Excuse Plot: Difference between revisions

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[[Save the Princess]] is the most common [[Sub Trope]].

Some games may [[No Plot No Problem|not even bother with plot at all]].

Some games may [[No Plot, No Problem|not even bother with plot at all]].

Compare [[Xtreme Sport Xcuse Plot]], [[Just Here for Godzilla]]. For the porn equivalent, see [[Pizza Boy Special Delivery]]. Contrast [[Play the Game Skip The Story]], where the plot is textually deep and/or complex, but is overlooked by players all the same.

== Board Games ==

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** [[Word of God]] says that they started out wanting to do something at least somewhat serious and ''[[Fallout]]''-like, but...

* ''[[Combat Arms]]'': Virtually no plot is given, save for little blurbs on loading screens that mention why Team A and Team B are fighting.

* Most games in the ''[[Harvest Moon]]'' series. The basic plot for these games boils down to this: Friend/Relative X has died and left Player Y with Farm Z. Now go farm on it and steal the village women. The ''[[Rune Factory]]'' spinoffs vary from this slightly, where the protagonists have [[Laser Guided Amnesia]]... and therefore need to farm and kill goblins.

* Most games in the ''[[Harvest Moon]]'' series. The basic plot for these games boils down to this: Friend/Relative X has died and left Player Y with Farm Z. Now go farm on it and steal the village women. The ''[[Rune Factory]]'' spinoffs vary from this slightly, where the protagonists have [[Laser-Guided Amnesia]]... and therefore need to farm and kill goblins.

* ''[[Battlefield (Video Game)|Battlefield]] 2'' It is never stated why the war is taking place, although one map hints to it being about oil, but no info as to why the USA is fighting China too.

** Similarly, neither of the games in the ''Bad Company'' subseries offers even the slightest explanation for why the United States is at war with the Russian Federation (yes, ''[[The New Russia|Russian Federation]]'', not Soviet Union, so communism can be ruled out), much less why the latter is projecting forces all over the Western Hemisphere in the second game.

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*** The Excuse Plot for Soldier/Demoman War? Kill more of the other side so you can get the super secret extra unlockable: {{spoiler|a pair of boots that shield you from [[Rocket Jump]] damage}}. ([[In Universe]], it's because RED Demoman and BLU Soldier [[Foe Yay|became friends]] and the Administrator 1) didn't want to risk sensitive information being shared among her peons and 2) REALLY doesn't like friendships.)

** With each successive major update, the absurd, tongue-in-cheek backstory of the game has become more elaborate. It now involves attempts at achieving immortality through technological advancements, family feuds over inheritance, and a mineral element with fantastic properties capable of making Australia into the world's dominant power. That, however, is all on the TF2 website. Load up the game and it's just "Shoot everyone dressed in the other color."

* Virtually any [[Shoot Em Up]]. The best you're likely to get is "The [enemy name] is attacking [us]! Shoot anything you see!".

* Virtually any [[Shoot'Em Up]]. The best you're likely to get is "The [enemy name] is attacking [us]! Shoot anything you see!".

** ''[[Einhander]]'' has an [[Excuse Plot]] of pointless neverending war right up until the [[Wham Episode|Wham Level]]. That, at best, [[Nintendo Hard|one player in twenty survived to reach]].

** Ditto for ''[[Do Don Pachi]]''; even [[The Reveal]] is something of an excuse. [[Tropes Are Tools|Still pretty awesome though]]. {{spoiler|"See you in hell!"}} However, should be noted that ''Donpachi'' and subsequent games are a [[Deconstruction]] of this trope.

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** From ''[[Crystal Quest|Crystal Crazy]]'''s instructions: "Although it might be possible to think up some contrived scenario like you're a ship raiding somebody else's crystals while some nasties try to stop you, it wouldn't really be worth it."

** The "Lost Viking" minigame in ''[[Starcraft II]]'' parodies this trope.

* Freeware game ''PixelShips'' justifies the ''[[Pokémon]]'' [[X Meets Y|meets]] ''[[Defender]]'' gameplay with... nanotech, I think.

** Jeff Minter's ''Andes Attack'' [[All There in the Manual|justified similar gameplay]] with good aliens fleeing bad aliens by landing on Earth and living with the ancient people there. One of the aliens got bored, and used a timescoop to collect "a [[Commodore 64]] and a study Kempston joystick" from the future to play games on. [[Nice Job Breaking It Hero|Unfortunately]], the bad aliens picked up the RF transmissions from this, and attacked Earth. Plot was never important to Llamasoft games.

** Jeff Minter's ''Andes Attack'' [[All There in the Manual|justified similar gameplay]] with good aliens fleeing bad aliens by landing on Earth and living with the ancient people there. One of the aliens got bored, and used a timescoop to collect "a [[Commodore 64]] and a study Kempston joystick" from the future to play games on. [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|Unfortunately]], the bad aliens picked up the RF transmissions from this, and attacked Earth. Plot was never important to Llamasoft games.

* ''[[Katamari Damacy]]'': The [[King of All Cosmos]] went on a drunken bender and knocked all the stars out of the sky. You're his son and you have to fix it by gathering balls of roughly equivalent size and mass as replacements.

* ''[[God Hand]]'' doesn't even bother to hide how it's mainly all about beating the living hell out of thugs, demons, robots, and the occasional gorilla in a wrestling mask. The story's actually kind of neat, but it never gets in the way, serving instead to flimsily justify the next level. Even the characters [[Lampshade Hanging|joke about]] how ridiculous it is.

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** And for some reason, the creator of the genetically enhanced soldiers is not just a mad scientist, but a devil worshipper?

* ''[[Gundam|Gundam Vs. Gundam]]'' has [[G Gundam|the Devil Gundam]] come to live and take over arcade machines for games representing all of the franchise's 30-year history, forcing the characters to work together and save their virtual existences. No, really.

* The plot of ''[[Capcom vs. Whatever|Marvel vs. Capcom]]'' goes like this: [[X Men|Onslaught]] does evil things. Use characters from the [[Marvel Universe]] and [[Capcom]] to [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu|beat him]].

* The plot of ''[[Capcom vs. Whatever|Marvel vs. Capcom]]'' goes like this: [[X Men|Onslaught]] does evil things. Use characters from the [[Marvel Universe]] and [[Capcom]] to [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|beat him]].

** In ''[[Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (Video Game)|Marvel vs. Capcom 3]]'' it's basically [[Doctor Doom]] [[Villain Team Up|teaming up]] with [[Resident Evil|Wesker]] and gathering villains from both companies to take over both Worlds. That said, they are giving a little more effort than in ''2''.

** In ''[[Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (Video Game)|Marvel vs. Capcom 3]]'' it's basically [[Doctor Doom]] [[Villain Team-Up|teaming up]] with [[Resident Evil|Wesker]] and gathering villains from both companies to take over both Worlds. That said, they are giving a little more effort than in ''2''.

** ''Tatsunoko vs. Capcom'' is even worse: Characters live in TV Land. They beat up each other. The end.

*** ''Ultimate All-Stars'' elaborates a bit: {{spoiler|[[Okami|Yami]]}} pulls multiple characters from both sides into a mishmash of dimensions; They beat each other up until they realize what happened, then go to settle the matter in the final boss fight.

* The plot of ''[[Magical Battle Arena]]'' involves how all magical worlds are connected to a single magical source that lets them exist and how said source is verging on collapse, requiring the [[Big Bad]] to force several powerful magic-users of different worlds to fight one another so she can select one to act as a [[Barrier Maiden]] [[Anti Villain|and prevent the destruction of the multiverse]]. This plot, of course, only exists to justify why [[Slayers|Lina Inverse]], [[Cardcaptor Sakura (Manga)|Sakura Kinimoto]], [[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha|Nanoha Takamachi]], and several other [[Magical Girl|Magical Girls]] and female mages [[Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny|are blasting the crap out of one another]].

* The plot of ''[[Magical Battle Arena]]'' involves how all magical worlds are connected to a single magical source that lets them exist and how said source is verging on collapse, requiring the [[Big Bad]] to force several powerful magic-users of different worlds to fight one another so she can select one to act as a [[Barrier Maiden]] [[Anti-Villain|and prevent the destruction of the multiverse]]. This plot, of course, only exists to justify why [[Slayers|Lina Inverse]], [[Cardcaptor Sakura (Manga)|Sakura Kinimoto]], [[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha|Nanoha Takamachi]], and several other [[Magical Girl|Magical Girls]] and female mages [[Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny|are blasting the crap out of one another]].

* ''[[Mortal Kombat]] vs. [[DC Universe]]'': Freak accidents involving Shao Kahn and Darkseid fuse the two [[Big Bad|Big Bads]] into a Bigger Bad named Dark Kahn and consequently, cause the ''Mortal Kombat'' and DC universes to merge together. The inhabitants of both worlds believe those of the other to be invading their own and thus (surprise, surprise) [[Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny|they beat up the everloving shit out of each other]], which said Bigger Bad amplifies by infecting everyone with [[Unstoppable Rage]] because, yes, he admits to loving nothing more than the kombat when you confront him at the end.

* ''[[Super Smash Bros]]'' and it sequel ''Super Smash Bros Melee''. ''Super Smash Bros Brawl'', surprisingly has a well thought plot, however.

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* The official plot in ''[[Galaxian]]'' is "We are the Galaxians...Mission: Destroy Aliens". Most people don't even realize the game has a plot in the first place.

* ''[[Lyle in Cube Sector]]'': Your cat's been stolen. Go rescue him.

* If you want a truly ridiculous excuse plot, look no further than ''[http://www.sydlexia.com/quizanddragons.htm Quiz & Dragons]'', a two-player 1992 [[Capcom]] [[Quiz Game]] where you must save the kingdom of Capconia from the [[Big Bad]] Gordian, obviously a [[Satan]] [[Expy]], who has stolen a mystical seed and used it to enhance his [[Mooks]]' wisdom on subjects including, but not limited to, science, geography, and even ''television''! The mooks then go around [[I'm a Humanitarian|eating people]] that get their questions wrong. The sage king has no choice but to send a fighter with a [[Healing Factor]], a wizard who can change quiz categories, a [[Hot Amazon]] that can take out one or two choice answers, and a [[Instant Awesome Just Add Ninja|ninja]] that deals twice the amount of damage to take back the Wisdom Seed and save Capconia. And what do you get for saving the kingdom? {{spoiler|Your name on canned soup flavors!}}

* If you want a truly ridiculous excuse plot, look no further than ''[http://www.sydlexia.com/quizanddragons.htm Quiz & Dragons]'', a two-player 1992 [[Capcom]] [[Quiz Game]] where you must save the kingdom of Capconia from the [[Big Bad]] Gordian, obviously a [[Satan]] [[Expy]], who has stolen a mystical seed and used it to enhance his [[Mooks]]' wisdom on subjects including, but not limited to, science, geography, and even ''television''! The mooks then go around [[I'm a Humanitarian|eating people]] that get their questions wrong. The sage king has no choice but to send a fighter with a [[Healing Factor]], a wizard who can change quiz categories, a [[Hot Amazon]] that can take out one or two choice answers, and a [[Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja|ninja]] that deals twice the amount of damage to take back the Wisdom Seed and save Capconia. And what do you get for saving the kingdom? {{spoiler|Your name on canned soup flavors!}}

* ''Glider PRO'' houses rarely made an effort to provide a justification for the auto-generated opening message of [[Gotta Catch Them All|"get every star to win"]], though a few such as SpacePods tried to work in a flimsy premise. Of course, the game's engine doesn't really allow a different mode of play.

* Online Flash game ''Powerfox'' has a little "plot" window during the opening screen that explains the story: "Powerfox, you need to rescue the world!" "Yeah."

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* ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Game)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'': An evil scientist is turning cute forest animals into robots; stop him! ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Video Game)|Sonic 2]]:'' Evil scientist is doing it again; stop him, with the help of a mutant fox! ''[[Sonic 3 and Knuckles (Video Game)|Sonic 3 & Knuckles]]'': Evil scientist has duped an echidna into helping him; stop both of them!

** Apparently, the in-game plot was kept to a minimum in the Genesis games so that Sega of Japan and Sega of America would be free to make up mutually contradictory backstories, tailored to their target markets. Then came the ''[[Sonic Adventure (Video Game)|Sonic Adventure]]'' games and the addition of an actual plot to the series (and with it, the Western backstory was almost entirely rendered [[Canon Dis Continuity]]).

* ''[[Descent]]'': You are a [[AFGNCAAP|space mercenary]] who is hired by an unscrupulous space mining corporation. Apparently the AI controlling their [[Recycled in Space|space]] [[Underground Level|mines]] has [[AI Is a Crapshoot|gone rogue]] and you need to travel to each mine, destroy the robots, destroy the reactor, and [[Collapsing Lair|get out safely]]. Made even more ridiculous because the [[Super Powered Robot Meter Maids|supposed "mining robots"]] include a [[Demonic Spiders|"drilling" bot]] with an under-mounted chain gun and robots that dig with homing missiles. As the game progresses the makers lose all pretense of designing "mining" robots and explain the [[Spikes of Villainy|spike covered]] [[Charged Attack|fusion shooting]] monstrosities as a "top secret military test."

* ''[[Descent]]'': You are a [[AFGNCAAP|space mercenary]] who is hired by an unscrupulous space mining corporation. Apparently the AI controlling their [[Recycled in Space|space]] [[Underground Level|mines]] has [[AI Is a Crapshoot|gone rogue]] and you need to travel to each mine, destroy the robots, destroy the reactor, and [[Collapsing Lair|get out safely]]. Made even more ridiculous because the [[Super-Powered Robot Meter Maids|supposed "mining robots"]] include a [[Demonic Spiders|"drilling" bot]] with an under-mounted chain gun and robots that dig with homing missiles. As the game progresses the makers lose all pretense of designing "mining" robots and explain the [[Spikes of Villainy|spike covered]] [[Charged Attack|fusion shooting]] monstrosities as a "top secret military test."

** Well, the briefings do mention the designs being modified and new ones being created by the rogue AIs; take that how you will.

* The plot of ''[[Spelunky]]'' is so irrelevant, that the blurbs at the start of the game explaining said plot are randomly selected from a list.

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* The old arcade Whack-A-Mole game ''First Funky Fighter'' has a beautiful lady kidnapped as your main reason to punch suckers out of a massive bunch of wacky crocodiles and sharks!!

* This trope is one of the (many) reasons why ''Soulstorm'', the third ''[[Dawn of War]]'' expansion, is so despised. While the previous three campaigns possessed fairly intricate stories with detailed charcters (though ''Dark Crusade'' was pushing it), ''Soulstorm'''s campaign is literally "a [[Negative Space Wedgie]] attracts nearly every faction in the galaxy to a single system. They fight".

* ''[[Castle Crashers (Video Game)|Castle Crashers]]'': "Four princesses have been kidnapped! [[Colour Coded for Your Convenience|You there, color-coded knights!]] [[Save the Princess|Go rescue them!]]"

* ''[[Castle Crashers (Video Game)|Castle Crashers]]'': "Four princesses have been kidnapped! [[Colour-Coded for Your Convenience|You there, color-coded knights!]] [[Save the Princess|Go rescue them!]]"

* ''[[Fatal Racing]]'' (''Whiplash'' in the US): The top eight car manufactures hold [[Car Fu]] races every year. The winning company enjoys a massive boost in sales. Represent your company well.

* ''[[Let's Go Find El Dorado]]'' has a pioneer family decide at the last second to look for the fabled city of gold, instead of taking the [[Oregon Trail]].