History Main / TimeKeepsOnTicking

Sometimes a game timer continues going through events that in all fairness should not be affected by it, like cutscenes, an in-game notice, going through the inventory or even saving the game. This is one of those things that averts a common and rather beneficial [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality Acceptable Break from Reality]]. Sometimes, it's PlayedForLaughs.

* ''VideoGame/{{Metroid}}'' games generally keep the timers of their (frequent) timed missions going during elevators and cutscenes, but generally not when you pause.

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'', at least in the part with a timer.
** Same for the {{self destruct mechanism}}s in previous games. Luckily, the clock didn't start until a certain point and there was usually a generous amount of time since you were already at or near the final battle.

Sometimes a game timer continues going through events that in all fairness should not be affected by it, like cutscenes, an in-game notice or going through the inventory or saving the game. This is one of those things that averts a common and rather beneficial [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality Acceptable Break from Reality]]. Sometimes, it's PlayedForLaughs.

* In ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing: Wild World'', when a villager gives you a package and a specific time limit for delivery, he means that amount of time. The games do run in real time, after all.

* In ''VideoGame/HalfMinuteHero'', Normal difficulty stops the clock inside towns, but if you try to turn back time without having the money to pay for it (the cost of which increases every time you use it), the Time Goddess, in addition to taking all of your equipment, stops messing with time to help you - no more rewinds, the clock runs normally in towns - making this a DesperationMove. On Hard, time ''never'' stops.

* ''VideoGame/{{Metroid}}'' games generally keep the timers of their (frequent) timed missions going during elevators and cut-scenes, but generally not when you pause.

* Generally the case for [[SpeedRun speed runs]] for games which have no "total play time" display and thus must be timed externally (or for games whose "total play time" display includes pausing, menus, and the like). Tool-Assisted Speedruns almost always prioritize external time and aim to avoid wasted frames caused by lag or arbitrary mechanisms. For example, Bowser's fall at the end of ''Super Mario Bros 3'' varies wildly (by [=TAS=] standards) in how long it takes, based on exactly how, when, and where he falls. If a published run looks like it's wasting time, what it's really doing is avoiding this trope.

* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' ''Brawl'' and ''Melee'' have this during the pause screen in some areas, like the Target Tests. Probably justifiable in that case, as pausing the game also gives you a good look at where all the targets are.

** However, the clock does not keep running during interactive cutscenes, aka "action events", where the right key must be pressed at tright time during the cutscene.

* ''VideoGame/WarioLand 1'' had the timer continue during the cut scene before the final boss, and ''Wario Land The Shake Dimension'' had it continue in the rather long cut scene between the two phases of the final boss battle.

* ''Yoshi's Island DS'', the TropeNamer, actually mocks the player with this in Time Trial mode, with the message boxes being replaced by taunts saying things like "Lost time!"

Sometimes a game timer continues going through events that in all fairness should not be affected by it, like cutscenes or going through the inventory or saving the game. This is one of those things that averts a common and rather beneficial [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality Acceptable Break from Reality]]. Sometimes, it's PlayedForLaughs.

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 2}}: Innocent Sin'' has a bit where you have to defeat a boss, find a certain item and then escape a building before it explodes. This whole thing is on a timer which runs even while the menu's open, and you can't save during it.

May require you to possess a BladderOfSteel.

* In the second season of GSN's ''Series/{{Hellevator}}'', once your time in the Inferno Run starts, it does not stop, even when you're between challenges putting your winnings into the bag provided, freeing your teammates from the Inferno cell, or making your way back to the Hellevator.
* The final round of ''Series/WhereInTimeIsCarmenSandiego'' involved competitors trying to get through a maze of gates. In order to open a gate, a question had to be answered correctly, the questions were not all the same length, and the voice asking them spoke ''rather slowly''. Oh, and there was a strict time limit, which didn't stop while the question was being asked.

* When ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire'' had the clock format in 2008-2010, the time started counting down when the answers were displayed on screen. Since the limit for the first question was a mere 15 seconds, this resulted in a handful of instances where the contestant almost ran out of time because reactions to the joke D answers.

* In the second season of GSN's ''Series/{{Hellevator}}'', once your time in the Inferno Run starts, it does not stop, even when you're between challenges putting your winnings into the bag provided, freeing your teammates from the Inferno cell, or making your way back to the Hellevator.

-->-- ''VideoGame/YoshisIsland DS'' Time Trial mode message box

So, you've just beaten a LoadBearingBoss, and are escaping from the CollapsingLair. Or you're on a timed mission and need to beat a certain level before the timer runs out and your character inexplicably dies for no apparent reason. You keep going, and come across another character, beginning a cut scene...

Hey, why's the timer still going? Why is it still counting down even though I'm stuck listening to this loud mouth going on a long philosophical MotiveRant? Heck, did I just ''die'' [[KaizoTrap in the cut scene?]]

As can be seen above, this is simply when the timer continues going through events that in all fairness should not be affected by it. Examples include during cut scenes and other periods where the player's control over the character is removed, to the point where they can die without any way of preventing it, or when going through the inventory or saving the game. A possible sub trope of FakeDifficulty, as this is one of those things that averts a common and rather beneficial [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality Acceptable Break from Reality]]. Sometimes, it's PlayedForLaughs.

If it happens while you're paused, it could also be a BladderOfSteel.

* Before the banquet in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', you are given four minutes to talk to as many soldiers as possible. If you come across Kefka, he gets an extended conversation that uses up 20 seconds minimum. What's more, Kefka ''doesn't'' count as a soldier in the final talley - the only reason you're allowed to talk to him is as a trap to use up time.

* ''VideoGame/PerfectDark'' has a level that does the opposite - to get a cheat, you have to do it in a certain time, but there is a part where you are forced to wait for a door to unlock that takes nearly half that time. If you start the lock and then start a cutscene, the door keeps unlocking but the level timer pauses.

* Generally the case for [[SpeedRun speed runs]] for games which have no "total play time" display and thus must be timed externally (or for games whose "total play time" display includes pausing, menus, and the like).
** UpToEleven in Tool-Assisted Speedruns, which almost always prioritize external time and aim to avoid wasted frames caused by lag or arbitrary mechanisms. For example, Bowser's fall at the end of Super Mario Bros 3 varies wildly (by [=TAS=] standards) in how long it takes, based on exactly how, when, and where he falls. If a published run looks like it's wasting time, what it's really doing is avoiding this trope.

* An unusual form appeared in ''VideoGame/TwistedMetal 2''. Pausing the game did not suspend projectiles in the air (notable exception: rolling ricochet bombs), so you could get hit by a missile and die on the pause screen! This worked both ways: if an enemy was about to dodge your shot, press pause and it freezes your target so you get an easy hit.

* Probably unintentional in ''VideoGame/WorldOfGoo'' where you have to watch an intro screen showing the name of each level, which cuts into the level play time; although this can be avoided by simply pressing retry immediately after starting which doesn't show the intro screen. (especially useful when you are on a level that needs to be done within a certain time limit to get full completion)

* ''VideoGame/TimeCrisis 1'' is a similar case to ''SilentScope'' above. Successive games reset the timer and keep it locked until the "ACTION" prompt shows up.

* The ''SilentScope'' series has this. Plus instant GameOver upon time-out, and [[UnstableEquilibrium time extensions dependent on skill]].

-->''And there's one more important piece of advice for you. So listen up! Time keeps on ticking even as you are reading this message!''
-->- ''VideoGame/YoshisIsland DS'' Time Trial mode message box

* ''VideoGame/WarioLand 1'' had the timer continue during the cut scene before the final boss, and ''Wario Land The Shake Dimension'' had it continue in the rather long cut scene between the two phases of the final boss battle.
* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' ''Brawl'' and ''Melee'' have this during the pause screen in some areas, like the Target Tests. Probably justifiable in that case, as pausing the game also gives you a good look at where all the targets are.
* ''Yoshi's Island DS'', the TropeNamer, actually mocks the player with this in Time Trial mode, with the message boxes being replaced by taunts saying things like "Lost time!"
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'', at one point you have to escape a castle before it explodes. Just when you think you're out, you get ambushed by a boss that insists on talking to you before attacking while the timer is still counting down. If you don't beat the boss before the timer ends, you're done for.
** In any of the Final Fantasy games with timed missions in them, the timer keeps running while you're in the menu screen, although you can stop it by pausing in battle. In fact, the mission timer will usually cover up the total game time in the main menu, just to drive home the point that you had better use items and equip your party ''fast''.
** The timer can be crippling in some re-releases, partly because of extended loading times. Especially on the Playstation releases, where loading a battle can take upwards of 5-7 seconds during which the timer is ''still running'', the previously generous timers are suddenly much more restrictive.
* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 2}}: Innocent Sin'' has a bit where you have to defeat a boss, find a certain item and then escape a building before it explodes. This whole thing is on a timer which runs even while the menu's open, and you can't save during it.
* ''VideoGame/{{Metroid}}'' games generally keep the timers of their (frequent) timed missions going during elevators and cut-scenes, but generally not when you pause.

* In Chapter 2 of ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'', after Lord Crump activates the self-destruct sequence in the Great Tree, the timer keeps ticking even while you're fighting the Mooks that get in your way. Heck, it even keeps going while the Puni elder is shouting at him. Fortunately, it does pause on the menu screens.
* ''VideoGame/PerfectDark'' has a level that does the opposite - to get a cheat, you have to do it in a certain time, but there is a part where you are forced to wait for a door to unlock that takes nearly half that time. If you start the lock and then start a cutscene, the door keeps unlocking but the level timer pauses.
** There is another unrelated, but very annoying example in the level {{Area 51}}: Infiltration. Immediately skipping the cutscene leads you to discover that the guards were walking in a real time game during the cutscene; you were just invisible. Just so happens skipping the opener right away has a guard already staring at you with a sentry gun and two more guards just slightly to your right. So, to be safe, you get to watch the minute and a half or so cutscene all the way through every time you fail!
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'', at least in the part with a timer.
** Same for the {{self destruct mechanism}}s in previous games. Luckily, the clock didn't start until a certain point and there was usually a generous amount of time since you were already at or near the final battle.
* Before the banquet in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', you are given four minutes to talk to as many soldiers as possible. If you come across Kefka, he gets an extended conversation that uses up 20 seconds minimum. What's more, Kefka ''doesn't'' count as a soldier in the final talley - the only reason you're allowed to talk to him is as a trap to use up time.
** Also, early in the game you have to stop Ultros from dropping a weight on Celes, which he helpfully states it will take him five minutes to finish moving. Between your party and him is a walkway infested with rats, which trigger unescapable battles when touched. Even with high enough levels (which you really don't want because of the [[LowLevelAdvantage Esper stat bonus you can't gain yet]]) and good equipment, you still have to figure out how to encounter as few enemies as possible to even make it to him.

* When stopping the train in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', the timer elapses while two [=NPCs=] have a long conversation with you. Probably done deliberately, since if you actually take the time to read all of the dialogue in that scene instead of button-mashing through it, there's no way you'll be able to stop the train before the counter reaches 0.
* During the big cutscene before the Volgin fight in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'', Snake has just set the building up to explode. Volgin goes on a classic Metal Gear villain Motive Rant, but The Sorrow spends much of the cutscene holding up a timer to remind you of how long you have left. If you skip the cutscene, you'll have time from then to defeat Volgin with. In harder difficulty modes, there's a danger of the bomb actually going off during the cutscene and killing you unless you skip it early on.
** Similar happens during the end of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid''. Liquid sets up a bomb that goes off in three minutes, then talks about what Snake could spend that time doing, wasting thirty seconds of the time, and giving you just 2:30 to beat him. If you fail and die, then continue, or skip the cutscene, you get the full three minutes.
* ''VideoGame/StarWarsRogueLeader'' had this. Its sequel didn't.

* ''VideoGame/TombRaiderAnniversary'' has some cutscenes that where the clock keeps ticking during Time Trials.
** This is particularly annoying with door-unlocking cutscenes. To exit the "St. Francis Folly" and "Midas" levels, you must open multi-stage locks. Each stage of unlocking has its own cutscene that takes up time.
** However, the clock does not keep running during interactive cutscenes, aka "action events", where the right key must be pressed at tright time during the cutscene.
* Played painfully straight in ''VideoGame/PuzzleQuest: Galactrix''. Pausing the game ''does not pause'' the timer on the Leapgate-hacking game.
** Also the original Puzzle Quest, which only really matters when your turn is on a timer (i.e. training mounts).
* During timed comet challenges in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'', the timer doesn't stop until you touch the star at the end of the level (not, say, when you've collected the 100th purple coin), which leads to many a KaizoTrap for those who aren't paying attention. Thankfully this was removed in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2''... [[NintendoHard with the timer now stricter than ever.]]
* Probably unintentional in ''VideoGame/WorldOfGoo'' where you have to watch an intro screen showing the name of each level, which cuts into the level play time; although this can be avoided by simply pressing retry immediately after starting which doesn't show the intro screen. (especially useful when you are on a level that needs to be done within a certain time limit to get full completion)
* ''VideoGame/TimeCrisis 1'' has this. Plus instant GameOver upon time-out, and [[UnstableEquilibrium time extensions dependent on skill]]. Successive games reset the timer and keep it locked until the "ACTION" prompt shows up.
* Ditto for the ''SilentScope'' series.
* Generally the case for [[SpeedRun speed runs]] for games which have no "total play time" display and thus must be timed externally (or for games whose "total play time" display includes pausing, menus, and the like).
** UpToEleven in Tool-Assisted Speedruns, which almost always prioritize external time and aim to avoid wasted frames caused by lag or arbitrary mechanisms. For example, Bowser's fall at the end of Super Mario Bros 3 varies wildly (by [=TAS=] standards) in how long it takes, based on exactly how, when, and where he falls. If a published run looks like it's wasting time, what it's really doing is avoiding this trope.
* In ''VideoGame/HalfMinuteHero'', Normal difficulty stops the clock inside towns, but if you try to turn back time without having the money to pay for it (the cost of which increases every time you use it), the Time Goddess, in addition to taking all of your equipment, stops messing with time to help you - no more rewinds, the clock runs normally in towns - making this a DesperationMove. On Hard, time ''never'' stops.
* An unusual form appeared in ''VideoGame/TwistedMetal 2''. Pausing the game did not suspend projectiles in the air (notable exception: rolling ricochet bombs), so you could get hit by a missile and die on the pause screen! This worked both ways: if an enemy was about to dodge your shot, press pause and it freezes your target so you get an easy hit.
* ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'''s timed missions allow you to pause the game with no benefit, but using the Celestial Brush (which freezes everything on screen) doesn't stop the clock. This is justified, though, since you are actually doing things with that time.

* The whole of the ''Literature/WheresWaldo'' NES game is a TimedMission, with the timer going down even during the level transitions. ([[FakeLongevity Which are unskippable, in case you're wondering]].)

* In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'', Alucard's initial stats depend on, among other things, how fast you beat the opening battle with Richter. However, the timer keeps going while Richter and Dracula are talking, and you cannot skip this conversation ''unless you have already beaten the game once''. Hence, it is impossible to get the best initial stats unless you are doing a replay.
* In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDespair'', once you begin a level and that 30-minute timer starts, there is ''absolutely no way to stop it''. Whether it's pausing, fiddling with your inventory at the Grimoire, everything keeps going in real time. Yes, that means the gameplay keeps going, so if you're pausing, you'd best make sure no enemies are nearby.
* "Caravan" modes in ''VideoGame/StarSoldier'' games keep the timer going even if the game is paused. This serves two purposes: First, Hudson ran a series of score attack events and keeping the timer running even during pause prevented one single player from hoarding the game. Second, this prevents PauseScumming, punishing players who try to pause the game to take their time.
* ''Summer Carnival '92 VideoGame/{{Recca}}'' does the same as the "Caravan" example above, but in all of its modes, as the game was originally developed for an event.

* The final round of ''Series/WhereInTimeIsCarmenSandiego'' involved competitors trying to get through a maze of gates. In order to open a gate, a question had to be answered correctly, the questions were not all the same length, and the voice asking them spoke ''rather slowly''. Oh, and there was a strict time limit, which didn't stop while the question was being asked.

* Live action TV example: In ''Series/DinnerImpossible'', the timer starts ticking almost as soon as the head chef meets the people for whom he's supposed to cook.

* Another live TV example is ''Series/TwentyFour''. This is quite telling when it's recut for non-American television and the commercials are missing (meaning 24 becomes about 18...)

* GameShow example: The final round of ''Series/WhereInTimeIsCarmenSandiego'' involved competitors trying to get through a maze of gates. In order to open a gate, a question had to be answered correctly, the questions were not all the same length, and the voice asking them spoke ''rather slowly''. Oh, and there was a strict time limit, which didn't stop while the question was being asked.
** FamilyFeud also has this, but the timer is not nearly as strict. (The timer doesn't start until the host finishes asking the first question, and the timer is generally paused if the host is unable to get the next question out--generally, when a contestant gives a ridiculous answer that causes the host to {{corps|ing}}e).

** Another frustration in ''Wild World'' is the lack of a quick way to switch among various tools. Catching certain insects (bees and underground/rock-dwellers like the mole cricket and the pill pug) is annoying and difficult as they run away while you open the menu to grab your net. (The GameCube game pauses bugs while some menus are open; ''City Folk'' and ''New Leaf'' let you switch tools with the Control Pad on the Wii Remote and the 3DS, respectively.)

* Live action TV example: In ''DinnerImpossible'', the timer starts ticking almost as soon as the head chef meets the people for whom he's supposed to cook.

* ''SuperSmashBros/'' Brawl and Melee have this during the pause screen in some areas, like the Target Tests. Probably justifiable in that case, as pausing the game also gives you a good look at where all the targets are.

* ''VideoGame/TimeCrisis 1'' had this. Plus instant GameOver upon time-out, and [[UnstableEquilibrium time extensions dependent on skill]].
** Ditto for the ''SilentScope'' series.
* The NintendoHard BulletHell NES ShootEmUp ''VideoGame/{{Recca}}''. There's a time limit constantly counting down, if it reaches 0 it's GameOver and it still counts down even when the game was paused!