Cinematech was a clip show that launched with the G4 network in 2002. At first, it was a straightforward affair of showing then-recent Video Games, but eventually branched off into themed shows (Survival Horror games during Halloween week, for example).
In 2005, Cinematech was spun off into Cinematech: Nocturnal Emissions for G4's late-night block of programming, with more sexually suggestive, violent, and Japanese content than its sister series.
Cinematech provides examples of the following tropes:
- Americans Hate Soccer: A literal, In-Universe example in an episode featuring a soccer game on the PlayStation Portable. The segment featuring the game had very jokey, Monty Python-esque music and ended with a graphic of a white picket fence with "Paint (Drying)" on it.
- Bloodier and Gorier: Nocturnal Emissions
- Darker and Edgier: Certain episodes of Cinematech itself that featured such controversial games as Manhunt, Phantasmagoria, and Grand Theft Auto. Nocturnal Emissions took this even farther with even more obscure and potentially disturbing games.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The names of several of the episodes.
- Hotter and Sexier: Nocturnal Emissions.
- Montage: The most general way to show a game on the series. Other times, they would do a montage for a specific genre.
- Oh, and X Dies: On a 2005 episode where they crossed over with Gamespot, Jeff Gerstmann ended a summary of Final Fantasy VII with this trope:Jeff: And oh yeah,
Aeris dies. - Pop-Up Trivia: Used in a few episodes of Cinematech.
- Refuge in Audacity : Nocturnal Emissions
- Sound-Effect Bleep: Used in an episode featuring scenes from Saints Row.
- Vomit Indiscretion Montage: Nocturnal Emissions did one with games like Conker's Bad Fur Day, Breakdown, Metal Slug, and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.
