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[Zakalwe]

I love when a game breaks the forth wall in an interesting way, played MGS again recently which made me think about the other games where the technique was used effectively. Ok, some of these are silly but they all have a special place in my heart.

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Sonic the speed addict

Sonic the Hedgehog was all about speed. The spiky blue bastard was absolutely freaky for the stuff. If the Mario series was a obscure public safety notice for the dangers of taking magic mushrooms, Sega's response was that addictions are fine if what you're addicted to is going as fast as you can with absolutely no concern for your psychical well-being. Press the d-pad in the desired direction and very soon the screen would blur to the point of almost absolute incomprehension. It didn't matter that you have no idea what was happening, or that you would almost always crash into something even spikier seconds later, as fast as possible was the entire point.

However, if you dared put the controller down without pausing to reach for a refreshing glass of water to sooth your wind-chapped lips, you'd be rewarded with the cheeky git flashing you a demanding glare and tapping his foot until you stopped attending to your own selfish needs and gave him his next fix of world disorientating acceleration.

Video

The X-Men lose their mojo

Coding a video game staring The X-Men should be a game designer's dream job You have dozens of super-powered heroes to choose from (main combat mechanics served on a plate!), an already established global fanbase (the game will practically sell itself!), and hundreds and hundreds of uncanny adventures already written with each of them conveniently laid out for your design team in perfect story board format! Really, what could go wrong?

Well, if you consider a game full of ridiculously annoying enemy placements, consistently frustrating platform spacing, and bosses so difficult that they make you want to exert extreme physical brutality on whatever gaming device your attempting to play the damn thing on, then the answer would be “everything”.

If that weren't enough, directly after defeating one of the game's violence inspiring muses – the level five end boss Mojo – your X-Person of choice is presented with a simple instruction “Reset the Computer” to stop an impending explosion. The next few years were spent by most young gamers searching fruitlessly for this mythical computer, never managing to progress further. As it turns out, the game was instructing you to soft reset the actual Sega Megadrive itself! Brilliant! In the pre-internet age this creative little mechanic was the cause of many hours of exasperation and inevitable psychological breakdowns, much like the brunt of the game that came before it...

The puzzle to solve in the fifth level, Mojo's Crunch, breaks the fourth wall. After you defeat the boss, Mojo, you are required to "reset the computer" to escape the level before it collapses. One problem, there is no computer to reset. The game is literally asking you to "reset" your "computer" — the Gen3esis. If you don't lightly press the reset button, but rather hold it down, then the entire game would start over.

Video
Info

Troubled anti-hero realises his life is a game

Like, not in a existential sense either dawg. Another video game action hero takes the stage, but this time one we can remember a little more fondly. Max Payne, ladies and gentlemen, the guy that let you live out your “I am Neo” fantasies of bulletime brutality better than any cash-in Matrix title ever could. Shortly after being dosed with a shot of the game's fictional narcotic, the reality bending Valkyr, Max discovers a note lying on a table that reveals the shocking truth: “You are in a graphic novel”, reads a mysterious note, and soon Max is remembering his encoutners as we've been viewing them, in comic panels and hanging speech bubbles “I was in a Graphic Novel” he exclaims as the revlation smacks him like a rolled up copy of Rob Liefield's Youngblood “It was the most horrible thing I could think of”.

Video

Playing with your sanity

The much loved Gamecube title Sanity's Requiem employed various 4th wall busting techniques. Known as 'Sanity effects' they included things like fake BSODs, the screen turning itself off, and the volume turning itself down. One of the most inventive being a cue that gave you two options: delete all save games or continue without saving, choosing either option would bring up a false message that all game saves had been deleted.

During gameplay, if your sanity meter gets low, you'll experience some audio, visual and control effects that will mess with your mind. Do not panic. These "glitches" are actually effects designers have added to drive the player crazy. As your sanity level lowers, the camera will tilt a bit and you will hear disturbing sounds. But sometimes, usually when entering a new room, you will experience these sanity effects.

Video
Blue screen of death Sanity effect: 0:35-0:45
Screen turning off: 1:13-1:20
Game save glitch: 2:20-2:58
Volume turning itself down: 3:07-3:18

The merc with a mouth uses his own brand of initiative

Anyone faimilar with the character knows that Deadpool has a habit of reaching out past the confines of the comic panel and engaging the reader with a witty remark here, and a hilarious self-referencing gag there. The guy is a pro at it, so it's only becoming that he's the proud master of one of the coolest Hypercombos in Marvel vs Capcom 3. Upon activation, he prances forward covered in floating pink hearts, jumps into the air, and takes ahold of the controlling player's health bar which he detaches from the UI and uses it to smack his opponant into submission, if that wasn't enough he then reaches behind him and grabs the hyper-combo meter itself before wielding it like a bat and hitting the other character into the sky shouting “home run!”. He finishes off this particular disregard for Diedrot's well-known concept by taunting his challenger with a little dance as he sings “This is a hyper combo!” in the most annoying voice possible.

Video

Spoiling it for everyone

A MGS parody freeware title, Merry Gear Solid 2 used similar 4th wall breaking teqniques as the game it bases itself on. For instance, a boss known as The Milkman requires you to set the clock of your PC forward 2 weeks so he spoils. and an enemy that requires you to actually move files around in the game's directory to beat him.

The first boss is a Milkman, defeating him requires the player to set thier PC clock forward 2 weeks to spoil him. The second boss is a delivery man who is against digital distribution, defeating him requires the player to drag and drop a .zip file into the game window itself.

Video

The lunatics are running the asylum

While playing a certain level of Batman Arkham Asylum, the game throws up a fake screen glitch that seems as though your monitor is failing. The game then cuts out and restarts the intro cinematic. A trick that no doubt caused many players to restart their games in frustration. Let the intro play out, however, and you see that the roles have been reversed and the Joker is now taking Batman into custody. The game continues with this retelling of the original opening sequence, and ends with the Joker shooting batman and a game over screen appearing with a false tip to "use the middle stick to dodge Joker's bullet" (the controller of course having no middle stick).

Video

They're called smart phones for a reason

A moment in the game Fez that required the player to use their smartphone to read a QR code to complete a puzzle.

Video

The wall doesn't seem so solid

The Metal Gear solid series reduced the fourth wall to rubble in many interesting ways. The boss Psycho Mantis who could move your controller with his mind (activate its rumble pack), read your memory card, and required you to plug your controller into the 2nd port to negate his mind reading ability. The game would confuse you by telling you to put your controller down and give up, or by throwing up fake 'Mission Failed' screens to get you to reset, or asking you to swap discs as part of the actual narrative. There was even a moment in the original game that had you check the back of the CD case to acquire the codec frequency you needed to contact a specific character.

Hideo


Hideo


Hideo


50 MGS secrets

Whoever said DRM couldn't immerse you?

A nes game that came bundled with a physical copy of a letter from an in game character. At one point, you were instructed to "dip the letter in water". To progress, you had to immerse the physical letter in water to reveal a hidden message containing a code required to advance. A unique form of early DRM that integrated itself with the gameplay.

A unique aspect of StarTropics was a saga involving a piece of paper, resembling parchment, that came packaged with the game. Written on it was a letter from Dr. Jones and was addressed to Mike, asking him to visit him at his laboratory on C-Island. It was as if the actual player had intercepted the message and was being invited indirectly to play the game. In later parts of the game, Mike receives an enigmatic message from his uncle through a third-party.

"Evil aliens from a distant planet...." "Tell Mike to dip my letter in water...."
Even for a player who owned an original copy and thus, was more likely to have the letter, it was unusual for a game to refer to a physical object that would otherwise just be a novelty. This prompted the player to think that Dr. Jones might be referring to an object within the game. To add to the confusion of the puzzle, putting this paper under water might damage it. Regardless, the correct course of action was to dip the physical piece of paper in water. It revealed a secret message from Dr. Jones and the number "747" that must be used in the game in order to advance.

Source

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[McDougles]

Eternal Darkness: The Entire Game.

 

[Tizoc]

Amano's endings from the Last Blade games
LB1

From LB2

 

[daviyoung]

Monkey Island II's helpline is my fav by far

 

[Revolutionary]

Came in here for X-Men Genesis.
I remember I got to Mojo, kicked his ass, and was stuck on the "reset the computer!" screen for a good 10 minutes. I felt defeated, so I got up and walked to my Genesis to reset to see if i can try something differently next run.
Reset, and the screen is filled with green lettering and followed by the next mission.
My mind was absolutely blown. Still one of my greatest gaming memories.

 

[Mexen]

Good thread, amazing choices.

 

[DoublePayje]

Sunset Overdrive, the whole game. In the end fight they even joke about NeoGAF.

 

[sn00zer]

Undertale

Spoiler

I am trying for a no kill run my first time playing the game. I accidentally end up kill the mother monster character so I quickly turned it off and reset. I start playing again, but the dialogue leading up to the fight changed, and the fight starts much faster. You then have the option of telling her "I saw you die". Once I "beat" the boss, I enter a room with a flower. The flower then ssays something along the lines of "I know you murdered her" and then goes on talking about the power of using the save.

Still playing the game and havent seen anything else like that.

 

[retroman]

I've always liked the arcade endings from Golden Axe and Altered Beast.

Golden Axe: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9jtwHBGj4ak

Altered Beast:

 

[BibiMaghoo]

MGS4 "This is good, isn't it?"

That is the greatest of all time.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

Chrono Trigger:

Spoiler

Dalton has captured your precious airship and is getting ready to take over the world. As he strikes a pose, the game starts playing Crono's Theme instead of something more villainy. So he exclaims this:

 

[Screaming Meat]

MGS4 "This is good, isn't it?"

That is the greatest of all time.

Is that a fourth wall breaking moment?

 

[TheSecondSpitter]

Splinter Cell Chaos Theory - Gordon Freeman jibe

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AyhMLeZ1-iA

 

[Look! The Pie!]

Donkey Kong Country 2:

 

[Alienous]

Gosh, that X-Men reset thing is the stuff Kojima's dreams are made of.

 

[RangerBAD]

Is that a fourth wall breaking moment?

No way.

 

[chronic_archaic]

No More Heroes ending

Funny how things change

Spoiler

when your game sells well enough to get a sequel

 

[Alienous]

Also, great post, OP.

Descriptions. Images. Videos. You're the real MVP.

 

[BatDan]

I'm surprised more games never tried the X-Men Reset trick. Probably too obtuse for a lot of people. I can't see it working now with how consoles work.

Here's a good fourth wall break. In The Wonderful 101, let time run out on Wonder-Pink's first QTE (drawing the whip).

https://youtu.be/UnDIdeYwjSE?t=52s

 

[MudoSkills]

Danganronpa does this a well. I can't remember anything specific from the first game, but the final chapter of Danganronpa 2 is very meta, and right near the start of Another Episode, a character tells you that they've taken the features away from your weapon for game balancing reasons.

 

[Brhoom]

Undertale

Spoiler

I am trying for a no kill run my first time playing the game. I accidentally end up kill the mother monster character so I quickly turned it off and reset. I start playing again, but the dialogue leading up to the fight changed, and the fight starts much faster. You then have the option of telling her "I saw you die". Once I "beat" the boss, I enter a room with a flower. The flower then ssays something along the lines of "I know you murdered her" and then goes on talking about the power of using the save.

Still playing the game and havent seen anything else like that.

This played with my head so much that I was scared.

 

[Newtype-001]

The one in MGS4 where Otacon calls you just to tell you you would have to switch discs now if it werent for blu ray PS3 lmao.
Dammit Otacon!

 

[BibiMaghoo]

Is that a fourth wall breaking moment?

Certainly, he is talking to both the player and Snake.

 

[etta]

http://youtu.be/5S9zEANWG4U
Sunset Overdrive for me. There's so many examples in that game.

 

[Funyarinpa]

999 (FULL SPOILER)

Spoiler

the screen flip in the true ending is the best plot twist in gaming of all time.

Tearaway is a game that makes the fourth wall its fucking bitch. The front Vita camera shows your face inside the sun and you're a character called You- the character you control (iota or atoi) is trying to reach you to deliver a message. The game has you tapping the rear pad to make things bounce, or dragging on it to literally poke a finger into the game and send enemies into the air. You unfold platforms for iota to walk on using the touchscreen and you can use the rear Vita camera to take pictures with the ingame camera (I think you can even use them to decorate stuff). It's an amazing game.

 

[onQ123]

Tearaway & PlayRoom basically rip the forth wall away from the start.




I played Peekaboo & waved at artificial intelligence.

 

[Roldan]

There's a part during TLoZ: Phantom Hourglass in which you find a map - similar with the one you have, but with several markings - on the wall.

Instead of having the work of replicating the markings on your map, you can simply open each map at one screen of the DS and then close the handheld. Once you open it again, the markings will be on your map, as if they were stamped from the old one.

My mind was fucking blown. Best use of the dual screens.

 

[Akuun]

Danganronpa does this a well. I can't remember anything specific from the first game, but the final chapter of Danganronpa 2 is very meta, and right near the start of Another Episode, a character tells you that they've taken the features away from your weapon for game balancing reasons.

There's an plot twist in Danganronpa 2 that does this too (Danganronpa 1 spoilers too). In

Spoiler

one of the first chapters of the game, it's revealed that everyone has had their memories wiped. Monokuma jokes that this is the sort of reveal that usually happens at the end of a story, which is exactly what happened in the first game.

999 (FULL SPOILER)

Spoiler

the screen flip in the true ending is the best plot twist in gaming of all time.

I loved that.

Spoiler

Such a simple thing, and yet it blows your mind on multiple levels. It uses the DS in a way that you've never seen before, and also perfectly drives home the fact that you're playing Junpei solving that puzzle for Akane.

 

[Funyarinpa]

Best use of the dual screens.

I see someone has not finished 999 yet.

 

[Funyarinpa]

There's an plot twist in Danganronpa 2 that does this too (Danganronpa 1 spoilers too). In

Spoiler

one of the first chapters of the game, it's revealed that everyone has had their memories wiped. Monokuma jokes that this is the sort of reveal that usually happens at the end of a story, which is exactly what happened in the first game.

In Danganronpa Another Episode (playing it right now)

Spoiler

There's also a part where Servant tells you that the reason you've always had a clear path to follow (referencing the linear gameplay) is that he was organizing everything.

 

[SJRB]

Arkham Asylum's glitch screen was incredible. Batman is under the effect of Scarecrow's Fear toxin, but the game shatters the fourth wall by making the player think his game crashed in a horrendous way.

 

[PetriP-TNT]

How about things where in gaming someone learns about fourth walls? Like this one in Deadly Premonition

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa4M7vX5gPs

 

[Cave Johnson]

Guys? 999/Virtue's Last Reward

Spoiler

The ENTIRE GAME is based on BREAKING THE 4TH WALL

 

[Wasp]

From Jak 3:

"You are still here?"

"Yeah we thought we'd hang out, catch some rays..."

"This isn't a game!"

 

[Dunkley]

No More Heroes ending

Funny how things change

Spoiler

when your game sells well enough to get a sequel

The discussion between Travis and the final boss is still gold tho.

"I can't tell you, it would only jack up the age rating of this game even further."

"What if the game gets delayed? You don't want this to become No More Heroes Forever, do you?"

 

[Screaming Meat]

Certainly, he is talking to both the player and Snake.

I don't get it. What is he saying to the player?

 

[Funyarinpa]

Did no one realize the "forth wall" typo in the title, lol

 

[Breakfast at Noon]

Arkham Asylum's glitch screen was incredible. Batman is under the effect of Scarecrow's Fear toxin, but the game shatters the fourth wall by making the player think his game crashed in a horrendous way.

Yeah he did it in the pc version of Arkham Knight as well.

poor joke i know.

 

[Coda]

Sunset Overdrive, the whole game. In the end fight they even joke about NeoGAF.

Shit that's awesome, wish I could play it.

 

[mindsale]

I hate fourth-wall breaking, it's so counter to the immersion.

My least favorite examples of fourth wall-shattering come from my two favorite games. I'm paraphrasing both so the quotes may not be exact but they're close.

The Last of Us: Joel and Ellie in Bill's Town; Ellie finds an arcade console. Joel remarks, "I never cared much for videogames."

Bioshock Infinite:

Spoiler

Within Rapture while taking the bathysphere to the lighthouse, Booker states "A city at the bottom of the ocean? Ridiculous."

 

[bosseye]

My favourite bit of 4th wall breaking in Sanity's Requiem was when a fly walks across the screen. I actually got up out of my chair to shoo it off the telly before realising I had been duped. Great game.

 

[GRaider81]

I hate fourth-wall breaking, it's so counter to the immersion.

My least favorite examples of fourth wall-shattering come from my two favorite games. I'm paraphrasing both so the quotes may not be exact but they're close.

The Last of Us: Joel and Ellie in Bill's Town; Ellie finds an arcade console. Joel remarks, "I never cared much for videogames."

Bioshock Infinite:

Spoiler

Within Rapture while taking the bathysphere to the lighthouse, Booker states "A city at the bottom of the ocean? Ridiculous."

I kind of agree with it breaking immersion especially in "serious" games but those two examples you give, I wouldn't neccesarily call them 4th wall breaking.

 

[Shinigami]

Undertale

Spoiler

I am trying for a no kill run my first time playing the game. I accidentally end up kill the mother monster character so I quickly turned it off and reset. I start playing again, but the dialogue leading up to the fight changed, and the fight starts much faster. You then have the option of telling her "I saw you die". Once I "beat" the boss, I enter a room with a flower. The flower then ssays something along the lines of "I know you murdered her" and then goes on talking about the power of using the save.

Still playing the game and havent seen anything else like that.

You're gonna have a good time. =)

 

[Newtype-001]

I hate fourth-wall breaking, it's so counter to the immersion.

My least favorite examples of fourth wall-shattering come from my two favorite games. I'm paraphrasing both so the quotes may not be exact but they're close.

The Last of Us: Joel and Ellie in Bill's Town; Ellie finds an arcade console. Joel remarks, "I never cared much for videogames."

Bioshock Infinite:

Spoiler

Within Rapture while taking the bathysphere to the lighthouse, Booker states "A city at the bottom of the ocean? Ridiculous."

im not seeing how either of those break the fourth wall.

 

[Nander]

I hate fourth-wall breaking, it's so counter to the immersion.

My least favorite examples of fourth wall-shattering come from my two favorite games. I'm paraphrasing both so the quotes may not be exact but they're close.

The Last of Us: Joel and Ellie in Bill's Town; Ellie finds an arcade console. Joel remarks, "I never cared much for videogames."

Bioshock Infinite:

Spoiler

Within Rapture while taking the bathysphere to the lighthouse, Booker states "A city at the bottom of the ocean? Ridiculous."

Metacommentary =/= breaking the 4th wall.