The problem: Camera Screw is a trope about when a video game camera system unintentionally obscures an important moment or object. Or maybe it's just "bad camera systems" in general. The description is very, very snarky, to the point of obscuring the meaning of the trope, and TBH I don't think "bad video game camera system" is any more of a trope than "bad video game controls" or "bad video game graphics". I brought this up a couple times in a few places after I predictably found complaining in the examples, and Amonimus noted that the trope seemed to mix the first concept with pure complaining.

I decided to do a wick check to see what kind of usage this trope got.

Wick check: Wick check here, but here's the quick results:

• 15/50 examples neutrally or relatively neutrally described the camera position obscuring an important moment, or 30%,
• 12/50 examples were used for complaining, or 24%,
• 14/50 examples were just about a bad camera system in general, or 28%,
• 4/50 examples were of other use, or 8%, and
• 5/50 examples were zero-context or unclear, or 10%

Analysis: So there were actually a lot of neutral examples about a video game camera position obscuring an important moment. Unfortunately, there was also a lot of complaining, and tons of "this game had a bad camera system" usage. This seems to prove my point about complaining and negative usage making up most of this trope.

Possible solutions: OK, here's what I've got.

• If we determine that the video game camera position obscuring an important moment is tropeworthy, this trope can be reworked into a trope about that. Such an option would require a total description rewrite and a rename though—Moment Obscuring Video Game Camera? That's as best as I can do. (Of note is that in the Trope Talk thread I started about this, Reymma suggested such an idea might work as an Audience Reaction.)
• If that concept is not tropeworthy, we can probably just cut this trope for being complaint bait, move it to the Darth Wiki, or even make it YMMV if we don't want to cut or Darth this.

What does everyone else think? Any other ideas or suggestions?

1. VideoGame.I Am Bread: When you are on a ledge, the camera tends to swing wildly, situate itself behind solid walls, or just turn away from your bread and forces you to play blind. Camera makes it hard to see ledge, neutral.
2. ScrappyMechanic.Action (2): Also in Thieves in Time, one of the developers apparently loved the side-scrolling camera angle. Often when you try to make your way across a wire or a set of tricky jumps, the camera will re-orient to a side-scrolling perspective which roughly doubles the difficulty of said tricky jumps. It's particularly scrappy since if you actually wanted that camera angle, it would be very easy to just orient it that way yourself if the camera didn't abruptly jerk around. Camera obscures important vision of jumps.
3. VideoGame.Project Gotham Racing: The fourth game does this in the form of the in-car/helmet camera. Specifically, how it impedes your ability to drive some of the cars properly from that view. Unlike the third game, in which the game always provided you with its own gauges/readouts of vehicle speed, gear selection, and engine speed no matter what view you were in, in the 4th game, it does not do so for the cockpit view (which incidentally was introduced into the series in the 3rd game), instead making you reliant on the interior model's gauges and readouts to get the info you need. How the camera screws with you here is that either the interior point-of-view is usually a bit too far back from the gauges and makes them hard to read, or it's mis-elevated (too high/low) and allows the steering wheel to block a part of the instrument panel or, in extreme cases, ALL of it. What makes this worse is that these screws made some cars returning from the 3rd game undrivable when using the helmet cam to various degrees, due to a change in seating position from their PGR3 counterparts.
   • Returning car made mildly undrivable: The TVR Sagaris. The cockpit view in the 3rd game gave you a clear view of every important element in the instrument panel, from the analog speedo and tach, to the shift-up warning lights above them, and the digital; numerical readouts of vehicle speed, engine speed, and gear selection below the analog gauges. In the fourth game, the helmet POV is lowered such that the wheel is now blocking those digital readouts, leaving only the analog gauges visible.
   • Returning car made a nightmare to drive: The Aston Martin DBR9 race car. The 3rd game's cockpit view of this car gave you a clear line-of-sight on the digital gear/speed/revs readout. The 4th game's cockpit view is altered as such that the readout is not visible, again due to the steering wheel obstructing it. Seems to be correct and relatively neutral, minus the bad indentation.
4. VideoGame.Bayonetta: Usually in crowded fights, the camera doesn't particularly give you any idea where the enemies are if they surround you and keep on moving. It's worse during boss fights, especially Jubileus who fights you from above, but keeps the camera looking down on you. Neutral, camera obscures something important.
5. VideoGame.Fable II: The camera tends to whip around to look at whatever the game thinks you should be looking at. This leads to a particularly irritating moment about two thirds through the game, where to bypass an unnecessary enemy, you're running directly sideways and almost backward with no way to look at what's in front of you. Neutral enough, camera obscures something important.
6. VideoGame.Hyrule Warriors Age Of Calamity: The game's camera has a habit of getting hung up on walls and corners when you're locked onto an enemy, particularly in narrow corridors. Seems to be neutral and refers to something being obscured.
7. VideoGame.Zaxxon: Due to Isometric Projection perspective, it's often frustrating to judge the height of your plane in relation to the terrain. There's an indicator on the side of the screen, but it's still difficult. Seems to be neutral, and refers to something being obscured.
8. VideoGame.Okamiden: Since you have no direct control over the camera in combat, it's perfectly possible to end up in situations where you're blindsided by enemies or have a hard time getting what you want on camera to use a brush technique on it. Seems to be correct.
9. YMMV.Groove Coaster (1): "Good bye my earth" is rated an 8 on the iOS version and while it's not particularly note-dense, the chart scrolls very fast and due to the odd camera angles, many of the notes are only visible for brief moments, often for even less time than needed to be able to react. The charts practically require Trial-and-Error Gameplay. Pothole seems to be correct? It's referring to the camera obscuring something.
10. VideoGame.Harmo Knight: The player's vision will occasionally be obscured by blizzards, smoke, foreground objects, and camera angle changes. Particularly egregious in some levels with jump drums. Describes the camera system obscuring something needed to be seen by the player. Minus the last sentence, pretty neutral.
11. Funny.Game Grumps Arin And Danny Zelda: Camera Screw pushes Arin to his breaking point during the final boss fight.
    [Camera suddenly hides Link from view as Ganon spins around]
    Arin: Shitshitshit where am I—[Link dies] FUCK! God damn this fucking bullshit camera! Like I'm not fuckin'—I'm not making it up, man! You can see! You can see how fuckin' bullshit it is, man! God damn it! I can't see shit when his fuckin' stupid dumbass pig ass is in my face! Jesus, just fucking allow me to see what I'm doing, 'cuz clearly I can fucking do it without getting hit, until your stupid asshole game gets in my fuckin’ way, and wastes my GODDAMN TIME, AND I HAVE TO DO THIS STUPID FUCKING BULLSHIT AGAIN!! FOR THREE FUCKING MINUTES!!!\ Refers to the camera blocking something important—not exactly neutrally (in the quote), but that's because it's a Funny entry for a Let's Play channel.
12. VideoGame.Sonic The Hedgehog 28 Bit Nintendo Hard: The Game Gear release is considered significantly harder than the Master System version due to a smaller resolution inhibiting players from being able to see what's ahead, resulting in cheap hits/deaths (this generally existed in the handheld ports, but it is particularly egregious here). The lack of Rings in the boss stages in both versions also means a Flawless Victory is required against the boss (and the level in the case of Green Hills Zone Act 3) to proceed. Pothole is close enough.
13. VideoGame.Mineirinho Ultra Adventures: The camera is angled 30 degrees left from where Mineirinho is actually facing, making it hard to line up jumps properly, see where you jump, and where enemies are. Pretty neutral.
14. VideoGame.C Twelve Final Resistance: The camera has a bad habit of getting jammed behind a barrier or obstruction, preventing the player from seeing where Vaughn is. It's also very sensitive to move around. Neutral/close enough.
15. VideoGame.Dysnomia: Camera Lock-On: Middle mouse button (or the Lock-On button on a controller) can be to lock your cursor to a specific enemy you're facing, although this can lead to some Camera Screw if you or your opponents are zipping by really fast. Pothole used correctly.

1. Headscratchers.Dissidia Final Fantasy: I'm okay with it not actually being the Subterrane, because I can't stand the other indoor arena in the game, Pandaemonium. Too many damn walls for the camera to get stuck on. I agree the naming's a little strange, though. Pothole used to complain.
2. ScrappyMechanic.Action (1): There's also the Camera Screw that the missile mechanic introduces. Most of the game is in third person. In order to fire missiles, one assumes a first person perspective. Zero Punctuation adequately describes it as feeling "as smooth and natural as deflecting bricks with your head while wearing another brick as an earring." With the needless reviewer reference, used to complain.
3. VideoGame.Ragnarok Online: In interior areas, the camera is fixed low so that you can't see much. This is fine and dandy when nothing's really going on, but this is also the case in the Cursed Monastery dungeon and level 2 of the Thor's Volcano dungeon. This makes it ridiculously hard to see what's going on, which is actual trouble when there are things trying to kill you. Written in a complain-y way.
4. VideoGame.Tomb Raider Underworld: While the previous games occasionally suffered because of this, Underworld takes it to a new level. Certain sections of the game can cause nausea due to the constant spinning of the camera. Seems to be complain-y.
5. VideoGame.Need For Madness: The kindest term that can be applied to the game's camera is a product of its time, seeing as how it's glued to its position and can't be controlled independently of the selected vehicle, meaning that keeping track of other vehicles, whether for the sake of wasting them or avoiding them, is a struggle at the best of times. I'm classifying this as complaining due to the opening line, "the kindest term that can be applied to the game's camera". I'd consider that implied complaining.
6. VideoGame.Popful Mail: The camera is very short sighted. Low context, and snarky.
7. VideoGame.Max Payne 3: Quite a few times, the camera just refuses to let you see who landed the fatal hit when you get downed. Cue ignoble death from not being able to use Last Man Standing. Snarkily written.
8. VideoGame.Skullmonkeys: Guide Dang It!: A really heavy offender of this trope, thanks to the fact that not only it doesn't give several Camera Screw-based secret, but it also violates all common sense imaginable by starting the game from the second world. And making the first one available only through passwords. Pothole used as part of a snarky entry.
9. YMMV.Groove Coaster (2): "Good Night, Bad Luck." is the Sequel Song to "Marry me, Nightmare", and it lives up to its name, featuring far worse patterns, and an infamous Camera Screw in which game tricks you into thinking you're about to encounter a triple or even a quadruple slide before panning the camera to reveal that they're actually a sequence of single or dual Slide targets, right before you need to hit them. Its one saving grace is that the song is in the common 4/4 meter unlike its Mind Screw of a predecessor. Pothole used to complain.
10. VideoGame.Metroid Other M: The fixed viewpoint camera when you're in the third-person mode can be quite off-putting for people who are used to the generally very good camera controls in Nintendo's main franchise games. Fortunately, this usually isn't too obnoxious in actual gameplay, but it can lead to some annoying moments when you get ambushed by enemies lurking just off-camera, or in some cases behind the scenery. Uses the trope to complain.
11. VideoGame.Lego Batman: In the very last level, you need Superman to get a minikit just because the camera won't let you look at the gold-plated helicopter as Cyborg. Written in a complaining tone.
12. ThatOneBoss.Bomberman: Baruda, the boss of Primus Star...hoo boy. Camera Screw and weird control don't even begin to describe this fight. Pothole used to complain.

1. VideoGame.Planet Of The Apes 2001: The camera has a tendency to get blocked by the foreground. Just a bad camera, neutrally written.
2. VideoGame.Resident Evil 6: Happens on some levels, particularly Chris's, where you have to run through a gauntlet while evading the enemy or a hazard such as an explosion. In those scenes, the camera tends to be at fixed locations rather than directly behind the player as normal. Can lead to Fake Difficulty when the camera is in front of you, then suddenly pans behind, causing you to run directly back where you were coming from, just in time to die from whatever you were trying to escape from. Just a difficult camera system, relatively neutrally written.
3. Funny.Roahm Mythril: Roahm's trademark Hilarious Outtakes return! In one early part, he shows footage from an earlier attempt where he messed up and tried to kill himself for a quick reset, but instead got stuck in a Good Bad Bug: Two zombies sandwich Jill, both constantly spitting but unable to hit her or move. Naturally, Roahm is completely nonplussed at this. Later on, he shows a take where he fails the second poison gas vent puzzle due to bad camera angles. Pothole to what is essentially "bad camera system."
4. VideoGame.Haven 2020: Accessibility options are available to show additional HUD overlays during combat, disable shaky camera movements, and replace held button prompts with button taps. Pothole seeems to just refer to a bad camera system.
5. VideoGame.Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater: The strongest criticism of the original release was directed at the fixed overhead camera, which was essentially unchanged from the first game and was felt to be rather archaic (and didn't really suit the sprawling outdoor environments, in comparison to the rigidly geometric settings of the first two games). This was fixed in Subsistence, which altered the system to use a mobile, player-controlled third person camera. It isn't uncommon today to hear players considering the original version unplayable because of the camera. Bad camera system in general.
6. VideoGame.Crash Bandicoot Backtracking: While the first game's lack of a crate-counter-save option (included in the checkpoints in the sequels) may hint that said game required this strategy (apart from one level on the final island, it didn't for pretty much the rest of the time; dying usually requires you to start over the level in order to get the 100% Completion), Crash Bandicoot 2 pretty much ran on this. It was actually what may or may not have discouraged many gamers from fully completing the game, especially given that you couldn't rotate the camera (it zooms out if you backtrack, though) and, most infuriatingly, some levels are insanely difficult to backtrack. To wit: Diggin' It. You need to backtrack after getting a few crates in the skull route, in order to get roughly seven more crates or so. It wouldn't be so difficult if there wasn't an un-destroyable Mook Maker, a beehive. And every Bee was defeatable, but you didn't see until it was too late; the only way you could expect it was its buzzing. Pothole refers to just a bad camera system in general.
7. VideoGame.Bugs Bunny Lost In Time: Despite you having full control of it, the camera is constantly trying to recenter itself behind Bugs, which combined with its tendency of getting stuck on things makes most platforming way more difficult then what they should have been otherwise Just seems to be describing a bad camera system in general, not explicitly describing anything being blocked.
8. VideoGame.Brothers A Tale Of Two Sons: Because of the nature of the game, the only camera controls you have allow you to rotate the isometric view to the left or right. Sometimes this is not enough to get a clear picture of what you're trying to do. The camera also automatically swings around and this can be disorienting since you're trying to manage two characters with separate movement controls (it can also make you mildly motion sick if keeps whipping around). Seems to just describe a weird camera system in general.
9. VideoGame.Pool Panic: The game uses a form of Three-Quarters View that can make it pretty difficult to estimate how the balls will actually interact with each other. Describes a bad camera system in general.
10. VideoGame.Rise Of The Triad: Shrooms Mode makes your view move up, down, left, and right all the time. This is done on purpose. Just a weird camera system in general.
11. VideoGame.Woolfe The Red Hood Diaries: The largely fixed camera is not very helpful when it's time to perform precise jumps on the platforms moving in three dimensions, requiring the player to line Red up laterally as well moving her near the edge. Just a bad camera system in general.
12. VideoGame.Vigil Blood Bitterness: There's two places where you need to run towards the camera, but can only do it slowly because of how it operates (and these cost time in each of the timed segments). Also, the fixed camera can radically change at some points, causing those who click quickly to have Dehon accidentally walk off the side of the wooden bridge. Finally, in Act 4, some zones require clicking right against the edge of the screen a few times to switch to the next camera. Just a bad camera system in general.
13. VideoGame.Yooka Laylee: The Classic camera mode attempts to automatically reorient and follow the protagonists, to sometimes dubious effect during difficult platforming challenges. Part of the large patch included a new entirely-manual camera control option that only responds to the player's right-stick movement and nothing else. Just a bad camera system in general.
14. VideoGame.Man Of Steel: Moves up and down at random intervals and sometimes objects obscure the view. As a whole, just a bad camera system—the second sentence is correct, but the first isn't.

1. VideoGame.Super Mario Sunshine: The camera has a bad tendency to let scenery elements get in the way of your view of Mario. Also, it's impossible to move the camera when you're right in a corner outside of the auto-center feature. Correct for the first part, "bad camera system" for the second.
2. Series.Wayne And Shuster: an early silent sketch involving the two painting the interior of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The camera is on an angle so that the tower looks vertical, but the pair and their equipment are constantly leaning/falling over/sliding around. Non-video game use, just bad cameramen.
3. VideoGame.Turrican: Most of the games tend to focus the camera behind the player. Especially prevalent in the NES Super Turrican. Averted in Super Turrican 2, where the camera focuses slightly in front of the player. Doesn't explain how it obscures anything, doesn't say it's bad either.
4. VideoGame.VS Trollface: During both Mistaken and The Incident, the camera sways weirdly, getting more intense near the end of both songs. Camera screwing with vision, but not blocking anything.

1. VideoGame.Ninja Gaiden III 2012 Indy Escape: Ninja Gaiden III is quite fond of these, with notably two in Day 3 (the first to escape a napalm bombing, the second to outrun the T-Rex). Thankfully, it doesn't have too much of the Camera Screws these sequences usually have, since the camera zooms out a bit when an obstacle is close. Pothole doesn't elaborate.
2. VideoGame.Speedy Eggbert: The camera can't scroll fast enough to keep up if Blupi is powered up or driving something. Doesn't seem to be referring to the camera obscuring something important? I guess Blupi is the important thing? Unsure.
3. VideoGame.Wolf Quest: Can happen sometimes, but 2.7 improves it a lot. No context.
4. VideoGame.Impressive Title: Sequence Breaking: Due to lack of a Gravity Barrier, players can completely cheese Labyrinth by running through and over the walls with little to no issue aside from Camera Screw. Of course, if they have wings, they can also just simply fly over. No context pothole.
5. WebVideo.Caleb City: Invoked in Games that have TRASH camera controls. No context, violation of Weblinks Are Not Examples.