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Mundane Made Awesome/Video Games: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
* Perhaps the most infamous [[Real Life]] videogaming example is Kaz Hirai's [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaBUeINW_3s ecstatic reveal] of ''[[Ridge Racer]]'' on the [[
* ''[[Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney]]'' lives off this trope. While trials are important and serious affairs in real life, in the game a trial is an epic battle of wits. With [[Crowning Music of Awesome|theme music]], [[Speed Stripes|action lines]], people reacting to arguments as if they have been ''[[Face Fault|physically struck]]'', and [[Giving Someone the Pointer Finger|finger pointing]]... lots and ''lots'' of finger pointing. That it remains hilariously self-aware of its over-the-top nature only makes the games that much more appealing.
** It's even lampshaded by Maya in the second game. "Spine tingling legal action! Mind numbing legalese! You will say 'wow!'"
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*** That's actually the standard layout for [[Real Life]] Japanese courtrooms, which look exactly like that. Not as much spiky hair and whip-swinging, though.
** Actually, it may be a subversion. It IS awesome.
** Aaand... they just outdid themselves. ''[[Ace Attorney Investigations]]'' applies the WDYMINA factor to Edgeworth's ''logical thought processes''.
*** [[Running Gag|Aaand... they]] outdid that even further by combining two fandoms: ''[[Professor Layton VS Ace Attorney]]''. [[And the Fandom Rejoiced|Cue the rejoicing.]]
** Contrast to ''This is Wonderland'', the most unglamorous courtroom drama ever attempted. Most of the lawyers are either woefully unprepared or dealing with very severe personal problems. Or just bastards. This form of cinematography is frequently used for the purpose of extremely dark satire, complete with romantic, life-affirming theme music, a switch to commercial breaks that borders on the Neo-Classical, and lots of architectural shots.
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* In the game ''[[Prince of Persia]]: Sands of Time'', everything the Prince does is awesome. Even a relatively mundane act, such as taking a drink of water, is accompanied by a dramatic bullet-time camera rotozoom closeup, heroic music, and whooshing sound effects. It's the coolest water-drinking animation ever devised.
** Similar to the potion-drinking in the 3D ''Zelda'' games, where the camera closes on Link, who quickly "draws" the bottle, and after drinking, does an heroic lip-cleaning (sometimes breathing a fog colored as the potion). Only lacks different music and slow motion (though [[Time Stands Still]] as you drink) to try being more awesome.
** Taken even further in ''[[Super Smash Bros.]] Melee,'' where Young Link's single-player victory montage consists entirely of shots of him drinking milk, and the final triumphant chord coincides with a mouth-wipe in slow motion.
** In the same vein, [[The Wind Waker|Toon Link's]] Baton-taunt is so incredibly overdone that it makes his game-self look humble and modest in comparison. He waves that thing like the fate of the world would depend on it (OK, it once did, but that's not the case ''here'').
* ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater]]'' plays this trope straight by inserting a vocals-only version of the game's theme song to an otherwise unremarkable ladder climbing sequence. This addition, however, has led to the ladder sequence becoming one of the game's most memorable parts, as many of those as there are in the game to begin with.
** Although by the end of it, it more closely resembles an [[Overly Long Gag]], because climbing said ladder takes up the ''entire'' duration of the song. And the part where the song is a thinly veiled parody of spy film songs.
** And [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkkP-UXTN0k This scene] involves the local equivalent of Light's potato chips.
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** Slow. Motion. Pizza. Eating.
*** Taking a break during battle while scythes are sticking out of his body to take a bite from said pizza.
* The ''[[Pokémon]]'' games all feature calm, ambient music while your character walks around. All very good and well... until Nintendo needed some music for the ''Pokémon'' levels of ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]'', at which point the songs (except for the battle themes, which are already awesome) gained a symphony orchestra's worth of strings, horns and electric guitars, and mutated into [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Dmjbj8CEzI this], [http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=g3-JSNLKIhM this] and [http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=t18xkblQ0uU this]. And that's before we get onto the [[Ominous Latin Chanting]] of the game theme itself...
** Ditto (pun semi-intended) for the ''Pokémon'' theme remixes in the ''[[Pokémon Stadium]]'' series.
** ''Brawl'' is ''made'' of this trope.
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* ''[[Viewtiful Joe]]''. Joe's over-dramatic bullet time action poses can actually kill enemies.
** His "epic costume change" at the beginning of the second game (right after a [[Male Gaze]] of his girlfriend's new set) makes him perform a Ginyu Force style pose so a V can anticlimactically * poof* onto his hat.
{{quote|
* poof*
'''Joe:''' "'''SHAZAM!'''" }}
* Most of the ''[[Kunio
** And that's not even counting the other versions of ''Super Dodge Ball''. The [[Neo Geo]] version could be mistaken for an SNK game, or another Pocket Fighter.
** ''Nekketsu Volleyball Dayo Kunio-kun'' had rather weird teams. The smile team bounces the ball ''off their asses''.
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** The bonus chapter "Another Day" is all about this. INPINCIBLE Shuto Dan would like you to know his pins are his ''SOUL'' and if you don't think the same... well, actually it doesn't occur to him that you might think any different.
* The creators of ''[[Duke Nukem]]'' really take the cake with [http://kotaku.com/5026127/duke-nukem-trilogy-trailer-takes-the-cake this one].
* Most, if not all of ''[[Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan]]!'' involved people with real, though non-dramatic problems, which were fixed by ''dancing!'' Problems that included getting into college, cutting hair, recruiting for a school choir club, and '''not wetting the bed'''.
** ''[[Elite Beat Agents]]'', its Americanized spiritual successor, is just as weird. Examples include two instances of babysitting, directing a movie (not the movie itself; the ''directing''), driving a pregnant woman to the hospital, romancing a woman with artistry, digging for oil, auditioning for a play, and ''recovering from a cold''.
** For an example that doesn't have much to do with the dancing (yet,) the opening of one of ''Ouendan 2'''s bonus levels has your target emit an epic scream because some guy ''dropped his cellphone''. Then again, he dropped it in the sewers, and he needed to text his girlfriend for Christmas...
* ''[[Trauma Center]]'': During most of the game, you feel like you are playing space invaders on someone's stomach. But again that "is" indeed awesome. Also, the final GUILT parasite at ''Under The Knife 1'' {{spoiler|Is a giant spider parasite that creates a web that seems to "Absorb" heartbeats?}}. Also, a doctor who begins an operation with a.... [[Asskicking Pose]] and/or hand gestures!
** ''[[Awesome Series]]'', naturally, takes this and runs with it:
{{quote|
'''Doctor''': HUWHAAAAAAAAAAAAT???
'''Nurse''': THEY'RE SHOOTING X-RAY BEAMS OUT OF THEIR RADIOACTIVE SUPERCORES! USE YOUR ZAPPY GUN TO STOP THEM! }}
** Also, Surgical [[Bullet Time]].
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* The little-known DS adventure game ''[[LifeSigns: Surgical Unit]]'' has this in ridiculous quantities, especially in the first game, which had dramatic cutaways practically every time you took a step.
** Also, when the main character, Tendo, finishes up an operation, he always comments on his sutures ("That's... Perfect!") accompanied with a light flash and sound effect for no apparent reason.
* ''[[Command
** Oh snap!
* How do you vent your frustration over ''[[Mega Man 2]]'s'' [[That One Boss|Air Man]]? [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjLouGft9kY Put it in the form of a music video].
* The game ''[[Audiosurf]]'' generates levels based on audio files. You're able to induce this effect yourself once you realize that not only can you give the same effect to less energetic song, but for ''any'' audio file, from speeches, to a recording of [[Monty Python's Flying Circus|the Argument Clinic sketch]], to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_b9YOPzhiU John Cage's 4'33''].
* One of ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'''s early cutscenes is of a ''satellite dish being turned on''. It gets the full [[
* ''[[
* In ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy|Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy]]'', [[Final Fantasy VIII/Characters|Laguna]] calls his own [[Limit Break|Perfect EX Burst]] "[[Shameless Self Promoter|The greatest attack ever!]]"
* In the early ''[[Persona]]'' games, the eponymous Personae were [[Summon Magic|called forth]] by just sort of willing them into being. Perhaps with the occasional cry of "Persona!" or "Help Me!". In ''[[Persona 3]]'', Personae are summoned by ''shooting yourself in the head''. In ''[[Persona 4]]'', the gun-shaped Evokers are removed, and Personae are now summoned by shattering tarot cards (typically via an over elaborate strike with one's weapon, though the protagonist uses his bare hands because he's just that [[Badass]])
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* The opening video for ''[[Gaia Online]]'''s MMO ''zOMG!'' features a character ''putting on some rings'' to epic music. The rings then burst into flame. Justified, as A) this is Gaia Online, and B) the rings in question are the [[Improbable Weapon]] being used to fight [[Everything Trying to Kill You]] in the game.
* ''[[Makai Kingdom]]'': Corn.
{{quote|
* In the [[
* [[Destroy All Humans!|Destroying all humans]] is awesome in its own right. Being the alien, hiding among the unwitting humans as ominous theremin-laden music plays, and then revealing yourself and causing mass hysteria and humongous explosions.
* ''[[Disaster: Day of Crisis]]'' has natural disasters combined with battling an former elite special forces unit, which is awesome in itself. But Evans likes to try and take things up a notch whenever he can, and he does this in the final chapter, first fighting Ray in a ''[[Metal Gear]]'' expy, then following up with an epic hand-to-hand fight (also like ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]''). And he does all this ''while the pair are in a hurricane''. And ''then'' he tries to set off a nuke. I repeat, '''IN THE MIDDLE OF A HURRICANE.'''
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* Complete any level in ''[[Peggle]]'' (''ANY'' level) and the game goes into slow-mo, cranks up ''[[Ode to Joy]]'', and draws a trail of rainbows behind your ball.
* ''Castle Crashers''. From fighting giant literal Cat Fish, weird..Giant fuzzy black things...Cute Teddy bears that attack you with dead fish, using a lollipop or a carrot as your own weapon... FIGHTING TO THE DEATH TO SEE WHO KISSES THE PRINCESSES AFTER YOU BATTLE HEROICALLY TOGETHER TO SAVE THEM.
* In ''[[Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World]]'', epic music plays as Regal does what can only be described as turning off the lights. Sure he's using special handcuffs, but Regal wearing handcuffs is not exactly something new.
* Taking the Daredevil trait in ''[[The Sims]] 3'' allows you to go EXTREME versions of mundane things. 'Read something EXTREME' or 'Take EXTREME shower', for example.
** Taking the Evil trait gives you actions like 'Wash hands with evil soap' and 'Read something maniacal'.
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* ''[[Bayonetta]]'' uses this trope to an extreme, almost the entire game. From mixing drinks, to eating candy, to rescuing stuffed animals. Everything is over-the-top dramatic.
** The best example though, is taking her lipstick, loading it into the gun and firing it at the [[Big Bad]] with most badass line of the entire game.
{{quote|
* ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess|The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess]]'' features a sequence in which Link has to clear the Bokoblins out of an old ghost town, to a faux-[[Spaghetti Western]] guitar piece evocative of high-noon shootouts. Later, if you speak to the resident chicken as a wolf, it'll ask you to befriend all the cats in town. And if you accept, you have to hunt down all twenty cats...to the same high-tension piece they had him shooting Bokoblins to.
** [[The
* ''[[Ryu ga Gotoku|Yakuza 3]]'' whenever Kazuma is having a revelation and tapping away on his phone to update his blog.
** And in the sequel, ''Yakuza 4'', the other playable characters take this up to eleven. Saejima doesn't cotton to all that newfangled technology, so he makes his Revelations with a ''wood-carving set'', cutting an image from a piece of wood in the most epic fashion imaginable. Tanimura, while perfectly capable of using a cellphone, prefers to create his Revelations by sketchbook, demonstrating in the process that he apparently graduated from the [[Death Note|Light Yagami School of Notebook Writing]]. Akiyama and Kiryu are epic as ever with EXTREEEEEME texting and blog-updating.
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* In ''[[Dark Forces Saga|Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy]]'', you can choose to have every kill with a lightsaber move given a cinematic slow-motion effect.
* ''[[Smackdown vs. Raw]]''. The game will "sell" a created wrestlers finishing the move like it's the most awesome thing ever. Watch as the game goes into slow motion with dramatic "whoosh" sound effect when your created wrestler does his finisher... an eye poke.
* In ''[[Zettai Hero Kaizou Keikaku]]'', this is [[Enforced Trope]] in the ''[[Shakugan no Shana]]''-themed [[Bonus Dungeon]]. All normal attacks are forbidden, and you have to fight using only over-the-top special attacks.
* ''[[Assassin's Creed II]]'' has... almost hilariously mundane [[Press X to Not Die]] events. For example, you get one to shake someone's hand.
** Hugging.
*** For the yaoi fanboys and girls, that was an AWESOME hug.
** Drinking Coffee.
* In ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', during Thane's loyalty mission, Commander Shepard is told about a Shepard VI, that spouts a line such as "I delete data like you on the way to real errors!" and when it crashes, the error message says that "The fate of the Galaxy is at stake, and you should try to fix the problem yourself". To which Tali or Garrus will comment "That's pretty extreme, Commander."
* ''[[Mirror's Edge]]'' is a game about mail delivery. Via [[Le Parkour]], while people try to shoot you.
* Peeking at [[Hot Springs Episode]] is [[Serious Business]] for [[Agarest Senki|Winfield.]] With the most dramatic speech ever.
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* ''NBA In The Zone'' had the option of having the national anthem before the game, like it were game seven of the finals or something.
* ''[[Saints Row the Third]]'' had a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7YI2NXTiyc trailer] which promised the game to be huge and full of never before seen footage from the game... of someone being punched in the nuts to truly epic music. As one Youtube comment claims, [[Grand Theft Auto]] raises the bar, [[Saints Row]] holds it to its crotch and pretends it's a cock.
* ''[[Dustforce]]'' makes cleaning awesome by adding trickjumps, wall running and slow-motion.
* In ''[[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim]]'', [[Our Dragons Are Different|dragons]] don't [[Breath Weapon|breathe fire]] so much as [[Reality Warper|wish it into existence]] with the [[Make Me Wanna Shout|Thu'um]]. Whichever smart-ass wrote the loading screen dialogs took this fact to the conclusion that when two dragons fight, they're really having an intense verbal debate.
** So does that make this an inversion? Awesome Made Mundane?
* ''[[Asura's Wrath]]'', with Wyzen turning Giant sized, bigger than the planet, trying to poke
* ''[[Inazuma Eleven]]'' series: Middleschoolers play football with [[Elemental Powers]], completed with [[Calling Your Attacks]] and [[Power of Friendship]].
* In ''[[Kinnikuman: Muscle Fight]]'', Chienowa Man and Cubeman have a special animation that'll play out when they're low on health. They attempt to solve each other while "[[Fist of the North Star|Ai o Torimodose!!]]" plays in the background. If Chie no wa Man is solved first, Cubeman swipes at him and causes Chie no wa Man to fall apart. Chienowa Man laments that he can't compete with modern toys. If Cubeman is solved, Chie no wa Man punches him and cause the panels to line up. Cubeman rockets into the sky and blows up.
{{reflist}}
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