Sound-Coded for Your Convenience

In video games, hearing often provides more information than in Real Life, up to the point that different objects become sound-coded.

Not to be confused with Signature Sound Effect.

Compare Variable Mix. See Color Coded for Your Convenience for the visual variant.

General

 * In most shooters (and action RPGs), enemies are sound-coded. They produce an easy recognizable array of sounds when idle, another array on spotting you and preparing for attack, third array on losing sight of you and so on.
 * Gamer lore tells of a man who once taught himself to use sound cues to beat people at an early boxing game despite being blind.
 * Similarly, the documentary about Ben Underwood, a boy who learned to use human echolocation due to being blinded at age 3, showed several scenes where he was playing one of the Game Boy Advance incarnations of Pokémon. One wonders how he remotely accomplished this due to the lack of a sufficient audio library, and if it was just a setup shot to wow viewers.
 * While he probably couldn't beat the game without help, due to all plot-relevant information being given in text, the battles have more than enough sound effects for playing without sight to be possible(see Pokemon's entry)
 * Electronic Gaming Monthly once had an article on a man who was legally blind (he could only see different brightnesses of light) and still played wrestling games. He would download FAQs, have his computer read them out so he knew the controls, and then use audio cues to locate his opponents in-game.

Action Adventure

 * In The Legend of Zelda a Link To T He Past, you'd hear a distinctive ringing noise whenever a "soldier" enemy noticed your presence. Holding out your sword and walking into walls let you "tap" them, and bombable walls would make a low, hollow sound to let you know. The "secret revealed!" jingle is practically iconic.
 * And don't forget The Legend of Zelda Links Awakening: "This compass has a new feature: a tone will tell you if a key is hidden in a room when you enter!"
 * From The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time onwards, the music changes whenever an enemy approaches. In The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess this is taken an extra step--the "enemy" music ends differently depending on whether you kill all enemies in the room or simply move out of their range.
 * In The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass and The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks the music will change if you are spotted by a phantom, and won't fade away until you make it to a safe zone and they stop looking for you.
 * ...If a Phantom spots you and if you managed to make your Tsundere Exposition Fairy, who is possessing one snap.
 * La Mulana has shell horn which, when picked up, announces when a puzzle is completed.
 * As important is the little "trap" sound, which usually means it's a good idea to turn around and run immediately. OH GODF2 0 F2 0 F2 0 F2 0 F2 0 F2 0 F2 0 F2 0
 * In the game of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, you could pretty much just rely on the sound effects to see when you were about to be blasted by a fire crab or eaten by a giant orange snail. Despite the way it sounds, these are the sorts of noises that haunt one's dreams when very young.

Adventure Game

 * In the old point and click game Pyramid: Challenge of the Pharaoh's Dream, you have to find a blind astronomer in a maze of papyrus reeds while avoiding a crocodile. You know you've gone down the right path when astronomer's cries for help get louder.
 * Jolly Rover has a puzzle where you have to listen to chanting coming from several cave mouths and have to pick the longest/fullest one. Thankfully, subtitles help.

First Person Shooter

 * MAG has a characteristic sound when you inflict a headshot.
 * In Half Life, where enemies loved to suddenly teleport to prescripted areas, the idle sounds of these enemies were played in these areas even before they started to teleport. And the teleporting itself was done with one fixed sound.
 * In Half Life 2, with its close captioning ability, distinguishing enemies becomes much easier. 'Barnacle pull', you know, 'Headcrab alert', 'Combine: chatter' and, of course, '*moan*'.
 * Half Life 2 also had a very noticeable sound warning for the poisonous headcrabs: a very loud cry that sounded like a cross between a dolphin and a rattlesnake. Since these enemies could temporarily reduce your health and make you a One-Hit-Point Wonder, this could be extremely helpful... if the aforementioned sound and the effect that their attacks caused weren't nightmare fuel.
 * The developers mentioned that playtesters tended to drop everything to focus on where that sound was coming from and kill it.
 * In Serious Sam, suicide bomb soldiers emit a continuous "aaaaarrrgh" scream when they're coming at you, allowing you to tell where they're coming from, especially if they're behind you. The distinctive whine of chainsaws tips one off to the presence of the chainsaw-wielding pumpkin-men. Pretty much every enemy makes their distinctive sounds, often from Stock Sound Effects.
 * Hilariously, you can sometimes find them idle. They mutter little "argh?"s to themselves.
 * This dates back quite a bit. Both Doom and Wolfenstein 3D have recognizable sounds for enemies. *chitter* Oh, shit, cacodemon!
 * "Schutzstaffel."
 * It also proves very useful in Wolfenstein 3D when differentiating between solid walls and secret passages that are immovable for some reason - the sound can be a little off-putting if you don't expect it.
 * In Counter-Strike, sound plays a very important role. With good headphones and good practice, one can nearly pinpoint where non-walking enemies are, and each weapon has a distinct reloading, firing, and unholstering sound.
 * It not only had the tink-tink, it had two different variations of it, depending on if the thrown grenade was a frag grenade or a flashbang.
 * Due to the general lagginess of online multiplayer, competitive shooter games tend to have some sort of noise to confirm that you've managed to land a blow against an opponent. One of the first examples was Quake III Arena, with its clown nose-like "honk".
 * Before Quake, Descent had its distinctive "clang" for damaging a player's shields. Descent III went with a softer, less distinctive "pop", which was not popular among Descent fans.
 * Halo has the additional mechanic of showing your opponent's shields go down with a distinct "pop".
 * This practice was continued with World At War, Modern Warfare 2, and Black Ops.
 * In just about every First Person Shooter gives grenades a distinct sound when they are thrown because frankly it's just not fun to die from a grenade silently rolled into your cover spot from behind. Sometimes it's a ticking noise, sometimes it's a loud pinging sound when they hit a surface (which can be particularly unrealistic, though acceptable, when it always makes the same metal-on-metal ping sound even if it lands in dirt), and a visual cue is often also added such as a light on the grenade (Half-Life 2) or an indicator on your HUD that you're within a grenade's blast radius (Call of Duty).
 * The enemies in Bio Shock usually make plenty of noise to let you know they're around. The Splicers will talk or sing to themselves, breaking into mad ranting when they actually catch sight of you and the Big Daddies make whale-like moans and ground-shuddering footsteps while the Little Sisters talk happily to them. With time, you can even learn to distinguish between Splicer-types by the sounds they make with their weapons (melee-types scrape their weapons against the ground, gun-types compulsively snap their pistol cylinders open and shut, Spider Splicers produce a metallic noise with their climbing hooks and so on). The security drones also make helpful buzzing noises as they fly around.
 * The tink-tink of a bouncing grenade is very clear and audible in Call of Duty 4, even when thrown on dirt or grass. This makes it useful to know when someone is flinging a grenade your way, as you can hear the sound before the grenade warning icon appears.
 * Set to be taken Up to Eleven inside Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad - the soundtrack, specific for Russian and German sides, is supposed to change to be more somber when your team is losing, and more grand while your team is winning!
 * In the Metroid Prime series, all the hidden powerups make a distinctive humming sound that is often the the player's first clue that there's something to find in the area. The sound's volume and stereo positioning can help narrow down its location.
 * Ditto Green Stars in Super Mario Galaxy 2. If the sound is muted, the half of the hunt is one big Guide Dang It.
 * The metroids themselves make an odd chittering sound before they attack Samus. (They didn't do this in the 2D games, but then you didn't have to worry about one sneaking up behind you and catching you unaware!)
 * Crysis has an interesting variation; the nanosuit's various states are all sound-coded in addition to color-coded, and while the sounds for strength and speed modes are close, if not identical, they're a dead giveaway that the suit isn't in armor mode. The cloaking noise is very distinct on its own. These sounds don't matter much in singleplayer, since the player, friendlies and a small number of bad guys who are usually within plain sight are the only ones in nanosuits. In multiplayer, however, everyone is wearing a nanosuit, and the sounds can be telling of what a player on the opposing team hiding behind cover may be planning or even give them away if they change modes too close to you.
 * Left 4 Dead has some very distinct noises for its special zombies. Boomers sound like someone drowning and/or vomiting, Smokers cough and hack like a...smoker, Hunters have a very distinct growl and screech, Witches will sob and whimper, while Tanks will growl and snort (and loudly smash their way towards you).
 * The four survivors also have distinctive voices, so you know exactly who is doing what when they shout something out. Every kind of special infected also has its own short musical cues, including the distinct tune of a horde swarm.
 * First Encounter Assault Recon (FEAR) has its soldiers chatter to each other on radios, a la Half Life . . . even though the plot says that they're all being controlled psychically.
 * In Team Fortress 2, sentries beep occasionally, so you can hear them before they see you, and they also have distinctive firing sounds. The spy's weapons also all have loud, distinctive sounds, which are meant to blow his cover if he's not careful.
 * There's many. MANY voice and sound effects here that can help or impede you (which all players can hear regardless of team)...
 * MEDIC! - While this DOES alert your teammates to heal you, it also alerts enemies who is an easy target...
 * SPY SAPPIN MAH SENTRY! - Either your Engie needs help, or it's time to rush in and finish the job
 * OM NOM NOM - Kill the Heavy before his sandvich can heal him!
 * The Dead Ringer has a loud, distinct decloaking noise to make up for its fake-death ability.
 * Fitting the trope more, it's possible to ferret out hiding opponents from footsteps, weapon reloads, and grunts of pain (such as fall damage or the effect of the Shiv)
 * The normally-ambient game also plays a specific musical sting that plays for dominations/revenges, and the "zooming" sound it makes as it shows the freezecam.
 * Normally if someone dies from a critical strike such as a headshot or backstab, they scream loudly and dramatically, which will alert their teammates. The new Spy knife, the Eternal Reward, has a guaranteed silent kill, so the only thing worse than hearing your Medic's death scream is not hearing him at all.
 * Most guns in Day of Defeat have their own sound, giving you some clue to what class of enemy you're facing. In particular, the Garand rifle used by the Allied riflemen makes a very distinctive sound when it ejects an empty clip - a handy clue to the other side that the soldier is out of ammo.

Hack And Slash

 * In Diablo II, most of the monsters make some periodic noise. Fallen chatter, insect-types chitter, zombies moan, skeletons shuffle, etc.
 * Further, every type of item that Randomly Drops has its own sound effect. They're pretty easy to distinguish even among similar types (i.e. a ring sounds quite different than an amulet, a spear or polearm sounds different than a javelin, etc.)
 * God Hand has this to an extent. Draw aggro from offscreen enemies and you'll hear them yell (popular phrases include "You're not Alexander!" and "Damn!"); the louder the yell, the closer they are. In addition, should an enemy become a demon, not only does the color scheme change, you hear a very distinctive hissing roar. This combines with Musical Spoiler as well, as demons have their own music.
 * No More Heroes, as a standard Beat'Em Up, doesn't really need complex audio cues (though different sets of mooks have different cries). What it does matter with are the Lovikov Balls; powerups found hidden throughout Santa Destroy that make a distinct humming sound when they're nearby.
 * Also, you'll know when Speed Buster's Wave Motion Gun is about to fire - she yells something at you. Usually it's "Fuck you!" Useful if you're in the wrong direction to see its charge-up glare.
 * In Killer 7, just about every enemy laughs when they spawn. This is useful because they're normally invisible until you press a button to scan for them.
 * Some enemies in Gauntlet Legends carry explosive barrels on their back and will rush you from offscreen when they get the chance. Fortunately they always let out an unearthly roar when they do and you'll usually have a couple seconds before impact.

Massively Multiplayer Online Games

 * World of Warcraft both uses and subverts this one. Many creatures will make a noise when they begin an attack (wolves and yeti's growl, snakes and spiders hiss, and who can forget the blood curdling MRGRGLRLGL of the Murlocs) but human enemies will not make a noise prior to the noise of their blade hitting your body. This can be particularly alarming with spellcasters, as you suddenly have five ice bolts hitting you when you thought there was only one guard attacking you. Even more nerve-wracking are the Fel Reavers, which make a loud and frightening sound even when they aren't attacking.
 * Not quite true. Even the humanoids (including humans) have a aggro noise, usually an exaggerated 'huh!' in the case of the human males. It's probably easier to pick out if you play a rogue, because that noise is the first indication that your stealth isn't working.
 * Speaking of rogues.. every Glass Cannon caster dreads the the stealthing sound, because it usually means you're about to get backstabbed. Experienced rogues can Mind Screw their opponent by intentionally walking to the edge of the caster's field of vision, triggering that sound.
 * This is done to the point that an experienced player knows, at the moment of aggro, what type of monster they've aggroed, what type of spell they are casting (if any), and even (in the case of many humanoids) the gender of their opponent.
 * There are a handful of monsters that don't make a sound. They scare the heck outta whoever they aggro onto.
 * And then there are the ones that everyone avoids specifically because of the aggro sound. Outland screaming spiders anyone?
 * Final Fantasy XI does this, and has similar sounds for when most monsters aggro... an exception is the undead Fomors and Shades, which are pretty much enemy versions of PCs. You never hear them coming until it's too late. Being undead, it adds to the creepy factor.
 * Add in the fact that they can aggro to low HP through walls and doors, and suddenly your Red Mage using Convert doesn't seem like such a good idea, and can bring your expedition through Phomiuna Aqueducts or the Sacrarium to a quick close.
 * Some missions in City of Heroes require the player to locate a certain number of items on the mission map, to investigate, confiscate, or destroy. These items are usually identifiable both by a glowing visual effect and by a distinctive sound... but since they are often hidden in out-of-the-way spots and occasionally lack the visual effect, the sound effect is generally the easiest way to locate them, resulting in the odd experience of listening for crates of drugs.
 * Individual powers often have their own sound effect patterns, and experienced players can identify Hasten or Moment Of Glory without even looking for the screen. Kinetics sound effects are, likewise, highly identifiable.
 * In Runescape, sound is the best way to play the penguin hide and seek minigame. Most players have the background noises muted nearly all the time, but the squeak-squeak noise the penguins make is too distinctive to pass up.

Platform Game

 * Psychonauts includes a money-finding item which is sound and vibration coded for your convenience.
 * It's also color coded. Go to first person view to refine the direction even more.
 * You can also rapidly tap F. The meter will go up more the closer you are.
 * Cash and some other quest-related items in ~Conker's Bad Fur Day~ will literally call out to the player ("Hey! Money over here!"). Same with for the Jinjos hollering to be rescued in the Banjo-Kazooie series. Both games were made by Rare.
 * Eversion marks where you can everse by mixing the music of the target world into the music of the current world.
 * This is actually where the concept of the game seemingly started. It was created based off of a note in H.P. Lovecraft's notebook of story ideas: "sounds - possibly musical - heard in the night from other worlds or realms of being."
 * Viewtiful Joe brings us Fire Leo (and his robotic spinoffs). The easiest way (by far) to beat him is to dodge his claw attacks. Thank you, Skull Symbols! In Ultra V-rated or when, though, the only way to tell if he's swinging high or low is to listen to how he grunts. The robots have a different two grunts.
 * Prince of Persia: Sands of Time features an ethereal, "watery" sound whenever there's a health upgrade nearby. There is also a labyrinth/door puzzle at the end that can only be solved using sound cues.
 * Donkey Kong Country: Apes hidden in barrels will give off noise to alert the player that they are nearby.

Puzzle Game

 * In the Tetris the Grand Master series, each piece has a distinct sound effect that plays whenever it is the next piece that will spawn. This becomes especially useful at higher speeds, when pieces lock sooner leaving you with less time to concentrate and glance up at the top of the screen. Additionally, whenever you are close to a level that will significantly impact the game's speed, the music will cut out and go silent until you reach that level.
 * In addition, at the end of each section, you can't advance to the next section until you clear a line, so Tetris: The Grand Master 3 added a bell that sounds at the end of the section so you know to clear a line ASAP without having to look over at the level counter.
 * In Myst, there is a device that emits a different sound based on the direction it is pointing. If you memorize these sounds, you can later use them to navigate a maze in a different age. Otherwise, or if you're deaf, you'll have to do the maze the old-fashioned way: try every path.
 * In the arcade version of Klax, each colour of tile produced their own unique sound effect as they tumbled down the play area. For example, green tiles produced a woodblock sound, yellows a cowbell sound and oranges a low "splat" sound.

Real Time Strategy

 * Similarly, Real Time Strategy games pretty much feature this as a standard feature: Each type of unit has a distinctive voice and quotes for when it's selected or given an order. Lately, units will often have specific quotes for moving, attacking, or using specific abilities. The interface itself will also usually have an announcement if enemy units attack yours or invade your base.
 * The War Craft and Starcraft series are notorious for also having "Pissed" quotes, which come in if the player clicks on a single unit several times in a row.
 * Starcraft and Starcraft II also have a unique, distinctive sound effect for every fighting unit when it attacks.
 * In Dune II, the music changes when something is happening (wormsign, base under attack etc), along with the announcer woman's voice saying "Wormsign" "our base is under attack".

Roguelike

 * Nethack doesn't let its lack of sound stop it from using this trope in the form of textual notices such as, "You hear someone cursing shoplifters.", "You hear crashing rock.", or even "You hear the roaring of an angry bear!". The source code includes hints that it'll soon be possible to go deaf.

Role Playing Game

 * In Gothic, humanoid weapon-wielding enemies invariably draw sword upon noticing you. Of course, this comes with a distinct metal sound. Animals produce some kind of roar or howl prior to attack. No creature can attack you unnoticed if you listen carefully.
 * Except for one. The Shadowbeast looks something like a giant black wolf-lion, sleeps in caves, and upon noticing the player will silently get up and sneak up on him. Generally, the first thing an inexperienced player knows about Shadowbeasts is being suddenly eaten from behind.
 * In Hellgate London, there is a kind of Leaper who produce one and the only specific roar when launching the leap. Upon hearing this, it quickly becomes a player's reflex to step aside to avoid the leap. Even if previously he had no idea that a Leaper was around.
 * Ghouls in Fallout 3 always let out a hiss before charging at you. Super Mutants also tend to shout out taunts before attacking as well.
 * All enemies in F3 make noises, although in the case of Yao Guai and deathclaws, you'll hear their heavy footsteps first. If you can actually hear their breathing noises, then you're already dead.
 * You can tell in an instant whether interplanetary travel in the first Knights of the Old Republic will have a random encounter, as the preceding cutscenes have entirely different music.
 * The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall isn't particularly difficult if you know how to prepare for what you hear. A rumbling squeak? Spider: Free Action to avoid paralysis. A shriek? Skeleton: blunt weapons work best. A raspy shriek? Vampire Ancient: Spell Reflection or Spell Absorption. A dark laugh? Daedra Lord: run like hell the other direction.
 * Arcanum's flawed combat system does not pause when an enemy spots you, so you have to listen for the combat music to cue you in with its distinctive strings intro.
 * Knights in The Nightmare has this out the freaking wazoo, almost to Stop Helping Me levels. Pretty much everything that happens on screen is commented on by the knights ("The sword attached. The duelist activated. Enemy attack!"), and given the pace of the action, this becomes a constant stream of commentary.
 * Pokémon has three sound effects to tell if a move has little (1/4 or 1/2 normal damage) effect, normal effect, or great (2x or 4x normal damage) effect . This only applies to the Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors calculation. It doesn't factor in critical hits, so you can still get the "thud" sound, but do regular damage.
 * The above mentioned example of Ben Underwood, blind since age 3 and still being able to play Pokémon games, is actually not too far-fetched. Each Pokémon has a unique cry when sent out (save for a few from the first generation that share cries due to sound limitations). Sufficiently experienced players can recognize the most common Pokémon by only their cry. Presumably, he learned to play once a sighted friend explained what the sound effects mean.
 * There's also a particular disconcerting beeping noise that lets the player know when his/her active Pokémon in battle have a low amount of Hit Points remaining.
 * Baldurs Gate: The snarls of Kobolds and Gnolls can be heard before they get within visual range.
 * Super Mario RPG has an item called the "signal ring" which, when equipped, will play a sound cue to let you know there is an invisible treasure somewhere in the room. Since it does not tell you where it is located, some of the rooms can be quite large, and at least one treasure can only be found at a particular time (you must jump off a Toad's head, and he will only be in the right place once), this can be maddening. Experienced players will no doubt have memories of jumping madly around the room every time they hear the telltale noise.
 * In Fragile Dreams Falewell Ruins Of The Moon, every type of enemy has different sound effects, that get louder the closer to the enemy you are. Particularly noticeable because there is no background music except in special circumstances. Also applies to cats, though they are not enemies. Hitting an enemy and doing damage yields a different sound effect than hitting and not doing damage, each enemy attack has a different sound effect, and there will be a sound effect if you're facing something you can interact with, like a door you can go through or an item you can pick up.
 * There's a very distinct audio cue for knowing there's a dragon nearby in Skyrim. You'll be running through the wilderness or through an open town and there will be a sort of whine off in the distance, sounding as if it was carried in on the wind. Or just that straight up roar, rush of wind and dramatic battle music.

Shoot 'Em Up

 * Geometry Wars has this as well - each enemy type has a distinct noise when it first spawns.
 * The Touhou games after Perfect Cherry Blossom have the players shots make a distinct sound if the boss they're attacking is about to deplete their life bar.

Stealth-Based Game

 * The Metal Gear series has the distinct "!" sound that lets you know when you've been spotted. Also in the game, your radio-based support mentions you can track the enemies by their sound if you have surround sound. If you don't have surround sound, they say it's perfectly alright to have cheap speakers, and it doesn't make you any less of a man.

Survival Horror

 * Enemy Zero had invisible monsters and a detector that sound-coded their position.
 * In Silent Hill one through three, the PC was given a portable radio. It emitted static noise when there were monsters nearby. And since the outdoor area of Silent Hill is covered in dense fog and the indoor areas are frequently very dark (God bless the flashlight), the noise was a much very welcomed forewarning.
 * By the way, that helped very much to scare the player at those rare moments when an enemy did not register on radio. Or when the radio decided to screw with you and go off when there aren't any enemies.
 * One of the non-enemy radio sounds(high pitched squealing, supposedly signals the increasing evil presence) is featured in one of the tracks("Over") on the soundtrack. This track also includes the sound of the drawbridge motor.
 * It's easy to know when you've killed everything in Resident Evil 4 because the music stops.
 * Not to mention the distinctive noises creatures make in later levels.
 * The wheezing, oh god the wheezing
 * Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem had sound-coding to distinguish between different kinds of monsters, and the Bonethief enemies made a distinctive sound when hit/killed. This sound-coding did not distinguish between enemy alignment, however--a Chattur'gha zombie and a Mantorok zombie make the same hitting-raw-meat-with-a-hammer sound, which can be annoying your first time in an area because some alignments are easier to kill than others.
 * Haunting Ground uses this, although it's more Sound Coded For Your Terror. When an enemy is near the music stops and your AI dog will start to growl. However, what you don't know is what direction they will come from, which can lead to your opening a door only to find the psychopath behind it.
 * Preexisting Encounters and Scripted Events aside, the random ghosts from the Fatal Frame series sometimes announce their presence by having their background music start up before they show up on-screen. It helps that all of the ghosts have their own individual songs so that you know what's coming.
 * Then there's the Carpenters from the third game. The same song is used for all of them, despite there being three different kinds of Carpenters (the weaponless Man in White, the Man in White that has the spear, and the Engraved Man).

Third Person Shooter

 * In Gears of War Multiplayer matches one learns to listen for the distinctive clanking of COG armor or the wheezing of Locust breath.
 * Gears also has your squadmates call out the names of MiniBosses ("Seeder!"; "Berserker!") as soon as you encounter them. Most of the time the soldier assigned to this task is Captain Obvious.
 * In Crackdown, the agility orbs and hidden orbs a player must find will all emit a faint humming sound if you are near one, this is especially useful in finding the hidden orbs because, well, they're generally hidden from sight pretty well. The noise they make will also get louder as you find more orbs, making it easier to find the last ones.
 * Max Payne Since you don't have a map or radar to look at, most enemies that are around corners or behind doors will be in convsation, cough, whistle, whatever to alert you to their presence. Also they generally yell something when throwing grenades or the spot one.
 * In Mass Effect 3, there are distinctive sounds for when your projectiles are landing on armored plating (no damage until destroyed) or armor (meaning the target's shields are down).

Tower Defense

 * Plants vs. Zombies: Some of the zombies have a sound cue before they enter the screen, such as Dolphin Riders, Balloons, Diggers, Pogos, Jack-in-the-Box. This lets you know that you're about to fight one, as they can be very dangerous to an unprepared player.
 * Every single Mook you face in Mini Robot Wars makes a sound cue before entering the screen, giving the player time to prepare for the next threat. Cyclers make a motorbike sound, Submarines make a sonar, the Reaper gives off an Evil Laugh. If you hear the sound of heavy metal objects clashing, get ready to face a Giant!

Turn-Based Strategy

 * When an attack does damage in Fire Emblem, it normally makes a sort of squishy "metal striking flesh" sound. When a blow is fatal, a more severe version is played, with additional sound effects for critical hits. The level up fanfare (and ensuing chiming sounds as your stats go up) is even more recognizable than in most other RPGs, as you hear much more frequently.
 * In Advance Wars, treads, wheels, aircraft, copters, and foot soldiers make different sounds when moving, making Fog of War slightly more bearable in that you can actually roughly estimate what kind of forces await you in the impeding darkness.

Visual Novel

 * In the Ace Attorney series, an incorrect objection will usually keep the same background music going. A correct one will usually halt the music so as to wind you up for whatever revelation comes next -— but it does shave off slow seconds if you’re Save Scumming through a difficult juncture.

Wide Open Sandbox

 * In Red Dead Redemption, a snarl is often the only warning you'll get of an incoming cougar attack. Not that said warning will do you any good.
 * In Famous has Dead Drops, collectible audio logs that give some background details concerning the shadowy organization called the First Sons. The drops are found inside small satellite dishes scattered around the city. Though the player has a radar function, the satellites also give off a mechanical hum, like a printing machine.
 * In Minecraft, there is a glitch where sometimes mobs can make their ambient noises upon death. Annoying because it will often cause the player to go spinning around, looking for the second enemy which isn't there.
 * Played straight with caves