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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resolved Please help solving this. Videogame
""A special commander takes an enthusiastic (and explosive) walk in the Middle East in hopes of saving a damsel from futuristic terrorists""
super super super cheating... but this is for a raffle entry for some items in a game. willing to share my winnings if i win it.
the hoster said something about "gulf jokes"
resolved Haunted Game Simulator Videogame
A specific type of horror game that plays like you're the protagonist of a creepypasta. However, instead of simply Defictionalizing a haunted game as described in the creepypasta, these games are programmed to actually act as if they're haunted, in a The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You way, like closing and opening by themselves.
There's apparently a recent game called 98xx, which is presented as if you're using a PC from the late 90s, before it starts acting all creepypasta-y, even if it doesn't seem to have a Tv Tropes page. Aside from opening and closing automatically, players also have to find secret links in the game, that when searched on the internet will yield videos and pages, which tell more of the lore.
However, a more familiar example would be Imscared. This game also closes down automatically at some points, and goes even further by adding files on your PC, which contain the hints to progress in the game.
I haven't found anything specific in Video Game Genres, but I first wanted to ask here if the fourth-wall breaking/diegetic gameplay can be already covered by an existing trope.
resolved Laser beam sweeping across the arena Videogame
A laser maker sends lasers that divides sections of the arena safe zones then rotates so the player has to move at the same speed as the laser to stay in the safe zone.
resolved Something from a series' later game/installment being used in a remake or interquel? Videogame
I was wondering if there was a trope for this, as something I did always think of is how Xenoblade Chronicles 1's Nintendo Switch remake did something like this.
- Xenoblade Chronicles 2 introduced a meter of how much longer an enemy would have a Break/Topple/etc status effect on it, showing the player how much time was left before it wore off. This wasn't present in the first game, but was added to the UI when it got remade.
- Similarly, I saw this used in a JoJo's Bizarre Adventure fanfic, where a later installment started referring to Stand names in brackets, which was retained for an interquel that was made.
resolved Help on redefining character trait for Medicine. Videogame
Touhou Kaeidzuka ~ Phantasmagoria of Flower View might have a problem with defining a character's violent reaction to humans in general, and currently it is listed as Straw Nihilist but I'm not sure if that's the correct trope.
Wouldn't this description would fit more in bills of Fantastic Racism?
Or does it fit in another trope instead of either of these two?
Edited by JustNormalMusicLoverresolved Area denial damage pools Videogame
When a character uses an attack that temporarily leaves pools/fire/suspiciously condensed-in-one-spot radiation on the ground that damages you if you walk onto them
Hazard Attack exists now, it's that
Edited by AwkbutTVTresolved Cowardly Boss Videogame
Is there a trope for a videogame boss that's considered hard or annoying not because he's deadly, but because he runs/teleports so often it's almost impossible to land a hit on him? So the difficulty for the player isn't really to avoid dying, but to beat him before running out of time or resources?
I mean 'cowardly' not as a characteristic of the character, but as something perceived by players.
resolved Gaming Collectibles Videogame
Basically just collectibles in a game. They may serve a practical purpose in one way, while they're just simply rewards in another. The Trophies and Stickers from the Super Smash Bros. games for example. (Not to be confused with Collect-a-Thon Platformer, a specific genre of games with a specific focus on collectibles to progress.)
resolved Hunger meter Videogame
Is there a trope for when there's a bar that shows how hungry you are and fills back up when you eat food? I can't find it on the Stat Meters index. I have 3 examples so I could pitch it to TLP if it's not here already
Edited by moefoxesresolved For items getting smaller in stacks? Videogame
Basically the way a single bullet or arrow takes up one inventory slot, but if you add whatever number of the same thing to that item, they "get smaller" until they hit wherever the cap is set for that item.
I think it's kind of related to hammerspace, but another element is that it's often accepted by the player as logically reasonable, like buying in bulk or something, that the item should be smaller in inventory if grouped than if alone.
resolved Resource Cards Videogame
I am trying to find a trope about card games that have certain cards that are used as resources for casting spells, summoning monsters, etc. I can think of three examples:
- Magic The Gathering has Mana cards that need to be drawn from the deck and then tapped to cast a spell or summon a creature.
- Future Card Buddyfight has the Gauge where players can charge it with one card per turn so they can play spell cards.
- Force Of Will used Magic Stone cards that are drawn from a separate deck to make Will and Will is used for summoning a Resonator, playing a Chant, playing an Addition, or activating an ability.
resolved Control Screw Videogame
An enemy has an attack the messes up the way your controls work. Example: in ToeJam & Earl there was some enemy (I forget what), with an attack that inverts your d-pad, so pressing the up key makes you go south instead of north, and vice versa.
resolved Octopus cooks octopuses Videogame
In Monster Chef, the chef is an Octopus-like monster, but one of the cooking ingredient you can get is the Octopus Tentacle, which come from another octo-like monster (a different species from the Chef). The chef doesn't eat it himself, but rather sell them to others (who are not octopuses). Is there a trope for this? Would it be I'm a Humanitarian?
Edited by LucasdaKoolresolved Fast Travel Ambush Videogame
In games with some form of fast travel (be it Warp Whistle, Zip Mode, or just picking a spot on the map and traveling), you can sometimes be attacked (or have some other kind of random encounter) along the way. The game shifts away from the "travel screen" and drops you into battle (or whatever the encounter is).
Do we have any trope that covers this? I scanned the usual video game trope indexes but didn't see anything. For example, this can happen in both Dragon Age: Origins (and possibly some other games in that series) and Kingdom Come: Deliverance.
It's not simply Random Encounters, as these specifically only happen while engaging in fast travel.
TIA!
resolved Figure out the which player is secretly the monster game Videogame
There a few recent games like Deceit or the Secret Neighbor Spin-Off of Hello Neighbor were players play as a group trying to complete tasks to escape but some players are secretly a monster trying to pick the others off one by one
Is there a name for this genre?
Edited by jormis29resolved Show-Your-Work Gameplay Videogame
A puzzle in a videogame can only be solved if the character knows the answer In-Universe - meaning, if the player knows the answer beforehand, he still has to go through the motions of having the character 'discover' it. For instance, in Resident Evil, there's a code to unlock the room with chemicals to kill that giant plant. no matter what combination the player presses, the room won't unlock until the character goes to the pool room and 'learns' what the solution is.
resolved Similar To Scrappy Mechanic Videogame
Hi there, I'm going through a variety of online games, and was wondering if there was a YMMV trope similar to Scrappy Mechanic, but it's something scrappy caused by the players rather than the game itself? (Ex: Players overinflating the prices of in-game items for trade, or a certain playstyle being ridiculed because it's considered low tier).
(May not use it if it's more considered flame bait, but would like clarification regardless)
resolved Choice of using an item now for a good result, or later for a great result? Videogame
In a video game, you acquire a unique item fairly early on that imbues a party member with a powerful (for the early game) ability. It gets you through the game's Early Game Hell challenges more easily...but all of the party members available then are Crutch Characters at best who will be out of your party by the midway point of the game. Alternatively, you could save that item to teach to a later-game party member, who can make much better use of it for much longer, but that means getting through the early game challenges without it.
It's not Too Awesome to Use, as you WILL use it, it's just making the decision of WHEN to use it for best effect. It's a little bit like a "meta" Sadistic Choice, but it doesn't actually fit that trope as written.
This came up recently regarding certain TMs (which teach your Pokemon new moves) in the early gen games when TMs were single use only. Teach something like Dig or Thunderbolt in Gen I to the weaker early game Pokemon to get through the early challenges...or save them for Pokemon acquired later in the game who will be much more powerful with those moves.
TIA!
resolved "Game Rule"-breaking Boss Videogame
A video game boss that is allowed to go past otherwise established limits of the game, such as having a larger-than-otherwise-allowed party size. For example, the ax party size for the player and all other units in the game is five, but this boss gets to have six.
Couple of spoilers ahead for Pokémon Legends: Arceus and Unicorn Overlord: (Seems that spoiler tags don't work here)
- In Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Final Boss Volo has his series-standard full team of six Pokemon, then uses Giratina, and then uses Giratina's "Origin Form" on top of that for a total of eight.
- In Unicorn Overlord, Baltro has, in the final battle, including himself, a party with six units that must be defeated. The max the player can create, or is otherwise encountered in the game, is five.
I don't think it's Beyond the Impossible as this is more a violation of a game mechanic than the "internal logic of the story". It toes around Boss Bonanza, but in each of these cases, it's not a series of bosses, but one boss with a larger-than-standard party size to use against you. Maybe there's something to an Inversion of Fair-Play Villain, but I'm hesitant.
Edited by BeerBaron

While some games have difficulty levels, others are more fine-tuned such that you can customize specific aspects of a game to suit your preferred difficulty level. For example, To the Rescue! lets you adjust the speed of the In-Universe Game Clock and the rate at which diseases spread across dogs. Is there are specific subtrope for this since Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels are for difficulty levels with different names from the standard?