History Main / DuelsDecideEverything

* In the ''TabletopGame/{{FATE}}'' world, ''Iron Street Combat'', one of its setting statements is that Politics => Fisticuffs and Fisticuffs => Politics. That is, whatever the issue at hand is and whatever factions are, it'll ultimately be settled in the tournament finale, which is why the factions compete to recruit the best champions they can get.

* ''Anime/{{Bakugan}}'' always has the titular {{mons}} fighting it out with some kind of board/card game. In this case, it's justified by the fact that the Bakugan race is greatly weakened (i.e. turned into marble-shaped game pieces) when outside of their homeworld, and the cards used in the Bakugan game simulate the conditions of their world and allow them to temporarily manifest in their full forms. Whenever Bakugan aren't forced into their marble forms by their surroundings, they usually avert this trope and fight head-on (something that happens more often in the later seasons).
* ''LightNovel/NoGameNoLife''. Meta-example: EVERYTHING in No Game, No Life is decided by games. It can be any game, and the person who gets challenged gets to choose which game. {{Justified|Trope}} by saying that the gods had a war, a horribly bloody conflict between their subjects to decide who is TopGod that nearly left the world lifeless, [[WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing leaving as the winner the only one who stayed out of it]] - the God of Games. He set up the MagicallyBindingContract game system to decide everything so as to prevent violent conflict. The resulting RPGMechanicsVerse is of course perfect for [[GodlikeGamer game prodigies]] Sora and Shiro who quickly ascend to the greatest players in the world.
* ''Anime/GundamBuildFighters'' generally avoids this, but has one straight example: When a LoanShark tries to repossess the [[HotSpringsEpisode hot springs resort]] where Sei and friends are staying, Mr. Ral recognizes the man as a highly talented Fighter who retired years ago. Because Ral invokes his pride as a Fighter, the shark agrees to stake ownership of the resort on a battle with Sei, Reiji, and Mao.
* In ''Manga/FoodWars'', the ''fu-du-jour'' is cooking. The manga is set at a cooking school with a ferociously cutthroat curriculum, and the students are actively encouraged to pit themselves against each other. The stakes can be ridiculously high, and school clubs, acres of farmland, and entire careers have been staked in cooking duels. However, the contests are far more formalized than is common. In order to be official, the participants have to agree on a place, a time, an odd number of judges, and the stakes (both parties have to bet something of equal value) and can make additional stipulations if both parties so wish. Then they have to file a formal registration with the school, which will enforce the end result. And, before you ask: Yes, in this universe cooking is [[SeriousBusiness serious enough business]] that a cooking school can enforce these things.
** Then came issue 140, and the Great Deconstruction began. It turns out that deciding everything with duels doesn't work when the judges are on the take and the authority charged with enforcing the results only enforces the results that benefit the current leadership.
* ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'': The princesses of Chizeta, Tatra and Tarta, call off their invasion of Cephiro after Umi beats them both in a duel.
* ''Manga/BattleBDaman'' has characters shooting the equivalent of marbles known as [=B-DaBalls=] in various sorts of games. The heroes frequently go up against villains and all battles occur through said balls.
* ''Anime/{{Beyblade}}'' features characters doing battle with spinning top-like toys known as beyblades, with the goal to knock an opponent's beyblade over. While a vast portion of the series focuses on {{Tournament Arc}}s there's also plenty of defeating bad guys by knocking their fancy tops around.
* A standard rule in the ''TabletopGame/BattleSpirits'' franchise. Everything can be determined by playing the titular trading card game, even the fate of the world.
** In particular, in ''Anime/BattleSpiritsSaikyoGingaUltimateZero'', the law of Galactic Battle Spirits is incorporated into the plot. Players have to wager something of equal value and the loser must give what they offered to the winner.

* The city of Mimaneid in ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'' [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=9560 runs off of honor duels]], with it being standard to carry a MartialArtsStaff in case you are challenged, to the point that even some refugees from the city still carry them out of habit. These duels are [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=9565 not to the death]] and no steel weapons are allowed.

* ''VideoGame/FridayNightFunkin'' {{Exaggerate|dTrope}}s this due to its RhythmGame setup. OverprotectiveDad refusing to let you date his daughter? Soldiers and assassins coming after your head? HumanoidAbomination wants to eat you alive? [[HauntedTechnology Evil spirit trapped within a video game]] wants to escape into the real world? The answer is always the same: [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer beat them in a rap battle]].

* The city of Mimaneid in ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'' [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=9560 runs off of honor duels]], with it being standard to carry a SimpleStaff in case you are challenged, to the point that even some refugees from the city still carry them out of habit. These duels are [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=9565 not to the death]] and no steel weapons are allowed.

** Subverted in fangame ''VideoGame/PokemonUranium''. At one point, an evil scientist sends out a bunch of thugs after you. This being a ''Pokémon'' game, they'll obviously challenge you and send out some pathetically weak {{Mons}} that your well-trained team will tear to pieces, right? Haha, no. [[NoNonsenseNemesis They just set up an ambush for you, knock your lights out, confiscate all your Pokéballs, and lock you up in a cell.]]. Subsequently played straight after you bust out of your cell and retrieve your Pokémon.

** Justified, however, in ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'': Trainers often fight alongside or in tandem with their monsters, and the full consequences of superpowered pocket monsters is explored. Why use a missile when Hyper Beam works just as well? Or why kill a Trainer when you can just freeze him in a block of ice? Furthermore, while official League battles and friendly matches play out similarly to the games, all rules are out the window in life-and-death struggles: Trainers will field as many Pokémon as they feel necessary, up to the full six (sometimes even more!) at once, and they will attack the enemy Trainer just as readily if they're given a chance.

* In the ''Literature/CodexAlera'' series, which is based on a LostRomanLegion/''Pokémon'' crossover (literally - the author asked forum participants for two of the most ridiculous prompts possible to base a story on, and that's what he got), Citizens have the legal right to a "juris macto" -- a duel to the death to settle disputes out of court. It is often threatened but only explicitly happens twice in the series.
** Deconstructed, to an extent, as it's mainly used to show INTENT. Just the mere act of calling Juris Macto tends to get people to listen and back down.

* In the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' series, formal duels show up in ''Field of Dishonor''. They're mentioned as generally frowned upon, but apparently [[HonorBeforeReason reneging on a challenge is so dishonorable that a naval officer can't get away with it, even when they already know their opponent is a professional duelist hired to murder him]]. Honor's nemesis has said professional duelist murder her lover, so she challenges him to a duel to settle the score. Naturally, because Honor is a HeroWithBadPublicity, she takes flak from her peers both for challenging him to the duel ''and'' for killing him, even though he obviously cheated and shot her before the ten count.

** Subverted in fangame ''VideoGame/PokemonUranium''. At one point, an evil scientist sends out a bunch of thugs after you. This being a ''Pokémon'' game, they'll obviously challenge you and send out some pathetically weak {{Mons}} that your well-trained team will tear to pieces, right? Haha, no. [[NoNonsenseNemesis They just set up an ambush for you, knock your lights out, confiscate all your Pokéballs, and lock you up in a cell.]]. Subsequently played straight when you bust out of your cell and retrieve your Pokémon.

** Subverted in fangame ''VideoGame/PokemonUranium''. At one point, an evil scientist sends out a bunch of thugs after you. This being a ''Pokémon'' game, they'll obviously challenge you and send out some pathetically weak {{Mons}} that your well-trained team will tear to pieces, right? Haha, no. [[NoNonsenseNemesis They just set up an ambush for you, knock your lights out, confiscate all your Pokéballs, and lock you up in a cell.]]

* "Trouble Bogie," a story with ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'', has Fuzzy Lumpkins setting up home on a golf course and chasing off all the duffers. When the girls do battle with him to the point of exhaustion, Fuzzy challenges Blossom to a banjo duel. Set up like the two are playing the song "Dueling Banjos," Blossom wins when Fuzzy's banjo breaks a string.

* In ''Fanfic/PokemonStrangledRed'', the eponymous hacked game starts with a rival battle between brothers Steven and Mike. And the in-universe reason for the battle? The two brothers are arguing about the respective merits of Charmander and Squirtle.

** ''VideoGame/PokemonClover'': [[spoiler:BigBad Vyglass gleefuly chucks this trope out of the window when confronted atop Mt. Clover. Rather than engage the player in a traditional Pokemon battle, he instead fights your mons directly in a ''[[HumongousMecha mechsuit]].'']]

** One issue has an ancient Autobot overlord attempt to get two warring city-states to settle their differences through gladiatorial games. As you might expect, [[WhatAnIdiot it didn't work out as much as he hoped it would.]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* ''[[WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series]]'' lampshades and endlessly mocks this concept, by bringing up how children's card games are always used to decide everything. Sometimes the heroes or villains might even suggest more traditional alternatives that fall on deaf ears and the card game is chosen in the end.
--> '''Bakura''': So how are we going to defeat Yugi? Are we going to kill him? Because I would be totally on board with that...
-->'''Marik:''' No! We won't kill Yugi Muto! That would be too obvious!
-->'''Bakura:''' Too fun, more like it...
-->'''Marik:''' ... In order to defeat Yugi Muto, we're going to... play a children's card game with him! Dun-dun-duuuuun!
[[/folder]]

** Overhaul mod ''VideoGame/HoloFunk'' mostly averts / justifies the trope. Most of the opponents fought in a rap battle are of various ''WebAnimation/{{Hololive}}'' talents who have no interest in conflict with Aloe / [[AnotherSideAnotherStory Fubuki]] due to being close friends / gen-mates, with the battles often being about testing the skill of the PlayerCharacter or to pass the time. [[spoiler:Only a few could be considered dangerous enough for this trope to be considered PlayedStraight, but it's {{Justified|Trope}} all the same.]]
*** Week 2: Gura and Amelia finds themselves meeting with Aloe in a seemingly abandoned mansion, with Ame deciding to challenge her in hopes of the storm ending by the time they're done. [[spoiler:Meanwhile, Haachama is [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Haachama]]; she for one reason or another decides to engage Aloe in a rap battle to "prepare" her for a dish. Though by the end of the song, [[SubvertedTrope she decides to forgo whatever promises she made to eat them all as is]] were it not for Daddy Dearest intervening and reprimanding her.]]

** {{Zig Zagg|ingTrope}}ed in regards to ''VideoGame/TheTrickyMod''. On one hand, [[WebAnimation/MadnessCombat Tricky]] is an AxCrazy undead clown who's quite a dangerous RealityWarper thanks to his Improbability Drive. On the other, he's a FairPlayVillain who's M.O is toying with his opponent by giving them a chance to fight. When rapping against Boyfriend though, his SoreLoser aspects start shining through and he attempts to whack Boyfriend with his warning sign after "Improbable Outset" before being interrupted by Hank. [[spoiler:By the end of "Hellclown", Demon Tricky appears successfully deterred until Hank enrages him all over again, which would've ended badly for Boyfriend had it not been for the DeusExMachina that drags him away.]]

** Overhaul mod ''VideoGame/HoloFunk'' mostly Justifies the trope. Most of the opponents fought in a rap battle are of various ''WebAnimation/{{Hololive}}'' talents who have no interest in conflict with Aloe / [[AnotherSideAnotherStory Fubuki]] due to being close friends / gen-mates, with the battles often being to test the skill of the PlayerCharacter or to pass the time. [[spoiler:Only a few could be considered dangerous enough for this trope to really matter, but it's Justified all the same.]]

*** Gura and Amelia finds themselves meeting with Aloe in a seemingly abandoned mansion, with Ame deciding to challenge her in hopes of the storm ending by the time they're done. [[spoiler:Meanwhile, Haachama is [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Haachama]]; she for one reason or another decides to engage Aloe in a rap battle to "prepare" her for a dish. Though by the end of the song, [[SubvertedTrope she decides to forgo whatever promises she made to eat them all as is]] were it not for Daddy Dearest intervening and reprimanding her.]]
*** Kiryu Coco would want nothing more than to help out Aloe with Botan's situation with the Dearest clan, but her status as Chairman of the Kiryu Clan prevents her from using her powers behind the scenes for no cost or condition. [[LoopholeAbuse So, she challenges Aloe to a rap battle as the condition]], knowing full well that she'll pass with flying colors.
*** Due to Calli mistaking Ina for Santa Claus and threatening to shoot her as a result, Aloe/Fubuki try to delay her murder attempt by engaging her in a rap battle in an attempt to convince her that her retribution is misplaced.

* Since the core of ''VideoGame/FridayNightFunkin'' is the PlayerCharacter facing off against various opponents via RhythmGame-based rap battle, naturally the various opponents fought in the vast array of {{Game Mod}}s feature various uses of this trope; often PlayedWith.
** {{Zig Zagg|ingTrope}}ed in regards to ''VideoGame/TheTrickyMod''. On one hand, [[WebAnimation/MadnessCombat Tricky]] is an AxCrazy undead clown who's quite a dangerous RealityWarper thanks to his Improbability Drive. On the other, he's a FairPlayVillain who's M.O is toying with his opponent by giving them a chance to fight. When rapping against Boyfriend though, his SoreLoser aspects start shining through and he attempts to whack Boyfriend with his warning sign after "Improbable Outset" before being interupted by Hank. [[spoiler:By the end of "Hellclown", Demon Tricky appears successfully deterred until Hank enrages him all over again, which would've ended badly for Boyfriend had it not been for the DeusExMachina that drags him away.]]
** ''VideoGame/VsSonicEXE'' provides a {{Justified|Trope}} example for why Boyfriend can fight against various dangerous opponents via rap battle. By the start Sonic.exe appears to play along with Boyfriend's rap battle challenge, but he immediately tries to apprehend Boyfriend [[SoreLoser after not taking the loss well]], [[TheWorfEffect only to be stopped by Girlfriend interviening both times]]. Girlfriend's demon heritage gives her the power to protect Boyfriend from all manners of threats; if exe wants to get to Boyfriend, it's through their own terms via rap battle.
* Since the core of ''VideoGame/FridayNightFunkin'' is the PlayerCharacter facing off against various opponents via RhythmGame-based rap battle, naturally the various opponents fought in the vast array of {{Game Mod}}s feature various uses of this trope; often PlayedWith.
** {{Zig Zagg|ingTrope}}ed in regards to ''VideoGame/TheTrickyMod''. On one hand, [[WebAnimation/MadnessCombat Tricky]] is an AxCrazy undead clown who's quite a dangerous RealityWarper thanks to his Improbability Drive. On the other, he's a FairPlayVillain who's M.O is toying with his opponent by giving them a chance to fight. When rapping against Boyfriend though, his SoreLoser aspects start shining through and he attempts to whack Boyfriend with his warning sign after "Improbable Outset" before being interupted by Hank. [[spoiler:By the end of "Hellclown", Demon Tricky appears successfully deterred until Hank enrages him all over again, which would've ended badly for Boyfriend had it not been for the DeusExMachina that drags him away.]]
** ''VsSonicEXE'' provides a {{Justified|Trope}} example for why Boyfriend can fight against various dangerous opponents via rap battle. By the start Sonic.exe appears to play along with Boyfriend's rap battle challenge, but he immediately tries to apprehend Boyfriend [[SoreLoser after not taking the loss well]], [[TheWorfEffect only to be stopped by Girlfriend interviening both times]]. Girlfriend's demon heritage gives her the power to protect Boyfriend from all manners of threats; if exe wants to get to Boyfriend, it's through their own terms via rap battle.

** ''VsSonicEXE'' provides a {{Justified|Trope}} example for why Boyfriend can fight against various dangerous opponents via rap battle. By the start Sonic.exe appears to play along with Boyfriend's rap battle challenge, but he immediately tries to apprehend Boyfriend [[SoreLoser after not taking the loss well]], [[TheWorfEffect only to be stopped by Girlfriend interviening both times]]. Girlfriend's demon heritage gives her the power to protect Boyfriend from all manners of threats; if exe wants to get to Boyfriend, it's through their own terms via rap battle.

* ''VideoGame/FridayNightFunkin'' {{Exaggerate|dTrope}}s this due to its RhythmGame setup. OverprotectiveDad refusing to let you date his daughter? Soldiers and assassins coming after your head? HumanoidAbomination wants to eat you alive? [[[HauntedTechnology Evil spirit trapped within a video game]] wants to escape into the real world? The answer is always the same: [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer beat them in a rap battle]].

* ''VideoGame/CustomRobo'': Duels with toy-sized robots are shown right at the beginning to be the perfect way to attempt a robbery. [[SeriousBusiness It gets more ridiculous from there]]. The game goes out of its way to try to justify this, though. It's mentioned a few times that the toy-sized robots use ''real weapons'' with ''live ammunition'', operate in bullet time and can be controlled over decent distances (and in ''Arena'' one police officer NPC actually ''does'' get shot during a fight) -- using them as serious weapons makes sense. Dueling with them being their ''primary'' use (even when there are safeties that vaporize any stray bullets), not so much. Justified in that it seems custom robo battles can't be escaped, someone can force you into it, and the victory is absolute if the safeties are deactivated: the winner is perfectly fine, but the loser gets knocked out cold, or worse (certain illegal robo parts have the capability to outright kill the loser). And the real reason the robos have been set up as everyone's favorite battling game? [[spoiler:To combat a quasi-demonic entity called Rahu that possessed a robo, back before the machines were combat-capable. At the time, it took everything humanity had to force Rahu into hibernation. But a society used to battling with robos all the time is effectively the perfect counter should Rahu ever wake up again.]]
* The Tradesmeet subquest in ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII'' that deals with the Shadow Druids can be resolved this way. When you reach Druid's Grove, you can challenge the leader of the Shadow Druids Faldorn. Only a Druid character can fight her; meaning you will have to send Cernd, Jaheira, or yourself (if you are also a Druid). Winning the battle ends the Shadow Druids' assaults on Tradesmeet. Justified in-universe by the fact that Druids, as part of their reverence for nature, style their hierarchy after pack animals; the leader, or "alpha", only leads so long as A: everyone is content with his/her leadership, and B: a stronger discontented Druid doesn't oust them from their position.

* In ''VideoGame/InazumaEleven'', [[UsefulNotes/AssociationFootball football]] games solve everything. Early on in the first game you even [[spoiler: chase off a bunch of thugs by beating them at a football battle.]]
* In the LOGBOX level of ''[[VideoGame/BanjoKazooie Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts]]'', Gruntilda is about to implement a plan that will cause the whole console to have to be shut down. However, she tells our heroes that she will cancel the whole thing if they just beat her in a race.
-->'''Kazooie:''' Huh? If we beat her in a race, she'll call off the plan and leave?\\
'''Banjo:''' So she says. I was in a similar situation once before, a long time ago, [[VideoGame/DiddyKongRacing with a genie and a giant pig...]]
* [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'', where most political disputes are resolved through CombatByChampion with strict rules, a system put in place to prevent widespread devastation caused by [[FantasticNuke large-scale magical warfare]].

* ''VideoGame/MonsterRancher 3'' plays with this through Sansha, one of your many rivals. When disputing who has the rights to a waterfall training ground, she challenges you to a duel... a fishing duel. She's remarkably willing to agree to a regular ol' battle when your assistant Fleria protests that neither of you knows ''how'' to fish, instead of pressing her advantage.
* An example occurs in ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheLostFuture''. Thugs are expected to use good-old violence to stop interlopers... but here, [[SolveTheSoupCans they toss a puzzle your way instead!]] The next game introduced [[ActionGirl Emmy]] to deal with thugs instead, as a reaction to this.
* In ''VideoGame/MortalKombat1'', Outworld is only allowed to invade Earthrealm after winning ten consecutive Mortal Kombat tournaments, due to an arbitration system set up by the Elder Gods. This breaks down in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat3'' due to LoopholeAbuse by Shao Kahn, and this aspect of the Mortal Kombat tournaments was abandoned or {{downplayed}} in future installments because the rules about who can invade where have become largely unenforceable.

* The film ''Film/RobotJox'' is based around a series of mecha battles between the USA and USSR to decide who gets Alaska.

** In Season 2, Jaden/Judai tries challenging the season's villain from taking over the world. But he's already specifically ensured that his evil plan doesn't require him to duel our hero at any point. When Jaden/Judai challenges him to a duel for the fate of the world, [[RealityEnsues he declines, because he has everything he needs]]. He does eventually duel anyway, but only because unexpected circumstances force him into it.