Line #9 Main/FakeTrap


1	Spikes, lava, trapdoors, you name it, they are all traps and they are only designed with one thing in mind; [[EverythingTryingToKillYou to kill you]]. However, what if these traps actually did nothing? You heard us right. A trap that is completely '''FAKE!''' A Fake Trap is a hazard that appears dangerous, but is actually harmless. Sometimes you cannot tell the difference until you take the plunge or have an item/ability that shows the trap is a fake. Other times, the fake may stand out, such as spikes looking very worn down. It can be considered FakeDifficulty if the player is required to plow through fake traps in between real ones in order to progress, which is the basis of TrialAndErrorGameplay.
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3	See also LeapOfFaith and GuideDangIt. Contrast with KaizoTrap. The inverse is a ChestMonster, where something is made to look like a reward, (such as a treasure chest) but is in reality another enemy.
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5	Because of the nature of this trope, expect minor gameplay-related spoilers.
6	----
7	!!Examples:
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9	[[foldercontrol]]
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11	[[folder:Action-Adventure]]
12	* The first area of ''VideoGame/LaMulana'' has a "spike pit" full of objects that look identical to real spikes but are actually part of the background and have no effect on Lemeza whatsoever. Jumping into this not-pit unlocks the Shuriken sub-weapon.
13	* The first ''VideoGame/{{Metroid\|1}}'' game has many pools of acid and lava that greatly harm Samus, but some are actually fake, thus you fall through. Naturally, you have to make that blind LeapOfFaith and hope that killer pool is a fake in order to proceed. (Hint: don't try this in a room that scrolls horizontally.) ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' has fewer traps and the fake ones are spikes that are not animated compared to real spikes. The X-Ray Scope also points this out.
14	* ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersiaTheSandsOfTime'' features [[TemporaryPlatform unstable-looking platforms]] that begin trembling the moment the Prince steps on them, and which fall into the abyss the moment he steps off. The trick is that they won't fall ''until'' the Prince steps off them; they exist to make the player feel he's just barely cheated death without actually making the game any more difficult. Crazy.
15	[[/folder]]
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17	[[folder:Adventure Game]]
18	* The frightening things that threaten you in ''VideoGame/Shivers1995'' include pits of bubbling tar, skeletons that fall on you, a hallway with foot-long spikes covering the walls, an electric chair, a guillotine, and a shadow of something just outside your vision. But none of these can hurt you; only the Ixupi can do that.
19	[[/folder]]
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21	[[folder:Platformer]]
22	* In ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot2CortexStrikesBack'', you normally want to keep a wide berth of green Nitro crates, as even grazing one will cause it to explode. However, halfway through level 20 ("Bee-having") is a pile of steel crates and Nitro crates arranged like a small staircase. These Nitro crates do not explode, and in fact climbing to the top step will warp you to a secret area with the Purple Gem, a necessary collectible to reach HundredPercentCompletion. The giveaway to this fake trap is that these particular Nitro crates do not wobble and bounce like all the others, implying that their contents are inert.
23	* In ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot3Warped'', the secret level Eggipus Rex is opened by running into a specific pterodactyl on Dino Might's [[BrutalBonusLevel Yellow Gem route]]. There are no hints whatsoever that you can or should do this, and the secret level's ''existence'' isn't even hinted at in the game save for a [[LastLousyPoint vague lack of percent]] if you've gotten everything else. [[GuideDangIt Yep.]]
24	* ''Everything'' that should logically kill you in ''VideoGame/DefaultDan'' is actually this: spikes bounce you up and BottomlessPits [[WrapAround drop you from the top of the screen unharmed]], while everything that should logically be helpful like coins and platforms make you [[YourHeadAsplode abruptly explode]].
25	* The voice that guides you in ''VideoGame/{{Depict1}}'' warns you that spikes will kill you instantly. Given that [[MissionControlIsOffItsMeds the voice almost always lies]]... [[spoiler:You can pick the spikes up and throw them.]]
26	* ''VideoGame/IWannaBeTheGuy'' has a spike that doesn't kill you if you shoot it down and land on the back of it, while every other spike [[EverythingTryingToKillYou kills you instantly]] if you [[OneHitPointWonder so much as brush against it]].
27	* Getting one gem in ''VideoGame/{{Jumper}} Two'' requires passing through a fake fireball. ''Jumper Two [[LevelEditor Editor]]'' enables this with a "fake modifier", which can be put on top of any object to make it fake.
28	* You'll meet ''tons'' of these in ''VideoGame/{{Karoshi}}''. The universe just wants to keep you alive that badly.
29	* ''VideoGame/MegaMan4'' had the Wire Upgrade in Dive Man's stage, that was hidden at the bottom of a [[BottomlessPits Not-So-Bottomless Pit]]. The giveaway is that it's the only such pit in the stage, and the simple logic that ''it would be rather impossible to fall to your death underwater given how slowly Mega Man sinks''.
30	* Marble Garden Zone in ''[[VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles Sonic the Hedgehog 3]]'' has enemies that disguise themselves as spikes. The spikes are made of rubber, so they function like springs. The enemies aren't completely harmless, as they shoot at you, and touching them from the side without rolling into them will hurt you just like with most other enemies, but you have to wonder why Dr. Robotnik decided on rubber spikes during the design phase. Performing a rolling attack from the side will safely reveal if they are real spikes or not; real spikes will just cause you to stop unharmed, while the fake-spike enemies will be destroyed easily.
31	* ''VideoGame/Stinkoman20X6'':
32	** Part of the glitchiness of level 8 is that some of the obstacles (like the lava falls) are totally harmless.
33	** Interestingly, the lava falls are completely harmless to Stinkoman ''normally''. They can hurt 1-Up in the EscortMission level, but that's it. People have discovered, through game hacks, that this is just how the lava falls are. There's no way for a normal player to know that, though.
34	* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
35	** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'': The quicksand that is located beneath the left wall at the start of World 6-3 looks like it's just there as an easy-to-avoid trap. However, if you carefully move across it after letting your character sink, you'll discover a well-hidden room at the left with a door. Entering it will take you to the last part of the level (and the world).
36	** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'':
37	*** A fake trap lies on the "lavaship" level in World 8. The "lava" is actually water and Mario can swim underneath the ships.
38	*** In World 8-2, there is a sand trap that looks like ''almost'' every other one in the game. However, if you're patient and let it take Mario (or Luigi) down, it leads to two alternate pathways with extra lives or power-ups, either of which (clearly) beats the overworld you would traverse instead. There are a few other sand traps like this throughout the game, most of them in World 2.
39	* Parodied in the fan-game ''VideoGame/ASuperMarioThing'', in a mid-game level titled "the hardest lvl"[sic]. The level looks somewhat challenging at first, but it's almost impossible to die in it because just about every hazard is fake.
40	* ''[[VideoGame/YouHaveToWinTheGame Super Win the Game]]'' marks the fake trap with a sign and an arrow in the background, showing where it's safe to cross. [[spoiler: There's also a fragmented arrow pointing to another safe spot.]]
41	[[/folder]]
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43	[[folder:Puzzle Game]]
44	* In many versions of ''VideoGame/{{Lemmings}}'', objects with an index number above 15 are inert, so on the really large levels like Fun 8, if you take the time to build to the far end of the decorative terrain, you can watch the lemmmings go through water without drowning (and then die anyway from falling offscreen). Averted in the PC version, which removed the water from all large levels specifically to prevent this.
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47	[[folder:Role-Playing Game]]
48	* A number of the traps in ''VideoGame/ChocobosDungeon'' will heal or buff Chocobo. Some of them can be picked out beforehand, while others are indistinguishable from real traps or invisible.
49	* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' has tons of traps all over the game that cause various effects when stepped on. However, sometimes, the same looking traps act as a healer that restores the party's HP.
50	[[/folder]]
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52	[[folder:Survival Horror]]
53	* ''VideoGame/SongOfHorror'': Between the myriads of very much real insta-kill traps, Episode 3 has one of these, and even the respective Husher's haiku is ambiguous at best. [[spoiler:It's an ajar door that hides a set of boltcutters behind it, and if you don't get it, your character cannot break a chain to escape an insta-kill event later in the episode. Unless you're playing as René, who has his handgun and can ShootOutTheLock.]]
54	[[/folder]]
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56	[[folder:Non-Video Game Examples]]
57	* Weaponized in ''Literature/TheBartimaeusTrilogy'' - there's a spell that creates a perfect hologram of the target ''on the opposite side of the victim from the actual target''. Works very well on fleeing suspects.
58	* ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlueTheRecollection'': Agent Washington assumes that [[spoiler:Epsilon-Church being left in the middle of a canyon]] is a classic [[SuperSoldier Freelancer]] trap set by [[spoiler:Epsilon-Tex]], and refuses to fall for it. [[TheMedic Doc]] states that [[KansasCityShuffle it's possible that the trap is really not one, and that the real trap is where they are]]. Washington [[YouWereTryingTooHard says Doc is overthinking it]]. [[TheCuckoolanderWasRight He isn't.]]
59	* The ''Leomund's Trap'' spell in some editions of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' serves to create exactly this -- merely a harmless specialized ''illusion'' of a trap intended to scare people off or at least make them waste time and effort trying to disarm or bypass it.
60	* ''Franchise/YuGiOh'':
61	** The card actually named "Fake Trap" is a subversion since it is actually a decoy that protects the player's real spell and trap cards. If the opponent tries to destroy a spell or trap card belonging to the player, the player can sacrifice this card in its stead.
62	** Played straight in some of the early video games like ''Videogame/YuGiOhReshefOfDestruction'', where Fake Trap is just [[http://i.imgur.com/hYjmT4z.png a trap card that does nothing.]]
63	* In the ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' episode "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS1E38TheTest The Test]]", the Gems build an obstacle course for Steven filled to the brim with illusions of pitfalls, a musical puzzle that is impossible to get wrong, and traps rigged to always stop short of hitting Steven. Steven is unamused when he realizes how fake the whole thing is, but upon overhearing the insecurities of the Gems, he decides to play along.
64	[[/folder]]

Context Main / FakeTrap