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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|Are you, are you ''[[Violation of Common Sense|scanning me in]] [[Free-Fall Fight|freefall now?]]'' How do you even do that?! What are you, ''[[Talking Is a Free Action|readin'?!]]''
|'''Ridley''', [[Slowbeef]]'s [[Let's Play]] of ''[[Metroid Prime]] 3''}}
An item, ability, or spell that when used provides the player with otherwise hidden information about the current enemy. This will often reveal the enemy's [[Hit Points]], [[Mana Meter]], attacks, [[Achilles' Heel|weaknesses]] (in [[RPG
Some games feature a [[Monster Compendium|Monster Encyclopedia]] of sorts that may be filled if the player wants [[
This may [[Contractual Boss Immunity|or may not work on bosses]], especially the [[Final Boss]]. But it usually does work on [[Helpful Mook
Can become a [[Useless Useful Spell]] if it can only scan weak enemies you don't need to know much about to defeat.
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==▼
▲== Anime and Manga ==
* Chopper in ''[[
* The various incarnations of the ''[[Digimon]]'' franchise have the Digimon Analyzer, always presented in a different form. In ''[[Digimon Adventure
▲* The Pokédex in the ''[[Pokémon (Anime)|Pokémon]]'' anime.
* ''[[
▲* Chopper in ''[[One Piece (Manga)|One Piece]]'' is capable of doing this in his intelligence oriented form, Brain Point, while under the effects of a Rumble Ball.
▲* The various incarnations of the ''[[Digimon]]'' franchise have the Digimon Analyzer, always presented in a different form. In ''[[Digimon Adventure (Anime)|Adventure]]'' and ''[[Digimon Adventure 02 (Anime)|02]]'' it was ostensibly a program on Koushiro's laptop, ''[[Digimon Tamers|Tamers]]'' and ''[[Digimon Frontier (Anime)|Frontier]]'' relegated the roles to the kids' Digivices, and the ''[[Digimon Savers|Savers]]'' incarnation seems to have given the role to Miki and Megumi's computers at DATS HQ or Touma's laptop.
▲* ''[[Dragonball]] Z'' features "Scouters", special devices worn over the eyes which can measure the [[Power Levels]] of enemies.
** And a nasty habit of exploding.
* Guy from ''[[
* One of Nijima's 'evil alien/demon/whatever' powers in ''[[Kenichi:
* In ''[[
** But more importantly [[Power Perversion Potential|bust, waist, and hip measurements.]]
* The R.E.A.D. software installed into the cellphones of the ''[[
== Live Action TV ==▼
* ''[[Airwolf]]'' features a similar system, which shows a line drawing of the attacking aircraft (or ship) with basic info on its weapons. As it finds the info, images of other aircraft are seen in a "searching display", including the Tu-95 "Bear" and the Tu-22M "Backfire".
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Dungeons
▲* [[Dungeons and Dragons]] 4th edition even has an item called the "Goggles of Aura Sight" which tells you how many HP the monster has, and any diseases or disease causing effects on him.
** In at least some of the editions there are the knowledge skills, some of which will tell you information about a creature you encounter upon a successful roll. How much info depends on the roll.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* The Scan/Libra ability in ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' tends to reveal an enemy's current health and elemental weaknesses, among others. Depending on the incarnation, you may have access to this information for the rest of the battle.
** A boss from ''[[
** ''[[
*** Also after casting Libra/using a picture book on an enemy, from that point all enemies of the same type have their current HP displayed.
** ''[[
*** Or just use a Geomancer.
** ''[[Final Fantasy X
** ''[[
** Libra is a tech point consuming ability in ''[[
*** A Librascope is a one use item (that doesn't consume TP) that's equivalent to casting Libra on every enemy in the battle, ''twice'' (which is how many uses of Libra it takes to build a complete profile on a enemy). For most mooks, you can skip the scans (good advice given that Librascopes are rare/expensive (and gil is rarely found unless you farm items, anyway) and TP requires fighting to earn) and just fight them: Any immune or absorbed elements are instantly noted after they're used, and you can get a full profile after killing four or five of the mook in question.
** Libra is also vital in ''[[
** ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics
* Jeff's Spy ability in ''[[
** Its predecessor ''[[MOTHER]]'' had Check, which worked the same, but could be used by anyone and also provided a comment about the enemy.
** Likewise, Boney in ''[[
* Spectacles/Magic Lenses in the ''[[Star Ocean]]'' series.
* ''[[
* The Tattle ability in the ''[[Paper Mario (
** In ''[[
* Mallow's Psychopath ability in ''[[
* Navi in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
* The Analyze spell in ''Secret of Mana''. It could even be used on [[Randomly Drops|randomly-dropped]] treasure chests to test for traps.
* ''[[Star Wars]]: [[Jedi Academy]]'' had Force Sense, which in single-player mode showed not only enemy health, but also highlighted enemies, equipment, invisible symbols, and other useful tidbits, even through walls.
* The Scan Visor in the ''[[Metroid Prime]]'' games (although it can also be used on objects). You were actively encouraged to scan literally everything you came across, especially since scans count toward [[
** In ''Metroid Prime 3'', this is a very important method of acquiring tokens to unlock additional goodies, each new enemy scan and lore scans (of certain objects that record the history of the various places within the game) awards a red or blue credit respectively
** This is played with in the last level of the series: {{spoiler|when you arrive on the planet Phaaze, your Scan Visor is unable to analyze any of the planet's natural lifeforms. It flat-out admits that it has no idea what anything on Phaaze is. For a feature that's been giving you full-length essays on everything for three games, this is actually quite chilling.}}
* ''Angband'' has the "Probing" ability, which gives the current hit-point total of monsters; in some variants it also gives information about resistances, vulnerabilities, and attacks.
* ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' has a version of this that's more useful than normal, mostly because it's [[Talking Is a Free Action|on/off]] rather than take a turn to use it once.
** Much more useful than you think at first. Unlike most
* ''[[
** [[
* In ''[[Sly Cooper]] and the Thievius Raccoonus'', the Binoc-u-com can be upgraded to provide an
* As in the anime (see above), the Pokédex in the ''[[Pokémon]]'' games acts as this, with varied usefulness. A prominent use for it is to see where one could catch some of the rarer Pokémon.
** In terms of actual battle mechanics, Pokémon with the ability Frisk will reveal the opponent's held item, and the abilities Anticipation and Forewarn can give clues on the opponent's moves.
* ''[[X-COM]]: Enemy Unknown'' had a device that allowed one to read the stats of detected aliens, particularly useful for tracking down an enemy officer to know who to stun for interrogation and who you could just blow away
* The ''[[Fallout]]'' games had the Awareness perk, a useful trick that allowed you to know how many hit points a person had left, their status (crippled limbs, blinded, etc.), and what weapons they were carrying.
* Once you obtain the camera in ''[[
* The stethoscope in ''[[Nethack]]'' allows you to determine the [[Hit Points]], [[Character Alignment|alignment]] and speed of an adjacent monster.
** Wand of Probing does the same, also telling the monster's inventory, if it has any.
** Magicbane has a probing ability, too.
** And you can target the stethoscope at yourself, which is one of the easiest ways to find out your own alignment (you need it to be above a certain value before more plot happens).
* The Analyze Monster spell in ''[[Might and Magic]]'' does precisely that. As I recall, [[Bards Tale]] and [[
* ''[[Might and Magic]] VI'' had a the Horn of Ros, a very difficult to find item that showed the exact number of hit points enemies have instead of the usual health bar. Later games had the Identify Monster skill, which at high skill levels would show all the enemy's stats, including resistances (useful since many enemies are resistant to specific schools of magic).
* In ''[[
** The magic lenses were also in other games in the ''[[Tales
*** In ''[[
* The Scan spirit command in ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' lets you see an enemy unit's statistics and only costs 1 SP to use, but since you can see the exact same information after you've traded blows with the enemy once, it's generally not worth it.
** Later games make it more useful by also decreasing the enemy accuracy by 10% for one turn.
* Enemy scanning is an important part of ''[[
** ''[[
** [[Mission Control|Fuuka]]: Give me a sec, I'll scan the target.
* As the only ''medical'' doctor of the 3 doctorates in ''[[Eternal Darkness]]'', Max Roivas can autopsy the corpses of his foes if he gets to them before they dissolve. This is mostly for the fun of listening to his ramblings later on, though; you can usually figure out the enemy weaknesses yourself.
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** Also works on druids that are shapeshifted into animal form. They are not tameable.
* The power Surveillance from ''[[City of Villains]]'' and ''[[City of Heroes]]'', which not only lowers the defense and resistance of a single target, but allows you to see the scanned enemy's "real numbers".
* ''[[
* ''[[Wild
* ''[[Blue Dragon]]'' has a magic book which lets you do this. Surprisingly, it's often the best (or only) way to find out the boss's weakness.
* ''[[Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al
* Tohsaka gives Shirou an unnamed book in ''[[Fate/stay
* The PKE Meter and [[Goggles Do Something Unusual|Ecto Goggles]] in the modern ''[[Ghostbusters]]'' video games have this feature. The more thoroughly you scan a ghost, cursed artifact, spectral emanation, or any other from an assortment of supernatural entities, the more gameplay hints and quirky trivia you will discover in the [[Tome of Eldritch Lore|Tobin's Spirit Guide]].
* ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]'' has the Dwarvish War outfit, with a hat (displays attack in runes corresponding to numbers in base 7), kilt (has blinking lights that correspond to defense in base 7), and mattock (displays HP by displaying brightness, one level for each 7 HP they have left). They also have the Detective skull offhand item which gives a good estimate of HP.
* The VGA remake of ''[[Quest for Glory]] 2'' adds a completely new side-quest which rewards you with a logbook. This logbook records combat information about the various monsters you meet in the game.
* ''[[Parasite Eve]]'' had [[Exactly What It Says
* While regular enemies had no HP bars to scan, bosses in ''[[Star Fox 64]]'' would automatically have the HP displayed as long as Slippy was present. Well, except for the Star Wolf team, the Bolse reactor core, the Copperhead missiles, and the Saucerer, considering that the core still eventually appears even if you never shoot the hatches and one bomb is enough to obliterate the core. Come to think of it, with the usual handling of boss battles that consist of multiple enemies, it's a wonder that the gauge appeared for the Shogun Warriors that make up the first half of the Sector Y boss battle.
* ''[[Raptor: Call of the Shadows|Raptor : Call Of The Shadows]]'' had a powerup which reveals the remaining health of bosses.
* In ''Lords Of Magic'', each faith has a spell to detect the opposite faith's units. (This is also a kind of [[Aura Vision]])
* In ''[[Dubloon]]'', [[Team Pet|Ricky]] begins with "Identify" move which lets him see enemies stats and weaknesses. Later, there's a spyglass item which, when used in battle, reveals all enemy weaknesses at once.
* ''[[Maple Story]]'', with its love of [[Level Grinding]], allows you to "scan" monsters by killing them and having them [[Randomly Drops|randomly drop]] a card that, when picked up, will place some information into the Monster Book. Of course, the game doesn't give you all the info at once. You have to pick up ''five'' of the cards to get all the info about them, but some of the info is very useful, like where the monsters spawn and what they drop.
* In ''[[Endless Ocean]]'', you do this with your hands by <s>groping</s> interacting with the various sea life (and other animals on the deck of your boat). Your reward for doing this, and the major point of the game, is an encyclopedia filled with interesting facts about the various species you've found.
* ''[[
* ''[[Resonance of Fate]]'' has an item named "Clairvoyance" that you ''throw'' at an enemy and it allows you to see its details...somehow.
* ''[[
* The magic ring in ''[[The Adventures of Robin Hood (
* ''[[Ancient Domains of Mystery]]'' has stethoscopes, which can be used on enemies to measure various stats. [[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything|Doesn't work on undead and constructs, because they're not alive.]]
* ''[[Desire Dungeon]]'' has the Wild Sense skill, gained by defeating the Werewolf. It is a passive skill that causes the enemy's HP and MP to always be displayed.
* This is a vital skill in ''[[Lust Grimm]]'', allowing you to view an enemy's stats, elemental weaknesses and resistances, drops, special abilities and profile.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Fishlegs develops (or already has) this skill in ''[[How to Train Your Dragon (
** He's actually the resident dragon geek; he's not coming up with this stuff [[Sherlock Scan|with but the merest glance]], he's reciting from memory something he taught himself by rote years ago. Notice that he's less definite regarding the Red Death; they've never even heard of this thing before, so the best he can do is hazard an educated guess based on what the Vikings collectively know about the dragons they have encountered.
== [[Real Life]] ==
* Technology is under development that will use radar to recognize specific types of weapons concealed on a person.
* Google's Project Glass is attempting to create this for real life by linking live recorded images to information about them on the internet.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Videogame Effects and Spells]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Sensory Tropes]]
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