History YMMV / Scribblenauts

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[https://youtu.be/fA2SYd6_kNA Big Tiny 1]]. It starts out sounding like an ordinary, upbeat ear worm until you hit the 1:42 mark, where it becomes more dramatic.

* AudienceAlienatingEra: After ''Unlimited'', the series had a hard time staying afloat. ''Unmasked'', while well liked, was seen by many as a MissionPackSequel, focused heavily on [[ScrappyMechanic Reputation Points]] and was shorter than the rest of the series. Fifth Cell would then lay off most of its employees and hand over the series to a developer called Shiver, leading to the cancellation of the sequel, "Fighting Words". It wouldn't be until 2018 that Shiver finally developed a new game called ''Scribblenauts Showdown'', which received negative reviews from fans and critics alike for being essentially a stale MinigameGame packaged with a "Sandbox Mode" that can be best described as a watered down version of the Wii U titles. The franchise was essentially killed by ''Showdown'''s poor sales and the Mega Pack collection suffering InvisibleAdvertising.

* CriticalResearchFailure: In ''Unlimited'', [[TheGrimReaper Death]] is joined by [[HorsemenOfTheApocalypse Pestilence, War, and Famine]]. They even have their own mission. However, their colors are somewhat odd, as War is white (the typical color of Conquest) instead of red, and Pestilence is red instead of green or black like Famine (a greenish color is used for Pollution, an original horseman).

* UnfortunateImplications: [[http://www.destructoid.com/scribblenauts-caught-in-sambo-racism-controversy-148940.phtml In the first game, writing "Sambo", an offensive term for black people, would spawn a watermelon, which is stereotypically associated with black people.]] The creators pointed out that the reason for this was that there is a fruit called "sambo" that looks like a watermelon, and that they had no idea Sambo was an offensive term.

* AudienceAlienatingEra: After Unlimited the series had a hard time staying afloat. Unmasked while well liked was seen by many as a MissionPackSequel, Focused heavily on [[ScrappyMechanic Reputation Points]] and was shorter than the rest of the series.
** After Unmasked released Fifth Cell would lay off most of it's employees and hand over the series to a developer called Shiver causing an entry in the series "Fighting Words" to be cancelled. Scribblenauts would then see a long gap of no games released until 2018 Shiver finally developed a new game called Scribblenauts Showdown.
** Only for it to receive negative reviews from fans and critics alike for being essentially a stale MinigameGame packaged with a "Sandbox Mode" that can be best described as a watered down version of the Wii U titles. Combined with Showdowns poor sales and the Mega Pack collection suffering InvisibleAdvertising The future of Scribblenauts remains uncertain.

** The first game's controls. To make Maxwell move, you need to tap a point and he will frantically run there. This is the only way to move, and it can be very touchy and lead to deaths in action stages. ''Super Scribblenauts'' slowed down his walking speed and added the option to move using the D-Pad or face buttons, which were very well-received.

* ArchiveBinge: You thought ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' was bad? Try archive binging ''the entire dictionary.'' [[http://www.videogamesblogger.com/2009/09/12/scribblenauts-dictionary-list-of-all-22802-words.htm Here's a 22,803-entry strong list of 'em...]] ''and it's not even a complete list!'' ('''MASSIVE SPOILERS,''' just in case it wasn't obvious.) The Creator/DCComics crossover can and will introduce even the most hardcore ComicBook fan to at least fifteen characters that are completely new to him/her.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[https://youtu.be/fA2SYd6_kNA Big Tiny 1]]. It starts out sounding like an ordinary, upbeat ear worm...that is, until you hit the 1:42 mark, where it becomes more dramatic.
* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: If you don't feel like playing around, chances are you're just going to stick to one or two reliable objects. Wings. Chainsaw. Rope. Especially since most objects in a single class largely have identical functions.

** Don't want to deal with combat? Become Invincible.
* ContestedSequel: ''Unmasked'' is this due to its relatively limited scope.
* CriticalResearchFailure: In ''Unlimited'', [[TheGrimReaper Death]] is joined by [[HorsemenOfTheApocalypse Pestilence, War, and Famine]]. They even have their own mission. Problem is, Pestilence and War got their colors switched…
* CultClassic: Though it's not incredibly popular, it does have its fans because of its unique gameplay. It helps that the third and fourth games have a highly flexible object editor.

* FridgeLogic: You can run into this when comparing different summonable objects on nearly any sort of scale. Like how ants are larger than grenades (either those are the tiniest grenades ever, or huge fricking ants).

** The adjectives in ''Super Scribblenauts'' are very powerful. You can stop those bomb-spawning pipes by just putting an IMMOBILE INVINCIBLE BAR right beneath it. Heck, INVINCIBLE is a GameBreaker in itself.
** The BOMB DISPOSAL EXPERT will now just make the bombs disappear instead of blowing them up like in ''Scribblenauts'' 1. Make him TINY INVINCIBLE FLYING DIVING and you can clear away any minefield easily.
** If you make a BLOB, it can only be killed by fire. It is immune to anything else (besides OHKO destroy-everything items). It managed to kill GOD, DRAGON, HYDRA, and DEATH three times apiece, and fight Maxwell to a standstill. On the sandbox screen.
** This is a really long one: Make an engine, make 2 chains, attach the chains to the engine's sides, pick up the engine, and move.
** Vampires are indestructible unless exposed to one of their classic weaknesses (i.e. Garlic, Cross, Holy Water, Vampire Hunter). Starting in ''Super'', they can be killed through other methods, but it takes lots of time to do so.
** In the sequel, the adjective "CANNIBAL" or "CANNIBALISTIC", when applied to an object, will be able to destroy anything. Literally. Even Steel Doors and Spiked Steel Balls, as long as any adjectives that apply to the real one follows "CANNIBAL." And if you want to add adjectives, put them ''before'' "CANNIBAL".
** The armed remote control car or armed remote control helicopter. You can't use adjectives on yourself, but you can use them on either of these and then directly control them. They're capable of doing anything you can (the armed adjective is necessary to pick things up). And even if they do fall in lava or something you can just make more. You cannot control them in ''Unlimited'', but you can apply adjectives to yourself.
** In ''Unlimited'', you can apply adjectives to anything already on the field, including Maxwell.
** In the first game, you can use the same item multiple times in Challenge Mode by putting anything and a space before it. This doesn't work in later games, since they have adjectives that actually do go before the word. Doubles as a {{Good Bad Bug|s}}.
** Another {{Good Bad Bug|s}} GameBreaker is in levels that are constantly spawning something that impedes your progress. For example, something that's constantly shooting bombs. Spawn something big over and over and over and over and it will fill up the ink meter, causing no more bombs to be shot either.
** LIVE INVINCIBLE ARMED RC PLANE allows you to control a toy plane that cannot be destroyed and can pick up objects.
* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Louisiana torrented ''Scribblenauts Unlimited'' [[http://www.movoto.com/blog/novelty-real-estate/torrenting-us-state/ more than any other state relative to the national average in 2014.]]
* {{Glurge}}: At one point in ''Unmasked'', Maxwell has access to a time machine, which he uses to go back in time and prevent [[ComicBook/TheKillingJoke Barbara Gordon from getting shot]] (it should be noted that this is the New 52 version of Barbara, who eventually regained the use of her legs.) It's supposed to seem sweet, but the implications of one kid going back in time to change a major character-defining moment are a little unsettling when you really think about it.
* GoodBadBugs: One report mentions a case with an elephant and a rocket launcher. The elephant grabbed the launcher with its trunk and started firing away. [[ThrowItIn They didn't fix it]]. LetsPlay/{{Boatmurdered}} much?
** For some strange reason, if an ox is summoned, ridden, and then "used" on something, it will shoot ''high-velocity buttermilk'' at whatever it is used on. Probably unintentional. Unintentionally hilarious.
** [[http://scribblenauts.wikia.com/wiki/The_@_Method The @ method]] in ''Unlimited'', which grants access to objects not normally available. Examples: Gender Blaster and Monster Gun (two rays that change [=NPCs=] into the opposite gender and a random monster, respectively), Maxwell and Lily's parents, and different types of magic. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GaAAOPKYK4 Here's a video showing how to perform the glitch.]]
* HypeBacklash: Inevitable with a game that was hyped up this much.
** The main HypeBacklash complaints come in an objective and a subjective flavor: the objective complaint is that you cannot summon ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING, which makes sense from a logical standpoint but is still frustrating when the game doesn't recognize what you're telling it, or does, but what it gives you is not what you want; the subjective complaint is that some of us have agoraphobic imaginations that, when allowed to run wild, [[QuicksandBox will freeze up, curl into a panicked ball, and pray someone will come along with a toy it knows how to use.]]
*** [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee]], amusingly enough, copped to both.
** And there were many complaints about the controls, especially for movement.
** Another complaint is that many items won't work in ways you think they will. Want to get an large animal across a lake using a sail boat? Good luck getting the animal onto the boat with the sail in the way. You ultimately end up using the same reliable items over and over.

* JustHereForGodzilla: While initially a puzzle game, most people mainly like Scribblenauts for being able to summon anything by typing it and for the VideoGameCrueltyPotential.

** Post 217 (a message board post in which one gamer enthusiastically described killing zombies with a dinosaur). Acknowledged by the sequel: Typing POST TWO SEVENTEEN summons a painting of Maxell riding a dinosaur.

* NightmareFuel: Lily being TakenForGranite in Unlimited.

* PolishedPort: The PC version of ''Unlimited'' has elements of both this and PortingDisaster. On the one hand, being able to type in words with the keyboard is a godsend. On the other hand, the user interface is basically unchanged from the UsefulNotes/WiiU version, there are minimal options for optimizing graphics, and if you get a framerate of less than 60 FPS, ''the entire game'' will slow down to compensate. That being said, it's still far from broken and quite enjoyable in the long run.

** The first game's controls. To make Maxwell move, you need to tap a point and he will frantically run there. This is the ''only'' way to move, which doesn't work well. ''Super Scribblenauts'' slowed down his walking speed and added the option to move using the D-Pad or face buttons, which were ''very'' well-received.
** ''Unmasked'' saddles you with a 50% penalty if you summon the same item or adjective more than once in one level. This can get annoying when you have to cycle through several different forms of flight mechanics, ropes and such to drag things, and so forth.

* SpoilAtYourOwnRisk: A massive Website/GameFAQs crackdown resulting from an early release, in which hundreds of topics were moderated for discussing gameplay before the street date.
* SugarWiki/SweetDreamsFuel: ''Unlimited''. Wander around helping people and making friends. GoodFeelsGood indeed.
* ThatOneLevel: Constellation 8-5 in ''Super Scribblenauts''. It gets worse when you see that it's an ADVANCED level, meaning it's one of the levels you have to complete three times in a row using different words each time to get an achievement. The premise of the level is that you have to get the key to the gate behind Maxwell's starting position to free the princess. The key is on the other end of a hallway filled with boxes stacked on top of each other, chandeliers, and a sleeping dragon in the middle. Touching any object will almost certainly knock it down and wake up the dragon, and of course touching the dragon will have the same result. You also can't spawn anything to kill the dragon, as the dragon will wake up anyways. The only solution is to spawn wings or a similar object and carefully fly all the way to the key, then all the way back to the gate, which goes against the game's usual tendency to encourage the player to be creative.

* ViewerGenderConfusion: Samurai, Ninja and Clown are FEMALE. [[spoiler: The reason we know this is because they turn into Goddesses when fed Ambrosia.]] Anon wlll also eat Ambrosia, but will not change into anything, and will just stay Anon.

%%* HolyShitQuotient: [[http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=16184727&postcount=217 Post 217]] demonstrates this.

* MoodWhiplash: ''Scribblenauts Unlimited'' carries a wonderful, children's book message of using your powers for good. It's rather jarring if you spent the game finding interesting ways to kill people, or even if you completed the puzzles in... unorthodox manners.

* CriticalResearchFailure: The ''Unlimited'' challenge "The Butterfly Effect" has you getting rid of a butterfly so as to prevent chaos in the future. Anyone remotely familiar with the original ''Literature/ASoundOfThunder'' would know that killing the butterfly is exactly what you ''don't'' want to do.
** Also in ''Unlimited'', [[TheGrimReaper Death]] is joined by [[HorsemenOfTheApocalypse Pestilence, War, and Famine]]. They even have their own mission. Problem is, Pestilence and War got their colors switched…

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[https://youtu.be/fA2SYd6_kNA Big Tiny 1]]. It starts out sounding like an ordinary, upbeat EarWorm...that is, until you hit the 1:42 mark, where it becomes more dramatic.

%%* EarWorm:
%%** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_H9cGdKT_Q Get The Bee! Get the Bee!]]"
%%** ''Unlimited'' has "Edwin's Farm" -- doesn't help that it plays every time Maxwell returns to Lily with more starites -- and the sound that plays after getting a starite.

* GoodBadBugs: One report mentions a case with an elephant and a rocket launcher. The elephant grabbed the launcher with its trunk and started firing away. [[ThrowItIn They didn't fix it]]. WebOriginal/{{Boatmurdered}} much?

** Post 217 (a message board post in which one gamer enthusiastically described killing zombies with a dinosaur. Acknowledged by the sequel: Typing POST TWO SEVENTEEN summons a painting of Maxell riding a dinosaur.

** Post 217 (a message board post in which one gamer enthusiastically described killing zombies with a dinosaur.

* EvenBetterSequel: ''Super Scribblenauts'' by far.
** ''Scribblenauts Unlimited'' seems to be getting even more praise, initially at least.

** Some objects don't do things or interact the way you would expect.

** The adjectives in ''Super Scribblenauts'' are very powerful.
*** You can stop those bomb-spawning pipes by just putting an IMMOBILE INVINCIBLE BAR right beneath it. Heck, INVINCIBLE is a GameBreaker in itself.
*** The BOMB DISPOSAL EXPERT will now just disappear the bombs instead of blowing them up like in ''Scribblenauts'' 1. Make him TINY INVINCIBLE FLYING DIVING and you can clear away any minefield easily.
** If you make a BLOB, it can only be killed by fire, immune to anything else (besides OHKO destroy-everything items). It managed to kill GOD, DRAGON, HYDRA, and DEATH three times apiece, and fight Maxwell to a standstill. On the sandbox screen.

* ViewerGenderConfusion: Samurai, Ninja, and Clown are FEMALE. [[spoiler: The reason we know this is because they turn into Goddesses when fed Ambrosia.]] Anon wlll also eat Ambrosia, but will not change into anything, and will just stay Anon.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: [[https://youtu.be/fA2SYd6_kNA Big Tiny 1]]. It starts out sounding like an ordinary, upbeat EarWorm...that is, until you hit the 1:42 mark, where it becomes more dramatic.

* GameBreakingBug: In ''Unmasked'', pre-New 52 Captain Marvel has a hidden Kryptonian adjective. If you create an item that removes said adjective and use it on Captain Marvel, he appropriately loses it... except he loses it ''permanently'' - restarting the game will not reapply the hidden adjective. It can only be fixed by uninstalling and reinstalling the game, a solution that can't be applied to the Steam version given the way it stores save game data.

* SweetDreamsFuel: ''Unlimited''. Wander around helping people and making friends. GoodFeelsGood indeed.

** The first game's controls. To make Maxwell move, you need to tap a point and he will move there. This is the ''only'' way to move, which doesn't work well. ''Super Scribblenauts'' added the option to move using the D-Pad or face buttons, which was ''very'' well received.

* ScrappyMechanic: ''Unmasked'' saddles you with a 50% penalty if you summon the same item or adjective more than once in one level. This can get annoying when you have to cycle through several different forms of flight mechanics, ropes and such to drag things, and so forth.

* ThatOneLevel: Constellation 8-5 in ''Super Scribblenauts''. It gets worse when you see that it's an ADVANCED level, meaning it's one of the levels you have to complete three times in a row using different words each time to get an achievement.
** To elaborate, the premise of the level is that you have to get the key to the gate behind Maxwell's starting position to free the princess. The key is on the other end of a hallway filled with boxes stacked on top of each other, chandeliers, and a sleeping dragon in the middle. Touching any object will almost certainly knock it down and wake up the dragon, and of course touching the dragon will have the same result. You also can't spawn anything to kill the dragon, as the dragon will wake up anyways. The only solution is to spawn wings or a similar object and carefully fly all the way to the key, then all the way back to the gate, which goes against the game's usual tendency to encourage the player to be creative.
*** IMMOBILE POTION

* LoveItOrHateIt: Scribblenauts Unmasked. You either like it for enabling you to interact and play with nearly every DC Comics character, or you loathe it because of its stunting of creativity and lack of sensible logic when it comes to the puzzles.

** Don't want to deal with combat? Become Invincible

* ArchiveBinge: You thought ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' was bad? Try archive binging ''the entire dictionary.'' [[http://www.videogamesblogger.com/2009/09/12/scribblenauts-dictionary-list-of-all-22802-words.htm Here's a 22,803-entry strong list of 'em...]] ''and it's not even a complete list!'' ('''MASSIVE SPOILERS,''' just in case it wasn't obvious.)
** The [[Creator/DCComics DC Comics]] crossover can and will introduce even the most hardcore ComicBook fan to at least fifteen characters that are completely new to him/her.