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Individual examples:

  • The Ace Attorney series has several:
    • A minor example in the second case, which serves as the first indication we get that Phoenix and Edgeworth knew each other before that trial.
      Phoenix: Edgeworth... you've changed.
    • From the first game, in the middle of a funny conversation between Maya and a parrot, owned by a crazy old man, we get this bombshell:
      Maya: Polly! Polly! Have we forgotten something?
      Polly: *Squawk* "Don't forget DL-6!" *squawk* Explanation 
    • From the fifth case, "Rise from the Ashes". This one doubles as an in-universe example, as it caused such an uproar that the trial had to be suspended for a day.
      Lana: Drastic crimes require drastic measures...That's just the way it is. We did what we had to...in order for him to get the verdict he deserved. Even if it involved "forging" evidence.
    • From Justice for All, the final quote of case 3 is whammy because Edgeworth was supposed to be dead:
      Gumshoe: (On the phone) I'll be waiting for you! Goodbye, Mr. Edgeworth.
    • Then there's Case 4, with Edgeworth's return to the story.
      ???: "I would've won." Is that what you want to say?
      Von Karma: ...! Wh-Who!?
      Phoenix: That voice... E-Edgeworth!!
      Edgeworth: It's been a long time...Wright.
    • Also from Justice for All: "...how do you do, Mister Lawyer? I'm Matt Engarde." Explanation 
    • From Trials & Tribulations:
      Sister Bikini: So I guess you already know that Iris is Morgan Fey's daughter.
      Phoenix: IRIS IS WHAT?!?!?! Explanation 
    • At the end of "Bridge to the Turnabout," Iris decides to confess everything to Phoenix, regarding herself and her twin sister Dahlia, whom Phoenix had dated until she was arrested for murder.
      Iris: You and my sister... you only met twice.note  [...] For those 6 months, the woman that you thought was Dahlia Hawthorne, wasn't actually my sister. I hope one day you can forgive me... Feenie.
    • Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney
      • The game manages to fit one into the first case, with the Judge's reaction to your previously unnamed client at the start of the trial:
        Judge: It's been a long time, Mr. Wright.
      • The first case seems to be going as first cases do, with the inept Prosecutor Payne and the unscrupulous witness who turns out to have a very dark secret. However, Phoenix is convinced that there was a fourth person involved in the crime. Then he throws the case very, very far off the rails.
        Phoenix: Kristoph Gavin. You were the fourth person that night.
      • In the third case of the above, at the end of the first trial day, Lamiroir, after hearing Detective Daryan Crescend's voice, claims that she recognizes his voice, and that he is the killer. Like with Lana's admission to forging evidence, this also results in the trial descending into chaos and being suspended, and she turns out to be absolutely right.
        Lamiroir: That voice I heard, talking to Mr. LeTouse... when I heard the gunshots fired. It was him! It was Mr. Daryan!
      • In the last case:
        Brushel: "Thalassa Has Another Child Besides Trucy", end quote.
    • Ace Attorney Investigations
      • Near the end of the fourth case of the first game, after the story returns to the present, Edgeworth tells Kay that the Phantom Thief known as the Yatagarasu was Calisto Yew, the woman who killed Kay Faraday's father, since he'd proved that by revealing her identity as the Yatagarasu. Kay then delivers a line that turns everything Edgeworth and the player know about the case on its head.
        Kay: The real Yatagarasu... was my father!
      • From the final case of the first game, we have a wham laugh, when Shih-na laughs in the exact same highly-distinctive manner as Calisto Yew, sparking instant recognition from Edgeworth, Franziska and Kay.
      • Shortly after the above reveal is a revelation that Byrne and Calisto were both the Yatagarasu, with Edgeworth deducing how the two of them worked together. Just when he's done listing off their special skills, this happens:
        Badd: And skill number three... The Yatagarasu doesn't leave a single shred of evidence behind... ever... ...It was only natural for the Yatagarasu to never leave evidence behind. Because the lead detective on the case... hid it all away...
      • From the second game, when Justine Courtney, previously antagonistic to Edgeworth, does a Heel–Face Turn and identifies the culprit of Case 4.
        Courtney: The defendant.... Blaise Debeste! I hereby indict you!
      • Case 5 has an even bigger one that identifies the Big Bad of the game.
        Ray: He's a member of the circus, Knightley's friend...and Dane Gustavia's son. Wh-Who'd have thunk it...?
        Edgeworth: An apprentice beast tamer? Heh...he's no amateur. For the beast he has tamed is none other than this entire case! Simon Keyes! He is the mastermind behind this entire incident!
    • Dual Destinies:
      • At the end of the first day of the trial in Turnabout Reclaimed, after Phoenix has successfully cleared Orla's name:
        Simon Blackquill: ....Hmph. Thank you for helping, Wright-dono. ...Fool Bright. Arrest this woman.note 
      • Case 4 ends with a major one, because a piece of evidence that proves your client is innocent incriminates someone else dear to you:
        Simon Blackquill: "Upon thorough analysis, the fingerprints were found to belong to Athena Cykes". So says the report.
      • An interesting example in Case 5. At the time this line is said in the previous chapter (which is closely tied to this one), the player is likely to think nothing of it. But when a flashback occurs later in the case, when the player has worked out that the ladder was used as an escape route by a double murderer and an international spy, it hits the player like a ton of bricks.
        Aura Blackquill: So I lowered my emergency ladder like the detective leading the evacuation told me to.
      • Related to the above, Edgeworth presents the evidence necessary to confirm Phoenix's theory about the phantom:
        Edgeworth: The man you see there before you... Bobby Fulbright... is already long dead.
    • In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice:
      • Revisualizations normally end with a big, dramatic line, but Case 3's is one of the few that completely turn everything you've assumed about the case on its head:
        Revisualization Conclusion: Tahrust's death was a suicide.
      • This line in Case 5 reveals the fate of a significant character.
        Ema: I have a photo of the body. A-And I positively identified it as... Dhurke Sahdmadhi.
      • At the very end of the game, Apollo must decide whether to return to the Wright Anything Agency with his colleagues, or stay in Khura'in to clean up the legal system. Thought "Like You Would Really Do It"? Think again.
      • In the DLC case, Sorin drops one in the second day of the trial. For context, Phoenix suspects that Sorin killed the victim, Dumas Gloomsbury, in revenge for causing a car accident that killed his sister, but Sorin says he didn't resent Gloomsbury.
        Sorin: That's because..... the one who caused the car accident... was me.
        Phoenix: WH-WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!
    • The Great Ace Attorney
      • At the start of Case 5 of the first game, Susato drops one when she refers to Sholmes's unpublished manuscript - the Hound of the Baskervilles - by its full name. Iris is rather shocked that Susato knows the name.
      • At the end of Case 5, the characters uncover the contents of a top-secret Morse code message, and find that a fragment of the message says "A... So...Gi..."- the name of Ryunosuke’s friend and fellow attorney.
      • At the end of the second day of investigation in Case 3 of the second game, Enoch Drebber tells the group they "only stopped THAT time bomb" [the one in Drebber's room]. Cut to the crime scene, where a bomb explodes, destroying the defendant's machine and possibly killing several police officers.
      • In Case 3 of the second game, Susato gives the first major hint at Kazuma's survival.
        Susato: Well, it turns out... that his body never arrived. It just... disappeared.
        Ryunosuke: What?! Kazuma's body... vanished?
      • In Case 3 of the second game, there's Susato's reaction to seeing Prosecutor Barok van Zieks' apprentice, a masked man who seems familiar to Ryunosuke.
        Susato: Kazuma-sama!
      • The response to the above line, "Kazu...ma?" reveals that Kazuma doesn't remember his true name.
      • At the end of the case, the iron mask of the wax replica of the notorious Serial Killer known as "The Professor," is unlocked, revealing the man's face. Kazuma immediately recognizes it.
        Kazuma: F...Father?
      • Early on in Case 4 of the second game, a rather upset Gina reveals the final case's victim- Tobias Gregson- and the final defendant- the main prosecutor for the duology, Barok van Zieks.
        Gina: It's...it's the boss...The boss is...He's...He's dead. (later in conversation) They got 'im already...It was the Reaper.
  • Doki Doki Literature Club! has a number of them, mostly related to the game's true nature:
    • Sayori opens her heart to the player late in Act 1:
      Sayori: You're wrong. Nothing happened to me, I've always been like this. You're just seeing it for the first time. ... The thing is...I've had really bad depression my whole life.
    • Sayori's final poem, right before the festival, and specifically its final lines:
      But a poem is never actually finished
      It just stops moving
    • At the climax of Act 2, following the main character being trapped in a room for the entire weekend following Yuri's suicide, we get this line from Monika immediately before everything goes to shit in Act 3:
      Monika: Wait, were you here the entire weekend, (Player)? Oh geez...I didn't realize the script was broken that badly.
    • And then immediately following the above example, we get an on-screen variant makes Monika's idea of "fixing things" terrifyingly clear:
      yuri.chr successfully deleted
      natsuki.chr successfully deleted
    • One of two situational examples occurs during Act 3; which one plays depends on whether the game detects a certain other program running at the same time as DDLC. It doesn't have much storyline impact, but it can give players a hell of a scare and really makes them appreciate how powerful Monika has become:
      Monika: I'm talking to you, (player's username). Or...do you actually go by (your computer account name) or something like that?
      Monika: Hold on a second...You're recording this, aren't you?
    • Another situational example from the climax of Act 4, just when everything seems to have been fixed, Sayori drops this little tidbit:
      Sayori: There's actually something else. I wanted to thank you for getting rid of Monika.
  • Fate/stay night has several. Due to the nature of the narration, some hit the reader more than the characters, and vice-versa.
    Archer: Trace, On.note 
  • Steins;Gate:
    • A minor example from episode 3 counts as something named the Jellyman report doesn't sound particularly serious, but causes Okabe to have a minor Heroic BSoD:
      "Human is dead: Mismatch"
    • Episode 12:
      Moeka: Shiina Mayuri is not needed. [fires gun at Mayuri]
    • Episode 14:
      Suzuha: I am the time traveler John Titor.
    • Episode 20:
      Yuugo: [To Moeka] You sold us out, M4.
    • Episode 22:
      Suzuha: You must stop World War III. [EPISODE ENDS]
  • Fleuret Blanc: During a sequence where you can investigate the whereabouts of former FOIL members, the members' statuses appear at the top of the screen as you discover them. When you investigate Etzer, the status update reads "Etzer: Deceased", so you know that something major has happened even before you read the details. This also confirms some of the protagonists' worst suspicions about the villains, immediately heightening the tension of the story.
  • The Final line of Block 5, the Pale Bride's story from Analogue: A Hate Story:
    He started to argue, but then he stopped. I think he was patronising me, as if I can't read simple Korean script! He just asked, in the smuggest voice, "Then what should I call you, child?"
    I screamed. I'd already told him a thousand times before.
    "Hyun-ae! My name is Hyun-ae!"
  • Heart of the Woods
    • While Morgan and her mother Evelyn are not on good terms, this line in Chapter 2 is rather unexpected.
      Morgan: My mom... isn't really my mom. To be frank, she's not even human. Not anymore.
    • In Chapter 3, Morgan tries to get her cat Geladura off her bed so Tara can lie down on it, only for Geladura to say, "There's plenty of room on the floor, you know." What Geladura says is less important than her confirming that she can, in fact, talk, as Morgan had insisted.
    • In Chapter 4, Evelyn brings Morgan to a tree, and claims that Morgan is part of the forest. As she delivers this line, the music stops.
      Evelyn: Since you loved it so much, I wonder how it will feel for you to be the one to kill it.
    • In Chapter 5, the fairies recognize their true Queen.
      Madison: (narrating) By listening- or rather, by feeling- I realize who they're communicating with. Geladura.
    • In Chapter 6, these lines of dialogue reveal that the player got the "Freedom" ending.
      Fairies: Our queen! Our queen!
      Morgan: (narrating) They chant the phrase over and over again. I feel nauseous as I realize the consequences of what's happened. Without Geladura, there's no fairy queen to take Maddie's place. By her own agreement, she has to stay here. Forever.
  • Highway Blossoms: The morning after Amber and Marina have sex, Amber's guilt over "using" Marina as a Replacement Goldfish for her late grandfather reaches a breaking point. After Amber's RV breaks down, the two stay at a hotel. Amber then says the following line that sets up the conflict in the final act.
    Amber: I just got off the phone. I bought a bus ticket home for you. One way.
  • Katawa Shoujo:
    • In Emi's route
      Hisao's Narration: Emi's there, yes. But she's in a wheelchair.
    • In Hanako's route, this exchange between Hisao and Lilly not only takes the scene into a completely different direction (especially in that it forces Hisao to re-evaluate how he sees Hanako), but takes it into a completely direction than the equivalent scene in Lilly's route.
      Lilly: There is another person, though, that has been a subject of worry for me as of late.
      Hisao: Oh?
      Lilly: That person is you, Hisao.
    • In Lilly's route, her older sister Akira asks to meet with Hisao, and ends up talking a little about their family. The subject then turns to Akira and Lilly's recent visit to their parents' house in Scotland, and after mentioning that Akira's parents want her to come to Scotland and work for them, she says the following line, which indicates that Lilly's coming with her.
      Akira: When our folks told me that when we were at their place, though, they also gave Lilly a summons to rejoin them in Inverness.
    • In Shizune's route:
    • In Shizune's route, a little while after the previous line, Misha has a conversation with Hisao about Shizune:
      Misha: I know you like her, Hicchan. I mean that I like Shicchan in the same way. I want her to be my girlfriend.
    • In the beta version of Shizune's route, the "comfort" sequence does not occur. According to the data the line was meant to be included during the love confession scene itself, however in the leaked beta it is either unfinished or partially removed and thus wasn't implemented. The love confession itself is still a thing but happens much earlier (in Act 3) and is a huge Wham Line after Hisao confronts Misha about her unusually sad behavior lately.
      Misha: Hicchan, I wish you and me could change places.
      Hisao: What do you mean?
      Misha: Shicchan... really loves you. You might be the first person she has ever loved in that way too. Do you notice the way she looks at you, Hicchan?
      Misha: I wish she could look at me like that.
      Hisao: What are you saying?
      Misha: I love her.
      Misha: I'm in love with Shicchan. I love her.
    • From later in Act 3 of Shizune's beta arc:
      Misha: [internal monologue] To my right, I hear a loud noise, like a car horn. It's a bad noise. When you hear something like that... it's not something you're supposed to hear. It means something is wrong.
      Misha: I wonder where that car is going? Is it going to hit me?
      Misha: I turn in the direction of it.
      Misha: This must be fate, right? After all, I have lived so long, and I never know what to do next. It can all be over if I just... don't move.
  • In VA-11 HALL-A:
    Jill: So, how's Lenore doing?
    Gaby: She's dead.
  • Zero Escape Trilogy:
    • Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors:
      • "Unfortunately, you're wrong. Actually, I'm Santa." This was in one of the previews, no less, but not only does it not mean what it immediately it seems, it also doesn't mean what players might suspect it means.
      • In the Safe Ending, Zero finishes his speech about Junpei being unable to save June with: "No. You misunderstand. You haven't lost. I...have lost."
      • A strange example occurs in the Cargo Room: if you haven't already followed the Submarine Ending route, Santa casually revealing that Ace is the CEO of Cradle Pharmaceuticals won't really mean anything to you. If you have, however...
      • When Snake and Junpei discuss the kidnappings 9 years ago, Snake mentions two siblings who weren't mentioned in the news before dropping this bombshell: "Her name was... Her name was Akane. That was... the girl who died..."
      • The game is a rare case of a visual novel narrating in the third person instead of the first person. Except at the final chapter of the true ending where Junpei is trying to figure out why he knows things he logically couldn't and shouldn't know...
        The answer to that is easy. He knew because I knew.
    • Virtue's Last Reward
      • In some paths your opponent will vote differently depending on what you chose. The first time it happens Sigma will show that he knows more than he should with this line:
      • In Quark's route, the old lady is found to have an ID card on her person. The name on the card is Kurashiki. This one is doubly effective since Akane Kurashiki is A) a major character from the first game, and B) now apparently far older than she has any right to be a year after the last game.
      • In Phi's ending K will reveal himself by referencing a line said earlier by another character:
        "K": Didn't I tell you? "You won't be alone. I will be at your side watching over you."
      • Later in the ending when discussing an unconscious person who looks just like Sigma:
        Quark: So... who is he?
        Akane: You've never seen him before?
        Quark: No.
    • This exchange from Zero Time Dilemma. Keep in mind that in all of the game's promotional material as well as throughout the game itself, you are led to believe that the character named "Q" is the boy wearing the strange helmet. You do learn his real name (Sean) in one ending, but there is no reason to believe that anyone (including the boy himself, who is the game's obligatory amnesiac) should know it on this route.
      Q: Zero is... YOU, Delta!
      Eric: Would you stop yapping, Sean? The old man's name is Q!
    After this scene, you unlock a file in the archives which reveals that Sean has always been Sean to the other characters. He hadn't forgotten his name, and nobody has ever called him anything else. They just never called him by name on-screen until now.
  • In The Elevator by Cyanide Tea (the developers of Ristorante Amore), Elena, the girl in the elevator, gives one when leaving it for the last time. The player will only understand its significance if they're on the path to the Golden Ending, specifically that she speaks of "points" needed to go to heaven in the same way as the now-executed Serial Killer the detective main character hunted down.
    Elena: Minus 100 points, Detective Carmichael.
  • Monster Prom:
    • The entirety of Hope's route is a Wham Episode in and of itself, as it's a fairly serious and lore-heavy tale in a lighthearted dating sim, but one of Liam's lines in the route stands out for throwing his relationship with the Coven into a whole new light:
    • From Miranda's Christmas route, if you fail your stat check in two or more events, this lovely message is given to you:
      The day of the party happens and...your plans fail! You've been such a lazy and stupid party planner that you weren't even able to stop an assassination.
    • In Polly's Halloween 2019 route, there's this exchange, with kicks off the arc's shift into plot territory.
      Polly: Big assumption you're making there. You think I've never been harmed by someone's substance abuse? Someone else's substance abuse is how I died!
      Joy: Seriously, Polly, now's not the time for your hilarious running gag. You're being irresponsible and you need to—
      Polly: (enraged) OH, AM I?
    • Later on, as Polly is ranting to the player character and the Coven about the flack she’s gotten for her constant substance use (not abuse), she drops this line:
      You know who didn’t know the difference that well? My father.
    • During Kale's secret route, the player tries all their usual tactics to hook up with him, but gets rebuffed every time. Eventually, they find him during a meeting with some other people, the name of which throws all of his previous actions into a new light:
      "Support Group for Asexual People in a World So Sexualized It Might As Well Be A Dating Sim"
  • Shinrai: Broken Beyond Despair has a few in the denouement.
    • Kamen reveals that her best friend Momoko's relationship with Hiro was far from happy, but adds that there were other problems that led to her killing him.
      Kamen: A couple of things, actually. First and foremost the fact that he didn't even love her.
    • Shortly after the above, Kamen adds a disturbing revelation about Hiro cheating on Momoko.
      Kamen: That fucking asshole. The same things he told Momo... He said the very same crap to me.
    • Kamen then mentions a very personal detail about herself that paints her relationship with Momoko in an entirely new light.
      Kamen: You see, I... I'm not even interested in guys...
      Rie: Wait, what are you saying...??
      Kamen: I... I actually loved her... I loved Momo.
  • In Plumbers Don't Wear Ties, Jane goes into work for an interview with her prospective boss, Thresher. The player can either have Thresher hire Jane with benefits, or turn her down, both choices leading to Nonstandard Game Overs. The only way to proceed in the game is to Take a Third Option, "The hairball takes advantage of the situation!!", which reveals Thresher as a Dirty Old Man:
    Thresher: You know, perhaps something can be worked out after all. (Beat) Take your clothes off, Jane.
  • Kindred Spirits on the Roof
    • In June, Yuna enlists Ano to distract Nena so Umi and Sasa can go home under an Umbrella of Togetherness. She succeeds, and after Umi and Sasa leave, Umi and Sasa's mutual friend Nena makes the following statement confirming that she knows about them being in love.
      Nena: Sheesh~ They finally left~ They're finally alone together~ Hopefully Sasa can make her move this time.
    • Near the end of September, Matsuri and Miyu, the captain and vice-captain of the track team, get into a fight over keeping their relationship secret, leading to them to ask Yuna's Childhood Friend Hina, a member of the track team, to go out on dates at the School Festival with them and decide who Hina likes better. Yuna is worried about which one Hina will choose... and then, after the pair of dates, Hina confesses to Yuna.
      Hina: I gave them a real answer.
      Yuna: ...Y-You did...
      Hina: Um, Yuna-nee, I... I realized... That I... I love you, Yuna-nee. If I have to have a girlfriend, I want it to be you. I love you, Yuna-nee.
    • Later, Yuna, who's struggling with how to answer Hina's confession, talks with Ano about it, only for Ano to assume she's confiding about the last thing that she would expect anyone to know about:
      Ano: Is it about those ghosts up on the roof at school?
    • Drama CD 4 takes place when Yuna and her yearmates are in college, years after the kindred spirits have passed on, so this line at the end of Part 1 comes off as a surprise.
  • In A Little Lily Princess, on the day of Sara's birthday, Mr. Barrow informs Miss Minchin that Sara's father, who'd invested in a diamond mind on the advice of a "dear friend" made a foolish mistake, before soon making an even more shocking revelation about him that changes the course of the story.
    Mr. Barrow: When a man is in the hands of a dear friend and is not a businessman himself... he had better steer clear of the dear friend's diamond mines. Or gold mines or any other kinds of mines 'dear friends' want his money to put into. (music changes) The late Captain Crewe...
    Miss Minchin: The late Captain Crewe! You don't come to tell me that Captain Crewe is—
    Mr. Barrow: He's dead, ma'am. Died of jungle fever and business troubles combined.
  • The Sekimeiya: Spun Glass: In Chapter 1, you view events from the perspective of Atsuki. In Chapter 2, your point of view seemingly switches to Atsuki's friend, Shiroya... up until this exchange halfway through the chapter, which reveals that your POV character has been Miiya (who was dead in the Chapter 1 timeline), not Shiroya.
    Erina: Who... are you? I don't think I've seen you before. How did you get here?
    POV character: I don't know what that means...! I'm Miiya, I've been here the whole time! Do you not remember?

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