"[[note]]It should be noted that the ''Ace Attorney'' series is based on the Japanese court system, which is notorious for its ridiculously high conviction rate, which can lead to a heavy dose ValuesDissonance for Western players and led the localization team to put in some lines handwaving the dramatic differences between the game's court system and the American court system of today. The jury system was introduced as a TakeThat to Japan's trial-by-judge system and to promote trial by jury which is a largely foreign concept over there.[[/note]]
** Taken UpToEleven in ''Videogame/ProfessorLaytonVsAceAttorney'', where the Judge is not biased towards the prosecution - he is ''impatiently looking forward to calling your client guilty'' as soon as you make one wrong turn, so he can gladly condemn them to [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath burn in the fire alive and watch them reduced into ashes]]. Meanwhile, the audience cheers for the prosecution even while you are destroying their arguments and the witnesses will change their testimony a hundred times and make up any lies necessary to prove that the defendant is an evil despicable witch who deserves to be burnt alive. [[WitchHunt Witch Trial, indeed.]]

** The most common crimes you'll see is violating a [[UpperClassTwit noble]]'s mandate/export ban, killing/harming other dwarves, and destruction of property. The latter will only happen when dwarves are tossing hissy fits (i.e. your fort's doomed anyway) or if you've got a vampire (who are likely to survive all punishments). In the case of mandates, a dwarf will be punished mostly at random (usually they'll have skills related to the mandate, but not always), and in the case of export bans, the dwarves at fault are the haulers who brought the item to the depot, ''not'' the broker who actually exported the item. Because of this, it's recommended you make your jails [[LuxuryPrisonCell nice]] to reduce stress on probably-innocent dwarves.