The TVTropes Trope Finder is where you can come to ask questions like "Do we have this one?" and "What's the trope about...?" Trying to rediscover a long lost show or other medium but need a little help? Head to Media Finder and try your luck there. Want to propose a new trope? You should be over at the Trope Launch Pad.
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is there a trope for weak but costless units in Tower Defense or Real-Time Strategy games?
it ain't Zerg Rush, as that is a strategy and not a unit type.
Edited by ShanghaiSlaveopenNo Title Videogame
I posted this a long time ago without any response, so I'll try it again.
Is there a trope for when in video games, at the end of a level, there's some sort of opportunity for bonus points? Examples:
- The flagpole in Super Mario Bros (and other Mario games)
- The "roulettes" in Super Mario Bros 2 and 3
- The "finish line" in Super Mario World
- The jumping game in Kirby's Adventure
- The star wheel in Kirby's Epic Yarn
I know those are all Nintendo games, but it appears in non-Nintendo games too, I just can't think of any at the moment...
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Is there any trope when playing as goodie-two-shoes is more profitable for the player than taking evil or at least indifferent actions? And I'm not talking about long run, where being "evil" is profitable for short-sighted strategy, but when it's obvious from the start that playing as a good guy is better choice right off the bat.
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I seem to recall seeing an YKTTW that went along the lines of "The Player's Family", and was about giving a Featureless Protagonist in-game NPC blood relatives. I don't seem to be able to find it again, though.
openNo Title Videogame
I know there was a trope where a boss from a previous game game becomes a Bonus Boss for another game (It was called Legacy Boss I believe) But when I checked on the trope it was gone. What happened to it?
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Do we have a trope for an Emergency Weapon getting upgraded part way through?
Or maybe just one-time weapon upgrades in general?
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Does this trope exist?
A real-world weapon appears in a videogame, but it is used incorrectly, or classified under the wrong weapon type, in the game. An example would be the PTRS-41 in Call of Duty: World at War - In the game it's a sniper rifle, but in the real world it is an anti-tank rifle.
If it doesn't exist, perhaps a name like "Wrong Gun Works Anyway" would fit...
Edited by EggManStudioopenNo Title Videogame
Is there a trope for having to fight enemies while in the Hub Level? It can be a boss fight or waves of enemies or whatever. The point is you are fighting in a place the player never thought that they would have to fight.
Examples:
Bastion - The hub get invaded halfway through the game
Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time - There is a tutorial fight in the hub area as well as what is technically the final boss.
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem - One of the levels is the hub level in the past and you are required to fight. It also gets invaded late in the game during the present.
Silent Hill The Room - The hub starts attacking you later into the game
Dead Rising - one of the characters gets turned into a zombie late in the game while they are still in the Safehouse.
Deadrising 2: Case Zero - You fight a boss in the safehouse.
Deadrising 2 - Safehouse gets invaded by zombies late into the game.
Deadrising 2: Case West - You kill some guards in a room and that room becomes your safehouse.
Disgaea 2 - You can optionally fight several bonus bosses in the hub.
Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door - there are several story fights that take place in the hub
I could go on for much much longer but I think you get the point.
Edited by SpoonElementalopenNo Title Videogame
Is there a trope for a boss getting weaker after it goes One-Winged Angel instead of getting stronger?
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Do we have a trope for video game sequels which feature a Player Character who's related to the previous game's (usually a sibling) to justify a similar character who still has to start from the beginning (or just lacks the plot related baggage of the previous game).
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Is there a trope for a writer's tendency to fill a world with creatures without any concern for how said creatures' ecosystems would work? For instance, there's one area with monsters, and another area with monsters a short ways away. The monsters in the second area could kill the monsters in the first area in a single hit, but for no apparent reason haven't taken over the first area.
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What's the trope for a long tail strategy?
It's when you spam out a bunch of things, knowing that most of them will go away quickly, but a few will last a long time, justifying the effort.
For one example reverse genocide of nurses in Nethack, knowing that one or two nurses will last a long time.
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In a Star Trek Online Foundry mission series I'm writing, I've occasionally used my OCs to state my views on YMMV points of the franchise (e.g. how to reconcile the differences between the TNG and DS9 portrayals of the Ferengi, my opinion that the Prime Directive shouldn't be applied to warp-capable polities, etc.).
Is that still Writer on Board? I ask because I'm not (or at least I don't think I am) letting it take over the story at all, especially not to the point of Idiot Ball or Character Derailment.
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In Happy Wars human mage players on your team will often spam enchantments on you without caring whether or not they are overwriting any previous enchantments that you actually WANT just so they can get points for "assisting" you. I get that it falls under Stop Helping Me but I feel like there's something else here for the added benefit of your ally being rewarded for being a dick to you. Another example is that your allies can get points for dispelling construction materials you are trying to use if that makes it any clearer.
I don't think it counts as Video Game Cruelty Potential either so yeah.
openNo Title Videogame
What's it called (assuming it exists) in video games when you have all sorts of extremely powerful equipment, but you can't get through a chain link fence/other easily destroyed object? Example I'm thinking of is Deus Ex: HR when trying to get into the alley next to the police station. I was stacking dumpsters to climb over and I thought "why can't I just rip the chains apart if my arms are that strong??

I know we have this, but I'm blanking on the name.
Authority Figure calls a subordinate on a behavior, but while the talk starts out as looking like it's going to be an ass-chewing, it swerves at the very end.
In particular I'm thinking of Wing Commander III, just before Blair challenges test pilot "Flash" to a simulator duel, with Flash's loss resulting in him transferring to the player's home carrier as a combat pilot. Captain Eisen calls Blair aside, and warns him that he's not going to be very popular if he loses, interrupting Blair's attempt to justify the challenge. However, instead of chewing Blair out, Eisen offers some advice: "Kick the little twerp's ass."
Edited by Nohbody