Video game tropes you love

[Wraith]

Title pretty much explains it. Talk about tropes in games you actually like seeing. 

I'll start.

Duel Boss

 

The dramatic showdown with the rival near the end of the game is always a cool moment for me. They're pretty much the most satisfying bosses because you finally get to confront the guy that's been clashing with you throughout the game and be rid of them for good. It also helps that these are usually non gimmicky bosses that simply put your skills to the test. I love them. 

 

Sora and Roxas might be one of my favorite example of this just because the boss was so fun. There are examples of this with much, MUCH better buildup story wise than this, but damn this boss was crazy. Roxas can and will throw everything he has at you. It pushes your skill at that point to the limit. I loved it. Not a bad way to Roxas to go out. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Diogenes]

Dramatic life bar filling. Megaman bosses, for example; it would've been easy to have the boss simply drop in with the health bar already full, but watching the bar fill up along with that memorable ringing sound adds a certain layer of ceremony to it.

Also works great for when the hero powers up at a dramatic moment and the game mechanics reflect it, but I can't think of an example at the moment.

e: oh, and the absolutely perfect Wily Machine life bar filling in Minus Infinity. (16:10 if the link doesn't work right)

Edited August 17, 2015 by Diogenes

[Gregzilla]

Final Boss Fake-Outs

You know the feel.  You get to the end of the game, fight a big boss, and think it's all over, only for the game to throw an even bigger challenge at you in a crazier scenario than before.  I find one of the worst things a game can do is have an anticlimactic finale, and this is pretty much the opposite - an EXTRAclimax, if you will.

To talk about the best examples would be giving away some great moments.  I think one of the best examples that's old enough to not be that much of a spoiler is Super Metroid.  The final battle with Mother Brain actually tricks you into thinking it's just a lazy rehash of the final boss of the first game.  It plays out almost exactly the same, but then once you blow up the tank, instead of racing to the exit, you have to fight Mother Brain as a giant robot dinosaur thing.  Surprises like that are always great.

And then of course there's probably my favorite example, The Wonderful 101, which I think needs a whole play-by-play:

-Get to a giant Death Star lookalike fortress

-Fight the giant brain controlling the fortress

-Giant brain puts on a Wonder Mask and goes crazy on you in another fight

-Destroy brain and escape exploding space station.  Over, right?

-NOPE, FIGHT THE FUCKING SPACE STATION.

 

Pure joy.

[Wittymations]

When Big Bad talks to the player as s/he go through the stage.

 

This is usually most reserved for the final stage, but it adds a lot. They're aware of you, and know you're coming for them. They're usually not too worried, they hold all the power, and if done well, it can make you question if you're ready for this.

 

Portal does a really good job at this, having Glados talk to you through out every stage. But then, Glados is probably second most important element to the series, next to the puzzles themselves.

Edited August 17, 2015 by WittyUsername

[GOAT]

In Zelda games when you load up your file, your magic meter always begins at empty, but proceeds to fill up with a satisfying noise as you enter the game. Yes I know its kind of weird, but I love it.

[Sean]

Final bosses that use or remix a major theme song throughout the game.

Viewtiful Joe spoilers:

 

The final battle with Captain Blue is of course a remix of his theme song, but near the beginning you can hear a little bit of Joe's theme too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETVtR_DJ7P0

As far as Sonic games go that do this, I think Unleashed's final boss version of Endless Possibility is the absolute best example. Unfortunately I don't think any other game that has attempted an orchestral remix of its main theme (2006, Colors) has succeeded quite as well at it. Live & Learn is a fantastic final boss song, as was Open Your Heart except the latter is weighed down by the pretty boring phase 2 music that interrupts the song before you even finish the chorus.

 

I don't know what to call this particular trope, but I love how hopeless both Paper Mario and Super Mario Galaxy start off: you're playing the prologue and visiting Peach's castle when suddenly Bowser wrecks havoc on everything. In Galaxy you're right in the middle of his blitzkrieg, while in Paper Mario you're faced with a hopeless boss fight which to my knowledge is the first instance of Bowser actually defeating Mario. Phantom Brave begins in a similar way: you're actually playing as Ash right before he dies trying to protect Marona's parents. Extra bonus points for showing the title card afterwards.

 

Also, if your game is great and you end it with an emotional-sounding credits song, chances are it's going to succeed in making me extremely emotional no matter what it is.

[Phos]

Compression heating:  This will require a bit of explanation...  Whenever a spacecraft reenters the atmosphere, it's traveling extremely fast due to how high orbital velocity is, and thus it heats up in the atmosphere, somewhat intuitively this is due to compression of the air in front of the spacecraft rather than friction against the air, but in any case, Rollcage for the playstation still looks fairly impressive to me because it has a really nice version of this effect.  

[Nix]

I do enjoy Non-Standard Game Overs.  You know those times where you fulfill some sort of special criteria to get a unique game over screen or sequence?

The one that sticks out in the front of my mind is always the one you can get in the very beginning of Super Paper Mario.  Pretty much what happens is a wizard shows up and tries to get Mario to save the universe, but you're given the option to choose "Yes" or "No" when he asks you to do so.  You'd probably think the game will loop the question over and over again until you pick "Yes"... but after the 3rd time or so the game says you fucked up big time and slaps a Game Over on you before you're given the chance to control Mario.  I always have a good laugh with that one.

A pretty awesome DS RPG called Radiant Historia has it down to a fucking science though.  Radiant Historia is all about time travel and you're constantly making big and small decisions throughout the game that determines the outcome of the future.  A seemingly minor decision you make could cause a horrifying ripple effect and make the future a goddamn disaster, and you never really know how everything's going to play out until you go and see it for yourself.  And once you do fuck up the game tells you what you did wrong and makes you go back and try again... and when you do that the game goes "well shit, you actually made the biggest mistake of your life even further back in time, try again".  It's a lovely form of trial-and-error that enhances the game's narrative by a significant degree I think.

Edited August 18, 2015 by Nix