History RankInflation / VideoGames

** Before the difficulty system was revamped in ''X'', the maximum difficulty rating was ten. In ''EXTREME'' and its derivates, the rating of ten flashed for the very hardest songs, to show that they were harder than the other tens. The new scale was mostly created to differentiate the 10-footers, which vary in difficulty, from the "hard but manageable" 10 (e.g. MAX 300 Expert), to the "unusually hard" 10 (e.g. PARANOIA survivor MAX Challenge), to the "really fucking hard" 10 (e.g. "[=PARANOiA=] ~HADES~" Challenge). Anything less than 10 had their ratings roughly multiplied by 1.5 to fit the new "out of 20" system, which may count as this trope.

** Originally, the series only had step judgement ranks up to "Perfect", but then ''Dance Dance Revolution EXTREME'' added the "Marvelous" rank that's higher than a Perfect, only available in the course modes. ''Dance Dance Revolution [=SuperNOVA2=]'' made Marvelous part of non-course gameplay as well, and it has been that way ever since.
** The series has AAA and AA rankings. Getting a regular A isn't that hard. Getting a AA required a full combo in 5th Mix. Getting a AAA (prior to [=DDR SuperNOVA 2=]), however, requires a perfect run.
** ''[=DDR SuperNOVA 2=]'' loosened the requirements on a AAA to 99% score, while a perfect run now earns you an AAA with a gold circle mark, plus the results screen will show "Perfect Full Combo" overlaid on it.
** Official ''[[http://stepmania.com/ Stepmania]]'' builds under default settings go even further (AAAA rank awarded for "Marvelous/Fantastic Full Combo").
*** One particular 3rd-party build added another "timing judgement" known as "Ridiculous timing", which (again, under default settings) can be best described as "barely hitting the note on Justice judgement rank". Getting a "Ridiculous Full Combo" awards a rank of AAAAA.
** a commercialized version of VideoGame/StepMania known as ''VideoGame/InTheGroove'' had '''seven''' ratings above A+: S-, S, S+ and one to four stars (however, the percentage score does top out at 100.00%).
** Avoided in ''Dance Dance Revolution [=4thMIX=]'' and its derivatives (''[=4thMIX=] PLUS'', ''Extra Mix'', and ''Konamix''), which has a very narrow grading scale: D for failing a song, C for doing somewhat poorly, B for any good score that is not a Full Combo, A for a Full Combo, and AA for a perfect score; a mere five grades. If you miss a step and pass, you're guaranteed to get only a B or a C, whereas in newer mixes you can get any grade between D and AA even if you miss a step, since grade is determined by a hidden points system rather than combo.
** ''Dance Dance Revolution A'' split ranks AA to C into + and - ratings ITG-style, and in addition all grades became easier to obtain (due to loosened requirements and more lenient scoring).
** Before the difficulty system was revamped, the maximum difficulty rating was ten. In ''Dance Dance Revolution Extreme 8th Mix'' and other games, the rating of ten flashed for the very hardest songs, to show that they were harder than the other tens. In a different sense, the revamped difficulty system itself counts, as the old "out of 10" songs have had their ratings roughly multiplied by 1.5 to fit the new "out of 20" system.

* Games in the ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' series rate characters' weapon proficiencies from E to S. From ''VideoGame/Disgaea3AbsenceOfJustice'' onward, weapon skills and spells are also rated from E to S. The UsefulNotes/PSVita port of ''Disgaea 3'' and onward added the SS rank.

* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestMonsters'' games use letter ranks for a battle arena of some sort and/or for the monsters themselves. In ''VideoGame/DragonQuestMonstersJoker'', ranks go from F (lowest) to A, then up to S and up again to X (highest). Few X-ranked monsters are available in normal play.

* ''VideoGame/{{ULTRAKILL}}'' has the usual StylishAction-style AwesomenessMeter for killing enemies quickly and stylishly, the ranks of which are D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS, and finally [[TitleDrop ULTRAKILL]]. The game also rates the player on three categories from D to S at the end of a level, with a P-rank given for three S ranks.

* The ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' VisualNovel has a section with the stats for all of the [[AllMythsAreTrue Servants]], from E to A with the usual plus/minus modifiers. Rank A is basically on the level of True Magic (impossible miracles). There's also the EX rank, which is shorthand for "unclassifiable" powers that, due to their nature, simply don't fit on the Ranking scale.[[note]]One example given is Magic Defense. E through A rank Magic Defense dictates how well a Servant can survive magical attacks. An EX rank Magic Defense might indicate that magical attacks are made to ''miss them entirely'', so it's not even a function of "defense" at all, strictly speaking.[[/note]] The special armaments of Servants, the Noble Phantasms, also come with ranks; [[Franchise/{{Nasuverse}} Canonically]], a C-rank Noble Phantasm is about the same level as an A-rank regular weapon.

* ''VideoGame/MischiefMakers'' ranks you on how fast you complete a stage with a grade from D through A, and then S which is descripted as "Perfect!". And trust me, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin you need to be perfect]] to get an S grade.

** Notably, some mobile spin-offs keep inflating ranks even more: ''Yo-kai Watch Puni Puni'' has ranks SS, SSS, Z, ZZ, and ZZZ; ''Yo-kai Watch World'' settled in SS until the end of services; and ''Yo-kai Sangokushi: Kunitori Wars'' has Rank Sho as its equivalent to SS.

* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestMonsters'' games use letter ranks for a battle arena of some sort and/or for the monsters themselves. In ''[[VideoGame/DragonQuestMonsters Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker]]'', ranks go from F (lowest) to A, then up to S and up again to X (highest). Few X-ranked monsters are available in normal play.

* ''VideoGame/{{ULTRAKILL}}'' has the usual StylishAction-style AwesomenessMeter for killing enemies quickly and stylishly, the ranks of which are D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS, and finally [[TitleDrop ULTRAKILL]].

''VideoGame/ZeroRanger'': In WHITE VANILLA[[spoiler:[=/=]Light Mode]], the player is graded from E to A on time, destruction rate, and hits taken at the end of a segment. Doing perfect in a category nets a Z rank. [[spoiler:The player can also gain score-based rankings on the same scale for each stage when replaying the game after beating the TrueFinalBoss]].