Paper-Thin Disguise/Video Games: Difference between revisions

 

** Made better when your rival comes in, recognizes you immediately, wonders what's up with the disguise, and strips you of it, then to have the grunt finally recognize you.

** Speaking of which, a variation involving inanimate objects was also used. The transmitter used to cause the Gyarados to evolve at a rapid rate at Lake of Rage (and was implied to be the cause of the Red Gyarados) was disguised as a tree near the shop. And by disguised, I mean rather obviously (the control box was clearly seen, not to mention most of the "tree" was metallic gray).

* In ''[[Sonic Adventure 2]]'', a hedgehog named Shadow steals a chaos emerald from Station Square, and despite having black fur with red highlights and a different hairstyle, the military takes and charges Sonic for the crime, believing he did it.

** Later in the game, even Amy who is deeply obsessed and in love with Sonic mistakes Shadow for Sonic.

* In ''[[Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door]]'', one of the members on the sailing crew you join up with is obviously Lord Crump, [[The Dragon]] to the head of the X-Nauts. No one notices, but in an aside he does ask the person [[Fourth Wall|'behind the TV']] not to tell Mario his real identity or else, also lampshading the ridiculousness of the disguise in the process. Since every character in the game is two-dimensional (as in, physically), this is quite literally a Paper-Thin Disguise.

** Additionally, Mario can "disguise" as Luigi by wearing the L badge. All this does is [[Palette Swap]] his clothes to green, but it's still enough for a self-proclaimed Luigi fan to mistake Mario for the real thing.

** The team's bases themselves, disguised as such things as granaries and shipping companies, sometimes qualify. The ones in Double Cross are said to "fool nobody", and 2fort's RED base, meant to be disguised as a farm, has a ''wooden cow''. There are mooing sounds coming from somewhere, presumably a hidden tape recorder.

* Subverted in ''[[Full Throttle]]''. The villain hosts a demolition derby as a ploy to lure out and kill protagonists Ben and Maureen. Ben and Maureen enter the derby in disguises deliberately made to fool everyone ''except'' the villain, all as part of a [[Batman Gambit]] to ''fake'' their own deaths while keeping their true identities hidden from the derby's spectators. The villain even [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] upon seeing them, "Who do they think they're fooling with those ''ludicrous'' disguises?"

** Their lines of idle dialogue are just as hilariously paper thin:

{{quote|'''Spy/Road worker:''' My red sign helps me work on the road.

'''Spy/Assassin:''' I like to shoot people.

'''Spy/Sewer worker:''' Feces. }}

* The identity of the Cornstalker in ''[[Touch Detective]] 2 1/2'' is supposed to be a big secret... but {{spoiler|there is one character that has the ''same'' jawline, ''same'' hair, ''same'' basic build, very similar name, and most disconcerting of all, the ''same voice'' (or rather, squeaky tones). A visit to the portrait gallery after the very first episode is enough to figure out who he is.}}

* ''[[Persona 4]]'' expects even the player to think that all it takes for {{spoiler|Naoto to be unmistakable for a boy is to put on a ''hat''.}}

* In ''[[Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden|Barkley Shut Up and Jam Gaiden]]'', Balthios puts on a veil and becomes the Ultimate Hellbane. His speech avatar is identical except darker everywhere but his eyes. His battle sprite doesn't even change, [[The Un Secret|and the battle interface refers to him as "Balthios"]].

** This is an unusual example: the disguise works on the PCs, but the first-time player hasn't met Balthios yet and so has no idea who UH is even supposed to be!

** However, it is double-subverted when one of your team members, reveals himself as long-lost, self-exiled prince {{spoiler|Joshua}}. It's kept very well-concealed due to the fact that a fair amount of people from his country look similar (more so than most of the others), and also to the fact that {{spoiler|He's a gambling addict who possesses no qualms about cheating on every game of chance he participates in and STILL manages to lose due to his famously low luck stats. The only hints we get of any noble nature whatsoever is his reluctance to kill pretty women, which can be attributed to [[Handsome Lech|his womanizing nature]] anyway.}}

** For another ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' example, Devdan/Danved in 9 and 10 has a disguise that's ''beyond'' paper thin. His constant denial is absolutely the only evidence that the two are not the same.

** In ''Blazing Sword'', the player's army sneaks into Bern. The three lords don ragged brown cloaks without hoods. This is somewhat effective with Hector and Lyn, but Eliwood never bothers to take off his highly visible crown.

** A much older example is Sirius, from ''Mystery of the Emblem''. Even though pretty much everybody knows that he is really Camus beneath his [[Cool Mask]], his true identity is never revealed (except if you count his [[Suspiciously Specific Denial]] when {{spoiler|he snaps Nyna out of her [[Brainwashed and Crazy]] state in the Final Chapter}} as a very thinly-veiled confirmation).

* Tallis in the new ''Mark of the Assassin'' DLC adventure for ''[[Dragon Age II]]'' gets her hands on the [[MacGuffin]] by putting an Orlesian guard's helmet on and letting the Duke hand it to her. This doesn't make much sense, due primarily to the fact that she's a female elf and thus a ''lot'' shorter than the normal guards, but also because she [[Stripperific|isn't wearing all that much clothing]].

* In ''[[The World Ends With You]]'' {{spoiler|Joshua does this in his human form he looks like his composer form only as a teenage boy,and only 2 people figure it out Sho Minamimoto and a low level reaper Koki Kariya, and it figures this is the same form he killed Neku with heck he could have just put on a shirt that said "I am not the person who killed you." and that would have been better.}}

* Lampshaded in ''[[Banjo-Kazooie|Banjo-Tooie]]'', when Banjo turns himself into a Stony in order to enter a kickball stadium (he still retains his backpack, his shorts, and the shape of his face). It seemed like he was foiled when the officer recognises him, but he is let in anyway as the participating players were running short.

* ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'': "What's that? Huh, it's just a box."

*** Of course it was retroactively subverted in the rerelease of ''Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake'', and especially in ''[[Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker]]'', where it turns out that Miller really did look and sound like that.

** Snake's "disguise" in ''MGS2'' has to count as well. Snake's Iroquois Pliskin disguise involves... wearing different clothes. That's it.

*** Inverted in the case of Snake meeting Volgin while disguised as Raikov. Despite being disguised so well that Zero claimed that even Raikov's own mother would not tell the difference, Volgin easily saw through the disguise (after pulling a [[Groin Attack]] on Snake ''twice''). Hilariously double subverted during the final battle, where you can easily gain a free hit on Volgin if you wear the Raikov mask, ''without even changing into his officer uniform, and was missing the hat.'' To further add insult to injury, Volgin is fooled even though ''[[Epic Fail|you put on the mask in front of him!]]''

** Subverted in his appearance in the Subspace Emissionary story mode of ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]. Brawl'', where Lucario easily saw through Snake's cardboard box trick (literally in this case, as he used his Aura sight to detect him).

** In "Eagle's Peak" quest, the player tricks other humans and eagle by disguising him/herself with a fake beak and fake wings.

** In the "Branches of Darkmeyer" quest, the player fools the entire vampyre society into believing that the player is a vyrelord (one of the highest ranking vampyres), using only some quest-specific robes - despite the fact that vyrewatch and vyrelords have wings and can fly. The player cannot.

** Also averted, in that even if you get a [[Gender Bender|sex change]], different skin color, different hair color and style, and a new [[Fight in The Nude|basic wardrobe]], most significant [[NPC]]s will still recognize you and call you by name - unless you're wearing one of the aforementioned disguises.

** In ''[[Grand Theft Auto Vice City]]'', the cops will lose track of you if you go into your house in front of their very eyes, ''put on a "clean" version of '''the same outfit you were wearing when you walked in''' ''and walk out the front door, as long as you don't have more than two wanted stars.

** Not to mention that in every game from ''GTA3'' onward, you can drive almost any vehicle into a Pay-n-Spray in full view of the fuzz and be completely ignored when you drive out in the exact same vehicle. There are a few exceptions (buses, police cars, etc) which the Pay-n-Spray employees will refuse to touch, probably because they only come in the one color scheme.

** Not to mention every mask you can wear. Somehow people believe you are a female, a fishman or a large earth man because of it. No one seems to be able to notice you are 1/4 the size of any of them.

** Link had been asleep for years and Zelda had grown up in that time, so that probably played a part.

* Lampshaded in ''[[Lego Adaptation Game|Lego Star Wars]]'' where a disguise is a moustache. Even on the women.

** Stormtrooper disguises in ''Lego [[Star Wars]] 2''. Just the helmet. This looks frankly ludicrous when it's Chewie wearing one, because it sits off kilter like a fez. It still fools everyone.

* In ''[[Donkey Kong Country (video game)|Donkey Kong Country]]'', King K. Rool seems to make a habit of this. Subverted in that he fools no one (except, oddly, [[Did Not Do the Research|whoever it was who wrote his trophy description]] in ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]. Brawl''), and there isn't even any real indication that he's ''trying'' to fool anyone. Apparently, he just likes dressing up in strange costumes and changing his title.

* In ''[[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion]]'' a single mask is the Gray Fox's only disguise, with no change in clothing or voice. Of course, the mask was [[Blessed with Suck]] by a godlike being, and in fantasy setting "[[A Wizard Did It]]" is [[Justified Trope|justifiedi]].

** Later on in the Burning Steppes quest chain in ''Cataclysm'', you're required to disguise yourself as a member of the Blackrock army using a mask that's the same model as the masks from Hallow's Eve. Most members of the army will fall for it, others will get suspicious requiring you to beat them to death with the cudgel one of the commanders gave you.

{{quote|They are immediately hostile towards the PC, because he/she is American. (And that goes even for Asian-American characters wearing Chinese Army paraphernalia...)}}

** Although this is silly. They shoot you because they are a forgotten and zombified invasion force and damn well know who's on their side, as they've been living in a building with them for 200 years. And there is no Chinese power armor in the game that would hide your face appropriately.

* In ''WWE [[Smackdown vs. Raw]] 2011'', at one point in [[Rey Mysterio, Jr.|Rey Mysterio Jr]]'s storyline after angering the [[Department of Redundancy Department|All-American American]] Jack Swagger you play as [[Evan Bourne]] against newcomer Todo Americano (which means All-American) who other than wearing a mask looks like Swagger, wears gear similar to Swagger, and has all the same mannerisms and moves.

* Estelle in ''[[Tales of Vesperia]]'' is a princess, which she thinks is a secret. However, when her cover is "blown", she finds out that everyone in the party knew who she was...except [[Idiot Hero|Karol]].

* In the SNES ''[[Shadowrun]]'', two morgue workers become terrified of Jake after he rises from the slab they left him on (thinking he's a zombie), and refuse to have anything to do with him. Jake solves this problem by donning a pair of sunglasses, which stops them recognizing him.

* ''[[Devil May Cry]] 4'' has {{spoiler|Trish masquerading as Gloria, a female member of the Order}}. The only ones who are not fooled by this are Dante ({{spoiler|laughing at her and saying "the regal look suits you"}}) and Sanctus ({{spoiler|saying "Oh, it's you, Gloria" when she is not in disguise}}).

* In ''[[Ragnarok Online]]'', in order to get to the Rekenber Corporation's laboratory for various quests, you just have to wear a pair of geek glasses and a white mustache to get pass the guard guarding the laboratory, and the guard will allow you to pass even if you have a different hairstyle, clothing or even as a female.

* The 1994 PC game ''[[Eagle Eye Mysteries|Eagle Eye Mysteries in London]]'' has a mystery called "Case of Blood's Bold Bauble," where the protagonists have to get information from an obstructive hotel desk clerk. Your partner borrows another character's glasses and puts them on you, then pretends that you're the star of a new TV show and he/she is your agent. The kicker: the glasses is the only thing your (unseen by you) character's avatar wears in the way of a disguise, your partner doesn't even attempt to disguise him/herself, both of you are children (which means your partner shouldn't be old enough to be a TV actor's agent), the clerk will have presumably met you before (if you're playing the mysteries in the order they're presented), ''and the clerk still falls for it''.

* ''[[The Adventures of Robin Hood (video game)|The Adventures of Robin Hood]]'': Putting on a monk's robe fools guards every time - even when they see you doing it.

* In the second ''[[Sly Cooper]]'' game, [[Spell My Name with a "The"|The]] [[Large Ham|Murray]] disguises himself as an anthropomorphic moose [[Furry Confusion|by wearing a stuffed moose head over his own]]. To be fair, these guys [[The Guards Must Be Crazy|aren't exactly the brightest]] or [[Conspicuously Selective Perception|most perceptive]].

* The disguise used by ''[[Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist]]'' in the last act consists of a change of clothes, a neckerchief (which is actually worn around the neck), and a silver ear. Nobody realizes that the man with the silver ear is actually the one-eared pharmacist, up until the [[Big Bad]] captures him and removes the fake ear.

* Despite having long green hair, horns, not altering his voice, and a tendency to wear the same blue clothing, Arle couldn't identify her ''long-term antagonist'' Satan in ''[[Puyo Puyo]] TSU's'' Alternate Ending, all because he was wearing a gold mask that only covered his eyes.