Item Get

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

You got a thiiiiing!

Cue the victory pose, the triumphant Fanfare, the dramatic camera angle. What just happened? Did the hero beat the Big Bad, rescue the Damsel in Distress and restore the Cosmic Keystone?

...No. He just got the Plot Coupon he needed for a minor Fetch Quest.

In some games, collecting items is Serious Business, with the merest trinket awarded the same dramatic significance as the hero's +10 Sword of Plot Advancement. Not all games apply this trope to such ridiculous levels - most rewards, upgrades and the like are well deserving of the fanfare they're presented with - but where else but in the wild world of video games could a boomerang, a necklace and a chicken all get exactly the same reaction from the protagonist?

Related to Mundane Made Awesome.

Examples of Item Get include:
  • The Legend of Zelda series does this a lot, so much as to hang a lampshade on it in A Link to the Past and earn a Shout-Out in the Homestar Runner game Thy Dungeonman: every time Link obtains a new weapon or item, he holds it over his head as a brief fanfare plays. Plot-relevant items get a more dramatic fanfare (and typically restore Link to full HP; hoisting divine relics can probably do that to a person). The expression on Link's face and the music tend to change based on what Link gets; if the item is crappy enough, he'll actually frown.
    • Note that this is so obligatory that Link can break the laws of physics in order to make this gesture. For example, the time he got the Zora's Sapphire. He's treading water, talking to Ruto, then suddenly he's holding his hands over his head in the traditional Item Get gesture. And his legs are slightly bent (like he's in the middle of a bicycle stroke) and not moving. Since it's a magical rock, maybe the Great Fairies just have a flair for the dramatic.
      • Ruto shows off her own take on the pose after she finds the Zora's Sapphire in Jabu Jabu's Belly.
    • A particularly funny lampshade hanging of this occurs in The Wind Waker when Link's grandmother presents him with new clothes for his birthday, which on the second playthrough are invisible (meaning you play through the game in Link's pajamas instead of the usual green tunic). Link is visibly disturbed, as he realizes that there's nothing there (maybe his grandma thought a different kind of suit would be appropriate for Link's birthday), but still can't stop himself from raising it above his head while the Item Get music plays.
      • It's followed by his grandma speaking to him some more while he's still in that pose and facing away from her; it takes a moment for him to realize it and move into a more natural position to listen.
      • Another time, when Link first meets Tingle and gets the Tingle Tuner from him, he pulls the pose and lifts the tuner above his head... while Tingle does it at the same time in the background. Tingle also does this when you have him analyze a Triforce Chart later in the game.
    • Phantom Hourglass pokes fun at it a couple of times: on one occasion Link attempts it while dizzy, resulting in a distorted version of the fanfare and Link teetering all over the place as he attempts to strike the pose; another time, the chest was already looted, and he found nothing, leading to another distorted fanfare; and on another occasion Oshus snatches the item away mid-pose, cutting off the music altogether. And then again when Link opens a Rupoor chest, resulting in a minor key fanfare and a look of dread on Link's face, as Rupoors drain Rupees instead of awarding them.
    • In Link's Awakening, there is one point where you get Marin to briefly join you. This does usually come with fanfare in RPGs, but it's usually only accompanied by a brief message saying "[name] joined your party." But no, this is a Zelda game. Link does the usual Item Get pose, complete with fanfare, as he holds Marin over his head. A pity the gameboy graphics were too primitive to show Marin's reaction to being treated like this...

"You got Marin!"

    • Lampshaded even more in Skyward Sword, when Link obtains the Sailcloth from Zelda and strikes the pose, she chastises him for being silly, and reminds him that it is meant to be a serious event.
    • It's also interrupted later. Immediately afterward, the interruption is followed by a second Item Get. Skyward Sword really drives home the lampshades.
      • As with Phantom Hourglass, Link can accidentally turn a Rupee into a Rupoor using Glittering Spores. Picking one up gives a sour version of the "Lesser Material" Item Get theme, and Link's face screams "For fuck's sake, Hylia..." when you get a close-up.
  • Star Fox Adventures followed suit in that aspect like many others.
    • To the point of parody (at least one hopes so). At one point you need to recover cogs to get a bridge to work. Most items in the game are held over Fox's head as he stares at it in awe, and the bridge cogs are no exception. Each bridge cog, as you collect them.
  • The Trope Namers, however (by way of Memetic Mutation), is the Super Mario Bros. series after the jump to 3D, specifically Super Mario Sunshine: obtaining a Shine will prompt a victory pose and dramatic fanfare along with the words "Shine Get!". The Engrish only occurs in the Japanese versions of Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy.
    • Super Mario RPG did this before the jump to 3D with Star Pieces. Subverted with the Star Piece snatched away by Axem Red just as it is about to fall into Mario's outstretched arms.
      • Super Mario Galaxy upped it with two Item Get poses; one for normal stars, and one for Grand Stars (Much larger plot coupons obtained after beating Bowser or Bowser Jr.) The sequel has no less than nine poses for every combination of Mario, Yoshi, the second player Luma, and Peach.
    • This is actually detrimental in Luigi's Mansion if you're going for a high score. Whenever Luigi picks up a more expensive piece of treasure (Jewels and diamonds as opposed to coins and bills) he'll hold it for the camera to see and an item jingle will be cued. The problem with this is that the timer for treasures to disappear will not freeze during this, meaning that if a treasure chest contains one gem and tons of coins, you'd better pick up the coins first without touching the gem (Easier said than done) or else the coins will disappear while Luigi holds the gem aloft. Made even worse in the Hidden Room, whose treasure chest contains tons of loose cash and three gems, each of which will trigger the fanfare.
  • In the Lufia games, Lufia 2 in particular had a dramatic fanfare, even if all you found was a single coin or some pocket lint. The truly amusing part was that it was a four-note fanfare, and all heralded pronouncements of what you obtained were phrased as "Got (Item Name)".
  • In the Metroid series, upgrades for Samus' suit are traditionally hidden in mysterious spheres held by the Chozo statues found in special rooms; obtaining these upgrades rewards the player with both a new ability and a dramatic fanfare. In the first game, lesser upgrades such as those for missile capacity were given the same treatment, but the later games used either a shorter fanfare or quick sound clip.
    • These fanfare sequences are actually vitally important for speedrunners, as the internal game clock in most Metroid games does not run until the player actually presses a button to continue the game.
  • Ys Book I & II gives the same dramatic fanfare for every item Adol finds in treasure chests: legendary armor, magic rings, healing herbs...
  • From the beginning, the Mega Man series has rewarded the eponymous Blue Bomber with a new weapon for every boss defeated, but starting with the second game, you were actually told what weapon you'd just earned in a brief cutscene, complete with a little animation of Mega Man turning the appropriate color. Later games also have Mega Man demonstrate the weapon's use.
    • The third game began the tradition of Mega Man jumping up to the exact center of the room after the fanfare and vacuuming up a series of energy globes from the edges of the screen, presumably the same globes emitted by the defeated boss's explosion. Mega Man's rival, Bass, invented his own style of Mega Manning: He simply fires his gun straight upward until he is engulfed in purple flame.
    • In Mega Man X 6, the weapon demonstration cutscenes include the hilarious Engrish phrase "Weapon Get!".
    • And dubbed into English in X8.
  • In Psychonauts, whenever Raz earns himself a new ability badge, the player earns a cutscene complete with dramatic music commemorating the event.
    • Let's not forget the brain kissing every time he recovers a brain of one of his peers.
  • Obtaining a Jiggy Piece in Banjo-Kazooie triggers a victory dance not dissimilar from the one featured in the Super Mario Bros. games; obtaining all the Jiggy Pieces in a world, however, sets off a slightly more over-the-top one where Banjo bows for his audience.
    • This was sadly missing in the sequel Banjo-Tooie. Collecting a Jiggy just gets a short music clip and the Jiggy floating around Banjo's head for a few seconds without even a pause in the action.
  • Devil May Cry takes this to its logical extreme, where Dante bends each of his new, sentient weapons to his will. The third game ups the ante by making each new weapon a boss fight, and the fourth features one of the most over-the-top weapon demonstrations of all time, complete with perhaps the longest-running string of Double Entendres in gaming history.
  • In the NES Dragon Quest games, when you open a treasure chest, if there's an item other than gold inside, you get "Fortune smiles upon thee, <Name>. Thou hast got the <Item>." It's cool for things like the Fighter's Ring, the Silver Harp and others that there's only one of, but for things like Torches and Herbs that are a dime a dozen by the time you get to higher levels? Yeah.

The intense Dragon Warrior 2 gaming experience is made even more exciting when the game announces you have found something. When you sneak into someone's house and open their secret treasure boxes they keep in the living room, the game screams, "Fortune smiles upon thee! Thou hast found a broken pot!" And when you find something good, the game goes into pleasure convulsions and shuts down the Nintendo in an orgasmic seizure. That's why I could never find the good sword and had to beat the game with the Battle Twig and the Saucepan Hat.

  • Flashback. Not exactly the triumphant fanfare, but little cutscene to enliven almost every non-combat action - from picking up holocube (at least it was sort of quest item) to recharging shield battery in slot machine.
  • In the first Jak and Daxter game, the titular duo does an elaborate dance every time they pick up a Power Cell.
  • Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn lacks any kind of pose, but still manages to use this trope to completely ruin the drama at the death of The Black Knight. "And now the soul that remains is once more alone..." * item get jingle*
  • In Okami, everything you pick up gets a fanfare (the awesomeness of said fanfare depending on the item you got) and a little scroll describing said item.
    • These sounds range from small success to MIRACLE which is truly an epic sound effect in itself.
  • Eternal Darkness uses a different musical sting for each location in the game for when characters acquire items (which then zoom towards the screen and rotate): Persian woodwinds in the Forbidden City, an ominous groan in Angkor Thom, a holy choir in Oublié Cathedral, and a harpsichord in the Roivas mansion.
  • In Pokémon Black and White, the player character also does this when s/he picks up an item.
    • And all the games have flash a phrase on the screen. " <name> got/found/recieved <blank> !" Or all too often in Gen 1 "No more room for items!" and you had to use/toss something or leave it behind.
  • In Shadow Man, most items that go into your inventory are located in a circular room on a pedestal. When you pick them up, the camera angle changes, a victory music plays (although this is hard to notice as it blends well with the game's normal music) and Shadow Man says "This should be useful". If the item has a special use (besides being a weapon or Plot Coupon), the item room also contains samples of the "target" that the item can be used on.
  • Golden Sun has Isaac/Jenna/Felix pull Link's pose whenever they obtain an item or when they get a new Djinn, arms above their head.
    • Matthew does it as well in "Dark Dawn".
  • Serious Sam:
    • In the First and Second Encounter, Sam always holds a quest item at the end of the level in a certain pose.
    • In Serious Sam: The Random Encounter, whenever Sam finds an item, he lifts it above his head.
  • Shantae from Shantae: Risky's Revenge makes an item holding pose when the item is important.
  • In the Final Fantasy VII prequel Crisis Core, Zack Fair does a item holding pose—complete with glowing rays and triumphant fanfare—after he molests... er, searches the Magic Pot in one of his Chocobo Mode DMW summons.
  • In Little Big Adventure the protagonist does a hilarious dance every time you find something important. He even does this during the final Cutscene in the sequel, and this time it looks a bit ridiculous.
  • Legend of Kay does this to keys. Kay holds the key over his head, fanfare plays, key is glowing, and the words "You've found a key! With it you can surely open a door somewhere!" appear on the bottom of the screen. Gets old pretty fast.
  • The Zelda-like Goof Troop Licensed Game for the SNES.
  • YOU GOT THE PUPPY!
  • Isaac in The Binding of Isaac poses with a new item, tarot card or a pill. Not recommended to pick them up during a fight.
  • In Dillons Rolling Western, Dillon does a pose whenever he finds an item in a treasure chest. If it's a piece of a Heart Container, another animation shows where he joins the pieces together.
  • In Final Fantasy, the game played a happy chime each time you found an item. One such item is a Rat's Tail, used to complete an important quest. In another case, you get a mysterious rock that helps power your flying ship. In the US version for the NES, the game could inform you that you got Floater. This could be initially puzzling, since in some parts of the US, a floater is a large, buoyant piece of feces.
  • Kick Master cut to a generic screen of the hero holding something aloft whenever he found something important.

Aversions/Subversions/Parodies

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