History RankInflation / VideoGames

** Interestingly, Rock Band allows performances to garner ratings of just one or two stars, while Guitar Hero (before Guitar Hero 5, at least) has three stars as a passing cut-off point. It's easiest to manage with the vocals, easy difficulty, and the shortest songs.

** Rock Band 2 as online "battles", where you perform a song against another player's star score, which makes sense considering the vastly different difficulty levels (pure points battles would be impossible between easy and expert, for example). In these battles, it's possible to average 6.18 stars per song; that is, enough points to get gold stars, and a little less than a fifth of the way to a non-existent seventh star.

** ''maimai'' has Break notes, which nominally are worth 2500 points if you get a Perfect, but if you are extra-accurate you can get 2550 or 2600 points. These "more-than-Perfect" hits are necessary to go over 100% Achievement. An [[AC:All Perfect]] run is precisely just that, while the SSS grade is used for a 100% or more run whether you actually AP the chart or not.

** Getting a Justice on a note in ''Chunithm'' awards you 100% of the possible score for the note. Getting a Justice Critical gets you 101%. As such, the score seems to be out of 1 million, but the absolute maximum is 1,010,000. Similar to ''maimai'', all Justice or higher nets you an [[AC:All Justice]] mark, while getting 1,000,000 points is awarded with an SS rank whether it was an AJ run or not.

*** Same thing happens in ''Fates'', but with an added "A+" rank for two units of the same gender ([[GayOption excluding a male avatar and Niles or a female avatar and Rhajat]]), which adds extra pair-up bonuses like an S rank. (The only difference is that an S rank support has an accompanying conversation, while an A+ rank does not.)

* ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon'' Red/Blue rescue team offers missions starting at difficulty "E" and going up to difficulty "A", then you start finding "S" missions, then "*" (star) tasks. The sequel, Explores or Time/Darkness/Sky puts numbers next to the * to make them seem even more impressive (the higher the number, the tougher the mission). However "*5" is roughly as hard as "S" from the previous game.

** In ''VideoGame/MegaManX4'', in Cyber Peacock's stage, requiring you to get S ranks on several annoying levels where you're timed, and how much damage you take is taken into consideration. In addition,some of the enemies in this area stun you for a few seconds while they drain about 1/3 of X's health (without upgrades). Completion of this with S ranks will grant you access to life tanks, lives, and even an armor capsule.

* ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot3Warped'' has a gratuitous amount on rank inflation in regards to the time trial prizes, Relics. There are sapphire relics, the first level, the gold relics which are the most you need for maximum completion, and then there are platinum relics. Then after THAT, there are so called "developer times", which are the most ridiculous times. in the game.

* SSX 3, being in a tournament setting, has bronze, silver, and gold. If you do ''really'' well, you'll get a platinum medal instead. Notable because the game never reveals the score needed for getting a platinum medal.

* ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}''

* In ''VideoGame/{{Crysis 2}}'', you can't set the graphics to low or even normal; all you have is high, very high, extreme, and ultra.

* The .hack GU games has this one. Depending on how many items you have, the number of enemies you killed and the number of times you got a surprise attack you can get anywhere from Rank E to Rank A after visiting an area. Usually the better your rank, the better your rewards.

* In VideoGame/{{osu}}, the grades of performance starts from D, then C, B, A, S, and SS at the highest (SS means 100% accuracy). And if one uses Hidden or Flashlight mod when playing, they can get a silver S or SS with the usual requirements, written as SH and XH (respectively) in the "Historical Statistics" section of a player's web profile.

* 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 would 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.

** [[AllThereInTheManual Databooks]] on the {{Franchise/Nasuverse}} state that the Mage's Association ranks its members from First to Seventh (seventh being the lowest). For people who have achieved feats beyond that, like the sisters [[LightNovel/TheGardenOfSinners Touko]] and [[VideoGame/MeltyBlood Aoko]], they get colors Orange and Blue, respectively. The closer your color to the primary colors red, blue, and yellow, the more amazing your achievement.

* The [=PS2=] ''{{VideoGame/Contra}}'' games, ''Shattered Soldier'' and ''Neo Contra'', grades the player's performance at the end of each stage based on the percentage of unique enemies and objects they destroyed thorough the entire stage, with a penalty based on the number of lives lost or continues used (if any were lost). Maintaining an A average is the only way to avoid the DownerEnding.

* ''VideoGame/WiiPlay'' and ''Videogame/WiiPlayMotion'' will award the player medals going from Bronze to Platinum for each minigame if they get past a score in said minigame. It also works like an AchievementSystem, as the medal is displayed indefinitely on the select screen.

* ''[[Franchise/TheSimpsons Bart's Nightmare]]'' has a ranking system based on the American school grading system. The grades are mostly tied to ScoringPoints, and are viewed in an EndGameResultsScreen (seen upon completing the game or getting a GameOver). The lowest possible grade, of course, is F. If your final score was 8,000 points or higher, Bart gets a D-, 21,000 is a D, 36,000 is a D+, 45,000 is a C-, 55,000 is a C, 68,000 is a C+, 77,000 is a B-, 87,000 is a B, 99,000 is a B+, 109,000 is an A-, 119,000 is an A, and finally, 125,000 is an A+. The catch is that in order to qualify for anything higher than B+, you have to actually beat the game.

** [[AllThereInTheManual Databooks]] on the {{Franchise/Nasuverse}} state that the Mage's Association ranks its members from First to Seventh (seventh being the lowest). For people who have achieved feats beyond that, like the sisters [[LightNovel/KaraNoKyoukai Touko]] and [[VideoGame/MeltyBlood Aoko]], they get colors Orange and Blue, respectively. The closer your color to the primary colors red, blue, and yellow, the more amazing your achievement.

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** The series also has another example in scale if power for [[EXSpecialAttack Crafts]], that goes up from D. In the very first game most of the cast has SS-rank [[LimitBreak S-Crafts]] and [[TheHero Rean]] and [[BadassTeacher Sara]] has SSS-rank S-Crafts. By the second game most party members upgrade to SSS-rank S-Crafts themselves, while Rean gets 4S (aka SSSS) S-Craft. Finally, fourth game brings back Estelle from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky'', who packs ''quintuple S'' S-Craft.

* Meta-example. Fighting game CharacterTiers are often labeled as such with D usually being the lowest, then C, B, A and finally S for the highest of the high. Some games will have characters as low as F rank or characters considered so strong that they're ranked as S+ or SS rank. Please note that while characters ranked as high as S+ and SS can sometimes be considered [[GameBreaker game breakers]], not all of them are banned from tournaments. Games with a very large range in tiers can end up going beyond D, especially if it doesn't use + or - (ex. the current ''[[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Smash 4]]'' tier list goes from S to ''H'').

** Surprisingly averted in VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI with mercenary ranks. The highest possible rank is only Captain. However, this is debatably played straight with the campaign ranks, where one can go through 5 tiers of 4 medals each, all with more bombastic sounding descriptions than the last.

* In ''SEVEN's CODE'', the note judgements are, in order of lowest to highest: Miss, Hit, Burst, ''Critical'', and ''Fabulous''.

* Several of Creator/{{SEGA}}'s rhythm games -- ''VideoGame/{{maimai}}'', ''VideoGame/HatsuneMikuProjectDIVA Arcade'', ''Hatsune Miku Project mirai'', ''VideoGame/{{Chunithm}}'', and ''Ongeki'' -- allow you to go slightly over 100% score by performing certain kinds of actions to gain "extra credit" points. This can result in weird situations where you are at 100% or higher despite not having an "absolutely perfect" run. As for how it works from game to game:
** ''maimai'' has Break notes, which nominally are worth 2500 points if you get a Perfect, but if you are extra-accurate you can get 2550 or 2600 points. These "more-than-Perfect" hits are necessary to go over 100%. An [[AC:All Perfect]] run is precisely just that, while the SSS grade is used for a 100% or more run whether you actually AP the chart or not.

* In ''SEVEN's CODE'', the note judgements are, in order of lowest to highset: Miss, Hit, Burst, ''Critical'', and ''Fabulous''.

* ''VideoGame/TadpoleTreble'' features a ranking system based on your score upon reaching the end of each given stage, and the 'end-of-level' jingle [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOlS81wHAZE evolves based on the rank you achieved.]] Interestingly, one of the challenges offered by each stage is to make it to the end with an 'F' rank, which is more difficult than you'd think.[[note]]Every black note obstacle you dodge increases your ScoreMultiplier. Whenever you take damage, this multiplier resets. There are health pickups scatters through each stage. In order to obtain an 'F' rank, you need to manage when you take damage in order to most efficiently reset your multiplier and minimise your score, all while healing where you can so you can make it to the end alive.[[/note]] The game even keeps track of the lowest score you've achieved in a successful playthrough of each level.

*** ''Battle Network'' goes even further with this in ''2'', where you gain Official licenses with tests in the game that allow you access to higher areas and determine your success fleeing random encounters. They rank Z, B, A, S, SS, and SSS respectively. In addition, the ''Battle Chip Challenge'' spin-off rates the tournaments like this in scaling difficulty, going E, D, C, B, A, S, X, Y, Z.

* ''VideoGame/{{Tenchu}}'' has 5 ranks: Ninja dog, Thug, Ninja, Master Ninja, Grand Master. Grand master requires you to not be seen or kill an innocent (usually). You still have to kill most of the guards though, unlike many stealth games slipping your way to to the objective and out is actually less rewarding than killing everyone, albeit silently.
** In the first two ''Tenchu'' parts, it is actually possible to get the highest rank without killing, there are no awards for kills/stealth kills either, but that changes with Tenchu 3.

** Similarly averted in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV''. You can obtain military ranks in the Grand Company of your choosing, but the developers deliberately made it so you stop at second lieutenant after doing the normal company-related side jobs. The reason is they didn't want ranks to be passed around like candy and so they implemented a side portion of the game where your character leads a squadron of recruits. Depending on how well that goes, you can get to the rank of Captain (or the equivalent). You can also see the remaining ranks that are above what is achievable, that are ranks held by certain NPCs that you can meet.

** [[VideoGame/Splatoon2 The sequel]] one-ups this further with S+ having ''50 sub-ranks'' of its own. Nine months later with the 3.0 update, ranks S+10 and above were replaced with Rank X, at which point the game notes that you're ridiculously good[[note]]roughly speaking, Rank X contains the Top 1% of players in the game.[[/note]] and has the normal ranking meter replaced with a "power" meter. However, players can still be demoted if their power level is low enough or their fail to win enough matches during the "Calculating" period at the end of each month. Each mode of Ranked Battle also has their own separate meter rather than giving the player an overall rank in competitive, meaning that you could be an S+ rank in [[HoldTheLine Splat Zones]] while also being A- in [[EscortMission Tower Control]], for example.

* In ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' your rank at the end of a match is determined by several factors, namely your creep score (lane minions and jungle monsters killed), your kill/death/assist ratio, and for support champions, damaged healed, damaged shielded, and wards placed. Getting an S- or higher gives you a Hextech Chest for each champion once a season and/or a token for champions at level 5 Mastery that can be used to increase their Mastery to level 6. For champions at level 6 Mastery, getting an S or S+ gives them a token that can increase their level to 7.

* ''[[RecycledTitle The]]'' ''VideoGame/BishiBashi'' has grades going up to SSS. You're going to need them, because due to the game's DynamicDifficulty system, the minimum passing grade increases one rank every time you clear a stage (and decreases once for each failure). Enough consecutive successes will make the game enter ''Oni Mode'', where only a SSS will clear a stage.

* ''[[RecycledTitle The]]'' ''VideoGame/BishiBashi'' has grades going up to SSS. You're going to need them, because due to the game's DynamicDifficulty system, the minimum passing grade increases one rank every time you clear a stage (and decreases once for each failure). Enough continued successes and the game will enter ''Oni Mode'', where only a SSS will clear a stage.

* The ''VideoGame/BishiBashi'' has grades going up to SSS. You're going to need them, because due to the game's DynamicDifficulty system, the minimum passing grade increases one rank every time you clear a stage (and decreases once for each failure). Eventually only a SSS will clear a stage.

* ''Top Skater'' is an arcade game that gives each trick AND your entire run a grade between E (lowest) and S (highest). The reward for an S-run is a reply of the "highlights" of the run.
** SpiritualSuccessor ''Air Trix'' has this trope both ways; the possible grades range from G to A and then S, SS, SSS, S4, S5, and S6.

** The series has AAA and AA rankings. Getting a regular A isn't that hard. Getting a AA required a full combo in 4th Mix. Getting a AAA (prior to [=DDR SuperNOVA 2=]), however, requires a perfect run.

** 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.