History Main / NotTheIntendedUse

* A particularly well-known example in {{Quake}} and many other FPS games is provided by the rocket launcher. Its intended use is of course to make LudicrousGibs of groups of enemies. Many players instead choose to use it to make massive SequenceBreaking leaps.

** Countering ''your own'' card...just to reduce the number of cards in your hand (because of Black Vise).

[[folder:Board Games]]
* Free Parking in Monopoly. It was never originally intended to mean anything, but there are as many house rules for it as there are players, and recently the official rules have begun to accomodate some of them.
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* {{Dominion}} has the Chapel card; intended to get rid of hurtful curse cards, people realized it could be used to streamline your deck by trashing the low-value cards you start with.
** [[FollowTheLeader Later deckbuilding games]] such as Puzzle Strike and Ascension use this as an intentional design choice, so removing your own cards from the deck for greater efficiency is now expected. Ascension doesn't even ''have'' any harmful cards to remove.

So, you've got an ability. And it has an intended use. You know this. But, just for once, you try to use it some other way. And it works. You've just discovered Not the Intended Use. Usually a GameBreaker and\or leads to GameplayDerailment. Happens more often than you think. Contrast UselessUsefulSpell.

* YuGiOh has more than a few instances of this too

* The flee ability in Warhammer Online is most of the time used to get faster from point A to point B.

** In ''FinalFantasyIV'', an enemy casts Reflect on you so you can't heal yourself.

** The Throw Stone ability in ''FinalFantasyTactics'' lets you build up Job Points. Otherwise, it's just useless damage at long range.

** In ''FinalFantasyX'', it's difficult to beat [[spoiler:Yunalesca]] unless some of your characters are zombies.

So, you've got an ability. And it has an intended use. You know this. But, just for once, you try to use it some other way. And it works. You've just discovered Not the Intended Use. Usually a GameBreaker. Happens more often than you think. Contrast UselessUsefulSpell.

*** Tearing up Chaos Orb in order to destroy the enemies permanents.

* {{Munchkin}} allows you to use "Go Up A Level" cards ''on your opponent'' in order to force them to fight/run away from a monster that would ignore them if they were just one level lower.

[[folder:Board Games]]
* Tridimensional chess has to "change the rules" for a lot of pieces to maintain the intended use.
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** Many cards target particular colors. Slight of Mind, Magical Hack, Phantasmal Terrain and Evil Presence can all help you here, as can the otherwise-useless laces.
** Destroying permanents as a UriahGambit.

** Playing a "bring a card from your deck/graveyard/hand into play" ability on a legend so your opponent doesn't play that same legend.

[[folder:Manga and Anime]]
* Because of the tactical nature of Pokémon battles in the ''[=~Pokémon~=]'' anime, abilities (especially Agility}} are a little different from those in the game. Agility improves evasion in the show as well.
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* In ''FinalFantasy'' games in general, Steal is supposed to be replaced by Mug or Steal as Well. But both of those do damage, making Steal superior.

** ''FinalFantasyVI'' had Vanish, which makes you immune to physical attacks. Nice, but it makes the next magic attack hit. This led to two combos:
*** '''Reflect (reflect a spell)/Phantom (invisibility on others, non-reflect)''' Some spells aren't reflective, though.
*** '''Vanish/Doom''' An instant death attack that will even defeat the BigBad!
** In ''FinalFantasyX'', Lancer is one of the few moves that can hit Evrae, making Wakka, Lulu and Kimahri your best team against Evrae.
*** Also in ''FinalFantasyX'', you can't beat [[spoiler:Yunalesca]] unless some of your characters are zombies.

*** Casting Innocent (or Atheist) on yourself to make yourself immune to magic.
* Throwing is a fairly useless move in ''MortalKombat'', but it is unblockable. Nightwolf in ''[=MK3=]'' had a 100% throwing combo.
* In ''Mega Man 2'', three bosses can be beaten with one hit. Most notable is Air Man, if you time it right, using the [[ZeroWingrish Cr/lash]] Bombs. (Hint: It's his air shooter.)
* In-universe example: In the ''X-Wing'' games, you will often question the Rebel leaders' tactical wisdom, sending Y-wings into a dogfight.

So, you've got an ability. And it has an intended use. You know this. But, just for once, you try to use it some other way. And it works. You've just discovered NotTheIntendedUse. Usually a GameBreaker. Happens more often than you think. Contrast UselessUsefulSpell.

* NotTheIntendedUse...Where would ''MagicTheGathering'' be without you?

** Many cards target particular colors. Slight of Mind, Magical Hack, Phantasmal Terrain, and Evil Presence can all help you here, as can the otherwise-useless laces.

* The ''entire'' premise behind MacGyver.

* Because of the tactical nature of Pokemon battles in the ''{{Pokemon}}'' anime, abilities (especially Agility}} are a little different than in the game. Agility improves evade in the show as well.

* Scratching records in hip hop.

* In ''FinalFantasy'' games in general, Steal is supposed to be replaced by Mug or Steal As Well. But both of those do damage, making Steal superior.

** In ''FinalFantasyX'', Lancer is one of the few moves that can hit Evrae, making Wakka, Lulu, and Kimahri your best team against Evrae.

* In ''{{Megaman}} 2'', three bosses can be beat with one hit. Most notable is Air Man, if you time it right, using the [[ZeroWingrish Cr/lash]] Bombs. (Hint: It's his air shooter.)
* In-universe example: In the ''X-wing'' games, you will often question the Rebel leaders' tactical wisdom, sending Y-wings into a dogfight.
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* Throwing is a fairly useless move in ''MortalKombat'', but it is unblockable. Nightwolf had a 100% throwing combo.
* In ''{{Megaman}} 2'', three bosses can be beat with one hit. Most notable is Wood Man, if you time it right, using the [[ZeroWingrish Cr/lash]] Bombs.

* In ''{{Megaman 2}}'', three bosses can be beat with one hit. Most notable is Wood Man, if you time it right, using the [[ZeroWingrish Cr/lash]] Bombs.

* The ''entire'' premise behind McGyver.

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