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Loading Screen (view source)

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** ''Tiberian Sun'' had a loading screen with other messages, such as "analysing battlefield topography" which meant loading the map and "trying to anticipate enemy tactics" which meant initializing the computer AI.
** The Loading Screen in ''Generals'' also doubled as the mission briefing screen.
* ''[[Wing Commander (Videovideo Gamegame)|Wing Commander]] III'' used the power-up sequence checklist for your fighter, when waiting for the mission information to load. For those playing on PCs of the time (1994), this was often a signal to go for a drink, or use the bathroom, while waiting for [[Loads and Loads of Loading]] to finish.
* The ''[[Jak and Daxter]]'' games had pseudo-airlocks when leaving the city.
** The first one had no loading whatsoever, except for a few extremely short, easily-missable pauses before cutscenes.
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** Gets [[Egregious]] when loading ''Tools of Destruction''. You see Ratchet's ship zoom through a wormhole [[Loads and Loads of Loading|ten to fifteen times.]]
* ''[[Assassin's Creed]]'' had you control the character in mist trying to sync to your ancestor while loading. You could use this time to test out the controls, or just walk menacingly into the camera. During these mist sequences (either the interactive one, or the simpler Animus logo one), useful hints would be read out to you by the computer.
* ''[[Portal (Video Gameseries)|Portal]]'' has the elevators between test chambers.
* Any time you switch the time of day in a town or Entrance Stage in the Xbox 360 version of ''[[Sonic Unleashed]]'', the loading screen to form the new area takes on the image of Sonic switching his current form.
** For the [[PSPlay Station 3]], it was turned into a medallion (same one as in the hourglasses) switching between its sun and moon sides.
* ''[[Hostile Waters]]'' shows its pre-mission loading screens as the Antaeus' current position as it closes on another island in the chicane.
* Lampshaded in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess]]'', when Link visits the fortune teller in Castle Town. As she looks into the crystal ball, she chants, "Elihwa sekat gnidaol... tiaw..." (Try reading it backwards.)
* The single-player campaign in ''[[The Conduit]]'' displayed a transcript of the current briefing with your [[Voice Withwith an Internet Connection]] before each stage, accompanied by a [[Viewer-Friendly Interface]] and wireframe fly-by of the next level.
* ''[[Kane and Lynch]] 2: Dog Days'' retains its digital camcorder-based [[Stylistic Suck]] even while loading, replacing the traditional loading screen with the "Buffering" animation found in [[YouTube]] videos. Both games in the series also include short snippets of dialogue to help advance the plot between missions.
 
 
== Examples of disguised Loading Screens ==
* ''[[SSX (Video Game)|SSX]] 3'' generally streamed the levels, but when using one of the transport options the game would display a looping animation of your character chilling in the ski lift or helicopter while the game loads the new area.
* The early ''[[Resident Evil]]'' games showed an animation of a door opening every time you entered a new room in order to disguise the loading time.
** Interestingly, when they made the remake for the Gamecube the developers were able to all but eliminate loading times. Playtesters reported that moving from room to room so seamlessly felt unnatural, so the "door opening" sequences were added back in to ''extend'' the (perceived) loading times. However, when a Door gets destroyed you can just go straight from one room into another.
** With the DS port of the first game, those were just made optional.
** [[Batman: Arkham Asylum]] uses a similar trick. The game also adapts the length of the opening animation to the loading time required: a high-security door may spend some time scanning you and slowly unbolting, or it might open instantly if the level behind it is already loaded.
* When the player picks a stage in ''[[Super Mario Galaxy (Video Game)|Super Mario Galaxy]]'' for Wii, the game shows an animation of Mario blasting off toward the stage.
** However, this animation does ''not'' mask a loading screen - it plays before the "star select" screen, and the Gateway Galaxy doesn't have the animation playing. However, the transition between the Observatory and the Domes, and the short white screen when entering galaxies ''are'' masking loading. Thankfully, they're extremely short.
* ''[[Call of Duty]] 4: [[Modern Warfare]]'' and later have a rather elegant way of disguising load screens by playing the mission briefing cutscene during said loads, though there is a small bar that fills up and the cutscene can be skipped once the load is complete.
** ''[[Unreal Tournament III (Video Game)3|Unreal Tournament III]]'' did the same.
* ''[[Metroid Prime]]'' sticks with the series staple of shooting doors to "de-energize" the locks on them. How much time passes between de-energization and when the door opens generally varies depending on how big the next room is (i.e. how much there is to load).
* The first time you pop the ''Tony Hawk's Project 8'' disc in your PS3, you're treated to a long intro movie you can't skip, while the game installs 230 megabytes of data to your hard disk.
* Between levels, ''[[Advent Rising]]'' treats you to in-game cutscenes that can only be skipped once the next level has finished loading. These cutscenes range from plot-moving action and conversation to long, pointless shots of gunfights and general destruction.
* In the Dreamcast Version of ''[[Sonic Adventure (Video Game)|Sonic Adventure]]'', the cutscenes played while the next part loaded.
* ''Tombi 2'' showed Tombi walking down a long tunnel.
* In the [[Nintendo Wii]] and [[Play Station 2]] versions of ''[[Star Wars: theThe Force Unleashed]]'', the loading screen for each level is a cockpit view through hyperspace, ostensibly what the characters see as they fly to their next destination.
* ''God Of War'' and it's sequels used this. Run into a long stretch of land, a lengthy staircase, or a wall that has to be climbed? The next section loads as you cross the area. It is possible to hit a "Now Loading" message, but you have to be really fast, or have a defective [[PSPlay Station 2]].
* Expanding on their use in menu backdrops as well, ''[[Rock Band|Rock Band 3]]'' uses themed cutscenes using the active band's characters on loading screens. These include, among other things; things being set up for a show (for going into a song), travelling or eating somewhere (for going into song selection or after the results, or going into the character editor), digging through records (for the music store), or going to the band's "meeting place" (for the training modes and statistics)
** However, in some cases, especially on the "music video" venues and during online play, you'll still get a loading throbber.
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** It is to note that the information texts would often be direct extracts from the VTM Corebook, as well as somewhat "evolving", meaning that, while you were doing generic stuff while travelling the streets, you would get generic info during loading screens like background about the vampiric condition, but if you were e.g. about to encounter vampires of clans that you have not yet met, it would show information about the respective clan.
* ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'' and ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'' also display both background universe information and gameplay tips.
* All games using the Infinity Engine (the ''[[BaldursBaldur's Gate]]'' and ''[[Icewind Dale]]'' series, as well as ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'') have gameplay tips on their loading screens.
* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' displays gameplay tips on loading screens when starting the game and changing continents. There's also loading screens while going into instances.
** '''[[War CraftWarcraft|WarcraftIII]]'' had a loading screen that, in story mode, displayed a general map placing the battlefield(and the location of previous missions, if they were on the same map), the number and name of the mission as well as information on the background of the mission; multiplayers maps didn't always use any of this to any real potential.
* ''[[World in Conflict]]'' goes further; the backstory of the missions are acted out in the load screens. Very professional.
* ''[[Heroes of Might and Magic V]]'' explains the basic plot of the mission in the loading screen. In the latest expansion, voice-acting is also provided.
* ''[[Team Fortress 2 (Video Game)|Team Fortress 2]]'' brings up your "Progress Record'' sheet, detailing your playtime and best efforts with each class, as well as a random tip during loading screens.
* The ''[[Guitar Hero]]'' and ''[[Rock Band]]'' series include either general jokes about the music industry, band stereotypes, or factoids about the band whose song you are about to play.
** However, when you try to play [[That One Boss|"Through the Fire and Flames"]] on expert in ''[[Guitar Hero]] III'', the only message the loading screen displays is ''[[This Is Gonna Suck|"Good Luck."]]''
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*** Painfully, it only stores one act at a time on the drive. Ouch.
*** Only for when you first play the game are the loading times twenty minutes long. Subsequent playthroughs are barely a minute or two long. Something obviously stays installed.
* ''[[Star Wars: Dark Forces Saga (Video Game)|Jedi Knight]]'' had the mission's overall objective appear on the loading screen. On new computers reading these are impossible as loading is very quick.
** ''Jedi Outcast'' would show you your stats for the level you had just finished, while ''Jedi Academy'' would show you the objectives for the mission you're loading and what weapons you decided to take with you.
* ''[[Bio ShockBioshock]]'''s loading screens included a combination of ominous/interesting excerpts from the game's audio-diaries and gameplay tips.
** In ''Bioshock 2'' it's even better,as during loading you can hear golden oldies being played.
* In addition to being disguised loading screens, the elevator sequences in ''[[Mass Effect]]'' often give world-building information either through on-board announcements or in conversations between your teammates.
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* ''[[Dawn of War]] 2'' displays hints when loading a multiplayer game. Some tongue-in-cheek, some really, really helpful. Single-player loading screens had informations about game concepts or characters.
** Indeed, ''Dark Crusade'' used loading screens for "special" missions (the ones that earned the commander unique assets and the enemy strongholds) to provide background information about the nature of the trophy he was about to fight for or to outline the enemy's disposition.
* The second two ''[[Xenosaga (Video Game)|Xenosaga]]'' games as well as ''[[Rogue Galaxy]]'' feature a "story up till now" screen when loading from a saved game.
* ''[[Naruto]]: Ultimate Ninja'' shows a few things during loading screens, such as Lee doing push-ups, Gamakichi hopping, and Tayuya playing a flute.
* ''Toontown Online'' has a so-called "ToonTip" on each of its loading screens. Usually, the tip is related to the area you're in, such as a racing tip at Goofy Speedway or a general gameplay tip when entering the game (which itself is a longer loading screen that always pauses 2/3 of the way through after a constant rate of movement for the load bar, and then finishes loading, followed by ANOTHER load screen for the place you're going to.)
* After hitting the X button to start loading a level in ''[[Little Big Planet]]'' (Story, Create Mode or otherwise), the screen shows information about the level on the "Pod Computer" screen. You can move the left stick to change windows between level information, items collected in the level, and popularity and tags (if an online level), with your Sackperson moving the Pod Computer (which is pretty much a [[PSPlay Station 3]] controller) controls the same way. Also part of the loading is the word "Loading..." slowly rotating around the level icon on the planet or moon, and a running, monochromatic Sackboy with two arrows circling him in the lower left-hand corner. Unlike in most games, the loading can be cancelled mid-load by pressing the Circle button. (Sackboy only touches the buttons to load a level or cancel a load. But he always moves the analog sticks in response to the player's controller.) When the loading is done, the level icon literally "unzips" around the edge and the camera goes into it, with a white light followed by Sackboy popping out of the Entry Barrel in said level. Returning to the Pod from a level doesn't take as long to load, but the camera still does the white-light thing.
** The "Loading Sackboy" animation sometimes is switched out for a spinning globe inside the arrows when transferring data to or from the online servers. Frequently appears while playing with other players online, even mid-level.
* ''Star Wars: Empire at War'' and its Expansion give information on whichever planet (or asteroid field in one case, planetary debris in another case in the expansion), including planetary bonus', advantages, some background info, a preview of the battlefield, the planetary conditions, and the name of the predominate species(s), with a picture if that planet has militia.
* ''[[Madden NFL (Video Game)|Madden NFL]]'', at least in the recent games, gives player tips while the screen is loading.
** Until ''Madden 10'', which just advertises Snickers at you.
* ''[[Backyard Sports|Backyard Football 2006]]'' put NFL trivia in the loading screen (probably as an attempt to spoof Madden).
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* Loading screens before multiplayer matches in ''[[The Conduit]]'' display a screen of the current match settings, along with information text and trivia about the game's various weapons.
* In ''[[Overlord II]]'', Gnarl will provide either gameplay help of odd bits of advice (like "Don't bring a succubus home to meet your mother.")
* The [[Loads and Loads of Loading|atrocious loading screens]] in ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 (Videovideo Gamegame)|Sonic the Hedgehog 2006]]'' provide a "helpful" map of the area that is loading, or else remind you what buttons to press during gameplay to perform certain tasks.
* [[The Darkness]] uses loading screens to show monologues from the lead character which further the plot.
* ''[[Unreal Tournament 2004 (Video Game)|Unreal Tournament 2004]]'' and onwards would show hints and a picture of the upcoming map during loading screens. ''[[Killing Floor (Video Game)|Killing Floor]]'', running on the same engine, does the same, though the hints are limited to info on what you're going to be killing for the next half hour or so.
* [[Forza Motorsport]] [[Even Better Sequel|3]] does this for most loading screens, displaying facts about cars and things relating to cars (Like "[[Crowning Moment of Funny|In 1898, the New York Police Department used bicycles to pursue speeding motorists]]") or in-game tips.
* ''[[Metroid: Other M]]'' has a brief summary on what happened in the story when you load a saved game. If the game is finished loading before the text scroll is done, you'll have the option of skipping the summary and get straight into the game.
** Ditto with ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]''.
* Besides the epic "In the beginning" screen during the [[Procedural Generation]] of the world map (see below) ''[[Civilization]] IV'' included a screen providing basic gameplay tips like "don't neglect your navy" and "Wonders provide many benefits" (as well as humorous ones like "[[The Princess Bride (Filmfilm)|Never fight a land war in Asia]]") while loading up saved games.
* ''[[Doom]] 3'' gives a summary/description of the area being loaded.
* ''[[Prototype (Videovideo Gamegame)|Prototype]]'' has the initial loading screen displaying random tips relevant to the progress in the current save file. In between missions though, it's just a black screen with the auto-save icon animating. Thankfully short on most modern systems today in the case of the PC version.
* ''[[Alice: Madness Returns]]'' uses a simple chained key( {{spoiler|belonging to Elizabeth Liddell's room}}) swinging like a clock pendulum while tips or other info are being listed.
* ''[[Serious Sam]] HD'' shows the Netrisca screen while loading levels, where the AI in question tells you what you need to do on the current level. It's also possible to look at the [[Monster Compendium|bestiary]] and weapon info screens while loading.
* The earliest ''[[Call of Duty]]'' games showed something relevant to the mission being loaded at the start, typically a journal written by the player character hours before the mission.
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** In ''Red Alert 2'', the loading screens showed occupied territories, the location of the next battle, the icons for any new and/or mission-critical units, and what kind of battle it would be through symbols and arrows. For instance, if you were defending a base as the Allies, it would show a blue shield with a red arrow pointing at it.
*** In skirmish and multiplayer for ''Red Alert 2'', a map of your selected country would be displayed, with information on that country's special unit or ability. (Like USA's Paradrop, Russia's Tesla Tank, Yuri's [[Department of Redundancy Department|Yuri Prime]])
* ''[[Battlefield (Video Gameseries)|Battlefield]]'' games typically show some sort of information about the battle you're going to join in its loading screens - ''Battlefield 2'' would show an overhead map of the area, for instance, showing the default placement of control posts. ''Bad Company 2'' goes a step further, where, for instance, joining a server shows its message of the day and has a clickable button asking if you'd like to automatically be assigned to a squad, and loading a new map from that server shows a scoreboard listing the experience and pins you've gained in the last round.
 
 
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* ''[[Loco Roco]]'' features the locos bouncing and playing on the loading screen. It's cute enough that you're almost sad when the game finishes loading.
** ''LocoRoco 2'' has a MuiMui slowly digging a tunnel for treasure. It is ''not'' related to how much a stage or menu is loaded, though actually makes and keeps its own progress as the game is played and amounts to a [[Collection Sidequest]], although there's a chance the treasure is a dud.
* Loading a foreign ''Pokémon'' [[Game Boy]] game on ''[[Pokémon Stadium (Video Game)|Pokémon Stadium]]'' or ''[[Pokémon Gold and Silver (Video Game)|Pokémon Crystal]]'' in ''Pokémon Stadium 2'' showed a pic of the player's party in 3D.
* Older games might actually tell you what they were loading. ''[[The Sims]]'' and some of the ''[[Sim City]]'' games spoofed this by including ridiculous actions such as "hyper-activating children" and the ever popular "reticulating splines." More realistic in ''SimCopter'', where the stuff that you see during the loading screen is probably close to what's done when preparing a helicopter for a flight.
** ''[[Spore]]'' does this as well ("disinfecting germ cells...", "reticulating [[Pun|spines]]"), so much that it's fun to see when it's saying what it's loading and when it's a joke. It also shows a "You may encounter" list of critters and buildings at the bottom of the screen.
** So does ''[[World of Goo (Video Game)|World of Goo]]'' on startup, listing its status variously as <small>placating publishers...</small> <small>arguing games as art...</small> <small>testing ozone...</small>
** This also shows up in ''[[The Impossible Quiz]] 2'', which even includes the "reticulating splines" message. This is immediately followed by a message saying "Stealing loading messages from ''The Sims''..."
** What about ''Peggle''? I mean, come on... "Hoping This Works"?!?!
** ''[[Bookworm Adventures]]'' does this too: ''Dividing by 0...'', ''Not crashing...'', ''Crying over spilled milk...'', ''Generating Lex's voice...'', ''[[The Cake Is a Lie|Lying about cake...]]''
** Also mocked by ''[[Homestuck]]'', as shown below.
** ''[[GarrysGarry's Mod]]'' normally tells what it's actually doing during a load screen, but if it takes more than a few seconds to load something it'll start showing nonsense like [[Valve/Memes|"Breaking update" or "Delaying Episode 3"]].
*** Many games using the Source engine has the ability to display a loading screen, and a loading bar with the actual loading messages for debugging purposes. Garry's Mod's load screen can get a little confusing because sometimes it echoes the actual loading message, and other times it shows nonsense. However, the real loading message is also helpful in showing why it's taking so long (it may be downloading a multi-megabyte custom map with several custom models and sounds from a congested server if you're playing online, for example).
** The [[Lucas Arts]] game ''[[Afterlife (Video Game)|Afterlife]]'' does it as well ("Love is: never having to say XX% loaded...").
** Certain Facebook games do this as well, two examples being Zoo World 2 ([[Incredibly Lame Pun|making the cheetahs honest, tocking the ticks]]) and Cat Rescue (stalking a mouse).
** Some games running on ''[[Quake III Arena (Video Game)|Quake III Arena]]'''s engine do this for multiplayer as well - later games in the [[Dark Forces Saga]] for instance say they are loading various items and whatnot, ending by loading data from each player currently in the server before finally initializing the map.
* One of the more pointless changes made to the English translation of the original ''[[Persona]]'' was adding an unattractive loading screen to the US version of the game. Even more irritatingly, it'd show up for the many, many brief load times in the game, so sometimes it'd flash up just long enough to be disruptive, without actually distracting from any meaningful load time.
* The loading screen on ''[[The Thing (Videovideo Gamegame)|The Thing]]''' Showed a 'Thing' cell infecting a normal cell as a progress bar
* ''[[Katamari Damacy]]'' has the King's head spouting out fairly entertaining facts and nonsense. This ranged from complaints about [[Lampshade Hanging|loading times]] to information on the characters and levels.
** In the sequels, you can actually move the King's head with the left analog stick, and control the direction he speaks (or rather fires out letters) in with the right. Not exactly a mini-game, but it can be amusing.
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** When it moves quickly (especially for smaller files like NES games), Mario never grabs 100 coins. More like thirty or forty.
*** On the [[D Si]] shop channel it is Mario, Luigi, Peach and Toad filling a box.
* ''[[Wolfenstein 3D (Video Game)|Wolfenstein 3D]]'s'' "Get Psyched!".
** "Prepare for [[Descent]]"
* ''Scarface'' for Xbox says it has no loading for the building entrances. [[From a Certain Point of View|Technically true]]. The game waits until you are ten feet inside before loading.
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* The ''[[Lego Adaptation Game|Lego Adaptation Games]]'' tend to have loading screens that are nods to their source material. For example, Lego Star Wars has story-recapping text scrolls, while Lego Indiana Jones imitates the red-line-moving-across-a-map transition.
* It's unusual for a webcomic to get a mention on this page, but ''[[Homestuck]]'' has certainly earned its place with [http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=002037 the Sburb loading screen.] Its Flash updates have loading screens too, but they're nothing special, usually.
** It's worth nothing that in the official book, [[Andrew Hussie]] mentioned that it took him hours to complete that flash. Why? Well, partially because flash is time-consuming, but mostly because [[Doing It for Thethe Art|he literally sat down and wrote over a hundred different Sims-style loading screen messages that flash along the bottom.]] If you're attentive, you might be able to catch ''six'' of them.
* ''[[Ace Combat]] 5'' and ''Zero'' would typically quote poetry during loading screens. ''5'' would show excerpts from a poem made for the game, the legend of the game's Demon of Razgriz, while ''Zero'' showed real-world poetry that dealt with existence itself.
** Ace Combat 04 had the quote, "Amidst the blue skies, a link from past to future. The sheltering wings of the protector..."
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* The arcade versions of ''[[Gradius]]'' and ''Twinbee'' had the bubble memory warmup sequence when turned on, with its catchy music.
* ''[[Halo]] 1'' and ''2'' had a spotlight panning over the word "Loading" or the title, and ''3'' showed a Halo ring being constructed.
* ''[[De Blob (Video Game)|De Blob]]'' has comics during the loading screens and a cursor you can use to draw around if you haven't finished the comic. (You can even change the color of the cursor.)
* The Sega CD version of ''[[Earthworm Jim (Videovideo Gamegame)|Earthworm Jim]]'' shows the eponymous character [[Visual Pun|"Loading"]] boxes onto the back of a truck inbetween sections of a level.
* ''[[Total Annihilation Kingdoms]]'', being a [[Medieval European Fantasy]] setting, has a loading screen which takes the form of a stained-glass window with the panes going from grey to coloured as the game loads.
 
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