History Main / UnwinnableTrainingSimulation

* The episode "Failsafe" of ''YoungJustice'' is one of these that had GoneHorriblyWrong. No matter what, winning was completely impossible. no matter what they did, the situation would continue to get worse and worse until they failed. That said, the simulation ended up having to AssPull a second alien mothership to win, so they did pretty well. As for the GoneHorriblyWrong part? It wasn't supposed to be ''really'' dangerous but Miss Martian's subconscious hijacked the simulation and made it so.

'''[[TheKirk Admiral Kirk]]:''' Granted.\\

'''[[TheKirk Kirk]]:''' And why not?\\

'''[[TheKirk Kirk]]:''' Well, now you have something new to think about. Carry on.

* MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic has Princess Celestia's school for gifted unicorns. The test to get in involves hatching a dragon egg, which WordOfGod said was unwinnable. When Twilight Sparkle took the test, [[spoiler: her magical abilities were exponentially multiplied as a result of Rainbow Dash's Sonic Rainboom, which allowed her to pass the test.]]

* After the incident at the beginning of "The Day Of Sigma" in [[MegamanX Megaman: Maverick Hunter X]], Zero is seen practicing what had just happened if he was the one to take down the Mechaniloid instead of X.

* In the novel ''Reach'' by Edward Gibson the Wayfarer 2 astronauts are approaching their destination when one looks out the window to find they're about to collide with…his house! It turns out they're in the simulator, and the people running it were trying to demonstrate the importance of staying focused even when something unexpected happens.

** ''StargateUniverse'' also uses the trope in "Trial and Error". [[spoiler:''Destiny'' projects a battle scenario into Young's dreams wherein the ship is attacked by aliens. Young tries to attack them, but they overpower and destroy the ship. Young tries to turtle behind the shields until the ship can jump to FTL, but the simulation just generates more ships. Then he tries to agree to their demands (handing over Chloe), but that just causes the shields to drop, allowing the aliens to board and kill everyone. Young never wins; Rush just shuts it off when he gets tired of it interfering with the ship.]]

* The direct-to-video/pilot episode three-parter "The Adventure Begins" of {{Buzz Lightyear of Star Command}} has this. At Star Command's training deck, Commander Nebula basically calls Buzz up to watch one of the rookies, Mira, with the intention of making her Buzz's new partner. Mira beats Buzz's level, Level 9, and goes on to Level 10, which is comprised of three huge and presumably impenetrable robots. [[spoiler:Where any normal Ranger, even Buzz (since we never hear that he beat it), would have been blasted to Game Over, Mira succeeds by using her ghosting abilities.]]

* The direct-to-video/pilot three-parter "The Adventure Begins" of {{Buzz Lightyear of Star Command}} has this. At Star Command's training deck, Commander Nebula basically calls Buzz up to watch one of the rookies, Mira, with the intention of making her Buzz's new partner. Mira beats Buzz's level, Level 9, and goes on to Level 10, which is comprised of three huge and presumably impenetrable robots. [[spoiler:Where any normal Ranger, even Buzz (since we never hear that he beat it), would have been blasted to Game Over, Mira succeeded by using her ghosting abilities.]]

* The beginning of TheFilmOfTheSeries of ''Series/TheAvengers'', where Steed is attacked by a number of opponents while walking along a street. Afterward it's revealed that he was just being tested on his fighting skills by the Ministry.

* ''Ocean's Eleven''. The scene opens with The Amazing Yen infiltrating the Belagio vault from the inside. Zoom out, and we see Rusty Ryan discussing strategy with the team, followed by them betting on which maneuvers Yen will try out in the practice vault.
* ''Film/LaraCroftTombRaider'' opens with Lara Croft, well, raiding a tomb. She's attacked by a giant killer robot (!) which shortly turns out to be created specifically for her to train with.
* The opening of ''Film/{{X-Men}}: The Last Stand'', with a homage to the "Days of Future Past" storyline in the original comics.
* The beginning of ''[[MonstersInc Monsters, Inc.]]'', in which the monster comically stops being scary, but more importantly, leaves the closet door open, potentially allowing a child to escape into the monster world.
** Later revisited when [[spoiler:[[TheManBehindTheMan Waternoose]] goes into a MotiveRant, [[EngineeredPublicConfession thinking that he's alone with the heroes]] in the human world]].
* In ''DieAnotherDay'', [[JamesBond Bond]] is seen in a virtual training scenario, in which he [[ShootTheHostage shoots M to rescue her]].
* At the beginning of ''NeverSayNeverAgain'', JamesBond infiltrates a terrorist hideout to rescue a kidnapped woman. After he frees her, she stabs and kills him. Then we find out that the whole thing was a live-action simulation. M chides Bond for not realizing that the woman could have been brainwashed by the terrorists during her captivity.
** And an inversion in ''TheManWithTheGoldenGun'' - the movie opens with the villain apparently shooting [[JamesBond Bond]], but it turns out to be a mannequin of him for training (which is also a ChekhovsGun).
*** And in that scene the title character has arranged a lethal version of this {{trope}}, by arranging for a hitman to try and kill him in order to maintain his skills and avert boredom. Rather than trying to overcome this aspect of his character though, he arranges the ultimate test by dueling the famous 007.
** ''FromRussiaWithLove'' (along with the {{video game}}) start with [[JamesBond Bond]] in a hedge maze, eventually getting killed...only to find out that it's a simulation on the bad guys' side. The man may not be [[JamesBond Bond]], but he really is dead...
* In ''TheSilenceOfTheLambs'', FBI trainee Clarice Starling bursts into a room, gun drawn, and orders a hostage taker to surrender. He does so, and as she prepares to handcuff him, someone behind her [[ClickHello puts a gun to her head, cocks it]] and says "You're dead, Starling". The lights come on and the person with the gun is revealed to be one of Clarice's trainers.
--->Trainer: Starling, where's your danger area?
--->Starling: The corner.
--->Trainer: Did you check?
--->Starling: No.
--->Trainer: That's why you're dead.
** The training [[spoiler:comes in handy when Starling is stuck in a darkened basement with Buffalo Bill. When Bill "clicks" his gun, [[ChekhovsSkill Starling realizes "she's dead"]] and swiftly turns to fire behind her, killing the psychopath.]]
* ''Falling From The Sky: The Story Of Flight 174'' starts with a simulation of a catastrophic fuel supply failure in an airliner, which the trainee pilots duly crash. They protest the ridiculousness of the situation to the examiner, who tells them "It's not a dream. It happened." The {{film}} is the story of the famous Gimli Glider incident, where a 767 ran out of fuel at 41,000 feet and managed to escape with no major injuries; the examiner was played by the original pilot.
* ''ToyStory2'' begins with [[CaptainSpaceDefenderofEarth Buzz Lightyear]] examining a remote planet, entering the enemy head-quarters, having a dramatic showdown with [[EvilOverlord Emperor Zurg]]... and then being blasted to ashes by [[EvilOverlord Zurg]]. Enter [[CowardlyLion Rex]] playing a [[CaptainSpaceDefenderofEarth Buzz Lightyear]] {{videogame}}. [[spoiler:[[CowardlyLion Rex]] has no need of overcoming what made him fail, (which was having tiny arms) but the sequence still affects the {{plot}}.]]
** [[CowardlyLion Rex]] even implies that the [[VideoGame game]] really is {{unwinnable}} (without the [[GuideDangIt strategy guide]], that is: "It's extortion, that's what it is!").
** Becomes a BrickJoke at the end of ToyStory3, where Rex and his new dinosaur-toy friend beat the game by working the controller co-operatively.

* Early in the first ''RushHour'', Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan walk in on the female bomb squad cop while she's in the middle of a training scenario in bomb disposal, causing her to mess it up and cut the wrong wire. After the resultant ''faux'' explosion, the trainer actually says, "Congratulation, we're all dead." She complains that Tucker's character distracted her, only for the trainer to reply that she should have been able to shut him out and work anyway. Guess what she's called upon to do under fire in the final action sequence. Go on, guess.

Computer, end program.

[[folder:Other]]
* A prank puzzle called "The Inescapable Island". The teller begins with "imagine that you are stranded on a tiny little island", then goes on to describe with detail how the surrounding sea is vast and borderless and filled with hungry sharks and how the island is a bare spot of sand with thousands of poisonous scorpions and this and that. Once the situation is inescapeable enough, the teller then asks the victim to find out a way to save themself. The only acceptable solution is along the lines of "stop imagining".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real life]]
* Part of a typical NASA Astronaut's TrainingFromHell involves dealing with emergencies in a simulator, though in this case the scenarios used have obscure or complicated solutions, as opposed to no solution at all. The idea here is training the astronauts in Olympic-standard mental gymnastics rather than training them to face death stoically. The latter is [[ChuckYeager part of the job description]] anyway.
[[/folder]]

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-->--Informal debriefing from the former TropeNamer exam, "Kobayashi Maru", in ''[[StarTrekII Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan]]''

The former TropeNamer is the training simulation shown in the first scenes of ''[[StarTrekII Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan]]'' where a bunch of Starfleet cadets attempt a simulated rescue of the space freighter "Kobayashi Maru" in hostile Klingon space. Compare DangerRoomColdOpen, in which an UnwinnableTrainingSimulation (or some other "safe" action scene) is used to introduce the characters and their abilities before the real action starts.

Occasionally, this will be subverted in that the character ''will'' win the scenario, by 'cheating' (which is how Kirk in both ''{{The Wrath of Khan}}'' and [[Film.StarTrek the 2009 reboot]] became the only cadet to ever win).

** Science officer Saavik (the [[StarTrekIII Robin]] [[StarTrekIV Curtis]] incarnation), helmsman John Harriman (before his stint as captain of the ''Enterprise-B'' in ''StarTrekGenerations'') and engineer Peter Preston (''[[StarTrekII The Wrath of Khan]]'') come from the classic ''[[StarTrek Trek]]'' movies.

* The "Kobayashi Maru" training scenario seen in ''[[StarTrekII Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan]]'', which is a test of how the OCS cadet responds to a HeadsIWinTailsYouLose situation. The cadet, in command of a starship, receives a distress call from a freighter (the ''Kobayashi Maru''), which has broken down in the no-fly zone between Klingon and [[TheFederation Federation]] territory, and whose crew will soon die unless action is taken. The politically correct choice is to abandon them to their law-breaking fates; if the cadet chooses to aid, s/he is pre-emptively attacked by angry Klingons. The aspect of the test which some {{trope}} users do not carry over is that the cadet ''must'' be defeated by those ships, so TheComputerIsACheatingBastard and will happily break the laws of physics, probability or reality to ensure a HumiliationConga-worthy win.

*** [[TheSpock Spock]] comments in ''TheWrathOfKhan'' that the explosions and smoke effects do not do wonders for the equipment.

* The Agent training scenario in ''TheMatrix'' ("Were you listening to me... or looking at the woman in the red dress?") Even Neo is fooled into thinking it was the real thing. The scenario is designed to always end with the trainee's death, because a human ''cannot'' beat an Agent. The only recourse when faced with one is to attempt escape, and even that is iffy at best.

-->--Informal debriefing from the former TropeNamer exam in ''[[StarTrekII Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan]]''

The former TropeNamer is the training simulation shown in the first scenes of ''[[StarTrekII Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan]]'' where a bunch of Starfleet cadets attempt a simulated rescue of the eponymous space freighter in hostile Klingon space. Compare DangerRoomColdOpen, in which an UnwinnableTrainingSimulation (or some other "safe" action scene) is used to introduce the characters and their abilities before the real action starts.

An UnwinnableTrainingSimulation may double as an HiddenPurposeTest, often of how the trainees deal with unwinnable situations, since the training simulation from ''{{The Wrath of Khan}}'' was just that - an unwinnable scenario designed to teach prospective command students that sometimes you simply can't win. (Either the cadets' ship would be blasted by the Klingons, or they would be forced to leave the freighter's crew to their fates. Notably, if you choose the former, TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: there will always be more Klingon border patrol vessels than you can escape. Try to explain that you're on a mission of mercy, learn that Klingons don't care, don't negotiate, and [[KilledMidSentence don't warn.]] Try to fight your way out, and a second wave of Klingons appears in seconds.). If this type of scenario is featured at the beginning of an episode, the character flaw the rest of the episode focuses on will either be the character's own pride or inability to accept that sometimes, [[ShootTheShaggyDog crap happens]].

Occasionally, this will be subverted in that the character ''will'' win the scenario, by 'cheating' (incidentally, this is touched upon in ''{{The Wrath of Khan}}'', mentioned in one or two of the tie-in books, and shown in [[Film.StarTrek the 2009 reboot]], as this is how [[TheKirk Kirk]] became the only cadet to ever win). "Kobayashi Maru" is also an [[AnAesop Aesop]], whose lesson is, [[TakeAThirdOption "Escape a no-win situation by changing the rules."]]

A type of FalseCrucible. See also KobayashiMario and SecretTestOfCharacter. If the simulation becomes legitimately dangerous, that's a HolodeckMalfunction. If the simulation was legitimately dangerous all along, it's DeadlyTrainingArea. Nothing to do with [[TheUsualSuspects a certain attorney]].

* Popular fan theory on ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' has that this is the intended result of the "hatch a dragon's egg" test to get into magic school for young unicorns. Given most unicorns only have one talent with magic, plus innate telekinesis, hatching a dragon's egg should be beyond even experienced unicorns, and instead it's to see what and how long the new student tries, as well as how they react to pressure and failure.

*** FridgeLogic: Why is it so easy to remove all safety locks but [[TAreTheseWiresImportant so hard to just turn it off?]]

* The older ''Series/{{X-Men}}'' cartoon and the concurrently-running ''[[SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries Spider-Man]]'' cartoon once did a {{Crossover}}: ''The Mutant Agenda'' introduces Spidey to the X-Men by his sneaking into the mansion to find Professor X... and getting waylaid by Sentinels. Turns out it's the Danger Room, of course.

* ''FamilyGuy'' two parter, ''Stewie Kills Lois/Lois Kills Stewie''

* Popular fan theory on MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic has that this is the intended result of the "hatch a dragon's egg" test to get into magic school for young unicorns. Given most unicorns only have one talent with magic, plus innate telekinesis, hatching a dragon's egg should be beyond even experienced unicorns, and instead it's to see what and how long the new student tries, as well as how they react to pressure and failure.

Occasionally, this will be subverted in that the character ''will'' win the scenario, [[TakeAThirdOption by 'cheating']] (incidentally, this is touched upon in ''{{The Wrath of Khan}}'', mentioned in one or two of the tie-in books, and shown in [[Film.StarTrek the 2009 reboot]], as this is how [[TheKirk Kirk]] became the only cadet to ever win). "Kobayashi Maru" is also an [[AnAesop Aesop]], who's lesson is, "Escape a no-win situation by changing the rules."

** The battle school also has a fantasy game that all the children play (used to monitor their psychological development and stability). Within this game is a section called "The Giant's Drink". A giant offers the player character a choice of two drinks, claiming one is poison and the other leads to Fairyland. Of course, no matter what the player chooses, they die a gruesome death. [[spoiler:Ender ultimately confounds this, forcing the game to invent entirely new sections that had never existed before and generally freaking out the PowersThatBe.]]

** The battle school also has a fantasy game that all the children play (used to monitor their psychological development and stability). Within this game is a section called "The Giant's Drink". A giant offers the player character a choice of two drinks, claiming one is poison and the other leads to Fairyland. Of course, no matter what the player chooses, they die a gruesome death. [[spoiler:Ender ultimately confounds this, forcing the game to invent entirely new sections that had never existed before and generally freaking out the powers that be.]]

* One ''TimeSquad'' episode began with the heroes fighting a pyromaniac George Washington in a training simulation (bizarrely this ''wasn't'' part of the simulation's design: Larry just wanted to see what would happen if they invited "virtual Washington" for a tour of the space station...)[[/folder]]