Gimmick Level: Difference between revisions

 

'''Though there are innumerable ways that a level can be called a "gimmick", they generally fall into two categories:'''

 

'''Subtropes:'''

* [[Auto Scrolling]]

 

{{examples}}

** The first game, along with several genre changes, featured levels where you lost your power suit and had to crawl around as an earthworm, a level where you were in pitch blackness, and could only see the eyes of the hero and his enemies, and the first part of the final stage had you slow-fall (by using your head as a helicopter) down a long, narrow spiked chasm. The Bungee-Jumping level, and the Bathysphere portion of the Water Level border more on You-know-what.

* The ''[[Donkey Kong Country]]'' series had more and more of these as it went on. The first one had some gimmick levels, but they were mostly in the minority. The second was roughly half-and-half (half gimmick levels, half non-gimmick levels), and by the time the third came out, the non-gimmick levels were in the minority. Some of the more memorable examples are: A mostly swimming level where your left/right controls are reversed while in the water, a level with significantly decreased gravity, a level where through the entire thing an offscreen enemy is shooting at you, a [[Scrappy Level]] where lightning is constantly trying to strike you, and a level where a hungry fish is constantly following you and have to feed normal fish enemies to him to keep him from attacking.

** The [[Game Boy]] [[Gaiden Game]], ''Donkey Kong Land III'', averts this by having no gimmick levels at all, possibly due to engine limitations.

** The original had a whole ''world'' of invisible-wall stages, though only a small chunk of said stages actually had invisible walls.

* Any ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' level with bumpers and plungers (e.g. [[Sonic the Hedgehog 2|Casino Night Zone]]). ''[[Sonic Spinball]]'' excepted, of course: it featured pinball stages as its whole schtick.

** The last level of ''[[Sonic 3 and Knuckles|Sonic & Knuckles]]'' (when playing as Sonic) breaks from the standard platforming of the previous levels by having Sonic ''start off'' as the invincible Super/Hyper Sonic. This is necessary, as the whole level is spent in [[Space Zone|outer space]]; if Sonic doesn't keep collecting rings in order to stay invincible, he'll become regular Sonic again and die instantly.

** All of the ''[[Sonic Unleashed]]'' stages in the 360 and [[Play Station 3]] version that comes directly after a main daytime stage requires heavy use of one of Sonic's skills. For instance, Windmill Isle's stage tested the player's ability to use rails, Savannah Citadel's tested the Sonic Drift, Rooftop Run's tested the Homing Attack, and so forth. These were always [[Nintendo Hard]]. This would return, toned down in difficulty, in ''[[Sonic Generations]]'', and uses stage gimmicks rather than abilities.

* ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' examples:

** World 5-3 of ''[[Super Mario Bros 3]]'', also known as "[[The One With...]] Kuribo's Shoe". (There are a few more levels with the shoe that didn't make it into the final game, but [[Dummied Out|can be accessed]] through hacking.)

** ''[[Super Mario World (video game)|Super Mario World]]'' has the special level Tubular, where Mario needs to be in balloon form through the whole level or die very, very quickly. Almost all the special levels, for that matter, were this to one degree or another. Another one, say, had a water level that constantly rose and fell.

** ''[[Super Mario Sunshine]]'' had many levels in which Mario was left without the F.L.U.D.D. to navigate through them. Although if you beat them you could come back with F.L.U.D.D. for a new challenge.

** ''[[Super Mario Galaxy]]'' has several Gimmick Levels, the most recognizable ones being those involving the Wiimote's motion-sensing abilities to control different actions, like balancing Mario on top of a rolling ball, riding a [[Scrappy Level|manta ray around a course]], or using a fan to blow a bubble around an electrified maze [[Doomy Dooms of Doom|of doom]]. This makes the game better because you hardly ever do the same thing twice (though those types of levels do appear at least twice each: One where you can practice with them, and then the harder variations that appear later).

** The sequel, ''[[Super Mario Galaxy 2]]'', adds flying on a bird.

* ''[[Metro 2033]]'' has the "Child" level, where a kid is riding on your back, making your look controls drift strongly. By the way, there are ''still'' plenty of mutants around, and they ''still'' want to eat you.

* ''[[Future Wars]]'', an adventure game, ends with two lengthy arcade sequences instead of further puzzles.

* The middle section of ''[[Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade]]'' [[Licensed Game]] is a series of boxing matches. However, these can be bypassed in a few ways, one of which was the source of the "I'm selling fine leather jackets." line used in many later Lucas Arts games.

** A level with a first half where you can't stop running and its second half where the controls are reversed.

** There is, in addition, the level with the clearly evil clone that followed your every move several seconds behind.

* While most [[World of Warcraft]] bosses have somewhat unique combination of abilities very few manage to get to the level of "gimmicky". The list for Wrath of The Lich King:

** Heigan the Unclean - "Heigan's dance" - you have to move around the room in the fixed pattern to avoid getting one-shotted by flames.

** [[Tank Goodness|Flame Leviathan]] - get on various tanks and battle a really huge tank.

** [[Eldritch Abomination|Yogg-Saron]] - steadily decreasing sanity level and the need to refresh it or kill him before it runs out.

** Valithria Dreamwalker - you have to deal with numerous mooks while ''healing'' her (with massive buffs for your healers).

* ''[[Tron 2.0]]'' had lightcycle races in a few parts of the game. Then again, [[Justified Trope|they were in the movie]].

* The inverted floating castle in ''[[Final Fantasy IX]]'', where the only weapons that do any real damage are the ones each character starts out with.

* Every single level in ''[[Braid]]''.

* The level "We Don't Go To Ravenholm..." from ''[[Half-Life]] 2''. Designed primarily to show off your shiny new [[Wreaking Havok|Gravity Gun]] (though it's also a pretty good [[Survival Horror]]-style level). There's even an achievement for beating it using nothing but the Gravity Gun.

* ''[[Wario Land]]'' has quite a few of these in the series, with most of the levels in general introducing a new gimmick needed to proceed. Such as the board game and casino levels in Wario Land 4 and Shake Dimension, and also Launchpad Labyrinth in said Shake Dimension game.

* Supported with some justification in ''Total Overdose'''s technique sidequests. Many of them underscore a technique that's available through the entire game but not necessarily obvious to the player, and by training it through the challenge, the player can incorporate it into story stage environments for more effective combat and better score. Example: Fly on the Wall Challenge requires the player to get X number of headshots while flipping sideways upside down through the air within Y number of minutes, while crowds of thugs storm from either direction of a narrow courtyard. The only way to achieve gold standard on this is to become proficient at sideways walking up a wall, leaping off of it and aiming. This is an enormously powerful offensive and defensive maneuver best learned before the heat of later missions is turned up (plus it's style amplified.)

** "Toy Hunter" has you turn into Cork, the main character of the (fictional) Toy Hunter franchise, and follow his latest adventure by uncovering "story elements" dotted throughout the stage.

* ''[[Hotel Mario]]'' had these in every hotel, with Mario and Luigi having to [[Viewers are Morons|point them out]] in each of the introduction scenes for the hotels. Of course, the elevators have a habit of switching directions on you in later levels.

* ''[[Doom]] 2'' had a level that punished you if you stuck around to fight the demons. Moments after the level started, there began a chain reaction of explosive barrels which would kill you if you didn't run straight for the exit.

* ''[[The Immortal]]'' had a level with flame jets emerging from the floor and fireballs shooting from the walls - all relatively easy to avoid on foot - but you couldn't traverse the level on foot. The floor was infested with giant sandworms, so you had to fly on an insanely difficult to control [[Flying Carpet]].

* Pretty much the point of the classic platformer ''[[Jumpman]]'' and ''[[Jump Man Junior]]'' - every single level would have a unique gimmick for you to deal with, from floating platforms to invisible floors to moving bombs to an alien invasion. At least one remake [[Completely Missed The Point]] by turning all the gimmicks into stock objects so they could be reused.

* Every single level of ''[[Psychonauts]]''. And except for [[That One Level]], it's ''awesome''.

* ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' on the SNES was mainly regular platform levels of one sort of another, but halfway through the game it had an American-style football stage where you had to run, jump and tackle your way with the ball to the goal line within the time limit.

** There was also a Tiny Toons sports game on Genesis where each level had a different gimmick. Besides a basic gym, there was a field with spots where the characters could trip, Monty's house would have vehicles hit you, etc.

* ''[[Jett Rocket]]'' has the Jett Ride level, which takes place on a wave racer course filled with mines. It's also the only non-glitch place in the game you can get the "Speed Run" award, with [[Dungeon Bypass|a little trickery.]]

* [[Spyro the Dragon]] features this in the form of "Speedway" levels.

* This turns up fairly frequently in the main ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]]'' series.

** In ''[[Mega Man 1]]'', Guts Man's level is almost entirely moving platforms that will drop you off at certain points.

* The final case of the first ''[[Phoenix Wright]]'' game is a bonus stage of sorts; it wasn't included in the original [[Game Boy Advance]] version. When [[Ace Attorney]] was planned to be re-released for the [[Nintendo DS]], the fifth case was added and it had many new features. For example, players can now dust for prints and closely examine evidence.

* ''[[Conkers Bad Fur Day]]'' has several parts with their own unique gameplay, including riding a pitchfork, driving a hover bike in a race, riding a dinosaur in a boss battle, fighting a Dracula-inspired boss while turned into a bat, etc.

 

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[[Category:Video Game Settings]]