History VideoGame / CommandAndConquerRedAlert2

** The Allied IFV. They are cheap, quick to train, and available very early in a game. They also have a handy rocket attack by default that's pretty decent against aircraft. A group of IFVs can challenge even the [[MightyGlacier Soviet Kirov Airships]] or Yuri's Floating Discs. The IFV's main schtick, however, is that it can combine with all sorts of infantry from any faction for a variety of attacks and uses - perhaps most importantly, a mobile repair unit with an Engineer, which can keep your units alive when they're away from your base's service depot and easily negate a Terror Drone infestation, giving the Allies a huge advantage over them compared to the other factions.

** Yuri weaponizes [[EenieMeenieMinyMoai The Moai statues]] in the expansion.

** This can veer rather sharply into PaperThinDisguise territory, since it ''always'' takes on the appearance of a tree when idle. This is useful when trying to hide from or ambush enemy units in a forest, grassy area, or other nature scene. [[EpicFail Not so much when it's in the middle of a parking lot or freeway.]] [[note]]This humorously overlaps with AluminumChristmasTrees in certain regions where the trees are older than the infrastructure. It's common in much of America, for instance, to see venerable old oaks and similarly massive trees left standing in the middle of city roads and parking lots, partly because the tree was there first, partly because even today it's easier to pave around than to remove a tree wider than you are.[[/note]]

* AntiFrustrationFeature: In ''Yuri's Revenge'', placing a base defense structure will now display a semi-transparent visual circle that shows the structure's attack range. This is very handy for positioning base defenses more efficiently and effectively (especially the Allied Prism Towers so they can use their coordinated prism beam attack).

* BadBoss: In the Allied "Last Chance" mission, upon the player's success, an enraged General Vladimir will nuke Chicago with his own troops still inside the city.

* ArbitraryGunPower: All over the place. The [=GIs=] when deployed use a 7.62x51mm NATO M60 machine gun which should be the most powerful gun used by infantry, but instead Tanya's [[GunsAkimbo dual]] Colt M1911A1s (a .45 ACP handgun) and the Navy [=SEALs'=] MP5s (a 9x19mm Parabellum submachine gun) can one-shot infantry, while the [=GIs=] M60 cannot (although their M60s ''can'' chew up tank armor, especially at Elite veterancy, which Tanya and the [=SEALs=]' guns can't do). The Conscripts packing PPSH-41s (firing a 7.62x25mm Tokarev round) are drastically weaker than the [=SEALs=] even though in real life the muzzle energy difference between 7.62 Tokarev and 9mm Parabellum isn't ''that'' drastic. On some maps civilians have handguns that would likely fire the same kind of bullet as the Navy [=SEALs=] or Tanya's weapons, but they do [[CherryTapping pathetic damage]]. [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality Of course]], it's all in the name of RuleOfFun and gameplay balance, as otherwise the commando units would be incredibly weak and outclassed by basic infantry.

* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: In the first Soviet mission in Yuris Revenge, when you get sent to prehistoric San Francisco, you can find a lone T-Rex stranded on an island that you can load onto one of your transports and take back with you to present day San Francisco, where you can inflict some serious damage on Yuri's forces and Psychic Dominator with it.

** Bing is a {{Fiction500}} member and CEO of the Seattle based software company ''Massivesoft''. Most definitely not Bill Gates. [[http://www.bing.com/ It]] also doubles as HilariousInHindsight.

* ArbitraryGunPower: All over the place. The [=GIs=] when deployed use a 7.62x51mm NATO [[CoolGuns/MachineGuns M60]] machine gun which should be the most powerful gun used by infantry, but instead Tanya's [[GunsAkimbo dual]] [[CoolGuns/{{Handguns}} Colt M1911A1s]] (a .45 ACP handgun) and the Navy [=SEALs'=] [[CoolGuns/SubmachineGuns MP5s]] (a 9x19mm Parabellum submachine gun) can one-shot infantry, while the [=GIs=] M60 cannot (although their M60s ''can'' chew up tank armor, especially at Elite veterancy, which Tanya and the [=SEALs=]' guns can't do). The Conscripts packing [[CoolGuns/SubmachineGuns PPSH-41s]] (firing a 7.62x25mm Tokarev round) are drastically weaker than the [=SEALs=] even though in real life the muzzle energy difference between 7.62 Tokarev and 9mm Parabellum isn't ''that'' drastic. On some maps civilians have handguns that would likely fire the same kind of bullet as the Navy [=SEALs=] or Tanya's weapons, but they do [[CherryTapping pathetic damage]]. [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality Of course]], it's all in the name of RuleOfFun and gameplay balance, as otherwise the commando units would be incredibly weak and outclassed by basic infantry.

** Present, in typical awesome fashion, in the second Allied mission in ''Yuri's Revenge'', where you defend Hollywood, and [[CaptainErsatz find a few curiously familiar names,]] such as [[Creator/ClintEastwood Flint Westwood,]] [[Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger Arnnie Frankenfurter,]] and [[Creator/SylvesterStallone Sammy Stallion]]. Flint can insta-kill infantry with [[RevolversAreJustBetter his revolver,]] Arnnie [[MoreDakka totes a minigun]] and is NighInvulnerable, and Sammy [[MST3kMantra somehow managed]] to attach a GrenadeLauncher to [[CoolGuns/MachineGuns his M60]] that can blow up any structure instantly. As such, Flint can annihilate waves of infantry, Arnnie just [[ShootingSuperman laughs]] when [[TankGoodness anything up to a tank shoots him,]] and Sammy [[PersonOfMassDestruction can demolish entire bases in a few seconds]], if you can keep them away from [[TacticalRockPaperScissors their horrendous weakness to various things.]]

* GameplayAndStorySegregation:
** "Deja Vu", the second Soviet mission in ''Yuri's Revenge'', is about trying to destroy Einstein's Lab and the still-in-development Chronosphere. However, and unlike "Mirage" from the vanilla Allied campaign (the mission it mirrors), the Chronosphere is not only fully operational, but if you get an Allied Construction Yard, you can build your own fully operational Chronosphere.
** The objective in "Desecration" is to apprehend [[spoiler:Vladimir]] in the White House - and the introduction to the following mission shows him hiding in a drawer. The problem is that your objective is to either capture or '''destroy''' the White House, but the cutscene is the same regardless of what you choose to do. How he manages to find an intact hiding spot even in the rubble among the White House is anyone's guess.

** As the Soviets, nothing's really stopping you from attacking Allied civilians or destroying American cityscapes.
* VideoGameCrueltyPunishment: You might be tempted to do so either as revenge for the Soviet invasion of the United States or because it was the actual objective in the penultimate Soviet mission, but destroying the Kremlin in the last Allied mission makes you fail the mission. You were supposed to ''capture'' Romanov so he can sign a peace treaty, not kill him.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: While pre-release screenshots of the game used exact replicas of the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe, these were altered in the final release likely due to usage rights over the depiction of French landmarks (especially when they are portrayed in a less-than-flattering light). Later releases of ''Red Alert 2'' patched this even further by giving them generic names e.g. "Paris Tower" and "Arch of Winning" in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. There is however a [[https://ppmforums.com/topic-15871/ra2yr-prerelease-eiffel-tower/ mod]] which restores the old Eiffel Tower complete with a custom destruction animation.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: While pre-release screenshots of the game used exact replicas of the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe, these were altered in the final release likely due to usage rights over the depiction of French landmarks (especially when they are portrayed in a less-than-flattering light). Later releases of ''Red Alert 2'' patched this even further by giving them generic names e.g. "Paris Tower" and "Arch of Winning" due to UnfortunateImplications after the September 11 attacks. There is however a [[https://ppmforums.com/topic-15871/ra2yr-prerelease-eiffel-tower/ mod]] which restores the old Eiffel Tower complete with a custom destruction animation.

** In general, each of the factions' basic infantry (the Allied GI, Soviet Conscript, and Yuri's Initiate) fulfill this trope, as damage typing is rather flimsy when it comes to raw power, which allows these humble soldiers to dish out damage to infantry (as intended), armor, and structures alike in high enough numbers. They are the only soldiers who can actually garrison structures as well, and without a proper counter to this that would be introduced in later games, only air units and artillery would be able to level garrisons without diminishing returns (''especially'' in the case of Initiates). To top it all off, sold structures and paradrops provide more of these men exclusively, with scripted campaign events taking things UpToEleven.

* CartoonishSupervillainy: Pretty much the entire premise of Yuri and his faction, which ups the somewhat ridiculous RA arsenal UpToEleven with the addition of genetically mutated [[HulkMashUp Hulk look-a-likes]], psychically powered infantry, [=UFOs=], and so on. Then there's the expansion campaign, which features such gems as weaponized Moai statues, an Arctic/Moon base, and a gothic Transylvanian mansion headquarters. Regardless of which campaign, all of Yuri's plans end up failing spectacularly and then Yuri himself eventually being submitted to some humiliating fate. General Carville and Premier Romanov lampshade this ridiculous arsenal in different occasions.

* CapitalOffensive: In the Soviet campaign the Reds hit Washington DC first to destroy the Pentagon in a DecapitationStrike. It's used in an especially interesting fashion in the Allied campaign, where they use the Chronosphere to teleport a strike force straight into Moscow to take the Kremlin and avoid a scorched earth campaign by the retreating Soviets.

* ArbitraryGunPower: All over the place. The [=GIs=] when deployed use a 7.62x51mm NATO [[CoolGuns/MachineGuns M60]] machine gun which should be the most powerful gun used by infantry, but instead Tanya's [[GunsAkimbo dual]] [[CoolGuns/{{Handguns}} Colt M1911A1s]] (a .45 ACP handgun) and the Navy [=SEALs=] [[CoolGuns/SubmachineGuns MP5s]] (a 9x19mm Parabellum submachine gun) can one-shot infantry, while the [=GIs=] M60 cannot (though to be fair, their M60s can chew up tank armor). The Conscripts packing [[CoolGuns/SubmachineGuns PPSH-41s]] (firing a 7.62x25mm Tokarev round) are drastically weaker than the [=SEALs=] even though in real life the muzzle energy difference between 7.62 Tokarev and 9mm Parabellum isn't ''that'' drastic. On some maps civilians have handguns that would likely fire the same kind of bullet as the Navy [=SEALs=] or Tanya's weapons, but they do [[CherryTapping pathetic damage]]. [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality Of course]], it's all in the name of RuleOfFun and gameplay balance, as otherwise the commando units would be incredibly weak and the basic infantry units much stronger.

** When all production buildings and the construction yard of an AI player are destroyed, they will sooner or later sell all their remaining buildings to send everything they've still got as an all-or-nothing attack. Thing is, they try to do this even in Short Game mode, where players are defeated if they have no buildings left - so destroying the AI's Construction Yard and unit producing buildings becomes a not-so-InstantWinCondition.

* ResignationsNotAccepted: During the mission briefing for the sixth Allied mission in the expansion, Yuri interrupts Lt. Eva and forces her to divulge where the peace conference between the Allies and Soviets is to take place (the Palace of Westminster in London), forcing the Allies to scramble to stop Yuri from destroying it and killing the heads of state who are meeting there. The Allies are successful, but the guilt from jeopardizing the security of the conference leads Lt. Eva to offer her resignation at the start of the mission briefing for the seventh Allied mission - General Carville will have none of that, as she's hardly the first person to have been affected by Yuri's mental manipulations.

** [[https://youtu.be/WBOD8qeCBuc?t=199 The very end of Hell March 2]] contains part of the melody from the intro to [[https://youtu.be/90_6s6AwcgA No Mercy]] from ''[[Videogame/CommandAndConquerTiberianDawn Tiberian Dawn]]'', which Frank Klepacki thought of as Kane's {{Leitmotif}}.

* AntiFrustrationFeature: In ''Yuri's Revenge'', placing a base defense structure will now display a semi-transparent visual circle that shows the structure's attack range. This is very handy for positioning base defenses more efficently and effectively (especially the Allied Prism Towers so they can use their coordinated prism beam attack).

* HypnosisProofDogs: Dogs [[spoiler: (and the terror drones which are mechanical dogs)]] are immune to the Psychic Control of the Psychic Commandos (Yuri).

* ImmuneToMindControl: Several units are completely immune to Soviet (and later Yuri's) mind control, including air units (perpetually out of range), hero units like Tanya and Boris (specially trained to resist), Terror Drones and Robot Tanks (machines), and Brutes (too stupid).

* {{Unperson}}: Yuri brands general Vladimir a traitor and a "non-person" after setting him up for Romanov's murder. Having known Stalin personally, he probably picked up the habit from the man himself.

** One allied mission sees you trying to destroy a network of such devices Yuri's built in Los Angeles. [[TakeYourTime There's no time limit on the mission]], though, so you're free to watch brainwashed civilians walk into them for as long as you like while you build up your forces.