Excuse Plot: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

An [[Excuse Plot]] is not necessarily a poorly written, minimalistic, or stupid storyline, only one that has been written to obviously showcase something else. Beware of the [[Anthropic Principle]].

 

 

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

* The NES ''[[Mega Man (Video Game)|Mega Man]]'' games. Eventually, it became clear that Capcom was having difficulty coming up with new excuses for their latest [[Mission Pack Sequel]]. ''[[Mega Man 9 (Video Game)|Mega Man 9]]'' and ''[[Mega Man 10 (Video Game)|Mega Man 10]]'' just openly embrace this.

* ''[[Warriors Orochi]]''. The snake god Orochi has brought the warriors of Three-Kingdoms-era China and Sengoku-period Japan together in the same universe to challenge him. Sure, whatever - all we care about is getting to have the Dynasty and Samurai Warriors together at once.

** This is basically ubiquitous in shareware games, to the point where it seems like authors compete to come up with the silliest one.

* ''[[Dead or Alive]] Xtreme Beach Volleyball'' makes an attempt to justify transposing the female fighters of the ''Dead or Alive'' series into a volleyball tournament/[[Les Yay|lesbian]] [[Dating Sim|dating-simulation]]. They are tricked by one of the male fighters into visiting an island. When they discover that there will be no fighting, they put aside their mortal enmities, play volleyball and other minigames, and buy each other [[Stripperiffic|skimpy clothing]]. And then they fall for it again in the sequel.

** In ''Xtreme Beach Volleyball'', Zack (the least important character, and with no connection whatsoever to ''anyone else'' in DoA) builds an island resort with his gambling winnings. No reason given, and before you ask, he has a girlfriend now (in fact, she helped him with this project). It's eventually destroyed by a volcanic eruption. In ''Xtreme 2'', Zack discovers "the treasure of the Pharaohs", which he uses to... hire an alien spaceship to restore his resort. Again, no explanation offered by any party as to why Zack is doing this, never attempted to search for a safer location, is only interested in women he faced in a fighting tournament in the past, etc. Aaaand, it's ultimately destroyed by a second volcanic eruption, culminating in Zack plunging several hundred feet into the flames. This isn't really spoiling a damn thing here, it's really that much more more gratuitous than any softcore porn flick.

** Never mind that, how about the ''actual'' ''[[Dead or Alive]]''? Lessee...something about a dead rich guy, something about a big nasty corporation, something about French opera, something about a wrestling league, something about bioengineered life forms, something about constantly bickering ninjas...ah, screw it! Bring on the ass kicking, fanservice, and counter moves!

* The official plot for the [[FPS]] ''[[Sauerbraten]]'' is as follows: "You kill stuff. The end."

* ''[[Rayman]] Raving Rabbids'' and its sequel: I don't care if your opening cutscene ''is'' of obscenely high quality; it's still an excuse to play a bunch of random [[Mini Game|minigames]]!

** 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!".

** 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.

** All your trope are belong to ''[[Zero Wing]]''. The ending involves dancing potatoes though.

* ''[[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]].

* The plot of ''[[Ivy the Kiwi]]'' can be summed up in its entirety as "a baby bird has been separated from her mother."

* ''Night Walk'', an economic British game about walking through graveyard with zombies. The description [http://www.blisteredthumbs.net/2010/12/ashens-nightwalk/ must be seen to be believed.]

* The plot of [[Warriors of Might and Magic]] is present but extremely shady and hard to get (at least in some versions). You work your way through a series of totally unrelated dungeons (including a village inhabitated by Orcs, a golem-infested maze, a dungeon city full of goblins and minotaurs and zombies, a temple of demon worshippers and a dark temple-prison inside a volcano) in order to remove a mask. {{spoiler|Which happens at 3/4 of the game, leaving you with no reasons why to invade the temple.}}

** Blizzard DOTA, another minigame for [[Starcraft]] II, is a [[Multiplayer Online Battle Arena]] that features player-controlled hero characters from various Blizzard games fighting it out in a crossover of several franchises. The story stated in the trailer consists of some mumbo-jumbo about two gods in dire need of some entertainment who kidnap the heroes from their respective universes. The announcer in the trailer then states outright that "these heroes are forced to fight to the death in an endless battle with no purpose other than ladder points!"

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[[Category:Video Game Tropes]]

[[Category:Excuse Plot]]