Line #26 KangarooCourt/VideoGames


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6	{{Kangaroo Court}}s held in various VideoGames.
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8	* The Sheriff of Nottingham takes a "hang 'em all" attitude towards trials in ''VideoGame/TheAdventuresOfRobinHood''.
9	* The trial of [[spoiler:the Auditore family]] at the beginning of ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreed2'' is rather obviously one. The fact that the trial is held on the gallows with the accused already having nooses tied around their necks is the first clue to this.
10	* In ''VideoGame/AviaryAttorney'', which is essentially ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' set in France in 1848 (with [[CivilizedAnimal anthropomorphic animals]]), features several flavours of those, including one held by [[spoiler:a corrupt judge with an agenda, a mob of republican revolutionaries, and one set up to convict none other than the ''King of France'' of various crimes against the people before the aforementioned mob can get their paws on him]] - the last one of which the [[spoiler:defence attorney protagonist helps organise himself]].
11	* ''VideoGame/BaldursGate''
12	** In the original game, [[BigBad Sarevok]] tries to manipulate you to kill [[BigBadWannabe Rieltar]] and the leaders of the Iron Throne to get them out of the way his own plans. What you do at this point doesn't matter because he'll have you framed for it anyway. When you face trial for this later in Baldur's Gate, it basically just consists of his crony Angelo pronouncing you guilty of this crime and a bunch of entirely made-up ones and sentencing you to death. The only way you can affect the proceedings is to anger him enough to make him kill one of your companions right away.
13	** In ''BG 2: Shadows of Amn'', your character is subjected to one of these by an ambitious Harper. You're not actually being legally accused, but he's holding a hearing to determine whether you are a danger and must be regarded as a monster and [[SealedEvilInACan magically imprisoned]] -- and he's only out to get the prestige for doing it, no matter what you say. Granted, he may be right about you if you are playing an evil character, but that would be entirely coincidental. No matter how you answer his questions, he will find a way to twist them against you. This literally includes asking for your favourite colour and interpreting any possible answer negatively. (Green, is it? [[GreenAndMean INTERESTING]]. You can imagine what he makes of red or black.) Jaheira calls him out on this arbitrariness and hypocrisy repeatedly. At least you have the option of being a DeadpanSnarker throughout the whole interrogation.
14	* Subverted for laughs in a cutscene in ''VideoGame/BeneathASteelSky''. Howard Hobbins, the maintenance man you met at the beginning of the game is put on trial as a consequence of some of the puzzles you solved while in the city, which caused some damage in the process, and he has you defend him. The presiding judge Chutney is eager to pass his sentence, and talks as if the whole scenario is a game show to him rather than a trial. No matter what sort of statements you make, including calling your ally Mrs. Piermont as a witness, though, Chutney will always say this line.
15	--> '''Judge Chutney''': "Howard Hobbins, you have won tonight's star prize," Security logo flashes colors with game show music "LIFE IMPRISONMENT!" beat "However, in view of your service to the city, I'm going to reduce your sentence. Two hours community service."
16	* Crono gets hit one of these very early on in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', accused of kidnapping Princess Nadia/Marle, despite the fact that she hung out with Crono willingly during the Millennial Fair, her disappearance was a complete accident, and Crono was the one who rescued her. On top of all that, Marle isn't allowed to even be present at the trial to speak in Crono's defense. Even if Crono is found "not guilty," the judge will still condemn him to three days in jail (before the EvilChancellor orders Crono's execution anyway). You get a few Ethers if you get him found innocent, however. One of the sidequests has another one; this time, the present King Guardia is being framed for selling the Rainbow Shell. [[spoiler:It's later revealed the court itself is legit and the person behind it is the EvilChancellor, actually the descendant of Yakra who was killed by Chrono and company in 600 AD, who wants vengeance against Chrono and later the kingdom that defeated his master Magus]].
17	* The second half of VideoGame/CookieRun Ovenbreak 's "Face The Trial" story has the courtroom become this as Bear Jelly Judge continuously overrules every statement Langue de Chat Cookie attempts to make in Roguefort Cookie's defense (even attempting to charge Langue de Chat with contempt of court just for suggesting that he's giving an unjust verdict because of his [[DisproportionateRetribution tone and expression.]]). Thankfully Langue de Chat was able to make a break in the case thanks to Walnut Cookie and Almond Cookie presenting photo evidence of Bear Jelly Judge [[FoodAsBribe accepting golden jellies from Sculpture Owner Bear]], who did so in order to increase the value of the statue involved in the crime.
18	* ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'' is an interesting example. While all the class trials are effectively unsanctioned, they generally do follow the rules of the DeadlyGame the participants have been forced into (if not rules of real court), and while Monokuma is quite the HangingJudge, he won't execute someone he knows didn't kill anyone (unless the class votes to convict an innocent, in which case the rules state that everyone but the killer dies). There are a couple of exceptions however.
19	** ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'' has [[spoiler:the fifth chapter, where the trial is rigged as the entire murder was fake, set up by the mastermind using the body of a student that had already died (and was in fact killed by the mastermind) in an attempt to frame Kyoko and get rid of her. Eventually, Makoto is able to clear suspicion on Kyoko, but ends up making himself look like the guilty party. While the rules say the correct culprit must be identified, the mastermind accepts Makoto as a valid answer. Thankfully, the NotQuiteDead Alter Ego is able to interfere when Makoto is sent to execution, giving him a chance to expose the foul play and get a retrial to face off with the mastermind and end the killing game]].
20	** ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' has [[spoiler:the very first trial be this. In said first trial, DecoyProtagonist Kaede is fingered as Rantaro's killer, and Monokuma accepts it as the correct answer. in the final chapter, [[AcquittedTooLate new information is found]] which reveals that Kaede's death trap ''missed'', and Tsumugi took advantage of the trap (and an unknown secret passage) to successfully frame Kaede, making ''her'' the Blackened- but instead of everyone else being executed while Tsumugi escaped, the game went on, solely because [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem Tsumugi was actually]] TheMole and was specifically trying to force the death game to happen, because Monokuma's threats weren't doing anything and [[TrumanShowPlot ending the show on the first episode would be a real anticlimax]].]]
21	* ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 2\|CursedMemories}}'' has the Dark Court, which issues summons for arbitrary felonies (for example, one character actually gets charged with a felony for ''his existence'', and logging 100 hours on your save file gets a felony for "[[NoFourthWall playing too much]]") and immediately convict whichever character(s) show up even if none of them are the one to whom the summons was originally issued. But this being the Disgaea universe, the trope is actually inverted since [[BadIsGoodAndGoodIsBad "good" is evil and "evil" is good]], so summons are actually ''awards'' for achievements and you get ''rewards'' for being convicted of a felony.
22	* ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'': Dwarven Justice is... weird, partially as a result of ArtificialStupidity and GoodBadBugs.
23	** There are three punishments implemented: beatings, prison time, and hammering. Beatings are considered the least severe, and victims will be annoyed if a criminal's sentence is "downgraded" to a beating, but beatings are ''also'' incredibly dangerous, and likely to kill the victim, while prison time just takes the dwarf out of commission for a while. And though hammering is meant to be a Dwarven death penalty, if the victim survives for whatever reason (like being a vampire or the player giving the hammerer an [[JokeItem adamantine hammer]]), they are simply let free. In the case of vampires, this usually means the player has to [[DeathTrap take care of things themselves]] before the vampire drains some important dwarf.
24	** The most common crimes you'll see is violating a [[UpperClassTwit noble]]'s mandate/export ban, killing/harming other dwarves, and destruction of property. The latter will only happen when dwarves are tossing hissy fits (i.e. your fort's doomed anyway) or if you've got a vampire (who are likely to survive all punishments). In the case of mandates, a dwarf will be punished mostly at random (usually they'll have skills related to the mandate, but not always), and in the case of export bans, the dwarves at fault are the haulers who brought the item to the depot, ''not'' the broker who actually exported the item. Because of this, it's recommended you make your jails [[LuxuryPrisonSuite nice]] to reduce stress on probably-innocent dwarves.
25	** For some crimes, the player must convict the culprit, and you can point fingers at literally ''anyone'' and [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential have them punished]], though your dwarves [[DevelopersForesight will get pissed]] if you make a particularly stupid conviction, like a baby or an animal, or even convicting a victim of the crime ''against themselves''.
26	* The trial that Ellen is subject to in Hell Realm in ''VideoGame/{{Folklore}}'' is full of preconceived conclusions, as it's meant to be a symbolic representation of her own guilt. [[spoiler:She isn't even guilty in the first place.]]
27	* ''VideoGame/EscapeVelocity: Nova'' - Judges presiding over major [[TheFederation Federation]] trials are typically Vell-Os, a race of evolved humans endowed with {{Telepathy}}. Defendants do not mount a defense or get to testify, do not get a defense attorney, and do not stand before a jury; rather, a list of charges against them is read and they enter their plea. The Vell-Os judge then reads their mind and history, and is able to determine the truth and issue a ruling in seconds. This would in itself be questionable enough, but it doesn't stop there! Unbeknownst to the general civilian population, as well as most prominent political and military leaders, the Vell-Os are enslaved via mind control chip implants by the Federation, which are in turn puppets of the [[SecretPolice Bureau of Internal Investigation]], a shady organization that officially serves as military intelligence but in fact controls the Federation entirely. Enemies of the state, particularly those who speak out against or get in the way of the Bureau, tend to end up in court with extensive lists of unlikely charges leveled against them and are invariably found guilty.
28	** Leads to a bit of LaserGuidedKarma[=/=]PayEvilUntoEvil in [[spoiler:the Rebellion storyline. The end goal of the Rebellion, which they accomplish with the player's help, is to covertly free the Vell-Os slaves and then put the head of the Bureau on trial in front of the judge, with the kangaroo court now rigged in their favor. The head of the Bureau smugly declares herself "not guilty" of the (completely honest) charges against her, only to suffer shock as the judge very animatedly stands up, loudly calling her a liar, declaring her guilty of every charge, and holding out his removed enslavement device for her to see as he delivers a quick TheReasonYouSuckSpeech. The narrative text describes her expression as someone who has just been smartly slapped in the face.]]
29	* Central in ''VideoGame/ExitPath'' has an automated jury that, when you're caught, immediately finds you guilty with no differing opinions, and they leave you to be shoved into a series of saw blades [[spoiler:(but that's never stopped you, even without flow)]]. The surprise is lost a little if you managed to glance at a sign further back that says "All citizens are guilty unless proven innocent!"
30	* Zinn's trial in ''VideoGame/GuildWars''. The prosecution calls ''themselves'' the "persecution" and doesn't call any of the 32 witnesses they've gathered ("No need. Everyone knows [he's] guilty."). Talking to the various participants reveals that Oola's bribed members of the Council and witnesses for their help in exiling Zinn. Based on various comments by the present Asura, this is completely typical of Asuran justice. Zinn simply failed to realize the trial was about politics and bribes rather than fact.
31	* The Excommunication scheme in ''VideoGame/KingOfTheCastle'' involves the Grandees of the South gathering "evidence" that the King is a heretic (whether because they are a power-hungry tyrant or a greedy money-hoarder), and if the scheme succeeds, they hold a show trial in which the King's conviction is guaranteed, resulting in their immediate dismissal from the throne (since the law requires that the King be a member of the Church).
32	* ''Franchise/MassEffect'':
33	** ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'': Saren's hearing near the beginning of the game seems to be entirely pointless as the Council has more or less decided that he is innocent of the attack on Eden Prime. This is especially egregious when they brush off direct eyewitness testimony of Saren murdering a fellow Spectre agent. It takes Shepard and company finding an audio file of Saren bragging about the attack for them to actually do anything as it's evidence they simply cannot ignore.
34	** ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'': Tali's trial in her LoyaltyMission is only a pretense for the Quarian Admirals to pursue their various political agendas on how to deal with the Geth. None of them really care what happens to Tali with the exception of Shala'Raan. (Who is forced to recuse herself from voting due to her close ties with Tali and her family) They're so transparent about it that you can have Tali exonerated ''without evidence'' just by pointing this out [[note]]you do have evidence, but Tali begs you not to reveal it since it would ruin her father's reputation[[/note]], although you need a lot of Paragon/Renegade points or two important character witnesses.
35	* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'', Dead Cell's commander, Jackson, was arrested and found guilty for misappropriating funds and corruption. Ocelot later reveals that the trial was actually a sham, in an attempt to get Dead Cell renegade, or at least angry enough to attempt to attack the Patriots (since they apparently framed Dead Cell for terrorist attacks later on) so they could further use them for their S3 Plan.
36	* Late in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'': [[spoiler:Dr. Huey Emmerich is subjected to a drumhead trial at Mother Base after it was discovered he helped to facilitate a vocal chord parasite outbreak that killed several members of the Diamond Dogs. He's also accused of helping Skull Face destroy the previous incarnation of Diamond Dogs, helping Liquid Snake steal the Sahalanthropus, tried to use his son Hal as test-pilot a new Metal Gear, and murdered his wife Dr. Strangelove when she protested[[note]]the evidence of the murder being her recorded cries from the AI core her corpse was found in[[/note]], Kaz hands down a summary verdict of "guilty, all counts". Big Boss rejects the cries for the death penalty, claiming that a mercenary company doesn't have the right to execute prisoners, but gives Huey a cruel and unusual punishment because he's obviously guilty, especially of the last charge; Huey is exiled from Mother Base on an unstable raft, forcing Huey to amputate his cybernetic limbs to survive, and then the R&D team reverse-engineers Huey's blueprints, presumably posting all counts of Huey's plagiarism to the public.]]
37	* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'':
38	** You almost get extradited to Luskan for a [[WronglyAccused crime you didn't commit]], only saved by the timely intervention of your allies in Neverwinter. And Luskan justice is described as such:
39	--->'''Sand:''' Well, at best, they will put you on trial - or what seems to be one, then execute you. At worst, they will dispense with the courtroom mockery and execute you as soon as you step within the gate. And when I say "execute," do not think it will be one clean chop of a headman's axe... Luskans have all sorts of inventive ways for executing prisoners that is not best to describe on a full stomach.
40	** Their so-called "Prisoner's Carnival" really is that bad, too. They just bring out whoever is in the cells, shout at them and find some horribly twisted (and highly creative) way of executing them. This is the main entertainment in the city, thus the "Carnival" part. As an example, once they tied a prisoner down on a table, with a bottomless wooden cage on his stomach. They then put a large rat in the cage and set the cage on fire. The rat only has one way to avoid the flames, ''dig its way out''.
41	* In the finale of ''VideoGame/ConquestsOfTheLongbow'', the Sheriff captures Robin Hood and immediately orders him hung. Fortunately, King Richard shows up, stops the execution, and arranges for a fair trial (though depending on how Robin conducted himself during the game, he could very well order Robin sent back to the gallows).
42	* The [[MightMakesRight Mantra Army]] Court in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne''. You can get thrown in here for annoying someone. It's trial by combat against Thor.
43	* In side material to ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'', Sela, the deposed empress of the Romulan Star Empire, complained to her Romulan Republic jailers that she thinks a kangaroo court is beneath the Romulan Republic, which claims to have abandoned the old ways. Actually, she's guilty as sin, she's just trying to curry favor.
44	* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'', Mario stands trial for vandalism in one of the worst trials in video game history. The prosecutor states the sun has stopped shining due to the graffiti and Mario ''looks like the criminal''. Peach and Toadsworth try to object, but the judge ''overrules it without even hearing her out.'' With Peach being royal and all, this is a fail. And when you saw the tape on the plane about Isle Delfino, you could see the ''real'' person doing it. Even more facepalm-warranting, Shadow Mario/Bowser Jr. is blue, transparent, and has a magic paintbrush. The real Mario is opaque, wears red clothes with blue overalls, and ''just got off a plane after the crime spree had already started.'' He's also wearing a robotic fire extinguisher.
45	* An unusual heroic example in ''VideoGame/{{Runescape}}'': Players who used bots would be put on trial at Botany Bay, where the Botfinder General wouldn’t even let them have a defense before letting the public vote on how to destroy them. Of course, since this was a case of NoFairCheating, you weren’t supposed to sympathize with the bot users.
46	* Guybrush is tried by one in chapter four of ''VideoGame/TalesOfMonkeyIsland''. The judge tried to sentence him to death by keelhauling ''before any charges were brought up!'' However, the judge (and every other pirate present) is sick with the Pox of [=LeChuck=], causing them to have violent outbursts. The only ones who are "clean" are Guybrush (who was sick in the previous episode, but it now cured); Stan (who isn't a pirate and is, thus, immune), whose new job is Guybrush's prosecutor; and one of the plaintiffs (no explanation for his immunity is given, though it's implied he might not be a real pirate).
47	* The Lawbot legal system in ''VideoGame/ToontownOnline'' is pretty much this whenever a Toon is the defendant. The trial itself involves the Chief Justice [[spoiler:filling the jury with Cogs directly, and Cogs throwing "Evidence" onto a set of scales]] to make the "outcome" favorable to them. The very aim of the [[CourtroomEpisode Chief Justice battle]] is to avert this Trope--other than defeating hordes of released Cogs, the Toons have to [[spoiler:shoot Toon [=NPCs=] into the jury stand so that at least 8 of the 12 members of the jury are Toons, and fill ''their'' side of the scale with enough "Evidence" scrolls]], so as to ''force'' the Chief Justice to rule the trial in the defendant Toon's favor.
48	* Tunon's Court in ''VideoGame/{{Tyranny}}'', especially when [[spoiler:the Fatebinder themself]] is sent to it. [[spoiler:Subverted: Tunon is so [[PrinciplesZealot sincerely]] dedicated to Law that the Fatebinder can be found innocent with LoopholeAbuse, "in defiance of all reason and expectation", even if ''actually guilty of the "[[DefectorFromDecadence treason]]" for which they stand accused''.]]
49	* ''VideoGame/UltimaVIIPartII: The Serpent Isle'' has two of them, one in Fawn where you have the opportunity to turn the tables on your accusers, another in Moonshade where you don't. The charges are inciting rebellion (Toasting the leader of a nation the locals don't like), and entering the bedchamber of the [=MageLord's=] mistress (At her invitation), respectively.
50	* ''VideoGame/Wizard101'' takes it both figuratively and [[{{Pun}} literally]] at the same time in the boss fight against Judge Veg, an [[FunnyAnimal actual kangaroo]] who tries to sentence the player for [[ItMakesSenseInContext associating with candy makers]]. There's no jury or presented evidence, he just attacks you and tries to call it justice.

Context KangarooCourt / VideoGames